BlackBerry to offer free apps from today

Canadian handset maker is betting on the apps ecosystem to turn around its fortunes with free and discounts on apps across categories like games, music and productivity for users of its BB10 platform.

"BlackBerry is kicking off the winter festive season with a variety of offers on some of its most popular apps on the BlackBerry World. The offers will roll out throughout the month of December 2013," a BlackBerry spokesperson told PTI.

He added that the offer would be available to users of handsets like Q5, Q10, Z10 and Z30, which run on its BB10 operating system across the world.

The company does not disclose the number of its users.

Under the first offer, BlackBerry will offer one free apps each day between December 1 and December 25.

"One free app per day from the likes of Angry Birds, Pacemaker and Monopoly would be available for free download for a 24 hour period," the spokesperson said.

Under the second offer, BlackBerry will launch its 'Hello Winter USD 0.99 Sale', where content will be offered at the discounted price during the entire month of December.

"BlackBerry World has over 1,40,000 apps for BB10 OS. India in particular has been a robust growth market for us from an apps standpoint, so I am confident that we will see tremendous traction with these offers," the spokesperson said.

According to sources, 27-30 per cent of its sales in India is of devices powered by the BB10 platform.

In India, the four BB10-powered devices are priced between Rs 22,000 and Rs 44,000.

The Canadian firm has been facing stiff competition from other smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung as sales have declined over the past few months.

It is now placing big bets on apps, including taking its popular messaging service BBM to other operating systems, aimed at raking in additional revenue in the coming months.

Source: financialexpress.com

BlackBerry Ltd to partner with India's Micromax, Spice, Zen on BBM

After introducing popular BBM to Android and iOS users, BlackBerry Limited today said it will partner handset makers from India, like Micromax, Spice and Zen, other nations to pre-install the popular messaging app on their smartphones.

With the BlackBerry Limited BBM app coming pre-installed, users can directly engage with other BBM users without having to download the app or incurring download charges.

"BBM will soon come preinstalled on a variety of Android-based smartphones from leading OEMs across Africa, India, Indonesia, Latin America and the Middle East," BlackBerry Ltd said in a statement.

Beginning next month, Android smartphones from Be, Brightstar, Celkon, EVERCOSS, IMO, Micromax, Mito, Snexian, Spice, TECNO, TiPhone and Zen will include BBM preinstalled, it added.

BBM will continue to be available as a free download from Android app stores, including Google Play.

"It is clear that smartphone customers see BBM as a must have app for active conversations. The uptake we have seen for BBM since the launch on Android and iPhone is amazing," BlackBerry Executive Vice President (BBM) Andrew Bocking said.

BBM is already available pre-loaded on Micromax's Canvas Turbo and will now be preloaded in the entire forthcoming range of Canvas phones.

BlackBerry today also launched its BBM Channels, which will allow brands to engage with people 

and communities.

Courtesy: financialexpress.com

India sends 2,691 requests to Google for user data in the first half of 2013

Internet search giant Google periodically discloses data regarding requests that the company has received from state authorities in various countries. In its latest report published earlier this week, India was at the second spot, in terms of the number of requests, after the United States.

India requested for user data 2,691 times in the first half of 2013 while the US made 10,918 requests. However, the number of instances where Google has produced full or partial data has fallen from 79% in 2010 to 64% now. Since July 2010, perceived potential to offend religious communities has been the single biggest reason for content removal requests.

Courtesy: economictimes

Get new Sunglasses for your Smart Phones

What can you do with your sunglasses when the Sun goes down? You can use them to charge your smartphone!

An Indian designer based in the US has turned a pair of sunglasses into a smartphone charging device by adding solar panels to them.

Sayalee Kaluskar's The Ray-Ban Shama Shades are part of a project at Miami Ad School - San Francisco, CNET reported.

The shades have a small solar panel on each arm, and that's apparently enough to charge a smartphone when the Sun goes down.

According to PSFK.com, Kaluskar placed small solar panels on each side of the frame, allowing the sunglasses to harness solar energy during the day.

At night, the frames can be detached and used to charge a smartphone, the report said.

Kaluskar worked with Ramiro Ramirez on the project as part of their student work.

Experts say people are keen on tapping solar energy on the go, provided they can harness enough of it to be useful.

Courtesy: financialexpress.com

Now, build your own smartphone-controlled robots!

Engineers have developed magnetic robot construction kits which enable you to build your own smartphone-controlled toy robots that can drive and wiggle.

The robot construction system called MOSS uses over-molded neodymium, "rare earth," magnets and carbon steel ball bearings to build a wide variety of tiny robots.

The system developed by Modular Robotics in Boulder, Colorado does not require coding or wiring your construction.

By attaching a Bluetooth module, players can control the robots remotely using a smartphone or tablet.

MOSS was created over 2.5 years and has been through numerous stages of development, its makers say.

The blocks can be put together in many different ways to create unique robots, according to the company which launched the system on crowd funding website Kickstarter.

"We're already making Moss so we don't need the Kickstarter funding. But in 2013, it seems like the place where people look for cool new tech products," chief executive and design director Eric Schweikardt told the BBC.

The robots are powered with a rechargeable lithium polymer battery. Users can plug in with the included Micro-USB cable to recharge.

The final version of the robot kits are expected to be ready as early as January or February.

Courtesy: indianexpress.com

Google Glass Prescription Lenses Coming in January

Despite having its fair share of skeptics, Google Glass continues to accrue enhancements that could make it a mainstream hit when it officially debuts next year. The latest is from New York-based company Rochester Optical, which promises to release a special prescription lens add-on for the device in early 2014 (above image is not of the unreleased product).

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Rochester Optical announced on Wednesday that Tim Moore, one of the early Glass Explorers, will join its prescription-lens project.

“We’ll be ready to start selling these to the public, at the latest, by January,” Moore toldMashable.

The Google Glass-ready prescription lenses will be priced in the same range as standard prescription lenses, according to Moore. Customers will be able to visit a website where they can choose a matching color for their existing device, and enter their prescription information. Lenses will be shipped within two business days.

“The arm mount will fit Google Glass perfectly, and it will be available in a number of colors that will match Glass colors,” Moore said.

While Rochester Optical's 2014 launch might hint at some knowledge of Google release plans, Moore quickly clarified that Google is not involved in the project in any way.

With a history of eyeglass development spanning 80 years, Rochester Optical’s plunge into the future of eyewear offers yet another indication that established players are finally taking wearable technology seriously. The only question, now, is whether mainstream consumers are just as ready to embrace wearable computing in the same way.