RIM success in 4Q, but too early to declare win

TORONTO (AP) ? Research In Motion Ltd., once written off as dead amid fierce competition from more modern mobile devices such as the iPhone, surprised Wall Street Thursday by returning to profitability and shipping more BlackBerry 10 phones than expected in the most recent quarter.

It will take several quarters, though, to know whether RIM is on a path toward a successful turnaround. RIM just entered the crucial U.S. market with the new phone last week. And despite selling a million BlackBerry 10 phones in other countries, RIM lost subscribers for the second consecutive quarter.

Thursday's earnings report provided a first glimpse of how the BlackBerry 10 system, widely seen as crucial to the company's future, is selling internationally and in Canada since its debut Jan. 31. The 1 million new touch-screen BlackBerry Z10 phones were above the 915,000 that analysts had been expecting for the quarter that ended March 2. Details on U.S. sales are not part of the fiscal fourth quarter's financial results because the Z10 wasn't available there after the quarter ended.

Investors appeared mostly happy with the financial results. RIM's stock rose as high as $15.55 as trading opened Thursday after the release of results, though it saw a sharp drop in the final hour of trading and closed at $14.45, down 12 cents.

Many analysts had written RIM off last year, but now believe the Canadian company has a future.

"I thought they were dead. This is a huge turnaround," Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said from New York.

Misek said the Canadian company "demolished" the numbers, especially its gross margins. RIM reported gross margins of 40 percent, up from 34 percent a year earlier. The company credited higher average selling prices and higher margins for devices.

"This is a really, really good result," Misek said. "It's off to a good start."

The new BlackBerry 10 phones are redesigned for the new multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers are now demanding.

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers before the iPhone debuted in 2007 and showed that phones can handle much more than email and phone calls. RIM faced numerous delays modernizing its operating system with the BlackBerry 10. During that time, it had to cut more than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth decline by more than $70 billion.

In the most recent quarter, RIM earned $98 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a loss of $125 million, or 24 cents a share, a year earlier. After adjusting for restructuring and other one-time items, RIM earned 22 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had been expecting a loss of 31 cents.

Revenue fell 36 percent to $2.7 billion, from $4.2 billion. Analysts had expected $2.82 billion.

RIM shipped 6 million BlackBerry devices, including 1 million on the new system. But RIM lost about 3 million subscribers to end the quarter with 76 million. It's the second consecutive quarterly decline for RIM, whose subscriber based peaked at 80 million last summer.

Bill Kreyer, a tech analyst for Edward Jones, called the decline "pretty alarming."

"This is going to take a couple of quarters to really see how they are doing," Kreyer said.

The company also announced that co-founder Mike Lazaridis will leave the company. He and Jim Balsillie had stepped down as co-CEOs in January 2012 after several quarters of disappointing results, but Lazaridis said he stayed on as vice chairman and a board director to help new CEO Thorsten Heins and his team with the launch of the BlackBerry 10. With that underway, Lazaridis plans to retire May 1. He said he has no plans to sell his 5.7 percent stake in the company.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Lazaridis said the board wanted both him and Jim to stay, but Lazaridis decided "it was the right time" to leave.

Heins, formerly RIM's chief operating officer, has spent the past year cutting costs and steering the company toward the launch of new BlackBerry 10 phones. Lazaridis said Heins has done an excellent job completing the BlackBerry 10 system and launching it around the world.

"The results speak for themselves," Lazaridis said.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said RIM returned to profitability much sooner than expected. He said it was driven by higher gross margins, cost reductions and the sale of the new BlackBerry.

In a research note, Wu wrote that RIM "is here to stay with stabilization in its business and balance sheet" but said the key question remains whether the company can maintain momentum in an industry dominated by Apple and Google's Android software.

The Z10 has received favorable reviews since its release, but the launch in the critical U.S. market was delayed until late this month as wireless carriers completed their testing.

A version with a physical keyboard, called the Q10, won't be released in the U.S. for two or three more months. The delay in selling the Q10 complicates RIM's efforts to hang on to customers tempted by the iPhone and a range of devices running Android. Even as the BlackBerry has fallen behind rivals in recent years, many users have stayed loyal because they prefer a physical keyboard over the touch screen on the iPhone and most Android devices.

RIM, which is changing is formal name to BlackBerry, said it expects to break even in the current quarter despite increasing spending on marketing by 50 percent compared with the previous quarter.

"To say it was a very challenging environment to deliver improved financial results could well be the understatement of the year," Heins said during a conference call with analysts.

Heins said more than half of the people buying the touch-screen Z10 were switching from rival systems. The company didn't provide details or specify whether those other systems were all smartphones. He said the Q10 will sell well among the existing BlackBerry user base. It's expected in some markets in April, but not in the U.S. until May or June.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rim-success-4q-too-early-declare-win-175330023--finance.html

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Google?s augmented reality game inspires players to duel one other in ?Braveheart paint?

By Jason Szep SIT KWIN, Myanmar (Reuters) - The Muslims of Sit Kwin were always a small group who numbered no more than 100 of the village's 2,000 people. But as sectarian violence led by Buddhist mobs spreads across central Myanmar, they and many other Muslims are disappearing. Their homes, shops and mosques destroyed, some end up in refugee camps or hide in the homes of friends or relatives. Dozens have been killed. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/google-augmented-reality-game-inspires-players-duel-one-020647537.html

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New album, NBC's "The Voice" make for awesome times for Blake Shelton

By Vernell Hackett

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Country music singer Blake Shelton has never been one to shy away from his feelings, so when it came to recording his new album he sought out songs that reflected his current state of mind.

Life, he says, is "pretty awesome."

"It's all where I am in my life right now. I'm very content with my life. I'll be happy if it stays like this for a long time," Shelton, 36, told Reuters of his new album "Based on a True Story..."

After some 10 years in country music, Shelton's popularity has surged in his two years as a judge on NBC's "The Voice" singing contest, which is seen by about 13 million U.S. viewers a week.

The new album's first single, "Sure Be Cool If You Did," released in January, has already topped the U.S. country chart. "Based on a True Story...," released to coincide with the return of "The Voice" this week, is expected to debut near the top of next week's album chart.

"I didn't want to do any sad songs, damn it, but this is a country album so you have to do a couple," said Shelton.

"I had those years where I made those kinds of records and something will happen one of these days and it will be a part of my music again. But right now everything is pretty awesome," he added.

Shelton, 36, is the latest country star to break into the mainstream. His 2011 album "Red River Blue," reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, buoyed in part by the singer's laid-back, fun-loving role on the TV show.

On the new album, Shelton, who forms a country music power couple with singer-wife Miranda Lambert, sings about tried-and-true country themes, including good ol' boys, picking up girls, being in love, losing the love of his life and bad jobs.

"The album is the story of my life from start to finish and I thought 'That's what we should call it because it is based on a true story,'" Shelton said.

The singer, who won the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year in 2012, said he wants people to get to know his personality through his music and "The Voice."

"I guess if doing what I did got me that award, I better keep being that guy," said Shelton, whose biggest hits include 2009's "Hillbilly Bone" and 2004's "Some Beach."

Shelton has emerged as the face of the country music industry on "The Voice," in which he and three other judges compete with each other to mentor rising singers and help them win a record deal.

"I've always felt a responsibility to make sure that every step along the way is a good one for our industry," he said. "I'm proud to be that person on 'The Voice' that represents country music."

Shelton will be back in the country music spotlight on April 7 as host for the third consecutive year of the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas.

(Reporting by Vernell Hackett, editing by Eric Kelsey, Jill Serjeant and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/album-nbcs-voice-awesome-times-blake-shelton-163427960--finance.html

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Energy surcharge by hotels in the VI?? - USVI Moving Center

It's becoming more and more popular. I have been seeing $30 per day at a wide range of resorts throughout the Caribbean, not just in the VI.

