Although it has been available in a beta version for the past several weeks, BlackBerry Desktop Manager 2.0 for Mac had yet to be given an official release date by maker Research In Motion… that is, until today. RIM has made version 2.0 of its desktop suite for Mac official. The update brings with it Wi-Fi music syncing, a new device switch wizard, and the ability to import and sync both photos and videos with iPhoto and iTunes. Desktop Manager 2.0 clocks in at just north of 40MB and is available as...

Today, Research In Motion announced that it has “opened the BlackBerry App World vendor portal to begin accepting BlackBerry PlayBook apps from developers.” The company has yet to communicate a release date for the highly-anticipated tablet.“Interest and momentum behind the BlackBerry PlayBook continues to build and we are thrilled with the positive response from both the developer community and our customers,” said Tyler Lessard, RIM’s VP of Global Alliances & Developer Relations. �...

Today, Research In Motion announced that the cryptographic kernel of its BlackBerry 6 mobile operating system has earned the FIPS 140-2 security certification. FIPS, or Federal Information Processing Standard, is a classification used by the U.S. — and others — to validate the security of a computer system’s cryptographic services. The certification officially green-lights the OS for use by government employees handing “sensitive but unclassified” information. Just another s...

For this week’s Throwback Thursday we’re going to rewind time all the way back to 1993 (did you see what we did just there… try and keep up). Let’s take a trip down memory lane to try and get you into the proper frame of mind. In 1993: Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States, the band Ace of Base had a hot new single called The Sign, and Macaulay Culkin was regarded as an up-and-coming young actor… and still sane. In fact, you have a young Mr. Culk...

As you can clearly see, no, we didn’t snag the royal purple BlackBerry Style, but Sprint and RIM were nice enough to hook us up with a steel grey (also known as black) unit, and we’re up and running. After a quick Enterprise Activation, the emails are flowing like wine. But there are no beautiful women instinctively flocking like the salmon of Capistrano — yet. Here are some of our first impressions on the device we exclusively showed the world way back in April:It’s not as big as we f...

Back on the 14th of September, Verizon Wireless announced that the BlackBerry Curve 9330 would be available for purchase in the “coming weeks.” After almost a month, it looks like the time has finally come. Today, the Curve 9330 subtle appeared in the Verizon online store in a not-so-subtle fuchsia color. The device, which has 3G, Wi-Fi, and BlackBerry OS 5, will retail for $29.99 with a 2-year contract.Thanks, Joe! (more…)

Hey, what do we have here? One of our Verizon sources was kind enough to send us this piece of intel regarding Verizon Wireless and BlackBerry 6. It looks like the company plans of having an “interactive launch” of the BlackBerry 6 operating system on Thursday, October 14. The word interactive makes us think that the actual software bits may not be available, however, at minimum, this indicates a BB6 launch is right around the corner. We’ll keep digging and report what we find.

If you’ve ever used a service like gazelle.com, you’ll be familiar with the new service Verizon Wireless is offering. The company has launched a trade-in program that will allow you to exchange your used (or abused) phone for a VZW gift card. Here’s how the service works: you go to www.trade-in.vzw.com and input the type of device you have (it does not have to be a Verizon device), you answer several questions about the devices condition (does it make calls, does the screen work, is the scre...

Today, AT&T announced that they will begin selling the BlackBerry Curve 3G and BlackBerry Pearl 3G in time for the holiday buying season. The Curve 3G (9300) will be available on an unspecified date — before December 25 — and will retail for $99.99 with a new 2-year contract (no mail in rebate required). The Pearl 3G (9100) will be available starting October 17 in stores and online and will retail for $149.99 on-contract (again, no rebate required). The devices will add to AT&T’s B...

Well, here is what we have confirmed: the keynote today, delivered by Mike Lazaridis, will focus on the next generation tablet OS platform. It won’t focus or really feature any hardware, unfortunately. Our source said it would be unlikely for RIM to announce the mysterious tablet device during a developer event. We agree. Is it possible there will be a shot of hardware on a slide during the presentation, or even a non-working device somewhere? It’s possible, but again, this will be about the platf...

Verizon Wireless is moving right along with its integration of Alltel. As of yesterday, January 16th, Verizon Wireless customers can now call and text message certain Alltel customers for free as part of Verizon’s IN Calling and IN Messaging. To find out if the Alltel number is supported, Verizon customers can go to Verizon’s new Mobile to Mobile web page. Unfortunately, Alltel customers will continue to be billed according to their current plan for calls placed to Verizon customers until the two ...