the last stand of Blackberry

Blackberry's decision to make its free messaging service, BBM, available on other mobile phone platforms is a Hail Mary play for a damaged company that pretty much has nothing to lose at this point. By giving away the stickiest feature available to Blackberry's dwindling consumer base to Android and iOS users for free, the company is hoping that it will be able to expand, or at the very least maintain, its once lucrative ecosystem.

It is extremely easy to bash on Blackberry (BBRY) these days. The bunglings of its former management team over the last five years will probably be studied in business schools for generations as how not to do just about everything. But Blackberry is on an upswing of sorts at the moment. Its stock has more than doubled from its lows hit last year, and after two years of development (light years in the tech world) the company is "back in the game" with the launch of its new operating system, Blackberry 10, and a few new handsets, the Z10, Q10, and the recently announced Q5.

Yet despite the recent optimism over the launch of the Blackberry 10 series, the company will almost certainly continue to lose market share in the crowded consumer hardware space to rivals that use Google's (GOOG) Android platform. Phones shipped with the Blackberry operating system made up just 2.9% of mobile phones sold in the first quarter of this year, down 35% from last year, according to new sale numbers released by IDC on Thursday. Phones running Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows operating system outsold Blackberry for what appears to be the first time, capturing 3.2% of the market. But phones running either Android or Apple's (AAPL) iOS, captured 92% of all mobile sales -- with Android garnering 59% of the total market, an 80% increase from the same time last year. With that, Android now runs on 75% of the world's smartphones.

To be fair, those first-quarter sales numbers just reflect eight days of sales for the new Blackberry phones in the U.S. and just a couple of months of sales in Canada. Nevertheless, the public's lukewarm reception to the product -- no one was camping out for the new Z10 -- isn't encouraging. The phone has reportedly passed the 1 million shipped mark in its first quarter of launch, which isn't bad, but isn't great for a company with such huge brand recognition. By contrast, nearly 5 million iPhones were sold in the first week of its launch back in September.

There really isn't much you can do on a Blackberry that you can't do on an Android phone these days. There aren't a bunch of must-have apps that run exclusively on Blackberry, for example. Indeed, Blackberry seems to have surrendered the app development space to Google as it considers the new Blackberry 10's ability to run Android app clones as a major selling point.

But there is one consumer-focused feature that Blackberry offers that no other handset maker or mobile platform has -- its Blackberry Messaging Service (BBM). The service allows Blackberry users to send and receive messages, share files, and even exchange music with other Blackberry users without incurring special messaging charges from their wireless carrier. It has proven to be very sticky in places like Indonesia, Haiti, and Nigeria where wireless service is unreliable.

So imagine the confusion when Blackberry announced this week it was opening up BBM to both iOS and Android users through a free app that will be made available this summer. It seems odd that Blackberry would give up its only truly sticky consumer-focused feature. Some in the geek media called it "surrender," while others saw it as a great move by the company to open itself up to the rest of the mobile community.

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The move seems more akin to a company spinning off one of its divisions than anything else. BBM, with its 60 million users, is arguably the most buoyant thing in Blackberry's sinking consumer mobile division. If it remained attached to the ship it would surely drown. But allowed to roam free, BBM could possibly survive as a separate entity -- a slim chance, but a chance nonetheless. Survive as what? If BBM attracts enough iOS and Android users it could eventually become a sweet advertising portal for the company -- launching Blackberry as a player in the mobile advertising market. It could also possibly morph into a premier messaging app for companies who want to monitor employee communications.

China's movie industry

Move over, Hollywood. China's movie industry, or 'Chollywood, ' is getting so influential it can now save another country from recession.

The country in question, Thailand, has seen its trade balance disintegrate to a deficit of 6% of gross domestic product from a surplus of the same over the past two years. The only reason this hasn't sent the currency plummeting, and forced a recession, is that tourist inflows are acting as an offset, says Jonathan Anderson of the Emerging Advisors Group.

Net travel revenue doubled to 9% of Thai GDP today from five years ago--and like in so much else, the new demand comes from China. Visitors from the mainland jumped 93% year-over-year between January and April.

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For the recent tourists, Thailand can especially thank the 2012 box-office-hit 'Lost in Thailand.' Consider that comedy China's version of 'The Hangover II, ' except the movie makes Thailand seem charming, not seedy. The Thai prime minister was so grateful she even invited the movie's director for a recent meeting.

China isn't anywhere near yet to exerting the global cultural influence wielded by Hollywood. Still, there's a lot to be said for Chollywood's hard-currency clout.

High Happiness Index Countries

1 Australia

For the second year in a row, Australia is the number one happiest country in the world. And it's not hard to see why —they rank extremely well in health, civic engagement, and housing.

The life expectancy at birth in Australia is 82 years, two years higher than the OECD average.

Australia also has exceptional voter turnout at 93% during recent elections, which is far above the OECD average of 72%.

2 Sweden

Having a good education is extremely important in Sweden, where 87% of adults aged 25-64 have earned the equivalent of a high school degree.

They also ranked highly in all environmental categories. Their level of air pollutant particles is 10 micro grams per cubic meter — considerably lower than the OECD average of 21 micro grams per cubic meter — and 95% of the population is satisfied with their water quality.

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3 Canada

Canadians work only 1, 702 hours a year — less than the OECD average — with 72% of the population working at a paid job.

