09:30 PM by Brian in E-Book General | News

The San Francisco Chronicle has a podcast about the future of electronic paper that is definitely worth a listen.

Chronicle technology writer Benjamin Pimentel reports on how companies like Hewlett-Packard, Xerox and Philips are trying to create electronic paper - a computer display as thin and flexible as regular paper. Paul Saffo, director of the Institute For The Future, comments on whether electronic paper can eventually replace newspapers. Plus, CNET.com associate editor Michelle Thatcher reviews tablet PCs.

Listen to the podcast here (11:05 min : 9.63 MB : MP3).

Related: HP joins league of e-paper producers, The future of newspapers

08:06 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

If you recently read something on upcoming HTC devices, chances are that it first appeared on msmobiles.com, from where rumors around HTC were spreading and leaking like a sieve (often accompanied with yummy hi-res photos). But not so anymore. Someone at HTC must have run mad and called their lawyers to stop msmobiles.com from posting any more news around the company. With success, as most HTC-related posts have now been removed:

EXCLUSIVE: photo and specifications of upcoming MS Smartphone : HTC Breeze
EXCLUSIVE: HTC Muse unveiled - the new definition of COOL !
HTC (practically) has monopoly on Windows Mobile phones - editorial
HTC sends a lawyer against msmobiles.com and this lawyer is a Microsoft MVP !

06:55 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | iSilo/X

It's one of those essential upgrades I never get tired of. iSilo, still my favorite e-book reader for Palm and Pocket PC, has been upgraded to V4.29. The upgrade includes the following improvements and fixes:

• Added content read caching for all platforms except for Palm OS platform, which already had it. Improves slow reading of large documents on Symbian OS platforms.
• Addressing of miscellaneous issues (such as improved WM 5.0 support for Dell Axim devices)

iSiloX, the desktop companion, has also been upgraded:

• Added recognition of application/xhtml+xml and .xhtml/.xhtm as HTML extensions.
• Addressing of miscellaneous issues.

If you are new to iSilo make sure to visit this thread for more information.

06:39 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

One of the main reasons why I downgraded my Dell Axim from WM 5.0 to WM 2003SE was lack of support for 640x480 resolution. That was a few days ago; now someone at Aximsite posted a link to a cab file containing the signed hi-res icons required to run OzVGA properly. Some Axim users reported that a few icons were still missing, properly because the icons had been extracted from another device (HTC Wizard).

06:21 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

We're almost stifling a yawn this time around, but yet another multinational company - HP - has joined the league of e-paper producers, promising us to eventually replace the outdated LCD (may I still see that day!). SF Chronicle has a quick write up:

A team of Hewlett-Packard scientists showed off their version of that future one recent morning at HP Labs in Palo Alto, as they stood next to a machine about the size of a large refrigerator. Ironically, it looks very much like a scaled-down version of a typical web press used to print daily newspapers. As the slow-moving machine churned out a thin sheet of plastic, John Meyer, director of HP's digital printing and imaging laboratory, talked about his team's efforts to create a new kind of computer display that is "something very lightweight, very thin and potentially flexible."

Related: Siemens Develops Flexi-Screens (today at PalmAddicts)

[via Gizmodo]

05:11 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

For the next few days, we expect hundreds of thousands of gadget-crazed technophiles to descent upon California for visiting one of the five newly opened Palm retail stores.

Palm Retail Stores also are reaching new users who are buying Palm's high-end devices, demonstrating the rewarding experience customers have when they interact with knowledgeable staff and have a hands-on experience with Palm(R) products. Forty-three percent of Palm Retail Store customers are new to handheld computing -- 56 percent of those new users are buying Palm Treo(TM) smartphones, and 44 percent are buying Palm handhelds and Palm LifeDrive(TM) mobile managers.

PalmAddicts has all the juicy details.

08:07 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Disconnected for the weekend? Forget about it - your neurotic urge to stay online won't let you. With Opera Mini aka Operette you can surf the Net at any time with virtually any Java/J2ME-capable connected mobile phone, including Palm and Pocket PC devices. Opera recently extended its pilot project to include Germany, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

Attached is the latest built 1.1.2231 dated November 03.

05:52 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

The rumor mill has officially been kicked into high gear now, as Engadget is quoting from various sources the juicy details of Palm's upcoming Treos models.

• Verizon Wireless will deliver the WM-powered Treo by the end of Feb '06
• A new (most likely Palm OS-powered) Treo with EV-DO from Verizon (and probably Sprint) is targeted for May '06
• A new line of mid-range Treo (~$200) will arrive sometime in '06
• Palm is rumored to switch ODM orders from HTC to Inventec Appliance (a major producer of Apple's iPod) in Q1 2006
• Details on two upcoming Treos: "Hollywood" (thin 3G device with no external antenna); "Lowrider" (probably the mid-range Treo).

Related: Palm's Product Launches Could Restrain Upside (Forbes)