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What's Hot: New Web Signals Push Services Available!

by Kevin Michaluk on 24 Oct 2008 10:41 AM
44
 

Web Signals for BlackBerry!

Our friend Ronen over at BerryReview was browsing mobile.blackberry.com this morning and noticed a new link under the What's Hot section - New BlackBerry Web Signals! Rewind a few days to Day 2 of the Developer Conference, and the announcement of Web Signals was big news. Installing these services onto your BlackBerry allows for content to get pushed right to your device - saving you time and battery life (vs. checking at intervals for content in the background or pulling it up manually). I'm sure we'll see a ton of these become available in the near future, but the first six to be offered are as follows:

  • NYTimes.com Bits Blog Notifier - Learn about news & analysis as it happens with NYTimes.com Bits Blog Notifier. With news & analysis on the tech industry through the day from NY Times writers & freelancers.
  • Accuweather.com - Get free constantly updated forecasts pushed to your BlackBerry smartphone. View radar, 10-day & hourly forecasts & severe weather alerts.
  • Reuters News Web Signals - Get breaking news with Reuters Web Signals on your BlackBerry smartphone. As news breaks, the Reuters icon changes & sends you to the story.
  • FOX News Alert - Be the first to know when news breaks. Download FOX News Alert & get instant alerts to breaking news directly on your BlackBerry Smartphone.
  • CBC - Receive the day's top headlines and breaking news with the innovative CBC web signal for BlackBerry smartphones
  • Thumbplay Web Signal - Get content releases from Thumbplay. The Thumbplay icon sends you to BlackBerry compatible content like music, ringtones, games, videos & more.

For more info and to download, visit mobile.blackberry.com from your Berry's Browser and click into Web Signals, or just click this link.

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44 Comments

Posted by cornello Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

As a new user to the Blackberry and their push service, this is EXACTLY why I purchased a Blackberry! These push services are currently fueling my newfound addiction further!

 
 
Posted by VoltaicShock Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

This is great. I will be geting the www.accuweather.com web signal - :)

 
 
Posted by Anonymous Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

great, but where is it "pushed" to? I subscribed to the Accuweather, filled out my zip... now what? it's been about 24 hours, nothing has been pushed to me. Am I looking for a icon on the home screen or what?

 
 
Posted by jjdukes Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

I'm not sure about this either. Someone help please.

 
 
Posted by Anonymous Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

The Reuters one worked for me, but yeah, I've got the same issue with Accuweather.

 
 
Posted by driphter Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

Power Off and Power On. The icon will be the first in your list of apps.

 
 
Posted by Anonymous Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

I don't get it either. I read the notes from the conference and it states this thing is supposed to push content right onto the front screen of the Blackberry but I don't see anything anywhere after subscribing.

 
 
Posted by kazmi Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

mine came up the next morning when I had subscribed to it the night before. Also, make sure you have browser push enabled...go to Options>Advanced Options>Browser Push and make sure the Enable Push is checked.

PS: you should see icons on your screen; depending on what you have subscribed to.

 
 
Posted by Desconocido Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

I am with you guys. I subscribed to the NY Times, but nothing changed. I have push enabled, but nothing has happened. I don't even see an icon. What are we missing?

 
 
Posted by stepchild Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

I subscribed to accuweather and fox news. Fox news said to allow 24 hrs for icon to appear. However I got it in a few minutes. But, so far have not gotten anything for accuweather.

 
 
Posted by zomac Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

Could we see this for google reader soon?

 
 
Posted by tardman91 Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

So what exactly do these things do? They replace one of your home screen icons or something? I'm interested in the Fox News and Accuweather, but would like to know exactly how they work before downloading any of them.

 
 
Posted by Desconocido Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

They must be monitoring the site, because suddenly it showed-up after I complained. Let's see if that works for Kevin's Storm review too. It's 1:30 p.m., Where is it? I am dying to read it.

 
 
Posted by tnewton3 Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

Not sure if this takes a while or what the deal is but I've downloaded three now and none of them have showed up on my BB, did a restart and a power cycle. Weird.

 
 
Posted by geoffmcmanus Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

I only tried the accuweather and I see nothing on my BB. I tried to reboot as well. I guess I'll play the waiting game.

 
 
Posted by geoffmcmanus Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

SO I am thinking maybe it will not work if you have the beta 4.5 on your phone???

 
 
Posted by rimbuk Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

i opened up IM+ this morning and they have a push service for IM's. All my IM's now go to my inbox... saves battery life for sure. Sweet.

 
 
Posted by RawisTheGameHhH Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

I keep getting an error when I try to sign up for the Fox News Alert

 
 
Posted by cwcanty Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

Maybe it's because you are a closet democrat! lol...

 
 
Posted by jjdukes Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

Both my Fox News and Accuweather Icons showed up with in the hour. They are icons on the home screen and when there is breaking news you get a visual notification so you can then open them up.

 
 
Posted by jjdukes Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

When I run my cursor over the icon on the home screen it say;s "H57 L39, Intermittent Clouds" where the App title would normally be. That's very cool!

 
 
Posted by dspcap Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

Is there a page in crackberry that shows all the services that can be pushed to the blackberry?

Signed up for accuweather, guess I am playing the waiting game also.

 
 
Posted by jnieves Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

I subscribed to Accuweather and I got an icon in my homescreen right away!! It ia a really nice app and it doesn't take up memory.

