Saturday, February 14, 2009

Subscriptions

Got a Blackberry recently.

Yes, I like it. A lot.

But, it got may attention about something.

I set it up to get my email. I mean, that's one of the things that Blackberrys are for, right? So, I set it up to get email from three email boxes. One for stuff related to the blog (where all blog stuff forwards anyway), one for personal (that is, not work or blog; again, several email accounts already forward to that), and one for the Blackberry itself.

The problem? It seems I'm subscribed to all kinds of things. ESPN, MLB alerts, FoxNews, blog mailing lists, JCPenney, Sears ... heck, all kind of things.

Previously, when I got home at night -- or broke out the MacBook at lunch where wifi is available (Subway, BK, the mall, etc) -- I'd get all my emails. And, getting all those mailing lists at that time is fine. Depending on what time it is, how busy things are, or how tired I am, I'll read them or ignore them. I mean, really, that's how we all treat email subscriptions.

However, they don't all arrive at 7:00 at night, when I check my email. They arrive all throughout the day.

And, now that I have my Blackberry set up to get my email, I get those emails when they arrive. All throughout the day.

That's a problem.

Because, well, picture this:

I'm on the phone with someone in, say, Europe (yes, the Evil Corporation for which I work does business all across the globe). Suddenly, the Blackberry start buzzing. I reach down, pop up the clasp, lift the Blackberry out of the case, look at the screen. There it is. A message indicator.

I open the message, because, heck, it could be important.

There it is: Scott Ott has posted a new blog entry!

Then, it buzzes again. And I discover that JCPenney has all sheets and pillowcases 10% off.

Another buzz. Michael Steele wants money. (How did he get my address? From John McCain or Fred Thompson, I bet!)

Now, I'm not picking on these folks. I'm the one who subscribed. So, I'm getting exactly what I asked for.

However, the Blackberry has thrown a new wrinkle into it: I get my emails when they're sent. Not just when I check them at lunch or after supper.

So, I've come up with a solution.

I still want those subscriptions. Heck, Sears might have a sale I want to know about.

So, I've set up two new email addresses. One for subscriptions for the blog, and one for subscriptions for personal (non-work and non-blog). The Blackberry won't check those addresses. I will. At lunch. Or after supper.

What this means is, if I've subscribed to something of yours, and I suddenly cancel, I'm probably not really canceling. Instead, I'm stopping delivery to that address, and setting it up to another address.

I don't know why I didn't think of this before.

6 comments:

  1. I've resisted all temptation to buy things like a Blackberry or an iPhone. It's not that I'm technologically challenged; I love technology. But I am definitely information challenged. There's too much of it. I've got half a dozen e-mail addresses, too, for different things. And all kinds of subscriptions. I would go crazy trying to deal with a Blackberry tingling with messages all day long. I know people who do it, and I sometimes I think they've become slaves to the damn thing.

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  2. You are correct. It wants to take over my life. I'm setting up subscriptions email addresses to try to take it back. Part of it, anyway.

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  3. You may want to add a program like viigo for your news reading needs. It's one of my favorite apps for blackberry. Hope all is well...

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  4. Heh! Basil has entered the world of the Crackberry! Within 5 months, you will probably be using the email address on the BBerry for all those subscriptions, because you HAVE to get them now :)

    I actually have 5 email addresses on my Crackberry. The corporate (which was the point), a personal, 2 different ones for the blog (trying to move everything over to the wteach at thepiratescove.us address, and a Gmail which I use to test other peoples BBery's when they have email issues.

    I do not bother with my Yahoo one, and I have two other Road Runner ones, both of which are used for when I have to subscribe to something I do not want.

    Which one did you get, Basil? If it is not a Bold or Storm, check out the BBerry 4.5 update. Did it on my Curve. Makes email sweet!

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  5. I got the Curve. And it has version 4.5 of the OS. I really like it!

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  6. Sweet. I did the 4.5 upgrade, and it is simply awesome.

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