Kevin Doel forwarded some information that should come in handy for anyone with a Palm OS, Windows Mobile or BlackBerry device. There is a new collection of fun SMS “blips and bloops” available which he says will “make great message alert sounds and increase the choices available from the “default” options that come with phones.” Looking at the product description, it appears that Ringo will give you a bit more than just “blips and bloops”, though; it might be worth a look.

The purpose of Ringo is to make it really easy to change your ringtones on your smartphone:
1.      Easily turn your favorite music and sound clips into ringtones & alerts.
2.      Jazz up your phonebook by setting tones and pictures for friends & contacts.
3.      Group business and personal contacts, then silence one group with a tap.

Link: Ringo

Were you aware that WES is currently going on? If you aren’t very knowledgeable about the BlackBerry scene (admittedly, I fall into this category), then you might not have been aware that WES is the Wireless Enterprise Symposium, or the “Biggest BlackBerry Conference of the Year”. This is the event where developers and IT professionals go to be trained, certified, and explore the latest in BB goodness. We actually have a warm body there, and he should be posting more info later this evening.

It stands to reason that announcements will be rolling out during the symposium, and here is one of the first…

Premier mobile media provider continues to expand mobile catalog for BlackBerry customers, together with Astraware(R), the Handmark Game Studio

Orlando, FL - Wireless Enterprise Symposium 2008 - (May 13, 2008) - Handmark(R), a global leader in mobile media, today announced new, exclusive applications for BlackBerry(R) smartphones including Bible translations; a new ringtone application, Ringtone Junkie; as well as best-selling games from Astraware(R), the Handmark Game Studio.

“A rapidly growing number of BlackBerry users are turning to Handmark for their mobile information and entertainment needs,” said Cassidy Lackey, VP of Handmark Studios. “Astraware, the Handmark Game Studio, focuses on providing only the best mobile content, and we are pleased to bring these new, quality titles to BlackBerry.”

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Please join me in wishing a very Happy Birthday to our resident stunt reviewer, Chris Chamberlain! Chris is our “go-to” guy when a review looks particularly dangerous or bloody; he almost never says no.

Think I am kidding? Then you haven’t read his adventures with poison ivy…all in the name of a good review, of course.

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It’s hard to believe that a year has already flown by since I was last wishing our WonderDawg a Happy Birthday, but it has! During that time Kerry Woo has not only become an invaluable and irreplaceable member of our team, he has also become a dear friend to many of us - particularly me.

Kerry is the type of guy who is always quick with a cheerful text or email; he has a cracked sense of humor and he can make even the most mundane reviews seem fun and interesting.

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Our neighbors to the north now have reason to rejoice, it appears that a deal has been struck allowing Canadians to watch prime-time US television dramas online:

In a move that may pave the way for most of the highest-rated shows on television to make their way online in Canada, CTV Inc. struck a deal with ABC Inc. to stream three of that network’s most-watched series online, supported by advertising.

Episodes of Lost, Desperate House wives and Grey’s Anatomy will be available online for 28 days after their original broadcast for the remainder of the season, the networks said.

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A team from the BBC successfully stole personal information from four Facebook users via a small application like those you can install on the popular website.
Facebook has grown to be a very popular social networking site and one of its interesting feature are small applications that can be games, quizzes, etc. The BBC team programed one such application to mine data aptly named Miner.

Spencer Kelly is a presenter for the BBC show Click and he explained that Miner “in the background, it is collecting personal details, and those of the users’ friends, and e-mailing them out of Facebook, to our inbox When you add an application, unless you say otherwise, it is given access to most of the information in your profile. That includes information you have on your friends even if they think they have tight security settings”

Apparently, Facebook reacted by saying they are always working to secure the site and are monitoring the applications. I guess whatever they are doing is just not cutting it.

Link: BBC Facebook ID Theft Video
Link: Identity “at risk” on Facebook

I really like how Astraware has begun to introduce their games to platforms other than just Palm, Windows Mobile, and a few odd iPod titles. Bringing their flavor of fun to the Symbian S60 and UIQ platforms means that even more people can enjoy losing themselves in a really good game, and now we can add Hidden Expedition: Titanic to their growing catalog.

Alison has also passed along this bit of goodness for those of you with Symbian S60 or UIQ phones:

On a related note, we’re still recruiting volunteer beta testers for UIQ and S60. If you think your readers would be interested, please point them to our blog post here: http://www.astraware.com/company/blog.php?entry=88

Here are many more screenshots, as well as information about Hidden Expedition: Titanic…
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Here’s another fantastic MobileHeist — The Gear Diary Software Store has a special offer from our partner, Efiko, for a major discount on their most popular product, iPhoneRingToneMaker.  iPRTM 1.4.4 is a handy MS Windows  tool that let’s you create custom ring tones for your iPhone using music from your music library.

iPhoneRingToneMaker is the top rated ringtone maker for the iPhone and consistently receives rave reviews for ease-of-use and functionality.  This application is consistently one of our best-selling applications that normally retails for $14.95 but for two days, this Thursday and Friday, May 8th & 9th, we’re going to sell it for only $4.95.  That’s $10 off the retail price ! This special pricing starting at 7PM PST on Wednesday, May 7th and runs until 11:59 PST on Friday, May 9th.

Link: iPhoneRingToneMaker for $4.95

Photo Via: HTC Diamond Web Site

Vincent at PhoneMag.com posted some great pictures of the new HTC Diamond taken at the London press conference earlier today. Check out his full live summary of the event here. Then read Vincent’s excellent writeup about the event here. Finally, join me in the comments as I wonder aloud “Holy Cow - Did HTC Just Reinvent the iPhone on Windows Mobile 6.1? How do these guys stand up in front of a press conference with a straight face…in front of a sign that partly reads - HTC INNOVATION…”. Update: This only has 4GB of internal storage, includes a GPS, 3.2 megapixel camera, 900 mah battery. More stats on the next page.

Link: via PhoneMag - Summary of HTC Diamond Press Conference
Link: HTC Image Gallery
Link: HTC Diamond Specifications

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Note: The press conference has ended - read about it here. Vincent Nguyen of PhoneMag is on the ground in London providing live coverage now (7:00 am EST) of the long awaited HTC Press event. View his updates here. Once the event is over we’ll summarize and post the news. Update: Vincent confirms that the HTC Touch Diamond images floating around the web are valid, Touch Flo 3D, HTC is talking about being first to introduce 3D touch flo, about the future being usable mobile Internet.

Link: PhoneMag Live Updates- HTC Press Event London UK
Link: PhoneMag’s image gallery of the HTC Media Event