The Tungsten T3 has several User Interface “enhancements” that aren’t always apparant. One great example has to do with the “Virtual Graffiti” or “Digital Input Area” (DIA). Learn how to change the Digital Input area!

By default, the Virtual Graffiti area on the Tungsten T3 displays the “standard” Graffiti entry area surrounded by four “buttons”. Did you know that you can change the look and function of the Virtual Graffiti area? You probably know that the “arrow” icon on the lower right of the Status Bar controls whether the Virtual Graffiti area is visible or not. This allows you ro “expand” the screen area as needed for those applications that are full-screen compliant. But, did you know that if you tap-and-hold the arrow, a small “popup” will display giving you the option of selecting among three input area styles? This includes the “standard” layout, an on-screen keyboard, and an “enhanced” layout.

We all know what the Standard layout is, and you should be familiar with the On-screen Keyboard layout, but what about this “Enhanced” layout? Well, it divides the Graffiti entry area into three sections: “lowercase”, “uppercase”, and “numeric”. In the Standard entry area, you write letters on the left and numbers on the right. Letters are in lowercase. If you write your letters OVER the line separating the two sections, the letters will be in uppercase. Sometimes, this can be confusing and prone to errors. The Enhanced input area segregates the three areas, each tuned for its type of input. This makes uppercase and lowercase entry more reliable. The only down side is that you lose the four user-definable application “buttons”. It’s a trade-off, but a good example of some of the enhanced built-in flexibility.

The Tungsten T3 has several User Interface “enhancements” that aren’t always apparant. One great example has to do with the “Virtual Graffiti” or “Digital Input Area” (DIA). Learn how to customize the “Silk Buttons”!

When the Virtual Graffiti area is displayed, by default, there are four “buttons” surrounding the Graffiti entry area: (going counter-clockwise) Applications, Documents-to-go, Photos, and VersaMail. Tapping on these “buttons” will launch the associated applicaiton. But, did you know that if you Tap-And-Hold any of the buttons, a pop-up list of launchable applications will display? Select any one of the listed applications, and the icon will change to that application. Tapping on the new icon will launch the newly-assigned application! You can customize it to YOUR preferences!

The Tungsten T3 has several User Interface “enhancements” that aren’t always apparant. One great example has to do with the “Virtual Graffiti” or “Digital Input Area” (DIA). Learn how to bring up a list of the five last-used applications!

As we all know, if you tap on the “Applications” Icon (the little “house” icon in the lower left of the Status Bar) it brings up the default proram launcher (or, if installed, a third-party launcher like ZLauncher, etc.) but did you know that if you If you tap-and-hold on the same icon, a list of the last five used apps pops up. This allows for quick switching among apps that aren’t assigned to the “Hard buttons” or to the “Silk buttons”.

Obviously, case preferences are very personal, but you may be able to save some money with Palm’s included flip-cover.

When I purchased my Palm Tungsten T3, I also purchased along with it a Palm “Hard Case” thinking that I would definitely need something to protect the $400 investment I just made. After having used several cases of different types on many Palm and Sony Clie PDA’s, Palm’s “Hard Case” was my first choice. I was very happy with Palm’s “Hard Case” for my old Pam Vx, so this had to be a great case, right?

I couldn’t have been more wrong! Yes, I needed some protection, but this case made my T3 huge. It certainly wasn’t comfortably “pocketable” other than in baggy pants or in a jacket pocket. In addition, I was very disappinted with the construction. Compared to my Palm Vx’s hard case, this thing was a joke. The brushed “metal” look was nothing more than not-so-tough plastic. My Palm Vx’s hard case at least had brushed metal plating on the outside. And the entire case flexed too much for my comfort. And what about the fact that the T3 has a slider? Basically, I had to remove it from the case for the slider to be effective. Excuse me, but that’s not efficient when trying to quicky jot a note, etc.

OK, don’t get me wrong…it isn’t a bad case–I was just very disappointed with my high expectations.

