BlackBerry addicts, its officially time to freak out because BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 has just gone live in App Word. We don’t think we need to tell you what it’s all about because not only did we give the world its first look at the app, but its also been floating around for one hell of a long time. Well what are you waiting for? Let’s crash RIMs servers and call it a party! Hit us with your feedback, ok?

UPDATE: Looks like the servers really aren’t capable of handling the demand as we and a bunch of our readers are getting a “connection timed out” message. We’ll let you know once things calm down and everyone can be accommodated.

UPDATE 2: Looks like things are once again up and running.

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You guys might have heard that we’ve (Beejive and BGR) been plugging away at TweetGenius behind the scenes since we announced our initial partnership. The entire program has been redone from the ground up and there’s literally too many fantastic changes and new features to list, but we’ll try and give you a taste of some:

• Innovative direct-from-application Twitpic photo uploading
• Inline image viewing for Twitpic, Twitgoo, img.ly, TweetPhoto, yfrog images
• GPS location posting
• Themes: comes with two different themes for viewing tweets. More are coming soon!
• Shortcut icons (reply, retweet, direct message)
• Status bar to show you necessary information like time, signal status, etc

Those are just a couple examples of what’s been changed, but what you’ll find is that the program is incredibly quick and gives users a desktop-class Twitter experience. We’re happy to announce that as a special thank you to all our original customers, TweetGenius v1.0.9 will be exclusively available to them for a period of two weeks before our worldwide launch. And, it’s available immediately for download. Hit the break for some screenshots and the download link!

Read [TweetGenius download link for existing TweetGenius customers, OTA and Desktop-based installations]

Read [TweetGenius signup page to be notified when TweetGenius is available for purchase]

Now this is some news we’re most definitely not happy to report. Back in February we told you about Syncplicity, an awesome sync solution that, in our opinion, is far superior to any competing product. In a nutshell, Syncplicity allows users to mirror any folder on a computer (in two clicks) with an always-in-sync online copy, “in the cloud”. Folders can also by synced across computers and shared with anyone in just a few clicks. Syncplicity had just opened its Mac beta when we covered it and since then it has become a staple on every system that hits BGR HQ. Unfortunately, bad news struck our inbox this past Thursday that will change all that:

Our engineering team has recently completed a ground-up analysis of the Mac beta client and the investigation found some issues which require some major changes in the client. Because of this, we’ve decided to pull back the Mac client beta until which point the engineering team has time to make some major changes. We intend to reassess our engineering schedule early next year.

Unfortunately, this does mean that as of July 31st, you will no longer be able to use Syncplicity with a Mac computer.

We truly strive to have Beta software become Final Release software. In the case, we felt the Mac beta client didn’t meet our standards for quality. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you, and I thank you for participating in the trial period.

If you have any questions or concerns, I invite you to email me at macbeta@syncplicity.com.

The line, “We intend to reassess our engineering schedule early next year” has us particularly worried as it leads us to believe the company won’t even begin serious work on the Mac client until some time in 2010. Ouch. While Syncplicity’s Windows solution will remain alive and well and we’ll continue to use it on our Windows boxes, it looks like Mac is down for the count until some time next year. If you’re a Syncplicity user with a Mac, make sure you have everything in order so you’re not blindsided when the lights go out two weeks from now on July 31st.

UPDATE: Just a word of warning — we’re getting reports from several Mac users that 3.5 has issues with restoring sessions/tabs after exiting and reopening the browser. By issues, we mean it doesn’t work. Windows users are seemingly not affected.

UPDATE 2: If you’re having the problem mentioned above, go to Firefox > Preferences > Privacy [tab]. If “Clear history when Firefox closes” is checked, click on Settings and uncheck “Browsing History”.

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You heard that right, folks. People complaining that Apple’s very-much-delayed push notification service might be delayed again can all relax — Beejive 3.0, the fantastic new version with push support will be going live in about an hour or so from now.

