The abiding impression of the Palm Pre seems to be, “Nice phone, shame about the app store.” At a little over 1,000 apps, the Pre app catalogue is a disappointment. Happily, the vibrant community over at pre|central.net has built up a catalogue of its own apps. Some of them will eventually be approved for the …

T-Mobile announced today it has formed a partnership with DoubleTwist to give Google Android customers multimedia sync capability. Once installed, the software finds music, photos, and videos and allows for transfer to and from Android devices. Essentially, it acts like iTunes for every other smartphone platform. Users of DoubleTwist can create or sync playlists, and transfer photos and videos back …

What’s the only thing worse than paying that monthly AT&T bill? Paying an even higher AT&T bill, which happens when you blow through your allotted talk time and/or text messages. That’s why I’m a newfound fan of OverMyMinutes Alerter, a free app that alerts you via e-mail and/or SMS when you’re getting close to your talk/text limits. At first blush, …

Google’s Android is expected to take the smartphone market by storm in the next few years, growing faster than all its competitors, according to an IDC report published Monday. Android is expected to be the fastest growing wireless operating system from now until 2013, when the software will be the second most used smartphone operating system throughout the world, the …

Google updated on Friday its Voice extension for Chrome, allowing people to call numbers directly from the browser. If you love Google or hate retyping phone numbers, this one’s for you. One of the great things about upgrading to a smartphone years ago was that all numbers were links. The updated Voice extension for Chrome allows for a similar streamlining …

I own J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” reboot. The DVD’s bought and paid for. Needless to say, I’m not about to give Apple another $14.99 so I can watch the movie on my iPhone or iPod Touch. That’s as ludicrous as buying the MP3s of an album I already purchased on CD. Alas, though it’s easy to turn a CD into …

CNET News Poll iPhone predictions What iPhone news could we see at the January 27 Apple event? A new operating system A fourth-generation iPhone handset A Verizon iPhone An iPhone that supports 4G networks View results Though the long-awaited Apple tablet is expected to take center stage at Wednesday’s Apple event, we can’t discount the possibility that the company will …

Editors’ note: This is a guest column. See Larry Downes’ bio below. While much of the technology policy conversations at CES concerned positive developments such as the imminent National Broadband Plan, one dark cloud appeared at every turn. Nearly every speaker invoked fears of a looming “spectrum crisis” in wireless communications. Simply put, the faster that U.S. consumers embrace new …

We published a report last week about the release of Apple’s new MobileMe Gallery app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Now shortly after that, Apple has released a series of knowledge base articles that you might have missed. We’ll go over those here and discuss some other problems users have encountered with the app. Removing the Gallery app from …

Sony Ericsson usually sneaks in a couple of phone announcements shortly before the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC), and this year is no exception. Indeed, with Barcelona’s cell phone extravaganza just three very short weeks away, the company unveiled a new multimedia handset Thursday called the Vivaz. Sony Ericsson Vivaz Sony Ericsson Though we have yet to hold the Vivaz …

The White House’s new iPhone app The White House If you can’t catch the president’s next speech on TV, no problem–you can watch it on your iPhone. The White House has hit the iTunes market with its very own app designed to keep all good U.S. citizens updated on the latest goings-on of government. In addition to offering news, blogs, …

RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530 Alltel Joining the other carriers, Alltel added the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530 to its lineup. It’s available now for $49.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate, with a one-year contract and qualifying Smart Choice Pack (rates start at $69.99 per month for unlimited data, e-mail, and Web access). Though more of an entry-level device, the Curve 8530 …

Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney is forecasting that Google will sell between 1 and 3 million Nexus One handsets in its first year. Depending on your perception, however, that number can be construed as a potential success or a disappointment. Apple’s iPhone shipped nearly 5.5 million units in the first year and Citigroup estimates that the first year sales of the …

Recently, I wrote a post about some of the multitouch issues that are plaguing Nexus One owners. Some users have complained about buttons being unresponsive after the phone is powered on for a half hour,whereas others are seeing their touch commands not register at all. Though CNET has yet to experience such problems, a writer from AndroidCentral posted a video …

Editors’ note: This is a guest column. See Larry Downes’ bio below. I’m finally recovering from the case of information overload I caught at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. A great deal of policy was discussed at gadget central, thanks to the hard work of Tech Policy Central, which, for the first time at CES, …