To be quite honest, it is about time that a mobile payment company decided to bring their application to BlackBerry considering how many business users are out there, and how much potential there is for the applicaiton on the platform. Yesterday PayAnywhere, a mobile payment processing company, announced their new BlackBerry application which will allow people to accept payments while on the go. There are several other applications and accessories which aim to do the same, but PayAnywhere has taken it to the next level. Not only have they come in with the lowest rate in the industry for processing fees, but from what I have seen in using the others available for other platforms, they also have incorporated the most features by far.

BlackBerry users can now easily create receipts, accept payments, and more while on the go right from their beloved BlackBerry device. No business is to large or to small for PayAnywhere, so if you are interested in accepting payments while on the go, be sure to hit the break and check it out in action, and get one for yourself today!

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Advance OS and LED has been covered here on the blogs by both myself and Adam. When a FREE app comes along that offers a whole slew of features that are beneficial to any BlackBerry user, we here at CrackBerry get super excited. As of today, Advance OS and LED has been updated to v 12.0.3. This latest update adds even more useful features to my already favorite BlackBerry application!

Features included in update:

• Added Contacts Manager feature to export to (excel & Gmail & MS outlook), merge duplicate contacts, backup and restore all contacts with their photos, move contacts to default list.
• Added homescreen multi-wallpaper feature, to change your background picture every time you turn the screen on.
• Redesigned add new numbers feature much easier (no more copy and paste).
• Added convenience side key action in ilaunch custom actions, for launching multiple custom actions at once.
• You can now change the spacebar homescreen shortcut key to other keys.
• App now supports all contact lists, not just the default one.
• Improved Custom App LED capturing by providing more information when customizing new apps LED.
• LED Mode will always be mutli-led.
• Added option to send app backup to email account directly after taking a backup.
• Also a few small changes, like battery and speed improvements as well, bbm popup has been optimized and small bug fixes 

This application is worth its weight in gold yet the developer has made it available for FREE and has stated that the app will stay that way regardless of update improvements. I've actually deleted several paid apps from my BlackBerry because this one does the job of all of them so much better. If you'd like to see what others are saying about Advance OS and LED, head on over to the forum discussion here.

For more information / download Advance OS and LED

If you are a fashion professional, you may have heard of Trendstop at some point in your career. They provide access to seasonal trend reports, trend forecasts and which key items you need to have. Through an online subscription, you can enjoy trend theme layouts, trend innovator analysis and much more. There is a free BlackBerry smartphone application already live in BlackBerry App World that provides fashion news on the go called Trendstop Fashion TrendTracker. Whether it’s hi-res videos, image or news feeds on fashion trends, or sharing trends through your Facebook, Twitter or email account, you’ll easily stay on track with what’s hot now, and what you should expect to be hot in the future. Recently, Trendstop and their mobile app developer partner Amoja Limited, have introduced a premium version of their mobile offering.

“From the wonderful feedback we have received from our most active Blackberry users, we have discovered there is an appetite for more fashion coverage, more galleries, and more looks. By offering a Premium version of our Fashion TrendTracker for Blackberry users, Trendstop.com is connecting Blackberry users from around the world with the most up-to-date fashion forecasts and trends for a price that is right,” says Jaana Jatyri, Trendstop.com’s Founder.

The premium version is available and builds upon what their free app has already done. The free application will still be available if it suits you. Premium subscribers will enjoy:

• Complete access to Trendstop.com’s most exclusive features.
• 20+ premium trends throughout the month.
• 10+ exclusive premium news stories throughout the month.
• All looks from Fall/Winter 2012-2013 designer shows.
• Trend-worthy influential Editor’s picks.
• Full screen image showing more views of each featured news items and trend.

The premium app is said to be aimed at trend-conscious consumers and professionals. You can grab the Trendstop Fashion TrendTracker application for free from BlackBerry App World. Read the official press release after the jump.

