Every day I start my morning by checking out BlackBerry App World for new apps. I like to see what's out there that I think may be useful to me, or just what's new in general. Well today I found one of my favorite apps so far, and you'll never guess what it is. Dubbed The Surprise App, this neat little utility comes from ShaoSoft (maker of Leave It On, The CB App and more) so you know it's a good one. The Surprise App is just what it says - a surprise. From the description:

The surprise app is just that, a surprise. You won't know what the app does until you run it for the first time. What we can tell you this, it is a useful utility. It might be something you never though about needing, maybe it's something you've always wanted, you might even say "wow, that's cool, I didn't know that was possible!" 

I have the app installed and I can vouch for it. It's a simple utility that you will use but probably never thought of. So if you're feeling like you want to try something new, give The Surprise App a shot. 

If you do install this app - PLEASE don't comment, BBM, email, SMS etc letting others know what it is. The app is intended to be a surprise, so let's keep it that way!

More information/Download The Surprise App

If you're looking to pick up some great apps for your loved one (or yourself) to help celebrate Valentine's Day, we have just the thing. All week long, ShaoSoft apps are on sale for just $0.99! You can grab some great apps like Leave It On, SixTools, ExtraKeys, BreakingNews and more at a great discount. ShaoSoft has some great utilities that can really add to the functionality of your device, so they are definitely worth checking out. Don't forget you can grab the free CB Wallpaper Changer and The CB App while you're at it. Head to BlackBerry App World to check out all the apps on sale.

Check out all $0.99 apps from ShaoSoft

If you're like me, you want to see your email and SMS right as it comes into your device without having to go into the repsective app. For that, Super Popup is my new hero. The new app from ShaoSoft allows you to set a popup for email and SMS so you can instantly preview your messages no matter where you are on your device. You can choose to reply, delete or forward emails right from the popup so you won't even have to open the message itself. Other features include:

• Auto mark e-mails as read after dismissing the popup.
• Pop-ups can be set to 3 mode: Interactive, Non-interactive, Interactive on Home Screen.
• Built in animations for e-mail and SMS icons, or use contact pictures.
• Option to customize the time to display a popup on screen for.
• Turn on the backlight when a new message arrives.
• Customize the font size for the message preview.
• Quick keyboard shortcuts.

Super Popup has a very small footprint and once you set it up you won't even know it's there. You can grab it now for $1.99 in BlackBerry App World. You know you want to.

More information/download of Super Popup

Leave It On is one of my favorite BlackBerry apps. Designed by ShaoSoft, Leave It On is actually two apps in one and it has just been updated to v4, making it even better. If you're not familiar with Leave It On, you can set it to automatically keep your BlackBerry backlight on in up to 8 applications. This is particularly handy when using Google Maps, the media player, and so on. Leave It On also brings fully interactive pop-ups for tons of apps, so you can know at a glance who that email is from and more! The pop-ups are fully customizable, including text color, duration to stay on screen, custom animations and more!

Major changes since v3:

• Pop-ups can now be set to 3 mode: Interactive, Non-interactive, Interactive on Home Screen.
  • Interactive mode means when a pop-up is displayed the pop-up takes over the input so you can click (or scroll in the case of email and sms previews), clicking it launches the app the pop-up is for.
  • Non-interactive mode the pop-ups will no disrupt anything you are doing, but you cannot click or scroll the pop-up.
  • Interactive on Home Screen, is what it implies, the pop-ups will be interactive on the home screen only and non-interactive in all other apps
• Complete re-write of core code. Translates to better performance.
• Improved scrolling of preview messages (emails & sms)
• Updated UI
• Many many tweaks/fixed/improvements

Leave It On is on sale now for $3.99 (reg. $5.99) and does have a free trial available, and recently a free lite version was added.

For more information/screenshots and to download Leave It On (lite)
For more information/screenshots and to purchase Leave It On

Contest: Shao has given us 75 copies of Leave It On to pass on to you guys! To enter, leave your comment below, and let us know how you think Leave It On will make your BlackBerry experience even better. Contest ends this Sunday at midnight, so hurry up and leave your comment! One entry per person, please.

Download the Official and Free BlackBerry PlayBook App for CrackBerry.com!

