Good news for Palm Pre owners, the Interwebs have been percolating with rumors for weeks now that WebOS version 1.2 will be released any day now.  Well, it is now looking more and more certain that any day is going to translate into sometime next week, more likely than not September 24.  Around that same time, you can also expect the official launch of the WebOS App catalog.  From the leaked images, it looks like the App Catalog will feature a much more streamlined interface.  The bad news for users, of course, is that this update is also expected to spell the end of the free zone.  Palm will be unveiling its new direct purchase model.

In the meantime, Palm has plenty to keep you occupied, including nearly two dozen new apps which were either released to the App Catalog or updated significantly this week.  Chief among them is a second Google Voice App, P2GoogleVoice from P2labs.  And Survivor fans will be thrilled (I presume) to find a Survivor Samoa app right there on the Palm Pre.  While I am not a survivor fan (anymore), I like the idea of creating an app to give you deeper insight into your favorite television show.  In addition to watching Survivor videos (including full episodes) you can also read character bios and even play a variety of online games and contests.  Like I said, I really have not watched Survivor for some time, but this app does make me yearn for what might be coming.  Do I dare hope for a Lost app…or maybe even Heroes?

Most important for the current update are the games.  Over half of the updated and new apps are games, and there is really quite a variety of puzzles, board games, and word games.  My personal favorite is a game called DeadMan from Fusion Creative Studios.  With a name like that, it has to be good.  DeadManis a hangman spinoff, with a pretty big twist.  While the rules are pretty much the same — guess the correct letters to complete the word before time runs out – the consequences are drastically more severe.  In Hangman, if you miss enough guesses then a stick man doodle gets hung.  No big deal.  In DeadMan, time is ticking, and that timer is attached to a pretty powerful bomb.  Miss enough guesses and kaboom, that bomb is going to detonate (and take your phone with it). 

These and the rest of the new (and updated) apps and games are all still free and still available in the WebOS App Catalog.  Better hurry though, and get them while things are still free.  The paid apps are coming soon!

[Portions via PreCentral.net]

I’m not exactly sure why I enjoy this game so much.  It could be the utter simplicity of it, all you do is run, jump, and shoot.  Then again, it could be the fact that it looks just like an old Atari 2600 game.  Whatever the reason, this seemingly simple game turned out to be terribly addictive, and has already cost me countless hours.  So, let’s go ahead and take a closer look.

Those blocky graphics and lack of significant control are almost instantly recognizable to anyone who witnessed the dawn of home video games with platforms like the Atari 2600 or Colecovision.  So, basically, your job is to run…run like the wind.  Where are you running?  Don’t know.  What will you do when you get there?  No clue.  This running is more akin to the old west movies, in which you are sure the hero ran past the same rock time and again.  Don’t watch the scenary too closely in this game or you may find the same rock going past again and again. 

The action in this game is pretty simple.  Like I said, you are running.  in a straight line.  At a constant speed.  I was expecting to be able to control the pace at which you run across the screen, but no such luck.  What you will find as you run are obstacles.  First are the hurdles.  These are metal beams at various heights, which you must jump over or slide under by flicking the screen.  Obviously, flick up to jump, flick down to slide.  Pretty easy so far.

The next obstacle you will face are the brick or rock walls.  For these, you will use your bazooka.  Just tap the destructible object to grab your bazooka and send a grenade hurtling toward it. 

Finally, you will also find zombies.  Yes…zombies.  coming at you.  Let one touch you and it is game over…or at least life over (as you might expect, you get three lives).  Don’t worry, though, because this is why you have the attack button.  Just hit attack to punch (or kick) the zombies.  

Of course, don’t think that is all there is.  Every time you earn 100 points, a new obstacle will impede your progress.  These obstacles will each add a different level of difficulty to the game, but all still rely on the same four motions (jump. slide, shoot, or attack).

The simple graphics and repetitive gameplay really did take me all the way back to the dawn of video games and the Atari 2600.  In the end, though…I found this game to be a refreshingly simple distraction from the typical complexities of modern day video games.   Just go ahead and…RUN!  You will not regret it.

Run! was developed by Arthur Ham (www.arthurham.com) and is available for $0.99 in the iTunes App Store.

First, let me clarify one point.  I am not a Verizon customer.  My current network is AT&T and I’m really frustrated wtih them.  To the point that I’m considering buying my way out of my contract and moving to Verizon.  My wife and my phone’s have a little under a year left on the contract, making it near $200 that I would be willing to spend to separate my relationship with them.

Why would a person part with a large amount of money over a cell phone?  After all, it’s just a phone that makes calls, right?  Pause, back up a few characters.  See that word “calls”.  Call me crazy, but I’d like my phone to be able to make and receive calls whenever I want, wherever I want.  AT&T won’t allow me to do this.  Sure, they’ve got flashy phones, such as that thing called the iPhone, but their network, is um, lacking.

With all of my background out of the way, let me know get back to the main point of this post.  Some people are seemingly upset, or just disappointed, that Verizon isn’t getting all of the latest and greatest phones (if you don’t count the HTC Touch Pro 2 as something worth having?).  As reported on CNN, this is apparently a problem for some users, so much to the point that they would switch away from what is largely regarded as the best network in the United States.  Where’s the logic in this, you ask?  I ask as well, much the same way I ask the person who buys the shiny car with the poor gas mileage “why?”.

Motorola CLIQ

Motorola has been pretty unspectacular since the Razr.  They tried about 50 different versions of the same phone, and now they are finally releasing something new.  Well, it looks like the CLIQ won’t be the only Motorola Android phone out this year.  Analysts are predicting we could see a total of ten new phones in the next six months to a year.  I am really hoping that one of the phones we see very soon, like this quarter or forth quarter at the latest, is the Android phone for Verizon.  There have been plenty of articles talking about Verizon’s less than stellar selection, and I am one girl really considering a change.  Come on Motorola, make me smile!!!

Via Slash Gear

TWEET! TWEET! What’s an app that is more handy than a flash light, yet, is more dependable, than even Navigon’s new GPS app? Enter Laridian’s PocketBible for the iPhone! Fresh on the approval list, it is now available in the apps store for FREE.

Search the App Store for PocketBible or try this link. Of course, PocketBible for the iPhone will work with all of your PocketBible books and Bibles.

A comment from Laridian’s Blog that rings so true:

"…now we have no excuse for not becoming the spiritual giants that the Lord expects us to be with all the resources available to us in this generation."

So what are you waiting for? It’s time for some manna – oh and we can have it with Apples.

Technorati Tags: IPhone, IPod Touch, App, Laridian, PocketBible, FREE, Tjchan, Just Another Mobile Monday, JAMM