We have no shortage of great people here at CrackBerry. The forums are full of interesting people all sharing a common interest, BlackBerry! Each month we're going to single someone out to recognize their contribution to our community and post about them right here on the blogs. These members go above and beyond to be active, not only helping out others but contributing to conversation and helping to make our community not just something you visit when you have a problem, but somewhere you feel welcome and want to belong to.

This brings us to the Member of the Month for May. His name is Jerry Northington, better known on the forums as Sedalia066. The mods noticed that Jerry is always there to welcome our new members, warmly greeting them and offering assistance when they have questions. He's a friendly and interesting person to say the least, so make sure you say hi when you see him around the forums. Keep reading for our Q&A with Jerry. 

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We have a pretty awesome community here at CrackBerry. From humble beginnings 5 years ago, we have grown to over 3 million members, many of whom have developed long lasting friendships and more through the site. We have a lot of members that really go above and beyond to be active, not only helping out others but contributing to conversation and helping to make our community not just something you visit when you have a problem, but somewhere you feel welcome and want to belong to. We decided it's time we start recognizing community members that stand out, so each month we'll pick someone and post about them.

Without further ado, let me introduce you to this month's pick. Not only is he a long time member of CrackBerry, he's also an app developer. You can find his latest apps in App World, including Tablet TV which is one of my personal favorite PlayBook apps. His name is Shane, known around the forums as SCrid2000, and he is CrackBerry's Member of the Month for April! Keep reading for a little Q&A with Shane.

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We love nothing more here at CrackBerry than seeing our community grow, and we've seen a lot of friendships start right here in our forums. Heck, Bla1ze and I met through CrackBerry, and we're still together three years later. However, there is another couple that met in the forums, and they not only are still together, but they got married this weekend!

John and Tara met back in 2010 through a BBM group that John started. Tara joined the group, and over time the two realized that they had a lot in common, and they grew closer. Eventually they met, and the rest, as they say, is history. Being BlackBerry addicts, they threw a twist in their wedding: they broadcast the whole thing over a BBM group, so their friends from CrackBerry could be there with them.

Twenty-six of their friends joined the BBM group, sharing the nuptials and pictures via chat. The wedding was lovely, with the happy couple on the beach surrounded by family and friends, both near and far. Is this the first wedding held via BBM? We're not sure, but it's the first we've heard of, and everyone at CrackBerry wishes John and Tara all the best. Congratulations!

Drop into the forums and leave your congratulations for the newlyweds

Here at CrackBerry we love seeing innovative ways you guys are finding to use your devices. The BlackBerry PlayBook is pretty versatile, due to its small size, and people are finding many different scenarios where it makes sense for them to use one in place of other more traditional equipment. CrackBerry reader Heriberto sent us this email recently:

Just thought I would share this proud moment of mine. I serve as the Vice President of Hispanic Recruitment Services, Inc. www.hispanicrecruitment.com (still a start up company).

Also a faithful BlackBerry owner and proud user of the BlackBerry 9700 (waiting on AT&T to release the damn 9900). We are currently spearheading our video production and I am ecstatic to announce that we are using the BlackBerry PlayBook as the main source of video recording. (See photos attached.)

Through CrackBerry I decided to move forward with this product and have all the faith in the world that our final product will be great. Thank you for all your hard work and insight!!

The RIMpire is striking back!!!

Awesome! Thanks for sending this in to us Heriberto! Who else out there is using their PlayBook in a creative way? (No, paperweight doesn't count. :P) Let us know in the comments below. A couple more shots are after the break!

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Want to win an Otterbox Commuter case from CrackBerry.com? Keep reading for contest details.

I wanted to share with you guys my personal journey. No, it's not mind blowing or earth shattering but rather a little insight into my love/hate relationship with BlackBerry cases. Maybe you or someone you know can relate to my story. And to help you with your case issues, we're going to give one lucky reader their choice of OtterBox case for BlackBerry! Check out the contest details at the end of the post.

In the beginning...

I got my first BlackBerry about three years ago. I use T-Mobile, and chose a Curve 8320, my GoldBerry, and I was hooked from day one. I had no clue how to use it, and still remember the first time I tried sending a picture via BBM, and how confusing it was. After having my BlackBerry for a few weeks, I began to see little scratches on the battery cover, and decided I should try to do something to protect my new little friend from further damage. I headed to the mall and hit up the T-Mobile store (at the time still quite naive to accessories and how to find them cost effectively) and ended up with a black skin case that hugged my Curve and gave me a little peace of mind.

