Entries for January 2009

A lot of us have a soft spot for Palm. The company was an early phenom with its handheld computers. Not only were they useful, but the software was easy to use.

While Palm was also a pioneer with the Treo smartphones, it has mostly floundered since. The Centro, a shrunken version of the Treo, has sold well. But its low price of $100 didn't bring enough profits for Palm to thrive.

In an interview last weekend with WTOP, I described how much of Palm's future rides on the Pre smartphone. The handset looked impressive at CES, but Palm wasn't letting anyone but employees handle the Pre for any length of time.

The U.S. Senate passed another bill to delay the Digital TV switch. Or delay part of it. Now it goes back to the House, where it may not come up for a vote until late next week.

That would mean industry and consumers might have ten days or so warning that the deadine is changing. Only Congress, which made this a mess in the first place, could be working so hard to worsen it.

I got a first-hand look at what Charter's 60 Mbps broadband service delivers. Company execs showed how the fat pipe can handle multiple video streams without a hiccup. Netflix videos also started without a pause for buffering. But it's the Internet, so there were speed bumps.

Charter demoed the service at its headquarters in a St. Louis suburb, saying the new Ultra60 product is already available to about 95,000 homes in nearby communities. But not yet in my neighborhood, which is about 10 miles away. And no word when the service will expand to other cities.

Broadband bragging rights could go to Charter Communications, which is ready to launch a 60 Mbps service. It would apparently be the fastest available to U.S. consumers. No details yet on price or when, or where, the service will appear from the cableco.

60 Mbps would top telco Verizon, which sells 50 Mbps service through its FiOS fiber-optic service. Comcast last year started rolling out 50 Mbps service in some of its cable markets at a monthly cost of $150.

Charter would presumably use the same Docsis 3.0 technology that Comcast uses to pump the high speeds across its coaxial cable. The new rate would more than triple that of Charter's current top offering, its 16 Mbps High-Speed Max.

The one-upping would be a rare bright spot for struggling Charter. The St. Louis company said earlier this month that two subsidiaries had missed interest payments and were negotiating new terms on outstanding debt.

1) Warm and fuzzy feelings for Palm, which made our first handheld computer

2) Palm's ability to apply elegance and maintain ease-of-use

3) Beautiful touch screen and comfy hardware keyboard

4) Sophisticated software that can do more than one thing at a time

5) Competition that has Apple worried enough to be hinting at lawsuits

6) So many connections that will just work: 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cordless charging

7) Yet more connections, that will seamlessly move our lives from the Web into Palm's new webOS

8) Progressive, green packaging that will make a difference in our carbon footprint

9) A price that will undercut the iPhone and BlackBerry Storm

10) Most important: It isn't out yet, so it's an empty vessel that we can fill with all the above. And other hopes and dreams, including that it will bring together all the world's children to join hands and sing songs of peace and love

Those wacky House Republicans bucked the steamroller and voted to keep next month's deadline for switching to digital TV. The U.S. House refused to back a Senate-passed bill that would have extended the deadline until June.

Don't expect much moaning from industry groups, including broadcasters and wireless companies that had backed the bill. They did so despite having much to lose with a delay, and probably only under duress.

There doesn't seem to be much room for compromise here. Either the deadline sticks or it doesn't. More important, there isn't much time to cobble one together. The switch is less than three weeks away.

It may be politics at play, as the House vote today is a setback for President Obama. But just maybe common sense is winning out.

If you think there is confusion now about the switch to digital TV, just wait until the original deadline next month. The bill to delay the deadline until June is racing through Congress. A version passed by the Senate explicitly allows stations to turn off their analog signal anyway.

Many will take the offer. They've got contracts in place to move towers or make other changes. They all can save money by cutting the analog signal.

Grandma will see some stations disappear from her analog set. Others will remain. She'll be banging on the old tube, wondering what's wrong with it.

Some people are dismissing the BlackBerry Storm way too early. Reports say Verizon sold only 500,000 of the touch-screen phones in its first month. "While 500,000 is a solid showing for one month, it pales in comparison to the Apple iPhone 3G's 2.4 million units sold in its first quarter," says ChannelWeb.

The Storm has had its problems. But many can be fixed over time with software updates.

