Filed under: Cell Phones, BlackBerry

Ok, so it’s not the ‘Centro.’ In fact, it appears Palm is even keeping the “Treo” moniker that was supposed to go the way of the dodo. How or why they landed on the Treo 500 name is beyond us, but here it is in all its glory: The Windows Mobile Standard-rocking Treo 500.

The thicker-than-the-BlackJack Treo 500 sports nothing in the way of innovative features. In fact, the handheld is a huge step backwards for Palm, since Windows Mobile Standard means no touch screen, a first for a Treo. In fact, the only positive thing about the Treo 500 is the inclusion of 3G high-speed wireless data, though the specific flavor of 3G in the 500 is not compatible with US networks. With Samsung and HTC making such solid devices, Palm is going to have to step up its game.

It’s sad to say, but it looks like we may be seeing the beginning of the end for Palm. Their supposedly revolutionary device, Foleo, was killed before it saw daylight. Palm had a big unveiling for that device, and most people just scratched their heads, disappointed supporters got vocal, and ultimately Palm killed the device.

And that was just the latest debacle for the suffering company. Its Linux-based successor to the Palm OS has been delayed again and again. After selling the same device with very minor adjustments for about 4 years straight (a decade in tech years), Palm has gone from industry-leader to laughingstock. And judging by the reaction around the Internets so far, the Treo 500 maybe dead on arrival. The 500 appears to be little more than a Dash or BlackJack with a Palm logo on it, and some pretty lackluster styling. Where is the Wi-Fi? The 3G for US users? The high-resolution screen? And most importantly, Palm, where’s the touch screen?

Well Palm, it’s been nice knowing you. It’s been a long, strange trek together. Who knows? Maybe 10 years from now you’ll stage an impressive resurgence similar to Apple’s in the late ’90s, but for now we think it’s time to say goodbye.

From Engadget

Related links:

• Palm Cancels Laptop-like Foleo
• The New Palm Centro - Can it Redeem the Company?
• Palm Gandolf, the Affordable iPhone Killer

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Filed under: Previews, Interviews

Board games come and go, but there’s something about interactive trivia games that are timeless, ageless, and always entertaining with a group of friends. IGN interviewed Buzz! creator David Amor on the new PS3 iteration of the franchise and we’re going to outline the entertaining bits below.

• Relentless Software isn’t exactly a technology company, so programming for the PS3 hasn’t been as big an obstacle as other devs. They’re focused more on the game itself, which they want to make as social as possible. Keep the PS3 in the big family den, you know?
• The game will be a Blu-ray release, not downloadable. However, like with Singstar, there will be a ton of downloadable content for quiz-enthusiasts. The plan is to have a hefty amount of stuff available from day one of the game’s launch.
• There are currently about 5,000 questions on the disc itself in a multitude of categories. Interestingly, these aren’t created solely by Relentless Software. A very large portion of the questions are outsourced to a company called Sleepy Dog, then fact-checked for accuracy. Sony has even approached National Geographic for making their own category of questions.
• In fact, there could be a lot of companies in the future giving categories for download. Heck, we will probably be able to up our own categories of questions for people to check out, give ratings as to their value, etc. This service will be in the game and will be free, whereas company question packs would get upped on the PS Store for an acceptable price.
• Online matches sound fun — person vs. person, team vs. team, et cetera. Nothing ground breaking, but feeling like you’re on a quiz show is good enough.

There’s a lot more discussed, especially the details about creating your own question packs, playable characters, and keeping track of the stuff people could potentially upload (copyrighted images and such are out of the question, for now). The controller for the PS3 Buzz! is the same as the PS2 version, so you quiz experts won’t have to adjust to a new steering wheel, so to speak. The game is due out in Spring of 2008.

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If you’re a fan of Hacha, then you’d be pleased to know that a couple of new portable media players are up for pre-order. The PA20 boasts a 3.2″ touchscreen display, 4GB of memory, MP3, AVI, XviD, WMA, WAV, APE and FLAC support, and a microSD memory card slot for expansion options (by up to another 4GB). As for the PC20, this has a smaller 3″ display that is not touch sensitive but otherwise shares the same features as the PA20. The Hacha PA20 and PC20 will retail for $175 and $170 respectively, and are tipped to be available on September 22nd. Hmmm, I don’t see why anyone would save on five bucks to get a smaller screen that has no touch capability?

