New Jersey’s own Springsteen and Bon Jovi sing for Sandy victims

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New Jersey natives Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi joined Staten Island-born Christina Aguilera and others on Friday in a televised benefit concert for victims of Sandy, the storm that killed more than 100 and devastated parts of the U.S. Northeast.

The commercial-free one-hour telecast, “Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together,” included appearances by Sting, Billy Joel, Jimmy Fallon, Steven Tyler, Mary J. Blige, Tina Fey, Jon Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Bacon and Danny DeVito.

The host was “Today” show co-anchor Matt Lauer, who said, “We haven’t seen a storm like this in 100 years.”

The fundraiser, shown on NBC, opened with Aguilera saying: “I was born in Staten Island. Four days ago, Hurricane Sandy came through and devastated it.” The New York City borough accounted for about half the city’s 41 deaths from the storm.

Aguilera, a judge on the television singing competition “The Voice,” vowed that “we will do whatever we can to help, we will not leave anyone behind,” then performed “You Are What You Are (Beautiful).”

Next up was Bon Jovi, who was seen in footage filmed this week after he rushed back from a British promotional tour to visit his hometown of Sayreville, New Jersey, to console residents and view the devastation.

Bon Jovi sang “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.”

Fey, an actress and comedian, implored viewers to donate at 1-800-HELPNOW and spread the message for donations via social media such as Twitter.

Donors can also text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $ 10 contribution. All proceeds were earmarked for the American Red Cross to benefit victims of Sandy and rebuilding efforts.

The show was sprinkled with news footage of destruction in New York City and along the New Jersey coast, such as the ruins of the amusement pier familiar to viewers of “Jersey Shore.”

Long Island-raised Joel performed an early song about devastation full of references to New York: “Miami 2017,” often known as “Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway.” Joel tweaked the lyrics to incorporate areas especially hard hit by Sandy.

Sting chose “Message in a Bottle,” with its familiar refrain “Sending out an SOS.”

Tyler, with Aerosmith, performed “Dream On” and teamed up with Fallon for “On the Boardwalk,” backed up by Joel and Springsteen.

Blige sang “The Living Proof,” and the telecast ended with Springsteen and the E Street Band’s “Land of Hope and Dreams.”

“God bless New York, God bless the Jersey Shore,” Springsteen said as the band struck the final chords.

The telethon was also aired on NBC Universal networks Bravo, CNBC, E!, G4, MSNBC, Style, Syfy and USA, as well as HBO, and was live-streamed on NBC.com and simulcast on Springsteen’s E Street Radio on SiriusXM.

On Thursday, Walt Disney Co announced a $ 2 million donation for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, while Disney/ABC Television Group designated Monday as a “Day of Giving” when viewers of network and syndicated programming would be encouraged to help.

Entertainment giant Viacom Inc announced a $ 1 million donation to the Mayor’s Fund NYC and local organizations.

(Editing by Gary Hill and Peter Cooney)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Non-Stick Surface On Med Devices Could Keep Bacteria At Bay

Click here to listen to this podcast

Nasty bacteria cling to the surfaces of countertops. They also stick to medical devices—like catheters—that are placed inside the human body, where they can become a dangerous source of infection.

Individually, bacteria are fairly easily killed. But if they multiply on a surface, they eventually form a biofilm—a tightly organized bacterial community that can fight off antibiotics and the body’s immune system.

Now, researchers have come up with a way to give those nasty bugs the “slip”— a non-stick surface that stops the biofilm from forming. The material hasn’t been tested in humans yet. But in the lab, catheters coated with the non-stick surface stayed almost completely free of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. The findings were presented at the October, 2012, AVS International symposium in Tampa, which covers materials, interfaces and processing. [Andrew Hook et al, Combinatorial Discovery of Materials That Resist Bacterial Adhesion]

By denying bacteria a grip on medical devices without resorting to antibiotics, the researchers also hope to help doctors get a grip on antibiotic resistance—one of medicine’s stickiest problems.

—Gretchen Cuda Kroen

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]

Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
© 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Oil prices fall on strong dollar

2 November 2012 Last updated at 19:35 ET

Continue reading the main story

Oil prices have fallen after the dollar strengthened and the US government allowed foreign tankers to deliver additional supplies in the wake of super storm Sandy.

