blackberry takes a bashing. the company's failure to fix technical problems has critics saying it is losing its place in the smartphone market. it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 8:00 in tokyo, where radiation hot spots have been reported from parts of the city. using off-the-shelf detectors, they record it radiation levels higher than around the fukushima plant. roland has been following this story and joins me now live from tokyo. we're still getting information about these radiation hot spots. what is the latest? >> people are concerned about setagaya wartoday. basically, local people were checking the area around a nursery school. by a fence, they found a small area where radiation levels were very high, higher than some of the evacuation zone around the fukushima nuclear plant. that is very surprising and concerning. this area is 230 kiloliters from the plant. why is it there and why such a small area? investigations have been going on all day. officials say they now believe they've found

blackberry is using twitter to update customers. customers are using twitter to trash blackberry. blackberry controls all of its e-mail and other data through its own system. >> that's a good thing because then they can apply extra security, some encryption. that's why a lot of businesses, particularly the federal government is using that tut basement it is a point of failure. >> its stock is approaching a five-year low. the time for blackberry's troubles could not be worse. its main competitor, apple is starting to sell its newest iphone. blackberry's problem has users thinking about a change. >> i'm going to try a new smart phone like an android google phone. >> and that was lesli foster reporting. blackberry has not said when the problem will be solved. >> how about this. giant tunnels big enough to fit a metro train soon will be built to help clean up area waterways. yesterday, the d.c. water and sewer authority broke ground on the project at the blue plains waste water treatment plant in southwest. the plan is to try to eliminate sewage overflows which enter waterways during

what did one blackberry user say to the other blackberry user?nothing. >> reporter: unlike other smart phone, blackberry controls all of its e-mail and data through its own system. >> is a good thing because they can apply extra security, encryption. and that's why a lot of businesses, particularly the federal government, is using that. but at the same time, it creates single failure. >> reporter: the company's stock is approaching a five- year low. >> reporter: and the timing for blackberry's troubles couldn't be worse. its main competitor, apple, is starting to sell its new iphone. >> reporter: all of the problems have some blackberry users thinking about a change. >> i'm going to try a new smart phone like an iphone or an android google phone. >> reporter: blackberry has not said when the problem will be resolved. >> research in motion branched out and released a tablet computer last year. experts say it was never a commercial success, due to the high price and general user unfriendliness. >>> more than a dozen actors are recovering today afte

that business was disrupted when blackberry service suddenly went down on monday. one country, one continent after another. e-mails and text messages couldn't get through. today the message 70 million blackberry subscribers were waiting for from the c.e.o. of the company: service has been fully restored. but as john blackstone tells us, the crash of 2011 might be a wakeup call. >> reporter: the hardware failure and the two-day backlog in e-mails that disabled blackberry service from the middle east to north america was a warning to a world that's become ever more dependent on always being connected. this man works on wall street. >> you realize how much you do rely on these mechanisms and just kind of pulling my hair out. >> reporter: 35% of american adults use smart phones like the blackberry or iphone. two-thirds even say they've slept with them. but while the old-fashioned land line phone system was built to virtually always work, hand-held devices have never been that dependable says tech analyst charles govin. >> we all live with sporadic outages. i won't say

what's blackberry say being this? >> reporter: actually research in motion coming out this morning saying there has been a significant improvement in services for its customers in europe, middle east and africa this morning. they offered a full range of services including e-mail p.bbm text messaging as well as browsing. my blackberry is working this morning. the problem, however, started monday when a core switcher which is part of research in motion's infrastructure here in europe failed. and we had a chance to talk to steven bates last night to learn more about that. >> cause behind the delay is in the core structure systems within the infrastructure. we still don't think we are out of the woods yet. our team is working and will continue working night and day until we get to that resolution point. >> reporter: well, the work seems to have paid off, carol. although the executives have been working around the clock in the building in back of me to solve this problem saying their cautiously optimistic that the network

