BlackBerry Cool

BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing App Updated to Version 3.0 with BBM Integration

2012-02-09T21:03:13Z

The BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing app is one of those apps that really shows what BlackBerry can do and how it does it best. The app makes mobile conferencing easy and seamless. The app has recently been updated to version 3.0 and now includes features for sharing the app across your social networks. In terms of the app itself, there isn’t much new here, but the sharing features are decent.

Check out the intro video for the app at this YouTube link.

The BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing app makes conferencing calling easy and seamless with the following features:

Join Now Button– The BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing app adds a button to calendar reminders on your BlackBerry that can dial you in to a call with one click. If the invite includes multiple dial-in numbers for different locations, the app can choose the most appropriate one for you (within Canada, the US and the UK only).

Reconnect – Reconnect with one click if you’re disconnected or need to drop off a conference call.

Easy Conference Scheduling – You can schedule a conference call complete with conference bridge details directly from the BlackBerry Calendar in an easy two-step process. To enable this capability, you can set your conference call profile once in the BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing app, including dial-in numbers and access codes, and then simply add the profile as part of the calendar invitation. (The moderator code is kept hidden from participants in the calendar invitation.) Many of the leading audio conferencing systems are supported.

Optimal Conference Call Number Selection – If multiple dial-in numbers are provided to accommodate participants in different regions, the application can automatically choose an optimal number to use, such as using the local number if you’re within the local calling area rather than a toll-free number; or a toll-free number if the dial-in number would otherwise be long distance. You can also select or modify a specific dial-in number manually.

Convert an email to a meeting invite – Help put an end to long email threads by scheduling a conference call with email participants with just a few clicks. The sender and recipients of the email are included as meeting attendees, the email subject becomes your meeting subject and part of the email message is copied into your invite automatically. Just add your conference call details from a stored profile, click send and you’re set.

New features available in version 3.0 include ‘tell a friend’ for sharing the app through BBM, Facebook, Twitter, email and instant messaging; and access to help videos from the BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing icon on your BlackBerry.

Download the free Mobile Conferencing app available at this link.

Free Junk Call Blocker for BlackBerry with BBM integration

2012-02-08T23:05:29Z

BlackBerry app developer S4BB has announced the launch of their Junk Call Blocker app. The app blocks unsolicited calls and has an ingenious social sharing component so you can share your blocked numbers list with your BBM contacts.

In the battle against unsolicited phone calls, BlackBerry users have found a powerful ally. Junk Call Blocker recognizes and blocks incoming junk calls automatically. Besides the existing black list, there’s also a custom blacklist allowing you to block custom numbers. Ideal when you’re dealing with a stalking ex! The other way around, there’s also a white list, in case a call gets unjustified marked as a junk call.

Junk Call Blocker comes in three versions. The free version allows you to add 10 numbers to the custom blacklist. If you need to add more numbers, you can upgrade to the Standard version (100 numbers) or the Pro Version (unlimited numbers) via in-app-purchase.

Here are some features:

Two Modes: autoblock junk call (default setting), show warning only on an incoming junk call
Junk Call Blacklist (add numbers to this list and they will be blocked)
Whitelist (overrules any number in the blacklist)
Blocked number History
Block Numbers Via: call log, last short call (less than 10 seconds), manual number input
Block Feedback: get notifications once a phone call had been blocked
BBM integration: share junk call numbers and Junk Call Blocker activity via BBM

Download Junk Call Blocker from BlackBerry App World

Valentine’s Day Theme for BlackBerry

2012-02-08T22:32:17Z

Bplay has announced their Valentine’s Day theme for BlackBerry. Decorate your home screen and icons with hearts, treats and teddy bears.

Create the perfect Valentine’s mood on your BlackBerry! With My Valentine you can build your own romantic homescreen: a bottle of wine with a box of chocolates under a midnight sky, or set out a wrapped gift with single rose and a cupcake. Customize your BlackBerry to your liking with over 20 options, complete with icon set. Download My Valentine today and set yourself in the mood for a special occasion.

