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The promising mobile operating system is said to have run twice as fast when loaded onto Apple's iPad 2 tablet compared to when it was running on the TouchPad hardware on which it was sold to consumers, according to The Next Web. WebOS reportedly ran considerably better in the iPad's Web browser than it did natively on the TouchPad.

The TouchPad devices, which have not sold very well, were apparently maligned by some members of the webOS team who "wanted them gone," according to the report. The potential of the OS itself was allegedly hampered by the limitations of the hardware, which limited the degree to which the team could innovate.

"In its current implementation and form factor, webOS is not delivering as stellar a performance as we would have liked," wrote Sarah Perez in her review last month. "The hardware is heavy and dated, especially in comparison with the iPad 2, the app ecosystem isn't large enough and the browser not functional enough to serve as a Web app platform."

Retailers like Best Buy reportedly have had a very hard time selling the TouchPad, which has been repeatedly discounted. Any speculation about what may come of the tablet in the future ground to a halt this week when HP announced they were getting out of the mobile hardware business all together.

For example, during President Obama's inauguration, content delivery network Akamai delivered 7 million simultaneous streams of video, with traffic surpassing two terabytes per second (Tbps), which broke records. The next year, Akamai's network traffic peaked at about 3.45 Tbps.

This growth is not guaranteed to be smooth, either.

"Because of the limited capacity at the Internet's various bottlenecks, even an extremely well-provisioned and well-connected data center can only expect to have no more than a few hundred Gbps of real throughput to end users," the report reads. "This means that a CDN or other network with even 50 well-provisioned, highly connected data centers still falls well short of achieving the 100 Tbps needed to support video's near-term growth."

Not surprisingly, the paper's touts Akamai's technology as a potential solution to any issues this may present. The report, a PDF of which can be viewed here, is rich in technical detail about how Akamai, content delivery and the Internet in general work and makes for a pretty interesting read over all.

via New TeeVee. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Design By Zouny

But everything that's great about webOS comes in a heavy, chunky, plastic-y and cheap feeling TouchPad. It's a disappointing experience that detracts from the great features of the operating system. And this is only one of the problems with the tablet - it also has issues with its Web browser, Flash, a still paltry app catalog and more.

To be fair, the TouchPad is only a bit heavier than the original iPad (1.6 lbs vs. 1.5 for the iPad), but it's much heavier than the iPad 2 (1.33 lbs). At 13.7 mm thick, it feels larger, heavier, and clunkier. And it is. The Motorola Xoom is a more apt comparison for the TouchPad (12.7 mm), while the thickness (or rather, the thinness) of the iPad 2 is 8.8 mm.

The problem with the TouchPad is that it was clearly positioned to compete with the iPad in its design - which it does, of course - but Apple had moved on to the iPad 2 before the TouchPad came to market. HP's TouchPad, at launch, already feels out of date.

Size, weight and thickness are important factors when considering a tablet - even small improvements in this area lead to big jumps in terms of portability. As for the TouchPad, the overall feel is one of "computer without keyboard" or "better than a netbook," not "cool, thin tablet."

As for its other specs, the TouchPad is a better competitor when compared with both the Xoom and iPad, offering 1 GB RAM, 16 or 32 GB of storage, a 1.3 megapixel camera, 1024x768 resolution and 1.2 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor. (Comparisons to other tablets are here).

But at the end of the day, the TouchPad fails on two key fronts: apps and, as noted above, portability. WebOS is lovely, but it's not enough.

WebOS: Lots to Like

There are those out there who will prefer the TouchPad simply because it runs webOS. Created by Palm, now owned by HP, webOS is an attractive and functional alternative to Apple's iOS and Google's Android. It's a bit more complex than Apple's operating system, but not as geeky and technical as Android sometimes feels.

