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I was mildly, but not seriously, annoyed to hear that HP is dropping its WebOS products, the Pre based phone and HP TouchPad. As a relatively satisfied owner of a Palm Pixi, that means my phone and OS are orphaned, but I’m guessing the odds were that I’d be on an Android phone after my next purchase.

I got my Pixi free just for renewing my contract, and since I had no intention of leaving my carrier in any case, that was no loss. I get another good rebate this coming February, and I’ll be looking at that time.

On the plus side, WebOS was quite easy to use and showed some promise if development had moved forward. It was weak on app availability. The hope was that HP would improve in that area, but such support never materialized.

I’m not surprised the TouchPad flopped—look at the competition. HP would have needed to provide a much better app availability at the start and also market it in some way that would truly distinguish it—positively, of course!—from the various Android offerings and of course the iPad.

Related articles

• HP Killing WebOS [WebOS] (gizmodo.com)
• Odds of Licensing WebOS (q-ontech.blogspot.com)
• HP Discontinues WebOS Devices (android-tablet.org)

I’m still thinking of a Palm Pre as my next phone.

Frank Ableson at Linux Magazine talks about replacing his laptop with a smart phone along with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse at his office and at home.  The technology for this all exists.  With cloud computing, much of what you may want to do can be done with any device that has a browser and a user interface that is, well, usable.

All of that exists, and a fairly substantial computer can be put in a very small package, always provided you don’t have to worry about the I/O.  Humans do mess things up!

In any case, I would say Ableson is right and many of us will be using the system he’s discussing in the not very distant future.

At that time, the big technology issue for classrooms was the use of calculators.  If children used calculators in class, they would never learn basic skills like adding up columns or doing long division.  Now I happen to think that knowing some basic manual calculation processes is a rather useful skill, but I doubt that very many modern job interviewers ask about one’s ability to add up long columns by hand.  They do, however, very often ask about keyboard skills, sometimes including the number pad.

During that year I kept the very local controversy alive by bringing my 50 step programmable calculator to the classroom and teaching many of the kids to use it.  Even those who thought a regular calculator might at some unknown future date have a place in the classroom were pretty certain that a programmable calculator would be out of the question.

Now, of course, we use computers on a regular basis and some colleges even supply them to all their students.  But what about the much maligned cell phone?

Well, according to TECH.BLORGE.com at least one teacher is making cell phones an integral part of classroom education.  And I say more power to her and those like her.  I think the time will come when it will be standard for anyone, including schoolchildren, to have a means of communication on their person at all times, and that will include the classroom.

Too many teachers teach as though they are preparing children to live in a classroom.  I think that will be less and less viable.  They’ll need to absorb the skills they will use, and whether we like it or not, that will mean becoming completely comfortable with a computer, and yes, probably with an ever-present cell phone, or whatever replaces it.

The other day I decided to help my wife out by running a couple of loads of wash.  When the first load was nearly done drying, my wife asked me what was rattling around in the dryer.

A few months ago when I bought my Palm Centro, I decided to do myself a favor and get a little ear piece for hands free use.  I purchased the Jabra BT2010.  It has worked well for me.

The more astute of you have probably realized by now what was rattling around in the dryer.  I reached in and pulled it out.  It looked good.  I commented to my wife that “there went $30″.  But since the little device appeared to be in perfect shape, I took it out to my office where I keep the charger and hooked it up.  The little blue light that indicates charging came on.

I tested it with the phone and it worked right off.

Amazing!