Tea time! The third eye sends a message telling me all is going as per the master plan. Namaste!
Month: September 2013
Beauty and the Beast
Striking sun flowers against a beast of a pick up truck.
Floral Fantasy
Just a natural bouquet captured with my BlackBerry Z10 on an evening walk.
It’s Over and I Needed a Proper Good-bye
Walt to Skyler,”I did it for me! I was alive.”
The End – Breaking Bad
A brilliant show comes to an end? Will you be watching the culmination of blood and bonded “family” ties and the consequences of their interactions? Did you see the finale? What did you think? Comment below.
Special Fortieth Anniversary of “The Harder They Fall”
Enjoy some authentic Jamaican BBQ in Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers tonight, September 28, 2013. $35 gets you in for a special screening of “The Harder They Fall”.
Globe & Mail:Inside the fall of BlackBerry- How the smartphone inventor failed to adapt
“Inside RIM, the brash Mr. Balsillie had championed a bold strategy to re-establish the company’s place at the forefront of mobile communications. The plan was to push wireless carriers to adopt RIM’s popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) instant messaging service as a replacement for their short text messaging system (SMS) applications – no matter what kind of phone their customers used.”
“My reason for leaving the RIM board in March, 2012, was due to the company’s decision to cancel the BBM cross-platform strategy,” Mr. Balsillie said in a brief statement to The Globe and Mail, his first public comments on his departure. He declined a request for an interview.
Mr. Lazaridis, who declined to speak about board matters, resigned as a director this past March after delaying his retirement by a year at the board’s request.
Now, BlackBerry’s future is in doubt. This week, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., a Toronto-based investment company, announced a plan to lead a $4.7-billion takeover of the company. The offer is conditional, and requires a group of so-far uncommitted institutional investors to back Fairfax and provide financing.
The company’s near-collapse is a painful situation for Mr. Lazaridis, a gifted engineer who co-founded RIM in a tiny Waterloo office above a bagel shop in 1984.
“It’s really hurting me,” he said in an interview. “I can’t imagine what the employees must be thinking. Everyone is talking about the most likely scenario being that it will be broken up and sold off for parts. What will happen to the Waterloo region, or Canada? What company will take its place?”
The QNX team’s first assignment was to work on an operating system for the PlayBook, RIM’s answer to Apple’s successful iPad tablet. Mr. Lazaridis saw the work as a precursor to the BlackBerry 10 line of smartphones and was impressed by what the team brought to the product. “It helped our developers experience the power and elegance of QNX,” he said.
But the QNX team was overwhelmed and needed to draw heavily on the company’s other resources to complete the PlayBook. Similar issues arose later on the BlackBerry 10. The tablet, originally slated to come out in the fall of 2010, didn’t appear until April, 2011, and it failed to sell. It was an awkward accessory to RIM’s smartphones, and lacked e-mail, contacts and apps. Once again, RIM had missed the mark: Tablets that sold well worked as standalone devices, which the PlayBook wasn’t.
Some questioned the wisdom of launching the PlayBook in the first place, feeling it was a needless and costly distraction. And the decision to isolate QNX also created tensions and morale problems: Those who weren’t on the team worried about their future.
‘To me, the most logical thing would have been to integrate the operating system organizations into one,’ said one senior executive who was caught up in the fray. ‘Then you’d have a whole team, not 150 people sitting around saying, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do next,’ and another 150 people saying ‘I’m over my head.’ ”
“Meanwhile, RIM’s lack of an advanced smartphone meant that it continued to bleed market share to Apple and Android, especially in the United States. In December, 2010, Verizon Wireless announced it would invest in fourth generation (4G) LTE technology to accommodate the growing demands of customers who wanted to surf the Internet on their phones. It signalled to device makers that it would look to feature 4G smartphones in its marketing.”
“As it turns out, both Mr. Balsillie and Mr. Lazaridis were proven right. It was hard enough to compete in a commoditizing smartphone market. Leading with the wrong product on top of that only made BlackBerry’s task more hopeless. Mr. Heins’s strategic errors only compounded the challenging situation he had inherited.”
“The product was difficult to sell for other reasons. One company insider said it could take close to an hour for young sales staff to demonstrate the product in dealer stores.
