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POPSPalm Pre Launch Nears With First Print Ad As Gearlog notes, when a carrier pays hundreds of thousands to run a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, it means a phone is launching soon--within weeks. Sprint has done just that for the much-anticipated Palm Pre--pictured above, along with Twitter's Bluebird mascot.
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POPSOutsiders Serve Up iPhone Nanos Outsiders meaning firms with absolutely no connection to Apple. Ubergizmo spotted this clamshell, iPod-like design (above) from China's HiPhone. Other knockoffs (like the second example, from Thailand) are just scaled-down versions of the original iPhone. Apple will likely update the iPhone line in June.
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POPSSolar Power From Space! Cool idea: collect solar energy via satellite, convert it into radio signals, beam it down to Earth, and convert it into electricity. As commenters note, it's an idea that's been kicked around since the 1960's. But a new agreement between PG&E and Solaren Corp. means it's likely to actually happen.
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POPSNearly One Billion iPhone Apps Downloaded Apple has placed a counter on its site to mark its impending one billionth app served. The giveaways (free MacBook Pro, etc.) are no doubt helping goose numbers, but Apple's been doing pretty well without them--remember, the App Store only launched 9 months ago. It's mesmerizing to watch the counter flip...click through to see.
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POPSReasons Not To Make An IPhone Application iPhone apps aren't a sure thing, Ad Age cautions marketers. That said, as CTIA--the big wireless trade show--kicks off this week, there's sure to be a lot of news surrounding new iPhone apps.
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POPSTelecommute From This Office "Pod" This pod office geared toward telecommuting workers will be available in the UK starting in January. Annual fees will run about $7,200. Does it look cozy or claustrophobic?
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POPSAnxiously Awaiting America's First CTO Pres. Obama's delay in appointing the nation's first CTO has Politico wondering whether the president will "keep his tech promises." The publication goes on to argue that the hold-up is impeding Obama's ambitious agenda and generally harming the country's well-being. Does Obama need to name his CTO soon?
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POPSGoogle Joins Twitter, Attracts 40K Followers Less than a week after Google signed up for a Twitter account, the company has attracted more than 40,000 followers. As CNET helpfully notes, that places Google somewhere between President Obama and Microsoft and Yahoo! on the popularity scale. The feed basically functions like a streamlined Google blog, covering new product announcements. But its first tweet, which spelled out "I'm feeling lucky" in binary, was undeniably unique.
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POPSMcCain Gets Tech-y With Twitter, BlackBerry The world has been closely tracking President Obama's BlackBerry use. But did you know that Senator John McCain has been Tweeting and rocking a BlackBerry since January? McCain mostly writes about his work schedule and media appearances, but occasionally gets more personal, like his happy birthday shout-out to fellow senator Joe Lieberman earlier this week.
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POPSNokia CEO: Company May Make Laptops This isn't surprising given Nokia's experience in Internet tablets, software, and smartphones and the general convergence trends in the industry. As PC makers rush into the mobile market, some cellphone makers will move into PCs. My guess is that Kallasvuo was talking about super-portable netbooks rather than full-featured laptops, though.
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POPSQueen Elizabeth Obama-Fies Her Website Time magazine notes that the British Monarchy updated its official Website earlier this month. The revamped site offers more personal details about the royal family, including interactive maps and a lot more video. While the site is (naturally) very different in look/feel from WhiteHouse.gov, could this be another example of the Obama effect on technology?
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POPSDigital TV Transition Confusing Thousands The FCC reports that tens of thousands of people are calling its consumer help line for advice as some broadcasters transition service to digital spectrum. Expect another wave of confusion around June 12, the new date by which all TV stations must switch over. Of course, the FCC foresaw all this, which is why it set up the help line in the first place.
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POPSGet On The Google "Internet Bus" There are library buses, dental buses, hair salon buses and now Internet buses--courtesy of Google India. Google's Internet-equipped bus has been touring rural India for several weeks, chatting up the wonders of the Web. Is this an effective approach to bridging the digital divide? If so, it would be easy to replicate.
