BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK Updated and Available

RIM held the BlackBerry Tablet SDK webcasts it was obvious that there were many questions that were still being worked out when it came to the specific capabilities and APIs of the tablet. RIM just sent out an update letting everyone know that the tablet SDK has been updated and the latest version is available for download. The latest version of the tablet SDK doesn’t have anything major, but rather it now supports Windows 7.

Xobni for BlackBerry Now on Sale for $1.99

Xobni is running a great sale right now where they’re offering Xobni for BlackBerry for $1.99. This price is available from their website as well as App World. For those unfamiliar with the app, Xobni (inbox backwards), scans your contacts and allows you to access those contacts quickly and efficiently.

BlackBerry of spam with Antair Spam Filter Live

It has been more than two years since we went over a way to filter spam using Gmail. This isn’t the most involved process, but it is a process nonetheless. You have to basically filter your email through a Gmail account, which filters spam pretty well. It’s not perfect by any means, but it does help keep those “Endeavor to use it for the children of God” emails off your BlackBerry. If you prefer, though, you can use an effective application to perform a similar function.

Antair Spam Filter is basically the BlackBerry standard for keeping spam away from your inbox. The messages still get delivered to your BlackBerry, but before they can make your LED blink Antair intercepts them. They then get stored in memory for a bit, so that you can check and make sure a real message didn’t get caught in the filter. Users also have the ability to set up whitelists and blacklists, which makes the filter even more effective.

Here’s an interesting feature: the filter can also block spoofed emails. You might notice these from time to time. They’re messages that appear to have been sent from your own email address. Apparently they can also come from email addresses in your contacts list, though I haven’t noticed that in my own email. They’re harmless, really — I know I didn’t send the email to myself — but it’s nice to have them filtered out.
The app, of course, isn’t free. Well, it is at first. You can get a free 30-day trial of Antair Spam Filter Live. That should give you an idea of how well the app works. After that, however, it costs $3.95 per month or $39.95 if you prepay for the year. Is that a worthy cost considering the free Gmail spam filter? That’s up to the individual user. As you can see, the first comment on the Gmail spam filter post actually advocates the more expensive, but simpler, Antair Spam Filter. If you are interested, it works with both BIS and BES devices, and is compatible with OS versions 4.2 and up.

Secure your BlackBerry with AppLock and BlackBook

The connection between these two apps is that I don’t want to put a password on my BlackBerry. I lock the thing a lot. It goes into my pocket, and it comes out at regular intervals. Some users can deal with entering a password on every unlock. I cannot. Yet I understand the need for security. That’s why I prefer apps that protect certain aspects of my BlackBerry.

BlackBook is one app that I can’t imagine deleting. It basically gives you a hidden address book — so hidden that it can only be seen by typing in your launch-key. That is, there is no indication whatsoever that there is anything like a hidden address book on the device. It’s even listed as Clock in your applications list. You can have these hidden contacts, and even converse with them via SMS in complete privacy. If someone picks up your Berry they’ll have no idea that there’s anything more than what appears in your contacts list and SMS history.

Even if you have hidden contacts, you’ll likely want to lock certain aspects of your Berry. That’s where AppLock comes in. You can password protect specific applications so that others can’t access them. This includes the messages app, which you can do as a whole, or just set it to lock messages from certain contacts. This way you only have to enter in a password when it is necessary.

Not only do both of these applications protect your BlackBerry, they are also currently discounted. You can get AppLock for 99 cents, down from $2.99. It works with BlackBerry OS versions 4.2.1 and above. Similarly, you can get BlackBook for $1.99, down from $4.99. This works only with OS versions 5 and 6.