<aLike many of you, I used a Palm device back in the day. This was back in 1998 when mobile phones were only good for making phone calls, when unlimited Internet service was unheard of, and a personal organizer was normally made of paper. I remember the days of the green backlit device, with the graffiti handwriting recognition system, and that shark game to teach you how to use it. I loved that shark game.
I remember when a color screen was something those Handspring Visors had, while Palm purists used monochrome and liked it! This was long before Microsoft came on the scene with their “Windows Mobile” platform and in those wild days you could find an application that would do almost anything you wanted, and long as it wasn’t too processor intensive. I remember being jealous of the guy three cubes over: he got the new Palm VII and could access the network wirelessly to sync his email. And I also remember how I convinced the IT manager that I really needed that Handspring Visor Prism, and not just so I could play solitaire in color. → Read More
I think we’re all pretty excited to see the new Palm OS. But no one at Palm seems to be willing to satisfy our curiosity by giving us even the smallest nugget of valuable information. Even in a relatively small question-and-answer webcast, Palm CFO Andy Brown dodges questions like they were eggs thrown at Steve Ballmer. What have we learned? That the OS has been in development for nearly three years and that Palm is very proud of it. And that we’ll see the OS by the end of the calendar year. That’s a good thing, but why not let us know some of the juicy details? He refused to comment on new features or products. Come on, throw us a bone. Palm could drive up buzz like no other with a single leaked screenshot, like Google did with Android. → Read More
http://www.viddler.com/player/b6fb3d95/ Need to run the latest in obsolete hardware? Try this proof of concept app called StyleTap that emulates Palm OS on your iPhone. It’s not out yet, but just imagine running Palm’s rockin’ PIM apps. Soooo hot. via ZDNet via Giz → Read More
Palm, as a company, should need no introduction. The chameleon of a technology company has changed hands more times than a Hilton’s phone number, and is used just as often, too. The company essentially founded the concept of modern handheld computing back in 1996 with the Pilot 1000, and kept the platform evolving into what it is today, the secret behind the best-selling and popular Treo line of smartphones. Sadly, the OS hasn’t developed much in the last few years. We have Palm (at the time Palm One) selling off the operating system to Access a couple of years ago to thank for that. Access has shelved the operating system to focus on a next-gen, Linux-based version. And while we like the idea, there has been little fruit borne from the labor. → Read More
My dad is an inveterate pack-rat and when I was home this weekend I was going through a copy of Bon Appetit from 2001. Don’t ask me why. On the back page was an ad for the Handspring Visor. It showed the Visor in four configurations — phone, black and white camera, MP3 player, and I think GPS. Each of these features required a separate piece of hardware along with some software. Seeing these four Palm-powered devices made me tear up a little. I believe I was still using a Palm V back then, adding and deleting contacts with abandon and scribbling my calendar on the Palm V’s dark screen. Palm — and Palm OS — wasn’t just a trademark back then. It was part of the zeitgeist. It was part of our culture. That, sadly, is no longer the case. → Read More
It’s that time of year again… Smartphones Now time! Smartphones Now is our annual discussion of all things smartphones and will detail the ins and outs of a turbulent and exciting year, a year eclipsed by an 800-pound gorilla and witness to some spectacular flame outs. This is a year of transition, a time when Apple redefined the market and Microsoft played catch-up. New interfaces and gesture-based systems were taken out of labs and universities and smashed into smartphones that are better — or worse — for the effort. Things are changing, and this is just the beginning. We’ll talk about Palm, Symbian, Palm OS, and WinMo. We’ll talk about the iPhone — is it really a smartphone? We’ll talk about the gadgets and gear we played with all year and predict, pontificate, and do penance for our lack of foresight. Welcome to Smartphones Now. Have any smartphone horror stories? What is your favorite phone? The worst phone you used this year? Drop us a line at tips@crunchgear.com. → Read More
That whole thing where you can run Palm OS apps on Nokia internet tablets, like the N770, 800, and the new 810? It’s not fake, and it seems pretty kickass. Above you see a photo of the VM in action, and I’ve given you a video after the jump. At first glance, it appears to be an academic hack, however when you consider the thousands of touchscreen-friendly apps available freely for the Palm OS, the value of your tablet suddenly goes up. → Read More
Those of you who top-rock a Treo 700p should take note that SlingPlayer for Palm OS is now available for download to the public. The software is currently in beta-testing and is available for anyone to download – just remember it’s beta, so it might screw your device up, it might not. Enjoy it while it lasts though, because SlingMedia will be charging $30 for the final version when it drops in Q2. Download page → Read More
, has made yet another move to make Palm fanboys cry: The Palm OS is now called the Garnet OS. WTF. This means that the last vestiges of the operating system that started the modern handheld and smartphone computing industries is nothing more. Gone are the masturbatory jokes and good-natured puns. While the Garnet OS is in every other way the successor to the Palm OS, losing the Palm name and inference means that any marketing cachet with the brand that Access had is long gone. That means it’s going to be even more of an uphill climb for the manufacturer to make any headway against Symbian and POS that is Windows Mobile 5. Great. Thanks, Access! ACCESS renames Palm OS to Garnet OS [Palm InfoCenter] → Read More
Looks like people are already attempting to imitate the iPhone. A Windows Mobile skin that resembles the iPhone’s interface has been released but quickly taken down thanks to Apple’s crack team of lawyers. There’s also a version for the Palm OS that’s still up, but you better grab it quickly before it gets pulled. You can score it here. Apple Bullies Bloggers, Again [Techcrunch] → Read More
Palm OS and cell phone developers have been waiting patiently for ACCESS to release the development environment for ALP, or ACCESS Linux Platform, the company’s successor to the aging Palm OS. ACESS had told developers that it would release the package by the end of the year, however a statement on its Website today says that the deadline will not be met. Further, the statement notes that it should be available in the first half of 2007. This, combined with Palm’s recent omnivorous Palm OS 5 licensing deal, is bad news for fans of the platform, though it’s by no means a sign of the end. When ALP does finally surface, it should mark the first operating system truly designed for handhelds and smartphones from the ground up since Symbian. It brings multi-tasking and multiple application layers to (theoretical) Palm devices for the first time. It will, that is, if we ever see it. Release of ACCESS Linux Platform for Smartphones Pushed Back [Smartphone Today] → Read More
Sorry Palm, but no one likes you anymore. Yet another company is dropping development for Palm OS. Symbol Technologies announced last week that as of January 2007, it would no longer be shipping Palm products. This should come as no surprise though, as Symbol has been letting folks know that Palm has pretty much sucked compared to Microsoft’s increasingly-popular Windows Mobile platform for quite a while now. Sorry Palm, it’s just not 2001 anymore and people have moved on. Go ahead and let it out, we still love you. Symbol calls last orders on Palm [The Inquirer] → Read More
Though it sits behind RIM and its BlackBerries in market share in the US, the Palm OS is still a powerful operating system that is favored by many users who swear by its reliability and ease of use. First introduced with the original Pilot 1000 back in 1996, the OS has grown in functionality and robustness while conversely becoming easier to use. → Read More
PalmSource, the manufacturer of the Palm OS, is undergoing yet another name change. Access, the Japanese mobile software maker and parent company of PalmSource, is apparently absorbing the company into its Access brand. While the Palm OS will still be called such, PalmSource will now be known as Access. This divestment of the Palm-themed monicker is not a good omen for Palm fanboys, as many see the Palm OS, especially the upcoming Linux-based version, as salvation from the the Windows world. The next iteration of the operating system had better be kickass, or it may be the last. Newest Identity for Palm Software Maker: Access [C|Net] → Read More
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