plans-interactifs.net

In its announcement of Lu as the president of Microsoft’s online services group, Microsoft said that Brian McAndrews, former CEO of Aquantive, would be leaving Microsoft. McAndrews was seen as the top internal candidate for the post, which came open when Kevin Johnson left to become CEO of Juniper Networks.

Lu will start at Microsoft on January 5 and will report to Steve Ballmer, Microsoft said.

(Credit:
Yahoo)

Lu was at Yahoo for a decade, most recently as vice president of engineering overseeing the company’s search and e-commerce efforts. Before Yahoo, Lu was a researcher at IBM’s Almaden Research Center.

Microsoft’s plan to hire Lu was reported earlier by Dow Jones’ AllThingsD site.

“Brian McAndrews built a world-class business for advertisers and publishers and led the successful integration of Aquantive into Microsoft, setting the foundation for our next phase of growth,” Ballmer said. “While I am sorry to see Brian leave the company, I respect and understand his decision and wish him nothing but the best in the future.”

Qi Lu

Ballmer praised the departing executive in the statement.

Reporting to Lu will be Satya Nadella, who has been heading Microsoft’s search business as well as senior VP Yusuf Mehdi and two new vice presidents–divisional finance head Rik van der Kooi and Scott Howe–who will head advertiser and publisher efforts in the wake of McAndrews’ departure.

Microsoft is indeed hiring former Yahoo executive Qi Lu to run its online services business, but in the process, it is also losing one of its own top advertising executives.

“I am genuinely excited about the opportunities ahead for Microsoft to make an enormous impact on the online industry,” Lu said in a statement. “Microsoft has built a great foundation for its search and advertising technologies and put an amazing team of researchers and engineers in place to drive the next wave of innovation in online services.”

Microsoft said McAndrews “has decided to transition out of Microsoft, and will do so over the next several months, serving in a consultative capacity to Steve Ballmer and Qi Lu during that time.”

Joni’s cloud confusion mirrors current industry bewilderment over cloud computing. Like many other industry initiatives, cloud computing has a number of meanings. Here are a few:

Cloud infrastructure. Remember Exodus and Storage Networks? Cloud infrastructure is a more modern version of these Internet boom icons. AboveNet, Rackspace, and Savvis have been making money on basic hosting services for years, but most large companies still want control of their IT assets and are willing to over-provision to maintain control. Cloud infrastructure also brings up tons of privacy concerns, just ask computing godfather Richard Stallman. This area will also remain small.

Internal clouds. The idea here is to set up an IT service and then chargeback for usage. While the cloud folks equate this to a utility services (i.e. simply plug and receive compute and storage capacity) this too is nothing new. Remember IBM’s “autonomous computing” initiative? We are still a long way away from this type of simplicity.

Cloud processing. To me, this is the foundational notion of cloud computing where businesses can rent MIPS (millions of instructions per second)– a measure of computing capacity– for computationally intense processing tasks. This is very attractive for basic research and should appeal to universities and small companies that can’t afford supercomputers. Nevertheless, this will remain a niche market. On another note, didn’t we call this grid computing a few years ago?

Software as a service. Everyone points to Salesforce.com as a model of success and it truly is. Beyond CRM, there are also plenty of successful SaaS offerings for e-mail, security, payroll, etc. Ten years ago, we called these folks ASPs and MSPs. Some, like Salesforce.com, were wildly successful, but most, like Jamcracker, are either ancient history or barely hanging on. This will be where the action is. Why dedicate capital budget dollars toward on-site e-mail security appliances when Google, Symantec, and Trend Micro can provide this as an operational service?

When discussing cloud computing, I often think of Joni Mitchell’s haunting lyrics from the song, Both Sides Now. In Mitchell’s world, clouds can be wonderful “ice cream castles in the air” or annoying disturbances that “only block the sun.” This duality prompts Mitchell to declare, “It’s clouds illusions I recall, I really don’t know clouds at all.”

Small businesses that lack capital or human resources are extremely likely to purchase cloud services. I certainly see this in the security market where the volume and sophistication of attacks are far too difficult for overwhelmed IT generalists lacking deep security skills. That said however, we’ve been throwing the utility “plug-in-the-wall” analogy around for 15 years. Yes, we’ve made progress toward this goal but the technology and regulatory landscape has also grown more complex in the interim. Are we any closer to this utility nirvana?