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POPSWatch The Inauguration From Space For a wholly different perspective on the inauguration, keep your eyes peeled for photos from the satellite imagery company GeoEye. It will be snapping photos of the ceremony from a vantage 423 miles above Washington, D.C. Faces won't be visible, of course, but the crowds--anticipated to number as many as 2 million people--certainly will.
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POPSPalm, Sprint Already Advertising New Pre Palm's new smart phone, Pre, was unveiled yesterday and won't be available for purchase for some weeks or months. No matter--carrier Sprint is already touting the Pre on its site and in big online ads. The swift response is smart. Both companies have a lot riding on this phone (and its new operating system, WebOS) and should capitalize on the buzz they generated at CES. By way of disclosure, Elevation Partners, which holds a 25% take in Palm, is also a shareholder in our parent, Forbes Media.
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POPSChina's Electronic Waste Village Where do our old computers and cellphones go? TIME says many end up in Guiyu, China, which houses 5,500 businesses devoted to processing discarded electronics. Click through for some amazing photos and commentary on how this affects the villagers' health.
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POPSGoodbye DSL, Hello HSI (High-Speed Internet) In this WSJ story about one of Verizon's CMO's retiring, I found this nugget telling: Verizon is substituting the term "high-speed Internet" for DSL in its marketing because it sounds zippier. (DSL stands for "Digital Subscriber Line" -- easy to understand, but not very exciting.)
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POPSWhy A Microsoft Zune Phone Won't Matter Here's a smart take on a relentless rumor. There's chatter again that Microsoft plans to launch a cellphone utilizing technology from its Zune media player. This writer argues that even if this is true--and there is no real evidence that it is--we are likely to be disappointed by the emergence of a Zune phone. Microsoft needs to go bigger than a single product to surprise people and win mindshare, she says.
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POPSInternet Growth Slowing, Warns The Economist Internet traffic is growing 50-60% per annum, down from 100% (a few years ago), says a University of Minnesota computer scientist. The danger: the slowdown could ding ISP revenues and innovation, generally. The article also says the exaflood is passe. Next up: the zettaflood!
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POPSSee 10,000 iPhone Apps All At Once OK, this is kind of a gimmick. But click through the second link above and you'll see a mind-bending mosaic of icons representing close to 10,000 iPhone apps. As some astute blogs have reported, Apple's App Store doesn't currently contain 10k apps--more like 9,700. The 10k figure is the number that have debuted.
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POPSRIM CEO: Obama Can Borrow A BlackBerry Mike Lazaridis, CEO of BlackBerry maker RIM, feels Obama's pain. (Presumably, Lazaridis is a BlackBerry addict himself.) Asked about Obama's quandary, Lazaridis said that he could borrow a BlackBerry from a staffer, noting that virtually everyone surrounding him will have one.
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POPSObama May Keep BlackBerry The president-elect tells Barbara Walters in an interview airing today that he is negotiating to keep his BlackBerry--or at least something like a BlackBerry--to stay up-to-date on news. Lawyers and the Secret Service may decide the outcome. What is it about the BlackBerry? Such a...potent...hold...on its users...
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POPSAmerica's Top Texting Cities If this sounds like a Forbes.com slideshow, well, it isn't...yet. Scarborough Research has identified the U.S. cities with the most texters. El Paso, Salt Lake City and Dallas/Fort Worth top the list, in part because young people and minorities are particularly text-happy. Click through for the full (very long) list.
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POPSSamsung Beats Motorola in U.S. Cellphones A sad day for Motorola, which, despite all its problems, had managed to hold on to its No. 1 ranking in U.S. cellphones for the past several quarters. For Samsung, it's a historic first. Both companies are planning to roll out Android phones in the next year. It will be interesting to see their different takes on the platform.
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POPSGiant Android Touches Down At Google HQ As the world knows, the Google phone has landed, hitting stores today. Yesterday, a large, foam Android statue also landed--on Google's lawn. And, on Monday, a group of Android fans produced a rap tribute to the phone/mobile platform, complete with a (catchy?) female hook. Who else plans to join the cult of Android?
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