>>> se nos fue. >>> como el blackberry. >>> bueno hasta pronto, buenas noches. >>>. >>> (♪).

what did one blackberry user say to the other blackberry user. answer nothing. >>> that new york plane crash miracle on the hudson. let's call this one the minor miracle the on the turnpike. check out the scene of the accident. the pilot called in, said he was having some trouble and then he crashed landed right on the florida turnpike near miami. he came in headed south but he landed in the northbound lanes. but guess what? didn't hit anybody. and though the plane -- you can see not much left of that. take people on board hurt but expected to get better. snoop the effort on the pilot's part to bring it down and not get anybody hurt many. kudos to him. >> i don't know why we see brian orakpo for a second but he was not on the plane. the crash made a mess of the traffic down there in south florida but at least everybody on that stretch of road got home today. the plane was headed from one regional airport to another when it went down. still trying to figure out why. >>> in the spirit of dr. martin luther king jr. the mayor announced a plan in a ma

. >>> big apologies after another major blackberry service outage. we're finding out more about what went wrong. good morning to you. it is thursday, october 13th. this is your am "wake-up call." the treasury department has slapped new sanctions against iran's force. the government describes a money trail starting within that iranian organization. but former homeland security secretary tom ridge says think bigger. >> it's a monstrous ly buffet. they are working unilaterally independent of the ayatollah himself. clearly that, is a force under the control of the hierarchy of the mullahs within iran. so i just can't imagine that anybody's been authorized to operate independently of that leadership. >> senator joe leberman tells cnn a military response should be considering saying this behavior by iran cannot go unresponded to. the president as kmapder in chief, our allies and the you saudis including the target here have a lot of options that are both owe ververt and covert. in my opinion, there has to be a response. by the way, a senate hearing today w

i'm a blackberry customer and this is what you i say. and dpar k, will this have a hole in its existence. >> the old line it takes years to build up your reputation and a couple of minutes to lose it. it is right now. and listen, they didn't take care of the customers. they're yelling, bad advertising and they've been croaked because of the iphone and the android. and it's an 8th and 9th inning and mariano rivera is up right now. >> gary b. what do you think? >> i agree. two strikes. this came at the worst possible time and federal. they're probably going out of business, it's not an iphone. this on top of it. the way they address it, beta max and a blackberry, brenda, i think you want to trade it in for an iphone. >> brenda: christian, do you think they can survive. >> i think they can. nobody remembers apple's antenna issues with the iphone 4 when they came out and loyal customers a $2 rubber sleeve and everybody forgot about it. >> what did you read my mind? >> sorry, but blackberry had 70 million loyal customers they don't call it th

it's because of a massive blackberry outage that's hit devices here and arnold the world. nbc's tom costello has the story. >> reporter: from coast to coast, a day of aggravation and frustration for blackberry users, from air travelers in l.a. -- >> so phone calls work, text messages work but no e-mails. >> reporter: to new york's rockefeller plaza. >> i couldn't use it for a couple hours. really wasn't too happy with the service. >> well, you know, if you can't count on it, i need a business tool i can count on. >> reporter: to the halls of congress and a mom in atlanta who missed a kid's activity. >> i don't have time to go home and check my e-mail. >> reporter: blackberry's most serious disruption in years began overseas on monday when a router switch failed then a backup system crashed. >> i have had no communication or e-mails for two days. >> reporter: the company insists it wasn't hacked and the problem is fixed, but the data traffic jam is massive. >> the backlog of messages, the traffic they missed, is making the system go down in bits and pieces as well. and appa

blackberry goes offline, the little black box is having trouble. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. there is heavy fighting in libya denied as troops of the national transitional council push hard into the city of sirte. according to reporters, there are only a few streets still left in the hands of gaddafi loyalists. our middle east correspondent has witnessed the raging battle. >> sirte is being pummeled and pounded into submission. after a battle that has lasted almost a week, at this day began with soldiers of the new government loading their ammunition for what they hoped would be the last date for fighting. the war for libya has come down to a few streets and blocks in gaddafi's hometown. the fighting is fierce. this afternoon, we went down to the front lines, scurried through the streets captured and the last few hours. the transitional government has declared more than once that the city is about to fall. they are now convinced that it will soon be over. >> 2 or 3 km/hour -- kiloliters. today is good news. >> sir

