BlackBerry Says “Thank You”– Offers Free PlayBook Apps At BlackBerry App World

I captured a runaway 32 GB BlackBerry PlayBook a couple of days ago. As it dashed past, I reached out and grabbed the little speed demon by its price tag – $248 (down from $599) . Last PlayBook in the store – so, I had to throw a few elbows during my robust maneuvering. You’ll notice – no mention of Mace, or pepper spray.  

Now, before the trolls sharpen their pencils, and jump on the  “what, are you nuts!” bandwagon – it’s pretty simple – I buy hardware based on my knowledge. Sound arrogant? Maybe – but, I live in a “grain of salt” tech world.

After 30+ years at this game – skepticism has long been my conditioned response to “the latest”; “the greatest”; “game changing”; “overwhelms the competition”; “reinvents the technology” ………. hype.

Almost without exception, from where I sit in my arrogant chair, skepticism has been much more appropriate, than not. As, has been my response to – “the latest”; “the greatest”; “game changing”; descriptions bandied about and painted on upcoming entries into the tablet market – wariness, and an unwillingness to capitulate to the hype.

On the other hand – query a typical person on what a Tablet is, and almost without exception, you’ll find that person referring to an iPad. This, despite the fact that as of January 2011, 60+ manufacturers were already producing, or had under development, more than 100 Tablet variations.

Sort of takes me back to the old days, when it was commonly assumed that IBM was the sole manufacturer of the PC. In reality, other than for a short period of time, that was never the case.

I’ve not set out to write an in-depth review of the Playbook – 2/3 days usage is hardly sufficient time – but, I’m loving what I’m seeing. Nor, is this post intended to “savage” the iPad. Love to though – just to P.O. a few fanboys.  

Instead, this a simple, lazy, mid-Christmas season post, to inform those who made the choice to focus on the PlayBook, that BlackBerry is offering a number of freebie applications, including –

Shazam Encore

Vlingo

DriveSafe.ly Pro

DriveSafe.ly Enterprise

Bubble Bash 2

The Sims 3

Bejeweled

Nobex Radio Premium

N.O.V.A.

SimCity Deluxe

iSpeech Translator Pro

Texas Hold’Em Poker 2

as a “ Thank you”, for choosing and supporting BlackBerry.

This offer expires on December 31st, 2011 – so, now would be a good time to download these applications.

 Go to – 

 

You’ll notice on the site, there are considerably more freebies available than I’ve posted here.

Note: A couple of things struck me immediately, while running through some “let’s see what this baby can do” processes with the PlayBook –

Multi-tasking (true Multi-tasking, BTW), was only marginally less efficient than running the same set of applications on my quad core Desktop. Impressive.

The PlayBook is capable of recording 1080p HD video with both the front and rear cameras. Very impressive results.

Drop back here in a couple of weeks for a full PlayBook review. In the meantime – readers from India might consider going on the hunt. I hear from associates in India, that a 16 GB PlayBook can be had for the equivalent of $199 USD, or less.

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Save 30 Dollars – Download WinX Cell Phone Video Converter Free (Offer Expires May 15, 2010)

My Internet friend Kingpin, who is always on the lookout for Tech Thoughts readers, when it comes to freebies, has found another one – WinX Cell Phone Video Converter.

From the developer’s site:

WinX Cell Phone Video Converter helps you convert any HD and SD video formats to mobile phone compatible video and audio formats, such as 3GP, MP4, AVC, MP3, etc. which are supported by all mobile phone and smart phone, like Nokia, Blackberry, Google Android phone, iPhone, etc.

This mobile phone converter is also designed for creating personalized videos for mobile phone by clipping video segment, adjusting parameter settings, changing video size, etc.

Time-limited Giveaway Offer – Regularly: $29.95. Now: $0.00

Fast facts:

Converting All Video Files for Mobile Phone – WinX Cell Phone Video Converter can convert all popular video files such as M2TS, MKV, AVCHD, AVI, WMV, FLV, MOV to MP4, 3GP, AVC video formats for Nokia, Blackberry, Android phone, iPhone, etc.

