Questioning Death
Today is my brother’s 8th year death anniversary. In remembrance of his life, his wife scheduled a mass near his grave site. It was surreal, 8am, and the day started off quite early for me. Having done my work prior to changing and heading for Greenhills Memorial Park in Bulua, Cagayan de Oro City, I quickly whipped breakfast for...
Me and My Music
Whenever I get the chance to buy things for me, I tend to go for books or CDs. I love to listen and make music. My selection vary and they range from Pop, Acoustic Rock, and even Country Music. I have a very huge selection of playlist on my PC, Mac and Nokia. I like to listen to music while working and when I needed a break, I like...
How to I Dealt with Death
I have just received news that the mother of my friend Melba has just passed away. I sincerely know how she feels right now. This news brings back memories when my own mother died two years ago. Not only that, this reminds me of the death of my older brother Joemen almost 5 years ago. Death of a family member is not new and for the...
Status: Alone but not Lonely
One of highlights of the week was my talk with a friend and she asked me, “Alma, do you ever wish to have somebody again?” If I’d say the thought never came to me, then I would be lying to you all. Ofcourse the thought came to me several times before and my answer to that is no. Primarily, I am just too preoccupied to even...
App for Google + for BlackBerry
One of my frustrations as a Social Media person is the limitations of Google native applications for the BlackBerry. It is sad enough that Google has killed support for Gmail for BlackBerry last year, and with the rising users for Google +, I have been long waiting for a native Google + application for BlackBerry.
Well the wait is almost OVER! Upon reading this article via Crackberry, I quickly went over to BlackBerry App World to download App for Google +. Installation to my Blackberry 9900 (OS7) was swift. Took me awhile to login to my Google + account though. But if you have activated several security measures on your Google account, you will have to add Google + to your authorized application and sites. This means, your Gmail password will not work. Just head over to your Google Accounts section and add whichever application you wish to authorize and use the generated password– no sweat.
After my Blackberry had the systems reboot, and I managed to login using the Google account generated password, I was able to post an image to my Google + stream which was really, really cool and swift. I can also view my various streams, edit my Circles (I have over 10 Cirlces) as well as update my posts. Although the app is still on Beta, I am excited to get the rest of the features like Messaging– just for the sake of testing because the BlackBerry has GTalk and it works well on my BlackBerry.
App for Google + is developed by Smarter Apps.
Kindle Fire Challenges: Getting those Apps using GetJar
After receiving a Kindle Fire a month ago, I managed to successfully install those games my children has been yapping about– Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio and others. So its not Words for Friends anymore– there’s more.
Thanks to numerous dissatisfied Kindle Fire users, and numerous hours of reading android forums including that of Amazon, I managed to stumble on this article. Installing getjar was not hard. It does not require alot of ninja moves (side loading). All you have to do is navigate to: http://m.getjar.com/ and download the application itself. You will find the application by checking the download area of your Kindle Fire’s Silk browser. Install this– oh, you will need to allow 3rd party installations first. Navigate through the settings of your Kindle and allow.
Once you have installed GetJar, you can install whatever application is available on GetJar.
Here’s a list of my favorite apps via GetJar:
1- Angry Birds Seasons
3- Angry Birds
5- Spring Pad
6- Fruit Ninja
Read MoreHow to Reinstall OS 6.0 on a Bricked Torch 9800
Although my BlackBerry Torch is still dead, I did manage to reinstall my OS but it died after a day. No idea why my BB kept on slipping to its near demise, but needless to say, the a tutorial that I found here was very helpful.
After days of reviving a bricked BlackBerry, I am on the verge of tossing this expensive smartphone in the bin… what’s stopping me then? Well, if this bricked phone works again, I can pass this to my daughter and BBM with her instead of SMS. That would be ideal. 
Needless to say, my damn BB has just become an expensive paperweight.
