Hungry to earn a buck, many programmers are making apps for the two leading mobile platforms: Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android OS. But a few developers say they feel luckier playing with the underdog: Palm.

“I made some of the crappiest apps for the Pre, and Palm is giving me $1,000 for each,” software programmer Pete Ma (right) bragged to Wired.com last week during a developer conference, adding that each of his five apps took less than an hour to code.

Ma submitted five apps to Palm’s Hot Apps challenge, a contest designed to attract developers to the comparatively diminutive WebOS platform serving apps to Pre and Pixi customers. The incentive? A $1 million prize pool rewarding up to 221 apps based on their ranking. The top-ranked app will win $100,000, the next 20 apps will earn a $20,000 reward, and the subsequent 200 apps will win $1,000 each. Currently, the top-ranked app in the competition is Pandora, a popular music-streaming service. Ma says his apps are in the running for the smallest of the awards.

Full Story: Wired

The rule would effectively prohibit developers from using third-party code to create iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch apps that can easily be converted into apps for competing platforms including Android, Windows Mobile and Palm’s Web OS. Apple’s new policy also prohibits third-party analytics tools from being inserted into apps, which could make it impossible for competing ad networks to serve advertisements on the iPhone OS. Incidentally, Apple just introduced its own in-app ad platform iAd. This is another point of concern for antitrust authorities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Not a single source cited in these reports has spoken on the record about the matter, and the FTC and Justice Department declined to comment to us about the state of any such investigation. Both agencies have dealt with technology antitrust issues in the past, and according to the New York Post, which broke the story, they plan to announce an investigation in a matter of days (even though the FTC never announces that it is investigating).

Full Story: Wired

Palm Inc. a pioneer in the smart phone business that couldn’t quite make the comeback it needed, has agreed to be bought out by Hewlett-Packard Co. for about $1.4 billion in cash.

The two Silicon Valley companies announced Wednesday that the deal will see HP pay $5.70 for every Palm common share and certain preferred shares. Palm had closed trading Wednesday at $4.63 but traded as high as $18.09 in the past 52 weeks. In after-hours trading, Palm shares jumped $1.25, or 27 percent to $5.88 — meaning some investors were willing to bet another suitor will step forward. HP shares dipped 35 cents to $52.93.

Full Story: MSNBC