We exclusively gave you a look at Beejive for iPhone almost a year ago, and you have to give us some credit — we called it the best IM application for the iPhone, and were we right? Now think about push notifications and a whole slew of other additions and tweaks and you’re looking at a desktop-class IM application. We’ve been using a version with push for a pretty long time and can safely say it doesn’t disappoint. Here’s a breakdown of the new goodies and let us know when you try the new version!

• Push notifications
• Meta contacts (link IM buddies to address book entries!)
• Various UI enhancements, updated layout and color schemes
• Performance enhancements

Oh yeah, two more things… the price is now $9.99 (down from $15.99), and we’re testing a version that allows videos to be sent over AIM. (You could always send photos) Look for this in the near future.

You read the headline right, kids — the new and insanely hot BlackBerry Messenger that we exclusively showed off to the World looks to be headed to all BlackBerry devices that will receive the OS 5.0 treatment. How do we know? Because we’ve been playing around with a recent build of OS 5.0 on a Curve 8900, and well, let’s just say that it and some other pretty awesome stuff is in there. But since we’re talking about BlackBerry Messenger, let’s just get right into it. We’ve already told you that the new Messenger has avatar support, GPS integration (including proximity sensing), the ability to set and group conversations by subject and a way to create a homescreen icon for messenger contracts, but it now looks like even more crazy stuff has been crammed in in addition to a little facelift.

So strap yourselves in, hit the jump and prepare to be green with envy as we show you an even newer version of BlackBerry Messenger!

Since we know that most of you are just going to gloss over the text and check out the ensuing screenshots, we’ll keep the list of what’s newer than new really brief:

• SMS support — You wanted threaded SMS? Well you’re finally going to be getting it!
• PIN barcode scanning — Too lazy to add your friend to Messenger by entering in their PIN? Just have them click the Barcode option on their devices and, you guessed it, a barcode will show up letting the other party scan it with their BlackBerry camera and immediately add that contact to your list.
• Backup/Restore Messenger list to microSD card — What else need we say?

So tell us, you BlackBerry freaks; were you able to make it through this entire post without having a heart attack?

Back in February we reviewed a great little piece of software for OS X and Windows called Expandrive. In a nutshell, Expandrive makes interacting with FTP servers as easy as interacting with an external hard drive or a networked drive. FTP connections appear as drives and you can browse them and drag/drop files just as if you were using Finder or Windows Explorer — because, well, you are using Finder or Windows Explorer. During this past week, Expandrive announced a major upgrade in the form of version 2.0 for Mac and if you’re an Expandrive user, you need to check it out asap. Brief change log:

• All new SFTP Layer
• Up to three times faster when transferring large files
• New metadata-caching architecture that is faster and more reliable
• Experimental support to detect updates made on the server within ~20 seconds.
• Utilizes OpenSSH to take advantage of Kerberos auth, public key auth, etc on Leopard.
• Amazon S3 support — access Amazon S3 accounts like a filesystem, connecting to the root or an individual bucket
• Refreshed GUI with customizable drive icons
• In line eject/show in finder buttons
• Many many enhancements to FTP/FTPS, no longer in beta

There is a caveat, however. As the new build is essentially a new app, upgrades are not free for everyone. If you purchased Expandrive within the past 60 days, you’re good to go at no cost. If you purchased the program before then, an upgrade to 2.0 will run you $19.95. New users enjoy a 30 day free trial and then it’s $39.95 to stick with it.

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It’s time to get to upgrading, folks, because the new version of iTunes promises to be faster and includes a new set of features. The Genius feature now supports movies and TV shows beyond just music, CDs can be imported at a much higher quality and the overall experience is much faster. That means when you’re syncing your iPod or iPhone, browsing through playlists or shopping in the iTunes store, the improved speeds will make the experience more rich and pleasant – especially with how impatient many of us can be. Oh and if you’re planning on grabbing a new 4GB iPod Shuffle, iTunes 8.1 is required. You don’t need us to tell you what to do next, but just in case, go ahead and download it already!

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With the advent of intelligent one-to-one file sharing solutions such as Streamfile and the increasing popularity of great cloud storage and sharing solutions such as Dropbox and Syncplicity, FTP’s days are numbered. Why bother with unsightly FTP software and annoying server settings when a solution like Syncplicity will allow you to securely share any directory in about five seconds? The answer: You don’t have to. Massachusetts-based ExpanDrive offers two solutions, one for Mac and one for PC, that will make you look at FTP in a whole new light and think twice before shelling out big bucks for a trendy cloud storage solution.

