Archive: June 4, 2009

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Pre views

Thursday,  06/04/09  08:13 AM

The preview Pre units are out, and the Pre reviews are in! Walt Mossberg.  "All in all, I believe the Pre is a smart, sophisticated product that will have particular appeal for those who want a physical keyboard. It is thoughtfully designed, works well and could give the iPhone and BlackBerry strong competition." David Pogue.  "The Pre, which goes on sale first in the United States on Saturday and sometime in the second half of 2009 in Europe, is an elegant, joyous, multitouch smartphone that seems intended to be '‘iPhone, remixed.'" Engadget.  "Ultimately - carriers and developers notwithstanding - what Palm has done is not only a major feat for a company of its size (and its dire position), we think it's an important step in the evolution of mobile computing." Gizmodo.  (as usual with their reviews, too scattered to pick a quote as a summary.  They like it, but they can't stop "butting"...  okay, it isn't perfect, we get it... CNet.  "Despite some missing features and performance issues that make it less than ideal for on-the-go professionals, the Palm Pre offers gadget lovers and consumers well-integrated features and unparalled multitasking capabilities." PC Mag.  "Palm is back—and with the coolest handheld device we've seen in a long time. The Palm Pre has the same exhilarating sense of possibility as the iPhone—and it's even worth switching to Sprint for." CNN.  Split as a review from a Blackberry user, and one from an iPhone user.  They both like it, for different reasons. Fox.  "My takeaway: The Palm Pre is an impressive device with a slick design and an even slicker user experience." Business Week.  "Adoption of Palm's new Pre smartphone will be hampered by its lousy applications, high price, and marketing missteps." Some of these reviews are actual reviews, some are just pundits transmitting.  I guess time will tell. I can't wait to get mine, but I might have to; I'm going to be gone Saturday (riding in the Sierras) and Sunday (sailing), and by then all the Sprint Stores and Best Buys will probably be sold out... [Update: you might enjoy Palm's amazing "Flow" ad...  ] [Update #2: here's the Pre's "first run" video... way cool... ]

 

Thursday,  06/04/09  07:56 PM

Busy day getting ready for some downtime; riding the Eastern Sierra Double Saturday, which means tomorrow afternoon I'm driving up to Bishop, and then sailing with Meg in the Westlake Cup on Sunday.  Had to take my car in today, I'm afraid it is quite $sick, and ran a million errands, and ... blogged! You know that phrase "so easy my Mom could do it"?  Well, that doesn't quite apply to my Mom - there are a lot of things she can do (including reading my blog, so I have to be careful :) - but she just celebrated her 76th birthday (no, she doesn't care if you know) and we got her a Kindle.  I am very interested to see how she likes it...  Happy Birthday, Mom!  LGF reviews President Obama's speech to the Islamic World.  Not bad.  Certainly it isn't as bad as many (including me) might have feared...  Cool: US Air Force to launch space plane.  "While next year's flight profile remains a bit hazy, reports have the X-37B under auto-pilot control zooming into Vandenberg Air Force Base for a landing, or perhaps at Edwards Air Force Base, California."  Telsa is expanding into Europe, opening three showrooms in London, Monaco, and Munich.  Apparently they have now delivered 500 roadsters in the U.S., and the first European deliveries will take place this summer.  Very cool.  Remember, they are the only car company shipping electric cars.  Repeat after me, hybrids are not electric cars...  This is amazing: a panorama of the bridge from the Enterprise, taken from the new Star Trek movie.  Kirk and Spock would feel right at home.  Time Magazine has long since ceased to be relevant (to me at least, and to many others), but interestingly they feature Twitter on the cover of their latest issue.  I can't help but feel this is just the mainstreaming of the hype, but it is impressive.  What Joe and Jane make of this is anyone's guess.  Perhaps they can now follow Oprah and Shack.  Huh, this is interesting: RIM buys Dash.  I still have mine, but don't use it; the service has expired, and I can't renew it.  Perhaps now I'll be able to...  but no clue whether the old Dash hardware will ever be supported again.  What a beautiful building: the World Wildlife Fund opens carbon-neutral headquarters in the Netherlands.  ZooBorn of the day: a baby black Rhino...

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