Going through the leftover footage we grabbed during the BlackBerry Developer Conference last week in San Francisco, I stumbled upon the above clip I recorded in the hallways of the conference area. It's pretty geeky cool - RIM had a flat screen set up with what I dubbed the "BlackBerry Matrix." 

The monitor showed the logos for apps being downloaded from BlackBerry App World in real time (though it may have been more like real time plus a one minute delay). It was mesmerizing. What you don't see in the video above is that if I just would have turned around for a second, the camera would have caught about 20 people huddled around the monitor just staring at the screen for minutes on end. The BlackBerry Matrix had us. 

Yes, that's a BlackBerry Tour made out of Lego Building Blocks!

The second-annual BlackBerry Developer Conference is now a part of RIM history. Following last year's DevCon, we had Sharad Mohan, Co-Founder and CEO of Gym Technik, review the first-ever BBDC from his point of view as a new BlackBerry developer. This year, we asked Trevor Chong, Product Director of Gym Technik, to follow up with us on his four days of DevCon 2009 and share his thoughts with everyone by answering a few of our questions. To me, GymTechnik is a perfect example of who RIM targets with an event like the BlackBerry Developer Conference -- young guys, passionate about their product/service and excited at the opportunity in the mobile space and potential developing for BlackBerry has to offer -- who better to review DevCon?! So without further ado, let's turn it over to Trevor!

BlackBerry Developer Conference - Year II in Review
by Trevor Chong, Product Director of Gym Technik

As you know, we have been running our free fitness tracking service to all our members the past year. We would like to thank our users, our Ace and Beta members, and RIM for their great support this past year. We look forward to continue serving the BlackBerry community.

Grabba announced today that they have released their line of data collection attachments for BlackBerry Smartphones. With Grabba, users can collect various forms of data including scanning barcodes, verifying access cards, magnetic strip cards and more. The attachments are available for the BlackBerry Curve 83xx, 85xx and Bold series.

Press Release

Grabba launched for BlackBerry Smartphones in San Francisco

November 10, 2009 - San Francisco - 2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference - Now you can Grabba® BlackBerry® smartphone and start scanning 1D and 2D barcodes, verifying Common Access Cards, recording loyalty card member transactions, collecting information over an IR transceiver, downloading vending machine usage data over a DX connection and much, much more.

With the announcement of Open GL ES comes the announcement of new games that will be showing up on the BlackBerry platform. One of the announcements that was brought to light during the Game On: Building high quality games for BlackBerry Smartphones session came to us from SEGA and while the game is not ready as of yet, Super Monkey Ball is headed to BlackBerry. Target time frame for the games release is first half of 2010 with it launching in BlackBerry App World.

OpenGL seems to be all the rage now that its out in the open (pun intended), and we got a quick look at Concrete Software's doings with one of their most popular games. PBA Bowling has been around for a while, but with this new technology it will be better than ever. Excelerated graphics and lighting make this game look amazing. It is currently in development with no word of when it will be available. Check out the video for a short (and we do mean short) preview of the game, as well as some technical details that went into the design. You can also pick up the original 2D PBA Bowling for $4.99 in the CrackBerry App Store.

• More information and download of 2D PBA Bowling>>

Yesterday was the opening day of the BlackBerry Developer Conference and a lot of big press releases and announcements came out of it. Some were expected while others certainly came out of no where and left many people pleasantly surprised. Here's a quick look back at the days events if you wanna catch up and check to see if you missed out on all the good stuff. Lots of information from the General session is in the live blog we did for which you can now replay and read through.

• RIM announces Open GL ES Support And New Theme Building Tools 
• RIM Unveils New Services Platform For BlackBerry Developers
• RIM Announces BlackBerry Academic Program
• BlackBerry Developers Challenge Winners Chosen
• Video Demo: Flash Tools and Support Coming to BlackBerry
• eBay Mobile App For BlackBerry Smartphones Coming Soon
• Open GL ES Support Announced At BlackBerry Developer Conference - See It in Action on Need for Speed Shift Demo!!
• Loopt: Biggest Update Yet Launched At BlackBerry Developer Conference
• DevCon 2009: General Session Live Blog,Watch The Replay
• RIM and Adobe to Simplify Delivery Of Rich Content and Applications for BlackBerry Smartphones

These are just the highlights of yesterday's events and as we continue on with the BlackBerry Developer Conference coverage their will be even more to catch up on, just stay tuned folks.

