With file sharing BitTorrent site ThePirateBay.org in the news lately, I can’t help but think of how to best harness the power of BitTorrent from your BlackBerry device.

When I began exploring the issue, I was keen on the idea of bypassing the PC altogether and downloading files straight to my device. Unfortunately, my search for a BitTorrent client for the BlackBerry OS came up negative. A native BitTorrent client (if available) would be useful to the few users with robust data plans, the latest devices and a large memory cards. Also, with all the wireless security and firewalls the BlackBerry has built in, it may be a bit difficult to develop a client.

Using remote desktop software to take control of your PC was another method I considered.  I envisioned too many steps for what should be both convenient and mobile.

RSS technology has begun to make some waves in the BitTorrent world, and provided what I feel is the simplest solution. What started off as a way to subscribe to news feeds, has now opened up the possibility of easy remote downloading. Many BitTorrent sites now offer their users the option of adding any torrent file to their personal RSS feed. Now it’s as easy as setting up a desktop with your BitTorrent client pointed to your personal RSS, and adding new torrents from your mobile browser.

Here’s what I did to get my system of remote downloading working. I got this working using a mac so I’m sure there are even more options available to PC users. I used a personal RSS feed from mininova.org and Vuze (formerly Azureus) as My RSS sniffing BitTorrent client. On my commute I was able to remotely browse and queue downloads for my computer back at home. I was thrilled to find that a surprising number of my selections were downloaded and seeding by the time I arrived.

Step 1:
Using my home computer I went to Vuse BitTorrent client and entered my personal BitTorrent RSS feed into the “subscription” menu on the left side of the application.

Step 3:
Open your BlackBerry browser and navigate to Mininova.org and log in using your account.

Step 4:
Search for torrent files you want your computer back at home to download and add them to your personal RSS feed by clicking on the blue star graphic on any Torrent general information page.

At this point, you’ve queued the Torrent file and your desktop computer back at home will start downloading the Torrent.

There are many choices of BitTorrent clients and sites that will do the trick, so please post your working BitTorrent client and site suggestions in the comments.

[Via]

It depends how much time you have to look into it. For OSX it was a two step process, I didn’t install any 3rd party apps or even the blackberry desktop manager (don’t even know if they make it for mac) but I did have to add a “modem script” to osx so that it can use the blackberry as a Bluetooth data modem, essentially the equivalent of installing a driver in windows. Once that was done, I just had to create a new dial-up connection, select the modem, put the APN, username and password (all of which are dependent and unique to the cell phone provider, Rogers in my case). After it’s all set and done, I literally just hit connect, wait 3 seconds and I’m online via Bluetooth

with the phone still in my pocket.

There are also lots of hints to help you out if your having setup problems. Here are the setup details:

Under network options goto Bluetooth
Telephone number: wap.cingular
Account name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
Password: CINGULAR1

Click Advanced
Under Modem

Vender: Option
Model: GSM
APN: WAP.CINGULAR
CID: 1

Apply and hit connect

The only issue might be for newer 8900/9000 devices, which according to the post in that link, can use the modem scripts for a 8300/8700/8800 and work just fine. I still have a Curve so I’m not too sure.

For Windows it was even easier, install the desktop manager (which also installs the modem-driver), then create a dialup connection, but this only works via the USB cable. There seems to be a problem with the vista Bluetooth stack (or maybe it’s compatibility with blackberry modems in particular). Some Google results seems to say there might be a fix, but I haven’t looked into it too much (I have a Mac laptop and I’ve only used it a few times at home via USB once when my cable internet was down).

How To.

