It's Tuesday, February 04, 2020. Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.  It might actually be time for BlackBerry phones to ride off into the sunset. It’s miraculous that the keyboard-toting phones have stuck around as far as 2020. Today, TCL announced it’ll put an end to its BlackBerry partnership. I hope this means there will be no more BlackBerry phones for Chris Velazco to graciously -- far more than I would -- write about. As the iPhone came to dominate smartphones, BlackBerry went through several makeovers. In 2013, there was BlackBerry 10 OS, which was much faster, more functional and prettier than what came before it. It was also still behind what you could get from Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS. Then there were BlackBerry devices running Android. Then in 2016, BlackBerry announced it would stop designing its own phones, licensing everything to TCL under the name BlackBerry Mobile. The writing was, repeatedly, on the wall. Even if you liked physical keyboards, the world had moved on. From now on, BlackBerry, once the dominant smartphone company, will focus exclusively on software and security. I’ve heard more news about BlackBerry and cars than I have BlackBerry and phones. Fortunately, I have little interest in cars. -- Mat (View in browser.) This could take a while to clear up. By the time you read this, maybe you’ll have some idea about which Democratic Party presidential candidate came out on top of the Iowa Caucus yesterday. The results were supposed to have come in last night, but precinct chairs cited problems with the app they were using, and state party leaders said they were dealing with a “reporting issue.” Launch day software fails again? Maybe. | | An attempt to go viral with Baby Nut backfired in spectacular fashion.  Planters is learning there is such a thing as being too thirsty for social media stardom. Twitter has suspended three accounts tied to Baby Nut, the resurrected Mr. Peanut mascot that made his debut during the Super Bowl, for violating policies against spam and platform manipulation. Its main @MrPeanut account retweeted as different (Planters-owned) profiles and shared memes shortly after Baby Nut made his appearance. The problem, as you might guess, was that it’s the sort of coordinated behavior Twitter has banned in the past. Kraft Heinz told Insider that it had created the accounts "after consulting with Twitter" to stay on the social network's good side. However, it said it would "respect that decision" to suspend the accounts. Viral efforts: foiled. | | Sponsored Content by Stack Commerce | |
