Flickr! for BlackBerry

For those of you who are fans of the Flickr! service, a free application for the BlackBerry is available for download by simply using your BB browser and surf on to www.blackberry.com/flickrdownload

Overview

Share your world with the world! Snap a picture and post it to Flickr right from your BlackBerry® smartphone.1,2,3

This mobile photo uploader is designed to offer the same features and functions you’re used to using on your computer. And, because of the familiar BlackBerry smartphone keyboard, menus and prompts, it’s easy to learn, fun to use and it’s free.4

Upload photos easily
Snap a picture, put it in the right album, tag it, and even adjust its size. Then post it with just a few quick clicks.

Geotag your pictures
If you’re using a BlackBerry smartphone with GPS capabilities you can also geotag images so that people who look at your pictures can tell where you uploaded them.5

Microsoft and RIM brings Windows Live to BlackBerry

For those of you who still rely on MSN/Windows Live messenger for your online chatting requirements, there's good news.

Microsoft and RIM are working together to bring another missing piece of the messenger chat puzzle to the BlackBerry. Native and free chat applications already exist for Google Talk and Yahoo Talk and now we're about to add Windows Live messenger to that list!

Great news for those who still rely on Windows Live as their main chat program I suppose. Long ago, I have already switched my office to use Google Talk so it's not a big deal for me. I don't really know too many people still stuck on MSN Messenger (oh sorry, Windows Live Messenger). It's a non event for me. Besides, I have IM+ installed so I've got MSN messenger, AOL, Jabber, ICQ and Myspace (as well as Google Talk and Yahoo) available on my Curve.. Hoo hum...

Read the press release

FindMe FaceBook location tagging for BlackBerry

A neat little "beta" program that basically allows you to associate a specific tagline or name to individual cell phone towers.

If you are within the cell coverage area you have associated with your house and you have tagged that particular cell, it will show your location on facebook as whatever you have named that particular cell. Like "home" or "office" or "Starbucks". If you have not tagged the cell, then your location shows as "unknown", plus you also have the option of going"dark" whereby no location data is provided at all. 

Sound's pretty neat and some of you may be tempted to check this application out. To find out more about this application and download it, click here

To read the press release regarding this program, click here

Offline Google Maps with TrekBuddy

The biggest problem with Google Maps is that you need to be within network coverage to download the maps for use with the BlackBerry's GPS capability.

Now there is a way to download the maps and save them on your BlackBerry beforehand. This means one of two things; you no longer have to incur expensive roaming GPRS data charges downloading the maps or you can use your device outside network coverage. This is useful if you are humping around in the boonies like say an palm oil plantation in Sabah or something.

TrekBuddy could be the savior to your problems! Read more and download it by following the link. Thanks Reza for the heads up!

Read more

BlackBerry Desktop Manager for the Mac?

An article on the popular site crackberry.com suggest that the end is near for the suffering that Mac-BlackBerry users have endured all these years. Rumor has it that RIM is developing a Mac version of the DM!

I hope this is more then a rumor. This would mean another reason why I no longer have to keep Boot Camp and a copy of Windows XP on my MacBook

Unfortunately, I still have a PC in the office that runs Vista (yuck!) for one reason alone; Entourage 2008 still doesn't completely sync with the Exchange server! It syncs emails, calendar and contact information without any problems but it still doesn't sync notes and to-do's!

Quite disappointing as I was led to believe all the bugs in the previous Office for Mac would be ironed out in the new version.

Anyway, if you want to read the article on crackberry.com regarding this click here

Google Maps for Blackberry HAS Kuching maps!

I made a great discovery today! Changes the world as I know it; well maybe not THAT dramatic. But it's close.

I was fiddling with my 8310 and the Google Maps application I installed a while back today (it was a slow day in the office) and I found that there are road maps to Kuching!

Previously, I was only aware that the satellite maps worked for Kuching but they lacked road names so wasn't much use as a navigation aid. All it could do was give you a birds eye view of where you were in relation to some pre-identified landmarks.

Now, I discover that there are road maps for Kuching that is complete with all but the minor road names and even listed some points of interest like schools, government buildings and others. It doesn't mark petrol stations  and shopping malls like other GPS software does though, but who cares! We have maps for Kuching!

I took a slow drive home after work and was pleased to see the GPS report my position quite accurately (according to the application, "within 3 meters"). A quick scan of the maps showed that it even the road all the way to Sematan is in its database with names of some kampungs along the way.

Celcom promised to develop maps for Sabah and Sarawak for users of the 8310. I wonder if its worth it now?

Missing Sync for Blackberry 10.3 released!

Version 10.3 of The Missing Sync for Blackberry which is OS X 10.5 Leopard compatible is now available for download here.

FIndit - Never lose your Blackberry again

This is a very interesting software that holds great promise if it performs as advertised. I haven't tried it so I rely on promotional materials found on the developers website

"Have you ever lost your Blackberry?

Do you hate the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, as you realize your life is on it?
Contacts, emails, calendars and pictures all gone.

Isn't it frustrating when you know it's around, but it's on silent so when you call it you can't hear it?

Isn't it exasperating when you don't know where you've lost it, but wish you could talk directly to the stranger who picks it up?

If you have FindIt for Blackberry, you can.


Here is how FindIt works:
If you lose your Blackberry, you open up a new email message addressed to yourself.
Type "pleasfindmenow" in the subject line, and in the body of the email type a message to whoever finds it. Then press send.
Your phone will start to ring and vibrate within in a few moments, regardless of if it is set to silent. A dialog box will pop-up on the screen with the message that you typed into the body of your email."

Organize your travel itinerary with WorldMate Live

WorldMate has been around for awhile now and has always been a popular choice for seasoned travelers who need to look up weather, currencies, flight details and convert metric to imperial.

Now there's a new twist to the story; WorldMate Live!

How would you like your travel details synced to your BB device? Flights, hotels, cars, meetings, public transportation? How would you like direct access to real-time information including flight details, delays, gate changes, maps and directions, phone numbers and etickets and confirmation numbers?


WorldMate Live monitors your itinerary and informs you of any important changes. You enter your trip details using a web based interface and you install a Blackberry client on your device. All the information is tailored to your itinerary and pushed to your device.

The basic package is free but the more advanced features; real time flight alerts, schedules and travel directory.

Check it out at www.worldmatelive.com

Blackberry Desktop Manager 4.3 now available for download

Download it now from www.blackberry.com

RIM launches Blackberry Professional Software

Research in Motion recently launched the Blackberry Professional Software, targeted at small to medium businesses.

Based on the Blackberry Enterprise Server but streamlined to meet the needs of small organizations with less then 30 Blackberry devices, it is available now at $499 for 5 users

Key features and benefits of BlackBerry Professional Software include:

• Small IT Footprint – Installs on the same server as the email system, saving customers the cost of additional hardware and operating system licenses.
• Support for the Leading Email Systems – Provides tight integration with Microsoft® Exchange or IBM® Lotus® Domino®, allowing a full complement of synchronized wireless services including access to email, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks.
• Simple Installation – A Pre-install Assistant utility performs a technical assessment of the environment and provides a recommended configuration making installation fast and easy with little or no requirement to determine configuration settings.
• Easy Management – Simplified BlackBerry Manager Interface is a one-stop location for most management tasks, and wizards and quick-links enable customers to easily change common functions such as adding or deleting a user. IT policies are also easy to set up with pre-defined IT policy templates.
• Advanced Security – Utilizes the same certified security architecture and encryption system of the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, which is trusted and accredited by more organizations around the world than any other wireless solution.
• BlackBerry® MDS (Mobile Data System) Support – Provides customers with the ability to extend internal applications to mobile employees and use any of the thousands of third party applications developed for the BlackBerry platform.

