On July 1st, California will be joining Connecticut, Illinois, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington State and Washington D.C, by implementing a hands-free requirement while operating a motor vehicle. The new law prohibits the use and handling of mobile phones while driving. Talking while using hands-free devices, such as Bluetooth headsets, will still be allowed for those over the age of 18.

The Stanford PalmPilot User Group meets at 7 pm on the first Tuesday of each month; the July first meeting will feature the Spugly Award for the Worst Palm OS Software Ever. The first nominee is Paragon/Penreader's SlovoEd dictionary application, for its chunk over-locked crashes and robotic technical support responses. Spug members are encouraged to demonstrate their own nominees for the Spugly Award at the meeting, and to show technical support responses which fail the Turing Test. Readers of PalmInfoCenter may also suggest nominees in the discussion forum.

Palm Inc. announced their fourth consecutive quarterly loss today. The company posted a fourth quarter loss of $43.4 million. In its conference call Palm blamed the loss on lower average margins, its continued transition and declining sales of its aging Windows Mobile product line. All the news was not negative and increasing Centro momentum drove significant gains in market share and record smartphone sell through for Palm. The company also announced it will be refreshing its entire Windows Mobile line utilizing Microsoft's latest offerings over the next few months.

Palm, Inc. has just reported that its most recent financial quarter followed the same pattern its last few quarters have: the number of its smartphones sold continues to increase, but because the average selling price of these devices is dropping, revenue is down.

Palm, Inc. today reported that total revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008, ended May 30, was $296.2 million. Smartphone sell-through for the quarter reached a record high, totaling 968,000 units, up 29 percent year over year.

"We continue to invest in Palm's future and remain focused on building long-term value," said Ed Colligan, president and chief executive officer for Palm, Inc. "Centro is a tremendous hit, we are gaining market share, and we believe with this momentum, and the launch of new Windows Mobile products, we will turn the corner and return to revenue and margin growth."

CellSpin Soft has released a Palm OS version of its mobile blogging software. The CellSpin application allows users to easily post video, images and text content to one or many of a user's favorite blogging, social networking, photo sharing and auction sites simultaneously. Sites include MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Blogger, YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, Live Journal, Live Spaces and eBay, with more to come.

CellSpin for Palm OS is a free app. The company lists compatibility with the Centro, Treo 680, 755p and 700p. In addition to Palm OS, CellSpin also supports the Symbian, Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0 and Blackberry operating systems.

As foretold, Google has released a new version of its Google Maps for Mobile application for Palm OS devices today. The most anticipated new feature, the "My Location" service is only compatible with the AT&T and Verizon Cento at this time. The Sprint Centro will be made compatible via a software maintenance release expected sometime later this summer.

Palm OS Treo devices are apparently not compatible with the new feature and Palm has no plans to release and update for these devices. Google's blog post states "older Palm models such as the Treos don't have the APIs needed to get the cell tower data, so My Location is not available on these models."

In-Fusio, the developers behind the Advanced Brain Trainer series and Line Rider Mobile, have released a new game for Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices. Twin Spin 2 is the follow up to original Twin Spin title. Billed as an ultra easy one-key game, the title features very simple and addictive gameplay. You control a pair of spinning balls and you have to navigate around colorfully designed levels in order to pop various balloons to advance to the next level.

Twin Spin 2 is available now for Palm OS and Windows Mobile. The game costs $7.95 and includes a free trial period.

Palm, Inc. is now offering an unlocked version of the Centro, it's most recent Palm OS-based smartphone. Unlike other versions of this device, it can be used with any wireless carrier that employs the GSM standard.

Palm has sent out a press release today jointly announcing the new unlocked GSM Centro as well as a new version of Google Maps with the My Location feature enabled. The "My Location" functionality on Palm OS will only be compatible with the Palm Centro according to Palm.

Google's My Location feature is a GPS SatNav like feature for Google Maps Mobile that automatically displays your approximate location. It works by triangulating your position based on the feedback from nearby cell towers that you are connected to. The feature originally debuted in beta for Windows Mobile devices late last year, and Palm pledged to support it on "newer Palm phones."

