The ever-so-elusive, all-in-one, BlackBerry social inbox, SocialScope, has finally said they plan to send out more invites to their private beta later this week. People have been clamoring about SocialScope invites since the app was initially released in late 2008. It has been in private beta ever since and slowly growing hype. People are always @ replying SocialScope on Twitter begging and pleading for an invite, offering up their limbs and first-born. I’ve had SocialScope since early 2009 and it’s the only client I’ve used on BlackBerry since. Every update launches them leaps and bounds ahead of Twitter for BlackBerry, UberTwitter, and the other competition out there, and they’re about to make the jump cross-platform onto Android and iPhone.

If you’re interested in getting SocialScope, you have to sign up for the private beta, here. Let me tell you know, you are signing up for a private beta and are just now adding yourself to the end of a very long list. Let’s just hope the SocialScope team sends out a lot of invites this time. Before, when they said they would send out invites, it didn’t appear as if they had sent out too many, but there’s no way for us to really know. Sit tight and we will all see as the week is already drawing to an end!

The new SocialScope update adds:

Full Facebook Experience – We’ve upped our Facebook experience 1000x with Facebook Friends list, Facebook pages, Full Facebook Profiles, Private Messages and Notifications.  SocialScope is the best way to use Facebook on your BlackBerry.

Inbox Integration – Powerful inbox integration allows you to select exactly which messages appear in your BlackBerry inbox.

Mute – Tired of hearing from a user, application(farmville!) or topic? Now you can block those updates.

Reduced Battery Usage – We’ve tuned, tweaked and optimized SocialScope to dramatically reduced battery usage. The most powerful social networking app now also the most power efficient.

Interface Tweaks – SocialScope is faster and easier to use.  We’ve made interface tweaks through out the app based on your feedback.

Invites (coming later this week!) – You’ve been asking for a way to share SocialScope with your friends and we’ll be delivering that later this week.

Lots of Bug Fixes – We went bug hunting and fixed many issues including url shirking, removing Twitter accounts and location lookup.
These are only the first set of changes!  We’ve been hard at work to enable a whole new set of experiences with Socialscope.  Keep an eye out for them in the coming weeks.

Who already has the update? How do you like it? How does it fair against older versions or other clients? Bark it up pups!

via: BBSync

It’s that time again folks. We here at BBerryDog have become up to our necks and we need your help! As you can see, it’s been a little quiet here at BBerryDog lately, and we sincerely apologize. To avoid this happening again in the future, we’re looking to bring on a few more writers to our team. The positions currently available are for our news team, and could possibly lead to other positions with proven hard work and dedication.

Here are the things that you need to know:

• We want individuals who can offer engaging, thoughtful content.
• You must be well-versed in how to utilize periods, commas, and how to spell correctly.  Needless to say, that kind of stuff is essential.
• You must be reliable, responsible, and trustworthy.  The position will require regular research and fact checking, and we’ll be checking your work from time to time as well.  Plagiarism is not acceptable.
• Previous writing/blogging experience is highly desired, but not required.
• A great attitude is essential for the position.

Note: This is not a paid gig at this time, but an opportunity for people who want to break into the online journalism field and/or have a passion for the wireless industry.

(This is where I started with BBerryDog, now I’m the Managing Editor. The positions have great potential to grow.)

Here’s what you need to include in your e-mail:

• Submit two posts in the BBerryDog writing style.  We’re not going to publish them to the website, but we want to get an idea of your writing style and “voice” (i.e. how well you can do this whole tech thing).
• List your top three favorite gadgets/phones (not included in your sample posts), and why you enjoy them.
• Tell us how much time per week you can commit to writing for the website – what days, time blocks, etc. (We have a minimum requirement and will discuss this if you “make the cut.”)
• Send us any questions that you may have about the position.
• Tell us where you’re located.
• Tell us your age (note: must be 13 or older for consideration).
• Include your contact information and the best time/way to reach you.

A few additional details:

• DO NOT send attachments.  If you do, we will ignore the e-mail.
• Check your work prior to sending it.  If u type like thes, your work isn’t going to be considered.
• Don’t send writing from other websites that you’ve worked with in the past.
• BBerryDog is written in English – please make sure your e-mail is too.
• Due to the large volume of e-mails that we receive, we won’t be responding to everyone.  If we’re interested, we’ll get in touch.  If you don’t hear back, it doesn’t mean that you’re a bad writer – we’re just looking for different writing styles.

To submit your work, email taylor@bberrydog.com. Good luck to you all!

