It sure didn't take long for Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and her sister Nicky to toss their 8700s and move up to the new BlackBerry 8800.

I wonder if they even pay for these things?!

I am always shocked when I see how many BlackBerry devices are being sold on eBay. At any point in time, there are over 2,000 actions taking place around BlackBerries. Last week, I got myself a nice Red BlackBerry Pearl on eBay. A couple of days later, I was opening the FedEx package and popping in the battery. The device turned on and I discovered some things maybe the previous owner wouldn’t have wanted me to see…an address book containing about 80 records, many emails and a long call log list.

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Laptops are out. BlackBerries are in. If you haven't heard of or seen the ShowMate yet, the odds are you soon will.

In case you didn't know, the Impacta ShowMate is pocket-sized device that weighs less than three ounces that enables mobile professionals to travel with nothing more than a wireless handheld on their hip and a ShowMate in their pocket. Full-featured PowerPoint presentations can now be viewed on the handheld or projected wirelessly by connecting the ShowMate to any projector or monitor. Presenters can roam freely to engage the audience, navigate to any slide to answer a question or emphasize a point and even view their notes on the handheld while presenting. The ShowMate transforms the handheld into a wireless remote control and personal teleprompter — it's the ultimate presentation tool. 

Better yet, the ShowMate is a winner! It was JUST awarded the Most Innovative Wireless Device Award at the Andrew Seybold Choice Awards presented this week at CTIA.

"Each of this year’s award winners have made significant progress in simplifying the user experience, which is critical to expansion in the wireless industry," said Andy Seybold, President and CEO of Andrew Seybold, Inc. "Impatica ShowMate goes a step further by adding a critical capability for the mobile professional - the ability to deliver PowerPoint presentations from their mobile device without having to drag along a laptop."

Earlier today confidential sources in Springfield reported that Bart Simpson himself was written up for using his CrackBerry in class!  He had to serve his detention writing on the board as usual.  We have exclusive footage here at CrackBerry.com.  When asked why he was using his BlackBerry, Bart simply replied, "Eat my shorts, man."

Hey all you Mac CrackBerry addicts out there!  Now you too have everything and the Missing Sync !  Released today from MarkSpace, the Missing Sync gives you the supported ability to synchronize your CrackBerry with your Mac OS X computer.

The Missing Sync software effectively synchronizes your Mac Address Book, calendar entries in iCal, and if you are a Pearl user, you also have the ability to sync photos and music from iTunes...

If you have are a Mac user and a CrackBerry addict, then you should try it.  Price is 39.95 US for download.  The desktop software runs on G4 or G5 PowerPC and also has support for Intel Macs running Mac OS X 10.4.8 (Tiger) or higher.  It supports most BlackBerry devices as well.

Look what just came in on the CrackBerry.com Bloomberg terminal...

"Hats off to Steve'' Jobs, Apple's leader, Research In Motion co-Chief Executive Officer Michael Lazaridis said in an interview yesterday at the CTIA Wireless conference in Orlando, Florida. "He made smartphones cool again. Now everyone wants one. He helped the entire industry."

"We complement each other really well," Lazaridis said. "We both focus on two entirely different markets. One is pure consumer and pure consumable. One is pure function and pure productivity.

Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment.

My initial feeling when the iPhone was announced was that it might just turn out to be good news for RIM in the long run. I guess only time will tell... your thoughts?

Read the full story here.  

There are a number of tricks to save battery life and adjustments you can make to your BlackBerry that will increase performance and put less stress on your battery.

Here are some easy tips: 

• The Auto On/Off feature is designed to program the device to automatically power off and power on. On the Home screen, click the Options application. Select Auto On/Off to select the time the device will turn off and on.

• When wireless coverage is not needed, “Turn Wireless Off” to avoid unnecessary attempts by the radio to find coverage.

• For Bluetooth enabled BlackBerry devices, “Turn Bluetooth Off”, if it is not in use.

• BlackBerry devices should be kept in their holsters when not in use because this will turn off the LCD screen.

•  Don't use the backlight. This isn’t always an option, but if you have a version of the device that allows you to avoid using the backlight, then avoid it when you can. Your backlight eats up a huge amount of battery life.

•  Recharge often. Unlike some mobile batteries you don’t need to fully discharge the battery packs frequently. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion batteries than one total discharge.

• Use BlackBerry shortcuts to access common system features quickly.

San Jose-based Pinger, Inc. announced today that it is expanding its messaging service to millions of Blackberry users. Pinger, which provides text messaging for your voice, today released a mobile application to optimize the Pinger experience for Blackberry users. Pinger is also expanding general support for mobile phones on nearly every US mobile carrier. Pinger claims they can cover over 95 percent of US mobile subscribers.

According to Pinger, the application is an easy and fast way to message groups or individuals.

"With the Blackberry application, we've finally made it easy for Blackberry customers to message with their lungs when they can't use their thumbs," said Greg Woock, CEO of Pinger.

Pinger, which was started in 2005 by two former Palm executives, has grown rapidly since its beta launch in September 2006, increasing its user base by an average of 20 percent per week

"With this upgrade, getting your first Pinger voice message is as easy as receiving a text message," Woock said. "Pinger already is changing the way people communicate by bringing back the personality of voice to today's mobile messaging mix." People can receive their first Pinger message without having to sign up for the service.

After importing and adding contacts, Pinger members can send a message by simply saying the name of the person or group they want to message. Pinger members also can access, manage and even send and receive voice messages through a web interface.

Ascendo Photos is a nifty little application that lets you load photos from your PC to your BlackBerry using the same data cable that you probably already use for synchronization. The software has two parts: the photo viewer on the BlackBerry, and the Photos Desktop, which loads the pictures onto the device.

