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• RIM offers developers $10,000 incentive for certified apps
• RIM: Don't worry, BlackBerry 10 devices with keyboards are on their way
• LASR: behind the curtain of the Navy's robotics laboratory
• Chris Fenton follows up scale model Cray-1A with 3D-printed electromechanical computer, of course
• Alleged Galaxy S III pops up again, with rounded glass and GT-I9300 branding
• comScore: Android tips the 51% mark in US share, iPhone nips its heels with 31%
• Intel enters mini-computer fray with Core i5-powered NUC
• T-Mobile Prism leaked: entry-level Huawei smartphone to launch in May
• Olympus OM-D E-M5 Micro Four Thirds camera review
• Accelerometer mic could change the way we look at cochlear implants
• BlackBerry gets its game on at BBW, scores Jetpack Joyride and Sonic
• Samsung Series 7 Gamer laptop goes on sale in the US for $1,900
• BlackBerry App Generator makes app building a breeze for smartphones and PlayBook tablets
• RIM's BlackBerry World keynote roundup: the OS, the hardware, everything else (video)
• Facebook adds organ donation to Timeline Life Events
• Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin review
• BlackBerry 10 camera app gets 'timeline lens,' bad photographers get a do-over
• RIM demos simple app switching in BlackBerry 10, slide to reveal
• RIM shows off BlackBerry 10 touch keyboard with gesture support
• Pacemaker DJ app for BlackBerry PlayBook impressions (video)
• BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha hands-on
• BlackBerry 10 developer toolkit released in beta, adds Native and WebWorks SDKs for app-building flexibility
• BlackBerry 10 dev alpha unit unveiled: 4.2-inch screen, 1280 x 768 resolution
• Contour's new mount, watersports kits help bring its cameras with you in the water, snow or dirt
• Live from the 2012 BlackBerry World keynote with Thorsten Heins!
• Report: LTE PlayBook 'confirmed' at BlackBerry World breakfast
• Cubify's 3D printer up for pre-order, wants to make you make trinkets
• Insert Coin: Genie turns any camera into a world-class time lapse rig
• Huawei partners with Intel to test TD-LTE interoperability in China
• Sega urinal game 'Toylets' goes on sale to general public, sink companion still missing (video)
• Phi: a wireless re-routing card that puts you in control of the airwaves (video)
• Researchers make an RGB laser with a regular laser and quantum dots
• Navy awards Aerovel Flexrotor contract to develop marine surveillance tech
• IDC crowns Samsung the biggest phone maker by shipments for Q1 2012
• My whole life is a hack: how Geohot owned the iPhone, PS3 and inadvertently rallied hacktivists
• Scientists develop composite material to enhance device response time
• Researchers build optical transistor out of silicon, provide path to all-optical computing
• Verizon, Comcast activate Wonder Twin powers in six more markets with cross-sales deal
• Nanotubes sniff out rotting fruit, your dorm room might be next
• BlackBerry Curve 9220 hands-on

RIM offers developers $10,000 incentive for certified apps Posted: 01 May 2012 11:34 AM PDT At BlackBerry World 2012, RIM is bumping up the stakes for its developers by putting more money where its mouth is, announcing a $10,000 guarantee to get potential coders excited to hop onto Team BlackBerry. If you get your app certified on App World and don't earn ten grand in the first year, RIM will cut you a check for the difference. Of course, incentive programs are nothing new in today's increasingly competitive development world -- Research in Motion has offered free phones and PlayBooks in the past, and Microsoft is known for throwing cash at big-name developers to beckon them to Windows Phone, for instance. The guarantee, however, is certainly a unique approach to entice new devs to BlackBerry 10. As these programs often do, there is one catch: to qualify, you'll need to not only earn quality certification, you'll also have to generate $1,000 on your own accord. All of this is part of a $100 million investment in its new ecosystem, and should help spark some developer interest in the lead-up to Waterloo's upcoming platform refresh. If you think you've got what it takes, start thinking up those million-dollar ideas right now. Joseph Volpe contributed to this post.

RIM: Don't worry, BlackBerry 10 devices with keyboards are on their way Posted: 01 May 2012 11:16 AM PDT Those decrying the death of the BlackBerry keyboard can officially put their mourning on hold. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins addressed the matter during today's keynote -- but just in case the QWERTY-inclined weren't quite convinced by the sentiment, a spokesperson for the Canadian smartphone maker has brought some reinforcement, telling Phone Scoop that, while early BlackBerry 10 devices will be focused on the virtual, physical keyboards will also be making their way into the mobile OS's ecosystem. Now we can all type a collective sigh of relief.

LASR: behind the curtain of the Navy's robotics laboratory Posted: 01 May 2012 11:00 AM PDT I don't know all that much about the Naval Research Laboratory when I arrive in DC for "the public's first opportunity to look inside" the space's new $17 million Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR). I give the cab driver the address, and he casually tells me that it "stinks," illustrating this notion with a universally familiar hand gesture. He means it literally, too - that you can smell the place, simply driving by in a cab, with the windows up. He says this with such assurance, such gusto, that I fully expect it to smell like the city dump. A wall of stink. It's not much to go on, but it's something. And while I can thankfully report that his reaction was a bit overstated - at least on this particular day - there's certainly a distinct odor to the place. It's a sprawling 130-acre complex that sits sandwiched between the 295 freeway and the waters of the Potomac River; a series of nearly identical big, white buildings facing inward toward a grassy courtyard. On the way in, a space with what appears to be crushed cars is visible from the freeway. In the middle of it all is the giant bust of a man, bronzed and balding, looking a bit worse for wear, sitting atop a white stone column reading, simply, "Edison." It's a tribute to the reason this place exists - yet another feather in the man's already over-accomplished cap. The Navy pinpoints the precise moment of conception as a 1915 interview with The New York Times, in which the inventor told the Old Gray Lady that "the government should maintain a great research laboratory." The realization of that vision would come roughly eight years later, with the laboratory using its pre-war resources to pioneer technologies like radar and sonar. The Navy proudly boasts a hefty laundry list of scientific accomplishments that took place behind these gates - the nuclear submarine, the satellite and GPS all reportedly have roots here. That history is proudly displayed on a wall-sized timeline, and, to drive the point home, all of us will be sent off with a copy of the 10-minute documentary, The Naval Research Laboratory: A Timeless Journey. As we arrive at the tollbooth, one reporter at time, we're greeted by a woman with a clipboard and directed toward what looks to be a repurposed school bus, old and painted white, idling by the curb. According to our Navy-designated tour guide, the organizers were expecting roughly a third of the number of journalists who ultimately responded to its initial solicitation. And, really, who wouldn't want to be one of the first outsiders to step foot in a new military robotics lab, even if it means spending a night in some god awful Best Western just off the freeway in Alexandria, Virginia? After 20, maybe 30 minutes spent sitting on the bus, we're off, rolling roughly 100 yards before we stop and the doors open once again. All in all, the trip lasts about a minute, prompting chuckles from the invited guests. "I guess the Navy won't be going green this year." Ha, ha, ha. We file out onto the sidewalk, like permission-slip-wielding attendees of a grade school field trip, the uniformed adult supervision keeping close watch so none stray too far from the tour route. And indeed, when I excuse myself to use the restroom, a sailor is assigned to show the way, and stand guard outside the door. For all of this cloak-and-dagger behavior and the Asimovian name gracing the building's white exterior, the front section of LASR is a decidedly mundane affair, a collection of cubicles, filing cabinets and fluorescent lighting. Our naval chaperones huddle us up and break us into groups, sending us through the doors and into a long, white hall - the entry to the facility we'd braved that grueling one-minute bus ride to see. We file past closed-door laboratories and testing facilities, attempting to glimpses through windows as we're shuffled through. The first stop on the tour is the Desert High Bay, one of three simulated ecosystems housed under the 50,000-square-foot facility. There's a fourth, the Forest Highland, located behind the facility, though we won't be shown that on our trip, and our tour guide reassures us it's wholly unremarkable, a third of an acre devoted to testing things like autonomous logistic vehicles, a smaller version of facilities set up by the Army and Marines. The High Bays are designed specifically to represent the diverse and oft-unforgiving settings that will someday play host to naval robots. The Desert High Bay is the smallest of the four spaces. It's also not all that much to look at. Those hoping to stumble into some Willy Wonka-style fantasy world would be sorely disappointed to begin their tour here. It's a fairly standard warehouse room, with off-white walls, gray floors and bright yellow beams running across the ceiling. The centerpiece is a two-foot deep bed of sand measuring 40 feet by 14 feet, butting up against an 18-foot-high rock wall that looks a fair bit like a climbing structure found in an upscale gym. A yellow stepladder leans up against the edge. For our tour, a teal robotic arm sits bolted to the top of a three-legged workbench, embedded in the sand. A shovel at the end of the arm gingerly fiddles around an area next to a mock IED, peeking out from the sandbank. A number of thick wires connect the setup to an office computer sitting on a worktable. There are buttons that researchers can press from the exterior, to adjust the lighting or activate fans to simulate a desert sandstorm. Beyond that, there's not all that much customization to be done - no punishing desert heat or mischievous roadrunners. The Littoral High Bay is a bit more impressive in scope than its desert counterpart - though it isn't much to look at itself. It's a big, cavernous, echoey space with a large indoor pool measuring 45 by 25 feet. The Navy has promised that it will muck up the water in the future with things like mud and gravel, to come a bit closer to the real-world marine conditions the space is designed to simulate. The pool comes equipped with a 16-channel wave generator and a sloping mechanism to change the otherwise consistent depth, both of which are removable courtesy of a large crane that hangs above. For the moment, though, as we congregate around an old Dell Latitude seated on an office chair next to the metal guard rails, the water looks pristine and serene enough to dive into - were it not for that severely limiting 5.5-foot depth. Our guide has taken the laptop out for demo purposes, to show off a video of a prototype unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) that happens to be seated on an identical rolling office chair just to its right. It's a long, pill-shaped affair with a bright blue and yellow checkerboard shell that makes it look a bit as if it were birthed by the industrial design team at Nerf. There are two long holes on either side of the robot, from which sharp synthetic fins protrude. Unfortunately, the demo isn't in working order today, so we're forced to crowd around the Latitude to watch the UUV swim laps across the pool in video form. "We started looking at fish as inspiration, because we see them out in the ocean all the time operating in these kinds of environments," Dr. Jason Geder, one of the lab's engineers, begins, explaining the impetus behind the bot, which could some day see action as a reconnaissance tool in choppy waters not easily navigated with propeller-driven vehicles. "One of the fish that we saw, called the bird wrasse, uses, almost solely, its pectoral fins to maneuver. So that's where we took inspiration for that and then we started using some 3D computational fluid dynamics tools to really model those fins, match it up, make sure the forces were matching what biologists were measuring for the actual fish fin. Then we started to design, doing iterative process using the 3D CFD (computational fluid dynamics) tool along with mechanical engineering designs to build something that would be mechanically feasible, a simpler design, but would still maintain the high thrust, high force that basically the fish were getting." In another corner of the room sits what appears to be a large blue-green kiddie pool full of sickly, stagnant water, as if it was left out in the yard after some freak tropical storm. It's a sediment tank, hooked up to a variety of sensors that sit on a desk nearby, connected by some heavy-duty looking cables. The Navy is monitoring the material's potential for energy, exploring the possibility of harnessing the dead organic material as a battery, generating electricity to power all manner of marine tools. The sea floor, according to the Navy's scientists, is, essentially, just one giant battery waiting to be utilized. Our guide warns of adverse effects to our cameras and recording devices before leading us into the last of the three high bays, and sure enough, when the door opens, a wall of heat and humidity escapes from the room like a slap to the face. It's a constant 80-plus degrees at 80 percent humidity, as evidenced by the monitors mounted along a concrete wall - though, admittedly, a bit of both was lost when air leaked out into the sterile hall as the group was led in. The jungle room is easily the most visually impressive of the three simulated environments, designed to mimic a Southeast Asian landscape, complete with a three-tiered forest made from rainforest trees and a man made stream running through its center. Foliage from the canopy is allowed to drift down to the soil below and ultimately serves as fertilizer for the climate-controlled ecosystem. It's the circle of life on some small, closely monitored scale. The LASR employees have also begun introducing regional insects into the mix to help keep its delicate balance - and, should those insects get out of hand, some predatory species to chomp down on them. The tour guide points to a spot for us to direct our cameras, and indeed, if you position them just right, aiming slightly downward, with the low canopy occupying the upper-frame and ignore, for a moment, the concrete constructed stream, you can grab a shot that looks like it was snapped during a trip to Southeast Asia. As the room's purpose is brought to light, it's clear that the warning we received wasn't without merit. The Jungle High Bay was created - or, perhaps, more appropriately, cultivated - in part to test the effects of rain and humidity on electronics. And indeed, the setup is capable of generating six-plus inches of precipitation in an hour. Robots are also being designed specifically to traverse this unforgiving terrain. Our guide speaks briefly of the possibility of a serpentine robot that can move across the ground without having to muck up its wheels and an aerial bot that attaches to a tree, extending its wings to suck in energy from the sun. The conversation feels largely hypothetical, however. For the moment, the pristine landscape remains undisturbed by these or any robots, a relative rarity behind LASR's doors. Certainly this isn't the case with the Prototyping High Bay, a cavernous, garage-like space in which the Navy tests autonomous vehicles of all sizes and shapes. We watch from behind a wall of glass as an aerial drone with up-pointed wings sores around the space, giving some perspective to just how large the room is, flying past checkerboard walls and a series of red and blue sensors that line the top, making up an extensive motion control system capable of tracking up to 50 objects at once, within a tenth of a millimeter. The plane itself has two sonar sensors built in, a design borrowed from nature to help the vehicle avoid trees or buildings without relying on GPS. Down below is a facade of a room, constructed with movable, light green walls, like the makeshift setting for some high school play. A mostly empty bookcase leans up against one, with two cameras on tripods set up to record the action. Standing out in front of the scene is Lucas, a big, baby-headed robot with a smooth, robotic monotone and eyebrows and eyelids that make him appear perpetually sleepy, an effect that's at once reassuring and creepy. There's a sensor smack dab in the center of Lucas' forehead, the back of his head is left open to let out a flood of wires connected to his body, itself made partly from a Segway. Lucas is a Mobile, Dexterous, Social (MDS) robot, designed in part as a computational cognitive model, an attempt to mimic some low-level version of human logic, in order to better interact with his fleshy colleagues. Two scientists engage Lucas in conversation, asking him to help fight a hypothetical fire on a ship. His eyes widen, his eyebrows shift and his head tilts slightly to the right into a quizzical position. Ten seconds later, he answers calmly: "There must be a misunderstanding." He explains the situation succinctly, unblinkingly. The fire the second scientist mentioned has actually been contained, but now there's another one to contend with. His mouth moves, roughly in sync with his words, but his head is otherwise stationary. It's all rather eerie. The scientists are attempting to instill the mayor of the uncanny valley with theory of mind - the knowledge that other beings (in this case humans) have different thought processes. In other words, try as the military might to knock it out of them, sailors on ships plagued by fires don't think like machines. Lucas is also equipped with infrared cameras and sensors, which all help him to triangulate a fire. This particular model is also packing a fire extinguisher (that's where the "dexterous" in the MDS acronym comes in), and when a (controlled) fire breaks out in the little green room Lucas hops into action. Well, not "hops" so much as "assesses the situation," eventually extinguishing the fire. It is a rather lengthy process, despite the extremely close proximity of the blaze. It's a bit frustrating watching the circuits in his head work through reasoning exercises as the nearby fire reflects on his shiny skull. As impressive as Lucas' reasoning skills may be, he's not exactly ready to step into the role of fire warden on any naval ships at the moment. Of course, there's an important reminder in all of this. The "L" in LASR is for laboratory (there aren't, as one reporter made a point to clarify, any actual lasers to speak of) and as such, these are not quite battle-ready robots we're dealing with here. At present, Lucas certainly isn't the most efficient way to extinguish a fire, but that's not really the point. He's got bigger fish to fry, like wrapping his terrifying infant skull around concepts of human reasoning, a big baby-headed attempt to think like a person so that he might someday work alongside them. It's easy, too, as you're shuttled through the halls, to forget the ultimate purpose of all this research. It's a fact we're gently reminded of at the close, as Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder fields a question from a military media representative regarding how the facility will ultimately benefit the armed forces. "Everything we do here, is not only just for the betterment of science, technology and the nation as a whole, but we have a connective tissue to those technologies - to war-fighting capabilities." With just our tour stops as context, it's easy to imagine the US as a peace-keeping nation. But, as we're crowded around Lucas and his human friends, one reporter asks, off-handedly, whether the fire extinguisher in his dexterous hands could potentially be swapped out for a firearm. It's suddenly much easier to view those tired robot eyes in a more sinister context. Sending autonomous bots into battle would certainly have its benefits. Of course, that's purely a hypothetical scenario, one that doesn't quite fit the picture that we've seen of the $17 million facility, seated on the shores of the Potomac. And certainly for as long as mankind is at war, there will be plenty of fires to put out. The driving force behind LASR seems to be the never-ending search for a better way to do so. [Image credit: U.S Naval Research Laboratory]

