Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts

Is it game over for Nintendo?






The Wii U is a bust (so far). And the legendary gaming company’s future is looking increasingly bleak


Nintendo had no choice but to go all in with the Wii U, the newest in a long line of ostensibly childhood-defining game consoles. Unfortunately, the company also inherited the weighty expectations of the original Wii — which, if you’ll remember, became a surprise hit when it debuted in 2006, or just two short years after the world was first introduced to a little-known senator named Barack Obama. But ever since the Wii U hit store shelves last November, sales have been disappointing. Now the company is dramatically lowering its forecasts for the future. 






Initial sales figures indicate that Nintendo has so far sold just 3.06 million Wii U game consoles, and anticipates moving just four million Wii U units through March — far below previous estimates of 5.5 million, predictions that weren’t even that optimistic to begin with. 


Initial reviews of the Wii U were mixed. Yes, it’s fun. But the console failed to offer a compelling reason for consumers to free up dusty shelf space alongside their Xbox 360s or PlayStation 3s. Some critics say the console is confused, and Nintendo didn’t know if it was targeting mature gamers fixated on first-person shooter games like Call of Duty and Borderlands, or more casual fans like the original Wii did with its motion-sensing nunchuck. Further complicating matters is a nimble new mobile industry, dominated by non-committal, take-anywhere games like Temple Run and Angry Birds


“Nintendo needs a change in strategy,” Michael Pachter, a gaming research analyst for Wedbush Securities, tells The New York Times. Even though Nintendo is an instantly recognizable brand the world over, the company still doesn’t license its gaming titles for other platforms (ever see Mario on an iPhone?). To make matters worse, on Thursday, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that the company has no intention of lowering the price of its $ 300 flagship gaming system anytime soon. “We were already offering it at a good price,” he said. 


That means Nintendo, unless it releases a best-selling breakout title soon (Zelda, perhaps? Super Smash Bros. Brawl?), will continue on its path toward an increasingly dark future. The company already had its worst year ever in 2011. Dramatic restructuring seems imminent.


Consoles — compared to phones, tablets, laptops, and many other gadgets — have a much slower product cycle. Manufacturers only press “reset” every couple of years so that game-makers aren’t constantly readjusting to new hardware.


For quickly aging dinosaurs like Nintendo, that means more plodding along. More disappointing forecasts. More reluctant critics. More lost opportunities to earn the trust of lifelong fans. More, more, more. (Or for Nintendo, less, less, less?)


“People have to try it to see it is fun,” Iwata said of the Wii U. Undoubtedly, it is.


But unfortunately for Nintendo, “fun” just isn’t good enough anymore.


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Meet the Man Who Designed BlackBerry’s New Phones






When BlackBerry set out to design the phones that would take the company into the next decade, it faced a big challenge. The flagship device of the new BlackBerry 10 platform needed to simultaneously satisfy what today’s customers want in a smartphone while at the same time stay true to the essence of BlackBerry — which, if the company’s market over the last few years is any indication, customers didn’t want.


The man tasked with redesigning BlackBerry phones was Todd Wood, the company’s senior vice president of design. Leading industrial design at BlackBerry since 2006, Wood is a veteran of industrial design, previously doing design work for Nokia and, before that, Nortel. Mashable sat down with Wood this week while he was in town for the BlackBerry 10 launch.






[More from Mashable: Here’s a Mysterious Image From BlackBerry’s Super Bowl Ad]


Wood speaks with the same thoughtfulness of other design leaders, such as Apple’s Jony Ive, but with none of the showiness. He’s been with BlackBerry (formerly Research In Motion) for long enough to see its fortunes rise and fall. As he describes the Z10, you feel that he’s heard enough praise and criticism about BlackBerry’s products that it all just bounces off.


[More from Mashable: Don’t Hold Your Breath for More BlackBerry Tablets]


When I bring up the BlackBerry Storm — the company’s previous (failed) attempt to create a touchscreen phone — Wood doesn’t bristle or even acknowledge the disaster it was. He simply describes certain design elements that a similar to the BlackBerry Z10, BlackBerry’s new flagship phone. And he makes them sound kind of cool.


“There’s still the ‘waterfall’ that was pronounced on Storm — these flowing surfaces,” Wood says as he points to the top and bottom of the Z10, which are ever-so-slightly sloped. “We’ve brought that with the margins [on the Z10], but it’s very subtle. There are some principles that we carry forward, but nothing’s been cut and pasted.”


As CEO Thorsten Heins described at the launch, BlackBerry faced a decision three years ago: adopt someone else’s mobile OS or go it alone. It opted for the latter, acquiring QNX software in 2010 and adapting it to build first the PlayBook, then BlackBerry 10.


Completely switching mobile platforms was risky and extremely challenging, but it was also a huge design opportunity, says Wood.


“We were starting the platform from scratch. We wanted to build on the design DNA [BlackBerry] had, and we wanted to keep certain attributes — the fit to face, fit to hand — the general comfort of the device, the build quality of the device.”


No Home Button


Key decisions about the device itself depended on how the software worked. There’s no home button on the Z10, for example — a user controls basic functions (like switching between apps) via gestures, such as swiping up from the edge of the screen.


Much of the design was influenced by the need for easy, one-handed operation.


“How can you design a system where you could multitask more elegantly?” Wood asks, rhetorically. “It’s not unlike shuffling cards. And we started to realize you can really do that with one hand and one thumb.


“Almost every phone has a UI paradigm of ‘You go home to go somewhere else.’ Here you can flow from app to app.”


Soft Touch Backside


The phone has a semi-rubberized back, a material that BlackBerry refers to as “soft touch.” The company has used it before — in the trim of the latest Bold smartphone, for example. But in the Z10, Wood’s team added a perforated pattern.


“Soft touch is a special coating that we use,” he explains. “It provides grip, and it’s very silky. What we did was add some microtexture to it, which is something that you don’t notice until you pick the phone up and run your hand across it. It’s a nice subtlety.”


