BlackBerry 10 browser passes Ring 1 on Facebook’s Ringmark
The BlackBerry 10 browser has now passed Ring 1 of the Ringmark HTML5 standardization program from Facebook. This gives developers added confidence that the BlackBerry 10 browser can execute web apps that include an advanced level of functionality, such as 2D games, music apps, video apps and camera apps. Which is just more great news.
Research In Motion covered it more in-depth at http://devblog.blackberry.com/2012/11/blackberry-10-browser-html5-standards/ and Facebook talks about it here: http://developers.facebook.com/html5/blog/.
Although Dolphin’s mobile browser passed it first, the BlackBerry 10 browser is, in fact, the first platform browser to pass Ring 1. You can test your mobile browser here (test your desktop one too, just to see…) http://rng.io.
Image Source: Inside BlackBerry DevBlog
Test it yourself here: http://rng.io
BlackBerry Dev Meetings: A Peek Under the Hood
As a BlackBerry user, I tend to have a lot of BlackBerry information on my Twitter feed. Sometime last month, Alex Kinsella happened to tweet about a meeting of the Toronto BlackBerry developer Group in Toronto. Not being a developer, I was hesitant to sign up. Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me, and I attended. I’ve been to two meetings so far, and wow, am I impressed.
[Press Release] BlackBerry 10 Mini Jam on the 24th of November, 2012 in Maribor, Slovenia
I had a chance to share a conversation over Video Chat with a dear friend from Slovenia. It our conversation he let me know the he has taken the next leap in BlackBerry development with a new and important team.. We now present to you BlackBerry Developer Group Balkan!
• What is it that they do?
BlackBerry Developer Group Balkan operates as a developer organization in countries of ex-Yugoslavia in helping them with information, event organization and more. The new BlackBerry Developer Group Balkan is committed to building a strong community of developers in countries of ex-Yugoslavia. Combining the intelligence, experience & knowledge of developers from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia is the main priority of BlackBerry Developer Group Balkan.
• BlackBerry 10 Mini Jam in Maribor, Slovenia
First thing is their all new website. This can be found here: bbdevbalkan.com/home/ But next up is something quite major! The first event will include three guests from RIM & one external partner. This event news & registration can be found here: bdevbalkan.com/home/events/minibb10jam/
The BBDevBalkan group would also love to invite ex-Yugoslavia developers from other countries like Italy, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania etc to the current event and future events found here: bbdevbalkan.com/home/events/
• A bit different approach
The Group BBDevBalkan has included not only Native and Web tracks, but also Adobe AIR and Android tracks. Countries of ex-Yugoslavia are Android & iPhone oriented and BlackBerry Developer Balkan Group believes they can do a lot in turning things around if they are able to introduce BlackBerry 10 to Android & iOS developers. With Native DK, Adobe AIR, HTML5 and Android Runtime. BlackBerry 10 is more and more interesting to these developers, so they’ve included these tracks to interest them!
• Press Accreditation
They’ve hired two renowned PR agencies to help with media like newspapers, radio and TV. BBDevBalkan Group would love to see more journalists from the BlackBerry community too. If you have an contributors in their area they invite you to apply for press accreditation from their press corner here: bbdevbalkan.com/home/press/
See the PRESS RELEASE (PDF) here
Register for BlackBerry 10 Mini Jam on Nov 24, 2012 in Maribor, Slovenia here!
2012 BlackBerry Developer Community Awards!
It’s your turn to reward a fellow BlackBerry® developer who writes an awesome blog, always replies on Twitter®, or who has the answer on the BlackBerry Developer Support Forums. The BlackBerry Developer Community Awards is a community-based recognition program that relies on you, the BlackBerry development community.
There are six award categories and we need you to nominate and vote for the developers, evangelists and contributors that exemplify our community’s creativity and collaborative spirit.
