By now, iPhone users who haven't jailbroken their devices have learned that they can't get an app unless it goes through Apple's approval process and reaches the iTunes App Store. A new eBook reader called Ibis, planned for iPhone, Android and Palm's WebOS, plans to get around Apple's restrictions. How? Simple: it's a web app. You can access the reader from your browser, and your books are stored offline using HTML5.

It doesn't seem like there's much Apple can do about that, unless they want to start blocking web apps on their device. Unlikely. So, you can enjoy your DRM-free books in ePub format to your heart's content, and even buy new ones from Ibis' bookstore. You'll be able to sync books and bookmarks across devices via the cloud, too. Ibis isn't launching for "several months," but it could be a real winner if it looks as good as it sounds.

[via Daring Fireball]

Sometimes I'd like to see what new apps are available for my iPod Touch on the App Store on a system that doesn't have iTunes installed. In their infinite wisdom, however, Apple has decided that this just isn't the way things work on the desktop. You'll use iTunes and you'll damn well like it, buddy.

Palm Pre owners (and curious types) can now enjoy a bit more open experience. As it turns out, Palm thinks it's a great idea for people to be able to see what apps are out there. Not on some new-Pre-app blog. Not in some bloated desktop app. Right on Palm's web site.

What an amazingly simple idea! Now, prospective (and current) Pre and Pixi owners can take a look at all the cool apps they can install on their devices. It's not perfect by any means - I'd love to see a bit more detail about the apps and some more screenshots - but at least it's there for all to see.

Apple, you're paying attention, right? Enough with the "iTunes link" stuff. It's annoying. And not everyone wants to install 100+Mb of software just so they can browse your virtual shelves. Palm beat you to the punch, but you can still prove you're the king of the app store and get something similar online for us.

After that earnings report, you should be able to pay one or two extra web devs to get to work immediately. We'll expect results soon.

In the meantime, well done, Palm!

[via PhoneScoop]

Palm has begun accepting applications for third party applications for WebOS that could eventually end up in the Palm App Catalog. The program is still in the early stages, but here are the details for the beta program:

• Developers can submit free or paid apps
• Developers will get 70% of any revenue from sales
• The program is only open to the US for now

Palm reserves the right to reject applications for pretty much any reason. Officially, apps need to have "acceptable performance and response time" and be written for WwebOS, and the web browser. But what exactly is "acceptable?" And Palm also says applications should be "useful and engaging to users," which seems pretty subjective. My favorite requirement? Applications need to have an "appealing design."

Still, it seems likely that the Palm App Catalog will start looking a bit more substantial soon.

In other news, RIM is making it easier for BlackBerry users to find an download programs from the Blackberry App World store. In addition to using the application on supported BlackBerry devices to find and download applications, you can now visit a web-based version from any browser.

In order to actually download applications, you'll need to enter your email address and the store will send a download link to your mobile device.

[via Gizmodo]

Not even two weeks after Apple's iTunes 8.2.1 update removed iTunes syncing capability from the Palm Pre, Palm has announced an update to webOS that adds several features and restores syncing. A few of the new features are business-oriented, including improved Exchange AccessSync support (remote wipe, PIN/password improvements, and better certificate handling). webOS 1.1 also includes "person reminders" that pop up a message when a person calls you, making sure you remember things you wanted to talk to them about.

Of course, the main thing that's going to be reported about the webOS update is the ongoing tussle between Apple and Palm over iTunes sync. Pre owners and Apple fanboys are now waiting to see when the other shoe will fall and Apple will disable syncing again. Just in case that happens, Pre owners might want to check out a third-party app that can handle syncing for the device.

In what will no doubt become another game of device authentication tennis, Palm webOS 1.1 fixes what iTunes 8.2.1 tore asunder: sync with the Pre. Yep, 1.1 is hot off the networks and ready for a hefty 87MB download. I like how Palm's notification states "We'll download it over the next couple of days when your device is idle and a high speed network is available." There's that background magic at work! Your move, Apple.

Oh, apparently there are bugfixes and fancy things like remote wipe and auto-lock added in this update. Like you care while syncing all those torrented episodes of The Office, right?

[via PreCentral and Engadget]

Yep, time to fire up the code editor of your choice and get crackin' on that explosive "app market" the mobile space is all abuzz about. It seems Palm finally had enough of the paltry offerings in their App Catalog for the Pre and opened the SDK and documents to any fool crazy enough to write a list app, tip calculator, etc.

