The private sector has been doing an incredible job of creating useful applications for smartphone users. Much of the success and boom of the app economy can ultimately be attributed to Apple pioneering the embedded on-device App Store, and showing the average consumer what a smartphone can do. Apps have been available for a long time before the App Store, but they were always something that only the uber-geek knew about. Other smartphones have done an excellent job of creating an app market for developers including RIM. If there is a problem that a smartphone can help solve, it’s almost guaranteed theses days that someone will create an application and try and make a dollar. But what about government? Your local government can play a crucial role in fostering more useful smartphone applications through a movement called Open Data.
Your local government collects an incredible amount of data on daily basis. Everything from real estate conditions, crime rates, weather reports to public transit schedules and maps. Open data is about taking all of this data and making it available with a license that gives users the right to use the data, merge it with other data sets, modify it, and re-distribute it. Open data is also about encouraging governments to package this data in a format that is easy for programs to read and manipulate. Continue reading ‘Open Data: The Role of Government in Fostering Smartphone Applications’
According to the latest rumors, the BlackBerry tablet aka the BlackPad aka the BlackBerry Cobalt, will be a “companion device” much like the Palm Foleo. The device will have no cellular connectivity, but will rely on either a Bluetooth or WiFi connection. The device is slated for a December launch, but it’s very possible we’ll see something earlier. Also in the rumor mill: the device will be focused on multimedia such as photos, web browsing, ebooks etc.
I’m still very torn on the idea of a BlackBerry tablet, but I’m also not sold on tablets in general. What is the point when you have a smartphone, a laptop and a desktop? The only thing that’s going to sell me on a tablet is the software. I bet we’ll start to see some incredible apps coming out for the iPad in the near future, as Apple has had great success in attracting bright developers to their platform. RIM has had success attracting enterprise developers and companies that can leverage the power of the device for business, but in terms of media and games the platform is still far behind the competitors. So if this BlackBerry tablet is going to be focused on media, BlackBerry’s greatest weakness, and software is the only thing that’s going to save this device, it’s not clear whether the product makes any sense at this point in time.
BigHand for BlackBerry is a dictation app that is now in version 4, and includes several new features that are reminiscent of vPost. In version 4 of BigHand, you have the ability to take and attach photos from within the dictation app, append new documents and/or review finalized docs on-the-go, add advanced profile info and centrally configure via BES.
Features in BigHand 4 include:
Take and attach photos to dictations: allowing users to both take photos from within BigHand software and automatically attach them to the related voice file for submission.
Document attachments: attach any document or file type to BigHand dictations on a BlackBerry and submit them to the relevant workflow. Any file which can be browsed to can be attached. The files will also be accessible from the desktop client once sent.
Review finalised documents: authors can instantly access and review final documents, driven by the BigHand system, from their Smartphone without having to access their network via a laptop
Advanced profiling: add additional and customised profile information to dictations prior to submission. The profile data is then also accessible in the desktop client.
Full ‘Work in Progress’ visibility: view all your dictations, including those submitted from the desktop, on the BlackBerry instead of just those submitted from the device.
Full central configuration: all BlackBerry client settings will be configurable from the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, giving system administrators full control over device settings.
Cnectd (“,) have launched a beta of their chat and social networking service on BlackBerry and they’re looking for users to try it out. The service looks very similar to BBM, in that you can set up groups and the user interface is similar. Cnectd have a broader range of devices that are able to connect to the service, and it seems this is another attempt at bringing the success of BBM cross platform.
The Pushups app for BlackBerry is a training regiment to help you reach 100 pushups. The app gives you a graph and encouragement to reach 100 pushups in a six week time frame. With only 30 minutes per week, this app is going to help you get more fit and reach triple digit pushups.
One feature that is missing from this app is Twitter integration. Ideally, the app would tweet each time you reach a benchmark of pushups. Also, at $6.99 (currently on sale for $3.99) the app is a little on the pricey side.
TurkCell has officially launched OS 5.0.0.656 for the Bold 9700. This is a TurkCell build so make sure to delete the vendor.xml file if you have a different carrier. Reports so far are positive and it seems this OS build has some positive impacts on battery life. Users are saying this build is a step up from the leaked version.
