WebOS homebrewers say 'Hello World!' to Palm Pre

It's begun. Although lacking a general release of the SDK, the first homebrew apps have emerged thanks to last night's leaked WebOS root image. The first application puts a stake in the ground by displaying a simple "hello world" on the screen. Unfortunately, the code overwrote the pre-installed Sprint Nascar application... oh wait, that's probably a good thing. Devs have also started tampering with existing code to disable the shutter sound on the camera while leaving the rest of the sounds enabled. Now why would somebody want to do that?

Update: New image from an excited developer that shows scm6079's work over at PreCentral evolving with a 5-second photo timer and more. We're being told that several members of the Pre hacking team consist of old-school PalmOS hackers from the Samsung i300 days. Now if Palm can just lure back the rest of its developers smitten by Android and the lure of App Store riches then they might just make something of this fledgling smartphone platform.

[Thanks, Scott M. and C.J.]

[naz @ Jun 10th 2009 5:47AM]

come on homebrew!

[3rdsun @ Jun 10th 2009 6:18AM]

HELLO WORLD

[Félix @ Jun 10th 2009 8:46AM]

@general
Ty I thouhg I was the only one to read dick ^^)

[AndrewNoNumbers @ Jun 10th 2009 9:12AM]

LOL didn't notice that.

[The Observer @ Jun 10th 2009 9:45AM]

I looked at whats available in that leaked image.. its full blown Linux distribution.. Not enough apps for Pre? think about all linux apps that can be compiled to work on Pre.. I think drivers for Pre's GPU do exist for linux already.. would it be difficult for homebrewers to install the on Pre? Don't think so. Think of 3d accelerated gaming and other apps with full access to hardware that are coming..

[haX0r @ Jun 10th 2009 10:57AM]

They just discovered Palm has a new GSM Device on the way with UTMS 7.2 HSDPA downlink speeds

http://www.prethinking.com/home/2009/6/10/palms-new-gsm-device-has-utms-72-hsdpa-downlink-speeds.html

[TRS @ Jun 10th 2009 12:17PM]

i saw
dick
dick
dick
dick too! :D

[OneLove @ Jun 10th 2009 1:09PM]

@trs: am sure you did.

[iphonerulez @ Jun 10th 2009 7:41PM]

Didn't Apple have "Hello World" first? Isn't this a breach of IP?

[xconan @ Jun 13th 2009 1:34AM]

@iphonerulez
my TI-49A also had that long long time ago... Apple didn't have it first, it was from the defunct Bell Labs used in their language B.

[Noah @ Jun 10th 2009 5:50AM]

Good first fix. Phone manufacturers need to know the whole fake shutter sound effect is f*cking lame. There should always be an option to turn it off, but there rarely is.

[GB @ Jun 10th 2009 5:56AM]

I could imagine, that the reason for this sound is to prevent people from spying on others (especially in areas like outdoor pools...).

[Noah @ Jun 10th 2009 6:04AM]

I'm giving you the Captain Obvious award of 2009. It's shouldn't be the phone manufacturers duty to police or otherwise try to limit the use of a camera in their products. If the camera doesn't have a shutter, and doesn't need to make a noise, then it shouldn't have a shutter sound. Especially when the purpose of that shutter sound is to make your life difficult. It's simply a case of product manufacturers acting in bad faith.

The use of the camera, and the disclosure of it's use, should only be in the hands of the person taking the photo. Persons appearing in a public place have an expectation to be photographed. It's protected under the First Amendment, and upheld by the US Supreme Court. These are the laws that protect photographers.

[tsj5j @ Jun 10th 2009 6:08AM]

I believe it was legislated in some countries, perhaps not USA.
The main reason was to prevent people's pictures from being taken without consent, especially in sensitive areas such as saunas, pool, etc.

It's awesome how when people take photographs of others without consent is perfectly fine, yet when the government does the same, people cry foul and call it an invasion of privacy (security cameras in Britain, anyone?).

[Samo @ Jun 10th 2009 6:09AM]

Translations: Noah is a perv :)

[mocax @ Jun 10th 2009 6:11AM]

probably to let girls know someone's taking pictures up their skirts or something....