There is little difference in voting levels across society too, suggesting there is broad inclusion in Canada’s democratic institutions.

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4 Norway

There is a strong sense of community and high levels of safety in Norway, where 93% of people believe that they know someone they could rely on in a time of need.

Norwegians also tend to have a good work-life balance, with only 3% of employees working very long hours, compared to the OECD average of 9%.

5 Switzerland

86% of adults in Switzerland have earned the equivalent of a high school degree, and students scored 517 on the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment — higher than the average of 497.

The Swiss also have a high life expectancy at 83 years of age, and 95% of the population say they are satisfied with the quality of their water.

talking is an art

So what can your colleague -- or anyone else -- do to change speech patterns that may have become ingrained over many years? "Most people really don't need a total overhaul," Jahnke says. "They just need to correct one or two things."

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She suggests the following four steps toward a more professional speaking style:

1. Seek out honest feedback. As with trying to change any behavior, the first step is to become aware of it. In her coaching sessions, Jahnke usually starts by videotaping a client talking and reviewing it with the client. "People are usually surprised when they watch and hear themselves," she says. "Most of us don't really know how we're coming across."

A trusted friend or coworker may be able to offer suggestions, or your company's human resources department may even provide a few professional coaching sessions -- especially for high-potential types like your teammate.

2. Join Toastmasters International. With 13,000 chapters in 16 countries, Toastmasters probably has a club near you. "It is a great organization, full of people who are seriously trying to improve their speaking skills in a friendly, collegial atmosphere," Jahnke says. "And it's free."

3. Study the speaking styles of successful people. "Women have so many more role models now than ever before, so it's easy to find executives whose speaking styles have helped to get them where they are today," notes Jahnke. She recommends checking out TED.com, which offers thousands of 20-minute talks by interesting people.

"Look up Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook, or Melinda Gates," Jahnke suggests. "Or find YouTube videos of [Pepsico CEO] Indra Nooyi. Notice how they pace their speech, and how they use pauses. With some effort and practice, these are things anyone can learn."

4. Take note of how higher-ups at your company express their ideas. Naturally, communication styles vary somewhat from one corporate culture to another, so it makes sense to pay attention to how people above you talk. "If there is someone who is particularly effective at getting his or her ideas across, you might emulate the way they do it," says Jahnke.

"The idea is not to parrot someone else's speech patterns, but to adopt the elements of their style that you can comfortably learn to use," she adds. "In the end, it's still about expressing yourself and your unique ideas -- but your best self, presented in a way that will make others listen."

Talkback: Do you agree that the way someone speaks can make or break a career? What habits of speech do you find distracting or unprofessional? Leave a comment below.

a marvelous invention

A California teen has attracted the attention of tech giants Google for her potentially revolutionary invention which charges a phone in 20 seconds flat.

The super-fast charging device has been dubbed a supercapacitor by 18-year-old Esha Khare, of Saratoga - as she took home $50, 000 from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which took place in Phoenix this week.

The device will make waiting hours for a phone to charge a thing of the past and the gizmo packs more energy into a smaller space than traditional phone batteries and holds the charge for longer. Diablo 3 is similar to the real society. It also has the various functions. And in the world, roles also demand d3 gold as the money to buy what they need. Players buy d3 gold and exchange resource and skills. These are fair and transparent. Naturally, roles can mine resources and develop themselves skill.

So far, Khare has only used her supercapacitor to power a light-emitting diode or LED - but she sees a bright future that one day will see her invention powering cellphones, cars and any gadget that requires a rechargeable battery.

Heading to Harvard, Khare told CBS San Francisco that this is only the start and that she will 'be setting the world on fire' from here.

'My cellphone battery always dies, ' she told NBC News when asked what inspired her to work on the energy-storage technology.

Specializing in nanochemistry allowed Khare to reduce the size of her invention. 'Really working at the nanoscale to make significant advances in many different fields.'

The supercapacitor is flexible and tiny, and is able to handle 10, 000 recharge cycles, more than normal batteries by a factor of 10.

How an 18-year-old girl has managed to figure out something that multi-national corporations have not has led to her being flooded with offers for her amazing leap forward.

Google have been in contact with Khare to explore how she plans to change the makeup of cell phone battery life.

the operating about the brain

do you know how the brain work?

For the last 20 years neuroscientists have shown us compelling pictures of brain areas 'lighting up' when we see or hear, love or hate, plan or act. These studies were an important first step. But they also suggested a misleadingly simple view of how the brain works. They associated specific mental abilities with specific brain areas, in much the same way that phrenology, in the 19th century, claimed to associate psychological characteristics with skull shapes.

Most people really want to understand the mind, not the brain. Why do we experience and act on the world as we do? Associating a piece of the mind with a piece of the brain does very little to answer that question. After all, for more than a century we have known that our minds are the result of the stuff between our necks and the tops of our heads. Just adding that vision is the result of stuff at the back and that planning is the result of stuff in the front, it doesn't help us understand how vision or planning work.You can buy Diablo 3 account in the website called farmer100. There are high safety and reliability. As to the Diablo 3 account sell, all players will use at ease. The  cheap diablo 3 gold will give the more advantages for players.

But new techniques are letting researchers look at the activity of the whole brain at once. What emerges is very different from the phrenological view. In fact, most brain areas multitask; they are involved in many different kinds of experiences and actions. And the brain is dynamic. It can respond differently to the same events in different times and circumstances.

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