TORONTO (AP) ? BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion said Wednesday that its much-delayed new smartphones are now being tested by 50 wireless carriers around the world.
The Canadian company called it a key step as it prepares to launch the new BlackBerry 10 software and phones in the first quarter of next year.
The phones are seen as critical to RIM's survival. The release will come as the company struggles in North America to hold onto customers who are abandoning BlackBerrys for flashier iPhones and Android phones.
"I'm very pleased to confirm that we have passed a critical milestone in the development of our brand new mobile computing platform," RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said in a statement. "This process will continue in the coming months as more carriers around the world formally evaluate the devices and our brand new software."
RIM's current software is still focused on email and messaging, and is less user-friendly and agile than iPhone or Android. Its attempt at touch screens and a tablet were a flop, and RIM lacks the apps that power other smartphones. RIM's hopes hang on BlackBerry 10. It's thoroughly redesigned for the touchscreen, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers now expect. A full touchscreen device will be released first followed shortly after by a physical keyboard version.
Heins, who took over as CEO in January after the company lost tens of billions in market value, had vowed to do everything he could to release BlackBerry 10 this year but said in June that the timetable wasn't realistic. Heins says he can turn things around with BlackBerry 10.
"I have spent the last several weeks on the road visiting with?carrier partners around the world to show them the BlackBerry 10 platform and to share with them our plans for launch. Their response has been tremendous," Heins said. "The hard work will not stop here as we build toward launch."
The new BlackBerrys will be released after the holiday shopping season and well after Apple's launch of the iPhone 5, Apple's biggest product introduction yet.
RIM's platform transition is also happening under a new management team and as RIM lays off 5,000 employees as part of a bid to save $1 billion.
RIM was once Canada's most valuable company with a market value of more than $80 billion in 2008, but the stock has plummeted since, from over $140 share to around $7. Its decline evokes memories of Nortel, another former Canadian tech giant, which declared bankruptcy in 2009.
Shares of RIM closed up 4.7 percent, or 36 cents, at $7.93.
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Babies can be expensive! Whether your pregnancy was planned or a happy surprise, there is no doubt you will likely at some point be a little stressed on how you will add another person to your monthly budget.
The to-do list is the crux of your daily productivity, but between all the task management apps out there, different productivity methods, and other miscellaneous life hacks, your to-do list has probably gotten cluttered and complicated. Here's how to take it back to basics and craft a to-do list that actually helps you get things done. 
How many to-do apps have you tried in the past year? If your answer is more than three, it's too many. Pick one and stick with it. It shouldn't be too hard to pick one based on the devices you use and what you're willing to pay. Check out our Hive Five on the subject to see the minor differences between each, and pick one. We're going to use Wunderlist in the screenshots of this post, since it's our favorite, but the strategies we use should work in nearly any to-do app. If you find an app is too much trouble, pen and paper or a plain text file is a great alternative.
Break Big Projects Down Into Actionable Tasks: You've heard this before, but it's one of the most important things you can do. If you need to find a new apartment, then adding "Find an Apartment" to your task list isn't going to help. Instead, add the first step of that project. Maybe that's "Research LA Crime Rates" so you can narrow down a neighborhood. Whatever it is, make sure it's something actionable that you can do in just a few minutes. When you finish that, you can move on to the next task in a project.
Separate Work, Personal, and Other Tasks Into Categories: One of my biggest to-do list problems is mixing personal tasks, work tasks, and chores all on the same list. Most to-do apps have a way to separate these. Some apps call it a "context" tag, others have separate "lists" with tabs so you can switch between each. That way, you can view just your work to-dos from 9-5, and your personal to-dos when Saturday comes along and you have some free time to kill. (If you're using the pen-and-paper method, you can just create each list on a separate piece of paper.)
Give Each Task a Priority: It may seem silly to assign arbitrary numbers or letters to your tasks, and you shouldn't think of these as mega important, but giving each task a simple 1-4 when you create it makes your to-do list organize itself. That way, when you get to work and look at your to-do list, you don't need to think about what to do first?you just start at the top of the list and start working your way down. Remember to factor both urgency and importance into the priority. Again, don't overthink this?you're just giving your to-do list the ability to organize itself, to a certain extent.
So now you've got your initial task list down, it's time to actually get to work. You shouldn't have to mess with your to-do list too much from now on, as long as you commit to the simple principles outlined above. Check things off as you finish them, add new tasks as they pop up, and don't spend too much time pruning?all its going to do is distract you from your actual work. If you find you need to constantly go in and prune, you need to figure out what it is about your system that's inefficient and get rid of it. If you aren't sure what to do, err on the side of simpler methods.
None of this is to say that the "life hacks" we share every day are useless. It's just that sometimes, we go a little overboard and make things too complicated for ourselves. Everyone works differently, though, and some of those little tips?when used sparingly?can make your tasks a lot easier to accomplish (though they're far from mandatory). Once you've got the hang of your to-do list and using it feels like second nature, here are a few things you might start experimenting with one at a time to make things more efficient.