There are some very specific things that webOS does differently, and does well:

• Cards: Possibly the most notable feature of webOS, "card stacks" are how the operating system handles app switching. As you're multitasking, groups of open applications are stacked together as cards (think: deck of playing cards). You can easily switch between these groups by swiping left or right on the homescreen. You can also shuffle the cards around in any stack, and, when finished, drag a card off the top of the screen to close the application.
• System-wide notifications: The OS updates you on things like new emails, social networking updates, events and more. For true webOS fans, the tablet pairs with a Palm Pre, allowing you to also receive your SMS and MMS messages on the TouchPad. Notifications are less obtrusive than they are on the current version of iOS, by appearing on the top-right of the screen, not as pop-ups in the middle. However, this feature probably seemed more innovative prior to Apple's reveal of the soon-to-launch iOS 5, which brings with it a new notifications center that mimics the one in Android, and essentially ends the complaints about iOS's disruptive notifications.
• Just Type: WebOS's universal search features lets you search your device, the Web or perform common actions like starting an email, adding a calendar appointment, updating your Facebook status, and more.
• Synergy: This webOS feature pulls in your contacts, calendars, emails and photos from multiple services (Google, Exchange, MobileMe, Yahoo, Facebook, etc.), which makes the TouchPad function as a centralized hub for many of the services you want to use.

I would add the "Touch to Share" (content moving) feature to this list, too, as it's certainly unique to the webOS experience, but it requires users to also have an HP Palm Pre. That's not most people. For webOS fans buying into the whole ecosystem, it's great, but it's not a selling point for the average person debating a tablet purchase.

There are dozens of other good to great features in webOS, too, including its resizable keyboard with a number row at the top (thank you!), built in Skype support, curated app discovery service "Pivot" (a magazine style tool for finding apps), built-in printing support (for HP printers, of course), an included copy of QuickOffice, decent mapping via Bing, a music player called HP Play offering iTunes playlists and library import, and more.

Apps, Apps...Apps?

There are several popular, well-known apps for the TouchPad, too, including Facebook, Bing Maps, Kindle, Skype, YouTube, QuickOffice, Angry Birds, TIME, USA Today, Weatherbug and others. Spaz HD is available to serve as a Twitter client.

But the TouchPad has only 300 native tablet apps at launch in addition to around 6,200 non-optimized apps designed for phones. What this means is that you won't serendipitously discover those special apps like you'll find on iPad, whether something like the iPad-only Flipboard social magazine, or the Apple-only iMovie and GarageBand. Nor will you find deeply integrated Google experiences, like Android users have with apps for Gmail, Docs and other Google applications and services.

Browser

The shortage of apps wouldn't matter as much if the Web browser lived up to its claims. Recently, Sencha reviewed the HTML5 performance on the TouchPad and found it lacking, unfortunately. (You can read more on that here). This is disappointing for the Web developer community who had hoped that HP's implementation of WebKit would mean an app platform built on standard Web technologies like HTML5 and CSS3.

In addition, the included Flash support didn't work as well as one would hope (if you sit around hoping for things like Flash, instead of purposely avoiding it by purchasing Apple devices). Some sites take too long to load, others don't load properly at all, and Flash performance is often choppy and stuttering. You can choose to disable Flash, at least.

Conclusion

Although this is far from being a comprehensive review of everything TouchPad (check your favorite gadget blog for that), we found webOS to be a promising mobile operating system with several unique features. However, in its current implementation and form factor, webOS is not delivering as stellar a performance as we would have liked. The hardware is heavy and dated, especially in comparison with the iPad 2, the app ecosystem isn't large enough and the browser not functional enough to serve as a Web app platform. While webOS makes for a compelling alternative to the iPad alternatives, it's not a compelling alternative to the iPad itself.

Cyrus Farivar has done much the same thing with his book, "The Internet of Elsewhere: The Emergent Effects of a Wired World."

Instead of focusing on the capital of the Web, Silicon Valley, or even on one of the Silicon Valleys outside of the original, like Bangalore, India, Farivar has taken a look at our wired world through the lenses of South Korea, Senegal, Estonia and Iran.

There is a tendency to think of the Internet as being a priori and sui generis. This is a new world so powerful and so game-changing that it effects history and culture, no matter where one stands. Farivar's argument, and it is a well-made one, is that like any other element of the human experience, the Internet is effected by history and culture. If we ignore that fact, if we let ourselves believe that the Internet, not history, is more of a determining factor in our future, we are liable to be surprised by it to an excessive degree.

Each of the places he covers are important to our understanding of the Internet because their histories and cultures have influenced how they have embraced it. In a way, the countries he has chosen to profile are reflections of each other, Senegal of South Korea and Estonia of Iran.

South Korea

South Korea has innovated two things: professional gaming leagues and citizen journalism. With a block on much of the tech coming out of Japan (given how Japan treated Korea in World War II the restrictions are many), Korea's game of choice is StarCraft. Ohmynews was like a new planet when it burst on the scene in 2004.

