Blackberry - News, Features, and Slideshows

Features

• Phoenix Freeze auto-locks laptops via smartphone

  A new product from Phoenix Technologies, <a href="http://www.phoenixfreeze.com/">called Freeze</a>, lets you use BlackBerry or iPhone Bluetooth to tell a PC that you're leaving the area and want it to lock up. When you return, Phoenix Freeze can also automatically unlock the machine so it's ready for you. However, it only works on Windows PCs, doesn't support 64-bit platforms, disables all other Bluetooth peripherals and seems to be a bit buggy for an official release. Phoenix Freeze for BlackBerry and iPhone

• BlackBerry SurePress technology here to stay

  Recently <a href="http://advice.cio.com/al_sacco/blackberry_storm_2_caught_on_camera_rim_leak_fest_continues">leaked images of RIM's upcoming BlackBerry Storm successor</a>, unofficially dubbed "Storm 2"--and a very <a href="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/05/21/blackberry-storm-2-the-official-unofficial-hands-on/">early hands-on review</a>--seemed to suggest that BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) had decided to scrap the infamous "clicky" <a href="http://advice.cio.com/al_sacco/touch_screen_blackberry_storm_ui_takes_cues_from_google_phone">SurePress screen technology</a> that set RIM's first touch BlackBerry apart from the pack. However, RIM's co-CEO yesterday clearly stated that SurePress is alive and well. So will we see a second SurePress BlackBerry Storm? And is that pictured device simply a pre-production unit with a different screen than what will ship with the finished product?Mike Lazaridis, RIM's founder and co-CEO had this to say about the Storm 2 and SurePress when queried Wednesday at the <em>Wall Street Journal</em>'s D: All Things Digital event:

• Best of WES: Top 10 BlackBerry Products and Services

  Research In Motion's (RIM) Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES) is the largest BlackBerry event of the year, and as such, all the heavies in the space--from BlackBerry administrators to analysts and pundits, as well as power-users and unabashed CrackBerry addicts--come out to see the latest and greatest the BlackBerry world as to offer.

• Cellcrypt for BlackBerry Secures Cellular Voice Conversation

  The BlackBerry platform is known for its impressive security safeguards; Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) is literally designed from the ground up to meet enterprise security needs, and its various international security certifications attest to its effectiveness. However, there's one component of the BlackBerry ecosystem that's largely unguarded from potential threats: phone calls, i.e., voice traffic.

• BlackBerry phone hits the hotspot with VoIP

  RIM has developed a knack for pulling customers into new BlackBerry devices. That's no mean feat. BlackBerry is the most mature, most imitated, and most-targeted brand in the mobile industry. RIM keeps new handsets rolling out, and it keeps racking up new exclusives with wireless operators by finding gaps in its own product line and filling them better than its competitors can. By teaming up with T-Mobile, RIM's latest product helps to fill your budget gaps by providing flat-rate unlimited IP telephony from your home, office, airport, or any locale that hosts a T-Mobile Hotspot.

• 10 must-have free BlackBerry apps

  Your BlackBerry might be plenty powerful out of the box, but there are hundreds of third-party applications out there that can make the device even more useful.

• 5 ways to secure your Blackberry

  What do Tom Cruise and the McCain campaign have in common? They have both been bitten by the loss of a Blackberry. Mobile expert Dan Hoffman gives advice on how to keep your cherished mobile device safe, even if it's out of your hands.

• iPhone 3G vs. Storm: 8 reasons to pick the iPhone

  Due in large part to the overwhelming success of Apple's iPhone smartphone, touch screen technology is winning more attention than ever before

• How 10 Famous Technology Products Got Their Names

  Coming up with a great technology product or service is only half the battle these days. Creating a name for said product that is at once cool but not too cool or exclusionary, marketable to both early adopters and a broader audience, and, of course, isn't already in use and protected by various trademarks and copyright laws is difficult--to say the least.

• Eight ways technology has shaped the US elections

  Technology has played a particularly prominent role in the 2008 US elections -- and it isn't just the typical silliness over whether a candidate really claimed to have invented a key piece of technology. Throughout the year we've seen technological advances used both for good, such as using Short Message Service to announce a vice presidential pick, and for bad, such as hacking into another vice presidential pick's private e-mail account. In this story, we'll take a look at the eight techiest moments of the 2008 presidential race, including YouTube debates, viral videos and e-voting controversies.

• RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8220 Flip Phone: The Next Great Consumer Smartphone?

  It's no secret that BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) has tried to expand its traditional customer base beyond the enterprise in recent days. But the company's BlackBerry Pearl 8220 flip phone (formerly dubbed "KickStart") is the first RIM device aimed specifically at the vast low-end consumer market. And it just might be exactly what RIM needs to secure for itself a dominant stake in the space-assuming carriers are willing to hit the necessary price points.