Tech Tip 80 - What You Can Do with Your PDA

The traditional personal digital assistant, better known as the PDA, is all about organization – organizing your address books, organizing your emails, or organizing your tasks. However, today’s models transcend organization, turning the PDA into an office on the run. You can surf the web on your PDA, chat online with your pals, masquerade as an amateur photographer, entertain yourself with electronic games, or play your favorite tunes and videos. Technology improvements and fierce competition have driven down the prices of PDAs. If you decide to invest in one of these nifty devices, don’t set it aside and let it collect dust. Put it to good use.

You’ve acquired your new PDA to simplify business on-the-run. One of the most common tasks of a PDA is keeping track of appointments, tasks, contacts, and email while you’re away from your desk. Therefore, you’ll need your PDA to keep track of all these things from one computer to the next. That’s where the desktop software comes in.

Whether you’ve purchased a Palm Pilot, Blackberry, or Pocket PC, before you begin the business of tying everything together, you’ll need to install the desktop software for the device. Remove the CD labeled with your desktop software, slip it onto the CD-ROM drive of your computer, and follow the on-screen instructions for the installation, selecting the default settings. Once you’ve installed the desktop software, it’s time to set-up the sync.

The sync, or synchronization process, refers to the process of reconciling and resolving conflicts in the data between different devices – in our case, between the PDA and the desktop/laptop computer. Each PDA uses its company’s synchronization software package: Palm Desktop (Palm Pilots), ActiveSync (Pocket PCs), or other service (Blackberry Internet or simply using Microsoft Outlook). Syncing between your PDA and your computer ensures that your appointments and contact information remain up-to-date. When you set up synchronization, you’ll need to decide on how the synchronization should occur. Do you synchronize wirelessly or through a cradle or USB connection to the computer? Which device takes precedence if a conflict occurs while syncing?

If your computer and PDA support wireless syncing, go wireless. By using wireless, you avoid the hassles of connecting one device to another and fooling around with wires. However, keep in mind that wireless synchronization may be slower than synchronization through a direct connection. Also, if your device is not secured while you do a wireless sync, you’re opening yourself up to potential attacks by hackers. On the other hand, if you have to sync to more than one computer, you can mix the different modes of synchronization. Set your PDA’s settings accordingly before you perform each synchronization if you sync using more than one mode.

You’ll also need to decide whether the information from your computer or PDA takes precedence should a conflict occur during the sync process.

The choices offered include:

• Desktop computer wins – if any information differs between your computer’s contact organizer and your PDA, the computer’s data will overwrite the data stored on the PDA. Use this option if you use your computer as the central information collection point and use the PDA as your computer’s temporary store.
• Handheld wins – if there are any differences between the computer’s contact organizer and your PDA, the data stored on the PDA will overwrite the data stored on the computer. Use this option if you primarily collect new information using your PDA and must replicate it to other systems.
• The PDA or desktop computer notifies you if there is a conflict and you decide whether to accept the information on the PDA or the desktop computer.

Once you’ve set up the software and synchronization settings on your desktop, you’re ready to work. Your software will normally require an initial sync to occur. Once this has taken place, the PDA now becomes the central collection point for all your information.

The number one reason for getting a PDA is organizing information on-the-go, and this means arranging your information so you can locate it when needed. One way of making this easier is to create categories of contacts, tasks, and appointments. Your desktop and PDA software should come with default categories that include contacts, calendars, notes, and tasks, with some even separating business files from personal ones. Start with the default categories and add more as you go. As you take notes, set-up appointments, and create new contacts, file them away in your newly created categories and replicate this structure back to your computer when you sync. By creating categories, you increase your productivity and make information handling easier.

Have wireless? If you’re in a location that has access to Internet connectivity, you can surf the web, check your email, or chat with your pals online using the device’s messaging tool. Built into the Windows CE operating system of Pocket PCs is the MSN Messenger. If you own a Blackberry, you can access email using the Blackberry Internet Service. If your device comes pre-built with Bluetooth capabilities, you can download files and exchange business cards with other Bluetooth-friendly devices, connect to the Internet, or navigate by satellite using GPS. The iPAQ PDAs feature some of the most powerful Bluetooth capabilities built into a handheld.

Today’s PDAs are more than functional extensions of the office; they’re miniature entertainment centers, capable of playing MP3s or videos if you have the software to do so. Pocket Tunes is a software program that turns a Palm or Treo into an MP3 player. Napster features music downloads for certain handheld models. The Palm Zire series features built-in MP3, digital camera and video capabilities. Owners of the Pocket PC may purchase videos from Pocket Movies (www.pocketmovies.net) on their handhelds running PocketTV. There is no fee for the personal use of PocketTV on Pocket PCs and the Casio Pocket Manager. Other things you can do with your PDA (with special software) include reading e-books and listening to audio books. Life is never dull with a PDA at your side.

Your PDA is, after all, a handheld computer, and computers are not immune from disaster. That’s why it’s important to perform regular back-ups of your PDA’s data. Back-up your data to a CompactFlash (CF) card or a Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMediaCard (MMC). These cards store anywhere from 64 MB to 1GB of data You can use the basic utilities that come with the Pocket PC, or purchase a third-party software package, such as Pocket Backup Plus (www.spritesoftware.com) or Backup Manager. Remember, your back-up will be the one true source from which to replicate your data should the PDA fail.

Make your investment work for you – get acquainted with your PDA and make life on-the-go more than functional. Make it an unforgettable experience!

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