Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

HTC front man, Peter Chou made three interesting comments on Friday.  HTC is surprising just about everyone with the products they put out now under their own brand.  How good are things for HTC?  Check out these almost outlandish statements below:

How would Palm fit into HTC’s master plan?  Follow to find out.

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Palm is currently offering a free Zire Z22 PDA to anyone who purchases a Palm TX. I am not sure why someone would need two PDA’s instead of just one, but maybe you could use the second as a gift or a backup in case you break of lost the first one. The Palm TX retails for $299 and the free Zire Z22 normally retails for $99. This offer is however only for a limited time and expires at the end of February. Maybe Palm just realized that standalone PDA sales are way down and figure its best to give these away instead of tossing them in the trash.

Read [Palm] Via [Palm InfoCenter]

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HP has released a device that may seem strange to some at this point, its the iPaq 210, a PDA, just a PDA, it does not have any phone features. While I am sure there is a market for such a primitive sounding device, I have not seen anyone use a standard PDA in a long time.

The iPaq 210 features a 4-inch 480 x 640 display, Marvell PXAA310 CPU clocked at 624Mhz, 128MB of SDRAM, 256MB of Flash ROM, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and has external storage via the SD and CF card slots. The PDA is running Windows Mobile 6 Classic and comes with Windows Mobile Office pre-installed.

Notably and strange to myself the iPaq 210 is missing any phone features and also a camera. It is however currently available and retailing for $450.

Product [HP] Via [Wired Gadget Lab]

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We have four fingers and a thumb.  The thumb is very useful, because when combined with our fingers, it allows us to grip tools, weapons, food, and lots of other things.  We can give the thumbs-up or thumbs-down, we can hitch hike with it and we can even wrestle with it.  But, as far as we know, there yet to be a thumb-related lawsuit… until now.

In the last few years, we have been introduced to the Blackberry device with its tiny keyboard that is only accessible with our thumbs.  The newest medical condition caused by this device is called the “Blackberry Thumb.“  The condition causes pain, throbbing, swelling and tendonitis, according to the American Physical Therapy Association.  Many employers provide Blackberry’s to their employees to make them more productive.  We think that the gain in productivity might be out-weighted by the potential liability.  It will follow carpal tunnel into the annuals of Worker’s Compensation history.

USA Today talked to Frank Morris yesterday, an attorney in Washington, D.C.  Morris says “Employers need to develop policies on PDA use. They also face a liability risk because some employees could argue they’re entitled to overtime if a staffer is expected to use a company-provided PDA after work hours.“  Lawyers will try to get overtime pay for their clients, and use the Worker’s Compensation laws to get big paydays.  Employers beware.

Read [USA Today]

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