Developages - Development and Technology Blog

At a moment in time when smart phones are one of the few hot tech products, Palm, the industry’s pioneer, appears to be dying.

This morning, Global Crown Capital analyst Pablo Perez-Fernandez cut his rating on the company to Underweight from Neutral, setting a $1.50 price target, well below the current level.

Perez-Fernandez provides a damaging list of factors now facing the company and the stock, all of which add up to a deteriorating position in a market where competition is heating up considerably.

In the debate over whether to buy an Apple iPhone or a Research in Motion BlackBerry Storm or Bold, does Palm’s name even come up in conversation? Alas, no. 

And that makes me sad as a long time Palm user — back when the Palm Pilot was as hot as the iPhone …

Read more of this sad story about an industry pioneer at Barron’s.

Tags: apple, blackberry bold, blackberry storm, iphone, palm, palm pilot, smart phones

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Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Espoo’s usually a pretty cold place, but HTC’s 𔜜 has to feel the heat coming off Nokia headquarters now that the purported E75 slider has been spotted in its natural habitat. We don’t have a ton of information about this thing, but considering the length of time that transpired between the E71′s first spy shot and its release, we do know that we could still be in for a bit of a wait before this thing is announced, much less retailed. If Nokia manages to keep the thickness in check, we′re thinking this could be a fantastic form factor for ₨, Eseries or otherwise — and since the phone borrows heavily from the ID of the beautiful E71, we′re optimistic it’s going to be a looker. Let’s just get it out the door in a reasonable amount of time, alright?

[Thanks, African Remix]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Portable Video

In case you haven’t noticed, today’s a pretty big day for Sling Media. Not monumentally large or anything, but decently sized, we reckon. Of course, if you’re a placeshifter and a UIQ user, you may disagree vehemently. Announced today, said company has unveiled a SlingPlayer Mobile version compatible with the UIQ interface on Symbian OS phones from Motorola and Sony Ericsson. For those out of the loop, said app will give Slingbox users the ability to “watch and control their home TV from a network-connected mobile phone.” In related news, the freshest SlingPlayer for Windows 2.0 has launched as a public beta, and with it comes a live video buffer, “The Guide,” SlingRemote and a bevy of different viewing modes. Take advantage of that broadband connection while you still can — get to downloadin’!

[Via SlingCommunity]
Read - SlingPlayer Mobile for UIQ
Read - SlingPlayer for Windows 2.0 public beta

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It looks like Angstrom Power is working on more than just fuel cells for MOTOSLVR L7 prototypes, with the company now also touting its G2 portable fuel cell power source that promises to keep a whole range of gadgets charged up. This one packs eight V60 Fuel Cell Modules that combine to provide a full two watts of power, which can be used to top off any device that charges via a USB connection. According to Angstrom, the G2 itself can also be replenished “in minutes,” either by using an Angstrom P2 Portable Refueling Cartridge or an ̵ Refueling Station, though it can apparently withstand “several charges” before it needs to be refueled. No word on pricing or availability just yet, but it seems safe to bet that it’ll show up before those fuel cell-powered cellphones, which are apparently still on track for a release somewhere in the neighborhood of 2010.

[Via Gizmo Watch]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We’ve been huffing the vaporous promise of methanol fuel cells for so long now that we sold all our furniture and live in a cardboard box. Nevertheless, Sharp’s in a tizzy over its direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) prototype. Sharp’s cell is able to provide 0.3 Watts of power per cubic centimeter making it the world’s most powerful DMFC cell for its size. Availability? Sharp has no idea but “it won′t be commercialized soon,” according to a spokesperson. Kudos for honesty, but that gnawing angst for a refillable battery replacement for traditional lithium-ion batteries continues to taunt us.

P.S. Sharp didn′t offer any photos with the press release so we tossed in an old Toshiba concept just to annoy them.

[Via PCWorld]

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Digital Cameras

The ever-boastful MTI Micro is back again, just days after showing off a fuel cell-powered GPS prototype in Atlanta. This go ’round, the company is announcing a newfound partnership with an elusive Japanese developer of digicams in order to “evaluate the feasibility, development and production” of Mobion products. The love affair will enable the two to work together in evaluating and adapting the aforesaid technology for use in “various precision imaging applications, including digital cameras.” Best of all, work is apparently already ongoing, and MTI Micro is expected to deliver prototypes later this month. Going from prototype form to the store shelf, however, will be the hard part.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Finally we can all sleep at night, safe in the knowledge that Sony has created a prototype fuel cell system that fits in the palm of your hand. The combination lithium-polymer battery, backup battery, and control circuit are destined for future mobile devices. According to a company engineer, “We have been aiming to mount (a fuel-cell system) in mobile devices and finally reached a level of commercial design.” The tiny power-pack uses methanol as a fuel and controls supply with a hybrid pump, which allows it to regulate the amount of power used based on a system’s needs. The company claims that just 10ml of methanol can power a mobile device through 14 hours of 1seg movie watching. Sure, it sounds good on paper, but does this mean soon we’ll have to visit tiny, methanol refilling stations manned by a team of mice in jumpsuits? Probably not.