Chris Fenton follows up scale model Cray-1A with 3D-printed electromechanical computer, of course Posted: 01 May 2012 10:47 AM PDT Fans of the homebrew electronics scene may well be familiar with the name Chris Fenton, he of the DIY laptop and a working scale model of the Cray-1A supercomputer. Now he's back with yet another ambitious project: he's set out to build a fully functional electromechanical computer using a 3D printer to fabricate all the parts. That's still a ways from being completed, but Fenton has already finished one key component of it: the punch card reader. Head on past the break to see it in all its whizzing and buzzing glory.

Alleged Galaxy S III pops up again, with rounded glass and GT-I9300 branding Posted: 01 May 2012 10:28 AM PDT Well, the leaks and rumors just won't stop coming and, while we were initially pretty dismissive of the rounded glass design it just keeps cropping back up. We're still note entirely convinced this is, in fact, the Galaxy S III (or the Next Galaxy) but the consistency of the leaks is making us slightly (but only slightly) less skeptical. SamMobile scored a pair of shots from Mr. Blurrycam's cousin, Sir Softfocus, that look quite similar to the photos we've seen circulating for the past few weeks. What's more, the site has an image of the settings page which labels this rather interesting looking handset as the GT-I9300. We've still got some concerns, though, that lead us to believe this is, most likely, a prototype device. Chief among those issues is the physical home button, flanked by a capacitive menu and back key. We'd say it's a pretty safe bet that we're looking at three entirely software-based buttons in the final product, just like the version spotted in the Vietnamese video. One more image after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

comScore: Android tips the 51% mark in US share, iPhone nips its heels with 31% Posted: 01 May 2012 10:09 AM PDT The March smartphone market share tally for the US is in from comScore, and it paints a familiar picture that's rosy for Apple, Google and Samsung, but not so flush-cheeked for everyone else. Android is still tops and jumped almost four points to 51 percent of new American buyers. Apple's still riding high after shipping 35.1 million iPhones, however, and moved up to 30.7 percent. As is often becoming the case, it was Microsoft and RIM that took the biggest hit, with the BlackBerry dropping as much as Android gained and tumbling down to 12.3 percent. A total of 106 million Americans had a smartphone, nine percent higher than in December, and that was mirrored in the hurt dealt out among total cellphone market share. Outside of Samsung's gangbuster run in smartphones keeping it on top at 26 percent, the only other company to move up as an individual cellphone brand was Apple, which staked out 14 percent of the US cellphone space for itself. HTC, Motorola and LG are all shedding market share, with HTC no doubt hoping that the One X and One S will turn its fortunes around pretty soon.

Intel enters mini-computer fray with Core i5-powered NUC Posted: 01 May 2012 09:55 AM PDT The mini-computer game has so far been dominated by upstarts such as FXI and Raspberry Pi, but a big name is getting ready to join the party, too. Intel first demoed its NUC (Next Unit of Computing) at PAX East in April, but details are just hitting the web now. One standout spec is the NUC's 10 x 10-cm (4 x 4-in) form factor, which places it between the Raspberry Pi and Mini-ITX boards in terms of size. Moreover, the NUC packs a Core i3 / Core i5 Sandy Bridge chip with last-gen Intel HD 3000 graphics, and sports Thunderbolt, HDMI and USB 3.0 sockets on the back. There's a heatsink and fan assembly on board, too, and the mini PCIe connectors leave the door open for added functionality. Because it runs an Intel Core i5 CPU instead of the ARM processors found in options such as the Cotton Candy and Raspberry Pi, the NUC promises to be a more powerful mini-desktop. But don't get too excited: Intel envisions it as a component in digital signage instead. Look for Intel's mini-PC at a kiosk near you in the second half of 2012, when it's expected to drop.

