Finally got around to adding the Wordpress application to my Blackberry and iPod Touch. Now I can post from anywhere!

As much as I love the Blackberry’s and how far they’ve come in just a few years time, they just can’t seem to get it right! The latest buzz is revolving around the Tour and the redesigned trackball. The redesign has been out for some time in the new Curve 8900 (from T-Mobile) and the Bold 9000 (from AT&T). However, the latest model to use the phone (from Verizon and Sprint) is the Tour 9630. The trackball looks and works the same, so that begs the question, is it really the trackball or something else? I posted previously that changing the theme seemed to have helped the issue, but time will tell what the real problem is.

Jump over to this CNET article to read the latest.

For years now, more and more retail stores are offering wireless Internet access to their customers. Companies such as Optimum provide larger Wi-Fi outdoor access at places such as train stations, supermarket locations, etc. With all of these various places to get a wireless signal on your mobile device, why do we still refer to finding such locations as “going to Starbucks for wireless”? It’s funny to think back to them being one of the first retail chain stores to provide such a service, and probably because of so, we still refer to that type of commodity as “going to Starbucks”!

Some Blackberry users at my work were recently upgraded to the new Blackberry Tour 9630 from Verizon Wireless. This phone is a great addition to the Verizon Wireless family because it includes 3G support, which was previously found only in the Storm. However, it lacks Wi-Fi, so if you can’t get Verizon Wireless service (or the appropriate abroad carrier), you’re out of luck. That shouldn’t be a big problem because Verizon Wireless has a huge coverage area in the lower 48 states and their affiliates around the world.

After configuring two of these phones today, one right after the other, I noticed some considerable “trackball lag”, as it’s being referred to on the Web. Basically it appears as if the phone is locked up for a few seconds, then responds to trackball movements and keyboard input. Forums talk about utilizing the Memory Scrubbing feature, or having the phone replaced all together. One option that I found was to change the theme, which so far seems to be working well. The phone comes with two themes – VZW and Precision Zen. If you’re experiencing this “trackball lag”, try changing the theme. The layout is basically the same, except for a different background (of a cool looking arched bridge).

The phone seems to be a winner in other aspects though. It’s slim, feels solid in your hand, and takes cues of all the new Blackberry case designs. Comes with a 2GB microSD memory card, a global SIM card, international charging adapters, and a belt-clip style holster. It’s very close in size to the new Curve 8900, with a similar keyboard to that of the 8800 models – just “refreshed” for the new Blackberry designs, and of course the latest trackball design.

If you’re looking for a new Verizon Wireless Blackberry with international and 3G features, but can live without Wi-Fi, get your hands on the Tour. And if you’re eligible, VZW is offering a “Buy 1, Get 1 Free” of any Blackberry!

Jump over to LinkedIn below and take my poll!

http://polls.linkedin.com/p/53898/vepxt

In search of a mobile app to add new posts, I came across a nice little plug-in to view this site on a mobile device. It strips away all the graphics from my theme, but it allows you to read my blog entries in a mobile optimized format. I’ve tested it on my Blackberry 8900 and iPod Touch – it works great! If you don’t see the mobile version, please let me know.

Yesterday I had achilles tendon surgery from a basketball injury months ago. So now I’m home, on the sofa bed, leg up, and watching TV – and I’ll be in this condition for the next few days at least. There’s only so much TV that you can watch though, in light of video-on-demand services and DVD’s. In today’s portable technology age, we sometimes take things for granted that we don’t realize how much easier it makes our lives!

Here’s what I’ve equiped myself with while I’m on bed rest:

- Samsung NC10 mini notebook. This mini notebook has a super-long battery life, generous keyboard keys, built-in video camera, wireless, and best of all – lightweight! Last thing I want right now is a heavy laptop on my lap.

- Blackberry 8900 Curve. I’ve had this phone for a few months now, but it’s a great, portable way to check work email, update my Facebook status (which could be done with the laptop, but much faster with the Blackberry), and take any phone calls from family and friends calling to wish me a speedy recovery! I can also snap a couple photo’s of my wrapped up leg with the built-in camera and share them on Facebook, MMS, or email.

