Here is another chance for you to play Brick Breaker. Even if it’s in your dreams only. RIM has announced some more down time for maintenance tonight or tomorrow, depending on how you view it. The official date is Saturday, May 3rd, from 2:00 am to 6:00 am, and it is supposed to affect “the Americas”. If you live in any of the Americas and intend to be awake during that period, don’t count too much on your Blackberry data service. Don’t panic either. Everything should be OK in the morning. We surely hope so.

I must be a moron since I have never heard of Bank of America’s mobile site until now even though it has been around since last year. Well I decided to rectify my mistake by mentioning it to all of you who may happen to be Bank of America customers.

The website is really cool and even has a BlackBerry shortcut application that you can install on your homescreen. Why did nobody tell me about this!

If you head over to www.BofA.mobi from your BlackBerry browser you will be taken to a page that says:

Please download the ‘Mobile Banking Shortcut for BlackBerry’ by visiting http://mobilebanking.bankofamerica.com/bb. This shortcut will access the correct browser and allow you to securely access mobile banking.

I also found out that if you don’t want to download the shortcut you can just access the website by going to: https://www.bankofamerica.com/mobile/ Please do me a favor and make sure the HTTPS is in the beginning of the URL before you type in your password.

Sadly none of my other banks offer such a service (at least that I know of). Please correct me if I am wrong. Chase allows you to text message them to get your account info but that is a bore. I know Wachovia has some sort of mobile banking option but I don’t use them.

One of our readers just sent in this application that looks cool but for the life of me I cannot read Spanish. (Google translate is not helping much) It seems to be a competitor with SHAPE’s Mobiscope application that allows you to monitor your surveillance cameras from your BlackBerry. Truthfully I cannot imagine this working so well over an EDGE connection but what the hell its good to have options.

If possible could somebody read the application description in Spanish and let me know if the application is free?

If you into this private eye shtick check out the two options for Mobile Surveillance below:

NetCamera Mobile – Works on OS 4.1 and 4.2.1 devices from what it says. It can control AXIS, SONY, PANASONIC, SPARKLAN, and TRENDNET cameras.

Mobiscope – The English option from SHAPE. I would recommend checking it out since it has an English description

I just discovered this great application that I think the BlackBerry truly needed. It is not really made for the BlackBerry but it works like a charm on my BlackBerry 8310. I am a (very) amateur musician when I have a few minutes to spare and this application ChordGenie has been a real help. It auto calculates over 1,000 chords for quite a few instruments. You can pick it up now for the current exchange rate of $10.28 (5 euros as of today). A trial is also available by heading over to wap.chordgenie.com from your BlackBerry.

Just look at the features at this link. Too many to copy and paste. You can even change the application to fit the banjo, ukulele, and mandolin. My favorite feature is the fact that it is fast and requires no internet connectivity.

I have posted some screenshots below for you to get an idea of the application:

Read the rest of this article

One of our readers who wishes to remain nameless just let me know about this nifty new service called Xpenser. What this service does it allow you easily send your expenses to this service. It allows you to do this through multiple methods.

You can email, SMS, IM, or even call in your expenses from your BlackBerry. The example they give is that you send an email of “lunch 78.50 with BigClient” to their services and it is automatically recorded on your BlackBerry. I just wish they had a client that was made for the BlackBerry.

BEST OF ALL you can even export your expenses to Quicken!

My favorite was the list of all the random things you can track other than expenses:

• Tracking diet and calories. Create a report called “diet” and record what you eat. Eg. “burger 325 island’s”, where 325 is the number of calories.
• Tracking mileage. This will be supported soon, but people are already doing it manually.
• Tracking exercise and fitness. People have been keeping track of their exercise regiment. Eg. “running 6 miles”, “weights 45 minutes”.
• Tracking time. Eg. “contract review 0.75 client X”.
• Tracking tasks and bugs. This is an unusual one, but a few of you are doing some sort of project management… We don’t quite get this one, but feel free to enlighten us.
• General notes. Some people are using Xpenser to record general notes and reminders on the run.

If tracking expenses is your thing you can check out the service for free by heading to www.xpenser.com from your desktop.

I know this application is nothing new but we have never mentioned it on BerryReview so here it goes. The application idea is very simple.

From the description on the website:

• Enter meal amount, tax percent, tip percent, how many people to split the bill with, and an optional extra amount to add on the bill (such as liquor tax).
• Shows the breakdown of tax and tip amounts, total bill, and how much each person owes.
• Option allows you to save the tax and tip percent to use next time.

Thats it. The application is donation ware so if you like the application the developer asks that you send a few bucks his way using the PayPal link on the product description page.

The application is available for OTA install only and is a generic Java application that just happens to work on the BlackBerry. Don’t expect miracles but it gets the job done.

Just point your BlackBerry browser to www.gpeters.com/tipgo/GeoTip.jad to download

Heading to Orlando anytime soon? Maybe a visit to the Magic Kingdom or EPCOT? For those of us with young kids, a yearly trip to Disney World is almost a given. OK, even for those of you who don’t have kids, if you’re a big Mickey fan…chances are you’ll be making the trip at some point. Here’s another way your Blackberry can be put to good use - PocketDisney.com

“The wireless version of pocketDisney.com is designed for viewing Disney World park information using the browser on your cell phone. The site contains detailed information on park attractions, dining options, menus, photos, resort options and pricing, transportation within Disney World and much more… All of this accessible via wireless phone.”

So next time you make a trip to, say, Animal Kingdom…you’ll be way ahead of everyone even before you get there. For more info online, visit:
http://pocketdisney.com/disney/web/wireless.asp

I just read this article on Yahoo Tech and had to share. This article by Robin Raskin made me immediately want to try some of these tips out. The first two sound like great ideas.

Let me give you a taste:

• If your phone is wet – Remove the battery and put it in a bowl of un-cooked white rice which will soak up the water. (From WikiHow)
• BlackBerry alarm not loud enough? Break off the stem of a cheap wine glass and put the berry in there before you go to sleep. The glass with make the alarm louder  (From Lifehacker along with the image above)

While I admit many of these ideas are not new these first two were ones I had never heard before. Check out the article on Yahoo Tech.