11:36 a.m. Next Jeff displays the Foleo, turning it around and sweeping his hand around the "clean lines" like the Vanna White he is. He's proud that there are very few ports -- you don't plug your smartphone in, it just connects "cleanly and simply." There's a button at the top of the keyboard, it says "e-mail" and you just push it to get your email open. You open the unit to turn it on, and close it to turn it off, which is convenient.

11:42 a.m. A very muscular guy, the chief of marketing for Foleo who makes the webcast look even more like an infomercial, comes out to present how easily the Foleo works with the Palm. You can use your personal and work emails simultaneously via POP or IMAP, edit PowerPoint documents,

11:48 a.m. The machine switches very quickly from app to app, and turns on and off very quickly, because of the Linux OS (it's all open source, chalk one up for the open source fans). He mentions that some of the applications are written over the weekend. Oh so cute.

11:49 a.m. What about battery life? It's quite long, charge it overnight and use it all day long, don't have to think about going to meetings and wondering "where's the outlet?" when you decide where to sit (oh so true). It supports Treo, every Windows mobile phone, and (yes if Apple lets them) the Apple iPhone.

11:51 a.m. Oh haha. There is a $100 mail-in rebate to make the Foleo $499. Let's make that $599 as we know you can never get your rebates back.

11:54 a.m. Question about mail programs -- they use Versamail out of the box, so it supports POP and IMAP, and maybe others. They're now "going after all the different providers and giving them what they need to make the product compatible."

11:55 a.m. Touch screen? No, scroll wheel and keyboard keeps you from needing the touchscreen.

11:58 a.m. I already have a smart phone and a laptop, I need another laptop? That's my question too (looks like we're in sync, nameless questioner). Hawkins says this isn't a laptop, it's a mobile computing device. It's a really inexpensive, beautiful small device -- it's not for people who aren't heavy e-mail users who don't really need that mobility. This is for the sorts of people who report they went to a weekend conference and used only their Treo -- now they won't get carpal tunnel, I guess.

12:04 p.m. Drawbacks? You can't really playback video well because the system is built to be fast, not rich -- YouTube will be jerky from the Foleo. But the best part is that you can start using your browser from new places -- the back of the cab! -- that wouldn't have been so easy or rich on your Treo.

12:06 p.m. They're interested in getting third party applications developed over the early summer now that they've announced, and they're looking forward to find some "interesting innovations" on this platform.

So there you have it. The Foleo isn't a replacement for the Apple iPhone, it's not a next-gen Treo. It's a super-light laptop best for individuals who travel so much they don't really use their home computer much, and are often on airplanes or conferences at exotic mountain resorts where laptops don't make sense. It's for people who skip from meeting to meeting at remote locations and don't want to have to always be looking for a power strip (I have visions of the Denver airport where I wandered around searching for the one outlet that wasn't already loaded up with people, and worked, when my flights were delayed this winter). It's useful for a very small population who has lots of money to spend on devices. I don't see it as utterly changing the fortunes of Palm, although investors have taken the stock up a bit, 21 cents or 1.30%, to $16.39 on the news.

And boy, Jeff Hawkins has a career as an infomercial host if this whole mobile computing thing doesn't work out for him.