Soon you'll be able to do a lot more than just control your PC from your BlackBerry 10 device. 

Here at BlackBerry Live 2013 we met up with Hisham Hassan Bakr, an Egyptian developer in charge of a PC control app called AIO Remote. For some time, All In One Remote has been offering the ability to seamlessly control your PC, Linux, or Mac computer over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, complete with native BlackBerry 10 keyboard, presenter slide control, media control, mouse movement, and file system access.

One of my favorite features was the ability to custom program your own virtual buttons which would activate set keystrokes on the computer. Hisham then revealed his intentions to expand functionality to be able to remotely control Android from the app, or to control BlackBerry the other way around. This could be very useful for users that regularly plug their secondary devices into the big screen but still need the ability to access it. As Hisham put it, "this is the first of its kind, to control the world." To be fair, he didn't have anything show on this front just yet, but considering how well the original app works, I'm eager to see Android remote control once it's available. 

Personally, I've always stuck to Luko Remote for these kinds of capabilities, but it's great to see someone else having their hand at it, and more importantly, trying to do something different. Find a download link below to this award-winning app, and be sure to check out CrackBerry Live on Thursday for more outstanding interviews and demos.

More information / download AIO Remote for BlackBerry

Got a sense of humor? You might enjoy this new video from BlackBerry Jam 2013

As in previous BlackBerry Jam keynotes, Alec Saunders, Christopher Smith and Marty Mallick are back, but this time they aren't singing. Previously known for their hits "The Waiting", "Keep On Loving You", and "At Last", this year the guys did something a little different and put together a parody of a reality TV competition. If you aren't in Orlando right now, or if you missed the BlackBerry Jam keynote, this is your chance to see just what the Developer Relations team at BlackBerry has cooked up for your enjoyment.

While I personally always liked the BlackBerry band and admired them for putting themselves out there and doing something a lot of people didn't "get", I think this parody will appeal to a wider range of viewers. Take a look at the extended cut of the video above, and let us know what you think in the comments below!

With BlackBerry Jam Americas happening next month in Orlando, the official BlackBerry Developers Blog has kicked off a new funny but educational video series called the BlackBerry Jam Unplugged. The goal of the series being not to inundate folks with a bunch of heavy talk, huge blog posts but instead, make the passing of development information easily consumable and fun. 

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CNBC has been running their Squawk Box Money Madness where they've squared off various stocks against one another in an NCAA-style tournament. The contest has been going on for a few weeks now with the best & worst stocks competing against each other based on their 2013 performance.

The question was simple, "Which stock will have the best gains from the start of the second quarter to the end of the year?" The vote was left up to the viewers. 

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At last, BlackBerry 10 has come along... 

Now that BlackBerry 10 is out, VP of developer relations Alec Saunders has had enough time to bring The Band back together for another music video. The first one was about winning the hearts of developers, while this one is a take on the Etta James classic, At Last. As you could imagine, it's a fitting tribute to the long road to the launch of BlackBerry's next-generation platform. 

They say this is going to be the last one, but would you guys like to see another music video like this for the next big BlackBerry announcement? Sound off in the comments!

An amusing look at the BlackBerry Z10!

Whenever there is a new device on any platform, the debate about what it can/can't do compared to other devices instantly begins. With the launch of the BlackBerry Z10 it's been the same story, except the device has been under a lot of scrutiny due to it being the first unique BlackBerry hardware launched in over a year as well as an entirely new OS.

Being the new kid on the block, a lot of people are asking the question "What Can The BlackBerry Z10 Do?" While the CrackBerry team has been showing you tons of useful tips, tricks, and how-tos since the device launched, the guys over at Sortable have put together a humorous look at just what, exactly, this new BlackBerry can do. Give it a watch, it's definitely worth a chuckle.

With all the BlackBerry 10 craziness the last few weeks (more so this week) it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. We've been non-stop posting all the BlackBerry 10, BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 stuff we can find and we won't be slowing down anytime soon -- we're all crazy excited for BlackBerry and what's in store for the coming months.

Kevin and Bla1ze are on a plane back to Toronto at the moment, so before he advises against it, I figured I'd drop this post in.