Here’s how it works: from now until Sunday September 16th, you can make one nomination per category, either via our online form or Twitter. On Tuesday September 18th, we will announce the finalists in each category.
When the nominees are finalized on the 18th, we will open the platform for voting. Voting will close on Wednesday September 26th. We’ll tally the votes, and will announce the winners live! The ceremony will take place at the BlackBerry® Jam Americas TweetUp, located in the BlackBerry Social Lounge from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
Here are the categories:
- Must-Follow BlackBerry Developer on Twitter
- Must-Read BlackBerry Developer Blog
- Must-See BlackBerry Developer Evangelist
- Most Helpful BlackBerry Team Member on Twitter
- Most Helpful Contributor to the BlackBerry Developer Forums
- Best Open Source Contribution
Here’s how to nominate:
- Through our online form, or
- via Twitter. (Just send a tweet that mentions @BlackBerryDev, the #BBDevAwards hashtag, and the category.)
And here’s the timeline:
- Now – September 16th: Open nominations
- September 18th – September 25th: Open voting
- September 26th: Winners announced at BlackBerry Jam Americas TweetUp
So get to it! Now is the time to recognize your fellow BlackBerry developers for their contributions. Head over to the BlackBerry Developer Community Awards page and nominate your favorites. We’ll see you at BlackBerry Jam Americas in San Jose, where we’ll announce the winners!
Pretty exciting stuff here! Probably the first awards I’ve seen that recognizes some of the other guys and girls that do this for the love of BlackBerry and their passion to be a bigger part of it. I would never say to vote for any of us, because I believe every individual reserves the right to make their own choices. There are some really special people out there. Please everyone just take a few minutes to fill in your recommendations. Thanks always and enjoy!
Image Source: Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog
Source: Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog
OSBBx Introduces the OSBBx bbUI.js Contest
Our friends over at OpenSourceBB.com have an awesome contest happening for developers & new developers using RIM’s BBUI.js framework for WebWorks based apps. All you have to do is check out the links in this post and you’ll have a chance to win cool prizes like gift cards, swag, even a PlayBook! But really you’ll be investing in BlackBerry 10 and possibly building the next super hit! Endless possibilities when working with RIM’s BBUI.js framework.
OSBB writes:
You might have heard of OSBBx, the new developer arm of OpenSourceBB. If you haven’t, you should check it out at http://x.opensourcebb.com/. OSBBx represents a new paradigm; taking advantage of RIM’s new dedication to open communication between RIM and devs, OSBBx is an effort to create a developer community with close ties to multiple RIM employees and departments, dedicated to providing developers with samples, tutorials, discussion forums, and other helpful information — all aimed to help developers create better BlackBerry apps.
As one of the first steps towards growing OSBBx, we’re introducing the OSBBx bbUI.js Contest.
The official rules and information will be forthcoming soon, but for now, here’s a quick rundown of how things will work:
1. Build an awesome app using bbUI.js, RIM’s Javascript framework (bbUI.js can be found in Github at https://github.com/blackberry/bbUI.js).
2. Enter your app in the OSBB bbUI.js Contest, which opens on September 1st.
3. Win cool swag!
Yes, it really is that simple. The contest will open on September 1, 2012; prizes and official rules will be announced before then. App submissions will be accepted through September, and winners will be contacted shortly thereafter. Although this contest is not sponsored by Research In Motion, RIM has donated a BlackBerry PlayBook and RIM personnel will assist OSBBx in judging app submissions. Other contest sponsors have already pledged several hundred dollars worth of other prizes and swag as well.
So get started on some truly awesome bbUI.js apps, keep your eye on OSBBx, and get ready to win!
Source: OpenSourceBB.com
[Registration Now Open] BlackBerry Jam Americas, Sept 25th – 27th, 2012
What’s happening? BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012. Where’s is going down? The San Jose Convention Center in California. When’s this going down? September 25th, 26th & 27th, 2012. Register» here!
Why should you make the trip? There’s plenty of exciting things going on for BlackBerry now! Attending BlackBerry Jam Americas gives developers a chance to get a good look under the hood. If you haven’t been in the past you have to make this trip. Last year I jumped in my car and made the 4 hour journey from Reno to San Francisco, for what would ignite my excitement in what we now know as BlackBerry 10!
Attending BlackBerry Jam Americas means you’ll have access to take in RIM’s expertise, mingle with developers, leaders, bloggers, and more. I know for us, it’s about shaking hands with the developers and RIM employees we’ve grown to respect, cherish and connect with. You’ll know when you’re there.
Pricing to Attend BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012
• BlackBerry Jam Americas is keeping with the flow and making this event more affordable. Register by August 31st to get the best deal, known as the Early Bird pricing. The Main Rate is $449.00 (an Early Bird discount of $150.00).
• Alumni – includes developers who attended previous Developer Conference events, like 2012′s BlackBerry 10 Jam in Orlando, or any of the BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour stops can register now for $299.00 (an Early Bird discount of $150.00).
• Academia, faculty can register for $299.00. Plus students can register for $199.00.
Check out Victoria B’s post of BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012 here: http://devblog.blackberry.com/2012/08/come-jam-with-us-register-now-for-blackberry-jam-americas-september-25-27/
Source: Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog
Register for BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012 Here!
BlackBerry Developer Relations team Visits MMMOOO in Shanghai during GSMA’s Mobile Asia Expo 2012
The multi-platform firm known as MMMOOO in North America got a nice visit from the BlackBerry Developer Relations team during GSMA’s Mobile Asia Expo 2012. Besides getting to enjoy the booming economy of Shanghai (city of 23 million people), RIM’s Dev Relations team also got to meet with over 13 member’s of team MMMOOO. They were even treated to the MMMOOO Innovation Workshop!
BlackBerry PlayBook 2.1.0 developer beta
Just as promised, RIM pushed out a special Tablet OS 2.1.0 beta for developers to get the best from their upcoming applications! And there’s no better way than real device testing. Keep in mind this is once again a unique update for developers and not an update that all PlayBook users will find as useful as some others might. Regardless if you’ve been looking forward to the sneak peak of more features, a much better Android Runtime experience and options like Portrait support for PIM, this may be for you! Check out the a snippet from RIM’s DevBlog below.
There are three major enhancements to the Android™ Runtime in 2.1.0:
- Each Android app will now run in its own window. This greatly improves the user experience and consistency among the other application runtimes.
- Access to the Camera hardware is now supported for Android apps, allowing many more application types to work on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet.
- In-App Payment is now supported through the BlackBerry Payment SDK, so Android applications can include virtual items for sale in their applications.
But wait, there’s more!
There are a couple other items I noticed that I think will appeal to some developers. Full device encryption is now supported, so that the whole device and personal partition can be secure. If you develop an application that deals with sensitive personal information, you may want to include a suggestion to your users that they turn this feature on. Finally, there is a minor update I noticed which developers asked for and will be well received: screenshots are now saved in lossless PNG format. That should help quite a bit when you want to promote your application and add screenshots to the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.
For those of you wandering around the rest of the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 beta, you’ll notice a few extra enhancements geared towards end users such as:
- Portrait support for Email, Calendar and Contacts
- Improved folder support including IMAP folder support
The other 2.1 features will come full steam when the new OS is commercially released. The 2.1 Android SDK will be released in beta coinciding with the OS release, and the 2.1 Native SDK will be posted next week, with an update to the Adobe® AIR® SDK to come shortly after.
As with any OS update, use this beta period to test your apps now, so that they will be in full working order when the official release comes out.
Head to the website to download the new simulator (for Mac or Windows) and whitelist your device to receive the beta.
Source: Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog
Get the full scope here: http://devblog.blackberry.com/2012/05/blackberry-playbook-2-1-0-beta/
