My GS & AAPL is up there (the big dip has proven to be a great money maker). Adding PLNR and MWA now as I divest the GS & AAPL. PLNR will report good news …

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Pyramid Research has released its Q3 2009 Handset Forecasts, projecting a large shift in the US market for new handset sales. Based on the increase in demand for smartphones, the research group estimates the segment to reach 31 percent of all new handsets sold in the US for 2009. The numbers mark a doubling of the 15 percent growth witnessed two years prior. By the year 2014, Pyramid Research predicts that roughly 60 percent of new handsets will be comprised of smartphones….

Palm stock climbed over 8 percent on Friday after speculation that it would be bought out by Finland-based Nokia. Trading was about 15 times heavier than usual in the morning and remained heavy until the end of the day. The spike mirrored a similar increase from late September….

A new set of extrapolated data from location network developer uLocate suggests that active users of the Droid may have more than doubled in the first week of sales. Third-party estimates indicated that Verizon may have only sold 100,000 launch units, but uLocate says it will have detected about 25,000 new Droids on its network by Saturday. As uLocate’s information usually represents about 10 percent of the actual user base of a phone when it’s new, the figure would translate to about 250,000 total Droid users….

Marware has launched the Eco-Runner armband for the fifth-generation iPod nano. The case is said to be designed to mimic muscle fiber, and use ecologically-conscious material. In keeping with its running focus, extra space is provided to accommodate a Nike+ Sport Kit receiver….

Mac Games and More has released a new billiards title, United States of Pool. Players advance through cities instead of regular levels, and are required to reach minimum scores playing 9-Ball in order to progress in a national tour. The game features realistic physics and sound effects, as well as customizable character avatars and table colors….

Apple has posted a v1.0.2 firmware update for the fifth-generation iPod nano, which was launched this September. The firmware corrects a problem with podcast playback at different speeds. Newly enabled is the ability to use Genius Mixes in tandem with the Nike+iPod fitness add-on….

This week, John takes a break from news debris and talks about why some companies, especially Apple, haven’t had significant layoffs in 2009.

Filed under: Software, AppleScript

Total Apps has published a nice guest post from Sal Soghoian, Apple’s Production Manager for Automator, intended for teachers. He describes how educators have a limited amount of instruction time with the kids, and even less for maintenance tasks like making sure the proper software is installed, that students are on the proper web page, and so on.

Sal wants to help, and points out a number of links useful to anyone (not just teachers) who wants to automate these repetitive and often time-consuming tasks. Best of all, he shares a link to The Teacher’s Helpers (scroll down a bit), which is a free collection of Automator actions specifically written to assist teachers with Macs in their classrooms.

If you’ve been put off by AppleScript, give Automator a try. Its drag-and-drop interface is much easier to use.

TUAWSal Soghoian talks Automator use in education originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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