Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Welcome to this week’s review of the over-hyped, under-thought-out and over-exposed gadgets, PR moves, and industry gossip.  You’ve got the time today (nothing happens the day before Memorial Day anyway) so give a quick read through.  This week I am poking fun at Palm, GPS, Gmail and Apple’s App Store.  Join me for a chortle.

Palm builds a smartphone, wants to sell it to dumb customers.

When Palm announced June 6 to be the Palmiest day to launch a Pre, there was the asterisk about a $100 mail in rebate.  Companies that use mail in rebates are telling us we are idiots.  They are willing to send you a check 8 months later but only because the return rate of those rebates is horribly low.  Most of us forget or just don’t follow up on them. 

Then, Best Buy announced they are not doing the mail-in rebate, they’ll just give you the discount.  Our Natesh said it better:

In addition, Best Buy Mobile will be selling the Pre for $199 at over 1067 locations, and every customer has the opportunity to leave the store with a functioning Pre all set up for free.  According to Gizmodo, RadioShack is also waiving the rebate form and selling the Pre for $199.

Yesterday, I read each Best Buy will only be getting 3 or 4 phones (rumor).  If that is the case, why bother?  The cute Best Buy cashier, the creepy guy in fridges and the hip-hop dude from car stereos are all beating you in line.  “Oh, sorry you slept outside last night, we have one unit and it’s the display.”  Ouch.

G.P.S.: “Good Purchase, Suckers”

Just as we get all cozy with GPS in almost everything (I just bought a pair of socks with embedded GPS so I can always find the match), the Air Force says the system relies on some underfunded government program that is falling apart.  Our Sue Walsh reports:

A federal watchdog agency is warning Congress that the GPS system may begin to suffer failures and outages starting next year and blamed the Air Force’s mismanagement and and underinvestment for it.

With GPS, we’ve got drivers going straight into rivers, fields, and buildings.  What would the lemmings drive into without GPS?  Oh, the horror!

GMail goes bi, or tri and even more - lingual.

Rejoice GMail users!  Now in GMail labs, users can choose to have their incoming messages sent through a language translator.  Natesh tells us this is super handy for family and friends that refuse to speak to you in your native tongue:

How many times have you received an email from a relative in a different language and had to resort to translating online?  I’m sure most of us have encountered such a problem at one time or another.

You know in Nigeria they are jumping for joy as they can skip the step of translating “I am an exiled Prince and need your help” from Yoruba.  Long way to go for a spam email joke huh? 

App Store App-ocolypse

Seriously, the Mickey Mouse operation that is the App Store approval process needs to be rethought.  And that is an insult to Mickey.  Today, I learned of a classic book reader app called Eucalyptus and it’s struggle to get through the process.  It has been rejected for allowing access to a Kama Sutra book which is accessed by current apps already in the App Store.  Apple keeps saying no.

Someone needs to put a “the buck stops here” plaque on their desk and own up for this stuff.  Countless apps rejected for dubious reasons, inane apps accepted, and CIA-like silence; you’d think circus clowns are running the show over there (sorry for the slam circus clowns -stay crazy).  Is this how a slick company handles things now?

Advice to Windows Mobile folks: start running embarrassing ads now.  Imagine this:
Windows: “Hi, I am a Windows Mobile app bouncer”
Mac: “And I am an iPhone app bouncer”
Windows: “Top of the morning Excel App, my you are looking smart today”
Mac: “Hold it right there classic books, oh, sorry Baby Shaker, go right on in”

The gag goes on and on.