I was reading through the Blackberry news of the day and I came across a story that literally made my say to myself, “You’ve got to be frigging kidding me”.
According to a Rutgers-Camden School of Business study, companies could possibly be legally liable for BlackBerry addiction. I admit that I have actually heard of a workers compensation claim for repetitive stress injury due to excessive BlackBerry use, however, actually finding a company legally at fault for an employee’s addiction to their BlackBerry is a new one for me.
While addiction to work has been a widespread phenomenon for some time, the Rutgers-Camden research suggested that employers may be laying themselves open to legal liability for these addictions.
The pressure for using technology to stay connected 24/7 may carry employer responsibility for detrimental outcomes to the employees.”
I wonder how much a BlackBerry addiction suite is worth?
Read more…
Jesse D’Aguanno, a security consultant with Praetorian Global, supposedly has developed hack to exploit the trust relationship between a BlackBerry and a company’s internal server which allows the data connection between the two to be compromised.
The BlackBerry hack, called BBProxy, has to be placed on a Blackberry either physically or as a Trojan horse delivered by e-mail. Once installed, it causes the Blackberry to call back to the attacker’s system in the background, opening a communications channel between the attacker and the company’s internal network.
D’Aguanno, who has already met with Research in Motion, plans to release BBProxy in a week or so. RIM has already released two papers about the security threat in anticipation to D’Aguanno’s presentation at the DefCon hacker convention.
BBProxy, DefCon
Former White House Press Secretary, Ari Fleischer was interviewed in the latest edition of BlackBerry Connection where he was asked “How important was your BlackBerry device to your work in the White House?”
“My BlackBerry was essential to my job. There were countless occasions, but one that sticks out was when I was in a summit meeting with President Bush and the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. During the meeting I was alerted by my BlackBerry that a suicide bomber had struck in Israel. The press were waiting for us outside, and they were going to ask for a reaction and it fell on me to prepare the President and the Prime Minister. Without my BlackBerry we wouldn’t have known, and we wouldn’t have been ready. It just shows how the BlackBerry can help keep you on top of the absolute latest developments.”
Even though Ari has moved into the private sector heading up his own firm, he still finds that BlackBerry just as important as when he was at the White House.
“I’ve been in board meetings where a spirited debate is going on, and sometimes Ill send emails back and forth to try and influence it, right as its happening…. You could call it the high-tech version of passing notes back and forth in class.”
Ari Fleischer
Have you ever wondered what kind of devices Superheroes use to communicate with each other? Well, in the Marvel Comics universe at least, they use none other than the BlackBerry.
BlackBerry Forums Super Moderator d_fisher shot me a note telling me that all the contestants on comic book legend, Stan Lee’s, new reality show, “Who Wants To Be A Superhero?” use BlackBerrys to communicate with him on the show.
d_fisher says that he cannot wait to get a BlackBerry like the ones used on the show that have full video capability. I am curious to know if the superheroes are using a new model BlackBerry, or, if there is a new video player on the horizon.
Time will definitely tell.
Read more…
Who Wants To Be a Superhero?, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, Sci-Fi Channel
Mad Money’s Jim Cramer, who is not a big fan of Research in Motion, thinks that when Verizon releases the BlackBerry 8700 model “sales will soar”.
Cramer still doesn’t view Research in Motion as an investment because it is”like a rollercoaster”, however, states that the stock is at a “beckoning” level and that he thinks that RIM will report better-than-expected earnings in Q1 of fiscal 2007.
Cramer believes that RIM will bounce back as soon as the BlackBerry 8700 hits Verizon stores and that is the time to trade the stock.
Read more…
Jim Cramer, Mad Money, TheStreet.com, Verizon BlackBerry 8700
Believe it or not, the BlackBerry 8700 is up for an MTV award. MTV2 is running an “All That Rocks” promotion and the BlackBerry 8700, along with the Sony PSP, and the Video Ipod, are nominees in the Most Critical Hardware category.
You will have to tune into MTV2 on July 30th at 9:00 P.M. to see if the BlackBerry 8700 wins.
MTV, MTV2, MTV Award, All That Rocks
A friend of a friend of mine that happens to be a lawyer was telling me about a case that she just settled where her client, an hourly employee, received a settlement from his former employer after being terminated improperly for failing to respond to critical emails sent to his BlackBerry in a timely fashion.
The employee that worked in the computer industry as a technical support analyst was issued a BlackBerry so that he could receive email and trouble tickets while walking from location to location throughout their employer’s campus. After being notified that he not claim overtime for answering and responding to email while not on the clock or make personal calls from the device, the employee decided to leave his BlackBerry in his desk each night after clocking out.
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Rev. Run from the iconic hip group Run D.M.C. and now the hit MTV series Run’s House is known for delivering his “Words of Wisdom” via his BlackBerry from his Bathtub.
Well, it looks like Rev Run has upgraded from his BlackBerry 7100 used in season one to a BlackBerry 8700, seen several times in episode one of season two.
It doesn’t look like Rev Run will ever suffer from BlackBerry thumb as he has an odd way of holding his BlackBerry that allows him to use his index fingers instead of his thumbs as can be seen in the picture on the left.
Run D.M.C., Rev Run, Run’s House, Words of Wisdom