AT&T and DubMeNow Partner on Education App Platform for Students

Demo of the DubMeNow platform.AT&T has announced a new cross-platform app platform called Campus Guide, which lets students, faculty, alumni and staff access campus information right on their smartphones. Community members can check out upcoming events, catch up on university sports scores and read course materials as well from within the app. The platform is possible due to a partnership with DubMeNow, a company we’ve covered before on NHCBBA. AT&T Campus Guide offers nine different features:

Courses: Students can connect with classmates and professors in real-time using AT&T Campus Guide, viewing grades, assignments, announcements and detailed class information.
Events: Wondering when the next big game is? Not sure when exams start? The events calendar on AT&T Campus Guide provides important dates and times for campus happenings.
Directory: Search and browse contact information and connect with other students and faculty, without paging through a campus phonebook.
Maps: Freshmen, visiting students and alumni will particularly appreciate campus maps and turn-by-turn directions between buildings.
Notifications: Timely notifications announce school cancellations and remind students about overdue library books, tuition payments and more.
News: Find the latest campus news, sports scores and Tweets – all in one place.
Friends: An always up-to-date and backed-up address book of all students’ classmates, friends and campus contacts. Any time students lose or replace their phones, they can just reinstall the AT&T Campus Guide app to their new phones and all of their contacts are restored.
My Card: Students can easily share their customizable contact information to keep in touch with their friends, classmates, potential employers, alumni and advisors..
Info: Looking for more information? Click on Info for miscellaneous details about campus.

AT&T will begin pre-selling AT&T Campus Guide on July 29th. Schools that participate in the pilot period (July 29th through September 29th) will receive the application free of charge until October 1st.

For more information on AT&T Campus Guide go to this link.

via: bbcool

NFB Films app shares Canadian films, still hoards Jos Louis

[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

The National Film Board of Canada is “Canada’s Public film producer and distributor”. For over 70 years it has delivered thousands of unique documentaries, animated films and more to the world. Growing up, I loved watching many of their children’s features on TV. I’m now able to watch them whenever I want through the NFB Films application on my BlackBerry PlayBook. Yes, I can even watch William Shatner sing O Canada over and over again. Through the app, you are able to watch over 2000 films; which are encoded in MPEG 4 H.264 at 56k, 415k and 1000k. In the application you can search through featured films as well as search by channel or title. If you have found a film that you’d like to “dog ear”, NFB Films includes a Favourites section.

It only takes a few seconds to open up channel listings and start watching movies. The application allows you to view films in (almost) full screen mode, or stay in the original view where you can see the film synopsis and details to the left. You’re also able to pick any point in the film to skip forward or back to. I’m glad that RIM has included this application on the PlayBook. I’ve you haven’t had a chance to check it out, go make some popcorn, dim the lights and enjoy. If you have removed it, you can reinstall it for free from Blackberry App World.

More information/download NFB Films for the BlackBerry PlayBook

via:cb

BlackBerry App World and Switching BlackBerry smartphones

Have you recently purchased a new BlackBerry® smartphone or use a different BlackBerry smartphone on the weekends? If so, you might be wondering the same thing I did when I first switched BlackBerry smartphones: How do I get my BlackBerry App World™ applications transferred to my current BlackBerry smartphone?

To find out how to do this, I opened BlackBerry App World on my new BlackBerry smartphone and selected the Help option from the Main Menu. After browsing the Help file, I came across the following question in the Frequently Asked Questions: “What happens to my downloaded items when I switch to a new BlackBerry smartphone device?”

 

After review, I learned that all that’s needed to do to in order to transfer applications to a new BlackBerry smartphone is to launch BlackBerry App World, select My World and log in using your BlackBerry ID. After logging in, BlackBerry App World will ask you to confirm that you are switching BlackBerry smartphones, and it will then proceed to refresh your application(s). After your application listing has been refreshed, you can then reinstall any applications you require on your new device.

You might have noticed in the above screenshot a section called Unavailable. This specific listing contains applications that are not compatible with my current BlackBerry smartphone. For example, if I switch from a BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone to a BlackBerry® Bold™ 9780 smartphone, an application that has only been developed for the BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone will appear on the BlackBerry Bold 9780 smartphone as Unavailable since it isn’t supported on that particular device model.

