WinScribe is a nice dictation/transcription/voice recognition software that has finally made a debut into the BlackBerry world. The new WinScribe now has a client for BlackBerry devices. Josep just sent me a link to the press release.

The software is targeted towards lawyers but I can see other professionals benefiting from the application especially doctors. You can read more about the software on the product page at the link below:

http://www.winscribe.com/blackberry/winscribe_blackberry.asp

Full press release:

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 4, 2008 - WinScribe announced today that the newest component of the WinScribe Mobility Suite, which supports BlackBerry® smartphones, will be released February 6, 2008. The new application will be on display at ALM’s Legal Tech New York show being held at the Hilton New York Hotel February 5 - 7, 2008.

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 4, 2008 — WinScribe announced today that the newest component of the WinScribe Mobility Suite, which supports BlackBerry® smartphones, will be released February 6, 2008. The new application will be on display at ALM’s Legal Tech New York show being held at the Hilton New York Hotel February 5 - 7, 2008.

WinScribe offers a sleek dictation application for BlackBerry smartphones. The application streamlines and simplifies the dictation process and speeds up work turnaround with its fully featured finger touch control, secure voice and data transmission, speech recognition integration and online/offline functionality.

WinScribe will be demonstrating this functionality and discuss the benefits at BlackBerry booth (#2008/2010) at LegalTech New York on February 6th from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Demonstrations will be performed at WinScribe’s booth (#2109/2111) during conference hours February 5th, 6th and 7th. Visitors will have the opportunity to request a free, 60 day test-drive of the WinScribe application for BlackBerry smartphones.

Thring Townsend Lee & Pembertons a leading law firm in the UK participated in the worldwide WinScribe Beta program. “WinScribe has hit the mark with their BlackBerry® application. Rather than carrying around several devices, WinScribe’s key objective was to make life easier for the mobile lawyer by combining the accessibility of all applications onto one device” said Russell Mitchell of Thring Townsend.

“Business is increasingly mobile and workers are unable to be constrained to a fixed location,” said Brian Allan Vice President Global Marketing at WinScribe. “The BlackBerry® platform is the de facto standard for mobile professionals and working with Research In Motion through the BlackBerry® ISV Alliance Program has helped to provide WinScribe with the resources, support, and tools we needed to develop, market, and sell worldwide. The release of our innovative application for BlackBerry smartphones is great news for our 3,500 customer sites.”

Legal professionals around the world continue to embrace the BlackBerry platform for its ability to help them increase efficiency and deliver higher quality service to their clients,” said Jeff McDowell, Vice President, Global Alliances at Research In Motion. “WinScribe is an excellent example of a value-added application for BlackBerry smartphones that enables greater convenience and productivity for legal professionals throughout the day.”

WinScribe will also take part in the BlackBerry SuperSession event, which will highlight the latest technological advances on the BlackBerry platform and demonstrate how mobile applications for law firms can help them increase client satisfaction, billable hours and productivity, reduce cost, and sharpen the organization’s competitive advantage. WinScribe’s segment entitled Using Your BlackBerry to Go Beyond Digital Dictation will be at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 6th in Nassau B.

About WinScribe

WinScribe is a world leading provider of digital dictation software supporting business requirements for digital dictation, transcription, voice recognition, and workflow management. Founded in 1989, WinScribe has offices in the USA, UK, New Zealand and Switzerland, with more than 100 sales partners in over 25 countries supporting more than 300,000 users worldwide.

The WinScribe solution is built on Microsoft architecture, to ensure easy integration and maintenance. WinScribe also supports a wide range of manufacturer-independent dictation devices and is scalable from small, single office locations up to large multinational corporations. WinScribe is fully customizable to meet the needs of a number of significant vertical markets including Legal, Law Enforcement, Healthcare, Transcription, Insurance and Government Sectors.

I just got this urgent email on my BlackBerry. It turns out that some registered users of Empower, including myself, have been getting error messages in the latest version of Empower Mail Viewer Pro. A bug seems to be causing the program to incorrectly notify you that your registration has expired. By downloading the new update from www.getempower.com/ota you can resolve the issue.

Hi,

We have released a critical upgrade to EMV Pro. You must upgrade to the latest version otherwise the software may stop functioning.

Please install the latest version OTA by clicking on the following link on your blackberry : http://www.getempower.com/emvpro/

The version number for the latest update start with 3.0.66

Thanks & Regards,
Team Empower

Magmic has run a little late on their usual Thursday releases but I guess Friday is pretty close. Today they just released two new hot games for BlackBerry. NEXT is a familiar puzzle game that I have seen for a few devices but sadly it has no trial.

What really perked my interest is the new Heroes Lore game which seems to be a real RPG for BlackBerry devices!!! The RPG comes from Korea and the screenshots look promising. The best part is that there is a trial so you can check it out before you buy. There is even a YouTube video of the gameplay on the product page that you can check out. I wish Magmic would include that with every game. One of the heros is even named Ronin.

UPDATE: I was just told by Magmic and a couple of readers that Magmic incorrectly indicated that there was a trial available for Heroes Lore. Sadly there is no trial available but hopefully we will get working on a review soon.

