[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Happy Friday #TeamBlackBerry! Today’s topic: five tips for managing files on a BlackBerry 10 device.

After checking out the tips, please leave a comment and let me know which one is your favorite. Or if it isn’t listed already, add your favorite tip below!

1. Copy, Move, Select More, Rename, Add Folder and more!

It’s really easy to manage and organize files on your device thanks to the powerful File Manager app. Here are a few options that every BlackBerry 10 device owner should be familiar with:

• Select More – If you need to work with several files and folders at the same time – e.g. if you would like to create a Zip file of some pictures you took – all you need to do is tap and hold the first file or folder and then tap Select More from the action menu that appears on the right. After doing this, you can select the additional files and folders you want by tapping their icons.
• Copy or Move – To copy or move files and folders, tap and hold the item or items (see Select More), then tap Copy or Move from the action menu. Navigate to the desired storage location using the context menu in the bottom left corner, then tap the Copy or Move buttons along the top of the screen to complete the action.
• Renaming Files & Folders – Tap and hold the item you’d like to rename and select Rename from the menu along the right.
• Adding Folders – Browse to the location where you’d like to create the new folder, tap the action key in the bottom right corner and then select Add Folder.
• Sort Options – To change the default sort option, tap the action key in the bottom right corner followed by tapping Sort. After doing this, select your desired Sort and Order options to customize how your files and folders are displayed.
• Share – Tap and hold the file you’d like to share and then tap the action key in the bottom right corner and select Share. A menu will appear with available sharing options such as email, BBM or (my personal favorite) NFC!

Read more tips on using the File Manager on BlackBerry 10

It’s time to release the next update for BBM Channels. Ready? I hope so, because here we go.

Now available in the latest and greatest BBM Channels beta:

• Search for Channels: Within the “Browse Channels” tab, you can now search for and discover new channels! There are thousands of channels out there – and we’re excited to hear which ones you love.
• Active Text for Channel PINs Within BlackBerry OS: Just like regular BBM PINs, if you post a BBM Channel PIN, it will be clickable – so now you can share your Channel PIN in Facebook or Twitter and help more friends discover your Channel. (Coming to BlackBerry 10 with the 10.1 update mid-summer)
• Browse Content Tab in BB10, Shows New Content Only: Why feature channels you already subscribe to, right? Within the Browse Channels tab, featured channels are displayed. With this release, BBM hides channels that you already subscribe to from this view.
• Deleting My Own Channel: Users may now delete their own channels from the device. Critical for those who later decided their channel theme was a bad idea.
• Repost Channel Content: BBM Channels now allows you to repost content in your own channel. If you find something funny or cool in another channel, share it within your channel! Don’t just keep it to yourself – help your friends discover awesome content too.
• View Subscriber Count: Users may now see the total number of subscribers to a channel, from the channel preview screen.
• Support for Animated GIF’s: Yes, it’s true! Whether you pronounce it “G”IF or “J”IF, BBM Channel owners may now add an animated GIF to their posts, bringing motion and a richer experience to their channels.

Now head over to the BlackBerry Betazone, get the latest client, and go have some fun!

It’s that time again – BlackBerry World Wednesday! I’m excited about the fantastic list of apps that have joined the BlackBerry 10 platform this week, and what we have listed here is just a small selection of newly available games, apps, tools, and more. I’ve got my BlackBerry Premium Stereo Headset plugged in right now as I boot up Soundhound. Read on for the full list, and be sure to let us know your favorite app in the comments.

BlackBerry Z10 Apps:

Music & Audio:

• Soundhound (SoundHound Inc.) – also available on the BlackBerry Q10

Productivity:

• BigHand (BigHand)
• Mobile Loan Calculator for BlackBerry 10 (CompuRex)

Travel:

• Hotel Quickly (Hotel Quickly Inc.)

Gaming:

• A&E Ultimate History Quiz (AE Networks)

BlackBerry Q10 Apps:

Navigation & Travel:

• Vueling Airlines (Vueling Airlines SA)
• MakeMyTrip (MakeMyTrip)

Music & Audio:

• Sony Music – Bollywood Remix (Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.)

News & Magazines:

• Formula 1 for BlackBerry 10 (Cadena Capriles by s42)
• Bollywood Hungama (Hungama.com Pvt. Ltd.)
• ABP News (Media Content and Communication Services Pvt. Ltd.)
• Economic Times (Times Internet Limited)
• Cosmopolitan (India Today Group)

Lifestyle:

• Autotrader.ca (Trader Corporation)
• PC Plus (Loblaws Inc.)
• Renfe (Renfe)
• VoucherCloud (Invitation Digital Ltd.)
• My EE (Everything Everywhere Ltd.)