Palm today has made an unlocked version of the Palm Centro available on its website in the US. The unlocked GSM version is available in Glacial Grey (white casing with a light grey accented keypad) for $299. Palm is listing a 1-2 day estimated ship date and is currently offering free shipping on all orders over $49.

The Palm Centro is a quad-band GSM/EDGE smartphone running Palm OS Garnet v5.4.9. It has a 320x320 pixel touchscreen display, Bluetooth v1.2, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera with video capture and 64MB of memory. For memory expansion it has a microSD slot.

After a good amount of time in beta testing, Deluxeware has released v1.0 of its new Weather application for Palm OS devices. Weather is a personal weather station that can show you current conditions and 14-day forecasts for nearly anywhere on the globe. A rich set of graphics, custom backgrounds, auto updates and a added, skinnable "weather-guard" lock screen addition make give this app a few unique touches. The program also support high-res+ on large screen handhelds.

Weather v1.00 is available now. It is compatible with Palm OS 5 and above. The program is sold on a subscription basis. The infinite subscription is available for $19.95 (currently on sale for $17.95 for a limited time). A one-year subscription is available for $14.95, and a 3 month for $4.95.

The Palm Centro has gathered a following in the United States, and now Rogers Wireless has taken care of the Canadian launch of this Palm OS smartphone.

Trying to do it in a Pocket PC game seems almost impossible, yet that is exactly what Palm Heroes set out to do. On top of that they are doing so without the help of the large game design studios which is quite a feat by itself. ...

Garnet VM is an emulator that puts a virtual Palm OS handheld on Nokia's Internet Tablets, allowing them to run Palm OS applications. Antoine Wright brings us a review of this software.

The PalmInfocenter software store is running a new special promotion. This Thursday and Friday only, you can get a free copy of the Propel Launcher for Palm OS with any purchase over $4.99.

Propel for Palm OS Standard edition from iambic Software is a multifunctional launcher replacement that supports launching apps, finding contacts, appoitments, memos, web bookmarks, digital audio and even files stored on a memory card. Recently updated to version 2.2 the software is a popular launcher replacement for Palm OS smartphone users.

This popular application normally sells for $14.95 but for two days only, this Thursday & Friday, June 19th & 20th we're going to give away a free copy with any purchase over $4.99. To take advantage of this offer use the coupon code: PropelFree at checkout.

Geodesic has released a new version of its Mundu IM software. Mundu IM is a feature rich mobile instant messaging client with support for AIM, MSN, ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk and Yahoo IM services through a single, interoperable user-friendly interface. Version 4.10 adds full support for the Treo 755p and Centro devices, support for AIM/MAC accounts, offline messages in AOL and ICQ, "resources locked in background mode to avoid random crashes", auto-reconnect fixes and a number of performance tweaks and bug fixes.

Mundu IM v4.1 supports Palm OS 5.2 and later and Windows Mobile devices. The program can be purchased for a one-time charge of US $11.00 and there are no per message fees. There is a free fully functional 5 day trial period.

The third-party project to add support for high-capacity memory cards to Palm-brand handhelds is proceeding apace.

iambic software has released version 2.2 of its Propel launcher application for Palm OS. Propel is a multifunctional launcher replacement that supports launching apps, finding contacts, appoitments, memos, web bookmarks, digital audio and even files stored on a memory card. Version 2.2 includes new features such as support for contact pictures, option to assign custom icons to applications, support for category icons and related integration with Icon Manager. Various improvements are included as well, most notably an overall rework of memory management aimed to enhance performance and stability.

Propel Professional edition retails for $24.95 and comes with a free trial version. A standard edition, without voice-dialing and mp3 features, is available for $14.95.

FontSmoother for Palm OS has just been updated. FontSmoother enables you to display smooth (antialiased) custom fonts on your Treo, Centro or PDA. It works across nearly all applications on Palm OS 5 devices with 320x320 or larger screens. FontSmoother includes a number of free smooth fonts and comes with a utility that enables you to convert Windows TrueType fonts. This version includes a few minor updates and fixes including Euro character support, a few display fixes and a new font download button.

