BlackBerry

Sketchy details first emerged about iPad competitor over the Summer, and now RIM has released official details. The tablet, dubbed the PlayBook — not the Blackpad — features a seven-inch screen (smaller than the previously reported 9.7-inch) with a 1024 x 600 pixel display. It will also feature a GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, dual HD cameras, and support for HTML 5 and Flash.

It's 9.7 mm thick, with HDMI and USB ports. The PlayBook will run the newest BlackBerry OS, and only work over a WiFi connection or tethered connection from another BlackBerry device, though a 3G version is expected in a later iteration.

While pricing details weren't announced, the PlayBook is expected to hit stores in early 2011. Check out a video of the new device's functionality after the break.

In last night's Mad Men episode, Betty gets a surprise visit from the Department of Defense, who are investigating a certain ex-husband who isn't who he says he is. When she calls Don to tell him the news, they suddenly realize that the phone line could be tapped, and their conversation turns humorously stilted as they try to keep things as nonincriminating as possible. But 50 years later, who even has a house phone line to tap anymore? The US government knows that the answer is not a lot, so it has proposed a new bill that tries to make it easier for the feds to wiretap electronic communication.

Get all the details on the proposal after the break.

This week, Dropbox released the Blackberry app version of its file-sharing service as well as updates to its apps that were already available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Dropbox allows users to sync files across devices, making them accessible from any location.

Having mobile access to files stored on your computer is definitely convenient; you can view any files that you uploaded to your Dropbox on your phone, send photos from your smartphone to your Dropbox, or send your friends a link to a file so they can access it while you're on the go. You can even stream music and video that you've got in your Dropbox.

Interested? Get more information on this awesome app after the jump.

RIM has made tremendous updates and changes to its BlackBerry OS, but there is one feature that has been conspicuously absent from the service until now: the ability to make calls over WiFi. Both iPhone and Android users have several applications, like Skype, that take advantage of this technology. Now, a new Indian company is giving BlackBerry users a VoIP calling option. The company, called TringMe, created an app that runs on BlackBerry devices running OS versions 4.2 to 5.0 and allows voice calls over a WiFi network. It also allows for worldwide conference calling.

To try the service, visit bb.tringme.com on your BlackBerry's browser. After installation, a TringMe option will appear in your phone's address book or call log. With close to 500 billion calls expected to be made over VoIP connections in the next five years, this functionality is a welcome addition for BlackBerry users.

It almost sounds like some kind of viral marketing campaign in favor of Apple, but according to a recent OK Cupid survey, iPhone users are having more sex than their BlackBerry- and Android-toting counterparts. In an official OK Cupid blog post, a graph titled "Sexual Activity by Smartphone Brand," a survey of nearly 10,000 30-year-old smartphone users showed that iPhone users are getting more action than BlackBerry or Android users.

Don't let the results deceive you, though. Find out why after the break.

I've made a crumble, I've made a cobbler, but I've never made a grunt! So the moment I came across a blackberry grunt recipe, I knew it was a must make. It's a pretty basic concept that involves cooking berries and prepping a dough that's very similar to buttermilk biscuits. Rather than pulling out the baking sheet to cook the biscuits, they go right on top of the syrupy blackberries and straight into the oven. It's said that as it bakes, it begins to make a grunting noise (hence the name), although mine never made a peep. The best part of this delicious dessert is that the biscuit absorbs some of the blackberry flavor, and it comes out golden on the top and a lovely purple shade on the bottom. Make your oven grunt by reading more.

RIM officially unveiled two projects it had been working on this morning — the BlackBerry Torch 9800 and its new OS 6 — during a press conference in NYC. We get our first look at the BlackBerry Torch here (which is RIM's first smartphone to come with both a 3.2-inch touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard), while getting a closer look at the OS 6.0 operating system.

Hitting AT&T exclusively on Aug. 12, the BlackBerry Torch comes with a ton of social networking features (which will take up even more of your time during the day) and some nice specs under the hood.

Check out all the specs on the Torch, along with pricing plans, and additional OS 6 details after the break.

It's a good thing the ladies of Sex and the City 2 traveled to Abu Dhabi when they did. Officials in the United Arab Emirates — where Abu Dhabi is the capital — have Banned BlackBerrys from the country completely. Want to know why? Find out more, as well as what prompted the action after the break.

The iPad is a bestseller, but that's not preventing RIM from releasing its own "iPad killah" this November called the BlackPad (yes, the BlackPad).

This tablet will be checking in with similar specs as the iPad — like a 9.7-inch screen alongside WiFi and Bluetooth technology — but will feature some additional goodies that the iPad is lacking.

Find out what those are, along with rumored pricing info, after the break.