It’s a new day at Palm. The Pixi, Palm’s Treo-esque addition to the WebOS line-up, is getting new commercials without Miss Crazy Face and her magical Pre. Instead, you get hot people taking pictures of each other and having fun.

This is the kind of commercial that I call the McCafe (or Devin’s lifestyle in Seattle) – excited people doing something exciting. It’s a big departure from Palm and a points to a move towards the mainstream.

It’s a nice change and look forward to our Palm Pixi review shortly.

With 600 million unique visits per month, Yahoo sees a large amount of traffic to its sites. In order to maintain sites in the cloud, Yahoo uses Traffic Server, a piece of software initially acquired via Inktomi, to support this massive amount of traffic.

Tomorrow, Yahoo will be debuting an open source version of Traffic Server. The code is available through the Incubator project at the Apache Software Foundation.

Traffic Server enables the session management, authentication, configuration management, load balancing, and routing for an entire cloud computing stack. Yahoo says that with the open source version of Traffic Server, organizations can benefit from access to cached online content. In addition, Traffic Server enables faster responses to requests for stored Web objects, such as files, news articles or images.

The company’s global network of data centers allows Traffic Server to choose the closest servers to store and access cached content for increased speed. Traffic Server is capable of handling more than 30,000 requests per second per server and it currently serves more than 400 terabytes of data per day.

Yahoo is also announcing an update to the Yahoo Distribution of Hadoop which is now deployed extensively in Yahoo data centers worldwide. These include new features and bug fixes that continue to improve robustness, security, performance, and operability of Hadoop for ongoing large scale deployments.

Yahoo says that opening of code for Traffic Server and the distribution of Hadoop reinforces the technology company’s commitment to open source technologies. Yahoo has been the primary developer and investor to Apache’s Hadoop. In 2006, Hadoop founder Doug Cutting joined Yahoo to lead the project of developing the open-source software. Hadoop now provides the framework for many Yahoo properties including Yahoo Search, Yahoo Mail, and several content and ad services.

Skype’s Linux version will soon become open source software – and maybe run on every smartphone, TV set-top box or other gadget powered by the free operating system. It could also become part of multi-protocol messengers like Pidgin or eBuddy or Meebo. Or at least that was the hope for some hours today after a French user got the following answer from Skype customer support.

Olivier Faurax had asked for a proper version of Skype for Mandriva Linux and was told:

We understand that many users complain that there is no Mandriva version at present. We are happy to be able to inform you that Skype will from now on be part of the open source community. Therefore Linux developers will be enabled to influence the development of the Skype client for Linux – which will most certainly result in specific versions for the different distributions.

As incredible as this sounded, the wording was unclear so Faurax asked for a release date. He was told that “the Linux Skype version will become open source in the nearest future”. Pretty amazing if it referred to the complete Skype source code. As many devices with an embedded OS run some flavour of Linux, those devices could also be made capable of making and receiving Skype calls.

An example are WiFi routers like the VoIP capable Fritz!Box that millions of German customers got for free with their DSL connection. Not only does the router run Linux but it’s issued with regular firmware updates that add new powerful features by maker AVM. The latest free additions are a print server, answering machine and music streaming functionality. It’s also an analog telephony adapter which means that I can connect a phone to make and receive VoIP calls without the need for a computer.

I use it with ten different VoIP providers and therefore I am reachable under German, British, US and even Peruvian numbers on the same phone. The only thing that’s missing is Skype, that’s why I rarely use it. And it will probably stay that way, judging from the latest Skype blog post. After Olivier’s story got Slash Dotted and everyone went crazy, Skype declared officially:

Yes, there’s an open source version of Linux client being developed. This will be a part of larger offering, but we can’t tell you much more about that right now. Having an open source UI will help us get adopted in the “multicultural” land of Linux distributions, as well as on other platforms and will speed up further development. We will update you once more details are available.

That doesn’t sound so euphoric anymore. The statement only refers to an “open source user interface” not the entire Skype source code that, crucially, includes the needed protocols for voice transmission through firewalls, for example. As I understand it, an “open source user interface” alone won’t be sufficient for developers to utilise Skype as a service inside of other software or devices. That’s probably to avoid becoming “the dumbest pipe of all”, as I once called it in a blog post.