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

An anonymous reader writes “The number of undergraduate computer science degrees awarded last year hit a new low with the Class of 2007. The degrees awarded, 8,000, as tracked by the Computing Research Association, is only half of what it was five years ago. In 2003-04 — the high point of this decade — 14,185 students were awarded bachelors degrees in computer science from the 170 PhD granting universities tracked by the CRA. That said, after a decade of severe declines, the number of students at top universities declaring themselves as computer science majors is finally seeing an increase. Though it’s only a small increase, it’s an increase nonetheless. Experts attribute the shift to changes in job market, and also to changes in curriculum and the marketing of comp sci programs.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by Zonk

The Disney-ABC Television Group in the US has released a Video on Demand (VoD) service. Not exactly news for DL is it? We’ve been reporting this type of thing for years.
Here’s the news. What ABC have done, in an inexplicable move, is _remove_ functionality that is standard in VoD services normally. They’ve decided to take […]

Original post by Simon Perry

Filed under: Transportation

Although the mention of a magnetically levitating train outside of US borders won′t grab too much attention, saying that phrase here most definitely perks up ears. Sure enough, a maglev project that would shuttle folks from Disneyland to Las Vegas at up to 300 miles-per-hour is now jousting with a cheaper diesel-electric alternative (dubbed DesertXpress) for support. Reportedly, the latter would cost “just” $3- to $5 billion to construct — compared to $12 billion for the former — but rather than escorting folks from Anaheim or even Los Angeles, its origin would be planted in Victorville, California. Still, the trip from there to Vegas would only take three to four hours including the 1.5 hour drive to Victorville, but that still doesn’t sound nearly as nice as “well under two hours″ for the maglev. As it stands, there’s quite a bit of red tape to wade through before either option goes forward, but kicking back on a whizzing train sounds an awful lot better than staring at pavement and blasting the air conditioner for five or so hours.

[Via Gadling]

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Original post by Darren Murph

micheas writes “Larry Lessig has decided that running for U.S. Congress himself in a special election would be too risky to his Change Congress movement and has decided not to run. ‘With lots of mixed feelings, I have decided a run for Congress would not help the Change Congress movement. I explain the thinking in this 5 minute video (a new record for me!). First question: What happens to the contributions to Lessig08? As explained on the ActBlue page, all will go to (the yet to be established) Change Congress organization.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by ScuttleMonkey

coondoggie writes “The National Science Foundation announced today 14 grand engineering challenges for the 21st century that, if met, would greatly improve how we live. The final choices fall into four themes that are essential for humanity to flourish &mdash sustainability, health, reducing vulnerability, and joy of living. The committee did not attempt to include every important challenge, nor did it endorse particular approaches to meeting those selected. Rather than focusing on predictions or gee-whiz gadgets, the goal was to identify what needs to be done to help people and the planet thrive, the group said. A diverse committee of engineers and scientists &mdash including Larry Page, Robert Langer, and Robert Socolow &mdash came up with the list but did not rank the challenges. Rather, the National Academy of Engineering is offering the public an opportunity to vote on which one they think is most important.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by samzenpus

bhmit1 writes “BusinessWeek is reporting about Science Debate 2008, an attempt to put the scientific issues front and center in the US Presidential race. After 12,0000 scientists signed on in support of the idea of a debate focused on science, no campaign has replied to an invitation to such a debate. The article notes that only one candidate has said much about science issues in the campaign, and that some who are running are sufficiently anti-science as to deny evolution. There is a link to a comparison of the candidates’ positions on issues informed by science. (Yes, Ron Paul is included.)”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by kdawson

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Palm’s GSM Centro has been about the worst-kept secret in the entire smartphone industry for the past few weeks, and indeed, it’s now official — for Europe, anyway. The unlocked handset features a quadband GSM / EDGE radio with nary a trace of UMTS in sight (this is still Garnet, after all), 64MB of user-available storage, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and a QVGA display — in other words, the same Centro we all know and love (or tolerate, or despise, depending on your point of view) with just a little bit less CDMA and 3G data to its name. It′ll hit the British market on the 14th of the month and the remainder of Europe by the end of February for &euro299 or &pound199 (roughly $440 or $392); no word on when the official AT&ampT version will be available yet, but US folks desperate for one of these unlocked versions in the meantime shouldn’t have a lot of trouble importing it, we’d imagine.

[Via Treonauts, thanks Andrew]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video

No, it’s not that 700MHz spectrum, but the $2.5 billion sale of the airwaves to AT&T from private firm Aloha Partners could have implications as large as Auction 73’s massive, open-access Block C itself. Given that Aloha’s Hiwire trials for DVB-H-based mobile TV have been playing in the 700MHz arena, we suspect this could spell doom for the whole project — and on the heels of Modeo’s collapse, very likely spells doom for DVB-H on the whole in the US. Though that’s great news for Qualcomm and DVB-H competitor MediaFLO, it’s awful news for the prospect of a global mobile TV standard, closely (if not eerily) following what happened years back with the European Union’s selection of GSM and the rise of CDMA in North America. For its part, AT&T says it’s going to use its newfound airwaves — which cover 72 of the top 100 US markets — for “broadcast video or for two-way communications such as voice, data or multicast content.” Admittedly, the “broadcast video″ part of that leads us to believe that Hiwire could somehow survive the change in ownership, but with AT&T’s selection of MediaFLO last year as its standard of choice, it sure ain’t likely.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler