webOS Nation

Never Fear, Enyo is Here

Sharon L Copeland — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:01:18 GMT

So much has happened in the past 36 hours it’s enough to make your head explode. First HP announced its cutting 27,000 jobs over a two-year period; then the core Enyo team is packing up and going to Google. We are happy that the team found fantastic jobs, but we all would like to slap you individually. Anyone that was up at 10:30 pm yesterday got the heart sinking news via Twitter. Not the best way to be met with bad news the second time in a week. The fans of webOS who are true blue were again slapped in the face. What’s going to happen to our phones, what’s going to happen to the TouchPad? What’s going to happen to webOS? The Enyo team has released this statement:

The core of Enyo 2 is solid. We’re hearing great things from developers about the performance improvements in the last release, and we have another release on the way. After that, we’ll focus on expanding the Onyx widget set. We’ve enlisted the support of the developer relations engineers you know and love to help out as we work on growing the team.

That’s right, we’re growing. As we said earlier this month, we’re hiring — not just to replace the engineers who have left, but to increase the size of the team going forward. If you would like to contribute to the success of Enyo (and get paid for it) please let us know. And of course, all are welcome to contribute to the code by making GitHub pull requests.

Our door is open; if you have any concerns, feel free to voice them in the Enyo forums. We’re always listening and will do our best to address your questions. We’ll also be out in person at next week’s O’Reilly Fluent Conference in San Francisco, and at HP Discover in Las Vegas the following week — we’d love to see you there.

So there you have it, we are moving on as planned so calm your fears. The Enyo team are here for the long haul.

PSA: TouchPad cases dirt cheap!

Ryan St. Andrie — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:50:21 GMT

So you're a TouchPad owner. Maybe you purchased it full price or maybe you waited until the now legendary fire-sale of the TouchPad after good ol' Leo Apotheker killed webOS hardware. You might even be one of the hardcore webOS users that paid top dollar for a beautiful white 1.5GHz TouchPad with a whopping 64GB of storage! Regardless of how you got your hands on one or how much coin you dropped on it you love your TouchPad all the same. Because you love your TouchPad you want to protect it with the best case possible. However sometimes a good case can be a bit expensive so we all tend to look for the best deal possible.

Well if you're looking for a deal look no further than HP's very own Home and Home Office Store. Here is a quick list of all the great deals they have right now:

HP TouchPad Slipcase: $1.99
HP TouchPad Power Charger: $4.99
HP TouchPad Case: $4.99
Timbuk2 Envelope Case: $14.99
Timbuk2 Plush Sleeve: $14.99

The best part is all of this can be had with free shipping. So act quick folks because we are sure at these prices supplies will not last very long!

Key members of Enyo team quitting HP, moving to Google [Updated with statement from HP]

Rene Ritchie — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:53:32 GMT

Update: webOS Nation has just received the following statement from HP:

"We’re pleased with the traction Enyo has gained to date and plan to continue its development along with the open source community. The Open webOS project is on schedule and we remain committed to the roadmap announced in January.”

Key members of HP's Enyo team have reportedly just quit the company and left to set up shop over at Google. While initial rumors made it sound like it might be the entire team, webOS Nation's own sources indicate that this will move less than half of the team. It will, however, include Matt McNulty, the Senior Director of Frameworks and Tools.

As to what this means for webOS, well... what would it mean for Apple if the entire iOS application framework group jumped over to RIM, or if the entire Android dev team did a walk in over at Nokia?

In other words -- nothing good.

To be successful, operating systems need to be platforms, platforms need apps, apps need developers, developers need a framework to make apps, and that framework needs a strong, smart, passionate, engaged team behind it. If these rumors turn out to be true, in whole or even in part, webOS' struggle has just become that much more difficult. Again.

Now Enyo might well still be on track, and Enyo isn't the only way to develop for webOS, but it's the first party framework, and that makes it important.

Enyo 2 Beta 3 was released back on March 23 and while no doubt work has already been done on the next beta, and on the release version, it's hard to imagine a large scale defection wouldn't cause problems and delays.

