Life@Hand Status?

P

plex

New member
I just received this, for those that were wondering?
_____________________________________________
"Dear XXXXXX,

Since it is now the beginning of August, we would like to keep you up to date on
the progress of Life@Hand.

Life@Hand development continues at a rapid pace, but due to the complexity,
unprecedented integration, and number of features, the original plan to release
a beta this summer will be postponed. To when? As soon as it's ready. The old
saying goes, "I can do it fast, priced fairly, and good quality--pick 2." We
chose the latter 2.

We apologize for the delay, but rest assured that this application will be well
worth the wait. At this time, we cannot release any further details for legal
reasons, but once Life@Hand is ready for beta testing, we will be sure to
contact you.

Thank you for your patience!

Best Regards,
PDA Performance Webmaster"


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

And the vaporware just keeps on coming.
 
Hey, Moose!

I had never heard of Life@Hand until reading your post. A very quick web search identifies it on a couple of sites as a datebook replacement. I did a search on Palm's web site and found nothing.

Is it for the LifeDrive only? (I'm guessing this because both names begin with "Life.") Can you point me to a page on Palm's web site that will provide the details and their hype? I've been using DateBk by Pimlico Software for many years (since their version 3) and do not use most of the features that it offers. Nevertheless, I'm always keeping an eye open for new products, programs, etc. and one of the sites I just saw claimed Life@Hand combines the best features of DateBk and Agendus, but did not provide much substantiation. I am, of course, curious. Please let me know when you get a chance. (Vaporware provides us believers with hope!)

OldBlue

PS - I'll bet the past few days have been "warm" for you. My sister lives nearby in Gustine and I've been receiving weather updates from her.
 
It's an alledged product from PDAPerformance. They do Contacts 5 and EZMaintain.

The actual Life@Hand Forum is restricted now and can't be accessed unless you'd signed up for the "beta test".

It's supposed to include everything that Datebk5 and Agendus has plus much more. The original beta release was scheduled for Dec 17th 2004 and that didn't happen. It got moved to "summer of 05". That didn't happen.


If it ever comes out - it better be the best thing since sliced bread.

Gustine and Modesto have been warm - 100 plus for probably 15 or so days. I haven't been there much as my work schedule has even kept me off of the net for "play".

And since it's after 11:00PM....off to bed.
 
"Hi!" back at ya, Carol! Happy Wednesday! How are things in SubTown USA?

Moose, thanks for the info on Life@Hand. I will check on it periodically. (Actually, I'll probably rely on your posts to keep me up-to-date, as I usually do. :D ) I'll stick with DateBk5 for now.

OldBlue
 
Well you probably know that I am on the Iambic Forums Team, which basically means two things:

1. I'm there to help with the Forums - much as I am here. Although, there it's in an official capacity and here it's much more casual.

2. It also means that I am under NDA regarding anything at Iambic.

But here is what I can say: v10 is the next generation assuming it follows v9. When the next generation is released in an official capacity or a public beta - I will advise here as I usually do.

Dont' ask me what I can't tell you, please. ;)
 
Well, fortunately I don't owe Iambic squat. I've paid Iambic over $150 for 4 softwares & upgrades, including $20 to upgrade to version 8. Six weeks later 9 came out, and they wanted another $9.95. I doubt they'll ever see another penny from me, although I'm sure 8.06 won't work with the T5 or LifeDrive should I be forced to change models from the T3.

Life@Hand (subject of OP) ain't on the horizon. I am willing to at the least theorize, speculate, postulate and or guess . . .

that A/10 will come in at 2MEG plus and have problems until 10.04, at which point you'll finally give in and pay the upgrade. Two weeks later . . . . A/11. Until they change their scandalous upgrade add-on fees I really don't care what they keep private since I'm not interested.
 
1. Sorry Moose, obviously I know you are ubder NDA but thought you might be able to give us and idea 'when' rather than 'what'.

2. Knew this would kick PTL into action :D
 
SOS,

I don't know when....I can say that.

There have been a lot of changes at Iambic caused by several factors - most of which was the creation of the Iambic Teams Forum. Those changes are/will/should make for a better product and better response to their customer base and potential customers.

And Paul, his opinion and feelings are well known and in the past somewhat warranted. It may be that things won't change with regards to pricing etc. Iambic acknowledges that these pricing policies have caused issues. I have chosen a path that's different then Paul's and it's only because of my "need" for the program and it's power that it provides.

I decided to participate in the Iambic Team Forum because of several factors of which "influence" into the product and policy was some inspiration.

It is a huge program that offers a lot of various options that are not necessarily used by all. It will continue to evolve to stay up with the various devices that are being released by the Palm OS based manufacturers.

Tell me of another contact manager that uses icon's, provides weather and quotes, directions (when used with mapopolis) and also has a mail client and many other positives. There isn't one....it's the most powerful and as such it's huge.

I'll let you all know when it's out in public beta - as I always do.

BTW: I became a IFT Member after v9 was released - as well as the other members joined after v9 so expect some changes with the next generation.
 
Thanks Mooseman, I had hoped I could "vent" without hurting your feelings or insulting your terrific Agendus (and other) abilities. It just frosts me I have to run off and be a beta whore to get my money's worth, you know? God knows we've ALL BEEN beta testers for Iambic, bribed with an upgrade or not, and 3 of the 4 products I mentioned above . . . . discontinued. There is a fundamental CRIME in charging someone more $$$ 6 weeks later, and the fact they make you sign an agreement for a damn "barbershop icon" just tells me they're not done with the ball[squeezing profit taking just yet. Yes, it's a great program and I use 8.06 daily . . . I guess it's like crack . . . first handful free.

