Happy Birthday Neo!, Uglier Firefox?, Google’s Secret Fortress

The Matrix

The Matrix is Ten

It’s hard to believe the movie The Matrix is ten years old!? I remember going to the movies to see The Matrix about ten times. No Movie before or since has hypnotized me like The Matrix. Remember The Matrix>>

Uglier Firefox

Personas is a set of themes for your Firefox browser. I am trying it out right now ( It is messing up my PimpZilla theme – it may have to go!).  Look at Personas (Blog Article). More on Personas ( lifehacker)

Google’s Secret Fortress

Google recently unveiled some of the server hardware secrets it has used to become the king of internet search. Google Secrets Unveiled!>>

HostMonk, Skype on Mobiles, ColorSplash, HomeMade Pizza

Homemade Pizza

HostMonk Compares various web hosts according to price, platform, bandwith, memory, CPU type, and management. The original article for this information came from the good people at makeuseof.com. lifehacker has an article on this ( via makeuseof.com) Read Lifehacker Article Want more on reliable, affordable web hosts? Read More Here>>

Skype Comes to iPhone, Blackberry: phonescoop and Reuters have the news on this development. The application for putting Skype on the iPhone will be available Tuesday, March 31st, 2009. The Blackberry application will make its debut in May. Free long distance phone calls anyone?

iPhone App ColorSplash: This app allows you to dress up pictures on your iPhone with vibrant colors. ColorSpash sells for $1.99 Read About ColorSplash>>

Make Home Made Tasty Pizza: I haven’t tried this recipe yet; I’m on a special diet. When the diet is over in a day or so I may just have to fire up the old oven. Make Pizza at Home>>

Make Your PC Smile, Twitter VS Google, Government 2.0

Free Tools Keep PC Healthy

Make Your PC Smile: Here are several free tools that will make your computing experience safer and more reliable: Make Your PC Smile

Twitter VS Google: There are things that Twitter can do that Google is not suited for. For example, Twitter can process real time events. Google can index an event, but not in real time. With Twitter, companies can interact with the consumer and monitor gripes, customer satisfaction, and any mention of their brand. This can be done by using Twitter’s search function. With Google I can monitor such things also – but the difference is I can only see what happened days, weeks, or months ago. Read More Here

Government 2.0: The Obama Administration has its work cut out for it:  a war on two fronts, an economy teetering on the brink of destruction, and a floundering health care system. If that isn’t bad enough, the various federal agencies are often using old technology that doesn’t do the job. Enter Web 2.0! With a few sweeps of his pen, President Obama will usher in a new technological age for Washington . . . or will he? ReadWriteWeb’s 2 cents

“Surf Fast, Surf Free!” (TM)

Free Text Messages, Palm Pre TMI, I’ve Got Your Lemonade!

Free Text Messages

Every once in a while, I’ll see a freebie that looks so good, it sends shivers down my spine. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Free Text Messages!

My sources for the Palm Pre specs are: Gizmodo and Tibfib at the Palm Pre Forum

SPECIFICATIONS

• Linux-based Palm-built WebOS operating system and UI

• 3.1-inch, 320×480 capacitive LCD multitouch screen

• Vertical slider form factor with full QWERTY keyboard

• 8GB flash storage

• Multitouch gesture area and scrollball

• 3G EV-DO rev. A and wi-fi

• Bluetooth and GPS

• 3.5mm headphone jack

• 3-Megapixel camera

• LED flash

• TI OMAP CPU

• Micro USB connection with mass storage support

• Wireless induction charger

• 4.8 Ounces

• *****

HARDWARE

Innovative Design

Palm’s Pre smartphone is unusual in that it slides vertically to reveal the QWERTY keyboard. It uses the same curved sliding action found on phones like the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. The vertical keyboard was used partially to stand out from other phones, and partially to adhere to the philosophy of easy one-handed use. The phone has a multitouch screen and, when the keyboard is hidden, just three physical controls: A top button, a side volume rocker, clickable button at the bottom. It also has a 3.5mm headphone jack, 3MP camera on the back (w/LED flash) all in a 4.8-ounce package. It’s smaller than the iPhone in surface area, but it’s noticeably thicker—even thicker than the BB Bold.

