IT'S MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH, I'M JEFF BAKALAR , AND IT'S TIME TO GET LOADED.
RESEARCH IN MOTION, THE COMPANY KNOWN FOR ITS BLACKBERRY LINE OF SMARTPHONES, MAY BE VENTURING OUT INTO THE TABLET REALM. RUMORS HAVE BEEN STEADILY POURING IN FOR QUITE SOME TIME, AND SOME ANALYSTS ARE PREDICTING RIM COULD ANNOUNCE SOMETHING AS EARLY AS TODAY. DONT EXPECT THIS "BLACKPAD" TO RUN BLACKBERRY OS 6, HOWEVER. MOST EXPERTS BELIEVE THE TABLET WILL RUN SOFTWARE FROM THE RECENTLY ACQUIRED QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS. MORE ON THIS AS IT DEVELOPS,
THE HIGHLY INFECTIVE COMPUTER WORM NAMED STUXNET HAS CORRUPTED IRAN'S FIRST NUCLEAR POWER PLANT. WHILE THERE DOESN'T SEEM TO BE ANY SERIOUS DAMAGE TO THE INTEGRITY OF THE COMPLEX, THERE ARE WORRIES THAT FUTURE ATTACKS COULD LEAVE THE POWER PLANT VULNERABLE TO REMOTE HACKING. STUXNET EXPLOIT THREE HOLES IN WINDOWS COMPUTERS THAT ARE RUNNING SIEMENS INDUSTRIAL SOFTWARE SYSTEMS.
OVER 1,000 EAGER CUSTOMERS MOBBED THE APPLE STORE IN BEIJING'S JOY CITY AS THE IPHONE 4 WENT ON SALE IN CHINA. APPLE CONTINUES TO FIND SUCCESS IN THE COUNTRY FOLLOWING THE DEBUT OF THE IPAD BACK ON SEPTEMBER 17. THE COMPANY DOES HAVE SOME CATCHING UP TO DO THOUGH, AS IT WAS ONLY THE FIFTH-LARGEST MOBILE SELLER IN THE SECOND QUARTER OF THIS YEAR.
IN MORE APPLE NEWS, THE COMPANY HAS UPDATED ITUNES TO ADD BETTER INTERACTIVITY WITH THE SOCIAL MUSIC SERVICE, PING. BEFORE THE UPDATE, USERS HAD TO VISIT PING DIRECTLY TO RECOMMEND SONGS TO FRIENDS, BUT NOW THEY CAN DO SO DIRECTLY FROM THEIR MUSIC PLAYER. IT'S A SMALL STEP, BUT DEFINITELY ONE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
THOSE ARE YOUR HEADLINES FOR TODAY I'M JEFF BAKALAR FOR CNET.COM, AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN LOADED.
