Palm moving to linux?

A lot turmoil at PalmOne, as they are thinking about changing their name back to Palm. However, they are considering a shift to a Open-Source OS, possible Linux.

tags: linuxpda, palm

Nokia Internet Tablet

Update: Pictures of Pepper Pad at C3 Expo

Nokia just announced they will be releasing a tablet computer running Linux that can connect through Wifi/Bluetooth. If ideas are already running through your mind, you can check out their website for developers. Their announcement also reminded me of the Pepper Pad, another soon-to-be released tablet PC running Montavista linux. According to the WSJ, Nokia's tablet will sell for around $350 while the Pepper Pad will cost $800. However, the Pepper Pad has a larger screen and packs more computing power. A quick comparison of the two tablets.

Device	Nokia Tablet	Pepper Pad
Availability	Q3 2005	June 28, 2005
Price	~$350	$799 (through Amazon)
CPU	???	Intel XScale (624 Mhz)
Screen	4" (800*480)	8.4" (800*600)
Memory	64mb, 128mb(flash)	256mb, 16mb(flash)
HD	???	20GB
Software	Linux	Monta Vista Linux Mozilla Browser
Connectivity	802.11b/g bluetooth	802.11b bluetooth
Input	Touch-Screen	Touch-Screen Pepper-Pad (seeimage)
Weight	0.5lbs	2.3lbs
Size	141 x 79 x 19 mm	302 * 165 * 20 mm

filed under: maemo, mobile, nokia770, pepperPad

The Real Star Wars

Microsoft to release it's own mapping software called MSN Virtual Earth to counter Google Earth. Website contains preview of slanty satelite pictures.

Why Mailing Lists / BBs needs Tags

I am currently subscribed to the OpenOffice developer's mailing list, and it sucks because the mail stream consists of:

Re: Issue X -> Re: Re: Issue X (x50) -> Re: Issue Y ...

Even if my mail program compressed it to Re: Issue X, Re: Re: Issue X, Re: Issue Y, ... it would still be confusing because the majority of posts would be just titled 'a reply to post X'. My proposed solution is that every post should have a permalink to a BB webpage, and users should be able to tag posts.

That way, if I want to know everything about problems with Java in the next release of Open Office, I can just subscribe to the tag 'java' either through email or through RSS. Thats another thing, giving the people the option to subscribe through email or RSS. I suspect some people will prefer email while others will be used to getting their daily update through a reader.

PhoenixTechBlog Yahoo Group

I created a new Yahoo group for this blog, so people can read blog postings through email. You can take a look at my group homepage or subscribe to the mailing list.

Cool Tool from Ikea

Ikea lets you download a program to plan your office furniture.

Google pulls web accelerator / McGoogle?

After a flurry of complaints about Google's web accelerator, it was officially moved back to pre-beta status. A good post from a VC about how Google is too big, like a McDonalds or a Starbucks. While IMO Google's web accelerator was pulled because it broke many websites (see controvery about GET vs POST). It does illustrate that Google doesn't have much of a release process for its "beta" products. It seems to me, anything that a Google engineer has thrown together can be put onto web, without a long chain of approvals. Having worked at a big bay area software company, I can understand why Google doesn't want to involve multiple levels of management with every new feature. Unfortunately, Google will have to grow up and act more responsibily post-IPO. So, let Joe around the corner experiment with the next great web-service and Larry and Sergey can just whip out their checkbooks if they have a problem with it.

Evil Google

An article about how Google's web accelerator can bring up other folk's password protected pages. There's something seriously wrong with the idea of Google's web accelerator. Even if Google's servers are twice as fast as your average website, just think: the more you access Google's cache instead of the original site, the more investment will be directed building servers for Google instead of the Internet. Do you really want to be using the Google network instead of the Internet? A world where Google knows everything you do online and then uses it to determine what content is most relevant for you? Every morning, you sign onto the Google Network and then get your search, your mail and your webpages from Google. Then you go home and see what Google Video has downloaded onto your Tivo. While you are watching a video hosted by Google, you use your cell phone Google function to find the nearest Pizza delivery. Ah, just enough time to use Google Chat to find your friends...

This is something worth thinking about while you are brushing your teeth, and also while you pause for your webpages to download.

Blocking Google Ads (part 2)

Just a week ago, I wrote that I will soon find Google ads annoying enough to block them. Then today I started getting Google Ads in my Engadget feed: 1 ad for each summary. I don't mind ads when they show maybe once every 10 times, but a 1:1 ratio greatly distracts me from reading the feed. So I quickly used adblock to filter our image ads from Google. Probably some GreaseMonkey script will do the same.