I have discovered a whole new social networking way, the blackberry way. It is quite a hit with teenagers all around and yes it works.

Blackberry comes with blackberry messenger, just like any other messenger services (Yahoo, MSN, Gtalk, AOL etc), it gives you ability to chat with other BBM users. Now what makes it different than other messenger services is that it comes as am embedded application with all the blackberries in world. One can be in touch with other users by exchanging PIN - Personal Identification Number (replaces the need of usernames) and you are always connected.

So in short it means, you can be 24X7 in touch with like minds. Yes, this is exactly how you can make use of BBM in much planned and a better way. There are many places where one can exchange PINs, there are dedicated websites which let users exchange their PINs; google it and you will be amazed.

Once you have exchanged messages with few of your BBM buddies, you will figure out that this tool can be very handy not only to chat/kill time but also to have better productivity; BBM lets you send instant (I really mean split seconds) messages, ToDo, Task List, Appointments, Voice Notes, Pictures and much more.

Much like Twitter, you can be connected always while on the move. The difference is Twitter would make you find answers from group of unrelated community while BBM would help you collaborate with specific people and thus, building your social network.

Its about the time when we all come to a conclusive thought, no, its not an answer but a thought!

As human beings we tend to form several relations over time. We tend to lose some and gain some over the period of life. We see life pass by, we see it unfold hidden secrets, we see it giving a hard time and what not.

At the end, we all fade, we are meant to be washed off, we are mortals! So what exactly do we leave behind? Is it the values that we carried forward through our lives? Is it the prejudices that we lived by? Is it the feelings toward our beloveds? What is it exactly?

I firmly believe its only relations that matter, we leave relations we had formed during our lifetime.

Some of my fellow readers might argue why not values or prejudices; after all we lived our life based on them. Simply put, these values and prejudices will hold no ground if it was not for a relation with your peers, colleagues, beloveds or just a being. We follow values that were passed on by our elders, some of these values were formed with due course of life, some of these values were adopted seeing certain people around OR just observing various situations. Reasons might be numerous but one common factor is relation - we had someone whom we relate to; which made us adapt these values; had it been our elder, society or just a group of people who were involved - directly or indirectly, in our real life situations.

Consider this, one is left out alone, he/she is secluded; will he/she have any sort of point of reference? No, there is no point of reference for him/her and thus, there is no way that the person can form opinions, values, prejudices, feelings etc.

Thus, at the end we leave just a mixed bag of relations. These relations will continue years after we are gone. Now these relations can be attached with various adjectives, feelings, values, prejudices etc. The whole point of living life, thus, comes down to one simple rule (atleast for me), how you carry your relations in life. How you value your relations, how you live them, how you treat them… how you choose to leave your imprints behind!

Finally there are hell lot of things about blackberry that one should know. I think these few tips will come handy to suck up that last drop of juice.

Typing and messaging shortcuts

1. To capitalize a letter with one click, hold down the letter key.
2. To insert a period, click the Space key twice.
3. Turn CAP Lock on by pressing the ALT key followed by the right Shift key. Turn it off by pressing either Shift key.
4. Turn Number Lock on by pressing the ALT key followed by the left Shift key. Turn it off by pressing either Shift key.
5. Type an accented letter or special character by holding the corresponding letter and scrolling left or right with the trackball.
6. Insert the current date into a message or document by pressing the L key followed by the D keyand Space key.
7. Insert the current time into a message or document by pressing the L key followed by the T key and Space key.