FontSmoother v2.3 sells for $12.95 USD. There is a free, fully functional 8 day trial, after which all smooth fonts default to their non-smooth versions until registration is completed (except in a few select bible applications). The program was recently featured in our Five Tips to improve the Blazer Web Browser article.

Palm and Rogers Wireless today announced the Canadian launch of the popular Palm Centro smartphone. The Canadian Centro is available in Cobalt Blue and sells for as low as $199 CAD. The Centro is Palm's smallest and lightest smartphone to date and has sold more than one million units worldwide.

The Palm Centro is a quad-band GSM/EDGE smartphone running Palm OS Garnet v5.4.9. It has a 320x320 pixel touchscreen display, Bluetooth v1.2, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera with video capture and 64MB of memory. For memory expansion it has a microSD slot. You can find our original Centro review here.

One of Palm's older smartphones may be getting a new lease on life. If an unconfirmed report is correct, Verizon Wireless and Palm will soon release a Windows Mobile 6 upgrade for the Treo 700wx.

TouchLauncher is a new Palm OS Launcher that aims to emulate the feel of the iPhone home screen. It supports the usual grid of apps that you can launch with your finger and adds sliding panels of additional icon screens, support for iconsets and wallpapers, web and contact shortcuts and the ability to drag and drop icons so you can arrange them how you see fit. The app will even display the number of unread messages in the messaging app. You can checkout a video clip of TouchLauncher in action after the break.

TouchLauncher v.1.1.1 is available now for devices running Palm OS 5 and higher. This latest version even adds support for 320x480 screens on Palm handhelds. The app comes with a free trial period and costs $6.99 to purchase. Smartphone users can download the app from your device here.

Franklin RF-8130 768K Palm Style Touch Screen PDA is by far the best quality! It’s superior to anything else like it! I highly recommend it.

Palm has released a new Palm OS native facebook client. The free application provides access to the Facebook social networking service on your Palm smartphone. The program allows you to respond to messages, upload photos and video from your device, and receive status updates. You can also update your status on the go, browse your friends' profiles and send out new friend requests.

Facebook for Palm is compatible with the Palm Centro, Treo 680 and 755p devices. If your device is not compatible you can always visit the Facebook mobile site at (m.facebook.com). Users can download the app on their device by visiting mobile.palm.com/facebook in your mobile browser.

Astraware has just released Bubble Babble, a new aquatically themed word game for Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices. Astraware bills the game as a undersea bubble-bursting brain teaser. Players must link together letter bubbles to form words and impress Wordsworth Smartygills - your friendly fishy host. You score points for each word you make and are rewarded for more complex and unusual words. The game has four different play modes and increasing levels of difficulty. There is also a multiplayer option and a word of the day feature.

Bubble Babble is available for smartphones and PDAs running Palm OS 5 and above, and Windows Mobile Professional, Classic and Standard devices running Windows Mobile 2003 and later. The game is priced at $19.95, but is currently available for $9.95 with a limited time new release discount. A free demo is included.

Palm has quietly released a new ROM update for Treo 755p users on the Alltel network. Alltel's version of the Treo 755p comes in sleek all-black color scheme and was released after the device's debut on Sprint but prior to Verizon's 755p launch late last year.

Palm has not released any details or posted to their blog about the availability of the Alltel 755p ROM update, other than saying that: "This software update is for a phone reset issue that occurs under certain specific and rare conditions." The Alltel 755p ROM will be at version 1.03 after successfully completing this fix and all 1.02 ROM users should install this update.

TechCenter Labs (aka Gary Mayhak) can always be counted on to release clever and affordable accessories for Palm devices, such as the add-on bud microphone for Palm handhelds lacking integrated voice recording.

