Elisabeth Sladen passed away at 63…

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

First Nicholas Courtney passes away…. And now, I am sadden to hear, that Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), has passed away at 63….
From the BBC web site:

It is with much sadness that we can announce Elisabeth Sladen, the much-loved actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who and CBBC\’s The Sarah Jane Adventures, passed away this morning. She was 63.
Lis first appeared as Sarah Jane in Doctor Who in 1973 alongside the Third Doctor Jon Pertwee and stayed for three and half seasons working alongside Jon and the Fourth Doctor Tom Baker. She returned to the role on numerous occasions over the years and, in 2007, was given her own spin-off series on CBBC – The Sarah Jane Adventures – where she would appear alongside new Doctors David Tennant and Matt Smith.

The BBC has indicated that she had been suffering from Cancer, so please give your wishes to her husband & family.

The BBC has more details here … BBC – Elisabeth Sladen

BlackBerry PlayBook\’s Poor First Impression

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Clayton Morris, from the Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe podcast, and FoxNews, reviews the BlackBerry Playbook…
Over the last week or so, several reviews have surfaced on the Playbook, and most of them seem to be negative…

What frustrates me the most is that the user experience doesn\’t match the hardware. The PlayBook boasts a nice rubberized design, a beautiful screen, dual high-quality speakers on the front for stereo sound, and two nice cameras (one on the front one on the back). It\’s fast, powerful, and sturdy, but the experience is half-baked.

The operating system feels like a cross between Palm\’s Web OS and Apple\’s iOS, thanks to a sprinkling of features here and there like pinch-to-zoom, card stack, and the ability to hold your finger down on an icon to remove or rearrange an application.

My viewpoint is that, overall the Playbook might have been a good first attempt before the introduction of the first generation iPad…  But, certainly after the 2nd generation iPad\’s launch, RIM will have to work extremely hard at making the Playbook a viable competitor.