BlackBerry maker RIM has just announced that they’ll be providing a way for developers to package, sign, and distribute Android apps for the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook. (They’ll also be able to develop BlackBerry Java and, soon, C/C++ apps). iPad has a huge head start, but this could prove an interesting way to mitigate that lead:

“The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet. The power that we have embedded creates one of the most compelling app experiences available in a mobile computing device today,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “The upcoming addition of BlackBerry Java and Android apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook on BlackBerry App World will provide our users with an even greater choice of apps and will also showcase the versatility of the platform.”

Support will be provided for Android 2.3 apps, so more Galaxy Tab 7-inch style big phone apps than Android 3.0 Honeycomb-style tablet apps on something like the Xoom, but it does immediately skyrocket the potential number of apps available for the PlayBook.

“Potential” because that devs have to choose on a individual basis to submit their apps to BlackBerry App world. It doesn’t look like PlayBook is getting the Android Market (or Amazon Appstore), or that all Android 2.3 apps can just be sideloaded and run on the PlayBook. I’m guessing if the process is easy — there will be some porting involved and the apps will run in a “player” on the PlayBook — and the money there — if PlayBook sells well — devs might just jump on the extra customer pool.

So does this change anything on the competitive landscape? Could it make PlayBook one of the strongest Android tablet alternatives in addition to its BlackBerry foundation? Could it pose even more of a threat to Apple’s iPad 2? Or do too many development choices harm the overall experience?

[CrackBerry and Android Central... sitting in a tree...]

App World to distribute Android apps for BlackBerry PlayBook is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

I’ve turned off almost all notifications on my iPhone. No email sound or vibration, no Twitter popups, nothing from Facebook — even if it worked, nothing from Ping — if anyone used it, no Game Center trumpets, no nothing. Almost. I do leave on SMS and Phone (because I need working telephony), and Calendar and Alarm still get to alert me (because I need to stay employed). That’s it.

But it used to be the opposite.

When MobileMe and ActiveSync first came to iOS 2 (then iPhone OS 2.0) I put those suckers on full blast. They could beep and buzz every few seconds as far as I was concerned. When Apple finally launched Push Notifications and Boxcar created one of the first Twitter alert systems, I couldn’t wait to see all the mentions and DMs pop up. Likewise with Beejive when they added Push. Eventually I had a full complement of task managers, social networks, IM clients, reminders, texts, mail, and I can’t even remember what else going off seemingly all the time. (Yes, that included in my pocket when I was trying to have conversations, and it did produce all manner of strange looks, especially from people far more sane than I.)

Since iOS still lacks mode settings (i.e. home vs. work, day vs. night) and it was far too cumbersome to manually turn off notifications at night, I’d suffer through them in my sleep as well. I’d just flip the ringer switch to silent and leave my iPhone rattling on my side table all night. (Yeah, I was single at the time — thanks!) I wondered if it reduced my sleep efficiency but hey, it was cool tech.

Then something started to happen. I started to ignore them. Turns out being notified all the time is the same as being notified never. If everything is important, nothing is. Then it changed again and rather than notification it became distraction. Focus is often key to execution and having something whizz and whine at random yet frequent intervals throughout the day started shredding my focus and harming my ability to execute. (Especially push spam — nothing like reaching for the phone and seeing a bunch of junk emails and bogus @mentions to really drive home the value of notifications.)

It reminded me of that episode of the X-Files where all the devils are congregating to swap stories about how they were driving humans to insanity and, after several of them had gone, the last one admitted he didn’t do much of anything — humans were all too willing to drive themselves crazy. The devil’s example was the snooze button on the alarm clock — a device fiendishly designed to destroy our only naturally peaceful state… and then repeat that destruction over and over again in 5-10 minute intervals. Our own implementations of technology were enough to make anyone jump out a window.

Eventually a few friends told me to cut out the annoying racket and I did. I turned it all off. Well, almost all of it as I described above. Now my iPhone sits peacefully and quietly 95% of the time. (And if Apple provided some sort of night time mode, where meeting invitations from Europe wouldn’t fire up at 4am it would be 98% of the time.)

I check email whenever I want to check email anyway. I check Twitter whenever I want to check Twitter. I check Facebook whenever… I really, really have to. I don’t need people to challenge me to games I’m not playing or alert me to music I’m not listening to. I’m fine.

Anyone else just said no to notifications? Anyone thinking about it? Let me know. I’m interested how you’re using push and how, if at all, it keeps you informed or just keeps you interrupted.

