You should be refilling that popcorn bucket right about now. While we thought the next round of the Pre / iTunes syncing fiasco would probably be something simple like Apple releasing another quick patch, Palm has stepped it up a notch by complaining to the USB Implementers Forum over what it sees is "improper use of the Vendor ID number" by the gang at Cupertino. What the company means is that when an ID is applied for, a form is signed that states:

"Unauthorized use of assigned or unassigned USB Vendor ID Numbers and associated Product ID Numbers are strictly prohibited."

The implication here is that Palm believes Apple is violating this stature by disallowing certain Vendor IDs -- namely, Palm's -- from using iTunes. So how'd Palm manage to "fix" that syncing hole Apple managed to fill? From the looks of it, by misrepresenting its own Vendor ID, so that the Pre now shows up as a iPod / mass storage device made by Apple (ID 0x05ac) as opposed to one by Palm (ID 0x083) -- hence the complaint. Of course, lying about your own ID would seem to break with the aforementioned rule, too, so what we're left here is some muddled grey area and Palm apparently being okay with fudging some data to correct what it sees is an injustice. If anyone's curious, DVD Jon points out that the root USB Node is still identified as "Pre," so we very likely could see another round of these shenanigans in the not-too-distant future.

Finally, now's as good of a time as any to take a look at some of the peripheral casualties from this war of attrition. In an essay on his personal site that's been circulating the interwebs, Marc Deslauriers outlines the pangs he and the Linux community have felt over the years trying to use iPods on the open source platform, surmising that Apple is intentionally and repeatedly seeking ways to block non-iTunes programs from syncing in any way with its devices. This story is far from over, and as ugly as it looks now, it's probably only gonna get worse.

[Via Digg and Pre Central]

Read - Marc Deslauriers, "Goodbye Apple"
Read - Palm's lodges complaint with USB IF
Read - USB Vendor ID application
Read - Palm Pre USB hack confirmed

It would seem that the first-ever iPhone game has been written and is available to download to your Jail-broken device, and true to the natural form of the Microsoft vs. Apple debate, it's all based around blowing up Zunes. Jason Merchant, a clever (and possibly very bored) iPhone hacker has coded a small game app for the phone wherein you target floating Zunes with your onscreen mini-iPhone, and then blast away with missiles. The Microsoft-fanboy-incensing shooter was written in objective C, and obviously requires that your device has had Jailbreak run on it to allow for the install. The creator says he's working on an aquarium app which will allow you to drop fish-food to an underwater iPhone, which pretty much makes no sense at all.

[Via Hackint0sh, thanks Boy Genius]

The iPhone isn't the only handset whose software innards are getting lovingly torn apart in the name of science this week. It turns out some intrepid users of the Helio Ocean (a device occasionally compared to the iPhone, coincidentally) have been slaving away on a method for adding extra applications outside of the carrier's walled garden. Their first success is a doozy, too: Opera Mini 3, one of the most prized jewels in the world of mobile software. The developers aren't claiming it's bug-free -- landscape mode and the QWERTY keyboard don't work, for example -- but it's a huge step in the right direction and they're continuing to work out the kinks. More custom apps are said to be on the way, and don't worry, Drift and Heat users -- support's said to be on the way for you guys, too.

It's still a little way off from meaning anything to the average user, but the enterprising folks over at iPhone Dev Wiki have finally turned out binaries and source code for their very first compiled iPhone app. Of course, all it does is spit out the ubiquitous programmer shout-out "Hello World," but make no mistake -- this is a huge step in getting usable, real-world apps into end users' hands without Apple's or AT&T's official blessing, and the fact that anyone can download this source and roll their own proof of concept is pretty darned comforting. "Hello World," indeed.

[Via TUAW]

As expected, Apple used WWDC as the stage to announce a third-party development solution for the iPhone, putting to rest fears that the handset would be a closed (read: non-smartphone) platform. Calling it a "sweet solution" for allowing devs to get their wares onto iPhones across the globe without sacrificing stability or security, Apple is using its full Safari-based browser to let folks code up true, Web 2.0-compatible apps that can be accessed and updated on developers' own servers. Though any apps that third-party developers put together will run under Safari, they'll be totally customizable and maintain the platform's unique look and feel. Better yet, they won't require any special SDK -- Jobs claims that a working knowledge of modern web standards is all we'll need to code up custom iPhone goodies to our hearts' content.

The iPhone's critics have focused on a handful of issues that could serve to to derail its would-be path to retail dominance; of those, the lack of a removable battery, 3G radio, and support for third-party apps are frequently cited as the top three (presented in no particular order). We may be waiting for round two to get either of the first two niggles resolved -- but contrary to initial reports, it seems that independent devs may end up getting a crack at the first model after all as Jobs had suggested at D. The New York Times is citing "a person briefed on Apple's plans" as saying that WWDC will see the introduction of a software development kit that allows folks to convert small Mac apps to run on the iPhone, seemingly making good on Apple's claim that the handset runs OS X. So who's ready to take the plunge if -- and only if -- this announcement pans out?