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According to ReadWriteWeb, millions of iDevice users jailbroke their devices over the last weekend after the release of the Absinthe A5 tool. However, if the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is not successful in renewing the jailbreaking exemption law put in place 3 years ago, tweak users and Cydia browsers may soon be faced with some legal…
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As RIM navigates some particularly rough seas, it appears as though the company may soon kick-off a good old-fashioned corporate governance shakeup in order to please their shareholders. Although they’ll retain their positions as co-CEOs, the Financial Post reports that RIM’s Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie may soon be ousted from their positions as chairmen of the board.
The sordid tale began this past summer, when shareholder Northwest & Ethical Investments LP proposed that the CEO and chairman positions should be split citing the need for “increased board oversight.”
RIM was quick to answer at the time by saying that the chairman position helped Lazaridis and Balsillie generate business for the company. Northwest & Ethical retracted their proposal, on the condition that RIM could have six months to prove that letting the co-CEOs keep their titles as chairmen would benefit the business.
Time is quickly running out, and if the FP’s sources are to be believed, there really isn’t reason for things to stay the way they are. As a result, RIM is reportedly eyeing independent director Barbara Stymiest to take over as chairperson of the board, but we may have to wait until January 31 before anything becomes official.
That initial proposal must feel like an eternity away for RIM’s top brass, as the company has suffered crisis after crisis since then. Anemic PlayBook sales, a world-wide service outage, and a pair of drunk (and possibly superhuman) executives raising hell on a plane are just a few of the things that the company has had to weather recently, which could explain why Lazaridis and Balsillie may not be putting up much of a fight.
They’ve already offered up their joint mea culpa by slashing their salaries down to $1/year, so relinquishing their chairmen roles could be their next step in appeasing the shareholders. It seems to be working, at least temporarily — at time of writing, RIM’s stock price has jumped 8.5% since the market opened.
The bigger question that this whole situation raises is how exactly this affects RIM’s future. Both men will retain their roles as co-CEOs unless something terribly drastic happens, and hopefully the shakeup is enough to shock the company into trying something new. Even so, RIM’s foreseeable future is looking dicey — the company’s first BlackBerry 10 devices have already been pushed later into 2012 than expected, and PlayBook price tags are being slashed left and right in an effort to move product. Lazaridis and Balsillie don’t seem to be men who like sweeping change, but here’s hoping a change in corporate structure will have them making some bold new plays.
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That sad old pervert (Dennis Hof) who owns the Moonlight BunnyRanch brothel in Nevada has decided to open a new alien themed whorehouse because his regular prosties aren’t doing it for him anymore. “They need to be green and wearing those glittery antennas”, I imagine he said to himself.
[Hof] recently bought a rundown bordello 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas and unveiled plans to renovate and reopen it with a science fiction theme [...] It’s all an attempt to cash in on the property’s location just south of the federal installation formerly known as the Nevada Test Site — though nowhere near the actual Area 51.
…But who cares about sex when there are costumes designed by Hof’s partner, tabloid fixture Heidi Fleiss?
Hof’s alien theme is already well past the probing stage, but important details — whether the working women will be painted green, for example — are still being decided [...] It’s unclear whether the costumes will be for everyday use or for promotional events and special occasions.
$20 says it has wood paneling. Another $20 says 3 out of 4 blindfolded patrons could identify the smell of the place as shattered dreams mixed with green body paint mixed with a Star Trek convention mixed with Astroglide. Mmmm, space lube.
Inevitably depressing alien-themed brothel to open in Nevada [io9]
Thanks to Jackie, who agrees there better be that three-tittied alien chick from Total Recall or GTFO. View full post on Geekologie – Gadgets, Gizmos, and Awesome
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Yesterday Droid-Life obtained a leaked internal document from Verizon that had a surprisingly annoying little tidbit within: “Beginning 1/15/12, there is a $2 ‘convenience fee’ for making a credit or debit card bill payment online or via call-in channels.”
Sometimes leaks are faked or forged, and I hoped against hope that this particular leak was a load of malarkey. But alas, Phonescoop has apparently received confirmation via email that Verizon will in fact impose this “convenience fee” starting January 15.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Conveniently enough, Verizon has laid out a few ways for you to avoid such a convenience.
I realize I’m harping on it, but the only joke bigger than this $2 fee is the fact that they’re calling it a “convenience fee.” Convenient to whom (other than Verizon, of course)? You’d think that processing online payments would actually be more convenient for Big Red than processing paper payments, and it doesn’t necessarily encourage environmental friendliness, either.
Either way, you won’t have to pay the extra $2 if you choose to send in an electronic check through My Verizon Online, My Verizon Mobile or via telephone. Using Autopay will also rid you of this charge if you’re using credit/debit/ATM cards or electronic checks. If you pay through customer home-banking services, pay in-store at the kiosk, or use a Verizon Wireless gift card or device rebate card to pay a bill in-store, online or by telephone, the fee will also be waived.
Obviously, you can always pay with a standard paper check mailed directly to Verizon Wireless along with your bill (the same way people paid their bills in the olden days), but some of us live in the 21st century.
Verizon customers who don’t check the blogs or news as much as you fine people will be notified at the time of payment (both online and by phone) that an extra $2 is being charged.
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OnLive, the cloud gaming service is finally making its way to iOS. The app will be available for free, with in-app options for purchasing or renting game titles. All titles will be playable using the OnLive wireless controller, while some 25 titles will be given onscreen virtual buttons to control the action. From IGN’s review, the experience can be pretty…
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