Mike sent us his video walkthrough of the Allerta InPulse watch which looks pretty decent. The device alerts you of incoming emails, SMS and phone calls. You can also view a history of message notifications to check to see what you missed. The watch seems like it would be really handy for anyone who doesn’t keep their BlackBerry on them in a readily accessible manner. For example, girls who keep their BlackBerry in their purse, could have this watch and not have to dig around in their purse each time they get an alert. If you’re at a conference, you could keep your phone in your laptop bag and only take it out when the watch alerts you of an important call or message. Check out the video and let us know what you think.
This year’s CTIA was impressive on many levels: the innovation, the people, and the parties. All of these affirm the fact that CTIA is one of the world’s premier mobile conferences.
While RIM may have dropped the ball, it is promising to see how so many companies are building out their products and services to leverage the BlackBerry ecosystem.
App testing companies like Mob4Hire and DeviceAnywhere did a great job of letting the development and business community know that there are effective alternatives to in-house testing which can expedite time-to-market and better an overall app experience. Carriers from all around the world were working the show floor to investigate the latest and greatest the CTIA exhibitors had to offer. Accessory manufacturers, outsourcing firms, development agencies, financial service firms, and VC’s were abound in great numbers further promoting the fact that the future of mobile is friendly. Continue reading ‘CTIA 2010 Final Impressions: The PlayBook Could Have Been the Hottest Thing Here’
XIMAD let us know about their free 5001 Amazing Facts app that is available free in App World. The app has some funny facts in it, including the above which reads “It is estimated that at any one time, around 0.7% of the world’s population is drunk.” Overall, 5001 Amazing Facts looks like it could be a fun little time-waster, assuming the facts are accurate. One funny review on App World reads: “I stopped after it told me that karate began in India and was developed in China. Others sounded bogus, too, but that one was glaringly bad.”
Show Me the Images is a cool app by BBerryGo that automatically downloads the images in your emails without requiring you to select “Get Images” from the menu. The app will download images based on how you have configured it. For example, you can download images based on a safe list of trusted email sources, automatically for every email, or set it to not download automatically at all. Recently, the app has been updated to version 1.3 with the following added and fixed:
Cleaner interface
Consolidate Addresses – Ability to scan safelist/blocklist for address that have common domain names and create one entry out of many!
WiFi-only download of images to save on data charges for users on limited plans
Download Attachments option to Show Me the Images menu entry (OS 5.0+; Images only)
Backup and Restore menus to Options screen.
Add e-mail address found in an active field to safelist or blocklist
Fixed toolbar not showing up on Torch for attachment folder picker
Full BlackBerry 6 compatibility (no workarounds)!
Prompt no longer displays on subsequent e-mails with embedded images (OS 6.0)
One of the more innovative companies I’ve seen at CTIA is Billing Revolution and their Single-Click Checkout process. The idea is to simplify the mobile purchasing experience by streamlining the mobile checkout. They don’t have a BlackBerry app but they do facilitate browsers based purchasing which is a great approach because it works across all platforms. So if you’re a BlackBerry app developer, mobile advertiser, retailer, manufacturer, etc. I suggest you check it out because it could optimize your mobile purchasing process. They also have subscription billing and donation billing to accommodate varying needs.
A special BlackBerryCool thanks goes out to the entire Billing Revolution team for having a great CTIA party on a decommissioned coast-guard boat at pier 38.
