So a work colleague shared an interesting article about the recent Blackberry Outage. From what I understand they placed a Cisco router instead of a switch. I know that Cisco switches are complicated devices however when you are running a multi-billion dollar company, you must have backup plans, or devices in place in case such a thing happens. I work with medium sized businesses that range from 100-500 employees, which clearly don’t have as much money to spend on IT as Rimm does. Yet their IT infrastructures are usually built to withstand multiple points of failure, so how does one switch failing take down a corporation like Rimm? I really have trouble believing that Rimm will continue to sail along. Maybe Apple will buy them out for their patents.
Blackberry
Angry Birds for Blackberry
I love a good laugh, and since I have been debating recently how Blackberries suck (phones, not the fruit the fruit is amazing) with many people, I thought this picture would be really funny. I found this picture on my friend Kareem’s Facebook wall photos. I told him that I would be submitting it online, so I shared it with reddit.
How the iPhone 4 re-upped the ante
When the first iPhone came out, it changed the way the mobile phone industry was operating, all other companies scrambled to put something together that would be worthy to battle the iPhone. While some were successful (Google, maybe Nokia), other where not in my opinion (RIM/Blackberry). When I say that, I am not talking about sales, I am talking about a phone and operating system that are coherent.
Next we can all agree that the next two iPhones were just upgrades that were nothing too special other than at the time they were released (except for the 3G upgrade). So when the iPhone 4 came out, it had a new feature called Facetime. What is Facetime you ask? It is a video calling technology that Apple developed. You might think to yourself, who cares Nokia and Sony Ericsson have that that since around 2005. While that may be true, I’ve had the first Nokia phone that had a front facing camera, as well as many others, yet how many times did I use a video call in those three years? Exactly once (no joke), and I was sitting next to the person I was having the call with. We were just testing out the technology. As Felix Dennis mentions in his book How To Get Rich the key to being successful is not about having a great idea, it’s all about execution, and Apple executes second to none.
One of the really cool things about Facetime is that you don’t even need cellular reception to make a call (which makes video calls free all over the world!). Check out this video below of me giving directions to a friend while in the middle of the woods! We had no reception, yet we had wifi internet. While all other phones in the cabin (blackberries) were out of luck when it came to making phone calls, at least I could call people that have a Facetime device (at that time only the iPhone 4).
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK0DjkU-Pu4
RIM agrees to work with Arab Countries
So, now RIM is willing to work with the Arab Countries that want to spy on users. I really did not expect this from a western company, but hey they are chasing the dollar dollar bills y’all.
U.A.E bans Blackberry service
Just a few hours ago Etisalat, was said to have disabled the blackberry service until Rim can provide anyway for them to regulate the service. As of now that is not possible so no BBM for you! More details here http://www.ahlanlive.com/23910-uae-bans-blackberry-services
WinX HD Video Converter for Mac Giveaway
Today was the third Sunday of June, which means it was father’s day around the world. I made sure to contact my father and wish him a happy father’s day and let him know that he is appreciated. Sophia from WinX contacted me again and let me know that they are promoting their new converter software by giving it away on father’s day. Just by looking at the specs, this video converter can just about convert any file (it even supports Blu-ray .mts, m2ts files) to any output including preconfigured outputs for media devices (iPhone, iPad, Sony PS3, Xbox 360, Zune HD, Blackberry, etc). It has the a similar interface as their other software, so if you have used any of their software it should be familiar. I think the Icon is really snazzy and reflects well with OS X’s great icon design. I would suggest that the interface be made more Mac like as reminds me of boilsoft applications on Windows. I know this application will come in handy because I do a lot of converting, especially when devices don’t support specific HD containers such as MKV.
To take advantage of this offer (which ends July 1, 2010) Visit the WinX HD Video Converter for Mac Giveaway page.
How to debrand a Blackberry using MFI Multiloader
I have never got around to doing this, mostly because I’ve got rid of my Blackberry Curve 8900 a while ago. However some people have contacted me asking how to do it. Coincidentally a contact that had been using my tutorial decided to help me out by sharing the love. All this information is courtesy of Mike Harrington. Please show him some love by visiting his blog.
The first thing you are going to do is run MFI Multiloader. You want the phone to have a 1 on the screen. Disconnect it from the computer and type S T A R T as usual. Now close and reopen MFI Multiloader. Make sure none of the boxes are ticked. Press CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + F12 at the same time to bring up the hidden menu. Click on Load VSM; the file you are looking for is called “VSM-11697-001” It is located in the MEP folder in your MML directory. C:\MML\MEP\VSM-11697-001. When you select the file it will say “VSM successfully loaded!” Now all you have to do is reload the OS as usual with BB desktop manager. Very simple process and only an extra step when unlocking your phone. This works for every blackberry that is compatible with MFI Multiloader! Your screen will look like this now on boot up instead of the normal AT&T/T-Mobile/Rogers/Telus/Etc.
Mike Harrington
Seidio Innocell 2600 Extended Life Battery Review
The normal battery of the Curve 8900 is very acceptable. However when I saw the Seidio Innocell 2600mAh External Battery on the Crackberry.com store and decided I had to buy it. I wanted it for the obvious reasons. Extended battery life.
Site Suspended Today
So today My site was suspended by bluehost for linking to the blackberry mml unlock files. So I removed them to comply with the TOS. So I found out it was because RIM decided they don’t like the files linked to. Anyways that is their right, however it is MY right to be contacted and told that the links be removed, however they just had my host take my site down. If that’s how they treat their customers, then I don’t want to be one. I can go back to an iPhone once the new one comes out. I will contact rim about this and see what they have to say. When I hade a Upek file ACTUALLY hosted on my site, upek took the extra courtesy to contact me. I removed the file and was even offered the priviledge of trying software they didn’t even release to the public.
Pageonce
I was watching my friend recently on the computer and he showed me Pageonce. It is a service that aggregates all your online accounts into once place for easy viewing, managing, and productivity enhancement. You can place all different times of online accouts in page once, Finance, Email, Utilities, Credit Cards, Social Networking, Travel, Shopping. You can even input your skype account. If you can’t find your account provider you can even add it (haven’t tried this yet). It works with most banks in Canada as well. For people that are scared about security issues, Pageonce is encrypted and secured(you can read more about that here). The cool thing is that they even have applications for the iPhone and blackberry to be able to look at everything on the go. I found it really great to see the balances of my account in a clear and cocise manner. So check them out its a cool site that is free to use!