Android delayed, HTC Doubting the Almighty Google?

"The word from Half Moon bay is that Google’s 'GPhone' cell-phones, being built by various handset makers, could be delayed from an end-of-year introduction to sometime later in the first quarter of next year, according to Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research. Among the issues causing the apparent delay are the following: Handset maker High Tech Computer (HTCKF) is 'having structural problems to incorporate Google’s demanded feature set'; HTC is 'demanding a guaranteed minimum revenue surety from Google', from which Chowdhry concludes that 'Probably HTC does not think there will be enough demand for GPhone.'"

When Google's operating system was first announced I was incredibly excited. The more competition there is, the better the products get for us consumers over time. Though after taking some time to play with Google's Developer kit every few months since it was released, I became less and less impressed with it over time. Sure it does some cool things but just like Google's Internet presence, Google's operating system feels like bits and chunks services thrown together into a big pile of Beta. This might work for the web but I cannot see this working for the average consumer. It seems as though the Powers That Be at HTC are starting to have their doubts about Google's operating system as well, but their doubts come from a different problem that I never even thought about; will there really be that much of a demand for a Google phone? What do you guys think?

Palm Treo 850 Leaked, Renamed to Treo Pro

Oops, Palm let one slip. What you see above and after the break are snaps of a Treo Pro (aka Treo 850) Flash demo that was hosted on Palm's very own website. Like the 500 and Centro, the Pro opts for a sleeker look, which we think is a step in the right direction. It includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, IR, HSDPA, a camera, an expansion slot, and a Micro-USB connector, which we'd normally disapprove of if it was anything like HTC's ExtUSB; but Palm isn't HTC. They've done a good deed by including a 3.5mm headphone jack for all your audio needs.
Unfortunately, no word on a price or release date, but the moment we know, we'll let you know.

Police turning to GPS to track cars more than ever

t's no secret that the police have been using GPS to track cars for some time now, often without a warrant or court order and, as The Washington Post now reports, it looks like the practice is only getting more and more commonplace. That is mostly due to the fact that courts usually side with the police in the resulting cases that arise out of the use of GPS trackers, with them agreeing with the argument that it is essentially no different than having an officer physically track a car themselves. They also cite a 1983 Supreme Court case that allowed the use of "beepers" that relay a car's location to police. Of course, others, like attorney Chris Leibig, have an entirely different opinion, saying that, "tracking a person everywhere they go and keeping a computer record of it for days and days without that person knowing is a completely different type of intrusion." Given that at least some state courts, like Washington state, side with that position and require a warrant for GPS trackers to be used, it would seem likely that this matter could eventually wind up being decided in the Supreme Court as well.

Sprint readying a red HTC Touch Diamond?

We won't even front with you -- we have some serious doubts about this one, but with all those other red handsets that have emerged on Sprint over the years, we suppose that image above has a sliver of credence. We've no details whatever outside of two more shots of the red HTC Touch Diamond (or Victor, to be proper) in the read link, but these could very well be someone's best shot at using Photoshop to gain 15 minutes of internet fame. What say you, dear readers? Real or fake?

Multilingual Talking Dictionaries Available for iPhone/iPod Touch

Paragon Software Group has launched a series of multilingual dictionaries for iPhone and iPod touch. Featuring the PONS Advanced English, PONS Advanced French and PONS Advanced Italian dictionaries, the underlying SlovoEd engine allows users to take advantage of the iPhone's user interface to increase look-up speed and use over other electronic and paper dictionary options.

The dictionaries contain over 111,000 entries, and are compressed to take up as little space as possible while still remaining quick and easy to use. An audio module option contains over 40,000 entries spoken in native dialects to aid in learning native languages.

The PONS dictionaries are compatible with version 2.0 and later of the iPhone operating system. The series is available from the iTunes App Store for $24.99 (19.99 EUR).