As to what the Enyo team might do over at Google, well hooking back up with Matias Duarte, who designed the original Pre user interface for Palm and now does that same job for Android, is an easy guess. Google's a web services powerhouse, however, and Enyo is a cutting edge web technology framework, so the sky's very literally the limit.

Google's made a serious effort to improve not only the look but the user experience of everything from their web sites to their smartphone apps lately, and there's still Chrome and ChromeOS to consider. A team of skilled web framework developers could go a long way towards furthering all of those goals.

But Enyo and webOS are commited to being open source projects now, and they're bigger than any one person or group of people.

This is still a developing story, and we're tracking it in the webOS nations forums, so head on over there for more.

Source: The Verge

HP's Q2 2012 earnings call the beginning of a major company restructuring - 27,000 jobs to be lost

Phil Nickinson — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:37:20 GMT

HP on Wednesday announced its Q2 2012 earnings. In an exceedingly dry news release, HP noted a 3 percent drop in revenue, from $31.6 billion a year ago to $30.7 billion for the three months ending in March.

The bigger news, perhaps, is that HP also announced plans for "a multi-year productivity initiative designed to simplify business processes, advance innovation and deliver better results for customers, employees and shareholders."

That means restructuring, of course, and restructuring generally means a reduction in force. HP announced that it "expects approximately 27,000 employees to exit the company." That's 8 percent of total employees, and they'll be gone by November 2014. Early retirement options will be offered, HP said, so hopefully that will mean fewer layoffs. The reductions also will vary by nation, HP said.

"These initiatives build upon our recent organizational realignment, and will further streamline our operations, improve our processes, and remove complexity from our business," said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. "While some of these actions are difficult because they involve the loss of jobs, they are necessary to improve execution and to fund the long term health of the company. We are setting HP on a path to extend our global leadership and deliver the greatest value to customers and shareholders."

But what about the continued future of our beloved OS? Not surprisingly, the former Palm and the now open-sourced webOS barely garnered a mention in Wednesday's announcements, save for a note that "HP recorded impairment charges to goodwill and certain intangible assets associated with the acquisition of Palm Inc. The charges relate to HP's decision to wind-down the webOS device business."

Source: HP 1, 2

Best webOS apps for Cooking and Grilling

Sharon L Copeland — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:53:55 GMT

As the temperature gets warmer and the pavement hotter, it is apparent that summer is here. So whether you are at the beach, at the park, or in your own backyard it’s a time for a get together with family and friends. The one thing that brings people together (other than music) is food. So we here at webOS Nation wanted to bring you the best cooking and grilling apps to get your foodie groove on. Some you have no doubt heard about before, some that might be brand new to you.

Monday Brief: A Nexus Zerg Rush, BB10 Homescreen Details, and more!

AshleyEsqueda — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:48:23 GMT

Best webOS Movie and Video Apps

Sharon L Copeland — Sun, 20 May 2012 20:49:08 GMT

Popcorn check, Slurpee check, chocolate covered peanuts check, sweetheart check; and finally tickets to the hottest movie in the country, check. You’re all set to take your seat in the darkened theater, and as the lights lower, you know it makes happy you planned all of this on your webOS device.

We know there are not many movie apps in the webOS catalog, but what we do have will serve the purpose of an entertaining night out; and for planning for a comfortable night in. So we invite you to peruse the fine selection of apps we found just for you.

Open Mobile & Open webOS: When, Where and the Competition

Sharon L Copeland — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:40:21 GMT

Almost everyday we are reminded of what happened on that dark day in August when they killed webOS hardware and got rid of most of everyone in the hardware division; and it looked like the OS was to be suffer the same fate. Luckily for us, some the most diehard fans, along with some equally determined webOS developers, worked very hard to keep webOS alive. We here at webOS nations know the hot news stories have been slow to turn up, but don't despair.

