TGIF and another Friday deal of the day!

Today’s deal of the day is for AddOnis, a feature-packed (and I mean packed) all-in-one BlackBerry utility. This app extends your system’s functionality by adding some great options like vibrate during incoming call, permit or block certain numbers from calling you, upon hang up it will prompt you to add the number to your Address Book, SMS signature, enter contact info into a message and a lot more!

AddOnis will work with all BlackBerry devices running OS 4.5 and higher and is available in the store for $5.97 (40% off) until midnight CST tonight, after that it goes back up to $9.95. You can also easily find this deal in the BBRocks! on-device Mobile App Store. I’ve included the full feature list after the jump.

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Earlier this morning RIM rolled out BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) version 2.8 to all North American carriers. This update includes some features and enhancements that many of us have been waiting for:

• Two-way wireless synchronization [every four hours] with Google Mail Contacts and the Address Book on the BlackBerry smart phone:
  • Synchronize Google Mail contacts quickly and easily to the BlackBerry smart phone
  • Add or edit Contacts and the Contacts are automatically updated, whether they are updated on the computer or BlackBerry smart phone
  • Note: Two-way wireless Contact synchronization with Google Mail Contacts requires BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 and configuration through email settings on the BlackBerry smart phone.  Additional requirements and constraints may be found within the BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8 Documentation Kit. This feature is not supported on BlackBerry smart phones with BlackBerry® Connect™ software.
• Enhancements to email setup and settings:
  • Automatic Login now supports most billing identifiers, which allows new subscribers with wireless service providers that use PIN, IMEI, or ESN as a billing identifier to create BlackBerry Internet Service accounts from the BlackBerry smart phone, without having to create a login user name and password
  • Note: This feature will be available approximately one week after the BlackBerry Internet Service upgrade.
• Windows Live Hotmail revalidation:
  • With BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8, new Windows Live Hotmail mail integrations will be defaulted to a protocol that is designed so as not to require 90 day reauthorization.
  • Note: Existing BlackBerry smart phone users accessing Windows Live Hotmail using Microsoft MSP will still be required to revalidate their Windows Live Hotmail account every 90 days.

The roll out seems to have gone smoothly for the most part. Did you experience an outage in your area or had to re-add/validate your email accounts after the update? How about the features, are you satisfied with them or would you like to see some more enhancements in the future? Let me know in the comments!

via BGR

A few days ago I mentioned that RIM is rumored to be working on an official BlackBerry Twitter client but at that time there weren’t too many details available as far as features or a launch date.

According to Salomondrin the BlackBerry Twitter client will be launching on November 16th of this year and it will be a VPL release through carriers. Sal says that this client will include “push” which will allow for automatic refreshes without having to manually refresh or set a refresh time. Here are some other features mentioned by the Polish BlackBerry site BBNews.pl:

• Notification of number of new tweets on the home screen with icon, like text messages
• Main app opens friends timeline
• Ability to view followers
• Follow/unfollow functions
• Create direct messages, replies and new tweets
• Keyword search and saved results
• Tweet photos directly from camera or memory card
• View photos from other tweets
• View trending topics
• Address book integration

Considering that RIM has total access to the BlackBerry interface like no other Twitter app, I’m really excited to see how deeply these features will be integrated. In addition to this Twitter client being available in the BB App World, word has it that it will eventually come pre-loaded on BlackBerry devices.

Now that you know some more details about this official BlackBerry Twitter client, will you stick to your current app or scrap it for this one? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

via IntoMobile

RIM has officially confirmed that the BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac will be available for download on October 2nd!

Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM)(TSX: RIM) has exciting news for Mac® users that want an easy and reliable solution that syncs their contacts, calendar appointments, tasks and notes with their BlackBerry® smartphones. A new version of the BlackBerry® Desktop Manager software has been developed specifically for Mac users. The new desktop software is scheduled to be available for free download from www.blackberry.com/mac on Friday, October 2 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Continue reading for the full press release from RIM.

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UPDATE Someone just pointed out that BeBeMe is both free and premium.

