Palm for sale

In the up and down world of Palm it's sometimes difficult to know where Palm is on the roller coaster.  Palm has put itself up for sale and that could be good or bad. There are some interesting possibilities that could keep Palm's WebOS alive. We've heard rumors of HTC, RIM, Dell, Lenovo and several others being possible buyers and all of them have positive reasons for wanting Palm's assets.

There was a time when the Palm Pilot was THE must have accessory. Pulling out your Pilot showed the world that you were a cutting edge geek. Today Palm is a minor player in a game dominated by other players. I've always loved Palm PDAs and phones and I will personally miss them if they disappear.

iPad returns

I'm sort of surprised by the number of online articles and blogs I've seen by people returning their brand new iPads because the owner is dissatisfied. What did the purchasers not understand? Anyone who read much about the real details of the iPad knew how limited they were and never planned on buying one. Only true Apple "believers" would waste their money on an iPad.

I usually don't get into politics here, but to me the same people who bought iPads voted for Obama. Change was the key. The promise was for something different. Change isn't always good, sometimes it's VERY bad.

Starter editions

MSFT has taken their Starter Edition tactic to another level. Readers of this blog and our newsletter know how I feel about Win7 Starter Edition. It's a crippled version that netbooks users are supposed to get tired of quickly and then pay more money for a more usable version of Win7. Considering the fact that the full version of Win7 is pre-loaded on Win7 Starter computers and functionality is purposly turned OFF, it doesn't save money at all. It's just a lure to get you to "upgrade".

The next version of Office will use the same tactics. Instead of pre-loading an advertising sponsored version, like the Works version on netbooks, or time-bomb versions of Office they'll pre-load a stripped down version of Office. It will undoubtably be so crippled that users will go bonkers using it and pay a lot of extra money to "upgrade".

MSFT is always innovative..... when it comes to finding ways to squeeze more money out of users!!

Too hot to handle?

I knew the iPads were HOT but I didn't how how easily they get TOO hot! It turns out that there have been numerous reports of iPads displaying a message of "'iPad needs to cool down before you can use it". It turns out that the maximum iPad operating temperature is 95 degrees F. If you're planning on using an iPad at the beach or in a car in direct sunlight then you'll hit 95 easily.

Amazon is taking advantage of the flaw and has this ad on their web site! Cool!.

iPad weekend

The first big iPad weekend is over and it looks like it was a huge success for Apple. Sales were excellent, over 700,000 from what I've read, and there was buzz everywhere. You couldn't pick up a a newspaper or watch TV without seeing coverage of the launch.

I still think it's far too limited for the money you pay but that's the way it is with all things Apple. By the time version 2 or 3 gets here the current limitations should be gone and it may be worth taking a look.

Personally, I'll stick with my netbooks for now and enjoy better performance for FAR less money.

A sad day

We just lost the true Father of the personal computer. Ed Roberts was the visionary that created the Altair 8800 and brought Bill Gates and Paul Allen into the industry. He will always be the person we have to thank for the computers we have today, He started it all.

iPad kit!!

Thanks to my friend Jim Evans for finding this for us. The CrunchPad kit looks like a fabulous product that provides an inexpensive path to iPad Utopia. The instructional video says it all.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/31/introducing-the-do-it-yourself-crunchpad-kit-video/