If only I can add photos via Post’er … 

Google Map with Voting Information

P.S. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  And happy birthday, Alli!

It looks smooth. It looks slick. It looks uber-cool. It has most of the programs I already use on my Palm Treo 755p. It has a physical keyboard. It has a touch-screen and wifi as well as high-speed wireless connection. It has a 3 megapixel camera (but I don’t think it captures video). The maps app lets you see street-view, and I believe has GPS as well.

A cool emulator shows what using it would be like. Be sure to click the “360 View,” “Guide” and “Emulator” buttons on the right side. On the emulator, you can slide the background (the “blue pond” in the emulator) left or right to see more. Be sure to slide out the arrow on the right side of the “blue pond” for additional options, then scroll the icon menu up.

Gmail (which I use on the computer and also on my Treo via IMAP) looks easy to use and has just about all the features of the website. I wonder if this allows for logging in from my “Google Apps for my Domain” account which I use with my own domain URL address.

The instant messaging app allows you to log into Gtalk, AIM, Yahoo, and MSN Messenger. Nice! I’m pretty sure it can work in the background — that is, you can do other things and then get notification of new messages. I also wonder if this works with my Google Apps account as well.

If you’re a true geek like me, check out the “settings” on that right-arrow menu to see settings for wifi, calls, sounds and display, data sync, etc. I wonder if it can be set to vibrate several times and for different notifications. One of the most annoying flaws of the iPhone is the fact that it vibrates only once.

The biggest downside for me? It’s T-Mobile, using a similar slide-out as the Sidekick. I’m gonna wait and see if Verizon comes out with a smartphone (and one that doesn’t slide out) using the Android platform. I just hope it’s sometime soon — Verizon is (in-)famous for NOT being an early adopter of new types of smartphones. On the other hand, I’m surprised that Verizon will be the first network to release the new Palm Treo Pro.

The T-Mobile G1 will be selling later this month for $179, and you can pre-order yours via the Tmobile website.

YouTube, ironically also owned by Google, finally added the ability to upload .srt (and its sister .sub) files and to turn on / off captions.

Read my post on my preferred method of creating captions and then saving captioned videos onto Google Video — which should be similar to how you can save these to YouTube as well.

Google Operating System has more information on this — rather than repeat everything, head over there for an excellent synopsis.

Way to go, Google!  Now only if it improves its speech-to-text capabilities as well.

(Thanks, Google Operating System!)

Some quick specs — it’ll have built-in GPS (including navigation), run on Windows Mobile (not Palm OS – damn), have wi-fi (yay!), have 256mb RAM memory, 2.0 megapixel camera, 320×320 touch screen that’s flush with the rest of the body (easier to keep clean!), have a slimmer body (I think it went through the South Beach diet), 3G data connectivity (fast data speeds), microUSB connector (no more hunting for the right connector!), and more.

I’m disappointed that it’s running on Windows Mobile instead of Palm OS — I run plenty of programs that are Palm OS-only, like Chatter, Bonsai, Bubbles, and a few others. Plus, I’m not certain how I can set up push email on Palm devices running on Windows Mobile, like I have on Palm OS devices.

(Thanks, Treonaunts!)

EDIT 8/22: Here’s the official Palm announcement, and a followup Palm blog post being bemused at all the attention and adoration it’s getting.

“FYI… The TAP for the 3G is 50.00 a month… The 2G is 40.00 a month… I thought I would make that clear before folks end up surprised at the extra $10 a month for the 3G model…”

Thanks, Lenny, for passing on this (bad) news. And remember, don’t shoot the messenger!

“I just got an email from nccd att announcing that they now do support new iphones. Off I go to Apple Store!”

Go forth and buy the new iPhone and let us know what you think! I’m so tempted to buy one, but I’m not too sure about not being able to type without looking at the iPhone … I like to walk and type at the same time!

“I’m disappointed in ATT for not making an announcement that TAP discount plan can be applied to new iPhones. They said it was for old iPhones….so I decided not to buy it today.”

Has anybody had the same experience?

I’m a really happy man now. I know my ID photo doesn’t make me look happy, but believe me, I’m happy.

Please don’t forget to recycle these Splash Sticks, either in your local plastic recycling bin or by re-using them.

I just hope my local workplace Starbucks hangout won’t be one of those stores slated for closure. There’s another Starbucks on the next corner, after all.

If you’re a somewhat die-hard Starbucks fan, you might’ve heard by now that Starbucks has announced it’ll be closing 600 stores (or 5 percent of its total stores) across the USA due to the challenging economy.

The Seattle Times newspaper has set up a map of Starbucks store closings. This map is not of all 500 stores, since Starbucks hasn’t released the list yet. Instead, the Times is getting this info piece-meal mostly from baristas and the media. None in the DC / Frederick / Baltimore area as of yet (whew!), but this map (so far) only has a fraction of the expected 600 closures.

Any closures near your home or in your town? Let us know.

View Larger Map

(Edit 7/10/08: I forgot to give credit where credit is due – thanks, Starbucks Gossip!)