Hasta La Gadget!

Things just keep getting bleaker for RIM. With its revenues stagnating and smartphone market share dwindling, the BlackBerry maker is now facing new financial pressure from Jaguar Financial Group — a Canadian merchant bank and RIM shareholder that’s calling upon the company to do one of two rather unpleasant things: sell itself, or sell its patent portfolio. In an open letter to RIM’s board of directors, Jaguar CEO Vic Alboni criticized the manufacturer for failing to “inspire consumer enthusiasm” for its products, and for bringing its devices to market too late. And, as share prices continue to drop, Alboni thinks it’s time to make a change:

The status quo is not acceptable, the company cannot sit still. It is time for transformational change. The directors need to seize the reins to maximize shareholder value before more market value is lost.

Jaguar didn’t specify the size of its RIM stake, but claimed to be calling for upheaval on behalf of “other supportive shareholders” who, in total, hold less than five percent of the company. The Ontario-based firm is hoping that a new line of QNX-based smartphones will curtail its slump, but Alboni doesn’t sound so optimistic. “You cannot put all your eggs in one basket,” he told Bloomberg. “The board should be saying, ‘What if these products don’t pan out?’ You don’t want RIM to turn into another Nortel.” A RIM spokeswoman, meanwhile, declined to comment on the letter. Hit up the source link below to read it for yourself.

Shareholder calls for RIM to sell itself or its patents, in critical open letter originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 07:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back in February researchers at Stanford first taunted us with the possibility of simultaneous, two-way data transmission on the same frequency. Now some folks at Rice University are edging full-duplex communication closer to reality. By the time carriers get around to rolling out 4.5G networks, engineers could potentially double throughput without adding more cell towers and using only existing mobile hardware. With an extra antenna and some fancy software tricks, which allow the device to ignore locally produced signals, the Rice team was able to produce a connection ten-times stronger than previously published studies. Since the technology is based on existing MIMO setups, it may also prove the shortest route to asynchronous full-duplex transmissions. That means you’ll be able to upload ill advised videos of your drunken antics (and suffer the consequences) that much faster, without having to pause the latest Maru clip. Check out the PR after the break.

[Image credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University]

Continue reading Researchers demo full-duplex wireless: double the throughput with no new towers

Researchers demo full-duplex wireless: double the throughput with no new towers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After over a month of speculation and rumors, Verizon is ready to get the BlackBerry Torch 9850 into the hands of eager customers. At a cost $50 higher than its arch CDMA nemesis (not to mention a couple weeks behind), Big Red has jumped aboard to offer the touch-only smartphone for $200 with a two-year agreement. The devices will begin selling online September 8th, with units showing up in stores a week later. If you’re looking for the full scoop on Verizon’s new OS 7-powered digs, continue below to check out the full press release.

Continue reading BlackBerry Torch 9850 officially coming to Verizon September 8th for $200

BlackBerry Torch 9850 officially coming to Verizon September 8th for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Better late than never, ey? RIM finally got with the program and rolled out their official version 3.0 upgrade to BlackBerry App World. The updated application portal had already been available to Beta Zone members early last month and was slated for an August 22nd debut, but apparently missed that release window. We’ve already seen the cosmetic improvements the Waterloo-based company’s brought to the app hub, with a redesigned home screen, refreshed icons, MyWorld downloads folder and the ability to share apps via your choice of social messaging service. The service still lacks the compelling selection of rival OS app markets, but hopefully the company’s renewed focus’ll bring more devs to its OS club. If you’re rocking a BB handset, drop us a line below and let us know your take on RIM’s refresh.

RIM officially trots out BlackBerry App World 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Half the fun of trade shows is when unexpected beans get spilled at PR stalls and here, my dear Watson, we have another intriguing example. A TechBlog.gr pundit picked up a new Nokia 700 at IFA and was confronted with a stored promo video depicting a totally different and unfamiliar high-end handset. It looks slightly curved like the N9, runs the latest version of Symbian and possesses a rather attractive edge-to-edge LCD. The main gist of the promo is a wireless platform called Air Cloud, which apparently allows the phone to pair up with an audio system via NFC. Word on the street is this could be the N8’s successor — the so-called 801 — but there’s not a great many clues to back that up. In any case, check out the video after the break and savor that fleeting sense of infinite regress.

Update: Sherlock may have run away with himself slightly here. Mobiflip.de reckons it got a comment from someone at Nokia who said the phone is just a concept, made for the purpose of illustrating Air Cloud. Guess that edge-to-edge screen was too good to be true.

Continue reading Unannounced Nokia Symbian Belle handset is a mysterious phone within a phone (video)

Unannounced Nokia Symbian Belle handset is a mysterious phone within a phone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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