I will leave the explanations of the games to Magmic:

NEXT – $7.99

think you’re smart? Make your NEXT move to solve this 64 level game.

Challenge yourself and your friends. Entertaining and absolutely addictive! Discover 64 levels with this new addictive game for your BlackBerry. Find the right moves to match colored blocks by groups of 2 or 3. Many features are here to help you such as unlimited UNDO moves and animations.

Features:
- 64 challenging levels
- unlimited undo
- games saved

Heroes Lore – Wind Of Soltia – $9.99

Journey into a land of heroes to save an entire world from evil in this epic adventure of combat, quests, magic and monsters.

The best selling mobile sensation from Korea has arrived on Western mobiles! Journey into a land of heroes to save an entire world from evil in this epic adventure of combat, quests, magic and monsters. Discover the truth behind your mysterious past and gain mastery over powerful magic that lets you control the elements and summon powerful guardians to do your bidding. Battle through untold dangers and collect a massive arsenal of swords, axes, shields and armor, combining them with magic to create the ultimate weapons for your epic quest. Voyage through a huge game world of dungeons, towns and vast wastelands - all filled with deadly monsters and giant bosses. Confront your destiny and become a true hero of legend!

Gary has released a hot Zen theme on Themes4BB yesterday that really impressed me. The theme is based upon the 1967 Ford Galaxy 500XL and is done in a Zen style. The icons seem to be stock but the theme itself is very innovative. This theme is intended for car lovers and uses gauges to measure your battery and network coverage.

I will let the screenshots speak for themselves.

Gary has provided both an OTA link and Desktop download on Themes4BB. According to Gary this is his last theme for a bit so send him a bit of thanks. I do know that he does not ask for personal donations for any of his themes. Instead if you feel so inclined he asks that you donate to the The National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Thanks Gary!

NancyDrew has struck again on Themes4BB with her latest release of her Candy Hearts theme. This is just a plain theme without any Zen or Today styling but I love the choice of backgrounds. It brought me back to the days when everybody used to eat those disgusting little Valentines Day candies. (I hope somebody likes them)

The theme is pretty chich with a pink background but it has a nice font face and the icons fit the theme perfectly. I could do without the pink but it is Valentines Day.

The theme is desktop install only for now but hopefully Steve will work his magic with an OTA option soon. Thanks NancyDrew for the latest release!

You can pick it up on Themes4BB.com at this link.

During CES we mentioned the new FranklinCovey PlanPlus application for BlackBerry. At that time their website was confusing and offer very little in terms of details about the application. They finally got their act together and created a portal just for BlackBerry users. You can check out the info at the following link:

http://www.planplusonline.com/rim/

The service is actually subscription based which will be a turn off for some. It costs $9.95 a month or $99.95 for a full year. They also charge a premium for support with a choice of either $2.99 a month or $19.95 per incident. There does not seem to be a way to trial the application without purchasing it first so a leap of faith is required.

There is also a PlanPlus version with a few added features for sales people. I know many people who swear by the FranklinCovey methodology that will be grabbing this up like hot potatoes.

From their website:

PlanPlus Online by FranklinCovey for BlackBerry

Key PlanPlus Online Mobile Apps to Balance Your Mobile Life:

• Team calendaring and scheduling
• Quickly create, prioritize and delegate tasks
• Receive daily agenda text and e-mail alerts
• Dynamic contact and organization management tools
• Powerful search capability to quickly manage contacts, notes, tasks and more

Both editions feature the FranklinCovey Planning Methodology in a planner like interface that combines Tasks, Calendar, Notes and Email from the Home Page. Powerful Weekly Planning Tools will assist in prioritizing your most important tasks and goals. The Contact Management tools will keep you organized. Team collaboration and Task delegation features will take your effectiveness to new heights.

Nlusso.com has the details about another BlackBerry GPS tracking application simply called BlackBerryTracker.  The BlackBerryTracker application is free and it has a pretty simple idea. You install a program on your BlackBerry that automatically sends your location to the BlackBerryTracker.com website every 30–60 seconds. You can then login to the website and see were you are on Google Maps. Your friends that you allow can also check out your location.

There are a few twists in BlackBerryTracker that are worthy of noting. First of all they just added a feature called GeoFence. This allows you to setup a location perimeter that will notify you if the device has entered or left that area. Also they have a pretty interesting API model allowing other developers to tack on added features. You can find out more about their API on the developer Wiki.

You can sign-up free at www.BlackBerryTracker.com if you are interested. I think a GPS BlackBerry is required for the application but a GPS Bluetooth puck may work also. Thanks Josep for bringing this to our attention.

I really wish one of these tracking applications would let you know when you are near a friend. It would be a pretty cool Facebook application.

The guys at GoogleSystem have posted some great tips on how to improve your Google Mobile search. Many BlackBerry users are familiar with the customized mobile search provided by Google since March last year but Google has never bothered to explain all of the features.

Well GoogleSystem has done us a favor and detailed the top 10 uses of Google Mobile search many of which are not available in the regular desktop search that we are all familiar with.

Check them out at this link. I found it to be a great read:

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/01/tips-for-google-mobile-search.html