Messaging (E-mail and SMS)

1. In e-mail inbox, press the S key to search for a sender or a word within a subject line, and any mail folder regardless of message was sent or received.
2. Within inbox, access the complete list of messages sent by hitting the ALT key followed by the O key.
3. Within inbox, access the complete list of messages received by hitting the ALT key followed by the I key.
4. Within inbox, access the complete list of SMS text messages received by hitting the ALT key followed by the S key.
5. Within inbox, access phone log by hitting the ALT key followed by the P key.
6. Within inbox, access voicemail log by hitting the ALT key followed by the V key.
7. To delete all messages sent or received before a specific date, highlight that date with the cursor, hit the BlackBerry Menu key, select Delete Prior and confirm selection.
8. To enable automatic spell checking of e-mail messages, click the Options icon on BlackBerry home screen. Then click Spell Check and select the Spell Check E-Mail Before Sending option.
9. To do a manual spell check, click the BlackBerry Menu key within a composed message and select Check Spelling.
10. When a message is being spell checked, suggested fixes to unrecognized words can be ignored by clicking the escape key.

Spreadsheet Attachments:

1. Change the size of a column by pushing the W key.
2. Go to a specific cell by pressing the G key.
3. View contents of a cell by pressing the Space key.
4. Search for text by clicking the F key, and then type the desired word.
5. Switch to a different worksheet by pressing V and selecting the desired sheet.

Presentation Attachments:

1. Skip to the next slide by pressing the N key.
2. Return to the previous slide by clicking the P key.
3. Start slideshow by pushing the S key.
4. Stop slideshow by clicking the Escape key.
5. Switch to a new view of the slideshow by clicking the M key.

Phone Functions

1. Multitask while on phone calls by hitting the BlackBerry menu key during a call and then selecting Home Screen. You’ll then have access to e-mail and other documents–though most BlackBerrys don’t allow for simultaneous voice and data transfer, so Internet access is unavailable while on calls.
2. Find specific contacts from your BlackBerry home screen by pressing keys for first and last initials, with a space between them. If more than one contact has the same initials, scroll to the appropriate contact.

BlackBerry Browser

1. Bring up the Enter Web Address field from any Web page by pressing the G key.
2. Insert a period in Web address by clicking the Space key.
3. Insert a back slash in Web address by clicking either the Left Shift or Right Shift keys and then hitting Space.
4. Add an item to bookmarks list by clicking the A key.
5. Bring up your bookmark list by clicking the K key.
6. Refresh a Web page by clicking the R key.
7. Display a list of the last 20 pages visited by hitting the I key.
8. Open browser options with the O key.

Basics, simple but real stealer!

1. To put device into Standby Mode so keys cannot be pressed while it’s not in use, hold down the Mute key for a second or two. Undo Standby Mode by holding Mute for another couple of seconds.
2. If BlackBerry slows down, starts malfunctioning or freezing, always try removing the battery and SIM card–if the device has one–and waiting a few seconds before reinserting it. Ninety-five percent of the issues Aflac BlackBerry users experience are resolved by simply removing the battery
   • T- Top
   • B- Bottom
   • Space bar- next page
   • Num shift + Space bar - previous pageWhen in a list of messages:
   • N- go to Next day
   • P- go to Prev day

The most basic way to switch from one BlackBerry app to another is to repeatedly hit the ESCAPE key while inside a program until you to get back to your icon screen. From there, you’d scroll your track ball or wheel to find the next app you want and then click to launch it.
A quicker and more efficient way to go from an active program to another program is to use a shortcut. While inside an application, hold down the ALT key–which is directly below the letter A key–and then click ESCAPE–the button with an arrow reversing directions and to the right of your trackball on 8000 series devices. While holding down ALT, you can then scroll left or right between apps, and you need only release the ALT key to select a program.

To access your Event Log, go to your Home Screen, hold down the ALT key and then type “LGLG.” The Event Log will then appear, and you can click a specific event for more information or hit your BlackBerry MENU key more options. The MENU key has seven dots in the shape of the letter B, and it’s found directly to the left of BlackBerry devices with trackballs. You can copy event information using the MENU key and tailor your settings to log only specific types of events.

You can also free up some valuable device memory to help your device run faster by clearing your Event Log. To delete your list of events, hit the BlackBerry MENU key while any event is highlighted and then click “Clear Log.” A dialogue box will then pop up asking if you’re sure you want to delete the log. Once you confirm the deletion, your log will be cleared. (Don’t worry, if your IT department is running device management software along with its BlackBerry Enterprise Server, your company likely has its own record of this event log.)

