I'm still in Amsterdam winding down BlackBerry DevCon Europe, but I just couldn't wait to get home to call my broker to place an order to double up my investment in Research In Motion. Readers of CrackBerry will remember I bought my first "symbolic" share of RIMM stock leading up to the company's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders this past June at a price of $27.75. With that share now trading below $17, I've decided as a gesture of my growing faith in RIM it's time to double up on the original investment and buy TWO more shares of RIM stock (see the execution order above). :)

There was no specific piece of news or information or technical analysis that prompted me to take this action. More so, I just woke up this morning with a gut feeling and had to roll with my instincts. I'm feeling bullish on BlackBerry. Between the new CEO Thorsten Heins, my experience on the Engadget Mobile Podcast playing BlackBerry defender, the look of that first BB10 phone (which I'm sure will evolve by launch to be even awesomer), the positive vibe at BlackBerry DevCon Europe.... it just all feels like the stars are starting to align. Yes, there are plenty of challenges still and lots of work to be done, but I think RIM employees really are jacked up to Rock & Roll their way through it. I'm feeing good.

So there you have it. Full disclosure. I doubled my investment and tripled my shares in Research In Motion. :-)

CrackBerry Giveaway: Leave a comment to this blog post to win your own pair of touchscreen-friendly BlackBerry Gloves!

Well that didn't take long. Less than a month ago back at CES 2012 we got our hands (literally) on the original BlackBerry Glove. No, this isn't a product RIM is actually selling, but rather was given away as free swag at the BlackBerry booth to those who asked nicely. And while the intent behind version one of the BlackBerry Glove was nice, it was a little low-tech, with the tips cut off of the index and finger and thumb, allowing for your actual hands to still touch the device. Technically it worked, but it also resulted in frozen finger tips if you actually put them to use in cold weather (plus they looked a little too fashion forward/risky for some).

Enter the BlackBerry Glove 2.0. Picked up as a freebie at a BlackBerry DevCon Europe party I attended, version 2.0 of the BlackBerry Glove has gone high tech, featuring finger tips on the index and finger and thumb that work with capacitive touchscreens. With greyed out tips, the style is sexy, and the gloves just work. It's a nice improvement.

In true CrackBerry fashion we had some fun with this one... check out the video above for the Infomercial for the BlackBerry Glove 2.0! I'm not sure we'll ever see these go on sale so I don't have a price or release date, but if you think RIM should sell some BlackBerry Gloves, express your interest in the comments! You never know what'll happen...

RIM's new VP of Developer Relations, Alec Saunders, took the stage at BlackBerry Devcon Europe after new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins to discuss the new BlackBerry Developer website, BlackBerry Jam, and a ton of other improvements and additions coming to BlackBerry developers.

Presentation aside, the first thing we noticed was Alec's awesome t-shirt. Bright red with white lettering, the slogan reads "Keep Calm and Be Bold". Longtime readers of CrackBerry know we have a thing around here with wearing custom made BlackBerry shirts. We're loving that Alec is following the CrackBerry lead here. And like CrackBerry Kevin and his Sexy and You Know it Workout, RIM's VP of Developer Relations is leading by example and Being Bold, as demonstrated by his DevCon Keynote shirt! Keep it up Alec! #BeBold

I am fond of saying there is no perfect Smartphone; there is only the Smartphone that is perfect for you. Whether your beloved device runs Android; BlackBerry; iOS; webOS; or Windows Phone, we're all just part of the larger Mobile Nations family (do you like how I worked that in there?).

Still, when a story like this comes along, I can't help but feel a little sympathy for our iPhone brethren. Last Tuesday, Mahler's Symphony No. 9 came to a halt at the New York Philharmonic after a new iPhone user had trouble silencing his phone's alarm. Sitting in the front row, the patron's iPhone Marimba ring was easily heard by the conductor, Alan Gilbert, who actually stopped the performance until the ring was silenced.

