Amazingly,
Palm are releasing another batch of Tungstens. It seems only yesterday they were doing the same thing. (Actually it was
two months ago.) Anyway,
The Register got a scoop by scanning local stores’ websites, which mistakenly posted details of the products before their October 1 release date.
In short, we have two models, the Tungsten T3 and E: the E is a 32MB device containing a “fast” ARM processor. The accompanying photo reveals a Tungsten T-style metal case without that model’s familiar slide mechanism. The T3 contains a 400MHz Intel XScale CPU, 64MB of RAM, Palm OS 5.2.1, Bluetooth and the kind of software bundle you’d expect from such a PDA. It does have a slider mechanism, to cover the Graffiti area, but with this Tungsten T, the applications buttons are curved around the central, oval navigator button. Prices? About $550 for the T3 and the E for about $280, in the UK at least.
The site doesn’t mention the Zire 21, the third PDA Palm is expected to launch next week. It’s possible the company’s UK wing is not releasing the 21 just yet, preferring to focus instead on the enterprise/executive-oriented products. Certainly details of next week’s local product announcement suggest such a high-end focus.
I know this is awful of me, but I can’t get excited about all this new stuff. I’m happy with my Tungsten T, and I can’t understand the need to sell new models every couple of months. Or am I missing something? Certainly the Pocket PC seems to be overshadowed by all this publicity. Perhaps that’s the point. Push out new models all the time so anyone who is thinking of swapping out their PDA has a brand new, just off the designer’s couch unit to go for. Are we that fickle? Probably.
Nokia are blurring the line between phone and other kinds of accessory with their newest releases. Gizmodo reports on a bunch of new products, including the 7600 Imaging Phone (which is a WCDMA/GSM phone with a 65,000 color display, Bluetooth, and a built-in digital camera), and a new line of “Imagewear” products for displaying and viewing digital photos, including two medallions with tiny LCD screens, two digital picture frames, and a digital photo kaleidoscope. 
A longish piece from Slate on our old friends RFIDs — Radio Frequency Identification Devices — which are feared and admired for their ability to hold all sorts of data about what you’re doing, buying, washing or eating. Earlier this month Hitachi announced the release of a tiny wireless ID chip that can be “easily embedded in bank notes.”
From Estonia comes news that the guys behind file-swapping legend Kazaa are launching an Internet phone service they claim could put traditional phone companies out of business. AP says the service, called Skype, purports to offer free, unlimited phone service between users with sound quality near to existing phone lines.
For file searching and indexing fans, X1 is about to release version 3.0 (probably on Monday). And it’s not going to be in a free version anymore. This from Mark Goodstein: “Version 2.0 will remain free (the non-Pro version of the product) but there will no longer be a free component of version 3.0. We decided we were simply giving away too much (and we have starving children and pets, as a result). So if you’ve never paid for X1 and don’t intend to, don’t upgrade to version 3.0, just stay with version 2.0.”