We’d like to introduce ExSafe by ExSafe Ltd, an application every small and medium business should invest in. The app allows you to power up your Docs2Go and give a common database to all users, BlackBerry or pc users alike, with a low cost annual subscription. Check it out…

Tony from ExSafe let us know about the application. I’m always being asked by various business owners for apps such as this. It enables collaboration between users through a common file/folders view with version and access control at the file level. What I really like about it is that it works great with the Docs2Go that comes free with OS 7.0. All the content you manage in the cloud from the phone. It avoids having to purchase a server or buy complicated software.

Here’s the description from BlackBerry App World:

“ExSafe for Docs2Go permits your business to create a common database for documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint , pdf and text which is securely accessible by other BlackBerry® or PC users in your business. It uses the installed Documents to Go product on your BlackBerry®. This means that you and your colleagues always have access to the most up to date content and allows the editing or creation of that content when on the road. In fact ExSafe for Docs2Go can provide a business workgroup without ever using a PC or Server. It is available on a low cost annual subscription service with your content securely stored in the cloud on a world renowned and trusted platform.

This is using your BlackBerry® as a computing device and seamlessly integrates with the installed Documents to Go product, providing a file view in the cloud that others can see as if part of a traditional computer network. Start today and create a workgroup for your business and add colleagues easily to increase productivity.”

In case you’re wondering, the annual subscription fee is only $19.99. Not bad for everything it supplies. The pictures you see are ExSafe Explorer on the desktop. This shows the same folder structure across both platforms, Unlike other competitors, they don’t offer a sync to PC service as everything is in the cloud – but there’s an offline version they offer. It’s not about storage, it’s about collaboration. All users no matter where they’re located on the globe, all in collaboration with the cloud on the device. Your business can be located anywhere and you are able to use this app with efficiency and find the value in it, and avoid the headaches and hassles of other software. They say we’re heading into an era where smartphones and tablets will be dominant, and with this app the use of a pc isn’t even necessary. Check out the video and if you’re impressed, you can head on over to BlackBerry App World for it.

This video is an earlier version, but it gives you the general idea of how it works and how to use it.

 You can purchase ExSafe for Docs2Go for $19.99 from BlackBerry App World here

Alec Saunders came out to share the App World Stats. I have to say, it’s looking very good. App World is the second most profitable App Store, second only to Apple. There are over six million daily downloads from App World and here’s the breakdown…

• 6 million daily downloads in App World which is about 180 per month
• That translates into 2.4 apps per user per month or about 29 a year on average
• Over 2 billion downloads total reached in January 2012
• BlackBerry users download more paid apps on average than Android users do(Yankee  Group)
• BlackBerry apps generate 40% more revenue than Android apps (Vision Mobile)
• 13% of BlackBerry developers made $100,000+ from BlackBerry App World apps, considerably more than Android or Apple developers (Evans Data Corp)

You can watch the entire General Session with the Keynote by CEO/President Thorsten Heins and followed by Alec Saunders from the BlackBerry DevCon Europe 2012 site here.

LensBoost has updated yet again in the BlackBerry App World. This is my favorite photo editing app that I use, and it’s available in the BlackBerry App World. I didn’t catch the changelog, but I’m sure it’s fixes for any bugs that werediscovered. If you haven’t given LensBoost a download, you have no idea what you’re missing, you’ll love it.

Purchase your copy of LensBoost for only $1.99 from BlackBerry App World here

If you have Angry Birds on your BlackBerry PlayBook, then hurry and download the latest update to it. I’m still waiting for Seasons to update with the dragon…I hope it’s soon. Meanwhile, Angry Birds is waiting for you.

If you haven’t downloaded Angry Birds yet for your BlackBerry PlayBook, it’s available in the BlackBerry App World for only $4.99. There’s no changelog yet to share. If you have the BlackBerry PlayBook, open App World and My World should have an alert. If not, just click Refresh List and it should alert you after it’s refreshed. If you download the update, please let us know what you find.

