BlackBerry Rocks!

WWF Earth Hour App Now Available For BlackBerry [Application]

Mauricio — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:34:03 +0000

New in the BlackBerry App World is WWF Earth Hour App, an application by Xtreme Labs for EarthHour.org. This organization is dedicated to the conservation, research and restoration of the environment. Here’s a little about Earth Hour:

On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. The movement symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight, protecting our future and that of future generations. Learn more about how Earth Hour began, what we’ve accomplished, and what is in store for 2010.

The WWF Earth Hour App keeps you connected with news, local events and participants from around the world in support for action on climate change. This year’s Earth Hour takes place Saturday, March 27th at 8:30PM local time. Will you be celebrating?

Check out and download the WWF Earth Hour App in the BlackBerry App World for free.

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This story originated from BlackBerry Rocks! and is sponsored by the BlackBerry Rocks! Store. Mobile App Store download at blackberryrocks.com/appstore.

Follow @blackberryrocks on Twitter and check out the Facebook Page!

Leaked BlackBerry Bold 9650 User Guide! [Device Info]

Mauricio — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:24:35 +0000

Not long after OS 5.0.0.533 leaked online for the BlackBerry “Tour2″ Bold 9650, a complete user guide for the 9650 was also leaked. The user guide is 328 pages long so if you want to learn everything about this device before it launches here’s your chance. I guess “Bold” is the device name that will stick with the 9650 instead of Tour2.

Download via MegaUpload: BlackBerry Bold 9650 User Guide

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Leaked OS 5.0.0.533 For The BlackBerry “Tour2″ 9650 – Can Anyone Use It? [Operating System]

Mauricio — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:47:03 +0000

How’s this for a random leak? It’s happened before as you can see on the BBRocks! OS Page with the 8910 and 9100. OS leaks before a device is released to the public seems like an occasional (but becoming a regular) thing. Can anyone actually use this OS? Don’t be shy .

Download via RapidShare: OS 5.0.0.533 for the BlackBerry “Tour2″ 9650
How To:
- Backup And Restore Your BlackBerry
- Upgrade your BlackBerry Operating System (OS)

Please report any feedback/findings in the comments.

DISCLAIMER: Install at your own risk. This is Leaked/Beta software that is not guaranteed to be stable, and therefore will not be supported by RIM or your wireless carrier should you run into some problems. As a precaution, if you decide to upgrade, it is highly recommended that you make a backup before using this software. If you are not comfortable using Leaked/Beta software you should probably wait for the next official release. *

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Leaked OS 5.0.0.548 For The BlackBerry Tour 9630 [Operating System]

Mauricio — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:01:29 +0000

Download via MegaUpload: OS 5.0.0.548 for the BlackBerry Tour 9630
How To:
- Backup And Restore Your BlackBerry
- Upgrade your BlackBerry Operating System (OS)

Please report any feedback/findings in the comments.

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Tweetsii For BlackBerry Coming Soon – Connect With People, Places And Networks In Real Time With The Power Of Twitter [News]

Mauricio — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:12:18 +0000

Lots of “coming soon”s for BlackBerry lately. What a bunch of teases! This latest “coming soon” is GyPSii’s new Tweetsii application, unfortunately initially being launched on the iPhone with a BlackBerry version to follow. Tweetsii will allow users to connect, create and share with the power of Twitter.

Tweetsii™ is a radical new way to use social media and the mobile Internet that breaks down the barrier between the real place-based world and the digital world, providing a real time connection between a user’s social graph, places around them, and Twitter. It is a real time app that supports a mobile lifestyle, with user created tweets, images, reviews, comments, checkins, tips, and more. It builds an aggregated real world index of places, not a corporate created index, with updates from Twitter users and location-based services, including GyPSii, Gowalla and Foursquare, among others. All content contributes to a place-based index that delivers real time, mobile, location-specific content creation and search to connect users with the people, places, activities and ideas they’re interested in.

Some feature highlights:

Streams – View the Twitter world in a new way: the latest tweets from who you are following, see who’s nearby and what people are saying about the area you’re in, hot places, and what’s trending. PlaceStreams provide real time trending and a record of events at location-enabled places.
Explore – Tweetsii provides an “Explore” feature that utilizes GyPSii’s core PlaceRank™ search technology to combine Twitter streams with millions of place-based points of interest and events. Explore results are based on not only the trends people tweet about, but also the places and events they go to, and their social graph. The places and content come from users, including other networks like GyPSii, Gowalla, Foursquare, and an index of tens of millions points of interest. Users can also search by interests – on everything from bagels to burlesque – for an instant view of what’s nearby and what people are saying about it. Explore results reveal a treasure trove of contextual tweets, photos, events, and points of interest sorted by proximity, ratings and time.
Location-based Tweeting – users geo-tag tweets, they can easily add a photo and tie it to a location and their Twitter timeline. Check-in and be heard – allows users to “check-in” to places and share their experience, add to an existing conversation about the place or start a new one and check out relevant content around you. It provides an easy interface that helps users tweet, check-in, make recommendations, or send alerts all in a single screen. Tweetsii™ extends the GyPSii vision of user created content, by providing an easy way for users to create their own personal places and experiences, all tied to a location and their Twitter timeline. Tweetsii couples your real-world place-based life to your virtual-world Twitter experience, and brings more relevance and context to the Twitter experience.

Tweetsii is not yet available for BlackBerry devices but you can check out their site and blog at tweetsii.com or the press release after the jump for more info. I’ll also be posting about Tweetsii as soon as it’s available so be sure to keep an eye on BBRocks!

Any thoughts about this application (as it’s described) compared to the ones you use now?

Press Release

Launch of New App Tweetsii™ Delivers on Promise of Real Time Web

Tweetsii™ to connect people with places and networks in real time

Combines real-time events and places with the power of Twitter

Brings “Hot Spot” place-based search to the forefront

Company Closes $11 Million Funding Round

Adds 1M New Users

SXSW 2010

AMSTERDAM & AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–GyPSii, the leading real time location-enabled social media platform, today launched a new app named Tweetsii™. The app epitomizes the real time web and connects people with places and networks, by bridging the Twitter experience with mobile social media, the social graph, location, and contextual mobile-based search: all in the palm of your hand, accessible anytime and anywhere. Initial availability will be in the Apple Appstore for iPhone, followed by Android and Blackberry platforms.

Tweetsii™ is a radical new way to use social media and the mobile Internet that breaks down the barrier between the real place-based world and the digital world, providing a real time connection between a user’s social graph, places around them, and Twitter. It is a real time app that supports a mobile lifestyle, with user created tweets, images, reviews, comments, checkins, tips, and more. It builds an aggregated real world index of places, not a corporate created index, with updates from Twitter users and location-based services, including GyPSii, Gowalla and Foursquare, among others. All content contributes to a place-based index that delivers real time, mobile, location-specific content creation and search to connect users with the people, places, activities and ideas they’re interested in.

The application gives Twitter users a richer experience by allowing them to tweet, check-in, send alerts and tips, create places, and geo-tag them with comments, photos and other rich media content. Updates made via Tweetsii appear in users’ Twitter feed making it simple to share content with friends and followers. It’s inherently mobile, and in addition to the expected Twitter Timeline features, it delivers real-time “PlaceStreams” and “EventStreams” to users, directly tied to their location and social-graph connections.

Tweetsii feature highlights include:

Streams – View the Twitter world in a new way: the latest tweets from who you are following, see who’s nearby and what people are saying about the area you’re in, hot places, and what’s trending. PlaceStreams provide real time trending and a record of events at location-enabled places.
Explore – Tweetsii provides an “Explore” feature that utilizes GyPSii’s core PlaceRank™ search technology to combine Twitter streams with millions of place-based points of interest and events. Explore results are based on not only the trends people tweet about, but also the places and events they go to, and their social graph. The places and content come from users, including other networks like GyPSii, Gowalla, Foursquare, and an index of tens of millions points of interest. Users can also search by interests – on everything from bagels to burlesque – for an instant view of what’s nearby and what people are saying about it. Explore results reveal a treasure trove of contextual tweets, photos, events, and points of interest sorted by proximity, ratings and time.
Location-based Tweeting – users geo-tag tweets, they can easily add a photo and tie it to a location and their Twitter timeline. Check-in and be heard – allows users to “check-in” to places and share their experience, add to an existing conversation about the place or start a new one and check out relevant content around you. It provides an easy interface that helps users tweet, check-in, make recommendations, or send alerts all in a single screen. Tweetsii™ extends the GyPSii vision of user created content, by providing an easy way for users to create their own personal places and experiences, all tied to a location and their Twitter timeline. Tweetsii couples your real-world place-based life to your virtual-world Twitter experience, and brings more relevance and context to the Twitter experience.

“Tweetsii™ is an extension of the GyPSii vision to connect people and places across networks,” explained Dan Harple, Founder and Executive Chairman of GyPSii. “The Tweetsii app breaks down barriers between the real world and the digital world, by making real time social media easy to create and interact with. The GyPSii technology takes us beyond ’search engines’ and shows what we need are real time place-based ‘connection engines.’ In the age of mobile we can return the Internet to an experience of discovery, but more personal, relevant, and place-based. Mobile technologies have achieved more connectedness, but not deeper, more profound connections – that’s what we’re hoping to do with Tweetsii™.”

Renowned social media pundit, Twitter character, and founder of #140conf, Jeff Pulver, got to recently see a beta version of Tweetsii, and said he’d, “discovered a product I think reveals a true post-Web 2.0 real time web vision. It goes beyond Web 2.0, mash-ups, website-based search, and delivers the app that to me, epitomizes the ‘State of Now.’ I believe Tweetsii is the next big step in the real time web experience.”

GyPSii’s OpenExperience API powers mobile lifestyle and location based applications for the largest telecommunications companies on the planet including China Mobile, China Unicom, Telefonica and others. The company is now bundling on hundreds of millions of devices from Samsung, LG, HTC, Lenovo, and on the Apple iPhone in China among others. GyPSii is supported by over 400 devices and on 11 major platforms worldwide. The API was used to build Tweetsii into the Twitter eco-system.

In the latter part of 2009, the company added over 1 million new users and is on track with continued exponential growth. To support marketing and additional development of GyPSii applications including Tweetsii, GyPSii is also announcing that it recently closed an $11 million private funding round led by U.K.-based Schroders. This latest infusion brings total fundraising to $40 million to propel the GyPSii business forward.

Tweetsii can be downloaded for free on iTunes. For more information, visit www.tweetsii.com.

About GyPSii-

GyPSii provides real time mobile web technologies and products that connect your world in real time. GyPSii connects people, places, communities, content and advertising across networks and devices, with patented and patent applied-for technologies for the transfer and publishing of location based information between mobile devices. GyPSii provides apps and Open API solutions to a wide range of companies, such as Samsung, LG, RIM, Wind River, Garmin, China Unicom, China Mobile, China Telecom, and others. GyPSii apps are available on Apple’s iPhone, Symbian, Windows Mobile, RIM Blackberry, Android, Java, MID/Linux, Palm webOS, and accessible via most well-known mobile app stores. Based in Salo, Finland and Amsterdam, The Netherlands, GyPSii operates offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit www.gypsii.com © 2010 All rights reserved.

The GyPSii and Tweetsii related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of GeoSolutions and/or its business units. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.

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Icarus Studios’ Fallen Earth Mobile Companion Coming Soon To BlackBerry! [News]

Mauricio — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:41:07 +0000

I’m constantly on the lookout for a good RPG or MMORPG whether it’s a computer or console game. I’m also big into movies, particularly apocalyptic movies, so when I found out about Fallen Earth I got all geekcited. I didn’t get geekcited because the game looks awesome but because Icarus Studios, the creators of the game, has partnered with AFK Interactive to extend their Fallen Earth Mobile Companion to BlackBerry smartphones!

“People have been talking about interconnectivity between MMOGs and mobile devices for a long time, but until now, no one has gone so far as to build an app that provides real-time interaction to this level,” said Jim Hettinger, CEO of Icarus Studios. “Just the ability to chat with members of your clan in-game from your mobile phone is a huge benefit, but this product does so much more than that.”

The Mobile Companion will allow users to chat, send and receive in-game mail as well as:

Manage crafting queue and craft items
Access all of the in-game features of the Auction House
Interact with clan members
View character profiles
View the world map

Very cool! The Fallen Earth Mobile Companion will be available for free in Q2 of 2010. If you’re interested in a preview of the app, AFK Interactive will be offering demonstrations at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco March 11th through the 13th at booth 712.

The computer game itself goes for $19.99 (discounted) at fallenearth.com with a free 10-day trial available. For more info visit their site or check out the press release after the jump.

Sidenote: The game might be a bit graphic for some of you as it is rated “Mature”. You’ve been warned .

Press Release

Icarus Studios Chooses AFK Interactive to Extend the Fallen Earth Mobile Companion Application to Additional Mobile Devices

Brings Fallen Earth to Additional Mobile Platforms

Following the recent announcement of Icarus Studios’ development of a Fallen Earth mobile companion iPhone application, Icarus Studios, co-developer of Fallen Earth, the critically-acclaimed MMORPG, has teamed up with technology start-up AFK Interactive to extend the Fallen Earth mobile companion application to the Blackberry, Android, Brew, and Java platforms, set to be released in Q2.

The mobile companion application, described by early reviewers as “game changing,” allows Fallen Earth players in-game and real-time access to several key features of the MMOG from their mobile phone. Similar to the upcoming iPhone application, the app will enable players on other mobile devices to log in to the live Fallen Earth server and interact with their character(s) and other players via several different modules such as Chat, Crafting and the Auction House.

“People have been talking about interconnectivity between MMOGs and mobile devices for a long time, but until now, no one has gone so far as to build an app that provides real-time interaction to this level,” said Jim Hettinger, CEO of Icarus Studios. “Just the ability to chat with members of your clan in-game from your mobile phone is a huge benefit, but this product does so much more than that.”

In addition to providing the ability to chat and send and receive in-game mail, the app allows users to perform a number of other tasks, such as:

Manage crafting queue and craft items
Access all of the in-game features of the Auction House
Interact with clan members
View character profiles
View the world map

“There are so many other cool features we can pull from the game and bring to the mobile phone,” commented Doug Dyer, President of AFK Interactive. “We’ve built a powerful platform based on commercially-launched technology that’s taken years to develop. This platform enables the app to be run on low-end to high-end mobile devices and will be able to deliver everything from interactive game wikis to virtual goods storefronts that support multiple revenue models and integrated billing. This is the next direction for online games.”

The Fallen Earth mobile companion app will be available for download from the Fallen Earth website in Q2. AFK Interactive will continue to support the product across new devices and operating systems on an ongoing basis. In addition, upgraded versions of the app with new feature modules are planned for the future.

Following the availability of the upcoming applications, several of the Fallen Earth mobile app features will be made available via the Fallen Earth website for players without a compatible mobile device.

Providing a glimpse at the new application, AFK Interactive will be offering demonstrations at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco March 11-13 in Booth #712. Icarus Studios team members will also be on site demonstrating the soon-to-be-released iPhone application.

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Foursquare For BlackBerry Updated To v1.7.0 With A Refreshed User Interface [Application]

Mauricio — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:48:26 +0000

The increasingly popular foursquare for BlackBerry application has been updated to version 1.7.0. I found out about the update yesterday and reached out to foursquare for a changelog about what was new, but since many of you are already wondering I figured I’d post about it with my own observations. Here’s what I see that’s new:

Refreshed user interface
New icons for the Friends, Places, Tips and More tabs
New “gold crown” icon to show mayorship (instead of the black one)
Users’ avatars are now displayed in many of the app’s screens
Checkin locations now show the primary category icon next to them
Friends screen seems to be better organized (or is it just me?)
Probably some bug fixes

That’s all I can find so far. If I missed something feel free to share it in the comments.

To download updated version of foursquare for BlackBerry go to foursquare.com/blackberry/beta from your BlackBerry Browser. For more info about this app you can visit the foursquare for BlackBerry page.