Entertainment:

• FaceMix for BlackBerry 10 (Inovidea Magna Global)

BlackBerry Dev Picks of the Week:

Here are the top 5 ‘must-haves’ apps according to our developers here at BlackBerry:

1. GialloZafferano (Banzai) “This app has a lot of cooking recipes of the famous dishes Italian cuisine and video recipes by GialloZafferano, the leading cooking portal in Italy.”
2. Hotel Quickly (Hotel Quickly Ltd.) “This app is what you need when you travel to south east Asia. It provides a lot of choices for affordable hotels. Through the app you can book the hotel room, view the room, see updated prices, and more. I chose this app since it very useful for backpackers and travelers – I also booked a room during my journey.”
3. MoneyMind (K2 Mobile) “Manage your expenses with this app.”
4. Photo Assistant Outdoor (DageMcc DS) “With this app we can estimate the best setting for our camera depending on the time and location. It can suggest or calculate what we should use to get a good picture. It very useful for photographer from amateur to professional. I find it very useful for me that’s why I nominate this app.”
5. Penalty World Cup (Genera Mobile) “This game is attractive you can play as both the shooter and the goal keeper”
6. Carnivores Dinosaur Hunter (Tatem Games) “This is a great action game, and with you as a dinosaur hunter there’s great entertainment value”

Latest App News: Keep an eye out for TDD Waterhouse, Discovery Channel and CNN News apps which will be available for the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 in the next week! Also in the next week, PGA Tour app and Piano app will be available for the BlackBerry Q10.

For a look at all BlackBerry 10 apps, head to BlackBerry World. Let me know what apps and games you’d like to see in BlackBerry World by leaving a comment below.

As I’ve been travelling around and meeting people who’ve just got their new BlackBerry Z10 or BlackBerry Q10 smartphone – one question I get asked a lot (other than where can I buy it) is do you have any tips or helpful how-to’s for using the device? The answer, my savvy readers, – is yes, we have a number of resources to help you with your awesome new BlackBerry 10 device.

Inside BlackBerry Help blog

First and foremost – we have our very own blog dedicated to all things Help. Here it’s easy to find articles on some of the most popular FAQs, tips, tricks and in depth how-to’s – as a new BlackBerry 10 resource this would be my first stop.

And right alongside the blog is a Twitter handle @BlackBerryHelp that dishes out support and friendly advice to its followers and more.

BlackBerry How-To Videos

For those of you who are more visual learners, we have a number of dedicated help videos and tutorials on our YouTube channel. Check out this one below about the time shift camera for an example of what you can expect:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Get Started Demos – at BlackBerry.com

On BlackBerry.com we have dedicated pages of resources for those just starting out. Naturally, we call it “Support” but there’s a ton of information to get you started. You’ll find an additional set of resources dedicated to your new BlackBerry 10 device. And if checking out videos on YouTube just wasn’t for you, the support page has an itemized list of interactive walkthroughs for popular topics like:

• Getting started
• Switching devices
• Account Setup
• …and more

Well, there you go – just a few resources to get you up and running smoothly on your new BlackBerry 10 device. Swing by any of the above for helpful tips and if you’re having trouble be sure to reach out to my friends @BlackBerryHelp on Twitter.

Stay connected with your friends and family while on-the-go with the latest Facebook update for BlackBerry 10. The Facebook app for BlackBerry 10 has seen a number of updates since we’ve launched and it keeps getting better with every new iteration. The Facebook app v10.2.0 for BlackBerry 10 is no exception. It brings a refreshed new design and many features that are designed to make your mobile Facebook experience on BlackBerry 10 amazing.

What’s new in Facebook v10.2.0 for BlackBerry 10

• Create an album: You can now create a new albums from your photos page, so organizing all those great shots you capture on your BlackBerry 10 device is easy.
• Upload to a specific album: now you can add a new photo to an existing album on your Facebook page, or to that new album you just created.
• Enable tagging in existing photos: Want to tag a photo that already exists on Facebook from you BlackBerry 10 device? Now you can with this feature that’s new to the app.
• New ways to toggle and easily view photos: Easily toggle between all your photos and Albums. All photos comprises of all the photos with you in them. Album photos are photos you have uploaded yourself.
• Newsfeed design refresh: The newsfeed has been refined with a few visual tweaks that make navigating the Facebook app for BlackBerry 10 that much more enjoyable.

