BlackBerry WebWorks SDK for Smartphones Updated to v2.1.1

Good news for web developers making WebWorks app for BlackBerrys. RIM keeps pushing the platform forward and the latest update brings us to v2.1.1 since the previous update in June. The new version brings APIs and new features including a built in BlackBerry® 7 OS simulator, Web Inspector, Microphone API, Auto injection of Gears-to-HTML5 shim. Here is a breakdown of the features added:

 

• BlackBerry® 7 OS simulator – a BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 simulator running BlackBerry 7 OS device software is now included in the WebWorks SDK download.
• Web Inspector – As promised in a previous blog post, developers can now use WebKit Web inspector to debug, test and profile Web browser or BlackBerry WebWorks application content running on a live device or simulator.
• Microphone API – The same API that was recently made available for the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK for Tablet OS can now be used to record WAV audio files in BlackBerry WebWorks applications running on BlackBerry smartphones.
• Auto injection of Gears-to-HTML5 shim – BlackBerry WebWorks developers that wish to use HTML5 features on BlackBerry 5.0 smartphones no longer need to manually add the Gears-to-HTML JavaScript toolkit to their projects. The BlackBerry WebWorks SDK automatically does this for you.

You can read more about the update on the DevBlog or download it here. There is also some good info on GitHub.

BlackBerry WebWorks SDK for Smartphones v2.1 now available

Some good news for BlackBerry developers making use of the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK. BlackBerry WebWorks SDK for Smartphones v2.1 is now available and brings with it some new offerings to help make developing smartphone applications a little easier:

 New capabilities available to WebWorks developers for BlackBerry Smartphones are:

• NTLM & BASIC Authentication support (NTLM support requires a BlackBerry Enterprise Server)
• Camera API (take a picture or a video)
• Top Banner Indicator API
• Enhanced Push APIs
• Improved rendering speeds for applications not using loading/transition screens

The new banner API and Push API’s here are pretty excellent, developers can now use the push API to “wake” applications up and combined with the new banner API inform you, as a user that you have recieved a notification within whatever app it is making use of the new services. For the full details, make sure you check out the BlackBerry Dev Blog.

BlackBerry Developers Blog

via:cb

iSpeech launching SDK to easily allow developers to incorporate text to speech and speech recognition

 

We have taken a look at Drivesafe.ly, an application that reads your messages out loud while driving, quite a number of times here, and the developers have hit us with some rather interesting news. iSpeech is the latest from the same folks, and they will be releasing a free, yes free, multi platform SDK that will allow developers instant access to these features, allowing them to build them into their existing applications.  Their services have been used over a billion times to date, with over 3,000 registered developers, which is expected to grow hugely thanks to the SDK.

The SDK will launch with 40 different voices and 25 free languages available, with the option to purchase additional voices. Whether a developer, or not, get excited, as this means that developers can now begin to impliment this additional functionality in a much simpler fashion than ever before. So developers, will you be adding these features to your existing applications? If so, let us know! Full press release after the break.

For more information / getting started with iSpeech

Nitobi PhoneGap v1.0 released, allows use of JavaScript to create cross-platform mobile apps

[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

Developers, ahoy! Nitobi has come up with version 1.0 of its PhoneGap product, which essentially allows software developers to use their existing JavaScript knowledge to create cross-platform mobile apps. PhoneGap currently supports iOS, Android, HP webOS, BlackBerry and Symbian, with support for Windows Phone 7, MeeGo and Samsung bada coming soon. So, how does this all work? Instead of building apps for each platform, a software developer can use PhoneGap’s API to create an app, then submit the app to PhoneGap Build, which in turn gives back compiled binaries that are ready to submit to the various app stores out there.

A dream come true? The concept is much like BlackBerry WebWorks in that a software developer can create apps without learning Objective-C, Java or the like. In fact, PhoneGap works hand in hand with BlackBerry WebWorks to extend the functionality of the underlying framework. From there, once an app is built and ready, it is simply a matter of submitting the app to BlackBerry App World and done! PhoneGap also supports all the open frameworks you’re used to working with, such as jQuery and Sencha, so there is no looking back. I personally am excited about this product and will eventually try it out — it seems like a natural step forward when it comes to the development of mobile apps.

