Two days ago we told you that Angry Birds Rio is available in Apple’s and Amazon’s app stores, and now it’s announced that the game is to land on two more platforms – Symbian^3 via the Ovi Store and webOS via the Palm App Catalog on April 8.

As we informed you, the game is to offer 60 new levels and new nemesis – the pigs are replaced by some evil monkeys. That, reportedly, is a result of the fact that Angry Birds Rio is based on the upcoming movie RIO from Twentieth Century Fox, which is to make its debut in the theaters on April 15.

We don’t know about you, but we are most eager to watch RIO – if it’s only half as good as the Angry Birds games, then we will have plenty of fun come April 15.

source: Geek.com via Symbian Freak

Most recently, Germany O2’s variant of the Palm Pre 2 began receiving its webOS 2.1 update, but some wondered if the roll out would be expanded to other devices as well.

Fortunately, it appears that the case is so as unlocked versions of the Palm Pre 2 are also starting to see the official webOS 2.1 update. With it, owners can expect to find two specific new features that will come to be appreciated by anyone – these include Exhibition Mode and voice dialing.

First and foremost, the new Exhibition Mode is supported with native apps on the device like the time, photos, and agenda apps. However, it can also be enabled by certain third-party applications as well. Secondly, voice dialing surely took some time to come around, but it’s now finally accessed by simply holding down the volume key or holding on the phone dial pad. Furthermore, there are also some other bug fixes along for the ride to smooth out some security issues with the platform.

So if you’re sporting an unlocked Palm Pre 2, you can essentially get the update by running the update app on the handset.

source: HP via Mobileburn

In the very near future game creator Rovio will be releasing an update to the Angry Birds Seasons game with special levels designed for St. Patrick’s Day that includes the pigs wearing green Irish hats.

This edition of the game is called “Go Green, Get Lucky.” In the preview trailer posted at the bottom you will see that the levels more closely resemble that of the original Angry Birds than those found on other seasonal variations such as Valentine’s Day and Christmas. Guess you can only do so much with a St. Patrick’s Day theme.

The game should be available shortly considering St. Patrick’s Day is March 17. As always, the update will be free and will find its way to iOS, Android, WebOS and Symbian. Check out the trailer and tell us what you think in the comments below.

source: Slash Gear

Literally unexpected and out of nowhere, especially when HP gave little hope to it, but the Palm Pre Plus is surprisingly seeing light of webOS 2.1 – but it seems to be good only for O2 Germany’s model. However, that’s not stopping some people from taking it to other versions.

Right now, there is a new firmware package available for download for those sporting O2 Germany’s Palm Pre Plus – which interestingly enough will offer the most up-to-date webOS experience. Version 2.1 brings forth some highly anticipated features like exhibition mode, improved Synergy, new launcher, and stacked cards. However, it seems like Flash support is still missing in action. Furthermore, reports already indicate that App Catalog 2.0 is up and running as well.

And from the sound of it all, Vodafone Palm Pre Plus owners can safely install the software update as well without any worries about things dramatically going bonkers in the short term. Naturally, it’s nice to see this thing going very well for some people, but let’s hope that the update makes its way overseas to other markets.

source: Palm via PreCentral & Engadget

A new bookstore has opened and for many of you, it can accessed right from the palm of your hand. Google has launched its eBookstore in the U.S. along with apps for Android 2.1 or higher, and iOS 3.0 or higher. Other mobile products that will support the store include both the Nook and Sony eReaders. While currently Kindle users cannot access Google’s eBookstore, the Mountain View based company said that it is “open to supporting them in the future.”

The store opens with 200,000 books that can be purchased, along with close to 3 million free public domain books, and both totals will be growing in the future. Books that you start on one platform can be saved and opened up at the same place on another platform. The “store” can change between “day” and “night” looks with the ability to change font style, size and spacing. The prices for reading material range from $1 to $300 while new releases are priced from $10 to $15. The app will read only those books purchased from the Google eBookstore.

source: Googlebooks via androinica

Hewlett-Packard announced yesterday that it will move its multimedia and streaming unit MediaSmart Server into its Palm division to deliver better media and entertainment apps to newest versions of webOS.

