Yesterday's market meltdown was a nice opportunity to buy some calls on NA for a quick flip. It wasn't much money (Canada doesn't have the most liquid of option markets) but hey, I'll take it.
I now turn my attention back to Blackberry. This stock is like an itchy scab that you just can't stop picking at. Not really a good thing. But I'm really tempted to buy some calls. Here's my reasoning why;
1. The stock has gotten the shit kicked out of it lately. Not without good reason, mind you - since the hardware side continues to disappoint, and software revenue is a bit skewed by the Good acquisition... But it's so cheap that it looks attractive.
2. The PRIV effect. It's an awesome phone. Absolutely beautiful. And it's actually been selling. I'm not talking Iphone or Samsung volumes, here, but still - it's selling. I don't access to any real stats - so I've resorted to walking into wireless retail establishments, who all tell me that it's been selling well, and also to looking at Amazon reviews as a proxy for sell through rates (e.g. lots of reviews for the Priv and associated accessories means good sell through). Based on that unscientific-but-hey-I-have-access-to-no-other-metrics approach, I'm thinking that the hardware estimate could be a surprise to the upside.
3. What have they got to lose? What I mean by that is, they've publicly stated that the Priv is make or break. If they don't make their numbers, they get out of the hardware business and focus on services - value gets unlocked and the stock goes up. If they make their numbers - everyone is appropriately surprised - stock goes up.
Those are my quick thoughts. Of course, there are lots of other fundamentals to consider - but then, when was the last time a stock traded on fundamentals...
What do you think?
Showing posts with label blackberry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blackberry. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Thursday, March 3, 2011
BBM (Status Message) Haiku
I thought I'd create a new form of poetry specific to the Blackberry. I call it the BBM Haiku.
Its not to be confused with the BBM Haiku contests run by sites such as Crackberry, where you win a Blackberry for writing a Haiku about your 'Berry.
The BBM Haiku will be a art form structured around the Blackberry Messenger Status message.
The rules will be as follows:
No more than 64 characters long, including spaces (yes, I know, its kind of obvious). 12 syllables, regardless of the number of words. (approximately equal to the 17 "on" in traditional Haiku). 3 phrases.
Can be about any topic.
That's it! And yes, I know that makes it not a Haiku, but my creativity fell a little short of a more creative or fitting name. I'm open to other options.
Here's my first attempt:
Cold touch. Phone changes hands. Modern Intimacy.
What do you think (about the idea, that is, not the attempt)?
Its not to be confused with the BBM Haiku contests run by sites such as Crackberry, where you win a Blackberry for writing a Haiku about your 'Berry.
The BBM Haiku will be a art form structured around the Blackberry Messenger Status message.
The rules will be as follows:
That's it! And yes, I know that makes it not a Haiku, but my creativity fell a little short of a more creative or fitting name. I'm open to other options.
Here's my first attempt:
Cold touch. Phone changes hands. Modern Intimacy.
What do you think (about the idea, that is, not the attempt)?
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Is the Blackberry the safest smartphone?
I read an article yesterday on how RIM is in trouble because of the triple threat of IOS, Android, and Windows7 Mobile (ok, ok, so it was really only a double threat). I'll provide a source for the article later.
Well fast forward one day to the entry of 2011, and what do I see? An article talking about a "malicious trojan" that could compromise data stored on Android powered smartphones. This follows on the heels of an article I read earlier in the year about a virus that affected Jailbroken iPhones.
So I started this blog entry all set to crow about the safety of my beloved Blackberry over other smartphone OSes, but of course like a good analyst, I needed to back up my theory with research.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for me to change my blog entry title away from something trumpeting the virtues of Blackberry OS, to something a bit more even keel.
So is the Blackberry OS susceptible to viruses? Well, apparently not so far. While there have been a demonstrated couple of exploits, one dating back to 2006, none of these exploits have been able to replicate, which is a key feature of viruses. But the Berry is definitely susceptible to malware - malicious software written to compromise a user's smartphone in some way. The difference is that users have to consciously download malware, and run the application in order for the malicious code to run and wreak havoc. This includes a trojan that can send out SMS texts to premium rate numbers. You can mitigate many of the problems that could come up by either blocking third party apps, or by restricting what third party apps can do within your security settings. Mind you this is more of a probability on BIS, since I would image that most IT departments shut down 3rd party apps on BES.
