I am sure many BlackBerry users don’t only use thier devices for just talking to a friend on the phone or for SMS messaging.  Some of you use your BlackBerry phones to listen to your favorite music on the go.  It’s great especially if you have a big SD card that you can throw a lot of music onto and take with you on the bus, train or on the airplane.

Have you ever wanted to play the music on your BlackBerry while you’re at home but don’t want to plug your headphones in?  Maybe you want to play the music on your BlackBerry during that big party at your house but don’t have the right equipment to play it in. Well I have come across a gadget that lets you listen to the music on your BlackBerry.

The product is called MusicNao and it is from the company Cignias.  It is an Advanced Wireless Music Station.  Now what is so great you might ask about this product?  Well this product lets you play music from your BlackBerry through the speakers on the MusicNao stations.  The speakers on the device aren’t some crappy speakers, they are really good speakers.  This product is very well crafted.

The best part about the MusicNao is how it plays music from your BlackBerry device.  It plays music one of two ways, either through Wi-Fi if you have a BlackBerry with Wi-Fi on it, or through Bluetooth.  Imagine being able to play music through speakers while your BlackBerry is sitting in your hands not connected through wires of any kind.  Although there is an USB port on the back of the device that you can connect your devices too but hey that wouldn’t be any fun now would it!

MusicNao comes with an application for your BlackBerry that makes it easier to play music when you are connected through Wi-Fi.  The only downer right now to the device is that it doesn’t support the BlackBerry Storm2 for Wi-Fi yet but you can still use it through Bluetooth.  Another great thing about the MusicNao is once there is an update for the device you will get the update through the application on your device so you won’t have to worry about buying a newer model.

The MusicNao is a bit pricy at $299.99 but it is well worth the money spent.  Check out the Cignias website for more details and to find out how to order one. – by Brad via berryreporter.com

Looks like RIM has been working on a twitter client for a while but it had been kept shy from the camera until now. Mauricio over at www.Blackberryrocks.com just posted a screenshot of what seems to be the rumored twitter client for the BlackBerry. The application looks a lot like Social scope. According to the rumors it should arrive at a BlackBerry near you in February.

Check out the screenshot and let us know what you think.


Some of the features rumored to have include:

• Notification of number of new tweets on the home screen with icon, like text messages
• Main app opens friends timeline
• Ability to view followers
• Follow/unfollow functions
• Create direct messages, replies and new tweets
• Keyword search and saved results
• Tweet photos directly from camera or memory card
• View photos from other tweets
• View trending topics
• Address book integration

Since this is a native BlackBerry app I would expect it to be a lot easier to use with better menu integrations. I guess we will just have to wait and see when the official word is out from RIM. Thanks to Nelson for the tip. – by Luis Merlos via berryreview.com

Google has rolled out a new version of its mobile app to allow you to search through e-mails and contacts.  Simply type or speak the name of the sender or a part of the e-mail. The mobile app will quickly pull up results from e-mails or contacts and allow you to reply and forward.
What else is great about the revised Google mobile app is that it lets you search for on-device and on web e-mails/contacts. You can also quickly find a contact and either call or SMS text them. As you search for certain contacts more frequently it caches those results at the top for later use.
Other improvements in the new mobile app have been made, such as the ability to use Wi-Fi to access the internet. The new mobile app is currently only available for BlackBerry devices running OS 4.5 or higher. To download Google Mobile App to your BlackBerry, visit m.google.com- by Sparrow via bbleaks.com

1. Amazon Shopping Application - According to the company, that app was designed in response to the popularity of a similar program for the iPhone.

Users can take pictures with their Blackberry and upload them to Amazon.com–the app will then attempt to find similar products in the store. Amazon App for BlackBerry also features one click purchasing with Amazon Prime, package tracking, personalized recommendations, Wish List, and more.

2. Pandora for BlackBerry – Pandora Radio is your own FREE personalized radio now available to stream music on your BlackBerry. Just start with the name of one of your favorite artists, songs or classical composers and Pandora will create a “station” that plays their music and more music like it.

3. BBNotePad - BBNotePad is a free text file editor/creator application for BlackBerry. It simply lets you save, edit, & create text files on your BlackBerry SD card or memory. The developer also added some more functionality in this release.

4. Palringo – Multiplatform instant messaging software. With this you can chat to all your friends on Facebook, iChat and QQ. Plus with location you can see where your friends or colleagues are in real-time making it really easy to arrange to meet up.

5. BBScreenShooter – BBScreenShooter is a small tool to capture the current screen of Blackberry. This is useful to e.g. create documentation.

6. Tellme – With Tellme on your mobile phone, you can find the nearest businesses based on your GPS location and also get maps, directions, and traffic information right on your screen! Just say it and see it. Click here to see if your mobile phone is ready for Tellme. Also, you can always call Tellme from any phone. Say what you want and hear the results.

7. BeeTag – Multitag barcode reader for BlackBerry smartphones, supporting the most popular 2D Codes. After scanning the app displays product information, text and URL info for the products.

8. Google Apps – Experience the benefits of Google Apps with the BlackBerry experience you’re already accustomed to. Integrate the Google Apps messaging suite with BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), letting employees use built-in BlackBerry applications for access to their Google Apps email, calendar, and contacts.

9. Beyond 411 – Beyond411 provides free and convenient mobile search, including yellow pages, maps, driving directions, white pages, web search, and more.

10. BlackBerry Messenger – BlackBerry Messenger is a proprietary Instant Messenger application included on newer model BlackBerry devices. This app allows you to stay in contact with your BlackBerry-using friends without getting charged for text messaging by your cell phone provider. It uses the BlackBerry OS’s PIN to send messages back and forth.

11.Bolt Browser - If you find the default BlackBerry Web browser too slow, Bolt is offering a faster alternative. This browser loads fast and utilizes similar shortcuts as the Opera Mini to scroll, zoom, and navigate through Web pages.

12. Opera Mini – RIM bundles a halfway-decent Web browser with its latest handsets. But for real speed and desktop page rendering power, install Opera Mini 4.2. It offers RSS feed support, an easy-to-use zoom box, a switchable mobile view, and flexible bookmark management. Opera Mini lacks comprehensive Adobe Flash support, but so does every other phone browser on the market.

13. Caffeine Finder Freeware – If you’re a coffee fanatic like me, you’d find this app very useful. It lets you search for the nearest coffee shops or cafes from more than 45,000 locations. Like Fast Food Finder, the app also features directional map and addresses of the coffee shops.

14. CellFire – This application sends virtual coupons to your cell phone, and each has a unique five-digit code, which you can show to store clerks. Sign up by visiting www.cellfire.com on your BlackBerry or notebook and selecting your BlackBerry and carrier. To update your coupons, simply open the CellFire software and select “Update Coupons.” The list of available offers appears with each company’s logo. The latest version lets you find and store coupons online and automatically sync them to your BlackBerry. While still in its budding stages, the company has deals with Domino’s Pizza, McDonald’s, Sears, and more than a dozen other companies. However, you won’t find coupons from local businesses yet.

15. Capture It – This helps you to capture images of your BlackBerry’s screen and saves them as .jpg file.

16. Google Maps Mobile – Many of today’s BlackBerry handsets come with built-in GPS. Even control freak Verizon Wireless is beginning to loosen its restrictions on which applications can make use of it. One of the best is Google Maps for Mobile, which offers most of what you love about the desktop version—including satellite views, turn-by-turn directions, and local business searching—and adds a GPS-enabled, location-based search component for use with your BlackBerry.

17. Facebook – Facebook for BlackBerry isn’t perfect—it’s still essentially the same app it was when it was released over a year ago. As a result, it doesn’t handle comments, hidden feed items, or any other recent Facebook changes on the desktop. But the native mobile app is still the fastest way to check your friends’ status updates, send messages, and upload photos right

18. Fast Food Finder Freeware – Looking for a place to grab a bite or get a drink? This app will help you find the closest fast food chain using your phone’s GPS. It provides maps, address and directions to the fast food where you want to go.

19. Gmail Client - Gmail client is the next most useful and must-have Google app for your BlackBerry. This app gives you almost the same functionality as the Web-based Gmail by giving you access to your contact list, sent and archived mail as well as the labels functionality.

20. Google Latitude – Latitude allows a mobile phone user to allow certain other people on his or her Gmail contact list to track where he or she is. These people can track the user (or more accurately, his or her phone) onGoogle Maps via their own iGoogle accounts. The user can control the accuracy and details of what each of the other users can see — an exact location can be allowed, or it can be limited to identifying the city only.

