Hawkins Interview with Palm's Foleo Team
Palm has posted a podcast audio interview with Jeff Hawkins on the official Palm blog. The interview, concerning all things Foleo and conducted with an unnamed female interviewer, is surprisingly lengthy but does not get into the nitty-gritty technical points many long-term Palm afficionados are longing for. Overall, Hawkins' talk touches on the same issues touched upon at the D: All Things Digital conference on May 30th but is nevertheless worth listening to as he illustrates how this product is decidedly not a laptop or desktop PC replacement.
Hawkins' enthusiasm for the product continues to be on display throughout the interview as he predicts a revolution in peoples' work habits with the combination of a Foleo plus a connected smartphone such as the Treo.
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RE: Does he make sense?
But that's JMO.
Pat Horne
FOOLeo biotchslapped to DEATH by ASUS Eee PC
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/asus-new-eee-pc-701-joins-the-laptop-lite-fray-with-a-bang/
$199 for model with 4 GB Flash hard drive
$299 for model with 8 GB Flash hard drive
Linux OS, but will support Windows XP install
VS.
FOOLeo:
- 128 MB RAM
- PalmLinux
- Not Windows compatible
- $599 ("$499 after initial mail in rebate")
In 2006, the Motorola Q shocked Palm with its low price and forced Palm to rethink its Treo pricepoints. The FOOLeo isn't even out yet and the competition has already savagely undercut Palm on pricing. Users can get 3 Eee PC for the price of ONE FOOLeo, for fcuks sake! W T F!!! Even the VIA NanoBook just got pwned by ASUS. At $199 and less than 2 pounds, ASUS has reached the sweet spot for impulse buyers, students, computer-phobic newbies, etc. If they get these things into Wal-Marts and Target stores, prepare for a revolution in the computer industry - for $199 these things can do 90% of the things that the average user does on their laptops. This device will be picked up for use as a near-disposeable laptop that can be carried anywhere for Internet surfing, email and document writing, Skype, etc. Install Windows, Microsoft SyncToy or Migo, back up files to an 8 GB SD card or USB Flash drive and feel free to take this microlaptop to places you would never take a $2000 Sony VAIO or Fujitsu Lifebook for fear of them being stolen. Too bad they don't offer an option for a Windows version for $50 more...
I Pity the FOOLeo. Once people see what $199 can buy, the $599 FOOLeo is going to have to have its price immediately cut to $299 (or "$399 plus $100 rebate" if they insist on playing games) if Palm hopes to sell ANY FOOLeos this year.
Can someone remind me again what Palm is doing introducing the FOOLeo in mid 2007?
TVoR
RE: Does he make sense?
> prepare for a revolution in the computer industry - for $199
> these things can do 90% of the things that the average user
> does on their laptops...
How strange - I was just reminded by your post that I =do= want a cheap, carry around the house and to the pool laptop to do JUST surfing/email, pretty much.
And $200-$300 for a few hours in-between charges does fit that bill!
Hmmm...where's that credit card...
RE: Does he make sense?
> rebate" if they insist on playing games)...
That is not a game - it is HIGH-ROI Marketing:
-- http://www.google.com/search?q=rebate+scam
It would be interesting to see what percent of potential PALM rebates actually occur. Here's a related-link about Verizon and rebates (from the above search):
-- http://www.slate.com/id/2084210/
RE: Does he make sense?
seriously?
I don't think the Foleo is necessarily a bad device or doomed to failure, but I do think it was absolutely the wrong time for Palm to be focussing on this thing instead of building out their Treo line.
RE: seriously?
I agree. The problem with the Treo is that it doesn't sell. It is a very expensive device consisting of mediocre and buggy technology packed in a several year old design. I don't think the Foleo will sell more Treos, so why they market the Foleo as a Treo companion is very strange. I believe in the Foleo concept, but it has to be marketed as a phone campanion, this means has to work with Symbian, RIM, Linux and Microsoft, certainly not PalmOS Treos.
