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RIM upgrades the BlackBerry, but not much--the case for opening up

Though Research in Motion continues to keep the BlackBerry a frustratingly closed platform (with precious few applications--my biggest complaint about an otherwise great device/service), it is upgrading its software to add some interesting new features, the Wall Street Journal reports:

With the aim of making mobile e-mailing more like e-mailing from a desktop computer, RIM said BlackBerry users will soon be able to edit documents directly from the handheld device and to view messages in their original formatting...[RIM] also said the changes will enable users to retrieve e-mail messages that aren't stored on the device and to check the availability of a colleague before sending a meeting request.

To wait so long...for so little. At this pace, Apple's iPhone will leapfrog the BlackBerry. Already, I've noticed scads of new iPhones being used in corporate settings. But for the lack of a keyboard, I'd be on an iPhone, too.

RIM makes great hardware and decent software. It needs to recognize, however, that it's not the center of all original thinking. Once it came up with its idea and implemented it, it hasn't done much in the way of innovation.… Read more

Carbon nanotube carpet darkest thing ever made

A loosely packed "carpet" of carbon nanotubes is the darkest material ever made, according to researchers from Rice University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The carpet consists of nanotubes--hollow, honeycombed tubes made from carbon atoms-- standing vertically. Instead of being tightly packed together, the researchers went for a low density arrangement, complete with spaces and gaps, sort of like a box of dried spaghetti. Light striking the nanotubes as well as the gaps gets absorbed. When light gets absorbed, black (the absence of light) results. The nanotubes were also specially manufactured to have a more random arrangement of atoms, … Read more

BlackBerry roundup: Mobile photo apps

Of the photo solutions mentioned in the BlackBerry forums I've been visiting lately, SplashPhoto and Ascendo Photos were the two most-often mentioned. That's just the kind of head-to-head challenge I like, and I threw in one more, ITookThisOnMyPhone, for flavor.

Ascendo Photos Desktop ($29.95) gathers JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, and PNG photos on your PC in a crisp, smart interface. The photo organization is reminiscent of Picasa--sibling images in a folder are horizontally arranged, with folders scrolling vertically. Photos drag and drop into an emulator, which you use to center the photo and perform basic editing--rotation, flipping, and color correction. Three sizing choices determine if photos appear cropped, shrunken, or alarmingly large. A button click transfers photos from desktop to device.

On the BlackBerry, Ascendo Photos shows transfered images clearly, but not quite cogently. It requires a click too many to see your photos, and the app wastes an opportunity to corral snaps taken from the cell phone. However, there's good file information; options to save to phone or SD memory, add galleries, and assign icons; and the ability to e-mail photos.… Read more

Zagat To Go: Find food while you hoof it

For 29 delicious years, the Zagat Survey (pronounced zuh-GAT) has been compiling restaurant ratings from user reviews all over the globe to help foodies and regular people find the perfect spot for a first date, romantic meal, or celebration. For considerably fewer years, it has made its renowned services available for mobile phones.

I reviewed the trial version of Zagat To Go (see all downloads) on a BlackBerry Curve (download) and Windows Mobile Palm Treo (download).

Zagat To Go for BlackBerry may have been custom-built for BlackBerry, but features a surprisingly basic home menu that's still stuck in the … Read more

MBR rootkit targets Windows users

Security experts warned on Wednesday of a new rootkit aimed at users of the Windows operating system.

The rootkit hides in the Master Boot Record (MBR), or Sector 0 of the hard disk drive where the primary partition entries in its partition table are stored. According to Verisign's iDefense research unit, the rootkit overwrites the existing MBR, making discovery very difficult. A rootkit is a program or group of programs designed to take root or administrator control of a computer without the user knowing.

Trend Micro and Sunbelt indicate that infection rates appear low, especially if end users have … Read more

Pink and red BlackBerry Pearl 8130s spotted

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.

Circuit City's holidays not so happy

Circuit City posted a steep quarterly loss on Friday and warned the operating losses will continue into the current quarter, which includes the bulk of the holiday shopping season, traditionally when retailers make most of their money.

"We are very dissatisfied with our third quarter results," Circuit City CEO Philip J. Schoonover said in a statement, adding that the company saw fewer sales of profitable items like accessories, services, and extended warranties.

"We believe that these issues are primarily self-induced and are within our control to improve," he said.

I can't say I was surprised … Read more

Put a keyboard in your pocket, $29.99 shipped

Smartphone keyboards are fine for composing short e-mails and maybe tweaking the occasional Word document. But if you want to get any serious work done on your device, fuhgeddaboudit. Your thumbs don't deserve that kind of punishment. Instead, reach for the iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard, which serves up a full-size set of QWERTY keys and then folds up slim enough to slip into your pocket.

The Stowaway normally lists for $149.99 (ouch!), but Amazon has it on sale for just $29.99--which qualifies it for the store's free Super Saver Shipping. Just make sure you … Read more

Episode 624: I can has monopoly?

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