Mobility Watch

Kudos to JKontheRun for posting this video on the new Palm Pre, which looks to be a sure winner.

Details and specs:

The new Palm® Pre™ phone is always thinking ahead to make your life easier. Pre pulls your different online calendars into one view, bringing you the information you want without having to search for it. Pre links your contacts from different sources, giving you one place to find what you need. And Pre delivers incoming messages1 and notifications in an intuitively subtle way, letting you react or respond however you want. People, events, information that matters. With Palm Pre, it’ll come to you.

Connected calendars and contacts
Pre uses the Palm® Synergy™ feature to bring your Outlook®,2 Google, and Facebook® calendars together for one logical view of your day. And if you have the same contacts in different places, Pre can link them together, making it easy to find the information you need.

See gallery Multiple activities
Keep multiple applications open and move easily between them—email, maps, photos, websites, whatever.3 Pre thinks of your applications as “activity cards,” and lets you flip through them, move them around, or throw them off screen.

Mars Rover Spirit

Poor lil Rovers…They’ve been having the Devil’s own time the past year or so. Thats to be expected, as they’ve produced far beyond their time limit.

They’ve manged to make it to the five-year mark despite a few considerable bumps in the road, but it looks like one of the Mars rovers has once again hit a snag, and NASA is now furiously trying to sort out the problem. Apparently, the issue first arose earlier this week when Spirit reported that it had received its driving commands but didn’t move. Things were then further complicated later in the day when Spirit failed to record its daily activities, and it seems to have been all downhill since, with the rover unable to even locate the sun in order to reorient itself. What’s more, while they’re still trying to run some diagnostics to pinpoint the problem, NASA engineers say that the troubles could possibly be caused by cosmic rays hitting the rover.

Blackberry Storm

My Nokai 9500 Communicator feels so much better now that this has come up.

But despite a marketing campaign that cost more than $100 million, the smart phone has gotten off to a bumpy start.

Some early buyers have complained about technical bugs with RIM’s first touch screen BlackBerry, although others say most new gadgets have problems that need to be ironed out.

People familiar with the matter say Verizon Wireless, is the exclusive U.S. carrier for the device, sold roughly 500,000 units in the first month after the Storm’s Nov. 21 launch.

That is a promising start, though well off the pace of AT&T Inc.’s sale of 2.4 million iPhone 3G devices in that device’s first full quarter on the market.

Some Storm owners have complained about everything from clunky software for typing on the touch screen to the device’s sluggish performance with basic tasks like dialing-by-voice or taking photographs.

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Aside from the 480 x 320-res projector that uses Texas Instruments’ DLP tech, the Show also has a fine-looking 3.2-inch, 400 x 240 OLED touch screen, 5MP camera with LED flash, and Samsung’s widget-based touch OS. It’s dropping in South Korea soon, but there’s of course no news on a US release.

HP iPAQ Data messenger

HP iPAQ fans out there should be thrilled about the latest offering from HP.

Here are the specifications:

Features

• Communicate intelligently: Use email, phone, and Internet 1,2 with advanced wireless technology in many countries around the world. Where WiFi is available, connect without using data plan minutes. Instant Message with Windows Live.

• Work in style: Type and text quickly and easily with the full alphanumeric slide-out keyboard. View your work clearly with the large 2.8–inch diagonal QVGA touch-screen display.

• Simplify your life: Skip the new phone curve with familiar Windows Mobile 6.1 and use Microsoft Outlook Office Mobile to synchronize contacts, appointments and tasks with your PC. Access and edit documents with Mobile Word, Powerpoint and Excel.

• Find your way: Find your way with integrated GPS 4.

• Enjoy the extras: 3.1MP auto focus camera with 5X digital zoom and flash LED. Convenient Micro-SD card slot for storage up to 8GB 3.

and

Memory type
128 MB SDRAM main memory for running applications, 256 MB flash ROM

Power features
Battery: removable/rechargeable 1140 mAh Lithium-Polymer (user changeable)

Keyboard
Full QWERTY slide-out alphanumeric keyboard

Pointing device
Touch-sensitive display for stylus or fingertip

External I/O ports
1 micro-USB connector for synchronization and charging

Memory slots
64-bit Micro SD card slot - for memory expansion, supports up to 8GB

Wireless technologies
Integrated WLAN 802.11b/g, with WPA2 security, Bluetooth® 2.0 with EDR

GPS receiver
Integrated GPS navigation (Assisted GPS)

windows mobile

Palm

Do you agree with that statement? Are newly released smartphones expected to have bugs that that will take months and months of patches to make them work right? Should the buyer have lowered expectations for a technological device that costs upto thousands?

First Generation Nokia Smartphones are notorious for having a plethora of bugs, and I read that the iPhone wasn’t entirely 100% bug-free, either. Not that familiar with HP’s iPaq or Rim’s blackberry.

