Etak Traffic Touch
You can check traffic from your Palm device using the Etak Traffic Touch PQA. A word of warning, though, this might be hazardous unless you're car-pooling. It's pictured in Figure J.

FIGURE J

Pull down the "Local" menu to choose a city.

Once you've chosen your city, tap the Traffic button. You'll see a display of all of the problem traffic areas in your locale, as shown in Figure K.

FIGURE K

You'll get a list of traffic trouble spots with Traffic Touch.

Weather Channel
You can get weather information from the Weather Channel. First, enter a city name or zip code, as shown in Figure L, and press Go.

FIGURE L

Enter a city name or zip code to get your local weather.

In a moment, you'll receive the current and future weather forecast for your area, as shown in Figure M.

FIGURE M

This is helpful information for anyone who needs to pack for a trip.

The Go translation service
The Go translation service, pictured in Figure N, is another good source of information for travelers, although the selection of languages is somewhat limited.

FIGURE N

The Go translation service is great for travelers.

To use it, first enter the words you need to translate, choose the language to translate into from the drop-down menu, and then tap Translate Now. In Figure O, I entered a phrase appropriate for the season!

FIGURE O

Have a Happy New Year in any language.

Conclusion
I'm really disappointed that Palm chose to include MultiMail Pro II with the Mobile Internet Kit, rather than the far superior MultiMail Pro III. You can read my MultiMailPro III review in the July 1999 issue of PalmPower at http://palmpower.com/issues/issue199907/multimail001.html.

I'm also wondering what the Mobile Internet Kit really does for me that my trusty old modem, MultiMailPro III, and ProxiWeb don't do. It's really hard to consider the Mobile Internet Kit setup that I have truly mobile because I can't walk around online, like I'd be able to do with an OmniSky modem. Most places I go have readily accessible analog phone lines that I can use, and my ISP provides local dialup just about anywhere through the GRIC (Global Reach Internet Connection) service. Besides, you can use PQAs without having the Mobile Internet Kit, a Palm VII, or even a Palm device that can be upgraded to Palm OS 3.5. Check http://www.geocities.com/daveinfopage/palmpilot_webclipping.html for more information on how to do that.

Although the Palm Mobile Internet Kit is really neat and provides a good introduction to Web clipping applications, I think I'll stick to my landline modem for now. But let's not forget that regardless of which way you choose to go, there's a Palm solution that'll work for you.

Christine Harland Williams is President of Harland Communications and tracks handheld solutions used in the enterprise. She can be reached at ppme@harlandwebs.com.