Purchase Angry Birds priced at $4.99 for the BlackBerry PlayBook from BlackBerry App World here

RIM’s new president and CEO welcomed those attending to the very first BlackBerry DevCon Europe 2012. This is exciting and it was great to see such a huge turnout in Europe. This is an important event for BlackBerry and for the developers. Check it out…

About DevCon:

The BlackBerry® Developer Conference is the showcase for the latest innovations and breakthroughs with the BlackBerry® Development Platform. Thousands of BlackBerry enthusiasts come together to collaborate with platform experts from the community and attend sessions, demonstrations, hands-on labs and keynotes — all focused on developing leading mobile applications, no matter your skill level.

It’s an amazing opportunity to connect with BlackBerry experts, get tips and discover ways to build for the BlackBerry platform whether in native or using web standards that allows you to extend your work onto other platforms. You’ll walk away ready to reach a community of 70 million subscribers!

Who attends?

Attendees will be coming to the conference from all over Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Anyone who is excited about developing for the BlackBerry platform will be at BlackBerry DevCon, including corporate, commercial and hobbyist developers, business leaders, faculty and students, BlackBerry partners, BlackBerry enthusiasts, and key leaders from RIM.

BlackBerry DevCon is the ideal event for BlackBerry developers and partners, for beginner or master mobile application developers, and is customized for several types of developers:

• Web developers
• Native developers
• Adobe® developers
• Java developers

Opportunity:

BlackBerry DevCon meets a need for developers and partners who are invested in the tremendous potential of apps for the BlackBerry smartphone and BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. Learn how the BlackBerry Development Platform offers even more choices in development tools, greater integration options and APIs, more profitable monetisation tools, and valuable partner support.

Updates:

BlackBerry DevCon previews and demonstrates tools that help developers create apps on their terms, with maximum choice and support, giving you the opportunity to develop for both the BlackBerry® smartphone and the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. Discover tools that can make apps more profitable, technologies that lead to developing Super Apps and hot topics such as BlackBerry® 7 OS, the BBM™ Social Platform, Adobe® Flash® & Adobe® AIR®, the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ HTML5 platform, BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet OS, the Cascades™ UI framework, getting ready for the BlackBerry® 10 Platform, and more.

CrackBerry posted the Keynote video we’re sharing with you. I like the way Thorsten welcomes everyone and even acknowledges he’s home. He also stresses it’s the very first DevCon in Europe and how they sold out and thanks everyone. He is also letting them know that BlackBerry is committed to empowering their developers and giving them the opportunity to grow with them. During the welcoming and keynote, we are shown the numbers which are very impressive and see some really interesting facts.

• There are over 6 Million software developers in Europe
• BlackBerry is the Number One Prepaid Smartphone in the Netherlands, U.K., and Spain
• BlackBerry is the Number One Smartphone in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and South Africa
• There are 75 Million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide
• Over 180 Million BlackBerry smartphones sold worldwide
• 25,000 PlayBooks will be given away, so everyone attending will be receiving a BlackBerry PlayBook
• 13% of BlackBerry Developers make $100,000 or more from BlackBerry App World apps
• 2 Billion BlackBerry App World Downloads
• 6 Million BlackBerry Apps downloaded every day
• BlackBerry OS 7 has downloaded more apps than any other OS prior to it making it the most profitable from apps
• Seamless Experiences with the BlackBerry smartphone, the Cloud Servies, the BlackBerry PlayBook and embedded content with BlackBerry 10
• One Company, One Platform, One Vision: The acquired companies of QNX, TAT, Gist, Certicom, Torch, ScoreLoop, Tiny Hippos, Newbay, and Tungle
• The Road to BlackBerry 10
• The BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0

Thorsten introduced Vivek Bhardwaj, Head of Software Portfolio EMEA, Research In Motion, to show what OS 2.0 brings to the platform and to users.

