BlackBerry

First Look video: JiveTalk mobile IM

There are a few multinetwork IM clients for mobile phones, but JiveTalk is the one I keep coming back to on the BlackBerry Curve. It may not have the translation engine of Shape Service's more established IM+ All-in-One Messenger (all platforms), but it does have the emoticons, some file-sharing, and a more generous trial period than both IM+ All-in-One-Messenger and Mundu IM (all platforms), another excellent choice. JiveTalk costs about $30 for a lifetime license and is free for iPhone users.

Viigo 3.0 beta chases Yahoo Go 3.0 beta

Another Yahoo department has cause for concern. Up until last week, Yahoo Go was top dog in the mobile widget arena, pulling everything from weather, news, and finance to local listings, Flickr photos, and search onto Yahoo Go 3.0 beta, the company's rich application for smartphones. But Viigo 3.0 beta has added many of the same elements to what is essentially a faster-loading and more visually straightforward wrapper.

I've sung Viigo's praises when it was flexing new-found muscle as a superb RSS reader for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices. The new beta, released June 19, … Read more

The Digital Home 21: Can RIM control the cell phone industry?

Don Reisinger sits down with RIM for a discussion on the BlackBerry and what the implications of the company's plans are on the entire cell phone industry. It's a must-see interview! Also listen to Don tackle Gene Simmons, Yahoo, Blockbuster, and more! Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 21 … Read more

First Look video: SugarSync file-syncing

For serious syncers who routinely work from multiple computers or mobile phones, SugarSync is, in more ways than one, a premium solution to file-transferring problems. More flexible than some competing PC-to-PC syncing software or mobile and PC remote access services, Sugar Sync weaves in elements of both. Lite sync some folders for online back-up and fully sync folders or files to load them on each of your computers. A change to one file exacts a change to all.

SugarSync doesn't do everything, and the mobile functionality could use some usability finessing. There are also a few tricks worth knowing … Read more

Meet Sense Networks, the latest player in the hot 'geo' market

What if your nightlife agenda was dictated not by text messages, phone calls, or your city edition of Time Out, but by a shifting pattern of dots on a Google Map?

As absurd as it may sound, a New York company called Sense Networks thinks that's the solution. On Monday, the company emerged from stealth mode and simultaneously released an "experimental" product called CitySense, an urban navigation product that puts a new spin on the hot market of location-based mobile networking.

Backed by hedge funds rather than the venture firms that typically fuel tech start-ups, Sense Networks … Read more

YouMail puts voice messages on the mobile screen

YouMail, a free visual voice mail solution to organize cell phone messages like e-mail for online playback and response, announced on Thursday that customers can start viewing those same voice mail messages from their mobile phones.

By pointing the mobile browser to YouMail's home page, fans of the service can access their account with the usual login and pin to view contact's images, play back messages in any order, and forward or reply to voice messages in a form factor tailored from YouMail's servers to many high-end smartphones.

YouMail certainly isn't the first visual voice mail … Read more

Apple's iPhone loses U.S. market share in Q1

Apple experienced a bit of a setback in the U.S. smartphone market during the first quarter after coming out of nowhere last year to rank among the top companies.

According to data compiled by IDC, Apple's still the second-leading smartphone maker in the U.S. behind Research in Motion and the BlackBerry franchise. But it lost market share going from the fourth quarter to the first at the expense of RIM and Palm, according to the figures provided by IDC analyst Ramon Llamas.

RIM's market share went from 35.1 percent in the fourth quarter to 44.… Read more

Quick Tips: Color your BlackBerry trackball

There's a not-so-secret secret that BlackBerry Pearl owners in the know have been using to impress the socks off those astute enough to notice the glowing neon ball at the center of the handset. And that it isn't glowing white.

The trick is owed to a little software application called ColorPearl, which beams out multihued lights from RIM's famous navigation pearl by taking advantage of...well, we don't want to spoil the plot. Tune into this Quick Tip video from CNET Producer Randall Bennett to see the amazing Technicolor sphere in action.

Possible dates, prices for the BlackBerry Bold

We know it exists. Now, the question is when can we get one and for how much? We are, of course, talking about the RIM BlackBerry Bold, which has drawn many an admirer before and after its official debut earlier this week. RIM and AT&T have already confirmed that the Bold will be released later this summer, but InfoSync reportedly has information with more specifics about date and price as well as details about availability for other carriers. According to the Web site, the BlackBerry Bold will show up in AT&T stores about July, while Sprint, … Read more