BEIKS has released a new TrueVoice Talking English - French Dictionary for Palm OS devices. Based on the popular bi-directional BEIKS English-French Dictionary for Palm OS, this product adds vocal pronunciations to over 21,000 common French words, recorded by a native French speaker. The dictionary includes over 60,000 French translations to about 38,000 English headwords. The program is also expandable with the large selection of other Beiks dictionary and language products.

BEIKS TrueVoice Talking English - French Dictionary v6.0 is available now for Palm OS 5.0 and higher devices. It comes with a fully function free trial period and costs $29.95 to register. The program requires a memory card to store the 55MB compressed data file.

RunPlan is an application for maintaining Training Plans on your Palm OS device from MarathonPeople.com. The app is geared towards runners and triathletes or anyone looking to get in shape or prepare for a running event. RunPlan will keep a detailed log and report of your training schedule so you can monitor and analyze your performance at a fine grained level. You can also store your favorite routes/courses and even import logs from select GPS devices.

RunPlan v2.3 is available now for Palm OS devices running Palm OS 3.5 and higher. It comes with a free trial version and costs $14.95 to register.

Whether a weight-saving or a cost-cutting measure, the flimsy plastic stylus included on most recent Palm smartphones is undoubtedly a sore spot amongst line-time Palm fans used to decently-sized metal styli. While I thought that the regression from my Palm TX to 700p to 755p was bad enough, Centro users really get the, ahem, thin end of the stick when it comes to cheap, thin, uncomfortable stock styli. Fortunately for me, I have a Treo 755p and that device's larger form factor (shared with the older Treo 680 and 750) permits a thicker, slightly more comfortable stylus as well as a wider variety of available replacement. Read on for a roundup of some of the more popular pen/stylus replacements available on the market.

PrettyMap v5.0 has just been released for Palm OS devices. PrettyMap is a powerful and fast GIS engine for PDAs and smartphones. The software lets you view vector and raster maps and images (such as country boundaries, cities, rivers, buildings, roads, satellite photos, digital elevation models and topographies), search in geographically-referenced data, visualize and analyze spatial information, download current weather reports and forecasts, display weather maps, edit your own simple maps and much more. You can even use maps of other planets such as Mars and the moon. New in this latest version if built-in synchronization of user maps, improved GPS support and various user interface improvements.

PrettyMap v5.0 is available now for $14.95. The program is shareware and comes with a 30-day free trial. There are a few different map packs and bundles available. The developer also has a number of free maps available.

The PIC Accessory store is now carrying a new Monaco Aluminum Hard Case for the Palm Centro. Monaco's Aluminum hard case is constructed from aircraft grade aluminum with a tough anodized finish and its interior is lined with soft, protective neoprene. The case has all the usual cutouts for access to the ports and keyboard and there is a crystal clear hard cover over the screen to protect from scratches, nicks and fingerprints. A 360 degree removable belt clip is also included.

The Monaco Aluminum Hard Case for Centro is available now for $24.95. It is available in silver and black versions. Shipping for most orders begins at $5.95 and comes with our standard 30-day 100% money back guarantee.

The Treonauts blog has published what looks to be a first look at an "official" extended Centro battery. Believe it or not, this new high-capacity battery comes not from aftermarket battery specialists Seidio but from Palm Inc themselves.

The new Centro battery offers a surprisingly robust 1850mAh of power but unfortunately at the expense of its slim size. This looks to be a "rumpshaker" battery in the grand style of Seidio's older 3200mAh offerings for the various Treo models.

Update: This new Centro Extended Battery kit is now on sale for $59.95.

MotionApp's impressive mOcean audio player has been updated. mOcean is a iPod emulating digital audio player for the Palm OS that also offers iTunes synchronization, skin and background support, live internet radio, podcast support, audiobooks and phone and video functionality. The program lets you browse and control music playback with an on-screen mini scroll wheel as well as the 5-way navigator. Some of the most recent updates include, improved stability, support for the Palm Centro, faster interface responsiveness and various internal improvements.

mOcean v3.2.1 for Palm OS is available for $29.99. A free trial period is included. You can also read our review of mOcean v3.0.

Palm Inc announced its third consecutive quarterly loss today. The company posted a $31.5 million dollar loss despite an all time record in smartphone sell-through. The success of the Palm Centro drove an increased number of smartphone shipments but its lower average selling price did little to help Palm's bottom line.

In the quarterly conference call, Palm CEO Ed Colligan remarked it was a tough quarter for the company but then went into his usual upbeat and optimistic look ahead as he briefed analysts and investors on the companies long term prospects. Read on for the full highlights.

Palm Inc. today reported that total revenue in the third quarter of fiscal year 2008, ended Feb. 29, was $312.1 million. Driven by strong demand for the Palm Centro, smartphone sell-through for the quarter reached a company record high, totaling 833,000 units, up 13 percent year over year. Smartphone revenue was $275.4 million.

"Centro is off to the strongest start of any smartphone in Palm's history," said Ed Colligan, Palm president and chief executive officer. "Centro's fun design, great price point and amazing array of easy-to-use features is expanding Palm's customer base with more than 70 percent of Centro buyers trading up from traditional cell phones."

According to news reports, Palm has launched the Centro smartphone in India. The Cento is priced at Rs13,990, and will be available at IT retail stores in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Pune, and Chandigarh. TechTree reports, Palm has associated with mobile networks like Vodafone and Airtel in India to widen its reach in the country.

Livemint.com has a few quotes from Olivier Rozay, regional director, Asia Pacific, Palm Australasia Pty Ltd. Rozay says "With the launch of phones such as Centro, which is priced at Rs13,990 in India, we now have a much more affordable product for Indian users." Previously Palm had been selling the Treo 680 there for Rs18,000.

Rozay also goes on to remark "We are also going to launch the next version of Palm operating system by end of this year, which will be more suited for our sleeker and better-looking devices."

Palm Inc. will report its Q3FY08 results tomorrow. The company will also hold its quarterly earnings conference call with investors and analysts. The call will be webcast to interested parties, details can be found here.

Of course, stay tuned to PIC for the details and highlights from the call. You can catch up on details from the last call here.