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Palm Sells Shares to Survive
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds,
How do you keep your company going in this evil recession? If you are Palm, you sell about 18 million shares of its stock. The proceeds will pay off $49 million in debts to Elevations Partners and the rest will go back to Palm, so that they can stay alive until the Pre is available in Q2. If you are considering the purchase of one, this might be a way to help the California company and get your own share of the phone.
Read More 
| MobileBurn
Gallery: Palm Sells Shares to Survive
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It would appear that BlackBerry App World will soon be arriving. Although it is not open yet, you can register now to know when it will be available. Purchasing must be made through PayPal, so you had best sign up for that, too. The requirements are that your smartphone must have an operating system of 4.2 or higher and have a trackball or SurePress touchscreen. RIM is also calling for applications so if you come up with one, let them know.
Read More | Blackberry App World
Gallery: BlackBerry App World
Nokia Corrects 5800 Smartphones
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds,
Word on the street
Net is that Nokia has corrected the problem that some of the 5800 XpressMusic smartphones were experiencing with 3G networks. Supposedly it was a configuration change that was at fault. The company says that the 5800s will be back in flagship stores soon. If you have any problems you can still call them at 1-888-665-4228 Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM EST or contact them at customer care.
Read More | Mobile Burn
Gallery: Nokia Corrects 5800 Smartphones
Palm Treo Pro Out March 15
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds,
Palm and Sprint have announced that the Treo Pro will be available on March 15. You can get one at any Sprint outlet or online for $199.99 and a two year subscription after a $100.00 mail-in and $100.00 instant rebate. You also have to get their Everything Plan or a $30.00 per month or higher add-on. If you believe you can handle that kind of monetary commitment, your wait for the smartphone is only a couple of weeks away.
Be sure to check out our Palm Treo Pro unboxing gallery.
Read More | Mobility Today
Gallery: Palm Treo Pro Out March 15
Video: A look at 2019 through the eyes of Microsoft
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Design, Handhelds, Microsoft, Videos, Wireless / WiFi,
The clip above was shown at the Wharton Business Technology Conference. It’s called 2019, and it’s Microsoft‘s vision for what the year 2019 will look like as it pertains to technology and how it will be completely integrated into our lifestyle. While 2019 looks like a far away number, this is just 10 years away, people. Do we think things will look like this by then? No, not so much…but we will be well on our way. Check out the two-minute version above, and if it strikes your fancy, click on through to watch the five-minute version. It makes me cry with glee.
Read More | istartedsomething
Gallery: Video: A look at 2019 through the eyes of Microsoft
Amazon gives in: Text-to-Speech now decided by book publisher
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds, Portable Audio / Video,
The text-to-speech feature of the Kindle 2 in one of the main features that Amazon was touting when they debuted their latest e-book reader. However, Roy Blount, Jr., president of the Author’s Guild, made it immediately known that the Guild objects to the feature that he believes undermines the market for professional e-book. While this is overly cautious, since the Kindle sounds nothing like a real human being, Amazon has decided to step up (or back down?) and allow book publishers and authors the right to allow their works to be compatible with the text-to-speech feature or not. We are hoping that most will see that it’s harmless, and just allows folks to enjoy their work in a different way, albeit on the same device. You can read Amazon’s full statement after the jump.
You can pick up the Kindle 2 at Amazon, be sure to check out our Kindle 2 review.
Click to continue reading Amazon gives in: Text-to-Speech now decided by book publisher
Gallery: Amazon gives in: Text-to-Speech now decided by book publisher
SoftBank Free iPhone for Everybody
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Hot Deals,
If you think the idea of an iPhone for $99.00 is a hot deal, look what SoftBank is offering with its “iPhone for Everybody Campaign.” Japanese subscribers will receive an iPhone 3G 8GB for free with a 2-year contract with a monthly $44.75 charge as opposed to their standard $60.00. Users can also select an iPhone 3G 16GB for $117.00. The deal begins today and will run through the end of May.
Read More | BGR
Gallery: SoftBank Free iPhone for Everybody
Free SMS2Desk Sends Blackberry Messages to PC
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Handhelds, Hot Deals, Internet, PC / Laptop,
Cortado is offering their free SMS2Desk that allows you to send and receive messages via your PC to your BlackBerry OS 4.2.1 or higher through your email. You can also organize with the handy tool. Cortado promises that everything you do will be saved securely. Although you can download the program on a .zip file on your PC, you can get SNS2Desk from your Blackberry. There is a Premium Version that provides multiple SMS sending simultaneously, editable e-mailing, limit to the number of messages sent and SMS confirmation for about $6.00.
Read More | Cortado
Gallery: Free SMS2Desk Sends Blackberry Messages to PC
We’ve spent a few days with the Amazon Kindle 2, which has been the talk of the gadget world this week. We know some of you are wondering if you should pick one up, so we are here to give you our thoughts on the latest iteration of Amazon’s e-book reader. If you’re like us, you already know that the Kindle 2 is available for purchase now, and you likely have one in your hands - but for the rest of you, join us for our full review of the Kindle 2 (and if you missed it, check out our Kindle 2 gallery.)
Okay, so while we were working on the review, we sent a couple of questions out to some of our Twitter peeps asking what they thought of the device, and Lisa from EllisLab hit us back with so much info, that we are using her feedback to break this down for you. Sometimes you need the point of view of a “real world” user anyway, as opposed to one of us gadget fiends. So what we will do is give some of our thoughts on the Kindle 2, and then bring in Lisa’s thoughts as well.
The Kindle 2 was announced on February 9th, and just started shipping on February 24th. The announcement came with the promise of a 25% improvement in battery life, 20% faster page turns, a better screen that supports up to 16 shades of gray (as opposed to 4 shades with the original,) and a much thinner design.
Click to continue reading Amazon Kindle 2 review
Gallery: Amazon Kindle 2 review
Smartphone Users Spend Big Bucks on Applications
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Handhelds, Internet, Video Games,
ABI Research surveyed 235 smartphone users in the U.S. who installed applications in 2008. Their result was that 16.5% spent between $100.00 and $499.00. That’s a lot of apps considering that many of them are free or less than $25.00. Analyst Jeff Orr sees this as the reason, “Apple is seen by some as hurting the market with its iPhone App Store. It drives the price of content down to $1-2, using a model similar to its successful iTunes music store. If you exclude Apple from the mix, applications for other platforms cost about $7-25 each.”
He went on to say that Apple’s marketing did a lot to get others to work on their own. Look for application storefronts from Nokia, Palm, RIM and Samsung to come this year.
Read More | Smart Brief