[GB @ Jun 10th 2009 6:18AM]

"Especially when the purpose of that shutter sound is to make your life difficult."
Uhmm.. Make whose life difficult? The lifes of perverts? I mean, seriously, when does the shutter sound REALLY make your life DIFFICULT? Maybe it's annoying, but I wouldn't consider this as "making life more difficult"...

[Noah @ Jun 10th 2009 6:20AM]

Well, I'm really not. I'm just tired of being told what I can and cannot do by people who have no authority on the subject of Freedom of Speech. I'm a photographer in the adult industry, and these games the manufacturers are playing with their products is a sign they don't really want you to be able to use them how you see fit. They only want you to use them how they tell you they should be used.

I'm sensitive to my rights as a photographer. When manufacturers are trying to impose what they deem to be proper use of their products, that's where I have to draw the line. Now, I suppose you can make the argument that as an open market, and we vote with our dollars, but there really aren't any options when it comes to this particular situation.

[Noah @ Jun 10th 2009 6:23AM]

GB: You obviously do not care about the issue at hand, nor are able to add anything of any value to this forum. I don't know why you even bother.

[GB @ Jun 10th 2009 6:36AM]

Oh well, at least your first post does "add great value to this forum" (which actually ain't a forum, but whatever)... Sorry for not posting deep shit here like everyone else does.
Look, I see your point in being restricted in your "Freedom of Speech", but for me, it ain't so bad. And you couldn't describe a situation where the shutter sound does make your life difficult so far either.

[Noah @ Jun 10th 2009 6:53AM]

GB: Since you asked for an example, I'll give you one. When I wake up in the morning, and I want to take a cute photo of my girlfriend who's still sleeping... for whatever purposes... and I wake her up because of that ridiculous shutter sound. It's completely unnecessary. The job of the phone manufacturers is not to police photographers, and alert everyone to the taking of a photograph. That's the sole responsibility of the photographer.

And to add one more point - not to beat a dead horse - but what does making a shutter sound accomplish anyway? The picture, at that point, has already been taken. The photo isn't going to be taken back. The person who realizes the photo has been taken has no right to demand the photo be deleted. It's just an annoyance, plain and simple.

[GB @ Jun 10th 2009 7:52AM]

See? Now we're talking! Thanks for explaining your point, I now can understand what you mean and I see you gotta a point there!
Btw: It never was my intention to outdo you with my argument or something, I just wanted to understand what you mean.

[qwert @ Jun 10th 2009 7:56AM]

I havent ever used my phone camera in a situation where i wouldnt want to be caught, but i HATE those syntetic shutter sounds.
I think this sound is one of the sounds i hate the most. It is just absolutely unnecessary. If have a "normal" camera, and that - by construction - does a sound when takin a picture. No problem. I even have an old, analog SLR (you know, one of those things that require *film* to work) that is making a real loud noise, and it doesnt bother me at all, since the sound is caused by the mechanics of the camera, and there is no way around it.
But those fake shutter sounds? It just sounds ridiculous.
Its just the same as with big fat pipes on cars or bikes. Why make something make stupid sounds when it is not technically required?

[Landon @ Jun 10th 2009 9:53AM]

Not sure why but my Pre's camera doesn't sound off when I take a picture anymore :D

[Agent .25i @ Jun 10th 2009 10:26AM]

Hy GB. Imagine your at the theater, (not movie theater) or say your kids Christmas special at his/her school. Now imagine every camera making a some dumb ass shutter sound. "click" "quack" "tingle" "shazam". (actually, a robust Shazammm would be cool)
I don't like the implied notion that I am a pervert. Besides, the real people that we really need to worry about, WILL ALWAYS find away around ANY precautions that manufactures impose upon the population generally.

[Cameron @ Jun 10th 2009 10:36AM]

Methinks the lady doth protest overmuch.

[GB @ Jun 10th 2009 10:42AM]

Yeah, alright, I agree that there might be some situations where the sound is annoying, it's not like I'd approve this sound. But I also have to say that if I had kids and they were in a theater, I wouldn't take picture with my phone anyway, since the quality really doesn't match with a "real" camera. And I think that my kids will easily be worth getting a real camera for their performance.. :P

[Chris Hayashida @ Jun 10th 2009 11:15AM]

I think there's also the obvious... The shutter sounds lets the subject and the photographer know when the camera took the picture. Remember when digital cameras first came out? People would pose for a picture, and then would ask, "Did it take the picture yet?" And still stand there and wait...

