BlackBerry

So you finally bit the bullet and purchased a smartphone eh? There’s so much to learn about your new gadget and this "tethering" thing seems to be all the rave.  But what exactly is tethering?

Wikipedia defines tethering as: ‘using some type of mobile device to gain internet access on another device’.  Your smartphone (i.e. BlackBerry, iPhone, Treo, Palm Pre, etc) can access the internet via your cellphone plan, right?  You can then use that same internet connection to access the internet on your laptop by way of tethering (connecting) your smartphone to your laptop.  Got it?

Tethering isn’t new.  I’ve been tethering for about three years via the BlackBerry. For those of us who understand how to tether, the excessive cost of wireless PC cards and separate internet data plans are quickly becoming a way of the past.

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Smartphones  are quickly propagating the cellphone landscape, making anyone who whips out a mundane flip phone appear slightly "out of touch".  The point of this article is to discuss whether or not the benefits of owning a smartphone are to the writer’s advantage.  But first, let’s answer a few general questions about the gadget.

What is a smartphone?
In a nuthshell it’s a cellphone that allows you to do a host of other things via mobile applications. 

What’s the difference between the iPhone, the Blackberry, and all the others?
In a word…OS (Operating System).  In order to access email, internet, IM, pictures, etc on your computer you need an operating system like Windows or OS X, right?  Same thing goes for  smartphones  - which are basically tiny, limited computers that allow you to easily make phone calls. The iPhone’s OS is derived from OS X.  BlackBerry has a proprietary OS created by RIM.  Treos either use Palm or Windows Mobile. Google has also entered the smartphone market with its Android operating system. In addition, each carrier has propriety operating systems on their less expensive QWERTY cellphones (i.e. VZ Navigator) that don’t quite qualify as a "smartphone" because of the limitations of the OS.

Is the smartphone an imperative tool for writers? 
Let’s put it this way; you can live in a log cabin with no indoor plumbing or electricity and create the greatest novel known to man using a 1935 Remington typewriter.  So technically, technology isn’t imperative to a writer, but it does make life easier.  That’s exactly what the smartphone does for a writer - IT MAKES LIFE EASIER - for the reasons listed below:

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Since we don’t post multiple times a day here at the Founders’ Blog, there’s no reason to create articles from our mobile device.  However, we do filter comments to ward off spammers.  WordPress does a great job of letting us know via email when a comment has been posted so we can get your comments up ASAP. However, using the BlackBerry default browser can be difficult when accessing the WP admin dashboard and some have found it impossible.  [click to continue...]