In an on-location video live from WES, Kevin at CrackBerry.com shows us a live demo of the new Unify4Life Remote control. As you will see, he is clearly smitten with the box, and with good cause. It has best of WES written all over it.

Unify4Life is a box that allows you to control your home theater and almost all other media direct from your BlackBerry. Toss out all of your old remotes, even your universal remotes, and hook this one up! (OK, that might be a bit much…) You can even stream audio from your BlackBerry to your home stereo.

No word on pricing for Unify4Life yet, but it is due to launch in the fall of 2008.

For more details visit the unify4life.com website.

From: CrackBerry.com

Our friend Kevin over at CrackBerry.com recently purchased one of the so-called BlackBerry 9000 devices that was being sold on eBay. The auction seemed fishy, how the heck did this guy get the devices? Where did they come from? Were they for real? Well, it’s a good thing Kevin acted when he did, because he was able to secure one of the devices for just over $800 USD. The auction was shut down shortly after Kevin arranged to purchase one of the 3 devices available.

As you can see in his review, the device is the real deal. It looks like one sweet little number. You’ll want to head over to CrackBerry to read more and see the device for yourself.

From: CrackBerry.com

Seems as though RIM is having issues dealing with the Indian Government and their Department of Technology (DoT). RIM has sent a letter to the Indian Communication and IT Minister asking who they can deal with that actually has the power to make decisions and move forward. Looks to be that they are getting nowhere with the current officials and decision makers. This really is a shame as this has been going on for quite some time now.

A snippet from the letter:

“We and RIM (Canada-based BlackBerry vendor Research-in-Motion) need to understand who in the government of India is empowered to resolve this issue. This is necessary in order to ensure the right representative from RIM at the table.

The discussion managed by DoT to date has inspired little confidence that those involved on the Indian side are actually empowered to settle the matter as Indian government’s demands of RIM keep expanding while media leaks proliferate…”

It should be interesting to see what response the Indian Government takes. If nothing else, I hope this lights a fire to get things moving forward instead of sideways!

From: CrackBerry

A solution to the security concerns by the Indian government over BlackBerry services still has to be hammered out. RIM has gone ahead and asked for more time from the Indian government to come up with the solution. It is reported that they have asked until the end of the month to explain their position and address the outstanding issues.

RIM Executives, Indian government officials and various reps from security agencies met Tuesday for the second time after India raised more concerns that the BlackBerry may be used by terrorists because emails can not be intercepted by the government.

India has asked rim to route all calls and emails through servers based in India to allow better security, and to intercept messages in an emergency.

There’s no telling when this will end, as all was looking rosy at the end of March… But the saga continues here and I can only hope that both parties come to an amicable solution.

From: India PR Wire

RIM reported their 4th quarter numbers yesterday, and boy were they good. Profits have more than doubled in comparison to the fourth quarter of the previous year.

The thing that blew me away was the number of new subscribers that were reported: 2 million new subscribers! That’s a whole lot of new subscribers, data plans, and well, just a heck of a lot of money coming to RIM and all of the carriers.

Jim Balsillie reported that the results were led by continuing to diversify the base of BlackBerry users. 38% of the subscriber base are now individuals and not enterprise users.

Retail sales were also huge in the 4th quarter. No doubt all of the pearl promotions that were running around Christmas time had a huge effect. More pearl users = less enterprise users, so I’m not surprised at all that 38% of the new subscribers are non-enterprise. RIM has really taken a jump into the consumer market and it looks like they’re doing well. It’s not just a business device anymore!

Using Blip, you, your friends, family and co-workers can all show your current location to everyone in your group. Blip is created by BlackLine GPS. The app allows you to control who can see your location information. No one will be able to ’see’ you unless you have previously approved them.

Note to self, don’t let the boss add this to your BlackBerry. ‘Big Brother’ really would be watching you at that point

Blip can also show the current direction you are traveling, AND the speed you are traveling. Blip is a free application and can be installed OTA. For more information and to get your copy, visit BlackLine GPS.

According to the latest press release from RIM, they will be having a webcast and conference call to announce their 4th quarter and 2008 fiscal year end results. This will take place on April 2nd. The conference call will begin at 5PM EST. You can access it by dialing 416-640-1907 (conference call) or by logging-on at www.rim.com/investors/events/index.shtml.

A replay of the call will be available at 7PM EST by dialing 416-640-1917 and entering passcode 21221696#. The replay will be available until midnight EST on April 16th.

Some of you out there might be interested in this… Although I have to admit I’ve never listened in to one of these calls!

From: RIM

I have some very sad news to report here. BlackBerry guru Russell Shaw passed away this past Friday, March 14th. Russell was out on a reporting trip in San Jose at the time of his passing. No further details are known at this point.

Russell was a pro and you could find him writing for BBHub, or more recently for ZDNet (’The BlackBerry Beat’).

Russell will be deeply missed, especially by his friends, family and blackberry community. Our sincerest condolances to out to Russell’s family at this difficult time.