Read the press release

OS 4.3 will include video recording capabilities

Finally the ability to record video! Once the OS is released we can download it and flash our older Curves to take advantage of the video recording ability.

The Pearl doesn't support video recording in the current model so be forewarned Pearl users. The only Pearl that can record video is the new Pearl 8130 a.k.a. "Pearl 2".. Makes sense innit?

New version of Missing Sync coming soon

For those of you who are Mac users and Blackberry fans, a new version of Missing Sync will be available soon that will be compatible with Leopard, so remain patient.

Missing Sync is the only Mac program that allows Blackberry syncing with your Mac that actually works!

I have tried PocketMac but could never get it to work properly. However, the only drawback of Mac based Blackberry syncing is that you still can't install applications through it. I have tried running the windows version of Blackberry Desktop Manager on Parallels and it doesn't even recognize the device is present and this was the primary reason why I now carry a Sony Vaio laptop for work. Now that Leopard has been released and it includes Boot Camp, I will try if that solve my problem; I remain optimistic that BB Desktop Manager will work flawlessly under Boot Camp.

The current version of Missing Sync is 1.0.2 but there are still a few "minor" issues when running under Leopard. The developers have promised to remedy those issues when version 1.0.3 is released "soon".

The Beta version is available for download here. Be careful folks, it is Beta so download and install at your own risk.

Blackberry Facebook application a drain on battery life

Reports are being received from various websites that the newly launched Facebook application for the Blackberry is draining the battery life at an accelerated rate. However, RIM is denying that such a problem existed.

Read more

New versions of Google Talk and Yahoo Messenger available

New versions of these popular IM clients for the Blackberry are now available for download. Using your BB browser navigate to http://mobile.blackberry.com and download them straight to your device.

Here's the big new improvement on the Yahoo! Messenger for Blackberries.. it allows you to add MSN Messenger a.k.a. Live Messenger contacts in a similar fashion as the PC version does. It also shows the contact pictures which isn't that important if you ask me but now finally, we have support for the last major IM service (ok, AOL/iChat is still lacking) for FREE!

There are some limitations though, namely unless the person using Live Messenger has your Yahoo! messenger email as a contact on his Live list already, he won't be able to see you. And if someone from Live Messenger adds you, you can't approve his request from your device; you need to do that from the PC. But hey, it's a step in the right direction.

Google chat is a minor face-lift by the looks of it and it too allows for contact pictures to be displayed in the list; thats about it.

I have heard of a number of problems with YM2.0 on various devices. Firstly, it is advisable that your device runs OS4.2 so if you can upgrade it please do.

Secondly, if you get a java error when you boot and the Yahoo! icon has dissapeared try this:

Options>Advanced Options> Applications> (menu) Modules..
then delete "Net_rim_yahoomessenger (v.1.*.*) or something like that. Reboot (take the battery out, count to 10 reinsert the battery). If the problem doesn't come up, re-download/install.

Thanks goes to Steve who posted this work around on blackberryforums.com

GooSync.com

Goosync.com may be the answer to those who crave BES but have no access to it. If you use Google's services (email, calendar, contacts or otherwise) then this maybe for you. Depending on whether you use their free service or the premium pay service, it allows you to do bi-directional syncing of your calendar, contacts, syncing of confirmed meeting attendees and more..

Read more

Facebook application for the Blackberry!

For you Facebook addicts out there, a native Facebook application is now available for the Blackberry! Its available for download right now! One thing though, it requires version 4.2 or higher which means that those of you using 87xx or earlier; it wont work!

What does this mean?

Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones, which will be available as a free download*, makes it faster, easier and more convenient for users to stay wirelessly connected with their Facebook friends and colleagues. The application allows users to:

• Receive notifications and messages automatically – Leveraging the BlackBerry platform's push-based architecture, notifications and messages are automatically sent to the user; the user can also set a unique alert (vibration and/or ringtone) for Facebook related content
• Quickly access essential features – Convenient onscreen icons let users quickly change their Status, upload a photo, add a friend, poke someone, write on a Wall, or send a message. Users can also quickly scroll through messages and notifications as they do with email messages
• Invite friends to join Facebook and accept new friend requests
• Quickly snap and post pictures along with a caption and tags – The photo upload feature is also integrated with the BlackBerry smartphone camera and photo management applications on the smartphone
• View the Status of friends
• Read, compose and reply to messages even while offline – If the user is out of wireless coverage, messages are queued until the user returns to an area of coverage

To download use your BB browser and go to

www.blackberry.com/facebook/mobiledownload

Update on Blackberry Unite!

In a previous post we reported on a Blackberry software called Unite! that was released in conjunction with Telefonica in Spain recently.

Now we have some new details regarding this revolutionary software..

BlackBerry® Unite!™ software will allow a small group of up to 5 users to:

• Stay connected with wireless email and web browsing – enables easy wireless access to up to five supported email accounts (per user) using sophisticated wireless encryption security, allows shared contact lists and supports high-performance mobile web browsing.
• Coordinate schedules using shared calendars – provides a wireless shared calendar with the capability to check each others’ availability, set up or modify appointments and send reminders.
• Remotely access content – users can remotely download pictures, music, documents and other content on their desktop PC directly from their BlackBerry smartphone**.
• Share photos and files - users can share photos and files with other group members directly from their BlackBerry smartphone.
• Remotely secure the smartphones – includes simple controls to enforce password protection or wirelessly erase a lost or stolen handset.
• Control smartphone use - includes customizable wireless settings to control certain uses for each individual, such as the ability to restrict long distance calls or certain online content.
• Protect smartphone content – contacts, pictures and other data from the BlackBerry smartphone can be backed up automatically over the air (via a cellular or Wi-Fi® network) to the desktop PC.
• Set up quickly and easily – the BlackBerry Unite! software will be provided as a free download and, with the help of an easy-to-follow setup wizard, can be installed in minutes on a desktop PC.

This is awesome! Imagine the possibilities for families and small groups! Share calendars, pictures, MP3's and even wirelessly erase a stolen or lost device! AWESOME!!! When can we get this slice of heaven?

Read press release

BB Desktop Manager 4.3

The guys over at BGR have gotten hold of a pre-release copy Blackberry Desktop Manager 4.3
It seems that it's no more then a visual upgrade (it does look good doesn't it?) and includes newer versions of intellisync and Roxio Media Manager.

Read more

Microsoft Live Search for Blackberry!

Microsoft recently announced that its search engine Live Search is now available for the Blackberry. According to Microsoft

"Live Search for use with BlackBerry(R) Devices. Live Search designed for use with BlackBerry devices is in beta and will be available for download for free on Tuesday, Oct. 16. It is a new offering designed for use on BlackBerry OS 4.0.2 or later phones, and customers with GPS-enabled phones can use location awareness to enhance their searches."

Read more

Blackberry Unite!

Blackberry Unite software allows a group of users; family members of small businesses, stay in contact with one another and collaborate.

Share photos, music files, documents and calendars! Use a family address book so you will always have telephone numbers when you need it. Share family calendars so everyone will know where they should be and when.

The good news is that it is completely free! The bad news; its only available to current and future users of Telefonica of Spain for the time being.. Bummer!

Read more

Review: iBerry Software's Black & Whitelist

iBerry's Black & Whitelist is a very simple software that does what it says it does; allows you to selectively block individual numbers as well as private and unknown numbers from disturbing you on your BB. It's quite simple to use and you can either add numbers to the black or white list from the call log function or from the address book. You can either set the program to block those numbers on the blacklist, accept only numbers on the whitelist or numbers only from your address book. As mentioned earlier, it can also block private or unknown numbers.

The only complaint I have is that there is a slight delay between an call being received and the program doing its job; the delay, is heard by the caller in the form of half a ring. Makes it look like you are aware they called and that you diverted them purposely! How un-PC

Review: Pocket Day 5.1

Some of us actually envy Windows Pocket PC users for the Today screen that their devices have. From this one screen, you can have an overview of almost all things currently happening in your life and on your device. For Blackberry users, Pocket Day is the answer!

