I just bought a Blackberry Pearl, figuring it's the best phone out there until the Apple iPhone arrives, and am pleased with its ability to "push" email out to me anywhere, tapping into my main email account. Problem is, lots of my email is from lists where I don't need to actually be notified in real time, they're just for me to file for later. Can I filter or otherwise tweak Blackberry email on my Pearl?

I saw your entry about how to filter incoming Blackberry email so you don't drown in the trivial, but I have a different question: how I can set up a vacation hold, a way to completely disable all email notification without actually shutting down my account? I'm going on a long-weekend to Mexico and don't want to pay data roaming charges for email I don't care about anyway!

I don't get it, I have a new Blackberry Pearl and have been enjoying getting used to its predictive typing system, SureType, but all of a sudden my phone is now into the same annoying multiple-keypress input system that my pre-Pearl phone forced me to use. How do I switch back to the predictive SureType system?

I just got a shiny new Blackberry 8100 Pearl phone and it's all working fine, except I am hitting an error when I try to use Google's Gmail mobile app: "net.rim.device.app.systemControlledAccessException: Missing RCC signature. Not allowed to access Certicom functionality." What the heck does that mean and what do I need to do with my Cingular Pearl to get it working with Gmail?

Since you seem to be delving into the world of the Blackberry Pearl with your Mac system, I was hoping you could tell me how to use the Pearl as a wireless (bluetooth) modem with my Mac OS X Powerbook system. Didja figure that one out yet, Dave?

I've been experimenting with mencoder to convert my AVI movies into a format that I can download onto my cellphone and finally found a site where they explain the various parameters needed for the mencoder program to get it to work. Problem is, they're a pain to type in each time. How do I turn an ugly command line invocation into a nice shell script?

You mentioned that Google Reader was the only reader that you use. The R.S.S. reader I've used, FeedDemon has been annoying me with frames that I don't want, and stories I've deleted coming back. I've just started using Google Reader because you mentioned, so I thought I give it a try. However, not to say I'm completely clueless, but I can't figure out how to delete a story from Google Reader when I'm done reading it.

I spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Leslie Brooks Suzukamo, Telecom, Technology and Energy Reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Our topic of discussion? Whether the new Apple iPhone is going to be a good business phone or not. He quoted various industry sources and so-called pundits who predicted that it wouldn't and that it's designed exclusively for consumers. But he -- and they -- are so terribly wrong...

I would like to know how to configure my Apple iPhone so that I can check my Google Gmail messages whenever I'd like. What's the best way to do this?

I'm psyched by all the hype and enthusiasm and am seriously considering buying a new Apple iPhone when they replenish their stock here in San Francisco, but I'm curious: do I have to go to a Cingular/AT&T store to activate my iPhone? I am already a Cingular/AT&T customer, if that makes a difference...

One of the features added to the latest revision of the Apple iPhone operating system that's garnered quite a bit of attention is the ability to save Web page bookmark icons directly on the main screen of the phone. Experimentation reveals that some sites have cool icons while most are just miniature representations of the Web site. What's the difference? Read on and find out, including step-by-step directions on how you can easily ensure your own site (or blog!) has a custom iPhone icon too.

It was about four months ago that my 4GB Apple iPhone showed up and, after an initial scare that it was broken from dropping it - screen down - on a hard tile floor, connected to the network, replacing my Blackberry Pearl. I got the $100 credit for the Apple store after having watched the price drop $200 a month after I bought it, and I've gone through a number of cases already (!) and have a stack of different ones from the folks at Marware that I'm using now.

But after months of having it in my pocket, plugged into my car, on lunch tables with colleagues, and in various cities and states throughout the United States, what's my opinion of the phone now? What do I really love about it, and what drives me batty?

Read on...

Bought a Sprint PC Card for my Mac PowerBook so I can get onto their high speed EVDO network throughout the United States and found that it's a nice, new Sierra Wireless AirCard 595, which is apparently the fastest card available. Nice. But when I plug it into my PowerBook, nothing at all happens. What's the trick to get this card to work with Mac OS X?