Palm cutting jobs to gain ground on Apple, RIM...

Palm is responding to its recent losses by trimming its workforce of 1050 employees, in an effort to remain competitive against the iPhone 3G and the various BlackBerry models. Reuters reports that the move comes as Palm focuses on its Linux-based "Nova" operating system, as well as a device on which the platform will run. Palm spokeswoman Lynn Fox declined to say how many jobs will be cut, but said the first round began this week.

WSJ iPhone ad part of Apple's enterprise push...

A full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal is the latest indication that Apple is trying to push further into the enterprise market. With Goldman Sachs analysts reporting that 17 percent of the segment plans to support the iPhone, Apple appears ready to begin courting potential business customers. The Journal offers significant exposure, with daily business news coverage circulating to millions of readers. The ad, appearing in the November 20 edition, reads, "With the iPhone's 3G speed, enterprise support, and hundreds of amazing business apps from the App Store, it's no wonder J.D. Power and Associates ranked Apple 'Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Business Wireless Smartphones.'"

Best Buy Canada: buy 16GB Zune, get 4GB free...

Best Buy Canada is currently having an online promotion that gives buyers a free 4GB Microsoft Zune music player for every 16GB Zune purchased. The 16GB Zune is priced at $180 CAD (about $141), with the 4GB Zune thrown in for free is valued at nearly $100. Canadian and US 16GB Zunes have recently been reduced to $180, among price drops to other Zune models.

Nokia patent for gesture-controlled phones spotted...

With Finnish handset maker Nokia releasing its first touchscreen handset, the 5800 XpressMusic, early last month, now comes evidence the company will focus on a gesture-controlled interface, as per the company's Chief Designer, Alastair Curtis. He hinted at the potential of the gesture technology being incorporated into upcoming handsets earlier this week and Nokia already has a patent for the technology. The invention would use ultrasonic transducers (USTs) to detect a user's hand motion and gesture and track their relative location on the device's screen. Simple gestures such as opening or closing of a hand will open or close a program, respectively, and as an example.

AT&T to add entry-level Pantech C630 3G handset...

Pantech showed its C630 candybar handset to the media on Thursday evening and the handset is scheduled to be offered by provider AT&T starting in December. The handset maker has asked that photos of the device taken on Thursday night be embargoed until its official announcement next month, and official specifications are likewise unavailable. An AT&T spokesperson at the event did confirm the C630 will run on Symbian, however.

MyRacer releases MF101 handheld gaming console...

Korean company MyRacer has recently released its first portable Flash gaming console, the MF101. The console sports a 2.4-inch, 290K color LCD screen with 320x240 resolution and a 192MHz ARM processor. Users can hold about 1,000 Flash-based games on the 1GB of internal memory. Apart from gaming, the device doubles as a music and movie player, as well as a text and digital photo viewer. Additionally, it has support for subway map views.

Epson intros high-end HD Dreamio projector...

Epson Japan has introduced the EH-TW4000 projector to its Dreamio line-up, which is capable of creating 1920x1080 resolution images and has a fast 120Hz response time. Thanks to a new, twice as fast D7/C2 Fine panel, black levels are said to be improved over previous projectors and endows the EH-TW4000 with a 75,000:1 contrast ratio. Brightness is rated at 1,600 lumens.

SGI demos dual-core Atom-based supercomputer...

At the Super Computing 2008 expo currently being held in Austin, Texas, Silicon Graphics Inc demonstrated its concept high performance computer (HPC) powered entirely by dual-core Intel Atom N330 processors, each rated at 1.3GHz in this application. The Intel chip was chosen for the HPC, code-named Project Molecule, because it fits in with the company's aim to create a supercomputer with a relatively small footprint, low cost, low power consumption and an easily programmable high-volume processor.

Art Lebedev shows Luxofor traffic light design...

