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Japanese biometric ATM reads your palm, tells fortune
A palm reading cash machine might not tell you your fortune, but it will, at least, dispense some of it. Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank in Japan has revealed that it will introduce the nation's first ATM that lets you withdraw money just by scanning your palm. This isn't the first ATM to use extra human verification, but it claims it's the first that functions without the need for your cash card. Customers will need to pop in to a branch to provide some manual verification -- and of course a palm scan -- then you're away. The bank hopes this will help people access their cash in the event of losing your card, or a natural disaster. Great until you upgrade to one of these.
USRobotics PalmPilot Personal review
It's 1996. You might have a cellphone, but it doesn't do much more than make phone calls. You might have a laptop, but it's likely too heavy to carry with you everywhere you go. Or you might only have a phone that's plugged into a wall and a PC that's confined to a desk. That's the environment that gave rise to the Personal Digital Assistant (or PDA), a new type of product that first arrived in the late 1980s but really came into its own in the mid-90s. 1996 also saw the release of the first PDAs developed by USRobotics subsidiary Palm Inc., the Pilot 1000 and 5000, which had more in common with today's smartphones than many of their contemporary devices. They had a touchscreen with only a few physical buttons at the bottom. They had apps you could download. They could sync data with your computer. And they were small and light enough to carry with you at all times. They just didn't make phone calls. A year later, Palm released the slightly upgraded PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional (with 512KB and 1MB of RAM, respectively), and the ensuing years would see a regular stream of new devices -- not to mention an acquisition by 3Com, and a new spate of Palm OS products from Handspring, a company founded by the folks behind the original Pilot. But it's those first few devices that come to mind when someone mentions "Palm PDA," and with good reason -- they set a mold that wasn't deviated from much until Palm made the jump into smartphones.
HP Veer 4G, Pre 3 and TouchPad celebrate a melancholy birthday
Just one year ago, HP officially introduced the TouchPad, Pre 3 and Veer to its lineup. Much has happened in the 365 days since that time, which marked the end of the Palm brand, the discontinuation of the company's webOS hardware development and the decision to open source the crown jewel, webOS. Today, we hope you'll join us after the break as we bow our heads, sing some praises and remember the final three members -- for now, anyway -- of HP's webOS lineup. We'll have fireworks at the end.
Ex-Apple, ex-Palm exec Jon Rubinstein now leaving HP
Sometimes the revolving door spins quickly at the top. AllThingsD reported today that HP executive Jon Rubinstein is leaving the company for places unknown. Rubinstein is perhaps best known for his days at Apple, when he spearheaded the rapid growth of the iPod music player -- the piece of Apple hardware widely remembered as the "gateway drug" that has since attracted millions of customers to the Mac, iPhone, and iPad. After Apple, Rubinstein worked at venture firm Elevation Partners, then moved to Palm. In 2009, Rubinstein replaced Ed Colligan as Palm's CEO, overseeing the ill-fated switch from the old PalmOS to WebOS. The latter mobile operating system first appeared on the Pre, Pixi, and Veer smartphones. Rubinstein became an HP exec when the consumer electronics giant acquired Palm, and was at the driver's seat of the mobile division as the WebOS-powered TouchPad tablet crashed and burned. When HP decided to get out of the mobile devices hardware market, Rubinstein was given a "product innovation role" at HP's Personal Systems Group designed to lessen the eventual impact of his departure.
Jon Rubinstein leaves Hewlett-Packard
Former Palm chief Jon Rubinstein has left Hewlett-Packard, having completed the 24-month commitment period he agreed to when HP acquired Palm. An HP spokesperson has confirmed the story, first reported by AllThingsD, in a brief statement: "Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well." Rubinstein rose to fame as a hardware guru at NeXT, ultimately joining Apple after the company acquired NeXT in 1996. He was instrumental in developing the iMac and PowerMac desktops before spearheading the iPod project that would herald the company's business dominance. After retiring in 2006, he joined Palm to revitalize the flagging device maker's fortunes, developing the Palm Pre and WebOS software before being crowned as its CEO in 2009. A year later, Hewlett-Packard purchased the company for $1.2 billion: but just a year later, pulled the shutters down as Rubinstein was shifted (or "dumped") to a "product innovation role" within HP, where he saw out the last of his retention period before departing. In a terse comment to The Verge, the man himself has said that he's "going to take some well deserved time off," and after the last twelve months, we wouldn't blame him.
