HP has announced plans to release webOS as an open source project soon, but while the source code isn’t available yet some folks have already started working to port webOS to run on hardware originally designed to run designed for different operating systems.

WebOS-Internals member Ryan Hope posted a few pictures today of an HTC Evo 3D running a buggy build of webOS 3.0 today. The pictures are actually a few months old, and the phone isn’t really usable with HP’s operating system. But it shows what’s possible even without having access to the source code.

The version of webOS Hope is using was designed for the HP TouchPad tablet, and he picked the Evo 3D smartphone for his project because it feature similar hardware.

You can find a few more photos on Twitter.

via The Verge and PreCentral

webOS goes open source soon, hacker already porting it to Android hardware is a post from: mobiputing

HP may have canceled the Pre 2 smartphone, but the company is still rolling out software updates… for now. This week HP released webOS 2.2.5 for some Pre 2 handsets, adding new features including:

• Support for Skype voice calls and instant messages
• Ability to share text messages and calls with an HP TouchPad over Bluetooth
• Sync improvements for Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, and contacts

Up until now Skype was only available on the HP Pre 3 or the Verizon Pre 2. This udpate brings it to additional webOS phones — but not all Pre 2 phones will get the update.

PreCentral reports the update appears to be available for unlocked European GSM phones, but not unlocked US phones or Verizon phones.

HP releases webOS 2.2.4, brings Skype to more phones is a post from: mobiputing

Have you ever wondered how many webOS devices Palm and HP sold before unceremoniously cancelling the latest webOS phones and tablets this summer? About 4.2 million.

The folks at webOS Internals have put together an estimate of the number of webOS devices activated over time, and since 2009 it looks like that’s about how many people have created webOS profiles.

Unfortunately the number is far from official since it doesn’t come from HP — and there’s no way to tell how many people are actively using webOS phones or tablets today. But here’s how the figure was calculated.

When you fire up a webOS device for the first time it will ask you to create a profile. Each profile gets a unique number, and every new user gets a number that’s one higher than the last person to register.

While webOS Internals hasn’t looked at everyone’s numbers, they’ve asked users who have installed a homebrew app called Impostah to report their registration dates and numbers — and they’ve created a pretty nifty chart that shows the highest numbers they could find for each date, giving us an idea of how the platform grew over time.

WebOS may not have grown as fast as HP would have liked, but it’s interesting to see that in 2009 and 2010 there was a pretty steady growth in the number of people registering webOS devices. It started to taper off a bit in 2011, but there was a pretty healthy spike (or unhealthy, depending on how you look at it) this summer when the HP TouchPad tablet was sold off at fire-sale pricing.

The number might not get much higher. HP hasn’t yet completely killed off webOS, but the company won’t be producing any more hardware running the mobile operating system. Unless HP finds someone to license or buy webOS, it’s likely that the platform’s days are numbered.

It’s also possible that some (or many) of the folks represented by this chart may have stopped using those devices though, and moved onto Android, iOS, paper, or other platforms.

via The Verge and Geek News Central

About 4.2 million people have registered webOS devices… ever is a post from: mobiputing

The future of HP’s webOS operating system remains uncertain. While the company canceled all current webOS smartphones and tablets this summer, HP has continued to push out software updates for the million or so HP TouchPads that had been sold. But it looks like the company won’t be offering any updates for the Palm Pre3 smartphone.

A member of the HP developer relations team posted a message on the webOS Developer Center forums suggesting that there are no plans to offer any software updates for the Pre3.

That’s not a huge surprise. There aren’t many Pre3 phones in the wild. It was launched in the UK on August 17th, just a day before HP canceled the phone.

Still, for the handful of Pre3 owners out there, the fact that there won’t be any more updates comes as bad news. After all, the news only came out in response to a question about a bug affecting the Pre3 which had already been fixed for the TouchPad tablet. It looks like the smartphone version of that bug may never be fixed.

via PreCentral

HP is done updating webOS for the Palm Pre3 is a post from: mobiputing

Officially HP hasn’t yet decided whether to kill off its webOS division. Unofficially, The Guardian reports it’s probably going to happen.

During a conference call discussing the decision not to spin off HP’s PC business as a separate company, HP executives yesterday said that a decision on webOS would be made in the coming months.

But the Guardian has been interviewing folks off the record, and members of HP’s webOS group say that it’s practically a done deal. Top level members of the webOS team have been jumping ship recently and if HP does decide to kill the operating system, it could affect hundreds of jobs.

It would also mean the end of the line for future webOS phones and tablets.

This summer HP canceled production of webOS hardware including the Pre and Veer smartphones and the HP TouchPad tablet. But the company has reportedly been looking at licensing the software to other hardware companies looking for an alternative to Android or Windows Phone. So far there haven’t been any takers.

There’s an active community of homebrew developers for webOS, so I suspect existing products will have a cult following for years to come. Heck, some people still walk around with Apple Newton handheld devices, even though Apple hasn’t made a Newton since 1998. But if The Guardian’s information is correct, the future for official support for webOS products could be pretty slim.