21. Google Maps – This is not as powerful as the Web-based Google Maps app and the iPhone apps, but it manages to bring Google Maps service effectively to your BlackBerry.

22. Google Mobile - Helps you to get the whole Google experience right on your BlackBerry mobile. It has Gmail, Google Maps and Google Sync plus links to Google’s mobile-optimized Web services such as Web search, Google Reader, Google Docs and Picasa.

23. Google Talk – You also need to communicate with your non-BlackBerry using friends. This app sports an interface similar to the BlackBerry Messenger and is as robust as other paid IM client for the BlackBerry.

24. ShoZu - ShoZu makes sending your BlackBerry pictures to your favorite social networking sites—including Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, WordPress, and YouTube—easy. Once you’ve installed the application and chosen your destinations, each time you take a picture or record video, you’ll be able to upload that media to them. We like that on a Symbian S60 ShoZu automatically asks to upload a new photo to your site of choice; on a BlackBerry, however, you have select whichsocial networking sites to use for each upload. You can also use ShoZu for BlackBerry to add descriptions and titles to your photos before uploading them, but we weren’t able to read comments on the photos or geotag them from our BlackBerry—two features we were able to use on the S60 version and we hope will be added before ShoZu leaves beta.

25. GridMagic Community Edition -GridMagic (formerly MiniExcel) is an advanced spreadsheet application that is optimized and designed specially for BlackBerry smartphones. Lets you run complex calculations and organize some information into tables. It also lets you do the usual spreadsheet functions like freeze pane, select row or column, and copy-and-paste.

26. iSkoot – With iSkoot for Skype, you can make & receive Skype calls, chat, and use SkypeOut to call regular numbers anywhere in the world. And with our newly enhanced feature set, now you can easily place SkypeOut calls to anyone in your general address book, and enjoy cool new Skype chat features like emoticons and multi-party chat. What’s really great about iSkoot: unlike other mobile Skype apps, iSkoot is a thin client – so it won’t take up loads of memory or eat up your battery power.

27. Where for BlackBerry - WHERE is the easiest and fastest way to get the GPS content you want on your phone. Download WHERE to get a library of FREE widgets that find the hottest events, the best prices, where to get a good sandwich or even your local weather report.

28. WorldMate Live - A useful app specifically for the road warriors, WorldMate Live delivers content and services to your BlackBerry device including itineraries, flights, hotel information, meetings, public transportation and car rental information.

29. Jaikuberry – JaikuBerry is a small blackberry software application which allows you to blog about your real life through your blackberry. From now on you will always be able to share your life with your friends, even when you are at the other side of the world

30. JapbLite BlackBerry Personal Money Manager – The idea behind JabpLite has been to write a sophisticated personal finance program in Java MIDP which will work on a range of devices including Symbian phones and the Blackberry. This is a robust personal finance app for your BlackBerry. This app features multiple accounts, investment tracking, future balance calculations, net worth calculation, foreign currency accounts with automatic revaluation, regular transactions, standing orders, and default and user-defined categories.

31. Mobipocket Reader - Given the fact that BlackBerry devices are not the best for eBook reading, this app fully utilizes the devices display to bring you a decent reading experience. And since it supports the .mobi format, you are assured that you’ll have plenty of eBook titles to chose from and download on your BlackBerry devices. You can also convert PDFs or Word files on your PC and transfer them to your BlackBerry device.

32. TwitterBerry - Twitter addicts know that a key purpose of the service is to stay in touch with your friends and colleagues on the go. While you can do that with SMS messages or Twitter’s WAP page, TwitterBerry is a far better way. The app aggregates status updates and offers simple, one-click delivery of your all-important 140-character missives—perfect for that inspired existential insight that pops into your head while you’re waiting in line at the bank.

33. PocketMac for BlackBerry - Sync your Mac & BlackBerry device for Free. PocketMac is a robust app that synchronizes your address book, calendar, tasks, notes, and email between your BlackBerry and Mac.

