When Google first announced Android and it’s SDK (Software Developers Kit), I admit to not paying much attention.
It’s not that I ignored it. Actually, I thought it was a really interesting idea. In fact I thought it was a very workable way of convincing the community to develop the infamous gPhone.
I was wrong.
I now realize that Android is not just interesting, it truly is inspirational, and I think it will result in the community developing not the gPhone, but rather THE gPhone. Not a phone defined by Google, but a phone defined by the development community. As in “G” for Group phone.
This could be THE big open source development project.
Take a closer look:
Sergey Brin and Steve Horowitz discuss the availability of the SDK, that it will be open source in the future, and demo some applications.
Google's Android SDK (gPhone)
US Census Takers Getting A Custom PDA
Census to Cut Red Tape with Tricked-Out Mobile Data Collector
It looks like the latest smartphone-on-steroids, teeming with everything from GPS and wireless to a touchscreen and a stylus. Throw in an SD memory slot, fingerprint authentication and Windows Mobile 5.0, and you’ve got a powerful, easy-to-use PDA in your hands. Trouble is (besides being clunky at nearly twice the size of BlackBerry), once inefficient bureaucrats will be the only ones allowed to use it come 2010.
Slow Migration Away From My Palm
The things I use my Palm for includes using it as an MP3 player. I find this to be especially handy, since I always have my Palm with me, and all I need is a set of earbuds (or better yet, some real headphones) and some MP3 files (I usually listen to netcasts instead of music) loaded on my SD memory card.
So if I find my Palm so handy for playing MP3s, what’s could be the drawback? We'll I've been getting more physically active, and while my Palm works great during cycling and weight training, I’m finding the TX a little large (and heavy) lately for use while running.
Truth be told, even when running, since it's usually in a pocket, I don’t find the Palm TX that large, cumbersome or heavy, at least not enough to be worth spending money on a fix / replacement. However, I had a birthday recently, and one of the gifts I received was an MP3 player from my family.
This new toy is a really nice, 2Gig flash based SanDisk Sansa e250 video and music player. It’s small, light, and shiny! [Grin] I find it especially nice to use for music and short video clips.
Unfortunately, I don’t usually listen to music, rather I listen to netcasts, mostly from the TWiT Netcast Network. So far, I find the controls to be less appropriate when it comes to listing to much longer (40 to 80 minutes long) MP3s making it hard for example, to return to where I left off.
I have decided to give myself time to get use to the MP3 player controls, and develop new habits etc. I’ll be sure to post more on this topic and let you know how things work out after a longer adjustment period.
Last Canadian Music Chain Closes
ET Canada has posted a Vancouver Sun article on the last Canadian Music Chain closing it's Brick-and-Mortar Store and moving on line.
Essentially, I see this as a sign of the times... while studies have shown that P2P downloaders buy more CDs because of their wider exposure to all the artists out there, the CD publishers are still charging way too much for physical music albums.
Last Canadian Music Chain Closes
Music World shutting its doors, but new owner says business will move online
Music World, the last Canadian-owned national music store chain, is under bankruptcy protection and will close its stores, the latest victim of a rapidly changing music business.
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Music World has 72 stores and was previously owned by the Pindoff family, which founded the business more than 30 years ago and sold it to a group of investors last week.
An "orderly wind down" of operations is planned by Music World's new owners, according to court documents, including the immediate liquidation of inventory in order to take advantage of the holiday shopping season.
All 648 employees will be laid off by Jan. 31.
HMV Canada is interested in buying some of the Music World stores, said president Humphrey Kadaner in an e-mail, but has not yet determined how many or which ones.
The U.K.-based HMV is the last chain standing, with more than 100 stores across the country.
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Canadian sales of CDs, music DVDs and other physical music formats (such as cassettes) have fallen about 20 per cent since last year, according to the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
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It's a shame to see the market slim down like this, but I don't agree that only the 'chain' stores are to blame. Although, I must also admit that I rarely 'handle' my CDs any more. I have the majority of them ripped into MP3 so that I can listed them on my Palm (or my new MP3 player).
Make sure you click through to read the whole article, it's an interesting read.
Remembrance Day ~ Lest We Forget
Today is Remembrance Day (Armistice Day) here in Canada. Remembrance Day, and Veterans Week (the week leading up to it) is the time of year that we go to extra lengths to ensure our Veterans sacrifices are NOT forgotten.
