Author: Robert Werlinger

With all of the recent doom and gloom surrounding Palm these days, with recently lowered FY2010 guidance and a number of analysts downgrading their view of the company, Verizon has sent out a very timely press release to the wires titled “Apps for Everyone on Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus”. 

Detailed in the press release are business apps like NewsRoom (see our Review) and Top Stocks Lite, student-oriented apps like Translator and Periodic Table and last but not least, “Super-Mom” apps like Shopping List and The Weather Channel.  Is this part of that expanded advertising campaign we keep hearing about? We certainly hope so.

Read the full press release after the break.

via @phonescooper

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It’s official – there are over 2000 applications (not including the multitude of patches and tweaks) available to US Pre and Pre Plus owners, and just under that number for Pixi owners. How’s that possible, you ask, when the App Catalog only reports about 1600 available apps? 

Here’s some of what’s being discussed in the forums.

• Last week Verizon made it official: VoIP a-okay on its network. Users are speculating: just how long will it take for something like Skype to hit webOS?

• The Pre has a pretty decent camera, and while this thread might be an oldie, it’s a goodie: PreCentral forum members are sharing some of the best pictures they’ve taken with their phones. Go ahead, share yours!

• Even with extended batteries that have been modified to work with the Touchstone charger, there comes a time where we need to charge our phones but don’t have access to an outlet. Thankfully, a number of forum members are chiming in with their recommendations on self-powered USB chargers.

• With all of the fervor over the upcoming webOS 1.4 update and the availability of Flash that will follow, user flea asks an interesting question: will you install the plug-in when it hits the Catalog?

• iTunes sync has been out of the webOS picture for a little while now, but some users are still left high and dry when it comes to a syncing solution.  So big props to forum member cwgtex for creating the "ultimate how-to" guide to get you up and syncing with MediaMonkey, a free iTunes alternative.

We look forward to seeing you in the forums.  Not a member? There’s no better time than the present to become one. Registration is free, and the benefits are immense.

Brothers In Arms ($5.99 in the App Catalog) is the first WWII 3D action/combat game to come to webOS. There’s a lot to like here: tanks, sniper rifles, and a well implemented cover system.

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The sleuths over at the Boy Genius Report have been tipped by one of their “solid Palm connects” that T-Mobile is in the final stages of planning the launch of a "Pixi-like device" with Palm, a move that would have the Sunnyvale, CA based handset maker distributing webOS devices on all four of the major domestic carriers before years end. 

The details are sparse (read: non-existent), but if it’s true, it’ll be the first time a Palm device has been sold through T-Mobile in like… forever?

Thanks to everybody that sent this in!

It was only a matter of time before the $99 price point of the Pixi started its downward descent. Surprisingly, it’s the Plus version on Verizon (with WiFi and the ability to turn into a mobile hotspot) to get the first official price cut. The Pixi Plus can be had for a cool $79.99 through Verizon’s website with a $100 "online discount." The Buy One Get One Free promotion, of course, still applies. 

Thanks to krod301 for the tip!

To some, one thing missing from webOS is any kind of a “home screen” like Android, S60 and Windows Mobile all have, something that allows for a quick view of current weather conditions, upcoming calendar events, twitter updates and the like all from the launcher screen. ActiveCard ($2.99 in the App Catalog) aims to bring that functionality to webOS by putting quick access to all of the above items (and more) all in one place.

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Here’s some of the latest discussion in the forums: 

• If you think that being inundated with the goings on of people you probably don’t care about in Google’s new Buzz service on the desktop is fun, you’ll be delighted to know that the deluge will soon be making its way to webOS. Confirmation also comes in the form of Google’s own Supported Phones table. If you can’t wait, you can trick Buzz into working in the browser anyway.

• Video Recording is a feature coming our way in this month’s (which apparently didn’t come on the 15th) webOS 1.4 update, and forum member showmrock wants to know: are you excited?
  

• Speaking of that webOS 1.4 update, we’ll also be getting full on Flash 10.1. Impulsebuyer is curious: what websites are you looking forward to browsing with the new plug-in.

• Forum members are discussing which 3D games they’d like to see come the way of webOS next. Grand Theft Auto, anyone?
  

We look forward to seeing you in the forums!  (Not a member?  Remember: registration is free, and the benefits are numerous indeed)

The developers of Bad Kitty have been teasing us with details of their new Twitter client for a few months now, and my curiosity has been piqued the entire time. The app has finally hit the App Catalog selling for a cool $2.99, and I’ve finally been able to put it to the test. In the ever-growing sea of Twitter applications in the App Catalog, these programs have to have compelling feature sets and an excellent UI to stand out. Does Bad Kitty make the grade?

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As we already know, Palm is set to present at the Game Developers Conference in sunny San Francisco next month, talking about the future of gaming on its webOS platform and releasing the PDK (Plug-in Development Kit) in beta form to the masses. This is exciting stuff, to be sure, but it should be noted that developers from the WebOS Internals group have been bringing us binary-coded games for some time now, even before the PDK was a twinkle in our eyes.