T-Mobile Prism leaked: entry-level Huawei smartphone to launch in May Posted: 01 May 2012 09:37 AM PDT While the design (and even the briefing slides) scream affordable, we're sure there must be some Big Magenta customers aching for a keenly-priced smartphone fix. So here's the Prism. Huawei's behind that T-Mobile face, cooking up a Android Gingerbread phone with a pretty weedy 600MHz processor and a 3.5-inch (480 x 320) touchscreen. A fixed-focus (yeah) 3.2-megapixel camera pokes out the back, while a microSD slot means you can extend space for those vaguely-almost-in-focus shots -- the Prism arrives with a 2GB card already onboard. The phone looks set for a May 6th release date and TmoNews has several more slides with some extra launch details -- you can check them out at the source below.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Micro Four Thirds camera review Posted: 01 May 2012 09:00 AM PDT Olympus OM-D E-M5 Micro Four Thirds camera preview (video) Cameras, Olympus OM-D E-M5 five-axis sensor-shift image stabilization hands-on (video) Olympus OM-D E-M5 Micro Four Thirds camera to ship on March 31st? (update: now April) Stepping across the great DSLR divide into the land of mirrorless cameras always requires some compromise. Focusing speed, image quality, lens compatibility and battery life are frequent casualties, but for everyone except professional shooters, the size and cost benefits of swapping a full-grown beast for a compact ILC surely help soften the blow. The latest Micro Four Thirds model from Olympus, the OM-D E-M5, adds functionality that expand that list of betterments even further, allowing more versatility than larger DSLRs have to offer. These perks include a water-resistant design, for starters, along with a nifty lens that offers macro shooting and both manual- and powered-zoom in one compact package. One area where the 16-megapixel E-M5 does match the footprint of its full-size brethren is in price: you'll drop a cool grand for the body alone, while the 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 lens kit will bump that tag up another $300. Make no mistake, the E-M5 is a fantastic camera, but $1,300 is mighty steep for any mirrorless model, especially one with a Micro Four Thirds sensor. This, however, is no ordinary MFT camera. As the first model in Olympus's OM-D line -- taking design cues from the company's popular line of OM film cameras -- the E-M5 is in a class of its own, at least as far as Olympus's portfolio is concerned. Besides physical appearance, perhaps, the most notable selling point is its focus speed: press the shutter release, and your subject comes into clarity with rapid-fire precision, whether you're shooting in bright sunlight or a dark restaurant. But though the E-M5 has already received accolades for its powerful focusing, you might be wondering how the whole package performs. Meet us past the break to find out. Olympus OM-D E-M5 review Hardware Simply put, it's beautiful. If you've ever wistfully eyed a mid-twentieth century 35mm SLR, hoping that manufacturers would once again adopt the elegant designs of yesteryear, you can stop dreaming. The E-M5 invokes a crafted feel unique to that model, that's reminiscent of select über-pricey rangefinders. We're particularly fond of the silver-and-black flavor, though we sadly had to settle for all-black, or risk delaying this review. Of course, the black version performs equally and is a perfectly fine choice, but if you have an opportunity to pick up the two-tone version, chances are you won't regret it. Simply put, it's beautiful. Serious photographers care more about design and durability than the unrelated matter of color scheme, and both the black and silver models alike offer solid specs in these key areas. First up is the camera's "splash-proof" build. What exactly does it mean for a camera to be immune to splash-related damage? For starters, you can shoot with the E-M5 in the rain without having to concern yourself with an umbrella or fussy hood. Seals throughout the body also keep out sand and dust, and there's a Supersonic Wave Filter on board to assist in the rare event that a speck or two manages to make it past the camera's measures. You'll of course be subject to droplet accumulation on the front element of the lens, which you'll need to wipe off regularly depending on the conditions, but you don't need to fret about damaging the camera or kit lens when water pours down from the sky. "Splash-proof" doesn't mean waterproof, however, so don't you dare take this thousand-dollar body into the sea. With the body out of the way, let's circle back to those capture specs. There's a 16-megapixel Live MOS Micro Four Thirds (4/3) sensor on board, but with a twist -- 5-axis sensor-shift image stabilization. What this means is that the camera can compensate for shaky hands on both the vertical and horizontal axis (just like many of its competitors) as well as on the rotational axis. What can we say? It really does make a difference. You'll still be subject to motion blur if your subjects move and you're shooting with a low shutter speed, of course, but Olympus's new stabilization technique does help to minimize the effect with still subjects. It will also come in handy while recording video, keeping the picture steady even as you walk down the street, change position or maintain a long focal length. Movement is not eliminated completely, but you may even consider leaving that tripod behind on your next video shoot. Another feature that we're seeing more frequently in the mirrorless category is a built-in 1.44-megapixel electronic viewfinder, providing a 100 percent field of view and an x/y-axis level gauge, along with direct feedback for all key settings. Like the Sony NEX-7, we've noticed that the proximity sensor can be a bit too sensitive, triggering the EVF when you hold the camera too close to your body, for example. We'd like to see an option to tweak this, but in the meantime you may want to flip off the auto-switch mode and opt for the dedicated button to the right of the EVF instead. You'll need to shift over to the main 3-inch 610,000-dot OLED tilting display to review images and tweak settings. In addition to adjusting downward up to 50 degrees and upward to 80, the display also includes touch support, letting you select the AF area, release the shutter and advance during playback by tapping the screen. Just like on the Sony NEX-5N, touch is there if you need it, but it won't get in the way if you don't. Naturally, the hardware controls duplicate this functionality, though toying with the five-position buttons is often less efficient than using than the touch-to-focus feature. Completing the tour, on the top of the camera there's a full-size hot shoe (a tiny external flash ships in the box) with a proprietary accessory connector below. Lifting the OLED display reveals a recessed notch, which helps you open a side panel with HDMI and USB/AV connectors. The SD slot sits on the right edge, while the 1,220mAh battery lives in a slot on the bottom. Adjacent to that compartment, you'll find another proprietary connector hidden below a rubber door. This port is used to communicate with an optional accessory, which provides an extended camera grip with a second control dial and shutter release in one section and a battery compartment with vertical controls that can be added on below. We preferred shooting with just the grip portion, which enables the E-M5 to retain a slim profile while still allowing for some more comfortable handheld shooting. User Interface What good is having beautiful hardware if it's not easy to use? Fortunately, usability should be of little concern here. As always, you'll need to spend a few minutes flipping through the menu before you're able to declare that the camera is configured to your liking, but finding those key items isn't much of a chore. The main menu is divided into five tabs: playback, setup, custom settings and two shooting menus. That custom menu is by far the most complex, with sub-tabs for settings like autofocus and dial direction. Speaking of those dials -- you'll find two up top, with one controlling aperture and the second adjusting shutter speed in manual mode, for example, similar to what you can do on the Sony's NEX-7 competing "Tri-Navi" interface. In the center of the forward dial is a shutter release button, with an adjustable control to the right (we set ours to change the ISO) and a video record button just below it, which isn't in the most convenient location, to be perfectly honest. We'd prefer to see the function and video record buttons reversed, but it's a bit too late for that at this point. There's a second function button, along with a playback control right below the rear dial. To the right of the OLED display, there are dedicated controls for launching the menu, info panel and a delete key, along with a four-position panel with an OK selector in the center. At the bottom of the rear control panel, you'll find an On/Off toggle, taking the guess work out of the camera's current power status. Performance and battery life When the camera works, it's peerless, but you won't have to wait long before stumbling on a scene it can't master. We can't talk about performance without revisiting the camera's focusing system. The ILC is so capable in this regard that bringing a subject into focus almost becomes an afterthought -- most of the time, anyway. At its best, the E-M5 can adjust in a fraction of a second, and when it works, it does so with epic speed. It's not without flaws, however, and we've so far run into issues with several Olympus lenses. While the camera does a top-notch job with wide framing in good conditions, it has significant difficulty focusing in scenes with little contrast. Take it to the ski slopes, for example, and the E-M5 will clam up, only occasionally capturing a sharp frame. We experienced the same during a rainy day beach shoot with that 12-50mm kit optic zoomed all the way in. When the camera works, it's peerless, but you won't have to wait long before stumbling on a scene it can't master. The same is true of video capture: you'll want to steer clear of continuous autofocus while shooting in snow, rain or any dark or flat scene, lest you end up with a blurry mess. (You can avoid the continuous focus hunting by using single- or manual-focus modes.) For this reason, we're not confident in the camera's abilities as a video shooter -- at least not until this focusing issue is addressed. One area where the E-M5 offers consistent speed and accuracy is in high-speed consecutive shooting mode. Opting in nets you a cool nine frames per second, for 15 shots. After the buffer takes a few seconds to unload (depending on the speed of your SD card, of course), you can fire off another burst. A lower-speed sequential mode gives you the option of shooting at 3 fps for nearly two dozen consecutive frames. The camera can power on, focus and shoot its first image in as little as 1.2 seconds, while re-framing, adjusting focus and capturing a different scene takes just 0.3 seconds. Once a subject is already in focus, there's virtually zero lag between shots. The E-M5's battery life is phenomenal for a mirrorless ILC; we were able to snap more than 600 stills and 22 minutes of 720p video on a day-long shoot around New York City. The camera's built-in power meter is seriously flawed, however, only providing an accurate reading when completely charged or fully depleted. For roughly 90 percent of a cycle, the camera displays a full power indicator, dropping to two out of three bars for the final 50 or so shots, then flashing fully depleted for the next 50. Power cycling early during the depleted state will result in a full battery indicator for the next few shots, though as we approached the end of the battery's life, the cam consistently displayed empty. Olympus reps were unaware of the issue, but said that the company will investigate, and may be able to correct the meter with a firmware update. Image quality The E-M5 delivers excellent image quality for a camera of its size, but at $1,300 with a kit lens, you'd be right to expect perfection. The E-M5 delivers excellent image quality for a camera of its size, but at $1,300 with a kit lens, you'd be right to expect perfection. There's no 51,200+ high-ISO magic at play here, but we weren't disappointed with image quality -- whenever the camera was able to focus, at least. One side effect of that low-contrast focus hunting is a slew of blurry photos, assuming you follow through with a capture after an un-sharp preview. The camera can focus in snow and sand, but it's definitely hit or miss, especially at longer focal lengths (where flatter details fill the frame). Professionals who focus on sea and snow sports will definitely want to steer clear of crowning the E-M5 their star shooter, but it is a winner if complementing a pricey high-end DSLR. Amateurs spending much of their time on the slopes or the beach may also share that sentiment, which is a slight letdown considering that "splash-proof" build. With a native ISO range of 200-25,600, there's quite a bit of flexibility in the sensitivity department, which will certainly come in handy for long-zoom captures with the f/3.5-6.3 kit lens. Images shot throughout that spectrum are usable at any size. ISO 25,600 looks quite fantastic, as you'll see in the 1:1 pixel views below. As with most mirrorless cameras with a MFT or larger sensor, you could quite comfortably leave the E-M5 set to ISO 3200 for casual shooting without any significant quality loss, but we'd even be willing to push that limit to 6400 or higher if shooting in low light. 16 megapixels won't prompt any sticker shock, but it's perfectly sufficient for most photographers, and well worth the tradeoff in order to achieve low-noise images at high ISOs. Olympus OM-D E-M5 sample shots The competition Pricing a mirrorless ILC above $1,000 doesn't come without deliberation -- that figure is too high to make a significant dent in market share, but not low enough to cannibalize the Olympus PEN models, which is obviously a concern here. The camera's incredibly fast focusing, high-ISO quality, 5-axis image stabilization and built-in EVF make an obvious pick for potential PEN E-P3 owners with a bit more cash to spare, but if you're in need of a sub-$700 Olympus kit, it'd be tough to argue against the E-PL3. If you're looking to stick with the Micro Four Thirds format, Panasonic's Lumix GX1 is a solid pick, with a $700 street price for the 14-42mm kit. More in line with the E-M5's $1,300 kit tag would be Sony's NEX-7, which can be had for a cool $1,350 with an included 18-55mm lens. Many photographers have gripes with Sony's lens selection, however, arguing that the kit optic simply doesn't offer performance to match the camera's 24.3-megapixel sensor. If you can invest in higher-end lenses, like the $1,300 24mm Carl Zeiss Sonnar T f/1.8, and need to capture larger images, you may still consider Sony's NEX flagship, but if you're simply comparing both kits, the E-M5 seems like the winner here as well. Wrap-up Simply put, we love the E-M5. It's a solid shooter -- literally, thanks to its "splash-proof body" -- with excellent image quality throughout the ISO range and a slick, versatile lens. That 5-axis stabilization is innovative as well, as is the incredibly fast focusing system. While powerful, that focusing system isn't perfect, often slipping with low-contrast sand and snow scenes. Still, that issue is arguably minor, considering that this camera isn't designed for sports-shooting pros, and, like the battery meter, it may be corrected with a firmware update. The $1,300 kit price will be a tad too much to swallow for some, but with a solid body and a diverse collection of lenses, there hasn't been a better time to hop aboard Micro Four Thirds.

Accelerometer mic could change the way we look at cochlear implants Posted: 01 May 2012 08:42 AM PDT Hearing aids aren't the most discreet cybernetic creations, because the need for a clog-free microphone means that they generally need an external component. Engineers at the University of Utah and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland aim to change everything with a much smaller mic that uses an accelerometer to detect sound vibrations -- so it requires no opening and can be inserted right into the ear. The only exterior hardware is the charger -- worn exclusively at night. Clinical trials in living humans begin approximately three years from now, and if you're looking forward to using this new device, removal of the incus (or anvil bone) in the middle-ear must first take place to optimize effectiveness of the new implant. We never said it'd be pretty.

BlackBerry gets its game on at BBW, scores Jetpack Joyride and Sonic Posted: 01 May 2012 08:23 AM PDT One of the things BlackBerry has never really had going for it, is a deep games catalog. Now, that isn't about to change in one fell swoop, but things are about to get a lot better at BlackBerry World 2012. RIM's head of gaming, Anders Jeppsson, took to twitter to let the world know about the impressive pile of titles heading to the PlayBook and BlackBerry 10. The biggest names are certainly Jetpack Joyride, from Halfbrick (the studio behind Fruit Ninja), and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. Other games in the pipeline include Galaxy on Fire 2 and Star Marine, while Tomb Raider fans can get down with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light starting today. Keep an ear out for more to hit during this week's BBW.

Samsung Series 7 Gamer laptop goes on sale in the US for $1,900 Posted: 01 May 2012 08:04 AM PDT Who could forget that marigold yellow gaming laptop sitting around Samsung's booth at CES? Though the Series 7 Gamer has been available in Europe since last fall, the company decided to wait until Intel made its big Ivy Bridge reveal before introducing its first gaming laptop here in the states. Now that those chips are starting to ship, the Series 7 Gamer is at last on sale here in the US, available in a single configuration that'll set you back $1,900. (Sorry, folks, it will only be sold in black.) Though that price is slightly higher than the estimate we heard four months ago, the specs are also beefier than we were expecting. For the money, you'll get a 2.3GHz i7-3610QM Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GTX675M GPU, a 1.5TB 7,200RPM hard drive and a 400-nit, 17.3-inch, 1080p display. Like that other Series 7 laptop we reviewed recently, that HDD is paired with 8GB of flash memory to help cut start-up and application launch times. At its best, the battery is rated to last 3.7 hours -- not bad for a 13.34 8.39-pound system -- and you can exert some control over the runtime by selecting from one of four power modes using an analog dial. All the major e-tailers like Amazon and NewEgg will carry it, and feel free to revisit our hands-on from CES if you need a few close-up shots to jog your memory. Update: Though the press material Samsung sent to reporters listed the weight as 13.34 pounds, the product page below says it weighs 8.39 pounds, which sounds far more likely, if you ask us. Show full PR text SAMSUNG INTRODUCES SERIES 7 GAMER, THE ULTIMATE GAMING LAPTOP Unique Mode-Changing Dial, 17-inch Full HD LCD Display and Top-of-the-Line Components Result in the Optimal PC Gaming Experience RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J., May 1, 2012 – Samsung Electronics America Inc., a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, today announced the Samsung Series 7 Gamer, the ultimate laptop for gaming enthusiasts. Designed with feedback from passionate PC gamers in mind, the Series 7 Gamer features a 17.3-inch full HD LCD display, high quality Dolby® Home Theater® surround sound, rich NVIDIA® Geforce® graphics and a 3rd generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor, as well as a unique dial that allows users to easily transition between four modes for maximum performance at all times. "The Series 7 Gamer offers all the elements of a high-powered gaming machine with the convenience of the mode-changing dial, which enables you to switch off components in order to save power and have a quieter experience when you're using it as a more traditional laptop," said Todd Bouman, vice president of marketing at Samsung Enterprise Business Division. "When the product is in gaming mode, it takes the experience to the next level by optimizing the graphics and sound, turning on a pulsating light in the speakers and highlighting the gaming keys in red, which truly allows users to immerse themselves in a game." Dial it Up for Optimized Gaming Performance The Series 7 Gamer features a unique dial enabling users to switch between four modes optimized for the key major use cases: 1. Gaming Mode – When in gaming mode, a distinctive graphic appears on the screen identifying the active mode. The main gaming keys are highlighted on the keyboard in red, and a light is turned on around the speakers, which pulsates to match the game's sounds. The Windows® key and touchpad are disabled when a game is inserted, eliminating the possibility of accidentally hitting the wrong part of the keyboard while playing. The keyboard also features ergonomic u-shaped key caps, a 2.7mm keystroke and separated arrow keys, enabling you to engage in rapid play with minimal errors. 2. General Mode – In this mode, the laptop is optimized for regular computing tasks, such as web surfing, Microsoft® Office computing and photo viewing. 3. Quiet Mode – In quiet mode, sounds are disabled and the fan is turned off to result in a quieter experience. 4. Power Saver Mode – To save battery life, only the most critical parts of the processor are running when the laptop is in this mode. The four distinctive modes of the Series 7 Gamer ensure that the laptop is easy-to-use and meets users' unique needs in almost all situations. Rich Audio Visual Experience The Series 7 Gamer provides a rich, immersive audio and visual experience, enabling users to truly submerge themselves in a game. When in gaming mode, top-of-the-line Dolby® Home Theater®v4 speakers are enabled to provide high quality cinematic surround sound, while the Gamer's subwoofer allows users to turn up the volume as loud as they'd like with minimal distortion. This audio integration results in not only an outstanding gaming experience, but optimal listening for music and movies as well. The Series 7 Gamer also offers a premium visual experience. The 17.3-inch next-generation full HD (1920x1080) high-resolution LCD display features Samsung SuperBright™ technology, for a brilliant 400-nit screen (up to 50% brighter than traditional PCs) and a stunning range of color (up to 16 million), allowing users to experience all of the vibrant colors and visuals intended by the game developers. The gaming experience is further enhanced by the inclusion of NVIDIA® Geforce® GTX675M graphics, resulting in unprecedented quality, virtually flawless playback, and supercharged performance, no matter how fast the game's action. High Performance Computing Powered by a 3rd generation Intel® core™ i7 processor, the Series 7 Gamer delivers unrivalled speed right from the start, resulting not only in high-performance gaming, but faster multitasking, Internet browsing. Through Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0.1 users can also access an automatic burst of speed whenever they need it. With 16GB of memory and a 1.5 terabyte 7200RPM hard drive,*** Series 7 Gamer users don't need to compromise when it comes to computing power. While in gaming mode, the laptop's CPU is turbo-cooled to keep it working at full speed, enabling you to play faster without worrying about your computer's ability to keep up. The Series 7 Gamer also offers rapid start-up times and better overall performance, including faster application launches and web browsing speeds that are up to twice as fast (using Microsoft Internet Explorer), thanks to its innovative ExpressCache™ technology, developed by Diskeeper, which provides 8GB of flash memory on the motherboard. Additionally, the inclusion of Samsung's FastStart technology means that the laptop wakes up from hybrid sleep mode in as little as just two seconds, while Quick Boot has the notebook ready to go – from cold – in as little as just 19 seconds, allowing you to boot up your favorite game nearly instantly. Signature Samsung Technology Samsung's Support Center ensures all content stays safe and can help troubleshoot any particular problem. Accessible with a keyboard shortcut, the Support Center helps users manage their system settings or arrange for a tech-support web chat. Samsung's Back-up & Recovery Solution also allows users to create and restore back-ups of system data on the device, or on a network or removable storage device. The Samsung Series 7 Gamer is available now and will retail for $1,899.99 MSRP. All Samsung mobile PC products are available through Samsung resellers and distribution channels including Amazon, Newegg and TigerDirect. For a full list of retailers, call 1-800-SAMSUNG or visit www.samsung.com.

BlackBerry App Generator makes app building a breeze for smartphones and PlayBook tablets Posted: 01 May 2012 07:47 AM PDT Looking to get your goods on a BlackBerry smartphone or tablet now that the new OS has been shown off? If so, you're in luck. Mippin, the app creation platform, has announced that it will power the BlackBerry App Generator -- transforming content into full-blown apps for BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets. In a matter of minutes, users will be able to use their info, photos and what not to build applications without bothering with registration or submission fees. Software created via the generator can be fully integrated with BBM for sharing and other social experiences with fellow BlackBerry users. Martyn Mallick, VP Global Alliances and Business Development at RIM noted, "With the launch of BlackBerry App Generator Mippin and RIM are tearing down the barriers and finding new ways to encourage content publishers to create apps." Currently, applications can only be created for devices running BlackBerry 5 OS and higher. Don't fret, though, the outfit says support for BB10 will be on the way in no time. Show full PR text Mippin to Power BlackBerry App Generator Online publishers can build apps for BlackBerry smartphones and BlackBerry PlayBook in minutes BlackBerry World 2012 – Orlando FL – May 1, 2012 – Mippin today announced that the Mippin app creation platform will power BlackBerry® App Generator – a simple to use online app-builder, allowing online content owners to build fully branded apps for BlackBerry® smartphones and BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets. The new online app creator is powered by Mippin's award-winning app creation platform, which allows content owners to build great-looking apps in minutes. In the last 18 months more than 50,000 apps have been built using Mippin's app-creation platform. This includes apps for the Daily Express, Daily Star and OK! Magazine UK. The OK! Magazine UK app has proven to be particularly popular, racking up 280,000 downloads in just six months – 65 percent of which were on BlackBerry devices. With today's announcement, online publishers can now take their content and build it into an app for BlackBerry smartphones and the BlackBerry PlayBook in less than 10 minutes, without having to pay any registration or submission fees. Apps can also be fully integrated with BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), allowing publishers to create a unique social content experience and encourage content sharing with other BlackBerry customers. Publishers will also be able to generate revenue from apps built using the BlackBerry App Generator through in-app advertising using the BlackBerry Advertising Service. "With the BlackBerry App Generator it's now easier than ever for publishers to build and launch an app on BlackBerry App World," said Nick Barnett, CEO, Mippin. "Whereas creating an app from scratch can cost thousands of pounds and take several months, BlackBerry App Generator is completely free and can deliver a stunning app in less than 10 minutes. Plus, with BBM integration available, publishers can make consuming content a truly social experience." "With the launch of BlackBerry App Generator Mippin and RIM are tearing down the barriers and finding new ways to encourage content publishers to create apps," said Martyn Mallick, Vice President, Global Alliances and Business Development at Research In Motion. "For customers, this means that even more of their favourite published content will soon be available to download as apps." BlackBerry App Generator is available from today at: blackberryappgenerator.com Apps can be created for smartphones running the BlackBerry® OS v5.0 and higher and BlackBerry Playbook tablets. Support for BlackBerry® 10 will be added shortly.

RIM's BlackBerry World keynote roundup: the OS, the hardware, everything else (video) Posted: 01 May 2012 07:38 AM PDT So, if all of the news about BlackBerry 10 got a little too overwhelming for you then this is the place to be. There's detailed impressions of the company's new development device, cool new software features and we've even found out how to DJ using a PlayBook. If you want to catch up on everything that went down today, head on past the break and don't forget, you can always relive it blow-by-blow with our liveblog. BlackBerry 10 preview shots The Hardware BlackBerry 10 dev alpha unit unveiled: 4.2-inch screen, 1280 x 768 resolution BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha hands-on Report: LTE PlayBook 'confirmed' at BlackBerry World breakfast BlackBerry 10 BlackBerry 10 developer toolkit released in beta, adds Native and WebWorks SDKs for app-building flexibility RIM shows off BlackBerry 10 touch keyboard with gesture support RIM demos simple app switching in BlackBerry 10, slide to reveal BlackBerry 10 camera app gets 'timeline lens,' bad photographers get a do-over Pacemaker DJ app for BlackBerry PlayBook impressions (video) BlackBerry gets its game on at BBW, scores Jetpack Joyride and Sonic BlackBerry App Generator makes app building a breeze for smartphones and PlayBook tablets and there's this handy video, too:

Facebook adds organ donation to Timeline Life Events Posted: 01 May 2012 07:37 AM PDT In the off-chance you're among those bemoaning the limits of sharable personal information on Facebook, the social network has some good news. This time out, however, sharing is a bit more serious, potentially affecting the more than 114,000 people in the US alone who are waiting for an organ donation. Zuck and co. today announced that it has added organ donor status to its Timeline view. Users can add where and when they signed up and share their donation stories. "[W]e believe that by simply telling people that you're an organ donor, the power of sharing and connection can play an important role," the company wrote in a blog post today. You can also use the feature to find a link to an official donor registry in your area. For more info, check the source link below.

Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin review Posted: 01 May 2012 07:00 AM PDT With roughly 98 percent of the desktop and laptop market spoken for, you'd be forgiven for thinking your only choices for powering your computer were Windows or Mac OS X. There is another way, though. Linux may only run on a tiny sliver of consumer PCs, but the number is growing and one of the biggest players propelling its popularity is Ubuntu. Since bursting on the scene eight years ago, the distro has grown to dominate the desktop Linux market and made plenty of fans (and a few detractors) along the way. Truth is, Ubuntu is completely unique and, at least compared to other distros out there, very user-friendly. It also happens to have a very active community of developers and users willing to lend help to those in need, which makes it appealing to Linux vets, enterprise users and *nix n00bs alike. Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin is part of the company's LTS or Long Term Support series, and is guaranteed for five years of support through Canonical. That means the company is focusing less on cramming new features into this release and more on making it as stable as possible. So, if you're familiar with Ubuntu, you won't find much here that will blow your mind. Of course, the real question is whether or not the aubergine-loving open-source OS is for you, not whether there's enough new tweaks to fill a book. So, without further ado, we present Ubuntu 12.04: the review. Join us after the break, won't you? Ubuntu 12.04 review Getting started Do you know your name, where you live and how to select an install location? Well then, you can handle setting up Ubuntu! It used to be that installing Linux on a computer was a largely text-based affair with some ASCII UI elements thrown in for good measure. Ubuntu changed that some time ago, and now the event is all point and click with spiffy slide shows. Insert the disc, reboot your computer and it'll fire up the installer, which asks you to complete a few simple tasks before it installs the OS on its own. Once you've picked an install partition, password and a few other trivial options (make sure to click the box to install third-party software) then you just sit back, relax and let your computer do its thing. In the past, Ubuntu has installed in roughly 30 minutes, but it took almost an hour on our ThinkPad X200. We're willing to chalk at least part of that up to the wonky internet connection in our podcast studio (where yours truly performed the installation live on the air). Unity OS X has Aqua, Windows has Aero, Ubuntu has Unity. That said, this feature is far more controversial than either of its more popular counterparts, but at least some of that resistance is likely a function of its relative newness. People tend to fear and resist change -- just ask Mark Zuckerberg. Unity replaced the former default desktop environment, GNOME, and finally made Ubuntu look like the modern OS it is. Like a great band, Unity isn't afraid to steal from those that have preceded it. The launcher is equal parts OS X dock and Windows 7 taskbar with a little unique flavor added. The vertical row of squircle icons can't be moved from the left side of the screen, but you can set it to auto-hide or change the icon size to recover some horizontal room. Sadly, gone from previous versions of Ubuntu is the "dodge" behavior, which kept the launcher in view unless it came in contact with a window, or an application was maximized. According to the devs, the feature never quite worked the way it was intended, but we were actually quite partial to it. It allowed us to keep our shortcuts and open apps in view at all times when there was screen real estate to spare, and pushed them aside when we needed the extra room. On the plus side, there's now a lot more flexibility in multi-monitor setups: you can put the Launcher on any screen you want or all the screens at once. The bar itself has gotten a slight aesthetic tweak and now the background changes colors to match your wallpaper. The same is true of the Dash and even the notification bubbles. All these elements are now chameleonic and automatically adjust to match the color scheme of your desktop background. It's a small tweak, but one that adds an impressive amount of polish to the increasingly slick Unity interface. The log-in screen has also been given a bit of a spit shine and displays the selected user's background as you cycle through accounts on the computer. The biggest change, however, is most certainly the HUD. Just as you search for apps and files using the Dash, HUD allows you to search for actions and options in the menu by simply hitting Alt. A search-based menu system is quite a departure from the typical click-happy nested dialog model we've all become accustomed to and, admittedly, one that takes a while to adjust to. Out of habit we kept moving the mouse to the menu bar and clicking instead of relying on HUD at first. But, once we grew comfortable with it we found that digging up options was much more efficient -- especially for more obscure actions that we weren't 100 percent sure where to find. Unity also borrows some window management tricks from the major commercial options. Drag a window all the way to the right or left of the screen and it automatically resizes to fill that half of the display; drag it up top to maximize. There's also an Expose-like window picker and the virtual desktop switcher, which, while hardly new to the Linux world, does take some design cues from OS X's Spaces. There are some Ubuntu-specific tweaks scattered about -- for example, the Alt+Tab switcher allows you to quickly switch from app to app, but you can also choose a particular window by hitting Alt+` once you've highlighted the program you're interested in. There's also the borderline absurd amount of keyboard shortcuts that allow you to do anything from launch apps and navigate menus, to move windows and close programs. And Canonical has made sure these commands are easy to discover; simply press and hold the Super or "Windows" key and a list of the keyboard shortcuts pops up. Unity is also the only desktop environment we've ever come across that makes privacy an integral part of its design. Beginning with 12.04, Ubuntu now packs privacy controls that allow you to block certain files, file types, folders or even whole apps from being tracked by the OS. This, of course, means the results wont show up in a Dash search, but it also means they won't be included in error reports sent to Canonical. If you want to cover your tracks (say, after plotting an elaborate surprise party) but forgot to block your activity ahead of time, you can erase all traces of your actions for the last hour, day, week or, well, ever. Add that to the option of encrypting your home folder during the installation, and you've got a pretty solid set of built-in privacy tools. Apps The default selection of included apps is sadly Ubuntu's weakest point. Now, there are plenty of free and paid options in the Software Center and online that are simple enough to install and it's not as if OS X and Windows have the best applications ever written prepackaged. But, the integration between Apple and Microsoft's home-grown tools and their respective OSes is much cleaner than the hodgepodge of apps that grace the default Ubuntu install. Two of the worst offenders are Libre Office and Ubuntu One. The issues here have less to do with the quality of the apps, and more with their tendency to distract from the otherwise polished environment. Libre Office continues to elude integration with the global menu bar, which puts all application menus at the top of the screen, à la OS X. Instead, it still sports in-app menus that prove disorienting as you switch from one app to the next. Similarly, Ubuntu One (one of Canonical's in-house products) was created using an entirely different set of software tools from the rest of Ubuntu's default apps. The QT framework that provides its backbone makes it easier to port from Linux to Windows and maintain a consistent look, but it stands out like a sore thumb when placed next to Firefox, Gwibber or Nautilus (the file manager). That being said, the 5GB of free cloud-synced provided by Ubuntu One is a great feature, and one that's more flexible than many of its competitors like iCloud and Dropbox. And no other major OS includes a full fledged office suite out of the box. Ultimately, all of the programs that come installed by default are serviceable, but there are better options out there. Firefox is great but, with Adobe all but abandoning Flash for Linux, Chrome is the better option if you want up-to-date plug ins. Gwibber is a serviceable social networking client with Twitter and Facebook support, but it lacks advanced features like multiple columns and frequently even fails to display profile images. Thunderbird handles e-mail with aplomb and is easily a best in-class app, but it's part of a dying breed and has its own visual inconsistencies that clash with Ubuntu's design. The Rhythmbox Music Manager certainly organizes music, but it doesn't look great doing it and is short on features. The Shotwell photo manager is fine for those who simply want to pull their images off a camera and organize them into galleries, but it can only publish, not sync, photos to online services like Flickr and Picasa. Only Empathy (instant messaging) and Transmission (BitTorrent) don't scream to be replaced. The Ubuntu Software Center thankfully offers plenty of options for upgrading your current selection of apps. Like many of the other programs, the Software Center is a little rough around the edges, but a great feature set more than makes up for its sparse aesthetics. Perhaps our favorite is the ability to quickly and easily sync apps between computers. We have Ubuntu installed on both a 13-inch MacBook Pro and that ThinkPad X220. Rather than search out all the apps we needed to install to get the Lenovo in shape for daily use at Engadget, we simply logged into our Ubuntu account pulled up the list of apps install on our MacBook. You're even able to quickly filter out the software that exists on both machines, leaving you only with a list of what's missing. Compatibility Historically, Ubuntu has always worked well with ThinkPads, and that does not appear to have changed with Precise Pangolin. Out of the box everything worked as it should, with the exception of the fingerprint reader -- a small sacrifice. Things were a little different on the Apple front. Both the multitouch trackpad and WiFi worked from the first boot, which is a change from 11.10, but we were sad to see that the wireless still doesn't work in 802.11n mode, only g. Equally disappointing was that neither our Sprint EVDO dongle nor AT&T LTE modem seemed to agree with our OS of choice. While this isn't news for the LTE card -- open-source drivers for the technology still aren't mature -- the CDMA dongle has always functioned flawlessly. Most everything else we threw at the OS (iPods, iPhones, Nexus phones, keyboards, external monitors) all worked without a hitch. Performance and stability In our limited testing Ubuntu 12.04 does, in fact, seem faster than its predecessor, but that's largely based on our subjective impressions. Still, animations seem snappier, Unity responds more swiftly and there where was once lag, now there is none. In fact, we'd go so far as to say that not only is Precise Pangolin the fastest version of Ubuntu, but also snappier than both OS X and Windows. While making apples-to-apples comparisons of Linux, Windows and OS X is difficult, we can say for certain that benchmarks back up the performance boost in Precise over earlier versions of Ubuntu. In particular, Open GL and 3D performance seems to be greatly improved over Oneiric Oceolot, according to benchmarks performed by Phoronix. The same site also found power draw has decreased since 11.10, but it's not any better than in 11.04. The battery life indicator tells us we should be able to get roughly three hours and 15 minutes on a charge from our three-year-old ThinkPad with the WiFi on and the screen brightness at 100 percent. Actual tests put that number at just under three hours. After a few days of use we're already inclined to say Ubuntu 12.04 is a huge step forward in terms of stability, especially on the Mac side. In particular, it seems that Unity and Compiz (the rendering engine used to draw the desktop) have taken great strides, as they would sometimes crash on our Apple machine and log us out. In three days of testing we've yet to see that particular bug crop back up. The same is true of a glitch that would occasionally force us to perform a hard reset after putting the machine to sleep. None of that should come as a surprise, however, as the biennial LTS releases are pitched primarily at enterprise and business customers who prize stability above all else. Wrap-up So, where does all this leave us? Well, for starters, the best version of Ubuntu yet, regardless of what the Unity haters say. It takes pretty much everything that made Oneiric great and improves on the formula. Everything is faster and has a bit more spit and polish than previous builds. Of course, that can be said about almost every release of the open-source OS but, it does mean that current users shouldn't even think twice about updating. Those already familiar with Ubuntu will find plenty to love, even if it's not perfect. There are plenty of things about Precise that irk us, but most of these issues are minor, and we can easily find similar shortcomings in OS X and Windows. The bigger question, though, is should the average Mac or Windows user abandon their current, closed-source, heavily funded operating systems? The short answer is no. While Ubuntu is surprisingly user-friendly, strange behaviors will still occasionally crop up, and likely drive the less patient- and computer-savvy mad. Linux will also continue to trail the competition in terms of hardware and software compatibility, and that's unlikely to change any time soon. This doesn't mean you shouldn't give the OS a shot -- especially if you're attempting to extend the life of an aging PC. Ubuntu simply flies, even on our test machine packing a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU. What's more, there's no need to actually install Ubuntu if you don't want to; it's perfectly simple to run off a USB drive or live CD if you're only willing to take it for a test spin. (Oh, and did we mention it's free?) Besides, firing up any version of Linux is a sure-fire way to earn yourself a little extra geek cred.

BlackBerry 10 camera app gets 'timeline lens,' bad photographers get a do-over Posted: 01 May 2012 06:51 AM PDT Thorsten Heins is on stage at BlackBerry World 2012 and has just unveiled the new BB10 camera app. It is designed to capture those "magic moments" you miss by not hitting that shutter quick enough. If you miss it by a couple of seconds, you can cycle back through the camera's cache with a circular "timeline" lens and take your pick from the previous seconds worth of frames. It's eerily reminiscent of technology used in the Nikon 1 series, although the implication here is that as soon as the camera app is loaded, it'll start recording frames for your ease of use.

RIM demos simple app switching in BlackBerry 10, slide to reveal Posted: 01 May 2012 06:50 AM PDT BlackBerry 10 is no joke on the multitasking front. The QNX-based OS may be a long time coming, but it really is offering something for the modern user that needs to switch between several apps. Instead of going the task list route, as webOS and Android have done, RIM's latest simply lets you swipe to reveal background tasks. Drag your thumb from left to right to peek at other apps that are currently running in the background. You can simply glance at them and go back to the foreground, or you can actually swipe back to go to programs launched earlier. It's slick, intuitive and perhaps the most familiar multitasking solution to those accustomed to the desktop metaphor. For more info check out our recent hands-on.

RIM shows off BlackBerry 10 touch keyboard with gesture support Posted: 01 May 2012 06:44 AM PDT What's the best thing about the BlackBerry platform? Most would say it's the keyboard, which continues to be world-class in the company's most recent handsets, like the Bold 9900. One of the big questions on the fans of the BB faithful in the new operating system was how the company could re-create that magic on a touchscreen. Well, Thorsten Heins just showed us how on-stage at BlackBerry World, showing off a new, smart touch keyboard that is said to adapt to your touches. It has elements of predictive text, like many other keyboards, but it also relies heavily on gestures. For example, to get to numbers and special characters, just swipe upward from below and the keyboard layout changes. You can swipe up and down to cycle through these layouts and, like SwiftKey, swipe left to delete whole words. It doesn't exactly blow many of those aftermarket Android options out of the water but it certainly looks like it could be among one of the best stock keyboards out there.

Pacemaker DJ app for BlackBerry PlayBook impressions (video) Posted: 01 May 2012 06:30 AM PDT Back in 2008, a nifty little box of tricks elbowed its way onto the market -- the Tonium Pacemaker. A gadget about the size of an OG PSP, with a complete DJ set-up hidden inside. It was a brave idea, and one that was fondly received. A few years down the line, mixed with a sprinkling of business politics, and sadly the Pacemaker's time on stage would come to an end. Like all good performances though, the show wasn't completely over. In true musical fashion its back for an encore, reinvented and more importantly -- right now at least -- in our hands. We spent sometime with the reincarnated Pacemaker DJ app, to see what life is like after hardware. Pacemaker app for PlayBook - Impressions Anyone who was lucky enough to have a spin on the original Pacemaker will know how much fun it was. It was ambitious, brave and optimistic -- characteristics we admire in any product. This time 'round, it's a more modest affair, turning up -- just for now -- as a BlackBerry PlayBook app. Even though we were fans of the dedicated hardware, the transition to app form makes sense. The hardware of the PlayBook is far superior than what the original Pacemaker contained, and the touch interface of tablets lends itself well to what's needed for a DJ app. In fact, so much so that the interface of the app is almost a carbon copy of the original machine, but making (much appreciated) use of the relatively sprawling screen. When we picked the tablet up, getting started with the app took no time at all. All the transport controls are near identical to the hardware counterpart, once you get used to their new -- and more logical -- locations. Having enough space to show both decks at the same time, for example, is a big step up from the original system that left you perilously close to "touching" the wrong deck at any given moment. There's also the same solid collection of filters, EQs and effects that we enjoyed so much on the hardware. We were using a beta version, so a few features were incomplete, but over all it's about as faithful a translation as you could hope for. Not surprising really, given how much effort (and time) went into developing the product the first time, a total of 12.5 man years! If you've never laid hands on a DJ app before, let alone the Pacemaker hardware, it's equally amiable to beginners. Two virtual turntables and a mini-mixer make up the main interface, with a few extra bells and whistles. Track selection is a bezel-swipe away, and a visual representation of each track lets you know where you are. The "P" button hides all the extra goodies that you'll want to access once you have basic mixing down. We've had our thumbs atop a great many tablet-based DJ apps, and easily this out classes most of them, even as a beta version. The interface is intuitive and easy to pick up, but there are also some core features and effects that take this a step beyond just "auto-mix" tomfoolery (yes you can split cue and monitor with headphones etc.) The app is teetering on the brink of release, and gets its official debut at BlackBerry World in Orlando today, and should be cued-up and ready in BlackBerry App World next month. Those that don't own a PlayBook can take some solace in the fact that Pacemaker likely will come to other platforms, but at this time the developers are unable to confirm which. For now, if you're itching to get your hands on a DJ app, or pine for some of that Pacemaker experience, without the hardware price tag, you might want to keep your ears open for this one.

BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha hands-on Posted: 01 May 2012 06:30 AM PDT Behold the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha. Research in Motion is now following in the footsteps of tech giants like Nokia, Intel and Qualcomm by pushing out a device solely dedicated to serve the needs of its developers. Considering the level of importance RIM is placing on the launch of its latest OS, the QNX-based BlackBerry 10, this is a critical move for the Canadian company as it works to recruit interested parties from other platforms while strengthening its existing relationships. Emulators and development kits are nice, of course, but they can't take the place of an actual working device -- and the Dev Alpha will be the primary vehicle to drive BB 10 developers until the final production smartphones begin shipping sometime this fall. Our time with the Dev Alpha was brief, and we weren't able to glean much out of the experience. Why? When we were given the opportunity to play with it, the device was more of a miniature PlayBook than a BB10 phone. In fact, it even had PlayBook OS 2.0 loaded rather than the next-gen BlackBerry platform. So what did we find out about this mysterious device? BlackBerry 10 dev alpha unit hands-on One of the areas in which we were most intrigued was the display. The Dev Alpha boasts a 4.2-inch screen (it's still unclear what type it is, and if it's PenTile) with a stunning resolution of 1280 x 768. This packs in more horizontal pixels than the standard 720p panels, meaning this may very well be one of the best displays we've seen in a phone to date. And in our limited time with the handset, we could easily tell that the screen is top notch. We couldn't pick out any pixelation, the colors seemed to be well saturated and the viewing angles were above average (the panel began to fade as we attempted to see it on-edge). Still, when considering the fact that this is simply a limited-edition device designed with the needs of developers in mind, we're hoping this will be indicative of what we can expect from this fall's lineup of BlackBerry phones -- up to par, if not better, than the vast majority of competing smartphones in the market. We weren't able to glean a lot of specs from our time with the Dev Alpha, but we learned that it houses 16GB internal storage and 1GB RAM. It also features a slot for microSD cards and a mini-HDMI port on the left side. On the top you'll see the 3.5mm headphone jack, power key and mic, while the right side offers a three-stage volume rocker -- the mute button is in between the up and down keys. Looking at the front, we discovered a front-facing camera next to the speaker, as well as a large bezel for gesture support. The back is made of the same matte and rubber found on the PlayBook, which is very easy to grip, even though the phone's square body made it a bit uncomfortable to hold on a long-term basis. While we were hoping to get some quality time with the OS that RIM is putting so much stock into, it was at least satisfying to see the company putting a lot of heart and soul into a dedicated developer device. The BlackBerry maker seems to mean business, and it has an ideal recruiting tool to flaunt. We'll keep you updated on the latest BB10 information as it comes out this week. Joseph Volpe contributed to this post.

BlackBerry 10 developer toolkit released in beta, adds Native and WebWorks SDKs for app-building flexibility Posted: 01 May 2012 06:30 AM PDT Will BlackBerry 10 be the hallowed OS that heals Waterloo's recent wounds or yet another RIM-shot to highlight its foibles? Only the fickle tide of consumer interest will certainly tell. But while the success and awareness of that new platform undoubtedly rests on the company's shoulders, a great deal of it also hinges upon crucial developer support. To spur things along in that latter department, RIM's released its developer toolkit in beta today. The tools, launched ahead of forthcoming BB 10 devices and the nascent ecosystem that they'll depend upon, are designed for flexibility, allowing third parties to choose between the Native SDK with its OS-specific APIs or the WebWorks SDK for HTML5 and CSS. The company's even gotten a head-start and partnered with the likes of Gameloft, which has already committed to optimizing 11 of its software titles for use on the platform. There's still a long road to US recovery ahead for the ailing BlackBerry brand, so let's hope this latest call-to-arms isn't lost on the dev community. Click on past the break for the official PR. Show full PR text May 1, 2012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RIM Launches BlackBerry 10 Platform Developers get powerful tools in advance to build apps that deliver highly engaging mobile experiences for users BlackBerry World 2012 / BlackBerry 10 Jam – Orlando, FL – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today unveiled its vision for the BlackBerry® 10 platform at the BlackBerry World™ conference in Orlando, Florida released and the initial developer toolkit for native and HTML5 software development. The toolkit is available in beta as a free download from http://developer.blackberry.com. "BlackBerry 10 builds upon the core values and exceptional user experiences that have attracted more than 77 million BlackBerry customers around the world today," said Alec Saunders, Vice President, Developer Relations and Ecosystems Development. "Developers building for BlackBerry 10 will be able to easily create the kind of cutting-edge apps that deliver truly engaging experiences and 'wow' customers, whether through integration with native features and other apps like BBM or by leveraging the new signature design elements of this new and powerful mobile computing platform." "There is tremendous interest, anticipation and momentum building toward the launch of BlackBerry 10 devices, and today we're extremely excited to release the BlackBerry 10 developer beta tools for general use," said Christopher Smith, Vice President, Handheld Application Platform and Tools at Research In Motion. "Developers can use this first beta of the tools to get started building apps for BlackBerry 10 and as the tools evolve over the coming months, developers will have access to a rich API set that will allow them to build even more integrated apps. The toolkit we are delivering today also meets developers on their own terms. Whether using the powerful Cascades framework, writing direct native code or developing in HTML5, BlackBerry 10 will empower developers to create attractive and compelling apps that excite customers." The toolkit includes the BlackBerry® 10 Native SDK with Cascades, which allows developers to create graphically rich, high performance native applications in C/C++ or Qt. The Native SDK for BlackBerry 10 has a rich set of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that give developers access to core device features and a range of BlackBerry application services, such as Push and Payment services. Cascades is a powerful native application development toolset that allows developers to easily build visually stunning applications without having to write graphics code. More details about the NDK for BlackBerry 10 are posted on http://devblog.blackberry.com/2012/04/blackberry-10-native-sdk and for Cascades at http://devblog.blackberry.com/2012/04/blackberry-10-cascades-available-now. The toolkit also includes support for HTML5 application developers with the BlackBerry 10 WebWorks™ SDK, allowing them to create native-like applications using common web programming technologies. The BlackBerry 10 WebWorks SDK allows developers to use HTML5 and CSS for building apps and provides JavaScript bindings to native device APIs along with RIM's open source UI toolkit, bbUI.js, to create applications with native-like capabilities. In this initial release of the BlackBerry 10 WebWorks SDK, developers have access to a core subset of the full WebWorks APIs, including Identity, Application and App events, System and system events. More details about the BlackBerry 10 WebWorks SDK are posted on http://devblog.blackberry.com/2012/04/blackberry-10-webworks-sdk. Applications created with any of the BlackBerry 10 tools will run on BlackBerry 10 smartphones as well as BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets when the new platform becomes available for the PlayBook. All of the SDKs will be updated to give developers access to more of the BlackBerry 10 unique capabilities over the coming months. To further help developers get started on the BlackBerry 10 platform, BlackBerry 10 Jam attendees are being provided a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device. This testing unit is a further commitment from RIM to provide the developer community with the tools they need to build successful applications for BlackBerry 10 devices, so that they are ready when the first BlackBerry 10 devices are expected to launch in the latter part of 2012. Show full PR text May 1, 2012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BlackBerry 10 Platform Striking the Right Chord with Developers BlackBerry World 2012 / BlackBerry 10 Jam – Orlando, FL – Developers and top brands are already beginning to commit to the BlackBerry® 10 platform for their mobile application development. Today at BlackBerry World, Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) revealed endorsements from a number of key partners who have already confirmed their excitement for the upcoming launch of the BlackBerry 10 platform. RIM has been working diligently with app providers to help ensure BlackBerry customers will have access to high-quality content and apps when BlackBerry 10 smartphones are launched. "The level of enthusiasm among developers for BlackBerry 10 is amazing. The platform has been built to give developers the ability to create amazing content and a great user experience. The support and excitement we already see from developers is both rewarding and encouraging," said Martyn Mallick, Vice President, Global Alliances and Business Development at Research In Motion. "We are hearing every day from partners who want to start building and showcasing their work on BlackBerry 10." Today, RIM also released in beta the developer toolkit for the BlackBerry 10 platform, which will allow developers to build and test their apps in preparation for the BlackBerry 10 launch expected in the latter part of 2012. The toolkit includes the BlackBerry 10 Native SDK with Cascades, which allows developers to create graphically rich, high performance native apps in C/C++ or the Qt Modeling Language (QML). The toolkit also includes support for HTML5 app developers with the BlackBerry 10 WebWorks™ SDK, allowing them to create native-like apps using common web programming technologies (HTML5, CSS and JavaScript). The developer community, content providers and application framework providers are already coming out in support of BlackBerry 10: "BlackBerry's influence remains a worldwide phenomenon, which matches Endomondo's reach," said Endomondo Co-Founder Mette Lykke. "With 8 million users around the globe, including many BlackBerry devotees, Endomondo recognizes the value of supplying BlackBerry 10 users with access to the capabilities of the mobile Endomondo Sports Tracker and social fitness network." "The official launch of BlackBerry 10 comes with great anticipation from Gameloft," said Ludovic Blondel, Vice President of OEM at Gameloft. "We are very excited to be able to provide BlackBerry 10 users with high-quality gaming experiences for every type of player. We already have a total of 11 titles including our popular physics-based puzzle game Shark Dash and more hard-core games such as N.O.V.A. 3: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance being optimized for the platform." "With the launch of BlackBerry 10, RIM is ramping up its platform for app developers," said Nick Barnett, CEO of Mippin. "We're very excited about the potential opportunities with BlackBerry 10 and we are confident it will deliver a content experience that leads the way for mobile." "With 360 Panorama, Occipital is pushing the boundaries of photography on mobile devices. When evaluating the technical viability of a platform, we consider three areas: camera, sensors, and processing and graphics capabilities. BlackBerry 10 met and often exceeded our expectations for each of these areas," said Jeffrey Powers, Occipital Co-Founder and CEO. "Through the combination of our computer vision technology and the advances of the BlackBerry 10 platform, 360 Panorama delivers a magical user experience. We are very excited to bring 360 Panorama to users of the new and dramatically improved BlackBerry 10 platform." "We knew from the start that RIM was on to something really special with their new BlackBerry 10 platform" commented Ryan Marquis, Founder/COO for PixelMags. "To have been invited to participate in the app development process from the very start was a labor of love for all of us at PixelMags. We will be able to give BlackBerry 10 users an amazing native-built application where consumers can read any magazine, anytime, within the application, for one low monthly fee." "As a longtime developer for the BlackBerry platform, Poynt is excited to see RIM continue to innovate with the BlackBerry 10 platform," said Andrew Osis, CEO, Poynt Corporation. "The Cascades framework and QML support will allow our team to innovate the Poynt platform on BlackBerry 10 devices by continuing to create compelling and engaging user experiences." "RIM has got it right with the BlackBerry 10 platform. They have really streamlined the app-development process," said Adam Linford, Truphone Head of Labs and Mobile Applications. "The platform's support for open-source components flattens the learning curve enabling us to build a new application quickly and cost-effectively and have it ready to go when the first BlackBerry 10 devices debut." "BlackBerry 10 is a huge milestone for the BlackBerry platform evolution and our early access to the platform has convinced us to be part of this promising transition," said Martin Herdina, CEO of Wikitude. "We are really excited by the possibilities provided to us by the BlackBerry10 platform to bring immersive and interactive Augmented Reality experiences to the Blackberry community." For more information on the BlackBerry 10 toolkit, please visit www.devblog.blackberry.com

BlackBerry 10 dev alpha unit unveiled: 4.2-inch screen, 1280 x 768 resolution Posted: 01 May 2012 06:27 AM PDT Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. In this instance, it just leaves us wanting more. The image you see above is RIM's official dev unit for its just launched BlackBerry 10 platform. If it looks familiar, that's because you've seen it not too long ago when leaks of the much anticipated device began to hit the world wide rumor-mongering web. Waterloo's still keeping us in the dark as to the glorified guts this austere fella's packing, but it did confirm these alpha units will feature a jaw-dropping 4.2-inch, 1280 x 768 display that bests the 720p panels found on other similarly-sized handsets -- there's no word yet on if it's PenTile, though it likely doesn't matter much at that resolution. We've also learned the device sports 16GB internal storage and 1GB of RAM. No, this isn't your mother's BlackBerry and for good reason too, as the beleaguered mobile titan's got quite a bit of its continued prosperity riding on this QNX-based slab. Wondering where its QWERTY cousin is? We are too, but without any official announcements, you'll just have to stay tuned to see what fruits this week's BlackBerry World will bear.

