Ok, well it looks like things weren't 100% go on the Verizon PTT release for the Tour. While the software was seen floating around and is available to download, you still can't actually activate PTT on the Tour 9630. We got some info that Push to Talk online training has begun for Verizon employees, and from the looks of things the software and service will be officially available for the Tour on March 30th ($5/month for the addition of PTT to a data plan). While most are left scratching their heads wondering why Big Red is launching the service on the Tour in the first place, apparently Verizon's plan is to "increase our PTT customer base in 2010 ... by winning over customers from the competition and encouraging some of our current BlackBerry Smartphone customers to begin using the PTT service." So while the software is ready to go, if you are planning to use PTT on your Tour it looks like you'll need to wait another week or so before you can actually activate the feature.

Howdy everyone. Hope you all had a great week. As per usual, lots of good stuff in the roundup this week. Interestingly enough, all three of the 'In Case You Missed it' titles are freebies as well. Lots of free stuff this week! We've also got 25 copies of WordSearch to give away. Covered this week in the App Roundup are the following titles:

Giveaway of the Week: WordSearch

Freebies of the Week: MMAJunkie.com App for BlackBerry, Personal Assistant, HSBC HK Business Banking Launcher, Thomson Reuters News Pro

In Case You Missed It: Social Business Communicator, GoDaddy Mobile App for BlackBerry, Opera Mini 5 Out of Beta

New This Week: Goal Keep, Quick Shot, WiFi Meter

Cool at BlackBerry App World: WWF Earth Hour App

 

The NCAA tournament is in full swing, and some CRAZY games yesterday made for a great start. I'm sure the upcoming games will be just as nuts, so you won't want to miss a thing. To keep you updated when you're out and about, CBS has brought us CBS Sports Men's College Tourney for BlackBerry. The free app gives you news headlines, scores, player stats, bracket tracking and more. The app will keep you informed when you're at work or away from a TV/PC so you don't have to worry about not knowing whats going down. It looks like the app works on most devices (US only) and is 100% free. Head to Blackberry App World to download.

• More information and download of CBS Sports Men's College Tourney >>

Recently updated, BerryBuzz is on sale for 50% off today as our Deal of the Day and you can pick it up for just $2.97. BerryBuzz is a simple app that lets you customize your device LED and alerts for different apps on your device. Want blue for BBM? Purple for Facebook? Orange for AIM? You can do them all and even create custom colors. Set alerts for IM apps, the Gmail app, tasks, calendar, all your email addresses and more. New additions to version 2.2 include the ability to backup and restore settings to your media card. A free trial is available, but don't think on it too long as you'll want to get it at the sale price before the day is over.

• More information and download of BerryBuzz >>

Just in case you were wanting to sign up for this $5/month unlimited service, you can now get your push to talk on through Verizon. The offering comes as an application which is currently available through the Verizon application centre. After downloading and installing, you'll still need to speak to Verizon to have the service fully added on but at least you'll have the app installed already.

• Make quick exchanges. - Push one button to contact team members or clients.
• Place group calls. - Hold conversations with as many as 50 total participants.
• Check team member status with Presence.- See who is available for a Push to Talk call.
• Manage contacts for the entire company online. - Add, delete and assign contacts, create groups and more.
• Use one number, one device. - Make and receive voice calls without needing a second device or phone number.
• Enjoy coast-to-coast coverage. - Connect on our nationwide broadband network, and get expanded coverage across the United States within the National Enhanced Services Rate and Coverage Area. 

As expected, business clients are being targeted with this service offering and it does come with a few caveats. First, you need a PTT enabled device. Secondly, if you are roaming the service will not work. All minor caveats mind you but still stuff you should be aware of.

• Check Out The Verizon Website For More Information On Push to Talk >>

SmrtGuard is one of those apps that just works. It gives you peace of mind that your device is safe and can be remotely wiped of all data should it ever be lost or stolen. You can backup/restore data, remotely wipe and locate the device, protect your SIM from being swapped out and more. I love having it installed as it can be used both as a backup tool and has loads of security features. Everything can be managed from an easy web-interface (check out what it looks like after the jump) and it just does what it does. Hit the video above for a quick look. SmrtGuard is available in the CrackBerry App Store for monthly, semi-annual and annual subscriptions. A free version is available in BlackBerry App World that gives you the remote tracking, remote wipe, personal guardian and SIM guardian all for free (so you have no reason not to try it). Check the links below for more info.

• More information on SmrtGuard in the CrackBerry App Store >>
• More information on SmrtGuard Free in BlackBerry App World >>

Add To Contact 2 is a handy little utility app for your BlackBerry that makes it easy to add new info (like a PIN, email address or phone number) to a contact that already exists in your address book. All you need to do is menu click on the info as you see it, like in the body of an email for example, and from there select Add to Existing Contact. It's simple and it's handy. Add to Contact 2 features include:

• Add phone numbers from call log entries
• Add phone numbers from SMS messages
• Add E-Mail addresses from E-Mails
• Add PINs from PIN messages
• Ability to select a phone number type on adding or just use the first one
• Replace already existing phone numbers
• Phone number formatting
• Add phone numbers or E-Mail addresses from any web page opened in browser
• Add phone numbers or E-Mail addresses from body of any SMS, E-Mail or PIN message
• Add E-mail addresses from E-mail's CC and BCC fields
• Add phone numbers to existing or new contact just after incoming call finished 

If you jump over to the Add To Contact 2 product page in the CrackBerry App Store, you can see this app has maintained a 5 Star rating and has received some glowing reviews from users. It's definitely worth checking out (free trial available).  

Deal of the Day - Save 50%: As today's Deal of the Day, you can save 50% on Contact To Me 2 and get it for only $1.47 (normally $2.95).

• Learn more / Purchase Contact To Me 2 for BlackBerry Smartphones >>

As trentm in the forums posted, Tumblr has rolled out their own official BlackBerry application. Personally, I'm a Posterous fan myself but if you frequent using Tumblr you'll want to check the app out for sure. From what I can tell, all native Tumblr functions are in place within the app. For example text, audio and even video show as being supported features and this is only the first version. Give it shot if you are a Tumblr user and let us know how it works out for ya. 

• Check Out Tumblr Staff Blog For More Information And Downloads>>

Between BerryWeather, BerryBuzz and SmartAlerts the folks at BellShare have been turning out some of the best must-have utility apps for BlackBerry and their latest offering, BerryMail, looks to be another winner. BerryMail allows you to take control of your inbox by allowing rules to be defined which are then automatically applied to incoming emails. BerryMail features include:

• Create incoming e-mail rules based on
  • Sender address
  • Message subject
  • Message body
  • E-mail account
  • Attachment presence
• Automatically trigger one of the following actions
  • Delete message
  • Mark message as opened
  • Don't flash LED (compatible with BerryBuzz 2.2 and later)
  • Set high priority message flag
  • Set low priority message flag
• Create rules right from within your inbox by using an e-mail as the template
• Create rules right from your address book
• Backup/restore all rules to/from memory card

For those who lead lives ruled by the email they receive, this is definitely an app worth checking out. It sells for $3.95 but is currently available for only $2.95 until this Sunday via the CrackBerry App Store. A 7-day free trial is available. Give it a go and drop your feedback in the comments!

• Learn More / Download / Purchase BerryMail for BlackBerry Smartphones >>

If you remember back at Devcon, EA Mobile gave us a tease of the Open GL ES Support with the game Need for Speed Shift 3D. Well it looks like the time has finally come, and it is now available for purchase in BlackBerry App World. The game looked amazing when we first saw the demo, and I'm sure the full release won't disappoint. Highlights of Need for Speed Shift 3D include:

• Take a Real Racer's Point of View - The dynamic camera angle gives you a hyper-realistic driving experience.
• Get Precision Fingertip Control - Touch to break, swipe to activate boost, and activate drift with a quick tilt of your device. Finely tuned accelerometer steering and touch controls respond to you.
• Choose Muscle or Performance or Both - Purchase, upgrade, and personalize cars in the Career Mode workshop.
• Race to the Top - Get gold stars for winning events and bonus blue stars for driving with precision and aggression. Get enough, and unlock more thrilling and challenging events!

Check out the video about for a look at the version that was shown off at DevCon. Once we get it fired up we'll do a little video of our own. Also, as it stands it looks as if its currently only supported on the 9550. While the $9.99 price tag is a bit steep, if the game plays as good as it looks it may be well worth it. If you do purchase it, give it a ride and drop a comment with your thoughts.

• More information and purchase of Need for Speed Shift 3D >>

What is CardStar you say? Its a very cool little app that lets you store all of your "convenience cards" in one place. Instead of having loads of cards or keytags for the video store, gym, car rental agencies, pet store, library, hotels or supermarkets, you just need the CardStar app on your mobile device. You simply enter your card information, and the bardcode can be displayed right on the screen. No more carting around loads of plastic cards that get lost and worn out. There are loads of retailers in the CardStar database, and you can submit a request for addional retailers if yours isn't listed in the system.

The CardStar app is listed as coming soon, and a tweet by @mycardstard yesterday stated the app will be hitting BlackBerry on May 1st. Definitely something to look forward to. I know I'm excited to ditch all those worn out tags on my keychain in favor of this app. For more details, hit up mycardstar.com. Thanks to Ben for sending this in!

• More information about CardStar >>

The long-awaited Xobni Mobile for BlackBerry is now available. We've seen the service in action more times than we can count, and are happy to say it is finally available to the public. Xobni replaces your default address book and "automatically builds and maintains the fastest, most complete and smartest address book you've ever used". The app creates profiles based on your contacts that include email addresses and phone numbers as well as information for LinkedIn, Facebook and more. The contacts are automatically kept up to date and ranked in order of relevance. Features include:

• Email addresses for everyone with whom you communicate
• Automatic phone number extraction
• Access to contacts using Xobni within the email compose screen or in standalone application
• Prioritized contacts using Xobni Rank, which lists contacts by how often you communicate with them versus alphabetically
• Saving of Xobni profiles in the event of hard drive crash or lost phone
• Quick access to valuable information, including:
  • One-click access to Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, including photos
  • Recent SMS, phone calls and emails exchanged, and shared appointments
  • Shared network of people
  • Ability to send your calendar availability to all contacts

In my opinion Xobni is one of the few "absolutely must have" apps for BlackBerry. Xobni is available as a stand-alone BlackBerry app, and can also link to Microsoft Outlook via the Xobni One service. Xobni Mobile for BlackBerry can be purchased for a one-time fee of $9.99. Xobni Mobile with the Xobni One service is a $6.99 one-time fee, plus a $3.99 recurring monthly fee. You can also purchase one-year of Xobni Mobile on BlackBerry with Xobni One for $39.90/year. For more information and downloads head on over to xobni.com/mobile.

• More information and download of Xobni Mobile for BlackBerry >>

* Note: Turns out the beta isn't available for the Storm just yet. If you have a Storm and want in on the beta send an email to beta@pushlife.com and they'll get you the Storm version when it becomes available. Sorry about that! *

PushLife is a new music application for BlackBerry Smartphones that seeks to change how you listen to and manage your music on your BlackBerry. Managing music on mobile devices has never really been an easy task for me. It seems no matter how much effort I put into organizing and ensuring items are named and tagged correctly I always end up with a disorganized batch of music on my BlackBerry. After checking out PushLife, I'm liking what I see and it looks to be a way to keep my music better organized.

Now, the folks at PushLife are getting set to release their application via a major carrier announcement next month but as an exclusive offer to the CrackBerry community they've given us a slightly slimmed down version of what will be released for CrackBerry readers to check out (music purchasing disabled in this version). iTunes and Windows Media player synchronization, Twitter sharing of music, editing of ID3 tags on the go and more. That's just some of the features available in PushLife so read on for more information. As for getting in the beta, PushLife is going to limit to the first thousand beta testers, so visit pushlife.com/crackberry from your BlackBerry's web browser to download it now!

While we all sit and wait to see what Research In Motion is going to bring with its WebKit browser, the folks at Opera Software are going full steam ahead. Long the chosen alternative over the built in BlackBerry browser, Opera Software has finally taken Opera Mini 5 out of beta. As noted in the press release:

Today’s release puts the finishing touches on the Opera mobile-browsing duo. The focus is on delivering the best Internet experience on nearly any mobile phone, along with a unified look and feel and innovative favorite features, such as Speed Dial, password manager and tabbed browsing.

Keeping in mind the needs and wants of our 50+ million users, we have emphasized speed, desktop-like functionality and data savings in our mobile browsers. Today, we have made it even easier for everyone to surf, search and socialize on the Web,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software.

It may be quite some time yet before we see the WebKit browser from RIM. In the meantime, rather then suffering through the horrific browsing experience the BlackBerry offers, you can check out Opera Mini 5.

• Download Opera Mini 5 OTA Direct From The Opera Software Mobile Site>>

Just in case you are a little tired of waiting for the official LinkedIn app for BlackBerry, here's something you might be interested in. Social Business Communicator is a new, free app available for download that is currently in beta. No doubt the options are limited at this time, but the app does show some promise for the long haul. Since it is a beta application, you can check it out and offer the developers some feedback based on what you would like to see put into the application as it grows.

• Dowload Social Business Communicator For Free For All All Devices OS 4.0+>>
• Submit Bug Reports And Offer Feedback Via The BB4LI Website>>