Palm Pre Homebrew App of the Day– PrePod
The massive development effort for the Palm Pre marches on with today finding 123 apps in the Homebrew Apps depository on PreCentral. There are literally new programs showing up every few hours, and I find myself checking for new ones several times a day. Today’s homebrew app of the day is one of my favorite apps– PrePod.
PrePod is a podcatcher for the Pre that will grab my favorite podcasts and serve them up for listening when I have free time. One of the handiest features is that PrePod bookmarks the podcasts, so I always pick up listening right where I left off in a given episode. The program is well done, and rivals paid podcatchers on other platforms. There is only one improvement I think the developers should add, and that’s my favorite podcast to the default page when the program is first installed. 
There is a disadvantage to homebrew apps over the apps in the Pre App Catalog– the homebrew apps are not updated when Updates is run on the Pre. This means you have to keep an eye in the homebrew catalog for updates to programs you install, and manually get the newer versions.
A tip to make it easy to tell when new a new version of a homebrew app is available in the homebrew catalog, is to sort the catalog by Last Update. Just click the Last Update column header and the list will sort by that date. You can sort the catalog by any column for that matter. Once you determine there is a newer version, use the FileCoaster homebrew app to download and install it on the Pre. FileCoaster should be the first homebrew app you install on the Pre.
You are right on the apps, it is like hitting a jackpot in Vegas. It is a wonderful phone. My wife and I have Pres and she was not sure at first, now I can not get it out of her hands. I have been over all apps and tons of site and it appears the momentum is building. We may not ever be a number one phone, however it is the one for us. Keep posting! Thanks
You call it “massive” when you get a couple every few hours. What then do you call:
65000 / (365 * 24) = 7.42 per hour
123 / 7.42 = 16.58 hours e.g less than a day
OK, perhaps Herculean?
prickish fanboy
PrePod is easily my favorite homebrew app.
I love my palm, it’s great for work and play and since I’m losing my memory by the minute…it’s a great help with remembering apt. and stuff…
James,
I’m really enjoying all the Pre Homebrew app updates. I’m eligible for a new phone with Sprint in a month (have a Blackberry Curve now) and I’ve been going back and forth between the Pre and the soon-to-come Touch Pro2. One thing holding me back on the Pre is the keyboard. When I’ve tried it out (just for a few seconds, admittedly) in a Sprint store it didn’t seem too good. What do you think of it after using it for a while. Do you test or email much with the Pre?
Thanks.
I have no problem using the Pre keyboard, I use it all the time. Kevin has both the Pre and a Touch Pro2 in hand at the moment, maybe he’ll have some insight for you.
Hey James –
We’re working on getting automatic updates to work within fileCoaster this weekend, should be up next week. That said, PrePod just got an update today that allows you to search for podcasts instead of manually entering your ompl file.
I also added a direct link to the latest updates view to our main menu (a dropdown under the homebrew apps menuitem) since it’s admittedly a pain to have to hit that last update column link twice to get the sort right (working on that too, but it’s a sticky wicket).
Like you, I’m basically amazed at the stuff that these developers are doing!
Thanks, James. I’d forgotten that Kevin has both (I did listen to the podcast where Matt and Kevin discussed the Touch Pro2). So Kevin, do you have any advice? As I said before, I’m with Sprint and eligible for an upgrade in a month. I’m pretty sure I’ll so with either the Pre or the TP2. Which would you choose, and why?
Hoping since you all have homebrewed apps working you may have advise for getting the products to install them working. I have a 32 bit intel mac so can’t get java 1.6. Tried soylatte but could not get the $PATH to make it run instead of old version. Spent a day on soylatte and wondered why. I forgot I got down this road cause I wanted a game in homebrew apps. To get it needed filecoaster. Then webos to get filecoaster. Then java to run webos. Then soylatte … A long confusing road to install a few games.
Anyone got the apps another way?
Thanks. Feeling on outside of all the fun . Darn java!