How to Successfully Wipe All Your Data on Your BlackBerry
Several days ago, my BlackBerry became so slow after I have installed a new theme. It became so slow that even several resets failed to fix whatever the problem was that I was forced to perform a full security wipe. I initially tried a partial security wipe which involves deleting only the applications while retaining my contacts and email as well as my files saved in my media card.
If for some reason your BlackBerry is lagging too slow or loads too slow after you have installed several applications, and deletion of that application did not fix the problem, I usually would just go and reset my BlackBerry to factory default. This is not really hard and RIM makes it easier for you to reset and reinstall your desired applications easily. To do a reset, simply go to Options> Security> Security Wipe. You will be asked to type blackberry to confirm. No sweat.
Read MoreNew Gadget: Amazon Kindle Fire
I have just received for my birthday the newest addition to Amazon’s array of e-readers– The Kindle Fire
Unboxing. The Amazon Kindle Fire comes in a nice looking easy to open box. It did not come with any manual apart from a small cardboard that tells you how to turn on your Kindle Fire. Once turned on, it walks you through the settings etc. Nothing complicated.
Weight and Size. The Kindle Fire is a 7 incher tablet. It is considerably smaller than my Kindle 2, however it is heavier. The back is rubberized which makes holding your Kindle Fire easier grip-wise. The screen rotates as well, which is pretty cool. The screen is responsive to touch and scrolling is fast. Not bad.
Wifi and Syncing. The Kindle Fire comes with 8GB internal storage, of which 2GB is allocated to the OS and 6GB is usable. However, if you run of out of local space then no worries. Amazon offers you free cloud storage for all Amazon digital content in the Amazon Cloud. This allows you store Apps, books, movies, and music which will be available instantly to stream or download for free, at a touch of a finger. Once you have set up your wifi connection, you will be asked to register your Kindle Fire. Syncing is swift and I was happy to see all my ebooks purchased months ago.
Browser. The browser is fast although I have read about some people complaining that their Silk Browser is slow, mine was fast and navigation is pretty easy to follow.
The Downside
My only complaint about the Kindle is its inability to connect to the Amazon App Store. Why the heck not when I have an active account in Amazon? I asked. Well, apparently, the Amazon App Store in not available in my region. There were some applications pre-installed in my Kindle Fire like, Amazon’s Email App, Pulse, The Weather Channel and Audible. It sucks not being able to download even premium applications. I have scoured the Amazon Forum and found people from Canada, Singapore, Australia and Malaysia even Ireland, complaining about the Amazon App Store restrictions.
I have read about other Kindle Fire owners “jailbreaking” their Kindle Fires and by installing the Android sdk and rooting their Kindle Fire. The process is not easy and alot of modifications have to be made. I am still trying to find out more information about this, but so far, I have read that the most recent Amazon update has removed the rooting functionality although the applications downloaded were said to continue to work.
It looked like we just have to wait until the Philippines is fully supported by Amazon. Might take a year or another– who knows? But so far, as e-reading goes, the Kindle Fire is a winner. I am still able to connect to Twitter, Facebook and all websites using the browser anyway.
Me with my Kindle Fire
Kindle 2 vs Kindle Fire
Twitter App: A.Plus by @aplusk and Ubermedia
Since I did a major factory reset on my work PC, I lost my Tweetdeck and Seesmic. I have been switching back and forth between these two fantastic Twitter desktop applications for Windows. Since I tweet mainly using my Blackberry, I only use my desktop Twitter application when my mobile is dead and charging, but I truly steer clear from Twitter desktop applications because I find it obtrusive.
Read MoreTop BlackBerry Applications for Online Workers
Eversince I got the BlackBerry Torch from my employer, I have been busy learning how to work around RIM’s technology. So far, one of the best feature of the BlackBerry is its push email whether you have gmail, or yahoo or your corporate email– setting up is a breeze. Since the BlackBerry Torch is the bearer of RIM’s latest OS 6.0,
Read MoreETC