OK BlackBerry PlayBook owners, it's time to fire up your tablet and head to App World to download The CB App! Our friends at ShaoSoft put this one together for us, and it's a CrackBerry must-have. The CB App takes the best of CrackBerry.com and puts it into a nice dashboard app that gives you the latest news, forum and video content and gets you to where you want to go quickly.

Features of The CB App include:

• Integrated blog reader with ability to post comments
• Built-in video player to keep up to date
• Scrolling feed of the latest Blac​kBer​ry Play​Book​ discussions from the forums.
• Quick shortcuts to the most popular features of the CrackBerry website
• Easy search of CrackBerry's blogs and forums 

It's off to a great start and is only going to get better as we add deeper integration and rollout some additional new features. For the whopping cost of FREE OF CHARGE, this one is a no brainer - EVERY PLAYBOOK OWNER SHOULD DOWNLOAD THIS APP. Follow the link below or just head to App World and search for crackberry or cb. One of these days I'd sure love to see RIM just let us put the CrackBerry name in App World... but in the meantime, remember, it's THE CB APP. Now go download it and be sure to give it a 5 star rating and positive review!

Download The CB App for the BlackBerry PlayBook for Free

More power. It’s not just the Tool Man that’s looking to tweak and tinker in order to achieve that goal. Some do it with fewer explosions (and a lot less grunting). Admit it, when you get a new gadget that you love, a voice in your head will, without fail, say something along the line of “Yeah…it’s cool..but…I wish I could…(insert awesome tweak idea here)!” Don’t fight it, it will happen without fail. Some choose to ignore it, others strive to attain it. Want an example? Try checking out BlackBerry App World or the CrackBerry App Store- they’re called applications.

Take the SixTools application for example. Recognizing what is available in OS 6 it adds “what if” and “how about” through shortcuts, alerts, sounds and more. Those who weren’t completely satisfied with what OS 6 offers, should take a look at the functionality this application provides. I’d suggest you put down the welding gun or duct tape and have a read on.

Read Full Review

I'm a big news consumption guy when it comes to my BlackBerry. I like to have everything at my fingertips so I don't miss a beat. I follow loads of news sites on Twitter and also have RSS feeds pumped to me nonstop. Having a scrolling "widget" on the homescreen is something I've wanted for ages but didn't think we'd ever see. Well our good friend Shao has proven me wrong with the beta release of BreakingNews. The app is brand new and currently in open beta, but it already looks to be a best seller. The premise is simple - enter a few RSS feeds, choose your options and let the good times scroll. BreakingNews shows a ticker on your homescreen and runs through the RSS feeds, showing you the latest news. Currently you can choose the display options like border and font color, set the refresh interval as well as enter up to 5 different feeds. Already a winner in my book, you can get in on the open beta via the forums thread below. Check it out!

Check out the BreakingNews open beta in the CrackBerry Forums

Undoubtedly, Universal Search is one of the best and most useful features of BlackBerry 6. A lot of developers have taken advantage of this feature and integrated it with their products. ShaoSoft has done the same, but for searching the CrackBerry forums and blogs. No need to go to your browser and search, just simply type your BlackBerry related query from the homescreen and select either "Search Blogs" or "Search Forums" from the Universal Search hits. The app is only 19kb and best of all its free!! So if you have a device running BlackBerry 6, head on over to the CrackBerry App Store and download it today. Thanks ShaoSoft!

• More information and download of CrackBerry.com Search from ShaoSoft >>

Somebody has to be first, right? I guess it shouldn't come as any surprise then to see the first third party app to be released for the BlackBerry PlayBook be a CrackBerry Launcher app! While it's still an early build and only a few people in the world actually have BlackBerry PlayBooks right now to use it on, our friends at ShaoSoft got playing with the newly released BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK and BlackBerry PlayBook Simulator and have made this one available for download.

For more screencaps and download instructions (should you actually have a BlackBerry PlayBook), jump over to the forum thread at the link below. With the SDK available with plenty of time still leading up to the release of the BlackBerry PlayBook, keep in mind the app will only get prettier and more feature-packed by the time you get your hands on a PlayBook of your own.