ExpanDrive offers two products that essentially accomplish the same thing: sexify the way you interact with FTP. For the purposes of this post we’ll focus on the Mac solution though the Windows solution accomplishes the same thing on a PC. In a nutshell, ExpanDrive allows you move files to and from FTP servers as if each server was an individual remote drive. By making use of the standard Finder UI on a Mac, there’s nothing new to learn – transfer files simply by dragging and dropping just as you would anywhere else in Finder. You’ll have access to FTP drives on your desktop (as seen in the image at the top of the post) and from within the Finder sidebar just like you would with a network drive or iDisk:

There is also no limit to the number of simultaneous connections you can have. In other words, unlike a standard FTP client you can maintain an active connection to your FTP site along with clients’ FTPs, software company FTPs and any other servers you want.

Beyond the Finder interface, the only other piece of UI is the Drive Manager where you can connect to drives as well as add and remove drives. You can also choose to auto-connect to a drive within the settings which is awesome when using FTP as a remote storage solution. Green lights indicate connected drives, yellow disk icons represent standard FTP drives and red disk icons represent secure SFTP drives (FTPS is supported as well in the Mac client, coming soon to Windows):

ExpanDrive places an icon in your taskbar as well, so you can easily connect, disconnect and see the status of each of your drives:

Apart from standard FTP functionality wrapped in the Finder UI, ExpanDrive gives you a terrific front end for as many iDrive-like remote storage drives you can stomach. The obvious benefit over other remote storage options such as iDrive however, is the cost. iDrive gives users 150 GB of storage for $49.50 per year and a slightly sexier solution, ZumoDrive, will run you an outlandish $450+ per year for 200 GB or a still-ridiculous $240 per year for 100 GB. For real?

These days just about everyone has a website and even the cheapest hosting plans typically come with free secure FTP access and a massive amount of storage. For example, the base plan from HostGator offers unlimited disk space for just $4.95 per month. Unlimited. So if you already have a decent hosting plan like HostGator’s, ExpanDrive gives you a ridiculous amount of remote storage for absolutely no additional monthly or yearly cost — just a one-time software purchase. If you don’t already have a hosting plan or an FTP account somewhere, plenty of services provide them for pennies compared to Amazon S3 front-end solutions like ZumoDrive.

We still say there’s no better sharing / auto-sync / remote back up service than Syncplicity – but where files you don’t need hogging up local space are concerned, ExpanDrive literally trounces the more expensive options mentioned above. Plus, it removes the need to use cumbersome and tricky FTP clients; ExpanDrive is actually a front end solution and can use any FTP client such as CyberDuck or even Firefox to move data (don’t worry, it will chose from available FTP apps on its own when you install it). As far as cost you’re looking at a one-time purchase price of $39.95, or $34.95 if you first join the ExpanDrive group on Facebook. Not bad at all. Don’t take our word for it though — ExpanDrive offers a free full-featured 30-day trial on both applications.

ExpanDrive for Mac
ExpanDrive for Windows

Mac users, rejoice – the cloud storage solution to end all cloud storage solutions is finally ready for public beta on OS X and trust us when we tell you, you’ll want to have a look. The Syncplicity founders might have Microsoft pedigree but that certainly doesn’t mean they can’t bang out a Mac build as full-featured and capable as the Windows client, and that is exactly what the Syncplicity team has done. For those completely unaware of the service, allow us to bring you up to speed. Syncplicity allows you to mirror any folder on your computer with an always-in-sync online copy, “in the cloud”. What’s more, Syncplicity can sync files and folders across multiple computers and folders can even be shared amongst different Syncplicity users. Folders can be designated for remote syncing in just two clicks from your right-click menu and anytime a file is altered in any synced folder, on any computer, the changes will automatically be synced across Syncplicity’s servers along with all other computers where the file is present. Oh, and did we mention you’ll also have access to all of your synced files and folders from any web browser on any computer or mobile phone? Recap: Any folder, anywhere, everywhere, automatically.

Syncplicity has been hard at work on its private Mac beta for some time now and we’ve been enjoying every minute of it. Nearly all of the functionality found in the Windows application has been integrated at this point and the team has even thrown in a few extra spices like Growl integration for notifications. Just like the Windows client, overlay graphics appear on all synced folder and individual file icons to display sync status at all times. Mac users also have access to the the same web interface for file and folder access, or to recover an unlimited number of file revisions. Each time a file is changed and saved, a historical copy remains on Syncplicity’s servers in the event you or a collaborator makes an unwanted change. Since we obviously have a particular affinity for the mobile space here at BGR, we’ll also mention that all files can be accessed while on the go from an iPhone-optimized or standard mobile site. Files can easily be downloaded to your handset and supported file types can even opened right in your browser.

Syncplicity really does trump competitive options in so many ways. Beyond the ease of use and versatility already covered, the company uses an open API which will allow third-party development to expand upon its offering in any way imaginable. To kick things off, web-based services such as Google Docs, Sribd, Picnik  and Zoho Writer are integrated, allowing you to easily open and edit a document or image by right-clicking the file on your computer or choosing to open the file in your web app of choice from within the web interface. Syncplicity is also integrated with Facebook, allowing you to designate a folder to sync photos with your account automatically. In other words, any time you drop a new photo in the designated folder it will automatically be uploaded to your Facebook account. Create a new folder within your designated folder and it will automatically become a new album on your Facebook account, allowing you to keep everything as organized however you’d like.

There’s plenty more to cover but we doubt you’ve even made it this far into the post without clicking over and checking out Syncplicity for yourself. If you’re still here however, we’ll wrap things up with the nitty gritty details. First and foremost, Syncplicity offers a free account with 2GB of remote storage which can be increased to 5GB if you invite three friends (one extra GB per friend). Free accounts have access to each and every feature Syncplicity offers – the only restriction is storage. Once you’ve maxed out on your free space, upgrade options are offered at a flat rate with each 50GB block of space costing $99 per year (or $9.99 per month if you pay monthly). So 50GB of storage is $99 per year, 100GB is $198 per year, 150GB is $297 per year, etc.

If you’re worried about security, as you should be, know that Syncplicity uses SSL encryption while moving everything from log in credentials to file syncing and backup – absolutely no data is exchanged without being encrypted. Within the Syncplicity data center, all stored files are encrypted with military grade (AES-256) encryption. Syncplicity has plenty more cooking for the near future including a Business Edition complete with large-scale deployment capabilities and monitoring / reporting features for IT Managers. In the meantime, Mac users should definitely hit the read link and check this service out – as should Windows users for that matter. A quick note for Windows users: While official support obviously can’t be proclaimed until the OS is officially released, Syncplicity works seamlessly with currently available Windows 7 betas.

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One of our favorite SaaS utilities we’ve been beta testing over the past few months goes by the name of ScreenToaster and if you haven’t had the chance to check it out yet, you’ll want to remedy that very shortly. Built by French startup ScreenToaster SAS, ScreenToaster is a download-free screen recording service that just launched today after a pretty serious beta period including over 10,000 testers from around the globe. In short, it’s awesome. To elaborate slightly, ScreenToaster is a browser-based screen recorder that is compatible with Windows, OS X Linux as long as you can find your way around Firefox 2+, Internet Explorer 7+, Chrome, Opera 9 or Safari. Using the service couldn’t be easier, literally. Go to the site, click the ‘Start Recording’ button, adjust your settings and hit a keyboard shortcut to begin. ScreenToaster will record your full display, or a section you designate, along with audio and even your webcam if you so choose. When you’re ready to stop recording, a simple keyboard shortcut does the trick. The video is uploaded to your ScreenToaster account or a guest account if you haven’t yet signed up, and you can add some finishing touches such as adding subtitles / text and designating your video as public or private. The video will then be hosted on the site for you to watch, share, embed on your site or do whatever esle you want to do with it. ScreenToaster is perfect for light screen recording, sharing, instructional videos, demos and plenty more – definitely have a go with it and let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Sure, there are other services that try and do the same thing, but Qik holds a special place in our hearts. Ever since they announced and released the first streaming client for the Nokia N95, we’ve been pressuring them to release a BlackBerry client. As you are all well aware, RIM doesn’t exactly give you access to everything you need as a developer so this was almost impossible until recently. It’s still not 100% as Qik would like even more integration into the device, but for now, this is an incredible feat and we’re thrilled. The client is available starting now in alpha form, so don’t get your panties in a bunch if it’s not perfect — Qik is banging out releases faster than you can stream a 10kb movie. We’ll update you when the client comes out of the alpha/beta, but for now, hit the jump and behold every BlackBerry user’s dream: broadcasting live video from your device! Press release is after the jump.

