FlashLight OneTouch

This app uses the video function on your Blackberry device to activate the video camera light so you can use it as a flash light. I usually have a flashlight on my keychain. I also have a six-year old who likes to press the flashlight button and leave it on so the batteries are always dead. I usually find a need for a flashlight on an almost daily basis. This does a pretty good job and allows me to forgo the flashlight on my keychain. I have spent more than $2.99 (the cost of the app) on flashlight batteries in the last three months so I this will “pay for itself” pretty quickly. And the light is surprisingly bright! I wouldn’t want this to be my only source of light on an Everest expedition, but for finding that dropped quarter on a dark sidewalk it works great.

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agiedt | March 10th, 2010
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Category: Productivity, Utilities | No Comments »

New York Times Politics Notifier

The New York Times Politics Notifier app allows you quick access to New York Times Political News Stories and the New York Times political-based Caucus Blog. You can access up-to-the minute news, analysis, and commentary and be alerted to updates by pop-ups or vibrations. This app won’t provide you any content that you couldn’t get in other fashions, but it does make it easy to get and view the latest political news. And that is generally what I’m looking for in a mobile app: anything that makes it easier to what I’d otherwise do in a more time-consuming, less-mobile way.

It’s free and available from BlackBerry App World.

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agiedt | March 8th, 2010
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Life with Google — on your BlackBerry

I’m one of those people who can’t imagine life without Google. I communicate with all my friends and family using Gmail and Google Talk. I do all my web searches on Google Search. I look up all my directions on Google Maps. And I keep up on all my news via Google Reader.

That’s why the first app I installed on my BlackBerry Curve was the free Google Mobile App. It has all the amazing features of Google – but it comes with me in my pocket. Here’s a few tips for maximizing your life on the go with the Google Mobile App for BlackBerry:

  • Voice search: Say you’re having a conversation with a friend and trying to figure out when the first day of spring is. It’s easy: just launch your Google Mobile app, hold down the green call button, and say “first day of spring” into it. The voice recognition software will translate what you say into a Google Search query—and return the results that the first day of spring this year is March 20.
  • Maps: Did a friend just call and offer to meet you at a restaurant you’ve never heard of in an hour? No need to get directions, just plug the restaurant name into your Google Maps app. Whether you’re walking, driving, or taking public transit, the Google Maps app will draw your route for you, and give you estimated time it’ll take to get there (and how much it’ll cost, if it’s via public transit). Or are you lost? Just call it up and wait for the blue dot to tell you where you are. I’ve used this more times than I’d like to admit when I’ve been turned around in unfamiliar neighborhoods. And it’s especially valuable to have if you’re navigating someone from the passenger seat; “turn right in two blocks” is a lot better than “turn right on Main Street, which is coming up at some point…oops, there it was…”
  • Reader: This app is by far my favorite. As a CREDO Action campaign manager, I live and breathe the news, and Google Reader is my go-to way of catching up on the latest. I use RSS feeds from all my favorite newspapers, magazines, and blogs. Rather than having to visit each publication’s site, I pull their stories into my Reader account through RSS. The Mobile Reader app pulls in the headline of the newest 10 (depending on your settings) articles. You can easily scan to see the latest news, or click through to read the full articles of the ones that pique your interest the most.
  • News: Don’t use Google Reader? You can also use the News app, which pulls in the latest from the Google News homepage.

All of these and more are available with the free Google Mobile App for BlackBerry. Just point your browser to m.google.com or visit their website to have a link texted to your phone.

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LiAnna Davis | March 1st, 2010
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Category: News, Political, Travel and Maps, Utilities | 1 Comment »

Creating shopping lists on your Blackberry

My Blackberry is my phone, my email device, my camera, and my shopping list. Yes, shopping list. No more little scraps of paper, scribbling on my palm (Sarah Palin has given this a bad name), or straining to remember my wife’s need for wasabi peas. With your Blackberry, it’s easy to create shopping lists for multiple stores and have access to them whenever you are out and about.

You should have an app called Tasks pre-installed on your Blackberry. It looks like a clipboard with a few check marks. Open the app and then follow these directions:

Create shopping lists - I have one shopping list for various types of stores (e.g., Costco, Trader Joe’s, hardware, pharmacy).
- Click the Blackberry button and select “Filter” - this takes you to a list of the Categories for tasks. Each shopping list should have its own category
- Click the Blackberry button and select “New”. Type the shopping list name and hit return.
- Repeat this process to create additional shopping lists

Create a list - Now you can add items to each shopping list:
- Hit the back button to get to your list of tasks. You should see “Find” at the top.
- Hit the Blackberry button and select “New”
- Type the name of the item in the Task line at the top
- The following options allow you to set prioritize an item and create reminders
- Scroll to “Category” and hit enter. This takes you to your list of shopping lists. Scroll to the appropriate list and hit your trackball or space bar to check the box.
- Click the Blackberry button and select close. Chose “Save” when prompted.

View shopping lists - All of your tasks, from all shopping lists, are listed together when you open the Tasks app. If you want to get to a specific shopping list:
- Click the Blackberry button and select Filter.
- Place a check next to the appropriate shopping list(s)
- Now you will see only the items from specific stores.
- As you make a purchase, make sure to check off your items.
- Already purchased items still appear in the list. This is nice because when you run out of “wild Chinook salmon”, you don’t need to retype it; simply find the item in the appropriate list and uncheck it

Tasks can be configured to synch with your Outlook task list so you can also access the content on your desktop. Here is some more detail on tasks from Blackberry.

Sadly, you will now need to find another excuse for forgetting to purchase the wasabi peas.

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Mike Swire | February 22nd, 2010
Category: Utilities | No Comments »

Green is the New Red this Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays that you either embrace … or try to forget about. For me, it means that my daughters need to produce an exponential number of handmade Valentines each year.

According to a survey just completed by ICR/International Communications Research, 68% of Americans plan to send greeting cards this Valentine’s day. While this outpouring of sentiments may be good news for the greeting card industry, you can imagine the carbon footprint left in its wake. Here are a few alternative ideas:

Hallmark Mobile Greetings. Create an account and send greetings from your mobile phone to other mobile phones. When you send a greeting, a $0.99 charge is applied to your monthly wireless bill. (The first one’s free) Data charges also apply, so I’d recommend signing up for a data plan if you don’t have one. Hallmark has many greetings to choose from. For more details go to mobile.hallmark.com

Godiva Chocolatier. Order Godiva chocolates and other gifts directly from your BlackBerry. The free app allows you to scroll through an impressive selection of chocolates, truffles and other tasty gifts. I couldn’t resist sending my daughters the Limited Edition Pink Cupcakes.

Order movie tickets with Fandango and take your Valentine to see Valentine’s Day from Warner Brothers. Sustainable practices were encouraged throughout filming, including the use of reusable water bottles, solar-powered generators and supplying the stars with hybrid cars. “Warner Brothers really wanted to see our film as changing the culture,” said Diana Pokorny, the film’s executive producer. “We tried to push what we can do and what we can do better next time.”

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Barb Finney | February 12th, 2010
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Category: Fun and Games, Green | 1 Comment »

Let it Snow! My-Cast Weather Keeps You Informed.

Two new feet of snow in Tahoe this week and more on the way. With the My-Cast Weather app on my BlackBerry, forecasts are always at my fingertips, and I can dial-in timing for trips to Tahoe.