Support Multi-track HD Video – WinX Cell Phone Video Converter is the best mobile phone video converter which can convert Multi-track HD video BDAV, M2TS, MKV, and AVCHD. e.g. It lets you convert multi-track MKV, M2TS/MTS to MP4, 3GP, AVC, etc, you can freely choose audio language track.

Support Blu-ray, M2TS, BDAV – Support BDAV, TrueHD, M2TS, MTS, MPEG-TS Aduio/Video. It is a definitely useful feature when making a digital copy to backup your Blu-ray videos.

Multi-core CPU and Hyper-threading Supported – With Multi-core CPU and Hyper-threading, it offers you up to 5x‐8x real time converting speed. Besides, you can also convert videos in batch mode.

Video Editing with Ease – This mobile phone video converter is easy to use for splitting the video to fit the mobile phone and trimming the video segment you favor from the video files by choosing the start point and duration. You can make personalized videos by your own.

Optimize Videos by Adjustable Parameter Settings – With the assistance of this cell phone video converter, you can customize and compress the videos according to your preference by adjusting the video and audio parameter settings, such as resolution, frame rate, video bitrate, etc.

Extract Audio to Make Ringtone for Mobile Phone – Extract audio tracks and save as MP3 music file which can be made as the ringtone for mobile phone. It can also extract pictures from the video and save as mobile wallpapers.

Fast Speed, High Quality and Ease-to-Use – WinX Cell Phone Video Converter, designed with user-friendly interface, is easy to use for users of any level of experience. It works as the fastest 3GP and smart phone video converter which can keep the converted videos the same as the original.

To get the full version for free, please download this program and register with this License Code: WINXV2-CPHONE-27361-75133

Or, go to developer’s site: Winx dvd.com

If you found this article useful, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

How to use a Blackberry Smartphone with a cheap “Pay As You Go” mobile phone plan…

Rick Robinette gives you the 411 on getting the best from your Blackberry Smartphone in these uncertain economic times.

The object of the this story is to demonstrate how I maximized the usage  of a Blackberry Smartphone using one of the cheapest mobile phone plans out there. For the sake of this article, the model phone that I used for this project was the Blackberry Curve 8320 Smartphone.

If you do not know what a Blackberry is, I encourage to visit the Blackberry website [ CLICK HERE ] .

When it comes to mobile (cell) phones I cannot see myself conversing for a 1000 minutes (16.66 hours) a month. That is two workdays to me or time that I can allocate to other things where I can see results.

Please do not get me wrong, a mobile phone is very much needed in circumstances where your business or livelihood is dependent on quick communications. The plan which I currently use is a “pay as you go” plan (with T-Mobile). I have learned to discipline myself with the usage; PLUS I do not give my number out or use it for lengthy conversation.

I have always been fascinated with PDA’s, have owned quite a few, and was currently looking for something that would provide PDA capabilities, as well as, mobile phone capabilities. I did not want to pay a lot or get trapped into a lengthy service contract with a mobile phone provider just to own a computer in my pocket.

During a recent visit to the local mall I entered into my usual question and answer session with the sales rep at one of the T-Mobile kiosks.  I have done this in the past at other locations in an effort to educate myself about mobile phones.

One of my primary questions has been,  “What phones will my T-Mobile “pay-as-you-go” SIM card work in?”. You would be surprised at the answers I have received. I have always been told I would have to purchase another phone plan, if I wanted a Blackberry, etc…

Ultimately I always leave very confused about mobile phones. In this case, the sales rep proceeded to inform me that my SIM card in my cheapie phone would function in any of the phones they had. The sales rep proceeded to show me several phones including the Blackberry (all with heavy price tags if I were to buy the phone straight out).

As my “gadget luck” would have it, I was preparing to leave and the sales rep proceeds to tell me that he had an used Blackberry Curve 8320 for sale, minus the software for the phone.

