Yahoo fires CEO, puts company up for sale

Following recent rumblings surrounding discontent atop Yahoo’s executive chain, the struggling Internet company fired its CEO Carol Bartz. In the same stroke, Yahoo! also revealed that it is for sale. News broke Tuesday night that former chief executive Carol Bartz sent an email to the entire Yahoo organization. In her brief note, she stated that Yahoo’s chairman of the board had fired her — over the phone, no less. Yahoo confirmed the news, stating that Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse would step in as interim CEO while the company searches for a new chief. Following the news, a Yahoo employee speaking with The Wall Street Journal also confirmed that the company would be open to selling itself. “Yahoo is open to selling itself to the right bidder,” the Journal wrote. No additional details were provided. Carol Bartz’s full email to Yahoo staff follows below.

From: “Carol Bartz”
To: “all-worldwide@yahoo-inc.com”

Subject: Goodbye

To all,

I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.

Carol

Read

BGR

 

Labor Day sale pricing hints at slow sell-through for RIM’s top PlayBook tablet

Retail giant Best Buy is currently offering Research In Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet at a discount for Labor Day. For a limited time, RIM’s tablet can be had for as little as $449.99 for the 16GB model, a $50 discount. The 32GB and 64GB PlayBook models are both priced at $549.99, affording a $50 discount on the former and a $150 discount on the latter. The steeper discount on RIM’s high-end PlayBook may indicate that Best Buy is having trouble offloading the pricey tablet, which normally retails for $700. RIM announced on its earnings call in June that it had shipped 500,000 PlayBook tablets during the slate’s first partial quarter of availability. Since then, reports have been mixed; while many analysts have said RIM’s tablet is not selling well to end users, a major Australian retailer has gone on record with claims of “fantastic” PlayBook sales. Best Buy confirmed to BGR via email that its sale on BlackBerry PlayBook tablets will run through Labor Day, September 5th.

 

BGR

All BlackBerry PlayBooks Now on Sale at BestBuy – $450 & $550

BestBuy now has the BlackBerry PlayBook on sale.  The 16gb($50 off) is $449.99 and the 32gb($50 off) and 64 gb($150 off) priced at $549.99.  Its funny that they would put the 32gb and 64gb model on sale for the same price, but it might be to clear out 64gb inventory.  The savings are on from now until September 5th.  Is this enough incentive to for you to act if you have been holding off?

Check out the BlackBerry PlayBook discounts over at Best Buy

via:bbreview

Petition: Dear AT&T, We want the BlackBerry Bold 9900 Now!

Dear AT&T,

On behalf of CrackBerry Nation and AT&T subscribers, we the commenters to this blog post request that you hurry up and release the BlackBerry Bold 9900. We feel that “later this year” is too wishy washy of a time frame and rumors pointing to a November launch date are simply too far away. It’s unacceptable. With the BlackBerry Bold 9930 already available from Sprint and Verizon, and T-Mobile’s Bold 9900 available August 31st nationwide (it’s already available on business channels), we think AT&T is really missing out on sales here and ticking off a lot of subscribers who want to upgrade to the BlackBerry Bold 9900 NOW. We know it’s not Research In Motion holding things up here — it’s you AT&T — and we think it’s time you change your priorities and make the Bold 9900 available for purchase asap.

Our CrackBerry forums are full of AT&T subscribers looking to buy the Bold 9900 from AT&T, and every day we’re getting overloaded with emails and tweets asking when the Bold 9900 will be available from AT&T. There IS demand for this phone and we need the requests to stop (it’s distracting!). Enthusiastic BlackBerry fans have chosen not to wait – they are buying BlackBerry Bold 9900s from other carriers to unlock and use on AT&T. The world would be in a better state right now if you did the right thing and put the Bold 9900 up for sale. Delaying its release does not serve the interests of your consumers.

We’re not sure why you haven’t announced an exact date for the release of the Bold 9900 or put it on sale yet. We get that the now-available BlackBerry Torch 9810 is exclusive to AT&T in the USA so maybe you’re giving it some time in the spotlight, but a huge amount of people want the Bold 9900! And if you’re delaying its arrival until after a new iPhone launches for some reason, well that’s just silly. People who want the best physical keyboard ever put on a smartphone are going to want the Bold 9900 whenever it’s released, so it might as well hit the market now. Or maybe you’re mad still about the whole BlackBerry Bridge thing on the PlayBook and want to punish RIM a little bit. If that’s the case, get over it. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is too hot a phone to hold back from people’s twitchy thumbs.

We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to a speedy release of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 on AT&T.

Sincerely,

Kevin Michaluk
Founder, CrackBerry.com

PS. In true CrackBerry fashion, we’re going to give away an AT&T BlackBerry Bold 9900 to a member who posts a comment on this petition. Be sure to tell AT&T why you want them to release the BlackBerry Bold 9900 now. The contest is open until AT&T releases the Bold 9900. The day it’s available we’ll announce the winner. The sooner AT&T gets the Bold 9900 to market, the sooner somebody will win!

via:cb

Staples giving $100 off select tablets, PlayBook included

Whether you have been waiting to gather all the funding, hoping for a sale or in the market for a second BlackBerry PlayBook, Staples has made a deal that is a bit difficult to resist. Currently Staples has a coupon that lasts until the end of this month that will drop the price of select tablets $100 and unlike the Kindle or HP Touchpad, the PlayBook is not excluded from the deal. That means you — yes you — can print the coupon out, go to your local Staples and grab a brand new BlackBerry PlayBook for $100 less than what you originally intended on paying! The deal is only valid until July 30th and unfortunately only applies to US based stores, but it is definitely not something you want to miss out on. Have you picked one up on this coupon or plan to in the coming days? Be sure to let us know about it in the comments. Thanks to everyone that sent this in!

