Comments on: Palm Posts Additional webOS and Mojo Developer Details

Palm has posted new information about developing for webOS and has announced a new book deal with O'Reilly Media and an upcoming developer webcast. The book is to be the first official resource for programming Palm's new webOS platform. Written by Palm Vice President and Software Chief Technology Officer Mitch Allen and members of the webOS development team the book is called, "Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo Framework."

The first chapter of the Rough Cuts Version of the book is now available online for free from the Palm Developer Network. Programmers eager to learn how to develop applications on webOS can literally read the book online as it is being written or download it as a PDF (.pdf link). And with Rough Cuts, readers can participate in an ongoing discussion about the book and technology. The complete book will be published upon release of Mojo, Palm's webOS software development kit (SDK).

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The most interesting tidbits

freakout @ 2/15/2009 11:35:55 PM #

*webOS will support so-called "headless" applications, which do not have a card view at all but merely present information via the pop-up notification dashboard. The book mentions a weather application as an example, but I'm also thinking about possibilities for news & stock tickers, Twitter updaters...

*Palm is still sticking to its guns on the "no access to the Linux core" front. To quote:

"You won't have any direct interaction with the Core OS, nor will the end users. Instead your access is through Mojo and the various services."

*Speaking of Linux, webOS is

"based on a version of the Linux 2.6 kernel with the standard driver architecture managed by udev, with a proprietary boot loader. It supports an ext3 filesystem for the internal (private) file partitions and fat32 for the media file partition, which can be externally mounted via USB for transferring media files to and from the device."

*A media server is accessible to applications. It's based upon the open-source gstreamer,

"and includes support for numerous audio and video codecs, all mainstream image formats, and supports image capture through the built-in camera."

*But we might still have to wait for video recording on a Pre:

"Video and audio capture is not supported in the initial webOS products, but is inherently supported by the architecture."

RE: The most interesting tidbits

hkklife @ 2/16/2009 8:44:28 AM #

My Palm-pessimist take on those responses:

1. We'd rather push widgets than killer apps

2. Our Linux core is about as patched-up, hacked-together as Garnet was but it's much harder to access. So you'll just have to enjoy your lightweight little apps and WE will determine what fundamental failings of the platform will be fixed and what cannot, unlike the good old days when 3rd party developers made a few bucks fixing up what Palm & PalmSource couldn't be bothered to fix/add.

3. There go your hopes for a local Hotsync-type synchronization. Cloud or bust, baby!

4. SHHH! Don't remind anyone that the Treo 600 supported video recording and audio capture back in 2003 but our fancy-schmancy Pre doesn't do either because we've learned from Apple that it's hip to cripple the basic functionality of your devices.

5. We will slowly but surely add one feature at a time to each new WebOS device. Hopefuly by 2012 or 2013, you'll have the entire functionality available to a Treo 600 a decade earlier.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: The most interesting tidbits

Gekko @ 2/16/2009 11:22:31 AM #

maybe i'll just hang on to my centro.

RE: The most interesting tidbits

hkklife @ 2/16/2009 11:29:52 AM #

The Pre in its current form is a no-go for me for 2 main reasons a bunch of little ones:

1. Cloud-only and/or no Hotsync

2. No Garnet compatibility (not as crucial for me as for some but it's still a blow)

3. No stylus or IR (not crucial but those are nice to have on occasion)

4. The likely horrendous battery life of the Pre, especially with the stock battery.

5. No video capture, audio recording/voice memos/voice dialing over BT

6. No microSD slot (the first biggie)

7. Sprint-only (the real biggie)

If the Pre was available TODAY on Verizon, with specs otherwise identical to the Sprint version, and assuming a $299 after rebate w/ contract pricepoint, I'd CONSIDER it but still probably pass on it, unless I was absolutely blown away by aspects of the device that I didn't see at CES (the phone app, Synergy-in-actual-use etc)

Otherwise, I'll stick with my 755p for the forseeable future and possibly even buy a cheap used VZW Centro as a backup/spare device to carry me through until 2010.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: The most interesting tidbits

freakout @ 2/16/2009 11:44:30 AM #

My Palm-optimist take on your Palm-pessimist take on those responses: :P

1. We'd rather push widgets than killer apps

Oh please. Dashboard widgets are an extra option, not a limitation. And I'd love to have one that scrolled my RSS headlines, news-ticker style.

I'll bet you it takes two months, tops, for someone to "jailbreak" webOS. And "lightweight little apps"? Come on! Gmail? Google Maps? MobiTV? Pandora? Facebook? Documents to Go? You can create a lot of powerful stuff with web languages.

3. There go your hopes for a local Hotsync-type synchronization. Cloud or bust, baby!

That says no such thing!

This one, I'll give you. There's no good reason for no video recording.

5. We will slowly but surely add one feature at a time to each new WebOS device. Hopefuly by 2012 or 2013, you'll have the entire functionality available to a Treo 600 a decade earlier.

But with 3G GSM, a landscape screen, much superior hardware, a 3.5mm audio jack, native A2DP, a million million million times better browser, and 700% less bullshit Palm OS crashes.

Sell me a Pre already!

RE: The most interesting tidbits

Ed Lin @ 2/16/2009 2:00:27 PM #

It's sprint-only only for six months, it will be on Verizon, and everyone else probably too considering that a GSM Pre is already developed.

Everything's an applet and...

SeldomVisitor @ 2/16/2009 4:23:02 AM #

> ...*Palm is still sticking to its guns on the "no
> access to the Linux core" front...

...there might be a performance problem with multiple "applications" "running":

> ...But we might still have to wait for video
> recording on a Pre...

Someone somewhere (how's THAT for external confirmation!?) noted that a Pre being demoed wasn't "snappy" when more than one application was running.

Casinos are warned about card-counting iPhone app

Gekko @ 2/16/2009 6:03:40 AM #

Casinos are warned about card-counting iPhone app (AP)

Posted on Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:09AM EST

LAS VEGAS - Nevada gambling regulators have warned casinos in the state about a card-counting program that works on Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPod Touch that illegally helps players beat the house in blackjack.

Card counting itself is not illegal under Nevada gambling laws, but it is considered a felony to use devices to help count cards.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board sent a memo to casinos last week warning them of the program.

http://tinyurl.com/ce7dwu