Button Shapes


If you’ve ever thought the physical buttons on Samsung’s phones felt cheap, or the iPhone’s too bland, you’ll appreciate RIM’s contoured buttons for volume and media playback. The volume buttons have a slight notch on one side, and the play/pause button has a small upraised piece — all detectable by touch.


“We wanted to keep them really precise and clean,” says Wood. “We sculpted the keys so it’s always really apparent without looking, almost like braille, exactly where you are.”


Font


Wood also played a role in choosing the system font for BlackBerry 10, which is called Slate. Designed by Canadian Rod McDonald (who also designed the font for Maclean’s, one of Canada’s top national news magazines), BlackBerry chose Slate for its legibility, Wood says.


“Slate really works for screen and print, so we decided to adopt it. When you have such a high-res display, you get really accurate letterforms. When you have a really great font design, that improves productivity. You’re not squinting, and letters are not misinterpreted.”


The Q10


Of course, Wood also led the team that designed the Q10, the BlackBerry 10 phone with a physical QWERTY keyboard, coming about a month after the Z10 debuts. Although the Q10 borrows more design DNA from the BlackBerry of old, BB10 afforded some big departures as well.


For starters, the Q10′s keyboard is straight whereas most previous BlackBerry phone keyboards had a curve to them — which even led to the company calling one of its product lines the Curve.


“That is a big change,” Wood says of straightening out the keyboard for the Q10. “It was very logical, but also it signals ‘This is different.’ And there’s no performance tradeoff with it being straight — we’ve measured it.”


Besides being straight, the keyboard is larger than the ones on previous BlackBerry phones.


“What allows us to get that extra size is we’ve replaced the home key, the back key and the send/end keys, since everything in BB10 is controlled by gestures and direct manipulation of the data. Without the curve, each key is the same size, and they’re 3% larger.”


The Red LED


No BlackBerry phone would be complete without the trademark — and at times notorious — blinking red LED that indicates a message is waiting. Wood says the attribute is hard-wired into BlackBerry design at this point and at no point did the company consider ditching it.


“That’s probably the strongest, most iconic element of the DNA we carry forward,” he says. “It’s origins were ‘Let’s save on battery life,’ and it continues today. For us, we call it the spark, or the splat. It’s a hallmark of BlackBerry it makes some people excited, and it makes some people neurotic, but it’s up to end users to manage that.”


How do you like the design of BlackBerry’s new phones? Let us know in the comments.


BONUS: BlackBerry Z10 Review


Click here to view the gallery: BlackBerry Z10 Review


Lead image by Nina Frazier, Mashable


Images by Nina Frazier, Christina Warren and Pete Pachal, Mashable


This story originally published on Mashable here.


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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BlackBerry 10 installed base to reach 20 million in 2013, Windows Phone to reach 45 million






Despite showing clear promise and being a tremendous upgrade compared to earlier BlackBerry software, BlackBerry 10 didn’t receive the warmest welcome when it was unveiled earlier this week. At least one leading market research firm thinks BlackBerry (RIMM) has done enough to gain some good traction in 2013, however. ABI Research released new estimates this week projecting that the BlackBerry 10 installed base will reach 20 million by the end of 2013. The firm also says Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Phone platform, which struggled to garner interest in its early days, will see its installed base climb to 45 million by the end of the year.


[More from BGR: BlackBerry doesn’t need to catch up with Android and iOS overnight, it needs to live to fight another day]






“2013 should be seen as relative success for both Microsoft and BlackBerry,” ABI analyst Aapo Markkanen said. ”For the end of the year, we expect there to be 45 million Windows Phone handsets in use, with BlackBerry 10 holding an installed base of close to 20 million. Microsoft will also have 5.5 million Windows-powered tablets to show for it.”


[More from BGR: GS: Ignore the chatter, BlackBerry rebound is coming]


According to ABI, these figures will be “enough to keep developers interested” as the two companies battle for the No.3 spot in the smartphone war.


“The greatest fear for both Microsoft and BlackBerry is that the initial sales of their smartphones will disappoint and thereby kill off the developer interest, which then would effectively close the window of opportunity on further sales success. Our view is that the installed bases of this scale would be large enough to keep these two in the game,” Markkanen noted. ”It will definitely also help that both firms have actively kept the developers’ interest in mind while designing and rolling out their platforms.”


This article was originally published on BGR.com


Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News




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Sony ignites talk of PS4 unveil with Playstation meeting






TOKYO (Reuters) – Sony Corp will this month host its first major Playstation meeting in two years, sparking a flare-up in online speculation the Japanese consumer electronics giant is preparing to unveil the successor to its 70 million-selling PS3 games console.


Sony declined to say whether it would release a new product at the meeting in New York on February 20. “We will be talking about the Playstation business,” spokesman Masaki Tsukakoshi said on Friday. A Google search for “Sony Feb 20 Playstation” returned more than 7 million hits.






The last time Sony held a Playstation event, in January 2011, it presented a protoype of its handheld Vita console. Before that, it convened a gathering in 2005 two months after it first demonstrated the PS3 concept. A meeting in 1999 revealed designs for the PS2.


It has been more than six years since Sony launched the PS3 home console, a longer gap than between it and its PS2 predecessor, adding to the anticipation that it will soon disclose its next gaming concept.


Since Sony’s last home console launch, the games market has been transformed by the boom in smartphones and tablet computers that have wooed players with free or cheap games.


Sony and other console makers Nintendo Co Ltd and Microsoft Corp now have to contend with competition from hand-held devices made by Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics and others.


Analysts expect that tablets and other mobile devices will match the power and graphics of today’s games consoles within a few years.


Struggling under competitive pressure, Nintendo on Wednesday cut its sales target for the Wii U, successor to its 100 million-selling Wii, to 4 million machines by the end of March from its launch in November, compared with an earlier forecast for 5.5 million.