a big apology from the maker of blackberry smartphones. we'll find out why millions of people had to go without full e-mail or internet service for days. >>> a city files for bankruptcy protection, but the mayor says they can't. we'll have a live report from harrisburg, pennsylvania. >>> plus the american auto industry has been pushing hard for free trade agreement with south korea, but what do south koreans think? >> first of all, he says, parking spaces in korea are made to fit korean cars. european and japanese cars are okay, the big american cars will have problems. >>> a cardiologist says michael jackson might have lived if 911 had been called sooner. we'll get the latest from the involuntary manslaughter trial of dr. conrad murray. >>> and finally, radiation levels spike in a tokyo neighborhood. why the damaged power plant in fukushima may not be the source. meineke's personal pricing on brakes. i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pri

blackberry goes offline, the little black box is having trouble. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. there is heavy fighting in libya denied as troops of the national transitional council push hard into the city of sirte. according to reporters, there are only a few streets still left in the hands of gaddafi loyalists. our middle east correspondent has witnessed the raging battle. >> sirte is being pummeled and pounded into submission. after a battle that has lasted almost a week, at this day began with soldiers of the new government loading their ammunition for what they hoped would be the last date for fighting. the war for libya has come down to a few streets and blocks in gaddafi's hometown. the fighting is fierce. this afternoon, we went down to the front lines, scurried through the streets captured and the last few hours. the transitional government has declared more than once that the city is about to fall. they are now convinced that it will soon be over. >> 2 or 3 km/hour -- kiloliters. today is good news. >> sir

. >>> is your blackberry working yet? if you're chained to it for work or pleasure, this could be another very long day. dan simon joining us from san francis francisco. dan, where do things stand right now? >> well, according to r.i.m., the maker of blackberry, they're based in canada. they said they had this situation under control. we'll see. this started as a core switch problem in europe and they feel like they finally got a handle on this infrastructure, but like a bad global virus, you can see how this thing spread from country to country before finally hitting the united states yesterday. i want you to listen to the ceo and founder of r.i.m. who put this statement on youtube just a little while ago. take a look. >> since launching blackberry in 1999, it's been my goal to provide reliable, real-time communications around the world. we did not deliver on that goal this week. not even close. i apologize for the service outages this week. we've let many of you down. but let me assure you that we're working around the

. >>> outage outrage -- blackberry users around the world are cut off as the company's whole system crashes. >>> and mountain majesty -- a tiny himalayan nation hosts a fairy tale royal wedding. >>> those stories and more straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we begin this morning with stealing the lead -- a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll indicates how volatile the republican race for the white house has become. the data shows there's a new front-runner among the presidential hopefuls -- unsettling news for some in the republican party. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington on this. >> good morning. this poll shows that while mitt romney remains the most electable candidate against president obama, it's herman cain that most republican voters would prefer if that election were held today. take a look at the numbers, herman cain stands at 27%, ahead of romney's 23. rick perry has slipped 20 points since the end of august to third place. so what has boosted cain in popularity? it looks like he is most popular with members of the tea party and those who identify

what did one blackberry user say to the other blackberry user?hing. >> reporter: unlike other smart phones, blackberry controls all of its e-mail and other data through its own system. >> that's a good thing because they can apply extra security, some encryption. and that's why a lot of businesses, particularly the federal government is using that. but at the same time, it creates single points of failure. >> reporter: rims' point failed. and the company stock is at a five-year low. >> reporter: and the timing couldn't be worse. its main competitor, apple, is starting to sell its new iphone. >> reporter: all of this has some customers thinking where a new change. >> i'm going to try a smart phone like an android google phone. >> in new york, drew levinson, wjz eyewitness news. >> and blackberry outages tend to occur several times in a year, but they usually last for less than a day. >>> cyclist, run over by an antelope is speaking out. 17-year-old evan vanderspy was knacked off of his bike during a race in south africa. it was all caught on tape,

