BlackBerry - Research in Motion - Technology - Smartphones - Cell Phones - New York Times

An article in yesterday's New York Times suggests that the upshot of last week's BlackBerry outage may be about more than just an annoying communication outage -- for some, it was a flop-sweat-inducing night of cold turkey.

“It’s random reinforcement,” Mr. Katz said. The fact that you don’t know when important news will come, he said, “means you will quickly engage in obsessive compulsive behavior.”

These social needs and yearnings may drive the use. But at some point, that use becomes an end unto itself — a physical ritual that can take on some of the qualities of actual addiction, said Dr. John Ratey, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard, where he specializes in neuropsychiatry.

Several years ago, Mr. Ratey began using the term “acquired attention deficit disorder” to describe the condition of people who are accustomed to a constant stream of digital stimulation and feel bored in the absence of it. Regardless of whether the stimulation is from the Internet, TV or a cellphone, the brain, he said, is hijacked.

Sure, I kid the BlackBerry addicts, but I do sympathize. Left to my own devices, I'd check email a hundred times a day and can still half-ruin a vacation with the constant need to "just check in." Electronic fiddling is a lot like tobacco addiction and a lot easier to get away with nowadays.

I so love that Mr. Bush wrote his request for a bathroom break in what appears to be a disassembled Hipster PDA.

Hi everyone.

I bought a paperback copy of GTD some time ago, flicked through it idly, and have only just got around to sitting down and reading it properly. I'm about halfway through, and have a question about fitting it to my situation.

Some background: I'm a graphic design student, currently finishing my second-last year.

I tried to log into the wiki at wiki.43folders.com. It tells me I don't have a user name and should create an account, but for the life of me, I don't see any way to do so. The Login/Create Account page only lets you log in. If you just type a username, it says "username not found". Grr!

43Folders-like websites for artists

How to get "momentum"

Help me stick to it

MERLIN MANN - If you are out there and happen to catch this post, I beg you to read on, because you more than anyone else would probably be able to give the best input on this topic....

I use a program called 1Password (which is pretty much the freakin' coolest application out there, other than Quicksilver).

I'm trying to figure out the most optimal GTD system that will live at home, the office, and everywhere in between. Here's my rundown...

I'm a developer who commutes by bus to my office. I have a Mac at work, but a PC at home (for now). I have 4 kids who are all into their own extra-curricular stuff all the time. I also have a Palm Tungsten C and a barebones mobile phone that has no SMS or text messaging capabilities -- it just calls people.