blackberry

Just when it seemed things couldn't get much worse for BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM), the company has been slammed by a massive service outage that has left smartphone users around the world unable to make calls or send text messages. ... Reports suggest BlackBerry users in Europe, the Mid East, South America and Africa have been the hardest-hit by the recent outage. It's estimated that about 10 million Research in Motion customers are affected by the outage, which started early Monday morning, Eastern Standard Time. The problem has prevented BlackBerry users from completing phone ... (view more)

Less than a month after BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) announced it would lay off thousands of employees , Sprint has now revealed that it will not release the RIM's PlayBook 4G tablet, dealing the already hurting firm yet another blow. ... According to Sprint, the decision to not release the PlayBook 4G was reached mutually with RIM, and is related primarily to technical incompatibility. RIM, Sprint Headed in Different Directions "We apologize for any inconvenience but the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook tablet that was announced in January for summer availability will no longer be coming to ... (view more)

Social networking has been blamed for helping promote rioting and looting in the United Kingdom. But the culprit is not, as some have assumed, Twitter. Riots broke out in the Tottenham area of London this past Saturday after a protest about the ... shooting of a local man by police two days earlier. The initial riot has been followed by numerous outbreaks of violence and looting in other areas of the city. Twitter Users Ahead of Media in Reporting Violence The events have been discussed extensively on Twitter, with local residents reporting on incidents before they are covered by mainstream media ... (view more)

Microsoft and Research in Motion (RIM) have announced a partnership that will see the Redmond-based firm's Bing search engine used on the BlackBerry. It's a surprise move that some are speculating might indicate an even deeper relationship in the ... future between the two tech giants. The Bing announcement was made at the recent BlackBerry World trade show, when RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis shocked the crowd by introducing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Together, the two revealed that Bing will soon be found on both the BlackBerry (and its various iterations) and the newly-released RIM PlayBook ... (view more)

Canadian firm Research in Motion (RIM) has finally released its much-hyped PlayBook tablet , a new rival to Apple's iPad. Critics, however, are unsure of Playbook's offerings. The PlayBook boasts a number of features that are meant to set it apart ... from the pack. These include a proprietary operating system (OS) designed to maximize multitasking, and a touch screen navigation system. Tethering Options a Double-Edged Sword It's the PlayBook's many tethering options -- which connect the device seamlessly to RIM's BlackBerry -- that really distinguishes the tablet from those offered by ... (view more)

Business users may love their BlackBerry smartphones, but governments in the Middle East are not so keen. Three countries have issued different degrees of bans on the devices' functions. The biggest conflict comes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), ... where officials there accuse the device of breaching local laws on data security. The problem is that messages sent on a BlackBerry are encrypted and immediately sent to servers in Canada for processing and storage. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The UAE frowns upon such activity because it demands the ... (view more)

On the same day Apple released its much-anticipated iPhone 4G, Canadian tech firm Research in Motion (RIM) has announced an impressive 20 per cent increase in its fiscal first quarter net income. Given the hype surrounding the new iPhone, it may be ... the last good news for RIM for a while. Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion produces the popular BlackBerry smartphone, a rather ubiquitous device within most modern business environments. For some time analysts have predicted that the BlackBerry could face a serious threat from the iPhone -- which is seen more as a pleasure than business- ... (view more)

Kisses have the power to alleviate pain, mend a broken heart and show someone you care. Now, thanks to a security researcher in Asia, "Kisses" also have the ability to rid your smartphone of malicious spyware. Kisses, a free software application, ... can detect spyware and hidden programs on most BlackBerry devices and tell users what is going on inside their mobile phone. Cell Phone Spyware a Big Problem The presence of spyware has become problematic in recent months, primarily due to the fact that many malicious spyware programs can be purchased for as little as $50. For that nominal ... (view more)

Waterloo-based Research In Motion's (RIM's) is receiving plenty of flak from its users after a second outage in less than a week. The outage left users of the popular handheld without service from Tuesday evening until the following morning. "One ... outage is bad enough, but when potential customers hear of two in one week, they get very nervous," said one poster on the Crackberry blog, a forum that keeps users of the handheld in touch with one another and updated on recent events related to the device. (Source: informationweek.com ) Most concerning of all the negative sentiments were threats by ... (view more)

It's not often you hear about smartphones being infiltrated by hackers using phishing schemes, but a recent Research in Motion security fix is designed to prevent just that kind of issue. The Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion, which ... produces the extremely popular BlackBerry smartphone, late last week issued a patch for a reported vulnerability which left many of its users susceptible to attack by phishing hackers. According to reports, the flaw could allow a remote hacker to fool a BlackBerry owner into visiting a malicious website with their handheld multimedia device. A BlackBerry ... (view more)