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July 22nd, 2009 Archives

Tech Talk

By Bram Fulk

frequent reader - You’re my new favorite person : )
6 Comments + Add Yours

Apple bitch slaps Palm's Pre
In a move that was in no way unexpected, Apple slammed the door on Palm Pre owners' access to iTunes. When the Pre came out a month or so ago, Palm boasted the mobile's ability to sync up with Apple's iTunes. Not about to let the Palm geeks weasel in on their property, the Apple geeks threw together iTunes version 8.2.1 to nip the Pre's mooching in the bud.

So what can Pre purchasers do to get around the roadblock? Well, for starters, they could just not download the updated version of iTunes. If you already have, though, and you want to know how to get around Apple's defenses, just Google it. Dozens of people will probably have figured it out by the time this goes to press.

Sony ups the ante on camera phones
A couple days ago, Sony Ericsson let the world in on some of the new phones they'd be launching in the near future and the standout was, by far, the Cybershot C905a. This phone boasts an 8.1 megapixel! In addition to the pixel boost, the camera also sports autofocus and face detection technology and scraps the crappy old LED flash for a nicer Xenon light assist.

In addition to the camera (which definitely will be the big draw of this mobile), the phone also has some other pretty sweet features. A GPS will be available and, for the first time with the Cybershot series of phones, Wi-Fi. The C905a is designed to work with the AT&T 3G network, the company has plans to develop a less souped-up version for other carriers like T-Mobile.

The C905a will hopefully arrive in time for Christmas and will be available both in stores and online. You will have to commit to a two-year service agreement and mess with a $50 mail-in rebate, but in the end, you'll be paying $179.99 for the phone. Just think of it this way: 8.1 megapixel cameras cost about the same amount. This way you're getting a nice new pocket camera that you can also use to reach out and touch someone.

Palm Pre is freaking me out
In other Pre news: Have Palm's marketing people lost it? Their recent string of online advertisements for the Pre feature a fair-haired, silky-skinned Tamara Hope in a David Lynch-esque clips where she turns toward the camera, speaks some creepy gibberish (while über-weird tones play in the background) and then she messes with her phone. That's it.

An example, you request? How about: "The other day, I was walking in the park (beat) after lunch when I saw this juggler. She was very good. And the weird thing was: the more balls she had up in the air, the easier she made it look. It was a feeling I knew. Like déjà vu."

All right, I get that she's talking about the ability to twirl her creepy little ghost finger over the touch screen and juggle all of the phone's applications around, but did they have to make it so eerie? Then again, if they didn't I never would have given the ad a second glance (pretty girl or not). So I guess I'm okay with what Palm's doing, but that doesn't mean it helps me sleep any easier at night. I keep thinking that the actress is going to materialize at my bedside and explain how browsing the Pre's app store reminds her wandering through a Moroccan bazaar searching for not the most perfect tangerine, but the tangerine that's most perfect for her.

Originally Published: July 22, 2009

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Comments

  1. Man, it’s really too bad Pre owners can no longer sync with iTunes. I guess they’ll have to find different bloatware to screw up their playlists.

    edz | 2009-07-22 - 05:24:26 AM (CDT)

  2. This idiot of a writer shoud have looked before he wrote. IT was already widely reported yesterday that there were a few programs alreadyy out within ike a day that connected the 2 together again and they are FREE. APPLE didn’t bitch slap PRE,they tried and Failed dumba$$.

    Writers brother | 2009-07-22 - 08:25:45 AM (CDT)

  3. Bram I see how you got your last name. Apparently you never b*@# slapped anyone...whenever you do it correctly the b*@# is not supposed to be able to get up and slap you back....Apple hits like a girl...Palm Pre still syncs with itunes Bram or is it Bambi....haaaa!

    The Moderator | 2009-07-22 - 01:28:24 AM (CDT)

  4. Writers brother - "widely reported yesterday..." you see, when you write a newspaper, you canÂ’t just throw it together in an hour, get it printed and sent off to the boxes then, if anything new happens after itÂ’s printed, go out, pick up the papers, white out the original text, and Sharpie over it with new information on, like, 60,000 copies of the paper. ThatÂ’s why, when youÂ’re writing for a weekly publication, you use little phrases like "...Dozens of people will probably have figured it out by the time this goes to press..." It kind of covers your ass when you KNOW something is going to happen, but it hasnÂ’t happened before you go to press.

    The Moderator - What the hell are you talking about? See how I got my last name? FULK? What does that have to do with anything? As for your Bram or Bambi comment, congratulations, youÂ’re now as clever as the five year-old children I went to elementary school. Oh, and itÂ’s my FIRST NAME, not my last. Insult fail.
    If you notice, my last name is made up of an "F", a "U", another letter and a "K". With ingredients like that, a more clever person (say, somone on a seven year-old, 2nd grade level) would have been able to come up with something like, "Hey, The Moderator, go fulk yourself, you jackass!" But, you werenÂ’t that clever.

    Anyway, thank you both for reading and please tune in next week and get fired up about something as important and controversial as the Palm Pre and post it on the website so I can waste my Thursday morning fuming over it.

    Bram | 2009-07-23 - 12:31:09 PM (CDT)

  5. Writers.....you should not even waste your time on people like ’writers brother’ and ’the moderator’. They are probably people in your past that were jealous or just did not like you for some reason....maybe a past writer. They are not worth your time getting upset over it. Just do your reporting and forget about the idiots who just sit around and look for ways to tear people apart. I wonder if they ever do or say anything nice about anybody. That’s just the kind of people the ’a-holes’ are

    frequent reader | 2009-07-23 - 01:28:25 PM (CDT)

  6. frequent reader -

    You’re my new favorite person : )

    Bram | 2009-07-23 - 03:02:16 PM (CDT)
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