It has been a glorious day for Palm Pre owners and webOS fans. The App Catalog finally contains apps for purchase, bolstering the future of webOS app development as developers can make some money for their apps and consumers can enjoy higher-quality apps. Not only are there a plethora of paid apps now in the App Catalog, but free apps have also been added. As you can see, the counter stands at 125 apps and growing. These are humble beginnings, but now the floodgates are hopefully open wide and webOS fans have an ever-brighter future to look forward to.

source: mypre

Adobe made promises about Flash support coming to webOS before the end of the year, and now we have a demonstration of Adobe Flash 10.1 running on a Pre as evidence that this may come to pass. Adobe Flash is integrated into webOS and offers multi-touch support, orientation support, and even saving its current state in the background while running other apps so system sluggishness can be avoided and battery power saved. Developers can participate in public beta testing of Flash 10.1 by signing up here. Take a look at the video below.

source: palm webos

For the time being, Palm’s latest webOS update, 1.2.1, weighing in at 38MB, addresses issues with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, adds photo albums to Media Sync, and continues the cat-and-mouse game with Apple by repairing the broken iTunes sync. Maybe Apple will quickly push out an incremental update that breaks the sync again? We hope not, but until that day comes, enjoy the restored iTunes sync-ability.

Following are the rest of the official updates:

New applications
NONE

Feature changes to existing applications
Email

Resolved an issue where after installing the 1.2.0 webOS update some customers running Exchange 2007 could no longer synchronize with their Exchange account for Email, Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks.

System

Resolves an issue preventing media sync from working with latest version of iTunes (9.0.1).
Media sync now synchronizes photo albums, maintaining the album structure in the Photos app.
Media sync now allows for synchronizing photos without requiring the full-resolution originals. This provides faster display of high-quality full-screen images and enables users to store more photos on the phone.

Web

Resolved an issue where if a user tried to play streaming music or video, the media stream might drop out or have a long delay before starting.

Security

This release implements several security fixes, including the following:
Addresses a security issue encountered by webkit developers. This issue did not impact end users.

Individuals interested in contacting Palm to report suspected security issues can find more information at palm.com/security.

source: mypre.com

Friday just wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have a rumor to run through the mill, and this rumor just may possibly be more fact than fiction. The Palm Pixi will allegedly launch in Sprint corporate stores and Best Buy locations on October 20th, less than three weeks from now.

We have no word on pricing yet, and with the Pre falling in price over the last few weeks, it will be very interesting to see how pricing plays out on the Pixi launch. Sub-$100? Free with contract?? The pricing is purely speculation on our part, but hopefully we’re not far off. Anyone interested in a Pixi?

source: BGR

Welcome back to ye old Rumor Mill & Speculation. According to CoolSmartphone, Palm is cutting back and laying off some staff in the U.S. This is unconfirmed and should be taken with a grain of salt, but since Pre sales topped out in August at 375,000 units and the price has spiraled downward, there could be some truth to this rumor if Palm needs to trim down and remain viable.

It seems like Palm’s strategy as the “comeback kid” will require surviving long enough to move from the introduction of the webOS-based Pre, then the Pixi as they move from Sprint exclusivity to other carriers like Verizon and AT&T. Our sister site, PhoneArena, has some insightful comments on this rumor as well. According to CrunchGear, Palm is NOT laying people off but merely “better aligning” their staff. It’s not uncommon for a company to add and subtract personnel with the ebb and flow of their sales cycle and the economy in general, but we all know that Palm has had some tough times and if this rumor is true, it means they are still a long way from being out of the woods.

source: PhoneArena via CoolSmartphone and CrunchGear

The e-book has become a part of everyday life with the advantages of using no paper, being able to lug around a library of books in your pocket, and the benefit of paying a little less dough for a new release rather than dropping $20-30 bucks for the hardcover. You may be familiar with eReader.com, an extremely popular e-book site that offers e-book readers for several mobile platforms so you can read on the go. We’ve learned that eReader will soon be coming to the webOS platform and we are delighted. According to eReader:

We are currently in the process of porting our reading software to the Palm Pre platform, webOS.  However, we cannot announce a release date at this time.  Any announcements about new releases of our software will be in future issues of the eReader.com Newsletter.

Even though no promise date is given, it’s great to know that it’s in the works and that webOS users will soon have the popular eReader on their Pre, Pixi, etc.

source: precentral.net

First we learned that Verizon would get the Pre after Sprint exclusivity ended. Then, the rumor mill started cranking and we heard that Verizon was going to pass on it. Not true. Now that this silliness has been straightened out, we are learning that Verizon may get a revamped Pre – possibly with more memory, even a microSD slot and a slightly larger screen with quality improvements. It’s exciting enough to know that Verizon will be getting the Pre after all, but the pot is certainly sweetened if their Palm Pre is new and improved. We’ll keep our ear to the ground on this one and report if we learn anything further.

source: examiner.com

Along with the release of the webOS version 1.2 update, Palm has also unveiled the Mojo Software Development Kit 1.2 for developers. The importance of developers having this new SDK includes keeping the development environment in sync with the new OS version on the handheld device as well as the emulator ROM and Mojo Framework matching the updated webOS software. The updates include:

• Improved installation and development platform support.
  The Mojo SDK now supports Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), Windows 7 Beta (32- and 64-bit), and Windows Vista 64-bit. We’ve also addressed a number of configuration and installation issues that you’ve reported – thanks for your help in tracking these down.
• New and improved SDK tools.
  Debugging your app should be much easier thanks to the new palm-log tool, which can display or tail your app’s log output — including JavaScript syntax errors and runtime exceptions. The v1.2 SDK also includes a new webOS Resource Monitor (WORM) tool to help you monitor your app’s memory usage and an updated Palm Inspector with improved reload functionality and reliability.
• New and enhanced APIs.
  There are a handful of new APIs in the latest SDK, including perhaps the single most popular request: the new Download Manager API lets apps download and upload files over HTTP.

Developers can download the updated SDK right here.

source: palm

It’s always a treat to see something alongside the little yellow-and-red-bowed gift-wrapped package: a new webOS update from Palm. Palm webOS update 1.2.0 is now ready to go, so swipe over to the update on your Palm Pre and get busy downloading the update.

There’s lots to list on this new update, so rather than list page after page right here, you can read up on all of the goodies right here at Palm Support. Before you make the jump, though, you will want to know that it’s unfortunate that this update does NOT fix syncing with iTunes. So, if you have an iTunes version previous to iTunes 9, it may be best to hang on to it for a while in the event that a fix for syncing should come.

source: everythingpre

PhoneNews and LetsTalk are combining to make it possible to get a new Palm Pre for the low, low price of FREE after rebates and cash-back. Time is very limited, so you must act fast. According to phonecashback.net, this offer is running until September 30 at 5:00PM. Also, you must be a new Sprint customer – current customers seeking an upgrade are not eligible. To sweeten the deal, LetsTalk is throwing in a couple freebies: a charger and a Bluetooth headset. The following instructions are available on phonecashback.net.

source: phonecashback.net