Qik, Inc., the leading live mobile video streaming platform, today announced alpha support for Blackberry devices including Blackberry Pearl, Blackberry Curve, BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Flip. Available today in alpha, Qik’s service is now live on a number of BlackBerry handsets, including the very latest models from Research In Motion (RIM). With Qik’s free service, users can stream video live to the Internet in just two clicks from their mobile phone. Those watching the videos on the Web can take part in live interactive chat with the person broadcasting.

“We are excited to bring our lifestyle technology to the millions of Blackberry users worldwide,” said Ramu Sunkara, co-founder and CEO of Qik. “In our quest to bring mobile live video sharing to the masses, we now support the broadest range of platforms including Symbian, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and Java-enabled mass market phones.”

BlackBerry mobile phones are one of the most popular smartphones in North America. BlackBerry handsets are especially favored for allowing fast and easy access to email. The addition of live video streaming to the phones’ capabilities brings a whole new dimension of functionality to BlackBerry handsets. Qik is initially launching in alpha on the following handsets running Blackberry Operating System 4.5 and above: Blackberry Perl 8120, Blackberry Perl 8130, Blackberry Perl 8220, Blackberry Curve 8330 and the upcoming Blackberry Bold.

Owners of the above devices can get Qik by registering at http://qik.com/ . Support for these devices is expected to enter beta in the coming weeks, and support for additional BlackBerry handsets is expected soon after.

The Pope, Senator Barack Obama, Bono, and Steve Jobs are just a few of the notables to be streamed live to the web by Qik users in more than 150 countries. Journalists are using Qik to be more transparent in their reporting, and politicians worldwide are employing Qik as they campaign on a more engaging Web platform. Parents around the planet are easily sharing family events as they happen through Qik on their cell phones. With simple but robust software and a feature-rich site, tens of thousands of Qik users are streaming important moments live to the people with whom they want to share.

Qik, in addition to being the live mobile to web video service of a number of popular technology bloggers and journalists, is also delivering exciting footage shot by a wide selection of users across entertainment, business, sports, and technology. Recent Qik videos of note have included behind the scenes footage from Sarah Palin and Joe Biden’s vice presidential debate, interviews with comedian Dane Cook, the launch of Apple’s new notebook computers, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s speech reacting to the global economic climate.

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Well lookie what we have here. It looks like Mozilla stepped it up and decided to release a shiny new tablet version of the Fennec (Firefox Mobile) browser. N810 and N800 owners running Chinook or Diablo can now enjoy the fresh new 1.0 alpha 1 version of Fennec, complete with a laundry list of changes:

Easy navigation to Web content:

• Bookmarks, including tags
• Smart URL bar ("awesome bar")
• Tabbed browsing with thumbnail images
• Integrated Web search – built into the URL bar
• Easy access to multiple search engines

Web content:

• Maximize content by auto-hiding controls and URL bar
• Zoom in and out

Security:

• Instant Web site ID ("Larry")
• Password manager
• Popup blocker
• Clear private data

Devices services integration:

• Click on a phone number to initiate a call
• JavaScript API to get device location
• Popup blocker
• Clear private data

Also:

• Searchable download manager
• Preferences pane

We’ve played with it for a while and while the look and functionality are fantastic, it’s still slow. When we say slow, we mean sloooooow. The tabbed browsing (pictured above on the left) implementation and navigation controls are awesome – swipe right with your finger or stylus right to open the tabs bar or left to open the navigation menu. Tablet owners can hit the read link to install Fennec or if you’re reading this on your N800 / N810 just click here for the .install file.

