Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

This is where we call out by names the actions and companies that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack.  Technology is an odd realm where PR speak doesn’t hold a lot of water if the 1s and 0s don’t line up.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity.  Here is what caught my eye this week:

Follow to see my rant on:
• The not so Bold.
• Windows XP or bust.
• Google’s got waaay too much free time.
• Verizon thinks they know a smartphone when they see one.

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We were strolling through New York’s Times Square last night, and captured a priceless Windows moment via camera phone.  Apparently Times Square is a PC.

Update: We just got word of something that makes it even better.  Directly in front of that Mr. Peanut ad was a HUGE Microsoft Windows ”I’m a PC” ad!

[Thanks, Jon]

A couple of weeks have passed since the T-Mobile/Google event and my uneasy silence hasn’t dissipated.  Sure, I am impressed that beloved Google is involved, the apps are cool and don’t even get me started about compass mode in maps.  Very cool stuff.  But it doesn’t matter.  Here are the top 7 reasons Android will fail.

Headed to Vegas?  Don’t bet on the G1 just yet.

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While most likely not their only game plan, Intel ponied up to the netbook game by buying netbook.com.  By combining the grim economic outlook with one part of tech that continues to boom, Intel is hedging their bets that netbooks will continue to thrive, perhaps even more so in the run up to the holidays.

But what’s a netbook?

Find out by clicking more

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The Register seems to have started an interesting little rumor that despite all their recent ads and millions spent to lure users to Vista, Microsoft is actually extending the time OEMs have to sell PCs that come with Vista with the support to downgrade to XP.  The deadline had been January 31, 2009, and it has supposedly been extended by six months to July 31, 2009.

The whole extension hasn’t had any official confirmation by anyone in Microsoft or any OEM, just a “Reg reader” was sourced in the original article.  Guess we’ll see.  In a way, it would make sense if Microsoft is trying to keep XP available for companies until the release of Windows 7, expected to come out sometime in early 2010 or thereabouts.  I’m sure this move (if true), would make several who have been dragging their feet on the transition to Vista very happy.

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This is where we call out by names the actions and companies that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin crack.  Technology is an odd realm where PR speak doesn’t hold a lot of water if the 1s and 0s don’t line up.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity.  Here is what caught my eye this week:

Hit the jump to see bonehead moves from Apple, Google, T-Mobile, SanDisk and Motorola…

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How do you get the new Treo Pro free?  Two easy steps:  1. Move to the UK.  2. Sign up for Vodaphone.  In a move that is sure to have Treo fans jealous, Vodaphone is offering the new sexy black Treo Pro to its customers with different plans ranging from free to 340 pounds.

My hands on

Last week, we got to play with the Treo Pro.  To see what Gadgetell thought of it, click more.

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Finally, someone found the paddles, charged to 350 and zapped some life back into Moto.  These images of the Moto Q11, captured by a website I’ve never heard of, show a phone that looks rather modern.  There certainly is no mistaking this phone for anything else but a Motorola.

Haptic changeable buttons?

The businesses-y Moto Q9 was launched on AT&T back in November.  This update does not bring the haptic changeable keypad I was hoping for, opting for actual hard buttons.  The keypad’s shape looks to take up less real estate of the Q11 vs the Q9.  This phone is still the phone equivalent of an oar blade: flat and wide.  Whatever, at least it is something new.

The rumored specs and keypad image are just a click away, hit more to follow.

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With all the fun surrounding yesterday’s Android OS event and fondling combined with the lust still embodied by lines still at Apple stores for the iPhone, just how will Windows Mobile 7 compete?  Windows Mobile will not a have a new release for two-straight CESs according to C|NET whose sources say we’ll be waiting a full year before we see something that could possibly have been iPhone-inspired.

Microsoft spills the beans to manufacturers

Word is this delay has been announced to manufacturing partners.  After Microsoft is done with it, the OS has to go to manufacturers for their development and installation, a timely process for sure.  This lag has inspired new rumors that Microsoft may be thinking again about creating their own hardware.  Microsoft, with their proud admission that they “own” the business smartphone market thanks to Exchange integration, should have the cajones to create the ultimate business phone.  Instead, we get crippled, infuriatingly lacking phones that get email.

Click “MORE” to see how the new Android phone figures in to this.

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Tomorrow, our Editor Iyaz will be on hand to witness T-Mobile’s debut of the first Android phone.  Android is the open source mobile phone OS from Google that we’ve been talking about for what seems like years.  Here on the eve of the preview, here is what we’ve collected on what we can expect.

Pretty?
With Google’s love for the iPhone, the UI will be good looking (surprisingly, not all UIs are—I’m looking at you, Windows Mobile).  From the image we’ve seen and what Google has shown, this is going to be a very appealing UI.  Google has their stuff together for their web properties; expect clean and simple from this phone as well.

What else can you expect?  Check out more after the break.

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