MetaViewSoft has released PhotoFrame for Palm OS devices. PhotoFrame converts your old PDA or smartphone into a miniature digital photo display. It aims to breathe new life into your older model, by displaying a number of pictures throughout the day say on your desk or bookshelf. The app can read pictures directly off your camera memory card or just preload whatever you would like. You can also manually cycle through the images and popup a small time and calendar view as well.

PhotoFrame v1.0 is available now for $3.49. It is currently on sale for $2.99 for a limited time. It is compatible with Palm OS 5 and higher and also supports 230x480 displays.

AvantGo, a popular offline browser for PDAs and smartphones, will cease to exist as of the end of June. Sybase, AvantGo's parent company, has announced that it will close down the service at the end of the month.

AvantGo has been around since the days of the first Palm Pilot's. The service provided mobile formatted online content channels with an offline browser and desktop synchronization client. It started out as a Palm OS service and was also ported to Windows Mobile PDAs and Symbian Phones. PalmInfocenter published a review of AvantGo v3.3 way back in April 2000.

Apple has posted a new support document regarding iTunes syncing and unsupported digital media players. In what is almost certainly a thinly veiled reference to the Palm Pre's media sync mode, Apple's document warns that it does not support, nor tests for compatibility with "unsupported third-party digital media players" and can not guarantee future compatibility with newer versions of iTunes.

DigitalDaily's John Paczkowski reached Palm's PR chief Lynn Fox (herself a former Apple employee) for comment who said "Palm's media sync works with the current version of iTunes, If Apple chooses to disable media sync in a future version of iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we could consider."

Shares of PALM hit a 52 week high today. The stock has recently been pumped up on strong Pre sales estimates and a positive reaction to the new CEO announcement. Shares closed up today at 14.38.

Pacific Crest Securities analyst James Faucette said sales to consumers so far appears to be stronger than anticipated. Mr. Faucette reckons that between 90,000 and 100,000 Pre's were sold within the first week. He further estimated based on demand and waiting lists that Palm could beat 500,000 units sold by August.

Palm Support has issued a new update for the Sprint Treo Pro. The update patches a rare issue with the Sprint Treo Pro where the registry key may become corrupted and cause the phone to stop ringing. The update corrects the registry if it finds it is corrupted and helps prevent further registry corruption.

Full details and a update description can be found here at Palm Support.

Palm has published an interesting document which explains how webOS system updates will work. The support document explains the update process and installation procedures in detail.

In a nutshell, the Pre will check for system updates in the background every 7 days. If one is found, it downloads in the background when connected to a Wi-Fi network or are within high speed data (EVDO) coverage. Once the download is complete the update must install within 7 days when the battery level is above 30%, otherwise the device will continually prompt the user to install and after the fourth alert the system will basically install on its own.

Four US Senators have written to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to urge Commissioner Michael Copps to review the exclusive arrangements between wireless carriers and cell phone manufacturers.

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, along with Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) penned the letter before a Commerce Committee hearing this week that will focus on current issues facing wireless customers.

Moments after posting an article about the Pre Dev Groups self imposed silence on tethering hacks, word has come out that the first Pre tethering how to has now been disclosed. The technical instructions can be found here. (Via engadget.)

This workaround will enable Internet tethering over Bluetooth. The instructions involve a bit of more advanced tinkering and settings so novices may want to hold off for now. Interested users will first have to enable developer mode on the Pre, configure some settings on your PC (the guide is tailored for Windows) and then follow the step by step.

The developer group operating the Pre Dev Wiki was "cautioned" this weekend by Palm that any attempts or discussions about enabling Internet tethering on the Pre could cause Palm to "react" against the group. A note has been placed on the former tethering page that states:

We have been politely cautioned by Palm that any discussion of tethering during the Sprint exclusivity period (and perhaps beyond—we don't know yet) will probably cause Sprint to complain to Palm, and if that happened then Palm would be forced to react against the people running the IRC channel and this wiki.
We want to retain a good relationship with Palm, hence we are not allowing discussion of tethering on the IRC channel, or in this wiki.

Chalk up another one to the folks behind the Pre dev wiki. Shortly after publishing our first expose into the current state of Pre hacks, details of another big accomplishment have just made their way out.

Original NES Nintendo emulation is now possible if you can brave the developer mode switch and follow a few recompile and configuration instructions. Basically, it works by installing a native Linux version of the FCEUltra NES emulator from within a Debian chroot. Head over to this wiki page for the step by step. You can also check out a quick demo video embed after the break.

Seems like every time you turn around lately, a great new Pre hack has been discovered and lovingly documented for all the world to see. Originally created in the wake of Tuesday's release of the webOS Doctor tool, the Pre dev wiki has gone from blank slate to treasure trove, bursting at the seams with juicy modding goodness.

Intrepid hackers have accomplished everything from custom Universal Search engines to unlocking the three-page limitation in the Launcher, but the most truly impressive achievement thus far is the ability to directly install the 1700+ Optware Linux command-line packages - all without interfering with Palm's own built-in webOS applications.

Read on for a full list of what we hope will soon be easily-installed mods for all - including the latest on the Holy Grail of tethering. (In the meantime, if you're an experienced Linux user or just feeling adventurous, you can attempt it yourself.)