Geeks are raving about Palm’s new Pre phone and Linux-based Web OS, which is looking like the hit of the show. I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek at the device last month and my write-up on it for Newsweek is here. The Pre is a slick looking slider phone with an OS that leapfrogs the competition and features that iPhone users have been craving. Some specs from my Newsweek piece:
The phone has 8 gigabytes of storage, which is decent but not great; it can run Adobe Flash, and can cut, copy and paste, which iPhone can’t; it supports multimedia messaging service (MMS) so you can send text messages with photos attached, which iPhone can’t do; it has a 3 megapixel camera and a flash, which iPhone lacks. There’s a button that lets you buy music from Amazon’s download store. Then there’s the multitasking. Want to talk on the speakerphone while browsing the Web and entering stuff in your calendar? No problem. Palm expects people will keep 15 to 20 applications open at the same time.
Looks pretty slick. Your article doesn’t mention their wireless partners. I happened to see that the Sprint brand was located in the top right of one of the demo pictures. Could you shed any light on this?
NVM, saw on Ars that it’s Sprint Exclusive…
One question: Is it UNIX underneath? If yes, it can compete with Apple. If not, it’s toast.
Aha! Palm’s Nova is based on the open-source Linux operating system.
Therefore, it has a chance. Go for it Palm! The competition is good for everyone.
Ah – Ok so, you only post when you want to pimp some Newsweek article you need some traffic to. Classy! Bye.
This blog is coming back to life! We even have someone offended with the posting and threatening to leave and never return! The good old days are back.
I’ve spent the last half hour digesting this surprising news from Palm. I used to be one of their early devotees, but my respect for them diminished a lot over the past decade.
I’ve always been of the opinion that the iPhone brought a select few new things to the table, but its operating system ran under the same principles of yesterday’s systems. Having taken a look at the Pre’s interface, I have to say I’m REALLY glad one company has finally decided to take things to a new level.
IMO the only things standing in the way of it becoming a blockbuster are: a single-company operating system, and blind fanboyism of other companies (RIM, Apple).
Personally, I’d only want a device with an operating system that’s available on a wide range of devices or extremely popular devices–that way I know there will always be constant development from lots of communities. Android is setting out to be that platform.
Anyways, looking at all the specs and features, I have to say that it’s obvious that Palm painstakingly made sure the Pre leaves very little, if anything, to be desired. Very few showcase handsets can say that.
Nice article. Amazing they didn’t show:
1) Making/taking a CALL!
2) YouTube — especially after the Foleo debacle
People are also saying this Palm webOS is nothing more than iPhone v1 “web apps.” We’ll see, I guess. I didn’t know game devs could do Nintendo-like games using just HTML, CSS, and Ajax!
Sure the specs sound good, but the devil is in the details. It is only as good as how bug-free, intuitive, and stable it is. First reports say indicate this phone has incomplete software and unfinished features. Time will tell.
This is amazing phone I like this phone.. I saw the picture of this phone and it is cool
The phone seems like a good iPhone competitor. I think your article puts too much emphasis on the features that the Pre has that the iPhone lacks. There have been plenty of other smartphones, with plenty of features that the iPhone lacked, but they were still disappointments. Where the Pre really changes the game is that it has an OS as innovative as that of the iPhone was 2 years ago.
nothing the Palm phones does that the iPhone couldn’t do with a software upgrade.
still, it’s a nice looking phone, gotta give Palm credit for that.
Hey Vaporland, you’re right, but completely wrong if you think a “software upgrade” is something that will realistically happen. Apple is one of the most stubborn companies when it comes to interface consistency. They will NEVER admit that there’s anything that needs to change about their flagship product.
Also, here’s something else: my iPod Video (5G) is plenty capable of running the latest iPod software (you know the one with fancy coverflow?), but of course Apple won’t upgrade it. If I want the new software, I have to buy the new iPod Classic.
If the Pre does turn out to be a huge success, expect to see a new interface in the “iPhone 2″, not any of the current iPhones.
Develop for it? We’ll piss on it.
Who should we develop for, Apple, a profitable market leader with 10+ million phone sales, powerful, UNIFORM hardware and OS and a strong development environment, or Palm, the company ever on life support, that had it all within their grasp and blew it, that’s canceled several OS releases, stuck with a ludicrously difficult to program for and clumsy OS for, what, 10 years?
The sad thing is that handhelds are moving in a proprietary direction, away from the open standards of the web, and many if not most of the apps in the app store could have been done simply as websites. So we have to develop an iPhone version, Blackberry versions… maybe a gPhone version, and it’s wrong I tell ya!
Windows 7 chick had me at kissy lips. You think I wanna know about palms?
I watched CES Keynote while fighting off convulsions. Dude, keynote is not supposed to sound and look like a commercial.
Windows 7 color scheme knocked Jonny out. I gave him a splash but he is still out. Oh, no, wait… I hear something. He is having nightmares about that flexible screen. Oh Jonny, it ain’t a mousepad. It is a flexible screen. Kind of like rigid unibody but backwards.
“My screen folded”
And what is up with our busy digital lives? Now we need an OS for it?
Yes! The new strategy is brilliant: RDL posts to promote his Newsweek articles, while FSJ inspires people in the comment field.
Welcome back, RDL and FSJ.
My one regret … I bought an iTouch and a headset mic and use it with Skype to make calls – (no lousy AT&T service). If I waited just that much longer, I coulda’ saved the bucks up towards a Pre instead.
I predict Apple will ignore the Pre exists. The Pre will do respectable business. Apple fans will demand “Pre” features in their iPhones. Apple will ignore, hem and haw then promise such features are on the way (over Randall Stephenson’s dead body … let’s face it AT&T is making Apple do the monkey dance) … soon. Then iPhone sales projections and AT&T contracts do not match their targets … by a mile.
Someone returns to MacWorld 2010 (pay no attention to the tail under tucked beneath the legs) and does maximum damage control.
attaboy Danny. Shill your newsweek column because if you didn’t post a link nobody would read it. Nobody buys newsweek.
danny, danny, danny. You lost the funny dude. now, go away.
More features is always better, right? That’s why Zune is already #1, right? Oh, wait…
LMAO… this jackoff was punishing people like “Goatberg” for getting cozy with manufacturers so they could be the first to give out the scoop. And now he writes this tripe peace of generic garbage to kiss up to Palm?
What a joke!
Talk about plagiarizing too! WOW
Wow! I’m glad I came back to this blog for a sales talk.
it’s downright scary how quickly and thoroughly newsweek has destroyed dan’s soul. this blog used to be good; if it hadn’t been, no one would care now. namaste you poor bastard
This phone looks good! i have an iphone now but the contract is almost up! I might have to pick this phone up…
I miss the “real” FSJ. Sorry, just basic stuff like humor and maybe a little Apple news. I don’t think DL sold his soul with newsweek … but there’s no denying a HUGE change in demeanor. Where did the brightness and arrogance go? (the one that SO appeals to Apple fans). While Newsweek is read more … Fortune is smarter/sharper and better thought out … maybe that has something to do with it? I think places like Wired are brilliant as much because of the topics, as becuase of the atmosphere and attitudes they foster. Maybe the “darker” feel of DL writing since moving to Newsweek is a reflection that deep inside, he thinks he made a mistake… money can’t buy happiness (all the time anyway
I think we all keep hoping it’ll get that edge again … I’m just another Apple fan with a lot of hope that the FSJ — like the Apple company itself — can go through through hard times and come out at the other end even better. I think that’s why we all (a lot of us anyway) stay on this list that is pretty much useless, and at the very least, disappointing…
Dan, you rocked. You ignited a sense of intelligent play that was nothing short of amazing. Even The Leader had his times of trouble ,,, I hope you find your center again too.
Namaste.
I miss the “real” FSJ. Sorry, just basic stuff like humor and maybe a little Apple news. I don’t think DL sold his soul with newsweek … but there’s no denying a HUGE change in demeanor. Where did the brightness and arrogance go? (the one that SO appeals to Apple fans). While Newsweek is read more … Fortune is smarter/sharper and better thought out … maybe that has something to do with it? I think places like Wired are brilliant as much because of the topics, as becuase of the atmosphere and attitudes they foster. Maybe the “darker” feel of DL writing since moving to Newsweek is a reflection that deep inside, he thinks he made a mistake… money can’t buy happiness (all the time anyway
I think we all keep hoping it’ll get that edge again … I’m just another Apple fan with a lot of hope that the FSJ — like the Apple company itself — can go through through hard times and come out at the other end even better. I think that’s why we all (a lot of us anyway) stay on this list that is pretty much useless, and at the very least, disappointing…
Dan, you rocked. You ignited a sense of intelligent play that was nothing short of amazing. Even The Leader had his times of trouble … I hope you find your center again too.
