A friend pointed out that RIM is really starting to make themselves known to Android developers and other developer communities on Meetup. Until now they have been using it to court BlackBerry developers with meetups all over the place and a few web developers but now they are clearly sponsoring Android developer meetups in anticipation of the Android Player for the PlayBook. We know that RIM is releasing the Android Player to developers at least before DevCon but other than that this is another sign that it is coming soon.
On RIM’s Meetup.com sponsorship page for the “Android Player for BlackBerry PlayBook it states that they are sponsoring 50 meetups across the country. Here are the details:
While we all wait somewhat patiently for the Android App Player to officially make its way to the BlackBerry PlayBook, it looks like RIM is still rallying the troops on the Android front. RIM is sponsoring 50 Android developer events on Meetup in order to get the Android love flowing on the PlayBook. The sponsored events will allow for a BlackBerry rep to visit with groups in order to help convert Android apps to run on the PlayBook as well as get listed in BlackBerry App World.
Android Player for BlackBerry PlayBook is supporting 50 Meetups across the country to get the word out about converting your Android App to run on the BlackBerry Tablet OS and host it in BlackBerry World. They’re thrilled to have your Meetup participating in this program! In addition to having a local Blackberry rep come visit your Meetup, they’re making a financial investment in your Meetup Group over the next 3 months to help your Organizer make it even better!
It looks like there is a good amount of interest thus far, so lets hope things go well and plenty of developers hop on board. Still no official word on just when we’ll see an official release of the Android App Player, but as always, fingers crossed that it’s not too much longer.
We just told you about the Marmalade SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook but we have some other good info for game developers. The developer of BattleBallz Chaos, DrMop, has posted a great guide on how to setup and deploy a game developed using the cross platform Marmalade SDK onto the BlackBerry PlayBook and available in App World. This is all based on the Marmalade SDK 5.1.3 with beta PlayBook support which is quite slick.
We told you back in July that RIM released a graphic UI tool for BlackBerry PlayBook AIR devs to easily sign and build apps. Ofutur let us know that RIM has just extended to tool to also work for BlackBerry PlayBook WebWorks developers. It provides developers an alternative to the command line tools RIM provided at launch. The tool allows devs to easily:
Configure your BlackBerry Code Signing Keys
Build and sign a WebWorks for Tablet OS Application
Create and install Debug Tokens
Deploy the application to the simulator or real device
Bloomberg has been fanning the rumor mill today with some tidbits from “three people familiar with the plan” for RIM’s QNX OS. These “three people” requested to not be identified because the effort is obviously not public but they are confirming that QNX BlackBerry smartphones will also run the Android Player in “early” 2012. According to one of these “people” the Android app player is the same one as RIM is working on for the PlayBook and it is being “tweaked to fit the different screen size and resolution of various BlackBerry models.” They also said that RIM plans on having this Android player installed on the QNX phones at launch and not as an upgrade like they are doing for the PlayBook.
Research In Motion originally said that its QNX-powered BlackBerry PlayBook tablet would be capable of running Android applications through a virtual player this summer. While early builds of the software have already been leaked, we’re nearing the end of the summer and PlayBook owners are still Android-less. Unfortunately, Engadget has learned that the BlackBerry maker has delayed support for Android applications until ‘late fall.’ There’s no word on an exact date, but the sooner RIM can offer support the more attractive its PlayBook tablet will be.
Data Drilling is a really cool-looking PlayBook app that helps you learn more from your data by visualizing it. The app takes spreadsheet data and presents it in a variety of graphical formats to help you study it better. This app is great for app developers because you can export the App World spreadsheet to the app, and break down your app’s downloads based on a variety of factors in order for you to better learn about your users. Another benefit of Data Drilling is that it comes in a free, Lite and Pro version.
It’s that standard microHDMI port that sets the BlackBerry PlayBook apart. Through that string of plastic and metal stream billions of bits per second, bringing a crystal clear; high-definition image to any monitor or projector that supports HDMI. The PlayBook has a standard port that connects to a standard microHDMI (Type D) cable that connects to a standard HDMI port on your display. It’s easy to connect; it’s easy to use.
Since the day it was announced, it was clear the BlackBerry PlayBook would be a powerful presentation tool. Connecting easily through the HDMI port, slideshows; images; music; and video are all shown on the big screen in high definition clarity. Both the videos app and SlideShow To Go offer presentation modes that allow the action to continue on screen while the presenter does something entirely different.
With all this power at my fingertips, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Just how easy is it to use the PlayBook as a presentation tool? Check out the video up top, then follow me after the break. I’ll show you how I made that presentation and where I ran into trouble.
While QNX has been showing off their concept cars with BlackBerry PlayBook integration its always nice to see others warming up to the idea. Renault just released a new concept car design called FRENDZY which is meant to be a commercial business vehicle which can double as a comfortable passenger car. It brings the “Office on Wheels” by adding the BlackBerry PlayBook into the dash. Check out the video below:
Oddly the PlayBook is put in portrait mode which makes for an interesting docking situation that seems to be more design than function. Still it could be interesting to see cars that already run QNX working to use the BlackBerry PlayBook as a central console. Here is the press release:
One of the popular uses I can see for PlayBooks and other tablets is the ability to simply forms and procedures that are currently done on paper. I know many companies that are already streamlining forms on their BlackBerrys but the PlayBook’s larger screen allows for proper signature capture. While some companies do provide solutions for signature capture using BlackBerry smartphones they are kind of clunky. To show off how RIM thinks this kind of feature could work they released the source code of a sample app for developers to check out.
Here is how RIM describes it:
The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with its 7″ touchscreen provides an ideal form factor for capturing and collecting signatures. The attached Signature Pad sample application demonstrates the best practices of capturing signature on the BlackBerry tablet such as touch point smoothing to make the signature look more like a paper signature, encoding signature data into JPEG format, saving signature data to the file system and adjusting the thickness of the line to match finger or stylus precision.
If you are a developer you can check out the sample Adobe Actionscript app code here. I could use a program that would let me take a picture of a document and sign it and then email it… I really wish RIM would keep on churning out proof of concept apps like these for both WebWorks and AIR apps for the PlayBook. They are a great way to introduce devs into different use cases.
Data Drilling is a really cool-looking PlayBook app that helps you learn more from your data by visualizing it. The app takes spreadsheet data and presents it in a variety of graphical formats to help you study it better. This app is great for app developers because you can export the App World spreadsheet to the app, and break down your app’s downloads based on a variety of factors in order for you to better learn about your users. Another benefit of Data Drilling is that it comes in a free, Lite and Pro version.
Night Hawk Computers Blackberry Alliance 