BlackBerry Interview w/ Delbert Terry, Director of BPL

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Do BlackBerrys make good personal phones?

A BlackBerry is a line of smart phones developed by Research in Motion, (RIM). There are currently 4 cell phone carriers in the US that provide BlackBerry services; AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless. BlackBerrys are commonly used in the business world because of the many different communication services offered with the devices. The most popular service is email. All BlackBerry smart phones are able to send and receive emails. This allows constant communication between coworkers. Another popular communication app is the BlackBerry Messenger. This is an I.M. app that allows instant conversation with other BlackBerry users. Speaking of apps, BlackBerry has a lot of apps for download via the App World. Some of these apps include Facebook, Twitter and ESPN. Not all apps are free. BlackBerrys come pre-installed with a lot of helpful apps, such as a calendar, address book, email, web browser, and a calculator. Recently Skype and Bing have pushed out apps to BlackBerry users.

So how can a BlackBerry be beneficial as a “non-work phone?” As mentioned earlier, a BlackBerry is very handy when keeping in touch with family and friends. With the BlackBerry Messenger app, you can start an instant conversation with a push of the “track ball.” Personal email, such as Gmail, can be accessed on your BlackBerry via a Gmail app. This allows you to send and receive email from your personal Gmail account without logging into a computer. The Gmail app also synchronizes your Google Calendar with the calendar on your phone. Of course like all cell phones now days, BlackBerrys have a texting feature. The good thing about most BlackBerrys is they come with a full keyboard. This makes texting, emailing, and web browsing much easier. Another great feature that comes on all but one BlackBerry is the ease of navigation. Instead of pushing buttons to navigate through menus and the internet, the BlackBerry phones have a track ball; which is basically a computer mouse on your phone. The one BlackBerry, the Storm, is touch screen.

BlackBerrys are reliable phones. They have good battery life and are built tough. I have dropped mine more times than I can count and it still works. If I do happen to break it, loose it, or it becomes submerged in water, then the insurance plan available for these phone would send me a new one. Of course I send them $50, but I think that’s a fair trade off. But anyways, tomorrow I will interview Delbert Terry about his experiences with his BlackBerry. Until next, happy teching!

Twitter vs. the Others ...

Twitter is different compared to other social networking sites. In saying that, take a look at our comparison chart.

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Twitter Interview w/ Jaketha Farmer, IT Specialist at BPL

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What to take from this interview…

· Twitter is easier than other social networking sites and also does not require as much information as others.
· There are many cell phones apps for Twitter. Some companies charge for downloading and using their app so shop carefully.
· The Twitter Language is very important to know. There are e-book as well as library book about Twitter. Read those books to help familiarize you with Twitter.
· To protect yourself, use a different username and password for all of your social networking sites. A lot of people use the same email/password combination for all of their accounts. This is not safe and could make it easier for a hacker to get into your accounts.

Do you Tweet ...?

Twitter is quickly becoming one of the most popular social networks on the web. It has surpassed the public criticisms and has made its way into 3rd place (on my list) of top social networking sites behind Facebook and MySpace. Twitter currently has 100 million active users. Within those users are celebrities, athletes, businesses and of course libraries (@bossierlibrary). Twitter is available to those who are 13 or older and have an email account.

So what is Twitter? Twitter is a social network/microblogging site that allows you to post a 140 character message, also known as a tweet. In other words, it’s a website that allows you to send free text messages to your followers (friends). If you set your profile to private, then only your followers can view your tweets, but if you leave your profile public, then the Twitter world can view your tweets. Like most popular social networking sites, Twitter can be accessed from a variety of devices such as, your laptop, desktop, or cell phone. Most cell phones (especially smart phones) have an app that allows you to tweet from your phone.

So why should I consider Twitter? Twitter is worldwide. This means you can go anywhere in the world and tweet; of course an internet connection is needed. Twitter is customizable. You can change the skin (profile background) of your profile to a preloaded skin or one of your own. Profile information is short and to the point. When signing up for an account, the only information that is asked is your name, location, a short bio and possibly a website you want to promote. This allows you to search your friends faster. Another good thing about Twitter is it doesn’t carry as many viruses as other social sites. SPAM email not associated with Twitter, is usually sent to someone. This email invites you to join Twitter, but when you open the email, it opens a virus; this is common among popular websites. Other reasons you should look into Twitter is because most news sites, such as CNN, tweet. Those who have Twitter on their phone are able to tweet news the moment it happens. No more waiting on reporters or the newspaper. There are also a lot of businesses, such as GameStop, that tweet about weekly deals. Again, no more waiting on the Sunday paper to see what’s on sale. When you start tweeting look for some of your friends and favorite businesses; and of course you can follow us @bossierlibrary.

Join us tomorrow as I interview Jaketha Farmer, IT Specialist of BPL about her experience on Twitter. Until next time, happy teching!

Facebook vs. Other Social Networks

It’s hard to rate a social networking site because so many people have their own opinions. In saying that, we are going to compare Facebook to some of the popular social networking sites that are available to you.



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Facebook interview follow up

Here is a follow up on a few things Mrs. McEntee mentioned in the interview. When she was answering the second questions, she said something about using her iPod Touch to connect to Facebook. In the blog we talked about some cell phones, especially smart phones, having a Facebook app available to download. The iPod Touch is not an iPhone, but can use the same apps as the iPhone. In saying that, the iPod Touch can download and use the Facebook app. Mrs. McEntee also mentioned privacy settings towards the end of the interview. We had a patron ask about privacy settings. Here is the Q/A:

"I just got finished listening to the "Tech Tuesday" interview, she mentioned something about privacy settings like "Friends Only". I have noticed this on my FB account, what do those different settings mean? I use the "Everyone" setting a lot."

When posting a message on Facebook, you have a few options as to who can read the message. The option "Everyone" allows everyone on the Internet to see your message. For instance, if you select "Everyone" when posting a message about the Bossier Parish Library System, there is a good chance that your message could end up in a search engine. This is Facebook's way of making your messages public. This is good if you are promoting a website or event, but not so good when talking about your employer or a family member. The other option mentioned is the "Friends Only." This means only your friends can view your messages.