Disappearing Blackberry Calendar Entries

I just responded to an email from a friend who suddenly lost her calendar entries on her Blackberry from weeks ago. She likes to refer back to past entries but cannot find them.

I explained that her calendar may not be set to keep entries.

She is using her personal Blackberry and is not on a BES.

The calendar on the Blackberry is set by default to keep appointments for 60 days.

Older entries are automatically deleted from the Blackberry.

To keep appointments, I told her the following:

• While viewing your Calendar, press the Blackberry Button and select Options
• Select "General Options"
• Scroll down to 'Keep Appointments' click on whatever is there and scroll to change it to 'Forever'
• Press the Blackberry Button and press Save. Then exit back to Calendar.

She thanked me and called me a "genius". LOL

I have been using Blackberry devices since '98 and supporting them for over 7 years for various customers.

I have owned several devices over the years starting with my 850 and currently own a 9630 Tour and a 9000. I am PATIENTLY waiting for my Pre-ordered PLAYBOOK.

(6 more days to go)

Lon

In the news....data breach at Epsilon and what it means to you!

Below is the text of an email sent to customers of The Kimmel Group, Inc. regarding the Epsilon data breach.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hello,

As some of you are aware, there was a recent data breach at Epsilon, a leading email marketing service provider to major corporations. You can read more here

I am sending this letter to all Kimmel Group customers to outline what steps you should take to protect yourselves.

While Epsilon claims that only email addresses and names have been obtained, there is the possibility that a criminal may use this information to obtain more from you.

Since these criminals know what list you were subscribed to, they may try to "spoof" or impersonate that company by sending you a message that looks as though it came from that actual company.

If you receive any messages requesting personal information such as address, credit card number, bank account, etc.. DO NOT RESPOND TO THE EMAIL. DELETE IT!

Also, DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINKS IN THE EMAIL.

As a practice, if you are asked to provide any information via email, please verify the request by telephone using the phone number you were previously provided AND NOT THE NUMBER IN THE EMAIL.

Identity theft is on the rise, especially in our current economy. Please take the time to safeguard your personal information.

In my 21 years of email administration/consulting, I have never witnessed so many schemes and ploys via email. The problem will continue to grow.

Just a few minutes ago, I received a suspicious message claiming to be from "Bank of America", requesting that I follow a link to verify my account information. I do not own a Bank of America account so I immediately knew it was fraudulent. If I did own a "BOA" account, I would call customer service to verify.

Please take the time to follow these few guidelines listed below:

1. Change passwords to online accounts quarterly
2. If you need to write down passwords, store the list in a safe place away from your computer
3. If you own a Blackberry, use the "Password Keeper" application to store that information
4. To keep your business email inbox relatively spam-free, subscribe to marketing lists using a "free" account like gmail, Hotmail, yahoo or your internet service provider.
5. Use anti-virus software on all personal computers and keep it up to date. Perform a full-scan weekly.

Q2 Tablet Showdown

In January I shared my disappointment in the Galaxy Tab. Today I learned that the Blackberry Playbook will be released April 19th. When I returned my Galaxy to Sprint, my rep informed me that he added my name to the Playbook pre-order list. I saw an ad on the Blackberry site claiming that Best Buy was their choice for pre-ordered Playbooks. Such confusion.
Earlier today I also read that Sprint is releasing the EVO View 4G in June which is being touted as the "Big Brother" to my current EVO 4G phone. With Scribe digital pen technology and the 4000 mAh battery (same as Galaxy Tab which lasted all day for me), I may be able to finally replace my old Toshiba Portege M400 "old school" tablet which is on its 3rd battery.

I have not seen a release date for the View as of yet but plan to speak with my Sprint rep tomorrow to clarify the "Best Buy Playbook" ad and the View release date.

I have not had my EVO smartphone a year yet and already there have been 2 potential replacements;
1. EVO Shift (cool keyboard)
2. EVO 3D (do I really need to capture 3D video)

I remember blasting Sprint just a few years ago for not release new devices quickly enough. "My, how they've grown".

Although I am leaning towards the EVO View for my table choice, I have been using Blackberry devices since my Skytel 850 so the Playbook deserves a "look" for loyalty sake.

Stay tuned for my Playbook review in the next few weeks and the "bake-off" between the Playbook and the View.

Throw in the iPad2's a few of our customers have recently ordered and it looks like our team will be busy in the 2nd quarter. Gotta Love It!

Lon

My wireless journey......LonStanley

Let me start of by saying that I love technology!! Those that know me know I always have a gadget or two on me. I always have my Blackberry Tour and lately my EVO 4G as well.

Why 2 you ask, because, as a Blackberry partner my team has to support our customers' devices so each team member is required to carry at least one Blackberry, my rule since 2005.

I actually have 2 Blackberry devices. The second belongs to a customer and I use it strictly to communicate with and support that customer. (Bold 9000). It says in the briefcase though.