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Industry analysts who had been expecting to see BlackBerry 10 launched on January 30th at 9:00am have been disappointed as RIM has delayed the launch of their new phones till ten o'clock. Initial reaction on the stock market was muted, but many have warned that "the true fallout from this announcement has yet to be seen".

BlackBerry maker RIM (RIMM) has been working on their new BlackBerry 10 operating system (their first with a touch screen) in order to compete with Apple's iPhone, and Samsung's Galaxy S III phone. While many have thought that RIM should follow HP and Dell's move into the Enterprise tech industry, the company under CEO Thorsten Heins seems to still be committed to releasing phones.

Still most analysts see this delay as devastating to the BlackBerry maker. "This gives Microsoft additional time to claim their place as the number three smartphone maker" noted one watcher of the stock. "There is no way of knowing how many CIO's will give up on the platform during this lost hour."

Others warned that BlackBerry 10, may still see more delays. "For all we know, once everyone arrives for the press conference, they may not actually take to the stage until five minutes after the hour".

[This is a post from Ebscer News - it's obviously meant as joking post so don't take it too seriously. If you do get a good laugh out of it, be sure to swing by and check out all of Ebscers apps in BlackBerry World]

Download it now. But first you have to watch the video above! :)

In other news, it looks like CNBC's Joe Kernen felt the heat of the CrackBerry Nation on Twitter over the weekend. In case you missed it, Kernan chimed in at the end of a CNBC interview with RIM CEO Thorsten Heins. He didn't tread too tactfully however as he had this to say to Heins:

"You're at RIM and you're in Waterloo and you don't even care. Because even though you're in Waterloo, that doesn't even occur to you that this isn't going to work ... with the BlackBerry 10".

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So tomorrow is December 21st. It's the end of the Mayan calendar and many are prepping for what could be the end of the world. We want to make sure that you all survive to see the release of BlackBerry 10, so we've taken some time to compile a list of must-have apps should things go south on Friday. As long as you have your trusty BlackBerry by your side and a few solid apps you should be able to make it out A ok. Keep reading for our list of apocalypse survival apps for your BlackBerry.

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I've never been out to snag "deals" on Black Friday - nor will I ever be. In my opinion there is no reason to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to go save money on no-name electronics, but to each his own. The video above pretty much sums it all up -- and this is why you don't try to find bargain deals on smartphones on Black Friday.

Just be smart and wait for BlackBerry 10! 

Source: Telegraph 

 

If you haven't seen the giant mop on Kevin's head, well, you're lucky. Kevin has been growing his hair out for months now in support of BlackBerry 10 (maybe you've been following along on Twitter). He swore he wouldn't cut it until BlackBerry 10 is in his hands and he's stuck to it. As it inches its way to unmanagable, I've found an app that just might make things better for all of us. HairTips is a simple app that does just what it says - gives you tips on how to style your hair. Since he's bounced between random hair ties, clips and just letting it fly, I figured this one may come in handy since we'll all have to look at it for another two months.

HairTips gives stlying advice for all types of hair and even fills you in on hair growth and loss. The app features tips for growing hair faster, styling all types of hair, tips for getting "magazine cover hair" and much more. While it's not for everyone, I really hope that Kevin picks it up so that he doesn't look much creepier over the next few weeks. BlackBerry 10 will be here soon - fear not. Heck, I may just gift it to him and save us all.

More information/Download HairTips 
Check out all of Kevin's hair action on Twitter

Hit play on the video below and be amazed!

We're ten days into November as I type this, which means ten days into Movember and my quest to grow a moustache and raise funds for Prostate cancer research (and other men's health issues).

A third of the way into Movember I was hoping to have a pretty sweet 'stache by now, but to be honest, it's still pretty pathetic. So I took to twitter earlier today and asked if there were any foods I could eat that would help encourage my facial hair growth. 

A few seconds later good 'ol Derek Kessler, the Editor in Chief of our sister site webOS Nation, was quick to reply with his advice... eat a raw onion. Derek is a smart guy, and I had heard similar moustache-growing advice from Nick Offerman, so it seemed like the thing to do. I told Derek I'd run to the store and buy a big white onion and eat it raw if he then donated $50 to my Movember campaign. He agreed. And I did. Check out the video above to see how it all went down. Lol. 