I downloaded the trial version, unzipped it, and installed it in a snap using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager. Then I launched the Ascendo Photos Desktop on my PC, browsed over to MyPictures, and uploaded some pictures to my BlackBerry. Very easy, very quick. And now pictures of my family were staring at me from my 7100. Very cool.

The Ascendo Photos Desktop was a breeze to use. It has some intuitive controls to pan and zoom your picture, allowing you to frame it just right for display on the device. It automatically detects the device type and uses an appropriate emulator for your screen size, so you can see what the picture will look like after you transfer it. This level of control is really usefull for getting the most from your BlackBerry screen size.

After you have uploaded your pictures, you use the Ascendo Photos on the BlackBerry to create galleries and or

ganize your photos. You can run through a slideshow of your images, selecting different types of transition effects and time intervals between pictures. The photo viewer also functions as a screen saver, automatically displaying a rotating display of photos after a specified time.

I was very pleased with this application. It was easy to install and intuitive to use. There is a User’s Manual that downloaded with the application, but I never needed to use it. The desktop portion of the application that lets me preview how the image will look on my device before loading is tremendously useful. I also like the fact that I can load the image directly over my sync cable. One minor nit is that the minimum time between slides in a slideshow is 4 seconds. I’d prefer an even shorter interval. Don’t really like to dawdle when I show off pictures.

I particularly like this application for when I travel. I alway take a few family pictures along with me when I’m away on business, but because most of my pictures are digital, I’m stuck with the few prints I had made for Christmas cards last year. Now I can just upload the most recent photos to a gallery and they are at my fingertips whenever I want to bore my seatmate on the airplane with pictures of my kids.

Ascendo Photos is a well put-together application that is an essential addition to any BlackBerry. It retails for $29.95 here.

## This Article Was Originally Published by AllBlackBerry.com  

When we are in front of a computer and quickly want to exchange a couple of messages with a friend, we all use instant messaging services such as ICQ, AOL, YAHOO!, MSN, etc.., but when we are away with our BlackBerry, we usually rely on email or text messaging. Well, why should we? What we all need is an Instant Messenger software for our BlackBerry devices. And wouldn’t it be nice if using the same IM software, we could get an Instant Messaging solution that connects to all services? We found it! IM+ Mobile Instant Messenger developed by Shape Services is a complete messaging solution that allows you to exchange instant messages within the most popular IM systems such as MSN, Yahoo!, AOL, ICQ, Google Talk and Jabber. And best of all, it works between mobile devices and PCs in real-time.

Installing the software is easy; WAP and BES versions are available. The first time you launch the software, it will run some tests with the server to properly setup the type of connection. About a minute after installation, we were able to exchange our first instant messages.

A single contact screen brings up all of your contacts from MSN, YAHOO!, ICQ, AOL and Gmail. These can be sorted by contact or grouped by service depending on your preferences. Offline contacts can also be viewed or hidden; you are in full control. A configuration option to automatically start IM+ is also available, insuring that you are always connected. You can pretty much do all the things you are already doing with your IM solutions on your PC. I particularly like the option to run IM+ in the background at all times: you are connected, you can use your BlackBerry with other applications and when an instant message comes in, it pops up on your screen!

In summary, IM+ has many options to choose from and a large set of functionalities, yet it remains very intuitive. All the features you need are right where you expect them to be.

IM+ sells for $49.95, one time fee, no ongoing subscription.

## This Article Was Originally Published by AllBlackBerry.com

Geek Sugar brought this up and there is something about this site we just love. Is it all that girly pink or is it that wicked graphic we like so much? Whatever, it seems the girls at Geek Sugar know a bit about their BlackBerries.

Today, they described their joy at finding out you can do threeway conference calling with a BlackBerry. It is quite simple, although not quite as simple as they describe it.

To make a three way or conference call, click on the Phone icon.

• Click the trackwheel and select ‘New Call.’
• Highlight the desired contact, click the trackwheel, and select ‘Call.’
• While the first contact is highlighted, click the trackwheel and select ‘Hold.’
• Click the trackwheel and select New Call.
• Select a second contact, click the trackwheel, and select ‘Call’ again.
• After you are connected to the second call, click the trackwheel and select ‘Join.’ The screen should now show that you are on a conference call with the two recipients.

You can even add additional recipients to the conference by repeating the last three steps.

And while you on a call you can click the space bar which will bring up your recently called numbers and you can either click between the two calls or get them to join. Paris can now yak to Lindsay and Nikki at the same time and say absolutely nothing of consequence to both of them.

For those Canucks out there (myself included) that were patiently waiting for the 8800 to be released in Canada... The wait is over. 

The 8800 is now available at Rogers. To check out the terms and pricing, click this link:
BlackBerry 8800 from Rogers Communications

Pricing Details:

$599.00 with a 2-year term
$649.99 with a 1-year term
$499.99 with 3-year term after rebates on
select Voice & Email packages.

Should I upgrade? Running the 8700 over here and that 8800 sure looks sweet! 

CrackBerry.com & Jobcoin.com will soon be launching a job board for Blackberry professionals.  If your company is looking to hire Blackberry admins, developers, support staff, or sales/marketing staff in the BlackBerry space – we think the CrackBerry audience is an ideal place to search.  If you have immediate positions to fill, contact phartge@jobcoin.com about posting a job right away so you it can be listed for the launch of the new job board! We're aiming to go live for this Friday, so hurry!

In addition to everyone who visits this site, your job will also syndicate to other partner sites who are participating in the job board. Your job will be presented to 700,000 targeted visitors over the next 30 days (3 million pageviews!).