Gesture Area

The gesture area is the black space that extends below the screen of the Pre. Like the screen itself, that area is fully multitouch-capable, and allows you to perform various gesture-based actions within WebOS. Palm said they implemented the gesture area because they feel one-handed control directly on the touchscreen itself can be difficult at times. They say the gesture area will make it easier to move through WebOS without the need for a second hand.

One touted use for the gesture area is the wave dock, which appears whenever you drag your finger up from the gesture area to the screen. Up pops the dock—viewable in the homescreen but otherwise invisible when you’re doing stuff—for a quick change of activity. (This is a bit reminiscent of the Mac OSX Dock.)

TI OMAP Chip

The TI OMAP chip is the great wizard running the show in Pre’s Emerald City. Little has been revealed about the chip (or any of the other hardware components for that matter), but we do know that it’s high-powered enough to handle multiple apps running (15-20) and acceleration for the graphics overlays. Let’s just hope that performance doesn’t cost too much in battery life.

Touchstone Wireless Charger

Touchstone is a wireless charging base for the Palm Pre, one of the first magnetic induction chargers to make its way out of the bathroom. (Sonicare and Oral-B toothbrushes power up using a similar system.) It’s referred to as “The Puck,” and you just click the back of the Pre onto its flat surface and the juice starts to flow.

• *****

SOFTWARE

Major WebOS Features

Cards

Cards, whose flick-friendly interface promises to make smartphone multitasking simple, are arguably the biggest revolution in the WebOS interface. Each app is represented by a panel or “card” with all its relevant info. To the side of each card are similar cards for other running apps. You can flick your way from one to the next, and do things like pause a song, or launch a new email. If you tap the card, you can enter the full app and really get to work. WebOS is designed to handle many apps running at once, and the Palm Pre has the power to support that.

Synergy

Despite its lame 1990s corporate-culture name, Synergy is a very cool feature that integrates contact info, calendars, messaging clients and search capabilities into a seamless menu system.

Synergy takes contact info from sites like Gmail and Facebook (plus any other site that takes advantage of the SDK), and presents all that info for any contact on a single screen, then shows all the ways you can contact that person electronically. Most of this is done automatically, but if WebOS can’t detect multiple online accounts for the same contact, you can manually link contacts together.

Even better, whether you’re texting, emailing, or IMing, all those conversations are placed into one chat style screen, so you can see all the conversations you’ve had with a person over a given period of time.

Universal Search

The entire contents of your phone are searchable. Whether it’s contacts, old conversations, appointments, media file, etc., you can easily find what you need on your phone with all the results provided in a single screen. But if what you’re looking for isn’t on the phone locally, you can take that same search to the internet with a tap or two of the screen, where it will be run through sites like Google and Wikipedia.

Notifications

Palm tried to master that all-too-fickle smartphone feature: background notifications. The problem is, notifications tend to be either too distracting or not distracting enough. Palm’s notification system pops up on the bottom half of the screen, but the app UI adjusts so you can still carry out whatever you’re doing. Obviously, you’ll have to acknowledge the message (or cancel it) eventually, but this feature will definitely save you some frustration.

Multitouch Browser

WebOS’s browser is the first since Mobile Safari to support multitouch gestures. And like the iPhone’s Mobile Safari and Android’s browser on the G1, it’s built on top of WebKit, which means you can expect the same speedy, responsive performance found on those phones.

• *****

HANDS-ON IMPRESSIONS

Neither the Pre hardware or WebOS software are anywhere near final, so it’s tough to draw too many conclusions from our brief exposure, but I can say that Palm is rivaling Apple in the user experience department with this new phone.

The screen is responsive and accurately detects the position of your finger. I didn’t feel like I had to pay special attention to what I was touching or how I went about it. The multitasking cards for app management are really intuitive, letting you zoom in and out, add and remove, and cycle through cards with a mere flick of a finger. And having the WebOS desktop sit as a sort of frame around the cards prevents you from feeling too overwhelmed by the amount of data you might be flipping through (sort of like Xbox 360’s newly revised “blades”).

The gesture area below the screen interacts really well with the onscreen UI. I never had a problem launching the wave dock from that area, for instance.

The hardware feels like it’s a quality build. It’s plasticky, but it doesn’t feel too light or cheap, and the phone’s size works well for one-handed control. The hinge design is smooth, though it would have been nicer to have a spring-loaded design—it does not. The buttons are reminiscent of those found on the Treo Pro, that is, not spectacular but good enough not to be a nuisance. The phone’s design is a little too pebbly and roundish in shape for me personally, but as far as usability goes, that’s hardly a problem.

• *****

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

(Many of our answers were pulled from our interview with Palm during our Pre hands-on. Information not from that interview is linked and/or attributed.)

When will the Palm Pre go on sale?

There’s been no specific date given, but Palm says the device will be out in the first half of 2009.

How much is the Pre expected to cost?

That’s still very much a mystery, but rumors have pegged it from anywhere between $149 and $399. The $250-$400 range seems realistic, but at this point it’s hard to say.

What carriers will sell the Palm Pre?

As of now, the Palm Pre will be an exclusive on the Sprint network, but Palm said they will release other WebOS phones on other carriers in the future. Best Buy is also rumored to be an exclusive Pre retailer at launch.

How much will voice and data plans cost?

That all depends on the carrier, but at Sprint, we are guessing that the Pre will come packaged with unlimited data and 450 voice minutes for perhaps $69/month; there’s also Sprint’s full unlimited Everything Plan for $99/month. There’s no word yet of a special plan for the Pre, but the current Instinct plans (referenced here) offer reasonable guesses to pricing.

Will there be more than one WebOS Phone?

Yes. Though no specific announcements have been made, Sascha Segan at PC Mag suggests that there will be an entire family of WebOS-based phones down the road. Palm is rumored to be working on a candybar-style Centro 2, which would presumably aim for the $99 price point if and when it is released.

Will there be a GSM Palm Pre?

Yes, but it will be a UTMS, Europe-only phone available later this year. No announcement for a US GSM phone has been made as of yet.

What kind of internet connectivity does the Palm Pre have?

The Pre has an EVDO rev. A mobile broadband chip (for average connectivity upwards of 1Mbps) in addition to wi-fi.

How long will the battery last between charges?

Palm hasn’t officially revealed any info on this yet, but Pre Central, based on photos of the battery, have made a highly educated guess that the battery is identical to that found in the Centro (1150mAh-1350mAh).

As John Herrman points out in his post, the Treo Pro has a 1500mAh battery that goes about two days between charges; the iPhone has a 1400mAh battery that’s okay but sometimes runs out too fast; and the G1 has an 1150mAh, considered woefully inadequate in the eyes of many.

A Palm PR rep told PalmInfoCentral to expect the battery to have a 1200mAh life, though how long that lasts in real time depends on the processor and the demands of the OS.

Is the battery removable?

Yes.

What does the top button do?

The dedicated button found on top of the phone not only slides between silent and normal modes, but you can also press it to turn airplane mode on or off.

Does the Pre’s screen auto-rotate between portrait and landscape mode?

Yes, like most other high-end smartphones, the Pre has built-in accelerometers that are quite responsive.

Does the Pre have a standard headphone jack?

Yes, the Pre uses the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, located on top of the phone, that works with all mainstream portable headphones.

Does the Palm Pre have expandable storage?

Nope. The 8GB that comes with the phone is what you’re stuck with.

Did Palm discuss the availability of a 16GB or 32GB Pre?

No.

Will apps from the older Palm OS (aka Garnet) work on WebOS?

No. This is a completely new platform designed from the ground up, so apps will not run natively. It might be possible with emulation, but there’s been no talk of that so far.

Does WebOS have an on-screen keyboard?

No. The Palm Pre does not have one.

Is HTC involved with the design or manufacturing of the Palm Pre?

