A few weeks ago, our own CrackBerry Kevin made a suggestion for the BlackBerry PlayBook's gestures. Just as a single finger swipe bezel-to-bezel will wake the tablet, Kevin suggested a two-finger gesture to put the device to sleep.

In that spirit, I thought I'd make my own suggestion to the PlayBook. You know a diagonal swipe from either of the two bottom corners will open the virtual keyboard. Wouldn't it be nice for Research In Motion to design a virtual trackpad, too? They could even call it the BlackPad, resurrecting that name from the past.

I have big ol' fingers, and sometimes they just aren't good enough for the millimeter precision required for editing text. I have a knack for typing browser addresses that are just slightly wrong. When I go to edit them, I invariably miss the letter I was trying to select; instead selecting somewhere nearby. I'm forced to backspace over perfectly good text to get to my error. It would be so much nicer to be able to slide the cursor just a little bit one way or the other.

The Flash experience on the BlackBerry PlayBook is arguably unequaled in the tablet world; and Flash works spectacularly well on the device. That being said, there is something important missing from this experience: right-click. Many web interfaces need that right-click functionality. The best example of this is remote management software. Using free programs like LogMeIn and TeamViewer, you can control your computer perfectly through the PlayBook...except for right clicking. And double-clicking, but that's something that could be accomplished with a virtual trackpad as well.

Is there anybody else out there with inaccurate fingers? Would a virtual trackpad help you? Do you need right-click abilities at websites you use? Sound off in the comments.

Just in case you weren’t excited about the upcoming BlackBerry Developers Conference before, some information being tossed around today may change your outlook on the situation. According to the folks over at the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Post, RIM is seemingly poised to launch some new hardware and services at this year’s event. Of course, for all you CrackBerry readers this may not exactly be new news or come as a surprise at all. In reality, we've been talking about a new OS developed by QNX and the BlackBerry Tablet for months now. Go back as far as WES 2010 and even more recently, the last CrackBerry podcast and you'll hear us speak of QNX, the OS they are developing and what exactly, it would be released on and what RIM has planned for it as a long term solution.

The news today was that, Research In Motion would be announcing (or at least showing off) the BlackBerry Tablet at the BlackBerry Developers Conference. Which would indeed be running the new OS as developed by QNX software. In addition to that, it was also noted that the OS would eventually carry over to newer, upcoming devices such as the BlackBerry Storm 3. While we have heard before that it was Research In Motions intentions to demo the device we've since heard that idea got put on the back burner but, it's anyone’s guess now. Finally, the last piece of information to come out today was the Research In Motion is also planning to announce a new advertising service using Mobclix. Rumours have been abounding for a while about the RIM and Mobclix connection but nothing solid has ever come from those rumours.

All this information is great to see as we draw closer to the opening of the BlackBerry Developers Conference but, one thing to remember is that until announced they are just rumours. It's rather easy to take every rumour from the past 6-8 months that has never fully come to light yet and say yes, that's what Research In Motion is going to announce. But, the fact is it's all speculation until those press releases start to roll out. We'd be remiss though if we didn't say that the excitement of seeing what we've been talking about for months now turn to reality is high.

Sources: WSJ, FP

RIM has never been one to wait on things when filing for trademarks and patents. While waiting on any solid news up the upcoming BlackBerry tablet we've seen a few different names tossed around, of which "BlackPad "seemed to stick the most yet prove the most ridiculous. Well apparently RIM had filed for a trademark of the name "SurfBook"  in early August leading us to believe they may have made a semi-decent table name choice after all. There are no documented patents under the same name as of yet, but it looks like things are moving along in tablet land. So what do you think of the name "SurfBook"? Drop a comment with your thoughts.

Chatting with Kevin on this his thoughts are that it totally breaks their standard naming convention. Typically they stick with straight up, one word, one syllable names (Curve, Torch, Bold) so "SurfBook" seems a bit off -- but just calling it "BlackBerry Surf" wouldn't be bad at all and would fit much better with the current brands. Also, they would never cut their gabillion dollar brand name in half and use something like "BlackPad" (and BlackBerry BlackPad) is just wrong. Regardless of the name they go with, don't get your hopes up that you'll be seeing a BlackBerry tablet under the Christmas tree - early 2011 (late January if things go well) is where were thinking the release date is at now. Though that doesn't mean they won't announce it sooner. Fingers crossed we learn more about the tablet at DevCon next week.

Source: CIPO 
Via: Engadget 

Ok podcast fans, get ready for a humdinger of an episode. With all of the Crack Team podcast members now owning a Torch and having spent a good deal of time on it, we go round table style and discuss our loves, likes and dislikes (a couple of hates too) in regards to the BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6. There are definitely some good insights and interesting debates mixed into this discussion (a couple of laughable moments too).

Then at 52 minutes into the show we switch gears and weigh-in on all of the BlackBerry tablet rumors of the moment and toss in some additional fuel for the fire. We even make a few friendly bets as to which way we think things will go (my money is on RIM not calling the tablet "BlackPad" - I just can't see them cutting their uber-popular BlackBerry brand in half. It has to be BlackBerry "something". And BlackBerry BlackPad is just way too lame). We speculate on the OS and what it'll be capable of and a whole lot more. Exciting stuff for sure.

Take a listen. We're kinda of hyper on this one... it's a long a show but I promise you'll stay awake. Enjoy!

Rumors are swirling today from "inside sources" that RIM's acquisition of QNX back in April will result in a brand new OS for the BlackPad, rather than a revised version of OS 6. There really isn't much more information right now. We've been under the impression for quite some time that this was the case. Given what the QNX business model is (ie: building embedded OS') it sounds rather logical to put the two together and come up with the idea RIM took them on to build a new OS. Today's news makes for some interesting additions to the speculation already floating around about RIM's plans. If this really is the case, how much of a departure will this be from the OS form and functionality we are used to? I for one am very interested to see where this goes, and if there is any more to come from this.

Source: Engadget

In between all of the ongoing phone rumors sits the much debated "BlackPad" rumors. The latest comes in from Apple Daily stating that the RIM tablet (maybe BlackPad, maybe not) will be shipping as early as November of this year and be priced at $499. The tablet is said to be sporting a 9.7 inch display along with Bluetooth, Wifi and front and rear facing cameras. We've heard so much speculation on this one, but it's hard to say for sure what it will have feature-wise as well as what will make it tick. We're not certain that it will be running an actual BlackBerry OS (QNX based anyone?) so we'll see how it all pans out. The tablet will be manufactured by Quanta starting with 2 million units in September, with another 8 million the following year. You can keep up with the latest info at our rumored device page.

Source: Apple Daily
Via: Engadget