Perhaps the most cleverly named of all holidays, it is not always readily obvious how the death and humiliation of God is good. Yet it is by the actions of this day that God’s grace is granted to all of us. Though often unmarked, this day is more relevant than Easter…
Remember to celebrate Good Friday
BlackBerry’s music program
This would have been much funnier if I had thought of it two months ago…
App reviews from others
My apps have gotten a lot of attention in the past week from a variety of sites, so I would like to take a moment to thank everyone for writing about my apps.
First BlackBerry Cool and Berry Review wrote up reviews of the new BlackBerry 10 game, Starbeams.
The Stuff I Need app also got some attention, with N4BB calling it a ‘must have BlackBerry 10 app’, and CrackBerry also giving the app a favorable review. A video from CrackBerry’s James Richardson is embedded below.
Finally NerdBerry noted the release of the most recent update to Xploding Boxes which is now up to 370 levels.
Mileage Tracker updated to version 1.2
The BlackBerry 10 app, Mileage Tracker has been updated to version 1.2 in BlackBerry World. This new version now automatically fills in your start odometer reading with your most recent end odometer reading in order to make your use of the app more efficient and quicker than ever. This update also adds support for the upcoming BlackBerry Q10 in addition to some optimizations to the code of the app itself.
About Mileage Tracker
Mileage tracker is a free app designed to help you track the miles you drive on each trip for use on tax deductions, accounting, or employee reimbursements. Instead of keeping this information charted on your computer, it makes much more sense to be able to track this directly on your phone, which you normally would have with you in the car already.
Trips can be grouped into categories, and edited (or deleted) at a later date. Following a one time in-app payment you can export your data into an Excel compatible .csv format and a pretty (and sortable) .html format.
Links & Information
Morse Code app adds support for BlackBerry Q10
The Morse Code app for BlackBerry 10 has been updated to version 2.1 in BlackBerry World in order to add support for the soon to be released BlackBerry Q10.
About Morse Code
This app will take your text, and translate it back to you in Morse Code. Any text can simply be entered, and then by pressing the “Play Morse Code” button, can be turned into an audible Morse Code signal. The application also allows you to adjust the speed of the playback in words per minute in order to accommodate different skill levels.
Links & Information
Stuff I Need app gets its first update
The Stuff I Need app has been updated to version 1.1 in BlackBerry World. This new version adds support for the BlackBerry Q10, and also includes a delete all function on the options page in order to make it easier to refresh your list.
About Stuff I Need
Originally conceived as a grocery list app, this minimalistic checklist can be used to keep track of the stuff you need to get, or the stuff that you need to do.
Runaway Trains adds support for the Q10
The colorful strategy game, Runaway Trains has been updated to version 2.4 for BlackBerry and Android. This new version has ten new levels, as well as adding support for the soon to be released BlackBerry Q10.
About Runaway Trains
Runaway Trains is a colorful strategy game for all ages where you must route the trains to the proper station. Each level progresses in difficulty and presents an unique puzzle which you must solve by finding a way to guide the coloured trains causing a collision or running out of track.
This is done by touching the intersections to toggle the open path of the tracks. If at any time the trains crash or end up at the wrong station, you will have lost and have to try again.
The first 25 levels are free, while the rest of the game can be accessed following a one time in-app purchase of $2.99.
New in version 2.4
Version 2.4 of Runaway Trains adds levels 171-180, as well as new and improved menu icons. BlackBerry 10 phones also now have a new easy way to share high scores, and the app now supports the soon to be released BlackBerry Q10.
Links & Information
- Runaway Trains at AppWorld
- Runaway Trains for the Nook
- Runaway Trains on Google Play
- Runaway Trains on Amazon
- Runaway Trains News site
- Runaway Trains Website
- Ebscer on Facebook
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New Starbeams game released for BlackBerry 10
The brand new game Starbeams has been released in BlackBerry World for all BlackBerry 10 phones. The game has 100 levels, and requires you to assign colors to each star in order to ensure that none of the stars are connected to another star of the same color. The game starts off easy, but quickly gets more complex, adding more colors and seven pointed stars that can not be changed.
As with Xploding Boxes and Runaway Trains the first 25 levels of the game are free, while the full game can be purchased through a one time in-app purchase. Currently Starbeams boasts 100 levels, but that number is sure to grow as the game is updated in the coming months.
Device Support
The game supports all BlackBerry 10 phones, including the Z10, the Q10, and the DevAlpha.
Screenshots
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Links & Information
Xploding Boxes adds 10 new levels
Xploding Boxes has been updated to version 4.3, adding ten new levels bringing the total up to 370. This update also improves the app’s handling of square displays, adding support for the soon to be released BlackBerry Q10, and providing better support for the Windows 8 version when in three-quarters snapped mode. The menu icons for the app were also refreshed on Android, Nook, and Playbook versions of the app, in order to match the style that was recently revealed on the BlackBerry 10 version of the app.
About Xploding Boxes
Xploding Boxes is a strategy game for BlackBerry, Android, Nook, Windows 8, and BlackBerry 10 where the goal of the game is to start a chain reaction that will explode all of the boxes on the screen. Each level gives you a different number of touches, and requires a different strategy to solve.
The game itself, and the first 25 levels are available for free, while an in-app purchase can be used to access the rest of the levels for just $2.99 while maintaining your progress from the free levels.
Links & Information
- Xploding Boxes at BlackBerry World
- Xploding Boxes in the Windows 8 Store
- Xploding Boxes for Android at Google Play
- Xploding Boxes for Android at the Amazon App Store
- Xploding Boxes for the Barnes and Noble Nook
- Xploding Boxes News
- Xploding Boxes Website
- Ebscer on FaceBook
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Almost all PlayBook users on newest OS version
January saw almost all PlayBook users on the newest OS version available, and given that there has been no OS upgrades released since then, there is little surprise that pretty much all PlayBook users were still on the newest OS version this month as well.
This data was collected by BlackBerry World at the time of download, for the popular PlayBook strategy game Pixelated. Data shown on the chart is from the beginning of February 2012 through the end of February 2013.
Windows 8 users by country
The above chart shows the county break down of downloads of Xploding Boxes on Windows 8 over the past 6 months. This data is collected by Microsoft’s store. The below chart shows the country breakdown for Pixelated over the same time period.
For both games there were more users from the United States than any other country. Followed by (in both cases) the United Kingdom, and Canada.
Waiting for the Z10
I am fairly sure that the BlackBerry Z10 actually does exist. I have seen pictures of it online, I have talked to people who have claimed to have used it, I have had many people use the device to download my apps. Yet I have never actually seen a BlackBerry Z10 in person.
The phone has been on sale in some countries for 36 days now, and as such it has probably been seen by a few million people, who either bought one, looked at it in the store, or ran into someone using one on the street. Given how much time I have spent looking at, and studying the details of this phone, you would assume that I would be one of the experts on this, but apparently not.
I am fairly sure that the Z10 is a real phone, but lets see how much longer it takes for me to finally see one…
BlackBerry 10 users by country
February saw the launch of BlackBerry 10 in most countries (besides the United States), so I figured that it would be worth taking a look at which countries BlackBerry 10 users are in.
Canada (unsurprisingly) lead the way with 62% of BlackBerry 10 users. It was followed by the United Kingdom with 17% of users, and then a collection of middle eastern countries, such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar. Surprisingly the United States managed to have a bit of a showing despite not yet being formally launched in that country.
This data for this chart was taken from downloads of the free BlackBerry strategy game Pixelated over the course of February 2013, and excludes Dev Alpha devices.
BBOS distribution still unchanged
For the second straight month, the distribution of BlackBerry OS versions are mostly unchanged. Almost all users (98.5%) are running OS 5.0 or higher, but only about a third of users (34.1%) are on the newest version of the OS.
This data was taken from downloads of the free BlackBerry strategy game Pixelated. Data shown on the chart is from the beginning of February 2012 through the end of February 2013, and does not include BlackBerry 10 or PlayBook devices.