Touchstone Tricks (PSA)
The Touchstone is a wonderful little device. It makes it dead-simple to keep your Pre topped off, so much so that I say it's worth it for every Pre owner to pick one up. It's a bummer that getting it to operate in a car properly is so difficult (really, we don't think it's ready for the rigors of working in a car sitting in the July sun). It's so convenient, we wonder if Palm made the door on the micoUSB port fiddly on purpose to drive people to the Touchstone.
Most people are aware that there are actually a couple little software features on the Pre that are related to the Touchstone. I know I was, but I forgot about them today, so consider this post a public service announcement:
- If your Pre is on the Touchstone and a call comes in, picking it up off the Touchstone automatically answers it.
- If you are on a call, setting the Pre down on the Touchstone automatically converts it to speakerphone mode (unless you're using a wired or Bluetooth headset).
- If you are on a call and the Pre is in speakerphone mode and sitting on the Touchstone, picking it up turns off speakerphone mode.
I present this PSA because today a call came in. I picked the Pre up off the Touchstone to see who it was and said - out loud - "Wonderful. I guess I have to take this." Take a moment to re-read bullet point one, above. ...Oops. Luckily, my caller took it in good humor (I hope).
Any other Touchstone Tips and Tricks you folks noticed? Anybody else been tricked by the Touchstone?
What’s New in Pre Homebrew Apps: There are over 100 of Them
You read that headline exactly right - there are now over 100 apps in our Homebrew forums and more on the way. There are three different Google Voice Apps (including one with SMS support, update: make that two), the above-pictured iTunes Remote app, calculators, games, an iCanHazCheezburger picture finder, an excellent podcast downloader/player.. there's a lot.
Once you get your SDK installed, you're ready to participate in the beta testing action. With any luck at all, Palm will be accepting many of these apps into their App Catalog. Until they're able to get their high falutin', city-slicker system up to speed, though we invite you to check out the down-home, wild west of homebrew apps for the Pre. Don't forget that there are now easier ways to install now - fileCoaster and webOS Quick Install.
If homebrew isn't your thing (it can be a bit much and yes, everything here is very much Beta), it's still worth looking around to get a taste of how easy it is to develop webOS apps and see the stuff the grass-roots developers are working on.
After the break, we present you with the current list compiled by chuccck, newer additions in bold. Before you get to browsing all the homebrew, though, do chuccck a quick solid and congratulate him on his bacon-based proposal (she said yes!). Also, take some time to thank all the great developers who are building these apps!
