research

The work-life balance often seems like a seesaw, with a grossly overfed boss sitting at one end.

There seems little respect either for personal time or even vacation time, because your time isn't your time. It's time you sold to the highest bidder.

So much so that the majority of U.S. employees expect to have to work on vacation. Well, it is paid vacation, isn't it?

I am privileged to have been passed a survey commissioned by TeamViewer. This is a company that is officially responsible for remote access software, but is uncommonly dedicated to commissioning Harris Interactive … Read more

It's funny how a company with nearly 80 million subscribers can be considered to be in a death spiral.

But that's exactly where Research In Motion finds itself. On the heels of a disappointing quarterly loss, a warning of further losses ahead, and the delay of its next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform, many are questioning the company's ability to continue to operate. Shareholders voiced their displeasure with the company yesterday even as executives pleaded for patience.

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, however, believes people are underestimating the company's odds for a revival. His key argument: that base of … Read more

Researchers at Georgia Tech today revealed a triboelectric generator that creates energy when two specific plastic materials rub against one another.

Zhong Lin Wang, a professor at Georgia Tech, created this new spin on an old concept by harnessing the power of rubbing together textured transparent sheets of polyester and polydimethysiloxane. When given an electrical load, a tiny current of electricity flows between the two materials during friction and separation. Repeating the action of grinding and separating creates an alternating current, also known as everyday electrical energy. The output of rubbing the materials yields as "much as 18 volts at about 0.13 microamps per square centimeter," according to a Georgia Tech press release. … Read more

I confess to not having been aware that arsenic might breathe life into things.

I had only been aware of it as something killers use in Agatha Christie novels.

However, in 2010, a researcher declared that a bacterium in California's Mono Lake (near Yosemite) thrived on arsenic, while being deprived of phosphorus. (I have embedded a discussion of this finding.)

At the time, Felisa Wolfe-Simon of NASA's Astrobiology Institute suggested that life as we know it may not be life as we know it.

Now, however, two new studies suggest that it may be life as we know … Read more

In June, Research In Motion suffered its worst month to date.

First, a $518 million quarterly loss. Second, its lowest share price since the company's peak in 2008. And last, a delay for the forthcoming line of BlackBerry models and an updated operating system that may make or break RIM's future.

Considering this, with RIM's annual meeting scheduled this week, CEO Thorsten Heins may not be looked upon with friendly eyes by investors.

Displeasure, and investors brooding over their dwindling stake, may not be the only thing to occupying shareholders' minds at the meeting. The New York Times … Read more

Research In Motion finally has some good numbers to offset its recent wave of bad ones.

The handset maker announced Friday that its BlackBerry App World had reached the 3 billion download mark -- a billion of those in just the last six months. To reach that number, customers were downloading app at the rate of about 2.5 million per day from the collection of 90,000 apps.

As impressive as that sounds, those numbers pale in comparison with Apple's App Store, which announced in March that it had served up 25 billion downloads from its 650,000 … Read more

With unprecedented losses, evaporating market share, and enough competitive pressure to smash it into irrelevancy, you'd think Research In Motion would show a bit of urgency.

In fact, it's showing quite the opposite.

Rather than rush out a half-baked product, the company said last week that it would push back the debut of BlackBerry 10 from later this year to the first quarter of 2013. Company executives say they believe the extra time will pay off with a more complete product.

"Doing it right is more important than doing it fast," Richard Piasentin, RIM's managing … Read more

Mobile applications will drive serious growth in mobile advertising in the coming years, according to a new study.

Juniper Research reported today that in-app advertising will hit $2.4 billion by the end of the year. By 2015, that figure will soar to $7.1 billion.

In-app advertising is widely viewed as the key to success for developers in the coming years. Mobile users are becoming increasingly loath to pay too much for applications, driving prices down. In-app advertising can help soften the blow of charging so little for an expensive app.

"In 2012, it will become increasingly difficult … Read more

Research In Motion, despite delays in its upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system and continued disastrous financial performance, is just dandy.

That's according to RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, who denied the company was in a "death spiral" and said on a radio interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that "there was nothing wrong with the company as it exists now." The comments were picked up by Reuters.

Heins' comments come amid already high concerns that escalated after the company warned last week that phones running on its next-generation operating system wouldn't hit the market until … Read more