I just got word from Bellshare that their popular app BerryBuzz has been updated and is in private beta. BerryBuzz lets users select custom LED colors on their device for emails, SMS, calls and more. There are a ton of new features in this version, including the much desired BlackBerry Messenger alert and even Facebook. Users can select a "disco" setting, change flash intervals, silence alerts on certain days, slow down the LED and more. If you want to get in on the beta, send an email to customerservice@bellshare.com with the subject "BerryBuzz 2.0 Beta". Keep in mind that Bellshare will be receiving a huge number of requests and they may not all be honored. The original BerryBuzz is still available at ShopCrackBerry.com for $5.95. Check out the Bellshare Forums for more information. 

The rumors were flying all week long that existing Verizon customers wouldn't be able to upgrade to the Tour.  For some reason, Verizon didn't list the Tour on upgrade pages for current customers, and it seemed only new contracts would be able to snag the device. The net was a buzz, and it seems as if Big Red was listening.  Existing customers can now head to the upgrade page on Verizon's site to pre-order the Tour.  A $70 online discount is applied, as well as any New Every Two discounts if available.  Now everyone can now let out a big sigh of relief. 

Ahh... this one totally brings back fond memories as I was indeed an owner of the original Executor keychain and played with it non-stop until my older brother eventually stole it from me, put it on the floor and jumped on it until it crumbled into little pieces. I still haven't forgiven him.... though I guess I can let the issue drop now as new from Generation Media Group, bbExecutor mimics the original Executor keychain and offers up 8 of those classic assault sounds, including the ever-popular machine gun.  Be sure to watch the video above to see bbExecutor in all it's glory.

The app is available for both the Storm and non-touchscreen BlackBerry smartphones and is currently available for 99 cents (until July 31st - $1.99 regular price). You can grab it from the link below and be sure to check out the original Executor after the jump!

• Purchase bbExecutor and Drive your Friends and Family Insane >>

Happy July everyone! To all Canadians, hope you had a great Canada Day back on the 1st... and to all of our American friends, hope you have a great 4th of July celebration this weekend. This week in the roundup we have the following titles:

In Case You Missed It: ZonaSnap Screen Capture, Nobex Radio Companion Adds 250 NPR Stations, PatternLock Lite for the Storm, WiFi Disabler, BeeJive Storm Beta Updated

New This Week: Bubble Defense, Bartender's Bible, Arcade Side Golf, Can't Stop Solitaire Collection, The Art of War

Apps on Sale: QuickPull Pro, Berry Labyrinth, Tip Calculator, Flashlight Pro, NetworkAcc - Mobile Network Accelerator

Cool at BlackBerry App World: Forbes.com Mobile Reader

Freebies of the Week: Stitcher Radio

XING has finally launched their services for BlackBerry devices all nice and neatly rolled into a great looking aplication for its users. Not sure what XING is? Here is what Techcrunch had to say about the company:

XING is the leading European network for business contacts. Far more
than a directory of business contacts, XING makes your professional
network an active part of your life, enabling members to discover
professional people, opportunities and privileges through its unique
discovery capability and advanced contact management tools.

So the XING mobile application empowers its users to use the XING services to keep everything nice and organized and with OTA synhronization of contacts, personal messages and appointments this will stand as a huge productivity tool for all those who use it. With support for numerous languages and vast user base XING could be just what you need to get ahead of the game.

• Read The Full Details And Check Out The Press Release Via The XING Website >>

With Pre ordering offerings available for Verizon devices a lot of Sprint customers were also wondering if they were going to be able to get in on the Tour fest as well. A post over at BGR shows that Sprint will not be giving any love to its customers when it comes to the Tour and pre-orders, as seen above. Srdoherty is the manager of social media and interactive communications at Sprint and wasted no time in driving the nail in the coffin. But I'm left wondering why the heck not? Sprint customers out there, did Sprint drop the ball here?

I just came across this thread in the CrackBerry Forums tonight that's getting some interest from folks looking to pick-up the BlackBerry Tour from Verizon. Wirefly, who by the sounds of it sells a ton of devices for Verizon, put the BlackBerry Tour up for pre-order today. For new customers the price is $179.99 -- $20 cheaper than Verizon's direct price -- while existing elgible Verizon customers can upgrade to the Tour for $199.99. Be sure to check out all the details/requirements first before purchasing. You can follow the links below to learn more.

• Learn More / Pre-Order the BlackBerry Tour from WireFly >>
• Check out the WireFly / BlackBerry Tour Forum Discussion >>

I have stated the following fact many, many times before; music is a huge part of my life. From singing along to Raffi when I was quite young, to playing in several high school bands as a loud and proud band geek, my love for music rivals my love for the BlackBerry smartphone. So rather than have these two loves fight for superiority, I made it my mission to have the two work together. BlackBerry? Check. Micro SD loaded with music? Check. The perfect way to listen to music on my BlackBerry? Pending. I've found my perfect wired headset to listen with, but wires aren't always a viable solution. On my desk, with my wireless keyboard and mouse, there's not a wire to be seen, and I would prefer to keep it that way.

If you dig through CrackBerry Bluetooth reviews, you'll find a review for the Motorola S9 from way back. They were beautifully designed and performed well. Improving upon near perfection, Motorola also offers amazing audio delight with their MotoRokr S9-HD (yes folks, high definition) Stereo Bluetooth headset. Now that the music is playing, and the creative juices are flowing, let's see what this headset can do.

As I made note the other day with our CrackBerry/SPE Developer job posting, lots is going on behind the scenes to really take CrackBerry.com to the next level over the months ahead (we even have a little 'header' clean-up coming in the next week just to fresh'n things up a bit in the meantime).

