The Mobile Fun Blog

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Late in February, Palm issued a shareholder warning which said that profits for the full year were going to be “well below” expectations due to a surprisingly slow demand for Palm’s smartphones.

Today, the company issued its third quarter earnings report, and though the numbers were actually up against the same quarter last year (when Palm posted a net loss of million,) the company is still losing money; million to be exact.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Though you might come to Betanews expecting an article with either performance testing and graphs or inflammatory diatribes, we’re not above a good unboxing; especially when it’s a brand new piece of hardware that we intend to thoroughly test (or just very seriously play with.)

Today, we’re fortunate enough to have received a new TiVo Premiere, the first TiVo DVR with an HD interface designed especially to unite content from multiple sources under a single experience. They call it “The One Box.”

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Yesterday, an updated version of Google’s Nexus One Android smartphone was released, compatible with AT&T and Rogers Canada’s 3G networks. Today, Sprint is letting everyone know that it is getting the device too.

This means that all four major wireless carriers have secured a spot for the Nexus One this year. Google sells versions of the device optimized for T-Mobile and AT&T’s wireless networks, and a version for Verizon’s network is still expected some time in the Spring, but the operator has not put out any further notices about its availability.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to deliver the National Broadband Plan to Congress tomorrow, and today the commission released an executive summary of what the document will contain.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called it, “An action plan, and action is necessary to meet the challenges of global competitiveness, and harness the power of broadband to help address so many vital national issues.”

Some of the goals outlined in the summary include:

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

One year can change a lot.

Today, Microsoft used the MIX ‘10 stage in Las Vegas to show off a lot of the applications that are currently being prepared to launch with Windows Phone 7 Series, and they are a far cry from the poor Windows 6.5 showing at last year’s MIX event.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Last week, I wrote a little article about Microsoft’s four-color approach to QR black-and-white barcodes, the still-in-beta Microsoft Tag, which was also related to the company’s first official Android application.

I only briefly touched upon the many things that are being done with QR codes: advertisements that you scan with your cell phone camera to pull up related content on the Web, business cards that you can scan for an instant call to the card’s owner, or boxes that you can scan for an instant Web-based list of contents.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Namco, one of video gaming’s most iconic brands, today announced a new cross-platform game engine called UniteSDK, which will let gamers play with one another irrespective of the platform they’re playing their games on.

A user playing a UniteSDK-based game on their iPhone, for example, will be able to play against a PC user, who will be able to play against a Mac user, and so forth.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

With just six days to go before the National Broadband Plan is due before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission today launched a pair of consumer tools — an app for iPhone/Android, and a Web-based reporting tool — to help inform both consumers and the Commission itself about broadband conditions across the US.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Different modes of travel often require different routes to be taken. If you’re walking somewhere, for example, you’re not likely to take a highway to get there, and you have the distinct advantage of being able to go through certain structures that cars cannot. The same goes for biking. When someone is planning to get somewhere by bike, they’re going to demand different routes. This is why the Google Maps team today announced that it has added bicycling directions to Google Maps.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Valve Corporation’s Steam is the leading digital distribution channel for PC games. With over 1,000 titles available for purchase, an integrated social network and database of open game servers, Steam has attracted more than 25 million users since launching in 2003.

Today, Valve officially announced Steam will be coming to Mac in April, along with Source, the 3D gaming engine used in popular games such as Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2, and Counter-Strike.