HP appoints Bill Veghte as chief strategy officer, will lead 'cloud and webOS open source initiatives'
Bill Veghte was already having his checks cut by HP (after cutting ties with Microsoft), but now he'll be filling a slightly different corner office. The company today announced that he has been appointed chief strategy officer, but somehow, he'll also have enough time to hold onto his current role as executive vice president of HP Software. We're told that he'll be working with HP's senior business and technology brass in order to innovate in ways that perhaps it hasn't lately, with newly-appointed CEO Meg Whitman saying the following: "Every 10 to 15 years, fundamental shifts occur in the IT industry that redefine how technology is delivered. From mainframes to client/server to the internet, companies that identified the opportunity first and developed the right strategy came out on top. As we move forward, HP intends to stay on top, and I believe Bill has the knowledge and vision to keep us there." Strangely, the release (embedded in full after the break) mentions that Bill will be leading HP's "cloud and webOS open source initiatives," but it fails to elaborate on what exactly those "initiatives" may be.
How could tanking design be changed?
Tanking is designed around holding threat and using abilities to stay alive. The current paradigm, wherein tanks work hard to passively gear themselves for predictable incoming damage in order to make healing them easier, has its drawbacks. Tanks usually ignore stats that contribute to threat generation (to a degree that baseline threat generation has repeatedly been increased, currently sitting at five times damage dealt by the tank), which has led to the discussion of active mitigation in the tank design of Mists of Pandaria. The goal is to make tanks desire threat generation stats such as hit and expertise by making them not just threat stats, but also to tie them into survivability. By making threat gen stats also generate resources that are used to actively mitigate incoming damage, the goal is to make tanks want those stats, rather than simply aiming as close to complete coverage of the combat table as they can get, reducing incoming damage to something as reliable and easily anticipated by healers as possible. Tanks currently value dodge, parry, and their mastery stats well over any potential threat generation from hit and expertise. Since we've already seen quite a bit of the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator, we know that design of the new tanking system is probably fairly well advanced. We also know that the monk, another tank/DPS/healing hybrid class, will be debuting with the expansion. Therefore, it's worthwhile to examine tanking changes that could be implemented, even to stretch our vision of tanking significantly past where it is now and most likely past where it will go in Mists.
Tech's biggest misfires of 2011
The past 12 months have been a boon of technological innovation, particularly in the world of mobile devices, where top companies have been waging an arms race for the top of the smartphone and tablet hills. Not everything has been smooth sailing, however -- 2011 has also been dotted by delays, false starts, security breeches and straight up technological turf outs. Check out some of the lowlights from the year that was after the break.
Switched On: Open source, open issues for webOS
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. HP's decision to contribute webOS to the open source community represents, at the very least, a detour from the company's plans to "double down" on the operating system acquired from Palm, Inc. The good news for fans of the OS is that HP will continue to invest in the software's development, albeit probably not at the unsustainable rate at which it was going it alone. And for webOS fans, the decision is certainly more favorable than another possibility that HP considered -- ending the development of webOS software as abruptly as it ended the hardware..Still, webOS faces an uphill climb if it is to emerge as a viable option for device makers. HP itself says that it may not enter the webOS device market again until 2013 and we've seen no public statements from other major device makers champing at the bit to build devices based on the software, at least not in its current state. That means that the addressable market for webOS updates is the relatively meager installed base of TouchPads and the handful of Pres, Veers and Pixis, and many owners of those smartphones will likely move on as their contracts expire..
Pre 3 owners greeted by webOS 2.2.4 update, eradicates some bugs (update: Pre 2s as well)
Yes, friends, webOS is still alive and kickin' -- and no matter how uncertain the future may be for the open-source mobile platform, it's still cranking out fresh maintenance releases. This time, the Pre 3 is the beneficiary of an update to webOS 2.2.4. Though it's natural to be on the lookout for crazy new features, you'll find so such luck this time around -- it's just meant to offer some software improvements and bug fixes. Still, we're always happy to see signs of life with the OS. Update: And it's also rolling out to Pre 2s. Thanks Bryson!
