FrozenVent posted:

these guys really get the smartphone market, it's amazing


also lol telus

EMILY BLUNTS posted:

BBY to create radiotherapy machines powered by Microsoft Exchange

Nelson MandEULA posted:

hey, canadian made radiotherapy equipment is a world famous case study of software engineering!

quote:

Wooden pager rotating machine



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqx2xbGsH0U

Back in 1998, I wanted to test how the Blackberry pagers we developed would perform as they are moved sporadically through the local environment. With the pagers receiving at 900 mHz, moving them by even a few centimeters or changing the orientation can make a big difference in terms of reception. But the unit transmits at a slightly lower frequency, so the slight variations (fading) for transmission don't necessarily correlate to reception performance. You can never really know if a spot you put the page is a good or a bad spot. That, and a pager worn on the belt will move sporadically as the wearer moves.

Playing with my Fischer-Technik construction set, I built a contraption that move and rotate the pager in three axis at once, thus going through a large range of orientations and positions. Such a device would be useful for some of our tests. It would be even better if the device did not in itself interfere with radio waves, so of course, wood was an ideal material. I would have used wood regardless, mind you, but this was an extra reason!

I wasn't sure if the wooden gears would actually work when I started (it was the first time I attempted wooden gearing), but as I built and tested the parts, it all worked, so I kept at it until I had the finished machine.



There is no coupling between the machine's cycling and the software on the pagers. The idea is for the machine to sufficiently randomize things that any sort of bias in the setup gets averaged out by the many positions that are eventually tried.

The whole thing is powered by an AC electric motor. A timer motor, cams and switches (no electronics) turn the motor on periodically. There's cams and switches to select continuous motion, or intermittent motion at 12, 60, or 240 second intervals.



The machine has the limitation that it needs 120 volt AC power and isn't very portable. When flying to different parts of the country, taking this machine with me is not a practical option. So I built a much smaller version, powered by one of those super efficient Lego motors. Of course, once you start building with Lego, might as well build the whole rotating machine out of legos

Update: 2014
I left RIM (which later changed it's name to "Blackberry") in 2007 (more about that). I left the machine behind as a colleague was still using it from time to time. As of 2014, RIM has been struggling, and the company decided that the cost of developing and maintaining their own GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G radio protocol stack was no longer justifiable by the now much lower sales volume. Instead, they'd rely on chips and protocol stack firmware from Qualcomm. To put it into perspective, Apple's iPhone and Google's Android used a third party software for the radio protocol stack all along.

When the entire radio software team was laid off, a co-worker had the presence of mind to take this machine home with him, and returned it to me. The machine had fallen into slight disrepair. I got it working again, and made the video below. This machine wasn't the only wooden machine I built for testing stuff at RIM. That said, building machines and fixtures was not part of my job, I just built them when I needed them.

At right, my "keyboard masher" for the initial GPRS blackberry, in 2001. I was, at some point, tasked with investigating a vexing and very sporadic "crazy SIM card" problem, which was a "software" problem, but it only happened on some units. I suspected it was a mechanical issue, with the SIM card holder right below the keyboard, typing on it could cause intermittent glitches. So I built a machine to simulate typing. The machine uses three timer motors and over time presses most of the keys on the keyboard. Leaving a device in this machine would consistently trigger the problem on any device. So we were able to get a better handle on it and test a software workaround.

A Pinball Wizard posted:

read that at first as "fishmech's dad" and for a minute i was jealous you 2 were so tight

Skrobble posted:

im from canada and have an iphone this is a great thread

quote:

BlackBerry launches low-cost phone for Indonesia

BlackBerry has launched a new low-cost phone "exclusively for Indonesia", one of the few markets where it is still a key player.

The BlackBerry Z3, Jakarta Edition will go on sale from 15 May for 2,199,000 Indonesia rupiah ($191; £113).

It the first phone to be launched under new chief executive John Chen.

Once a dominant player in the sector, BlackBerry has struggled in recent years amid increased competition from rivals such as Apple and Samsung.

However, it has continued to enjoy success in Indonesia, making the country a key market for the firm.

"From conception to delivery, the BlackBerry Z3, Jakarta Edition was designed specifically with our Indonesian customers in mind," Mr Chen said in a statement.

According to the firm, the phone - which was first announced in February - also comes customised with local apps and content.

The latest phone is also the first one to be launched after the firm agreed a five-year deal with Foxconn, the Taiwan-based maker of electronic products and components.

In February, Blackberry reported a net loss of $5.9bn (£3.5bn) for its latest financial year.

However, it recorded a smaller-than-expected loss of $423m in the three months to 1 March, compared with a loss of $4.4bn in the previous quarter.

Mr Chen, who took charge of the struggling firm late last year, has said the firm was on "a path to returning to growth and profitability".

Caged posted:

mm yes a race to the bottom, this will end well

Bonzo posted:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/fairfax-sells-5-2-million-blackberry-shares-1.2644386


standing 8 count

dev286 posted:

Guess where BB outsells iPhone?



I am embarrassed for my city.

Grandmaster.flv posted:

sitting at the dealership getting some maintenance done and I saw this

Glans Dillzig posted:

just wanted to and say that the poll is a good one

ok cya

Blackula69 posted:

not by the gaap results, and that's all that counts














but HOLY loving poo poo YOU GUYS

EMILY BLUNTS posted:

VISUALLY SIMILAR IMAGES

Jonny Quest posted:

I'm actually excited to use it as the entire thing is touch sensitive. In theory you can swipe the spacebar like the old trackpads in addition to swiping the keys to do other functions (shift, symbols, delete, choose auto-completed words, etc).

Then again I drank the KoolAid long ago.

Jonny Quest posted:

Double space bar automatically puts in a period for most normal sentence typing. I'm assuming that for numbers maybe you swipe up with one finger on the whole keyboard and an onscreen soft-keyboard will appear. Swiping up with two fingers may bring up symbols--who knows? It's novel (not necessarily the same as useful), so I'm willing to give it a shot.

JohnnyCanuck posted:

Everybody in-thread already knows I'm a hopeless BB romantic, so I'm with you, man. I'm really interested in trying it out!

Bonzo posted:

Bonzo posted:

You mean like this? http://gizmodo.com/5902609/the-only-us-blackberry-store-might-be-the-saddest-place-on-earth

Just-In-Timeberlake posted:

This store has to be some line item that has been lost in the shuffle and the last person who dealt with it at bb left the company years ago and nobody knows it exists.

like if you had a job there you'd just keep getting a paycheck, never have to deal with anybody (customers included)

Bonzo posted:

Ok, Assistant

BlackBerry's next major smartphone will have a Siri-like virtual assistant

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/16/5904803/blackberry-assistant-voice-control-siri-like-virtual

mishaq posted:

i have that poo poo bookmarked and send it to people all the time (https://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/)

never achieved that much greatness but i did once collect a paycheck for 3 months doing nothing where i was listed as an "project xyz - inactive resource " as my cost center in the hr database

i was hoping the hr drone responsible for me would have been laid off so i could have stayed in that bucket, but alas it did not last

Cocoa Crispies posted:

radium destroyed the old thread so…

BBRY: $10.15 - gently caress it's ibm and apple

OUT ALREADY
pram: Jan 1, 2013
Perplx: Jun 27, 2013
Eegah: Sep 21, 2013
Posting Principle: Sep 23, 2013
Siljmonster: Oct 25, 2013
Hashtag Nascar : Nov 9, 2013
crazysim : Nov 13, 2013
Samuel L. ACKSYN : Nov 15, 2013
Angry Moo Cow: Nov 20, 2013
The Management : Nov 30, 2013
8ender : Dec 6, 2013
Techokami: Dec 7, 2013
minivanmegafun : Dec 13, 2013
Necc0: Dec 18, 2013
PleasingFungus : Dec 24, 2013
SRQ: Dec 25, 2013
Hed: Dec 27, 2013
Smythe : Dec 31, 2013
Migishu: Jan 10, 2014
mcnealys baby: Jan 15, 2014
Laslow : Jan 20, 2014
Ulysses S. Grant : Jan 31, 2014
cremnob: Feb 5, 2014
Pinterest Mom: Feb 9, 2014
Kaethela : Feb 10, 2014
ADullMin : Feb 13, 2014
raruler: Feb 14, 2014
abraham linksys: Feb 19, 2014
maniacdevnull: Feb 19, 2014
Jimbo Jaggins: Feb 20, 2014
Magic_Anthrax_Ninja: Feb 28, 2014
Luigi Thirty : Mar 1, 2014
Kirk : Mar 3, 2014
cheese-cube: Mar 5, 2014
pagancow : Mar 7, 2014
theflyingexecutive : Mar 8, 2014
Sperg: Mar 10, 2014
CatAteSeven: Mar 15, 2014
devmd01: Mar 21, 2014
i barely GNU her!: Mar 28, 2014
Arcsech: Mar 30, 2014
KATY PERRY : Mar 30, 2014
The Kins : Apr 1, 2014
uG : Apr 19, 2014
keygen and kel : Apr 20, 2014
Walter_Sobchak : Apr 25, 2014
Alzabo : Apr 28, 2014
sports : May 1, 2014
Police Academy III : May 1, 2014
golgo13sf: May 7, 2014
Looke: May 8, 2014
Jimmy Thief: May 15, 2014
Salvador Dalvik: May 28, 2014
julian assflange : Jun 1, 2014
Laserjet 4P: Jun 6, 2014
EMILY BLUNTS : Jun 13, 2014
Socracheese: Jun 17, 2014
rear end cobra: Jun 19, 2014
carry on then: Jun 21, 2014
Telemarchitect : Jul 1, 2014
GATOS Y VATOS: Jul 9, 2014
Long John Silvers: Jul 13, 2014
LP0 ON FIRE: Jul 16, 2014

STILL GOING
sarcastx : Aug 4, 2014
Moist von Lipwig : Aug 8, 2014
DAD LOST MY IPOD : Aug 12, 2014
Number19 : Sep 11, 2014
The Devil Tesla: Sep 11, 2014
nigga crab pollock : Sep 25, 2014
Rev_Crabes : Sep 30, 2014
CNClab 2021: Dec 13, 2014

Bonzo posted:

Hey guys, let's see what we can do to make our stock price go down again.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/blackberry-buffs-up-security-with-anti-eavesdropping-acquisition/article19818840/


Stock went down 3.12% and its not even 10am yet.

alex314 posted:

I'll probably get a Passport somewhere in next year. gently caress the haters, I like the design. I've been using z30 for a couple of months now, most of the time with android apps got through amazon appstore. So far 90% of the ones I've tried (mostly games) work fine.

Jonny Quest posted:

I've been looking into a Chromebook for awhile but a Passport with that 1440x1440 screen is too drat tempting. If it comes to Verizon I'll definitely be grabbing it.

CLAM DOWN posted:

...a Chromebook and the Passport are completely different devices and use cases. One is a lightweight laptop used for Chrome and web applications, the other is a phablet. You can't really compare them.

Jonny Quest posted:

More similar than not for my use case: An 'always on' device that I can use around the house for RSS, browsing, VNC, and SSH. My Q10 is doing it today but the small screen does have its limits. I find it endlessly amusing that I've 'progressed' in my home browsing habits from a laptop, to a Playbook, to the Q10. Convenience and portability won out for me.

"the grauniad posted:

Bad news, BlackBerry: UK user base will fall below that of Windows Phone this year
Forecast from eMarketer says that dwindling BlackBerry users will be outnumbers by those with Microsoft’s Windows Phone – though Android and iPhone will extend lead into 2015


BlackBerry’s Z10 met indifferent buyer reactions - and now the company’s strong position in the UK is being eroded. Photograph: Nathan Denette/AP

BlackBerry’s UK user base will fall below that of Windows Phone this year, ending its position as a stronghold for the brand in Europe, according to new data from research group eMarketer.

From a position at the end of 2013 where BlackBerry had 3.6m UK users, against 1.9m for Windows Phone and legacy Windows Mobile users, by the end of this year Blackberry will have 2.4m users - against 2.7m for Microsoft’s platform, eMarketer says.

By contrast Android phone use will have gone from 16.5m to 19.3m in the same time, and Apple’s iPhone from 9.6m to 11.1m, eMarketer says. Between them, Android phones and iPhones will have 53% and 30.5% of the smartphone market by the end of 2015, eMarketer says - and forecasts that will grow to 54% and 31.5% respectively by the end of 2015.

By then BlackBerry’s installed base is forecast to have fallen to just 1.4m consumers, eMarketer says.

