The latest entry for the NeoFlash Coding Competition is from carlosgs, who released downPSP, an app that will let you download and install homebrew straight from your handheld. Unfortunately, it can't do either at the moment, but it's a good start. Details after the link.

Download: downPSP v210

The owls (or rather pigeons) are coming! As if Facebook and Twitter aren't enough, we've also got accounts for chat messengers: Google, Yahoo, and MSN.If you're a brew developer, publisher tipster, fan, anti-fan or whatever, here's a faster, faster way to communicate with the QJ Team. So add and chat us up, ayt? :P Help us fill our buddy list.

PSP owners who enjoy using PSP portals will be happy to know that Ultimate Portal v6.0 has now been released. This PSP homebrew was created by biscottealacrevette and sports some pretty nifty functions users may appreciate.

Want to know more about the application? Head on over to the full article for the full details.

Download: Ultimate Portal v6.0

Want the functionality of an iPhone or iPod but don't want to pony up the cash? Well, your PSP can do whatever these other gadgets can do with ChrisTek and Epixx's iPSP v1.10. ChrisTek called our attention (thanks for the email!) to this program and we're glad that he did, because it is one of the most robust portals we've seen to date.

The iPSP is a portal designed to look and run like an Apple iPhone, and it contains several applications and games for your use. They've fixed some of the previous problems such as the out-of-memory issue that plagued the earlier release. Here's a short list of what you can expect from this program.

• Digg: The Digg application is an easy-route to get to the social-news website, Digg. It's a great site, and I recommend going to it on your PC as well, by going to http://digg.com.
• Photos: The Photos application displays up to ten photos that you choose, at 5-second intervals.
• Calculator: The Calculator application is just that. A calculator.
• Lock: The Lock application is more for eye candy. It's basically a manually-activated screensaver, and is great if you want to show off your sexy PSP's screen. Just try it. You'll think it looks cool too.
• Weather: The Weather application provides easy access to your local weather. It requires a wireless internet connection. Simply input your zip code and, thanks to Weather Underground, your local weather is displayed.
• iPod: The iPod application allows you to listen to music via PSPTunes. iPSP includes PSPTunes installation files if you don’t already have it installed.
• Browser: The EXPEDITION browser is your link to the web, while using iPSP. It has multiple tabs, and all the things you would expect a browser to have. The icon that looks like a book is for your own links, which are read from the PSP’s favorites menu.
• Games: The Games application is very simple, and is your access-way to the Flash games that come with iPSP. Simply choose a game to play it.
• About: The About application gives you legal and creation info about iPSP, as well as your current iPSP version.
• Messengers: The Messengers application is your gateway to the mobile messengers provided by eBuddy. They are: AIM, MSN, and Yahoo!
• Mail: The Mail application is your gateway to the most popular mobile mail providers. The providers are:Yahoo Mail, GMAIL, AOL Mail, and Windows Live mail.
• Vipr: The Vipr application is your gateway to the Vipr Online Media Service. At the time of iPSP's release, Vipr is still in production, so check back frequently for more updates on it's status.

If you plan on downloading it, there's an easy install file in an executable format and a zipped version for manual installation. As with all other homebrew, read the extensive manual that is provided with the program (in both PDF and txt format) to avoid any possible problems with your PSP. Kudos to Chris Tek and Epixx for this awesome program.

Download: iPSP v1.10 executable
Download: iPSP v1.10 zipped
Visit: QJ Development Forums

Coder extraordinaire Access_Denied has added yet another PSP homebrew app to his long list of fab creations. This time, he's out to help all of us neophyte French speakers master the lingo.

But, before you guys take this app for an instructional one, let us clarify. Access_Denied says that French-2-Go isn't meant to teach you French, it can only quiz you on some of the French words you already know. As Access_Denied puts it, "this program could never teach you sentence structure and conjugation."

The app currently has three modes: English to French Dictionary, Quiz Mode Random (where it randomly picks English words and you have to guess the French translation for it), and Quiz Mode Alphabetical. Included in his to-do list for this app's next release are French Quiz modes and a French to English dictionary.

Again, this is just the first release so if you guys find any bugs or unpleasant whatnots, you can email Access_Denied at ddrdude1234@gmail.com. Or you can use that comments button below and let your suggestions be known.

Download: [French-2-Go]

It's been a while since we last heard from them, but upon checking our mailbox, we were happy to find that Ben and Dave have been pretty busy with the latest version of their project, PSPoste. Now at Beta3, they have made significant additions, with a lot of those new features being user requests that have now been granted (ain't they nice?).

Some of the changes that they have made for this version include:

• Support for TLS/SSL: This includes support for mail services like GMail and Yahoo.
• SMTP Authentication: Supports SMTP servers that require authentication (with or without TLS/SSL)
• Support for the Danzeff Keyboard and an analog version of the GUI keyboard
• Account templates: allows for quick addition of predefined accounts. Supported accounts are currently GMail, Yahoo.com and Yahoo.ca (bring up the context menu in the accounts tab of the settings page - triangle).
• Easier account switching (bring up the context menu from the main window - triangle).
• Completely revamped account settings page.
• Support for account renaming.
• Password control that masks the input.
• Detailed error messages (error shows up in dialog instead of telling the user to open err.log).
• Currently active account now displayed in the main window.
• New checkbox and group box control.
• Auto update from old settings file format.
• HUHelp button moved from analog left to start button.
• Bugfixes in the context menu, CText, tabbed window, contacts edit window, input dialog.

INSTALL NOTES: Unzip the PSPoste_Beta3_FW15.zip file to your PSP/GAME directory.

