Web Worker Daily

Tungle, the meeting coordination web service we covered in February, has made it easier to coordinate meetings with your more mobile colleagues. The newly announced BlackBerry optimized mobile website features the Tungle web service, specially formatted for the BlackBerry’s screen.  After the meeting has been scheduled and finalized, the BlackBerry userwill recieve a specialized invite for use on their BlackBerry Calendar.

The BlackBerry optimized website is joined by an Outlook plug-in in an effort by Tungle to make usage as easy as possible.  Users can now schedule meetings with Tungle either through Tungle’s website in a conventional browser, use the Outlook plug-in, or using the BlackBerry site.

Reckon the Blackberry is only good for email? Maybe when it’s fresh out of the box. But if you want to bump it up a few notches, here are seven powerful applications that can transform the way you use and interact with your BlackBerry.

Jott for BlackBerry

In a previous article, I covered tips for getting more from BlackBerry email. One application I didn’t mention is Jott for BlackBerry, which is an extension of its main service that lets you reply to messages using your voice. Jott transcribes your verbal message to text before sending it on to the recipient and includes a link in the email to hear the voice recording in case of transcription errors. The Jott voice recognition engine is amazing - even my laid-back Aussie drawl, which is usually a challenge for anyone out of the country to understand, let alone a machine, was transcribed with 100% accuracy.

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BlackBerry is the smartphones du jour for web workers, and it’s not hard to see why. A straightforward interface, Fort Knox-like security and superb email handling make it the platform of choice for mobile email, but there’s a lot you can do to improve on the BlackBerry’s out-of-box functionality for email.

Note: this article is written for BIS users running BlackBerrys with OS 4.2.

How to Turn Email Off
One thing that’s irritated me about BlackBerrys from day one is the inability to turn off email delivery. No wonder there are so many ‘CrackBerry’ addicts out there!

But there are a few workarounds. To stop receiving email, turn off the data connection by going to Manage Connections > Mobile Network Options and switching Data Services off. Any email sent to your BlackBerry while this is turned off will be queued up and downloaded as soon as you turn data back on.

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Those of us who rely on hosted (the current buzz word is “in the cloud“) data and software solutions, connectivity is a must.  When we’re a way from a wi-fi hotspot or otherwise unable to get online, these hosted services have little to no value.

Now take this line of thinking one step further to the mobile platform.  The mobile computing revolution is just starting to take off and for it to be valuable, mobile access to data is a must-have.  This is why it’s welcome news for web workers that Google Gears is now available for some mobile handsets.

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According to Webcredible, a usability and accessibility consultancy, the most requested mobile service respondents wanted on their data-enabled mobile phones was email.

This is really of no surprise that 33% of respondents stated email was their most needed mobile utility. There are many reasons to have a data enabled mobile phone such as: keeping up to date with your schedule, supporting your social life, and being able to check traffic when driving to a meeting; but when it comes to getting business done, email is still where the rubber meets the road.

This also explains one possible reason that since the iPhone was released, it’s been the number 2 smartphone, behind Research in Motion’s BlackBerry. Road warriors use technology to enable us work from anywhere, and BlackBerry is simply made for email.

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