Long story short, I get what I think is a good deal on this phone…  I buy the phone and with my cheap “pay as you go” plan, I challenge myself (as a project) to find workarounds to getting data to and from the Blackberry without the need to purchase a high priced data plan.

Reflected below is highlights of how my project turned out…  Some of the information alone may be helpful to other Blackberry owners and in some cases, depending on the phone (and provider), may not work at all. Some of the information reflected may be common information to mobile phone power users and may make me appear as if I don’t have a clue about mobile phones…

Well I don’t, but I am learning!  All I can tell you is, that I took a cheap phone plan (pay-as-you-go) and an expensive smartphone and customized it for my personal needs.

SIM Card

SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) is the card located in your phone that is a module that identifies to the mobile phone provider, who you are. It can also serve as storage media for your contacts, etc… The module can usually be removed and swapped to other phones (with the same provider).  In my case the SIM card worked with no problems and all my contacts were transferred to the Blackberry.  I now have voice communications with the Blackberry using my “pay as you go” plan.

Coverage

My phone coverage improved noticeably.  Locations where I could not get service, I now have service.  Proves to me that some mobile phones are better in transmission and reception than others.

Blackberry Desktop Manager Software

Since there was no software with the smartphone to manage the phone from my computer, I had to go find the software on the internet. I easily located and downloaded the software from “Blackberry” and installed it on my PC .

The Desktop Manager Software is an integral piece that you need to keep your phone software up to date; AND to provide file management, software management, and backup capabilities.

The installation was also bundled with a Roxio package to manage and convert audio, video and photo files.  After learning the Desktop Manager Software, I knew at that point this was my gateway for installing third party software onto Blackberry.

Calendar, Contact, and Task Management

In order to take full advantage of the calendar, contact and task management portion of the phone, I needed some type of syncing capabilities.

The Desktop Manager Software provides syncing capability to Microsoft Outlook and to Yahoo.  I exclusively configured my Yahoo internet mail account to manage my contacts, calendar, notes and tasks on my Blackberry.

When I connect my Blackberry to my computer, run the Desktop Manager Software, it automatically syncs with my Yahoo account on the internet. This also gives me the ability to pull up my information from any PC connected to the internet.

Wi-Fi

The Blackberry Curve 8320 has wi-fi (wireless) capability.  I configured the Blackberry to connect to the wireless router in my home, which provided me with (at first) limited access to the internet.  You will see below the workaround I utilized to gain full access.

Internet Browser

The browser on this particular phone was very, very limited (proprietary to T-Mobile) and did not provide complete internet access via my wireless access point. I initially did not think this was possible without a data plan, but after some careful thinking, I knew there had to be some way that I could bridge that gap.

I downloaded and installed Opera-Mini which is browser software designed for mobile phones. I now have full access to the internet via my wireless router or at any Wi-Fi access point that will let me in.  (Note: Opera-Mini is an awesome browser for this purpose).

MicroSD Card (with PC Adapter)

RadioShack had an 8 gig MicroSD memory card on sale ($20), which I installed into the Blackberry…  I now have storage capability; plus when  connecting the Blackberry to my computer it is recognized as a mass storage device.

I can now transport my files, portable apps, etc… This particular phone model has a camera (w/photo viewer), video camera (with video player) and voice recorder (w/audio player) built in.

With the added storage I successfully converted a full length movie to play on the Blackberry; added MP3 music files, photos, documents, etc…

Software

Now that I have learned to install software onto the Blackberry, I am currently exploring the internet for “freeware” software for the Blackberry.  Several sources that I have located are:

Blackberry Freeware

Blackberryfreaks.com

Blackberry Freeware Directory

In closing, I have been quite pleased with the outcome of this project and the Blackberry Curve Smartphone.  I welcome any comments or suggestions.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC.

How to use a Blackberry Smartphone with a cheap “Pay As You Go” mobile phone plan…

I love my gadgets, and when opportunity presents itself to try something different, I cannot resist.

The object of the this story is to demonstrate how I maximized the usage  of a Blackberry Smartphone using one of the cheapest mobile phone plans out there. For the sake of this article, the model phone that I used for this project was the Blackberry Curve 8320 Smartphone.

