And this is what the Blackberry 6 OS experience is all about.
Blackberry Keynote is taking place
Details on Blackberry 6.0 are being revealed in today's Blackberry keynote. Engadget are live blogging the event. 
Palm Pre spotted on Knight Rider
The Palm Pre was spotted recently on TV show Knight Rider. The blog Pre Point shares the juice.
The Motley Fool - How Palm Could Lose Everything
[From Eric Mann] Eric Mann sent an email to us pointing us to Motley Fool's latest editorial - How Palm Could Lose Everything
"It simply can't be a coincidence that Palm's openness has followed its decline. Nova offers an opportunity to reverse the slide, to close the platform as Steve Jobs cut off Mac cloners shortly after returning to Apple in 1997. Palm's relatively new executive chairman, Jon Rubinstein, is the perfect man to lead the effort. He's been involved with closed systems since 1990, when he worked with Jobs at NeXT. Seven years later, he'd rejoin Jobs, this time at Apple, where he led the development of one of history's most successful closed systems: the iPod. All signs point to Nova being the moment at which Palm parts ways with Mr. Softy."
The Year of the Smartphone
Brighthand has published a piece looking at 2008, the year of the smartphone.
"Here at the end of 2008, we look back on hopes and dreams, things that happened and should have happened, and most of all just sit and go, "What's next?" The iffy economics of the past months have made everything from gas prices to job security a bit more important than just the shiny new thing in our pocket. But at the same, that thing in our pocket -- our smartphone -- has taken on a greatly expanded role."
Tracking Santa
[From Frederick Claus (not the guy from the movie)
Grand Island, NY] Hey there Sammy and all my fellow Palm Addicts, I hope your Christmas was a happy one. A family tradition at my house has always been to track where Santa is throughout Christmas eve. My kids were having a blast with that as usual, but it came time to go to Christmas Eve service at my church so they couldn't play on the computer anymore. Santa however gave daddy a gift.
Using my trusty Palm Centro and downloading Google Maps I was able to track Santa the entire time we were at church. Funny story too. We were having trouble getting my son to go to bed on Christmas Eve. My Palm Centro solved that issue as well. I pulled up my Google Maps and pretend like I was going to do one last Santa Track. This time however I got into the satellite imaging section and typed in our home address. I told my son that Santa was flying round up in the sky but was not going to stop because he saw some kids in the neighborhood were still awake. You know that boy was asleep within 5 minutes.
Ho Ho Ho! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
BibleReader 4.0 Library for iPhone and BlackBerry
[From Frederick Claus
Grand Island, NY] As 2008 draws to a close, we at Olive Tree recognize that one of our most significant achievements this year was the release of BibleReader 4.0. This new program brings the features and flexibility of BibleReader to the newest and most powerful mobile devices of 2008—the iPhone, and the BlackBerry Curve, Bold, and more. BibleReader 4.0 is a completely new program architecture, developed to ensure BibleReader's functionality across many different mobile platforms, and to provide the framework for adding more features to BibleReader in the future, for both new and existing mobile devices.
What to expect from Olive Tree in 2009?
Our planned development for BibleReader 4.0 is far from finished. Look for the following new programs, features, and resources in 2009:
* BibleReader 4.0 for new devices, including Google Android, BlackBerry Storm, Windows Mobile/Pocket PC and Windows Mobile Smartphone
* Greek and Hebrew fonts and resources for iPhone
* hundreds of titles to expand the current BibleReader 4.0 library
. . . and much more!
Many titles available now and many more added each week at Olive Tree Bible Software
Natara End Of Year sale
[From Bryan – Natara Software Inc] Sammy,
I thought your readers might be interested in our Holiday / End Of Year sale. From now until the 1st of the next year any order of $20 or more placed directly from Natara can take an additional 30% off by using coupon code NSWHOLIDAY08. It does not have to be a single item, but any combination of products over $20 can take advantage of the coupon. Offer is good for Palm, Windows Mobile, and/or desktop products. The staff at Natara would like to wish all of your readers a happy holiday season and a great 2009!
http://www.natara.com/
Verizon Winning Bid for 700 MHz Spectrum Bad News for Consumers
[From Craig
Summerville, SC] Verizon just beat out Google and all other bidders by plunking down $9.63 billion for a single big chunk of the 700 MHz spectrum, which becomes available to network providers early next year. They also won bids on smaller regional pieces of spectrum. Though the Federal Government says that any companies using the newly-available spectrum must make it an "open" network, this cannot be construed as anything but bad for consumers. With an established giant in the industry winning the bids for significant pieces of the available spectrum, and therefore the right to administer it largely as they see fit, the status quo is not likely to change. I was really hoping that Google or some other upstart (to the mobile network business, anyway) would shake-up the industry a bit, resulting in more competitive pricing (especially in data plans), fewer hidden contract "gotchas," and improved consumer satisfaction, owing to better customer support. Oh well.
trakAxMobile for VG
[From Eric Mann] Eric Mann has written a quick note to inform us about trakAxMobile for VG supporting the growing number of VGA-screen equipped devices.
"With the added flexibility of the VGA screens, we believe this new version of trakAxMobile is extremely compelling. Easy to comprehend icons and graphics guide you through the process of creating a mix without any hassles or difficulties. Whether you are creating a video mash-up for an audience of millions or a simple slideshow to share with friends, trakAxMobile has all the features and functionality to turn your Windows Mobile device into a sophisticated editor and mixer."