RE: seriously?
Someone somewhere around here just mentioned a 19" screen.
Not a problem, necessarily.
About 3 or 4 years ago I mentioned (somewhere) a "component system" of communicating devices (ala a stereo system where you can mix and match components that you purchased separately). Still seems doable.
And seems doable with the Fooleo "concept".
RE: seriously?
Uh, what? At about 4pm today Colligen will read out loud how many gazillions they sold recently. The Treo is Palm's one-trick-pony these days. Yes, the vultures are beginning to circle b/c of the obvious oncoming competition from the phone giants + Palm's unwillingness to produce technically compelling upgrades. But Treos obviously still have great name recognition and currently ship well. It's the near future that has Palm looking like a buyout target.
*why they market the Foleo as a Treo companion is very strange.*
They really don't market it as a "Treo" companion. It's called "mobile companion" and JH has repeatedly said that Palm will try to accommodate as many phones as possible. Your list is a very good one that I would expect to see. POS+Linux, WinMob, Symbian, & RIM.
*I do think it was absolutely the wrong time for Palm to be focussing on this thing instead of building out their Treo line.*
I disagree for a couple of reasons.
First, "now" is not the time that Palm is focusing on this. Obviously, this kind of paradigm shift has taken the past few years behind the scenes. The price has been paid to a large degree b/c the first device is about to hit the shelves soon. Palm obviously shot itself in the foot with the horrible decision to spin off it's OS back when. The ramifications of that and the Palmsource collapse are obviously major factors in Palm's pathetic product roadmap since the Treo 650. It's been a 15mph school zone, not an interstate.
Also, I hope hope hope that Foleo's resources and brainpower contributed to that somewhat. In other words, I hope the worst of it is over and now the Treos can improve at a decent rate while the Foleo deployment and development builds steam. It looks like the unconnected PDA is finished, so Palm has it's eggs in two baskets. But the focus began a looong time ago in tech terms.
Second, next year would certainly be no better. Competition in the Smartfone market will be even greater for the Treos and the cry would be "not right now" then too. I don't know if Palm can pull off this companion vision or not, but I say this. They have to do something, and doing a features battle with Samsung, Nokia, SE, HTC & RIM is nothing more than a slow painful death. Palm knows that and so does the dark side. Foleo is something nobody else is doing. I mean nobody. That fact may be a blessing or a curse as we'll see. But, Palm is small. Small can innovate in a way that giants find difficult. Hawkins is obviously a successful visionary. Innovating is Palm's only chance for survival. The sooner the better too. Will they pull it off? ... story at 11. :-o
Pat Horne
RE: seriously?
Yes, LifeDrive One was pure genius.
RE: seriously?
It just seems odd for a device like Foleo to go after the smallest market segment available, to even consider it, at least from a marketing point of view. But then, maybe it is so generic that there is no major work to extend the Foleo to other operating systems?
RE: seriously?
Pat Horne
RE: seriously?
Dude, that's just lame. Counting non-querty Symbian 60-series as "smartphones" comparable with the Treo is either a demonstration of your naivete or your agenda.
(1) Symbian can't sell zip in the US. But Treo's sell very, very well.
(2) Non-querty series-60 phones are pretty and all, but hardly functionally comparable to a Treo in real life.
The treo is capable of acting as a laptop replacement, with massive amounts of software and hardware available. It's a hugely successful platform, not a merely a ridiculously expensive yet pretty phone like the non-querty series-60 gadgets. I drive to a client, using the Treo as GPS, switiching between greek lessons on MP3 and concalls on speakerphone. I sync over the air with my home PC running Outlook, pull over, edit some powerpoint slides and send them on by email to a colleague. It just works.
Symbian? Dude, really.
------
"People who like M$ products tend to be insecure crowd-following newbies lacking in experience and imagination."
RE: seriously?
The reality is that the trend in smartphones has never been QWERTY, it's something RIM introduced with their email-only gadgets, and mainly in the US. Then the Treo came with QWERTY phone, but as much as I like Palm devices it is a large stretch to call the Treo a success by any standard compared with Symbian devices.
All the new top of the line smartphones does not have QWERTY (iPhone, SE W960, Nokia N95, HTCs and so on). Still - SE, Nokia and HTC also have smartphones with QWERTY, but they are mainly marketed as business phones aiming for the same small market segment as RIM is aiming at.
Clearly, there is a place for the Foleo here.
Right Idea, Wrong Implementation
Portable devices, that allow me to carry around all my data, have one flaw, I/O. Both the screen and the keyboard are too small.
The solution is not another device to carry around. The solution is having a large screen and keyboard available when I get to where I'm going.
I get to work, dock my portable, and use the full sized screen and keyboard. I take my portable when I leave work and dock it when I get home.
Dock it in my dorm room. And in the classroom. And in my bedroom when I'm home during breaks.
I could dock it in my hotel room. I could dock it in internet cafes. I could dock it a a friends house. I could dock it in my car. Airplanes, trains, buses, anywhere there is a compatible dock I can dock it.
And thus it is if I have a full sized computer where ever I go. Albeit not always while I'm going there.
My data and software are portable. With an interface suitable to portable interaction. Small keyboard, stylus, multi-touch, whatever. And thus always available.
Foleo is both too small and too big. It is the wrong solution.
RE: Right Idea, Wrong Implementation
Meta Pad: IBM's Prototype Modular Computer
IBM researchers have invented a prototype 9-ounce portable computing device that could pave the way for a new set of functionality in the handheld space. It can transform in seconds into a handheld, desktop, laptop, tablet or wearable computer, without having to be rebooted.
http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/pr.nsf/pages/rsc.metapad.html
RE: Right Idea, Wrong Implementation
Perhaps a bit before it's time, it sure looks "big" and clunky.
But probably doable today.
RE: Right Idea, Wrong Implementation
Wow - there it is - the component computer system.
Cool.
Right Idea...5 years too late
KAY
RE: Right Idea...5 years too late
Problem is that docking stations are not everywhere, and often they don't belong to you so you are not allowed to use them.
Docks are not mobile.
If you are camping, on a picnic, at a camp, at home, in a car, at a hotel, at work, in the living room, ON THE TOILET! Anywhere! the Foleo can be brought AND be connected via its Wifi OR the Treo's cell radio.
No one is saying the Foleo is to be squeezed like a prison weight into your pocket.
It is a physical extention to your future home, truly personal computer, the smartphone.
For me personally, I see it as being the ultimate, most optimized, most efficient, most pleasant way to get to my personal data and entertainment F A S T.
Of course laptops do everything, the point is the Foleo does things better, from a pragmatic real life human experience perspective.
RE: Right Idea...5 years too late
So put them everywhere. And make them usable by anyone.
I choose hotels the offer in room net access. More and more are doing so these days.
I choose cafes and restaurants that offer wifi. Popping up everywhere (even a local gas station offers free wifi!).
Hotels can offer them. Airlines and airports could offer them. Colleges could have them in dorms, lecture halls, classrooms, labs, student unions, ...
Perhaps you've been in a hotel with a business center. you know, computers, printers, net access available for anyone to use. The Western Wetherill Inn, in Kayenta, Arizona, the middle of nowhere, has a computer and printer for guest use. I've used it.
Maybe you've seen similar setups in airports, train and bus stations.
"Docks are not mobile."
Firm grasp of the obvious there kiddo ...
They are not meant to be. Small and portable AND big and stationary.
"If you are camping, on a picnic, at a camp, at home, in a car, at a hotel, at work, in the living room, ON THE TOILET!"