And many long-time BlackBerry users found that the new system was too different from the classic BlackBerry experience for their liking. Many of the little “moments of delight,” as they are called in the company, were forgotten or overlooked by the QNX developers who lacked ties to the company’s past. For example, users can’t hit “u” and look at the last unread message in their inbox, nor can they easily shift to the next or previous e-mail, as they could on older BlackBerrys. Pocket-dialling is a constant hazard.
Meanwhile, the company was slow to provide service to business users – such as helping them to transfer applications they had written for the old BlackBerry system. Software developers were left with dead-end investments after learning they would have to rewrite their apps for the new system if they wanted to remain part of the BlackBerry world. Many simply didn’t bother.”
“’The decisions we made over the last two years were made within the context of a volatile, competitive and ever-changing marketplace – and always with the goal of delivering the vital technology that our customers need,’ Mr. Heins said in a written response to questions about the success of the BlackBerry 10 launch. While he called the launch ‘a significant accomplishment and one that involved the reinvention of our company,’ he acknowledged it “did not meet our expectations.”
Check out the full article here:
The BlackBerry Z30 – The Phablet That Should Have Been Out Sooner
We previously wrote about the new Z30:
https://pfcsystems.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/blackberry-z30-introduced-in-malaysia/
where the hardware and software particulars were provided. Is this finally the phone to regain US market share? It is a hexa-core phone with lots pf speed and power. Is this the form factor that needed to come out instead of the Z10/Q10? Should any QWERTY device have been bigger? Sound off in the comments below. Here is a video:
Sunny Side of Life
Cher On David Letterman
The Diva Cher was on Letterman on Monday Night, September 23, 2013. She belted out her new single.
BBM Projected On Windows and MAC Desktop
Just announced at BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 that BBM will be projected from cell phone to Windows desktop. This mirroring app will be available for the MAC desktop soon.
Sayit Now 60% Off
A very popular speech recognition app on BlackBerry World is now on sale at 60% off.
Developed by BachKhoa University it is a siri-like app for BlackBerry 10 that is very popular with more than 100000 downloads.
WeChat Will Have More Hub Integration BlackBerry Jam Asia
WeChat (Chinese: 微信; pinyin: Wēixìn; literally “micro message”) is a mobile text and voice messaging communication service developed by Tencent in China, first released in January 2011.[7] The app is available on Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Symbian platforms. Languages supported include traditional/simplified Chinese, English, Indonesian, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Malay, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Italian, Thai, Vietnamese, Hindi and Russian. WeChat is supported on Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G, and 4G data networks.
WeChat provides multimedia communication with text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, photo/video sharing, location sharing, and contact information exchange. WeChat supports social networking[8] via shared streaming content feeds and location-based social plug-ins (“Shake”, “Look Around”, and “Drift Bottle”) to chat with and connect with local and international WeChat users.[9]
Photos can be taken and embellished with artistic filters, captions, and placed into a personal photo journal for sharing with other users. User data is protected via an on-demand contact list backup and retrieval to/from the cloud. WeChat claims to provide a social networking platform that emphasizes user privacy and fast response performance.[citation needed]
Registration is completed through Facebook Connect, mobile phone SMS/VM, or Tencent QQ. The application was initially launched as Weixin in China in January 2011, with international language support in October 2011, and re-branded as WeChat in April 2012. It is being promoted in India via gaming site Ibibo, in which Tencent holds a stake.[10]
The app is available in the App Store for iTunes, Google Play Store for Android, BlackBerry App World and Marketplace for Windows Phone.
BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 Weibo Coming To OS 10.2
Chinese social networking app “weibo” will be built into BlackBerry 10.2
“In use by well over 30% of Internet users, with a market penetration similar to what Twitter has established in the USA.[3] It was launched by SINA Corporation on 14 August 2009,[1] and has 503 million registered users as of Dec 2012.[4] About 100 million messages are posted each day on Sina Weibo.”
Source: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sina_Weibo
Wikipedia
Franconia Notch New Hampshire: Restaurants Part 1
Chilaquiles – Luna Park
Thanks for sharing!
