British MP Calls On RIM To Shut Down Messenger Services To Stop Riots; Because Pissing Off Rioters Calms Them Down?

from the umm... dept

After some have been blaming the Blackberry for facilitating the London riots, it seems that some politicians are hanging their hopes on that to the point that they actually think that shutting down Blackberry's messaging feature will help. MP David Lammy apparently is asking RIM to shut off its Blackberry Messaging Service because nothing quells a bunch of angry, rioting young people like trying to cut off their ability to communicate.

Filed Under: blackberry, david lammy, london, riots
Companies: rim

Apple Wins Europe-Wide Blockade Of Samsung Tablets; Guess Which Tablet Apple Is Scared Of Most?

from the best-advertising-ever dept

Man, is Apple ever freaked out by the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. We already pointed out that Apple succeeded in getting it banned in Australia, and now it's got an injunction blocking it in most of Europe as well. And, of course, the lawsuit in the US continues.

It's really sad that Apple simply doesn't want to compete in the marketplace. The thing is, I've used both the iPad and the Galaxy Tab, and the iPad is nicer. The Galaxy Tab is definitely the best Android tablet I've seen so far, but Apple has the ability to compete and win in the marketplace. So why is it going ballistic all over the world about the Galaxy? While it may be causing some pain for Samsung now, all it's really doing is screaming out to the world: "hey, if you want a more open tablet that we think is as good, if not better than, the iPad, check out what Samsung is working on!" In the past, Apple mostly let its own products stand on their own, and they clearly dominated in the marketplace. The fact that Apple is switching from that stance to aggressive litigation should be a warning sign for Apple's future.

Filed Under: europe, ipad, patents, tablets
Companies: apple, samsung

London Riots? Blame The Blackberry!

from the oh-come-on dept

The London riots sound a bit crazy, but perhaps even crazier is the fact that officials now seem to want to blame messaging via Blackberry devices for the riots:

Steve Kavanagh, the deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said that "really inflamatory, inaccurate" messages on Twitter were mainly to blame for the disorder. "Social media and other methods have been used to organise these levels of greed and criminality," he said at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

Ah, right, just like vocal cords, pamphlets, telephones and other communication tools "were mainly to blame" for previous riots. Hint to the Metropolitan police: if you're going to always blame the tool, you're not going to do a very good job dealing with riots. If people want to speak out, they'll figure out a way to speak out. It's not the technology that is to blame. The technology is just a tool, and if you block off one path, you can be damn sure that they'll figure out another path instead.

Of course, the downside of officials misleadingly blaming the technology is that you get folks like this Dutch politician who took to Twitter about this to ask why police don't just turn off Blackberry Messenger in London -- perhaps not realizing that shutting that channel of communications down wouldn't stop anything -- but likely would anger people even more.

Filed Under: blackberry, blame, london, riots