Saying no to notifications is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Tapatalk: Now a universal app for iPhone and iPad with access to TiPb forums! [$2.99 - iTunes link]

• tawkon (jailbreak): Monitor the level cell phone radiation you are exposed to. [Free, via Cydia]

• Hungry MonstR: Defend your ice cream cart from hordes of MonstRs rushing for your ice creams! Universal app for iPhone and iPad. [$0.99 - iTunes link]

• Max and the Magic Marker: You have a magic marker that enables you to draw freehand in the game – everything you draw becomes a real, interactive object within the game world. Master Max's extraordinary talent and help him overcome enemies, obstacles and puzzles! [$1.99 - iTunes link]

• Bubble Bubble 2: The neon fish need to survive! To do so, dodge yourself with accelerometer to run away from evil fishes coming after you. [$0.99 - iTunes link]

Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think!

Check out a video of Max and the Magic Marker after the break!

New and updated iPhone and iPad apps for Thursday, March 24 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Final Fantasy III, which debuted in 1990, has just hit the App Store and is now available for iPhone and iPod touch (or pixel doubled on iPad if you really have to) for… $15.99. It features:

• New and improved 3D visuals and story sequences exclusive to the iPhone/iPod touch
• Smooth, intuitive touch-panel controls specifically tailored to Square Enix’s iPhone RPGs
• Quicker browsing through the monster bestiary and other game records
• New visual designs for the Job Mastery Cards
• Retina Display compatible

Now Finally Fantasy III is absolutely a classic that you can spend ours of your day (and night!) on, but $16 is much more expensive than pretty much any other iPhone game I can remember. Is this just a temporary price point aimed to make money off the biggest fans and early adopters or is Square trying to see if they can push iOS prices higher and more in line with portable gaming console prices?

Some of you tell us you want better games and don’t mind paying a higher price, so is this what you had in mind? If so and you grab it let us know what you think of the game. If not, let us know what you think of the price!

[$15.99 - iTunes link]

Final Fantasy III for iPhone hits App Store… at $16 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

It’s March 25 in Australia and that means international iPad 2 online orders have begun going live… but with a 2-3 week estimate on shipping. Other online stores are also up now, like Canada and UK, but simply list iPad 2 as currently unavailable at the moment (that should change as 1am rolls around in those time zones — though we still don’t know if Canada will be PDT or EDT.)

Other countries going live today include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

We’ll keep an eye on the shipping estimates in case anything changes. What’s your local availability? Has anyone ordered yet?

(If you’re having trouble deciding if you want an iPad 2, check out our iPad 2 buyers guide and full on iPad 2 review.)

International iPad 2 online orders going live, already 2-3 week wait for shipping is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Boxee will soon release its own iPad app which will offer streaming to other devices that can run the Boxee software. The Boxee app will not use AirPlay but something similar provided by Boxee itself.

VP of Marketing for Boxee, Andrew Kippen describes it as "kinda like AirPlay, but not quite". The iPad app will allow you to stream content from your original iPad or iPad 2 to any device running the Boxee software. This would include the Boxee Box, PC's, Mac's and Linux machines.

If you don’t know, Boxee provides an easy way watch movies, TV shows and clips from the Internet as well as locally or networked stored content. There is no mention of what video file types the iPad app will support at this stage, but we imagine it will be quite extensive and not limited to m4v or mp4. We will keep you informed as we get more information.

[Pocket-lint]

Boxee iPad coming soon, streams to other Boxee devices is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

According to Business Insider, TV networks are very unhappy with the Time Warner iPad App ,TW Cable TV. TW Cable TV can stream 32 channels of live television to your iPad as long as you have a cable TV subscription and internet service from Time Warner; you are even restricted to WiFi only.

The problem is television networks say that streaming video over to a tablet is totally different than providing content for televisions. This means they should own the rights to the content and get a fee for providing the content for the streaming iPad programs.

Until these problems can be worked out, TV networks are sending out “cease and desist” letters to Time Warner Cable requesting that their channels be pulled from the app straight away.

Do any of our readers use the TW Cable TV app? Let us know if you see any channels disappearing from your app!

[Business Insider via PhoneArena]

Time Warner Cable receiving cease and desist orders for its iPad App? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

New to iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and trying to figure out how to change the default search engine to something other than Google? For many users Google is synonymous with web search but if you prefer Yahoo! or Microsoft Bing, it’s an easy change to make. And we’ll show you how after the break!

If you want to change your default search engine from Google to Yahoo! or Bing, here’s what to do:

• From the home screen, tap on the Settings app
• Tap on Safari.
• Tap on Search Engine.
• Select the new Search Engine.

Once you quit settings, your selection will remain the default Search Engine until you change it again.

Bonus Tip: Just because you set one search engine as default for the search field doesn’t mean you can’t use others. Just enter their URL (google.com, yahoo.com, bing.com, etc.) in Safari and you can use any one you wish, whenever you wish.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Daily Tip: How to change Safari’s default search engine is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog