TreoCentral member Dbetts has posted an interesting series of instructions on how he modified his Treo 755p so that its integrated camera was completely removed. Presumably, Treo 750 owners can follow the same steps to modify their devices as well.

Dbetts used a Hong Kong-sourced 750v shell to provide a very clean and professional-looking appearance. The camera lens is absent in the attached photo and a simple "Palm" logo resides where the camera lens once protruded.

Astraware and Sandlot Games have released the new Tradewinds 2 game for Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices. Based on the highly-acclaimed PC game, Tradewinds 2 has been developed by Astraware for mobile devices. Tradewinds 2 is a game of Far East trade and pirate adventures and offers players a brand new adventure based in the exotic seas of the Caribbean. Building on the trading fun of the first game, Tradewinds 2 features 20 all new ports to explore, new ships and weapons to buy and upgrade, new goods to trade in, and a brand new feature - tasks to complete for honor and reward.

SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm OS is now out of beta and version 1.0 has been officially released. Combined with the Slingbox, this solution enables users to view their own live television and entertainment media on the go via the Treo 755p or 700p smartphone. Sling says that other Palm OS devices may work as well, and encourages users to try out the trial version.

SlingPlayer Mobile is available now for $29.99 and $34.99 CAD respectively and includes a free 30-day trial.

As noted in our report from last weeks Palm quarterly conference call, Palm CEO Ed Colligan gave the first rough estimate as to when to expect the next generation operating system. Its release has not been delayed or postponed as a few other outlets are reporting, as Palm has yet to comment on release timing or provide any concrete specifics about the new platform.

In response to a question on broader platform strategy and new operating system development efforts Colligan answered:

Well, in general a new platform strategy I think that's, next calendar year is the timeframe. We are not going to get in to specifics on that. I think the reality is we will deliver some new smartphone products through the rest of this calendar year on both our Windows Mobile and Palm OS platforms. And product based on the new Linux-based platform that we are working on, that won't be until some time next year. [...] We are not waiting for next generation platform developments to deliver some great new products.

Palm has updated their recently redesigned support page to reflect a new downloadable PRI update for Treo 700wx devices on the Alltel network. In Palm's own words, "The Alltel 700wx PRI Update is designed to improve the performance and reliability under certain roaming conditions and when using the 3-way calling feature. "

Palm's support page gives instructions for downloading the small 131kb update OTA (over the air) directly to the 700wx's version of Internet Explorer Mobile.

Verizon Wireless has announced that all of its CDMA 1x Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) network nationwide has been enhanced to Revision (Rev.) A technology. According to Verizon, users with compatible EVDO Rev. A equipment (no current Verizon Treos) can expect average download speeds ranging from 600 kbps to 1.4mbs/s. Coupled with average upload speeds of 500 to 800 kbps provides a significant boost over the existing 1x and EVDo speeds.

The recent release of the latest update to Qmobilesoft’s CallRec program, version 5.0, contained a number of crippling bugs for users of the various Palm OS Treos. Many users (myself included) reported spontaneous crashes and endless reset loops that could only be cured by completely deleting version 5.0 or reverting back to an older version. Since the program defaults to auto-record incoming and outgoing calls on the Treo, this could lead to disastrous results for nearly all users of the program.

Fortunately, Qmobilesoft has responded swiftly to their customers’ concerns with the quiet release of version 5.1 of the program. Initial testing on a Verizon 700p shows a significant improvement in stability and recording performance with none of the spontaneous reboots or crashes that plagued the earlier version.

In what may be a sign of the rollout of the EDGE Evolution network upgrades reported a while back, or confirmation of our rumor report from earlier this month or simply just a fortuitous conicidence, Engadget Mobile are confirming that AT&T wireless users are indeed seeing a drastic improvement in their throughput speeds. According to the article, some users are even reporting speeds in excess of 200kbps, which represents a considerable improvement from the usual slow speeds of the 2.5G EDGE system.

While it's likely that any recent network tweaks or speed improvements have been made to try and placate the hordes of new iPhone users starting today, others of other GSM devices such as the Treo 650, 680, and 750 will also see this boost as a particulawrly positive result of the halo effect the iPhone is having on the industry in general. (via MobilityBeat)

Palm Inc today reported its fourth quarter fiscal year 2007 results and held its quarterly conference call with investors and analysts. Palm's CEO Ed Colligan went over the results and provided updates on Palm's business strategies and future products.

Read on for my summary of the call and notes from the call.

Palm Inc today reported that total revenue in its fourth quarter of fiscal year 2007, ended June 1, was $401.3 million. Smartphone sell-through for the quarter reached a company record high, totaling 750,000 units, up 43 percent year over year. Smartphone revenue was $344.2 million, up 14 percent from the year-ago period.

Rumor: A new posting on the Unstrung site claims that Palm's Treo Wi-Fi team has dropped "some or all" of its members during the recent round of layoffs. One source has told the blog that the entire WiFi team has been "decimated":

"A further industry source says Palm cut senior staff members, including the leader of the WiFi program and another senior engineer project manager. "From our perspective it would be fair to say their WiFi technical team was decimated," the source says."

UPDATE: More detail on the recent layoffs was discussed during Palm's recent conference call.