Football contest pick and new BlackBerry that’s slick highlight Net Notes

Football and phones highlight today's version of Net Notes.

•UPickEm Contest

(http://lasvegas.profootball.upickem.net/)

What could be better than a free online football contest? How about a free online football contest that tosses out your four worst weeks and gives even latecomers a chance to win prizes.

The UPickEm contest includes several pools of players. The Las Vegas Review-Journal and sponsors Big Dog's Brewing Co. and Geico award prizes to players who join through the reviewjournal.com site. Contest host UPickEm of St. Louis, also puts players from partnering sites into a national group, with weekly and grand prizes from Fathead.com.

The Las Vegas pool includes almost 8,000 players, and the national group has more than 110,000 players. Players can form public or private groups, letting players go head-to-head with co-workers, family or friends.

Players pick National Football League winners straight up, not against the point spread. One weekly game is designated as a tie-breaker, with players picking the score for each team. In the case of a tie, the UPickEm computer system uses a formula to get the fan's "score approximation." The closest to the actual score wins. In the case of a remaining tie, the system chooses a random winner from the tied players.

Full rules and prizes are found on the site. Players must be 18 years old to play.

•BlackBerry Tour 9630

Research in Motion Ltd. is finally getting it right.

One thing that makes the Tour unique is that the device is available from both Verizon Wireless and Sprint. Until now new hardware was exclusive to a single carrier for six months or longer. Both carriers offer the Tour for $199 with a two-year contract.

At first glance, the Tour is similar to the BlackBerry Bold from AT&T. This is one of the phones I carry; I rely on it for work e-mail. The other is my personal Apple iPhone.

The Tour does not have a touch screen, but relies on the classic BlackBerry trackball and standard QWERTY keypad. The keys are well-designed and easy to use. One quirk that remains from previous models is forcing two keystrokes to type a period. Users must type "Alt-." or tap the space bar twice for a period.

The Tour's improved 3.1 megapixel camera is a winner. It shoots good-quality still and video images. The phone is slightly smaller than the Bold and nearly the same size as the iPhone.

Verizon's Application Center is easily accessible, although the BlackBerry App World icon wasn't preloaded.

Like the iPhone, the Tour features visual voice mail, giving users control of the order in which messages are played, saved and deleted.

The Tour is a winner.

Share your Internet story with me at agibes@reviewjournal.com.