Nilay Patel for The Verge:
It appears that the wild story of Fusion Garage has come to a sadly ignominious close: the manufacturer of the failed JooJoo and Grid10 tablets has all but disappeared, leaving behind only a database error on its website and a US PR firm that is quitting representation as of tomorrow.
Maybe Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan can send his resumé to RIM.
Matt Hartley:
After much consideration, he concluded that his company’s only hope was to abandon its long-held strategy, to acknowledge its shortcomings and embark on a radical new strategy. He ditched the company’s sputtering software business. He put teams to work developing new devices and he cut a billion-dollar software deal with one of the most powerful technology companies on the planet.Unfortunately for the shareholders of Research In Motion Ltd., the Canadian smartphone executive’s name was not Jim Balsillie or Mike Lazaridis. It was Stephen Elop, the Hamilton-born chief executive of Finnish mobile giant Nokia Corp.
I don’t think RIM can do it. They need to fire the co-CEOs and bring in someone with some imagination to clean house and get the company back on track.
Police are searching for someone who stole a semtrailer filled with $1.7 million worth of BlackBerry PlayBooks.
These are either the stupidest robbers ever, or more likely, RIM’s co-CEOs took a road trip. It is interesting to note that the truck was headed back to RIM’s headquarters in Ontario. Sounds like a truckload of returns to me.
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Credit where it’s due: the CEO of iOS game developer Monkeybin Studios has publicly apologized for a marketing foul-up that left a foul taste in some reviewer’s mouths.
The company recently released a side-scrolling shooter called Jumpship Thrust Control 2. In an attempt to drum up publicity for the new release, Monkeybin apparently contracted a third-party marketing firm to do some PR. This is where things went off the rails, according to the explanation posted by Monkeybin CEO Haakon Langaas Lageng.
They outsourced the job to a private marketing contractor, who proceeded over the next week or so to contact game review sites, requesting reviews of the newly released game. He attached 2 sample reviews to the emails and requested that, if the reviewer was pushed for time, they could copy and paste snippets from the email into their review.
This, of course, is a no-no for any ethically-minded game reviewer. “Copying and pasting snippets” is not only tantamount to plagiarism, but it also lets the marketing person direct the review.
Monkeybin was rightfully excoriated for this behavior, and now the company is attempting damage control by explaining that the marketing was done without their direct supervision, said according to Langeng.
“As the CEO of Monkeybin, this is, of course, completely my responsibility. Unfortunately, what was happening slipped my attention until yesterday.”
Rachel Weber for Gamesindustry.biz:
Zynga has raised $1 billion in its much anticipated IPO today, after offering its 100 million shares at $10 each.
Zynga is the casual game developer behind Facebook hits like Farmville and Cityville. The company has branched out to support other platforms including iOS.
MG Siegler responding to Josh Topolsky:
I don’t know about you, but when I read my favorite technology writers, I want an opinion. Is the iPhone 4S the best smartphone, or is it the Galaxy Nexus? I need to buy one, I can’t buy both. Topolsky never gives us that. Instead, he pussyfoots around it. One is great at some things, the other is great at others. Barf.
Honesty rules.
Globe and Mail:
Research In Motion Ltd.’s top executives cut their salaries to $1 as they delivered yet more dismal news to investors, telling the world the product that was supposed to save the company will come out almost a year later than promised.
Still $1 too much.
Defining what a journalist is has become more difficult in the last decade. Mathew Ingram at GigaOM takes a look at the challenges and how things have changed with Twitter and bloggers entering the fray.
Tom Krazit for paidContent.org:
As they tried once again Thursday evening to urge financial analysts to look ahead to a brighter future while once again delaying the release of a crucial product, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis failed to give anyone a reason to think RIM will be a player in mobile during 2012 or to explain why they should still have their jobs.
We’re happy Balsillie and Lazaridis are around if just for the comic relief.
Joanna Stern:
Dell is still planning on being a lead player in the mobile laptop space and stressed that it has been spending time developing higher-end, premium laptops like the XPS 14z. Dell’s Marketing Director Alison Gardner was very clear about the strategy: “Thin and powerful is where it is at for us.”
Dell quits MP3 players. Dell quits tablets. Dell quits netbooks.
Nielsen:
Teens have officially joined the mobile Data Tsunami, more than tripling mobile data consumption in the past year while maintaining their stronghold as the leading message senders. Using recent data from monthly cell phone bills of 65,000+ mobile subscribers who volunteered to participate in the research, Nielsen analyzed mobile usage trends among teens in the United States. In the third quarter of 2011, teens age 13-17 used an average of 320 MB of data per month on their phones, increasing 256 percent over last year and growing at a rate faster than any other age group. Much of this activity is driven by teen males, who took in 382 MB per month while females used 266 MB.
Knowing my love of Heineken, Igor Venturi sent me this picture today. I must have one of these.
This year marks our 11th annual look back at the searches that compose the year’s Zeitgeist—the spirit of the time. With Zeitgeist, we look at the most popular and the fastest rising terms—the terms with the highest growth in 2011—in many categories across many countries around the world.
The numbers are in and they don’t look good. According to the company, they shipped 14.1 million BlackBerrys and 150,000 PlayBooks. Keep in mind, those are shipped numbers, not sold.
Net income for the quarter was $265 million, compared with net income of $911 million in the same quarter last year. Adjusted net income for the third quarter was $667 million, according to RIM.
“Despite the challenges faced in the third quarter, the BlackBerry subscriber base grew to almost 75 million customers around the world. In addition, RIM launched a range of new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones globally and introduced holiday promotions that helped drive growth in the installed base of BlackBerry PlayBook users,” said Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, Co-CEOs at Research In Motion. “RIM continues to have strong technology, unique service capabilities and a large installed base of customers, and we are more determined than ever to capitalize on our strengths to overcome the recent execution challenges surrounding product launches and the resulting financial performance.”
Who are they kidding?
Katy Tur for NBC New York:
Twice at 526 114th St., and once at 556 114th St., the suspects demanded the victims hand over their iPhones, police said.The first victim complied, but the second only had a Droid, according to police. The thieves apparently didn’t want a Droid — so they took cash instead.
Another victim said she was insulted the robbers didn’t want her BlackBerry. Sad that the criminals have better taste than they do.
Hilarious.
My name is Strunk And they call me White Here to teach you how to put the pen down right I see that your writing is a little bit wild These are the Elements of Style.Will Strunk in the house but don’t call me junior Grammatical genius. Number one word groomer. I teach English 8 at the school of Cornell Choose your words carefully or I’ll put you through hell.E.B. White on the mic, former student of Strunk A story that flows is all I need to get crunk Write for the New Yorker, papers marked up in scarlet I spin webs with words like my name was Charlotte.“In the last analysis” That’s a bankrupt expression It’s clear you’re not learning So listen to my lesson.Omit needless words. Good writing is concise When I was in your class, you repeated that thrice 9 times out of 10 ‘student body’ is wrong Say students instead. Move your story right along.My name is Strunk And they call me White Here to teach you how to put the pen down right I see that your writing is a little bit wild These are the Elements of Style.Split infinitive Never definitive Sounds unintelligent Dumb and inelegant. Just say it like you meant Always write with intent Each word precious Like Benjamin’s that you spent.Do not join independent clauses with a comma. But I love it, it’s cool. I don’t care if you wanna.Jails and schools should not be called facilities. I hate all these writers with second-rate abilities. Don’t use dialect ‘less your ear be good You cover East Harlem, but you ain’t from the hood.Be clear brief bold with each story told If it’s your goal to turn ink to gold.My name is Strunk And they call me White Now you know how to put the pen down right When I read your work, you know I’m gonna smile Those were the Elements of Style.
[Via Poynter]
Joshua Topolsky talking about MG Siegler and John Gruber’s comments about the Galaxy Nexus:
This doesn’t get under my skin because I have some kind of allegiance to one brand or another. It doesn’t get under my skin because I fundamentally disagree that Android 4.0 lacks the polish of iOS.It gets under my skin because it is a pompous, privileged, insulting, and myopic viewpoint which reeks of class warfare — and it is indicative of a growing sentiment I see amongst people in the tech community.
Popcorn.
Brian X. Chen
Both companies have challenges ahead. Nokia is trying to regain relevance in the mobile market, hence the partnership with Microsoft. And T-Mobile USA has been positioning itself to be acquired by AT&T. The two men were asked how their companies were going to help each other during this transition period.
They have to be praying that this works.
OHK Labs has announced the release of SportsPicker Mobile for iOS. The software is available for free download from the App Store.