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David Cameron, the UK's Prime Minister, managed to give BlackBerry some free marketing this week, although I'm pretty sure he didn't do it on purpose.

Whilst conducting a Q&A session in Dubai his BlackBerry decided to 'ping' and he quite openly reached into his pocket and told the audience that it was his BlackBerry.

It made me laugh as a while ago BlackBerry UK tweeted David Cameron reminding him to hold down the 'Q' key on his keyboard to switch between profiles. I suspect David may have learnt his lesson!

Source: BBC News

If you follow the BlackBerry Twitter account, you no doubt noticed it's fairly active. The social media team at RIM does a great job of interacting with their customers and you can tell they enjoy doing it.  Best of all, they have a great sense of humor. Just look at one of the recent tweets to the legendary Rev. Run, one of the founding members of Run-D.M.C. Hilarious and so awesome!  Thanks, Belfastdispatcher!

This one definitely gave me a bit of a chuckle. Remember though, as RIM CEO Thorsten Heins told us at BlackBerry Jam, there's a big difference between an "outage" and a "quality of service issue". As long as all the emails get through, even if delayed, it's not an outàge. ;)

I just couldn't help but post this... forgive me. :)

President Barack Obama has always been high on our celebrity BlackBerry user lists. A long time BlackBerry owner, Mr. Obama has never really tested out the waters for another platform (as far as we know). While out on the campaign trail this weekend, Obama actually ran into a bit of trouble when trying to place a call from an unfamiliar iPhone. According to the Washington Times, President Obama was supposed to call some workers with a quick thank you. He was handed an iPhone, but couldn't quite manage to dial out. After some initial confusion Mr. Obama said "Oh, I got to dial it in. Hold on, hold on. I can do this. See, I still have a BlackBerry." This just goes to show that a BlackBerry is definitely still the best choice of phone for the President. I'd bet that he'll be picking up a new BlackBerry 10 device too so he can just get things done. I'm thinking he's a full QWERTY guy.  

Source: Washington Times 

Here's some Friday fun. As forums member kjjb0204 spotted, Sprint looks to be cheating a little bit in one of their newest commercials. Seen here from the TV ad is a Motorola Admiral - however that's not Android on the screen. If you look closely you can see that the display is indeed showing a BlackBerry settings screen - oops!. Granted the average user probably wouldn't be able to spot the difference while watching the ad, but you're not fooling anyone here, Sprint! We've seen plenty of goofs like this in ads, posters and print over the years, but this could be the first one from a TV ad. Rest assured it most likely won't be the last time it happens either. 

Discuss more in the CrackBerry forums 

Ahh.. the Joy of Tech. Always good for a chuckle.

Source: Joy of Tech

This one totally made my Monday. I'm not sure that are too many of you that can't say you haven't wanted to do this to your wireless carrier's store at some point, but this guy takes it to another level. We're not sure at all what went down to bring on this guy's frustration, but he certainly lets it all out in this video. He single-handedly tears up this T-Mobile store in the UK, even going so far as to unleash an angry fire extinguisher on some downed displays before the cops finally get a hold of him.

Check out the video above, then let us know if you've ever worked out your phone frustration like this.

Source: Mashable

Yup. The headline pretty much sums it up. The above image has been popping up all over the internet today. One of my good friends sent it along to me earlier and my favorite Facebook personality George Takei even posted it on his page simply stating "Oh Myyy!". The article itself is based on the rumors that RIM may be laying off a large number of employees in the coming weeks. I'm sure the woman in the photo is thrilled that she ended up under that headline ... 

It's been a while since we've spotted a good fake BlackBerry, but this time around all the work was done for us. Forums member Superfly_FR posted up this Photoshop of the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha sporting a full QWERTY keyboard. As noted in the forums post, there is certainly enough room for a standard BlackBerry keyboard (I'm down with a Bold 9900 keyboard on this baby). As RIM CEO Thorstein Heins said at BlackBerry World, we'll still see BlackBerry devices with a physical keyboard, so maybe down the road this won't be too far fetched.

What do you think of this design? Is it good? Bad? Ugly? Sound off in the comments!

Discuss more in the CrackBerry forums

Welcome to CrackBerry Kevin's Mock School of Smartphone Economic Theory. Today's class... the effects of iPhone sales on the US economy. Examine the two charts above. The chart on the left plots the USA Index of Economic Freedom from 2006 to 2012. The chart on the right plots iPhone sales in the USA from 2007 to 2012. Notice how ever since the iPhone went on sale in 2007 that the US economy has progressively gone downhill?

Sure, iPhone sales are great for the people who own shares of Apple's skyrocketing stock, but the overall result of Apple's success on the US economy is actually a net loss of hundreds of millions of distracted man-hours spent playing Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. More iPhones = Less Productivity = Economic Downturn. It's a scary correlation people, and if Apple's sales continue to grow, things *could* get worse.

The solution? I propose it's time for BlackBerry to make a comeback in the USA. Put productivity first, games second! Let's all buy BlackBerry 10 phones when they hit the market, get our priorities straight and get America back on track!!

Sources: Economics One, Asymco

BlackBerry owners have credit cards. :)

If you saw our post on the BlackBerry Challenge Council's multitasking project but didn't click through to watch the video, you missed out. So here it is again for your viewing pleasure... a good and funny video that puts the focus on one of the biggest strengths of the traditional BlackBerry experience, the physical keyboard!

For a lot of BlackBerry loyalists, the one thing more than anything that keeps them on a BB is the physical keyboard. When it comes to pounding out emails, texts, tweets, facebook status message and mores, it can't be beat. Sure, people can learn to type fast on touchscreens too, but the touchscreen typing experience falls apart as soon as you're not standing/sitting still and focused on the task at hand. A little bump or shake and your typing goes to hell. But as you'll see in the video, with a physical keyboard you can keep on typing even in extreme conditions.

Just yesterday I was in the back of a bumpy taxi cab heading from the airport to hotel and I was typing like crazy on my 9900's keyboard and thinking about how with a touchscreen I'd be struggling trying to do the same thing. Heck, I even tweeted:

All Smartphone keyboard comparisons should be conducted while riding in the back of a taxi cab. Guess who'd win every time? 

BlackBerry is the answer to that question of course. Sure, a physical keyboard takes up some of the real estate that can go towards a bigger display, but if communication is a priority for you in your mobile device, and for a lot of us it is, the physical keyboard trumps all.

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Seeing celebrities using BlackBerry devices is nothing new really as we have seen them hundreds of times, but this instance is rather humerous. On Saturday Nokia had a big event in NYC for the launch of the Lumia 900, during which they had Nicki Minaj perform on stage. Following her performance, she tweeted out how exhausted she was and how much fun she had during the event. Being that the folks at Nokia brought her in, one would expect to see her tweeting from something along the lines of Twitter for Windows Phone, but instead she was caught tweeting from Ubersocial for BlackBerry. We don't mind one bit that's she's a BlackBerry user. Keep showing your support over there Ms. Minaj!

Source

We've seen several fan made BlackBerry music videos in the past. Who can forget classic hits like She Did Me Shady on the BBM, Textual Healing, and Ping Me Baby? Today the crew at M Crown Productions sent in their latest music video, a parody dealing with BlackBerry addiction, called I Turn My BlackBerry Off. Check it out!

It's going to take great products and real effort for BlackBerry to win back the love in the USA. But I believe it will happen. Step 1 is of course building great products. Those are in development now.

We outlined Step 2 this week with our plan to build a more direct relationship with the media, Wall Street and consumers by setting up a BlackBerry USA division complete with its own President.

Step 3 is getting those great products to market. We'll see the first BlackBerry 10 phones hit this year, and hopefully through 2013 we'll see BlackBerry sales continue to rise with support coming from carriers and lots of happy customers. Hopefully we'll see some awesome BlackBerry advertising too.

And by 2014 we should be onto BlackBerry 11 (or maybe 12 or 13 or 14?!), and by then I'm betting the love for BlackBerry in the USA will be soo huge again that people will want to erect statues in honor of the awesomeness of BlackBerry. Or, at least make a modification to an existing one. ;)