So, what to do? Well, I decided to just install Palm’s “Flip cover” that is included with the T3. It reminds me of the flip-cover on my wife’s Sony Clie SJ20. It’s functionsl, it looks good, and it affords the protection I need. I can comfortably “front-pocket” my T3 and not worry about the screen getting damaged. No, it’s not a perfect solution, but it does afford nice protection. Besides, it comes free with the T3!

So, is there a better solution out there? Maybe, and I’ll keep looking, but until I find something better, I’ll stick with the include flip-cover and just be happy!

This “tip” is very specialized, but some may find it useful…

Though I REALLY love HandStory (it’s my first choice for offline browsers) I have one small issue: There is no way to schedule when clips are updated. I leave my PC on 24/7, so faithfully around Midnight, HandStory auto-updates. Not bad, but unfortunatly, that causes any late-breaking news and weather to be missed by the time I come into the office at 07:30 AM. The problem is that HandStory doesn’t let me schedule WHEN to update clips. Ideally, I would like to be able to schedule multiple updates throughout the day, but for now, we can only have it auto-update once per day.

That said, one nice feature of HandStory, is that the first time it is run on a given day, HandStory initiates an auto-update. So, I needed a way to have it auto-start at a specific time to initiate the auto-update at that time. But that’s only half of the battle. I also needed a way to auto-stop HandStory. If I can’t auto-stop it, and it runs run 24/7, it will fall back to the “update at Midnight” schedule. So, here’s a method for auto-starting and auto-stopping HandStory at a pre-determined time. It’s a bit kludgy, but it works…

Part 1: Auto-start HandStory HOWTO:

1. Click on Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and select “Scheduled Tasks” This opens the Windows Task Scheduler. For those who don’t know, this is a tool that lets you schedule a program to run at a given time on given days.

2. Click on file > new and select “Scheduled Task” and name the new task “HandStory”

3. Next, right-click on the newly created task and select Properties.

4. Click the Browse button and navigate to the directory that contains the HandStory.exe program (typically, “c:Program FilesSony HandHeld”) and select the HandStory.exe program.

5. Next, click on the “Schedule” tab. and select the frequency you want to run the file. because i typically run HandStory at work, I selected “Weekly”, selected a “Start Time” of 07:00 AM and then checked off the days of the work week (Monday-Friday) I left all other settings in all other tabs as default.

6. Finally, I clicked on “OK” to save the changes.

Note: depending on your setup, you may be required to enter a password based on the user selected to run the program.

OK, HandStory is now scheduled to run at 07:00 AM every weekday morning. What should happen is that once HandStory fires up for the first time on a given day, it should auto-initiate a clip update. HandStory only does this once per day, so the first time it is run, it should auto-run.

Part 2: Auto-terminate HandStory HOWTO:

The next step is to auto-shutdown HandStory at a pre-determined time. The reason for this is that if you leave it running 24/7, it will auto-update at Midnight–which is what we are trying to avoid. To do this, we need a way to automatically terminate HandStory. Unfortunatly, Windows doesn’t offer any “process kill” command, so we have to turn to a simple, freeware app called “pskill”.

1. Download the freeware app called “pskill” from this site. This app is a simple command line application that will kill a process based on (among other things) the process name. Unzip it, and place the executable in your system path. (like WindowsSystem32)

2. Next, fire up the “Scheduled Tasks” app again as detailed above, and create a new scheduled task. This time, click on Browse and navigate to the directory where you placed the pskill app. Select the app and press OK.

3. Next, in the “Run” box, fter the pskill.exe command, press the Space bar once and then type in “HandStory.exe” without the quotes. This establishes HandStory.exe as the parameter for the pskill command.

4. Finally, set the schedule for this new task like you did above. I leave work around 05:00 PM, so I set this task to be scheduled every Week Night at 07:00 PM.

5. Click OK to save the changes.

That should do it.

