Palm, the struggling smartphone maker that has put itself up for sale in a last-ditch effort to avoid possible imminent bankruptcy, has taken another hit today reporting that Michael Abbott, their software and services chief will leave the company at the end of next week.

Abbott resigned on Monday and will leave on April 23rd, reads the SEC filing.

The chief was a lead proponent of the WebOS operating system.

In the same regulatory filing, Palm said it was paying two key executives a $250,000 bonus to stay on board. Each will also receive restricted stock. Both perks pay out over two years, given the company is still alive and the execs are still working for Palm.

Over the past few days, since Palm confirmed it was up for sale, a plethora of big names of been noted as possible buyers including rivals RIM, Lenovo and Dell, each of which have smartphones in the market. The latest in the list is Huawei of China.

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On Thursday we reported that the Israeli newspaper Haaretz had reported that the Apple iPad has been blocked from entering Israel, with customs officials confiscating all devices upon entry.

Today, the Israeli Ministry of Communications has elaborated on their reasoning behind the ban.

Says spokesperson Yechiel Shavi: "This device's wireless strengths violate Israeli law and will overpower other wireless devices in Israel."

Shavi added that if Apple releases a new version that complies with EU Wi-Fi standards, the ban will be overturned. Apple, in rebuttal says: "The iPad complies with international industry standards for Wi-Fi specifications."

The ban makes little sense to anyone outside of Israel. Apple uses a standard Wi-Fi chip that is industry-wide. From a technical standpoint, the ban doesn't make sense, says Richard Doherty, an analyst with the technology consulting firm Envisioneering Group, via the WSJ.

We will certainly keep you updated on any development, as this story keeps getting stranger and stranger.

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According to new reports, AT&T will launch the Aero smartphone and the Mini 5 tablet in June.

Both will run some iterations of the Android operating system but that is where the comparisons end.

The Aero, Dell's first American smartphone since the death of their Axim line in 2007, features a 3.5" nHD display with 360x640resolution, a 5MP camera, Flash Lite for better Internet video support and full GPS.

Dell Aero:


The Dell Mini 5, the company's first true tablet, will have a larger 5-inch display with WVGA (800x480 resolution) which is fully multi-touch supported.

It is unclear which Android firmware it will run, with reports differing from 1.6 all the way up to the latest, 2.1. The device will use a powerful 1 GHz processor. As standard with all tablets, 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support is standard. Separating it even further from the iPad is the addition of a front-facing camera, allowing for video conferencing.

Dell says the tablet will come bundled with Adobe Flash (which the iPad will never have) and "a suite of entertainment, communications, and productivity software."

Tablet pic via Engadget:

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The new, larger iteration of the DS handheld series, the DSi XL had a strong debut month in March says video game analyst Michael Pachter.

Although it was only available for four days in March, Nintendo still sold 141,000 units, with the full line (DS Lite, DSi and the XL) selling 701,000 units for the month.

If accurate, the number is very high considering the XL sells for $190, a premium price from the DS Lite (MSRP $130) and DSi (MSRP $170).

The screen of the XL is 93 percent bigger than the DSi, and Nintendo has said it is aimed at users that want to use the Internet more, making the text easier to read.

The DSi LL (the Japanese name for the XL) went on sale in November and has seen strong sales since, with almost 750,000 sold in its first two months.

Globally, DS sales are approaching 130 million.

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Verizon has finally launched the much-hyped HTC Incredible, an Android smartphone dubbed as the latest in a long line of "iPhone killers."

The phone has a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, an 8MP camera with dual-LED flashes, Android 2.1 built-in and the latest HTC Sense UI.

Additionally, the phone has a 3.7-inch multi-touch 800x480 screen, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3G and is seen as the sequel to the popular Desire smartphone.

The Incredible will go on sale on April 29th, with pre-orders starting on the 19th.

The smartphone will sell for $200 with contract, the same price as the Droid initially cost when it launched last November.

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For the third year in a row, BGR is reporting that they have confirmed with AT&T insider sources that employee vacations have been blocked in June, almost confirming that a new iPhone launch is imminent this summer, in either June or early July.

This fourth generation iPhone has been a device of rumor for some time now, with most claiming it will be called the iPhone HD.

In March, the WSJ reported that a new iPhone was coming this summer, but they offered very few details other than saying it would be thinner and include a more powerful processor.

DaringFireball, as reported here, added some more fuel to the fire, saying that the iPhone HD will include an A4-family CPU system-on-a-chip, a 960 × 640 double-resolution display, a front facing camera in addition to the standard camera, as well as iPhone OS 4.0 built-in, with multitasking.

We will keep you updated on any "iPhone HD" developments.

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The much-anticipated Popbox launch is on its way, says parent company Syabas, but for the time being the company has released the popbox SDK 1.0, allowing developers to create Flash applications that use the popbox API.

When launched, the new interface includes "infopops" which show off the weather, Twitter feeds, and other data. The interface also includes a cover-flow-esque visual thumbnails selection for videos, music and other data, as well as universal search.

More notably, the interface can handle Flash, Java and QT meaning Netflix is now available. Also available is Hulu, CBS and ABC content, which can now include the in-video ads required for playback. Facebook, Twitter, Shoutcast MP3, Revision3 and other Popcorn Hour content will rollover to the new box.

For video, full 1080p at 100Mbps is now supported, along with the standard MPEG formats, H.264, VC-1, WMV, MKV, XviD and other containers. The player can also support most subtitle files, including Microsoft's proprietary one. For streaming, the Popbox can recognize iTunes via Bonjour, and DLNA and UPnP sources.

Check here if you want to use the SDK and create your own "popapp:" https://developer.popbox.com/c/devuser/home

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Gizmodo has posted today that a "tipster" has sent them credible information that Barnes & Noble will be releasing two new e-reader devices this year, a Nook 'Lite' and the Nook 2.

Additionally, the book company is releasing an firmware update for the original Nook that will add a full browser.

The Nook Lite will have Wi-Fi only, stripping the "free" 3G support. It is unclear what will be new in the Nook 2.

The Lite will sell for $199, making the device the cheapest of the major e-readers, and significantly cheaper than the $499 "cheap" model of the iPad.

The firmware update, v1.4, should be available next week for download.

The original Nook will begin selling in all Best Buy locations starting tomorrow, the first time the device is available outside of B&N.

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Sony Japan has canceled all plans and development for their previously announced PlayStation Room PSP service, the virtual world social network that would have been like the handheld version of the PlayStation Home world currently popular on the PS3.

The company announced the new move on their Japanese language site, saying that following a beta testing period, they have decided to cancel development.

They did not give any particular reason for the cancellation, but poor user feedback may be to blame.

Beta testers of the service owned and customized their own virtual rooms, including 3D avatars, says GI.biz. You could then invite other users to chat rooms, as well as share images.

PlayStation Room would have been free, with some content (like dressing the avatar, and furnishing the room) costing some money.

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According to multiple reports, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 smartphone will finally get the Android 2.1 update this year, however, users will have to wait until September to get it.

Coming with 2.1 will be multi-touch support, which has been one of the X10's biggest criticisms.

Mobile.co.uk says the phone will launch with Android 1.6.

The X10, which will launch this month, features a 4-inch touch screen with 480x854 resolution, a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 processor, UMTS HSPA 800/1900/2100 and GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, 8.1MP camera with 16x zoom, image stabilization and flash and an included 8GB memory card. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and 3G are standard as well.

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