If I'm camping I not gonna want to drag a Foleo with me. Likewise if I'm at a camp. Or at a picnic. Something like an iPhone would suit my needs much better then a wanna be laptop.
At home, at work, or in a hotel I can have a docking station. In a car a dock linked into the GPS and entertainment system, just add a keyboard.
I do other things on the toilet. But I suppose a docking station could be set up there. I've been in hotels with ethernet jacks in the bathroom so why not a docking station?
As to Foleo, for me, personally, I see it as the last gasp of a dying company.
Sad, very sad. Palm coulda been a contender.
MevetS
RE: Right Idea...5 years too late
So put them everywhere. And make them usable by anyone.
No, just create web-accessible apps that save data to folders that sync with the FOOLeo or Treo. That way anyone with access to an Internet-connected desktop/laptop can create files for their mobile devices.
RE: Right Idea...5 years too late
Nope. Try again. Not everywhere I want to use my data will be connected to the internet. Nor am I just trying to get files on my portable device. I want to view my docs on a large screen. I want a full size keyboard. I just don't want to carry them around. Nor do I want a half assed thing like Fooleo.
I have a cabin in the country. No internet. I can carry my portable device, with all my data, with me when I go there. Drop it in the dock. And I'm not force to use a mini screen or a chicklet keyboard.
Note that the dock could be a full computer. Or it could be a Fooleo class device done right (screen, keyboard, mouse, with the portable device providing the processing power).
The key idea is that the portable device is truly portable (not pseudo portable like Fooleo) and the non-portable device is full size. A phone or PDA size device that I can drop in my pocket.
MevetS
Internet apps + apps running off USB Flash drives = perfection.
Nope. Try again. Not everywhere I want to use my data will be connected to the internet. Nor am I just trying to get files on my portable device. I want to view my docs on a large screen. I want a full size keyboard. I just don't want to carry them around. Nor do I want a half assed thing like Fooleo.
http://www.palminfocenter.com/comments/9472/#134061
The FOOLeo hardware is a joke. Give us online syncing, Palm.
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 6/20/2007 11:17:35 AM #
"If my PDA/smartphone had 8 or more gigs of storage, the external hard drive would be gone. I'd sync my data at the end of a work day onto my handheld, take it home in my pocket, "link" up with my "Foleo" (perhaps some later generation device), and have something that much more closely resembles what I was looking for when I bought the second laptop"
SOLUTION:
http://store.migosoftware.com/product.php?productid=16135&SourceId=&cat=0&page=1
http://www.kingston.com/flash/dt_IIplusmigo.asp
********************************************************************************
As I've posted before, the true "innovation" in the FOOLeo concept would only be if Palm has figured out wireless syncing between smartphones and online servers. Palm needs to offer online apps that can be used via any Internet-connected computer, allowing app data to be saved online + automatically synced to a user's smartphone (or ANY other device, for that matter, including a FOOLeo). Even better would be to offer a full-featured suite of apps stored on a USB Flash drive that would allow the apps to be run temporarily (+ without any traces being left behind) on a host computer + then would automatically upload file changes to a user's personal space on Palm's server, save the data to the USB Flash drive + wirelessly update the smartphone/other devices in the user's profile.
THAT is the TVoR vision of the future:
1) Full-featured apps always accessible via either web apps or on a USB Flash drive.
2) Automatic saving/syncing of data to online server, smartphone, +/- USB Flash drive, and any other wirelessly connected device capable of communicating with a user's online storage folder.
The key is the software governing the data transfers. Hardware and OS become unimportant.
Wireless data syncing is so much more a significant idea in next-generation computing that Hawkins must be embarassed pimping this pathetic little FOOLeo like a played-out ho. Palm's apparent failure to realize Hawkins' vision is shaping up to be a spectacular failure. This would mark the third time the company has taken one of his brilliant ideas and failed to execute, leaving the door wide open for the competition to cash in on his ideas. Well done, Palm.