[Via nokiAAddict ]

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S60 users: If you happen to see developer Michael Coffey walking down the street, stop him and buy him a drink. For years now, Symbian smartphone users have wondered why they couldn’t feel the Last.fm love. Windows mobile has a streaming client, the iPhone had MobileScrobbler (and now an official Last.fm app) within a few months of its release… What about S60?! Well it’s about time you stop your crying and head over to Mobbler’s Google Code page because this last update was a doozy. That’s right people, Last.fm station streaming is now supported! Artist, tag, recommended and even the loved station for subscribers can be streamed right to your handset. No, it’s not the most beautiful UI in the world but it gets the job done and it does it well. There is still some functionality to be added such as the ability to love / ban as you listen but this is going to do more than enough to tide over the angry mob of Last.fm users who have been waiting to listen on the go with their S60 handsets. Good show Coffey, good show.

[Via adonismobile]

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If you have an S60, Windows Mobile or BlackBerry smartphone then you should already know about Palringo. They call it “rich messaging” and we call it a good IM application with support for AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Gadu Gadu, ICQ, Jabber, Windows Live Messenger and Palringo’s own IM platform. For a quick recap on what sets Palringo apart, here are the three core functions:

• Text IM: Standard, run-of-the-mill instant messaging.
• Vocal IM: More commonly known as Push to Talk (PTT), users can instantly exchange voice messages in near real-time. Think of it as a free walkie talkie on your mobile. Palringo -> Palringo voice messages will play automatically on the recipient’s device, just like PTT. Palringo -> ‘Other’ messages will be delivered as links that the recipient can click on to play the audio file hosted on Palringo’s servers.
• Image IM: Exactly what it sounds like. Click the picture button and Palringo will activate the handset’s camera. Snap a picture, hit send and the image will display right in the Palringo client on the recipient’s handset. Users can also send images to third-party IM services (GTalk, AIM, etc). Just like voice IM, your contact will receive a link that will allow him / her to view and save the image hosted on Palringo’s servers.

Now, iPhone owners have access to what is likely one of the most versatile mobile IM apps on the market. For the time being, functionality is limited to text and image messaging but Palringo promises vocal IM in the second release version. In the meantime, iPhone owners can now enjoy free text and image IM on whichever IM platform they like. Just hit the App Store and you’re good to go.

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Well, Firefox Download Day was nothing if not eventful. First and foremost, Mozilla appears to have succeeded in breaking the Guinness World Record for most software downloads in a 24-hour period as well as surpassing its lofty 5 million-download target for the the day. Not everything was rainbows and butterflies for Mozilla however. The first two hours were rough, very rough in fact. Apparently Mozilla underestimated the initial punch and just didn’t have the goods to support the first wave of anxious downloaders. BGR reader comments on our Download Day post covered the outage quite eloquently:

I have 3.0 RC3 and I like it, I was just going to attempt to get 3.0 release just for the world record, but it seems somebody really F-ed up. -MadMike

I’m not sure what record they are trying to set, but at the very least they’ll set the “most http request failed page refreshes”, the “most unsuccessful downloads”, and the “most feet ever swallowed” records hands down. -Paul

FF DOWNLOAD DAY = EPIC FAIL -poser

Despite all that, Mozilla servers shook off the criticism and came back just before 3:00 pm; about two hours after Download Day officially started. Would Mozilla be able to bounce back after the outage? Over 8 million downloads say yes. When all was said and done, it looks like Firefox Download Day will indeed result in a new world record. What’s more, the Mozilla network served over 83 terabytes of data during the 24-hour period and peaked at about 17,000 downloads per minute. Wow.

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After what has been quite a long wait for many eager BlackBerry users, Palringo has finally made its BlackBerry IM client available to the public. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Palringo’s IM client, it’s definitely time to remedy that. Already fairly popular on Symbian and Windows Mobile devices, Palringo provides text, voice and image IM services – for free. Beyond its own IM service it also supports just about every popular IM platform like Google Talk, AIM, MSN Yahoo and more. Let’s break it down by service:

• Text IM: Standard, run-of-the-mill instant messaging.
• Voice IM: More commonly known as Push to Talk (PTT), users can instantly exchange voice messages in near real-time. Think of it as a free walkie talkie on your mobile. PTT is a service that has been very limited in consumer acceptance due to high prices, handset compatibility issues and carrier limitations. Enter Palringo. Now that a solid java client is available, for free, PTT couldn’t be more accessible. Also of note, Palringo supports voice messaging to third-party IM clients (GTalk, AIM, etc) as well. While Palringo -> Palringo voice messages will play automatically on the recipient’s device, Palringo -> ‘Other’ messages will be delivered as links that the recipient can click on to play the audio file hosted on Palringo’s servers.
• Image IM: Exactly what it sounds like. Click the picture button and Palringo will activate the handset’s camera. Snap a picture, hit send and the image will display right in the Palringo client on the recipient’s handset. Users can also send images to third-party IM services (GTalk, AIM, etc). Just like voice IM, your buddy will receive a link that will allow him / her to view and even save the image hosted on Palringo’s servers.

Palringo also includes some other nice features such as group chat with image and voice support; meaning you can send one text, voice or image IM that will be received simultaneously by any number of users in a group. To download the app on your BlackBerry, just visit palringo.mobi from your mobile browser or hit the read link to visit Palringo’s site and check out other download options.

UPDATE: Sorry guys, we forgot to mention that for the time being you’ll need a Pearl, Curve or 8800 series to play.

[Via Press Release]

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Considering all that Mozilla has done for us – displaced Internet Explorer by giving us what is arguably the best and most versatile web browsing experience, for free – the least we can do is help them out when they ask us for help. What is it they want us to do? Download the latest version of the Firefox browser. Yup, that’s it! Mozilla is trying to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in a 24-hour period. The official release of Firefox 3 will become available for public download at 10:00 am PST / 1:00pm EST and judging by the tremendous loyalty that Firefox users typically display and the crazy amount of buzz, the record should be theirs. We’ve been using version 3 for a while now and we have to say, it’s good stuff. Mozilla claims that Firefox 3 brings with it over 15,000 improvements; no small upgrade! Most notably in our eyes, the latest release candidate is worlds faster than Firefox 2 and gobbles much less resources. It will take about a week for the Guinness World Record judges to review Mozilla’s download logs so we should find out whether or not Mozilla successfully broke the record around this time next week. As of the time this post was written, just under 1,690,000 have pledged that they will download Firefox 3 today.

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We need it, we want it, we have to have it. Mozilla’s Head of User Experience Aza Raskin has just posted a video preview and extensive post covering the concept behind of one of Mozilla’s latest endeavors, Firefox Mobile. Let’s cut to the chase… It looks amazing so far. Firefox, the best thing to happen to the internet since Al Gore, is currently used by about 200 million people. Why? Because it simplified and improved the process that is interfacing with the web, essentially changing the way people use the internet. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill! Firefox Mobile, as outlined in the video above, doesn’t look quite as revolutionary but it does look like it will fill some holes currently found in comparable offerings such as Nokia’s S60 Browser and Apple’s mobile Safari. The GUI looks very cool, though raw, and Mozilla appears to be on the right path toward optimizing user experience and accommodating for small screen sizes. Firefox Mobile will be usable on touchscreen devices, keypad-operated devices and everything in between. Definitely hit the read link for an in-depth look into where Mozilla is at right now.

