BlackBerryInsight

I just got some information from inside S4BB Limited and it seams they are currently doing a version 2.0 of the vCardMaster. By now it seems not to work on the Pearl but on all other BlackBerry devices.

I hope they get this fixed as I am a Pearl user. Anyway, I like the feeling to be able to attach vCard and vCal items to an email and even get contacts in my address book created by importing such email attachments (including iCal).

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Note: If you have a Microsoft Windows PC please refer to Installing 3rd Party Applications (Microsoft Windows).

To install a 3rd party application on your BlackBerry you can choose different ways.

1. Get an OTA-Download link for the [APPLICATION].jad file and point your BlackBerry browser to it. The installation will start.
2. Use your desktop computer; connect your BlackBerry device to it and install the application to your BlackBerry

1. OTA Installation
This procedure of installing software on your BlackBerry is very easy. The only thing you need is a so called OTA link. This link points to a .JAD file (which actually is a description file for your BlackBerry application). As of an example we will use the free application from BerryQuery.com to demonstrate this procedure. You just need to use the link below and point your BlackBerry browser to it. The installation process will start automatically. The program will be installed to your BlackBerry if you follow the instructions.

OTA Download for BerryQuery: http://www.berryquery.com/berryquery.jad

Unfortunately, a lot of vendors do not provide OTA download links for their applications. If this is the case you should try the following.

2. Installation via desktop computer (Mac OS X)

To install a 3rd party application using your Mac OS X desktop you need to have a BlackBerry desktop application installed. The “official” application is called PocketMac for BlackBerry. You can download that one directly at RIM: http://www.discoverblackberry.com/discover/mac_solutions.jsp.

Once you have installed it you will see an icon on your desktop. Before clicking this icon please connect your BlackBerry to your Mac. After starting the PocketMac application you will see the main coming up:

If you are installing BlackBerry applications using your desktop computer you mostly get a .zip file (e.g. “nextaction.zip“) from the software vendor. On Mac OS X you just double click onto that .zip file and its contents will be extracted to a subdirectory (e.g. “nextaction unpacked”) of your current directory.

Now you choose “Utilities » Install Software to Device” and select the appropriate .alx (e.g. “nextaction.alx”) file that has been extracted.

The program will be installed to your BlackBerry automatically. After the process is finished you will find a new icon and name below on your BlackBerry’s desktop. By clicking the icon you start the newly installed application. That’s it. Easy right?

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S4BB Limited just released the new version 2.2 of the Palm and BlackBerry Web Video Generator.

The Web Video Generator allows you to enter an URL to a YouTube video. It automatically downloads that video, converts and optimizes it to the special needs of your mobile device. The new version comes with the following improvements:

• Microsoft Windows Vista support
• New Supported BlackBerry Models:
  • BlackBerry Curve (new)
  • BlackBerry Pearl
  • BlackBerry 8800
  • BlackBerry 8830 (new)
• Fixed URL/YouTube download

All current customers will get a free update on this.

More information can be found at their appropriate product sites: BlackBerry Web Video Generator & Palm / Treo Web Video Generator

Related Articles:
Watch YouTube Videos on your BlackBerry
BlackBerry Web Video Generator Quick Guide
BlackBerryInsight » “BlackBerry Web Video Generator” - Top selling product within the first day

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Look what I found in my inbox:

NextAction! 2.0 Falcon is still in its beta test but it will come soon. Buy purchasing a license now you will get a free update on the new Falcon! This oportunity is offered to you exclusively in cooperation with MobileSoftMarket.

You can find more information about the new features in Falcon here.

This offer is only available for a short time and is a courtesy to our loyal customers. YOU are the ones who feed us with that much suggestions and feedback we can use to serve you! Thanks a lot to everyone who helps us enhancing our products to improve your productivity.

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Note: If you have a Microsoft Windows (XP / Vista / whatever) machine you should take a look to How to synchronize my BlackBerry with my Desktop Computer (Microsoft Windows).

Synchronizing your BlackBerry with your desktop computer is a must! It just works incredibly fine and is easy going to set up. This article is meant to help you to get this working. If you have already set it up and you think it is fine you can just skip this article. But if you are not sure your setting is correct - but it is working actually - you should keep reading and check whether you have set it up right.