TVoR
How to get a FOOLeo equivalent for $24. SHOCKER!!!
Control your Treo from your desktop, use desktop to enter data into Treo... hmmmm...
RE: Right Idea...5 years too late
If the smartphone is the "PC", it makes a lot of sense to me to have the data on that, not to carry around an additional "dumb" storage device that requires additional hardware if the data is to be accessed by the user. I can't even look at the data on a USB drive without connecting "it" (or its data) into something else. It isn't "mobile computing" if have to use another machine that I don't carry with me to minimally access my data.
Ok, maybe it's time for me to just give up on asking this question. It's your "vision"; have it however you like. However, in my vision I want a mobile PC (preferably with voice) that carries all my data, and lets me minimally access that data (and preferably edit it as well) in a reasonable format (i.e. large enough screen). It would also allow me to sync my data onto the web and/or with my other "base" devices (my desktop, laptop, or some other terminal device). I want to be able to work with the data on the mobile. I want to be able to pair it with my other devices so that data change anywhere is reflected everywhere. If what you are suggesting is included on the smartphone (the ability to run apps on a third-party device without leaving a trace), then all the better.
Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/
TVoR lets the cat out of the bag: More hints of the FUTURE...
The USB flash drive isn't mandatory - it would just be a convenient way of temporarily loading an environment of custom applications onto a host computer. Yes, the apps could instead be strictly Web-based, but that means an Internet connection would be mandatory in order to be able to work on a bigger screen. The apps could also reside on the (PalmLinux) Treo and then be accessed when connected to the host computer with a USB cable. If the Treo app is able to use PdaReach-like linking to the host computer and is (ideally) able to scale the Treo app up to fit the host computer's screen then all you would ever need is literally just your Treo and a USB cable. (Or even leave the cable at home if the process works over Wi-Fi.)
MotionApps has an application theat does basically this (scales to the host computer's screen size when the Treo is connected via USB or Wi-Fi) and hints at the Treo's future:
http://www.motionapps.com/mexpenses/_treo700p.jsp
This is an absolutely BRILLIANT concept, and plays perfectly into Hawkins' vision of the Treo as the PC of the future: apps and data residing on the Treo, but ALWAYS accessible from ANY computer.
I believe Palm intends to release a PalmLinux Treo with similar functionality . But first they need to ensure something like POSE works reliably under PalmLinux, so that legacy PalmOS apps are still supported. Then we'll see a series of PalmLinux apps that work both on the Treo and on a desktop/laptop screen when the Treo is connected. The biggest problem in all this is the SPEED at which Palm's software development has moved. If only these concepts had been ready for release 1 or 2 years ago...
TVoR
Hawkins' interview.
He is right on the money.
- Instant on (not seconds like Suspend-mode)
- Ultra-compact (not 'small but still larger than Foleo laptops).
- Grab-n-Go. Feel compelled to use more often because it has a '0 harassment' factor (not a 1 or 2 factor for lappies).
- Light enough to constantly carry in backpack, briefcase, purse.
Something no one is talking about...
TOTAL SILENCE.
I actually switched to laptops because I was going crazy with desktop noises.
Foleo? 100% silent. No moving parts.
Come on guys, we have to give it to him. If we really be honest here and think about it, we all know we are frustrated with semi-mobile laptops, weights, noise, speed, complexity, instantness.
I know many of you are like in my in that we have often not worked on something or played with something because it was too long to load, find or whatever.
I am anxious to order a Foleo.
RE: Hawkins' interview.
Come on guys, we have to give it to him. If we really be honest here and think about it, we all know we are frustrated with semi-mobile laptops, weights, noise, speed, complexity, instantness.
Uhm... actually, we don't, and I'm not.
The only person the folio will appeal to is non-laptop users. Laptop users will never sacrifice the capability of a desktop OS. The question is, will people that currently travel without a laptop see value in the Foleo? I am thinking no, but we'll have to wait until it launches.