More on Nitobi PhoneGap

via: cb

Use the New BlackBerry 7 APIs in Your App & RIM May Promote it for You

RIM sent an email to developers this week letting them know about a cool opportunity they are offering. The new BlackBerry 7 OS offers quite a few new APIs for devs. RIM is trying to get developers to jump on the OS 7 bandwagon early by offering up the possibility that your “app could be featured in a variety of BlackBerry marketing activities” if you submit your app using the new BlackBerry 7 API’s by July 31st. Here are the possible opportunities:

• A feature in the BlackBerry App World feature carousel
• Placement in the next edition of BlackBerry Connection newsletter
• Placement in our media outreach activities
• Placement in our social media
• Placement in our digital properties on BlackBerry.com

 

The apps must be submitted to App World by July 31st to be considered and it seems like RIM is specifically targeting the NFC, Augmented Reality, and OpenGL APIs. RIM is holding their “What you need to know to develop for BlackBerry 7 webinar” today so dial in to that if you want to learn more.

Upcoming BlackBerry ID API for Developers – One ID to Rule Them All

RIM’s vision of BlackBerry ID is slowly taking shape with more and more services coming under its umbrella. More and more RIM services are starting to use BlackBerry ID and it will be an integral part of BlackBerry OS 7 just like it is on the PlayBook. Right now when a developer wants to identify an app user they can either use the users PIN number or maybe query one of the email addresses associated with the device. RIM plans for BlackBerry ID to replace that as single point of identification for a BlackBerry user.

I spoke to Mike Kirkup, Director of Developer Relations @RIM, about this upcoming API that is either shipping with BlackBerry OS 7 or coming as a service after launch like the Advertising or BBM service. Developers can potentially use that BlackBerry ID data as a form of identification to uniquely identify a user. For example, developers can use that ID to verify app licenses against their own registration list and other customizations based on a single identity. I am hoping that means the end of registration codes and painful PIN transitions.

 

On top of that RIM has a long term vision beyond the original use case for BlackBerry ID. They envision leveraging it in the future for 3rd party devs to store information about the user like app registrations or even app settings in the cloud. I can see quite a bit that devs could benefit from especially for making the transition between devices simpler. It could store a quick backup object for each app with basic settings to make device switches a piece of cake sort of like what BlackBerry Protect did.

What do you think about the BlackBerry ID API?

Oddly enough I found that Adobe Developer Evangelist, Renaun Erickson, posted a whole tutorial about working with the BlackBerry ID API on the BlackBerry PlayBook. The weird part is that I can find no reference to the different API’s Renaun talks about though I can now confirm that they are coming. Renaun pulls in this ID information from the following classes:

• net.rim.blackberry.bbid.BBIDProfile
• net.rim.blackberry.bbid.UserProperty
• net.rim.blackberry.events.BBIDEvent

Except for Renaun mentioning them I cannot find any other reference to them. Let me know if you figure out more!

via:bbr

How BlackBerry Smartphone Data Is Protected When Paired With A BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet

A question I’m sure many of you have (especially in the enterprise) is how exactly does a BlackBerry smartphone’s data stay protected when paired with a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet? We know BlackBerry Bridge is the app behind smartphone pairing with a PlayBook and now, thanks to a knowledge base article from the BlackBerry Technical Solution Center, we know a bit about how secure the connection is. Here’s the overview:

Bluetooth® profiles specify how applications on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, BlackBerry® smartphones and other Bluetooth enabled devices connect and interoperate. The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and a BlackBerry smartphone use the Serial Port Profile (SPP), which emulates a serial port between two Bluetooth-enabled devices, to communicate over Bluetooth®. The SPP is a client-server transport protocol, where the server controls whether and how to respond to client requests. The BlackBerry® Bridge™ application on the smartphone acts as a server for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to connect to.

Check out the rest of the KB article below for full details!

