Posted Nov 27th 2006 2:22PM by Dave Mabe
Phil Bogle of Jobster
shows a very nice hidden feature of Berry411 that web developers can use. Simply create a special link for a contact and then when clicked by a BlackBerry user with Berry411 installed a new contact will be created with all the vitals already pre-filled.
Now that's a nice feature.
"But wait, these links won't work if the user doesn't have Berry411 installed. Or what if the user visits my site with a desktop browser?", I hear you say. Good questions. Phil has already thought of this. Just look for the string: "text/xml-berry411" in the HTTP-ACCEPT header. If it exists, then you know that these links will work properly.
Posted Nov 27th 2006 8:50AM by Dave Mabe
Filed under: Fun
The tireless Phil Bogle, creator of Berry411, apparently didn't do much R and R over the Thanksgiving break. Just a few days after
we pointed you to a previous update to the excellent
Berry411 program, Phil has
released another update. There are some nice enhancements including integration with
Yelp, a nice service providing local restaurant and business reviews.
If there's anyone out there with a BlackBerry that hasn't installed Berry411 - please respond. A free, extremely useful application that saves you money and time with a steady stream of new features being added all the time - I can't think of a single reason you shouldn't be using it. Can anyone else?
Posted Nov 21st 2006 4:45PM by Dave Mabe
Filed under: Competitors, Blackberry Multimedia
The long rumored Apple iPhone will be all the BlackBerry Pearl can handle - so
says Robb from RIMarkable. Here's a quote from his post:
I hate to say it, however, if you are walking through the mobile phone section of Best Buy and see an iPhone next to the BlackBerry Pearl, unless you were just interested in the BlackBerry, the iPhone would probably pull your eye more simply because it would be perceived as an upgrade to your existing iPod as compared to a completely new type of mobile phone.He makes a good point. It will certainly be interesting to watch how these two powerful brands fare in this space!
Posted Nov 16th 2006 3:31PM by Dave Mabe
Filed under: Blackberry Multimedia
I got a note from the guys that make the
BlackBerry Video Generator (the software formerly known as the BlackBerry Video Creator) that they've released a new version of the software. It's useful for converting videos for use on a BlackBerry Pearl (and presumably future video-enabled devices). At $14.99, the price seems quite reasonable and they also seem to have
some good reviews from their users.
Here are the new features:
- Converting your (home) videos to a format your BlackBerry Pearl understands
- Easy Installation
- New User Interface
- Better Usability
- High Amount of Supported Formats:
- MPEG-1 (VCD) and MPEG-2 (SVCD/DVD/DVB) video
- MPEG-4 in all variants including DivX, OpenDivX (DivX4), DivX 5 (Pro), XviD
- Windows Media Video 7/8 (WMV1/2)
- Windows Media Video 9 (WMV3) (using x86 DLL)
- RealVideo 1.0, 2.0 (G2)
- RealVideo 3.0 (RP8), 4.0 (RP9) (using Real libraries)
- Sorenson v1/v3 (SVQ1/SVQ3), Cinepak, RPZA and other QuickTime codecs
- DV video
- 3ivx
- Intel Indeo3 (3.1, 3.2)
- Intel Indeo 4.1 and 5.0 (using x86 DLL or XAnim codecs)
- VIVO 1.0, 2.0, I263 and other H.263(+) variants (using x86 DLL)
- MJPEG, AVID, VCR2, ASV2 and other hardware formats
- FLI/FLC
- HuffYUV
- various old simple RLE-like formats
Also, there is a 25% off promotion
going on at MobileSoftMarket until the end of this month
. Just enter
MPXMGT for the discount code.
Posted Nov 16th 2006 10:56AM by Dave Mabe
Filed under: Fun
Newly elected congressman Jerry McNerney is eager to get started on the job, but he'll have to wait for a little red tape before he gets access to the "members-only" elevator on Capital Hill or his congressionally issued BlackBerry.
Nice perk!
Posted Nov 10th 2006 4:52PM by Dave Mabe
Filed under: Blackberry Multimedia
Google
just announced yesterday that there's a version of
Google Maps for Mobile that works with the GPS chip in Samsung's
Helio smartphone. Uh - why hasn't this been released earlier for the BlackBerry devices with GPS chips?
