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Evidence of webOS netbook and keyboard-less phone pop up in developer logs
Well this is interesting: a webOS dev spotted a pair unnamed devices in his log files -- one sporting a 1024 x 768 screen and a non-sliding keyboard, and the other a smartphone with no physical QWERTY input. Don't look so surprised: it was all but confirmed by leaked training materials that webOS was coming to netbooks and HP has already announced its intention to bring desktops and laptops into the fold. Of course, this could also just be a TouchPad connected to a certain special keyboard. All we know is something bigger than a phone with physical keys is out there running an unannounced version of the OS dubbed Nova Dartfish. The second mysterious "device" showing up in the logs may be that keyboard-less handset that posed for Mr. Blurrycam back in April. Whatever it is, it's running webOS 3.0 and has a measly 480 x 320 screen like the Pre 2 -- so it's certainly not a high-end smartphone. The logs also reveal that neither is packing a removeable battery, which is sure to disappoint some of you. If you prefer your rumors delivered with lots of quotation marks and colons the full log reports are after the break.
HP releases 2011 Q2 earnings early, following leak of foreboding internal memo
HP kicked off this morning's Q2 earnings call citing a leaked company memo that recently popped up at Bloomberg. That memo, which had the outfit's CEO, Leo Apotheker warning of "another tough quarter," resulted in a five percent drop in HP shares in after-hours trading Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal, and prompted the release of the outfit's Q2 earning a day ahead of schedule -- an earnings call was originally slated for Wednesday. According to the report, the company managed to pull in $31.6 billion in revenue and $2.3 billion in earnings, compared to $30.8 billion in revenue and $2.2 billion in earnings the same time last year. So what brought about the pot-stirring internal memo? Well, it seems HP's struggled to keep up with the competition when it comes to consumer computer sales. Despite an increase in revenue in every other segment of the company's business, HP's Personal Systems Group (which covers enterprise and consumer sales) saw revenue decline five percent year-over-year, with the portion covering consumer computers down 23 percent. That might seem like a big dip, and it is, but Apotheker says the company is "excited by the tablet opportunities," continuing on to say that the impending release of the company's TouchPad "will be an exciting product release for HP." For now, we'll just have to sit back and see if the webOS slate has the stuff to pull HP out of the consumer computer lurch. Full PR after the break.
HP chooses USB 3.0 over Thunderbolt
PC World is reporting that the world's largest computer manufacturer has chosen USB 3.0 over Intel's Thunderbolt port in its new desktop PCs. HP's worldwide desktop marketing manager told PC World that "We did look at [Thunderbolt]. We're still looking into it. Haven't found a value proposition yet." Haven't found a value proposition yet? To put it in fantasy geek terms, Thunderbolt is the one port to rule them all. You can connect anything from hard drives to displays on one connection and even daisy-chain multiple Thunderbolt devices together. To top it off, a Thunderbolt port is smaller than a USB 3.0 port, at least twice as fast as USB 3.0 and, theoretically, has the potential for four times the throughput of USB 3.0. I understand that HP is considering that there are already 6 billion USB devices on the market, but is it really that hard to add a Thunderbolt port to new desktops in order to help speed adoption of a superior technology? HP's decision to use older technology is an example of why no one will ever mistake it for a hardware company that moves the industry forward. Excluding Thunderbolt isn't just a failure of envisioning where computers are headed; it slows overall adoption of a superior technology, which means we'll see fewer Thunderbolt accessories hit the market. That's unfortunate, because consumers deserve the best technology available.