Contour's new mount, watersports kits help bring its cameras with you in the water, snow or dirt Posted: 01 May 2012 06:00 AM PDT As Contour continues to do battle with GoPro over the action-sport POV camera market, its latest offensive centers around prepackaged activity-specific mount kits that should make it easier for customers to pick one up and go. Also new is an all-in-one ContourRoam watersports kit that includes the HD camera and waterproof case that's capable of keeping it dry at depths of up to 60m. The mount kits include sets for skiers, cyclists, motorcyclists, hikers and an all purpose helmet mount kit. All of these are available starting today on the company's website and at select retailers, with the mount kits going for between $59 - $99 and the Roam Watersports kit for $249. We appreciated the Contour+'s sleek package in our head to head test with the Hero 2 last month and the addition of these packages should help it compete on price and ease of use right out of the box. The specific details are in the press release after the break and pictures of each set are in the gallery below, assuming your hobbies are exciting enough to merit recording, of course. Contour accessory kits Show full PR text CONTOUR'S NEW MOUNT KITS OFFER VARIETY OF MOUNTING OPTIONS FOR CAPTURING LIFE'S EPIC MOMENTS Innovative Mount Kits and New ROAM Watersports Kit Makes it Easy to Capture Rich Video - From Anywhere SEATTLE, WASH. – May 1, 2012 – Contour, Inc. (www.contour.com), the company that makes it easy to capture and share epic moments with hands free HD video cameras, apps and accessories, today announces five new activity-specific mount kits. Each kit is designed to integrate seamlessly with Contour's award-winning cameras, and provides everything required for capturing beautiful HD action video for snow, bike, motorsports, outdoor or almost any other adventure. Additionally, the ContourROAM Watersports Kit, also available today, offers a complete solution for watersports aficionados. "Getting the best shot as it happens is our top priority," says Marc Barros, CEO. "Creating an integrated system of cameras and mounts allows unlimited creativity, and enables people to use our cameras to capture rich, HD video wherever or whenever they happen to be. It doesn't matter if you're dropping into your first wave, free-climbing Half Dome or grinding a rail, our ecosystem of high-quality products provides a simple, complete experience from capture to share." The activity-based mounts highlight the company's emphasis on product design. The mounts are easier to buy (just select your activity and pick the appropriate kit); they also offer an almost unlimited variety of filming options, from helmets, surfboards, kayaks, snowboards, ski poles, bikes, motorcycles, cars, or virtually any outdoor activity. Limitless Solutions for Capturing Rich, HD Video Snow Mounts – The perfect combination for capturing all the action on the snow, the Contour Snow Mounts includes two easy-to-use helmet mounts, a goggle strap mount, and the recently launched pole mount that allows users to mount their ContourROAM or Contour+ to any standard ski pole (11-18 mm diameter) for recording winter adventures. The Snow Mounts and all other mount kits also include a compact, weatherproof carry bag. For sample action footage using Snow Mounts, visit: http://contour.com/stories/contour-snow-mounts Bike Mounts – For cyclists on skinny or fat tires, Contour Bike Mounts provide a variety of mount combinations. Two helmet mounts can be attached to either a vented or full-face helmet. A bar mount can be strapped to handlebars (15-33 mm diameter) and a flex strap mount lets cyclists attach their camera to a seat post, chain stay or any round or irregular bar. For sample action footage using Bike Mounts, visit: http://contour.com/stories/contour-bike-mounts Moto Mounts – Designed for all motorsports professionals and enthusiasts, this combination includes a suction cup mount for windshields or the flex strap mount on roll bars, handle bars or any other round or irregular shape. The profile mount is designed to be a low profile option and the adjustable rotating flat surface mount helps drivers get the perfect angle at any speed. For sample action footage using Motorsports Mounts, visit: http://contour.com/stories/contour-motor-sports-mounts Outdoor Mounts – Designed for true outdoors adventurers whether it's fishing, climbing or trekking, this all-around mounts combination enables users to attach their camera to their head or baseball cap. People can also use the flex strap mount to affix their camera on any type of pole. For sample action footage using Outdoor Mounts, visit: http://contour.com/stories/contour-outdoor-mounts Helmet Mounts – Made for all helmet types, whether it's a hard shell, vented or full-face, this combination of mounts supports motorcross, downhill, snow, skate or climbing activities. An extra 3M adhesive pack is included to allow easy change of mounting positions or helmets. For sample action footage using Helmet Mounts, visit: http://contour.com/stories/contour-helmet-mounts ROAM Watersports Kit – An all-in-one package that contains everything needed to capture beautiful HD action video while doing water-based sports such as wake boarding, surfing, paddling, scuba diving, etc. The kit includes the easy-to-use ContourROAM, a fully adjustable surfboard mount and the ContourROAM waterproof case which enables you to dive down to 60 meters. For sample action footage using the ROAM Watersports Kit, visit: http://contour.com/stories/contour-watersports-mounts Pricing and Availability Available today from Contour.com and select retailers, the kits are priced at $79.99 for Snow Mounts, $79.99 for Bike Mounts, $99.99 for Moto Mounts, $59.99 for Outdoor Mounts and $59.99 for Helmet Mounts. The ROAM Watersports Kit is also available at Contour.com for $249.99. Products are also available at major sports retailers including REI and backcountry.com; and consumer electronics retailers, including Amazon.com and crutchfield.com. About Contour Seattle-based Contour makes it easy for people to capture and share life's epic moments. With award-winning, hands-free HD video cameras, apps and accessories; active people, athletes and professional filmmakers can outfit themselves with easy-to-use solutions for creating, broadcasting and sharing engaging videos. The company has become synonymous with hands-free, POV cameras and social video tools, topping charts for RED Dot's design award, Forbes' list of America's Most Promising Companies, the INC. 500 list and CNET's Editor's Choice award. For more information, visit www.contour.com # # #

Live from the 2012 BlackBerry World keynote with Thorsten Heins! Posted: 01 May 2012 05:45 AM PDT

Report: LTE PlayBook 'confirmed' at BlackBerry World breakfast Posted: 01 May 2012 05:31 AM PDT The 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook: now part of a complete Canadian breakfast. No huge shocker that we're finally seeing the much-discussed and long awaited new version of RIM's business-friendly tablet -- though the slate did leak out a bit earlier than expected. Canadian Review claims to have gotten confirmation device ahead of today's keynote. The new PlayBook is said to be rocking a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor and NFC. From the outside though, it should be difficult to distinguish the old from the new.

Cubify's 3D printer up for pre-order, wants to make you make trinkets Posted: 01 May 2012 05:14 AM PDT 3D systems trumpeted its forthcoming Cube printer back at CES, and it looks like its easy-on-the-eye curves are nearly ready for your earnest crafting. The good part is a lack of them. If you've assembled a more typical printer in the last ten years, you should be able to put these associated pieces together. It's a sharp contrast to plenty of 3D printers that more closely resemble an engineer's tantrum. The printer is priced up at $1,299, so it's not the cheapest, but we are promised a pretty concrete May 25th release date. Hit up the source to place your order, alongside some extra color cartridges. How would you make those turtleshell racers without some blue and red?

Insert Coin: Genie turns any camera into a world-class time lapse rig Posted: 01 May 2012 05:01 AM PDT In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. New Zealand-based designer Chris Thomson and filmmaker Ben Ryan found that motion-control time lapse gear too expensive, too complicated and too bulky. So they set about building the Genie, a box that moves your camera around under its own power. Designed to be cheap(er than the competition) and user-friendly, the device will let you choose from a variety of presets or build your own to turn and position the camera. It will also draw itself along a guide rope, either on a dolly track or cable-cam for stunning landscape photography. It's reached $42,542 of its $150,000 goal and if successful, each unit will cost $1,000. Previous project update: Looks like you weren't too fussed with Tōd as the network of little sensors has only accumulated $13,123 so far.

Huawei partners with Intel to test TD-LTE interoperability in China Posted: 01 May 2012 04:43 AM PDT In a classic case of east meets west, Huawei and Intel have joined forces to create an interoperability test lab that will focus on China's homegrown time-division LTE (TD-LTE) network. While the technology runs contrary to the more common frequency-division LTE (FD-LTE), the Chinese brand of 4G is situated to take root in the US under Clearwire's banner. Through its partnership with Huawei, Chipzilla -- a newbie in the smartphone arena -- will be able to engage in end-to-end testing of its mobile equipment and verify its readiness for TD-LTE. For Huawei's part, it plans to use the test lab as a means to court other handset and chipset manufacturers, and hence drive the adoption of TD-LTE. Naturally, we're left wondering the obvious: whether this unique collaboration will bring about Huawei smartphones with Intel Inside. Mum's the word on that one... for now.

Sega urinal game 'Toylets' goes on sale to general public, sink companion still missing (video) Posted: 01 May 2012 04:14 AM PDT In an effort to reduce male patron's messiness (and grab some cash from locales not necessarily associated with gaming) Sega's Toylets can now be found in restrooms across Japan -- and even in a handful of cities overseas. You won't need to make the laborious trek to your nearest bar or arcade to beat the high score any more, however, as Sega's now put the urinal games terminal up for sale to (Japanese) Joe Public. A sensor at the base will detect pressure and, er, volume which acts as the controls. A screen at eye level will show your progress, and you can expect several short-but-sweet games in the style of Rhythm Tengoku or Warioware. It all comes a price though -- you'll need to stump up 140,000 yen (around $1750) for the device itself and 10,000 yen ($125) a piece for games. The porcelain is (unfortunately) not included.

Phi: a wireless re-routing card that puts you in control of the airwaves (video) Posted: 01 May 2012 03:46 AM PDT For all the talk of convergence in mobile devices, there's relatively little chatter about the coming together of wireless signals themselves. In other words, why should we have a separate device to interact with each type of wireless signal? And so, with that intriguing question, begins the pitch for a new device call Phi. It's a $750 antennae-laden PCIe card that slots into a desktop and gathers up wireless signals that are flying around the home -- so long as they have a frequency below 4GHz and don't involve bank-busting neutrinos. The card then allows custom apps to re-direct those transmissions as you like: potentially acting as a "base station" so you can make free calls from your cell phone, or receiving over-the-air HD transmissions which you can play on your tablet, or doing whatever else hobbyists and devs can cook up. Phi is still version 0.1 and Linux-only while the startup behind it -- Per Vices -- looks for a Kinect-style blossoming of third-party interest, but with nothing less than a deity-like command over the domestic ether on offer, how could it ever fail? This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Researchers make an RGB laser with a regular laser and quantum dots Posted: 01 May 2012 03:06 AM PDT The problem with lasers is, they tend to generate just a single color or light.To get more than one hue requires actually combining more than one type of laser to produce red, green and blue. But researchers at Brown University have figured out a solution to creating small RGB lasers by using colloidal quantum dots, or CQDs. The idea of leveraging the properties of the thin film isn't new, but past attempts to use CQDs in semiconductor lasers have failed because the necessary energy tends to wind up as heat instead of light. The work around scientists found was to excite the various dot sizes with a laser then filter out original light source. Unfortunately, the solution is far from practical for use in commercial products, but it does represent a milestone in the march towards a single-material multi-wavelength laser. For more details check out the source link.

Navy awards Aerovel Flexrotor contract to develop marine surveillance tech Posted: 01 May 2012 02:26 AM PDT The high seas and UAVs go together like -- well, they go together really well. The Navy's cooking up 3D laser imaging technology for spotting pirates and the like, but it will need some aircraft for the task. Right on cue, a helicopter / airplane hybrid for maritime surveillance is inching toward reality. Aerovel's Flexrotor, an ultra-compact craft with a wing span of three meters (9.8 feet) and a weight of just 19.2 kg (42.3 lb), has already been demonstrated to switch between horizontal and vertical flight, but the next step is enhancing its propulsion system to improve its performance for longer distances and in windier conditions. Today the Office of Naval Research (ONR) awarded the company a contract for developing that tech. For now, you can check out a video of the Flexrotor's first test flight, which demoes the UAV transitioning from vertical and horizontal orientation and back again. Show full PR text Get Your Rotor Runnin': ONR-sponsored Flexrotor Program Takes off for Next Phase ARLINGTON, Va.-Part helicopter, part airplane, the Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored Flexrotor vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) enters the next development phase April 30 in delivering improved maritime surveillance capability. The contract awarded today is for the flight controls component. During this phase, Aerovel Corp. will advance Flexrotor's capability with an upgraded propulsion system to transition from vertical to cruising flight and to land in crosswinds and high winds. The aircraft's first major milestone was in August 2011, when it successfully transitioned from horizontal to vertical flight and back again. The small UAV features a unique design. It has an oversized propeller with helicopter-like controls for vertical takeoff and landing and the wings of a conventional aircraft. The goal is that it will take off vertically, cruise efficiently horizontally and then land vertically. "With Flexrotor, the two biggest benefits to Sailors and Marines would be the ability to do extended maritime surveillance from a ship, and to do so with a small footprint," said John Kinzer, ONR program officer for Air Vehicle Technology. Taking up less than one-half the space needed by other UAVs, Flexrotor would give Sailors compact, ship-launched, eye-in-the-sky capability. Additionally, it could stay airborne for a longer period of time. Thus, Flexrotor could help meet the Navy's perpetual need for more and better maritime surveillance. A vertical takeoff/landing craft requires a complex propulsion and flight control system. The propeller needs to be big enough to provide sufficient lift to take off vertically, yet small enough to be efficient while in horizontal flight. The flight controls must provide powerful and precise control in vertical takeoffs and landings and efficient, low-drag control in forward flight. Perfecting both the rotor and other flight capabilities requires a constant balancing act among power, efficiency and weight, and this is what Tadd McGeer, Flexrotor's inventor, is working out during phase II. Since test flights to date have occurred with light winds, Aerovel will begin testing in windy conditions, gradually increasing the aircraft's operating envelope. Another aspect of the program, sponsored by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, is to develop an autonomous servicing capability. Aerovel is creating an Automatic Servicing Platform that would serve as launch and landing pad, as well as maintenance bay. This could be useful when deploying the Flexrotor to remote areas, as the aircraft could use this all-in-one hub without needing human assistance. The platform could be beneficial for a special operations application of remotely siting a UAV. "[The special ops personnel] like the idea of not exposing where they are when they need to launch and recover one," Kinzer said. "They could put it on a mountaintop somewhere and just leave it to do surveillance." There are also potential applications to Arctic surveillance and weather reporting for the Navy and other organizations, such as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

IDC crowns Samsung the biggest phone maker by shipments for Q1 2012 Posted: 01 May 2012 02:07 AM PDT Research firm IDC is reporting that Nokia has been dethroned as the world's biggest phone maker by Samsung. In the first quarter of the year, Samsung shipped 98.3 million mobile phones, with Nokia and Apple in second and third place. In the smartphone-only charts, the Korean company shipped 42.2 million of its Android and Windows Phone handsets, while Cupertino shipped 35.1 million and Nokia shipped a paltry-by-comparison 11.9 million. Samsung, Apple and companies outside the top 5 all made big gains in the smartphone space, while Nokia, RIM and HTC all felt their numbers drop. Unsurprisingly, companies with big stakes in dumb phones suffered, with Nokia and LG losing big chunks of their market share to the big two and stalking horse ZTE, which has bested LG for fourth place. After the break, we've got the official tallies that you can pore over.