Members of the CyanogenMod team have already started porting Google Android to run on the TouchPad, which could help keep the tablet usable long after webOS support ends. We’ve also seen some efforts to port Android to run on the Pre smartphone — but the project doesn’t seem to have gotten very far.

Guardian: HP will probably kill off webOS soon is a post from: mobiputing

HP is killing off its webOS hardware division, which means pretty soon there will be no more HP TouchPad, Pre or Veer devices. But the company still has high hopes fro the webOS software. HP may still install webOS on future PCs, printers, and other devices, and the company has been seeking a partner willing to license webOS for their own phones or tablets.

Clearly that partner isn’t going to be Motorola. That company has been building Google Android-only devices for a few years and recently Google announced plans to acquire Motorola for $12.5 billion.

Nokia, meanwhile, has struck a deal with Microsoft that will bring Windows Phone 7 to future Nokia smartphones.

Among the big phone players that leaves HTC and Samsung… but now it looks like we can probably scratch Samsung off the list as well. There’s been a rumor floating around that Samsung could flat out buy the webOS operating system from HP, but speaking at the IFA trade show in Berlin, Samsung CEO Choi Gee Sung poured cold water on that idea.

He didn’t explicitly rule out licensing the software, but it doesn’t seem all that likely since Samsung already has its own Bada OS and also makes some of the most popular Android smartphones. On the other hand, Samsung also makes Windows Phone 7 devices… so maybe the company could license webOS as well just to cover all the bases.

HP hasn’t struck out just yet though. Aside from HTC, other companies that could conceivably license webOS could include LG, Acer, and Asus, or virtually any company looking to put out a tablet that’s a little different from all the Android tablets that have flooded the market in recent months.

Samsung won’t be buying webOS from HP is a post from: mobiputing

Following HP’s announcement that it would discontinue all webOS hardware including smartphones and tablets, Microsoft’s Brandon Walsh reached out to webOS developers, promising free phones and other tools if they were interested in developing for Windows Phone 7. So far he’s received over 200 replies.

For its part, HP is trying to convince webOS developers not to jump ship. While the company will no longer make devices that run webOS, HP hasn’t yet put the operating system to bed. Instead, officials are hoping to get other companies to license the software for use on their own devices, much the way Microsoft and Google already do with their smartphone operating systems.

The problem is that it’s hard to see a future for webOS at the moment. Less than two months ago HP was gung ho about the TouchPad tablet. Today the company is liquidating its inventory by selling the tablet for just $99. Since there currently aren’t any other companies using webOS, who’s to say that a month from now HP might not just pull the plug on the software division as well?

HP is trying to persuade developers to stick around, and promises to keep supporting webOS. But all HP has to offer at the moment are words and a user base that won’t be growing for a while (at least not once this weekend’s HP TouchPad fire sale is over). Microsoft, on the other hand, is giving developers free phones.

Microsoft courts webOS developers while HP tries to hang onto them is a post from: mobiputing

HP announced today that the company would discontinue its webOS hardware products in the fourth quarter of 2011. That means we can say goodbye to the HP TouchPad tablet and the HP Pre, Veer, and other webOS phones. But the company isn’t killing webOS software… at least not yet.

During a conference call with reporters today HP executives said that the company is exploring its options for webOS. The software has been well received by users and developers, according to CEO Leo Apotheker — but the company’s phones and tablets haven’t had much traction in the market.

So HP is looking at a variety of options for squeezing some value out of the webOS software that it paid $1.2 billion to acquire last year.

Here are some of the possibilities that are still on the table:

• Licensing webOS to other companies to install on their phones, tablets, and other hardware.
• Using the software on HP’s own devices (presumably this could include computers or printers)
• Selling the webOS assets to another company (Apotheker didn’t specially state this, but it’s clearly a possibility at this point.

Right now it looks like HP’s primary goal will be to find hardware partners willing to license the software. But given HP and Palm’s difficulty getting consumers to buy webOS products, I have to wonder why any other companies would want to adopt the platform.

HP: webOS isn’t quite dead yet… we’re just not sure what to do with it is a post from: mobiputing

About a year and a half ago Hewlett Packard bought Palm for $1.2 billion. The company had big plans for the webOS operating system, and planned to launch phones, tablets, and other products… even printers. Today those plans are largely coming to an end. HP has announced it will discontinue webOS devices including phones and tablets.

The company is still looking for ways to get value from the operating system. That could mean we’ll still see those webOS printers, or perhaps webOS apps that can run on Windows computers. But it’s more likely that HP is hoping to license the operating system to other phone or tablet makers. I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen though.

WebOS has always been an interesting platform. Palm and HP had some of the best multitasking and notification systems of any platform. But while Palm was once the leader in the PDA/smartphone space, the company never managed to gain much mindshare after the launch of the Apple iPhone.

While there are hundreds of thousands of third party apps for iOS and Android, and hundreds of millions of people using Android or iOS devices, the numbers for webOS have always been much smaller.

