Well color us shocked. (/sarcasm) Long, long, long after DataViz Inc. had indicated that they were “suspending” further development for webOS, they have finally announced in an open letter that they are in fact canceling any and all plans to ever develop for webOS. Claiming that their loyalties lie more with making “business sense” than with Palm, they have made a conscious decision to leave webOS users twisting in the wind. They defend their position by claiming they lacked “technical help” from Palm for too long before coming to this conclusion. (We have to wonder if this means further development on their already-installed Doc Viewer has halted as well.)
All is not lost, however. QuickOffice has made a splash or two about their plans to develop an office suite for webOS, and although no names were used in their letter, DataViz Inc seemed to acknowledge that. Perhaps after falling asleep at the switch, DataViz realized they would not be first to the document-editing game on webOS and decided to leave the platform alone altogether. Hopefully it won’t be long before webOS users can prove DataViz wrong.
The floor is yours, QuickOffice. Show ‘em how it’s done.
Well someone’s ticked. In a rather decisive move, Palm has temporarily suspended approvals for new webOS developers wanting access to the webOS 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK). This was in response to a recent violation of a non-disclosure agreement on the part of an unknown developer enrolled in the private beta program. HP/Palm has also indicated on Twitter that they are running an investigation as to where this leak came from.
The leak basically confirmed what most of us already suspected: that a virtual keyboard for webOS is in the works. Whether this virtual keyboard will apply to webOS phones, tablets, or both is still unclear.
Because early access to new OS builds is imperative for webOS developers to create new apps and optimize their existing apps, we can only hope that this matter is resolved quickly… and that some developers learn how to keep a damn secret.
If you are a tech saavy person, then it is probably safe to say that you know and consume RSS feeds from time to time. So the question is, what do you use on your phone to read your favorite sites? Feeds by Delicious Morsel ($2.99 in the App Catalog) is definitely my favorite app, and is one that I use multiple times throughout the day.
For the non-techies out there [Ed: we actually get a lot of those] here is some quick info on what RSS is: RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It allows various sites (like webOSRoundup) to publish their articles to your RSS Reader, thus having one or multiple sites loaded to one easy to reach place, thus enabling you to look at various sites on one app or website. For more information on RSS, visit Wikipedia’s page on it.Read the rest of this entry »
Last month, Laptop Magazine put out an interesting piece called the Top 25 Most Influential People in Mobile Tech 2010. We all seemed to totally miss this one. Thanks to AboutwebOS, we found out that someone we all know and love was on this list.
Coming in at #18 was our favorite VP and CTO of HP Personal Systems Group, Phil McKinney. Laptop Magazine had some nice stuff to say about him.
We’re not sure what the final product is going to look like, but now that HP has acquired Palm (and its webOS operating system) HP’s Slate has the potential to be much more interesting. What will it finally look like? Ask McKinney, the ultimate arbiter of the Slate project. McKinney has openly wondered on his personal blog when would be the best time to release such a device. But if the world’s leading PC maker gets it right, the Slate could challenge Apple’s iPad, which sold more than 1 million units in its first month. In May rumors starting circulating that HP’s webOS-powered Slate would launch as soon as late summer or early fall. The code name for this product? Hurricane, which is fitting since McKinney’s baby could very well blindside the Android competition.
Congratulations Phil! Well-deserved. Hopefully the next time we see this Most Influential person, he won’t be holding a flexible display prototype, or a blacked-out prototype, but a brand-new webOS phone running webOS 2.0. (Hey, we can dream can’t we?)
If you are reading this blog entry, then it is highly likely that you already agree with us that webOS is really the best mobile OS on the market. You’re probably already really excited about webOS 2.0 coming out soon.
There has already been a lot of buzz about webOS 2.0 on major tech websites like Engadget and Gizmodo. But let’s say you are a rival company to Palm, like Apple, Google, or RIM. Should you be worried about webOS 2.0?