Namaste.
Dan, what is the news here? Is it the fake picture of new Palm phone on palm.com (looks like they are “displaying” signal strength not on the screen but on the plastic above the touch screen hahaha).
Their site looks like it has been heavily influenced by Apple. Palmers, start your copiers.
There is only one iPhone and only one true innovator in this industry. Apple.
I am still reeling from Ballmer/Chick performance at CES and their “cool” Windows 7. What a bunch of crap, considering the billions they sank into it.
Let me put it this way. Me, the genius, MADE 25 billions WHILE making OS X (the whole zoo shebang and iPod, iPhone, AppleTV… you name it.I even redefined cool while making money).
Borg has spent close to 10 billions in the same time period on Vista and this crap they call Windows 7. Oh yeah, they spent money on Xbox too because it is still not profitable.
You don’t need Excel to figure this one out.
And btw, you can run Windows 7 in a VM on Mac to avoid infesting your hardware with this untested junk. If you really have to. Your call.
It’s not Really Dan Lyons, it’s his intern Silly Stan Lying. Way to earn your Tuscan yogurt on a stick, Silly Stan.
Will Bono have the last laugh, shoving his Palm Jaysus phone up FSJ’s fundament?
Is anybody going to renew their MobileMe subscriptions?
Thought so ….
The Onion strikes again!
I asked Phil to download Windows 7 and check it out.
We checked it out.
I have one thing to say to Ballmer:
Ballmer, stop wasting our time. A real OS should have multitasking AND memory protection. Whether Windows has either, it is hard to tell. BSOD suggests that at least one of those “features” are missing from your little OS.
Here are some flash cards for ya:
- Applications should not crap in each other’s memory space
- OS should not crap in apps’ memory space
- When things blow up, shut down the process that blew up not the entire friggin OS
- DELETE CODE FOR BSOD from Windows.
- Fix your d@mn graphics drivers or start making your own widget (Macbook Pro, have you heard of it?)
Unbelievable. And this is called “Innovation”.
One more thing. Ask BillG to drop the foundation nonsense and get back to work. I know, he is burned out and all but this Windows thing is b-r-o-k-e-n.
Windows… more like Drains.
you just owned Jim Goldman on live TV. Awesome! Thanks for backing up Gizmodo.
I’m very impressed with the Pre, it’s what we Palm fans have been waiting for (sad we have to wait up to another 6 months though, even more for us non-US people). However, in all the hype about it’s multi-tasking wonderfulness it should be remembered there are very valid reasons the competition (i.e. the iPhone) doesn’t do much m/t – battery life and RAM. Palm have refused to say how much RAM Pre has, it’s probably the same or perhaps slightly more than the iPhone – 128MB. With a Linux-based OS and very nice but resource expensive multi-touch GUI you’re not going to have much room to run too many meaty apps in 128-192MB RAM, and every app that runs will eat battery life (as if 3G and WiFi don’t do that well enough to begin with). Apple didn’t avoid m/t on the iPhone for fun or because they don’t approve of m/t, they avoid it because of limited RAM and battery life considerations (and a simplified s/t UI that doesn’t require the user to remember to quit apps when done with them, the home button quits them automatically).
The Pre looks great, but it’s good stuff is going to come at a cost, and with a mobile device like this that’s likely to be battery life. It’ll be interesting to see how Palm have addressed this issue when the Pre finally ships.
1.)Is this a good day to start shorting Apple stock? And how does this affect Disney stock? (Jobs is still Disney’s largest shareholder) I’m not rolling over my long held shares unless it gets below $48.
2.)Assuming Jobs recovers enough by June or July (when the Pre hits the streets), how will he emerge from hibernation: a nonchalant, nothing to see here, business as usual approach or a big announcement with a wait one more thing… product revealed that takes the wind out of the sails of the release of both Pre and Windows 7 or Jobs withdrawing as a figurehead, becoming the Greta Garbo of tech.
hey dannyboy,
saw the youtube of you last night on CNBC (it’s about as popular as newsweek, nobody watches).
