Two interesting pieces of contrasting TouchPad news: one about failure and the other success.

From AllThingsD, we get a snip from the recent HP earnings report specific to Palm, webOS and the impact of folding up that business on their results. Here is their quote from the earnings report:

Non-GAAP earnings and operating profit information excludes after-tax costs of $3.3 billion, or $1.56 per diluted share, related to the wind down of HP’s webOS device business, impairment of goodwill and purchased intangible assets, amortization of purchased intangible assets, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.

Just over two months ago HP created market hysteria by killing off the TouchPad tablet and then dropping the price for quick sell-off to $99 for the 16GB and $149 for the 32GB version. In a dazzling internet-breaking weekend, a variety of sites posted and quickly sold out of the TouchPad at those prices. All of which is nice history, but it is relevant because now we are starting to see some stock of the TouchPad trickling out to a few deals sites, Amazon.com and HP itself. All of this before the anticipated final rush of TouchPad inventory made to use up the final supplier inventories.

This weekend the site DailySteals (synopsis… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Image Courtesy of Demotivation

I recently remarked about how and why I didn’t buy a HP TouchPad during the recent mega-sale at Staples and elsewhere. As I mentioned then, Dan had also looked at the TouchPad when it was released and described it as “a bit too laggy for my taste”. Since then he posted about the upcoming AT&T 3G model with a faster processor, and said the main reason he didn’t get one during the big sale was his local store didn’t have any. My post also drew comments from others less than thrilled with the TouchPad.

Turns out we are far from alone – just before the Staples deal… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Before the advent of “Simply Everything” there was an even cheaper way to get Sprint service. All you needed was the email address of a Sprint employee, and you’d qualify for a special plan called “Sprint Employee Referral Offer” or SERO. Basically it was deeply discounted service, and the people lucky enough to sign up have enjoyed ridiculously cheap wireless for the last few years.

In an attempt to drive people off SERO and onto the more lucrative “Simply Everything” plans, Sprint stopped allowing SERO customers to upgrade to new phones. Basically, name a hot phone on Sprint, and SERO customers couldn’t have it. No Evo, no Palm Pre, no Epic 4G, etc. Unless you let them pry… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

(image courtesy Dmitry Grinberg)

Yes, Android has been ported to iPhones, but what about older devices? If you’ve got a Tungsten C, you can (theoretically) run Android 2.1 on it! Yes, a Tungsten C can run a higher version of Android than some official Android phones!

This upgrade (if you can call it that) was done by Dmitri Grinberg, possibly the last major hacker/developer of the Palm OS platform. He’s claimed for some time to be working on “DGOS”, a pseudo-upgrade to Palm OS. Either to not endanger his DGOS project, or because the Android port is so unstable, it doesn’t look like Dmitri has posted any step by step instructions, so don’t dig up… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

By now you’ve probably heard the news that PALM is officially part of Hewlett-Packard. If you, like many of us, started with a Palm OS device before moving on to smartphones, it’s a bittersweet ending. On the one hand, no one wanted to see Palm die, even after their slow circling of the drain for years. On the other hand, it’s an open question how Palm will do as part of HP, and whether WebOS will resurface or be absorbed into an HP Printer.

One of the original Palm-people, Donna Dubinsky, wants to remind people there’s always been something special about Palm. She recently wrote an editorial for Mercury News about “The Seven Lives of Palm… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Dearly beloved, we are here to pay our respects Whoops, sorry. That was my draft if Palm didn’t make it. We’re actually here to celebrate the happy couple, Palm and Hewlett Packard! Sure, the only thing making this more like a shotgun wedding would be if Palm were actively giving birth in the aisles, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate!

We all know HP knows how to treat an acquisition well. Look at how healthy Compaq looks, sitting there in the front row. And there’s the slight irony of 3Comm sitting next to it. You all missed the awkward moment in the hallway when Palm and 3Comm ran into each other! Yea, there’s… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

News broke on Thursday that Palm’s WebOS phones are not selling terribly well. The Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on Verizon haven’t been enough to save Palm from issuing a warning that their upcoming earnings may not be sunshine and rainbows. Worse, there are indications that orders of their phones are slowing, indicating demand simply isn’t there. The big question now is, did Palm know this when they claimed production was shut down for Chinese New Year? If they did, and Chinese New Year was just a convenient excuse, there are quite a few people angry at Palm for that bit of obfuscation. And it may end up being more than just a white lie…… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Otterbox, makers of tough as nails type case for various wireless devices announced their latest case last night during one of the CES 2010 events.