• How you can limit access to the SPP on the smartphone
  • A BlackBerry® Enterprise Server administrator can control which applications on the smartphone can use the Serial Port Profile, effectively limiting its use to trusted applications, such as BlackBerry Bridge. The Is Access to the Serial Port Profile for Bluetooth API Allowed application control policy rule controls whether an application on the smartphone can use the SPP.
  • On the BlackBerry smartphone, every Bluetooth profile has an associated IT policy rule or application control policy rule that allows the administrator to control the use of the profile.
• How the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet protects data in transit
  • The tablet and the smartphone use an encryption key (the BlackBerry Bridge pairing key) and AES to encrypt data that is sent between the tablet and the smartphone.
• How the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet protects stored data
  • When a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet connects to a BlackBerry smartphone that was activated on a BlackBerry Enterprise Server, the tablet and smartphone share an encryption key (the BlackBerry Bridge work key) to encrypt and decrypt data that is stored on the tablet.
• Additional Information:
  • For more information on Bluetooth technology and BlackBerry devices see the BlackBerry Devices with Bluetooth Technology Security Technical Overview.
  • For more information on IT policy rules and application control policy rules see the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Policy Reference Guide.
  • For more information on BlackBerry PlayBook tablet security see the BlackBerry PlayBook Security Technical Overview

source

via:bbrocks

BlackBerry WebWorks Platform Gaining Serious Traction

The BlackBerry WebWorks platform that RIM rebranded and announced a bit back is really starting to coming into its own. Even before BlackBerry World I have see the platform grow and the BlackBerry PlayBook only helped it along. I have even been dabbling myself with a few apps that I created in the WebWorks SDK. The PlayBook browser really lets these apps shine with its faster processing speed but BlackBerry 7 should offer a similar experience. For BlackBerry 7 RIM has rewritten the browser using the new hardware enhanced graphics to run the HTML, image, and JavaScript processing in separate threads along with JIT (Just in Time) JavaScript processing.

If you really want to be impressed with a “WebWorks” style app look no further than the BlackBerry Bridge. Chris Smith from RIM confirmed for me that the BlackBerry Bridge on the BlackBerry PlayBook is rendered with the WebKit browser though obviously with access to more API’s. Other apps like Slacker for BlackBerry and the very popular Rogers Hockeycentral app are also both written using WebWorks on the PlayBook. Chris also confirmed that the BBM Social Platform API’s for WebWorks are coming in the next few weeks.

RIM Explains Why BBM For Other Platforms is NOT On the Road Map

During a Q&A session with Mike Kirkup from Research in Motion (RIM) and a panel that included developers from Foursquare, Polar Mobile,Poynt, Wikitude, and a few others RIM touched on the subject of BBM for other platforms. The session was interesting the guys shared their experience of working with the Webworks SDK. It seems RIM is moving in the right direction attracting good developers while empowering the current ones.

One of the key questions that stood out to me was “When is BBM going cross platform or to the PC? Kirkup was straight forward and said that there was no plan or intentions of doing either. The reason being is that BBM is a key to attracting customers to BlackBerry. Another reason is the fact that the infrastructure that runs BBM is internal and taking it outside of RIM’s would be probably a really bad idea. I am not saying it couldn’t happen but i do not see how doing that would benefit them. There are quite a few apps already do that but not as good as BBM. If RIM really wanted to do that it would make more sense to maybe buy one of the 3rd party developers such as live profile or Whatsapp and simply give it access to API’s that would allow others to use that app to send messages to BBM users and vise versa. But I believe BBM needs to stay in-house.

We recorded most of the Q&A session so if you are a developer we encourage you to watch the video. You may find some interesting information on it. If you are interested on hearing about the BBM questions skip to 4 minutes on the video, the video is quite long.

via:bbr

BlackBerry PlayBook Bridge to be Opened Up to Developers!

Yes you read that right! Mike Kirkup, Director of Developer Relations at RIM, and Chris Smith, Senior Director for the BlackBerry Development Platform, confirmed at BlackBerry World this week that the BlackBerry PlayBook Bluetooth Bridge will be opened up to 3rd party developers. This will allow developers to pass information back and forth between BlackBerry Smartphones and the PlayBook. RIM will be opening up API’s to allow things like making a phone call or sending a link to the browser.

Mike and Chris took it a step further saying that they plan on even giving developers access to the Bluetooth stack to be able to create their own “bridge” interface for anything they can dream up. That means that apps like Tether might have a future on the BlackBerry PlayBook. It also means RIM plans on a tighter integration between the two devices even in third party apps without the limitations imposed in the current smartphone OS.

They didn’t mention a time frame but did mention that they will have a ton of surprises in store for DevCon this year!

via:bbr