We say to those who have been taunted by larger screens, faster processors and hardware, fear not. Your time, my loyal friends is coming sooner thank you think. Bide your time my pretties although some wanted to put us in the coffin long before the TouchPad arrived, we are far from being dead. It reminds me of that line in Dark Shadows,"They tried to stone me my dear, it did not work." We want to give you a realistic forecast of how everything is progressing so far. We wanted to let you know everyone at HP and Open Mobile are working as hard as they can so you can have the goodies you all deserve.

Best webOS Apps for Kids

Sharon L Copeland — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:22:57 GMT

One of the best things that ever happen to webOS was the fire sale. It made TouchPad available and affordable for everyone. Which comes to my next point, the price point of 99.00 to 149.00 made it easy for not only adults, but for kids who wanted their first tablet during the holiday season. So with such responsibility of owning a TouchPad comes finding the right apps for the children. To not only entertain, but keep them out of mom’s hair while she’s cooking.

HP to possibly cut up to 30,000 jobs in restructuring plan

Ryan St. Andrie — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:21:39 GMT

According to several reports across the interwebs, HP could be cutting as many as 30,000 jobs in a new restructuring plan starting as early as May 23rd. On that day, according to several sources, CEO Meg Whitman will announce a company-wide restructuring plan that will include the cuts of approximately 10 to 20 percent of the current workforce of 320,000 employees. The numbers all vary from source to source but usually when there is this much grumbling in the tech world it is almost a guarantee that something is going to go down.

Before you all go pointing your fingers at Meg keep in mind when she took the helm at HP she was handed a company that was on a downward spiral the like of which was almost unrivaled in the tech industry. The now infamous former CEO Léo Apotheker who had no previous hardware experience, killed off production of webOS hardware, attempted to spin off HP's PC division, and pretty much wanted to change the focus of the company altogether. Shortly after all of these decisions made by good ol' Léo, shareholders witnessed HP stock plummet more than 20% in a single day. Needless to say Meg Whitman had her work cut out for her when she took over as CEO of HP. So we are sure that if she does in fact make the decision to cut all these jobs it will be for an awfully good reason.

This unfortunately should feel all too familiar to the webOS community as we've seen our fair share of job cuts in recent history. Fortunately webOS or HP's Personal Systems Group have not been directly mentioned in any of the sources. However, with a cut this large one can almost bet on the proverbial "axe" reaching across the entirety of HP. Heck even the poor guy who pushes the mail cart around the offices should be scared at this point! All we can say is that we sincerely hope that webOS doesn't take any hits from this as there really isn't much left to cut. Stay tuned and we will keep you informed of any news that may come out of all of this.

Update: Enda McGrath has told us on Twitter that this will not be affecting webOS. Bullet dodged!

App Review: Picross

Adam Marks — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:43:28 GMT

What do you get when you combine Minesweeper, logic puzzles and pictures together? The answer is Picross, a fun and addictive game by PenduinBits that challenges you to solve picture puzzles (or picture crosswords, as the app name indicates) on an 8x8 grid solely using number clues that indicate how many blocks you need to fill in on a given row or column of the grid. For $0.99, you get 384 puzzles split between Easy, Medium and Hard levels, and even a Builder feature that lets you create up to 64 more of your own custom puzzles. And with a minimum webOS requirement of only webOS 1.4.5, one purchase will work on all your webOS devices from the original Pre or Pixi to the newer Pre3 or TouchPad.

New webOS Meet Ups

Sharon L Copeland — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:31:02 GMT

The forecasters say it’s supposed to be a warmer summer than usual, and it looks like the same for webOS meet ups. Armed with new tools to make developing and porting apps even easier, it would only seem appropriate to share the news with other webOS lovers in your area.There’s a lot to talk about, too. From our new developer leader, Enda McGrath who is actually been with the company longer than some of the CEOs of late, to our own Jason Robitaille joining the Enyo team. And with the news of new developer tools making their way into the webOS developer center, and the tidbits of news streaming in, we can’t think of a better way to celebrate . Hey tidbits are better than none. But there are few other things worth swinging by for…

At selected meet ups there will be drawings for TouchPads, Pre 3’s, Veers and other accessories. Along with good food, friendly banter, and free Wi-Fi to use with your new toy.There will also be promo codes from the best app developers given away, as well as round table discussions and app building techniques discussed. Sounds inviting doesn’t it? You bet it does! So point your mouse to that address bar and head on over to the palm developer center and register to an event in your area and check out the ones below. Come and join the best community anywhere for the fun and prizes.

Sunday, May 20 in Dallas, Texas
Thursday, May 31 in Dillingen, Germany
Sunday, June 3 in Chicago, Illinois
Sunday, June 17 in Nashville, Tennessee
TBA, June in San Francisco
Tuesday, May 29th in New York

So wake up the wife and kids, bring your laptop cords and ideas. This my friends is just the beginning.

webOS Nation moboot theme now available for everyone

Ryan St. Andrie — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:56:18 GMT

So you've used our awesome how-to and installed Android on your TouchPad. You may have even spiced up Android by changing the task switcher to the webOS esque WebCM9 mod. Even with all that work done you still have not completely "tricked out" your TouchPad until you have installed our brand new theme for your moboot screen.

Moboot is what the guys on the Cyanogenmod team created that allows TouchPad owners to dual boot their devices. Without this nifty little program you wouldn't have an easy way to switch back and forth between Android and webOS. With as great as moboot is and as much as we appreciate the hard work of the developers we have to say moboot leaves a lot to be desired in the esthetics department! Luckily ReverendKJR on the Rootzwiki forums did a little conversing with moboot creator jcsullins and came up with a way to theme the ugly black screen for moboot.

After reading ReverndKJR's easy instructions on how to build a moboot theme we decided to build our own and share it with our awesome readers. So without further ado we give you the official webOS Nation moboot theme.

Installation

Note: Must be using moboot 0.3.5

The process of installing our theme (or any moboot theme for that matter) is very straightforward. Simply download the zip file we have put together for you onto the root of your device. If downloading from a computer plug your TouchPad into the computer with your USB cable then drag and drop the zip file onto the root of your device. Remember the download location of the zip file to make it easy to find later.

Once you have downloaded the zip file safely to your device boot your TouchPad into ClockworkMod Recovery. After you have ClockworkMod Recovery up use your volume rocker to highlight "install zip from sdcard" and then select it with the back button at the bottom of your TouchPad. Now the first option highlighted should be "choose zip from sdcard" so go ahead and press the back button again to select that option. Once again use your volume rocker to move to the file where you have stored the theme zip file (more than likely the "Download" folder) and press the back button to select and enter that folder. Again using the volume rocker highlight the theme zip and hit the back button to select and install the webOS Nation theme.

After installing the theme you can go back to the home menu screen of ClockworkMod recovery and select "reboot system now" to complete the process. Once your TouchPad has rebooted you should now see our awesome moboot theme instead of the dreadful old black one. If for any reason you wish to go back to the stock moboot theme jcsullins has created a zip that will revert moboot to its original state. All you will have to do is install that zip the same way you installed our theme and everything will be back to the way it was.

State of the Mobile Nations Survey: Phone buying habits

Jerry Hildenbrand — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:15:15 GMT

Help Us Help You! In our ongoing quest to better serve our community, we want to gain a better understanding into your phone buying habits. Are you buying your next phone in store or online? On contract, off contract or pay as you go? Those are the kinds of questions we're asking on this one.

The survey will only take you two minutes or less. Thanks!

Take the Survey!

Monday Brief: More 7" iPad Rumors, BB10 secrets, CTIA recap, and more!

AshleyEsqueda — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:10:29 GMT

webOS Travel Apps

Sharon L Copeland — Sat, 12 May 2012 18:02:31 GMT

It’s the last day of school and all of the youngster's eyes are glued to clock above the blackboard; waiting for that final cue to be released from their teachers grasp. As they wriggle in their chairs, biting on pencils, and twirl their hair with their fingers an old nursery rhyme slips in their precocious minds: No more school, no more books. No more teachers dirty looks. When the final bell rings for dismissal, you can see the glow of joy in their faces. As the kids emerge behind the large metal swing doors, it’s like rain water bursting through flood gates after a storm. Laughing, running and jumping they pile into the iconic canary yellow bus or to the line of sleek SUVs with moms wearing Chanel sunglasses; sipping on a Jamba Juice fruit smoothie. School is over and summer vacation has begun. Are you ready?

