Selasa, 15 November 2011

BerryReview.com Giving Back to the BlackBerry Community

BerryReview.com Giving Back to the BlackBerry Community

Adobe Clarifies Their Position on Flash, HTML5, AIR, and FLEX for Mobile

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 02:33 AM PST

Adobe Flash

Last week Adobe did a (self admitted) terrible job of communicating their future strategy for Flash, HTML5, AIR, and FLEX for mobile and desktop. To be fair RIM didn't do much better. They made three main announcements but everybody focused on the last one where they are "no longer going to be actively developing the Flash Player for Mobile Browsers." Their clearly still focused on Flash for desktop browsers while they realize the Flash will not be as big of a ubiquitous plugin for mobile browsers. They still fully intend to use Adobe AIR on mobile platforms.

If you are a Flash, AIR, or FLEX developer you really should read these two articles from Adobe on the future of the technologies:

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, November 15, 2011, 5:33 am. | Adobe Clarifies Their Position on Flash, HTML5, AIR, and FLEX for Mobile | Leave a comment |


BlackBerry Bold 9900 OS 7.0.0.540 Found Online

Posted: 14 Nov 2011 09:08 PM PST

BlackBerry 7 Family Part 2

We just got an official OS for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and now we have an unofficial one. The N4BB team just scored OS 7.0.0.540 for the Bold 9900 which is the latest to date. Its a nice bump over the previous version so hopefully there are some goodies in store.

Download BlackBerry Bold 9900 OS 7.0.0.540 @ Fileserve

Warning: This OS will not install on any other BlackBerry besides the one mentioned above and is not an official release.If you do not know how to upgrade your BlackBerry OS please start by reading this step by step guide.Don't forget to delete the vendor.xml file located in c:program files>common files>research in motion>apploader to install it on a different carriers device. Don't forget our usual warnings: do not download and install these updates if you don't know what you're doing. Incorrect procedure or just bad luck could render your BlackBerry inoperative or unstable.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, November 15, 2011, 12:08 am. | BlackBerry Bold 9900 OS 7.0.0.540 Found Online | One comment |


Rumor: Leaked BlackBerry London Launching in Q3?

Posted: 14 Nov 2011 04:37 PM PST

We just saw the first picture of the BBX (QNX) BlackBerry London phone today. The thing is when The Verge leaked it they had no way to confirm it was real and still don't. Now the BoyGenius is reporting that their source has confirmed that the dummy device we saw today is actually a "real BlackBerry" and should launch as RIM's first BBX smartphone. According to their source this device is supposed to launch in Q3 of 2012 possibly late Q3 since RIM has not been able to get BES or BBM working on BBX yet. It would be a real shame if RIM's first BBX phone was only coming in Q3 especially considering the competition is not sitting still.

Who knows how much of this is rumor, fantasy, or speculation but isn't this fun? :)

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, November 14, 2011, 7:37 pm. | Rumor: Leaked BlackBerry London Launching in Q3? | 11 comments |


MobiHand Says They are “Committed to Developer Success” & “98% of Accounts are Current”

Posted: 14 Nov 2011 04:29 PM PST

Mobihand Commitment

I have really been hoping that MobiHand would get in front of this issue and its nice to see them finally have a voice. Adriano just posted on their official Blog that they are "Committed to Developer Success." Here are the highlights of what they had to say in what is turning into a he said she said type of drama:

  • MobiHand has until recent weeks paid every single developer on time (Except extremely rare and promptly corrected errors)
  • Right now around 98% of developer accounts are completely current
  • Of the accounts that are not current only a small number are older than a few days
  • MobiHand is committed to pay every single dollar owed to every single developer
  • MobiHand firmly believes that these payments will be completed and that MobiHand will become a more productive sales channel.

MobiHand goes on to ask developers to:

…disregard sensational, derogatory, and destructive comments made by a few developers who are inventing or exaggerating information about our company.  Without the developer community MobiHand could not exist.  We are grateful for the opportunity to serve and we ask that you continue with us to provide great products and responsive customer service through the next few months and in the years ahead.

I really want to give MobiHand the benefit of the doubt on this one. They have offered a much better system than App World for a very long time and have had a pretty solid track record. So much so that over the years we rebranded their store on BerryReview as an additional value to readers giving us the ability to do contests and giveaways.

On the other hand quite a few devs have contacted me over the last week or two expressing concerns that they are not getting paid. This includes quite a few high profile long time BlackBerry developers who tend to not be the sensationalist types. I really hope this all gets resolved very soon. We have tried reaching out to MobiHand multiple times without a response so for now we just have to wait and see.

Let us know if you have any updates!

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, November 14, 2011, 7:29 pm. | MobiHand Says They are “Committed to Developer Success” & “98% of Accounts are Current” | One comment |


BlackBerry App Development: Gold Rush or Drops in a Bucket?

Posted: 14 Nov 2011 02:45 PM PST

I was lured into PlayBook app development last winter by the offer of a free PlayBook. My motivations weren’t at all to make any money. To the contrary, I was firm in my belief that the app landscape consisted of big winners like Angry Birds who made back their investment 10,000 fold, and hundreds of thousands of apps that made < $200, making them not worth a developer’s time. (and not even close) I have a full time job which pays well, so my mobile app development is more about learning something new, and being a creative outlet that allows me to use a variety of skills, not just coding.

My first app, Baby Names for PlayBook, fits the trend of apps that make little or nothing, bringing in about 30 cents per day on average, for a total of $62 over six months. So far that equates to compensation of $4.50/hour.

But this is where it gets interesting: Purely as a learning exercise, I decided to implement Baby Names for BlackBerry phones, again not expecting much ROI. To my amazement, it has earned $1150 at a rate of $8/day, which translates to a compensation of $88/hour. And that is only the first five months of sales. If the sales rate continues at even half that rate for the next two years, the compensation rate might rise to > $300/hour. Clearly worth a developer’s time in that case.

Another financially positive experience was collaborating with my friend Graham Huber on a PlayBook app named Solicit. The idea was to make a polished looking app whereby you’d hand your PlayBook to someone you met so they could type in their contact information. That app has brought in $2/day for compensation of around $26/hour, and could rise to > $80/hour if sales continue at half the current rate for the next couple of years. (We are about to submit an update that allows you to upload contacts to Google Contacts)

For the sake of learning opportunity since then, I have implemented Baby Names on Android, which has compensated me $6/hour, on iPhone, which has compensated me $1/hour, Windows Phone, at $3.50/hour, and Chrome Web Store, at $0.25/hour. So there has been quite the disparity between my experiences developing for BlackBerry phones and these other platforms. (Which should be emphasized in this day and age of people claiming that developing for BlackBerry doesn’t make sense)

In terms of pure enjoyment, developing for PlayBook is where it’s at for me. It’s a beautiful piece of hardware (I do own an iPad as well), there is a need for apps, and the development experience for me with Flash has been far more enjoyable than Objective C. (I am fond of learning new programming languages, but yuck, I haven’t enjoyed my Objective C experiences so far) Because of this, most of my creative efforts since my first apps have been on the PlayBook, even though compensation hasn’t been anywhere close to my lone BB phone app.

I created Baby Paint, an app that allows a little person to swipe their finger around a cartoon drawing and have the correct color be placed under their finger’s path, kind of like those painting books I had as a kid that came pre-inked with the right colors. It has brought in $92 for compensation of $18/hour, not too bad if sales continue, but not great. A sports edition of that app, even a featured PlayBook app a few weeks ago, has earned $41, for compensation of $20/hour.

I collaborated with a friend Matt Langeman to create Learn Africa which has earned $25 for compensation of about $1/hour. (We can at least pump out apps for the other continents with little additional work, but it is not clear whether that would be worth it from a financial perspective)

A bit of a time sink was creating an app called Slideshow that would run alongside Voice Chat and allow you to start a slideshow, having the pictures display on both your screen and on the other person’s screen, in top quality, and be able to flip through your photos so that you can narrate your latest adventures with friends and family. It took a lot of hours to work out the kinks, 50 hours, and has so far compensated me a pretty rough $0.50/hour. I think it’s a compelling use case for the PlayBook, but one must realize that even ideas that we are fond of don’t necessarily generate a lot of interest. Perhaps if it was marketed well, it would have some legs.

More recently I have created Picasa Sync, which was the first app to be covered by a blog. That was a real treat. One of the most rewarding things for me as a developer is feeling like my creative efforts are appreciated, and blog coverage definitely has this affect. That app was only released last week, so it’s too early to tell what the compensation rate will look like. So far is has brought in $78, which is a good start for an app that took 7 hours to create. I have since created “Smug Sync”, an identical app for users of SmugMug, which is in the process of being approved.

So what conclusions do I make from my experiences? The most notable observation is that my first BlackBerry phone app has compensated me extremely well, much to my surprise, and so it would be interesting to make a few more phone apps to see whether that trend continues at all. On the PlayBook side, compensation rates have been much lower, but in a couple of cases they have been high enough that if sales continue it could be argued that my efforts will have compensated me well. All that said, I must conclude that the reason I develop for PlayBook is that I enjoy it. It’s fun to see a need and to try and fill it, to use both creative skills and technical programming skills, and to interact with and get feedback from users.

Future apps that I am considering: (feel free to sound off in the comments as to which of these if any you would find compelling)

  • A way to, with one click from your PlayBook, sync music wirelessly from iTunes to your PlayBook over WiFi. Ability to make the sync smarter so that it grabs a good mix of your music rather than all of it if you do not want all of your music.
  • A photo sharing app whereby you select a photo or group of photos and can share it via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, SmugMug, Email, or FTP location by checking boxes and then clicking “Share”.
  • A smart slideshow app that goes and gets recent starred photos from Picasa, Facebook, Smug Mug, Flickr, etc, downloads them to your PlayBook, and shows those new photos more often than your old photos. Combined with the rapid charger stand (which I purchased) this turns the PlayBook into a beautiful (and smart) digital picture frame. We have a digital picture frame, but it is painful to keep it updated with recent photos.
  • A smart and pretty alarm clock that ties in with your Google Calendar, weather reports, birthdays from Facebook, and uses the music you have on your PlayBook. The option to have it speak to you this information as your alarm with the rather impressive voices from http://www.expressivo.com/. Another nice use of the rapid charger stand.

Can I just say that, if I could go back in time, back to December 2010, I would have created a beautiful native email app for the PlayBook. That likely would have compensated very well, you might agree.

An interesting idea I’ve had is to create a site or even a forum post that proposes a number of useful PlayBook app ideas, and then users could vote which one they’d like the best. I would then implement the winning app. Encouraging this dialog between users and developers seems like a constructive thing, beneficial to both. At the end of the day, interacting with real people and having the satisfaction of meeting their needs is where it’s at for many of us developers. So in that spirit, let me know which of the above app ideas would be most useful to you, and I will implement the winning app and put it up for sale for 99 cents.

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Posted by danielb for ©BerryReview, November 14, 2011, 5:45 pm. | BlackBerry App Development: Gold Rush or Drops in a Bucket? | 4 comments |


BlackBerry Traffic v3.0 in Beta Zone With Voice Guidance

Posted: 14 Nov 2011 12:50 PM PST

 bbtraffic bbtraffic4

It has been a few months since the last update to BlackBerry Traffic so its nice to see RIM has not forgotten about it. The new v3.0 turns it into more of a GPS app with the addition of voice guidance. Now all we need is direct integration with BlackBerry Maps.

New features include:

  • Voice Guidance – New voice guidance helps users reach their destination with completely hands free navigation. The audible-turn-by-turn directions can run over Bluetooth® or via your vehicle's speakers. Users can set up the voice instructions with varying levels of detail.
  • Additional Road Information – User can find out if a road is closed or under construction as well as note toll routes that lie ahead!

You can pick up the updated BlackBerry Traffic v3.0 Beta in the BlackBerry Beta Zone:

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, November 14, 2011, 3:50 pm. | BlackBerry Traffic v3.0 in Beta Zone With Voice Guidance | 4 comments |


Is This the First QNX BlackBerry? (Codename London)

Posted: 14 Nov 2011 12:40 PM PST

First I want to say, like all other information about the BBX/QNX BlackBerry’s that this is purely speculation.  But it does look like if this is true, we could see some great hardware!  The looks are too much like the Porsche P9981 for my liking.  This device is suspected to have a TI-OMAP dual-core CPU running at 1.5GHz, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board storage, dual camera’s 8MP rear and 2MP front facing. Codenamed London and is reportedly “thinner than the iPhone 4″ and roughly the same size as a Samsung Galaxy SII.  No word on screen resolution, NFC or battery.

More will be added as it comes to the surface, and please remember this is all rumour mill and speculation at this point.

Source: The Verge

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

Posted by Fubaz for ©BerryReview, November 14, 2011, 3:40 pm. | Is This the First QNX BlackBerry? (Codename London) | 13 comments |


BlackBerry Bold 9900 OS 7.0.0.503 Officially Released by A1

Posted: 14 Nov 2011 09:45 AM PST

BlackBerry 7 OS

We saw this OS leak late last week and now it is official. N4BB noticed that A1 has made OS 7.0.0.503 official for the BlackBerry Bold 9900. This build has been pretty solid for most users so let us know what you find:

Download BlackBerry Bold 9900 OS 7.0.0.503 @A1

Thanks Derrick for sending this in!

Warning: This OS will not install on any other BlackBerry besides the one mentioned above. Don't forget to delete the vendor.xml file located in c:program files>common files>research in motion>apploader to install it on a different carriers device. If you do not know how to upgrade your BlackBerry OS please start by reading this step by step guide.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, November 14, 2011, 12:45 pm. | BlackBerry Bold 9900 OS 7.0.0.503 Officially Released by A1 | Leave a comment |


CHARGE Anywhere Payment App Now Works on BlackBerry 7 OS Devices

Posted: 14 Nov 2011 08:34 AM PST

Charge Anywhere 2

CHARGE Anywhere is one of the most popular if not the most popular way to accept payments on your BlackBerry. They just announced that their mobile payment and gateway solution for BlackBerry now supports the latest BlackBerry 7 devices. Here is what they had to say about it:


"With this compatibility update for our payment application on BlackBerry7 devices CHARGE Anywhere continues to demonstrate commitment to its BlackBerry customers and to the BlackBerry ISV Alliance Program," said Paul Sabella, President and CEO. "Releasing timely, compatibility updates ensures that merchants utilizing our secure payment application can seamlessly accept payments if they purchase the next generation of BlackBerry smartphones."

They also put out a BlackBerry Customer Case Study featuring CHARGE Anywhere, click which you can download here (PDF) along with details on their site. Check out the full press release below:

CHARGE Anywhere® Announces Mobile Payment Application for BlackBerry® 7

Compatibility release ensures secure payment acceptance for merchants

November 14, 2011 (South Plainfield, NJ) – CHARGE Anywhere® LLC, a leading provider of award-winning, secure mobile payment and payment gateway solutions, announced today that the CHARGE Anywhere Payment Application for Blackberry is now available for download on all BlackBerry® 7 OS devices.

With the CHARGE Anywhere Payment Application for BlackBerry, merchants can effortlessly turn their BlackBerry device into a secure and intuitive point-of-sale terminal. With the ability to process a variety of tender types such as cash, check, credit and gift/loyalty, merchants can leverage a BlackBerry and turn it into a fully functional point-of-sale terminal for a more mobile and cost effective solution than traditional legacy terminals.

"With this compatibility update for our payment application on BlackBerry7 devices CHARGE Anywhere continues to demonstrate commitment to its BlackBerry customers and to the BlackBerry ISV Alliance Program," said Paul Sabella, President and CEO. "Releasing timely, compatibility updates ensures that merchants utilizing our secure payment application can seamlessly accept payments if they purchase the next generation of BlackBerry smartphones."

CHARGE Anywhere’s distinct mobile point-of-sale solution for iPhone™, BlackBerry®, Android™, Windows Mobile®, Java® and Brew™ Platforms, allow users to securely process payments in real-time reducing risk and decreasing the scope of PCI-DSS. The exclusive solution permits users to capture and export mission critical business data such as signature capture, invoice number, employee number, tips, GPS location and more. With the ability to send eReceipts from the application, CHARGE Anywhere’s solution can also eliminate the need for paper receipts and the cost associated with it.

CHARGE Anywhere continues to win awards for its industry-leading, multi-platform Payment Ecosystem. CHARGE Anywhere’s mobile payments solutions are winners of the 2011 Mobile Payments Solutions Provider, 2010 CTIA E-Tech Awards in the Mobile Applications – Mobile Payments Category, the 2010 Mobile Merit Awards for Best Overall Enabler Application, the 2009 Best of Interop-PCI Security Solution Award and the 2009 Electronic Transaction Association Technology Innovation Award.

To read the latest BlackBerry Customer Case Study featuring CHARGE Anywhere, click here. 

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, November 14, 2011, 11:34 am. | CHARGE Anywhere Payment App Now Works on BlackBerry 7 OS Devices | One comment |


Free Christmas Jokes App & Freemium Snake Game from XIMAD

Posted: 14 Nov 2011 07:53 AM PST

 Funny Christmas Snake Freemium

XIMAD let us know that they have an app that should help you get into the holiday spirit. They released "Funniest Christmas Jokes" last year but the app is still worth downloading for a good laugh especially since it is free. They have also released a freemium version of their Snake game that lets you purchase more levels inside the game and remove ads.

