Apple Gets OK to Keep Palm Unplugged From iTunes

Palm Pre owners, get ready to kiss your iTunes music goodbye.
The most recent turn in the Apple vs. Palm debate makes it even less likely that the Palm will again be able to sync with iTunes.

On Wednesday, Palm received a letter from the USB Implementers Forum, a group overseeing standards for USB connections, in reply to their complaint that Apple is constricting trade by not allowing Palm and other devices to sync to iTunes. The letter from USB-IF not only dismissed any violation by Apple, but also stated that Palm was actually the one in violation of the group’s membership agreement. That’s because Palm was misrepresenting the Pre as an iPod in order to access iTunes — a violation of the rules USB member companies have agreed to.

Palm and Apple have been in contention over iTunes syncing since the launch of the Palm Pre. One of the Pre’s selling points was that it could sync with iTunes music, a convenient feature for users of the popular music application. Apple soon struck back, disabling Pre syncing with a series of iTunes updates.

But there are other ways Palm could get around this decision for their customers. Research in Motion, the mobile OS for the Blackberry, has developed software to allow the transfer of music from iTunes to selected Blackberry devices. Users can transfer music from their computer to the Blackberry’s media player. However, only songs without digital rights management apply to this alternative to syncing. If you haven’t upgraded your iTunes purchases to be DRM-free, then only music purchased after January of earlier this year will work.

Unfortunately for Palm, the ability to sync to iTunes was a key feature for consumers who use iTunes to manage their music. Without a solution to the iTunes block, Pre owners will have to find other ways to keep their mobile music alive.

Google Cracks Down on Android Developer, Offers Olive Branch

Android is an open platform, but watch out: It includes a lot of proprietary apps, including Google’s.
A popular Android hacker found out the hard way when he received a cease-and-desist letter from Google for his latest modification of the Android OS. Steve Kondik, also known as “Cyanogen”, has been distributing a version of the Android firmware that includes multitouch and other capabilities not included in the base version. Google took exception to his inclusion of code owned by the search giant and sent him a cease-and-desist letter demanding that he stop distributing it.

Kondik’s story created an uproar within the Android community and raised questions about how much the Android OS relied on closed-source applications for its functionality. That’s because the base of the platform is indeed open source, but without the applications that run on top of it, it’s not very useful to consumers.

However, the controversy has sparked constructive discussions about the future of Android, and has even motivated Google to extend a helping hand to independent developers.
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MSI Wind Notebook. 20% Bigger, 20% Duller

Like the MSI Wind, but don’t like the way the tiny 10-inch netbook slides effortlessly into a small bag? Then the 12.1-inch Wind U210 might be for you. Aside from the extra inches, from the outside the Wind looks just like its little brother, with the usual netbook compliment of three USB ports, an SD card reader and the like (although it does add an HDMI-out port).

Inside things are different, with the usual Intel Atom chip replaced by a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo MV-40, 2GB RAM and a 250GB hard drive. The display (1366×768) is driven by an ATI Radeon X1250, and the whole thing can easily fit into the space taken up by a 12.1-inch laptop.
Humdrum indeed. Even the oversized keys fail to get us excited (they’re 51% bigger, making them easier to hit, apparently — perfect for typing whilst nodding off to sleep). The big Wind is at least cheap, at just $430, and the rather pedestrian looks mean that it will probably never be stolen. In short, it is probably the most sensibly boring notebook you could buy.

Intel Hints at Its Own Smartphone Operating System

SAN FRANCISCO — Intel showed off a spiffy new version of Moblin, a Linux operating system designed for mobile gadgets. Initially targeted at netbooks, Intel has now hinted that it will extend the system’s reach to mobile phones.

Intel started the Moblin initiative last year in a bid to maximize the potential of netbooks and other devices that use the company’s Atom processor. But this is the first time that it has shown how the operating system, which is built on a Linux core, will appear to users.
“Moblin will be ready in time when Moorestown (the successor to the current Atom platform) ships next year,” Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel told developers at the Intel Developer Forum, an Intel-hosted conference, on Tuesday.

Although Intel did not explicitly say it was planning a smartphone version of Moblin, the company showed a screenshot of the Moblin user interface (above) with phonelike functionality such as notification for missed calls.

