Iobi Thoughts

Palm has been a known brand back in the 90’s. My sister bought her first Palm; an M515. In 2005, I worked in a company that did Technical Support for Palm (then known as PalmOne) and they introduced me to Smartphones. I had the SonyEricsson P910i (which was categorized as a PDA-Phone and not a Smartphone) and I immediately switched to the Treo270, then Treo 600, then Treo 650, and finally my Treo 680.

Being in the support line, we often receive information of the new products long before they would be leaked in the news. So we would have a feel of what the next products would be and would immediately be able to answer the customer’s questions if they hear something about it.

That was back in 2005. Now, I hear that Palm was acquired by HP and all I can say is, “great work, HP!”. Ever since Palm dropped their Handheld line, product production has gone from slow to none. After the Treo Pro, it was just the Pre and Pixi and nothing after (Pre Plus and Pixi Plus do not count).

Palm had many bad ideas like the LifeDrive which was eons behind in technology. I mean, the last time I heard people use the Microdrive it was probably in the 80’s (hehe). When the LifeDrive came out, there were already countless other and better storage media like FLASH.

Then Palm had a good idea called the Folio. Who would have thought the Folio would start a trend of machines now more familiarly known as Netbooks. Sadly, they scrapped the idea before it even hit production.

Then, another disappointing feat was when they announced the Palm Pre. I was excited. With the iPhone out gallivanting and sh*t, my Treo 680 needed an upgrade and I swore never to succumb to Apple’s hypnosis (though I am doing this blog on a MacBook Pro.. So sue me..) so I waited for the Pre to come out in the GSM version (it was originally released as a CDMA unit) and I didn’t care how much it would cost. But days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and no sign of the Pre. Then GOOGLE Announced the Nexus One and now, I found my new phone. Sorry, Palm.

The whole “Palm for Sale” debate has been happening for a long while now. Even back in 2005, we’ve already heard of rumors that Palm was being sold. We actually thought that Apple was going to buy Palm for both Palm and Apple had basically the same terminologies for their services. Apple had the Apple Care, Palm had the Palm Care.  Both had the Protection Plan and the list goes on and on but it never pushed through.

Now that HP bought Palm, I sure hope HP does a whole lot of good for Palm. I would not want to have another good idea as the WebOS go down the drain. Oh, by the way. the Pre already perfected the Multitasking bit. Not Apple.

*Please be warned that this might be a spoiler to those who haven’t watched the movie.

Review Date: May 2, 2010, 11:48 PM

In a nutshell, the movie kept you on the edge of your seat. No dull moment in the entirety of the film. Kudos to Jon Favreau for that aspect. There were a lot of parts in the movie that hinted something else. Like the piece of metal that Agent Colsen lifted looked so much like Captain America’s shield (this same shield appeared in the first Iron Man movie) and all Tony Stark did was use it as a wedge for the contraption he was building to make the new element to replace Paladium.

Speaking of Paladium. That part was also a let down. On the first few minutes of the movie, he checks his blood for toxicity level (then towards the middle of the film, it explains that Paladium is causing some sort of blood poisoning slowly killing Stark) thinking that it was going to be dramatic on how he discovers it. It was cool where old meet new in this where Howard Stark could not finish what he wanted to for a lack of technology at his time and he sent his message across through the video knowing that Tony would eventually discover it.

It was kinda cool how Director Fury showed Tony his dad’s old stuff which made him discover the new element to replace Paladium. It sucked big time when it took Stark a few drags and flicks here and there and finds it. I mean, give some drama for crying out loud. Then while he and Jarvis were discussing about the composition of the new element, Jarvis exclaims that the element was impossible to synthesize, then “poof!” Stark finds how and Jarvis complements that he has PERFECTED the new element.

Ok, now the villain, played by Mickey Rourke, was very smart and made an army of “Iron Men” to kill Tony Stark but magically fails to do so. He then tries to do it himself by riding on a, somewhat, newer version of the Iron Monger which was kinda weird because he can easily and safely control the robots remotely but decides to “ride” on one. Then Tony and Rhodey defeat him with the “side-kick”. First of all, where did the name come from? And how did Rhodey understand what Tony meant when he said to do the “side-kick”. It was never discussed. In fact, that came about when Tony and Rhodey were fighting in their respective armors and since they were fighting, they did not talk much about battle plans or attack modes.

Then there’s where Col. Rhodey Rhodes wore the Mark 2. How was he able to let Jarvis let him wear it WITHOUT ANY POWER SOURCE?? He does not have the same power source Stark had and how come when he wore it, it suddenly had the glow in the chest?

Overall, the movie was entertaining. It just felt that too much was going on in the movie and it did not allow the audience to “marinade” on some scenes which makes it undercooked.

Showing the Thor Hammer at the end was a nice touch. I figured since they used the Ultimate Avenger Fury (Fury was white in the original Marvel Universe and they made him black in the Ultimate Universe) on the movie, I kinda thought that they would use the Ultimate Avenger Thor Hammer to introduce Thor. It was alright. Perfect replica of the Thor Hammer.

So far, this is what I think of the movie. I’ll be sure to edit this and post the edit dates just to be fair with y’all. I might even watch it twice or even three times just to get a good enough review.