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One of the biggest and most common complaints when it comes to S60 is the way that data connections are handled. For those who haven’t had an S60 handset, it’s pretty bad. Each connection path is stored as an individual Access Point (AP). Applications that need internet connectivity to operate most often have one and only one AP defined within the app settings. This means that users who pass through multiple WiFi networks for example, can only define one WiFi AP in an application’s settings. S60 tried to solve the problem by implementing AP Groups on some Eseries devices but only allowed a handful of OEM applications to access the groups. Crazy, we know. All that has changed as of this morning however, and we have the team at Psiloc to thank. Its latest application, a utility called Psiloc Connect, creates a new AP on your S60 device. Any app that uses the new Psiloc Connect AP will first try to connect through WiFi and will search for all WiFi APs, not just one. If no WiFi is available, the app will then connect through 3G / EDGE / GPRS or not at all if you configure Psiloc Connect to use WiFi only. Fantastic. This is how data should work on a mobile handset and it’s pretty crazy that it doesn’t on S60. Let the device worry about connecting via the fastest available data network and leave the user and individual applications out of it.

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The greatest thing to happen to Microsoft Outlook since – well, since ever, has just been made available to the public. We’ve mentioned Xobni’s Outlook plug-in a few times here on BGR but if you missed it for whatever reason, Insight is essentially a plug-in that adds lightning-fast searches, social functionality and a variety of other features to Outlook. Rejoice! Xobni just announced that its Insight plug-in is now available to the public. The public beta was announced yesterday and media buzz is already swimming in full force, including a great feature in the New York Times. Oh Microsoft, you’ve missed the boat yet again it would seem. Microsoft has been trying to acquire Xobni for quite some time and as has become commonplace for the software giant, it couldn’t seal the deal. All hopes of snagging Xobni on the cheap are pretty much out the window now. If Microsoft does decide to continue pursuing Xobni, it’ll have to offer quite a premium at this point. We don’t see Xobni slowing down any time soon.

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You may remember my rendezvous with the BoxTone team during last year’s Wireless Enterprise Symposium… let’s just say that a lot of drunk material was ‘corrected’ by our editor. The Kings of Cool are back in Orlando this year and look to make a splash with the BoxTone Mobile User Management Lounge area at the annual BlackBerry conference.

According to a post by BoxTone’s Jon Edmunds, the Lounge area will be split into three sections – the Mash Up Room, the Pro’s Corner, and the Gamer’s Pad. I know BoxTone has been working on these plans for quite some time, so I’m expecting to be floored when I am actually able to put eyes on the area. This area will feature food and beverages, as well as plasma’s and the Nintendo Wii and games. If you’re in Orlando during that week, you know where to find me on Monday evening between 6:00-8:00 PM.

BoxTone will also have a booth set up in the Solutions Showcase – Booth 531. Be sure to check them out while you’re on the floor, as they are the industry leader for BlackBerry monitoring solutions and have an amazing product.

It’s only Tuesday and this has already been quite a week for mobile software updates. Sling Media is continuing the trend with some solid new updates of its oh-so-great SlingPlayer Mobile application. The lucky platforms? Windows Mobile PocketPC, Windows Mobile Smartphone and Symbian S60. Here are some highlights:

• Added support for additional handsets (Nokia N95 8GB, Samsung i760, Treo 500v and more)
• Improved video streaming quality on select handsets (Sprint HTC Mogul for example)
• Added support for additional set-top box models and improved control on some currently supported models
• Added new channel favorite logos
• A few additional behind the scenes tweaks

Of course the upgrade is free for current SlingPlayer Mobile users so definitely hit the read link to fire up the latest builds. If you have a compatible smartphone and a Slingbox but haven’t made the leap yet, you’ll be happy to know there’s a generous 30-day trial; definitely worth checking out. Also of note, the BlackBerry and Symbian UIQ versions of the player are still under development and are slated for release later this year.

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We’ve been waiting for a long time for this update and it’s finally here! What was likely already the best music player / recommendation service available, MyStrands Social Player, has just received a major revision and trust us when we tell you, you can’t get it installed soon enough. The newly renamed Strands team has outdone themselves, and there are three key highlights to take note of:

• New native S60 application and Java version (S40-optimized) released!
• New Player UI – vastly improved interface, better controls
• Scrobbling support! Send track data to Last.fm as you listen

The post on the Strands Blog includes links to download both the native S60 app as well as the Java app. Now there’s really no reason why you can’t enjoy the complete interactive experience that Social Player provides on any Nokia (or other) device. Kudos to Strands!

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