Posted on September 14, 2009, at 1:03 pm .
Location based services have been getting an incredible amount of attention by investors and consumers alike. LBS adds another layer of data to our mobile experience, and has the ability to enrich almost any application we use today.
Centrl is the latest LBS application for BlackBerry (also available for other platforms) and it is completely free of charge. The service also lets you login from your existing accounts (Facebook, MySpace, iGoogle, Friendster, Ning, Hi5, bebo, Orkut, iTimes, or Sonico) which means there’s no need to register.
Like any good LBS application, Centrl pulls in data from Yelp, Citisearch, Wikipedia and other databases, in order to help users find location sensitive information. The app will also broadcast your whereabouts, and help you connect with friends and users.
One particularly unique feature of this application is that it offers a free IM client that is displayed on the map. Users who are viewing the service on a PC, can communicate with users who are on their mobile, virtually in real-time and without fees for both sides.
Try it out for yourself! Again, Centrl is a free service that will only get better as more users get on board. See who is using it in your area.
Download Centrl for your BlackBerry OTA by pointing to http://centrl.com/bb/centrl.jad from your BlackBerry browser.
[Via]
Posted on August 24, 2009, at 10:13 am .
RIM will be funding $337,500 of a $1.3 million University of Calgary project that will study ways to improve satellite signals inside buildings.
We know RIM is very keen on LBS technologies and there are some great implications for seeing GPS fully-functional indoors and where the signal is normally very weak. The idea is that many LBS technologies are greatly improved by more users sending in data and coordinates. If these users aren’t impeded by their surroundings, we’ll see more users on the network much faster, and therefore better and more useful apps.
[Via]
Posted on August 21, 2009, at 9:33 am .
Today Yelp launched their free application for BlackBerry. Yelp is one of the leading websites in providing community reviews of restaurants and information about local businesses. What makes the Yelp community more reliable in terms of reviews, is their system of attaching more weight to experienced reviewers. This makes it very difficult to manipulate.
Try it out and see what Yelp recommends in your neighborhood.
Download Yelp for BlackBerry for free by visiting m.yelp.com from your BlackBerry device.
UPDATE: If you’re having problems finding the download link: it’s at the top of the mobile site where it says “Got a BlackBerry? Get the Yelp app.”
Posted on August 6, 2009, at 2:45 pm .
Over 1,000 buzzd users were surveyed about mobile etiquette in a night club/bar, and the majority said that there was no etiquette whatsoever. While this isn’t breaking news, the survey asks some pretty funny questions and it’s worth reading.
A funny statistic that came from the study shows that 60% of users admitted to drunk dialing and 68% drunk texting. The survey isn’t your standard mobile industry research paper either, it gets really saucy. For example, the study goes on to ask users about their sex lives given the economic downturn.
The survey comes with the announcement of Buzz 1.2 which is now available in App World. New features include:
- The ability to add their own venues—one of the most requested features from the buzzd community
- Refine searches by category (e.g. restaurants only or bars & clubs only)
- Upload profile photos
- General speed enhancements all around and UI improvements
Click through for the full press release and survey results
Posted on July 16, 2009, at 10:11 am .
In a recent interview with RIM VP Jeff McDowell, it was brought up that App World had hit its 2,000th application. This may seem insignificant compared to the 40,000 applications in Apple’s App Store but there is a lot going on that is skewing the numbers.
While Jeff’s answer was good, saying “I don’t think it matters whether it’s 40,000 or 2,000, you’ve still got a broad range of choice,” there is something deceptive going on that should have been exposed during the interview.
Apple’s App Store, to put it simply, is bloated with “bulk apps.” These are template-based applications sold at the same price point with the same look and feel but different content. These applications are responsible for the spike in applications added to Apple’s App Store during the first six months of 2009, according to a new study published by hybrid location system developer Skyhook Wireless.
According to Skyhook, the App Store, which now has over 65,000 applications, added thousands of 99-cent bulk apps during the first half of the year. One unnamed developer, sells more than 850 travel applications based on the same template, with each individual app swapping out content based on specific vacation destinations. These mass-produced local search and travel guide apps now account for around one third of total iPhone LBS apps, Skyhook adds.
Continue reading about the deceptive numbers behind the App Store
Posted on July 14, 2009, at 9:00 am .
We’ve written about buzzd several times and today they have some great news for Canadians. buzzd is now optimized for Canadian locales as well as made available to BlackBerry Storm users.
If you haven’t heard, buzzd is a location-sensitive city guide and social network. They have had great success on App World with over 200K downloads in the first 30 days of being available in App World. buzzd is an easy way to discover what’s going on in your city and it leaves you rarely asking “what should we do tonight?”
The social aspects of buzzd mean editorially driven event and venue information, along with up-to-the-minute reviews and ratings from other members of the buzzd community, are available constantly. Users can browse and search continuously updated event feeds, which include pricing, location, and event details as well as the firsthand ratings and reviews posted from the event by other members in real-time.
Event and venue information is courtesy of Citysearch, Flavorpill, Time Out, MyOpenBar, last.fm, Upcoming.org and many other local content providers. User-generated feedback for “real-time” activity about venues and events is also layered at the top of event listings throughout the platform.
Download buzzd by visiting http://mobile.buzzd.com from your BlackBerry browser or download buzzd from your PC.
Posted on July 8, 2009, at 8:22 am .
When we last wrote about Snikkr, they were in a closed alpha testing phase and they’ve now gone public beta. The company is looking for a few thousand more beta users in the next six weeks, so if you have a relatively current BlackBerry (OS 4.5+), they would appreciate your feedback.
Snikkr for BlackBerry combines productivity, location and social networking features. The application is a mashup of Loopt, Latitude, Google Mobile Maps, Glympse, uLocate and Where, among others.
The company says their application helps with “social productivity.” The feature set make your social interactions and group events, from lunch to meetings to travel, more productive easier to manage.
Snikkr Mobile is now in open beta release. Register to get in the public beta.
Posted on July 7, 2009, at 11:35 am .
London-based Origin8 Technologies have released iWitness for BlackBerry. iWitness is a personal safety solution that provides a suite of GPS enabled alert and reporting tools, with server side location tracking and one touch ‘panic button’ emergency activation.
iWitness features include:
- Create an iWitness Alert Group of up to 16 friends, family members or professionals. One touch instantly sends an email alert to group members, including the user’s GPS location.
- Customise Alert Group settings and compose alert texts in advance. Store personal information, medical conditions and GP details for easy emergency access.
- A remote server can track the user’s GPS location at automatic intervals for added peace of mind.
- Record events with the BlackBerry’s camera or microphone, then email recordings to contacts in an iWitness Alert Group. Recordings are also stored on a secure server, meaning evidence is not lost even if the phone is stolen, broken or confiscated.
Purchase iWitness for BlackBerry for $4.99.
Posted on June 22, 2009, at 9:12 am .
Poynt is a great app that you can use daily. When we took a look at the app at WES 2009, we saw a ton of cool features, many of which have not yet launched but should be unofficially coming this summer (just a guess). Currently, you can search local businesses, people and movie theaters. Soon, you’ll have access to a complete restaurant search and booking service powered by Open Table.
Other features include:
GPS functionality has been optimized to provide faster accurate locates.
Cell-site locates allow Poynt to quickly access a user’s general location while awaiting a GPS lock.
Poynt is fully integrated with both BlackBerry Maps and Google Maps.
Poynt integrates with Gokivo Navigator to provide turn-by-turn voice navigation.
Users can add frequently accessed listings to their BlackBerry Contact List, providing convenience for future lookups.
Poynt is a free app and it’s available by hitting m.mypoynt.com from your BlackBerry browser.
Posted on June 8, 2009, at 8:43 am .
Centrl is a free location-based social network that runs on the web, iPhone, Android and Blackberry.
Centrl launched for BlackBerry May 18th, 2009 and they’ve grown to around 410,000 users across their various platforms. Users can get money-saving offers around them, keep in touch with their friends, chat with them for free (no SMS charges) and utilize many data layers such as yelp, wikipedia, etc. on the map.
To download Centrl, go to http://centrl.com/bb/centrl.jad from your desktop or BlackBerry Browser.
Which free LBS applications for BlackBerry have you liked most?
