This is the first time I've seen something like this, and I can't decide if it's cool or would be totally annoying. US Weekly has embraced BlackBerry and is offering daily celebrity updates via BBM. All you need to do is add their PIN (226B95C0 or scan the barcode) and you will get updates right to your BBM. Pretty cool huh? I'm not one to keep up on the celebs but I suppose if thats your thing this is a pretty good way to stay informed. If you do sign up for the service, leave a comment and let us know how its working out for you. Thanks cafeina77.
Reader comments
US Weekly delivers celebrity news through BBM
you want to know what is not cool? receiving the same message on broadcast via bbm about some non existent virus.
I agree with those who advocate for a CB model, but celebs... That is a complete waste of battery and precious time. I would prefer to have multiple root canals in one sitting. LOL
I added something similar to this but for Univision I saw an add on their site with their pin and barcode so i added it and it gave me updates all the time about award shows and celebs. I only had them for a couple days because it got annoying.
Isn't that what Twitter is for?
YUp!!! twitter does it too. Pretty similar!
US Weekly's been doing this for a while. I signed up right after it went live and I ended up deleting them from my list after a few weeks of asinine updates...the updates got progressively worse if they had a "celebrity" visiting their offices - you'd receive a bbm after every dumb thing the so-called celebrity said. If they had stuck to just "breaking" news, it may have worked better for me.
hmmmn....I guess their bbm is bogged down pending auth for awhile now...LOL deleting....
I'll give it a whirl...if they get too annoying the delete contact works!! LOL
This would be cool for something other than celeb updates i think...but it just depends how often they would be sending out msgs, if it constantly thru the day id get annoyed. i can check twitter for celeb news lol..
I'm not sure if I dislike it a lot or hate the idea. There r plenty of of other ways 2 receive silly info. Don't bog my BBM w/useless content. But it could work for Emergency notices.
I would find this completely annoying since it's from Us Weekly and inforamtion about celeb-idiots. Give me useful information from my favorite sites and sources and this would be widely accepted.
I'd be interested in a follow-up to see how widely this is accepted by Us Weekly readers.
cute idea
I'll try it out and see how 'spamy' it is. Gives me some ideas for how to communicate things to our users at work, though....hmmm.
But haven't we all seen barcodes in magazines that when scanned takes you to different websites & such? Maybe this particular barcode works the same way? Basically linking you to a computer that will send a BBM out to keep you updated, so it's not actually a Berry barcode but one they have linked to something else. Just a thought.
If I want this kind of news, I'll just open Viigo and and a celeb RSS feed.
Potentially getting Spam and useless info on my BBM!? no thanks.
Is that it's based on your PIN, which is different for every device. It's not randomly generated through an application, it's hardware-based. I think it'd be silly if RIM just were to whip up some type of application to emulate BBM and give each user a unique PIN.
But if a phone is stolen, and it gets reported, it's basically useless for BIS because the PIN is disabled. The device can't generate another one.
They haven't accepted me yet though! :(
i like the idea, i hope they accept me as soon as possible
If you think about it, this is kind of like the SMS alerts that you can sign up for. I get txt alerts from ESPN for certain things, sounds kind of cool!
I'm also assuming that they aren't using an actual BB, I wonder if BlackBerry is going to release some sort of interface that companies can use to send out BBM messages to the pin's on their contact list... They'd have to do something, RIM knows that a single device couldn't handle all those contacts.
Their devices would only get bricked assuming they're using a Blackberry. Maybe they made some sort of deal with RIM to have a computer with an assigned PIN? You never know.
This is CRACKBERRY, not some fly by night website. I may be wrong, but CB has changed how RIM does BB, or at least listened to the community. I would be bummed if some celeb gossip mag got the drop on the latest from RIM. AND, i believe CB would have leaked some new technology like that.... HOPEFULLY!
Do you guys think they are using a server or PC software to deliver these BBM's considering the BBM stress tests, and if so should CB get one?
I'd like this idea if they could send HTML messages to us so that it could really look like a newsletter. This just looks like they're being lazy and don't want to develop an app.
I disagree, mainly because I'm not a negative nancy like you. You haven't even tried it! You really have no idea what they're including in broadcast messages.
I agree that this would be pretty gangster if crackberry was to do this as well ... themes, os's, new phones , etc etc etc
OTA everything!!! so much can be sent through BBM. it would be a great way to exploit all its capabilities and really help RIM optimize BBM even more!
That sounds like an interesting idea on paper, but they will just get those devices bricked as soon as people start adding them to bbm. We've seen it before in prvious bbm stress test
I don't care if their device bricks though, that's up to them to figure out. If someone with something I wanted to hear was using this function, I'd add it without a care in the world if their device bricked or not.
Makes perfect sense that someone would do this. I've been doing this with music for about a year. I update our fans about new music available or send out links to videos. It's no different than using twitter or facebook.
This has a ton of potential. This of it for info on your favorite restaurants, bars, etc? This about the ability to virtually eliminate text messaging? I would love for the airlines to embrace this as opposed to text messaging :)
i've added them..
This is a really cool idea. I read WWTDD and stuff like that, so "Us Weekly" news isn't really what I'm into - although I added it anyway.
It's great to see BBM being embraced, like in the latest episode of Entourage where 'E' totally plugs BBM.
I never realized that the "serious business community" that is blackberry users had time for celebrity gossip.
We have to decompress sometimes you know! Nice cheap shot though.
That is one good idea. CB why don't you guys do something like this? Where you can update us all on what's going on, while were on the road, or when were at a friends house. :)
i DO NOT like the celeb news (who cares?!?!) but a CrackBerry BBM update???!!!! SIGN ME UP!!!! CB Team, get the downlow on how they are pulling this off and DEMAND IT! We want it!!!
Isn't this a stress test waiting to happen? lol
I think this would get annoying after a while. But can their BB handle a lot of people at once. I thought the stress test proved that only so many could be added. What if they get 10,000 people? Or are they doing it through another method.
I know CB did their own stress test but RIM ran a stress test that never told us that they were using a BlackBerry phone to use. This might open a lot more possibilities for advertising and getting news media out to the public if companies can do this remotely. Maybe OS6 can handle it better?
Sounds cool, but I am gonna pass. If Engadget did something like this, I would have readily accepted !
I agree. If say CNN or MSN sent breaking news through BBM, I would PIN them in a heartbeat but I could really care less about what the celebs are doing.
Thanks, no thanks.
Now, if CB had a BBM, I would PIN ya :)
+1