If you have a Pig who has to  crap allot, You might be on your way to saying some cash.  The tiny little flower known as Duckweed could very well provide the alternative to corn-based-ethanol biofuel, while cleaning up what your pig leaves behind.  Turns out that the flower produces far more starch than corn does.

“Based on our laboratory studies, we can produce five to six times more starch per unit of footage,” said Jay Cheng, a biological engineer at North Carolina State University.

This find could be a groundbreaking discovery leading to easier, faster, cheaper and more humaine way to ween ourselves off of forgiegn  oil.

Read

Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you the newest Mr. Olympia for 2008, Dexter Jackson!  At 5’7″ and 235lbs he is the first giant killer in Olympia history as traditionally taller men, anyone over 5’9″ have dominated this sport, but Mr. Jackson would not be denied history as he would usually place in the top three to five in any contest he entered.  Jay Cutler, who has won the past couple of Olympia’s, has been a most gracious and approachable champion and has been very good for sport on the whole.  However, let’s see if Jay will keep his promise to retire after this competition, hopefully he will and continue to be successful in all his endeavors.  Here are the placings:  1. Dexter Jackson 2. Jay Cutler 3. Phil Heath 4. Dennis Wolf 5. Toney Freeman 6. Melvin Anthony 7. Silvio Samuel 8. Dennis James 9. Mo Elmoussawi 10. Gustavo Badell 11. Darrem Charles 12. Johnnie Jackson 13. Craig Richardson 14. Ronny Rockel 15. David Henry 16. Kevin English 17. Fouad Abiad, Sergey Shelestov, and Leo Ingram

FX’s new original TV series, SONS OF ANARCHY, premieres this Wednesday, September 3rd, 10pm.  

“Sons of Anarchy is an adrenalized drama with darkly comedic undertones about a notorious outlaw motorcycle club intent on protecting their sheltered small town against encroaching drug dealers, corporate developers and overzealous law officers. The club is equally determined to protect their ruthless and illegally thriving arms business. Charlie Hunnam stars as Jackson ‘Jax’ Teller, a man whose love for the brotherhood is tested by his growing apprehension for its lawlessness. Katey Sagal stars as Gemma Teller Morrow, Jax’s force-of-nature mother, who along with Ron Perlman as Clarance ‘Clay’ Morrow, Jax’s stepfather and MC president, have their own darker vision for the club.”

Check out the show and go to the FXnetworks.com to learn more about the new series and it’s cast.

I was just about ready to shut down the computer for the night (yes, even we uber dedicated MorninPaper writers think about sleep) when this little ditty popped up on Engadget courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.

Microsoft’s new $300 million campaign (one of Redmond’s largest ever) is set to launch with a $10 million assist from "key celebrity pitchman" Jerry Seinfeld. Yes, Bill Gates will appear as well — the once maligned, rich corporate nerd turned adorable, rich humanitarian nerd. The campaign is said to based on the idea of "Windows, Not Walls," stressing the need to "break down barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting."

According to the WSJ, Seinfeld will be walking away with a cool $10 million for his work helping Microsoft fight back against Apple for the mental space and continued brand allegiance of computer users.

Personally, I had been wondering when Microsoft would get around to getting around to detailing how they were spending $300 million on a new ad campaign to battle back against Apple and their iconic “I’m a Mac, I’M a PC” ad campaign. Right or wrong, deservedly or not, it sure put a PR hurting on Microsoft as they were trying to get Vista out the door and onto every computer previously (or still) running Windows XP.

At the very least, it’s nice to see they didn’t blow the whole wad on those “Mojave Experiment” commercials that, well, let’s just say they didn’t knock the ball out of the park on those.

Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing how Billy Gates and Jerry Seinfeld play off each other. Seinfeld humor, Bill Gates home spun nerd shtick. Could be “Must See TV” all over again.

Usain “strides” Bolt set another world record, besting Michael Johnson’s incredible 19.32 in the 200m, with a 19.30.  The scary thing is that this kid is not even in his best form yet, that means he is capable of a 19.20 and a 9.6 in the 100m and his height and turnover make him near impossible to beat, and I don’t give a damn what anybody says, this kid is the truth and he is natural.  I am soooo jealous, congrats to him, his family and friends, and that little country called Jamaica.

Usain Bolt caught my attention at the Reebok Grand Prix at Randall’s Island in May, and I knew he would save his best for the world stage!  Usain “lightning” Bolt ran a blistering 9.69 in Beijing, and get this, he still pulled up and showed some chest thumping.  If he had actually pushed and ran through, he probably would have clocked a 9.63 or better!  Usain took Gold, Richard Thompson of Trinidad ran a 9.89 took Silver, and Walter Dix of U.S.A ran 9.91 for Bronze.  Usain is tall, strong, and fast, and only 21 years old, damn!

Was Beyonce’s likeness digitally altered in this new L’Oreal print ad? She is looking a tad paler, no?  And i’m not referring to her hair color!

L’Oreal reps deny that her complexion was lightened. “We highly value our relationship with Ms. Knowles. It is categorically untrue that L’Oreal Paris altered Ms. Knowles’ features or skin tone in the campaign for Feria hair color,” the company insisted in a statement.

Come now, we all know that photoshop airbrushing is a fabulous tool, but to go lighter is just strange.  So if it wasn’t altered digitally………..  perhaps skin bleaching is to blame.

Oh God help us, she’s not turning into a female Michael Jackson is she?!  That’s one scary road to follow………

You are looking at the hauntingly soft picture of  Every Playboy Centerfold, From The 1970s.

Artist Jason Salavon has created some beautiful photographs, using unconventional methods and subject matter.  (Please be warned when visiting his site, it’s definitely rated R).

There are 4 photographs in this series and they are the result of mean averaging every Playboy centerfold foldout for the four decades beginning Jan. 1960 through Dec. 1999.

I find them very attractive – does that make me a lesbian?

Hmm, seems Dell’s CEO and founder, Michael Dell went on a buying spree of Dell stock to the tune of nearly $100 million (yes, that six zeros following that one). Could Michael Dell know something you don’t, and maybe you should?

C|Net is posting a story from Marketwatch that Dell’s stock prices rose once other investors heard about his heavy “buy” in his own company.

Dell shares rose as high as 4.5 percent Wednesday, following reports that founder Michael Dell acquired nearly $100 million in shares in the computer maker.

Dell climbed as high as $23.18 a share in intraday trading, before closing out the session at $22.70 a share, up 2.34 percent.

See that satisfied smile? Dell is up to something and he wants to make sure he’s in on the ground floor. Who would know better than the CEO of some new, crazy – awesome thingy hatching in Dell’s labs?

All of this is anecdotal of course, maybe he just wants to give back for all of his success? Yeah, right.

A few weeks ago, Rob Bushway at gottabemobile.com had a private, NDA required, tour of Dell.

