In a move sure to get people excited about their Advance 08 conference slated to start on Tuesday of next week, Microsoft issued a vague and ambiguous press release that contains 292 words - and spends 112 of them saying essentially - “oh well, life goes on” pointing out “…that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business. “.

“In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft
proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft announced that it is continuing
to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online
services and advertising business. Microsoft is considering and has raised
with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but
not an acquisition of all of Yahoo! Microsoft is not proposing to make a
new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to
reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and
discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with
shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties.

“There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result
from these discussions.

Like two forever flirting romantic characters on a TV series, I wish they’d just go and do it already instead of dragging this out forever.

Link: Microsoft’s Press Release - About Nothing

Many of you by now will recognize the name HTC as the abbreviation for the Taiwanese based company High Tech Computer. They are the world’s largest manufacturer of Pocket PC and Smartphone OS based PDAs, and as such they are responsible for many of the more recognizable devices which are rebranded by companies including Hewlett Packard, i-mate, Audiovox, and Dopod - to name a few.

The device we’ll be looking at today is known by several names including the O2 XDA Trion, the MDA Vario II, Orange SPV M3100, and the Dopod 838Pro. This review will specifically cover the HTC Hermes branded as the Dopod 838Pro; while some of its included software may differ from other branded versions, the general hardware specifications should be about the same.

Similar to the HTC Apache / Sprint PPC-6700 which I reviewed last year, the Hermes features a compact touch-screen PDA form factor with a left-sliding keyboard which only appears when needed. The Hermes is intended to function not only as the user’s mobile phone, but also as a fully functional PDA, an email and text messaging center, and a compact means to wirelessly surf the internet.

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The HTC Excalibur, AKA T-Mobile Dash has been announced today; Engadget already has a review. 

Photo from Engadget

Pricing will be set at $199.99 with a two-year contract, $249.99 with a one year contract, and $349 with no contract - quite reasonable!

If any of you pick one up - be sure to post your impressions.

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