The warm temperatures in Chicago earlier this month belied the truism that the earth is getting warmer.

A BlackBerry Pearl-using BBHub reader took advantage of that relatively calm day to take a photo of the Chicago skyline from the vantage point of a nearby park.

You're looking at the photo now.

Dusk in New York City, the city that never sleeps.

BBHub reader and BlackBerry Pearl user Austin comes out, and finds a suitable vantage point to take a pic of the Empire State Building.

BBHub lead blogger Russ (that's me) receives this photo from Austin and posts it here.

Can you believe that Opera Mini browser has only been around for a year?

Of course Opera Mini has gone through some changes over the past year. Google is no longer the default search engine, Yahoo is. We have even had a beta, and a new version with bells and whistles.

According to Opera Mini's birthday site over 10 million people have tried it. I know I am one of them.

As a BlackBerry user Opera Mini is best at loading the websites that the BlackBerry browser can't, like My Space.

If you have an idea for an original birthday card send it in to Opera. Opera will post the top 5 and the first 1000 entered will get an Opera wrist wrap.

Click on the Read link to check out Opera Mini's birthday page.

Hey there from a place really, really close to a subtropical beach. Rather than in my customary Pacific Northwest ocean hangout, I am at the Atlantic. Whilst (not a Brit, just love that word whilst, heh heh) I prefer the Pacific, here the beaches are warmier and sandier.

Sandy enough to bear witness to beach volleyball. But it is not only here where the game is played.

You can play beach volleyball on your BlackBerry. That'd be via RESETGames' Beach Volleyball for BlackBerry.

Wanna see pic?

Then clic.

I drink wine, and use a BlackBerry. Usually not at the same time, but I find both wine-drinking and BlackBerry use to be positive enablements.

You too?

Salud.

If so, you may be interested to learn that the wine reference site Winezap now has a BlackBerry-compatible version.

Everything you would want to know about wine regions, type, food pairing, price and user ratings.

Just don't spill any wine on your BlackBerry keys, K?

Dedicated BlackBerry user Paris Hilton, who I read somewhere is heiress to a hotel fortune, has her Blackberry in hand as her facial features bear the tracks of a night of hard partying.

Who'da thunk it?

One of BlackBerry Cool's readers has just made an iPhone BlackBerry theme.

That's it at the top of this post.

What do you think?

The founder of Ascendo dropped me a note a while back asking if I'd be interested in checking out their DataVault product. I told him I would check it out.

"How much better can it actually be than the Password Keeper program that comes with the device?" I thought to myself.

It turns out that DataVault is quite a bit more convenient in a number of ways than Password Keeper. If you have complex passwords to keep track of (who doesn't nowadays), you owe it to yourself to at least see how DataVault works - you might be surprised how it can simplify your life.

What's the strangest way you've gotten use out of your BlackBerry device? Has it been a life saver in a pinch? ("It was so windy and some papers would have blown away - so I used my BlackBerry as a paper weight!" doesn't count!)

Here's mine:

One warm summer evening our family went to a neighbor's house for a pot luck dinner. There's a small, windy trail that connects our houses - lots of turns and roots to trip on. We stayed a little longer than planned and it was pitch black dark when we made the trek home. No moon to light our way, no street lights, no flash light. My kids were starting to worry - would we ever make it home???

My trusty BlackBerry 8700 to the rescue! The backlight on the device is amazingly bright! I took it out and let it puts out just enough light to make out the trail on the way home.

Disaster averted! And I was the family hero! (Well, the BlackBerry was!)

It wasn't until I got back and searched around that I discovered there's a neat program for the BlackBerry called MyFlashLight that displays a white screen for just this purpose.

Were you in a bind where your BlackBerry came through somehow in a pinch? We'd love to hear it!

Apparently BlackBerry babies are becoming more common. If you were watching 60 Minutes on the 10th you might have seen a baby using her parent's BlackBerry.

The story was about working 24/7. Technology is supposed to make things easier for us, but instead we take work with us every where we go. Even the babies.

Watch the clip by clicking on the Read link below.

Over on my ZDNet IP Telephony/Convergence/Broadband (and occasionally license to write "big think") blog, I have been running a poll asking voters:

If you could win a free BlackBerry Pearl or iPhone, which would you want?

Obviously poll is not scientific but the readers really prefer the iPhone.

I mean REALLY prefer the iPhone.

Take a look by how much at the time of this post.

One lucky (though that may be a matter of dispute) eBay bidder now has a white BlackBerry Pearl headed his way.

He stepped up to the plate and forked over $1,025.00.

Poorer? Maybe a bit. But it's his money, so who are we to criticize? Listen, I write this from a Las Vegas hotel room where downstairs, people are spending a good bit more and getting nothing in return.

But at least winning bidder datasquid (cool user name BTW) has a new BlackBerry Pearl. A white one.

I just found a new Sudoku game on Handango, just added. Best of all it is free.

You can download from Handango or go to the SudoContest website and get the download. There is an over the air download I am running right now.

If you play at least 5 times in the month you are eligible for the contest. Prizes range from $10 to $30.

You do have to register to play, but the website says this is free as well.

The revenue, which is used for the prizes, comes from advertising, so you may be asked to view some ads. Remember this all counts as data, if you do not have unlimited.

I am going to check it out right now, but I wanted to share the news.

RealDice's Sudoku Master 2 is not a Sudoku game I like.

Pros - You can play online against other people.
Cons - Very jumpy application, takes long to load. Game design was hard to use.
Price - $20.00 via RealDice Website or $14.95 via Handango
Rating - 2 of 5 stars

The RealDice website pointed me to a web site that did not work on my BlackBerry browser, but would pull up using Opera Mini. Opera invoked my BlackBerry browser to download the game.

I would love to see RealDice fix the wap site so it will work on the BlackBerry browser. However you can also download the trial version from Handango (where I link to below) where interestingly enough the game is cheaper to buy.

Are you in a blue mood?

If it's emotional, can't help you there (actually I could, but you're buying this round).

But if we are talking about a "mood" in which you would like t o see a blue-colored theme on your BlackBerry 8700, BlackBerry Theme Central can help you.

And I can help them help you, or help them to help you. Or something like that.

Come on for a couple of screen grabs, pricing info, etc.