I have been listening to some great music here lately. My musical tastes have always been on the eclectic side, but I've recently discovered a musical genre that I previously loathed. That genre would be rap, or hip-hop or whatever the crap it's called nowadays (my whiteness is really showing through). More specifically, a little niche of rap from the underground. That's right. Underground Hip Hop artists have been dominating my playlist for the last few weeks. I like to call it rap with a conscience. So far my favorite artist of this genre is De La Soul. I also like Mos Def and similar artists (especially the Lyricist Lounge compilation).
I've also been listening to music that's a little closer to my ecletic roots. The National is a little band from Middle America that plays some really good stuff. Apparently, other people think so too. I haven't heard a bad song out of these guys yet.
Just where did little ol me find all this great music, you may ask. At one of my new favorite web sites, The Hype Machine. Go check it out. It's pseudo-legal and won't bring the RIAA down on your head.
Ok, you have a Blackberry and you absolutely love using your gmail account. Before now, there were two ways you could view your gmail. The first one is fairly straightforward. You fire up the BB browser, and navigate to the gmail page. Simple and only two clicks (if you have gmail bookmarked). This method works well for the casual gmail user who only checks their mail a couple of times a day.
But for us gmail addicts (gmaddicts?) without BES, there was only one other option and that was to setup a pushmail account through our service provider or automatically have gmail forward all emails to the BB. (Maybe that's two options?). This method could result either in some serious lag time or it just refused to work right. Well now there is a better option.
Welcome to Gmail Mobile App. This is a Java based program that allows you to access gmail from your home screen. And it has all the features of your desktop gmail including search archiving, and so much more. No more clunky interfaces or multiple button clicks, gmail is just one click away! It automatically syncs with your account, so if you delete the email on your blackberry its gone from your desktop account too. The only negative I have encountered so far is that the inbox only refreshes when you send a message. Otherwise you have to manually refresh it. But I have to do that sometimes with the desktop version, so no real disadvantage. Plus it saves bandwidth for the BW challenged.
Go here from your desktop to get the download page. Or alternatively go to
www.gmail.com/app from your Blackberry. This app should work on all java enabled phones. It works great on my 7520. Enjoy!