Quick Note: LG's 4:3 Ratio Display Vu 3 Smartphone Gets Official

LG Vu 3 has a 5.2-inch 4:3 aspect ratio screen

LG has unveiled its latest big-screen smartphone called the Vu 3. This smartphone is notable because it uses a 5.2-inch 1280x960 resolution display with a 4:3 aspect ratio, while most smartphones today use a 16:9 aspect ratio. LG says that the 4:3 aspect ratio makes the device better suited to reading digital books and viewing websites.

The Vu3 sports a quad-core Snapdragon 800 and runs Android 4.2.2.  The device supports LTE-Advanced and has integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and features a 13MP rear camera.

LG also integrates its Knock On feature into the Vu 3 that allows users to wake the device from sleep with a double tap on the screen.

The phone is expected to launch in Korea starting on September 27 with availability with all three major Korean carriers. Pricing information is unannounced this time.

Source: fonearena

15 Awesome Web Services You Probably Didn’t Know About

Internet is bursting with amazing services. While Gmail, Facebook, Instagram don’t require any introduction, there are tons of other services which haven’t become so popular. No, cooking your dinner online hasn’t become reality just yet, but there are many other cool things that you could find useful in your everyday life. Here we have curated a list of some of our favorite ones.

Create LEGO figures of yourself

If you are Star Wars fan, then you probably already possess many LEGO characters. But, how about making a LEGO figure which resembles you!? Minifigs lets you morph your face to the LEGO characters. Additionally, you can also add any special message to the character if you want.

Turn your pictures into 3D sculpture

Have you ever wondered how your photos would look if instead of being 2 dimensioned they were in 3D? A web-service called Bumpy Photo does just that. It lets you add an extra dimension to your photos, by letting you customize the deepness of your pictures. Depending on the details of your picture, creating a 3D sculpture can cost you about $120.

Find when the next episode of your favorite show is airing

If you follow a lot of TV shows, it could become a tedious task to keep track of all your favorite shows. For example, when is the new episode of The Big Bang Theory airing? You missed one episode, and bam, your twitter and Facebook feed is filled with all the spoilers. To avoid such things from happening, you can visit this website called TV count down, which without any registration, or any charges tells you all information about your favorite shows.

Email your future self

Wouldn’t it be nice to send a message to your future self? Write down the things you want to accomplish in your life, or the things which are troubling you, and check back in a year or so to see how well you did. FutureMe is an incredible service that offers you this feature. And it doesn’t cost a dime. You can read more about it here.

Send fake emails

Whether you are trying to win an argument, or prank a friend, fake emails can come handy at times. Emkej Mailer is a popular email service that lets you send fake emails to others. The service is very simple to use and doesn’t require any registration.

Get Free Legal Documents

Hiring a lawyer, although is a better choice, but can cost you ample sum of money. If you’ve a limited budget, and you are not dealing with a very complicated case, Docracy, a fantastic web-service can save you lots of cash. You can easily get your legal document drafted, as well as sign your documents from within the service itself.

Download/View movies and TV series for free

You don’t actually have to rent or buy the DVDs of a classic movie. The Internet Archive hosts a large collection of movies that you can download from their website for free. Other than that, many publishers put the content of their shows on their YouTube channels. You won’t find everything that you are looking for, but you won’t leave empty handed either.

Learn almost anything for free

Many prestigious universities, including MIT, Harvard and Stanford, are putting the lectures and notes of the courses they offer on their website for free. MIT recently started a program named Free Creative Learning Class which offers plethora of courses varying from programming to psychology. My colleague Alex Serban wrote more about such services here. Although you shouldn’t bank your hopes to get any job using their certificates, but if you are up for some quality learning, you will absolutely love it.

Turn your quote into a masterpiece

ReciteThis is a simple web-service, which turns your quote into posters. Just visit the website, enter some text and click on Create button. Once you have done that, you will see your words put on a nice background. You can then download the image in high resolution if you want. The service is completely free to use and does not require any sign-up.

