“It seems at though the PSP phone rumors had been true after all. Sony’s recent patent filing sheds a little light on the design and functionality of the PSP phone. First thing Sony Ericsson took into consideration for converging a portable gaming system into a phone was easy to use game controls, which was easily solved by replacing keys from the numeric keypad with game controls.The phone also gets a rotating display to access other functions of the phone. When the device is in the phone mode, you get a simple phone with numeric keypad, menu and function keys. Rotating the screen to 180 degrees, menu/function keys are turn into game controls for portable phone gaming. If the screen is turned only 90 degress, the PSP phone might turn into a mobile tv also?There would be no need to worry about games, with the large growing library of PSP titles. Other companies are going to have a hard time catching up with the PSP phone if games are compatible with standard PSP games.” via mobilewhack.com
Palm to add former Apple CFO, iPod head to board
“PDA and smartphone maker Palm on Monday announced a recapitalization plan that will plant two former Apple executives on the company’s board of directors and will infuse $325 million in funds into the company. In return, Palm’s selling a 25 percent stake to Elevation.Palm’s new partner in this endeavor is Elevation Partners, a private equity firm led by Apple’s former Chief Financial Officer, Fred Anderson, and Roger McNamee. U2 frontman Bono is also one of the firm’s partners. Both Anderson and McNamee will join Palm’s board of directors following the closing of the transaction, replacing former CEO Eric Benhamou and D. Scott Mercer, who will resign at that point.Perhaps more significantly, however, Palm plans to appoint Jon Rubinstein, Apple’s former senior vice president of hardware engineering and head of its iPod division, as executive chairman of the board. Palm president and CEO Ed Colligan said that Rubinstein will lead the company’s product development efforts going forward.Rubinstein left Apple in 2006. He’s credited as instrumental in creating both the iPod and the iMac, and became head of Apple’s iPod division when it was spun off as a separate business unit in 2004.” Read more here: