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President Obama at a Shanghai town hall with students, as provided by the White House PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good afternoon. It is a great honor for me to be here in Shanghai, and to have this opportunity to speak with all of you. I'd like to thank Fudan University's President Yang for his hospitality and his gracious welcome. I'd also like to thank our outstanding Ambassador, Jon Huntsman, who exemplifies the deep ties and respect between our nations. I don't know what he said, but I hope it was good. (Laughter.) What I'd like to do is to make some opening...

Hi, sorry for the vanity. I am very Windows XP literate but not Mac literate and am posting this for a family member. She has a BlackBerry and uses a Mac. She wants to transfer songs directly from compact discs to her Blackberry (if possible), but I'm thinking she has to first extract the songs from the CDs to iTunes and from there (iTunes) transfer the songs to her BlackBerry. Couldn't she also just go to the iTunes store on her Blackberry and download the music directly to her BlackBerry that way? The only downside is that she would be...

"Last week, Etisalat told its 100,000 BlackBerry subscribers that a "performance enhancement patch" would be sent to them to "provide the best BlackBerry service and ultimate experience". But users who downloaded the software complained of dramatically reduced battery life and slower than usual performance of their devices. Nigel Gourlay, a Doha-based Sun-certified Java programmer who has been developing open source software for 15 years, analysed the patch after it was posted on BlackBerry's community support forum and he said that once installed, it potentially gives Etisalat the power to view all emails and text messages sent from the BlackBerry." "Gourlay...

Cost of a bowl of soup at homeless shelter: $0 Having Michelle Obama serve you soup $0.00 Snapping a picture of a homeless person who is receiving a government funded meal while taking a picture of the First Lady using his $400 Blackberry cell phone $$$$ Priceless

I was recently given a Blackberry Pearl by a friend who updated to a new Storm. I already have a Palm Centro I upgraded to a couple months ago, but he knew my propensity to mess with "stuff" and I gladly accepted. Perhaps my experience over the past couple days can be helpful to other FReepers. I've used Palm devices for some years. I've always synced the devices with Microsoft Outlook (2000). No problem. Before ever considering activating the Pearl (no, I don't really need another phone line) I wanted to see how well it interacts with Outlook, and its...

My contract will be up soon for my current phone. I have decided between 2 models - the Blackberry Storm or the iphone. I know the Storm had some initial problems, but from what I have read the lastest software release corrected them. I also like the iphone, but I would have to switch carriers for it. Does anyone currently own the Storm, and if so do they like it? How reliable is the iphone? From what I have read, the Storm screen has better resolution.

Majority Leader Malcolm Smith's reign was on brink, but spokesman said nothing happens in Senate till Smith says so. ALBANY - Blame it on the BlackBerry. Upstate billionaire Thomas Golisano said he began plotting to overthrow Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith after the Democrat spent a whole meeting in late April reading e-mails. "Of course I was upset, I thought that was very rude," he said of the meeting in Smith's office. "When I travel 250 miles to make a case on how to save the state a lot of money ... and the guy comes into his office and...

In his landmark book, Future Shock, Alvin Toffler postulated that it was not the nature of change that would cause the downfall of modern civilization, but the speed of change. Poor Alvin. How could he have envisioned the world we inhabit today? On the surface, the pace of modern life is accelerating exponentially. There's never enough time. We're always rushing. A short delay in the daily sprint causes road rage, high blood pressure and hemorrhoids. Poor, poor us. So it was with a combination of curiosity and skepticism that I picked up "In Praise of Slowness" by Carl Honoré. The...

Everyone knows that Obama refused to relinquish his Blackberry, preferring to use it as a means of communication over more traditional measures used by past Presidents. In and of itself, that sounds harmless... but what about ALL of a President's written communications being archived. Are they doing that with this device?

Palm Inc (PALM.O) warned of weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue due to lower demand for its older phones, a weak economy and late U.S. shipments of its Treo Pro, sending shares down 11 percent in extended trade. The company forecast continued margin pressure from legacy products in the current quarter even as it prepares to launch the new Pre phone, throwing cold water over investor optimism that the touch-screen smartphone could quickly revive Palm. Palm also said it was looking at ways to bolster its capital position, while it aims to strike back at rivals like Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone and Research...

The co-CEOs and two other executives at BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with tampering with stock options to enrich themselves and other workers. The charges, filed Tuesday by the SEC in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and announced with a simultaneous settlement of the case, allege that the executives pulled down millions of dollars in compensation that wasn't properly disclosed to investors. The practice, known as "backdating," has been investigated at hundreds of companies. It involves tweaking the paperwork so option awards look like they were issued...

There's a new "holy grail" for hackers — President Obama's super-secure BlackBerry. Despite warnings from his advisers, the president insisted on keeping his beloved PDA, which now has specially designed superencrypting security software. But that just makes cracking into it more challenging — and, yes, it can be done, says the world's most famous hacker. "It's a long shot, but it's possible," Kevin Mitnick told FOXNews.com. "You'd probably need to be pretty sophisticated, but there's people out there who are."

Obama's BlackBerry brings personal safety risks by Chris Soghoian When the mainstream media first announced Barack Obama's "victory" in keeping his BlackBerry, the focus was on the security of the device, and keeping the U.S. president's e-mail communications private from spies and hackers. The news coverage and analysis by armchair security experts thus far has failed to focus on the real threat: attacks against President Obama's location privacy, and the potential physical security risks that come with someone knowing the president's real-time physical location. Serial numbers Before we dive in, let's take a moment to note that each mobile phone...

"If I said anything contrary to Duke, I might not be able to find my Blackberry," he said.

Meet Obama's bodyman: The White House 'Chief of Stuff' who caters to the President's every whim ...a tiny cubicle just outside...the Oval Office sat Reggie Love, a 6ft 5in, 18-stone, shaven-headed, muscle-packed... ...the man is fast, athletic and tough... he is not one of the new President’s official bodyguards. Heavy duty: Reggie Love, President Obama's bodyman, lugs bags to a car and, right, on the campaign trail ...Reggie, a charismatic and immaculately dressed 26-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, spends more time with Mr Obama than anyone else - even the First Lady...he is the President’s ‘bodyman’.... The personal protection role...

WASHINGTON — There is one addiction President Obama will not have to kick: his BlackBerry. For more than two months, Mr. Obama has been waging a vigorous battle with his handlers to keep his BlackBerry, which like millions of other Americans he has relied upon for years to stay connected with friends and advisers. (And, of course, to get Chicago White Sox scores.) He won the fight, aides disclosed Thursday, but the privilege of becoming the nation’s first e-mailing president comes with a specific set of rules. “The president has a BlackBerry through a compromise that allows him to stay...

Song parody of Eric Carmen's "All By Myself". The mainstream media is so infatuated with Barack Obama that they are running "news" features on his Blackberry cell phone! What's next, a live report on what salad dressing he chose with lunch?

Papa John’s Pizza is celebrating its 25th anniversary, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid couldn’t care less. During an interview with The Hill last week, Reid (D-Nev.) stopped mid-sentence to check his BlackBerry for what could have been a very important e-mail. A message from Rahm Emanuel? A breaking development on the Senate floor? Not quite. “Help Us Celebrate Our 25th Anniversary With a $0.25 Pizza!” read the e-mail from Papa John’s. Reid snapped, “Purchase a pizza for a quarter? I don’t like pizza, and I especially don’t like Papa John’s Pizza!” Reid then tried to get back to the...

Chalk up one possible win for Obama: He might be able to keep his BlackBerry after all. He's been resisting the advice of lawyers and others to give up the e-mail device upon taking office because he views it as his connection to the outside world. “I think we're going to be able to beat this back,” Obama said in a CNN interview of the pressure on him to give it up. “I think we're going to be able to hang onto one of these. Now, my working assumption, and this is not new, is that everything I write on...

n W.H., Obama staff will say cu l8r 2 im By: Ben Smith January 17, 2009 08:24 PM EST Barack Obama may get to keep his Blackberry, but David Axelrod is losing his IM. The lawyers broke the bad news to Obama aides at a briefing Friday morning convened by incoming Deputy White House Counsel Cassandra Butts: Not only are they leaving the modern world to enter a White House where some of the clunky desktop computers still run Windows 2000 but—worst of all—they'll be forced to surrender form of communication staffers have relied on for the last two years...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama's cherished Blackberry slipped through his fingers Friday — but it was only a butterfingers moment. Obama, who has been reluctant to relinquish the device when he becomes president, dropped his Blackberry and its hard plastic case onto an airport tarmac as he emerged from his fortified vehicle. A Secret Service agent hustled to pick it up.