Tortilla chips, eggs, beans, queso fresco, salsa fresca. $13.95
Luna Park, San Francisco CA
There was certainly a lot of food on this plate! I just wish it tasted a little better. The sauce was on the bland side and the eggs were on the verge of being overcooked. It’s a great value, but probably one I wouldn’t order again.
Redwood tree trunks, Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.
BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.1 Adopted by 34% of UK Top 100 FTSE Companies
According to BlackBerry, more than one-third (34) of FTSE 100 companies have installed BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 for either commercial or test purposes. Over 25,000 BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 commercial and test servers have been installed globally. Check out the press release below for more details.
UK carriers EE, Vodafone and O2 are all now supporting BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.
Press Release:
From the FTSE 100 to football’s Premier League and many other organisations, BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Service 10 is being embraced by enterprises across the UK.
BlackBerry today announced that 34 of the FTSE 100 companies have already installed BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Service 10, BlackBerry’s enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution, for either commercial or test purposes. Reflecting the clear need for companies to have a cross platform EMM solution that delivers a strong level of security, control and management at the device and app level, the uptake amongst the UK’s largest companies follows the response in North America, where the majority of Fortune 500 companies have BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.
In addition, with major UK carriers Vodafone, EE and O2 now supporting BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, many organisations across both the public and private sector are also making the move to the new BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 EMM solution:
– Rocco Forte, a luxury hotel group, is using Secure Work Space for iOS(R)
and Android(TM) to manage 60 tablets deployed to enable employees to
access business-critical apps and information on-the-go. In addition,
the company has deployed 200 new BlackBerry(R) 10 smartphones. With
BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 and Secure Work Space, the company is
now able to simply and securely manage all devices in the organisation.
– Clyde & Co., a global law firm with over 1,400 employees, has deployed
BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 and plans to migrate its existing 1,200
BlackBerry smartphone users to BlackBerry 10 smartphones.
– The Premier League, the organizing body for the Barclays Premier League,
is using BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 to manage its existing
portfolio of BlackBerry smartphones, as well as a number of iOS devices.
An additional 60 BlackBerry Q10 smartphones are also being rolled out
across the organisation.
– Hogg Robinson, an international corporate services provider specialising
in travel, expense and data management has deployed BlackBerry
Enterprise Service 10 to manage its existing suite of 800 BlackBerry
smartphones, which now also includes newly deployed BlackBerry(R) Z10
and BlackBerry(R) Q10 smartphones.
– Public sector body NHS Education Scotland, a health board responsible
for developing and delivering education and training to NHS Scotland
employees, has deployed BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 and begun the
rollout of 200 BlackBerry 10 smartphones.
In the May 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. report entitled: “Build A Road Map For Workforce Computing”, Christian Kane wrote about the ever-growing need for an EMM platform in a mixed device environment. “To support the increasing diversity of mobile devices and platforms, Infrastructure & Operations pros are investing heavily in management solutions to monitor and secure devices across a broad ecosystem of operating systems and form factors. These solutions allow IT to proactively support multiple platforms and device types, extend management and security policies to both corporate-liable and employee-owned devices, and automate service desksupport.”(i)
“BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 is a multi-platform mobile solution that can securely manage and control an organisation’s mobile fleet, irrespective of device or platform,” said Stephen Bates, Head of the Enterprise Business Unit at BlackBerry. “As more organisations are pressured to provide employees with various mobile device options, it becomes even more critical to have a simple-to-use EMM solution that can secure any device, including BlackBerry, iOS and Android.”
BlackBerry has always provided security at the device, server and network level. The recently launched Secure Work Space solution leverages the same trusted behind-the-firewall connection available for BlackBerry smartphones and extends BlackBerry security capabilities for data-at-rest and data-in-transit to iOS and Android devices. The Secure Work Space container is managed through BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, making it easy and convenient to manage all devices from its single console.
Customer Quotes:
“BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 is a secure, reliable platform that provides us with full supportfor our BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices. It enables us to securely deploy our customised business applications and in turn delivers tangible productivity benefits to our employees. This new platform is not only great for the business, but also for our customers who are benefiting from an even higher standard of service as a result of our improved operational efficiency.” – Emmanuel Clave, Group Director of Information Technology, Rocco Forte Hotels
“One of our key mobility requirements is on-the-go access to document management software. BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 provides a single platform that facilitates the management and control of this and other business-critical apps in a consistent environment that meets our stringent security requirements.” – Aaron Donaldson, 3rd Line Support Team leader, Clyde & Co.