Noah, I'm sorry that you're inconvenienced by the shutter sound, and it wakes up your girlfriend as you take a picture of her when she's sleeping. I would have thought that you'd woken her up when you broke the lock on her window to get into the bedroom... ;-)

[logicbomb.de @ Jun 10th 2009 12:28PM]

Don't know if is a side effect of jailbreaking as I jailbroke my handset the first day I got it,

but my phone doesn't make the shutter sound if it on silent mode...

just sayin

[The Mad Mule @ Jun 10th 2009 5:52AM]

Man, that shutter click on my Blackberry Curve has gotten me caught so many times. Props to those who managed to silence it on the Pre.

[Noah @ Jun 10th 2009 6:03AM]

Here's a weird work-around for the Blackberry Curve. If you pair your headset with it, the shutter sound will come through the headset instead of the speaker.

[Dave Hsia @ Jun 10th 2009 7:13AM]

Noah, you get my Captain Obvious award for 2009.

[Tubes @ Jun 10th 2009 5:58AM]

You're nobody 'til somebody hacks you,

Consider this a stamp of approval, Palm :)

[Naris @ Jun 10th 2009 4:19PM]

Old school Palm hackers no less.

Old school hackers = Stupidly high quality software made out of boredom that do things a carrier would normally ban a company from allowing to go through (game emulators, removing excess crap from ROM, tethering, VoIP, etc.).

[spellprince @ Jun 10th 2009 6:01AM]

lol @ the shutter sound being the bane of the cell phone underworld hahaha

[tamoghno @ Jun 10th 2009 6:07AM]

3 mp autofocus + silent shutter sound = upskirt king

[tamoghno @ Jun 10th 2009 6:08AM]

3 mp autofocus + silent shutter sound = upskirt king

[TimmyRaa @ Jun 10th 2009 6:45AM]

Such a good point, you made it twice.

[ZeRo @ Jun 10th 2009 6:14AM]

Its awesome that homebrew apps are starting to pop up on the pre so quickly, but I wonder how useful it will be. For example on the iPhone homebrew apps did everything the iPhone wouldn't do , thanks to Apple's restrictions. But what restrictions does palm have that merit a homebrew app? Can't they just wait for the sdk to become public? Or what far reaching effect does this have that a proper sdk from palm wouldn't be able to do?

[B3astofthe3ast @ Jun 10th 2009 6:18AM]

Um...native apps????

[putte @ Jun 10th 2009 10:42AM]

It looks like the SDK will only allow you to write applications in HTML and JavaScript, which doesn't sound particularly good for games. There is no way to actually take advantage of the platform's OpenGL support in applications, as far as I can tell.

[jimmy @ Jun 10th 2009 4:49PM]

Free Tethering
Video
VoIP
NES emulators
Access extra storage over USB


just off the top of my head...

[bjay @ Jun 10th 2009 6:15AM]

Good know dat it could run homebrew. down with dat shutter sound

[qwack @ Jun 10th 2009 6:45AM]

Down with any sort of English qualifications.

[Dave @ Jun 10th 2009 6:57AM]

You couldn't have been more juvenile in your completely lame response.
Type it right, your purposely wrong spelling gets under my skin.

[GroovDude @ Jun 13th 2009 7:56PM]

ouch...burn and burned again... now THAT was embarassing. ^_^

[bartoron @ Jun 10th 2009 6:33AM]

At first glance, I thought that it said dick instead of click.

[Galactor963 @ Jun 10th 2009 6:42AM]

I was trying to figure that out too. Took me about 20 seconds to go "Oh... yea. Click. That makes a lot more sense."

[G @ Jun 10th 2009 7:34AM]

i was actually going to comment on the word "dick", but when i saw this comment and looked at the picture again i realized iz said "click"

[rarecover @ Jun 10th 2009 6:48PM]

Wow, I totally didn't realize that it said "click"...