HP x2301 Micro Thin monitor makes other displays feel bloated, insecure
Those new desktops HP unveiled today are little more than humming foot rests without a monitor, so the company also trotted out the x2301 Micro Thin -- a 23-inch, LED-backlit, 1080p display that's an absolutely anorexic 9.8mm (0.39 inches) thick. Most of the important internals have been shoved into the blue-tinted base to keep the brushed aluminum and glossy black screen as thin as possible. It's not exactly a high-end model, but the 3ms response time and 8,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio are nothing to sniff at. The x2301 is expected to ship on June 10th for $280, just after its slightly cheaper (and chubbier) cousin, the Elite L2201x. Fashionistas, the line starts right around the bend. %Gallery-123742%
HP Veer 4G review
HP's Jon Rubenstein told us that his company wanted to veer in a new direction, and veer it surely did -- the HP Veer 4G will arguably be the smallest fully-functional smartphone on the market when it goes on sale May 15th. In a nutshell, it's a Palm Pixi Plus in the guise of a Pre, only in a delightfully downsized package with webOS 2.1 and thoroughly modern functionality. What does it feel like to Just Type on its tiny keyboard or throw app cards across its itsy-bitsy 2.6-inch screen? How is it as a pocketable HSPA+ hotspot, and will that extra G decimate its miniscule 910mAh battery? These are the questions that drove us when playing with the Veer 4G this week, and you'll find the answers shortly after the break. %Gallery-123489%
HP unveils WiFi Mobile Mouse and Link-5 wireless tech to free your USB
We don't usually go wild for wireless mice, but HP has revealed a new rodent that controls your PC pointer via WiFi that's piqued our interest. Dubbed the HP WiFi Mobile Mouse, it's got five programmable buttons and a four-way tilt scroll wheel for nuisance-free navigation, plus a nine-month battery life from dual AAs. In addition to the WiFi wunderkind, HP is rolling out its Link-5 wireless connection technology -- similar to Logitech's Unifying Receiver -- with compatible keyboards and mice as well. Link-5 lets you connect up to (surprise, surprise) five devices through a single diminutive USB dongle. So instead of pedestrian peripherals, you can connect something a little more awesome. Vid's after the break.
HP EliteBook 2760p tours the FCC, shows up online starting at $1,499
HP isn't really trying to keep its 12.1-inch EliteBook 2760p convertible tablet a secret these days, but honestly it might not matter even if the company tried -- the ever-reliable FCC made plenty of pictures and documentation available in a filing by Sierra Wireless. That's the company that supplies the Qualcomm Gobi3000 dual-mode GSM / CDMA cellular radio in this tablet, you see, which should be an attractive option for business travelers -- though we don't see any mention of it in the first three Elitebook 2760p models confirmed on HP's website. What's that, you say? Confirmation? Yes, indeed, as HP is already listing three versions starting at $1,499, with the base model nabbing you a 2.3Ghz Core i5-2410M, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi and a 320GB hard drive. FCC pics below, and lots more details at our source links. %Gallery-123069%
HP webOS keyboard passes FCC smell test, won't zap you to death with radiation
We already got some hands-on time with HP's sleek webOS keyboard, and now it's the FCC's turn. The skinny peripheral -- that's Bluetooth Keyboard KT-1087 to you -- popped up on the Federal Communications Commission's site, stripped naked for the government filing enthusiasts of the world to collectively ogle. That hopefully means the rest of us will see the wireless add-on for sale in the near future, AA batteries not included -- it would sure go nicely with that HP TouchPad you've been eyeing. Those who get a perverse thrill watching unreleased products sprawled out, alien autopsy-style are encouraged to check out the gallery below.
HP unleashes iOS ePrint app, proves it still rules wireless printing
It's the perfect time to panic: the most important presentation of your career is in less than an hour, and a pie chart is missing. Fear not, thanks to HP's free ePrint Service app for iPhone. With it you can taste the goodness of printing important docs sans-wire to a nearby FedEx Office, Hilton lobby or airport lounge. Whether it's an email attachment, webpage, image or all of the above, just hop into the app to find the printer nearest you and fire it off. Add this to a hefty helping of AirPrint-capable printers and your iPhone is now an omnipotent, HP-powered weapon of wireless domination. Full PR after the break.
HP may bless webOS with cloud-syncing music store
Rumor has it that HP is preparing to enter the cloud-based music storage fray. A reader at PreCentral sent in what purports to be a confidential PowerPoint presentation indicating the TouchPad will launch with an HP-branded music and movie store, as well as a smart syncing service that caches frequently accessed media for local playback. This may very well be the "Music Synergy" that SVP Steven McArthur mentioned to us. Amazon has already launched such an app and it's all but official that Google is planning the same thing, so it only makes sense that the company would want to imbue webOS with similar powers. We can't verify these claims ourselves and the slide above is clearly a wonky Photoshop job, but it's would hardly be surprising after snatching up Melodeo and the streaming music service Nutsie. And, while webOS and Android are working to banish the quaint ritual of plugging your cellphone into a computer, we can only imagine what the Lala team is up to -- maybe Jobs has them washing his turtlenecks.
