(Useful) Stupid BlackBerry Tricks?

Wolfger writes "Continuing the recent (useful) stupid theme: I've recently become a BlackBerry user, and I'm in love with the obvious(?) tricks, such as installing MidpSSH to access my home box remotely. But I'd like to know what more experienced Crackberry addicts can share."

Comments

What the fuck?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

I thought Slashdot was exclusively iPhone oriented?

I feel betrayed. BETRAYED I tells ya.

Re:What the fuck?

[nitio]

I foresee a story about some stupid, yet useful, things you can do in your iPhone...

Re:What the fuck?

[KillerBob]

Very short thread, that... *mutters something about hardware lock-in and DRM*

Re:What the fuck?

[Anonymous Coward]

please, stop this madness, or at least ask for useful (stupid) get laid tricks.

Re:What the fuck?

[Yokaze]

Use the GPS and accelerometer for tracing the trajectory of a rocket.

Re:What the fuck?

[Anonymous Coward]

Alcohol and drugs are your friends here.

Re:What the fuck?

[berend botje]

Having money and spending it like there's no tomorrow doesn't work against you, either!

Re:What the fuck?

[BronsCon]

I think you've confused the iPhone with the BlackBerry.

Sorry, since I won't eat it myself, I had to feed that load to a troll.

Re:What the fuck?

[Anonymous Coward]

it's all about charm, boys.

Re:What the fuck?

[sik0fewl]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

I have a suggestion. I find these threads quite interesting, but they hardly qualify as news and I don't think we want to see them every day (we're just going to exhaust all decent ideas if we do). Why not do something like this on Fridays instead of the stupid mailbag?

Does anyone agree?

Re:What the fuck?

[Malevolyn]

Basically, just buy a woman.

Re:What the fuck?

[Anonymous Coward]

Where can I find some charm? Is it something you buy or classes you can take?

Re:What the fuck?

[DiegoBravo]

These things will be useful only if somebody in the /. staff collects the best of them and put in something like a "Slashdot Knowledge Archive". Otherwise it is totally out of place in a "news for nerds" site.

Suggestion for the next week: stupid tricks in Mysql=Monday, Postgresql=Tue, Oracle=Wed Sqlite=Thu DB2=Fri Sybase=Sat Gdbm=Sun Sql/Server=never.

Re:What the fuck?

[Sir_Lewk]

Hell yes, superb idea. I bet more people would be able to take the time to respond insightfully on fridays too.

Re:What the fuck?

[222]

Those of us that actually have business related jobs use Blackberries :- P

I kid, I kid. Sort of.

Re:What the fuck?

[booleanoperator]

what do you think marriage is?

Re:What the fuck?

[bevoblake]

What does marriage have to do with getting laid?

Re:What the fuck?

[cyphercell]

I don't know about marriage, but divorce is all about getting screwed!

Re:What the fuck?

[Mister Whirly]

"I foresee a story about some stupid, yet useful, things you can do in your iPhone...

You mean like make a phone call with one?

Re:What the fuck?

[nitio]

Wow! I've just felt like this comic. Weird.

I still find /. delightful though. And yes, I was trying to be sarcastic.

Re:What the fuck?

[Volatar]

As a matter of fact I do agree that this would be a good Friday story. I never read the mailbag, I do read these threads even though I have no experience with the subject (blackberries, vim, emacs, linux, well, I will be learning linux later) they are still interesting threads to read.

Re:What the fuck?

[aqk]

What does marriage have to do with blackberries?

There- fixed that for ya..

Re:What the fuck?

[mdwh2]

Interesting - talking about BlackBerry in a BlackBerry story is "off-topic", but the obligatory mention of the Iphone in every phone story is not off-topic.

Re:What the fuck?

[booleanoperator]

what do any of the other posts down the thread have to do with blackberries? There is a fine line between funny and offtopic, did i not meet your subjective standards? Oh well :-)

Hit it with a hammer

[mlk]

Then jump on it.

Re:Hit it with a hammer

[Andr T.]

Good one. I, for one, have always been adapt of the old 'throw it in the toilet' fashion.

Re:Hit it with a hammer

[Spazztastic]

Good one. I, for one, have always been adapt of the old 'throw it in the toilet' fashion.

I like the 'running it over with the car after it fries my MicroSD card.'

Re:Hit it with a hammer

[HappyHead]

Well, the best I've heard of was at my old employer's - one of the sales people dropped their blackberry into a vat of industrial acid, and it was completely dissolved. It was an interesting support call to listen in on, my boss (the head of IT) was saying "Yeah, it, uh, got knocked into a vat of acid, and it's gone." "Well, getting the sim card out of it would be a problem, because that is also gone." "Well, we could skim the foam off the top of the vat to ship back to you, but you'd need hazardous materials certification before we could legally release it to you." Buying the expensive version of the warranty was totally worth it for that one, just for the fact that it's probably the most unique replacement order they've ever had to fill. (And no, they didn't bother getting haz-mat clearance, so they didn't get the foam back.)

Re:Hit it with a hammer

[SIR_Taco]

All these years I thought people were saying cell phone! It's foam!

Re:Hit it with a hammer

[tonytnnt]

one of the sales people dropped their blackberry into a vat of industrial acid

Holy shit, you make your sales people work next to vats of industrial acid? That's quite the high pressure sales technique...

Re:Hit it with a hammer

[that this is not und]

That sounds like a tragic story that could have ended otherwise.

In the future tethers should be issued with all Blackberries, so that if such an incident occurs again, the chance increases that the sales-type person will also pulled into the vat. It's just a shame that a Blackberry had to be sacrificed with no net benefit for the incident.

Re:Hit it with a hammer

[Kamokazi]

It said useful and stupid. Your suggestion is only useful. That's probably the smartest thing I've heard anyone say about a BlackBerry.

Re:Hit it with a hammer

[Anonymous Coward]

Um...is that a blackberry trick or are you responding to the request above for "get laid tricks"?

Really? Crackberry?

[saintm]

Oh dear.
You should take more care when wiping

Crackberry Forums

[peterprior]

Maybe ask in the Crackberry Forums (a Blackberry user site)

Re:Crackberry Forums

[Dan541]

Oh Shit!

Don't let them unite!

Re:Crackberry Forums

[Zro Point Two]

Just some little tips that people can find at CrackBerry Forums...

1) To quickly create a new calendar appointment, just highlight the date/time for the appointment and start typing the subject.

2) If you turn off the option to dial from homescreen on full QWERTY devices (in Phone > Options > Dial from home screen) you can use shortcut keys to open applications (look for the underlined letter in the application name (like M for messages).

3) Typing "mypin" will put your PIN into your message, and "mynumber" will put your phone number.

4) In your message list, pressing the U key will jump to the oldest unread message. Holding ALT and pressing U will mark a message Read/Unread.

5) Holding the 1 key down will automagically dial your voicemail.

6) To highlight Text, hold ALT and click the trackwheel/trackball. You can then scroll left or right (holding ALT makes it go up and down for trackwheels) to highlight text, and the menu will then give you the copy option (beat that iPhone).

7) On SureType devices, holding the # key will switch from your current profile to Vibrate, and back.

8) Using the T and B keys (on QWERTY keyboards) will go to the Top and Bottom of the message/item you are in. The 1 and 7 Keys will do the same on SureType devices.

9) Calendar/address book doesn't seem to be wirelessly synchronizing properly? Go into the application, then into options. Turn off wireless sync, save the change, then go back in and turn it on to restart the wireless sync process.

10) Address book not sorting/displaying properly, go into Address book > Options, and change the sorting order. Save the changes to rebuild the index. Go back in and change it back to your preferred setting.

These are just some small ones, but there are MANY more little tips n tricks all over that can make your life better.

Re:Crackberry Forums

[Dan East]

Here's another little tip.