PCWorld makes that exact point. Now that the webOS 2.0 SDK has been released to developers, new HP/Palm hardware cannot be too far behind. Read the rest of this entry »
So, we are starting a new daily column here at webOSroundup named App Of The Day. In this column we will be giving a little overview of an app we feel deserves recognition. This is intended to show some love for the app and is not intended as a review. It may even be an app that we have already reviewed or it could be an app that we intend to review in the future. This app may deserve recognition because we have just discovered it, the app could be a hidden gem, or we have been using it heavily on that particular day and it really shined. So without further ado I give you our inaugural App Of The Day: MiniSquadron by Supermono Limited! Read the rest of this entry »
Since the dawn of time all men have been fascinated with fire. This fascination eventually begot our love for blowing things up! Men also love technology and more specifically… robots. What do you get when you put all the above together into a video game? The answer is none other than ExZeus ($5.00),the “big stompy robot” game by Hyper Dev Box! Read the rest of this entry »
Imagine you’re listening to music on your webOS device equipped with high-end sound components by Beats. Now start smiling. Now bounce. See how nice that feels? Ever since HP released Beats technology into their Envy line of laptops, we’ve been salivating at the thought of the same technology existing in our mobile devices… you know, the things we carry around with us daily? Well, the folks over at Billboard had the same thought and posed the question to Carlos Montalvo, VP of Program Innovation Office in HP’s Personal Systems Group:
“HP has bought mobile device maker Palm and mobile music service Melodeo. Do you expect to expand your Beats and music initiatives to mobile devices?”
Montalvo of course was mum on the subject of upcoming devices, but he made a point to opine that “today, mobile fidelity is not being met by the current range of products.” He also adds: “we think there’s a great opportunity to leverage everything we’ve learned on the PC for other consumer electronic devices… There will be more announcements in the future of where we go with that, but obviously music is an integral part of any music experience.” … Fun stuff. Will it happen on a tablet? Heck, almost their entire line of TouchSmart computers have Beats, so it stands to reason that we could see it. … webOS phones?? Let’s keep our fingers crossed. (P.S. We know this would apply to future webOS phones. Please forgive the creative license – or lack therof – that we took with the 1st gen Pre!)
Well wouldn’t ya know it, the day after we record our weekly podcast (it took a lot of effort, believe us!), Palm goes out and announces all the goodies that are coming with webOS 2.0! No worries, because for the three of you who listento this podcast, you’ll find we managed (as always) to put together a pretty interesting episode.
After bashing Ryan for saying Angry Birds was “meh,” we go on to tackle the question: what makes a good mobile game?”
App reviews, homebrew news (we’re overclocking at 1 GHz, people!!!), and webOS news take over from there. Check it out.
Quick correction: during the podcast we imply that Compcache is automatically enabled in the new version of Govnah… actually, we pretty much declared it. Well, we were wrong. To enable Compcache (so you don’t get the Too Many Cards error!), you have to tap Profiles, Advanced Settings, Compressed Swap… then turn it on! Sorry for any confusion.
You can play and download the podcast from our usual suspects:
If you’re looking for the best place to buy webOS smartphones, HP Wireless Central gets our vote. Why? Because phones on every major U.S. carrier have got crazy deals and incentives on them:
Verizonand AT&T Pre Plus is FREE (new activation), with a free Touchstone
Sprint Palm Pre is FREE (new activation), with a $50 gift card
Sprint Palm Pixi is $19.99 for new or current customers (Note: we just tested this and the price on a contract extension says FREE with a $50 gift card! Huh?)
No doubt, HP is doing their best to move these phones… could it be because next generation hardware is just around the corner??? We sure hope so!
Well someone’s ticked. In a rather decisive move, Palm has temporarily suspended approvals for new webOS developers wanting access to the 
If you are a tech saavy person, then it is probably safe to say that you know and consume RSS feeds from time to time. So the question is, what do you use on your phone to read your favorite sites? 
So, we are starting a new daily column here at webOSroundup named App Of The Day. In this column we will be giving a little overview of an app we feel deserves recognition. This is intended to show some love for the app and is not intended as a review. It may even be an app that we have already reviewed or it could be an app that we intend to review in the future. This app may deserve recognition because we have just discovered it, the app could be a hidden gem, or we have been using it heavily on that particular day and it really shined. So without further ado I give you our inaugural App Of The Day: 
Since the dawn of time all men have been fascinated with fire. This fascination eventually begot our love for blowing things up! Men also love technology and more specifically… robots. What do you get when you put all the above together into a video game? The answer is none other than ExZeus ($5.00), the “big stompy robot” game by Hyper Dev Box! 
Imagine you’re listening to music on your webOS device equipped with high-end sound components by Beats. Now start smiling. Now bounce. See how nice that feels? Ever since HP released Beats technology into their Envy line of laptops, we’ve been salivating at the thought of the same technology existing in our mobile devices… you know, the things we carry around with us daily? Well, the folks over at Billboard had the same thought and posed the question to 