It shows a summary of all that is scheduled in your life as well as a weather function (that actually has Kuching in its database!) and a currency converter. These two are the clinchers for me. It also has a RSS feed function that can auto update at a certain time or time interval so you can have the most current The Star or BBC News (or whatever site you choose) waiting for you when you wake up and at regular intervals throughout the day. The weather function allows up to five locations to be customized and there is also a world clock function that can display up to four time zones simultaneously. Indispensable to the frequent traveler.

Find out more at the website of Cross River Systems or go to Handango.com to download a copy.

Read a review at www.berryreview.com

Blackberry Home Server

Rumor has it that Research In Motion is developing a consumer orientated software called Blackberry Home Server.

Blackberry Home Server is a software program that users will install on their PC or laptop which will have access to RIM's back end servers. It works similarly to BES whereby you would drag and drop a file on your computer, upload it to RIM's servers and it will be transfered wirelessly to your BB device! Great for transferring work documents and of course those MP3's!

Read the article from The Globe and Mail here.

Review: IM+ for Blackberry

It's great that blackberries come with a very light on resources client for Yahoo! and Google Talk. However, not everyone in the virtual world uses these two chat clients as there are others; MSN messenger, AOL, ICQ and Jabber to name but a few.

IM+ for the Blackberry fills in the gaps; it provides an integrated chat client for Yahoo!, Google, MSN, AOL/iChat, ICQ, MySpace and Jabber in one beautiful interface. Not only does it look good,it functions perfectly. My only complaints are that it doesn't seem to "respect" the settings as set by the profiles on your blackberry; even if your blackberry is set to the "phone only" profile, an incoming IM message will cause the audible notification to go off (in the dead of night sometimes!). I haven't tested whether it drains the battery any quicker then the two default clients for Yahoo! and Google Talk though so on that issue, the jury is still out.

I do recommend this software whole heartedly. A definate must for those who communicate with friends, colleagues and customers via IM's. You will not regret this purchase. At USD49.95 it's a little pricey but in my honest opinion, it's well worth it as it enables you to interface with all the major IM protocols currently in use; nobody is out of reach, including yourself!

To download a trial version or purchase a copy click here

Handango Q2 2007 survey

Handango.com has published a survey conducted recently which shows among other things, the top devices for which software is being downloaded and the top software that are being downloaded for the Blackberry.


Read more

Online Blackberry software from Handango

Looking for software for your Blackberry? Need to edit Microsoft Word or Excel files? Install a game to keep you occupied when you're too tired to be productive? Or need a MSN messenger client so you can chat with friends who aren't on Google Talk and Yahoo! Messenger?

Check out www.handango.com It is my recommendation for the place to go to find blackberry software. Not only that, it's the place to go to find software for Symbian and Microsoft Pocket PC/Mobiles devices. Don't take my word for it, see for yourself!

Soft Reset for Blackberry (Pearl)

QWERTY Blackberries have a key combination (alt-shift-del) that when pressed will do a soft reset of the device without having to take out the battery. This is great especially if you keep your BB in a case or skin of some kind.

For the Pearl, which doesn't have a QWERTY keyboard, this key combination doesn't work unfortunately but you can download and install a program called (surprisingly) "Soft Reset" that will allow you to do just that without having to remove the battery. I am told this program will work with some other BB models but I haven't tried it so I can't comment on it. But on my Pearl, it was a lifesaver. Blackberries don't require you to reset the device often but I just like to do it every few days or so to reclaim any memory that may be lost due to some form of memory leak. At the very least, it's just good housekeeping procedure.

Download the program here (it's free but the author accepts donations) or try the OTA installation by cutting and pasting this address into your BB browser

http://www.geekandproud.net/blackberry/softreset/softreset.jad