Palm's blog post about this momentous occasion offers some dates for webOS meetups and conferences, handy if you're trying to get up to speed fast. Or, you can go straight to the Palm developer center, cleverly called webOSdev (camel caps, radical!) and get the SDK and documents yourself.

While I am clearly dubious of Palm's efforts, coming late to a party they practically started and having failed so many times before (and in some of the most spectacular ways ever seen in consumer electronics), in the end I really am hoping they can nurture a strong application environment. Choice is good, and Palm still has a lot going for it. I also hope the developers for Pre find what they are looking for. Will their app catalog burst with over 50,000 apps in a year? Time will tell.

What apps would you write for webOS?

Whoa. After long periods of speculation, Google enters the operating system space, for reals.

Chrome OS will be "fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds." Targeted at Netbooks, Chrome OS will be available on new systems by the second half of 2010. "The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web", according to the Official Google blog.

And, lest you think "Chrome OS" to just be fancy rebranding of Google's Android mobile OS, Google's VP of Product Management makes it abundantly clear in the release, "Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems."

Corporate espionage being what it is these days, there have likely been some sleepless nights around Redmond recently. With the full faith and credit of Google behind a radically new "cloud" OS -- relieving users of tedious things like backing up files, or installing applications -- Microsoft's quest to tie up the netbook market, without allowing it to compete for the low end of desktops, could face significant challenges in the years ahead.

The Palm Pre smartphone featuring Palm's new WebOS operating system may not be available to the public just yet. But the company released an emulator to select developers working on applications that will run on the operating system. And the internet being what it is, said emulator wound up in the hands of some folks who have been willing to record demos of various features in WebOS and post them on the internet.

Over the last few days, a member of the PalmPreForum going by the name of "invisible man" has posted more than 20 videos showing everything from the WebOS web browser to the built in PDF viewer. You can also get an overview of the contacts, calendar, search, and phone applications as well as a first look at applications like YouTube, Google Maps. There's even a video dedicated to the copy & paste feature.

You can check out a few videos after the break or check out more videos at the PalmPreForum YouTube channel.

[via Engadget]

Palm did an interesting thing with the upcoming Pre smartphone: The company scrapped its old operating system and started from scratch. The new webOS is prettier, easier to use, and more focused on modern apps like web browsers than PalmOS.

The problem is, there are more than 30,000 PalmOS apps already out there. And by building a new operating system from the ground up, Palm was kind of telling loyal fans of some of those programs not to bother upgrading until (or unless) the develoeprs of those apps issued updates. Because webOS wasn't going to run them.

But now Palm has announced that MotionApps is developing a program called "Classic" that will allow WebOS users to run older PalmOS apps. The software isn't part of the operating system, and customers will have to buy it separately. But it should be available for purchase as soon as the pre launches.

Because Classic is an emulator, older PalmOS programs won't be able to access the core webOS functions. I assume that means if you decide to that you prefer the classic contact application to the new one, you won't be able to use it to initiate phone calls.

PalmOS emulation company StyleTap has also said that it's considering developing a version of its software for webOS.

[via Uneasy Silence]

When Palm announced that the company's next phone would run a new operating system called WebOS, it probably should have been pretty clear that the company was severing its ties to the now-antiquated PalmOS. But just in case it wasn't, Palm CEO Ed Colligan made it official today: The company will not be releasing any more devices with PalmOS.

The mobile operating system may have been hot stuff back in the days when people routinely carried around PDAs that didn't double as cellphones. But Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Apple's mobile version of OS X all outperform PalmOS in key areas.

Moving forward, Palm will be focusing on WebOS development. What does that mean for the thousands of free and commercial applications that were developed for PalmOS? It means they won't run on newer Palm devices unless the developers issue updates or you use an emulator like StyleTap.

[via Techmeme]

If you haven't been hiding under a rock (where there's usually pretty poor mobile reception), you probably know that Palm announced a new phone and a brand spanking new operating system at CES last week. The company's new WebOS shocked a lot of folks by actually looking pretty awesome.

The new OS is based on Linux, has an entirely new UI, and includes some nifty zoom, transition, and fade effects. And unlike OS X on the iPhone, WebOS allows you to do basic things like copy and paste or cycle between running tasks without closing one.

But there's one thing that WebOS won't do: run older PalmOS applications. Since WebOS was built from the ground up as a new operating system, it's not backward compatible with earlier Palm operating system. And that means that instead of having thousands of applications ready to go on day one, Palm will have a few dozen.