Brent crude fell $ 2.44 to $ 105.73 a barrel. US light crude lost $ 2.23 to $ 84.86, its lowest since July.

The dollar strengthened against the pound and the euro after better-than-expected jobs figures.

A stronger dollar makes oil more expensive to overseas buyers.

Figures released earlier on Friday showed the US economy added 171,000 new jobs in October, which was much more than had been expected.

‘Storm damage’

Output from East Coast refineries has been hit by Sandy, forcing the government to waive restrictions, enshrined in the Jones Act, on foreign ships delivering oil from US ports.

“The administration’s highest priority is ensuring the health and safety of those impacted by Hurricane Sandy, and this waiver will remove a potential obstacle to bringing additional fuel to the storm-damaged region,” said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Oil analyst Gene McGillian at Tradition Energy said: “I think economic uncertainty and next week’s elections are weighing on oil prices.

“You also have the statement that the Jones Act is going to be waived for a week, suggesting some supplies are going to return.”

BBC News – Business

Read More..

Canada will push to keep bank capital rules on schedule

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will urge all countries to stick to the agreed schedule for implementing tougher bank capital rules at a November 4-5 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations, a senior finance ministry official said on Thursday.

The so-called Basel III rules are the world’s regulatory response to the financial crisis, forcing banks to triple the amount of basic capital they hold in a bid to avoid future taxpayer bailouts.

They were to be phased in from January 2013 but areas such as the United States and the European Union are not yet ready and U.S. and British supervisors have criticized them as too complex to work.

The Canadian official, who briefed reports ahead of the meeting on condition that he not be named, said it was imperative that the rules, the timelines and the principles behind them be respected and said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty would make that view known to his G20 colleagues.

Canada sees the European debt crisis as the biggest near-term risk to the global economy, and it also expects the U.S. debt crisis to be top of mind at the talks, the official said.

But the meeting takes place just before the U.S. presidential election and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will be absent, so it remains unclear how much the G20 can pressure Washington on that front.

Some other countries have also scaled back their delegations, raising doubts about how meaningful the meeting will be.

The official dismissed that argument, saying high-level officials substituting for their ministers allowed for extremely important issues to be addressed anyway.

He said holding each country around the table accountable to its past commitments helped keep the momentum going toward resolving global economic problems.

(Reporting by Louise Egan; Writing by David Ljunggren; Editing by M.D. Golan)

Canada News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

RIP Marty — the Inspiration for Nyan Cat

Marty, the cat which inspired the 8-bit rainbow meme Nyan Cat, passed away Thursday, leaving a heavy heart in the Internet world.

The cat was diagnosed with Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP), a fatal, incurable disease. Marty’s owner, and Nyan Cat creator, Chris Torres adopted Marty in 2010 — along with another cat, Buster, who died of FIP soon afterwards.

[More from Mashable: This Is What Social Media Looks Like in the Sandy Blackout Zone [PIC]]

Torres tweeted that Marty began acting strange last week, so he immediately took him to the vet.

“Even with the medical treatment he received he still deteriorated quickly. I’ve been force feeding him and keeping him warm for three days,” wrote Torres.

[More from Mashable: Ghostbuster Backflips Over Cop, Gets Arrested [VIDEO]]

Nyan Cat celebrated its first birthday in April, and has outlasted the lifespan of most Internet memes. The 8-bit rainbow Pop Tart cat continues to entertain the masses with its adorably infectious song — and will no doubt continue to be played, in Marty’s honor, for a long time to come.

1. Tiny Marty in the Tree

Images used with permission by Chris Torres

Click here to view this gallery.

Image used with permission by Chris Torres

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Judge allows R&B singer Chris Brown to do European tour

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – R&B singer Chris Brown was given the go-ahead to carry out his European tour after a Los Angeles judge said on Thursday that the entertainer was “in compliance” with probation imposed for his 2009 assault on former girlfriend Rihanna.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg had the authority to jail the “Kiss Kiss” singer if she had found that Brown had not kept up with the terms of his probation, which includes community service and an already-completed domestic violence program.

