Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

The world of tech is filled of business decisions that could only be fueled by some kind of drug-induced lunacy.  This is the column that calls out the companies that might need to hit rehab.  Today, we’re looking at you, Palm, Microsoft, Verizon, and Intel.

Celebrities to move Pixis?

A lot of us in the tech community have a soft spot for Palm.  Their PDAs were an excellent execution of simplicity in technology.  Somewhere they got lost in the shuffle as smartphones came in to eat Palm’s lunch when Palm clearly had their lunch labeled with a black marker on a brown bag at the fridge of the company kitchen.  Then in a sink or swim situation back in January 2009, Palm introduced the Palm Pre with its webOS.  Many people were thrilled that Palm was on its way back.

Recently, the second webOS phone was announced, the Palm Pixi.  To promote their product, they ran a series of teaser trailers and got the phone in the hands of reviewers and the public right away.  No, wait, that did not happen.  Palm did get a bunch of celebrities to hold the Pixi.  Then Palm took pictures of the event so people will know that Palm products are da bomb, dog.  Is this going to move products?  How about landing deals with as many carriers as you can instead of wasting time that you do not have on photo ops?

Microsoft Secrecy

Pictures of the Microsoft booklet computer, the Courier, and the rumored Pink phone were floating around the web this week.  Why?  Because Microsoft is apparently the anti-Apple when it comes to security this week.  Maybe their people in charge of secrecy were sniffing glue in the corner when someone came in to swipe a PowerPoint presentation. 

Also, the Pink and the Courier crushed the spirits of the Associate Editor of Gadgetell, JG Mason, to the point where he was unable to write this column.  He is sitting in the corner mumbling about styli on the Courier and the overall cheap look of the supposed Pink phones.  Why would you need a stylus to use a computer these days?  Aren’t we living in the future with flying cars, wireless power, and monkey butlers? 

Verizon: We hate you, Palm Pre.

Way back in July 2009, Verizon was touting that they would have the Pre.  Now, it looks like it just won’t happen.

Verizon, that company with an awesome network without a superphone, thinks the Pre is not good enough for them. Why would Vz say no to the Pre?  The Pre just doesn’t sell enough.  Crazy idea, Verizon.  Maybe people do not want to buy the Pre right now because they were waiting for it to come out on another carrier.  You see, perhaps a Verizon Palm Pre would be the answer to those sales woes. 

We know that the head of Verizon is reading this - maybe you want to rethink denying the Pre. 

Intel’s Moblin

You can tell netbooks are here to stay when operating systems are tailored to them.  Microsoft Windows 7 is built to work on these underpowered machines.  Then there is Intel’s Moblin.  The initial version of this mobile Linux operating system was the exact opposite of a smash hit.  Over at the Intel Developer Forum, Intel brought out its new version of Moblin - and get this - Dell will have a netbook running Moblin soon.  Why is Intel in the software biz?  Perhaps they are just trying to tick off Microsoft to the point where Microsoft builds its own hardware using Tegra processors and ditches Intel altogether.  Wait a second.  Didn’t that happen with the Zune HD?  Would Microsoft even contemplate building machines without packing an Intel processor?  Wait, they did that with the Xbox 360. 

For those of you who think Gadgetell is on crack for doing this column without JG, he’ll be back next week.