Smartphones at about.com had this to say about palm and winmo:

Palm OS: Cons
The Palm OS looks and feels dated–because it is. It has not had a major overhaul in years. The company says it is working on a new version of the OS that will combine elements of the current version (called Garnet) with elements of Linux, an operating system that runs on servers, personal computers, and some smartphones.

Windows Mobile OS: Cons
Windows Mobile is not always user-friendly. It’s easy to be confused by the operating system, partly because the environment can feel very familiar to, yet also very different than the version of Windows that you run on your PC. Windows Mobile can also be slow, sluggish, and buggy.

SugarSync

Here’s the skinny on SugarSync:

Peace of Mind. Automatic Online Backup.
SugarSync goes where ordinary online backup doesn’t — backing up your files, photos and more in real-time without any manual effort. Guarded with industrial-strength security and encrypted network connections, your data was never so safe.

The Best Way to Sync Multiple Computers.
Where ordinary backup services stop, SugarSync is just getting started. Back up all the computers in your home and/or office to the same personal website. At the same time, keep your files in sync on all of your computers — PC or Mac.

24/7 Remote Access. View & Share Files Anywhere.
SugarSync redefines remote access. Access your files from any web browser or mobile phone — even when your computer is offline. Access files across all your computers — you choose which files get synced and which are available on-demand.

Files on Your Phone. Leave Your PC Behind.
How can you fit your laptop into your phone? With SugarSync, it’s automatic. View and share files located on any of your computers right on your phone’s browser — no phone software required. It’s a must have for on-the-go people.

Send any size file from anywhere!
In just a couple clicks, send files of any size, to anyone, from anywhere! Share files from any computer or mobile phone. There are no size limits and it’s much easier than FTP. Great for sending home videos and large presentations!

Do you work from the Cloud? What applications do you use and why?

Idea

WORLD-WIDE PUBLIC POLL
Submit Your Votes: on or around March 22-29, 2009

Nine finalist names will be selected, 3 from each grade range: k-3, 4-7, 8-12. Give NASA your feedback by ranking your favorites among the 9 candidate names, and you may just help determine the Grand Prize Winner!

WINNING NAME ANNOUNCED: on or around April 16th, 2009

WHO CAN ENTER: The Contest is open only to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States who are between the ages of 5 and 18 years and are a registered student in a U.S. school, grades Kindergarten through 12th Grade (including U.S. Possessions and schools operated by the U.S. for the children of American personnel overseas). Entrants must get a parent’s or legal guardian’s permission to enter. Entrants must provide parental consent in form and substance suitable to Sponsors, in Sponsors’ sole discretion, in order to be confirmed as a prize winner.
Employees of Sponsors and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (3900 West Alameda Avenue, Suite 841; Burbank, California 91505) (the “Prize Provider”) and their affiliates, organizations, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies (collectively, the “Promotion Entities”) and their immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of each are not eligible to enter the Contest or win a prize.

The naming contest is open to kids aged 5 to 18 who are registered students at U.S. schools. Your suggested name, plus an essay explaining the reason for the name, must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET Monday. Judges will sort through the entries and select nine finalists for consideration by the public in late March.

That’s when the grown-ups have a say: A “Public Poll” will be posted on the contest Web site in late May, and the public input will be one of the factors used to determine the winning name. The grand prize is a three-day, two-night trip to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Disneyland for the winner plus up to three other family members.

Nokia ships half a million Tubes in their 4th quarter.

Nokia clearly has a winner with their 5800 Tube Xpress music player, having shipped 500,000 of the units in very select markets. Nokia has done some creative marketing with this unit. There have been music benches in some cities with the 5800 attached or places to attach one.

For a reminder, here are the 5800 XpressMusic “Tube”:

Dimensions: 4.37 x 2.04 x 0.61 in
Weight: 3.84 oz
3D image engine
Stylus, plectrum and finger touch support for text input and user interface control (alphanumeric
Micro-USB connector, USB 2.0 High Speed
3.5 mm Nokia AV connector
MicroSD card slot, small DC jack, Micro USB cable interface to PC (CA-101), TV out interface (CA-75U)
Talk time (maximum):
- GSM up to 8.8 hr
- WCDMA up to 5 hr
Standby time (maximum):
- GSM up to 16.75 days
- WCDMA up to 16.7 days
Browsing time with packet data (maximum): up to 3.4 hr
Video playback time (maximum): up to 5.2 hr, Video playback time (maximum, nHD/Mpeg4)up to 3.4 hr, VGA video playback using TV-Out with Stereo BT Headset up to 3.8 hr
MicroSD memory card slot, hot swappable, max. 16 GB
81 MB internal memory
8GB microSD memory card in-box
Bluetooth version 2.0*
- Bluetooth profiles: A2DP & AVRCP

MTP (Mobile Transfer Protocol) support
TV out with Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (CA-75U, in-box)
Support for PC synchronization with Nokia PC suite

Oh, and it makes calls, along with messaging, email, web browsing, GPS and navagtion, photographs, and a whole host of other things, too.