What dweeb man. That little hair flip thing you did was pretty wimpy.
Sorry to hear you were banned by marketing services subsidiary CNBC. Kudos for telling it like it is.
Being banned from life by CNBC is life being banned for life from the Snake Oil Club. Hold your head up with pride, son!
Next up on CNBC: “Bernie Madoff, Honest Wall Streeter Who Is An Innocent Victim of Anti-Jewish Smear Campaign.”
You are pathetic Dan.. nice CNBC appearance.. way to go buddy… couldn’t possibly stick a bigger log in your own mouth!
Good Job Dan for laying into that asshole at CNBC. Fucking journalists not owning up to their writing pisses me the hell off and you called him on it.
You guys make some weird comments:
“Palm, the company ever on life support, that had it all within their grasp and blew it”
errrr, like Apple 10 years ago???
And why all the fuss about whether the OS is Unix or is available on other hardware? It doesn’t matter! That’s why apple is resurgent, we have open standards for communications and data transfer these days.
Ha, just seen the NBC video
Arise Sir Dan! Friggin brilliant, I love the way the host got totally wound up.
Anybody that thinks that they have a right to someone’s private medical history should first be forced to give their own up.
Dan? Dan? … it’s pretty quiet here…
The CNBC clip reminds me of the time Jon Stewart was on CNN Crossfire and called the host out.
Dan’s money quote: “If you’re just going to repeat press releases, why have the press?”
Look at Palm, rising out of the ashes like that. Brings a tear to my eye. Of course, since I’m with AT&T, I’ll never own a Pre. C’est la vie.
I pwnd CNBC. LOL
You were amusing as FSJ (well, at first anyway), but as Real Dan, I think you’re a royal a55ho1e, just like other sites have said.
Just read your latest Newsweek column.
Reminds me of that classic exchange from the first episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Mr. Grant: You got spunk.
Mary: Well … yeah.
Mr. Grant: I HATE spunk!
But keep going. You are in the minority for wanting things to be as they usually are (or once were!) with the press. The fanboiz will never understand.
@ Mike Cane
You call that pile of sh*t “spunk” ? LMAO
The obsession with SJ’s health continues to puzzle me.
On one hand, country is facing the biggest economic crisis engineered by shitty CEOs, all of whom are laughing at all of us because they walked away with their millions. Instead of being in jail, they are now “retired.”
On the other hand, the same country (and the world) has been admiring the accomplishments of Apple over the past decade. Steve Jobs is probably one of the best CEOs the world has known – by all measures. If investors do not recognize that, they are free to take their money and invest it in something else. Nobody is forced to stay invested in Apple. SJ is a cancer survivor, and not only that. Even with such an ailment and its consequences, he has pulled off what all of shitty CEOs could not pull off – reinvent computer and consumer electronics industry.
What I am trying to say here is that SJ deserves at least a little bit of respect and a whole lot of best wishes we can send his way.
Dan, I cannot believe you actually took the time to participate in the CNBC charade without even mentioning that Apple has not only the best product lineup, but also one of the best teams.
Go invest your money with Merril or some other “investment house”. Yeah, just do it. If you dare.
Or, you can invest in a company that leads not one but two industries.
You can invest in Ballmer also, and his oh-my-god-not-again product(s).
Okee, just watched the Man vs CNBC. I call it a draw on account of bickering.
I don’t understand Dan. Here is one guy that should have been all over these idiots on CNBC for making Steve’s health in to an fat issue, instead he falls back chiding the simpleton for falling under Apple’s PR machine.
Maybe Dan was busy chasing poon 20 years ago, but weren’t your peers busy ripping Jobs a new a**hole and promoting the likes of Sculley? It was a disgrace to be sure and I can’t imagine what Jobs must have been thinking about your industry while you were busy killing his reputation years back. So now you can forgive the guy if he is a tad reclusive on these issues.
If Apple shareholders are concerned, and by that I mean the same type of institutional scum bag that helped force him out the first time then they don’t get it, they’ll never get it and there is no need to try and make them understand. They have made poor assumptions about Apple systematically and there is nothing new about their misread on Steve’s intentions, health or the sequence of events leading to the liver diagnosis.
Sadly, there was one guy I was hoping who would bring up some good points. Dan, you squandered the opportunity by getting in to a 3rd grade school yard fight with a joke.