Discover new music

Some days you want to listen to good music, but none of the songs in your music library cut it. Mixest might help you in those days. It is a great site which starts playing random songs every time you visit it. You can be very assure that you haven’t heard that song before. It is a very intuitive way to discover new music.

Get the right size glasses

If you are planning to get your glasses from an online e-commerce website, then you might want to double check the frame size of the glass that you are purchasing. Problem with buying glasses from an online store is that you don’t get to know if the glasses will fit you properly or not. To do this, you can give Tesco Opticians a try. It is a web based service that will guide you on how to get the right size glasses for your eyes.

Get your Facebook report

The smart search engine, WolframAlpha offers to generate reports about your Facebook profile. Once you have given it access to look into your profile, the computational search engine will tell you some interesting stats about your Facebook activities. The number of posts you have made, number of images you have uploaded, number of likes your posts have received and similar things. You can use this service from this page.

Get all your questions answered

WolframAlpha is a powerful search engine which instead of returning web results to your queries, tries and analyzes what you are trying to search. This enables you to ask it questions in a human-friendly language, and it tells you the answer. So whether it is a scientific concept that you can’t find the explanation of, or any historical date you can’t seem to remember, odds are WolframAlpha knows it.

Identify celestial bodies

Ever wonder what is flying across the sky? It is very common to mistake a planet with some other celestial body. Thankfully, as you might have guessed, there is an app for that.

If you have an Android device, you can install SkEye, and pinpoint to that moving body and the app will instantly provide you all the information. iPhone and iPad users can try Night Sky 2 which does the same task.

Explore Mars

Speaking of celestial bodies, would you be interested in exploring our neighboring planet Mars?
You should try NASA’s Billion-Pixel View of Mars coverage which has been captured and sent by Curiosity Mars Rover. You can also try Google Mars.

Upgrade Some PlayStation 3 Games to PlayStation 4 Compatible for Cheap

The announcement of the new next-gen video gaming console PlayStation 4 thrilled many because of its awesome specifications and simplicity. This device is meant to be the successor of the beloved PlayStation 3 which was launched in the early 2005. In comparison with its predecessor, PS4 was developed to increase interactivity with various services and devices, among which we can mention Gaikai, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation App (a service which connects smartphones and tablets into a second screen).

The exciting PlayStation 4 does not require permanent connection to the Internet or regular network check-ins in order to function properly. Also, PS4 will be much appreciated for the fact that it does not limit the usage of second-hand games and it does not require any additional fee for playing them.

Whether the game is in a digital version or as a disc, the newest titles will not be cheap and buying a copy for your PS3 now alongside one for the PS4 at a later date can cause serious damage to your budget. Because of this, Sony is coming to help by offering a simpler way to play what you already bought for PS3, on the new PS4 for a cheaper price, by converting original PlayStation 3 games to the newest generation. The catch is that this trick works only for some games in the PlayStation Store and a small fee is applicable.
The new PlayStation 4 will be launched in North America on November 15^th and then in Europe and South & Central America, on the 29^th of November. In South Korea and Singapore, the device will be available in December, while the Japanese users have to wait the most, as the console will be available starting from February 2014.

An interesting buzz about the new console is that it will not be region-locked, so if you cannot wait until the PS4 will be available in your country, you can always buy it online from other countries where it will be already in stores. Unfortunately, we all have to wait a little bit until the new PS4 will be launched, but until then, you should not waste time and neglect the games that will be released for the PS3 and continue to purchase and enjoy them.