34. Slacker Radio To listen to music on the go, you have two options. You can set up playlists, transfer music via memory cards, get bored and do it all again next week. Or you can listen to Slacker, which hooks into your desktop Web account and gives you an unlimited supply of new tunes. Get all of the surprise of a veteran DJ’s picks with very few of the commercials. And you can cache channels to play later when you don’t have a signal.

35. Ka-Glom! - Definitely a time killer, this Tetris-type game is one of BlackBerry’s finest.

36. Poynt – Poynt for BlackBerry is a free local search utility that rivals Beyond 411. Poynt pretty much gives you the same information but is a lot prettier. It lets you browse by genre and even review the current top 10 movies. The app also supports GPS location search and integrates with BlackBerry Maps.

37. Quick Pull – If you don’t have the patience to manually pull out the battery to give your BlackBerry a rest from time to time, Quick Pull will do it for you. It offers the same functionality as pulling your battery.

38. Stock Viewer - This BlackBerry app lets you continuously retrieve stock quotes coming from NYSE and NASDAQ. It also gives you some headline news. The app is designed to work with BlackBerry 7xxx, 8xxx, 9xxx models.

39. WorldMate Live - You might never miss a flight again with WorldMate Live. The free version provides you with itineraries for your hotel and flight, world clocks, a currency converter, weather forecasts, and more.
If you’re a frequent traveler, the Gold Membership ($99 per year) lets you view up-to-the-minute flight status to find out whether your departure is on time. If your flight is a no-go, you can use the flight schedules feature paired with the travel directory to find a new flight and call the airline in a snap. A free Outlook add-on automatically syncs your travel plans once they arrive in your inbox.

40. Talklock - This app locks up your BlackBerry device when making a call and unlocks it when your call is finished. This prevents you from touching the screen and activating another application while making your call.

41. Tiny Tweeter - Another Twitter app for your BlackBerry devices, Tiny Tweeter lets you tweet throughout the day and keep updated with the people you are following. You can customize your Twitter interface as well by setting font settings, sync settings, UI settings and more.

42. Viigo - Viigo is one of the best mobile RSS reader applications we’ve ever used. You can add any Web site with an RSS feed, or choose from a host of recommended feeds in various Viigo categories, ranging from “Popular Blogs” like BoingBoing.com to lifestyle or finance feeds such as MarketWatch.com. Stories are updated automatically every 30 minutes, sometimes more infrequently, but you can choose to refresh a channel manually to reel in the latest news.

43. AOL Instant Messenger - AOL Instant Messenger™ for BlackBerry® smartphones can combine the fun and functionality of instant messaging (IM) with powerful BlackBerry smartphones to deliver on-the-go IM with many of the desktop features you love

44. Vlingo - Vlingo, the world’s most popular voice application, lets you control your BlackBerry with the power of voice. With Vlingo, you can simply speak to your phone to send a text or email message, call a friend, search the mobile web, update your social status, and more.

45. WebMessenger - This will helps you to chat with friends whether they are on AOL, Google, ICQ, Jabber, Skype, Yahoo and MSN. It imports your contact list from those IM clients and allows you to set your status, see who’s online and of course chat with them for as long as you want.

46. Yahoo Go – Get access to work, home and your personal life, with the best of Yahoo!, designed to work on your BlackBerry. Stay connected with Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger, and get seamless access to friends, family and your life on your phone. Snap a photo and post it from wherever you are with the Flickr® uploader. Find what you need with Yahoo! oneSearch™, and Yahoo! oneSearch with voice—giving you fast access to the answers you want when you’re mobile. Bring together everything that matters to you with Yahoo! Go™, offering you up-to-the minute news, weather, sports—and more—on your BlackBerry.

47. Yahoo Messenger Client – Not wanting to be outdone by Google, Yahoo also released its own free BlackBerry IM client. And it works and function similarly as the Gmail client. This app is a must have for YM fans.

48. Ticketmaster – Out with the guys making plans to hit the next Yankees home game? Lots of mobile sites let you get concert and sports event info on the go, but few make it as easy to buy tickets on the spot as Ticketmaster for BlackBerry. Within moments, I was able to bring up plenty of events and check available seating for different ticket configurations—that is, once I scrolled past pages and pages of legalese. (Man, what a buzzkill!)