Anyone familiar with the first Curve series knows that battery pulls were a way of life, and crucial to keeping the dreaded hourglass off my screen. (Again, this was before I knew what I know now, aka alt + shift + delete to reset.) I wasn't fond of having to remove the case what seemed like constantly to pull my battery, but I knew it was the prudent thing to do if I wanted to keep my device from having any more blemishes. Time went on, and for the most part I kept to the plan and Goldie kept her skin on.

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It seems as though Research In Motion has stepped up their game a bit when it comes to uses and implementations of barcodes. As some of you know, you can add contacts and scan compatible barcodes with the latest BlackBerry Messenger. Research In Motion appears to be putting that offering to work for them by means of promotions and advertising. Free BlackBerry smartphones, free VIP sections at concerts and more. This could turn out to be quite the marketing effort, if it shows up on a larger scale. A interesting read from the CrackBerry forums tells the full details.

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This post comes from forums member Anastasia Beaverhousen. The original post can be seen here in the CrackBerry Forums. If you have BlackBerry story of your own, send it in to editorial(at)crackberry.com

Dearest BBM,

It's time we had a talk.

I know you're just acting out. I know you see my relationship with SMS and email. I know you're jealous. I know you're hurting. But they're just friends - I swear. It's just work messages! They'll never mean as much to me as you do. So let's talk about why you keep toying with my heart.

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This is probably one of the biggest fears of the dog-loving BlackBerry owner. Leaving your precious device along during the night, only to have it destroyed by mans best friend. Forums member michaelbrandonw had this happen. Check out the pictures if you think you can handle them. If you have a story of your own, send it to editorial(at)crackberry.com. 

I know these stories can be a little bit of comedic relief and heartbreaking in the same respect, so naturally I felt the need to share.

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This is a user submitted story from CrackBerry.com member Brett W (username ViperSBT). Note that the events of this story occur in the past - February 2008.

I bought my 8700 August of 2006 and have used and abused it the whole time. I have dropped it more times than I care to admit, but it has always worked and has never given me any problems nor has it ever lost its good looks... :) Last Christmas my wife (then 6 months pregnant) had a 12 month old Motorola Razor that with less use and abuse than my BlackBerry was in very rough shape (the screen was almost unusable). Being the thoughtful husband I am, I got her a new Blackberry 8310. She immediately fell in love with it and has been very happy with it ever since.

With that said, last Tuesday evening (Feb 5th, 2008) we were at our church by ourselves and I was working on some video editing for our church's television broadcast. My wife was monitoring weather on her BlackBerry and mine was sitting on the counter next to me. She was monitoring the weather because we were in the middle of a very bad storm and there were Tornado warnings. Everything we were watching was telling us the tornadoes were likely to be north of us, but that did not turn out to be the case.

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CrackBerry.com member Henk sent this one in.  Apparently you can bake a BlackBerry at 200C for 20 minutes and it will still function when its fully cooked.  Check out Henk's story.

"Thought you might like this...

Couple of weeks ago, like a good dad, I was baking with my 10 year old daughter. I couldn't find my Blackberry afterwards and was looking everywhere. Tried calling my number etc. When the cookies were done, I opened the oven and found my BlackBerry on the cookie tray: well cooked!!!

The plastic casing was warped, very soft and burning hot. After a cool down, to my immense surprise, when I switched it on, it worked...!

The keys were sticking a bit and the camera has lost some of its sharpness but otherwise, all is well. I have now picked up a new casing and it looks quite new again. They keys are OK again.

I quite liked the grunchy look but have to admit that it is easier to use in its original version."

As BlackBerry owners, we're pretty loyal to our beloved device, but I'm sure most of us can admit to having been tempted by the fruit of "another" on occasion. I often like to hop on YouTube and check out some of the un-boxing and review videos to see what some of the other devices have to offer, and while I won't be jumping ship any time soon, I must confess there are a lot of cool features the other guys have that make me a little jealous.

Instead of just sitting around green with envy, I decided to take a closer look at some of the neat things offered by HTC devices, the iPhone and Android handsets.  I wanted to see if I could replicate these features on my Bold or at the very least achieve similar functionality. Sure, our icons are pretty nice, but an interface like that of the HTC Touch HD certainly looks a heck of a lot better.  And yes we have a nice Manage Connections icon, but how about that handy WiFi toggle on the Treo Pro? While there's obviously nothing we can do about the current hardware, is there software available that can give us our favorite features offered by the competition? Let's find out.

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