How to Upgrade PS3 games to PS4

There are two different ways of upgrading games from PS3 to PS4: using a disc-based and a digital version the title. Note that this offer is only available for the following titles (others will be shortly added when they enter the program):

• Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag
• Call of Duty: Ghosts
• Watch Dogs
• Battlefield 4

So, users who buy a PS3 Blu-ray disc of these games will receive a code that can be redeemed from PlayStation Store. When the PS4 game version is launched and bought, they have to insert the original PS3 disc into their new PS4 in order to be able to activate and play the game. That’s why it’s very important not to lose the original disc, because without it you cannot play the game anymore.
Every gamer who buys any of these games in their digital version will not have to redeem a code in order to be able to get the version for the PlayStation 4. It’s much simpler than you think, because after you purchase your PS4, you only need to access the PlayStation Store and look for the PS4 version of the desired game.
This great offer is available only for a limited period of time, so be quick about it, activate and buy the PS4 version for a stunning price of only $9.99. The deadlines for each game are: January 31st, 2014 (for Assassin’s Creed IV and Watch Dogs), March 28th (for Battlefield 4) and March 31st (for Call of Duty: Ghosts). So, in order to complete and certify that you can benefit from this program, follow the next step-by-step instructions.

For Disc-Based Games

If you are one of the users who still like to buy their games on a disc, apply the following guide to be sure that you don’t miss the chance to play one of these four amazing games on both PS3 and PS4 video gaming consoles:

1. Create an account or log into PlayStation Network using the account you already have from your PlayStation 3.
2. Browse the video gaming console’s home screen and select PlayStation Store.
3. Look after the “Redeem Codes” button, which can be found at the bottom of the screen.
4. Write in the code that was packed with the PS3 version of the game and press “Continue”.
5. When they ask for the Terms of Service, select “Confirm” and afterwards press “Continue”.
6. Now, the code redemption is finished and you have to proceed to the steps that imply your PS4 console.
7. On the new console, log into your SEN (Sony Entertainment Network) account. Note that it has to be the same account from which you redeemed the code.
8. From home screen, go to PlayStation Store and select it.
9. Search the game for which you applied and “Purchase” it in order to download the digital version of the same game, but for the next-gen console. The price of $9.99 will be deducted from your personal wallet.
10. Finally, when the download is completed, insert the PS3 disc whenever you want to play the game.

Digital Version Instructions

For the lucky guys who have bought the digital version of the game for their PS3, everything is much simpler and explained in the following instructions:

1. First of all, buy the digital version of the game for PS3 or pre-order it from PlayStation Store or Sony Entertainment Network Store.
2. Secondly, search for the same game on PlayStation Store from your PS4.
3. At this point you can buy the game or pre-order it in a digital version for the price of only $9.99.
4. Enjoy playing one of these exciting games on both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 with minimal costs as soon as they are available.

Microsoft Has Plans For "Hundreds" More TV Shows After Halo

  (Source: Microsoft Studios)

TV shows are expected to be Xbox One exclusive, give console a boost

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) delivered a rather mild surprise when it announced that it had recruited Steven Spielberg to produce an upcoming exclusive TV show for the Xbox One based on the Halo series in which future humans battle alien invaders.

I. Forza Motorsports: The TV Series?

This of course wasn't the first video game franchise to see a turn to video.  But past efforts have tended to be either well after the fact (like Tekken and Alone in the Dark), were horribly campy (like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and The Super Mario Brothers), or were just plain inexplicably mediocre despite big name actors/budgets (e.g. Prince of Persia and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider).

But over the last couple weeks, Microsoft has delivered a far bigger surprise revealing that it is looking to become perhaps the biggest maker of video game television and movies in the industry.  Comments Microsoft Studios CVP Phil Spencer at the Tokyo Game Show, "[The joint Microsoft/Spielberg team has] literally hundreds of ideas that they are incubating right now.  We will have some new announcement for TV shows coming pretty soon."

According to Reuters, Microsoft refers to these other projects as "Nancy projects" a title which pays homage to CBS Corp.'s (CBS) former Television Studios President Nancy Tellem whom Microsoft hired a year ago as head of entertainment and digital media.