The new case, called the Tandem series, will initially launch for the Palm Pre device with other models to follow.

The two piece case features polycarbonate pieces that have been reinforced to provide shock and impact protection.  The Palm Pre version slides open and closed effortlessly allowing you to use the keyboard without removing the case.

So how does the Tandem Series work?

The first shell attaches to the front of the smartphone and the second shell attaches

Engadget and Gizmodo covered it back in October as the “surprisingly not-sad fate of Palm OS”, and we seem to be one step closer to seeing the Linux-based First ELSE come to market. The hardware is certainly sexy enough, and the little bit that I have seen of the OS appears to be slick and attention-getting.

ELSE INTUITION™ is a complete mobile platform developed by ACCESS and Emblaze Mobile. Thanks to the combination of ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0 and an advanced user interface engine, jointly developed by Emblaze Mobile and ACCESS, ELSE INTUITION™ delivers a highly compelling and differentiated user experience, coupled with state-of-the-art hardware, accelerated 2D/3D graphics and elegant transition effects.

A website is in place, complete with a video telling us why our mobile experience has been empty without the ELSE. Will the First ELSE be the answer? If it actually makes it to market in the first half of 2010, perhaps we will be able to decide.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

You have to feel badly for Palm. Even when they make some good moves they still can’t get any respect. And today no less than the New York Times took a swipe at them. In the article entitled “Is Palm’s Comeback Losing Steam?” author Saul Hansell notes…

Palm invented the category of a Web-surfing pocket-computer phone with its Treo line in 2002. But more recently it lost its way in the market as some of its rivals developed more innovative phones.

I mean, think about it, how many people are even TALKING about the $99 Pixi that just went on sale? Ask people about the latest smartphone and they will say… “Droid”.

Worse yet for Palm,… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

A demo of Flash Player 10 running on a Palm Pre has just been released on YouTube. According to Adobe they expect to bring a version of Flash to nearly every mobile platform (Windows Mobile, RIM, WebOS, Google Android, and Symbian OS) this year or next. Notice any particular missing platform? So far Adobe has only indicated that they’re working with Apple but that the development will be on a separate timetable. The promise of Flash Player on mobile platforms is that much of the multimedia content currently available only through more powerful desktop computers could instantly become available on smartphones with Adobe Flash capabilities. This would potentially save developers from having to write multiple versions of an application and could create a large number of feature rich applications able… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Viddler video.I’m a huge fan of the Engadget podcast. Not a week goes by that I don’t listen to Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Nilay Patel. Their podcast is updated weekly and they chat about the week’s top news and provide added insight that you don’t get from their web site. I’m not sure how frequently these Engadget live shows are going to happen. This episode feature Jon Rubenstein formerly of Apple and now leader of Palm and was taped on 9/13/09. Aside from some problems with low audio and a questionable selection of first guest (cool demo of Pixi – but terrible explanation of why there’s no Wi-Fi (Sprint didn’t want it?) and come on Jon Rubenstein doesn’t know the type of processor in the  Pixi  ?) the video is… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

During yesterday’s earnings call Palm announced they’d shipped 823,000 smartphone units last quarter (no breakdown on how many were Pre devices), beat earnings estimates and said their future growth will depend upon on how well their products launch. While no specifics were given about launches the company did hint that in the second half of 2010 they will be launching the WebOS based devices on more carriers. Perhaps most interesting is that according to website Precentral during the conference call Palm made this statement:

Due to importance of webOS to our overall strategy, we’ve made the decision to dedicate all future develoment resources to the evolution of webOS. Which means that going forward, our roadmap will include only Palm webOS-based

Are you a Palm loyalist, still clutching your Centro, Treo, or T|X tightly in your fingers, not yet ready to surrender your trusted device, but perhaps looking for something to give your Palm OS device a little boost and add a little excitement?  If so, Handmark may just make your day.

Through its gaming group, Astraware, Handmark makes a great range of games for the Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, BlackBerry, iPhone, and PC platforms.  For a limited time, they are offering their Palm OS games at a 50% discount, including such well known titles as Tetris, Tradewinds 2, Bejeweled, Text Twist, GTS World Racing, and Astraware Casino.

To get your discount, use promo code PALM50