Costa Living

Palm is Dead. Long Live HP's WebOS

HP announced no less than five products yesterday at a San Francisco event that tried for two hours to match the enthusiasm that Steve Jobs can create just by walking on stage in black turtleneck and pair of jeans. (Be advised, longer is always better, and that goes for product announcements, men's jeans, and other things.) The products seem promising, a slimmed down smartphone (HP Veer), a Pre 2 successor (Pre 3), and perhaps most promising an iPad-like WebOS tablet (HP Touchpad). Missing from the stage was any significant mention of the Palm brand. Palm is finally done. The question now is whether or not HP can make something of the portable pioneer's most significant achievement: the WebOS. To my mind, they have a shot if they move fast.

Read More on PCMag.com.

Computex 2010: Eat, Play, Work.

Just got back from Computex 2010, in Taipei, Taiwan. I'm a little disappointed in myself for being a terrible tourist. I didn't do much other than travel back and forth from the show to my hotel. And write, of course. This sterile work area was my home for most of the week The one night I managed to have dinner out on the town it was at 168 Prime Steakhouse. The meal was fantastic, but honestly, steak in Taipei? I should have gotten out more. Even the most random experience, a late night ride on a karaoke bus filled with drunken Australians singing Bohemian Rhapsody, wasn't quite authentic. No, all I did was work.

Although, to be honest, that was kind of fun.too. Pictures, videos, and words below.

• Computex 2010: The Show in Photos
• Computex Video: Unihand Electric Paper, or Color E Ink?
  The "electrical paper" that Unihand was showing at Computex looks a lot like an E Ink display would look if it was color.
• Computex Video: MSI Taking on the iRobot Roomba
  Look out Roomba, MSI has some new robots that want to wipe the floor with you.
• Computex Video: Intel Shows Off MeeGo Tablet
  One of the more interesting devices that Intel executive vice president David Perlmutter showed off running Atom yesterday at Computex 2010 was a MeeGo-based tablet computer.
• Computex Video: Intel Demos 'Sandy Bridge'
  Although most of his Computex keynote was about its new Atom initiatives, Intel EVP David Perlmutter found time to praise Intel's next major chip architecture, code-named "Sandy Bridge."
• Cideko: A Potential Partner for Google TV?
  When Google TV was shown to the world a couple weeks ago, only Logitech was on stage as a hardware partner for peripherals. Google would do well to check out the offerings of the Taiwanese-based Cideko.
• Opera Exec Calls the Browser the 'Glue' For Mobile Industry
  To make their products future-proof, vendors should focus on the Web — not closed platforms or app stores, Opera's chief strategy officer Rolf Assev told the crowd in his Computex keynote Tuesday.
• Intel's Perlmutter Sees Atoms Everywhere
  David (Dadi) Perlmutter, executive vice president and co-general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, may as well have delivered the Computex 2010 crowd a chemistry lesson because he sees Atoms everywhere.
• Asus Challenges Apple's iPad with Eee Pad
  When Asus chairman Jonney Shih unveiled its challenge to the Apple iPad -- the Asus Eee Pad -- on stage at Computex today, the crowd of journalists almost rushed the stage with excitement.
• Asus Announces the Eee Tablet E-Reader
• Asus announced the Eee Tablet today at Computex 2010, an electronic reader that will also serve as a digital note-taking device thanks to its touch-sensitive screen.
• Computex 2010: Tablets, 3D, and Gadgets Galore
  The show floor is still under construction, but when Computex 2010 opens its doors Tuesday morning in Taipei, Taiwan, expect to see a parade of netbooks, 3D displays, and lot of would-be competitors to the Apple iPad.
• Sony Embraces Nvidia's 3D Vision for Cameras Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has announced that Sony's new Alpha interchangeable lens cameras would now be part of Nvidia's 3D Vision ecosystem, enabling users to take 3D still images and view them on their PC.

What's the Apple iPad's Killer App?

I'm no Apple fanboy, but seeing Steve Jobs on stage in person is exciting, and it isn't just about his personal magnetism. Apple has $29 billion in the bank and Steve seems determined to spend it building really cool stuff. The iPad certainly fits that bill. Just a little slab of a display lets you play games, browse the Web, watch movies, view pictures, read eBooks, get directions, send e-mail, manage your calendar, and, well, anything else developers want to write applications to do. But after the ridiculously hyped build up and the dramatic launch event, I'm still not sure what most people will use it for. What's the iPad's killer app? Continue reading...

What You Missed at SXSW Interactive

 

The Walkmen at the annual Digg bash, at Stubbs BBQ in Austin

This year's SWSW Interactive was more crowded than ever—15,000 attendees, at least 600 of which were technology press. The event consisted of five days of discussion on innovation, privacy, geo-location, self-promotion, CMS platform development, content monetization, music licensing, the perils of software lock-in, and Ashton Kutcher. Coming back from a show like this, every journalist is asked the same thing: What did you learn? Expense budgets being what they are, it is certainly a fair question. I wrote a lot about the show when I was down in Austin, but here is the executive digest. Continue reading...

Check out my other stories from SXSW 2010 here.

Confessions of a Foursquare Junkie

My job pretty much guarantees my status as an early-adopter of new technologies, but I am relatively new to the Foursquare phenomenon that is sweeping digerati circles. In part, that's because the app was just released on the Palm Pre a few weeks ago, and unless you can use it on your phone, Foursquare is pretty useless. Now that I have it, I fell into the predictable pattern I follow with all new technologies: curious discovery, frantic addiction, and finally the desperate search for some intrinsic usefulness. This is usually when a wearied cynicism sets in, along with a deep regret for all the time I have wasted on another useless technological distraction. Not this time, though. As the numerous announcements at Mobile World Congress this week confirm, the mad dash to deliver location-based services is just beginning. Continue reading...

CES 2010: HDTVs, Tablets and Butterfly Wings

• Skiff Demos Its E-Reader, Palm Pre App
• Kurzweil's Blio: A Killer Ebook Reader For Windows
  
• HDMI's Role in The Future of 3D TV
• Sony Takes Aim at 3D TV Domination
• Plastic Logic Unveils a QUE Professional E-Reader
  
• Mirasol Displays Mimic a Butterfly's Wings 
• ViewSonic Launches New PCs at CES 2010 
• LumiSource Releases Slightly More Girlfriend-Friendly Gaming Chairs

Six Things I Learned at SXSW 2009

The South by Southwest Interactive Festival is as much about meeting people as it is about its exhaustive, eclectic panels and keynotes. Although the current economic crisis may have dampened the party scene a bit, this year's show was predictably focused on making money, making connections, and making deals. While the conference didn't feature anything as dramatic or as sensational as Sarah Lacy's controversial interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg from last year, there were some important takeaways. If you couldn't make it to Austin, here's what you missed:

Five Trends to Bet On at CES

Hard economic times will hurt attendance this year, but the Consumer Electronics Show is still the best place to trend-spot.
Seems like there's barely enough time to take down the tree and recover from the New Year's celebrations before packing the suitcase and heading to Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. With the Dow struggling to stay above 9000, venture capitalists looking for secure government jobs, and most tech companies slashing budgets across the board, this is a strange time to be bringing together the entire industry. In recent years the show has been a festival of marketing excess, but judging from the number of party invites I've received, this year will likely be very different. Even so, the year's tech road map is drawn at CES. So here's what I expect to see in Vegas. read full article...