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Comment Re:small impact, android will trump (Score 1) 251

by josteos (#32752134) Attached to: Verizon iPhone Rumored For Early Next Year
Yes.... carrying around a full-size bluetooth keyboard will make an iPhone more palatable. Totally.

Switching language layouts? I've never done it on any device I own. Not a selling point whatsoever. /shrug. Maybe you need it. I don't. /shrug

Back in the Palm dayze, I had one of those unfolding IR keyboards for my Lifedrive. It kinda worked, and wasn't too big, but wasn't a great solution because now yer stuck carrying around 2 devices. A slideout keyboard is *WAY* better for entering contact info or search terms than dragging another piece of hardware around.
NASA

Hints of Life Found On Saturn's Moon Titan 227

Posted by Soulskill from the time-for-cassini-2 dept.
Calopteryx writes "New Scientist reports that in 2005, researchers predicted two potential signatures of life on Titan. Now, thanks to research done with the help of the Cassini spacecraft, both have been seen, although non-biological chemical reactions could also be behind the observations. NASA's writeup has further details: 'One key finding comes from a paper online now in the journal Icarus [abstract] that shows hydrogen molecules flowing down through Titan's atmosphere and disappearing at the surface. Another paper online now in the Journal of Geophysical Research maps hydrocarbons on the Titan surface and finds a lack of acetylene. This lack of acetylene is important because that chemical would likely be the best energy source for a methane-based life on Titan, said Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., who proposed a set of conditions necessary for this kind of methane-based life on Titan in 2005. One interpretation of the acetylene data is that the hydrocarbon is being consumed as food. But McKay said the flow of hydrogen is even more critical because all of their proposed mechanisms involved the consumption of hydrogen.'"

Submission + - Leaked Palm CEO Memo: We're Going With Android

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Team,

Within the past 14 months, Palm has proven to the world that our greatest talent and hardest dedication has been poured into our webOS platform. Our competitors have taken note, implementing numerous ideas of ours into their own design in order to emulate our product.

While Palm is incredibly proud of our engineers who spent timeless work and effort to bring us this advanced operating system, consumers simply have not caught on. To provide a better future for ourselves and our customers, the only logical choice is to transition most of our new hardware and software releases to the Android platform.

A public announcement will be made within due time. We wish to keep all aspects of the webOS platform that make it great, such as our revolutionary notification system, unmatched design and user interface during and following this transition, which is still in the works as we speak. In addition, we will work hard to make sure that those devices that have webOS will continue to be updated in the future, and users may even have a chance to upgrade to Palm's own Android blend when ready.

We appreciate all the hard work and dedication our team has spent in making the Pre, Pixi, Pre Plus and Pixi Plus a success. The Palm Pre is now on the three biggest networks in the United States (someting no other one device can state), and it continue to grow in sales overseas.

We look forward to bringing the new future of Palm to our consumers, and helping our team members grow with this exciting new path.

Once again, thank you all for making our product such a success. I hope to release more details in the future.

jon

Submission + - Rumor: Palm ditching webOS for Android? 8

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Jon Rubinstein, in an internal Palm memo that will be released in full shortly, is showing support for Android to replace the webOS on the Palm Pre Plus. Citing competition with the iPhone and exponential growth from the Android operating system (specifically mentioning the Motorola Droid), the leaked memo first came as a confidential internal email to certain members of the software development branch of the company.

The memo partially states: "While Palm is incredibly proud of our engineers who spent timeless work and effort to bring us this advanced operating system, consumers simply have not caught on. To provide a better future for ourselves and our customers, the only logical choice is to transition our hardware and software to the Android platform."

WebOS won't officially go away (the UI and notifications feature, which have been heavily praised by reviewers, are more than likely going to be integrated, a la Sense UI, into the Android platform), according to the memo.

Software engineers are to begin working on Palm's own builds of Android as soon as the device maker officially joins the Open Handset Alliance, which other executives at Palm say could be as soon as next week. An official statement from the company is expected as soon as the union is made.

Palm Inc.'s stock took a nosedive earlier this month when it was reported that its projections for revenue were down 50% than initially estimated. On Friday, the stock fell $1.65, or 29%, to $4.00. That value remained relatively unchanged during Monday's trading.

The full leaked memo will be posted on wikileaks.org around midnight Eastern.

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