News flash Dan, your industry is full of scumbags, you need to clean your own house before going after a company for treating you like dog sh*t. Smell the sh*t you’re shoveling, not that you dont make points, but you could have made a difference.
I am not a fanboi just in case some of you have the urge to lump me in to that subspecies.
1.)about the CNBC SCHOOLYARD PISS-UP: In short, a squandered opportunity. John Stewart did it better during his 2004 Crossfire appearance. It was genuine without being snarky.
2.)Liver, schmiver. Jobs has an auto-immune disorder, sounds suspiciously like ulcerative colitis. Those who suffer do not make many public appearances until it is under control. If he is being treated for it right now, six months is a good goal to shoot for as far as making it manageable. He will have to say good-bye to the pescetarian diet, no raw fruits, legumes or vegetables; his diet will be mainly beef,fish,birds and other meats (no crustacean), yogurts, cooked fruits, cooked potatoes (no skin), cooked carrots, no corn, white bread, no fried foods. He’ll still be thin but not gaunt, and his face will fill out and he’ll have a healthier glow. Depending on his meds, he’ll be a tiger in bed.
3.)OK, all joking aside, the Pre will be a great phone, but nobody will be an iPhone killer nor a Blackberry killer nor a Google Phone killer. What all the above mentioned are Windows Mobile killers. All these phones will be find their acceptable levels in the market, not one will dominate or rule them all. They all should have a nice big private dinner for themselves in August of 2012, celebrating the achievement of driving Microsoft from the mobile phone markets.
Shakes head.
@Lastangelman, I broke my fingernail taking notes down on my iPhone. There is a slight mistake in your post though, the thing about the tiger. We are not at Leopard level and going Snow leopard this fall. Not a big deal, got your message.
Cup and paste is what really counts LOL
I meant “now at Leopard level” in my previous post. sorry ’bout the taypo.
Har, Har FSJ… when wil you reach Lynx or Cougar you reckon?
saw the interview, you did well. don’t let newsweek eat your soul.
Dan? Are you there Dan? Or has Newsweak castrated you again?
RDL groundhog came out, saw its shadow, six more weeks of no blogging…
NYT quotes RDL:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/business/media/19jobs.html
He apologised. Horseshit – he was told to apologise. The Editor-in-Chief of Newsweak has Dans bollocks in a jar on his desk.
Now, now, so much vitriol.
Listen, there is not much to report until Ballmer walks into a yahoo deal of some sort. One the synergies start leveraging themselves, buy Apple. While it is on sale.
Microsoft should:
a.)abandon search, give up on Yahoo!
b.)sell MSN portal, but keep Windows Live Hotmail and other Windows Live apps.
c.)separate IE from Windows, approach other browsers about buying links space on their browsers to Microsoft Live Apps.
d.)if it can’t improve mobile platform experience in next eighteen months, bow out of market. DON’T BUY PALM! YOU’LL FUCK IT UP!!
e.)XBOX should become home productivity/entertainment center, not just a game machine: photos, movies, music, Windows Live, etcetera. Apple, Inc. is going there with Apple TV, App Store, iTunes, iPhone/iTouch and possibly Mac Mini.
f.)Defenestrate Ballmer. Repeatedly.
BTW, how many times did anyone’s eyes well up with tears and become choked up past few days?
I first lost it when Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen sung Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” (not providing any YouTube or audio links for that as any up on web don’t do justice to being there).
Man, I never saw that many well-behaved human beings in one place in my life.
Sorry again friends and faithful blog followers. I jammed my swear finger at volleyball practice again. The typing is painfully slow and have to resort to cup and paste at Newsweek. Should be back in the coming days or months with my most controversial post to date. Stay tuned folks!
Just learned an old friend who has been suffering from pancreatic cancer lost the battle about six o’clock last night in Kingstown, NY.
Please watch this video I shot of him and his son at plaza at The Dallas Museum Of Art this past summer.
Repost:error in link
Just learned an old friend who has been suffering from pancreatic cancer lost the battle about six o’clock last night in Kingstown, NY.
Please watch this video I shot of him and his son at plaza at The Dallas Museum Of Art this past summer.
Hear ye, hear ye, read all about it!
http://www.slate.com/id/2209408/
Steve Jobs and Me
A layman’s guide to islet-cell tumors in the pancreas.