Brown, 23, is half way through his five-year probation sentence after pleading guilty to assaulting his fellow R&B star Rihanna on the eve of the 2009 Grammy awards.

Brown’s European tour begins on November 14 in Copenhagen and will finish in Paris on December 7. He will perform in Germany and Norway, among other countries.

The singer’s next progress hearing was set for January 17.

Brown and Rihanna have reconciled in recent months. Brown Tweeted a photograph of himself at Rihanna’s Halloween party in West Hollywood on Wednesday, dressed in Arab robes and brandishing a fake assault rifle.

(Reporting By Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Paul Simao)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Floods render NYC hospitals powerless

NEW YORK (AP) — There are few places in the U.S. where hospitals have put as much thought and money into disaster planning as New York. And yet two of the city’s busiest, most important medical centers failed a fundamental test of readiness during Superstorm Sandy this week: They lost power.

Their backup generators failed, or proved inadequate. Nearly 1,000 patients had to be evacuated.

The closures led to dramatic scenes of doctors carrying patients down dark stairwells, nurses operating respirators by hand, and a bucket brigade of National Guard troops hauling fuel to rooftop generators in a vain attempt to keep the electricity on.

Both hospitals, NYU Langone Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital Center, were still trying to figure out exactly what led to the power failures Thursday, but the culprit appeared to be the most common type of flood damage there is: water in the basement.

While both hospitals put their generators on high floors where they could be protected in a flood, other critical components of the backup power system, such as fuel pumps and tanks, remained in basements just a block from the East River.

Both hospitals had fortified that equipment against floods within the past few years, but the water — which rushed with tremendous force — found a way in.

“This reveals to me that we have to be much more imaginative and detail-oriented in our planning to make sure hospitals are as resilient as they need to be,” said Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

The problem of unreliable backup electricity at hospitals is nothing new.

Over the first six months of the year, 23 percent of the hospitals inspected by the Joint Commission, a health care facility accreditation group, were found to be out of compliance with standards for backup power and lighting, according to a spokesman.

Power failures crippled New Orleans hospitals after Hurricane Katrina. The backup generator failed at a hospital in Stafford Springs, Conn., after the remnants of Hurricane Irene blew through the state in 2011. Hospitals in Houston were crippled when Tropical Storm Allison flooded their basements and knocked out electrical equipment in 2001.

When the Northeast was hit with a crippling blackout in 2003, the backup power at several of New York City’s hospitals failed or performed poorly. Generators malfunctioned or overheated. Fuel ran out too quickly. Even where the backup systems worked, they provided electricity to only some parts of the hospital and left others in the dark.

Afterward, a mayoral task force recommended upgrading testing standards for generators and requiring backup plans for blood banks and health care facilities that provide dialysis treatment.

Alan Aviles, president of New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corp., which operates Bellevue, said that after a scare last summer when Hurricane Irene threatened to cause flooding, Bellevue put its basement-level fuel pumps in flood-resistant chambers.

It still isn’t clear whether water breached those defenses, but when an estimated 17 million gallons of water rushed through loading docks and into the hospital’s 1-million-square-foot basement, the fuel feed to the generators stopped working. The floodwaters also knocked out the hospital’s elevators.

For two days, National Guardsmen carried fuel to the generators, but conditions inside the hospital for patients and staff deteriorated anyway. The generators were designed to supply only 30 percent of the usual electrical load at the hospital, leaving a lot of equipment and labs hobbled. The hospital also lost all water pressure on Tuesday. Nearly 700 patients had been evacuated by Thursday afternoon.

“The precautions we had taken to date had served us well,” Aviles said. “But Mother Nature can always up the stakes.”

NYU Langone Medical Center had also tried to armor itself against floods.

All seven of the generators providing backup power to the parts of the hospital involved in patient care are only a few years old and are on higher floors. The fuel tank is in a watertight vault. New fuel pumps were installed just this year in a pump house upgraded to withstand a high flood, said the hospital’s vice president of facilities operation, Richard Cohen.

“The medical center invested quite a bit of money to upgrade the facility,” he said.

The pump house remained “bone dry,” Cohen said. But water shoved aside plastic and plywood defenses and infiltrated the fuel vault, where sensors detected the potentially damaging liquid and shut the generators down. “The force of the surge that came in was unbelievable. It dislodged our additional protection and caused a breach of the vault as well,” Cohen said.

