We’ll be continuing this video series leading up to BlackBerry Live 2013 in order to give some more background surrounding the topics that we’ll be discussing in detail during the conference.

This particular video will give you some information surrounding the upcoming roadmap items that we’re looking at our Android Runtime.  We’re joined by Matthew Whiteman to talk to us about cookies and sweet, sweet candy!

It has been discovered that bbUI.js version 0.9.5 has a rendering issue when run on BlackBerry 10.1. The device was not being accurately detected and as a result, application content was not being rendered to the screen correctly.

Issue: Grid & Image List in bbUI.js 0.9.5 running on BlackBerry 10

A fix for this issue was applied last month in version 0.9.6 which is available for download from Github. Developers have since been updating their applications and I would encourage you do the same if you haven’t done so already.  A recompile and re-submit of your application to BlackBerry World may be required.  Doing so will ensure that users will continue to enjoy your content, as it was designed, when they upgrade to BlackBerry 10.1. Note: At the time of writing, there is no ETA for when 10.1 will be published.

Upgrade Instructions:

1. Download bbUI.js version 0.9.6.
2. Replace the bbUI.js and bbUI.css files in your application.
3. Review the change Log to confirm whether any feature updates, performance improvements or compatibility changes affect your application.
4. Recompile using the BlackBerry 10 WebWorks SDK.
5. Test! Use the Dev Alpha C simulator to preview how your content will appear on BlackBerry 10.1.0.1020.
6. Once you are happy with the quality of your application, re-submit in BlackBerry World.

Fixed: Grid & Image List in bbUI.js 0.9.6 running on BlackBerry 10.1

There are many ways to develop games or applications for BlackBerry 10. This is a good thing, but if you have not developed for the BlackBerry platform or you are familiar only with the older Java-based platform, it may be overwhelming. What are your options, and how do you get started?

Several factors can help you decide which path to follow. BlackBerry 10 has four primary developer platforms, each with its own distinct style of development, advantages and frameworks you can choose from.

In this first blog post, we’ll provide an overview of some of the options available on our native development platform.

Native

The bedrock of a good developer platform is a high-performance, low-level native implementation – and BlackBerry 10 delivers. The native platform is POSIX-based, so everything from “int main(void) { printf(‘Hello World’); }” and up will run on the operating system.

Whether you are a C++ guru or you shy away from low-level code, BlackBerry 10 supports a wide variety of choices on the native development platform.

Straight C/C++

http://developer.blackberry.com/native/beta/

BlackBerry 10 is based on QNX, a powerful, stable operating system that has been refined for over 30 years. Thanks to the POSIX interface, standard Unix C/C++ will run on the platform, without additional bootstrapping. You have full access to system APIs, from the networking stack to EGL and OpenGL and the flexibility to use common practices like dynamically loading libraries.

I personally ported a significant game framework to BlackBerry in only two days, and I have heard many more stories of developers with similar experiences on the native platform. If you like C/C++ development, BlackBerry 10 is a very exciting platform.

Cascades

https://developer.blackberry.com/cascades/

If you are looking to create an application, Cascades is the Qt-based framework that we provide for the most natural of BlackBerry 10 experiences. Application code and rendering are handled in different threads, so even when you are doing heavy processing, the UI will run at a smooth 60 frames-per-second.

Many applications can be developed using C++ or using QML, or a combination of both. QML supports JavaScript, so even if you are a web developer, it can be easy to create native BlackBerry 10 applications using your existing skill-set. The BlackBerry Native SDK provides our Momentics IDE with designer support for Cascades, so you can preview and fine-tune the layout of your applications without deploying to a device or a device simulator.

Marmalade

http://www.madewithmarmalade.com

We have partnered with Marmalade to provide a first-class experience for C++ developers using the Marmalade SDK. Similar to open-source solutions such as SDL and SFML, Marmalade is designed to provide a low-level compatibility layer between multiple platforms.

Marmalade also provides additional features – such as an optimized pipeline for art assets – tailored for every target device, as well as enterprise-level support.

