Category: misc

What I’m running on my BlackBerry

Well I have to say – I was very apprehensive about getting a BlackBerry when Laurie originally suggested it to me a couple months back. For one – they didn’t seem to have many of the of the features and options I wanted in a phone. And two – every time I had looked at data plans in the past – the cost was just too outrageous. But after close to a month of use with my BlackBerry Curve – 8310 I’m sold. Granted our data plans aren’t near as cheap in the U.S. as they are in the U.K. – but they’re a lot cheaper now than they used to be.

After searching for a better browser to use on my BlackBerry (aka CrackBerry) I thought I’d put together a list of some of the software I’ve added to my device to make my day so much easier.

  • Google Mobile Suite – this was the first software I added to my phone and I use it daily. Comes with Google Mail, Google Reader, Google Maps, Google Search, Google News, Picaso (which I don’t use) and Calendar Sync. If you’re already using Google products such as Gmail this is a must have. And I love Google Maps with the built in GPS. It’s saved me several times when my original directions weren’t as good as I thought – or when I got lost trying to take a shortcut.
  • Google Talk for Blackberry – downloaded this from the mobile.blackberry.com site. Works great. It logs me off randomly from time to time but it’s a great way to keep in touch with folks when I’m away from my desktop. Laurie and I most often use BlackBerry Messenger (that comes with the phone) for an ongoing chat – but I use GTalk to keep in touch with others I chat with throughout the day as well.
  • TwitterBerry – Thomas found this software for me. Love it. Makes Twittering so much more fun from my BlackBerry. Although, I wish they had a feature for alerting you when Tweets are posted from your friends, rather than just getting the typical txt messages. The software makes replying to Tweets so much easier – but it could be faster if you were alerted about new Tweets in the software (like Gmail does) rather than via txt messaging.
  • Flickr for Blackberry – after trying a couple other programs to send photos to Flickr, I found Yahoo Mobile’s software for Flickr. I could really care less about the rest of the software package (and removed most of it) but the Flickr app is great!
  • Trimble Geocaching Navigator – priceless! I’ve really only taken full advantage of this software once but this really bumps up my enjoyment of the geocaching game. I’m running a 30-day trial right now but plan on buying a one year subscription ($40) to the service after that runs out. Connects your BlackBerry with GPS directly to the Geocaching website and lets you search for geocaches X number of miles from your location and then shows you the details, descriptions, hints, logs etc – all on your phone while you search for the geocache. Awesome.

Well that’s about it for now – minus a couple random games I’ve found for free. But as the list grows I’ll try and remember to come back and update this list as well. I found a great app the other day that also uses the phone’s built in GPS to guide you to your parked car in the parking lot. May have to get that a bit latter as well.

The only feature I’d really want to add/change would be built-in Wi-Fi. The feature comes with some of the higher-end models so I’m hoping that when the time comes to upgrade (2 years from now) it will be common place for sure.

What software/hacks are you using most?

The U.S. housing crisis

In case you haven’t been paying attention, or just simply ignored the crisis, NPR’s This American Life had a great summary and explanation of the current mortgage/housing crisis in the U.S.

Here’s a very brief summary as I understand it. Basically there’s suddenly been all this new money in the world. The amount of money being spent worldwide doubled over the last 6 years.

Poor countries were becoming richer and richer by making things like TVs and selling oil so suddenly there’s LOADS of money with no place to invest. And what good is money if you can’t invest it to make more money for you? So we end up with twice as much money looking for investments but not twice as many places to invest into.

Alan Greenspan kept the fed interest rate at 1% – so that folks couldn’t make money off of us treasury bonds. The show says basically, Greenspan said, “Screw the international pool of money – we’re not going to help you make money off our treasury bonds.” Ha!

So the investors looked for other places to invest – like the US housing market. And investors were willing to take a risk on mortgage loans in order to make well more than 1% on their investments.
But of course the investors don’t want to worry with the hassle of individual loans so folks on Wall Street found a way around the issues and hassle of individual loans. Folks would sign on to a mortgage at 5-10% and then those loans are sold to small banks who then sell them to a guy on Wall Street.

That guy on Wall Street now has several thousand loans with big fat checks coming in every month – and will be scheduled to come in for the next 30 years. So he turns around and sells shares of his investment to all these folks with loads of new money, aka mortgage bank securities.

By 2003, just about everyone who could qualify for a loan could get one – yet the money was just getting started. So the loan qualifications and guidelines got looser and looser till folks could get half-a-million dollar loan without any proof of income.

Of course the more loans you give out, the stronger your security will be.

“We almost couldn’t produce to help keep the appetite of our investors happy.”

And the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Of course this is just a brief summary of a one-hour program. Listen online for the real details and what really started the crisis.

Fight with Tools

just found Flobots and their “new” album Fight With Tools.
very cool sound. reminds me of Jurassic 5 — with more of a social consciousness/alertness. i downloaded the album from Amazon.com for $8 – always a great deal with no DRM!

here are the lyrics to the first and last songs on their album…
Continue reading Fight with Tools