The power at NYU went out in a flash, leaving the staff scrambling to evacuate 300 patients with no notice.

Dr. Robert Berg, an obstetrician, said that when he lost power in his apartment, he went to the hospital to charge his cellphone and was stunned to find it in chaos.

“It didn’t really occur to me that the hospital was going to be in trouble,” he said. Even after finding the lobby dark, “I thought, ‘We’ll have power upstairs. We’re an operating room.’”

He wound up carrying two patients down flights of stairs on a “med sled.”

“There was a Category 1 outside and a Category 4 inside,” he said. “I can’t say that they were very well prepared for it.”

That has left only one hospital, Beth Israel Medical Center, functioning in the southern third of Manhattan. It is also on backup power, but brought in two huge new generators Thursday, just in case.

Aviles said Bellevue might be out of commission for at least two more weeks. NYU Langone’s generators are operating again, but the hospital is waiting for Consolidated Edison to restore its power before it starts taking patients again. That could happen in a matter of days.

Flooding may pose less of a danger to the hospital’s power supply in the future. Construction is under way on a new power plant, at a cost of more than $ 200 million, that will run on natural gas and supply all the hospital’s power needs.

“It’s a tremendous facility, with a lot of hardening built into it,” Cohen said.

___

AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe contributed to this report.

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Asian shares, dollar rise after positive data lifts risk appetite

TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares advanced to their highest in nearly two weeks with risk appetite returning on signs that a trend of global recovery is stabilizing, particularly in the United States and China.

Positive U.S. private sector employment and consumer confidence reports drove the dollar higher, while the yen retreated as demand for safe-haven assets weakened.

Ahead of a U.S. nonfarm payrolls due at 08:30 am EDT, a key market event, U.S. stock futures were down 0.1 percent, suggesting a cautious Wall Street start.

European shares were also seen subdued, with financial spreadbetters expecting London’s FTSE 100 <.FTSE>, Paris’s CAC-40 <.FCHI> and Frankfurt’s DAX <.GDAXI> to open little changed. <.L> <.EU> <.N>

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> climbed 0.7 percent to its highest since October 23, and was set for a weekly increase of 1.3 percent.

Factory activity picked up moderately in China, which has spawned global growth in recent years, and business surveys showed other big Asian economies were slowly recovering as well, while there were mixed signals about the health of U.S. manufacturing.

Resources-reliant Australian shares <.AXJO> closed up 0.1 percent, as caution before the U.S. jobs data trimmed earlier rallies rooted in improving U.S. and Chinese economic conditions. The risk-sensitive Australian dollar earlier rose to a five-week high of $ 1.0420.

“Downside risks are lessening,” said Toru Yamamoto, chief strategist at Daiwa Securities.

Thanks to the developments in the U.S. and China, he added, global conditions appear to be getting better, and that “points to a nuanced improvement in sentiment.”

Hong Kong‘s Hang Seng Index <.HSI> outperformed Asian peers with a 1.4 percent jump to a 15-month high, buoyed by strength in Chinese financials and growth-sensitive sectors.

“We could see more gains from here because funds will need to chase performance as the year draws to a close,” said Alan Lam, Greater China equity analyst. “H-shares are going to lead the move up, since they are still lagging on the year.”

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority stepped into the currency market during New York’s Thursday trading hours to combat the local currency’s persistent move to the strong end of its trading range. Hong Kong’s de facto central bank is seeking to counter ample funds unleashed by global quantitative easing chasing stocks, property and other assets in the former British colony.

More capital inflows into Hong Kong are expected and could be a source for further strength for a year-end rally after the party congress that starts next week might alleviate some political uncertainty in China.

Japan’s Nikkei average <.N225> ended 1.2 percent up at a one-week high as a weaker yen underpinned demand for shares. <.T>

The dollar inched up 0.2 percent against the yen to 80.29, nearing a four-month high of 80.38 hit last week.

U.S. employers likely added 125,000 jobs in October and the jobless rate likely ticked up to 7.9 percent from September’s 7.8 percent.