HP recently launched its first webOS tablet, the HP TouchPad. And while it’s one of the few competitors to Apple’s iPad that doesn’t use the Google Android operating system, it hasn’t been selling well and HP has marked down the price several times since the tablet first went on sale at the start of July.

It’s possible that today’s news isn’t a fatal blow to the webOS platform… but at the very least HP’s announcement that it’s discontinuing operations for webOS hardware puts the software ecosystem on life support.

It’s the end of webOS as we know it: HP kills the TouchPad, Pre, Veer is a post from: mobiputing

App store GetJar has announced that it’s garnered over 2 billion total downloads. GetJar sports a large catalog of free applications for pretty much every smartphone platform except iOS, including BlackBerry, webOS, Android, Symbian, and even HTML5 web apps.

GetJar offers more than 150,000 apps in total, and the company has managed to score a few Android exclusives. The company’s app store was the first to offer Angry Birds or Cut the Rope before they were offered in the Android Market and other stores — although that hasn’t always worked out well. GetJar couldn’t handle all the traffic from the Angry Birds launch and developers Rovio made a version of the game available in the Android Market the same day.

Facebook is GetJar’s top app, with over 100 million downloads reported.

To put GetJar’s success in the context of the major application incorporated offerings, Apple’s App Store surpassed 15 billion downloads in late June. The Android Market topped 4.5 billion earlier this month. For a small, totally free, alternative application store, GetJar has been reasonably successful. The company credits its growth to its “open approach to the app marketplace” and giving developers for all platforms “a free space to distribute their applications.”

via IntoMobile

GetJar free app store surpasses 2 billion total downloads is a post from: mobiputing

One of the biggest complaints early reviewers have had about the HP TouchPad tablet is the lack of high quality apps available for webOS 3.0. In fact, some of the apps HP had promised would be available at launch didn’t make the cut when the tablet started shipping earlier this month. Take the Amazon Kindle app for the TouchPad, for instance.

The TouchPad hit the streets on July 1st. Nearly three weeks later, Amazon released a beta version of its Kindle app for the tablet last night.

You can find the new app in the webOS App Catalog, but there’s no mention of it on Amazon’s web site yet. The eBook app is also geographically restricted right now — you can only download it if you’re in the United States.

The folks at PreCentral have put together a detailed hands-on review. In a nutshell, there are a few bugs that have to be worked out (for instance, many users are seeing multiple copies of the same book), but overall the app provides a good experience for reading eBooks. You can also search books, take notes, or highlight passages.

If you’ve already used the Amazon Kindle app on another platform, any books you’ve already purchased will be available to download and sync with the TouchPad.

While an Amazon Kindle app doesn’t really set the TouchPad apart from the competition (there are similar apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry), it does help the new tablet compete.

Amazon Kindle app now available for the HP TouchPad is a post from: mobiputing

HP has launched a public beta of HP Play — a new application designed to let you synchronize your media between a PC or Mac and an HP TouchPad tablet or webOS phone.

The software is based on the open source Songbird media player and right now it only lets you sync your music over a USB cable. But eventually HP plans to add wireless sync capabilities so that you can manage media on your mobile device without physically plugging it into your computer every time you want to make a change.

You can use HP Play to import music from iTunes playlists or from other directories on your computer. You can also create playlists or rip your own CDs.

via PreCentral

HP Play beta syncs music between your PC and webOS phone or tablet is a post from: mobiputing

Popular blogging service WordPress has been offering mobile apps for writing posts, editing comments, and generally managing your blog for a few years. But the company’s iOS and Android apps have never been as easy to use as the web-based WordPress admin panel. Among other things, the mobile apps lack a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor for simple things like italicizing text, creating bullet points, or uploading images. Today WordPress finally launched a mobile app which looks like the web-based editor.

The only catch? It’s for webOS. Now don’t get me wrong, webOS is an excellent mobile operating system with great support for multitasking. With the HP TouchPad which hits the streets today, it’s a good time for WordPress to launch the new mobile app which appears to be designed with the tablet in mind.

But webOS also happens to be a platform that a relatively small number of people actually use right now. It’s a bit surprising that WordPress didn’t focus its efforts on developing a full visual editor for more popular platforms such as iOS or Android first. Update: Although as David Frahm points out, a key difference between iOS, Android, and webOS is that HP’s mobile platform is based on web standards — something the folks at WordPress already know a lot about.

In addition to the visual editor, the WordPress app for webOS supports a Sliding Panel view which allows you to flip between different views. The app allows you to manage posts and comments and view your blog’s traffic stats. You can also receive notifications when new messages arrive. 

WordPress finally launches a full-featured mobile blogging app — for webOS is a post from: mobiputing

HP contends that one of the strengths of the webOS platform is that the company controls both the hardware and the software, allowing HP to tightly control the user experience of the TouchPad tablet and webOS phones, much the way Apple does with its iOS devices. But that doesn’t mean HP isn’t willing to license the operating system to other companies that want to use it.