Last night we got to sit in and watch the 16 finalists in the BlackBerry Developers Challenge present their apps to a panel of judges (including CrackBerry Kevin) to see who would be crowned the winner and receive the grand prize of $100,000. It was a great night with some awesome apps, but when it came down to it, the 7digital Music Store walked away with the spoils. Runner up Nickel Buddy took away a $25,000 prize pack, and a new $5,000 prize was created on the spot for newcomer Kik. Press Release below.

One of the big announcements at the BlackBerry Developer Conference yesterday was the new partnership between Adobe and BlackBerry. When it comes to flash on a mobile device, RIM is going way beyond just being able to play an animation or flash movie on a BlackBerry but is working with Adobe to really BlackBerry-ize Adobe's creative tools to make it that much easier to make rich BlackBerry app experiences. Heck, I'm pretty sure that even with just my circa 1999 web skillz that I could build a BlackBerry widget with the new BB plugin coming in Adobe CS5.

You can check out the video above to get a first glimpse of some of the flash dev tools and experience. Great things coming to BlackBerry Smartphones soon!!

Update: So we're waiting for some further confirmation as to actually which existing device models will be able to take advantage of the new Open GL ES support. Storm2 for sure, and we think the 8530 (devices using the latest Qualcomm Chipsets), but we're not 100% sure what the scoop is here. Stay tuned!

One of the most frequently asked questions by both BlackBerry developers and owners over the past couple of years is When is 3D graphic support coming to BlackBerry? That question need not be asked anymore as today Research in Motion announced Open GL ES Support for BlackBerry. Furthermore, they showed it in action via a live demo at the opening keynote of the second annual BlackBerry Developer Conference.

Be sure to watch the video above of a BlackBerry Storm2 running EA Mobile's Need for Speed Shift. We were on location in San Francisco to catch this BlackBerry milestone live. Pure Wicked. Let's hope we see a TON of awesome new games take advantage of this and roll out soon. The Open GL ES support won't just be for the Storm2, but for devices running the 5.0 platform (not necessarily all). Read the press release for more details! Excited much?! I know I am!!

This is likely one of the announcements everyone has been waiting to hear. The question has come up lots in the past while. "When or will BlackBerry ever support OpenGL graphics?" Let us wonder no more. Today as the BlackBerry Developers Conference starts off it's full steam ahead for OpenGL graphics acceleration from here on out.

The information didn't stop there when it came to creating rich content for BlackBerry devices. Research In Motion announced the availability of the all new BlackBerry Theme Studio 5.0, which replaces the previously available Plazmic Content Developer’s Kit and features the ability to import Adobe Photoshop files to BlackBerry Theme Builder, add ringtones and build screen transitions such as zooming, sliding, wiping and fading within themes. Ringtones and screen transitions are supported for BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry OS 5.0 and higher. Also, with the new theme builder came the announcement of themes being added to BlackBerry App World, full details on that later.

In addition to all this graphical goodness, one more announcement came in the way of interfacing with our BlackBerry smartphones. RIM announced an upcoming GUI builder that integrates into the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse will make it faster and easier for Java developers to build user interfaces for BlackBerry applications. Developers will be able to rapidly create and localize complex user interfaces with a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) view and drag and drop capabilities. The Java GUI builder will also allow developers to easily preview their user interface design on different BlackBerry smartphones. Read on for the full press release, this is some great stuff to see right here folks.

Press Release

RIM Announces BlackBerry Application Platform Enhancements to Foster Rich Content Development

Open GL ES Support, Java GUI Builder and Theme Studio to Help Developers Generate Dynamic User Experiences

2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference – San Francisco – Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced enhancements to the BlackBerry® Application Platform that will further enable developers to rapidly develop rich content and applications. The enhancements include support for OpenGL® ES for the development of 3D games and graphics; an upcoming Java® GUI builder for the rapid development of user interfaces for BlackBerry applications; and BlackBerry® Theme Studio for the creation of themes for BlackBerry® smartphones.

With the BlackBerry Developers Conference in full swing now, it's Research In Motions time to shine and show what exactly they have in store for developers to assist with getting their applications working and into the hands of the millions of BlackBerry Smartphone users out there.

New API's and new services are aplenty this time around and today Research In Motion announced some tools that will help developers with creating new revenue streams for their offerings, while keeping things easy and effective for the users. Advertising, Payment, Content Push and New Location Services are just a glimpse of what developers and users alike will be able to take advantage of in the coming months. Read on for the full press release.

Press Release

Advertising, Payment, Content Push and New Location Services Will Present New Opportunities for Monetization and Innovation on the BlackBerry Application Platform

2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference – San Francisco – Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today unveiled a new services platform for developers that will enable them to streamline business processes and build highly responsive, location-aware, revenue-generating applications for BlackBerry® smartphones. The new services platform will offer advertising, payment, content push and new location services.

RIM announced today that they will be providing colleges and universitites with content that will allow them to offer courses to students to develop on the BlackBerry platform. The ciriculum is available for mobile application development, administration of BlackBerry Enterprise Server and support for BlackBerry smartphones. The program includes:

• Mobile Application Development Courses - Students can learn about the tools and techniques for developing applications for BlackBerry smartphones.
• Administration Courses - Mobile communication and collaboration tools continue to play a large role in boosting the productivity of enterprise workforces, and the need for trained professionals to administer and support mobile solutions has grown with it.
• Support Courses - Students are trained to work in technical call centers or IT support environments in support of the BlackBerry solution. The Support courses also include information that can help prepare students for the corresponding BlackBerry Certification exam.

Over 500 students have aleady taken courses in this program, and the rollout is going to be continued for schools in both the US and Canada. Check out the full press release after the jump.

• More information on the BlackBerry Academic Program: www.blackberry.com/academic

Press Release

RIM Announces BlackBerry Academic Program

Program Provides Colleges and Universities with Curriculum and Course Content

BlackBerry Developer Conference 2009 - San Francisco, CA - Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM, TSX: RIM) today announced the BlackBerry® Academic Program to provide colleges and universities around the world with a curriculum and course content to offer courses in administering and supporting the BlackBerry® solution and developing for the BlackBerry platform.

Live Blog Now Over... You can watch the Replay Above!

The BlackBerry Developer Conference kicks off this morning at 9am PST with the General Session. We're live blogging the keynote - you can watch all the action above.

* Note - Comments made are not automatically published. Before and after the keynote we'll try and publish pretty much everything, but while the live blog is going on we'll publish less and try to stick to the content at hand. Enjoy the show! *

SAN FRANCISCO HERE WE COME!!! Monday kicks off the 2nd Annual BlackBerry Developer Conference and CrackBerry.com will be there in full force. Adam, Bla1ze and myself will be blogging the news, live-blogging the general session, recording podcasts, conducting interviews and doing up some videos if and when applicable. Keep it locked to CrackBerry.com for all sorts of DevCon goodness. This event is about the BlackBerry platform and is for the developers in attendance - don't expect any device announcements  during the week (plus the Storm2, Bold 9700 and Curve 8530 have just all been announced in rapid succession), but we're bound to see some cool things get displayed that you won't want to miss.

If you're a developer attending DevCon, reach out to us! We want to meet you over the course of the week and get to know you. Want to say hi to CrackBerry Nation? We'll interview you and feature your app on the blogs! Want to get some tips on how to engage the CrackBerry community to build better apps and promote them? We'll share our experience and give you the do's and don'ts. Definitely do not be shy. If you see us walking, stop us and talk to us. And if you somehow miss us during the day, the odds are good you'll find us at the hotel bar late at night. See you @ DevCon!!

• Learn More & Attend the BlackBerry Developer Conference >>

As far as wireless conferences go, CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2009 has been a quiet event, both in terms of corporate attendance and big announcements. I was pretty pumped to see BlackBerry set up at the Mobile Focus event Wednesday night, however, where they had on hand both the BlackBerry Bold 9000 and BlackBerry Curve 8520 in white.

I'm not sure what it is about BlackBerry Smartphones in white, but I gotta say I just absolutely love them. The white BlackBerry Curve 8520 is now available on T-Mobile's website, and the word on the white Bold is that AT&T will get it just after the middle of the month (was told 18th but that's a Sunday?). Don't go walking into your local AT&T store asking to buy it just yet though - the other word we're hearing is that this one is going to be an online-only sort of deal, straight through AT&T's website. We'll keep you updated as we hear more. The white Bold is really slick though. I've gotta get my hands on one of these to keep for sure. 

There are a bunch more photos below, so scroll down and take a browse.