Palm Linux-based webOS platform

Palm has published technical overview of their new Linux-based webOS platform that will support Palm application development with web technologies. Platform SDK Palm’s leverages standards-based web technologies and allows third-party developers to build complete applications using a mix of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It uses a custom JavaScript framework called Mojo and bundles some popular third-party JavaScript libraries, including Prototype. WebOS applications are displayed on “stage” elements, which are described with HTML and contain various “scene” elements. Scenes are organized in a stack and can be displayed or removed programmatically with push and pop actions that are executed through the JavaScript scene assistant. Basic widgets are described in HTML by inserting a div element with a custom x-mojo-element attribute that specifies the name of the widget.

Skyhook positioning support for Android platform

Skyhook Wireless has updated its software developers kit (SDK) to add support for Android, the Open Handset Alliance operating system initially developed and still backed by Google. Skyhook offers a combination of WiFi, GPS, cellular tower, and sensor-based positioning data for determining approximate geographic coordinates and an error range.

While the first Android-based device, the T-Mobile G1, includes Wi-Fi, 3G, and GPS radios, part of what makes Android appealing is the low-level access to hardware that cellular handset makers typically restrict access to via hardware abstraction layers or higher-level application libraries.