BlackBerry services experience widespread outage
San Francisco: Research In Motion Ltd said its BlackBerry wireless e-mail service suffered a "service interruption" beginning late Tuesday, leaving its customers stranded. Blackberry services have come to symbolize digital link to home and offices in the modern world.

Blackberry said early Wednesday that it had begun restoring services in phases so as not to overload the system. Some US users and at least some European users remained unaffected. Industry observers said that the outage was likely the most widespread to Hit BlackBerry since it began services in 1999.

Research in issued a statement that said BlackBerry "e-mail delivery was delayed or intermittent during the service interruption." The "root cause is currently under review, but service for most customers was restored overnight," the statement said.

The company has more than 8 million subscribers, especially in the financial-services industry and other professions where work is often dependent on instant communication.

BlackBerry messages are routed through computer servers at Research in Motion operation centers and carried over the wireless networks of telco operators.

RIM signed up 1 million new customers during the last quarter, helped by the launch of its new BlackBerry 8800, which combines the features of a cell phone, e-mail device and digital music player. Analysts say that this pace of growth may have left the company's disaster-recovery plans behind.
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Motorola posts losses for the first quarter
Schaumburg, USA: American multinational communications company, and the world's second-biggest handset manufacturer, Motorola, has reported losses of $181mn for the first quarter. It also said that revenues dipped 2 per cent to $9.43bn.

The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company has seen consumers stay away from its latest models, prompting analysts to accuse the company of failing to keep pace with fashion and relying too heavily on the RazR phone, even as rivals have taken away market share. The last quarter saw Mototrola lose share to rivals such as market leader Nokia, and smaller rivals Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson.

Investors were also disappointed with the second quarter outlook despite company assurances that it would post a profit for the full year.

Motorola shares have lost about a third of their value since mid-October and the company also faces a proxy battle with activist investor Carl Icahn, who has a 2.9pc stake and is seeking a board seat.

The company shipped 45.4 million handsets, down from 65.7 million in the fourth quarter.
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Dow closes at a record high of 12,803.84
New York: Leading blue chip index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) climbed to a record closing high Wednesday, above 12,800, for the first time on the back of upbeat earnings. The benchmark Dow index rose 30.80 points (0.24 percent) to 12,803.84, going above its prrvious all-time closing high of 12,786.64 achieved on February 20.

The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index closed at 1,472.50, up by 1.02 points (0.07 percent).

Technology stocks, however, did not fare so well with the tech-rich Nasdaq composite index closing down 6.45 points (0.26 percent) at 2,510.50.

Analysts said a better-than-forecast first quarter profit report from Wall Street banking giant JP Morgan Chase helped boost the Dow. JP Morgan Chase said its quarterly profits went up 55 per cent to $4.8 billion. JP Morgan Chase was joined by conglomerate United Technologies, whose profits also bested Wall Street expectations, further adding to an uplift in investor sentiment.

JPMorgan Chase, which is vying to expand its US retail presence, also reported that its revenues swelled 25 per cent to almost 19 billion dollars.

Slower earnings from Internet-search giant Yahoo weighed down sentiment at Nasdaq. The Internet bellwether, Yahoo, said its first quarter net profits slowed just over 11 per cent to $142.4 million, mainly due to a rise in operating costs.

Despite lingering concerns about the slowing US economy, and a housing slump, the Dow has shown a marked uplift in sentiment with first quarter earnings season results cheering investors so far.
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Nissan and VW convert to diesel for the US market
Washington: Nissan and Volkswagen (VW) have joined a growing league of international car giants who are now converting themselves to the cause of diesel. Nissan has announced that it plans to sell a diesel-power version of its Maxima sedan in the USA in 2010, while Volkswagen has announced that it will develop and sell diesel cars specifically for the US market before launching them in Europe.

The announcements mark a turnaround for a market that has traditionally been considered as anti-diesel.

"It's a sort of bet you're making that (fuel-economy) regulations will continue to get stricter and fuel prices will continue to get higher," Nissan Motor CEO Carlos Ghosn said at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations here Wednesday.

He said that an "extremely powerful" diesel Maxima that will meet strict anti-pollution regulations in all 50 states would be launched by 2010.

Typically, diesels get 20% to 40% better fuel economy than gasoline engines because of which they also emit less carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming. As diesels also generate more low-speed torque than gasoline engines, they're better suited to low-speed, stop-and-go driving common in the USA.

Early next year, VW will offer US diesel versions of its Jetta sedan and SportWagen, roughly $1,000 more expensive than gasoline models but still in the $20,000 range. This compares to diesel models from other companies that start at $40,000.
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New legislation aimed at overhauling US patent system
Washington DC, USA: A group of US lawmakers have introduced legislation that may end up overhauling the US patent system.

The Patent Reform Act, as introduced Wednesday in the US Senate and the House, would award patents to people who first file for the patents, instead of those first to invent. It also seeks to limits damages that patent holders can collect in infringement lawsuits. The new Act would also create a new procedure for those questioning the validity of a patent to challenge it after it's been granted.

The US is the only country in the world to have a first-to-invent patent system.

"If we are to maintain our position at the forefront of the world's economy and continue to lead the globe in innovation and production, then we must have an efficient and streamlined patent system to allow for high quality patents that limits counterproductive litigation," Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. "This bill is an important step towards achieving that goal."

Other sponsors of the bill included Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, Representative Howard Berman, a California Democrat, and Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican.

Similar legislation failed to pass during the last session of Congress. But several tech trade groups and companies -- including Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., the Software & Information Industry Association and the Business Software Alliance (BSA) -- praised the sponsors for reintroducing the updated bill.

IBM Corp., in a statement, called the legislation the "most sweeping effort to reform the US patent system in 50 years."

"We think the bills will help maintain our country's innovation leadership, reduce excessive litigation and damages awards, and improve patent quality," John Kelly III, IBM's senior vice president for technology and intellectual property, said in a statement.
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