play books

BlackBerry PlayBook owners tired of waiting for RIM to support Android apps can root their devices to gain access to the Android Market.

With Research In Motion's PlayBook recently rooted and capable of being customized, the folks at tech site CrackBerry have published a how-to guide for enterprising users who want to root their own units.

Starting with a rooted PlayBook, users will need the latest version of Cyanogen Google Apps, the FTP client WinSCP, and a few other items. CrackBerry then explains step by step how to tweak your tablet to capture and launch Google's Android Market … Read more

Research In Motion may be gearing up for an overhaul in its leadership.

Co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie are preparing to relinquish their titles as co-chairmen, possibly giving way to independent director Barbara Stymiest, according to a report by the Financial Post. Stymiest is the leading candidate to replace the two, the Post said, citing anonymous sources.

RIM said in a statement that a committee of independent directors was reviewing the company's governance structure, and would report its findings by January 31. It added the committee is on track to meet this target, and that the board would … Read more

Research In Motion has pulled another trick out of its bag in the hopes of kick-starting BlackBerry PlayBook sales.

The company has dropped the price of all three BlackBerry PlayBook models to $299. The 16GB model originally shipped at $499, while the 32GB and 64GB versions initially listed at $599 and $699, respectively.

RIM says the PlayBook sale will end February 4.

For those hoping to buy the higher-end models, RIM's new pricing scheme might be quite welcome. On Amazon, the 64GB option is currently retailing for $367.99. However, exactly why RIM would sell all of its models … Read more

Sony has knocked $100 off the price of its S series tablet, another sign that non-Apple tablet pricing is trending downward.

The 16GB Tablet S is now $400, reduced from $500, while the 32GB model got cut to $500 from $600.

Specs include a 9.4-inch 1280x800 display, front and rear cameras, Android Honeycomb, 1GB system memory, and eight hours of rated battery life.

Sony is by no means is the first to wield an ax on pricing. RIM's BlackBerry Playbook is the most extreme recent example of tablet price deflation. The PlayBook has been selling--depending on the week--for $300 off its original price.… Read more

Here's a friendly warning to all technology companies eyeing Research In Motion: Back away slowly.

Apparently, RIM drew its fair share of suitors over the last few months, with companies including Amazon, Microsoft, and Nokia weighing potential offers for the BlackBerry maker. The talks, however, never got serious enough to warrant a formal proposal.

It's clear why any company would consider buying RIM. For one, it's extremely cheap, having lost more than three-quarters of its market value over the past year. Despite its declining brand, the company still boasts an impressive array of business customers. For all … Read more

RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook lives! It is back at retailers sporting the same deep $300 discount as before.

After selling out at Best Buy last month, the retailer now has stock of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models.

As of Monday night, Best Buy was selling the 16GB model for $199.99, the 32GB for $249.99, and 64GB for $399.99.

The heftiest discount--$350--is on the 32GB model. The other two models remain at $300 off the regular price.

Take note that the PlayBook does not come with native e-mail, calendar, or contacts applications from RIM--yet (Web-based apps of … Read more

The Kindle Fire is still a hot commodity among tablet buyers, according to new data from ad network Chitika.

Measuring the amount of online activity through impressions on its ad network, Chitika found that the Fire jumped in use even after a strong Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Earlier data had indicated a slowdown for Amazon's tablet after November 26. But the latest stats show online activity for the Fire at a record high, a trend that Chitika doesn't believe will slow down.

Specifically, the network discovered a dramatic surge in Fire activity from the end of November … Read more

Well, it certainly didn't take long for Amazon's Kindle Fire to bring on the heat.

After only two weeks in the market, the Kindle Fire has skyrocketed ahead of many of its tablet competitors, according to IHS iSuppli. The market researcher is so confident in the Kindle Fire's success, that is already projecting it as the second-most popular tablet in the world, behind only Apple's iPad.

The success of the Kindle Fire answers what had been a lingering question about the tablet business: whether consumers wanted tablets, or just iPads. The Kindle Fire's $200 price … Read more

Bloggers have a lot of fun with plays-on-words when it comes to BlackBerry, but at least one such pun has always been off limits. That is until today, now that a few hackers have forced my hand.

So, I'll just lay it all out there (please escort children and the easily offended away from the screen): The BlackBerry PlayBook has finally been rooted using something called DingleBerry.

Now that we have that little bit of nastiness out of the way, on to the cool part. The rooting tool is the, er, fruit of the collective efforts of Chris Wade and two other people known as neuralic and xpvqs who have been working on getting a super user pass to the PlayBook OS for many weeks now.

The lowbrow tool is not yet publicly available, but the hackers did post some video proof. The first one below offers a pretty simple demonstration, while the second one at the bottom shows Hulu re-enabled on the tablet (Hulu had blocked access from the tablet shortly after its launch).… Read more