Moblin’s user interface is reminiscent of the recently launched Android phone from Motorola, the Cliq. Moblin brings together updates from social networking sites, the browser, news, calendar and phone call updates into a single screen called Myzone.

The social network aggregation idea is one that has become extremely popular among smartphone makers. With the Pre, Palm was the first handset manufacturer to meld contacts, e-mail and social networking information into a single interface. Since then, Motorola and the HTC Hero have adopted a similar approach.

Intel initially aimed Moblin at netbooks, which largely run Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system. But with Moblin potentially running on mobile phones, Intel is walking into an extremely competitive segment. Last year, Google launched Android, an open source mobile operating system built on the Linux kernel. Android is fast becoming a favorite among handset makers such as HTC and Motorola.

So far, Intel doesn’t have a processor for smartphones. But the company has ambitions to get into that fast-growing market. Earlier this year, Intel said it is working with LG to create a new line of smartphone-like internet devices based on the Moorestown platform and the Moblin operating system. The two companies plan to release the device next year.

Meanwhile, Intel’s Moblin developers have been moving forward with their new OS. In January, they released an alpha version of Moblin, with which interested users could test multiple levels of the core Linux operating system including the boot process, connectivity, networking manager and user interface development tools.

At its developer conference Tuesday, Intel showed a slick interface that seemed to be designed to work well with both touchscreen and standard displays. Moblin screens will have a top bar with access to seven broad categories including applications such as a calendar, e-mail, browser as well as online connectivity options and a world clock.

Moblin is designed for multitasking, says Intel. So if a call comes up during web browsing, the interface allows users to switch easily to another application, such as the camera or a map program.

The latest demo is the first sign that Moblin could become a rival to Android and even the iPhone. But with no devices in the market yet that use the operating system, Moblin remains a dream for Intel.
Check out the demo video shown at IDF.
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Pentax K-x: World’s Reddest DSLR?

The first thing you’ll notice about Pentax’s new K-x DSLR is the color — fire-engine red (it also comes in navy-blue, white and black). Get underneath the ridiculous look-at-me skin and you’ll find that it has some definite improvements over the cheaper K2000, while coming in at just $200 more.
First, it shoots movies. HD movies, at 720p resolution and 24 frames per second. Second, it has a larger 12.4 megapixel sensor (the K2000 has 10.2), which can pump its pictures through the Prime II processor and onto the SD card at 4.7fps.

Then there is the usual slew of features, from shake-reduction to face detection, but the interesting part is the HDR feature, which grabs three shots with bracketed exposures and melds them magically into a single, high dynamic range image, theoretically retaining detail in both shadows and highlights. It’s nothing you can’t do in post, but having it in camera, as with other Pentax models, certainly makes it quicker and easier.

It looks like a capable camera, although it doesn’t offer much that you can’t get elsewhere — and pretty much any DSLR these days will take great pictures. If you are thinking of getting into the DSLR game, the best thing to do is forget about the camera to begin with, and think about lenses. The camera you buy today will last for a few years. The lenses you buy will last you forever.
Kit with 18-55mm lens, $650. Available October.

T-Mobile Accidentally Posts Secret iPhone 3G S Specs

Apple has flatly refused to tell anyone just what chips lie inside the iPhone 3G S. In fact, while Apple insists that the “s” in 3G S stands for speed, it could equally well stand for secrecy. But T-Mobile in the Netherlands apparently didn’t get the memo, and has gone ahead and posted the hardware specs on the product page for the new models.

The relevant numbers are 256MB RAM for the OS, double that of the 128MB in the original iPhone, and a 600MHz processor, up from the pedestrian 412MHz of the first two models. The added RAM alone probably makes a huge difference — if you have ever added memory to a Mac you’ll know how much OS X loves it some extra gigs to play around in. And that processor neatly leapfrogs the second-gen iPod Touch’s 532MHz. It also shuts up anyone comparing the iPhone to the Palm Pre, which has the exact same number of megahertz: 600.

Of course, this never really mattered — as soon as the iPhone goes on sale it will be torn apart like a gazelle being set upon by hunger-crazed lions and the innards cast across the floor for all to see. We wonder just how long the T-Mobile site will keep this information up.