In early December, Palm is set to launch its App Catalog to showcase third-party applications for its WebOS devices (the Pre and recently-launched Pixie). Whilst the App Catalog may be later to the party compared with Apple's all-conquering App Store, we're on the lookout for the latest and greatest WebOS applications for your Pre and Pixie handsets.

So, if you're a WebOS developer working on an application, we want to hear from you! To get in touch with us about your apps, simply drop us a note via our Tips form -- or send press releases to the address listed on our About page.

If you're one of the folks sporting a Palm Pre, it's time to check for updates as you'll want to grab the WebOS 1.3.1 update that dropped over the weekend (at least for Sprint customers in the US).

Whilst there's no new applications, the update (which weighs in at 126MB) packs a tonne of features and improvements that you'll probably want add, including support for Yahoo! as a synchronization account.

That's not all, either, as PreCentral has discovered a list of extra undocumented changes that are included in release - and Facebook have launched an embarrassingly barebones application for the Pre that requires the 1.3.1 update.

If you're elsewhere in the world, the launch of the 1.3.1 update will depend on your carrier - in the UK, where I'm based, O2 are reported to be launching the update towards the end of the month.

[Via Engadget]

By now, iPhone users who haven't jailbroken their devices have learned that they can't get an app unless it goes through Apple's approval process and reaches the iTunes App Store. A new eBook reader called Ibis, planned for iPhone, Android and Palm's WebOS, plans to get around Apple's restrictions. How? Simple: it's a web app. You can access the reader from your browser, and your books are stored offline using HTML5.

It doesn't seem like there's much Apple can do about that, unless they want to start blocking web apps on their device. Unlikely. So, you can enjoy your DRM-free books in ePub format to your heart's content, and even buy new ones from Ibis' bookstore. You'll be able to sync books and bookmarks across devices via the cloud, too. Ibis isn't launching for "several months," but it could be a real winner if it looks as good as it sounds.

[via Daring Fireball]

One of the first things you'll want to do with any smartphone is get your bookmarks set up in the phone's browser. It can be a real pain to add them one-by-one, though, so it's a lot easier if you can just import them from the browser on your computer. Fliq Bookmarks lets you do just that, assuming the following: 1) Your browser is Safari, 2) Your phone is a Palm Pre and 3) You have the Missing Sync, a Pre-specific media-syncing app for your Mac.

Fliq seems of limited use, although it does sync your toolbar bookmarks from Safari. Really, bookmark syncing should be a feature of the $30 Missing Sync app, not a standalone app. Also, how many Safari users have a Pre instead of an iPhone? Feel free to flame me in the comments if I'm wrong, but it seems like if you're one of those folks, you're probably in the minority.

[via Appscout]

Not even two weeks after Apple's iTunes 8.2.1 update removed iTunes syncing capability from the Palm Pre, Palm has announced an update to webOS that adds several features and restores syncing. A few of the new features are business-oriented, including improved Exchange AccessSync support (remote wipe, PIN/password improvements, and better certificate handling). webOS 1.1 also includes "person reminders" that pop up a message when a person calls you, making sure you remember things you wanted to talk to them about.

Of course, the main thing that's going to be reported about the webOS update is the ongoing tussle between Apple and Palm over iTunes sync. Pre owners and Apple fanboys are now waiting to see when the other shoe will fall and Apple will disable syncing again. Just in case that happens, Pre owners might want to check out a third-party app that can handle syncing for the device.

In what will no doubt become another game of device authentication tennis, Palm webOS 1.1 fixes what iTunes 8.2.1 tore asunder: sync with the Pre. Yep, 1.1 is hot off the networks and ready for a hefty 87MB download. I like how Palm's notification states "We'll download it over the next couple of days when your device is idle and a high speed network is available." There's that background magic at work! Your move, Apple.

Oh, apparently there are bugfixes and fancy things like remote wipe and auto-lock added in this update. Like you care while syncing all those torrented episodes of The Office, right?

