Posted on May 6, 2009, at 10:22 AM .
Vlingo speech recognition software is trying to change the way you interact with your device. They see a powerful device that can be made even more powerful by making it totally hands-free. Well today they’ve announced version 3.0 of Vlingo, offering a rich feature set that really adds to their product.
Using the power of voice, Vlingo already enables users to send and reply to emails and text messages, search the mobile Web, dial the phone, look up contacts, and launch built-in applications — just by using their voice. With Vlingo 3.0, users gain an enhanced text-to-speech read-back feature for easy hands-free confirmation of what was spoken, the ability to speak action requests such as “send”, and support for wired headsets as well as many Bluetooth headsets.
Vlingo gives BlackBerry users the ability to power the most popular features by voice. They can simply press the side “convenience” key on their handset, which lets them speak commands into the smartphone. Vlingo 3.0 gives a user’s voice the ability to:
• Send and reply to text messages with users who also have Vlingo
• Web search
• Dial the phone
• Send a “note to self”
• Facebook & Twitter status updates
• Tell A Friend
• Optional read-back of the full text or email message that was spoken
• Speak action requests such as “send” or “search”
• Launch native and third-party applications
BlackBerry users can get additional voice capabilities, including the ability to send and reply to text messages and emails to anyone for a one-time charge of $17.99.
Existing users of Vlingo 2.0 can continue to use Vlingo 2.0 at no additional charge.
Posted on May 6, 2009, at 10:15 AM .
The guys at TetherBerry have their Mac client ready for Beta testing and they want feedback from you.
TetherBerry is the latest app to help you tether your BlackBerry to your laptop. The app allows you access to the internet on your laptop through your BlackBerry’s data plan anywhere where there is network coverage. Once you have downloaded the app to both your device and your laptop, you can tether them via USB.
Head over to TetherBerry and sign up for their Mac Beta.
If you want to win a free copy of TetherBerry, tell us about the situations in which you use tethering. We’ll pick 5 and give out free copies.
Posted on May 5, 2009, at 10:28 AM .
Cortado specializes in mobile document management and they have announced support for BES 5. BES 5.0 now includes file access for documents behind a company’s firewall, and with the Cortado solution provides users with extensive file support as well as a wide range of output options such as printing, faxing and PDF rendering.
Here is a quick breakdown of the newest features you’ll find in Cortado:
- PDF rendering: the first PDF creator for BlackBerry smartphones. Save, print, fax and e-mail PDF files
- Instant Database Reporting: View, e-mail, print or fax database reports from almost any database
- Print to network printer in accordance with the user’s rights in the active directory
- Search for printers in the active directory
- Print to Bluetooth-printers
- Present-to-Screen: Present or view documents from a smartphone on a computer screen or projector
- Mobile fax and short fax: Send any document to a fax machine or quickly create faxes using short fax templates
We’ve entered Cortado in our Best of WES 2009 competition so be sure to keep checking for updates.
Posted on May 5, 2009, at 9:58 AM .
Neverfail is a disaster recovery solution for mobile messaging on BES, that protects users from losing important data. Their latest announcement includes support for the Novell GroupWise messaging system.
Neverfail protects against planned and unplanned outages of messaging servers, SQL configuration databases and the BES itself. With the option to deploy locally for high availability or remotely for disaster recovery, Neverfail provides a single solution that does not require the re-architecture of existing systems or upgrades of software to maintain delivery of e-mail if components in the infrastructure fail.
Posted on May 5, 2009, at 9:12 AM .
Viigo’s updates just keep coming. Their latest update includes a partnership with Dynamic Funds to make online content and support tools for financial advisors easily accessible on a Blackberry.
The latest channel addition will get you over 300 funds with information on daily change by value and percentage, the closing price and the previous day’s price. There is also a news channel that features commentary from Dynamic portfolio managers, a calendar that details upcoming events such as webinars, practice management resources and audio podcasts.
Grab App World from your BlackBerry Browser and download Viigo for the latest updates.
Posted on May 5, 2009, at 8:42 AM .
As we have said before, WES 2009 is not the place for device launches. As much as we wanted to see the BlackBerry Niagara launch, this conference is not about hardware. The major news is BES 5.0, security updates, an alliance with HP as well as the release of RIM’s push API’s to developers.
As Mike Lazaridis took the stage, part of me was hoping that he would talk hardware for just a moment but it wasn’t going to happen. Mike took us through some figures, reflecting on the success of the BlackBerry over the past 10 years. Some measures of success include:
- 10 years of BlackBerry sales.
- 50 million sold, 26 million in this fiscal year alone.
- The BlackBerry has become “mission critical.”
Mike Lazaridis focused his keynote on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) 5.0. The latest updates to BES help organizations make push services work for them more efficiently, and ultimately save organizations costs.
The part I enjoyed most about Mike’s keynote was when he quoted Rove’s ELLB movement almost verbatim. At one point Mike Lazaridis said, “what if you could leave your laptop behind?” This idea truly embodies the direction and vision at RIM. Your mobile device is become so feature rich and powerful, that eventually your laptop will become obsolete.
Mike Lazaridis’ favorite development at RIM? App World. Mike talked about how he started his career as a developer, and the development community is what makes this device so robust. App World is helping developers make more money for their work, and get their apps in front of millions of potential buyers. App World also fosters competition, encouraging developers to make better and cheaper applications.
WES has some great news for developers and enterprise but this conference has moved away from the consumer space. Perhaps device launches are going to be left in the hands of carriers.
