Phil’s new book focuses on innovation. Phil spent about half the night discussing his book and the lessons on promoting innovation. There were many interesting ideas and I recommend you take a look at this book if you are at all involved in providing a product or service.

The rest of the night involved questions about HP and webOS. We learned about the role that Phil played during HP’s acquisition of Palm. He said that he carries his TouchPad with him everywhere he goes. He also said that he believes that Open webOS has a lot to offer. We couldn’t agree more!

After Phil’s talk I got a chance to hand out some Enyo t-shirts and talk a bit about our plans for Open webOS, Enyo and the webOS Community Edition. It’s always great to meet with developers. Perhaps we’ll show up at your webOS developer meetup?

Photo credits: Ben Stern

This past weekend (April 20-21) fellow Developer Relations member Roy Sutton and I were proud to represent Enyo at the RVA Hackathon in Richmond, VA. This was a free, 24 hour event for developers of all kinds to come together and work on various projects. The event started on Friday evening and lasted throughout the night and into the next evening.

On Saturday morning, we teamed with Arthur Thornton – a name familiar in the Enyo community and creator of several popular webOS apps – to take on the task of helping him create an audio identification app. The goal for the day was to create an Enyo-based application that would successfully run on the TouchPad and could be easily packaged for multiple platforms.

Things got started as Arthur began setting up the server required to perform the back-end audio fingerprinting/matching, while Roy and I worked on the core functionality. By lunchtime we had the server responding to service calls, local databases created, and much of the core functionality working. After some chicken tacos, we powered on for a few hours: adding missing features, fixing inevitable bugs, and chugging copious amounts of Red Bull. A couple hours before the event was officially over, we had an app that could record audio, match the audio fingerprint, and save that item to your history.

The only real technical issue we experienced was with the free audio-fingerprinting service that was used, which failed to match as many songs as we expected. However, there are other paid audio-fingerprinting services available that promise more success, so this issue could be resolved without too much of a headache.

When it was all said and done, we had a working proof-of-concept that took around eight hours to complete. I’m once again surprised by how quickly an Enyo app can come together. So, what are you doing with your day?

Have you signed up yet for the March 4th Enyo Virtual Hackathon? There will be live physical presences in NYC (hosted at Pivotal Labs’ NYC headquarters), Dallas, Indianapolis, San Diego, and Oklahoma City, but you can also participate virtually from anywhere! Should be a great time. Big thanks to the NYC webOS Developer/Enthusiast Meetup group for putting it together. Awesome job, guys!

We’re hosting webOS workshops and webOS CONNECT events in the following cities. These events are free, but we encourage you to register now to secure your spot:

- September 7, 2011: Sydney, Australia
- September 12, 2011: Singapore
- September 15, 2011: Hong Kong
- October 4, 2011: Milan, Italy
- October 6, 2011: Madrid, Spain
- October 11, 2011: Beijing, China

As we mentioned in a previous post, we’re excited about expanding the HP webOS App Catalog to four new countries and we look forward to meeting developers there and the other cities we have scheduled in the coming months. We hope to see lots of you soon!

Register today

We invite you to register for a webOS workshop, which we’ll be hosting at HP’s Palm campus in Sunnyvale, California on the following dates:

- July 21, Sunnyvale, CA
- August 5, Sunnyvale, CA

Led by members of the webOS development team, these workshops are designed to help you:

- Get expert guidance on webOS 3.0 development tools and UI/UX
- Test and optimize your apps with TouchPad hardware
- Work on apps and get direct help from the webOS team

We have a limited number of spots for each workshop, so register now to reserve your spot.

webOS CONNECT Toronto, Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Time: 6:00-10:00 PM
Place: Spoke Club, Gallery Room, 600 King Street West, 4^th Floor, Toronto, ON, Canada

Join us for a fun evening where you’ll get to:

- Meet Richard Kerris, VP of Worldwide webOS Developer Relations and others from the webOS team
- Learn from featured talks by webOS developers
- Network with the community over some good food and fun

We look forward to seeing you there!

