The wait for Blackberry users is finally over….Amazon has recently announced a beta version of its Kindle application specifically for Blackberry users.

With this latest application, BlackBerry users can now not only read Kindle ebooks, they can also sync their bookmarks with Kindle readers or the Kindle application for PCs as well, while at the same time search online for new ebooks from the Amazon Kindle Store. Amazon already has Kindle applications for both PCs & the Apple iPhone, so its latest expansion to include the Blackberry family will definitely be a welcome addition for Blackberry users out there.

Although the application is currently in beta, it comes as a free download for all Blackberry users. Users can control the text size of book on their screen, create bookmarks, display books in full colour & also search over 400,000 books from Amazon’s Kindle store directly from their BlackBerry. Unfortunately however, the app is currently available only for US Blackberry customers. 

This latest Kindle for BlackBerry app currently supports the following 7 BlackBerry models - Bold 9000, Bold 9700, Curve 8520, Curve 8900, Storm 9530, Storm 9550 & Tour 9630. You can get a free download of it at Amazon’s link below :

Kindle for Blackberry

At a recent press conference held on Monday at the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona, Microsoft officially announced its much anticipated Windows Phone 7 series of smartphones. This series refers to a set of new smartphones that will run on Microsoft’s latest mobile operating system, which is a complete revamp of its existing Windows Mobile platform. These new smartphones will not only have enterprise-friendly features beneficial for corporations, but will also have extensive social networking capabilities & be able to be integrated with Microsoft’s Zune and Xbox Live online services.

Some of the new & impressive features of this latest series of smartphones from Microsoft include :

(1) New Hub-based Interface
Microsoft has come out with a unique design interface that allows users to create their own “hubs” that pull together information from the Internet, applications & other services into one single integrated view. It also comes with six pre-built “hubs” as well – People, Pictures, Games, Music + Video, Marketplace and Office.

(2) Zune Player
The Music + Video “hub” within the Windows Phone 7 acts as a Zune HD within a phone, basically mimicking everything about the original Zune HD player. This means you’ll be able to get quicker access to music, video, podcasts, radio and the Zune marketplace itself. There’s also a home page that records a history of your most-played content & other new stuff you’ve added.

(3) Xbox Live
Windows Phone 7 also has an Xbox Live Integration feature that allows you to integrate it very closely to your Xbox Live account, allowing you to retain your Xbox Live avatar, earn achievements, link up with friends, and play multiplayer-based games.

(4) Multi-touch browsing
Microsoft has also joined the ranks of Apple, Palm and Google to incorporate full multi-touch support for the Windows Phone 7, enabling users to browse & navigate easily between screens & even full HTML pages

(5) Customizable Start screen
It also comes with a customizable Start screen that can be easily rearranged to your liking & which enables you to access your most frequently used applications via shortcuts.

However, it was announced that the first units of the Windows Phone 7 smartphones will only arrive during the 2010 shopping season later this year, which could mean any time from October to mid-December. So it looks like consumers & eager Microsoft fans will have to wait a very long, long while before they can even get their hands on one.

(1) Check out this latest cool video about the features of the Windows Phone 7 series :

(2) You can also watch Steve Balmer’s press conference about Windows Phone 7 at the link below :

Windows Phone 7 Press Conference

Valentine’s Day is this Sunday, so if you’re an iPhone user & want to use it to impress or share your feelings with that special someone in your life, then check out these 8 cool iPhone Apps that were specially created for that special day :

iWrite : Love Poems

Valentine ~ Postage

Creative Romantic Ideas

Be Mine Hearts

Send eFlowers

iLuvMe

Sweethearts

How Am I Feeling

Do share this post with others as well….

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone !

Recently Skype released an official statement on its blog saying that an upcoming version of Skype for the iPhone that supports 3G calls will be coming out real soon.

Currently Skype for iPhone only supports Wi-Fi calls, which severely limits its use for people on the go. But in a recent blog post, Skype’s Peter Parkes confirmed that a 3G-capable version is on its way.

You can read the full Skype update right here :
Skype calling over 3G on iPhone

You can also watch their video below for more info :

The 7.0-rated earthquake that rocked the island nation of Haiti has left thousands of people dead, the capital city of Port-au-Prince in ruins and the country’s communications systems destroyed. With its epicenter only 20 kilometers from Port-au-Prince, a city of nearly 1.8 million people in its metropolitan area, nearly a third of Haiti’s nine million people have been affected by the devastation wrought by the quake.

Aid workers are leaving nations all over the world to offer hands-on assistance to Haitians in their time of need and the American Red Cross, the world’s most recognized aid agency, is asking for immediate donations. The Red Cross has setup an SMS service to allow quick donations by text message; giving to the aid campaign couldn’t easier.

To donate $10 USD to the Red Cross simply text the message ‘HAITI’ to 90999 from any mobile phone; the charge will appear on your wireless carrier’s bill in your next billing cycle.

Gizmodo has released what appear to be leaked mock-up pages for a T-Mobile site offering the upcoming Google Nexus One. Among other details, the pages offer the apparent upcoming pricing for the handset.

The leaked images include a landing page, pricing page and some terms of service concerning the purchase. The details are as follows:

• The Google Nexus One will apparently sell at a steep $530 USD unlocked and $180 USD on a contract with T-Mobile. This seems a little steep. Google has always been in the business of doing things differently and another $500+ smartphone doesn’t feel very innovative to me.
• Strangely enough, you will apparently be limited to purchasing five (5) Nexus Ones per Google account.
• The TOS indicate very clearly that HTC is the manufacturer, and not Google as the phone’s branding may lead buyers to believe.
• Google will sell the phone directly from http://google.com/phone

The validity of these documents depends solely on the reliability of the Gizmodo tipster at this point so I’ll hold back strong judgement until pricing and details are verified by Google on their January 5th press conference. As it stands, I’m not blown away by the pricing as I hoped I would be.

A second rumor circulating today suggests that Google will be holding a press conference centered on Android on January 5. Related? I would imagine.

It’s just a rumor at this point but word is spreading throughout the interweb that the HTC G1 on the T-Mobile network may be getting an update to Google Android 2.0 “Eclair.”

Owners of the G1, the original Google Android phone, have been left further and further behind with the recent release of the Motorola DROID, updated versions of Google Android and the announcement of the Google Nexus One; this update would be a welcome surprise, to say the least.

Note again that this is a rumor posted on an unofficial Android blog – but don’t stop hoping!

Two of the coolest new pieces of technology come together in the video below as Google’s experimental Goggles features is tested on the yet unleased Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, one of the most anticipated smartphones coming in 2010.

The future is now: check out the Xperia’s big screen as it works with a Toblerone chocolate bar (mmm, Toblerone) through Google Goggles, performing searches both via bar code reading and image recognition.

Anyone else excited for the technological advancements coming in 2010? I thought so.

A late Christmas gift for Palm Pre owners around the world: webOS 1.3.5 will go live as an over-the-air update today.

News came originally via Sprint’s website, indicating that the latest version of the Pre’s firmware will offer improved battery performance for both talk and standby along with several bug fixes and the most anticipated update, the removal of the app storage limit, allowing users to install apps to their heart’s content.

The OTA update should start rolling out to Pre owners on the American Sprint network sometime today.

Details about the upcoming “Google Phone” are coming down the pipe at a torrid pace now, with pictures leaking left and right and specs being confirmed on the fly. If you’ve been waiting for confirmation of a smartphone from your favorite web giant, here it is!

The Google phone, dubbed the Nexus One, will be built on hardware manufactured by HTC but with a user experience “totally designed by Google.” Google will sell the phone exclusively online, unlocked – at least for the initial release. Whether or not any given provider(s) will get a crack at service deals remains to be seen.

The confirmed details at this point:

• Nexus One will be powered by Google Android 2.1
• Hardware is equivalent to the already rumored HTC Passion/Bravo
• Touchscreen with on-screen keyboard only; scroll bar; animated desktop wallpaper
• Google is currently “dogfooding” the phone, allowing hundreds of prototypes to be actively tested by its employees
• The Nexus One could be released as early as next month!

Anything related to Google gets automatic online hype but, without further specs and lacking quality pictures or video of the phone in action, I’ll reserve judgement. Sold online, unlocked, and straight from Google, I think this phone has what it takes, at least in theory, to be a true iPhone killer.