SportsPicker takes a page from fantasy sports leagues and online sports betting systems, giving your interest in sports a social twist. Using SportsPicker, you identify the teams you expect to win (pro football, baseball, hockey, and soccer are supported, along with college football and basketball). You can then compare your results against your friends, for bragging rights. Data from vedonlyontiyhtiot.com suggests that social engagement in sports betting platforms enhances user satisfaction, and with SportsPicker, you gain points by picking winners. A weighted odds system rewards players who correctly back underdog teams, adding even more excitement to the experience.
SportsPicker not only tracks your scores against friends’ points via a leaderboard, but it also adds an exciting layer of competition by allowing you to create private groups, where you can challenge specific friends or coworkers. The app enhances the experience by pushing notifications to your phone, reminding you when games are about to start or when there’s an important update in the standings. With real-time stats and results, you’ll always be in the loop. Whether you’re a casual fan or a seasoned sports enthusiast, SportsPicker makes every game more engaging and competitive with friends.
Just when we thought Samsung was building momentum with the release of the Galaxy Nexus, @T_Bone sent word that the lineup at the new Potbelly’s Sandwich Shop in New York is longer than those waiting for the new phone.
Sorry Samsung.
Photo from @T_Bone
Divya Manian:
A few concerns keep bobbing up now and then for Web developers, one of which relates to how to lay out a given design. Developers have made numerous attempts to do so with existing solutions. Several articles have been written on finding the holy grail of CSS layouts, but to date, not a single solution works without major caveats. At the W3Conf, I gave a talk on how the CSS Working Group is attempting to solve the concerns of Web developers with multiple proposals. There are six layout proposals that are relevant to us, all of which I described in the talk:
I hate caveats.
Zach Epstein:
The turnout isn’t quite what Samsung’s stiffest competitor draws when it releases a new iPhone, but we rarely see lines form for smartphone launches so this could indicate healthy demand for the world’s first 4G LTE-enabled Ice Cream Sandwich phone.
Okay, lineup is a relative term. I’ve seen this many people queue for a coffee.
Hunter Walk has rounded up some comments from prominent technology journalists about what they think about the state of tech journalism today. Apple comes up a couple of times. for example: Jason Kincaid, TechCrunch:
“… if you compare the traffic numbers, it’s very rare for a new startup launch to come close to the popularity of, say, a random Apple rumor (which I think are the lowest form of tech reporting, btw).
GuitarToolkit 2.0 is a huge new release of one of the App Store’s top-rated apps for guitar players. GuitarToolkit 2.0 features an all-new iPad version that is free for existing customers, and GuitarToolkit+, an amazing new in-app purchase that adds interactive Chord Sheets, Custom Instruments, and Advanced Metronome with a powerful drum machine. Advanced Metronome is available now for iPad and coming soon to iPhone and iPod touch.GuitarToolkit is a collection of essential guitar tools, including an extremely accurate tuner, a precision metronome and a massive library of chords, scales and arpeggios – all on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.
This app is made by Agile Partners, the same people that make AmpKit+, TabToolkit and other music apps. When it comes to music apps for the iOS, I love what these guys do. I own every app they make.
Matt Alexander:
While I, of course, agree that the protests this year were of enormous significance, I cannot help but feel that this award is somewhat contrived.The inclusion of the Occupy movements across the United States in the same article as the bloody overthrow of Gaddafi? Seems a bit much.
I’ve seen a number of comments similar to this today.
Want to shred like Megadeth? Never thought you could? Guess again. This is the app for that. The Dave Mustaine: Guitar Prodigy interactive App gets you — whether beginner or expert — playing the right notes at the right times within minutes — on your guitar.
I’ll definitely be giving this a try.
Marcelo Somers:
Companies like HP are more excited about telling people who they are and what they do instead of showing it through their actions.I’m a big fan of branding as a process of defining who you are, but the failure of business today is that we’re breeding a generation of employees who are more excited about telling than showing.
One of the things that Apple does really well is delivering technology and products. It doesn’t make promises before a product is released, but rather it wows people when it goes to market.
Claire Davenport for the Globe and Mail:
Almost a quarter of the European Union’s 500 million people have never used the Internet and there is a widening division between the web-savvy north of Europe and the poorer south and east, figures released on Wednesday showed
The countries with the lowest number of overall Internet use also tended to have the worst-developed broadband infrastructure. Romania and Bulgaria fared particularly poorly, along with Greece, Cyprus and Portugal.
