(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."

What the fuck?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

I thought Slashdot was exclusively iPhone oriented?

I feel betrayed. BETRAYED I tells ya.

Re:What the fuck?

[by Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:What the fuck?

[sik0fewl (561285)]

I've said it before [slashdot.org] 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?

[KillerBob (217953)]

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

Re:What the fuck?

[Yokaze (70883)]

Use the GPS and accelerometer for tracing the trajectory of a rocket [lolife.com].

Hit it with a hammer

[mlk (18543)]

Then jump on it.

Re:Hit it with a hammer

[HappyHead (11389)]

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

[tonytnnt (1335443)]

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 (1026860)]

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.

Crackberry Forums

[peterprior (319967)]

Maybe ask in the Crackberry Forums [crackberry.com] (a Blackberry user site)

Re:Crackberry Forums

[Zro Point Two (699505)]

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.

Blackberry Linux Connectivity

[wehe (135130)]

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

Useful and missing Blackberry applications

[Ed Avis (5917)]

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 (14086)]

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

[Octorian (14086)]

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.

Install opera

[sqldr (838964)]

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

From "The Tao of Programming"

[$RANDOMLUSER (804576)]

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"

[morgan_greywolf (835522)]

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.

Exclusive blackberry tip!

[mrboyd (1211932)]

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.

Cool Apps for the 'berries

[Mister Transistor (259842)]

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.

Ping a Blackberry from any e-mail account

[toupsie (88295)]

What to know if your employees have their Blackberry turned on? Send an e-mail to it with the subject "<confirm>" (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,

find the trick

[nimbius (983462)]

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.

Auto On and Off + Blacklists

[Tryfen (216209)]

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:Torch function

[spandex_panda (1168381)]

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:Don't let the battery run out

[crypticedge (1335931)]

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)