Playbook – Page 2

Thoughts on She’s Connected 2012

October 24, 2012 by koalateagirl

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been blogging over at my other blog Adventures with my BlackBerry for the last few months. I’m going to have another wrap up there but from the technological side of things – how my BlackBerry helped me make connections and made my conference experience more enjoyable. This is more about the experience I had at She’s Connected (or SCCTO which was the twitter hashtag for the event), what I learned, and the great people I met.

Overall, I had a great time at She’s Connected. The getting up at the crack of dawn wasn’t something I was looking forward to but I had great carpool with Courtney and Jacki and not only did we get to the hotel an hour before the conference breakfast was supposed to start, the fabulous people at the Renaissance Hotel were able to check us into our room super early (at 7am) so that we didn’t have to come back later and check in or try to do it after the conference when we were tired etc. I have to say that the Renaissance is a fabulous hotel, and I wish I’d spent more than just one night there! I’d go back for Grey Cup in the blink of an eye but it’s definitely out of my price range!

I learned a lot about myself at the conference. I learned I can be funny and witty in real life even with strangers and when I’m scared to death that I’ll say something stupid and they will write me off as a moron. I learned that mink eyelashes are pretty cool and very dramatic but take a long time to get used to. I learned that having a professional do a blow out on my hair leads to the same result as me doing one – flat hair in less than an hour! Not that the stylist from Blo wasn’t really good, but my hair is stupid that way. It looked fabulous for the hour, but then it was just messy and full of product. I learned that I really get a kick out of people complementing me on my business cards (which were super fabulous thanks to Lindsay from Grace Announcements).

The sessions were amazing. It’s impossible to pick just one to single out as the best. One of the best part of the sessions was that the panelists and speakers were more than willing to meet and speak with the attendees after the panels. There were 2 time slots in which I couldn’t find a session that I really wanted to attend, one on Friday and one on Saturday. This worked out pretty well because it gave me a chance to hang out in the McCafe lounge and get my nails painted and enjoy a chair massage. On Friday I got to hang out in the Molson 67 lounge and learn about pairing Beer and Cheese. This was really awesome and I’m never going back to wine and cheese again.

SCCTO - Molson 67 - Beer - Cheese - Tasting - — Beer and cheese = nature’s perfect pairing.

I learned a lot about trying to find a niche in the overcrowded world of online writing, editing and social media. I got some awesome advice from awesome people. I got to meet people with whom I’ve been tweeting and BBMing for over a year (I’m looking at you Christy and Christine). I learned that if I love blogging (and I do) I should keep doing it. That getting a chance at a community manager position isn’t as impossible a dream as I thought it would be and that some brands and agencies are okay with paying bloggers.

I missed the Friday ’80s Party because I wanted to go watch the ~~Argos Lose~~ Argo game and play with the Argonotes. I love playing with the best band in the CFL. Even when the team loses, we get to go out and entertain thousands of people. I did, however, stick around for the Shades of Grey party on Saturday night. There’s not a lot to say about that Party other than wow. I got gel nail polish put on – it’s supposed to last 2 weeks and so far it’s lasted through me digging in sand and typing so I’m impressed. The food was delicious! It’s A Cake Thing made some of the best cookies and cupcakes that I’ve ever had! They looked as good as they tasted.

Cupcakes - shades of grey - SCCTO - — The Shades of Grey Cupcakes

All in all it was a great 2 days. I’m glad it was only 2 days because I was exhausted at the end of the party. I know I’ve missed some wonderful people and things in this wrap up but the point is, it was a great experience and I can’t wait to go again next year.

Synchronizing Calendars between devices

September 17, 2012 by koalateagirl

I’ve been a little quiet on here lately, mostly because I’ve been busy giving BlackBerry Traffic a workout! A friend who has recently purchased a PlayBook asked me a question via Twitter today about syncing his BlackBerry calendar with the calendar on the PlayBook. I synched them as soon as I got my PlayBook in December, so naturally I went to the help on the PlayBook to get him an answer. The steps there will get your calendars synched but the instructions are a tad confusing. Here’s the easy way of doing it.

Step 1: Connect your PlayBook and your BlackBerry using BlackBerry Bridge.

Step 2: On your Playbook, in the top right corner is an icon that looks like a cog: it will take you to the settings.

Step 3: In the Settings page, there will be a bunch of options on the left hand side. Select Accounts and then “Email, Calendar and Contacts”.

Step 4: Select “Add New Account”

Step 5: Enter the email address you use for your BlackBerry Handheld device Calendar.

*Repeat the above steps to add another calendar, if you have more than 1 on your Smartphone

Step 6: Go to the Calendar application on your playbook and add the calendar(s) to it.

Step 7: From the drop down menu, select the new calendar.

You have now successfully synched your PlayBook and BlackBerry Handheld Calendars. Remember to use BlackBerry Bridge to keep both your Handheld and your PlayBook Calendars on the same page!