RE: Hawkins' damage control
Vampy, are you well? Do you not realize that the FOOLeo that was announced is the equivalent of an alpha release? Palm is putting this "CRAPTOP" out because they can't wait on development any longer and are hoping that third party developers will complete the work that Palm's own codemonkeys were incapable of finishing. Get a clue.
- Instant on (not seconds like Suspend-mode)
Have you ever used a laptop? By the time you sit down and get ready to type it's out of suspend and ready to use. Instant-on is useful for PDAs where you are mainly ACCESSING data on the go, while standing/walking/etc. The FOOLeo will be used like a regular laptop - sitting down and ENTERING data. A 2 or 3 second advantage in starting a FOOLeo is meaningless. Think about it.
- Ultra-compact (not 'small but still larger than Foleo laptops).
??? Real Windows UMPC and microlaptops are available in sizes the same as, smaller than and bigger than the FOOLeo. And they aren't crippled by a lack of useful software.
Compare an IBM X60 to the FOOLeo: http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/thinkpad/3dtours/x60/demo.html
Compare a Fujitsu P1610 to the FOOLeo:
http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=P1610
People that need REAL computing power will choose a REAL computer. The FOOLeo is a toy akin to the first two (alpha + beta) versions of Nokia's Internet tablet.
- Grab-n-Go. Feel compelled to use more often because it has a '0 harassment' factor (not a 1 or 2 factor for lappies).
- Light enough to constantly carry in backpack, briefcase, purse.
B.S. Real Windows portables are available that are smaller + lighter than the FOOLeo. Plus they actually have REAL software that allows users to do REAL work. "Harassment" is Palm not providing any software for a $500 device that should really sell for $300.
Something no one is talking about...
TOTAL SILENCE.
I actually switched to laptops because I was going crazy with desktop noises.
Foleo? 100% silent. No moving parts.
Now you're REALLY reaching for ways to rationalize the FOOLeo. I seriously doubt noise will be an issue for 99.99% of users. Try again.
Come on guys, we have to give it to him. If we really be honest here and think about it, we all know we are frustrated with semi-mobile laptops, weights, noise, speed, complexity, instantness.
I know many of you are like in my in that we have often not worked on something or played with something because it was too long to load, find or whatever.
I am anxious to order a Foleo.
You are so wrong it's actually kind of pathetic. Frustrating will be how FOOLeo victims feel once they get hit with all of its software limitations and then realize they could have bought a Real Wimdows laptop for the same price. If you order a FOOLeo before trying it out in person (or at least seeing a few impartial reviews) you are a FOOL(eo).
TVoR
P.S. When you're posting a new thread it would be nice if you put all your thoughts into a single post rather than a stream of consciousness of 50 follow up posts.
RE: Hawkins' interview.
The only person the folio will appeal to is non-laptop users.
I really think this is an exaggeration. I own two laptops, one at work and one at home. The hassle of transporting a laptop back and forth every day coupled with the relative fragility of a fairly expensive machine resulted in my decision to buy the second one for home use. I'm still a bit "old-school", so my data travels with me in the form of a small USB hard drive. (I might eventually shell out the big bucks for a big enough flash drive, but the hard drive is small enough and convenient enough for now.)
I will readily admit that the Folio as I currently understand it (i.e. as I currently understand the specs and features and probable bundled software) is not the device I am looking for. BUT, it could easily be. It would take very little change for it to be the device I was looking for when I bought my second laptop. (Unfortunately asking for "very little change" from Palm is probably a useless endeavor.)
Instead I have a small 12" laptop that is still too heavy (in spite of it's 4 lbs. weight), too bulky, too bloated (primarily if I boot into the Windows partition; Ubuntu Linux is better, but still too much OS overhead), and too hot. How many of these issues would a properly configured/spec'ed Foleo take care of for me? Yeah, I know that there are "microlaptops" that come close to doing all of that, but in almost every case there is some "deal killer" that keeps me from seriously considering them (undersized keyboard, oversized cost, same old bloat, etc.)
