Yesterday will.i.am made a quick run through the town of Taunton with the Olympic torch in hand. The London Olympics are only a few months away, and thousands of lucky people will be carrying torches throughout the UK. The Olympic torch wasn't the only torch in-hand however. will.i.am was also clutching his trusty BlackBerry Torch and managed to crank out a few Tweets along the way.

That was like, a surreal moment. You know I remember in 1984, the Olympics in Los Angeles, and me being a little Will, watching it on TV, wishing I could be at the Olympic Games, and I had that flashback when they handed me the torch to run through Taunton. So it's like a blessed moment, and a surreal moment, and an 'I-can't-believe-it moment' all at the same time," said will.i.am.

The Olympic torch will be making it's rounds for another few weeks until landing back in London for the start of the games on July 27th.

Several times in the past we've seen BlackBerry smartphones make appearances in Jennifer Lopez's music videos, as well as in paparazzi shots and her new show Q'Viva!, leading us to believe that she's a long time fan of the platform. The latest video by Wisin & Yandel called Follow the Leader features Jennifer Lopez, and the opening scenes of the video show all 3 singers using Twitter for BlackBerry on various devices. First a white BlackBerry Bold 9900, then a blue Curve 9220, and finally a Verizon branded Bold 9930 all make an appearance. Of course, the version of Twitter for BlackBerry they are using isn't very realistic as it was obviously enhanced for the video, but it's awesome to see nonetheless.

Interesting to note, the video was shot in Acapulco, Mexico where the government was all too happy to provide whatever extra security and the like that was needed by the singers. The State Secretary of Tourism, Graciela Báez Ricardez, said the video clip will help reposition the image of the port. "The music video will be seen in many countries and millions of times mainly by young people who will make decisions on where to go to take a vacation soon," she said.

It seems that every time we post a music video or other form of Celebrity Sighting, there are always comments wondering why we should care about such "trivial" things. If you take a look at the screenshot above, you'll notice that in less than a week from the video being posted on Youtube it's gotten almost 5 million views. That's a lot of views, and since all 3 performers are using a BlackBerry in such a prominent way during the video, it's sure to have some influence on their audience, not unlike the influence that Ricardez mentioned above regarding tourism.

Take a look at the video below, and leave a comment letting us know what you thought! Thanks for sending this in BoldWorld!

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Seeing celebrities using BlackBerry devices is nothing new really as we have seen them hundreds of times, but this instance is rather humerous. On Saturday Nokia had a big event in NYC for the launch of the Lumia 900, during which they had Nicki Minaj perform on stage. Following her performance, she tweeted out how exhausted she was and how much fun she had during the event. Being that the folks at Nokia brought her in, one would expect to see her tweeting from something along the lines of Twitter for Windows Phone, but instead she was caught tweeting from Ubersocial for BlackBerry. We don't mind one bit that's she's a BlackBerry user. Keep showing your support over there Ms. Minaj!

Source

It appears as though Kanye West got ahold of the fact that not only does CrackBerry Kevin have a Porsche Designed P9981, but Miss CrackBerry has one as well. In an attempt to dethrone them from being the most awesome BlackBerry-carrying couple around, Kanye went ahead and purchased a P'9981 for his good friends Jay-Z and Beyonce. While recently out in London, Kanye apparently sent his driver over to Harrods to grab a pair of these high-end devices for his pals as a nice surprise.

It's nice to see the P'9981 landing in the hands of more users even if it's mostly celebs) and maybe this will inspire the Ferrari PlayBook to become a reality! :-)

Discuss more in the forums

Source: The Sun 

The Porsche Design BlackBerry P'9981 has been fairly camera shy since it's release, but a keen eye (thanks Dave!) spotted one in this ad for Britain's Got Talent. It looks like Kevin and Beyonce aren't the only ones with this sweet device -- apparently Amanda Holden has one of her own as well (or it looks that way at least). The P'9981 is only on camera here for a few seconds (around 0:25) but there is no mistaking it. Have you seen a P'9981 on tv or out and about? Drop a comment and let us know!

We're big fans of BlackBerry and PlayBook sightings in shows, but this is a little different. ¡Q’Viva! The Chosen is a new show starring Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, and Jamie King that is sponsored by BlackBerry. These celebrities are on a mission to find the most inspiring performers in Latin America, traveling all over looking for talented performers across 20 countries. The most talented artists will be chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to appear in a live celebration of music, dance and performance.

I watched a couple of previews and Youtube videos for ¡Q’Viva! The Chosen, and was really pleased to see how much screen time the BlackBerry PlayBook seems to have in the show! They use it for everything, from watching videos of potential candidates, to recording video, and playing it back via HDMI to flat screen TV. What a perfect device to take on such a journey, since they can use the BlackBerry Bridge for internet access while on the road and in villages without modern technology.

You can find out more details about the show as well as how to submit your own videos for consideration and watch more behind-the-scenes footage of the show at the link below, and check out the show's official trailer after the break. The show premiered January 28th on Univision. Thanks for sending this in Chango_BB!!

More information on ¡Q’Viva! The Chosen

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Like most BlackBerry users I'm a big fan of Auto Text on my device (AKA Word Substitution). You can add an endless supply of quick text expansions that make typing out long or common phrases a breeze. There are quite a few that come preset on the device as well, one of which is "sig". Typing "sig" in any text field will automatically spit out whatever you have entered for your lock screen information (Put in the info by going to Options > Display > Message on Lock Screen). Pretty cool if you want to quickly enter your email address, name or other text without typing it out (mine is set to my email address). Keep in mind too that you can edit the "sig" Auto Text and change it to whatever you'd like should you choose to do so, but it defaults to the lock screen info. Thanks @dannthedude!

If you have any BlackBerry tips of your own you'd like to share send them along to tips(at)crackberry.com

RIM has posted up their latest commercial, this time showing off the BlackBerry Torch 9850/9860. The theme of the ad is "Break Free" and shows off some BlackBerry use to get away. This is the first ad we've seen dedicated solely to the all-touch device but most likely not the last. While it's been a bit overshadowed by the BlackBerry Bold 9990, this is a good reminder that the 9850 and 9860 are still out there :-)

Jennifer Lopez has been seen several times with a white BlackBerry Torch 9800 in real life. In her latest video, Papi, she's seen pining over a picture of her and some guy on a BlackBerry Bold 9900! Check out the video above to see it. If you're not into J-Lo, no worries; the scene is first up in the video.

Thanks for sending this in Luis!

One keen eyed CrackBerry reader caught the BlackBerry PlayBook in action on TNT's Rizzoli and Isles this past week. It's not the first time we've seen the PlayBook in action on a TV show and hopefully not the last. Networks like TNT and FX have some crazy BlackBerry action going on where phones are concerned, so maybe they'll start busting out the PlayBook more often as well. One more image after the break. Thanks Marc and Gilahiker for posting it in the forums!

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While Google's mobile operating system may have consumer market momentum with Android handset activations hitting 500,000 per day, one person who appears to not be in a rush to abandon his BlackBerry habit is Google Chairman Eric Schmidt. Schmidt was in Indonesia last week for an entrepreneurship summit, and one of our CrackBerry spies on the ground in Bali managed to catch Schmidt black-handed snapping a photo on his BlackBerry Bold 9780.

What's really funny about this photo is that it isn't the first time Schmidt has been photographed while taking a photo on his BlackBerry. Back in July 2009 he got caught using his Curve 8900 (see photo below). Past precedent is always the best indicator of future performance, so I'm placing my bet we'll see Schmidt upgrading to the BlackBerry Bold 9900 next month. I'm not sure what this says about Android, but it definitely says a lot of good for BlackBerry. Maybe it's the keyboard, maybe it's the world class security, the BBM, the battery life or impossible to ignore blinking red light... or maybe it's all that and more.

There's nothing really "new" in that Bold that can be justified as testing out the competition, so at the end of the day I'm thinking that Eric Schmidt just loves his BlackBerry. Smart man. Kind of makes you wonder if he also has a BlackBerry PlayBook running Android apps?

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You know we're suckers for BlackBerry themed cakes at CrackBerry, and we've posted several before. Usually we see birthday cakes in the form of the user's favorite or current device, but today we have cupcakes! And not just any cupcakes, but BBM themed cupcakes! They look incredible with emoticon faces recreated on each one perfectly.

Hit the break for another shot, as well as a yummy looking BlackBerry PlayBook cake, and check out the Flickr gallery at the link below for a few more cakes. Thanks for posting this in the forums FMB8900!

More BlackBerry themed cakes at Flickr

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Michelle has been doing a great job on our weekly Celebrity BlackBerry Sighting Round Ups, but when Miami-based fashion blog FashionablySocial.net sent us in this photo taken this past weekend I just had to post it up. Seriously, bikinis + blackberrys.... how could I not post it?!

The photo was captured at the Mercedes Benz Miami Fashion Week Swim event, at the Mara Hoffman show. Gotta love dueling BlackBerrys in the front row capturing the models walking down the runway. Definitely a RIMPIRE Strikes Back kind of moment. Now if only we can get some RIMPIRE bikinis made up, they'll be a nice compliment to the RIMPIRE t-shirts. Click the photo to see a bigger version. Enjoy!

Source: FashionablySocial.net

CrackBerry member Dylan sent in some pictures of a project he just completed. He designed himself a custom PlayBook vehicle mount! Combining the snap-on shield from his PlayBook OtterBox and a car heater mount with a ball joint, he had a good starting point. A quick trip to the hardware store found him some L-shaped brackets to use as the mount. Says Dylan: "The rest was easy, just drill the holes and bolt them in. After it was mounted I hooked up my aux cable and had myself a custom screen in my truck."

It looks great, and goes to show what you can do with a little creativity and some spare parts. If do-it-yourself isn't your style, head on over to ShopCrackBerry and check out the car kits there. You can have a look at more pictures of Dylan's custom vehicle mount after the break, and if you've created something awesome you want to share with the CrackBerry community, don't hesitate to send it in!

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