Does this mean HP is releasing the PalmPad using the same hardware as the HP Slate? That’s not likely, as a webOS device would be better served without Intel inside. You’d also think HP/Palm would make a big splash with a major announcement such as the first webOS tablet, but the buzz on Twitter matches what I had already heard, that Palm will be quiet at CES.

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Home healthcare is becoming a cost-effective option for treating chronic health conditions, due to advancements in mobile healthcare (mHealth) technology. Simple monitors connect the patient at home with medical facilities using mobile networks. Healthcare providers can monitor patients in real-time anywhere a mobile connection is available. Caring for the patient at home provides a better environment for the patient, and an effective use of healthcare facilities.

Smartphone apps are beginning to play a role in home healthcare, and such usage should continue to evolve as long as regulating authorities stay out of the way. The benefits gained by such apps are already coming to the attention of the healthcare industry, and with big money in the pot as evidenced by the Berg report, third-party development of such apps should continue. Home health monitoring is an exciting use of mobile technology, and practice should grow as mobile networks become more prevalent worldwide.

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1. Lonely Planet Android Apps. Your geek’s phone never looked so smart as it will with these augmented reality applications lighting the way. The detailed city maps use the phone’s camera and GPS to highlight nearby points of interest in 25 major cities in the world. No more getting lost while traveling for that special geek in your life. $0.99 each city map.

2. Telescoping Laptop Stand. You’ve likely been in crowded airports where using a laptop was not easy due to all the people jostling for space. You can insure your geek will always have a good laptop work area with this portable stand that attaches to any carry-on travel bag. The stand is adjustable to create the proper working height, and has a strap to secure the laptop to the stand. $13.

3. Star Wars Dark Side Roast Coffee. Star Wars. Darth Vader. Caffeine. That may be all you need to know, but this special blend of coffee is the real deal — whole bean coffee hand roasted by Storm Troopers. Hey, you can’t make this stuff up. If your geek is going over to the dark side, let him/her take the perfect coffee blend along for the ride. $15.

4. Bag of Holding. If a simple urban bag is more in line with your geek’s needs, this messenger bag is the perfect gift to carry gadgets around town. No doubt your geek carries gadgets everywhere, and this special bag holds more than seems possible given its small size. I guess that’s why they call it the Bag of Holding. Your geek will understand. $50.

5. iPhone Keyboard Case. Maybe your geek waited in line to get one of the first iPhone 4s, or maybe he/she still rocks the old-school iPhone 3GS. This special case comes in models for either phone, and adds something that no one else in your geek’s social circle has — a QWERTY keyboard. Yes, spin the case around and a full physical keyboard is exposed so your geek can enter text at breakneck speed. The phone works normally with the keyboard exposed or not. $40.

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Android ad impressions may be leveling off, but other revenue avenues are ramping up, as recent quarterly revenue numbers from London/Tel Aviv based fring show support for Android has been a solid performer. Company representatives stated that fring for Android is bringing in $10,000 per day from voice and video calls using the Android app. Android now counts for a third of the app’s installed base, attributed to the increasing number of phones with front-facing cameras for video calling. The folks at fring expect to double revenue in the first quarter of 2011.

LogMeIn Ignition is an Android app for remotely controlling Mac and Windows systems from a smartphone, and an update is coming to extend that capability to the tablet. We got an advance copy of the upgrade — which will be free to existing LogMeIn customers — and gave it a whirl on the popular Samsung Galaxy Tab. LogMeIn Ignition effectively turns an Android device into a Mac or Windows PC by displaying the remote system’s desktop on the tablet screen. Users interact with the remote system by touch on the Android device, turning any Windows PC or Mac into a touch computer. The app is popular with technical support folks who use remote control to service client systems.

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CLICK HERE to download the file and listen directly.

MoTR 226 is 53:45 minutes long and is a 49.3 MB file in MP3 format.

HOSTS: James Kendrick (Houston), Matthew Miller (Seattle) and Kevin C. Tofel (Philadelphia)

TOPICS:

• Dell and the Venue Pro saga.
• Anyone get hands on with a Nexus S?
• Did Kevin buy a Galaxy Tab after the show last week?
• Verizon 4G Hands-on Impressions

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The new version has several tweaks to the interface and user controls that provide a smoother reading experience. Users can configure the app to use the volume buttons for turning pages, and chapter titles are now indicated in the status bar. A much-requested zoom function for graphics has been added, and it’s now possible to move the app to the SD card, saving a lot of system memory.

The in-app store makes it easy to find popular content such as the New York Times Bestsellers List and the Top Kindle List. Previous versions of the Kindle app kicked the user out to the web browser to access the store, but it’s now inside the app for ease of use. The new periodical content is available by subscription and comes with a 14-day free trial.