Both of these things are direct results of the history of Korea, that is, its past (its geopolitical position and struggle with Japan) and its present, where it is one of the greatest providers of free broadband Internet access to its citizens.

Senegal

Although Senegal is the most wired country in Africa, it does not have the infrastructure in Korea, meaning that most computing is done inefficiently in Internet cafes. Like Korea, the country's leadership is pro-Internet and focuses a great deal of attention and emphasis on it. But this attention is top-down and insufficiently distributed. No matter how much a country's upper echelons believe in something, if they do not have the capacity to make it possible for everyone to contribute to building that belief, there is a good chance it will die. Even if it does not, it is destined to stagnate, or at least plateau.

Despite being a politically stable, relatively prosperous country, Senegal's reality is Africa's: a raft of intelligent, interested people working against a history of compromised infrastructural elements.

Estonia

Where Korea has widespread, fast and reasonably-priced broadband, Estonia has widespread, fast and reasonably-priced (often free) Wi-Fi. This in part explains the success of Estonian companies, with Skype in the lead, only 20 years after the fall of the Soviet Union. The half-century occupation left Estonia an apparently broken country.

But its history of facing, and considering itself part of, the West, was not easily expunged. When the opportunities were available again, mostly when the obstacles were removed, Estonians went crazy innovating Web tools and companies. Now it has one of the highest rates of Internet penetration in the world, as well as a lot of time to make up. Like South Korea and Senegal, this access to an almost complete national Wi-Fi blanket is both an expression of citizen will and an expression of political will at the highest levels.

Iran

Although China probably has to receive the Palm D'Or of online repression, Iran is competing in the same league. Using the same combination of tools pioneered by the Chinese - laws, social checks and technological filtering - Iran's Internet has been rendered a third-class communications network. The Iranian leadership recognized early on that they had a citizenry with a long history of intellectual and technological competence and that the Internet was going to prove important in the future. Members of the Iranian leadership began to utilize social media to promote their points of view and continue to do so today.

Big Three

The three big ideas I took away from this book were these.

1. History matters. As "disruptive" as web technology is, the history of a country or region, right down to the present moment, profoundly and tangibly affects how that place and its people will respond to that disruption. Farivar did a particularly good job of outlining the relationship between each of these countries' histories and their relationship to the wired world.
2. Political will. The will of a country's leadership is important but it is not enough. The innovation of a ruling group must either reflect its people's will, or inspire their imagination.
3. Opportunity. Human beings are experimental and (in the broadest sense) entrepreneurial. If their impulse toward giving the Web a go are checked, due to lack of connectedness, unaffordability or overt limitation, it will check intellectual and financial prosperity. Individuals, whether app programmers in Senegal or dissidents in Iran, will move forward, but the society as a whole will not.

In a comprehensive review, PreCentral has examined every aspect of the new software, noting updates to core apps like the Web browser, email client, maps and others. Most notably, HP has ditched Google Maps in this version, and is now using Microsoft's Bing Maps instead.

• Launcher: An arrow/home button on the bottom right brings up a new tabbed launcher with tabs labeled "All" and "Favorites."
• Rearranging apps: press and hold now launches an "edit mode" where apps can be moved, deleted, or removed from a customized launcher page. Press "done" to complete the process.
• Just Type: webOS's universal search feature is now tabbed, like the launcher, and muted gray in appearance. Recent searches and the virtual keyboard appear when you tap the search bar.
• Virtual Keyboard: Text Predication has been added, not just to help you complete words (as with Text Assist introduced in webOS 2.0), but to predict what word you'll type next.
• Notifications: Notifications are now at the top of the screen, next to the device menu. If you receive more than one notification from the same app, you can swipe through them and drill down into the message you're interested in. This doesn't delete or mark as "read" the other notifications you swiped through while doing so.
• Browser: Now called "Browser" not "Web," the new browser has removed the grid of bookmark icons and replaced it with a Bookmarks/History button that slides out a panel with Bookmarks, History and Downloads buttons at the top. A bar at the bottom shows the progress of a loading webpage and disappears when the loading is complete. The navigation bar does not disappear as you scroll down on a webpage.
• Calendar: Now redesigned, the app shows your current calendar in the middle of the screen, with buttons for creating events, switching views, etc. at the bottom. Buttons at the top let you switch to other calendars. The design is new, but everything else here works the same as before.
• Contacts: No changes here besides slight tweaks to the lettering style.
• Email: Similar to email on the iPad, the folder list disappears in Portrait view, but is present in Landscape view. Buttons at the bottom lets you compose, refresh and now, mass edit (meaning select multiple messages at once to add flags, delete, move, etc.)
• Exhibition: The screen saver-like mode is now bigger, and more stretched out. Time, Agenda and Photo options are available, but only Time was functioning. Both an analog and flip clock are offered.
• Maps: The biggest update to webOS 3.0 is a switch from Google Maps to Bing. The new interface offers a search bar at the top, which also provides access to recent searches and favorites, a Directions mode, Suggested Searches (when it doesn't understand your query), and more. You can drag and drop pins, turn on or off GPS, and switch between road, aerial and Bird's Eye (3D) views.
• Memos: Cork pad and push pins are gone and memos are larger. You now press "edit" to move notes around, instead of press and hold.
• Messaging: Now two-paned, but functionality remains essentially the same.
• Music: The app has been overhauled, offering a two-paned view, with songs on the right and sort/filtering options on the left, plus a cover flow-like view of music, and a notification area mini-player with access to controls.
• Photos & Videos: The two apps are now one, and integrate device pictures with those from Facebook. Album, filmstrip and fullscreen views are available. Facebook comments are shown, too.

