We may have discovered what that extra ".1" was in the recently-released webOS 1.3.5.2 for Europe: the GSM Palm Pre now fully supports Bluetooth sharing of your 3G connection. Although Palm have yet to post the full changelog (at least so far as your correspondent can find) (update: full changelogs have been posted, and its looks like tethering is a German-only affair. No other changes to report from the previous 1.3.5 update), setting up tethering is simplicity itself - at least on Windows.

All you need to do is go to your Bluetooth settings card on the Pre and turn on Bluetooth, making it discoverable. Then pair your PC with the Pre, and join the newly-created Personal Area Network. Voila! You're now wirelessly connected to the cloud via your phone. Of course, it's not quite as cool as turning your Pre into a Wi-Fi hotspot - but it's certainly better than a slap in the face with a wet fish.

An unexciting screenshot is posted after the break.

Hooray for us, GSM Pre owners: webOS 1.3.5.2 has hit our myriad shores, packing its various tasty new bugfixes and sparkling SDL support - meaning we can finally join our CDMA-totin' brethren in getting our Doom on.

You know the drill, folks: remove all homebrew patches before upgrading, lest you find yourself breaking something you shouldn't have. (Exact upgrade instructions, via WebOS Internals, are after the break.) We'll post the full changelog as soon as it goes up on Palm's site. In the meantime, happy downloading - be prepared for a long wait. (Mine is taking forever.)

In an interview at CES last week Palm's CEO made some eye raising remarks about his former employer that have caused more than a few industry watchers to do a double take. When asked directly about how Palm viewed the competition with Apple, Jon Rubinstein told WSJ's Kara Swisher that he "doesn't pay much attention to Apple" and he went on to further proclaim "I don't have an iPhone. Actually, I've never used one."

Ruby's frank subterfuge on Apple is obviously getting the most play in the blogosphere, however he did make some other comments that reflect his current thinking on the status of Palm Inc., webOS and their overall progress. In the thirty minute interview he also talks about the plan for Palm's resurgence and the foundations they have built with webOS. He muses about how the past two year period has been all about the company's transition, while he looks ahead at this year as the transformational one.

As inevitably as the setting sun, MotionApps have posted some screenshots on Facebook of the official PalmOS emulator for webOS, Classic, running on the Palm Pixi. Notably, the virtual hard button onscreen interface has been totally revamped in order to better fit on the Pixi's smaller (320 x 400, vs 320 x 480 on the Pre) display. Rather than ape the vintage look of a PalmOS device, the Pixi version of Classic instead places the Home/Contacts/Calendar/Menu buttons into a webOS-style "capsule", with an option to swap them out for the 5-way navigator buttons.

Hit the jump for the screenshots.

Now that Palm have made good on their promise to open up the metadata from the official webOS App Catalog, a number of developers and sites have already begun to make use of the new information. One of those is - of course - WebOS Internals, who have added the official Palm App feeds to Preware, allowing webOS users to keep up with apps from any source - be it homebrew repositories, the official App Catalog or web-distributed.

The latest version 0.9.14 of everyone's favourite on-device installer (and its partner-in-crime, the Package Manager Service 0.9.30) now incorporates the offical Palm feeds - Palm Catalog, Palm Beta and Palm Web - seamlessly into the already-expansive listing of homebrew apps Preware displays. Tapping Install on any of these apps will throw up a new card with its official Palm listing, ready to download. Currently in alpha testing, it should be available to one and all in the next week or two - but if you want to dive in now and provide feedback, installation instructions are available on the WebOS Internals wiki. (Do keep in mind this really is new territory for Preware - expect bugs.)

In the meantime? Screenshots after the break.

That's right! Relive all the excitement of two hours ago: the video recording demo, the 3D gaming announcement, the Flash demo, the unexpected zombie attack that saw several gadget bloggers tragically join the growing horde of the undead...

It's all after the break! (Well, except for the zombie attack, which appears to have been edited out.) You can also check it out on Palm's Youtube page.

Palm Inc. announced today that Verizon Wireless will be getting updated models of the Palm Pre and Pixi. Announced today at Palm's CES Event, Verizon is set to exclusively offer the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixi Plus on Monday, January 25th.

The Palm Pre Plus adds a refreshed design along with twice the amount of storage space (16GB) and built in touchstone support. The Pixi Plus will be enhanced with built in WiFi as well as an integrated touchstone cover. Both models will also support Palm's new WiFi router functionality via the Palm mobile hotspot application.

Palm, Inc. today introduced several graphics-intensive 3D game titles for webOS, from leading game developers EA Mobile; Gameloft; Glu Mobile; and Laminar Research. Demonstrated at Palm's CES event, the games will be available today in the Palm App Catalog for Palm Pre customers.

"We are very excited about the potential of webOS as a platform for mobile 3D gaming," said Katie Mitic, senior vice president, Product Marketing, Palm, Inc. "This is a key application category, and we've worked closely with some of the leading game developers to deliver a great game experience for our customers."

If you've been hanging out for video recording on your Pre or Pixi (without resorting to homebrew hackery), Palm have answered your prayers today: they've announced at CES that full video recording, editing and sharing capabilities will be available with the webOS 1.4 update on all models, due February.

Director of Product Marketing Paul Cousineu demo'd the new feature by taking a video live onstage, and uploading it to Youtube in the background as he played one of the newly-announced 3D games (The Sims, to be exact). Pics after the break!

The Palm webOS developer program is now open, Palm, Inc. said today. Any developer can now go to the Palm Developer Center, sign up, and start developing and distributing applications for webOS devices. Palm showcased its developer program and tools at CES today, and announced a $1 million developer Hot Apps bonus program for the rapidly growing Palm webOS developer community.

"We're thrilled to open the doors of a program that offers mobile developers unparalleled freedom and choice in how they distribute and market applications," said Katie Mitic, senior vice president, Product Marketing, Palm, Inc. "The combination of our highly accessible web-based platform, groundbreaking integration opportunities and open, flexible distribution program makes Palm webOS the best place for developers to create the next generation of innovative mobile applications."

Greetings, PICexicans! Today's the day: Palm will once again front the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, and Palm Infocenter will be covering it... kinda. We're not there in person this year - pesky life stuff has conspired against all of us - but, Internet permitting, we'll be watching a live stream and liveblogging the event as it unfolds. And if there's no stream? Heck, we'll just monitor the coverage that will no doubt be flooding in from other sites and have ourselves a good old chat about it. Pre and Pixi Plus? Native development? All will be revealed in a few hours...

Hit the jump to participate in the chat. The intention is to open the gates around 10.45am. Why not join us?