By Regis Hadiaris – via dotconnectorblog.com

If you have a Blackberry, chances are you picked it up, and started emailing right away. If you have a personal email management system, your Blackberry can be a real asset to your productivity.

Did you know, there are several time-saving features built in, and several tricks you can do to make your Blackberry even more useful? Here are 5 of my favorites…

#1: Master the Keyboard Shortcuts

Just like on a computer, the keyboard on a Blackberry is full of time-saving shortcuts. Here are my favorites:

• “I” - Hit the letter “I” when looking at email in your “inbox view,” or when reading an actual email to file it. If you’re already using my plan for getting control of your email, then you know the importance of filing email to achieving an empty inbox.
• “0″ - Hold down the “0″ (i.e. zero) button and then use the thumbwheel to select multiple emails when in your “inbox view.”
• “Del” – Use this to delete email you don’t need after highlighting it in “inbox view” – to speed this up even more, you can also remove the delete confirmation.
• “C” - Hit the letter “C” when looking at your email in your “inbox view” to compose a new message.

Be sure to check out my “6 Blackberry Tips for Reading Emails” post with additional keyboard shortcuts too!

#2: Setup Your Blackberry to Work Well with Voicemail

• In my 10 Tips to Improve Your Voicemails post, I discussed setting up speed dial hot keys (Tip #6), making logging into voicemail easier (Tip #7) and forwarding your voicemail (Tip #8) to one voicemail box.
• If you use your Blackberry as a phone, be sure to put all of these to work for you!

#3: Get Google Maps for Mobile

• One of the most useful apps you can download for your Blackberry is Google Maps.
• With a simple search (i.e. “breweries in Duluth, MN”), you will get results on a map, turn-by-turn directions, and one-click to call the business you looked up.
• If you do any business travel at all, it’s an absolute must. I’m sure it will quickly become one of your favorite apps!

#4 Reorder Your Apps in Order of Most Popular

• If you hold down the “Alt” key (below “a”) when clicking on an app, a pulldown menu will appear where you can select “Move Application.”
• Then, you can order the apps in any way you want! I put my most used apps right next to each other to minimize scrolling.

#5: Update Your Blackberry Email Signature

• Your email signature is a valuable “one stop shop” of contact info so people can get a hold of you.
• Make sure you always use the same signature on your Blackberry that you do in your main email (usually MS Outlook).
• That way, readers of your email are less likely to pre-judge your message (”Oh, she’s stuck in an airport and dumping ideas again!”), and they are less likely to know where/how you sent it.
• It’s also a great idea to remove all “Sorry if this is misspelled, I’m on a Blackberry” messages. That’s like a website having an “under construction” page – it’s just not necessary. Plus, it makes you look like you can’t spell.

I hope these tips and tricks prove useful for you. If you’re reading this and thinking, “but he didn’t mention…” then please, leave a comment!

by Regis Hadiaris – via dotconnectorblog.com

80% of all project issues are communication issues.

Whether we are conscious of it or not, we create our own leadership “glass ceiling” through our communication. Improving our communication improves our connections with others, and ultimately, our ability to grow.

Enter voicemail. Voicemail is one of the most frequently used communication tools within an organization. And, it seems that the more senior the person you are communicating with is within your organization, the more likely they will favor voicemail over email.

If you work remotely, you know that voicemail is often preferred over email because you can “get personal” by injecting emotion and physiology of communication into your message, something that’s very hard to do in email.

To help you grow your communication abilities, here are 10 tried-and-true tips to improve your voicemails:

Via blackberry-news.newslib.com

State-run telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) today said it would start BlackBerry services by next month.

“We are well on track to launch our BlackBerry services by next month,” BSNL Director (Finance) S D Saxena told reporters on the sidelines of a CII conference here.

Five mobile service providers — Airtel, Vodafone, BPL, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices — are currently offering BlackBerry services in India.

BlackBerry services were introduced in India in October 2004. However, it came under the government’s scanner last year, when security agencies could not access the data stored in the Blackberry network.

India has earlier asked Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of Blackberry, to route all its calls and e-mails through servers based in India to allow security agencies to read them as it fears its usage by terrorist outfits.

This is because calls and e-mails exchanged within BlackBerry handsets cannot be intercepted as the servers are based in Canada.

By David George-Cosh – via globaltv.com

It looks like the launch of Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry Storm turned out to be something of a drizzle.

Although investors were positioning the new touchscreen BlackBerry device as a potential Apple iPhone killer, reports of low inventory numbers and industry-wide pressures sent the company’s shares tumbling more than 8% on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday.

The device was greeted by lineups outside Verizon stores across the United States during its official launch on Friday, selling out the vast majority of its initial inventory, according to reports online. However, after initial demand was met, BlackBerry Storm seekers will be disheartened to learn that RIM plans on restocking shelves with the device sometime next month, said BMO Capital Markets analyst Keith Bachman.

“Some stores we spoke with received as few as 20 Storm units on Friday, while others received as many as 100 units,” Mr. Bachman said in a note Tuesday.

“Supply sold out in hours and store reps don’t anticipate getting new shipments until December. Customers that order now will receive a Storm around December 15, after RIM’s quarter close.”

RIM will likely sell about 200,000 BlackBerry Storms during the current quarter and any delays in the device’s sales over the holiday season puts pressure on RIM’s subscriber growth numbers, added Mr. Bachman. The BlackBerry maker has said it expects to add 2.9 million new customers when it reports its third-quarter results next month and analysts’ consensus largely concludes it will fall short of reaching that target.

RIM shares initially jumped 6.4% after it released the BlackBerry Storm on Friday, but this week they are down over 10.5% to close at $50.77 yesterday.

Possibly compounding RIM’s problems is a projected drop-off in mobile-phone sales in the next year as all cellphone makers are expected to suffer the effects of the poor global economic climate, according to a report by technology research firm Gartner Inc..

“A combination of lower-than-forecast sales of devices in the third quarter of 2008, limited availability of key devices, and a general lack of compelling products leads us to believe that annual growth in the mobile device market will be about 8% in 2008,” said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. Growth in the mobile-phone market was as high as 16% in the same period a year ago.

Rumours have begun to swirl online that software giant Microsoft Corp. may be building a smartphone of its own, a move that could potentially have a negative impact on RIM and iPhone rival Apple Inc., according to a report by Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek.

The device, the existence of which was initially reported by an online news source on Friday, is said to be powered by nVIDIA’s Tegra platform and could be officially announced as early as this February during the Mobile World Congress conference.

“For the time being, based on our review of Windows Mobile, we believe it more likely to perceive this as a headline risk more than a substantive one, at least for the smartphone leaders — RIM and Apple,” Mr. Misek said.

By Clarence Page – Via blackberry-news.newslib.com

It has not taken President-elect Barack Obama long to learn what his predecessors quickly discovered: his new job is a gilded cage.

Or, as Harry Truman nicknamed the White House in a bitter diary entry, a “great white jail.”

Truman enjoyed taking long walks near the White House. Obama similarly bristles uncomfortably inside of the bubble of security and executive power that envelops him wherever he goes. Like an Internet-age Truman, Obama is pushing back.

He wants to keep his BlackBerry.

In an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters last week, he talked about the importance of breaking through the isolation faced by presidents. The trouble is, he wants to keep his BlackBerry, despite government concerns about security and record-keeping rules.

“I’m negotiating to figure out how I can get information from outside of the 10 or 12 people who surround my office in the White House,” Obama told Walters. “Because one of the worst things I think that could happen to a president is losing touch with what people are going through day to day.”

Well, yeah. In fact, losing touch is a thing bad enough to lead to even worse things for a president like, for example, losing re-election.

Even so, I think Obama might be better off without his BlackBerry. His wish to stay in touch with voices outside of his “bubble” is admirable. But the tricky irony of the BlackBerry is in how much the little gadget isolates us.

In fact, as a longtime user of cell phones and portable e-mail devices, I suspect handhelds are popular partly because they do such a good job of helping us to lose touch.

We use handhelds to help us communicate with our social and professional contacts. That effectively expands our echo chamber of people who think pretty much the way we do, while shrinking our interaction with people who don’t, whether we want to hear them or not.

If you really don’t want to know, for example, what the guy standing next to you in the line at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts is going through from day to day, just pull out a BlackBerry, take a glance, and say, “Oh, excuse me, I’ve got to holler back at this message.”

No wonder “CrackBerry” addiction is reported to be an epidemic.

I suspect our incoming president may suffer a CrackBerry jones. If so, I sympathize. He already has admitted to falling “off the wagon” a few times in his well-known quest to quit smoking. It’s hard enough to quit smoking and keep your weight down. It’s probably even harder to quit smoking and quit your CrackBerry, too.

The government has different concerns. The biggest arguments against Obama’s handheld gadget concern security and accountability. But those are challenges that can be solved by intelligent people and they should put their minds to it.

E-mail has been secured well enough for the Pentagon to use. Why not the president? The real problem for the incoming administration to think about is the sloppy protection that has been placed on everyone’s private data in the civilian world. Obama need look no further for evidence than the scandalous reports that his own mobile call data, stored by his mobile phone company, were accessed by Verizon employees.

Another concern is the Presidential Records Act, which requires storage of all White House correspondence. That includes e-messages that the nation’s E-Mailer-in-Chief might thumb tap on his BlackBerry. But that law probably could be accommodated by storing the president’s handheld e-mails on the server and filing them with his other mail.

It seems rather preposterous that Obama, the candidate who ran the most technologically sophisticated campaign in history, would now be restricted by outdated laws or outdated government security technology from using mobile technologies.

But if he wants to stay in touch with real people outside his narrow circle of contacts, he should consider going cold turkey on his handheld. Besides, if his addiction comes on too strong, he can always borrow one.

(Psst, hey, buddy. Can I bum a BlackBerry?)

By Rob Adams – Via newsoxy.com

The RIM BlackBerry Storm sold out at many Verizon Wireless stores. The first batches of the new BlackBerry mobile phone emptied store shelves hours after its official launch. Verizon is forced to delay some shipments until December 15.

Verizon Wireless on Friday launched the new RIM BlackBerry Storm by Research In Motion Ltd. Several Verizon stores have sold out and have no inventory for the phone. The new RIM BlackBerry mobile device is in high demand. However, shipments for some orders are being delayed until December 15.

Verizon noted that orders placed before noon on November 21 should ship on November 25. Orders placed after the noon time slot will ship on December 5. Furthermore, BlackBerry mobile phone orders placed after November 22 or later will not ship until December 15.
The delay comes after Verizon had to downgrade the mobile phones to an older version of RIM’s operating system. The decision was based on a potential security glitch. However, sources familiar with the matter said it was more about a bug and not a security glitch.
Moreover, they delay could hurt RIM sales for the third-quarter. The news of any product delay after launch is not good. RIM could be in a bad position as the Holidays approach. If buyers are unable to get a new RIM BlackBerry mobile phone, it could push some buyers to consider another smart phone.

Wall Street analysts say the delay could impact Research In Motion Ltd’s third-quarter results. RIM’s third-quarterr ends on November 29.

by Stewart wolpin – via digitaltrends.com

The 8700c is the most advanced full QWERTY Blackberry available
Highs: Large bright display: EDGE and world capable; removable battery, lots of internal memory
Lows: Tightly-packed keypad; no external memory card slot; short talk time

Introduction
Blackberrys are not toys. You will not find a Blackberry with a digital camera. You will not find a Blackberry that plays back music. Blackberrys are serious devices that are designed to keep people in touch via either voice or email. However, Blackberrys are addictive, which is why they are often referred to as “Crackberrys.” The 8700 series devices, primarily the “c” model available from Cingular, are Blackberry’s most advanced models yet, making them even more “Crackberryish.” The quad-band 8700c is the first broadband Blackberry, operating on Cingular’s EDGE network in the U.S., which results in even faster email downloads. The 8700 also has twice as much internal memory as any other Blackberry. But RIM (Research in Motion) has introduced a little amusement into the 8700 — it can play MP3 ringtones. We’d like to be a fly on the wall as you attempt to explain 50 Cent rapping to alert you to an incoming business call!

Features and Design

Blackberry’s raison d’etre is its secure push email, either from your individual POP3 or IMAP account or connected through Blackberry’s Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange and all other major email server programs. For the sake of brevity, we’ll assume that you have at least a passing familiarity with Blackberry’s rich font of email and PDA features, benefits, and its intuitive interface and controls. The 8700c contains all these usual Blackberry attributes, so we’ll concern ourselves with how the 8700c compares to other Blackberry models. If you need more basic Blackberry info, see Blackberry’s own site (www.blackberry.com).

