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I’m very excited about the new Palm Pre that’s coming out hopefully before the summer.  As an avid Blackberry user, I’ll be the first to admit to its serious limitations compared to the iPhone in usability.  However, I ended up buying the Bold, and not the iPhone, because I hate being at the mercy of one company (or man) – i.e. I liked the openness of the Blackberry, even if it compromised the overall user experience.  However, with webOS, it seems we can get the best of both worlds – openness and sexiness (sure, Android is out there, but I think it is lacking in several areas – both hardware and software).

Now, I haven’t played with the phone, nor have many folks, but based on what I’ve seen and heard, this phone is pretty slick.   Even if it lives up to all our hype (which admittedly is high), it may not be enough.  The iPhone will be two years old this summer, and they most likely will release a 3rd generation device, and who knows what that will have (removable battery, anyone?).  And they released a third version of their OS (in case you haven’t seen the details, here’s a good, short, and amusing summary on the updated OS and how Apple “invented” copy/paste  and MMS).  Oh, and Apple is selling several million iPod Touches per quarter, and it uses the same OS – in fact, this is probably the leading reason why there is so much developer attention to the platform.   Let’s just say there’s a lot of catching up.  

And I think there’s one way they can do it.  Make webOS the de facto platform for ALL types of mobile devices by creating multiple types of devices that support it, or better yet, by licensing it out at an extremely subsidized cost.  The obvious option is a PMP / iPodTouch-like device, which will allow users to cheaply purchase a near-Pre equivalent (minus the phone) at a much lower price.  This is essential (why not seek a partnership with Amazon and become their mobile content delivery platform of choice for video, music, and maybe even books?  Sony just announced they will work with Google Books so Amazon might feel a slight tinge of pressure, and Amazon has demonstrated openness to supporting devices outside the Kindle with their iPhone App).

But what about cameras?  Or navigation systems (even in-dash)?  Or appliances (which are becoming more and more connected)?  Or remotes?  Then it becomes much more interesting to developers to build interesting apps.  If Palm can build multiple non-Phone devices, well then even better.  But the key is they need to propagate their platform and make it more ubiquitous than Apple’s.  Palm has clear advantages over Apple (multitasking, significantly easier programming language, keyboard), but in order to exploit them, it will need to create an ecosystem outside just phones.  Anyways, I’m cheering for Palm to succeed.

Note – I am currently long Apple.

So quick post – I went to the AT&T store in SF the other day to complain about my phone (literally 4 dropped calls in a 5 minute span while driving made me alter my workout plan and drive straight to the store) after weeks (probably months) of issues with “Call Failed” and such.  After waiting 20 minutes while customers ahead of me were buying new phones, they took me.  And I complained about the recent issues, and they told me, to paraphrase, they are aware of the network congestion issues and are working to resolve it.  Translation – you’re SOL and there’s no way we’re going to do anything for you.  She did ask me for where the calls were dropping (it’s a start), but I started to think – if they are having issues, then why in the world are they selling new phones, especially in the exact area where they are having issues?  In my work, we often hear the phrase “carrier grade” specifying a high level of reliability – but if anyone from AT&T asks me about carrier grade, I’ll tell them it just means you have to work most of the time but it’s okay if you drop service half a dozen times in a 30 minute drive.  I don’t know how AT&T is getting away with this stuff, but count me as completely miffed.  I’m glad Blackberry (at least according to rumors) is focusing less on them and more with Verizon and T-Mobile.   Apple, it’s your turn next – abandon AT&T, at least until they get their act together.

There’s a fascinating NYTimes frontpage article about how jurors are causing havoc in the criminal justice system by using Twitter, Facebook, and other real-time communication tools during a court case (via their smartphones and at home on their computers).  Jurors are not supposed to seek outside information related to the case, but with the advent of internet, I’m sure this became tough to avoid.  What I think is particularly fascinating is that jurors not only search online, but they post updates on Twitter.  Here’s an awesome example:

In the Arkansas case, Stoam Holdings, the company trying to overturn the $12.6 million judgment, said a juror, Johnathan Powell, had sent Twitter messages during the trial. Mr. Powell’s messages included, “oh and nobody buy Stoam. Its bad mojo and they’ll probably cease to Exist, now that their wallet is 12m lighter,” and “So Johnathan, what did you do today? Oh nothing really, I just gave away TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS of somebody else’s money.”

What would inspire someone to write that, I’m not sure.  But I think it’s indicative of where our technology is taking us – both for good and bad.  I think the real question here is how do we avoid egregious uses of these services.  It’s only time (and it’s already well underway) when our online personalities go hand-in-hand with our physical personalities.  Employers already use Facebook to research potential employees and their habits, who’s to stop insurers, banks, government agencies, etc to start doing the same (maybe they already do).  It’s scary, but it’s happening.  I think these kinds of cases demonstrate the lack of understanding many folks have regarding their online presence – just because we communicate electronically on a computer or phone and not to a person right in front of us doesn’t mean that our actions go unnoticed.  There is a balance of privacy, but we do need to be held liable for these online actions (in this case taxpayer dollars were wasted due to Mr. Powell’s need to update the world with his sophomoric humor).   Lawmakers need to catch up with the technology so we can penalize such behavior, but I think most of them are too busy twittering to notice.