Supported Carriers
Carrier AT&T: Success!
Carrier Rogers: Success!
Carrier Vodafone: Success!
Carrier T-Mobile: Success!
Carrier Verizon: Sometimes Successful
Carrier Cingular: Sometimes Successful
Carrier Nextel/Telus: May need to use www.mobishark.com
Carrier Sprint: May need to use www.mobishark.com
Carrier Bell Mobility: 7130e Confirmed, Must use www.mobishark.com otherwise
Currently, Rogers, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Vodafone UK are reported to work. Sometimes and Cingular works, but is much harder to setup. No confirmations for other carriers yet.
Important: If you are using a BES 4.0 server, your BES 4.0 server, you should not use the “Disable IPmodem” setting. BES hosting providers such as eOutlook/Mailstreet/BES4U/MyBlueberry must avoid setting the “Disable IPmodem” setting.
.
Connect Your BlackBerry
Make sure your BlackBerry is connected by USB cable, and your BlackBerry Handheld Manager is running (just launch BlackBerry Desktop to run it.) This is necessary for using the BlackBerry as an external modem. You cannot use BlackBerry as a modem unless you have BlackBerry Handheld Manager running in the background!
.
Modem Driver Install
If you installed a recent version of BlackBerry Desktop that came with a 7100t, 7290, 7250, or 7520, it should include modem drivers and already be automatically installed. In the event you need to manually install them, the modem drivers should be located in this directory:
C:\program files\Common Files\Research In Motion\Modem Drivers
However, if you are having problems with these drivers, uninstall, delete all leftover RIM files, and then reinstall the latest version of BlackBerry Desktop.
.
Verify The Modem Driver Exists
Go to Control Panel -> Phone & Modem Options. In the Modems tab, you should see a new “Standard Modem” on a new port (such as COM6 or COM11). If you do, jump to the next step.
However, if your modem is missing:
If this modem entry is missing and cannot be found using Plug n Play, you may have to manually add it. Verify you have “RIM Virtual Serial Port” drivers installed. Find out which COM ports the RIM Virtual Serial Ports are, go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Ports (COM & LPT) … This will tell you which COM ports your BlackBerry Modem is on. Next, go to Control Panel -> Phone and Modem and Remove the modem. Re-add the modem by clicking on Add. You MUST select the “Standard 33600 bps Modem” (correct) INSTEAD OF “Standard 56000 bps Modem” (wrong). Click Next. You will be asked for the ports to add this modem to. Add this modem to all COM ports that the RIM Virtual Serial Port is on. You must choose the “Standard 33600 bps Modem” because of incompatible AT commands that result in an Error 628. Don’t worry, the speed won’t be slower.
.
Verify The Modem Driver Is Functioning
Go to Control Panel -> Phone & Modem Options. In the Modems tab, you should see a new Standard Modem on a new port (such as COM6 or COM11). Click Properties -> Diagnostics -> Query Modem. You should see the following:
Quote:
ATQ0V1E0 – OK
AT+GMM – BlackBerry IPmodem
AT+FCLASS=? – OK
AT#CLS=? – OK
AT+GCI? – OK
AT+GCI=? – OK
ATI1 – Research In Motion / BlackBerry IPmodem
ATI2 – Research In Motion / BlackBerry IPmodem
ATI3 – Research In Motion / BlackBerry IPmodem
ATI4 – Research In Motion / BlackBerry IPmodem
ATI5 – Research In Motion / BlackBerry IPmodem
ATI6 – Research In Motion / BlackBerry IPmodem
ATI7 – Research In Motion / BlackBerry IPmodem
Note: This may look different on Nextel 7520, or Sprint/Verizon/Bell Mobility 7250. This is normal. Just make sure there is a response at all, rather than no response.
.
IMPORTANT SPECIAL CONFIGURATION STEP
Click Properties -> Advanced and add only ONE of the following Extra initialization commands with the appropriate carrier-specific APN Setting:

TMOBILE USA Users (Success!)
+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”wap.voicestream.com”

Rogers Users (Success!)
+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”internet.com”

Cingular Blue/AT&T Users (Success!)
+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”proxy”

Cingular Orange Users (Success!)
+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”ISP.CINGULAR”

UK Vodafone Users (Success!)
+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”internet”

Verizon Users (Success!) – Keep blank
Nextel/Telus iDEN Users (untested) – Keep blank
Sprint/Bell Mobility CDMA Users (untested) – Keep blank
.
Add A New Internet Connection
Close the Phone and Modem Options and the Control Panel. Create a new connection with Start -> Connect To -> Show all connections -> Create a new connection.