As for my EVO 4G..I had to have it. I have a need for speed.....and the 4G flies, when I can get coverage. I pay the extra for the hotspot capability so I actually use the EVO instead of my 4G card. (terminating it once the contract is up). I also love the Android apps on the EVO like Pandora, which, when paired with my Rocketfish bluetooth high-def headphone, provide hours of enjoyment. I also love my GasBuddy, Zillow, DirecTV, Groupon and Google Voice and Talk apps. Google maps and the traffic layer have saved me from traffic jams several times.

Since I added the extended battery from Seidio, life on 4G has been grand.

My latest stop on this journey has been with the Galaxy Tab. My Sprint, rep, Jeremy, knows my affinity for things "TECH", so he offered it on a 30-day trial. I jumped on it, mainly because I get to play with it for a month while I review it for my customers who are looking for tablet devices. I was excited when it arrived and immediately loaded most of the apps I have on my EVO. On the Galaxy, I was able to configure my Google Apps account, a second Gmail account, an IMAP account and an Exchange 2010 test account from a customer's site.

Yes, you read correctly, I have 4 email accounts configured on this device. I like that flexibility and believe I can add additional accounts but haven't tested that yet. Web browsing is nice although it is only 3G. I enable WiFi whenever I can and that helps.

The battery life is pretty good. It usually last 2 days before I have to recharge it.

I was disappointed in a few things. First off, I am still dumbfounded that vendors ship these devices naked, without a case. They just want us to break it and buy another one. I ponied up the money for the leather prop case from Sprint.

Next, the camera is not what I thought it would be. I am told that the mega pixels are 1 and 3 for front and rear, or something along those lines. The EVO's quality blows the Galaxy away. I CAN view Flash sites so that is an advantage over the iFolks but I still can't get HULU. I can view some of my YouTube favorites/playlists but still receive the dreaded, "not available on mobile" on far too many videos. Google Voice on the device allows you to listen to voice mails but not make calls. Remember, it is NOT a phone.

So, let's summarize what it is NOT or NOT good at....

1. It is NOT a phone

2. It is NOT 4G

3. It is NOT a good camera (low mp) or video recorder (no zoom)

However,

1. It is great for viewing and using multiple email accounts (Swype is preloaded for typing)

2. It is capable of being a WiFi hot spot for others

3. It has a very nice screen for viewing photos, videos and FB data

4. The size is along the lines of the small Moleskin notebook I carry.

Overall, this device is nice but not really for me. I have found myself using it to view email but I still cannot reply as quickly as I can on my Blackberry although my Swype skills are improving. The last few days, I really used it in the car as a GPS unit, albeit, an expensive one.

I plan to return my Galaxy Tab next week and await my Blackberry Playbook with abated(bated) breath but if they don't hurry, I'll be forced to give in to the iFolks.

Stay tuned,

LonStanley

For more info on my tech background, visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/lonnienstanley

I Lost My Blackberry, now what?

While visiting a customer today, I noticed a flyer posted near the elevators that read something similar to this....
"Blackberry 9730 Lost near Dilworth Plaza this past Monday. Device is locked.
Visit room 796 to claim it. Must be able to unlock the device."

I immediately checked to make sure I had both of my Blackberry devices (don't ask) even though I don't have a Storm. Once I knew my "babies" were safe, I thought about the proactive measures I have used over the years to ensure the safe return of my devices.

1. I set a password for all my devices (Options - Password) with the number of attempts set at 5 instead of the default of 10. I also set it to lock when I holster it.

2. Under the Owner section, not only do I put my name and company information in, I also add the statement, "If found, please call for reward: ###-###-####"

3. I set the Security Timeout to 5 mins as well.

4. Finally, I make sure I back up my device weekly so that if it is lost and is accidentally wiped due to 5 incorrect passwords, at least I have the information that I can restore to my replacement device.

I am sure that if you have lost your device, the first thing you did was place a call to it to see if someone answers. I had a consultant lose his device and we called it every 15 minutes for 8 hours until someone finally answered. Turns out he left it on a bus and the driver turned it in to the dispatcher. She answered because the ringing finally annoyed her. LOL

I urge you to think about these tips and if you have a corporate Blackberry on a Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES), remember that your device can be wiped remotely by the BES Administrator if it has been lost and no one calls for the reward.

Also, the BES policies may override the settings mentioned above. Check with your BES Administrator if unsure. His/her job is to ensure the safety of the corporate information on your device so the BES policies at your company may be more stringent that what I recommend.

By the way, the reward should be reasonable and worthwhile considering the fact that replacing a lost Blackberry that is still under contract can cost between $300 and $500.

If you find yourself in this situation, let me know. I have a few spare devices I can loan you until you are up for renewal.

LNS

P.S. Check back next week when I post my results from my 30-day trial of my Sprint HTC EVO. Will it replace my Tour and my 4G WiMax Card??? Time will tell.

And the Winner in the "Text-to-Speech Blackberry app" category is.....

...VLINGO!!
I have been using Vlingo since WES and I love it!!
I heard a competing product has improved since I last tested it but I am not compelled to give it a second chance. Vlingo is my choice for reading text and email messages.
My only problem is remembering to turn the SafeReader off when I get home. I have placed my Blackberry next to the bed and have startled everyone in the household when my midnight server status email messages arrived. I have changed me left convenience key to activate Vlingo so I simply press it, wait a few seconds then say "Safe Reader Off". Sasha, the name I gave my Vlingo's female voice, replies with "Safe Reader Off" and I know I am "good to go".
Try Vlingo yourself and let me know.
I upgraded to Vlingo Plus and can dictate email messages but mainly use it to dictate short text messages.

BTW, my right convenience key is assigned to Quick Launcher which I will tell you about in another post.

Lonnie

Disclaimer....I am in no way compensated by Vlingo or any other app developer. :-)

Using Vlingo and loving it!

I have been using the free version of Vlingo since returning from WES and I love the SafeReader feature.
While driving, the feature reads incoming text and email over my Bluetooth visor speakerphone. With the paid version, I can dictate messages that can be sent with a push of a single button. The free version let's you test the feature and I found the speech recognition to be decent. I have one other email reading app to test before I make my decision but right now, I am leaning towards paying for Vlingo Plus so I can dictate messages and keep my hands on the wheel.

LNS

DirecTV now has a DVR Scheduler App for the Blackberry.
I have used my Bberry browser for a few years now to schedule my home DVR while on the road. Hopefully this app will be easier and faster.
It took me less than 5 mins to install and setup. It allowed me to store my DirecTV login information. It also allows you to set a filter so it will only show search results based on the channels you subscribe to.
The real test will come when my wife asks me to schedule something...let's hope it works.

LNS

"Consumerization" of IT is here."

This morning, I heard that from Laurent Philonenko of Cisco at this AM's WES session.

Employees are being given the choice of what device they want to use for mobile access. In most cases, businesses no longer pay for the bill or at best, reimburse some of the cost. For example, we know of a business that reimburses $30 towards an employee's data plan if they use their own Blackberry. They started off by providing employees with a corporate liable device which only had DATA service, no voice. Employees didn't want to carry 2 devices so the personally-liable devices were introduced to the enterprise and are now supported on the BES.

To support "Consumerization", I am researching apps that will track business vs personal use of a device based upon tags on address book entries, i.e. all email, sms or calls to and from jsmith@clientx.com will be tagged as business related and can be reported on. This will allow businesses to see exactly what percentage of usage they are actually reimbursing employees for. It sounds labor intensive but firms that currently bill-back time to their clients (lawyers, engineers) will love this approach.
Also, any company that is mandated to look at saving costs in the corporate liable model will be able to see if they are getting their "money's worth". They can also make an quantitative decision regarding the rate of payout for corporate liable devices. For example, if the reports show that you are using your device on a 60/40 business/personal rate, then the company will continue to pay for your device. However, if the rate is 40/60, you may be converted to the personal liable plan with a 40% reimbursement or no reimbursement at all.

If these types of "usage tracking" apps interest you, let me know. We are looking for pilot groups that will allow us to deploy the tracking tools for 3 months so we can analyze the reports and share them in our white-paper on personal vs. corporate devices that we are developing. We will pay for the apps along with the services to load and train your users.

Let me know your thoughts!!

Lon

BES Express Update

I misstated earlier. BES Express CAN support over the air(OTA) enterprise activations (EA) if the device is on a BES data plan. If the device is only on a BIS data plan then it cannot do an EA; the option will not even exist on the device.

I asked RIM if they thought the carriers would find a way to "up-charge" on the BIS like they do with BES. The RIM guy said that it is not possible in the RIM network to do that. The carriers will probably be happy that a BIS device on BES Express will actually generate more data in the long run as the user moves from push email only to full sync of email, calendar, address book and all the other features that BES with MDS brings.

NOTE: MDS is supported on BES Express but not MVS.....mobile voice services. It took me 2 days to finally have someone clarify that they were saying "V" and not "D".

I also clarified a user limit issue. The rumor was that BES Express could only support 75 users. That is false. It is "recommended" that if you install/run BES Express on the same server as your mail server(Exchange Server or SBS Server), then you "should" only put 75 servers on it.
If you run it on it's own hardware, either real or virtual (VMWare), you are not limited by the number of users it can support. In that instance, the number is the same as with the standard BES. A company can now expand their BES usage and offer the BES solution to "personally liable" devices; devices that users pay for out of their own money.

I will have another post discussing a round-table discussion that I participated in regarding Personal vs. Corporate Liable devices.

NOTE: We have already starting piloting BES Express. I installed it in our test environment last weekend but have not added any users. I will say that if you plan to install in on the mail server or SBS server, you should NOT install the Administration Service (BAS) on there unless you have a "beefy" server. I will quantify that in the next few weeks. Running BAS spiked my CPU so I plan to install in on its own box but will keep BES Express on SBS.

Lon