Little Boat Studios, formerly ReFocus Tech, has now released a new app for BlackBerry 10 called Ripple. Ripple aims to offer you a new and unique way to get the latest news by introducing a predictive chat based feature that helps you browse through the top eight headlines every hour.
Features:
- Ripple provides you with 8 things happening at this hour.
- Ripple provides you with a chat based interface apart from the 8 news every hour.
- The Chat based news reader allows you to interact with news and read more about them.
- Ripple allows you to change the preferences you set for the news you receive including the country and the type of news.
- Ripple allows you to read in the selected country language.
Ripple is only supported in USA, Canada, Australia, Russia, India, Brazil, Germany, France, Indonesia, South Africa, Czech Republic and the Philippines, for now, but Little Boat Studios does note they're looking to add more supported countries as soon as possible. If you're interested in Ripple, it's available right now through BlackBerry World for $2.99 and while this isn't a review of Ripple, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that it does feel somewhat incomplete. Much like the additional country support, Little Boat Studios notes they're working on additional chat functionality, and I can see why.
Right now, the chat based portion of the app isn't really chat based in the fact you're never really 'chatting' with anything. Whether you select the feed mode of getting news or go with the chat based option, you're still only tapping the next button to retrieve your next headline. Sure, it feels a slight bit more interactive because it plays along with you and asks you whether or not you'd like to subscribe to different types of news but ultimately, it's the same method of showing you the news as feed mode. I've put together a quick little video of Ripple in action that will hopefully make things a bit clearer.
To sum it up, Ripple is a nice looking and functioning native app that does deliver the news in a more interactive way, but I'm not sold on the chat based side of it yet. Hopefully, Little Boat Studios will continue adding more functions to that area as stated.
Reader comments
Consume news in a more interactive way with Ripple
Is this something like the yahoo news digest app? That is the first thing I run on my iPad (those times that I actually ues it). Really, really great app.
Posted via CB10
It looks like Quartz - news app on iOS
Posted via CB10
So it has been reported that this just gets google news. Seems like one can just use their browser to do that
Secondly, just because someone writes a webapp for BB10 does not automatically give them authority to be flippant and rude to users.
Posted via CB10
When I was using legacy devices - I purchased probably purchased to many apps. When BB10 came around, I was more cautious and choosy. Now, I read most reviews before making a purchase. App pricing was never an issue for me. If I can use it and well designed (and doesn't datamine me to death) - I will buy it. Having said that...
I wish DEVS with new products to offer should have:
1- Have a basic web page - you are in business to sell
2- Have a short video of your app - not more than 3 minutes
3- Answer your emails in a timely manner
4- Timely updates of your apps.
Now if somebody has an app that use to work like BB News
I would pay $10.00
Definitely am going to look at all this Dev's apps and make some contributions. Any Dev that is still here and making an effort has my money and support.
Long live BlackBerry!
Posted via CB10
Posted via CB10
http://www.ghettowine.com/ripple/red.html
Fred Sanford's favorite.
Posted via CB10
Nice article and useful comments. I buy it to help support BlackBerry 's app development and also because the idea is appealing.
Posted via CB10
The screen shots don't seem to fit with the BlackBerry UI aesthetic, but the concept seems interesting. If you launch in New Zealand, please don't just lump us in with Australia.
Posted via CB10
I've got a problem with one of your apps called 'Soundscape' which I addressed in a mail like a month ago but still haven't received a reply yet, so I'll just type it here since you seem to be more active on the forum than checking your customer mails:
The app I bought worked fine on my Passport which uses the updated version 2.0. On my Classic though, only the previous version can be downloaded (1.0) for whatever reason and this version has lots of bugs. I was wondering since the description says that your app also supports the Classic but there seem to be no way to download the newest version on my Classic's BBW. So are there any solutions to this?
posted via my Blueberry
Hey! Sorry about that we will release a updated version on Classic as soon as possible!
I am happy to hear that its just a device issue and can be fixed!
Regards
First I was "meh, I'm sure my country is not available." but woah Philippines is included. Gonna download this now.
Posted via CB10
Many of our customers are from Philippines that's the reason!
Anyways we are adding a few more countries coming update!
Regards
Hi,
Probably it would take too long to add all the countries, so it could be nice to add news from all the world, like a "world" section.