My whole life is a hack: how Geohot owned the iPhone, PS3 and inadvertently rallied hacktivists Posted: 01 May 2012 01:40 AM PDT George Hotz is no stranger 'round these parts. Better known as Geohot, he first achieved internet fame at the age of 17 with his announcement of a hardware unlock method for the original iPhone. From there, he moved on to even greater notoriety with a PlayStation 3 exploit that quickly attracted the ire -- and legal wrath -- of Sony. Now profiled in The New Yorker, we're given a candid and unique insight into the world of George Hotz, whereby his own admission, he wasn't motivated by an ideology so much as boredom and the desire to control a system. The freedom issues, it seems, were merely an afterthought. George Hotz is unique. We're talking about someone who was programming by age five, building video game consoles by the 5th grade and making appearances on NBC's Today at age fourteen. Like many brilliant adolescents, he experimented with drugs and rebelled against authority. Eventually, the powers that be caught up with him, and George Hotz was sued by Sony on January 11th, 2011. The lawsuit drew the attention of malicious hacker groups such as Anonymous and LulzSec, which retaliated against the company in very public ways. However unintentional, Geohot became the poster child for hacktivists and inspired a movement that quickly grew out of control -- if only more of us could be so productive with our boredom. For an insightful read into one of the most influential hackers of our time, be sure to hit the source link below.

Scientists develop composite material to enhance device response time Posted: 01 May 2012 01:04 AM PDT Ever feel like your phone is taking an awfully long time to register that swipe to unlock? Well, scientists from Imperial College London and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology are developing a solution that could mean faster response times. By combining polymer semiconductors and small molecules into a composite material to make organic thin-film transistors -- a process known as composite collaboration -- they found a way to increase the speed of the electrical charge moving through a device's components. The end result could someday be a smartphone that reacts to your touch much more quickly than your current handset. If you're so inclined, jump below the break to the presser for a more in-depth explanation. Show full PR text JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The speed with which your smart phone reacts to your touch as you swipe it is governed by the rate at which electrical charges move through the various display components. Scientists from Imperial College London (ICL) have collaborated with colleagues at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to produce organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) that consistently achieve record-breaking carrier mobility through careful solution-processing of a blend of two organic semiconductors. The OTFTs and their processing methods offer a host of future electronic applications. Professor Aram Amassian's group at KAUST teamed with Dr. Thomas Anthopoulos, Department of Physics, ICL, and colleagues Professor Iain McCulloch and Dr. Martin Heeney, Department of Chemistry, to develop and characterize a composite material that enhances the charge transport and enables the fabrication of faster organic transistors. They described their novel semiconductor blend in a joint paper published in Advanced Materials, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.201200088/abstract In response to the challenge of expensive vacuum deposition processes, synthetic organic chemists have been increasingly successful in synthesizing conjugated, soluble small-molecules. "While they have a tendency to form large crystals, reproducible formation of high quality, continuous and uniform films remains an issue," remarked Dr. Anthopoulos, lead Imperial investigator. By contrast, polymer semiconductors are often quite soluble and form high-quality continuous films, but, until recently, could not achieve charge carrier mobilities greater than 1 cm2/Vs. In this collective work, chemists from Imperial, working with device physicists in the College's Centre for Plastic Electronics (http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/plasticelectronics) and material scientists at KAUST combined the advantageous properties of both polymer and small molecules in one composite material, which offers higher performance than do these components alone, while enhancing device-to-device reproducibility and stability. The improved performance is attributed in part to the crystalline texture of the small-molecule component of the blend and to the flatness and smoothness achieved at the top surface of the polycrystalline film. The latter is crucial in top-gate, bottom-contact configuration devices whereby the top surface of the semiconductor blend forms the semiconductor-dielectric interface when solution-coated by the polymer dielectric. The smoothness and continuity of the surface and the absence of apparent grain boundaries are uncommon for otherwise highly polycrystalline small molecules in pure form, suggesting that the polymer binder planarizes and may even coat the semiconductor crystals with a nanoscale thin layer. "The performance of the polymer-molecule blend exceeds 5 cm2/Vs, which is very close to the single-crystal mobility previously reported for the molecule itself," noted KAUST co-author Prof. Amassian. The materials scientists at KAUST addressed the phase separation, crystallinity, and morphology of the organic semiconductor blend by using a combination of synchrotron-based X-ray scattering at the D1 beam line of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), cross-sectional energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EF-TEM), and atomic force microscopy in topographic and phase modes. "This work is particularly exciting as it shows that by applying complementary powerful characterization techniques on these complex organic blends, one can learn a lot about how they work. It's a textbook example of a structure-property relationship study highlighting the usefulness of such collaborations," said Professor Alberto Salleo of Stanford University, an expert on advanced structural characterization of polymer semiconductors. "A mobility of 5 cm2/Vs is already a spectacular number. The methods described chart the way for researchers to obtain even higher mobilities." "In principle, this simple blend approach could lead to the development of organic transistors with performing characteristics well beyond the current state-of-the-art," added Dr. Anthopoulos.

Researchers build optical transistor out of silicon, provide path to all-optical computing Posted: 01 May 2012 12:34 AM PDT The speed of light is the universal speed limit, so naturally, optical technologies appeal when trying to construct speedy computational devices. Fiber optics let us shoot data to and fro at top speed, but for the time being our CPUs still make their calculations using electronic transistors. Good news is, researchers from Purdue University have built an optical transistor out of silicon that can propagate logic signals -- meaning it can serve as an optical switch and push enough photons to drive two other transistors. It's constructed of a microring resonator situated next to one optical line that transmits the signal, and a second that heats the microring to change its resonant frequency. The microring then resonates at a specific frequency to interact with the light in the signal line in such a way that its output is drastically reduced and essentially shut off. Presto, an optical transistor is born. Before dreams of superfast photonic computers start dancing in your head, however, just know they won't be showing up anytime soon -- the power consumption of such transistors is far beyond their electronic counterparts due to the energy inefficient lasers that power them.

Verizon, Comcast activate Wonder Twin powers in six more markets with cross-sales deal Posted: 30 Apr 2012 11:58 PM PDT Comcast and Verizon sitting in a tree -- well, you know how the rest of that song goes. Although the relationship between Comcast and Sprint has been a bit frosty as of late, the cable operator continues to make nice with Verizon after last year's spectrum agreement, inking a deal to sell each other's services in six additional markets. This means consumers in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver-Colorado Springs, Kansas City, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Salt Lake City can now sign up for Verizon services via Comcast and vice-versa. The cross-selling service was first launched in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle earlier this year. To sweeten the pot, both companies are also including deals such as prepaid Visa cards valued between $50 and $300, a double data offer for Comcast's Xfinity Blast! high-speed internet service and a double data plan for Verizon's 4G LTE service. For now, both companies are likely keeping their fingers crossed as they wait for regulatory approval for the aforementioned spectrum deal. In the meantime, folks looking for more details on this kumbaya moment can peruse the PR after the break. Show full PR text Verizon Wireless And Comcast Team Up In Atlanta To Deliver Great Video Entertainment, Communications And Internet Experiences New and Existing Customers Now Get More Value, Convenience and Choice with Top-Notch Offers and Incentives ATLANTA, April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless and Comcast today announced they will offer each other's services in Atlanta and roll out a variety of offers and incentives for both new and existing customers. Now, more consumers in Atlanta looking to stay connected to the people and things they love while on-the-go or at home have new options for outstanding video, phone, Internet and wireless services. Depending on the package chosen, new and existing customers of both Comcast and Verizon Wireless could qualify for a variety of offers and incentives including Visa® prepaid cards valued between $50 and $300, and/or a "double your data package" offer consisting of a complementary 12-month upgrade to Blast!, the Xfinity® Internet service that provides download speeds of up to 30 Mbps with PowerBoost®, and a doubling of a 4G LTE data plan from Verizon Wireless. "Because mobility is a top priority of the consumer, we co-developed an offering that provides a terrific wireless, entertainment and communications experience in one spot," said Jonathan LeCompte, president, Verizon Wireless Georgia-Alabama Region. "Comcast continues to deliver exceptional entertainment and communications services and the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network is the ideal complement to complete the package." Comcast Vice President of Marketing Kerry McKelvey said, "Through our agreement with Verizon Wireless, we're delivering even more value for more consumers by providing an entertainment and communications solution that fits their lifestyles. Now, both current and new Comcast customers in Atlanta will have the option of building a great in-home experience through our Xfinity services, along with the reliability of Verizon Wireless' network while on-the-go." In addition to Atlanta, Comcast and Verizon Wireless are expanding the offer to five additional markets today: Chicago; Colorado; Kansas City, Mo.; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.; and Salt Lake City. Earlier this year, Verizon Wireless and Comcast launched in Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; and Seattle. Consumers have the flexibility to order these services in person at select Verizon Wireless Communications Stores or by calling 1-855-704-7400. More details, including availability and eligibility, can be found at www.verizonwireless.com/xfinity or www.comcast.com/wireless. About Verizon Wireless Verizon Wireless operates the nation's largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 93.0 million retail customers, including 88.0 million retail postpaid customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 80,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia. About Comcast Cable Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK) (www.comcast.com) is one of the nation's leading providers of entertainment, information and communications products and services. Comcast is principally involved in the operation of cable systems through Comcast Cable and in the development, production and distribution of entertainment, news, sports and other content for global audiences through NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is one of the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone providers to residential and business customers. Comcast is the majority owner and manager of NBCUniversal, which owns and operates entertainment and news cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, local television station groups, television production operations, a major motion picture company and theme parks.

Nanotubes sniff out rotting fruit, your dorm room might be next Posted: 30 Apr 2012 11:25 PM PDT Our favorite ultra-skinny molecules have performed a lot of useful functions over the years, but keeping fruit flies away was never one of them. Now MIT scientists, with US Army funding, have discovered a way to give these nanotubes the canine-like sense of smell needed to stop produce spoilage and waste. Doping sheets of them with copper and polystyrene introduces a speed-trap for electrons, slowing them and allowing the detection of ethylene gas vented during ripening. A sensor produced from such a substance could be combined with an RFID chip, giving grocers a cheaper way to monitor freshness and discount produce before it's too late. If that works, the team may target mold and bacteria detection next, giving you scientific proof that your roommate needs to wash his socks.

BlackBerry Curve 9220 hands-on Posted: 30 Apr 2012 10:38 PM PDT We're just beginning our sojourn through this year's BlackBerry World, and we've already found a rare gem that may not get a lot of face time here in the States: the Curve 9220. This little 3G-less beaut takes advantage of BlackBerry OS 7.1, but it isn't going to attract the spec-hungry folk -- it packs a 2MP camera and features a 2.4-inch non-touch display with 320 x 240 resolution. It very well may, however, gain the favor of anyone looking for a budget-friendly BBM device. Seeing as this is the phone's major selling point, we made sure to take a few minutes to play with its keyboard. Compared to the QWERTY-laden legends that have graced BlackBerry devices for years (the Bold 9900 and Tour come to mind), the 9220's keyboard has some big shoes to fill, but unfortunately you won't be blessed with the same kind of experience that you'd have when using one of its elder brothers. Due to the phone's petite size, the individual keys -- arranged in standalone formation and without frets -- are a bit cramped and felt a little too slick for our taste. Of course, this isn't poised to be the latest and greatest that Waterloo has to offer, but for the low price of 10,990 rupees (about $210), it's still a pretty sweet deal for messaging lovers on a shoestring budget. Head below to view the phone from every angle. BlackBerry Curve 9220 hands-on Joseph Volpe contributed to this post.

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