It’s been a long time coming. There was once a rush by many developers to produce the best Twitter client and get it out to the public as fast as possible. Along came some heavy hitters like UberTwitter, Seesmic, and even RIM gave it a swing with Twitter for BlackBerry, but there were some far superior teams working on clients that give you more than just Twitter at your fingertips, they gave you Foursquare, Facebook, and more. SocialScope, the elusive BlackBerry private beta application is one of those, and Hootsuite is the other. Now SocialScope is becoming more and more available and spreading out to other platforms, and Hootsuite is in private beta. Few are lucky enough to have a taste of the Hootsuite beta, but I am hearing good things about it. Only to rub that in our faces, Hootsuite themselves have given us a peek at what the application looks like, and I am fully impressed. They kept it clean and simple, unlike many others, and it looks like they could be bringing the heat to the SocialScope team. I’m glad to see there’s still room for competition in the Twitter client world. It seemed almost as if everything had leveled out for good, but the SocialScope starts updating and you see features you never thought of. Eventually, TweetDeck for BlackBerry will also release, let’s just hope their BlackBerry app launch doesn’t go quite like it did for Android.

If you have your hands on the Hootsuite beta, let us know how you like it. Share some screenshots, give us the good, the bad, and the ugly.

via: RIMarkable

Source: Hootsuite

Well, Big Red (aka Verizon) might finally be joining the ranks of those carriers with prepaid BlackBerry plans (please take this with a grain of salt.  It was proposed to come August 23 and we haven’t seen it yet).  From the look of the above document, you will still need to pay an extra $30, on top of your normal prepaid costs.  We are unsure of what devices will be offered, how much the devices will cost, and if this plan will even come into existence.

I personally love this idea.  I myself am I Verizon user and I stand behind them (even when maybe I shouldn’t).  This is truly a step in the right direction.  Bringing the BlackBerry to the public in more ways than one is exactly the kind of exposure that RIM needs.  If it does happen, will you be joining the ranks of prepaid customers in order to escape that vicious contract? Let us know in the comments below.

via: BerryReview

That was fast! There are apps out there that never seem to leave their beta. When I first found out that Trillian was coming to BlackBerry, I wasn’t all that thrilled. I wasn’t that much a fan of the computer-version. When it came to beta, I tried it and was impressed. As of now, we get the officially released version available for download through BlackBerry App World. It’s available for $4.99 as an introductory offer, so grab it as soon as possible if you’re interested. I really think this one might get a little price increase in the near future.
No free trial available and no “light” version available, which is sad, for some users might not want to buy it just to try it. I really hope Cerulean Studios might consider a future trial or light version. I’m not going to purchase it, I’d rather go with a light version.

How about you? What do you think of Trillian?

via: CrackBerry

For those of you on the Sprint network, rejoice!  That odd looking BlackBerry we know as the 9670 Oxford is back, and this time we’re compiling all the specs that we’ve got.  For those of you who don’t remember, the Oxford is a clamshell device sporting a  QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, GPS, 5 megapixel camera, 240×320 external display, 360×400 internal display, and the optical trackpad.

Despite the reaction of many a BlackBerry user and fanboy, I must admit I actually like the idea of this phone (but not the phone itself).   A decent QWERTY clamshell is difficult to come buy, unless you want to compromise with a piece of junk that has no other redeeming qualities.  Sticking the full BlackBerry keyboard into a flip-phone formfactor just made this thing look like a Pearl Flip that ate way too much sushi and pizza (ahem, Taylor).

via: Boy Genius

Since I saw the Torch 9800 releasing I’ve been waiting for something like this: The guys of Boy Genius Report made a video walkthrough of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 running BlackBerry 6! Turns out it runs really smooth and responds snappy. Seems to be wortht the wait although my fingers are practically burning for this to reach my Bold 9700. Boot time seems to be about 1 minute, which is okay. It’s a full implementation of BlackBerry 6, no “lite” release as some rumours said. We will get WebKit browser, universal search, Social Feeds app, etc.

I’m hoping for a quick release, this looks pretty ready and useful to me. I can’t get my hands on a Torch as fast as you guys can, so obviously I’ll be getting this as fast as possible. What about you? Trying this or rather get a Torch?

via: CrackBerry

Finally there’s an update for Facebook for BlackBerry that is said to improve load times. The update was supposed to come out in May but it seems it took quite a while longer. You can get it from App World here. Unfortunately the update doesn’t show up for some people. I double checked but it doesn’t show up for me as well. It’s not sure what’s new here but it’s said to bring faster load times, video uploading and replacing BIS-E notifications with Blackberry Push APIs.

Sounds neat to me. I’ll be getting this one right now, make sure to get the update and let us know what you find in the new version and what you think of it.

via: BerryReview

When we first heard reports saying that 150,000 units were sold, we were a little disappointed though we didn’t know if those reports includes online sales. Turns out the Torch 9800 is still the number 1 selling cell phone on Amazon.com. It’s currently on sale for $99.99 with a new service plan, so lots of users may have grabbed the device from Amazon.

If you are on of the lucky Torch owners, where did you get it?

via: BlackBerryCool