HP to Contribute webOS to Open Source

Friday, 09 December 2011 18:59 greg

HP today announced it will contribute the webOS software to the open source community.

HP plans to continue to be active in the development and support of webOS. By combining the innovative webOS platform with the development power of the open source community, there is the opportunity to significantly improve applications and web services for the next generation of devices.

webOS offers a number of benefits to the entire ecosystem of web applications. For developers, applications can be easily built using standard web technologies. In addition, its single integrated stack offers multiplatform portability. For device manufacturers, it provides a single web-centric platform to run across multiple devices. As a result, the end user benefits from a fast, immersive user experience.

“webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable,” said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. “By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices.”

HP will make the underlying code of webOS available under an open source license. Developers, partners, HP engineers and other hardware manufacturers can deliver ongoing enhancements and new versions into the marketplace.

HP will engage the open source community to help define the charter of the open source project under a set of operating principles:

• The goal of the project is to accelerate the open development of the webOS platform
• HP will be an active participant and investor in the project
• Good, transparent and inclusive governance to avoid fragmentation
• Software will be provided as a pure open source project

HP also will contribute ENYO, the application framework for webOS, to the community in the near future along with a plan for the remaining components of the user space.

Last Updated (Friday, 13 January 2012 14:05)

Kindle app arrives for Touchpad

Tuesday, 19 July 2011 08:10 greg

Great news in my inbox this morning, Kindle for Touchpad had been released and was in the app catalog. I quickly fire up the app catalog, only to find that it is a US only release at the moment? That seems a very strange decision to me, and hopefully the UK release will be very, very soon. To quote from the HP blog, this is what I could expect if I lived in the US.

Your TouchPad now has access to more than 950,000 titles from Amazon's Kindle Store, as well as thousands of the most popular classic public domain titles. Paid titles offer free downloadable samples, and Amazon's Whispersync technology automatically syncs your reading progress with other devices (like your laptop computer) where you might also use your Kindle account. (And if you add any notes, highlights, or bookmarks while you read, Whispersync also keeps those updated on your other Kindle platforms, and vice-versa.)

HP Releases HP Play Beta

Friday, 08 July 2011 13:18 greg

HP have announced their HP Play solution with downloads for Mac and Windows. On first run it imports your itunes playlists. It doesn't import any smart playlists, but it does support creation of new smart playlists.

It's early days, but it looks like an early itunes look alike, HP are promising many updates in the future including wireless syncing and hopefully the ability to host your music in the cloud.

I tried this with my Android device where it all appeared to sync fine, but didn't actually copy any music it over, it copied directories, but not the MP3 files. To be fair to HP they do say that currently this only supports WebOS devices that can be put into USB drive mode.

I then tried it with a WebOS devices and it auto copied the music from an imported playlist over fine, keeping the playlist intact and copying the album art.

So a promising way to move away from itunes, if they can add some podcast support and some other features like cloud storage it could be a very useful tool.

Last Updated (Friday, 08 July 2011 14:47)

Comparing the HP Veer, first impressions

Thursday, 07 July 2011 15:22 greg

I've finally got my hands on an HP Veer, which HP is touting as one of the smallest and lightest phones out there. Hence I was expecting it to be small, but it's really smaller than I expected! First impressions are that it's nice and snappy to use, the HP Profile meant my apps, email etc were quickly up and running. Web browsing was better than expected, and it seemed to load pages quicker than the Pre2 I have.

Some quick pictures below, more to come when I have spent some time with the device. In the first set of pictures the Veer is lined up with a pre2,  an iPhone 3GS and a ZTE Blade on the far right. The second picture shows it with the keyboard out lined up to an iPhone 3GS.

In these second set it is lined up next to the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro

Last Updated (Thursday, 07 July 2011 15:26)

HP Touchpad, dates announced

Thursday, 09 June 2011 13:36 greg

I am really interested in the HP Touchpad, especially as arounds how it will integrate with WebOS phones. Anyone else looking forward to getting one?

To quote from the HP blog:

The Wi-Fi version of HP’s first webOS tablet will be available in the U.S. on July 1, followed by the UK, Ireland, France and Germany a few days later and Canada in mid-July. And continuing HP’s phased rollout, webOS fans in Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore and Spain can expect to see HP TouchPad later this year.

HP TouchPad will be available from U.S. retailers, commercial resellers and direct from HP for $499.99 (16GB) or $599.99 (32GB). If you just can’t wait for July, preorders in North America and Europe will begin June 19.

Need something more to whet your appetite? HP also said today that it will be partnering with AT&T to introduce a connected version of HP TouchPad later this summer. No details yet, but stay tuned.

Last Updated (Monday, 13 June 2011 12:09)

Not all USB cables are equal....

Thursday, 26 May 2011 08:56 greg

I just had a very interesting experience trying to use WebOSDoctor to reset my Pre2 back to completely clean and free of some hacks I had installed. No matter what I did the Dr came back saying it was unable to reset my device.

I read through the help files on hp.com and one suggestion was to use the actual USB cable that shipped with the device. I had been using an HP cable I got with an iPAQ, but I switched to the one that came with the unit and it worked first time.

Latest Google docs allows editing on WebOS devices

Friday, 13 May 2011 13:10 greg

Google recently enhanced their online document capabilities and the great news is that documents can now be seen and edited online via the WebOS built in browser. A quick test allowed me to create and edit both new and existing spreadsheets and Documents.

There is a "you are using an unsupported browser" message, but in my brief tests, most things appeared to work.

HP Webos Veer arrives at AT&T May 15

Wednesday, 04 May 2011 16:30 greg

The HP Palm Blog today announced that the small but powerful Veer will be available as an exclusive from AT&T in the USA. Available in either black or white, for $99.99 with a two-year contract.

More details about Veer can be found here.

Last Updated (Wednesday, 04 May 2011 19:16)