Twitter had committed to rolling its own client for Android not long ago — and like clockwork, here it is. Looks like the OS integration goes pretty deep, too, with support for Éclair’s Quick Contact bar and tweeting straight from the Gallery app; you’ve also got a timeline widget for your home screen, and you can even see your friends’ latest tweets from your contact list and the Google Talk app. It sounds like Twitter worked pretty closely with Google to make this happen, contributing the code to Android’s trunk for open sourcing in the near future — and developers will even have access to a set of standard Twitter APIs for their own applications. The only downside appears to be that you need Android 2.1 to use it, but that’s just an excuse to run out and upgrade to a sweet new phone, right?
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Official Twitter for Android app goes live, will go open source originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Can’t say we’re too surprised — after all, it does somewhat compete with new management — but still, we’re quite sad to see that as of May 31st, Lala is closing its music-streaming doors to the world, and no new users will be accepted. Existing users, however, can take solace in some pretty nice parting gifts. According to the site, all money spent purchasing web songs — soon to be rendered null and void by a loss of service — will convert to iTunes credit. Ditto for wallet balances and unredeemed gift cards, although with those you can get a refund via check, if you choose to. As for the future of its staff, well, we’re still waiting to see all the fruits of Apple’s acquisition. In the meantime, crank your speakers, raise them high over your head, and let’s make this month count.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Lala closing on May 31st, web songs and unused credit will head to iTunes originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Well this is depressing. Word has just gone fluttering out of Redmond that work on the Courier project — a heretofore rumored dual-screen tablet which rightfully set the tech world ablaze — has been spun down by the company. Here’s the official line from Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s VP of corporate communications:
At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity. The “Courier” project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.
All very sad, of course. So how did we get here? And was this thing ever really real to begin with? After all, it’s hard to kill something that never lived. Well here’s the deal, according to a source familiar with the situation: the Courier did indeed start life as a potential new product category for the company, one which was being incubated internally with very real plans for a marketable device. It seems, however, that things just didn’t manage to take shape, and word was handed down very recently that the incubation period had reached its conclusion — sans product — and resources would be directed elsewhere. Now, that doesn’t mean that we won’t see some of this technology turn up in other products which Microsoft has in the pipeline (the company does keep quite a few balls in the air), but it does mean that those rendered videos of the Courier in action will remain, unfortunately, renders. As far as the Engadget team is concerned, there isn’t a dry eye in the house right now — but the Courier will always remain in our hearts as one of the finest unicorns that ever unicorned across our screens.
Microsoft confirms, kills Courier in one fell swoop originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
There’s no official transcript yet, but the Wall Street Journal just live-blogged an interview with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, in which he responded to the Steve Jobs “Thoughts on Flash” letter posted this morning. Substantively, Narayen didn’t offer much we haven’t heard Adobe say before, but his frustration with Apple is palpable even in summary form: he called Jobs’ points a “smokescreen,” said Flash is an “open specification,” and further said Apple’s restrictions are “cumbersome” to developers and have “nothing to do with technology.” What’s more, he also said Jobs’ claims about Flash affecting battery life are “patently false,” and suggested that any Flash-related crashes on OS X have more to do with Apple’s operating system than Adobe’s software.
Perhaps most importantly, Narayen reiterated that Adobe is fundamentally about making it easier for devs to write multiplatform tools — a stance Jobs specifically took issue with in his letter, saying multiplatform tools lead to bad user experiences. Apple and Adobe and the rest of us can argue about battery life and performance all night, but that’s clearly the central philosophical difference between these two companies, and we doubt it’s ever going to change. That is, unless Adobe absolutely kills it with Flash 10.1 on Android 2.2 — and given our experiences with Flash on smartphones and netbooks thus far, we’ll be honest when we say that’s going to be a major challenge. We’ll link over to the full transcript when it goes up, but for now, hit the source link for the liveblog.
Update: We’ve now embedded video of the interview for you after the break. Much better than a transcript, don’t you think?
Adobe’s CEO: Jobs’ Flash letter is a ‘smokescreen’ for ‘cumbersome’ restrictions (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
We just spoke with both Brian Humphries, HP’s Senior VP of Strategy and Corporate Development, and Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein, and came away with a pretty positive picture for the future of Palm. The money quote is that HP plans to be “doubling down on webOS,” and that was confirmed in speaking with Palm’s honcho, who says that “that was the whole point.” Not only that, but we’ve confirmed on both ends that Jon will be staying on with the company, along with much of the existing Palm hierarchy. There are plenty of transition details to work out, but Jon says there will be lots of time for all that during regulatory and shareholder approval. The word is that Palm’s existing hardware roadmap is basically untouched at this point by this acquisition, but the good news on the HP end of things is that the company sees webOS as a “prized asset,” and they intend to “scale it across multiple connected devices.” That sounds like tablets to us, and HP didn’t beat back that assumption. On the Palm hardware end, Jon is very fond of saying “scale,” referring to the money and manufacturing resources at HP’s disposal, but he also says that he sees Palm working hand in hand with HP on devices. One point that both companies were less clear on was the Palm branding itself — you know, whether Palm will stay Palm. Both Brian and Jon said those kinds of details would be worked out as the acquisition went forward, but offered no concrete comment on it otherwise.
Money-wise we asked if Jon thought HP could provide the sort of “ammunition” to beat Apple, Google, and Microsoft at their own mobile game, and Jon says “I don’t think HP would do this unless they were willing to make the kind of investment necessary to win.” HP calls webOS a “compelling operating system,” but that Palm didn’t have the money to compete and “scale it across multiple form factors,” and that it’s exactly HP’s financial wherewithal, brand, and corporate culture that it brings to the table. HP and Palm won’t comment specifically on the forthcoming device roadmap, but HP did confirm that it had tested the platform “to make sure it scales.” They keep saying “scale,” but all we’re hearing is “tablet.”
HP: ‘We’re doubling down on webOS,’ Palm: ‘That was the whole point’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Well, we can’t say we were expecting HP to step up and be the one to buy Palm, but here we are, getting ready to liveblog the conference call. The deal is worth some $1.2b, and we’ve heard that HP is “doubling down” on webOS, so we’re eager to find out what’s in store — and, quite frankly, we’re excited to repeatedly hear that it’s really, really true. It’s about to start at 5PM EST, keep it locked right here.
Continue reading HP buys Palm: the liveblog
HP buys Palm: the liveblog originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/HP_buys_Palm_Engadget’; HP has just announced that it’s acquiring Palm to the tune of $1.2 billion, which works out to $5.70 per share of Palm common stock. The deal is expected to close by July 31. Current Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein is “expected to remain with the company,” though it’s not said in what capacity. Press release after the break. There’ll be a call to discuss the acquisition in more detail (well, we hope in more detail) at 5PM ET, so we’ll keep you abreast as we learn more.
HP buys Palm originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