I have many full-length movies on my Pearl, and one of my pet-peeves was that seeking in a video was fixed at so many steps - something like 25 steps from the beginning to end. For a full-length movie the steps were then really large, like 5 minutes each.

By trial and error I finally discovered that holding down SHIFT while rotating the scroll wheel will go by very small increments - just a few seconds at a time.

So seeking in a video has the best of both worlds, if you know the keyboard modifier.

Re:Crackberry Forums

[jon3k]

Also in message view, if you have a day selected, you can choose "Delete prior". I keep 3 days of email on the phone. Also, when a day heading is selected you can press p and n for previous and next day. This also works in message view to cycle through messages. When you're in message view you can also highlight multiple messages by holding shift and scrolling the trackball up or down.

Re:Crackberry Forums

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

Well, that ends this thread. Good night everybody!

Blackberry Linux Connectivity

[wehe]

Just in case you want to connect a Blackberry to a Linux PC, here are some guides about Blackberry and Linux connectivity. Not much yet, but a start. There is also the beginning of a survey of Linux applications under GPL useful for the Blackberry.

Re:Blackberry Linux Connectivity

[I.M.O.G.]

A better guide to connecting your blackberry in linux, as well as using it for internet is available at http://imog.us/articles.html

Of course by "better", I mean that's my website.

Re:Blackberry Linux Connectivity

[BronsCon]

It's also your bandwidth bill. Probably your repair bill, too.

Good job.

Re:Blackberry Linux Connectivity

[Bert64]

I stopped using a blackberry because of poor linux support, it's imap support is pretty poor and it has no support for caldav or ldap, plus to get all the features you have to run their proprietary server which is windows-only.

I moved to an iphone, which is a significant improvement (i have to configure it on a mac, but it can sync using activesync which has an open source implementation z-push, and it does imap much better)... And it's also unix based, so i can mess with the underlying OS and port some of my unix utilities to it.

But i am looking closely at the android based phones, one of which may well be my next phone when the current iphone contract expires.

Re:Blackberry Linux Connectivity

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a tool. Get a life or die...either one really. If you die, please choose to die near a precipice so that you fall far enough down that people won't have to care about cleaning you up.

Take your iPhone with you, we don't need those pieces of shit lying around.

Re:Blackberry Linux Connectivity

[jon3k]

So just run it in a virtual machine on RHEL. I'm so spoiled by my Blackberry I could never downgrade to an iPhone. The wireless synchronization, complete groupware integration, office document and pdf viewing -- it's just too good. Not to mention the security you get with a blackberry. Just no competition at all for me.

Re:Blackberry Linux Connectivity

[Mysticalfruit]

As far as third party email apps for the blackberry go, I've been using the Gmail app to (obviously read my gmail) and it works great.

The only quirk is the buttons are mapped out differently (d for delete instead of del key... etc)

My co-worker has a G1 and that thing is super slick, though the new blackberry looks pretty slick as well, I just wish it was more open...

Re:Blackberry Linux Connectivity

[Bert64]

I don't see it, i have a blackberry (curve) from work and an iphone for personal use...
The calendar i don't really use, the contact list syncing doesn't seem to work properly (tho it also has the lookup feature, which works better)...
I'm sure the iphone views pdf and office documents, tho i've never tried that, they seem to have their own icons.

In terms of security, i prefer the idea of a direct imap/ssl connection between my device and my server, the blackberry uses a proprietary third party protocol via a third party service so you can't be sure what's really going on.

The wireless synchronization of mail seems to work better on the iphone, the blackberry seems to update rather slowly when you delete something from the server.

Don't let the battery run out

[sqldr]

It goes out of sync with the server, and you have to go down to the IT department to have them resync it. Fucking annoying.

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[Dan541]

I thought the days of losing data when the power goes out where long gone.

Apparently not :D

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[Anonymous Coward]

What? I think you'll find the BES server and device will happily resync itself. The only issue is to ensure the device has the correct time as messages are stored against the time of arrival on the device, not the mail server. Even then this only happens if a device is dead for a substantial time.

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[Anonymous Coward]

Methinks your IT department are doing something weird...

Do you actually think that this would be accepted as "normal" by the Blackberry's traditional PHB market?

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[DrLang21]

I occasionally have this problem, and I have never needed to go to IT. I don't recall exactly how I usually fix it, but I think I just manually command the mail to reconcile. Go to Mail, bring up the menu, and select Reconcile Now.

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[outlaw69]

Obviously your IT guys have it setup wrong then.....

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[crypticedge]

Theres a setting in the blackberry server you can set to kill the handset on power failure. Your IT department set this. Smack them, its something they are doing to you, not RIM.

PS: IAABSA (I am a Blackbery Server Administrator)

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[I.M.O.G.]

Wrong.

Blackberry's do not lose data services or enterprise connectivity when the power dies. This holds true for all 7250's and newer, and probably holds for even more ancient devices.

What does happen when the battery dies, is that the wireless antenna turns off - only the stupid users come to IT to have that fixed. The rest recharge the device, then click on the wireless switch that's on their main screen.

my environment has 2000 devices or so. That does not make me an expert, but it does mean I have all the basics correct and I don't make misleading comments implying blackberrys are unreliable. Go do some treo support on a large scale and then you'll see unreliable (their hardware didn't hold up against our sales reps treatment, and resulted in huge rates of replacement)

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[Farmer Pete]

There is a policy on the server end that you can have the device wipe itself if the battery gets below X%. I'm not sure who would want to use that, but if some company had it turned on, it could be annoying.

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[kiwimate]

I don't think so. I have this happen occasionally (usually at the end of a long weekend) and never have the problem you suggest.

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[I.M.O.G.]

Cool, I never knew about that. I see that setting defaults to disabled, but I guess some IT department could turn it on...

Job security thru tedious, anti-business oriented support issues FTW!

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[Anonymous Coward]

It goes out of sync with the server, and you have to go down to the IT department to have them resync it. Fucking annoying.

Not true. Take the battery out, which is pretty much the same as having the battery run out, wait an hour, then put it back in. Works fine.

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[Anonymous Coward]

Well it's better than Linux, where you have to use the CLI for just about everything.

Wait, sorry, I thought this was ten years ago!

Nevermind...

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[bigstrat2003]

1998 called, they want their OS criticisms back.

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[222]

I believe this setting is turned on by default, which means somebody went out of their way in your IT policy (that's actually the term for BES server policies; they're very similar to GPO's in a Windows domain) to enable this. Weird.

Also, crypticedge probably meant to say that you can disable the antenna when your battery is critically low, but perhaps not. You can, actually, tell the device to wipe itself and reset to factory defaults if it loses power. This is pretty trivial though, as device backups are automatic. It would take a simple reactivation to restore all of the users data. Hell, even my browsing history is backed up (handy if you frequently visit sites in your history).

I 3 RIM.

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah yes, Secure Wipe if Low Battery, one of my favorite IT Policies. Here's some more:

Secure Wipe Delay After Lock: Forces users to check their Blackberry every x hours or it will automatically erase itself. BOFH recommended setting: 2 hours.

Periodic Challenge Time: Forces user to enter their password every X minutes while using the device. BOFH recommended Setting: 3 minutes.

Maximum Password Attempts: Number of times the wrong password can be entered before the device erases itself. BOFH recommended setting: 3

SMS Audit Email Address: E-mails a copy of all inbound and outbound SMS messages to the address. BOFH recommended setting: Company-wide mailing list.

There are so many more great policies that can be used to improve employee productivity and security. Blackberries are great devices.

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[haagmm]

I have never had this happen, and i've run down many batteries. Is it possible that some of the software your using is causing this, rather than the blackberry it self?

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[Anonymous Coward]

Your IT department needs to do some reading. We resync them all the time WITHOUT anyone coming to the IT department. They call us on the phone and we reset them.

On the Blackberry server. You blow out the user account. Reset the the user account and password. Have the user wait 30 mins. and re-activate the user account. The phone will resync.

Someone also said

Theres a setting in the blackberry server you can set to kill the handset on power failure. Your IT department set this. Smack them, its something they are doing to you, not RIM.

They're right! smack them.

Our office is in Atlanta and we resync these things all over the world without them flying to our office.

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[Bert64]

Even tho people may not need to reboot these days, that's often considered as the first answer for any problem because people have been conditioned that way. And aside from that one example, i see countless situations where people show each other how to work around a problem rather than fixing it, people think the bugs are a normal and unavoidable fact.

Re:Don't let the battery run out

[Anonymous Coward]

Theres a setting in the blackberry server you can set to kill the handset on power failure. Your IT department set this. Smack them, its something they are doing to you, not RIM.

Don't just smack them, if that's what they've done, get 'em fired.

There is truly no legitimate reason for such a policy, except perhaps for military users, who might be afraid of someone maliciously planting a rogue SIM card in someone's blackberry or rebooting the device to make a copy.

I read it for the articles, I swear!

[geekmux]

Slashdot is starting to read more and more like a Monty Python script these days.

Re:I read it for the articles, I swear!

[JustOK]

I wasn't expecting the recent (useful) stupid inquisition. In fact, I don't think anyone was.

Re:I read it for the articles, I swear!

[Anonymous Coward]

FAIL

Please Stop

[harry666t]

Please Stop :(

Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Ed Avis]

The most useful Blackberry applications are Google Maps and Opera Mini (not a true web browser, so it can't access http servers on your local network, but works well for the public Internet).

Those are both proprietary. I have been looking for something to let me use the builtin GPS together with OpenStreetMap data, but after installing several different programs none of them works. I also couldn't get MidpSSH to work, although the payware ssh client from rovemobile.com is as good as could be expected given the tiny screen. (They also make an RDP client to which the same comments apply.)

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Octorian]

As of BlackBerry OS 4.6, the built-in browser has actually gotten pretty good. I'd even say its better and more usable than Opera Mini at this point.

BlackBerry OS 4.5 has a better browser than you're used to, but 4.6 is where it truly becomes useful. (FYI, right now 4.6 runs on the Bold, and 4.7 runs on the Storm)

Of course your cell carrier probably wants you stuck on 4.2 or 4.3 until the end of time, even if your device currently is currently supported by 4.5 (and might be supported in the future by 4.6 or 4.7) At least there are tons of pages online explaining how you can use an OS build not from your carrier.

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Ed Avis]

Mine is a BlackBerry 8310 v4.2.2.146 (Platform 2.5.0.16). I suppose that means it has OS 4.2. Which is strange, because I got it only recently (a few weeks before the Bold was announced).

I'm looking for how to upgrade, but it looks like you have to put the file on your PC and install the crappy Windows link software (which I have never touched) to get it onto the Blackberry. I've never understood why you can't just download a file directly on the handheld... then again, there are lots of stupdities in the mobile phone market which nobody understands.

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[bellers]

I also couldn't get MidpSSH to work,

AT&T? Me either. It's pissing me off. I can't find any information about a> why it doesnt work, or b> how to unfuck it.

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Bert64]

I have an 8100 and an 8310, and the browser on it is pretty lousy, certainly vastly inferior to safari on the iphone...
Haven't used a newer version so can't comment on that...
Will these devices support any newer version, and how difficult is it to update (and will doing so wipe out my settings?)

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Anonymous Coward]

Care to point to such pages?

I read all about OS 4.5 for a year now but could not install it on my BB 8100 because I could not get it.

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Octorian]

I can't say what devices will support which versions, but that can be found all over the various BlackBerry websites. One thing I can say, is that 4.5 will work on many current devices. Its just that the US carriers seem to be dragging their feet on rolling it out. (and I've heard RIM mention that even newer ones may work in the future, but aren't out yet for older phones)

Updating is actually pretty easy, and you won't lose any of your settings. The trick is that you have to get a build from a less stuck-up carrier, delete the branding data, and then update with that. Again, plenty of websites explain the process.

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[cornjones]

i'll second the better browser on 4.5. I updated mine to 4.5 to address an RSA issue (which didn't work) but I like the update. For one, I can now use my 6gb microsd chip. Not much changed just a bit nicer look/feel.

get the OS for your carrier here:
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/support/downloads/download_sites.jsp

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Octorian]

In 3 seconds on Google:
http://www.blackberryforums.com/rim-software/1871-blackberryos-4-x-download-faq-upgrade-downloads.html

http://www.blackberryinsight.com/2007/05/12/howto-upgrade-your-blackberry-os/

http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-blackberry-discussion/2279-howto-install-reinstall-blackberry-os.html

But basically, you download a version from a carrier that isn't lagging behind, install it on your desktop PC, then delete this file:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research in Motion\AppLoader\vendor.xml

Then you connect your BlackBerry, launch the desktop software, and it'll take you through the upgrade process.

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[ari_j]

Yes (updated my Pearl last month), not very (google will get you to the information very quickly), and no (other than maybe apps, but I was just so happy that it also wiped out the Facebook app that I was otherwise unable to eradicate, since deleting the service book just made it get re-installed later that day).

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[afidel]

Which APN are you using? For most third party apps the best one to use is ISPDA which is the uncompressed gateway.

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Ed Avis]

No, my carrier is Vodafone UK, but that shouldn't matter too much since I am trying to ssh to a host inside my company's network via the 'enterprise' stuff (and I can http to that machine fine).

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Wolfger]

I'm on AT&T and MidpSSH works great for me. (8310, OS 4.2)

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[HiVizDiver]

Interestingly enough, Verizon, long known for sticking with ancient OS revisions for their Blackberries, just released 4.5.0.77 for the Curve (not sure about other models) yesterday. Apparently, that's the latest official OS for the Curve from RIM anyway.

Also, the forums at Crackberry.com have a section for each phone, and I believe that there is a sticky in each that tells the latest official OS from RIM, along with instructions on how to update your phone to that version - whether your provider has released it or not. Very handy, I've been running 4.5 on my 8330 since the day I got it back in August, even though Verizon was only on 4.2 until yesterday.

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[222]

There was a problem with builds of MidpSSH until somewhat recently. I'm guessing that's what you were referring to; all is well now. Rove Mobile does have some neat (and sometimes free!) apps. I'm actually going to do some Blackberry end user training today, and Rove Mobile Viewer is godsend. Being able to project my phone screen on the wall is pretty handy when dealing with multiple people.

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Anonymous Coward]

None of that mentions a carrier of the 8830 who has 4.5...

Looks like CDMA customers are stuck with 4.2.2.xxx

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Edge]

Ditto. Works fine for me as well. (Connecting to OpenSSH from a BB Bold running the latest beta of MidpSSH).

The screen font is tiny as hell though!

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Wolfger]

There seem to be two font options: Tiny-as-hell and too-big-to-be-useful

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[PinkPanther]

Because the upgrader does a full device backup before upgrading all the apps and OS. It probably *could* be done OTA without the backup feature, but I'm not sure how much of the device's memory would be consumed trying to maintain two complete copies of the OS and native apps along with the user's data.

Re:Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[RemyBR]

I've also being using the nav4all GPS application, which has turn-by-turn directions and other cool features. It's free until the end of 2009.

Install opera

[sqldr]

It's not quite firefox, but it's a hell of a lot better than the default browser.

Re:Install opera

[Wolfger]

But how can I get Opera to *be* the default browser? I have Opera Mini, but many apps (*indluding* Opera!!!!) will use the Blackberry default browser to open certain links.

From "The Tao of Programming"

[$RANDOMLUSER]

A master programmer passed a novice programmer one day. The master noted the novice's preoccupation with a hand-held computer game. ``Excuse me,'' he said, ``may I examine it?''

The novice bolted to attention and handed the device to the master. ``I see that the device claims to have three levels of play: Easy, Medium, and Hard,'' said the master. ``Yet every such device has another level of play, where the device seeks not to conquer the human, nor to be conquered by the human.''

``Pray, great master,'' implored the novice, ``how does one find this mysterious setting?''

The master dropped the device to the ground and crushed it underfoot. And suddenly the novice was enlightened.

Re:From "The Tao of Programming"

[GFree678]

I don't quite understand the moral of the story. What's wrong with the novice programmer playing a computer game?

Is the master programmer some dry sort who doesn't agree with computer games or something?

Re:From "The Tao of Programming"

[morgan_greywolf]

Yet, it is also written:

A master was explaining the nature of Tao of to one of his novices. ``The Tao is embodied in all software - regardless of how insignificant,'' said the master.

``Is the Tao in a hand-held calculator?'' asked the novice.

``It is,'' came the reply.

``Is the Tao in a video game?'' continued the novice.

``It is even in a video game,'' said the master.

``And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?''

The master coughed and shifted his position slightly. ``The lesson is over for today,'' he said.

Re:From "The Tao of Programming"

[psydeshow]

> I don't quite understand the moral of the story.

If a Zen koan whooshes over the head of a /. reader, does it make a sound?

Re:From "The Tao of Programming"

[evil_neanderthal]

Now the device is broken and the student must gain an understanding of its inner workings in order to repair it.

Exclusive blackberry tip!

[mrboyd]

Use the "Off" button when you're out for a movie, on a date with your girlfriend or having a beer with your buddies.

It will improve your social life, relieve some stress and you might stop looking like a pedantic ass.

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to be overly metapedantic with my reply, but the definition of pedantic applies more to your post than the behavior you are posting about.

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[Anonymous Coward]

This of course, is assuming that you aren't reading slashdot all the time and can actually get a date...or have friends...who cares if your phone rings when watching a movie alone?

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[optikSmoke]

Not to be overly metametapedantic* with my reply, but the definition of pedantic applies more to a post pointing out the misuse of "pedantic" (i.e., your post) than a post misusing it (the GP).

* Actually just metapedantic, since your post was only pedantic (due to the OP's not being pedantic). See above.

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[UnixUnix]

My girlfriend might object, though, when I reach for her "Off" button.

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[pbhj]

Not to be overly metapedantic with my reply, but the definition of pedantic applies more to your post than the behavior you are posting about.

Bet he posted that from his Blackberry ...

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[mrsquid0]

>Use the "Off" button when you're out for a movie, on a date with
>your girlfriend or having a beer with your buddies.

What's a girlfriend?

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[jalsk]

Use the "Off" button when you're out for a movie, on a date with your girlfriend or having a beer with your buddies. It will improve your social life, relieve some stress and you might stop looking like a pedantic ass.

This doesn't always help... The power button is extremely touchy and sometimes when you think that you turned your phone off, it will be on and dialing someone in your pocket. If you *really* want it to be off, turn off the cell radio and lock it. Maybe put it into standby as well.

Not to say that this would stop it from turning off... the blackberry is the only phone I have encountered which can be turned off while the keys are locked. As long as you hold the power button long enough, it will turn off, regardless of whether or not the keys are locked. This is the most annoying "feature" I have ever encountered and you can't turn it off. -jalsk

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[Bert64]

I have no issue with people who take a phonecall or two while having a beer... It's only annoying if there's just 2 of you there (and therefore you sit bored while the other uses the phone) or they spend all the time on the phone (thus defeating the point of going out for a drink together).

But a phone in the cinema is just unforgivable, it should be mandatory to keep your phone on silent in the cinema, punishable by being kicked out if it's heard making any noise. Modern movies even have a commercial at the start telling people to turn their phones off.

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[Anonymous Coward]

Even better, leave the damn thing at home in this situation. 3 hours of you not being connected by your wireless umbilical cord may actually pay off with you enjoying the movie, possibly getting laid, or not dropping it in the toilet at the bar while your buddies laugh at you puking.

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[CheShACat]

What's an Off button?

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[Anonymous Coward]

What is this "date" that you speak of? If I am reading slashdot, there's not much chance of me having one of those, and no need to turn it off when you are watching a movie or having a beer alone...I have no friends

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[sckeener]

or better yet, set the auto on/off to be your work hours.

I prefer mine to automatically turn off when I leave work and not turn on until I get to work.

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[ColdWetDog]

What's an Off button?

You don't get to find out until you're married.

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[PitaBred]

You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

Might I suggest "workaholic", "inconsiderate" or "preoccupied" as replacements?

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[syousef]

Use the "Off" button when you're out for a movie, on a date with your girlfriend or having a beer with your buddies.

It will improve your social life, relieve some stress and you might stop looking like a pedantic ass.

It won't work. Your wife will still beat you up and take you for every cent you're worth when she finds out about your girlfriend.

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[pheonix]

The off button is apparently me taking off my pants.

Re:Exclusive blackberry tip!

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot readers have girlfriends and go on dates? News Flash! Stop the presses this instant!

Cool Apps for the 'berries

[Mister Transistor]

These are some of the best free apps I've tried:

1. Google Maps - Several others have mentioned this, will use cell phone tower triangulation if your model doesn't have a GPS or it's locked like my Verizon 8330 Curve.

2. MicroSky - Nice constellation/sky object finder, if you whip out your berry you can identify that bright planet just above the moon! (It was Jupiter!) You have to register, but it's free.

3. Vlingo - This is really nice - it extends voice commands to the entire phone instead of just the autodialer. You can launch commands, records notes to self, etc. Very nice general purpose speech to text analyzer/converter. The only downside is it seems to transmit and analyze the sample to a remote server so there is a few seconds lag in getting text output.

Those are the best of the best I've seen so far.

Re:Cool Apps for the 'berries

[Anonymous Coward]

The Truphone app is also pretty ok if you are paying your own bills - calls are usually about 5 cents a minute to most places around the world.

http://www.truphone.com/blackberry/

Re:Cool Apps for the 'berries

[scream at the sky]

Viigo is the app that I find I have a hard time with out. It's a slick little RSS feed app that pulls feeds from anywhere one the web. It's a gratis app, but you do have to sign up for an account.

It's way more convenient that using slashdot.org/palm when I have a few minutes for my fix during the day.

Push weather updates are awesome as well.

Re:Cool Apps for the 'berries

[Wolfger]

wait... You mean I can make *phone calls* with my BlackBerry?!? Cool.

Re:Cool Apps for the 'berries

[rho]

MicroSky is okay, but what I really want is Planetarium. That program alone is why I keep my TE2 charged. It's good enough to buy an old Palm just to run it.

Torch function

[Anonymous Coward]

Set the video camera to have the light always on. Then set the side button to activate the video camera.

Congrats, you now have a very expensive torch.

Re:Torch function

[spandex_panda]

I thought for a minute that this would cause flames to erupt from the top of the device! This way you could gather friends with large forks and charge together toward foe?

Re:Torch function

[Thiez]

Finally a device to combat trolls!

Re:Torch function

[Hillgiant]

I think you may be confusing it with the Have-Fun-Storming-the-Castle function.

I know it's OT...

[icebrain]

but what is with the recent spate of "_____story" tags? Why is the word "story" being added to the ends of tags now? Seems kinda redundant and/or useless.

Re:I know it's OT...

[harry666t]

Hover the mouse over the "story" tag. The pop-up reads: "type tag".

I have proposed a "database FS"-like "object system" in which one uses tags instead of FS paths to organize stuff (well, certainly not a new idea, but in my version it would replace FS at the OS level). Here is my /. comment about it: http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1007863&cid=25511201

I'm pretty sure /. is using "story" tags in a similar way to my "type" tags (like "type:program" or "type:image"), which are essentially classes of objects. So the "whyiseverythingtaggedstory" tag is like a file path "~/whyeveryfileendswithadotjpg/picture.jpg".

Re:I know it's OT...

[Gewalt]

but what is with the recent spate of "_____story" tags? Why is the word "story" being added to the ends of tags now? Seems kinda redundant and/or useless.