This means two things. First, that developers interested in writing their own binary based applications or porting others over to webOS don’t have to wait for the official PDK to become available to start coding. The WebOS Internals PDK, using the same underlying technology as Palm’s PDK, enables developers to port games now and get a head-start on development against the official Palm PDK.

Second, that there’s a laundry list of great (and free!) emulators and games available through Preware and WebOS Quick Install thanks to their hard work, including but not limited to:

• Quake
• Doom
• Visual Boy Advance
• Stella Atari 2600
• Invaders
• TetriCrisis
• SuperTux
• NesEM

This is all in addition to the myriad of patches, tweaks, and other enhancements made possible by the team. If you dig their work, don’t be afraid to hit that donate button.

If the thought of being inundated with updates from people you probably don’t care about in the desktop version makes you giddy, then the thought of Google’s new Buzz service working without any hacks or tweaks on webOS is probably a delightful one.

Google said the service was "coming soon", but the curious mismash of Twitter and Facebook that uses mysterious algorithms to add your friends and violate your privacy now works, as forums member kioken has discovered, by pointing the browser on your webOS powered device in the direction of https://m.google.com/app/buzz?force=1. 

It works, and it works well.  My only question is this:  When do we get the ability to "check in"?

Thanks to Windzilla for the tip!

The guidance given in Palm’s last two investor calls have pointed to revenues as high as $1.8 billion by the end of the second half of its current fiscal year. In order to obtain that kind of revenue, the sell through of their devices needs to increase substantially, and a survey conducted by Deutsche Bank and research from Kaufman Brothers suggest that Palm is doing just that.

Deutsche Bank, maintaining a its BUY rating on Palm with a target price of $20, conducted a phone survey of 210 Verizon outlets in 38 states suggesting that while Verizon has yet to fully engage in promotion of Palm’s product (I can attest to this with personal experience), Palm is closing in on Blackberry for most preferred at %17.

Kaufman Brother’s Shaw Wu anticipates that Palm will ship 1 million webOS units this quarter, with Verizon adding another 550,000 to 600,000 shipments alone. Wu’s research also indicates that those buying the Pre Plus or Pixi Plus are picking those devices over Verizon’s current Android offerings, and the handsets of more established players like RIM and Microsoft.

As Palm’s CEO Jon Rubinstein pointed out in his interview with Kara Swisher at CES this year, new carrier rollouts build on top of previous ones. Palm is now looking at a potential subscriber base of over 100 million domestically (which will increase substantially with the addition of AT&T sometime this year), and as the company builds and maintains its momentum, that $1.8 billion in projected revenues by the end of its fiscal year is beginning to look less absurd after all.

[via: everythingpre]

Thanks to montag for sending this in!

You may remember our review of FlashCards v2 beta from a little while back.  FlashCards is a study aid program that includes features such as lesson plans, a full online component, card creation on the go, and more, and the program has finally hit the App Catalog in both a paid ($2.99) and a lite version.  The news here isn’t the app itself (as good as it is), but the developer’s approach in allowing non-US webOS users to experience the full version of his application until sometime after paid apps go live in those markets:

But… with v2.0, I have a little surprise for you Non-US Users. It will recognize your country, know that you are not able to purchase the app, and unlock the Paid version… FREE! You do not have to do anything, it will automatically recognize your country and do this all on it’s own.

This is however a timed limit. It will revert to the Lite version limitations on April 15th. Palm has said they will bring Paid apps to you in March, so this date is well past their projected date. If you do not get paid apps by then, I will update it to extend the date. I did this so those who do wish to upgrade can enjoy those features until Palm does provide you the capability to upgrade.

 

It’s an ingenious approach to be sure, and hopefully more developers will follow this method until paid apps go live in the rest of the world sometime next month.

There often comes a time where we need to update our WordPress blogs right now, and the only internet-connected device we have access to is our phone. As many of you know all too well, the small screens and keyboards of our phones  compounded with the way webOS browser handles links in text fields can make blogging from the phone a downright frustrating experience.  While we wait for a native application from WordPress themselves, Poster ($0.99 in the App Catalog) does a great job of filling the void, making content creation on the go a not-so-painful process.

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 Here’s some of the latest talk in the forums:

• The Web browser in webOS is good indeed, but there are many sites out there that were designed solely for Mobile Safari. Palm’s browser is certainly capable of displaying sites iPhone style, and user Rand points out a handy checkbox in webOS Quick Install (which was recently updated to version 3.0) that tweaks the browser to report itself as Mobile Safari.
• Extolling the virtues of your Pre or Pixi in the form of poetry? Member powerbyte’s doing it, and so should you. I’ve already started work on what’s sure to be a hilarious limerick.
• Sure, we have a Facebook app made by Palm in the Catalog, but many find its utility somewhat lacking. Thankfully, Facebook appears to be making enhancements to x.facebook.com (the Facebook mobile site that comes bookmarked), and nyquistJack has discovered some new functionality. The ability to switch to live view, anyone?
• The PreCentral forums are a great place to ask questions (no matter how obscure) and get answers. DrHeathenScum wants to know: just what are the various EVDO Mode settings? Spoiler alert – knowledgeable forum members have the answer.