When people can make their Skype calls on other software, normal phones or wherever, they could potentially use Skype for inbound calls and for the free Skype-to-Skype calls only. Paid outbound calls to phone networks would be channeled over Skype’s competitors who offer cheaper prices. Companies like Sipgate or Voipbuster always stress this point in their advertising. In August, I got this email:

As it is now becoming more and more clear that Skype’s services will not be available much longer because their software license will expire, it is now the time to switch to VoipBuster. [...] To make sure everyone can still use Voice Over IP at even cheaper rates than Skype, Voipbuster has lowered loads of destinations.

Sipgate basically said the same in a press release from August. Everyone wants to eat from Skype’s lunch. That’s why they’re treading so carefully with open source.

by John Biggs – techcrunch.com

I was Tweeting with Michael Gartenberg last night about all the great Android games. After all, the Android Marketplace has so many great titles like Civilization Revolution, Canabalt, iShoot, and… oh… wait…

All kidding aside, the reason there is such a dearth of great games has to do with some programming choices in Android itself and it’s a problem that can – and should – be fixed before the Droid comes to market this November.

The real culprit behind the lack of Android apps isn’t lack of developer adoption or a difficult SDK – it’s the ludicrous 256MB limit on app storage for most current Android phones and Android 2.0 itself. The OS also does not support the installation of apps on removable storage like SD cards, further ruining chances for more effusive and expansive titles. Considering most apps are in the 10MB range we’re talking a max of 25 apps on a good day and about 5 on a bad one.

This limitation has existed since Android 1.0 and continues in Android 2.0. As this enlightening post notes, Myst for the iPhone runs 727MB, a little under a gigabyte. That’s right: Droid doesn’t even have enough space to allow you to render the well let alone let you into the rocket.

The Droid has 512MB of memory with half of that available to apps. More internal storage is definitely in order if Android can’t support external storage – an understandable move due to potential data corruption during an unexpected card removal – it definitely needs a bit more space under the hood in future models.

Google has just debuted a new form of advertising called AdWords Comparison Ads — a special kind of ad that will prompt users to view a list of sponsored products in a structured format. To get started, Google is running the ads for queries related to the mortgage market, though it has plans to eventually expand beyond that. The ads are in a limited rollout for now, with only some users in some states seeing them.

Here’s how Google describes the new ad type:

AdWords uses a host of targeting and relevancy signals to determine the best ads for each query. However, sometimes a user’s query doesn’t provide enough information for us to confidently predict what they want. Take, for example, users who search for “mortgage.” Do they want a new home loan or a refinance? Do they want a fixed rate or an adjustable rate loan? Comparison Ads improves the ad experience on Google.com by letting users specify exactly what they are looking for and helping them quickly compare relevant offers side by side.

Users searching for “mortgage” on Google.com may see a promotion from Comparison Ads prompting them to select the type of loan they are looking for and to compare various rates.

If they click the promotion, users are taken to a page with more detailed sponsored results. They can choose directly from the offers listed on that page, or they can further refine their search by providing additional information like income and home value…

Once users find an offer that matches their specific needs, they can either call you directly or request a quote. If a user requests a quote, Google automatically anonymizes the user’s phone number and sends you a unique code that you can use to contact the user. You only pay if a user calls the phone number on your offer or fills out a form to request a quote.

As Leadcritic points out, Google’s entry into this space is obviously going to be bad news to lead gen services like LendingTree, and they aren’t the only newcomers looking to get in on the action — we hear that Billshrink will soon be expanding its price-saving tools to include mortgage comparison shopping.

And, as noted before, Google will be expanding this ad type beyond mortgages. This may well be its answer to Bing’s decision engine model, which presents a number of structured options for the services and products you’re looking for that aren’t based exclusively on search rank.

Last March I wrote a preview post showing off Lala’s upcoming iPhone app, which gives users the ability to stream their entire music collection from the cloud, without having to worry about syncing their files. At the time Lala wasn’t ready to give a release date for the app, but our impression was that it was due out fairly soon. Obviously that wasn’t the case. But now we’ve gotten our hands on the latest version of Lala for the iPhone, which was just submitted to Apple for approval. And it’s safe to say that it was worth the wait.

For those that haven’t used Lala before, here’s a quick overview of the service: Lala revolves around the concept of the ‘web song’ — you’re allowed to listen to any song you want totally free exactly once. If you like it, you can then pay 10 cents for the right to stream it as many times as you’d like from then on. This means that you can ‘purchase’ and entire album for around a dollar. You can also use Lala’s Music Mover tool to upload your entire library of MP3s to the cloud free of charge. This is all built on top of a very slick interface, but so far it has come with one downside: because all of the songs are streamed, users didn’t have a way to access them when they weren’t at a computer. Lala’s iPhone app changes that.

The app will be familiar to anyone who has used the iPhone’s native iPod app. The big difference is that all of your songs are streamed from the cloud, so you don’t have to worry about syncing your songs. The app is also better for music discovery than the normal music app, because you don’t have to wait for songs to download — you can instantly add an album to your music library in one click. And it’s significantly cheaper.

Of course, streaming has its own problems. Normally if you’re disconnected from a streaming music service, your music goes dead. Fortunately the Lala app uses caching to store hundreds of songs from your library, which it has waiting in case your connection dies. Lala wouldn’t say exactly how many songs are saved, but they say that the app uses some intelligence to determine what gets cached (e.g. it will generally save songs you’ve most recently added to your library).

So what was the reason for the delay? Lala CEO Geoff Ralston says that “basically everything” had issues, from dealing with licensing from content owners to tweaking the app itself. Suffice to say, it works very well now, and is sure to be a hit among Lala users. It has good timing too: Lala just launched as one of the partners powering Google’s music search service, which is sure to drive a lot of traffic to the site.

Other music streaming apps coming for the iPhone include Spotify, though that isn’t out in the US.

Check out a video walkthrough of the app below.

Sir Timothy John “Tim” Berners-Lee, credited for inventing this little thing called the World Wide Web, has signed up for Twitter in a move that could potentially rip a hole in the time/space continuum.

The British computer scientist, engineer and MIT professor apparently got on Twitter yesterday just before he entered into a conversation with Tim O’Reilly on stage at the Web 2.0 Summit.

The man uses Tweetie and thinks either the app or the Twitter website has a confusing user interface. Since Berners-Lee is also the Director of Web standards organization World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), that’s telling.

(Hat tip to Tom Raftery)

Oh, dear. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was on The Today Show (international viewers: The Today Show is a morning news and entertainment program that airs on NBC, a big TV network here) to unveil Windows 7. Call me crazy, but isn’t that a first-gen MacBook Pro in the background? Good job, NBC!

I’ve embedded the video from Hulu for our U.S. readers, and for international readers here’s a few screencaps:

Once again, bravo, NBC, for a job well done! (And people call us sloppy, with a budget one-zillionth that of The Today Show!)

You hear that rumbling? That’s the sound of mobile internet usage exploding.

Sometime tomorrow, Opera will be releasing a couple of interesting usage statistics for what is one of the (if not the number one) most popular browsers in the world, Opera Mini. They were nice enough to fill us in on the details a bit early, and to give us a green light to share them with you tonight.

For those unfamiliar with the application, Opera Mini is a popular internet browser for mobile phones. Being that it’s written for J2ME, a very widespread Java platform, Opera Mini is compatible with a damn near absurd number of phones. Combining this compatibility with a rather impressive feature set and the fact that Opera Mini is completely free, the application has rocketed in popularity since launching in 2006.

Here are tomorrow’s stats:

• In September of 2008, the Opera Mini client was pushing around 150 million page views per day. In the past year, this number has jumped over over 233 percent, all the way up to 500 million page views per day.
• In September of ‘08, their active user count was hovering around 19 million active users; today, they’re at 32 million.
• One of Opera Mini’s driving features is compression; rather than pushing content directly to your handset, it first takes a trip through Opera Mini’s servers where extraneous data is stripped, and content is compressed down to a more mobile-friendly handset. The Opera Mini servers are currently compressing pages by up to 90%, with the average user pulling down just 6 MB of data per month to their handset. This works out to faster page loads — and for some people, less money spent. By Opera’s count, they’re saving users on pay-as-you-go data plans (who can pay up to $1 per MB) an average of $54 per month in data usage fees.

One thing that’s interesting to note here: the number of pages served is not proportional to the growth in active users. While the active user count has ticked up by around 68%, the number of pages served has rocketed upward by 233%; in other words, people are viewing significantly more pages on their handsets than ever before. There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that mobile internet usage is growing rapidly, but it’s incredible to see by how much.