(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)


Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Timeline: From RIM to BlackBerry, a company in transition






(Reuters) – Research In Motion Ltd has launched its new line of re-engineered BlackBerry smartphones, taking the wraps off the long-delayed devices at a series of events around the world on Wednesday.


The company used the occasion to announce that it was changing its name to BlackBerry, hoping a new brand identity will polish its tarnished image and help give it a fresh start.






The company, which has steadily lost ground in the hyper-competitive market to Apple Inc’s iPhone and devices running Google Inc’s Android operating system, is gambling its future on the BlackBerry 10. It sees the new line as make-or-break – its best hope for a comeback in an industry it once dominated.


Here are important milestones in the company’s history:


February 1985 – Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin co-found Research In Motion as an electronics and computer science business based in Waterloo, Ontario, the Canadian university city where Lazaridis studied.


1989 – RIM develops a network gateway later introduced as RIMGate, a predecessor to its BlackBerry Enterprise Server.


1992 – Jim Balsillie joins RIM as co-CEO, mortgaging his house and investing $ 250,000.


1994 – RIM launches a handheld point-of-sale card reader, which verifies debit and credit transactions directly to a bank.


1995 – RIM builds its own radio modem for wireless email.


1997 – RIM lists on the Toronto Stock Exchange, raising more than $ 115 million.


January 1999 – RIM launches rebranded BlackBerry email service across North America, offering the first wireless device to synch with corporate email systems. Sales jump 80 percent to $ 85 million. The next year revenue reaches $ 221 million.


Late 1999 – The company lists its shares on Nasdaq, raising another $ 250 million. RIM introduces BlackBerry 850 Wireless Handheld, combining email, wireless data networks and a traditional “Qwerty” keyboard. Demand explodes.


Sept 11, 2001 – People trapped in New York’s World Trade Center use their BlackBerrys to communicate after cellular networks collapse.


November 2001 – NTP sues RIM for patent infringement, the start of a five-year legal tussle. Late in the battle, the U.S. Justice Department says a threatened BlackBerry shutdown would damage the public interest due to the government’s reliance on the system.


2002 – RIM adds voice transmission to the BlackBerry.


2004 – RIM’s subscriber base surpasses 1 million BlackBerry users.


March 2006 – RIM pays $ 612 million to settle NTP dispute.


January 2007 – Apple Inc’s Steve Jobs unveils first iPhone, and the company launches the BlackBerry competitor in June. Time magazine honors the phone as Invention of the Year.


October 2007 – RIM passes 10 million subscribers. News of a China distribution deal boosts shares, making it for a time the most valuable company in Canada by market capitalization.


November 2007 – Google’s open source Android platform is unveiled. It launches in October 2008.


May 2008 – RIM introduces the Bold, a major redesign and still one of its top-tier products. The new model matches the resolution, but not size, of Apple’s iPhone screen.


July 2008 – Apple opens App Store in 22 countries and releases iPhone 3G, preloaded with App Store support.


November 2008 – RIM launches BlackBerry Storm, its first touchscreen and keyboard-less device. The screen uses a tactile feedback technology known as haptics, allowing a user to click down to select actions. The model bombs.


April 2009 – RIM’s App World goes live.


June 2009 – Apple announces and releases iPhone 3GS.


June 2010 – RIM pays C$ 200 million for QNX Software Systems, getting an industrial-strength operating system used in massive Internet routers, nuclear power plants and car infotainment systems. In same month Apple launches iPhone 4.


August 2010 – RIM launches BlackBerry Torch, a touchscreen phone with slide-out keyboard and improved web browser.


Sept 27, 2010 – RIM announces the PlayBook tablet, running on a version of the QNX system.


December 2010 – RIM acquires user interface company The Astonishing Tribe.


February 2011 – Nokia, the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume, abandons its Symbian operating system to form alliance with Microsoft Corp.


March 2, 2011 – Apple unveils iPad 2 and ships it later in the same month.


April 19, 2011 – RIM launches PlayBook in United States and Canada. Early reviews pan the tablet for lacking core BlackBerry functions such as email and organizer functions. The company says it plans to add them in February 2012.


April 28, 2011 – RIM slashes an already dismal financial forecast for current quarter but maintains a full-year earnings outlook of $ 7.50 a share.


June 16, 2011 – RIM misses its lowered quarterly revenue target, gives more limp forecasts and resets the full-year outlook to between $ 5.25 and $ 6 a share. It says it will slash more than 10 percent of its workforce and buy back stock.


July 12, 2011 – Executives deflect criticism at annual general meeting after an activist shareholder withdrew a motion to force co-CEOs Lazaridis and Balsillie to relinquish their other shared role as board chairmen.


Sept 6, 2011 – A second activist shareholder asks the board to wrest control from Lazaridis and Balsillie and consider RIM putting itself up for sale or spinning off units.


Sept 15, 2011 – RIM reports another poor quarter including a sharp drop in phone and tablet shipments. It points to the low end of latest full year earnings outlook.


Oct 10-13, 2011 – Millions of BlackBerry users on five continents are left without email, Internet and instant messaging service by a massive failure of RIM’s infrastructure.


Nov 29, 2011 – In an acknowledgement of its slipping grip on the corporate sector, RIM offers to manage rival devices including Apple’s iPhone and iPad.


Dec 2, 2011 – The company books a huge writedown on PlayBook inventory, which it is discounting heavily to provoke sales.


Dec 15, 2011 – RIM delays its QNX-based BlackBerry 10 phones until late 2012 and gives tepid short-term outlook. The co-CEOs agree to an immediate pay cut to $ 1 each.


Jan 22, 2012 – RIM says Lazaridis and Balsillie are stepping down from their shared roles as chief executives and chairmen roles they share. The company appoints Thorstein Heins as CEO and Barbara Stymiest as chair of the board.


March 29, 2012 – Heins promises a strategic overhaul as RIM reports a slump in BlackBerry shipments and says RIM will no longer issue financial forecasts.


May 29, 2012 – RIM says it has hired bankers to assist with a strategic review and warns that it will likely report a fiscal first-quarter operating loss.