3. Reboot Your BlackBerry Without Removing the Battery

Any experienced BlackBerry user knows that it’s occasionally necessary to reboot your device after installing a new app, to solve performance problems, refresh your smartphone’s memory or fix other minor issues. One way to do so is to remove your battery door and pull the power pack. After the battery is returned to the device, your BlackBerry reboots. This gets the job done, but it’s time consuming to power down the device and then remove and replace the battery–and your battery door won’t fit as snuggly if you’re constantly taking it off.
The quickest and easiest way to reboot is via another BlackBerry keyboard shortcut. To reboot, simply hit ALT, RIGHT SHIFT and DELETE. The RIGHT SHIFT key is found on the bottom right corner of the BlackBerry keyboard and DELETE key is also on the right hand side and has the letters “DEL” on its face.

To pull up the Help Me screen, navigate to your home screen and then press ALT, either SHIFT key and the letter H. To return to your Home Screen, hit ESCAPE or open the MENU and select Close.
Bookmarking Messages to Return at a Later Time
Scenario: You’re reading an important–and long–message from the boss when you’re called away from your device by a coworker or family member in need. Have no fear, there’s no need to scroll through paragraphs you already read when your return to the e-mail–at least if you use this shortcut. You can simply close the message, and when you’re free again, just hit the G key after reopening it, and you’ll be brought to the exact spot where you stopped reading.

To automatically enter in your BlackBerry PIN while in an SMS test or e-mail message, simply type MYPIN and hit the Space key. To auto-enter your device model and handheld OS version, just type MYVER–as in “My Version”–and again click the Space button. Mynumber
To automatically add an extension to a phone number, type in the appropriate ten digits and then hit the ALT and X keys, followed by the numbers in the extension. Then click the Send button and your BlackBerry will dial the phone number that you entered. When the call is connected, you device will wait a few seconds and then automatically enter in the extension.
You can also save phone extensions within your address book. To do so, simply open your Address Book application, scroll to the entry you wish to edit, click your BlackBerry Menu key and hit Edit. Once you’ve opened an address book entry, scroll to the end of the number for which you want to add an extension, and follow the process described above.
Wait, pause

Battery saver tip, helps you suck up that last drop!!

• Turn wifi and BT off
• In no network zone turn off all connections.
• Turn auto on/off option in night while sleeping.
• Use ringtones with lower volume/escalating volume
• Dim backlight
• Don’t use battery hogger applications - Specially, applications which use constant data connection
• Turn off data connection - Only if you can do away with emails. (can make your blackberry last about 20% more when you are running out of battery)

What is speech to text?

Speech to text has always been tagged as ‘new upcoming technology/feature’ or atleast incase of mobile phones it has been a long talk; various mobile manufacturers started giving it as a bundle, generic versions had more of a limited/trimmed down feature - voice dialling.

Unlike voice dialling, imagine you instruct your phone to find bunch of movie tickets, put up some note or calendar entry or even better, how about typing a text message or email?

Sounds too good to be true.. well Vlingo made it happen. Now that wasn’t the complete surprise, it comes totally free and the new version also lets you update twitter and facebook status. Neat.

Try vlingo here.

There are other services as well where you dial a local number and there you go, one such example would be Jott.com. I will cover various uses of jott and the related bunch in new post. Meanwhile, you can surely have your round of fun with vlingo and jott.

Devices checked: iPhone, Blackberry Bold 9000, Blackberry Curve 8320, Pearl.

Cons:

The power pack is a battery hogger(eats up battery only while processing commands, not on standby). Use wisely. You can switch off few other applications if you are draining out of battery OR do not use the voice recognition system in those last minutes.

Source: Ask500

Found this question quite interesting, kind of intriguing; thought why not blog it and pour some thoughts into it.

Primarily, when we are asked this question the first tip-off would be to say No, never! Infact, I have tried this with couple of my friends whom I asked the same question. The very first thought would be “how can you question it? They would never want something bad for their own kids..”.