My-Cast is easy to use and has lots of useful information including advisories from the National Weather Service and predicted storm paths. Under the Forecasts tab, you’ll find:

  • Currents - great for checking if there’s fog or high winds (increasing the chance of lift closures)
  • Health Index - Includes the UV index (and reminds me to pack sunscreen)

    • mc7-fcst

  • Almanac - Will there be a full moon for night skiing?
  • Hourly Forecast
  • Daily Forecast
  • Forecast Text
  • Forecast Graph (for the analysts among us)

The latest version includes a weather quiz, which I have to admit put me to shame. So what if I scored in the 5th percentile? I learned that a tropical cyclone in Australia is called a willy-willy. Check out My-Cast in BlackBerry App World. I’m sure you can beat my score and pick up a little weather trivia as well.

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Barb Finney | January 14th, 2010
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Category: Exercise, Fun and Games, Travel and Maps | No Comments »

Zagat To Go on BlackBerry

Restaurant week is occurring in many cities so I thought this was the ideal time to try out Zagat to Go 7.0 for Blackberry. Zagat to Go provides up-to-date Zagat Survey ratings and reviews for over 40,000 restaurants, nightspots, hotels and golf courses in hundreds of cities worldwide.

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Features of the mobile version include:

Ratings: Just like the Zagat Survey books, Zagat to Go rates each restaurant on Food, Décor, Service and Cost using a 30 point scale.

Search: In the app you can search for a restaurant by name or browse by cuisine, neighborhood, or one of the numerous features like child friendly and power scene. I often also take advantage of a variety of lists of top rated restaurants by category. When traveling, it’s especially valuable to use the GPS search to find a nearby location.

Usability: The app is easy to use and navigate. It allows you to quickly make a reservation using the click-to-call button or map it using a full color downloadable map and directions. You can even add a reservation to your calendar or establishment to your address book.

Coverage: People typically either love or hate this application and it primarily boils down to the coverage in your area. I recommend the 14-day trial to ensure you’re satisfied with the results before you invest in this app. Zagat covers restaurants in the following regions: New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Washington DC/ Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Miami /Ft Lauderdale, Seattle, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas Ft. Worth, Sacramento, Las Vegas, New Orleans, San Diego, Hawaii, New Jersey, Connecticut, Texas, Westchester NY/Hudson Valley, Long Island, Montreal, Toronto, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and the top restaurants and hotels in other major cities and regions.

Download 14-day trial: Go to http://mobile.zagat.com/blackberry.htm. You can download the 14-day trial by entering your phone number to receive installation instructions via text message or use the BlackBerry Desktop Manager (Note: Only supports Windows based operating systems) to download directly from this page.

Purchase Zagat to Go:

  1. Go to Handmark’s site. www.handmark.com
  2. On the site - select your handset model and type “Zagat to Go” into the search box.
  3. In order to download the application you’ll need to set up an account. Handmark charges downloads to a credit card, debit card, or paypal account that you provide. Handmark is a partner that CREDO recommends to our customers for Smartphone content. In addition to the BlackBerry, Handmark offers content and applications for many other phones including almost all smartphones and some standard phones including the Motorola Razor.
  4. You have the option of selecting an annual membership to Zagat to Go for $19.99 or a monthly subscription for $3.99/month. Once you’ve made a selection, you’ll receive a text message with a link to download the application. You’ll need to have a phone with a data service plan in order to access the mobile web link and download the application.
  5. After you have successfully downloaded you’ll find the application’s Icon on your phone’s main menu/icon list.

BTW wondering when restaurant week is in your area? Check out: http://www.eatdrinkdeals.com/2010/01/restaurant-week-across-usa-2/

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Karla Allen | January 13th, 2010
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Category: Entertainment, Productivity, Reference, Travel and Maps | 1 Comment »

Fandango BlackBerry Application

Fandango has released a BlackBerry application that provides a quick way to browse movies, preview coming attractions, and purchase tickets through the application. The application has three main sections: Movies, Theaters, and Search. The Movies section of the application pulls up current movies based on newly released features, top box office draws, and movies that are playing near a specific zip code. The Theaters lists movie theaters near your zip code and allows quick access to show times and links to purchase tickets. The Search function has a very basic feature set, but gets the job done as far as pulling up movie title results.

Overall there are many helpful movie research features to the application in terms of browsing movies and checking out upcoming movies. Where the application is a let down is in terms of the location settings; which don’t seem to take advantage of the GPS capabilities of BlackBerry smartphones. The ticket purchasing feature works well with a way to store a credit card and Fandango account information in the application. Perhaps the biggest letdown of the application is that it still requires you to print the tickets, show a credit card at the ticket booth, or retrieve the tickets from a Fandango kiosk. The application would be better if tickets could be purchased on the BlackBerry and then a unique barcode was generated which could be scanned directly from the phone to grant theater admission.

You can find more information on the Fandango BlackBerry application and a link to send the application to your smartphone:
Fandango BlackBerry Download Link

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Brian Au | January 12th, 2010
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Category: Entertainment, Reference | No Comments »

Improving transportation planning for cyclists through smartphones & GPS

The San Francisco Transportation Authority (SFTA) has released a mobile application that will improve its ability to understand the traffic patterns of cyclists in the city. Traditionally, the SFTA has used far less accurate and more manual methods of collecting data on bicycle use - e.g., someone standing on a corner counting. By installing an app on your GPS-enabled smartphone and then providing some data on your trips, you can provide rich, accurate, and real-time data to SFTA on how you bike in the city. This is a great step forward in quantifying the growing number of cyclists in the city and making the roads better for them.

The application is currently only available on the iPhone and Android platforms. This has driven some concern for a variety of reasons:

  • It doesn’t provide an accurate view of a very large segment of users. Blackberry has far more current users than the iPhone and the Android platforms combined.

  • It doesn’t provide as representative a picture of users from a variety of income backgrounds. The iPhone is one of the most expensive devices out there ($200 for the newest model). You can get a Blackberry for $50 or often less.

  • It probably undercounts bicycle commuters heading downtown. There are 16 million more enterprise Blackberry users than there are enterprise iPhone users in the US. I believe that addressing the bicycle needs of commuters represents the largest opportunity for taking cars off the road.

  • It isn’t available on CREDO Mobile. Bicyclists such as myself love CREDO Mobile, the greenest mobile phone carrier in America. The iPhone is only available on AT&T, a carrier with a history of contributions to right-wing politicians, including U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) who opposes government spending on bicycle infrastructure. Also, CREDO Mobile is a San Francisco business and woman-owned.

    • If you are interested in having the Cycletracks app support Blackberry, please contact Billy Charlton via email or at (415) 522-4816.

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    Mike Swire | January 11th, 2010
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    Category: Public policy, Reference, Utilities | No Comments »

    Tripit for BlackBerry smartphones

    Whenever I get an update from LinkedIn, there are always a few updates of people who are returning from a trip or leaving on a trip via TripIt. TripIt is a site that gathers all of your travel information in one place, logs miles, and makes traveling everywhere on business or pleasure a competitive game between your friends.

    I don’t necessarily want to broadcast my travel schedule, and I’m not so sure about the I travel more than you game, but I think maybe there is something to this TripIt app. There is a version of the app for BlackBerry phones so I go to http://m.tripit.com/uhp/blackberry and download the beta version of the app to try it out.

    You start by creating a login at www.tripit.com.
    Then you can send any email confirmation from your trip planning to plans@tripit.com and it starts building trips and organizing your information into one itinerary plan.

    I sent camp site reservations, priceline car rental info, and flight info, all of which automatically registered as a trip or an activity on a trip in my tripit app. The app itself is pretty limited so I recommend setting up the trip mostly using the website. But once setup, the app is very handy to have. It automatically pulls up google maps to locate any address, launches websites for things like airport and hotel info. The best part about the app is that if you forget what time your flight departs, you don’t have your confirmation code, or you need to call your hotel, you can launch TripIt and it’s all right there in the app. It even generates directions and local area maps automatically to help you on your trip.

    Try it out and let me know what you think.

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    Haruko Kurata | January 8th, 2010
    Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »

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