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Blackberry 10

Blackberry 10 receives Microsoft OneDrive client

technologyEdward Kiledjian
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I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Microsoft rebranding its SkyDrive cloud storage service to Microsoft OneDrive (link).

BkBlackberry has done a great job integrating cloud storage providers into its base os on BB10 devices. Out of the gate, BB10 supports Dropbox and Box. Now you can add Microsoft OneDrive support to that list with the availability of the Connect to Microsoft OneDrive app (link).

The functionality of this new add on is exactly the same  as that of Dropbox and Box. The deep integration means you can upload (automatically) device content to OneDrive. You can access files stored on OneDrive seamlessly on your device. 

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Whatsapp to add voice Services

technologyEdward Kiledjian
Image by  abulhussain under Creative Commons License

Image by  abulhussain under Creative Commons License

Read up about Telegram Messenger, a solid Whatsapp alternative (link)

Whatsapp was swallowed by Facebook in exchange for a cool $19B. To keep it exciting and in the news, the CEO, Jan Koum, announced that they will be bringing voice services to market. Sure you can send voice notes today but they want to bring actual voice calling functionality to their users. 

Is this something that excites you? Do you really need another VOIP client? It is a platform with more than 400M users so adoption will be incredible. It is important to note that this functionality (along with video chatting) already exists in the current Blackberry BBM client (IOS, Android and Blackberrry 10).

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Fongo working on a VOIP client for Blackberry 10

technologyEdward Kiledjian
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I first started using Fongo when it was powering a free VOIP service for Dell Canada called Dell Voice (link). The premise was simple. It offered a free IOS and Android app that provided free calling to most Canadian locations with free calledID and free voicemail. 

The Dell deal ended but I continued using it when travelling or when selling something on kijiji (when I don't want to give out my personal number). Now we learn that Fongo is working on a Blackberry (BB) 10 client. 

The Fongo website still says "Fongo for Blackberry is not currently available" but now we know they are working on it. 

It's still too early to know if this will ever be converted to a real distributed client but thousands of Canadian Blackberry users would love to get their hands on this free VOIP service. Now we have to wait and see.

Tim Horton's offers Blackberry Donut

technologyEdward Kiledjian
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To celebrate the launch of the TimmyMe blackberry app (which allows customers to pay via their BB10 device), tim Hortons and Blackberry launched a special promotional campaign at the Adelaide Street West location.

This is a tasty promo, not sure it would make me buy a blackberry device!

BBM Voice chat coming to IOS and Android next year

technologyEdward Kiledjian
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BBM for IOS and Android has been available for some time but it still lacks many of the features found on the BB10 version. Now Blackberry has let the cat out of the bag and everyone can expect functional parity between all of the different versions in 2014.

You don't use a BB10 device so you're wondering what's in store? 2 features:

  • BBM Voice - Is a VOIP service similar to Skype or FaceTime Audio
  • BBM Channels - Is Blackberry's own social media network that reminds me of twitter.
  • More Sharing - Better sharing options for pictures and locations.

Source: Blackberry blog