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PALMPOWER SITE OF THE MONTH
Free movie listings service
By Steve Niles
I just got my Fall Movie Preview edition of Entertainment Weekly and immediately tore into it to see what the new season of films has to offer. Unlike the disappointing summer season, the fall crop looks very promising indeed.
Fortunately, there's a new service available called ShowtimesToGo.com that will help me keep my local movie listings on hand at all times. I was so impressed with its user-friendly design, I decided to make it September's PalmPower Site of the Month. You can find it at http://www.showtimestogo.com. ShowtimesToGo.com is a free service provided by iRev2. The site's homepage is pictured in Figure A.
FIGURE A
ShowtimesToGo.com provides free, current movie listings for your Palm device. Click picture for a larger image.
Once you sign up, you're automatically sent an email containing the five databases you'll need to download containing movies, times, dates, and theaters for your area. From ShowtimesToGo.com's download page, all you have to do is download the free Showtimes application in order to read the databases.
You can then choose to have new, updated databases sent to you via email either nightly or weekly. Depending on how much information you want and how many theatres are in your area, your Showtimes data files will be between 10K and 20K. On my device, the application and the databases together take up only 40K.
When you receive your updated database files, there's no need to worry about them crowding your device. When you HotSync, they'll automatically overwrite the old files.
The Showtimes application allows you to view by date, movie, or theater. Once you've selected the one you want, you get a screen like the one shown in Figure B.
FIGURE B
The Showtimes application lets you view by date, movie, or theater.
The movie, theater, and show times are displayed, and the current time is shown at the top center of the screen as well. That way, you'll know which show you could actually make. You can use the scroll buttons to bring up new theaters or films.
At first, the idea of updated files being sent to me via email sounded strange, but once I put it into practice, I found it to be free of bugs.
The folks at ShowtimesToGo.com are also working on additions to the service that include ratings, reviews, cast and crew listings, theater preference and exclusion, a genre filter, coming attractions, traveler's options, and Date Book connectivity. They sound like great ideas and could only improve this already fun and functional personalized service.
Product availability and resources
For more information on ShowtimesToGo.com, visit http://www.showtimestogo.com.
For more information on iRev2, visit http://www.irev2.com.
Your site can earn this special banner
Do you run a special site, one that provides a great resource for Palm device users? If so, your site may be eligible for consideration as the PalmPower Site of the Month. If chosen, you'll even be entitled to display the snazzy banner shown in Figure C.
FIGURE C
Is your site cool enough to be the PalmPower Site of the Month?
If you'd like your site to be considered for the PalmPower Site of the Month, send email to heather@palmpower.com. Please specify "PALMPOWER COOLSITE" in the subject field of your email, and include a paragraph or two about what makes your site special.
Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
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Steve Niles is Senior Editor for ZATZ Publishing. He is also an independent filmmaker and freelance writer. For more information, visit http://www.sn-films.com.
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