Just in time for tonight’s party, our friends over at Slacker Radio let us know that the Slacker application for BlackBerry has had a full revision jump to version 2.0. According to them, with this version, performance has been significantly addressed, producing near instantaneous song transitions and skip times. Though there will still be some dependencies on your network, play performance will get a dramatic boost.
When playing a station, you’ll notice the “next up” album art appears as you listen. When the album art appears, your skip times to the next song will be nearly instant and most all song transitions during playback will happen immediately.
If all of this sounds great to you, hit http://www.slacker.com from your BlackBerry Browser for the download of the updated version. Be sure to reboot your phone when you’re done, so the new install can clean up the old version for you.
The latest OS update for the BlackBerry Storm, OS 4.7.0.148, will be ready for official download Sunday, May 31st, from 3PM EST. Verizon will also be rolling this update out to customers through an OTA download beginning Sunday night (10pm Eastern Time). To get the download OTA, go to Options>Advanced Options>Wireless Updates.
SMSLink allows you to get your text messages pushed to your Mac or PC where you can reply to them just like you would in a normal SMS conversation. This is good for users who are at their desk and receive a lot of text messages because you don’t have to stop what you’re doing, unlock your device, and reply to the message. With SMSLink, you can do it right from your desktop.
The software has been recently updated. With the new version you’ll find:
Address Book Integration – SMSLink will now grab the address book directly from your BlackBerry. You no longer have to remember all of your contacts phone numbers.
User Interface – SMSLink is now sporting a brand new user interface. V2 now looks much more like a traditional chat application. One contact list window, and another window that displays your current conversations.
Improved Contact Matching – Version 1 of SMSLink required you to modify each and every contact in your address book to match a certain format. You no longer have to do this.
Proper Deployment – Running Windows? There’s no a proper installation process that will add an application to your start menu, and allow you to uninstall the application.
Running Mac? SMSLink is now bundled into a .app file, so you can add it to the rest of your applications, and add it to your favorite launcher.
Before you purchase SMSLink, make sure you’ve seen Cortado’s SMS2Desk and compare the functionality of the two products. Sometimes similar products will often a particular feature you find uniquely beneficial.
HedoneDesign make some very decent BlackBerry themes and they’ve just released their BussFast theme. The theme is a clean setup with a very orange-centric color scheme. The icons are simple and make for an efficient and streamlined BlackBerry experience.
The wallpaper is customizable, as with all versions of this theme. All versions (except 83xx and 88xx) have a todayPlus Preview feature included so you’ll see future events, new messages, etc on HomeScreen.
[ED NOTE: If you've registered at makeitseven.ca, you have already seen the message from Jim Balsillie. I thought I'd repost the letter for those who haven't seen it and to encourage more registrations.]
A message from Jim Balsillie:
Yesterday, Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes filed documents in court confirming his receipt of our offer to purchase the team for US$212.5 million, that the offer expires June 30, 2009 and that it is conditional upon moving the team to southern Ontario. We learned that the court has moved up its date to hear arguments on the question of relocation to June 9th and Judge Baum has said he will rule on this issue shortly after. If he rules the team can be relocated, the Judge has also indicated he will move the date of the auction we have asked for up to June 22nd.
We have maintained from the beginning that we need to be in control of the team by then to know if we can move it this year, or if we have to keep it in Glendale for another year and then move it to its new home, Copps Coliseum, where we have secured the rights to a long-term lease.
We are moving ahead. In the days ahead, I will have more exciting details to share with you about bringing this team to Canada.
In the meantime, we need our voices to be heard. Currently, we have over 130,000 people signed up www.makeitseven.ca and we need to reach out to hockey lovers throughout Canada and the world to expand our movement. If each of you were able to get one friend to sign up, we could mobilize over a quarter of a million people in an online movement.
The BlackBerry device I use here in Nigeria is the BlackBerry 8100. Owning a BlackBerry in Nigeria gives me an incredible advantage. Although other phones have better cameras than the BlackBerry, I find the 8100 camera very useful. The company I work for is called Begro Geological Consultants, and we often need to attach pictures to our reports. Since I am using 8100, I can take pictures with my 8100 and attach them easily to reports. This is just one example of how owning a BlackBerry in Nigeria has helped me.
My company also benefits from my BlackBerry ownership because we often gets requests for proposals, and we don’t have a laptop. Life isn’t easy here in Nigeria and things don’t come easily, but we maximize everything that comes our way. When we get a proposal request, we immediately start writing all of our ideas on our BlackBerry, before transferring to a PC. I’m not saying other handhelds can’t do this, but it is both cheaper and easier for me to do it on a BlackBerry. Click through to read more about the BlackBerry experience in Nigeria
BillShrink is a service that we haven’t covered on BlackBerry Cool yet and it could save you a lot money on your phone bill. BillShrink is a free service that collects and presents unbiased, comprehensive information so you can see for yourself which billing options are best for you and why.
In the wireless industry in the United States, there are over 10 million cell phone plans and add-on combinations. Figuring out which one is best for you shouldn’t be left up to a store representative or call center. With BillShrink, you can compare all the plans appropriate for your phone usage and see which will save you the most money.
When we last wrote about Evernote, some readers were upset that the app was not available for the Curve. As one reader Nick wrote: “I can’t imagine why the number one selling phone, isn’t listed as a device that this is compatible with?”
Well the company was listening and Evernote is now available for the BlackBerry Curve 83xx series.
For those who don’t know, Evernote allows you to type out text notes, snap photos, or record voice memos on your BlackBerry then sync them to your Windows or Mac computer to have easy access on all devices. It works the other way, too. Clip a webpage or draft a blog post on your desktop and then search for and access it all on your phone.
In an recent webcast, Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon Wireless, said that “over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm,”
Although this is great news for Verizon, Sprint was not happy about the comments. Shares in Sprint Nextel Corp fell 2 percent after the comments from Lowell McAdam, as the highly anticipated Pre is seen as key to helping No. 3-ranked Sprint stem subscriber losses.
Bplay has a really great sale going on right now where all games are $3.99 or less beginning today through noon ET on Monday, June 1.
Some new games you might like include:
My Pet Store
Create a paradise for pets in your very own pet store and choose from up to 6 types of animals to feed, clean and play with.
Pictoplay Plus
Experience addictive picture guessing fun packed with up to 950+ quick drawn sketches and a selection of wacky game modes.
Tower Bloxx
Winner of two Game of the Year and multiple Editor’s Choice Awards. Best Puzzle Game!
Some classic Bplay games include:
Texas Hold’em King 3
The latest edition of the best Texas Hold’em mobile franchise, with fast and brilliant game play and networked multi-player tournaments. Join an online poker community of over 100,000.
Mahjong Solitaire
Relax, meditate and prepare your concentration for this challenging tile-sorting mental workout.
Ka-Glom
Combine the explosive Ka-Glom jelly to blast blocks and get the ultimate chain reaction.
Solitaire Legends
Solitaire Legends now bundles four of the world’s most popular Solitaire games.
Spades
Strategize with your partner to pull the most tricks possible at this classic American game of Spades.
