FoxNews has reported today that Palm, purchased by HP in April, will unveil three tablets at the upcoming CES in January, taking on the iPad and Android devices.
Dubbed the PalmPad, Palm will release three models, each with small hardware differences.
Each tablet will run on WebOS 2.5.1, an upcoming update to the mobile operating system.
The PalmPad will have 4G connectivity to the Sprint network and “hardware specs nearly identical to the iPad.”
Differentiating itself from the iPad is a USB 3.0 port and a mini-HDMI port. Like the rumored iPad 2, the PalmPad will have a 3MP rear camera and a 1.3MP front-side camera, each with LED flash.
Ready for a March 2011 launch, the PalmPad will be around 10-inches, rounded curves, weigh 1.25 pounds, and be thinner than the iPad.
Result for: Hard
Good Old Games, the European gaming company that gives gamers the chance to download old PC games that are very hard to find legally or have been abandoned, has shut down this week, just two years after going live.
The company provided titles from as far back as the early 80’s in a downloadable format that was completely DRM-free. The games were also reasonably priced, ranging from $5.99 to $9.99 per title.
Additionally, once you had purchased the title, you could download it whenever you wanted, all the times you wanted.
A statement on the site now says: “We have recently had to give serious thought to whether we could really keep GOG.com the way it is. We’ve debated on it for quite some time and, unfortunately, we’ve decided that GOG.com simply cannot remain in its current form.”
While the service is now closed, the owners seem to leave some optimism for the future of the company.
Reads the end of the statement: “This doesn’t mean the idea behind GOG.com is gone forever. We’re closing down the service and putting this era behind us as new challenges await.”
Result for: Hard
iSuppli has torn down the new iPhone 4, and found that the hardware costs as little as $187.51 to build.
The smartphone’s most expensive component is the 3.5-inch LCD display, which was created by LG Display and costs $28.50 per device.
“Over the years, the iPhone has generally tended to hover in the $170-to -$180 cost range because Apple seems to be trying to hit some kind of budget,” says Kevin Keller of iSuppli.
Keller notes that the tear down does not include R&D, labor, shipping, advertising and iOS development, which could add a significant amount to the total.
The A4 processor was created by Samsung and costs $10.75 per device. The gyroscope chip costs an estimated $2.60 per device and the accelerometer chip costs 65¢.
It is unclear how much money Apple receives per device from AT&T, which in turn sells the device (with contract) for $199 or $299 depending on the amount of memory, but regardless it seems Apple is making a high profit margin on each device sold.