This is what he had to say:

While I was in Austin, Dell invited me to their campus to spend some time in their Usability ID Lab. I’m not at liberty to discuss much of anything besides the fact that I was there and was very impressed with everything I saw. Dell is doing some awesome work and has turned some major corners.

Coincidence?

I’d call my stock broker in the morning if I actually had one.

Tyson Gay has bested the nine year U.S. record for the 100m set by Maurice Greene, at the Olympic trial quarter finals in Eugene, Ore. He ran a 9.77, which is an amazing feat however, I saw the Reebox Grand Prix, at Randall’s Island, where Gay raced against Jamaica’s Usain Bolt and Bolt ran a 9.72, and that was crazy.  Gay and Usain at their best, Usain will get the victory, it’s just the truth.  I loooove sprinting!!

Okay, big disclaimer out of the way first. I’ve got a vested interest in how well e-book reading devices do as well as the success of e-books in general. Most MorninPaper readers know I’ve written and illustrated a children’s e-book “Good Morning, Friend Moon.” You can read a very nice review here.

With that piece of business out of the way, I still think it is about time textbook publishers finally woke up and smelled the digital coffee.

Gizmodo is linking to a story via Yahoo!

Imagine a campus in which students carry only man-purses, instead of 80-pound packs stuffed with textbooks. Amazon may soon get additional academic credit as more university publishers sign up with its wireless reading device. (Yahoo!Buzz)

Princeton University Press join Oxford, Yale and the UC in putting some of their titles into e-book form, allowing students to bypass the used book store and directly download their textbooks onto their Kindles. (Gizmodo)

All I can say is … about friggin’ time!

Digital textbooks should have been a no-brainer from the day the technology matured enough to support them, whether on the Kindle or any other e-reading device (I’m an agnostic when it comes to which device).

And it shouldn’t just be for college students, every student should be able to get their textbooks digitally.

It would save on printing cost, shipping cost, not waste so much paper or other natural resources. Young kids wouldn’t develop back problems from having to schlep those heavy text books back and forth to school.

I’m a firm advocate for cheaper devices, most e-readers are still at or above the $300 mark keeping them an expensive luxury of the well-to-do reading aficionados.

But the day is coming when some company is going to figure a way to make these very affordable for Joe and Jane Q. Public and their school age children. Then we’ll all wonder what took them so long.

Read

Usain Bolt was is a 21 year-old sprinter from Trelawny, Jamaica and on May 31 at the Reebox Grand Prix in New York City, he bested his fellow countryman’s world record in the 100 by .02 seconds as he ran a 9.72 compared to Asafa Powell’s 9.74. I can remember years ago when Maurice Green ran a 9.86 and the whole world gasped in shock, this was during the time of Ato Bolden and Jon Drummond and most fast guys clocked in the 9.9′s. I watched this kid run this race and I was in absolute shock as Rudy Gay couldn’t catch him and he still had some inconsistencies in his technique, but that mattered not. I have always loved the collegiate/pro track game, from the 60m to 4×400 relay, speed is King and speed kills, and it is amazing how the human body can be encouraged to reach such heights. When Michael Johnson ran his 19.32 in the 200m in the last Olympics, I kept rewinding my tape and I even shed a tear at his absolute decimation of the standing record. Usain Bolt has the potential to have that effect on the world and millions of his soon to be fans, he is the truth and rightfully earned the moniker, “Lighting Bolt.”

 

 

For viewing reasons, CBS only showed some of the marquee fights, and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw, other than the Kimbo Slice match, which was just ok.  Kimbo has admitted that he is just a baby in the sport and I do appreciate his honesty, Bas Rutten should be having Kimbo work on low and mid-range kicks and at least three submissions, rear naked choke, kimura, and an ankle lock, to start.  His opponent James Thompson, was a decent opponent, not great but decent, but there were a few times, when he should have clearly beaten Kimbo and he didn’t, especially in the second round when he had Kimbo pinned on the mat, against the cage for about a minute.  Kimbo has some serious hands, that is a fact, I trust the wisdom of Bas to get him there as he has no ego or preconceived notion of greatness. 

1. Kimbo Slice def. James Thompson by TKO in the second round.  2. Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith ended in a no contest in the third round.  3. Gina Carano def. Kaitilin Young by TKO (doctor stoppage) in the second round  4. Joey Villasenor def. Phil Baroni by TKO in the first round.  5. Brett Rogers def. Jon Murphy by TKO in round one.  6. Chris Liguri def. Jim Bova by TKO (doctor stoppage) in round two.  Matt Makowski def. Nick Serra by TKO in round two.  8. Carlton Haselridge def. Carlos Moreno by TKO in round one.  9. Wilson Reis def. Justin Robbins by submission.   10. James Jones def. Calvin Kattar by submission in round one.  11. Zack Makovsky def. Andre Soares by unanimous decision.  12. Joe Sampieri def. Mike Gomes by TKO in round one.

I don’t care what your race, ethnicity, or gender may be, when you are in the entertainment field and you conduct your business and personal life with the highest respect, you got my support on almost anything. In this common day of behaving badly and a false sense of entitlement for doing absolutely nothing, someone like Tyra Banks, who just happens to have a successful talk show, while so many others have failed, and did that little Top Model thing, that happens to be spun-off in 30+ countries. Tyra has quietly become quite the little Mogul, not bad for the little girl from Los Angeles. She is set to grace the cover of the New York Times Magazine and they have drawn a correlation between Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart to her, and they are correct to do so. No drugs, no drunken pictures, no flashing her clam dip, no crazy outbursts, no adultery issues, and no need to constantly be photographed/get attention. I can’t speak for her being a nice/good person, but hopefully she is much nicer than Martha and Oprah, eventually your P.R. people cannot protect you from your true personality. Take a clue from these two women Tyra! 

Fitted with pair of carbon-fiber air cylinders, two rotary air engines, Jim Stansfield has taken a blast from the past and created a "I hope this isn’t our future".   That being said, all props to the guy.

Sure the average 62 year-old jogger could get to their destination faster than this moped topped out at 18mph.   Sure the average pack a day smoker could walk further than the 7 miles this Puch will take you on two tanks of air, but all that aside, you have to tip your hat to a person who comes up with gadgetry like this.  It’s a step in the green direction.

