BlackBerry, The Need of the Moment

I bought a used blackberry from E-bay the other day, and was I surprised by what I got. The description said

"Sparingly Used" which means(on marketplace sites) "I beat the crap out of this phone, its slow and ugly now" and the features "sparingly" work.

Anyways, Like I said, I'm very happy with the buy, saving money is good.

So, now that I have this device in my hand, I don't really know what to do with it. Do I really get important emails ?
No !! Not at work atleast.

For the record its a BlackBerry 8800, and my sole reason for buying it was the way it looks, so I don't mind not getting emails on it. But then, what about the universal question to any Blackberry owner...

What is your BB Pin ???

Damn, No Data Plan, No BB pin.

Quick comes my answer "Dude, its a business phone(looking at my phone, pretending to check emails and messages, in short act busy), I use the BBM only for my clients,I'm getting another one for personal use I'm working on it ;-)

So, The question remains, Emails on phone, really ? I am purposely not mentioning the "surfing internet" part,
because there is no way i'm gonna surf the net on this tiny screen.

Emails, well ,I have better options around, I have a netbook, an iPad and a Laptop.

Although, I confess, checking emails on the BlackBerry makes "emails" look important, and replying to them makes it "High Priority Work", not to forget the rudeness of constantly checking things on the BlackBerry when you have people talking to you. Great Seinfeld bit on this !!

All in all, I would need the emails on my Blackberry for that one moment when I don't have access to the internet and have an important email to check. I have had moments in the past where emails have driven me crazy and I have driven miles to take care of my business. So, I guess it all comes down to "that" moment. If you can handle it, stick to your generic qwerty phone. Oh, I almost forgot, I also bought it beause of the qwerty keypad.
My last phone an HP iPaq was good, not good enough(was expecting an OS upgrade from Microsoft,,I love upgrades !!! didn't get any)

All in all, I have the Blackberry, might as well enjoy the "High Priority Work"

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Forever Young

Apple Software Update Icon

I'm not sure if I have shared my liking for "updating softwares" on my operating system. Be it  Mac/Windows/iPad/iPhone/Blackberry, there is something about the "New Updates are available" popup that makes my
world rock.

The softwares manage to keep themselves young, forever young. Got the iPad ?? Here you go, an update to keep your iTunes look good on the big screen, turn the full screen on, and now you can view the lyrics, the album art, all at the touch of your finger.

I am updating my office Windows 7 operating system as we speak, and am really excited about using the new IE 9, heard its got the look and feel of Google Chrome(I wouldn't be as excited, if Chrome didn't crash everytime I run a debugging application, and RockMelt.. bah..let's just leave it there).

Windows 7 is alright, I mean Windows has bought new clothes(funky ones) but is rapping the same lyrics, not a surprise to the Windows users. They all know, Windows Xp works the best.

I am a little disappointed with iTunes, I expected them to get better(bigger they have, huge download file with
every update) and change the interface, I haven't liked it since day 1. Its too intuitive(read complex) for a first
time user, same with Windows Media Player.

Mozilla and Real Player are two of my favorite updates, something new to offer everytime. Real Player, especially when it provides update option to the user.

Talking about updates, it is not everytime that I like updates, Winamp is one software where I would prefer the updates to happen on the backend and not on the UI. Even with the swanky(desperate looking, Gawky) skins, I prefer winamp classic.

RIP no more !!
PS : Forever Young Sound Track JayZ Ft Mr. Hudson....Peaceful
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Home Grown Tweets

Interesting Icon

A chilly winter morning at New Delhi. I arrive at office and say "Good Morning" to slick run. Up comes me email and the tweetdeck comes up with 40 tweet updates. I follow couple of Marketing gurus on twitter expecting some good gyaan from them, or maybe a tip for the keen stock trader in me. A new Product launch, or a slight hush hush discussion about it makes the stock for that company go up higher.

Anyways, This morning I found myself in the midde of soup, a couple of these gurus had replied to random business magazine that they follow on twitter, so all that see now is a series of abnoxious RT and replies, of things that I have no idea about.

Nevertheless, to keep the spirit Retweets and Replies alive, I skimmed through the tweets, yet again failing to
understand everything that they were talking about "RT @___ Yes, It is possible @___ @___ @____" A series of snails is all I could make out.

I remember the good old days on twitter where tweets were all about, @____ attended "Emerging Trends Seminar" . I really enjoyed these, they were precise, had enough information, and kept me on the top of emerging trends or any other happenings in the IT or Marketing world.

Don't get me wrong, I am not against the RTs or the "@". Infact, I myself have a series of them going on but to fill  your tweet page with these rather frequently is not going to take you anywhere.

Another trend that is catching up on twitter is the "participate in discussion" where twitter users hashtag and
tweet at a particular user for example "@marketing today" .
I tried following these too, until it ended up with some "yes/No" and edited tweets.

Let get back on the wagon of Home Grown Tweets.

Your Thoughts
Your Blogs
Your Advice

PS : @marketing gurus, Thanks for sharing all the information, have learnt a lot. But am loosing interest, please make us(me) a part of your "open" discussions off twitter.



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Location Based Services : My Tryst with FourSquare

I must have checked in every single day at the Starbucks in Hackensack, just to get the feeling of being the Mayor of a rather popular coffee place, ah well, also for the free coffee they have for His Highness THE MAYOR.

To rewind it a little, Location based services is not nothing that just started out of nowhere, Like any other popular "Network" on the internet, this one too is based on general things we do in life; err Facebook = Remember those building meeting ? You see a nice girl you ask around, and you get to know her "relationship status", "Her Profile", "likes/dislikes" . Umm its pretty much the same, just online now.

Location based services; When I was a freshman, I remember asking people for the best Pizza joint around, the unanimous answer was "Varsity Pizza's and Subs", the answer stays the same except that now I find it on FourSquare with a million reviews which not only tell me where to go, but what to order and how to carry extra paper towels for the "Grease Truck" Pie.

2010 was a big year for location based services, with 4square adding more features to its current portal, and the ability to share(impart) knowledge to your followers on other social networks. But, is this all we can do ?

The answer is NO, what happened to knowing about the new sale in town, how good would it be to be informed about ongoing sales in the mall not by the weird announcements and definitely not by the fliers, but by getting them on your mobile devices. Like every other techie out there, I have some plans for location based services too and by god's grace would be putting them to action very soon.

Location based services are no longer about where you are, but about how your location can help make your life simpler today. I need a haircut, and Prime Cuts at Essex street is PRIME !! I added a tip on 4square. Whoa !! I think I just made life simpler for all the newbies at Hack n Sack ;-)
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