More information/Download Trendstop Fashion TrendTracker for BlackBerry smartphones

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Many of us love the speed that our BlackBerry brings along with it, you can easily pick up your device, get to what you need and get it done quickly. Over the years developers have worked on solutions to make things even easier, one of the popular ones being ShortcutMe. For those unfamiliar with ShortcutMe it is an application that allows you to gain quick and easy access to various applications on your BlackBerry device without needing to leave the home screen. They have been hard at work behind the scenes to bring new features to the table, and they have done just that with the latest release. Version 6 offers the same great functionality we have previously seen, but also adds:

• Accepts plug-in functions
• Added safe-mode for running macros
• Fully customizable home screen with icon, weather, and battery shortcuts
• Added free plug-in to automatically launch shortcut based on events 

If you are a current ShortcutMe user you will want to hop into App World and grab the paid update ($1.99), and if you have yet to make the purchase use the link below to grab it on sale.

For more information and to purchase ShortcutMe

puZZed is the ultimate rebuttal to “just five more minutes mom!”. I’ve mentioned before, in the original puZZed review, that I am completely guilty of hitting snooze, or resetting the alarm numerous, numerous times. I’ve gotten better as of late; making sure I go to bed at a decent time, so that I can get out of bed after my alarm goes off the first time….okay, maybe the second time. What puZZed does is force you to wake up and use your ‘thinker’ to turn off the alarm. Various tasks are available that must be solved before the alarm stops sounding, including; memory puzzles, typing phrases, matching signs and math puzzles. Recently, puZZed was updated to version 1.6.2, check out what’s new!

Features:

• ew puzzle! Color Mess - Select the color of the text, not the color it tells you
• Set difficulty for each puzzle
• Try out puzzle before downloading!
• User interface modification
• User experience improvement
• Various bug fixes

If you’re the kind that abuses the snooze button to the point of smashing your alarm flat, you need puZZed for BlackBerry smartphones. You can get it from BlackBerry App World for free from BlackBerry App World.

More information/Download puZZed for BlackBerry

*Click!*

Ah the sound of a picture being taken. The sound of the “shutter” is designed to make picture taking much less discreet. This is to protect the rights, and privacy, of individuals. It also makes it damn hard to snap a pic of an unreleased product (say a smartphone from a certain company), without drawing attention to yourself. You would then have to resort to an obnoxiously loud fake cough to attempt to cover up what you are doing. Whether you find it annoying or not, the shutter sound is here to stay, or is it?

ToySoft Development Inc came up with an application called SilentCam. As you may have guessed, it offers an alternative (and silent) way to take a picture. This is workaround as it takes a screen shot of the “view finder” rather than taking a picture. The image is captured and saved without anyone being the wiser. Now keep in mind that you cannot alter the image resolution at all when saving the image; however you can zoom in and out of the picture before it’s saved. The image quality will differ, depending on which BlackBerry smartphone you are using. The image resolution will be 640 x 480 on a BlackBerry Bold 9900 but will be a 480x360 on a BlackBerry Bold 9780.

Features

• Save the screen without the shutter sound
• Save the System Pictures folder or SD Card folder
• Save 1 or up to 20 pictures in one take
• Set the delay between each take
• Automatically quit the application when finished taking the picture(s)
• Zoom in and out
• Set up vibration notification
• Run the Picture application after image is saved
• Picture is saved in JPG uncompressed format
• Easy to use

Other options allow you to quit the application after the image has been taken, change the Auto Focus status (from off, continuous or single shot), or include the date/time in the image. Whether or not you agree with bypassing the shutter sound, SilentCam does work quickly and quietly. Being able to take up to 20 images is a bonus as well. If you do decide to pick up SilentCam, make sure you use it for the forces of good! Have you been in a situation where you needed to capture something bad happening but you were afraid of getting caught by the shutter sound? You can grab SillentCam, for $0.99, from BlackBerry App World. Screenshots of the application menu after the jump

More information/Download SilentCam for BlackBerry

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Since moving to Colorado, my schedule has lightened up a bit but I really wish I'd had an app like Profile Scheduler when I was working full time. With this app, you can set your sound profiles according to your weekly and weekend schedule. Have a weekly meeting at the same time every Monday? Worried you will be that person who forgets to turn their cell phone to silent? Worry no more, Profile Scheduler by Javatek Media has you covered! Keep reading after the break for all the features and screenshots of this fantastic app!

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The name Fonware is synonymous for shortcuts. It’s true! With well known applications such as; ShortcutMe, MediaKeyBooster and MyOwnIcons, practically anything you can push or press can potentially be a shortcut to an application, a contact or an URL. Shortcuts can only increase your performance and productivity if it can execute the command flawlessly. These apps do, and the newest addition, called MyOwnHotkeys is definitely no exception. Imagine setting up to 4 shortcuts for the each letter on your keyboard plus the space key. So, for example, you can press A once for Twitter for BlackBerry, twice for the Browser (in case you wanted to check out CrackBerry.com), three times for the music player and four for Foursquare. Keep reading to learn more about MyOwnHotkeys. 

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Get fit with CrackBerry during Fitness Month at Mobile Nations!

Fitness month at Mobile Nations and CrackBerry has gotten many into a get fit frenzy. I’m feeling a renewed drive to start my journey back up and reach my weight loss goal. One of my biggest problems is that I tend to forget to keep an eye on my caloric intake. Is what I’m eating healthy enough? Do I really know if I’m taking in enough calories? Can I afford to have the pretzels that I’m thinking about as I’m writing this? Probably not. It isn’t easy for everyone to remember how many calories you need or eat, or know the nutritional values for food from restaurants. A guide is all that some need to stick to the plan and drop the pounds. A guide like TrackNSlim will do just that.

This application is an effective way to set goals yourself and see how well you’re sticking to them. To set up, you enter in your weight, diet and the thresholds (calories, fats, sodium, sugar, etc) you want to work with. Now here’s what I like; TrackNSlim has a huge list of food and their nutritional values. So all you need to do is select and quantify. I’m a visual learner – I need to see how I am doing and view charts, like pie charts, to learn where I can improve (mmmm, pie charts). A daily progress screen will indicate how close you are to reaching your thresholds and will also show you when you are over them (otherwise known as being in the red).

Honestly, I don’t have the diet part completely down. I basically know what’s healthy and what’s not. It’s portion control and balance that I really struggle with. In my opinion, TracknSlim is one of the best ways to get a handle on eating before your eating gets out of hand. Nutritional information, breakdown of your intake and goal management, TrackNSlim is a great application to start to use during fitness month and beyond. You can get TrackNSlim for $2.99 from BlackBerry App World.

More information/download TrackNSlim for BlackBerry smartphones

Win 1 of 30 free copies of Photo Studio Pro! Keep reading to see how. 

Just in time for Valentine's Day, KVADGroup has released an update for Photo Studio that includes an all new Valentine's frame pack, new effects in the art category, and a new feature called PicFrames, which allows you to combine multiple photos into awesome looking frames. If you enjoy taking pictures with your BlackBerry, and adding fun effects and frames to them, Photo Studio is a must have.

A few other fixes and updates include:

• Problem 'Can't Browse' is fixed (found in v.0.9.8.23)
• Add localization to Spanish, French and Russian
• BBM Connected (OS5-OS6)
• Fixes, algorithms optimization etc.

Photo Studio is a great app with a ton of features packed into it. The free version is great, but you'll want to upgrade to the Pro version to unlock the full potential of the application. Photo Studio Pro is just $3.99 and you can find out all the detais on both versions in BlackBerry App World at the links below. 

Contest: We have 30 copies of Photo Studio Pro to pass on to you guys, courtesy of KVADGroup! To enter, leave a comment below letting us know what you like to take pictures of and how this app will help you out. One entry per person, please! 

More information/download Photo Studio for BlackBerry smartphones
More information/download Photo Studio PRO for BlackBerry smartphones

Football fanatics! You know what’s on next weekend- Super Bowl XLVI (that’s 46 for you non-roman numeral reading folk)! By now, you should have made your plans already. Hopefully you’ve made friends with the guy at work with the 65 inch TV at home. Or maybe you’re the one with a big TV who is suddenly popular. It’s a day jam-packed with tailgate parties, unhealthy food eating, crazy commercials and an entertaining half time show. Okay, there’s a hopefully amazing football game in there, as well. Before you plaster on the face paint, set up your BlackBerry smartphone and PlayBook for game day. Regardless if you’re rooting for the New England Patriots or New York Giants, we’ve got you covered. After the jump you can get into the game with quick access to apps, themes and wallpapers.

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I love having different profiles to use and customize on my BlackBerry smartphone. It makes it so easy to mute the ringtone audio when I get to work, or helps me identify which email account received a new message. Despite how easy I just said it was, I do tend to forget to switch them from time to time. I’m pretty sure my employees love hearing the theme song to The Big Bang Theory when a phone call comes in.

Toysoft Development Inc has recently come up with a profile changing application design only for OS 7.1 and up; and it’s aptly named Profile Changer. No matter if your BlackBerry is in your pocket, a case or sitting there with a locked keyboard, this application will make sure your profiles are changed for you, whenever you want. Basically, Profile Changer can switch profiles using a few different scenarios. First, you can set a Timed Profile change, which is then turned on and off specific times of your choosing. You can then select which days of the week you want to have it active on. Next, Calendar Keyword allows you to assign a keyword to a profile change. You then include that same keyword in a Calendar Entry; say a meeting with your boss. From the time that your appointment starts, to the time it ends, your profile is set to the type you want. Profiles can also be set to switch by simply charging your phone. The last type is Location based (cell tower triangulation), which is my favourite type. This means that I can easily switch to an office setting, simply by arriving at the office.

Features

• Designed specifically for BlackBerry Smartphone OS 7.1 and higher
• Supports three types of Profiles: Daily/Weekly timer, Calendar keyword integration and Location base. You can mix and match Timed profile with Location profile
• Works when the keyboard or screen is locked, in Holster or device has a password lock without user intervention
• Automatically Set Profile when you charge your BlackBerry Smartphone
• One Time Profile when you just do not want to be disturbed. You can set it from 5 minutes to 10 Hours and Profile Changer will automatically set the Sound Profile back
• Backup and Restore of all your Profiles to the SD Card. SD Card is required. Very useful when you upgrade the BBOS.
• Automatically creates Scheduled Calendar Profile when you enter a keyword when create a new appointment. Profile Changer will automatically switch Profile when the appointment happens and switch it back when the appointment is done. No more worry about your phone ringing in bad situations
• Scan the entire Calendar application for keywords so you can use your already setup appointments. You can even setup keywords in the future like next year
• All profiles are limited to 64

It seems as though Profile Changer works on both official and leaked OS 7.1, at least it does for me anyway. If you like to frequently change profiles, you should definitely pick up Profile Changer for BlackBerry smartphones. It’s available for $2.99 from BlackBerry App World.

More information/download Profile Changer for BlackBerry smartphones

If you have a BlackBerry smartphone running OS 6 or higher, you need to check out the Call Filter Pro from ToySoft Development Inc. Yes, we have seen call filtering applications that block unknown, private and undesired calls before, but this is by far one of the most user-friendly and powerful filter apps. What I like about this type of application is the freedom it brings you. How many people do you know that continuously ignore calls from the same number? Or have you heard “I’m not getting this, who’s calling?!” time and time again? Changing a number, especially from a coveted number ending in 0000, is a hard thing to do.

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Time and time again, I’ve heard arguments about how smartphones make for dumb people. In other words, our continuous reliance on our smartphones have made us mentally lazy. We no longer need to remember addresses and phone numbers. Keeping tabs on appointments is as simple as a reminder and there’s no longer a need to worry about forgetting birthdays and anniversaries. Your mobile browser is your source of information, useful or otherwise, so your brain can be emptied of interesting facts.

On the other hand, not having to keep track of so much has been said to free our minds for more important things. We are free to create, innovate and dream. No matter which path your cranium may take, you should make sure you give it a workout once in a while. Since your BlackBerry smartphone, and the BlackBerry PlayBook, have taken so much away from your mind, it’s only fair that they give something back, as well. Let’s take a look at the Top 10 Brain Teaser Apps and Games for both the BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry smartphones.

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My wife and I are expecting our second child near the middle of 2012. Of course with the excitement also come the concerns. By the time he/she will have been born, our first child will already be 5 years old. Like many, many parents, we hope that we remember what to do and what not to do. On top of making sure this new life is getting everything it needs to develop, but also making sure we go through our storage to check the condition of old toy, cribs and so on. If I remember correctly, my wife didn’t have a BlackBerry smartphone when she was pregnant with our first, so our communication/reminders consisted of phone calls and SMS.

This time around, BlackBerry is all over it; BBM, Browser, Tasks, Calendar, you name it it’s being used. Now for you, that may not be enough. There are many applications out there that can be used during your pregnancy. There are also app that are specifically designed for those who are preggo and proud. Let’s take a look 5 must-have BlackBerry smartphone pregnancy applications.

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