Ready for the munchkins begging to go to Disneyworld or are you ready to relax in secluded mountain lodge, away from the hustle and bustle of the city? Summer travel is a must to unwind from school and work and here at webOS nation we have got you covered with the best travel apps.

webOS 3.0.6 is available, but probably not for you

Adam Marks — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:14:00 GMT

We first saw hints that an update for the TouchPad was in the works when app logs started showing devices running webOS 3.0.6, and now we have more concrete evidence that webOS 3.0.6 is real, courtesy of one of our readers who wishes to remain anonymous. His device got an over-the-air update to webOS 3.0.6 this morning, but chances are your TouchPad will not, at least not right now. As it turns out, his device is a TouchPad Go running on Palm's development server, which probably describes only a handful of devices that even exist.

So what goodies does webOS 3.0.6 hold? As it turns out, not a whole lot. In fact, our reader can not find a single noticeable difference between webOS 3.0.5 and 3.0.6, and the onscreen changelog does not provide any further clues aside from mentioning "a variety of software improvements." Is it just under-the-hood enhancements or security fixes, or is there more? Sadly, he did confirm that Twitter synergy integration was not included in the update. We will just have to wait until webOS 3.0.6 is officially released to find out, but at least it's comforting to know that some support will continue for the TouchPad while we wait for the planned September release of Open webOS 1.0. Now let's get that webOS 2.2.4 (or 2.2.5) update for the Veer our as well!

Thanks anonymous!

Check Skype credit balance

Adam Marks — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:12:44 GMT

If you have a webOS phone or TouchPad with a Skype account added to it and you make calls using Skype credit, you can keep track of your current Skype credit balance right from your device. The easiest way to accomplish this is to just load up the Phone app (on phones) or the Phone & Video Calls app (on the TouchPad), swipe-down from the top left to bring down the Phone Application drop-down menu and choose "Check Skype Credit". You will be brought to the Skype account preferences page and you just need to scroll down to the "SKYPE CREDIT" section to see your balance. On the TouchPad, there is also a link here to "Add Credit" that will launch the web browser to the Skype website where you can buy more credit.

Alternatively, you can also select "Preferences & Accounts" from the dropdown (instead of "Check Skype Credit"), scroll down to the ACCOUNTS section and tap on your Skype account to get to the Skype account preferences page, but why take that extra step when you have a direct link option

PreDoodle - Love Hurts

Jason Harrison — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:52:36 GMT

Why do mommy and daddy keep fighting?

HP announces it will be making tablets again, but not webOS tablets

Jonathan I Ezor — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:43:20 GMT

At its Global Influencer Summit this week in Shanghai, China, HP's executives were questioned by several reporters about the company's plans for tablets, a market it has essentially been out of since it cancelled the TouchPad and all other webOS devices last year. In response, CEO Meg Whitman and EVP for Printing and Personal Systems Todd Bradley announced that HP was resuming production of consumer tablets...running Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system with "cloud-based technology" for shared content across devices. (Given how recent articles have put the blame on the TouchPad's failure on its hardware rather than webOS, we don't expect the upcoming tablets to look like the above.)

Sadly (if not surprisingly) for our community, there were no reported mentioned by Whitman, Bradley or anyone else from HP about the role (if any) HP's Open webOS initiative might play in the revived tablet product line, or otherwise on HP's hardware. We can only hope that, whether by design or through the efforts of our wonderful homebrew/webOS hacker community, we will be able to run Open webOS on new tablets and other devices at some point in the near future.

