Since I wrote this post Peter has removed the purchase option from BBextras.com. Peter told me he has been forced to discontinue sales. Its a shame, these new themes were truly on the cutting edge of BlackBerry theme design. It is really sad to see Peters themes gone.

Peter MacDonald of BBeXtras has out done himself again. After releasing a stunning set of commercial themes in November he has returned with style. His new line includes 3 “Dark Side” themes in different styles, a Zen+ theme, and a slick Leopard style theme. At least one of these themes came out in late December while I was hibernating.

All of these themes are compatible with the 8100, 8300, & 8800 series devices. The prices range from $5–$8 which is pretty reasonable. Check out the screenshots below because you have to see it to believe it. I am not sure if these themes were created using the Plazmic Theme Builder version 4.3 beta that I mentioned before but they are sure impressive!

I had to pull some screenshots just to give you a taste. The effects on some of these are just downright cool. For example when you scroll down on the Leopard theme the widgets disappear. Also in the Zen+ themes the Zen bar disappears when not in use. Personally I am impartial to the background in the “Dark Side” themes. To me it just looks like jellyfish tentacles made of cheese.

Zen+ – $5 Leopard Widgets – $8 Dark Side Zen Plus – $7

Dark Side L – $7 Dark Side Today Plus – $7

Plazmic Theme Builder version 4.3 is still in beta and out of the hands of the general public. (Groan!) That has not stopped Jason Calhoun John Choong (Sorry to both parties for mixing up the name. I was misinformed) from pushing the envelope and releasing one of the hottest BlackBerry themes on GadgetBean.com using what looks to be the latest 4.3 beta. Hopefully we will be seeing more of these themes in the future.

The latest Plasmic Theme Builder version 4.3 beta is rumored to have quite a bit more functionality that older versions allowing theme creators to have more control over the layout.

The new theme by Jason Calhoun is called “Real iBerry Blocks Custom L” and is currently available for all OS 4.2.2 devices including the 8300 Curve and 8800 Series. It is a commercial theme and costs $6 to download. This really shows off the customization options available in version 4.3 of Plazmics Theme Builder.

The Real iBerry Blocks Custom L theme is very similar to the “L” theme found on the newer Pearl 8130 devices. An “L” theme is a combination of a Today theme with a bottom Zen bar for the best of both worlds. The icons and graphics are styled in the iBerry iPhone clone theme and look pretty cool but are not very descriptive. It is also reminiscent of the Today+ theme released by BBextras.com.

One of our readers, AnoNymous , just sent me a link to this post on Sling Medias forum about their new beta program for BlackBerry. I thought this would be pretty slick after seeing the live demo of SlingPlayer for BlackBerry at CES. I did some digging and signed up for their beta system at this link:

http://beta.slingmedia.com

You need to click the register button and then fill out the information requested. You then will be taken to the SlingPlayer Beta portal which is pretty slick. You can then follow the directions below found on the News & Updates section of the Sling Media beta portal:

The rumors are true…. we’ve been tinkering around with a BlackBerry to the point that we’ll be able to demo video streaming at CES in Las Vegas, January 7 - 10, 2008!

However, the beta program is still a ways off.  If you’d like to be notified when we’re ready to recruit for it (down the road), follow the steps below.

FYI, Vicky, our Product Manager Extraordinaire, spent much of 2007 in discussions with Research in Motion (RIM)–directly in response to customer requests.  Now that they’re moving towards supporting streaming video, we’re jumping at the chance to develop a client for the platform.

HOW TO BE NOTIFIED ABOUT THE BETA PROGRAM (DATE TBD)

You will need both a Slingbox and a BlackBerry to be considered for participation.  To let us know that you have these items:

1. On the left panel, click “Add Platform”
2. Then click “Computers & Handhelds” to add your BlackBerry info; click “Slingbox” to add your Slingbox; and add anything else you want us to know about.
3. It will also help greatly to complete the User Profile (also left panel), as we’ll be looking for a diversity of people.
4. Lastly: Make sure your EMAIL ADDRESS is accurate: click on Personal Account to check.

Again, the beta program won’t be starting for awhile (no dates yet), but if you do the above, we’ll keep you in the loop of important dates. You’re also welcome to check back here, anytime.

Sling on!
Sharon Rylander
Beta Manager, Sling Media

S4BB has decided to come up with an application that will fill the gap between the native RIM task application and their $49.99 priced NextAction. Their solution was a new application called TaskMaster with a more reasonable price point of $19.99.

