In the worst days of the end of America's (privately owned and operated) auto industry, the "Big 3" rented out these massive makeshift parking lots to stockpile all the vehicles they made but did not sell. Their businesses were so utterly fucked that it was probably a rational decision, within the moment, to build a car and hope for the best, then not build it at all. 

Such is life for a 20th century manufacturer.

Blackberry may belong with the Big 3. No word, yet, on whether or not the government of Canada will "rescue" them. 

Via Bloomberg:

RIM Writedown Risked With $1 Billion Inventory: Corporate Canada

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM)’s stockpiles of BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets have swollen by two-thirds in the past year because of slumping sales, raising the chances of the company’s third writedown since December.

The value of RIM’s in-house supplies grew 18 percent last quarter alone, a faster rate than at any other company in the industry, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. And that doesn’t include the BlackBerrys gathering dust at RIM’s carriers and retail partners. Apple Inc. (AAPL), meanwhile, saw its inventory decline 11 percent in the period from the previous three months.

While the company is preparing to release a new lineup of phones based on the BlackBerry 10 software, the transition makes its current models even less appealing. That means RIM is more likely to record another quarterly expense next month to account for the inventory’s declining value, said Neeraj Monga, an analyst at Veritas Investment Research in Toronto.

Will they live long enough to sell themselves. That is the key question now. 

I know, I know. Haters gone hate. Stupid is as stupid does. But this "the Inquirer" post quotes an analyst -- that people actually give money to and take advice from. There are many reasons to hate. But there is no excuse for stupid.

MAKER OF SHINY TOYS Apple makes $500m (£319m) each quarter from its Ipad covers, as the company moves away from focusing on hardware.

That's according to Richard Kramer, managing director of Arete Research. Speaking at the Open Mobile Summit in London, Kramer said, "Apple is one of the first manufacturers to move its focus away from mobile hardware, as seen with the Ipad Smart Cover."

"The majority of Ipad users own one of these flexible accessories, which brings Apple in a $500m fortune each quarter," he added.

Ignore the "maker of shiny toys" shot. That's just bringing the weak shit. A not serious person.

The shock is that, if true, and I don't know since this entire piece is utterly suspect, Apple is bringing in $2 billion a year in iPad covers. That is stunning. Talk about a company that is firing on absolutely all cylinders. 

The other issue is this sad "managing director" of something called Arete Research. Apple is, in his words, "moving its focus away from mobile hardware."

There is stupid and then there is tragically stupid. Building accessories that enhance and support its mobile hardware business actually enables Apple to sell STILL MORE MOBILE HARDWARE. It is not a "moving away".

Thanks to reader, Dave for this.

What is your community? The place where you live, work? Or is it your Facebook friends, scattered around the country? Or your followers on Twitter, from all over the world?

Your nation has a history, a culture, traditions. It is ruled by the same man who has ruled for two generations, who followed a man who likewise ruled for generations. Yet he fears you and all the others who, suddenly, inexplicably, armed with smartphones and a twitter account, show up en masse to protest his rule. And the protests are shown live around the world and people in other nations demand their leaders do something.

Apple, that most American of companies, is highly dependent upon the goodwill of the non-democratic leaders of China.

Google, a uniquely American business, may have its operations altered due to the notions of a very select few in old Europe.

We are living in the time of the end of boundaries. 

You walk into a favorite store, literally, and find exactly the item you want. The price is reasonable. Still you use your smartphone to check, right there, who in the world offers a better price. And make the purchase.

The smartphone is the purest physical manifestation of the end of boundaries -- and the wedge that is obliterating them. These are not merely national boundaries that are being destroyed, nor even digital ones.

Who knows you better? Your doctor? Your spouse? You -- or your smartphone? What tracks everything you eat, every calorie you burn, knows the history of your blood pressure, can measure your heartrate, and scan the planet's web to determine what if any illnesses you may suffer from? 

Which may lead you to an awareness of all the supplements and all the activities to help significantly prolong your life. Or document how you hack your physical being.

You have an idea. You want an app. Who meets your needs best? The development shop in your city or the teenager in Pakistan?

What captures your attention? The scene in front of you, literally, rich with detail, or the image on your smartphone, uploaded this very second from one of your Instagram buddies?

Boundaries are either gone or soon will be. All of them. We are hacking our bodies, bringing everyone on this planet online, aggressively merging the physical and the digital, liberating money from the physical, working around the clock, traveling throughout the world and demanding that institutions and commerce and politics remake themselves to follow our lead.

For the first time in all of human history, the tools of power, influence, access, work and learning are in the hands of children as much as adults, are with the poor (very soon) as equally as the rich. This is a fundamental and unprecedented shift in reality. And likely power.

Boundaries are collapsing between nations and groups, time and space -- and even at the most mundane spheres. 

You read a book and your highlights are immediately shared with all. You are unable to finish an article that absolutely captures your attention -- because you must let everyone else know about it, right now, from right here.

Your favorite televsision show is on -- whenever you want. Still you clutch an iPad, surf, share, tweet and read, as you watch.

Augmented reality links not only data resources and digitized information with the physical, blurring those boundaries, it also presents different views to each of us, blurring the boundary of what each of us perceives, even as we interact with the very same point in time and space. Truth-- down to eyewitness accounts -- becomes truly relative.

There is no one better at your job. No one. You bring value to your company. Still, some well-meaning accountant, thousands of miles away, working for the parent office, makes a rational decision to axe your job. What is good? What is rational? How are people rewarded? 

It is our lot in life to live through the end of boundaries. It is new, scary, amazing, empowering, distancing and completely uncertain. And cannot be stopped. I wish you all well.

