Palm unveils future brand

Palm has disclosed the name it will adopt after its proposed spin-off of PalmSource, the maker of the Palm OS platform software. In time to come, the name "palmOne, Inc" will reflect the company`s handheld computer hardware and software solutions business, and encompass the sub-brands Zire, Tungsten and Treo.

A new Web site is live today and features product information and support services previously available on Palm`s site.

A US university doctoral candidate has developed the AcceleGlove, an electronic glove that can translate American sign language into written and spoken form, reports SACM.

The system combines accelerometers, a micro-controller and algorithms to do its translation. The AcceleGlove is worn on one hand and the accelerometers on the back of the fingers and palm act as sensors. These provide information about the posture and location of the hands and fingers. The micro-controller interprets signals and the information is run through algorithms in order for the hand gesture to be recognised and categorised. The correct word associated with the hand movement is then identified.

By the end of this year, the personal digital assistant (PDA) market will have shrunk by nearly 10%. Instead, users are demanding "converged" devices, says a survey by research company IDC.

Figures show that PDAs without voice capabilities sold less this year than last year by 8.4% - the second year in a row that sales have dropped substantially, reports The Register.

IDC`s analysis concludes that the surge will come from Symbian-based devices, with more than 13 million units shipped this year. Companies looking to capitalise on the shift to "voice and text"-based devices include Dell, Handspring, Hewlett-Packard, Palm and Research-In-Motion, which will be moving to "converged mobile device" production.

SCO Group is preparing to take Linux users to court. It hopes this will speed up the legal process in its claim that Unix code has been illegally copied into Linux, and may also encourage Linux users to take out a licence for its intellectual property, reports CBR Online.

The company has signed one large customer up to its Intellectual Property Licence for Linux, but faces opposition from many more that believe SCO must prove its claims in a court of law before they will hand over the $700 per CPU for the licence.

Speaking at SCO`s Forum event in Las Vegas, president and CEO Darl McBride said SCO has three groups working on identifying and approaching Linux users. The first is drawing up the list, the second will send out letters offering the chance to license the code SCO says has been copied into Linux, and the third will take legal action against those who refuse.

A computer software glitch wiped out trading at the New Zealand stock exchange late yesterday morning.

In an urgent advisory, the exchange said that "due to an issue with the [computer] system which has compromised market integrity" all trading on capital markets had been suspended. It did not elaborate on the problem, but a spokesperson said it had been caused by a computer software upgrade at an associated share registry facility and was not related to the Blaster worm, reports Yahoo News.