Earlier this month the company’s CEO confirmed that HP might be open to licensing the OS, and today Bloomberg reports that HP is already “talking to a number of companies.” One of those companies may be Samsung, which has launched a number of smartphones and tablets running Google Android in recent years.

This Is My Next reports that HP isn’t necessarily going to license the software to every company that asks. Instead, HP is apparently looking for phone makers that are looking to prioritize webOS over other platforms, possibly even helping to develop the software further.

On the one hand, if Samsung, HTC, or another device maker launches a webOS handset, it would mean that HP wouldn’t have quite as much control over the user experience. On the other hand, the more phones that are running the software, the more attractive the platform may become for users and for third party developers.

HP in talks to license webOS for competitors’ phones, tablets is a post from: mobiputing

HP has started accepting webOS 3.0 apps designed for the upcoming HP TouchPad tablet. The company released an SDK (software developer kit) for the operating system in February, but now developers can submit apps for including in the webOS App Catalog which will allow TouchPad users to find and download apps using the on-device app store.

HP is also opening its in-app purchasing program. This makes it easier for developers to charge customers for additional content from within an app. For instance you could download a free app and then upgrade to a paid version to eliminate ads. Or you could sign up for subscription magazine or music content within the app or acquire special items in a game.

The HP TouchPad tablet is expected to ship this month, so it actually seems to be a bit on the late side for HP to start accepting webOS 3.0 apps. But hopefully there will be at least a handful of high quality apps available in the App Catalog on launch day.

via PreCentral

HP opens the door to webOS 3.0 app submissions, in-app purchases is a post from: mobiputing

HP may have acquired Palm just to get its hands on the webOS operating system (does a company have hands?), but HP CEO Leo Apotheker says the company isn’t ruling out the possibility of sharing webOS with other device makers. When asked whether HP would license webOS for use on phones or other devices from competing companies, Apotheker basically said, sure, why not?

Specifically, he says HP will make webOS available to enterprise customers and small businesses. But when asked if HP would even allow a big name phone-maker such as HTC to license webOS, the CEO said the company would be willing to “entertain” the idea.

This is all a far cry from saying that we will see webOS devices from competitors. But it sounds like HP is at least contemplating becoming a software company as well as a hardware company.

via PreCentral and All Things D

HP is willing to let other companies license webOS is a post from: mobiputing

One issue which has reared its ugly head on most current tablet OSes is how to deal with legacy apps. For the upcoming HP TouchPad and the shiny, new webOS 3, the challenge is how to handle apps created using the older Palm Mojo SDK. As the Touchpad nears launch readiness, however, HP has finally revealed its response in the latest beta build of its tablet emulator.

Right now, Mojo apps default to running in their original resolution — a Pre-friendly 320×480. As you can see, the emulator also defaults to rendering a virtual handset around the app. HP has included a way for developers to tag their apps so as to utilize the TouchPad’s full 9.7″ display, though doing so causes the virtual gesture area to disappear. That’s not a problem if an app offers other built-in navigation options, but it could certainly cause issues in some cases.

Of course, the emulator is still in its beta form and HP has released four versions between April 12th and now. As they continue to update, the rough edges will no doubt be smoothed out.

via PreCentral

Mojo app support appears in HP TouchPad Emulator Beta 5 is a post from: mobiputing

Twitter has announced that starting by the end of this month third party apps will have to ask you for permission before they can access your Twitter direct messages. The move will certainly give users a little more control over the data shared with third parties, and it’s always good to be reminded that data you might think is private is actually in the hands of not only Twitter, but also the app developer. But odds are if you download and install a third party Twitter client you expect to include all of Twitter’s features including direct messages, replies, and retweets.

If developers don’t update their apps in the next few weeks it’s possible that you’ll stop seeing DMs in some third party Twitter apps installed on your phone, tablet, or computer.

But I get the feeling that this change isn’t entirely aimed at full-featured Twitter clients such as TweetBot or Seesmic. Instead it may be aimed at services that really don’t need your private messages at all, including services which allow you to post images or shortened links to Twitter such as bit.ly or yfrog.

via Mashable

Third party Twitter apps will have to ask permission before showing “direct messages” is a post from: mobiputing

Slacker‘s premium mobile music service is now offering on-demand mobile music streaming for $10 per month.

Slacker’s free music service generates a station for you based on a song or artist and finds more songs based on what you like and what you don’t. The free version was restricted featured ads and a limited number of skips, while a $3.99/month premium version bypassed those restrictions and included offline caching for Slacker’s mobile app.

The new Slacker Premium will cost you an additional $6 per month, but include a host of new features. Slacker Premium will now let you play specific tracks, albums, or artists, as well as create playlists that can stream wirelessly to your device. You can choose these specific tracks using Slacker’s database of millions of songs on demand.