Until Life@Hand, I'm trying this new August 5 2005 version of A5:
http://www.a5agenda.com/
- seems promising and even better than the previous one I liked. Works with T5, 200k, now skinnable for an additional 4-28k. Fast, no errors, no crashes yet.

Free.
 
PTL,

We had the upgrade dicussion and you know it's never an issue to have two different opinions. It would only become an issue if we didn't respect each other's opinions - which will never happen.

When the next gen of Agendus comes out - I'm certain that the pricing issues may raise their head again depending upon a frame of reference.

There are times when I'd just as soon have the old Action Names Datebook application sans all of the other "upgrades".

No program on my Palm has ever been perfect from a my perspective and so my options will always be open to review whatever else is out there.

I continue to monitor Life@hand, MonthlyPlanner, Datebk5 (6 if it ever comes out as well) and whatever else. Looked at the A5 you posted but doesn't seem what I want that might have a chance of replacing Agendus.

The beauty is that the NDA doesn't prevent me from continuing to try other things.......I just can't talk about anything that may or may not be coming from Agendus until it's public info on the web site.....
 
I know you're big on contact/meeting management - and A5 won't give you that. I'm very impressed with the list/grid views however - won't have the icons in month view but I'll live with it.

I've uninstalled Agendus, cleaned up the "calendar db notes" and installed/configured A5 in about 1 hour. It's ROCKIN' for my needs, faster, more vivid and readable even with tiny font - but again, no contact management. I don't use that - but know you do.

I'll finish off with something important: Iambic are damn lucky to have you and I wish you were running the damn outfit. There are not many (I can't think of one) who rely so much on contact management and history, but will STILL beta test and risk information corruption so as to help . . . fortunately you're a "restore whiz," and can't be screwed up as long as you can synch/export/clean up/re-import (I'm guessing) -- but it's still "risky." You're a good man to endure all that to find the Agendus bugs, which we all know occur int he first "4 versions" of anything they do.

Life@Hand will have a customer in me if it'll show icons in month view and have definitive day headers (like old Agendus 4/5) instead of "this Monday" and "Next Wednesday," which I always considered silly. Drag and drop would be nice, photos I don't need. The contact management would be useful to me if it wasn't such a pain to "upkeep." Agendus relies on you never deleting anything or the contact history goes with it. Hopefully Life@Hand will allow you to "mark" those events automatically that are used in contact management, and "slectively purge" other records.

I'd have spent more time on that if I were renovating Agendus. Here are 2 quick screenshots of A5, for anyone interested:
 
Woohoo!! A5 Plus Monthly Planner = BLISS. Already configured and emailed the developer to see where I send the $14.95 direct (rather than deal w/PalmGear).

Thanks so much - the icons "flashing in rotation" is very cool, since more than 3 per day will fit in the square. All I have to see now is how much "extra junk," a la "#AN icon:34|228848" or "@@@@" (Datebk5) is put in the calendar notes and if they can cause corruption combining A5 and Mo. Planner. I don't think they will.

Cheers! 350k in flash and I'm done. Most truly excellent.
 
I thought you might like.......I've been bangin on Iambic for the Banner's for year's.

Sometimes it's the "simple" little things in the Palm life that get's us buy and keeps us happy instead of bloatware.

I'm not certain of the icon encoding but it should just be the note field so should cause much issue?

I could almost use MonthPlanner buy itself.
 
Curiously, although I have renamed my icon set (which I developed) to "A5 icons," Agendus deleted them on its uninstall. Furthermore, Mo Planner uses a small note (no "@@@"'s) in the note section - and refers to "AN Icon 32) or what have you. Deleting these notes, obviously, deletes the Monthly Planner link to the icon. How do I remove the icon coding for "AN" using Icon Manager? I did "remove all non-icon objects" thinking that would remove any Agendus coding - but apparently not. Do I have to copy each icon into a different icon set? Found this when doing a search for "#AN" to make usre there weren't any Agendus remnants.

I've got Mo Planner configured to hell and A5 as well - will do a separate thread on results as we're probably way off topic here by now. It's just terrific and yes, you could almost use Mo Planenr by itself (although I know Moose needs the contact history). Other than drag & drop I don't miss Agendus (yet) . . . I installed an Agendus 9 trial and it took me 10 minutes to find all the junk files left after uninstall, and that ALSO deleted "A5 cions" upon removal. A5 has 5 different list iviews separately configurable, along with top bar buttons that can be changed to your preferred function. It's skinnable and my day headers simply say "MON" and "AUG" in caps:

TUE 16 AUG 05 (- black frame, white lettering)
 
Paul,

Ping the developer - I think he has MonthPlanner configured to look for Datebk5 or Iambic's icon sets and he uses the same encoding. But I'm not positive so I'd say check with him.
 
These are shots (Thank God for TomCatalog) showing that "Actn" still "owns" the icon set, although I SELECTED ALL and COPIED these icons to another separate icon "set" using Icon Manager, and then renamed that "A5 icons."

I thought this would rid the set of any Iambic characteristics - but apparently not. Once i assigned to Monthly Planner, the above screenshots show that "Actn" was assigned to them again. Odd, but your explanation seems the best - the set would either read "DATEBK5" or "ACTN" if he's set up to look for them.

Oh well - not really a waste of time - I'm still learning about "icon properties;" I thougt he "non picture objects" might be coding but thre aren't any "non image objects" in this new set and "Actn" still appears.

Do Action Names have a patent on "those types of icons?" I know if I were to install Agendus now without any icons -- and then uninstall it -- it would WIPE OUT the A5 icons! Weird, huh?
 
Renaming the Icon Set would not change the properites away from Iambic.

Deleting the Iambic Icon set will not - not remove the links into the note field. And to the best of my knowledge it won't do it for Datebk5 either - they have moved away from using those annoying @ but.....that's another issue.
 
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