Much to the disappointment of, well, nobody really, Palm cancelled the much-maligned and derided Foleo, a subnotebook computer designed to complement Palm’s PDAs and smart phones, before it even hit the market.

The announcement was made by Palm CEO Ed Colligan in a post to the company’s blog:

In the course of the past several months, it has become clear that the right path for Palm is to offer a single, consistent user experience around this new platform design and a single focus for our platform development efforts. To that end, and after careful deliberation, I have decided to cancel the Foleo mobile companion product in its current configuration and focus all of our energies on delivering our next generation platform and the first smartphones that will bring this platform to market.

The door was left open for another Foleo-like product in the future, however, based on their next-generation mobile software platform.

The cancellation comes at a cost: a “limited charge of less than $10 million dollars” will be assessed on Palm’s quarterly earnings.

Since it was announced in May, the Foleo has been the target of largely negative feedback. Late last month, Engadget posted an open letter to Palm, suggesting, among other things, that the Foleo be put down. It looks like Palm was listening.

Deep Thought’s take:
Killing off the Foleo is probably the best thing Palm could have done right now. What disappoints me, though, is that the Foleo could have been so much more.

I think there…
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As I’m sure you know by now, the iPhone has arrived to much fanfare.  Across the nation, people are gathered in lines waiting for access to their newly beloved devices, while a fortunate few already have them and are discovering the joy of their new phone, music and Internet toy.  Being a resident of Modesto, I decided to cover the launch from an AT&T store on Sisk Road here in town.

Explaining the rules

The rules for the launch were thus:  AT&T stores (and probably Apple stores) would close at 4:00 pm in preparation for the launch.  Sometime within the next 2 hours, a delivery truck would stop by and unload the desired treasures.  At 6:00 pm sharp, the first 12 buyers in line, plus their immediate parties, would be allowed into the store (12 representatives helping 12 customers at a time), and as one customer left, another would be allowed in.  Otherwise, everyone had to wait outside, whether or not in line, and could not enter the store until the last customer in line had been helped.  I opted to leave before they got to the last customer, or I would have needed a much more powerful flash on my camera.

First!

The first people in line were a young man named Dave Bright, about my age, and his girlfriend.  I spoke briefly with Dave, asking him about his upcoming purchase.  He indicated he was definitely looking forward to receiving his iPhone, and that he didn’t have any apprehensions about…
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iPhone is here.

I work in Berkeley, CA, so I decided to stop by the AT&T store on Shattuck Avenue to catch a glimpse of the crowds awaiting the iPhone. I arrived about 50 minutes before the doors opened and the line was about half a block long--reasonably long, but not amazing (not surprising, considering there is an Apple Store a 15-minute drive away). I was greeted by my friend Andrew, who at that point had been waiting in line for about a half hour. When I arrived he was about 15 people from the end of the line, which seemed ti indicate that the line had been gradually growing for most of the day. Unlike iPhone lines in New York, the Berkeley line was fairly young--the first man in line had been waiting since only this morning. He came well-prepared with a lawn chair, of course.

Some people waiting had their laptops, and as you might have guessed, they were all Macs.

As 6 PM approached, another crowd of people gathered around the front of the store. You guessed it--onlookers! With cameras! I never knew watching a line of people was such a spectator sport, but I guess it is one. I didn’t feel like quite as much of a loser after that.

Some passers-by knew what was up, others were completely clueless. And still others ridiculed those who were standing in line--and those of us who were watching the scene.

At approximately 6:01 PM, the door opened and those…
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The time has arrived to switch many of your lights to Compact Fluorescent bulbs.

These bulbs run up to 300 degrees F cooler and thus are much more efficient while outputting similar light.  There are hundreds of models for all different size bulbs.  They save hundreds of pounds of pollution over their lifespan while also lowering your energy bill (paying for themselves easily) and lasting longer than regular light bulbs.

Home Depot says, “You can achieve the same level of brightness with a 17-watt energy efficient fluorescent light bulb as you can with a standard 60-watt bulb. Yet the lower wattage bulb uses as much as 72 percent less energy than its incandescent counterpart and it lasts 10 times longer, too!”

The key is finding out exactly what wattage and voltage your current light bulbs are and choosing the right color temperature.

The color temperature Ive liked so far, for computer and home use, is 2700 K (Kelvin).  2700 K Compact Fluorescent bulbs are also known as Warm white or Soft white but the only way to be sure it is 2700 K is to look for that spec.  Some are labeled Warm white but arent 2700 K.  It’s good for reading and computer use.

Even though 2700 Kelvin seems like it would be very hot, the actual temperature of the bulb is still more like 75° F.  An incandescent, though would be closer to 400° F.  Whatever Compact Fluorescent bulb you buy, you are going to get a cooler bulb…
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Based off of Jeff Han’s multitouch technology, Microsoft has developed a new platform of computing, which they are calling Surface (codenamed “Milan"). This revolutionary technology surrounds the concept of being able to touch your computing. The multitouch technology is most simply a glorified touch screen, one that can sense multiple touches, including movement. As can be seen from the early conceptual video by Jeff Han, the use of the technology is nearly endless. We have already seen it in the iPhone, slated for release next month.

Microsoft has taken it a step forward by putting it into a coffee table. Quite seriously however, Microsoft has really raised the bar by integrating wireless technology and the ability to simply place a device on the surface and transfer files to it tirelessly by dragging it to the device itself, right on the surface. Be sure to check out the entire video at Popular Mechanics. Microsoft is going to be selling the technology initially for commercial use, as in hotels. It will cost around $5k-$10k, possibly by the end of 2007, so keep your eyes out!