HP tries to sneak CFast slot by us in EliteBook 8560w
HP must have thought it could sneak this one by us -- and it would have succeeded too, if it wasn't for those meddling tipsters. A close examination of the recently announced EliteBook 8560w's press shot reveals it has a CFast slot, an interesting tidbit not mentioned in the release or the spec sheet. This is, to our knowledge, the first notebook to ship with a slot for the updated CompactFlash format, though the lack of cameras and other devices using the medium makes it a somewhat superfluous feature at the moment. Still, with transfer rates significantly faster than current CompactFlash cards and twice that of SDXC cards (with room to grow), we assume its only a matter of time before Nikon and Canon slap these bad boys in a few high-end shooters. Closeup shot after the break. [Thanks, Reznov]
Beta 1 for webOS 3.0 leaks, lets you touch the TouchPad a little early (video)
You don't have to be a coder to appreciate the wonders that a software development kit can contain, especially when there's a nice emulator tucked in there to give an early taste of things to come. That's exactly what can be found within the webOS 3.0 SDK, and that SDK is exactly what's been leaked to the world, giving anyone who wants it the ability to play with the OS that'll make the HP TouchPad tick. PreCentral.net took the emulator within for a heck of a test drive, providing a lengthy textual overview of everything from keyboards to calendars, along with the video that's embedded below. Sure, clicking and dragging in an early emulator isn't nearly as much fun as tapping and swiping on some beautiful hardware, but it sure does cut down on the smudgy fingerprints. It's cheaper, too.
webOS VP flies the coop, joins Numenta as marketing guru for imminent product launch
You probably don't know who Joe Hayashi is -- well, unless you skimmed his bio immediately above -- but he just departed one company that you might care about, and went to another one. Hayashi was VP of webOS product development at Palm / HP, and now he's become the VP of marketing at Numenta, also known as the place where Palm's founder (and two former CEOs) decided to stay after the Folio tanked. Numenta's kept fairly quiet during its six years of operation, except to describe a concept called "hierarchical temporary memory" which could lead to a form of artificial intelligence based on human learning schemes, but we imagine if it needs a marketing guy, the company's about ready to actually create something. For its part, Numenta agrees -- it's publicly stated that we'll see the technology in some sort of product later this year.
Microsoft's Rahul Sood says every PC industry exec should use a MacBook
Voodoo founder Rahul Sood has never shied from controversy -- he famously cut a cake with a MacBook Air during his tenure at HP -- and today he's expressing his love for Apple hardware from his pulpit as a Microsoft exec. "Every executive in the PC industry should use an Apple notebook," Sood tweeted today, implying that they were of higher quality than those that come with Windows by default. That certainly sounds a bit like a shot at Microsoft, but according to ConceivablyTech he may actually be pointing at his former employer HP, as a series of private status updates point to HP's unwillingness to compete at the high end of the laptop marketplace. "We could have done it - just need a few years of patience, and investment in our tooling/process," the message reportedly reads, "We really could have done it. [...] ...especially with webOS, what a combination that would have been." We're actually pretty happy with our Envy 14 -- lack of Radiance Display aside -- but we can't help wondering if it coulda been a contender with Voodoo DNA on board.
HP confirms legacy webOS apps will run on webOS 3.0, TouchPad keeps its Mojo
We know the original Palm Pre models and Pixi won't get upgraded to webOS 2.0, and we also know all about the new Enyo app development framework. But what about running those apps written in the older Mojo framework on webOS 3.0 devices, like the TouchPad? They'll be supported, so says HP Developer Relations and Framework Engineer Ben Combee. A first tweet indicated that "On webOS 3, Mojo apps will run in an emulation window with back and forward buttons at bottom." He went on to say this won't be a traditional emulator in the "check out my Super Metroid ROM, yo" sense, rather "a smaller card with gesture area chrome." So, good news for existing apps continuing to be supported going forward, but of course it remains to be seen what the experience will look and feel like. It seems we'll have to wait a bit to find that out.
