The shocking news yesterday that HP was halting development of webOS forced us to call an emergency Mobile Nations podcast. The news is sad to us but devastating to the many devoted fans of webOS out there. While HP has left the door open for the OS to be licensed, the future does not look bright. Many fans that purchased a Touchpad only a few weeks ago will be searching for a new platform. Android, iOS, BB7 and WP7 are the major players that will try to persuade the webOS users wandering out there to make the leap. Whenever you transition to a different platform, there will naturally be growing pains when learning a new OS. If you happen to choose Android, we want to make the transition as easy as possible.

Here's another simple one that's buried too far down in Gmail's settings. You can change the size of Gmail's text, if you're so inclined. Just hit the menu button, the choose More, then Settings. Then choose which account you want to change the text size on. Tap "Message text size," and pick your poison.

We have no idea why this isn't a global setting, and you instead need to choose which account you want to change size on. But at least it's an option, right?

Installing applications from the market is one thing, but keeping them up to date with the most current  version is a whole other piece. Most developers are constantly working behind the scenes to improve their applications, and every so often they drop a new version for us all in the Android market, and installing them is quite important. We are lucky enough to have the ability to have our applications auto update in the market now, but not everyone is a fan of that. Personally I like to read the change log and see what exactly has been improved, or if the developer has any notes regarding the update. For me, I update manually, and here is how.

1. Launch the Android market
2. Press menu, then select my apps
3. Next to each app requiring an update it will say "update" in orange or green (depending on if you have the new market)
4. Tap the app, then click update (if there are multiple apps requiring update the top will have an "update all" button

See, keeping your applications up to date is quite simple, and something you should try to do often. There is no need to check the market every hour, but once a day or so should be sufficient to keep yourself all caught up and all your applications performing at their maximum potential.

Nothing worse than losing your tablet, right? And you want to do anything you can to get it back, right? Here's a simple little tip: In Honeycomb, go to Settings>Location and Security. You'll see a little "Owner Info" box, and the option to display your owner info on the home screen.

You can put anything you want in this space as a little message to someone who might find your tablet. Say, "Hands off, you dirty thief." Or, "Hey, thanks for finding my tablet. Don't turn around." Or maybe just an "If found, please e-mail ..." message. Whatever floats your boat.

Point is, it's an easy way to possibly get your tablet back in the event that you lose it. One thing, though. As you'll notice in the example above, make sure you're using a lockscreen background that'll let the message shine through.

Have you ever tried silencing all notifications, noises, beeps and pings on your Honeycomb tablet? You can try the volume buttons all you want, but sometimes, sounds still slip through. In fact, if you're not really paying attention to the three locations from which you can do it, chances are you'll only be turning off some of the notifications rather then them all. Here is how you do it:

• Go to Settings, then sound then volume (You can also hit one of the volume buttons, then press the sound icon on the screen)
• Slide each of the three sliders all the way down
• Go to Notifications and set you ringtone to silent
• Go to Feedback and un-check 'Audible selection' as well as 'Screen lock sounds'

After that, your honeycomb tablet will be completely silent. Such odd settings and somewhat confusing for those who want things to be totally silent. One would think that disabling the volume alone would do the trick but it doesn't. However, now you know.

As if using a 10-inch tablet wasn't glorious enough, did you know you can make the browser take up the entire screen? The image above features the browser's "Quick controls", which extend from the side of the screen to give your thumbs easy access. You've got all your basic controls -- forward, back, stop, tabs, bookmarks, etc. -- and can easily get to all of the normal menu items.

To enable the Quick Controls, in the Honeycomb browser go to Settings>Labs and then check "Quick Controls." Reverse it to go back to normal. But we don't think you'll want to.

So you downloaded an application that you thought would be so cool, you know one of those hundreds of fart apps, but then you realized it wasn't so cool and wanted to get rid of it? Luckily Android makes managing applications very easy, and there are a few simple ways of removing applications.

For applications installed through the market, simply launch the market, press the Menu button and then select My Apps. Click on the app you wish to remove, and then click Uninstall.

Another way, which works for market installed apps, and sideloaded applications is through the system menu.

1. Go to your devices settings, then applications
2. Click on manage applications
3. Click on application you wish to remove
4. Click uninstall and then confirm

A third way works on some third-party launchers, and even some stock software builds. Try holding down on an app icon (either in the app drawer or on a home screen). When the trash can appears, drag the app over it and hold it there for a second. If you see an "Uninstall" pop up, let go, and it'll uninstall that app.

Easy as pie.

Rather have a 24-hour clock instead of a 12-hour clock? Or have the day appear before the month? Changing time and date options are very easy, and can be done on the fly. By default these options are set to be 12 hours and a MM/DD/YYYY style, and the time is set automatically by your carrier. To take complete control of these settings simply launch your settings, then scroll down to Date & Time settings. Unchecking the automatic will give you the option to manually change the date, timezone and actual time, along with the option to use 24 hour time and selecting the date formatting. 

Cupcake, Gingerbread, Froyo, Android 2.3, Android 3.1, oh man it can be so confusing to know what OS you are running with all these different names and references. Luckily, checking out what OS version your device is currently running is a breeze and can be done at any time. Follow a few simple steps and you will know exactly what your device is running, so let's take a look.

1. Open your devices settings
2. Scroll to about phone
3. Look for line which says "Android Version"

Now, understanding what those Android version numbers really mean is a whole other thing, but we got you covered there as well. Take a look here to gain a better understanding of the different flavors of Android, along with some of the differences between them all.