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Howdy CrackBerry nation! It's been a mighty fine week here for BlackBerry what with the BBM Private Beta rolling out for Windows Phone users, the BlackBerry Q10, Q5, and Z30 earning Red Dot design awards, and, of course, reasons why the Passport is the device for you. All in all, not bad if I do say so myself.

We all know you are here to see what this week's picks are so let's get back to the show shall we. Each app or game can be seen by clicking through the gallery. If your favorite did not make the cut this week, remember you can help by offering your suggestions at the end.

iShrink by DevPDA.net

The developer behind this first application claimed he had a free hour so he made a simple app. The result is this URL generator for BlackBerry 10. If you have ever wanted to shrink website links to post to your social networks without going over the character count then this will help you to accomplish that task. It's fast, easy to use, and supports various servers including Bitly.com, Google, and Tinyurl. All you have to do is download the plugin for the server you wish to use, insert the link, and it does the rest. As it is integrated into the framework you can not only share the link but open the link from the browser right into the application as well. This handy Built for BlackBerry tool is free to download and is certainly one I will be taking advantage of and you should do the same as well.

More information/Download iShrink

La Grande Boucle by Davide Massetti

It is time once again for the Tour de France and for those looking to follow the cycling action be sure to check out this native application. It allows you to view all 21 stages with details, all 22 teams and 198 riders, standings, and live feeds directly from the official website of the Tour de France. This is a great way to have all of the news at your fingertips thanks to the clean interface and active frame support. You can find it for all BlackBerry 10 smartphones for $1.99.

More information/Purchase La Grande Boucle

Pizzino 2.0 by Bellotti Alessandro

This next application allows you to create files with multimedia content and then share on BBM. However, there is one catch. Only those who have the application installed can read the aforementioned content. It is quite an interesting application to say the least and offers three kinds of content: text, images, and sounds. For texts and images you can set a self-destruct timer so that all are destroyed upon opening. There is also a "LifeTimer" that can be activated for all as well. There are additional features such as adding password protection and the option to set the auto-destruct time. Initially free to download, there is an in-app purchase of $.99 to remove the pop-up reminder box that appears for every action you perform.

More information/Purchase Pizzino 2.0

Money Manager by BK Soft

We all could use a little organization when it comes to our finances. This latest application to make its way to the storefront comes with a variety of features to keep you on track. Money Manager is a personal expense-tracking app that is part checkbook register, part bills reminder, and part budget planner. Now I have tried quite a few applications to help juggle and manage my finances and this one gets the job done even if the interface may not look as good as other applications. Some of the useful features included are being able to track business, personal, and travel expenses quickly, interactive reports and graphs to analyze income, expenses, cash flow, and balances over custom time periods, being able to set monthly budgets by account or category, receive notifications for upcoming and overdue bills, export transactions to load to other applications including Quicken, backup data on SD card, and track multiple accounts in multiple currencies. Money Manager is a full-featured application that even lets you password protect your data from prying eyes. Available for BlackBerry 10 as an Android Port, you can purchase for $.99.

More information/Purchase Money Manager

Car Racer by Academ Media

As far back as I can remember, racing games were always a favorite of mine at the arcade. This high-speed version is rather simple but is fun to play when there is time to spare. The controls are easy to figure out though you have to be quick to make the necessary adjustments in time to keep up with the rest of the cars. It offers decent graphics and sounds and gets the job done in terms of being a great time-waster. Car Racer only supports all-touch BlackBerry 10 devices and is available for $.99.

More information/Purchase Car Racer

What You Might Have Missed

Search for IMDB by S4BB Limited

I admit my TV viewing habits are probably more than the average person. My almost filled DVR can certainly attest to that at the moment, and it's the summer! While a version is already available in BlackBerry World, the developer released a version in the BlackBerry Beta Zone this week to test out features that will be forthcoming. Using this application you can view the top lists and search Movie Titles, Actors, Directors, Celebrities, and Trailers. This is definitely an application that will come in handy for all you entertainment junkies out there. You will need to have a BlackBerry Beta Zone account to download. Be sure to give it a try and, of course, submit your feedback so the developers can learn your suggestions and help improve the application.

More information/Download Search for IMDB from BlackBerry World
Download the BlackBerry Beta Zone App

Until next week...

That's it for this week folks. For more apps and games be sure to head on over to the CrackBerry Forums where you will find even more hidden gems to choose from whether it be for BlackBerry 10, BBOS or the BlackBerry PlayBook. Of course, you can always find the latest and greatest top editor's picks in the CrackBerry App Gallery. Are there any apps or games you would like to see? Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments.

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