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
Reader comments
BreakingNews for BlackBerry enters open beta - Get a scrolling news widget for your homescreen
Does this RSS allow you to push content, pics etc?
How do you get rid of it...Ive deleted it but it keeps running.
So far smooth sailing - absolute Dynamite app!....Could not believe how fast it loaded and started functioning with no prompts and setup (Can it serve fresh ground coffee in the morning? - It seems to be capable of everything else!)
Loving this app! Can you make the scroll act like a link to redirect to the browser to the newsfeed.
:)
9700 running official .448
installed for 24 hrs and the lag of the phone is easily observed. To the point im having difficulty scrolling through the paynes.
http://www.4shared.com/photo/mcQbZmWe/Capture_on_03-11-2011_13-29-57.htm
A bug I found. l
Its me again Shao. Since I installed the app the volume rockers don't work when I "back" out to the music list screen as well as the main homescreen. Curve 8900 running 5.0.0.1036 with Vinto theme installed
This is a great idea. I loved being able to look at my desk and see NYSE headlines HOWEVER, after running this application for 24 hours, I had to do a battery pull 3 times as well as it slowed my OS to a stuttering halt. Perhaps it will be better when it comes out of beta. I will be keeping up with this application in hopes I can re-load it soon.
I am using a BlackBerry 9800 on AT&T in the USA.
fricken cool! works great on my verizon bold.
Works awesome! No issues at all.
Works awesome! No issues at all.
kinda new to the forum scene but i like trying out new things on my bb. just installed build .499 on bold 9700 and can't wait to test this out. pretty cool idea....
Love it! A few things - 1 - would like more transparency, other than the words, 2 - would DEFINITELY like to be able to open the headline/feed, 3 - it may be causing some battery drain, I uninstalled to compare and will reinstall.
Running on os 6/Curve 9330
I love it! Downloaded when I saw the article. I like that I can move it on the screen. I do wish it was clear where certain height settings would place it. I messed around with it for a few minutes and have it running at the bottom of the screen on my 9550 running 5.9 theme from WJD Designs. I like how you can specify settings like colors and size. I have noticed it takes a while to pull the feeds in the morning. Also it gets confused sometimes about whether it should appear or not on screens such as "Applications Menu". It will appear for a second then go away. Also I run bLoc and it confuses bLoc on whether to lock the screen. That may be a revision for bLoc that is necessary though. Also, would like the option to click on a story and go to that story. That would probably be the most important feature it is missing. **I have also noticed that it is not updating through the day. I have even tried changing the update intervals.
Great product! Overall, I love it! Thanks! I look forward to seeing updates as it gets polished. I have to say though, for a beta version it looks really good.
-Josh
brilliant idea as usual from Shaosoft. works perfect on Torch 9800 Telstra Australia. Please remove the rss feed icon- not necessary. thank you for letting us have it. great work.!!
this worked great for me for a few hours, then became very laggy and froze my keyboard, disabled the BN and all is good
Works really well on my Torch. Previous comment re post build Themes is correct however such a good app i can put up with that. Well done
I like this app. Couple of things, #1 widget runs on the app. screen as well as home screen, wondering why? #2 widget went freeky with my wallpaper changer, home screen and app screen flashed back and forth, wallpaper froze. #3 I really like the ability to have more than one feed. Just as others have mentioned it would be nice to tap screen somewhere and have the widget hidden, or hit space bar to accomplish the same thing. Would also be nice to click or touch on the feed and be taken to that story. Great UI and very simple to enter your own feeds. Would be nice to know top and bottom locations for each BB screen so placement could be made simpler. Keep up the great work.
So far so good. Wish I could open the headlines and the keyboard pops up randomly but all in all it works great.
Great idea!! As posted before by others, I would also like to click on the headlines, and manually scroll though them. I also noticed that after adding some feeds, and a battery pull everything went back to defaults. I changed some feeds again clicked "Refresh & Save" button got the popup "Settings Saved! Feeds reloading..." clicked Ok and after another battery pull, back to defaults. Settings seem to stay, but the feeds don't appear to saving.
9700 @ 6.0.0.448
This is a very nice and useful application.
I am running OS5 on a 9700 with the InTheKnow theme, which shows three messages and three calendar items on the home screen. The ticker runs right across where the new messages will show.
I do not know if this is possible, but it would be very useful to include a "nudge" feature where the user can tweak the ticker bar up or down a few pixels at a time to find an ideal spot.
This is what i am looking for.
I have been waiting for this application since 2 Years.
I like the application that scrolls on my home screen.
But I see a small bugs in this application.
The padding was not good. It covers my sound applications and new messages half portion.
I will be so good when these small problems are fixed.
Great Application.
Thanks Ticker
9700 OS6.0,running a wallpaper friendly theme. first off love the idea, great app. The ticker shows up on both home screen and full icon screen, if that makes sence. Past that I love it so far. I guessing this is going to be a memory hog, but I installed with that expectation. Will report back if I notice any glitches. Jason.stiner@gmail.com if you want me to run it through the ringer and fully report back, rather then a comment back here.
I'm such a NooB. How do you get RSS Feeds? Copy/Paste a link?
So you can only read headlines? you can not open them?
So you can only read headlines? you can not open them?
Love the app. Works really well. I did however find a feed that isn't working. Feed link is: http://www.premierleague.com/rss/ptv/page/ArticleIndex/0,,12306~2233528,...
Running Torch 6.0.0.246
Let me know if you need more info. I'll keep trying sites to see if any others aren't working.
Loving this. Will be downloading and using as soon as my Torch updates itself to .486!
Loving this. Will be downloading and using as soon as my bloody updates itself to .486!
This app is nice. I like it
So far the best thing to be released for BB, works great on my 9700 OS6
So far no issues to report. Anything I would have suggested has been said. This is a great app, keep up the good work. I am running 448 on 9800
How do you get the text to show under your icons like that? is that just on torch? I am running OS 6 on Bold 9700.
App is nice. Would be nice if u could select which screens it could pop up on and if it could stay on those pages without the app popping on and off when keys are pressed. Also noticed that with the torch, if the app is running and I would like to type with the virtual keyboard, I can't. App also doesn't run in landscape mode. *correction* it goes to landscape if the app is running already but it doesn't start up in landscape
This is a nice app. The fact that you can move it around on the screen is great.
Can you use facebook
The idea is there, but needs more work (I know, it's still beta). I really don't like the fact you can't bring up the full story. Maybe have the ticker clickable and have it bring up a listing of all the feeds or something, so you can easily click the one you want? If thats even possible...
And have an option for NO border.
great app!
Awesome!
do you have to be running the stock OS 6 theme for this to work?
No I have a 3rd party droid theme and it works for me
I like this alot.. SO FAR SO GOOD WITH THE FEEDS IM USING. tHE ONLY THING I SEE THAT IS THERE ANY WAY TO CLICK ON TO THE BAR AND RETRIEVE THE WHOLE STORY.
thats what I was trying to do also. Is is just there for us to see then we have to go to the actual site???
Yeah, it seems that it only serves as being informative. No way to get to the actual site throught it. It sure is nice looking though. I would like to see the ability to resize it vertically.
I would like the same functionality. Love the app, though! I subscribe to SMS Text alerts from most of the major news agencies, have RSS feeds, and now use this! You can never have access to too much breaking news IMHO!
I really like this! So I can get up to 5 feeds on the home screen, and they are customizable? Great! 9330 6.0.0.415
I've been using this since earlier today. I love the fact that it scrolls!!!
Great idea for those who need it. What with e-mail alerts set up with a bunch of news providers, RSS feeds set up in social feeds and enough news sites bookmarked to keep me going for days, I don't think I really need any more instant access to news.
This looks like a good idea, I wonder how much battery drain it will cause. I have so much information coming at me from Twitter, Facebook, breaking news, etc. I'm not sure if I've reached my capacity to be able to process more information. That said, I'm going to give this a try.
i like it!
cool! will definitely be trying this out