The Official Palm Blog

"I'm Ready for My Close Up Mr. DeMille"

Since the introduction of sites like YouTube, it seems like everyone and their brother are shooting and creating videos on pretty much any topic that you can imagine. Just the other day I saw a video on giant robots playing foosball. Since it's obvious that a lot of people out there love to make short films, we thought it would be cool to host a film festival - a Treo-specific film festival to be exact.

Since I love filmmaking, and all things entertainment for that matter, I am the lucky one who gets to set it up. I like my films funny, so the theme we decided on is Comedy. We're hoping to get hours of hilarious 1 minute films, made specifically to be viewed on your mobile device, Treo smartphones and all. We will be screening the films on MobiTV and the top entries will be eligible to win awards and a trip to LA for the awards ceremony. For those Treo users who just want to watch, you'll get free trials of MobiTV during the lead up to the film festival and opportunities to attend the LA ceremony, which includes a swanky party and who knows maybe a celebrity or two.

 

We hope with your help to discover new talent and get a chance to laugh together at some potentially hilarious one-minute shorts. More details to come and in the meantime, please check out the categories, samples, how to submit and the rest of the rules, regs and such at www.treofilm.com. We can't wait to see what starts rolling in and we will share some samples as they are available.

Colleen Werner

Windows Vista on Palm Desktop Beta

Windows Vista users, a beta release of the Palm Desktop is available for installation. Make sure to follow the installation instructions provided in the KB article.

We plan to make additional updates in the future to the beta release and would appreciate your feedback on the software, so please feel free to share your experiences/thoughts with us here.

-Palm Desktop Team

AT&T Treo 750 Smartphone Audio Alerts Update

An Audio Alerts software update for the Treo 750 smartphone from AT&T is now available.

-To download the update for the Treo 750 visit: http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/audio_alert_update.html#install.

-To download the update via OTA: www.palm.com/750audio.

Full details on what is included in the update can be found here.

Paul Loeffler - Palm, Inc.

YouTube, CNN and Presidential Debates

When I think of YouTube, it's usually to watch some entertaining, hilarious or potentially wacky video a friend sent me. The thought that YouTube could also present an opportunity to ask one of our presidential candidates a question hadn't occurred to me. At least, that is until a friend just told me about YouTube and and CNN partnering to give folks the chance to ask questions via video for the upcoming U.S. presidential candidate debates. According to the site, YouTube and CNN will be accepting user submissions throughout the summer and fall, with the first debate being held in Charleston, SC on July 23rd (user submissions will be accepted until July 22nd).

For those people who are spontaneous or constantly on the go and don't have a lot of time to go through the process of setting up a digital camcorder (like me), you can use your Treo smartphone to create and submit your video question (just use YouTube's new mobile feature and MMS your video to your YouTube account; then visit the debate portal, sign in and select the video you would like to submit). Of course, you can also use a standard digital camcorder or other mobile device. For more details and to submit your question, check out http://www.youtube.com/debates.

And if you'd rather just sit back and watch, you can also use apps like Kinoma for your Palm Treo to check out the videos of other folks asking what they want to know (there's more than 1,200 so far). Who knows, you might just learn something in the process about the candidates or your fellow voters that could have an impact on your decision for '08.

So regardless of what side of the political fence you sit on (or if you haven't quite decided yet), here's just one more way you can speak up and get involved.

Melissa Cha - Associate General Counsel

The Year of Mobile TV, Really?

I recently re-read the article "2007: The year of mobile TV" by Michal Lev-Ram of Business 2.0, which got me thinking about the phenomenon of "liberating the couch potato." Stemming from the number of announcements around mobile TV made during CES in January earlier this year and other technology innovations (e.g. DSL-like speeds on carrier networks, better video compression, etc.), 2007 is supposed to be the year of mobile TV. Now that the year is half over, is 2007 indeed the year for mobile TV?

Let me start out by saying that there are plenty of mobile TV solutions out there that can turn your mobile phone into a portal to your PVR or cable TV that gets pumped from your house. You can use MobiTV from Sprint to watch live TV via your phone without hardware at home. You can use Sling Media's Slingbox on Palm OS and Windows Mobile smartphones to watch your living room TV while out and about. If you are in certain parts of the world, you can use DVB-H solutions to watch live broadcasted digital mobile TV (much like a Casio 2" color TV circa 1985, but with digital clarity and with a subscription fee).

So now that we are 6+ months into 2007, what's the current situation? I have found that if you ask someone off the street if they want TV on their phone the response is "No" (most likely because either they don't understand it or they think it is an impractical application). However, if you ask that same person if they would like to watch their favorite TV show (e.g. NBC's Heroes, ESPN's SportsCenter, etc.) while they are waiting to pick up their kids or taking the train to work, the answer is much different.                           

So do people really want to be able to watch TV from their mobile device and is 2007 going to prove it? While we have seen a growth in the market, we will not know for sure for a few more years.

If you are one of those people out there who likes the idea of watching TV on your mobile device but don't use it or are sitting on the fence, what would it take to move the needle for you?

Matt Crowley - Product Manager   

                              

Maintenance Releases for Verizon Wireless Treo 700p and 700w/wx Now Available

Maintenance releases for the Verizon Wireless 700p and 700w/wx are available.

-To download the update for the Treo 700p visit: http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/treo700pupdate/verizon.html

-To download the update for the Treo 700w/wx visit: http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/treo700wupdater/verizon.html

Full details on what is included in the maintenance releases can be found on the URLs above.

Paul Loeffler - Palm, Inc.

Palm Foleo Videos...

Following up on the Palm Foleo podcast, here are a couple of videos with Jeff Hawkins sharing how the idea behind developing the Foleo came up (video 1) and how the "immediacy" and design provide for an enjoyable user experience (video 2).

Also, check out Brighthand's hands on experience with the Palm Foleo and David Berlind's (ZD Net) interview of Paul Cousineau (Palm Foleo product manager), showing off key features at last week's Digital Experience.

-The Foleo team

SlingPlayer Mobile On Palm OS Is Available

SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm OS is now live (no more beta). Incase you aren't familiar with it, you can use  SlingPlayer Mobile along with your Slingbox to watch your TV and all of its programming on just about any web-enabled device, including Treo smartphones.

There's a few new features that have been added since the beta program including:

-Battery level indicator icon

-Ability to add all remote control functions supported by the specific A/V device as Favorite shortcuts

-Remote control commands for additional A/V devices incorporate

Check out SlingMedia's blog for more details.

Matt Crowley - Product Manager