As technology advances it gets more and more difficult to keep up.  Not too long ago a Personal Digital Assistant, or PDA, was a pretty decent sized hand held device that allowed you to store important information but did not allow any connectivity at the time they were introduced.  Just about everyone assumed that PDAs would offer connectivity in some form either to the internet, to voice communications, or both.  In June of 2003 Handspring introduced the Treo 600 and soon the PDA had all kinds of connectivity.

Nowadays when you talk about the functionality of a PDA you use terms similar to the terms used to describe a computer.  The Treo 600 has a 160×160 LCD display, a 144-MHz ARM processor, 24MB of available RAM storage, and a built in digital camera.  With the Treo 600 you can download files on the internet, check your email, talk on the phone, check your address book, and take a picture.  The technology involved in creating the Treo 600 is incredible and its functionality is almost endless when it comes to communications.

Surfing and Emailing

The Treo 600 comes with a proprietary web browser called Blazer and, because it is one of the first PDA web browsers, it is neat to play with at first but it has many functional limitations.  The Blazer browser on the Treo 600 has a difficult time with pictures in a JPG format and documents in a TXT format.  Since these are two of the most popular formats for these types of docs on the internet, it can be difficult to surf the web on the Treo 600.  However there are add ons you can get to help Blazer surf the internet more effectively.  For instance, you can get WebXCope for your Treo 600 that will help break down the internet so that Blazer can more easily use it.  With some help your Blazer browser can be effective.
 
For help in storing files the Treo 600 has an SD/MMC compatible port.  In simple terms this is where you can put in an SD/MMC expansion card that will allow you to move important items off of your Treo 600 and free up room on the built in memory.  If you have important documents or emails that you want to keep safe then download them to your SD/MMC card.  This is one of the more convenient functions of this groundbreaking piece of communications equipment.

Why all the hype over the Blackberry? You know, that personal organiser so beloved of city executives.

As far as I can tell the Blackberry does one thing well - deliver your emails to you while your are on the move.

Forgive me if I am underwhelmed.

For less money you could buy DiaryPoint on a top range mobile telephone and get email, multiple diary coordination, work on your MS Office documents, watch video, take photographs?

Let me be honest.

I've never used a Blackberry. Most of my knowledge about the Blackberry's features come from web sites trying to sell Blackberrys. My insights into Blackberry thumb (a condition brought about by typing with your thumbs) come from an accountant friend of mine.

My friend thinks his Blackberry is brilliant.

But I just don't get it.

I just can't get excited over the ability to receive email on the move.

DiaryPoint operates on the latest generation of mobile telephones - Pocket PC with inbuilt smart phones. Like the Blackberry, DiaryPoint allows you to collect your email on the more. But unlike the Blackberry, you can coordinate multiple diaries, download your MS Office attachments, work on your spreadsheets, manage your contacts?

In fact, using the DiaryPoint you can do just about anything you can do in the office.

And thanks to the wonders of GPRS (and 3G as it becomes more widely available) you can already use DiaryPoint across more than 98% of the UK. GPRS coverage is not perfect - and 3G networks have some way to go before coverage is anything other than patchy - but DiaryPoint adds Wireless LAN network to the mix of connectivity technologies, including Quadband GSM/GPRS, Bluetooth and infrared. Just compare that to the limited connectivity options offered by the Blackberry.

DiaryPoint provides a sophisticated contact management system providing instant access to all your contact information. Never again will you have to call the office for the name of that supplier that is on your desktop PC. All contacts are always available and always updated.

Make your calls with one touch telephone dialling. Search for your contact by name. Click on the name. The number is dialled. Want to send an email - click the email icon and the email client opens ready for use. Adding attachments is just a couple more clicks. It is as easy as it gets.

How Does it Work?

DiaryPoint resides on your mobile phone. The central diary resides on our central server (no need for MS Exchange or Lotus Domino licences). Using your smart phone you will instantly be able to make appointments, add contacts and manage your time more effectively than ever before.

You will also be able to access the diaries of any of your colleagues, subject to security privileges, that also have DiaryPoint. Scheduling appointments across multiple diaries has never been so simple.

Obviously, you can also access your diary from any PC through a standard web browser. To work off-line (useful when you want to organise your contacts or schedule appointments in bulk) there's a one-click install that installs DiaryPoint on your PC.

So now you can understand why I just don't get the Blackberry.

Another triumph for marketing hype over true innovation? Until now.

Anyone for Blackberry Crush?

Keith Longmire is a self-confessed technophile and Director of DiaryPoint. His guiding philosophy is, "if it doesnt't deliver cost-effective business benefit it is useless". You can learn more about DiaryPoint by visiting the DiaryPoint web site.

Medical Billing PDA

One of the first things I notice about a medical office, whether it be with my dentist, my family doctor, or my optometrist, is the walls full of color-coded files containing medical histories, billing information, and tracking information for prescriptions check ups and various other things. As a patient, it is fun to trace the colored tags across the files and wonder what they mean.

Doctors know exactly what they mean, and they see those color-coded files in a totally different light. That wall of folders is vital and almost overwhelming information to help the practice care adequately for its patients. One of the challenges of that wall is that it represents limited access to patient records, especially billing record, when away from the office. It reminds me of Pinocchio singing "I got no strings," while still getting tangled up in all of the strings around him.

Medical Billing PDA is an example of how a practice can act without strings. At anytime while traveling to conferences or leaving the office for any other reason, medical billing PDA technology eliminates strings and increases accessibility to what is most important: patients.

Patient Tracking

Wherever a doctor may be, whether traveling on the way to the office in the morning or on a plane back from vacation or a conference, he or she will always be able to keep track of his or her patients. On the way to the office, the doctor can go into the appointment tracking on a pocket PC and retrieve information for the day.

At the end of every day the doctor can simply dock the PDA to synchronize with the practices database and update the PDA to contain the appointment information for the next day. Billing information, patient information, and other information are available as well, no strings attached.

Real-Time Updates

Perhaps the newest convenience feature available using medical billing PDA is that it can work with a wireless card to retrieve real-time information on just about anything. Professional services, patient diagnosis, medical procedure information, patient records, and anything else can be retrieved and sent from anywhere using the internet.

Compatibility

A day at the office or at a hospital can be very hectic. A doctor can be tied down to many things at once. It is important to be able to provide adequate attention to patients and to streamline administrative strings. Using medical billing PDA, doctors can enter information on patients as they visit them and later synchronize them into the system either through docking or wireless at the end of the day.

Not only is medical billing PDA compatible with the difficult schedule of the medical professional, but it is also compatible with medical compliant forms and billing. Billing information that is transmitted is accurate and timely. Just what the doctor ordered.

Joe Miller is specialist in online advertising. For more information on medical billing PDA, please visit AdvancedMD.com.