• More Info and Download the CrackBerry Launcher for the BlackBerry PlayBook >>

Download: Free CB Wallpaper Changer | Wallpaper Changer Pro w/ CB Wallpapers

Here's some great news for all you App World users out there... the uber-popular and FREE CrackBerry Wallpaper Changer App is now available in App World. If you haven't given this one a try yet, do yourself a favor and download it now. The app pulls in wallpapers from our user-contributed galleries and offers a bunch of features so you can customize your experience. It's always fun to see a new wallpaper on your BlackBerry every time you pick it up! 

CrackBerry Walllpaper Changer Features Include:

• Supports JPG, TIF, PNG, & BMP format picture files
• Low battery usage, won't drain your battery
• Customizable rotation times; Choose what categories to pull in wallpapers from
• Option to rotate in order or randomly
• Smart media detection, when mass storage mode is enabled and Blackberry is plugged into computer via USB wallpaper changing is stopped and then safely resumes once unplugged
• Lightweight, simple and efficient, not bloated with extra un-needed functions
• Automatic start up after battery pull or device reset
• Works with the new BerryWeather
• Supports OS 4.7 and above

Considering the price is free, it's what I call an absolute must-download. If you want even more features and have $3 to burn, you can also check out ShaoSoft's Wallpaper Changer Pro w/ CrackBerry Wallpapers, winner of a 2010 CrackBerry Editor's Choice Award. The pro version allows you to save and rotate wallpapers to/from your SD card (you can also download some addons to quick change and quick save wallpapers). Note: To get our CrackBerry Wallpaper Changer apps into App World we had to name them CB vs. CrackBerry and also had to remove the Babes, Dudes and Alcohol categories of wallpapers.  To get all these categories, download from our CrackBerry App Store instead.

Support Issues: Looking at the comments, a few people are having some issues getting it up and running. The most common cause for any sort of connection issue here is improper APN settings on your device.  If you need assistance, email support@shao-soft.com and they'll walk you through it.  We already have literally tens of thousands of people running the app successfully - the app itself is all good. 

Download the Free CrackBerry Wallpaper Changer Now from App World:

It would be super sweet to see this one hit App World's Top 25 Free Apps list, so be sure to give it a download and a 5 star rating! 

• Download the FREE CB Wallpaper Changer App from App World >>

Kevin dropped word earlier today about the new CrackBerry Wallpaper Changer app from ShaoSoft, and since then I have received word through the grapevine that Bellshare has released a new beta build of their popular application BerryWeather, with compatibility for the new build. Those that have downloaded either the free or paid versions of the new Wallpaper Changer can test out the new BerryWeather build from the OTA links below. Keep in mind that this is a beta build, so you may encounter the odd glitch or bug. You can report anything you find at the Bellshare forums thread here and help them out to make the app even better. Note - while the BerryWeather beta is available for 4.2.1 and 4.6, you need at least OS 4.7 for use of the CB Wallpaper Apps. Special thanks to Yester18 for the tip.

• For OS 4.2.1
  
• For OS 4.6.0
  
• For OS 4.7
  
• For OS 5.0 and higher

 
Download: Free CB Wallpaper Changer | Wallpaper Changer Pro w/ CB Wallpapers

Courtesy of our friends at ShaoSoft, we're extremely excited to announce our new CrackBerry wallpaper changing apps for your BlackBerry! The apps connect directly to our CrackBerry Wallpaper Gallery, automatically delivering new wallpapers to your BlackBerry homescreen for a fun and refreshing experience. We've even worked with BellShare on this one to ensure the rotating wallpapers work with the new BerryWeather. Two versions are available: the free CrackBerry Wallpaper Changer delivers the basics, while at $3.49 (on sale till Friday for $2.99) Wallpaper Changer Pro w/ CrackBerry Wallpapers adds a number of useful features.

Differences between free and paid versions:

• Full allows for rotation from wallpapers saved on SD Card
• Full allows you to save wallpapers from CB to your SD Card
• Full has 2 "addons" that can be downloaded. 1) shortcut to quickly change wallpaper 2) shortcut to save wallpaper from CB. Both can be assigned to quicklaunch

General Description:

• Supports JPG, TIF, PNG, & BMP format picture files
• Low battery usage, won't drain your battery
• Customizable rotation times; Choose what categories to pull in wallpapers from
• Option to rotate in order or randomly
• Smart media detection, when mass storage mode is enabled and Blackberry is plugged into computer via USB wallpaper changing is stopped and then safely resumes once unplugged
• Lightweight, simple and efficient, not bloated with extra un-needed functions
• Automatic start up after battery pull or device reset
• Both versions will work with the new BerryWeather
• Supports OS 4.7 and above

I've been rocking the beta of this for weeks now and am absolutely addicted to the CrackBerry Wallpaper changer (in fact, if you check out our BlackBerry 6 Review you can see I already had it installed on my Torch and Set as  Favorite back in July!). You can choose which categories you want to display wallpapers from your device on, so of course my personal favorite is to turn off every category except the Babes one and have it refresh every 15 minutes. It makes for a seriously entertaining work day (all your co-workers will be jealous). The free version is great, but if you've got an extra few $$ I'd recommend going for the Pro version. Being able to save and quick change wallpapers is so worth it. That's it. Enjoy it. Go download it now!!! 

• More Info / Download Free CrackBerry Wallpaper Changer >>
• More Info / Download Wallpaper Changer Pro w/ CrackBerry Wallpapers >>

Shaosoft has been hard at work on Leave It On, and last night he released the latest version of the application with version 3. The first thing you'll notice after installing the new version is a totally revamped UI, very slick and clean. The menus are well laid out and intuitive, not to mention extensive. For those unfamiliar with the application, Leave It On started out as a simple backlight app used to keep your screen from timing out when using other applications. With the previous version, Shaosoft added animated popups for notifications, adding a whole new facet to the usefulness of the application, evolving it into something more than the simple utility app it was.

This latest version takes the concept of Leave It On 2 and amps it up, adding more 3rd party applications like Cnectd, Nimbuzz, etc. The popup animations can now be customized by contact, and more animations can be downloaded directly via the app from Shaosoft's website. The number of options included ensure that you can tweak the app exactly how you want it, showing popups for certain notifications, selecting applications that will automatically engage the backlight, and more. Check it out in the CB store, it's available for multiple devices and on sale for $3.99.There is also a free trial available for the "try before you buy" types.You can also check the forums thread here for more info and a youtube vid of the app in action.

•  More information and purchase of Leave It On 3>>

As we get set to roll into the weekend, it's time for another round up. This week we got a nice assortment for you all. Plus, we've worked out the winners for the 50 copies of Weather Plus. You'll wanna read on through and find out what's good. This week, 20 copies of Find my Phone are to be given away so, be sure to drop us a comment folks. Cheers, enjoy your weekend folks!

Freebies of the Week: Zhiing, OutOfBattery, River Water

In Case You Missed It: Find My Phone, Foursquare v1.9, SugarSync 1.5

New This Week: SecurePhoto, Vault, Attack Alarm

Cool at BlackBerry App World: Cravings Manager

Contest: Enter to win 1 of 20 free copies of Find My Phone

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Personally, my device never seems to leave my hand for more than a few seconds at a time, and yet I am constantly looking around to find it when I need it, particularly when I'm at home. To make matters worse, I tend to leave it set to the silent profile so it doesn't annoy everyone around me with constant notification tones. This can make things rather difficult, and I have spent many frustrating episodes cursing while tearing my house apart. There is a new app on the market that aims to make this easier. The app is simple. It triggers a very loud alarm, lights up the screen, and flashes the front LED, making it impossible to miss. Able to be triggered by three missed calls (you can even set your preferred number), email, or SMS, the app even overrides the profile you currently have set, so you can use it even when set to silent. There are a load of features that can be customized, making it easy to customize it to exactly what YOU need.

There are a few apps out there that have the same functionality included with other features (like remote wipe. tracking and more) including SmrtGuard or the upcoming RIM issued BlackBerry Protect - so make sure you do your research to decide exactly what is right for your needs. However, if you are looking for something a little more focused, you may want to take a look at this one. On sale for only $1.99 until July 31st, it's a very cheap way to prevent the inevitable frustration. If you still aren't sure, try the free 3-day trial and give it a try before you buy.

• More information and purchase of Find My Phone>>