BlackBerry maker RIM set to lay off 2,000 — report

The once-strong mobile company will hand out pink slips worldwide come June 1, Canada’s Globe and Mail is reporting.

by Edward Moyer

Troubled BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is planning a major global restructuring that will include at least 2,000 layoffs worldwide, according to a report.

Canada’s Globe and Mail cites “several people close to the company” in reporting the news about the Waterloo, Ontario-based company, which, the Globe and Mail says, has about 16,500 employees globally.

The paper said the layoffs “will sweep across departments, ranging from senior positions in RIM’s legal division to human resources, finance, sales, and marketing” and that the pink slips will go out June 1, a day before RIM’s first quarter ends — if not earlier.

The report is not exactly unexpected. During a March 29 conference call, CEO Thorstein Heins said, “It’s clear to me substantial change is what we need.” RIM swung to a loss in its fiscal fourth quarter amid an 80 percent plunge in BlackBerry shipments from a year ago. Apple andAndroid phones meanwhile have seen their shipments soar.

RIM shook up its leadership team during the fourth quarter, with former co-CEO Jim Balsillie resigning as director, and RIM Chief Technology Officer David Yach and Jim Rowan, chief operating officer of global operations, also heading for the door. In March and April, a number of other senior-level executives were also reportedly invited to leave. And this week, Head of Global Sales Patrick Spence made his exit from the company. (RIM also appointed a new chief operating officer and a new chief marketing officer this month.)

RIM laid off 2,000 workers last summer.

In an analysis piece last month, CNET’s Roger Cheng said, “RIM needs some radical changes to even have a chance at mounting a comeback.” Heins has said he’s not ruling anything out: selling assets, forming partnerships, licensing patents, or even — a worst-case scenario — selling the company. Such moves, Cheng notes, could help RIM boost revenue and profits in the short term, but its planned lineup of BlackBerry 10 smartphones– pitched as comeback devices – may not be able to compete with Android handsets and theiPhone.

Some rumors set the launch of BlackBerry 10 as early as August of this year; others say it could be October.

CNET contacted RIM for comment on the Globe and Mail report and was told the company’s offices are closed till Tuesday.

BlackBerry maker RIM set to lay off 2,000 — report

• RIM gets a much needed house cleaning
• RIM results look bleak on fourth-quarter loss
• RIM finally seems to get it. But is it too late?
• RIM’s BlackBerry 10 takes a lot of faith

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Untethered Jailbreak For Your iOS 5.1.1 iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch Is Here

By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

A lot of you have been asking for this … and now it’s finally here!

The Chronic Dev Team have today announced the release of Absinthe 2.0, a tool which offers users the ability to jailbreak most iOS devices running the latest iOS 5.1.1 update, including the third-generation iPad.

This jailbreak is untethered, which means that the jailbreak persists even after the device has been rebooted. A tethered jailbreak requires the devices to be connected to a computer and jailbroken again if it is rebooted.

Absinthe 2.0 can jailbreak all iPhones from the iPhone 3GS onward, as well as third- and fourth-generation iPod touch devices. It can also jailbreak all iPads except the latest 16GB iPad 2, although support for this is planned.

Note that to use this jailbreak tool your device MUST be running iOS 5.1.1.

The jailbreak process is simple.

1. Connect your iDevice to your computer using a cable, fire up iTunes and make a backup of it by right clicking on your device name under the Devices menu and clicking Back Up.
2. Once the backup is complete, wipe your device by going Settings >General >Reset >Erase all Content and Settings.
3. LaunchAbsinthe 2.0.
4. Click on Jailbreak, and then wait!
5. Once the jailbreak process is completed, go back to iTunes and restore your backup from earlier. Right click on your device name under the Devices menu in the left panel of iTunes and click Restore from Back Up… then select the latest backup.

Here are the download links for Absinthe 2.0:

• Windows (XP/Vista/7)
• OS X (10.5 Leopard/10.6 Snow Leopard/10.7 Lion)
• Linux (x86/x64)

If your device is currently jailbroken using a tethered jailbreak then you can turn this into an untethered jailbreak by downloading and installing the Rocky Racoon 5.1.1 Untether package, which is available via Cydia.

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Untethered Jailbreak For Your iOS 5.1.1 iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch Is Here
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Facebook Rumored to be Thinking of Buying Opera Software

By Jane McEntegar

Is there a Facebook browser on the horizon?

It’s been a busy couple of months for Facebook. First the social network acquired Instagram for a cool billion dollars. Then, last week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the company public (right before walking down the aisle with his girlfriend of nine years). Most recently, the company launched its own camera application for iOS devices.

Now, word on the street is that Facebook is considering buying the company behind the Opera web browser. Pocket-Lint cites a trusted source in reporting that Facebook is looking to purchase Opera Software. This source says Facebook could be about to expand into the browser space to take on the likes of Google, Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla and (as of this week) Yahoo!. If Pocket-Lint’s information alone isn’t enough to whet your appetite, there’s more rumblings of the same variety over at The Next Web.

TNW spoke to their own Opera Software source and gleaned the following information: Opera Software is talking to potential buyers right now. It’s not clear if Facebook is one of them, but TNW’s source says the company is looking to sell and become part of “a larger privately-held or public company rather than trying to keep growing the business independently.” This source also revealed that Opera Software has a hiring freeze in place, which indicates something big might be about to do down.

The move would save Facebook the hassle of building its own browser from scratch. While Opera is a distant last in the desktop browser market (as of last month, it had just 1.76 percent of the market), it’s currently the top mobile browser with a market share of 21.52 percent and has a prescence on smartphones, tablets, and even game consoles, which could be more Facebook’s style.

No comment for Facebook or Opera on this rumor, so stay tuned!

Facebook Rumored to be Thinking of Buying Opera Software
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Pregnant Reese Witherspoon Hits Cannes in Fitted, Baby-Bump Enhancing LBD

BY ARIANA FINLAYSON

Ooh la la!

A radiant Reese Witherspoon was all smiles when she stepped out in Cannes, France on Friday to promote her new film, Mud, in which she stars opposite Matthew McConaughey.

The pregnant star, who is expecting her first child with husband Jim Toth, chose a fitted black Versace mini dress with flattering ruched detail that enhanced her growing baby bump. She accessorized with diamond drop earrings, her massive engagement ring, bright fuchsia heels and black Versace sunglasses.

PHOTOS: Reese Witherspoon’s baby bump style

Despite being several months pregnant, the 36-year-old actress didn’t look the least bit jet-lagged at the premiere after having landed in the city the day before.

“The flight over was actually pretty good. I feel great,” she told Us Weekly on Thursday about her trip from LAX to France. “I’m excited about showing the movie. The energy here is great!”

PHOTOS: Reese Witherspoon’s body evolution

That night, the This Means War actress and her CAA agent hubby attended the Ciroc Vodka Erno Laszlo dinner for The Paperboy, where Toth doted on his expectant spouse.

PHOTOS: Reese Witherspoon’s life with Jim Toth

“She and Jim were talking closely…he was clearly protective of her whenever they were standing up or walking around, practically putting both arms around her,” a witness tells Us. While walking through the event and conversing with friends, the mama-to-be assured that she was “surprisingly not tired.” (Toth and Witherspoon ended up heading out around 11:15.)

Pregnant Reese Witherspoon Hits Cannes in Fitted, Baby-Bump Enhancing LBD  

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Etan Patz: New York police secure suspect’s confession, but doubts remain

Pedro Hernandez has admitted killing Etan Patz in 1979, but there are several reasons why police may have to be cautious

By Paul Harris

The goal of any police investigation is to secure a confession from the suspect.

That is doubly true for a high-profile murder investigation like the tragic killing of Etan Patz, a six-year-old New Yorker who vanished on his first unaccompanied trip to school 33 years ago.

Now that New Jersey resident Pedro Hernandez has told police that he strangled Etan in the basement of the Soho grocery store where he worked, it would seem the case can finally be closed.

But there are several reasons why the police investigation might still have to proceed cautiously.

1. There is no body. According to Hernandez, he put Etan in a bag and hid it with some trash somewhere in Manhattan. When he returned there several days later, it was gone. That means DNA evidence linking Hernandez to the crime is non-existent. It also means that definitive proof that Hernandez is telling the truth – which the finding of a body would represent – is not likely to happen.

2. Hernandez suffers from mental health issues, including schizophrenia, according to his lawyers. That could mean Hernandez suffers from delusions and hallucinations and could throw doubt on his story.

3. Hernandez’s confession came just a few days before the 33rd anniversary of Etan’s disappearance. Police in high profile cases have long known that they are often flooded with false leads and hoaxes at such times. It also came just a month after a high profile police dig in Soho looking for evidence which also generated a lot of publicity.

Again, that is something that could potentially generate a lot of fake claims.