Payrolls processor ADP reported on Thursday that U.S. companies added jobs in October at the fastest pace in eight months while new claims for jobless benefits fell last week.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

U.S. jobless claims: http://link.reuters.com/quh73t

China PMI and output: http://link.reuters.com/qaz63t

2012 asset returns: http://link.reuters.com/muc46s

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

US ELECTIONS NEXT FOCUS

Positive economic news could affect the outcome of the November 6 elections while easing pressure for more monetary easing, pushing up Treasury yields and lifting the dollar.

“Market impact from the U.S. jobs data may in the end be offset by the outcome of the presidential election,” said Daiwa’s Yamamoto.

A rise in equities in the wake of a solid jobs report may be countered if President Barack Obama wins, as his re-election will be perceived as negative for equities, while weakness in stocks due to soft data could be recovered if Republican Mitt Romney wins, as markets see him as stock-friendly, Yamamoto said.

Morgan Stanley, in a research note, said “Asian economic indicators are consistent with a risk-on strategy, but we remain risk selective.”

“The outcome of the U.S. presidential election is a close call, leaving markets concerned about whether the newly elected president will have the political capability to deal with the fiscal cliff,” undermining the recent economic rebound, it said.

After the U.S. election, Congress must deal with that “fiscal cliff” – up to $ 600 billion in expiring tax cuts and spending reductions that are set to kick in next year – which threatens to hurt the U.S. economy.

The euro remained in the recent $ 1.28-$ 1.32 range, but dipped below $ 1.29 as spot gold slipped 0.4 percent to $ 1,707.74 an ounce after a fall below key support levels accelerated selling in bullion amid wariness before the U.S. payrolls data.

Reports on manufacturing activity in major euro zone countries, due on Friday, are expected to show continued economic contraction.

U.S. crude fell 0.4 percent to $ 86.71 a barrel and Brent was down 0.2 percent to $ 107.96.

Asian credit markets recovered, tightening the spread on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index by 4 basis points.

(Additional reporting by Clement Tan in Hong Kong; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Clinton calls for overhaul of Syrian opposition

ZAGREB (Reuters) – The United States called on Wednesday for an overhaul of Syria‘s opposition leadership, saying it was time to move beyond the Syrian National Council and bring in those “in the front lines fighting and dying”.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, signaling a more active stance by Washington in attempts to form a credible political opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said a meeting next week in Qatar would be an opportunity to broaden the coalition against him.

“This cannot be an opposition represented by people who have many good attributes but who, in many instances, have not been inside Syria for 20, 30, 40 years,” she said during a visit to Croatia.

“There has to be a representation of those who are in the front lines fighting and dying today to obtain their freedom.”

Clinton’s comments represented a clear break with the Syrian National Council (SNC), a largely foreign-based group which has been among the most vocal proponents of international intervention in the Syrian conflict.

U.S. officials have privately expressed frustration with the SNC’s inability to come together with a coherent plan and with its lack of traction with the disparate internal groups which have waged the 19-month uprising against Assad’s government.

Senior members of the SNC, Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other rebel groups ended a meeting in Turkey on Wednesday and pledged to unite behind a transitional government in coming months.

“It’s been our divisions that have allowed the Assad forces to reach this point,” Ammar al-Wawi, a rebel commander, told Reuters after the talks outside Istanbul.

“We are united on toppling Assad. Everyone, including all the rebels, will gather under the transitional government.”

Mohammad Al-Haj Ali, a senior Syrian military defector, told a news conference after the meeting: “We are still facing some difficulties between the politicians and different opposition groups and the leaders of the Free Syrian Army on the ground.”

Clinton said it was important that the next rulers of Syria were both inclusive and committed to rejecting extremism.

“There needs to be an opposition that can speak to every segment and every geographic part of Syria. And we also need an opposition that will be on record strongly resisting the efforts by extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution,” she said.

Syria’s revolt has killed an estimated 32,000. A bomb near a Shi’ite shrine in a suburb of Damascus killed at least six more people on Wednesday, state media and opposition activists said.

NEW LEADERSHIP

The meeting next week in Qatar’s capital Doha represents a chance to forge a new leadership, Clinton said, adding the United States had helped to “smuggle out” representatives of internal Syrian opposition groups to a meeting in New York last month to argue their case for inclusion.