Source

With the N.Y.GOP basically telling ESpitz to “kick rocks” for his very public call girl scandal, embarrassing himself, his family, and constituents, his resignation should be imminent. With that being said, who is David Paterson? David Paterson is the Lt. Governor who is the first African-American and legally blind person to hold his position. He has optic atrophy, and is unable to see out of left eye and seriously limited vision in his right eye. History could be made very shortly, but I seriously hope that he doesn’t have any career ending skeletons in his closet as well. Read

Who said the “Make A Wish Foundation” couldn’t work for senior citizens? With his 60th birthday quickly approaching, my New York Yankees have awarded a one-day contract to a home game regular and pretty nice guy, Billy Crystal. Crystal, who is known more for his acting/directing is an avid/rabid Yankees fan, not to mention he directed and produced “61″ the movie about Roger Maris. He will wear number sixty, work out with the team, and have to channel his high school baseball experience as he will face the Pittsburgh Pirates in an TBD role. All I can say is, “you lucky bastard!” I am eagerly awaiting my call from the N.Y. Giants, they had better hurry up because although I am maintaining my sexy quite impeccably, my ass is getting a tad bit old. But with my luck, they would put me on kickoff return, a plot orchestrated by my wife no doubt to get the insurance money, oh well. Swing for the fences Billy and don’t throw out your back! Read

Blog site randomhot.com has the entire spread of the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition available for viewing (uh..ehm reading).  Not only do they have the SI spread, but many other great photos    

Check it out.

This is sort of old news at this point (originally saw it last Thursday), but just in case some of you missed it…  Microsoft will be slashing the price of some of its retail versions of Vista.   Apparently this will become effective when the SP1 version rolls out later this year. Vista
Ultimate’s full version will go to $319 from $399 (an upgrade is now $219, down from $259); Home Premium’s upgrade is now $129, down from
$159.

This isn’t entirely surprising to me. Personally I wouldn’t want either of these versions…Ultimate is too bloated with things I’ll never use and Home Premium is missing too many things I need for my office environment. 

Although if you have been putting of upgrading and you want to get it all, and go for Ultimate, or don’t need some of the missing "workplace" tools missing in Home Premium, this price drop is your opportunity to score.

Comparison chart of the various Vista versions can be found here.

With what is starting to look like “University Wars” heating up, in response to Harvard reducing it’s tuition for low-income families, Stanford has gone one better. According to Financial Aid Director, Karen Cooper, Stanford plans to ELIMINATE tuition for students who’s family income is less than 100k and they will pay most of room and board if they make less than 60k. With an annual tuition topping 36k and room and board at 11k, this is fantastic news for all students that fit this criteria, granted they have what it takes to get into Stanford. I believe that most private universities such as Stanford have the means to actually do this and what is great is that it holds other “institutes of higher learning” accountable. Damn, this makes me want to go back to go school, this time I could correct the problems I faced in from 88-92. But what would I do with my three year-old, ahh yes, campus daycare, it’s settled! Read

Another week, another "Holy Grail" of mobile web browsers for Windows Mobile.

Remember last week? It was Skyfire, from a company nobody heard of and most tech sites were tripping over themselves hailing it as the greatest thing since sliced bread? Ugh, enough already. Actually ship the product instead of talking about it and then I’ll be a little more impressed.

This week, it’s Opera Mobile 9.5. At least Opera is a company that many of us already know. It’s even the default browser for my Motorola Q9h.

From the official Opera site:

Built on Opera’s unique core architecture, the Opera Mobile 9.5 desktop-like browsing experience has been enhanced with innovations such as zooming and panning that make it easier to navigate, load pages quicker and get users closer to the Web content and entertainment they want. With Opera Mobile 9.5, users can experience the real Web and interact with content exactly as they do on their PC.

The Opera Mobile 9.5 experience includes many of the innovations found in Opera’s trend-setting desktop browser including:

• Intuitive user interface
• Tabbed browsing
• Improved text wrap
• Page overview, zooming and panning
• Landscape mode
• Save Web page for future offline access
• Call phone number from Web page
• Send link as SMS/MMS
• Send image as SMS/MMS
• Small Screen Renderingâ„¢
• Password manager
• Web address input auto-completion
• History and bookmarks
• Copy text
• Opera Widgets

I’ve never been one for mobile web browsing, but I’d be more inclined to go with Opera Mobile than anyone else at the moment. Not because I think Opera Mini on my Q9 is better than IE Mobile, I don’t.

As slow and clunky as IE Mobile is, the few (count on one hand) times I’ve ever absolutely, positively HAD to access the web from my phone, I found Opera Mini to be just as clunky as IE Mobile. But, with the integration of Windows Mobile with my Windows PC and IE7, I’d already saved my most critical sites as Mobile Favorites so I could get on and off as quickly as possible.

But, to be fair to the good work that the folks at Opera have done, once you get passed the gratuitous IE Mobile bashing at the beginning of the Opera Mobile video demo, it does look like it might even get me to think twice about reaching for my phone to browse the web instead of waiting to get to a real computer.

Why do we even still bother with this tradition? I loved the movie, Groundhog Day, “Ned, Ned Rierson?” But I guess this little unknown/misunderstood animal has made his prediction….he saw his shadow, so that means six more weeks of winter. What are ya’ gonna do? Some people care and others don’t, either way, have a great Saturday.

In today’s age of instant Internet access, it’s getting increasingly hard to differentiate between good PR and good products. Case in point: Skyfire.

Now, I know you’ve never heard of Skyfire but most people hadn’t either until it’s lit up every Windows Mobile tech site with the announcement that the private beta is up and running with promises of a public beta and then a real product one day soon. How soon? Well, that’s why I’m writing this post.

What’s got the Windows Mobile community all excited is the promise of what Skyfire is supposed to do: the "real" web on a Windows Mobile phone.

The Skyfire website looks really snazzy, any site that uses my Motorola Q9h to hype it’s product can’t be all bad. It starts off with the web on a PC then transitions to the same thing on a Windows Mobile device. Nice.

Clicking on the link to sign up for the free beta asks that you surrender your name, e-mail and wireless phone number. At that point, they will let you know when the private beta will start, followed by the public beta, followed by the actual product.

Currently, the whole beta process is only open to Windows Mobile Standard devices (i.e. smartphones) with the promise of a Windows Mobile Professional version coming soon (despite the pictures used on the site).

I don’t mean to be a wet blanket, but there have been other products that made a tremendous splash lately only to be complete under performers (yes, I’m talking to you Zumobi) of the final product not living up to the initial hype.

Some folks have seen a private demonstration via Skype that they are saying will live up to the hype but for the rest of us mere mortals (and Doubting Thomas’), we’ll have to wait to see.

Could Skyfire be the world’s greatest browser to hit Windows Mobile ever in the history of mobile web browsers? Sure it could, but wasn’t that supposed to have been Opera Mini? We now have a new player on the block who’s promising the stars.

I may be alone in this (certainly not the first time) but I feel we are all going to be inundated with these type of announcements with increasing regularity. It will soon be hard to separate the hype from the facts.

Could the folks behind Skyfire kept it under wraps until it was ready for prime time? Yes. Would they still have the "iPhone killer" for web browsing on Windows Mobile (arguably it’s Achilles heel)? Yes. Is it "sexy" anymore to come from nowhere to trump the competition? No. Not in this age of hype and F.U.D. (fear, uncertainty, doubt) though why you would want to do that against Apple at this point is a little irrational to me.

