Take a "Tour" of RIM's New Blackberry 9630

Official Press Release

RIM Introduces the BlackBerry Tour Smartphone

New 3G World Phone Keeps You Connected on High-Speed CDMA Networks in North America and UMTS/HSPA Networks Abroad

WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - June 16, 2009) - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today introduced the BlackBerry(R) Tour(TM) - a powerful new 3G BlackBerry(R) smartphone for CDMA customers in North America. The new BlackBerry Tour smartphone offers state-of-the-art communications and multimedia capabilities with outstanding mobile performance and consummate styling. It is a feature-packed and highly refined world phone that keeps you connected and lets you tour the world in style.

"BlackBerry continues to be the top selling smartphone brand in North America and we are proud to add this powerful new 3G world phone to our successful product portfolio," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. "With its striking design and exceptional performance, the new BlackBerry Tour will offer a compelling choice for the growing number of wireless customers looking to upgrade their existing cell phone to a smartphone."

The BlackBerry Tour smartphone allows customers to stay seamlessly connected - across town and around the world. It supports high-speed 3G EV-DO Rev. A networks in North America, as well as 3G UMTS/HSPA (2100Mhz) and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM networks abroad.

The BlackBerry Tour smartphone also provides the industry's leading mobile solution for email, messaging (IM, SMS, MMS) and social networking together with built-in GPS and advanced multimedia capabilities, enabling customers to make the most of both their personal and professional time.

The BlackBerry Tour features a chic black finish with chrome highlights surrounding its sleek design (112mm x 62mm x 14.2mm and 130g). It includes a large, highly tactile, full-QWERTY keyboard with chrome frets and finely sculpted keys for fast and precise typing. In addition, the large (2.44"), bright display (480 x 360 resolution at 245 ppi) delivers the highest resolution available on a BlackBerry smartphone, presenting pictures, web pages and videos with incredible clarity.

Other key features of the BlackBerry Tour smartphone include:

• 3.2 MP camera with flash, variable zoom, image stabilization, autofocus and video recording(i)
  
• Full HTML web browser, including support for streaming audio and video (RTSP)
  
• Advanced media player for videos, pictures and music, a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack and support for the Bluetooth(R) Stereo Audio Profile (A2DP/AVCRP)
  
• 256MB Flash memory
  
• Expandable memory via hot swappable microSD/SDHC memory card slot, supporting cards of up to 16 GB today and expected to support next generation 32GB cards when available
  
• Built-in GPS with support for geotagging, BlackBerry(R) Maps and other location based applications and services
  
• BlackBerry(R) Media Sync allows customers to quickly and easily synch music from iTunes(R) and Windows Media Player with the smartphone(ii)
  
• Premium phone features including voice activated dialing, enhanced background noise cancellation, a low-distortion speakerphone, and Bluetooth (2.0) support for hands-free use with headsets, car kits, stereo headsets and other Bluetooth peripherals
  
• Preloaded DataViz(R) Documents to Go(R), allowing users to edit Microsoft(R) Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset
  
• Easy mobile access to Facebook(R), MySpace and Flickr(R), as well as popular instant messaging services including BlackBerry(R) Messenger, Yahoo!(R) IM, AIM(R), Google Talk and Windows Live Messenger(TM)
  
• Support for BlackBerry App World(TM), featuring a broad and growing catalog of third-party mobile applications developed specifically for BlackBerry smartphones. Categories include travel, productivity, entertainment, games, social networking & sharing, news & weather, and more
  
• BlackBerry(R) Internet Service allows access to up to 10 supported personal and corporate email accounts, including most popular ISP email accounts
  
• BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Server provides advanced security and IT administration features within IBM(R) Lotus(R) Domino(R), Microsoft(R) Exchange and Novell(R) GroupWise(R) environments
  
• Removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery for 5 hours of talk time and 14 days of standby time
  

The BlackBerry Tour smartphone (model number: 9630) is expected to be available this summer from carriers in North America.

For more information visit www.blackberry.com/tour

T-Mobile Showcases Google's First Phone: The G1

The latest buzz on the web is about the first Google-powered handset called the G1, announced by T-Mobile today. T-Mobile's created a website dedicated to the launching of their new phone, located here. Here is a breakout of articles across the web featuring the search giant's foray into the cell phone industry:

• Popular Science
  
• Engadget
  
• Popular Mechanics
  
• C|Net News
  
• CNN Tech
  

I, like other fellow bloggers out there, don't get the numerous comparison's typical media outlets like to make between smart phones like the G1 and Apple's iPhone. "iPhone-Killer" this, and "does it beat the iPhone" that...ENOUGH with the iPhone comparison's! Granted, the intuitive interface, features, and all around package (not to mention Apple's viral marketing) are what made Apple's iPhone ubiquitous. However, the G1 has a qwerty keyboard which the iPhone does not, placing it in a different sub-class altogether. Secondly, the iPhone wasn't the first touchscreen phone on the block...they've been around for years (remember the Samsung SPH-I300?). So, if you need to satisfy your craving for iPhone comparisons, click here, in the mean-time go check out the G1.

ATTENTION TECH RECRUITERS!

Are you a recruiter, search firm, or work in a technology company's HR department?

Are you planning on hiring any technology professionals in the near future?

Well, I came across a great article on a recruiting blog detailing how to post a "compelling" job ad to attract the right candidates to fill your opening. The article is actually pretty straight-forward and gives 7 key points to follow. Working for a retained search firm and having been posting jobs for a while now, I can agree with every one of those points in their effectiveness. Just as a hiring manager takes a limited amount of time to look at each applicant's resume (usually 30 seconds), a job seeker has an equally short attention span whilst looking through job ads. You can read the article here.

Here's an excerpt:

4. Keep ‘requirements’ brief…only listing the most important qualifications. Also, remember your audience…if you are hiring a Sales Manager with 12+ years’ industry experience, it’s safe to assume that they have computer skills….no need to list that in the ad.

Improve SATA Disk Performance

Ed Note: I'll be making this a regular feature on this blog.

Another tasty tip to improve PC performance in Windows Vista:

Do you have a SATA disk drive in your computer? If so, you can squeeze a little more performance out of your hard disk. This speeds up the performance of your hard disk by enhancing write caching. However, if your computer is not connected to a battery backup and you loose power you have a increased risk for data loss or corruption. If you have a laptop your chances are data loss or corruption are dramatically less since your laptop battery will kick on if your power source is lost. Let's get started:

- Click on the Start Button and key in Device Manager and hit Enter.
- Expand Disk Drives.
- Right click on your hard drive and select Properties.
- On the Policies tab, check Enable advanced performance.
- Hit OK and close Device Manager.

New Blog by Microsoft: Covers Windows 7

Microsoft recently launched a blog all about their new OS, Windows 7. I've read through a few of the posts, and although lengthy, they appear to be chock full of some good intel (no pun intended) from the bright minds over at Redmond and insight into what's cookin' in their next OS. One of their posts is on boot performance, which I know everyone, even the casual Windows user, has griped about at one time or another. I think this time around, they might actually accomplish their goal of speeding up boot time across the board. Here's a snippet from that post, but be sure to bookmark their blog and check it out from time to time:

For a PC to boot fast a number of tasks need to be performed efficiently and with a high degree of parallelism. --Ed Note. I agree!

• Files must be read into memory.
  
• System services need to be initialized.
  
• Devices need to be identified and started.
  
• The user’s credentials need to be authenticated for login.
  
• The desktop needs to be constructed and displayed.
  
• Startup applications need to be launched.
  

New Blackberry OS 4.5 Coming to AT&T

The fine folks over at DigitalBurn.com reported that AT&T beat Verizon to the punch with the latest OS release, version 4.5, up from version 4.3 (at least that's what I'm still stuck on). Hey Verizon! When are you going to release OS4.5 so I can get my HTML email on, hmm?

Quote from DB:
RIM’s BlackBerry OS update 4.5 is set to feature improved web browsing, an enhanced email and music player user interface, which will include HTML email and remote server search amongst many other new features. The update also includes a 8820 and Pearl 8120 WiFi client for free login at AT&T hotspots and simultaneous voice/data support when using WiFi.

The new OS is expected to be available later this month and will come loaded on new devices starting in October.

No More VGA Cables??

Anyone who knows me in real life, knows that I HATE CABLES. Not good for a tech dude whose life is pretty much surrounded by 'em, 24/7. So, any gadget that comes out that helps make one less cable possible, is a gadget I gotta have in my book. The boy's over at Engadget.com have reported that IOGEAR will be releasing their Wireless USB to VGA Kit sometime in October. That's right friends, you too will soon be able to enjoy 720p video wirelessly anywhere within 30 feet, for only 230 big ones.