_{Microsoft doesn't seem overly concerned that in most cases video games moves have... well, stunk. [Image Source: Buena Vista Pictures]}

But of all Microsoft “experiments”, its gaming business has been by far the most profitable, particularly as it has expanded its game publishing efforts via its Microsoft Studios Holdings.  And increasing the software/media efforts related to its gaming business helps to offset and make worthwhile the money losing console business.

And Microsoft's TV efforts could go a long ways to differentiating its Xbox console.  In addition to its Halo and unannounced other game-based TV series which ooze hardcore nerd/gamer appeal, Microsoft will also cater to the mainstream partner with the National Football League and other partners to offer exclusive clips via the Xbox One and its online backbone, Xbox Live.

II. Dwindling Console Sales, Controversy Take a Toll on Xbox Expectations

However; the effort is not without risk.  Microsoft upgraded its console to pull even with arch-rival Sony Corp. (TYO:6758) on an offline-hardware basis.  As a result, it will likely lose money on every unit sold.  Microsoft's big bet is cornered on three key assumptions -- that a lot of people will buy its Xbox One console, which launches in 13 markets on Nov. 22, that a lot of people will buy Microsoft Studios games (like Halo, Forza Motorsports, and Zoo Tycoon), and that a lot of people will sign up for its $60 USD a year Xbox Live Gold membership.

The consoles sales goal is by no means a done deal.  Piper Jaffray Comp. analyst Michael Olson predicts that the Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Xbox One will each sell about 3 million units -- a far cry from the booming sales of some past consoles.  Mobile gaming has taken its toll on traditional console gaming.  Microsoft arguably has the more compelling console in terms of interface and exclusive titles, but has been mired in controversy.

Some of Microsoft's most controversial stands (e.g. offering developers digital rights management code libraries to ban used games and requiring the console to be "always on") were reversed -- an admirable show of listening to customers.  But these controversies still have somewhat damaged the console's overall image.  And given Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) data sharing arrangements with U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) some remain concerned that the console's 1080p Kinect 2 camera -- which is always on when the console is powered up and internet active -- will be a privacy risk.  Microsoft's console is also more expensive; the Xbox One retails for $499 USD, while the PS4 retails for $399 USD.

As for the game sales goal, video game sales for consoles now only account for 33 percent of sales -- according to the NPD Group -- due to mobile games, social network games, and other niches stealing away some of traditional gaming's business.  Still that number is slightly misleading, as it doesn't factor in the digital downloads market (part of the remaining 67 percent), of which the Xbox has a substantial stake.

_{It's unclear whether Xbox Live Silver customers will be locked out of Microsoft Studios's TV shows.  Microsoft cripples certain console hardware features for customers who don't buy a "Gold" level membership.}

But speaking of digital downloads, Microsoft's efforts to push customers into its Xbox Live Gold model by locking them out of features on their console (DVR, etc.) if they stick with the free Live Silver level members is alienating some potential buyers.  Microsoft's approach seems pretty counterintuitive in that it actually allows non-paying users to play online games (which costs Microsoft money in serving fees) for free, which Sony only allows paying customers to do.  But Sony does not lock non-paying PlayStation Network customers out of features on their console; features that essentially have already been paid for with the cost of the console.

With respect to its TV push, one critical thing not yet made clear by Microsoft is whether Live Silver subscribers will be locked out of the free Halo show and other television content on the console.  It's very possible that they may be, given Microsoft's announcement of the channel guide and DVR locking.

In short, there's a lot of unknowns as the Xbox One approaches, but Microsoft is certainly not shying from taking a unique and ambitious direction with its television ambitions. Source: Bloomberg

Rockstar Offers New Details on GTA Online

Rockstar is working to add more servers to increase capacity

To say Grand Theft Auto V has been successful would be an understatement. The game eclipsed $800 million in sales within 24 hours, and racked up $1 billion in the first three days of availability. Now Rockstar Games is looking to give gamers even more courtesy of Grand Theft Auto Online.

GTA Online is set to launch next month and Rockstar is offering up some new details on the game. Rockstar says that GTA Online is something new for the company and will be a fully realized and living world for players that will grow to take shape over time.

More importantly, the developers say that the players will determine the ultimate shape of GTA Online.

 

Rockstar developers will request feedback from users on the types of missions to roll out and future content updates. Rockstar says that it plans a constant stream of new content, tweaks, and updates in the weeks and months ahead for GTA Online.

Rockstar also announced that the first few weeks it expects to be heavily focused on tuning the experience as it goes from internal testing to a live world for players to play.

Rockstar wrote, "The first couple of weeks we expect to be heavily focused on tuning the experience as it goes from internal testing to the reality of being played by tons of people in the real world so that all the usual teething problems for an online game are overcome. We hope it will all run incredibly smoothly, but please bear with us if it doesn't, and help us fix any and all problems!"

Rockstar also notes that it is working to add more servers and increase scale but gamers should expect some challenges the first few days GTA Online is available.
Source: Rockstar Games

BlackBerry Blames Z10 Flop for Fiscal Q2 Loss; CEO Says He's "Very Disappointed"

The company only raked in $1.6 billion in revenue for the fiscal quarter

BlackBerry keeps slipping further and further into the dark abyss that is the end of its life, and its second-quarter earnings further prove that point.

For fiscal Q2 2014, BlackBerry reported only $1.6 billion in revenue, which represents a $2.9 billion drop from the year-ago quarter. Analysts expected nearly twice that amount before receiving a warning just last week.

The company had a Q2 net loss of $965 million, or $1.84 a share. It had predicted a loss of $950 million to $995 million prior to the earnings release. Overall, BlackBerry lost $248 million, or 47 cents a share (analysts forecast a loss of 49 cents a share).

This leaves the Waterloo, Ontario-based company's cash pile at $2.6 billion at the end of the quarter, which is down from $3.1 billion.

To make matters worse, BlackBerry said it sold 5.9 million smartphones, but only recorded revenue on 3.7 million. Many were older BlackBerry devices.

BlackBerry reported a total GAAP loss of $965 million from continuing operations, which was due to a writedown of nearly $1 billion thanks to unsold Z10 smartphones. The Z10 was released as BlackBerry's first flagship device in the BlackBerry 10 (BB10) line earlier this year.

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins wasn't pleased with the financial results of his company.

^{Blackberry Z10}

"We are very disappointed with our operational and financial results this quarter and have announced a series of major changes to address the competitive hardware environment and our cost structure," said Heins.

"While our company goes through the necessary changes to create the best business model for our hardware business, we continue to see confidence from our customers through the increasing penetration of BES 10, where we now have more than 25,000 commercial and test servers installed to date, up from 19,000 in July 2013. We understand how some of the activities we are going through create uncertainty, but we remain a financially strong company with $2.6 billion in cash and no debt. We are focused on our targeted markets, and are committed to completing our transition quickly in order to establish a more focused and efficient company."

It's no secret that BlackBerry has been struggling. The company was once a big player in mobile, but has hit rock bottom after failing to compete with Apple's iOS and Google's Android. In 2011, BlackBerry had 14 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, and now, it has less than 3 percent.

Earlier this week, BlackBerry signed a letter of intent agreeing to a sale of the company valued at $4.7 billion to a consortium led by its largest shareholder -- Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., which owns 10 percent of BlackBerry. This deal, which would be completed November 4 after a due diligence period, would ensure that BlackBerry goes private. Additionally, each shareholder would receive $9 per share in cash.  

BlackBerry employees are feeling the heat, too. The company said it will cut 4,500 jobs (as of March, BlackBerry had 12,700 employees).

Source: Market Wired

Bill Gates Regrets CTRL+ALT+DEL

"If I ever meet you, I'll CTRL+ALT+DEL you!" -- Weird Al Yankovic

At a Harvard Univ. Q&A session this week, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) cofounder and former CEO Bill Gates spoke on a broad range of topics, but the highlight came when he mentioned CTRL+ALT+DEL -- the key combination that used to be required to log onto windows.

