06:12 AM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Some products are quite compelling even when you don't know if they are for real. This one was found by the folks at Gizmodo buried in the depths of the exhibition hall, and it really does sound almost too good to be true.

It's a very small quantum computing storage device from a company called "Atom Disk" claiming 500gig storage and 4gig/sec transfer rates. "They work in Linux and Windows XP... Sizes of up to 4TB come in something the size of a book of matches (the laptops weigh 4.18 pounds)."

A bit expensive right now because a laptop using this storage is expected to sell for $17,500 but you know how fast new technology prices drop. Wasn't the first videotape recorder more expensive than that? But you can easily buy one now for less than $100.

With the pent-up desire for large scale storage on mobile devices, a true technology fan cannot help but be excited by the thought of such a storage product, but I'm pretty sure there's a catch -- you know, some small detail like a release date in the year 2040.

The Gizmodo folks promise to investigate further, so maybe we'll find out more soon.

If you want the official company scoop, take a look at this page.

(via Gizmodo )

09:53 PM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

We've been hearing a lot of talk recently about watching TV on your internet connected mobile devices. But did you know that many television scripts are available online for your favorite shows?

One such site is TwizTV and you can download entire zipped seasons of scripts. They are in HTML pages, so it's simple to get them onto your mobile device with programs like Sunrise, Plucker, iSilo, or Publish eBook.

I'm sure there are more sites with this sort of thing, so let us know all your favorite sources.

09:09 PM by Brian in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Yahoo! has announced Yahoo! Go, a service that gives members access to Yahoo! services like Messenger, Mail, Contacts, and Photos including Flickr photos across their computers, TVs and mobile phones while keeping everything synced between devices.

With Yahoo! Go Mobile, emails, phone numbers and pictures synch with your account. So your stuff is always with you and easy to use.

Contacts — Stored phone numbers are automatically synched
Photos — Take a picture and it's stored online
Messenger — Record voice instant messages
Mail — Get notified when new email arrives

On the mobile phone side, Yahoo! Go Mobile is available for owners of Nokia Series 60 phones, and it will soon be pre-installed on the upcoming Nokia 6682 from Cingular Wireless.

You can find out more about Yahoo! Go here.

08:30 PM by Brian in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Have you ever found yourself out and about and in need of the full power of Google Local search in the palm of your hand? Your wish has just been granted with Google Local for mobile, but there is some bad news.

Local for mobile works with most Java-enabled (J2ME) mobile phones offered by Cingular and Sprint, and all color BlackBerry devices regardless of carrier. At this time, Local for mobile doesn't work with Nextel, T-Mobile or BREW-enabled phones (e.g. Verizon, Alltel, U.S. Cellular), or Palm devices. To see whether the application will work on your phone, simply visit http://www.google.com/glm/getstarted.html and answer a few questions about your mobile phone.

Here's what it does have to offer in terms of mobile search to those fortunate souls who possess a compatible device with a data plan:

Combining directions, maps, and satellite imagery, Google Local for mobile is a free download that lets you find local hangouts and businesses across town or across the country — right from your phone.

Satellite imagery: Get a bird's eye view of your desired location.

You can find out more about Google Local for mobile and download it here.

07:11 PM by Brian in Miscellaneous | Lounge

The rumors were true. Google has officially announced the Google Pack for Windows XP. This software bundle by the internet search giant includes the following programs for free:

• Google Earth
• Picasa
• Google Pack Screensaver
• Google Desktop
• Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox Browser with Google Toolbar
• Ad-Aware SE Personal
• Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition (free 6-month subscription to updates)
• Adobe Reader 7

The Google Pack uses an application called the Google Updater for installation, launching the individual applications, and uninstalling. An icon for the Google Updater will appear in the system tray, notifying the user when updates and new software become available.

Download the Google Pack here.

12:30 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

A day before the Consumer Electronics Show opened, Palm CEO Edward Colligan talked on Bloomberg TV about the Treo 700w and competitor RIM. Here is the transcript:

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BOWDON: I'm here with Ed Colligan of Palm. Welcome to Bloomberg Television.

COLLIGAN: Thank you.

