Posted on December 24, 2009, at 12:03 PM .
Twinkler Software have launched a new app called InstantLog. The app runs in the background and logs your calls, SMS messages and emails to the calendar. Optionally, InstantLog can also record all Incoming, Outgoing, and Missed Calls to the Calendar. The app features a Logging Firewall that allows the user to define email and SMS messages that will not be logged for privacy purposes. This app is helpful for anyone looking to record communications for billing purposes, or to keep track of important communications.
More information available about InstantLog available at the BlackBerry Cool store.
Posted on December 23, 2009, at 2:42 PM .
Bplay have launched a new animated BlackBerry theme called Glitter Motion. The theme is an update of sorts to the original Glitter theme, adding a lot more twinkle and different icon placement. This theme is available for almost every BlackBerry, and it’s sure to be a winner for anyone who liked the original Glitter theme.
Purchase Glitter in Motion for $6.99.
Posted on December 23, 2009, at 1:40 PM .
Click to enlarge the image
BoxTone have provided CIO with the details as to what happened during the BlackBerry outage. According to BoxTone, the problems began between 3PM and 4PM EST. BlackBerry Messenger and BIS internet browsing outages were quickly reported around the web.
Between 6:30 and 7:00 PM, the problem extended to BES email, preventing the delivery of emails for anyone on a BES. BoxTone began noticing a large increase in messages pending, and generated a warning alert before their customers flooded them with calls. BoxTone also placed all affected BES and Carriers in a Critical state on their customers’ Operations Dashboards (depicted by the red dots next to each BES and carrier). The steady growth in Pending Messages beginning around 6:45 continued until the issue was resolved early this morning. From their monitoring data, it appears that BES were able to communicate with the RIM NOC throughout the outage; however, the NOC was unable to deliver messages.
At about 12:09AM, BoxTone detected a brief disconnect in teh SRP connection of each BES to the NOC; it appears RIM reset the NOC SRP connection to complete their fixes. Following this reset, delivery of BES mail resumed.
By 2:45 AM or earlier, BoxTone detected that most customers’ email and services were back to normal and the backlog of pending emails had been delivered. BoxTone generated notifications informing their users that their service levels had returned to normal and updated the status of the BES and carriers to Normal.
Overall, this outage seems to have lasted around 7 hours. Thankfully, it wasn’t during peak hours, or this could have seriously impacted the working day. I hope RIM does a much better job of fixing these outages because 7 hours is way too long.
Posted on December 23, 2009, at 12:15 PM .
The BlackBerry outage that has been affecting users across North America was caused by BBM and it’s crucial that everyone download the latest version of BBM (5.0.0.57) to correct the issue.
Download the latest BBM from www.blackberry.com/messenger.
According to an official statement from RIM:
RIM Statement – December 23rd – A service interruption occurred Tuesday that affected BlackBerry customers in the Americas. Message delivery was delayed or intermittent during the service interruption. Phone service and SMS services on BlackBerry smartphones were unaffected. Root cause is currently under review, but based on preliminary analysis, it currently appears that the issue stemmed from a flaw in two recently released versions of BlackBerry Messenger (versions 5.0.0.55 and 5.0.0.56) that caused an unanticipated database issue within the BlackBerry infrastructure.
RIM has taken corrective action to restore service. RIM has also provided a new version of BlackBerry Messenger (version 5.0.0.57) and is encouraging anyone who downloaded or upgraded BlackBerry Messenger since December 14th to upgrade to this latest version which resolves the issue. RIM continues to monitor its systems to maintain normal service levels and apologizes for any inconvenience to customers.
RIM has got to pick up its socks and not let these outages continue to happen. It has to be the worst public relations disaster for a company that prides itself on reliability. Hopefully this will change in the New Year.
