Palm and Treo Hacks: Tips & Tools for Mastering Your Handheld

By Scott MacHaffie

Palm OS is one of the most popular handheld operating systems on the planet. From the newest Tungstens and Treos all the way down the family tree, Palms are everywhere. Although the Palm OS is simple to learn and use, there is more to it than meets the eye--from new features in the Palm to capabilities you can get with add-on software, the Palm can be made to do quite a lot. Palm and Treo Hacks gives you tips and tools that show you how to make the most of your Palm. A few minutes spent reading some of the hacks in this book will save you hours of research. Inside this book, you'll learn how to: Find great applications for your Palm and make the most of the ones you're using now Get super-organized, getting more from the built-in Personal Information Manager and learning how to manage complex projects with your Palm Extend the Palm with must-have software and hardware add-ons Take your Palm online, reading email, surfing the web, and sending instant messages Get some rest and relaxation with your Palm, whether it's listening to music, playing classic games, or watching video Written for beginning to experienced Palm users, Palm and Treo Hacks is full of practical, ingenious tips and tricks you can apply immediately. Whether you're looking to master the built-in applications or you want to trick out your Palm to its fullest extent, this book will show you how.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 059610054X
• ISBN13: 9780596100544
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

THE PALMS HAVE IT!!

Are you a Palm user from the days when the Pilot first got its wings or are completely new to the Palm family? If you are, then this book is for you! Author Scott MacHaffie, has done an outstanding job of writing a book about how to get more out of your Palm device, whether it is a PDA or a smartphone. MacHaffie, begins by exploring the dusty corners of the basic applications. Then, the author focuses on using your Palm device to support specialized uses. Next, he covers a range of gaming topics from using Palm devices to supporting traditional pen-and-paper role-playing to multiplayer games to classic games. The author then discusses why a Palm device is really a general-purpose computer. He continues by showing you how to do web and phone conferencing, or find out how to configure a Treo to match the way you intend to use it. Then, the author shows you how your Palm device can talk to the Internet or to your stereo. Next, he shows you how to tweak the launcher, replace the built-in calculator, or even how to write your own programs. Finally, he shows you how to "get your hands dirty" with your Palm device. Inside this most excellent book, you'll find hacks that explore the boundaries of the basic applications. More importantly, you'll also find interesting and novel uses for your Palm device.

For Palm owners only: tweak your settings

Scott MacHaffie's PALM & TREO HACKS: TIPS & TOOLS FOR MASTERING YOUR HANDHELD, for example, covers more than the basic and well-known calendar and address book features commonly used by Palm owners: it tells how to tweak the Palm's settings, customize third-party replacements for its applications, play games, and use custom ringtones and weblog postings. A 'must' for any who have the basics down and want to go further.

Nice book that will teach PalmOS owners a few new things

The Treo takes up one whole chapter of this book plus references in the communication-related. Still although the Treo is a popular PalmOS-based device, it rightfully doesn't dominate the book. After all, many owners of PalmOS devices don't need or want to have a powerful device like the Treo. In spite of "hacks" in its name, the book isn't as geeky or technical as it sounds. A hack is also known as a trick or add-on for adding more power to a program or system. However, not all of the tips are technically hacks because they provide how-to advice: annotate everything, find anything, get the most out of the date book, how to become a better student, and so on. One caveat, when the book references another hack or figures, the light gray text barely appears and it is difficult to read. MacHaffie also refers to third-party software as a way to add more options, games, and functionality to the PalmOS device. It's tough to please people with varying interests. It might've been better to refer to places where you can find and download software. Many people would appreciate these discoveries. The games section, for example, has references to quite a few role-playing games (RPG) in comparison to other types of games. Most of the sections only take a few pages, so it's not a big waste if the topic doesn't catch your eye. Again, it's tough to address a wide audience and there wouldn't be enough material to create a separate book addressing only PalmOS games, student tips, and advice for business users. Roughly about a fourth of the book covers communications, phone PDA hybrid tips, and multimedia. So those who have basic PDAs without any connections still get a bulk of information they can use. The 55 tips are listed in the table of contents listed on the book's Web page (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/palmtreohks/toc.html) and checking it out should give you a good idea if you'll find the book useful or not. You won't find much tech jargon so the hacks are easy to understand. The book has tips for beginners, moderate users, and experts and each hack is represented by thermometer's temperature (high for expert and low for easy) for quick reference. Very few hacks are at the expert level, so beginners and moderates should have no trouble applying most or all of the hacks.

Good book, but too short

I really liked this book. I learned a lot about my Treo and what I could do with it. And it spurred me to get deeper into the feature set. But I found the book was too short. I know there is a lot more that can be done with these devices and I would have liked to have seen that in there. That being said, I certainly appreciate the primer on starting to program the Palm. It's a nice quick start into that twisty development world.