Register now

If you’ve been developing a great TouchPad app, come and show us at one of our webOS CONNECT events. We would like to select a number of developers to receive an HP TouchPad when it launches this summer. If you’ve been developing an app for the TouchPad, you could be one of the first people to get one when it’s available this summer.

Why are we doing this? We want to help support and reward developers who are committed to delivering great apps – especially those who are getting their app ready for TouchPad’s summer launch. We want to give you the tools you need to be successful with webOS.

So, if you have an app you’d like us to consider, register for webOS CONNECT Paris and Berlin, come to the event and show us your app. You could be one of the first to get an HP TouchPad!

Can’t make it to webOS CONNECT?

If you can’t attend webOS CONNECT, we’ll be making the same offer to developers who attend an upcoming webOS workshop.

You can also email us at TouchPadSDK@palm.com and one of our app specialists will work with you to see how you can qualify for this program.  The offer is valid while supplies last.

Read below for basic rules and additional terms and conditions.

Basic rules for being considered

1.       No purchase is required to participate.
2.       Must be registered for and present at the event to be eligible.
3.       If you work with our app specialists to qualify, this offer is valid while supplies last.
4.       Must be able to show your app in progress to a designated HP webOS representative, in the form of an .ipk file we can load onto and test with an HP TouchPad.
5.       Whether you are selected to receive an HP TouchPad is based on objective criteria determined by a jury panel designated by HP webOS representatives.
6.       If selected to receive a TouchPad, there is a limit of one per developer/developer company. The TouchPad will not be transferable to another person and is not exchangeable for cash or any other prizes.
7.       The TouchPad will be provided with the manufacturer standard warranty and will be shipped to the selected developers after the event when available.

Additional terms and conditions for being considered to receive HP TouchPad testing device

HP reserves the right to request additional information for consideration. False information disqualifies you and your app from consideration, making it subject to review under applicable laws. Violators may be prosecuted. This offer is void where prohibited, taxed or restricted by law. HP employees are not eligible.

HP is committed to protecting your privacy. Your personal information will not be passed on from HP without your explicit consent.

Neither party acquires any patent, copyright, mask work or trademark rights during this event. Participation imposes no obligation on either party to purchase, sell, license, transfer or otherwise dispose of any technology, services or products; does not create any agency or partnership relationship; and the terms herein may be added to or modified only in a writing signed by both parties. Additional terms and conditions may apply.

Both events are free and open to the public, so we invite you to register now:

webOS CONNECT Paris, Wednesday, May 25
Time: 5:30-9:30 PM
Place: Le Kare Magik, 45 bis Edouard Vaillant Avenue Bolougne, Billancourt/Paris

webOS CONNECT Berlin, Friday, May 27
Time: 5:30-9:30 PM
Place: Spindler & Klatt, Köpenicker Str. 16-17 10997 Berlin

So spread the word, get your friends to register and join us for great evenings in Paris and Berlin!

Register now

These one-day workshops are specifically geared for developers that are actively working on a TouchPad app, who could benefit from in-depth sessions on using webOS 3.0:

- Get expert guidance on webOS 3.0 development tools and UI/UX
- Test and optimize your apps with TouchPad hardware
- Work on apps and get direct help from the webOS team

We’ve set dates for upcoming webOS workshops at HP’s Palm campus in Sunnyvale, California:

- Thursday, June 9
- Thursday, June 16

Our registration page has information on the structure of these workshops and other helpful details. We have limited space at these workshops, so sign up for a webOS workshop now.

webOS CONNECT Paris, Wednesday, May 25
Time: 5:30-9:30 PM
Place: Le Kare Magik, 45 bis Edouard Vaillant Avenue Bolougne, Billancourt/Paris

webOS CONNECT Berlin, Friday, May 27
Time: 5:30-9:30 PM
Place: Spindler & Klatt, Köpenicker Str. 16-17 10997 Berlin

As we mentioned in previous posts, it’s a great opportunity for people to:

- Meet Richard Kerris, VP of webOS Developer Relations and others on the webOS team
- Learn from best practices of other webOS developers
- Network with the webOS community over some good food and fun

Whether you’re a current webOS developer or know people that just want to learn more about webOS, bring your friends and join us!

Register now