Amazon isn’t the only name in e-books, as Google recently released its own reader app for Android. Our new report (subscription required) details 3 Ways Google Can Succeed in E-books and seriously compete with Amazon.

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I reviewed the Android version of LogMeIn Ignition prior to the release of the initial version several months ago. The review was conducted using the HTC Evo 4G smartphone, and in spite of the small display, I found LogMeIn to be a useful tool.

I’m using the Galaxy Tab with a 7-inch display for this advance look at the tablet optimizations, and the screen is wonderful for remotely accessing desktop systems. I’ve controlled both my dual-screen Mac setup and a Windows PC from the Tab without issue. LogMeIn is fully optimized for touch control, effectively turning both Macs and Windows systems into touch tablets.

The app provides complete control over the remote session, from how the remote mouse behaves to changing the screen resolution of the remote system to more closely match the Android device. Moving around the remote desktop is very fluid, and as simple as dragging the desktop around the tablet screen. All mouse operations are replicated on the Android touch screen, allowing full interaction via LogMeIn.

LogMeIn Ignition is a good solution for technical support folks who routinely need to support client systems. It is often easier to simply take over the client system to see what’s going wrong, then fix it on the spot. It is a good tool using a small phone, and a great one using a larger tablet. The update to LogMeIn Ignition for Android should be released soon, and will be free to existing customers.

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My full review of the BlackBerry Style gives all the details about the phone, and this video shows why the Style might be the perfect stocking stuffer for the BlackBerry lover on your gift list this holiday season.

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Amazon has been selling MP3s on Android phones since the release of the G1, and spreading to the BlackBerry is a solid move for the company to drive further competition with the iTunes store. The Daily Deal has become a popular item driving sales according to Billboard, as new albums are often featured at special pricing.

The Amazon MP3 experience on the BlackBerry will rival that of other mobile platforms, with over-the-air (OTA) downloads and full music search capability. Consumers are able to preview up to 30 seconds of a song prior to purchase, and share music with friends. Purchases of Amazon MP3 music are fully integrated with the BlackBerry’s universal search and media library on the phone.

The support of multiple platforms for the MP3 store is the same strategy Amazon is using with Kindle e-book content. The Kindle app is available on every smartphone platform, which substantially expands the target consumer base.

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Thinking Space comes in a free (ad-supported) version and a paid version that removes the ads and has additional features. The app can export maps created in the program into a variety of formats common to the genre — Mind Manager and FreeMind chief among them — as well as save a map as an image and share it via email. There’s also the Thinking Space web portal that allows sharing maps with other Thinking Space users, but I haven’t used it.

Creating a mind map is as simple as adding nodes on the screen. The nodes position automatically to provide the best use of the display, and can be dragged around the screen as desired. A full palette of display options is available to customize the look of the mind map, as evident in the image above. The interface fully supports dragging and zooming as expected. Nodes can be tied together to denote relationships, and hyperlinks to documents on the Android device can be created providing applications to view those documents are installed. There’s online documentation for the app on the developer’s web site.

Thinking Space isn’t sophisticated enough to rival desktop applications like Mind Manager, but it’s good enough to create simple maps on the Android platform. I personally use mind mapping as a visual outliner, and Thinking Space is marvelous for that purpose. The program is available in the Android Market.

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It’s easy to forget that tablets as a device class are nothing new. Microsoft introduced the first Tablet PC in 2002, but was never able to reach commercial success with the platform. Early tablets were too expensive for consumers, and too heavy for serious tablet work. It didn’t help that they were saddled with the Windows operating system, which isn’t built around tablet functions. Even Windows 7, with touch capability integrated into the OS, falls short of offering a good tablet experience.

Current tablets are hot items due to three factors: mobile OS, form factor and pricing. Apple proved with the iPad that the benefits of a slate device running a mobile OS, designed for just such operation from the ground up, are significant. The iPad appealed to consumers immediately, as the popular iPhone user experience was duplicated on the larger screen, and even improved due to that screen. The thin, light form of the iPad was a first in the tablet space, and consumers flocked to the slate that is comfortable to use in the hands. The icing on the iPad cake is the good pricing that makes the tablet inch closer to the realm of the impulse buy. It’s not quite there yet, but far closer than the $2,000 Tablet PC of the past.

These factors that make the iPad a success are also brought to the consumer by Android tablets. The Galaxy Tab is even better on the form factor front given the smaller screen, and Android devices from 5 inches up to 10 inches are already in the pipeline. The Android platform is designed for touch operation like iOS, and the user experience on the tablet form is already popular as indicated by the sales numbers of the Galaxy Tab.