We wil cover the following parts of your BlackBerry and desktop application for synchronization:

• Address Book
• Calendar
• MemoPad
• Tasks

Please keep in mind that we are not covering the synchronization of E-Mails in this article. We will do so later I guess. The setup that is used for this presention is as followed:

• BlackBerry Pearl (BlackBerry OS 4.2 from HKCSL)
• PocketMac 1.0.9
• Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger powered MacBook
• iCal, Address Book, StickiesNotes

You can use this procedure for your setup as well. E.g. you are using another BlackBerry model (71xx, 72xx, 75xx, 77xx, 87xx, 88xx or Curve) the setup is the nearly the same. To get your Mac’s data synchronized with your BlackBerry and vice versa proceed as followed:

1. Be sure you have PocketMac installed on your Mac already. If not you can get it for free here.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Connect your BlackBerry to your Mac (PocketMac currently only supports USB and serial port).
   
3. Start PocketMac by clicking the icon.
   
4. Click on BlackBerry.
   
   
   
   
   
   You should see your device name an PIN on that page. If not, make sure you connected your BlackBerry to your Mac already and restart PocketMac. Unlike the “BlackBerry Desktop Manager” for Windows PocketMac does not recognize devices that are attached during its runtime.
   
   
5. Click on the Contacts button to open the contacts tab.
   
   
   
   
   
   Activate the “Sync Contacts [...]“ checkbox to enable contact data synchronization in general. Below you find a list of supported contact management programs. As I am using Apple’s Address Book, I checked that one. You should check the appropriate checkbox according to the program you are using. You can also tweak the setting for the specific program you want to synchronize with at “Advanced Preferences…”. That’s it, we are done for contacts.
   
   
6. Click on the Calendar button to open the calendar tab.
   
   
   
   
   
   In here we also check the “Sync Calendar [...]“ checkbox to enable calendar item synchronization. As my configuration uses iCal for calendar items I selected “iCalCalendar”. That’s it, we are done for calendar items.
   
   
7. Click on the Tasks button to open the tasks tab.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   In here we also check the “Sync Tasks [...]“ checkbox to enable task synchronization. As my configuration uses iCal for task items as well I selected “iCalCalendar”. That’s it, we are done for tasks. (Hint: The program on the right - NextAction! - is compatible with PocketMac and therefor with all applications PocketMac can synchronize your BlackBerry with. It is world’s best GTD application for BlackBerry® Wireless Handhelds!)
   
   
8. Click on the Notes button to open the notes tab.
   
   
   
   
   
   In here we also check the “Sync Notes [...]“ checkbox to enable notes synchronization. As my configuration uses StickiesNotes for notes on my Mac I selected “StickiesNotes”. That’s it, we are done for notes.
   
   
9. Click on the Bookmarks button to open the bookmarks tab.
   
   
   
   
   
   As I am not using Safari for desktop browsing I don’t synchronize that. But those of you who like to use Safari can synchronize your Safari’s bookmarks to your BlackBerry. To do that, just activate the “Push Bookmarks [...]“ checkbox. That’s it, we are done for bookmarks.
   
   
10. Now you can press the “Sync” button in the top right corner of PocketMac to synchronize your BlackBerry with your Mac and its programs.
    
    
    
    
    
    Follow the instructions. If there are any conflicts between your device’s and desktop’s databases you will be notified. You should check all notification carefully as they might contain important information.

PocketMac for BlackBerry supports the following devices: BlackBerry 6210, BlackBerry 6230, BlackBerry 6280, BlackBerry 6510, BlackBerry 7100 Series, BlackBerry 7105t, BlackBerry 7130c, BlackBerry 7130e, BlackBerry 7130g, BlackBerry 7130v, BlackBerry 7210, BlackBerry 7230, BlackBerry 7250, BlackBerry 7270, BlackBerry 7280, BlackBerry 7290, BlackBerry 7510, BlackBerry 7520, BlackBerry 7730, BlackBerry 7750, BlackBerry 7780, BlackBerry 8100 Pearl, BlackBerry 8300 Curve, BlackBerry 8703e, BlackBerry 8700c, BlackBerry 8700f, BlackBerry 8700g, BlackBerry 8700v, BlackBerry 8700r, BlackBerry 8705g, BlackBerry 8707g, BlackBerry 8707h, BlackBerry 8700v, BlackBerry 8707, BlackBerry 8800, BlackBerry 8830

Looking for more howtos? Check out Category:Howtos

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Soft Reset:
Press (not Pearl).

Hard Reset:
Press wait a second and press again (not Pearl).

Show Log:
Press ALT + L G L G.

Show Information (Platform, OS Version, PIN, IMEI, Uptime):
Press ALT + R A C E (SureType) or ALT + CAP + H (on QWERTY|Z).

Switch Between SureType & MultiTap:
Hold »/SYM/* while in a text field.

Switch Input Method:
Press ALT + Enter.

Switch Tasks:
Press ALT + Escape.

Switch Signal Strength Display (bars to numbers):
Press ALT + N M L L.

More useful shortcuts are welcome. Feel free to leave a comment!

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Like mentioned some days ago the BlackBerryInsight team was checking out Hong Kong and its BlackBerry compatiblity.

Short introduction: For 10 years Hong Kong belongs to China again. Therefor, there are a lot of advantages in that area. It is a so called “special administrative region” of the People’s Republic of China with a population of about 7 mio. people. The market is completely encapsulated and nearly the most (financially) liberal place on earth. Hong Kong’s economic power is mostly built on import/export and financial businesses.

Anyway, RIM is also in Hong Kong for several years now and their Hong Kong branch is called “Research In Motion (Hong Kong) Limited”. This is the Asian headquarter of RIM which is responsible for all of RIM’s actions in Asia (including Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand - just for mentioning some of them). If you are looking for a job at RIM in that area feel free to check out their job offerings. As Hong Kong itself is a “free trade area” the government does not levy duty on imports.

Nearly half of the world’s population is living in Asia and therefor RIM needs to be present here as well. Hong Kong itself seems to be quite small compared to countries like China or India but it is the best place for business. You can also see that at the diversity of network carriers that are offering BlackBerry devices and services. Such a “small” city like Hong Kong provides a variety of possiblities to get a BlackBerry. Providers like Hong Kong CSL, Smartone Vodafone or Hutchison are very famous in HK. They all offer similar packages for the BlackBerry service which are about HK$ 500 per month. All recent devices are available at those carriers as well including the BlackBerry Pearl, BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry 8800. Those carrier shops and advertisments are very easy to find, placed everywhere in the city: at buildings, on taxis, in newspapers, in subways / metros / railways / busses, everywhere. As Hong Kong is a city built on and for business this is propably the best place for RIM and the BlackBerry to gather more business users.

Besides the well established carriers you can also get a BlackBerry without contract nearly everyhwere on the street. Quite some months ago I got a BlackBerry Pearl there which was actually imported from the UK and branded to T-Mobile UK. The propably best place to get the newest BlackBerry (and also other mobile phone, computer, anything gadget) is in Kowloon’s shopping area (around Nathan Rd.) which is located in the north of Hong Kong Island. It is a pulsating place with lots of visitors, different cultures, shops, dealers - you can get everything there. As mentioned before, Hong Kong does not levy duty on imports, those imported devices are very cheap compared to other regions in the world. So if you are looking for a BlackBerry without service (may be you already have one or you don’t need one) you check out this place. Tip: Don’t buy the first price, mostly you can palter to get the really best price.

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The BlackBerryInsight team is currently checking out Hong Kong. We will come back with some more information about the BlackBerry in Hong Kong later.

Meanwhile, we will check on places where to buy a BlackBerry in Hong Kong (without contract), providers and carriers in Hong Kong and usual people in Hong Kong who use a BlackBerry here.

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The Wallpaper Generator for BlackBerry® Wireless Handheld is now available for $19.99 $14.99.

You can easily create your own wallpaper from your favorite photos in 3 easy steps. This program allows everyone to create an unlimited amount of wallpapers for your BlackBerry® Wireless Handheld. The exclusive Wallpaper Generator distributor is MobileSoftMarket.

More information can be found at the Wallpaper Generator for BlackBerry® Wireless Handheld site.

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I was wondering that some news sites as well as blogs were reporting that the BlackBerry gets green light for China. Well guys, the BlackBerry has been in available in China Mainland for several months already. Below you will see a map of China and the cities where the BlackBerry and BlackBerry services are available for quite a long time already.

Pricing at China Mobile:
398 RMB, 50M GPRS/ month
598 RMB, 400M GPRS/ month

Related articles:
BlackBerry in China
Howto: Get BlackBerry Internet Access without Data Plan (example: China Mobile)
BlackBerry in China - it’s getting serious
Buying a BlackBerry Pearl in Hong Kong

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