Torture Your BlackBerry

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Every wondered the endurance tests you can put your BlackBerry through? I know some people that drop it all the time ... Silly

There's a guy that calls himself "The BlackBerry Guy" (unlike The Traveling Tech Guy ... Winking). This guy decided to dedicate his life to see how much pain you can cause to your BlackBerry and put it through some interesting test like a Hummer H3, a UPS delivery truck and more...

Here's the test with a 4278lb Nissan Frontier:

You can watch the rest of his quality assurance tests here

CrackBerry - The Musical

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A little funny video for the weekend that shows some familiar situations of the "addiction" Rolling on the floor

"Citizen M"

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Philips is working on a fully customizable hotel concept that is designed to provide the services the consumer needs and enable the hotel operator to optimize their cost. The first implementation is scheduled to open at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in early 2008 and is called "CitizenM Hotel" since it is created for the "Mobile Citizen".

The basic idea is that Philips will deliver pre-fabricated rooms that contain all the amenities and can be installed onsite. The rooms will provide the guest a "Moodpad" which controls the room's lighting and everything. Besides the fact that the size looks like a room in Tokyo, it looks cool and very high-tech. Watch the presentation video:

Google Talk v2.0 for BlackBerry

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Google released version 2.0 for their messenger application for BlackBerry. It has some nice features like seeing the images of people, but the most important thing I used this for is to have a messenger client that I can use for my MSN and Yahoo contacts without paying for any clients like JiveTalk.

You can get this by pointing your BlackBerry browser to: www.blackberry.com/googletalk.

To add your MSN, Yahoo, AIM and ICQ contacts to your Google Talk and have them on your BlackBerry follow these instructions

Hassle Free Airport Security

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When going through the airport security you can notice who is an experienced traveler and who it getting on his first flight since 9/11. As an experienced traveler, I do everything possible to go through the security checkpoint as quick as possible:

  • Emptying my pockets in advance (cell, wallet, BlackBerry, etc) and putting everything in my laptop bag.
  • Having the liquids bag ready outside my carry-on
  • Shoes with no shoelaces
  • etc.

This Thursday I flew back from Cleveland to Raleigh, and when I got in line to go through security I started the regular ritual that you would do without thinking already: Take out your laptop, shoes, etc. When the TSA agent saw me do that he told me "Sir, you don't have to take your laptop out", and my first reaction was to look at my boarding pass to see if I was "randomly selected..." by checking if I have SSSS on my boarding pass which I didn't. I asked the agent what does it mean I don't need to take out the laptop, and he said that is not required in this machine. So I asked, what about the liquids? And he kindly answered just leave everything in your carry-on. Applause

It turns out that TSA purchased 20 new machines to test them in different airports. Each of these machines cost around $400,000 and is supposed to close the biggest security hole that screeners have to manually find bombs, guns and knives using the simple X-ray machines available today.

These new machines are much bigger than the regular ones and manufactured by Analogic which has been using X-Ray technology for medical purposes in the past. These machines create an X-Ray 3D picture of the bags and allow the TSA agent to turn the object and also "slice" them to see through them and this is why it doesn't require to take anything out of the bags.

Hopefully they'll roll these quickly to the rest of the airports and the agents will get used to them since right now it seems like they are still learning and it takes them a couple of minutes to look at each bag through this machine.

Mobilize Your Web

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One of the most frustrating things about browsing the web from a mobile device is the lack of web sites that create a "mobile-friendly" version of their site. Unless you have an iPhone, or the patience of dragging the screen using Opera Mini on your BlackBerry, most of the web sites look terrible on the mobile browser.

A web site called Mippin is trying to address this exact problem. Mippin takes information from thousands of web sites and delivers it in a format that fits mobile web browsers. What's nice about it is that it actually personalizes itself for you as you browse so you always have the content you want a click-away. If you're looking for something specific you can just search for it and it will look for the appropriate feed to display.

To use it, simply go to www.mippin.com from your BlackBerry browser.

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The Beginning of of the End?

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If you are a Delta frequent flyer you better read the small fine prints in their award tickets policy. Effective December 1st, SkyChoice Award Ticket Reservations will no longer be available on every Delta flight in which a seat is available for sale. This means that even if you are willing to pay twice the amount of miles (which is ridiculous but that's a different story), Delta might still block seats or specific flights it doesn't want to offer for miles.

If the past has thought us anything is that Delta is always the first big airline to start some stupidity like this and then the rest of the airlines follows...

To get the complete details you can read Joe Brancatelli's post.

Happy Friday!

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The Friday in which Handango gives away a free BlackBerry application has arrived! As part of the Free App Friday I posted about in the past, they are giving away today Real Dice Hearts for BlackBerry. This is a multiplayer card game that was named 2006's game of the year. It has the option to play online against others and 4 different variations of the game.

Get it and activate before the day ends!