Buy the Valentine’s Day theme for $1.99

Compilr Lets Developers Write Code From Their BlackBerry PlayBook

2012-02-08T21:33:24Z

Compilr is an online integrated development environment for programming languages like PHP, C++, Ruby, Java, C# and Visual Basic. The company has recently launched a pretty cool app that lets developers to write code directly from a BlackBerry Playbook. The guys at Compilr say they’re trying to remove all the hassles around development and the best way to do that was to push the experience to the web to remove friction for developers. Considering all the development environments you sometimes need to program, this makes a lot of sense.

Since the product has launched, Compilr has grown to over 80,000 users and the company says the BlackBerry community has responded really well to the PlayBook app launch. So far, the app has been downloaded over a 1,000 times which is a testament to how many developers own a PlayBook.

What’s really going to make Compilr effective is a solid keyboard for the PlayBook. If you’re going to be doing some quick hacking, you’ll need a good input method that can keep up and the virtual keyboard probably won’t cut it. We’ve tried a few of them out and RIM will soon be releasing its own. If you’re looking for one, try this Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard by NextSuccess. For Canadians, use this Amazon link.

Check out Compilr for yourself at this App World link.

PingChat! Rebrands as Touch and Serves Over 100 Million Messages

2012-02-08T21:12:08Z

The guys at Enflick have been really busy making a series of products in the communication space. The company had a very popular app called PingChat! that has since rebranded itself and become Touch. Touch is available for iOS, BlackBerry and Android, and has had some pretty awesome success lately. According to the company, Touch has already served more than 100 million one-on-one messages and nearly 10 million group messages.

YouTube intro video for Touch.

Touch is an IM client, group messaging app and photo sharing app all wrapped into one. According to the company, since December 2011, Touch has served:

More than 106 million one-on-one messages
Nearly 10 million group messages
More than 200 thousand Experiences – through customized profile pages allowing friends and family to enjoy mutually shared Experiences and photos
More than 1 million comments in Experiences

It should be interesting to see how the market for IM clients and chat services evolves as more users communicate across platforms and demand more rich media functionality.

Try Touch for yourself. Head over to touch.com/blackberry from your BlackBerry to download OTA or visit Touch.com for other devices.

RIM Demos Sharing Media Between BlackBerry Smartphone and PlayBook

2012-02-07T21:00:54Z

At BlackBerry DevCon Europe we were given a quick demo of PlayBook OS 2 and some of the features that let you interact with the PlayBook from your smartphone. The idea is really great as many people will have their PlayBook hooked up to their TV, and this will allow them to open files, browse the web and more from the comfort of their couch. At DevCon, the head of Portfolio Software, EMEA, Vivek Bhardwaj, had an issue with the demo and wasn’t able to show us how you can take a photo on your smartphone and show it on the PlayBook. Since then, RIM has posted the video on their YouTube channel.

Vivek Bhardwaj – Head of Portfolio Software, EMEA gives a short demonstration on how to share a photo from your BlackBerry smartphone to a BlackBerry PlayBook.

Was this demo really of interest to anyone though? What is the use case for taking a photo on your smartphone and showing it on your PlayBook? It seems like such an odd thing to demo. If you want to show how the smartphone interacts with the PlayBook, start a movie on the PlayBook from your smartphone. It’s an obvious use case that wouldn’t have failed during the crucial demo period.

Rogers Launches One Number Service for Voice, Video Chat and SMS From Your Computer

2012-02-07T16:07:09Z

Rogers has launched its new One Number service which lets you voice and video chat, as well as send text and pictures from your computer using your existing phone number. The service seems like it will be useful for all those people with desk jobs that want to move the smartphone experience over to their computer, without having to be distracted by their phone.

YouTube link for mobile.

In order to use the service, you need to be a Rogers customer and have access to a computer with a mic and webcam. There are a lot of services that duplicate elements of this experience, such as Skype, but Rogers is offering some pretty unique, especially relative to the other carriers. With One Number, you can take calls from the smartphone to the desktop and vice versa.

We’ll have more about the Rogers One Number service for you soon when we get a product to demo.

