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Now that they're back among the living (for now), CrackBerry addicts can get their fix in a new way with a "Bluetooth Music Gateway" that will stream tunes wirelessly to portable speakers or another system, according to Boy Genius Report. And it may actually be more useful than originally billed, as Engadget speculates that the new matchbook-sized dongle from RIM can be used with devices other than the BlackBerry as well. Regardless of how it works, anything that keeps the thumbs off the keys is probably a good thing.

TechRepublic has done it again, this time cracking open the BlackBerry just in time for the raging speculation about its maker's reliability. News.com's running an excerpt of the dissection of its very tidy innards here: "Photos: Cracking open the BlackBerry."

BARCELONA--Research In Motion's co-chief executive officer, Jim Balsillie, doesn't seem too worried that the second major outage of the company's BlackBerry service in 10 months could hurt its reputation with corporate customers.

"It was an intermittent delay, a couple of hours," he said. "It's old news. It happened days ago."

Balsillie's comments were in response to a question about Monday's outage and how it might impact the company's relationship with corporate customers. Balsillie had just given a keynote speech and participated in a panel discussion at the Mobile World Congress … Read more

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Verizon Wireless has released a pink version of the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130, making for a nice little mate to the silver model. We first caught wind of this blush-colored smartphone at CES 2008 when RIM, perhaps without Verizon's knowledge, showed it off at their booth, but all is rosy now. You can grab the pink Pearl starting today for $149.99 with a two-year contract and after discounts and rebates. We suspect Sprint's red BlackBerry Pearl won't be too far behind.

Alltel added three cell phones to its growing lineup today. In addition to picking up its a red version of the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130, the nation's fifth-largest carrier also added its take on the LG Rumor (the LG Scoop that we saw at CES) and the new Samsung Muse.

Alltel's Pearl is identical to not only its existing 8130 but also to the Pearls from Verizon Wireless and Sprint. Inside you'll find the full set of BlackBerry features plus a 2-megeapixel camera. Likewise, the Scoop is largely similar to Sprint's Rumor. Features on the messaging-centric … Read more

Catching Verizon Wireless and Sprint off-guard, Research in Motion showed off some upcoming colored models of the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130 for the respective carriers at CES 2008. The red version will go to Verizon, joining the silver Pearl 8130, while the powder-pink model will land at Sprint along with the purple Pearl. No specific release dates were given, but I'd guess the launch dates aren't too far away--February at the latest.

Just when you've gotten to the point where you can type on your BlackBerry upside down in the dark, they're thinking about changing the keyboard.

A patent application filed on behalf of Research in Motion was recently revealed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and it describes an "angular keyboard" where the keys are set at a 45-degree angle to the base of the unit.

Anybody who has spent hours dashing off e-mails on a BlackBerry would have to learn a whole method of text input, but the payoff might be felt in the … Read more

Alltel said today it will release its own version of the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130 in time for the holiday shopping season. The carrier didn't say exactly when the smartphone would go on sale, but you can register for more information on Alltel's Web site. The price will be $149 with a two-year contract.

Alltel's Pearl will offer the full slate of smartphones features including a Web browser, e-mail, text messaging, instant messaging, integrated GPS and mapping, a 2-megapixel camera, a media player, stereo Bluetooth, a 3.5-millimeter headset jack, speaker independent voice dialing, 64MB of internal … Read more