The iPhone's owner, a long-time subscriber to the orchestra, made sure to silence his phone before the concert - as we all should do before movies, concerts, shows, and other such events - but an alarm set on his Smartphone sounded anyway. The day before the concert, the man's company had switched from BlackBerry to iPhone, and the poor gentleman had not yet become familiar with his new device. He didn't know his phone's alarm was set; when it sounded, he had trouble figuring out how to make it stop.

On Thursday, he had a chance to apologize by phone to the conductor who graciously accepted the apology. Like the iPhone, selecting the "All Alerts Off" or "Silent" sound profile on a BlackBerry effectively silences any and all alert sounds on the Smartphone - except for the daily alarm. Silencing that alarm seems to be a bit easier on a BlackBerry than on an iPhone, though, as pressing just about any button on the RIM device will cancel that sound. Methinks the unfortunate iPhone user at the symphony found things a bit more complicated when his iDevice stopped the show.

Source: New York Times via iMore Image: WSJ

[youtube link for mobile viewing]

Alicia and I were in awe here at CES2012, this being our first one and all, and were a bit intimidated (it’s not every day you get to meet big celebrities like CrackBerry Kevin). We decided to see if we could have a bit of fun with the folks over at BlackBerry by commandeering the BlackBerry Bold limo. Unbeknownst to our fellow BlackBerry users who were waiting in line for the limo, Alicia and I concocted our plan and set it forth in motion.

The BlackBerry crew were outstanding and we had a blast on our little adventure even with the airport detour. Yes, we would have loved to see more BlackBerry related products and such but it was very nice to have the BlackBerry team show us dedicated fans some appreciation with the limo rides, water and snacks as well as the charged batteries (boy did those come in handy!) and all the free goodies. Thanks RIM!

While our good friends Isaac and Joseph were busy shuttling off without us (just kidding guys, we still love you) in the BlackBerry #BeBold limo, we were hard at work making this amusing video of our experience with the #BeBold limo. Full disclosure here - we had a bit of trouble finding the limo pickup so we had to run around a bit and wait for the limo to make its return trip. In the end we found the limo, made some new friends and had a great trip back to the hotel. Thanks RIM!

Back at BlackBerry DevCon this past fall, our own CrackBerry Adam caught the attention of the smartphone world with his discovery invention of the BlackBerry Kickstand. Using the battery door in the correct manner to prop up the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is a trick that has been used by many a Bold 9900 owner since.

Not to be outdone again by CrackBerry at CES2012, BlackBerry upped their game with the introduction of the BlackBerry Glove. Talk about an engineering triumph! While gloves with capactiive threading that allow you to wear them and still use touchscreen devices is a fairly big trend in the market, RIM had the brilliant idea to go simpler and better by simply cutting the tip of the glove off of the index finger and thumb. Check out the video above to see the BlackBerry Glove in action.

Simple. Effective. And it makes a fashion statement. Best yet? If you swing by the BlackBerry booth (#30326) at CES and are nice to the right people, you might be able to snag yourself a pair. Tell them CrackBerry sent you.

The BlackBerry Glove... the new hottest fashion trend in mobile handwear! :)

After a long day walking the show floor at CES2012 the last thing we wanted to do was to walk to the monorail station, ride the train back to our hotel and forge our way through the maze that is the MGM Grand Hotel back to our room.

RIM came to our rescue with the BlackBerry limo. All we had to do was send a BBM us for a ride!! and presto! within 20 minutes the limo rolled up and took us home.

As you can tell in the video I was very tired and in need of a rest. Thank you so much BlackBerry for pampering the BlackBerry fans faithful! And wow. Talk about a big limo. This rig was monsterous.

RIM says thank you to the BlackBerry faithful at CES2012

RIM has an army out in full force at CES2012 adding BlackBerry users to BBM for the purpose of pampering us with limo rides, snacks and charged batteries. We were met on the platform coming off the monorail at the Las Vegas Convention Center by these PR folks with QR codes hanging around their necks.