NME

http://www.haxenme.org

We have also partnered with NME to provide support for BlackBerry 10. Unlike the other options you have as a native developer, NME does not require that you use C or C++. Instead, NME uses a language called Haxe that is compiled to C++ automatically, giving you the performance of C++ and OpenGL while creating an environment that should feel comfortable to a Flash or Java developer.

NME is an open-source, cross-platform framework that makes it simple to use graphics, sound, input, networking and the other features you need for 2D games and applications, including libraries such as Flixel or Box2D. NME can also uniquely target mobile, desktop, Flash Player and HTML5.

cocos2d-x

http://www.cocos2d-x.org

The C++ version of the cocos2d, the popular 2D gaming framework, is available for BlackBerry 10.
Similar to other versions of the library, cocos2d-x provides structured support for scene management, physics, particle effects, tiles, spritesheets and other game-specific features. Most of the framework can also be scripted using Lua or JavaScript. cocos2d-x is an open-source, cross-platform framework with support for both mobile and desktop platforms.

gameplay

http://www.gameplay3d.org

If you would like to develop 3D games using C++, gameplay is an excellent open-source framework which is fully supported on BlackBerry 10.

gameplay supports the standards you expect, such as OpenGL shaders, device input and particles, but also provides integrated support for physics, skeletal character animation, 3D audio and support for themeable 2D and 3D UI forms. If you would like to use a scripting language, Lua bindings are support. gameplay is cross-platform, supporting mobile and desktop platforms.

These are just a few of the choices you have on the native platform for BlackBerry 10, so don’t let this limit you. If you have any questions or would like recommendations, please feel free to sound off in the comments!

It may have been the warm weather, the great food or the inspiring scenery but the developers of South Africa couldn’t have a picked a better time or place for the first BlackBerry® Jam Session Super Hackathon in Africa!

It was truly a remarkable event with people flying from Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and different parts of South Africa. To make the event even more challenging we decided to hold a multi-city hackathon: with the help of our two BlackBerry Apps Lab Managers in Pretoria and Cape Town we established a video call session so that attendees and technical resources could interact and share experiences.

The event kicked off early in the morning when, after some caffeine and calories, everyone had enough energy to function and start the brainstorming.

There were 11 teams with one team, @NegatronDev, working on two apps at the same time!

And at the end of the day, only three teams could put their hands on the prize. I had the opportunity to spend some time with all the teams and got to know them better

Best App – ReserveMe – Flying Solo (Leon Van Dyk)

Since joining our BlackBerry Jam World Tour back in July, Leon’s involvement with the BlackBerry platform has grown and he has actively participated with the activities in the BlackBerry Apps Lab in Pretoria.

“I registered for the hackathon to support the local community of developers, not only within Cape Town but also Southern Africa. The opportunity to meet local developers and network was a huge bonus with a few friendships being made before I left. I also wanted to test my BlackBerry skills and to partake in the first Jam Session Super Hackathon in Africa!” says Leon who has become quite familiar now with BlackBerry development -  “I have developed one app that involves managing events and is heavily integrated into the BlackBerry 10 experience. I intend on continuing to develop ReserveMe and refine it a bit more until it reaches my personal quality requirements as well as BlackBerry’s . I plan to have both apps in the store before launch”.

Best Design – SnapMenu – Backspace (Ndivhuwo Nthambeleni, Vutlhari Rikhotso, Eugene Masinga)

Backspace is a team based in Pretoria who decided to create a menu app for students who have a tight budget and want a wide choice of fast food.  Vutlhari told me “I get all my app ideas from problems that I face, so the idea came from a constant irritation of having to look at the display menus in restaurants.”

Coding is their passion, “I love coding, I love designing, I love apps and I love people. I subscribe to the school of thought that believes software should be free unless it makes the receiving party money. I joined because I want to aid in enhancing the experience of using a BlackBerry 10 device”.

Vutlhari is currently working on a BlackBerry 10 application that will be released soon and he’s finding the BlackBerry Apps Lab in Pretoria to be extremely useful “Yes, the lab for one has been one of the greatest things about developing for BlackBerry, along with the people, the access to tools and internet. They all have been a major help in learning BlackBerry development”

Best e-commerce – BizFinder – BrightLabs (Kehiloe Sereo, Dintle Sealetsa)
BrightLabs came all the way from Botswana to represent their development studio. They are already familiar to the BlackBerry platform having developed an app for BlackBerry OS devices called ‘ekse!’.  They decided to attend the hackathon as that was “…an unmissable opportunity to have our first ‘live’ BlackBerry event experience and join in on the fun” says Dintle.

So how do they feel about being one of the winners?

“Winning app? We still can’t get used to the sound of that! We were more than happy to just submit anything really. We brainstormed some ideas – some crazy, some colorful – until we settled on the idea we thought was easy and quick to hack, usable and of value to the user”

And it’s a pleasure to hear that they think “the BlackBerry developer community is what makes the platform fun to develop on. And BlackBerry has done great in offering these developers top-notch support and development, and a robust set of tools to work with. Happy developers are a result of a happy and fun platform and ecosystem – KUDOS!”

And when the sun was down it was time to pack everything up and head home.  The adrenaline was still high but some devs had a long way to go before being able to reach their bed.

And to sum this up “One can see huge amounts of effort was put into the event and I would like to thank everyone who participated into making it a reality and I hope to see them soon”

Not our words but we could say exactly the same!  Big thanks to the BlackBerry Apps Lab Manager of Pretoria, Jacques Du Toit, and Cape Town, Glenn Stein, for supporting us throughout the event.

And last but not least, Lany Sommers, Senior Business Development Manager, whose mastermind is responsible for building the state-of-the-art BlackBerry Apps Lab facilities across the region says ‘The talent in South Africa is overwhelming.  A HUGE thank you to all who made the event happen and for all those who participated.  What a way to inaugurate the launch of our lab in Cape Town!’

Next African stop: Nairobi, Kenya (Nov 17)
See you there!

Luca (@BlackBerryLuca) & Michael (@mweitzel)

With all the developer programs we’ve been launching lately, are you getting the feeling that we really want to help you take advantage of all the opportunities associated with BlackBerry® 10? It’s true, we do. Now there’s another cool event to tell you about: The BlackBerry Got Game Port-a-Thon.

The BlackBerry Got Game Port-a-Thon starting on November 16th is a 36-hour event dedicated to helping you get your gaming apps launched for BlackBerry 10. Since it’s a virtual event, participating is simple and hassle-free. You just register and log in from the comfort of your own space. You bring your existing gaming apps or build new gaming apps for BlackBerry 10, and we’ll have experts on hand around the clock to help you get your gaming apps up and running on BlackBerry 10.

The more you port and build, the more you get*

Getting your apps into the BlackBerry App World storefront before BlackBerry 10 launches means that you can be among the first to benefit from the universe of app-hungry customers out there. You’ll also get rewards for porting and building.

• Get one or two gaming apps approved – $100 per eligible app.
• Get between two and five gaming apps approved – $100 per eligible App and one (1) BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet
• Get between five and ten gaming apps approved - $100 per eligible App + one (1) BlackBerry PlayBook tablet + FOR THE FIRST ONE HUNDRED (100) QUALIFIED PARTICIPANTS ONLY one (1) Dev Alpha Device
• Get more than 10 gaming apps approved - $100 per app + one (1) BlackBerry PlayBook tablet + FOR THE FIRST TEN (10) QUALIFIED PARTICIPANTS ONLY one (1) Dev Alpha Device + trip to Game Developers Conference in San Francisco March 25-29, 2013

One-on-one support

Technical folks from Research In Motion will be on hand for the entire 36 hours of the Port-a-Thon to provide you with online technical support. If you get stuck or have a question, you can submit it much like you would in a webcast. If it’s something that should be handled privately, you can head to a private chat with the technical expert.

You’ll also have access to high-profile RIM gaming personalities and presentations that share insider tips and tricks.