Because tagging stories as comments would be dumb. (check out the firehose, you will understand then)

Re:I know it's OT...

[Mr. DOS]

You forgot to say that that idea was invented by harry666t.

      --- Mr. DOS

good app

[servo335]

I like google sync it allows me to sync the blackberry calender with the google calender.

Re:good app

[Itninja]

OMG be careful with Google Sync. You can create a singularity and destroy the universe!

Re:good app

[HiVizDiver]

Agreed. Finally I can have one calendar across 3 computers and my Blackberry. Truly a great app. You effectively use your Google Calendar as a "central repository", and sync all calendar items to/from that from each machine.

Ping a Blackberry from any e-mail account

[toupsie]

What to know if your employees have their Blackberry turned on? Send an e-mail to it with the subject "" (without the quotes, of course). The Blackberry will send back a confirmation message with the time and date that it received the message. This is also a good way to test if your BES server is delivering messages in near time,

Re:Ping a Blackberry from any e-mail account

[tumbleweedsi]

Now that's actually quite useful.

Re:Ping a Blackberry from any e-mail account

[J_86]

I was amazed that actually worked. Nice tip, thanks.

Re:Ping a Blackberry from any e-mail account

[SpacePirate20X6]

Even better, set

<$confirm,removeondelivery>

This will hide the message as it is sent, and remove it immediately; they'll never know. ;)

Re:Ping a Blackberry from any e-mail account

[RabidMonkey]

this works, but wasn't removed on my blackberry, just in outlook.

just a heads up if you're wanting to be sneaky.

For users of older models, update the OS

[Bearhouse]

I surprised that this topic made it through - not surprised at the flaming response. I mean, the damn thing does not even run Linux...

More seriously, there are a few 'standouts' like Google maps and Opera, but that's about it. Probably because it is closed architecture, and the Java implementation can be buggy.

What I've found helpful is - as a user of an older, non-GPS equipped model Pearl - to update to the latest OS. Instructions can be found on web. You get genuinely improved functionality.
Same thing goes for Google maps - they update it regularly so you need to re-install often. For example, they recently added positioning without GPS, using tower trangulation. Works surprisingly well.

Re:For users of older models, update the OS

[Anonymous Coward]

More seriously, there are a few 'standouts' like Google maps and Opera, but that's about it. Probably because it is closed architecture, and the Java implementation can be buggy.

Closed architecture? Really?

RIM gives away free SDKs and full documentation without restrictions and without onerous EULAs. What more can you want?

Re:For users of older models, update the OS

[Bearhouse]

More seriously, there are a few 'standouts' like Google maps and Opera, but that's about it. Probably because it is closed architecture, and the Java implementation can be buggy.

Closed architecture? Really?

RIM gives away free SDKs and full documentation without restrictions and without onerous EULAs. What more can you want?

I meant as in terms of the OS - of course it's not the iPhone, but it's not running Linux either.

Still, let's not get carried away - it's not designed to be a hacker's toy, and as an enterprise-grade messaging tool, it's great.

Re:For users of older models, update the OS

[Octorian]

Meanwhile, the iPhone is perhaps one of the most closed and restrictive platforms out there. The only difference is that it is the iPhone, and people will climb over each other just for the chance to lick Steve Jobs boots.

Seriously, whenever I hear someone mention that they do iPhone development, they usually follow up with "And I don't really feel comfortable talking about it, because of the agreements Apple made me sign."

Re:For users of older models, update the OS

[object88]

Seriously, whenever I hear someone mention that they do iPhone development, they usually follow up with "And I don't really feel comfortable talking about it, because of the agreements Apple made me sign."

And now you can tell them that they needn't be uncomfortable any longer.

Re:For users of older models, update the OS

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you kinda missed the point. The OS is Java. There's a bare-metal JVM and then everything you see is Java, including what you think is the "OS".

find the trick

[nimbius]

that makes it stop hauling me into work at 3 in the morning for some strange ritual called "escalation."

or the trick that keeps the battery plate from breaking and falling off constantly.

Re:find the trick

[Anonymous Coward]

Daily auto shutoff is your friend.

Re:find the trick

[Anonymous Coward]

Gaffers Tape. Sturdy as hell and the color should match the device somewhat.

Re:find the trick

[Muckluck]

that makes it stop hauling me into work at 3 in the morning for some strange ritual called "escalation."

>>New Job

or the trick that keeps the battery plate from breaking and falling off constantly.

>>small bead of elmer's glue. If you need to "battery reboot" you can just pick the glue out fairly easily (also serves as a tasty snack)

Re:find the trick

[afidel]

*Note that this trick can have a negative impact on your employment status, results may very, use at your own risk.

Re:Best Trick

[Anonymous Coward]

You've missed out the I in raid.

Easily delete a series of emails

[Anonymous Coward]

Use the "Search" function from within the email app, when the results are displayed, navigate to a date and choose to "Delete Prior". Excellent way to get rid of a bunch of alarm emails.

Look for the responses to this and other posts..

[Anonymous Coward]

In a 'For Dummies!' book coming to a bookstore near you soon!

I really do hope this stops.

'lol tips 4 guitar hero 2 make me bettar?! u post i jam!!'

Tagged: pleasecontinue

[FauxPasIII]

As much as I loathe meta-discussion, I'll just say that IMO these useful (topic) tricks threads are fantastic. Keep them coming!

Auto On and Off + Blacklists

[Tryfen]

Two Top Tips to Improve your Work/Life Balance.

1) Want to make sure you're not disturbed once you've left work?

Options - Auto On/Off. Set the BlackBerry to switch itself off after 1830 and automatically on at 0830 (adjust for your work patterns).

2) Sick of getting Every. Single. Fricking. Email?

Mail - Options - Email Filters.
My BlackBerry is set only to receive emails from my immediate boss, his boss, my wife, family, and anything with the subject "Urgent".

Sadly - you can't automatically switch them on/off. But at the weekend, you can go in and switch off the work filters. Hey presto, you'll only get the email you really care about at the weekend.

T

Re:Auto On and Off + Blacklists

[Anonymous Coward]

Instead of playing with the e-mail filter I have added a second mailbox for my personal e-mail and created profile for on call, word day and personal. This way I keep personal and work e-mail separated just switch the profile and you get your Gtalk/personal mail ring on message and not your work mailbox

Re:Auto On and Off + Blacklists

[hpavc]

filters for some addresses (certain bounces for example) suck. these being the message exchange doesnt have a user for but calls them 'system administrator' and then in the bb when you create rule based on sender it just a EM: or similar goofy sender that will never match anything.

Re:Auto On and Off + Blacklists

[Anonymous Coward]

To those people that DO get every single frickin e-mail, I am constantly surprised how many people don't know you can press T to scroll to the top and B to scroll to the bottom of the list. That's useful while reading e-mails, as well, to get to the bottom of an e-mail chain.

Most important app didn't require software

[cluge]

midpssh & google maps are the most useful apps that are free. There are good pay for apps for folks that are in specific businesses - like the hot sauce trouble ticket system.

Personally - one of the best apps already comes with the phone - a back lit screen. One late evening I was in need of some heavy equipment and being on a construction site began going through several front end loaders, tractors, dozers looking for one that had the keys left in it. If it wasn't for the BRIGHT screen on my berry, I would have never found the keys for that Lull, and got our portable tower moved 58 feet south. Sometimes the phone's native ability is the application you're looking for. It's ability to serve as a flashlight has been extremely helpful & I think it's open source!

Sometimes I even call people on it.

Re:Most important app didn't require software

[yachius]

If you have the video camera app you can hit spacebar twice to turn on the flash permanently. A real flashlight.

Read RSS and Manage Remotely

[jwgoerlich]

Useful trick? The most useful item on my BlackBerry is my Viigo RSS reader. Viigo has scores of built-in channels, as well as custom channels. I use it to read dozens of InfoSec blogs and, of course, Slashdot. Viigo delivers literally hundreds of posts to my BlackBerry daily.

