With the release of BlackBerry PlayBook tablet OS 2.0, native email and PIM (personal information management) apps are now included. The new Messages app offers a universal inbox and tightly integrates with the Contacts and Calendar apps as well as social networks to give you a BlackBerry communications experience that you’ll love on your BlackBerry tablet!

Using these apps, you can set up multiple email accounts in addition to Enterprise email - protected by BlackBerry Balance technology - which means you’ll have access to both personal and work information in one location.

To help get you started with managing your various email accounts, here are answers to some frequently-asked questions about the Messages app...

• Continue reading tutorial and discuss in the forums

One update that kind of went under the radar yesterday was an update for the BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac OS. This update provides improved BlackBerry PlayBook support and OS 2.0 compatibility. There are also a number of fixed issues as well. So if you have a Mac OS you should make sure that you get this update.

Here is a list of fixed issues:

Installation/Connection

Previously, if you had two BlackBerry devices (smartphones or tablets) connected to the BlackBerry Desktop Software, and you disconnected one device by pulling the USB cable while the other device was synchronizing data, the BlackBerry Desktop Software stopped syncing data with the connected device. (DT 2387805)

Previously, if you had BlackBerry Desktop Software 2.1 installed on your computer and you installed BlackBerry Device Manager 2.2, when you connected your smartphone or your tablet to your computer, the BlackBerry Desktop Software did not launch automatically. (DT 2055040)

Pictures

Previously, if an album in iPhoto had a large amount of pictures (20,000), CPU and memory usage spiked when you opened the BlackBerry Desktop Software. (DT 1042729)

Previously, if you optimized your pictures to sync to your device, the time stamp was changed. (DT 805107)

• Download BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac OS
• Discuss this in the forum

By now you have probably heard about RIM's release of the highly anticipated BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0. For months now, all anyone in the BlackBerry community could do was talk about PlayBook OS 2.0. Rumors and guesses of when it would be released had everyone on their toes, and had others running out of patience. They say good things come to those who wait. Was this the case with PlayBook OS 2.0? Did RIM deliver on what so many have been waiting for? After spending some time with the PlayBook OS 2.0 this is my review.

• Download BlackBerry Desktop Manager v7.0 B44
• Discuss Findings/Fixes in our Forums

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BlackBerry came out to celebrate the industry-only Rolling Stone Awards night in Sydney. Jim Finn from Art vs. Science chatted to a host of Aussie and international music legends, including Lupe Fiasco, Kimbra, Dan Sultan and Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, about their music loves.

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With 'Go BBM' BlackBerry Plan from Vodafone, prepaid subscribers can avail of BBM services at Rs. 5 per day, and postpaid subscribers for Rs 129 per month.

Additionally, as a part of the introductory offer, subscribers who purchase a BlackBerry Curve 8520 or BlackBerry Curve 9300 smartphone till February 2012 will be able to avail of a one-year unlimited access to BBM from date of purchase.

Send ACT BBM129 to 111 or visit your nearest Vodafone centre to activate this plan today.

Today RIM announced the availability BlackBerry® Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365. This new service allows organizations to expand their Microsoft mail services to the cloud and manage their BlackBerry deployments in the cloud.

One of the nice things about this service is that customers that are already subscribed to the Office 365 suite or standalone Exchange Online and works with BlackBerry smartphones on business or consumer data plans. The service is actually very robust and offers a comparable features that a typical BES server would have.

Having it cloud based makes it an affordable alternative for many organizations. In addition RIM's partnership with software giant Microsoft helps alleviate some of the nasty licensing that many organizations have to go through. Here is a brief statement taken from RIM's official press release:

RIM has released Beta 3 of their Native SDK 2.0 for Tablet OS. A few new features have been added as well as updates to the documentation. Take a look at some of the new features and enhancements:

Tooling enhancements:

• A new easy-to-use Add Library Wizard, which is designed to simplify the process of adding library dependencies to a project
• Improved navigation and workflow in the Deployment Setup Wizard
• Enhancements to the BAR file editor to view localized manifests for each locale

API improvements:

• BPS services can now use channels as chosen by the application for multi-threaded messaging
• Scoreloop social gaming APIs

Documentation updates:

• A new “Hello Native SDK” tutorial provides a walkthrough of the OpenGL ES 1.1 Application Project template that comes with the QNX® Momentics® IDE
• A new “Displaying a dialog” recipe instructs users how to display dialogs on the screen and handle dialog events

If your a developer there are some nice additions to this update. Happy developing.

Our friend Ronen from BerryReview has just received information from sources that RIM has set a launch date for February 17th to release PlayBook OS 2.0 to the masses. There have been numerous rumors flying around as to what the actual ETA will be, but if this rings true, we will be updating out PlayBook's shortly after Valentine's Day!