Prepare to port and build

Since more apps ported and built means more rewards*, it’s in your best interest to get a few things ready before you join the event. Here’s what you need:

1. Register for BlackBerry App World if you haven’t already.
2. Request signature keys. Make sure that you select for BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS and BlackBerry 10 and higher. Downloading in advance is strongly recommended as the time involved to do so could prevent you from earning some rewards.
3. Load up your laptop BlackBerry tools and plug-ins. Make sure you have your full source code file readily available too.
4. Make sure you have your images and icons ready to go.

We also have porting tips and guides you can use to get a head start at developer.blackberry.com.

Let’s Play

Get your gaming apps working harder for you. Register for the BlackBerry Got Game Port-a-Thon.

*Limited to the first twenty (20) approved Apps per participant. There is a limit of one (1) BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device per BlackBerry App World vendor. To qualify for a Reward, you must register on the website at http://developer.blackberry.com/webcasts/gameportathon and submit your App into the BlackBerry App World Vendor Portal between 12:00:01 pm on November 16, 2012 and 11:59:59pm ET on November 17, 2012. Any Apps submitted outside this time frame are not eligible for this Reward program. Only those Apps that have been approved through BlackBerry App World and RIM will be considered towards a Reward. See the Official Terms and Conditions for complete details.

Last weekend was a smashing weekend for developers in Asia Pacific – almost 500 developers in India, Singapore, Malaysia, and Philippines got together and hacked their way through Friday evening to Sunday morning!

Yes, I am talking about BlackBerry® JamHack 2012, the first simultaneous Asia-Pacific-wide 40-hour BlackBerry hackathon. This weekend’s five simultaneous JamHack events were organized by Rubus Labs DevGroup (Bangalore), BlackBerry Developer Group India (Delhi), BBMYCoders (Kuala Lumpur), and PinoyBBDev and BBDevSG (Singapore)! While the 500 JamHackers were hacking in five different cities, their spirit and goal was admirably unanimous – hacking their way to the best app on BlackBerry® 10.

On Friday evening, participants started their 40-hour with registrations, networking and a series of RIM® -designed sessions, including local market insights session called “Country Vibes”, a “JamBytes” session on BlackBerry 10 design and user experience, and an introduction to the Built for BlackBerry program and the 10K Developer Commitment.

Each developer group helped participants to help form teams to ensure the best-rounded pitch on Sunday.

The hackathon started around midnight, and the dev groups had planned various icebreaker activities to wake up their contestants. If I had to pick my favorite icebreaker, it’d be the BBMYCoders Gangnam Style kickoff! Check out the video:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

A great start is always important, but what’s better than that? Solid support and non-stop energizing activities to keep awake! Throughout the 40 hours, developer group leaders, co-managers, partners, business development teams and RIM Developer Relations were present to motivate and help our hackers. But it didn’t end at that: Our experts in RIM Canada didn’t want to feel left out, so they offered virtual help-desk hours for our hackers through Twitter® (#BBJamHelp) which saw over a hundred questions and tweets! Special thanks to @Naveenan5, @PratikSapra, @RSSessantotto, and @WaterlooErik for staying up through the weekend to support our APAC developers.

Other than providing support, the developer group managers were also busy keeping the teams entertained (and awake)! If the participants were bored of coding, needed a breather, or just wanted an excuse to have fun, there were exciting activities that kept them up. Let’s take a look at what tactics were used by our group leaders to keep their participants awake:

Massage Corner by PinoyBBDev
Tired from hacking? Teams in Philippines were rewarded by one of the best break activities they can get – a spa treatment onsite!

Quiztions by PinoyBBDev
Quizzes are fun, and even more so when they are done over Twitter. PinoyBBDev planned a social media quiz with small giveaways for the quiztion winners.

Pen in Bottle by BBMYCoders
While the Pinoy Devs were busy getting massages, the KL JamHackers were tasked by BBMYCoders team to complete a task — but what are they doing?

Photo courtesy of BBMyCoders

The deal is that they had to untie a pen from their back and drop the pen into a bottle behind them, with a paper bag over their head. Sounds fun and simple, but they were definitely trying hard to get the special prizes given out!