4. The case is 33 years old and it may be difficult to corroborate much of Hernandez’s story with testimony from other people. Many witnesses may have moved on from the area, died or have memories that have dimmed after more than three decades. The Soho neighbourhood itself has changed beyond recognition from a gritty working-class place to the centre of New York‘s fashion industry.

5. Hernandez does not seem to have been on the radar of anyone on the case for the past three decades. Certainly not compared to Jose Ramos, a convicted paedophile currently serving time in prison for sexually molesting young boys. Ramos’s girlfriend babysat Etan and in 2004 a civil court found him responsible for Etan’s death in a case brought by the Patz family. Ramos has denied being involved.

Etan Patz: New York police secure suspect’s confession, but doubts remain

 

Cannes 2012: I text director photos of myself in provocative poses, says Paperboy star Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman has revealed how she transformed herself into what one critic described as a “hot, over-sexed Barbie” for her latest roles in Cannes competition entry The Paperboy.

In the adaptation of a Pete Dexter novel, the Australian Oscar winner plays trailer-trash bombshell Charlotte Bless, who is obsessed with a man on death row with whom she exchanges letters.

She is drawn into a newspaper investigation into the prisoner, who may have been wrongfully convicted, triggering a frantic series of sexual encounters, humourous exchanges as well as violence and death in the Florida swamps.

Directed by “Precious” film maker Lee Daniels, “The Paperboy” also stars Matthew McConaughey as tenacious but conflicted reporter Ward, Efron as his younger brother Jack, singer Macy Gray as housemaid Anita and John Cusack as the imprisoned Hillary.

Kidman, in a figure-hugging vermilion dress for herCannes photo call, was asked at a press conference whether she found shooting the scenes embarrassing.

“I think directors bring out different things in their actors and this is what Lee brought out of me and so it didn’t feel uncomfortable at the time,” she said.

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“I have not seen the movie, so I may be uncomfortable watching the movie, but that’s my job. It’s my job to give over to something, not to censor it, not to put my own judgments in terms of how I feel as Nicole playing the character, I’m there to portray a truth.”

Kidman, 44, said she found some of her most rewarding roles in lower-budget, independently-produced movies, even if the Hollywood star had to do her own hair and makeup for the part of Charlotte, due to budgetary constraints.

“Lee just said to me, ‘Look we have no money, you’re going to have to do your own hair and make-up’. And I was like, ‘OK Lee’ …”

“So I actually went into my bathroom and … This is so true! And I got out the fake tan and I put on lashes that were old and I … got out a hair piece thing and it was platinum and I sort of threw it all on, I took a photo and I texted it to Lee, kind of all different provocative positions.”

“And that was how it started to come together, because what he sent back, which I cannot say, but it was like ‘thumbs up’,” she said.

Cannes 2012: I text director photos of myself in provocative poses, says Paperboy star Nicole Kidman

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Yahoo’s Axis app searches for an easier way to get results

Screenshot of Yahoo’s Axis for the iPad. (Yahoo / May 24, 2012)

By Michelle Maltais

Yahoo’s latest entry into mobile search hopes to find the Axis of easy with its new iPhone and iPadapp plus a desktop plug-in.

Yahoo’s Axis aims to make search easier, director of product Ethan Batraski told The Times. Search is an inefficient process that has remain unchanged, involving the same three-step process it always has for the last 15 years: Launch a query, get results and then explore results, he said.

Axis removes the middle step of a returning search results page of links, instead returning a snapshot of the actual Web page and “turns search into a companion, not a destination,” Batraski said. In this way, it’s a bit reminiscent of Google’s Chrome.

When you do type your desired terms into the search/URL field, it auto-populates to help speed the process a bit. And actually, you never have to hit enter or go because it’s already there with the page’s thumbnail, not just a link.

Although Yahoo is aiming this app squarely at Safari on your phone and tablet, it comes amid efforts among the top search engines to draw and keep drive-by Web surfers on their sites. Google just got smarter, launching Knowledge Graph to delve deeper. Microsoft just made Bing friendlier, adding a sidecar for your Facebook friends to offer their expertise.

“Our search strategy is predicated on two core beliefs — one, that people want answers, not links, and two, that consumer-facing search is ripe for innovative disruption,” Shashi Seth, senior vice president at Yahoo Inc. Connections, said in the news release. “With Axis, we have redefined and re-architected the search and browse experience from the ground up.”

Like Google’s refreshed app, it is more mobile-user friendly than previous offerings. To that end, Axis lets you pick up right where you left off on a search, which can be either useful or condemning, depending on what you were last looking for.