Even I agree with the aforesaid view, but come to think of it, I tend to agree with my fellow friend. One should question all the beliefs before formulating an opinion about them. This is necessary for quite a few reasons, first and foremost would be the very fact that what might seem correct to us might not be true for someone else. How many time has it happened that we tend to argue because we believe that our point of view is totally correct and holds much of the substantial ground.

Simply put, our values, opinions are entirely based on our past experience, our peers, environment, our set of beliefs; similarly, when we are taught the values, the assumptions are based on the past experience of our parents. What might be outrageous at the time when they formulated those values might not even hold ground today. For instance, having a same sex preference was like a taboo earlier; however, with changing times people have started acknowledging it, or at least the heat is much less now; one might not comment on something rather than making it a boiling issue.

Therefore, questioning the beliefs, the values and the opinions is a must for your inner growth. It not only helps you to have an open mind but also will help a person on the longer run with varied situations. When we formulate an opinion which is hard to do away with, we tend to overlook people around us to whom the skewed opinion might matter or might hurt their feelings.

Questioning oneself is not tagging it correct or wrong but on a broader perspective it is to confront oneself to have a logical explanation of what the person  beleives. It will improve us, holistically.

Finally, after a long night and a furious day, my website is running, blog is updated, facebook is back!

Still the hunt for a good offline blog client is on, which saves me when I am on the run and my post is half done.. or at times when your mind pops out real good thing and you wanna put it online.

Let’s see how it goes.

Its quite a weird at times you tend to get to a conlusive answer that might look pretty good but when you implement it, you regret it! For sake of getting closer to my R&D on blogging client, I downloaded Live Writer, thought it will answer most of the problems… well at least part of it, but all in vain!

Alright, finally I give up on this social netizen site - Facebook!! Its been quite some time I had been on this site and recently, I goofed up. I received an invite from a fellow on my alternate ID and I signed up using the new one. Out of sincerity and the facebook policy, I deactivated the new one and added my gmail id to my previous one. What do I get? I get error “Email is not registered”.

Facebook people really need to keep up with their users to help them.. I guess they had been quite busy lately. Anyways, created account again with same ID and bang on, back to facebook. Added twitter too!

eh!, twitter? Whats that? Well, its micro blogging site which keeps my friends updated on my activities.. more like status updates… though a weird thing.. I don’t really get it why am I on this when you have so many other means of online publishing.. anyways, lets see.

It is a common day problem that we all face every now and then. Sinus is a serious matter when it comes to a prolonged one. Hope following information helps my fellow readers:

A sinus infection causes severe headache. This is when the thick mucous blocks the nasal and sinus passage. The infection leads to headache, and makes the person irritated. Continues medications can lead to side effects. These side effects directly affect the internal organs of the body.

Drinking water is a natural way to hydrate the body. Increase the intake of fluids in the diet. Herbal tea and coffee also provide comfort to the patient. Drink small sips of warm water because dehydration also leads to headache. Sinus headaches are common during the dry weather. This leads to drying and clogging of nasal area.

A portable humidifier is very useful in this case. You can also boil water to make the air humid. Taking steam is also a good way to lessen the pain. The process creates moisture in the nose. For this, create a steam tent according to your face. Lean over a pot, and place a towel over your head. This will help keep the steam in. Inhale the steam slowly to thin the mucous. This process is easy and comfortable for people. It relieves the pain and provides rest to the patient.

Apply a hot wet compress on the face. This is done by wetting a washcloth with hot water and placing it over the nose and cheeks. This process provides warmth to the nasal cavities. This process loosens the mucous, and clears the nasal area. After a few hours, use a cold compress on the forehead. This will help membranes to shrink. This will help to lessen the severity of headache.

There are many herbal remedies that treats sinus effectively. These herbs control the pain associated with a sinus. Eucalyptus or peppermint drops can also be added to boiling water while inhaling steam. This opens the nasal passages by making breathing easier.

Grape seed extracts also help ease sinus pain. Feverfew is a natural plant extract that helps relieve sinus headache. It contains substances that release mood hormones in the brain. It is good to use fresh feverfew in the form of tea or capsules. This herbal medicine is also recommended by doctors to prevent severe sinus headache. It is easily available in any health food store.

Ginger is a natural food used in every day cooking. It is known to relieve pain and prevent headaches. It is an anti-inflammatory substance that detoxifies the body.

You can try different remedies to find what works best for you. Most of the remedies mentioned above are effective, natural, and safe. What’s more, these remedies have no side effects associated with drug medications.

- Source: Headacheupdates.com (For all type of headaches).

Alternate link: Ehow.com

Technology has come a long way. Many of us who had seen internet when yahoo was a buzzword, it happened in early 90’s.

Wiki: In January 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo were Electrical Engineering graduate students at Stanford University. In April 1994, “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web” was renamed “Yahoo!”, for which the official expansion is “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”. Filo and Yang said they selected the name because they liked the word’s general definition, which comes from Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift: “rude, unsophisticated, uncouth.” Its URL was akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo.^[9]

We have come a long way in these years. Ever wondered how yahoo looked in its early days, when people were talking about electronic mails and Bulletin boards? Check Yahoo - Oct, 17 1996.

Check out WayBackMachine and explore your fav site in early days.

Earlier this week, I had been stressed with daily chores. Today, I stumbled upon a page which talked about stress management.

Stress is something that affects us all. If we can learn to recognize it, then we can learn to manage it. Management of stress often seeks to reduce it in ourselves, friends and clients. It also can be a tool for motivation and persuasion, as increasing tension also increase the desire to reduce it. It thus be used, with care, to effectively move both ourselves and others.

The effects of stress

The effects of stress on us are physical, cognitive and behavioral. Gaining a good understanding of these things will place you well over half-way towards being able to manage them.

Stress affects our bodies and thoughts and can eventually kill us. It triggers primitive reactions and we cope with it in ways that are often dysfunctional.

Stress management

The effects of stress on us are physical, cognitive and behavioral. To manage stress, you can do it either from the outside, physically, or from the inside, transforming stress into a positive force for good.

Physical relaxation

Stress occurs in the body, felt as physical muscular tension. It also works backwards. Acting to relax the body also acts to relax the mind. There are two ways to relax physically: exercise and direct relaxation.

Physical exercise works by giving the body the workout that it is designed to receive. The body then does the relaxing that it is supposed to do also. When muscles are tired, they are forced to let go and relax. Exercise can also be gentler, and combined with meditative techniques, such as Tai Chi and Yoga.

Direct relaxation is at the floppy end of the scale, and is usually done in conjunction with something that distracts the mind from those things that are causing stress. Thus watching a movie or reading a book whilst ensconced in a nice comfortable armchair (perhaps with a beer in your hand) is a great method for many people.

Making stress positive

Sublimation is the method we use when we displace negative stresses into positive and useful actions. Thus we can take the tension of being a student and use it to motivate ourselves to work hard, or take the frustrations of work and sublimate these into a useful and creative hobby.

Stress can also be converted to a positive force by gaining a deeper understanding of the people who are causing stress for you. When you realize that much of their behavior towards you is actually displaced frustrations about themselves, you can convert your own fear and anger into genuine concern for them.

Using stress to persuade

Using stress to persuade is pretty much how persuasion works. Virtually all persuasive activities involve manipulation of stress levels, whether this is realized or not. For example, the Hurt and Rescue principle appears in many different forms of persuasion. Conditioning involves association of stress and comfort with undesirable and desirable things.

The biggest trick in using stress is in the appropriate levels being used. Too much and you will trigger the Fight-or-Flight reaction. Too little and you will not get any motivated response. To find the right level of stress requires a great deal of attention and sensitivity. People who lack empathy often go about motivating others with a sledge-hammer, and consequently largely are unsuccessful.

- Source: Changingminds.org