We thought of shedding some light on some of our recent success on the web and share this great service they offer with our readership. You can check it out and find other interesting blogs about the BlackBerry Smartphone, or any other topic for that matter.

What is Alltop? It’s a digital magazine rack, here is the official explanation - better yet watch the video below!

You can think of an Alltop site as a “dashboard,” “table of contents,” or even a “digital magazine rack” of the Internet. To be clear, Alltop sites are starting points - they are not destinations per se. The bottom line is that we are trying to enhance your online reading by both displaying stories from the sites that you’re already visiting and helping you discover sites that you didn’t know existed. In this way, our goal is the “cessation of Internet stagnation.”

For those of you that have been suffering through the indignity of OS 4.3 or older on your BlackBerry device when your friends are rockin’ their BlackBerry Bolds, Pearl Flips and Storms, struggle no more! You’ve patiently waited for the “official version” of the OS and your wait is no more.
www.blackberry.com/upgrades, allows for an official OS 4.5 update. So far, we have confirmed this on Sprint and Verizon.

HTML email, geotagging photos and streaming video, here we come (don’t forget in-line spell check, ed.)!

Note: If you had already installed another carrier’s version of OS 4.5, you’re going to have to downgrade to a lower OS version before installing the proper one (thanks Al).

Download OS 4.5 for your BlackBerry

  Let’s talk about OTA, and how it works. The OTA acronym stands for Over The Air. This usually refers to downloads. You might see links saying OTA. In such an instance, it means that you can download the application directly to your device, without having to download it to your computer and load it with BlackBerry Desktop Manager.

  The advantage of downloading OTA is that it’s one process. Instead of using multiple devices and taking multiple steps to download and install software, OTA downloads offer instant installation. Once you hit “Download” (example shown below), that’s it. You’re done. The application (or theme) is yours.

  It’s that time of the Holidays once againg, and this upcoming holiday being thanksgiving were reminded of things we should be grateful and give thanks for. Well the Crave team, over from CNET.com couldn’t help but express gratitude for the consumer electronics that make life easier–and sometimes far less productive. Click over and visit there Article / Gallery to to see which gadgets Crave contributors appreciate most these days, and be sure to have a look at part deux, in which Cravers give thanks for the Apple iPhone, iRobot Scooba Floor Washing Robot, Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR, and more.

BlackBerry Curve

Those who have known me for the past four years know how attached I was to my Palm Treo. I wrote stories on it, checked e-mail on it, and could be seen wandering around the newsroom, bumping into things as I focused more on the phone than my surroundings. That said, the gadget I am most thankful for at this moment is the replacement for my Palm Treo, the BlackBerry Curve.

While my Treo was rock solid when it came to e-mail, the Palm OS’ sub-par Web browsing and multimedia abilities left me wanting. The BlackBerry Curve has managed to do everything my Treo did–and do it better. Plus, although it’s no Canon, the camera is good enough to take blog-worthy pictures from time to time. I don’t even have Storm envy… yet.

–Ina Fried

Read the article on CNET
Photo credit: James Martin/CNET Networks

  This might be a bit of a stretch brought on by wishful thinking, but RIM has most definitely been sneaky with the Curve 8900 thus far so you never know. An eagle-eyed reader came across some interesting accessory listings on the US BlackBerry shop site, and at the very least you’ve got to raise an eyebrow. A quick peak at the accessory section reveals that the Curve 8900 is now indeed listed among the handset options when narrowing down accessories. What’s more, all 8900 accessories including a variety of cases, a couple of Micro-USB cables and a desktop charging pod, have a listed arrival date of December 5th. Does that mean we can expect the handset to become available at some point before then? Hmm - why would BlackBerry customers need Curve 8900 accessories on December 5th without being able to purchase the Curve 8900? Kinda makes you wonder…

Click Here for the link to the BlackBerry Shop Site

  Word has reached us that there are some goodies about to be available in Canada. First we should talk about Rogers. Long has it been known that they’re going to be carrying the BlackBerry Curve 8900, but now we can say for sure that they’re going to be launching it in January 2009 with a $149.99 price tag on a 3-year voice and data deal. Also coming to Rogers is — a pink BlackBerry Bold. Yeah, that’s right, pink. While were not exactly sure if the whole device or just parts of it will be pink, you can rest assured that it will be extremely popular.

  As for Fido, a lot of people doubted that Fido would be offering BlackBerry devices and services since their low-cost re-branding. However, word is that the second week of December is when Fido is planning to launch the BlackBerry 8120 Pearl in both Oyster Pink (some call it Sandstone, a la AT&T) and Grey. In Q1, we’ve got word that Fido will be launching the BlackBerry 8220 Pearl with a projected price of $50 on a 2-year contract.

  There’s also some talk that Rogers/Fido are going to be releasing some new data plans this Friday.

Fido, which recently underwent rebranding that saw it reposition itself as a bonafide low-cost carrier, is pushing its parent company Rogers Wireless for permission to sell BlackBerry smartphones in time for the holidays. Fido had killed its BlackBerry Connect services earlier this year as it simply didn’t have any BlackBerry devices in its lineup. As such, Fido found itself paying royalties for an product that it essentially didn’t even offer. Now with the skyrocketing popularity of data-dependent smartphones and thousands of customers who have a BlackBerry feeling left out, Fido sees that it’s failure to offer BlackBerry devices and services is an opportunity cost it would rather not have. Specifically, Fido is looking at selling the WiFi-enabled and UNO-capable (think T-Mobile’s UMA and Rogers’ TalkSpot) 8120 Pearl leading up to the holidays and then adding the 8220 Pearl Flip to its catalog after the holidays. In addition to this, Fido would offer support for all other BlackBerry handsets and devices that feature BlackBerry Connect.

The BlackBerry Storm has all that, except video-calling. Oh yeah, and it has a removable battery. That’s a tick up on both of them.