No one is NOT going to get an iPhone because of the promise of Skyfire. No one is NOT going to get a Windows Mobile device because of the promise of Skyfire.

I’ve signed up for the private beta and will let you know if and when this goes live and what I find. I’m all for hoping Skyfire is all the Monday morning buzz is making it out to be. But increasingly, a part of me really wishes people would let their product do the talking and leave the PR and spin (along with their egos) checked at the door.

Toshiba, according to PocketPCItalia, has officially released three new Windows Mobile phones that have been teased for awhile, well, at least one of them anyway.

But what caught my eye was this piece of loveliness called the Toshiba Portege G710. Now, the specs are nothing to write home about. In fact the only reason I’m bringing this to you is because of the sheer deliciousness of the design. This is one very elegant, classy looking device.

Take a BlackBerry 8830, some backseat action with the Samsung BlackJack, nine months later you have a potential patent violation lawsuit an amazing looking device.

If that trackball works as well as it does on the BlackBerry and the keys work as well as they do on the BlackJack II, the reported $440 price tag holds true, and neither RIM nor Samsung unleash the hordes of lawyers (maybe they struck a deal?), Toshiba has a real winner on their hands come March.

No, not in the specs department, my Q9 has better specs than this device. But it sure looks purdy.

via Engadget Mobile

Just in case you don’t follow football, Bob Sanders is one of the hardest hitting safeties in the NFL today, who plays for the Indianapolis Colts, and is a hero to many of us that are big stature but nonetheless are vertically challenged. Bob Sanders represents everything that is good about America: Hardwork, perserverance, dedication, teamwork, and unwavering unselfishness. And unlike his slight in build, stranger to the weightroom teammate, Peyton Manning, Bob does not suffer from overexposure. I formally present to you the 2007 A.P. Defensive Player of the Year and a man I am proud to call friend, Bob Sanders. Congratulations to the Sanders family, friends, teammates, and fans alike.

In Japan, Kyoritsu Seiyaku’s committment to animal welfare goes beyond the medicines they make for them, as the company is offering it’s pet-owning employees a monthly allowance. This is the kind of innovative action that can boost the morale and loyalty of their employees and perhaps those of any companies looking to emulate the same/similar benefits. With the population of cats and dogs nearing 18 million in Japan, it is evident the importance that these animals have in the lives of their owners as they sometimes have a higher standing than their own children, if they have any. Read

I know my Editor is going to be all over this one but Microsoft has narrowed it down to two new ad agencies to significantly boost advertising for Microsoft products. To the tune of some $300 million dollars for the first half of 2008.

Yeah, I’m scratching my head about this one too.

From Advertising Age:

Microsoft has narrowed its search for an agency to handle creative for a $200 million to $300 million consumer-products blitz slated to launch next year to two: MDC Partners’ Crispin Porter & Bogusky and Publicis Groupe’s Fallon.

I know CES (Consumer Electronic Show) is coming up in the next couple of weeks (which part of the Morning Paper staff will be there to cover for you). Usually this is a great time for all companies to show off their latest wares and make all kinds of product unveilings and what not. But it seems rather late in the game to be still deciding between two companies to handle that kind of cash.

Advertising Age goes on to say something pretty telling in the article:

"Right now, their marketing sucks," he {Rob Enderle, principal analyst, Enderle Group} said, adding the problem does not rest solely on the shoulders of its ad agency. "They’ve got a serious problem. And I’m not absolutely convinced an agency can fix this."

I’ve been a longtime complainer of the piss-poor marketing that Microsoft does. Advertising Age pegged Microsoft’s ad budget at $900 million last year and I can’t say I’ve seen where it goes.

Many of the technologies and products I use are from Microsoft and I see the value. Whether Apple comes out with a MacTablet or not, the TabletPC concept is and was a very sound idea. Windows XP Tablet edition works wonders and I hear it is even better in Vista. And despite my recent flirtation with the siren’s call of the BlackBerry OS, I sure am glad to still be with Windows Mobile 6.

But I can’t get my mind wrapped around this one. Microsoft can’t still be in the process of looking for an ad agency with CES two weeks away and MacWorld a few weeks behind that. You can’t. That is crazy late to the party. Whatever is announced at CES will be overshadowed and forgotten by the time the campaign starts to make it’s way into print and on the tube.

Mary Jo Foley from All About Microsoft thinks part of that money is going to go to advertising the Surface. I really hope she is wrong. Don’t spend money on something most people won’t/can’t afford.

Here’s where I think the money would be better spent.

First and foremost, Microsoft has got to get better at tooting it’s own horn. As important as the whole "partnership" thing is, your "partners" will desert you in a minute for the "next big thing". I’m not saying you need to run out and make a Zune phone, but you better get better at saying why buying Microsoft products makes the consumer’s life easier and better than what you are doing now. And quick.

Vista: Yes, the OS everyone loves to hate or don’t want to upgrade to have needs some serious help. A year later most people don’t hate it anymore but the negative press has had a year to germinate. And those "Don’t Give Up on Vista" ads aren’t helping. You need to shift to less being more. Don’t try and give the whole spec sheet, just concentrate on a few key areas that can be hyped as fun and easy. Leave all the techie stuff for the White Papers.

TabletPC / UMPCs / MIDs: God forbid there really is a MacTablet / MacUMPC  announced at MacWorld. Suffice is to say, Microsoft’s five plus year head start on the whole concept, let alone first to market, will be lost in the juggernaut that is the Apple image campaign. Within hours, Apple will have everyone believing they invented the whole concept.

Windows Mobile: Windows Mobile needs some help as well. I love it for all the things it can do, but you need to simplify the message for the borderline folks and the hipsters grabbing the BlackBerry for the street cred. Ease of use and fun to use. That needs to be the consumer message. If you really must talk about Exchange, create a separate campaign and run it during CNN Money or something but you won’t get the consumer market talking about how well it will keep you connected at the office.

Zune: The Zune 2 looks to be a respectable device. At least some people have them and like them. But, I must admit, I have yet to see one in the wild. I did see a first gen Zune while at the gym but that was some time ago.

Xbox 360: The 360  is doing well, people love the on-line component of XBox 360 but it doesn’t have the buzz for the next game like they did with Halo 3. And with everyone (unfairly)  lumping in the Nintendo Wii sales compared to the 360 and PS3, it’s not making it look good (apples and oranges from a gaming perspective, apples and oranges).

If I were Microsoft though, I’d be spending my money smarter than I have in the past. Granted, Microsoft is nowhere near the same level of peril as Palm; but if winning the hearts and minds of new customers is what it is about for market growth and business survival, you sure need to start thinking like the times are just as dire.

Researchers at Purdue University have found a way to make tires that tell you of impending road doom. No it’s not a robotic voice that screams OUCH when you roll over a piece of glass, but it’s kinda like that.