App Review: QuickChat for Facebook

Adam Marks — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:03:18 GMT

Despite deep Synergy integration between webOS and Facebook in the Contacts, Calendar, Photos and Videos apps, we have yet to see Facebook Chat make its way to the Messaging app without the benefit of any homebrew assistance. Although there are a few instant messaging apps in the App Catalog that includes Facebook Chat, none have the ease and simplicity of QuickChat for Facebook, by pcworldSoftware, nor are any of them built using Enyo to support both the small screens of webOS phones and the larger real estate of the TouchPad. For $2.99 (on sale, normally $3.99), QuickChat for Facebook is available for any webOS device running webOS 2.1 or higher and brings you a dedicated Facebook Chat app that does its best to mimic the stock Messaging app of the TouchPad. Upon launching the app the first thing you must do is log in to Facebook. On the TouchPad, you are then brought to a very familiar looking scene with a panel on the left that allows you to toggle between your online friends or your conversation history, and a larger pane on the right that houses your conversation. On phones, you just view that left-pane by default, and the conversation pane will slide in Enyo-style once you tap on a buddy or a conversation.

As long as the app is open (unfortunately, this is a webOS limitation), it will receive any chats or messages received in Facebook in real-time and even has push notifications to alert you if the app is not the active one. If you know how to use the Messaging App for IM or SMS messages, you will be right at home in this app. It works really well and adds a much-needed piece of Synergy to webOS, although there are a few limitation with how Facebook Chat works with the app, mainly due to the available APIs from Facebook.

Missing conversation history -- While your Facebook chat history will be loaded into the app once you log in, some conversations may be missing. The developer and I troubleshooted this in detail and determined it was actually a Facebook issue and nothing the app had any control over. As a result, this may also cause some conversation history to be lost when you relaunch the app in the future. However, that conversation will still be available on the Facebook website or the webOS Facebook app.
Group chats or messages are not available -- Due to Facebook API limitations, you are only able to send/receive messages/chats from individuals, and the conversation history of multi-person chats or messages will not be shown in the app. If you need to send a group-message, you will need to launch the webOS Facebook app to access this.
Other known issues -- The Developer has a "Known issues" page in the help section of the app that also documents some other issues, such as an occasional disconnect from the Facebook servers or profile pictures missing or not being updated. Once again, these are either Facebook or webOS restrictions, but the developer has work arounds for these built in minimize the impact on your user experience.

With all of these issues or limitations, you may be wondering why you shouldn't just use the messaging section of the Facebook apps for your phone or TouchPad or the web browser itself. The biggest reason for me is the real-time messaging and push notifications built into the app. If you rarely use the chat or messaging features of Facebook, this is proably not for you]. But if you send a lot of messages or even just occasionally Facebook Chat, then you should consider this app. And best of all, a single purchase will allow you to download the app on both your phone and TouchPad (as long as they are on the same webOS profile).

webOS Apps for Unit Converting

Sharon L Copeland — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:25:03 GMT

If there's one thing webOS doesn’t have a lack of is unit converters.The problem here is which one is right for you? From the initial observations of the app catalog it seems to be personality driven. Are you the dark brooding scientist? Are you the perky, verbal mathematician who loves color? Or are you the suited corporate business type, trading currency around the world? Do you like all the bells and whistles, or do you like to keep it simple and streamlined? The following converters have been selected for ease of use, style and ability to hold you attention whilst using them. Well at webOS nation we have found some great converters to suit your personality.

Touchstone-specific Exhibition Mode apps (webOS 3.x)

Adam Marks — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:00:04 GMT

This tip is only for HP TouchPads running webOS 3.0 or higher

webOS 2.1 on phones introduced Exhibition mode to replace the standard lock screen when your phone is on the touchstone charger, providing a unique interactive experience for the user while the phone was still charging. This feature was carried over to the TouchPad and webOS 3.0, even though the phone touchstones were not compatible with the TouchPad and required you to purchase a TouchPad-specific touchstone. And if you have multiple TouchPad touchstones, you can even specify which Exhibition app you want to launch for each touchstone.

Once you put the TouchPad on the first touchstone, just select the Exhibition app that you want to run. When you move the TouchPad to a second touchstone you will notice that it loads up the stock clock exhibition app and not the previously selected Exhibition App, requiring you to choose the Exhibition app you want to run on this touchstone. Once you make that selection, you can move back and forth between touchstones and the TouchPad will remember which app was running on the each touchstone charger.