What you should have now is a task that auto-starts HandStory at a pre-determined time. Because this will be the “first run of the day” HandStory will auto-initiate a clip update. At a later pre-determined time, HandStory will be auto-terminated preventing it to auto-update at Midnight. The next day (assuming it’s scheduled) the cycle will repeat.

To test, just open the “Scheduled Taske” manager and right-click on the “HandStory” task and select “Run”. HandStory should fire up. If this is the “first run of the day” handStory should auto-initiate a clip update. If not, it will just start up. Next, right-click on the “KillHandStory” task and select “Run” and your HandStory process should be killed. (Note tat the icon may not immediatly disappear from the System Tray, so hover your mouse over it, and it should disappear. In any case, at this point, HandStory should no longer be running.)

So there you have it. It’s a work-around…it’s kludgy…it requires you to jump through some hoops…it still only updates once per day…but it works!

Note; I successfully tested this using Windows 2000 and Windows XP Pro. I don’t have a Windows 98 installation, so the exact process may be slightly different. Please provide feedback if you have problems, suggestions, or corrections!

As always, all my information is free, but if you like what you see and would like to help support JimsTips.com, please click on the “Donate” button. Your financial support, no matter how large or small, helps keep this site alive and kicking.

I just received an email from “Chime”, the developer of the WonderSilk application for the Sony Clie NX series PDA’s, and he said that he has no development plans for Sony’s new Clei UX series PDA’s. He says this is because the UX does not support Silk Plug-ins like the NX series did.

I had some high hopes of converting many of my current WonderSilk Skin designs to the UX’s vertical format. I also had some ideas for some new skins, but it looks like it won’t happen. Major bummer!

Here are two undocumented “Swipe strokes” that you may find useful.

1. “Command Bar” stroke
You probably know that when the Virtual Graffiti area is displayed, doing a “Lower-left to Upper Right” stroke (“/”) will bring up the “Command bar” from which you can select available options like “Cut, Copy, Paste, etc.” Well, if you are like me, you probably keep your Virtual Graffiti area hidden most of the time to take advantage of the NX’s HiRes+ screen. To activate the “Command bar” with the Virtual Graffiti area hidden, do the same stroke, but be sure to start the stroke anywhere in the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen.

2. “Switch Silk Plug-in” stroke
If you have a Silk Plug-in installed such as WonderSilk, Decuma, SilkCalc, etc., you can toggle between the last two used by doing a “reverse Command stroke”. Starting anywhere in the Status bar, stroke from “Lower-right to Upper-left” (“”). This will swap the Virtual Graffiti area with the last-used Silk Plug-in. Note: for this to work, you must first “enable” the two Silk Plug-ins you want to swap by tapping on the Silk Plug-in Manager icon (the fourth from the left on the Status bar) and select any installed Silk Plug-in other than StandardInput. For example, select the WonderSilk Plug-in. Now, do the stroke, and you are swapped back to StandardInput. Stroke again, and WonderSilk swaps back ready to use. This only needs to be done once, but it must also be done after a reset.

Credit for finding and informing us of these strokes goes to the diligent guys at ClieSource!

Here are a three tips to consider if your battery is not holding a charge like you think it should…

1. Does your Clie “come on” when you have it in your pocket, your purse, or in its case? Engaging the “Hold” button will prevent it from accidentally coming on. Alarms still sound, but you have to disengage the “Hold” button in order to access them.

2. Check your “hacks” or “system extensions”. For some reason, it seems that when I enable certain of these types of apps, my battery runs down faster. Your milage may definitely vary with this one, but that’s how it has happened for me. Not sure why.

3. Play with the brightness level. I find that by keeping the brightness over 50% causes definite unnecessary battery drain. I typically keep my display brightness set at about 30 percent and find it very easy to read in an office environment. For those times when you want to “show off” or show some photos or something, just increase the brightness temporarily. At night, when I don’t want to bother my wife, setting the brightness to the minimum setting is more than adequate in a darkened room. The brightness control is always available from the Standard Virtual Graffiti area, and is also in the “Extension>>” menu in ZLauncher’s QuickLaunch+ Anywhere function.