Breaking the CrackBerry habit

Addled BlackBerry users looking to indulge their inclinations or control their CrackBerry habits now have a Website on which to find both a fix and a cure. 

CrackBerry.com offers help forums, beginner’s guides, downloads, an accessory store, and social networking features. The site is also updated daily with news, reviews and celebrity Blackberry sightings. 

For hardcore BlackBerry users, the site offers a 'Rehab Section' with hints on cures for things like CrackBerry addiction and ‘BlackBerry Thumb’. 

This latter element may be particularly useful for afficionados of BrickBreaker, the insidious arcade-style game which has hooked users the length and breadth of Wall Sreet.

An article on the front page of the Wall Street Journal this week recounts the sorry experience of Richard Fuld, chief executive of Lehman Brothers  who became so addicted that he was forced to take the game off his Blackberry.

"I was playing so much," says a plaintive Fuld, who had used it to relax on the plane or in the car. He missed it so much he had it reinstalled, but it's no longer on the main menu. That removes the temptation, he says, "for the most part". 

According to the WSJ report, the game has attracted legions of addicts who will even play during high-stakes Wall Street conference calls.  

The full cautionary tale is available for free view in The Baltimore Sun.