This is the first post by Joe, the new commentator on this blog. 

 

The European Union recently accused Microsoft of hurting competitors by bundling Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system. If Microsoft looses this lawsuit, they will most likely be forced to unbundle it. What will Microsoft do then? Browsers don’t come on CDs anymore, and how can people download a browser without having one already installed? This is like going back in technology. Browsers will have to be sold in stores. Microsoft isn’t going to like that, so there are two things they can do. The first is to include a minimal browser that opens to a page with a list of browsers to download. Microsoft isn’t going to do that and people want to surf the web out of the box. The second choice might be what Redmond is forced to do. They may have to include an open-source browser. How can Microsoft be forced to include a competitor with its operating system? They would be shooting themselves in the foot. 

We have an exclusive look at the final specs of the Sprint Treo Pro from their sales brochure. This conforms that it will 128MB of ram, something that has been up for debate. 

Today, I'm going against the format for a special report. I got to play around with the Palm Treo Pro. Now, I know that it's been out on GSM for a while, but it's been carrier-less, so you would have to buy it unlocked for like $ 500 and then use the—wow. As I was writing this blog on Word 2007 Word stopped working. Vista identified the problem, recovered my work, and I got back to typing away at this blog. Just wanted to mention that little tidbit.—AT&T or T-Mobile networks to work the phone. But now that Sprint is readying to unveil the Palm Treo Pro, all that will change. There will be a subsidized price, and it was going to go on sale Sunday, the 25^th. But Palm and Sprint decided to delay the launch to February 15^th. You may have heard the rumor that this is the case, however I know the truth. Many big companies try to go high up into the company to try to find out what the top guys know. But us here at Tech Talk with Haub, we like to see what the lower guys know. You know, the employees that convey this stuff to the consumers anyway. And because of my high status in the Tech World I got the inside scoop from a manager of a store, that the Treo Pro comes out on the 15^th. I also got to play with the device. The store had one for the employees to use and to learn, and I appealed to their better nature and got to try it out for myself. This is the CDMA version, with a better processor a little less RAM and a little more ROM. I might have been one of the first people to use this phone before it comes out. The verdict? It is a very good phone. Well built, solid in the hand, a good, but small keyboard, a great screen, and Windows Mobile is actually pretty quick on this device. While I don't really like WM, it actually complements the device. The phone looks like the Pre on the outside, sleek and rounded, and this phone has a volume rocker, a WiFi switch, a ringer switch, a mini-USB port, and a 3.5 millimeter standard headphone jack. The Pro also has Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, Office Mobile, and a great set of PIM apps. It also has a touchscreen at a resolution of 320x320. And a 3.2 Megapixel Camera. It is rumored to sell around $250 with a two year contract. I also tried out the Samsung Omnia and the Blackberry Strom. I would wait on those two, but not on the Pro. If I was going to wait on the Pro, I would wait to see what the Pre was like. Tell me what you think of the Palm Treo Pro.

Hey everyone. Sorry for the late post, but I was doing something else important. Studdying for my two huge tests tomorrow. Yesterday I posted some news headlines and I didn't giver proper credit. The tech headlines all come from CNet's News.com. If it's different, I'll tell you. But now that I've given credit to whom credit is due, onto today's headline. This one's a little old, but Belkin's CEO has been paying people small amounts of money (under a dollar each) to post good reviews of Belkin products. That's Bad. Also, Mac turns 25. That's good. Barack Obama gets to keep his Blackberry, with encrypted software installed, but he also gets a WM (Windows Mobile) Device call the Sectera Edge, for secure email and voice, but you already know how I feel about that. And Microsoft is cutting 5,000 jobs. And now, it's time for.......the .......

