Thursday, May 8, 2008

RIM finally removes the “is” from the BlackBerry Facebook app… NOT

Well, it only took five months, but today, RIM sent out an email to users of the BlackBerry Facebook application that the forced "is" status has finally been removed from the application.

"An important update is now available with the following change: The "View Status Updates" feature no longer contains "is".

The update itself was simple enough. I clicked the link in the email and went to a page that gave me a link to download the application. I agreed to some terms and conditions and then clicked the download button. My BlackBerry then issued the following prompt:

"Application "Facebook" already exists. Replace version 1.0.0.18 with version 1.0.0.23?"

I clicked yes and waited a few seconds (okay, it was almost a minute) for the download to complete. After the download was finished, my BlackBerry presented me with the following prompt:

"Device must be rebooted to complete install."

The two choices presented were Later or Reboot. I chose reboot (and as you might guess, my BB shut off and rebooted - and took a few minutes to do so as usual). Once my security software verified, I went to check out my shiny, newly updated Facebook app.

But there "is" is. STILL THERE. So, I go and check my applications out via the options section and sure enough, it says I have the latest version (1.0.0.23). Maybe something went wrong so I pull the battery from my BB and reboot again. But, the "is" still remains.

By now I am annoyed. So, I delete the Facebook application from my BlackBerry all together. After yet another reboot, my BlackBerry relaunches Facebook free (actually, the icon was still there - removing the Facebook icon takes an extra step then simply uninstalling - but the application was removed - clicking on the icon took you to the download page).

So, I downloaded and installed the application again. I gave the app my Facebook login information again and signed in. I clicked the status updates icon and there "is" was - laughing at me.

What's worse than going five months without an update to your application? Sending a ton of your users an email saying that you updated your application only to disappoint them. For now, save your sanity because the "is" lives on.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com, home to all things BlackBerry including in-depth reviews of BlackBerry software, providers and more.

http://www.bbgeeks.com/blackberry-and-facebook/rim-finally-removes-the-is-from-the-blackberry-facebook-app-not-88351/

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Author claims BlackBerry is ruining the internet

Jonathan Zittrain, recent author of "The Future of the Internet", has attacked closed internet-enabled platforms (such as Xbox, the iPhone and BlackBerry) for stunting the collaborative forces which got the internet going in the first place.

"The challenge to the technologists is to build technologies to let people of good faith help without having to devote their lives to it. I don't want to see a two-tier world where only the experts can survive and the non-experts are stuck between something they don't understand and something that limits them."

There are certainly some people who take issue with the way BlackBerry development goes now What do you guys think? Are the big names shooting themselves in the foot by creating such a high barrier for entry and potentially limiting broader collaboration?

http://www.blackberrycool.com/2008/05/08/007152/

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Monday, May 5, 2008

Land lines better than VoIP for 911: expert

In the wake of an 18-month-old's death last week in Calgary, experts are telling Canadians to take a closer look at their internet phone services and reconsider the old-fashioned land line.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2008/05/05/rethinking-voip.html?ref=rss

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Sunday, May 4, 2008

Secure Your Home Wi-Fi Network

Tech site Ars Technica runs down the basics of securing your home wireless network with the most secure and up-to-date methods. The main takeaway is that when you enable encryption on your wireless router, use WPA encryption instead of WEP, because it's better and stronger.

Unlike WEP, WPA uses a 48-bit initialization vector and a 128-bit encryption key. More importantly, however, WPA uses what's called the Temporary Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP). Whereas WEP recycles the same key for encrypting all the packets flowing across the network, WPA's TKIP changes the encryption key every single time a packet is transmitted. This, combined with the use of longer keys, prevents a hacker from compromising a router simply by passively observing a large enough set of packet transmissions.

Ars lists common home network hardwarefrom an Xbox 360 to a Wii to an iPhoneand the various protocols they support. Luckily, most do speak WPA. Here's our full guide to setting up a home wireless network. (Just, you know, use WPA instead of WEP like we originally recommended.)

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/283336734/secure-your-home-wi+fi-network

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Saturday, May 3, 2008

iPhone-Blackberry Battle Will Be Fought Over Keyboards

TechWeb - Independent tests have found iPhone users make way more errors than users of handsets with tactile QWERTY keyboards.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20080503/tc_cmp/207500422

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Microsoft withdraws offer to buy Yahoo

Microsoft on Saturday abandoned its bid to buy Yahoo because the two sides can't agree on a sale price.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/05/03/microsoft-yahoo.html?ref=rss

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Spam at 30. Happy birthday, sort of...

It was thirty years ago today (I'm sure you're familiar with that refrain) but it wasn't about the music. Spam made its first unwelcome appearance via email on this date.

http://www.news.com/8301-10787_3-9934966-60.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

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