TamsBlackBerry – the BlackBerry blog

When set up against the job of making an ad for a motor saw manufacturer, most of us will probably think of lightly-clad girls, muscular men and the jungle.

According to DirectDaily, the folks at the chainsaw manufacturer STIHL went a different way. They created a self-updating paper calendar, which is pictured below:

Not much to add here…

The iPhone’s lack of stylus was praised when the unit first came out – unfortunately, having no stylus makes using the unit with gloves difficult.

Koreans discovered that a popular type of snack sausage could be used as stylus – and an innovative vendor has now capitalized on their findings. His “sausage” is non-edible, but can be used as a stylus for long times without fear of “degeneration”:

Those of you who feel like taking a stab can do so for the acceptable price of 1 USD – further information is at the URL below:
http://www.casecrown.com/iphone/accessories/iphone-1g-3g-3gs-sausage-screen-stylus

Microsoft has traditionally used the Catalonia Plaza hotel in Barcelona as its “base” during the congress – it offers better logistics and cleaner, better-managed venues. This year, they really overdid it though – and transformed the entire hotel into a huge Windows Mobile 7 ad.

During the day, the clock was always set to Seven:

And at night, it got really funny. Not much to add to the shot below:

When it comes to stopping smokers, governments get creative – no idea is weird enough…

The CNN brings us the latest anti-smoking campaign: free BlackBerry handsets:

As of now, not much is known on how to claim your “free BB” – but if I would be living closeby, I (being a non-smoker) would definitely light up a smoke for a new device to add to my collection…

Don’t ask me why, but it looks like politicians in the US seem to have a collective alcohol problem, which gets magnified in the Winter due to the availability of various warm hard liquors.

Nope, I am not sarcastic – after the idiocy in Maine, we now have somebody wanting to force retailers to print SAR labels as big as device prices onto the device labels.

SFGate claims the following:

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San Francisco would become the first city in the country to require that cell phone retailers label the devices with the level of radiation they emit under a controversial proposal being discussed at the Department of the Environment and endorsed by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

…

Anyone of you want t bet that we will see something dumber in a few days?

Usually, stupid anti-cellphone/anti-internet rhetoric comes from a specific type of individual which does not need to be named further. This time, however, we seem to be dealing with a common idiot who has been elevated into a position of power somehow.

Yahoo News reports the following:

A Maine legislator wants to make the state the first to require cell phones to carry warnings that they can cause brain cancer, although there is no consensus among scientists that they do and industry leaders dispute the claim.

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Maine Rep. Andrea Boland, D-Sanford, said numerous studies point to the cancer risk, and she has persuaded legislative leaders to allow her proposal to come up for discussion during the 2010 session that begins in January, a session usually reserved for emergency and governors’ bills.

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I’d file this one in idiots 101…

Ad heads and screenshots of mobile devices have always been two things which don’t really match – in the past, we saw all kinds of weird crap appear on ads.

CrackBerry.com now shares the picture below:

Just in case anyone of you wonders: BlackBerry devices can NOT run VersaMail…

A big thank-you goes to alphasmartuser who sent this in

Developers of shareware applications all have at least one heart-warming tale about an especially stupid user – one such story is below:

“I bought your weather application, and I it does not show the weather on my Treo”

Asked him what cities and what prefs he was using.

He said – “how do I know that ?”

I told him – “launch the app, …”

He said – “How do I launch the app…”

Me – “Tap its icon in the launcher”

Customer – “I dont have the app icon…”

So we go hence and forth for about a week exchanging emails…

And the last email was “oh – you mean I need to install the app on the Treo ?”

Enjoy…

Apple’s iTunes App Store is the largest mobile application store currently on the market. This gives it a disproportional amount of media attention – even though it still is far from perfect.

Microsoft has now launched a funny video making fun of craplet apps, Apple’s extremely complex rejection/approval process and a variety of other issues.

The full video is below – hit the play button if you feel like a good laugh:

The ad below is part of Verizon’s attack on AT&T – it is so funny that I simply had to share it:

Enjoy…

So far, the folks at SBSH’s have been notable for their (impressive) portfolio of productivity applications for various platforms (which mostly sold well). Unfortunately, it looks like greed got the best of them – the press release below just hit my inbox:

We are excited to email you today with news about our new application release, RadGuard for BlackBerry devices! RadGuard is available for both touch and non-touch screen BlackBerry devices.

