Latest news with #BlackBerry
The Star
2 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Streamlined alert systems could improve disaster and emergency response
BlackBerry's AtHoc platform sends notifications to relevant personnel in the field via email, SMS, or mobile app, doing away with having to individually contact key stakeholders or manually identify who is closest and available to respond to incidents like widespread fires or sudden floods. — BlackBerry Picture this: a natural disaster or major emergency strikes, and emergency services – police, fire, medical, and so on – need to be mobilised at the drop of a hat. In times like these, every second counts. Wading through call trees to find the right person in charge, who then has to repeat the process down the chain before the message is finally filtered to first responders on the ground, who then need to race to the scene to make up for lost time. According to Chris Ullah, BlackBerry's emergency services global business development lead, this has been a major bugbear when it comes to getting rapid mobilisation whenever there's a major incident. Ullah, a former police superintendent with Greater Manchester police in the UK, draws from his experience in the field, saying that it comes down to getting the right information to the right people as quickly as possible. "In all my service, whenever I've been involved in a major or critical incident, in debriefs and reviews afterwards, communication has always been at the top as being criticised or being a challenge," he says, adding that the police then considered a better solution than just picking up the phone and manually calling personnel one by one. This is where a solution like BlackBerry's AtHoc enters the picture, which serves as a secure critical event management platform to share information during major incidents, which Ullah says can cut down response times from over an hour down to just two minutes. Such a platform, which sends notifications to relevant personnel in the field via email, SMS, or mobile app, would do away with having to individually contact key stakeholders or manually identify who is closest and available to respond to incidents like widespread fires or sudden floods. "The old way of doing it would actually be: start picking up the phone, going down a phone tree, ringing people up one after the other. "Now, you can just send out an alert to all officers, maybe of a particular skill set or by location, asking 'are you able to return back to duty?', with a yes or no as a response," he says. For instance, an alert for 50 officers with a specific skill set might be sent out, and the first 50 who respond as available can be designated to report in. Once that quota is filled, the system will automatically send a cancellation notice to everyone else. BlackBerry's AtHoc solution has already seen widespread use in the UK for crisis communication, with over 2,000 organisations having deployed it. It has also seen use during major international forums with world leaders in attendance, such as the Group of Seven (G7) summit. It also includes geofencing, which is the ability to designate an area of interest on a map. This could be used to indicate a disaster has occurred at a particular location, which would then send a notification to the device belonging to law enforcement, emergency services, or rescue personnel near the geofenced area. A system like this also would not be limited to emergency response, but also act as support for day-to-day operations, such as managing which officers are on duty in specific areas. Officers can also receive notifications when entering burglary-prone neighbourhoods, geofenced zones for welfare checks on domestic abuse victims with protection orders, or areas where individuals under court-imposed curfews are being monitored.
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Netflix fans say don't skip 'most underrated film' as it will 'change your life'
A movie buff has urged Netflix fans to check out the 'most underrated film of this decade' on the streaming platform – and people agree it's worth the two hours of screen time Netflix subscribers have been urged to check out the 'most underrated film of this decade' on the streaming platform - and people can't get enough of it. The film buff, who is known as @eccyreviews on social media, has shared the docudrama you need to check out on UK Netflix, claiming it to be one of the best things you'll see all year. In his TikTok clip, he said: "Netflix have just secretly added one of the most underrated films of this decade and you need to check it out immediately because it's actually based on a true story." Directed by Matt Johnson, the 2023 movie BlackBerry follows the story of the "meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone". The Netflix hit stars Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton and Matt Johnson and has earned itself 28 awards alongside 31 nominations - including Best Film at Berlin International Film Festival. The TikTok user added: "It shows how they built the company up, how cutthroat business is. "I remember everyone having a BlackBerry. I remember it being absolutely huge. "Glenn Howerton give a truly incredible performance, which is definitely worth checking out. If you're a fan of true stories like me, you'll definitely enjoy this film." Commenting on his post, one user said: "Classic movie, watched it yesterday." Another user added: "Giving this a go, cheers!" A third user said: "Was brilliant." Reviewing the movie on IMDb, one viewer said: "Watching these movies about the crazy cutthroat businesses of the 80s and 90s is very entertaining. "This movie was great, well acted, fast paced and fun throughout. I myself grew up during the time of the Blackberry but didn't know anything about their story, so this was a fascinating look into how crazy the tech world was at the time. "The real gem of the entire movie though was the Golden God himself, Glen Howerton. I've been a fan of Always Sunny and I'm always interested in what the cast does outside of that show. "I haven't seen Glen in a serious role yet but he delivered. In Always Sunny Glen plays a sociopath who is constantly getting angry, you could tell that in Blackberry he was able to use that for his character. Glen was by far the best part of this movie, funny and intimidating all at the same time." Another added: "I may be biased, but as a Canadian, the story of Blackberry isn't just one of the greatest business stories of all time, but a story about Canada. Really, Research in Motion and Blackberry represent what a lot of Canadians feel: we have great potential to do amazing things, but we need to be perfect, because the titan down south - the United States - will eat our lunch as soon as they're able to."
News18
6 days ago
- Business
- News18
In 2007, BlackBerry Dismissed The First iPhone As A 'Toy'. The Rest Is History
1/8 In 1999, RIM introduced its first device, the BlackBerry 850, which could send and receive emails. It proved to be a game-changer for business professionals and marked the company's first major breakthrough. (News18 Hindi) In the early 2000s, BlackBerry phones carved a niche in the business world with features like the QWERTY keyboard, robust inbuilt security, and services such as BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). The devices dominated banking and corporate sectors and became synonymous with business communication. At its peak, BlackBerry was the most popular business phone, even used by then US President Barack Obama. (News18 Hindi) However, the landscape began to shift in 2007 when Steve Jobs launched the first iPhone, offering a full touchscreen and an app store. BlackBerry's leadership dismissed the device as a 'toy', believing that the business class wouldn't embrace touchscreen phones. (News18 Hindi) Sticking firmly to its QWERTY keyboards and security-first approach, BlackBerry underestimated the rising demand for enhanced user experience and app ecosystems. Meanwhile, Android had entered the market, and the popularity of touchscreen phones began to soar. BlackBerry's stock, which traded around $140 in 2011, fell below $10 by 2013. Investors realised the company had missed the tech transition. (News18 Hindi) After facing sustained losses and shrinking market share, BlackBerry announced in 2016 that it would stop manufacturing mobile phones. It marked the end of an era. (News18 Hindi)
Fast Company
22-07-2025
- Fast Company
This new smartphone is designed for old-school physical keyboard lovers
BY Listen to this Article More info 0:00 / 6:31 It seems the market has spoken when it comes to phones with physical keyboards. BlackBerry exited the mobile hardware business almost a decade ago, and its licensing partners like TCL appear to have given up on the idea as well. For better or worse, the world now largely runs on people typing and swiping words onto glass surfaces. That doesn't mean the loss doesn't sting for the diehards. For some, there's just no substitute for a physical keyboard—and that's who Unihertz is hoping to serve with its new Titan 2. Unihertz is a small company based in China that designs extremely niche smartphones. Sometimes they'll have tiny screens, like the Jelly line; sometimes they'll have a rugged build, like the original Titan; sometimes they'll have both, like the Atom. The Titan 2, which is available to order on Kickstarter now, is the company's fourth attempt at a phone with a physical keyboard. A new approach The Titan 2 takes a different approach to Unihertz's previous keyboard-equipped phones, however. The design is much sleeker and feels like a better fit for the kind of professional who's likely to have lingering BlackBerry nostalgia—the original Titan looked more like something you'd take onto an oil rig. This is still a fairly hefty phone, at 10.8 millimeters thick and 235 grams with a boxy metal build. But it feels reassuringly solid rather than excessively rugged. The synthetic leather on the back panel is a nice touch, too. At $400, or $269 at current early-bird pricing, you can't expect particularly high-end specs. There's a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor that does the job, and a dual-camera setup that mostly doesn't. The 12GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and 5,050mAh battery with 33W charging are all pretty standard. The screen is really the killer spec here, featuring an unusual 4.5-inch 1440-by-1440 LCD panel. That might not sound huge in an age where iPhones can push 7 inches, but because it's square—like the BlackBerry Passport—it's much wider than any conventional smartphone. This makes the Titan 2 great for browsing websites and viewing documents, though it's less ideal for scrolling through social media. You can switch the screen to a vertical 4:3 window with a swipe gesture, which sacrifices some real estate on the sides but gives a more comfortable experience in apps like X and Instagram. There's also a secondary OLED screen on the phone's back panel, which is largely a gimmick—you can use it with built-in tools like a clock, a compass, or a selfie viewfinder, or add other Android apps yourself to see how they run. If ever you've wanted to watch Netflix on a screen the size of an Apple Watch, now you can. The keyboard Below the main screen, of course, is the keyboard. I was never much of a BlackBerry addict myself, but I do think the Titan 2's keyboard feels great to use. The backlit keys are easy to distinguish from one another and give strong tactile feedback; the surface is also touch-sensitive so you can use it to scroll and swipe through apps. There is something of a learning curve to figuring out how to make the most of the keyboard and use the modifier buttons in combination with the letters, but it's fairly self-explanatory and just takes an hour or two of practice. One thing I will say about the Titan 2 keyboard is that even after getting used to it, I'm nowhere near as fast as I am on a touchscreen. Former