The Official Palm Blog

Deadline: Midnight! Payoff: Vegas!

What: Join us in Vegas (on our nickel) for a celebration of Palm "New-ness" on January 8.

How: Submit your entry after reading the rules here.

When: Now! (Deadline for entries is 11:59:59 PM PT tonight.)

Jon Zilber

Ready…aim…funny!

Pay close attention, because this is going to involve time travel. In fact, it will also involve “time” and “travel,” as well as “time travel” – so pay extra close attention.

Below is a cartoon from Randall Munroe, creator of the post-ironic xkcd comic strip. This cartoon comes after the unfinished cartoon that you can find here (that's the “time travel” bit). Your task (that's where “time” comes in) is to complete the unfinished cartoon in accordance with the rules of our Celebrate with Palm contest. If you win, you'll be…wait for it…yes, travelling to Las Vegas on Janaury 8 to see some extra-special Palm New-ness as our guest.

But you need to get your entry in ASAP! We'll still enjoy it if you send it in later, but you won't be eligible for the contest.

You don't have to worry about whether the cartoon below actually makes sense following after the cartoon that you submit as your contest entry. It's just here for comedic inspiration, not for logical continuity. (And if you need help with this whole time travel thing, I suggest watching the Back to the Future trilogy or reading the five volumes of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy.)

Jon Zilber

Get your AT&T Network Compatible Treo Pro on

The feature-packed Treo Pro smartphone -- which runs Windows Mobile 6.1 and includes Wi-Fi, GPS, a touch screen and full keyboard-- is one of the first handsets to have received 3G network certification in the AT&T Specialty Vertical Device program. The AT&T Network Compatible Treo Pro is available now through AT&T Business Alliance Channels, including CDW, Insight, CNM Wireless, and VOX Mobile.

And here's another way to get your hands on an AT&T Treo Pro -- free! For those of you in the New York area, Palm will be giving away a Treo Pro at a holiday event our friends at Engadget are throwing this Friday, December 19 at the Hiro Ballroom in Manhattan at 7:00 p.m. Attendance is free and Engadget is expecting over 1,000 attendees with food, dancing, and tech infused together in a cornucopia of geeky good times. Tell 'em Palm sent ya!

Alex H.
Edelman for Palm

Show me the funny

There are only a few days left to enter the "Celebrate with Palm" competition -- the winner will be our guest in Las Vegas where we'll be sharing some Palm New-ness on January 8. To enter, you need to get your funny bone in gear and send us your best line of dialog for the last frame of a cartoon posted on our Facebook site. Check all the details and offical rules here.

Here's a new cartoon from cartoonist Shane Johnson to get your humorous juices flowing. (And please note: This cartoon already has a punchline; it's not the one you're supposed to complete. You'll find that cartoon here.)

 

Jon Zilber

Finally, someone’s listening…

Ever wish your voice was so powerful it would command immediate attention? No, Nuance Voice Control can't bring you that glass of water or clean the house, but it does let you make phone calls, set appointments, dictate short emails and view web pages with a simple voice command on most Palm smartphones.

After downloading and purchasing (as low as $6 a month) through Nuance's website (or test-drive it with a 20 day free trial on Sprint Centros), you are ready to roll with voice control. The customizable side button is automatically turned into your one-button control center. Before you start commanding away, take a look at the “what to say” below examples:

• Call, John Smith (if John Smith has multiple numbers, you'd specify home vs. mobile, for example)
• Email, Sara, Subject, Dinner, Body, How about tonight?
• Dial, 555-1212
• Add appointment, Dentist, Date, January 8, Time, 10 a.m.
• Go to website, Palm

Now if only I could program Nuance into other products (or people)...

Sara C.
Edelman for Palm

Celebrate with Palm in Las Vegas

We've got a secret -- and so does the cartoon below. Want to get the scoop on our secret -- live and in person -- when we unveil some Palm New-ness in Las Vegas? Send us your best dialog for the last frame of this cartoon, and we'll invite you to join us as our guest on January 8. First, become a Palm fan at www.facebook.com/palm, and then get all details and official rules here.

Your new BFF: MMS

You’re at the paint store and told to pick out a yellow for the new kitchen. Now on sensory overload as you look at the different shades, you fear returning with the wrong hue. New York Cab or Squash? Sunshine or Corn? Snap, send, solved. Grab the bucket of Buttercup and be on your way.

Multimedia messaging service (more commonly known as MMS) is the perfect tool for those of us that need a visual cue, reminder, or -- more importantly -- to avoid a wrong decision. Did you know that on the Palm Centro smartphone it’s as easy as two clicks to share your pictures via MMS? Click once to take the picture and again on the envelope (bottom right of the screen). Presto! The picture is now embedded in your MMS to send off.

Why is MMS so cool? Here are a couple ways you can use it:

• Hint what you'd like for your birthday.
• Get a second opinion on those new clothes, shoes, wallpaper or car before you buy.
• Wish you were here: Share your vacation memories with family.
• Get out! Snap a pic of a Britney to prove to all your friends it was totally her.

Want more? Check out tools like Thrrum that ratchet MMS up a notch. Send a MMS picture message to m@thrrum.com and Thrrum will analyze any picture (a book, product label or any printed material) and return relevant search results to the user. The service is still beta, but it’s free and worth checking out.

So… how do you MMS? Tell us (or show us!) on the Palm Facebook page.

Sara C.
Edelman for Palm

Holiday wishes do come true

What’s on your holiday wishlist? Whatever it is, just text your wish to Claüs (the season’s superhip Centro-fied Santa) and you just might win it. Click here for details and official rules.

You do believe in Claüs, don’t you? Well, even if you don’t, here’s an option for any nonbelievers out there: Our friends at Gear Diary and BabyCenter are hosting Centro giveaways this week. Give it a shot – maybe we’ll make a believer out of you yet.

Jon Zilber

Un-stick-'em-up

"I resolve to say goodbye to sticky-notes."

That's my New Year's Resolution for 2009, and I'm making it early to make the holiday season a little less stressful. Ah, the holidays. A time of celebration and joy, eating plentifully and giving thanks... and, ultimately forgetting. You can't help it -- you've got shopping to do and cocktail parties to attend, relatives to visit and family to keep sane. If sticky-notes have been your friend forever, Palm's Memo will soon become your BFF.

On the Palm OS (on phones like the Centro), it's easy to write yourself a quick little memo. It's like sticking a reminder note on your phone but not worrying that the adhesive strip with wear off -- because it's there, in your phone, always with you.

Say you're jamming to a song and want to go home and download it. No need to repeat it a zillion times or write it down on some random scrap of paper. Just select Memo from your Palm home screen, type it out and save. Or, the classic, where-did-I-park-my-car fiasco. Before jetting into the mall, simply jot a Memo in to remind yourself where you parked and avoid walking garage loops.

So, with the holidays approaching and the long and short term memory on overload, remember the Palm Memo. That way, this season you'll be thankful you're not stuck in a parking garage but rather surrounded by good food and better company.

Sara C.
Edelman for Palm