The following quick remembrance is from the Veterans Affairs Canada site.
Veterans Affairs Canada
Each year, Canada marks Veterans' Week from 5 to 11 November. Veterans' Week is a time to honour and remember all those who served Canada in times of war, military conflict and peace. Throughout the week, commemorative events and activities will be held in communities across Canada. This year, we call upon all Canadians, especially youth, to take an active role in commemoration. Taking part in remembrance events develops a deeper understanding of the sacrifices and achievements of those who have served and continue to serve our country. As Canadians, we have endless opportunities to become involved in remembrance. We can talk to a Veteran, visit a local cenotaph or monument, read a book or attend a Remembrance Day ceremony. When we take an active role in commemoration we become part of a legacy of remembrance and gratitude. We also set an example for future generations so that the torch of remembrance continues to burn brightly.
Palm Daily Quote 3.0 Released by Tamoggemon
Tamoggemon Software has released a whole new version of Daily Quote. Palm Daily Quote 3.0 is brand new, with new features and new compatibility modes.
“A quote a day keeps the jackass away” – Tam Hanna
Ever saw a quote and felt like taking it on the road with you? Ever felt like having your handheld greet you with a quote whenever it starts up? Ever wished that 2Day or ZLauncher had a Quote-of-the-day function? Tamoggemon Daily Quote does it all!
The latest version of Daily Quote gives you access to the following new features:
ZLauncher plug-in
ZLauncher users all over the world, rejoice! Our product can now be integrated into your favorite launcher via a simple plug-in. It then provides a Daily-Quote-powered quote ticker that is available whenever ZLauncher is opened!
Quote-a-day mode
Quote-a-day mode configures Daily Quote to update the displayed quote only once a day, instead of choosing a new one from the database whenever a quote is displayed.
Improvements to popup engine
The DailyQuote popup engine has been overhauled completely so that it is now 100% compatible with security applications and incoming call dialogs. Get a call? Daily Quote will not interfere! Handheld locked? A quote will be waiting for you after unlocking the handheld!
Combined with our existing features like 2day integration and quote databases that can be edited on the go, Daily Quote is the most comprehensive quote management / display solution for Palm OS!
A 14 day evaluation version is available for free from http://www.tamoggemon.com/pdq/download.php and existing customers get a free upgrade under Tamoggemon’s free-update policy. The full version costs only $9.95 and can be purchased from MobiHand!
Make sure you check out the 14 day trial, and the extra quote databases too...
Good Things -- Small Package
Last month the New York Times posted a good review (by David Pogue) of the newest Palm Smartphone -- the Centro.
(Mostly) Good Things in a Small Package
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That must be what Palm was thinking when it unveiled the Centro, its new keyboard-equipped cellphone. It’s almost identical to the company’s popular Treo smartphone, but a little smaller and cheaper.
Your first reaction might well be to shake your head in dismay. Is that the best Palm can come up with? How could this great innovator of the ’90s have gotten so lost in the woods? People used to go nuts on every rumor of a new Palm device. Web sites ran reviews of every carrying case and stylus. Corporate geeks used Graffiti, the PalmPilot’s handwriting-recognition alphabet, even on whiteboards and notepads.
Not anymore. Lately, Palm’s innovation engines seem to be running on their last wisps of steam. There was a momentary flicker of hope last January when Palm’s founder, Jeff Hawkins, introduced the Foleo — a superthin, category-busting, laptoplike “cellphone companion” — but Palm canceled the Foleo last month.
So for two years, Palm’s “new” products have been little more than minor variations on the Treo — and the Centro appears to be yet another one.
Palm hoped that by trimming the Treo’s size and price, it would create a totally different product, a new crossover phone for people who have never before owned phones with alphabet keys. (By Palm’s reckoning, that’s 95 percent of cellphone buyers.)
But here’s the funny thing: the strategy works.
The Centro’s rounded plastic case, available in red or black, is 2.1 by 4.2 by 0.7 inches thick. That’s about a fifth of an inch smaller than the Treo 700 in every dimension. Doesn’t sound like much, but on gadgets that live in your grip, microns can feel like miles. And at 4.2 ounces, the Centro is also 34 percent lighter than the Treo.
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Be sure to click through and read the entire article
Cellphone Jamming On The Rise
The New York Times ran a good article last week on the rise of "vigilanty cellphone jammers".
