There’s been a few retail channels offering the BlackBerry PlayBook at a lower premium since last week, but they were all in Canada.  Now we’re seeing Staples tune into a similar discount.  Staples is offering the PlayBook for $399 and then a $100 mail-in rebate (Visa prepaid rebate card) bringing it down to $299.

Office Depot is offering the same special, but their mail-in rebate is an Office Depot gift card.  Perhaps the Staples deal is better since you can spend the 100 bucks on anything you want.

PlayBook Special at Staples >>

PlayBook Special at Office Depot >>

Source: BerryReview

Caro, the ultimate tic tac toe BBM integrated game for BlackBerry has just updated to a final release v1.0.  The game seemed pretty stable to me in its earlier builds, but I guess those who played it on a regular basis might notice changes here.  There’s no change log in the app description, so you guys are on your own there.  Let us know of any changes you see.

For those who haven’t played Caro, it’s a BBM connected game.  Also it’s free so check it out at App World.

Caro for BlackBerry >>

If you weren’t aware before, UberSocial supports themes.  We saw the Uber50 theme which was customized by 50 Cent a while back.  Now we see a new theme called UberWarrior, targeted towards MMA fans.  For those who follow up with the sport, there was a great fight over the weekend with Rampage Jackson, Jon Jones, Nate Diaz, and many more.  In the next few months there’s a lot of back to back events so getting this theme now is a good time.  It’s free to download from UberSocial.  Just make sure you have the app installed first.

Download UberWarrior MMA Theme >>

Yesterday, the parody Twitter account of Mike Lazaridis posted two pictures of QNX on a BlackBerry Torch 9850/9860.  I must say that the pictures were edited pretty damn good and are definitely the best phonies I have ever seen.

On a brighter note, QNX would be super cool on a handheld don’t you think? I really want to see how RIM will put it on a QWERTY device like the Bold 9900.  Here we see the Torch 9850/9860 which is all touchscreen so aspect rations pretty much shrink down and look identical to the PlayBook.  I guess the same can be done for a device like the Bold 9900, but with a smaller screen resolution, we’d be seeing less on the screen.

Thanks Bogizo for sending this in!

So far we’ve only seen leaked screenshots of both the BlackBerry Curve 9380 and the BlackBerry Bold 9790.  The Curve 9380 is an all touchscreen device smaller than the Torch 9850/9860 and of course a smaller screen resolution.  To me it looks more like the Torch 9800/9810 minus the slide out keyboard, a lot thinner, then a backside like the Curve.  The Bold 9790 is based on the Bold 9700/9780 form factor, but gets touchscreen along with a full QWERTY keyboard.

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Wikitude for BlackBerry updated last night to version 6.0.11 adding a few new features, bug fixes, and new device support.  We’ve been hearing and seeing buzz on the BlackBerry Bold 9790 and Curve 9380 lately, and now Wikitude supports both devices.  I guess we should expect the devices to launch soon.  Here’s the full change log:

• Support for Bold 9790, Curve 9380
• Landscape mode support in cam view for Torch 9810, 9850, 9860.
• Routing to POI when clicking on address in POI detail screen
• Location update more accurate in cam view while moving
• Bug fix for privacy setting ‘Contacts’ for BBM chat

Download Wikitude for BlackBerry >>

Moobile just launched a free BlackBerry application called Real Contact.  With Real Contact, you’re able to share your location and if you are available or not to other BBM friends.  You see them on a map (via BlackBerry Maps).  It seems more like an addition to BBM than anything else.  Sort of like Google Latitude but is directly connected to BBM.

Download Real Contact >>

T-Mobile already officially announced the BlackBerry Curve 9360 this week and business users can already start purchasing them online.  It will be available for sale in all T-Mobile retail locations beginning September 28th.  We got a screenshot from our T-Mobile tipster showing that stores are already beginning to receive inventory of the device.  Nothing ground breaking here, but maybe some store reps will have live demo units to play with before launch?

The packaging seems to be similar dimensions as the BlackBerry Torch 9800/9810 and Pearl 9100.

Thanks Bogizo for the tip!

We have seen our fair share of cross messaging platforms in the past such as KiK, and Live Profile. We see services like these increase especially with people jumping from BlackBerry to Android and Apple products. Most users want to have a BBM like experience, or a way to communicate with family and friends who may live in other countries at no cost, or may not want to just pay for SMS charges from their wireless provider.

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Let’s just hope no one even dreams of putting out flashlight applications for the PlayBook with a premium price tag.  It’s been quite ridiculous seeing all the apps for BlackBerry smartphones which just activated your camera flash at such high prices.  The Jared Company has launched a free flashlight application for the BlackBerry PlayBook which is interesting to see since the tablet doesn’t have a camera flash!  So what’s the application do for you? It turns your screen white.

There’s not much to expect here with no camera flash on the PlayBook, so I guess it serves it purpose.  Here’s the app that makes your screen go white.  Personally I wouldn’t use a flashlight app on the PlayBook, just out of fear of dropping the thing.  But you can grab it free if you like.  It’s available for all other BlackBerry smartphones as well.  Surprisingly it’s the #3 most popular free app for PlayBook. Sigh.

Flashlight app for PlayBook >>