Art Lebedev Studios recently introduced its Luxofor traffic light prototype that will use a square lens lit up by superbright diodes to make it more visible to drivers and pedestrians. Traditionally, traffic lights have been round to allow the spherical light-bulb to light up the lens more evenly. Art Lebedev's new design offers more efficient packaging, as the square light fills up the same space taken up by a round lens more completely.

MSI outs Wind U120 netbook with 3G, 4G options...

MSI in a late weekday announcement announced its long-promised US version of the Wind U120. The update to has the same features of higher-spec U100 models with a 1.6GHz Atom, 1GB of memory, a six-cell battery and a 160GB hard drive but brings in a sleeker design and the option of either 3G cellular Internet access over HSPA or WiMAX for 4G-grade access over networks from Clearwire or Sprint.

MacBooks slow down with battery removed...

Apple's newer MacBook range continues to exhibit an unusual design behavior that slows the system down when the battery isn't attached, testing by Gearlog confirms. Although only publicized in a support article from August that predates the late 2008 refresh, the unibody systems deliberately throttle back the processor when relying only on AC power. The company argues that the move is necessary to protect the system from an unintended shutdown if the system demands more energy than a wall outlet can provide by itself.

Tests: Intel's upcoming Nehalem Xeons 2X faster...

Early tests conducted with Intel's upcoming Nehalem-based Xeons by TechRadar today show the processor running approximately twice as fast as its current equivalent. Based on the same basic design as Core i7 mainstream chips, a pair of 2.8GHz quad-core Xeon X5560 chips received a SPEC score of 160 in floating-point math tests versus 90 for two 3.4GHz Xeons from the current generation.

BlackBerry Storm queues top 200 people...

Lineups for this morning's launch of the BlackBerry Storm have cracked the triple-digit mark and prompted sellouts, early reports note. One of the company's flagship stores in midtown Manhattan noted over 200 people in line for the touchscreen phone's morning debut and is said to have prompted a minor police response after a phone sellout angered those at the back of the queue. Sellouts have also been reported at other locations but haven't been given more definite numbers.

AT&T experiencing 3G outages? [U]...

Scattered accounts indicate that AT&T may be experiencing new outages in its 3G network, in areas such as Boston and the general Michigan and Hawaii areas. In at least several circumstances the affected customers have been iPhone owners, who may be unable to receive any phone calls or notifications, regardless of the stated strength of the connection. The only way to begin receiving calls again may involve disabling 3G, limiting data functions to AT&T's 2G EDGE network.

Marantz Japan intros Bluetooth iPod dock...

Marantz Japan on Friday has introduced a new wireless dock for the iPod and iPod Touch personal audio and multimedia players. The system is composed of a receiver and multiple docks that will also charge the Apple devices and supports Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR A2DP and Bluetooth AVRCP (Audio/Video Remote Control Profile). The system will allow users to play the content of their iPods via their home theater systems and control them via their home theater remote.

S3 launches first Chrome 500 graphics line...

Best known for its integrated video in recent years, VIA's graphics label S3 late yesterday introduced the Chrome 500 series of graphics chips. The hardware is built to challenge the Radeon HD 4350 and other budget dedicated cards both in the feature set and performance with a newer unified shader (effects) processor design that supports DirectX 10.1+ and OpenGL 3 for graphics as well as general-purpose computing tasks written to support the Chrome hardware.

Sony Blu-ray player sales to fall below expectations...

Blu-ray player sales to fall short of expectations: Sony The head of Sony Electronics USA said the company is unlikely to meet its sales goal of 5 million Blu-ray players worldwide in 2008, attributing this to the tough economy. In a Thursday interview, Sony's Stan Glasgow says the total sales of Sony-built Blu-ray disc players, which include units sold under Panasonic and Samsung brands, will be about 10 percent short of the projected 5 million.

ASUS seen expanding Eee Tops to 22 inches...

ASUS' just-launched Eee Top all-in-one PCs will be followed up by significantly larger models in the near future, a claim by market contacts would indicate. Pointing out that the new 15.6-inch desktop is being outsourced to Quanta for manufacturing rather than ASUS itself, the alleged sources say that the outside contractor will also be used for a new range of Eee Tops with 20- and 22-inch displays.