125,000 PlayBooks Going Out to Developers at Hackathons, DevCons and More

2012-02-07T15:47:15Z

Thorsten Heins gave the keynote at DevCon Europe and talked about some of the plans that RIM has to get developers on board with BlackBerry. One of the interesting elements of his keynote was that he said the company has approved 125,000 more PlayBooks to go out to developers to encourage development. These PlayBooks will go out to developers who attended DevCon Europe as well as there will be free devices given out at hackathons around the world. We’ve been to a couple hackathons hosted by RIM and they haven’t quite figured them out but they’re moving in the right direction.

Christopher Smith – VP, BlackBerry Application Platform & Tools RIM talks about the future of developing for BlackBerry.

Thorsten had a long list of other ways that RIM is attracting developers including a new evangelist team headed by Alec Saunders, as well as a host of supported code bases such as HTML5 and the NDK. RIM has made quite a few acquisitions that will position it competitively against the other smartphones. The company has acquired ScoreLoop for gaming, TAT for graphically rich UIs, QNX for the OS, and more.

With all the PlayBook seeding that RIM has done, and the fact that your PlayBook app will run on BlackBerry 10 smartphones, it makes a lot of sense to port your app to PlayBook.

Stay tuned for more videos uploaded by RIM at the DevCon YouTube channel.

Free PewPew Geometry Shooter Game for the PlayBook

2012-02-06T15:19:49Z

PewPew is a really popular tablet game that has been featured in the Android Market and has received some really amazing reviews. Those with an Xbox and access to Xbox Live Arcade will probably see the resemblance to Geometry Wars. The game is really fun and addictive and best of all, it’s free.

PewPew is pretty straight forward in terms of controls. It features to joystick-like buttons and the objective is to dodge bad guys while shooting and collecting powerups. The vector graphics in this game are really awesome and there are plenty of upgrades available within the game. The game also has this really cool feature that lets you watch other players’ games in the leaderboard.

Download PewPew free for your PlayBook at this link.

Free Photo Studio App Updated With New Frames, Effects and BBM Connected

2012-02-06T14:42:47Z

Photo Studio is a free app that gives you effects and frames for your pics. The app has been updated with more frames and pics as well as the app is now BBM connected. There are a few other updates along with this app and it’s definitely worth the free price tag.

In the latest version of Photo Studio, version 0.9.8.25, new features include:

New application PicFrames: helps you combine multiple photos into amazing looking frames. Problem ‘Can’t Browse’ is fixed (found in v.0.9.8.23)
Added new Valentine’s Day Frames pack
New effects in Art category
Add localization to Spanish, French and Russian
BBM Connected (OS5-OS6)
Fixes, algorithms optimization etc.

Download the free Photo Studio app at this link.

Is Your PlayBook Having Problems Updating Today? Server May Be Having Issues

2012-02-04T22:10:36Z

We got a tip today that the servers used for updating the PlayBook may be having some issues today. If you’re trying to update your PlayBook and you’re getting an error that says “could not connect to update server” you’re not alone. According to the support forums, there are at least a few other users having this issue and hopefully it gets resolved soon.

According to the tipster: “I am trying to setup my new 64 GB BlackBerry PlayBook (replacement for 16 GB model) today. Apparently, RIM’s update server is having issues — during the setup process, I encounter “Could not connect to update server.” followed by error code (9), (3000), or (3001). According to the BlackBerry Support Forums, this is affecting a large number of people (i.e., not an isolated incident).”

RIM’s plan is to have all BlackBerry 10 smartphones update in a similar Over-The-Air method as the PlayBook so it’s important that RIM keeps these servers top knotch. We’ll update this article when the situation is better.

Follow the outage progress on this support forum thread.

Angry Farm Celebrates First Anniversary With New Version and Sale

2012-02-03T20:34:27Z

The guys and girls at Smarter Apps are celebrating the one year anniversary of Angry Farm with a new version and a sale. Angry Farm is a fun alternative to Angry Birds and has been an incredible success story for gaming on the BlackBerry platform. In the new version of Angry Farm, there are 50 new levels added for a total of 250 (way more than Angry Birds). There’s also a DYNAMITE feature that lets you blast your way through levels once per hour.

All upgrades for Angry Farm are free to existing customers for life and Smarter Apps has promised more levels in the future. If you’re going to buy, now is a good time because the game has been discounted to $2.99 (down from $4.99).

You can download the free trial of Angry Farm at this App World link.

You can purchase the paid version of Angry Farm from App World here.

Mobile Development Studio Select Start Acquired by eCommerce Company Shopify

2012-02-03T16:58:32Z

Select Start Studios is a mobile app development shop based in Ottawa, Canada and it was recently acquired by the up-and-coming eCommerce company Shopify. The acquisition makes a lot of sense as eCommerce is increasingly happening on mobile devices and rather than Shopify outsourcing its mobile efforts, it made more sense for Shopfiy to acquire a group like Select Start and develop the mobile products internally. While Select Start promoted the fact that it does cross-platform development and included BlackBerry, the company is better known for its iOS products such as Getaround.

Shopify has been getting a ton of press over its recent funding round of $15 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Felicis Ventures, and Georgian Partners. This deal is going to have some pretty awesome implications for stores using Shopify as well as eCommerce on mobile in general.

Fun Friday Fact – Shopify is located in the same building as BlackBerryCool and sometimes we sneak into their office and eat their catered lunch. So there is such a thing as a free lunch and it comes from very rich Internet companies.

Sometimes It’s Great That Startups Ignore BlackBerry

2012-02-03T16:26:58Z

Sometimes it’s nice to get a break from the startup world. It seems Silicon Valley churns out the next “game changing” startup about once a month and the vast majority of these companies are a waste of everybody’s time. Take Kevin Rose’s Oink for example. It’s not a bad a idea, it’s just a waste of your time. No offence to Rose because Oink would be awesome if everyone in your city used it, but that’s incredibly unlikely. What’s more likely is that this idea will pivot about six times until it’s something very different than what it started, or the idea will simply fade into oblivion. In the meantime, if you’re an iPhone user and your friends are into trying every free app that hits the App Store, you will likely get bombarded with friend requests for each of these startups.

YouTube link.

This all goes back to what RIM has been touting in its ad campaigns lately. The message is “I’m about action, not distraction.” Now, there are many other reasons why startups don’t first flock to BlackBerry first and a lack of a Silicon Valley presence is just one. There’s also a perception that BlackBerry isn’t a good starting point due to low download rates and a small North American user base. Whatever the reasons may be, it’s sometimes nice to know that your platform isn’t going to get a startup until it has mass appeal and is actually useful.

This will probably change with BlackBerry 10. Currently, we’re seeing a ton of Android and iOS games flock to the PlayBook and it looks like this will continue until the BlackBerry 10 smartphones come out. Unless there’s differentiation in the platform that we don’t know about yet, BlackBerry 10 smartphones will eventually become indistinguishable from an Android device in terms of available apps. Until then, BlackBerry users can continue to use great productivity apps like ASAP Pro while iPhone users Oink away.

For a good discussion about Oink, check out Untether.tv’s “Where’s the Money?”.

Presta Task List App With Native Task Sync and Better User Interface

2012-02-02T21:42:46Z

The native task app doesn’t get much love from RIM but I’m sure we’ll see some interesting stuff when BlackBerry 10 is out and the TAT UI stuff is available. If you’re looking for a better task app, we recommend you take a look at Prista by Karta Mobile. The app is currently available at a discount price and also features a free trial.

Presta allows you to stay organized with your BlackBerry and features some helpful options such as:

Organize all your outstanding to-dos by project
Order your tasks with the VolumeUp/VolumeDown keys of your BlackBerry keypad
Stylish touchscreen interface lets you perform all common actions with a tap on the screen
Delegate lists or projects with a click of a button
Fast iterative search lets you quickly find the task you are looking for
Presta also syncs with your native Tasks app

Check out Presta in App World for $2.99 and on Free Trial (normally $4.99).

Send Short Voice Messages Over BBM With Free VVM Messenger App (Beta)

2012-02-02T21:23:22Z

Sending short voice messages over BBM is a fun idea. It may not be the most efficient way to communicate, but if it’s something that requires tone, sarcasm or any emotion, then text probably won’t do it justice. From the same developer that brought you the Viira GTD, you can send short voice messages over BBM with this free Beta app called VVM Messenger.

With VVM Messenger, you can send short voice messages up to 25 seconds in length to your BBM contacts for free. In a sense, this app is like PTT (push to talk) and could save you money when traveling. Check it out!

Head over to VVM Messenger to download the free app.

Dear Mint.com, Please Submit Your Android App to the PlayBook

2012-02-02T22:36:52Z

The BlackBerry Developer team has been working hard to get Android developers to port their apps to the BlackBerry PlayBook. Recently, Mint.com released its Android tablet app and we think this is a great time for the company to submit the app to App World. This makes a lot of sense considering many users have had trouble accessing the Mint.com site from a PlayBook, and BlackBerry’s “get it done” crowd loves a good finance app.

For those who don’t know, Mint.com is a great service that allows you to track your spending and finances. The app integrates with your bank and gives you budget recommendations as well as helpful charts to see a quick overview of your spending.

Curently, the app is not optimized for 7″ tablets but the resolution and aspect ratio shouldn’t be hard to port. RIM has promised that Android apps are a simple port to the PlayBook, and it doesn’t seem like the Mint app uses any fancy APIs that would prevent the porting job.

Head over to the Mint.com support site and show your love for the PlayBook.

Head over to this Android Market link to see the Mint.com app details.

UnderCoverTourist.com Launches Wait Time Apps For Florida Theme Park Rides

2012-02-01T21:19:03Z

UndercoverTourist.com has developed a couple of useful apps for people taking a vacation to Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida. Disney World Wait Times and Universal Studios Wait Times are free apps that help users decide what rides to line up for based on the expected wait time.

The apps work using a few different mechanisms, one is a crowd calendar based on historical wait time data and expected crowds. The other method of determining wait times is by using crowd-sourced user feedback.

The Disney World Wait Times app covers the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The Universal Studios Wait Times app features both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

Download Disney World Wait Times from BlackBerry App World.

Download Universal Studios Wait Times from BlackBerry App World.

RIM’s Senior VP of Design Honored at the Interior Design Show

2012-02-01T21:11:14Z

The Interior Design Show has honored RIM’s Senior Vice President of Design, Todd Wood by selecting Todd as one of 20 renowned designers from around the world to create a new version of the iconic “Julian” chair by Magis as part of the Interior Design Show in Toronto. Todd’s chair was auctioned off on January 26th at the Cherish Charity Event and Exhibit to benefit the children’s non-profit organization, ONEXONE.

Todd’s design, “PowerPup,” takes the original design a step further by integrating the ability for a chair to charge your Smartphone. Todd’s interpretation of a redesigned “Julian” chair depicts a BlackBerry Bold 9900 charging in its mouth.

All auction proceeds will go to ONEXONE, a non-profit children’s foundation, which is committed to improving the lives of children in the U.S., Canada and Haiti. The organization focuses on 5 sectors that are essential to children’s overall well-being: Water, Hunger, Healthcare, Education and Play.

Todd and his team are responsible for the look and feel of BlackBerry phones, tablets and accessories. Todd’s award-winning work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and also featured on two different postage stamps commemorating Industrial Design in Canada.

Additionally, RIM joined forces with RADO and the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU) to explore the concepts of time and communication by two future-oriented and iconic brands. Results of a semester long course, mentored by marketing experts from RADO and designers from BlackBerry, will be showcased at the RADO Exhibit at the Interior Design Show 2012.

For additional information on the Interior Design Show, Cherish Charity Event and Exhibit, and ONEXONE, please visit The Interior Design Show’s site.

Free Photo Filtering App BibbyCam With Facebook and Twitter Integration

2012-02-01T19:12:08Z

Photo filtering apps are getting a lot of attention with apps like Instagram having so much success. There’s a new, free app on BlackBerry called BibbyCam that gives you up to 14 filters for your pictures such as Lomo, Old Photo and Sunshine.

BibbyCam has a really decent feature list including:

14 different filters such as Lomo, Old Photo, and Sunshine
Create your own filter using our double filter feature
Follow and be followed by the BibbyCam community
Like, comment on others’ pictures
Create albums and add your friends as contributors to that album
Linked to Facebook and Twitter
Access top-liked pictures by the BibbyCam community
Privacy settings
BBM Connect (min. BBM v.6.0)
Free

Download BibbyCam for free at this App World link.