We were asked to scan the code to add the 3 BBM accounts for specific CES2012 conveniences. One contact will arrange to get you a charged battery swap, another will hook you up with some CES water and snacks and the third code will get you access to the BlackBerry Hummer limousine for a ride around Las Vegas.

We took advantage of the Hummer for a ride back to our hotel after a very long day 1. On day 2 of CES I plan to try the BBM code for some much needed water.

If the commercial above looks a bit familiar, it's most likely because it's essentially the same ad used for the BlackBerry Torch 9810 last year. It seems that RIM just recut the spot to show off the BlackBerry Bold 9900 this time around. It does make it hard to believe that our buddy Diplo is using a Bold 9900 now and you would think they'd just shoot another ad to change things up. Tisk tisk RIM for being lazy :-)

Remember that service outage that BlackBerry users experienced a few months ago? It was a tough time for a lot of people, because as every one knows, most BlackBerry users are addicted to their devices. The video above shows a humorous take on one man's struggle with the outage, and the recommended solution. (Please note, the video is NSFW due to some colorful language.)

Thanks for sending this in Iron Mike!

The folks at The Joy of Tech are poking at RIM once again -- this time with a timely Christmas cartoon. I'll admit this one did get a chuckle out of me as I feel like we have to find the humor in things, especially since we'll be waiting quite a while to see what lies down the road for RIM in 2012.

Source: The Joy of Tech

December isn't quite here, but for some reason I'm already thinking about the holiday season (could be the fact I was listening to my Christmas playlist while typing up the BlackBerry Curve 9380 Review). If you follow @crackberrykevin on twitter you may have caught early wind of that festive spirit yesterday when I tweeted out the chorus to a CrackBerry'd up rendition of Jingle Bells. The chorus was a big hit, so our own Ryan Blundell took a first crack at finishing up the lyrics. Sing it outloud and leave your feedback in the comments. Once we get the lyrics perfected you just know a video rendition of this soon to be holiday classic will be hitting the blogs. Happy (early) Holidays!

CrackBerry Jingle Bells

Dashing through the snow
In a BlackBerry 7 sleigh
O'er the BES they go
encrypted all the way
3 Bells on phone calls ring
Make my led bright
What fun it is to email, ping
And tweet ‘til late at night

Oh, jingle bells, Android smells
webOS go away
iPhone Yuck and Windows Phones suck
BlackBerry all the way, hey!
Oh, jingle bells, Android smells
webOS go away
iPhone Yuck and Windows Phones suck
BlackBerry all the way, hey!

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It was 2009.

BlackBerry OS 5.0 had just been released, BlackBerry App World was still in its infancy, and we had our first device (the BlackBerry Curve 8520/30) with a trackpad instead of that dirty old trackball.

Research In Motion was trying to recover from the initial BlackBerry Storm, and launched the BlackBerry Storm2 in an effort to redeem themselves. Was it a successful attempt? You can judge that for yourself, since just a bit over two years later, none of the latest devices carry the Storm name.

In any case, the device does have a following - mostly made up of people that for one reason or another have stuck with it since launch. You can still buy the BlackBerry Storm2, and deals like this one at 1SaleADay pop up from time to time. So, whether you try to impress your friends with your retro style when you pull this bad boy out of your pocket, give it to the dog as a chew toy, or use it as a backup device in case of emergency, for just $140 you won't have to mortgage the house to own it. Don't delay, the sale ends in a few hours.

More information from 1SaleADay

On Monday we caught our first glimpse of BlackBerry "London", but the photo only showed off the front of the phone. We've been scratching our heads all week trying to figure out what the back of the phone looks like... could the first BBX BlackBerry be hiding some secret new feature that will help it leapfrog the competition when it hits the market?

We know QNX has a history in automotive, and between London's angular corners and silver/black color scheme and futuristic look, we couldn't help but be reminded of the DeLorean from Back to the Future (see pics).

Then it hit us. We know what BlackBerry London is packing on it's back... Mike Lazaridis has managed to shoehorn a flux capacitor in there! 1.21 giggawatt BlackBerry anyone?? :)