Want to use Google Buzz from your webOS phone, but don’t feel like installing the iPhone User Agent patch to trick the internet into believing that you’re using an iPhone? You’re in luck, as Google has decided to give you the option to use Buzz regardless of your mobile platform of choice. Pre and Pixi owners that visit buzz.google.com are now greeted with a page explaining what Google considers to be compatible platforms (Android 2.0+ and iPhone OS 3.0+), but also giving the option to continue on using your unsupported device. After several minutes of poking around, everything seems to work flawlessly on webOS, which is little surprise as it uses a WebKit browser just like iPhone OS and Android.

Thanks to Mohan for the tip!

READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

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)

READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

It’s a question we’ve been pondering for a while, and with much more intensity in recent days: does Google care about Palm webOS? It is something we have to wonder about, with Google Maps on webOS lagging greatly behind its iPhone and Android counterparts, webOS being at first excluded from the Buzz party and then only invited inside the lobby, and the general lack of effort Google seems to be publicly exerting in getting their products to work to their full potential on webOS.

It all came to a head last week, with Google making a change to the way Google Voice works that ended up breaking webOS Google Voice clients, such as the popular gDial Pro. Nathan, the developer of gDial, learned that the change was not a move to break compatibility with unofficial Voice clients like gDial, but a natural progression of the development of the Google Voice system. In fact, Google has no problems with such unofficial clients and is pretty much willing to turn a blind eye to them so long as they aren’t acting in nefarious ways. Unfortunately, that blind eye doesn’t come with any support.

read more

READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

There was quite a bit of chatter this week covering reviews of the Pre Plus, reaction to the Verizon Pre Plus "Mom" ads, run-up to what may come at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and some PALM analyst movements. So let’s talk Palm!

Palm’s stock closed out the week at $9.99. There was a bit of uplifting news starting with Citi raising its rating to Hold from Sell. Another firm, Wedbush Morgan Securities initiated coverage of the shares with a Neutral rating and price target of $10.50.

The last bit of uplifting news was talk about the Pre possibly arriving at AT&T in May. Citibank’s analyst believes that more insight into carrier interest for Palm’s webOS devices may come out during the Mobile World Congress (Our own Dieter Bohn is attending and will be providing reports and insights).

read more

READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

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!

READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

We’ve heard rumblings of it in tweets from various folks at Palm and Google, but now the word is out in sweet delicious table form: Buzz support is indeed “coming soon” for webOS. And that seems to be the only thing that’s coming soon for webOS, but that’s better than the nothing we were getting before. There are no indications if we’ll ever get a Buzz layer in Google Maps, Buzz for place pages (that doesn’t hurt too much, as we need our version of Maps to fully support place pages before we can get Buzz support in those pages), and a few other niceties. In fact, looking at the list of things that are not coming soon for webOS, it shows that there needs to be some work on Palm’s end (voice shortcuts, anyone?) before Google can get abuzzin’.

Thanks to Robert for the tip!

READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

The Internet was abuzz today with the launch of Google Buzz, a new integrated social networking technology for Gmail, Google Maps, and other Google tools. While Buzz is designed for both desktop and mobile users, it appears that for now, Google is not even considering webOS as a Buzz platform, at least according to this chart from Google’s Buzz for Mobile page:  

Unfortunately, whatever technology is behind Buzz is apparently too smart (or requires too many device-specific components) to be fooled by the “iPhone Spoof” tweak in Jason Robitaille’s webOS Quick Install, which makes the Pre’s browser identify itself to Web sites as Safari for iPhone. While the spoof does help make some mobile Web sites show their iPhone versions (and others not), all it does with the Buzz.Google.com site is make it display the chart of supported devices as if it were one; it does not, though, make the Buzz features work on the Pre. However, this could just be early jitters, as @obigeorge seems to have it running on a Pre.

What gives with the Windows Mobile Browser and the BlackBerry Browser, both of which are practically browsers-in-name-only, getitng included in the roadmap while webOS’s webkit browser, which shares technologies with both iPhone and Android (which work now) is left out? Inquiring minds want to know.

Thank you to everyone who sent this in today!

READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Palm has made quite a splash in the media this year, and the Pre has generated so much buzz since its announcement back in January that its been tweeted about enough to get it onto the Top Twitter Trends of 2009, joining the likes of Windows 7 and Tweetdeck in the Technology category. iPhone …not so much.

Other big topics to flood the twitterverse in 2009 were #swineflu, Chuck Norris, and the Teen Choice Awards.  These are truly exciting times, people.

Thanks to @vara411 for the tip!

READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

In a story about Pre vs iPhone, SeekingAlpha has analysed the buzz that each phone has created with its announcement. Palm uses Apple’s 2007 strategy, showing the phone and part of its features months before it hits the market. As both phones are great, they created huge buzz:

As you can see by the chart above, [...]

READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>