The 8700c has a few extra features that set it apart from both previous Blackberrys, with full QWERTY thumbpads, and the new “NURTY” keypads (an expression we just made up). QWERTY keypads cleverly compressed into and around a standard numerical array found, such as included on the new 7100 series models. One prominent advantage of the 8700c over other Blackberrys is its copious 64 MB internal memory, which enables you to download and store more ringtones, applications, and (horrors!) games from Cingular’s online store.

While fattening up its digital storage capacity, RIM has trimmed the 8700c’s waistline. At 4.3 x 2.7 x .77 inches, the 8700c is nearly a half inch trimmer than the 7700-series models, and almost a quarter inch trimmer than the 7500 and 7200 series models. This may not sound like a substantial difference, but anyone who’s had to maneuver around their belt clipped Blackberry to get their hand into a pants pocket or wiggle the phone out of a suit breast pocket will appreciate the 8700c’s heroin chic thinness. For folks with hands smaller than an NBA player, the thinner 8700c is also a bit easier to palm and operate with one hand.

In return for this handier size, however, the keyboard keys have been smashed closer together when compared to other full QWERTY models. While still roomier than the keyboard on other popular QWERTY PDA phones such as the Treo, 8700c’s tighter thumbpad does raise the chubby thumb/typing mistake ratio.

The 8700c is also squatter than all other Blackberry models, which means a little less LCD screen real estate. But the 8700c’s 320 x 240 pixel LCD is far brighter and more colorful than previous Blackberry models. It also includes RIM’s light sensing technology, which brightens or dims the display and thumbpad backlighting depending on ambient light.

One unfortunate thumbpad ergonomic anomaly also has been added. Like all Blackberrys, the numerical dial keys are integrated into the left side of the QWERTY thumbpad, with the “S” and “4″ sharing one key adjacent to the “D” and the “5″ key. In previous Blackberrys, these keys were two-toned, with the numbers appearing white-on-gray atop the gray-on-white letter. The 8700c eschews this edifying two-toning and leaves the co-alpha/numeric keys all white. Normally not a big deal, except that RIM’s sans serif font renders the “S” under the “4″ nearly identical to the “5″ over the “D” on the neighboring key. If you’re one of those folks who use the center “5″ on any numerical key pad to unconsciously orient your fingers before dialing, the momentary confusion over the neighboring “S”/”5″ keys could cause continual disconcertion.

Performance

Their size and shape make Blackberry’s inherently awkward for phone calling. Although a bit thinner than other models, the 8700c still feels as if you’re holding a bar of soap up to your cheek. Fortunately, you can connect either a wired or Bluetooth headset and keep the Blackberry in its belt clip.

RIM has endowed the Bluetooth 8700c, as it has many Blackberry functions, with a high degree of intelligent functionality. Once you’ve paired a headset, for instance, the 8700c automatically recognizes it each time you power the headset up. As long as you’ve turned on the Bluetooth connection from the 8700c’s top menu, you don’t have to re-pair it or drill down to the Bluetooth connection menu to make the Bluetooth connections (as you have to do with most other phones). A large notice appears on screen to let you know in no uncertain terms that you’re wirelessly connected.

Calls themselves are crisp and clear, with or without headphones. As long as you keep the earpiece located precisely at your ear, there is plenty of volume controlled conveniently by the familiar Blackberry all-purpose jog wheel. The rear-mounted speaker also produces generous volume for a quiet conference room or office with only a slight hint of speakerphone gurgle, but positioning may be a problem. You have to lay the 8700c on its face if you want to hear anything, but this position blocks the front microphone.

Thanks to the EDGE connection and the new powerful Intel XScale processor, email downloads and replies transmit nano-swiftly and Web pages fill swiftly most of the time; only network glitches hold things up, not the 8700c.

The 8700c’s rated 16 day standby time is the most robust of all the Blackberrys, but the four hour talk time is about an hour shorter than other models.

Conclusion

The 8700c is the most advanced full QWERTY Blackberry available. While it has its minor quirks, for the world traveling mobile professional with moderately sized thumbs there is no better way to stay in touch while on the road.

Pros:

• EV-DO network capable
• Quad band world phone
• Bluetooth
• Speakerphone
• 64 MB internal memory
• MP3 ringtones

Cons:

• No external memory card slot
• Tightly packed keypad keys