I've just received my monthly copy of BlackBerry Connection.

This issue's lead article is about Smart Card security, as practiced by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Inside, there are pieces about ensuring your BlackBerry changes its time settings to Daylight Savings Time, BlackBerry solutions for various industries, and even how to play Tetris on your BlackBerry.

Did you happen to see The Wall Street Journal's piece today entitled "Apple iPhone Is No ReasonTo Hang Up on RIM Shares?"

I'd link to it except the article is subscriber-firewalled.

Anyhow the gist of the piece is that BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion's Pearl and forthcoming devices are priced far below the iPhone (think $199 and $299 vs. couple hundred dollars more), so that the Pearl has a leg up.

The piece also points out that BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion is "cozy" with more than 225 carriers worldwide.

The iPhone? They are cozy with one- Cingular, now being rebranded as AT&T.

In the non-ignoble name of "greater ergonomic comfort," BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion has filed a U.S. patent application for a rotatable keyboard.

Unlike some more complicated RIM patents that require an engineering degree to understand, this one's fairly simple.

The Abstract for 20070008292, Mobile Device For Rotatable Keyboard, explains what's being proposed:

"A mobile device is provided having a rotatable keyboard. The keyboard is attached to the mobile device and is rotatable in a single plane with respect to the device's housing between a first and second position," the Abstract says. :A plurality of keys are provided having first indicia in a first orientation relating to key functions in the first position and second indicia in a second orientation relating to key functions in the second position.

"The indicia are properly oriented with respect to the user in the first and second positions to display a telephone keypad and an alternate keyboard," RIM says. "The arrangement provides greater ergonomic comfort to a user when entering text. The mobile device can assign functions to each key based on a determined keyboard position and can include a weighted end piece to protect the rotatable keyboard from potential damage due to impact."

Sounds good to me. Looks good to me as well.

But how 'bout you? Would you want a rotatable keyboard?

A few hours from now a Southwest Airlines jet bearing yours truly will take off from Portland to Las Vegas and the Consumer Electronics Show.

RIM has a booth. I'll stop by, maybe do a chat-up or two, look around let you know what I see and then you will read about this here.

All the more excuse to mothball my Nextel BlackBerry 7520 and get a Pearl. Pix, you know.

But I will get beyond the pix. I will give you the flavor of what's goin' down.

But for 26 cents, yesterday's closing price for BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion's stock would have tied for the highest in company history.

Riding a wave unforseen by more than few analysts who keep saying the stock is priced too high, here's how RIM looked like at the conclusion of Friday's trading:

Nasdaq (RIMM)- $141.30 a share, a rise of $2.73 (+1.97%) from Thursday's $138.57 a share close. Friday's volume of 13.822 million shares was more than 150% RIM's three-month 8.290 million share daily average traffic.

Something has investors in BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion's stock on a high.

I have to say this because today's results marked one of the steepest climbs for RIM stock in history.

Let's not delay any more, and tell you the numbers:

Up until today's Nasdaq session, four full trading days had elapsed since Research In Motion stock was traded in the U.S. The Saturday-Sunday couplet, New Year's Day and an unanticipated U.S. Federal Holiday called to commemorate the passing of former President Gerald Ford.

But now we are back to normal (that is, if there is such a thing).

So let's check the numbers:

Nasdaq (RIMM)- $128.55 a share, a rise of 77 cents (+0.60%) from last Friday's $127.78 a share close. Reflecting pent-up trading urges after the four-day trading lapse, today's volume of 11.550 million shares was much greater than RIM's three-month 8.589 million share daily average traffic.

Toronto Stock Exchange (RIM)- Today, closing prices finished at $149.92 (CDN) a share, a rise of 92 cents (+0.62%)from Tuesday's $149.92 (CDN) a share final level.

A little more than an hour from now, we'll learn what CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) viewers regard as the Greatest Canadian Invention.

Suffice to say that the BlackBerry is on the list.

Mike Lazaridis will join some 20 other Canadians in presenting his own choice.

I realize that many if not most of you readers don't have ready access to this tv show. Still, you do have access to the CBC Web site. Check the link below for updates.

While the Nasdaq was closed today in observance of former U.S. President Gerald Ford's burial ceremonies, trading markets were open in Canada.

And just in case you were wondering:

Toronto Stock Exchange (RIM)- Today, closing prices finished at $149.92 (CDN) a share, a rise of 92 cents (+0.62%)from Friday's $149.00 (CDN) a share final level.

Here's how trading in BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion's stock went on this last day of the trading year:Nasdaq

(RIMM)- $127.78 a share, a drop of $1.82 (-1.40%) from Thursday's $129.60 a share close. Influenced by the absence of some investors who have taken the whole week off, today's volume of 3.610 million shares was well less than half RIM's three-month 8.757 million share daily average traffic.

The rise in Canada was somewhat less, when expressed proportionately.

Toronto Stock Exchange (RIM)- Today, closing prices finished at $149.00 (CDN) a share, a decline of $1.65 (-1.10%)from Thursday's $150.65 (CDN) a share final level.

At the end of today's year-end Nasdaq trading, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion's stock price stood at $127.78 a share.

Compare that to the end of trading on January 3, 2006- the first trading day of this year. RIM closed at $66.61- just a bit more than half of today's closing price.

To put it another way: RIM stock nearly doubled this year.

Now if you promise to be good and help little old ladies across the street, here's RIM's trading volume and closing price for every day this year.

That's because the U.S. financial markets will be closed Tuesday due to the funeral of President Gerald Ford.

The Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange always close for Presidential funerals in the U.S.

In a note to clients yesterday, American Technology Research analyst Rob Sanderson predicted that the stock price of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion will hit $175 by mid-2007.

"RIMstands at the convergence point of the world's two largest markets: wireless and Internet," Sanderson wriote.. "RIM is addressing the opportunity unlike any competitor and is seeing accelerating adoption while competing products have been underwhelming."

Bolstered by some upbeat mid-afternoon trading, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion's stock barely closed the day in positive territory.

The numbers? Yes, the numbers:

Nasdaq (RIMM)- $129.60 a share, a rise of 19 cents (+0.15%) from Wednesday's $129.41 a share close. Influenced by the absence of some investors who have taken the whole week off, today's volume of 5.094 million shares was a little less than three-fifths RIM's three-month 8.773 million share daily average traffic.

The rise in Canada was nearly three times as much,, when expressed proportionately.

Toronto Stock Exchange (RIM)- Today, closing prices finished at $150.65 (CDN) a share, a rise of 63 cents (+0.42%)from Wednesday's $150.02 (CDN) a share final level.

After several days of analyst-influenced declines, and a scary plunge in early trading, the stock price of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion experienced a rebound today.

The numbers: