I had heard of this band before, but I had not heard anything by them until I caught them on the all new Tonight Show (with Conan O’Brian).  But really, what a great concept this is.  Take the best artists at each instrument, and put them on a stage together.

The band consists of Sammy Hagar (who still can’t drive 55) and bassist Michael Anthony, both of whom have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for their tenure with Van Halen.  Toss in one of the world’s greatest guitar heroes, Joe Satriani; and top it all off with percussionist Chad Smith, former drummer from the Red Hot chili Peppers. 

Right off the bat, you know you are in for a treat.  But as the Washington Redskins seemingly delight in reminding us, simply tapping the best and richest talent available is not enough.  The players need to gel.  And the players in this band are gellin’ like Magellan. 

I am downloading this one to my Zune as we speak, and I suggest that any fans of rock and roll grab this one as well.  you can find it over at Amazon, or check out their homepage.   This is one band which is truly greater than the sum of its magnificent parts (though possibly not quite as large as the sum of its egos,.)

The day we have all been waiting for is finally upon us.  Of course, I am talking about Palm Pre day, which hits tomorrow,.  And while we are all rushing our local Best Buy and Sprint stores, I am sure the folks over at Palm will be breathing a sigh of relief as they watch years of work come to fruition.

For many of them, this day has been a long time coming.  It is the end result of a process which started in 2007, with an ostrich egg and an inspiration,

Now that Palm Pre day is here, the folks at Palm have started to sit down with the media and discuss the process of bringing turning that ostrich egg into something which could access the Internet, make phone calls, and hopefully save a company which had heretofore been bleeding money,

I highly recommend two fascinating interviews which really give you a great look at the creative process that went into the Pre.  The first  comes from Bradley Hebdon at ubxdesign.com, who recently sat down with Michelle Koh, a member of the Human Interface Team at Palm.   Among other things, Ms. Koh discusses her first impression of the Pre’s design:

I remember when i saw the first mock-up of this over a year ago. The inner industrial designer in me screamed “brilliant”! The slight curve felt comfortable in my hand and when I slid open the device, the curve line was further emphasized so that I could cradle it against my ear. And the keyboard is hidden away when I don’t need it. You don’t expect curves on devices so this was a delightful design decision that I appreciate a great deal. The curves are reinforced in the overall footprint down to the keyboard, which gives it a sense of harmony.

She also spends quite a bit of time talking about the Touchstone charger, interface, web experience, and plenty more.  Check out the full interview here.

And while you are at it, check out Forbes Magazine’s interview with Peter Skillman and some of the other engineers and designers behind that shiny new device you have been coveting.  This one does a fantastic job of explaining the fluid, organic concept behind the Palm Pre.  And you will also discover what that ostrich egg has to do with the Palm Pre.  Check out the full article, here,

These articles really do a fantastic job of highlighting all of the hard work and innovation that went into the Pre behind the scenes.  So, if you are a fan of the Pre, or off mobile technology generally, then you are really going to want to check out these interviews.

On a final note, as beautiful as these look, it is not likely you will see any Palm Pre’s here at JAMM this weekend.  As much as I would like one, I am not due for a new phone for a few more months.  How about you?  Anyone planning to jump on the Pre bandwagon tomorrow?  If you manage to land one, let us know.  We would love to hear some first hand thoughts from actual users.

Astraware has released a brand new set of single player games for the Blackberry.  The new card game is called Astraware Solitaire.  It contains 12 of the most popular card games:  Klondike, Pyramid, Spider, Clock, Yukon, Canfield, Four Seasons, Sultan’s Harem, Idiot’s Delight, Golf, Calculation, and Freecell.  These were selected based on feedback and suggestions from Astraware customers, which is just a great idea.  Along with the 12 games, there is the ability to customize each of them, so you can play by your own rules.  The games will keep track of all of your stats, like number of times played, wins, and losses.  With winning comes some extra bonuses:  unlockable deck graphics and special trophies.  Solitaire also includes a special deck of clear card faces to help the visually impaired.  The game retails for $9.95.  Check out the full press release after the break.

Read More …

The SDK, [software developers kit] for WinMo 6.5 was released yesterday as TJ posted. What though is the attraction of users to Windows Mobile. Besides the fact that there is a cornucopia of apps out there, paid and free. Devices that are becoming ever higher powered, from a number of hardware developers, mainly HTC. What do you think people like the most about WinMo?

Hackability!!!

I know I’ve done it before, with my Axim,  I wanted the latest iteration of the OS so of course I looked for it and I got it. I assume most WinMo users want the latest and greatest version of the OS. What is interesting, CoolSmartPhone did a survey about why people select WinMo as a mobile OS, and basically, the answer was,

“I can get upgrades made by people who care about the OS, and not from Microsoft”

That’s a general interpretation of the results of the survey at CSP.

The fact is there are people out there that can extend/port WinMo and upgrade it on most compatible devices, and that seems to rate as a reason to adopt the OS.

1 – Not really. However I do like the fact that I can customise it eg. disable threaded messaging!!
2 – update only phones i have for backups not my main phones
3 – Only after warranty expires
4 – I would rather not use unofficial ROMs but as microsoft and the handset manufacturers make little 5 – Effort to keep devices update this is the only option open to me
6 – Used custom rom, went back to standard for stability
7 – Yes, but only because it takes so long for networks to issues updates
8 – Yes once my warranty is over
9 – Yes because networks make it impossible to get new rom updates, which are vital on such buggy phones
10 – I do re ROM for speed and extra functionality etc but I would rather not have to.
11 – Yes – Tho I don’t like the feeling of loosing the warranty
12 – Normally, it wouldn’t but I will be willing to if microsoft doesn’t offer an upgrade to 6.5 from 6.1
13 – I have been forced to do this because my network – Orange – offered no upgrade to version 6.1 even though the manufacturer – HTC – provided one for generic unlocked models.
14 – I’ve found unofficial ROMs are the only way I can get a usable phone. Factory ROMs for the phones I’ve had (many) have usually been too slow and/or buggy.
15 – I need a phone to update its self when its syncing to PC
16 – Yes sometimes its the only way to get an upgrade for a still decent phone.
17 – Yes – without unofficial ROMS tweaked by Windows Mobile ‘oracles’ the default build would not be as good – differences in hardware contribute why unofficial ROMS are needed. I buy Windows Mobile to be unique and not like an Iphone ‘drone’!
18 – Yes I have used these but only as needs must, it’s outrageous I have to go these lengths though!
19 – Yes though I usually like going with official ROMs I try to buy HTC devices since they are more popular and usually get unofficial updates first and I like having that option.
20 – To remove orange extras!!!!
21 – Once out of contract/gaurentee, I like the flexibility to customise the phone with these alternate ROMs
22 – I’ve done it to test 6.1 but voided my warranty
23 – Again, I want a phone that just works
24 – Yes – without the ability to fix the idiotic holes in the default OS, I’d be long gone….
25 – Bit of both. As operating system updates are controlled by the networks updates may be released but not for us to be able to use them. This is unfair and updates should be controlled by the Operating System Manufacturer not the network.
26 – Yes, but will not upgrade ROM until out of warranty.
27 – Yes but only because there’s no other way to get a ROM upgrade

Windows Mobile, while slow to mature, has actually offered long term, a plat;form that developers can work with, no matter how much they want to manipulate it. Incredibly, most of the desire for WinMo seems to be generated by the idea that someone will serve you a hacked update that you can’t get anywhere else, and especially, officially.

Do you grab and flash the latest hacked ROM for your device, or suffer in silence? Would you like to see these developers sucked up by Microsoft, so these updates weren’t illegal?

Whatever you think, have a look at the survey results at CoolSmartPhone

Wow.  Just WOW!  This is really the end of an era.  One of the first apps I ever used on a Windows Mobile device was AvantGo.  That was way back on my HP Jornada. 

Back then, in the dark days before Internet data plans and mobile RSS readers became customary, there was a real question of how do you get your news onto your device so you could enjoy it on the go.  AvantGo provided that solution,.

The way it worked was simple, but powerful.  Just subscribe to any channels you wanted, and when you connected your device, AvantGo would sync your channels to your mobile device.  This allowed you to view all of your favorite content offline from your mobile device.

While this worked great in the early days of the Pocket PC, it began to fade away as more devices became connected to the Internet via Wi-fi or data plans.  I will even admit that I have not used this fantastic service in several years.  Still, it was with some sadness that I noted the following announcement:

After June 30, 2009, AvantGo will no longer be providing mobile Web content for sync or online access, and you will not be able to access or update your AvantGo content or account.

Even though I have not used AvantGo in a long time, having long since replaced it with an RSS feed reader, it still upset me to read the above announcement. To me, it remained like a favorite toy which had been outgrown.  Every time I found it at the bottom of the toy box, I could play with it and enjoy some pure nostalgia as I relived earlier times,   Well, those days are gone.  As the above quote indicates, when I opened the toybox today, I found my old AvantGo toy sitting at the bottom, broken into pieces.  Truly a sad day for mobile users. 

[via MobilitySite]