Hands High Software, Inc. announced today the release of Slap, software for the Palm OS that quickly converts notes to appointments, address book entries, tasks and more.

Many handheld computer users find that organizing appointments, address book entries, tasks and other information while simultaneously talking to people in a meeting or on the phone is too difficult. The number of programs to start and screens to navigate makes the process cumbersome. Instead, many people use a pencil and paper, or sticky notes to take notes, and then re-enter the information to the handheld computer later. The result is a clutter of papers, and no organization.

Slap solves the problem by giving the handheld user one screen to enter notes. The screen is accessible by pushing one button. The user can enter appointments, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, task lists and more into one screen in the same way as entering information onto a piece of paper. Later, to organize the information, the user selects it and taps an icon to send it to another application. Slap will interpret the text selected, and make the entry into the program selected.

For example, a user could enter Meeting with Bob on Thursday at 4. To turn this into an appointment, the user would tap on the date book icon. Slap would then show a screen that reads Meeting with Bob. The date and time would automatically be set to the date of the next Thursday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Insight

Actioneer pioneered this concept with a similar product for Palm OS handhelds a few years ago. It was popular with users and offered a genuine improvement in usability. Actioneer has now expanded the concept into a web service for desktops and mobiles, but Hands High’s implementation will still hold appeal for business users of the Palm OS. It has all the hallmarks of Hands High’s excellent range of applications, which have seen the veteran Palm OS developer continue to thrive while many of its counterparts in the Palm Economy dissappeared.