When a job change left him without his beloved BlackBerry, Kevin Michaluk did what any conscientious addict would do: He started a support group. Now, four years later, Michaluk’s CrackBerry.com fan site boasts more than three million members, 30 million monthly page views, and a place among the world’s 1,500 most popular websites.

Despite the unorthodox treatment he sought for his condition – namely, more BlackBerry use – Michaluk remains in clear command of his faculties, as demonstrated in the interview he graciously granted me during a tour of the Communitech Hub here in Waterloo Region this week.It was Michaluk’s first pilgrimage to Canada’s tech capital, where he was granted an extensive tour of Research In Motion’s facilities before taking an in-depth look at the broader tech ecosystem from which RIM, not to mention 800 other companies, have sprouted in recent decades. He was clearly impressed not only by the work he witnessed at RIM, but by the robustness of the can-do culture that has come to be known as the Waterloo Way of innovative entrepreneurship.

“The bottom line here really is that beyond RIM, the Waterloo area really is a Silicon Valley of the north, with a lot of talent with a strong worth ethic housed within a collaborative environment,” Michaluk blogged afterward. “It’s a recipe for great things.” (Full post)

For more on Michaluk’s impressions of RIM and Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem, check out these clips from our interview, produced by our friends at Modevation Media here in the Hub.

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng0GK0JG6g4

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcbtx8_ed9M

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xq7sNO8yTE

Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykwjHjMwuhA