A look at gadget, game and geek happenings in the week ahead.
Devastating news for all the Palm diehards out there as the once mighty smart-phone manufacturer is reportedly seeking a buyer following the underwhelming sales of its Palm Pre and Pixi plus what Palm chairman and CEO Jon Rubinstein deemed “very disappointing” in reference to its most recent quarterly results.
Once a byword for cutting-edge technology, when everyone who was anyone had a PalmPilot PDA device, the most recent attempts to make over the brand have resulted in lacklustre uptake of the Pre smart phone, which had a brand new Palm-exclusive operating system, the WebOS.
Bebo for sale
Another more than likely casualty of the fickle world of technology trends is social networking site Bebo. Once a favourite amongst European teens and tweens, visitor numbers have been declining as the online world moves increasingly to Facebook to hang out with their friends online.
Bought by AOL for US$850m at the peak of its popularity, the online company is now looking to sell the ailing site as it is “not in a position at this time to further fund and support Bebo in pursuing a turnaround in social networking”.
Apple may have been the talk of the town two weeks ago due to the iPad, and the word on everyone’s lips last week due to the preview of the iPhone OS 4.0, but it continues to draw the curious as rumours of the ‘iSpecs’ surface.
The iSpecs are anecdotal yet buzz-worthy 3D specs from Apple that may possibly exist based on a patent, complete with imagery, that was published on the US Patent and Trademark Office website at the beginning of April.
As opposed to the 3D glasses from TV manufacturers like Samsung, these goggles appear to provide a 3D viewing experience on the go.
New version of Photoshop
Speaking of 3D, Adobe has released a new version of Photoshop. CS5 has plenty of new features, including advanced tools for those working with 3D or motion-based content.
Other exciting additions focus on “social computing aspects of doing work across the network, we are increasingly adding cloud-based capabilities that complement client side software, and we are enabling creation of content and applications across an increasing number screens,” says CTO Kevin Lynch.
By Marie Boran
Photo: The Palm Pre