Devices Enforce Silence of Cellphones, Illegally
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As cellphone use has skyrocketed, making it hard to avoid hearing half a conversation in many public places, a small but growing band of rebels is turning to a blunt countermeasure: the cellphone jammer, a gadget that renders nearby mobile devices impotent.
The technology is not new, but overseas exporters of jammers say demand is rising and they are sending hundreds of them a month into the United States — prompting scrutiny from federal regulators and new concern last week from the cellphone industry. The buyers include owners of cafes and hair salons, hoteliers, public speakers, theater operators, bus drivers and, increasingly, commuters on public transportation.
The development is creating a battle for control of the airspace within earshot. And the damage is collateral. Insensitive talkers impose their racket on the defenseless, while jammers punish not just the offender, but also more discreet chatterers.
“If anything characterizes the 21st century, it’s our inability to restrain ourselves for the benefit of other people,” said James Katz, director of the Center for Mobile Communication Studies at Rutgers University. “The cellphone talker thinks his rights go above that of people around him, and the jammer thinks his are the more important rights.”
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Be sure to follow the above link and read the rest of the article
SanDisk Introduces 8GB microSDHC Card
... The development of the 8GB card has proliferated from the flash technology that SanDisk has already developed, but the company says the technology used in production was significantly difficult. The new 8 GB card can hold over 5,000 high-resolution photos, 2,000 digital songs, or 5 hours of high-quality M MPEG 4 video. Pretty impressive considering the card is smaller than a dime.
Although the 8 GB may be a wake-up call for consumers in realizing the capacity for storage in mobile devices, the consumption of content is really driving the introduction of memory this size. “More and more consumers are recognizing that convergence onto a handset really makes a lot of sense…instead of carrying multiple devices,” says Dan Hogan, Manager of Worldwide Marketing Mobile Markets for SanDisk.
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As for an even higher capacity flash card on the horizon, consumers will have to wait and see. “As we move into a higher storage capacity, we move into new territory. The applications will expand but it will also be a question of how much consumers will want to pay for a 16GB card,” reflected Wong. The 8GB microSDHC card currently retails for $139 and the 8GB M2 card for $149.
According to SanDisk product website, the microSDHC features:
Be sure to click on the link to read the entire story.
Handheld PDA Market Still Shrinking
According to a recent research report, the Handheld PDA market is continuing to decline. Where Handheld is defined as PDA that does not include cellphone features. The reason this definition makes such a difference is that most smartphone users (Palm especially) don't see their smartphone as being "distinct from" or "not a" handheld PDA. It's like a research report saying that "home DVD movies" are dead, because everyone's buying HD-DVD players... Here's news for the researchers... smartphones are still handheld and PDAs!
PDA market still shrinking dramatically with no end in sight
Handheld makers saw their market contract substantially for the fifteenth consecutive quarter, according to a research report released today. The market volume is down about 70% from its peak in 2002 and IDC expects this trend to continue for at least another five years.
Playing in the handheld market today - with “handheld” being defined as a PDA without cellphone capability - isn’t much fun. Once again, the shipment volume of such devices declined significantly in the third quarter of this year.
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Llamas said that the PDA market is unlikely to go away completely since it still has “a loyal, if shrinking, following in developed economies, especially among enterprise users. In emerging markets, the appeal of the handheld devices seems anchored in the fact that, in the absence of a monthly service plan, it has a lower total cost of ownership compared to mobile phones and/or the converged mobile device."
Be sure to follow the link to read the entire article.
VersaMail Not Compatible with Gmail IMAP
There's a new post on the Palm Blog. In a nutshell, it says that the IMAP support in VersaMail is not compatible with the IMAP in Gmail. So much for a great idea. Unfortunately there seems to be no plans to "repair" VersaMail, especially since Palm is recommending we switch to ChatterEmail, yes, it is also owned by Palm, and will cost us an additional $39.95.Palm VersaMail Compatibility with Gmail
There's been some discussion around Palm's VersaMail client being compatible with Google's Gmail. We wanted to clarify that currently Palm Treo and Centro smartphone customers can access their Gmail accounts using the POP email protocol. While VersaMail supports the IMAP protocol, there are some known incompatibilties and limitations with Gmail. For example, VersaMail does not support IMAP-IDLE, which is used by Gmail to deliver continuously updated email. For Gmail users on the Palm OS, there are aftermarket email solutions that support IMAP-IDLE on Treo and Centro like ChatterEmail.
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