My point isn't that the Foleo is "right" for me right now, only that it does "appeal" to me (in the sense that I can imagine how it could be "right" for me). I can also imagine how it might appeal to other laptop owners even in its current configuration. If my PDA/smartphone had 8 or more gigs of storage, the external hard drive would be gone. I'd sync my data at the end of a work day onto my handheld, take it home in my pocket, "link" up with my "Foleo" (perhaps some later generation device), and have something that much more closely resembles what I was looking for when I bought the second laptop.
So I've got two laptops, and this "type of" thing still appeals to me. They do need to spec it properly, include the "minimum" of software (particularly a rich web experience, a full PIM suite and support for "office" documents). Then "appeal" would probably graduate to "desire". And if they'd finally unplug their collective ears and start listening to the host of people who have been clamoring forever for a "Treo 480" (http://www.palminfocenter.com/comments/9470/#133892), they just might sell me two devices!
(Palm, can you hear me now?!!!)
Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/
RE: Hawkins' interview.
VL, I think you need to take a deep breath and slow down (as others have suggested). My post was not meant in any way to be an "encouragement" to anyone to go right out and pick up the Foleo the moment it hits the streets. Although I can imagine people who might really want this "first generation" device, I not at all convinced you are one of them. With how quickly you went from vowing to leave Palm forever over this failure of a product to believing that the Foleo is "the ultimate, most optimized, most efficient, most pleasant way to get to my personal data and entertainment F A S T", I'm afraid that less then 48 hours from the time you start using one you'll be back here bemoaning all of the limitations you didn't realize it had.
From everything I've seen so far, this Foleo is not being designed to be "the ultimate, most optimized, most efficient, most pleasant way to get to my personal data and entertainment F A S T." If that is what you expect, I'm afraid it will be nothing more than a terrible disappointment.
Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/
The FOOLeo hardware is a joke. Give us online syncing, Palm.
SOLUTION:
http://store.migosoftware.com/product.php?productid=16135&SourceId=&cat=0&page=1
http://www.kingston.com/flash/dt_IIplusmigo.asp
********************************************************************************
As I've posted before, the true "innovation" in the FOOLeo concept would only be if Palm has figured out wireless syncing between smartphones and online servers. Palm needs to offer online apps that can be used via any Internet-connected computer, allowing app data to be saved online + automatically synced to a user's smartphone (or ANY other device, for that matter, including a FOOLeo). Even better would be to offer a full-featured suite of apps stored on a USB Flash drive that would allow the apps to be run temporarily (+ without any traces being left behind) on a host computer + then would automatically upload file changes to a user's personal space on Palm's server, save the data to the USB Flash drive + wirelessly update the smartphone/other devices in the user's profile.
THAT is the TVoR vision of the future:
1) Full-featured apps always accessible via either web apps or on a USB Flash drive.
2) Automatic saving/syncing of data to online server, smartphone, +/- USB Flash drive, and any other wirelessly connected device capable of communicating with a user's online storage folder.
The key is the software governing the data transfers. Hardware and OS become unimportant.
Wireless data syncing is so much more a significant idea in next-generation computing that Hawkins must be embarassed pimping this pathetic little FOOLeo like a played-out ho. Palm's apparent failure to realize Hawkins' vision is shaping up to be a spectacular failure. This would mark the third time the company has taken one of his brilliant ideas and failed to execute, leaving the door wide open for the competition to cash in on his ideas. Well done, Palm.
TVoR
P.S. Feel free to plagiarize me on your stupid blog, Beersy.
RE: Hawkins' interview.
Back to today. The Kingston is good, but not yet large enough to handle all my data (I've got a four gig flash drive, but that isn't big enough; currently I need eight or more).
