The countdown to CES continues, and the noise on the 'net increases. What does Palm have to offer? Will it be enough? Will all of us who are looking for the "newness" be happy campers come Thursday? If so, how soon before we get our paws on the product? The San Francisco Chronicle has a great article on the hopes and fears of Palm's future. "Palm is poised to make what some analysts are calling its last stand at this week's Consumer Electronics Show, where it is expected to introduce its long-awaited Linux-based operating system. Code-named Nova, it will power a new generation of smart phones and potentially other devices. The move is Palm's best chance to get back into the smart phone market, which it pioneered with its Treo handsets and later ceded to companies such as BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion and Apple with its iPhone.
The stakes are high for Palm, which risks permanent irrelevancy or worse if it can't generate some buzz and momentum around its combination of hardware and software. The bottom line is this is Palm's last gasp. They have to come out with a new OS to make themselves relevant again," said Jack Gold, analyst for J.Gold Associates. "Their old OS is a geriatric case. It's been around for a long time and has been marginally improved, but it hasn't kept pace with the iPhone or (Google) Androids of the world." Ouch! Nonetheless, this could be true. See the full article after the jump.
Will Nova flame into light, or just flame out?
The countdown to CES continues, and the noise on the 'net increases. What does Palm have to offer? Will it be enough? Will all of us who are looking for the "newness" be happy campers come Thursday? If so, how soon before we get our paws on the product? The San Francisco Chronicle has a great article on the hopes and fears of Palm's future. "Palm is poised to make what some analysts are calling its last stand at this week's Consumer Electronics Show, where it is expected to introduce its long-awaited Linux-based operating system. Code-named Nova, it will power a new generation of smart phones and potentially other devices. The move is Palm's best chance to get back into the smart phone market, which it pioneered with its Treo handsets and later ceded to companies such as BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion and Apple with its iPhone.
The stakes are high for Palm, which risks permanent irrelevancy or worse if it can't generate some buzz and momentum around its combination of hardware and software. The bottom line is this is Palm's last gasp. They have to come out with a new OS to make themselves relevant again," said Jack Gold, analyst for J.Gold Associates. "Their old OS is a geriatric case. It's been around for a long time and has been marginally improved, but it hasn't kept pace with the iPhone or (Google) Androids of the world." Ouch! Nonetheless, this could be true. See the full article after the jump.
PC MAG: Five Trends to Bet On at CES
Christmas tree is down and out at the curb; New Years empties are gathered and trashed. Next stop: Vegas! So as we all wait for CES 2009, for what are we waiting? Not what do we want to see, but what do we really expect to see? Dan Costa list five things he expects at CES. 1. The Show Will Be Smaller; 2. Palm Goes Supernova; 3. Netbooks Proliferate; 4. Dell Will Unveil the Real Adamo; and 5. On-Demand Video Will Rule. The article is a good read. Sure hope he is wrong that it's too late for Palm to join the party. See the deets after the jump.
Zune Freezing? Solution!
Listening to music on your Zune on 31 December 2008 and suddenly it became the day the music died? The answer for resurrection is here! It seems that someone forgot to tell the coders at Microsoft that 2008 was a leap year. So, on the 366th day, the Zunes packed it in. "Thousands of Zune portable media players made
by Microsoft Corp. suddenly froze up early Wednesday, Dec. 31, labeling
Internet wits to label the phenomenon 'Z2K.' The
model affected was the Zune 30, which sports a 30-gigabyte hard drive
and was first released in November 2006, though it is still sold." "The solution? Wait 24 hours until Jan. 1. 'We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT),' reads a posting on the official Zune support forums. 'By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power
before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your
device is recharged, then turn it back on.'" By the way, DRM may be a problem unless you follow all the directions. Read the full story here.
Holiday Winner at the iTunes Store
Some who received a new iPhone have been busy buying gaming apps to go with it. So, what was the number one application downloaded on Christmas Day, the one that garnered $30,000 in one day for its owners though only costing $0.99 to download? Well, in the edited words of the writer, "thousands of people got an iPhone or iPod Touch as a present and
immediately decided to put all that shiny technology to the test.... Let's hope it did not upset grandma too
much." Still curious as to what this marvel was? See the deets after the jump.
Palm OS Year in Review 2008
As another year draws to an end, the good folks at Palm Infocenter have released their annual state of the Palm OS. As usual, it's an insightful article, this time on the highs and lows of the much loved Palm OS and the troubled company that owns it. See the deets after the jump.
Holiday Question: What future is in store for Microsoft?
Where will the Microsoft brand name head now that Charmian Bill is going off into the sunset? This is serious question for all of us, smartphones or no. Still, the future of Microsoft will touch the world of handhelds and netbooks as well as the next revolutionary techie breakthrough product. InfoWorld has a good article on five possible scenarios in the years ahead. "It's been six months since Bill Gates retired from Microsoft, though he remains an adviser, and the Redmond giant is chugging away as if business were usual. Work continues on Windows 7, Internet Explorer 8, Windows Mobile 6.5, the Azure cloud development platform, and so on. The path looks to be unchanged. But that stability may be misleading. In its 33 years, Microsoft has extended its quest to turn every PC into a mainframe and to make Windows the center of the information and technology worlds. It's come close, but there are strong signs that the Microsoft era, at least in the Gates mold, may be ending." Read it all after the jump.
Walmart & iPhone Will Rule the Mobile World
Posting at CNET, Don Reisinger has made a chilling observation: where's the survivable share of the market for RIM and Google when the masses can get their iPhone in Walmart? No going to the specialty store. No techie-store scare for the luddite. Your one stop shop for toiletries, chips, and beer has your phone waiting on aisle 5.
"As the world's largest retailer (and company), Wal-Mart commands a significant amount of respect. In fact, I think the company is the most important retailer to any company in any industry, let alone Apple and the tech industry.
But Friday's announcement that the iPhone will be coming to Wal-Mart store shelves on Sunday has changed the face of the cell phone industry. In effect, it means that Apple, one of the most important hardware companies in the space, will see its popular mobile phone be made available to millions of more customers. It also means that Research In Motion and every other company in the market that's trying desperately to compete with Apple simply won't be able to do it."
Is he right? Time will tell, but his article is worth a serious consideration as well as a read. See it after the jump.
Looking for a holiday project?
Christmas Day has passed, the presents have been played with thoroughly, New Year's eve is not for a few more days, and now you are ready for a challenge. Webnetta has a hack to connect your shiny T-Mobile G1 to an iPod dock. It even charges the G1. Enjoy! See all after the jump (Kids: don't do this to Mommy or Daddy's G1)
Please Santa-The Best Smartphone Ever for 2009
Looking for that perfect smartphone for Christmas? So was Engadget, and he even wrote up what he wanted. It looks like it's a great wish list of features from a number of phones. We can read it and dream and after the jump. Merry Christmas!
The Internet's 100 Oldest Dot-Com Domains
Back before access via mobile phone, before WIFI, before ADSL, you still could go to the internet via dial-up service. All you had to do was fight your way through the tar pit and avoid the dinosaurs to get to your Radioshack or Amiga computer and log on. More amazing than a time without the internet is to see what the internet looked like in "ye olde days." PC World has an article on the oldest domains and what some of those early pages looked like. Don't laugh, it was better than nothing. See the article after the jump.