The new Google Sync application is a small download, currently only available for Blackberry. I downloaded the app and gave it a go, but here are a few issues that I ran into, and the Google support groups don’t seem to have a clear answer for any of them.

1. Initially, none of the currently active appointments in my Blackberry calendar where synced up to my Google calendar
2. Only new entries, and furthermore, only new entries created with my Google email address on the Blackberry would ever sync. (this means anything created with a blackberry.net address never seems to sync)
3. If I invite an attendee via my Blackberry to the event, I end up with a duplicate Calendar entry, meaning I have to delete a duplicate (an specify not to inform attendees of the deletion), every single time I create a new calendar event.

With these issues in mind, its hard for me to recommend the Google Sync application in its current state.

If you have had similar results, or perhaps more promising results with this, we’d love to hear about it. For now, it’s back to using the calendar the way I have been, with no over the air syncing, at least until an update arrives that addresses the current issues.

Cell Phones: Drain your battery fully once a week (we have all heard this one). Keep your cell phone away from extreme temperatures. Most of the time if your cell phone starts acting weird a new battery should fix it, if you need to purchase a new battery, I would suggest a reputable dealer. If you happen to drop your phone in liquid of any sort, disassemble your phone as soon as possible and let it dry out for a couple of days, most of the time this works. There are other techniques for water damage, if you need to know, contact me & I will provide the information. If you have a cheap cell phone, I would just replace it, but if your phone is fairly new and costs a lot, seek a repair technician. If the technician quotes you a price of 50% of the phone’s value, you are probably better off buying a new phone.

Flat Screen TV: Ventilation plays a major part in a long lasting TV, make sure not to stuff it into a tight cubby-hole, with little or no air, (let it breathe). Keep your fingers off the screen, (LCD) Liquid Crystal Display, their is a thin layer of liquid under the screen. Plasma TV’s have a thin layer of gas beneath the screen that is charged by electricity, touching either screen could damage your TV set (both are quite expensive to repair). If your flat screen is more than five years old you are probably better off just buying a new one.

DVD and CD Players: Again ventilation, keep these players cool and dry. Never drop or jar the unit. If they begin to skip, first try cleaning the disk, if that does not solve the problem try a DVD or CD cleaning kit. If by now it still does not work you could try to have it professionally serviced, it would probably be less expensive in the long run just to buy a new one. Besides, DVD players are dirt cheap now-a-days, CD players are even less, and lets not forget that recently Blu-Ray and HD DVD players have come way down in price in the last few months

Readers are more than welcome to leave their own tips.

Google does not plan to make the phones themselves. Google also will not be branding the phones with their logo; instead they will be working with four different cell phone manufacturers that have agreed to deploy Google’s program into their phones. This announcement has ended the speculation pertaining to the Mountain View-based company’s cellular ambitions. These Google software packed phones won’t be on the market until around late 2008. The engineers have been busy working on this software for the past three years. This dates back to the Silicon Valley startup called Andriod Inc. that Google acquired in 2005. The mobile software still bears the Android name in acknowledgment of its heritage.

Andy Rubin, an Android co-founder who is now Google’s director of mobile platforms, promises that “This is going to bring the Internet into cell phones in a very cool way.”  Google’s software will be free, which means that they very well could undermine their rivals that charge cell phone makers to install their operating systems. With this being said, the price of smart phones could become less expensive, because the manufacturers won’t have to pay for the software. 

Google’s system will also be based on computer code that can be openly distributed among programmers. That, Google hopes, will encourage developers to create new applications and other software improvements that could spawn new uses for smart phones.  “This is a shot that is going to be heard around the world, but it’s just the first shot in what is going to be a very protracted battle in the next frontier of the mobile Web,” said Michael Gartenberg, a Jupiter Research vice president.

Here are the four cell phone manufacturers that have agreed to deploy Google’s program into their phones; Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., HTC and LG Electronics Inc. Currently Motorola and Samsung use Microsoft’s Windows Mobile in some of their phones. Here is the list of wireless carriers that has agreed to provide service for the Google-powered phone which include Sprint Nextel Corp. and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile in the United States. China Mobile, Telefonica in Spain and Telecom Italia are among the carriers that have signed on to provide service outside the United States. They are among a Google-led group of 34 companies that have formed the Open Handset Alliance. Other key players include major chip makers like Intel Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Texas Instruments Inc., Broadcom Corp. and Nvidia Corp.”This partnership will help unleash the potential of mobile technology for billions of users around the world,” said Eric Schmidt, Google Inc.’s chief executive. Some key details, like pricing and how many phones will be shipped next year, have yet to be worked out.

I currently have Verizon’s World Edition BlackBerry, and so far I love the phone, the only thing I dislike about it at all is the fact that Verizon itself cripples the features of the phone. In much the same way they do with their Windows Mobile ready phones (cutting out support for VZ apps, and even Windows Live Messenger), they do the same thing to BlackBerrys that are made available on their network.

So this leaves me with a couple of questions.

• Since VZ Navigator is offered with this phone, does this mean we’ll also have access to the GPS that is built in to the phone, or is it a Verizon only app access sort of a deal?
• I haven’t been able to confirm this, does it support stereo bluetooth?

A quick picture of the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 on Verizon

If you know the answers, please post a comment. Of course, should I decide to actually purchase the phone anyhow, I’ll be sure to answer these questions in the review.

They say that within the email they provide you with the offenders private IP address, location country, state, zip code, username, computer name, host name of ISP, and internal network IP address. If I were you, I would highly recommend contacting your local police dept. before trying to contact the actual person. This way you are sure you are not breaking any laws.

I have not used this service, so I am personally unaware if this service does actually work or not.

You can check out Gadget Theft for yourself here , http://www.gadgettrak.com

Yesterday however, the folks over at Google (Gmail in particular) announced that they are releasing IMAP for cell phones and other devices, and IMAP in general. Basically, what this means is that now you’ll be able to make changes to your emails in your BlackBerry or cell phone, on the web, and on your email client (such as Outlook). But the best part of the whole deal (aside from it being free) is that you’ll be able to see those changes reflected across all of the applications.

They say if you don’t see the IMAP feature in your Gmail setting at the moment, then look in a couple of days as they are rolling it out as quickly as possible. You can get more information on Gmail IMAP here (the Gmail developer blog).