Posted on July 7, 2011, at 2:04 PM .
The average consumer simply doesn’t care about security today, but they will in 5 years. You can’t go an entire week without reading a story about the Chinese Government or some hacker group trying to access an individual or corporation’s private data. As smartphones become more ubiquitous, users are going to buy more of the smartphone platform that affords them more protection against malware and potential theft of personal data.
Recently, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security warned that clicking on an infected PDF file “is sufficient to infect the mobile device with malware without the user’s knowledge” on several versions of Apple’s iOS operating system. A statement filed said that cyber criminals could access confidential information such as passwords, online banking data and emails.
Posted on July 7, 2011, at 1:47 PM .
Recently, Captain Johnathan Springer of the US Army developed a really cool iOS app that can pinpoint the coordinates of enemy gunfire. Traditionally, pinpointing enemy gunfire is the support of a fire support officer, and involves a compass, binoculars, a map, a protractor, a GPS device – a secondary GPS device in case one fails – and batteries. A smartphone can replace all of these tools and provide much more, making it the perfect combat tool for a soldier.
Smartphone apps also have the ability to save the military lots of money where it tends to be wasted. Logistics, bureaucracy, communication, and training can all be improved with apps used in the field. Currently, Springer’s app is sold in the App Store for $5.99, but a wholesale purchase by the Department of Defense could make this app readily available.
The biggest hurdle for smartphone apps in the military is probably choosing a device and making sure it’s secure. Although Springer’s Tactival NAV app is developed for iOS, the BlackBerry would make the best platform for military apps. How cool would a modern BlackBerry in an Otterbox Defender Series case be in the field? The military could empower smaller, special forces divisions such as the Green Berets with BlackBerrys and the latest military apps. It would surely make them a more effective fighting team. Or maybe we could just see more smartphones used in Hollywood military movies like the Nokia X7 in Transformer.
Posted on July 7, 2011, at 1:24 PM .
RIM has announced that BlackBerry WebWorks SDK 2.1 is available for BlackBerry smartphones. The update comes on the heels of the WebWorks SDK for the Tablet OS and provides similar functionality and APIs to the smartphone OS.
The new capabilities that WebWorks developers can now leverage include NTML & BASIC Authentication support, Camera API, Top Banner Indicator API, Enhanced Push APIs and improved rendering speeds for some applications. The WebWorks SDK also gives developers access to better app monetization methods such as better integration with the BBM Social Platform.
Developers can learn more about the new APIs at this link and can download the latest WebWorks SDK for BlackBerry Smartphones here.
Posted on July 7, 2011, at 12:26 PM .
Rogers has flipped the switch on the LTE network in Ottawa and the above map shows the coverage. The coverage is really decent and it’s interesting that Rogers chose Ottawa as the launch city. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the city is so incredibly vast and 90% of it is in a country setting. That brings to mind what the value of LTE is over WiFi. While LTE speeds are great for those who are on the move and want high speeds on their laptop, most people will probably just opt for a location with WiFi if possible. There are very few times when the average person is going to be in need of a connection, with no WiFi available, unable to tether or in need of speeds faster than 3G, and willing to pay the price for the Rocket Stick.
Who is actually buying into LTE? Perhaps we should be looking at better WiFi solutions before thinking about how to get little Johnny playing Call of Duty on his laptop while on the 20 minute bus ride home.
We’re also not even sure how much the Rocket Stick even costs yet. According to Rogers, it will be $169.99 no term and $79.99 on a 3-year. Plan details will be announced when the sticks are available for pickup.
Posted on July 7, 2011, at 11:57 AM .
Sympatico has launched their mobile portal app on BlackBerry App World. The free, bilingual app delivers Sympatico’s Canadian users access to news, music and entertainment stories, similar to what’s found on their Sympatico.ca portal. Sympatico’s mobile portal app also features a number of mobile features like location-based content including local weather, as well as push notifications for breaking news, a built-in QR code reader and the ability to share news items over social networks.
Download the Sympatico.ca mobile portal app for free in App World.
Posted on July 6, 2011, at 3:31 PM .
We’ve taken 2 apps that are new to each smartphone and we’ll be posting this type of roundup every now and then. It’s fun to see what’s popping up on other platforms and as most developers are interested in more than one platform these days, it might prove inspirational. There also seems to be a difference in the types of applications that appear on each smarpthone and these roundups should begin to reveal the difference in what you can expect app-wise from each platform. For example, BlackBerry apps are generally much more about adding new features and contextual menus than iOS apps which are more about games and media. Click through to check out new apps on each platform.
Continue reading ‘New Apps on iOS, Android and BlackBerry: ComicBook!, Google+, Checkin King and More’