No. The Palm Pre and WebOS were designed entirely in house, using only Palm employees. Some worked on the original Palm OS, while others were new to the project this time around. As for manufacturing, Palm hasn’t revealed who is assembling the phones, but it has been confirmed that it isn’t HTC.

Does the Pre record video?

Palm said the Pre will not have video recording capability when it first launches, but it is something they are looking into for future updates.

Is there Flash support on the Pre/WebOS

Yes! Flash 10!

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2340942,00.asp

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090215005152&newsLang=en

Do apps really run in the background?

Yes. Any app will be allowed to function in the background. They won’t close out or go dormant when you switch to another app or return to the home screen. This is different from the iPhone, which can only run Apple-created apps in the background at this time.

How many can run at once?

No official number has been given, but Palm thinks it’s reasonable to assume the Pre will be able to run 15 to 20 apps simultaneously.

I CAN HAZ COPY AND PASTE?

Yes, the Pre has copy and paste (now enough with the LOLspeak, dammit).

How will I get apps? How much will they cost?

There will be a central apps store that will serve as the only method of distribution for the Palm Pre and future WebOS phones. As of now, pricing models have not been released, but we assume there will be free and cheap apps.

Will you be able to sync apps via computer?

No. The app store will function entirely within WebOS.

Is there an app approval process? Will it be as strict as Apple’s?

Yes, there will be an app approval process for WebOS apps. However, according to Palm, they’re less concerned with what the apps do, and more focused on making sure there aren’t any security exploits or stability glitches.

Will the SDK be open to everyone?

Yes, Palm will make the SDK available to anyone who wants to develop apps.

Will apps be as good as those on iPhone or Android?

That’s a question still up for discussion. Palm’s SDK, as we understand it so far, will allow developers to create apps that lie somewhere between web apps and native apps in complexity. While apps will be installable directly to the phone, developers will not have the same level of hardware access that iPhone and Android developers have.

What does this mean? The average Yelp/Mint/Pandora type app will probably work, look, and act the same on WebOS as it would any other mobile platform. But when it comes to those trying to code resource-heavy apps—video and gaming apps for example, that require optimization and special hardware access— they will probably run into development issues using the SDK alone. Palm says they’ll work with selected developers to give them more access to the intricacies of the phone, such as Telenav on the GPS app, for example.

Will the Pre sync to PCs via Outlook or some other desktop program?

There’s no special client application that we know of. You can connect the Pre as a mass-storage device and drag-and-drop media (music, video, photos) into preexisting folders made for those files, allowing them to appear in the media player. As for other types of syncing, such as Outlook, we’re not quite sure how that will work yet.

Does WebOS have a thin and beautiful figure?

Well Palm doesn’t like to talk about its own software, but they did manage to imply that Mobile OS X is an obese, Crisco-guzzling lard ass.

• *****

Historical Background

Palm has come a long way since their days making PDAs for the business crowd, and as the saying goes, to truly understand where Palm is going with the Pre, you’ve got to understand where they’ve been. So here’s a brief recap of software, devices and events leading up to the Pre/WebOS announcement.

Palm OS/Treo

Palm OS, the first major platform for the company was first designed for the Pilot line of PDAs back in 1996. The early Palm OS (1.x-4.x) releases had forward-thinking features such as stylus touch control, handwriting recognition, a grid-based app home screen (adopted by most handset UI designers in the following years), eventually adding mobile internet support, mobile web clippings, email and USB support.

Handspring’s first Palm-based phone—the Treo—came out in 2002. It caught on among the smartphone crowd, with mainstream features such as high-res color displays, threaded text messaging, multimedia playback, homebrew apps such as NES emulators and arguably the worst mobile browser ever, Blazer.

In 2003, Palm bought Handspring and launched the first Palm-branded Treo, the 600. Palm continued to build phones with QWERTY keyboard on the front, SD card slots, and cameras. (Fun fact: Palm CEO Ed Colligan left the company, which he helped establish, in order to create Handspring; he returned to Palm only when they bought Handspring in 2003.) The Palm Centro, launched in 2007, was the last Palm device to run the Garnet OS (v5.4.9). But by then the software—as well as the hardware—had begun to show signs of aging, prompting calls for a new OS and industrial design.