When you think of Twitter and influence, you might think that the most obvious metric used to measure would be the number of followers a user has. Time and again, influence on Twitter has been shown to be not a direct function of how many followers one has, but a number of other factors.

One of those factors, according to a report by HP, may be just as obvious as follower numbers: long-standing status as a source of information and news. Having millions upon millions of followers may be fun, but it doesn't set the Trending Topics.

According to Bernardo Huberman, director of HP Lab's Social Computing Research Group, it isn't the "most prolific tweeters or those with most followers" as you might expect.

"We found that mainstream media play a role in most trending topics and actually act as feeders of these trends," said Huberman. "Twitter users then seem to be acting more as filter and amplifier of traditional media in most cases."

According to Huberman's report, there are 22 Twitter users who dominate the Twitter Trending Topics. Bauley describes a bit of the work behind the report and its findings:

The HP team collected data from Twitter's own search API over a period of 40 days in the fall of 2010.  From the resulting sample of 16.32 million tweets, they identified 22 users who were the source of the most retweets when a topic was "trending."  Of those 22, 72% were Twitter streams run by mainstream media outfits such as CNN, the New York Times, El Pais and theBBC.

Although popular, most of these sites have millions of followers fewer than highly followed tweeters such as Ashton Kutcher, Barack Obama or Lady Gaga.

Similarly, the research showed that just having an active Twitter account was not a factor in creating a trend.

What were these 22 accounts? Take a look.

For the intellectually curious, the report is embedded blow in its entirety.

HP held a big press event in San Francisco yesterday but not to show off a tablet, a phone, or a printer.  The company wanted to show the world its vision of the future.  HP is betting that in the future, the "cloud" isn't a destination, it's a medium, wires and jacks are outdated and the next step is seamless integration of all our devices.

The big story yesterday was that this vision has HP positioning itself as a direct competitor to Google's Chrome OS.

And then, at the end of all that friendly touching, HP dropped the real bomb - WebOS, its mobile operating system, would be coming out on its PCs as well. Suddenly, HP is offering an entire, synergetic ecosystem that communicates both through proximity and the cloud.

What Was That About Google?

Google has been on a similar path pushing users to the cloud. There are Chrome Web apps, the Chrome OS, and the prototype CR-48 that runs it. In Google's vision, the OS disappears into the browser. It's the all-in movement to the cloud, with "programs" giving way to "Web apps" and the idea of "hard drives" disappearing all together. Gmail talks with Google Docs which talks with Google Calendar, and so on. Google has managed to create a device-agnostic, cloud-based ecosystem that weans the user of local data storage and desktops, bringing them fully into the fold.

Android devices can sync wirelessly - something we're still waiting for with Apple - but HP stepped up the game. Surely, the vision is there but we haven't fully seen it yet.

Surely, Apple Sees the Cloud

Apple offers a similar vision of the cloud, but it is still burdened by fraying sync cords and lost power plugs. (Did you know that that little cube USB adapter plug costs $30?) Apple has for-pay file sync services like MobileMe and still has not given its users the much-requested wireless syncing feature. Both Android and WebOS both boast the ability to sync your music library without a cord.