To sign up for either of Slacker’s current premium subscription offerings, head over to Slacker’s official website. The mobile app is available for BlackBerry, iPhone, WebOS and Android.

via IntoMobile

Slacker now offering on-demand streaming music is a post from: mobiputing

With a slide-out QWERTY keyboard like the one the Palm Pre and Plus hide beneath their shells (or a permanently exposed one in the case of the Pixi) always at the ready, it’s a shame when you want to get productive on a mobile website but can’t.

That’s been the case with Google Docs for some time now, because although iOS and Android users had been granted editing superpowers webOS wasn’t invited to the party. Not until now, anyways. Forum users over at PreCentral have confirmed that they can now edit Google Docs files on their devices — from webOS 2.1 right back to version 1.4.5.

As you can tell from PreCentral’s screen capture, the formatting isn’t quite perfect — with a bit of the entered text spilling beyond the boundaries of the input area. Still it’s better than not being able to make changes at all. Is there anything more frustrating than pulling up a document only to discover you have read-only access?

Ok, there are plenty of things. But for webOS users, this is one more irritation which can finally be sent packing.

Google Docs adds webOS support for mobile Web edits is a post from: mobiputing

The move will allow webOS developers to offer free or paid apps with optional updates or extra features which users will be able to unlock by making purchases within the app. It also opens the door to selling subscription-based content such as newspapers or magazines in the Palm App Catalog.

HP is also adding support for developer promo codes, which will allow developers to send review units of their software to journalists.

via PreCentral

WebOS in-app purchases coming this summer is a post from: mobiputing

It looks like HP may be preparing to launch new music and movie stories fro webOS devices including the upcoming HP TouchPad tablet. PreCentral received a tip suggesting that the tablet will have an HP Music Store and HP Movie Store.

The leak comes from a presentation HP sent to a PreCentral tipster. The images look like mockups for now, but the slide includes information about  the stores — and also a cloud-based storage locker that will let you keep your music online so you can listen on the go.

That sounds a lot like the cloud music storage service Amazon just launched, and much like the one Google is expected to introduced soon. But the HP TouchPad will apparently use an algorithm to detect the songs you’re most likely to play and make sure they’re cached on your tablet so you can listen even when there’s no internet connection handy.

While it sounds like the service will be for the HP TouchPad only at launch, it could eventually be released for webOS smartphones.

HP to launch music, movie stores for HP Touchpad webOS tablet? is a post from: mobiputing

The webOS mobile operating system from HP and Palm is designed for phones with touchscreen displays, so the company doesn’t really have to change things too much to make the OS work on tablets. But things are different on higher resolution displays, so the company plans to launch the HP Touchpad tablet with webOS 3.0 — a new version of the operating system designed for tablets.

We’ve gotten a few glimpses of the tablet features in webOS 3.0, but now the folks at PreCentral have gotten their hands on a leaked copy of the software developer kit for the operating system which includes an emulator. They’ve posted a video and a number of photos of the new operating system.

The app launcher and search features aren’t all that different from those in webOS 2.x for smartphones, but there’s a new software keyboard for tablets.

Notifications have been moved to the top of the screen allowing you to view all your notifications at a glance or dismiss them with a swipe.

The web browser looks a lot like a desktop browser, with a bookmark bar, URL bar, and navigation buttons. But there’s also a new menu that slides out from the side of the screen when you want to view bookmarks, history, or other data.

You can find more information about updates tot he contact, email, calendar, music, photo and other apps at PreCentral. Suffice it to say, the entire operating system and all the core apps have been given a visual refresh to play well with larger screens. Everything looks great — but HP’s success with webOS tablets will likely depend on the company’s ability to attract developers to the platform, which could be tough since the HP Touchpad faces such fierce competition from iOS, Android, and BlackBerry tablets.

WebOS 3.0 emulator leaked, shows how webOS tablets will work is a post from: mobiputing

The 2011 Major League Baseball season’s opening day is finally here, and so is a new iPhone app to help fans follow their favorite teams.

SportingNews.com has partnered with Zumobi to launch Sporting News Baseball, an ad-supported app that delivers scores, standings, stats, league and team news, player info, recaps and exclusive fantasy league content. The app also provides access to the Sporting News baseball blog’s MLB coverage and content. 

The app’s Stats menu is the most detailed of any sports app I’ve seen (and I use many). You can view stats from the AL and NL (respectively) batting and pitching, which covers stat categories such as batting average, runs batted in, stolen bases, and home runs. The scorekeeping function is also quick and responsive, with in-game score updates highlighted as soon as they happen.

While most avid baseball fans generally look no further than the MLB At Bat series of $14.99 apps, the free Sporting News Baseball is certainly worth checking out. While not nearly as advanced and feature-rich as At Bat ’11, it still does a solid job of keeping the most dedicated baseball fan up-to-date on all the latest stats, scores and news.

Sporting News Baseball is compatible with all iOS devices and available in the App Store. It is also available on the WebOS Platform.

