Success for new BlackBerry could mean jobs in Irving

by JASON WHEELER

Bio | Email | Follow: @jasonwheelertv

WFAA

Posted on January 30, 2013 at 6:14 PM

Updated yesterday at 7:15 PM

Can a shiny new smartphone undo years of lackluster performance?

BlackBerry is sure hoping so.

In recent years, BlackBerry has lost a lot of customers and slashed a lot of jobs, including positions at its U.S. headquarters based in Irving.

A spokesman told WFAA.com that the company ?hadn?t listened to the market and what people were telling us they want out of smartphones."

But on Wednesday, BlackBerry got "smart."

Calling it "the start of a new era of mobile computing,? CEO Thorsten Heins officially unveiled a new smartphone the company hopes can compete with the likes of the iPhone and Android handsets.

?It's quite a lot like an iPhone, except with a larger screen and it's very fast," said industry analyst Peter Misek with Jefferies and Co.

BlackBerry could use more beneficial reviews like that one. The success of its new Z10 model is deemed critical to the troubled company's future.

It's equally important to the city of Irving, where BlackBerry is a Top 50 employer, providing around 500 jobs ? mainly higher wage positions in research and development and legal services.

The company ? which officially changed its name Wednesday from Research in Motion to BlackBerry ? also directly contributes about $700,000 annually to the city and school district tax base.

Following the BlackBerry Z10 unveiling, there was a much less flashy announcement. A spokesman from the Irving Chamber of Commerce told WFAA.com by phone that BlackBerry has indicated it may expand its North Texas workforce by as much as 10 percent, another 50 jobs.

A spokesman from BlackBerry, which just added some local positions in December 2012, wouldn?t confirm the company?s future hiring plans.

E-mail jwheeler@wfaa.com

Source: http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/New-BlackBerry-bids-for-phone--189109361.html

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Video: Anti-Hagel backers remain anonymous

>>> new york senator chuck schumer gave his blessing to the nomination of chuck hagel for defense secretary , his path to confirmation was essentially cleared. but the hawks who oppose hagel have only dug in deeper and the latest evidence comes from a newly created anti- hagel group called use your mandate. they have no website and an address that exists only as a p.o. boshtion and anonymous backers who claim to be obama allies. here is their anti- hagel ad. it's been on tv. let's watch it.

>> chuck hagel , he's been nominated to be secretary of defense, and president obama nominated him with the best of intentions. but it's still a bad choice. hague sel anti-woman, anti-choice, anti- israel , anti-gay, and pro-assault weapon. that's just not what we voted for in november. chuck hagel doesn't share our values. there are other people who can do the job. why do we need someone like this? we don't. urge your senator to vote no on hagel .

>> so why the anti- hagel backers in the group use your mandate so shy in a source close to the group told " huffington post ," quote, those involved are choosing to stay anonymous because they're allies with the obama administration and hesitant to criticize the president publicly for fear of retribution or pressure from the white house . the source characterized members as a concerned group of people who have some questions about chuck hagel , including individuals who have fought for lgbt rights for a long time. oh, really? that just doesn't sound right to a lot of people, including many reporters and our own rachel maddow . let's listen to rachel.

>> probably they're asserting there's some kind of broad democrat opposition to chuck hagel . we're just not allowed to know who it is. i'm not buying it. i call bullpucky. i say it's even money that this is the right running ads against hagel while pretending to be the left. i might be wrong but i call bullpucky. if i am wrong, there's an easy way to prove it. come out, come out, whoever you are.

>> rachel as smoky. joining me right now two reporters who have done the legwork to leinvestigate who is behind this group , the great jim routen burg of new york times and andrew krasinski. jim , thank you. i appreciate you coming on tonight. i was curious when he saw the log cabin ads. they're not a well-funded organization but they seem to have an enormous amount of money to pay for a "new york times" ad. i said where is that money coming from? it's apparently, i don't know if you know this, but it's $140,000 to put a full-page ad in. i said, well, that's interesting. somebody is feeding them from the back room. what's going on here? are these hawks, neocons, sauld people that just want to go to war, they don't like hagel 's geopolitics?

>> there are definitely hawks who don't like his politics who are out in the open saying we don't want this to go forward. but then there are people in the shadows who are giving a lot of money for these ads who don't say who they are so we're only left to speculate.

>> you were able in your reporting to come across the ad group out of the group that makes the ads which is a republican group . there's also a group called the emergency committee , whatever it is, for israel . that's two pieces, one partisan, one ideological to tell you where they're coming from, right?

>> and they happen to share the same firm to buy their media. these are the firms that kind of put television ads on the air and some of the firms are partisan and it so happens the group they use, smart media is a republican group . they buy for republicans and republicans only more or less.

>> let me be the most naive person in television and ask you why don't they come out and say who they are and why they're opposing this guy?

>> well, i think in "the huffington post " report they said they're gay rights democrats --

>> okay.

>> but --

>> hrc, a group i have worked with for years, almost two decades, is with them, they accept the man's change of heart as part of the country's change of heart about gay rights and certainly marriage equality and who are these people that stay in the shadows and say they have a problem with his positions on guns, on israel , on gay rights , on everything? it just seems like quite a potpourri and, therefore, suspicious i think.

>> i mean, you look at the list of groups that would oppose chuck hagel who are gay rights groups who would be willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars who don't want to alienate the white house , and you think maybe the list is down here. you think of conservatives who are willing to do that, and the list is a little bit higher. so i mean i think the spount people are spending monhundreds of thousands of dollars. we don't know who it is. they're saying they're gay rights democrats but the fact they use a media farm with ties to the rn c, christine o'donnell, and, i mean, it's very sketchy. i think people want to spend all this money to oppose chuck hagel , that's fine but the fact we don't know who it is is a little disconcerting.

>> here is a statement from a friend of mine, chad, president of the human rights campaign , one of the largest gay rights groups. he was conciliatory after hagel apologized for ace-tie gay comments. he said his apology and statement of support for lgbt equality is appreciated and shows just how far as a kubt we've konl from a former conserva nebraska can have a change of heart on lgdt issues. tllt they are. talk about conciliation there, jim . the lgbt community and under the name there of the great organization human rights campaign are accepting him as an ally. let me get back to you. you're a student now as a reporter of media. you have always been a great reporter of media. now how media works into politics. are we seeing more of this subterfuge of this, apparent subterfuge?

>> i think this is just the way it's going to be unless there's a new law, the disclose act in the senate that we're talking about that would make the donors have to step forward . if that doesn't happen, this is the way it's going to be done now definitely for the next few years. expect more of it in the next two gans.

>> people like the koch brother, i have heard them, i don't think adelman is the name, but the koch brothers believe they have the right to influence american politics big time with lots of spening, big promotion of certain candidates, big opposition to people like the president, and not to have any investigation of who they are, any exposure of their own personal or political involvement. is that a reasonable thing to believe in? they can have this power without any identity? last question to you, andrew ?

>> i think there are a lot of -- i mean, someone like sheldon adelson or other groups, you think about do they mind spending tons of money against chuck hagel ? no. i mean, but are they going to do it disguising as lgbt democrats and you wonder if they're willing to go that far, but like i said, who is willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and not have their name out there who is powerful enough that they don't want to alienate the white house ? i mean, it really -- it doesn't -- it's very sketchy like i said. we don't know who is behind it.

>> well, they're not the first wolves in sheep's clothing. that probably doesn't fit but it sounds like a historic combination. thank you jim rutenberg and andrew kaczynski, congratulations for coming on. just a remind ir, tomorrow andrea mitchell will interview the outcoming secretary of state. that's coming up at 1:00 p.m . tomorrow on msnbc. we'll be using parts of that but if you want to catch the whole thing, watch andree at 1:00.

>>> political movies are hot stuff, and when can he come back, the great kevin spacey will be here. he has a new political show called " house of cards " swi almost ripped from tomorrow's headlines if these headlines had occurred. maybe they won't occur but his show will. this is "hardball,"

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50632025/

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Purdue University Hires First In-House Counsel

Purdue University has appointed Steven Schultz as its first in-house legal counsel, effective February 1. As manager of Purdue?s legal function, Schultz will advise Purdue president Mitch Daniels and the Board of Trustees on a range of legal issues, and he?ll oversee the provision of external legal services.

For more than 130 years, Lafayette, Indiana, firm Stuart & Branigin has served as the neighboring university?s primary legal counsel. In a statement provided to CorpCounsel.com, partners at the firm expressed support for Purdue?s decision to change its practices.

In a memo sent to faculty and staff Monday, Daniels said that the adoption of an internal legal counsel model is ?now the general rule among major U.S. universities.? Purdue had been the last of the Big Ten schools to rely exclusively on outside legal representation.

In a press release, Daniels said that by hiring internal counsel, Purdue expects to ?identify opportunities to improve the way we procure and manage legal services and thereby realize certain risk-management, oversight, and cost-savings benefits.?

The change comes at a time when university faculty are expressing frustration with the status quo. At a meeting of the Purdue University Senate Monday, faculty members addressed their concerns with recent legal bills.

According to Purdue spokesman Chris Sigurdson, the university has made $6.8 million in payments to Stuart & Branigin over the last three fiscal years. Fees were split roughly evenly among those years: $2.4 million in 2010, $2.1 million in 2011, and $2.3 million in 2012 .

In an email to CorpCounsel.com, Sigurdson said that specific cases or legal matters were not addressed during the faculty meeting and that the discussion was limited to legal bills incurred over the last 18 months.

University Senate chair J. Paul Robinson said in an email to CorpCounsel.com that the faculty has become concerned about what appears to them to be ?runaway? legal expenses.

Robinson says there hasn?t been sufficient oversight and incentive to resolve legal issues reasonably without ?jumping directly to litigation.? He anticipates the installation of an internal lawyer will cut down on unnecessary use of outside counsel. ?The faculty see central management and review as a welcome process,? he says.

Schultz says that bringing ?oversight of the legal function a little closer to the internal decision-making process? was a goal of hiring in-house counsel, adding that cost controls were a perceived benefit of making the change.

The new in-house counsel is taking the position at Purdue after concluding a stint as VP and first-ever general counsel of Southeastern Indiana Health Organization, and a seven-month appointment as special adviser to the State of Indiana on the Ohio River Bridges Project. He was previously executive director of the Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Authority.

Schultz earned his bachelor?s degree from Butler University in 1988, majoring in history and political science. He has a J.D. from Yale Law School and an LL.M. from the University of Cambridge.

After graduation, he practiced corporate law at Barnes & Thornburg in Indianapolis and worked in the London office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson, where he specialized in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, and capital markets financings.

Schultz joined Irwin Financial Corporation in 2001 and became general counsel in 2004. Schultz served as then-governor Daniels?s first chief legal counsel from 2005-2006, before returning to Irwin.

Schultz plans to meet with partners at Stuart & Branigin on his first day on the job at Purdue to discuss how to proceed with their partnership. He says he?ll have a better sense of which matters will be farmed out once he starts. ?I?m going to be laser-focused on identifying those,? says Schultz, adding that he feels fortunate that the firm will still be available to help evaluate legal risks and necessary controls.

Thomas Parent, a partner with Stuart & Branigin, said, ?This change has been under discussion for a long time, and we have been actively engaged with Purdue?s Board of Trustees in evaluating various models for the provision of legal services to the university.? He added that the firm would remain dedicated to advancing the school?s mission.

Purdue?s first in-house lawyer looks forward to helping the school navigate what he anticipates will be great changes on the horizon in the field of higher education law.

Schultz, a life-long Hoosier, says he was honored that he was offered the position at Purdue. ?It?s a world-class institution,? he says, ?renowned for its reputation, research and educational rigor, and the high caliber of its people.?

Schultz?s father was a student athlete at Purdue, and at least a dozen other members of his family attended school there. ?I always rooted for the Boilers,? he says. ?I?ve recently been joking to the Purdue folks that although I became a naturalized citizen of the Butler nation, I was born a Boilermaker.?

Source: http://www.law.com/corporatecounsel/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202586195446&rss=rss_cc

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Sony 'HuaShan' shots leak - Xperia Z's mid-range sibling

Sony traditionally showcases its mid-range products at Mobile World Congress, and it looks like this year's offering is the C5303 "HuaShan." The HuaShan -- named after one of China's great five mountains -- has appeared for the first time in leaked shots from German site USP Forum. And on the whole, it looks like a cheaper version of the recently-announced Xperia Z. We're still dealing with an unassuming rounded rectangle design, and the Xperia Z's signature power button can be seen on the right edge, along with a dedicated camera key.

The back appears to be furnished in black soft-touch plastic, with a central camera protruding slightly from the chassis. It's an altogether more plasticky affair than the Xperia Z, which sandwiches its components between two sheets of glass.

According to early benchmark information, it looks like this device is packing a 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU (compared to the Xperia Z's 1.5GHz quad-core) and running at a screen resolution of 1280x720, with on-screen buttons. One of today's shots shows Android 4.1.2 running on the phone, same as its high-end counterpart.

Assuming Sony chooses to unveil its mid-range stuff at MWC -- and there are enough letters left in its alphabetic naming scheme -- we'll be live from Barcelona next month with full coverage. 

More pics after the break.

Source: USP forum; via: PhoneArena

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/_xbA3k48xqE/story01.htm

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British embassy in Libya aware of reports of threats

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The British embassy in the Libyan capital said it was aware of reports of a potential threat against it, days after London urged British nationals to leave the eastern city of Benghazi due to a "specific and imminent threat" against Westerners.

"We are aware of reports of a potential threat against the British embassy in Tripoli and we are liaising closely with the Libyan government," an embassy spokeswoman said on Monday.

"There is no change to our travel advice, we still recommend against all but essential travel to Tripoli."

No further details were given. Britain has warned of a growing militant threat in North Africa, which Prime Minister David Cameron has called a "magnet for jihadists".

This comes after the deaths of at least 38 hostages in an attack on Algeria's In Amenas gas complex near the Libyan border, and the start of French military operations in Mali.

Libyan officials said they were not aware of such reports, cited by the embassy.

"The British embassy has not informed us of any threats towards it and there has been no coordination between us," Deputy Interior Minister Omar al-Khadrawi told Reuters.

"We were meeting with the foreign affairs ministry this morning and are not aware of any threats. This could be a way the British embassy is trying to justify its previous Benghazi advisory."

Last week's call, echoed by other European countries, to leave Libya's second largest city irked Libyans keen to win foreign investment to rebuild a fractured infrastructure and boost the oil industry after the 2011 revolution which toppled Muammar Gaddafi.

(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; additional reporting by Ali Shuaib; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-embassy-tripoli-aware-report-threat-against-181503894.html

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Italy's Monte Paschi finds no evidence of takeover bribes

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's troubled Monte dei Paschi bank said on Monday it had no evidence of bribery in a 2007 takeover now under scrutiny over alleged corruption, but acknowledged accounting irregularities under previous management over derivatives trades.

Fabrizio Viola, appointed as chief executive last year after a clean-out of Monte dei Paschi's old management, said the bank had used complex refinancing deals to hide losses, leaving it dangerously exposed to interest rates swings.

"Today, we have the certainty that errors were made, whether it was due to negligence or deliberate fault remains to be seen," Viola told a meeting with foreign journalists in Milan.

The bank, founded during the Renaissance in 1472 and based in the Tuscan town of Siena, has run into deep trouble since its 9 billion euro cash purchase of rival Banca Antonveneta in 2007, just before the global financial crash.

A source close to the judicial investigation told Reuters that magistrates were looking at the possibility of a bribe being paid at the time of the purchase.

The Antonveneta deal weakened the bank and appears to have forced it to try to conceal past losses through complex derivatives operations, which magistrates are also investigating.

"We have found some financial contracts ... that were from the start accounted in an incorrect way. These contracts had probably been put in place to spread over time the impact of losses made at the time, possibly also through other financial operations," said Viola.

Turmoil at Italy's third-largest bank has rocked the financial establishment and raised difficult questions in the middle of an election campaign for the government and the Bank of Italy over how risky deals could have been hidden from regulators. At the time the Bank of Italy's governor was Mario Draghi, who is now president of the European Central Bank.

Monte Paschi revealed last week losses of up to 720 million euros ($970 million) from trading derivatives and structured finance transactions between 2006-2009.

Viola said a vital document linking two of the financial transactions in question had been concealed in a safe at the bank's headquarters and not revealed to authorities until he had discovered it in October.

The bank, which has a "junk" credit rating, was forced to ask Rome last year for state support after failing to fill a capital gap as required by European regulators.

The case has shot to the top of the political agenda, less than a month before the elections, because of close links between Monte Paschi and regional governments led by the centre-left Democratic Party, which is leading in opinion polls.

Viola said Monte Paschi (MPS) would not need any more state aid above a 3.9 billion euro ($5.26 billion) package approved by the Bank of Italy on Saturday, but he said that the bank's financial portfolio needed to be rebalanced.

"I did not consider that the dimension and structure of the MPS financial portfolio was appropriate for a commercial bank," he said.

DANGEROUSLY STRETCHED

The Antonveneta purchase left Monte dei Paschi dangerously stretched and it has struggled to meet tough new capital requirements. The latest state aid, made up of bonds to be issued by the end of February, should guarantee the bank's immediate funding needs.

But this has raised speculation that the bank could end up being nationalized it cannot turn the situation around.

Chairman Alessandro Profumo, appointed last year with Viola to turn Monte dei Paschi around, told a newspaper on Sunday that his bank was looking for a long-term investor, a project which received the endorsement of Prime Minister Mario Monti.

"It makes sense to say that it needs more capital," Monti said during a talk show on Italy's La7 television channel.

On Monday, MPS shares, which lost some 20 percent of their value at the start of last week, rose 5 percent as investors focused on the prospect of a change of control at the bank.

"The return of interest from investors can, in our view, be associated with the possibility of radical changes in governance that the current earthquake at the bank may trigger in the medium term," ICBPI bank said in a broker's note.

Italy's main banking association ABI is due to meet later on Monday to discuss a successor to former president Giuseppe Mussari, who was chairman of Monte Paschi at the time of the deals and who resigned from his position at ABI last week.

Monti has called for the links to be broken up but he repeated his backing for the Bank of Italy and its former governor Draghi. "I want to confirm my full confidence in the Bank of Italy and in those who are in charge of it and who have been in charge of it," he said.

Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli is due to address the parliamentary finance committee on Tuesday on the Monte Paschi affair. Italy's financial stability committee, made up of representatives of the government, Bank of Italy and regulators is also expected to meet on Tuesday. ($1 = 0.7421 euros)

(editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/monti-repeats-backing-bank-italy-over-monte-paschi-073302296--finance.html

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The Death of 'Foodstagram'? Readers React

Click here to view the gallery: Top Comments 01.25.13

One of the biggest stories in social media this week was the report in The New York Times that restaurants in New York City have begun banning customers from taking photos of their food.

[More from Mashable: Facebook, Twitter, Stop Fighting!]

Usually our weekly top comments roundup features discussions pulled from various stories, but this week we were particularly impressed by the ideas and discussions you offered in reaction to this one.

The potential death of "foodstagram" brought on a much larger debate about the etiquette involved in being part of the connected generation. Is it rude to snap a picture of your food at a fancy restaurant? How can restaurants take advantage of these customer interactions? What does the future of food photography look like?

[More from Mashable: McDonald?s Nutrition Info Now in QR Code Form]

SEE ALSO: 5 Tips for Delicious Food Photos

Some of our readers pointed out that using the flash while taking food pictures could take away from fellow diners' experience. Others argued that once they had paid for the food, it was theirs to do with as they pleased. Someone even suggested that getting thrown out for taking a food pic before the bill had been paid was a great way to score a free meal.

We loved the conversation that ensued. What do you think about the idea of a "social table," (similar to smoking rooms at restaurants), or an Instagram menu that features pictures of food? Let us know in the comments below!

Photo via iStockphoto, MorePixels

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/death-foodstagram-readers-react-153151734.html

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Top Reasons To Start An Online Business | Rigor

By its tremendous growth and sheer size the Internet has cultivated a new economy that has changed our perception of traditional way of doing business. Companies like Amazon and Ebay have successfully formed domination on regions, where just a few years ago traditional brick-and-mortar companies were kings.?

Keep in mind ? in order to be successful on the net, you don?t have to be a giant like them. Many small and mid-size companies managed to build online businesses that are very successful. According to the most recent trends, small and mid-size companies will be the main growth power of e-commerce in coming years.

Top reasons to start your online business today:

Start-up costs are low

Typically, all it takes to get an online business up and running is a domain name, a fast website with a quick checkout process , and a hosting account. If the business you have in mind is product based, arrange to have products drop shipped so you never have to invest in physical inventory. Now you can spend the money you saved on tools that will allow you to better reach and serve your target market.

Operating costs are low

You will have no monthly lease OR utility bills. It is clear that online businesses operate much more efficiently than brick and mortar. Online businesses have the ability to automate different operations using software systems which reduces the need for additional employees on the payroll. SEO websites pay themselves off very quickly as long as they provide customers with prized products or services.

Access to an abundance of clients & buyers

E-commerce is truly a worldwide market and by tapping into the marketing power of Social Media, it allows you to reach out to your target market to drive traffic to your site 24/7.

Freedom

Let?s face it. While running your online business you really have the freedom to live and work anywhere you like. You yourself can approve your own vacation days and travel while running your business online.

Unlimited earning power

No matter how hard you work at a nine-to-five job, the reality is that your earning power is at the mercy of your employer. ?The potential earning power is up to you in starting an online business of your own. Your ability to drive more sales and generate more revenue rests solely upon you!

Your customers are online. Are you?

Source: http://rigor.com/2013/01/top-reasons-to-start-an-online-business-today/

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Video: Democrats eye GOP strongholds

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/50618550/

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Kim Dotcom Is Stranded in the Middle of Nowhere and Live-Tweeting About It (Update: Escape)

Kim Dotcom is a character. Giving the finger to the government that took his site down by setting up a new one. Throwing a press conference complete with a fake FBI raid, pyrotechnics, and dancers. Demolishing cheap lawn furniture. Now, thanks to helicopter problems, he's stranded in the middle of nowhere. Ever the showman, he's making something of an event of it. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/mP_7fXYF59c/kim-dotcom-is-stranded-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-and-live+tweeting-about-it

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