With Apple, this sort of synergy is a long-standing promise that hasn't come even close to being fulfilled. When I hold my iPhone up to my iPad, what happens? That's right - nothing.

Where HP Takes It One Step Further

At the end of the event, as we mentioned earlier, HP announced that it would be releasing PCs and laptops with WebOS. Two things are immediately obvious. First, whoah, there's potentially a new OS on the block. Second, if we take what we saw with phones and tablets seamlessly communicating using bluetooth, we can expect that the same would be true for WebOS-based computers.The PC will become another member of HP's "seamless integration." Where HP really pulls away is the combined integration of sharing data over the cloud and initiating that sharing by proximity using Bluetooth.

Now, none of this is to say that HP wins. Right now, the numbers are clear. WebOS had a 2% market share in the last quarter of 2010. Windows still accounts for nearly 90% of operating systems. iOS and Android blow WebOS clean out of the water and without even trying, Google has more users in its ecosystem than HP could currently hope for. If nothing else, HP put forth a bold vision of an ecosystem of devices that actually make sense. There's nothing ragtag or disjointed about the entire affair. One talks to another talks to another, without asking if it needs to.

While some of what HP showed today may be simple tricks that make everything seem far more connected - such as receiving SMS on your tablet when your phone is in the other room - they were the first to show off these simple tricks. It's these sorts of tricks we've been waiting for from the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft, but HP beat them all to the punch.

Today HP is holidng a press conference to introduce its new webOS-based tablet and smartphones to the world, while also providing a roadmap for its mobile strategy going forward. WebOS is a mobile operating system that HP acquired when it bought Palm last summer for $1.2 billion and it's expected to serve as the basis for a number of HP products going forward - and not just tablets and phones, but possibly even Internet TVs and personal computers.

The theme for the conference, whose tagline is "Think Big. Think Small. Think Beyond," is connected experiences. Some devices are better at content consumption, while others are for content creation - this according to HP exec Todd Bradley, VP in the company's Personal Systems group. He made these comments during a CNBC interview last month, where he teased the news of the forthcoming HP iPad competitor. Today, the teasing ends and HP gives up the goods on what it has planned next to take on the iPhone, the iPad and the Android army. Stay tuned for our live coverage of the event.

10:16 AM: HP Executive VP Todd Bradley has taken the stage and the event has begun.

"Think back to that time when you first experienced something" he asks the crowd. His memories? A first drive of an electric car. "We should all witness these firsts, as often as we can in our lives. Creating these experiences for a living is what the technology industry is all about."

10:19 AM: We serve over a billion customers in 174 countries with 145,000 partners, 88,000 retail locations. "Our global reach is unprecedented." Ship 120 PCs every minute.

"We're in the early stages of a market that's going to continue to grow in size, importance and relevance for many, many years to come."

10:23 AM: "We've seen an explosion in the number of digital services. We have more and more people accessing more and more content from cloud-based devices. No one before today has come forward and developed a solution that works ubiquitously across these devices."

-Showing a slide with Pandora, Google, Facebook, Pandora, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

"Think, feel & connect" looks to be the tagline phrase of today's announcement.

10:25 AM: John Rubinstein, Senior VP and GM takes the stage.

Talking about "Synergy" - merges information from the cloud across devices.

"Today marks an important new beginning."

10:28 AM: Delivered hundreds of new features (video capture, 3D games, enterprise) over the past year.

WebOS 2.1 is "most important so far" with "true multitasking," universal search and more.

Delivered WebOS on five devices in Pre and Pixi families.

"It's time to take things to a whole new level."

10:30 AM: "What works well for a lot of people is the power of a large phone in a smaller size. Soemthing that's powerful, but elegantly small."

Rubinstein holds up the HP Veer - this thing is tiny, we're talking smaller than a credit card.

-Has slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 2.6" 320x400 touch display, gesture area, browser, full Adobe Flash, GPS, 5 megapixel camera.

10:34 AM: Introducing the Pre3 - another slideout QWERTY phone that looks similar to an iPhone otherwise.

Rubinstein says that when you put your Veer or Pre3 on your Touchstone device to charge it, it automatically goes into a preview mode to scroll through your pics or showcase other content. (Do you want your photo library to be shown every time you charge? I'm not sure I do.)

