Palm and Orange France Business Services have announced the Palm Treo 680 smartphone, running on the Palm OS platform. The Treo 680 smartphone is ideal for the professional consumer who wants a more advanced phone experience on a single device, including access to email, web browsing, messaging and a range of features that are easy to use.

Engadget are reporting that a Brazilian retailer has been what looks to be a Treo-branded iPod Nano knockoff in a sickly hue of lime green. No word on specs or features other than it looks like a cheap Nano clone without the touch-sensitive scroll wheel.

The Treo logo on the unit and its packaging is identical to the one used by Palm. This highly illicit device has a sales price for $270. The Chinese knockoff factories have manage to do something Palm has yet to pull off on a Treo; this unit appears to be sporting a full-size stereo headphone jack. (also via MobilityBeat)

Palm's long-neglected help forums have quietly been taken offline. Palm has posted a brief statement that enhancements are forthcoming (namely, moderators and personal profiles) and to check back "In a few days".

Considering it would be impossible for Palm's forums to become any less helpful than they previously were, this move can be considered a positive step forward, especially in light of Palm and Cingular's recent announcement that the Treo 680 includes 90 days of free phone-based technical support.

NormSoft has released version 4.0 of the popular Pocket Tunes music application for Palm OS. New features include a new interface, improved audio quality, Internet radio presets, AAC and aacPlus support, album art, and lots more. Pocket Tunes Deluxe also provides access to music subscription services such as Rhapsody To Go, Napster To Go, and Yahoo! Music Unlimited.

Pocket Tunes Deluxe 4.0 sells for $37.95 and a free trial is available. A basic version is also available for $19.95, which omits the support for online music stores. Upgrade pricing is available from NormSoft for 3.0 customers.

Alltel Wireless and Palm today announced the Palm Treo 700wx smartphone, is now available on Alltel. The Treo 700wx comprises all the functionality and ease of use for which Treo smartphones are known, with Windows Mobile.

Mike Mace has a new article up that covers his take and summary of a recent talk given by Palm CEO Ed Colligan. This is the same talk where the recent iPhone competition comments came from.

Mike does a great job summarizing the event, and it turns out there was a lot more interesting discussions other than the Apple competition. In fact Colligan hints that Palm is working on Treo's with WiFi built in and also talks vaguely about future mobile computing products in the works.

Maureen O'Connell, an ACCESS spokesperson, has issued a statement to PalmInfocenter clarifying the timing of the release of the ACCESS Linux Platform. She says ACCESS has previously stated that they plan to deliver a pre-release version of the ACCESS Linux Platform PDK to select licensees, and a pre-release version of the ACCESS Linux Platform SDK to select registered developers before the end of this year, and that general availability would be in the first half of 2007.

She also has confirmed that ACCESS has in fact already delivered pre-release PDKs and SDKs to a number of companies.

Estalo CAD is a new handheld Computer Aided Design tool for Palm OS. The program allows you to create and edit CAD projects on the device. It supports layers, lines, polylines, rectangles, arcs, circles, ellipses, ellipse arcs, dimensions, texts and notes. It is compatible with DXF/DWG files up to version 2005 (2D).

It comes with a free trial period and costs $495 USD for the full version.

One of the most discussed topics amongst the Palm community in the 2nd half of 2006 has been the myriad of bugs, quirks, and general "issues" surrounding the Treo 700p, Palm's flagship Palm OS device.

Steve Sinclair, Palm's Senior Product Manager for Palm OS Wireless Products, has responded to an open letter from a member of the TreoCentral forums. Steve has replied with a surprisingly detailed letter detailing his thoughts on the 700p ROM and on Palm's communication strategy. In short, Palm is working on addressing some of the major issues plaguing the 700p but nothing is expected to be released until Q1 2007.

The PalmInfocenter Store has a new eGift service that provides a way for you to purchase cash-value gift certificates at various increments including $15, $20, $30, $50, $75, and $100. The certificates are good for all software applications in the store. So recipients can choose from thousands of the best applications like music players, games, utilities, ringtone managers, and PIMS for virtually any smartphone or PDA device - Palm OS or Windows Mobile. You don’t need to know the recipient’s device model or ID. And, best of all, the certificates act like debit cards so the recipient can use them more than once until the gift value is fully spent.

Purchasing is very simple. Just go to the Gift Certificate page in our store and select the gift amount. On checkout you’ll be asked for the recipients name and email address. You also get to enter a personalized message and the date of delivery. On the specified date the certificate will be delivered directly to the recipient. Ideal for last minute gifts or remote family and friends!

Rumor: The Boy Genius Report, is reporting that the recently-released Cingular Treo 680 is going to receive a software update to enable Push-to-Talk functionality. Push-to-talk, usually abbreviated to PTT, is a "Walkie Talkie" mode for cellular telephones similar to Nextel's Direct Connect system. No date is given in the article for the availability of this update.

To date, Cingular has lagged Verizon and Sprint/Nextel on offering PTT services and compatible devices. However, with the increased rollout of their new HSDPA network in 2007, Cingular are likely looking to utilize a trickle-down method of initially rolling out PTT on their higher-end smartphone and data-centric devices such as the 8525, BlackBerry Pearl, and Treo 680.