Got a second job?

I'm gonna need some extra cash in September to pick up one of these. London's Financial Times has confirmed rumors of an Apple "tablet" computer to hit shelves in late Q3 or Q4 this year, reports Wired magazine. Dang! Glad I waited on the iPhone 3Gs.

This could be a perfect solution for my wife, who really only needs to surf the Web for 90% of her computer use. The rest of the time is work, which requires her to run Windows in a virtual machine on her Macbook (ugh). If we can do that on this tablet, life would be grand.

I'm thinking of flipping burgers on the weekends.

Apple Media Pad?

How did I miss this?

Here is a good review of the sexy new Palm Pre.

I was a Palm Treo 650 user for a couple of years, and had much love for Palm after they acquired the BeOS operating system, which later became the PalmOS. The Treo had many great things going for it out of the box, some of which have been missing even in the iPhone3G (though the new 3Gs covers 99% of them).

Sadly, Palm fiddled while it's market burned, spitting out new smartphones in quick succession- the Nokia N- line, dozens of Windows Mobile devices, the new Android-based PDAs, and of course, the iPhone. Now they are back, with what purports to be a great phone. Even better for all smartphone users (including us iPhonians) is the $99 all-you-can-eat plan from Sprint. Sprint's network ranks third in the U.S. behind Verizon and AT&T, but it appears that the combo of a sexy, functional new Palm smartphone, plus a (relatively) low monthly data plan is pressuring AT&T and others to reduce their prices, too. That competition is great for everyone.

Let's hope it's not too little, too late for Palm.

Android lives on

OK, I was wrong when I declared Google's mobile phone operating system Android to be DOA.

Like everything Google does, Android has improved. Google's "release it now, and improve it later" strategy has been effective for everything from it's venerable search engine to Gmail, Calendar, Picassa, Google Docs, Google Books, and all it's various Labs programs.

Now the hardware makers are stepping up. I am a hardcore Apple iPhonatic. But I love Google's apps, despite the occasional worrying cloud outage, I think Google rocks, and I trust them with my data, at least as much as I trust any ginormous corporation.

The one trump card that Apple currently holds for me is iTunes, and the associated iTunes store, which not only syncs my phone to my computer, but also connects to my TV. I could probably find ways around the TV, what with all of Netflix' hardware parnters, and other devices that stream data from my media computer to my tele, but buying and syncing music (especially podcasts) is a big deal for me.

Now, if Google opens a store to compete with iTunes, either partnering with or competing against Amazon, well, then, look out. I might just have to jump ship.

What would be a great store name for Google? How about "The G-Spot"?

(Sorry.)

Personal WiFi Bubble

Oh, I gots to have this.

I can imagine how useful a personal cellular router will be when my rug-rats are old enough to have their own laptops, and we are all in the family van, driving across the state to Mee-Maw's house.

No doubt by then kids will be born with the WiFi DNA gene built-in- a true "cellular" router.

(OK, don't quit my day job, I get it.)

Mighty Ju-Ju

Mozilla has released a beta versions of an application/Firefox browser plug-in called Prism, which allows any Web site to be saved onto your desktop as a stand-alone application (albeit, one which connects to the Web). When clicked, the application launches in it's own little browser window, connects to the Web, and functions as you would expect from that Web site.

This is powerful stuff.

It turns the humble Web browser from a "portal", through which all applications must run, into a platform. Prism is based on technology created for Site-Specific Browsers, or SSBs.

I can easily see Web 3.0 applications using AJAX- the fancy code that enables drag-and-drop, desktop-like behavior on Web sites, like Gmail or Box.net- to turn Web applications into "Netware," similar to Apple's iTunes. Google Gears and Adobe's Flex are already moving in this direction.

Lightweight, net-aware applications that deliver the power and control of mainframe-type distribution, along with the speed, ease of use, and flexibility of desktop client apps? No more C#, Java, or Objective C, just JavaScript! Truly write once, run anywhere.

Oh, yeah. This is mighty powerful ju-ju. Microsoft, Sun, Apple? You hear that?

Update: Good article on similar technologies here. Thanks to Tanya for the link.

Steampunk iPhone?

No, wait... make that just plain "punked" iPhone.

Cube-dwelling colleague Eduardo Mena introduces his new "iPhony", which he used to gain access to iPhone Alley here at the office. Sneaky fox!

Upon second look, it's amazing that we were fooled by the dust-covered, doorless, AM/FM/Cassette tape boombox, state-of-the-art, circa 1981. And that phone- a prepaid Circuit City (r.i.p.) talkie, it's held on by Scotch tape!

Oh, how could we have been so blind?