10:38 AM:And now, the HP TouchPad.

-16 or 32 GB, twice the memory of Pre2, Gyro, accelerometer, compass. Dual Core.

10:40 AM: "Nobody comes close to our WebOS experience."

"If you buy a TouchPad, all you need to do is enter your username and password and all your information shows up." - talking about Synergy.

-Keyboard contains number row.
-Works with QuickOffice, Google Docs, Dropbox & Box.net
-VPN, Video Calling
-Full Web/Adobe Flash
-Sync'd music collections

10:44 AM: Sachin Kansal - Director, Product Management takes the stage.

Kansal is going to "dive a bit deeper" into the features.

Showing off charging on Touchstone - switches the device to "exhibition mode," which shows coming appointments and similar information.

Now here's something: A text message that comes in on the phone can be accessed from the TouchPad. Same for phone calls.

"These are a couple examples of how WebOS helps me integrate my devices."

10:51 AM: Email app:

-Email supports multiple accounts, lets you navigate according to an account or can view all accounts in one inbox.

-Multi message select for deleting, etc.

"On WebOS, multitasking was not an afterthought. It was key from day one."

10:56 AM: Multitasking & Notifications:

-Notifications don't interrupt workflow, wait in the upper right corner. Can be dismissed with a swipe or opened with a tap.

-Organizes messages from different aps all in one place

Keyboard can be resized - has multiple options for keyboard size, from small to medium to large for different size fingers.

11:00 AM: Social Networking Integration:

-Integrates photos from across social platforms, show Facebook comments on a photo from within the WebOS photo app.

"This is seamless integration with social networking."

-Also showing ability to quickly print from TouchPad - click through two quick windows and the photo is printed.

11:04 AM: TouchPad as an eReader

-Partnering with Amazon - will have access to books from Kindle collection.

-Renders text as well as color images, standard page flip animation

Video Calling:

-Shows off video calling via Skype, from TouchPad to Pre3

"We're working to build video calling into all our applications."

11:10 AM: Bringing Pre3 together with TouchPad, one device can sync with the other to show the same Web page or content. Uses "TouchStone" technology.

11:12 AM: Availability: Wi-Fi version of TouchPad available this summer, followed later by 3G and 4G enabled devices.

-Snapdragon processors from Qualcomm power the devices unveiled today.

11:16 AM: Dr. Paul Jacobs - Qualcomm Chairman & CEO:

"The future is wide open when it comes to growth and opportunities in the mobile space."

Last year, shipped 399 million chipsets on a wide variety of devices - smartphones, netbooks, feature phones, eReaders, etc.

11:24 AM: TouchPad - first to support Beats audio system

Jimmy Lovine, CEO takes the stage.

"We're here to fix the degradation of music. We're working on everything from the file to the PC to the headphones to the speakers and right to the consumer."

The record industry downgrades music quality before shipping to iTunes.

"We're changing our pipes to 24 bit."

11:28 AM:

"Paul McCartney can engineer the music all he wants, when you play it on a Dell PC it sounds like it's coming from a portable TV."

"We have a million laptops with Beats audio. HP is stepping forward and it wants to own music. Computers are the de facto home stereo. Music is still the best app for the Internet."

-Developed a hardware/software solution with HP.

11:32 AM: Steven McArthur - Senior VP of Applications and Services

Facebook is fully integrated, is the long and short of it. Contacts, photos, notifications, etc.

"But, WebOS doesn't just enhance big players like Facebook."

SelfAware Games - used WebOS to create in-app payment structure (card games)

Kandutech - created Voogle - a Google Voice app

"We give developers a choice of powerful tools that are fun and easy to use."

Will be showing off SDK to over 500 developers tonight. Wants to help developers move away from stand-alone apps to deeper integration with full OS.

11:55 AM: Bringing WebOS to the PC

"Do the math on two PCs a second. Do the math on 2 printers per second. You easily excede 100 million devices annually. I think that's the start of something pretty big."

11:57 AM:

Apparently MC Hammer and Serena Williams are here. In case you were wondering.

"We're committed to helping build this ecosystem, from small to big, from local to global."

Alrighty, folks. That's about it for the HP event (and my laptop battery.)

But according to Bradley, tablets aren't all HP has in store for webOS.  He spoke of the operating system coming to more devices, "everything from smartphones to tablets to PCs to potentially other large screen devices."  PCs? TVs? What does HP have planned?

