Free Republic

Over the last two decades, antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe have imposed fines and restrictions on Microsoft and Intel to try to prevent them from abusing their dominant position in several markets. However, they have cast a largely blind eye on Apple's iTunes -- until now. Antitrust investigators with the U.S. Department of Justice are conducting an extensive inquiry into Apple's online music business, interviewing Apple employees, internet music company employees, and music label employees according to the New York Times. At the core of the investigation is the allegation that Apple applied pressure to force music labels...

Palm, which defined mobile computing, has been bought by HP, which pissed away its stake in the same industry. So can HP do any better this time around? Palm didn't invent mobile computing; it arguably took the industry several steps backwards in creating a device entirely reliant on its desktop companion. But in doing so the company discovered what people wanted in a mobile computing device and pioneered many of the techniques that have made the iPhone so successful. Thus HP needed to buy Palm not for the innovation itself but for the patents that followed it. Palm's great insight...

On April 28, Palm Beach County’s school board voted unanimously to amend their Equal Opportunity Policy and its Policy Prohibiting Discrimination and Harassment to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression.” Both policies are expected to be formally ratified at a public hearing within a few weeks. Palm Beach County Human Rights Council (PBCHRC) is a non-profit organization that seeks to end discrimination towards the LGBT community in the county, founded by Rand Hoch, a Civil Rights Attorney. Since 1991 PBCHRC has asked the county’s school board to prohibit discrimination against their gay employees. Hoch says in 1991 there...

"HP (NYSE: HPQ) and Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase Palm, a provider of smartphones powered by the Palm webOS mobile operating system, at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion. The transaction has been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors."

Samsung and Nokia (NOK) are likely suitors for struggling smart phone maker Palm (PALM), according to PatentVest, a research firm that keeps close tabs on patents and intellectual property. Speculation that Palm may be acquired flourished after the company disappointed investors with its Mach 18 earnings report. Since then, the value of Palm stock has fallen 70% to about $4, giving it a market cap of about $672 million. An early pioneer and onetime leader in smart phones, Palm based its revival on the launch of its innovative WebOS operating system, and the Palm Pre launched in June to much...

I was thinking of buying a used or refurbished Palm Treo on eBay. I use AT&T wireless so I can just stick my SIM chip from my current phone. I asked around and heard mostly negative things including one woman who likes Palm but one phone melted her SIM chip. Just curious if Freepers have had good or bad experiences.

Has Palm finally given up on the great cat/mouse/iTunes chase of ‘09? November 17th, 2009 Posted in Technology The number of times Apple and Palm went back and forth trading clever coding tactics was beginning to wear thin. At first I found myself saying “yay for the little guy”. But after Apple made it very clear from the get go that they weren’t feeling the cross platform love, Palm decided to kick it up a notch. And so began the cat and mouse game that went on for weeks. The latest Palm OS update, 1.3.1, that was released recently failed...

Oh dear. We can't say this was a complete surprise, but it looks like Apple made good on its earlier warning and put an end to the Palm Pre-iTunes synchronization with the release of iTunes 8.2.1. In the release notes, Apple states that "iTunes 8.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices." Not wanting to believe the news, we bit the bullet and downloaded the latest version of Apple's music software to our PC and sure enough, the romance is dead. Just as before, we connected the smartphone to our laptop...

I was recently given a Blackberry Pearl by a friend who updated to a new Storm. I already have a Palm Centro I upgraded to a couple months ago, but he knew my propensity to mess with "stuff" and I gladly accepted. Perhaps my experience over the past couple days can be helpful to other FReepers. I've used Palm devices for some years. I've always synced the devices with Microsoft Outlook (2000). No problem. Before ever considering activating the Pearl (no, I don't really need another phone line) I wanted to see how well it interacts with Outlook, and its...