If you do not know what a Blackberry is, I encourage to visit the Blackberry website [ CLICK HERE ] .

When it comes to mobile (cell) phones I cannot see myself conversing for a 1000 minutes (16.66 hours) a month. That is two workdays to me or time that I can allocate to other things where I can see results.

Please do not get me wrong, a mobile phone is very much needed in circumstances where your business or livelihood is dependent on quick communications. The plan which I currently use is a “pay as you go” plan (with T-Mobile). I have learned to discipline myself with the usage; PLUS I do not give my number out or use it for lengthy conversation.

I have always been fascinated with PDA’s, have owned quite a few, and was currently looking for something that would provide PDA capabilities, as well as, mobile phone capabilities. I did not want to pay a lot or get trapped into a lengthy service contract with a mobile phone provider just to own a computer in my pocket.

During a recent visit to the local mall I entered into my usual question and answer session with the sales rep at one of the T-Mobile kiosks.  I have done this in the past at other locations in an effort to educate myself about mobile phones.

One of my primary questions has been,  “What phones will my T-Mobile “pay-as-you-go” SIM card work in?”. You would be surprised at the answers I have received. I have always been told I would have to purchase another phone plan, if I wanted a Blackberry, etc…

Ultimately I always leave very confused about mobile phones. In this case, the sales rep proceeded to inform me that my SIM card in my cheapie phone would function in any of the phones they had. The sales rep proceeded to show me several phones including the Blackberry (all with heavy price tags if I were to buy the phone straight out).

As my “gadget luck” would have it, I was preparing to leave and the sales rep proceeds to tell me that he had an used Blackberry Curve 8320 for sale, minus the software for the phone.

Long story short, I get what I think is a good deal on this phone…  I buy the phone and with my cheap “pay as you go” plan, I challenge myself (as a project) to find workarounds to getting data to and from the Blackberry without the need to purchase a high priced data plan.

Reflected below is highlights of how my project turned out…  Some of the information alone may be helpful to other Blackberry owners and in some cases, depending on the phone (and provider), may not work at all. Some of the information reflected may be common information to mobile phone power users and may make me appear as if I don’t have a clue about mobile phones…

Well I don’t, but I am learning!  All I can tell you is, that I took a cheap phone plan (pay-as-you-go) and an expensive smartphone and customized it for my personal needs.

SIM Card

SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) is the card located in your phone that is a module that identifies to the mobile phone provider, who you are. It can also serve as storage media for your contacts, etc… The module can usually be removed and swapped to other phones (with the same provider).  In my case the SIM card worked with no problems and all my contacts were transferred to the Blackberry.  I now have voice communications with the Blackberry using my “pay as you go” plan.

Coverage

My phone coverage improved noticeably.  Locations where I could not get service, I now have service.  Proves to me that some mobile phones are better in transmission and reception than others.

Blackberry Desktop Manager Software

Since there was no software with the smartphone to manage the phone from my computer, I had to go find the software on the internet. I easily located and downloaded the software from “Blackberry” and installed it on my PC .

The Desktop Manager Software is an integral piece that you need to keep your phone software up to date; AND to provide file management, software management, and backup capabilities.

The installation was also bundled with a Roxio package to manage and convert audio, video and photo files.  After learning the Desktop Manager Software, I knew at that point this was my gateway for installing third party software onto Blackberry.

Calendar, Contact, and Task Management

In order to take full advantage of the calendar, contact and task management portion of the phone, I needed some type of syncing capabilities.

The Desktop Manager Software provides syncing capability to Microsoft Outlook and to Yahoo.  I exclusively configured my Yahoo internet mail account to manage my contacts, calendar, notes and tasks on my Blackberry.

When I connect my Blackberry to my computer, run the Desktop Manager Software, it automatically syncs with my Yahoo account on the internet. This also gives me the ability to pull up my information from any PC connected to the internet.

