Hello, I have neglected my blog since September although there have been some blog-worthy events like N900 meetup (plus Droid experience and new Fennec demo. See the videos by Tnkgrl from the link!), California Data Camp, release of Net2Streams Pro (the streaming radio app for Palm WebOS I helped writing) etc… Well, I keep microblogging on Twitter almost daily basis so follow me if you’d like!

One of the interesting I have been independently doing is that writing an app for iPhone with JavaScript, and this time, not an web app but a “native” Cocoa app. Yes I said a native iPhone app in JavaScript! But how? -I used this excellent open-source platform, called Titanium by Appcelerator! Without bothering Obj.C or Java, Titanium allows developers to write iPhone and Android apps with the familiar web technology.

So, as a test run, I have created the iCuteoverload app for iPhone again. (Originally, I made the web app for iPhone, using iUI in 2007)
I will not release this app on AppStore -not because of the technical issue but the agreement with the business decision. (Yes, this app contents are not mine and copyrighted!) But I should be able to show the video capture as a demo to tell you what Titanium can do for web devs like me!

As a front-end web developer, also a mobile-web developer, the Palm’s new WebOS SDK for Pre sounds very attractive, and I could not wait to create some applications although I am still a iPhone user and haven’t been convinced to switch a service provider.

Then I felt like, I already got this web app, iCuteoverload for iPhone but yeah why not for Pre? So I decide to re-create the same app from scratch. Sure, the existing app is a web app that wrote with JavaScript framework iUI and PHP, does run fine on Pre’s web browser since Pre is based on Webkit browser. However, I wanted to make this app a standalone client with Mojo framework so I needed to code from scratch.

Anyway, here it is, iCO for Palm is now available at PreCentral. The official store is not yet open, so the installing the app may require a bit of geeky skills, but if you happen to be a Pre user and would like to try, follow this tutorial on how to install homebrew apps on Pre for Mac users (And this is for Windows users instruction).

By the way, I keep this app name begins with i, because I already have named so for iPhone and wanted to keep it for consistency. However, in Pre community, this seems to be a pretty bad thing to do. People see me as a clueless Apple fan

After I was rejected for the early access then struggled with the “leaked” version of Palm Mojo SDK without a documentation, today Palm finally made the official SDK available for all!!!

I haven’t playing around with it long enough to blog much about it, so I just post my “cheat sheet” that I keep on Stickies.

Emulator Key for Mac

• Esc – acts as “Back”
• Left / Right arrows – Switch between applications

Emulator Navigation

“Host” = Right Ctrl in Virtual Box

• Host + F – Toggle full screen view on/off
• Host + N – Display session info
• Host + S – Take a snapshot (will be placed the Snapshot tab of VirtualBox)
• Host + Q – Close the emulator

Commands

Create a package (.ipk file)

$ cd palm-package myapp

Install the .ipk file on emulator

$ palm-install com.yourdomain.app.myapp_1.0.0_all.ipk

Launch the app on emulator

$ palm-launch com.yourdomain.app.myapp

Launch the inspector with the app

$ palm-launch -i com.yourdomain.app.myapp

Then, open Palm Inspector app (comes with SDK) from your Application by double-clicking the icon. This should open the Safari inspector.

The Developing Applications for webOS webcast is now available from O’Reilly.
Mitch Allen, Palm’s Software CTO, gives a preview into application development with the Mojo SDK, explaining the structure of webOS, and demonstrates how to build a simple app with using TextMate and Safari on Mac.

According to the Webcast, the Mojo framework is based on Prototype 1.6.3 is bundled with webOS. (Pssst. the rumor said it also uses Dojo and mootools! sounds pretty heavy. If it is true, this should be rather called Moojo). And apps can be written with simple html, css and javaScript just like any web development, also with HTML5 local db strage and Mojo extension for widget, with a special x-mojo-element attribute.

The SDK will come with Mojo framework and doc, an emulator with DOM inspector and JS debugger (I guess we can just use Webkit), and tool bundles including project generator and package tools.

Also, the first chapter of the book, Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo Framework” by O’Reilly is available at http://developer.palm.com. You can read it either html or download pdf.

Links:

• “Developing Applications for webOS” – O’Reilly Webcast
• Palm Developer Network by Palm
• Palm Developer Network Blog by Palm
• Prototype JavaScript Framework
• “Palm webOS Rough Cuts” Chapter 1 free download (pdf)
• Buy “Palm webOS Rough Cuts” by O’Reilly

Happy new year, and happy new government, America!
I am still recovering from flu I got while visiting freezing New York City, and finally feel like blogging again.

The first topic I write in this year, besides Whitehouse 2.0 and Steve Jobs’ health is a whole new Palm.

I know it is not a new news anymore, but I was shocked when they announced Palm Pre at CES (although I have not been there since nobody sends some lowly engineers to Vegas). Honestly, after Blackberry then iPhone, I though there’s no way Palm can win the market again, so it is shocking to see their stock price rising after the announcement.

As a web developer, great news for me is that Palm will switch their web browser engine to Webkit. Since 200 when Palm acquired Handspring, their standard web browser was Blazer, running on Palm OS.
Now Palm OS has become legacy and, will have a completely new OS, called “WebOS”. which is based on Linux.

Palm webOS applications are easy to write using Mojo – a new application framework based on the HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript
Yesh! HTML5! – means you can even use offline database!
Also, reportedly Adobe is working on a Flash plug-in for the webOS browser.

Interestingly, Ajaxian has reported that Dojo is used as a base for Mojo.
The Mojo Framework source code can be found on Palm’s site.

The official Palm Mojo SDK is not available yet, but stay tuned by following the developer’s blog.

Additionally, unlike iPhone, which uses Samsung’s S3C6400 processor, Pre even has wicked fast processor, TI OMAP 3440, which embeds Imagination Technologies’ POWERVR SGX graphics core, suitable for advanced multimedia.

Links:

• Palm Pre
• Palm Developer’s Network (oooh, all the legacy blazer stuff were gone!)
• Palm Developer’s Network Blog
• High-Performance: OMAP3440 by Texas Instruments
• Axaian on Mojo
• The Mojo Framework source code

Today, Opera launched Widget SDK, enabling web developers to deploy web apps on desktop, TV and mobile devices. Unlike Apple’s iPhone $99 SDK, it is free of charge.

Watch the step-by-step instruction video:

More Mobile App/Widget SDKs:

• Apple: iPhone SDK
• Google: Android SDK
• Yahoo!: Blueprint SDK (this is what I am working for)
• Nokia: Widset
• Openwave: Mobile Widget
• Plasmo: Widget