My brother Konstantin has been working on a BlackBerry app for NextJump’s Overwhelming Offers site.  Looks like the app got some press coverage today, on PCMag’s TechSaver site.  Way to go Konst, too bad the article doesn’t mention all the hours you’ve poured into that application.  Oh well, the developers behind the product rarely get mentioned

For those of you who don’t know, OverWhelming offers has daily offers of 50% off or more every Monday through Friday at noon (and some days more than one offer per day).  Definitely check it out for holiday shopping if you haven’t already.  Here’s a tidbit from a press release NextJump did for the app:

Every Monday through Friday at Noon (Eastern Daylight Time), OverwhelmingOffers.com posts one extraordinary offer from Next Jump’s more than 28,000 well-known retail and brand partners. However, on occasion, OverwhelmingOffers.com will surprise shoppers with “Super OO Days” where multiple offers are featured, such as 11 OOs this past November 11. Next Jump is planning many more Super OO Days in November and December. Shoppers can get a hint as to the day’s OO – such as “Mii+Mii=…” (Answer: Wii) – or they can sign up to get a sneak peek in advance via a daily email.

Funny, back when Konstantin was working on the actual OO site, he use to have to write those hints.  Anyways, Kudos to Konst for the app getting mentioned.

Wow, I was just stuck on a train from Philly to New York, and for lack of anything better to do, I looked up the progress of the official Wordpress App for the Blackberry. And I’m proud to report that its out, works great, supports multiple blogs, and looks great!

You can download and install over the air at:

http://blackberry.wordpress.org/install

It even has nice little html-helpers (for instance, a prompt came up when I started adding in the anchor tag for the link above.

Also it looks like it supports photo uploads, although I haven’t tried it yet.

Sweeet! Now Wordpress is an equal opportunity blogging platform with both an iPhone and a Blackberry app.

Wow, just tried the Preview and Category support stuff – Preview couldn’t fetch my theme but showed me a completely reasonable plain preview. The Category support is fantastic!

Sectera EDGE smartphone

Apparently Barack Obama will be using a smartphone, and its being called a BarackBerry.  In reality its a Sectera Edge, an NSA-certified secure communications device for goverment use. Looks like it runs some version of Windows Mobile.  And it would be perfect for someone like me who’s clumsy with delicate technology:

“The Sectéra Edge is designed to MIL-STD-810F specifications for Drop, Shock, Vibration, Operating and Storage Temperature, Temperature Shock, Water Resistance, Dust, Humidity and Altitude.”

Now, if it was really a BlackBerry, I might actually be doing research about how to get my hands on one right now.  From past personal experience with Windows Mobile smartphones, I’m not too turned on by this particular mashup of gadgetry.  I’ll just have to be happy with my BlackBerry Bold for now.

A response to this CNN blog post struck me as hillarious:

BarackBerry, Barack the Vote, etc. Did we just elect Batman president? What’s next Barackarangs and the Barackmobile?

Indeed.  I don’t think its unnatural to get label-happy like this.  And if nothing else, the Batman comparison indicates the “coolness” currency that President Obama has.  I guess we’ll just have to see if he follows up on the things he said he wants to do and the things the electorate is expecting of him.  If he starts wearing a utility belt and/or a cape – then we’ll be in trouble.