AdMob stat day

Palm News No Responses »
Jan 092009

It’s this part of the month again: AdMob, a provider for mobile advertising, has just made its latest market share report available to the world. As usual, hit this link for the full PDF – the most interesting tidbits are below:

World-wide market share (excluding iPod touch)
When looking at world-wide web traffic, the iPhone starts to get dangerously close to Symbian’s once-comfortable lead:
worldwide AdMob stat day

Regional trends show us that Palm is marginalized everywhere outside of the USA, with RIM being important in the USA; Latin America and – to a lesser extent – Western Europe:
ww regions AdMob stat day

US market share (excluding iPod touch)
In the USA, the iPhone alone accounts for about 50% of the web traffic to AdMob-enabled mobile sites:
us AdMob stat day

When looking at the market shares in a year-to-year perspective, one can see how the Centro peaked in July, to drop off swiftly ever since:
usy2y AdMob stat day

iPod touch request growth
Even though the iPod touch was excluded from the charts above (AdMob does not consider it a phone), it had a pretty interesting month – its share of the traffic increased exponentially on the day after Christmas. What this tells us is short and sweet: it was a very popular Christmas gift…
ipodtouch AdMob stat day

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 3:27 am

Palm Pre – what we know so far

Palm News 5 Responses »
Jan 092009

Correction: Propel is made by iambic, not AstraWare – thanks to all of you who sent this in!
After the release of the Palm Pre, a flurry of web sites covered all aspects of the device. Look below for an overview!

Press conference reports
Both Engadget and PalmInfoCenter were at the conference and covered it in “live-blog style”.

Engadget’s version of the coverage contains a pretty good overview of the system specifications (8GB of memory, WiFi, Bluetooth, 480×320 multitouch screen)…

UI demo
The folks at Engadget’s handled the device a bit, and produced a short video which unfortunately can not be embedded. Cutting a long story short, the device contains an operating system similar to iambic’s Propel, Initiate or other keyboard-based launcher tools with added graphical oomph…

Developer information
So far, Palm has not provided developers with development tools. However, the platform known as Mojo is said to be made available in the future:

Besides the Palm Mojo Application Framework, the SDK will include sample code, documentation, and development tools. An Eclipse-based IDE is included, and you will also be able to use your choice of tools to build WebOS applications. The Mojo SDK is currently in private prerelease, and will be available later this year as a free download from the Palm Developer Network.

Unfortunately, Palm OS emulation is not likely to be included:

And good news for Palm OS developers! There are a number of ways to migrate data from a an existing PDB file to your new WebOS app. Stay tuned for more information for developers with Palm OS applications who want to build WebOS applications.

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 12:45 am

Palm User Group Vienna reactions

Palm News, Palm User Groups 4 Responses »
Jan 082009

The Palm User Group Vienna can well be considered one of the older Palm User Groups in existence. Ever since it was founded in 2003, Alexander Kozousek’s crowd had up to 10 visitors to its monthly meetings.

Even though attendance had dwindled in the last months, today’s meeting was very well-visited:
0a Palm User Group Vienna reactions

Most people followed the German Nexave news feed, which unfortunately was extremely slow even though it wasn’t updated a single time while we were there (so much about sending somebody there/about the new server):
1a Palm User Group Vienna reactions 1b Palm User Group Vienna reactions 1c Palm User Group Vienna reactions

Fortunately, my XPERIA X1 was tuned to Engadget…and quickly became the lust object for all attendants as news about the new boxen began to trickle out. General user sentiment was very positive – all attendants (yours truly excluded) were impressed by the “rich features” of the box:
2a Palm User Group Vienna reactions 2b Palm User Group Vienna reactions

Unfortunately, the announcement of EVDO-exclusivity did not go down well: on e user stated that he already was used to waiting, but now has “something to wait for”…

Other topics of interest involved Apple stuff, Nokia’s E-series QWERTY handhelds and digital cameras:
3a Palm User Group Vienna reactions

The BlackBerry was not liked too well:
4a Palm User Group Vienna reactions 4b Palm User Group Vienna reactions

Finally, here’s a collection shot showing all the attending boxen:
5a Palm User Group Vienna reactions

In the end, I left the place impressed by the enthusiasm Palm’s recent announcement managed to create. I myself was not too impressed: the world imho doesnt need another web-only platform…and the lack of even rudimentary Palm OS emulation is appaling.