And as we work towards CrackBerry 2.0, we'll be coming to the you, the readers, members, and customers of CrackBerry.com, to help provide us with further information and insight so we can deliver the quality improvements that you want to see.

Survey Time: That said, today we have two surveys we'd like you to fill out. The first is a BlackBerry Needs survey, while the second is a CrackBerry Importance survey. Whether you visit this site hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or even if this is your first time here, we'd love to hear from you. Thanks in advance for helping make CrackBerry.com even better!

• CrackBerry Survey #1 - Your BlackBerry Needs >>
• CrackBerry Survey #2 - What's Important on CrackBerry to You >>

With the BlackBerry Tour to be available from Verizon and Sprint on July 12th and shortly thereafter from Telus and Bell in Canada (and am sure other CDMA folks - Alltell, etc. will be getting it soon), it's time for us to have a good 'ole fashioned CrackBerry.com contest!!

Prizes:

• Grand Prize - A BlackBerry Tour 9630! From your CDMA carrier of choice: Verizon, Sprint, Telus, Bell, etc.. We'll get it to you as soon as it becomes available for purchase.
• Runner Up Prizes - $150 Coupon Code for Accessories from ShopCrackBerry.com! We have three of these to be won. 

To enter, all you need to do is login to CrackBerry.com and leave a comment to this blog post. Looking for something to comment on? Why not tell us What you love about the BlackBerry Tour! After you enter for your chance to win, do us a favor and take our CrackBerry Surveys so we can help make this site even better! Contest entry closes Midnight PST on Friday, July 10th. We'll contact the winners on the 11th so you know before the Tour goes on sale that you won. Good Luck!

Despite being an admitted BlackBerry User and (mostly) Abuser, it is true that my BlackBerry smartphone isn't always attached to my hip. Yes friends, I can muster enough willpower to set it down on my desk, bookshelf, etc, and walk away. You massage your thumbs and view a world that isn't limited to 480x320 (well in the case of my Bold anyway). Those who truly know the addiction, understand that this peace will not last forever. You hear a subtle vibration from the direction of your device/dealer, perhaps a tone follows as well. The LED blinks red, whispering "Read me...read me" over and over. Egads! Something has arrived, but you're not sure what or from whom. Is it important or can it wait? Your eye twitches as you fight the urge to lunge for your BlackBerry.

Okay, so maybe the addiction isn't that bad, or is it? But it would be nice to know who it is, or what you're being reminded of, so you can decide what you want or need to do. If you can't seem to make the decision on your own, SmartAlerts is here to assist you. If you want to learn how you can create filtered alerts for email, missed calls and more, read on!

Yesterday Sprint dropped the word on Twitter that the BlackBerry Tour would be released on July 12th, and it looks like they showed it off on Sprint.com as well. Some eagle-eyed members caught a glimpse of the announcement on Sprints home page. Their Tour page hasn't been updated as of yet, but you can still sign up to "Remind me when its out" if you really want to.  Thanks to everyone that sent this in!

WHERE was recently updated over the past few days. Currently now sitting at version 1.3.0.1 WHERE was updated to include better support for BlackBery Bold, Storm and Curve 8900 devices but it was an application wide upgrade meaning that all devices will see the new changes across the board. New fixes and features include:

• New Gas Features - The WHERE Gas widget got a total redesign in this update. All gas grade prices are now available on main screen. Gas station amenities are now also included on the station detail page.
• Improvements to WHERE Wall - In this latest update you will notice larger gravatar images, auto re-fresh mechanism, the ability to add links into posts, and a new Sports wall.
• Changes to the way location is handled

With these improvements in place, the free WHERE application has gotten even better now and is a greater resource tool to have installed on your BlackBerry device, then it ever was in the past. Be sure to check it out today.

• For More Information And Downloads Visit The WHERE Homepage Today >>

With the 2nd annual BlackBerry developers contest not that far off now, the BlackBerry Partners Fund has been working towards who will be claiming their Developer Challenge 09' prize packs and quite a few familiar names are showing up as the time has come for the first 4 finalists to be anounced.

The four Finalists are Fierce Towers (by Nickel Buddy), Astraware Solitare (by Handmark), Expense Manager (by Total Wireless Solutions), and Vision for YouTube (by Metova). Finalists were selected by a panel of judges based on the following criteria: compelling product or service; clearly defined value proposition; viable business model; and technical execution.

Four additional Finalists will be selected and announced at the end of July, August and September. Over the course of the four-month challenge, a total of 16 Finalists will qualify for the BlackBerry Sweet 16 Demo Event. Entries for the BlackBerry Developer Challenge will be accepted until September 25, 2009 at 11:59pm EDT.

• Read More Details At The BlackBerry Partners Fund Homepage >>

It's been on the mind of some since BlackBerry App World launched, but good friend of CrackBerry Al Sacco lays out a few things for us all that must be done with BlackBerry App World if it is indeed here for the long haul in a new article on CIO.com.

Much like Boy Genius' article the other day, where he shared his feelings on the future of RIM if changes were not made swiftly, Al gives us all a great perspective and insight for the future of App World if changes are not made within that realm as well. Be sure to check it out for a good read through and if you haven't done so already, read the BG's post as well. Both put words to what many have been grumbling for a while now and call RIM out to pick up their game in areas where they've been slacking. Hopefully it all means good things for us BlackBery users in the not so distant future.

• Full Article: BlackBerry App World: Nine Must-Do Fixes for RIM's App Store >>