Hasta La Gadget!

After much speculation regarding the fate of Palm in the wake of the company’s $1.2 billion purchase by HP, the handset manufacturer today unveiled the latest evolution in its smartphone platform–the Palm Pre 2 and webOS 2. Because everyone loves a sequel, right?

The Pre 2 isn’t really a huge departure from its predecessor. In fact, as our mobile analyst Sascha Segan put it, “the Pre 2 is a curiously low-key upgrade for a Palm line that needs to aggressively expand to stay in the game.”

The new handset is pretty much a souped up version of the original Pre. Some of the improved specs include: 5MP camera, 16GB of storage, 512MB of RAM, and a 320-by-480 display.

The phone is arriving in the next few months, courtesy of Verizon. An unlocked version that’s compatible with AT&T will be arriving right around then, as well.

The new webOS, meanwhile, will be available on the new device and will be rolling out to existing customers. The operating system features Adobe Flash 10.1, Skype integration, support for social networks like Facebook, and a general smoothing of the UI.

This is starting to get good. It’s days like these that I really enjoy what I do for a living. What started as a surprise appearance by Steve Jobs on last night’s Apple earning’s call has already turned into a full-on three executive pileup. I mean, you didn’t really expect the companies in Jobs’s sights to just sit idly by as he slammed them in front of the press, did you?

To recap, last night Jobs invited himself onto an Apple earnings call to both brag about the company’s numbers and to stick it to the competition. He attacked the perception of Android’s openness by stating,

We find this a bit disingenuous, and clouding the real difference between our two approaches. The first thing that most of think about when we hear the word “open” is Windows, which is available on a variety of devices. Unlike Windows, however, where most PCs have the same user interface and run the same apps, Android is very fragmented.

Google VP Andy Rubin shot back on Twitter, writing,

the definition of open: “mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; make

Rubin was pointing out just how open the software that his company created really was.

Okay, we’re maybe jumping the gun here–there’s no little blue and white checkmark next to his name, but TechCrunch seems pretty confident that @arubin is, in fact, Andy Rubin, Google’s VP of Engineering and the head of Android, having “confirmed with a couple of people in the know” that it is indeed him.

The fascinating thing, however, isn’t the fact that Rubin is on Twitter–there are plenty of execs and other prominent folk on the micro-blogging site. Rather, it’s the fact that the former Danger CEO used his first tweet to take a jab at Steve Jobs, who, as mentioned before, crashed an Apple earnings meeting to say some mean things about Google’s Android and all of this talk of software openness.

Rubin’s tweet is as follows,

the definition of open: “mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; make

Our lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan has graciously agreed to translate the above geek speak for the rest of us,

Rubin’s tweet lists the commands needed to start compiling a copy of Android on your home Linux machine. He’s emphasizing that anyone can develop for, hack, and even create their own version of Android. The irony, of course, is that Jobs would probably consider that a negative – Apple likes the uniformity of iOS. Rubin’s declaration of openness also overlooks that some consumers don’t have the freedom to hack their retail devices because of choices made by their wireless carriers and mobile-phone manufacturers.

Rubin hasn’t added anything since that first tweet posted about seven hours ago. We don’t mind. So far he’s battling 1,000.

There are plenty of things to worry about in this modern world–disease, natural disasters, a crumpling economy, bed bugs. It’s hard to imagine that the inability to try on bowties is toward the top of anybody’s list. If, however, you’re among a select group truly concerned with iconoclastic neck wear, then boy have we got the iPhone app for you.

OoOTie has a brand new app for the iPhone and Android OSes that lets users try on a variety of bowtie styles in the setting of your choice. Just select a tie and hold it up to your neck.

Says the company, “For an interactive experience, ask your friend, your bartender, your girlfriend/boyfriend, your mom/dad, or even a total stranger what they think. Don’t be offended if they don’t answer right away. The first glimpse of an OoOTie has been known to render people speechless.”

The app is a free download. The bowties start at $15. There’s also an iPad version of the app–can a version for dickies be too far behind?