“We have recommended names and organizations that we believe should be included in any leadership structure,” she told a news conference.

“We’ve made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition. They can be part of a larger opposition, but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice which must be heard.”

The United States and its allies have struggled for months to craft a credible opposition coalition.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has said it is not providing arms to internal opponents of Assad and is limiting its aid to non-lethal humanitarian assistance.

It concedes, however, that some of its allies are providing lethal assistance – a fact that Assad’s chief backer Russia says shows western powers are intent on determining Syria’s future.

Russia and China have blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at increasing pressure on the Assad government, leading the United States and its allies to say they could move beyond U.N. structures for their next steps.

Clinton said she regretted but was not surprised by the failure of the latest attempted ceasefire, called by international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi last Friday. Each side blamed the other for breaking the truce.

“The Assad regime did not suspend its use of advanced weaponry against the Syrian people for even one day,” she said.

“While we urge Special Envoy Brahimi to do whatever he can in Moscow and Beijing to convince them to change course and support a stronger U.N. action we cannot and will not wait for that.”

Clinton said the United States would continue to work with partners to increase sanctions on the Assad government and provide humanitarian assistance to those hit by the conflict.

(Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; editing by Andrew Roche)

World News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

A look at RIM’s much-delayed BlackBerry 10

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion says it’s now testing its much-delayed BlackBerry 10 smartphones with 50 wireless carriers around the world. RIM calls it a key step.

RIM previously announced delays to its upcoming BlackBerry 10 system, which the company considers crucial to its future. It’s expected in the first quarter of next year, rather than late this year. The delay means the phones will miss the holiday shopping season and come months after the expected launch of a new iPhone. The delay could make it even harder for RIM to regain market share lost to Apple’s iPhone and devices running Google’s Android operating software.

Here’s a look at developments surrounding the BlackBerry 10 in recent months:

Oct. 18, 2011: RIM unveils a new operating system, combining existing BlackBerry elements with RIM’s previously announced QNX operating system for phones and tablet computers. RIM gives few details and offers no timetable, though analysts have come to expect it in early 2012.

Dec. 6: RIM says “BlackBerry 10″ will be the new name for its next-generation system after the company loses a trademark ruling on its previous name, BBX.

Dec. 15: RIM says new phones running BlackBerry 10 won’t be out until late 2012. The company says the phones will need a highly integrated chipset that won’t be available until mid-2012, so the company can now expect the new phones to ship late in the year.

May 1: RIM unveils a newly designed smartphone prototype powered by BlackBerry 10. The prototype BlackBerry has a touch screen, but no physical keyboard like most BlackBerry models. No update is given on the new system’s launch date.

May 2: Company stresses that while the prototype has no physical keyboard, RIM will continue to make some models with one.

June 21: Company says the first BlackBerry device running BlackBerry 10 will not have a physical keyboard, only a touch-screen one. Ones with hard keyboards will eventually be made, but the company declines to say when.

June 28: RIM says it’s delaying the launch of BlackBerry 10 yet again, to the first quarter of next year. CEO Thorsten Heins says RIM’s top priority is a successful launch of the new BlackBerrys. He adds, “I will not deliver a product to the market that is not ready to meet the needs of our customers. There will be no compromise on this issue.”

July 10: At its annual shareholders meeting, Heins asks disgruntled investors for patience as it develops BlackBerry 10. He says the product’s quality is more important than rushing out the software, and he argues that some telecom carriers prefer a 2013 launch because next-generation wireless networks will be more widely operational by then.

Aug. 23: RIM says it has begun showing its new BlackBerry smartphones to wireless carriers around the world, but it remains “months and months” away from starting to sell them. The company says feedback from those carriers has been positive, and it will begin to discuss product launches and other business aspects with the carriers soon.

Sept. 25: Heins promises to restore the BlackBerry phone’s stature as a trailblazing device even as many investors fret about its potential demise. Heins speaks at a conference for mobile applications developers to rally support for BlackBerry 10.

Wednesday: BlackBerry maker Research In Motion says its BlackBerry 10 smartphones are now being tested by 50 wireless carriers around the world. The company calls it a key step.

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..