49. Bloomberg – This isn’t your garden-variety Web shortcut. Bloomberg offers a condensed version of the classic black Bloomberg terminal screen, with detailed indices, graphs, and moving currency data, along with an up-to-date index of top worldwide financial news stories. As useful as it is, you may want to limit your exposure given the depressing state of today’s

50. MySpace – Facebook may be winning the buzz race these days, but MySpace is still pulling in well over 50 million unique visitors each month. It’s similar to the Facebook app; users can send messages, update mood and status, view or send bulletins, and post photos. It’s also faster and easier to navigate than the site’s WAP page.

via blackberrybonanza.com

Bell has officially rolled out their new HSPA network across Canada, and with that launch came two new BlackBerry smartphones. Bell has launched the classic BlackBerry Bold 9000, as well the new Bold 9700. Both should be available in stores starting today. Pricing starts $249 with three year term for the Bold 9000, and $229 with three year term for the Bold 9700. Something seems a little odd with the Bold 9000 pricing, as its listed higher than the new Bold. Stay tuned we’re looking into that. Meanwhile check out all the details and plans at Bell.ca.

By James, via blackberrysync.com

Celio Corp today announced that its REDFLY Mobile Companion is now compatible with select BlackBerry smartphones. The REDFLY for BlackBerry software driver is available to download today.

The REDFLY Mobile Companion is not a computer; it’s simply a large screen and full keyboard for a smartphone. With the REDFLY, BlackBerry smartphone customers now have the ability to increase their productivity typing long emails, editing documents, browsing web content and more using their existing smartphone applications and data plan.

Productivity is top of mind these days for mobile professionals, and according to the latest research by the technology economists at OMNI Consulting Group, this poses a key inflection point in the evolution of smartphone technology.

“Across the host of economic factors that matter most in selecting a technology such as REDFLY, the net improvement of productivity remains decisive in choosing a platform that enhances the ability to accomplish more work output with existing smartphone investments.” said Frank J. Bernhard, managing principal of the supply chain and telecommunications practice at OMNI Consulting Group. “Case data shows this trend to be positive in how users can actualize their fullest potential of the BlackBerry smartphone itself.”

“BlackBerry is a leader in the smartphone market and has an overwhelming acceptance among business users,” said Kirt Bailey, president and CEO of Celio Corp. “We’re confident that BlackBerry smartphone customers will enjoy the convenience of using REDFLY’s larger screen and keyboard to type emails, browse the Internet, and edit documents.”

The REDFLY Mobile Companion comes in two models – the C8N and C7 – and has a large screen, full QWERTY keyboard, touchpad, up to an 8-hour battery, and USB, VGA and media ports. The REDFLY has no OS, storage or processor, but uses the BlackBerry smartphone’s computing power to give users the ability to interact with the smartphone’s familiar user interface on an 800×480 resolution display. The REDFLY is currently also compatible with more than 60 Windows Mobile devices.

At launch, the REDFLY is supporting the BlackBerry Bold 9000, BlackBerry Curve 8900 and BlackBerry Tour 9630 smartphones. The driver for BlackBerry smartphones is offered free-of-charge for existing and new REDFLY Mobile Companion C8N and C7 owners and can be downloaded at http://m.celiocorp.com/install.

via blackberryblast.com

The old adage that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence can be extended to our technology cravings. Even the person holding the shiniest new gadget can’t help but eye a neighbor who has a different device and wonder, “What does that do that mine doesn’t?”

Thoughts like these are especially prevalent when it comes to the devoted owners of BlackBerrys and iPhones. All too often, the people carrying these smart phones are curious about what one device has that the other lacks. This week, I’m going to save you the trouble and outline some of the personal usage ups and downs to each device.

Because I regularly use both gadgets and am accustomed to their different features, I have included fresh observations from five people who recently switched from BlackBerrys to iPhones. At my request, these people kept track of their impressions, noting the things they missed on their BlackBerrys along with things they preferred on the iPhones. This column isn’t meant to promote one device over the other; rather, it is a summary of some people’s sentiments, combined with my own observations in hopes of enlightening readers. I inevitably left out some differences.

The most outstanding observation from my switch group in favor of the iPhone was an appreciation for its applications, or apps.

They used things like driving directions for the first time because these apps looked and worked better on the iPhone than on the BlackBerry. And they went through a downloading frenzy during which time they found all sorts of apps for the iPhone, such as games, entertainment and those that enhanced business-travel productivity. “Browsing for games. Probably should leave the office now,” said one person’s notes.