1. Click Next

2. Select “Connect To The Internet” then Next

3. Select “Set up my connection manually” then Next

4. Select “Connect using a dial-up modem” then Next.

5. Check only the Standard Modem (if prompted).

6. Give the connection a name such as “BlackBerry Modem”, then Next.

7. On the next screen, pick one of the following phone numbers, depending on your carrier:
….If you use GSM/Cingular/AT&T/TMobile: Enter phone number *99#
….If you use iDEN/Nextel/Telus: Enter phone number S=2
….If you use CDMA/Verizon/Sprint/Bell Canada: Enter phone number #777

8. Click Next.

9. On the next screen, pick one of the following, depending on your carrier:

….If you use Cingular Blue, AT&T or Nextel:
………Username: (blank)
………Password: (blank)

….If you use Rogers Canada:
………Username: wapuser1
………Password: wap

….If you use Cingular Orange:
………Username: [email address]
………Password: CINGULAR1

….If you use T-Mobile:
………Username: (Your existing TMobile.com Username)
………Password: (Your existing TMobile.com Password)

….If you use Verizon, replace 8005551212 with your phone number:
………Username: [email address]
………Password: 8005551212

….If you use Sprint:
………Username: (Your existing Sprint PCS Username)
………Password: (Your existing Sprint PCS Password)

….If you use Bell Mobility, replace 8005551212 with your phone number:
………Username: [email address]
………Password: (Your Bell Mobility Voicemail PIN)

10. Clear all checkboxes (”Use…when anyone…” and “Make this the default…”)

11. Click Finish

.
Disable IP Header Compression
Make sure TCP/IP Properties (Advanced) “Use IP Header Compression” checkbox is NOT checked. To verify this, do these steps:

1. Start Menu->Network Connections->”BlackBerry Modem”
2. Click Properties Button
3. Click Networking Tab
4. Select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”
5. Click Properties Button
6. Click Advanced… Button
7. Disable “Use IP header compression” checkbox
8. Click all OK buttons to close all dialogs
Also make sure you clear all these checkboxes, if you see any of these checked:
Turn off “Enable Hardware Flow Control”
Turn off “Enable Modem Error Control”
Turn off “Enable Modem Compression”
.

BES Configuration
Skip this step if you are not on BES. You only need to follow this step if your company gave the BlackBerry to you. If you are at a company and you are on a BES 4.0, your Administrator must enable the “BlackBerry IPModem” setting on the BES. This is a new setting in the Version 4.0 of BES.
.
Surf On The Laptop!
Connect to the Internet on the laptop by clicking the “BlackBerry Modem” icon via Start Menu->Network Connections. No username or password is needed.

BlackBerry batteries are not easy to get out. Here’s a very simple way to reboot without having to go to the trouble.

1. Press ALT+CAP+Backspace to reboot your stuck BlackBerry.
2. As soon as the screen comes back up, press ALT+CAP+Backspace again.
3. Check it is functioning. If it comes back to life, you don’t need to remove the batteries.

• Note: The first time you press ALT+CAP+Backspace, your Blackberry will release your cell connection and re-acquire. In order to truly reboot your Blackberry, press ALT+CAP+Backspace, and as soon as the screen comes back up, press ALT+CAP+Backspace again.
• On the 8310, this only works if you press the right hand caps key.

Upgrading to a Blackberry will drastically improve your efficiency. It can be a little frustrating at the same time. There is an adjustment period. You must learn to adapt to the BlackBerrry Interface. In this article we will focus on how to import SIM contacts into your new Blackberry.

1. From the Main Menu (the default screen)with the track ball select the Setup Wizard. To select an icon simply push down on the track ball.
2. You will now be in the Setup Wizard. The fourth line down will say “Import SIM Card Contacts. In most cases it will be selected upon entering the wizard.Select this option.
3. You will be asked if you would like to copy contacts now. Select yes with the trackball by highlighting the yes option and pressing down on the trackball.
4. Click Next.
5. Your Contacts have been added to your phone.