Some other fun activities:

Game on at the Gamezones

Best DJ

Singing Competition on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet

Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games — the teams had to work hard on getting the apps done within the 40 hours, and their hard work and efforts were all worth it! It absolutely showed during the pitching sessions – more than 100 apps were showcased across the five cities. Here were the teams from the pitches and their winning apps:

Bangalore, India

Winner: Team QEDGE
App: Story Board, a presentation and slides creation HTML application on BlackBerry 10

Delhi, India

Winner: Team Fukraaas
App: UnTANGLED, a complex puzzle game built with HTML on BlackBerry 10

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Winner: Team Websmith ATP
App: 1BB, an augmented reality application on BlackBerry 10
For more event highlights, check out BBMYCoders’ post: http://bit.ly/BBMYCodersJamHack

Manila, the Philippines

Winner: Team Rain Creative
App: Realm of Elysium, a strategy game inspired by Battleship

Singapore

Winner: Tiam Yang, Tyler Projects Ptd Ltd
App: Drop Zone, a HTML game on BlackBerry 10

All in all, the participants had loads of fun, were rewarded with giveaways, and walked away with awesome prizes even if they didn’t win. Teams walked away with a bag of great goodies such as water bottles, t-shirts, stickers, and more. Also, all participants who attended BlackBerry JamHack received a BlackBerry JamHack rewards badge on BlackBerry JamZone as well as a free pass to BlackBerry Jam Asia 2012 in Thailand! Spirits were definitely sky high when the events ended and everyone walked away a winner.

This series of JamHacks would not have been possible without the BlackBerry developer groups. To find out more about the developer groups behind the scenes of the awesome JamHacks, check out:

• Bangalore: Rubus Labs DevGroup
• Delhi: BlackBerry Developer Group India
• Kuala Lumpur: BBMYCoders
• Manila: PinoyBBDev
• Singapore: BBDevSG

Registration for the next five cities is still open – so don’t miss your chance to be jammin’ with us on October 19-21 (5-city simultaneous hacks):

• Indonesia – Jakarta by BBDevID
• Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City by BlackBerry Viet Nam Dev Group
• Thailand – Bangkok by @BBDevThailand
• China – Shanghai by CNBBDev
• Australia – Melbourne

All ten winners from BlackBerry JamHack city events will be walking away with an all-expenses paid trip to the BlackBerry Jam Asia in Bangkok, where they will be vying with nine other teams to be crowned Asia Pacific champions and receive the grand prize of an all-expenses paid trip to BlackBerry 10 global launch, amongst other great prizes!

Follow the hashtag #BBJamHack to find out more about the JamHack events – here are some tweets we were pretty proud to see:

Interested to learn more about some program or events mentioned above? Click to learn more about:

• BlackBerry JamHack 2012
• BlackBerry Jam Asia 2012
• How to form a Developer Group in your region
• BlackBerry Jam Rewards program

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Guest post from Marysia on our EMEA team – Ed.

We recently took a very short break from our mammoth BlackBerry® Jam World Tour to settle in London for two days at Apps World Europe. Now in its third year, Apps World has grown to become one of the leading multi-platform events in the mobile industry, with over 6,000 visitors through the doors over the course of the conference. And BlackBerry was there in force!

During the two days of the event, developers visited our stand in their droves to get a hands-on experience with the latest build of the BlackBerry® 10 software and to learn more about the opportunity with our brand new platform. Our team of developer evangelists were also on hand to give visitors more information about how to port their existing apps over to BlackBerry 10.

After heading to London directly from the BlackBerry Jam Americas event in San Jose, Alec Saunders held a standing-room only presentation on the latest developer updates for BlackBerry 10, including the news that BlackBerry 10 developer tools are now API-complete and that as of October 10, BlackBerry 10 apps can be submitted to the BlackBerry App World™ storefront. He also talked in more detail about our new 10k Reasons to Believe campaign and how this can benefit developers.

It was great to see so many developers keen to hear about the new platform (some of whom shared their thoughts in the video above) and many of whom have already signed up to join us in Amsterdam for BlackBerry Jam Europe in early February 2013. Until then, it’s back on the road with the BlackBerry Jam Tour. See you there!