HP's webOS Plans

When asked how HP will differentiate itself from its competitors like the iPad, Bradley said "you and I will talk about that on the 9th," referring to the February press conference the company will soon hold in San Francisco where the focus will be on webOS.

The statement also practically confirms that the announcement will involve the unveiling of HP's new tablet computer.

And that won't be all, says Bradley. "We're totally focused on the tablet market... but the tablet is one piece of that ecosystem, one piece of that connected experience we're going to create," he said.

So how does the PC fit into HP's plans? Are we moving away from the PC?, the interviewer asked.

"I would say that we're not moving away from the PC," said Bradley. "I would say that our focus...is really connected devices - it's mobile, it's portable...how do we create that connected experience that allows you to safely, seamlessly access that content that is so important to you?"

He then explained how tablets are great for content consumption, and PCs are great for content creation, and that the tablet market was not cannibalizing the PC market - it was adjacent to it. It comes down to the purpose of what you need the product for: consumption or creation. "It's not a generational shift," Bradley said, responding to a question about the demographics of tablet users, "it's optimization of usage."

Last week, HP invited select press to attend "an exciting webOS announcement" scheduled for Feb. 9 in San Francisco. The tagline for the event - "Think Big. Think Small. Think Beyond." - makes even more sense in light of Bradley's comments about the mobile operating system's multi-platform future.

Other Devices?

While it's expected that an iPad rival is top on the list as to what's being revealed next month, it's clear that HP has much more planned for webOS. Given Bradley's hints about "other devices," we're interested in learning how exactly HP has integrated webOS components into its PC line, for example. Will there be a webOS layer that can run on top of Windows? Will you have dual-booting machines? Will webOS power small screens embedded in a notebook's shell? Will there actually be desktop or notebook PCs running just webOS?

And what's this about webOS on other large screen devices? Larger than a PC? Well that means TV, of course. What's HP working on there? Its own Apple TV/Google TV rival?

Dropping broad hints about HP's iPad rival, a known entity at this point, almost throws us off course from the bigger news here. HP's most exciting reveal may be its webOS ecosystem plans, not the webOS  tablet itself. This news is bound to shake up the industry - a Windows OEM pushing a new operating system throughout its product line, from tablets to PCs and more, instead of just building a tablet alone? Very interesting.

You can watch the video for yourself here:

Via PreCentral

Feed subscriber numbers are generally good to know, and revenues from feeds are better than a poke in the eye. But ultimately pageviews are what matter most to publishers. People say that Feedburner has declined in importance because of the rise of Twitter, but no publishing middleware is as important as readers landing on your page itself. There is potential for these kinds of real-time analytics to be leveraged for automated optimization of editorial decision making, but that's a relatively nascent field.

Are real-time analytics really useful? Not everyone agrees that they are.
"95% of the time it's simply a fun way to look at who's on your site and where they're browsing," Joel Lewenstein, a Product Designer at Quora says, on Quora.

"Though it's entertaining to watch this happen moment-by-moment, the realtime analytics are never as actionable as more robust systems, like Google Analytics.

"Beyond fun, though, we've found it incredibly useful for site diagnostics. When we get alerts that load balancers or servers are down, Chartbeat provides a nice check-and-balance: is the site really down (for actual, real users) or is it a false alarm?"

Heavy publishers of news-oriented content may not feel the same, however. HP is working with the Huffington Post, for example, to integrate the technology company's modeling of the growth and decay of audience attention into an automated editorial process that moves stories up and down the HuffPo page. Real-time analytics may help any number of publishers optimize highly flexible site layouts to capture maximum reader interest.

Could a real-time FeedBurner enable that kind of strategic move on the part of publishers? It certainly seems possible.

In September, HP pushed a beta of the webOS SDK (software development kit) to developers, allowing them to experiment with all the new features of the updated operating system. These features included a multi-tasking user interface improvement called "stacks" (for stacking open screens like a deck of cards), the introduction of "Just Type" quick actions for common tasks like Facebook status updates, adding items to a list or starting an email, an improved Universal Search feature which extends phone-based searches to the Web, a screensaver-like "Exhibition" mode customizable through apps and various under-the-hood improvements including HTML5 support, PDK plugins and more.

Today's reveal of webOS 2.0 doesn't add much to the earlier list, but does make note of the fact that Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Beta will be supported, an important distinction between mobile operating systems today. Ever since Apple banned Flash from its mobile devices, competitors are quick to point out the inclusion of Flash as a feature they offer which the iPhone doesn't.

