Blogging,  text messaging,  email, and instant messaging are all great communication tools. 

But guess what else still works?  Picking up the phone to call someone or stopping by just to chat.  Yes, that’s right our phones actually make/receive calls too and we often forget that (I am just as guilty as the next person).  Some people actually do still like to sit down with a real person.  While social media tools are great and much time is spent discussing them - they are just one piece of the pie.   

Sometimes it takes an experienced, wiser person to remind you of these things.  So as technology continues to improve, lets not forget the traditional methods work too.  I encourage you to take your online networking offline from time to time.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.      

Have a great day!

Many people have found my blog due to interest in the Blackberry Storm.  I have been using my Storm for over 3 months now and am very happy to report that I have FINALLY found a solid operating system – version 4.7.0.103.  I have been using this operating system for over 2 weeks now and have not experienced any issues.  This is by far the best performing OS in comparison to all others that I have used (and trust me I have used them all).  Yes, I am aware that a leaked version of 4.7.0.109 is available, but due to the superior performance of .103 compared to all others I have tried – I am not in a hurry to upgrade.  So, if you have the Blackberry Storm you need to get OS 4.7.0.103 right now. 

In doing research and working with the Blackberry Storm over the last 3 months, I have found 3 resources that I highly recommend you check out.  I have listed these below and also have a few screen shots in the video above.  Check them out and enjoy!

ILoveMyStorm.com
This is easily THE SINGLE BEST resource for the Blackberry Storm.  A very plain site with links to the latest OS updates, applications, games, themes, and anything else relevant to the Storm.  Trust me you will want to Bookmark this site.

StormGrounds.com
The best collection of backgrounds for the Storm.  This site has everything from sports teams to comic book hero backgrounds all FREE and sized perfectly to fit your phone.  You will have to put up with some annoying advertisements, but it is worth it for this huge collection.

YouMail.com
This is a great voicemail management system for ANY phone.  YouMail is free visual voicemail that allows management of everything from personal greetings to uploading a voicemail directly to your blog.  This is the perfect resource for someone that cannot stand the “regular” voicemail experience.  I like YouMail so much that I am going to do a separate blog post discussing more of its features in the next week, so be sure to check back for that.

Twitter is a great micro-blogging tool for staying in touch and allowing others to stay in touch with you.  If you are not using Twitter currently, create a Twitter account right now. 

There are a variety of different applications out there to use with Twitter.  You have: TwitterBerry (Twitter for the Blackberry), Twitterific (Twitter for the iPhone), TwitterFox (Twitter for Firefox).  Each of these can be very beneficial depending on what your specific needs might be with the phone or browser you are using.  One thing we all have in common, however, is the fact that we are using a computer.  So how do you better manage your tweets when you are using Twitter on your desktop or notebook PC?  The answer is TweetDeck.

TweetDeck is the most efficient way that I have found to utilize Twitter.  Simply put, it breaks all tweets down into managable pieces.  It’s column view and sorting functionality make it much easier to know who is following you, replying to your tweets, or sending you a direct message.  TweetDeck does require Adobe Air to run, but once this is installed your Twittering experience will be a breeze.  TweetDeck will ensure that you stay up to date with the people you want to follow, while making it easy to see who is following/replying to your tweets.  With TweetDeck you are sure to increase your Twitter Grader score in no time!

As some of you may know, I have been following the release of the Blackberry Storm very closely.  It is very intriguing for me to see if this phone will be the iPhone killer.  Since the release of the iPhone, it has dominated the cell phone market, selling more units than even Steve Jobs predicted.  I am ready to see some competition, especially being a Verizon Wireless customer who is stuck in a contract and not willing to pay the cancellation fee to switch to AT&T.

Well good news for us Verizon customers, the Blackberry Storm comes out tomorrow- Friday, November 21st, 2008.  While this phone is not getting near the media coverage the iPhone got, it is still making a buzz in the technology community.  There are tons of head to head comparisons between the Blackberry Storm and the iPhone.  People that like the new touch screen technology and people that hate it, people that swear Apple’s app store will ensure its continued dominance and people that can’t wait for Blackberry to open their app store in 2009.  It’s hard to tell what to think at this point until the phone is actually released, but an iPhone tempted Verizon customer that has waited this long can only hope it was worth the wait.  Tomorrow we will see…

8 Reasons to Pick the iPhone over Blackberry Storm

8 Reasons to Pick the Blackberry Storm over iPhone

Being an iPod classic video owner, it was nice to sit down with the new iPod nano.  This gorgeous device truly stays in line with Apple’s reputation of delivering the best looking hardware on the planet.  The iPod has truly become a fashion accessory.

In this video, I mention a phone call with Apple’s tech support.  I knew that the issue I was having was a result of an earlier version of Mac OS X, but still wanted to give them a call to test the customer service side of things.  I was very impressed.  I was able to talk to a HUMAN within 1 minute of calling and got the genius help I needed.  The representative, or “Apple Genius” on the other end did a great job of reminding me how “beautiful my new purple iPod nano” was by stating this several times before assisting me.  Another great extension of Apple’s marketing at every touchpoint possible.

I hope you enjoy my first video and blog post!