Every year I try to keep myself off the Internet because I've become so tired of seeing the stupid April Fool's jokes. Google jumped on the bandwagon years ago. Every major geek news site posts some stupid joke story. I won't even visit a major news source to see the state of Japan's reactor for fear of having to groan at yet another stupid half-done joke.

I still live in a web browser because our intranet software is all web based on our own servers. I also still check email, but regular web browser is completely out.

This year I was unable to hide. First, I noticed an email from Hootsuite saying they were switching business models and making "Happy Owls" - a mobile game where you launch owls from slingshots... Gee, that's the best you could come up with?

Then I noticed that my Adblock Plus plugin had a pop-up menu offering the new Adblock Freedom sunglasses for blocking your view of billboards.

Sigh.

For fiscal 2010, Palm said its revenue will be “well below its previously forecasted range of $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion."

“Palm webOS is recognized as a groundbreaking platform that enables one of the best smartphone experiences available today, and our work to evolve the platform and bring industry-leading technology to market continues. However, "....

And that's a big "However." "driving broad consumer adoption of Palm products is taking longer than we anticipated,” When you consider the over-saturated smartphone market, not only is Palm lost in the dust, but a lot of people still consider Palm to have inferior products. There's also something lacking in their marketing. I see the Palm Pre commercials all the time, but I've never even been tempted to see what exactly a Pre is all about. When I see an Android or HTC commercial it makes me think "Wow, wish I had one of those!"

When you consider the webOS 1.4 upgrade that everyone is holding out for on the Palm smartphones will finally support video, you have to wonder... where has Palm been the last 4 years?

I'm sure cellphones have a long R&D cycle. The problem is, if you aren't on the bleeding edge, consumers don't want your smartphone.

Still, I'd own a Palm long before I'd get something with Windows on it! I'll just keep my Blackberry Tour, thanks.