So this time is not going to be a post about the usual BlackBerry or development, it's going to be a little bit more personal. Weeks ago I talked to a friend, she is living abroad so as always we caught up with what is happening in our lives and at some point we ended up talking about what do we live for. After we finish talking, that question got me thinking because I wanted to answer it in a serious and thoughtful way.

To give you an idea, I've been writing this post since March 8. Not because I didn't know what do I live for, but because I didn't know how to fully express it. When you think about it, the purpose of life is a subject that has appealed to writers, poets, musicians, philosophers, among others for a long time.So it seems only natural that I take my time to answer the question in a way that I find satisfactory.

If I had to quote someone on the matter would be Viktor Frankl, a neurologist and psychiatrist, who said "Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time". And Eleanor Roosevelt with “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” . I heard them a while ago and I always try to keep them in mind.

But to quote someone else to answer something so important is not enough. So while life went on as usual, I kept thinking about it until recent events gave me the words I was looking for. So what do I live for? The answer is simple and even sounds cheesy and cliche, I live to be better. It took me a while to acknowledge this on a conscious level, I think this is what we call grow up or at least that's what I heard.

Now, I will elaborate on this as a friend will ask me if I were talking to him. The last 7 years of my life have been determining not only professionally but personally. I've met wonderful people, I've been in unbelievable places, I've had beyond wonderful experiences and have tried learn a lot. And also like everyone, I've had to deal with difficult situations, I've made ​​mistakes, I've been disappointed, sad, angry and so on.

Both good and bad moments have somehow brought a lesson, a reflection, a kind of learning. I try the best I can to learn and grow from them and thus be better next time. Do not get me wrong, I do not regret anything or as Sinatra would sing "Regrets, I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention". With "to be better next time" I mean to be better every day, trying to improve things that will enrich my body, mind and soul.

This is much easier said than done. Trying to be better every day means constantly having small, medium and big goals to achieve and this requires commitment, perseverance, will and work. And so sometimes either by our mood, situation or any other reason we think it's easier to do things "the easy way", the problem is that there is nothing meaningful in them. Because the joy, happiness and fulfillment you get on doing the things the best you can and achieving the goals you set is simply priceless.

At first, talking to my friend my answers were like "to be happy", "for the people I love", "to achieve my goals". Today I can confidently say that I live to be better for me, because it makes me happy, and for those I love, because the best I can offer them is the best version of me.

 And you? What do you live for? 

I've been listening to the comments and suggestions about the game and have made some important updates: 

• Two game modes! Accelerometer or Touch 

  

• Power-ups and things the ninja have to avoid:

  
   

    

• Improve performance of the game. 

I'm waiting for the approval of this new version of the game on App World, you can find the current version here. 

I'll post when the update is available!. In the meantime, I'll keep working on adding more features to the game. 

I started 2013 making a game for BlackBerry 10.  Those who've known me for a while are aware that I was focus on developing themes. But BlackBerry on the new OS didn't offer the tools to develop themes for it.

I know! what a shame. Something I enjoyed a lot about developing themes, was the possibility to express myself and somehow connect with others. After recovering about it, life goes on right? I took some time  to think and plan what I was going to do for the BlackBerry 10.

And I decided that developing a game might be the best way to keep doing what I like and hopefully achieved something  that someone else enjoy. So a game? Hum... By the time I started making the game I was playing with the design of a ninja.

The Ninja

So I thought maybe a game where the ninja kills something, avoids something...  But I ended up making a simple panda. And I received some jokes about how I would get denounced by animal protection organizations if I made a game where the ninja have to kill pandas.

The Panda

And that's how Catch The Panda is born, the idea at least.

  The Game

After some coding, testing, feedback, fixing, testing, some more coding, testing and fixing... I ended up with this version:

Almost a week ago the game got approved on App World (yaaay! :P), so if you have a BB10 you can check out the game here.

In the meantime, I've been working on adding and improving the features of the game so in the new update you can expect some cool new things. Also I updated the design of the UI of the game.  A sneak peak! this is how the ninja looks now:  

New Ninja

Definitely, developing a game is not easy because involves a lot of work. But it's fun, you learn a lot, and the feedback received from the gaming experience of others players is interesting. I enjoy the process :). 

PS: I'll post news when the update comes out. 

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Happy New Year :)! I wish you all  a 2013 full of health, opportunities, success and happiness. As usual, thank you very much to the lovely people who always support ale7714 Designs. For me, 2012 has been year of learning and changes :).

