torch

Watch this: Man uses torch on self, defies injury

Check out this crazy video of a man who uses insulating foam on his hand to suppress the flames of an oxyacetylene cutting torch. The eccentric fellow then eats the same material moments later.

Talk about one hell of a fire retardant!

The "scientist" in the clip is Tom Brundige of the Aarmourtherm Foundation, which is a small business based in California dedicated to making fire-protection compounds that are "biodegradable, non-toxic, and safe for the environment." It is worth noting that Brundige has the ability to ramble some serious pseudoscience. In addition, there is no description of the foam's ingredients. … Read more

RIM's BBX phones may abandon classic Bold look

The iconic BlackBerry Bold look may be going the way of the dinosaurs once Research In Motion introduces its line of next-generation smartphones.

BlackBerrys running on RIM's next-generation platform, dubbed BBX, will use the same screen aspect ratio as the PlayBook tablet, RIM said yesterday in PC Magazine. RIM's head of developer relations, Alec Saunders, said apps that run on the PlayBook will run on BBX phones.

The PlayBook runs at a 16:9 ratio, which PC Magazine points out hasn't been seen on other mobile devices. But it suggests the first BBX phone will eschew the … Read more

Amusingly honest AT&T ad is viral hit

You might be one of those fortunate people who spend their days in a corporate environment.

The office is the sort of place where you are reasonably aware that you are supposed to behave a certain way, so you spend at least half of your time trying to hide your true behavior.

In a remarkable fit of understanding, AT&T has decided to stand by your side and tell it like it truly is. In this ad for the BlackBerry Torch 4G, AT&T decides that it's pointless to fight those normal tendencies.

So here we have … Read more

T-Mobile goes BlackBerry Torch 9810 picking

It may be a few months late to the BlackBerry Torch party, but T-Mobile announced today that it's finally getting its own BlackBerry Torch 9810.

We first saw this updated vertical slider model this past summer for AT&T. The BlackBerry smartphone runs BlackBerry OS 7, and hooks into T-Mobile's "4G" HSPA+ network.… Read more

AT&T expands BlackBerry lineup

After making the rounds to other carriers, the BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Torch 9860, and BlackBerry Curve 9360 will finally make their way to AT&T in the coming days.

AT&T announced today that the Bold 9900 and Torch 9860 will be available starting November 6, and the good news is that the smartphones are priced more reasonably than their counterparts on competing providers. The Bold is priced at $199.99 with a two-year contract, and the Torch 9860 is set to go at $99.99 on contract. Meanwhile, the Curve 9360 goes on sale November 20 … Read more

Is the keyboard the only thing keeping BlackBerry afloat?

The other day I was taking a spinning class at the gym and I looked over at the woman next to me and noticed she had both a BlackBerry Bold and an iPhone 4 propped up on her bike's handlebars. This was New York, where it's not unusual to see people pounding out e-mails in the middle of a spinning class at 6:30 a.m. But most people just do it on a single phone. However, this woman, who turned out to work for a hedge fund, had some double-barrel e-mail action going.

"Let me guess," I said after class. "BlackBerry's for work. iPhone's personal."

"Uh, yeah," she said a little embarrassed.

"Well, here's my question. If you could only have just one of those two phones, what would it be?"

She thought about it for a moment and said, "The iPhone, I guess. The BlackBerry's great for e-mail but basically useless for everything else."

"But you seem to be doing e-mail OK on the iPhone."

"Yeah, but I can't type nearly as fast. I really need the keyboard. And there's just something about the BlackBerry keyboard."

"So the only reason you use the BlackBerry is because of its keyboard?"

"Pretty much. And I know the interface and can navigate it really fast. Why are you asking?"

… Read more

U.S. Cellular to offer BlackBerry Torch 9850, too

Sprint customers won't be the only ones to get their hands on the RIM BlackBerry Torch 9850, as U.S. Cellular revealed today that the all-touch-screen BlackBerry will be available starting August 26 for $199.99 with a purchase of a data plan and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

The Torch 9850 has a 3.7-inch, an 800x480-pixel touch screen, a 1.2GHz processor, and a 5-megapixel camera with 720p HD video capture. It's also running the latest BlackBerry OS 7 software, so you'll get such enhancements as better graphics, faster Web browser, and BBM 6.

To … Read more

iPad beats smartphones in browsing speed test

Apple's iPad blew away several other mobile devices at loading Web pages, according to a recent speed test conducted by Compuware.

Although the test was geared toward smartphones and the iPad was used only as a reference point, Apple's popular tablet proved speedier at Web browsing than the iPhone, HTC Desire, BlackBerry Torch, and several other mobile devices.

Conducted in July, the test tried to determine the impact of each device on Web site performance. Specifically, the analysis looked at two measurements:

• Page load time, or how long it takes for a Web page to fully load. •&… Read more

BlackBerry crop comes up sweet, sour: Review roundup

This week we had a chance to review RIM's latest crop of BlackBerry handsets, which the company initially announced at BlackBerry World back in May of this year. They are the BlackBerry Torch 9810, the BlackBerry Torch 9850 (the Torch 9860 is the same phone but for GSM carriers), and the BlackBerry Bold 9930 (similarly, the Bold 9900 is its GSM sibling).

The one unifying characteristic they share is that all of them ship with the BlackBerry OS 7. OS 7 improves upon OS 6 with voice-activated universal search, Liquid Graphics technology that promises better graphics and animation, support … Read more