Regards,
Posted via CB10
CNN.com on the browser still works best for the latest in news. The USA Today app on my BlackBerry Classic also does the trick.
Good luck Dev with the new app. I am not seeing how this will attract the masses. I don't know why we need to interact with the news? Enlighten me. :-)
Posted via CB10
USA Today works, but are you serious about CNN on the browser? So many of their pages have automatic video.
You might want to check out gapps browser off of Fdroid. The name is a bit misleading since the default mode of the app is to consolidate news from Google.
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.tobykurien.google_news
Posted via CB10
Don't know about any one else, but I miss BlackBerry news app
Posted via CB10
We all do! :(
Looks like an interesting concept.
Posted via CB10
Support BlackBerry 10 Developers. Just bought a vanilla latte for $6.00 with the tip and it's gone already. :(
Happy to buy this app.
Posted via CB10
Hey! Really appreciate the support! Keeps us motivated to make more unique applications!
Does the app support only the top news from Google, or can it update from RSS or podcast? I listen to several podcasts each week on the way to work, and if this supported being able to collect them all in one place, i'd definitely consider it.
Must post...on...CrackBerry!
Hey!
It was a great suggestion we would definitely like to integrate that if thats possible from our end!
Thanks!
This seems like an interesting app. I'm going to bbw to check it out. Looks like it's worth the few bucks.
Posted via CB10
It's using new chatbot apis. That's cool. We'll see a lot of uptake on those coming up.
I'm not totally sold on their effectiveness, but we'll see.
Posted via a Priv on an 6.0 Mushroom
With the boom in messaging applications and conversations becoming the new apps. We look forward to it as just the beginning of a new era of how people interact with content. We have a few more applications in the same domain coming soon!
Gotta appreciate the effort but refocus is freaking notorious for incomplete apps. They have great concepts and release beautiful looking apps for 3 or 4 bucks and then just never update them.
Posted via CB10
Hey! I am sorry but I guess thats a comment without any research! We have updated all our application all the applications are in 2.0 or 3.0 stages. If you might take the effort to check. The very first thing is we believe in complete applications. Application that perform a task. Unlike other devs who release features in updates to keep the users happy. We believe in giving out 10 features in one release than 10 releases with 1 feature each.
Still much appreciated the feedback.
(Note: We updated 4 application with 2 new releases within a month, Few of our apps have version 6.0 and 8.0)
Yeah I saw those updates. You guys added some new icons and changed company names...
What about sketchbook? It's been out how long and you still haven't added a zoom? The app is pretty much broken without it.
Posted via CB10
Hey, they just might.... :-D
• There's a Crack in the Berry right now... •
BB10 yeah!
Posted via CB10
Must only be available for android??
Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android
Ooops, should have finished reading the article first!!
Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android
You should have read the first line. Lol
Posted via CB10
Common problem with this forum.
Posted via CB10
Glad you finished reading the article.
"To Hades with you Kratos " "YOU FIRST"
The issue with that app is that it doesn't update the news frequently... most of news are few days old and it does not update
Posted via CB10
Hey! We aggregate a lot of different news in different categories and all the news are live news!
We use google news for that matter and We are pretty sure! the news are up to date!
Thanks
Wow, way to snap at a customer there buck-a-roo. Why not respond with, "Can you BBM us so we can figure out whats going wrong with the app on your device?"
Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android
Doesn't seem like he's snapping to me.
I see no snap. He ended the comment with Thanks. ???
Haha!
It wasn't a snap!
He can anyways contact us on email! And we do respond immediately to customer issues.
Thanks!
Cheers mate... buck-a-roo or jack-a-roo?
That's not an insult down here... :-D
• There's a Crack in the Berry right now... •
Also if you have no internet connection, It takes the news from the last news source. You might want to check for that too.
Regards
BB gets a 10 this time... :-)
• There's a Crack in the Berry right now... •
@ prem..NewsNow...works great on bb10 even reader mode works :-)
Sent from my 5 star BlackBerry Passport
I suggest everyone check them out ,they've been around since 1998,great source of what we want and free too and not Android ,lol
Only available for BlackBerry 10 because it's *awesome*. Thanks, Devs!
Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android
Was it too hard to read the very first sentence in the article?
Sent from my battered and bruised but still kicking (just barely) Z30.