So what about Android? Is it susceptible to viruses? I'll go with a resounding "Yes" for final Jeopardy, Alex! The first Android virus was found back in August, and did the same thing as the aforementioned BB virus, namely sending out SMS texts to premium rate numbers. The most recent virus does not so nice things like Send location coordinates (fine location), Send device identifiers (IMEI and IMSI), Download and prompt the user to install an app, Prompt the user to uninstall an app, Enumerate and send a list of installed apps to the server. Fun times.
So what about IOS? I mean by now I'm sure we've all heard about Rickrolling - part of which refers to the Iphone virus that installed Rick Astley's pic as the wallpaper on jailbroken iphones, and changes the ringtone to "never gonna give you up". Not exactly a very serious virus, but a virus nonetheless. Plus as my pal Sharon just pointed out, there was another iphone virus that came out at pretty much the same time where a Dutch hacker was able to send a message to people with jailbroken iphones.
So what's the conclusion? Perhaps not surprisingly (considering its open source), Android seems the most vulnerable to exploits, followed by the iPhone and Blackberry. In fact, if the iPhone is not jailbroken, it actually seems to be the safest choice. Sort of throws a bit of a different spin on things. At the end of the day though, regardless of your smartphone of choice, clearly a few "safety first" object lessons apply;
- Only download apps from trusted sources.
- Familiarize yourself with your phone's security settings (passwords, application rights, etc) and make sure that you've made the changes that need to be made (e.g. change default passwords!).
- If your phone is capable of multi-tasking, make sure you are aware of all applications that are running, both in the background as well as the foreground, and that you know what they are doing.
Any other thoughts or comments? Happy to hear them.
Peace.
Well fast forward one day to the entry of 2011, and what do I see? An article talking about a "malicious trojan" that could compromise data stored on Android powered smartphones. This follows on the heels of an article I read earlier in the year about a virus that affected Jailbroken iPhones.
So I started this blog entry all set to crow about the safety of my beloved Blackberry over other smartphone OSes, but of course like a good analyst, I needed to back up my theory with research.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for me to change my blog entry title away from something trumpeting the virtues of Blackberry OS, to something a bit more even keel.
So is the Blackberry OS susceptible to viruses? Well, apparently not so far. While there have been a demonstrated couple of exploits, one dating back to 2006, none of these exploits have been able to replicate, which is a key feature of viruses. But the Berry is definitely susceptible to malware - malicious software written to compromise a user's smartphone in some way. The difference is that users have to consciously download malware, and run the application in order for the malicious code to run and wreak havoc. This includes a trojan that can send out SMS texts to premium rate numbers. You can mitigate many of the problems that could come up by either blocking third party apps, or by restricting what third party apps can do within your security settings. Mind you this is more of a probability on BIS, since I would image that most IT departments shut down 3rd party apps on BES.
So what about Android? Is it susceptible to viruses? I'll go with a resounding "Yes" for final Jeopardy, Alex! The first Android virus was found back in August, and did the same thing as the aforementioned BB virus, namely sending out SMS texts to premium rate numbers. The most recent virus does not so nice things like Send location coordinates (fine location), Send device identifiers (IMEI and IMSI), Download and prompt the user to install an app, Prompt the user to uninstall an app, Enumerate and send a list of installed apps to the server. Fun times.
So what about IOS? I mean by now I'm sure we've all heard about Rickrolling - part of which refers to the Iphone virus that installed Rick Astley's pic as the wallpaper on jailbroken iphones, and changes the ringtone to "never gonna give you up". Not exactly a very serious virus, but a virus nonetheless. Plus as my pal Sharon just pointed out, there was another iphone virus that came out at pretty much the same time where a Dutch hacker was able to send a message to people with jailbroken iphones.
So what's the conclusion? Perhaps not surprisingly (considering its open source), Android seems the most vulnerable to exploits, followed by the iPhone and Blackberry. In fact, if the iPhone is not jailbroken, it actually seems to be the safest choice. Sort of throws a bit of a different spin on things. At the end of the day though, regardless of your smartphone of choice, clearly a few "safety first" object lessons apply;
- Only download apps from trusted sources.
- Familiarize yourself with your phone's security settings (passwords, application rights, etc) and make sure that you've made the changes that need to be made (e.g. change default passwords!).
- If your phone is capable of multi-tasking, make sure you are aware of all applications that are running, both in the background as well as the foreground, and that you know what they are doing.
Any other thoughts or comments? Happy to hear them.
