Solitaire

Digital Smoke's Solitaire City 1.02 ($18.95) for Palm OS handhelds is a game collection that is played against the clock. The faster you complete a game, the higher your score. This latest release adds hi-res+ landscape support to TapWave Zodiacs and UX-50 models and sampled sounds to Sony Clies that use the old Yamaha sound chip. Two new card sets are included with the game sporting much larger, easier to read numbers.

AgendaVU Theme Builder

AgendaVU Theme Builder ($14) from CushySoft lets you add your own photos as "wallpaper" behind the Agenda view in the Calendar application on the palmOne Tungsten T3 and Tungsten E handhelds.

To user the software, place the photos for your theme into a desktop folder, point the AgendaVU Theme Builder Windows application to that folder and click a button. The Theme Builder application takes care of everything else; scaling, cropping, and lightening of photos.

When you use the Calendar on your handheld, AgendaVU automatically displays your theme photos in the background of the Agenda screen. Your photos are automatically rotated throughout the day.

BlockBuster

Absolutist has released an arcade style game called BlockBuster ($16.95) for Pocket PC and Palm OS devices. The goal of the game is to clear the board by deleting blocks of color squares. It features high-resolution graphics, skins and several skill levels.

HandyAid

HandyAid ($11.95) has been updated to version 1.7.2. HandyAid aims to enhance the Palm OS by reducing battery usage and data losses due to dead batteries. It also focuses on improving the usability of a Palm device by addressing operational restrictions. Version 1.7.2 adds a feature called Button-Plus, which allows users to launch 20 applications using the four main application buttons plus the 5-way navigation key. It also fixes some bugs.

Wine Enthusiast Guide

LandWare has teamed with Wine Enthusiast Magazine to bring the Spring 2004 edition ($19.95) of its companion for choosing, evaluating, managing and enjoying wine to Palm and Pocket PC handhelds. The Spring 2004 version of the Wine Enthusiast Buyer’s Guide includes wine reviews up to the June 2004 issue of Wine Enthusiast Magazine. In addition, the Vintage Chart has been updated and now includes 2002 vintages.

Call of Duty for N-Gage

Activision's Call of Duty will be released for Nokia's N-Gage game deck and smartphone. Call of Duty is a first-person World War II action game. The game put players in the front lines of combat, as ordinary soldiers fight together as part of a squad through the epic moments of WWII.

The N-Gage version of the game can be played by several players at the same time via Bluetooth wireless. Players will also be able to compete for top rankings on the N-Gage Arena exclusive leaderboards. The game won't hit a smartphone near you till the forth quarter.

New Zealand PDA Travel Site

Next to the land down under, Australia, is a beautiful country called New Zealand. Many of you might recognize New Zealand as the land where the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed. The folks down there, also known as kiwis, are a friendly sort. So friendly in fact, that they have created a PDA friendly website for travelers to the country. The site includes info about accommodations, what to see & do, transportation, services, conference centers and more.

VideoHound Movie Guide

PocketSensei has brought VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever ($14.95) to Palm OS handhelds and smartphones. The print edition of VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever provides over 26,000 movie reviews with ratings from "WOOF!" to four bones. In addition it contains comprehensive cast, director, writer, cinematographer and composer indexes with complete filmographies. PocketSensei has taken the entire contents and brought it to the Palm platform.

eBook Catalog

The Microsoft Reader eBook Catalog site provides way to find Microsoft Reader eBooks, also known as "lit" format eBooks. The catalog includes listings of free and commercial eBooks representing adult and juvenile trade books, short stories, and articles. Each listing contains book information such as title, author(s), publisher, date of publication, book cover ("jacket"), and a book description if available. Free books provide a "one click" link to download and read the LIT file, or link to a free sample and/or version of the book for retail books. Retail books contain a list of available retail "purchase points" with direct links to the specific book for each retailer listed.

BizMathic for BlackBerry

Shrunken Head Software's has updated BizMathic ($29.95), its math and scientific calculator for the RIM BlackBerry handhelds, to version 2.2. BizMathica delivers results with up to 12 significant digits, algebraic expression entry, 30+ predefined formulas, user-definable formulas for evaluation of recurring calculations and a ticker tape interface for viewing previous calculations.

Rapid Application Development for Palms

Simplicity Version 3.0 for Palm OS ($395) from Data Representations is a Rapid Application Development tool for building J2ME/MIDP applications. By dragging and dropping visual parts, a software developer can assemble user interfaces, images, threads, timers and network communications. The aim of the software is to simplify the process of building J2ME applications that will run on Palm platform handhelds.

It features palmOne's Java Toolkit, which enables J2ME/MIDP applications to run on all Tungsten handhelds and Treo smartphones. It also includes the IBM, WebSphere Micro Environment for palmOne handhelds which targets most handhelds running Palm OS 3.5 and higher. Built-in emulators can show the user exactly how their applications will look while coding during the visual designing process. The emulator also includes skins for a wide range of Palm devices, so the user can switch from device to device at any time.

BREWing Up Sky Charts

Sky Publishing has introduced a sky-chart application for wireless phones. The new application delivers heavenly simulations of the night sky, including constellations, stars, and planets, to users of BREW-enabled color handsets.

There are two ways to display the sky on Sky & Telescope's Mobile Sky Chart: the Horizon View provides a panoramic naked-eye scene from the horizon two-thirds of the way up toward overhead, and the All-Sky Chart represents the entire sky currently visible. Both displays are labeled with compass points so you can match the chart to the direction you're facing. Moving around the sky on either chart is as simple as pushing the phone's arrow buttons.

PDA Sites, Beta Testers Wanted

Syncalot is a new Web-to-PDA syncing solution for Pocket PC and Palm OS device users as well as a content delivery system for PDA formatted web sites. Syncalot is currently seeking Beta Testers and PDA formatted web site submissions to add to its database of sites. In addition, Syncalot is looking for 100 Pocket PC beta testers for the final stages of development.

PhatNotes for Smartphones

PhatWare has released PhatNotes Smartphone Edition, a notes organizer for Windows Mobile-based Smartphones. The application allows people to create, search, and sort text-based notes on both their Smartphones and Windows-based desktop PCs. They can also synchronize notes between the two platforms. Normally $29.95, the software is currently on sale for $19.95.

Astraware Helicopters

Astraware and Pazzazz Games' Hellfire: Apache vs. Hind ($19.95) is a new helicopter based 3D arcade action game that puts you in the pilot’s seat of a state of the art helicopter gunship, and takes you on a worldwide tour of duty. These are the same two companies that brought you the popular GTS Racing Challenge game.

The companies said the game features real-time rendered environments along with pre-rendered helicopters and enemies across 16 missions. Versions are available for the Palm OS and Windows Mobile.