Palm Tipsheet 15.0
Originally published by Palm Tipsheet. February 2001.
In this month’s Palm Tipsheet, guest writer Vladimir Campos of PalmBR.com will discuss Yahoo’s online calendaring services and their synchronization with a Palm handheld. We’ll also talk with British Palm user Kevin O’Rourke about his Visor Deluxe and Palm’s popularity in Britain, home of the Psion.
(…)
A Virtual Desktop with Yahoo! Calendar
by Vladimir Campos
Before Palm Inc. started promoting their new MyPalm Portal, several other companies already had been providing online synchronization services for Palm handheld users. Palm’s acquisition of AnyDay and WeSync demonstrates how important and valuable online services are to Palm handheld users.
Although Palm Inc. bought AnyDay.com and WeSync, Palm users still have the option to access other independent companies like Yahoo!, who provide similar synchronization services. Just imagine having Yahoo! services working together with your Palm handheld to store your information online. Yes, you can have all your contacts, appointments, to dos and memos available online at Yahoo! in complete sync with your Palm handheld!
The Services – Yahoo! became popular because of its pioneer web index created in the early days of the Web, followed by other services like Yahoo! Mail and other acquired companies such as Geocities. Yahoo! now offers a complete suite of online tools which can sync with your Palm handheld, and are available from a web browser:
*Yahoo! Calendar – An online day planner and to do list which displays and allows for editing of your Datebook and To Do application data:
*Yahoo! Address Book – A complete online address book, which syncs with your Palm’s address book and can be edited in any web browser:
*Yahoo! Notepad – Provides a place to take quick notes while surfing the Web and to view your Palm’s Note Pad data:
Although Yahoo! has other online services, these are the most important ones for Palm users, since they match the Palm Address Book, Datebook, To Do List and Memo Pad and can sync with them via conduits (provided by Yahoo!).
Additionally, all of these services are available in the Yahoo! Mail menu and can be easily used in conjunction with MyYahoo! and Yahoo! Companion:
http://mail.yahoo.com/
http://my.yahoo.com/
http://companion.yahoo.com/
A clear example of integration is the use of Palm Address Book contacts in Yahoo! Mail. In other words, the Palm Address Book data synchronized to Yahoo! Address Book can easily be accessed and used to send e-mails using Yahoo! Mail. Also, MyYahoo! and Yahoo! Companion can be used together with your web browser to give access to other important data synchronized from your Palm while connected to the Internet.
One interesting feature of Yahoo! Mail is that users can still use their own e-mail address together with Yahoo! Mail services. It is possible to change the ‘reply to’ information in Yahoo! Mail to use a company or provider e-mail address (for example: your_name@your_provider.com) and set the POP3 configurations at Yahoo! Mail to download e-mails from your_name@your_provider.com. These alternatives make it possible to use Yahoo! web mail services with any e-mail address.
Synchronizing – There are two Windows-only conduits currently available from Yahoo! which may be freely downloaded and used to synchronize Palm and Yahoo! services:
Intellisync for Yahoo!:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/intsync
TrueSync for Yahoo!:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/sync
In both cases, during installation and configuration of the software, the user must select the Palm, services, items, priority, etc. to be synchronized. More information is also available at ‘options’ menu in the Yahoo! Calendar.
IMPORTANT NOTE: It is very important to backup the data stored on your Palm handheld before syncing with Yahoo services. Be sure to follow the installation instructions carefully! If you decide to remove these sync tools, be sure to follow the uninstall steps exactly as described on the Yahoo! website. Great care should be taken, since a small error in the setting of priority, equipment and/or items to be synchronized could conceivably erase your Palm’s data!
Why Synchronize With Yahoo? – The first benefit of synchronization is a permanent and constant offsite backup of your data. If you loose the data in your Palm or your desktop crashes, you will still have access to everything on the Web. Also, the information stored in the Palm device can easily be accessed and edited virtually anywhere; at a Cyber Cafe, school, friend’s house, work, business or vacation trip, etc. Once it’s set up, HotSyncing will transfer all of the data between these Yahoo! services and your Palm and from your Palm to the Yahoo! services.
Another interesting feature is the use of Yahoo! Mail SMS services for notifications. Palm Datebook appointments synchronized to Yahoo! Calendar can have alarms sent to a cell phones or an e-mail address as chosen by the user. Notifications can also be set to work together with Yahoo! Messenger and notify user while she/he is connected to the Internet. For those who work in group, it is also possible to share parts of the Yahoo! Calendar with other Yahoo! users within your work group.
Other Yahoo Services for Palm users – Some Yahoo! services also have versions which can also be used in the Palm. There is a version of Yahoo! Messenger compatible with Palm OS and even an AvantGo Channel that reflects MyYahoo! configurations on the handheld. Yahoo! Mobile has more detailed information about these services:
Yahoo! Mobile:
http://mobile.yahoo.com/
Conclusion – Finally, I encourage you to use your imagination and explore these and other Yahoo! services to turn you Palm (and data) into a powerful mobile tool.
A Note From the Editor – Special thanks to Vladimir Campos of PalmBR.com for sharing his excellent ideas about ways to bring your Palm handheld information online. I’m sure his article will spark ideas for other Palm users who may not have been aware of these useful free services.
For Palm users in Brazil and Portugal, Vladimir has also posted a Portuguese version of this article on his website.
Finally, feel free to check out Vladimir’s excellent Palm-centric website:
PalmBR provides comprehensive information to the Portuguese speaking Palm community, with news, reviews, and in-depth information on everything Palm.
Follow me