Former Lucasfilm CTO Richard Kerris takes over as head of webOS developer relations
HP's having a blowout webOS developer event here in San Francisco to bookend its big product announcements from this morning, and it kicked things off with a personnel announcement -- Richard Kerris is taking over as head of webOS developer relations. Don't recognize the name? Richard was formerly the chief technology officer at Lucasfilm, where he was named one of Variety's "Top 10 innovators to Watch," and before that he was a senior director of developer relations for a little company called Apple. That's quite a pedigree -- and Richard told the crowd here that he views developers as his primary customers, so it's clear he'll be working hard to win their favor. That said, we think he's got quite a challenge evangelizing developers to support a platform that won't have compelling new products out for months -- let's all wish him luck.
HP's webOS keyboard hands-on
HP confirmed that slick webOS keyboard we saw leaked a while back during its event today, and we got a quick chance to check it out. It's really, really thin -- and the battery compartment is tucked under the curve, so from most angles it looks like it's not even there. Apart from that, it's just a really nice keyboard, albeit one with a webOS function key next to the space bar. No price or availability yet, unfortunately, but we'll keep digging. %Gallery-116163%
Reminder: HP / Palm's webOS 'Think Beyond' event is tomorrow (update: the countdown is on!)
To say we're expecting big things from HP and Palm at tomorrow's webOS "Think Beyond" event would be a huge understatement: not only has the company strongly hinted at a family of new mobile products, it's even playfully called us out for leaking the Topaz tablet as seen in the invite above, and released a very intriguing teaser video. Update: Palm's website has been taken over by a countdown and the teaser video, and "Think Ahead" has been added as a tagline -- perhaps hinting at a tease of future products? We'll find out soon enough. Of course, we'll be there live to cover it all when the event starts at 10:00AM PST -- and you'll find our liveblog at this link at the following local times: 07:00AM - Hawaii 10:00AM - Pacific 11:00AM - Mountain 12:00PM - Central 01:00PM - Eastern 06:00PM - London 07:00PM - Paris 09:00PM - Moscow 11:30PM - Mumbai 03:00AM - Tokyo (February 10th) 05:00AM - Sydney (February 10th) See you then!
Palm 'Think Beyond' teaser shows off glimpses of... something (updated with longer video)
HP and Palm aren't being shy about hyping up next week's big webOS event, and they're following up on that nod to our leak and CEO Leo Apotheker's comments with this "Think Beyond" teaser video. As is undoubtedly intended, we can't make much of the product from these brief glimpses of tapered curves, elegant switchgear, and what appears to be a charging connector -- but we'd like to think it's a tablet, because we are fundamentally very hopeful people. In any case, we'll see what Palm has in store for us next week -- and whether it can live up to all this buildup. Update: We were just sent a longer version of the video, which we've swapped in above -- it shows a rear-facing camera and what's either a microphone or speaker grille. And is it just us, or is this thing looking pretty chubtastic or what? Original Palm video after the break. [Thanks, Raphael]
HP CEO: New webOS products shipping weeks after February 9 reveal, another big announcement March 14
It's been a few months since Leo Apotheker took the top spot at HP following the Mark Hurd debacle, and it sounds like he's got some big plans for the company -- speaking to the BBC, he says he hopes "one day people will say 'this is as cool as HP,' not 'this is as cool as Apple.'" How does he plan on doing that? By speeding up ship times, for starters -- unlike the year-long wait for the HP Slate, Apotheker says that "when HP makes announcements, it will be getting ready to ship," and that the new webOS products announced on February 9 will ship just a "few weeks" later. Speaking of the February 9 event, Apotheker said the new product line of tablets and mobile phones will have a new name that falls under the HP brand, which sounds like the Palm name is done for. (If we had to guess, it'll be HP webOS, but that's just a guess.) On top of all that, the BBC calls February 9 just the "starting gun," because Apotheker's "secret answer" and "vision of what HP is capable of in the future" will come on March 14, where he'll try to pull together HP's vast product portfolio into a cohesive narrative. According to Apotheker, HP's size is its "basis of strength," and no other company sells everything from servers to phones the way HP does. Sounds extremely exciting -- and if Apotheker can pull it off, there's a chance we'll remember Mark Hurd's dalliance as the best thing that ever happened to HP. [Thanks, soydeedo]
