Rim

Best known as the developer of the BlackBerry smartphone, Research In Motion (RIM)(TSX: RIM, NASDAQ: RIMM) was founded by Mike Lazaridis (current co-CEO with Jim Balsillie), is a Canadian telecommunication and wireless device company.

Headquartered in Waterloo, Canada, It is a sponsor of RIM Park in the city.

RIM has also worked with RAM Mobile Data and Ericsson to turn Mobitex wireless data network into wireless e-mail network and two-way paging, before manufacturing BlacKBerry. The release of the Inter@ctive pager 950 was pivotal in this development, in August 2000 its shipping started. About the size of a bar of soap, The device gave SkyTel two-way paging network by Motorola a run for its money.

Through a private placement in a privately-held company, Canadian institutional investors financed RIM's early development in 1995. Working Ventures Canadian Fund Inc.'s $5,000,000 (CAD) investment were used to complete RIM's two-way paging system hardware and software. Prior to its initial public offering under the symbol RIM on Toronto Stock Exchange in January, 1998 ; a total of $30,000,000 (CAD) was raised by the company.

RIM has released a variety of devices running on CDMA, Motorola iDEN networks and GSM,. The compulsive use of its ability to quickly send and receive e-mail in the corporate environment, has earned it the nickname "Crackberry" in reference to crack cocaine as users feel they cannot live without it.

A licensing agreement between Research In Motion and Information Appliance Associates will offer the complete version of PocketMac for BlackBerry to Macintosh users free of charge.

Static Kill

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO — BP on Tuesday embarked on an operation to seal the biggest offshore oil leak in U.S. history, forcing mud down the throat of its blown-out well using a tactic known as "static kill" or a "bullheading."

As a sign that everything was going as planned, in the first 90 minutes of the procedure, the pressure in the well dropped quickly , wellsite leader Bobby Bolton told The Associated Press. The vessel being used to pump in the mud is Q4000. Bolton told the AP that the procedure was still going well.

"Pressure is down and appears to be stabilizing," he said.

It was assumed that work could be complete by Tuesday night or Wednesday, though BP said it may continue through Thursday. The actual success will be known only after a week, if the well is choked properly.

The 122 crew members onboard Q4000 were excited to be a part of the final resolution to a drama, that started with the April 20 explosion on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon.

"I'm very confident we'll be able to kill this well. It's been one magical time trying to get this thing plugged", Schultz said onboard the vessel. He is on his second 28 day tour, since the spill started.

As a temporary measure, a 75 ton cap was placed in July on the well to keep the oil from spilling. However, BP and the Coast Guard, with a column of heavy drilling mud and cement, want to plug up the hole more securely.
The static kill involves slowly pumping mud down lines running from a ship to the top of the ruptured well a mile below. BP said that may be enough by itself to seal the well.

But retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said the gusher will have to be plugged up from two directions, to be safe. He said the 18,000-foot relief well will be used to execute a "bottom kill" to inject mud and cement into the bedrock 2.5 miles below sea-floor.

Blackberry Torch 9800

BlackBerry Torch 9800 is a crazy-thin touchscreen slider running Waterloo's latest and greatest software, the revamped BlackBerry OS 6. It is interesting.

To start, it still looks a lot like a BlackBerry! But it has a touchscreen and default full QWERTY keyboard. It's on AT&T, and it will cost $199 with a two year contract. The product goes on sale on August 12. The name 'Torch' comes from a new WebKit company with the same name, acquired by RIM.
What makes the Torch really new, is BlackBerry OS 6, WebKit browser, social networking bits, multimedia stuff and BlackBerry App World 2.0 and revamped homescreen and interface.
RIM's CEO is selling the device using handful of features like: Universal search across the device—apps, feeds, emails, music, contacts, internets, etc.
The device comes with a universal inbox, which streams in all your emails, messages, updates from networking sites and RSS feeds; and wireless music syncing similar to Zune.
RIM is saying at the announcement event that the BlackBerry Torch offers something "familiar."
Below are the basic specifications for the Torch itself:

