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Buzz Out Loud 1517: RIM is COO-COO for co-execs (Podcast)

In response to shareholder demands for RIM to explain its seemingly disastrous co-CEO structure, RIM decided to add another COO, too. No, seriously. They'll have two COOs and two CEOs (and also lay off 2,000 probably perfectly innocent people who thought there should only be one CEO). Wow. Also, be warned: we talk about politics, because we hope the Internet can save America.

Molly Wood Former Executive Editor
Molly Wood was an executive editor at CNET, author of the Molly Rants blog, and host of the tech show, Always On. When she's not enraging fanboys of all stripes, she can be found offering tech opinions on CBS and elsewhere, and offering opinions on everything else to anyone who will listen.
Molly Wood
4 min read

In response to shareholder demands for RIM to explain its seemingly disastrous co-CEO structure, RIM decided to add another COO, too. No, seriously. They'll have two COOs and two CEOs (and also lay off 2,000 probably perfectly innocent people who thought there should only be one CEO). Wow. Also, be warned: we talk about politics, because we hope the Internet can save America.

Watch this: Ep. 1517: RIM is COO-COO for co-execs

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EPISODE 1517

NEWS

RIM to Cut 2000 Jobs as BlackBerry Loses Market Share to IPhone
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-25/research-in-motion-to-cut-10-of-jobs-as-blackberry-loses-share-to-iphone.html
http://www.crn.com/news/networking/231002514/rim-to-cut-2-000-jobs-shake-up-executive-roles.htm;jsessionid=–gjoR3UKF3ME0am6orQbw**.ecappj02

Street View cars grabbed locations of phones, PCs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20082777-281/street-view-cars-grabbed-locations-of-phones-pcs/?tag=topStories1

Report: Facebook iPad app ‘hidden’ in iPhone code
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20082879-17/report-facebook-ipad-app-hidden-in-iphone-code/
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/25/facebook-ipad-app-pictures/

Facebook glitch exposes private videos
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20082767-93/facebook-glitch-exposes-private-videos/

The Web’s Stealth Presidential Race
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/22/americans-elect-will-an-internet-presidential-race-become-2012-s-spoiler.html
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2011/07/24/_f_kyouwashington.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/opinion/sunday/24friedman.html?_r=1

WSJ, Kobo falling in line in Apple’s App Store, Google Books is out
http://9to5mac.com/2011/07/24/wsj-kobo-falling-in-line-in-apples-app-store-google-books-is-out/

Nook and Kindle Apps too
http://9to5mac.com/2011/07/25/amazon-brings-kindle-newspapers-and-magazines-to-ios-devices/

Chinese city orders closures of two fake Apple shops
https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/25/us-apple-china-fake-idUSTRE76O0M720110725

Apple’s Lion sells 1 million copies in first day
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/07/apples-lion-sells-1-million-copies-in-first-day.html

Quick Hits

Judge tosses Oracle’s $6.1 billion damage estimate in claim against Google
http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_18532705

Scoop: Oracle scrubs site of embarrassing Java blog
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20082151-93/scoop-oracle-scrubs-site-of-embarrassing-java-blog/?tag=topStories2

Samsung May Have Passed Apple in Second-Quarter Smartphone Sales
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-07-24/samsung-may-have-passed-apple-in-second-quarter-smartphone-sales.html

Microsoft pushes Avatar Kinect live to Xbox users
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-20082984-235/microsoft-pushes-avatar-kinect-live-to-xbox-users/

Double Rainbow guy running for president via Facebook
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/07/22/votocracy.president.fb.mashable/index.html?hpt=te_bn1

Gadgets

AT&T preps for September iPhone 5 launch
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gadgetreviews/at-t-preps-for-september-iphone-5-launch/26472

VOICEMAIL

Awesome Video Voicemail from Victor (aeziir)

EMAILS

StBriMo,

I’ve been listening to NPR’s “”This American Life”" podcast (out of WBEZ Chicago) for years now, but have to say that their most recent episode was particularly topical. The episode, entitled, “”When Patents Attack!”", actually does a really good job of explaining the problems with patenting software, the history of how the USPTO did not allow software to be patented until federal court stepped in and made them, introducing and talking to the guy who coined the term “”patent troll”", investigating one of the largest patent troll firms out there, and more.

I’ve personally been following how truly broken the patent system has become, and how they are actually preventing innovation (the exact opposite effect they are supposed to have), but this episode was even able to teach a few things to me! I highly recommend it for you guys, as well as the other listeners in Buzz Town.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack

Love the show,
Matt

—–

Hi buzz people,

I recently bought a stock Galaxy S2, with a pre-installed associated press (AP) app. I was surprised when the AP app consumed 55% of a full charge and then shocked upon checking my account the next day to find 463USD (850mb!!) in data usage over my cap!!!

Google STOP! allowing companies to put buggy bloatware on phones with no official way to get rid of it, yes I could root it but I don’t want to void my warranty and phone insurance with the risk of bricking it. Also people with an S2 should keep an eye on this issue as I am not the only one experiencing it http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098206. Note I did not have the app up nor did I use the widget, it is a background service that did the damage.

I have contacted both my carrier (Three) and Samsung for help and nether gave me any. Both said I need to switch data off and on each time I want to use the internet. This is both annoying and means I can’t use push services.

Love the show, but not loving the google.
Chris

—–

Hi Buzz Crew!

Everyone’s talking about Google Plus, but none of the tech shows are covering the fact that Google is under fire for suspending thousands and thousands of profiles for using pseudonyms.

The sweep is hitting bloggers, gamers, second lifers and other groups that use pseudonyms for their online identity. Even people with perfectly legit names are getting caught in the sweep because they have the same “”name”" as celebs or well known people.

Google is requiring you post your given name and real photos and go through a verification process if your account is suspended. this is too much for many, who feel they should have complete anonymity online. I happen to be fine giving Google the information they want – but many others aren’t.

Someone needs to point the media’s attention to this so Google will solidify their profile name policy – as right now, it conflicts with other statements they made in their public policy blog.

You can see many thousands of users complaining about their suspensions in the help forums http://www.google.com/intl/en/+/learnmore/forum/

Google Public Policy Blog http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2011/02/freedom-to-be-who-you-want-to-be.html

Thanks for any coverage you can give on this!

Badwolf – a Furry.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20082874-93/google-vp-why-google-requires-real-names/

—–

http://bol.cnet.com, 800-616-2638 (CNET), buzz@cnet.com

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