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Filed under: Gaming, Laptops, Storage

You’ve got to stay on the bleeding edge of component offerings when you’re trying to charge the prices that Alienware does, so it’s no surprise that the Dell subsidiary is the self-proclaimed first manufacturer on the market to stuff dual 64GB solid state disks into a consumer PC. Of course, you’ll be paying out the nose to add 128GB of un-RAIDed SSD goodness to an Area-51 m9750 gaming notebook — just about $2,000, nearly doubling the machine’s base price. Those feeling a little “stingier” or perhaps requiring more storage space can also opt for a 64GB SSD / 200GB 7,200RPM HDD combo as well, which only tacks another $1,400 onto an entry-level rig. Still, despite the steep cost, we’re sure that there are more than a few folks out there who can’t put a price on having the fastest read times in their guild.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, RumorMonger, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Movie Marketing, Remakes and Sequels

Thanks to two separate Cinematical readers, they informed us that Shia Labeouf apparently announced to the world the official title of Indiana Jones 4 during the MTV Music Video Awards tonight. And, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, the title will be Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. This was indeed one of the six titles rumored to be in the running back in August when six names registered by Lucasfilm were leaked online. It also happens to be one of the titles I didn’t like so much, mainly because it reminded me of He-Man for the some reason.

Although I wasn’t watching the awards show myself (Curb premiere, as well as Giants game on), SpielbergFilms.com is also confirming this to be true. Besides, it would be pretty odd if two random people emailed us the exact same tip … and lied. And if Shia was fibbing, it’s also an odd title to fib about. Regardless, this is what they’re going with — and it seems to mesh with all of the plot speculation, blah blah, about skulls and Gods and pyramids and kingdoms. Personally, I’d rather this be the last bit of info we receive prior to the first teaser for the film. I don’t want to know anything except for the fact that this Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will play a major role. Even if I do somewhat expect Skeletor to now be the film’s main villain. So what do you think — good title? Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will arrive in theaters on May 22, 2008.

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Thrillers, Lionsgate Films, Fandom, Trailer Trash, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips

The man known in most circles as Sly Stallone surprised the heck out of people last winter with Rocky Balboa — the sixth and final installment in Stallone’s 31 year-old boxing franchise. It was a slow film, sure, but it reflected Sly’s age, as well as the physical and mental spot Rocky was in. Now, however, Stallone is going in a completely different direction with John Rambo — the fourth and final installment in Stallone’s 25 year-old action franchise. Co-written and directed by Stallone (first time he’s helming a Rambo flick), the couple of teasers we’ve been shown so far clearly reveal that Sly is still a lean, mean fighting machine — and for those who thought he might be holding back due to age or whatever, you’ll need to check out this latest trailer (if you can call it that — it’s more like a montage of clips) in which John Rambo is violent as all hell.

And I love the way the film looks too — there seems to be none of this Hollywood-style hiding of the blood; John Rambo makes no doubt about the fact that it will be a high-octane, balls-to-the-wall, R-rated action flick … and I don’t know about you, but we need one of those. In the film, Rambo is placed in charge of rescuing a group of Christian human rights missionaries after a group of brutal Burmese army men take them hostage. Aiding Rambo on his mission are five young mercenaries — although I have a feeling our man won’t need their help much. Also starring in the film are Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden and newcomer Maung Maung Khim, as the villainous Major Pa Tee Tint. John Rambo is due out this December.

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Filed under: Computers, Google, TV

As you may have noticed, much of the content you devour is free — Including this site you’re reading right now. But while no one is asking you to buy this article or pay a subscription fee for the site, you are paying for the content in another way by looking at advertisements.

A debate has been building slowly in the far corners of the Internet over a little plug-in for the popular Firefox browser. The extension in question is Adblock Plus, a bit of code that filters out most advertisements on Web sites so the user can browse without being bombarded with product pitches. The debate is really starting to heat up as Firefox’s popularity with Web surfers continues to grow (along with the popularity of Adblock Plus).

The question at hand is whether or not it is moral to block ads on sites that rely on advertisements to stay alive. Noam Cohen of the New York Times rightfully points out that if Firefox and Adblock became popular with the masses, they would pose a great threat to the online advertising business model. Other folks have questioned the legality of the extension — though from a rather feeble copyright infringement angle. The argument is that by displaying a page without ads, Firefox is creating an unauthorized derivative of the original work. Like we said, it’s a pretty weak case. The more convincing argument comes from the economic side. If users start blocking advertisements, then how will many smaller Web sites that rely on ad revenue continue to remain in business? Some of the more vocal champions of this side of the debate have actually begun blocking FireFox users from accessing their sites at all — AdBlock or no AdBlock.

