Zoobos » RIM

DealBook: Despite RIM Takeover Talk, Hurdles Would Be High

Zubosky Jeff — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:07:55 +0000

Even if governmental objections to a takeover were overcome, Research in Motion's leaders are adamant about their company's course.

Gadgetwise Blog: Tablet Makers, More Fighting, Please

Zubosky Jeff — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:06:46 +0000

The tablet market is beginning to look like it is just an iPad market, and that is not good for consumers.

DealBook: BlackBerry Maker RIM Again Subject of Takeover Talk

Zubosky Jeff — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:04:41 +0000

As Google moves to buy Motorola Mobility, RIM, already under pressure from declining market share, is still an attractive prospect for takeover.

Gadgetwise: App Smart Extra: BlackBerry Navigators

Zubosky Jeff — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:52:55 +0000

BlackBerry users may want to know what navigation apps are available to them. There aren't many, but users have a few options.

Gadgetwise: Some PlayBook Tablets Are Recalled

Zubosky Jeff — Mon, 16 May 2011 20:09:06 +0000

RIM has recalled approximately 1,000 PlayBooks, due to an operating-system bug.

Gadgetwise: New BlackBerrys, Old Operating System

Zubosky Jeff — Mon, 02 May 2011 23:45:41 +0000

Research in Motion released new BlackBerrys today, but they still run on the older operating system, which the company itself has acknowledged is getting old.

Gadgetwise: BlackBerry’s Bridge to Nowhere

Zubosky Jeff — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:29:44 +0000

AT&T users are running into problems using the PlayBook's Bridge app to read e-mail and contacts stored on their BlackBerry smartphones.

Gadgetwise: Review of Reviews: The BlackBerry PlayBook

Zubosky Jeff — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:30:23 +0000

The reviews are in on the BlackBerry PlayBook and while critics like the hardware, overall, they have not been kind to the new tablet.

RIM Acts As Big Brother

Zubosky Jeff — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:41:44 +0000

Here is an interesting news coming out of RIM, the maker of the successful Blackberry. In an interview with ZDNet, the company’s CIO, Robin Bienfait, said that RIM records, well, pretty much everything you do within its walls,

Specifically, “all actions carried out on RIM’s internal network” are logged, which means emails, web browsing, and phone calls, all recorded for posterity. “I record everything,” said Bienfait, putting it bluntly.

Many office workers are accustomed to IT oversight of their computer habits — email is backed up for legal and data security purposes (though it’s rarely ever read) and many companies restrict employees from visiting certain websites — not just gambling/gaming/porn but also career and sometimes even “gossip” sites. But recording every phone call? Even for die-hard “employer rights” advocates, that’s a tough one to swallow.

Naturally Bienfait is concerned about leaks, as the company, like most of the current-era tech world, jealously guards the details about its upcoming product line. Should word get out about what RIM is working on, untold amounts of damage could be rained down on the company. Why, just imagine how many people would be knocking off the BlackBerry Storm and its mega-button design had they gotten wind of it in advance…

For the most part, employees seem to accept the Big Brother treatment, but things get dicey when employees have to deal with personal issues on work time — say, a divorce proceeding or medical conversations — things which they’d probably rather not have recorded permanently by Bienfait’s crew. Her advice: Bring in a cell phone and take the call there instead.

Just don’t do it on your corporate BlackBerry. Those are of course monitored too.

DoCoMo halts BlackBerry Bold sales due to overheating

Zubosky Jeff — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:31:24 +0000

NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan’s biggest mobile phone operator, said on Friday it has halted sales of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Bold because the phone can overheat while the battery is being recharged.

DoCoMo said it has sold about 4,000 high-end Bold phones, and about 30 users have complained the phone’s keyboard area had heated up. The company said it has received no reports of users getting burned or of phones catching on fire.

“This issue appears to be specifically limited to the BlackBerry Bold devices sold in Japan since last week and sales of BlackBerry Bold devices in other countries are unaffected by this matter,” RIM said in a statement.

RIM said it had ruled out a battery problem, but said the root cause is still being investigated.

NTT DoCoMo began selling the product in Japan last week and the companies hope to renew sales in Japan soon, RIM said.