Devs: WebWorks Twitterview Q&A Session from RIM Today

If you are a BlackBerry WebWorks developer you are going to want to be on Twitter today (Friday September 9th) at 1PM EDT. RIM is running a Twitterview Q&A session on their @BlackBerryDev Twitter account.

 

Here are the details:

 

Adam Stanley, WebWorks expert, will be on hand to answer your questions, simple or technical. No Web topic is off-limits, and no Web developer is unwelcome. If you’ve got a question about BlackBerry and HTML5, CSS3, Sencha, jQuery, PhoneGap, or WebWorks tweet it our way and we’ll do our best to answer. (And don’t forget to use the hashtag #AskBBdev!)

So just make sure to be logged into Twitter today monitoring the #AskBBdev hashtag at 1PM!

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.

Twitter HTML5 Website Now BlackBerry PlayBook Friendly!

I am not sure exactly when this happened but I remember checking earlier in the week and Twitter was still sending me to the subpar mobile site. Brian let me know that Twitter is now forwarding BlackBerry PlayBook users to their HTML5 tablet site which is way more usable. I am absolutely loving it now and it sort of makes a PlayBook Twitter app semi redundant except for notifications. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this one.

 

 

Check it out on your PlayBook at www.twitter.com

BlackBerry Torch 9810 Features and Specifications

The BlackBerry 9810 Torch 2 has now been officially announced and we now have a a full specs list of the device. If this is a device you are considering to purchase, you might want to take a look at the full list of specs. Here is a sneak peak on the Blackberry:

BlackBerry Torch 9810 Features and Specifications:

• Size (LxWxD):
  Closed: 111mm x 62mm x 14.6mm
  Open: 147.6mm x 62mm x 14.6mm
• Display:
  3.2″ high-resoultion touch display
• Software:
  BlackBerry7 OS
• Battery Life:
  GSM talk time: Up to 6.5 hours
  GSM standby time: up to 12.8 days
  UMTS talk time: up to 5.9 hours
  UMTS standby time: up to 12.3 days
  Audio playback time: up to 54 hours
  Video playback time: up to 7 hours

Research In Motion Introduces New BlackBerry 7 Smartphones (4G Service Capable)

BlackBerry Torch 9810, Torch 9850 and Torch 9860 Officially Announced!

Finally NHC Blackberry Alliance Nation, the wait is almost over and it’s about to rain new BlackBerrys. With the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 previously announced at BlackBerry World, Research In Motion just officially announced three more BlackBerry Torch models that bring the count of BlackBerry 7 phones up to 5. The BlackBerry Torch 9810 is the second generation of the sliding form factor Torch 9800, while the BlackBerry Torch 9850 and Torch 9860 (previously codenamed monaco and monza), are full touchscreen devices.

Read on for the press release!

BlackBerry PlayBook has best HTML5 Browser

According to HTML5Test.com the BlackBerry PlayBook currently ranks as the top HTML5 Browser when compared to competitors tablets. If you’re a PlayBook user this comes as no surprise as we know how great our tablet’s browsing capabilities are. The PlayBook’s browser renders websites the way the internet has meant them to be seen and it’s awesome to see it get the recognition it deserves.

• Check out the results here.

Bing Mobile updated, news and maps get minor facelifts

How can you “be what’s next” without having what’s next on your phone? Bing is here to help you fulfill its tagline by updating its mobile site for any device that runs HTML5. If the update had a highlight reel to show off the newest features, here’s what would be on it: a carousel-like interface in the news section that lets you swipe your finger left or right to switch to other categories; maps that show directions together in split-screen format; a search history complete with trending topics; and the ability to share images and links on Facebook. The new enhancements are now available to iOS, Android, and BlackBerry, so it’s an easy jaunt over to your browser to check it out. Or, if you’re reading this on your phone, give the ol’ More Coverage link a quick tap.

Bing

via:engagdet

RIM announces BlackBerry 7 OS with better browser and BlackBerry Balance, but no legacy support

The BB OS 6.1 update that grew too big for its name has just been made official by RIM as BlackBerry 7. Its ambassador into the wide world of smartphones will be the newly minted BlackBerry Bold Touch, which is expected to arrive “this summer.” What can you look forward to? The user experience is promised to be both easier and faster, voice-activated searches are available for content both on your phone and the web, and the browser has been “significantly enhanced” with new features like a JIT (just-in-time) JavaScript compiler and HTML5 Video support. BlackBerry Balance is also part of the new OS, allowing you to compartmentalize your personal and professional lives into neat and separate piles of content. Full PR can be found after the break.

Update: RIM has just noted that there will be “no legacy support” with BB 7, meaning that older devices, even those running version 6 of the OS, won’t be getting any (official) updates to the latest stuff. This has been justified by how tightly integrated the software build is with the underlying graphics hardware in the touch-capable Bold handsets. Basically, the old phones won’t be able to run the new OS. Oh, and in case you were wondering, there’s no trace of QNX in BB 7.

RIM Details Security Features of BlackBerry PlayBook

Since RIM first announced the BlackBerry PlayBook I know many enterprise administrators and even regular users were curious about the security model. RIM has done quite a bit with BlackBerry Bridge but I noticed that they have published up a document that clearly details the whole security model of the BlackBerry PlayBook. It is actually quite cool how certain apps can run in work mode or personal mode and how RIM controls that and plans on allowing administrators to control it in the future. They even hint that future work applications will be able to access the corporate intranet through the BlackBerry Bridge without a VPN. Kind of cool!

If you are at all interested in how RIM secures the OS and bridge connection of the BlackBerry PlayBook I highly recommend reading their PDF guide titled “BlackBerry PlayBook Security Technical Overview.” I started trying to summarize it but found that the summary was almost as long as the PDF… There are still quite a few questions that RIM still has to answer such as how BES admins will be able to push out applications and secure them but hopefully that will be coming at BlackBerry World next week! Let me know if you spot anything good!

Just to give you an idea of what it includes the guide explains the different ways the BlackBerry Bridge is protected from:

• Brute-force attack
• Online dictionary attack
• Eavesdropping
• Impersonating a smartphone
• Man-in-the-middle attack
• Small subgroup attack

Or how the different apps interact with work or personal mode:

The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet permits the following applications to run in work mode only:

• BlackBerry Bridge
• BlackBerry Messenger

The tablet permits the following applications to run in work mode or personal mode: •    Web browser (the web browser has separate processes, disk caches, download folders and HTML5 persistent files for work mode and personal mode)

• Photo viewer
• Media player
• Email application
• Calendar application
• Contacts application
• Document viewers such as Documents To Go or Adobe Reader
• Files application

via:br

Hands On With the BlackBerry PlayBook Web Browser

 

The web browser on the BlackBerry PlayBook is one of the key parts making up the PlayBook experience. I do not think I could cover all it can do in one article but I will attempt to hit the highlights. The browser opens the door for many of the web apps you currently enjoy on your desktop or laptop such as: Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Pandora, Slacker, etc. It has some limitations in this current build of the OS such as pausing the browser windows and sometimes reloading them when you leave them for two long. Otherwise the PlayBook browser tends to put even my desktop browser to shame in terms of speed. I also like that RIM carries over some nice desktop features like the ability to remember which tabs you had open last time.