Specification:
• Approximately 4.4" x 2.4" x 0.57" (closed), 5.8" x 2.4" x 0.57" (open)
• Approximately 5.7 oz.
• 512MB Flash memory, 4GB on‐board memory, microSD/SDHC memory card
slot (4GB card included, cards up to 32GB supported)
• Half‐VGA+ touchscreen display, measuring 3.2" (480 x 360 at 188 ppi)
• 5 MP camera with flash, continuous autofocus, face detection, geotagging
• 802.11 b/g/n
• Built‐in GPS
• Audio format support: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, FLAC, OGG
• Video format support: MPEG4, H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile H.264, WMV
• Network support: GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; HSPDA/UMTS: 800/850/1900/2100 MHz
• Talk Time: 5.5 hrs, Audio Playback: 29.8 hrs, Video Playback: 6 hrs
• Operating System: BlackBerry 6

Tsunami

The word "tsunami" comes from the Japanese words tsu (harbor) and nami (waves). A tsunami is a wave or series of waves in the ocean that can be hundreds of miles long and have been known to reach heights of up to 34 ft (10.5 m). The waves can travel as fast sa commercial jet. The massive tsunami on 26th December, 2004 traveled 375 miles (600 km) in 75 minutes. around 300 mph (480 kph). The waves are capable of causing huge damage along coastal lands.
The natural occurrences capable of causing a tsunami are referred to as tsunamigenic events. In addition to earthquakes and volcanism, submarine volcanoes and submarine landslides are two less likely tsunamigenic events. Mostly these events occur alongside major earthquakes, adding to the overall power of a tsunami. They work the same as the earthquake in that the extreme upward release of energy from the event affects the overlying water.

The greatest earthquake in 40 years occurred on Sunday, 26th December 2004, about 150 kilometers off the west coast of northern Sumatra Island in Indonesia. It resulted in a disastrous tsunami that destroyed 11 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

Origin Time and Epicenter

The great earthquake occurred on Sunday, 26 December 2004, at 00:58:50 UTC (6:58:50 a.m. local time). The epicenter was at 3.298 N, 95.779 E and its focal depth was very shallow (much less than 33 km - possibly about 10km)

Magnitude and Energy Release

The quake was widely felt in Sumatra, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, the Nicobar and Andaman Islands, Malaysia, Bangladesh and India.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)), the moment magnitude of the earthquake was 9. An earthquake of such magnitude would make it the fourth largest in the world since 1900 - and the largest since the 1964 Alaska earthquake.

However, on subsequent analysis of additional seismograms from around the world, scientists from Northwestern University determined the its magnitude to be 9.3. Therefore, the calculated energy release was 1.13 X 10 (raised to the 30 power) dynes-cm. The revised estimate makes this earthquake to be the second largest ever instrumentally recorded. The largest earthquake ever recorded, which measured 9.5, was in Chile on May 22, 1960.

Tectonic Setting

The region where the great earthquake occurred, marks the seismic boundary formed by the movement of the Indo-Australian plate as it collides with the Burma subplate, which is part of the Eurasian plate. However the two plates have separated many million years ago and that the Australian plate is rotating in a counterclockwise direction, putting stress on the Indian plate, according to recent studies reported in the Earth and Planetary Science Letters (vol 133).

Over a period of million years, the India tectonic plate moved in a north/northeast direction, to collide with the Eurasian tectonic plate and hence the Himalayan mountains were formed. Because of this migration and collision with the Eurasian and the Australian tectonic plates, the Indian plate's eastern boundary is characterized by extensive faulting and large earthquakes, forming diffuse zone of seismicity and deformation.

The triple point junction of three tectonic plates formed the epicenter for the earthquake that occurred on 26th December.

Previous major earthquakes have occurred north, in the Andaman Sea and South along the Sumatra, Java and Sunda; sections of one of the earth's greatest fault zones, a subduction zone known as the Sunda Trench. This great trench extends for about 3,400 miles (5,500 kms) from Myanmar (Burma) south past Sumatra and Java and east toward Australia and the Lesser Sunda Islands, ending up near Timor. The volcanoes of Krakatau, Tambora and Toba, well known for their violent eruptions, are byproducts of such tectonic interactions.

The Sunda Trench alongwith the Sumatra fault is responsible for high seismic activity on the Island of Sumatra. The fault extends along the entire length of the island.

