Well...<br><br>I pretty much LIVE out of my Palm, and have for some years (I'm on my third, and it's about time to upgrade to a fourth). The only time I leave the house without it is when I’m going running- and even then I take my StarTac phone (with lightweight battery, in a waterproof neck pouch), the numbers on which come from synchronization with the Palm.<br><br>Having driving directions, names, and hundreds of phone numbers with me at all times is a huge convenience, and it probably has also kept several situations from turning critical. With the Palm and my mobile phone I am far more capable from anywhere I happen to be, and that’s a real feeling of security in an emergency. I would not choose to be without it- leaving it behind makes me feel almost as unprepared as forgetting my wallet. I also often carry a smallish lockblade folder on the backside of the belt pouch.<br><br>Aside from phone numbers and contact information, I keep e-mail, vehicle information, information about items or books I’m looking for, programming tips and code fragments, innumerable to-do lists, my schedule (business and personal), reminders, chapters of books, articles and transcripts of speeches, memorable quotes, statistics, today’s editions of my favorite web pages (Avantgo), packing lists for several different kinds of trips, lists of things expected in the mail and people who’ve said they’ll get back to me, personal information about associates and friends (wife’s name, kid’s names, interests), business expenses and mileage, user names and passwords for dozens of systems and websites (including this one), encrypted bank account and credit card account information, inventories… you get the idea. I trust it with all this because at any given time the information exists on at least 3 machines, that is, work and home computers, and the device itself, which is a level of redundancy much more secure than any other system I know, including paper stored in just one place.<br><br>Having said all that, though, it’s also true that 95 percent of the time I'm really using the Palm desktop software on computers at work or at home, not the Palm device itself. The unit itself functions largely as a way of keeping the information in sync wherever I am, more than actually getting used itself- but that’s partly because I’m a programmer by trade, and spend much of my life at computers. It’s also true that you need paper backups for critical information- I had a memory card come loose on vacation when I dropped one of the older models- it was Ok, but I lost the information (until I got home and could hotsync with my computer). It was an inconvenience, but I did have paper backups for the vacation-critical information- printed from the Palm desktop.<br><br>So, I guess my approach is that I use it, I use it a lot, I use it for everything… but I try to keep paper printouts to fall back on for the most critical information.<br><br>FULL DISCLOSURE- I also own Palm stock.<br><br><br>