Tag Results
3 posts tagged blackberry
Notifications on the iPhone, or the lack there-of, and what I did about it…
Dear Apple: Are you serious? After 4 major versions of your mobile operating system I STILL can’t set different alert profiles for different email accounts?
In my case I want certain email accounts I have setup to provide different feedback. See, I get a lot of email, most of it is just informative messages coming from automated systems that don’t necessarily require a timely response while others are alerts that I want to be informed of immediately. This seems like such a trivial thing, yet has a huge impact on my workflow productivity.
When Apple first released the 3G I left my Blackberry Curve behind and joined the masses in coming to iPhone. After 8 months I asserted that the iPhone was not a productivity device and returned to Blackberry and the comfort of a physical keyboard and a multitude of configuration options where I happily remained until this week when my BES crashed and I had enough of fighting with it.
I considered going to an Android device, but recently FatBox has started building iPhone apps and while my iPod Touch and the simulator have done me well during this first development cycle it really behoves me to have an iPhone now that we’re getting REALLY close to releasing our first app into the App store (stay tuned for a release announcement that should happen in the next couple weeks!).
I digress. The point is here I am with my shiny new iPhone 4 facing the same problems I was facing back with my 3G. However, this time it’s a little different. This time I can do something about it, so I did…
Reblogged from Open letter to BlackBerry bosses: Senior RIM exec tells all as company crumbles around him
FINALLY! RIM had better listen up to this.
I’ve been a loyal BlackBerry user since the 7000 series devices (side scroll wheel!). I love my real keyboard. I’m tactile and the blackberry fits that need very well.
At the same time, I’m an Apple fan boy. I’ve got too many MacBook’s, G5’s, G4’s (hello Apple Cube!) and countless other Apple devices to say anything otherwise. But there’s just something about the BlackBerry in the mobility space that I just can’t get over.
So, Mike & Jim. Stop being dumb, listen to the voice of reason that’s coming from within your own organization. Own up to the problems and make a kick ass device based on QNX. I’ll be waiting.
Tethering a Blackberry to Mac OS X
I’ve been looking for a tethering solution for OS X for quite some time now. If you do a google search for tethering a Blackberry to Mac OS X you’ll find a pile of results, most of them involving Bluetooth and a custom modem script - some even replace the default /usr/sbin/pppd binary to make it add short pauses to “let the network settle”.
Nothing worked for me. I tried them all.
This weekend I’m going out of town for a friends birthday and I have a couple big projects going on around the office and I need to have access where ever I am. At first I looked into getting the HSPA+ rocket stick from Rogers, but I don’t like that I have to get a new SIM and a new data plan. I already have a SIM with 2GB of data, why the hell do I need another one!?
If you’re a Mac Blackberry user you no doubt heard, and are probably using, the new desktop software released by RIM recently. As much as I want wireless sync of my contacts & calendar (without using a BES) since I’ve started using the desktop manager I no longer have issues syncing so using a USB cable is an acceptable tradeoff.
I happened to visit the Network Preferences Pane last night while my blackberry was connected and to my surprise (and much excitement) I was prompted to add a new device - the “RIM Composite Device”. After clicking OK on the prompt the device was added, and after a quick tick of the “Show modem status in menu bar” option I dropped my WiFi connection and clicked the “Connect RIM Composite Device” from the modem status menu and crossed my figures…
Success!
No modem scripts. No hack replacements. Just tethered goodness.
My question now is: Why isn’t this documented better? When I search for blackberry and tethering on mac os x this info should be in the first page of results - and yet it isn’t anywhere. So hopefully this will help it end up where it should be.
How To Tether your Blackberry in Mac OS X
- Download and install the Blackberry Desktop Manager for Mac
- Open your Network preferences
- If you’re not prompted to add a device, click the + in the bottom left and choose RIM Composite Device from the list.
- You do not need to enter anything in the fields for Phone Number, Username or Password
- Tick the Show modem status in menu bar option
- Click Apply in the bottom right
- When you want to go online via the Tether use the modem status in the menu bar
NOTE: You must have the Blackberry Desktop software running when you connect - You will be prompted by the Blackberry Desktop software to enter your device password