Asked by Harvard Campaign chair David Rubenstein, "Why, when I want to turn on my software and computer, do I need to have three fingers on Control, Alt, Delete? Who’s idea was that?"

... Mr. Gates quipped, "It was a big mistake."

The former CEO says he would have preferred a one-button login, but the International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) employee who designed the keyboard preferred the three button solution.  He explains:

You want to have something you do with the keyboard that is signaling to a very low level of the software — actually hard-coded in the hardware — that it really is bringing in the operating system you expect, instead of just a funny piece of software that puts up a screen that looks like a log-in screen, and then it listens to your password and then it’s able to do that.

But as PCWorld points out, if it was a mistake it was a fortunate one as it prevented a trojan from faking the log in screen.  The site writes:

Why? Because, as insecure as some perceive the Windows operating system to be, it could have been a thousand times worse if there were no keyboard interaction required to log on. That physical interaction tells the computer that you want to interface with the Microsoft Windows operating system, and ensures that rogue or spoofed software can't dupe users into typing usernames and passwords.

Others have defended the famous three button combination -- oft associated with errors and OS crashes in early Windows computers -- as being a key part of 90s nostalgia.

Even Weird Al Yankovic paid tribute to the shortcut in his song All About the Pentiums blasting, "If I ever meet you, I'll CTRL+ALT+DEL you!"

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Gives Emotional Goodbye Speech at Final Meeting

It was his last company meeting as CEO

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer attended his very last company meeting as leader of the Redmond, Washington-based company, giving an emotional goodbye speech and his usual energetic dancing.

Ballmer took the stage at Seattle's KeyArena in front of about 13,000 Microsoft employees to give one last performance as CEO. He came onstage while "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis played over the speakers.

He gave a speech about an hour long, with tears streaming down his face at points. He discussed his time at Microsoft, the deal with Nokia and handing the torch over to a new CEO.

"I want to say thank you…this isn't about any one person," said Ballmer. "It's about a company that's important, that's forward thinking, that's innovative.

"We will deliver the next big thing...we will change the world again."

Ballmer managed to take a few jabs at the competition as well, describing Apple as being "fashionable," Amazon as being "cheap," Google as "knowing more," but Microsoft as "doing more."

He departed the stage to Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," which is the song that played at Microsoft's first employee meeting in 1983. "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes played afterward, as Ballmer sang and danced along.

"You work for the greatest company in the world, soak it in," said Ballmer before exiting the stage. "I believe in you, I believe in the mission. We've been a great company for years. We will be a great company for many more years."

Ballmer joined Microsoft on June 11, 1980 as the company's 30th employee and the first business manager hired by Microsoft Chairman and Co-Founder Bill Gates. Even though Ballmer has been a public figure for Microsoft for many years, some believe the company is in need of an executive shake-up -- including a new leader.

Ballmer announced last month that he plans to retire sometime over the next year. The company is currently undergoing a major restructuring plan that will unify devices like Windows Phone, PC and Xbox One. 
Sources: The Verge, Reuters

How the Mighty Fell: Sales of RIM, Palm Stands as Cautionary Tech Tales

RIM's sale makes a breakup highly likely as sales are dead in the water

Since 2010, we've been writing about the slowly unfolding train wreck that is BlackBerry, Ltd. (TSE:BB), aka. the phonemaker formally know as "RIM".

I. Ground, Sweet Escape Lie in Sight for the RIMdenberg

The roots of the RIMdenberg disaster (or BlackBerry burnout?) lay in a pair of incompetent managers who were skilled at delivering communications clients, but were unable to deliver when the smartphone was called upon to do more.

In many ways, the BlackBerry story resembles that of Palm -- a pioneering firm that experienced wild success only to crash and burn hard as the market it fostered matured.
 

