BlackBerry News

RIM In Talks With Hulu To Bring Hulu Plus To The BlackBerry PlayBook

by Robb Dunewood on April 26, 2011 · 0 comments

Hulu for BlackBerry PlayBook

If you happened to get a BlackBerry PlayBook on April 19th, the day Research in Motion’s first tablet computing device launched, you may have noticed that Hulu actually worked on the device.  The BlackBerry PlayBook has a full fidelity web browser that supports Flash, so, there was no technical reason that Hulu wouldn’t run on the PlayBook similarly to the way that it runs on your desktop web browsers.  This was the case at least until Hulu blocked its popular video viewing service from the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Well, those of you that really want to watch Hulu on your Playbook, RIM is working on a deal with Hulu that may bring Hulu Plus to the BlackBerry PlayBook.  Hulu Plus is Hulu’s premium service that works on non PC devices like the iPhone, iPad, Sony Bravia TVs, eventually Android Devices, and the odds are good that if you are willing to shell out the $7.99 per month for Hulu Plus, BlackBerry PlayBook users will get access to it as well.

[Via Yahoo!]

 

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Research In Motion Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis Abrubtly Ends BBC Interview Because Of “Unfair” Questions

by Robb Dunewood on April 13, 2011 · 0 comments

Mike Lazaridis

Research in Motion co-CEO, Mike Lazaridis, abruptly ended a BBC interview after repeatedly being asked questions that he felt weren’t fair.  BBC’s technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, after questioning Lazaridis about the BlackBerry PlayBook which will launch next Tuesday, turned the topic to RIM’s “problems they’ve had with security and various arguments with India and governments in the Middle East.”

Lazaridis took exception with not only the question, but how it was characterized stating:

“You implied that we have a security problem, we don’t have a security problem … we’ve just been singled out, because we’re so successful around the world. It’s an iconic product, used by business, it’s used by leaders, it’s used by celebrities, it’s used by consumers, it’s used by teenagers, we were just singled out.”

When questioned a second time about “RIM’s security issues, Lazaridis responded, “it’s over … you can’t use that Rory it’s just not fair.” Then he told the cameraman to turn it off…

I can’t say that I blame Lazaridis for getting upset.  The questions where phrased in a way that makes it look as though the BlackBerry has a security issue.  The issue, actually, is that the Indian government and a few governments in the Middle East cannot crack RIM’s security which would allow them to monitor communications being sent over their citizens BlackBerry devices.  Mike Lazaridus is, however, the co-CEO of a multi-billion company.  He probably should have just said no comment, it’s a matter of national security, and, I can’t talk about further.  Hindsight, however, is always 20/20…

See the video here…  [via CrackBerry]

 

 

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Research in Motion Introduces BlackBerry Trade-Up Program In Canada

by Robb Dunewood on April 13, 2011 · 1 comment

BlackBerry Trade-Up Program

Research in Motion has announced that it’s BlackBerry Trade-Up Program, introduced initially in the United States back in February, is now available in Canada.  The BlackBerry Trade-Up Program allows existing BlackBerry customers that would like to upgrade to a newer BlackBerry device to trade in their older model handsets and receive up to $120 off the purchase price of a new BlackBerry.

Head over to BlackBerryTradeUp.com for more information…

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BlackBerry App World To Get An “Update All” Button

by Robb Dunewood on April 6, 2011 · 1 comment

BlackBerry App World

During the MobileMonday Toronto event on April 4th,  Tyler Lessard, RIM VP of Global Alliances and Developer Relations, said that BlackBerry App World will be receiving an “Update All”  button in an upcoming release.  If you more than a few applications installed, chances are you’ve visited BlackBerry App World and had to update more than just one.  This is a real pain because, currently, you have to update each app individually.  An update all button will bring functionality found in the iPad, iPhone, Android, etc. to the BlackBerry App World…

[via theBerryFix]

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RIM Inks Deal With Intellectual Ventures And Gains Access To Over 30,000 Patents

by Robb Dunewood on March 31, 2011 · 0 comments

Research in Motion Patents

Big companies tech companies like Research in Motion seem to constantly find themselves fighting a never ending wave of patent infringement law suites, often times frivolous claims that don’t really have a chance to win at trial.  The problem is that these companies, even if it is almost a certainty that they will successfully defend themselves, have to incur the expense of doing so, and, it is often easier to ‘join em” as it is simply too expensive to ‘beat em‘ all…

This is exactly what Research in Motion has done when they signed a deal with patent holding firm Intellectual Ventures as they now have access to their over 30,000 patents.

