---
title: "A new toy, and blaming Vinge"
date: 2002-10-16T17:32:38-04:00
url: https://blog.lmorchard.com/2002/10/16/ooocoh/
author: Les Orchard
---

# A new toy, and blaming Vinge

So I finally broke down and bought a new gadget.  My phone was 5 years old and losing its antenna, and my Handspring Visor Deluxe (pre-ordered the day of introduction!) was showing its age.  I was thinking that, for the phone, I'd get something small and sleek.  Something that would likely fall through the little hole I inevitably have in every pocket of every jacket and overcoat I own.  And I was thinking that eventually, I'd procure a Sharp Zaurus to replace my PDA.  I would miss the Palm OS platform, it having done alright by me for about 6 years now, but I wanted excitement! and adventure! and modernity!
<br /><br />
Well, after long deliberation, I saw that <span style='background : #FFFFCE;'><a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/edit/Main/CompUSA?topicparent=Main.FilterData"><b>?</b></a><font color="#0000FF">CompUSA</font></span> was having an 18-months same-as-cash promotion, so I finally dragged myself in there and purchased...  <a href="http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/PhonesAccessories/PhoneDetails.jsp?selectSkuId=treo300&amp;FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2421&amp;CURRENT_USER%3C%3EATR_SCID=ECOMM&amp;CURRENT_USER%3C%3EATR_PCode=None&amp;CURRENT_USER%3C%3EATR_cartState=group&amp;bmUID=1034793472298">A Treo Communicator 300</a>.  
<br /><br />
What can I say?  I had a service contract with Sprint yet to expire, and had heard decent things about the device.  And it turned out that I just didn't want to give up Palm OS quite yet, and all the other powerful phone-and-PDA combos were so hideously brick-like.  (I know, let's take a standard Pocket PC, and Krazy-Glue a speaker and a stubby antenna on top!  <a href="http://wapsight.com/info/2002/10/10/110227.html">It'll look brilliant!</a>)  And along the <a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/BlogWalking">BlogWalking</a> theme, among other things, it does wireless internet admirably well and for a price that I'm not sweating too hard to pay.  The <a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/HipTop">HipTop</a> might've done me better, but like I said: contract I'm still stuck in, and Palm OS that I know how to hack.
<br /><br />
Before I'd gotten it, I obsessively poured over reviews.  One of the biggest horror story themes I caught was with getting the thing activated on Sprint's network, back in August.  Well, no sweat for me there.  I called up the activation number and was walked through the process by a very polite gentleman with a pleasant Indian accent whose phrases and reponses were so identically spoken that I thought I was speaking with a machine.  (Am I looney, or had I read somewhere that many call centers were <a href="http://www.outsource2india.com/why_india/articles/call_centers_india.asp">being outsourced to India</a> and lands abroad via some nice WAN technologies?)  The new Treo was ringing and hitting Google within 10 minutes after I got off the call, despite his cautioning me that it might take upwards of 6 hours to get processed.
<br /><br />
Once working, the earbud/mic supplied with the device worked very well.  Holding the thing up to my ear is nicer than one might expect when pressing a small slab to the side of one's face, but I'll probably use the earbud more.  Now if I only had an elegant way to stow and fetch the earbud on my person while I'm out and about.  Unspooling that tangle is no way to quickly answer the phone.
<br /><br />
As for applications, I had everything from my old Visor transferred in short order, including my body of data whose history went all the way back to my first blocky Palm Pilot.  After that, I went out and snagged a large blob of net apps and synced them up.  <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&amp;start=6&amp;q=http://www.aol.com/aim/aim4palm.html&amp;e=653">AIM</a>, <a href="http://www.pdaapps.com/TreoSmsApp/default.html">SMS</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&amp;start=2&amp;q=http://www.arthurian.nu/upirc/download.php3&amp;e=653">IRC</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&amp;start=1&amp;q=http://online.offshore.com.ai/~iang/TGssh/&amp;e=653">SSH</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&amp;start=1&amp;q=http://www.wind-junkie.de/PalmVNC/&amp;e=653">VNC</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&amp;start=2&amp;q=http://www.icq.com/download/installpalm.html&amp;e=653">ICQ</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&amp;start=5&amp;q=http://www.actualsoft.com/prod_mmpro_details.htm&amp;e=653">email (via IMAP!)</a>, and most importantly Google via <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&amp;start=1&amp;q=http://www.handspring.com/software/blazer_overview.jhtml&amp;e=653">Blazer</a> all worked great.  (Although, you have to watch AIM.  It <a href="http://www.palmblvd.com/boards/Bugs/messages/923.html">does nasty things</a> occasionally and seems to corrupt its databases, requiring a warm reboot, deletion, and reenabling of all your hacks and extensions.)
<br /><br />
So, shortly I'll be looking for a way to combine <a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/AmphetaDesk">AmphetaDesk</a> or <span style='background : #FFFFCE;'><a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/edit/Main/OffNews?topicparent=Main.FilterData"><b>?</b></a><font color="#0000FF">OffNews</font></span> with <span style='background : #FFFFCE;'><a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/edit/Main/Plucker?topicparent=Main.FilterData"><b>?</b></a><font color="#0000FF">Plucker</font></span> to give me a way to package up and slurp down a day's reading like I used to do with <span style='background : #FFFFCE;'><a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/edit/Main/AvantGo?topicparent=Main.FilterData"><b>?</b></a><font color="#0000FF">AvantGo</font></span>.  The funny thing, though, is I don't know whether a single package-and-sync of reading is enough in a day.  It used to be - I would slurp down News.com, Wired News, Slashdot, and a smattering of other sites and be set for the day.  But now, I check my <a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/AmphetaDesk">AmphetaDesk</a> at least 6-10 times a day.  Given that, and the fact that I do have a decent allowance for data per month, I may look at putting <a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/AmphetaDesk">AmphetaDesk</a> out on my <a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/JohnCompanies">JohnCompanies</a> server and whip up a Blazer-friendly skin for it using some ideas from <a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/AmphetaOutlines">AmphetaOutlines</a> to hide redundant items and save me some bytes.
<br /><br />
It's such a difference now, using the Sprint data network with this slim and elegant little Treo, versus when I first bought a <a href="http://www.novatelwireless.com/palmtop/minstrel3.html">Novatel Minstrel</a> for my Palm III and used it to vaguely, slowly, gradually poke around on the web with that solid brick of magic stuff.  I can't wait until all of this finally converges with affordable, socially inobtrusive wearables.
<br /><br />
I also just got done reading another <a href="http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/VernorVinge">VernorVinge</a> story, <a href="http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/ebook4380.htm"><i>Fast Times at Fairmont High</i></a>.  I blame him for this.  I want display contact lenses, ubiquitous networking via computing clothes, consensual imagery overlayed across all I see.  I want twitch-speed access to searches so that I can pick up on the song or poem someone starts quoting, and complete the line for them.  I want to ping objects around me and have them respond with self-identification.  I want to <a href="http://www.disenchanted.com/dis/technology/fly-by-wire.html">live-by-wire</a>.  But until then, I have a wireless net connection on my Treo with a keyboard that makes me look only slightly geeky when I type.  That, and a desire to get my butt back into school so that maybe I can get the credentials to climb my way into research with tech like this.
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