applications

RIM tells developers to have more fun

BlackBerry is branching out. Beginning Tuesday, Research In Motion will open the BlackBerry platform further by offering developers APIs (application programming interfaces) that allow them to make more interesting lifestyle-oriented applications.

Having customer relationship management software on your smart phone is cool and all, but soon BlackBerry addicts will have access to applications that are far more consumer oriented: apps with embedded audio and video, more location-based services, support for better 3D graphics, and more customizable wallpaper and ringtones.

The new collection of BlackBerry APIs are based on the industry standard Java Micro Edition.

SimulScribe turns voice mail into text

As our lives get busier and we become more reliant on text messages and e-mail, voice mail is starting to seem a tad archaic (not to mention impractical if you're sitting in a business meeting or loud bar). A company called SimulScribe has come up with a technology that claims to be the answer.

The New York-based start-up uses voice recognition technology to transcribe voice mails into text. Instead of having to sit through Grandpa Bill's three-minute voice mail, you'd get a written message, via SMS or e-mail, approximately two to five minutes after the voice mail … Read more

Click here to plan your social life

GetMobio is a mobile lifestyle application that's trying to put your social life at your fingertips, literally.

The downloadable app helps you find places to go, get reservations, buy tickets, browse movie reviews and get directions--and it can all be done in very few clicks and with minimum data entry, according to Mobio, the company that created it.

The product is launching this week at Demo 07 in Palm Desert, CA, but the executive team dropped by the CNET offices last week to do a quick demo.

GetMobio is organized as a series of "collections," which is … Read more

Feeding the smart phone addiction

Silicon Valley start-up EasyReach, has given BlackBerry addicts and Treoholics yet another reason to be constantly thumb-typing with brows furrowed.

The idea is to check as many items off a to-do list as possible using just a mobile phone, said EasyReach CEO John Stossel.

EasyReach is a free mobile application that lets users shop for things like books on Amazon.com, expertly shredded denim from Abercrombie & Fitch, add movies to a Netflix queue, or rent a sports car or hotel room. Or, send last-minute flowers or a card right from the phone. It's called "Express Shopping" … Read more

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John---in your pocket

You can get just about anything on your cell phone these days--ESPN, the latest Green Day video, a game of "Resident Evil: The Missions." Now you can add the Pauline Epistles to that list.

South African company ChristianMobile (tagline: "Powered by God") has announced what it says is the world's first Christian mobile-phone chat application, CmChat. The app lets mobile-phone subscribers send text or SMS messages, but adds in Christian news feeds, daily prayers, devotionals and Bible verses, plus information on new Christian publications, weather and sports reports.

Christian Mobile says it created CmChat, in … Read more