You can find both below:

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, November 14, 2011, 10:53 am. | Free Christmas Jokes App & Freemium Snake Game from XIMAD | Leave a comment |


Spinballs Puzzle Game Released for the BlackBerry PlayBook (Marmalade SDK)

Posted: 14 Nov 2011 06:48 AM PST

Spinballs Spinballs2

We have yet another game released from the list of Marmalade SDK games we told you were coming to the PlayBook. The latest is called Spinballs which is a fun puzzle game that really challenges you. You have seven discs with six different colored balls on each. These discs can be rotated in either direction and you need to connect balls with similar colors by rotating the discs while the clock is ticking. There are some curveballs thrown in and perks like being able to extend your time or resort the balls but it definitely is challenging.

You can pick up the full version of Spinballs for $1.99 in App World or they also have a Lite version available free.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, November 14, 2011, 9:48 am. | Spinballs Puzzle Game Released for the BlackBerry PlayBook (Marmalade SDK) | One comment |


BlackBerry 7 OS Awarded Common Criteria EAL4+ Security Certification

Posted: 14 Nov 2011 04:34 AM PST

Common Criteria BlackBerry

RIM really knows how to woo security organizations to certify their products. The latest gives the new BlackBerry 7 OS the third party Common Criteria evaluation certification and meet the security criteria for evaluation assurance level (EAL) 4+. EAL is a ranking from 1 to 7 but a higher number does not necessarily mean it is more secure. It just means that the TOE (Target of Evaluation) has been put through more extensive verification.

In other words companies can now confidently deploy BlackBerry 7 OS devices knowing that they have yet another certification under their belt. The EAL4+ certification for the BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Torch 9810, BlackBerry Torch 9860 and BlackBerry Curve 9360 which currently run the BlackBerry 7 OS is posted on the Common Criteria Portal. Full press release below:

BlackBerry 7 OS Awarded Common Criteria EAL4+ Certification

WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Nov. 14, 2011) – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today announced that BlackBerry(R) smartphones running on the BlackBerry(R) 7 Operating System (OS) have been independently evaluated by a third-party Common Criteria evaluation facility and meet the security criteria for evaluation assurance level (EAL) 4+.
The Common Criteria is an international standard for validating that products meet specific security requirements. Widely respected for its extensive and comprehensive evaluation by an independent third party, EAL4+ accreditation examines a product’s design, software development methodology, and security mechanisms. EAL4+ is the highest level of accreditation under the Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) by 26 countries.
"Security is one of the most important considerations for enterprise customers and we are proud that BlackBerry 7 OS has earned this rigorous certification," said Scott Totzke, Senior Vice President, BlackBerry Security at RIM. "RIM is renowned as a market leader in the delivery of secure mobile solutions, and this achievement helps to provide our customers globally with continued confidence in deploying BlackBerry solutions throughout their organizations."
As a market leader in the area of information assurance and compliance, RIM is committed to independent, third party security testing and certifications of BlackBerry products. RIM is active in the Cryptographic Module Validation Program in North America, United Kingdom CESG Assisted Product Service (CAPS) and International Common Criteria evaluation scheme. BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Server has been previously awarded EAL4+ certification and the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution has also been previously approved for storing and transmitting sensitive data by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as well as government organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Austria, Australia and New Zealand.
The EAL4+ certification for the BlackBerry(R) Bold(TM) 9900, BlackBerry(R) Torch(TM) 9810, BlackBerry(R) Torch(TM) 9860 and BlackBerry(R) Curve(TM) 9360 smartphones based on BlackBerry 7 OS is posted on the Common Criteria Portal (http://www.commoncriteriaportal.org/products). EAL4+ certification for other BlackBerry 7 OS smartphones including the BlackBerry Bold 9930, BlackBerry Torch 9850, BlackBerry Curve 9350, BlackBerry Curve 9370 and Porsche Design P’9981 Smartphone from BlackBerry are expected early next year.
To find out more about BlackBerry security certifications please visitwww.blackberry.com/go/security.

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, November 14, 2011, 7:34 am. | BlackBerry 7 OS Awarded Common Criteria EAL4+ Security Certification | Leave a comment |


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