The decline is a blow for BlackBerry, for which the UK was once a key market. It depends for the majority of its revenues on handset sales - which have crashed from a quarterly high of nearly 15m at the end of 2010 to only 1.6m in its most recent financial quarter.

But the news is encouraging for Microsoft, which has been trying to catch up with the growth of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android since launching Windows Phone in 2010.

“The demise of BlackBerry has long been documented, but these numbers highlight just how far it has fallen from grace,” said Bill Fisher, UK analyst at eMarketer. “Android and iOS are clearly dominant, but while Microsoft is making significant effort to grow its presence by buying Nokia’s mobile phone unit and recently partnering with HTC to offer a Windows-based version of the flagship HTC One M8, BlackBerry appears to have been treading water.”


eMarketer estimates for UK smartphone installed base by platform 2013-2015. Photograph: /eMarketer


Amid thumping losses and buyer indifference to its new BB10 handsets, BlackBerry ousted its previous chief executive Thorsten Heins in September 2013, and replaced him with outsider John Chen, who was given a mission to turn the loss-making smartphone company around.

Chen has cut jobs and focussed the company on its “core competency” of secure messaging for businesses and governments - leading to the claim today by David Cameron that he relies on his BlackBerry to run the country remotely.

But it seems that will not reverse BlackBerry’s slide among consumers, even as usage of smartphones grows.

Windows Phone will have a 7.5% share of the UK installed base by the end of 2014, and 9% - or 3.5m users - by the end of 2015, the company says.

That still leaves Windows Phone some distance behind the iPhone, forecasts to have 12.4m users then, and Android phones overall, expected to have 21.3m users.

Following a dramatic rise in smartphone penetration during 2013 to reach 64.3% of all mobile phone users, and 51.6% of all the population, eMarketer says that by the end of 2014 smartphone ownership will hit 69.5% of mobile phone users, and 56.1% of the population.

But it forecasts a slowdown by the end of 2018, with user numbers growing that year by only 3.4% to around 46.4m, by which time 84.8% of mobile phone users will have one.

Nokia’s discontinued Symbian still has faithful users, according to the study, which reckons there were 1m users at the end of 2014 and will still be 0.5m at the end of this year. The last Symbian phone was released in 2012, but data from Kantar, another research company, shows that Symbian ownership in the UK peaked in September 2010 at around 7m users, or 37% of smartphone owners at the time.

the economist posted:

Back to its roots: BlackBerry’s comeback
Remember BlackBerry? It ruled the infant smartphone market; now it accounts for less than 1% of global sales. But BlackBerry is not dead yet. Under John Chen, chief executive for the past year, it is concentrating on its old strengths: business users and security. Today in San Francisco the Canadian company is holding an event for corporate customers; it may show off a new version of its secure communications server, as well as video-conferencing via BBM, its instant-message system. Mr Chen can boast one tech turnaround already, of Sybase, a database-software company. On his watch BlackBerry’s share price has roughly doubled (though it had collapsed before that). It jumped on Monday when Mr Chen said he had talked to Chinese smartphone-makers about possible partnerships, and again yesterday, ahead of today’s event. Losses are at least narrowing. But investors—to whom the firm is also talking today—will want to know when those will turn to profits.

the economist posted:

Sham bam bamina! posted:

your mastery of bbcode is... formidable

Bonzo posted:

I see Thorsten got a new job.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/18/7240515/former-blackberry-ceo-thorsten-heins-now-leading-powermat



Wonder why there isn't a BBry app yet? Looks like they had them before. http://crackberry.com/review-powermat-wireless-charging-system-blackberry-torch-9800-and-9810

Bonzo posted:

BlackBerry will pay iPhone users up to $600 to switch phones

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/blackberry-will-pay-iphone-users-up-to-600-to-switch-phones-1.2848915


Didn't they get mad for T-Mobile for doing this but the other way around?

Scott Forstall posted:

same as Microsoft when they did the same thing awhile back - sell them for a profit and add it to the bottom line to cushion the numbers.

Bonzo posted:

TOOLS NOT TOYS!!

BlackBerry is playing the nostalgia card, announcing the re-release of its Brick Breaker game on the new Classic model.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitch..._medium=twitter

Is anyone else hearing all this stuff about the Passport having some kind of breakthru medical app installed or have I just lived in Waterloo too long?