Will Tim Cook earn more as an employee of Apple than Steve Jobs did as founder and savior?

Yes.

Will Google earn more *profits* if they abandon development of Android outright -- and focus instead on using all their resources, content and properties to turn Motorola into the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV alternative? 

Yes.

Will Facebook be better off purchasing Blackberry? Or forming an alliance with Microsoft and Windows Phone? Or with Amazon? 

Not enough data.

Why are all the VC-funded blogsites rushing to New York? Has the VCs failure to create sustainable wealth in Silicon Valley this decade necessitated the move?

Yes.

We went to the moon -- actually sent men to the moon and brought them back -- in 1969. In the forty plus years since we've barely made it past the planet's atmosphere. Are we simply too afraid to follow our dreams?

No. Merely too busy.

How long should we forgive companies such as Microsoft, Blackberry, Nokia, all of Japan et al for so radically underestimating the iPhone? After all, the iPhone truly was revolutionary. It was like nothing any of us had ever seen or used before. It had no keyboard. It was expensive. The phone was secondary at best. Touchscreens were unfamiliar to nearly all of us. The operating system was something completely different. Of course no one could have accurately guaged what it could do, not even Apple itself. Until when? When should those Apple was destroying have realized exactly what the iPhone wrought?

Early 2010.

When did they?

Middle 2011.

When should investors demand that social media platforms be able to earn more than they spend? With 1 million users? 10 million? 100 million?

Trick question. 1. Just one.

The most interesting place this decade?

Brazil. 

The most interesting place this decade that everyone just assumes is not at all?

Canada.

The future?

North and South America. Not even close.

Easiest way to tell which generation someone belongs to?

Where they get their news.

Confirmation? How they buy cars.

Does anyone know what's worse? Global warming, worsened by the accelerating melting of polar ice, or the planet's growing need for fresh water, which demands we melt the polar caps?

Best we don't find out.

When will our smarpthones provide us a real-time dollar figure for all our assets and wealth, and when will all of these assets be tagged, from our home to each piece of furniture, every single item we own, and when will all these tagged assets be fluid, able to be sold and/or exchanged over the 'net' in real-time, automatically, so that the real-time dollar figure is completely accurate?  

2028

When will the above also come with a real-time rank of everyone's wealth? For example, you are in 128,389,589th place in the world?

2035.

New Turing test?

When our smartphones understand how we feel better than our dogs.

If you sell your business/app/platform before it makes money, you are many good things and deserving of praise, even respect. But you are not an entrepreneur. 

Now you know.

After everything, is there anyone at HP that wishes Carly was back? Or at Yahoo that wishes Carol was back?

No. No one. 

Who dies first? Nokia or Blackberry?

Nokia.

Is that Siri commercial supposed to make us feel sad for John Malkovich?

No. It just does.

Is the new economy about experiences or consumption?

Neither. It is about value and values. Offer just one and you succeed.

Would we care more if someone at Apple in Cupertino committed suicide at work?

Yes. Of course. 

Who will lead the combined Google - Facebook company?

Larry Page.

When will non-China manufacturing of Apple products surpass China manufacturing?

2020.

Some cool stuff from the New York Times, with the usual caveats:

Automakers say they are concerned too, but that hasn’t stopped them from connecting smartphones to in-dash systems and putting Internet-based information into so-called connected cars for 2013. While some Web-based apps offer features similar to those already available in traditional car stereo systems, like the streaming music service Pandora, newer offerings will let drivers order movie tickets, scroll through restaurant reviews and even check Facebook updates.

Mercedes-Benz in its just-released second generation Mbrace2 system offers six apps, including Yelp, Google Local Search and Facebook, which will allow you only to check in. Acura, Honda and Subaru plan to introduce a suite of streaming services using Aha, a division of the telematics company Harman. Facebook will be included, and one of the services Aha will offer is the reading of Facebook posts aloud. Facebook is also in the new version of the Lexus Enform system, along with six other apps, including movie ticket ordering, restaurant listings and Yelp.

Government regulators are concerned. In February, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a 177-page set of proposed guidelines for in-car electronics. The report repeatedly mentions the complexity of dashboard displays and services that include Twitter posting in traffic, checking restaurant recommendations and buying tickets from behind the wheel.

Car manufacturers say the reality is that drivers are already using these features on their phones while driving. The goal, they argue, is to offer fewer distractions with built-in systems that use, for example, voice commands, buttons on the steering column and large touch screens.

Just you wait. When Google gives us all free driverless cars, in return for sole access to all information resources accessed while inside the car, everyone will be happy. 

This better not be true. There's too damn many beautiful Indian women with beautiful skin. 

From the Times of India:

Spending time poring over your phone can lead to the 'smartphone face' - i.e. a drooping jawline 

A'smartphone face', as explained by Dr Mervyn Patterson of the Woodford Medical group, is a new condition caused by spending too much time looking down into your phone. "If you sit for hours with your head bent slightly forward, staring at your smartphone or laptop screen, you may shorten the neck muscles and increase the gravitational pull on the jowl area, leading to a drooping jawline." However, is there a connection between the increase in the number of people opting for chin implants and an addiction to the latest technology? 

Nilofar Sheikh (name changed), 25, who is constantly connected to the virtual world courtesy her smartphone and laptop says, "I am dependent on my smartphone and my laptop, as I can manage my work and connect with friends at the same time. I recently had to consult my dermatologist because I wanted to get rid of the sagging skin around my chin. I am not sure if my addiction to technology has caused this, but I think my habit of sitting with a bad posture may have contributed to it." While Nilofar's doubts may sound far-fetched, she may have a point.