I finally got a new toy — a Blackberry. I know, it’s old tech for everyone else but I was extremely resistant to change since I loved my Treo. I’ve had my Treo forever and have gotten so used to it that I couldn’t imagine changing. Well, I finally got feed up with Rogers as a cell provider that I decided to switch. Unfortunately, switching meant changing phones since Virgin Mobile doesn’t use sim cards like Rogers and Virgin Mobile is a great choice.

Long story short, this has been a good change since it gets me back into learning technology. The first thing I wanted to do was play around with the Bluetooth connection to my GPS. I use a G-Ray2, which is about the size of a matchbox. for tracking and logging location data for photo hikes and sessions. As a standalone tool it’s just a matter of turning it on and taking it with me. The device logs location data at set intervals and when I return I just upload the data file and either encode my photos and/or create a Google Map of my trip.

While playing around with the Blackberry I was able to locate a free, offline mapping program that will get real-time data from my G-Ray2 — Trekbuddy (http://trekbuddy.net takes you to their forum). The catch, the two devices need to be paired under Bluetooth. The problem, the G-Ray2 Bluetooth passcode was nowhere to be found. If you find this blog posting early in your search for this information, then you are lucky and hopefully knowing that the passcode is 0000 will be helpful.

When all is said and done, this is a very cool little app, the GPS functions perfectly and I am enjoying cell technology again.