Real Dice Hearts (BlackBerry)

Updated Gmail for BlackBerry

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Google released an updated version of the Gmail client for mobile including for the BlackBerry. According to Google, this version is much faster than before and consumes a lot less data. Among the new features:

  • More than 30 percent faster overall, and 80 percent faster for some tasks.
  • A contacts viewer to view your all Gmail contacts and addresses.
  • An outgoing mail footer to let your recipients know you've sent an email from a mobile device.
  • Click-to-call phone numbers which you can call without retyping the number
  • Emails are saved for later re-editing if connection drops or if you want to perform another task before sending out the message
  • Gmail keyboard shortcuts to perform tasks faster (on phones with full keyboards).

You can download the new version by pointing your BlackBerry browser to: http://gmail.com/app

Google Docs for BlackBerry

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Google released a mobile version of their Google Docs service. This means that from your BlackBerry you can now access and view any stored documents, spreadsheets and presentations you have on your Google Docs account. Google says that they are working on an edit function from the mobile, but they didn't provide a timeframe for that yet.

To access this from your BlackBerry just point the BlackBerry browser to http://docs.google.com/m there's no need to install anything. All the functionality is available through the browser.

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Live Search for the BlackBerry

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Microsoft announced today the release of their Live Search Mobile engine, including a BlackBerry version. Live Search Mobile provides you with local search options (using the BlackBerry GPS), maps, directions, traffic, movie showings and more.

You can download it for free and give it a try. Just point your BlackBerry browser to http://wls.live.com/

Local businesses searchMaps and navigation

Easy to use, and optimized for your phoneTheater showtimes

EWR to New York Penn Station

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Typically when I need to travel to New York, I would fly to Newark (EWR). In my experience the best way to get into the city from EWR is using the train. You can quickly hop on the Air Train from any terminal that will take you to the "Newark Liberty" station and from there get into New York Penn Station in about 25 minutes. This is the quickest way (unless you can expense the US Helicopter service offered by Continental that will put you in the city in 8 minutes for $159). The train is great and provides a smooth ride without traffic and the traumas typically caused after riding a cab with New York drivers.

The only bad thing about using the train was the horrible vending machines that sold the tickets. It could take 5-10 minutes to purchase a ticket! The machines would not accept always every credit card (I had to go through different AMEX cards and then try Visa) and then the authorization process could take a couple of minutes (seems like they still had some 2,400 kbps modem dialing in the background...). Today when I arrived to EWR and went to purchase the ticket I was surprised to see a new vending machine. They improved the user interface and now instead of entering the code of Penn Station there's a quick button (since most people go there anyway), so with a single button you complete the purchase process and the most important thing the credit card confirmation was just a couple of seconds! Finally a quick purchase experience for the NJ Transit train!

Twingly Little Star

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Why use RSS readers to see the blogs you are interested in when you can get a 24/7 stream of all blog activity in the world? Twingly is a screensaver that can be installed on your PC and provide a cool new way to read blogs. Every time a post is done a little light will be shown on the globe map linked to the summary of the post.

Stock Analysis for your BlackBerry

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MarketFilter Analysis is a free application that provides stock quotes and technical analysis on your BlackBerry. This little application will provide great information on the move: Stock and index quotes, Charts of price and market filters scores and more!

From your BlackBerry browser go to: http://www.marketfilters.com/widgets/MarketFilters.jad

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Free App Friday

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There is no better thing than free applications, and Handango decided to give away a top mobile application every Friday for free! The application is available for free from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM CST. All you have to do is complete a short survey. Handango will then send you an email with a link so you can download the application.

Yesterday they gave away mundu IM and last Friday CodeWallet Pro 6. I hope next Friday it will be an application for the BlackBerry OS Praying

Auf Wiedersehen Amsterdam!

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I'm on my way back from Amsterdam and I must say I had a great stay at the Hilton Schiphol. This is the second time that I stayed there and this time was even better than the first time! The hotel is walking distance from the airport (by sky bridge) which means that you have quick access to take the train to downtown Amsterdam.

I think this hotel (at least from my experience) provides the best goodies for Hilton HHonors Diamond members. Unlike in other hotels that you typically have in your room a couple of bottles of water and a bag of Oreos, here I was surprised to find on my desk every evening I got back from work a different complimentary snackimage from the General Manager. And I'm not talking about Diet Coke and pretzels! I got drinks like Heineken Dark Lager, small bottles of Brandy, Cognac and snacks like mixed nuts, a Dutch cheese plate, stroopwafels and more. This time the snacks were not enough and I even got a great tie storage box to easily pack ties for flights. Maybe now I'll actually start wearing ties Thinking

Your Personal Travel Assistant

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I've used WorldMate a few years ago when I was using my iPaq on a daily basis (imagepretty much until I got my first BlackBerry...). I was happy to see that they decided to release a free "limited" version for BlackBerry users called WorldMate Live.

I've downloaded the BlackBerry client and also the Outlook plug-in and I must say it works great! the "limited" functionality they provide is pretty much all you need to manage your itineraries on the go.

WorldMate Live allows you to create your trip itineraries and include in it flights, hotels, cars, meetings and public transportation. The information is imported automatically using the Outlook plug-in, by parsing the reservation confirmation you receive from the different vendors and then synchronized over-the-air with your BlackBerry! They support most travel agencies, airlines and hotel chains for the automatic import. For a full list of supported vendors click here. After important the trip details, you can manage everything online on their Web site and the changes will be synchronized to your BlackBerry again.