Viigo's free but, if you have a few dollars, consider spending it on Rove mobile management. Rove (was Idokorro) allows you to remotely manage Windows and *nix hosts from the BlackBerry. Typing command line on the BlackBerry can be a pain, so be prepared to combine Rove with some custom scripts.

another good app

[Anonu]

the best RSS reader i found out there was Viigo. it downloads your feeds at any interval you like and caches them for quick access (or for your morning train commute when t-mobile's EDGE network becomes useless)

Beyond411 for your local search nearby

[quattr0]

I find it more helpful/accurate than Google map. This was 3-4 years ago though. I don't use BB anymore so not sure how it is nowadays http://thebogles.com/blog/projects/berry411/

(trick) How to make them bounce

[ufoolme]

The trick is to drop them from at least the 3rd store of a building w/concrete pavement. The 2nd store just isn't always high enough, unless you purposely peg them at the ground.
Entertainment the whole family can enjoy.

Re:(trick) How to make them bounce

[Anonymous Coward]

The trick is to drop them from at least the 3rd store of a building w/concrete pavement. The 2nd store just isn't always high enough, unless you purposely peg them at the ground.

My local mall has over 30 stores but they aren't numbered. How do I determine which store is first, second, etc?
Would the cashier at RadioShack know;-)

Re:(trick) How to make them bounce

[deniable]

Twenty to thirty meters from the top of mining equipment onto hard packed earth is good too. We used to joke about this one because the phone still worked afterward. Just lucky, I guess.

PIN Messaging

[SCHecklerX]

I have a blackberry for personal use. For friends who also have them, I use PIN messaging instead of SMS. For more involved conversations, I point them to the blackberry messenger app that does IM type messaging (including audio notes, images, other attachments) rather than make them install something like jivetalk.

PINs are really nice for a few reasons:
1) direct berry to berry messaging
2) you know when the message has been delivered
3) they can have a separate alert from regular SMS messages
4) they don't eat up messages from the expensive monthly SMS bucket. Heck if everyone you need to SMS has a blackberry, you don't need to add sms to your plan at all. This assumes your data plan is unlimited and your SMS plan is ridiculously expensive.

Drawbacks:
1) must have a data capable cell signal, whereas SMS works anywhere a phonecall works.
2) for whatever reason, PINs don't automatically move your highlight to the latest in the BB messages list like SMS messages do.
3) the blackberry messenger alerts are wonky. There is no "first message" vs "everything else" option, so you either have an alert each time or never. Alerting when friends are on or not must be set after every conversation, vs. the 'buddy pounce' feature of jivetalk. Messenger would be a lot more useful if they'd fix those two things.

two good apps , for irc and ssh

[idontagreeWhy]

for IRC on your blackberry
jmirc
http://jmirc.sourceforge.net/

I think this works ok for my limited use.

for telnet / ssh client on your blackberry midpssh
http://www.xk72.com/midpssh/

Works well, lets you have some macros for commands.
Hope someone new finds these and enjoys them.

Mark

Barry.

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux users who also use a BlackBerry â now have an option for managing their BlackBerry directly from Linux.

Barry is an Open Source application that will provide synchronization, backup, restore and program management for BlackBerry â devices. Barry is primarily developed on Linux, but is intended as a cross platform library and application set, targeting Linux, BSD, 32/64bit, and big/little endian systems.

http://netdirect.ca/software/packages/barry/index.php

B-rad.

Just take a blackberry training course!

[bg233]

Or, just take a training class to find out how to do everything on your blackberry: http://www.weblearners.com/technology/blackberry-training/9-mastering-your-blackberry.html

A Wanted Useful trick....

[fubar1971]

I've been searching for this for almost a year now. Does anyone have an IPSec VPN client? Now that would be a useful trick.

Re:A Wanted Useful trick....

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.wicksoft.com/wicksoft-pocketvpn-best-of-wes-award.htm

Re:A Wanted Useful trick....

[fubar1971]

I tried that, but I am not looking for access to my files. I am looking for just network connectivity. I found a RDP client for the blackberry. I want to be able to connect to my WinBlows servers and restart them remotely, or see if they are experiencing issues. I also want to be able to connect to my Linux based servers via SSH. I just need IPSec connectivity to do this.

Re:A Wanted Useful trick....

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.rovemobile.com/

Re:A Wanted Useful trick....

[Octorian]

I'm not sure how close it is, but the BlackBerry OS does actually have some built-in VPN capabilities.

Options -> Security Options -> VPN

Re:A Wanted Useful trick....

[fubar1971]

Unfortunately I have a locked down Verizon BB. The OS version is 4.2 and does not have this feature. I know there is a 4.5 version out there (And I am going to ass-u-me that the VPN option in included), but Verizon will not let me update it. I'm looking into possibly downloading and manually upgrading the OS if I can.

Re:A Wanted Useful trick....

[PinkPanther]

Run a BES on your LAN and enable MDS. No need for VPN then.

HTML Email

[servo335]

Since At&T does not yet support the new version of the os a free html email reader would be helpful if one exists...

Re:Best Blackberry Trick of All

[Anonymous Coward]

I know people who have switched the other way.
Their stated reasons were:

    Blackberry battery life was much better
    Blackberry Pearl was much smaller in the pocket
    iPhone display too easily damaged
    iPhone synchronization is a pain in the...

WeightWatch

[Zebedeu]

Not specifically for BlackBerry, but it's a j2me app so...

if you're monitoring your weight for some reason (usually trying to get rid of it), you might find WeightWatch useful.

It's a small application which will record your weight daily and display it in a chart with an error-correcting tendency curve, like the one in the Hacker's Diet.

You can even create a diet plan that predicts when you'll reach your desired weight, and display the plan next to your chart.

Currently the application only supports metric units, but I've already started working on localization, so it should be available in the next month or so, depending on how busy I am.

If you want to help, head over to the project page.

Re:WeightWatch

[Zebedeu]

I know, I know, bad form to reply to myself* but I had to say that my [shameless_plug] tags were filtered in the above text.

* According to correct internet protocol, unless you start your post with saying exactly that.

Still a PalmOS junkie

[rwa2]

I have an (admittedly older) Blackberry for work, and still find myself doing all the interesting things on my aging PalmTX.

The only things I use the Blackberry for, in order:

* Google Maps : Verizon disabled my built-in GPS, but I can highly recommend the i-Blue 820 bluetooth receiver / datalogger.

* E-mail : the only reason Blackberry is popular in the first place

* G-mail / Yahoo : limited and slow, but functional interfaces to your email accounts as well as some light news and flickr

* Opera Mini : For accessing heavy websites that the internal browser chokes on.

* MidpSSH as you mention. It really is a decent client as in it's not too impossible to display decent ansi using screen, and send all the weird keystrokes you might need.
http://www.xk72.com/midpssh/

* Tethering (use the Blackberry as a wireless modem for your laptop) : I think they've really tried to stop people from using this, though. I think I have one of the last models / plans that allow this, and it works awesome.

Aside from those basic and indispensable functions, I really kinda hate my blackberry, and use my Palm TX for all of my personal work and entertainment.

My essential Palm TX apps:

* Plucker : I use Sunrise to pull a compressed copy of all my favorite websites that I frequent or e-books so I can read them on the subway or wherever. It's much, much faster than using a browser and supports pictures and everything.

* TCPMP : plays mp3s, ogg, and fullscreen videos in various with minimal transcoding woes. I use a 4GB SD card for my library. By no means an iPod replacement in terms of quality or UI, but it gets the job done well enough for me with minimal hassle.

* PIM : syncs with JPilot on Linux, haven't really seen anything else that I can use with my Linux box. I use goosync to publish stuff to my google calendar as well.

