Owner: Life on the Blue Carpet URL:http://damianrochman.blogspot.com Join Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 04:56:24 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Life on the road and all the gadgets you can use to pass the time while you are delayed waiting for your flight… Site statistics:Click here
Stock Analysis for your BlackBerry 2007-10-13 03:43:00 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
Free App Friday 2007-10-13 03:07:00 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
Auf Wiedersehen Amsterdam! 2007-10-13 02:53:00 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 snack 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
Your Personal Travel Assistant 2007-10-11 12:45:00 I've used WorldMate a few years ago when I was using my iPaq on a daily basis (pretty 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 Read more:Personal
, Travel
, Assistant
Is the Love for Gadgets Genetic? 2007-10-09 14:24:00 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!
Nano Me 3.0 2007-10-08 13:41:00 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 af
BlackBerry Owners Lounge 2007-10-07 09:50:00 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.
Get Ready for BlackBerry 99xx 2007-10-06 15:30:00 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: 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? 2007-10-06 15:17:00 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 Read more:Anyone
Happy 30th Birthday Atari! 2007-10-05 12:46:00 The Atari
2600 just turned 30 this October! 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". 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.... Read more:Happy
, Birthday
Change Is... 2007-10-05 12:24:00 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: They even changed their logo to be purple (that will make a big difference...): 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 2007-10-03 20:09:00 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?? Read more:Blogging
Google Docs for BlackBerry 2007-10-17 13:38:00 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. Read more:Google
Live Search for the BlackBerry 2007-10-16 20:28:00 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/
EWR to New York Penn Station 2007-10-16 20:12:00 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 m
Twingly Little Star 2007-10-16 05:46:00 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.
Happy Friday! 2007-10-19 06:16:00 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! Read more:Happy
Updated Gmail for BlackBerry 2007-10-18 18:39:00 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
The Beginning of of the End? 2007-10-22 19:23:00 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.
Torture Your BlackBerry 2007-10-29 12:30:00 Every wondered the endurance tests you can put your BlackBerry
through? I know some people that drop it all the time ... There's a guy that calls himself "The BlackBerry Guy" (unlike The Traveling Tech Guy ... ). 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 Read more:Torture
CrackBerry - The Musical 2007-10-28 10:19:00 A little funny video for the weekend that shows some familiar situations of the "addiction" Read more:Musical
"Citizen M" 2007-10-27 13:03:00 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 "Citizen
M 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 2007-10-27 10:54:00 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 Read more:Google
Hassle Free Airport Security 2007-10-27 10:33:00 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 Read more:Airport Security
Mobilize Your Web 2007-10-27 10:08:00 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.
The CES Badge Is Here! 2007-11-03 10:06:00 After missing the last 4 Consumer Electronic Shows (CES) I decided that this time I'm going no matter what! This week I finally got my badge for CES 2008. This is the first year that CES attendees will be tracked using opt-in RFID tags, embedded in their lanyard cards. According to CES, the tags contain no personal info, only a number that can be associated with personal info in a their backend servers. CES decided to implement this to see which booths you visit, sessions you go to and to whom you talk and promise to use this data only internally without selling it to a 3rd party. The RFID is embedded in one of the papers that come with the badge and you need to look real close to actually see it: Read more:Badge
3D Local Search 2007-11-02 14:52:00 EveryScape launched a three-dimensional search web site that allows people "drive" through the streets and even "walk" into buildings. This web site is kind of "Google Street View" meets "Google Maps" meets "Citysearch".The purpose of the web site is to give you a good experience of what some place looks like before you visit. It currently supports only 4 USA cities: New York, Boston, Miami and Aspen but it will probably grow quickly. The site lets you browse popular places and categories or type an address of a business and either use the "Auto Drive" option to look-around or "You Drive" option to check everything on your own. It's really nice to look for restaurants this way, besides getting the address on a Google Map and review, you can walk inside the restaurants and get a tour around to see what it looks like before you decide to visit there. The main difference between EveryScape and Google Street View or M Read more:Local
, Search
, Local Search
Video On The Go 2007-11-02 14:46:00 TVHarmony is a free software that automatically pulls shows of your Tivo, converts them to AVI (MPEG4) format and sets them nicely in a folder that you can drag to your BlackBerry. This little application will also allow you to get to your BlackBerry videos from site like YouTube.
Microsoft vs. RIM 2007-11-02 14:42:00 Microsoft announced at CTIA that it will release Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager in the second quarter of 2008. This will provide IT organizations control over Windows mobile devices and enforce over-the-air policies in a similar way that the RIM BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) currently does for BlackBerries. Read more:Microsoft
Opera Mini 4 Beta 3 2007-11-02 14:37:00 Opera released a new beta version for their mobile web browser. If you have not used Opera's browser yet, this is the closest you can get to a true web experience on your mobile device (unless you have an iPhone). This mobile browser will allow you to view real web pages and not just a WAP / Text minimized version and easily focus on different sections on the page and zoom in and out. The new version allows you to synchronize your desktop version of the browser with the mobile and transfer your bookmarks, searches and recently visited web sites. The mini version also includes an RSS/Atom feeds reader . Mozilla recently announced that they will develop a mobile version of Firefox, but until they do, Opera is the best mobile browser available for your cell and BlackBerry. You can download Opera Mini
by pointing your BlackBerry browser to http://mini.opera.com/beta
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