There has been yet another Palm Treo sighting in a major Hollywood motion picture. This time around, the Treo 700p makes a cameo in the new gross-out pregnancy comedy "Knocked Up".

In the film directed by Judd Apatow (of "The 40-Year Old Virgin" Fame), Katherine Heigl plays Alison Scott, a rising television celebrity news channel star who accidentally becomes impregnated during a drunken one-night stand with an unemployed slacker played by Seth Rogen.

Heigl's character is seen using a Sprint Treo 700p in several scenes of the film. The 700p's native camcorder app is used to full effect to capture the events of the pivotal night's drunken revelry. Unlike most films where unrealistic CGI is "pasted" onto a device with lesser capabilities, the video is realistically grainy looking and the the UI of Palm's camcorder app is shown. "Sprint" and "Palm" branding are both displayed prominently during this sequence.

Hobbyist Software has released a major update to its powerful smartphone optimized launcher Initiate. Initiate makes it possible to find contacts, programs and bookmarks with ease right from your home screen. It is also a customizable launcher that lets you assign application tabs, play audio from the home screen, send an sms, create & launch shortcuts to apps stored on a memory card and provides a drag and drop interface to manage your device. The new version 3.0 adds a host of new features and functions. Initiate has been updated with a whole new look, new status icons, new plugins, enhanced scrolling and much more.

Initiate Pro retails for $24.95 and there is a free trial available. There is also a standard version which leaves out a few more advanced features for $9.95.

Gizmodo has posted another update to the recent rash of new Palm Treo rumors. Still leaked from an anonymous Sprint source, this latest report reveals a solid set of improvements over the existing Windows Mobile 5-powered Treo 700w/wx models. Chief amongst the improvements are EVDO Rev. A , a 320x320 LCD, and built-in wi-fi and GPS.

If this latest rumor proves to be correct, the Treo 800w will be the first Palm device to be Rev. A-enabled. It also stands to be Palm’s first 320x320 non-Palm OS device and the only Treo with standard wi-fi and GPS. Of course, past reports for earlier devices have hinted at built-in GPS that ended up being nothing more than the AGPS emergency locater function standard on every cellular handset for the past few years so time will tell if this turns out to be true, full-featured navigational GPS receiver integration.

Seidio has announced their latest OEM-sized extended battery for the new Palm Treo 755p. Seidio's batteries are must-haves for many Treo owners who feel underserviced by the standard Palm battery and CDMA chipsets like the one found in the 755p usually consume more power than their GSM brethren.

This new 2100mAh battery promises approximately 25% juice than the version that ships with the Treo 755p. Treo 755p owners can still use their stock Palm battery doors with the soft-touch paint while still enjoying additional talk and standby times. Shipments of this hotly-anticipated battery are scheduled to begin the week of June 18th, according to Seidio. Pre-orders are currently available for this battery at a rather steep $59.95.

Rumor: Two separate sources have posted possible images and specs on two new Palm Treo smartphones. The images show a similar models, one with a new design running Palm OS and another running Windows Mobile Standard (formerly WM Smartphone edition).

The blog Morning Paper first posted a blurry, black and white image of a supposed Palm Gandolf from a upcoming release list. The author claims the model runs Palm OS Garnet and will debut on Sprint later this year for around $200. Its likely specs include, EVDO (rev. A), Integrated camera, Bluetooth and a Micro SD expansion slot. The blog has since followed up with an additional color image of the device.

CNET's news.com division has posted an interesting new article regarding the possibility (or lack thereof) of a Palm comeback. The article looks at the recent flurry of activity from Palm centering around last week's Foleo announcement and this week's news of an equity investment from Elevation Partners and the infusion of ex-Apple talent to Palm's board of directors.

The article, penned by CNET's Marguerite Reardon, goes into particular detail about speculating on the role of ex-Apple design guru Jon Rubinstein. While no new details are revealed, Reardon does mention a full line of upcoming Treos heading to market later this year through early 2008. No additional details on possible operating systems or form factors are given.

The many users who needs are still best met by a dedicated PDA will be delighted with the latest release from Tech Center Labs. Gary Mayhak, the designer behind the award-winning line of "Tale" accessories for Palm handhelds has just released a new multi-function module for the Palm TX and Tungsten T5 handhelds.

This time around, TCL has crammed a mini vibrator and a microphone into the same casing used for their earlier microphone module. This latest mic/vib module would not have been possible without the Palm programming and hacking genius of ace programmer Dmitry Grinberg of PalmPowerUps fame. Dmitry has managed to develop vibrate notification system extensions for the Palm TX and T5 handhelds so they can be used with this particular module. Dmitry’s drivers are freely downloadable here. Tech Center Labs are currently selling this module for $19.95 plus shipping.

Mark/Space today announced the release of version 6.0 of The Missing Sync for Palm OS, the company's software that connects and synchronizes devices running the Palm operating system with Apple Mac OS X computers. This latest release introduces several new features, a number of which are designed specifically for users of Treo smartphones. New features include new Mac call log information and sms messages backup functionality, address book improvements, a new notebook application and new two-way video conversion and backup.

Gartner's PDA/Smartphone sector analyst Todd Kort has posted a dismal assessment of the Palm Foleo. Kort says the Foleo fails to adequately address mobile user needs, and believes it offers too little functionality to justify the burden of carrying around another device.

In an era in which increasing functionality is converging into ever-smaller devices, Palm has decided to buck the trend. The Foleo is too large for many smartphone users to consider carrying around as a limited-function accessory that requires a separate carrying case. Gartner believes that this unwieldiness will severely limit Foleo adoption by smartphone users, who place a premium on "pocketability" and attractive design.

Gizmodo has just posted about some news that might offer a nice but unexpected throughput boost for GSM Treo users in the USA. While nowhere near as monumental as the previous announcement by Ericsson about EDGE Evolution, Gizmodo's reports states that AT&T has ordered an immediate fine-tuning of the existing EDGE network in advance of the Apple iPhone launch on June 29th.

Under the internal moniker of operation "Fine Tune", the effort is a last-minute measure designed to tweak the existing GSM EDGE network backend as much as possible with a minimum of 80kbps as the new baseline benchmark. Naturally, users of non-iPhone devices such as Treos can only stand to benefit from such a development.

Rumor: EngadgetMobile are reporting on a potentially enormous list of summer handset launches for Verizon Wireless. Of course, the highlight of any such report for PIC readers is the report of a new Treo. This latest report reveals not just one new Treo heading for Verizon but a rumored two upcoming releases! Lending some credibility to this rumor is the fact that the usually reliable "HTC Kid" is credited as Engadget's tipster this time around.

The article (originally leaked from the PDAPhoneHome forums here) goes on to reveal that the estimated launch date for the Verizon version of the Palm OS-based Treo 755p is July 4th, which correlates fairly well with earlier reports.