A new version of the software has been developed specifically for Mac users and it’s scheduled to hit the toobs tomorrow at 1pm (EDT) from www.blackberry.com/mac

BlackBerry Desktop Manager Software also integrates BlackBerry Media Sync, enabling Mac users to sync their iTunes music collections with their BlackBerry. The software is designed to run on Mac computers with Mac OS 10.5.5 and higher and supports BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry OS 4.2 and higher.

The dock uses only one USB cable, and it has been certified by Apple to work natively with iTunes. [Parasync]

Yesterday at AllThingsD, we saw a sync demo in which iTunes reported the Pre as an iPod. Johansen says the process behind this isn’t that complicated—the Pre just has to assume an iPod Vendor ID, imitate its file structure and spoof an iPod information file for iTunes—but that it is inherently risky, since Apple could quite easily update iTunes to recognise mendacious Pres and shut the capability off altogether, which is why companies like RIM have just settled on good-enough workarounds instead of patching straight into iTunes.

But there’s no way Palm isn’t anticipating a standoff over iTunes sync; in fact, they’re probably eagerly waiting for it. The public is well and truly excited about the Pre, and Palm, which just one year was regarded as a sprawling, aging, doomed industry giant, is now an underdog. They also have a product which is perceived as the most direct threat to the iPhone yet.

Apple could conceivably shut the Pre out of iTunes even before launch, and they’re well within their rights to do so. But to the public, they’d look like dicks—anti-competitive dicks, even. For Palm, it’s win-win: Either their phone syncs with one of the most popular music managing apps on the planet, or they’ve take a little bite out of their competitor’s reputation. Pretty clever, unless Palm’s lawyers overlooked something huge. [Jon Johansen via MacRumors]

Update: Our friend Todd at TechFlash just posted a longer piece from the same event, in case you want to hear Ballmer and Mulally mulling over the future of cars and tech. (Hint: They will coexist profitably.)

Ford continues their push for tech-friendly vehicles with a new announcement to put computers with Sprint 3G connections into the dashboards of 2009 F-Series trucks and E-Series cargo vans.

As of now, this “Ford Work Solutions” system seems aimed at construction workers who need on-site computer systems to track inventory and schematics. While the system’s screen seems a bit small, Ford promises that one can “review and edit graphically-rich blueprints” from the cab of their truck.

I can’t say that this is quite the dashboard computer we’ve been waiting for, but it is actually coming out soon (this spring) for an undisclosed price.

SPRINT JOINS WITH FORD TO LAUNCH SOLUTION SUITE TO INCREASE FIELD WORKFORCE PRODUCTIVITY AND REDUCE COSTS

Ford F-Series and E-Series vehicles will be equipped with in-dashboard PC
with internet connectivity via the Sprint Nationwide Mobile Broadband Network

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – March 24, 2009 – Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced the details of its agreement with Ford Motor Company to provide a solution suite as a central component of “Ford Work Solutions” (www.fordworksolutions.com).

Beginning this spring, 2009 Ford F-Series and E-Series vehicles – and later in 2009, Transit Connect vehicles – will offer an in-dashboard PC with internet connectivity via the Sprint Nationwide Mobile Broadband Network. This capability provides the opportunity to leverage productivity application solutions via the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network, including real-time labour and material-cost capture, inventory updates, invoice generation and work-order edits and completion.

This new capability provides an unprecedented opportunity for job-site productivity gains and cost reductions. Work can be accomplished on site, on schedule and on budget. By minimizing the need to make trips back and forth to the office, fleets can reduce fuel consumption and their carbon footprint, and further enable the ability to “drive green.”

Organizations can now perform mission-critical tasks remotely at a job site or a customer or field location, increasing operational efficiencies and guaranteeing client satisfaction. Examples include:

* Field service and construction industries can modify and confirm “change orders” to a “work order” or “job estimate,” avoiding lengthy delays and keeping the job on schedule. Additionally, with the optional Bluetooth® Printer from Ford, the customer can review and authorize the “change order” on the spot with a written confirmation.
* Engineers and project managers can review and edit graphically-rich blueprints or schematics while inside the truck.
* Sub-contractors, suppliers and customers can collaborate in real-time to review project-planning documents and website portals.
* Utilities and oil and gas crews in the field gain real-time, high bandwidth access to work orders, safety and compliance data and asset management.

Ford and Sprint will soon announce exclusive offers for this solution suite. In support of the co-marketing efforts around this capability, they will also appear at several events in the months ahead, including key industry trade shows, to further inform their customers.

“This joint collaboration between Ford and Sprint delivers unprecedented freedom to field work forces,” said Ed Pleet, Ford Work Solutions product and business development manager. “Now organizations’ desktop business applications and systems can be brought where and when they are most needed – at the ‘front end’ of the cabs of F-Series and E-Series vehicles while they are on site.”

“This solution suite will empower organizations to continue to work hard while also working smart,” said Keith Dardis, regional vice president, Sprint. “We will provide our mutual customers with a competitive edge, unparalleled productivity and cost savings, and the opportunity to do their part to ‘drive green.’”
Both Ford and Sprint have a history of innovation. Ford Motor Company has developed and maintained a Field Work Force industry-leading position for over 30 years around their “Built Ford Tough” line of F-Series pick-up trucks and E-Series cargo vans.
Through its unmatched Direct Connect push-to-talk service, rugged devices and other technology, Sprint has developed and maintained its leadership in Field Work Force solutions by understanding that effective Field Work Force management requires constant coordination of crews, fleets, suppliers, project managers, engineers and field service teams — often in harsh conditions and always on tight timelines.

