Hasta La Gadget!

You should be refilling that popcorn bucket right about now. While we thought the next round of the Pre / iTunes syncing fiasco would probably be something simple like Apple releasing another quick patch, Palm has stepped it up a notch by complaining to the USB Implementers Forum over what it sees is “improper use of the Vendor ID number” by the gang at Cupertino. What the company means is that when an ID is applied for, a form is signed that states:

“Unauthorized use of assigned or unassigned USB Vendor ID Numbers and associated Product ID Numbers are strictly prohibited.”

The implication here is that Palm believes Apple is violating this stature by disallowing certain Vendor IDs — namely, Palm’s — from using iTunes. So how’d Palm manage to “fix” that syncing hole Apple managed to fill? From the looks of it, by misrepresenting its own Vendor ID, so that the Pre now shows up as a iPod / mass storage device made by Apple (ID 0x05ac) as opposed to one by Palm (ID 0x083) — hence the complaint. Of course, lying about your own ID would seem to break with the aforementioned rule, too, so what we’re left here is some muddled grey area and Palm apparently being okay with fudging some data to correct what it sees is an injustice. If anyone’s curious, DVD Jon points out that the root USB Node is still identified as “Pre,” so we very likely could see another round of these shenanigans in the not-too-distant future.

Finally, now’s as good of a time as any to take a look at some of the peripheral casualties from this war of attrition. In an essay on his personal site that’s been circulating the interwebs, Marc Deslauriers outlines the pangs he and the Linux community have felt over the years trying to use iPods on the open source platform, surmising that Apple is intentionally and repeatedly seeking ways to block non-iTunes programs from syncing in any way with its devices. This story is far from over, and as ugly as it looks now, it’s probably only gonna get worse.

[Via Digg and Pre Central]

Read – Marc Deslauriers, “Goodbye Apple”
Read – Palm’s lodges complaint with USB IF
Read – USB Vendor ID application
Read – Palm Pre USB hack confirmed

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

Palm complains about Apple to USB governing body, while Pre / iTunes sync “fix” is explained originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Palm webOS 1.1 now available, fixes iTunes 8.2.1 syncing originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Palm’s webOS certainly faces strong competition as it vies for attention from manufacturers, carriers, developers and consumers. But Palm was able to knock out at least one ailing offering by making webOS the replacement for the old Palm OS. For others it may not be so easy. In fact, with the barriers to entry now so high and the commitment to existing operating systems so great, webOS may be the last major smartphone operating system launched for the foreseeable future.

With webOS taking the baton from Palm OS, the number of major smartphone operating systems has stayed fixed at six. Three of them — Symbian S60, Windows Mobile and Android — are intended to be used by handset makers from multiple manufacturers, whereas iPhone OS, BlackBerry OS and webOS are used only on the handsets offered by their developer. Of course, even these “purebred” operating systems owe much to older platform technologies, with Android and webOS being built atop a Linux kernel, iPhone OS having its distant roots in FreeBSD, and BlackBerry and Android building on Java. The race to attract software to these platforms has ignited an arms race of development funds to both prime the supply pump and the promotion of app stores to lead the horses to he touch-sensitive virtual koi ponds..

Developing and maintaining a smartphone operating system is a serious and expensive undertaking that can consume a company. Producing the original iPhone caused Apple to miss the self-imposed ship date of Leopard, and third-party app support did not come until much later. Whatever Microsoft is planning in a major overhaul for Windows Mobile 7 has taken long enough to warrant the release of the interim 6.5 release that still leaves the company far behind the state of the art. WebOS development clearly took up a significant portion of the $425 million investment from Elevation Partners in Palm. And finishing a 1.0 release is just the beginning.

Continue reading Switched On: The last smartphone OS

Filed under: Cellphones

Switched On: The last smartphone OS originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm itself had warned that the Pre’s iTunes sync functionality could be broken at a moment’s notice (and at Apple’s whim), but we’re pretty sure no one expected it’d happen this quickly. We’ve been able to confirm that version 8.2.1 of the software prevents the sync from working, meaning that you’ve got to add music the old-fashioned way — the Pre functions as a USB drive, too — until Palm gets around to patching the hack (if they decide to patch it, that is). This could end up being a protracted game of cat-and-mouse, which is entertaining to watch but nightmarish for the consumers down in the trenches actually trying to use this stuff. Funny thing is, Apple’s straight up saying in its release notes that the update “addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices” — in other words, they weren’t being verified before, and now they are, thank goodness. Peaceful sleep is once again within our reach.

Update: Apple’s now gone beyond the “verification of Apple devices” phrase, calling out the Pre by name in a statement issued to BusinessWeek: “It also disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre. As we’ve said before, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players.” In other words, “we told you this was going to happen, and it did.” For its part, Palm appears to have re-issued the same statement it made a while back, saying that Apple’s move is a “direct blow” to its users. Words are one thing, but here’s the real question: is there a quick counterstrike fix planned from Palm’s side?

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

iTunes 8.2.1 brings Pre’s music syncing capability to a halt (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you were hoping for more system sound configurability, better notification control, or an equalizer in the music player (heck, we’ll settle for bass and treble), your wait might be nowhere close to over — but the good news is that it appears there’s some sort of update on the way for Pres in the field that’s significant enough to justify a 0.1 bump in webOS’ version number to 1.1. Corporate types will get all fired up over better managed Exchange policy integration with support for device wipe after failed PIN attempts, auto PIN lock, minimum password complexity, and a bunch of other things that your average Pre owner isn’t going to give a flying iPhone about. Perhaps more interesting to everyone else is the claim that additional built-in apps are a possibility for 1.1, though there’s no detail there — it could be best-of-breed stuff culled from the App Catalog, new first-party apps, or a combination. PreCentral’s hearing “within 30 days” for the release, so go ahead and get your firmware upgrade pants on now just in case.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

webOS 1.1 rumored to be on the way to Pres shortly, sounds boring so far originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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