Trending on Tuesday - June 21, 2011

Trending on Tuesday - June 21, 2011

"
"

6th-biggest RIM shareholder "on the way out" 

One of Research in Motion's (RIM.TO) RIMM.TO biggest shareholders has cut more than half its holdings in the BlackBerry maker as the company loses market share to rivals, Bloomberg News said on Friday.

"We are on the way out," Stephen Jarislowsky, chairman of Jarislowsky Fraser Ltd., told Bloomberg. Jarislowsky, a Montreal-based investment firm, is RIM's sixth biggest shareholder with 10.2 million shares as of March 30.

"They are resting on their laurels," Bloomberg quoted Jarislowsky as saying. "Steve Jobs is a much better marketer than RIM," he added, referring to Apple's (AAPL.O) chief executive officer.

Jarislowsky was not immediately available to confirm the sale.

RIM's quarterly profit dropped and revenue missed its own lowered forecast, forcing the BlackBerry maker to slash its outlook on Thursday, sending its shares down more than 20 percent by mid-morning. A raft of price-target reductions and stock downgrades added to the negative mood.

In Toronto, RIM was down 21.2 percent at C$27.08, and on Nasdaq, it lost 21.9 percent to $27.57.

***

'Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2' Trailer: What's New?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

It's been a month and a half since the release of the first "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" trailer, and we still get chills every time we watch it.

So we're giving you fair warning (GOOSEBUMP ALERT!): Warner Brothers has released another trailer to obsess over!

1. A kiss!

Squee! Harry/Ginny fans will love a split-second snippet of the estranged couple's climactic smooch. This little sneak peek has us even more anxious to watch the full thing on the big screen. Then, we can compare it to the last movie's Harry/Hermione kiss (nominated for an MTV Movie Award!) and determine whether Dan Radcliffe has more chemistry with Emma Watson or Bonnie Wright.

2. Hogwarts under siege

Between the Death Eaters casting spells upon an unprotected Hogwarts, the castle's knights marching bravely into battle and the Room of Requirement ablaze in Fiendfyre, there's no doubt that the final "Harry Potter" film is an action movie. Whether you're a hardcore Potterhead or you've only seen a few of the films, this trailer reaffirms that there'll be an abundance of OMG moments.

3. Dragon joyriding

One of the scenes from the book that we were most excited to see on the big screen is the breakout from Gringotts on dragonback. Well, imagine our delight to experience this epic escape in the new trailer! We get to see the creature burst through the roof and soar over the countryside before Harry, Ron and Hermione abandon ship and jump into the lake.

***

The "Golf Boys" -Oh, Oh, Oh: It's golf's very own boy band

For sportsmen to form a pop group is rare, for a boy band to be forged from a sport often criticized as being the stuffy reserve of boring old men is something of a miracle.

Not that the chances of future platinum-selling albums or world tours look particularly good for "Golf Boys," if the standard of their first release "Oh, Oh, Oh" is anything to go by.

Awkward dance moves, dubious costumes and with voices as thin as a sheet of paper; the foursome of Ben Crane, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan are hardly The Beatles.

But the band -- who were created by world-ranked 44 Crane -- will not be disappointed if they fail to top the billboard charts because the quartet of PGA Tour players are singing and dancing for charity.

The group's debut track -- which is a throwback to the 1990s boy band heyday of New Kids on the Block, NSync and Backstreet Boys -- has so far proved an internet sensation attracting over a million views on YouTube since it went live on June 13.

In fact, three-times PGA Tour winner Crane, who was the driving force behind Golf Boys, has built a cult social media following over the last 12 months after uploading a host of comedy clips of himself.

In one the 35-year-old took time to make fun of his reputation as a slow player -- prompting the PGA Tour website to suggest he'd been transformed from the, "sultan of slow, to the lord of laughs."

"My image, amongst some of the golfers, is slow golfer, nice guy," Crane told the PGA Tour.

"So when friends go from slow golfer, nice guy to 'Wow,' it's like the perfect storm of my image to the videos, it's such a contrast. It's had more effect because of it."

And Crane's latest production was designed to take things to the next level. After securing funding from Farmers Insurance, Crane convinced Watson, Fowler and Mahan to make it happen. "We've got costumes, a studio rented and we're going for it. The boy band is coming back," he proudly stated in May.

Farmers Insurance came on board through their involvement with Crane, a player they sponsor and who won the PGA Tour tournament they host in California last year.

"The proceeds will benefit charitable organizations designated by Farmers and Ben Crane,"said company vice president Mark Toohey.