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MySpace To Release New Micro Apps Across Major Phone Platforms Including BlackBerry “In The Next Year” [News]

Mauricio — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:07:07 +0000

While browsing the web I came across an article on the Telegraph about MySpace’s major relaunch plan which includes mobile applications. In this interview, MySpace’s new co-president Mike Jones mentioned that a relaunch of mobile apps are planned and will be released as micro apps:

Mr Jones also discussed MySpace’s mobile plans: “Mobile is our largest growth segment. We are aiming to release 20 to 30 micro apps in the next year, across the major phone platforms [Android, iPhone, BlackBerry] which will each offer small parts of the MySpace functionality.

“By also making certain APIs available, third party developers can use certain parts of our content to create very specific apps.”

“In the next year” is a bit vague and “small parts of the MySpace functionality” doesn’t sound too exciting, but I’m sure they’ll try to impress since they’re attempting a serious recovery as a top social network.

Any MySpace fans looking forward to these “micro apps”? Does anyone still use MySpace?

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Beta 7 Of ÜberTwitter For BlackBerry Updated To v0.970 With Bug Fixes And New Features – Beta 8 Coming This Month [Application]

Mauricio — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:27:44 +0000

Beta 7 of the ÜberTwitter BlackBerry Twitter application has been updated from version 0.963 to 0.970 with some bug fixes and a few new features. Here’s a list of the changes in the new version:

Java exceptions on device boot – Fixed issue where java exceptions would be reported on device reboot due to lack of permissions
Opt-out of sponsored tweets – Users can now opt out of receiving sponsored tweets
Goto User bug fix – Fixed bug where entering a user not in your timeline and then pressing trackball wouldn’t use the text you entered but instead find the closest match from your friends list
Everyone Near You – Fixed bug where it wouldn’t uses your current location, and sometimes would revert to somewhere off the coast of Africa. Also increased the distance to a 10 mile radius, in the future we will let you select this.
Mini-Icon Notification – Fixed bug where if the app didn’t have certain permissions not related to the mini-icon, it still wouldn’t show the mini-icon
Fine-Tuned control of visual notifications – There are now three settings each for the mini-icon and application icon so you can fine-tune the control over how you want each to notify you. Also, the number next to the mini-icon will only reflect the number of new tweets of the type it is tracking. For example, if you only set the mini-icon to track new DMs, then the number next to the mini-icon will only reflect the number of new DMs.
New short-cut for page-up – Added a new short-cut to page-up in the timeline, pressing ‘0′ (zero) will now page up in the timeline
Instability when using cell location – Fixed bug that would cause instability in the app when using cell tower location
3G Cell Tower Inaccuracy – Fixed a bug in the cell tower location mechanism when 3G towers were being used
Symbol Screen – Again reworked the symbol screen
Secure Connection – Changed the default Twitter endpoint so your traffic will travel over a secure HTTPS connection
Deleting DMs – We now allow you to delete direct messages.
Constant permissions requests – Fixed bug where every time the app was started it would ask for permissions.

According to the site, this update “is in preparation for a substantial feature upgrade for Beta-8 which we plan to release in March”. I wonder what kind of new features they’ll be packing into Beta 8 and whether it can stay ahead of other BlackBerry Twitter apps.

ÜberTwitter is available for BlackBerry devices running OS 4.2.1 or higher as a free version that is ad-supported or a paid version for $4.99/year with no ads. For more info and to download visit ubertwitter.com.

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Free Nimbuzz All-In-One Instant Messaging App Now Works With BlackBerry OS 5.0! [Application]

Mauricio — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:09:47 +0000

The free Nimbuzz all-in-one instant messaging application has been updated with support for BlackBerry Os 5.0! Nimbuzz supports many different instant messaging IM account types including Skype, Windows Live Messenger (MSN), Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, AIM, studiVZ, Google Talk, Facebook, MySpace and many more.

Here’s a few of the key features:

runs in background
connects you to all your friends
brings home screen notification
auto-reconnects
“Clickable” URL’s

According to the Nimbuzz compatibility list, the application supports pretty much all BlackBerry devices. To download Nimbuzz visit get.nimbuzz.com from your BlackBerry Browser.

via Nimbuzz Blog

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