the timing could not be worse for blackberry. with major competitor, iphone, releasing a new instant messaging app. some loyal customers say, this is the last straw with blackberry after a string of outage and device glitches in the last year the company's stock has fallen 65%, closing yesterday at just under $24 a share. >>> blackberry is hurting and its company, r.i.m., as well. but markets were up yesterday on hopes of progress toward a european debt deal. let's take an early look at the markets as we get all up in your business this morning. cnbc's steve sedgewick is live in london. >> a very good day to you. the u.s. markets had a good run yesterday and at one point the dow jones industrials got itself back into positive territory for the year, it was up about .5% for the year, it came back a little bit and ended the session down .5% for the year and still up in the session. pepsico is one of the companies kicking off the earnings season, good numbersed a good look. on the other side of the coin, alcoa, ate aluminum group, s

one popular tweet, what did one blackberry user say to other blackberry users, none.ckberry control all of its e- mail and other data through its own system. >> that's a good thing and they can apply extra execute and that's why a -- security. it creates a single point of failure. >> reporter: the company stock is approaching a 5 year low. the timing for blackberry's trouble couldn't be worse. its main competitor, apple, it's starting to sell its new iphone. all of the problems have some blackberry users thinking about a change. >> ly try a new z -- i'm going to try a new iphone or android. >>> research in motion, branched out and released a tablet computer. it was never a commercial success. >>> for tradition gone wrong. a massachusetts family gets stuck inside a corn maze. the couple got lost when their 3 week old daughter, they spent several areas trying to find a way out. turns out the family was only about 25 feet from the exit. that has got to be the most confusing maze i ever seen. >> i always thought what would happen if you couldn't get out. i figure somebody

blackberrys went down with a few exceptions the whole system crashed along with all of those addicted to them. we learned just this week, by the way, there are now more wireless accounts than there are people in the united states. so an outage like this feels more like an outrage to customers. nbc's tom costello reports tonight on what's going on with blackberry. >> reporter: from coast to coast, a day of aggravation and frustration for blackberry users from air travelers in l.a. >> phone calls work, text messages work, but no e-mail. >> reporter: to new york's rockefeller plaza. >> i could have used it for a couple of hours. wasn't too happy with the service. >> if you can't count on it, i need a business tool i can count on. >> reporter: to the halls of congress and a mom in atlanta who missed a kid's activity today. >> i don't have time to go home and check my e-mail. >> reporter: blackberry's most serious disruption in years began overseas on monday when a router switch failed. then a backup system crashed. >> i have had no communication or e-mail for two days. >> reporter: the co

blackberry says a key part of its infrastructure failed and so did the backup.o word yet on when it expects to have it all fixed. right now it is not too bad in some places and it is bad in others. no word yet on when it will all be done. the meantime the company is using twitter to keep customers up-to-date and customers are using twitter to trash blackberry. one what did one blackberry user say to another? answer, absolutely nothing. >> was your's down? >> two, three hours. >> not too bad. >> i think it is a good thing you go off the grid for two hours actually. two days not so good. some showers today. nothing heavy. but we are not going to be able to shake the showers for a while, derek. start with the live doppler 9000. we will zoom in on a couple of showers. if they are not covering the entire metro area and everything here is generally light, don't be surprised if you hear the rumble of thunder a little bit later on. see this little area down here? some of the heaviest activity we have seen. this is like moderate rain now just to the south of the warnton.

