Posted on November 24, 2009, at 9:16 am .
BlackBerry Cool has been asking me about what BlackBerry apps can do and recently the notion of malicious applications has come up. In this article, I address what third party apps can do, and how it relates to the safety of your personal data.
The first area to look at are you emails. Emails can contain very private personal information including username/password combinations and if the user isn’t diligent, credit card information. It is possible to listen for incoming messages and pull out their contents, so you should always be cautious of any app looking to alter email permissions. I would have to look more into whether an app can read all of your existing messages that were already on your device before the app was installed. I can’t think of a good use case for this so I obviously haven’t tried it myself.
Username and Password information are commonplace with third party apps. As for stealing 3rd party passwords, it all depends on how the 3rd party app/service is storing things on the device. For example, a developer can listen to framework calls (I won’t divulge how) and check to see what parameters are passed into those calls (for example the identifier that specifies where a password is kept in persistent storage).
Continue reading about what BlackBerry apps can do and the security of your personal data
Posted on November 24, 2009, at 6:06 pm .
Twinkler Software have released a pretty cool application that controls the WiFi status and saves battery power. It works by remembering the location of your WiFi hotspots, so you can leave WiFi off and save battery. When you enter the WiFi zone, WiFi Hero will boot up your WiFi connection and connect you. It also has 2 other modes for changing your WiFi status including screen and charging status.
1. Location Based. In this mode, WiFi Hero will automatically learn the location of the WiFi Hotspot you are currently connected to, and when WiFi is not connected (you are out of range of this Hotspot), WiFi Hero will automatically turn off WiFi – and when you come back to the same Hotspot location, it will automatically turn on WiFi.
2. Screen Status. In this mode, WiFi Hero will automatically turn on WiFi when the screen is on and automatically turn off WiFi when the screen is off – making this very useful when you use your Blackberry to browse the web.
3. Charging Status. In this mode, WiFi Hero will automatically turn on WiFi when the device is on charge, and automatically turn off WiFi when device is not charging and on battery power.
WiFi Hero is $4.99 and there does seem to be a free trial available.
Posted on November 24, 2009, at 5:22 pm .
Google Apps Connector gives those on a BES, the full Google Apps experience but imbued with power of the BES and RIM’s Push technology. The service has today been updated to version 1.5, and they have included:
- Support for more devices. Large businesses can support 500 BlackBerry devices per server, double the previous number.
- The Apps Connector now supports BlackBerry Professional Software.
- A single BlackBerry Enterprise Server to serve users in multiple Google Apps domains.
Stay tuned because Google will have more updates to come.
Posted on November 24, 2009, at 11:44 am .
It’s pretty normal for RIM to announce something before it’s available but I thought it would be better to ignore the embargo time of 10AM EST and wait until Media Sync 3.0 was available and I can tell you to go download it. While the official download time is noon EST, I’ve been getting emails saying you can actually go right now and download it.
The latest BlackBerry Media Sync 3.0 adds 2-way photo sync with your PC via files and folders. The latest version is all about making the experience more user friendly and simple, which they have definitely done.
Here is a quick summary of the latest update:
Click through for more about BlackBerry Media Sync 3
Posted on November 24, 2009, at 10:48 am .
Thanks to everyone who commented on the Super BabyGO! giveaway post. We are in the process of getting the winners their free copies of this cool app.
If you didn’t win, stay tuned because we will surely have more from the Zeebu Mobile team coming. If you didn’t get a copy but you want to try it on a free trial, go ahead and grab it from their site.
Super BabyGO! is available for $5.99, or on a free trial from App World.
Click through to see the 25 winners of a copy of Super BabyGO!
Posted on November 24, 2009, at 10:28 am .
One of the more popular apps for BlackBerry is QuickLaunch, a simple app that gives you access to any preset application with a few clicks. In the same style is an app called Super QWERTY that provides you single shortcut key access to all your apps. Just launch the app with “q” from the main screen and follow up with the next corresponding key for whatever app you would like to launch.
Super QWERTY are giving away 30 copies of the software for you to try it out. Just use the coupon code BBCOOLSQWERTY to get one of 30 free copies.
Super QWERTY is also available on a free trial or purchase for $3.99.
Drop us a comment and let us know what you think of this app.
Posted on November 24, 2009, at 10:24 am .
The BlackBerry Storm 9520 has a leaked version of OS 5.0.0.341 available on RS. There’s no telling how long it will be up so make sure you head over now before it gets pulled. We’ve heard the build is stable but if you find otherwise, comment and let everyone know. Also, you may have to be a premium member to download if there are no slots available.
Download OS 5.0.0.341 for the BlackBerry Storm 9520.
Posted on November 23, 2009, at 5:32 pm .
We’ve covered SmrtGuard a lot in recent months because they have a solid product we can stand behind. Well they’ve gone version 2.02 and the latest version comes with a free trial for new users. The free trial is risk-free as well, because now you can sign up without any payment information.
What’s new in v2.02:
• Risk-free Trial without payment information.
• Added Remote Backup Function to allow ad-hoc backup to be trigger remotely. (Issue a remote backup before a remote data wipe).
• Added a new Location History Tab on the SmrtGuard Dashboard that displays all of your historical locations.
• Remote Listen feature now allows users to issue call forwarding remotely. This is useful when users forget their smartphone at home but need to re-route calls to another phone.
You can check SmrtGuard out today in either monthly, semi-annual, or annual service subscriptions.
Posted on November 23, 2009, at 5:13 pm .
The BlackBerry Curve 8300 was the top selling smartphone in the US again, according to the NPD Group. RIM beat out the iPhone 3GS and 3G which came in second and third. What really drove home sales for RIM was taking the rest of the top 5 with the Tour and Storm.
NPD is saying the BOGO campaigns (Buy One Get One) were largely responsible for the Curve taking the lead, and prices for the devices are lower than ever. Globally, prepaid BlackBerry plans are driving sales, and regions such as Asia and Latin America are going to be big revenue generators for RIM.
Posted on November 23, 2009, at 10:56 am .
mySportRules.com is developing a series of new mobile apps around the complete rules of sport and is currently seeking feedback on their first BlackBerry game.
You Make The Call, is a cool new game that uses full motion video. You’re the umpire and you have to make some difficult calls in various baseball game scenarios. Make the right call before the clock counts down and add up your score. Challenge your friends!
NOTE: This is a preliminary demo only and not all the features are fully functioning. However, the good folks at mySportRules are giving BlackBerry Cool readers an advanced preview, in the hopes that you’ll leave some helpful feedback.
The game demo can be downloaded and played on newer devices such as the Bold, Storm, Tour, 9700 and Curve 8900. The demo was built exclusively for the high resolution devices and will not play properly with low res devices (older Curve models, Pearl etc).
BlackBerry OS v4.5+ (Bold, Curve 8900 etc.)
Go to http://www.mysportrules.com/bbcool/4.5 from your BlackBerry to download OTA.
BlackBerry OS v4.7+ (Storm, Tour etc.)
Go to http://www.mysportrules.com/bbcool/4.7 from your BlackBerry to download OTA.
MySportRules.com are asking:
What do you like the best about the game?
What do you dislike the most about the game?
What was your overall user experience?
How likely is it you would buy this game: Not Likely / Somewhat Likely / Very Likely?
Do you have any other comments or suggestions?
Need for Speed ProStreet
NBA Street by EA SPORTS
Marble Madness
Embrace Washington
Embrace Moscow
Embrace Vancouver