Free baseball updates on your smartphone: Sporting News Baseball is a post from: mobiputing

HP officials have said that the company’s webOS operating system which runs on phones and tablets will also be available for HP desktop and laptop computers, allowing you to run webOS apps on nearly any HP device in the future. This week HP’s Palm chief Jon Rubinstein was a guest on The Engadget Show, and he explained a little more clearly what that means.

The long and short of it is that at launch webOS will run inside a window on HP computers running Microsoft Windows. The OS won’t replace Windows, and it won’t be a dual boot option. You’ll be able to run webOS apps without leaving Windows. Unfortunately, it also sounds like those apps will be stuck within some sort of a webOS program window… they won’t necessarily interact with other apps on your desktop. That means you won’t be able to search your Outlook calendar and contacts using webOS search, for instance.

PreCentral also suggests that it sounds like native webOS apps built using the plug-in development kit (PDK) might not be able to run on Windows, since the idea for now is to support apps built using HTML5 and other web-based technologies. Essentially, it seems the webOS window on PCs will be sort of a specialized web browser designed to run webOS apps.

This is pretty much what I had expected… but it would be nice if HP can develop a runtime that lets users install and run webOS apps as easily as native Windows apps, sort of the way that Adobe AIR enables Flash-based apps to run as desktop apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers.

webOS will run on HP computers… in a window is a post from: mobiputing

While tabs are pretty much standard on desktop web browsers, most mobile web browsers come without support for browser tabs since they take up precious pixels on tiny smartphone screens. But just because the default iOS, Android or webOS browsers don’t support tabs doesn’t mean you can’t find alternate browser that support them if you like. Unfortunately for webOS users, there hasn’t really been a good tabbed web browser available for HP and Palm phones… until now.

Complete Browser is a new browser available for download from the Palm App Catalog. The folks at PreCentral report that not only does it put tabs at the top of your screen to make switching between open browser windows quicker, but it also supports anonymous browsing — something else that’s absent from the default browser. This lets you surf the web without saving any cookies or other data to your phone. It can come in handy if you’re… ummm… shopping for a spouse’s birthday present which you want to keep a secret. I suppose there may be other uses for a porn private browsing mode, but I can’t think of any at the moment.

The $0.99 app also makes it easier to access some browser functions such as the ability to clear cookies or cache files. But some users have reported that it’s tough to click on some links in the browser and that the user interface doesn’t really seem to be optimized for webOS, due to lack of support for keyboard shortcuts or gestures.

Complete Browser for webOS supports tabs, anonymous browsing is a post from: mobiputing

With the launch of webOS 2.0, Palm eliminated some of the underlying code that MotionApps needed to get Classic working properly. So MotionApps abandoned the project.

But now an independent developer named Arthur Thornton has posted information on how to get Classic to work on devices running webOS 2.0 and 2.1.

Sure, old Palm OS apps might not look as pretty on a Palm Pre 2 or other new phone. And they may not have been updated in years. But if you rely on an app that isn’t available for webOS, or if you just don’t feel like paying for the new version when you’ve already paid for the old, then Classic can certainly fill a need.

via PreCentral

PalmOS emulator unofficially ported to webOS 2.1 is a post from: mobiputing

Sure, the Palm Pre 2 was the first phone to ship with webOS 2.0. But for some reason when it came time to push out webOS 2.1 with some bug fixes and performance enhancements, the Palm Pre Plus was first in line. Now it looks like the wait is over for Pre 2 owners though.

PreCentral reports that Canadian wireless carrier Rogers is pushing out webOS 2.1 for the Palm Pre 2.

There’s no word on when Verizon Wireless customers in the US might get the software update.

webOS 2.1 update now available for the Palm Pre 2 is a post from: mobiputing

Right now webOS is primarily an operating system for mobile devices including smartphones and the upcoming HP Touchpad tablet. But we already know that HP has bigger plans for the operating system. Eventually it will power all sorts of devices including internet-connected printers, and HP also plans to make it possible to run webOS apps on a Windows PC.

Now HP CEO Leo Apotheker says that starting in 2012, every PC the company ships will be able to run webOS as well as Windows.

The idea is that you’ll be able to buy an app for your phone or tablet and run it seamlessly on a desktop computer — without booting into a separate operating system.

I’m guessing that doesn’t just mean you’ll be able to play Angry Birds on a PC (which you can already do anyway). It could also make it easier to develop apps that share data across platforms such as calendar or task manager apps, instant messengers, or even media players that can pick up a song or movie on a PC where you left off on your phone.

If HP can pull this off, it will be a good reason not only to buy HP computers, but also HP phones. Right now webOS adoption trails pretty far behind iOS, Android, and BlackBerry.

HP CEO: Every HP PC will ship with webOS next year is a post from: mobiputing

As promised, Skype has launched a mobile app for webOS 2. Right now it’s exclusively available in the US for the Palm Pre 2 smartphone from Verizon Wireless.

I got a chance to check out a pre-release version of the app a few months ago. The app will let users make free Skype to Skype calls, but domestic phone calls will be routed through Verizon’s network, which means you’ll have to use your Verizon minutes to make domestic phone calls.