I have not managed to find any comparison at all between NextAction and the lower priced TaskMaster to explain why NextAction costs 2.5 times as much as TaskMaster. The ironic part is that when they call TaskMaster a “Fully Featured” task management application it makes me wonder what features are worth the extra $49.99 to get NextAction?

TaskMaster has a pretty full rounded feature set in my humble opinion. You can see a quick snippet of the feature set from the product page below:

• FAST one click category switching - famous from NextAction!.
• Full featured task support: due dates, priorities, notes, status, etc.
• Synchronizes with Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, Act!, Novell Groupwise, iCal, Entourage, and more.
• 100% compatible with internal Blackberry Task Application and NextAction!. You can use them simultaneously if you want.
• Enhanced for implementing GTD^® (Getting Things Done).

PS: On a side note I actually got a quick laugh from the name S4BB chose for the product. They named it after the old school comic character Taskmaster. For a little deja vu you can read up on TaskMaster on Wikipedia.

Our friends at BBSmart have done us a favor and developed a homescreen launcher application for www.BerryReview.com. This application will put an icon on your homescreen that will take you directly to the BerryReview.com Mobile Edition homepage. I know quite a few of our readers have asked for such an application. Check it out below:

You can pick up the BerryReview.com Mobile Launcher application at the link below from your BlackBerry.

http://www.BerryReview.com/launcher/BerryReview.jad

We have also placed a link to the launcher application on the BerryReview.com Mobile Edition homepage.

We hope you enjoy! Thanks for the help BBSmart.

BTW: I really wish RIM would just let users create their own homescreen browser applications. Imagine being able to create your own shortcuts for your favorite websites. The problem is that currently you have to have a RIM J2ME signing key to create the shortcut or else you will constantly get security popups.

I like this new trend. Up until now WiFi used to be relatively pointless unless you were using it for T-mobile@Home UMA access. The problem was that only the browser, email, and UMA made any use of the WiFi connection. This was a real pain for people using 3^rd party apps that could not connect over the WiFi connection. It seems like JiveTalk is following in Empowers footsteps by adding the WiFi transport to their new beta of JiveTalk.

From the announcement on PinStack:

We are happy to release JiveTalk 1.0.4 Beta build to preview.

It has much awaited WiFi support , buddy icons for msn, gtalk and jabber and few bug fixes. Added couple of new settings under preferences. One to set the wifi on/off and the other for setting up double line buddylist.

Folks who are interested to preview the build can download it at

For BlackBerries running 4.2.0 OS, point your BB browser to http://www.beejive.com/jt_beta/4.2.0…erry-pearl.jad

for 4.2.1 and above, follow this link
http://www.beejive.com/jt_beta/4.2.1…erry-pearl.jad

Please note that WIFI is supported only for the OS 4.2.1 and above.

This transport issue has constantly plagued all BlackBerry devices. The fact that RIM does not provide an easy plugin or API for developers to auto switch between connections is just annoying. This would be the same as having a Windows web browser that only ran on either WiFi or Ethernet but not both. Hopefully RIM will iron this out in the future.

I know many of you use the Empower Email Viewer so I think you would be interested in this news. Ani, one of the developers of Empower, has just sent a email out to all of the beta testers about some new bug fixes and the upcoming WiFi capabilities.

I also noticed that the new version of Empower Pro is also available for OS 4.1 devices. It used to be only compatible with OS 4.2 so that is a nice change.

The new version is scheduled for January 31^st and should open a whole new door of possibilities. I can hope there will be an option to set different download preferences for WiFi.

I am glad to hear that somebody is finally making some use of WiFi on new BlackBerry devices! While there is no actual need (as far as I can see) for WiFi in Empower I am glad to see it start catching on.

Anybody who has recently attended or works at a college will probably be familiar with the Blackboard software platform that runs many universities. Blackboard announced on Monday that it will acquire NTI Group which is a major mobile messaging provider. According to Andy Guess at www.insidehighered.com this may lead to more mobile/BlackBerry centric applications in the future.

This could really be interesting in terms of higher education reaching a modern generation of students. Many schools are already using Blackboards SMS capabilities which would naturally translate to email messages in the future. Just imagine getting an email saying that your test is next week. Or better yet a BlackBerry application that lists all of your course work and lets you access your grades. Blackboard is even talking about connecting your cellphone to their point of sale application that lets you use your cellphone as a debit card at the cafeteria.

This could be interesting but it is all conjecture right now…

[source]