Oracle’s Larry Ellison recently scoffed at cloud computing by saying that technology vendors were as fashion conscious as the women’s garment industry. I couldn’t agree more and have no idea why VCs are funding so many fly-by-night cloud companies. Based on my IT industry experience, IT tends to seek help in two areas: tactical high cost operations (think desktop outsourcing), or tasks that demand specialized skills (think security, Web 2.0 expertise, ITIL, etc.). Cloud computing changes the way these services are delivered but little else.

The big problem with chlamydia is that it doesn’t generally come with sores, cankers, or pain. This means that sufferers can carry it for many years entirely undetected.

Whereas in Nottinghamshire, they really feel the need to offer something more meaningful to counteract the after-effects of a night of meaningless sex. Yes, you could be the proud owner of a Fujitsu laptop.

Please, please be careful. Or win an iPod!

According to the Daily Mail, medical professionals believe that 10 percent of those between the ages of 16 and 24 in the U.K. have chlamydia, a nasty bacterial infection that appears to be spreading faster than foreclosures.

If you commit to an inspection in Camden, North London, you could win an
iPod.

Local health authorities are therefore attempting to bribe callow youths into their clinics in order to be tested.

“Unless you change primary behavior and you teach the young that the only safe sex you can have is with someone you know well enough to trust, then treatment is just a sticking plaster solution,” Dr. Trevor Stammers, a spokesman for the Family Education Trust told the Mail.

In Northamptonshire, your prize could be a
Nintendo Wii.

Of course, any number of tech incentives cannot substitute for something rather more simple–a little education.

Still, it’s heartening to know that iPods and Wiis are doing their little bit to help young Brits not pay too high a price for their undisciplined ways. I blame the colonial heritage.

If caught early, chlamydia can be treated with a relatively straightforward course of antibiotics. However, if it is allowed to take up long-term residence, it can lead to infertility and other problems.

Sex is wasted on the young. Or was that youth? I can’t quite remember.

(Credit: CC Steve Punter/Flickr)

In any case, the youth of the United Kingdom seem to be so keen on unprotected sex that local health authorities are offering various tech gadgets as incentives for STD testing.

And what better way to bribe them than with gadgets?

8:30 a.m.
Back now. Not very impressive to have a conference call drop from two leaders in telephony.

I’m talking with some executives in a few minutes. If anyone has questions that didn’t get answered, shoot them my way. Ina (dot) Fried (at) CNET (dot) com.

Nokia and Microsoft are both trying to improve their mobile position amid greater competition from the likes of Apple and Google.

8:29 a.m.
Not sure if its just me or everyone on the phone call. But my line just went silent.

Oistamo said that the deal is not really about the
iPhone.

The two companies said they will start to work immediately to bring Office Mobile as well as Microsoft’s communications and device management software to Nokia’s devices based on the Symbian operating system. Although they hope to eventually get the software running on a range of devices, the partnership will start with Nokia’s business-oriented E-series of phones.

Executives from both companies are about to discuss the deal on a conference call which will be covered live here.

8:23 a.m.
The version of Microsoft Office and other Microsoft software for Symbian will be tailored to those that make sense on their phones, Elop said. Oistamo said that the Microsoft software shouldn’t require more expensive hardware than Nokia was already planning on bringing to market.

8:11 a.m. PT
“Work is already under way,” Microsoft’s Stephen Elop said, adding that the companies expect a mobile version of Microsoft’s Communicator product will be available for Symbian next year.

“Should have been using a Nokia cell phone,” Elop recovered nicely.

We both believe strongly in our respective strategies but we also believe in this partnership, Elop said. “One size does not fit all,” he added.

Microsoft and Nokia–still significant rivals in the cell phone business–said Wednesday that they are deepening their work together.

8:18 a.m.
On to the Q&A portion. The first question is about Apple, naturally.

8:26 a.m.
Will Nokia make Windows Mobile phones? “There are no such plans,” Oistamo said.

8:15 a.m.
Of course Nokia and Microsoft do compete in some areas and will continue to do so, Elop said. Microsoft is committed to Windows Mobile, Elop said, while Oistamo said that Nokia remains committed to Symbian (despite some recent reports to the contrary).

8:32 a.m.
Questioner asks why this shouldn’t be seen as a sign Windows Mobile won’t dominate the smartphone market. “There will continue to be competition around Windows Mobile,” Elop said. “By no means is it an acknowledgment of what you described.”

Nokia is also renewing its license to Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology as part of the deal.

Call ends.

As first reported by CNET News on Tuesday, the partnership means that a mobile version of Office will show up on Nokia cell phones. In the past, the only phones with mobile versions of Office have been those running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system.