DAILY RANT

So I know a guy who just bought an used Iphone 3G and is going to unlock the phone to work on T-Mobile first off, let me state that I don't believe in unlocking devices unless there is more power to be used, like the PSP, which I have unlocked. I especially don't advise unlocking anything under warranty, because it voids the warranty. (By the way, the PSP is like 3 years past warranty, and I hardly ever use it anyway.) This person tells me: "I know that the Iphone will work on T-Mobile's 3G because I know a guy who has that on his phone already. He can unlock the phone for 25 bucks, and no worries." Now I could be wrong here, but the T-Mobile 3G network and the Iphone 3G don't mix. What I mean is the T-Mobile 3G network uses the 1700 spectrum for Downloads adn the 2100 spectrum for upload. AT&T 3G network uses the 850 spectrum for download and the 2100 spectrum for upload. And why would Apple spend more money to put extra radios in the phone that the phone doesn't use? Well the correct answer is...they don't! the Iphone only has 850, 1900, and 2100 radios in the phone. And you can't switch that. So, you may ask yourself, "Hey, can you use the 2100 radio for 3G uploads and then regular edge for downloads?" Well, to my understanding, no. It's all or none, my friends. And also, unlocking the Iphone is much different then a regular phone. Especially with the Iphone 3G. To my knowledge, you have to download like 3 programs. Change some code, and how the Iphone interacts with the computer, and then use the programs. My friends knows a man who can do this. I don't doubt that. What I also don't doubt is the possibility that this man is conning my friend out of 30 dollars in addition to the 300 he spent for the phone itself. And that's just wrong. Now, I could be wrong adn I could see my friend tomorrow using an Iphone on a T-Mobile 3G network. Or I could see the face of a guy who spent $300 to use a phone that is now much slower to use. And even I don't think the satisfaction of saying "I told you so" will fix the bad feeling I will have in my stomach.....oh wait, yes it will. My four half pennies.

No regular news tonight except for New York gets a new senator on Friday. I have no idea who it is.

Screw the rules. New rule. 1 blog a day, in the afternoon. it's almost 4:00 PM and I have nothing to do, so I'm blogging now. I hope there's no problem there. So now on to today's news. AMD sold it's handheld division. They're getting shelled. Too bad, a processor is a processor, and they're going down. Rumor has it that Google is going to open a new service called Web Drive, presumably a virtual on-line storage space. Rumor also has it that that the new G2 phone, slated to come out some time in May, is smaller, thinner then the G1 and has no real keyboard. Pandora is briging back audio ads into their playlists, 15 seconds long each, and Barack Obama has a draft ready to close Guantanamo Bay. Now for the CES review. This is a special Tech Talk with Haub, because it is the first annual CES review. Now, the biggest news from CES is, obviously, that Palm might have saved itself with the Pre. My verdict is yes. It is a great looking phone, and I love the fact that there is a real keyboard, even if it is portrait. Good looking screen, and the gesture area is ingenious! Might need some getting used to though. The best part is the OS. Dubbed WebOS, Palm has some great features, like synergy, which groups all of your contacts from web places, like Facebook, onto your phone. It also has multitasking, a great feature. Other goodies from CES are LG's TVs that have Ethernet port built right in. Nice feature, but if you're wall mounting, don't know how that's gonna work out. Panasonic (I Think) came out with the world's first portable blu-ray player, and Microsoft came out with Windows 7 beta. While I haven't been able to download it yet, my reliable sources tell me that, from his virtual machine with 1 gig of ram, it is a bit sluggish, but a very well-rounded OS. Now for the, drum role please...........Daily Rant!

Today is the first real day of Barack Obama's presidency. Can he keep his Blackberry? I don't see why not. The only thing is that a hacker can use the Blackberry to find where President Obama is. You can do that on any phone, really. Blackberry can make a special phone for Obama, I'm sure. All this talk about his classified e-mails being read and all that garbage can be fixed in this next sentence. Just keep your personal e-mail on the phone. It isn't that hard and if it's anything that classified, why is it being sent over the web anyway? That sort of stuff should be presented in person. I mean really. Is our government that lazy? And not to be cruel or anything, but he isn't the most liked president ever been elected, and I'm not talking about the issues. If someone wanted him dead, he could do it another way. And in big events, people already know where the President is going and when. So the phone is just a big over-exaggeration. My two-cents.

Now for some regular news. Today is the first day of Barack Obama's presidency. The most favorite dog in America is the Labrador Retriever, and the Super Bowl Matchup is Steelers Vs. Cardinals.

Hey everyone. So, I know that I haven't been updating the blog lately, but I have some new rules for you guys to expect, that I will follow for your convenience. A new blog will be released daily at 7:00PM Eastern Time. Or right around then. The Blog will first be a summary of the day's tech news, followed by a crazy rant--of my choosing--and then, if I feel like it, some of the day's regular news. This will be starting tomorrow, January 21, 2009. Thank your for waiting. Lot's o' stuff happening lately. We will start tomorrow with a CES recap. Bye.