Vivek goes through the PlayBook showing how OS 2.0 integrates the inbox to combine the social networks in one. He also displays the pinch to filter, walks us through the calendar, and even looking at our contacts. Even searching for contacts on the PlayBook is easily done with collaboration. He shows us how easy Bridge is with OS 2.0 and demonstrates the remote control feature using a BlackBerry device with the BlackBerry PlayBook. Vivek tried to show Open On, but it wouldn’t work during the presentation.  (Don’t worry, RIM won’t leave you hanging. It works eventually, and there’s a video to prove it).

Thorsten continues the keynote:

• The smartphone market is still relatively young

He also stresses that RIM is focused on listening to their developers, committed to empowering them and committed to the platform. He’s enthusiastic and highly charged, and I love the sense of commitment. It’ll be very interesting to see what type of apps start making their way to the BlackBerry PlayBook.

You can watch the entire general session from BlackBerry DevCon Europe 2012 from the BlackBerry DevCon Europe site here, but we included CrackBerry’s video of the keynote for you.

What are your thoughts?

[via BerryReview & CrackBerry]

Inside BlackBerry posted a great video interview they held during CES 2012 with Andreas from Groupon. I don’t know if you’ve ever checked out Groupon, but it’s a great way of finding specials and deals in your area. We’ll describe Groupon and then you can check out the interview.

There are three steps to the Online Groupon:

1. Get it. Check your email, Facebook or Twitter feeds for daily deals on cool local businesses.
2. Share it. Groupons are more fun when used with friends. Pass along deals by email or broadcast them to your social networks.
3. Enjoy it. Print the voucher or bring it up on your mobile device, then present it at the business to get your deal.

Here’s the types of deals Groupon brings you:

Groupon negotiates huge discounts—usually 50-90% off—with popular businesses. We send the deals to thousands of subscribers in our free daily email, and we send the businesses a ton of new customers. That’s the Groupon magic.

You can set up your account, and sign in to the mobile app so you can purchase right away.

When you find a deal you like, you can pass it on to friends or purchase for you or as a gift. It’s easy and there’s an app for both the BlackBerry PlayBook and the BlackBerry smartphones.

You can download the Groupon apps free from BlackBerry App World.

With Groupon HD for the BlackBerry PlayBook you can do the following:

• Find unbeatable Daily Deals near you Get local deals on demand with Groupon Now!
•  Purchase deals directly from your PlayBook
•  View your Groupons by distance, expiration date, and purchase date
•  Redeem your Groupons with your BlackBerry. Save time and trees!

Download the FREE Groupon HD for BlackBerry PlayBook from the BlackBerry App World here

You can do the following with Groupon for the BlackBerry smartphones:

• Find unbeatable Daily Deals near you and view them on a map
•  Get nearby deals on demand with Groupon Now!
•  Purchase deals with your phone
•  Keep track of all your purchased Groupons by location, expiration date, and purchase date
•  Redeem deals with your phone. Save time and trees!

Download the FREE Groupon app for your BlackBerry smartphone from BlackBerry App World here

The Groupon app uses your mobile device’s GPS to find the locations and deals available near you. Check out the video from Inside BlackBerry.

[via: Inside BlackBerry]

Today was a great day for some of my favorite photo apps. Scrapbook by Research In Motion Limited is one of those fantastic jewels from the acquisition of the TAT team. They’ve been releasing some neat content packs along the way and today they released the Valentine content pack. Check out what’s new.

TAT stands for The Astonishing Tribe which Research In Motion acquired back in December of 2010. They then became Research In Motion TAT AB. They created the Scrapbook for the BlackBerry PlayBook.

The Valentine Scrapbook Content Pack has six Valentine themed stickers and three new Valentine backgrounds. Open your Scrapbook app on your BlackBerry Playbook and click Create, you’ll see the alert Content pack tab and if you open it, you’ll see there’s a new Valentine Content Pack you can download.

If you haven’t downloaded the Scrapbook app yet for your BlackBerry PlayBook, please check it out. It’s free and allows you to create scrapbook pages to showcase your pics and hang on a clothesline, and even share to Facebook.