Another notable feature, is the Synergy, the technology which merges Facebook, Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn and Exchange contacts into one universal contact list. Now that feature has been extended so third-party developers can actually build on top of Synergy, offering plugins for the OS's built-in Messaging, Contacts and Calendar applications. A clever example of Synergy's potential can be seen with Facebook's webOS 2.0 app, which supports Facebook IM via Synergy in the Messaging application.

WebOS 2.0 also includes Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite, which allows for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint viewing and integration with Google Docs and Dropbox. For office workers, that's a nice value-add since normally Quickoffice is a paid application. IPsec and Cisco's AnyConnect mobile optimized VPN along with support for Exchange email round out the corporate user-targeted features.

Oui, Oui - Pre 2 Launches in France

Oddly, HP has decided to launch the Pre 2 Friday in France from SFR. And it won't become available to U.S. or Canadian users until months later. However, since it will arrive on Verizon Wireless when it reaches North America, Pre 2 users can take advantage of the Verizon/Skype partnership to make Skype-to-Skype calls using the new device. Developers will also be able to buy an unlocked UMTS version of Pre 2 in the U.S, notes HP.

And yes, original Pre owners, HP says that "some" of the new webOS 2.0 features will arrive as over-the-air software updates. Unfortunately, HP doesn't specify which ones.

Can webOS Stage a Comeback?

There was never a question (in our minds, at least) that the original webOS was a good mobile operating system, and webOS 2.0 looks like a worthy update to its predecessor. But Palm Pre's hardware wasn't great, especially when compared with the top-of-the-line iPhone. Plus, Palm's paltry App Catalog showed how few developers had spent time building native apps for the new OS. In February, for example, it included just 1,452 apps, according to analytics firm Distimo. As of late September, webOS reached the 5,000 app mark (note to Distimo: update your website). Considerable growth, but so far behind Apple's App Store (now at 300,000 apps!), it seems like a drop in the bucket.

Still, times have changed since the first Palm Pre's reveal. Consumers have found comfort in a number of iPhone alternatives, most notably Android, which sometimes even arrives on feature phone-grade hardware. Economic pressure also may influence buying decisions, too. If Pre 2 can get its pricing right (also unknown at this time), it may find a niche as an affordable alternative - prettier than Android, cheaper than iPhone. But that's just a guess - what do you think?

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.

Yes. Yes it is.

On July 9, Hewlett-Packard registered "PalmPad" as a trademark. It looks like HP's long-term plan of developing a tablet computer is proceeding apace. With a little luck, it might be even be credible up against the elephant in the room.

"Computers, computer hardware, computer software, computer peripherals, portable computers, handheld and mobile computers, PDAs, electronic notepads, mobile digital electronic devices."

In April, HP simultaneously hit the eject-button on its Windows 7-powered "Slate" tablet and the buy-button on the faltering but still technically strong Palm. HP paid $1.2 billion for the hand-held pioneer. Clearly, they had plans for it. Clearly, it's the PalmPad.

Hacker Monthly: The Print Magazine of Hacker News on the iPad? Zip! Art Nouveau Magazine on the iPad? Bang! Mowmentum: The Magazine for the Lawnmower Racing Community...on the iPad? Boom.

In addition to iPad availability, the print on demand part of MagCloud is growing more sophisticated as well. Publishers can now choose to put a spine on their magazines (which should be a big improvement), the page limit has been raised to 384 pages and, perhaps most importantly, HP will now ship printed magazines anywhere in the world.

But it's the iPad publishing and reading that interests me most. Publishers can opt-in to allowing readers to click on a link to download a magazine to the Magcloud iPad app.

This is especially if price points can settle into something reasonable. I told HP's Andrew Bolwell that what I really wanted were magazines priced like iPhone apps. Give me really good $2 magazines and I'll buy them all day long. A $10 magazine on the iPad? Probably not. "I personally believe that the same is true for content," he told me. "I hope the market will come to a point where content on the iPad is priced below the threshold of consideration on price."

Right now MagCloud supports simple PDF uploads, but the future is wide open, Bolwell says. Possibilities include multimedia, DRM-free publishing (there's DRM today) and an HP-powered ad network.

"We want to offer the option for people to do anything they want in the digital space," Bolwell says.