BOWDON: Let's first talk about the last 12 months, which have been positive for Palm. Your stock is up about 13 percent. And for a lot of people, it has to do with the problems over at RIM, because they've had difficulty with intellectual property suits, with this NTP, the NTP company claiming that they had taken intellectual property away from RIM. For many there was a chilling effect, that some companies may be moving away from RIM and towards Palm because of that. Did you see that?

COLLIGAN: No. We've seen enormous growth in our business, really, I think, as a result of our products and the success they've had in the marketplace. We had a 34 percent growth year- over-year last year. We have great revenue growth this year. We've had 10 consecutive quarters of profitability. And it's really driven by people turning to the Treo, mostly, in competition with RIM. Certainly we've seen some companies who have become aware of those - sorry - become aware of those suits, and certainly are more interested to look at our solutions, but they have been for some time. Good Technology, a solution provider of ours, has more than 8,000 installations of Treo-Good combinations, which is a competitive product to the RIM solution.

BOWDON: OK. So, you've heard them mention that as a possible reason, but you don't think it's the main reason.

COLLIGAN: It's not a - it really hasn't been a driver for our business. We've seen some recently good wins in the enterprise marketplace.

BOWDON: Can you give us examples?

COLLIGAN: But frankly - well - but RIM had a reasonable quarter this quarter. So, you know, it's not - I don't see them not having some successes. Well, I think what you're seeing is just overall growth of people turning to solutions like this as productivity tools in their enterprise.

BOWDON: Give us an example of some of the recent ?

COLLIGAN: Oh, boy. Starbucks, Cisco. These are companies that have deployed this to their sales forces out in the field. They use them to get instant access to e-mail, yes access to e-mail. It's a phone too. It makes it really easy to, you know, manage your calendar, your contacts, your tasks. It's a really powerful computer in your pocket. It basically allows you to do all the core activities.

BOWDON: Sorry about the announcements. Thanks, you're a good sport for continuing through this. Let me ask you about the new Treo you're coming out - you're working on with Microsoft.

COLLIGAN: Yes.

BOWDON: Is it CE-based?

COLLIGAN: Well, it's Windows Mobile-based. CE is an old term that they use for talking about their platform. They now name it all Windows Mobile. It's a Window Mobile 5.0 version of the platform. And one of the great advantages of it is we've been able to differentiate on top of it. So, we bring the Palm user experience to that Windows Mobile platform, which is really unique. Most companies just take the software from Microsoft and put it in the ROM, and whatever you get out of that is what you get. What we've done is added our secret sauce on top of it to make it easier to be a phone and to interact with the applications on the device than any other Windows Mobile device.

BOWDON: Now, talk about the - I understand you're planning on continuing to sell the Treo 650, which is Palm OS-based. But will you be developing further Palm OS based Treos ?

COLLIGAN: Absolutely.

BOWDON: ? or is this the end of that line?

COLLIGAN: No. Absolutely. We will have further Palm OS-based products. We really think one of our advantages is the multi-platform nature of our business, especially in regard to our carrier partners, you know, the operators that sell our products, like Verizon and Cingular and Sprint. They want to come to a company that has both of those, you know, platforms so they can offer a solution to their customers, but have a consistent user experience so that their training and their call centers and all of these guys know how these devices work and can help their customers with them.

BOWDON: We're out of time, but Ed Colligan, President and CEO of Palm, thanks for being with us on Bloomberg.

COLLIGAN: Thank you.

10:30 AM by Laurens in E-Book Readers | Alternative Devices

Nokia 770 Doing Surprisingly Well writes Brighthand:

When Nokia first announced its Linux-based 770 Internet Tablet many people were skeptical. [...] In their defense, demand for the Nokia 770 has turned out to be greater than even its creator expected. Nokia has recently revealed that it has had to increase production of this device beyond its original plans.

That's very good to hear. My personal theory is that people are more interested in dedicated devices (i.e. gadgets that do one particular function and do it well, in this case internet browsing) than "jack of all trades" like PDAs. Just witness the success of the iPod and the buzz around the Sony Reader and iRex Iliad.

08:34 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Referring to a post by user who alledgedly works for Palm, the unwired reports that the company could introduce a GSM or WCDMA variant of the Palm Treo 700w device in Europe as early as in spring 2006. Officially Palm hasn't stated when the Treo 700w would be available for retail sale, though according to previous rumors the European version of the Treo 700w wouldn't be available until summer 2006 at the earliest.