Everyone here at CrackBerry.com would like to wish you a healthy, happy and tech-filled 2012! 2011 was filled with ups and downs for BlackBerry fans. We started off the year with the BlackBerry PlayBook, then finished off with some BlackBerry 7 phones and the promise of BBX phones in 2012. So hopefully this year will be a good one for RIM and we'll have plenty to talk about.

We're looking forward to bringing bigger and better things to CrackBerry (and across all our Mobile Nations sites) in 2012. We have plenty planned heading into 2012, so stayed tuned as we get rolling into the new year. 

Happy New year from all of us at CrackBerry.com!!

-Kevin and Team CrackBerry

We'd like to take a minute to wish everyone in CrackBerry Nation a very Merry Christmas! We'll obviously be taking it easy today (we'll sneak in a few posts, don't worry) and you should do the same. We know it's tough, but try to put down your BlackBerry (or PlayBook, iPhone, Android ... ) for the day and spend some quality time with friends and family. Today is a day to give thanks and look back at the year and drink plenty of spiked egg nog. RIM has certainly brought us through some ups and downs in 2011, but overall it was a pretty good year.

So here's to a Merry Christmas to all and very happy holidays!

- Kevin and the The CrackBerry Team

Happy Hanukkah to all of our readers who this week celebrate the Festival of Lights, or for Adam Sandler fans, those eight crazy nights. As you stand around the menorah lighting each candle beginning at sundown tonight, we wish you and your family a holiday filled with celebration and fun.

If you haven't already, be sure to stop by our galleries and forums to check out some more Hanukkah inspired themes, wallpapers, and maybe even a ringtone for your device. The theme shown above can be found at the link below for only $.99. 

More information / screenshots and to purchase Happy Hanukkah

In launching this site in 2007, our aim was simple - to establish CrackBerry.com as the #1 resource for all things BlackBerry. And by all things, we meant all things. Beyond our passionate editorial team and amazing forum community that deliver the best news, reviews, how-to content and more daily, we strive to provide other services that help people get the most out of their mobile experience. Whether it's downloading ringtones and wallpapers, buying a spare battery or even a new BlackBerry, we aim to offer it all at CrackBerry. When we know we can deliver the best service in-house, that's what we do. With over two million orders shipped, our in-house ShopCrackBerry.com store is #1 for BlackBerry accessories. And when it makes sense to work with a partner to deliver a service, our aim is always to work with the best partner possible to bring that best in class service back to CrackBerry Nation.

And with the notion of best in mind, I'm happy to introduce our new and improved CrackBerry Phone Store, now powered by Best Buy Mobile Solutions. Both Best Buy and CrackBerry are super excited for the CrackBerry Phone store. You can currently browse and buy BlackBerry Smartphones from Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile within the store and we'll be bringing you special offers from AT&T right here on the blogs. Cyber Monday is just around the corner, so you'll definitely want to keep your eyes out for some great offers. In the meantime, you can jump on over to the CrackBerry Phone Store at the link below, and visit it anytime by clicking the Phones tab from within ShopCrackBerry.com. 

Buying your next BlackBerry from CrackBerry helps to support this site which helps us to keep things going and work to continually improve our site and service offering. We have a lot of great things planned for 2012 to better serve your mobile needs, so we thank you for the continued support!

Visit the CrackBerry Phone Store powered by Best Buy Mobile 

To all of the residents of CrackBerry Nation living in the good 'ole US of A, a very Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at CrackBerry.com!

Take the day to give thanks to your family, friends, health and of course, your BlackBerry. Without it we wouldn't be one big Cracky Family, so we certainly should keep that in mind. Make sure you eat all the turkey you can and get yourself into a giant food coma, then take it easy on the couch and maybe even sneak in a nap. Tomorrow is Black Friday (and don't forget about Cyber Monday... we have some awesome deals coming up in store) so you'll need your energy to pick up all of those bargain items you've been eyeing up. Check out our 2011 Holiday Gift Guides (with more on the way) for some great ideas for the BlackBerry lover on your list.

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Veterans Day and Remembrance Day to all our readers! Thanks to all the soldiers, past and present, for all you have done for us.

Don't forget you can show your appreciation for our troops with free themes, wallpapers, and maybe even a ringtone or two in the forums or our galleries, so head on over and take a look if you haven't already. The theme in the picture above can be found at the link below.

More information/screenshots and download Remembrance Day theme 

Greetings CrackBerry Nation!

This past summer we soft-launched "Mobile Nations", initially using the name for our cross-site podcast that brings together the heads of state from AndroidCentral, CrackBerry, TiPb, PreCentral and WPCentral for discussion on all things mobile.

Today I have the pleasure of more formally introducing Mobile Nations as our new network brand, creating an umbrella under which all of our individual communities stand united. Take note of the new Mobile Nations top bar and footer on this site!

Though our history in operating the leading mobile-platform dedicated websites reaches back over a decade to the launch of VisorCentral in 1999, it feels like we are in start-up mode again, making aggressive plans and tackling our to-do lists with gusto. Forum regulars will have already noticed a number of recently introduced feature enhancements and podcast fans are now able to watch replays of their favorite shows in video. Over the weeks and months ahead you'll see us pull the trigger on a number of other Mobile Nations initiatives currently in the works, all aimed at making your experiences on all of our communities even more engaging and fun.

Thanks for being part of the journey,

Enjoy the calm while it lasts... Things are about to get CRAZY CRACKY around here.

If you're a long time reader of CrackBerry.com you know what happens when a new BlackBerry Smartphone hits the market... we go nuts! And to think we're on the verge of a wave of new BlackBerry 7 Smartphones getting announced and hitting the market after jonesing so long I have a feeling things are going to get really cracky around here, really soon. Don't forget, there's a BlackBerry 7 fan night coming up tomorrow and knowing RIM's habits we can fully expect they'll officially announce anything new that may get shown off at the events prior to them getting underway.

With August here I'm so relieved the wait is *almost* over. Seriously, the last BlackBerry Smartphone review I posted was of the Bold 9780 and that was back in December 2010. Talk about new BlackBerry withdrawal! And while the BlackBerry Bold 9900's unveiling at BlackBerry World helped to satisfy my cravings for a few days, my thumbs have been twitching for months now in anticipation of getting a hold of some new BBs to call my own. And I can only imagine so many of you reading this feel the same way. But instead of feeling impatient and mad at RIM for taking so long, it's time to start enjoying the last few weeks on whatever BlackBerry you own now as you get ready to say farewell to it and upgrade to a BlackBerry 7 device.

We've got a TON of stuff planned for the upcoming weeks to ring in what really is the new BlackBerry Smartphone Year, so be sure to enjoy this last bit of calm before the BlackBerry storm rolls into town (no, not that Storm!). Before you know it, it's going to be raining new phones around here!

Ok, so *arguably* it may be more fitting for us to try and play off a Rebel Alliance theme over The Empire as we fight for BlackBerry in the mobile wars, but I've always been wayyy more of a Darth Vader fan than Luke Skywalker and seriously, THE RIMPIRE STRIKES BACK is just frak'n awesome (plus in real life Darth would crush Luke).

I fly out to Waterloo tomorrow, hometown of Research In Motion and birthplace of BlackBerry, so figured the best way I can show my support for RIM at their Annual General Meeting of Shareholders Tuesday night would be to literally wear it on a t-shirt. Looks pretty hawt, right?? 

The new logo is up on megaupload for all to enjoy, so if you want to make your own RIMPIRE STRIKES BACK t-shirts, stickers, wallpapers, etc. you can download the .eps file at the link below. Huge props to CrackBerry member 4speed for tossing out the new slogan on our The Way I See It CrackBerry Nation, We've Only Just Begun post earlier this week.

Download THE RIMPIRE STRIKES BACK .eps file from Megaupload

From all of us here at CrackBerry we'd like to wish everyone a happy Independence Day. Take the day off if you can - relax and have some drinks and food with family and friends. Whatever your plans are make sure your BlackBerry is ready to go to the party as well. If you need some apps to help you out today we have you covered - not to worry! Hitting up the golf course for the day? Check out some great golf apps to go along for the ride. From range finders to scoring we've got the goods. Not feeling the heat of the course today? Maybe you'll want to be the best bartender you can and impress your friends. There are loads of great bartending apps for your BlackBerry that will make you an instant mixologist. Perhaps you just want to show off your 4th of July spirit? Trick out your Berry with some great ringtones, patriotic wallpapers or a 4th of July theme and show your colors.

What will you and your BlackBerry be doing today? Will you be grilling up a storm? Hanging out with the family? Checking out some fireworks (what a great way to try out some HD video recording on the PlayBook!) Leave a comment and let us know what your holiday plans are. Happy 4th!

Like CrackBerry? Hit the +1 Button Below!

Buttons on blogs. You either use them or you ignore them. At the bottom of each CrackBerry article we have been rocking Facebook's Like and Twitter's Tweet buttons for a while now, and last week we added the newest one to hit the scene, Google's +1 Button.

If you're not familiar with the +1 Button, the video above will quickly walk you through what it's about. Basically the +1 button is your way of publicly saying to Google and anybody you're connected with via Google that you like this content. Later, when you're searching Google for info, you'll see that search results are accompanied with the +1 count, and if anybody you know has +1'd a page you'll see that person in the search results too. Google puts value on the number of +1's a page and website has received (the more the better of course!), so if you like an article or page here on CrackBerry and see a +1 button, be sure to click it!! Right now the +1 is just on the blogs, but we'll be rolling it out in more places on CrackBerry where it makes sense, so keep your eyes on the lookout for it.

Want some practice? Be sure to hit the +1 button at the top of this post. That'll say you love CrackBerry!!

It would be ok to assume you are one of the 28,094 people that "Like" CrackBerry.com on Facebook, right? Oh, no? Not you? Well, why not! As you know we are the #1 Place for Users and Abusers, and that carries beyond our blog and forums as well.

If you are not one of the nearly 28,000 people who show their love for us on Facebook there is only one solution. Go now, and click that little like button. It will get you all the latest news, as well as give you the ability to interact with us even more, and post your questions or comments up!

It's quite simple, head over to our page, and click that like button! Who knows, you may be a lucky winner one day just for simply liking us, and being a loyal fan of CrackBerry. Spread the love with all your friends, family, and even random strangers if you feel the urge!

Over 65,000 followers on Twitter. Sure does sound impressive right? Well, yes, and no, we know there are a lot more BlackBerry lovers out there who are on Twitter, and the fact that they are not following to keep up to date with all the latest news is rather sad. So, what's the delay, go find us on Twitter, and hit that follow button, and be sure to give us a shout. Spread the word, tell your aunts, uncles, friends, sisters, parents, teachers, whoever you need to tell that they should be following us to keep up to date with all things BlackBerry. Also feel free to tweet us some questions, and be interactive, we will do our best to answer and help out as much as possible!

Don't live in the US? No problem, instead be sure to keep up to date with all the international news via the CrackBerryWorld Twitter feed.

Keep up to date with the latest BlackBerry accessories to enter the ShopCrackBerry store via the ShopCrackBerry Twitter feed, and as always keep your eye on CrackBerryKevin's feed for his random give aways!

Need help with your BlackBerry? Our team of CrackBerry Twelpers is ready to help! Just shoot us a Tweet @crackberry and we'll get you sorted out!

No more delays, get to following!

Top o’ the morning to ya, lads and lassies!! Happy Saint Patrick’s Day (Lá Fhéile Pádraig)! Today is a religious holiday named after the most well known of the patron saints of Ireland. For many, it’s also a time for everyone worldwide to celebrate their Irish heritage..and for the rest, it’s just another excuse to have a pint or two (or three or). I hope you're taking part in “the wearing of the green” today, be it a shamrock, a green shirt, or even a green beer in your hand. Take part in celebrating the beautiful country of Ireland and it’s culture.

While you’re at it, you should follow the rainbow to the CrackBerry Store for some fantastic apps, themes, ringtones and more. You must have the luck o’ the Irish in you because we’ve gathered up a few of our favourites in our Pot o’ Gold. Just read on and I’ll leave you with this:

May the Irish hills caress you.

May her lakes and rivers bless you.

May the luck of the Irish enfold you.

May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

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Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us.... that's right, Saturday, February 26th, 2011 marks four years to the day that we fired off our Hello World Press Release and officially opened the doors to CrackBerry.com. In true CrackBerry fashion and in keeping with our birthday tradition, we're going to be following up with a week's worth of crazy awesome contests and giveaways to celebrate this milestone (and I do mean CRAZY AWESOME).

You would almost think in the online world that by our fourth year we'd be showing some signs of aging, but with the site redesign that went live this year I think we're feeling and looking better than ever! And it's because of our awesome readers and members that CrackBerry.com continues to be the leading BlackBerry resource and community site that it is today and we thank you for it! You'll want to keep it locked to CrackBerry this week (the first contest post will kick off Monday morning) to get in your chance to win some awesome prizes. What kind of prizes you ask? I said.. Crazy Awesome ones. You'll just have to keep it locked to CrackBerry to find out!

Thanks again to everybody for making the past four years amazing and we look forward to an even crackier good time the next four years. Now let's PARTTTTY!!!! :)