One of the great original fears when Amazon built the Kindle was that they were after some iTunes / iPod-style walled garden ecosystem. And while, sure, Kindle is a walled garden ecosystem, those walls sure are extensive! Amazon just announced that it will be supporting the new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, in addition to the BlackBerry mobile app they’ve already got. There aren’t any specific details about this app, but Amazon is all about the consistent user experience, with features like WhisperSync keeping your copy of Neal Stephenson perfectly synced across a myriad of devices, so there’s nothing much to say we Read the rest of this entry »

RIM’s BlackBerry Developer Conference is going down this week in San Francisco, and as you might expect from a developer-focused event, there are a handful of newsy items that’ll affect the development community first and consumers down the road. Here’s a roundup of what’s what:

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It’s been teased since WES back in April — but with the launch of the Torch today, RIM had to come clean with all the details on its thoroughly refreshed BlackBerry 6 operating system, too. Besides the obvious name change from “BlackBerry OS” to simply “BlackBerry,” the software features countless updates, most notably new universal search functionality, social network aggregation, WiFi-powered media sync with your desktop music collection, and an all-new (and desperately needed) Read the rest of this entry »

Though the Bold 9650 and Pearl 3G are clearly the big announcements out of Orlando at RIM’s WES conference this morning, there was a third bit of news in the mix, too — with a decidedly heavier enterprise slant, that is. BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 extends the existing product with SIP support, allowing calls to transition seamlessly between cellular and WiFi networks. What’s more, it’ll work on pretty much any open WiFi hotspot (subject to enterprise policy, we’re Read the rest of this entry »

Tungle has been in beta for a while now but today, has finally reached public availability. The free scheduling application is now available for download direct from the Tungle website. Having used the application before, I can say it’s great for sharing calendar information between users. The full list of features below:

• Schedule meetings -Propose times, overlay calendars of sharing contacts, send invites, check pending meetings – everything you need to make meetings happen.
• Share calendars – Send sharing requests, choose between free/busy or details, see schedules of people you share with – it’s the world’s first mobile exchange server.
• Reply to invites – Receive and reply to invitations from other Tungle users or through your Tungle.me link.

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It’s been in beta for a while, but tonight—at 9 PM EST—BlackBerry’s very own Twitter app will be available for download. From what we’re seeing, it might be the most BlackBerry-like of any Twitter apps available so far.

The download will be available through BlackBerry App World and the BlackBerry Beta Zone.

Following the iPhone app, PayPal has promised BlackBerry and Android users will soon be able to “bump” their phones together to transfer money.

PayPal hasn’t said whether it’ll only work between owners of the same OS, or if iPhones and Androids will soon be knocking heads to settle debts—like the latest version of Knocking Live Video, which sees both phones streaming video live to one another.

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Hey BlackBerry friends — we’ve got some news for you. The Engadget application (which is also available for the iPhone / iPod touch and webOS devices) has gone and gotten itself a little update on RIM’s platform. It’s nothing crazy, but we’ve made some bug fixes, and more importantly, added support for 5.0 devices (Bold, Curve, and Tour)! The devs also thoughtfully included keyboard shortcuts (T, B, N, P, and the spacebar) in this version for your convenience. All you have to do to Read the rest of this entry »

Amazon is today adding BlackBerrys to its stable of Kindle-compatible devices and also taking the opportunity to remind us that it’s working hard on Mac and iPad versions of its software. The app is a freebie download for Americans (sadly it’s not international just yet) and should offer the same functionality as its PC and iPhone brethren — namely automatic syncing via Whispersync and what Amazon hopes will be a seamless reading experience from one device to the next. There’s also an Read the rest of this entry »

Applico let us know that they have launched a free wireless backup app for BlackBerry called Aurkon. Aurkon prides itself on being an “install and forget” solution, that lets you backup valuable information without ever having to plug in your Read the rest of this entry »