Despite legal and security hurdles, president-elect Barack Obama says he has a plan to retain his beloved Blackberry once he moves into the White House next week. Interviewed by CNN Friday, Obama said the smartphone was among the tools that he would use to stay in touch with real Americans and avoid becoming trapped inside the presidential "bubble." "I think we're going to be able to hang on to one of these. My working assumption, and this is not new, is that anything I write on an email could end up being on CNN," he said. "So I make sure...

Some operatives at Fox 5 in Washington, D.C. booked over to the McCain-Palin campaign headquarters' yard sale yesterday, and they saw some ultra cheap Blackberrys -- just $20 a pop, probably an inventor's discount -- so they picked up a few, undoubtedly thinking they'd make nice holiday gifts. They were kind of surprised to find that, after giving the 'Berrys some juice, one of them had 50 contacts for "campaign leaders, politicians, lobbyists and journalists" as well as hundreds of emails.

ARLINGTON, Va. - Private information at bargain prices. It was a high-tech flub at the McCain-Palin campaign headquarters in Arlington when a MyFoxDC investigative reporter bought a Blackberry device containing confidential campaign information.

Indian officials suspect the Islamic terrorists in Mumbai may have British links after examining BlackBerry phones they used to monitor news reports. Key figures in the terrorist gang were equipped with the devices that meant they were able to monitor British news, even when the authorities turned off power. A senior officer in the country's elite Black Cat commando unit told the Telegraph, the gunmen were able to trawl the internet for information once they lost cable television feeds to the two luxury hotels and office block. The men looked beyond the instant updates of the Indian media to find...

It's become a cause for some: to let Barack Obama keep his BlackBerry when he takes office. What stands in the way? The primary concern has been the Presidential Records Act, which requires all presidential documents to be put in the official record. Now, realistically, no matter what people say, it's not so much about national security as it is as making sure that if a "Watergate" happens, We The People have plenty of evidence to back it up. Ans as that's the issue, what's the problem. We can track his cell phone calls. We can track his emails. So...

WASHINGTON - Before he ran for president Barack Obama quit smoking. Now that he's won the job, he may have to break another addiction: Checking his BlackBerry for e-mail. The president's e-mail can be subpoenaed by Congress and courts and may be subject to public records laws, so if a president doesn't want his e-mail public, he shouldn't e-mail, experts said. And there may be security issues about carrying around trackable cell phones

Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, Ariz., has acknowledged his technological shortcomings, but some in the media continue to portray him as a techno-phobe with no meaningful contributions to that sector of the economy. The September 16 "NBC Nightly News" examined McCain's rhetoric on the campaign trail in the wake of a serious banking crisis. Correspondent Kelly O'Donnell reported one campaign advisor cited McCain's legislative effort opening the door to technological advancements as evidence of his ability to steer Americans through the turbulent time. "And Brian, when an adviser today was stressing John McCain's economic credentials, he told reporters that...

McCain senior domestic policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said Tuesday the BlackBerry mobile e-mail device was a "miracle that John McCain helped create."...

A Mexican press attache walked off with "six or seven" Blackberries belonging to US officials at a summit between the presidents of Canada, Mexico, and some guy named Bush in New Orleans last week. Press officer Rafael Quintero Curiel was captured on video tape picking up the smart phones, which were deliberately left outside a meeting room by officials. He was promptly canned. Apparently, the theft went undetected until White House staffers noticed an unusually large number of visits to Tila Tequila's MySpace page on their data account. (Note to my more literal minded readers: that was a joke.)...

I am converting from blackberry pearl, outlook 2007 to iphone and entourage 2008 on macBook Pro. Anyone have any idea what to do and how to sync notes from outlook? I still can not believe that you can not just simpluy export from outlook, and import in entourage. Speaking of stupidity in software design.

NEW YORK (AP) -- An outage has disconnected BlackBerry smart phones across North America. AT&T Inc. says the disruption Monday is affecting all wireless carriers. AT&T first learned about the problem at about 3:30 p.m. EST. There's no word on the cause or when the problem might be fixed. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion did not immediately return a phone call.

