ThumbBoards
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RIM: 'We're committed to the keyboard'
With all the gossip about BBX screens becoming more tablet-like and the rumored BlackBerry 'London' being QWERTY-less, lovers of the physical keyboard can be forgiven for getting antsy. Hey, we feel it too -- after all, a BB's thumb pad is as quintessential as Québécois poutine. So, we put the question straight to one of our buddies at RIM. His unhesitating (yet not totally unambiguous) reply? That RIM will "maintain choice within its product portfolio" and is "absolutely committed to building more great keyboard-based smartphones." There you have it. Now, did someone mention cheesy fries?
Goodbye TID, hello Xbox 360 Chatpad
Not that this is life-changing news or anything (except maybe for Major Nelson), but it looks like Microsoft has snapped out of its DOS flashback and given the upcoming Xbox 360 QWERTY thumb keyboard a less technical-sounding moniker than "Text Input Device": meet the Chatpad. The real name of the peripheral-formerly-known-as-TID was discovered by a Joystiq reader poking around the Marketplace after Tuesday's Spring update, where its identity is revealed in a page about Windows Live Messenger integration. Expect lawsuits from the makers of ChatBuddy and PepperPad any day now.
