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Missed the Google Wave beta? We've got hands-on!

by Nilay Patel posted Sep 30th 2009 at 2:47PM

Google Wave started limited beta testing today, but chances are you'll miss out on an invite, since the 100,000 open slots will fill almost instantly. Not to worry, though -- our in-depth impressions of El Goog's innovative new IM/email/everything service are still right here if you want to get in deep. Will Wave change the world? Only one way to find out.

Read - Google Wave beta testing begins
Read - Our hands-on impressions from last month

Peek Pronto with lifetime service: $299

by Laura June posted Sep 28th 2009 at 5:01PM

Peek -- the handheld, bare bones email device which recently celebrated its first birthday -- has just launched a deal that's actually quite a deal. You can now get a Peek Pronto (the latest model) with lifetime service for $299. The Amazon exclusive includes all Peek's standard subscription features -- up to five email accounts with unlimited Push emailing, plus extras like its Twitter and Facebook feeds, -- only this time, it's forever. The deal will cover any future device upgrade you might make, too. If you or anyone you know were ever on the fence about buying one of these badboys, now is probably the time.

Peek manages to survive a whole year, promises more features for year two

by Darren Murph posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 11:12PM

We actually first caught wind of the Peek email-only handheld around 13 months ago, but today Peek is celebrating its first year as a company with a shipping product. During the past year, it has managed to ship two distinct devices and a good bit of functionality, but most importantly, it has managed to survive. Not sure if you've noticed, but the past dozen months have been twelve of the most tumultuous (financially, anyway) in American history, yet this startup is still going strong and looking forward to a second year full of "new features and services" and even a few international launches. Generally we don't stop to wish companies a happy first birthday, but seriously -- how many of you expected this firm to be around in late 2009?

Read - First Peek birthday
Read - Tales of survival

Papercraft Wall-E checks email, dances a jig when new message arrives

by Darren Murph posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 1:42PM

We've seen our fair share of Wall-E mods over the months, and yes, we've also seen an impressive papercraft creation or two. But frankly, we've never, ever seen a papercraft Wall-E, let alone a papercraft Wall-E that serves a purpose. TotoroYamada took the time to concoct what he describes as his own personal Mail-E, a servo-equipped paper robot that's programed to check his inbox every few seconds and bust a move when a new message arrives. Cuteness overload is in full effect -- just peek the videos after the break if you've any doubts.

Continue reading Papercraft Wall-E checks email, dances a jig when new message arrives

iPhone OS 3.0 bug allows deleted emails to rise from the dead

by Nilay Patel posted Aug 17th 2009 at 5:31PM

Get ready for another big glitch in iPhone OS 3.0: it seems like the Spotlight search cache doesn't sync message status with the mail client, so you can still pull up old messages with Spotlight if you know the subject line. Yeah, that's not okay -- we just verified that the bug exists on our phones, using both POP and IMAP. We're not sure when the search cache finally deletes emails, but it doesn't appear to happen quickly: Matt Janssen, who discovered the bug, says he's been able to pull up emails three or four months old. We've heard whispers its fixed in iPhone OS 3.1, but until there's a confirmed fix we'll be using the Gmail web interface, thanks. Video after the break.

Continue reading iPhone OS 3.0 bug allows deleted emails to rise from the dead

Head of Roman Catholic Church in England warns against the dangers of SMS, email, and social networking

by Joshua Topolsky posted Aug 2nd 2009 at 11:58AM

In case you haven't been apprised of the situation, your addiction to texting and email is ruining your relationship... with god. According to Vincent Nichols, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, modern friendships built around (or involving) heavy SMS volley, electronic mail correspondences, and social networking sites create "transient relationships" which put users at the risk of suicide. Yes, suicide. According to the British man of the cloth, using electronic communication to build friendships is causing humanity to lose "the ability to build interpersonal communication that's necessary for living together." Sure, it may sound like heavy FUD talk, but there is sense in some of his points. For instance, the Archbishop of Westminster believes that social networking sites encourage people to concentrate on their number of friends rather than build actual relationships, and they tend to view that number as a commodity. Anyone who's seen the growth of Facebook and MySpace shouldn't have trouble making that connection, but when it comes to SMS and email, your friendship has likely moved on, and lumping that kind of one-to-one communication in with the broad relationships of social networking sites seems like an unfair characterization. We put the question to our typically calm and even-keeled commenter community -- are we doomed, or what?

