palmOne is now denying that they are planning an upgrade to the forthcoming Palm OS 6 for PDAs that are currently running on Palm OS 5… [Gizmodo]
What Free WiFi Freeloader Problem?
A quick look at how a variety of restaurants and cafes that offer free WiFi deal with the patron who just won’t leave. A pattern seems to be emerging: while the paid-WiFi guys always use this as an argument why no one should offer free WiFi, it seems like just about every place that offer free WiFi says it’s never actually been a problem. Most people come in, use the WiFi for a bit and leave. They also tend to come during off-peak hours, bringing in more business at that time for the establishment. In some cases, places try to cut back on the possibility of free-loading by doing things like turning off the WiFi at peak times – but there’s no evidence that’s needed. As people have said in the past, it’s no fun to be surfing the net if the place is overcrowded with people waiting to get a seat. [Techdirt Corporate Intelligence: Techdirt Wireless]
OmniWeb Beta 5.0
The OmniWeb Beta is out today and I’ve been messing with it a bit…
Since it is built on WebKit, the same technology as Safari many feature and even key commands will be very familiar to Safari users. I like the addition of tabs within the sidebar, especially with the addition of a visual thumbnail, though managing tabs in the traditional sense never proved challenging or even hard to deal with. This new feature may even add some weight to the application which is not necessary other than to show off.
Bookmarks import flawlessly and your passwords for sites are also immediately auto-filled if you had previously saved them in the Keychain. This is a wonderful bit of consistency and something I wish more browsers and applications made use of. If you like to test or switch between things it is often a pain to deal with password management.
While it looks nice, this is a hard sell and yes it is being sold. Safari 1.2 is supposedly right around the corner with fixes and a possible feature of two up its sleeve and will be free. While OmniWeb will at least work with all the same sites (though also probably carry the same issues) you’ll have to pay for features like ad blocking (something I am not testing).
All in all a nice piece of work, but I’ll be sticking it out with Safari for now.
Silicon Valley’s resurgence: Real this time?
Starting to quack like a duck…
Things are again percolating but Knowledge@Wharton offers a reality check on whether the good times have indeed returned. [CNET News.com]
Hey ya, Charlie Brown
Remixing a Charlie Brown “Peanuts” video (without permission, no doubt) — this is better than the original. [JD’s New Media Musings]
UPDATE March 14Discovered so many people linking in for this…
Netherlands Nabs Nigeria Scammers
Dutch police raid 23 apartments and arrest 52 people in one of the largest busts of suspected Nigerian e-mail hucksters. The detainees’ identities are not released, but police believe most were, in fact, Nigerian. [Wired News]
FCC Approves Samsung i505 Smart Phone
The FCC has given Samsung permission to release in the U.S. the i505, a Palm OS smart phone. This will include a “flip and twist” screen, an SD slot, and a camera. [Brighthand]
palmOne Refuses to Confirm Palm OS 6 Upgrade
A spokesperson for palmOne declined to confirm that his company is working on an upgrade that will allow some current handhelds to move to the next version of their operating system. [Brighthand]
Disney, Pixar end talks
Steve Jobs’ other company — Pixar Animation Studios — announced today that it has ended its efforts to extend its distribution deal with The Walt Disney Co. and that it will seek other opportunities. [MacCentral]
Wireless Cable TV in the Works
Ultra wideband technology will have enough bandwidth to take the ‘cable’ out of cable TV, its touters say. It might also be used for transferring images from digital cameras to computers. [Wired News]
Time Warner Cable leans more heavily on voice
The Time Warner unit speeds the rollout of its Net-based phone service because it more urgently needs the “voice piece” of its triple play of offerings designed to fend off gains by satellite companies. [CNET News.com]
I’ve started to notice Cablevision ads on TV (looks like an Ericsson cordless in their spots…) here in NYC but I have yet to see anything from Time Warner, my cable company.
MIDI tutorial for GarageBand posted
The folks at MacJams.com have posted “MIDI Basics for GarageBand Users,” a tutorial discussing some of the basic answers to common questions about using MIIDI devices with Apple’s new GarageBand music software… [MacMinute]
GarageBand Manuals
This article provides lists of manuals available in PDF format. [Apple Computer Knowledge Base Changes for 2004-01-28]
Rumor: palmOne Working on Palm OS 6 Upgrade
Great News (if true) on the Palm front. Though I have a feeling a new cooler device will woo me from my T3…
New information received by PalmInfocenter indicates that palmOne is currently testing a Palm OS 6 upgrade for select current palmOne handhelds. Devices with Flashable ROM with enough room to spare to fit the new OS,shouldbe able to be upgraded. [PalmInfocenter]
palmOne considering alternative platforms
In an interview with a Swedish publication, palmOne’s Head of Europe, Vesey Crichton, has made several remarks which are certain to raise a few eyebrows among Palm OS diehards. Conducted during a recent European tour made by Crichton, the interview leaves little doubt that palmOne is considering alternative operating systems for use the company’s mobile devices, although Crichton is not quoted directly on this.
Expressing his fascination for Nokia’s operating system and in particular its interface, Crichton also said the Finnish manufacturer has unresolved issues with data synchronization – a widely held opinion.
Among the most important qualities for a platform, Crichton listed ease of use along with the ability to synchronize tasks, sporting a well-developed calendar, contacts database and to-do list. Also, Crichton said that a good choice of applications would have to be available, but that Palm OS was indeed “not viewed internally as a religion”. [infoSync]
SanDisk 1 GB SD Card Now Shipping
Consumers will soon be able to buy a single card the size of a postage stamp that can hold over five hours of MPEG-4 compressed video. [Brighthand]
“Quelle Suprise”
SanDisk’s web page on its Wi-Fi SD card now says that a Palm OS 5 driver will be released in the second quarter of this year. Previously, the company had said this would be available in the first quarter. [Brighthand]
Foldable Screens for E-Newspapers
Electronics giant Philips has just announced that it would be mass-producing a thin display panel that could be used to display e-newspapers and magazines downloaded from a fixed or mobile Internet link… and then rolled up or folded away…. [GearBits]
Monster plans fee-based job networking site
Monster Worldwide next month plans to launch an online community for users of its popular jobs listing site for a fee, but critics question whether the move will be successful. [CNET News.com]
I guess we’ll see how it goes… In my limited experience so far, Monster is a tough one from the job seeker end. Sure they have a crapload of jobs, but many continually resurface as “fresh” and there are just too many multi-level schemers floating around. It would be nice to get some filters going to make it more efficient.
Pepsi iTunes ad to feature teens sued by RIAA
Pepsi’s iTunes Super Bowl ad will feature about 20 teens sued by the Recording Industry Association … [MacNN]