Do you have an online calendar to keep track of your busy schedule? Online calendars are a great way to electronically keep track of your daily obligations, but what about those times when you are away from your computer? For example, when you are traveling, walking outside, in a meeting, at the gym etc. you aren’t going to have your computer at your side to remind you about certain events. Most people have a cell phone that they have with them at all times. So why not put your calendar into your cell phone so that you can have access to it whenever you are away from your computer. Using the BlackBerry Pearl, I am going to teach you how to use google software to sync your google calendar on your computer to your Blackberry Cell Phone.

1. Start the process by accessing Google online. If you don’t have an account already you will need a Google account to make a calendar.
2. Search for Google Mobile in the search field.
3. Enter the Google Mobile webpage and there you will see options for cell phone types. I have a Blackberry so I will be teaching how to sync your calendar to that phone type, but it is possible to sync a Google calendar to other phone types with internet access.
4. Click the Blackberry link and in the top right hand side of the page, enter your cell phone number into the light blue box and click “send link to my phone”
5. After this, a text message will be sent to your phone, open the message and click on the link in the text.
6. On your cell phone, scroll to the link that says “install now” and click on it.
7. On the next page, you will have the option to download the software. Click “download”.
   • Your phone will then start to download the software.
8. After the download is complete, you will be asked to reboot your phone, and it will give you the option to select “reboot”.
   • This make take a moment or two.
9. Once your phone has restarted, there will be an icon on the menu page that says Google Mobile App, click on this.
10. This will open up a Google page, but the calendar option is not on this one, so you will need to scroll to the right and click “more”.
11. On this page the calendar option is visible, click on “calendar”.
12. On this page it will ask for your Google email address and your password, enter these and click “log in”.
    • From there, the calendar software will download and your calendar on your phone will sync automatically whenever you make changes on your phone’s calendar or on your computer’s calendar.

1. In the messages field, click the trackwheel and select “add address” to the email as a Vcard attachment.
2. If additional VCards need to be sent, repeat the step above.
3. Send the message.
4. Inform the recipient to open the attached Vcard and add to their local address book. You’re done!

These directions were written by Shanepark2, a mod over at BBOS. It’s a very simple and quick way to fix MMS.
The downloads, mentioned in steps 1 & 2, are provided at the bottom of this post.

Here is the fix for those of you that get the blank shaded box when tring to forward an MMS picture message.
1. Download and install Crackutil
2. Download mms.cod file Zip File
3. Unzip and drop the net_rim_bb_mms.cod file in the directory C/Program Files/Crackutil
4. Right click on Crackutil desktop icon, and select “Run as Aministrator”
5. Select FILE MANIPULATION – INTERMEDIATE
6. Select Load File to Device
7. Navigate to and select net_rim_bb_mms.cod
8. Let the phone reboot and your mms problem is fixed.

For those of you having problems with Crackutil, here is the alternate way. Try using this method. It was how to fix it before the crackutil was discovered. Now keep in mine this is re installing you OS, so for safety, back up your phone.
1. Make a backup of data with D.M
2. Must have your OS installed on computer and phone
3. Go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\Shared\Loader Files\9530-v4.7.0.xxx*\Java
4. Delete net_rim_bb_mms.cod
5. Plug in phone and run loader it will remove mms from phone, phone will restart with an error thats ok just leave it sit that way and up plug from usb
6. Go back to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\Shared\Loader Files\9530-v4.7.0.xxx*\Java
7. Copy the .100 net_rim_bb_mms.cod file in the directory
8. Plug phone back in run loader phone will update and install that mms.cod and restart.
9. After phone restarts go to D.M and restore backup then send host routing table
10. Pull battery put battery back phone restarts
11. MMS will send with pictures or forward old mms with pictures

* is your loaded OS

NOTES:
1. The mms.cod file I have is from .100, but the .86 mms.cod file works also.
2. Vista users make sure you install Crackutil as Administrator and change Compatability to Run this program as an administrator.

**Disclaimer**

If you do not feel comfortable with ANY of these steps DO NOT ATTEMPT, as this is altering you OS and can brick your phone..

Download: net_rim_bb_mms.zip

Download: CrackUtil.zip

The first is PocketMac for BlackBerry, a free downloadable app that allows you to sync everything from iCal calendars and tasks to your Address Book and email from Apple Mail or Microsoft Entourage 2004 and 2008, as well as Notes and Safari bookmarks. On top of that, you can also transfer music and photos directly from your

iTunes and iPhoto libraries.