— “What we have is a multilayer of different materials on the entire tire with different electrical properties. That allows us to then measure anywhere in the tire,” said Gary Krutz, director of Purdue’s Electrohydraulic Center and a professor of agricultural and biological engineering. —

The system will detect a whole manner of potential hazards, punctures, cuts, defects, imbalance, too much Armor All and dirt on your spinning 22′s. okay, not the last two

These sound like a great future Christmas gift for grandma.

Read

WMExperts is quoting from the venerable Arne Hess that Motorola is teaming with some Taiwanese OEMs to try and create more Windows Mobile phones that are cheaper.

From the::unwired:

According to Taiwanese DigiTimes, Motorola is committed to continue its Windows Mobile handsets while cuttings costs the same time. To do so, Motorola recently contacted Taiwanese OEMs to restart the outsourcing for its 3.5G smartphones to reach a retail price of US$ 350. According to DigiTimes, contacted OEMs includes Compal Communication, Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS) (which developed and manufactured the Motorola MPx220 Windows Mobile 2003 Smartphone before) and Arima Communications, while the earliest shipments are expected to be out in the second quarter of next year, DigiTimes’ sources added.

Arne goes on to say the Q line will continue to stay in house which is good since I am sporting the Q9h but the push is on getting new Windows Mobile devices out cheaper and faster.

Hmm. I know all manufacturers are trying to beat the iPhone with better pricing (at least) and I tend to like anything Windows Mobile flavored but I think they should have prettied this up a little from a PR standpoint.

Who wants to know your next Motorola was made as cheaply and quickly as possible? Sure, we all understand the principles of mass production, but do you really want Ford or Toyota telling you they made your new car for you as fast and as cheap as they could?

Didn’t think so.

via WMExperts

Just a quick announcement for anyone wanting to grab the excellent and, in my opinion, "Must Have" PIM app Agenda One it is now on sale until the 17th of December at PDA24/7.

You can read the review I did of Agenda One here and then pick up the free trial here.

Six bucks off the regular price till Monday is pretty good. Once you try it, I think you’ll agree it is the easiest to use and best overall PIM replacement for Windows Mobile 6.

(Remember, however, it does come in BOTH Standard and Professional versions for Windows Mobile so make sure you download the right file.)

Reports are starting to filter from a reliable source with PalmInfoCenter that an unknown number of Palm Inc. employees are being laid off and not expecting to return:

From PalmInfoCenter:

updated Rumor: PalmInfocenter has heard from reliable source that Palm is announcing layoffs today. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Palm has already begun to notify employees and a possible announcement may come sometime later this week.

Palm currently employs around 1,247 people. While we don’t have an official confirmation at this time, a few ex-employees have come forward with claims that the layoffs are worldwide and could number in the hundreds. The company had their last round of layoffs back in June, with reports indicating around 100 people were let go.

This is not so good.

Palm hasn’t been having an easy time and this may be to stave off any continued negative financial fallout from lower profits and not getting a certain device ready in time for delivery.

But still, these are people and it is always more hurtful to be staring down a termination slip around the holidays.

Why is it always the little guys who suffer when management screws up a company?

So much for striving to be mediocre.

Let’s all hope tomorrow brings some sanity and clarity to this situation and all the people at Palm will still have a job to go in the morning.

via EngadgetMobile

I must admit, I never saw this coming.

Daily Wireless is reporting:

AT&T, Inc. recently announced that they have been selected as the Best Wireless Provider in the World in the 2007 Reader’s Choice Best in Business Travel Awards, by Business Traveler magazine. Given the choice is made directly by the readers

Just when Verizon was patting themselves on the back about being the best in the US, AT&T outdoes them and grabs world-wide bragging rights!

Hopefully, this won’t go to their heads and they will be able to remain humble (NOT! I’m sure the ad campaign is already in the works.)

It can’t get any better than this for AT&T unless Sprint pulls out a super surprise announcement that aliens have voted them best in the universe. Could happen. Who knew there was a best in the world category and that AT&T would grab top honors?

(Disclaimer: I am a very satisfied AT&T customer who’s only complaint is the ginormous size of my bill. Now that you guys are the "best in the world", think you could do something about these prices?)

Just a small little announcement that one of Morning Paper’s friends-of-the-web sites, Crackberry.com has a little e-mail sign page to have all the RIM news emailed to you as it happens live at CES.

Think BlackBerry is only for corporate executives? Think again. Las Vegas will have a new kid in town at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show! You can expect quite a buzz around booth #30333 in South Hall 3. Make plans to drop in so we can demonstrate all the ways BlackBerry can enrich your personal life. Whether it’s watching videos, listening to music, playing games, selecting devices and accessories that reflect your personal style, or taking advantage of a range of other capabilities, you’ll see that BlackBerry is not just for business anymore!

CES (Consumer Electronics Show) will begin in Las Vegas on Monday, January 7th.

In keeping with my aforementioned confession statement during the my selection process for my new phone, I said I was sorely tempted to go the BlackBerry route. Windows Mobile continued to win me over but I am keeping a close eye on RIM.

You can sign up for the latest e-mails at Crackberry.com here.

Got this tip from MSMobiles.com, there is now a FREE app that will let you perform TWO-WAY sync with Google Calendar and your Windows Mobile 6 phone.

Ever wanted an application that synchronizes your Google Calendar with the Pocket Outlook Calendar on your device. There are commercial programs that do it. But you don’t need to shed $ for them anymore. GMobileSync is an open source (yeah, it’s 100% free) application that has all the features of commercial applications.
Features:
- Two-way sync
- Parameterized synchronization periods (you can sync any period)
- Time Zone / UTC Offset support.
- Recurring appointment support.

For all the folks running Google Calendar this should be some good news indeed. One of the reasons I am still not on the Google Calendars bandwagon is the lack of sync with my Motorola Q9h (and previous Windows Mobile phones) that is already handled through Outlook and ActiveSync.

Anyone taking up on this offer should feel free to post your comments below and let those who use Google Calendar know how it works.

You can download straight from the CodePlex / GMobileSync site here.

Two rumors are making the way around the blog sphere both centering around Dell.

After today’s announcement of the deal struck with BestBuy, Dell isn’t sitting on their laurels of being in the news.

First up is the report that the new Dell Tablet will be going on up for order on Tuesday, December 11th. The new tablet has been highly anticipated on all the Tablet PC sites with even Big Daddy Engadget seemingly interested in the story:

Oh, your holiday shopping budget just took a turn for the worse, dinnit? We’ve gotten a slew of reports from sources all agreeing that Dell intends to launch its forthcoming Latitude XT tablet PC on the 11th (next Tuesday).