HP TouchPad returns in TigerDirect bundle, if only for a moment
"We've got TouchPads!" That's the slogan, but even TigerDirect admits that it's expecting its latest batch of TouchPad slates to evaporate in a matter of minutes. Strangely enough, we've seen the zombie-like webOS tablet on sale in a variety of locations during the past few months, and if you're quick, you'll be able to buy yet another from yet another vendor at 2:30PM ET today. The company's not saying how many are in stock, but we're told to expect the entire batch to be claimed "by 2:32PM ET." The deal? $249.99 nets you a 32GB TouchPad, a 10.1-inch Belkin tablet case and Creative Labs' D80 Bluetooth speakers, while a $299.99 bundle replaces the speaker with a Photosmart printer. Oh, and don't even bother trying to order over the phone -- this one's online only, and it's one bundle per customer. We're telling you now so you've got time to memorize your credit card number. Feel free to talk about nerves, shaking limbs and tales of luck in comments below.[Thanks, Andrew]
Refresh Roundup: week of December 5, 2011
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
HP gives webOS developers a chance to get a $150 TouchPad
The future of webOS may still be up in the air, but it looks like HP is at least still making a small effort to woo developers and keep its current ones in the fold. It's now giving registered devs in the US, Canada and Europe a chance to get a 32GB HP TouchPad for the blowout price of $150 (or €150 in Europe), for a limited time and while supplies last. Unfortunately, it's not clear how many TouchPads will be available, but HP is allowing applicants to request up to two TouchPads each at the discounted price, so we'd assume it's more than just a handful. Those interested will have to file their request before November 18th, and if they're accepted they'll receive a coupon that must be redeemed before November 27th. All the pertinent details are at the source link below.
Richard Kerris moves from HP to Nokia, becomes Global Head of Developer Relations
Well, that certainly didn't take long. Just a couple of days after leaving HP to "pursue an opportunity outside of the company," ex-VP of Worldwide Developer Relations for webOS Richard Kerris has now turned up at Nokia, where he'll be serving as the company's Global Head of Developer Relations. As you may recall, Kerris only took on the HP job at the beginning of this year, having previously served as Chief Technology Officer at Lucasfilm. He's also not the first individual to chart this particular course -- designer Peter Skillman also left Palm / HP last year to take on a similar gig at Nokia, where he's since had a hand in the N9 and the company's new Lumia 800.
Richard Kerris leaves HP, ventures off into the land of outside opportunity
Lucasfilm's former chief technology officer just became HP's former VP of worldwide developer relations -- Richard Kerris is calling it quits. HP confirmed Kerris' departure, stating that he "has decided to leave HP to pursue an opportunity outside of the company, effective immediately." Kerris joined HP in February 2011 as the outfit's webOS frontman for the development community, vowing to work hard to win its favor before the firm discontinued operations for the platform's devices earlier this year. Kerris isn't the first employee to go since the webOS cut, and sadly, he probably won't be the last either.
HP TouchPad gets webOS 3.0.4 update, now able to answer calls from non-webOS phones
It may not have resulted in much of a numerical bump, but the just-released webOS 3.0.4 software update for the HP TouchPad is a fairly significant one. The big new addition is the ability to pair non-webOS phones, which will let you answer calls on your TouchPad (pairing with third-party Bluetooth keyboards is also said to be "streamlined"). It also adds a new Camera app for photos and videos, plus support for Ogg Vorbis music files, and online / offline messaging status support. Perhaps just as notably, HP is also promising "better performance" and "user interface improvements," as well as a number of other enhancements and "more robust Skype video calling." We'll be giving it a go ourselves, but feel free to share your own impressions in the comments below.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Update: We've since spent a bit of time with a TouchPad running webOS 3.0.4, and it is indeed noticeably snappier and more responsive. Receiving phone calls via a non-webOS phone also works as promised (although you can't make phone calls from the TouchPad), and the new Camera app is simple and gets the job done -- though the TouchPad's camera itself is still decidedly lackluster. Another somewhat minor but important change is the scrolling behavior in the web browser -- it now requires a far more deliberate swipe left or right to move the page horizontally, which results in far less accidental jumping around than before.