8:12 a.m.
“We’re only starting to scratch the surface,” said Nokia Devices executive vice president
Kai Oistamo. “This is much more than putting
Microsoft Office on Nokia smartphones.” The companies are also working on bringing access to SharePoint and other of Microsoft’s tools to Symbian phones.

“This is really about creating a formidable challenge for RIM rather than anyone else,” Oistamo said, referring to BlackBerry maker Research In Motion.

8:34 a.m.
Elop clarifies that this deal relates to full mobile versions of Office–not Microsoft’s browser-based Web applications. And, it will include OneNote (in case anyone was wondering).

The notifications, as well as the site hosted on the subdomain lite.facebook.com, disappeared within minutes. It seems to have been rolled out prematurely by mistake.

• For use on slower connections.

Here’s Facebook’s official explanation: “We are currently testing a simplified alternative to Facebook.com that loads a specific set of features quickly and efficiently. Similar to the Facebook experience you get on your mobile phones, Facebook ‘Lite’ is a fast-loading, simplified version of Facebook that enables people to make comments, accept friend requests, write on people’s walls, and look at photos and status updates.”

Facebook, it appears, was not about to let Google get this week’s award for shadowy new projects. On Tuesday night, a number of users–including Mashable blogger Ben Parr–received notifications that they were beta testers for something called “Facebook Lite.”

Got any guesses, speculation, or conspiracy theories? Comments are welcome.

• For stripped-down computers in developing markets, where the 250,000,000-member Facebook wants to make inroads.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Jason Baptiste)

Blogger Jason Baptiste managed to get screenshots.

Facebook hinted that the “developing markets” answer could be an accurate one. “We are currently testing Facebook Lite in countries where we are seeing lots of new users coming to Facebook for the first time and are looking to start off with a more simple experience,” the statement from Facebook explained.

The obvious guess is that this is yet another attempt on Facebook’s part to stay abreast of Twitter in the race to own the “real-time streaming Web.” There are, potentially, other reasons for launching a simplified site:

• As a more “portable” profile that could potentially tie into Facebook’s aim of being all over the Web rather than a destination site.

Is this Facebook's big assault on Twitter?

From what it looks like, Facebook Lite is a simpler version of the site and pares down profiles to basic information and a stream of status updates. The easy conclusion is that this would make Facebook’s service look a whole lot like Twitter. And given the fact that Facebook had attempted to acquire Twitter, got snubbed, and then acquired the significantly smaller real-time streaming site FriendFeed this week, a Twitter-like service would be rife with implications.

This post was updated at 7:46 a.m. PT.

“Last night, the test was temporarily exposed to a larger set of users by mistake,” an e-mailed statement from Facebook representative Brandee Barker read. “We have not opened up access to lite.facebook.com to all users at this time. People who are not part of the test and are trying to access ‘Lite’ will be directed to Facebook.com as usual.

• For Computing: Kudo Tsunoda, Alex Kipman and Don Mattrick, of Microsoft’s Project Natal. This initiative, unveiled formally at the video game convention, E3, this year, is Microsoft’s effort to incorporate hands-free motion-control in video games and other applications.

• The Andalay AC Solar Panel, which is intending to make plug-and-play solar power possible by building in the required wiring and inverters.

Popular Mechanics magazine on Thursday will unveil its fifth-annual Breakthrough Award winners, an august collection of designers and products that could do much more than their share to change the world for the better.

“If I look back (at the last few years of doing the awards), we looked at aviation and we looked at medicine,” he said. “But over the last few years, I think the things that have been clear themes that we’ve been looking at that have emerged (are) alternative energy and appropriate technologies for the developing world.”

• For Astronomy: The Kepler Mission team, which created the Kepler Space Telescope, a “stunning new tool that has a very targeted mission: studying planetary systems. It is the first instrument able to detect Earth-like planets, potentially capable of hosting life, as they circle distant suns.”

Photos: Popular Mechanics’ 2009 Breakthrough Award winners

“In all cases, there’s a really practical application that we see coming about,” said Jerry Beilinson, the magazine’s deputy editor, “so these aren’t theoretical scientific applications. (They’re going to) change the world and have a really positive aspect on people’s lives.”

For this year’s Breakthrough Leadership award, Popular Mechanics honored Dean Kamen, an inventor with more than 440 patents who may be best known for creating the incredible but commercially disappointing Segway personal transporter.

