The voice of the BlackBerry community.
Vlingo has announced that they are available for the BlackBerry Storm 2. Right now, you can download Vlingo for Storm 2 and Storm 1 if you have upgraded to 5.0. If you have already paid for Vlingo Plus, you will get the premium features loaded on the new version automatically.
While it’s not yet up on App World, you can grab your copy from Vlingo themselves.
These elecite themes are getting better and better. The latest is called Stasis and it’s available for both the Storm and Storm2. All you have to do is make sure to download the 5.0 version of the theme.
This theme comes with 6 customizable icons, open and close hatch buttons and is full of animations. Even though it looks cluttered, the theme is very easy to navigate.
ProfilerPro is an app that lets you completely customize the sound profiles on your BlackBerry. You can schedule profiles each day to change from one profile to another, as well set different wallpapers and ringtones based on the day. ProfilerPro also integrates with the BlackBerry Calendar application. You can schedule a profile switch by creating a new appointment and the profile will automatically switch when the appointment starts and ends.
ProfilerPro is available today for $3.50 (regularly $6.99).
Kryos are a company here at the BlackBerry Developer Conference that help companies build applications for BlackBerry. Their latest announcement allows companies to rapidly develop and deploy LBS applications.
The platform used in developing these applications is called the Velocity Mobile Platform, which is now in version 1.2. The latest iteration of the platform supports GPS and offers a number of features such as device side scripting and validation, graphing, and BlackBerry OS 5.0 support for the latest BlackBerry smartphones including the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and BlackBerry Storm2 9550.
So if there are companies out there looking to get their LBS applications on the latest devices, but may not have the in-house tools to do so, Kryos may be your gateway.
Here at the BlackBerry Developer Conference, Loopt have announced a major update to their free BlackBerry app. The Loopt application is a location based services app that connects relevant people and placing while constantly running in the background.
Today we got a demo of Loopt by Sam Altman, CEO of Loopt, to show off the latest features as RIM announce their latest location services. The app now offers dynamically-generated, relevant local content about places and events from some of the best sources on the Web to help users meet up with nearby friends, explore new places to grab food, and find local events happening now. Feature highlights include:
The latest location services from RIM offer some great implications for BlackBerry apps.
The latest location services from RIM use cell tower triangulation to help with location based apps. Using cell tower triangulation, you can get location services inside a building where you wouldn’t normally get a GPS signal.
Another feature of the new location services is that it leverages a community generated database of information. An example of this is pictured above where a map displays all the available cell towers around the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco.
For a good example of an app that leverages these new services, check out Loopt in App World.
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BlackBerry apps are going to get very consumer friendly, very fast as RIM keep making announcements about new features and services for developers that appeal to the consumer market.
Today, at the BlackBerry Developer Conference, RIM and Adobe announced that creative professionals and application developers will be able to use the Adobe Flash Platform and Adobe Creative Suite content development and authoring tools, to easily create rich content and application experiences for BlackBerry.
With Flash, OpenGL support and the new GUI builder, BlackBerry apps in 2010 are going to look very different than in 2009.
For more information, developers can visit the BlackBerry Developer Zone and Adobe Developer Site.
RIM have a great new initiative called the BlackBerry Academic Program that will provide colleges and universities around the world with a curriculum and course content to offer courses in administering and supporting the BlackBerry solution and developing for the BlackBerry platform.
These courses are going to be good for helping boost not only the BlackBerry developer community, but the smartphone industry. The more young, bright students that are interested in these technologies, the better.
Course content is currently available for mobile application development for BlackBerry, administration of BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and support for BlackBerry.
For more information, see the BlackBerry Academic Program official page.
Today is the first day of the BlackBerry Developer Conference and Cortado are running fun competition they call “Apps Need Printing.” The challenge calls on developers to test Cortado’s new, Java-based CHAPI (Content Handling API, JSR-211) interface and submit suggestions for the best and most original use of printing within an application.
The deadline for submission for the “Apps need printing!” competition is December 9, 2009. In addition to originality, expected market opportunity will also be a factor when deciding the winners. First, second and third place winners will receive a Nintendo Wii as well as a Cortado marketing and partner package worth $5,000 USD.
By the end of the year, Cortado plans to provide BlackBerry users with its printing service for free. Providers of BlackBerry smartphone applications will also benefit from the service because they will be able to add the “Print” function to their own app at no cost.
Can anyone think of some cool apps that would benefit from printing?
The voice of the BlackBerry community.
