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Are there any die-hard "CrackBerry" fans anymore? What RIM must do to win back the business crowd

Recognize any of these devices from your briefcase?

At universities, educational software largely means enterprise-scale, expensive, feature-stuffed "learning management systems." Blackboard has the majority of the market, but professors and students are about as enthusiastic about its various updates, crashes, and bugs as people are with the latest version of Windows (Blackboard scores a whopping 93% "hated" rating on website Amplicate ). Last week, a new alternative was launched--built by students--that looks and works a lot more like the social platforms people actually choose to use in their spare time.

Breaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day. PlayStation Vita Launching February 22, 2012 .

%excerpt% See more here: Making Peace With Customers

It took almost two days, but Research in Motion has confirmed what half of its 70 million users have already known since early Monday morning: it's experiencing the e-mail and messaging outage from hell.

Heres a look at three supercharged note-taking apps for a variety of smartphones and tablets. Bare-bones note-taking apps are fine for making grocery lists. But for business, you need something more robust

The company famous for the BlackBerry smartphone and the recent PlayBook tablet is trying to maintain its stronghold on small businesses. RIM is on the ropes

Whether youre presenting to investors, customers, or employees, communications expert Bill Rosenthal says you should be sure to avoid these gestures, expressions, postures, and eye movements. Never look away from your audience. In the outside world you may multitask and look at your Blackberry while ordering a latte, but never lose eye contact with those who have come to hear you speak.

The Fast Company reader's essential rundown of who's breaking into and shaking up your tech space--updated all day. Skanz Are Wearable Business Cards/Social Network The New York Consumer Electronic Week conference will outfit all attendees with a QR-code wristband that activities a sophisticated business card-like app called Skanz. In addition to basic info, Skanz is a mini-social network that facilitates offline interacting after the conference--in other words, no more trying to cram even more URLs and social media IDs onto increasingly tinier slivers of what was once called a business card (for more business-card ditching strategies, see our post from SXSW)

Those thin gray streaks in the image are the high-altitude plumes of ash spreading across the Pacific Ocean from the erupting Chilean volcano Puyehue-Cordón Caulle, as imaged by NASA. The ash continues to disrupt flights in parts of the region, with Australia and New Zealand (on the left of the image) particularly affected

Research in Motion tries to improve its smartphone game, following a series of dismal announcements. Research in Motion, makers of the BlackBerry, need a Hail Mary pass. Its sales are dropping; a few week ago, it put out dismal numbers

The BlackBerry PlayBook is a new 7-inch business tablet that shows promise.

As applications for the 2010 Inc. 500|5000 arrive, we thought it would be worthwhile to shine a spotlight on some of the companies that are vying to appear on our ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.

Tyler McIntyre got an iPhone in 2009. It didn't change everything, but it did frustrate the University of Miami freshman