BlackBerry has confirmed that sponsored content will soon be coming to BBM Channels after ads were spotted in its latest BBM beta release. The Canadian company also insists, however, that it will not be inserting advertisements into your instant messages, and that it will be “very strict” about the amount of content that is pushed to the BBM community.
Kickstarter, the crowdfunding platform for creative projects, hit a major milestone today, when it officially racked up $1 billion in pledges.
According to the company’s statistics page, its $1 billion in total funds represents $859 million backing successful projects — with the $1 billion total referring to all projects, including those that are still in progress, or else which failed to reach their funding goal.
To date, there have been 57,121 successful Kickstarter projects — earning the company just under $43 million in the 5% cut that it takes of all successful projects.
A dark cloud hangs over the future of mobile communication: the spectre of Facebook controlling it all.
It’s not likely, actually. But Facebook’s intention to purchase WhatsApp for $16 billion or $19 billion dollars (depending on whether you factor in the stock-based bonuses for WhatsApp employees) involved some scary-big numbers.
The biggest of these numbers happens when you add Facebook’s current user count plus WhatsApp’s projected user count (how many users Facebook believes the service will have if current growth rates continue). The number is: 2.3 billion users.
Of course, the number is pure B.S.
WhatsApp’s current growth probably won’t continue. Facebook’s current numbers are padded with duplicate users, fake users and non-active users. And there’s always going to be big overlap between WhatsApp and Facebook users — a dude who uses both is still just one dude.
Still, when I ponder the number of people likely to be using Facebook-owned services (WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger) for messaging compared to those using Google-owned Hangouts, I find myself astonished and confused. How did this happen? And what can be done about it?
Going into Mobile World Congress this year, the one device everyone was waiting to see was Samsung’s new Galaxy S5. We knew it was coming — the South Korean company made that pretty clear with all of its teasers beforehand — and we couldn’t wait to see what the 2014 flagship would bring.
The Galaxy S5 wasn’t the only smartphone on show that was worth getting excited about, either. Sony brought its new Xperia Z2, HTC unveiled the impressive midrange Desire 816, there were some nice new additions from LG and ZTE, and of course, we also saw the first Android-powered handsets from Nokia.
Smartphones certainly stole the show for another year, then, but there was another product category we couldn’t help but take note of. No, I’m not talking about tablets — which were just as disappointing this year as they were in 2013; I’m talking about wearables.
Three U.K. has confirmed that all customers have now been switched to a 4G tariff, allowing them to connect to LTE networks where available at no extra cost. Three’s LTE coverage now spans 36 towns and cities across Britain, including London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool.
BlackBerry has confirmed that it will address BBM’s measly 6MB transfer limit in its next update. The company says it has “heard users loud and clear,” and it has vowed to allow the transfer of larger files over the popular instant messaging service.
Just as expected, Samsung unveiled its flagship Galaxy S5 at Mobile World Congress on Monday evening. In addition to fancy new features like a fingerprint scanner and heartbeat sensor, the handset boasts the latest Snapdragon 801 processor, a 1080p Super AMOLED display, and a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera with rich tone HDR, selective focus, and more.
But how does the Galaxy S5 compare to some of its competitors, like the iPhone 5s, the new Sony Xperia Z2, and its cousin, the Galaxy Note 3? We’ve put together a handy comparison chart below that makes it all clear — and may help you choose the best handset for you.
The Galaxy S5’s fingerprint scanner may be coming more than 7 months later than the iPhone’s, but it’s already going to be more useful to users. Not only will it allow them to unlock their device at the touch of a button, but Samsung’s going to allow third-party developers to integrate fingerprint scanning into their own applications, too.
A South Korean antitrust watchdog has rejected Apple’s claims that Samsung’s counter-patent suit against the U.S. firm violates the country’s fair competition rules.
Apple lawyers claimed that Samsung’s litigation concerning its SEPs (standard-essential patents) for 3G wireless technology was an act designed to abuse its dominant position in the marketplace — amounting to a violation of fair competition rules.
They may still be wrapped in an ongoing patent dispute, but Apple and Samsung have temporarily put aside their differences to tell the European Union that it should cut down on the ability of companies that license patents to win court rulings limiting product sales.
Apple and Samsung are just two of 19 companies and associations who put their names to the letter, which seeks to battle patent trolls who don’t manufacture actual products but instead rely entirely on license fees.
For gamers who would rather relive the classic days of 2-D platformers, the forthcoming Android and iOS title Venture Kid looks a sight to behold.
With an obvious debt to the Mega Man series, and graphics straight out of the 8-bit era, Venture Kid isn’t a port of an old game but an entirely new one — albeit aiming for an old school, pixelated aesthetic from a time when your typical mobile phone was the size of a brick.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that an Android-powered smartwatch is coming from LG and Google. The Journal’s source said other companies may also be involved, and that the device is likely to be unveiled at Google I/O, Google’s developer conference, which is scheduled to begin June 25.
According to the report, the watch will be integrated with Google Now.
The report didn’t specify the N word, but this information reeks of a quasi-reference design product in line with the Nexus strategy. It’s easy to imagine all this as a Nexus-branded smartwatch with all the core attributes of the Nexus lines of phones and tablets. Let’s go ahead and call it the Nexus Smartwatch.
So what are these Nexus attributes when applied to a smartwatch?
It’s one thing for Samsung to diss Apple in an ad campaign, but apparently another entirely for filmmakers to diss Samsung.
That’s according to a new report, stating that Samsung allegedly pressurized a Korean online newspaper to kill coverage of an anti-Samsung movie. The president of NewDaily Biz supposedly ordered editors to take down an article about the film Another Promise, which offers a fictionalized criticism of working conditions for people working in Samsung’s factories.
Google was willing to trump Facebook’s $19 billion offer to buy mobile messaging service WhatsApp, new reports suggest.
While it is well known that Google was interested in acquiring WhatsApp, it was previously thought that the company was only willing to offer $10 billion. Not so, according to The Information, which claims to have spoken with three people involved in the negotiations between the two parties.
By now I’m sure you’ve heard that Facebook has acquired WhatsApp for a ridiculous $19 billion, but it wasn’t the only Silicon Valley giant that was willing to stump up silly stacks of cash for the cross-platform messaging service. Sources say Google was also interested, but it only offered $10 billion.
This afternoon Sundar Pichai revealed the dates for Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O, where developers across the globe descend on San Francisco to learn what’s next.
The 7th annual Google I/O will be held on June 25-26, but if you want to get in you’ll have to win a lottery.
It’s been a while since Samsung mocked Apple and its iOS devices to sell its latest smartphones and tablets, but if you thought the South Korean company had moved past all that, you can think again.
It has today published two new videos via its official YouTube channel that mock the iPhone and the iPad to sell the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1.
Google doesn’t want you to be a “Glasshole.”
That’s according to a new list of “do’s” and “don’ts” the company has published with advice for Google Glass wearers.
“Do’s” include exploring the world around you, taking advantage of Glass voice commands, asking for permission when you video people or take their photo, and using screen lock.
“Don’ts” include “glass-outs” — in which you appear to zone out while doing in-depth work on your headset, playing high-impact sports wearing your Google Glass, expecting people around you to ignore the fact that you’re wearing a computer on your face, and being generally creepy or rude.
Apple may call Andy Rubin — one of the original creators of the Android platform — during next month’s Apple v. Samsung trial, according to court documents.
Rubin left the Android team to work on Google’s robotics projects in March 2013. Should he be called to the stand during the forthcoming trial, he would be cross-examined on the development of Android features which Apple claims infringe on it own patents. He may also be asked to discuss “Google documents relating to such development.”
If Apple calls Rubin, this will be his first time testifying in the various legal battles between Apple and Samsung.
Huawei is planning to unveil a number of new devices at Mobile World Congress next week, and for some strange reason, the Chinese company thought it would be a good idea to tease them with a fake iPhone running an embarrassing Siri clone.
After being bombarded with Flappy Bird clones, it appears that both Google Play and the iOS App Store have started rejecting all new apps featuring the word “flappy” in their titles.
The move was publicized by developer Ken Carpenter of Mind Juice Media who took to Twitter to reveal that his game, Flappy Dragon, was rejected during the iTunes authorization process because the “name attempts to leverage a popular app.”
Google bought a tiny Israeli startup today called SlickLogin.
The three-person, two-month-old company has an interesting technology that replaces passwords. The terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition is a tiny victory for people who believe in sound as a viable medium of digital communication.
Four Democratic senators have proposed a federal law that would require all smartphone manufacturers to include a mandatory “kill switch” for their devices in the event that they are stolen.
The bill would give users the ability to remote wipe their personal data from a lost or stolen device.
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten has today announced its $900 million acquisition of Viber. The hugely popular messaging and VoIP service will help Rakuten expand its digital ecosystem even further, and it marks its first foray into voice communication.
BlackBerry today announced the arrival of BBM 2.0 for Android and iOS, which brings BBM Channels, BBM Voice, and other new features to the popular cross-platform messaging app. The Canadian company first teased this update back in December, and now it is finally rolling out through the App Store and Google Play.