The timing of Golf Boys' debut release, during the 111th U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Maryland, only added to the hype. When the golfing world should be occupied with finding its next major champion, many will be talking about the Golf Boys' video -- and in particular the players' ridiculous outfits.

Watson is shirtless in a pair of denim dungarees; Mahan in skin-tight leopard print pants and an open fur coat. Crane sports what looks like a cut-off wetsuit, while Fowler is resplendent in leather pants and an open leather jacket.

The video opens with the foursome in staged boy band pose, before the camera pans in on each of their faces in slow motion. Then the choreographed dancing kicks in, with the players mixing studio moves with coordinated routines on the golf course.

By the time the golf-themed lyrics kick in you begin to wonder how the players managed to keep a straight face long enough to film it. "Chip, putt, you know, what's the big whoop? When I play my game, then I make my mama proud," sings Mahan.

"Smash, bang, you got to hit the ball far. When the crowd goes ooooh, then you hear the oo-da-la-li-la-li," continues Fowler.

Fowler's involvement is particularly amusing when you consider his status as America's pop star golfer elect. The 22-year-old has been labeled "the Jonas brother of golf", on account of his boy-band good looks, and he attracts hoards of admiring fans wherever he goes.

Quite what his role in Golf Boys will do to his appeal remains to be seen. While Crane's collective are clearly the first PGA Tour boy band, Golf Boys aren't the first professional golfers to try their hands at music.

Two-times major winner John Daly has been known to pick up a guitar and sing on occasion, and has even written his own material. It's surely only a matter of time before Golf Boys invite him along for a cameo.

"Crane has talked about the potential of future videos," admitted Toohey. And with that, it's off to watch his latest clip - "the making of Golf Boys". Oo-da-la-li-la-li.

***

Fractal Design Core 3000 chassis review

Taking on the established names of the PC industry is a task fraught with danger, but every once in a while a maverick manufacturer comes along and manages to defy the odds.

Those odds, it seems, aren't as heavily stacked in the chassis marketplace - where familiar brands such as Antec, Lian Li and SilverStone are facing growing competition from a group of newcomers that, to name but a few, includes Corsair, NZXT and Fractal Design.

The latter, a Swedish company founded in 2007, aims to take the "less-is-more" mentality of Scandinavian design and use it to deliver, rather modestly, "a good alternative to the already established retail brands of today".

Fractal Design isn't one for showboating, then, but sleek, streamlined and affordable chassis such as the popular Define R3 have enabled the manufacturer to quickly develop a fan base. And, given the number of requests we've had to review a Fractal Design chassis, this is a company that's demanding attention through word of mouth - hence our decision to take a close look at the recently-launched Core 3000.

Introduced as the first of a new range of Core Series enclosures, the mid-tower Core 3000 purportedly offers a "unique combination of design, features, cooling performance and value". A current price tag of £52.95 has the value aspect covered, and the specification sheet - which we'll cover in more detail shortly - suggests that the chassis isn't lacking in features or airflow.

Continuing the trend set by its existing product range, the chassis' exterior remains simple and understated. This isn't an enclosure that'll turn heads, but its straight lines and mesh frontage - which, it has to be said, bears close resemblance to the Antec 300 - help give it a classic look.

The chassis is available only in black, but Fractal attempts to spruce it up with contrasting white fans, expansion slots and HDD trays.

The use of white colouring has been known to make or break a chassis design, but Fractal's found an acceptable middle ground - the internal bright-white accents are unusual, but not unpleasant.

Mounted at the top of the chassis' front edge is an I/O panel that provides headset and microphone audio jacks, a hard-disk activity LED, a reset button, a power button with LED and four USB 2.0 ports.

"
"

A standard selection, but one that's lacking the required level of attention to detail. Given the white highlights inside the chassis, we were expecting a matching white LED. Instead, the power LED illuminates in a fierce don't-look-directly-at-it blue, and the hard-disk activity light pulses in red. Minor niggles, perhaps, but the lack of continuity does detract from an otherwise smart exterior. The fact that the I/O panel is removable suggests that a USB 3.0 upgrade may be made available at a later date, and we hope Fractal takes that opportunity to spruce up the LEDs.

The 200mm x 430mm x 480mm steel frame looks fairly basic, but with a price tag that puts it up against the likes of Cooler Master's HAF 912 and CM 690 II, as well as the Antec 300, Fractal's Core 3000 is going to have to impress underneath the hood.