June 28, 2012 – RIM delays BlackBerry 10 again, putting off the launch to early 2013.


Sept 24, 2012 – RIM’s Toronto-listed stock touches C$ 6.10, its lowest level in nearly a decade.


Sept 27, 2012 – RIM surprises investors with a narrower-than-expected loss and boosts its cash reserves, sparking a rally that will extend into late December.


Nov 12, 2012 – RIM says it will launch BlackBerry 10 on January 30.


Dec 21, 2012 – RIM shares plunge more than 20 percent on fears that a new fee structure for its high-margin services segment could put pressure on a business that has set the company apart from its competitors.


Jan 30, 2013 – Heins formally unveils the BlackBerry 10 at a glitzy launch event in New York, with simultaneous gatherings in other cities around the world.


In conjunction with the launch, Heins announces that the company is changing its name to BlackBerry.


(Reporting by Alastair Sharp and Allison Martell; Editing by Peter Galloway)


Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Critical, long-overdue BlackBerry makeover arrives






TORONTO (AP) — BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. will kick off a critical, long-overdue makeover when chief executive Thorsten Heins shows off the first phone with the new BlackBerry 10 system in New York on Wednesday.


Repeated delays have left the once-pioneering BlackBerry an afterthought in the shadow of Apple’s trend-setting iPhone and Google’s Android-driven devices. There has even been talk that the fate of the company that created the BlackBerry in 1999 is no longer certain.






Now, there’s some optimism. Previews of the BlackBerry 10 software have gotten favorable reviews on blogs. Financial analysts are starting to see some slight room for a comeback. RIM‘s stock has more than doubled to $ 15.66 from a nine-year low in September, though it’s still nearly 90 percent below its 2008 peak of $ 147.


RIM redesigned the system to embrace the multimedia, apps and touch-screen experience prevalent today. The company is promising a speedier device, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone.


Most analysts consider a BlackBerry 10 success to be crucial for the company’s long-term viability. Doubts remain about the ability of BlackBerry 10 to rescue RIM.


“We’ll see if they can reclaim their glory. My sense is that it will be a phone that everyone says good things about but not as many people buy,” BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said.


Jefferies analyst Peter Misek called it a “great device” and said RIM does have some momentum just months after the Canadian company was written off for dead.


“Six months ago we talked to developers and carriers, and everybody was just basically saying ‘We’re just waiting for this to go bust,’” Misek said. “It was bad.”


The BlackBerry has been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and crossed over to consumers. But when the iPhone came out in 2007, it showed that phones can do much more than email and phone calls. Suddenly, the BlackBerry looked ancient. In the U.S., according to research firm IDC, shipments of BlackBerry phones plummeted from 46 percent of the market in 2008 to 2 percent in 2012.


RIM promised a new system to catch up, using technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. RIM initially said BlackBerry 10 would come by early 2012, but then the company changed that to late 2012. A few months later, that date was pushed further, to early 2013, missing the lucrative holiday season. The holdup helped wipe out more than $ 70 billion in shareholder wealth and 5,000 jobs.


Although executives have been providing a glimpse at some of BlackBerry 10′s new features for months, Heins will finally showcase a complete system at Wednesday’s event. Devices will go on sale soon after that. The exact date and prices are expected Wednesday.


Regardless of BlackBerry 10′s advances, though, the new system will face a key shortcoming: It won’t have as many apps written by outside companies and individuals as the iPhone and Android. RIM has said it plans to launch BlackBerry 10 with more than 70,000 apps, including those developed for RIM’s PlayBook tablet, first released in 2011. Even so, that’s just a tenth of what the iPhone and Android offer. Popular service such as Instagram and Netflix won’t have apps on BlackBerry 10.


Gillis said he’ll be looking to see when RIM releases a keyboard version of the new phone. The first BlackBerry 10 phone will have only a touch screen. RIM has said a physical keyboard version will be released soon after. He said a delay could alienate RIM’s 79 million subscribers.


“The No. 1 feature that they like is the physical keyboard,” Gillis said.


Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Scott Brown’s Twitter Rant Will Not Stop Haunting Him






Scott Brown got a little carried away responding to critics on Twitter over the weekend, which shouldn’t be a big deal, but apparently it is when you’re expected to run for a vacant Senate seat and now everyone is taking his “whatevers” so very, very seriously. 


RELATED: Paging Senator Warren: The Case for Her Campaign






After watching his daughter perform on Friday evening, now former Senator Brown sent out a few tweets that might suggest he’d had a few glasses of wine — the late delivery time, the content, and the subsequent deletion seem to have offered some credence to those theories. The Internet grabbed on to Brown’s “Bqhatevwr” tweet, which spawned a trending hashtag and two different parody accounts, because it is clearly hilarious. 


RELATED: Scott Brown Backs Out of Final Debate With Elizabeth Warren


But the Internet won’t let a series of tweets from a recently unemployed man go unnoticed, and now pundits continue to go over them with a fine-tooth comb to see what they can glean about Brown’s political future (will it be a run for Senate or Governor?) as we wait to see what shakes out in Massachusetts. Here are your two camps of over-analysis:


RELATED: Update: Scott Brown Made the Debate!


These Tweets Are Serious Business


RELATED: So Who’s Going to Replace John Kerry for Massachusetts Senate?


The Washington Post‘s The Fix writer Aaron Blake thinks these tweets should be taken very seriously, and that Brown “needs to say something — and the sooner the better.” Brown’s silence is only feeding the beast, Blake insists, and because Brown won’t talk about it, everyone is going to keep talking about it. “By deleting the tweets and not saying anything, though, Brown only feeds the robust rumor mill that is Twitter,” Blake writes. “Quite frankly, Twitter matters in the broader political discussion, since what is big on Twitter almost always penetrates into the political dialogue.” Blake seems to argue that the story will die as soon as Brown comes out with a public oops, and that the silence only raises more questions than necessary. Which might be asking more questions than necessary in the first place, but we digress.


RELATED: New Tactic: Blame Elizabeth Warren for Her Ancestors’ Crimes


Scott Brown Is Human Because He Regrets Things He Tweets, Too


The Boston Herald was on this beat before Brown tweeted the now controversial tweets. The former Senator has basically avoided mentioning politics at all on Twitter since losing his seat to Elizabeth Warren last year. Instead, he’s opted to talk about the Patriots’ disappointing playoff performance, his excitement for the Bruins and the Celtics, and that time he went to see Silver Linings Playbook. Talking Points Memo’s Igor Bobic says Brown’s tweeting proves he’s “just like us.” His recent performances have made him “a sort of Twitter celebrity extraordinaire recently,” especially after his escapade on Friday. Bobic even compared him to the infamous Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. And it was Brown’s regular-guy-in-a-barn-coat image that made helped him win his Senate seat in the first place, so what harm can really come of some silly late-night tweeting? Unless by harm you mean excellent poll numbers.


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Providence theater experiments with ‘tweet seats’






PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Sarah Bertness slipped into her seat at a recent staging of the musical “Million Dollar Quartet” and, when the lights dimmed, started doing something that’s long been taboo inside theaters: typing away at her iPhone.


The 26-year-old freelance writer from Providence wasn’t being rude. She had a spot in the “tweet seat” section at the Providence Performing Arts Center.






The downtown theater is now setting aside a small number of seats — in the back — for those who promise to live-tweet from the performance using a special hash tag. They might offer impressions of the set, music or costumes, lines of dialogue that resonate with them or anything else that strikes them, really.


At “Million Dollar Quartet,” based on the true story of a 1956 recording session that united music greats Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, PPAC for the first time had cast members tweeting from backstage, too.


A growing number of theaters, including some on Broadway, have been experimenting in recent years with tweet seats and other real-time uses of social media as they try to figure out the relationship between the stage and the smartphone.


Some insist the theater should remain a sacred, technology-free place and that allowing the use of phones during a show — even discreetly — only serves as a potential distraction for other patrons. But others say theaters can’t afford not to engage the digital generation, and that the way performances were once enjoyed, in a vacuum, doesn’t hold up anymore.


“I think that it’s important that PPAC and cultural institutions in general kind of jump on the social media bandwagon and learn to engage a broader audience,” said Bertness, who runs the blog The Rhode Islander and is such a big Johnny Cash fan that she showed up to the performance wearing all black. “I think it’s such a valuable tool.”


Scott Moreau, an understudy for Johnny Cash, hadn’t ever tweeted from backstage during a performance. He tried to provide a glimpse of what life’s like on the tour, which he likened to the special features on a DVD. He said he enjoyed getting instant feedback from the tweeters — feedback he shared with other cast members.


“It makes it feel a lot more personal,” Moreau said.


A picture of Moreau that was tweeted out from backstage — he was tweeting in it himself — prompted someone in the tweet seats to declare that’s what the Man in Black would have looked like, with an iPhone.


Other theaters are also trying different digital ways to engage with patrons. In Boston, the Huntington Theater plans to introduce a “Twittermission” where an artist affiliated with the production, or someone from the theater’s staff, answers questions about the show on Twitter during intermissions. The tweets will also be projected on screens in the theater lobby, according to spokeswoman Rebecca Curtiss.


The theater won’t be introducing tweet seats, though.


“We feel strongly that the experience that an audience member has in our theater should be limited to what they are seeing on the stage,” Curtiss said. “When the lights go down and the show begins, we want the art on stage to speak for itself.”


PPAC isn’t sure yet whether any social media buzz generated by those in the tweet seats will have a measurable effect at the box office. But spokeswoman P.J. Prokop said the theater intends to keep the program through the end of the year, and then evaluate it. Those who sit in the tweet seats get their tickets for free.


Kirsten DiChiappari, who has tweeted three shows there to her nearly 1,400 followers, grew up in New Jersey going to Broadway musicals, plays and the opera. The 41-year-old social media consultant from Bristol sees her live-tweeting as a way to lure people from their living rooms, where many are glued to “horrible reality television.”


“It’s kind of a way to tease people back to support the live arts, the real arts, the original arts,” she said. “I feel like once they go, they’ll go again.”


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Facebook founder to host fundraiser for New Jersey Governor Christie






(Reuters) – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla, will host a fundraiser for New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie at their California home on February 13, the social networking site said on Thursday.


Zuckerberg and Christie, a potential presidential contender in 2016, have teamed up before, when the tech guru donated $ 100 million to the struggling public schools in Newark, New Jersey, in 2010.






“Mark and Priscilla … admire his leadership on education reform and other issues and look forward to continuing their important work together on behalf of Newark’s school children,” Facebook said in a statement.


The blunt-spoken Christie is seeking re-election in November to a second term as governor. He took office in 2010.


Right now, he doesn’t seem to need much help as his approval rating skyrocketed after Superstorm Sandy hit the state last October. A Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday found that three-quarters of New Jersey voters approved of Christie’s performance and nearly seven in 10 say he deserves to be re-elected.


New Jersey Democrats also have not rallied behind a single challenger. State Senate President Stephen Sweeney has said he is considering running, but the poll found that Christie would easily defeat Sweeney.


Christie would also trounce Barbara Buono – who has said she will run against the governor – and possible challenger Richard Codey, the poll found. Both are Democratic state senators.


(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco and Hilary Russ in New York; Editing by Eric Beech)


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How Facebook Passive-Aggressively Dismissed Twitter’s New Vine App






Facebook has now clarified why it blocked Twitter’s new video-sharing app Vine, suggesting on its developer blog Friday afternoon that Facebook didn’t think much of Vine’s integration — or lack thereof — with the social network. Basically, Twitter’s pseudo GIF-maker thing connected with Facebook, but only so you could “find Friends” — presumably because Twitter wants people to use the app on Twitter. But for the privilege of its people, Facebook wants apps to give back to the network.


RELATED: Facebook Is Already Trying to Break Twitter’s New Toy






Without mentioning Twitter or Vine explicitly, Facebook’s Justin Osofsky explained in the blog post that some apps “are using Facebook to either replicate our functionality or bootstrap their growth in a way that creates little value for people on Facebook, such as not providing users an easy way to share back to Facebook.” How’s that for passive aggression?


RELATED: Uganda Threatens to Shut Down Social Networking


Osofsky points developers to a policy page updated today, which reflects that sentiment by stating: 



Reciprocity and Replicating core functionality: (a) Reciprocity: Facebook Platform enables developers to build personalized, social experiences via the Graph API and related APIs. If you use any Facebook APIs to build personalized or social experiences, you must also enable people to easily share their experiences back with people on Facebook. (b) Replicating core functionality: You may not use Facebook Platform to promote, or to export user data to, a product or service that replicates a core Facebook product or service without our permission.



In short, if apps want access to Facebook’s massive user base of 1 billion-plus friends, they better bring people back to Facebook. And the war raged on.


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New PlayStation 4 details emerge: 8-core AMD ‘Bulldozer’ CPU, redesigned controller and more






2013 is a huge year for gamers. Nintendo (NTDOY) just launched the Wii U ahead of the holidays and both Sony (SNE) and Microsoft (MSFT) are expected to issue next-generation consoles before the year is through. We’ve seen plenty of rumors about both systems over the past few months, and the latest comes from Kotaku and focuses on Sony’s PlayStation 4.


[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 said to be overhyped, RIM’s comeback chances remain slim]






The site claims to have gotten its hands on documents describing Sony’s developer system given to premier partners so they can build games ahead of the next-generation console launch. The specs, if accurate, will obviously line up with the release version of the system. Included in the specs Kotaku is reporting are an AMD64 “Bulldozer” CPU with eight cores total, an AMD GPU, 8GB of system RAM, 2.2GB of video memory, a 160GB hard drive, a Blu-ray drive, four USB 3.0 ports and more.


[More from BGR: Apple: ‘Bent, not broken’]


Sony also reportedly has a redesigned controller in the works that will include a capacitive touch pad.


This article was originally published on BGR.com


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RIM releases BES 10 for BlackBerry 10 and rival phones, offers free 60-day trial






Research In Motion (RIMM) is gearing up for the impending release of its first BlackBerry 10 devices and the company has now released new mobile device management software to help its customers keep a handle on their shiny new BB10 phones and rival devices. The new BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, now available for download, aims to be a one-size-fits all MDM platform that’s capable of managing BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices.


[More from BGR: Apple reports Q1 results: $ 13.1 billion profit beats estimates, iPhone sales and Q2 guidance miss big]






RIM says key features of the new service include the integration of BlackBerry Balance functionality to help keep work and personal applications and data separate; BlackBerry World for Work, a new iteration of the company’s traditional app store that gives companies the ability to more easily manage workers’ apps; and an “intuitive enterprise enrollment process for employees that offers a self-service console, and centralized control of assignable profiles for email, SCEP, Wi-Fi, VPN and proxy servers.”


[More from BGR: As data gets cheaper for Verizon to transmit, customers are paying more]


RIM is offering customers a free 60-day trial of the new MDM service.


This article was originally published on BGR.com


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Recibe el Cenart el “Live Performers Meeting” del 24 al 26 de enero






México, 22 Ene. (Notimex).- Del 24 al 26 de enero en el Centro Nacional de las Artes (Cenart) se llevará a cabo el “Live Performers Meeting” (LPM), el evento más importante a nivel mundial dedicado a la manipulación y mezcla de video en tiempo real.


Mediante un comunicado de la oficina de prensa del Cenart, se informó que el encuentro incluirá otras actividades en el Centro Cultural Border y la Fundación Alumnos47.






El LPM ofrece la oportunidad de experimentar tres días de actuaciones audiovisuales, talleres, mesas redondas, muestra de productos presentados por cientos de VJs, artistas audiovisuales, profesionales de los nuevos medios y pensadores de todo el mundo.


El evento promueve la práctica de las actuaciones de video en directo, gracias a un programa rico e impredecible que busca explorar temas diferentes a través de nuevos lenguajes audiovisuales, técnicas y tecnologías.


Las atracciones principales de la edición mexicana serán una gran variedad de presentaciones audiovisuales en vivo, talleres, showcases y sesiones de Djs con Vjs, así como un concurso internacional de video jockeys.


El público interesado encontrará espectáculos que van desde el live cinema, videodanza, interacción en vivo, videoarte, mapping, instalaciones multimedia, programación, arte generativo, live coding, danza y teatro con visuales, entre otras.


El LPM empezó en Italia hace ocho años y ha reunido a más de dos mil artistas de todo el mundo en sus 11 ediciones pasadas. Más de 50 mil personas han asistido a sus actividades ya que ofrece una gran gama de talleres y showcases gratuitos para el público en general, así como algunos de paga.


En esta edición en la Ciudad de México, más de 200 artistas provenientes de Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Canadá, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, España, Estados Unidos, Francia, Italia, México, Perú, Turquía, Reino Unido, Rusia, Uruguay y Venezuela, participarán en casi 100 presentaciones y talleres.


Las presentaciones audiovisuales se realizarán del 24 al 26 de enero, en el Centro Nacional de las Artes. Éstas que van desde el video teatro a la video danza, actuaciones de live cinema, visuales y música generativa, live coding, hasta las fiestas finales animadas por DJs y VJs internacionales.


El Cenart, el Centro Cultural Border y la Fundación Alumnos47 albergarán en un horario de 10:00 a 18:00 horas talleres y presentaciones dedicados a aprender y compartir, basándose en el tema de la cultura de video en vivo.


Se explorarán las teorías de producción de contenidos y el procesamiento de imágenes, además de estudiar y experimentar con nuevas tecnologías así como desarrollar debates sobre la cultura de prácticas libres y Open Source.


NTX/LGZ/MAG


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Nearly 20,000 new BlackBerry 10 apps submitted this past weekend







Research in Motion (RIMM) held a “Port-A-Thon” earlier this month to boost developer interest in BlackBerry 10. The event ended up being a huge success for the company with more than 15,000 apps submitted to BlackBerry World in less than two days. In a last chance effort to increase its app count before the launch of its new operating system, RIM held a second event this past weekend and it was even bigger than the first one. Developers submitted 19,071 apps in 36 hours, bringing RIM closer to its goal of offering more than 70,000 apps at launch. RIM is scheduled to unveil BlackBerry 10 at a press event on January 30th.


[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 OS walkthrough, BlackBerry Z10 pricing]






This article was originally published on BGR.com


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RIM heats up as BlackBerry 10 launch nears







Research In Motion (RIMM) shares are soaring ahead of the imminent launch of the firm’s next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform. The stock’s recent run could come screeching to a halt at any moment as short interest grows, but Jefferies & Company analyst Peter Misek thinks there’s plenty more good news ahead for RIM. In a note to investors on Friday morning, Misek told clients to buy RIM stock and set a new 12-month price target of $ 19.50, up from his previous $ 13 target with a Hold rating.


[More from BGR: Samsung’s latest monster smartphone will reportedly have a 5.8-inch screen]






“Our checks indicate that the carriers have agreed to volume commitments for the first two quarters post-launch,” Misek wrote. He also notes that “BB10 builds have been raised from 500K/month in early Dec to 1M-2M/month,” and “Developers are supporting BB10 more than we expected. RIM is targeting 70K BB10 apps available at launch.”


[More from BGR: Cable companies called ‘monopolies that stifle competition and innovation’]


Misek says that RIM’s next-generation platform will enable secure corporate email services on iOS and Android devices and the market has overlooked this major change so far. The analyst believes RIM’s March- and August-quarter results will beat Wall Street’s current consensus now that RIM’s huge installed base will finally have a “legitimate upgrade opportunity.”


This article was originally published on BGR.com


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100 Years of U.S. Presidential Inaugurations






On March 4, 1913, Woodrow Wilson took the oath of office. Nearly 100 years later, Barack Obama will take that same oath.


The U.S. presidential inauguration looks a tad different than it did a century ago. In 1913, women still did not have the right to vote and Wilson rode to the Capitol in a horse-drawn carriage. And don’t expect to see President Obama wearing a silk top hat like Wilson either.






[More from Mashable: Watch Every President’s Inauguration Since Reagan in 36 Seconds]


Thanks to the digital archiving of government images, zipping through 100 years of presidential history doesn’t even require a trip to the library. We’ve compiled the most memorable photographs and videos taken at presidential inaugurations since 1913 for a scrollable history lesson.


[More from Mashable: The Letters Kids Wrote to Obama About Gun Control]


If you like your history well-aged, then there’s also a special gallery at the bottom featuring images from inaugurations that occurred before 1913 — including those of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ulysses S. Grant.


Woodrow Wilson, March 4, 1913


“President-elect Wilson and President Taft, standing side by side, laughing, at White House prior to Wilson’s inauguration ceremonies” Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Woodrow Wilson, March 5, 1917


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


“Telegram from Evangeline Booth, Commander of the Salvation Army” Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Warren G. Harding, March 4, 1921


“Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Philander Knox and Joseph Cannon, in convertible” Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Calvin Coolidge, March 4, 1925


“President Coolidge, Mrs. Coolidge and Senator Curtis on the way to the Capitol” Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Herbert Hoover, March 4, 1929


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Franklin D. Roosevelt, March 4, 1933


Inaugural Program, Inauguration. Franklin D. Roosevelt President of the United States. John N. Garner Vice President of the United States. Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 20, 1937


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


“Ticket for the 1937 inauguration, the first to take place on January 20th.” Image courtesy of FDR Library


“Eleanor Roosevelt poses in her inaugural gown at the White House.” Image courtesy of FDR Library


Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 20, 1941


“Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt riding in an open car, returning to the White House from FDR’s third inauguration.” Image courtesy of FDR Library


Excerpt from home movie of FDR driving and walking with assistance to take the Oath of Office on January 20, 1941.


Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 20, 1945


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


“Crowd stands in snow for inauguration” Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Harry S. Truman, January 20, 1949


“Truman and Barkley during Inaugural parade.” Image courtesy of Truman Library


Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 20, 1953


“Ike responds to cheers of crowd.” Image courtesy of Library of Congress


“With smiles and a wave, President Harry Truman and his successor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, leave White House in an open car on way to Capitol for inauguration ceremonies.” Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 21, 1957


“President Eisenhower waves to the crowd” Image courtesy of Eisenhower Library


“Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon watching inaugural parade with Anne & David Eisenhower and Julie & Tricia Nixon” Image courtesy of Eisenhower Library


“Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower attend the Inaugural Ball with John and Barbara Eisenhower” Image courtesy of Eisenhower Library


John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961


Image courtesy of National Archives


“President-elect John F. Kennedy shakes hands with Father Richard J. Casey, the Pastor, after attending Mass at Holy Trinity Church … prior to inauguration ceremonies.” Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Lyndon B. Johnson, January 20, 1965


“President Lyndon B. Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, Lynda Bird Johnson, and Luci Baines Johnson preparing for Inauguration ceremonies.” Image courtesy of LBJ Library


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


“Secret service agents try to hold back the crowds that surge forward to watch President Johnson dance with the First Lady at the inaugural ball at the National Guard Armory” Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Richard M. Nixon, January 20, 1969


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


“President and Mrs. Nixon waving to the crowd from the Presidential limousine in the inaugural motorcade” Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Richard M. Nixon, January 20, 1973


Image courtesy of White House


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Jimmy Carter, January 20, 1977


Image courtesy of Jimmy Carter Presidential Library


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Ronald Reagan, January 20, 1981


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Ronald Reagan, January 21, 1985


Image courtesy of Reagan Library


“1985 Inaugural Ball: President and Mrs. Reagan in National Air and Space Museum” Image courtesy of Smithsonian


