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What the Hell Was RIM Thinking with This Bizarre, Ridiculous Stunt? [Video]

Last week, a flashmob leapt out of a black bus that read "WAKE UP," and the group of protestors began waving black signs reading the same phrase in front of an Apple store in Australia. No one knew what was going on. The media suspected that Samsung was behind the odd stunt - the company has been taking not-so-subtle jabs at Apple for the past year through a monsoon of ads - but it turns out that another company was behind it.

MacTalk played the role of Sherlock Holmes and, after some digging, discovered and then confirmed today that the peculiar flashmob protest was indeed conceived and executed by none other than Research In Motion's Australian arm. The ironic part is that this stunt has left people thinking that its RIM who needs to wake up. After nearly 500,000 views, the video has a steep 43% dislike rate, suggesting users are less than impressed with RIM's awkward attempt at viral marketing. Check out the videobelow.

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Here is How the Next-Gen BlackBerry and BB10 Platform Looks and Functions [Video]

Research In Motion has uploaded a one-minute video, which demonstrates a prototype-looking BlackBerry device running a prototype-looking BB10 platform, to YouTube. 

The OS looks nothing like RIM's current offerings - but note that the video showcases what can be, not necessarily what will be.

It looks slick, but we'll have to wait on the actual execution to see if RIM can deliver on its promises.

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BlackBerry 10 Fail: Check Out RIM's Super Embarrassing Marketing Blunder

Knowing that its next-gen BB10 platform wouldn't be out until late this year, RIM needed to stay alive in the meantime. So when Thorsten Heins took over as CEO, he ramped up the marketing of BlackBerry 7, its current operating system, and existing devices like the classic Bold 9900.

In one commercial - perhaps the one RIM has pushed most prominently - an attractive woman named Meridith Valiando touts the iconic BlackBerry keyboard, one of the last staple selling features left for RIM in an iPhone- and Android-dominated world. And that's fine - playing to one's strength is a natural and effective marketing tactic. But RIM also thrashes touchscreens, with Meredith dryly saying, "I get 1,000 emails a day. Try writing 1,000 emails on a touchscreen."

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RIM CEO Thorsten Heins Unveils BlackBerry 10

Today, during his opening keynote presentation at BlackBerry World 2012 in Florida, CEO Thorsten Heins unveiled BB10, the company's next-gen mobile platform. He unveiled not only glimpses of the software, but also the hardware - a touchscreen device without RIM's iconic physical keyboard, as recent rumours predicted.

"I'm so excited to have this in my hand," the new CEO gushed. He and his team showed off some unexpectedly creative features - like an innovative camera and some cool games - but overall focused on BlackBerry hallmarks: productivity and business success.

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Invoke adds a 5th Coach to The Voice Singing Competition

Vancouver's Invoke Media announced today that they have been selected by NBC to help power the interactive marketing strategies for the television series The Voice.

Invoke has built a Facebook application called The 5th Coach Game that should suck fans even deeper into the singing competition show. The app lets fans to create their own virtual team, essentially becoming the fifth coach. The application provides interactivity, social game mechanics, community sharing and features exclusive content, weekly prizes, and a sweepstakes contest.

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RIM to Stream Live Coverage of BlackBerry World 2012

Research In Motion has revealed that it will be streaming live coverage of BlackBerry World 2012. RIM's annual event, held in Orlando, starts tomorrow.

Users will be able to watch conference events on their computers via webcasts. it all begins tomorrow with CEO Thorsten Heins' keynote presentation at 9am EST. And for those on Twitter, follow #BBWC and #BBTweetUp to keep up with the action.

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Record Shattering: Pebble Now Doubles the Second Most Funded Kickstarter Campaign Ever

With nearly three weeks left to go, Pebble keeps on rolling. Now with an incredible 48,000 backers, the Canadian-born Pebble smartwatch has raised a staggering $7.2 million—more than double the previous record for a Kickstarter campaign. Can Waterloo's Allerta raise a legendary $10 million from an online crowdsourcing site? If it can, the Canadian startup will set a new precedent for how companies generate funds.

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RIM's Global Market Share to Fall Below 5%, Analyst Warns

Can RIM's global market share fall below 5%? It's a scary thought, but RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue believes it's all too possible.

Mark forecasts RIM will sell just 9 million BlackBerrys this quarter, below the going estimation of 10.5. And although he acknowledged that "RIM has no debt," Mark warned clients that if things keep going south, "RIM may burn cash next year."

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Legendary Nights Out with Electric Courage

The inception of Electric Courage began with a thrilling moment; in fact, it’s one that some (many) of us would be familiar with:

“The idea stemmed from one of the conversations we were having as a group. My teammate was telling us about a conference he was attending the week prior and how he locked eyes with a girl from across the room. He was dead sure that she also thought they had a moment but, by the time he had decided to go back and introduce himself, she was nowhere to be found. A few hours passed and he was on a flight back home. We realized that we'd all had moments like that in our lives and thought: why not see if we can figure out a way to solve this? Electric Courage was born,” explained Duncan Bays, a co-founder of Electric Courage.

Bays met his co-founders Holly Smith, JP Leroux, and Shahed Al-Haque at last year’s Next 36competition.

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