“We’ll put the MediaSmart Server team’s multimedia and entertainment application experience toward developing the WebOS ecosystem,” Marlene Somsak, an HP spokeswoman, noted. The decision comes as no surprise after Microsoft killed support for multiple hard drives on a single server for its Windows Home Server OS recently. Drive Extender, as it was called, was one of the key features of WHS and MediaSmart relied on Microsoft’s operating system for its business.

MediaSmart Server was the team behind programs for remote streaming of media, as well as media collection and conversion applications. On the background of Apple’s recently launched AirPlay and AirPrint features, does this mean that we might see similar functionality in webOS soon? We could only guess, but we can be sure that media support will be better in webOS 2.0 with both Flash Player 10.1 and HTML5 for video streaming.

HP is pushing the effort in the mobile devices market as the sector grows in a quick pace and webOS could still compete as the third most popular mobile OS. Palm’s webOS is projected as a universal OS for not only smartphones, but also tablets and printers.

source: PC World

In case you haven’t noticed, all the past and present Palm devices, like the Pre, Pixi, and Pre 2, are based on a singular framework: a physical keyboard with a portrait screen. In preparation for the slew of new Palm devices coming in 2011, Palm has unveiled their new SDK (software development kit) that will accommodate the variety of new form factors.

The software, which was previously known as ‘Ares,’ will now be known as ‘Enyo’. The classics majors will know that Enyo is the sister of Ares, and the goddess of war. The most exciting feature of Enyo is its compatibility with the different Palm devices. The same app will be able to function on a traditional portrait/QWERTY device, a tablet, and a touchscreen-only device. You can check out the email app adapting to its frame at 15:55 in the video below.

Aside from its scalability, Enyo is reported to deliver significantly faster load times, which are supposedly about 1 second. The SDK will be available to developers in early 2011, likely soon before the launch of their new devices. Palm and HP are optimistic about their new offerings. When asked about the projected popularity of webOS 2.0, Palm said it would be far more marketable once there were more devices to showcase it.

HP currently occupies 10% of electronics shelf space. Palm’s Phil McKinney said that they plan “to play an important part of that shelf space.” It sounds like HP is making good use of their investment, and we couldn’t be more excited.
source: Palm (YouTube) via Engadget

HP’s webOS Developer Day in New York City proved to be quite eventful. Developer Advocate Josh Marinacci told the audience that webOS 2.0 will be coming to all webOS devices in the next few months. Of course, that is great news for owners of the original Palm Pre and Pixi models and their “Plus” follow-ups.

We can’t help but notice how the decision to update all of the older handsets results in the the opposite of that naughty fragmentation word that has been plaguing Android going back to the days of Cupcakes, Donuts and Eclairs.

Marinacci’s speech is on the video below, so if you want to hear the words for yourself, give it a play. And we just know that everyone is going to be patient and remain calm even though “the next few months” can run anywhere from December-January to next August-September or beyond. We don’t want to spoil a good thing, but as we have discovered with the Android updates, it is best not to put too much weight on specific targets based on time.
source: PreCentral

Loose lips sink ships goes the old saying, and passing along secrets about webOS 2.0 can sink a software developer. After someone revealed some secrets to PreCentral about a virtual keyboard for the next webOS build, Palm responded by freezing early access to the SDK. Obviously, the virtual keyboard is a major part of the design of the new OS and based on the tweet sent out by the manufacturer, Palm is a little perturbed. Developers shouldn’t expect to receive anything from Palm until Palm is good and ready to release it. In other words, developers have been grounded by Palm and sent to their room without dessert.
source: everythingpre

Palm webOS owners have something to look forward to, despite having some rather quiet happenings of late, as Facebook beta for webOS has been updated to version 1.3.1. Although there are no new notable features accompanying its release, Palm states that there are “some bug fixes and performance improvements” that are found with it. Overall, you can just expect to see a more responsive experience when using the app. On other webOS news, the official version of the Facebook app for webOS has also been moved up to version 1.3 – which essentially brings forth worthy features such as landscape viewing, filtered news feeds, and many more items. So if you’re more in line to sticking true with official app releases as opposed to checking out beta ones, then head on over to the App Catalog and catch yourself the latest download of the Facebook app.
via PreCentral