BlackBerry Says All Service Restored

According to Research in Motion (RIM) executives, all BlackBerry service has been restored following the largest network outage in that smartphone’s history.

The outage started earlier this week in Europe and spread to North America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America over the course through yesterday.

It appears that a failure at one of the company’s messaging servers in Europe was what set off a domino effect that reportedly caused problems for millions of BlackBerry owners.

From CNN:

“We’ve now restored full services,” RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis told reporters.

Some BlackBerry users may still see e-mails coming in slowly as the system recovers, he said.

The major outage frustrated customers on nearly every continent who were unable to send and receive e-mails and text messages this week. It also comes at a bad time for RIM, which is facing increased competition from Android and Apple smartphones.

Apple’s Steve Jobs Dies at 56

A sad day here in the Silicon Valley and around the world as news spreads about the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Jobs invented some of the world’s most popular gadgets that have transformed everyday technology, from the personal computer to the iPod,  iPhone and iPad. He was 56 years old.

From the New York Times:

The death was announced by Apple, the company Mr. Jobs and his high school friend Stephen Wozniak started in 1976 in a suburban California garage.

Mr. Jobs had waged a long and public struggle with cancer, remaining the face of the company even as he underwent treatment. He continued to introduce new products for a global market in his trademark blue jeans even as he grew gaunt and frail.

He underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004, received a liver transplant in 2009 and took three medical leaves of absence as Apple’s chief executive before stepping down in August and turning over the helm to Timothy D. Cook, the chief operating officer. When he left, he was still engaged in the company’s affairs, negotiating with another Silicon Valley executive only weeks earlier.

From CBS News:

Jobs had been suffering from various health issues following the seven-year anniversary of his surgery for a rare form of pancreatic cancer in August 2004. Apple announced in January that he would be taking an indeterminate medical leave of absence. Jobs then stepped down as chief executive in late August, citing his inability to “meet my duties and expectations” stemming from his illness.

In a statement, Apple said paid tribute to its one-time leader as ” a visionary and creative genius” adding that the world had “lost an amazing human being.”

Apple’s Steve Jobs Taking Another Medical Leave of Absence

According to a letter which was distributed to Apple employees, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is taking leave of absence from the because of a medical condition. This marks the second time in two years that Jobs will be taking time away.

From CNN:

“At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company,” Jobs says in the letter.

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer, will take control of the company in Jobs’ absence. Jobs says he has “great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.”

Jobs’ letter continues with an appeal for his family’s privacy:

“I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.”

Holiday Greeting Cards? There’s an App for That!

iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users…listen up!

Our client ACCESS has a cool, new Halloween app called Decoretta which is now available on the App Store for just $.99. There is also a free version available, Decoretta Lite.

Decoretta: Now Available

With this application, you can send anyone, anywhere in the world, a greeting card simply by using your iPhone. For Halloween, Decoretta is filled with templates featuring ghosts, pumpkins, gravestones and haunted houses.

Why spend the time going out, picking out a card, buying a stamp and mailing it! With Decoretta, getting your holiday greeting cards is fast, easy and painless! Decoretta works between iPhones, iPod touch and iPads.

In case you’re wondering, Decoretta isn’t just for Halloween. It will be updated for every holiday so you’ll be able to send greeting throughout the year from your iPhone for Christmas, Valentines Day, Easter and more!

Be sure to download the app and let me know what you think. Happy Halloween!

Apple: Free Bumpers All Around!

Apple’s Steve Jobs announced that the company will give free protective cases to buyers of its latest iPhone model to alleviate the  “death grip” problem.

Sweet…for those who actually own one…

From CNET:

Apple plans to give iPhone 4 users a free case in hopes of satisfying concerns about the design of its antenna and signal problems.

CEO Steve Jobs made the announcement (click here for the live blog) during a press conference at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Friday morning in response to a public-relations crisis over signal issues reported with the iPhone 4, which was unveiled in June. iPhone 4 owners will apply for the free bumper (a case that protects just the outer rim of the phone) online at Apple’s Web site, and owners who already purchased a bumper will get a full refund, Jobs said.