Get Your Hulu On, Baby!

For those of you who still watch TV shows sitting in front of a ... well, ya know ... TV, that's so 20th century. Get with the times, people! Check out one of the Web's premiere destinations for watching TV shows and even full length feature films; Hulu.com. Here's what PCMag.com had to say about the service:

Although I've been TV-less for a while now, thanks to networks like NBC and ABC putting content online I can keep up with my favorite TV shows on my laptop. But why wade through a network's Web site to find episodes you want to see when you can have those shows and others from a variety of networks available for viewing on one easily navigated Web site? Hulu.com, an online video service, brings you a wide variety of full-length episodes, popular video clips, and even a few full-length movies you can watch right from your browser—for free.

Let me know what YOUR favorite site is to catch online video, tv shows, films, or the like in the comments.

Move Aside Firefox and IE, Google's Chrome Takes the Spotlight

It looks like Google's finally joined the browser wars and introduced its own, the Chrome browser. Read about it on Google's official blog. Just released a couple days ago, web journalists the world over immediately jumped on it only to post their first thoughts just hours later. So far, it seems a mixed bag with a lot of praise for how fast it is and how quickly it loads pages but with rendering problems among other things hampering any perfect scores, its got its work cut out for it in the days and weeks ahead.

I just downloaded it myself and will be pitting it against the latest versions of Internet Explorer (version 8 beta) and Firefox (version 3). I should have a write up on that in the coming weeks, but in the meantime why don't you download it and give it a try? Let me know what ya think in the comments.

Verizon to Release Touchscreen Blackberry

It's been rumoured around the web about a touchscreen Blackberry being released here in the States. It looks like Verizon will be the carrier of choice, and the name? Well, it's been changed back and forth so many times, it wouldn't surprise me if it happened at the last second before launch...but it looks like it'll be called the Blackberry 9530 Storm. Being a Blackberry fan myself, having purchased a Curve 8330 to tackle my 24-hour a day life, I can't deny I'm looking forward to testing the Storm when it comes out (rumoured to be a mid-October launch date). Specs include GSM and CDMA capability (meaning you can take it pretty much anywhere in the world, and get a signal), a microSDHC slot, TFT touchscreen, and bluetooth but no WiFi (odd, but true so far).

Speed Up Windows Vista!

One of the many things I do to help my customers get the most of out of their new computers is to remove all the bloatware that comes pre-installed (if it's a laptop) and optimize Windows Vista. In my quest to always help the little guy get a leg up and make Vista faster for themselves, I wanted to share a great resource for those that want to get their hands dirty with Windows Services: Speedy Vista.com. The link points to their "Vista Services Explained" page which itemizes all of the Windows Vista services telling you which ones you can safely disable to squeeze out that last bit of performance out of your machine.

Be sure to check 'em out, and Happy Vista Tweaking!

My New Toy: Blackberry Curve

After years of using a regular phone to try and keep up with my life, I've finally cracked down and bought a smartphone: the Blackberry Curve 8330 from Verizon. Why the Blackberry you ask? Well, it just plain kicks butt, and does so at a bargain price compared to the more expensive Windows Mobile-based phones like the Samsung SCH-i760 I wanted. With all the typical PIM apps like Calendar, Tasks, Phonebook, and Memo, I've got my hectic life put in check. A 2.0 megapixel camera along with a video camera, voice recorder, and decent media player round out it's multimedia offerings while its functional keyboard, bright screen and light weight make it easy to use. With Verizon's EVDO Rev0 highspeed data access, surfing's a breeze and I'm able to watch streaming video's like the trailer to the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight", without a problem.

The few gripes I have about this phone are no WiFi support, poor placement of memory card (behind battery - what were they thinking!), battery life not as good as hoped, and no support for HTML email out of the box. These things definitely aren't dealbreakers as I don't find myself swapping out memory cards often and I've always got a battery charger or cable nearby. For now, the only way to read HTML email is via a 3rd-party program. My dibs is on Empower's Blackberry HTML Viewer for 30 big ones.

I've only had my Curve for almost 2 months, but I still feel like I've only scratched the surface on what this baby has to offer. I know one thing, I'm definitely not going back to a regular phone!

I'd like to send a special shout-out to my friends over at CrackBerry.com for getting me on the road to discovery with my new Curve. These guys are the best when it comes to giving you the lowdown on all things Blackberry including a superb community (200,000 and growing) of forum members ready to help you when you need it. Go check 'em out, even if you don't own a Blackberry! ;)

New Laptop: Gateway M-6841

I finally broke down after all these years of not having a laptop, and bought one at Circuit City last month. I deliberated for probably 3-4 weeks looking for the best choice on a new lappy; I looked at Dell's, HP's, Acer's, Gateway's, even a MAC (shudders). After looking at the mass numbers of my client's who own DELL's and had problems with them, I nixed that brand altogether. MAC's, although more than capable of doing what I want in a machine and running dual-boot MAC OSX & Windows with programs like Parallels or Boot Camp, the price was over my limit. Toshiba's have long been what I've recommended to other customers of mine looking at getting a decent laptop for a great price, but after finding this Gateway on Circuit City's website last month for $669, I couldn't pass it up. Decked out with a Core2Duo 1.83 GHz processor, 3GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, an Intel Centrino chipset, abg Wifi, 1.3MP webcam, 250GB SATA HD, DVDRW, along with a host of other goodies like a multimedia card slot, this baby rocks. I've had a solid month to play with this lappy: taking it on a business trip to Des Moines, IA, back and forth to several client visits, having it as my secondary workstation at the office, and using it at home occasionally and so far I'm impressed for what I paid for it.

I'll take some shots of it later and post them here, but for now Gateway's got my thumb's up!

Sneak Peak at Upcoming LinkedIn Article

I've recently been hitting the social networking scene, only I've taken a different path than most of my peers who are my age and younger. Instead of the MySpace addicts and FaceBook fiends, I hopped onboard LinkedIn.com, a professional networking site, to create an account and accept my initial invitation from a friend of mine who I do business with online. What started this "late bloomer" beginning in the world of social networking sites really had to do more with my current employment than personal desire. I work for an executive search firm that among other things desires more efficient and smarter ways of doing business. One of the reasons why I was brought on board was to help in this area. Fast forward to today, and I have a full-fledged LinkedIn premium account with 35 connections. Granted, that's a small number of connections (or "friends" for you MySpace folk), but you're looking at someone who had NO desire whatsoever to join and setup an account at a social networking site.

Next post, I will talk about the benefits of using LinkedIn both as a business user and for your own personal gain. I will also start to delve in other Web 2.0 technologies that I've begun to really start using, mostly at work. I'll mention several relevant articles that helped me to understand how these tools work, so that hopefully they can help you to do the same.

In the meantime, feel free to click on that shiny new button to the left that looks like this: to see my LinkedIn.com profile. Until next time!

Happy New Year! 2008

Happy New Year to everyone! May this year, 2008, be bigger and brighter than ever. 2007 went by so fast and a great deal has happened in just this short year alone. A lot is going on in the technology community including ever more complex gadgets and hardware consolidating features into ever smaller packages. That is going to be the theme for this year: miniturization. Whether it be the consumer, education, private or military sectors, this theme will be universal and integral in providing cutting-edge devices that solve our world's most complex and even simplest problems.

My goal is to attend at least 1-2 trade shows this year that deal with consumer electronics, robotics, convergence technology, or a related field and bring that coverage right here to Convergence Daily. Last year, as part of my daytime job, I attended the AGC Trade Show in Austin, TX to learn and understand more about the construction equipment industry, its players, and the equipment and vehicles typically used. Convergence technology is playing a role in this industry as well with major players using virtual simulators to teach new equipment operators the ropes before they jump behind the "wheel" of that million dollar piece of equipment. More advanced controlling mechanisms and software algorithms are being developed to make the training simulations as accurate and true-to-life as possible. In addition, we will probably see more advanced video monitoring & other technologies used in dozers, haulers, and other construction equipment in the hopes of increasing the overall safety of the operator(s) and protecting the investments of the equipment owners as well.

I'm continuing my major in Computer Engineering with a minor in Business Administration in the hopes of going into business full-time working for myself. This year will be a pivotal year of changes for me and will hopefully bring together some positive changes for this blog along with my other site Neowave.us.

Until next time!