Make sure you're getting the best deal with Discount Calculator

 

So you’re out shopping and you see a huge sale on BlackBerry accessories. Some of you could figure this out in your head or with your devices calculator. I’m lazy and hate math with a passion so I’d BBM or call my husband to figure it out (feel free to laugh because he does every time I call for something like this). Now, thanks to the Discount Calculator a FREE app by Huy Bui, I can just plug in the numbers, see what the actual sale price is and how much I’m saving.

Discount Calculator is a useful shopping app that helps you calculate the price after discount for an item on sale.Simply input the original price and discount percentage then Discount Calculator will show you the final sale price and how much you will save. It has a simple, easy to use UI and takes up very little space (69 KB). The only addition to this app that I would make is having a spot to input the tax rate so you could see the total price you’d have to pay.

More information / download of Discount Calculator

via:cb

T-Mobile Offers A Year’s Worth Of Free Data For Father’s Day

 

Looking for a Father’s Day gift that just keeps giving? How does a year’s worth of mobile data sound? On June 18, T-Mobile is hooking up new and existing customers (with at least 18 months of contract tenure) with 12 months of free data for signing a new talk, text, and data plan on a two-year contract. So if you’re looking to save Dad from all those data overage charges, perhaps the one-day-only Father’s Day sale at T-Mo is the way to go.

Here’s how it works: if you sign up for T-Mo’s 200MB data plan, the pink carrier will reimburse you every month with $10 in credit, covering the whole $120 cost of that size plan. If you opt for one of T-Mobile’s larger data packages – 2GB, 5GB, or 10GB – with unlimited talk and text, T-Mobile will still offer $10 in monthly credit, which means you’ll at least save $120 on data over the course of the year. The same rule applies for customers who sign up for mobile broadband plans.

Remember, this deal is for one day only so, if you haven’t already marked down Father’s Day in your calendar, at least put “T-Mo Sale” in the little box marked June 18.

Via:

Comb Over Charlie for the BlackBerry PlayBook

Chad let us know that they just released a game called Comb Over Charlie, an addictive shoot and smash game. The game coding was done by his friend Charlie and together they created a fun game with some cool visual graphics.

Game description:

Shoot and smash your way through 8 exciting levels & bosses.

Tired of getting insulted about your awesome comb over? Go fight some meanies!

You’ve been mocked for your comb over long enough. As you swim the ocean, you’re laughed at and insulted. It’s time to take matters into your own fins.

Get through these worlds, and come out with your glorious comb over intact.

You can pick up the game on sale for $0.99 until June 15t at this link.

via:bbr

Lock BlackBerry Messenger – Password Protect your BBMs

When it comes to my device I can be pretty careless. I’m constantly losing it at home or misplacing it at work. Normally there’s nothing on there that would come back to haunt me as I’m a pretty boring person. However, my BBM’s are a different story. That’s where Lock BlackBerry Messenger by Ajani InfoTech comes into play. It keeps your BBM messages secure without locking the rest of your device down. This way you still have access to other applications such as such as your phone, internet, apps, and email.

This is a pretty good app when it comes to your personal privacy and security. Plus it’s very easy to use. Simply enter in your new password and choose whether to enable / disable the lock. Anytime you click on your BBM icon or access via the app switcher you’re prompted to enter in your password. It even pops up when entering and exiting BBM Groups which in my case is a good thing.

I did notice that it does not prevent BBM access from the messages application and doesn’t time out if you’re chatting and put your device down. These little hiccups aside if you would like to keep your BBM’s hidden from unwanted eyes then this is the app for you.

Features Include:

• Password protect BlackBerry Messenger app.
• Quickly switch between Lock and Unlock mode.
• Neat and clean graphics. Appealing to eyes.
• Passwords must be 4 characters or greater

Lock BlackBerry Messenger: Password Protect BlackBerry Messenger is available for $1.99 for all devices running OS 4.2 and higher. For a limited time it’s on sale for $0.99. You can’t go wrong with that.

More information / purchase at BlackBerry App World  or click the QR Code below from your Smartphone

[qrcode pix=150]http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/16560[/qrcode]

via:cb

Review: SOTI Pocket Controller-Pro 8 – Now with Bluetooth Support and Notifications

SOTI Pocket Controller-Pro for BlackBerry is one of the few productivity apps I consistently rely on day to day. For me it’s more than just the ability to use BBM from my desktop. Need to capture a tricky screenshot for a 101 that no other app will get? Check. Want to type on a regular keyboard instead of the small keys of the BB? Check. Peace of mind that it looks like I’m being productive at work when I’m actually on my BB. Che….Alright you caught me red handed. That’s the beauty of Pocket Controller; it lets you stay focused on the task at hand without having to constantly stop to check your BlackBerry.

That being said, I can’t tell you how excited I was to learn it’s been updated to version 8.0. This version includes even more amazing productivity features and bug fixes. So let’s break each down one by one and hopefully I won’t be caught goofing off at work. If you’re unfamiliar with SOTI Pocket Controller-Pro you can check out my original review.