Many of you have noticed this option but in case you haven’t, go to Options > Device > Location Settings and scroll down a little. There, you’ll see the Enable GPS option with a message that says: “Anonymously collects data to improve the speed and accuracy of future location services.” The intent is pretty clear and RIM is building a database of location data in order to be able to improve their software. RIM is explicit that the data is anonymous and give the user the ability to disable. Again, if Apple and Google had been this open about their location data collection, it probably wouldn’t have turned into such a debacle.
Read more over at SmrtGuard’s Resource Center where they’ll have regular content in the mobile security space.
RIM has been working on the BlackBerry Messenger SDK so developers could leverage the mobile social platform. BBM boasts 35 million users and has been gaining momentum as a platform ever since it launched in early 2006.
Telmap was the first to integrate BBM into their real-time location app since RIM’s announcement of the platform last September.
Telmap uses BBM to manage friends and permissions, then the Telmap Mobile Location Companion app displays the location. The Location Companion app allows users to navigate to their friends’ location either by car or walking.
Today at BlackBerry World, RIM announced that the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones will be shipping with Augmented Reality software Wikitude. This will be one of the first utilizations of the new Bold series’ digital compass and will allow users to browse the over 150 million Augmented Reality items already in their system.
The Wikitude World Browser has won the “best Augmented Reality browser” in 2009 and 2010 by readers of Augmented Planet.
I look forward to see what sort of apps and use cases come out of the new Bolds’ AR-friendly features. The influx of BlackBerry users into the AR space will mean a lot more user generated content. It will be interesting to see AR leveraged by BBM’s colossal user base.
Tourality is a location-based scavenger hunt game that you can play with up to 40 players. The game challenges you to a race to reach different locations and collect gold. Players can steal gold from you too so beware. As you go through the game trying to find the various goals, you can also use gold to buy gadgets which give you an advantage in the game. For example, you can spend 200 gold on the Blinder gadget, which blinds your opponents for 2 minutes, allowing you to get a lead on them. Continue reading ‘Tourality Multiplayer Scavenger Hunt Game Now Available’
Aion has updated their aiSPot GPS Toolset app with improved maps view, better integration with BlackBerry Maps, as well as Italian and Russian language support.
A 2010 BlackBerry Super Apps Challenge, Regional Selection, aiSPot GPS Toolset has a long feature set that makes it a powerful app for anyone in need of a good mapping app. One particularly cool feature of aiSpot is the map view which constantly aligns according to your movement. Overlayed on the map is a compass with bearing (azimuth to the destination point), and trip parameters like the course angle, distance covered, and more.
American news agency the Associated Press launches two news apps on App World. AP Mobile world edition utilizes location-based services to deliver localized news. AP Móvil América Latina brings localized news to 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries in either Portugese or Spanish.