This time around, TCL has released a nifty new emergency charger for all Palm devices utilizing the Athena/MultiConnector plug type. The new TCL charger joins the existing TCL USB charger and utilizes either a conventional AA alkaline throwaway battery, a NiMH rechargeable AA or a higher-capacity disposable lithium battery such as this type (.pdf link) offered by Energizer for specialty photo applications. The chargers have built-in circuitry to give the correct voltage required by Palm devices so as not to over or under-charge their batteries. TCL are offering a total of four variations of the charger: $9.95 for the charger in silver or black without a battery and $10.95 for the charger in without or black and bundled with a disposable lithium battery included.

Palm Desktop 3.0 or later; Pocket PC 3.0 or later; ActiveSync 3.1 or later. Desktop PC: Windows 95 or later; 32 MB available RAM;

WMExperts has gotten some additional information regarding the Sprint Palm 800w running Windows Mobile Professional. The device blends the form factor of the Treo and the Centro line to create a slimmer, more modern profile.

According to WMExperts, the Treo 800w will be launched on Sprint for around $250 on a two-year agreement after instant savings and rebates. The device will launch on July 13th. The pricing should put the Treo more competitive with offerings like the BlackBerry and the oft-rumored next generation iPhone from Apple which may get carrier subsidies making it slightly less expensive than the the first generation release.

The 800w is said to have a micro-USB connector for charging, synchronization, and sound output with a converter to a 3.5 mm for headphones. Also on deck is WiFi (a first for any Treo), GPS, 320 X 320 touchscreen, and Bluetooth. The device will use the same 1150 mAH battery as the Palm Centro.

The Treo line of phones is one of the few widely-available phones running Windows Mobile and has a candybar QWERTY keyboard. Other devices include the Samsung i780 which so far has only seen a European release, ...

With an imminent release rumored for July on Sprint, the floodgates of Treo 800w images have been opened. Starting with a now-pulled Sprintusers forum post and quickly spreading to other sites, several new leaked spy shots clearly show what appears to be a production version of the Sprint Treo 800w. While still substantially less sleek and stylish than the GSM 850, the 800w does look nearly identical to what the earlier pre-production leaked photos suggested.

An additional forum post from someone who claims to be a Sprint employee is suggesting that the device will debut on July 13th on Sprint, with a final price of $250 w/ 2 year contract and after an undisclosed amount of mail-in and instant rebates. Read on for further pics and details.

One of the biggest compromises entailed by the Centro's relatively small size relative to its Treo brethren is the reduced battery life. With only a small 1150mAh stock battery, the Centro offers the smallest stock battery of any Palm smartphone yet, less than the 1200mAh of the older Treo 680 and 750. Palm did briefly announce, release, and then almost immediately EOL their own branded extended battery earlier this year.

Fortunately, longtime Palm accessory specialist Seidio, suspiciously silent on the Centro battery front, has just announced an extended battery designed exclusively for the Palm Centro. While this new offering from Seidio unfortunately doesn't fit under the stock battery door, it does offer a whopping 2600mAh of power (an increase of almost 40%) while remaining the same approximately physical size as Palm's 1800 mAh battery. For comparison purposes, 2600mAh is the capacity of the largest Seidio battery that fits the stock battery cover of the Treo 650 and 700p/w/wx.

The normally slow summer season has really been showing some surprising signs of life on the Palm OS front, as updates to a number of classic Palm OS apps have recently been released. Now an entirely new version of the premiere Palm OS call recording and voice memo app, CallRec, has been released by developer QMobilSoft.

Calling this latest build of CallRec an entirely "new" version worthy of the 6.0 moniker might be a bit of a stretch. Version 6.0, dated June 1 2008, appears to be the recipient of only two primary new features. Both of these are security-related, as file encryption and password-protection of recorded files from within the app now make their appearance. Despite a lack of whiz-bang new additions, version 6.0 of CallRec looks to continue the strong showing of the already excellent 5.x version.

Deluxeware have just released a new version of their recently-released Golden Skull game for Palm OS devices. Developed by DeluxeWare and co-published by Astraware, GoldenSkull is an interesting-looking Palm OS title along the lines of Astraware's own Bejeweled. It combines puzzle gameplay with an adventure storyline set amidst the background of Mayan archaeological exploration. Fans of the new Indiana Jones might find this a very appropriate title to check out in an otherwise slowing market of new Palm OS entertainment titles. The title's first update since its release less than two months ago, adds four difficulty levels alongside the usual list of small, unmentioned bugfixes.

Golden Skull - Saeed's Adventures v1.10 is available now for Palm OS and Windows Mobile. It costs $14.95 and comes with a free trial period. The game supports all Palm OS 5 320x320 devices and, refreshingly, 320x480 handhelds.

ShSh Software has released an update to its TAKEphONE software. TAKEphONE is a enhanced contact management application, designed to improve and simplify your contact management phone call operations. It facilitates stylus free operation and one-handed dialing, enhanced search capabilities, as well as telephony features, such as calling-card support, extra digits dialing on all contacts, Internet phone number search and much more. This new version adds improved graphics and skins, a new clock display, an updated 4cast plugin and many more improvements.

TAKEphONE v7.60 for Palm OS is available now for $19.95. This update is free for previously registered customers and a free trial period is available.

Despite recently releasing a version of Pocket Tunes for Windows Mobile-powered devices, NormSoft has not forgotten their loyal Palm OS user base. A new version of the Pocket Tunes audio player app has been released by Normsoft for all Palm OS Garnet devices.

Pocket Tunes Deluxe sells for $37.95 and a free trial is available. A basic version is also available for $19.95, which omits the support for online music stores. You can read my earlier review of Pocket Tunes 4 here.

The longstanding champion of Palm OS digital audio players, Pocket Tunes, has now been ported over to Windows Mobile. NormSoft has just released a version of Pocket Tunes for Windows Mobile 5 & 6 Pocket PC and smartphone devices. The software includes all the features from the Palm OS version including a Pocket Tunes Sync application for iTunes for Windows PCs, a built in streaming radio catalogue, support for Napster, Rhaspsody services and the usual MP3, WMA, AAC, and aacPlus file support.

Pocket Tunes for Windows Mobile debuts at version 4.1. It is available now with a 15-day free trial period. It costs $37.95.

PC World reviews the Palm Centro (AT&T) and writes, “The Palm Centro is an attractive option not just for Palm devotees but also for anyone seeking an inexpensive smart phone with a QWERTY keyboard. Previously, we tested a Centro ...

StyleTap Inc. has announced plans to release a version of its Palm OS emulator for the iPhone and the iPod touch, which will allow over 20,000 currently-available mobile applications to run on these devices.

New numbers from IDC on the first quarter sales of smartphones shows Palm took 13.4% of US sales, up from 7.9% in the previous quarter. However, Palm is down substantially when compared with the same period last year when Palm had 23% percent share of US smartphone market.

Strong Centro sales are credited with boosting Palm's numbers this quarter. However, IDC analyst Ramon Llamas attributes Palm's yearly declines to strong sales of the iPhone and RIM's expanding reach into the "prosumer" segment. There is more on the report at CNNMoney.

Toyspring has released Bike or Die! 2, the sequel to its popular bicycle simulation game for Palm OS devices. In Bike or Die 2 players pedal a Physics-based bike simulation through cleverly designed obstacle courses consisting of varied terrain such as hills, rocks, snow and caves. The game has a unique gravity and feel to it as you attempt to maneuver through each course without destroying yourself. The new version features much improved graphics with added textures and a more 3D-like levels, background music, customizable bikes and player profiles.

Bike or Die 2 for Palm OS is available now for $14.95. A free trial is included. You can checkout a video clip of the game in action after the break.

Mark/Space has released updates for its Missing Sync software for Palm OS and Windows Mobile. The software provides enhanced Mac OS synchronization for each respective platform. Updates for the Palm OS version v6.0.4 include fixed Yojimbo sync issues, support for the latest Centro models, SMS and Call Log application fixes and other minor fixes. The Windows Mobile product is up to v4.0.3 and includes a number of updates detailed here. Highlights include improvements under Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, increased performance of devices mounted on the desktop and improved bluetooth connections.

