Hasta La Gadget!

In a webcast today with Sprint and Palm executives, the two companies let out a few new facts about the upcoming Palm Pre.

For one thing, Palm product line manager Matt Crowley said that Palm has “no plans” to license out their new WebOS “at this time.” His phrasing left room for plans to change, though. “We’re focused on WebOS 1.0 for the Palm Pre launch,” he said. That implies that WebOS may be licensed to other manufacturers further down the road – just not now.

Sprint’s David Owens also laid out the Pre’s service plans. Individuals will be able to get the Pre on Sprint’s Everything Data or Simply Everything plans. That means $69.99/month for 450 minutes, $89.99/month for 900 minutes or $99.99/month for unlimited talk, all with unlimited data.

Families will be able to use Everything Data 1500 or 3000-minute plans, or the Simply Everything plan. That means $129.99 for 1500 minutes on 2 lines, $169.99 for 3000 minutes over two lines, or $189.99 for unlimited talk on two lines, all with unlimited data.

Business customers will be able to pool minutes with an unlimited data plan.

Verizon has unveiled TALKS for Verizon Wireless, a new service that gives blind and visually impaired customers audio feedback for messaging, dialing, and other tasks. Initially, it will be available for the MOTO Q9c smartphone beginning on March 15th.

The service essentially offers voice-to-text translation powered by Nuance, the company that owns Dragon NaturallySpeaking, but with an increased emphasis on audio clarity for cell phones. In addition to sending and receiving text and e-mail messages, TALKS also aids with caller ID, dialing contacts, adding and editing contact entries, writing documents in the mobile versions of Word and Excel, composing multimedia (MMS) messages, and browsing the Internet with Internet Explorer Mobile.

Users can also adjust speech volume and—interestingly—the rate of speech. Verizon Wireless is selling the MOTO Q9c as a package with TALKS for $249.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates. Existing MOTO Q9c customers who want to add TALKS should call Verizon Wireless Customer Service at 800-922-0204.

Yesterday was the 133rd anniversary of the first telephone call, Pocket Gamer reports. That’s the call where Alexander Graham Bell famously transmitted a message in 1876 to his assistant that said, “Watson, come here! I want to see you!”

The story goes that Bell was investigating a problem with a new form of telegraphy he was experimenting with, so he sent Watson to check it out, according to the report. While Watson was messing with it on the other hand, Bell heard the vibrations transmitted to his end loud and clear—the whole time, the circuit was active, which ran counter to his understanding. The rest was history.

In fact, the report said that while Bell never lived to see his invention take over the world, he did have an inkling of its possibilities. On the inside cover of the first ever telephone engineer’s installation and service manual, Bell inscribed the following quote: “The telephone is so important that, one day, every town will have one.” (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Talk about declaring a price war: MetroPCS has launched their first BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone with an unlimited rate plan. The $50 personal rate plan includes unlimited talk, text, web browsing, MMS and BlackBerry email access through BlackBerry Internet Service, while an extra $10 gets you the BlackBerry Enterprise Server version.

That means it’s the first smart phone from the Cricket, Metro, and Boost Mobile unlimited, no-contract group, and the price is fully half of what Sprint is charging for the same thing via their Simply Everything plan—which was a good deal until about 13 seconds ago.

There’s always a catch, although this one is geography-related: the MetroPCS Curve is only available in the older 1900 Mhz MetroPCS markets, not the many newer 1700 Mhz markets. That means NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia are out for now. And to be fair, Sprint is throwing in its optional services, like GPS navigation and mobile TV, although you have no choice but to take them.

Regardless, the MetroPCS BlackBerry Curve 8330 will be available at Best Buy stores beginning today in the following areas: Greater Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. By the end of the month, the phone will also be in MetroPCS stores. Go get ’em. (Release)

Is Verizon Wireless sharing your personal information?

The mobile carrier re-iterated on Monday that it does not share your data with third-parties. Unless you opt out, however, that info will be passed along to other Verizon companies.

Since 2007, Verizon has sent pamphlets to new customers explaining this policy, and telling them they have 45 days to opt out. For those who actually notice the insert, however, opting out can apparently be somewhat of an arduous process.

Verizon addressed the issue in a blog post two years ago. But the issue came up again this weekend after several bloggers who were new to Verizon Wireless posted about the pamphlets they received, as well as the difficulties they had opting out or finding information about the process on the Verizon Web site.

Verizon responded by saying this procedure is nothing new.

“Some attention to CPNI appeared over the weekend, which echoed similar buzz back in 2007,” spokesman Jim Gerace wrote in a blog post. “My comment and explanation then still applies today. But I wish to add: nothing has changed; all new customers get this mailing.”

How do you opt out? BoingBoing Gadgets took some screen shots and walks you through the opt-out process.