UPDATE It looks like this outage is occurring in many more areas than previously reported. Please refer to the comments of this post. *

I’ve received numerous reports from @DavePeckens, @BRSDiddy and a few others, letting me know that BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) seems to be down for them. So far it looks like the areas being affected are California, Texas, Arkansas, Michigan and I can confirm that BIS is having trouble in New Jersey.

At first it seemed like only the BlackBerry Browser wasn’t working but it looks like third-party applications are also being affected, although some are having more luck connecting to the internet.

If you’re being affected by this data outage let me know what’s not working and where you are in the comments.

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

Yesterday BlackBerry data services were down/lagging (again) across North America and it looks like BlackBerry users in Europe will soon be able to share in the fun! (No, it’s not actually fun.)

The following notice was sent to Dataoutages News by a UK carrier:

“There is a planned outage within the European BlackBerry network scheduled for the 26th September within the time window of 0200 and 0600 BST.  RIM expect the duration of the outage to be no more than 2 hours.

This outage will result in the loss of BlackBerry data services, and end users may be unable to send and receive BlackBerry messages

If you have any queries relating to this fault, please contact the BlackBerry support team by replying to this email or calling on the usual telephone number, quoting Case Reference  5424003.”

The outage in North America lasted longer than two hours so consider yourselves lucky if it’s  “no more than 2 hours”.

If you’re a European BlackBerry user and experience an outage on September 26th feel free to leave your carrier and general location information in the comments.

According to some chatter on Twitter and Data Outage News, BlackBerry Internet Service appears to be either down or experiencing some serious lag time with delivering emails.

This happened almost two weeks ago with the same deal, except at that time we had a notice detailing info about the outage and that technicians were working on the issue. Today (so far) there is no notice.

You can easily find out whether or not this outage is affecting you by checking if you are receiving your emails or by trying to send one from your BlackBerry.

According to Audit and some of their comments this outage appears to be affecting T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon so far. I’m in Central New Jersey and I can confirm that my emails are coming in groups (instead of one-at-a-time) and I’m on T-Mobile.

Is this outage affecting you? Let me know what your carrier is and your general location in the comments!

Shazam is now available for the BlackBerry Storm series.

• Free version features:
  • Identify music anywhere:
    from the radio, TV, film, or in a store by simply holding your BlackBerry smartphone towards the music and selecting ‘Tag Now’.
  • Buy music immediately when you hear it:
    your tags link directly to Amazon, and other merchants as available, to give you instant access to the music you love and related music merchandise.
  • Share the experience:
    send your tags to friends who share your musical taste via SMS, email or BlackBerry® PIN messaging.
• Additional Premium Version ($4.99) Features:
  • Learn more about the music:
    read track and album reviews, artist biographies and (starting in North America initially) view song lyrics, plus find other music available from the same artist.
  • Options to find similar music:
    discover other music similar to the track you like, to enhance your music collection and knowledge.
  • Find out what’s hot and popular:
    access to Shazam music charts generated by millions of other users in your country.
  • Music search capabilities:
    enabling you to easily find music by artist, album or track from a database with over 8 million songs.

Shazam also has direct downloads for their application, instead of being available only through the BlackBerry App World. You can download it now OTA by visiting is.gd/IWHh from your BlackBerry Browser, or go to Shazam.com for more info.

Read the full press release after the jump.

CONTINUE READING »

RIM completed its upgrade to BIS 2.6 in North America this morning. BIS 2.6 has a few nice fixes and optimizations that I’m sure you will all appreciate!

• Display of password characters
  • BlackBerry smartphone users have the option to display password characters when configuring email addresses with the BlackBerry Internet Service. This feature makes it easier for BlackBerry smartphone users to integrate third-party email addresses, especially when using a BlackBerry smartphone with the SureType® input method.
• Improved descriptive support and error messages
  • BlackBerry smartphone users that have integrated a third-party email account using Post Office Protocol (POP) receive a personal identification number (PIN) message that includes instructions on how to leave email messages on the messaging server for successful delivery to the BlackBerry smartphone.
• Option to change signatures from the BlackBerry smartphone
  • BlackBerry smartphone users that use Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) automatic login can change the signatures for email messages using the BlackBerry smartphone.
• Improved language support
  • Dutch is now an available language for the BlackBerry Internet Service 2.6.
• Gmail integration using IMAP
  • BlackBerry Internet Service 2.6 uses Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) to integrate Gmail® webmail accounts. This integration protocol introduces the following benefits:
    • Elimination of sent email messages appearing as received email messages in the message list on the BlackBerry smartphone
    • One-way synchronization of read status, sent items, and deleted items.
  • To use these improvements, BlackBerry smartphone users must remove and reintegrate their Gmail webmail accounts.

According to BGR, before using IMAP Gmail you need to delete your account and then re-add it from the BIS admin.

This is completely random but still related . BlackBerry is sponsoring the U2 360 Tour, U2’s first stadium outing since the Vertigo Tour in 2005/06. European and North American tour schedules included after the jump.

Who’s going?!

Press Release

LOS ANGELES, March 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — U2.com today confirms that the U2 360 Tour will open at the Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona on 30th June. The U2 360 Tour is sponsored by BlackBerry(R) and is the band’s first stadium outing since the Vertigo Tour 05/06 and follows the release of their acclaimed album, No Line On The Horizon. Their 12th studio album, No Line On The Horizon is already number 1 in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Japan and the Czech Republic with further chart positions to be announced this week.

Produced by Live Nation Global Touring, U2 360 will visit 14 cities across Europe including dates in Milan, Gothenburg, Amsterdam, Paris, Nice, Dublin, Chorzow, Berlin, Gelsenkirchen, London, Sheffield and Glasgow before finishing at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 22nd August. The European tour will be followed by dates in North America beginning at Chicago’s Soldier Field on September 12th, 2009.

CONTINUE READING »

Viigo just keeps getting better and better.

You can now check local movie listings for North American and UK cities. North American users can also purchase tickets via Fandango all from within Viigo!

To check your local movie listings go to the Entertainment Folder and click on “Add Channel” … Once there, select “Movie Showtimes“. There you can select your city, and if you want listings By Movie and/or By Theatre.

• Download: getviigo.com