What do you think?

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 11:28 pm

PUG Vienna reaction as news start to drop

Palm User Groups No Responses »
Jan 082009

The scenes at the PUG Vienna remind me of an Apple keynote – a variety of devices was used to keep in tune to various news services in a frantic fashion.

Overall responses to the device have been pretty positive, some have even declared that this is the device they have been waiting for “for years”. Most users have expressed interest to purchase the device if a GSM version is to be released in the future…

Further information on the box can be found at the URL below – hit the link below for the full scoop:
Live from the CES

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 9:38 pm

PUG Vienna – we’re waiting

Palm News, Palm User Groups No Responses »
Jan 082009

The Palm user group is well visited:
P1080254t PUG Vienna were waiting

We are awaiting news from Palm, but are not too hopeful – stay tuned for further info as we get it!

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 9:17 pm

Meet /me at the Vienniese Palm User Group

Palm User Groups, TamsPalm internal No Responses »
Jan 082009

Meet /me at the Vienniese Palm User GroupDear Readers,
just in case anyone of you is looking for a place to be while the Nova announcement comes in – the Palm User Group Vienna has decided to hold a special meeting during the press event (including our infamous kleptomaniac, who will be seated at the far end of the table :-) )!
3a Meet /me at the Vienniese Palm User Group

Should any of you feel like passing by, hit the Pizza Plus around 1900 or later. As usual, further information can be obtained at the web site of the organizer!

I will be there from around 1930 onwards, and will tug along my XPERIA X1, Nokia N96, BlackBerry Curve and MSI Wind U100 for sampling – see you there!

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 6:50 pm

Travel Genius – the review

Games No Responses »
Jan 082009

Yours truly never was too good at all things geography – while I managed to get through mandatory geography exams with Palmary help, I can not say that I am too witty when it comes to all things geo. HeroCraft’s Travel Genius wants to make Geography fun – but how does it accomplish this?

When starting up the game for the first time, only one game mode is available. It involves finding landmarks on a map:
0a Travel Genius the review

Some landmarks must be targeted twice, the second time at higher accuracy:
1a Travel Genius the review 1b Travel Genius the review

After having answered a few questions, a “score” is computed. The score must be over an arbitrary limit to pass the level and continue with the next one – if you fail one level, the game is over.
2a Travel Genius the review 2b Travel Genius the review

If you manage to score enough points in a sequence (the limit is arbitrary), new game modes are unlocked as time goes by:
3a Travel Genius the review

Scores are visualized in a pretty weird way:
4a Travel Genius the review

Travel Genius supports a variety of languages:
5a Travel Genius the review

Sound-wise, Travel Genius impresses with a few exploration-themed tracks of decent quality!

This review looked at version 1.0 of Travel Genius on a Treo 680 and a Palm Centro. While exceptionally stable, the game was slow to load and used loads of memory (about 3600k). It furthermore had issues with the REM sleep feature of the Treo and Centro – turning the device off while the game runs does not stop the background music (and drains the battery fast).

In the end, Travel Genius manages to impress both casual and hardcore gamers. If you feel like sprucing up your geography skills, get this game – the price of 16$ is justified.

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 4:57 pm

OLED strikes back – OQO Model 2+ handled

Hardware News No Responses »
Jan 082009

Palm OS users were the first to enjoy large OLED screens with the now-classic CLIE VZ90. Its HVGA screen was the largest OLED on the market for a long time- but it has recently been beaten by both Sony’s OLED TV and the newly-announced OQO Model 2+ pictured below:
jas oqo ces 0 OLED strikes back OQO Model 2+ handled

According to Engadget, this 999$ unit will drop in H1 2009, and will be powered by a 1.86GhZ Atom CPU. The screen resolution is 800×480 (aka not too much) – stay tuned for further info as we get it.

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 4:31 pm

tIRC for Palm OS – beta testers wanted

Miscellaneous, Palm News 6 Responses »
Jan 072009

Dear Readers,
it is now time to announce the start of the public beta testing phase for the latest Tamoggemon offering: a small program known by the name tIRC! A few screenshots are below:
0a tIRC for Palm OS beta testers wanted
0b tIRC for Palm OS beta testers wanted

We are currently looking for beta testers! Please get in touch via Tamog AT gmx DOT at to find out more!

All the best
Tam Hanna

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 9:05 pm

Funny: e-mail from the future

Funny Stuff 4 Responses »
Jan 072009

While working with Microsoft Outlook 2003, I just stumbled across the extremely funny thing pictured below – look at the caption of the first email group:
Unbenannt Funny: e mail from the future

P.S. I am perfectly aware how this was caused, but posted it for fun’s sake – have a laugh, folks!

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 1:01 am

Palm redesigns web site, removes handhelds

Palm News 4 Responses »
Jan 072009

Palm has just redesigned its US web presence; a sample screenshot is below (scaled down by 50%):
Unbenannt Palm redesigns web site, removes handhelds

One notable change in the redesigned web site is the lack of mentions of handheld devices (and older Treos). All devices except for the Treo Pro, Treo 800w and Centro have been banished from all but the customer support pages. While Palm hopes to get rid of handhelds as soon as possible, customers still love them. The figure below comes from Resco’s, and is an an alysis of their software sales over the last 30 days:
salesplatform Palm redesigns web site, removes handhelds

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 12:01 am

Girl shows support for Android via logo tattoo

Funny Stuff 1 Response »
Jan 062009

Fanboyism can sometimes go quite a bit too far – the latest super-fanboy is pictured below:
android tattoo Girl shows support for Android via logo tattoo

This Texas-based, 23 year old girl has posted the picture above to MySpace, but has since removed it from there – I don’t want to know what she was up to…

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 10:57 am

New mock-up of upcoming Nova device

Palm News No Responses »
Jan 052009

palm keyboard New mock up of upcoming Nova device
We have had our fair share of Nova mockup rumors in the past – the latest one hits us via CrunchGear and is pictured on the left. The keyboard is said to “slide out” below a horizontal touchscreen.

The software on the device is described as following:

The new operating system is described as “amazing” and there will be a full software bazaar on launch. It will have media playback functions along with standard Palm calendar, email, and contact functionality.

As of now, nothing more is known – stay tuned for further info as we get it.

P.S. Looks like the Roteo prototype won’t be in the roster at the CES – but I am nevertheless 100% sure that it was intended to run Nova or Cobalt in one form or the other…

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 11:19 pm

AT&T to non-3G customers: f*** off!

Editorials No Responses »
Jan 042009

fokkol tnl AT&T to non 3G customers: f*** off!
According to OFB.biz, the folks at AT&T’s have just turned against a (big) part of their (not so vocal) customers in a move of unprecedented aggressiveness.

The reason behind this is due to the perceived lack of 3G coverage on some areas – AT&T has started to move 2G devices to the “weaker” 1900MhZ band, while reserving the 850MhZ band to 3G only boxen. Customers with a non-3G capable phone (like most BlackBerries, Palm OS Treos or the iPhone 2G) will experience severely degraded signal strength in these areas: which means that phone calls will be dropped in areas where quality of service was not an issue before.

Some AT&T technicians have offered a truly outrageous solution: a 200$ credit which would neither offset the higher cost for 3G plans, nor cover equipment replacements:

When I contacted AT&T’s technical support seeking a solution to the problem, the company did offer a $200 one-time credit, a helpful offer, but not nearly enough to offset replacing my family’s two perfectly functional iPhones and additional Nokia handset (equipment totaling about $1,000 in value over the last two years), nor did the company offer to offset the additional fees attached to the new phones (a cumulative total of $30/month). The standard upgrade offered was pursuant to a new two-year contract on all three lines. Over the course of the next two years, AT&T’s offer would cost an additional $920 plus tax to restore the level of service previously available.

As of now, lawyers have not decided on whether this constitutes a “breach of contract”, which would allow customers to terminate their contract immediately and without penalties (another popular example was the recent CDMA SMS price hike). As the risk for the individual is low (and the class of users is huge), I dare to predict that this will change in the near future…

From my personal point of view, this move is outrageous: it targets less vocal customers (people still using a 2G phone are less likely to be in tech communities according to AT&T’s thinking IMHO), and fuxates the service provided to the majority of users to benefit a small minority.

The Tamoggemon Content team would be thankful for your feedback – if you have any issues, send us an email and we see what we can do for you!

Image: (c) abc texte / Dr. Doris Maria Kohrs – all rights reserved!

Posted by Tam Hanna, Site Founder at 10:47 pm
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