RIM announced their Q1 results which were worse than their already downgraded projections. BlackBerry only shipped approximately 13 million units, compare that to Apple’s nearly 19 million units sold, the difference being BlackBerry has a lot of devices sitting around.
I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better for RIM. BlackBerry needs to release their already delayed tablet this fall. It’s hard to believe a company with 3 billion dollars cash, making money quarter after quarter will just outright and fail. Despite competition from Apple and Android, I still see BlackBerry being a long term player.
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Last week the 15th annual Webby Awards were held in New York crowning winners in various categories spanning mobile, websites, online advertising, and web video.
It’s no surprise that politics would be a hot category this year with the run up the 2012 election. The winner of the political category is a site many of our viewers have heard once before, but probably not visited. That is FactCheck.org. FactCheck.org is one of the best non-partisan sites on the Internet. After every big speech or debate, or popular commercial, this is a must reference for anyone that doesn’t want to be misled by politics.
Occasionally you see FactCheck used in partisan adds, but that’s just because one side is using the site to prove the inaccuracies in the other’s argument. Another area a lot of us are focused on is finances. And that brings us to another useful site, Mint.com. Mint is a free tool to manage your money. Mint pulls in your finances from all of your accounts and allows you to bucket your spending into micro budgets. If you over spend, you get alerted and can adjust. The spending dashboard learns and classifies your line items so it’s not the rigorous accounting you’ll find in quickbooks. Set it and forget, unless you overspend. And then Mint will help keep you on track.
The Best Travel Site winner was JetSetter.com – a great site for discount travel with exclusive deals that their globetrotting experts have all vetted first hand. They also have a flat rate travel planning service which could come in handy for bigger trips. Think of it as discount travel, without the risk of getting a lemon. And speaking of trusted voices, Martha Stewart is a lifestyle icon a lot us trust. Her website won best in Lifestyle this year.
BabyCenter won best in family. If BabyCenter says it, Moms are listening. With over 100 million parents subscribed to their site, their content is a wealth of information for parents. If you have a question about your pregnancy, babies, toddlers, or kids BabyCenter should be on top of your list.
And if you haven’t watched a Ted talk you’re missing out. Their slogan is Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world and they definitely deliver. Ted started as a non-profit in 1984 devoted to ideas worth spreading. Focused on the cross section of Technology, entertainment, and design Ted has expanded to be much more than that. Thinkers and doers were challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less. I guarantee you won’t stop at just one of these.
I also like the Best in Music winner Pandora. Pandora is great for discovering new artists. You can listen to music from their mobile app or website for free. All you do is put in an artist of song you like, and Pandora builds a playlist of random music based on your +/- rating of the previous song.
Those are some of the winner’s I found to be interesting to our readers. Many of us have heard of these sites, but it’s a good reminder who’s putting up award winning websites today.
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ICANN announced they are expanding Top Level Domains. They are taking applications in early January and will auction off premium extensions. If you’d to own your own TLD… ie ‘mywebsite.MATT’ that expect to pay hundreds if not millions of dollars to the non-profit body that governs the release of these TLDs. The domains are expected to go into circulation at the end of 2012.
SDBloggers have teamed up with one of the hottest emerging startups in San Diego, 
