Posted on November 28, 2007, at 8:50 am .
A presenter at Kiwicon, a security conference in New Zealand, recently showed how easy it is to set up a Trojan virus on a BlackBerry. Given this involves installing the client-side program in the first place, Graeme Neilson from Aura Software Security makes it sound like a piece of cake.
“But all code that runs on Blackberrys is signed, right? Yes, Neilson says, but the maker of the portable device, Research in Motion (RIM), isn’t too fussy about who it sells certs to. If you want to get your Trojan code signed to run on a Blackberry, just go to the Research In Motion Web-site, plug in your details, pay a fee and voila! You’re in business.”
Posted on November 21, 2007, at 9:15 am .
We just got wind that a whole bunch of countries in Asia-Pacific will be able to get their BlackBerry jollies on the Sony Ericsson P1i. Some might snub their nose at the thought of using a stylus, let alone straying from their beloved ‘Berry, but this Sony Ericsson deal is packing a 3.2 megapixel camera which doubles as a business card scanner. Nice, but worth losing the keypad over?
Posted on November 21, 2007, at 8:59 am .
Optus will be carrying the BlackBerry 8120 as of the first week of December, just in time for Christmas. The Wi-Fi Pearl packing a 2 megapixel video-capturing camera and externally-acessible microSD slot is set for a $659 recommended retail price. Pacific VP Norm Lo is understandably excited about the 8120 coming out.
“BlackBerry Smartphones are well received in Australia and we are pleased to be working with Optus to introduce another RIM innovation,” said RIM President of Asia Pacific, Norm Lo. “The new BlackBerry Pearl 8120, with its elegant design, advanced multimedia features and Wi-Fi capabilities, is perfect for both personal and professional use.”
Posted on November 20, 2007, at 2:05 pm .
Stefano has heard of a potential outage for the Americas and Asia-Pacific on the 25th. for 20 minutes sometime between 12:00 AM EST and 3:00 AM EST due to a firmware update. Not long, but a little warning never hurts. Too bad we have to resort to newsgroups to get this kind of information, huh? Affected services include:
* BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES) may be unable to connect to the BlackBerry Infrastructure during the maintenance. I recommend that nobody even log on to any of the 4 BES servers during this time as you may experience issues relating to the maintenance.
* Users may be unable to send or receive any email messages during the maintenance.
* Users may also be unable to register their device, roam in another location, or use other services such as Internet browsing or Blackberry Messenger.
* Devices may not receive new service books during the maintenance.
* Enterprise Activations may not work during this maintenance.
* PIN to PIN messaging may not work during this maintenance.
Stressed out that you’re going to be cut off? Well, if you’re BlackBerrying at 3:00 AM on a Sunday, maybe that’s the first sign you need a break anyway.
UPDATE: New info suggests the outage isn’t going to happen anymore. And this, my friends, is why we have a Rumors file.
Posted on November 12, 2007, at 3:24 pm .
Australia is facing a BlackBerry boom, according to RIM’s Asia-Pacific regional manager Paul Osmond.
“We’re expecting to see growth well over 100 per cent in the Australian market over the next 12 months,” Mr Osmond said. “Three years ago, I remember being in one of the Qantas lounges seeing one or two BlackBerrys and I had one of them. Two months ago, myself and one of my sales representatives counted 53 BlackBerrys in the Qantas lounge in Melbourne.”
Service bumps aside, Australia has a really impressive wireless landscape, what with 3G making such headway. Good stuff, Aussies!
Posted on November 12, 2007, at 8:17 am .
Neil just gave us the heads up on a free virtual BlackBerry Technical Seminar this Thursday from 9 AM – 6 PM EST. A separate seminar will be available for anyone in the Asia-Pacific region on November 21st. What do you have to look forward to?
* See the next generation BlackBerry Enterprise Server
* Understand the opportunities in developing applications for the BlackBerry solution
* Learn what the latest updates and tools can do
* Ask tough technical questions and get answers direct from BlackBerry experts
* New Troubleshooting and Developing Tips and Tricks
* Hear from IT professionals and developers world-wide about how they’ve taken the BlackBerry solution far beyond email
* Chat online with select BlackBerry solution partners
Posted on November 9, 2007, at 9:36 am .
One of Indonesia’s bigger carriers, Indosat, has announced that they’ll be carrying the BlackBerry 8800 and the BlackBerry 8300. Although there are 8310s landing elsewhere, the old Curves are still a great option for carriers looking to kick-start their BlackBerry game, and provide a solid foundation to release incremental upgrades after they’ve dropped in price internationally. The 8800 and 8300 join the Pearl on Indosat’s lineup, completing the usual tri-pronged BlackBerry attack on consumer, prosumer and enterprise markets.
Posted on October 25, 2007, at 8:16 am .
Getting felt up on a train isn’t so great, right? Well, depends on the circumstances, but for the sake of conversation, let’s say you weren’t asking for it. Game developer Takahashi released an app two years ago for your mobile called Anti-Groping Appli which has been gaining popularity. The program flashes progressively threatening messages on your mobile to touchy-feely horn-dogs on crowded Japanese trains, starting at “Did you just grope me?” working its way up to “Shall we head to the police?” with each key press. It’s a free download, but searching for sites in Japanese is a bit outside of this blogger’s scope. Leefe has managed to dig up a download link, but it doesn’t look to be compatible with BlackBerrys. If you’re packing anything else, give it a shot!
Posted on October 24, 2007, at 7:39 am .
NTT DoCoMo has announced that their Nanimail application, which facilitates Japanese character recognition, will be compatible with the BlackBerry 8300, 8800, 8820, and 8830 on November 1st, with 8100 and 7100 software coming out December 1st. Oddly, this app was developed by DoCoMo’s American branch; you’d think that when it comes to writing Japanese, you’d want to keep operations at home. In any case, this character input software complements the Japanese language support update to the BlackBerry OS back in July, and should offer our buddies across the pond a full-bodied BlackBerry experience.
Posted on October 23, 2007, at 2:27 pm .
After much confusion as to the availability of BlackBerry in China, we’ve finally got an official announcement that the BlackBerry 8700 is, in fact, landing there sometime this year. It’s been quite the struggle getting BlackBerry through the gates, but it’s finally going to happen. RIM’s stock took a huge jump at the news, hitting $125.62 at present after opening at $116.07. China’s running their own PT/Expo China Comm concurrent with CTIA, where the 8700 will be showcased and the good word spread.