 Macs are the coolest computers.  Everyone wants one if they can get one.  Why?  Because they're exclusive, well designed, and intuitive.  Today is the day after Apple's Macworld Keynote, and the day before CES starts.  And in today's calm, I want to look back at why Apple can control the market, and why Microsoft can't.  Apple has great marketing.  Everyone knows the Get-A-Mac ads, and they are unmistakable.  They make the Mac look good, and the PC look bad.  Apple has succsesfully made their products more expensive then they're worth, and no one really cares.  OS X is a great operating system, and no one can match some of its intuitive features, like expose and spaces.  Probably the biggest thing is the exclusivity.  If you have a Mac, you're cool.  You have the best thing every made, and no one can touch you.  That is why they are becoming so popular.  Microsoft is so big, it's run-of-the-mill.  No one cares.  Yes, it's the best for gaming and productivity, but if you have a Mac, you are different.  People want to be different.  They are also completely connected.  That is the same for Itunes and Ipods until yesterday.  If you bought a song on Itunes, you needed and Ipod.  Apple cornered the market.  They are successful in making people think they need these things, and that is why Apple is popular.

Today was the last Apple Keynote at Macworld, and they went out with a bang. We all knew what was going to happen with the rumors floating around, but they are welcome updates. ILife '09 brings a much needed update to IMovie, Iwork.com is Google Docs for Apple (and it's free for now!) and of course, Itunes is now DRM-free. Thank you for that, my friends at Apple. Now I can download my music in peace, even though you could get rid of DRM by burning the songs to a CD and ripping them back as MP3s, that step has now been eliminated. Good by start-up Bopaboo, you are no longer needed, and all songs will be transferring over to DRM free music in the second quarter of 2009. You can transfer most of your protected sond to unprotected songs for $.30 per song and $.60 of a music video. Movies and TV shows are still protected, but that's OK for now. 17" Macbook Pro Unibody, with a matte screen option, although it costs $50. It also has 8 hours (!) of battery life, but the battery is not user replaceable. Some Give and Take there. No new Mac Mini, and I am thinking that is a dying product if we see no new update in the next moths until June. If no updates, it is as good as dead. My opinion. What's yours? comment below!

Hello, to all. This is the first post of 2009 and it is all about changes. What will happen, what will not happen. What we want to happen. To start us off, I'd like to say that Tech Talk With Haub Blog will take off because I know that everyone who reads this will tell everyone to go to this website. Now that that's over with, here are the top five tech predictions for 2009:

1. The Portable GPS dies. Sorry, but Garmin is the only one of you companies to stay alive because they are making a phone. Smartphones have GPS's in them, and in most cases they are better because they are updated more often and have cool features, which justifies the monthly cost of their service. So sorry GPS, you have the same fate as HD-DVD--death.

2. Windows 7 will be the perfect Vista. Sorry Mac fans (myself included), but Microsoft is gonna get it right this time, luck number 7 (Actually it's 9 if you count Windows 3 and 3.1, but whatever). Simple name, same experience as Vista (that's a good thing, yeah I know) no driver problems, faster bootup and shutdown, better UAC (that's a biggie), better management of all system components, and an overall better OS. Windows 7 will be then next Windows 95; revolutionary.

3. Google Android will surpass the Apple Iphone's Slim OS X as the most widely used OS in North America (not the world, which is controlled by Nokia's Symbian). So many phones are coming out with Android on them in 2009, that there is no way this doesn't happen. Sorry Apple.

4. Apple is going to make something really..................BAD. I know, I know, you will all scold me in your comments, but the company that can do no wrong has been getting some bad publicity lately, and they will do something stupid, and bring back thoughts of the Newton, and when they had fired Steve Jobs and not brought him back.

5. Palm will go out of business, OR (that's a big or) hit the big time with Nova. We don't know too much about it yet, but that is the prediction. Short, simple, and to the point.

Now it's your turn. come up with some predictions of your own, agree with mine, agree to disagree with mine, or lambaste me for my stupid ideas, and how I don't deserve to live. It's up to you.