A jury has found Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) guilty of patent infringement. Done deal. Yeah, they are appealing, but who is going to listen to that? Could we be seeing the end to BlackBerry here in the US? Possibly. The settlement could reach up to $1 billion dollars. Um, what did you say? Yeah, $1 billion dollars. It's basically enough to shut down their operations here in the US. What will our world come to? RIM says they "prepared a software upgrade" to keep services here in the States. Duh! They should settle, push that upgrade (which probably doesn't work answering the unasked question as to why they haven't pushed it out yet) and get past this. I find this interesting because I know there are a lot of users in the US government. Many of them couldn't live without their BlackBerries.
This would be funny and a shame all at the same time! From an IT perspective, listening to people whine about not getting access to email for more than a minute is as annoying as it is hilarious. People, let me assure you the planets will stay in orbit long enough for you to find a wireless signal you can use with your laptop. I know, I know we mustn't disturb that artful dance you do on your way to work. The one where you are driving, eating a loaded donut, drinking some fu-fu latte, cutting three lanes of traffic and calling your fellow commuters some string of "son-of-a's" all while trying to read from that tiny BlackBerry screen an email about the pizza party at lunch. I can hear the trouble calls coming in. "My BlackBerry isn't working!" and "Where's my email?" IT engineers will be berated unmercifully (like it's their fault) BlackBerry stole someone's idea.
Great effort would be exerted to replace BlackBerries quickly. I cringe at the potential double hit to the taxpayers and businesses. Yes, I am going to be like everybody else and forget the little guy. You know the guy who is constantly being ripped off at every turn – albeit, seemingly by choice, but many times not. I wonder if RIM is forced to close their US operation will the government and all those companies who have dumped money into BlackBerry servers and equipment get any of their money back. Sounds like another lawsuit. And the second half of that double hit is obviously these ‘berry totin’ execs, G-men and self-proclaimed-wannabe-important people who will need something to replace their sweet electronic fruit. That, of course, means more spending. In walks Palm (again) waving their shiny Treo Smartphones. The allure and prestige of saying, “Hit me up on my BlackBerry,” won’t be found on with the Treo, but they are pretty jazzy! I certainly hope that RIM will be able to settle somewhat affordably and will be able to keep their Canadian fruit available here in the US. Yeah, they did a bad thing, they are paying for it. But should their penalty be at the expense of the consumer, the little guy, the You? I think not. The government should step in and save them and probably would if they weren’t Canucks. I wonder how hard it is to transfer your address book from BlackBerry to a Treo? :-)
Vice
LONDON, Nov. 8 (UPI) - A British poll on eating habits found that 36 percent of children were unaware that french fries, or chips, are made from potatoes.
Nearly 1-in-10 of the 1,002 children between 8 and 14 questioned by the British Heart Foundation thought chips were mostly made of oil, while others suggested salt, eggs, flour, and even apples, The Telegraph reported.
Another 37 percent did not know that cheese was made mostly of milk.
"Kids have lost touch with the most basic foods and no longer understand what they are eating," said Peter Hollins, the foundation's director general. "Banning foods or telling children not to eat them is not enough -- we must engage children in understanding why certain foods are less healthy than others."
The group said 440,000 British children are predicted to become overweight or obese in the next two years.
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I thought this was interesting because for once American children weren't being showcased their "Super Genius" abilities. I am proud to report that my seven year old son was able to tell me that french fries are in fact made from potatoes. He also knew that there was milk in cheese but didn't know how it was made.
Vice