Peace.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Tethering a Blackberry Curve to Rogers
I spent more of my day than I really want to think about working on tethering my Curve to Roger's yesterday. Using their Wireless Connection Manager software was a complete failure, as it caused two Curve's running two different versions of the BB OS to crash and reboot. Not fun. I finally gave up and called Roger's, who gave me the instructions to connect. Almost perfect, except for one crucial typo which messed me up until I stumbled on this Crackberry forum post. I had to combine the Crackberry instructions with the Roger's instructions to get connected. Minor, but important differences. Here are the steps I followed (and which are allowing me to type this blog entry now). I copied them almost verbatum from kcladygemini's Crackberry post, with the minor customizations that allowed me to connect to Rogers. Hope they work for you!
Configuration: Curve 8310, running v4.5.0.81, with Desktop Manager v5.0.0.11
Query the modem, using the modems properties:
1 Click Start, Settings, Control Panel.
2 Double-click on Phone and modem options.
3 Click on the Modems tab.
4 Left-click on the modem installed above. (Standard Modem or Standard Modem over Bluetooth)
5 Click Properties.
6 Click the Diagnostics tab.
7 Click Query Modem.
8 If dialog shows in the empty box, the modem is responding, then continue with the below steps. Otherwise contact tech support.
9 Click the Advanced tab.
Enter the initialization command:
Rogers Users: +cgdcont=1,"IP","internet.com"
Create dial-up networking :
1 From your computer, click Start, Settings, Control Panel, then Network Connections.
2 Click Create a new connection, then Next.
3 Select Connect to Internet.
4 Select Set up my connection manually.
5 Select Connect using a dial-up modem.
6 Select the Standard Modem, then Next.
7 Enter Roger's as the ISP Name (or whatever else you want to use).
8 Enter *99# as the Phone number.
9 Click Next.
10 Enter wapuser as the User name and wap as the Password.
11 Leave the check boxes as whatever they are defaulted to.
12 Click Finish.
13 In the Connect window, click Properties.
14 In the Properties window, verify that Modem - Standard Modem appears beneath the Connect using heading, then click Configure.
15 In the Connect window, select Save this user name and password for the following users.
16 Select the appropriate option.
17 Confirm that the BlackBerry Desktop Manager is running.
*IMPORTANT: BlackBerry Desktop Manager must be running, or error 692 will appear during the dial up attempt.
18 Open the web browser and navigate to any website to test the connection.
If the laptop/PC connects but Internet Explorer does not, follow these steps:
1 From Internet Explorer, click Tools, then Internet Options....
2 Click the Connections tab.
3 From Dial-up and Virtual Private Network settings, select T-Mobile.
4 Click Set Default.
5 Select Dial whenever a network connection is not present.
6 Click OK.
7 Click OK again.
Good luck! Credit to kcladygemini for the instructions.
Configuration: Curve 8310, running v4.5.0.81, with Desktop Manager v5.0.0.11
Query the modem, using the modems properties:
1 Click Start, Settings, Control Panel.
2 Double-click on Phone and modem options.
3 Click on the Modems tab.
4 Left-click on the modem installed above. (Standard Modem or Standard Modem over Bluetooth)
5 Click Properties.
6 Click the Diagnostics tab.
7 Click Query Modem.
8 If dialog shows in the empty box, the modem is responding, then continue with the below steps. Otherwise contact tech support.
9 Click the Advanced tab.
Enter the initialization command:
Rogers Users: +cgdcont=1,"IP","internet.com"
Create dial-up networking :
1 From your computer, click Start, Settings, Control Panel, then Network Connections.
2 Click Create a new connection, then Next.
3 Select Connect to Internet.
4 Select Set up my connection manually.
5 Select Connect using a dial-up modem.
6 Select the Standard Modem, then Next.
7 Enter Roger's as the ISP Name (or whatever else you want to use).
8 Enter *99# as the Phone number.
9 Click Next.
10 Enter wapuser as the User name and wap as the Password.
11 Leave the check boxes as whatever they are defaulted to.
12 Click Finish.
13 In the Connect window, click Properties.
14 In the Properties window, verify that Modem - Standard Modem appears beneath the Connect using heading, then click Configure.
15 In the Connect window, select Save this user name and password for the following users.
16 Select the appropriate option.
17 Confirm that the BlackBerry Desktop Manager is running.
*IMPORTANT: BlackBerry Desktop Manager must be running, or error 692 will appear during the dial up attempt.
18 Open the web browser and navigate to any website to test the connection.
If the laptop/PC connects but Internet Explorer does not, follow these steps:
1 From Internet Explorer, click Tools, then Internet Options....
2 Click the Connections tab.
3 From Dial-up and Virtual Private Network settings, select T-Mobile.
4 Click Set Default.
5 Select Dial whenever a network connection is not present.
6 Click OK.
7 Click OK again.
Good luck! Credit to kcladygemini for the instructions.
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