RIM to offer its mobile device management software on Andriod, iOS

 

Research In Motion's executives have apparently decided that if they can't beat Apple and Google, they'll join them. The company announced today that it will offer its mobile device management and security software for iOS and Android devices, allowing enterprise customers to manage them alongside BlackBerry phones.

The new software, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, will provide many of the same central administration features now offered on RIM's own phone OS—including remote locking of devices and remote erasing of their storage, application and software management, security policy enforcement, and management of WiFi and VPN connections among them. The software will be available in the first quarter of 2012, according to a company statement.

The move is an acknowledgement of the growing trend of companies adopting "bring your own device" policies to accommodate employees' desire to use their own smartphones and tablet devices in the enterprise, and of the iPad's dominance in the tablet space.

By integrating with iOS and Android, RIM vice president of enterprise product management Alan Panezic told Reuters, RIM is shooting to "become the de facto platform" for managing mobile devices in the enterprise. "We will take full advantage of whatever security capabilities are provided by the core operating system—we're not going to hold back in any way, shape or form."

The problem RIM faces is that the mobile device management market is already crowded. The BlackBerry still remains a favorite of large companies and the government (though that favor may have diminished after the worldwide RIM e-mail outage in October), and that's largely been because of the platform's management features. It's possible that Mobile Fusion could give BlackBerry the opportunity to hang on to its mobile device management customer base (which the company claims includes 90 percent of the Fortune 500), or at least delay their decisions to move to multiple platform mobile device management tools from companies such as Good Technology (which is making inroads with RIM's government customers) and MobileIron. On the other hand, it could shoot RIM's handset business in the foot, as large companies dump the BlackBerry en masse and move to iOS and Android.

Read the comments on this post

 

RIM to offer its mobile device management software on Andriod, iOS
sean.gallagher@arstechnica.com (Sean Gallagher)
Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:28:00 GMT

Blackberry Playbook 16 GB only $99

We are entering new era of mobile technology of smartphone and tablet pc with many choices from low to high end devices. The OS technology also has growing so fast and it is a tight competition. For example a mobile phone and tablet with Android Ice Cream Sandwich with attractive feature like face recognition. Apple IOS with Siri voice command. And many more.


Another vendor is RIM with

RIM Shows Off PlayBook Email And Calendar Apps

 

One of the primary criticisms of the BlackBerry PlayBook, and rightly so, was the omission of native email, contacts, and calendar applications. It was troubling then that they hadn’t considered these primary activities as important to address natively, and it’s troubling that it has taken then so very long deliver these elementary functions.

RIM originally said these reviews weren’t “fair,” but regardless of the quality of the OS and the device itself (both of which seem perfectly fine), it’s criminal to subject your loyal users to such a long wait for an email client competitive with Apple and Google. But at least the apps are being finalized, and were just showed off at the BlackBerry Innovation Forum.

BlackBerryCool has posted some quick shots of the apps. They look clean and more or less as you’d expect, and much better in my opinion than the early versions they showed at BlackBerry World. I have no trouble believing they’re as polished as the rest of the OS, and I look forward to seeing how they have integrated off-screen gestures and the like. Ideally, the PlayBook should be as much of an email and messaging powerhouse as its handset brethren.

Unfortunately the apps won’t be arriving until February 17th, and there won’t be a native BBM client by then either. But there’s a good chance they’ll be included as part of a major update that makes the Playbook, which is in some ways ahead of its time, a more realistic competitor.

The PlayBook’s keyboard accessory should be hitting around the same time as well, which should aid in productivity.

[via CrackBerry]

RIM Shows Off PlayBook Email And Calendar Apps
Devin Coldewey
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:09:26 GMT

RIM Announces BlackBerry Bold 9790 and Curve 9380

 

RIM has announced two new BlackBerry smartphones, both sporting BlackBerry OS 7 – the Bold 9790 and Curve 9380.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 offers a standard BlackBerry form factor, with a physical QWERTY keyboard and a 2.44-inch screen with a 360 x 480 pixel resolution. It also sports a 5-megapixel camera on the back, a 1 GHz CPU and 8 GB of storage memory, further expandable via microSD cards.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 replaces the physical keyboard with a larger, 3.2-inch screen with a 480 x 360 pixel resolution. Its specifications aren’t officially out yet, but rumors say it will have a 5-megapixel camera, 1 GB of storage and an 800 MHz CPU.

The prices for both devices are still unknown, but they’ll be hitting the market over the “coming weeks.”

In other BlackBerry news, the Verge obtained an image of a device possibly called BlackBerry London, which is rumored to have a dual-core, 1.5 GHz CPU, 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage memory and an 8-megapixel rear camera, as well as a 2-megapixel one on the front.

If real – and it’s still very much in rumor territory – BlackBerry London should be the first device from RIM to sport the upcoming BBX operating system.