The minor version updates are free for most recent customers. To get the update, select Check for Update from the Missing Sync menu in the application.

Access Co., Ltd. has released a new version of its Garnet VM, which allows users of the Nokia N810, N800, and N770 to run thousands of off-the-shelf Palm OS applications.

ShSh software has released a new version of its popular 4cast weather browser for Palm OS. 4cast downloads weather information from the Internet and displays it in a nice palm native interface. It supports 5-day forecasts for multiple cities, weather maps and alerts. 4cast can also be used as a plugin for 2day, DateBk6 and ZLauncher. This update includes support the new yahoo weather format, enhanced skinning support (now compatible with TAKEphONE skins) and other miscellaneous improvements and fixes.

4cast v1.90 for Palm OS is available now with a free trial period. It costs $9.95 to register the full version.

Astraware has published a new racing game for Palm OS and Windows Mobile. GTS World Racing is the sequel to the popular GTS Racing Challenge first released over five years ago. The game was developed by Pazzazz Games.

GTS World Racing offers 64 track layouts across 16 worldwide locations - from snowscapes to dusty deserts; 3 car types to choose from each with their own handling characteristics; and 4 difficulty levels from Easy to Extreme. There are four game modes including: Single Race, Challenge Cup, Grand Tour and Championship.

Australia's APC magazine has published a new article with a few recent comments from Palm CEO Ed Colligan, As we have become accustomed to whenever Palm talks about the "new OS" Colligans comments are high on hype and hyperbole, yet completely bereft of any serious new details. The article summarizes some of the recent news around Palm, including the recent debut of the Centro in Australia, with a hint and tease at what is expected to come next.

The overall interview comments continue to recycle Palm's usual talking points about the new OS and the companies position on its current competitive situation. Colligan talks about how by executing on their own system, it will allow them to create more compelling solutions, saying "We think it's going to be stunning and breakthrough in its execution, and we're working on some very exciting new devices to go with it".

Standard & Poor's is the latest Wall St firm to put out another pessimistic outlook on Palm's near term financial prospects. S&P analyst Todd Rosenbluth has just changed his rating on Palm from Hold to Sell citing Palm's current competitive situation and the larger economic climate.

Todd stated "We believe PALM is more exposed than peers to any fluctuations in its business or the economy, which has proved problematic given PALM's weak Q2 and Q3 FY 08 (May) results. Even with recent handset model launch, we believe PALM's ability to gain market share in the high-growth smartphone market will be limited by new offerings from competitors."

Standard & Poor's is the latest Wall St firm to put out another pessimistic outlook on Palm's near term financial prospects. S&P analyst Todd Rosenbluth has just changed his rating on Palm from Sell to Hold citing Palm's current competitive situation.

Todd stated "PALM's ability to gain market share in the high-growth smartphone market will be limited by new offerings from competitors, While we think new management will provide improvements, we expect a turnaround to take time." (via Tech Trader Daily)

Pocket PCs can fit in your pocket and Palm OS PDAs can fit in your palm. But, what do you do if you want a Palm or Pocket PC that can fit on your...

The Boy Genius Report published some new specs for the Tro 850, which may change again upon release. However, as it is, the unit looks nice:

-14 mm in thickness, width 60 mm and length 113 mm
-GSM, EDGE and UMTS HSDPA 3.6
-aGPS
-Wi-FI b/g
-320×320 screen, touch panel
-micro-SD slot under the battery
-2 MP camera
-1500 mAh battery
-A micro-USB connector for both power and sync
-Bluetooth 2.0 EDR + A2DP, 256 MB NAND-Flash (> 175 MB for user), 32 MB SDRAM
-Windows Mobile Pro 6.1

Before, it was rumored that the unit will have 100 MB RAM.

A live photo from Engadget Mobile is shown below. The unit is a touchscreen Windows Mobile Professional device and will have the keyboard mirror that of the popular Palm Centro.

It looks like the screen will be flush.