Read This: Infighting, dysfunction, and the revolving CEO door; Fortune examines HP under Léo Apotheker and Ray Lane

Derek Kessler — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:41:28 GMT

By now you know how we feel about former HP CEO Léo Apotheker and his reign. Many of the major players in the tech industry - Apple, Google, Microsoft - have charismatic CEOs that act as the sole and unchallenged leaders of their companies. HP is a little more traditional in the Fortune 500 sense, with a Board of Directors tries to stay involved in company business, though it seems that having several competing ideas leads to more drama than we had imagined.

Over the past few years everybody in the tech space has seen that HP's board has suffered from no small measure of dysfunction. They've had a revolving door of CEOs - Léo Apotheker's predecessor Mark Hurd had last just five years, and Carly Fiorina before him was forced out after HP's near disastrous merger with Compaq. The board had garnered a reputation of being a leaking sieve to the press, so much so that the chairman had at one point hired private investigators to examine the phone records of other board members and reporters (that ended with a publicly embarrassing trip before a Congressional committee).

But none of that compared to the brief reign of Léo Apotheker. Brought on in November 2010 after Hurd's ouster, Apotheker had no hardware experience and had been fired from leading a German enterprise software firm with revenue a fraction that of HP's. His tenure as HP CEO included the unveiling and launch of the HP TouchPad and webOS 3.0 (a project started by Hurd with the acquisition of Palm)., the cancellation of that very product, an ill-advised "exploration" of spinning off HP's PC division, a catastrophic drop in stock value, and his eventual firing by the HP board just eleven months after being brought on.

Fortune set out to find out just what happened, interviewing dozens of current and former board members, executives, and employees and examining confidential company and legal documents in the process. What they found is a broken company, struggling to repair itself, with a board full of infighting and open challenges and a chairman desperate to maintain his position while burying over the decisions he'd spearheaded.

Not for the first time, the news reached the press before the official announcement. On Sept. 22, Apotheker read that he was being fired and replaced by Whitman. He was flabbergasted. In a meeting that morning, Lane told him that he had lost the support of the board and every single member of the executive team -- including former SAP loyalists such as Homlish. Before the board, Apotheker was subdued, dignified and resigned. But he was incensed. He had fully consulted with the board on everything, he told friends. He'd trusted Lane to make the board a functioning one, but instead Lane had turned it against him.

Lane distanced himself from the disaster, blaming Apotheker. The man who'd been proud of HP's bold moves was now running as fast as he could from the word "transformation." It had, Lane said in a conference call with investors, "been stricken from our language." Asked in a CNBC interview whether the board bore responsibility for HP's chaos, Lane reacted defensively. "I'm going to give you an answer right from my heart, okay? In January, I added five board members to this board. This is not the board that was around for pretexting. This is not the board that fired Mark Hurd. It's just like open season to write about this board. It's not this board. This board did not select Léo, okay?"

It's a massively long read, but for those interested in just how bad HP got, and how far it has to go, we have to recommend that you head over to Fortune and check it out. It's a doozy.

App Giveaway: 50 copies of Pixelism

Derek Kessler — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:31:55 GMT

There are numerous ways to fool around and make art with your TouchPad. One of those ways is a fun app by Phantom App named Pixelism. As you might gather from the name, Pixelism is pixel art of sorts. With the app you can create from scratch or overlay on existing images your own art built from tiny little stamp-like shapes including squares, triangles, and stars - all in any color you so desire. Normally Pixelism would cost you $1.49 from the App Catalog, but thanks to the developer we have 50 copies to give away to you!

Contest: We have 50 copies of Pixelism to give away. Just leave a comment on this post to enter. Contest ends next Sunday at midnight US Eastern Time, after which time we will select 50 random entrants to win. Please only leave one comment, multiple entries won’t count. Promo codes are only valid in countries serviced by the App Catalog, and users must be running webOS 3.0.0 or higher with the latest version of the App Catalog.