BlackBerry obsessives might take issue with this, but even as someone who never uses autocorrect, I still think I'm a lot faster using swipe-to-type and word prediction on a touchscreen than I could ever be on a keyboard like this. Tangible feedback But that doesn't mean there's no value to a physical keyboard or no advantage over a touchscreen. I like using manual gearboxes in cars and physical dials on cameras, for example, even though faster automatic solutions exist for both. What they have in common with the Titan 2, or the BlackBerry before it, is the satisfyingly tangible feedback and the sense of intention when you use them. You're in control. When you press a key on the Titan 2 keyboard, you know what's going to happen. You can feel that you pressed it and see the letter pop up right away. There's no prediction algorithm to mess up your spelling and much less chance to miss your key altogether. I know my typing nets out slower on this phone than it would on any regular smartphone, but I do spend much less time needing to correct my own copy. Typing on the Titan 2 is a deliberate, involved experience with much less frustration. Not for everyone This phone clearly isn't for everyone. The camera is pretty bad and the software is unpolished. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wasn't really sure that they wanted a physical keyboard, and even then it probably makes more sense as a secondary device. But for those people—the people who held out longer than anyone else before giving up their BlackBerry—the Titan 2 might just end up as their favorite phone in the world today. It's clearly Unihertz's best take on the concept yet, and no one else is really trying to compete. Subscribe to Multicore. Multicore is about technology hardware and design. It's written from Tokyo by Sam Byford. To learn more visit SIGN UP The super-early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is this Friday, July 25, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today. Sign up for our weekly tech digest. SIGN UP This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Privacy Policy
Daily Mirror
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Netflix fans left 'sad' after watching 'incredible' real-life drama that's surging charts
Since its launch on Netflix just a few days ago, fans have taken to social media in their masses to air their rave reviews Netflix viewers are absolutely obsessed with the real-life drama BlackBerry as the film rockets up the streaming charts, with fans gushing over their glowing reviews. BlackBerry is a 2023 biographical comedy-drama that follows the meteoric rise and dramatic downfall of the globe's first text messaging smartphone, earning an impressive 97% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie draws inspiration from the gripping true account Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry, penned by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff. Anyone who relished watching The Social Network, which depicts Facebook's accidental birth, would undoubtedly adore this production too. Beginning in 1997, viewers witness BlackBerry co-creators Douglas Fregin (Matt Johnson) and Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel), alongside Glenn Howerton portraying ruthless investor Jim Balsillie, reports the Mirror US. The synopsis states: "The true story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone, BlackBerry is a whirlwind ride through a ruthlessly competitive Silicon Valley at breakneck speeds." Since arriving on Netflix just days ago (19 July), fans have flooded social media with overwhelming praise, with some declaring the film left them with "goosebumps" due to its brutal honesty. On the platform X, one viewer shared their glowing review: "Watching BlackBerry on Netflix gave me goosebumps as I did have some of the greatest QWERTY models, from Bold to Passport with unique BBM to text love.." Another fan chimed in: "Rewatched BlackBerry (on Netflix, check it out if you missed it at the time) and Glenn Howerton's performance is just as incredible as I remembered. Like putting a bull shark in a living room fishtank. Unbelievable menace and energy boiling off him at every moment." Others were left feeling nostalgic about the rise and fall of such an iconic product. One comment read: "BlackBerry on Netflix makes me sad how great a phone like that was – and was part of a childhood that allowed us to still feel normal before it all got hectic with smartphones. Great film!" Not only was BlackBerry a hit with viewers, but it also received rave reviews from critics, boasting an impressive 97% Rotten Tomatoes score. Director Matt Johnson has also been praised for his work on the film. The star-studded cast includes BlackBerry co-founders Jay Baruchel (Knocked Up, This Is the End, How to Train Your Dragon) and Matt Johnson (The Dirties, Operation Avalanche), with Jim Balsillie played by Glenn Howerton (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Fargo). Other notable cast members include Rich Sommer, Michael Ironside, Martin Donovan, Michelle Giroux, Sungwon Cho, Mark Critch, Saul Rubinek and Cary Elwes. BlackBerry is available to stream on Netflix now.