Wi-Fi

The Blackberry Curve 8320 has wi-fi (wireless) capability.  I configured the Blackberry to connect to the wireless router in my home, which provided me with (at first) limited access to the internet.  You will see below the workaround I utilized to gain full access.

Internet Browser

The browser on this particular phone was very, very limited (proprietary to T-Mobile) and did not provide complete internet access via my wireless access point. I initially did not think this was possible without a data plan, but after some careful thinking, I knew there had to be some way that I could bridge that gap.

I downloaded and installed Opera-Mini which is browser software designed for mobile phones. I now have full access to the internet via my wireless router or at any Wi-Fi access point that will let me in.  (Note: Opera-Mini is an awesome browser for this purpose).

MicroSD Card (with PC Adapter)

RadioShack had an 8 gig MicroSD memory card on sale ($20), which I installed into the Blackberry…  I now have storage capability; plus when  connecting the Blackberry to my computer it is recognized as a mass storage device.

I can now transport my files, portable apps, etc… This particular phone model has a camera (w/photo viewer), video camera (with video player) and voice recorder (w/audio player) built in.

With the added storage I successfully converted a full length movie to play on the Blackberry; added MP3 music files, photos, documents, etc…

Software

Now that I have learned to install software onto the Blackberry, I am currently exploring the internet for “freeware” software for the Blackberry.  Several sources that I have located are:

Blackberry Freeware

Blackberryfreaks.com

Blackberry Freeware Directory

In closing, I have been quite pleased with the outcome of this project and the Blackberry Curve Smartphone.  I welcome any comments or suggestions.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC.

3Guppies’ FaceBook Widget – Send Photos to Your Cell Phone

The only things you need to send a FaceBook photo or video to any cell phone is 3Guppies FaceBook app and a working US or Canadian phone number. The application pulls up all the photos in your friends’ albums as well as your own. Grabbing the photo previews it in a mobile screen frame, though you needn’t worry too much about it fitting–3Guppies Mobile automatically scales photos on the destination phone.

You can crop, title, and tag the image and choose to store a copy in the 3Guppies locker for later reference. Once the photo has landed on the phone, it can be downloaded or sent on its way to sunnier pastures. 3Guppies has worked behind the scenes, striking compatibility deals with 28 carriers for 1,200 phones in North America.

MySpace users have a slightly different product, an embeddable photo album widget that’s then linked to your phone number. Once associated, photo, video, and text auto-uploads from your phone to the widget, essentially creating a mini multimedia blogging platform. You can also send MySpace photos to any phone.

Go to your FaceBook page and add the widget: that’s it.

Most phones will receive a text message with a link in it. To click on the link select Menus or Options and ‘GO TO’. Your photos should download automatically.

Home Surveillance on Your BlackBerry! – Try it for Free

From Mobiscope 

Description:

Turn your PC into a home surveillance system with Mobiscope software that runs on your BlackBerry handhelds.

No need to purchase any expensive equipment. All you need is a webcam on your computer to record everything that goes on when you are away. Mobiscope can monitor the area for motion and transfer the recording to your mobile phone.

Main Benefits:

• Monitor the security of your children or home. Open Mobiscope on your mobile to find out whether your children at home are in safety.
• Webcam-recorded video playback on your mobile. View webcam recorded videos right away on your mobile wherever you are
• Switch between several webcams. Use several webcams and switch between them on your mobile to see your home and office at the same time
• Customized scheduling for recording start/finish. Use different schedules to start or end the recordings according to your preferences. You can start recording always at 8 a.m. when you leave home, save your recordings and watch them later

Main Features:

• Let grandparents see their grandkids – safely and securely. Watch your kids remotely or let grandparents see their grandkids if they are far away.
• Be closer to friends and family by viewing webcam videos when away from home. Open Mobiscope and feel the family atmosphere when you are far from home
• Easily control your webcam from your BlackBerry using shortcuts. Start/finish recordings, zoom in, zoom out
• Secure and private access to your recordings All you need is your BlackBerry client, your PC number and the password.
• Data transfer encryption. Your recordings are safely encrypted when transferred to the Internet.    Try for free