Engadget is reporting late today that Matias Duarte is now employed at Palm and is part of the team driving the design and UI of Nova, Palm's next generation operating system. Matias was formerly the Director of Design, at Danger where he was responsible for the user experience and interface design. He also held a similar position at Helio.

According to his public LinkedIn profile, Duarte has been working at Palm since September 2007 and his own job description field is teasingly vague at quote "something new... :-)"

Palm has posted the first ROM update for the Treo 755p on Verizon. The update brings the device up to version 1.08. The update support page is pretty vague on specific details stating only:

This software update is a tune-up that improves the phone application, stability and device usability.

The update is only for use with a Verizon 755p. Palm Support says the update should take roughly around an hour to complete. The usual backups are recommended. Installers are available for all versions of Windows and a expansion card method is provided for Mac OS and other systems.

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.

Engadget has posted yet another set of prerelease Treo 800w information this weekend. This time around a series of Sprint spec sheet's reportedly taken from am internal training manual have been posted. There is little new information that hasn't already been disclosed, nonetheless the slides show a few new device angles (such as the new Micro USB 2.0 connector) and a fresh screenshot of the default home screen.

The device is now all but certain to be formally announced sometime around July 13th. The Treo 800w is set to run Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and will include a 320x320 pixel touchscreen, EVDO Rev A wireless, Wi-Fi (with a dedicated on/off button), GPS functionality, a 2MP digital camera and 128 MB of built in memory. Read on for a screen grab of the latest spec sheet and a recent rumor recap.

On Sale CorePlayer Mobile for PalmOS 1.2.5 MissedCall 1.4.1 Sudoku DeluxeWare 1.00 Penguin Panic 1.25 Click Deluxe 2 1.04 VoiceDialIt - Voice Dialing for your Treo 2.0 HealthCalc Pro 2.4.0 Navigator 1.482 Weather ( infinity subscription ) 1.00 Exact II 2.27

New Software AFK Dice Challenge 1.0 IEO-DVD Track 2.0 Handy Diary 4.0 MxWallet - Digital Password Manager for Palm OS 1.0.1 Twin Spin 2 (Palm) 1.06 Fried Chicken Reloaded (Palm) 1.1 Weather ( 3-months subscription ) 1.00 Weather ( 1-year subscription ) 1.00 Weather ( infinity subscription ) 1.00 Twin Spin (Palm) 1.06

Updated Software ScrapBook 1.15a ClearSync calendars & contacts software SILVER 2.0 ClearSync calendars & contacts software GOLD 2.0 Softick Audio Gateway 1.22 tumemos 1.1 PrettyMap Full 5.1 The Final Battle 1.1 mVisualVoiceMail 1.0.2 RDM+ Remote Desktop for Palm OS 3.7.2 mTools 1.0.4

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. 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 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."