What's New in webOS 2.0

The release of webOS 2.0 represents the biggest update yet, notes the page on Palm's Developer Center detailing the new features. And, by the looks of it, the list does include several compelling upgrades:

Stacks

The new Stacks feature extends Palm's "card" metaphor that allows users to interact with screens as if they were individual cards. To close an app, for example, you just drag the card off the screen and "poof!" the program is closed. With Stacks, webOS 2.0 will automatically group related cards in an effort to reduce clutter and to allow for quickly switching between tasks. Users can also manually create stacks via drag-and-drop to manage them outside of operating system control. Developers don't have to do anything special to use Stacks - new cards resulting from user actions within an app will be automatically grouped with the app's main card.

Just Type

Just Type is the new name for webOS's Universal Search feature which allows users to search for things both on the device and the Web. One of the new enhancements to this feature is something called "Quick Actions." This lets users perform routine tasks like updating their Facebook status, setting reminders, adding items to a shopping list, start an email and other common tasks. Also new is an ability for developers to expand their app's capabilities by hooking into Just Type either through indexing of data stored on the device or through the creation of their own custom Quick Actions.

Exhibition

Exhibition is a screensaver-like program that runs when the phone is docked. It can display slideshows, a clock, stock updates, news, or sports tickers but can also be customized through apps created by developers.

Synergy APIs

Synergy is remembered as the feature which merged Facebook contacts into the Palm Pre's address book, but it also supports Google, Microsoft Exchange, LinkedIn and Yahoo. Contacts are pulled into the phone's address book to show things like birthdays, work and personal calendars side-by-side, IM and text messages combined into a single conversation and more. In webOS 2.0, Synergy APIs are being made available to developers for use with connectors for contacts, calendar and Messaging and later for other webOS data types too. For example, developers can use the connectors to connect a chat or IM app with the webOS Messaging app, access contacts stored on a social network or online community into the Contacts app, or access other calendars or online events within the built-in Calendar app.

Under-the-Hood: HTML 5, JavaScript, PDK Plug-ins

Other advances in under-the-hood technologies include support for HTML5 features like enhanced canvas, Web storage, geolocation and application cache. Also new is built -in support for the Node.js runtime environment and PDK Plug-ins, which allow developers to build games and other immersive apps in C/C++. This latter feature is currently in beta, but with webOS 2.0 the beta period will end and developers can begin to distribute apps that use these plug-ins.

Does HP Have a Shot with webOS?

Before Google's Android emerged as the iPhone rival it is today, many saw Palm's WebOS as a possible contender to take the iPhone down a notch from its dominant position among smartphones. Wall St. Journal's Walt Mossberg even called the Pre "a powerful competitor" to the iPhone when it launched as well as a "beautiful, innovative and versatile hand-held computer." He wasn't alone in this sentiment.

The idea of the Pre as an upstart "iPhone killer" soon lost its appeal, though, when the webOS-powered phone and its smaller sibling the Pixi, simply didn't sell. It was said that the lackluster sales may have had more to do with the hardware used, the carrier or the lack of developer buy-in, and not the OS itself, however.

But HP, desperately needing to re-enter the mobile game, clearly thought webOS still had potential, and not just for mobile, but for tablet computing as well. In July, HP registered the trademark "PalmPad" and, earlier this month, confirmed its plans to ship a webOS-based tablet early next year. For the most part, the tech community's initial reaction was positive, upon hearing the acquisition news this April, with most hoping that HP could be the company to breathe new life into the dying, but delightful, webOS platform.

What remains to be seen, however, is whether or not tablet computing will actually take hold as a new trend in computing, regardless of the operating system powering the device, or if the iPad is simply another example of Apple releasing a product (like its iPod) that dominates a market. Android, although now outpacing iPhone shipments in many markets, most notably the U.S., has yet to emerge as the OS of choice on any iPad rival. There are many Android tablets in the works and some for sale in limited markets, but no major releases as of yet. It's far too soon to say if an Android tablet will overtake the iPad or vice versa. In fact, it's just as possible that HP's "PalmPad" could be the real iPad competitor, for that matter. That's what HP is hoping for, of course. But it is notable that HP, a personal computing powerhouse in this industry, has embraced a new operating system that's not Microsoft Windows. If marketed well, priced appropriately and - most importantly - if HP's brand name clout can attract developer attention, it's fair to say the "PalmPad" has a real shot.

Plastic Logic's Reader

The first product on our list is Plastic Logic's upcoming e-book reader. A demonstration of this device at the past DEMO08 conference left many people amazed at how incredibly thin this potential "Kindle-killer" is. The company says they've perfected a way of printing polymer transistors onto flexible plastic displays. This particular revolution won't be just a transition to lighter and "bendier" touchscreens, it will also lead to lower power consumption and longer battery life.

But perhaps what's best about Plastic Logic's technology is the cost. The polymer-based circuitry will be able to bring new products into market where silicon microchips were simply too expensive. Since the displays are flexible enough to be rolled up like paper, the potential for this new type of computing is nearly limitless. Is this the future of the newspaper? Perhaps, but it could also be used in smart electronic tags that track merchandise and large flat-panel displays.

Plastic Logic will begin their entry into the market in the second half of 2009 with pilots and trials with key partners and will prepare for further sales by 2010.

