It’s been over a month since Sprint users of the BlackBerry Bold 9650 and Curve 9330 got their taste of BB OS 6 via an OTA update. Now it’s time for Verizon subscribers to follow suit, with their own OTA updates starting to trickle out, reportedly going into full-swing just a moment ago, at 8 PM EST.

In case you haven’t been keeping up with BlackBerry OS developments, version 6 adds a universal search, going through your locally-stored data in addition to content out there on the web, has better management for your subscribed RSS feeds, and features a faster [...]

Leaked versions of the BlackBerry OS 6 firmware have been available for months, but not everyone’s comfortable installing such software on their smartphone. For users who have been waiting it out for a legit upgrade, Sprint is now sending the update to users of the Bold 9650 and Curve 3G.

If you haven’t been following the advances RIM’s made to its operating system, version 6 adds a universal search, covering both locally stored data and the web, groups together subscribed RSS feeds and updates from social networking services, and updates its web browser with [...]

Visa has approved a new method of contactless payment that endows existing smartphones with NFC-like capabilities via a special microSD card. Developed by a company called DeviceFidelity, the In2Pay cards are currently supported by the Samsung Vibrant Galaxy S variant from T-Mobile, BlackBerry Bold 9650, and all Apple iPhones save for the first generation; before you go crying that these latter handsets lack expansion slots, keep in mind that the cards are inserted into a case which hooks up to the dock connector. Visa claims that more phones, including Symbian and Windows Phone 7 [...]

BlackBerry users running the latest version of RIM’s operating system can now feel extra secure that the data on their phones is safe from prying eyes, as the US Government just awarded BB OS 6.0 Federal Information Processing Standard certification.

The FIPS 140-2 certification for BlackBerry devices is nothing new, as the government’s been reviewing the software for years. Each time it changes, though, it has to go back through the process to make sure that it’s still handling data in a secure manner.

Specifically, the folks at the National Institute [...]