Tired of burning your hard earned cash on parking fines? You might wanna move to New York City, where the Department of Transportation will soon begin testing a “pay by phone” parking system. The mobile payment technology, which has already been introduced in cities like Washington, DC and Atlanta, essentially allows drivers to pay for their parking spots without ever having to interact with those menacing, metallic meters. After registering online, users would be able to pay for curbside real estate by entering the number of the nearest meter and the amount of time they’d like to purchase into a customized app, or by texting it to the city’s Department of Transportation.
In my experience, once Hulu blocks a device, many of its content providers follow suit. As many of you know Hulu recently added the Playbook to their list of blocked devices. But to my surprise, in testing many content providers still work just fine. Here are a few:
Since Hulu in all of their wisdom has decided to block the BlackBerry PlayBook from streaming videos we are left hunting for them on our own. David pointed out that quite a few sites are still working on the BlackBerry PlayBook so I thought I would mention a tip or two of my own. I have found myself using the very useful SideReel website to find shows along with links to where they are available to stream from. Many of them sadly go to Hulu which is blocked or XfinityTV which I am having trouble with though it does work every once in awhile. On the other hand it does provide links to CBS, NBC, and others that do work.
If that official route fails a friend pointed out to my you may want to try TVDuck. Their legal situation seems a bit questionable but they have been around for a bit. They also rate the links based on quality which is nice though you have to jump through a couple ads to get the videos to play and they tend to be much lower quality.
Check it out and let me know how it goes. Also if you have your own tips and tricks feel free to share them!
When the chaotic riots began in Egypt this last week against the government, BlackBerry service was intentionally cut off to users. NBC has released an announcement that BlackBerry users in Cairo are able to get online and all services are once again activated in the city.
“We haven’t had any word on other cities, but we were told that the country’s service was all down at one point according to the tip.”
We’d like to keep as up-to-date as possible on this current event so we’ll keep an eye on this situation for curiosity’s sake. We welcome any further tips from our readers so feel free to leave a comment and discuss this issue!
The BlackBerry brand has done an incredible job climbing the ranks of The Vitrue 100: Top Social Brands. The Vitrue 100 is a list of 100 brands and the volume of discussion on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. In 2008, the BlackBerry brand ranked number 20, in 2009, BlackBerry rose to 15 and in 2010, BlackBerry is the number 2 social brand.
T-Mobile now supports TV for the Bold 9780 and Curve 9330 according to their website and
it’s being preloaded on these devices, providing free access to the following TV Channels:
ABC News Now
Azteca America
Fox Sports
PBS Kids
When T-Mobile TV first launched, it was limited to a few devices and none of them were BlackBerrys. Now BlackBerry lovers can experience T-Mobile TV too.
There are also premium packages available that include Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, NBC, Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel.
Edwin let me know about a website he came across called FilmOn. At first glance this website only seems available for desktop computers, iPads and Droid devices but a quick visit with the BlackBerry Browser presents you with a mobile-optimized website. The mobile site allows you to stream live TV using your BlackBerry’s WiFi connection and includes channels like CBS LA, KTTV Fox, Ion Life, NBC HD, Sky News, BBC News, CNN International and more.
Most of the channels available in the United States seem to be West coast based but there are international channels with a focus on specific countries like Spain, Russia and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. I have to mention that FilmOn does offer certain explicit channels that are extremely NSFW and should only be viewed if you’re 18 years of age or whatever the age requirement is for your locale. These explicit channels should be viewed at your own risk, NHCBBA.com, bb.nhcbb.com or nhcbb.com is not responsible for your actions.
That being said, if you want to check it out go to filmon.com from your BlackBerry browser to be redirected to the mobile website. I’ve confirmed the live streaming to work smoothly on BlackBerry devices running OS 6.0 but do not know how it will work on devices running earlier OS versions. If you decide to check it out be sure to let me know how it works for you in the comments!
Fox Mobile announced on Thursday that it is launching a streaming video service that will rival Hulu. The service will feature full-length, on demand television programming from CBS, Fox NBC, A&E, Comedy Central, Discovery, FX, MTV, and USA. Though not available at launch, full-length movies will be added by the end of the year. Targeting the mobile phone market, the service will be compatible with BlackBerry handsets including all the variants of the BlackBerry Bold series, as well as the Curve 8900 and Tour 9630. Though the BitBop app itself is free, the streaming service requires a $9.99 monthly fee that provides unlimited streaming and limited downloads. Interested BlackBerry owners can download the BitBop application from the BITBOP and get their streaming on now
Night Hawk Computers Blackberry Alliance 