UPDATE: In case you haven’t seen it, check out this link on how not to tweet after getting a job offer.

I’ll begin by prefacing my post – I do not depend on making a living via generating buzz for my website (and if I did, I’d be more than broke). Perhaps I would feel differently if I did.  I was inspired (or whatever the opposite of that is) to write this post because of all the recent publicity Apple is getting for a potential event where they may potentially announce something about another potential iPhone OS upgrade (which potentially has copy and paste functionality).  Really, that’s a story?  But Apple in a subject line will generate traffic, so they write about it.  All the talk about AIG’s bonuses?  I’m sure you saw those headlines.  Well, the $165 million represents less than a tenth of a percent of the bailout money they received ($173 billion), and was almost assuredly legally guaranteed due to the way employment contracts were structured.  Remember all the hub-bub about the pork in the omnibus bill?  Less than 2% of the budget.  

I’m not arguing that it’s insignificant – in fact I agree it’s very important to understand.  But it would be great if they could talk about it in the context of the entire topic.  Tell me about a product that has some details released (i.e. the Lenovo Pocket Yoga) or tell me about how AIG disbursed the other 99.9% of our money, and give some analysis on the impacts.  

Perhaps the underlying issue here is the depressed state of newspapers and rapidly declining advertising revenue stream.  Either way, do not reward this behavior, and avoid clicking the links – or we’ll be destined for these shenanigans everywhere.

I had no intention to get a Kindle 2, mainly because of its high price tag.  But my nephew (aka my sister and brother in law, seeing as my nephew is not even 1 year old) bought one as a surprise – and I love it.  At first, I can’t deny I was disappointed.  It didn’t include any accessories (for 350 you think you’d get a cover – very Apple-esque of them, although at least it did have an AC/USB adapter), there’s no light on the device, you can’t replace the battery, and the screen seems a bit small.  

But then I started playing with it.  The screen is phenomenal.  When I first opened it, I mistakenly thought the picture (a portrait of a poet) was just part of the plastic covering the screen – I only discovered it was the display 5 minutes later when I looked at the screen.  The e-ink is phenomenally clear and easy to read.  Downloading books via the device or online is a breeze.  The battery life seems great (only charged it once so far).  

But two features seem really cool to me.  First, it’s extremely easy to open up PDF and DOC files – just send them via email to your username@kindle.com and it shows up right on your Kindle home screen.  Second, it has a web browser built in (under the experimental section).  That’s right, it might be crude and only work on certain sites (the mobile versions), but I think it’s awesome that I can read ESPN articles as if it were printed out in paper.  And it’s free.  Pretty awesome.  Sure there are other devices out there, but none seem as cool as this.  I love my iPod touch – but I use that mostly for games.  This device encourages reading – something much more useful and beneficial.  Congrats Jeff Bezos and the Amazon team, you can count me as impressed.  Now work on cutting the price.

Jon Stewart continues to amaze me in his (and his writer’s) ability to break down hypocracy in our public figures.  It’s like we almost expect him to represent us.  While I hardly believe we should rely on the Daily Show as a sole source of news, it’s great at it’s ability to put things in perspective.  Their memory is spectacular.  Jon is also a decent interviewer.  I used to watch CNN in the morning while getting ready, but I switched awhile ago so now I watch the Daily Show – and I feel like I learn 10 times more.    Anyways, a lot of you probably watched this, but if you missed it, this is worth it:

Oh, just in case, here’s the original rant.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think cell phone reception has degraded over time.  I’m sure upgrading to a 3G-capable phone has a lot to do with it (lots of issues with 2G-3G handshake), but I cannot go for more than 15 minutes driving without a dropped call.  And I’ll have several bars before and after the “call failed” note.  Frankly, it’s ridiculous.  Perhaps it’s my Blackberry Bold having issues, although my iPhone user friends seem to have similar dropped call issues.  But it seems odd, especially given how it often happens in the same exact spot (though this is definitely not always the case).

What I want to know is when did we decide to put up with it?  Back in the day, I used to have Sprint (the evolutionary Palm Treo 650).  And while I didn’t get coverage at my home, I rarely dropped calls.  Perhaps when the Palm Pre comes out for Sprint, I’ll return full circle.  Either that or I’ll just take the hit to the wallet and switch to Verizon.  One more thing, if you’re considering a new phone, check out T-Mobile and get the new Curve 8900.  I’ve played around with it – probably my favorite device out there right now – extremely sleek, durable,  and stable.

Or, perhaps I just need to watch CK with Conan again (highly recommended):