David R. Heffelfinger

One of the main reasons I upgraded my old BlackBerry device to a BlackBerry bold is because the Bold has GPS. AT&T Navigator is the default GPS application that comes with the device. Although I haven't actually tried it, it seems like a nice application, with turn by turn directions and automatic rerouting. AT&T Navigator comes with a 30 day free trial, after that it adds $10 a month to the cell phone bill.

Although I drive in unfamiliar territory frequently enough that a GPS can be useful, it is not frequently enough to justify the extra $10 a month on the bill. Thankfully there is an alternative. mobile Google Maps on the BlackBerry can take advantage of the device's GPS functionality.

Yesterday I had to make a 50 mile trip, although the trip was on familiar territory, I decided to try out the GPS functionality of the BlackBerry and Google Maps.

One nice thing about Google Maps is that it can provide directions from your current location to wherever you are going. Therefore if hopelessly lost it can find your way for you. Directions "from" and "to" can be entered, or the current location can be used as the starting point.

Once "from" and "to" addresses have been entered, Google Maps will highlight the route in the map, showing clearly where turns need to be made. Where the GPS comes into place, a blue dot will be shown in your current location, therefore you know at all times where you are in the map.

Pressing "I" on the BlackBerry Bold's keyboard will zoom in the map, where "O" will zoom out. I found that the default zoom is sometimes too zoomed in, letting you know about an exit about two seconds before you need to take it. The ability to easily zoom out was very useful. The disadvantage of zooming out is that the street names may become unreadable.

The Google Maps help states that the number "6" needs to be pressed to see the next turn, and the number "4" needs to be pressed to see the previous turn. I thought this would be cumbersome since on the BlackBerry the "alt" key needs to be pressed to punch in numbers. Thankfully it is not necessary to do press "alt" to get the previous and next turns, simply pressing "S" (which with "alt" is the number 4) and "F" (which with "alt" is the number 6) takes you to the previous/next turn, respectively.

Pressing "0" will take you to your current location in the map.

If using the GPS frequently enough, it may be a good idea to invest in a car charger, as leaving the screen on for a long time to look at the GPS takes a toll on the battery.

Although I wish Google Maps would provide spoken turn by turn directions, it really isn't a bad application for those times when GPS functionality is needed, and the price certainly cannot be beat.

For a few years, I have been listening to internet streaming radio with Shoutcast, there are several programs in Linux that I can use to listen to the streams, I currently use Rhythmbox, but in the past I have used Audacious and XMMS, they all work great to listen to internet streaming radio on my laptop.

I have been wanting to be able to listen to internet radio on my BlackBerry for a while, but I hadn't been able to find any software to do it. I had seen some references to Radio Bee, but I hadn't been able to get it to work.

Yesterday I decided to look once again, and I bumped into FlyCast, I downloaded it over the air, and it installed flawlessly. The first time I ran it, it asked me to register by providing my email address. Once I did that I was able to run it, and lo and behold, I was listening to streaming internet radio on my BlackBerry Bold!

So far I have only used it with a WiFi connection, and it works great, very little or no buffering. I have yet to try it under 3G or edge, so I have yet to see how well it works when a WiFi connection is not available.

FlyCast's web site does not specify if the software is free, if there is a trial period or if you have to register. I was expecting some kind of nag screen or a point where it would ask me for my credit card information, but so far it hasn't happened, although I've only been using FlyCast for two days. When most songs play, the album cover for the song is displayed on the BlackBerry screen, clicking on it with the trackball takes you to the Amazon site and gives you the opportunity to buy the CD. I assume that is how FlyCast will make its money, by being an Amazon affiliate.

Update: I was able to try FlyCast out over 3G recently and it still works great.

Like I mentioned recently, I just upgraded my old BlackBerry to a BlackBerry bold.

One very nice application I had in my old BlackBerry is Google Sync, it allows seamless synchronization between the BlackBerry calendar and Google calendar.

Of course, one of the first things I did when I got my new BlackBerry was to install Google Sync. Well, yesterday I added a new appointment to Google calendar, and when I check the appointment on my BlackBerry Bold I noticed that the time for the appointment is wrong, it is set to 5 hours later than the correct time.

Turns out that the BlackBerry Bold comes preset to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), but of course I am not in that timezone, instead I am on Eastern Standard Time (EST). When synchronizing between Google Calendar and the BlackBerry bold, the timezone conversion was done automatically.

Once I found out what the issue was the solution was trivial, set up the timezone in the BlackBerry bold to EST by going to Settings | Options | Date/Time and setting the correct time zone.