* Keyring / CryptoPad : for encrypted info

* Office Documents, PalmPDF : actually allows me to do light office file editing and relatively featureful spreadsheets, my blackberry only lets me view email attachments and it does a piss-poor job formatting that makes it next to useless.

* tejpWriter : with a portable keyboard, you can get some serious typing done with this text editor.

* Progect / HandyShopper / HappyDays / etc. : great little productivity tools that are extremely well designed and I haven't even found usable equivalents for on full-blown desktop systems.

* OperaMini : Also for accessing heavy websites the internal browser chokes on.

* pssh / PalmVNC : Quite usable. Haven't had much luck controlling VNC through my Blackberry.

* Games : Popcap has a lot of very interesting games ported. Also lots of great freeware / OSS diversions.

Anyway, too bad Palm seems to have really flubbed the future of their platform. Right now if I had to replace my TX, I'd probably get a Nokia N810 which seems to have a good PalmOS emulation layer:
http://www.access-company.com/products/gvm/

Other than for Google Maps, my Blackberry has strictly been relegated to a device that tethers me to work in a limited fashion.

MidpSSH Trick

[Phil_at_EvilNET]

Forgive me if someone's already posted this, but in testing MidpSSH I attempted to connect to my server at home and being the security conscious person I am, immediately noted the IP address that I was connecting from was not from the Blackberry itself, but from one of the many FreeBSD proxy servers I maintain at work. It then dawned on me that since we operate our own BES servers, I attempted to login to the FreeBSD server via it's LAN address and lo and behold, I was actually logging into the FreeBSD server from the BES server's IP.

Regardless of all our security, RSA tokens, VPN access, secure gateways, etc, my Blackberry is now a backdoor into Pandora's Box. When I showed the LAN architect, he immediately freaked out. Since our BES servers aren't in the DMZ and actually goto the internet using NAT via a FreeBSD server (behind a netscreen and a router), the "flaw" is actually inherent to the design.

On a good note, I made $20 bucks on the bet that I could prove I could own the network via my Blackberry. :)

 

Re:MidpSSH Trick

[wcbsd]

On the bright side, the fact that the BlackBerry is inside the firewall makes it good for simple administration via http or ssh. I've used it on the train in a pinch... Since many of our devices also run the RSA soft SecureID and have PINs taped to their cases, they're already pretty dangerous, so the added risk is fairly minimal.

Re:MidpSSH Trick

[SpectreBlofeld]

But surely that's only a concern if someone gets your blackberry (or one of the others on the same BES), and has your BSD server in mind as an attack target, and can gain server access via (I assume) some username/password combination typed away on the blackberry's keyboard?

In short, I guess I'm asking, isn't this easily defeated by password-protecting your phone? You can specify how many incorrect password entries self-destruct the device.

Re:MidpSSH Trick

[wcbsd]

Indeed. That's exactly how we control it... Tough security on the network and at least a cursory password to lock the device. (It's not just the BSD server that's accessible, though, unless your network has some extremely stringent IP blocking.)

Saved searches

[coathanger]

Saved searches are also a very useful feature.

Messages > Search > Save

You can create a shortcut key to a search that can be targeted at any variety of:

Item type
Email account
Folder within an email account (mostly using BES)
Item status (read state, draft, etc)

For people with a large volume of email and little time, this is a great feature.

Activation without the BES admin

[aggie113]

If you loose sync (email, contacts or calendar) and are on a BES but don't want to bother with a support call you can try this trick to do your own Enterprise re-Activation. Go to the Options/Advanced Options/Enterprise Activation menu. In the email field type in CNFG while holding the Alt key. After typing this, you should have a new menu appear. From that menu, change the option for Wireless Sync from On to Off and then exit the menu while saving changes. Give the phone about half a minute and then go back into the menu and change the Wireless Sync to On. Exit and save changes again and it should then start the process of Activating. This, as well as taking the battery out and putting it back in will fix 90% of corporate blackberry issues :)

Programs switching shortcut

[halfabee]

Not too obvious, I hope... You can switch between running programs by using Alt + Esc (the back key). Very useful on older models that don't have an applications button or definable shortcut keys.

Some shortcut keys and generally helpful things

[kansei]

Task switch: Alt+Esc

Reset: Alt+Cap+Del

Reorder or hide icons: Alt + Click(wheel / trackball)

Device info / Help screen: Alt+Cap+h

Event log: Alt+"LGLG" on home screen

Alt+"NMLL" toggles network signal level display between graphical and numeric

In the message list "t" goes to the top, "b" goes to the bottom, "v" goes to saved messages and "r" toggles through all unread messages.

Re:Best Blackberry Trick of All

[Anonymous Coward]

• A usable media player

You're joking, right? Can your fancy iPhone broadcast music from the media player to your car stereo over Bluetooth with the A2DP profile?

Dynamic DNS + File/Web server

[TheGreatOrangePeel]

...and yet, once again, I'm late to the Ask Slashdot party, but here we go...

I, too, just got a BB device and I've just started enjoying this today: Using the port forwarding options of your home router, forward port 80 to a combination file/web server. and use a Dynamic DNS (aka DDNS) service like DynDNS so you can refer to your home machine by URL instead of IP. Some routers support automatic updating of your IP address with DDNS services and DynDNS even provides a tool to do it for you. Once your port forwarding/DDNS is set up, make some kind of index.html/php/py/etc. file in your web-root so that directories are not immediately apparent and then also in your web-root also make soft links to your audio collection and any other files you may want to access with your Blackberry device. This means that I have instant access to all 24GB of my audio collection on a device that would otherwise support a meager 1GB of files. If you're concerned about your ISP yelling at you for sharing your MP3s with the world, setup SSL with Apache and access your files using s://domain.abc.xyz>.

You can also enable SSH on your server and forward port 22 to your home machine to be able to manage access to these files using your MidpSSH install.

Re:Dynamic DNS + File/Web server

[TheGreatOrangePeel]

Oh, and TwitterBerry keeps me very well connected to not just my friends but also Jean-Luc.

Re:Das Blinkenlites

[Anonymous Coward]

...or you could have just put it into 'Bedside Mode' (Clock options) which dims the screen and disables das blinkenlights

custom trackball backlight color

[TheGreatOrangePeel]

...not to mention that modding your blackberry to have a custom back-light color for your trackball is not as hard as you think.

Here are some tips

[changos]

1. Minimize clutter, if it can be done with a button, then you don't need an icon on your screen. Remove the apps you don't like/use

2. If you don't have OS 4.6, get an HTML email viewer, your eyes and mind will thank you. I use Empower, there are a few choices.

3. Select a theme that you like, stick to it. Changing themes often, slows you down.

4. I like to separate work from personal email. All personal email goes to gmail account. Gmail app is pretty good. I like the fact that I can get any email with search.

5. Get some usefull apps:
        a. Timer from Neosistec.com
        b. BeamReader (pdf reader)
        c. Mobipocket reader
        d. Maps
        e. Opera Mini is really good
        f. BBSmart Alarms Pro, it rocks for alarms

6. Have some fun, put some games:
        a. Nintaii, it will keep you hooked
        b. Facebook app
        c. The chat program of your choice

Re:Here are some tips

[smagruder]

HTML e-mail works on OS 4.5 as well. After upgrading to it from 4.2, I just needed to resend the service books from the BlackBerry Internet Service. HTML e-mail was then enabled automatically on all my e-mail accounts.

Let the magic smoke out

[swordgeek]

Pour some water on it--if that's not enough, then try flushing it or jumping on it. Or both.

Once the magic smoke has been let out of your Blackberry, I predict your productivity will go up tremendously.

(Hint: I despise blackberries. Terrible devices, designed badly.)

Re:Das Blinkenlites

[maino82]

Did I, or did I not clearly state that you're to get the hell off my lawn?

"Bedside mode" ... Pshaw!

Re:Das Blinkenlites

[Wolfger]

I actually found and used the off button once. Didn't like it. Don't use it anymore.

The Power User's BlackBerry Guide: 121 CrackBerry

[j0nfr33m4n]

http://www.insidecrm.com/features/121-blackberry-tips-021408/

for the love of god

[PeelBoy]

not another one!

This is getting played out.

Avoiding Emergency Calls

[oddRaisin]

Locking your blackberry doesn't prevent you from accidentally making emergency calls, especially if you don't use the holster.

The way to avoid this is to press and hold the mute button on the top of the blackberry. It will put the bb into standby mode, where it will still receive emails, SMS's, and phone calls like normal, but with better keyboard/input locking.

Set Out of Office

[Flyers2391]

I showed a few people at work this, maybe others don't know about it either. You can set and change your out of office message:

Messages > Options > Email Settings

In there, (besides being able to edit your signature) the bottom option should show "Use out of office reply" change that to yes and edit as desired.

Viigo

[Anonymous Coward]

Get Viigo (not to be confused with Vlingo). It's an awesome RSS reader that you can set to update automatically -- great for /. feed, wired, etc.

Maps

[Anonymous Coward]

Trekbuddy and Googleak

Blackberry Users CANNOT Use Linux!

[filesiteguy]

As a current Linux user and current crackberry owner (I promise I did not send more than two messages while on Space Mountain yesterday!) I say that using one with the other is forbidden. I don't care if there are sourceForge projects that try to implement blackberry syncing on Linux nor is using usb over Virtualbox allowed.

We must keep Linux pure!!!

Re:For users of older models, update the OS - RSA!

[Markvs]

...unless you're running RSA's SecureID soft token application, which doesn't work on certain BBs if you raise the OS beyond 4.3.

MapQuest 4 Mobile

[Anonymous Coward]

Surprisingly I think the free MapQuest 4 Mobile application is much better than google maps:
http://www.mapquest.com/mq4m/

rogue wireless hunting

[Augmento]

this only really useful once your already pretty close, still better than lugging your wardriving kit around, turn the beep on for dramatic effect.

it's a long way to get to it. Start on the main screen and open the Manage Connections app. Scroll down to Wi-Fi options and click. Click on the Blabkberry Key (the one with the little dots on it) and scroll down to and select Wi-Fi Diagnostics Click on the Blackberry Key and select Site Survey. You are there.

http://www.blackberryforums.com/aftermarket-software/139443-looking-netstumbler-type-bb-app.html

Automatic Key Lock

[awyeah]

Most of the holsters and cases made for blackberrys (and all of the holsters and cases made by RIM for blackberrys) have a special magnet in them that automatically locks the keys when the device is in the holster.

Re:Automatic Key Lock

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually you have to enable this as an option. And you're a fool if you don't.

Blackberry Storm

[jon3k]

So I had a RIM rep stop by yesterday and I got to play with a storm for about half an hour.

Initial thoughts, coming from an 8830, wow this keyboard is going to take some getting used to. Screen is gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. Youtube works! Full screen even. He had some quicktime trailers on it and those looked absolutely stunning (probably better than the iPhone).

It has copy and paste and multi-touch, though it cannot use apple's gestures (copyright). You can however place two fingers on either side of a line of text to copy it. Camera is very good, has autofocus, I think it had a flash as well.

ask me anything i'll try and answer the best I can. Oh pricing and availibility. All he would say is "pricing will be competitive with the iphone of course" and that it "will be out before november". So I assume 23rd is probably still close.

Re:Blackberry Storm

[jon3k]

I apologize, I meant "will be out before THANKSGIVING".

Re:Blackberry Storm

[ari_j]

1. How usable is the keyboard? Touch-screen keyboards concern me because I am addicted to tactile feedback.

2. How usable is the device without having to look at the screen? Is voice dialing easy and accurate, and does it give feedback that makes it easy to confirm you are calling the right person and that the call is actually being placed without you having to look at the screen?

3. How does battery life compare to other BlackBerry devices, especially the Pearl, and to non-smart phones such as my trusty Motorola E815?

4. I'm sure it doesn't, but I have to ask: Does it have an external antenna port? My booster device requires this and I thus lost the use of it when I switched from my E815 to my BlackBerry, and the BB's reception was already worse than the E815's to begin with, so I now have much less territory in which I can use my phone. A BlackBerry with an external antenna port would fetch from me almost any price they ask.

Re:Das Blinkenlites

[PinkPanther]

I have a prototype Bold. When it shut it off, the battery drains completely in a matter of an hour. So I keep it on all night, but set its profile to "Phone Only" ("Off" would be another option, but emergencies are emergencies.)

Re:For users of older models, update the OS - RSA!

[Bearhouse]

Good catch, thanks.
As always, the useful stuff never seems to get modded up...

Some of my favorites

[gpinzone]

Vlingo - I use this instead of the built-in voice command. Beyond411 Search - Incredible search utility! Invaluable! Opera Mini - Duh. TipMaster - Calculate tips. Why wasn't this program built in? DocsToGo - Open and edit MS Office files.

8310 and OS4.5

[markdowling]

Rogers Wireless has OS4.5 for 8310 but the devices we are receiving still have 4.2 as they have obviously been in the supply chain awhile. We just load 4.5 as we get them.

Documents To Go also comes along with 4.5, which is nice. Blackberry Maps still blows - Google Maps FTW (especially now stuff like Street View is included)

Bell Mobility has 4.5 uploaded for 8830

[markdowling]

Blackberry posted a technote which says voice calls can be affected after certain media files are played. 4.5 fixes that. We haven't installed it on the few 8830s we have yet though.

oops, never mind my previous post about 4.5

[markdowling]

I thought it referred to 8330 (and 8130). 8830 is still 4.2 land.

How about how to fix a BB

[SirusTV]

I worked for AT&T here is what we had people doing with their blackberries to fix them. If you have a BB problem try it. Hardshock: remove battery while device is powered on, leave battery out for several seconds. might as well take the time to see if your sim card is seated correct (att, tmobile, and a few others use sims. verizon, and sprint dont [except for maybe hybrid sprint/nextel phones]) If you're on att and get voice but no data look to see if next to your signal strength it says EDGE or edge. lower case means a full connection hasn't been made yet but capital means you should be good to go. in your advanced settings menu (the menus move around depending on skin [worst idea ever]) check that your default routing table is set to your carriers. check and see if you can sms. settings are sent to the phone in hidden text messages that the user never sees or gets charged for. if text is broke web will break as soon as something changes and an update gets pushed to your phone.

Here's a fun one not to do

[Anonymous Coward]

How to brick your BlackBerry:
Install an application compiled with the 4.2.1 JDE on a 4.2.0 device, even if it doesn't use any 4.2.1 features. (The BlackBerry Desktop Manager doesn't care and happily lets you do this.)

Another fun one: How to make my Curve 8320 send all incoming calls straight to voicemail without a single ring:
1. Turn on WiFi
Seriously.

Re:two good apps , for irc and ssh

[BrennanM3]

If you use irssi for irc you can just leave it running in something like screen and get to it from any ssh client.

event log

[Anonymous Coward]

Alt-LGLG from the home screen will get you a really geeky system log. Useful for harassing hokey software developers who can't get their network stack working properly.

(T-Mobile has OS 4.5 officially out which includes video recording, voice notes, and more.)

Quick dial conf # and passcode

[Anonymous Coward]

Enter your conference call numbers as 1-800-555-1234 X 123456# into your invitations.

BB will allow you to dial whole number and wait 3 seconds then dial the passcode and # with a press of the green button on the invite. Beautiful.

One of the worst missing features

[Avery Smartbear]

And I don't know why it isn't more public, is that I'm unable to select multiple pictures/files to move around between folders in the device, or to transmit via bluetooth or whatever. I've searched around to no avail. Anybody knows how to do this? It's easy to do when connected to a computer. I'm probably being dumb and not finding an obvious feature, but after several searches and finding posts asking for the same feature, I don't understand.