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BlackBerry market share doubles in Canada during Q1

Phone Arena — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:32:00 -0400

Earlier Saturday, we told you about two polls taken at BlackBerry Live this past week that seem to show that the QWERTY equipped BlackBerry Q10 might just help the company grab some business away from competing platforms including iOS and Android; in Canada, this has already started, at least according to Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt...

Google+ and Glass just got the upgrade for lifelogging everything

Chris Davies — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:38:00 -0400

If you're still laughing at Google+, and at Google Glass, then it might be time to stop; Google has just shown that they're its next route to digitally understanding everything about you, and it slipped that through in the guise of a simple photo gallery tool. Highlights is one of the few dozen new features Google+ gained as of I/O this past week, sifting through your auto-uploads and flagging up the best of them. Ostensibly it's a bit of a gimmick, but make no mistake: Highlights is at the core of how Google will address the Brave New World of Wearables and the torrent of data that . . .

Nearly two-thirds of former BlackBerry users hear the siren call from the BlackBerry Q10

Phone Arena — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:22:00 -0400

Even before the QWERTY equipped BlackBerry Q10 started to rollout late last month in Canada and the U.K., it seemed to be obvious that this was the model that would make or break BlackBerry 10.; even BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins seemed to come around to the idea that the all-touch BlackBerry Z10 was not the device that BlackBerry fans hungered for...

Windows 8 Update Hopes To Stem Confusion

Mobile Tech Today — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:34:00 -0400

A planned Windows 8 update to address complaints and confusion with Microsoft's new operating system will be made available for free this year, the company said Tuesday. Microsoft also announced a name for the update: Windows 8.1. Not charging extra for Windows 8.1 is consistent with the company's practice of offering "decimal point" updates to operating systems for free. However, when Microsoft Corp. announced the update last week, it didn't say that it would be free. The company also hadn't disclosed the system's formal name, leaving open the possibility that it would be a larger update, . . .

CrackBerry Live: Interview with CB10's developer, Marcus Adolfsson

Kevin Michaluk — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:27:00 -0400

The CrackBerry team was super excited to have our very own CB10 app win Best Built for BlackBerry App in the BlackBerry Developer Community awards this week at BlackBerry Live. Following up on our sweet, sweet victory, we got Marcus Adolfsson up on the CrackBerry Live stage the next day to talk about the coding the award-winning CB10 app and where it's going from here. Read More »

Is Intel inside the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1?

Phone Arena — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:22:00 -0400

Early Saturday morning, before the rooster was up to crow about the day ahead, we told you about the Lenovo IdeaPhone K900 getting to see the light of day in China; we mainly discussed that the phone has "Intel Inside". According to another GL Benchmark test, the GT-P5200 will feature a 1.6Ghz dual-core Intel Atom Z2560 Clover Trail+ paired with an PowerVR SGX 544MP working on the graphics...

Adobe Photoshop Express now available for Windows 8 and RT

Ian Morris — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:20:00 -0400

There are some really good apps for Windows 8 now, but they are still the exception, rather than the rule. Happily, Adobe has launched Photoshop Express to help up the numbers of useful programmes for Windows 8 and RT users. The app, which is free with...

This Week in Reviews: Nokia Lumia 928, Lenovo ThinkPad T431s and More

LAPTOP Magazine — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:00:00 -0400

In the middle of traveling to San Francisco for Google I/O, London for a Nokia event and Orlando for BlackBerry Life this week, we still had time to review a few products. We got our hands on two smartphones: the contract-free Alcatel One Touch Idol and the highly-anticipated Nokia Lumia 928. We also got to test out Lenovo's newest 14-inch business notebook, the ThinkPad T431s, and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra USB 3.0 hard drive. And for those who miss their Windows 8 Start button, Start Menu Reviver brings it back. But did any of these products earn our highly-coveted Editors' . . .

Behind the scenes of CrackBerry Live!

Kevin Michaluk — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:47:00 -0400

When BlackBerry announced they were rebranding BlackBerry World to BlackBerry Live for 2013, we just knew we had to kick up our coverage for the annual event to include a live component. Hence, the idea for CrackBerry Live was born. Doing live video content is a challenge on many fronts, but thanks to our friends at GeekBeat.TV, we pulled it off without a hiccup. Where we were lacking on the gear and experience front, John P. and Kien Tran were not and they helped pull it all together and kept us on track all week long. We've been receiving great feedback on all of our CrackBerry Live content. . . .

