Isaiah's Tech

Palm Pre fans, don't be scared because Sprint and Palm have confirmed that the Pre will still be available in the first half of this year, so that means that it is still on schedule. The plans and pricing was also confirmed by Sprint. I'll just copy and paste it, since there's no point of putting it into my own words, keep in mind that these are all in USD. "Individuals can choose from 450 minute ($69.99), 900 minute ($89.99) or unlimited plans ($99.99). Families can choose from 1500 minutes ($129.99), 3000 minutes ($169.99) or unlimited plans (189.99). Business customers will also be able to pool their minutes together using about 5 different plans." Unfortunately, the Touchstone wireless charger will be an additional cost and won't be included in the package.

Let's head over to Apple, Palm's favourite brand right now. So, with the release of the new iPod Shuffle yesterday, Apple has released a new version (8.1) of iTunes that supports it. It is reportedly faster than the old iTunes, but i don't really see a difference when running a Windows PC. I haven't had the ability to test it out too thoroughly, but i do know that i spotted a new feature called iTunes DJ. If you want the full list go to this link, Gizmodo will tell you all you need to know.

Apple is going to have a big announcement next week dedicated to the new iPhone OS (3.0). This will be happening on March 17, so i'll have more official news next week. On a side note, it's time to go to the old rumour mill. So, word is that Apple is planning to include MMS and will also have tethering. "The tethering function allegedly will work via Bluetooth pairing the phone with a USB device attached to a computer." Anyways, the official announcement will be next week so that's when i will have official news.

Since Bill Gates is somewhat related to Apple or well, at least, used to be. Bill Gates is once again the world's richest man, according to Forbes' Billionaire list. Last year there were 1,125 billionaires, but this year there are only 793 of them left, meaning 373 people have fallen off the list. I guess this is due to the recession, since the wealth of the remaining 793 people have also gone down an average of 23% which is huge. It's good to see that Bill Gates is back on top though, even though he did face 18 billion in losses.

Palm Pre News (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5168926/pre-available-first-half-of-2009-pricing-plans-confirmed
Apple iTunes 8.1: http://i.gizmodo.com/5168529/itunes-81-now-available
Apple iPhone OS 3.0 (and picture): http://www.gsmarena.com/iphone_os_30_is_knocking_on_the_door_launch_set_for_17_march-news-830.php
Apple iPhone OS 3.0 Rumours: http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/03/12/iphone.os.rumors/
Bill Gates (and picture): http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/03/bill-gates-is-worlds-richest-man-again.ars