The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will come with a built-in 7digital Music Store app when it launches this year. That’s good news for music-lovin’ CrackBerry fans. PlayBook owners will be able to preview and download tunes chosen from the 13 million or so tracks in 7digital’s catalogue. Tracks are 320kbps MP3 files, and are DRM-free so you can transfer …

The wait goes on for Nokia’s first Windows Phone 7 smart phones to make their debut, but the company still has some other tricks up its capacious Finnish sleeves. The X1-00 is its latest music-focused handset, and while it’s unlikely to go on sale here in the UK, it still has some interesting features. Nokia says the orange phone is …

Google announced earlier this week that it has enabled Instant Previews for Android handsets running Froyo (version 2.2) or later. Like its desktop counterpart, it allows you to see search results in a handy image format before clicking blindly on a link. The feature is perfect for a number of scenarios, such as step-by-step instructions and how-to guides. What’s more, …

PopCap Games doesn’t usually race to be among the first to develop for a new platform of any sort, be it a console or a mobile operating system. But the company is breaking from its tradition and working hard on porting its popular Plants vs. Zombies game to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform. “With Microsoft and Windows Phone 7 we …

Scandinavian posties are using mobile phones to lick the problem of buying stamps. Denmark and Sweden are introducing a system of paying Postman Per via text. Danish service Post Danmark and Swedish postal service Posten AB are adopting the high-tech system to make it easier to post letters, packages and cards. It’ll work by sending you a code to write …

One of the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook‘s coolest features is it can pair with a BlackBerry smart phone for 3G connectivity, but what about linking Apple’s iPad with one of RIM’s handsets? That’s the aim of a new app called Liberty from a company called Bayalink, which has made it available in beta. The company describes Liberty for iPad as “a …

Call it valley between two trade shows, but the cell phone world is having a quiet week for a change. As we’re three weeks past Mobile World Congress and two weeks to CTIA, cell phone makers must have their heads down planning what’s to come. Yet, there was at least one piece of news that brought out the CNET readers …

VMware iPad corporate users can directly access and control their Windows PCs from their tablets through a new app from VMware. Launched in Apple’s App Store today, the free VMware View app for the iPad is designed for business users who want to be able to access their own office PCs or PCs set up in their company’s data center …

Google is close to revealing a service for storing and streaming music to and from the cloud, if a feature buried in the Android code is any indication. Developers claim to be merrily syncing and streaming their music to and from their devices using Google’s Honeycomb music player, BitterWallet reports. A member of the XDA developers’ forum going by the …

Boost Mobile introduced today the Samsung Factor, a no-frills, wallet-friendly cell phone for those who want to stick to the basics. The clamshell handset offers Bluetooth, a camera, Web and e-mail access, instant messaging capabilities, and text and multimedia messaging, but its main job is to make calls. The Factor is available now at exclusive Boost Mobile retail stores, as …

When the Verizon iPhone finally went on sale last month, it bested its AT&T cousin by offering a wireless hot spot that could support up to five devices. It was a welcome addition and, as we found in our Verizon iPhone review, the feature performed well. It wasn’t necessarily better than other smartphone hot spots we’ve tested, but it offered …

Will we ever really see a white iPhone 4 from Apple? Apple With iOS 4.3 now available for download from Apple, the only missing puzzle piece to iPhone 4’s year is the oft-maligned white iPhone 4. Now, an analyst says Apple will begin production this month and ship white iPhone 4s at the beginning of April. Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi …

Bolshie boardroom telly star Alan Sugar has joined YouView. The Apprentice boss is the new non-executive chairman of the BBC-led consortium developing the YouView Internet television portal. YouView announced that peer of the realm Baron Sugar of Clapton replaces former Ofcom exec Kip Meek in the non-exec role at YouView, previously known as Project Canvas. Sirralan has been drafted in …

Spiceworks is widely regarded as one of the top IT tools on the planet, offering network management and monitoring, a user helpdesk, equipment inventory, and lots more–all absolutely free. Just one problem: it’s not an especially mobile-friendly solution. For the IT administrator who’s constantly on the move (is there any other kind?), the only option for staying connected to Spiceworks …

Android is the now most popular mobile platform for smartphones in the United States, says a study released yesterday. According to the ComScore survey, Google’s OS powered nearly a third, or 31.2 percent, of all smartphones during the three-month period ending January 2011. Gaining 7 percentage points from the previous quarter, Android now surpasses mobile operating systems from both RIM …