SOTEC ships Hello Kitty-themed netbook...

Capitalizing on two trends at once, Japan's SOTEC today launched a Hello Kitty version of its C101 netbook. The 10-inch C101K3W has a custom imprint of Sanrio's signature character on the back as well as a startup screen and desktop background to match; SOTEC claims that its building process should keep the special outside free of scratches.

Creative intros ZEN Moo player, Mi speaker dock...

Creative today tried to appeal to a niche market by introducing a line of Zens encapsuled in a cow's head likeness, calling it the ZEN Moo. Basically a new exterior for what is essentially the Zen Stone, the Moo includes 2GB of integrated memory with MP3 and WMA file support as well as built-in speakers. There is an entry version and a higher-end one, called the Plus, that includes a small OLED display behind the cow's nose, an FM tuner, voice recording functionality and an alarm clock.

Samsung preps 23.6-inch, 50K:1 contrast LCD...

Samsung has finished its efforts on Friday with news of the 2494HS, its newest desktop LCD. The display relies on an unusual 23.6-inch panel that runs a native 1920x1080 resolution suited to 1080p movies but also manages an exceptionally high 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio comparable to TVs rather than computer displays. Accordingly, Samsung mounts stereo speakers on the LCD's chin and gives it HDMI input along with DVI and VGA.

AMD Phenom II to reach 4GHz on air cooling...

AMD's mainstream Phenom II processors should rekindle the competition with Intel for clock speed, according to a collection of reports of an AMD demonstration session. Based on the recently unveiled Shanghai architecture being used for new Opterons, the quad-core desktop chips should make a modest leap to 3GHz in official clock speeds but will have room for overclocking previously only available with Intel's Core 2 chips. An example tested by AMD is capable of running reliably at 4GHz with fan-based cooling and shows the company could upgrade the clock speed to match or beat Intel if necessary.

Samsung Omnia already reaching Verizon...

Although Friday for Verizon will be dominated by the BlackBerry Storm, a second new touchscreen smartphone is already showing up at the carrier's stores, a leak from BGR shows. The carrier's rumored version of the Samsung Omnia has been spotted in boxed form ahead of any official word from Verizon itself and appears effectively ready to release, suggesting an imminent announcement.

BlackBerry Storm shipping to Verizon...

Verizon today marked the official launch of the BlackBerry Storm on its network. The device matches the $199 contract price of the rivalling iPhone 3G at AT&T and is widely regarded as Verizon's best alternative to the Apple handset in features and focus. The Storm has a similarly-sized 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen meant for finger input but relies on a unique click action that requires a physical push downwards for some actions, simulating a physical button press.

ASUS ships designer Eee PC 1002HA to US Dec. 1st...

ASUS has confirmed it will bring the Eee PC 1002HA to the US. The netbook is billed as mid-way model between the ordinary Eee PC 1000 series and the upscale S101 with a new part-aluminum shell that slims the shell down to under one inch despite the portable's 10-inch display. The PC maker also estimates about five hours of battery life despite using a small, slimmer two-cell battery.

iPhone 2.2 adds Street View, wide HTML mail, more [u]...

Apple on Thursday unveiled the long-awaited iPhone 2.2 update, offering users a number of enhancements and additions to maps and mail, as well as several improvements to stability and reliability. The v2.2 update provides the Maps app with Google Street View, and public transit directions. Dropped pins will now show addresses, and users can share locations over email. The Mail app itself had allegedly isolated issues resolved from scheduled fetching of email, and the formatting of wide HTML mail.

First Look: Samsung Propel SGH-a767...

Practically everyone has a mobile phones these days. While some people prefer the top of the line, latest gadget, others prefer less expensive, simpler phones. If you fall into this latter category, then you might be interested in the Samsung Propel SGH-a767.