Members of the media wait for Research in Motion (RIM) CEO Thorsten Heins to officially unveil the BlackBerry 10 mobile platform as well as two new devices January 30, 2013 at the New York City Launch at Pier 36. Blckberry is hoping to make a comeback with the release of its lonng overdue BlackBerry 10, a new operating system that many analysts believe is RIM's last chance to become relevant again.











bY JuLee (Technewswebsite)

BlackBerry last night launched BlackBerry 10 across the world – dubbed ‘the re-designed, re-engineered, and re-invented BlackBerry’ platform that creates a new and unique mobile computing experience.

Available on two new smartphones, the BlackBerry Z10 (all-touch) and BlackBerry Q10 (touch with physical keyboard) smartphones powered by BlackBerry 10 offer a faster, smarter and smoother experience than any other BlackBerry.

BlackBerry unveiled the new BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones at events held simultaneously in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Dubai, and Johannesburg.

“Today sees a re-invented BlackBerry launching an entirely new mobile experience,” said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of BlackBerry.

“We are thrilled to be introducing BlackBerry 10 on the new BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones, to deliver a faster, smarter experience that continuously adapts to your needs.  Every feature, every gesture, and every detail in BlackBerry 10 is designed to keep you moving.”

Highlights of BlackBerry 10

BlackBerry 10 is a robust and reliable platform that is smooth and responsive. It has a modern design and a gesture-based interface that is highly discoverable. It is designed to support, learn, and adapt to the way you work and share with features like:

• The ever present BlackBerry Hub, which is a single place to manage all your conversations whether personal or work email, BBM messages, social media updates or notifications, and the ability to “peek” into the BlackBerry Hub from anywhere, so you’re always only one swipe away from what matters to you.

• BlackBerry Flow, where the BlackBerry 10 experience excels by enabling features and apps to flow seamlessly together, helping you complete the task at hand effortlessly and efficiently. For example, you can tap on an attendee listed for a meeting to see their latest tweet or LinkedIn profile. Or tap the thumbnail of a picture you just took to launch the Picture editor and quickly apply a transformation or filter, then instantly share it with your contacts.

• A keyboard that understands and adapts to you, that learns what words you use and how you use them, then offers them up to you so you can type faster and more accurately.

• BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), which allows you to share things with the people that matter to you in an instant. BBM in BlackBerry 10 introduces the ability to share your screen with another BlackBerry 10 contact.

• BlackBerry Balance technology, which elegantly separates and secures work applications and data from personal content on BlackBerry devices.

• Time Shift, an astonishing camera feature that lets you capture a group shot where everyone is smiling with their eyes wide open. Story Maker, which lets you bring a collection of photos and videos together, along with music and effects, to produce an HD movie that you can instantly share.

• The new BlackBerry 10 browser, which sets the industry benchmark for HTML5 support on smartphones, is incredibly fast. Scrolling or zooming is fluid and responsive. The browser includes many advanced features, supports multiple tabs, lets you browse sites privately, includes a reader mode, and integrates with the platform for easily sharing content.

• BlackBerry Remember, which combines memos, tasks and much more into a single experience. It helps you organise and manage information you have on your smartphone around projects or ideas, letting you collect content such as websites, emails, photos, documents, and other files, and then like a To-Do list, lets you create tasks, assign due dates, and track your progress. If your BlackBerry 10 smartphone is set up with a work account, your Microsoft Outlook Tasks will automatically be wirelessly synced with BlackBerry Remember.  If you have configured an Evernote account with your smartphone, BlackBerry Remember will sync Evernote workbooks as well.

• BlackBerry Safeguard technology that helps protect what is important to you, and the business you work for.

• Built-in support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync so your BlackBerry Z10 or BlackBerry Q10 smartphone can be simply connected and managed as other ActiveSync devices in a company, or enabled with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 to gain secure access to work email, “behind the firewall” applications and data, and benefit from other security and enterprise mobility management features.

• The BlackBerry World storefront, which now includes 70,000 BlackBerry 10 apps. In addition, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare apps for BlackBerry 10 are pre-installed, and BlackBerry 10 customers will have access to leading applications from across the globe. Leading application providers including Disney, Cisco, Foursquare, Skype and Rovio have committed to the platform.

“At Foursquare, we are extremely excited to launch our new BlackBerry 10 application and to continue developing on the platform,” said Dennis Crowley, Co-Founder and CEO of Foursquare.

“Our team built the app just for BlackBerry 10, and the result is an amazing Foursquare Explore experience to help people around the world make the most of where they are.”

“We’re delighted to bring Angry Birds Star Wars to BlackBerry fans around the world,” said Petri Järvilehto, EVP of Games, at Rovio.

“It’s a great platform that gives a fantastic gaming experience, so fans can experience the struggle of Rebel Birds vs. Imperial Pigs to the fullest!”

“Bringing Where’s My Water? and Where’s My Perry? to BlackBerry 10 smartphones will introduce some of Disney’s most popular mobile games to new audiences,” said Tim O’Brien, VP of Business Development, Disney Games.