At this point, you can go ahead and start installing any applications you desire from the “Uninstalled” folder. Don’t forget to browse the BlackBerry App World catalog, as new applications may be available if you are using a different BlackBerry smartphone model. For more information on switching BlackBerry smartphones and BlackBerry App World, please review the Knowledge Base article How to install or transfer previously purchased applications from BlackBerry App World to a BlackBerry smartphone.

How often do you switch BlackBerry smartphones and why? Leave a comment and let me know.

Source:RIM

How to archive Applications using BlackBerry App World

Did you know that you can easily archive and reinstall an application downloaded from BlackBerry® App World™ while using your BlackBerry® smartphone? Archiving applications allows you to manage your BlackBerry smartphone’s application memory in addition to removing applications that you don’t frequently use.

When you are archiving an application, the application files will be placed in the built-in media storage by default. If the built-in media storage doesn’t have enough free space or doesn’t exist on your particular BlackBerry smartphone, an external media card can be used to store the installation files. (Note: If you do not have a BlackBerry smartphone with built-in media storage and you are not using an external media card, you will not be able to archive applications.)

Having troubles with the new BlackBerry Messenger 5.0?

Yesterday, in celebration of the leaked BlackBerry Messenger 5.0, we discussed how to install BlackBerry Messenger. Within the article we linked to sources where you can download the application, both over the air and to your desktop. We also warned that you could encounter troubles. Practicing what I preach, I downloaded the 83xx version for OS 4.5 over the air. After a hefty file download, installation, and reboot, I saw that my BBM was gone completely. It seems to be a Verizon problem for those with OS 4.5.0.77. Even so, some people might not like the leaked messenger. After the jump we’ll go over what to do if you want to downgrade.

Now that you’ve backed up your Messenger contacts, it’s time to say bye-bye to the application. Head into Options, Advanced Options, Applications, find BBM 5.0, and delete that sucker (see: how to delete BlackBerry applications). Now it’s time to reload.

If you have BlackBerry Desktop Software, you can use the Application Loader to reinstall BlackBerry Messenger. Once you’re done with that, you can go to the Restore function and bring back your contacts. That should have you back up and running with the old software.

For those who don’t have Desktop Software, you can download BBM over the air. Just head to http://yourcbcfamily.org/bb/curvebbm/ from your BlackBerry browser. Click the link, and you’ll be able to download and install the file. That’s what I did, and voila, BBM back and running — though with no contacts (so add me!).

The caveat with the link, though, is that it’s designed for 4.5.0.77, so I’m not sure if it will work on other OSs. You can give it a try, of course, but remember that it might mess up your BlackBerry even more.

I hope this helps. I was damn glad to find it after I spent a good while trying to figure out why BBM was not working on my Berry.

Error fixing tip: Delete vendor.xml file

This week we’re going to cover a number of issues regarding BlackBerry errors. If you have questions, leave them in the comments. We’ll try to address the more common ones.

A BlackBerry error can be a hair-pulling experience. Many of us rely on our BlackBerry devices for work, and even a few hours of downtime can constitute a disaster. Imagine, then, if you see an error on your device and have no way to fix it. The downtime could be as little as an hour, but there is no ceiling. You might even, gasp, need a new device. Thankfully, you can recover from most errors. We’ve gone over a few methods before on BBGeeks, and we’ll continue to document errors that have specific fixes. Many errors, though, will simply require you to reinstall the OS. Here’s a tip on how to accomplish that.

In most cases you’ll have to download a fresh copy of your device OS from your carrier’s website. Check out this post to find links to popular carriers’ OS pages. Once you’ve downloaded and run the OS file, you’re ready to reinstall.

One common theme I’ve seen among error fixes is to delete the vendor.xml files that resides in the AppLoader directory. To find this, you’ll go to the directory Program Files/Common Files/Research In Motion/AppLoader. Here you’ll see the vendor.xml file. Most guides I’ve seen advise you to delete it, but I’d recommend just moving it to another folder, preferably one outside the Program Files directory. Make sure, however, that it is no longer present in the AppLoader subdirectory.

Once you’re done with that, connect

your device and run AppLoader.exe. You should be able to reinstall the OS. If not, you might have a bigger problem on your hands. We’ll go over advanced methods tomorrow.