This weekend is a big holiday here in the United State as we celebrate our Independence. So what better to celebrate here at TBZ than to do a VIP membership sale. We thought we would do a 4th of July weekend sale and offer VIP memberships for just $25. But why wait until the weekend? Let's go ahead and start it ...right now!

There are plenty of benefits that come with being a TBZ VIP, but we all know why you want one. Tweetissimo is progressing nicely and a new build was just posted to VIPs today. If you have been wanting to join the alpha test team then there is no better time. So celebrate with us and be sure to have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

eBay Branches Out The Update

RIM & eBay have jointly announced today that they are expanding the availability of the eBay for BlackBerry application via App World to 6 more countries. So if you live in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain or the UK now is your chance to hit up the official release. This fantastic app has been in the BlackBerry Beta Zone for some time now. With all the feedback they have collated and implemented the new version sits at v1.0.0.58 and is ready available to download. More details after break.

 Trillian Beta updates to v1.0.0.220

Cerulean Studios really are keeping there fingers on the pulse with this Beta application for the BlackBerry by continually pushing out updates for Trillian (instant messaging application) fixing those little bugs that appear during a build.  This application enables you to chat with the following instant messaging accounts: Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Facebook Chat, AIM, ICQ, and Google Talk.

BlackBerry 9300 shows off its Curves

Salomondrin confirmed rumors today around the 9300 device named as the new ‘Curve’. This is one of RIMs best selling devices today, and long overdue for some TLC from the R&D at RIM. As you can see this particular T-Mobile branded device is wearing a very vibrant metallic purple bezel, this is something that could be changed to distinguish between carriers. Anyway enough about what could happen let’s see what this badboy has after the break.

 Last week we showed you the all-new TBZ Coveroos that we had ordered for the Where's BT contest. They turned out to be absolutely beautiful. Many of the staff here are wanting to order some for their BB's, but as we checked on it we discovered we could get group discounts. So we decided to offer our members the discounted price. Normally custom Coveroos cost around $45 (9550s are $10 more), but with a group purchase we can lower that price. If you would like to order a TBZ Coveroo please PM me with your device. Please do not commit if you are not serious about purchasing one. Once I get a good head count we can find out what price we can get them for. If you haven't seen them yet, check out this post.

5.0.0.685 Leaked for Storm 9530

Our friends over at BBHybrids have posted up a leak from China Telecom for the Storm 9530.  Hasn't been much dropping for the 9530 of late, so pull out your data cable....and don't forget to delete the vendor.xml file. Have fun, and please leave your comments for the rest of us.

BBHybrids download

RIM made available a press release detailing  their first quarter results. The press relaease was 7 pages long, so here are just a few highlights:

• Revenue grew 24% over the same quarter last year to $4.24 billion
• Earnings per share in the first quarter increased 41% year over year to $1.38
• BlackBerry smartphone shipments grew more than 43% over the same quarter last year to 11.2 million and RIM shipped its 100 millionth BlackBerry smartphone during the quarter
• BlackBerry subscriber account base grew approximately 60% over the prior year to 46 million, with 4.9 million net new subscriber accounts added in Q1
• RIM's Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program to purchase for cancellation up to 31 million common shares

Looks like RIM is doing just fine...

(full press release)

This is undeniably one of my favorite apps, and it has now been updated to support the BlackBerry Bold 9650, and fixed some minor bugs.  If you have never experienced Vlingo, you must give it a try. There is a FREE version, which I started with, and I liked it so much I jumped out there for the Plus version and gladly spent the $14.99 for it.  With Vlingo you can verbally "type" your messages...be it SMS...emails...or even BBM messages. Anything you type, you can hold down a convenience key....speak your message, and it types it for you.  I personally save any notes to myself verbally, and it posts it in my BB memo pad. With the Plus version I can fill in ANY place I would normally have to type...verbally !!  Told you it was a favorite, could you tell ?

Vlingo FREE...or Vlingo Plus is available on BlackBerry App World...

Please leave feedback and share your opinions here for the rest of the members.

Vlingo ~ BlackBerry App World

AUTOMATICALLY TRACK AND EMAIL BUSINESS MILEAGE USING INNOVATIVE APPLICATION FOR BLACKBERRY SMARTPHONES

I saw this update on-line earlier today while I was at work, and I thought that our members thatt spend countless hours racking up business miles and jotting them down on napkins and scraps of paper  to later have to make sense of that mess to be able to turn those miles in to be reimbursed...sound confusing and tedious ?  Well this may help. I tracked down the press release, and thought I would share it with those that may be adding up their miles off those napkins right now.

TORONTO, Canada – June 25, 2010 – VQ Mileage Tracker™ (www.4tracker.com), the app for BlackBerry® smartphones that automatically tracks business mileage, now also automatically emails reports to users, making it even easier for employees to save time while increasing accuracy and accountability for employers and people who are self-employed.

"VQ Mileage Tracker has been a run-away success since it launched this Spring," says Harris Korn, president of Xpressions Inc., creators of VQ Mileage Tracker (www.4tracker.com) and VQ CarFinder (www.4carfinder.com). "Since then, we've added a number of new features based on user feedback, making VQ Mileage Tracker an even more efficient and effective tool for business people to track and report their mileage."

New features in version 3.2.0 of VQ Mileage Tracker include:

Bitbop Mobile Entertainment Subscription Service Goes Live

Fox Mobile Group today announced the official U.S. launch of Bitbop, the easy-to-use wireless entertainment subscription service that allows smartphone users to view their favorite full-length television shows on demand. The service delivers extremely high-quality mobile video resolution and subscribers can choose from a selection of exciting programming from numerous top notch content partners.  The company plans to offer full-length movies later this year. 

The widely-anticipated Bitbop service debuted exclusively on BlackBerry® smartphones at Pepcom's Digital Experience! New York.  Bitbop's application is available on BlackBerry App World  and will exclusively support BlackBerry smartphones, including the BlackBerry  Bold series, as well as the BlackBerry Curve 8900 and the BlackBerry Tour 9630 at launch.  BlackBerry smartphone users can download the application to get a free trial of this exciting mobile entertainment service and subscribe to the monthly plan for $9.99, which allows for unlimited streaming and temporary downloads.