Wow! I love this Blackberry application! I had been waiting to get on Facebook and this is what put me over the edge. It will revolutionize the way the use your Blackberry Pearl (is that too strong of a statement?).

Here’s what it will let you do:

• Update your status. This is something on Facebook that says “Patch is blah blah blah.” It lets your friends know what’s going on with you. Kind of cool. You can now update this from your Blackberry Facebook application. So if you go from lunch to the beach, you can post it in the parking lot. Not sure if your friends need to keep that close of a watch on you, but they can. This same section will let you see what your “friends” are doing via their status.
• Upload and Tag Photos. This is the coolest part of this application. Take a picture with your Blackberry Pearl and a new option besides “save” or “MMS Message” is now available. You can choose to post that picture on your Facebook page. You can even tag your Facebook friends in your picture and it will link to them on Facebook. If you already have pictures on your Blackberry, you can tag and upload those as well.
• View your friends list. Scroll through your entire list of friends. Find someone you want to interact with and you can pop up a menu to choose been “writing on their wall”, “sending them a message”, “viewing their profile”, and “poking” them. I”m still not really sure what poking does, but you can do it.
• Invite a friend. Still have some friend who aren’t on Facebook? Send them an invitation to join your crazy new addiction. I think that’s pretty much all that one is for.
• Poke someone. Again, I don’t really know what this does other than telling people that you poked someone. If you know, please let us in on the secret.
• Write on their wall. You can write on your friends wall directly from your Blackberry. This is kind a public area where you can interact with your friends.
• Send them a message. Another way to interact with your friends without letting everyone else in on the conversation. It’s like email within Facebook.

All in all, this is a very cool application. If you’re using Facebook more often than once a week, you really need to get this application. The easiest way to do so is to point your Blackberry browser to www.facebook.com. It will notice you’re on a Blackberry and suggest the download. Don’t even think twice about it. Get it and start having fun.

I was forced to have my first experience with Roxio Media Manager today. It didn’t go well! Let me explain and offer the worlds greatest solution to managing the media on your Blackberry Pearl without using the Roxio Medio Manager.

It all started when my iPod was stolen from my car the other night along with my bluetooth headset. Nobody broke into my car because they didn’t have to break in. I was kind enough to leave it unlocked for them. I felt like an idiot. I live in a very safe neighborhood, but it was the first day of Spring Break and I think the neighborhood kids were bored.

I used my iPod for audio books more than anything else. My car was my rolling university as I listed and learned everywhere I went. That was over now. Fortunately I had everything on my iTunes in a secondary hard drive.

It was now time to try out the media capabilities of my Blackberry Pearl. I knew my Pearl was also an MP3 player, but I hadn’t run it through it’s paces. The first thing I did was install the Roxio Media Manager I recieved from Verizon Wireless. Over 180 gigs to download this gigantic program. Once I installed it, I was ready to put my beloved audio books onto my Blackberry Pearl. But wait… and wait… and wait…

Roxio Media Manager is VERY slow. I just upgraded to a very fast computer and everything runs perfect except Roxio Media Manager. It’s brought my machine to a crawl. No wait, not a crawl, a screeching halt! I couldn’t do anything with this software. I can’t imagine this ever went through any type of testing period. When I did manage to get a song from my iTunes library to Roxio Media Manager I couldn’t remove it. I would right click, click on “remove” and the next time I started Roxio Media Manager it was back.

Here’s the Solution:

Update: I wrote the below instruction before I discovered something very cool. Here’s how to move music directly from iTunes onto your Blackberry Pearl.

Uninstall Roxio Media Manager immediately. The only reason you need this is to access the internal memory on your Blackberry Pearl (I never store anything on there and if I do, I can manage it from within my Blackberry Pearl). If you have a memory card installed in your Pearl, you can use Windows Explorer to transfer music, videos, pictures, ringtones and voice notes. It’s as simple as dragging and dropping just like you do with any other drive or directory. No more dealing with Roxio Media Manager. I wish someone had told me this sooner.

What is Windows Explorer? It’s not Internet Explorer. Press and hold the Windows key (it’s between Ctrl and Alt in the lower left corner of your keyboard) and then press “E”. Get it, Windows (E)xplorer? Should be easy to remember.

Make sure you turn on Mass Storage

If you plug your Blackberry Pearl into your PC via the USB cable you should see it show up as a removable drive (just like a thumb or flash drive). If it’s not there, you probably haven’t turned on the “Mass Storage” on your Blackberry. Here’s how you do that:

1. From your home screen, press the Blackberry Button (just left of the “pearl”).
2. This should bring up all of the icons. Now click on Options icon (for me it’s a little wrench).
3. Scroll down to “Media Card” and select it.
4. “Mass Storage Mode Support” should be set to ON.
5. “Auto Enable Mass Storage Mode When Connected” should be on YES or PROMPT.
6. Save those setting and reconnect your Blackberry Pearl with your PC.

If you still don’t see a new “Removable Disk“, you may not have a memory card installed. You can check this by opening the little door on the left side just below the USB port on your Blackberry Pearl.

Once you have your Blackberry Pearl showing up as a removable drive, you can drag files in just like you would any other drive or folder. No need to convert your MP3’s for your Blackberry. Best of all, no more dealing with Roxio Media Manager and that’s a GREAT thing! Sorry Roxio…

Attention Research In Motion: The Blackberry Pearl is the best phone I’ve ever owned. You’re hurting your reputation by having your product associated with such a horrible piece of software like Roxio Media Manager. There must be a different solution if you plan on competing with the iPhone and iTunes. This is a battle you can win, but not with Roxio Media Manager.

Two of the most innovative companies have finally come together to create the application everyone has been screaming for. Finally a piece of Blackberry Pearl software made specifically for the Mac. PocketMac® for Blackberry is now available. What will it do for you? PocketMac for Blackberry will allow you to sync your Mac and Blackberry. Now your calendar, tasks, contacts and notes will all be on your Blackberry when you leave the house or office. It works with Blackberry Pearl or Curve and the following applications:

• Mail.app Email
• Entourage Email, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes
• Address Book Contacts
• iCal Calendar and Tasks
• Now Contact / Now Up-To-Date Contacts, Calendars & Tasks
• Meeting Maker Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks
• Lotus Notes Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks
• Safari Bookmarks (One-Way sync)

No more need for secondary applications like Missing Sync. Best of all, PocketMac is absolutely free. You can download your copy of it right here:

Download PocketMac for Blackberry

If I had to recommend just one application to add to your Blackberry Pearl, it would have to be Google maps.

Real-time traffic — Find out exactly where the traffic is and estimate delays in over 30 major US cities.

Detailed directions — Whether you plan to walk or drive, your route is displayed on the map itself, together with step-by-step directions.

Search for local businesses — You can search for a specific business name or a general type of business. You can even type in an address.

Movable Map — It’s very easy to zoom in or out scroll side to side.

Satellite imagery — Get a bird’s eye view of what you’re looking at in the map.

Here’s a little video from Google to explain the latest feature called “My Location”:

Grab your Blackberry Pearl and browse over to www.google.com/gmm and start using Google Maps for your Blackberry.

Once you have Google Maps installed you’ll want to learn the keyboard shortcuts in Google maps specifically for the Blackberry.