Popular Mechanics also celebrated 10 Breakthrough products:

From famous inventors like Dean Kamen to a flying car for the Third World to bacteria-powered batteries–and much in-between–the awards are meant to highlight technologies that will shape the way people around the world live and how they interact with everyday products.

On Thursday, Popular Mechanics magazine will unveil its 2009 Breakthrough awards. Included on the list is a series of innovators, as well as a number of products, including this lawn mower, the Hustler Zeon, which is the world’s first all-electric, zero-turning-radius mower. It can cover an acre of grass on a single charge.

And Beilinson also highlighted Kamen’s work on FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a program promoting robotics for high school students.

• The Hustler Zeon, the “world’s first all-electric, zero-turning radius (lawn) mower,” which is capable of mowing a full acre of grass on a single charge.

View the full gallery

• Honeywell’s Wind Turbine, a power generator aimed at the home market that, while costing $5,500, is expected to produce high-efficiency power in a small package.

• For Transportation: Steve Saint, the founder of Indigenous Peoples Technology and Education Center, for his flying car. Designed to be 1,100 pounds and powered by a 128-horsepower engine, the so-called Maverick can take air after driving at speeds of up to 80 miles an hour on the ground. The Maverick is seen as a powerful tool for getting to hard-to-reach communities in undeveloped areas of the world.

Each year, the magazine’s editors scour the country for a worthy group of winners, and this year, in the end, Popular Mechanics settled on one leadership award winner, one next-generation honoree, eight Breakthrough innovators and 10 Breakthrough products.

(Credit:
Popular Mechanics)

And while the themes can be forward-looking, the individual awards celebrate a “moment in time,” he said.

The magazine’s eight innovation award winners are as follows:

Beilinson said that after five years of identifying technological breakthrough products and innovators, certain themes have emerged in the editors’ preferences. Among the most important, he said, is alternative energy and products and designers that push that category forward.

But in this case, Beilinson said, Kamen was picked because of his years of work on personal medical devices aimed at improving people’s lives. “Kamen created the first wearable infusion pump and first insulin pump to steadily deliver drugs to patients, greatly reducing the time they needed to spend in hospitals,” Popular Mechanics said in an awards release. “He also invented a portable kidney dialysis machine that could be used at home. More recent advances include the iBOT self-balancing wheel chair, which can climb stairs, and the Slingshot water purifier, which incorporates a Stirling engine to treat water in remote parts of the globe.”

• The Quikrete Green Concrete Mix and Asphalt Cold Patch, which takes some of the 45 million tons of pulverized asphalt that comes from America’s roads, as well as other recycled roadway material and implements it in new building materials.

• For Aviation: The Sikorsky X2 technology development team, which has built what the magazine called the world’s fastest helicopter.

• for Medicine: Harvard scientists George Whitesides, Andrews Martinez, Scott Phillips, Emanuel Carrilho, who have created “lab-on-a-chip” diagnostic tools that could make it possible for imminent “rapid, inexpensive, point-of-care disease diagnostics.” The tool is expected to be the size of a postage stamp and work with just a single drop of blood. “This promises to save lives in developing countries where medical staffs and lab equipment are far and few between, and to lead to dramatic cost reductions in technologically advanced countries.”

• The Palm Pre. Popular Mechanics called the new smart phone “a gadget geek’s dream” for its available inductive charging, a full keyboard and, unlike the iPhone, the general ability to run multiple applications at once.

• For Space exploration: Oleg Batishchev, a principal research scientist at MIT’s department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The engine will be powered by nitrogen and is capable of ten times the efficiency of chemical rocket engines. It is seen as having broad applications, including for commercial space flight and for man’s mission to send humans to Mars.

• Techcrunch’s Crunchpad, an open-source tablet computer meant to compete with future offerings from Apple and other manufacturers.

This flying car, from Steve Saint, the founder of Indigenous Peoples Technology and Education Center, is designed to take air, and could be used to help get people into hard-to-reach parts of the developing world.

• Nikon’s Coolpix S1000pj, a new digital camera that is the first to feature a microprojector capable of displaying photos on any surface.

• The Loggerhead bionic-hydrant wrench, a tool which enables firefighters to turn almost any hydrant nuts, something that the magazine said could save valuable time and lives.

Another individual award winner was Greg Schroll, who got Popular Mechanics’ “next generation” award for creating a “flywheel-powered, 18-inch-wide, spherical robot” that can change course in motion and climb steep inclines and stairs. The magazine also lauded Schroll for his ambition to do planetary exploration with small spherical robots.

