Got blackberry? Wanna cobbler recipe?

[havocmom]

Sounds like they may be good for little else soon. Doesn't everybody in Congress use them?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/23/AR2006012300512_pf.html

The Supreme Court today rejected a petition from BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. for a rehearing of its patent-infringement case.

The Canadian maker of the popular wireless e-mail device has been locked in litigation against NTP Inc., a McLean-based patent-holding company that holds the licenses for the technology.

RIM may face a court-ordered shut down of most of its 4 million BlackBerrys in the United States if it cannot settle its case with NTP.

Can one of you techies tell us Luddites what blackberries do and why we are happy not to have one?

edit: typo

[MissB]

1. My dh has one for work.

It works as an email device and as a telephone. He doesn't need to drag along his laptop or his cellphone on a business trip.

[havocmom]

2. Thanks. Living out in the boonies where I do, we are happy with DSL

for the computer. Most don't even have reason for a wrist watch.

[northzax]

4. they are ubiquitous in DC

I am one of the few of my friends who don't carry them for work (I'm a grad student)

on edit: recent information implies that government crackberries will be exempt from a shut down order, which could be interesting.

[havocmom]

7. bet they are also all under surveillance in DC too

Sometimes, low tech is safer.

Wanna buy some pigeons? I'll give you a free de-coder ring with every purchase. No contracts to sign. No monthly fees. ;)

[northzax]

9. you treat them like work email

and follow your work email rules. Every electronic (and possibly non-electronic) communication in DC is being listened to by someone. Not a big deal one way or the other.

[no_more_rhyming]

11. Go Treo

[laruemtt]

14. what's a Treo? n/t

[madokie]

3. dang I thought we were talking recipes

[Skidmore]

5. Me, too.

I have 15 lbs. of blackberries in my freezer to finish off before next year's crop.

[havocmom]

8. mmmmm, USEFUL blackberries!

If ya need help emptying that freezer... ;)

[enlightenment]

6. A big "howdy"

to another neo-Luddite! We are few, but proud.
:hi:

And aren't those gizmos supposed to do it all? Might be interesting to see Congress and the corporate world come to a grinding halt while they try to remember how to communicate the old-fashioned way.

[havocmom]

10. LOL Always hoped all the women in America would stay home from work

on the same day! It would serve all those good ol boys in the corner offices right to have to deal with each other before any of them have had coffee :D

Seriously, I heard of Blackberries, just never actually saw one. Sorta figured they were some sort of communication device and guessed they have a GPS chip in them too.

A whole communication network in your back pocket? No thanks. And OnStarr? Fuggit about it! Can't see the point in being accessible and findable all the time. Also not buying the myth that they are so indispensable to important people... Most of the really cool achievements in human history occurred B.B. ;)

Time to stop buying the implements of our own house arrest enforcements?

[enlightenment]

13. Wow. Are we related?

I consider all those gizmos (including cell phones) the human equivalent of the tracking tags they bolt onto wild animals' ears. And it's not paranoia -- I just don't see the point (as you so aptly said).
Indispensable? Hardly. Just very successful marketing to a gullible public.
And having made that last snarky remark, I will apologize for offending those who absolutely believe that their gizmos are indispensable.

[Solo_in_MD]

12. AKA Crackberries...they are that addictive