 

 

RIM Announces BlackBerry Bold 9790 and Curve 9380
Stan Schroeder
Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:25:26 GMT

Blackberry Knight, Futuristic Smartphone

RIM (Reasearch In Motion) Corporation will be presenting its latest Smartphone produc called Blackberry Knight. This time the new Blackberry Knight Smartphone is a little bit different than previous Smartphone since this time RIM has designed it to look more futuristic and charming.

The BlackBerry Knight shows a design with sharp pointed design, a customized keyboard, and a more rectangular

Google Drops Gmail Application for BlackBerry Smartphone

 

Google Inc., the maker of Android software for mobile phones, will stop supporting the Gmail application for rival BlackBerry smartphones made by Research In Motion Ltd.

Google Drops Gmail Application for BlackBerry Smartphone
Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:18:03 GMT

BlackBerry services hit a glitch, but RIM says it is not an outage

 

Research In Motion (RIM) might not be going great guns at the moment, but they still have a respectable user base when it comes to their signature BlackBerry smartphones. Just recently, we read about a worldwide outage that affected millions of BlackBerry users worldwide, and today there is another glitch in the BlackBerry service as users claim that they experienced delays. RIM says that this is not an outage, and here is their official statement. “There is no system-wide outage, however we are investigating reports that some users in EMEIA (Europe, Middle East, India, and Africa) have experienced delays.”

Later in the day, RIM mentioned that all systems and services were operating normally in EMEIA, although they did not reveal what was the cause of the problem, whether it was some sort of electrical gremlin being the source of all the mischief. Were you one of those affected by some downtime in RIM’s BlackBerry service, or did you not notice anything at all as it was all peaches and cream for you?

BlackBerry services hit a glitch, but RIM says it is not an outage, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPhone 4S Review, Epic 4G Touch Review,

 

BlackBerry services hit a glitch, but RIM says it is not an outage
Edwin Kee
Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:54:06 GMT

Blackberry Bold Touch 9900 Hands On

Recently, RIM Corp has launched the latest series of the Blackberry Bold called Blackberry Bold Touch 9900 and Blackberry Bold Touch 9930. Although the shape is almost similar to the Blackberry Bold 9000, however Bold 9900 and this power 9930 is much more powerful than its predecessor.

Just take a look at processor 1.2 GHz on the Blackberry Bold 9900 and 9930, thi signifies that the gadget has

Newsletter from Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium

Here is a link to the most recent issue the Small Fruit News, a quarterly publication from the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium. There are several articles of interest for blackberry and raspberry growers, including an article on blackberry flavor written by Dr. John Clark, blackberry breeder from the University of Arkansas.

http://www.smallfruits.org/Newsletter/Vol11-Issue4.pdf

A List of Blackberry and Raspberry Resources

compiled by

Gina E. Fernandez

NC MarketReady Growers Information Portals:

http://www.ncsu.edu/enterprises/blackberries-raspberries

- section for blackberries/raspberries. SIGN UP FOR THE RSS feed!

Southern Region Small Fruits Consortium: 

http://www.smallfruits.org/

- see “Crops” and “Production Guides” sections

- IPM guides have pest management recommendations. 

- Small Fruit News, a quarterly newsletter with timely articles and checklists for chores in blackberry and raspberries

NC Agricultural Chemicals Manual:

-for most recent pesticide recommendations 

http://ipm.ncsu.edu/agchem/agchem.html

NC Small Fruit, Specialty Crop and Tobacco IPM Information:

http://ncsmallfruitsipm.blogspot.com/

Fruit/Nut Disease Information Notes:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/pp/notes/Fruit/fruit_contents.html

- links to information on diseases of blueberries, muscadines, and strawberries

Berry Diagnostic Tool: 

http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/berrytool/

- blackberries and raspberries 

Blackberries for the Home Garden:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/pdf/blackberries.pdf

List of Nurseries licensed to sell Univ Arkansas blackberries

http://www.aragriculture.org/horticulture/fruits_nuts/Blackberries/licensedprop.htm

List of nurseries licensed to sell ‘Nantahala’ red raspberry

http://ncsu.edu/enterprises/blackberries-raspberries/files/2010/03/nurseries-licensed-to-sell-nantahala-red-raspberry.pdf

2009 Nursery Guide for Berry & Small Fruit Crops: Brambles

http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/Berries/nurseries/brambles.html

Team Rubus Blog:

http://teamrubus.blogspot.com/

Team Rubus Twitter

@NCTeamRubus

Facebook

Team Rubus

Fall Caneberry Field Work 2011

Blackberry and Raspberry (Caneberry/Bramble) Field Work for Fall 2011

Gina Fernandez, Small Fruit Specialist, North Carolina State University

Plant growth and development
• Primocanes continue to grow, but slow down
• Flower buds start to form
• Primocane leaves senesce late fall

Harvest
• Primocane fruit harvest continues until frost

Pruning and trellising
• Spent floricanes should be removed asap
• Optimal time to prune is after the coldest part of the season is over. However pruning can start in late fall if plantings are large (late winter for smaller plantings)
• Start trellis repairs after plants have defoliated

Weed management
• Many summer weed problems can be best managed in the fall and winter using preemergent herbicides. Determine what weeds have been or could be a problem in your area. Check with your states agricultural chemical manual and local extension agent for the best-labeled chemicals to control these weeds.

Insect and disease scouting
• Continue scouting for insects and diseases.
• Remove damaged canes as soon as possible to lessen the impact of the pest.
• Check the Southern Regional Bramble integrated Management Guide for recommendations.  http://www.smallfruits.org
• Also check out Hannah Burrack’s blog.  She posts timely information on insects of interest. http://ncsmallfruitsipm.blogspot.com/

Planting
• Growers in warmer areas (e.g. extreme southeastern NC) can plant in December.  Preparations for winter planting should have already been made. If you have questions about winter planting please contact me at the above email address.
• Prepare list of cultivars for next year’s new plantings. Find lists of nurseries at http://ncsu.edu/enterprises/blackberries-raspberries/?page_id=1496

Fertilizer
• Take soil tests to determine fertility needs for spring plantings.
• Non-nitrogenous fertilizers are best applied in the fall to established plantings.
• If soil is bare, plant an overwintering cover crop (e.g. rye) to build organic matter and slow soil erosion.

Marketing and miscellaneous
• Order containers for next season
• Make contacts for selling fruit next season

Make plans to attend Grower meetings! Blackberries and raspberries are part or all of these programs.
The 2012 North American Raspberry & Blackberry Conference will be January 16-18, 2012 in Sandusky, Ohio, in association w/Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association. http://www.raspberryblackberry.com/local.cfm?doc=webdocs/ConferencePreview.htm
Caneberry session at the 2012 GA Fruit and Vegetable conference in Savannah GA. Jan 5-7, 2012

Resources:
Southern Region Integrated Bramble Management Guide and the Southeast Regional Bramble Production Guide: http://www.smallfruits.org/SmallFruitsRegGuide/index.htm

Blackberry and Raspberry Grower Information Portal:http://www.ncsu.edu/enterprises/blackberries-raspberries

My Social Media links:
Twitter: @NCTeamRubus
Facebook : Team Rubus
Blogs: http://teamrubus.blogspot.com/

Verizon Wireless rolls out BlackBerry smartphone torch 9850

Smartphones, dime a dozen these days – in fact, if you do not own a Smartphone, you can get funny looks whenever you pull out your phone from the pocket of a jacket. Feature phones are a staple of the developing countries and those who are on an extremely limited budget, so smartphone-the way to go if you want to stay connected to the rest of the world, even when you're on the road. Having said

Blackberry and Raspberry Post Harvest Evaluation

Evaluation of blackberry post harvest traits

We have an amazing team of scientists at NC State University working on blackberries and raspberries (Team Rubus). One of the newer members of our team is Dr. Penny Perkins-Veazie. Dr. Perkins-Veazie, worked for many years at USDA-ARS as a post harvest physiologist. She is  now located at the Plants for Human Health Institute at the NC Research Campus in Kannapolis. One of the projects we have is the evaluation of raspberry and blackberry fruit post harvest traits. She is also working to determine which varieties contain antioxidant compounds in Rubus fruit.

In the picture above, Dr. Perkins-Veazie shows a graduate student how to evaluate the post harvest traits of blackberries.

There is You Tube a video link to this protocol at:

http://plantsforhumanhealth.ncsu.edu/2011/03/31/rating-blackberries-raspberries-for-postharvest-quality/

Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium

"The mission of the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium (SRSFC) is to enhance collaborative efforts between small fruit growers and grower organizations, industries and service organizations allied with and/or serving small fruit growers, agricultural extension programs and research stations working together to enhance the development of the small fruit industries in the region."

The quote above which is slightly modified from the original form, is taken from the website of the The Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium (SRSFC). The SRSFC is sponsored by seven Universities in the southern US including, North Carolina State University, University of Georgia, University of Arkansas, Clemson University, University of Georgia, University of Tennessee and VA Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Every four months, a newsletter is published online by the SRSFC. The newsletter usually has several articles on recent research or extension information as well as checklists for several small fruit crops. The SRSFC also has a great website that includes IPM and production guides for small fruit crops grown in the region.