The good news is that you can make international calls at SkypeOut rates, which tend to be much better than the rates offered by Verizon or other US wireless carriers.

You can download Skype for the Palm Pre 2 by visiting skype.com/m.

Skype for webOS comes to Verizon’s Palm Pre 2 is a post from: mobiputing

The Pre 2 is the first phone to ship with webOS 2.x preloaded. But it turns out it’s not the only phone that can run the operating system. Despite earlier suggestions that HP would not be releasing webOS 2.x for older phones, that’s exactly what the company did last night.

HP has posted a Doctor image for webOS 2.1 for European Palm Pre Plus handsets. It looks like there may never be an over-the-air update, but all you have to do to install the software is download it to a computer, connect your phone via a USB cable, and run the system update software.

While the webOS 2.1 image is only officially available for European Pre Plus users at the moment, hackers are already hard at work on getting it to run properly on US devices. According to PreCentral, the process is still a little buggy, but if you’re cool with potentially crippling your phone in the name of science, you can indeed install webOS 2.1.

Or you could just wait until the hackers at webOS Internals have had more time to smooth out the process or until HP releases official updates for US phones.

WebOS 2.1 now available for Palm Pre Plus phones in Europe is a post from: mobiputing

HP has released a Doctor for Verizon Palm Pre 2. Basically, a webOS Doctor is what you need to do a clean install of webOS on supported smartphone. With the new ROM image, you can modify and tweak the new Palm Pre 2 from Verizon to your heart’s content, knowing that there’s almost nothing you can do to your phone’s software that can’t be remedied by simply reinstalling the operating system using the new webOS Doctor.

You can find downloads for a number of webOS devices including each Palm Pre and Pixi phone at the webOS0internals web site. The latest addition to the family is the Verizon Pre 2 file, but there are also versions for unlocked Palm Pre 2 devices.

via PreCentral

HP releases webOS Doctor image for the Verizon Palm Pre 2 is a post from: mobiputing

HP has been suggesting for a while that webOS wasn’t just an operating system for phones or tablets, but that the environment would also run on internet connected devices such as printers and even PCs. But that doesn’t mean HP is dumping Windows. Instead, the idea is that developers will be able to write apps that can run on a Windows-based PC just as easily as on a webOS phone.

The Seattle Times sat down with HP Chief Technology Officer Phil McKinney recently, and he explained to some degree how that will work.

You won’t be running webOS on PCs in some sort of virtualization window. McKinney says the company is looking at “an integrated webOS experience.”

That could mean that you’ll be able to run webOS apps in a web browser… or perhaps HP will develop some sort of runtime like Adobe AIR or Mozilla Prism which are designed to let you run web-based apps as if they were native desktop apps. Once you have AIR installed, you can install any app written for the platform as if it were a native Windows app, while Prism lets you create a desktop shortcut out of any web page.

Either way, McKinney is making it sound like you’ll only have to download Angry Birds once in order to play it on multiple devices including your phone and PC, which sounds good to me. I suspect we’ll also see integration of web-connected services. For instance, add an appointment to your webOS calendar on your phone and it will instantly appear on your desktop. Write a note in the mobile version of Evernote, and not only can you find it in any web browser, but it could also show up on your desktop PC thanks to webOS integration.

We’ll probably have to wait a while before we get any real clarification on the matter, since HP has yet to announce any Windows Pcs that will ship with webOS integration.

via PreCentral

HP: webOS apps to run on phones, slates, and PCs is a post from: mobiputing

The group now has a shiny new HP server with 32GB of RAM and 8TB of disk space.

The webOS Internals group provides detailed information about the software powering the Palm Pre, Pixi, and upcoming Pre 3, Veer and Touchpad devices, allowing independent developers to write apps or modify the OS to meet their needs. The team also manages Preware, a third party store for homebrew apps, themes, and webOS system patches.

HP makes serious commitment to webOS homebrew community is a post from: mobiputing

You may have noticed that the HP Touchpad doesn’t have any physical buttons or a gesture area on the front. You might think that means that older apps which require use of the gesture pad won’t work on webOS 3.0. But it turns out that HP has figured out a way around that.

HP developer Ben Combee says apps that require the gesture pad will be able to run in a window with a gesture area and back and forward buttons.

It doesn’t sound like the most elegant solution, but at least it will provide a way to run older webOS apps on newer devices.

via PreCentral

webOS 3 will be able to run legacy apps which require gesture area is a post from: mobiputing

HP webOS 3.0 will be the first version of the HP/Palm mobile operating system designed for tablets. It’s what the HP Touchpad will run when it’s launched. The company showed off a number of features and third party apps for the platform during yesterday’s introduction of the Touchpad. And HP has also released a preview of the software developer kit for webOS 3.0.

Developers can get access to the SDK preview by emailing pdc@palm.com. What’s interesting is that the tools allow you to write resolution-independent apps. That means you can create an app that will work on devices with small screens like the HP Veer smartphone or large screens such as the Touchpad.

