(Credit:
Slacker Radio)
Don't have a streaming radio application on your BlackBerry Storm yet? If you're a Verizon user, all you have to do to get one is wait.
On Thursday, Verizon started rolling out the Slacker Radio application to every BlackBerry Storm user in its U.S. network. The free version of Slacker Personal Radio App will appear as an icon on the Storm home screen. Those who would rather opt out can hide the button and ignore the service.
In addition to discovering and rating songs, Slacker's edge on BlackBerry is its ability to cache stations for offline listening. This is particularly useful when traveling through weak Wi-Fi areas or dead data zones that would make streaming music a challenge.
A hook into Verizon's V Cast service, which itself taps the Rhapsody catalog, gives BlackBerry Storm users an opportunity to buy one of the service's 4.5 million songs without interrupting the tune's playback.
Verizon will begin pushing the Verizon version of Slacker Radio app to BlackBerry Storm users over the air Thursday and will continue to do so in waves. Slacker Radio operates a two-tiered service. The free, basic streaming service pushed to the phones can be upgraded to a premium subscription, Slacker Radio Plus.
(Credit:
LogMeIn)
LogMeIn has had its hands in many cookie jars, from the desktop to the iPhone--a good thing, if you've ever needed to view your computer files remotely by way of your mobile phone.
At the WES 2009 conference for BlackBerry on Tuesday, May 5, 2009, LogMeIn announced that a version of LogMeIn is being developed for the touch-screen BlackBerry Storm.
While still in its alpha stage, LogMeIn Ignition for Storm will turn on remote access for computer files and programs. Storm owners will be able to peer into Windows computers that also run LogMeIn Pro, LogMeIn Free, or LogMeIn IT Reach.
Mac OS X owners will need LogMeIn Free to get LogMeIn Ignition thrumming on the Storm. The application will also save passwords and will include LogMeIn's customary 256-bit SSL encryption.
While LogMeIn hasn't shared any beta release dates with us, you can sign up in advance here. LogMeIn Ignition typically costs about $40 for a yearlong subscription or $8 per month for remote access to your computers from the mobile phone.
(Credit:
Slacker Radio)
When Slacker Radio first introduced its streaming Internet radio app for the BlackBerry, it only worked on standard BlackBerrys running version 4.3 and above. Starting Wednesday, the free app gets touchy-feely with a brand new version for the BlackBerry's touch-screen Storm.
Slacker Radio for the Storm brings with it everything we loved on the Curve and Bold, including its best feature ever, caching a song to play offline later. It also throws in some touch-screen specials, like support for landscape mode.
The app still serves U.S. customers only on the BlackBerry and iPhone.
To get it, go to www.Slacker.com from the BlackBerry browser.
Related stories:
First Look video: Slacker for BlackBerry
How to cache Slacker stations on BlackBerry
Despite a cluttered interface, SuperStorm proved simple to use, letting you quickly and securely store data files in a password-protected form embedded within media files.
It may look confusing to some at first. Its interface is cluttered with buttons, a number of fields, and some amateurish graphics. The appearance is a bit deceptive, because what looks somewhat childishly designed actually works pretty well and is easy to use. Selecting a data file and a media file in which to embed it was a simple matter of dragging an item into the built-in file browser to the selected graphic. Clicking Execute created a new Output file--the media file with the embedded data file--in a matter of moments. We were then able to save it where we wished. There was no discernible change to the new media file, except that it was slightly larger than its original. One test showed a jump from 5,175KB to 5,775KB. Creating a password to protect the new file is equally simple.
Novices will quickly master this app. Experienced users may prefer a more robust app for securing sensitive files, but SuperStorm isn't really designed for industrial workouts.
(Credit:
RIM)
When most people focus on the BlackBerry Storm, the first touch-screen phone in RIM's history, they anticipate the sensitivity of the accelerometer, the agility of the application store, and the feel of the domed screen that depresses like a giant button when you push on it.
Here at the first-ever BlackBerry Developer Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., however, the focus goes much deeper. Instead of fussing over speed, sleekness, and slimness, the conversation here employs terms like finger one and finger two, ups and downs, listeners, and callbacks; all ingredients application developers must layer into their code to make Java-based applications work on the Storm.
RIM, of course, wants to make the transition as easy as possible by translating the core behaviors of a standard BlackBerry to touch-screen equivalents, but there are a lot of tangles to work out and not all the application authors here have experience writing touch-screen apps. It's up to individual developers to determine which of a user's actions will be automatically converted to the touch-screen format and which will need some extra programming to make it work.
For example, developers won't have to program every single click that's been written into a Java application (like clicking "OK" or "Save"). The code for those simple, universal actions will be translated as a single tap.
However, many moves that the Storm enables have no Curve or Pearl analog, like swiping the screen in all directions or two-fingered taps. To build this capability into an application, the developers must take into account mapping the coordinates where you start and end a swipe, and the angles and magnitude of the arc. All of a sudden it's getting much more mathematical. Numbers must be calculated to mean something in the code, enough to trigger the application's response, like moving a photo around the screen or highlighting text.
As the talk in this session becomes more and more technical, the developers' difficult task of reprogramming their style for touch-screen phones becomes all the more clear. As RIM develops more touchscreen phones, I wonder if they'll look for ways to simplify production (especially for less technical contributors) that resemble Apple's paint-by-numbers developer's program with its drag-and-drop interface-building.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
When Power Downloader gets a download request in an e-mail from a friend, he always searches for the perfect software for his friend's quandary. Recently, when a friend who lived in a hurricane-prone area asked if there was a way to track storms, Power Downloader knew exactly what type of program she needed.
Nobody likes to hear there is a storm brewing if they live in a place where hurricanes ravage the coast frequently. That's why Power Downloader knows that a simple storm-tracking program can put a person's mind at ease, or in a worst-case scenario, give them more time to plan for a possible evacuation.... Read more
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