From a timing perspective, it became much more attractive for Hotels to feel like they could get away with these fees when the arilines started in earnest with the ala carte fees for bags, choosing seats, etc. on top of the rates.

Personally as a consumer, I would prefer these businesses just give me one figure, with all taxes, "Resort Fees", "Energy Fees", etc. when I make a reservation. Who do they think they're fooling? Is the general public that stupid???

Source: http://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,200448,200448

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US Sen. Hagan of NC backs same-sex marriage rights

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan said Wednesday she backs marriage rights for same-sex couples, joining a growing number of Democratic Party politicians ahead of her re-election race next year.

Hagan announced her position as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the federal Defense of Marriage Act, a law that denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples.

"Marriage equality is a complex issue with strong feelings on both sides, and I have a great deal of respect for varying opinions on the issue," Hagan said on her official Facebook account. "After much thought and prayer, I have come to my own personal conclusion that we shouldn't tell people who they can love or who they can marry."

Hagan last year opposed a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, saying it could make it more difficult for companies to recruit talent. President Barack Obama announced his support for the unions the day after 61 percent of North Carolina voters backed the gay-marriage amendment last May.

The amendment reflected North Carolina's urban-rural divide on social issues. The question passed in 92 of North Carolina's 100 counties, while the counties surrounding Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Durham and Charlotte among those where the question was defeated.

Hagan's position puts her in step with fellow Democrats like U.S. Sens. Jon Tester of Montana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, and Mark Warner of Virginia, all of whom this week declared support for gay marriage. Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio took that step last week.

But Hagan's statement carries political risks. She was elected in 2008 on the day that Obama won North Carolina by just 14,000 votes, marking the first victory for a Democratic presidential nominee since 1976. But North Carolina was the only battleground state Obama lost last year to Mitt Romney on the way to re-election.

An Election Day exit poll of voters conducted for The Associated Press in November found that just one-third of voters said they supported same-sex marriage.

Hagan said she believes religious institutions should not have to conduct same-sex marriages if that is inconsistent with their religious beliefs.

"But I think as a civil institution, this issue's time has come and we need to move forward," Hagan said. "The fabric of North Carolina and what makes our state so special is our families and our common desire for a brighter future for our children. No matter what your family looks like, we all want the same thing for our families - happiness, health, prosperity, a bright future for our children and grandchildren."

___

Emery Dalesio can be reached at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-sen-hagan-nc-backs-same-sex-marriage-165156223--election.html

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Creepy Critters in Sensitive Places: How Science Reporters Get Your Attention

We're not as daring as Magellan (who died) or Columbus (who went crazy) or Henry Hudson (who froze), but in our dainty little way, we take astonishing risks. Well, maybe not astonishing. Maybe just embarrassing.

Some of the best science reporters, like the best Vaudevillians, the best circus performers, the best teachers, are hungry for attention ? not for themselves (well, maybe a little), but for a way to seize your mind, to bring you to an idea, a creature, a puzzle. We are a strange bunch, shy, desperate, ferocious ? we want you to know what we know, meet who we've met.

Here's a perfect example. I've got this friend, Destin, who is not even a fully-employed science reporter (though he's about to be). By day, he tests rockets for the U.S. Defense Department in Huntsville, Ala., but the rest of the time he explores physics, biology and explodes things, blowing up anything and everything (while, of course, wearing safety glasses ? because, as I said, we may look crazy, but we're dainty on the inside). He does his reporting on his own YouTube channel, called Smarter Every Day. He's his own cameraman, reporter, narrator, money-raiser and nuisance to his long-suffering wife.