The MigoSync is quite intriguing, particularly because is allows for different hardware options. I'm not sure if I want that "much" sync, but it looks like it is a good option. I'm just using MS's SyncToy at the moment, so the work laptop and the external hard drive get synchronised and the laptop at home just accesses the external drive's files directly. It's free and simple to use. My guess is that it might even do quite a bit more than I'm currently asking from it.
Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/
RE: Hawkins' interview.
Then I got a 20gb in '99 and was able to breathe easier before the 45gb I got in '00 really made things easier and I haven't looked back since.
Right now 4gb on a single card in a Treo/PDA is the baseline for what I can comfortably "live with" as far as media/files/apps/TomTom map data. 8gb would be a lot nicer and I could probably handle everything imaginable other than my huge music collection with 16gb. Ideally, I'd be able to carry around my entire music collection at reasonable bitrates (~120gb) with room to spare for all of the mundane stuff.
Treos, iPhones, and everthing else on the market are still in their infancy with sub-8gb capacities, whether internal or on a removable card(s). At least as far as I'm concerned, we won't start having mobile "life" drives until affordable flash capacities hit 30gb+ and then, ideally, 100gb+.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: Hawkins' interview.
Feel free to plagiarize me on your stupid blog, Beersy.
Gosh, thanks, "Michelle" a.k.a "PalmDiva." I hope you'll keep stopping by, sweetheart! ;)
I like the thumbdrive vision except that, like Ron, I want the flash memory to be inside my smartphone where I can access it without a PC.
The online sync stuff TVoR is talking about is not the future. It's the present. It's done, it's carrier grade, it runs on all the Treos and it's free open source software. If you want it, just go get it: http://www.funambol.com. Helio apparently liked it enough that it's the foundation for the contact sync capabilities of the Ocean and all their future handsets.
And I second the motion that VampireLestat needs to take a cold shower. He's getting his expectations on the first version of Foleo way too high right now which means he'll only be back here cursing again in a few months. Vamp: I hate to say this, but I really don't think Foleo is aimed at uber-enthusiast power users like yourself. Not right out of the gate. Initially, I expect it will be aimed at doing just a couple of things well: email and office docs. Try to temper your enthusiasm (which I share) with a good dose of realism and remember that the Palm PDA you use today wasn't the first one Palm ever released.
David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog
RE: Hawkins' interview.
RE: Hawkins' interview.
Why carry a mobile storage device to transfer data from work to home and vice versa? Try setting up an rsync server on both machines...
Well, for one thing, most offices have firewalls. rsync can work through a firewall if you know what you're doing, but most client offices I've worked in also have the remote shell ports blocked so you have to get a network admin for a special favor that he most definitely does not want to give you.
If you really want to be mobile with your computing environment you learn quickly that the key is to figure out how to do an end-run around the gatekeepers: the IT department, the network admins, and the wireless carrier. It's the way that Foleo lets you work around the carriers' obstruction of dial-up networking that I find particularly clever. I've never been able to get a laptop to connect to the outside world from inside one of my client's buildings: not through ethernet (without a password for the proxy server), not through wifi (without a WPA key), and not by tethering to my phone (without risking monstrous penalties from the carrier). With a Foleo I can do it because it can use the smartphone to send and receive email and just sync to that. I've evaded all the gatekeepers.
David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog
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Does he make sense?
Trying to shrink all this into a Foleo sized package will not work. The CPU, RAM and HD - yes, but at the expense of battery life, heat and money. The screen and sound - no way, it is physically impossible. When peeling off all the things you don't need because you do not have the screen for it, you are left with the Foleo. A small, light, good looking device that does the job, and does it WITH the device you cannot be without - the phone.
This makes perfect sense, period.
Personally I am going to purchase a SE P1i as soon as it comes out (any day now), but I also want a Foleo kind of device. As soon as a Symbian compatible Foleo is ready, I will get it, wether it is made by Palm, SE, Nokia, Samsung, Microsoft or whatever.