Though Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerrys also run apps (including some of the same ones as for the iPhone), BlackBerry’s App World offers only a little better than 2,000 apps. Apple’s (AAPL) App Store boasts more than 65,000. A shortcut to the App Store ships preloaded on iPhones. BlackBerry App World is preloaded or virtually preloaded by carriers at their discretion, so a shortcut to App World may not be visible.

My switchers were frustrated by the iPhone’s battery life and complained of running low on battery. One person said, “I need to charge my iPhone a couple of times throughout the day which can be inconvenient, especially when traveling. With my BlackBerry I just charged it while I slept and it was good to go for the day.”

Granted, these people were all using the iPhone 3GS and had previously used various models of BlackBerrys that ran on slower networks and had smaller screens—two features that require less battery. Still, worrying about running out of juice is a hassle. One person said his iPhone’s weak battery was a tribute to the fact that he used it more often and for more things than he did the BlackBerry.

The most obvious difference between iPhones and BlackBerrys are the keyboards. The iPhone uses an on-screen keyboard, while the BlackBerry (except the touch-screen Storm model) uses a tactile QWERTY keyboard. As expected, the switchers had trouble using the iPhone keyboard–especially for the first few days. But after about a week, most people in the group had adjusted well to the on-screen keys and the iPhone’s auto-correct feature that fixes mistakes as long as you keep typing rather than stopping to fix an error. One person said, “I was a skeptic, and didn’t think the typing would work for me at all, but it actually hasn’t been too bad.”

Another said typing can be a real challenge at first, but that this could be overcome with a bit of practice.

Several people said they were still able to use their thumbs for iPhone typing as they did on the BlackBerry, though most preferred turning the screen horizontally to do this with slightly larger keys. Some said that they weren’t typing quite as fast as with the BlackBerry’s QWERTY keys but that they weren’t too far off.

The BlackBerry keyboard’s static position below its screen means all letters, numbers and symbols must come solely from pressing those keys; this is done by pressing ALT or Shift keys for numbers and symbols. Some switchers noted that pressing a button to change the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard from letters to capital letters or numbers took a bit longer than on the BlackBerry.

My switchers were ecstatic about using the iPhone’s Safari Web browser. They enthusiastically said searching, browsing and reading were all made much better and more visually pleasing compared with their experiences on the BlackBerry browser.

If you are a BlackBerry user, you know that all received and sent emails are listed on the same screen. The iPhone behaves more like a computer, storing sent emails in a special folder you must back up to open. This takes a little while to get used to.

Some switchers said they wished the iPhone had something like BlackBerry Messenger, the always-on messaging system that works to allow communication between all BlackBerrys.

The iPhone automatically changes its time when you enter a new time zone. BlackBerrys remain set to their home time zone for time stamping all emails with that time–unless you change the time in settings.

RIM prides itself on being able to run multiple applications at once; the iPhone allows this with its own preloaded programs like Mail and Safari, but not with other apps.

One switcher, for example, was frustrated that Pandora, a radio-like app that plays music according to user likes and dislikes, turned off when he opened Mail to read emails while listening to songs.

The BlackBerry’s AC adaptor takes up two power outlet spots, while the small, square iPhone plug occupies only one outlet, making it more versatile and able to charge in more locations.

The iPhone only works on one cellular service: AT&T (T). The BlackBerry is available from Verizon (VZ), AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint (S) and other carriers. My group used T-Mobile before changing to the iPhone’s AT&T service.

There will always be something on someone else’s device that looks more appealing than the one in your hand.

But the experience of using apps on the iPhone–and the huge selection of apps in the App Store–significantly enhance Apple’s device.

RIM is continually improving its own store, but it needs to move quickly to keep its loyal users contented.