UPGRADE NOTES: Make a backup of the existing PSP/GAME/__SCE__PSPoste/Data/SETTINGS.XML file, unzip the PSPoste_Beta3_FW15.zip file to your PSP/GAME directory, replace PSP/GAME/__SCE__PSPoste/Data/SETTINGS.XML with the file just backed up. If you renamed the __SCE__PSPoste directory and want to keep your email, just copy over the __SCE__PSPoste/store directory.

Please note that this application will run on 1.5 firmware. We would advise that you do not try to install this on higher firmware versions, as we're not sure if that would work and what the effects would be if you did. At the moment, we can't find any mention about the matter over at the PSPoste site, so just to be safe, stick with 1.5, okay?

In the meantime, just go ahead and download this nifty app from the PSPoste site and make yourself happy.

Download: [PSPoste Beta3]

Remember waaaay back in June when we brought you guys Ravine's nifty homebrew app for Eternal Rest? The map editor thingy? Well, he's just decided to pass on the uh..torch, if you will, and share the app's source code with the rest of the homebrew community.

According to Ravine, he's not using this anymore and thought that someone might wanna use it so he's sharing the goods with anyone who's interested. However, he also says (and I quote), "YOU CAN USE THIS IN ANY WAY YOU LIKE AS LONG AS YOU DO NOT CLAIM IT AS YOUR OWN." Yes, in big block letters fellas, so if you do decide to use this PLEASE don't hog the credit.

Okay, a few notes from Ravine himself:

First, you can only save one map at a time. This map is stored in (%ERME Folder%/maps/map.txt). So if you want to be able to save more than one map, jusy copy it after it is save and rename it to whatever it is to be called. You can use different tilesets with this editor, just make sure you name the tileset, tiles.png, and chnage the number of tiles int the tiles.txt file. (To count the number of tiles, start counting from 0) You can also take the tiles you are using and decrease the size by half to make the thumbnails for it. You would put that image in the media folder and title it tilesThumb.png.

Controls are pretty much still the same as before, so if you weren't able to catch our coverage of Ravine's Map Editor, you can download the actual Map Editor here. If you have more questions, Ravine says you can PM him right here on PSPUpdates or email him at ravineproductions@gmail.com. Oh, also, If you're using the 2.x or 1.0 version, just copy the media and maps folder from the 1.5 version.

Download: [ER Map Editor Source Code]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]

We've got some pretty bad news for PSP owners out there who have firmware 2.50 with the cursed TA-082 motherboards. Coder 0okm, who was working on a SoftDown downgrader for TA-082s, has decided to stop working on the said project. This decision came about after somebody tried to hack into his Gmail account and discredited him with some nasty gossip.

All the people who were generous enough to donate support for 0okm's work were fully refunded - which is a good thing - but we still can't help but feel a bit down about this news item. Hopefully, either 0okm will decide to work on the project again in the near future or someone else will pick it up.

Right now, let's all show some support for 0okm in whatever his next homebrew project is.

If you head over to Sony's official playstation forums, you'll find the poll towards the top of the page asking what your firmware is.

This has got some people wondering.

• One popular question: "Is this poll a sign that Sony wants to know our versions?" One popular answer to that question: "Yes! Sony wants to know how many homebrew users there are so they can add better homebrew support to boost falling sales." That's a creative answer, and it might be true, but we're not entirely sure if that's likely.
• Another opinion: Sony doesn't want to know. The poll was probably started by some moderator or somebody else.
  

Regardless of what the motives for the poll might be, we were curious about the results: 67% use version 2.80 while 14% use versions 1.00 to 1.50.

Wait! Before you faint over those results, remember, they are based on those who answered that poll at the official site. It's not like it's a poll of QJ readers. After all, things are different over here at QJ. A lot of you are homebrew fans. Some of you have DevHook. So we're wondering...

What's your firmware version?

Feel free to click on "comments" below and share with us what your version is and any thoughts you have on it. Both gamers and homebrew developers form the core of our QJ community, and maybe it's time to know which version is most popular (who knows, Sony might really want to know).

Here's what we saw when we headed over to see the results:

Appleseed629 is in charge of the website PSPNetwork. For the past months, he's been looking for someone to help him put up the site's official digital magazine (DigiMAG). Unfortunately, no one was available to extend him a lending hand. But determination can really make people do wonders: even after a seven-month delay, Appleseed629 now steps forward with Session 1 of PSPNetwork DigiMAG.

Since this is the first release and since it's pretty much a one man-show for now, PSPNetwork DigiMAG (and the next few sessions) will have few missing pages. But with jampacked news - release of GTA CheatDevice v1.0d, firmware 2.71, the 2.5/2.6 firmware exploit, the official 2.5/2.6 downgrader (which is THE hottest news around), and so much more - plus a cover story on Metal Gear, and wallpapers of the Queen of MySpace Christine Dolce, I bet you won't really notice the "lacking pages", as Appleseed629 calls 'em.

This DigiMAG will be an ongoing monthly release. Since the said mag doesn't stop at PSP, the author promises a good manga entitled Deathwish. The manga, which will be out on Session 2, will revolve around highschool teenage boy Ryuk who is out to set revenge on the man who murdered his family. Deathwish, says Appleseed629, will have "lots of action, violence," and more.

If you liked PSPNetwork DigiMAG Session 1 and would like to contribute to the next releases, Appleseed629 would appreciate the help -  just drop him a note at pspnetworkonline@gmail.com. Or if you'd rather be on the sidelines yet would still want to help out in any way possible, leave your comments, suggestions, and constructive criticisms on the comments section.

Thanks Appleseed629 for the heads up!

Download: [PSPNetwork DigiMAG Session 1]