Tag: Mobile

Digg Launches Mobile Apps, Buttons, Widgets, and More

Chris 11 Comments

Let me start by saying that while I don’t make it a habit writing articles that cover every day news stories in the social media arena, on occasion I might turn out an article about social media or technology news if I personally experienced whatever it is I’m writing about or perhaps it’s just simply newsworthy. I usually spend time writing about topics that interest me personally such as the social media services I use, apps that I have the opportunity to alpha and beta test, gadgets that I use in my everyday life, and anything else that interests me. I leave the daily reporting to sites like Mashable who do a fantastic job covering social media news as it breaks as well as other topics.

With that said, I thought I would spend a few minutes writing an article about all the changes that have been going on inside Digg. For those who are not familiar with Digg, it’s a popular social news site where users discover and share content from all over the Web. Digg’s cornerstone function is voting stories up and down, also known as “Digging” and “Burying.” The most “Dugg” stories on Digg land a spot on the front page. I’ve been a loyal user of Digg for several years, but after a while I decided to stop using my Digg account and move on because I wasn’t necessarily thrilled how stories were making their way to the front page. However, over the last year I have heard about the many changes coming to Digg, therefore, I signed up for a new account back in February in hopes that when Digg “restarts” and launches Digg v4 things will be different.

Read More

Qik Beta Now Available for BlackBerry Tour

Chris 754 Comments

If you are not familiar with the sequence of events that led up to the development of the Qik beta app for the BlackBerry Tour, continue reading so you have a better understanding how we got to this point.

Last year when I joined the video-sharing site, Qik, I was excited to download their app to my new BlackBerry Tour so I could start streaming live video and upload previously recorded videos. However, after visiting their smartphone support page, I noticed that the Tour was not supported. At that time the Tour was on the market for only a few days so I understood that there might be a short waiting period before I got my hands on the Qik app. Since there was already support for approximately 125 smartphones, the BlackBerry Curve, Pearl, and Bold being among those supported, I figured it was only a matter of time before Qik developed an app for the Tour.

Read More

An Inside Look at the Twitter for BlackBerry App

Chris 6,433 Comments

Research In Motion (RIM) introduced the first version of Twitter for BlackBerry® on Thursday and allowed users with an invite code to take the app for a test drive. I managed to get my hands on the Twitter for BlackBerry® app and at first glance I really liked what I saw. The GUI was clean, the color scheme was attractive, and the app was loaded with features. It appeared to be far more advanced than any of the other BlackBerry Twitter apps that I have seen, but as I started messing around with it there were a few features that I felt could have used some improvement and the overall performance was quite sluggish. I’ll explain that in greater detail a bit later, but first let me give a quick preview of the app.

According to the Inside BlackBerry blog, Twitter for BlackBerry® was designed to integrate seamlessly with the Blackberry platform so it would create a familiar experience for both BlackBerry and Twitter users. Upon launching Twitter for BlackBerry® you are presented with a stylish home screen which contains seven navigation icons: Home, Mentions, My Profile, Direct Messages, Find People, Search, and Popular Topics. Just below the home navigation bar is the status update field where you can type your tweets and the remaining portion of the screen is your Twitter timeline. I have used just about every BlackBerry Twitter app from TwitterBerry to UberTwitter to SocialScope and while SocialScope has always been my preferred app, Twitter for BlackBerry® crushes the competition when it comes to its GUI and with a little work and some additional features it should set the new standard for BlackBerry Twitter apps.

Read More

Foursquare Releases BlackBerry Beta App

Chris

Foursquare, the location-based social networking service, rolled out their BlackBerry beta app on Christmas Eve and I was thrilled to receive one of the invites. The company sent out an email to about one thousand people who made the VIP list of beta testers so they could download the app to their BlackBerry and take it for a test drive.

Unlike iPhone and Android users, who were already familiar with a Foursquare app, BlackBerry users were forced to visit the Foursquare mobile site (m.foursquare.com) to “Check-in” to venues so I was stoked when Foursquare released the BlackBerry app. I was ready to download the app, fire it up, and give it a go.

Read More

Google Voice gets ready for Prime Time

Chris

Google announced the release of their new service “Google Voice” on Wednesday. The service appears to be an expanded version of GrandCental, which is a service acquired by Google in 2007. Although this release is a preview (beta) and currently available to existing GrandCentral users only, those who are interested will not have to wait long for the full release. Google expects to have the service ready for new users within weeks, but in the meantime you can submit your email address to Google and they will notify you as soon as Google Voice is available to new users.

What is Google Voice?
Google Voice is an application that improves the way you use your phone. The service provides a single phone number for all your phones and this phone number is actually tied to the user, not to a phone or location. Although Google Voice is not a phone service, it allows you to manage all your phones. The cool thing is that Google Voice works with mobile phones, home phones, work phones, and VoIP phone lines. What’s more? You can actually access and make calls from the phone as well as the Web. Those of you who have multiple phones will enjoy the luxury of having a single number to reach each phone individually.

Read More