1. Palm Jebel Ali, 1 February 2009 2. Palm Jumeirah, 1 February 2009 3. The World, 3 April 2008 4. Palm Jebel Ali (left) and Palm Jumeirah (center) and The World (right), 20 March 2009 Photos Excerpted From http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200904.htm Photographer  An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (Expedition 16 and Expedition 18)

<p>WASHINGTON - At least 80 wealthy liberals have pledged to contribute at least $1 million each to fund a network of think tanks and advocacy groups, to compete with the potent conservative infrastructure built up during the last three decades.</p>

Palm Inc (PALM.O) warned of weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue due to lower demand for its older phones, a weak economy and late U.S. shipments of its Treo Pro, sending shares down 11 percent in extended trade. The company forecast continued margin pressure from legacy products in the current quarter even as it prepares to launch the new Pre phone, throwing cold water over investor optimism that the touch-screen smartphone could quickly revive Palm. Palm also said it was looking at ways to bolster its capital position, while it aims to strike back at rivals like Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone and Research...

Palm is developing a Linux-based operating system for its handheld devices, the company's chief executive, Ed Colligan, revealed on Tuesday. Colligan said the new operating system — which has been in development for a "number of years" and is now due to appear on Palm Treo handsets by the end of this year — would improve the stability of its smartphones while enabling greater functionality. Your view What do you think of RHEL 5? Have you put Red Hat's virtualisation-primed Linux through its paces? Or are you holding off — and if so, why? Tell us what you think. Join...

BANGKOK, Thailand (UPI) -- Southeast Asian nations are working to capitalize on the global biofuel bonanza that has already gripped Latin American countries like Brazil and sparked the interest of U.S. agricultural and energy companies to create a viable corn-based ethanol industry. Indonesia and Malaysia, in particular, are increasing their production of palm oil -- traditionally used in food, hair and other products -- it can also fuel vehicles and generators -- in hopes that world demand for renewable fuel sources will continue to grow despite recent dips in oil prices. Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand are also reportedly keen...

We are thinking of getting a Treo 650, to use with T-Mobile. Some questions: - I have seen references, on its product diagram, to SIM cards. The diagram is labeled "GSM only." Therefore, when buying a 650, must we specify that -- we want "GSM version" (?vs. CDMA version?) -- we want the Treo to be unlocked - Does the Treo 650 allow for the viewing and editing of Microsoft Office files, or either but not both, or merely for the ability to download and store? Is it a function of the Treo 650 itself, or Palm OS? Thanks.

My wife likes the Palm Treo 700w. However, we have T-Mobile service and would like to keep it if we can. Can the 700w be used with T-Mobile? I didn't see, in the 700w user manual, any references to SIM cards, and I thought that a device needed a SIM card to be able to be used with T-Mobile. What facts are important in this regard? Thanks.

Histories: Fruits of the tomb 03 June 2006 NewScientist.com news service Stephanie Pain When Giuseppe Passalacqua went to Egypt in the 1820s his plan was to do a bit of horse-trading. He soon discovered a more lucrative line of work - excavating ancient tombs and selling off their contents. While Passalacqua found many priceless treasures, unlike most tomb-robbers he also made off with the more mundane. If something could be carried off, it was - right down to the dried-up offerings left to feed the ancients in the afterlife. Among these were some strange shrivelled fruits that have posed a...

The Palm OS is about to get into the fast lane. A little more than four months after Palm released the Windows Mobile-based Treo 700w on Verizon Wireless' EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized) network, it is set to announce a Palm OS version that can connect to EV-DO networks, CNET News.com has learned. The company on Monday will unveil the new model, which is expected to be called the 700p, according to sources familiar with its plans. A Palm representative declined to comment for this story. Palm enthusiast sites have been buzzing about the 700p ever since Palm broke with tradition...

Recently, a company that I regularly work with upgraded their smartphones from the Palm VII and 600 series to the 700w. While this is useful for portability of work files in the field, many of their employees are having difficulty in updating their contact lists to the new devices. As the older phones (which run on Palm OS) used Palm HotSync, and the 700w (which runs on Windows Mobile) uses the seemingly completely incompatible MS ActiveSync, a quick transfer of this info via PC is not usable. Eventually, I showed some people how to beam contacts and memos individually between...

At least eight high-tech school districts throughout Oregon have begun using Palm, Inc. technology in their classroom curriculum as part of a broad handheld integration program, the mobile computing company announced Thursday. The integration concept jumped off in 2001 when Palm unveiled its Palm Education Pioneer (PEP) program grant. With funding from the grant, more than 100 schools nationwide implemented Palm handhelds, while a number of research hubs studied the effectiveness of the device in a classroom setting, according to a recent press release.