The second is Missing Sync for BlackBerry developed by MarkSpace, which comes at a cost of $39.95 U.S. (though there is a free trial). This software essentially offers the same set of features, only with a very different interface and some extra advantages that PocketMac doesn’t have.

To run through these tests, I used a BlackBerry Bold and a black MacBook 2.14GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running on 3GB of RAM with OS X Leopard 10.5.6 with the latest software updates.

PocketMac

The first thing you’ll notice after starting up the PocketMac SyncManager is that you have the option of backing up your data through your MobileMe account. Curiously, PocketMac hasn’t updated the software to note the name change, as it’s still displayed under the old name of .Mac.

The rest of the interface separates the key syncing features into tabs. Click on any one of them and you see the menu options appear below. The Advanced Preferences buttons lead to a further set of criteria that you can set for syncing. For example, if I was only looking to sync over business contacts from Entourage 2008, I could just click that and it will only transfer those. If I want to overwrite my BlackBerry with the full contact list I have on Entourage, I could do that as well.

While this is all supposed to work properly in theory, the actual results go from mixed to downright frustrating. Syncing over the entire list of contacts actually works very well on the first attempt, but adding to the list afterward can be problematic. When I tried to update the list by adding a few new contact names, PocketMac wouldn’t let me sync over only the new entries. I had to sync over the whole list again. This is fine, but if I had separated contacts into different groups, PocketMac seemingly wouldn’t acknowledge them at all.

And in a strange twist, PocketMac doesn’t always transfer over multiple phone numbers for contacts. This bizarre issue was more than enough for me to make sure that I had my Address Book backed up. My worry was that in trying to overwrite my contacts on the BlackBerry, I might lose data on my Mac as well. I had read testimonials to this in some forums discussing PocketMac, but found none of my information was lost in the numerous attempts to sync over contacts.

Syncing email, whether it’s from Apple Mail or Entourage, is also a mixed bag. PocketMac offers an option to copy BlackBerry email directly over to Mail or Entourage, but it’s a little jittery in its performance. More often than not, it will work, but it made me wonder if the issue was with PocketMac not supporting the Bold as much as it would with a Curve, Pearl or some other model.

Email redelivery, which basically mirrors the email received on your Mac, worked well for me. It was a huge convenience to be able to respond to messages without going near my Mac. But the one problem that irked me was that attachments would sometimes show up only as text, or not at all in some cases. It can mistakenly make you think that the sender simply forgot to attach it, but unfortunately, PocketMac is a bit random when it comes to this.

I should note that PocketMac does offer syncing of contacts, tasks, notes and calendar from Lotus Notes and MeetingMaker, but without having to use them, I can’t definitively say whether or not they would work well.

A nice perk was the ability to sync over music from iTunes and photos from iPhoto. Moving over specific playlists or photo albums is as simple as choosing them from the list available, but expect it to take a while. The process is actually pretty easy, except that some songs I transferred hadn’t completed, so while the metadata was there, there was no actual music. I’m not entirely sure why this happened, since all the songs were in supported file formats, but in order to make it right, I had to overwrite the Bold and re-export the songs over.

It was unfortunate that I couldn’t sync over anything wirelessly with PocketMac. There’s no support for Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, as it only offers USB connectivity. Another oddity is that it displays Serial Port as an option (the plug older BlackBerrys use), but there’s a disclaimer upon installing PocketMac that confirms it doesn’t work in the first place. Why have it there if it doesn’t work at all?

And as nice as it was to have the option of syncing over bookmarks, only the ones from Safari will work. If you’re a Firefox user with tons of bookmarks, you’re out of luck. Your best bet is to find a way to move them over to Safari and then sync from there.

Missing Sync for BlackBerry

While it was easy to download and install my review copy of Missing Sync for BlackBerry, I did also have to make sure to install the mobile version onto the BlackBerry Bold I was using as well. MarkSpace offers instructions on how to do this, so it wasn’t a difficult process overall.