Here is a link to their website:
http://www.smallfruits.org/

Here is a link to the latest newsletter:
http://www.smallfruits.org/Newsletter/Vol11-Issue3.pdf

Video of Southside Farms on TV

Hi Folks, Here is the video that was mentioned in the previous post about Southside Farms. I tried to post just the segment of interest, but the whole episode comes up. The segment on the Southside Farms starts at about 6:30. I have worked with the Hardings for many years and helped them move from tobacco to fruit and vegetables. They have a retirement community within a few miles of the farm. The retirees (mostly northerners) are very devoted customers. For those of you from not around these parts, you may enjoy watching the entire video to see some of the other wonders of North Carolina. Enjoy!

Watch the full episode. See more NC Weekend.

NC Blackberry Farmer featured on UNC TV this weekend

Southside Farms will be featured on the UNC TV show, North Carolina Weekend tonight at 8:30 and tomorrow morning.  Southside Farms grows all sorts of produce, including blackberries. The show airs tonight at 8:30 and again tomorrow morning.  For those of you outside the viewing area, the show will be online soon (next week?) at http://www.unctv.org/ncweekend/.  Woot!

Market prices

Interested in prices of blackberries or raspberries throughout the US? The folks at NC Market Ready have set up a useful link to the USDA site, go to the bottom of the following page  and click where it says "USDA Fruit and Vegetable Market News", where it will allow you to run a report for blackberries or raspberries:
http://ncsu.edu/enterprises/blackberries-raspberries/category/links/

Improved Google Search for BlackBerry 6.0 devices

Today we’ve updated the Google search experience for BlackBerry 6.0 WebKit enabled devices. We’ve added a number of enhanced search features integrated throughout the homepage and search result pages, making searching faster and easier on www.google.com, especially on touch-enabled Blackberry devices.

Left: Improved homepage with autocomplete and search history as you type.

Right: See more information with search options and enhanced results.

• Enter searches faster: Save time by using autocomplete and search history queries that appear beneath the search box as you type.
• Web search: Find what you're searching for fast. Comprehensive results pages let you see relevant websites, images, videos, news, real-time results and more. Simply click on the arrow button ‘>>’ to the left of the top search box for more refinement options.
• Image search: Swipe through image results quickly and easily on touch enabled devices. Start by selecting ‘Images’ at the top of www.google.com, then enter a search. From there, click on any image to view a larger size.
• Local search: Find restaurants, shops and other popular business categories with a single tap. Start by selecting ‘Places’ at the top of www.google.com, then click on an icon from the Places homepage.

These features and more are available on most RIM OS 6.0+ devices with WebKit browsers like the BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry Bold 9780, and can be accessed in 20 languages across 70 countries.

To try out the new features, go to www.google.com in your mobile browser. We recommend that you bookmark Google Search to your phone’s home screen, so that Google search is just one click away.

Posted by Ryan Doherty, Software Engineer

Blackberry Yield Data

Growers that had hail damage to their blackberry crop this spring are trying to estimate their crop losses. I have been asked to provide recent yield data. We collected this data at the Piedmont Research Station from 2008-2010. Table 1 is our actual data, Table 2 is converted to yield per acre based on our original plant density.

I realize that the plants fill in the rows after you plant and that it may be hard to figure out how many plants there are per acre. However, for our purposes it is easier to present yield per plant based on the original planting density, e.g. plants were set 4 ft apart in the row and rows are 12 ft apart. This would be the equivalent of 907 plants per acre.  Keep in mind that there can be distortion of data as we multiply up from our 20 plants to 907. Your plant density may have been different and this will change the yield/acre. In addition, actual grower yields may be higher or lower and may vary due to trellis type, year to year yield variations, and other production practices.

Sorry about the quality of the print, pasting tables into blogger is not that easy. Contact me if you want a copy of this data in PDF form.

Search Gmail & Docs with Google Mobile App on BlackBerry

In January we updated Google Mobile App for BlackBerry so it can search your on-device email and contacts. Today we’re pleased to announce it can also search the cloud to find items in your Gmail, Google Contacts, and Google Docs.

Here’s a quick example: you've just received an email from a friend who's coming with you on a camping trip this weekend and he's reminded you that you should take a look at the checklist to see what you need to bring along. It's been a while since you created the list, but you can just say 'checklist' to Google Mobile App and find it in your Google Docs in a couple of clicks.

To do this on your BlackBerry you’ll need to start Google Mobile App and log into your Google Account (you’ll only need to do this the first time). Just as with any other query, you can either type or speak to find what you’re looking for.

Search results for "checklist"



Google Docs: Mountain camping checklist

Now that you’re already signed in to your Google Account you can launch web-based apps such as Docs or Reader without having to log in again.

Google takes information security very seriously, so all your Gmail and Google Docs searches are sent over a secure https connection. Your password is never permanently stored on your phone, and your account details are encrypted during transmission.

To download Google Mobile App to your BlackBerry, visit m.google.com. Learn more in our help center.

Posted by Luis Sigal, Software Engineer