The Burma plate encompasses the northwest portion of the island of Sumatra Andaman and the Nicobar Islands. A divergent boundary separates the Burma plate from the Sunda plate.

More specifically, in the region off the west coast of northern Sumatra, the India plate is moving in a northeastward direction at about 5 to 5.5 cm per year relative to the Burma plate.

Aftershocks

As of 1 January, 2005, there were about 84 aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 5.0 to 7.0 in the region of Northern Sumatra and the Nicobar and Andaman Islands. Twenty six (26) of these - including the largest- occurred on 26 December 2004itself. The aftershocks are expected to continue for several weeks and months. Some of the major aftershocks have occurred in the vicinity of the epicenter of a past earthquake which had occurred on 26 June 1941 and some in the area near the Nicobar Islands where the 1881 earthquake had occurred.

The distribution of afteshocks suggests that the earthquake resulted by the sudden slip of these two plates and that there was a slip as well as an upward thrust of the Burma plate along this boundary.

VMA Nominations

Perhaps in an attempt to drum up some drama for this year's ceremony, which will air live on September 12th from Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre, both Taylor Swift (Best Female Video for "Fifteen") and Kanye West (Best Hip-Hop Video for "Forever") were nominated, making a reunion between the two at the VMAs seemingly inevitable.

B.o.B. wound up with five nominations, and Ke$ha earned three for "TiK ToK." The Black Keys and Gorillaz both scored nods for Breakthrough Video (for "Tighten Up" and "Stylo," respectively) and Justin Bieber will compete against Ke$ha, Jason Derulo, Nicki Minaj and Broken Bells for Best New Artist. See the full list of 2010 nominees below:

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
Florence + The Machine - "Dog Days Are Over"
30 Seconds To Mars - "Kings and Queens"
Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé - "Telephone"
Eminem - "Not Afraid"
B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams - "Airplanes"

BEST COLLABORATION
B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams - "Airplanes"
Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga - "Video Phone (Extended Remix)"
Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce – "Telephone"
3OH!3 featuring Kesha - "My First Kiss"
Jay-Z & Alicia Keys - "Empire State of Mind"

BEST FEMALE VIDEO
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
Ke$ha - "Tik Tok"
Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg - "California Gurls"
Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga - "Video Phone (Extended Remix)"
Taylor Swift - "Fifteen"

BEST MALE VIDEO
Eminem - "Not Afraid"
Usher featuring Will.I.Am - "OMG"
B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams - "Airplanes"
Drake - "Find Your Love"
Jason Derulo - "In My Head"

BEST HIP-HOP VIDEO
B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams - "Airplanes"
Eminem - "Not Afraid"
Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem - "Forever"
Jay-Z & Swizz Beats - "On To The Next One"
Kid Cudi featuring MGMT & Ratatat - "Pursuit Of Happiness"

BEST NEW ARTIST
Ke$ha - "Tik Tok"
Jason Derulo - "In My Head"
Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris - "Baby"
Nicki Minaj featuring Sean Garrett - "Massive Attack"
Broken Bells - "The Ghost Inside"

BEST POP VIDEO
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg - "California Gurls"
Ke$ha - "Tik Tok"
Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga - "Video Phone (Extended Remix)"
B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars - "Nothing on You"

BEST ROCK VIDEO
30 Seconds To Mars - "Kings and Queens"
Muse - "Uprising"
Paramore - "Ignorance"
Florence + the Machine - "Dog Days Are Over"
MGMT - "Flash Delirium"

BEST DANCE MUSIC VIDEO
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
Enrique Iglesias featuring Pitbull - "I Like It"
Cascada - "Evacuate The Dancefloor"
David Guetta featuring Akon - "Sexy Chick"
Usher featuring Will.I.Am - "OMG"

BEST ART DIRECTION
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
Florence + The Machine - "Dogs Days Are Over"
Eminem - "Not Afraid"
30 Seconds To Mars - "Kings and Queens"
Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga - "Video Phone (Extended Remix)"

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé - "Telephone"
Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga - "Video Phone (Extended Remix)"
Usher featuring Will.I.Am - "OMG"
Janelle Monáe featuring Big Boi - "Tightrope"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Eminem - "Not Afraid"
Jay-Z & Alicia Keys - "Empire State of Mind"
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
Mumford and Sons - "Little Lion Man"
Florence + The Machine - "Dog Days Are Over"

BEST DIRECTION
Jay-Z & Alicia Keys - "Empire State of Mind"
Director: Hype Williams

Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
Director: Francis Lawrence

Eminem - "Not Afraid"
Director: Rich Lee

P!nk - "Funhouse"
Director: Dave Meyers

30 Seconds To Mars - "Kings and Queens"
Director: Bartholomew Cubbins

BEST EDITING
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
Editor: Jarrett Fijal

Eminem - "Not Afraid"
Editor: Ken Mowe

Rihanna - "Rude Boy"
Editor: Clark Eddy

P!nk - "Funhouse"
Editor: Chris Davis

Miike Snow - "Animal"
Editor: Frank Macias

BEST SFX (SPECIAL EFFECTS)
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
Special Effects: Tim Jarvis

Eminem - "Not Afraid"
Special Effects: Animaholics-VFX

Muse - "Uprising"
Special Effects: Sam Stevens

Green Day - "21st Century Breakdown"
Special Effects: Laundry

Dan Black - "Symphonies"
Special Effects: Corinne Bance & Axel D’Harcourt

BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO
Dan Black - "Symphonies"
Gorillaz featuring Bobby Womack & Mos Def - "Stylo"
Coldplay - "Strawberry Swing"
The Black Keys - "Tighten Up"

Asif Ali Zardari

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said the international community was losing the war against the Afghan Taliban and rebuked Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron for questioning Islamabad's resolve.

Zardari set the stage for a difficult meeting with Cameron, before leaving France for Britain for a visit that could define Pakistan's troubled relations with the West. He said that he hoped a "frank exchange" would clear the air.

During a visit to India last week, Cameron had asked Pakistan to do more to prevent "the export of terror,". The comments didn't go down well with the politicians at Islamabad, and the Britain's envoy was summoned.

In a statement released by Zardari's office , it was quoted that it was "unfortunate that certain individuals continue to express doubts and fears about our determination to fight militants to the end."

The statement also said, "Pakistanis were disappointed by Cameron's comments especially as he said them in India and for this reason it was even more important for the president to visit Britain to address this issue."

"Such fears will only weaken the international effort to fight militants and extremists."

In an interview with Le Monde, Zardari also went onto say that West was to blame for failing to win the support of ordinary Afghans.

"I believe that the international community, which Pakistan belongs to, is in the process of losing the war against the Taliban," Zardari said. "And that is, above all, because we have lost the battle for hearts and minds."

The International coalition had "underestimated the situation on the ground and not recognized the extent of the problem" following the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 to oust the Islamist Taliban movement and fight its al Qaeda allies.

"The success of the insurgents has been to know how to wait. They have time on their side," he told the newspaper. "The whole approach seems wrong to me. The population does not associate the presence of the coalition with a better future."

Hasan Nasrallah

After Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced that Special Tribunal for Lebanon would indict members of his group for the 2005 assassination of PM Rafik Hariri, it was understood that Hizbullah would create a distraction on the border — one that reminded the Arab world of Hizbullah's relative success against the Israeli war machine in the 2006 war, TIMES magazine said.
"The timing is not surprising," Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli major general, told TIMES.

Immediately after Tuesday's border clash between the Lebanese and Israeli armies, the two countries issued a statement holding each other responsible, but all eyes were on Hizbullah.

"Hizbullah is and will be the only effective military force in Lebanon and it is responsible for strategic decisions in Lebanon," Eiland said.
"Now, was this event only some kind of difference about the border or something more deliberate than that? Well, I would guess that it's more deliberate than that. And due to the fact that Hizbullah is the only significant military force north of border, I would not hesitate to think Hizbullah persuaded a Lebanese commander to do something," he added.
Another Israeli official who spoke with TIME pointed out that the number of Shiites officers in the army has increased.
Eiland feels that there is close cooperation between the Hizbullah and Lebanese army.
However TIME's was not clear whether the gunbattle Tuesday was an isolated incident or the just the beginning of a new war. Predicting a summer of new fighting between Israel and Lebanon has been a favorite pastime in the Middle East.