Palm is going to hold a press conference next Thursday in New York City to coincide with the DigitalLife show. Palm executives will be on hand at the Javits center to announce some news, which PalmInfocenter has been told will include a new product announcement.

There is no word on what the exact announcement may be, however Palm still has one last new Treo to announce as promised. Rumors have pointed at an October release of a new lower priced Palm OS Treo. An image of the unannounced Treo 680 was spotted on Palm servers last month, that were quickly removed once made public.

As of October 4th, E-Reader has quietly updated their E-Reader and E-Reader Pro clients for Palm OS devices. Both versions are now at version 2.6.3, up from the previous 2.6.1 release. As it is a very stable application, E-Reader is usually only updated immediately prior the release of a new Palm OS handheld or smartphone. No change list or release notes are available to indicate what is new in this version.

The basic version of E-Reader is available as a free download from ereader.com. E-Reader Pro costs $9.95 and includes an assortment of free books plus offers an integrated dictionary, autoscrolling, and install additional font packs for easier legibility.

DeluxeWare, makers of some excellent Palm OS games and applications, has released several updates.

Deluxeware's BlackJack Deluxe game has been updated to version 1.24 It incorporates improved "5-way navigator" support, as well as music engine and minor bugs fixes.

Bowling Deluxe is updated to version 1.23 and Darts Deluxe II is updated to version 2.61. Both of these titles list music engine improvements as their primary fix. In addition, Caribbean Poker 1.04 has been released to address some music engine and other minor bugs.

DataViz has posted some details about the next version of Documents To Go for Palm OS. Docs To Go v9 will offer a new file explorer, native Powerpoint editing as well as enhanced versions of its core apps Word and Sheet To Go. The company is also offering free upgrades to v9 for all customers who place orders for the current version leading up to the release.

ANIMATORsoft's Mini-Keyboard has just been updated. The program provides a large on-screen virtual thumboard for entering text in most applications. The Mini-Keyboard has a QWERTY layout with large keys, it can also be customized with many European language layouts. It is triggered as a pop-up window and can be used with a variety of applications, like Memos, Calendar, Tasks, Mail, SMS, as well as with any third-party software that has user regular text input fields. The typing can be done with stylus, one hand, two hands or a finger.

The latest updates include improved audio and visual feedback, OS integration reliability improvements and some bugfixes. It is compatible with most Palm OS 5 devices. The app comes with a free trial and costs $19.50 to register.

The incredibly popular Core Pocket Media Player (TCPMP) has long been a mainstay of any serious Palm OS users' software library. For the past several years TCMP's popularity has been enhanced by its attractive price-tag (free)!

Core Codec Inc. is now set to release a much more polished and professional next-generation version of the program that will be available for purchase.

Two very handy pieces of software for Treo owners are the recipients of recent updates. Phone Technician version 2.5 is now available, mainly improving on version 2.4's support for the Treo 700p and fixing a screen turn-on bug.

Butler has been updated to version 3.82 and also addresses some lingering 700p bugs as well as the 650/700 alarm volume issue. In addition, 5-way navigator support has been added to the mp3 selection screen and an escalating alarm option has been added.

Palm and Cingular have lowed the retail price of the Treo 650 smartphone. The 650 can now be purchased from Cingular for $199 with a two-year service agreement.

The unlocked GSM version has been reduced by $100 to $549 for the unsubsidized model. This is the first price drop on the unlocked model in over a year.

iambic has released a new utility for the Palm OS Treo series. It is a tool that can capture your post-call dialogue and offers a variety of useful follow-up actions you can take after you hang up. It simplifies the steps you take to return calls, add contacts, schedule meetings, tasks, memos, e-mails, and SMS linked to your last telephone conversation by automating excess start-up steps. YourCall reminds you to input phone conversation details right after you hang up so you'll never forget what happened during the conversation.

YourCall is compatible with the Treo 650 and 700p. It sells for $9.95 and comes with a free trial.

In this quickies update we take a look at some random tidbits and new stuff coming soon to the Palm OS. New packaging reveals a Palm OS SlingPlayer mobile is in the works, we report on a bunch of exciting new emulators including a DOS emu, and a new SEGA Genesis, GameGear. Turbo Grafx, and Atari 2006 game console emulator, Palm's Irish unit has filed for its first patents and much more in this batch of quickies...

PalmPDF v1.4 is now ready for download. MetaViewSoft has released an update for their open-source, native Adobe PDF file document viewer for Palm OS. Updates in the latest version include new toolbar skins, the ability to send pages as .jpg files, zoom to rectangle and a number of bugfixes.