Palm puts webOS 2.0 SDK into limited release starting today

Palm fans, get your party hats on. Today the company is announcing the beta release of its SDK for webOS 2.0, which means we’re getting dangerously close to a proper 2.0 release for devices. And who knows… maybe the phone-maker will decide to throw a new device our way to go along with the OS. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Starting tomorrow, a select (though rather wide, says Palm) group of developers will be able to start toying around with the latest and greatest SDK for the company’s mobile operating system, and it looks like the new software brings some tasty morsels to the table that you’re definitely going to want to chow down on. We got the scoop directly from Palm on just exactly what kind of changes you’ll be seeing in the first version of 2.0, and we’ve rounded them up in a neatly digestible form below, so read on after the break and get the full story.

Continue reading Palm puts webOS 2.0 SDK into limited release starting today

Palm puts webOS 2.0 SDK into limited release starting today originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm WebOS 2.0: Now This Is Multitasking [Palm]

WebOS 2.0. It’s really happening, and it’s coming soon. Amidst the turmoil and the headlines and the doom-dropping, Palm’s been busy: WebOS 2.0 looks like it’ll be better than the original in basically every way. More »

HP’s Phil McKinney teases three mystery prototypes on Twitter

Well, this is certainly interesting — that’s HP CTO Phil McKinney pictured above in a pair of redacted shots that were posted to Twitter by HP’s Mark Budgell. Described only as “early protos” by McKinney himself, the pictures show what appears to be phone-sized device, a tablet-sized device and, perhaps most curiously, something on McKinney’s wrist (all mysteriously blacked out). Before you get your hopes up too much about a new wave of webOS devices, however, you might want to take a look at the second part of Budgell’s tweet, which encourages folks to vote for McKinney’s SXSW 2011 panel — a panel in which McKinney promises to make some “bold predictions for the future – backed up with a number of breakthrough prototypes,” and specifically talk about what the future will look like in “5 to 10 years.” Now, we can’t be certain of course, but that doesn’t exactly suggest these are right around the corner. Head on past the break for a slightly bigger image.

Continue reading HP’s Phil McKinney teases three mystery prototypes on Twitter

HP’s Phil McKinney teases three mystery prototypes on Twitter originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP’s in-house webOS competition yields about 500 apps, says CTO

A little backstory: HP has an annual in-house event for its employees called TechCon, and this year a challenge was issued to the engineers to make the best webOS app (free phones were offered as incentive). Got that? Good. This week, HP CTO Phil McKinney had a brief chat with Pre Central over Twitter, where he revealed that the contest culminated in about 500 produced apps, and that “[they] are in the final stage of selecting ‘best app’ winners.” Does that mean we should expect a large bump to the current catalog of programs? We can’t say for sure, but we wouldn’t be surprised if many of these are already available to download. Additionally, we can’t say anything as for the overall quality of submissions. Edging closer to the 4,000-app milestone is great and all but not if it includes 250 different Angry Birds clones. Still, we’re ever-hopeful and can’t wait to see what exactly it was that came from the internal coding challenge.

HP’s in-house webOS competition yields about 500 apps, says CTO originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP confirms webOS tablet for ‘early 2011’

We’d heard HP’s Todd Bradley had confidentially told employees that a webOS tablet would arrive in Q1 2011, but now the man’s gone on the record in the company’s Q3 2010 earnings call. “You’ll see us with a Microsoft product out in the near future and a webOS-based product in early 2011,” he told investors and analysts in response to a direct question about tablets this afternoon, adding that potential slates were part of the reason HP bought Palm in the first place. Now, we’re not financial experts, but we’ve heard it’s typically a good idea not to promise things to your shareholders if you don’t intend to deliver. In other words, there’s a good bet the PalmPad is actually not an imaginary friend our subconscious created after Mark Hurd’s hateful words in June.

[Thanks, Robert]

HP confirms webOS tablet for ‘early 2011’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon’s remaining 2010 roadmap to be an Android-fest of phones and tablets?

Practically everything we’ve heard — both officially and through tipsters — lines up with information coming out of Phone Arena this week detailing a truly Google-heavy upcoming Fall and Winter release schedule for our friends at Big Red. Starting next month, it seems that we’ll see a global version of the just-launched Droid 2, possibly with a white option (though it seems this could also be the R2-D2 model), and the Motorola WX455 we’d leaked has been named “Citrus” and will (as you probably could’ve guessed) target the low end of the market and the young’uns who are looking for an affordable way to get into Android; as WWAN-enabled laptops go, they’ll be picking up the Dell Vostro V13 and the HP Pavilion DM1.

Follow the break for the rest of the action!

[Thanks, Steven C.]

Continue reading Verizon’s remaining 2010 roadmap to be an Android-fest of phones and tablets?

Verizon’s remaining 2010 roadmap to be an Android-fest of phones and tablets? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget’s back to school guide: Mobile phones

Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we have mobile phones in our sights — and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month.

Back in our day, the only “mobile phone” at school was the one that broke off the dorm wall after our roommates got a little too rowdy, but nowadays, a capable, high-power handset is quickly becoming a must-have for students of all ages. Regardless of your budget, your parent’s budget, or your little one’s budget, we’ve got options that should help with studying, gaming, music, and maybe even the occasional call home.

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide: Mobile phones

Engadget’s back to school guide: Mobile phones originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint Pre Plus hack detailed in step-by-step guide

WebOS device hacking has reach some considerable heights recently with a mod to bring WiFi to a Sprint Palm Pixi, but it looks like even that’s now been topped by this hack that finally brings the Pre Plus to Sprint. As you can probably guess, that involves a Sprint Palm Pre, a Pre Plus (from either AT&T or Verizon), a slew of software tweaking, and plenty of tricky hardware modding to get the Sprint Pre coms board into the Pre Plus. Will it actually work? We can’t say we’ve gone so far as to try the mod ourselves, but PreCentral forum member livinofframen says his modded phone behaves perfectly, right down to the stock Sprint applications. Hit up the link below for the complete details to try it yourself — at your own risk, of course.

[Thanks, Ken M.]

Sprint Pre Plus hack detailed in step-by-step guide originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget Podcast 208 – 08.13.2010

It’s the Engadget Podcast….to go! Would you like a little Joanna Stern with that? Easy on the Ziegler, buddy – and 86 the Paul, please. All that plus a special toy for kids ten and under that manage to listen all the way to the end.

Update: If you’ve been unable to download the podcast in iTunes or Zune, it’s because we had a naming issue — it’s since been fixed and should download properly once the cache breaks. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Hosts:
Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel
Guests: Joanna Stern, Chris Ziegler
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: California Gurls

00:01:30 – The Engadget Show – 011: Peter Molyneux, Fable III, Milo, BlackBerry Torch, Windows Phone 7
00:01:40 – BlackBerry Torch review
00:12:48 – Exclusive: Sony Ericsson to introduce Android 3.0 gaming platform and PSP Go-like smartphone
00:18:38 – Microsoft to open mobile games studio, develop and incubate Windows Phone 7 titles
00:24:42 – Exclusive: Upcoming Apple TV loses 1080p playback, gains apps… and will be renamed iTV
00:36:10 – iPod touch coming in a ‘few weeks’ with dual cameras and Retina Display, suggests John Gruber
00:39:49 – CDMA iPhone in engineering tests, may arrive in January, says John Gruber
00:43:05 – Plastic Logic kills QUE, ‘shifts focus’ to second-generation ProReader
00:43:56 – Notion Ink Adam delayed, this time investors are to blame (updated!)
01:47:00 – Notion Ink Adam priced at $498, lives up to promise of being below $499
00:50:20 – Dell Streak on sale August 13 for $300 on AT&T contract, $550 without
00:51:14 – Off-contract Dell Streak is still SIM-locked to AT&T, wrongs still being done in the world
00:52:40 – Exclusive: Dell Thunder prototype rumbles into the wild (video)
00:57:05 – Motorola Droid 2 (and R2-D2 edition!) finally official: Android 2.2, Swype, $200 on contract
00:57:50 – Droid 2 R2-D2 edition spied in the wild, ready to repair your X-wing
00:58:30 – Motorola’s Droid 2 in the wild, looking as blue as ever
01:04:18 – Motorola’s Jha says MOTOBLUR brand will fade from view
01:05:22 – Epic 4G coming August 31st for $249.99 on contract (updated)
01:06:14 – HP CEO Mark Hurd resigns over sexual harassment investigation (updated with liveblog!)
01:07:35 – Former HP CEO Mark Hurd rewarded with a $40m severance after being forced to resign over fraudulent expense reports
01:09:42 – HP tells employees webOS tablet coming Q1 2011
01:11:20 – Pre designer Peter Skillman latest to leave Palm, entire senior staff now in exodus
01:14:56 – Google and Verizon announcing something policy-related at 1:30PM ET — we’re liveblogging right here
01:16:00 – Google and Verizon publish joint policy proposal for ‘an open internet’
01:17:00 – Google and Verizon’s net neutrality proposal explained

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Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @reckless @engadget @zpower @joannastern

Continue reading Engadget Podcast 208 – 08.13.2010

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Engadget Podcast 208 – 08.13.2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm Pixi shows off 3D gaming chops with webOS 1.4.5 release (video)

What with all the “battery optimization” excitement, we nearly forgot that Sprint’s new webOS 1.4.5 update doesn’t just empower the Pre; it also finally brings PDK’d OpenGL and SDL support to the Palm Pixi. On the off chance you don’t speak developer lingo, that’s short for 3D apps and games, and as it turns out the pint-sized Pixi doesn’t play the latter half-badly. PreCentral fired up a copy of Need For Speed: Undercover on the freshly-upgraded handset immediately above, and found the game perfectly playable with “decent” framerates and only slightly sub-par load times. Watch their spiffy Nissan turn tricks right after the break, and pray companies get cracking on some Unreal Engine 3 apps soon.

Continue reading Palm Pixi shows off 3D gaming chops with webOS 1.4.5 release (video)

Palm Pixi shows off 3D gaming chops with webOS 1.4.5 release (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 18:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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