We look forward to seeing you in the forums!  (Not yet a member? Remember: registration is free, and the benefits are numerous.)

In-app feed management? Check. Excellent user interface? Check. Per-feed configurable dashboard notifications? Check. NewsRoom ($4.99 in the App Catalog) is a serious contender in the ever crowded RSS reader space. Serious enough, in fact, that you may soon find yourself replacing your current RSS reader with this one.

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The HTML5 specification came another step closer to becoming a Web standard today, as the first editors draft of the technology was released to the World Wide Web Consortium. HTML5 is the technology that makes up a significant portion of webOS, the new and improved Google Voice mobile web portal, YouTube and a few other notable Web services. This is great news for the Web as a whole and for the webOS platform in particular, but what are the implications for Adobe’s Flash technology?

Despite Steve Job’s recent comments about Adobe and the fact that the iPhone and iPad won’t support Flash, the proprietary Web technology won’t be going away anytime soon. As Dion Almaer (the guy Palm hired last September along with fellow Mozilla luminary Ben Galbraith to head up developer relations) noted in a post to his personal blog, Flash has good penetration and Adobe can rapidly evolve the technology. There’s no question that HTML5 is powerful and will one day be as ubiquitous as Flash is today, but it’s still a young technology, and short-term expectations need to be tempered with some perspective:

[…] And, this brings me to the Adobe half of the Steve Jobs equation. Flash isn’t dead. HTML5 is slowly going to put a dent into it if we ever get some of the use cases just right (e.g. video), but Adobe has a good penetration and can move at the speed of a dictatorship. The iPhone/iPad combo not shipping Flash will have an interesting dynamic here too, hopefully helping the HTML5 video cause. There is still much more work to be done. Flash and browser plugins have had a long history at forging new paths, and the Web can come in behind them and standardize. May that continue. […]

It also helps to keep in mind that HTML5 is still some ways away from becoming completely standardized. The W3C website spells out the process of a specification from start to finish, and the HTML Working Groups’ own website anticipates a candidate recommendation later this year, and a final recommendation sometime in 2012.

So, while HTML5 continues to evolve and companies such as Palm, Apple, and Google continue to go back and standardize on it, Palm is also going to give this Flash thing a go.

Meanwhile, we’re excited for the features possible with HTML5. Developers: anything in this spec making you giddy? 

Thanks to flea for the tip!

When Epocrates entered usability testing last month, there was a collective sigh of relief amongst the medical professional contingent that the highly useful (and sometimes even required) medical software would be making its way to their platform of choice in the form of a native application sooner rather than later. The company was mum on a specific update then, but a recent update to their website suggests that a release is imminent,  saying that we’ll see availability in "early 2010". 

webOS is only a few steps away from becoming a bona fide enterprise class platform, and the release of Epocrates and the full Documents to Go editing suite (and if our very own Jonathan Izor had his way, bluetooth keyboard support) may very well take it there.

It’s been some time since I’ve been a student, but I remember making and using flash cards all too well. I also remember the hassle that came along with carrying multiple sets of those flash cards: the bulk, the inconvenience, and if you’re like me, the difficulty of keeping the damn things organized.  Thankfully for those among you who are students, FlashCards ($4.99 in the App Catalog) aims to shrink all of those unwieldy sets of cards down into a single application , allowing you to study wherever, whenever, so long as you have your webOS powered phone with you.

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Here’s some of the latest talk in the forums:

• Sure, the Droid may have been big stuff when it was released a few months ago on Verizon, but now there’s a new kid on Big Red’s block: the Pre Plus. Member emedic is considering the switch from the Droid to the Pre. Any other Droid users feeling webOS envy?
• So, you’re on Verizon and you’ve purchased one of Palm’s newest handsets. Mega poster dbd wants to know: what are your first impressions?
• The 3D games keep rolling into the App Catalog like an epic winter storm on the east coast during Christmas, and folks are talking about some of the latest and greatest on the gaming front like Brothers In Arms from Gameloft.
• Forum members are speculating: just what is that Palm C40 that keeps popping up in inventory screens? Is it a a new handset, the fabled PalmPad, or somebody’s idea of a cruel joke? Chime in with your thoughts.
• New to webOS or thinking of making the switch?  After you’ve read and watched our own guide to webOS, be sure to check out the FAQ that member sketch42 has compiled which covers just about everything a Palm newbie needs to know.

We look forward to seeing you in the forums! (remember: registration is free, and the benefits of doing so are immense)

Update: Here’s one more thread we’d like to draw your attention to: Palm Pre Plus GPS Issues on Verizon – it’s starting to look like a goodly amount of Pre Plus users are having location issues.