service on their blackberry and it will be moving here. but i'm not concerned yet. maybe because no one i know has had it. >> reporter: today's system breakdown is the latest in a cirrus of setbacks that have put research in motion stocks near a five-year low. >> they have already taken it on the chin for the relative failure of their tablet the playbook. their smart phones are not known for being in step with the iphone or android phones. they are kind of an older technology device. >> reporter: problems couldn't be at a worse time with android, apple and windows' phone all introducing new high- end phones in the next few weeks. in san jose, len ramirez, cbs 5. >>> excerpts from an upcoming steve jobs biography reveal the secret behind the late apple's cofounder signature style. it all started when he said his suggestion to follow sony's lead on a companywide uniform got him booed off the stage. so he decided to adopt a personal one and asked a designer that he had planned to employ for the uniform project to make him some black turtlenec

imagine owning a blackberry. the makers of the smart phone saying it's working round the clock now to try and return the service to normal after all those days of disruption. the backlog of emails, of course, further affecting the internet and messaging services. research in motion is the company that makes the phones. it says the problems have been fixed and it has vowed to deliver all those messages affected, but warned it may take until later on thursday on the u.s. east coast for the backlog to clear. let's have some more on that. honestly, it's just a disaster. >> it's a p.r. disaster for a company where it's battling with apple's iphone. 70 million people worldwide use the blackberry. we're not sure exactly how many people have been affected by this, but it's across the world. even now it reached the united states. now, blackberry has said there is, of course, a big improvement in their service, but the fact is their reputation has been damaged. the most important thing to remember here is they just have cu

millions of people are without blackberry service and we're "out front" on the story in chicago where a couple was found brutally murdered in their bed. >>> 14 teens including their own son has been arrested for the crime. "outfront" will be back in a moment. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ >>> four is how many words it took for general motors to upset bikers across the country. they placed an ad in college newspapers saying stop pedaling, start driving. gm pulled the ad and posted numerous apologies on its twitter account. if you are a car company, you are on a certain side of the health debate. come on. you are a car company. new poll just out an hour ago. this is really significant. this is her

biz, i've never seen such an outage as experienced by blackberry. i can't understand why it's taking so long to fix these kind of problems. and finally, one of the most interesting columns and our final one comes from south africa. this is from a person that calls himself on twitter as talkativej. quote, the most annoying thing is that research in motion, or r.i.m., has yet to make an apology or an effort to calm consumers down. so he's annoyed that they're not doing enough to tell people what the problem is. as i said, we're now into our third day. i can attest my own blackberrys have not been working properly for about three days now. slightly annoying for me, too. >>> when you see the sales figures on the new iphone, it's bad timing for r.i.m., it really is. you're watching "world business today." when we come back, we meet the african businesswoman with radical ideas for women's rights both inside and outside the workplace. erything comes togeth. where there's magic. and you now understand what nature's been hiding. ♪ at dow we understand the di

now, a message posted on blackberry's website say service levels in the u.s. are improving improving. one tech watcher says blackberry woes are nothing knew. >> this happens occasionally with their network. occasionally they have outages on a secure network. >> they say their e-mail system broke down because of a faulty switch that linking them to the internet. the backup didn't work either. the problem started in europe and the middle east on monday. >>> a report being released today shows there's a slowdown in bay area foreclosure activity. the oversaul -- overall number of notices dropped. that's the first step in the foreclosure process, but the numbers varied widely from county to county. san mateo county saw the biggest increase of 99% from the month before. >>> on monday, president obama will hit the road on a three- day bus tour to continue pressuring congress on his jobs bill. virginia is also a state key to his re-election campaign. they're traditionally republican states that president obama won in 2008. >>> and there's a new front runner among the

millions of people are without blackberry service and we're "out front" on the story in chicago where a couple was found brutally murdered in their bed. >>> 14 teens including their own son has been arrested for the crime. "outfront" will be back in a moment. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one. together, for your future. ♪ >>> four is how many words it took for general motors to upset bikers across the country. they placed an ad in college newspapers saying stop pedaling, start driving. gm pulled the ad and posted numerous apologies on its twitter account. if you are a car company, you are on a certain side of the health debate. come on. you are a car company. new poll just out an hour ago. this is really significant. thi