“The Premier League is using BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 to manage its suite of BlackBerry and iOS devices. The organisation has long used BlackBerry as their mobile solution of choice. The new platform enables us to extend the tried and tested management and security capabilities of the BlackBerry solution to support other tablet and smartphones used within the organisation.”- Simon Thunder, Head of IT, The Premier League
“BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 brings significant technology, cost and operational improvements to our existing BlackBerry infrastructure. It addresses many of the challenges employers face in an increasingly diverse mobile environment by delivering the only end-to-end solution capable of securely managing devices from different platforms. BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 allows us to simply and effectively manage all device platforms from one user-friendly graphical interface. With the added bonus of BlackBerry Balance technology on the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones we have deployed, our employees can enjoy all the benefits of a cutting-edge smartphone while we can rest assured that all corporate information is kept completely separate and secure.” – Neil Kirk, Head of Unified Communications, Europe, Hogg Robinson Group PLC
“BlackBerry has a long history as the mobile solution of choice for the broader public sector. The new BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 platform enables us to securely manage and control existing BlackBerry smartphones and the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones from one single console.” – Paul Donnelly, Senior Network Administrator, NHS Education Scotland
(i) According to a May 2013 report by Forrester Research, Inc. entitled: “Build A Road Map For Workforce Computing”. Many enterprises are deploying bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs to enable employees to use personal smartphones or tablets for work activities. In fact, 42% of IT hardware decision-makers have piloted, implemented, expanded, or upgraded BYOD programs for smartphones. In addition, 24% of these firms are in the same stages of implementing BYOD programs for tablets. Officially supporting these BYOD programs poses challenges for security and IT personnel tasked with managing corporate risk.”
Get Our PFCSYSTEMS App for Free
“Providing factual, well researched articles that people can use to enhance their livelihood with articles that filter through the “hype” focusing on how entertainment, food, news, science, technology and travel impact people’s lives.”
Some love to share, something free for you! After the delay in the cross platform BBM launch, and as BlackBerry is potentially going private (sold!), we have decided to offer our app for free! It’s available for all BlackBerry devices including legacy devices and the PlayBook. There’s no excuse not to get it and be on top of some great recipes, entertainment, travel, technology and stock-market news with original photography and restaurant reviews. Get it here:
http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/24419891/
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Instructions |
GeneralCheck out some screen shots here:
Updated Information on BBM for Android and iOS
An update on BBM for Android and iPhone:
Hi Android and iPhone users,
This is Andrew Bocking, head of BBM at BlackBerry. As a follow up to our first blog post on Saturday, I want to take a moment to provide you with an update on the rollout of BBM on Android and iPhone.
Last week, an unreleased, older version of the BBM for Android app was posted on numerous file sharing sites. We were aware of an issue with this unreleased version of the BBM for Android app. This older version resulted in volumes of data traffic orders of magnitude higher than normal for each active user and impacted the system in abnormal ways. The version we were planning to release on Saturday addressed these issues, however we could not block users of the unreleased version if we went ahead with the launch.
We attempted to address the problems caused by the unreleased version throughout the day on Saturday, but as active users of the unreleased app neared a million – and accelerated – it became clear that the only way to address the issue was to pause the rollout for both Android and iPhone.
The team is now focused on adjusting the system to completely block this unreleased version of the Android app when we go live with the official BBM for Android app. We are also making sure that the system is reinforced to handle this kind of scenario in the future. While this may sound like a simple task – it’s not. This will take some time and I do not anticipate launching this week.
Thank you for your patience while we take the time needed to deliver the experience you expect from BBM. We will continue to provide you with updates here on InsideBlackBerry.com and through @BBM on Twitter. We will notify everyone who has pre-registered on BBM.com when BBM is available on Android and iPhone.
Andrew Bocking
EVP, BBM
Trading on BBRY Halted As Sale Is Made
Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial and a consortium of other firms have offered BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY) $9 a share to go private.
BlackBerry has signed a letter of intent with Fairfax Financial that means the company could soon be sold in a $4.7 billion deal. While a letter of intent isn’t a binding contract, it does bode well for BlackBerry and, if everything pans out, it could mean BlackBerry will go private in the very near future.
Press Release
*BlackBerry shareholders would receive U.S. $9 per share in cash
*Transaction valued at approximately U.S. $4.7 billion
*Consortium permitted 6 weeks to conduct due diligence
*BlackBerry entitled to go-shop during due diligence period, subject to payment of a termination fee in the event alternative offer accepted
WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – September 23, 2013) – BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ: BBRY)(TSX: BB) today announced it has signed a letter of intent agreement (“LOI”) under which a consortium to be led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (“Fairfax”) has offered to acquire the company subject to due diligence.
The letter of intent contemplates a transaction in which BlackBerry shareholders would receive U.S. $9 in cash for each share of BlackBerry share they hold, in a transaction valued at approximately U.S. $4.7 billion. The consortium would acquire for cash all of the outstanding shares of BlackBerry not held by Fairfax. Fairfax, which owns approximately 10 percent of BlackBerry’s common shares, intends to contribute the shares of BlackBerry it currently holds into the transaction.
The BlackBerry Board of Directors, acting on the recommendation of a special committee of the board of directors (the “Special Committee”), approved the terms of the LOI under which the consortium, which is seeking financing from BofA Merrill Lynch and BMO Capital Markets, would acquire BlackBerry and take the company private subject to a number of conditions, including due diligence, negotiation and execution of a definitive agreement (the “Definitive Agreement”) and customary regulatory approvals.
The Special Committee, chaired by Director Tim Dattels, was formed in August 2013 to review strategic alternatives for the company. J.P. Morgan and Perella Weinberg are acting as financial advisors and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Torys LLP are acting as legal advisors.
Diligence is expected to be complete by November 4, 2013 (“Diligence Period”). The parties’ intention is to negotiate and execute a definitive transaction agreement by such date. During such period, BlackBerry is permitted to actively solicit, receive, evaluate and potentially enter into negotiations with parties that offer alternative proposals (“Alternative Transactions”).
If (A) during the Diligence Period (i) BlackBerry enters into any letter of intent or definitive agreement providing for an Alternative Transaction, (ii) BlackBerry ceases to negotiate with the consortium in good faith with a view to entering into the Definitive Agreement by the end of the Diligence Period, or (iii) an Alternative Transaction is publicly proposed or publicly announced and is consummated within 6 months following the end of the Diligence Period, or (B) during the 3 month period following the end of the Diligence Period, BlackBerry enters into any agreement providing for an Alternative Transaction with a person with whom discussions were held before or during the Diligence Period, then BlackBerry shall pay Fairfax a fee of U.S. $0.30 per BlackBerry share, provided, however, that no such fee shall be payable if the consortium shall have reduced the price offered below U.S. $9.00 per share without the approval of the board of directors of BlackBerry. In the event that a definitive agreement is signed with Fairfax the termination fee will increase to U.S. $ 0.50 per share.
Barbara Stymiest, Chair of BlackBerry’s Board of Directors, said: “The Special Committee is seeking the best available outcome for the Company’s constituents, including for shareholders. Importantly, the go-shop process provides an opportunity to determine if there are alternatives superior to the present proposal from the Fairfax consortium.”
Prem Watsa, Chairman and CEO of Fairfax, said: “We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers and employees. We can deliver immediate value to shareholders, while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company with a focus on delivering superior and secure enterprise solutions to BlackBerry customers around the world.”
In addition to the consortium and its lenders being satisfied with all aspects of the due diligence to be carried out by them during the Diligence Period and the negotiation and execution of a binding definitive agreement approved by the board of BlackBerry, completion of the transaction will be subject to other customary conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that due diligence will be satisfactory, that financing will be obtained, that a definitive agreement will be entered into or that the transaction will be consummated.
BDT & Company, LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch and BMO Capital Markets are acting as financial advisors, and Shearman & Sterling LLP and McCarthy Tetrault LLP are acting as legal advisors to Fairfax in connection with the transaction.
Those of us who were there for BBRY long on the stock will get screwed while BlackBerry management will get golden parachutes. What are your thoughts on this development?
pfcsystems 