Palm Inc. swung to a loss in the fiscal second quarter, failing to meet Wall Street expectations amid withering competition from consumer electronics rivals. The maker of the Treo smart-phone said Tuesday it lost $9.63 million, or 9 cents per share, on revenue of $349.63 million in the three months ended Nov. 30. In the year-ago period, Palm earned $12.77 million, or 12 cents per share, on revenue of $392.91 million. Excluding one-time items such as stock-based compensation expenses and nearly $1 million in restructuring charges, the Sunnyvale-based company said it would have lost $7.84 million, or 7 cents per...

I am changing my email address and want to change it on the blackberry however the manual does not cover very well deleting or renaming email to the unit.

The Staff here at Artorius categorically deny any allegations of involvement, prior knowledge or planning, in the successful insertion op at Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters. "We have absolutely no knowledge of how all the campaign's BlackBerrys were compromised," claimed a Senior Artorius Contributing Editor, who coincidently was in the area at the time. The amount of data, voicemails and personal BlackBerry communications, is not known at this time, but what is known is that they were compromised for at least four hours. Claimed a tight lipped Clinton staffer, "we are trying to assess the damage now."

The Curve, a new model of the BlackBerry device. NEW YORK - BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. is introducing its third new model in less than a year, a mid-sized device geared toward consumers who might prefer a full keyboard for typing text rather than the abridged one on the popular Pearl. The Curve, named for its smooth edges, will be offered first by AT&T Inc., though no launch date or pricing was disclosed in a news release Thursday. The device has a front trackball below the screen to navigate its menus, a feature that RIM introduced last year...

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a hater. This world is full of things I HATE! I hate SUVs. I hate cell phones. I hate Blackberrys! Not the sweet and juicy kind that grow on vines. No, I'm referring to the ubiquitous annoying kind that are attached to the hands of self-important biz nerds. These are people SO critical to the success of their respective enterprises they can't be out of communication range for even one second. Curiously, this phenomenon is most evident among the job descriptions whose decisions are the least vital and the most subjective. Are you listening all...

When Richard Fuld, chief executive of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., couldn't control his addiction, he took drastic measures. In October, he had the game BrickBreaker taken off his BlackBerry. "I was playing so much," says Mr. Fuld, who had used it to relax on the plane or in the car. He missed it so much he had it reinstalled, but it's no longer on the main menu. That removes the temptation, he says, "for the most part." In this era of startlingly realistic video games, BrickBreaker is straight out of the Stone Age. Yet it has developed a cult following,...

I need some help here. I know we have some Blackberry lovers out there and I need some information from you. Do you know whether Blackberry can stream audio the way the PocketPC can. With my PPC-6700 Sprint phone I can stream all of the talk radio I want. But my relative has a Blackberry and would like to do the same. Any suggestions?

Perhaps it’s a symptom of a strong economy and a high standard of living, but often the media find negative angles to technology that makes our lives, and our work, easier. That’s the spin ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” recently gave about the BlackBerry, the portable email devices made by Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM). The segment likened the little devices to “alcohol, drugs and gambling” in their power to “disconnect” people from other people. But missing from correspondent Dan Harris’s August 23 report: more than three-fourths of the device’s users say the e-mail device has improved the way...

I currently use a cell phone and a Palm PDA, but I'm considering integrating the two and taking the plunge with a combo "Smart Phone" cell phone/pda device. However, I fear becoming addicted to constantly checking email, not ever really getting away from work, etc. I already check work email occasionally when I'm off work & at home, but it does take some effort to access our system, so it's easy to keep under control where I'm not constantly thinking about work. I'd like to hear from other FReepers who took the plunge. Are you "addicted" to your Smartphone? Is...

I am looking for a Blackberry device, but want to be sure what I'm getting in terms of keyboard. I see that some Blackberry devices have a "regular" QWERTY keyboard. On the other hand, others have an abbreviated keyboard, that is they have two (or more?) letters per key (like a telephone keypad). It seems that these latter devices are associated with "suretype" technology. Can I assume, therefore, that "suretype" and "abbreviated kayboard" are synonymous? That is, when I see the term "suretype" it means the device has the abbreviated keyboard? Thanks.

Harper Government 'concerned' about Chinese espionage CTV.ca News Staff The federal government is "concerned" that Chinese spies are stealing Canada's industrial and high-technology secrets, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay told CTV. "We're very concerned about economic espionage," MacKay said in an interview with CTV's Question Period, to be broadcast Sunday on CTV at 12 p.m. ET. While in opposition, the Conservatives challenged the Liberal-led government to act on reports of Chinese espionage. While acting as the Conservative foreign affairs critic, Stockwell Day called on former prime minister Paul Martin to address the issue during a visit to Beijing in January...

If Orange launched a push email service called OrangeBerry in the UK, BlackBerry's maker could shut it down. But China Unicom is launching RedBerry this month, and there may be little Research In Motion (RIM) can do. "China Unicom's RedBerry brand not only incorporates people's familiarity with the BlackBerry brand name, but it also fully embodies the symbolic meanings of China Unicom's new red logo," the company said. It acknowledged that RIM's BlackBerry is the most successful application of push email technology. Peter Bullock, a partner with the Hong Kong office of Pinsent Masons and a specialist in intellectual property...

The D.C. Department of Mental Health in fiscal 2005 spent more than $30,000 on hand-held BlackBerry technology, prompting criticism from a D.C. Council member who says the money could have been put to better use. "I understand everybody likes these gadgets," said D.C. Council member David A. Catania, at-large independent and chairman of the council's Committee on Health, which oversees the mental health department. "I wouldn't buy myself a BlackBerry," he said of the wireless e-mail devices. Speaking at a council oversight hearing of the department last week, Mr. Catania told mental health officials he had concerns about several other...

Is Blackberry Settlement Coming To Computers Too? The $612 million settlement last week will seem small compared to more than 150 computer/semiconductor manufacturers and consumer electronics companies worldwide now being sued or put on notice for industry wide patent infringement that is validated by recent licensing or court settlements by Intel, AMD, HP, Casio and last week Fujitsu. Publicly traded Patriot Scientific Corporation co-owns and markets core microprocessor architecture technology patents which affects every computer manufactured since 1994 and semiconductors which run faster than 120 MHz. These microprocessors put into everything from office copy machines and automobiles to DVD players...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry e-mail device, Friday announced it has settled its long-running patent dispute with a small Virginia-based firm, averting a possible court-ordered shutdown of the BlackBerry system. RIM has paid NTP $612.5 million in a "full and final settlement of all claims," the companies said. The settlement ends a period of anxiety for BlackBerry users. At a hearing last week, NTP had asked a federal court in Richmond, Va., for an injunction blocking the continued use of key technologies underpinning BlackBerry's wireless e-mail service. RIM, which is based in...

A federal court hearing scheduled for Friday that could lead to the shutdown of BlackBerry devices throughout the United States is forcing longtime BlackBerry users to think about life without their mobile gadgets. On Capitol Hill, where "CrackBerry" addiction is rampant, some thumb-typists are even expressing their anxiety in poetry. "'Freedom!' will the joyful say, Released from slavery today! Yet others'll suffer horrid angst if their little screens go blank," Larry Neal, deputy staff director for communications at the U.S. House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote in an 18-line poem. Tongue-in-cheek poetry aside, to millions of BlackBerry users,...

Richmond, Va. -- The U.S. patent office on Wednesday issued its first of several anticipated final rejections of patents held by NTP Inc. related to Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry device, two days before a judge will hear arguments on an injunction on the wireless e-mail service. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is expected to issue final rejections of four other patents at the heart of the court case, but it's unclear when those actions could come. Another uncertainty is whether the agency's act will sway U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer, who has made it clear he is...

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. has won backing from major cellular networks for a new generation of phones designed to transform mobile e-mail from executive accessory to standard issue for the corporate rank-and-file. The partnerships, with operators including Vodafone and Cingular, to be announced Monday at a mobile industry gathering in Spain, could spell more trouble for the embattled Blackberry and other niche e-mail technologies, analysts say. Unlike the Blackberry and its peers, phones running Microsoft's latest Windows Mobile operating system can receive e-mails "pushed" directly from servers that handle a company's messaging -- without the need for a...