By Matthew Dallek
Posted Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009, at 3:26 PM ET
The news about Steve Jobs’ decision to take a medical leave from Apple until June has been more than a bit disturbing to me—and not because I am among the legions of iPhone devotees. I, like Jobs, was diagnosed with an islet-cell tumor in my pancreas. The experience taught me a lot about this misunderstood cancer—and it has made reading media reports speculating about Jobs’ mysterious medical condition, and what possible ramifications his brush with cancer have for his present health, incredibly frustrating.
The media aren’t entirely to blame for the confusion. As Slate’s Farhad Manjoo points out, Jobs hasn’t made it easy to report on his medical battles. According to Fortune, he was diagnosed with an islet-cell tumor in 2003 but didn’t publicly acknowledge it until he underwent surgery to remove it in the summer of 2004. Later, in responding to concerns about his visibly deteriorating health over the last couple of years, Jobs and Apple have been reticent, claiming at various points that he was fine, simply suffering from a “common bug,” had “digestive difficulties” following his operation to remove his tumor, and had an easily treatable “hormonal imbalance” before admitting upon announcing his leave, without specifics, that the problem was more serious.
My diagnosis in 2007 was a matter of pure and simple luck. After I experienced nighttime abdominal pain, a gastroenterologist ordered up blood work and a CT scan. Over the next few days, the pain subsided, and I considered skipping the scan because I was feeling somewhat better. I was 37 years old. I ate lots of fruits and vegetables, exercised, and stayed away from trans fats. Still, I went for the scan, which revealed two things: I had appendicitis, which was responsible for my pain, and I had a tumor about the size of a “large tennis ball” in the tail of my pancreas. I had a nonfunctioning islet-cell tumor. I quickly learned that the only truly reliable way to treat islet-cell cancer is to cut the tumor out before it spreads. Fortunately, doctors at Johns Hopkins were able to do so. My surgeon, Dr. John Cameron, removed the tumor, cut out 40 percent of my pancreas (he resected the tail in a procedure called a distal pancreatectomy), removed my spleen, and took out my appendix for good measure.
While my tumor was large and had been growing inside me “for years” (my surgeon’s words), it was caught before it had spread, and my prognosis is extremely positive. When a friend told me shortly after my diagnosis that Jobs and I shared a disease, I soaked up as much information about Jobs’ condition as I could find. More recently, I’ve watched with a combination of wonderment and dismay as the news media, in their rush to report on Jobs’ present condition, have often engaged in a journalistic shorthand—referring to his 2004 disease as “pancreatic cancer.” While this description is technically true, it’s also misleading. Islet-cell tumors can certainly kill people, but they’re drastically different from adenocarcinoma, what we normally think of as pancreatic cancer, which is much more aggressive and common. Eighty percent to 90 percent of pancreatic tumors are adenocarcinomas. More than 37,000 Americans will probably be diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas this year, while approximately 2,500 Americans annually are diagnosed with the much rarer islet-cell cancer. All of these crucial distinctions have often gotten lost amid the unseemly feeding frenzy around Steve Jobs.
Islet-cell cancer, like Jobs and I had, is usually curable when caught early; adenocarcinoma, which is usually detected only after it has spread, has a five-year survival rate of 5 percent. (Patrick Swayze has adenocarcinoma, as did Randy Pausch, whose “Last Lecture,” recorded before his death, became a viral video sensation.) Another important point to keep in mind, also overlooked by most in the media, is that islet-cell tumors (also known as “neuroendocrine” tumors) are divided into functioning and nonfunctioning categories. While we don’t know what kind of a tumor Jobs had—he has never specified—I can tell you that my tumor was “nonfunctioning” because as far as my doctors could tell, it wasn’t producing any hormones, and it caused no symptoms.
In contrast to my own tumor, there are five types of “functional” islet-cell tumors. They “present” in a variety of ways, depending on what kind of hormones they produce: insulinomas, which can cause low blood sugar; gastrinomas, which release large amounts of gastrin, a hormone, into the bloodstream and cause ulcers in the stomach and duodendum; VIPomas, which tend to cause severe diarrhea; glucagonomas, which cause severe skin rashes and weight loss, among other symptoms; and somatostainomas, extremely rare (fewer than one in 40 million people get them) islet-cell tumors with “nonspecific” clinical symptoms including diabetes and stones in the gallbladder. We have no way of knowing what was causing Jobs’ “hormone imbalance,” but functioning islet-cell tumors do all produce hormones, so this is one plausible explanation.
