Palm is making things a lot easier for app developers creating new apps for webOS.  Slated to be available by the end of the year, Palm unveiled and demonstrated Ares at the Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco. Developers will be able to use Ares to write webOS applications through a drag-and-drop interface, with a particular focus on Web app developers transitioning to become mobile developers.

Since Ares is web-based, no downloading or configuration will be required. This is good news as it should spur more app development and bring more apps to webOS users.

source: everythingpre

Although we knew that games are in development for the Pre, it seems the webOS platform still has a long way to go until it is ready to support high-quality graphics and complex gameplay elements, such as the ones found in certain games for the iPhone (let alone the 3GS). The main reason for this, as iPhone dev Craig A. Hunter states, is the web-oriented environment provided by the current webOS SDK beta, which got available some days ago. Actually, the biggest problem is that as of now, developers do not have access to OpenGL, although the Pre supports it. In addition, the current 4 Hz sampling of raw accelerometer data seem to be pretty insufficient, compared to the required minimum of 20 Hz for accelerometer-controled apps.

Have no fear though, as PreCentral has got a Palm job listing unearthed, revealing that the company is seeking for a Game Frameworks Engineer that would help improve the platform’s gaming capabilities. With that said, we should also point out that Apple also didn’t have the breathtaking visual up and running right from the start.

source: here and here

via