According to the image above yearly is free but they seem to be offering premium plans for longer periods of time. Is anyone else getting something similar when they check? If you find a free one then good, if not I don’t recommend paying for it. *

BeBeMe has launched their new social networking site for BlackBerry users allowing you to conveniently create a single “PIN alias” that would stick with you for life (should you choose), versus  the BlackBerry PIN being unique to each device.

What is BeBeMe?

BeBeMe is a social network and a new global identification system for BlackBerry users. It’s a global address book where the BlackBerry users can be reached easily by converting PIN and Emails to an easy to remember Number or Name and makes it easy to add friends to their BlackBerry Messenger and contact list.

BeBeMe simplifies sharing a handset’s Personal Identification Number (PIN), enabling everyone to communicate more conveniently with friends, with communities, anywhere in the world.

BeBeMe offers many value added services, including storing all contacts online, interacting via personal profile pages on www.bebeme.com, and maintaining the same BeBeMe account regardless of whether a handset is broken, lost or upgraded.

With the way everyone communicates continuing to evolve, BeBeMe helps everyone to connect.

It’s free. It’s instant. It’s fun. And it has no boundaries.

The idea of one BeBeMe for all your BlackBerry devices (new and old) is something I’m sure many of you would appreciate. The downside is that BeBeMe is only available for devices running OS 4.6 and higher with support for the Storm on OS 5.0 coming soon.

For more info and to download the app head on over to BeBeMe.com or check out the full press release after the jump.

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Fabian Heuwieser let me know that he has just released a new BlackBerry application called AddresSave.

AddresSave automatically saves an email address with the name of the sender to your BlackBerry’s address book in addition to the subject of the email getting saved to that contact’s “notes” field.

Other cool features of AddresSave are its ability to auto-complete an email address when you start typing and to block email addresses with keywords from being saved to your address book.

AddresSave is available in the store for $1.49 until September 4th, after that it goes up to $2.99. Feel free to leave feedback about this app in the comments!

Ronen got tipped off about the upcoming BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) 2.8 and its new features, right now rumored to be rolling out this September 10th with the two main upgrades and an auto-login feature coming soon after.

An exciting tidbit about this BIS upgrade is that BlackBerry OS 5.0 will be required in order to use the main feature, which means the release of OS 5.0 is definitely around the corner (hopefully).

What’s new in 2.8:

• Two-way wireless synchronization with Google Mail Contacts* and the Address Book on the BlackBerry smart phone:
  • Synchronize Google Mail contacts quickly and easily to the BlackBerry smart phone
  • Add or edit Contacts and the Contacts are automatically updated, whether they are updated on the computer or BlackBerry smart phone
  • The documentation says this is scheduled to sync every 4 hours and will not work on BlackBerry Connect devices. It also will obviously not work on BES contacts or even Google Mail Contact Groups whatever those are.
• Enhancements to email setup and settings:
  • Automatic Login now supports most billing identifiers, which allows new subscribers with wireless service providers that use PIN, IMEI, or ESN as a billing identifier to create BlackBerry Internet Service accounts from the BlackBerry smart phone, without having to create a login user name and password
  • Note: This feature will be available approximately one week after the BlackBerry Internet Service upgrade.
• Windows Live Hotmail revalidation:
  • With BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8, new Windows Live Hotmail mail integrations will be defaulted to a protocol that is designed so as not to require 90 day reauthorization.
  • Note: Existing BlackBerry smart phone users accessing Windows Live Hotmail using Microsoft MSP will still be required to revalidate their Windows Live Hotmail account every 90 days.

*Note: Two-way wireless Contact synchronization with Google Mail Contacts requires BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 and configuration through email settings on the BlackBerry smart phone.  Additional requirements and constraints may be found within the BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8 Documentation Kit. This feature is not supported on BlackBerry smart phones with BlackBerry® Connect™ software.

Feel free to share your thoughts and any additional info in the comments!

DubMeNow let me know that they have updated their free BlackBerry application with some awesome new features!

DUB is a must have app for anyone looking for a quick, easy and smart way to network. What makes DUB great is that it automatically syncs contacts between your DUB account and your BlackBerry’s address book, in addition to automatically updating your contacts whenever someone changes their info. Here’s what’s new:

• Locate
  Swap contact info with a single click! When two people meet and click the new “Locate” button, DUB finds and prompts both to exchange info. No more typing emails or mobile numbers to send your card.
• Groups
  Similar to Facebook or LinkedIn; you can create, join and see all the other Group members from your phone. Groups gives you an easy way to connect and find people you want to reach in your networking group, social club, company, personal friends and more from your phone.
• LinkedIn Invitations
  DUB is the only app where you can send a LinkedIn invitation with your contact information with a single click – from your mobile phone.
• Where We Met (Google Maps)
  DUB captures the date when you met someone and displays the location and their address on Google Maps.
• Smart Business Card
  Add a photo, your social networks, a link to your blog, Twitter handle, instant messenger and more to your card so your contacts can connect with you wherever you are online.
• DUB ID
  Your DUB ID can be your name, business name, your nick name – or just a short, easy-to-enter word of your choosing. Give anyone you meet your DUB ID, and they can exchange contact information just as they would with your email address or phone number.
• Twitter Announcements
  Instantly announce the new cards you send and receive, and their updates on Twitter!
• CRM Integrations
  DUB provides a seamless, easy way to keep your organization’s CRM data up-to-date. Your DUB connections can be synced directly with your CRM system (e.g., Salesforce, Siebel On-Demand) from your mobile phone.

To download DUB visit m.dubmenow.com from your BlackBerry Browser or head to DubMeNow.com for more info. Full press release after the jump.

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Google has just officially announced that the Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server is now available!

A weeks ago I mentioned that Google had updated the ETA for the Google Apps Connector and it looks like they just made it. Here’s an updated feature list:

• Messages sent to your Gmail inbox are pushed to your BlackBerry within 60 seconds.
• Emails read/deleted on your BlackBerry are marked as read/deleted in Gmail, and vice-versa.
• Emails archived/starred on your BlackBerry are archived/starred in Gmail, and vice-versa.
• BlackBerry folders are synchronized with labels in Gmail.
• You can search for contact information of coworkers from the global address list on your BlackBerry.
• Contacts in Gmail are automatically synchronized with your BlackBerry address book.
• You can view your Google Calendar schedule with the native BlackBerry application, with one-way synchronization from Google Calendar to your BlackBerry device. Two-way calendar sync with the ability to accept, decline and schedule meetings from your BlackBerry device is not available with this release but we are working on it.
• Administrators can use the management and security tools that are part of BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Google Apps Premier and Education Edition customers worldwide can get this feature free of charge by downloading  the Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

For more info about the mobile options for Google Apps visit www.google.com/apps/mobile.

Gwabbit let me know that their server-side recognition engine has been upgraded with many improvements that will enhance the BlackBerry application’s performance.

Here are the changes:

• The engine now correctly handles the text added by anti-virus programs such as AVG
• The Improve Results feature (gwabbit for Outlook) is greatly improved, now recognizing a much higher percentage of contact blocks
• Better recognition of non-US phone numbers and non-US addresses
• Better recognition and parsing of HTML emails, taking into account the formatting of the signature block, including stylized text
• Improved handling for new varieties of signature structures, based on the feedback submitted
• Better separation of the “thread” (older email in the same conversation) so as to more accurately identify contact information of the sender. This improvement is especially noticeable in gwabbit for BlackBerry
• Overall improved recognition

If you already have gwabbit you aren’t required to do anything since this is a server-side upgrade.

Since I get a lot of emails these days the gwabbit app is a life saver for automatically detecting signatures and prompting me to create/update an address book entry with that info.

Gwabbit is available for a $9.99 yearly subscription and will work with all BlackBerry devices running OS 4.2 and higher. You can also find this app in the Mobile App Store.

A free trial is available if you’d like to try it before you buy it.