The operating system also features some tablet-friendly optimizations, including an on-screen keyboard which is resizeable with small, medium and large options so that it takes up no more screen real estate than you need. Notifications now pop up in the top right corner near the status bar, and you can tap the notification icon to see a list of the latest notifications.

The web browser features a new toolbar with forward, back, bookmark, history, and URL buttons. And the email app now features a multi-panel view which shows a list of messages or contacts on the left and the full message on the right.

HP demonstrated a video chat application yesterday which takes advantage of a front-facing camera and PreCentral reports that Skype video calling support is in the works.

As far as third party apps, Amazon has announced it will bring a Kindle eBook app to the platform. QuickOffice will let you view Microsoft Office documents, and possibly edit them as well. Time Inc is developing magazine apps for titles which could include Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, People, and others. And Roxio will power a video store to let users rent or purchase movies on webOS 3.0 tablets.

HP releases webOS 3.0 SDK: webOS for tablets is a post from: mobiputing

When HP and Palm introduced webOS 2.0 a few months ago, the companies promised that the software wouldn’t just ship on new phones — it would also be available as an update for all existing webOS phones including the Palm Pre, Pre Plus, Pixi, and Pixi Plus. But now the company is doing an about face, saying that webOS 2.0 will not be available for any of those phones.

That means if you want webOS 2.0 you’re going to need to pick up a Palm Pre 2 or the upcoming Pre 3 or Veer phones.

Palm head Jon Rubinstein tells Engadget that the older phones just aren’t powerful enough to run the latest version of the OS. There’s an active webOS homebrew community, so I wouldn’t be shocked to see independent developers hack webOS 2.0 to run on older devices, but it doesn’t sound like HP will officially be supporting webOS 2.0 on anything older than the Pre 2.

The Pre 2, by the way, is available from Verizon starting today, but I can’t see any real reason to buy it when the Pre 3 will hit the streets in a few months, unless you’re desperate for a webOS 2.0 phone right now.

You can checkout my hands-on video with a Pre 2 running webOS 2.0 from a few months ago after the break. The new operating system features search and multitasking improvements, tighter integration with online services, and support for Skype and Adobe Flash.

No webOS 2.0 software update for older Palm phones is a post from: mobiputing

MPlayer is a popular and powerful open source video player which can handle all sorts of different media files from Windows Media to QuickTime with a little MP4, H.264, DivX, MKV, and OGG thrown in for good measure. Now there’s a version of MPlayer which works with webOS devices like the Palm Pre. Unfortunately it doesn’t yet support webOS 2.0 which means you can’t use it with the Palm Pre 2.

You can find instructions for installing the app at the PreCentral forums, or you can check out the original developer’s thread (which is in French).

Due to software and hardware limitations, don’t expect the webOS version of MPlayer to play every HD video you throw at it smoothly, but users have reported decent results with a wide range of video formats.

via Download Squad

MPlayer media player ported to webOS is a post from: mobiputing

It looks like there’s at least one hidden feature in webOS 2.0 which HP and Palm haven’t publicized: An on-screen keyboard. Right now every smartphone that runs webOS has a physical keyboard, making an on-screen keyboard somewhat unnecessary (although that hasn’t stopped some people from hacking together their own for use in landscape mode). But now it looks like webOS 2.0 does indeed have an on-screen keyboard which could be useful for touchscreen-only smartphones. It will also likely be essential for the upcoming line of tablets, printers, and other touch-only webOS devices HP is expected to launch.

The keyboard isn’t enabled out of the box. But a member of the WebOS Internals team figured out how to modify one 0f the configuration files in webOS 2.0 to bring up the keyboard.

You can check out a video of the webOS 2.0 keyboard in action after the break and find more details at PreCentral. Note that while the video says you can only bring up the keyboard by using the physical keyboard, you can actually trigger it by using the “Quick Wave” swipe action (slowly swipe your finger halfway up the screen of your phone).

Virtual keyboard packed into webOS 2.0 is a post from: mobiputing

HP has decided to remove the Palm OS ROM from webOS 2.0 — which means that while anyone with an older version of webOS can install an app called Classic to run… well, classic PalmOS apps on the Palm Pre or Pixi, there’s officially no way to run Palm OS apps on webOS 2.0.

Motion Apps, the company behind Classic has already made it clear that there won’t be an official Classic app for webOS 2.0. But it turns out that all hope is not lost.

It turns out that if you extract the Palm OS ROM from webOS 1.4.5 and install it on a webOS 2.0 device like the Palm Pre 2, you should be able to get Classic to work.

It seems likely that HP and Palm left out the ROM simply because many users didn’t need it, but it was taking up space — or because the company wants to encourage developers to write new apps for webOS and for users to upgrade to new apps instead of relying on legacy apps for Palm OS.

You can find step by step instructions for installing the Palm OS ROM at PreCentral.

How to run classic Palm apps on WebOS 2.0 is a post from: mobiputing