:: LNR Journalism ::

'Mediated reality': Steve Mann, wearable computing pioneer

New York Times :: Steve Mann is considered by many to be the world’s first cyborg. He has been using wearable computers that assist his vision since the 1970s. Now he wears a display screen over his right eye and is connected to a computer and the Internet. In this edited interview, he discusses “mediated reality”; the coming wearable-computing wars among Apple, Google and RIM; and the brain-computer interface.

A report by Nick Bilton, bits.blogs.nytimes.com

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RIM may sell handset business, according to The Sunday Times

The Verge :: The Sunday Times reports today that RIM is considering a plan to split its handset division and messaging network into two separate companies, and will sell off the struggling BlackBerry hardware business. The British paper doesn't cite any sources in the report, but it says that Facebook and Amazon are both "potential buyers."

Continue to read Dante D'Orazio, www.theverge.com

Karima Bawa, RIM's top lawyer joins parade of resignations

Reuters :: Karima Bawa, a top lawyer at Research In Motion Ltd has resigned and will soon leave the struggling BlackBerry maker, RIM said on Monday, joining a parade of long-time company executives to depart since Thorsten Heins took over as CEO earlier this year.

Continue to read Alastair Sharp, www.reuters.com

Research In Motion: Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have stepped down

memeburn :: Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerry smartphones, released a statement today announcing that co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have stepped down in a management shuffle. As a result of mounting pressure by shareholders who watched RIM’s stock price tumble 75% last year, eventually falling below book value, RIM announced that Lazaridis who founded RIM in 1984 will become vice chairman, while Balsillie will continue to sit on the board forgoing any operational roles.

Continue to read memeburn.com

ZDNet, India: Have RIM, Nokia & Apple provided Indian Military with backdoor access to cellular comm?

ZDNet :: On January 6th reports of Symantec being hacked surfaced. The group of hackers behind the attack were from India. The hack got covered since the hackers claimed to have acces to Norton’s source code. Earlier today I came across scans of a set of documents that are internal communications between the Indian Military. The documents claim the existence of a system known as RINOA SUR.

[Manan Kakkar:] In exchange for mobile presence in India, RIM, Nokia and Apple have allegedly provided backdoor access for the Indian intelligence to spy on communication.

Continue to read Manan Kakkar, www.zdnet.com

comScore Nov 2011 U.S. mobile subscriber market share: Google 46.9pc, Apple 28.7pc

comScore | MobiLens :: 91.4 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in November, up 8% from the preceding three month period. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 46.9% market share, up 3.1 percentage points from the prior three-month period. Apple maintained its #2 position, growing 1.4 percentage point to 28.7% of the smartphone market. RIM ranked third with 16.6% share, followed by Microsoft (5.2%) and Symbian (1.5%).

Top Smartphone Platforms 3 Month Avg. Ending Nov. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011 Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
	Aug-11	Nov-11	Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Google	43.8%	46.9%	3.1
Apple	27.3%	28.7%	1.4
RIM	19.7%	16.6%	-3.1
Microsoft	5.7%	5.2%	-0.5
Symbian	1.8%	1.5%	-0.3

comScore MobiLens service measures and reports about trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers. Findings might be an indicator for other regional markets as well.

More findings - continue to read www.comscore.com

Black(Out)Berry - BIS services failed across Europe, Mid-East, & Africa

memeburn :: Users of BlackBerry smartphones midday Monday began noticing that services accessed using BlackBerry’s Internet Service (BIS), were down. Initially it seemed that the service failures were localised to particular networks, then entire countries, before it emerged that this was a problem being experienced across the entire Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region.

That's especially bad in regions where people solemnly rely on mobile networks to exchange news and information, e.g. Africa.

Continue to read Mvelase Peppetta, memeburn.com

memeburn :: Tony Seifart hit the mark when he wrote: "It’s not just about phone-calls and text-messaging. BlackBerrys are sold on their strong ability to handle email too and with the fixed cost pricing. Many people have their BlackBerry as their only email connection to the world — literally running their business from the phone. Simply consider the number of One-Man-Bands and entrepreneurs who solely rely on BlackBerry for their business to work."

Continue to read Tony Seifart, memeburn.com

RIM's cuts at PlayBook factory point to $216m inventory backlog

Guardian :: BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) may have an unsold stockpile of nearly 800,000 PlayBook tablets – more than it shipped to wholesalers and retailers in its first six months – made for it by Quanta Computer, the world's largest PC contract maker. Quanta recently cut to 1,000 jobs at Taiwan plant obviously in response.

Continue to read Charles Arthur, www.guardian.co.uk

Why Research In Motion won't kill the PlayBook - and Nokia is its new biggest danger

Guardian :: The BlackBerry-maker's tablet has not been a huge seller, but it can't dump it yet because it's preparing a shift to a new platform. That puts it on a collision course with Nokia in the next nine months. The problem:  RIM can't kill Playbook, because that would mean killing the only outpost it presently has for which developers can code for QNX, the OS that is going to be the basis for its new phones from next year.

Continue to read www.guardian.co.uk

Government backs down on plan to shut Twitter and Facebook in crises

Guardian :: The government has climbed down on plans to ban suspected rioters from using social networking websites in times of civil unrest. The home secretary, Theresa May, told social networks at a meeting on Thursday that the government had no intention of "restricting internet services". Research in Motion (RIM, the maker of BlackBerry), Facebook and Twitter were summoned to the meeting with May after David Cameron signalled a clampdown on the sites following the recent riots in England.

Continue to read Josh Halliday, www.guardian.co.uk