Thanks to a new technology called Lenovo Constant Connect, Lenovo laptops will be able to sync enterprise-based emails with Blackberry phones at all times, even while the laptop is powered off.

By the power of Bluetooth, any enterprise based email will automatically be sent from your BlackBerry to your ThinkPad once configured. You won’t have to initiate the transfer in anyway. Lenovo Constant Connect is set to release in Q2 2009, but it’s still unclear which email apps will support the service and uncertain whether it will work with current/previous-gen ThinkPads.

LENOVO THINKPAD LAPTOP COMPUTERS TO GAIN NEW LEVEL OF INTEGRATION WITH BLACKBERRY SMARTPHONES

Research Triangle Park, NC and Waterloo, ON – February 16, 2009 – Lenovo and Research In Motion (RIM) today announced that the two companies will work together to promote new Lenovo mobile solutions that will help on-the-go business users enhance their mobile computing and communications experience through tighter integration between Lenovo ThinkPad laptop computers and BlackBerry® smartphones.
Leveraging Lenovo’s extensive global R&D capabilities and engineering prowess in laptop computers together with RIM’s expertise in smartphones and wireless solutions, Lenovo plans to develop and deliver a range of industry-leading solutions and technologies that can help professionals conduct business more effectively on the go.

Lenovo Constant Connect, the first solution developed by Lenovo, will leverage the strengths of the BlackBerry® solution and Lenovo ThinkPad laptops to deliver an unparalleled user experience for flexible, real-time access to enterprise-based email. Lenovo Constant Connect will allow enterprise email received on a user’s BlackBerry smartphone to be automatically synchronized via Bluetooth® onto the user’s ThinkPad laptop – even if the ThinkPad laptop is off – without the user having to take any additional steps.
This level of integration and availability dramatically improves access to email on the Lenovo ThinkPad laptop from wherever a BlackBerry smartphone can access a connection. In addition to greater flexibility and convenience, it can also reduce the need to use the laptop with fee-based Wi-Fi® networks. Lenovo Constant Connect is expected to be available from Lenovo and its business partners in the second quarter of 2009 in the U.S, and to be rolled out in markets around the world later in 2009.

“With more and more mobile professionals relying on both their BlackBerry smartphone and ThinkPad laptop PC, we view better integration between the two devices as a necessity. Today’s announcement is the first step in combining these best-in-class solutions to deliver a more useful and powerful mobile work experience,” said Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing.

“Lenovo is adding significant value for our mutual customers by developing tighter and more seamless integration between Lenovo ThinkPad laptops and BlackBerry smartphones,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO, Research In Motion. “By leveraging the industry-leading, push-based connectivity of the BlackBerry solution, Lenovo Constant Connect will simplify email synchronisation on the laptop and provide mobile professionals with greater flexibility to manage their email on the move.”

Slashphone reports that Google Sync was made possible by the acquisition of a patent licence for Microsoft’s Exchange Activesync protocol to be used on Google’s servers. In other words, Google has just decided to foot the initial cost of running a massive Exchange server rather than design a top-to-bottom new system.

This all makes sense from a software standpoint—a new push system would be comparatively ungainly for both WinMo and iPhone OS, as Exchange is already natively supported in both. Goofy brand dissonance aside, this solution is probably as close to ideal as it could be for end users, except for the lack of push Gmail, which we should honestly have by now. [Slashphone]

All of this was possible before through a smartphone’s web browser (and Google Sync has been available on Blackberries for months), but if you were looking to push update your phone to various Google-stored information through the iPhone or Windows Mobile, it was pretty much a read-only experience. Now you can treat Google’s calendar and contacts like any push service, updating your phone to the cloud in real time.

And I’m way too excited about this development. [Google Sync via lifehacker]

UPDATE: I’d mentioned that Gmail was included. It is not.

Yes, this car will text your colleagues “b 15 m l8″ next time you’re running late.

Like Ford’s Sync service, you can use Hughes’ in-car tech platform, which is being pitched to car manufacturers on an OEM basis for inclusion in future vehicles, to do a lot of things with your voice, including respond to text messages (but only with canned SMS presets that are activated by spoken keywords). You can choose to respond in plain English, or with translations using a custom dictionary (here, apparently, set to illiterate ‘tween). It can also translate any internet-isms it may find while it reads you your exchange email or calendars, too.

Hughes’s demo vehicle was packed full of lots of other cool stuff, including an on-board 3G connection (with compatibility for WiMax down the road) that can be fed out via wi-fi to turn your car into a roaming hotspot. The only auto maker offering something like that right now is Chrysler with their UConnect service (not done by Hughes), but it’s something we’d love to see more of.

Hughes is bringing some of its voice-activated telematics to Mercedes vehicles later this year (not including the mobile hotspot tech, sadly), but their demo jeep we saw today is a good example of what might come. [Hughes Telematics]