March 4th 2010 | Posted by
Robert Werlinger
Verizon Pre Plus and Pixi Plus owners are reporting that 1.4 brought with it (along with the already documented additions and enhancements) the ability to change the default Web search engine for the browser and for Universal Search. Once this option is changed in the Browser preferences menu, Google is replaced with the proper Bing logo in Universal Search. We’ve only been hearing these reports from Verizon users so far – inexplicitly, everyone else has Google as the only option in the default search engine field.
While the rest of us non-Verizon customers wait for the official ability to switch our default search providers, do keep in mind that there are a number of patches and tweaks available through
Preware and
webOS Quick Install that will allow you to modify what search providers are available through Universal Search.
Thanks to Alex for the tip!
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February 25th 2010 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
That’s not to say that the Android Market isn’t growing quickly. It is. As our friends at Android Central pointed out (noting an insightful application store study done by Distimo), the Android Market is growing by more than 3000 apps a month, which equates to 15% of the total available apps. That’s cool, but we feel the need to clear our throats and say “Wait a minute…”
Here’s the deal: Palm’s webOS App Catalog hit 1000 apps on January 1, 2010. Since then 561 new apps have joined the catalog, a pace of 10.2 new apps per day. Or 310 new apps a month. Or 20% growth per month. Or more than 15%. If you’ll pardon the indulgence, “Ha ha.”
More analysis after the break!
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February 18th 2010 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
Citing concerns over reliability due to new API requirements from Google, the developer of gDial Pro has decided to pull his app from the App Catalog. Here’s the message posted on gDial Pro’s Facebook page:
“Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are not going to be able to provide a reliable service as users have come to expect. We have decided we would rather pull the plug now than have users continue to experience disruptions due to various changes outside of our control. All subscribed users should already see a refund in their Paypal account. It was a crazy ride, but for now it’s over.”
Those circumstances are the new Google Voice APIs we discussed earlier in the week, and how the updated requirements for Google Voice are incompatible with the current restrictions of webOS and the Mojo SDK. While the door was very clearly left open for the return of gDial, we can’t see that happening until Google Voice APIs and webOS capabilities are on the same page.
While we are saddened to see a great application like gDial Pro disappear and frustrated that there is a disconnect in the access needed for powerful services like Google Voice and the access provided by webOS, we do have to applaud Nathan’s (gDial Pro’s developer) do-it-right-or-go-home attitude. A half-baked and unreliable user experience is not in the best interests of any user nor any serious developer. All that said, we do look forward to the day when the stars will align and gDial Pro can come back and get Google Voice action again going on webOS.
Thanks to amateurhack, Alben, and hparsons for the tip!
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February 17th 2010 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
Unless you’re already running an Exchange account of some variety, all of your tasks are syncing exclusively to your Palm Profile. While Palm Profile failures aren’t a common event (though they are still worrisome), we still worry about data integrity. More importantly, we want a way to manage our data off of the device as well, to truly leverage the whole “cloud” thing. The folks at NuevaSync have a solution, and that solution is to apply Exchange to the problem.
NuevaSync isn’t just Exchange tasks. It’s also calendar and contact sync, and push email if you opt for the $25/year premium package. You might be thinking that what you want is not just another account to keep track of. Lucky you, NuevaSync doesn’t work that way. It’s more of a conduit that wraps Exchange goodness around your Google, Yahoo, AOL, Toodledo, or just plain IMAP account. The good folks at NuevaSync have even put together a quick how-to on adding a NuevaSync Exchange account to your webOS device.
Thanks to Dan for the tip!
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February 16th 2010 | Posted by
Juventino Quinones
Many of us think sometimes that Google is not so kin on webOS devices as they are with other platforms, especially Android. But the search giant has a redesigned webOS-friendly interface to show that they have not forgotten about us as you can see on the image below.
The redesigned tab bar features more [...]
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February 15th 2010 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
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.
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February 15th 2010 | Posted by
Annie Latham
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
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February 14th 2010 | Posted by
Robert Werlinger
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!
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February 12th 2010 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
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!
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February 11th 2010 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
webOS users headed to Google in recent days have been greeted with a redesigned webOS-friendly interface. Featuring a redesigned tab bar with more useful search options (like Images and Local with a drop down “more” for everything else) and as-you-type Google Suggest, the new webOS Google Search page is a welcome change. And it’s the default that you’ll see after launching a Google Search from webOS’s Universal Search. Maybe Google’s not so down on webOS after all…
UPDATE: Phenoum also points out to us that this updated Google interface also logs into your search history, so you can go back and look at Google searches you’ve performed on your desktop, and from your desktop you can check out searches you did while on the phone. Cool, eh?
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