Palm has released a new audio patch for the Treo 700w & 700wx smartphones on Verizon. The patch address issues which may cause the call to drop or a loss of audio when the phone receives a second call or voicemail notification while on a current call. In some cases the phone may enter a suspend mode and disable the speaker and microphone in the above situation. Verizon Treo devices with the Treo700w_-1.22-VZW or Treo700wx_-1.22-VZW are compatible with this patch.

RESETgame has released a new version of its popular Par 72 Golf for Palm OS. Par 72 Golf is a realistic 3D golf game with three 18 hole courses. Version 2.0 brings three new unique courses set in mountain, desert, and seaside environments. The game features realistic wind, gravity and friction and has a variety of holes with hills, water, sand traps, and sloping greens.

Motorola has dropped to third place behind Samsung in the worldwide mobile phone market because of inventory issues and an unremarkable product lineup, Gartner said on Tuesday. Motorola accounted for 13 percent of the phones sold to end users in the third quarter, down from 21 percent in the same quarter last year, Gartner said. At the same time, Samsung increased its share to 15 percent, while Nokia extended its lead at the top of the pack, accounting for 38 percent of the market, or more than one in every three mobile phones sold.

Apple continues to consistently sell more laptops than desktops, even as a major iMac upgrade enabled desktop sales to achieve a temporary parity with mobile models in 2007. Apple CEO Steve Jobs proclaimed 2003 the “year of the laptop” and it wasn’t long before sales of Mac portables hit a record high and numerically eclipsed sales of Mac desktops.

This trend has continued since then, with MacBook and MacBook Pro sales generally outpacing sales of Apple’s desktop Mac Pro and iMac lines. “The last three 10Ks showed that Apple is selling more laptops than desktops,” said Tim Bajarin, president of consultancy Creative Strategies.

TealPoint Software has released version 3.93 of TealScript, primarily a bugfix release, of their long-time Palm OS utility TealScript. TealScript brings on-screen Graffiti text input to Treo and Centro smartphones that do not have a dedicated Graffiti input area like their Palm PDA brethren. In addition, TealScript is fully trainable and can restore much of the original Graffiti 1 strokes that have not been officially available on a Palm Inc. device since the Tungsten T of 2002.

Apple agreed to settle a patent dispute with Burst.com on Wednesday, ending two years of litigation. Under the agreement, Apple will pay Burst.com $10 million and get access to Burst.com’s patent portfolio, with some exceptions, Burst.com said in a press release.

Apple won’t have access to four of Burst.com’s current and pending patents, including three pending patents relating to DVR (digital video recorder) technology. Court costs, expenses, and attorney’s fees will reduce the proceeds to Burst.com to $4.6 million.

Taiwan-based Genius announced the Genius DPF-151, a 1.5-inch Digital Photo Frame with Alarm Clock. Most of the time, a digital photo frame is the main function of a device, but Genius has taken that one step further with the Genius DPF-151. It is the perfect combination of an alarm clock and digital frame. Its compact size saves desk space and simplifies downloading picture from your PC. This compact device not only displays a real-time clock, but also provides calendar and temperature display.

Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader has sold out despite scepticism about whether the device will prove popular. A notice on the Kindle pages on the Amazon web store said “heavy customer demand” for the device meant it would be out of stock until 3 December.

Since its launch on 19 November the device has been widely examined but opinions about it are mixed. It has won praise for being easy to use but many have criticised the way it forces people to pay for free content.

OK, let me be clear here. I feel for the operators of GAP cruises and the passengers. In fact, one of my life goals is to take a cruise to Antarctica. So now that you know we’re not evil, insensitive louts (actually, we are, but we’re trying to be on our best behavior), now I can tell you what amuses me in my truly sick way.

MS Explorer crashed.

Not like that’s a surprise. I mean, we’ve all had MS Explorer crash on us before. Oh, you mean thisMS Explorer doesn’t run on a computer? It’s a ship? Oh, sorry, nevermind

Yes, we’re making a pun at the expense of one of the greatest companies in the world and at the expense of some very terrified passengers in a very inhospitable part of the world. Yes, we’re so ashamed. Nope, couldn’t help it. Had to post it. Sorry.

I just have to wonder if all the TVs and computer screens on the ship turned blue first.

Couldn’t resist. Coulda left well enough alone, but I couldn’t resist. — DG

Thanksgiving is upon us here in the United States. While the true history of Thanksgiving is subject to some controversy (isn’t pretty much everything, these days?) there are certain elements of the modern Thanksgiving celebration we can all take to heart — even for those of you who don’t live in these United States. We discuss those in this article, and end with a must-read caution for anyone going out and buying stuff on Black Friday.

Read this Computing Unplugged article.