Archive for the ‘Music and Tones’ Category

The Sound of Sync: BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Apple Computers

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Not all of us fall into the black and white world of ‘PC vs. Mac.’ I happen to be somewhat greyish – I use an Apple at home, a PC at work and a CREDO BlackBerry for the in between. Transferring data between my BlackBerry and work PC is seamless – but it’s a little more complicated in the world of BlackBerry to Mac communications. However, this Friday, October 2, Research In Motion (the manufacturer of BlackBerry) is going to be releasing a new version of their BlackBerry Desktop Manager software – one developed specifically for Mac users.

While “Pocket Mac” – a BlackBerry app allowing Apple users to sync to their smartphone – has been available for some time, the functionality is not comparable to the Windows-based desktop BlackBerry manager available for PCs. With the of desktop Mac release this Friday, BlackBerry enthusiasts will be able to sync iTunes playlists, calendars, contacts and tasks from their Mac desktop. Users will also be able to download applications and update their BlackBerry with new software. Did I mention syncing with iTunes? Of course, calendar and contact syncing is important – but I’m excited that my CREDO BlackBerry Curve will now be able to do so with a soundtrack.

The software is free and it’ll be available tomorrow, October 2, 2009 at www.blackberry.com/mac

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Posted in Music and Tones, Productivity | 1 Comment »

Thumbplay — preview & download music on the BlackBerry

Friday, September 25th, 2009

I haven’t really explored the musical possibilities of my BlackBerry much lately…mostly because I didn’t think it really had any.

But then I discovered a pretty cool new free app in the BlackBerry App World site — Thumbplay — and decided to give it a try. So far, I’m pretty impressed.

Thumbplay advertises “…a great selection of DRM-free songs for your Blackberry Smartphone….browse, preview and download music from thousands of artists, and then play your music from your phone, computer or any MP3 player.” Kind of like iTunes for the rest of us, I suppose.

When I downloaded the app, it came across pretty quickly; at under half a megabyte, it’s a pretty slender program. (That impressed me — I positively hate bloatware.)

Within a couple minutes I had it installed and was previewing some tunes. The selection is pretty good but not great — it doesn’t seem to have every tune under the sun, but most of my favorite artists seem pretty well represented.

You can preview any of the tracks in the store, and they come across pretty quickly. Buying a full song cost me 99 cents, and the transaction happened quickly and seamlessly. (The first time through I had to enter my credit card information, but the next couple purchases didn’t require this.)

They promise a new free track every week, so we’ll see what’s offered. And now that I have these DRM-free MP3 tracks on my phone, I’ll send ‘em over to my laptop via bluetooth and maybe burn them to a CD for the car. I’m not fully sold on this app yet — but initial signs are pretty promising.

You can find more info on Thumbplay here on the BlackBerry App World site. If you try it out, post a comment below to let us know how it goes!

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Posted in Music and Tones, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Stephen Colbert Jr calls on your phone

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Several years ago, the San Francisco Zoo hatched Stephen Colbert Jr, the Bald Eagle that Stephen Colbert adopted as his son.

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Stephen Jr has since been released into the wild and has been spotted all along the West Coast most notably in Oregon and California and as far away as Canada.

The Center for Biological Diversity, a non-profit conservation organization dedicated to the protection of endangered species, has released a recording of Stephen Jr, from a recent spotting in Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.

You too can set your phone’s ringer to Stephen Jr’s calls by downloading his ringtone.

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Posted in Entertainment, Music and Tones, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Shazam!

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Today I found a new favorite app for my Blackberry Curve. It’s called Shazam and it’s awesome.

First some background. I used to pride myself on being able to name any Grateful Dead song within the first ten notes. But honestly (and sadly) it’s a rarity to hear much Jerry anymore (radio or elsewhere) so my special talent has been rendered useless. I love all kinds of music but these days I rarely know what I’m listening too and even more rare is the occasion where I remember something to go back to later.

Enter Shazam for BlackBerry. This nifty app allows you to hold your phone up to the a radio/speaker and it identifies the name of the tune and artist. From here you can “tag” it so you remember later and/or you can purchase/download full tracks or ringtones directly to your phone. Yes, the future has arrived.

How well does it work? I tried a few different tunes starting with some My Morning Jacket, who while well known to me aren’t super popular. It found the song in fewer than thirty seconds. As a bonus, it provided links to both the band’s biography and their discography.

Other features include sharing (which allows you to send the track/album title to others via, SMS or email), suggestions (explore other music like the item you “tagged”) and the ability to view the most popular music being tagged at any given time.

If you like music, and especially if you like to explore new music, I’d highly recommend downloading this one available from BlackBerry App World. The only catch is you have to pay $4.99. You can download a free 7-day trial for free to check it out (which is what I did for this review) and decide for yourself if it’s worth it. My brief experience with this app says it is.

Also note that it can be addicting. Over the course of this review I tried desperately to find a song it couldn’t identify. After going ten for ten, including some more obscure titles, I finally found Shazam’s match however. The song it couldn’t find? Run for the Roses by Jerry Garcia…

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Get your Free Bill O’Reilly Ringtone

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Some of CREDO’s friends — the folks at Presente.org — recently released an ad in conjunction with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings in the Senate.  The ad takes Rush Limbaugh to task for calling Sotomayor a ‘racist’ and a ‘bigot.’  Watch it here:

The ad sure got under Fox News bloviator Bill O’Reilly’s skin:

As long as I can keep my blood pressure in check, it’s always a hoot for me to see O’Reilly blow his top.  When we saw this video, the CREDO Mobile politics team thought it might be fun to be able to take a little piece of Papa Bear’s rage with us wherever we go.  So we packaged the rant into a nifty ringtone that you can download to your mobile phone.

Now Bill O’Reilly can announce all your incoming calls — rolled r’s and all!

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Posted in Fun and Games, Music and Tones, Political | 3 Comments »

Yahoo! Go or “no-go” on my Blackberry?

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Its been a while since I have used my Yahoo! account.  The reason is simple.  Since I got my Blackberry Curve, I have been spending most of my time using other applications and viewing other mobile web sites.  I downloaded the Google App and moved my personal email to Gmail.  With Google Apps, I have my email and the web at my fingertips.

I heard about the downloadable Yahoo! Go application for my BlackBerry Curve and decided to try it out.  “The best internet experience for your phone. Period.” is no idle boast.  Or is it.

Yahoo Go! is a well designed application.  It takes me back to the days when Yahoo! was cool.

Overall, the Yahoo! Go user interface is very user friendly compared to the Google app.  Yahoo! Go’s interface is superior by a large margin in my opinion.  However, each component of this all-in-one application doesn’t live up to it’s competition.  For example, I am used to using Google Maps to find my way around the Bay Area and couldn’t imagine that I would be hooked on something else.  The Yahoo! maps are compelling,  providing quite a bit more map detail than you can find on Google Maps.

Yahoo! Go for Blackberry

Unfortunately, some key features are missing from Yahoo! maps.   I couldn’t seem to  find walking and transit directions which can come in handy when you are not driving.

It also turns that the GPS service is a bit dodgy.  I was on the train testing it out and I kept getting an error message that  Yahoo! Go is unable to find my position.  I switched over to Google Maps and it picked up my location within seconds.  I am no geek but I’m partial to fast and reliable performance.

For looks, the Yahoo Go! application is indeed the best internet experience on your mobile phone, but for performance it is not. Period!

For now this will have to be a no-go for me.

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Posted in Entertainment, Music and Tones, News, Productivity, Travel and Maps | 3 Comments »