Weekend Wrap-Up: Goodbye Internet Explorer?; Palm Could Return as an Android Brand

Happy Sunday! It’s time for another edition of the Weekend Wrap-Up, where we get you all caught up on the top tech stories from the past week. Companies in the news include Microsoft, Palm, Sony, and Samsung.

Let’s find out why.

Microsoft Could Replace Internet Explorer with ‘Spartan’

I can barely remember a “World Wide Web” without Internet Explorer. The browser that later became infamous for its compatibility issues has been a part of Windows for decades, but as we reported last week, that era could be coming to an end. A brand new browser called “Spartan” could show up in Windows 10 to replace Internet Explorer, boasting a leaner, more Chrome-like appearance and support for extensions. The most interesting news? Spartan could be released on other platforms.

Palm Devices Could Return… Running Android

Do you remember the last time you owned a Palm device? Mine was the M130 years ago; after that, the Palm brand went through a lot of changes, winding up in the hands of a holding company. It seems that company, Wide Progress Global Limited, would like to revive the Palm brand and use it for Android devices, and that it plans to do so with help from device manufacture Alcatel. How will that turn out? Perhaps we’ll find out soon.

‘The Interview’ Rakes in $15 Million Online

We’re mere weeks removed from all the controversy surrounding “The Interview,” and it feels like a lot of the excitement has died out. Sony released the movie online and in theaters, nothing terrible happened, and America got to see what many report is a mediocre comedy. Still, the film pulled in a notable $15 million through sales of digital copies since its release, adding to the $1 million in theater sales. Is that enough to cover the film’s $90 million budget? No — but these were special circumstances. It’ll be interesting to see what the industry makes of the simultaneous release, however. Could other studios do the same in the future?

Samsung to Use ‘Tizen’ on TVs in 2015

Samsung’s Tizen operating system is really a brain without a body at this point. Samsung has worked on the OS with Intel since the beginning of 2012, but we’ve yet to see a major device running it. That could change in 2015, as Samsung is reportedly planning on using Tizen as the operating system it uses for its smart TVs. One surprising bit of news from our coverage is that Samsung’s smart TV platform will support PlayStation Now, a streaming service that enables gamers to stream PlayStation 3 games over the Internet. No word yet on release dates for any Tizen TV sets.