Why my loyalty isn’t going anywhere

August 28, 2012 by koalateagirl

In case you couldn’t tell from the title of my blog, I’m a BlackBerry fan. I have tried iphones and Androids and while they were a lot of fun, my infatuation usually only lasted a month or two. I’ve had my Bold 9900 for a year now. A year of bad press for Research In Motion and of people constantly asking me why I would want to jump on board a sinking ship. The answer is simple: I don’t believe that the ship is sinking. I LOVE the functionality of my BlackBerry Bold 9900 and am very excited by what I’ve been hearing about BlackBerry 10. My Bold 9900 allows me to work from the dock, at a football game, or from my bedroom. Documents To Go allows me to edit word and excel documents from my BlackBerry without turning on my laptop or PlayBook. BlackBerry Messenger (which despite some comments I’ve heard on Twitter is not going anywhere) helps me keep in touch with friends and family.

I have a bunch of amazing apps on my BlackBerry Bold 9900 and on my PlayBook. To all those who say that BlackBerry doesn’t have a wide selection of apps, I ask: Have you been to App World lately? The app that I fell in love with most recently is BlackBerry Traffic. I drive into Toronto a few times a month, and there’s nothing I like less than being stuck in traffic because I don’t know the alternate routes. Now I have an app that not only gives me my ETA based on current traffic conditions but it also gives me an alternate route in case I can’t take the traffic jams anymore. How awesome is that? The app gives you turn by turn directions either through your bluetooth headset or through the speaker on the BlackBerry. You can even set it up to go through your car’s audio system (though I haven’t done this yet). I learned about this awesome app from my friend Nick who used it to get us to the Canadian National Exhibition on Sunday despite some fairly major construction on the 401. Yes we still ended up stuck in traffic but we knew how long we would be in that traffic and that (surprise!) there wasn’t any traffic turning into the underground parking at the Direct Energy Centre.
The app is updated in real time by other users who are also running it. So if I leave from the cottage 30 minutes ahead of Dad and we’re both running it, he gets updated if I slow down for an extended period of time.

If I’m going home to visit my parents, I have a plethora of routes I can choose from. BlackBerry Traffic makes it easy to pick the right one. I simply select my destination and choose the route that’s quickest.

In this case I’d pick the 2nd one because it doesn’t take me on the 407. The green sections indicate good traffic flow, the yellow indicates slower than normal flow, and the red sections mean traffic is very slow.

You can click on a route and it will show you road by road how the traffic is:

I’m going to test this app out more thoroughly over the Labour Day weekend when I’ll be doing a lot of driving, some of it to very unfamiliar places. So far it’s the best traffic app I’ve seen for ANY device.

The Camera Question Part II – PlayBook Edition

August 28, 2012 by koalateagirl

One of the best features of my BlackBerry PlayBook is its portability. I didn’t want a tablet I’d need a separate bag to lug around. I wanted something truly portable. With its 7 inch display, the PlayBook fits in my purse, meaning I can take it pretty much anywhere I go. Case in Point – I went to the Honda Indy Toronto on July 6th. The Toronto area Honda dealers all get together and sponsor the Friday at the Indy so that fans get onto the grounds and into the grandstands for free. It’s an awesome promotion and a great way for people who wouldn’t be able to afford to go otherwise. I was going primarily to watch a driver I’ve known for most of his life, James Hinchcliffe, race in the GoDaddy car. The Indy Cars go in excess of 100 miles per hour so catching them on film isn’t easy. I decided that instead of using a digital camera, I would try to take pictures on my BlackBerry Bold 9900 and my PlayBook.

That would be James on track at full speed. I was surprised at just how good the camera on the playbook was at taking pictures of objects moving quickly! The quality of the ones on my bold were just as good. I love me a good camera.

How my Playbook saved the evening.

July 28, 2012 by koalateagirl

I was visiting my parents last weekend and one evening, we were bored. There was nothing on TV and we were all talked out. Yes we have tons of DVDs but there wasn’t one that we could all agree on. That’s when my inspiration struck. I got out my Playbook, connected it to the wireless network, and grabbed my HDMI cable. Luckily, my parents have a new TV with a very conveniently placed HDMI port on one side. I plugged in the playbook, switched the source feed on the TV to the HDMI port, and all of YouTube was at our disposal. We spent a very enjoyable evening watching music videos ranging from Great Big Sea to Gordon Lightfoot with some Simon and Garfunkel and The Guess Who sprinkled in.

I also showed my parents, who don’t use YouTube unless I send them a link to something, some of my favourite videos. Then I played a slideshow of the pictures I had on my playbook. Not every video looked good on the big screen but we could all watch them and it was a really enjoyable evening. Although I don’t have any kids, if I did, this would be an awesome way to show videos of the kids taken on the Playbook to friends, relatives, living further away who happened to visit. It’s a good thing that Dad has a playbook because I think the evening of YouTube might just become a family tradition. The next time I’m home, I’m going to set up the Remote control on the Playbook and sit on the couch to direct the action.