HTC Touch Cruise

For the HTC fans out there, there’s a new snazzy looking HTC Touch Cruise!

It has a bundle of goodies for even the most jaded out there. The Touch Cruise can be used as a GPS location device, Navagation system (complete with car cradle) and geotagging. HTC Footprints takes geotagging a step further, allowing to to take notes and audio clips and embed them in a “postcard” of sorts, all still tied to that GPS location data — the cards are even auto-named by their location. Footprints also works outdoors and indoors.

Key HTC Touch Cruise Specifications

Size: 102 x 53.5 x 14.5mm
Weight: 103 grams
Connectivity: WCDMA/HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
Display: 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with QVGA resolution
Control panel: HTC TouchFLO™, 4-Way navigation wheel with Enter and HTC Footprints™ buttons
Camera: 3.2 MP, with fixed focus
Internal memory: 512 MB flash ROM, 256 MB RAM
Expansion Slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
GPS: GPS/A-GPS
Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
Battery: 1100 mAh
Talk time: GSM: up to 400 minutes
Standby time: GSM: up to two weeks
Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7225™, 528 MHz

There’s a world-friendly WCDMA / HSPA 900 / 2100MHz version, of course, but us North Americans will be getting the 850 / 1900MHz flavor as a unlocked handset for $500 to $600 in Q2.

Engadget’s ‘depthroat’ shares naturally out of focus pics.

Nothing new to report, all info is the same. Enjoy the blurry pics.

Helio Ocean 2

ocean-front property

Helio Ocean 2 Side

Inauguration 2009

Don’t miss out!

Add me on Facebook, Brick ONeil, as we watch this historic day when our Nation Inaugurates our first African American/Black President! What a proud day for the United States, and indeed, the World.

Remember where you were when America’s first chosen African American President was sworn in to bring America back! The entire world waits in eager anticipation, seeing President Elect Obama as the one person who can bring everyone together. What will his first actions, as President, be? How will world leaders welcome him? TIme will tell.

Enjoy history in the making.

Verizon femtocell

It’ll be available in Verizon stores and online starting January 25 for $249.99 — not a bad deal for Verizon, considering you’re saving them the expense of erecting a tower.

Not to be outdone, AT&T seems to still have femtocells somewhere on the front burner with surveys going out to subscribers asking whether they’d be interested in a “small, security-enabled cellular base station” they can call their own (via engadget).

Fierce wireless has this to say: What remains to be seen is what Verizon will charge for the femtocell device and the service plan. Sprint charges around $50 for the product and $15 per month for service. Verizon’s commitment, broader than Sprint’s thus far and the only one by a U.S. telco that has both local wireline and wireless networks, may well bring femtocell deployment to its tipping point in the U.S. market.

Is this a wireless technology you would use? I would, if it would mean cheaper, faster internet connections, download times and page loads.

Helio Ocean 2 arrives at the FCC.

Comments over on Edgadget aren’t overwhelmed by the new little phone but the FCC just added a Pantech OZII dual-slider, which should entice a few Helio fans.

Specs: display, EV-DO, 2 megapixel cam with video, full HTML browser, A2DP support. More specs via Intomobile It seems that Virgin Mobile (NYSE: VM) negotiations aren’t the only thing that Helio is keeping themselves busy with. We’re hearing that the next-generation Helio Ocean will sport a 3 megapixel camera, 30 fps video recording, 1 GB storage, microSDHC card slot for memory expansion, touch-sensitive directional pad, Flash support, and PC sync support - all in the familiar dual-sliding form-factor that made the Helio Ocean such a pleasure to use.

Kind of cool looking with the rounded corners and the slider mechanism hiding the keys, but I can’t help but think it reminds me of a suppository. No offense.

Light Lane for Cyclists

Other parts of the country may have a pleasant interaction between Cyclists and Motorists, each sharing the road, giving each other the right of way, smiling as they wave back and forth under rainbow colored skies.

Meanwhile, back in reality in Seattle, there is such a bone of contention between Cyclists and Motorists. Motorists believe Cyclists belong on the sidewalk (they don’t: law states they must use the road) and Cyclists believe Motorists are road hogs that go out of their way to ‘run over cyclists’ at any given moment and opportunity (they don’t: they’re just bigger and it looks that way).

Having these Lasers on the roadway itself would define the areas Bikes belong, thus solving all sorts of problems.

True, this post isn’t about PDAs, cell phones or smartphones, but it is about mobility and the cool use of Lasers. Light Lane’s company, Altitude, and developers Alex Tee and Evan Gant may be on to something. If they could figure out a way to lower the cost that is currently $5000 to 50,000 per mile, more ciites may be willing to adopt this unique strategy, although, i’m not sure if the lanes are beamed down from the bike or installed into the pavement. Either way, this idea is brilliant.