Download Scrapbook by Research In Motion Limited FREE from BlackBerry App World here

LensBoost is by far my favorite editing app for my BlackBerry, it’s like your BlackBerry’s Photo Lens on steroids. LensBoost updated today and has been rebuilt and refinished to be even better. If you haven’t checked out LensBoost, you are really missing out…we’ll show you what’s new and what it does.

I love LensBoost. It’s one of those apps that allows you to edit and add filters to your photos for that one of a kind look and you can share them with your favorite social networks. What’s new? Here’s the changelog:

Rebuilt from the ground up to maximize speed and performance.

• Added Overlays
• Better Sharing
• Tumblr Support
• Many bug fixes
• Tweaks to Filters and Frames
• Fixed Torch Aspect ratio bug
• Too many to list

These were the current features:

• Apply filters in SECONDS, not minutes!
• Filter fullscreen images, no cropping needed
• Share photos over BBM, Facebook, and Twitter
• TiltShift – Create depth of field in your photos
• 12 Unique vintage, and retro style filters
• 6 Frames/Borders
• More to come in the very near future!

These are what are included now:

• Tilt-Shift
• 12 unique Filters
• 9 unique Overlays
• 5 Frames
• Share with a message to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and BlackBerry Messenger!

If you love taking pictures and sharing them, don’t deprive yourself of an app that will have you taking pictures all the time. You’ll love the speed, the easy use of it, and the great and unique pictures you’ll create. You have a great camera, pair it with a great app.

This is one app you’ll find in BlackBerry App World that you’ll keep on your BlackBerry. Share your pictures through all points of view. Add that special touch and pizzazz to your photos that will really stand out.

You can find LensBoost in BlackBerry App World for only $1.99. Talk about a deal! If you have LensBoost, be sure and update it now. If not, check it out in BlackBerry App World.

Purchase LensBoost in BlackBerry App World for only $1.99

BeBuzz has been my favorite customizing alert app for my BlackBerry, even it was formerly known as BerryBuzz. The app has several ways to customize your alerts, and is available in the BlackBerry App World. You can make it buzz, light up different colors for contacts and apps with ringtones, or on silent. What’s new?

The following is the changelog:

• Fixed contact LEDs not working while in free/unlicensed mode
• Fixed coverage indicator not working while in free/unlicensed mode

If you currently have BeBuzz, then the upgrade is free. If you haven’t checked it out, I really encourage you to see what you think. I like it because I can see which of my contacts are trying to reach me when my BlackBerry is on silent profile, or can see my emails or texts LED alerts. You decide whether you want none, one, two, or disco patterns to alert you.

Purchase BeBuzz v5.0.26 for $5.99 from BlackBerry App World here or upgrade free

Kisai Labs create some really great apps, Blaq for BlackBerry PlayBook being one of our favorites. Show Me The Images is an app that takes your email and loads the pics the way you want them, instead of having to take two or more steps. Check it out….

Kisai Labs really impressed us with Blaq for our PlayBooksas the excellent Twitter app, and Show Me The Images is an app for your BlackBerry device that will make you wonder what you ever did without it. It also is a regional winner of the BlackBerry Super Apps Challenge.

Remember when you first got your BlackBerry, and in setting up the options for email you may even have checked for pictures to be downloaded automatically. I know I did. But even so, when an email comes in, there’s little x’s or blackberry symbols for the missing pictures and you have to go to the menu button, click Get Images and then agree to the fact that downloading the picture(s) etc. which you agree to, then wait.

This is where Show Me The Images comes in. This app literally takes those extra steps out of the way. You install it, then by default it’s set on a Safe List which you create as you go. Click on the icon and Basic Options comes up. It has Show Images For: None, All, Safe List, or All w/BlockList. You determine what you want. You have the option to Download only on WiFi, for Attachments and the size. Thereafter, all you need to do is decide who’s on the SafeList as you go, or set it to All unless you want to approve one by one.

If you’re tired of jumping through hoops to download the images, you really need Show Me The Images which is available in the BlackBerry App World for only $1.99.

Purchase Show Me The Images for $1.99 from BlackBerry App World here