Squeezing more juice from your BlackBerry
Published Monday December 1st, 2008
SAINT JOHN - You know you're addicted to your BlackBerry when: It's 2 a.m. and something vibrates under your pillow; you find yourself text-messaging your children to remind them to walk the dog because they don't know what an old-fashioned, tethered telephone is, let alone ever think about answering one; you tell colleagues you're available "31" instead of 24/7 - it's the latest cool and short way of letting them know you're always within reach; (24 plus seven equals 31 - get it?)
Self-confessed BlackBerry addicts gathered for breakfast on Tuesday morning to hear helpful hints and tips on getting the most out of their wireless, handheld/telephone email devices and, for once, there was no reminder to turn off cellphones and BlackBerries before the speakers began. BlackBerry 101 was jointly sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Rogers and Progress Media.
On any given morning, industrious entrepreneurs the world over are buying into the BlackBerry phenomenon, narrowly missing telephone poles and little children as they stare downward at a palm-sized gadget that keeps them connected, at all costs.
On Tuesday morning, some 22 BlackBerry enthusiasts listened intently, heads bowed, while relentlessly tapping instructions into the palm of their hand as PricewaterhouseCoopers vice-president advisory service James Nicoll talked about the importance of security. His firm has deployed 1,500 BlackBerries across their system.
Oh, for the days when calloused palms meant a hard day of physical labour. Today's blisters are more apt to be the result of BlackBerry overuse - and we don't mean from picking the fruit.
"Remember, the enterprise is being extended to your palm," Nicoll told the gathering while stressing how important it is to set up a password to access information so that, if the gadget is lost, sensitive information cannot be stolen.
"I've lost many of these," he said.
He talked about the emerging Self-sumer, the wirelessly enabled consumer and how to attract this new breed of consumer. Your business webpage isn't always accessible to hand-held devices, he warned, which could result in the loss of potential clients.
"You can lose a customer today in ways you might not even consider," he said.
And he touched on hip-sounding new tools: Forget Ying and Yang. It's Ning you need. And Loopt, Yelp, Yotify and, Twine. (Ning, by the way, is an online platform for users to create their own social websites and social networks. That's according to Wikipedia.)
And he talked about how it allows him to work 24 hours a day. Finally, a dream come true.
The lingo represents a whole, new subculture of inter-connectedness, whether it's movies, music, games, social networking, or even work.
"A different language is being spoken," Nicoll said. "These are your customers."
The tip of the day for Joelyn Bernard - one of only four women taking in the breakfast - was learning how to flip back and forth between programs.
"My favourite tip was learning how to move from the phone to the calendar application or phone to email while I'm actually on a call," she said, obviously happy to be able to multi-task even more efficiently.
Bernard, who's a manager in PricewaterhouseCoopers' audit group, wasn't sure why more of her female colleagues weren't out for the 7:30 a.m. event.
"I don't know what it means," she said, thoughtfully.
"All of us have BlackBerries," she said, adding that even she found it hard to get away from an early-morning meeting.
Dan Langille of the law firm of Stewart McKelvey has been a self-professed BlackBerry addict for the past four years.
He planned on going back to the office to share what he'd learned with his colleagues.
"Some of the tricks they provided will definitely be helpful, like the email-navigation tips, the 'T' for top, 'C' for compose.
"I didn't know about those.
"If the email mysteriously went to the bottom of the screen, you would be sitting there scrolling," to get to the new ones, he said, unless you knew the old "T" trick.
Blaine Gracie, an applications consultant with Rogers and the guy who offered the tips and tricks, used to work for Blackberry and has it turned on "31-" that's 24/7, remember?
He spoke of email reconciliation, pronto forms and large bakeries, a feature that allows field managers to track what's on their store shelves, for example.
"It's a great tool for me to keep in touch with customers and my peers within the group of Rogers," he said as he explained how you can use the ALT plus letter keys to dial letters and Blackberry will automatically send the appropriate DTMF tones - or something like that.
BlackBerry users are, Nicoll said, finding content that they didn't even know they wanted.
Until now.
Now, what's the shortcut to that BlackBerry support group ...
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