Palm CEO Jon Rubenstein gave an exclusive interview to CNN Money today, and it was an ugly sight. Everyone knows that we loved the Palm Pre when it debuted at CES in 2009, but it was quickly lost in the smart phone shuffle among heavyweights such as iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. The hardware and software concepts gave it a serious chance to compete with the big guys, but in the end the lackluster launch didn't win over enough third party developers, causing the platform to stagnate next to its rivals.

Given the gruesome reality facing Rubinstein these days, I think most people are surprised to see he is still working the interview circuit at all. The vast majority of the CNN questions were a spin on "Guess you guys are out of luck" and "so has anyone offered to buy Palm yet"? Despite the hard line, Rubinstein maintains that Palm has "tremendous assets" and that people should take note of the state of the company prior to webOS.

Palm's primary advantage at this point lies in its ability to multitask, but if the platform lacks compelling applications, who cares how many of them you can run in the background. Everyone here is hoping Palm has what it takes to turn its fortunes around, but there isn't an analyst out there right now with as much optimism about the company's future as Rubenstein.

Feel free to check out the full interview, and let us know what you think lies in the future for Palm. 

Being a PC enthusiast and a gadget nerd go pretty much hand in hand, but have you ever wondered what it actually cost the manufacturers to assemble your army of iPod's and book reader's? Well wonder no longer because marketing research group iSuppli and Business Week have teamed up to tear down over 25 popular gadgets and have come up with what they consider a pretty accurate ball park picture of the manufacturing costs. Some of the results appear to be a bit out of date, particularly when it comes to the consoles, but it still gives a pretty good overview of how much money each product is raking in.

As you would expect most gaming consoles continue to sell at a loss, but many of the popular new smart phones actually make a fair bit of money when you factor in the kickbacks they probably get from the carriers. You can check out the full article to read about all 25 of the gadgets from the tear down, or review our sampling below for some of the more interesting snippets to save you time.

Gadgets
Apple iPad $499 MSRP - $219.35 Cost
Amazon Kindle $259 MSRP - $185.49 Cost

Phones
Apple iPhone 3GS $199 With Contract - $176.16
Google Nexus One $179 With Contract - $174 Cost
Motorola Droid $199 With Contract - $185 Cost
Palm Pre $200 With Contract - $137.83 Cost
Blackberry Bold $300 With Contract - $169.41 Cost

Consoles
Microsoft Xbox 360 $399 MSRP - $470 Cost
Sony Playstation 3 60GB $599 MSRP - $840 Cost

Any of these prices surprise you?