Doing What Must Be Done

Recently, he took himself on a trip to the Amazon rainforest, accompanied by a gang of, you should excuse the expression, "frat boy" types (scientists, I suppose), who took him to a hole, literally a hole in a mound of mud or dirt deep in the forest. In that hole, they knew, was a tailless whip scorpion, a big, scary, frightening-looking multi-legged beast who is clearly, VERY CLEARLY, making Destin extremely uncomfortable. Lots of people get the creeps near spiders, which is what these are (though six-legged, they've got two more limbs up front, making them "amblypygids," part of the spider family). But true to our code (Explore, Describe, Pee in Your Pants) Destin has his Encounter. Yes, his eyes are squinched shut, and he's barely breathing, but he's a Science Reporter, Doing What Must Be Done ... as you will see ... right here ...

By the way, (and this is why we don't belong with Columbus, Magellan or Henry Hudson), according to the scientists at The Wild Classroom, tailless whip scorpions "are completely harmless. They have no way of inflicting stings, or in any way hurting a human being. [They] do not have venom, and their formidable pedipalps [those claw-like limbs] are used solely for capturing small prey like tiny crickets crawling on tree trunks."

They don't even have tails. Tailless scorpions are like mouthless dragons. Very un-dangerous. Their Latin name, "amblypigid," means "blunt rump." So Destin was never in harm's way, not even slightly.

The Science Reporting Difference ...

But this is why we are different from those other show folks who make fiction TV and movies ? we show you the truth. Destin may be a coward, but he knows the animal is not his enemy. Heck, he even takes it home to its hole after their "date."

They didn't do that in the Harry Potter movies. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, features a tailless whip scorpion. Professor Mad-Eye Moody (the one with the magical eye) calls it "lethal" (hah!) and proceeds to torture the little guy until Hermione begs him to stop.

Dr. Moody may be a full professor at Hogwarts ? but he's no science reporter. We may not be pure-bred wizards, but we're made of truer stuff.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/03/28/175580837/six-legged-critters-in-dicey-places-what-science-reporters-do-to-get-your-attent?ft=1&f=1007

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Revised ride to space station may be faster ? but it's also less comfortable

Ramil Sitdikov / AFP - Getty Images

NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy gets his spacesuit checked prior to Thursday's launch to the International Space Station. Straps bind Cassidy's knees close to his chest, in the position he'll have to maintain during most of the six-hour trip.

By James Oberg, NBC News Space Analyst

The speedier ride that three spacefliers are taking into orbit on Thursday will get them aboard the roomy International Space Station a lot sooner than on previous Soyuz space missions. It will lower the demand on expensive support teams back on Earth. But there's also an uncomfortable aspect to the shorter flight plan.

That aspect has to do with the Russian-made emergency pressure suits that crew members wear for launch aboard the Soyuz spacecraft. In the past, spacefliers put on the suits several hours before launch, and wore them for about three hours in flight ? long enough to perform the early rocket maneuvers. Then they took off the suits and put them away until docking, two days later. During most of the trip, the travelers could stretch out in the orbital module, a roomier area of the Soyuz spacecraft.

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The situation is different for NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Pavel Vinogradov, the newest crew members to head for the space station. Their trip is taking six hours rather than two days, thanks to a more exacting strategy for orbital navigation. The Soyuz launch from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is scheduled for 4:43 p.m. ET, and arrival at the station is set for 10:31 p.m. ET.

Mike Suffredini, NASA's space station manager, said the flight plan has the benefit of reducing the "amount of time the crew has to spend in a small environment before they get to the ISS." But that six-hour trip will be more intense.?

Long stretch in the suits
The trio will be wearing their Sokol pressure suits as an essential safety measure, to ensure against the kind of catastrophe that killed three unprotected cosmonauts in 1971 when their cabin suffered an air leak. But the suits are notoriously uncomfortable: They're designed?to fit snugly into the tight crew seats, where knees are shoved halfway up to the chest. Arm mobility is restricted to being able to hold a stick to poke critical controls. Oxygen is fed into the suits via short hoses from a nearby console.

It takes hours to remove the suits and clean them, and at least an hour to put them back on and verify pressurization. There's not time for all that during a six-hour trip. As a result, the crew members will have to wear the suits for a much longer period that begins before launch and doesn't end until after docking.

"They are definitely going to have to go to a very tolerant mental system to do this," one former NASA astronaut told NBC News. The spaceflier, who has experience with Soyuz hardware and the Sokol spacesuit, spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak out publicly.

"My first thought was, 'Oh my God, how will they do this!!!" the astronaut said in an email. "If they let the confined/claustrophobic feeling in, it can escalate quickly. If they do not get excellent cooling, which is hard to get, curled up in the seat, it could be very bad. At best this will be terribly uncomfortable to say the least, and I would expect worse, especially given that Cassidy is pretty tall. ... My personal thinking is that this is going too far and even if they get through it this time, I would not think it reasonable as a general technique."

Not 'a big deal'
Cassidy told CollectSpace's Robert Pearlman in an interview that he could tolerate the trip.

"I'm a little bit taller than is comfortably seated in the Soyuz? Cassidy acknowledged, but he said he and his crewmates planned to ease out of their seats and straighten their legs while continuing to wear their spacesuits. "After a couple of hours strapped into that seat tightly, it is really, really nice to stretch your legs out," he explained.

Several retired astronauts seconded Cassidy's view.

"I don't really remember suit comfort being a big deal on my flight," Ed Lu, who was the first American to ride a Soyuz to the space station after the 2003 Columbia disaster, told NBC News via email. "We were out of our suits after 2 revs [revolutions], so what we are talking about here is just an additional 2 revs."

Leroy Chiao, who rode a Soyuz to orbit and back in 2004, agreed in an email: ?While the position one is required to be in for being strapped in the seat is not comfortable, I would opt for day-1 rendezvous. Once in orbit, the crew can loosen their straps a bit and move their legs a little. Shifting around helps relieve some of the discomfort."

It?s not just a matter of NASA employees loyally proclaiming their agreement. Private spaceflight participant Greg Olsen, who took his Soyuz trip in 2005, voiced a similar view in an email: ?Strictly speaking for myself, I would have been willing to keep the Sokol suit on for a 10-hour period if we docked at the station in that time. It would be more uncomfortable, but not unbearable, to do this.?

Space toiletry
Cassidy told CollectSpace that the Russians found a way for crew members to relieve themselves while still inside the suits. "We wind up being in the vehicle for a very, very long time, and people just need to use the toilet eventually," he said, "so we'll open the hatch and have access to the [orbital module] and be allowed to take our suits not completely off, but enough to do any business we need to take care of."

The nature of this "relief tube" remains obscure. Although cosmonauts are often photographed posing in front of their transfer bus for a re-enactment of Soviet space pioneer Yuri Gagarin's "peeing on the tires" ceremony, it's hard to see how they are actually attaining access to allow for urination. Demonstration videos of cosmonauts donning Sokol suits in orbit show clear views of the crotch area, and no openings are visible in the appropriate anatomical regions.

Olsen described the only available method for such relief that he ever was offered. "We all wear 'Huggie' diapers and most have peed at least once shortly after launch,? he said. "The Russians give everyone enemas, so that's not an issue, even for the two-day flight, in most cases."

Perhaps the long stretch in a spacesuit will bring the full truth to light: How do you get relief in orbit?

More about the Soyuz mission:

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NBC News space analyst James Oberg spent 22 years at NASA Mission Control, where he carried the title of Rendezvous Guidance and Procedures Officer?? RGPO, pronounced "Arr-Jeep-O." In that capacity he sat in the center of Mission Control's front row, down in the legendary "trench" of space maneuvering specialists.

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a1b8023/l/0Lscience0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C280C1750A32840Erevised0Eride0Eto0Espace0Estation0Emay0Ebe0Efaster0Ebut0Eits0Ealso0Eless0Ecomfortable0Dlite/story01.htm

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