As it turns out, the target demographic is 18- to 35-year-old “tech-forward” men, Batraski told The Times. And for them, more links just mean more noise. Axis aims to “get you to your answers as quickly as possible,” he said.

I tried it out looking for common terms and quotes about flying on my desktop using the plug-in.

When I left my desk, I was able to continue that search while on the move on my iPhone and iPad without having to type anything in.

And like most things mobile these days, it does let you share. But interestingly enough, it doesn’t include Facebook in the drop-down, despite your being able to log in with your Facebook credentials. You can share via email, Pinterest and Twitter.

Because Axis wants to be your browser of choice on the go, you can save your bookmarks and pages to read later.

To link your accounts across products, you log in with either Yahoo!, Google or Facebook credentials.

The interface is certainly more visual than your staid search page, which is the trend of the day. One minor gripe is that it’s not immediately clear whether you can close the results pages from other devices. You can close the different tabs opened on the device at hand once you have more than one tab open.

The desktop plug-in works on Firefox 7 and above, Safari version 5 and up, Internet Explorer 9 and all versions of Chrome.

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Yahoo’s Axis app searches for an easier way to get results

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Inside Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart’s Romantic Night at the Cannes Film Festival

Kristen Stewart had something to celebrate Wednesday night at the Cannes Film Festival. Not only did she receive great reviews for her performance in On the Road, but boyfriend Robert Pattinson was there to support her every step of the way!

After Rob walked the red carpet, he waited inside for Stewart, 22. Sitting in front of her in the packed theater (she sat with her cast), we’re told Pattinson, 26, and Kristen had a few minutes to catch up before the film started. However at the after-party at Magic Garden Club, Celebuzz is told the couple only had eyes for each other.

So what went down?

Holding court at a private table, sources tell us Rob and Kristen “never left each other’s sides.”

“They just looked really happy,” adds our insider. “They hung out with friends, like Sam Riley, but it seemed like Rob and Kristen were in their own little world. It looked like they spent the entire night laughing! You could tell that they were in great spirits, and Rob couldn’t have looked more proud.”

And there was no shortage of PDA! The couple was not shy to show affection, “kissing, cuddling, and giggling.” Adds our source, “they looked like two kids in love!”

You can see Pattinson keep his girl close in the photo above that someone posted on Twitter. Not to mention their adorable kiss was caught by paparazzi (kind of bittersweet), and there is even video of it down below.

Quick recap: Rob pulls Kristen in and they sort of start swaying back and forth. Champagne dancing, perhaps? Then he kisses her on the forehead (you can tell she’s smiling!) before there is some sort of animated conversation. We’d die to be a fly on the wall to hear what they are talking about. Pattinson seems to be shaking his head “Noooo” for a while, does a funny little dance, and then he and Kristen go in for the kill. This is too much cuteness to handle for one day!

Let the guessing games begin…what do you think they were talking about?!

Inside Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart’s Romantic Night at the Cannes Film Festival

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Zillow: Phoenix has second-highest rate of underwater homeowners

 by Kristena Hansen

Slightly more than half of Phoenix-area homeowners with mortgages were underwater in the first quarter of 2012, generating roughly $39 billion in total negative equity, according to a report released Thursday from Zillow    Inc.

Many of those metro Phoenix homeowners aren’t so deeply underwater, the report said, with about 23 percent owing anywhere between 1 and 20 percent of the value of their homes.

However, a greater number were much worse off — about 27 percent owed double what their home is worth in the first quarter, the report said. Another 9 percent were at least 90 days delinquent, but the study emphasized that being underwater does not necessarily mean foreclosure is inevitable.

Among the 30 or so markets nationwide the Zillow study examined, Phoenix’s underwater home rate was second highest, although it fared better than the whopping 71 percent Las Vegas had that same quarter.

The overall underwater home rates in Arizona was 52.3 percent in the first quarter and 66.9 percent in Nevada. They were the top two sates in the country for the dubious honor.

Nationwide, nearly one third of mortgage holders, or 15.7 million, were underwater, according to the report. That brings the nation’s total negative equity to about $1.2 trillion in the first quarter, which is a miniscule improvement from the same period last year.

Zillow’s negative equity study puts somewhat of a damper on other reports that show Phoenix home values have continued on an upswing so far this year.

Most recently, the FNC Residential Price Index released figures on Wednesday that showed Valley home prices were 1.4 percent higher in March than the month prior. Nationally, the FNC reported month-over-month home values rose by an average of one-half percent.