During this year I met great people that in some way or other has added something valuable. So, thank you Matt, Diego, Ryan, Dave, Pooter, Sergio, Dragos, Ring for letting me be part of this rocking good, awesome, fun group of devs. Let’s rock 2013 too? :).  And to the BlackBerry team: Alex, Rafa, Bryan, cute Jen… lots of thanks for the support!  

And to start 2013 strong, we’re working a game and bellow is a tiny sneak peak :)

Happy New Year everyone! 

Quite a while since my last post! I’ve been really busy with school, work and everything else, time flights!… Anyway, I’m excited about what I will write today :)!

Last Tuesday, I was on  BB10 Jam Buenos Aires what a great experience… I will start by saying BlackBerry 10 looks and feels awesome, considering is still a work in progress. The event began with a cool, fun and unusual introduction, a rocking good music video (I couldn’t found it on Youtube but I think RIM should post it ;), just saying). As any other BlackBerry event great food, great location and great information for the attendees. 

What I enjoy the most was the coding session about Cascades, the BlackBerry 10 framework.  RIM is doing a great great job with it, it offers you the facilities of using a framework with power of coding in native code. With a few steps you can build an app with really good UI, really cool :). After seeing Cascades in action, I was eager to try it. And I have to say is easy to install, to begin to use and in the developers page you will find lots of examples.

If you’re a developer, you should at least give it a try and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. If you’re a BlackBerry user, this are great news too because what is coming for BB are good and exciting stuff. 

And last but not least, I have said it before and have to say it again, the BlackBerry community is an excellent one and I’m happy to be part of it :). Specially many thanks to Rafa and Bryan for all the support. 

PS: In some ale7714 Designs news, I’m working with some friends in app for PlayBook that I hope you can try soon, and planning to develop some other apps! And I’ll be releasing a new theme soon. 

We definitely love designing themes and making your BlackBerry look good, but we also enjoy coding applications just for the fun of it :).

This time we created My Info to Paste, a very simple tool that will allow you to get your PIN and/or your system information no matter what application you are on. By clicking on the menu item and them selecting "Give me MyInfo!", you will be able to select
your PIN or System Information and copy it on the clipboard. Then you can paste it wherever you need it. Isn't that simple and great?

My Info to Paste is available for the following devices:

9930/9900/9790/9800/9780/9700/9670/9650/9380/9360/9350/9330/9300/9105/9100

If you want to get it, just click on the image below and download it from the BlackBerry App World. Enjoy :)!

Love Is In The Air Collection features two of our existing themes: Lovie Doodle and Very Romantic. Both are adorable, so why don’t just selling them together. Just click on the image bellow and get your copy of this Collection.

LoveIsInTheAir

In Love Collection also features our Lovie Doodle theme but includes our totally new Message for Valentine’s theme. Again, just click on the image below and get this collection on the BlackBerry App World.

CuteLove

I hope you guys enjoy these themes as much as we did making them. We would love to read our comments :)!! 

9700 06

Message For Valentine’s by ale7714designs is a very lovely and fresh theme. This theme has a clean look and it’s fully customized with high quality wallpapers, modified to ensure easy reading and  using. It features a beautiful pattern that will give your BlackBerry a romantic and unique look, perfect to wear on during Valentine’s or any other season of the year. A must have for girls!.

Features:
* Pink BlackBerry OS7.0 icons.
* Customized wallpapers specially made for the theme.
* LOTS of girly details.
* Wallpapers of high quality and edited for readability.
* The Home screen icons are customizable.
* Transitions (Only for OS4.7.1 and above).
* ATTENTION OS 6.0 users: The theme has OS7.0 layout wich
mean the theme do HAVE tabs (All, Media, Download, Frequent tabs)
* All details of the theme have been carefully customized.

Message For Valentine’s is compatible with the following BlackBerry devices: 9800/9780/9700/9650/9630/9670/9330/9300/9105/9100/9000/8900/8530/8520/8350i and you can find it on the following stores:

*AppWorld: HERE

*Mobihand: HERE

Wish everyone a Happy New Year 2012! I'm thankful for this great year: supporting family, great friends and #TeamBlackBerry is an amazing bunch of people :-). So looking back at this year I think it was a good one and I look forward for 2012! ale7714 Designs has great plans for the upcoming year. 

I made a couple of avatars, that you can use wherever you want, hope you like them!:

Love to hear from you ;)!

A quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!! Hope you spend a lovely and happy day in company of your family :-)! Today ale7714 Designs brings you some new avatars for BBM, Twitter, Facebook or any social network you like ;):

A few days ago I posted others Xmas avatars in case you haven't check it go HERE 

Love to hear from you ;)!