One Shot Design

Next month, Palm will be exhibiting at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Tech journalists are speculating that the company will be unveiling its new Linux-based operating system alongside a line of new devices. Palm has been recruiting former Apple executives over the last 18 months.
With big players recently joining Google’s Open Handset Alliance, I don’t know what are the prospects of yet another Linux smarphone platform, considering that only Palm will be using their version. Still, if their ALP can run GTK+ native Linux applications as promised, it should allow to singlehandedly install existing Gnome application without much porting work.

Not only for business users

I have repeatedly written about the potential of Netbooks. For many years Netbooks have mistakenly been targeted at business users, always resulting in power-focused expensive devices. Yet there has always been an obvious demand for small and low-cost computers. Heck! In 1999 I was able to complete my Masters degree with what could have been called a Netbook.

Palm almost got it right in 2007 before skillfully blowing up the Foleo project. In the meantime, Asus was working one the idea of a low-cost Flash-memory computer and got it just right. The eee became a landmark in the history of comuting, and the market for Netbooks has been booming, despite attempts by chipmakers to downplay the phenomenon. Netbook sales have risen by 160% in the third trimester of 2008. More than 10 makers have followed in the steps of Asus to offer small, portable and low-cost mini-note computers.

Google is making the source code of Android available, opening the road for tweaks and collaborative development. There were already cases of developers succesfully retro-fitting the operating system on the HTC Touch and the Nokia N810; but this new step will make it easier to adapt the software to other hardware.

Google lifted the Beta status of its Chrome Browser, making it a stable release 1.0.

First released as a Beta (unstable) version for Microsoft Windows on the 2nd of September 2008, Google Chrome uses the open-source WebKit layout engine shared with Apple Safari and KDE Conqueror. The OSX and Linux versions are currently under development.

Asustek, Toshiba and Sony Ericsson have joined Google’s Open Handset Alliance. The presence of computer makers leads to speculation about a possibility of Android Netbooks.