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Mobile-phone companies are also getting cozy with the entertainment industry to come up with the latest in wireless gadgets, many of which were showcased at the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association Wireless IT and Entertainment show in San Francisco.
Some other joint efforts were announced this week, between Google and NASA, Microsoft and JBoss, and Research In Motion and Intel.
Palm, the maker of the popular Treo cell phone, kicked off the week Monday by unveiling the "Treo for Windows," a product enthusiast sites have been calling the Treo 700w. The move unites two companies that have been significant rivals in the market for software that powers handhelds and other mobile devices.
Such a partnership would have seemed unlikely when Palm ruled the handheld-computing market. But many analysts agree that a combination of events both strengthened Microsoft's hand in the mobile market and made Palm more open to partnering with its old adversary.
Intel and Microsoft also announced this week that they'll be combining their industry power in an attempt to make the next-generation DVD format HD DVD. They say the high-definition format will spur easier home networking of movies and make it simpler to distribute hybrid discs containing both HD and traditional DVD movies.
But Dell and HP shot back Thursday, saying the world's largest software and processor makers were spreading "inaccurate" information. They also reiterated their backing for the rival Blu-ray Disc format.
Atique Khan, one of almost 100 CNET News.com readers who commented on the story, doesn't really care which format wins out, so long as one does.
"What I'd hate to see is that when I go to buy a movie, I have to carefully choose the right format for a movie, depending on if I wanted to watch it on my DVD player or my PC," he wrote. While my PC might support HD DVD, and the DVD player might support Blu-ray...Guys, don't let that happen!"
On desktops and portables
Dell founder Michael Dell also lashed out at Microsoft and Intel on the HD DVD issue during Wednesday's launch of a new premium PC line. The new XPS brand is the premium product line the company promised to delivery back in June.
A sleek XPS logo on top of a silver-and-white chassis with black accents distinguishes XPS products from Dell's lower-cost consumer brands. The XPS desktop PCs ship with dual-core Intel processors, Nvidia graphics cards, hard-disk drives with up to 1 terabyte of data storage and enhanced networking capabilities.
That's quite a contrast from the $100 laptop, which moved one step closer to reality Wednesday. Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, detailed specifications for a $100 windup-powered laptop designed for children in developing nations.
Reader Jesse Dewald, an engineering student currently working on a computer for the masses, was one of many who praised the effort.
"It is great to see the strides that are being made in this area, as I believe it to be one of the most important developments/projects of our time," he wrote. "Knowledge is power, after all."
However, some readers wrote that children in poor nations wouldn't be able to afford even $100 and would be better off with food, clean drinking water and basic education. And others expressed hope that the program could serve urban communities in the United States.
"This technology is desperately needed in today's classrooms so that children here in America will actually have a chance of getting decent-paying jobs, without having to pay to go to private high schools," wrote reader William Bowen.
Negroponte said MIT and his nonprofit group, called One Laptop Per Child, is in discussions with five countries--Brazil, China, Thailand, Egypt and South Africa--to distribute up to 15 million test systems to children. In addition, Massachusetts is working with MIT on a plan to distribute the laptops to schoolchildren, Negroponte said.
Meanwhile, consumers who buy a Mac Mini this week may or may not end up with a machine that's faster than the desktop Apple Computer was selling in prior weeks. A company representative
See more CNET content tagged:
Palm Treo, Week in review, Palm Inc., DVD, DVD player
Citizen Gates has NO FRIENDS in this industry.
He is a ruthless shark circling his next prey & smiling the whole
time.
Citizen Gates : Keep your friends close & your enemies closer.
Prepare to die Palm OS.
When my Treo 600 Palm OS PDA Phone dies, that will be the last
Palm device I will ever use.