“Negative equity remains an issue for the housing market as a whole, and poses a risk to any recovery,” said Stan Humphries,Zillow’s    chief economist. “Not only does negative equity tie many to their homes, by making homeowners unable to move when they may want to, but if economic growth slows and unemployment rises, more homeowners will be unable to make timely mortgage payments, increasing delinquency rates and eventually foreclosures.”

Zillow’s reports its data by comparing current values of individual owner-occupied homes with their outstanding loan amounts, which are provided by TransUnion.

Zillow: Phoenix has second-highest rate of underwater homeowners

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NYPD: Man implicates self in Patz disappearance

By COLLEEN LONG

A man has implicated himself in the death of 6-year-old Etan Patz, whose disappearance 33 years ago on his way to school helped launch a missing children’s movement that put kids’ faces on milk cartons, police said Thursday.

Investigators were still trying to confirm details of the man’s story. The development came just before the Friday anniversary of the boy’s disappearance, when detectives traditionally receive a landslide of hoaxes and false leads related to the case.

“Let me caution you that there’s still a lot of investigating to do,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Pedro Hernandez was picked up late Wednesday in Camden, N.J., according to a law enforcement official, and was being questioned Thursday by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is heading the probe by the FBI and police.

Hernandez worked at a bodega and lived in the same Manhattan neighborhood as Patz, and moved to New Jersey shortly after the boy disappeared, the official said. He has been tied to the case in the past, but it was unclear what brought them back to him this week.

“An individual now in custody has made statements to NYPD detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement. Kelly said he expected to release additional details later Thursday.

Hernandez’s emergence as a person of interest was not related to the search of a Manhattan basement in April, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

Both the person familiar with the probe and the official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the ongoing probe.

A woman who answered the door at Hernandez’ Maple Shade, N.J., home confirmed he was in custody. Neighbors said he lived with a woman and a daughter who attends college.

“I can’t believe something like that,” said Dan Wollick, 71, who rents the other apartment in home. “This guy, he doesn’t seem that way.”

Wearing a backpack with elephants printed on it, 6-year-old Etan, a boy with sandy brown hair and a toothy grin, vanished May 25, 1979, while walking alone to his school bus stop for the first time, two blocks from his home in New York’s SoHo neighborhood.

There was an exhaustive search by the police and a crush of media attention. The boy’s photo was one of the first of a missing child on a milk carton. Thousands of fliers were plastered around the city, buildings canvassed, hundreds of people interviewed.

SoHo was not a neighborhood of swank boutiques and galleries as now, but of working-class New Yorkers rattled by the news.

Etan’s parents, Stan and Julie Patz, were reluctant to move or even change their phone number in case their son tried to reach out. They still live in the same apartment, down the street from the building that was examined in April. They have endured decades of false leads, and a lack of hard evidence.

The Patzes are among the residential holdouts in what has become a chic and artsy shopping district. At one point Thursday morning, the actress Meg Ryan — wearing dark glasses despite a drizzle — walked briskly past the scene, ignoring photographers who trailed her. The Patz family did not return a message requesting comment.

The April excavation of a Manhattan basement yielded no obvious human remains and little forensic evidence that would help solve the decades-long mystery of what happened to the boy.

“I hope this is the end of it,” said Roz Radd, who lives a couple of blocks from the Patz family’s home and knows Etan’s mother casually from walking dogs in the neighborhood. “There’s going to be hopefully closure to her, to know what happened to her son.”

Etan’s disappearance touched off a massive search that has ebbed and flowed over the years. It also ushered in an era of anxiety about leaving children unsupervised.

The case, still considered a missing persons investigation, has ebbed and flowed. In 2010, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. announced he was reinvestigating the case.

In the past, the focus was on Jose Ramos, a convicted child molester, now serving time in Pennsylvania, who had been dating Etan’s baby sitter at the time the boy disappeared. In 2000, authorities dug up Ramos’ former basement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, but nothing turned up.

Stan Patz had his son declared legally dead in 2001 so he could sue Ramos, who has never been charged criminally and denies harming the boy. A civil judge in 2004 found him to be responsible for Etan’s death.

Recently, investigators questioned a 75-year-old Brooklyn resident, who in 1979 had a workspace in the basement that was excavated in April. The man, Othniel Miller, was not named a suspect and denied any involvement.

The handyman’s lawyer, who has maintained his client was not involved in the crime, said there was no connection between Miller and Hernandez.

“There has been no law enforcement action taken or implicated against Mr. Miller as of yet. Mr. Miller is relieved by these developments, as he was not involved in any way with Etan Patz’s disappearance,” attorney Michael Farkas said.

NYPD: Man implicates self in Patz disappearance

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