Rob Bushway at GottaBeMobile.com snagged the PDF manual and went through a lengthy post on what to look for:

• There are two types of display options for the 12.1" WXGA (1280 x 768 ) display: LCD backlit ( 220 nits ) or CCFL Dual-bulb LCD ( 400 nits ) for outdoor viewing
  • The CCFL Dual-bulb option comes with an ambient light sensor
• 1 gb of RAM on-board, max of 3 gb of ram
• support for 34-mm and 54-mm express cards via express card slot
• SD card support
• definitely multi-mode support through capacitive touch and active digitizer
• Dell likes to refer to the Tablet PC as a "Tablet-PC" – with the hyphen
• The WWAN antenna extends out the back, or whip’s out, as Dell describes it

Not sure about the veracity of that statement since all reports are from tipsters who don’t ordinarily provide tips but Tuesday is not that far away so we can all afford to be a little patient on this one.

The last I heard from a little bird who was supposed to be testing the tablet, Dell informed him that there are some issues that have delayed the testing phase.

The second is the "Dellphone" running on Brighthand.com:

A report by Forbes adds new fuel to the possibility that Dell intends to enter the smartphone market in the near future with a device manufactured by Quanta.

Near the end of an article discussing Dell’s business strategy for recovering from recent business losses, reference is made to a possible upcoming Dell smartphone project:

Dell and Quanta are rumored to be cooking up a smart phone together, the first real production from [Former Motorola Mobile Devices division head] Ron Garriques and company. It would likely include video, an MP3 player, and Internet access, and be unleashed on the world early next year. Officially, there’s no comment on this product.

I like the name "Dell Phone" but not sure Apple will like it. Besides, as Adama on Brighthand points out, there have been numerous rumors of a Dell phone since the Dell Axim days and none have come to market let alone a prototype.

I’ll file the Dell Phone rumor under probably a long wait-and-see.

Hmm that didn’t take long.

Between The Lines is citing an article from BusinessWeek quoting Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam saying Verizon will be in bed with Google.

But given the stunning U-turn Verizon Wireless made Nov. 27, announcing plans to allow a broader range of devices and services on its network, Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam says it now makes sense to get behind Android. "We’re planning on using Android," McAdam tells BusinessWeek. "Android is an enabler of what we do."

When Verizon executives and engineers examined Android’s software tool kit, however, they were impressed. "Clearly the Android system gives a lot of developers the opportunity to develop applications for a wide range of handsets," says McAdam. Not only did the company decide to support Android, but McAdam says the new platform was a key influence in adopting open access. "Android really facilitated this move,"says McAdam.

This all makes sense for Verizon, for any of the carriers actually. Why not support as many phones regardless of what OS they are running? Or makes the phone device.

The BusinessWeek article goes on to point out the cost savings to Verizon with the primary upside of getting customers without necessarily having to woo them with the latest and greatest phones. So long as Verizon is able to continue to roll along with their high customer satisfaction ratings, they shouldn’t have any problem adding customers to their network and then to their billing system.

While the jury is still out (at least for some of us) on how much relevance the Android OS will mean in the future, all the top U.S. carriers should really make sure they are "open" to you signing on the dotted line so they can take a chunk of your money every month regardless of which phone you are using.

Google’s up to more good things now by updating their Google Maps application for mobile devices that now includes "My Location"

New! Google Maps with My Location (Beta)

See your location on the map, with or without GPS. Save time and tedious keystrokes finding where you are, what’s around you, and how to get there.

I hear you, what is "My Location?" Well, as you all know cell phones have to communicate with cell towers for you to make and receive phone calls. Google has enough map data know that they can triangulate your cell phone position based on the map position of those cell towers.

If you have a GPS enabled phone, this is child’s play. But suppose you don’t have GPS on your phone? Well, thanks to Google, you can now get an "approximation" of your exact location based on the signal sent to a particular cell tower.

Early reports are it is fairly accurate and will help out a great deal in getting you from point A to point B if you are sans GPS.

Check it out straight from Google here.

I’ve tried to get it working on my Motorola Q9h and seem to be having some problems enabling the "My Location" feature. It ain’t working. Google Maps on my phone is working, but not the new feature. I’ll keep fiddling with it and report back what happens.

via MSMobiles.com and Crackberry.com

Photo courtesy of MSMobiles.com And don’t forget you really need to have the unlimited data plan since downloaded map files can get pretty large over the course of a month.

In a not so surprising move (at least if you’ve been paying attention to the growing acrimony between Microsoft and Google), Microsoft is throwing their support behind Verizon and their new Open Handset Alliance "Any App, Any Device" initiative.

Msmobiles is quoting a statement from Microsoft’s Senior Vice President of the Mobile Communications Business Pieter Knook:

"Microsoft is very excited to see Verizon Wireless make such a bold move to satisfy the demands of wireless consumers. As people’s mobile needs become more sophisticated and varied, they will require smarter and more adaptable mobile devices. We are proud to support any open access that puts more power in people’s hands to connect them to the information they want when and where they want it."

Notice Microsoft wasn’t issuing statements like this after Google’s announcement.

I think the two companies are continuing to see themselves as fierce competitors in a number of areas Microsoft is already in or wants to be in.  I think Google has Microsoft’s attention more so than any other company including Apple, RIM, Linux, Sony, just pick one.

And the fact that Microsoft’s (among others including Verizon) names were absent on the original list of Google’s OHA committee, it doesn’t surprise me that Verizon wants to chart their own course and Microsoft is very happy to support and partner with anyone who isn’t partnering with Google.

We’ll see how this develops and whether AT&T decides they want to get on the bandwagon with Verizon or Google in the future since T-Mobile and Sprint have already sided with Google.

As our own editor noted below, it’s too early to tell exactly what "Any Device" means since Verizon has issues with "unlimited" meaning unlimited. But it’s a safe bet they are going to run with this as the anticipated first release of an Android phone begins to loom.

Plus, it’s a win-win situation for Microsoft. They can afford to support anyone who isn’t supporting Google since they don’t have to actually do anything. They already have a pretty popular mobile OS on the market in Windows Mobile 6 and the next version is already on the horizon. Whether Verizon succeeds or fails against OHA , Microsoft will still be selling  to handset makers.

Now we just have to wait to see the deets and, if I were Verizon, I’d be getting them out sooner rather than later. The Google Android OS (I still thinks it’s a really dumb name) already has enough wind in their sails to carry them across the finish line.

Crave has a good link that may be of interest to all the aspiring writers out there not already overloaded awash with all of the Amazon Kindle news that is flooding the blog sphere. Amazon’s Kindle Digital Text Format is open to all.

Amazon’s Kindle, the new electronic book reader, is not just a device for reading paperless books and newspapers. It’s also an ecosystem for writers who want to publish their works without dealing with publishers or vanity presses or other middlemen.

Amazon has a detailed portal for getting up and running and your next bestseller onto Kindle as fast as possible here.

