PDAs work for me

Jack's discussion of PDAs was great. I think it is really interesting and really instructional to make explicit the statement that not everything works for everybody. I can't imagine living without my PDA (a Palm T3). I use it for the calendar and contact function, but unlike Jack, I enter everything in the PDA first and then sync to the computer. My laptop is the backup, not the source. Why? Because the PDA is always with me and the laptop just sometimes (though my shoulder might argue with this assessment). I played with an mp3 player doing it all too, but found that I liked the use of the PDA stylus a lot more than the scroll wheel. My wife's cousin, a graduate of the MIT Media Lab (where a lot of this tech stuff first gets thought up), has abandoned his PDA and iPod and now has it all on his phone which he sinks using Bluetooth.

But what I really like about my PDA is the ability to store information that I need only periodically. For example, I have my list of movies I want to rent. So, it's late, I'm at the video store, I pull out the PDA and see what is next on the list. I have my list of wine's I like....I have my list of dimmensions on the basement doors I'm refitting...I have my list of passwords (encrypted, of course).

I also have an Excel file that I write the date in the spring that I hear each new migrant bird for the first time. I have a program that displays images of Oregon Birds that I use in class. I store agendas and notes from meetings off my computer so I don't have to print them, but I can still have them at the meeting.

The other great thing about the PDA is the ability to coordinate calendars with my wife. During our 'planning meeting' we look over the week's activities and "beam" each other events that the other has in their PDA. Exciting stuff!

What I'm looking toward, however, is the "best of Jack's paper and the always with you PDA" - the Apple version of the Tablet PC!