From Ars Technica:

After days of being pilloried for the iPhone 4′s antenna problems, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took to the stage in Cupertino, California to respond. Jobs announced during the iPhone 4 press conference Friday that every iPhone 4 user will get a free Apple Bumper to help mitigate antenna problems. This will apply to every user who buys an iPhone through September 30. iPhone 4 owners who have already purchased one of the $30 bumpers will get a full refund. Users who don’t like the bumper solution and are still unhappy with the iPhone can bring it back for a full refund instead.

From USA Today:

Apple will offer free cases to past and current iPhone 4 customers through September 30, and is offering a full 30-day refund to customers who have had signal loss issues with the iPhone and no longer want it.

“We’re not perfect, and phones aren’t perfect either, but we want to make all of our users happy,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said.

Friday’s announcement follows a recent Consumer Reports blog post in which they said they could not recommend the iPhone 4 because of problems with the antenna located on the bottom left of the device.

From CBS News:

“We’re not perfect, phones aren’t perfect. But we want to make all our users happy.” And with that uncharacteristically humble introduction, Steve Jobs offered what passed for Apple’s apology to iPhone 4 users who have encountered reception troubles and said they would receive free bumpers.

“We love our users. We try hard to surprise and delight them. We work our asses off and have a fun time doing it,” he said during a press briefing Friday morning at the company’s corporate headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. He later added: “When people are criticizing us, we take it really personally…maybe we should have a wall of PR people protecting us from that, but we don’t.”

Police Search Home of Gizmodo Editor Jason Chen

Authorities seized a variety of items, including computers and digital cameras, from Gizmodo editor Jason Chen last Friday evening after he posted pictures and details of a lost iPhone prototype.

Check out Gizmodo for copies of the Search Warrant documents.

So…what happens next? Will Gizmodo and Chen face the wrath of the police for purchasing the device?

Thoughts?

From the Associated Press:

A computer-crime task force made up of multiple law enforcement agencies searched Gizmodo editor and blogger Jason Chen’s house and car in Fremont, Calif., on Friday, according to a statement and search warrant documents provided by Gizmodo.

The warrant, issued by a Superior Court judge in San Mateo County, said the computers and other devices may have been used to commit a felony. Steve Wagstaffe, spokesman for the San Mateo County District Attorney’s office, confirmed the warrant’s authenticity.

Members of the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team took several computers, hard drives, digital cameras, cell phones and other gadgets, plus Chen’s American Express bill and copies of his checks.

From CNN:

Gizmodo, the technology blog that recently published details about Apple’s next-generation iPhone after paying $5,000 to get its hands on the device, posted documents today showing that police raided one of its editor’s homes.

A search warrant posted by Gizmodo says police on Friday seized computers, cameras, hard drives, business cards and computer servers from the home of Jason Chen, the site’s editor who last week published details about Apple’s unreleased smartphone.

The warrant, issued by a judge in California’s San Mateo County, says police were able to raid Chen’s home because they had reason to believe his computers were used to commit a felony. The warrant makes specific reference to the unreleased iPhone 4 and gives police the authority to look for e-mails and other documentation related to the gadget.

Twitter Creator Unveils New Venture

Twitter creator Jack Dorsey has provided the public with the first public demonstration of his hotly-anticipated latest venture. The new venture is a device that will allow credit card payments by cell phone. And here’s the best part: it’s free!

From CNN:

Details of “Square” — a card reader which plugs into the headphone socket of most mobile devices — have been circulating on the Internet since it was announced earlier this month, but little has been known about how it works or who it was aimed at.

However, Dorsey — whose microblogging Web site has proved hugely popular but not hugely profitable since launching in March 2006 — gave no explanation on how he would make money from his new creation, beyond revealing there would be a per-transaction charity donation.

Square, a tiny cube about an inch in length, contains a magnetic strip reader that allows users to swipe and read credit cards, then deduct payment on or offline through a downloaded application that communicates with card issuers in the same way as retailer devices.

Customers then use their finger on the phone’s touch-recognition screen to sign their name to the transaction.

Google Buys AdMob For $750 Million

Pretty big news as Google announced this morning that it has struck a deal to buy mobile ad network, AdMob, for $750 million in stock.

From the Associated Press:

Google already has a mobile ad delivery system, DoubleClick Mobile, which it got with its $3.2 billion acquisition of DoubleClick Inc. in 2008. Google said buying AdMob will give it more expertise in a market that is expected to grow rapidly over the next several years.

Omar Hamoui founded AdMob in 2006. The company, which is based in San Mateo, Calif., provides a market for advertisers to buy space on Web sites geared for mobile devices.

“Mobile advertising has enormous potential as a marketing medium and while this industry is still in the early stages of development, AdMob has already made exceptional progress in a very short time,” Susan Wojcicki, Google’s vice president of product management, said in a statement.

From TechCrunch:

Google has just announced that it has acquired AdMob, the mobile ad platform that has been especially popular on the iPhone, for $750 million. This is a big win for the company’s early investors, which include Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners (this is a huge day for Accel — they were also investors in Playfish, which was just acquired by EA). More recent investors include DFJ and Northgate Capital.

Google has set up a website to explain the benefits of the AdMob acquisition, detailing the rapidly growing (and still very nascent) mobile advertising space. Google also created the graphic below to highlight the differences between its own mobile search ads, and the display ads AdMob shows in applications on the iPhone and other platforms.

From Reuters:

The all-stock deal gives Google, whose Android software is increasingly used to power smartphones such as the Motorola Inc Droid, an important element to monetize mobile Internet traffic.

Privately held AdMob makes technology for serving display ads on mobile phones and to track the performance of the ads.

Google, the world’s No.1 Internet search engine, does not disclose how much of its revenue, which totaled nearly $22 billion in 2008, comes from mobile ads.

Apple’s App Store Passes 100,000 Mark

It was announced this morning by Apple that more than 100,000 apps are now available for download from their App Store.

From MocoNews:

Apple announced today that there are more than 100,000 apps now available in iTunes for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Release. However, Apple did not provide updates on how many downloads there have been; how many iPhones or iPods there are; or how many developers are part of its program.

At last count in September, Apple’s CEO Steve Job said more than two billion apps have been downloaded since July 2008; and that there was 85,000 apps, built by more than 125,000 developers. At that time, there were roughly 30 million iPhone users and 20 million iPod Touch owners.

From TWICE:

More than 100,000 apps are now available in Apple’s App Store for use by the more than 50 million owners of iPhones and iPod Touches in 77 countries, Apple announced.

To date, consumers have downloaded more than 2 billion apps, the company added.

The number of apps and downloads is up from July, when Apple said more than 1.5 billion apps had been downloaded in the store’s first year of existence. At that time, the store featured more than 65,000 apps, and more than 40 million iPhones and Touches had been shipped.

Apple apps are available in 77 countries in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.

From MacWorld:

We’ve known it was coming for a while now, but the milestone has finally been passed: Apple announced on Wednesday that the App Store now boasts more than 100,000 applications available for download. And download the people have, more than two billion times in 77 countries.

As you might expect, Phil Schiller weighed in on the announcement, calling the App Store “a major differentiator” for iPhone and iPod touch customers, of which there are more than 50 million. (Schiller didn’t comment on rumors that he had also asked his staff to address him as “Major Differentiator.”)

Apple’s App Store has seen tremendous growth, having only been open for business for just over a year and a quarter. The store hit one billion downloads about six months ago, at which point it had more than 35,000 applications. In September, when it hit two billion downloads, Apple said the store then boasted 85,000 applications.

‘Zombie School’ Application to Get the Axe

It looks like the latest app for the iPhone, which appears to glorify school violence,  is about to get the axe.

From PC World:

The folks at Apple must have been asleep when they approved the 99-cent iPhone game “Zombie School.” Pushing the boundaries of good taste in a post-Columbine society, “Zombie School” essentially glorifies school shootings, thinly veiled under the guise of a zombie game.

In the game, players occupy a “Zombie shooting tower” and pick off the cheerleaders, principals, quarterbacks, nerds, and “talkative” zombies. You start out with a bow and arrow and work your way to guns and grenades. This idea would have been fine in most any other setting, but the game’s publisher — aptly named Retarded Arts — chose a school. You can almost hear the stampede of angry citizens now. Don’t expect this game to stick around for long.