- iPod Touch. My newest toy! With built-in wireless (including access to the iTunes store!), internet, cool apps and of course, music, I can entertain myself with some tunes or even video if I choose. I can purchase music and vids at the touch of “button”, listen to podcast, play games, and more.

- TiVo Series 2. The TiVo is the oldest tech in the bunch, and has been a loyal companion for TV for a long time! The TiVo is wired up for networking, so I can download movies and TV shows on-demand, check movie times (for when I’m ready to leave the house), and transfer shows from the other TiVo in the house. Add in the second hard drive that I installed for 3x the storage, I’ll be able to have movies ready for viewing and be able to record all the shows I want!

On a last minute business trip to Japan, I had to figure out how I was going to get my email remotely. Japan is 3G only, and my new Curve 8900 does not support 3G. My options were to buy a Blackberry Storm (uh, no), start a new plan with AT&T and get the Blackberry Bold 9000 (uh, no), or rent a Blackberry 8707G. These are currently the only Blackberry’s available with 3G support. I decided to go with the rental.

I did a quick Google search and came across Roadpost.com. Their rental plan is very straight forward – $19/day (plus optional daily insurance) which includes a nice travel kit too. Email & internet use is free and unlimited, but phone calls and texting are extra. Within minutes, I had placed my order on the phone (because remember, this was all last minute!) and had the phone the very next day. When I received the phone, it came with everything I needed, it was clean, and in excellent shape. At that point, I configured the rental for BES use, sent/received a few test emails, and I was on my way.

Once in Japan, the phone connected to their local wireless network provided by NTT DoCoMo, and the emails I missed (while on the 13 hour direct flight from New Jersey to Tokyo) started to roll in. When I was able to start Outlook on my laptop, the Blackberry send/receive delay was almost unnoticeable compared to Outlook. Internet browser speeds were decent too.

After I returned from Japan and was ready to send the rental phone back, I reconfigured the 8900 for BES use, and shipped the rental back in the pre-paid FedEx envelope provided by RoadPost. I was then billed for my use accordingly.

The only trouble I had with the phone was that it is a little on the slow side at times. Occasionally it locked up for a few seconds during heavy use, but that was really all. It’s not the sleekest phone available, but it got the job done without spending a lot of money.

Next time I travel to Japan, I would definitely rent again from Roadpost, considering that I don’t have a new 3G phone by then!

http://www.webex.com/mobile/

Any 3G or Wi-Fi enabled smartphone can now join WebEx meetings. Everything from video to audio is available during a meeting! Right now, the service is currently only available for iPhone’s, but Blackberry’s and Windows Mobile will join the ranks in April 2009.

I have a friend who’s home public IP is DHCP, and they have an IP-enabled thermostat for their house. I set up a free DNS “A” record from DynDNS.com, so they could access the thermostat remotely without having to remember the IP address. The URL is something simple like http://myhome-freedns.com. Since the public IP is dynamic, I set up a service on their home PC that automatically updates that free DNS “A” record to reflect the new public IP (whenever it changes). This is called Dynamic DNS (DDNS). The problem with all of this is that the home PC must be turned on whenever the DNS “A” record needs to be updated. At this point, I figured I would leverage his Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless router to handle the DDNS updates.

Upon logging into the router, I discovered the DDNS service was no where to be found! Soon enough I figured out that the firmware had to be updated, which introduces the DDNS service. Downloading the firmware was simple enough, and the upgrade *should* have been straight-forward too – log into the router, go to the corresponding page for firmware updates, browse to where the file is saved, and update.

Unfortunately it wasn’t that easy. I was getting the error of “”Upgrade action is not finish. Upgrade file pattern error.” If the grammatical error was not bad enough, not being able to upgrade the firmware easily became frustrating! A simple Google keyword search resulted in a Linksys forum page with the same issue. It appears that the naming convention that Linksys gives their firmware files is not compatible with their own products! Simply renaming the file from “BEW1.52,blah blah.bin” to “code.bin” allowed the router to read the file and update the firmware successfully. No numbers, no mid-way periods, no commas – just “code.bin”.

After the update, DDNS was available on the router, and is now successfully updating the DNS “A” record as needed, without the use of a PC-based service.