How I used my PlayBook last weekend

**giggabotch** · 01-03-2013, 02:27 PM

Hi Everyone. I thought I would share my latest experience with my PlayBook this past weekend. Totally unplanned.

I am the chief engineer of a major market radio station in Canada, and this past weekend I agreed I would fill in for one of my techs at a live-to-air event at a local night club. Basically what happens is the music for the evening is played from the club, we pause three times an hour for commercials to be played from our studios downtown.

Well as it turns out the operator at the studio end didn't show up for his shift at the appointed time. The DJ who was finishing his show had another gig to go to and was adamant that he could not stick around. I told the DJ to go saying to him I would figure something out.

What I had in mind was to remotely connect to our studio music automation system using my PlayBook bridged and tethered to my 9860 and my logmein account. Up until this point I've only used logmein on the PlayBook to troubleshoot computers back at the studios. I also used my Blackberry phone as a mouse because it's more accurate than my fingers given the size of the desktop on the PlayBook screen.
I figured if this didn’t work that I would be driving back to the station to operate the show missing one commercial break in the process.

Surprisingly all went very well. I was able to play the commercials from the club, deleting the filler music out of the system, back-up music in case the live-to-air doesn’t make it to air, and lining up the next set of commercials as well as dropping in station id's.
I called in the missing studio operator who was across town. I was able to remotely run things for 1 1/2 hours until he arrived, at which point my phone battery was almost dead.

Needless to say I love this thing! The benefit to me has been that I don't have to carry my laptop as much. In situations where I wouldn't carry my laptop, I'm always have my PlayBook because it's so portable, I don't even think twice about not carrying it everywhere I go

**tfp** · 01-03-2013, 02:36 PM

Nice to hear

Glad the PlayBook bailed you out in your moment of need

**Sriman** · 01-03-2013, 02:40 PM

Great story...

**Rellskie** · 01-03-2013, 03:39 PM

Great story! I love hearing how people use their playbook in different situations.

Tapatalking

F2 · 01-03-2013, 04:00 PM

Definitely needs to be highlighted by CB and maybe even RIM!

**GV2012** · 01-03-2013, 04:25 PM

RIM marketing dept, this guy just wrote your next commercial for you!

**pchapple13** · 01-03-2013, 04:25 PM

That's awesome! Good work!

**DocDRM** · 01-03-2013, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by GV2012

RIM marketing dept, this guy just wrote your next commercial for you!

This^^^^ (but wait, and pretend you did it with your new BB10 phone)

**Techno-Emigre** · 01-03-2013, 05:29 PM

What a great story! I agree this is a BB commercial if I ever heard one. At the least they could use your story and set you up with a juicy new BB10 phone and keyboard for your PB.

Of course, you do realize you just set yourself up for being the go-to guy for every single crisis that comes along at the station, right LOL? I hope they are paying for your data plan.

**itmccb** · 01-03-2013, 06:17 PM

Great story. I've had more than a few situations like that.
[troll]
Though it's quite a bit neater with Android and iOS.
[/troll]

**416to604** · 01-03-2013, 06:26 PM

nice read. i remember seeing a thread titled "what exactly is the playbook good for?" recently. stories like this help to offset the ignorance.

**madman0141** · 01-03-2013, 06:32 PM

Nice job OP and great post. Good to hear this frowned upon device still kicks ****.

**ralfyguy** · 01-03-2013, 07:32 PM

Is that a sideloaded Android app?

**GV2012** · 01-03-2013, 08:46 PM

Gigabotch, you shiuld write your experience into the big hats at Rim. This should be a win win for both.
And cc CB Kevin if he hasn't read this. I'm sure he has a direct line to someone important

**QuIcKsIlV3r** · 01-03-2013, 09:22 PM

wow that's a pretty cool story of how versatile the playbook can be

**bungaboy** · 01-03-2013, 10:12 PM

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing it with us.

**Bumble2000** · 01-03-2013, 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by giggabotch

Hi Everyone. I thought I would share my latest experience with my PlayBook this past weekend. Totally unplanned.

I am the chief engineer of a major market radio station in Canada, and this past weekend I agreed I would fill in for one of my techs at a live-to-air event at a local night club. Basically what happens is the music for the evening is played from the club, we pause three times an hour for commercials to be played from our studios downtown.

Well as it turns out the operator at the studio end didn't show up for his shift at the appointed time. The DJ who was finishing his show had another gig to go to and was adamant that he could not stick around. I told the DJ to go saying to him I would figure something out.

What I had in mind was to remotely connect to our studio music automation system using my PlayBook bridged and tethered to my 9860 and my logmein account. Up until this point I've only used logmein on the PlayBook to troubleshoot computers back at the studios. I also used my Blackberry phone as a mouse because it's more accurate than my fingers given the size of the desktop on the PlayBook screen.
I figured if this didn’t work that I would be driving back to the station to operate the show missing one commercial break in the process.

Surprisingly all went very well. I was able to play the commercials from the club, deleting the filler music out of the system, back-up music in case the live-to-air doesn’t make it to air, and lining up the next set of commercials as well as dropping in station id's.
I called in the missing studio operator who was across town. I was able to remotely run things for 1 1/2 hours until he arrived, at which point my phone battery was almost dead.

Needless to say I love this thing! The benefit to me has been that I don't have to carry my laptop as much. In situations where I wouldn't carry my laptop, I'm always have my PlayBook because it's so portable, I don't even think twice about not carrying it everywhere I go

Thanks for sharing this story. You ingenuity in using technology reminds me of the TV show MacGyver :-)

**axllebeer** · 01-03-2013, 11:36 PM

Originally Posted by F2

Definitely needs to be highlighted by CB and maybe even RIM!

Totally agree. This is an awesome PlayBook to the rescue story. CrackBerry mods, blog this up for those that might not read this thread! CBK, are you out there tonight?

**thecsman** · 01-03-2013, 11:44 PM

Powerful, portable, kicking *** PlayBook!

**axllebeer** · 01-03-2013, 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by ralfyguy

Is that a sideloaded Android app?

I am assuming he is using the browser. I use LogMeIn too and have always done it with the browser with BlackBerry remote as the OP described.

Here is my story:

LogMeIn is still pretty darn cool

**howarmat** · 01-04-2013, 12:00 AM

i really hope logmein actually come up with an app. the browser version work but this is an app i have been hoping for since the PB release. I use it every other day probably on my android devices

**axllebeer** · 01-04-2013, 12:15 AM

God lets hope so. I mean, yeah the browser works great, but of course this is something that an app would be best for. No need for a pointer, designed for touch would be a great plus.

**giggabotch** · 01-04-2013, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by Bumble2000

Thanks for sharing this story. You ingenuity in using technology reminds me of the TV show MacGyver :-)

LOL, That's what one of my techs told me when he heard about my story.

**giggabotch** · 01-04-2013, 10:03 AM

Thanks for the responses everybody. when I bought my PlayBook I didn't realize at the time that it would become an indispesable tool for my job. I also can connect directly to my transmitter site for remote control, as well as access our office terminal sever.