Brighthand reports that Alphasmart is updating its Dana line of Palm OS-based laptops and adding a Dana Wireless unit that supports 802.11b.

I've always thought the Dana was a very capable unit for the money and the addition of WiFi makes it even more attractive. For an idea of what the Dana offers, check out this Gadgeteer review of the non-wireless model.

9:27:21 PM    comment []

Marriott, my favorite hotel chain, reported good new/bad news yesterday.

First the bad news: it has completed the installation of WiFi access systems for 400 hotels in hotel lobbies, meeting rooms and other public spaces, but is charging the insane rate of $2.95 for the first 15 minutes of access and 25 cents for each additional minute!

The good news is that Marriott now has wired broadband Internet service in guest rooms at 800 hotels and for this it charges a much more reasonable $9.95 a day for access.

9:27:21 PM    comment []

Network World Fusion has an interesting article on VoIP for the Enterprise.

As an aside, we just switched our home telephone service from Verizon to Vonage VoIP. Vonage is far cheaper and the connection quality is actually better than Verizon's. In addition I can manage our Vonage account features, and even pick up voicemail, using my Toshiba e740. I highly recommend this service for anyone who has an Internet broadband connection at home.

If you interested in subscribing to the Vonage service, be sure to let me know. If I refer you to Vonage we'll both get one month's phone service free. As always, you can reach me via email by clicking on the small envelope icon at the bottom of the left column of this page.

9:27:20 PM    comment []

The Taiwanese manufacturer MiTAC has announced the Mio 558, a Pocket PC with SD, CF, WiFi, and Bluetooth. I hope it's made available in the US.

10:59:13 AM    comment []