So we’ve updated the socialinvocation sample to include examples of how to invoke Foursquare with all of the currently supported invocation parameters.

As you can see, Foursquare allows BlackBerry 10 developers to leverage their app in a number of different ways, both through Cards and the Invocation Framework.

Big thanks to Kyle from Foursquare who has also documented these features in his sample app:  https://github.com/foursquare/foursquare-bb10-sdk

If you want to learn more about Social Invocation and why you should be including it in your app, come to one of our sessions next week at BlackBerry Live!  We’ll be talking about the benefits of integrating with Foursquare and the rest of the Social apps in two sessions:

JAM37 - Building context-aware applications by leveraging the power of Foursquare APIs, Thursday, May 16

JAM52 - Get Social: Connecting your app to Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and more! Wednesday, May 15

Kyle from Foursquare will be there, and we will show a real world example of how Untappd found success by integrating with Foursquare.  Sample apps, best practices, and code snippets will also be presented that will show developers how to quickly get started in both the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK and the BlackBerry Native SDK.

It’s my pleasure to announce the 2012 BlackBerry Developer Community Awards!

It’s your turn to reward a fellow BlackBerry® developer who writes an awesome blog, always replies on Twitter®, or who has the answer on the BlackBerry Developer Support Forums. The BlackBerry Developer Community Awards is a community-based recognition program that relies on you, the BlackBerry development community.

There are six award categories and we need you to nominate and vote for the developers, evangelists and contributors that exemplify our community’s creativity and collaborative spirit.

Here’s how it works: from now until Sunday September 16th, you can make one nomination per category, either via our online form or Twitter. On Tuesday September 18th, we will announce the finalists in each category.

When the nominees are finalized on the 18th, we will open the platform for voting. Voting will close on Wednesday September 26th. We’ll tally the votes, and will announce the winners live! The ceremony will take place at the BlackBerry® Jam Americas TweetUp, located in the BlackBerry Social Lounge from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Here are the categories:

• Must-Follow BlackBerry Developer on Twitter
• Must-Read BlackBerry Developer Blog
• Must-See BlackBerry Developer Evangelist
• Most Helpful BlackBerry Team Member on Twitter
• Most Helpful Contributor to the BlackBerry Developer Forums
• Best Open Source Contribution

Here’s how to nominate:

• Through our online form, or
• via Twitter. (Just send a tweet that mentions @BlackBerryDev, the #BBDevAwards hashtag, and the category.)

And here’s the timeline:

• Now – September 16th: Open nominations
• September 18th – September 25th: Open voting
• September 26th: Winners announced at BlackBerry Jam Americas TweetUp

So get to it! Now is the time to recognize your fellow BlackBerry developers for their contributions. Head over to the BlackBerry Developer Community Awards page and nominate your favorites. We’ll see you at BlackBerry Jam Americas in San Jose, where we’ll announce the winners!

What do you think? Will some awards be more tightly contested than others? Is there a clear winner in any category? Sound off in the comments below.

BlackBerry Jam Americas – Sept 25-27, San Jose CA

BlackBerry® Jam Americas 2012 is a showcase for the bold, new direction BlackBerry is heading with the upcoming BlackBerry® 10 platform. The event attracts developers and industry leaders who understand the power of BlackBerry and want to build their success with the platform. Whether you’re a Native, Web, or Android™ developer, don’t miss this opportunity to explore the powerful, game-changing BlackBerry 10 platform.

Join us, September 25-27 in San Jose, California. Register Now and use promo code DJAA45 to register for only $299.00

We are excited to announce the launch of the Scoreloop™ SDK 1.0 for BlackBerry® Native SDK for PlayBook OS. We have received a tremendous amount of feedback from you, our developer community, since the launch of the Scoreloop SDK Beta for the BlackBerry Native SDK for Tablet OS at BlackBerry DevCon Americas last October. Now we’re gold and can offer access to the best set of social features for native games on BlackBerry PlayBook OS.

Scoreloop is the leading cross-platform social gaming ecosystem with over 120 million users, offering developers a fully-flexible set of tools to power their games with social gaming features including Leaderboards, Achievements, Player Challenges and Player Profiles. The SDK is fully customizable, allowing developers to choose as few or as many features as they want and build them seamlessly into the look and feel of the game.

During the beta, we worked with Paw Print Games Ltd. to integrate Scoreloop into their awesome title KAMI RETRO HD. “Our experience integrating Scoreloop features into KAMI RETRO HD on the BlackBerry PlayBook has been seamless,” explains Steven Craft, Director of Paw Print Games. “We have integrated the main features such as leaderboards and awards. These social additions add a layer of fun and connections for our users. Our next title, Wacky Rapids, due April 2012 on PlayBook will follow in KAMI RETRO HD’s footsteps with Scoreloop integration.”

Get started right away with:

• Leaderboards – Allow players to compete on regional and global leaderboards
• Awards and Achievements – Keep players engaged with challenging achievements
• Player Challenges – Add competitive edge with social challenges
• Player Profiles – Personalize the experience with editable profiles
• Friend Management – Spur competition between closest rivals

Take a look at our Scoreloop pages where we have a comprehensive set of resources to help you get started.

We can´t wait to see what you do!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

It’s no secret that we love to share the success of developers. Today I’d like to shine the spotlight on Dominik, who attended the BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) Apps Hackathon back in August. The challenge presented at the event was to include BBM functionality within BlackBerry® platform applications. With a passion for web design and mobile development, Dominik did just that in his BBM Been There app, which has been designed to allow users to collect and share media from places they have visited.

Check out the video to see Dominik’s story, and see our blog post for details on upcoming Hackathon events that you can attend. Dominik said it best: “It’s a social experience to develop social applications!”

Are you working on a social app? What’s the social angle? Share in the comments!