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The Palm hand held personal digital assistant remains the most popular in the ever increasing variety of PDAs. It's one of the best ways to carry all those addresses, contacts and phone numbers as well as keeping on top of your daily schedule. A whole industry has sprung up around this little wonder that includes thousands of programs as well as hardware additions. New hardware gives the Palm additional abilities such as a GPS navigation antenna complete with mapping software so you never get lost, and a pager receiver that converts the Palm into an alphanumeric pager. Now Kodak has just introduced another clip-on attachment that converts the Palm into a digital camera.

Weighing in at just 1.5 ounces, Kodak's PalmPix is about one third the size of the Palm. Its recessed opening lets you slide in the Palm so that its screen becomes the back side of the digital camera. The front of the PalmPix sports a 2X zoom lens. As you aim the PalmPix, you see the image displayed on the Palm's screen. Pictures are viewed on the Palm's LCD screen as grayscale images. Once transferred to the computer, the pictures are stored as 24-bit color JPEG or bitmap files. They can be accessed as full-color VGA (640 x 480) pictures then manipulated, emailed, printed and saved.

The Palm's buttons are reconfigured to perform camera operations. The Date Book button becomes a preview/shutter button. Press once to see the image, again to take the picture. The Scroll buttons let you Zoom in and out. in addition to the Palm's mechanical buttons, the Palm's screen displays a listing of all pictures and dates taken. It's easy to assign any name to the picture. Simply tap on any name in the list to see the image instantly displayed. Other on screen features include a self timer icon that gives a ten second delay before a picture is taken and a resolution icon that lets you switch between 320 x 240 and 640 x 480. A frame counter lets you know how many pictures remain to be taken.

Transferring the pictures is a snap. Remove the Palm from the PalmPix and connect it to the computer docking station. Or simply use the wireless infrared Beam function of the Palm to transfer pictures to another Palm. The PalmPix's low resolution won't replace the quality of today's megapixel digital cameras but its size makes it easy to carry and useful for times when you need to record something on a moments notice. The PalmPix will sell for $179 and is compatible with Palm III, IIIe and IIIx, IBM Workpad, Palm VII platform, and TRGpro. Included in the box are two Kodak AAA alkaline batteries, quick setup and user guide, and PalmPix software, Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0 Installer, Presto! Mr. Photo for editing, sharing and storing photos and Image Carousel, a slide show screen saver and wallpaper utility. Custom carrying cases and rechargeable AAA batteries are available separately.

www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/cameras/palmPix/index.shtml

More photos for the Palm

If you don't want to take pictures but you still want to display grayscale images on a Palm, you can with PocketPhoto. This software only application turns most any Palm and Palm OS compatible handheld PDA into a photo library. PocketPhoto lets you store up to 100 photos from most any source such as a digital camera or even transferred from your computer. It's a convenient way to carry important photos and images without all the clutter. The album creation software requires Windows and lets you transfer most image formatted files into the Palm. $19.95.

Dream House Software, Inc. www.dreamhs.com