Either way, the Storm doesn't have to outsell the iPhone to be a success. BlackBerry maker RIM just needs a decent touch-screen answer to the iPhone to stem any bleeding to the Apple wunderkind. The BlackBerry has plenty of other muscle in its multiple models, including the many that cater to people who like a hardware keyboard. Which the iPhone doesn't have.

I dashed off a piece the other day, titled Analyst Says All Flat-Panel TVs Will be Green by 2014

Reader Mike of IL rose up to shout:

Don't age well, do they?

Hey, I buy a color TV, I expect it not to lose all but one of its colors in just a few years. This is built in obsolescence! Outrage!

 

A lot of baffled HDTV owners: About 44 percent, or nearly half, of the HDTV owners aren't watching HDTV.

Seems amazing, doesn't it? That is, of more than 39 million U.S. homes with installed HD sets, only about 22 million of them are getting high-def programming, says Mike Paxton at In-Stat.

Maybe a few of them choose not to pay for the HD channels from cable or satellite. They could at least attach a cheap antenna and get free high-def broadcasts. But most are just confused. I know because I routinely help friends and neighbors find HDTV, which is located on different cable or broadcast channels from the SD content they've been watching.

To make things worse, standard TV usually looks worse on an HDTV. That's a lot of disappointed viewers.

Apple and Palm took jabs at each other over tech included in the Palm Pre. During Apple's earnings call last week, COO Tim Cook responded to a question about the Pre's multi-touch technology:

I don't want to talk about any specific company. I'm just making a general statement that we think competition is good. It makes us all better. And we are ready to suit up and go against anyone. However, we will not stand for having our IP ripped off and we'll use whatever weapons we have at our disposal. I don't know that I can be more clear than that.

Palm responded last week to the Digital Daily blog:

Palm has a long history of innovation that is reflected in our products and robust patent portfolio and we have long been recognized for our fundamental patents in the mobile space. If faced with legal action, we are confident that we have the tools necessary to defend ourselves.

Reviews so far of Windows 7 seem remarkably good, and the software is still in beta testing. It shouldn't be too great a surprise. I'm not the first to suggest that Windows 7 seems a cleaned-up version of Vista, much like the successful Windows XP was to the clunky Windows 2000.

Even David Pogue at the New York Times, a huge Mac fan, wrote glowingly of the successor to Vista

But I've not seen praise that tops that in today's Digital Home blog by Don Reisinger:

...after using the beta (a term I use lightly, since this so-called beta is better than anything Microsoft ever shipped as Vista "Gold"), I can say with the utmost certainty that Windows 7 isn't only the best operating system I've used in the past decade, it might be my favorite of all time. And as a person with four Macs staring me in the face as I write this, that's something I never thought I'd say.

He cautions that Microsoft could still screw things up. Features in Vista's beta disappeared in the final code, and problems arose:

Regardless, the Windows 7 beta provided me with an unparalleled experience. From install to surfing the Web, it's fantastic.

I don't usually mess with beta software. But I'm going to find time to try Windows 7.

As if nosy reporters and complaining investors weren't enough, federal regulators may now be studying Steve Jobs's illness. More specifically, the SEC is reportedly looking into what and when the company knew about Jobs's still undisclosed ailment.

Maybe it's worthwhile, considering Jobs appeared to reverse course within a couple of weeks. But I'll be more than surprised if anything comes of this.

Short of subpoenaing Jobs's doctors (can they?), the company's responsibility would depend on what the Apple CEO disclosed to the company and its board. And I've already discussed how we shouldn't expect him to disclose much, particularly amid what might be a shifting and elusive diagnosis.

Wireless charging systems on display at the Consumer Electronics Show appear ready for market after years of development. When they arrive later this year, special mats and device adapters will use magnetic induction to trickle electricity to cellphones, digital cameras and portable media players.

I described the tech as a bit of magic in an interview this weekend with WTOP.

Even the new Palm Pre smartphone promises to come with an optional wireless charging system. Palm wasn't discussing prices, but other systems would start at about $150 for charging one device and another $30 or $40 each to add others.

Green is quickly sweeping flat-panel TVs. About 20 percent of flat-panel displays, such as LCDs and plasmas, had eco-friendly features in 2008, says DisplaySearch. That will surge to more than half in 2011, and by 2014 will be 100 percent, the analysts predict.