There are some people walking around Las Vegas and other gaming meccas with something illegal on their iPhones, and I don't mean the new Taylor Swift album pirated off the Internet. A new application, available for Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone and iTouch, works to count cards when its user is playing blackjack.

Obviously, this practice is frowned upon by casino officials (even when a mathematical savant is able to count cards mentally). Using an electronic device to help has been deemed even closer to "illegal," and Vegas pit bosses are said to be on the lookout. This sort of unscrupulous behavior is the last thing the gaming industry needs these days, amid reduced tourism and shrinking profits.

Reportedly, this new scam came to light at an Indian casino in California; iPhone users were apparently a little too successful and their efforts were reported to officials in neighboring Nevada.

Continue reading Casinos on the lookout for card-counting iPhones

Casinos on the lookout for card-counting iPhones originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:RIMM), the maker of the BlackBerry wireless devices, on Friday filed a suit against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. for launching a smart phone named BlackJack. This would confuse customers, RIM claims, as well as "tarnishing, blurring, diluting, and/or disparaging RIM's reputation and goodwill."

The Samsung BlackJack is a smart phone that combines phone mobility with email and Internet access as well as a camera and a media player. It is powered by software from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Cingular Wireless, jointly held by AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and BellSouth Corp. (NYSE:BLS), and a longtime distributor of BlackBerry, started distributing BlackJack last month. This month, Cingular also started distributing a similar device to the BlackJack, RIM's new BlackBerry Pearl.

While taken separately, Pearl and BlackJack certainly sound different. However, I can certainly see how some consumers might confuse BlackBerry Pearl and BlackJack. Seriously, if this wasn't the intent of Samsung in the first place, I doubt the company would name its phone BlackJack. What's more, the phones are similar in looks. See for yourself: BlackBerry Pearl and Samsung's BlackJack.

On a different note, and following up on a previous story regarding RIM needing to restate their financial results, the company announced Friday that it intends to report preliminary operating results for its third quarter on Dec. 21.

The stock is off more than 12% of its 52-week high as concerns mount on Pearl encroaching on BlackBerry sales. RIMM was downgraded by a few firms recently based on valuation mostly.

BlackBerry and BlackJack -- would you confuse the two? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Dec 2006 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.