...and now for more from your capitalist shill:

I'll be brief:

I'm selling, via eBay, two Blackberry Curve 8320 phones. They're fully unlocked, in near-mint condition, are fully tested, come with all the original accessories (and one of them has an extra battery and silicon case), and come with a pitch man... me!

• Auction with original accessories
  
• Auction with extra battery, silicon case

While eBay auctions aren't new, the "pitch man" aspect seems to be.

Frank suggested I do a bit of video. Half a year ago I had a Sidekick 2 with a broken screen, but I wanted to eBay it for parts so we filmed a couple minute video showing it working, making phone calls, but unable to display anything on the screen.

That never went anywhere.

However, I wanted to film myself showing whatever product I was selling working. Frank suggested I take it the next step and do something a little more comprehensive. So we started with these eBay auctions, and we'll move on to something more involved later, but here's the online video (also embedded in HD in those auctions... check 'em out!):

Tethering Blackberries on Mac via Bluetooth: AT&T

In the same vein as tethering to a Windows XP system, here are brief instructions for doing it on a Mac OS X 10.5 system!
(Thanks to amkls704 at howardforums.com and Eugene Dong for instructions)

Extract this file (blackberry-3g-cid1.zip) to:

/Macintosh HD/Library/Modem Scripts

(Secondary Download Source, requires registration

You have your Blackberry and Mac paired, we actually need to remove that pairing and begin from scratch. Remove the phone from your paired devices list on your Mac, and on your Blackberry, remove your laptop as a paired device.

Re-pair your Blackberry and laptop. (Run the “Setup Bluetooth Device” wizard)

Choose:

- Mobile Phone
- Blackberry 9000
- Hit Continue Again
- Check the box next to “Access the internet with your phone’s data connection”
- For the Phone Vendor: Choose Other and for the Phone Model: Choose Blackberry 3G CID1 (the script you put into the modem scripts folder)
- Launch Network Preferences, and click "Bluetooth" in the list.
- Select "Add Configuration" from the Configuration drop list. Name the configuration AT&T via Blackberry Bold (or something like that)

o Username: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
o Password: CINGULAR1
o Telephone Number: wap.cingular

- Check "Show modem status in menu bar"

That should do it! Click on “Connect Bluetooth” on the modem icon on the Mac, a connection timer should come up and let your mac in on the 3G goodness!

Tethering Blackberries via Bluetooth: AT&T

I figured I should start writing down some of the more obscure information I come across every day. I'm an aggregation machine that just happens to lose data every so often, so this is my backup strategy.I have a couple co-workers with the new Blackberry Bold (9000). Yes it works well, it's light, thin, flashy, etc... but what really makes this killer is that it supports 3G data, and a concurrent voice call. Verizon and Sprint have Blackberries that support 3G data, but not at the same time as a voice call. T-Mobile should "eventually", but they're still developing their 3G network. (I stick with them for the excellent customer service)

All instructions here are listed for Windows XP, but if you're using Vista, they still work... the places you have to look are just slightly different.

There are quite a few forum posts on how to tether Blackberries via bluetooth but none that get it right, and for the ones that get it right, none that refer directly to the Blackberry bold. So, let me state a couple items:

When attempting to tether the Blackberry Bold via bluetooth, do not:

• Use the AT&T Communication Manager software
• Add the tethering plan to your AT&T account (yet)
• Expect to be able to sync your Blackberry to your laptop via Bluetooth reliably
  

Please do:

• Find and install the latest Blackberry Desktop Manager software (v4.7 as of this post).
• Pair your phone with your computer via bluetooth after installing the desktop manager software
• Expect to sync your Blackberry via USB (or use an enterprise server).

After all that (install Blackberry Desktop Manager, pair phone and laptop via bluetooth), here's what to do:

You should have a new modem in your modem list called "Standard Modem over Bluetooth" or "Standard Bluetooth Modem". You also may have one that just says "Standard Modem" but when your phone is paired it will list the com port your phone is on for the com port of the standard modem. Identify this device.

Go into the device properties of that modem (Phone and Modem Options / Modems Tab) and click on the "Advanced" tab. Under extra initialization commands, enter this:

AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","wap.cingular"

Click OK a few times to save / close everything, then go to your Network Connections list and run the New Network Connection wizard.

Set it up as a dial-up connectoin, and when it asks for an ISP name tell it whatever you want, but when it asks for a phone number give it the following:

*99#

Save the new connection, create a shortcut on your desktop, and that's it, you should be able to dial-up!

Now if you want to do the "right thing" (tm), you'll call AT&T and have them add the tethering plan to your account. You can then use "isp.cingular" instead of "wap.cingular" which might be a little faster... or at least better if you ever need to call AT&T for help.

Otherwise that's it!

GCalSync - Synchronize Blackberry with Google Calendar

I have a Blackberry Curve 8320 from T-Mobile. I love the device. So much so that I put it through a full washer / dryer cycle just to make it look and smell great! Upon finding out the device no longer functioned, I coughed up the $110 insurance fee and received another. (It looks great, does not smell great... )

But right now I'm not using it with over the air sync of my calendar / address book information since I don't have a working Exchange server at the moment. So I decided to try to (temporarily) move away from the Microsoft Outlook / Microsoft Exchange combination.

The last time I tried this I attempted to use Ximian Evolution (now just Evolution), then I looked into Chandler, and... I came up empty. (Note, the Evolution logo has changed... I just like this one more)

The truth is, I need e-mail and calendaring all the time, everywhere I go, on a laptop, on my desktop, on my phone, and I need them to all share data seamlessly.

I think I may have found what I'm looking for.

Mail: Mozilla Thunderbird

Calendar: Mozilla Lightning (or Sunbird if you want a separate application)

Blackberry Sync: GCalSync

To make it work on the Blackberry side of things you need to be aware of two potential issues which I was not aware of. I received an "invalid tunnel name" error. I fixed it by resolving two issues:

Disabling the "Proxy" setting under TLS on the Blackberry.

Choose Options -> Security Options -> TLS -> TLS Default

Choose Handheld (not "Proxy")

Setting the APN name

Choose Options -> Advanced Options - TCP

Type in your Wireless Provider's APN address, username, and password.

(For T-Mobile, it's wap.voicestream.com with no username or password)

This is the closest I've come to breaking up the Outlook / Exchange combination.

It still isn't seamless, sync between the Blackberry and Google Calendar isn't automatic, you have to initiate it at the GCalSync app on the Blackberry.

Additionally, it won't update already uploaded events.

Nevertheless this is the closest I've come in a while, so I'm going to work with this and see what I end up doing.