Anyone for Checkers? (That's a rhetorical question, by the by: the answer is "almost 88,000 of you", going by download counts.) The developers behind the webOS version of the classic board game, Keen Studios, have let us know about a couple of interesting new developments in the pipeline. First up, a Pro version of Checkers (aptly entitled Checkers Pro) is enroute, and will add transparent boards (allowing you to see your own phone wallpaper) and smarter AI amongst other goodies - all for a measly $0.99.

Bigger news is their upcoming online gaming service (Keen Studios Online) which will bring online competition to Checkers, along with user profiles - like an Xbox Live for webOS, but with less caffeine-addicted prepubescent children screaming obscenities when you pwn them at Halo. (We hope.) They're currently looking for beta testers, so if you're interested, hop on over to this page and sign up.

Rumor: The mythical webOS 1.2 update (featuring the revamped App Catalog, improved copy-and-paste, LED notifications and Big Brother-style remote app removal) has become something of a running joke amongst Palm watchers, but it looks like the end is finally in sight. A helpful tipster - let's call him Deep Palm - has let us know that webOS 1.2 is due to drop by the end of next week (Oct 2nd).

What was the delay? It wasn't the broken iTunes 9 sync, which apparently took a mere couple of hours to fix. Reportedly, it was due to issues with Sprint's data services. But they're being nailed down and release is now pretty much locked in for next week. And not a moment too soon, because we were getting mighty sick of all the impatient anticipation.

Updated: Has the lack of Windows Live Messenger integration in Palm's webOS Messaging system got you bummed? Do you stare forlornly at an empty Buddies screen, lonely and sad? Then cheer up, misery guts! Australian WebOS Internals developer Greg Roll has something that'll make you smile: a beta plugin for webOS messaging that adds Windows Live support.

It's definitely not perfect: there are bugs aplenty in regards to Synergy contact linking (that we'll detail after the break). But if you're just wanting to chat with your friends on Windows Live, you're covered. The mod works by altering Palm's custom wrapper to libpurple (the open-source IM library upon which webOS Messaging is based) to support Windows Live, and then updating the database of account plugins. And yes, this also means that other libpurple-compatible IM services - including IRC, Facebook chat and Skype IM amongst others - could potentially be easily added in the future. (Update: Greg has now successfully upgraded the webOS libpurple to version 2.6.2 and has Yahoo! IM up and running as well.)

More details - and pretty pictures - can be found after the break...

The headline says it all. We have two separate sites bringing us this news, putting an end to the earlier seemingly transparent attempt at stock manipulation. First, The Boy Genius Report is saying that they've "confirmed" Verizon Wireless will indeed be selling the Pre, There's no other meat to BGR's post: just this alleged confirmation from an anonymous tipster. Second is the E-Commerce Times, who have actually have a Verizon exec on record. Jim Gerace, executive director of media relations, says that Verizon will "offer the smartphone in January as planned".

You don't have to be a genius to see that Verizon's smartphone line-up is getting a little stale, and that in the absence of a CDMA version of that other smartphone, the Pre is an obvious catch for the USA's biggest carrier. Makes you wonder if anyone took TheStreet seriously.

Video recording was first achieved on the Palm Pre by homebrew developer cpcrook back at the beginning of August, via the Linux command-line, but until now nobody has released an easily-viewed demo into the wild. Jason Robitaille over at PreCentral has now uploaded a video put together by forum denizen zonyl to YouTube, so we can all sit back and feast on our eyes on the rather good-quality 320x480 @ 30fps results (especially in comparison to the hideous camcorder quality of previous Palm OS-based devices).

Jay has also created a simple homebrew service that can enable video recording right now, downloadable here and installable via WebOS Quick Install. Other WebOS Internals developers are also tinkering with gstreamer to get the Pre recording at its full 720x480 capabilities, and with video sink support to enable previewing as you record. You'll find the demo video embedded after the break.

