There is an article about an application that does nothing except showing an icon on your iPhone on TamsiJungle. The program which is called “I am rich” is availible for 1000$ in Apple’s App Store and there seem to be some buyers already.
A similar application is now being made for Palm OS. Unlike the “iPhone edition”, this one is free and availible for download on FreewarePalm.com.
Donald Kirker of OpenMobl systems made a presentation at Monday’s Stanford Palm User Group displaying the new UI behind Universe, code named Graphite.
The preview is “mostly showing what I hope to have implemented in the future” and does not have much besides the new UI system.
Graphite is a completely new UI system which does not use the standard PalmOS UI, giving Universe a more modern feel, somewhat similar to the (now defunct) LineUp and Saguaro vapourwares. However, Universe is not vapourware. 
Feel free to download the UI preview (local copy for posterity: universe.prc)
Here are some screenshots of the beta (courtesy SimonPF from IRC via Alexander Gratz)
Apparently, a few key people at Verizon’s don’t read TamsPalm and don’t have too much industry insight either. Otherwise, they would know that the Centro can NOT replace a Treo because it is way to small for extended periods of use.
Nevertheless, our boneheaded friends have decided to EOL their version of the 755 (pictured above). According to PIC’s Kris Keilhack, the device now costs 99$ with a 2yr contract, but is out of stock almost everywhere.
So far, Developers haven’t been too happy about the Centro in our interviews - it looks like the situation is becoming worse every minute now. Once again: if you haven’t ported yet, it’s high noon!
My friend Tobi at Palm’s has undug the following press photos of the blue Centro for your enjoyment - click on any of them in order to feast your eyes on a bigger version. Finally, developers may also like the one with the white screen - it can IMHO be used to create mockups of your app running on an electric blue Centro:
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A big thank-you goes out to Tobias Kuderna for providing these images!
Using Dmitry Grinberg’s new beta of his SDHC driver, the old Tungsten C supports big SDHC cards! Unfortunately, I only have a 2 GB SD card, but it cannot access this card because its slot driver only supports card up to 1 GB. First, file managers didn’t show any contents, but Palm’s Card Info utility could show me several details about the card.
Then I installed Dmitry’s most recent FAT32 driver which is known to work a Tungsten C, T3 and T5 (and should work on others). Now, FileZ had no problems accessing the card anymore.
As the SDHC driver is an early beta - at least on the Tungsten C - it is still far away from working stable and not availible to the public. For example, it does not recognize the ejecting of a card. Inserting my 2 GB card makes the device freezing. But Dmitry told me that he now has a Tungsten C for testing, so the TC users can soon extend their handheld with 2 GB (and higher) memory cards.
Palm has just announced that its MyPalm service will end on September the 1st:
For all those of you new to the term: MyPalm was an “inside track” program for Treo owners. It offered access to add-on software and free phone support.
As of now, no information is available on why the service is closed down. I consider it very likely that we are looking at some sort of cost-cutting maneuver here: keeping a call center full of agents may be user-friendly, but costly.
The service itself will remain operational to the 1st of September and is accepting new sign-ups - in case anyone of you feels like testing the intelligence and know-how of the reps, feel free to let us know how you fared!
AT&T customers are in luck - from the 11th onwards, the Palm Centro is available in a new color from their carrier:
The color scheme is dubbed “electric blue” and is somewhat similar to Cobalt blue (OS 6, pun intended) - other than that, the device is very similar to the Centro we had in our labs a few months ago.
I have requested a bunch of images from my friend at Palm’s - stay tuned for them as we get them!
The evil empire led by Tam Hanna the 1st and his slave Johnnis the 5th proudly announce their intentions to celebrate the two biggest mind control cult founders of the 20th century by announcing the immediate availability of two mystery products for Palm OS.
LRon and Sigmund are available from Tamoggemon Customer Care for 9.95$ each. Like with a Rorschach test or an OT level, no information is made available to the public about what the packages actually contain. However, neither of the products has been available for sale before.
Additionally, the evil empire looks for peons willing to betatest its new products. People who use chat protocols like IRC or like typing games are here as requested to contact Tamoggemon Customer Care immediately via (Tamog AT gmx DOT at). As we are not a Russian cult, free licenses are will magically appear in the minds of our testers after the testing process is complete!
As usual, no warranties are given regarding the subconscious effects of the products. Keep an eye on the Claucig-shaped dirt bags, chant “so-ein-schwein” and … aaah, we don’t really care.
Claws Mail
The mail client of Ubuntu MID supports multiple accounts, searching, templates, different protocols (POP, IMAP), attachment and also plugins, for example HTML readers or spam filters. Some of them are availible in the Ubuntu software repository.
I could access my two mailboxes (T-Online, simple POP/STMP and Google Mail, IMAP/SMTP with special port and encryption settings).
Pidgin
Pidgin supports many chat protocols, for example ICQ, IRC, Jabber, MSN Messenger or Yahoo Messenger, and there are plugins for others (e. g. Skype). You can have multiple accounts. Your contacts are ordered in a “Buddy List”. Beside chatting, there is also an option for sending files to other buddies.
I tried to log into my Google Chat account, but I got no connection. IRC was no problem.
Others
First image: Terminal Server Client, second image: Ekiga Softphone, third one: Liferea (feed reader for RSS, CDF, Atom and OPML).
In the next part, we will have a closer look at the multimedia features.
Many technology news sites have reported that there is a new special version of Ubuntu for UMPCs (ultra mobile PCs) / MID (mobile internet devices). These devices often have a touchscreen, no keyboard and connect to the internet by Wireless LAN or a mobile phone network. TamsPalm has had a look at an early developer’s demo version.
In the first part of this article, I wrote a list of applications appearing in the main menu:
The other parts of this article with a closer look at the applications will be published soon.
Google Maps recently got “virtual GPS” capabilities on S60 phones - if no real GPS hardware is available, the program used cell ID information to receive an approximate location.
So far, Palm OS devices were left out because the boys partying under the orange orb chose not to expose the cell tower API for some reason or another(except to Sprint).
However, Palm has now released updates for the AT&T and VeriZon Centros which expose the API to the public - and the Google Mobile team quickly released an updated version:
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-location-in-your-palm.html
P.S. The Sprint Centro currently does not support My Location. A firmware update is said to be upcoming!
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In case anyone of you feels like owning a GSPDA M70 but didn’t order one so far: you are now officially out of luck.
Take it as a sign of the things still to come, but GSPDA’s web site is now blank. Additionally, the Xplore web site no longer lists any of the Palm OS handsets - the only remaining handset is the WF100(a Java-enabled dumbphone). Finally: the device is now gone from Expansys. |
As of now, little is known about what this actually means for existing M70 owners. It is very well possible that customer support will end very soon; chargers and cables probably won’t be available much longer…