Intellectual Ventures offers an efficient way to access the invention rights companies need to stay competitive within the market,” Mario Obeidat, the patent company’s head of telecom licensing, said on Wednesday in a statement.

Terms of the deals have not be released, but, we would have to bet the the price RIM paid was a lot less than having to deal with thousands of potential lawsuits individually.

[Read]

 

 

The United States needs to do a lot of work to combat the problem of patent trolling, which big companies are just as guilty of as the little patent holding companies, but, we will leave that for a different post…
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RIM Advises OS6 Users To Disable Javascript In BlackBerry Browser To Prevent Exploit From Executing

by Robb Dunewood on March 16, 2011 · 1 comment

Disable JavaScript In BlackBerry Browser

At Pwn2Own 2011 three security researchers exploited multiple WebKit vulnerabilities in the BlackBerry Browser found in devices running BlackBerry 6.  The trio chained an information disclosure bug to a separate integer overflow flaw in the open-source WebKit to hack the BlackBerry device and steal the contact list and image database.

To prevent the exploit Research in Motion has issued KB article RIM KB26132, which, basically instructs BlackBerry users running the WebKit BlackBerry Browser found in BlackBerry 6 to disable JavaScript until the a hotfix to correct the vulnerability is issued.  The potential that someone would actually try to get information from your BlackBerry using this exploit is small.  The fact that it is possible to do so, however, means that you may want to take precautions to protect your data.

Disabling JavaScript makes the WebKit BlackBerry Browser darn near useless so individuals need to weigh the pros and cons of disabling JavaScript.   Corporate BES administrators can disable JavaScript for all managed BlackBerry devices by using the Disable JavaScript in Browser IT policy rule.

[Source]

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RIM Chief Marketing Officer, Keith Pardy, Resigns

by Robb Dunewood on March 7, 2011 · 1 comment

Post image for RIM Chief Marketing Officer, Keith Pardy, Resigns

Research in Motion’s Chief Marketing Officer, Keith Pardy, has tendered his resignation and is set to leave the company within the next six months creating a bit of concern over BlackBerry branding as the company prepares to release the BlackBerry Playbook, expected to debut within the next month or so.

Pardy said in a statement Friday that he is leaving the company for personal reasons, but many are speculating that Pardy’s departure, at least in part, is due to the increasing decline in the BlackBerry brand since coming on board at RIM back in December of 2009.

We don’t believe that Pardy’s departure will have too much effect on the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook which is expected to debut within the next few weeks, but, the timing of this announcement, with the launch of the PlayBook being imminent is a bit curious.

[Via Reuters]

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BlackBerry Analytics Service Beta Now Available To Developers

by Robb Dunewood on February 28, 2011 · 0 comments

BlackBerry Analytics Service Beta

Research in Motion has announced that the BlackBerry Analytics Service Beta is now available to developers.

The free Analytics Service Beta Powered by Webtrends helps you improve your end user experience, optimize your apps and know (not guess) where to invest your resources to increase your ROI.

With the reports and metrics available with the Analytics Service Beta, you can find out if your app is being used the way it was designed to be used. You can also identify user behavior and segments to discover new business opportunities and measure how much your app is being used on different technology versions and in different locations.

The Analytics Service Beta includes everything you need to get started with analytics: an SDK, developer documents and a web-based reporting interface.

To get more information an Analytics Service Beta, or, to download the Analytics Service Beta v0.91 SDK, head over to the Analytics Service Beta page on BlackBerry.com…

[via CrackBerry]

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BlackBerry World – Session Catalog Now Online

by Robb Dunewood on February 26, 2011 · 0 comments

BlackBerry World

You may have heard that Research in Motion has changed the name Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES) to BlackBerry World to better reflect all that is going on at RIM these days.  BlackBerry World is RIM’s largest show of the year and it runs May 3rd – May 5th down in Orlando, Florida.  The BlackBerry World Session Catalog is now available via the BlackBerry World website,  so, check it out if you would like to get the latest information on breakout sessions and other goings on at this years show.

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