Peek cuts Peek Classic, Peek Pronto prices to $19.95 and $59.95

by Donald Melanson posted Jul 17th 2009 at 11:28AM

Peek's already offered lifetime subscriptions and all sorts of other incentives in the hope of wooing folks away from more expensive smartphones, and it looks like the company's now giving good old fashioned price cuts a(nother) try. As The Wall Street Journal reports, the basic Peek Classic has been slashed to just $19.95, down from the original $99.95 (or $49.95 more recently), while the Peek Pronto, which adds push email and Exchange support (among other features), will now run you $59.95 instead of the $79.95 it demanded when it launched just back in March. Service, however, remains at the same $20 per month as before.

Peek issues call for developers, yearns to build Linux-infused model

by Darren Murph posted Jul 9th 2009 at 7:54AM

Peek always has been a company for the people, with its suits sitting down late last year to listen intently to input from users regarding hacks and tweaks. Now, the outfit's looking for a bona fide Linux guru, someone who could get Linux running on the Peek's ARM7 processor and look suave doing it. The kicker? Should you succeed (and impress), you could score a "mini-consulting gig" with the top brass at Peek, and your work could one day revolutionize the fabled email-only handheld. Seriously, there's nothing but fear and debilitating hesitation stopping you, so once you're over that, hit the read link and get to work.

[Via SlashGear]

Enhanced Gmail Plug-in for BlackBerry now in beta testing

by Nilay Patel posted Jul 6th 2009 at 2:42PM

It's no secret that using Gmail on a BlackBerry is a painful experience -- since the built-in mail client has shamefully broken IMAP support, your only real choice is a variant of the same Java-based Gmail app that runs on ancient featurephones, and that rules out direct integration with either contacts or attachments. Yeah, it's sad, but hope is in the air, as RIM's apparently beta testing something called the "Enhanced Gmail Plug-in for BlackBerry," which promises to bring things up to speed. Features are said to include Conversation View, support for labels, stars, and archiving, and full mailbox search -- you know, Gmail. Of course, it would be even nicer if RIM would just sack up and bring proper IMAP support to the most famous messaging platform in the world, but we'll take what we can get.

[Via BerryReview]

Frustratingly long secret code enables totally useful landscape email on Pre

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 1st 2009 at 3:03AM

It's one thing to bury something like developer mode -- a mode that the average Pre user will never need -- behind a cute-but-exhausting throwback Konami code, but it's quite another to hide useful stuff that way. A PreCentral tipster discovered that entering "RocknRollHax" on the keyboard (and yes, capitalization is important here) while in the email app enables the previously missing capability to use it in landscape mode; presumably Palm hid it from end users because they thought it was too buggy or weird for mainstream use, but it certainly works alright for us. Worst part is that the code needs to be re-entered each and every time the email app starts, so you'd better really want it -- but at least you don't have to root to get it.

Lenovo and RIM's Constant Connect now available

by Darren Murph posted Apr 28th 2009 at 1:23PM

We know you've been literally hanging on the edge of your seat waiting for this day to come, so it's our honor and privilege to announce that Lenovo and RIM's Constant Connect solution is now available. For those who managed to sleep right through February, the technology enables select ThinkPads to automatically pull down BlackBerry emails whenever it's within range, even if the laptop is completely off. There's no word on what it'll cost to have this added into your next corporate machine, but you can head past the break for a quick demonstration vid if you think you're interested.

Update: It's a $149 option from select business partners and through Lenovo.com.

Continue reading Lenovo and RIM's Constant Connect now available

Peek Pronto: Push email, Exchange support, multiple accounts

by Tim Stevens posted Mar 24th 2009 at 6:59AM

Boy, Peek wasn't kidding when it called its new device Pronto. With nary a press announcement to froth up the minds of mobile emailers the device has rushed straight to availability for $79.95, sadly in just one color. What does the $30 premium over the earlier Peek get you? Push email, Exchange support, and the device now allows for up to five accounts (the previous maxed out at two). The Pronto also supports PDF and Word attachments and (so the company claims) has overall faster performance (by 50 percent says the PR). Peek is also advertising unlimited text messaging, and while we're not yet sure if that's any different than the limited support the last model had, the Pronto should help you keep in touch with your daughter and your mother in one device. Service is still just $19.95, shipping now to the eager hands of complexity-averse messaging addicts everywhere.

Update: According to the PR, the Pronto is available exclusively at Amazon.com from March 24th until
March 31st, then will begin selling at getpeek.com April 1st, and in stores at Radio Shack come April 8th. Also, it's worth noting that the company has retooled the keyboards on the new devices, making the previously stiff keys a bit easier on the thumbs.

Gallery: Peek Pronto unboxing and hands-on

[Thanks, Mike H.]

Peek Pronto: is a new Peek device on its way?

by Joshua Topolsky posted Mar 18th 2009 at 7:16PM

We don't have much to go on here save for the image above (which a tipster discovered on Peek's peekforbusiness.com page). If we had to take a flying leap, we'd say that the company does indeed have something on the way -- perhaps a 3G device? That's pure speculation, but if anyone out there on the interblogs knows anything we don't, feel free to pass it along!

Update: It looks like Peek can't help themselves. On their hacky blog, Geeky Peek, they offer this tasty morsel:

Pronto is Leaked

What is Pronto?

I don't have much to say, but I will give a leak away.. it is much, much faster in every way possible.

The time to open a menu on 1.08 is .09 seconds. The time to open a menu on Pronto, .04 seconds!!!!

Peek arrives for small businesses in $149 5-pack

by Darren Murph posted Mar 17th 2009 at 5:34AM

As Peek continues to poke, prod and experiment in order to find the best niche(s) to serve, it has now pushed out a sweetly priced 5-pack designed for small businesses. Reportedly, "lots" of these smaller operations have been looking for "more affordable solutions" to everyone toting BlackBerry devices, and this is Peek's answer to that so-called demand. The offer, which delivers five Peek email-only handhelds for $149.95, is set to expire on April 3rd, and business owners should still be aware that each handset will require a $19.95 monthly fee to stay connected. Peek's David Madden has informed us that this offer is just the tip of the iceberg, noting that it has "a few more tricks up its sleeves for the SMB market." We're literally on the edge of our seats here -- aren't you?

Lenovo Constant Connect brings BlackBerry email to ThinkPads automatically

by Darren Murph posted Feb 16th 2009 at 12:01AM

After two years in development, Lenovo Constant Connect is finally here. A groundbreaking new tie-up between Lenovo and RIM has led to the creation of a $150 54mm ExpressCard -- which slots into any ThinkPad from around Summer '08 onward -- and automatically pulls down any email sent to your BlackBerry via Bluetooth, even if the laptop is completely powered down. The idea here is to always have your most recent inbox available within eight seconds of opening your machine, and thanks to the card's dedicated Bluetooth radio and 500MB of inbuilt storage, it can pull down and send out emails so long as the card and your 'Berry are within 30 feet or so from one another. Aside from needing an ExpressCard slot, you'll also need a handset with OS 4.2 or higher. It's designed to work with Exchange, Outlook, POP and Gmail, with Lotus Notes support coming in 2H 2009; as for availability, the card will be available through Lenovo and its partners in early Q2 here in America, while those elsewhere in the world will have to wait until the latter half of the year. Full release and demo video is after the break.

Continue reading Lenovo Constant Connect brings BlackBerry email to ThinkPads automatically