After I was diagnosed, I was told that modern medicine doesn’t have chemotherapy or radiation to use against islet cells. (“We’ve got nothing that works” went the refrain.) Islet-cell tumors tend to be slow-growing, so chemotherapy designed to attack rapidly growing cells is ineffective. But there are some drugs, including one called streptozocin, that have “response rates as high as 70%” with islet-cells, according to Hopkins’ Web page. In some cases, doctors can also use techniques such as hepatic artery embolization and chemoembolization, which essentially destroy the blood vessels that have been feeding the metastases in an attempt to choke off the tumors’ blood supply.
We as a country have shortchanged medical research regarding both adenocarcinoma of the pancreas and islet-cell tumors. For starters, the National Cancer Institute has been cutting grants for adenocarcinoma research in recent years, and the funding stream for scientists is drying up. This is happening at the very moment when doctors at the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center have mapped the pancreatic cancer genetic blueprint—opening up a promising new field of research and possibly new early detection tests and treatments.
At the same time, as with many rarer diseases, pharmaceutical companies have little financial incentive to support scientific research into islet-cell tumors, while the government also shortchanges research into uncommon diseases. “The greatest emphasis is paid to funding the most common tumors, such as those of the lung, breast and colon. When you consider the pitiful federal funding for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, despite this cancer claiming over 34,000 American lives each year, you can imagine where even less common cancers like islet-cell tumors fit into the grand scheme of things,” says Dr. Anirban Maitra, an associate professor of pathology and oncology at Johns Hopkins. “Unless there is a commitment to study rare diseases like islet cell tumors, there is unlikely to be significant progress in this disease.”
Furthermore, “[A]dvances made in pancreatic adenocarcinoma—and there have been some significant ones, funded by nonfederal dollars—are highly unlikely to be extrapolated to islet cell tumors, simply because they are essentially completely different tumors joined only by the commonality of occurring in the pancreas. It, too, is a major medical orphan.”
One professor of oncology and pathology at Hopkins, Bert Vogelstein, has said that if he can find a donor who will support the project, he and his team will do their best to sequence the islet-cell tumor genome within a year. Perhaps, if Jobs’ recent medical woes turn out to be related to his islet-cell tumor, there will be greater attention paid to the disease, the way Michael J. Fox helped increase awareness of Parkinson’s. If I’ve learned nothing else since my diagnosis, it’s that medical orphans need attention, too.
@Lastangelman.
You do realize that “fenestra” in some funky language means Windows?
Hermeneutically, defenestration is equal to … well, let’s not go there.
I ordered some enlarged office envelopes so we can jam all Macbook Air accessories in there and redo the commercial for the thing. It ain’t selling that well.
@FSJ
Somebody’s been boning up on their Latin, haven’t they? Thus realize the layers of humor behind my call to defenestrate Ballmer. Very very good. You go to the head of the class, what, an Apple for the teacher, you shouldn’t have, oh, alright.
My Fair Lady took our last Windows machine and managed to allow it get infected with some virus that destroyed System Restore and Windows Update, and of course she had accidentally shredded the back up discs. Do I install Windows 7 or just flip a coin and choose between Ubuntu’s Intrepid
Ibex or openSUSE 10.3?
@lastangelman
Before you take the easy route, you must descend into the Recovery console. Once you get there, copy the SYSTEM registry file into SYSTEM.001 and then copy SYSTEM.001 into SYSTEM.
It works every time.
openSUSE? You should buy a Mac dude. They are on sale right now. I think it is still called Inauguration Sale, at least until Valentine Sale, which will be followed by Easter Sale.
We got nothing to sell on Mac’s 25th birthday. Did I pick everyone’s brain too much to deserve that nobody from the original Mac team returned my calls?
This is an awesome phone. Sprint has amazing coverage and I’m glad that its a sprint exclusive. We never get any cool phones. Seriously, though I always have coverage from sprint anywhere i go. If palm can pull this off then, I’ll be waiting in line for it the day of it’s release. Congratulations to Palm and Sprint.
xD
Please excuse any errors in my previous post!