 
 
Posted by Anonymous Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

I click on the subscribe link and keep getting "HTTP Error 400: Bad Request. The server could not understand the page request or was unable to process it for some reason. Please try loading a different page."

I'm using an ATT Pearl 8120 with OS v4.3.0.91

Any ideas?

 
 
Posted by gameboy213 Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1206 days ago

I was hoping it would actually PUSH the content to the phone. it just lets you know that a site was updated. Not what I was hoping for at all.

 
 
Posted by ifarlow Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1205 days ago

I subscribed to Accuweather and Fox News. Got Fox News within an hour, but hours later (since early this morning), nothing from Accuweather. What gives? Additionally, I see no way to unsubscribe from Fox News. I don't like it and don't want it, but I can't get rid of it. Argh...

When I try and go to the Push Services site, there is no option to unsubscribe from either Accuweather or Fox News. Also, when I try and subscribe again to Accuweather, I am redirected to a page that says I have to accept the agreement... even though I was clicking on "I Accept."

Something is very wrong, and this doesn't seem to be turning out so good.

 
 
Posted by Anonymous Saturday, Oct 25, 2008 1205 days ago

Yeah pretty crappy launch for these web signals thingy...

 
 
Posted by ifarlow Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1205 days ago

Okay, did a little browsing, and a little experimenting, and this is what I have come up with to unsubscribe. On your phone, browse to:

http://push.na.blackberry.com/mss/PM_subList

From there, you will see a list of your current Web Signals subscriptions. Unfortunately, the list is made up of descriptions (long ones), and not easy-to-decipher titles, but nevertheless, click the box next to the subscriptions you want to cancel, and click on Unsubscribe at the bottom of the page.

Done.

Phew... now, I guess I just need to wait for Accuweather to activate so I can try it out.

 
 
Posted by Anonymous Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1205 days ago

This basically puts a link to the companies website on your Blackberry. A glorified shortcut. The only benefit is it lets you know if there is new content on the site.
I do not see the advantage of this over Viigo or similar. Anyone?

 
 
Posted by Hotzb22 Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1205 days ago

is there a cost the accu weather?

 
 
Posted by DaBou Friday, Oct 24, 2008 1205 days ago

How similar is this to the Live Ticker that AT&T/Cingular introduced a couple years ago?

 
 
Posted by ifarlow Saturday, Oct 25, 2008 1205 days ago

Don't know what the problem is, but still no Accuweather. What a mess.

 
 
Posted by jab0321 Saturday, Oct 25, 2008 1205 days ago

Having problems too. When I enter in my email addy for the fox news subscription, I get a "Failed to connect" page that pops up. Also same thing with the accu weather. I'll try again in a bit.

 
 
Posted by QuezXLV Saturday, Oct 25, 2008 1205 days ago

NM

 
 
Posted by QuezXLV Saturday, Oct 25, 2008 1205 days ago

I keep getting the HTTP 504 Error: Gateway Timeout when trying to subscribe to AccuWeather. I think my IT policy is trying to block something.

 
 
Posted by Now a bold owner of a BOLD Saturday, Oct 25, 2008 1205 days ago

I subscribed to cbc and reuters and trying to get accuweather but keeps prompting me to accept the already accepted terms/cond ?

Still waiting ... something wrong with these signals

 
 
Posted by august829 Sunday, Oct 26, 2008 1204 days ago

I subscribed to NY Times, Reuters, & AccuWeather yesterday. I got an icon for Reuters which is supposed to change and send news updates to my phone...nothing. Also, nothing from NY Times or AccuWeather. What gives?

 
 
Posted by Anonymous Sunday, Oct 26, 2008 1203 days ago

Haha ...I don't think these things work back to the drawing board for the developers.

 
 
Posted by Anonymous Monday, Oct 27, 2008 1203 days ago

WTF..it puts an icon on your homescreen, and whenever news does get updated, it puts a star over the icon, but when you click on it, you have to wait for the webpage to open? That’s retarded.

At least if I sign up for email alerts from these sites that are listed (and those that are not, such as CNN or ESPN), an email comes to me with a preview of what the “breaking news” is and gives a short description of it, then i have the ability to click the link to visit the webpage.

Whoever came up with the idea for these in their current state (if this is all they really plan to do with the applications) needs to be fired and their position at RIM given to me.

 
 
Posted by chuck bower Wednesday, Oct 29, 2008 1201 days ago

The accuweather push rocks! I did it last night and this morning the little icon with the high/low and forecast for the day is displayed when you highlight the icon. Click it and you are taken to the website.

I could not install foxnews or Reuters. I have a pearl on verizon.

 
 
Posted by Anonymous11 Saturday, Nov 01, 2008 1197 days ago

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to remove/uninstall the FoxNews icon from my phone!! It is NOT in my application list. I have a Sprint 8330.

 
 
Posted by jgaylejr Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 1186 days ago

I've got two issues with this. I installed FoxNews, but when I select the icon the browser gives me a communication failure. At this point I don't want to put in the time to trouble shoot, I just want it off of my phone. So i tried the link to see my application list and of course there's nothing in there. How do I get this crap off of my phone?

 
 
Posted by Anonymous Monday, Nov 17, 2008 1181 days ago

Anyone?? Bueler?

 
 
Posted by dorkette Saturday, Nov 15, 2008 1183 days ago

Do we not have to pay for this service?