Weatherbug has always been my first choice for weather information on my desktop and Windows device, so when I ran into a free version of Weatherbug Direct for my Blackberry, I just had to take it for a spin.

Weatherbug Direct places 2 icons on your application list, and shows the current temperature as an icon. It’s similar to the existing Blackberry push weather application, but gives you direct access to the Weatherbug site, as well as showing your local forecast (including hi/low temperatures) in a second icon.

Weatherbug Direct for the Blackberry is free, and can be found here. A direct "over the air" download link is here.

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If you thought the summer of 2008 was going to be all about the iPhone 3G, then think again.

RIM has so many goodies in store that I’m actually more excited about their new stuff than I am about the new iPhone.

The best part about most of these new developments is that they will be absolutely free for all current users (except for the new devices of course!

Here are a couple of the upcoming new features and applications:

• Blackberry Media Sync - full media syncing with iTunes for your Blackberry.
• OS version 4.5 - adds loads of new features including better fonts, a much better browser, better multimedia features (including stereo Bluetooth support for all devices).
• HTML email support for Blackberry Internet Service customers.
• The new Blackberry Bold and Thunder smartphones.

Several of these new things can actually be found right now, if you know how to use Google…

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Crackberry.com just posted a whole bunch of images of the upcoming Blackberry 9100 (Kickstart). This will be the first flip phone released by RIM (but not the first flip Blackberry, Samsung already did that with the T719).

It looks a little chubby, but with this device, RIM will have something for everyone; candybar style (Pearl), Touchscreen (the upcoming Thunder), Flip (the Kickstart) and of course, their most popular form found in the Curve and Bold.

Source: Crackberry.com

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This summer is slowly turning into the hottest mobile season ever. All major manufacturers have at least one "super phone" in the pipeline. Here are some of the upcoming devices side by side:

(1) EVDO Rev.A.

(2) Initial release will be on Quadband GSM, a CDMA release is planned for later this year.

(3) The OS on the Sprint Instinct is "closed", no system currently exists to develop or add applications.

(4) The iPhone, HTC Diamond and SonyErcisson Xperia X1 all support Microsoft Activesync email, which requires a third party service. The iPhone will support the upcoming Apple MobileMe service which includes push email ($99/year).

(5) No US operator has openly committed to releasing this phone on their network.

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It’s Sunday and it is raining, but if you are a Blackberry fan then this is bound to brighten your afternoon. Boy Genius Report has (once again) the scoop on the Blackberry Thunder - the first touchscreen Blackberry.

RIM is already having  a great year, but between this and the upcoming Bold, things can only get even better for them.

Source: Boy Genius Report

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There are 2 types of Blackberry user; one that never goes anywhere without their device, and one that has a husband/wife that tells them to leave it at home or face dire consequences.

If you are in group one, then you’ll often be found in fun places, with your Blackberry holstered on your side. If that is the case, then you’ll probably have already killed several of them when you got sand, water or beer stuck inside it.

So, today I’m going to get you up close and personal with the latest Blackberry case from my friends at Otterbox; the Blackberry 8800 series Defender case.

The Defender case turns your fragile and vulnerable Blackberry into a drop and drip resistant email machine without interfering with any of the features, buttons or ports.

The case itself consists of 5 parts: a thin plastic molded membrane for the device, a 2 part hard plastic shell, a silicone rubber skin and a holster with belt clip.

The plastic membrane wraps around the front and back of the Blackberry and has an opening for the trackball. The earpiece and speaker are still perfectly audible thanks to thin pieces of filter material that keep dust and dirt out, without dampening the volume of the phone.

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If you’ve ever received a call on your mobile phone from a number you don’t recognize, then this application may be of interest to you.

Privus mobile can lookup the contact information of an incoming call, so you know who is trying to get in touch. It’s rather pricey ($83.40/year)

Privus Mobile (Blackberry version)

Privus Mobile (Windows Mobile version)

Once again, I’ll try and get a review posted in the next week.

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JetBlue’s LiveTV subsidiary has been working for the past several months on getting their in-flight Internet service up and running.  Sadly, the initial service offering was limited to Yahoo! mobile and BlackBerry access (assuming you have a WiFi BB), so it wasn’t really all that useful for the vast majority of the traveling public.  As of today, however, the offering has expanded significantly, making the solution much more tolerable for folks looking to keep in touch while in the air.

The expanded services will provide customers with a simple yet extensive search and discover option from Amazon.com, as well as a more diverse email and messaging platform open to both Microsoft Exchange corporate email accounts and leading webmail providers such as Gmail, AOL Mail, Hotmail and Windows Live Mail.

It still isn’t “full” Internet access, but based on the limited bandwidth that LiveTV has available to them, this seems to be the best use of the capacity. 

The new services are available today on the one plane that JetBlue has outfitted with the service - BetaBlue - and is expected to start expanding into more planes in early ‘09 on Continental airlines.  No word from JetBlue on when their fleet will start to include the new service on more planes.

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CNN Money/AP reports on US smartphone sales in the past quarter. Some interesting points:

• RIM is the absolute leader, outselling Apple more than 2:1. Of course, RIM has more operators on board, more models, and a much larger presence in the business market.
• Palm is pretty strong, mostly thanks to their Centro.
• Motorola is just a tiny blip on the smartphone radar and has been surpassed by Samsung.
• Apple dropped from 26.7 to 19.2% of total smartphone device sales, which isn’t all that surprising since they haven’t released a new device in almost a year. Of course, that will probably change within the next week.

Missing from the chart is Nokia, who have virtually no market share in North America, despite being in the top 3 in the rest of the world.

Source: CNN Money

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This is MiuTunes. It’s a Blackberry music player, and it is (so far) the coolest music player I’ve come across for my device.

It has a very slick interface that lets you browse your library by artist, album, song, genre and year. Plus it has a "coverflow" browser like on the most current iPods.

The only downside I could find is that it wasn’t easy to transfer the audio to my Bluetooth stereo headphone, and that the makers want $30 for it.

There has been a lot of good quality Blackberry software developed lately, but sadly most of it seems to be in this price range, which is a shame as it really limits the amount of software I’m willing to purchase.

I’ve included some more photos after the jump for your reading entertainment.

You can learn more about MiuTunes here, where you’ll also find a (7 day) trial version.

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