While there are several strong arguments against using Adblock Plus from an economic perspective, they are premature. Adblock is only used by a portion of FireFox users, and Firefox is still only used by a minority of Internet users (roughly 15 percent). These users tend to be very tech and Internet savvy — not the kind that is likely to click on advertising, anyway (which is how many advertising networks utilized by the smaller sites are monetized).

These tactics to avoid advertising are little different than fast forwarding through commercials, or just walking out of the room during the advertising breaks on television. However, there is potential for problems. If Internet surfers block ads, then companies will stop buying advertising space. Less demand for ads will drive down the costs of Web advertising, which means less revenue. Less revenue means there will eventually be fewer places in business, and therefore fewer places to visit online.

In the end, perhaps many advertisers can take a cue from Google. Adblock Plus is born out of frustration with pop-ups, noisy seizure-inducing flash banners, and full-page ads that delay access to Web sites. However, few people complain about Google’s minimally-invasive AdSense text ads. In fact, even the creator of Adblock Plus, Wladimir Palant, told the New York Times that he found Google’s ads ‘useful and unobtrusive.’ The simple text boxes have almost singlehandedly built Google’s unfathomably deep war chest. If text-only boxes have made Google richer than most third world countries, then why do we need those screeching Smack the Monkey banners? Surfers and advertisers will have to come to some kind of truce, or we’ll just have to get used to a different, less-appealing business model: paying to visit sites.

Further Reading:

• Why Adblock is Bad for the ‘Free’ Internet
• The Morality of Blocking Ads

Related Links:

• Has YouTube Already Halted Video Ads?
• Apple Pulls “You Can’t Be Too Thin” Ads

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Filed under: New Releases, PlayStation Store

Sony has updated the PlayStation.Blog with the full list of new releases for the North American PlayStation Store. Once again they’ve pulled out all the stops and have released a pretty damn big update. Check it out:

Downloadable titles:
o. PixelJunk Racers ($6.99) - A single and multi-player slot car racing game, with 32 modes, 10 tracks and online rankings.
o. High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition ($9.99) - Ante up! Play limit or no-limit poker in five different game types. There’s single player mode or you can play up to five others online.

Demos: (free)
o. PixelJunk Racers
o. Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
o. NHL 08
o. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
o. FIFA 08

Trailers, wallpapers, etc: (free)
o. Everyday Shooter trailer
o. Warhawk trailer
o. Lair Behind the Scenes video
o. Feel the Noise trailer
o. Juiced 2 trailer
o. High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition trailer
o. Soul Calibur IV trailer
o. High Stakes: Poker wallpaper
o. 2 PixelJunk Racer wallpapers
o. Folklore wallpaper
o. Lair music track

Recommended downloads are High Stakes on the Vegas Strip, the Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground demo, and the Soul Calibur IV trailer (if only to check out Taki’s latest ‘enhancements’). What are you gonna download?

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Filed under: Before the bell, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), eBay (EBAY), Intel (INTC), First Data (FDC)

Before the bell: Stock to open mixed

Europe’s largest computer consultancy, Capgemini, announced today it would partner with Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) to help market Google Apps software package, a suite similar to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Office suite but online. So far Google hadn’t manage to diversify its income much beyond its core businesses of internet searches and advertising. Perhaps this could help. This could be a blow to Microsoft should Google manage to push its Google Apps enough.

Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO), which recently had a management change and launched a strategic review, may not overhaul its business, according to the Wall Street Journal. Nearing his 100-day deadline, when new chief Yang is supposed to deliver a new strategic plan for the company, it seems now that no big strategic announcements are planned at the end of that period. Talks of outsourcing search-advertising activity have cooled and no significant layoffs are expected.

While AMD prepared to unveil its new chip today, Intel Corp. rival (NASDAQ: INTC) said Saturday that construction work is underway at its $2.5 billion chip manufacturing plant in China.

Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts appears now willing to concede to certain condition on bank debt it needs to close $24 billion in financing to buy payment processing firm First Data (NYSE: FDC).

Utility Belt is examining not only Apple Inc.’s (NADSAQ: AAPL) new iPods, but also Hewlet-Packard’s (NYSE: HPQ) new iPAQ phone, a RIM (NADSAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry competitor and the Blackbird, a luxury PC.

L’Oreal has launched legal action against eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY). Once again, another company sues the online auctioneer for not doing enough to combat the sale of counterfeits. Last year Louis Vuitton and Tiffany’s (NYSE: TIF) launched similar suits. On its part, eBay says it acts once notified by firms of counterfeits.

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