Palm Pre - Just another cell phone?

Today January 08, 2009 Palm finally announced the new Palm Pre , the new operating system that will be on the phone called Web OS, and the Touchstone -- a wireless charger that uses inductive technology. You put the Pre on the magnetic Touchstone and it stays there charging.

PRICING & AVAILABILITY - They did not announce when it will be available or what it will cost.

SPECS- The Palm Pre is a multi-touch screen device with a full vertical slide-out QWERTY keyboard and accelerometer. The EVDO-capable device is Wi-Fi-enabled, and comes with GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 with stereo support, and 8GB of storage. There's a 3 megapixel camera with LED flash, mass storage-friendly microUSB plug and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It comes with a WIRELESS CHARGER!
It has a 3.1-inch 320 x 480 multitouch display, with a silver center button below that, and touch sensitivity all down the face. The lower part is for "gestures."

Palm claims the new OMAP CPU it has gives it power like a laptop.

The Pre is smaller than the iPhone. It weighs 4.8 ounces. The homescreen user interface (UI) has customizable application widgets running at the bottom of the display. Touch a widget and the app instantly pops up. All of your open applications appear on the UI as a deck of cards. Flicking from right to left and left to right on the gesture pad allows you to scroll through your "deck" of applications.

Palm's e-mail application lets you check all of your e-mail accounts at ONCE!

You can start typing an e-mail contact and Web OS will search all of your e-mail accounts and add it to your contact list. If it can't find the contact it searches your corporate exchange database.

All of your contacts from different instant messenger services show up on one list.

If you use the keyboard to start searching for something, Web OS searches all your contacts and apps instantly, if it doesn't find results on the device it searches the web. The phone has alert pop ups for things such as IM's and E-Mail. It has a dashboard for your notifications.

COMING TOMORROW : a bit on the new Blackberry Storm! You can visit engadget.com and check out they're Related Topics section on the Palm Pre. Cool stuff there.

Costa Rica earthquake kills 3 leaves many injured.

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"Today is a day of mourning for Costa Ricans, because the earthquake killed three people, two children and a woman," said President Oscar Arias at a joint news conference.

The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.1.

The bodies of two sisters were found near the epiccenter by police and residents of the area. The two sisters were selling sweets near the epicenter. They were killed by a landslide caused by the earthquake.

The woman died of a heart attack.

The quake injured 208 people, damaged some 42 communities as well as electricity networks, and cut off some 300 tourists in a luxury hotel near Poas, according to emergency services.

The earthquake hit at 1:21 pm (1921 GMT) about 22 miles northwest of the capital. people said they had not felt such a strong tremor in 30 years.

It was felt across the Central American country and also in Nicaragua.

Transport Minister Karla Gonzalez said the government had contracted most private helicopters in the country, which has no army, to help with rescue operations.

The emergency commission declared a red alert in the capital and surrounding areas "where serious damage to infrastructure, roads and homes has been reported and some people were injured and trapped in their houses."

There were reported broken windows, and cracks in roads in San Jose.

Costa Rica had over 4,700 earthquakes in 2008, around 60 were felt by the residents, according to the observatory.