Are you a Facebook for BlackBerry 10 enthusiast? I’d love to hear from you about what you think of the app and what features you’d like to see added in the comments below. Be sure to download the Facebook app from BlackBerry World and give it a spin.

Facebook for BlackBerry 10 smartphones version 10.2.0 is available globally for devices running BlackBerry 10 version 10.1.

For example, do you know how to enter accented characters or symbols such as a trademark symbol?

1. Inserting Accented Characters & Symbols 

Adding special characters is really easy, all you need to do is hold the key that corresponds with the accent or symbol you’d like to insert. After holding the key for a second you’ll be shown a list of available characters. For example, in the screenshots below I am holding the R key on a BlackBerry Z10. It works the same on a BlackBerry Q10.

Tip: To use accented characters in a text message complete the following steps:

1. Access BlackBerry Hub
2. Tap the action key in the bottom right corner
3. Tap Settings followed by Text Messages
4. Tap the Advanced icon and set Allow Special Characters to On

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »

With her love for BlackBerry tweeted proudly across the internet, Heather has been on our radar for some time – so imagine how excited we were to run into her and her family at BlackBerry Live this month! We could not resist the opportunity to talk with her and bring her into the Fan of the Month (FOTM) club!

Meet Heather: A self-proclaimed BlackBerry fanatic, she plays on Team BlackBerry from multiple angles. For work, Heather praises BlackBerry as a key tool in getting organized. In her personal life, Heather keeps in touch with close friends and family through BBM. For play, Heather gives a big thumbs up to BlackBerry’s Travel app which kept her from staying overnight in an airport on her way to BlackBerry Live (read the impressive story below)!

Heather’s family has racked up a whopping 16 BlackBerry devices over the past few years—but it’s not just her own household that she’s spreading BlackBerry love to. Heather is the brains behind “Make Baby Smart,” a BlackBerry Z10 app that allows parents to show their newborn a series of images that can aid perceptual development. Yup, she’s training the future of Team BlackBerry young!

We are PSYCHED to dub Heather our June FOTM. Read on as Heather (@heatherwight) tells all:

1. How many years have each of you been on Team BlackBerry?
My family has been on Team BlackBerry since 2007, starting with one of BlackBerry’s first color models, the BlackBerry 7230.

2. How many BlackBerry devices have you both had in total? Could you list them all out for us?
Our family has had 16 BlackBerry devices, so far. But of course, we have plans for more. We started with the BlackBerry 7230, then we moved on to two BlackBerry Curve devices, a BlackBerry Storm, two BlackBerry Bold 9000 devices, two BlackBerry Torch 9800 devices, and a BlackBerry Torch 9810.

We currently have in our possession: two 16 GB BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, a 32 GB BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, two black BlackBerry Z10 devices, and two red developer’s limited edition BlackBerry Z10 devices. We will also be getting at least one BlackBerry Q10 when it becomes available in the United States in early June.

3. How many BBM contacts does each of you currently have?
We have a total of 32 BBM contacts. We primarily use BBM to stay in contact with close friends and family.

4. What are your favorite BBM emoticons?
My personal favorite is the “nerd” emoticon, because I am such a nerd at heart. But I frequently use the emoticons with smilies, hearts, and kisses.

5. What is the best BBM either of you ever received?
The best BBMs I have ever received are the day to day messages from my close friends and family. So, I guess I’m pretty fortunate that I get the best BBMs every day.

6. Heather, if you could BBM your BlackBerry, what would you say? How do you think your BlackBerry would respond?
I’d ask if the notification symbol is a “splat” or a “spark.” It would say: “Splat!”
*Donny’s note – it’s a “spark”.

7. Heather, we know you developed an app for the BlackBerry Z10. Tell us more about what your app does, and where you got the brilliant idea for it.
“Make Baby Smart” is the name of our application. It allows parents to show their newborn a series of images — over 200 in total — which include high-contrast colors and patterns as well as facial imagery. Studies have shown that newborns are more capable of perceiving high contrast imagery and doing so can aid in their perceptual development. Just as importantly, we’ve seen that babies are not only fascinated by the imagery in our app, but also seem to really enjoy looking at it.

As to the origins of “Make Baby Smart,” we developed the application on BlackBerry 10 for the Z10 after I attended BlackBerry Jam Americas (San Jose) while I was 8 months pregnant. There are physical flashcards that serve a similar purpose available for sale online, but when you are 8 months pregnant, the idea of lugging around hundreds of such flashcards in your already crowded purse seems very, very far from ideal.

“Make Baby Smart” is available by searching for “Make Baby Smart” in BlackBerry World or via the following link http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/24383879/.

8. How does BlackBerry keep each of you organized with your work?
BlackBerry’s devices are fantastic when it comes to staying organized. Brandon, my husband, uses the BlackBerry Remember app on his BlackBerry Z10 to implement a modified form of David Allen’s “GTD”. BlackBerry 10′s invocation/sharing features make quickly sending future action items from email to BlackBerry Remember very easy.

I was extremely impressed with the BlackBerry Travel app too. I love how it scans your email and messages for you and incorporates all of the travel information into one itinerary. The app even notified us of flight changes before the airlines did!

In fact, one early status update we received from BlackBerry Travel saved us from an awful experience on the way to BlackBerry Live this year. We were notified by BlackBerry Travel that our flight was delayed (but the change hadn’t been posted to the screens in the airport yet). We went to speak with someone at the airline to see what was going on. They were going to move us to another airline, change gates, and hopefully switch our luggage over so we might have it in time for BlackBerry Live. We were going to end up spending hours and possibly the night at the airport for our layover. This was going to be a nightmare with a five month old baby in tow. We asked about any other possibilities and the woman found a way for us to get on a flight with the original airline and it was leaving in just few minutes. We ended up getting to Orlando an hour earlier than our original plans! Had we not had BlackBerry Travel, we wouldn’t have known about all of the changes until it would have been too late to catch the earlier flight.

At any rate, it’s really important to us to have devices that can multi-task seamlessly. BlackBerry smartphones are so solid and they always work.

9. What did you both think about BlackBerry Live? Did any announcement in particular stand out?
We loved BlackBerry Live. The entertainment, food, and opportunity to celebrate with fellow BlackBerry fans was amazing. I was pleased to hear that BBM will be going cross-platform. Right now I use it primarily for close family and friends, but the introduction of channels and the potentially broader audience makes me think it may become my favorite overall social network, as well.

Brandon liked the new list of 10.2 APIs and the “headless” app announcements. He also pointed out that the developer relations team tends to announce not only new features, but new ways of looking at what a BlackBerry app ought to be as opposed to apps on other platforms. This time around, the mantra was for apps to “sense, understand, and adapt,” which made perfect sense given the introduction of new APIs like geo-fencing. Finally, Brandon thought, as an end user and a BlackBerry fan, that the WiFi Direct / MiraCast announcement for 10.2 had the potential to make the devices very, very useful for presentations, gaming, and streaming media and thought the “coolness” of that announcement was somewhat overlooked by many given the event’s large and trans-formative announcements regarding BBM.

10. And finally Heather, we just have to ask: Are you prepared to handle the fame that comes with being our Fan of the Month?
I’ll try to use my 15 minutes of BlackBerry Fan of the Month fame wisely. I’ll do something like donate time helping the less fortunate and setting up a charity. *wink* But in all seriousness, we are very grateful to BlackBerry for the wonderful experiences at their events and for making great devices. Keep up the great work!

Be sure to check out the other awesome members of the BlackBerry Fan of the Month (FOTM) club:

January – Brian (@newshutr)
February – Ivan (@IvanSHarris)
March – Jane (@photosfromabb)
April – Josh (@BBbrodyBB)
May - Mark (@AllAboutMyBB)
June – JT (@jt_teran)
July – Kimberly (@kmcooley)
August – Mike (@flash0p)
September – Jon (@nerdologist_jon)
October – Guido (@FuriousGuido)
November – Ange (@Afl2277)
December – Zalman (@Zalman5K)
January 2013 – Arisham (@arisham2003)
February 2013 – Julie and Andrew
March 2013 – Gino (@eugenbaban)
April 2013 – Sergio (@icemanswimmer)

Keep sharing your FOTM suggestions with us, either by leaving a comment below, tweeting to us @BlackBerry on Twitter, or posting on our Facebook page. Stay tuned – our July FOTM could be YOU!

It’s mid-week and I thought I’d give you all an excuse to take a break from the daily grind. So, grab your BlackBerry 10 device and head to BlackBerry World to checkout some of the latest apps and games to hit the storefront. Whether you’re looking to increase productivity with new business apps, or do quite the opposite with the latest games, I’ve got you covered.

Read the list of featured new apps and games below categorized by device and genre for your convenience.