webOS brick-and-mortar stores close forever, may they rest in peace
It's with broken heart that we announce that the doors have officially shut for good on all remaining webOS retail stores. The news likely won't come as a shock to many, given HP's intent to scrap the operating system from its future plans. This isn't the first physical manifestation of the company's announcement, when factoring in the plethora of layoffs taking place; nonetheless, anyone affected or touched by a Palm device over the last 19 years may likely mourn the loss. That said, at least the stores went out with a bang: Veers were cleared out for $50 each, the Pixi was sold for $25 ($15 if you purchased four or more) and the Touchstone could be had for a cool $2.50. The retail outlets may now be a thing of the past, but the memories of the products sold in them will hopefully live on forever. Never forget.
Pre 3 for AT&T review
This is a review of a phone that was never actually released to the public on AT&T. Despite the unfortunateness of the prior statement, we felt obligated to run this device through the wringer as a final farewell to Palm, the Pre line and webOS on consumer devices. AT&T, Deutsche Telekom withdraw FCC application for T-Mobile merger, look toward DoJ Microsoft Kin is dead Screen Grabs: Palm Pre-iPhone hybrid appears on Grimm, doesn't look half bad Man, what a weird, labyrinthine life this device has had. European carriers didn't even want the Pre 2, and for whatever reason, those folks were the only ones to even get the Pre 3. Excluding this guy, of course. This guy, as you've probably gleaned, is one of only a handful of AT&T Pre 3 handsets to make it out of the factory unscathed, and we couldn't be happier to be putting it through the paces. Well... we could be happier, but that would require Meg Whitman undoing Leo's departing shot through the webOS heart. All that aside, it's been a strange few days with the final webOS-based phone, and in a sense, the final phone that'll ever have Palm's DNA running through its circuitry. Not even two months ago, HP was telling developers to get their Pre 3 app submissions in for approval, and a mere four weeks ago, the same company affirmed that this very phone wouldn't ever arrive on US shores. You know, despite that whole "being announced for AT&T" thing. Turns out, a few of those units actually did pass the requisite QA tests, and if you've got the right connections (or a quick enough trigger finger on eBay), you too can land yourself what'll undoubtedly go down as one of the most highly sought after pieces of Palm / webOS history. But should you? Find out after the break. %Gallery-134746%
Layoffs underway at HP's webOS division, hundreds of employees may be in jeopardy
HP's webOS-powered devices are riding off into the sunset and so too, apparently, are hundreds of jobs. Sources close to the company tell All Things Digital that upwards of 525 employees at HP's Palm division are slated to lose their jobs in the near future, as part of a layoff process that began this week. In a statement, an HP spokesperson explained the decision thusly: "As communicated on August 18, HP will discontinue the development of webOs devices within the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011, which ends Oct 31 2011. As part of this decision, the webOS GBU is undergoing a reduction in workforce. Today's actions are part of this initiative. During this time, we stand by our commitment to our webOS customers and will work to ensure that support and service for customers are not adversely affected." The company went on to say that it's still "exploring ways to leverage webOS software," but declined to specify the exact number of hardware-related jobs that would be cut.
Touchstone mod blesses Samsung Epic 4G Touch with inductive charging powers
The Touchstone's future is just as unclear as any other webOS product at the moment, but it's sure getting a fair share of love from the mod community. Not only did we witness the inductive-charging unit work on a modded Samsung Galaxy S Plus, a bold and daring AndroidCentral Forums member also accomplished the feat on his three-day-old Epic 4G Touch in a process that's definitely not for the faint of heart. The modder (who goes by the name of "darrenf" on the forum) offers a full step-by-step guide on exactly how to do it, but advises that it's "a pretty delicate mod" and attempting it will likely void any warranties or return policies that were attached to the phone when purchased. It also doesn't result in the most aesthetically pleasing look since the charging coil had to be attached to the outside of the phone, but it's gotta give you some massive street cred if you pull it off, right?
