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The Urbanspoon app is a really cool way to choose what restaurant you’re going to be eating at. All you do is let the app tumbler spin and it gives you either a random restaurant or style of cuisine. The app gives you all the relevant info about the restaurant too, including a number to call, map and reviews.
To download Urbanspoon for FREE, visit http://urbanspoon.com/blackberry from your blackberry browser.
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 BlackBerry Developer Conference kicked off with Jim Balsillie announcing a wide range of new tools available to BlackBerry developers that are going to redefine what we think of as a BlackBerry app.
The latest set of APIs available to BlackBerry developers are focused on making ad-supported apps easier to develop, and help to more easily monetize the developer’s hard work. The new BlackBerry Advertising Service will allow developers to integrate ads from networks such as Jumptap, Millennial Media, Navteq, 1020 Placecast, Quattro Wireless and Sympatico.ca. The Advertising Service and SDK will be available in the first half of 2010.
Click through for more announcements from the BlackBerry Developers Conference
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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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.
Download Centrl for your BlackBerry OTA by pointing to http://centrl.com/bb/centrl.jad from your BlackBerry browser.
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DubMeNow began as a way for BlackBerry users to easily exchange business card information and they’ve recently added a new feature to their app.
The new feature is called ‘Locate’ and it gives you the ability to exchange contact information such as email, phone, address, photo, etc. and links to their social networks, including: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs and more using their location.
The Locate feature should be a hit with users at a conference or venue that they know they’re going to want to exchange information with the people around them.
Included in the latest update are some new improvements as well including:
To download DubMeNow, visit http://m.dubmenow.com from your BlackBerry Browser, or find it free on App World.
Poynt has launched their restaurant services powered by Open Table this morning. The feature really rounds out the application and makes it one of the best LBS apps in App World.
The restaurant feature complements your location based services as it enables users to easily find nearby restaurants, read reviews and book dining reservations.
Once you get started with the new Poynt, load up the restaurant feature and check out the three ways to browse for food in your area: Restaurants Near Me, Restaurants By Name and Restaurants By Cuisine. The feature is fully integrated into your BlackBerry in that you get click-to-call, mapping, driving directions, integration
with BlackBerry Calendar, BlackBerry Contacts and BlackBerry Messages.
Download Poynt for free by visiting http://m.mypoynt.com from your BlackBerry Browser.
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.
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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.”
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