Celebrating a Milestone – Blaq v0.1
- August 21st, 2010
- Posted in Contests . News . Updates
- By Hamrick
- Write comment
Today, we’ve officially reached the milestone of version 0.1.0!
This may not seem like much to many of you, but if you only knew the slow, painstakingly methodical pace at with the previous versions have progressed thus far…let’s just say, it’s a very big deal to us.
So what does v0.1 mean to you? Well, a couple of things.
For one, it means we’re a huge step closer to an official release build. A Twitter follower asked a great question this morning. He said, “Will you wait to launch at v1.0, or stick with v0.x?” The answer is this: We simply do not have time (especially at the pace we’ve progressed to this point) to go all the way from 0.1 to 1.o. The reason we don’t have time is because the deadline for the Super Apps Developer Challenge is September 6th — which we absolutely plan on entering. Submitted apps must be in BlackBerry App World, so therefore, Blaq will be available to users all over the world by no later than that time.
Version 0.1 also means a reason for celebration! We’re feeling pretty good today, not only because of this silly little number, but also because we really have an excellent build on our hands, here. The list of remaining tweaks and improvements keeps getting smaller and smaller, while big features keep getting added and added.
So because we’re feeling so good about everything today, we’re going to be announcing a contest later on for what will probably be the last batch of invites to join our beta before this bad boy goes live to the public. We’re not 100% set on what to do to determine winners yet, so if you have any great ideas, please share them in the comments! Who knows, if we like and use your idea, you might just win regardless of the contest. 
So that’s it! We hope you’re as excited about Blaq as we are, and we can’t wait for everyone to be able to experience Twitter on BlackBerry — the way it should be.
All the best, and All. Blaq. Everything.
Pistols at dawn? Seriously, while I hope I get in via whatever contest you choose, I just want to say that you guys have done a great job of building the buzz for Blaq. That is in large part because you have kept the beta group small. Can’t wait to try it out, whenevr that turns out tto be.
Can we have microblogging integration? It would be awesome if you can integrate Posterous & tumblr for instance to Blaq. Or how about RSS feeds?
Blaq will stay a Twitter-only client. That’s not to say that with enough demand, other apps couldn’t be created by the same team.
Why not have peeps use the hashtag #Blaqiscoming on twitter and select a few tweeps base on their tweets with the hashtag?
How about giving a prize to the person who:
1. Suggests the best app to interface with Blaq?
2. Suggests the best features for Blaq?
3. Can come up with the best slogan for the public release?
4. Comes up with the best codename for version 0.1?
You should give a copy to the first person to leave a comment.
That wouldn’t be you, though…
I realised after.
Does blaq have support for multiple accounts?
Yes sir, it does. And it supports cross-account tweeting, i.e. tweeting from multiple accounts simultaneously.
thats like a tweet deck function right?
TweetDeck does it too, yes.
I’m sooooo excited to see what Blaq brings to the table. It’s great that a new Twitter App is coming out. I think Blaq will be the it App!! I was wondering is there anyway that your app could incorporate the auto tweets of what your listening to? Some applications (no name) claim to have it but I guess they never configured it. Another app (no name) has made one but its sssoooo BUGGY! It works but it doesn’t really work. It seems like the more and more they work on it the buggier it gets. ANYWAY….CONGRATS on your milestone! I’m excited for BLAQ!
Blaq already has “Tweet your #nowplaying” feature — and it works beautifully. (Y)
AAAAAHHHHHHHH I can’t wait for this APP to come out!!! Thats the main feature I always need! Ummm can we also add extra txt into the now playing tweet? Does it have add location options? Can you change templates on the app that would be kinda cool!?
Yes, yes, and no. A good majority of the motivation for building this app was visual appeal, so for now, theme and color changes won’t be available.
No thats ok I though about it after I asked…kinda would mess the name up. I see your txting via Blaq omg I’m soo excited cant wait till I have that on my tweets. Pretty much a BB nerd. Im all things phones computers and games. All you have to do is be better than the best leading Twitter App right now! I think you have already exceeded that with having the music tweet function!
OMG how could I forget…I have a Storm 2 so will this App work smoothly on it? I know alot of times App say they work for the Storm but it can be laggy and buggy.
We’re working hard to make touch versions as awesome an experience as any other. We both own S2s and Torches, so we have a vested interest in making it perfect.
That is great so you both know the hassle we go through at times with apps. Ok no more from me. GREAT JOB!!
New slogan:
“You don’t know Twitter until you know Blaq!!”
How about the 5,000 hashtag for the day wins? It will definitely get the word out!
how about a contest to see who can write the best tweet involving the tag #blaq, bets general use of all 140 characters, best haiku (haha) about Blaq, call ‘em Blaqus…
You can probably have this Slogan on a Billboard:
“From the white house, to the Blaq house…. Its still all Blaq Everything”
This is a great step forward. I look forward to every release. I even showed hamrick and kfow that my #1 used client as of now is Blaq.
“Once you used Blaq you won’t go back” really excited I really want an beta invite I’d sell my children! That’s if I had any lol. I understand Blaq vision and I hope it catches on to other devs and the Blaq team make a suite of apps. Devloping for Blackberry can be a hatd process so congrats on a great achievement. Keep us all posted.
Maybe something like if you want to get in to the beta, say 2 other members on the beta team have to vouch for you. In that you are worthy and an asset to BlackBerry 3rd party Development.
Really can’t wait for this, it looks and sounds amazing.
Would be nice if Blaq had a ‘Check-in’ feature; nothing too fancy maybe just showing the GPS location and that’s about it. I was going to suggest the “#nowplaying” feature but I read it’s already in the app (sweet because im a musicjunker
). Maybe scheduled twits (for people with accounts dedicated for love quotes, live quotes etc), custom notification sounds would be nice, Available to tweet from outside the app (kind of UberTweet option), maybe also possibility to send links to Blaq” from the web browser,Friend Picker would be really nice, ability to upload pictures to the top services such as Twitpic, TweetPhoto and Yfrog.. Saved Searches, Saved Hashtags.. I honestly hate the Twitlonger feature (it completly kills the Twitter whole purpose). I really don’t care about posting to blogs or a facebook integration (twitter is all there is for me right now 
), also essential a “Send Feedback” option so we can help reporting bugs etc, a ‘Check for Updates’ feature everytime you run the applications. Multiple-Account (not essential but might be nice), ability to use both Old Style RT and new RT (quotation sucks, really), ability to block a user so as unblock, ability to compose a direct message without having to go to the user’s profile. Maybe some user interaction (something like badges) that gives you ‘badges’ everytime you twit about something or you post ‘X’ quantity of tweets in a set amount of time.. That’s all I can think of right now if I come across more ideas I will be happy to throw them here. Good luck I’m impatiently waiting for Blaq’ release!
I want to try blaq