∞ RIM is a 'wounded puppy'

Written by

Hugo Miller and Matt Walcoff:

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM)’s decline below book value for the first time in nine years leaves the BlackBerry maker worth less than the net value of its property, patents and other assets in a sign of investors’ lowered faith.“This is a wounded puppy,” Timothy Ghriskey, who oversees $2 billion as chief investment officer of Solaris Group LLC in Bedford Hills, New York.

Investors had the chance to kick the co-CEOs to the curb at the last annual meeting and they didn’t. Instead they asked the pair softball questions and accepted their lame explanations. The downfall of the stock is much the fault of the investors as it is the CEOs at this point.

∞ BSA acquires Fusion Ads

Written by

Chris and Michael, Fusion’s previous owners, have done a great job building and running the network. We’re honored to be the new owners, and plan to build upon the great work they have done. We will continue to run Fusion Ads as it’s own standalone network. The value we bring for Fusion publishers is our ability to run these types of networks efficiently, profitably, and with great care toward the community that they help support. The value we bring for advertisers is similar, but with the added benefit of our software running their campaigns that will have real-time insight into performance and hassle-free billing and creative management. We look forward to working hard to serve the Fusion Ads advertisers and publishers for years to come.

I was with Buy Sell Ads for two years before joining Fusion in September. Now I’m back, sort of. The BSA people were always good to me and the way ads are done on The Loop under Fusion will not change.

∞ iWatch has Bluetooth

Written by

Joshua Schnell:

For instance, the iPod nano doesn’t have built in Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, so wirelessly connecting it to your audio systems is out of the question.Well, at least, that was a problem. A new Kickstarter project, named The Proof, has the lofty goal of changing all of that by including not only Bluetooth into their iWatch case design, but also waterproofing.

Lots of cool Kickstarter projects around. Good find by Schnell.

∞ Batman: Arkham Asylum lands on Mac

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Feral Interactive announced the release Thursday of Batman: Arkham Asylum for the Mac. It’s available for $39.99 either for download through the Mac App Store and other services, or as a boxed product. Batman: Arkham Asylum is the award-winning stealth-based … Continued

∞ Microsoft accuses Google of having no vision or roadmap

Written by

Microsoft’s Tom Rizzo:

In cancelling this group of social media-like services, it is clear that Google is not in tune with the market needs and does not have a product roadmap and clear vision for productivity for their business customers. The Microsoft Office team does. Our vision demonstrates a clear focus on what business customers are looking for, such as intuitive interfaces across a wide range of devices.Google releases experimental products and tracks adoption to determine whether to continue providing them. Its products are like spaghetti, Google throws them up against the wall to see if they stick.

Michael Gartenberg’s take on Twitter is classic. “pot to kettle, you’re black.”

∞ Google's missed opportunity

Written by

Matt Alexander:

I have nothing against Android, but I find it brutally frustrating to watch Google flounder in the face of the professionalism offered by iOS, and even Windows Phone.

∞ Graceful degradation

Written by

Smashing Magazine:

Frequently, when I discuss CSS3 with other developers, the issue of stubborn clients comes up. They tell me that even though they personally don’t think a website should look the same in all browsers and they’re eager to try all of these new techniques, their clients insist that their website should look the same, so the developers are stuck with the same Web development techniques that we used five to ten years ago. Their clients just don’t “get” graceful degradation.

When we were doing the redesign for The Loop last summer, I told Phil that I don’t care about old browsers. Modern browsers only.

∞ Apple is not worried about the Kindle Fire

Written by

BGR:

Following a meeting with the pair of Apple chief officers, Reitzes delivered a note to investors suggesting that the company sees Amazon’s forthcoming tablet as good news for the iPad. The Kindle Fire’s low price point makes it accessible, but Apple believes it further fragments the Android ecosystem, which may cause consumers to flee to the iPad.

This is just what I said back in September. Kindle Fire will be successful, but it’s not an iPad killer.

∞ My iPad guitar setup

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People have asked for my iPad guitar setup, so I thought I’d post a few pictures of what I use. Many of the people that email me ask how I write songs on the iPad. The fact is, I don’t. … Continued

∞ Syncing documents with iCloud

Written by

Federico Viticci at MacStories

What’s interesting about this folder when used with two Macs under the same iCloud account is that it provides a basic “drop box” functionality for files that don’t necessarily belong to an iCloud-enabled app.