But there may be a solution for folks who are addicted to older Palm apps. StyleTap is a company that makes a $50 PalmOS compatibility utility for Windows Mobile devices. The company has also expressed interest in developing a version for the iPhone and for Symbian phones.

Now Brighthand reports that StyleTape could be headed to WebOS as well. According to one of the company's founders, building a WebOS version of StyleTap is certainly doable, but he says that Palm will first need to rlease a set of C/C++ APIs as part of its SDK. That hasn't happened yet, but if those APis become available, StyleTap could provide access to thousands of older Palm apps on newer Palm devices.

Glide has launched an updated version of its web-based "operating system." Like its predecessors, Glide OS 3.0 provides users with a desktop-like space within a browser window. You can use Glide's web-based applications to create Word documents, spreadsheets, or presentations. You can also play music, manage photos and videos, and send and receive email. In other words, you can do many of the same things you'd do with a desktop operating system, but in a web browser.

What sets Glide apart from many of its competitors is that Glide offers a suite of tools that let you synchronize your files with a Windows, Mac, Linux, or Solaris machine. There's also Glide Sync software for a number of mobile phone models. Free account holders get up to 5GB of web space, and if you need more, you can shell out a few bucks a month for additional storage.

One of the new features in Glide OS 3 is a Glide Group tool that adds social networking features. You can communicate with other Glide users by sending messages or sharing media files.

[via WebWare]

Back in prehistory (or January, thereabouts) we talked a bit about webOSes, and the migration of Ewedrive to Desktop on Demand. This week we got a chance to play around with Desktop on Demand in more depth.

Desktop on Demand (DOD) is a true networked OS. It's a Linux based system, with a clean, clear GNOME interface. There is online storage, and a good mix of open source apps. Our little issue about using a browser to access a webOS to surf the web in its browser has been addressed in an innovative way: launcher clients.

Yes, DOD offers clients to launch the service. Truthfully, we heard this and got a little annoyed. But trust us when we say that this is actually a freakin' huge advantage over the old time webOS set ups. The clients are available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. They are small, and can be installed on a flash drive. If you want to keep one on a hard drive on a given computer, it runs from the downloaded location. Very easy, very unoffensive -- very personal, and very secure.

When the desktop opens, it doesn't open in a browser. Maybe this shouldn't sit better with us, but for some strange reason, it just does. It feels much more natural. There is less clutter and we could forget that we were using a completely different operating system underneath it all.

Ever wish you could find one web site that works as a social networking site, an IM service, a way to discover new music, sell your artwork, or store files online using a web-based desktop? Yeah, neither did we, but those are just a few of the services offered by Hurox, a site that's so jam-packed with features that it almost defies description.

Don't get us wrong, Hurox is hardly the only company trying to control all of your online activities. Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and others would like you to use their email, IM, calendar, photo, and video sharing services. The difference is that most companies don't try to cram everything into a single URL. And there's a good reason for that. Hurox is kind of pretty, but it also seems horribly complicated.

When you first sign up for a free account, Hurox asks you a series of questions to determine whether you're more interested in things like celebrity gossip or tech news; folk music or heavy metal; reading or watching movies; and so on. Then you get a little tour that attempts to explain what you can do with the site, but it's hard to keep everything straight when you can do everything from creating and sharing personal web pages to creating an online marketplace for selling goods.

We're all for all-in-one solutions. We love programs like 8hands or Flock that let you manage multiple social networking services at once. And Digsby does an awesome job of acting as n email notifier, chat client, and social networking monitor. But Hurox is something else altogether. It doesn't let you manage activities you were already doing online. It asks you to join yet another social network. Sure, it's a social network that's full of features, but it has so many features that we can't help but think of Hurox as a kitchen sink site. It seems like the company just added every feature they could think of without taking the time to make sure that they all make sense together.

[via Mashable]

AOL, this blog's parent company, has acquired widget and web desktop company Goowy. Goowy's original product was a webOS or webtop that you can use as an online desktop when you're away from your home computer. But while there are a ton of these services around, we're not convinced that people actually use them very much. So it's Goowy's more recent product that probably caught the eye of AOL: the YourMinis widget platform.

YourMinis widgets can be placed on almost any web page. You can add them to your iGoogle, Netvibes, or Facebook pages. Or you can add them to a desktop widget application like Vista Sidebar or Yahoo! Widget Engine. Widgets range from a YouTube video player to a Twitter application.

Goowy has been working with AOL to develop widgets for the MyAOL personalized homepage service.