The first synchronization process with Missing Sync has to be done through USB, despite that Bluetooth is also supported. The interface is clean and fairly straightforward, with a little bit of customization thrown in. But it does require some digging to understand how it works. The Help section is a valuable resource for finding instructions on what to look for and how to get things working for you.

Missing Sync calls each sync option a “plugin” that requires checking the box next to it and then double-clicking on each one you want to sync. The window that opens up is a lot like a preferences pane where you determine what exactly you want to sync over to the BlackBerry, along with options to import data from the device as well. For example, I could export a couple of photo albums from iPhoto, while then importing images I took with the Bold.

I could also export my iCal calendar from as much as 18 months prior to 18 months into the future. Even the Folder Sync was a cool option. I created a folder with documents inside on my Mac and chose it to sync with a folder I had on the Bold. This meant that whenever I connected the Bold to the Mac for syncing, any new or deleted contents in that folder would replicate automatically. It works pretty well, but unfortunately, it can also get hijacked by some inconsistencies with other plugins. In cases where an overall sync isn’t successful, the Folder Sync may just not go through at all.

Generally speaking, syncing most things on Missing Sync seems to work well most of the time, but for whatever reason, iCal has some trouble migrating all the data successively. Though the sync may appear to have gone through perfectly, it seems miss some elements in the process. Syncing over Address Book does have some issues sometimes, but I found it generally worked well, especially since it included any and all phone numbers I had for each contact – something PocketMac failed to do.

Other options include backing up all text messages, which could be useful for those who need information from them. The rest is the usual mix of notes, contacts, tasks, music, video and even a log of all outgoing, incoming and missed calls. In particular, I liked that Missing Sync would keep iTunes playlists intact, which was a frustrating drawback with PocketMac. Rather than jumble all my songs together, all the playlists I synced over in my initial USB connection were right where I wanted them.

Pairing my MacBook with the Bold was relatively simple, but the Bluetooth connection kept stalling whenever I tried syncing. I tried re-importing my contacts, along with a small iTunes playlist of 10 songs. The contacts went through quickly, but the songs went through at an agonizingly slow pace. Worse yet, once only three songs went through, Missing Sync popped up an error message telling me that it couldn’t finish the job. Meanwhile, the Bold crashed and had to restart. I’m still not sure what happened, but I have to assume there’s some bug here that causes the problem because four more attempts gave me the same results. Still, even if it did work, the snail’s pace would’ve been unbearable anyway. A 7MB song was taking up to five minutes, so I can only imagine how long I would’ve waited with a 70MB video file.

It was nice to see that Missing Sync would actually convert video files so they could play on the BlackBerry, but needless to say, Bluetooth syncing is fine for quick and light data, whereas USB would be best for any of the heavy lifting with multimedia. The Proximity Sync feature connects the BlackBerry to the Mac via Bluetooth when it’s within range for automatic syncing. The good news is that you can utilize Proximity Sync to update the basics like your calendar, contacts, notes, tasks and text messages. But again, there are some issues that creep up. Errors pop up randomly, and in a few instances, the Bluetooth connection went down, even though my Bold was lying right next to my MacBook.

Final thoughts

Both PocketMac and Missing Sync can do the job but there are gaping holes in both cases. Neither of these is particularly adept in being consistently good at just syncing over information without some random problem creeping up. The real frustration isn’t in figuring out what the issues are, but in just getting it to work again without having to relaunch the application. This is especially true when trying to unmount the BlackBerry from the Mac after you’re done. Missing Sync offers an Eject button but it proved to be useless for me. PocketMac sometimes keeps running even after you’ve quit it. In my experience, I had to go to Activity Monitor just to finally close it.

As I’ve pointed out, these two apps have their share of issues, but it also depends on what you’re looking to sync over. I would point out that it might be easier to sync certain things as opposed to others, but there’s a certain unpredictability about how these two work that makes it hard to say.

For iTunes syncing, RIM is now offering its own BlackBerry Media Sync but the Mac version is still a preview build that could have its own issues. Ultimately, I get the sense that everyone’s experience with PocketMac or Missing Sync will vary somewhat. Some of the issues I’ve seen users point out on forums didn’t affect me at all, and vice versa.