This year was definitely the year of the tablet, even with only a few models reaching consumers’ hands. Next year will see the genre explode, as dozens of models hit the market and pricing drops due to competition. There will be Windows-based tablets getting released in greater numbers next year, but the platform is not going to appeal to consumers like the touch-friendly competitors. It’s clear 2011 will be interesting on the tablet front as other companies come to play.

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Gmail for Android got an update this week that added the popular Priority Inbox to the phone version. The new Gmail app also has the ability to send email from a user-selectable email address, a feature that has been requested by users. Google tweaked email creation features in the new version, including the ability to reply to email with inline editing for clarity. This new version is available in the Android Market, but is only available for phones running Android 2.2 (Froyo) or later.

Android phones also got a new version of the YouTube app this week, which adds new features not found on other mobile platforms. The new YouTube now allows inline video playback, and brings user’s subscriptions into the app for ease of use. Our own Ryan Lawler raised the question of why Android is getting the new features while YouTube’s HTML5-based mobile site is left behind, and YouTube responded that it’s using Android as “an experimental playground”. It sounds like Android phone owners may continue to get new features in YouTube first, going forward.

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TuneIn Radio makes it easy to find and play local radio stations. The initial screen divides the thousands of stations into categories making it easy to find the type of station you want to hear. Selecting Local Radio uses the phone’s geolocation to return a list of all stations in the immediate area. If you want to listen to stations anywhere in the world, you can find any music genre, talk radio, sports stations, even radio stations in a particular language. There is an integrated search bar to help you get to the particular station by call sign or name. The ability to stream stations located anywhere globally makes TuneIn a great way to find new music. There’s even a Canadian station that plays nothing but Pink Floyd.

Playing a radio station is as simple as tapping the station name on the screen, which starts playing immediately. You see the station’s logo in place of album art, and the currently playing song/artist is displayed in the play screen. You can check the daily program schedule for most stations with a single tap. Sound quality of the music stream is quite good and when you find a station that appeals to you simply set a preset just like on the radio in your car.

The Android version takes advantage of multitasking and keeps playing when you leave the app. A simple player control appears in the Android notification bar for easy access from anywhere in the system. TuneIn Radio is one of my favorite apps for Android; it’s hard to believe it’s free.

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HTC has seen quarterly shipments increase each period for some time, due to the popularity of the Android platform. The big forecast for next year must be affected by the release of Windows Phone 7, which occurred too late in 2010 to have much impact. The company isn’t indicating how it expects shipments next year to be divided between WP7 and Android handsets. HTC may want to rethink this forecast if Windows Phone 7 factors heavily in the increase, based on initial reports since the platform release.

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Composing email is easier in the new version, especially choosing to reply to all recipients of a message. The Reply All function can now be configured as the default, something I’ve wished for many times. It’s now possible to reply to an email by entering text inline with the original message, a nice touch. Sending email has also gotten more flexible, as a message can now be sent using any email address configured in the desktop Gmail account, and not just the default address on the phone. This is very useful for those with multiple accounts who need to send an email from another address.

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There will be 35 tablets with Intel inside early next year, according to Otellini, produced by major players such as Dell, Lenovo, Asus and Toshiba. The tablets will ship with either Windows, Intel’s own Meego or Android. Intel seems to be covering all platforms with its strategy, but it’s not clear what it brings to the table for tablet makers. Windows is an obvious platform for Intel hardware, but simply cannot compete with OSes designed for touch tablets from the ground up. Meego may be a better choice, but is new and unproven in the tablet arena. Android is already making waves in the tablet space with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, but Intel processors don’t meet the low power requirements needed for them as do ARM-based solutions already being used. It is not obvious what advantage an Intel solution brings to the tablet world, especially with dual-core ARM chips announced this week.

Intel is still planning to break into the smartphone segment, Otellini reiterated at the conference, with handsets bearing company chipsets appearing in the last half of 2011. They will be based on Intel’s smartphone chipset codenamed Medfield, which is a power-efficient form of the Atom processor used in netbooks. Competing processors used in smartphones — ARM and TI’s OMAP primarily — are already in virtually every smartphone on the market, and another year will only see them get further entrenched. Intel is falling further behind with each passing month, and by the time Medfield hits consumer devices, the competition will have evolved even further.

While it makes sense for Intel to concentrate on the hottest mobile segments, the company’s plan does not clearly outline what advantages tablet and smartphone makers get with Intel chipsets. It doesn’t help Intel that both of these segments are evolving at a rapid pace, and the longer development cycle the company normally employs is now a liability.

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