Google Maps for Mobile is already fantastically useful without a GPS, but imagine the experience with it fully integrated with a built-in GPS or GPS puck!
Perhaps Google believes that RIM has it covered with the new BlackBerry Maps application that's included in the BlackBerry Pearl and on the way for other devices.
For those that have used BlackBerry Maps, would a GPS enabled Google Maps for Mobile beat BlackBerry Maps in a head to head matchup?
Posted Nov 8th 2006 1:56PM by Dave Mabe
Phil Bogle of Jobster has recently released a new version of
Berry 411, a popular (and free!) program for the BlackBerry that does all types of convenient lookups. Here are the new features in this release:
- The "Pick from recent addresses" feature allows you to easily manage more than three addresses.
- The City/State field now accepts zip codes as well.
- The phone numbers of items you click on are now automatically added to search history.
- There have been a few of subtle usability improvements to address editing.
I got to know Phil a bit when he contributed a couple sections to
BlackBerry Hacks. He's a great guy and I love that he is constantly improving and tweaking Berry 411.
It's a must have application for the BlackBerry!
Posted Nov 8th 2006 11:15AM by Dave Mabe
Filed under: Patents
We all remember when NTP sued RIM and settled for big mullah. And now recently
they've sued Palm. Well, now NTP's getting
a taste of its own medicine - as we have already reported they're being sued for patent infringement by Oren Tavory, a 43 year old engineer who says he did much of the work that the NTP patents are based on.
I don't agree with many of the trivial software patents being thrown around these days, but this one brought a smile to my face when I read it.
Posted Nov 3rd 2006 2:12PM by Dave Mabe
Filed under: Software
Andrew Zimmer (whom we
interviewed a while back) of
Naggie sent me an email saying they've released Naggie for the 8703e. As many of you probably know by now, GPS apps are my weakness. ;-)
If you've got a GPS enabled BlackBerry, Naggie is a neat application that's worth a test spin.
Posted Nov 3rd 2006 10:57AM by Dave Mabe
Filed under: BlackBerry Enterprise Server
The
BlackBerry Enterprise Server Resource Kit has been updated with a maintenance release. As far as I can tell, there are no major new features to this release, but it does fix an important issue with the besuseradminclient.exe utility.
The besuseradminclient.exe utility is a command line utility that you can use to administer a BlackBerry Enterprise Server. You can add users, remove users, export statistics, and a variety of other things.
The problem with previous versions of the utility was that it could not delete a user from the BES if the user's mailbox had already been deleted. In this case, I would have to manually go into the BlackBerry MMC and delete the user object. (Manual work = yuck!) The "process automator" in me was always bothered by this so I submitted a feature request to RIM a couple months ago to fix this nagging bug.
I'm glad to see it fixed and that RIM was so responsive to my request.
Posted Oct 30th 2006 4:57PM by Dave Mabe
Filed under: RIM
Research In Motion insiders including co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Michael Lazaridis face a trading ban on their RIMM shares after a delay in reporting quarterly results amid stock option grant questions.
From the looks of the trajectory of RIM's stock of late, I don't think anyone's sweating too much - RIMM just closed trading just 30 cents off its all time high.
Posted Oct 30th 2006 9:30AM by Dave Mabe
The SEC
has contacted Research In Motion for an informal inquiry into the way it has granted stock options. The practice of accounting for stock option grants has recently tripped up several companies and RIM made clear in their recent earnings announcement that this was an issue that they were looking into. Apparently, investors didn't pay much mind as the stock
skyrocketed that day.
We'll see how investors react to the news today. Currently
RIMM is down a fraction in after hours trading.
Posted Oct 26th 2006 9:58AM by Dave Mabe
Filed under: BlackBerry Enterprise Server
There are a few dates left for the
BlackBerry Technical Seminar series. If you support a BlackBerry Enterprise Server infrastructure or support several BlackBerry devices, then this seminar is a great one to go to. You'll find out how RIM recommends implementing certain features and you'll see case studies on BES infrastructures.
I went to the seminar last year in Washington, DC, and it was well worth the trip and the cost is modest compared to similar onsite training courses.
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