• For “Appropriate Technology:” Aviva Presser Aiden, Stephen Lwendo, David Sengeh, Zoe Vallabha, Hugo Van Vuuren and Alexander Fabry; Microbial Fuel Cell Engineers at Lebone Solutions, who developed what is essentially a battery capable of powering LED lights or charging a cell phone based solely on the “metabolism of bacteria digesting organic waste in soil.” This, the magazine said, will be an essential technological breakthrough for the more than half a billion people living in Sub-Sarahan Africa with no electricity.

• For Energy: Popular Mechanics honored Grover Coors and John Watkins, both research scientists at Ceramatec, for their sodium-based battery that is intended to make solar and wind power “far more practical for the average homeowner.” The idea is to create a $2,000 refrigerator-size battery capable of producing four hours of five kilowatts of electricity.

“We’re sort of picking the moment at which it’s become real, and passed the threshold and seems like its worthy of an award,” Beilinson said. “But most of these kinds of things do take some time to develop.”

• Ford’s EcoBoost engine, a turbocharged V6 that is expected to deliver true V8 performance with much greater fuel efficiency. It is expected to be available across Ford’s line of vehicles by 2013.

(Credit:
Popular Mechanics)

• LEHR’s Eco Trimmer, part of a line of propane-powered garden tools. This is, touted Popular Mechanics, a big step forward from the traditional gas-powered tool.

The price of the 10.1-inch Nickelodeon Netbook hasn’t been announced, but it will be available for purchase at Dell.com and Walmart stores in October.

Online activities are often self-directed–children are learning, exploring, and socializing because they choose to. So, are Dell and Whyville.net onto something?

That being said, it’s possible that children and preteens will develop this sad habit of creating a better, virtual version of themselves early on. Can such young minds make a fluid connection between their Whyvillian’s eating habits and their own? It’s unclear whether it’s possible, but there may be a way to make it happen.

Apples, French toast, or oranges for breakfast? Well, let's check the nutrition facts.

If it’s anything like the activity we’ve seen from teenagers and twentysomethings on MySpace and Facebook, where users create a semifictional version of themselves, existing only on these social networks, then Whyville may be a huge success. In a previous piece, I mentioned that profiles on social networks tend to reflect how the person wants to be perceived, rather than who they really are.

Dell has partnered with Nickelodeon and Whyville.net to give life to its latest version of the Mini10v. According to Dell, the kids’ Netbook has been designed with safe computing, education, and entertainment in mind. At a glance, Dell is only trying to reach another market (children), but if you look a little closer, the Netbook may represent a change in the way the next generation of preteens and children will learn to socialize and develop their decision-making skills.

(Credit:
Whyville.net)

In an interview with BusinessWire, Jen Sun, who is the director of the WhyEat project said: “It’s extremely alarming to see that the number of overweight children and adolescents is on the rise; in fact, the prevalence of obesity in children 6-11 years old is three times what it was in the 1970s,…It is pretty clear that lecturing kids about nutrition isn’t going to solve the problem. In Whyville, kids are given the tools to figure it out for themselves - with a little help from us, of course.”

One of the most interesting locations is the cafeteria, where Whyvillians can pick a food item, view its nutritional facts, and select a meal based on an educated decision. If their character eats more fattening, high-calorie items, the cartoon character will see the effects as it becomes fatter and unhealthy. Likewise, if the character doesn’t eat enough, he will become frail and sickly. A lack of vitamin C will cause scurvy sores, and a lack of calcium will cause weak bones and a bandaged head. As a result, the child may be advised that his Whyvillian should see the Whyville nutritionist.

Perhaps this is simply giving the next generation a head-start in the digital world, or maybe now is our chance to teach the next generation that learning and education are best obtained from people, books, and hands-on activities.

It is up to the parents to execute this process, exploring Whyville and other virtual worlds with their child. Most importantly, it’s up to them to help their child emulate their Whyvillian’s activities, like checking the nutrition label.

In a time when answers are just a self-driven Google search away, it only makes sense that children and preteens can access these educational resources, too. In a study conducted by the MacArthur Foundation, researchers found that “New media allow for a degree of freedom and autonomy for youth that is less apparent in a classroom setting and they are often more motivated to learn from peers than from adults. Their efforts are also largely self-directed, and the outcome emerges through exploration, in contrast to classroom learning that is oriented by set, predefined goals.”

The Netbook comes with desktop animations which link to Whyville.net, a virtual world where kids of all ages chat, shop, and visit places in town that engage them in science, nutrition, art, and business activities.

The answer lies in another question: Will these virtual decisions and educational activities translate into real-life skills?

(Credit: Dell)

(Credit:
Scott Ard/CNET)

Back in May, Fujitsu asked for some input on phone design from anyone who was interested. Roughly 2,000 submissions and four months later, the company unveiled nine finalists on Tuesday here at Ceatec 2009, including Go’s Gesture.

CHIBA, Japan–Out of 2,000 design concepts for mobile phones of the future, the winning entry in Fujitsu’s Mobile Phone Design competition was not the flashiest or most forward-thinking. Instead, the grand prize was awarded to one that featured the most intuitive interface for users. What a concept.

Ceatec is a treasure trove of mobile phone design, thanks to the sophisticated cell phone culture here in Japan. Tuesday is the first day of the show, so be sure to check back throughout the week for more. And for the rest of the finalists, click on the gallery above.

Jin-Gwon Go, a South Korean college student studying design won the equivalent of about $20,000 for his mobile phone concept titled “Gesture.” Of all the finalists, Go’s design was probably the one that took the form of what most people would expect of a mobile phone. Fujitsu said his design stood out because of the gesture-based commands and touchable icons used to operate the phone using only one hand.

Photos: Concept cell phones on display

The winning design, titled 'Gesture.'

The announcement of the Pixi comes less than four months after Palm began selling the Pre, which the company said registered record sales when it became available in June. The company did not discuss specific numbers that first week, but some analysts estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 units were sold during the first weekend.

“With Palm WebOS, we’re creating a new, more intuitive smartphone experience defined by unmatched simplicity and usefulness,” Jon Rubinstein, Palm chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Palm Pixi brings this unique experience to a broader range of people who want enhanced messaging and social networking in a design that lets them express their personal style.”

(Credit:
Palm)

Apparently geared toward younger consumers than those targeted by the Pre, the playfully named smartphone will be longer but slimmer than the Pre and will sport a smaller multitouch screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, and a 2-megapixel camera, Palm said. However, like its smartphone sibling, the 3.5-ounce Pixi will still have 8GB of memory and GPS capabilities.

In addition to a new Facebook application, the Pixi will also be able to integrate LinkedIn contacts and Yahoo contacts, calendar, and IM in a single view via Palm’s Synergy feature.

The move coincides with an announcement that Palm would drop the price of its Pre smartphone to $150 with a two-year service agreement and two rebates. Palm did not reveal the Pixi’s price but did say it would be less than that of the Pre and that it was expected to be available to consumers in time for the holiday shopping season through Sprint. Palm also plans to offer artist-designed, limited edition replaceable back covers, which it plans to showcase at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, which starts Thursday.

Palm Pixi photos

Hoping to capitalize on the momentum created by the release of its Pre smartphone, Palm on Wednesday will unveil a smaller, cheaper smartphone called Pixi.

The following product mentioned is available.

On Sale Now: $49.99 - $449.99
View the latest prices for Palm Pixi (Sprint)

On Tuesday, Sprint kicked off a short-lived promotion that offered customers of competing carriers a $100 service credit to anyone who bought a
Palm Pre and ported his or her old number to Sprint. However, the offer was pulled after a few hours with Palm saying that it was posted in error.

Palm's new smartphone, the Pixi.

One of the more interesting stories for Google over the next several years will be whether it can replicate its dominant position in PC-based search and search advertising onto the mobile device. Any way you slice it, smart mobile devices are expected to grow at dizzying rates over the next several years and have already evolved to the point where they pack substantial computing power.

A mobile AdSense ad appears at the bottom of the Boy Genius Report's mobile site.

Web publishers can now design AdSense ads–groups of Google AdWords text ads displayed by third-party publishers on their Web sites–with the HTML browsers used by smartphones in mind, Google announced Monday in a blog post. Advertisers had been able to run smaller mobile ads that older mobile phone browsers could handle, but they’ll now have an option of showing a more sophisticated ad on a more sophisticated browser like those used by the
iPhone, the
Palm Pre, and Android phones.

(Credit:
Google)

The march of the ads from the PC to the smartphone took another step Monday with the launch of Google AdSense for high-end phones.

As people spend more and more time online with those smaller screens, there will be an opportunity for advertisers and Google to make some money. Google also offers its advertising partners the chance to display AdWords ads on mobile search or AdSense ads in mobile applications for the iPhone and Android devices.