Another nice feature I've noticed already is that it is integrated with BlackBerry Maps, so from your hotel reservation on the BlackBerry, you can map the hotel and then get directions to it.

If you really want to pay for their Gold Membership you will get additional services like flight alerts, flight status, flight schedules, travel directory. Most of these things (if not all of them) you can get anyway from the air line web sites.

Is the Love for Gadgets Genetic?

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Wether you think it is or not, it is never too early to start passing to your little ones (or soon to be born ones...). This blog is completely dedicated to gadgets for babies and looks really nice!

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Nano Me 3.0

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My amazing soon-to-be-wife bought me the new iPod Nano 8GB for my birthday! This would be the 3rd iPod that I purchase (had the classic 3 years ago, then got the Mini and now the Nano 3.0) actually the 4th if you count the Nano 2.0 that I bought my sister. I think that Steve Jobs should start giving a couple of Apple shares if you bought more than one iPod, after all their share has been going crazy thanks to the iPod sales in the past 4 years. Who remembers today that 10 years ago the situation was so bad that there were rumors about closing the company and Microsoft came to save them and invested $150 million in Apple and in return they develop Office for Mac... Ho well... Let's stop talking business and move on to the pleasure:

The first time you hold the new Nano in your hand you think "Damn that thing is small"! At the beginning I was a bit skeptical to watch video on it because of the size of the screen, but I must say that the resolution (320x240) is amazing and after you start watching a show you don't notice the size. Besides, it beats opening your laptop in coach and try to watch a movie/show...

The battery life is great! I've downloaded from iTunes 4 free TV shows and a bunch of video Podcasts to watch on my flight to Amsterdam and after watching about 2 hours of video and hearing music the rest of the flight I only used about 25% of the battery.

The "Cover Flow" mode to browse albums is great! It's the same as on iTunes and allows you to select an album to listen by flipping through the album covers.

The only thing missing right now is a cover / case (which they still don't have in the Apple stores...) to protect this fragile beauty.

BlackBerry Owners Lounge

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If you own a BlackBerry and you didn't join yet, I suggest you do. The Owners Lounge will provide you exclusive news, promotions, applications and most importantly free stuff! I already got from there the following games: Sudoku, Texas Hold'em King 2 and Monopoly.

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Get Ready for BlackBerry 99xx

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I didn't have enough time to fully enjoy the great 8800 and I should already say goodbye? Rumors say that the 9xxx model will arrive beginning of 2008 (or even late 2007!) and include 3G connectivity and a 600MHZ processor.

From the picture that was leaked to Boy Genius it seems like it is all screen just like the iPhone:

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I just hope this does not mean that it will also have a virtual keyboard like the iPhone. I've tried it and it's  terrible. It is impossible to write emails quickly like on the BlackBerry full QWERTY.

Middle Seat Anyone?

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I can't remember when was the last time I had to seat in the middle seat (thanks to Continental's "No Middle Seat Guarantee" policy for Elite members), but every time I see the advertisement of Larry David for American Express I can't help but smile and sympathize Rolling on the floor

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Happy 30th Birthday Atari!

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The Atari 2600 just turned 30 this October!

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It is hard to believe that just 30 years ago we were entertained by 2 white lines on each of a black screen and one big square pixel moving between them. Those were the times when this is what you called "Playing tennis on my Atari".

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Of course, after this came the amazing graphics of space invaders, Pac-man and more...

I remember I used to go to my cousin's house every chance I had to play these games since he had one back than. It's amazing to see what the graphics of games look like today on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Can you recognize yourself here in this ad:

God I'm getting old....

Change Is...

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Delta air lines, which recently emerged from Chapter 11, launched a couple of months ago their "Change" campaign. They posted different ads about the new services that they provide now as part of the re-launch to differentiate from other air lines:

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They even changed their logo to be purple (that will make a big difference...):

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Another thing that they also changed (due to the increasing gas prices) is the fact that they don't turn on the AC while the airplane is parked and neither during taxiing. I don't know what about you, but I have to sit in those little ERJs (a.k.a "Jungle Jet") without AC!!! I'm willing to give up my dirty martini for some normal temperature and a bit of air...

You can also watch their ad here:

Blogging 1 - 2 - 3

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I've been thinking about starting a blog for a long time, but was always worried that I won't have enough time to work on it. after seeing for the last couple of months that my good friend Guy was able to do this, I thought to myself: "If Guy was able to do this, how difficult could that be?" :-) **Guy: Just joking..**

In the past 4 years I've been traveling almost on a weekly basis on business. I always said to myself that with all the experience I got form traveling all over, I should write a book for the business traveler once I retire! Well, since retirement doesn't seem like a realistic option any time soon, I decided to blog about it in the mean time.

I will also blog here about gadgets. I'm a fanatic! I used to actually buy and experience with a lot of them, but as you get older (and busier with work and life) it gets more and more difficult to stay up-to-date.

So... CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW??