It's Not Broken...So Let's Fix It: NHL's Board of Governors Overhauls Conference Configuration, Eliminates Divisions

(Photo via thehockeynews.com)

What the fuck? What the mother fuckin' fuck, god damnit! (My apologies to all of our young readers) That was my reaction regarding the NHL's Board of Governors approving the new realignment for the 2012-13 season. Here's what it might look like:

Nothing But RIM: Blackberry Maker Misses The Mark With Playbook OS 2.0 Launch Delay

(Photos via rim.com)

I'm going to keep this as short and bitter as possible (click here for the original rant post). David J. Smith, SVP, BlackBerry PlayBook, from RIM announced yesterday that the Playbook OS 2.0 is "expected" to be available to the masses by February 2012. Which is fine, even though I was reeeeeeaaaaaaaally looking forward to getting the update this fall. And why would I even expect to get it this fall?

That's the expectation that was set by everybody's favorite hockey franchise hunting co-CEO Jim Balsillie during RIM's 2Q financial conference call. This is the same Balsillie that promised native email on the Playbook 90 days after launch. This is the same Balsillie that sets failed expectations for product and software launches. One of two scenarios are evident here: 1) Balsillie is living in his own world as he is totally disconnected from RIM's (add: the world's) current state and reality OR 2) the folks that feed him information are out to lunch, a literal gang of yes people.

The bottom line is that the biggest retail/consumer holiday is around the corner with no added incentive to buy the Blackberry tablet. The device has not sold well at all and the Kindle Fire will be good to go in November (with forecasted sales to be 5 million before the end of the year). Another opportunity lost as inventory collects dust. The underlying issue for RIM is the decline in confidence from both investors and consumers. Have you seen what happened to Netflix over the last few months as they changed their service, increased their subscription fees and re-branded (then flipped back) the DVD side of their business? They lost close to one million subscribers. Take heed RIM, this can happen to you as well. If I had a dollar for every Blackberry user that told me they were switching to an iPhone over the last two weeks, I would be in position to buy a majority stake in RIM.

-Paqman

In Which I Write a Letter To RIM Which Will Never Be Read (By Anyone At RIM)

(Photo via thesmythgroup.com)

Dear RIM and Board of Directors,

I've held out on writing this letter for quite a long time. Amid speculations of a takeover, the Playbook's poor performance, the disastrous 3rd quarter revenue announcement and parade of broken promises, I didn't post one negative word. Here we are now, as the BES/BIS service is back online where some customers were without service for 3 days...we all witnessed a fall from grace that is not slowing down. Stock value is shaky at best and RIM is becoming even more faceless thanks to a lack of solid customer service and communication. You've found yet another way to embarrass yourself. But, more importantly, you've embarrassed me.

Ranting on Combo Packs: How the Movie Biz is Forcing You to Buy What You Don't Want

Rant's target: Blu-ray (Photo via crackednoodle.com)

So, I head to HMV after work to buy Black Swan for my fiancé. To my surprise (wasn't really surprised but it works here), the Blu-ray combo pack was selling for $32.99...is it just me or is that alot of dough for a movie?