A user on our Facebook page posted about a new BlackBerry-centric social networking site called BlackBerry Ave. The site is designed from the ground up to be viewable on mobile browers, a bit like BBMnation. BlackBerry Ave. has the usual features of a social networking site like basic demographic information and interests, but has some unique features such as the ability to upload 1000 MB worth of files to share with other users. It also allows you to list your specific BlackBerry model and PIN. Definitely worth checking out if you just can’t get enough social networking.
Monthly Archive for February, 2008Page 2 of 12
RIM’s latest developer newsletter revealed that developers will be able to get a look at an Eclipse plug-in not only at EclipseCon in March, but also at WES in May. For those not down with the programming side of things, Eclipse is an open-source development framework based on Java. Preliminary looks at the beta have been less than stellar among the traditionally open-source crowd, as RIM’s setting up their app to run on Windows and many Eclipse users stick to Linux and Mac. Eclipse support would really be throwing devs a bone if RIM actually opened up a bit, but we’ll have to see what the final version of the plug-in looks like before passing judgment.
Carbon Hero is a cool project still in development, aiming to determine what modes of transportation you’re using via GPS and calculating the associated carbon usage. Although tested with GPS on Nokia smartphones already, the final product will be using a new European positioning system called Gallileo, which claims to be accurate to under a metre. BlackBerry support is underway, but Gallileo won’t be online until 2013, so it could still be awhile until we see a release. The big thing with Carbon Hero is that it will be largely automated, with as little user input as possible and simply providing the information about how much you’re ruining the planet. Talk about low maintenance guilt-tripping.
According to The Washington Post, BlackBerry sales in Taiwan have suffered due to language issues, but things are looking up. Phones in Taiwan currently use Pinyin, which uses Latin characters to phonetically spell out the sounds that more complicated Chinese character sets like Zhuyin represent. No support for Zhuyin has been available, leading to disappointing sales of only 3,000 to 3,500 BlackBerrys in the region. RIM is scheduled to release two phones supporting Zhuyin in the second quarter of this year, and hopes to increase sales to 11,000 or higher. Asian character support has always been a trial for the computer industry, especially for cramped phone keyboards, but things definitely been improving for BlackBerry users.
Dubbed the “first operator-branded mobile navigation service aimed at consumers in the UK“, Telmap has shipped out their navigation software to Vodafone customers in the UK packing the GPS Pearl. Sat Nav provides traffic alerts, local search, directions, and access to points of interest. This is the same kit that went along with the BlackBerry 8310 launch and just like then, a year of free service will be provided for those picking up the BlackBerry 8110 for the first time. For everyone else, it’ll cost £5 per month, with the first month on the house.
Next up in our Exhibitor Spotlight series: InterNoded. These guys offer managed services for carriers and large, medium, and small-scale businesses. Their flagship BlackBerry product, which they will be demonstrating at WES, is InterNoded Mobile Device Management. The software attempts to eliminate a lot of the mundane, repetitive work necessary to deploy and manage applications, allowing technical staff to set up rules for deployment, and delegate the rest of the workload to other staff.
A post on the Pinstack forums alerted us to Blue Systems, a relative newcomer to the world of financial services. Though founded in 2002, the company has only just now released Blue and Blue Mobile, their only two products, after five years of R&D. Blue Mobile, like Quotestream, allows users to track stocks, financial news, and other information directly from their phone. The software offers customizable alerts via email or instant messenger, many different chart options, and in-depth information on specific companies and stocks.
As hinted in our last podcast, OtterBox has released an updated version of their Pearl Defender Series case for the BlackBerry 8110, 8120 and 8130. The OtterBox 1936 accommodates the slight changes in the Pearl design, such as the camera, and it looks like it will handle the microSD memory card slot, too. Be sure to keep an eye on our accessories update in the top-right of the site, or if you’re packing an older Pearl, you can grab it over here. If you’d like to see just how well the Defender Series works, check out our review.
Those in the UK now have access to their own version of the BlackBerry Owners lounge, which features a few different sections than the North American counterpart, such as “Coming Soon”, “Exclusives” and “Latest News”. The Owners Lounge is great, regardless of what side of the pond you’re on – you can find free games, discounts on accessories, more tips than you can wave a calloused thumb at. The new UK lounge can be found here, and if you’re in North America and haven’t checked it out yet, head over here.
For our third Exhibitor Spotlight — the first two were BlackLine GPS and OtterBox, covered in Episode 18 of our podcast — we’re taking a look at MSC Mobility. The company offers a number of solutions to give company employees access to their email, contacts, calendars, and other data while out of the office, freeing up IT staff and other personnel for more time-consuming or critical tasks. At WES, they’ll be demonstrating Forms2Mobile. Much like GeoAge’s FAST, Forms2Mobile allows companies to push out new forms to employees’ phones and have any submitted data returned to their server almost immediately. Forms2Mobile, however, is designed with non-technical users in mind and is very easy to use even for the complete layman. Check it out, and if you’re going to be exhibiting, be sure to sign up for the Best of WES Awards!