Soundbars Up the Ante on TV Sound

Mobile Tech Today — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:39:00 -0400

The days of home theaters with multiple stereo speakers spread around a room may be numbered, thanks to the soundbar. The soundbar is a slender collection of speakers in a single housing that connects directly to the TV -- so there's no worrying about stringing up speaker wire. The devices have been around for a while, but those in this year's crop are cheaper and more powerful, and have the ability to connect to smartphones, tablets and PCs for streaming music. Soundbar prices range from upwards of $1,400 for multiple speaker systems from Bose and Philips to $700 for the new Sonos Playbar and . . .

Android this week: Google I/O recapped; Better Bluetooth; Galaxy S 4 Google Edition

Kevin C. Tofel — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:49:00 -0400

The annual Google I/O event has come and gone, with plenty of news specific to Android. While the event focuses on developers, consumers will see benefits in Android thanks to improvements in Google's core services and many new APIs for developers to use in Android apps. There was no new Nexus phone, no update to the Nexus 7 tablet, nor a new Nexus 11 tablet. But for those willing to shell out $649, there is a modified Galaxy S 4 coming soon. Google announced that in June, customers can order the handset through the Google Play store. Instead of the phone running Samsung's customized . . .

Google H840 media player hits the FCC: Next Nexus Q?

Brad Linder — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:23:00 -0400

Last year Google introduced a media player called the Nexus Q which was designed to let you stream content from your phone or tablet (and from the internet) to your TV. It didn't last long. But now it looks like Google may be getting ready to launch a new media player. A device called the Google H840 showed up at the FCC this week, and while details are scarce, it's described as a device that "functions as a media player." FCC There are no pictures, specs, instruction manuals, or even drawings at the FCC website. But the test reports show that the device supports 802.11b/g/n WiFi. . . .

Google H840 media streamer hits FCC to potentially replace Nexus Q

Chris Davies — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:19:00 -0400

Google's short-lived Nexus Q has already been left out of the Google Play Music All Access action, but there looks to be a successor in the pipeline, with a new Google media player spotted in FCC testing. The Google H840 (product code H2G2-42, an apparent play on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) WiFi-testing listing has been pared back thanks to a confidentiality request, but the wireless report does confirm that it "functions as a media player" with 2.4GHz WiFi b/g/n connectivity. Unfortunately there are no test photos, so we don't know what the Google H840 looks like. The . . .

One app three devices: Helping webworks developers build applications for multiple form factors

Alicia Erlich — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:18:00 -0400

Cross platform support for BlackBerry WebWorks application developers If you are a developer attending BlackBerry Jam one question you may have is how to launch your application across multiple platforms without building multiple bar or bundle files. During one of the Webworks sessions I attended here at Jam, they discussed different techniques that can be implemented to target multiple platforms running BB10 with only one application. There was a Cascades version of this session running concurrently at Jam as well, however, my background is in Webworks so I chose to attend this one. Read . . .

CrackBerry Live: We talk BlackBerry with ING DIRECT Canada

Adam Zeis — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:10:00 -0400

Chatting with the BlackBerry Achievement Award winners, we took some time to talk to Vinay Venugopal who is the Director of IT Strategy at ING DIRECT Canada. A winner in the category of Putting Customers First, ING makes it secure and easy for customers to conduct transactions using BlackBerry 10. The app allows for easy banking that includes "orange alerts" and even integrates with the BlackBerry Hub, Vinay explained how BlackBerry is used throughout ING as well as how it helps them give amazing service to their customers. Read more on the BlackBerry Achievement Awards

CrackBerry Live: Mobile Innovation of the Year Winner DIRECTV

Adam Zeis — Sat, 18 May 2013 07:57:00 -0400

The BlackBerry Achievement awards were announced during BlackBerry Live 2013 and we had a chance to chat with a few of the winners, one of which being DIRECTV. A winner in the category of Mobile Innovation of the Year, DIRECTV has deployed their app to the over 4,000 employees in the company. The app allows technicians to manage an entire service call and work order process from their phones, and supports Bluetooth technology to validate and adjust satellite signal strength. We talked to Javier of DIRECTV who told us a bit about the app and how it helps the technicians greatly by cutting . . .

Polaroid launches XS80 1080p action camera

Ian Morris — Sat, 18 May 2013 07:31:00 -0400

Polaroid might be little more than a licensing brand these days, giving it's name over to products it thinks "fit" with the image, but its new action camera seems like a solid idea that's priced well to compete with other, similar action cameras. Producing...

A week in reviews: May 13 - May 17

Ian Morris — Sat, 18 May 2013 06:17:00 -0400

An interesting week in reviews again with cars, headphones and the mighty Popcorn Hour A-400. There was a time when the Popcorn Hour was the must-have gadget for the home cinema aficionado with a lot of video stored on computers, but these days, things...

The Michaluk Virus is still going strong in The Becoming: Revelations

Michelle Haag — Sat, 18 May 2013 06:03:00 -0400

Need to get your zombie fix while The Walking Dead is on break? Check out The Becoming series by CrackBerry member Jessica Meigs! Back in 2010, CrackBerry member Jessica Meigs wrote a zombie book called The Becoming: Outbreak, and she did it all on her BlackBerry. Over the course of two years, using a variety of BlackBerry smartphones (BlackBerry Bold 9000, the BlackBerry Curve 8900, the BlackBerry Bold 9700, and the BlackBerry Torch 9800), Jessica penned her first novel, which quickly grew into a series of novels. Read More »

Interview: Blur's Alex James gives his five top tips for budding digital film makers

Rik Henderson — Sat, 18 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Alex James, Brit band Blur's eminent bassist and famed cheese maker, was recently tasked with creating a film to help launch the 2013 Virgin Media Shorts short film competition using just his wits and a Nikon D5200 mid-range DSLR. The result was A Slice...

Rumored specs for the "rugged" Samsung Galaxy S4 reveal a different processor under the hood

Phone Arena — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:33:00 -0400

The so-called "rugged" version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 that is expected to be released water and dust proof, has just been through the GFX Benchmark site and some interesting information has been revealed; first of all, according to the site, the name of the phone will be the Samsung Galaxy S4 J Active with one model (SGH-I537) heading for AT&T in the states, while another model (GT-I9295) will be released in Europe...

Stitcher adds car mode to iOS app, encourages responsible driving

Sarah Silbert — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:06:00 -0400

Stitcher just announced a new car mode for its iPhone app, bringing a simplified interface that works in both portrait and landscape positions. Accessible by tapping the Stitcher logo at the top of the screen, car mode offers a pared-down version of the app's standard UI, with bigger buttons and only the essential audio controls. It's nowhere near as flashy as Stitcher's BMW integration, mind you, but the point is to keep your eyes on the road and off your iPhone's screen. The app gets a few other updates this time around: a front page with top headlines, one-tap access to shows and podcasts . . .

Parting images and wrap-up from the last day of Google I/O

Phone Arena — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:02:00 -0400

Another year, another Google I/O conference comes to a close and unleashed unto the world are...

Foxconn continues to violate Chinese labor laws says report

Brittany Hillen — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:00:00 -0400

Foxconn has come under fire repeatedly, fueled by several worker suicides and threats of suicides, as well as protests and its eventual installation of nets to catch employees who jump from the roof. Because of the criticism, the Chinese manufacturer – which supplies some Apple devices, among others – agreed to over 300 terms set forth by Apple after a Fair Labor Association investigation. While some things have changed, the latest report shows that employees are still being overworked. Apple joined the Fair Labor Association in 2012 after being slammed with criticism over the working . . .

Benchmark powerhouse Lenovo IdeaPhone K900 is released in China

Phone Arena — Sat, 18 May 2013 02:48:00 -0400

You might remember the Lenovo IdeaPhone K900 as the 5.5 inch device from China whose AnTuTu Benchmark score edged the scores tallied by some of the most high powered Android devices now available; models taken down by the device include the Samsung Galaxy S4, the HTC DROID DNA and the Samsung GALAXY Note II...