Over the years, stories have become more than just single bursts of information. These days, there's as much drama in the consumer technology world as there is sports, politics or your average episode of Days of our Lives. Take SOPA, for example. We'd be remiss of our duties here if we simply reported on what it was, without ever following up on protests, delays, judgments and other vitally important developments. In fact, it's tough to think of too many stories covered today that don't correspond with some sort of saga -- even the departure of RIM's co-CEOs represents just a single slice of a far larger tale. For those that follow this stuff 24/7, jumping in at any point in the story is no issue; piecing together the past with the present is second nature. But if you're actually working during the day, hopping aimlessly into an ongoing saga mid-stream can be downright disorienting. Painful, even. We've been working hard to come up with an unobtrusive solution, and we think we've found it.

We've actually had our Follow The Saga functionality since January of last year -- we quietly debuted it with the launch of Verizon's iPhone 4 -- but today's iteration is far more interactive. We've been testing these out over the past few weeks, and today we're happy to officially introduce them. If you see the badge shown after the break in any post that pops up here at Engadget, just give it a click to be taken to the full saga, and scroll up and down to see related stories before and after the one you happen to be looking at. We're hoping it'll be particularly helpful to those who happen to stumble upon a saga somewhere in the middle, but want to get caught up on what happened prior and where we stand now. As with everything we do, we'll be continually tweaking and evolving the tool in the months ahead. Enjoy!

Psst... want to see it in action? Have a look under the body of this SOPA post to see how we got to where we are today.

Continue reading Introducing 'Follow The Saga': the whole story, regardless of where you jump in

Introducing 'Follow The Saga': the whole story, regardless of where you jump in originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia already came clean about the Lumia 800 battery bug, but evidently that just wasn't enough to appease the masses. A community manager in the outfit's own forums has just responded to pages upon pages of comments regarding the most recent update, partly to (re)set the record straight regarding the battery, and partly to address more fixes that are just around the bend. The latest update (1600.2483.8106.11500) was meant to "enhance standby time as well as to bring an improvement to the issue reported by some customers in December," and according to Nokia, said update does indeed address those problems. However, folks that still have concerns regarding audio and camera settings aren't being ignored; those quirks will be worked out in "a series of future updates." Eager to learn more? The full reply is embedded just after the break.

Continue reading Nokia clarifies battery update on Lumia 800, promises audio / camera fixes soon

Nokia clarifies battery update on Lumia 800, promises audio / camera fixes soon originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For a brief moment, I had hopes that RIM had made a move that would unseat it from the funk it's been sitting in for years. And then I watched the introductory video of newly-appointed CEO Thorsten Heins. Anyone who assumes that a simple CEO swap is the answer to all of RIM's issues is woefully misinformed, or worse, just blinded by false hope. Sure, removing Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis -- both of which have been rightly criticized for not responding to market pressures quickly enough -- is a start, but it's not like they're gone. In fact, the two are still situated at a pretty fancy table within Research in Motion's organizational chart.

Have a listen at this: Mike is hanging around as the Vice Chair of RIM's Board and Chair of the Board's new Innovation Committee. You heard right -- the guy who has outrightly failed to innovate at anything in the past handful of years is now championing an innovation committee. Sounds right up his alley, no? Jim's staying put as an outright director, and if you think anyone at RIM is going to brush aside the input of the founders, you're wrong. Jim and Mike may have new titles, but they're still here, and I have no reason to believe that they'll act radically different going forward than they have in the past. Oh, and about Thorsten Heins? Let's go there.

Continue reading Editorial: RIM's new CEO isn't the shakeup it needed

Editorial: RIM's new CEO isn't the shakeup it needed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After months upon months of investor backlash, RIM's making some significant changes. And by "significant," we mean the co-chief executives (and founders) are out. As of tomorrow, both Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis will be stepping away from the top posts, enabling "a little-known company insider" to take over, according to The Wall Street Journal. Purportedly, this is all part of "a board and management shuffle," with COO Thorsten Heins (seen above) to step into what many expect to be an impossible role to thrive in. The Globe and Mail asserts that he'll be immediately seeking a Chief Marketing Officer to polish up the company's severely damaged brand, and he "will not rule out licensing RIM's new BlackBerry 10 operating system to other handset manufacturers." In an interview with the outlet, he stated that he'll be executing "flawlessly" and with vigor -- not unexpected, but still, bold words.

Startlingly, Heins also asserted that he's "confident" in the existing lineup of BlackBerry handsets and the software update recently made available for the PlayBook; call us crazy, but he'd be wise to just spout out reality and make clear that RIM's existing lineup is nowhere near competitive in the grand scheme of things. As for Mike and Jim? The former will become "vice-chair of the board with special duties to examine innovation," with the latter becoming a traditional director. In an interesting move, outgoing co-CEO Lazaridis stated the following: "I think it's that unwillingness to sacrifice our long-term value for short-term gain. That's why we didn't choose Android. That's why we decided to build the future on QNX." So wait, RIM had the chance to choose Android... and didn't? No time like the present to reach back and shake things up, Mr. Heins.

Update: Catch an introduction video to the new CEO just after the break!

Continue reading RIM's Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are out, new CEO Thorsten Heins may license BlackBerry 10

RIM's Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are out, new CEO Thorsten Heins may license BlackBerry 10 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung already passed on webOS, and now, it's passing on RIM. The flagging handset maker was reportedly in talks with Samsung about a buyout, but according to a fresh Reuters report, Sammy's "not interested" in taking over Research In Motion. Samsung spokesman James Chun said the following: "We haven't considered acquiring the firm and are not interested in (buying RIM)." Why even respond to a rumor? Well, RIM's shares surged some ten percent at just the whisper, further proving that stocks in the digital age are little more than sophisticated gambling blocks when unfounded rumors are bandied about. So, that's that -- Samsung's not buying RIM, the sun's still warm, and RIM is still too far away from BlackBerry 10.

Samsung wasn't interested in buying RIM, still isn't interested in buying RIM originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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