Pressure-Sensitive Computing: Impress

For an inventive, "out-there" product that could make the cold, stiff computer a thing of the past, look no further than this touch screen flexible display called "Impress" (PDF). Made of foam and force sensors, Impress works with both touch and the intensity of pressure. This computing technology lets the user squeeze out information or put objects in motion by deforming the surface of the computer.

The end result is pretty amazing, though it may not end up being as practical as the flexible polymer displays. However, it's easy to imagine how it could be put to use in entertainment-based computing at the very least. (Or maybe huggable, touch-enabled teddy bears? We can only hope!)

The Touch OS: Windows 7

While its easy to see the usefulness of touchable handheld devices, others have questioned how exactly touchscreen computers - such as the upcoming Windows 7 OS - would be useful to consumers. Suggestions have included everything from control panels for the smart home to kitchen PCs for touch-based recipe look up to touchscreen Media Centers. However, the answer as to what could really impact touchscreen PC adoption may be as simple as this: games.

At this year's CES, a demo of a Windows 7 air hockey game demonstrated the potential for a new type of human-computer interaction...like an iPhone but much, much bigger.

In addition, Microsoft also introduced two new Surface applications for Windows 7 at CES as well. One that allowed for photo manipulation and another for interacting with maps.

Yet there still is a question as to whether the iPhone-like multi-touch capabilities of a touchscreen OS will become as big of a hit in traditional computing as they were on the smartphone.

These above examples of touchscreen-based computing demonstrate the new ways we may interact with technology - and therefore the web - in coming years. It's a glimpse into the future of a world where our interactions with technology come more easily and more naturally than ever before. This trend will continue to move computing away from being an activity for technophiles alone and will make it an activity that everyone - even mainstream users - will enjoy.

Disclosure: Sarah Perez also blogs for Microsoft's Channel 10.

With Cloud, there is no desktop. You turn on your computer and it boots up to a Google Chrome web browser page which includes a dock of application shortcuts similar to what you would see on an Apple PC. Introduced at the recent Netbook World Summit in Paris, this simplified "OS" is an ideal install for the new ultraportable notebook computers called "netbooks," according to the company, as it is both fast and lightweight. It really is a true netbook, after all - it embodies the name in a way that none of the other netbook operating systems do.

However, unlike the various Linux-based netbook operating systems out there, including Good OS's failed "gOs" that was installed on the now-discontinued gPCs, Cloud OS does not intend to replace Windows. Instead, it runs alongside it. Presenting a hybrid approach to computing, Cloud gives you quick access to a number of web apps directly from the dock, including Google's Gmail, Calendar, Maps, Docs, Blogger, and YouTube, which you can launch alongside other rich client applications like Skype.

When you need to do heavier lifting, which on a netbook probably means running Microsoft Office, you can switch over to Windows or whatever OS may be running. (Cloud is compatible with all operating systems, says Good OS).

Cloud: OS or PXE?

If Cloud was installed on a traditional laptop or desktop, on the other hand, it would be akin to the Preboot Execution Environments (PXEs) installed on consumers PCs. It is in these PXEs that we may initially test the waters of a cloud OS's potential. Take for example Dell's forthcoming Latitude ON: a  Linux-based system-on-a-chip that consists of a low-power ARM processor and flash memory running independently of the laptop's CPU and hard disk drive. With it, you'll be able to launch a Firefox-based browser, web mail, calendar, and contacts application as well as a Microsoft Office and PDF viewer. Cloud OS is merely an alternative to that software, albeit without the Microsoft Office/PDF support.

But is a PXE really the Cloud OS of our dreams? In our imaginations, at least, there was no app that still required the computing power of the desktop. Is that ever going to be a reality?

Do We Really Want or Need a Cloud OS?

Today's computer users may not need to run as many desktop applications as they did in the past, but there are still several apps whose cloud versions exist only as lightweight counterparts to the real deal. Adobe's Photoshop is a great example of this - although there are several web based photo-editing apps, most would argue that they don't compare in either features or richness to their desktop counterpart. Then there is, of course, the staple: Microsoft Office. It will soon come in a web-flavored version called Microsoft Office Web Applications, but will it really replace the desktop software entirely? Even more, do we want it to?

As we transition to the cloud, we're seeing more attempts at merging the online and offline worlds. Adobe gave us AIR apps, which can be designed to run in offline mode, syncing data back to their various motherships when your internet connection returns. Google delivered Google Gears, a simple yet somewhat clunky implementation that takes web apps offline. Why clunky? Gears doesn't automatically detect a lost connection, you see. (Switch off your Wi-Fi and see what Google Reader does. Oops, an error occurred, it will say.) Instead, using Gears means you must first click the provided button or link which saves the data to your computer for offline viewing. If it wasn't for the syncing it offered, this wouldn't be much more of an improvement over the good ol' "make this web page available offline" trick.

The Drawback to the Cloud OS: An Offline World

So far, these hybrid approaches to dealing with the cloud seem to imply that we're not entirely ready for a complete transition. Internet is not everywhere yet, unfortunately. So where does that leave our hopes for a true cloud OS? Do we first need ubiquitous broadband and Wi-Fi before a cloud OS can become a reality?  Or will we one day surf a free second internet provided by Google? Is Google right now perfecting a hybrid OS in secret? Whatever the case, despite its name, Cloud OS doesn't feel like like the cloud-based OS we dreamed of, but it may be a good first step in that direction.