they are using twitter to trash blackberry. unlike other smart phones, blackberry controls it through its own system. >> that's a good thing because they can then apply extra security and some encryption and that's why a lot of businesses particularly the federal government is using it but at the same time it creates different points of failure. >> its stock is approaching a five year low. the time for blackberry's troubles could not be worse. its main competitor apple is starting to sell its newest iphone and blackberry's problems has users thinking ant a change. >> i'm going to try a new smart phone like an iphone or an android google phone. >> and if your phone is still having issues blackberry says they do not know just yet when they'll be able to solve the problem. derek? >>> well, coming up lesli, controversy brewing from city hall on up to capitol hill over a d. c. law that allows cops to cuff you for what amounts to a traffic violation. >>> plus, a rare look at how a family is coping in the wake of the unthinkable. part

. >>> the blackberry blues.d off with the way blackberry is handling the recent service outage. the day you were expecting that big e-mail and none came. >>> and one suffers while others prosper. the plan that will ultimately ruin their homes in order to protect the call capital. ♪ [ male announcer ] you never know when a moment might turn into something more. and when it does men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment's right. ♪ [ man ] tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. [ man ] do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury seek i

blackberry.the blackberry. i was asleep all day. >> maybe, to be unshacked from the devices for a day or two. >> something to that for sure. >> we begin with that murderous rampage at a hair salon in southern california. police say the bodies of the dead were scattered throughout the business. >> there are several reports the killing was a domestic dispute. now it's become the worst mass murder in orrineniange county h. diana alvear has details. >> reporter: what happened in seal beach, california. never happens there. this its a close knit quiet community where everyone knows one fauts and they say they're reeling from the tragedy. as police took the suspect into custody it was clear he was prepared for bloodshed. >> they had him by the shirt when they pulled his shirt up they realized he had on a bulletproof vest. they took the vest off. >> pulled out body armor, and magazines. >> search of his truckied yield more weapons. police say minutes earlier he unleashed a hail of bullets inside salon m

it was not doing that so they're going to fix that problem. >> the blackberry thing and i'm a blackberry fan, they're getting in their own way every day it seems. >> having lots of problems recently. >>> is your child having trouble in school when it comes to academics? >> then you might want to try and surround them with students who are doing much better than they are. we'll explain coming up. >>> good morning. welcome back to 9news now. 4:42. things are going to change again in the forecast. >> i'm reading all this stuff it's going to snow on saturday. let me just say this. >> did you say those four letters? >> i did but let's put it in perspective. the ground is warm. it's late october. temperatures in the day are still going to be in the 40s. even if we get a wet novelty snow flake, it's not going to do anything. there's not going to be any stickage. don't be writing crazy stuff on facebook. just relax. we'll have plenty of time later in the season to write crazy stuff on facebook and twitter. we've got temperatures very comfortable. mild actually. in the mid-50s to even mid-60s. sc

whether a personal phone or blackberry they don't want to think what am i missing. >> reporter: blackberry a device not long ago was a device for anyone wanting to stay connected has quickly been falling behind apple's iphone and android's smart phone. >>> joining is john abell. a lot of people at home right now saying what is going on here? so you hear this. core switch and redunnedancy. people don't care about those words. they want to know how did does this happen. >>? they had a computer problem. that happens. the backup system failed. the problem now, if you'll pardon the expression, blackberry has a messaging problem that can't explain what is going on in words of one syllable and people don't like that. >> we are doing everything in our power to restore regular service everywhere and to restore your trust in us isblac. you are basically admitting you have lost their trust. >> right. they are reinforcing the fact that they don't know the scope of the problem. they have no idea when it's going to end and they have nothing to tell it you except we are working as hard as we possibly can

. >>> is this the beginning of the end for the blackberry?uzzing back for millions of customers left without services. does this open the door for other smart phones to fill blackberry's black hole? much more after this we know a place where tossing and turning have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then get l