[via PreCentral and Engadget]

When Apple updated iTunes to block the much-anticipated iTunes syncing feature of the Palm Pre, some of us at assumed it was just a matter of time until a third-party developer added it back. Salling Media Sync, an app that already had quite a few useful features, now does Pre-to-iTunes syncing, too. Salling Software admits the update was specifically designed to appeal to Pre users who feel burned by Apple's update.

Salling Media Sync can transfer photos, podcasts, playlists and music to a variety of phones. Along with the Pre, it supports a ton of Nokia, Sony, and HTC devices, as well as the Blackberry Bold and Blackberry Storm. There are Mac and Windows versions, and they both requireiTunes 7.6 or newer. Salling Media Sync is free, with faster syncing if you buy a license for $22.

Yep, time to fire up the code editor of your choice and get crackin' on that explosive "app market" the mobile space is all abuzz about. It seems Palm finally had enough of the paltry offerings in their App Catalog for the Pre and opened the SDK and documents to any fool crazy enough to write a list app, tip calculator, etc.

Palm's blog post about this momentous occasion offers some dates for webOS meetups and conferences, handy if you're trying to get up to speed fast. Or, you can go straight to the Palm developer center, cleverly called webOSdev (camel caps, radical!) and get the SDK and documents yourself.

While I am clearly dubious of Palm's efforts, coming late to a party they practically started and having failed so many times before (and in some of the most spectacular ways ever seen in consumer electronics), in the end I really am hoping they can nurture a strong application environment. Choice is good, and Palm still has a lot going for it. I also hope the developers for Pre find what they are looking for. Will their app catalog burst with over 50,000 apps in a year? Time will tell.

What apps would you write for webOS?

The Palm Pre smartphone featuring Palm's new WebOS operating system may not be available to the public just yet. But the company released an emulator to select developers working on applications that will run on the operating system. And the internet being what it is, said emulator wound up in the hands of some folks who have been willing to record demos of various features in WebOS and post them on the internet.

Over the last few days, a member of the PalmPreForum going by the name of "invisible man" has posted more than 20 videos showing everything from the WebOS web browser to the built in PDF viewer. You can also get an overview of the contacts, calendar, search, and phone applications as well as a first look at applications like YouTube, Google Maps. There's even a video dedicated to the copy & paste feature.

You can check out a few videos after the break or check out more videos at the PalmPreForum YouTube channel.

[via Engadget]

Palm did an interesting thing with the upcoming Pre smartphone: The company scrapped its old operating system and started from scratch. The new webOS is prettier, easier to use, and more focused on modern apps like web browsers than PalmOS.

The problem is, there are more than 30,000 PalmOS apps already out there. And by building a new operating system from the ground up, Palm was kind of telling loyal fans of some of those programs not to bother upgrading until (or unless) the develoeprs of those apps issued updates. Because webOS wasn't going to run them.

But now Palm has announced that MotionApps is developing a program called "Classic" that will allow WebOS users to run older PalmOS apps. The software isn't part of the operating system, and customers will have to buy it separately. But it should be available for purchase as soon as the pre launches.

Because Classic is an emulator, older PalmOS programs won't be able to access the core webOS functions. I assume that means if you decide to that you prefer the classic contact application to the new one, you won't be able to use it to initiate phone calls.

PalmOS emulation company StyleTap has also said that it's considering developing a version of its software for webOS.

[via Uneasy Silence]

I find it a little funny that TealPoint, makers of some truly awesome software for Palm's now-decrepit Operating Systems of days gone by, whipped out a launcher called TealOS that pretty much apes the WebOS that will supposedly "save" the bacon of the beleaguered handheld company. You know, Palm, the people who, after Apple dropped the ball, ran the PDA into the end zone back in the 90's?

See, if you out-innovate a company like Palm, you're going to get smacked with a cute "stop it" from someone's legal department. In this case, TealPoint has been told in no uncertain terms to stop distributing copies of TealOS (you can see it in action in the video above -- until Palm lawyers tell YouTube to pull it). Lucky for you lovers of fine software, you can get this rare vintage until Monday, March 30, 2009. My condolences to the families of the engineers who are going to burn some midnight oil "to try to get as many bug fixes and requested improvements in as we can" before Monday.

According to Engadget, a Palm rep had TealOS on a Pre at one point and seemed pretty stoked about it. Chalk that up to ignorant bliss, I suppose, as someone at Palm wasn't quite cool enough to grok how awesome this tool is -- especially if you are NOT rocking a Pre. Yeah, the Pre, the phone we don't know exactly when it will appear or what it will cost (but we do know it'll be a Sprint-tastic exclusive). Maybe this isn't funny. Maybe it is sad that Palm feels so threatened by such a tool (which only mimics the app launching portions of WebOS and doesn't provide a framework for creating applications) that they have to crush it. It's sadder still, as TealPoint's outgoing message on their tealtalk forum says "the program's success came at a badly needed time." Sound like the crashing economy and plummeting Palm marketshare has been unkind to them. Good thing they've got a friend like Palm in their corner, right? Yeah.

When Palm announced that the company's next phone would run a new operating system called WebOS, it probably should have been pretty clear that the company was severing its ties to the now-antiquated PalmOS. But just in case it wasn't, Palm CEO Ed Colligan made it official today: The company will not be releasing any more devices with PalmOS.

The mobile operating system may have been hot stuff back in the days when people routinely carried around PDAs that didn't double as cellphones. But Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Apple's mobile version of OS X all outperform PalmOS in key areas.

Moving forward, Palm will be focusing on WebOS development. What does that mean for the thousands of free and commercial applications that were developed for PalmOS? It means they won't run on newer Palm devices unless the developers issue updates or you use an emulator like StyleTap.

[via Techmeme]

While we're still waiting to find out whether StyleTap will bring its PalmOS emulation software to the new Palm Pre, the company has officially launched a utility for Symbian S60 series phones that allows users to run thousands of Palm applications.

The Symbian version of StyleTap has been in closed beta for a few months. The company says the program supports more than 30,000 apps designed to run on PalmOS devices. There's also a version of the program for Windows Mobile phones and PDAs.

StyleTap is available as a 14 day free trial so you can find out whether your favorite Palm apps work. A full license will set you back $49.95, which may seem like a lot of money, but it's much cheaper than purchasing a spare Palm III to carry around in your pocket in addition to your phone.

[via Palm InfoCenter and Symbian Guru]

If you haven't been hiding under a rock (where there's usually pretty poor mobile reception), you probably know that Palm announced a new phone and a brand spanking new operating system at CES last week. The company's new WebOS shocked a lot of folks by actually looking pretty awesome.

The new OS is based on Linux, has an entirely new UI, and includes some nifty zoom, transition, and fade effects. And unlike OS X on the iPhone, WebOS allows you to do basic things like copy and paste or cycle between running tasks without closing one.

But there's one thing that WebOS won't do: run older PalmOS applications. Since WebOS was built from the ground up as a new operating system, it's not backward compatible with earlier Palm operating system. And that means that instead of having thousands of applications ready to go on day one, Palm will have a few dozen.

But there may be a solution for folks who are addicted to older Palm apps. StyleTap is a company that makes a $50 PalmOS compatibility utility for Windows Mobile devices. The company has also expressed interest in developing a version for the iPhone and for Symbian phones.

Now Brighthand reports that StyleTape could be headed to WebOS as well. According to one of the company's founders, building a WebOS version of StyleTap is certainly doable, but he says that Palm will first need to rlease a set of C/C++ APIs as part of its SDK. That hasn't happened yet, but if those APis become available, StyleTap could provide access to thousands of older Palm apps on newer Palm devices.

Palm has taken a cue from Apple and launched a dedicated store for PalmOS and Windows Mobile applications. Sure, there were already plenty of places to purchase and download Palm and Windows Mobile applications, but the new Palm App Store which is powered by PocketGear lets browse, search, and find applications while using your mobile device and download them with directly to your phone or PDA.

The new app store has about 5,000 applications at the moment, and more than a thousand of them are free.

Palm is expected to launch a new device at CES in January that may run the next generation of the company's operating system, which to be honest is a lot more exciting than a new application that lets you download thousands of PalmOS and Windows Mobile applications, most of which have been around for ages.