George H. W. Bush, January 20, 1989


Image courtesy of Smithsonian


“1989 Presidential Inaugration, George H. W. Bush, Opening Ceremonies, at Lincoln Memorial” Image courtesy of Smithsonian


Bill Clinton, January 20, 1993


“While the Clintons and Gores watch, Chelsea Clinton rings a replica of the Liberty Bell during festivities kicking off the Clinton/Gore 1993 Inaugural events.” Image courtesy of Smithsonian


“George Bush and Bill Clinton shake hands just after the inaugural ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol.” Image courtesy of Smithsonian


Image courtesy of Smithsonian


Bill Clinton, January 20, 1997


Image courtesy of Smithsonian


Image courtesy of Smithsonian


George W. Bush, January 20, 2001


Image courtesy of White House


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


George W. Bush, January 20, 2005


Image courtesy of White House


Image courtesy of White House


Image courtesy of White House


Barack Obama, January 20, 2009


Image courtesy of Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo, U.S. Air Force


“President Barack Obama is given the Oath of Office for a second time by Chief Justice John G. Roberts” Image courtesy of Pete Souza/White House


“President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama share a private moment in a freight elevator at an Inaugural Ball” Image courtesy of Pete Souza/White House


“President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama ride in a golf cart at an Inaugural Ball” Image courtesy of Pete Souza/White House


BONUS: Pre-1913 Presidential Inaugurations


Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1861


Image courtesy of Library of Congress


Click here to view this gallery.


This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Paid apps are history






This week marked an important moment in the evolution of the iOS app market. As Pages just slipped out of the iPad top 10 highest grossing apps chart, there are now no paid apps among the ten applications that generate most revenue on the iPad. When the iPad application market was born a few years ago, it was dominated by relatively stiffly priced applications, mimicking the PC software or game console software markets. But over the past couple of years, app vendors have realized that free apps with clever in-app purchasing hooks create much more revenue than paid apps.


[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 browser smokes iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8 in comparison test [video]]






The same applies to the iPhone — there is only one paid app among the twenty highest grossing iPhone apps today. It is notable that some of the highest grossing apps have relatively low download volumes. Clash of Clans has been the top-grossing iPad application for all of January, but it is only ranked 53rd on the iPad download chart. Hay Day is the seventh-biggest application when it comes to revenue generation on the iPhone, but is only ranked at #104 when it comes to download volume.


[More from BGR: Galaxy S IV benchmarks may confirm 1.8GHz CPU and Android 4.2]


Leading app developers have figured out how to decouple download volume from revenue generation by creating free games that seduce their fans into paying steadily for in-app features. The types of of games that require a $ 0.99 or a $ 2.99 fee per download are turning into something resembling nostalgia items. For a stark example of how badly the revenue generation power of paid apps has faded, consider that the current #1 paid app on iPhone, Wood Camera, is 46th on the iPhone chart that lists top-grossing apps.  The future belongs to free apps.


This article was originally published on BGR.com


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ASUS in talks with Microsoft to develop a Windows Phone 8 smartphone






The PC industry is in shambles and manufacturers have begun to explore new options to increase revenue. According to The Wall Street Journal, ASUS (2357) is in talks with Microsoft (MSFT) on a licensing deal to offer Windows Phone 8 device. This makes sense for ASUS since smartphone shipments increased by nearly 50% in 2012, compared to a mere 3.2% growth in computer shipments, and the company already has experience in the mobile world after developing a variety of Android tablets.


[More from BGR: Cable companies called ‘monopolies that stifle competition and innovation’]






Benson Lin, the company’s corporate vice president of mobile communication products, revealed in a recent interview that ASUS was hoping to bring its PadFone, a smartphone that can dock into a larger tablet, to the Windows 8 ecosystem.


[More from BGR: Clash of the bantams: The bloody smartphone battle that will take shape in 2013]


“With our Padfone concept, the phone plus tablet, I think it makes sense for Windows 8,” Lin said. “There is no target timeline…but we are interested in making Windows phones.”


The executive also said that ASUS has been in talks with a variety of American carriers in the hopes that its smartphones will launch in the United States in 2013.


This article was originally published on BGR.com


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Commentary: Background Checks? Yes, but Leave Video Games Alone






COMMENTARY | I have mixed feelings toward the White House‘s gun violence response. I agree that background checks should be required before people are allowed to buy a firearm and that an assault weapon ban should be reinstated into law. While limiting the number of bullets in a weapon’s magazine will decrease the number of deaths in a mass shooting, the public does not need high-capacity magazines. Therefore any weapon using high-capacity magazines should be banned from public use, not just capping the magazines to 10 bullets.


But violent video games and other media images and scenes real-life violence? These media do not kill people. The shooters kill the people. Those who are mentally unstable may not understand that violent video games are not real life and should not be duplicated in real life. As long as gamers understand the difference between video games and real life, that shouldn’t be touched.






– Edmond, Okla.


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New photos of BlackBerry X10 with QWERTY keyboard leak







New images of Research In Motion’s (RIMM) first BlackBerry 10-powered smartphone equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard have leaked ahead of the handset’s unveiling later this month. BlackBerry blog BlackBerry Empire on Monday evening published a pair of photos showing the face of the upcoming N-series smartphone along with the home screen and the app launcher.


[More from BGR: HTC One SV review]






As revealed by earlier images of the phone, the device closely resembles RIM’s previous-generation BlackBerry Bold 9900 from the front, sporting a slim flat design with a touchscreen situated above the famous four-row BlackBerry keyboard.


[More from BGR: Extensive BlackBerry Z10 demo video posted by German website [video]]


RIM will unveil the new handset, thought to be launching as the “BlackBerry X10,” during a press conference on January 30th where BGR will be reporting live. RIM’s first full touch BlackBerry 10 phone, the “BlackBerry Z10,” will also be unveiled at the event.


This article was originally published on BGR.com


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