Palm releases its own app store. So what?

In the year since Palm released the Centro as an attempt to revive its lagging business, I've barely heard a whisper about new applications or energy for the Treo and Centro lines. Yet late Monday night, the device maker released its own app store download for Centro and Treo users to more easily access the applications.

The arrival of Palm's free app store--for both Windows Mobile and Palm operating systems--was undoubtedly spurred on by the success of Apple's iPhone App Store, Google's Android Market, and the upcoming BlackBerry app store that's slated to debut in March.
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GizmoCall tries to make cheap VoIP calls easy

A new low-cost voice over Internet Protocol service started by serial entrepreneur Michael Robertson promises to provide cheap phone calls without requiring any software to be downloaded.

The service, called GizmoCall, launched this week. Unlike Skype, which requires users to download a software client to use the service, GizmoCall is Flash-based, requiring nothing more than a browser. Users simply go to the Web site, sign up for a username and password, and start making calls.

Just like other VoIP services, the allure of GizmoCall is that it provides free and low-cost calling. Free calls can be made to other GizmoCall users and to Gizmo5 users. Gizmo5 is a version of the same service that requires a software client and also provides other features, such as instant messaging.

But what is cool about GizmoCall is that it also allows users to make free calls to toll-free numbers and Session Initiation Protocol addresses. SIP is used to enable telephone calls to be made over the Internet. Using a SIP address, which consists of a username and domain name, enables people to make and receive phone calls all over the world. Services like Net2Max provide SIP addresses and can even help people forward SIP calls to their Skype user accounts.
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New TouchFLO on the old Touch

You may have read a while back that HTC updated its TouchFLO interface for the original Touch device, making it look and feel similar to the new Touch 3G. We wondered how the new interface will feel on the Touch since it has a slower processor and less RAM--in essence, can this old product really handle the new tricks of TouchFLO? Rather than speculate, we got hold of a sample unit to try it out for ourselves.

When you turn on the device, you notice that it looks exactly the same as the Touch 3G. For details on how we liked the interface, read our detailed review of the Touch 3G. The difference we really wanted to see was the speed, whether the 200MHz TI processor and 128MB of RAM on the Touch can handle the extra goodies afforded by the new TouchFLO.
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Coveroos take your phone very personally

Wish you had a snazzier-looking phone to go along with that Vivienne Tam notebook?

A new product called Coveroo lets you turn your looks-like-everyone-else's BlackBerry into a Homer Simpson tribute--or a nod to Madonna, AC/DC, The Beatles, snowboarding, Gucci, snowflakes, your cat, dog, kid, crush...

Coveroos replace the original back cover of a mobile device--the removable part that hides the battery--with a customized plastic or metal cover featuring laser-created artwork. The covers start at US$19.95, and depending on their complexity, can generally be etched and ready to snap on within half an hour.

The product, which officially launches Monday, already got some attention at the October 31 BlackBerry Bold launch party in Los Angeles, where celebrities including Eva Longoria, Dustin Hoffman, and Mario Lopez held up their Coveroo-ed phones for the paps to snap.

We non-celebs can now get a crack at more than 250 designs from brands such as Star Trek, Family Guy, and Barbie (please, for your own sake, keep that latter design out of the boardroom). You can also submit your own original design. A few Coveroos made the rounds here at Crave, with the general consensus being that they look cool and untacky once on the phone and would make for a fun little gift--if you're willing to shell out 20 bucks.
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Palm to preview Nova OS and first device at CES

It's been a while since Palm has caused a stir, but the company certainly has people talking with its planned January 8 CES event. As CNET News reporter Tom Krazit reported last week, it's expected that Palm will preview its new operating system, codenamed Nova, at CES 2009, and the rumors look to be true based on new information from a Business Week article.

According to Peter Burrows at Business Week, Palm will unveil Nova and the first of a family of products in Vegas, but it's not looking to go after the iPhone or BlackBerry. Instead, Palm Executive Chairman Jon Rubenstein said the goal behind Nova is to create a flexible platform that supports a number of customer needs and to create products that bridge the gap between work-oriented BlackBerrys and the fun-oriented iPhone. Before joining Palm, Rubenstein was the senior vice president for hardware engineering at Apple.
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