Palm respond to terrorist tragedy

By Marc Saltzman
CNN

(CNN) -- While millions turn to television, newspapers and the Internet for the latest on America's new war, many are looking to take info on the go with the latest Palm programs.

In fact, a few swift Palm developers have already created and published free downloads related to last week's terrorist tragedy.

The following are the first of what will likely be a cavalcade of programs to help those cope, communicate and keep informed, as the nation struggles to make sense of the recent attacks.

'Disaster Relief Pocket Directory Database'

Town Compass's "Disaster Relief Pocket Directory Database" is a free, downloadable database highlighting a number of relief agencies and organizations spread throughout the United States.

Information includes blood donation centers, national Red Cross phone numbers and official Web sites, a listing of charitable funds, airline and hospital information and counseling resources.

To run this program, users will need to first download and install the free Town Compass DataViewer, also available at this site.

Steve Curran, spokesperson for Seattle's Town Compass, says the company was highly motivated to release this database, which only took two days to program and post online.

"We recognize that not everyone is always in front of a computer or TV, so we wanted to provide a resource for people on the go" explains Curran.

"We just wanted to pitch in however we could. Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones affected by the disaster."

'Department of Defense Acronyms Dictionary'

And as a nation braces for the possibility war, one might need Beiks' "Department of Defense Acronyms Dictionary", a free listing of over 5,000 Department of Defense acronyms and abbreviations used by the U.S. Defense Department.

Let's face it -- some of the terminology used can get quite technical.

Examples of acronyms include "SPEAR" (Strike Protection Evaluation and Anti-air Research) and "FLIP" (FLight Instruction Procedures).

Borislav Kolev, the owner of Beiks Ltd., says it was a Palm user who sent in this information and asked for it to be converted into a Palm format.

"This is quite normal for us -- we have many other similar databases such as a bible dictionary and language dictionaries. We provide this option for those who want quick and simple reference guides" says Kolev.

On the tragedy, Kolev adds, "I came from Bulgaria to the U.S. only a short time ago, and like anyone else in the world who knows freedom, I do believe we are right and we -- America -- will prevail."

Flag 1.00 and AvantGo

Patriotic Palm developer David Phillips has published Flag 1.00, a free image of the American flag for color Palm PDAs. When tapped, the tiny program (90KB) launches an animation of the stars being added to the red and white stripes.

Lastly, while not a newly-developed program, AvantGo is a very popular service offering free Web content in a number of customizable "channels", regardless of whether the user has a wireless modem. The news is updated when the user synchronizes the PDA with a Net-connected PC.

With CNN.com as an example, the Palm or PocketPC user peruses through a long list of up-to-date headlines and then taps on the words to read the full story.