Traffic Jam 2, a new Palm OS sequel to the original Traffic Jam has been released. Developed by Filipino software house eSoft Interactive and co-published with Astraware, Traffic Jam 2 has already been the recipient of some solid reviews in its Windows Mobile incarnation. As stated by the developer, the goal of the game is still the same: to get the yellow Beetle out of the traffic jam by moving vehicles out of its way in order to solve the congestion puzzle.

The Palm OS version of Traffic Jam 2 requires 1.2mb of available device memory. It runs on most 320x320 Palm OS 5 devices, with the notable exception of the older Tungsten T, T2, Zire 71 and Garmin iQue 3600 which have a limited amount of dynamic heap memory. A free limited trial version is available for download and the full version registration costs $9.95.

Following the recent sale of the company, eReader has reduced the price of the Palm OS Pro version of its eBook software by half to $4.95. The new registration price buys not only the Pro version of the app but a basic version of Merriam Webster's Pocket Dictionary containing 40,400 entries and a few free e-books as well. The free e-books are actually public-domain titles modified and formatted in the eReader format. They are the 9/11 Commission Report, H.G. Wells' sci-fi classic The Time Machine, and an eReader bestseller catalog sampler. The price of the add-on Agfa Font Pack, unfortunately, remains unchanged at $14.95.

On Sale VoiceDialIt FakeCall PalmaryClock Wireless for Treo Premium 639 + Ringtones + 65 Wallpapers Palm OS Click Deluxe 2 Personal Audio Recorder PRO NinerPaint ScaleMaster Hi-Launcher BuzzOff

New Software TreoPack 2008 1.0 DUDEN Deutsches Universalwörterbuch 8.20 MissedCall 1.3.4 RingerSwitch Pro 1.7.3 Earth Day (Palm OS) 1.0.0 Traffic Jam 2 (Palm OS) 1.0.0 PhoneLog 1.02 ScaleMaster 1.0 inCubus 1.00 Talking PONS Advanced dictionary Spanish 6.09

Updated Software Weather Manager 4.02 MobiForms For Palm 4.0 Highway Manager 3.05 Calculon 1.2 Stock Manager 4.57 ChordLab 2.4.2 DVD Catalyst 3.3 MSDict Oxford Crossword Dictionary 8.20 Mozart 3.5.3 MSDict Concise Oxford Thesaurus 8.20

Earlier this week we covered TreoCentral’s CES report that detailed the existence of an unbranded, pre-release white GSM Centro. Now an additional photo has surfaced from this thread on the TreoCentral forums and offers up a higher-quality look at an AT&T-branded Centro. This device is now about 99% certain to be the next Palm OS Garnet device announced from Palm, as Sprint's reported three-month launch exclusivity period draws to a close.

One of the only remaining unknown details is whether this will be marketed under the "Centro" banner as is the Sprint CDMA version or if Palm is going to call this the Treo 500p or Treo 690, as rumored earlier. As stated previously, I would not be surprised to see Palm split the line between Windows Mobile-based Treos and Garnet-based Centros in 2008 onward, similar to Palm’s own "Zire" and "Tungsten" sub-branding from 2002-2004.

Fictionwise has announced that it has acquired the eReader.com retail electronic book business unit from Motricity. eReader.com is one of the largest and longest-running eBook retailers on the Internet, with a large customer base and over 23,000 titles available from major publishers and authors.

The company formerly known as PeanutPress was first acquired by Palm Inc in 2001 and became part of the Palm Digital Media Group. It then changed hands to PalmSource after the spin-off and was then sold to PalmGear/Motricity in 2003 who would rebrand it as eReader.com in 2004.

One of the more pleasant surprises amongst new Palm OS entertainment titles of 2007 was Deluxeware's Zombie Attack, recently updated to version 1.10. This Zombie-busting game offers a mixture of action and strategy and is now at version 1.10 from its initial 1.0 release version. According to Deluxeware, a "bombs bug" has been fixed. It's also possible that support has been improved for the newest Palm OS device, the Centro, since the title's initial release. My PIC review of this entertaining little title can be found here.

In other Palm OS software news, Hobbyist Software has kicked off 2008 with a slew of updates to their line of Treo utilities. The great Phone Technician utility has been updated to version 3.0. Another Hobbyist utility, Butler, has just seen an update to 4.63. Genius version 1.44 is new, as is version 3.34 of Initiate and version 1.16 of Power Hero. Finally, Reset Doctor is now up to 1.90 and Rollover is up to 1.04. The PIC review of Phone Technician can be found here, and look out for a PIC review of Butler in the near future.

Palm's string of cameo appearances in major motion pictures continues. Palm's Paul Loeffler has posted a series of moblog photos to the Palm Corporate Blog from the premiere of the new comedy "27 Dressess". 27 Dresses stars Katherine Heigl, of Grey's Anatomy fame, as a lovesick single girl who is tired of repeatedly serving as a bridesmaid.

In our annual year in review article, PalmInfocenter takes a look at all of the major events that took place in the Palm world over the past 12 months. 2007 was a year of alternation and change to come in the world of Palm. After riding on a wave of Treo popularity in 2006, the year saw increased competition, internal discomposure and corporate recapitalizations.

Read on for our look back at the Palm Economy in 2007.

Recently the question of what to call Palm's next generation OS has been a source of confusion and commotion around the boards here at PIC. Members have so far been referring to it by a multitude of names and acronyms such as: Palm OS 2, POS II, POX, Palm's Palm OS, ALPOS, Palm's next-generation linux based operating system and even Palm OS Mobile Professional Ultimate Treo edition. So the need to have a single, proper way to refer to the new OS is crucial. Fortunately, PalmInfocenter has recently learned of the code-name being used around Palm Inc. from a reliable source.

The internal code name for Palm's next generation OS is Nova. The current release schedule being discussed by Palm management is to announce and get Nova out to developers in some form later this calendar year. I've heard reports from inside the company that Nova is presently being demoed and tested internally on an unreleased future Palm device code-named Zeppelin.

While Palm does not have an active booth presence at the 2008 CES, several Palm-related tidbits have managed to emerge from the show. The latest Palm-related report from CES further confirms the impending release of a GSM Centro running the Garnet OS. TreoCentral spotted a white GSM Centro at an undisclosed Palm accessory manufacturer's booth and has posted a brief summary of their findings. They managed to get a few minutes with the device and take some reasonably high-quality shots of the unit's keyboard as well as its battery compartment. One interesting fact from their brief hands-on time was that the GSM Centro's keyboard is slightly more angled than its CDMA brethren. No word as of yet if this going to remain on the production GSM Centro or if this is an older, pre-production mockup with a different keyboard design.

Pimlico Software, makers of the popular DateBk6, have released a new title for Palm OS. DbFixIt is a new utility that is designed to detect and repair errors in Palm OS databases. In particular, it knows the precise structure of the standard Palm OS and proprietary PalmOne PIM databases and can selectively repair those errors. In short the program is a lifesaver for corrupted PIM databases and hotsync issues. Pimlico says it will be of particular use to people who rarely sync with a desktop, or when your device has corruption issues. It seems to be based on the dbScan utility, which has personally rescued me from many hotsync issues before.

DbFixIt v1.1b is available now for all Palm OS devices running Palm OS 2.0 or later. It comes with a working trial and costs $12.95 to purchase. All proceeds go towards wildlife conservation and the Dewar's Gorilla Haven project.