So Obama is going to be the first president that's going to have to relinquish his CrackBerry when entering the White House. Because, you know, no private correspondence or we end up with that whole Palin hacker mess all over again. And also the Presidential Privacy Act, yada yada yada. At least he's going to try to keep a laptop in the Oval Office.

I know that if someone took away my BlackBerry I would shit a brick(breaker), but the new president elect seems to be taking it all in stride, scaling down the number of messages he sends out, though not the ones he receives.

Which makes us wonder, what do Obama texts look like? No, not the ones that us plebes got, announcing his running mate, but his personal "Where you at's?"

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Much like Al Gore inventing the Internet, the prospect that John McCain invented the BlackBerry is something the liberals are going to latch on to, even though, technically, they're taking the assertion out of context. Speaking to reporters on the campaign trail, McCain's top economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin responded to a question about what his candidate did as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets — by holding up his BlackBerry and pronouncing, "He did this. Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce Committee. So you're looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that's what he did."

Indeed, manufacturer Research In Motion might beg to differ, as might McCain himself. But what Holtz-Eakin did wasn't just throw seasoned bait to the left-wing attack dogs, but he also connected John McCain with DESTROYING AMERICAN FAMILIES!!!

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Runway shows aren't cheap, what with the decor, bids for Bryant Park permits, and complimentary eight balls needed to get models out of bed in the morning. So corporate sponsorship is par the course for these events — to pay the bills, yes, but also because a brand's involvement in Fashion Week supposedly proffers an air of "cool" upon the paying customer. (Hence, Oral B's presence at the House of Cassette show, among others. Indeed, the models all had very white, brittle teeth, from brushing after throwing up.)

But while Evian and Revlon are natural fits in an environment where water and cosmetics are the only things in heavy rotation, some of this year's Fashion Week sponsors point to a disturbing trend in financial outsourcing:

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CelebrityBlackBerrySightings.com is, as you might infer, a website devoted to chronicling celebrities with their BlackBerrys. This is like Celebrity Baby Blog, except instead of human spawn, there are pictures of stars with beautiful RIM devices. On this website you might learn that both Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson have already scored themselves the new BlackBerry Bold, unavailable to the general public. Unless you're Canadian. [CBBS]

When a trio of ABC News writers were asked to sign a waiver agreeing not to be compensated for checking their BlackBerry when they were off the clock, a mini debate began between the news network and the Writers’ Guild of America, East, which wants to make sure its members aren't being required to maintain a 24/7 workplace without compensation. The dispute, since resolved (though the Times doesn't explain what terms were reached), raised an issue we often hear from media types with and without guild representation: Everybody wants a BlackBerry, but nobody wants to be required to be on call after they leave the office. And now, the issue reintroduces itself at none other than the Times: Later this summer, as the newspaper's IT department switches to Microsoft Exchange, staffers will be able to access their company email on practically any smartphone, not just BlackBerrys. Meaning the iPhone-toting geeks will also be expected to interrupt their sleep when their gadget dings. Suckers.

Politicians! Without a Democratic primary plotline to update, Politico grabs this evergreen off the shelf to report on how business on The Hill has changed with everyone thumbing away at their email. "While average citizens still reach out to their elected representatives via letters or e-mails to a general inbox, donors and friends are more likely to have a member’s personal e-mail address — and with it, a virtual hotline to the member’s hip." [Politico]

"Are you checking your email in the bathroom?" asks the New York Post [Ed: In that annoying way they have of asking a question, and then answering it a moment later] before adding, "You're not alone."

Yep, forget about compulsive overeaters, substance abusers and crazy pop stars who insist they're fine, and then wipe greasy chicken residue all over their borrowed silk gowns. The newest epidemic to hit the inner-city streets is none other than email addiction, and it's already affecting nearly one out of every two bathroom stall users in a lavatory near you.

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72 hours ago, financial analysts across the country were devastated by an eleven hour lapse in their Blackberry service. Today, the Times brings us their stories, like this one, from Omniture marketing director Stuart Gold.

“I started freaking out,” he said. “I started taking it apart. Turning it off. Turning it on. I took the battery out and cleaned it on my shirt. I was running around my hotel like a freak. It’s very sad. I love this thing.”

At 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, full of anxiety about the prospect of spending a traveling day untethered, Mr. Gold awoke and made a beeline for his still motionless phone. At 7 a.m., it started vibrating with activity. “I breathed a sigh of relief,” he said. “Life was good.”

And there's so, so much more.

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After a terrifying eleven hour lapse in service, Blackberry users from coast to coast can finally rest easy, and resume their normal day-to-day activity of obnoxiously checking their emails every two seconds.

But while some are simply "relieved that this whole thing is finally over," others are still somewhat traumatized by the events that left them utterly unreachable for nearly eleven grueling hours.

"Eleven hours!" whined one disgruntled Blackberry user. "Eleven hours without my Microsoft Outlook calendar! Geez, do you have any idea how many games of Brick Breaker I could have played in that time?"

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