Previous reports claimed that Verizon had purchased a 50/50 mixture of Pre Plus and Pixi Plus units for a total of 400,000 devices. I was told last week by a Verizon support rep who had just finished training on webOS that they had "closer to a half-million" due to a greater-than-anticipated Pre demand. If the 600,000 unit report is correct, than Verizon could be planning on giving WebOS a greater push than originally anticipated, especially given that two new Verizon Pre Plus Valentine-themed ads that have been plastered all over primetime television lately (here and here). Additionally, Verizon is still running their "buy one webOS phone, get a free Pixi" promotion.

Secondly, Dmitry Grinberg has posted several updates to his DGOS blog since our last report. The latest news for his project is that USB mass storage compliance is coming to the Palm TX and T|E2 NAND issues have been sorted out. Most encouraging of all is the news that he is hoping to give a UI demo soon for DGOS. DGOS is Mr. Grinberg's ambitious effort to create a new Palm OS-compatible OS for scratch. His current list of target devices includes the TX, LifeDrive, and Tungsten E2.

Some of the major new features include support for AUPT (aka auto update patch technology) for easier system updates, an update checker and many other new options and bug-fixes.

webOS Quick Install v3.01 is freeware and currently available here. It is a Java based application which runs on both Mac, Linux and Windows machines.

EcoTopical melds more than 50 of the web's most popular eco news sources in a real time, news stream style layout. Categories include green news, climate, design, ecology, lifestyle, polices, tech and transportation. The site offers ecology enthusiasts an easy to follow, scannable format for staying on top of all the days eco topics.

NesEm is said to currently run over 300 original NES games. It supports four channel sound, game saving, automatic speed adjustment, key config control and anti-aliased image smoothing.

NesEm is currently available in demo form via PreWare or the developers site. It is closed source and costs $9.99 for a license. The demo is restricted to roms under 40k and has a time limit.

The VisualBoyAdvance project is a work in progress and currently features close to parity with GameBoy and Gameboy color games. Gameboy Advance games are mostly playable but are said to still have some speed and compatibility issues. The emu features support for touchscreen and keyboard custom controls, landscape orientation, sound, a rom browser, saved states and even skin support.

The app (currently at v1.1.1) is available now via Preware. It is released under the GPL v2 with the full source code available as well. Scope a video of VBA in action after the break.

It's been four years since the last major piece of news from Palm and Verizon in January, which was the Treo 700w launch on January 5th 2006. Yesterday marked the occurrence of an event that many (yours truly included) feared would never take place: Verizon launched not one, but two new Palm devices and both are currently Verizon exclusives. Palm fans that refused to jump ship to Sprint now finally have the opportunity to grab a webOS device on a second domestic network.

Not wanting to miss any of the launch excitement, I accompanied my boss to the local Best Buy to grab a Pre Plus. He's a long-time Treo owner, having used a Treo 600 since its launch on Verizon in 2003, and was clinging dearly to his Centro. I convinced him to take the plunge to move to a webOS device since his Centro wouldn't last forever and he was yearning for a device with a larger, higher-resolution screen. Besides, I told him he might as well learn to cut the cord and embrace the cloud. Best Buy was the natural choice as a purchase destination, due to the retailer's customer-friendly policy of eschewing the hassle of mail-in rebates. Read on for a full report on the in-store experience, as well as the device migration process and my initial impressions of the Verizon Palm Pre Plus.

The standard Sprint Palm Pre and Pixi sell for $549 and $399, while the Pre Plus sells for $599. While this is a nice option for developers and customers, prospective purchasers must still pay the full unsubsidized price, and the CDMA devices seem to still be locked to their respective carriers. As of today, there is still no domestic unlocked option or a US GSM model offered at this time.

Built using HTML5, the site lets users make calls (with the GV number as the outbound callerID), send and receive SMS messages for free, manage your voice mailbox and place international calls using Google's discounted rates.

The site works in the standard Palm webOS browser and can be accessed at voice.google.com.

The new price points gives the Palm Pre away for essentially nothing with a three year contract agreement, while 2 year commitments will put it in your mitts for $99 CAD. The no contract option remains unchanged at $599.

Interestingly enough, a search of palm.com brings up a still-active product page for the CDMA Treo Pro in Alltel and Sprint flavors, along with links to purchase an unsubsidized version of either handset. Users seeking an unlocked GSM Treo Pro can still purchase a new unit from Dell for $179.99 with free shipping as well as from Amazon.