BlackBerry Z10 Apps:

Multimedia:

• CBC Music (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
• Bangkok Post (The Post Publishing Public Company Limited)
• Revista Dinero (Pulicaciones Semana S.A)
• Jamaica Observer (Software Architects Limited)

Business and Travel:

• MyBuses (mxData Ltd)
• myCycleHire (mxData Ltd)
• GoldCare MobilityPlus (Campana Systems Inc.)*

BlackBerry Q10 Apps:

Gaming:

• Asphalt 7: Heat (Gameloft Inc.)
• The Amazing Spiderman (Gameloft Inc.)
• Pou (Paul Salame)

News & Business

• India News (India Today Group)
• Business Today (India Today Group)

Sports:

• Soccer Ticker for BlackBerry 10 (PT INSPIRA SOLUSI INDONESIA)
• Al Jazeera Sport (Perform Media Services Ltd)

Lifestyle and Health:

• PriceCheck (PriceCheck Pty Ltd)

*Also available on BlackBerry Q10

BlackBerry Dev Picks of the Week:

Here are the top 5 ‘must-haves’ apps according to our developers here at BlackBerry:

1. Stickers for BBM™ (DrunkEddyLabs) “This app contains many static emoticons and animation. This is rather funny to express our feelings from BBM”
2. FaceMix for BlackBerry 10  (Inovidea Magna Global) “Mix different faces, very simple to use!”
3. Photo Crush (David Jones II) “This app compresses the image. It’s very useful when you need to send an image fast.”
4. 3K Heroes TD (Beijing flyfish Co. Ltd) “Defense game – very addictive to play and fun.”
5. Astraware Crosswords (Astraware Limited) “It’s a simple crosswords game but it’s quite tricky. It contains many levels of varying difficulties which ensures the player won’t be bored (especially for those who like puzzle or riddle game like myself)”

Latest App News: Keep an eye out this week for SoundHound, Keek, Discovery Channel and Channel News Asia. If you’re a sports fan, you can also expect to see Official Tottenham FC, Official Newcastle FC, Official Chelsea App and Goal.com on both BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10!

For a look at all BlackBerry 10 apps, head to BlackBerry World.Let me know what apps and games you’d like to see in BlackBerry World by leaving a comment below.

Mobile Computing is at risk of becoming the buzz-word of the year, but no one seems to be exactly clear on what it is and more importantly what it means for consumers, enterprises, carriers, partners, and anyone involved in the mobile ecosystem. There’s an incredible opportunity for this space to be defined, and today we’re introducing a solution that begins to do just that.

Here at the Telematics Detroit Conference, we’ve unveiled a solution for automakers that lets them easily manage and securely download software updates to a vehicle. The Software Update Management for Automotive service leverages BlackBerry’s global, secure infrastructure.

Vehicles hold a lot of digital information needed to operate efficiently, and come with sophisticated in-vehicle infotainment systems, apps, media centers, and more. Automakers want to be able to deliver software updates that can offer new, compelling capabilities to their customers, long after the initial sale. With vehicles becoming connected end points, the opportunity is wireless. A secure connection to end points such as this, enabled by BlackBerry technology, will help automakers connect with customers and allow them to bring new features, and potentially diagnose problems remotely.

The development of OTA services is part of BlackBerry’s broader mobile computing strategy. BlackBerry is providing the foundation for a new era of mobile computing by connecting mobile end points securely and creating opportunities for community building, connecting, and sharing.

Personally, I couldn’t be more excited by where this is all going. I’ve become convinced of a very bright future in the form of mobile computing and dramatically increased connectivity to the devices and machines that we use.

To learn more about the BlackBerry solution demonstrated at the Telematics Detroit Conference, head over to www.blackberry.com/m2m.

Use your imagination! What would you like to see in the future of connected end points that would make your life easier, safer, or more enjoyable? Share in the comments below.

For those of you who love the Angry Birds franchise and your new BlackBerry 10 smartphone, you’re in for a treat.

Angry Birds Space is launching for BlackBerry 10 today and bringing with it a new character with a ‘Rock Star’ personality. While the birds have been defying gravity in space for some time now, an update to the game introduces us to Slashbird inspired by a certain guitar god. Music aficionados will likely see the resemblance!

Angry Birds Space introduces you to new adventures on planets and in zero gravity, resulting in spectacular gameplay ranging from slow-motion puzzles to lightspeed destruction. With brand new birds, brand new superpowers, flying space pigs and a whole galaxy to explore, the sky is no longer the limit!

Head to the BlackBerry World storefront today to purchase and download Angry Birds Space. It truly is an awesome game, and be sure to checkout Angry Birds Star Wars as well, which has been on the BlackBerry 10 platform since launch. Which Angry Birds character is your fav? Let me know in the comments.

*Please note the app may take up to 24 hours to appear in the BlackBerry World storefront