Ever since the announcement of a next-generation Palm OS for Palm's future products, Palm users (or prospect users) have been on the lookout. Well, as much as we hate to be the bearer of bad news, we have to say that it seems like the bragged next-gen OS is not yet coming.

Last year, Palm Inc. went into an agreement with PalmSource and Access Co., Ltd. - Palm will be entitled to use the Palm OS intellectual property as long as they are able to give minimum royalty payments to PalmSource and its new owner Access. The payments - $42 million for 2006, $35 million for 2007, $20 million for 2008, and $10 million for 2009 - were subject to a co-development agreement that required PalmSource to "meet certain unnamed development milestones". And PalmSource has failed to meet these requirements, thus voiding the agreement.

According to Palm's annual report, the company is currently in negotiation with PalmSource so that they can have expanded development and distribution rights to the current OS version. The report reads further, "If we are unable to successfully conclude these negotiations, it may adversely affect our ability to develop and distribute new products based on a next-generation version of the Palm OS."

Although it seems like Palm will continue handing out products using the current Palm OS Garnet, any riffs between Palm, Inc. and PalmSource may tear down any hope for a Palm OS successor.

Samsung and Versace's Versus brand have teamed up to come up with stylish, innovative, and practical phones that will be original enough to appeal to the younger generation. The first product of this alliance is the Samsung E500 Versus, which applies the stylishness of Versus to Samsung's original SGH-E500.

As it is based on SGH-E500, Samsung E500 Versus will have a 1.3 megapixel camera, Music Player, and Bluetooth squeezed into its clamshell form. What will mark the Samsung-Versus phone is the color - while the Samsung clamshell came in champagne gold, the Samsung-Versus creation offers three color combinations: white and gold, white and antique pink, and black and silver.

Samsung E500 Versus will be out in the Italian market by the end of August.

Yesterday, I said that the KRZR (formerly known as Canary) has made a big impression on me and if the Capri doesn't materialize soon I just might make KRZR my next big purchase. Well, well, Motorola is dead-set on making phone purchase decisions for me (and for those looking into buying a phone soon) really hard...because they have just officially announced Capri, now to be known as MotoRIZR ('riser') Z3.

Being Mototrola's first slider phone to be available globally, RIZR Z3 will highlight a better quality (compared to previous Moto phones) 2 megapixel camera. With a dedicated shutter button on the side, the phone's camera will work in a landscape orientation. MicroSD/TransFlash memory card slot and Bluetooth A2DP stereo support will also be squeezed into the Z3.

Z3 will be sporting a keypad design that looks just like the other phones in the RAZR series, only this time the keypad will have a cleaner and more user-friendly layout. Slider will be doubly- sprung, making the phone snap whether in open or closed position.

The latest version of the Motorola UI, updated phonebook, and support for MotoSYNC system for synchronizing with Microsoft Exchange Server will all be found in Z3.

MotoRIZR Z3 is expected to ship later this year and although price has not been confirmed yet, Motorola hinted that it may sport the same price as RAZR V3 when it first came out.

T-Mobile calls from Lebanon cost $2.99/minute, but for this month, subscribers trapped in said country - plus Cyprus and Turkey - will be able to enjoy free calls and text messages as the country faces a tough time (if you haven't been stepping into the harsh world recently, you might want to pick up a newspaper or start a Google search about this ongoing war pitting Israel and Lebanon). Free calls for Lebanon and Cyprus started on the 12th of July, Turkey on the 21st and will stretch for the whole month of July.

The gray areas on the map on the right shows Lebanese cellphone coverage - if towers and electricity are not down. I hope other companies (like Cingular, which has a significant number of users in the countries mentioned) will also step up and offer the same kind of help.

Now we all know that Canary is no longer just an imaginary product - it will indeed be the successor to RAZR and it will be officially called K1 RAZR (or simply, KRZR). Before the official announcement of the 2-megapixel camera-ed phone, we have seen a couple of previews as to how it will look like...but when making a purchase decision, the more pictures, the better. Especially if the images will actually let you know just how the phone will look on your hands. Thankfully, we have just that kind of images.

These new KRZR photos will show the new Motorola baby running on Verizon's CDMA network. Aside from the camera and the Micro SD slot under the battery cover, not much has been revealed about this phone's features. I yet have to see the Motorola Capri realize to be able to decide which phone will next make a big dent on my salary - but the KRZR's sleek look is certainly making a good impression on me and I just might be one of the 50 million people Motorola is hoping will buy their latest baby.

Here's a game for those irate enough that they just want to throw bad luck to anyone who walks into their paths - Crazy Duck Hunter. Xing Interactive's mobile division brings their PC game of the same title to MIDP-2 phones. In Crazy Duck Hunter, your task is to shoot ducks, birds, and anything else that moves and unlucky enough to land in your crosshairs (inhumane, I know...but at least it's just a video game).

Running on phones with a screen resolution of 176x208 or superior, Crazy Duck Hunter's mobile phone version will have a 2D cartoon style as opposed to the PC version's 3D photo realistic look.

Expect a 4GB SD card from SanDisk to drop this month. SanDisk's upcoming product will be based on version 2.0 of the SD standard, also known as SDHC. This 4GB card will deliver a minimum data transfer rate of 28MBps, making it a  'Class 2' under the SDHC specification.

As there is a scarcity of devices having SDHC slots, SanDisk is planning to bundle their 4GB SDHC memory card with a compact USB adaptor. No word yet on the price and exact release date for this SanDisk product.

Finding out how to see and navigate through the Skype cloud to be able to find a Skype client, how to publish a client's profile into the Skype cloud so other Skype clients can find that one client, and how to negotiate starting the call session. These are the things needed to be figured out to be able to build a Skype-compatible client and are the things that a Chinese firm had to unearth to be able to come up with this application that allows Skype-compatible softphone calls.

The said Chinese firm has been successful in reverse-engineering Skype's communications protocol, leading them to build a Skype-compatible softphone. The firm aims to release their app to the public by the end of the month but they have not given word yet if they'll just offer consulting services or if they'll also publish the protocols and offer Skype-compatible consumer software and Skype-compatible engineering products to other developers.

Publishing this Skype calling protocol will not only benefit Skype users but will also open up opportunities for developers. Skype connectivity can now be built into a third party's own software without the need for an official Skype client. Also, it is possible to create Skype-compatible server software plus Skype to PBX integration allowing users to preserve their Skype identity, authentication, encryption, and presence while routed through an Asterisk server.

While this opening up of the Skype protocol is good for third party developers, it may kill Skype. They do have options on how to prevent an inevitable death with this application. Skype Journal's Phil Wolff suggests the following:

Open. They're already on the path to opening up more of their apps at the API level. Skype could embrace this at the protocol level too. This is the hardest thing to do, but may pay off in the long run. Exposing these protocols is the only way for the Skype network to become an industry standard. And it would put Skype in a position of leadership the way Microsoft is for dot net, Sun is for Java, and Adobe is for Flash.

Switch. Skype could change the protocols, breaking the new software. This is a costly and temporary solution; tricky but doable. Replacing Skype clients for updates is hard enough; getting everyone to migrate could kill the brand love. It won't be long until the Chinese engineers figure out how to get in again.

Quash. Skype might try to blow out the startup's fire. eBay has a powerful combination of PR, lobbyists, litigators, and business allies. Even in China. Skype could try to accuse the startup of piracy. My guess is Skype will tread litely. These tactics rarely work in China and often tarnish the reputation of the outsider applying the pressure.

Ignore. Skype has enough to do. Wait and see.

Invest. Buy the team, put them to work.

Since we're already halfway through the month, we'll just see how Skype reacts to this Skype-compatible softphone.

Computer vendors have been offering Linux for quite some time now and it's nice to know that Dell is slowly joining the bandwagon. They have just released a Linux on Dell site - which they've dubbed as the place where "low-cost and standards-based hardware meets low-cost and standards-based solutions" - which will let Linux fanatics view FAQs and news on running Ubuntu on a Dell machine. But what's really cool in the site are the list applications available for Dell/Linux users. Here are some of them:

• DKMS (Dynamic Kernel Module Support)

-Maintained by Matt Domsch, this project is designed to create a framework where kernel dependent module source can reside making it very easy to rebuild modules as you upgrade kernels. Driver drops can now be provided by Linux vendors without having to wait for new kernel releases.

• Devlabel

-This application, maintained by Gary Lerhaupt, dynamically creates symbolic links to disk/partition names. A disk's or partition's unique identifier is used to keep the symlink pointed to the correct location even if the underlying partition's name has changed. Devlabel allows for the following:

> An unchanging symlink name which will always get you to the right location.
> A method for identifying partitions which have no filesystem on them (eg. swap) which would not otherwise be mountable by a filesystem label.
> If using raw devices, a consistently named file node to point to your data.
> An engine for cluster deployment in shared storage environments.
> An automounter for hotpluggable storage devices which will mount a storage device's associated symlink when its plugged in.
> A set of consistently named symlinks to be used for a multipath device in /etc/raidtab.
> A method to ensure correct device ownership and permissions when device renaming events occur.

• DVD Store

-Now on Release 2, DVD Store is a "complete online e-commerce test application". It has a backend database component, web application layer, and driver programs. This project's database component was designed to be easy to install and understand but still makes use of the many advanced database features. This project is maintained by Dave Jaffe.

Check out more of the Linux on Dell applications (plus of course all the other Linux on Dell site features) here.

The VMware Server lets Windows and Linux users enjoy the benefits of server virtualization. By partitioning a physical server into multiple virtual machines through abstracting processor, memory, storage and networking resources, users are given greater hardware utilization and flexibility. This only means that you can now run Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Netware OS on one physical server.

Now, the VMware Server goes out of beta. V1.0 now has support for 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. New key features are as follows:

• Support for taking and reverting to snapshots in the background.
• Experimental support for two-way Virtual Symmetric Multiprocessing (Virtual SMP). This lets you assign two virtual processors to a virtual machine on any host machine that has at least two logical processors.
• Support for using and upgrading legacy virtual machines.
• Ability to configure virtual hardware devices, including serial and parallel ports, DVD/CD-ROM drives, floppy drives, and sound drivers (Linux only) to be automatically detected.

As promised, the VMware Server is being released as a gratis software. So if you're using Windows and Linux (sorry, still no Mac-support), go and get your download plus the free serial number (which you'll need and be able to get via registering) here.