The Driinn Mobile Phone Holder declutters your charging portable device by providing both a place to store your device and a method for controlling its long cable while it charges. This charging holder about half the price of the previously mentioned Socket Pocket and charging hammock, and the wrap-around for long cords really cleans things up. The Driinn Mobile Phone Holder comes in a variety of colours and will set you back around $7 at Amazon.

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Opera has released a new beta version of their Mini browser for cell phones and PDAs that includes pretty serious improvements for anyone who's serious about their hand-held browsing—namely, actual file downloading, uploading to select online services like Flickr and Gmail, and saving of web pages for offline access. Previous versions of Mini, like most mobile browsers, could only handle files that the browser or the device itself knew what to do with, but Mini now lets you save files and web pages to the device's storage, assuming it has a working version of the JSR-75 access protocol running in the background. Opera also threw in page-based "Find" searching and claims its server-based page cache is running 50 percent faster in recent tests. Opera Mini 4.1 beta is a free download for most devices that work with Java.

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A new Australian study of Blackberry users has found that the cult PDA makes people more productive by blurring the lines between work and home, but that angry spouses are hitting back at the device.
The joint study between the UNSW Australia School of Business and the University of Sydney found that the device with its always-on email delivery enabled users to work "harder, faster and more frequently," researcher Judith McCormack told the Fin Review today.
The downside they found was that organisations were having to replace Blackberries more often than other equipment - as a result of family members growing frustrated with the device.
"One organisation said they go through a lot of handsets, suggesting that they are actually damaged, flushed down the toilet or thrown at the wall more frequently than one would expect."
Either that, or they read Gina's guide to email management and didn't want always on email disturbing their work anymore. :)

You might not be able to tell from this photo, but this "laptop" is actually a PDA and foldable keyboard, stripped down and embedded in an old book. It was done by the team over at MAKE. They've got a video demonstration of how to do it (fittingly hosted by a guy in a "I void warranties" t-shirt) which is only four minutes long, so you might want to refer to the PDF for more detailed instructions. You know, I have an old Handspring lying around somewhere... :)

Weekend Project: Make a PDA Notebook [MAKE]

Social money management webapp Wesabe has just added a mobile interface, eliminating the memory gap between purchases and spending records. Along with entering in purchases and withdrawals, Wesabe Mobile lets you see your recent transactions and balances from your cell phone, PDA or Blackberry—a helpful willpower tool for anyone trying to break a once-a-day Starbucks habit (or Tim Hortons, for you northerners). Those with SSL-enabled mobile browsers and an existing Wesabe account can head to m.wesabe.com.

The next version of the BlackBerry OS (expected later this month) will deliver video and voice recording features, according to a piece in APC mag. The updates affect the 8100 Pearl and the 8300 Curve.

"OS 4.3.1 update lets the Curve record video onto a MiniSD card, with the Curve's digital camera flash toggled on to act as a bright light during the video recording session. The device's multimedia menu option also gains a new Voice Notes feature for recording random (or highly organised) thoughts.

Writer David Flynn says the Pearl misses out on video recording but gets voice recording.

BlackBerry OS update to deliver video and voice recording [APC]

Palm OS only: Take your passwords with you everywhere you go with Cryptex, a freeware Palm OS application that promises to keep your sensitive data secure with RC4 encryption. Add as many accounts as desired with as many fields as necessary. Easily distinguish your accounts with the many beautiful icons provided within the Cryptex application. The interface is extremely easy to set up and use. Best of all, this Palm OS application is absolutely free.