By Katherine Boehret – via solution.allthingsd.com

A snooping application, called PhoneSnoop, allows an attacker to remotely activate a BlackBerry microphone and listen in on surrounding conversations.
A new proof-of-concept (PoC) application enables an attacker to remotely activate a BlackBerry microphone and listen in on surrounding sounds and conversations. The application, called PhoneSnoop, was released last week on the blog of security researcher Sheran Gunasekera. To download and install the application, an attacker would need physical access to a BlackBerry device and to know a PIN, if the owner uses one to lock his or her device. After PhoneSnoop is installed on a device, when a call is received from a preconfigured number, the BlackBerry automatically answers the phone, allowing an attacker to listen in, Marc Fossi, senior researcher at Symantec Security Response told SCMagazineUS.com on Thursday. Once the call is connected, the BlackBerry is set to speakerphone, increasing the microphone’s sensitivity to pick up sound from far distances. “First and foremost, the most important thing about this is it’s a proof of concept, Fossi said. “It’s not something you need to worry about right now.” There are a few tipoffs that the application was not designed with malicious intent but as a means to illustrate that an attack of this nature is possible, he said. For one, the program makes no attempts to hide from the user – the application would be listed under the user’s installed programs and a small icon for the application would be visible on the BlackBerry. “It’s not like if you had some trojan running on your computer in the background and you couldn’t see it,” Fossi said. Also, the attack would be fairly obvious to the user, he added. To launch the attack, a call would have to come in, and the phone would indicate a call was in progress. So, to launch a successful attack, users would have to not notice the incoming call or the fact that a call was in session on their phone.There are a number of built-in security features available to BlackBerry users that can help protect against malicious applications, Scott Totzke, vice president of the smartphone maker’s security group, told SCMagazineUS.com in an email Thursday. “BlackBerry smartphones include a firewall that can be set to prevent an application from making external connections,” Totzke said. “Passwords can be used for not only unlocking the device. They can also be required to authorize downloading an application to the device.” On Tuesday, US-CERT issued an advisory about the application, urging BlackBerry users to only download trusted applications and to password-protect their devices. via inform.com

via blackberryblog.com- The guys at Skylab Mobilesystems have done it again: they keep creating these applications that I can’t imagine living without. The latest is called Mobile Tracker and is described in their press release like this:

“By taking advantage of the already built-in GPS receiver of the BlackBerry 8800 series, MobileTracker is able to record tracklogs. Those tracklogs are saved on the BlackBerry’s internal micro SD-Card and can be viewed directly in Google Earth once you have the BlackBerry connected to your desktop and click on the tracklog file. To provide more flexibility it is possible to configure the delay between position recordings. So if you are on a ship crossing the Atlantic you can also set the delay to 5 minutes. MobileTracker works everywhere on the world, even without network coverage.”

So now when my kid turns 16 and wants to drive the car around, I just stick my BlackBerry in the car and have it pump out updates to a website that understands the tracklog file (I don’t believe it can do this now but my kid is only 2.5 years old so they’ve got 13.5 years to get their act together). Does anyone believe this isn’t going to happen in 5 years? Kids everywhere are going to be devastated. When is the first transmission blocking phone going to come online?

Anyway, you can read more about MobileTracker and check out a cool demo on YouTube.com.

MobileTracker is available for $24.99.

Properly replacing one of the most popular, recognizable BlackBerrys ever made is no easy task for RIM, but it looks like they’ve done a respectable job in officially announcing the Bold 9700, a device we’ve seen rumored as the “Onyx” through much of 2009. The new model gently massages the original Bold’s time-tested formula by moving the camera up to 3.2 megapixels, giving the screen another 40 lines of vertical resolution (480 x 360, up from 480 x 320), and shipping with the brand new BlackBerry OS 5.0 out of the gate. Also notable is that the 9700 replaces the trackball with an optical trackpad –continuing a trend started by the Curve 8520 — and will ship in both 900 / 1700 / 2100 and 800 / 850 / 1900 / 2100MHz 3G varieties, making the phone a perfect fit for AT&T, T-Mobile, and a multitude of networks in Canada and Europe. RIM isn’t announcing specific carrier availability, but they’re teasing that it’ll be coming on “carriers around the world” starting in November. Follow the break for a quick teaser video from the boys and girls up in Waterloo.

Update: Engadget Germany is at the launch event with RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. We’ll be back shortly with a hands-on.

Update 2: T-Mobile just announced its flavor of the Bold 9700 for the US which it says will be the first BlackBerry that allows voice calling over WiFi.

Update 3: And here comes AT&T, which says the 9700 will be out in the “coming weeks” for $199 after $100 mail-in rebate.
via engadget.com – by Chris Jiegler