Back in July, when Palm defiantly re-hacked their webOS Media Sync feature to circumvent Apple's blatantly anti-consumer iTunes hardware lockout, the plucky underdogs didn't just settle for blowing an insolent raspberry at Apple via their official company blog: they also audaciously took the risky strategy of publically dragging a third party into the dispute, by officially complaining to the USB Implementers Forum about what they called Apple's "improper use of the Vendor ID". Unfortunately for Palm, the gamble has not paid off and has in fact completely backfired.

The USB-IF finally responded to the complaint yesterday, and not only have they dismissed Palm's allegations of improper use by Apple but have also informed the company that their own method of accessing iTunes - which alters the Palm Pre's Vendor ID to make it appear as an Apple device - is a "potential violation" of the official Vendor Identification Number policy. The USB-IF has requested that Palm clarify their intent and "respond to this potential violation within seven days".

Should Palm continue with this course of action? Is the USB-IF lily-livered, fraidy-cat, a wimp or just plain chicken? Read on...

Jason Robitaille has done it again. Not content with pumping out user-friendly desktop installers and theme builders, the prolific Canuck has released another slice of delicious cross-platform cake software: the WebOS Repair Utility. The new Java app is intended as an aid to webOS tinkerers who have modified their devices, allowing you to scan the files on your hacked webOS device and compare them to the pristine versions contained within the official webOS Doctor.

By comparing md5sums for the files, the Repair Utility will detect modifications and provide you with an option to either restore the original version or ignore the discrepancy. Perfect for those who want to reverse some small mod without going to the trouble of completely re-flashing their hardware. Two caveats: it only works with webOS version 1.1, and can take over 30mins to complete a full scan. That said, it should prove a nice complement to the arsenal of weapons that webOS hackers already have access to.

Classic 2.0 can't come soon enough. After recently demonstrating network HotSync via WiFi, MotionApps have posted a new video of the official Palm OS emulator for webOS, detailing a second option: Bluetooth HotSync.

There is an important difference from Palm's own Bluetooth HotSyncing on Palm OS: rather than pairing Classic directly with your PC, you actually pair webOS and the PC, after which you can utilize the webOS Bluetooth hardware via Classic for a network HotSync. Let's say that again: this is not full-blown Bluetooth support in Classic, but rather simply allowing you to use Bluetooth to get your network connection. Handy in cases where WiFi isn't available - say, on the upcoming Palm Pixi...?

Video after the jump!

As part of last week's quarterly financial announcments, Palm Inc. announced a public offering of common stock - 16 million shares in total. Something seems to have changed in the interim, because the company has now increased the offer to 20 million shares @ $16.25 a share. Apparently, this will net Palm a cool $313 million bucks.

Do I understand what any of it means? Not at all. This financial gumph makes my eyes glaze over. But for those interested, the full financial details and press release are viewable after the jump.

An interesting story has emerged from the PreCentral forums that could possibly be related to the recent story on Palm's apparent crackdown on unlocked GSM Pre sales.

Over the past few days, PreCentral member "dcorleto" has recounted the story of his previously-active Pre becoming a paperweight after ending his his Sprint service and moving to another carrier. Unlike most smartphones on the market, including all prior Palm devices and even the iPhone, it seems a previously-activated Sprint Palm Pre cannot be used as a standalone Wi-Fi based device or even as an offline PDA or media player once it ceases to function on the Sprint data network.

Never rains but it pours! Since our coverage last week of the theme-licious PreThemer site and accompanying Preware support, there's been quite a few exciting new developments on the webOS skinning scene. First up, Jason Robitaille's latest version 2.5 of the superb webOS Quick Install now "fully supports" theming. Jay has also created a brand-new Java app that makes it a snap to put together your own themes: the aptly-titled WebOS Theme Builder, which has a simple, user-friendly GUI for putting together your custom wallpapers and icons. Madolen of the PreCentral forums has put together a guide for newbies here.

More after the jump...

Out-of-the-box, Palm's webOS can handle most of the major audio/video formats. But there's still a few popular codecs that remain unsupported: amongst them, the open-source Ogg Vorbis and FLAC audio formats. A couple of intrepid hackers from the WebOS Internals group have been working on adding new plugins to the underlying webOS multimedia framework - gstreamer - that will allow us all to enjoy the unrestricted multimedia goodness we currently take for granted on our desktops. Thus far, progress has been stymied by a Palm patch to the plugin registry system (likely applied as a memory saver) that resulted in gstreamer failing to recognize new plugins.

Today, Andrew James was first to cross the finish line: he's successfully built versions of gstreamer-0.10.23 and gstreamer-plugins-base-0.10.21 that work with Ogg Vorbis and FLAC and has played back an Ogg file on the Pre via the command-line. The next steps, of course, are getting the built-in Music app to recognize these files as part of your library (which hopefully won't prove too difficult) and packaging the mod in an ipkg for easy install.

Rumor: With Palm OS Garnet already put out to pasture and Thursday's confirmation that Palm is dropping Windows Mobile, Access' ALP remains the one non-WebOS operating system still of interest to Palm-watchers.

Now, according to a Talking Mobile report (via this Israeli site) from August that flew underneath everyone's radar, rumors are suggesting that the mythical Edelweiss ALP-powered smartphone has been shelved in favor of the company's so-called Monolith device.

Rumor: A rather ominous story cropped up on SlashGear yesterday, with the technology website reporting that Palm has been threatening select UK retailers that have been offering pre-orders for SIM-free (i.e. unlocked) GSM Palm Pre phones with legal action for doing so - informing them that the Pre will only be offered as a locked model.

If this is true, then it's a crushing blow to those international Palm customers who have been not-so-patiently clamoring for an unlocked GSM Palm Pre - your correspondent included. Legally speaking, there's nothing that prohibits O2 (the exclusive UK carrier of the Pre) or Palm from locking the handset down, but it was the fervent hope of many that this would not prove to be the case, especially in the face of such obvious consumer enthusiasm and the fact that such tactics inevitably prove futile against the efforts of clever hackers.

Palm Pre or Palm Pixi? It's a question as old as time itself, so long as you define "time" as "the last ten days". Well, it's time to stop dithering and make a decision Palm fans, because the company is in a generous mood: they're holding another Facebook contest, this time asking you to choose which of their two latest smartphones you'd like to fill that lonely, empty space in your soul pocket.

Just post a comment enunciating the factors driving your choice on the "Win a Palm Phone" section of the Palm Facebook page, and you'll be in the running. The winner will be drawn at random on October 14, and as a bonus 20 runners-up will receive a copy of O'Reilly's new book, Palm Pre: The Missing Manual (which Palm no doubt hopes will also make you want to purchase the Missing Device). As usual, entry is open only to residents of the United States who are over 18. You can read the full terms and conditions here if you're interested (or simply in need of a sedative).

It's that time again: another round of new apps have been added to the webOS App Catalog, fifteen in total. Highlights include a second Google Voice application from P2 Labs (P2GoogleVoice), MediPDA from Janni Kovacs and Alan Teh and Brandon VanBelle's crazy-addictive Dot Game (which really should come with some kind of health warning).

Hit the jump for the full list of new apps.