If you already have an account with Amazon, you can post almost immediately. Amazon will take a cut (of course) leaving you with a 35% royalty which is pretty good since that money goes into your pocket instead of your agent’s. You can also charge whatever price you want but Amazon also reserves the right to discount your book at any time.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this, and its not because you can’t go to any tech blog today without reading about Kindle (gee, you would think it was the Apple iPhone 2).

eReader and Mobipocket, Adobe and Microsoft Reader have always had this feature (though not widely publicized) and it is a great option to cut out the middleman as well as going through the gyrations of getting your book published by a mainstream publisher.

So why am I not doing back flips over this? Probably for the same reason I have with any self-published book.

Everyone and their grandmother thinks they can write the next great novel, including yours truly. Although many would argue the publishing field is filled with the same unimaginative bean counters that dominate the film industry and cutting out the barriers is a good thing still doesn’t cover the fact this is still self-publishing. There are degrees of self-publishing from Lulu.com to vanity presses so how does one slog through the slop to find the gems?

If everyone can (and does as Amazon would like) write a book, what will make yours special?

From the Pixar film "The Incredibles," Syndrome (the villain) wanted to use his powers to make everyone a super hero, a "special." The goal in his mind is if everyone was "special", if everyone had super powers, then no would be "special."

With this being National Novel Writing Month, by all means write, I know I am.  Do your best to write your best novel or whatever and get it out there. Just realize the competition is getting stiffer by the moment with everyone else thinking their book is going to better than yours. And Amazon is ready to help.

Amazon is taking over the news with the release of their $399.99 Kindle e-book reader. While Newsweek has it splashed across the cover being held by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, it seems to be gathering a lot more interest than I would have given it.

But first, I think e-books are a great idea who’s time is well overdue. I’ve championed the idea a number of times here at Morning Paper here and here, and here.

Sure, eReader, MobiPocket, Microsoft Reader and Adobe have had applications out for years with a host of places to purchase content but you are still sometimes hard pressed to find the latest books on any of them. It is also unfortunate that publisher don’t automatically make the electronic version of a book available along with the print version.

And this isn’t the place for me to go into what I think are the crazy prices for electrons as compared to actual trees, packaging, shipping and physical man hours to get a book to an actual store as opposed to zapping it through a download.

My issue is, again as much as I like and use the concept of an e-book reader, I’m still seeing a very hard road ahead.

We all are looking for convergence more and more. We’ve been convinced the less devices we have to carry the better. The PDA was essentially put on life support with the introduction of the “smart” phone. When we still had “dumb” phones (i.e. phones that simply behaved like, um, phones) those who wanted more mobile productivity carried a PDA. Now we all want to carry as little as possible and I am very happy that my new Q9h takes the place of a PDA (which also make a great e-book reader) while being able to make and receive phone calls, plus text, e-mail, instant messaging, the whole ball of wax.

Which gets me to my point. Amazon, Sony and possible others won’t to take you back to yesteryear by telling you you need a dedicated device to read books.

My e-book reading is handled on my Tablet PC, which does a myriad of other things that more than justify its cost to me. E-reading is gravy. I don’t see this as being an easy sell to most people, especially at $399.99 when they already have devices – from their desktop to their cell phone – to do the same thing.

I’ve played around with the Sony e-book reader at my local Best Buy and it is small, thin and light. If I had that kind of disposable income, maybe I’d pick one up. But even then my issue would be it is still yet another device to carry. Which goes back to my point.

The Kindle doesn’t offer anything that downloading an e-book from Amazon offers and using it on your compatible e-book reader. Or downloading directly from your preferred source already. Even the software for eReader is now free. Between MobiPocket and eReader, I think you can probably find whatever book your are looking for if it is available electronically.

Does Amazon really think people want another device to carry since they’ve been trying to get rid of carrying so many to begin with? And at a $400 price point?

I don’t know about the long term success of the device. I guess they feel there is demand for the Kindle otherwise they would not have made it. But I do wish for the success of e-books. But what I really wish is that Amazon would have used their considerable market clout to have gotten more book publishers to see the light of making more books available electronically sooner rather than later.

One day, all books will be electronic, if for no other reasons than cutting cost of manufacture.

I’d like to think it will be because we realize we have the technology to stop using paper, gas, etc. to save the environment but the reality will be that corporations finally see they can save a few dollars and increase profits by cutting out the manufacturing cost and go electronic. Whatever.

No book reading isn’t dead, I’m just not convinced the Amazon Kindle is it’s salvation.

(Check out Amazon’s spiffy product page for the Kindle though, it really looks nice.)

Dell was on hand today at the Oracle OpenWorld event to take the time to chat up their new XPS all-in-one desktop and drop a few tidbits about their upcoming tablet.

Via Crave:

…it wasn’t a formal introduction as much as an all-too-brief glimpse of the XPS One A2010, which resembles a wide-screen TV with separate keyboard. … While on stage, Dell took the opportunity to demonstrate its forthcoming convertible tablet PC, the Latitude XT, which Kettler said is on track to ship in the next few months.

Dell seems to be trying to keep the attention focused on them with a their toungue in cheek teasings about their upcoming offerings.\

But, when it come to their tablet, at least some news is good news since we are already mid November and initial rumors had the Dell Tablet supposedly on sale by December.

Looks like they are going to miss that deadline.

The Jones Soda Co. out of Seattle, Wa definitely should get an award for the most creative holiday themed beverages. This year they have two special packs that went on sale yesterday, with proceeds going to charity, the Christmas and Hanukkah pack. The Christmas pack includes, Sugar Plum, Christmas Tree, Egg Nog, and Christmas Ham, while the Hanukkah includes, Jelly Doughnut, Apple Sauce, Chocolate Coins, and Latkes. Both packs are kosher with no caffeine but a lot of sugar and love, ok, I just made that up. Not to disappoint the millions of worldwide MorningPaper fans, here is my suggestion for a Christmas Pack soda which will have five not four: Shovel This, My Kids Are Driving Me Crazy, Institutionalized Debt, Where The Hell is My Bonus Check?, and Jesus Who? My soda would have Stevia instead of high fructose corn syrup, caffeine depending on the soda, and would also be kosher.

You know, I’m not so sure what’s got Kevin Tofel at jkOnTheRun so disappointed with ALP’s first public viewing of their long awaited Linux based mobile OS but I’m thinking it’s looking pretty good.

Ed Hardy at Brighthand got the chance to sit down with the folks that used to be a part of Palm for an exclusive look-see at the Access Linux Partners (ALP) mobile OS and came away with first impressions but, more importantly, screen shots.

Here are some highlights before we get to screen shots.

Access Systems (formerly PalmSource) is in the process of trying to drum up interest among potential ALP licensees, and couple of people from the company — Albert Chu and Brian Purdy — gave me a demonstration.

To me, the most important feature in this operating system is its compatibility with legacy Palm OS applications. Access has built a compatibility engine called Ghost into ALP that handles this task.

I can attest to the fact that it really works. The guys from Access showed me a Palm OS application running on an evaluation device, and it worked fine ….

But this OS doesn’t stop with legacy software. Developers have the option of writing native applications specifically for ALP, plus it includes a Java virtual machine (JVM). All three types of applications are displayed together in the program launcher, not segregated by type.

And here’s the real deal clincher:

Unlike the version of the Palm OS currently running on devices like the Palm Centro, ALP allows for real multitasking. Applications that are running in the background can put up an icon in the status bar at the top of the display to make switching back to them easier.

Wow, an already working mobile Linux OS but nobody seems to want to go near it at the moment.

There’s no doubt ALP is ready to go. Early this year, Access released the Product Development Kit (PDK) that licensees need to create smartphones running its operating system, and the Software Development Kit (SDK) developers need to write applications has been out for months, too.

The problem is, I don’t know who is going to release a smartphone running ALP, or when it will happen….

Call me a cynic, but with all the hoopla over Google’s announcement that’s at least 6 – 8 months down the line, seems strange that Access is having such a problem getting this out the door. If Palm were smart, they’d eat some crow and call them. They could have a Linux based phone to market before Google, HTC, any of them other guys get to the starting gate that also runs legacy Palm applications!

How long can Palm allow pride to get in their way?

Granted, I didn’t get to use it but Pappa Ed did and from the screen shots that follow, this definitely looks ready for prime time to me. It’s not earth shattering but it would be FIRST! And being first to market counts for a lot in business. You can usually always improve, but you gotta show up to play.

Bono and the folks from Elevation Partners really need to step in and slap some heads talk some sense into the management at Palm to let bygones be bygones, other wise that 300 million dollar investment is going down the toilet. More pictures and full article here.

You know, I’m not so sure what’s got Kevin Tofel at jkOnTheRun so disappointed with ALP’s first public viewing of their long awaited Linux based mobile OS but I’m thinking it’s looking pretty good.

Ed Hardy at Brighthand got the chance to sit down with the folks that used to be a part of Palm for an exclusive look-see at the Access Linux Partners (ALP) mobile OS and came away with first impressions but, more importantly, screen shots.

Here are some highlights before we get to screen shots.

Access Systems (formerly PalmSource) is in the process of trying to drum up interest among potential ALP licensees, and couple of people from the company — Albert Chu and Brian Purdy — gave me a demonstration.

To me, the most important feature in this operating system is its compatibility with legacy Palm OS applications. Access has built a compatibility engine called Ghost into ALP that handles this task.

I can attest to the fact that it really works. The guys from Access showed me a Palm OS application running on an evaluation device, and it worked fine ….

But this OS doesn’t stop with legacy software. Developers have the option of writing native applications specifically for ALP, plus it includes a Java virtual machine (JVM). All three types of applications are displayed together in the program launcher, not segregated by type.

And here’s the real deal clincher:

Unlike the version of the Palm OS currently running on devices like the Palm Centro, ALP allows for real multitasking. Applications that are running in the background can put up an icon in the status bar at the top of the display to make switching back to them easier.

Wow, an already working mobile Linux OS but nobody seems to want to go near it at the moment.

There’s no doubt ALP is ready to go. Early this year, Access released the Product Development Kit (PDK) that licensees need to create smartphones running its operating system, and the Software Development Kit (SDK) developers need to write applications has been out for months, too.

The problem is, I don’t know who is going to release a smartphone running ALP, or when it will happen….

Call me a cynic, but with all the hoopla over Google’s announcement that’s at least 6 – 8 months down the line, seems strange that Access is having such a problem getting this out the door. If Palm were smart, they’d eat some crow and call them. They could have a Linux based phone to market before Google, HTC, any of them other guys get to the starting gate that also runs legacy Palm applications!

How long can Palm allow pride to get in their way?

Granted, I didn’t get to use it but Pappa Ed did and from the screen shots that follow, this definitely looks ready for prime time to me. It’s not earth shattering but it would be FIRST! And being first to market counts for a lot in business. You can usually always improve, but you gotta show up to play.

Bono and the folks from Elevation Partners really need to step in and slap some heads talk some sense into the management at Palm to let bygones be bygones, other wise that 300 million dollar investment is going down the toilet. More pictures and full article here.

AT&T must be feeling very generous with all those new subscribers that they are now offering free Yellow Pages information from your mobile phone.

Big deal you say? Well, how about free Yellow Pages information from any phone, no matter who is your carrier? Now do I have you attention?

From any phone, there’s just one number to find restaurants, shops, hotels and more. Search local and nationwide listings by name, or search by category. No matter how you search — it’s FREE. You don’t even have to be an AT&T customer.

All kidding aside,  this is pretty good news for those who would like to call on the cheap to get directions, check store hours, etc. We’ll have to wait to see just how "free" is free when you are using some other carrier but for now, it at least sounds good.

Here are the states offering free services out the door.

Get FREE directory assistance in AL, AR, CA,
CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MI, MS, MO,
NV, NC, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX and WI.

via MobilitySite

Tech Crunch reported Google is silently and quickly working on their own version of the over-hyped very popular Facebook social networking with something said to be code named "Maka Maka".

Maka-Maka encompasses Google’s grand plan to build a social layer across all of its applications. Some details about Maka-Maka have already leaked out, particularly how Google plans to use the feed engine that powers Google Reader (known internally as Reactor) to create “activity streams” for other applications akin to Facebook’s news and mini feeds. But Maka-Maka goes well beyond that.

Originally, Google was looking to get phase one out the door by November 5th (next week in other words) but it is looking like that will be delayed. What is believed, however is that Google will leverage their iGoogle start page  to begin the Facebook assault.

All eyes will be on Google, but don’t expect anything too earth-shattering straight out of the gate. Many of these apps will be copycats of what is already available on Facebook (just as the very first apps on Facebook were ported over from other parts of the Web). This first go-round, Google will just be trying to match Facebook’s ante. Remember, even on Facebook, the best apps didn’t emerge on Day One. And now Facebook has a six-month lead. 

I think the whole social networking thing is going to get shaken up yet again. Google’s Maka Maka (or whatever they end up calling it) will be plastered all over the known universe with the inevitable comparisons between them and everyone else (MySpace, et al) with one key difference: even I use at least Google search (and I do have a Gmail account) and you all know my disdain for on-line social networking groups.

For all those folks who run from social network to social network because someone tells them it’s "cool", Google already has them at Google search, or Google Reader but especially at GMail. With Google continuing to make inroads into many of the applications that today’s web based people have come to rely on, the switch could be a natural "no-brainer" for, I would guess, most people. Google, much like Microsoft, has already infiltrated most of our collective computing experience and will gain the same benefits that Microsoft does: it’s everywhere already.

At least until something else comes along. But, if Google pulls this off the way it sounds and ties all of the information they already have about all of us together right, that something else will be a long time coming and have a difficult hill to climb.

Google will be king of the mountain.

More details can be found on Between the Lines at ZDNET. Theirs was the earliest story posted with an excellent break down of the tech "how-to" behind what Google is planning.