Category: gadgets

Categories
gadgets Stocks

Is PALM here to stay: II

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I sold my few shares of Palm Friday morning shortly after opening. Palm (Nasdaq:PALM) share dropped 29% on Friday after horrific earning outlook (marketWatch). Palm is increasingly likely to say “bye bye” to its loyal customers in a year or two. Quote sobelmedia:

======
I’m never going to forget my very first Palm Pilot in 1998…how cool…it was everything I needed and wanted in a handheld device…addresses, notes, contacts everything…and it had the ability to sync with my computer to keep it up to date. Over the years the company changed owners, management, operating systems and the competition heated up all at the same time. Now it appears as though Palm is at the end of the rope and Wall Street is ready to say goodbye.
======

I think PALM has to blame itself for the recent problem (since webOS based Palm Pre launch at Sprint network last July). I saw the following problems:

Continue reading “Is PALM here to stay: II”
Categories
gadgets

Palm only way forward

Reading Time: 4 minutes

1. Come up with products that is consistent (not sometimes work, sometimes don’t, see this old post from PreCentral guys).

2. Also come up with some smart ads (with Sprint and Verizon), something like this one from German carrier O2.

O2 has about 11% market share in Germany per Yahoo Answers.

Continue reading “Palm only way forward”
Categories
Fun Video gadgets

iPhone TV ads vs. Palm TV ads

Reading Time: < 1 minute

It appears to me iPhone TV ads are more effective than Palm TV ads.

First iPhone ads

There’s an app for that

Continue reading “iPhone TV ads vs. Palm TV ads”
Categories
gadgets

Palm Pre First Impression

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Got opportunity to play with Palm Pre for couple minutes in the weekend. Sprint kiosk at Chesterfield Mall has the real Pre (instead of the faked phones at many other places). I was very impressed by the screen, both the (multi) touch and the display. Surfed the web: amazon, ESPN etc. Zooming in and out is very similar to iPhone (using two fingers). Checked out the tiny keyboard, it feels OK. Initially I thought it’s not “qwerty” keyboard, I was wrong: it was just different from the keyboard of my Blackberry 8800, as you can see from this picture at PreCentral: .

Continue reading “Palm Pre First Impression”
Categories
gadgets

Palm pre plus ads and GMail on Nokia 5800

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Saw the Palm Pre Plus ads by Verizon at PreCentral.

I installed the GMail on my Nokia 5800. I could not remember why it did not work last year when I bought it first. The software on my Nokia 5800 is the same, but the GMail client may have changed. The user interface is kind of funky, but it works.

Continue reading “Palm pre plus ads and GMail on Nokia 5800”
Categories
gadgets

iPad: funky name cool stuff?

Reading Time: < 1 minute

There are already a lot of talks about iPad now that Steve Jobs showed off his latest toy. The name is funky because “pad” has a lot of meaning, and there are people already making fun of that, such as this video at Youtube.

But seriously, boy, this is cutting edge stuff in terms of technology. Apple has a video on its own web site, which explains the functionality and features very well. It’s more like a builder’s explainations of why the house is beautiful. Obviously, this new toy launch won’t be complete without the blessing of the chief creator: Steve Jobs.

(Source: cnet video from Youtube)

Continue reading “iPad: funky name cool stuff?”
Categories
gadgets

Tech overview: cloud computing and smart phone

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Forget today’s Google China news for a minute. We are at very interesting times in terms of technology, from apps, cloud (web based) computing (online data backup, for one), to net book, smart phone, e-readers, smart book and tablet. The past week’s CES showed us the explosion of a lot of hardwares I mentioned above (plus many new mashups: hybrid devices). I did not attend the CES, but I found the CEO interviews at AllThingsD to be interesting, e.g., Palm CEO.


(Source: allThingsD video)

From investing/speculation point of view, I think PALM is at interesting point because Verizon will start to sell it on Jan 25.

Challenges

Continue reading “Tech overview: cloud computing and smart phone”
Categories
gadgets

Some notes on Google Nexus One phone

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Official link here: www.google.com/phone

Walter Mossberg (AllthingsD, WSJ) Review “Google’s Nexus One Is Bold New Face in Super-Smartphones“, quote:

I’ve been testing the Nexus One for a couple of weeks and I like it a lot. It’s the best Android phone so far, in my view, and the first I could consider carrying as my everyday hand-held computer….

Continue reading “Some notes on Google Nexus One phone”
Categories
gadgets

FStream is very good

Reading Time: < 1 minute

I was looking for an iPhone radio stream (particularly wma format because it seems middle kingdom likes this Microsoft audio format), and I found this FStream at iTune store to be good. After I set up the following:

北京人民广播电台首都生活 (Beijing Radio)
mms://alive.bjradio.com.cn/AM603
format: wma
rate: 64 k/sec

Continue reading “FStream is very good”
Categories
gadgets

Nokia 5800 XM: video playback, game, bluetooth and podcast

Reading Time: < 1 minute

I got to play more with my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (XM) phone in the weekend. The following are the things I tried.

1) Video playback: I found there are some Nokia sample videos and a .wmv video (transferred from my PC Windows media player). Both played without problem. However, when I copied some Apple Dev movie (mpeg-4 format?), it only plays the audio.

2) Game: the Bounce game comes with the phone is a bit challenging for me, as you may know I don’t play computer or smartphone game often.

Continue reading “Nokia 5800 XM: video playback, game, bluetooth and podcast”