Palm OS II Announcement

In May 2007, Palm announced they were working on a completely new, Linux-based operating system for their future phones, tentatively calling it Palm OS II. No other details were given at the time.

Between Summer 2007 and Fall 2008, Palm OS II was constantly pushed backed, delayed and ignored as Palm’s stock tumbled. Many believed the company would disintegrate beyond repair before the OS would reach market.

Nova

In the fall of 2008, Palm OS II rumors resurfaced, this time mentioning the platform carried the codename “Nova.” Later news confirmed it would be revealed at CES 2008. Still, many remained skeptical as to how much of Nova Palm would show, if anything at all.

Shortly before CES, rumors started popping up about a Palm phone which would accompany the Nova OS. The phone was said to be a squarish, touchscreen device with a slide-out keyboard.

CES Unveiling

On January 8, 2009, Palm announced the Pre smartphone and WebOS platform at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas to much fanfare. Multitouch functionality and seamless web integration were the two big points of emphasis for their new product.

There’s silly and then there is this guy. After being unhappy with the service at a Burger King drive thru (he wanted lemonade, but there was none left) , he calls 911 to complain. He wastes at least 5 minutes of the emergency operator’s time going on and on. Then the cops . . .  Read More Here

Tech News, Free Network Documentation, Real Life Super Mutants

Here’s a little bit of goings on in the word of technology. Read More Here

IT techs and system admins: it’s time to show you some love with  free documentation and inventory tools. You do want to keep those servers up and running with minimal down time, don’t you?

As a kid, I enjoyed curling up in bed with a good comic book (I’m partial to Spider Man). When I grew up, I stopped believing in super heroes. Imagine the jolt of electricity I felt when I heard about a small number of real life super heroes with super powers! Read More Here

Good Deals, Reddit for iPhone, Free lifehacker apps

If you are like me, you are always on the lookout for good deals on electronics. Here are a few items that are on sale this Valentine day’s weekend. More

For those of you who would like the official reddit app on your iPhone, wait no longer! More

Here are some good productivity tools from our friends at lifehacker. More

Best Free Software, Free SAT Prep

Lifehacker

Lifehacker has a list of their favorite free software. I currently use seven of the forty or so products mentioned in the article (Firefox, VLC Media Player, Gmail, CCleaner, Google, uTorrent, and IrfanView). There are two others I used in the past but no longer use. I guess I got tired of all the scans and looking for updates in exchange for mixed results. The two others are Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy.

Lifehacker List

Free SAT Help

If I had done better on my SAT s, I’d be on a beach in  Ipanema instead of writing this blog. Get your kids ready for the SAT so that they won’t have to toil thanklessly in anonymity!

Free SAT Prep

ipHone Free Application – iTV

Good News: an i.TV application has been added to Apple’s iTunes Store. Details: http://twurl.nl/pwsq0k

Track Free and Price-Dropped iPhone Apps: http://lifehacker.com/5059912/

As always you can ask a question, give an answer, or express an opinion in the comment section of this post, or e-mail me at asktonyc @aoldotcom.

“Surf Fast, Surf Free!”(TM)

Twitter and Fring

What is Twitter? Twitter is a community of micro bloggers who send out posts, or tweets, that tell others in the community what they they are doing. Read more here: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/twitter

I really like Twitter. I have been a twitterer(tweeple) for a few months now, and I must say, I did not see any use for it. Why Do I need to tell a bunch of people what I’m doing? Do I care what all these guys are tweeting about? At first my posts, or tweets as the twitter community says, were few and far between. Now, they can’t get me to shut up! The twitter community has about two million users worldwide, with the majority living in the U.S.

Here is a link to a video that explains more on Twitter: http://current.com/items/89362068_twitter_tweeters

iPhone owners, how would you like to make free international calls via Wi-Fi? Well, now you can Fring http://www.fring.com/ just became available as a download from the iTunes store. Check Fring out.