RadGuard is a new exciting application based on a patent-pending technology which constantly monitors your BlackBerry’s transmission level, and notifies you as soon as it goes above a certain safe threshold. This unique and innovative application, allows you to avoid or minimize phone usage during those periods of high radiation levels that usually go unnoticed. Health risks associated with mobile phone radiation are a growing concern these days; protect yourself and those around you with this must have solution!

1. The Problem – Radiation Health Risks
Mobile phones use electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range, which is believed to be harmful to human health in various ways. Numerous researches have been published in recent years studying the connection between growing mobile phone usage and the effects on the human body.

2. The Solution – RadGuard Protection
RadGuard provides notifications each time your phone radiation cross a certain safe threshold level, helping users identify those high risk periods that usually go unnoticed. Advising users to try and place their mobile phone far from their body until radiation level is lower again.

3. The Implementation – Profile Notifications
RadGuard provides high-radiation notifications. RadGuard notifications are integrated as part of the BlackBerry built-in Profiles application, allowing you to control notifications behavior according to the currently selected profile on your phone!

This IMHO puts the boys in the same camp as the various snake oil peddlers talking junk about internet addiction and about how all egoshooter players go on a rampage one day – shame on them.

The picture on the left shows the so-called Laptop Burka. It was invented by an US electrician called Mark Johnson, who happened to be “fed up with the glare”:

Hey I’m back by popular demand ! Stopping glare on your laptop computer. Providing freedom to the masses ! Pesky Peekers no more mind your own busniess ! Serious latop users go no further .Dont bother with those anti glare filters that dont work ! Enjoy a Laptop Burka in any color ! Laptop Burka works with any laptop anywhere. Light weight easy to carry and store.

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Even though I am not sure whether his idea will really capture the masses (purchasable for 20$ off CraigsList), Marc nevertheless should give quite a few manufacturers loads of food for thought.

While glossy screens look great in-doors, it is very hard to beat reflective technology for outdoor use. As devices become more and more mobile, and as temperatures raise….well, you get the idea .

Porn and internet/mobile devices alike have provided all sorts of political activists and snake oil peddlers with loads of content for their pet theories – both of the aforementioned things have been able to gain significant attention in the mainstream press.

It now looks like these two groups turn on one another – the snippet below is from a very popular outlet for snake oil theories:

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The pornographic movie industry has long had only a casual interest in plot and dialogue. But moviemakers are focusing even less on narrative arcs these days. Instead, they are filming more short scenes that can be easily uploaded to Web sites and sold in several-minute chunks.

…

So: porn with scripts is good. Porn without scripts is bad. This tells us: porn is good, internet is bad. Can you all follow me? Not really? No issue, just sing along

Forgive the slight influx of sarcasm, but I am thrilled to see the two groups duking it out in talkshows. After all, there can be but one source of all evil – but is it porn or the internet?

Guys and Gals: it’s time for an inofficial and unrepresentative vote: porn or phones?

Image: Wikimedia Commons / Manfred Werner – shows Alice Schwarzer, member of the “we hate porn” gang

We have covered the World Business Guide Scam some time ago – don’t ask me why, but the jerks still don’t give up (even though they know that I covered them on here some time ago). The email below has just hit my inbox:

Ladies and Gentlemen.

In order to have your company inserted in the registry of World Businesses for 2009/2010 edition, please print, complete and submit the enclosed form (PDF file) to the following address:

WORLD BUSINESS GUIDE
P.O. Box 2021
3500 GA Utrecht
The Netherlands

email: register@wbgtoday.net
FAX: redacted

Updating is free of charge!

If you are not the intended recipient, please submit an email to unsubscribe@wbgtoday.net Your request shall be dealt with accordingly.

Once again: if you get ANY communication from these folks, just delete/destroy it unless it comes from a court in your home country (which has never happened so far). The boys have never sued anyone AFAIK, and are sending these emails out illegally themselves.