Buzzd let us know that they have recently updated their application to include Facebook and Twitter integration. Buzzd now features:
- The ability to socialize: see what others have “buzzd” in the feed section, view photos and profiles.
- Add/Invite your friends from any address book including Gmail, Hotmail, AOL and others so you can easily share your buzzes.
- Sort the “buzzdmeter” by category of places – bars/clubs, restaurants, other venues.
- Post the buzz at a venue and seamlessly update your Facebook and Twitter status.
- Rate a venue with a thumbs up/down.
- See who’s at your favorite spots and be in the know before you go.
To grab the latest version of Buzzd, go to Buzzd.com from your BlackBerry browser and click the download link at the top.
The Buzzd service is especially optimized for: Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Bronx, NY; Brooklyn, NY; Chicago, IL; Cleveland, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; Houston, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Montreal, QC; New Orleans, LA; New York City; Oakland, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Portland, OR; Queens, NY; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; Seattle, WA; Staten Island, NY; Toronto, ON; Vancouver, ON; Washington, DC.
© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2009
BlackBerry Messenger has been down for some time now. Apparently there are outages across North American carriers that affect BBM, Internet browsing and apps that use data. There have been several outages in recent months and this one is particularly bad. These outages don’t normally last long so it will surely be fixed by Christmas when many will unbox their new BlackBerry.
Let us know what you’re experiencing!
© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2009
BBM has been updated to version 5.0.0.57. There have been problems reported with BBM today so it may affect the download.
www.blackberry.com/messenger
© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2009
After having heard the RIM Q3 Fiscal 2010 Conference Call, I thought I would post a summary of the quarter in case you missed the call or you want a brief synopsis.
This was an excellent quarter for RIM. They shipped a record number of devices and exceeded the previous quarter’s projections. Over 10 million BlackBerrys were shipped, bringing the total to over 75 million BlackBerrys sold around the world. The BIS subscriber base is growing steadily, and once again, non-enterprise users comprised over 80% of net new subscribers.
This quarter was very much focused on the international growth of RIM. The once small Canadian company, has grown to become a global smartphone leader, with over 530 distribution partners in 170 countries worldwide. The Curve 8520 has proven itself to be the perfect device for penetrating global markets. In France, RIM successfully targeted the 15-25 age group with the 8520. In the Middle East, South Africa, Latin America and the UAE, the 8520 has sold very well. Southeast Asia has been a success for RIM as well, with the 8520 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, promoting its social networking and non-email messaging capabilities. China represents a large new market for BlackBerry products and services abroad. There are plans to work with Digital China as well as RIM and China Telecom have come to an agreement with more details and a launch plan to come.
At home in North America, BOGO campaigns are doing wonders for device sales. Almost every distribution partner has either had a BOGO sale, or a very aggressive marketing promotion behind BlackBerry, especially for the holidays. This brings us to one of the big success factors for RIM this year/quarter: the Love What You Do marketing campaign. This campaign has been a huge success and its visibility tremendous. It’s near impossible to go an entire day without seeing a Love What You Do ad from BlackBerry. The ads are key for growth in the consumer market, which is becoming increasingly important to RIM’s success.
In 2010, we can expect the slightly higher sales and continued growth. We’re expecting a new WebKit-based browser, and in the question period, Jim Balsillie subtly confirmed new form factors. There are rumors of a Storm slider and hopefully we’ll see this in Q3 of the fiscal year ending 2011.
© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2009
Inside BlackBerry have updated their site with a new look as well as more community features. The new layout features:
- A direct link to the Developers Blog.
- Link to the Community Post (support forums blog).
- More MyBlackBerry community promotion.
- Links to all their social networks (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube).
- Featured YouTube video from the BlackBerry channel.
- Twitter feed.
- Google login.
- Recent comments section.
- Tags.
The update looks decent and it makes reading the site a little easier. Overall, I think this is a positive improvement, but I the real value from Inside BlackBerry is going to be from the content. I really liked the most recent article about the trackpad, and I think RIM should put out more of these. At least a feature per day would be ideal.
[Hat tip @caspan]
© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2009
Verizon is now pushing BlackBerry users to use Bing as the search engine of choice for their smartphone. To do this, Verizon have removed Wikipedia and Google from the BlackBerry browser search bar. While users can still find ways around this, such as downloading the Bing app or bookmarking the search page, it’s still a pain and hurts the end user experience.
In the end, Verizon needs to be giving users options. I often find that Bing doesn’t return the search answers I’m looking for, while Google is almost 100% reliable. Also, considering Verizon is such a large buyer of BlackBerry smartphones, I don’t think this is good for the brand.
[Al Sacco of CIO]
© Matt Cameron aka W4LNUT for BlackBerry Cool, 2009
Elite Systems have released Paperboy, the classic 80’s arcade game, for BlackBerry. The app supports 5 languages and is available for most non-touchscreen devices.
One of the big challenges for this game is going to be nailing the controls. I’ve played a lot of retro arcade games on BlackBerry and many of them fail in their attempt to make the game controls as easy as they were on the arcade platform. It’s also going to be interesting to see how the trackpad affects gaming on BlackBerry as well. Personally, I have only played a few games on the 9700, and I have to say, you don’t get as much control as with the trackball.
Check out Paperboy in App World. The game costs $4.99.
© Matt Cameron aka W4LNUT for BlackBerry Cool, 2009
OS OS 5.0.0.419 is officially available from MTS Mobility for the Storm 9530. Reading around the various forums, it seems that the keyboard glows and the pop up keys are back. I have also heard that some users will find their headphones with media key controls will now work.
Download OS 5.0.0.419 for the BlackBerry Storm 9530.
© Matt Cameron aka W4LNUT for BlackBerry Cool, 2009
3M have developed a new mobile dictation service for physicians with BlackBerrys that is essentially Vlingo for health professionals. The service features beefed up security in order to comply with the HiPAA and hospital-specific guidelines for encryption and authentication. The software lets physicians view patient lists, search IDs and access the most current patient information via their BlackBerry.
© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2009
The Washington Post wrote a tongue-in-cheek editorial about the worst ideas of the decade, and the BlackBerry was named one of them. The reason? “Thanks to the BlackBerry…we are always connected.”
The editorial reads like one of Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes’ rants where an old man talks about how he doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about and what this crazy device called the “BumbleBerry” even does. The author goes on to talk about how the problem with email is that “the more we emails we send, the more we receive.” I’m not sure what he’s getting at exactly but the idea of ubiquitous communication being a bad thing is so funny I couldn’t not post.
[Washington Post]
© Matt Cameron aka W4LNUT for BlackBerry Cool, 2009