A classic "submarine patent" that has been trying to convince the PTO to approve it since 1999. Since Gemstar was doing this same stuff prior to 1999 with their Softbook Reader I suspect proving this patent invalid due to prior art isn't going to cause Amazon to even break a sweat.

And for those that don't know: Gemstar == Reader's Digest.

So here's what I sent to Amazon's Kindle 2 feedback email box:

I applauded the inclusion of text-to-speech for all titles on the new Kindle 2 and now read with frustration that you are now in essence removing the feature (what publisher is going to not opt-out???)

I'm writing to request an opt-out for disabled users so their Kindle 2's can ignore the opt-out from the publishers. I believe this feature would best be implemented as a simple on/off option in the settings page: Disabled Access Mode On/Off.

This simple switch could then be used to enable other disability access features in addition to opting out of the text-to-speech publisher opt-out. For example: the six font sizes offered could be re-based to start with the current font size 5 and work up to add four new ludicrously large fonts. An inverted mode in which the page is drawn black and the text in white could be offered in settings. As well as the ability to scale the fonts for the UI itself to larger fonts. And even better; text-to-speech for the UI itself including a talking dictionary.

The re-setting of the offered font sizes would I believe offset any fears the publishers would have that the non-disabled would exploit the text-to-speech opt-out in addition to providing access to more legally blind individuals than the platform currently supports.

Countless lives would be positively affected by these changes.

Some one said Engadget was giving away a tablet, I thought they meant Tablet PC! This still looks useful.

It has nothing to do with Sprint economics, it has nothing to do with Palm, it has everything to do with Sprint's obsolete 3G technology: it can't walk and talk at the same time. If you're tethered your phone is essentially offline with your phone calls going to voice mail.

This was one of the break through features Apple offered on the iPhone: Apple made the iPhone work the way everyone had *assumed* their phones were already working. I suspect this was a major reason the Verizon deal went sideways: they use CDMA as well.

As far as I can tell Palm still doesn't have a working radio stack in the Pre. I've been very curious to see when that day comes about as I'm fascinated to see how such a heavily net-centric phone is going to work on CDMA and not have you missing your phone calls during uncontrollable bursts of net activity. I'll also hazard a guess that this is one of the major reasons the radio is taking so long to come up. They're likely re-writing the radio stack from top to bottom to try and minimize the data disruptions to voice circuits.

OK I'm confused, what is G-Map? I used it this week for turn-by-turn navigation to the SonyStyle store and it did a fantastic job. I bought it out of the App Store and everything. I loved the "HUD view" that gives a little 3D view of the turns and lane changes on top of the route map view. The person actually driving was so impressed they're asking their wife for permission to buy an iPhone 3G so they can have it too.

It has full POI live on the map so you see where Starbucks etc are as you're driving along. It does everything I've ever seen Tom Tom or Garmin do. The map data is built in so no network connection is required during navigation.

It's $20 and comes in East Coast and West Coast flavors.

http://www.xroadgps.com/Maps/GMapforiPhone/tabid/2463/Default.aspx

You want to know why Windows Mobile 6.5 looks so half baked? It's because you missed the real future of the "Windows Phone" platform announcement. It was held two weeks ago and was called "Windows Office Communicator 2007 R2 Launch Event".

How to make a real Windows Phone today. Go to the SonyStyle store near you with the Engadget AMEX and pick up a Vaio P and a pair of HBH-IS800 headphones. Activate the Verizon 3G and a trial OCS 2007 R2 account. Upgrade the Vaio to WIn 7. Install OCS 2007 R2 client, pair up those HBH-IS800's and start making phone calls.

Laugh if you want but I've just given you the real scoop.

ONe of these days they'll have to actually get the CDMA radio working much less think about getting a 3G GSM radio designed in.

Playstation's One, Two, Three and Portable? Xbox, Xbox 360? How many generations of Nintendo? All these platforms are closed environments with only blessed developers able to develop for them.

Apps such as Craculous make Apple's case against jailbreaking stronger with every pirated App Store App and thus DMCA violation. And if Apple's saber rattling with Palm heats up Apple will need to escalate the battle with the Dev Team in order to protect their ability to defend the platform's IP against Palm.

As Google recently demonstrated, you can get to non-blessed Apple API's via the official tools. The Dev Team really has very little fig leaf to cover themselves with at this point.

I personally think that their using a skunk as their new advertising mascot is one of the best examples of truth in advertising in recent memory.

I'm constantly getting dropped calls, calls with extreme noise, calls with "alien voices" in the call and incredibly poor internet service. Some days trying to get the weather updates can take over a minute! How much data is that silly weather app asking for? I run the iphone speed test and get 3G performance of a 200kbps! I'm paying 3G prices for 2G performance!

I'm also pretty sure AT&T us behind the poor battery performance as well. Poor network reception means more power being used to get what little I do get.

And all this for a user in Seattle, WA.