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BlackBerry World is officially in full swing over in Orlando, Fla., as RIM let loose a plethora of announcements of new phones and apps.

The biggest news comes in the form of two Bold handsets and the new OS 7 operating system. RIM announced the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the Bold 9930, which look practically identical to the existing Bold handsets, except that the displays are now touch screens. They are also much thinner and sleeker. The Bold 9900 is headed for T-Mobile as the carrier's first-ever 4G-capable BlackBerry; the 9930 is a global dual-mode CDMA/GSM phone that … Read more

The idea that a BlackBerry is for work and an iPhone or Android-based device is for play is an idea that Research In Motion wants to take on.

The company today announced a new technology called BlackBerry Balance that it says allows users to engage in both personal and work-related activities without compromising the safety of corporate information. For example, IT managers could create policies that will disable the ability for work information to be copied to e-mail accounts or Twitter, as well as lock down corporate data or files, so they cannot be used on personal applications. When an … Read more

When CNET reviewed the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook, we found a number of things to like about the tablet, but the selection of apps was certainly not one of them. The number of available apps is still pretty meager, but we're thrilled to see that RIM announced new video chat and Facebook applications for the PlayBook today at BlackBerry World 2011.

The PlayBook video chat app will allow for one-click video and voice calls over Wi-Fi. Users can make calls in several different ways, including a friends list, recent call log, or by entering a contact's BBID e-mail address. … Read more

Research In Motion today introduced the latest additions to its Bold series of smartphones, the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the BlackBerry Bold 9930.

The devices look very much like the company's traditional QWERTY handsets, but throw a 2.8-inch, VGA (640x480) capacitive touch screen into the mix. They will also run the latest BlackBerry 7 OS, which brings support for augmented reality applications via a built-in magnetometer and faster browser and graphics performance, and feature a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor and NFC (near field communications) technology for mobile payments.

RIM said these are the thinnest BlackBerrys to date … Read more

For some odd reason, I put my keys in a different place every time I take them out of my pocket at night. The problem is that I can never remember these unique locations when the time comes to retrieve those keys. The simple solution would be to change my behavior, but I'd rather solve my problems with technology and apps. Enter the Cobra Tag by Cobra, a two-part hardware and software solution to finding your misplaced stuff.

The first part of the system is the Cobra Tag sensor, a small electronic dongle that can be attached to a … Read more

Tong stood in line all night for Mortal Kombat, while Molly went to bed with her laptop and her brand new Keynote download. Impressive, right? In the actual news, Apple files a major set of patent and trademark lawsuits against manufacturing partner Samsung, Netflix is doing family plans, and what happened to all those 1-800 numbers. Dial carefully children. Dial carefully.

If you're an AT&T customer who just got a PlayBook, you might be surprised to learn that you weren't able to download the BlackBerry Bridge application to your BlackBerry this morning. That's because AT&T has reportedly decided to evaluate the app before allowing it on BlackBerry's App World. This is more than a little annoying because the other carriers--Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile--have allowed the same app to be downloaded.

As a refresher, PlayBook owners need to download the BlackBerry Bridge application to their phone to tether the two devices. This lets PlayBook owners get access to secure BlackBerry e-mail as well as calendar, tasks, contacts, and BBM. All of that information stays safely confined to your phone and does not leave a trace on the tablet. As a bonus to BlackBerry customers, this unique pairing method also allows them to tether the two devices without an additional tethering cost typical of most smartphone data plans.… Read more

Research in Motion was once the company making smartphones. Business boys and girls carried BlackBerrys around as not just tools but status symbols as well. For all the device's personal appeal, RIM became successful by selling BlackBerrys and their support systems to corporations.

But the real smartphone revolution was driven by consumers. Though RIM did have some success selling smartphones to end users, consumers now buy iPhones and Android phones. Furthermore, RIM's grip on the enterprise has started to slip.

Meanwhile, its robust security architecture is actually landing it in trouble with many governments, who want backdoor access to the RIM infrastructure.

The company is trying new things. It's revising its aging BlackBerry operating system. It's releasing its own tablet, the PlayBook, with a new tablet OS. And its co-CEOs are trying, sometimes unsuccessfully, to convince the world that the RIM system is both supersecure and government-friendly.

So what does the future of RIM look like? We're discussing that today with three CNET experts on the topic: tablets reviewer Donald Bell, mobile-phone editor Nicole Lee, and telecommunications reporter Maggie Reardon.

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Some of our discussion points… Read more