New Palm Freeware

There really hasn't been much new to report in the world of Palm handhelds. Palm has been focusing on smartphones and hasn't released a new PDA since 2005. While we aren't seeing new hardware, software continues to be developed for the Palm OS. I thought I'd share some of the newer Palm freeware applications:

• AtroInfo - Plots the planets, sun, moon, and stars in the night sky. Note: Huge 15MB file. You'll want to install this on an SD card.
• Bombel - Virtual bubble wrap for you to pop. Not that educational, I know, but a great stress reliever.
• Dolch Sight Words - Simple program to quiz students over sight words. If a student says the word correctly, tap OK. If incorrect or slow, tap Again and the word will appear again later in the session.
• InflationMaster - With all of the recent talk about inflation, this application is handy for comparing dollars in different years. It has been updated for 2008.
• JazzyDraw - Advanced drawing program that lets you save your work to an SD card.
• Jury - Silly application that lets you tap one of two buttons. One button plays applause sounds and the other is for boos. Teachers might like to use this when asking the class true and false questions.
• Latin Endings Program - For all you Latin teachers out there--here's a database of declension and verb endings. (I took four years of Latin in high school and we had a song and/or dance for Latin words endings, but a reference like this would have been super handy.)
• Outcast - Puzzle game where you tidy up the screen by moving pieces into a minimum number of groups.
• Tangram - Solve tangram puzzles by moving the pieces to match the silhouette.
• Word Maniac - Word game where you build words from the letters displayed on the screen.
• World Population Clock - Display an estimate of the current global human population or select a date to see that date's population.
• Want more about Palm freeware? Check out Chris Cuppett's book Handheld Applications for the Classroom and the sequel, More Handheld Applications for the Classroom. The books offer ideas and lessons for using Palm freeware. A CD-ROM is included so you don't even have to hunt for the software online.

Unfortunately websites for freeware suffer from link rot--that means that the hyperlinks may not work because the original page or file has been moved or deleted. If you find link rot, do a Google search for the exact name of the application. You may need to add extra keywords like Palm, download, or freeware.