You knew it was hidden in there somewhere.

∞ Pro Tools reality distortion field

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Air Users Blog: Avid are sticking to their Pro Tools 10 pricing guns (see what I did there?) and I’m told that they are internally patting themselves on the back for such a great product launch. I’m also told that … Continued

∞ Sandboxing Mac apps

Written by

Arnold Kim at Mac Rumors:

Developers of these sandboxed applications must take special measures to break up their application into individual processes that only are able to do exactly what they need. Apple still allows user initiated actions to perform as expected and override the sandbox, but app-initiated actions in sandboxed applications will be restricted. This means that system wide file access and inter-app scripting and interactions will not be allowed.

Arnold has a great piece about Apple’s plans to sandbox apps. While it was supposed to happen this month, Apple put it off until 2012. It’s definitely worth a read.

∞ Android phones are cheap

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Reuters: Costly hardware failures are more common on Android devices than on Apple Inc iPhones and Research In Motion Inc BlackBerry phones, which have strict control over the components used in their devices, WDS data showed. You get what you … Continued

∞ How MarsEdit got its name

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Brent Simmons: I was thinking about names I thought were awesome, and remembered one of my favorite place names: the Free Mars café in Belltown. It occurred to me that “Mars” was perfect, because Mars is cool, it fits with … Continued

∞ Roger Waters takes The Wall on tour in 2012

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JamBase: Roger Waters, the co-founder and principal songwriter of the archetypal progressive band Pink Floyd, has announced the return of the historic production of “The Wall” to North America in 2012. Tickets for “The Wall” 2012 go on sale beginning … Continued

∞ RIM shares fall to seven year low

Written by

Reuters:

Research In Motion shares fell to a seven-year low in Toronto on Wednesday as the market digested further evidence of the smartphone maker’s declining share of the lucrative U.S. market.

How much more evidence do you need?

∞ Retrospect goes solo, releases Retrospect 9 for Mac

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Retrospect – the long-time backup software for Mac and Windows – has been spun off as an independent company. The eponymous software publisher has also announced the release of Retrospect 9 for Mac. Retrospect 9 features data de-duplication, network backup … Continued

∞ Czech carrier gives up on iPhone

Written by

Bloomberg: Telefonica Czech Republic AS won’t sell Apple’s new iPhone 4S and will end sales of all Apple’s models because of Apple’s business terms, Hospodarske Noviny reported, citing Telefonica’s local spokesman Hany Farghali. That might be a good business decision … Continued

∞ New world journalism

Written by

Mat Honan for Gizmodo: Mobile devices are turning us all into reporters. The citizen journalist hasn’t been such an important player since the days of the American Revolution. That’s largely been a cell phone phenomena; everyday people can both record … Continued

∞ Brits uphold Apple firing employee after posting on Facebook

Written by

Josh Ong for AppleInsider:

A British Employment Tribunal has upheld Apple’s decision to dismiss a retail store employee who violated company policy by posting derogatory comments about his employer on the Facebook social networking site.

You can’t break the rules and then complain the rules are unfair. Well, you can, but…

∞ Metal Month at Toontrack

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Testament, Megadeth, Arch Enemy, Exodus, Killswitch Engage and Devildriver all call the same man to lay the final hand on their albums: Britain’s Andy Sneap. This highly in-demand producer/engineer has worked on numerous Grammy Award-nominated albums, is known worldwide for having produced some of the heaviest releases this last decade and has had an instrumental role in shaping the sound of metal music as we know it in the new millennium. Now Toontrack is proud to present the first ever drum sample library to bear his unmistakable seal; Metal Machine EZX.

This is what I love about Toontrack. They go out and get the best engineers and drummers and work with them for their drum packages. As users, we end up getting the best sounding drums that Toontrack can provide. That’s commitment to its customers.

∞ Futuristic concept videos

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John Gruber responding to criticism about how Microsoft wasted time publishing concept videos: Putting this “Future Visions” video in public squanders attention that Microsoft could otherwise have focused on its current and imminent new products — like Windows Phone. Take … Continued

∞ Macworld's free iPhone 4S Starter Guide

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Whether you stood in early-morning lines, pre-ordered far in advance, or are still waiting for that package to arrive at your doorstep, let the editors at Macworld help you get to know Apple’s new smartphone with our free iPhone 4S … Continued