You could knock us over with a feather: Palm has announced two new high-level hires, and they're not Apple Inc alumni! Via the Developer Network Blog, SVP of Marketing Katie Mitic has named Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith of Mozilla Bespin and Ajaxian fame as the new showrunners for Developer Relations. Both men have written separately about the news on their personal blogs, with an obvious enthusiasm for web technologies and openness that should prove refreshing to developers on that other smartphone platform.

Read on for some fun quotes...

And so we come, as we inevitably must, to the weekly webOS App Catalog updates. What's new? Some of Facebook's most annoying games, for starters: m:Vampire and m:Mafia both make their webOS debuts. At least these won't be spamming your news feeds... we hope. On the brighter side, there's much cooler stuff like Guitarist's Reference (a handy aid for all aspiring axe-wielders, like me), mobile gaming classic Snake and a demo of GolfPinFinder (sure to be popular amongst the executive class).

Read on for the full list of apps.

Palm Inc. has announced the results of its common stock offering. In addition to generating a nice $313 mil from its offering of 20,000,000 shares at $16.25 each, the company announced that the underwriters were able to sell an additional 3 million shares. The exercise of the over-allotment option brings the expected total net proceeds of the public offering to $359.9 million. In a statement, Palm said it expects to use the proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Palm also reaffirmed its fiscal year 2010 outlook and its planned product and carrier launches in the second half of Palm's fiscal year ending in May 2010. This rather bold move indicates to some that a future Verizon release may not be written off after all.

Rumor has it that Verizon is no longer interested in the Palm Pre, if you're inclined to believe this latest rumor du jour from the financially orientated theStreet.com. Citing "people close to the discussions" the site is claiming that Verizon has decided "not to support" the Palm Pre. This comes even after a flurry of comments this summer from VZW execs claiming they would offer the Pre in six months, supposedly after Sprint's US exclusivity ends.

While unsubstantiated rumors like this are nothing new to seasoned Palm watchers, a couple of factors make this article sound particularly suspect. First of all, Palm has recently announced plans for a new public stock offering. Secondly, even more oddball rumors of Nokia buying Palm were also playing heavily on Palm's share price moves this week, so it seems there are a lot forces out there trying to stir up some movement on the stock ticker ahead of the planned, and recently enlarged, common stock sale.

Folks hoping for a unlocked GSM Palm Pre have a few new reasons to be "Glück" today as official word has now come in that the Palm Pre will be sold in Deutschland without a contract. It has now been confirmed that the Pre will be available from O2 Germany unlocked and SIM-free.

In addition, the Teutonic flavored Palm Pre "Handy" will sport a QWERTZ keyboard. QWERTZ keyboard layouts are widely used in German speaking countries. However the Pre will not have any dedicated accented character keys or umlauts, as It only differs from the usual QWERTY by interchanging the "Z" and "Y" letters.

Updated:Good news, European Palm fans! Palm Inc. and O2 have today announced details about pricing and availability for the GSM Palm Pre in Europe: it's coming to Germany on October 13 and the United Kingdom and Ireland on 16 October, with a starting price of 'free'.

Bad news, European Palm fans! Let's just get the inevitable question out of the way now for my fellow English-speaking readers: an unlocked UK/Irish model is not going to be available. However, it is a world phone (supporting GSM bands 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and UMTS/HSDPA bands 850 / 1900 / 2100) and the Irish model will be offered in an off-contract pre-paid version, so we can cling to the hope that once a hack-around is discovered (and it will be discovered, as inevitably as the sun will rise) we can safely purchase one for the relatively reasonable price of €420 ($620 USD). Palm Infocenter has contacted O2's UK press office for further information on potential unlocked availability and will update once/if we receive it. O2 has confirmed the sad news. A spokesperson has informed us that "the Palm Pre will only be available with an O2 contract at launch" - which does, however, leave open the possibility that this will change after a set period of exclusivity.