“The new BlackBerry 10 platform is an exciting opportunity to expand Disney’s network of mobile players.”

“We’re proud to extend Cisco’s WebEx technology to the BlackBerry 10 platform letting customers of any size join, start, view content, and stay connected to WebEx meetings right from their BlackBerry 10 smartphone,” said Raj Gossain, Vice President of Product Management, Cloud Collaboration Applications Technology Group at Cisco.

“Our customers access Cisco collaboration capabilities, such as instant messaging, IP voice calling and conferencing on BlackBerry smartphones to stay connected anywhere, any time, and with anyone. RIM and Cisco have worked together to develop an application that is user friendly and meets the needs of our global customers.”

“We are excited about our plans to bring Skype to smartphones running the brand new BlackBerry 10 platform,” said Bob Rosin, VP & GM of Business Development for Microsoft’s Skype division.

“We are working closely with BlackBerry to ensure Skype runs great on BlackBerry 10 devices. This will give BlackBerry 10 users a great Skype experience, including free voice and video calling, sending instant messages and text messages, sharing photos, videos and files, and calling to landlines and mobiles at Skype’s low rates.”

BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 Smartphones

The new BlackBerry 10 smartphones are elegant and distinctive, and the fastest, most advanced BlackBerry smartphones yet. They feature 1.5 Ghz dual core processors with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and an expandable memory card slot. They include the latest enhancements in high density pixel and screen technology to display clear, sharp, and incredibly vivid images. Both feature a micro HDMI out port for presentations, and advanced sensors such NFC (near field communications) to support mobile payments and the exchange of information with a tap of the smartphone. They also have a removable battery.

The BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones will each come in White and Black.

A range of accessories for the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones, including the new BlackBerry Mini Stereo Speaker as well as a variety of carrying and charging solutions including a unique charger that provides on-the-go charging, will be available from select carriers and retailers.

Pricing and Availability

Worldwide, we have several key markets that are revealing pricing and availability today, including the UK, Canada and UAE.

• In the UK, the BlackBerry Z10 will be available beginning tomorrow on pay monthly contracts and pre-pay plans from EE, O2, Vodafone, Phones 4u, BT, 3UK and the Carphone Warehouse. BlackBerry Z10 smartphones will be available fully subsidised on competitive monthly pay contracts. Price points will vary according to carriers and retail partners.

• In Canada, the BlackBerry Z10 will be available on February 5th. Pricing will vary by carrier partner, but it will retail for around $149.99 on a 3 year contract.

• In the UAE, the BlackBerry Z10 will be available on February 10th. Pricing will vary by carrier partner, but unsubsidised it will retail for AED 2,599.

• In the U.S. market, we expect availability with most carriers for the BlackBerry Z10 to be in March. Today, U.S. carriers will start announcing pre-registration and price plans.

JuLee (Technewswebsite)

Virgin Media will end its free-to-all London Underground wi-fi service next Tuesday (29 February). After then, you will need to either be a Virgin Media broadband or mobile, EE (T-Mobile and Orange), or Vodafone customer to continue to use it for free.

Customers who subscribe to any of those services will have received an email telling them what they have to do to continue to get free tube wireless internet access. Those on other networks will have to pay one of three straightforward prices.

Internet access outside of the partnered networks will cost £2 for a day's worth, £5 for a week or £15 for a monthly Virgin Media Wi-Fi Pass. You will need to set up a log-in account on your device, but that's a one-time thing.

There are currently 92 London Underground stations with wi-fi hotspots and Virgin Media plans to expand that to 120 (of 270 citywide) before the end of 2013.

It was reported on Tuesday that Google is planning to consolidate its United Kingdom offices in a brand new development near London’s King’s Cross Station.

The new development is worth a reported £1 billion.

The Internet search giant will move to the one-million-square-foot, 11-storey building on a 2.4-acre plot at the soon-to-be bustling Kings Cross Central site, which is behind the recently redeveloped Kings Cross Station and adjacent to St Pancras International rail station.

The area behind and between the two North London rail stations has been undergoing a massive regeneration since the opening of the London-to-Paris Eurostar terminal at St Pancras in 2007.

Other organisations recently moving to the area include IDG, The Guardian, BNP Paribas and fashionable art college Central St Martin’s.

Matt Brittin, Vice-President for Northern and Central Europe, Google, commented that the move is “a big investment by Google. We’re committing further to the U.K. – where computing and the web were invented. It’s good news for Google, for London and for the U.K.”

Google currently has offices split across London – two are on Buckingham Palace Road in Victoria, and another is between Holborn and Tottenham Court Road. Google’s lease for the Victoria offices ends in 2016, when Google hopes the AHMM-designed new Google headquarters will be ready at King’s Cross.

Google also has Campus, a large space in London’s Shoreditch that offers offices for technology and media start-ups as part of London’s Tech City project.

 Simon Allford, Director, AHMM, said, “Working with Google is a special opportunity to create an innovative new headquarters of scale and significance that both builds on King’s Cross’ rich tradition of heroic construction and contributes to the fulfilment of the development’s visionary masterplan.”