In honor of 10/10 and the opening of BlackBerry App World™ for BlackBerry 10 app submissions, we’ve put together a list of the 10 most viewed blog posts in the developer blog about BlackBerry 10. It’s been an eventful couple of months! Check out how far we’ve come:

1. BlackBerry 10 Cascades™ is here!
2. Introducing Built for BlackBerry and the $10K Developer Commitment
3. Standardizing on Screen Resolutions for BlackBerry 10 devices
4. The BlackBerry 10 Native SDK Experience
5. BlackBerry 10 WebWorks™ SDK Released!
6. BlackBerry 10 – The Evolution from Beta to Gold
7. Flight Arrival Boards have been posted!
8. The BlackBerry 10 User Agent String Has Arrived!
9. BlackBerry 10 Samples Galore
10. Creating Outstanding Apps with bbUI.js – Community Tutorial

Now, you can submit your app to the BlackBerry App World for BlackBerry 10.

What was your favorite BlackBerry 10 related blog post? Share with us in the comments below!

We’re extremely excited to let you know that we have just launched the BlackBerry® Elite program for our developer community. This is an exclusive program that recognizes, empowers and rewards our most influential and passionate BlackBerry developer advocates around the world.

In the initial launch wave, we are inviting 100 developers from around to become members of the BlackBerry Elite. What do they all have in common? Whether it’s someone who consistently ranks as a top contributor in the BlackBerry developer forums, brings together the community by leading local developer groups, is regarded as a subject matter expert on BlackBerry development, or is a code contributor to BlackBerry open source projects – every individual has and continues to show their commitment to our platform and the community in their own unique way.

Some of the cool and exclusive rewards that BlackBerry Elite members receive are opportunities to travel to regional BlackBerry® Jam events, priority access to developer SDKs, among the first to receive new BlackBerry products, meetings with the RIM® senior executive team, and so much more. We realize our BlackBerry Elites do a lot for us, and we want to ensure they are well rewarded.

If you know amazing people who should be considered for the BlackBerry Elite program, please make sure you nominate them — and yes, you can nominate yourself! We are always searching for the best candidates and want the community to tell us who you think stands out.

Congratulations to all our 2012 BlackBerry Elite members and make sure to check them out in our Hall of Fame!

BlackBerry® 10 Jam World Tour – Montreal – July 11, 2012

A recent report by Baird Equity Research is getting some pick up today on the interwebs. The report shows that developer intent for BlackBerry 10 is on the decline. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked by the findings. I was shocked because the numbers in the report do not gel with what we’re seeing in the real world. The report contradicts much of what we are seeing and hearing in our developer community.

In the past year our BlackBerry App World ™ vendor base has grown 157 percent. We have developers submitting amazing apps for BlackBerry® PlayBook™ users. In fact, the BlackBerry PlayBook app catalog has grown by more than 15,000 apps since January 1 of this year. We just announced that more than three billion applications have been downloaded from BlackBerry App World since launch.

But much more importantly, the BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour we are currently hosting in 23 cities across the globe has seen over capacity registration in almost every city, including New York, Santa Clara, Toronto, Jakarta, Singapore, Delhi, and Montreal. We have already spoken to almost 5,000 developers and the feedback has been phenomenal (don’t take my word for it, search Twitter for the hashtag #bb10jam).

I have been receiving a lot of feedback from developers personally and I can tell you that I am hearing again and again that developers are amazed by how easy it is to work with the BlackBerry 10 tools. They appreciate the open nature of our platform, which allows developers to bring their work and their skills and find a toolset that will work for them. The other thing I hear consistently is that RIM simply treats developers better than anyone else in the mobile industry. That is music to my ears! I want to once again thank our developer community. You see what we are doing to increase our support for you. You see what RIM is building with BlackBerry 10 and the amazing opportunity to be part of our new platform and you have shared your enthusiasm and excitement with us.

To all new developers coming on board, we are building something amazing and we know you will be impressed by the open nature of our platform and our commitment to you. Welcome!

The numbers we have provided speak for themselves. Developers around the world are seeing that BlackBerry is here to help them build a successful business.