_{The RIMdenburg made its final descent after holding on for so long.
[Image Source: Jason Mick/DailyTech LLC]}

BlackBerry smartphones launched in 2000 with the BlackBerry 957.  At the time, BlackBerry was the primary peddler of push email -- a service that delivered messages to customers far faster than the polling email (POP) clients that dominated rival devices at the time.

RIM saw strong success with its Pearl smartphones, which launched to the consumer market in 2006 and the Curve family that launched in 2007.  Both families featured basic cameras and media capabilities -- pretty much all that you could ask for in a smartphone at the time.


II. Palm Travelled This Road as Well

When Apple, Inc. (AAPL) launched the iPhone in 2007, it was just a curiosity.  Nokia Oyj.'s (HEX:NOK1V) Symbian was the top platform in smartphone sales volume at the time, but RIM was widely regarded as the smartphone of choice for business and creative leaders.

Palm meanwhile was seeing similar success, albeit never scoring as lucrative business deals as RIM's massive contracts.  Some of Palm's biggest earnings came not from its own devices, but from products that outside observers often think were invented by others, including:

• Graffiti handwriting recognition software (licensed by Apple for use on the Newton tablet/PDA)
  
  
  _{Palm software defined Apple's Newton. [Image Source: 20th Century Fox]}
   
• PalmPilot Desktop/Palm Desktop synchronization software for Hewlett-Packard Comp. (HPQ) and other pocket-PC makers' PDAs.

In 2000, despite going through a mess of owners, Palm's initial public offering saw frenzied buying that valued it at $54B USD.  But the 2000s were cruel to Palm, which declined in influence even as
BlackBerry's market cap waxed.

III. webOS -- Palm's Rendition of BB10

To be fair, Palm appeared to recognize its fate far sooner than BlackBerry.  In 2009 it went through a last dish push to reinvent itself in the modern smartphone market, releasing webOS.  At the time Palm was viewed as a serious competitor to Apple and the new kid on the block -- Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android.

Palm's webOS shown flashes up brilliance, but Palm and RIM has a fatal flaw in common -- they both suffered from a sluggish pace of product development.  Palm's product wasn't bad -- but the Palm 2 and Pixi were more minor revisions than a necessary upgrade.

_{The BB Storm brings back not-so-fond memories for me. [Image Source: BB]}

RIM made a few half-hearted attempts at a full-touch device, but the results were appalling bad (trust me I owned one -- or shall I say three, given that two were warrantied out due to hardware failures before my third Storm decided to kick the bucket leading me to buy an HTC Corp. (TPE:2498) Evo 4G instead).

_{A fire sale to HP failed to save Palm. [Image Source: GigaOm]}

Palm's John Rubenstein failed to develop a clear vision for the company, which plodded close to bankruptcy until it was bailed out in a $1.2B USD fire sale to HP in 2010.  For a brief instant it looked like the experiment might succeed -- in Feb. 2011 HP prodded its new unit to pick up the product pace and two smartphones, plus a tablet were announced.  But amid weak sales, HP lost its confidence in its fixer-upper and simply yanked it off the market.

IV. RIM "Hits the Brakes"

Meanwhile, RIM's momentum in the smartphone market was gradually slowing.  After hitting $83B USD in market capitalization in June 2008, RIM shares began to retreat, as investors perhaps sensed the company was stalling as an innovative force.  Worse still, RIM's co-CEOs seemed somewhat oblivious to this development. In 2009 Mike Lazardis told a Fortune reporter in an interview, "Sometimes we have to put the brakes on.  We've shown that we can handle annual 100% growth. I'm not sure we could handle more than that."

Indeed sales continued to climb through 2010, even if share prices didn't follow in suit.  But by 2011, the foot began to drop on the brakes and the RIMdenberg teetered from upon its lofty heights.  RIM had promised something big -- a brand new OS dubbed "BlackBerry 10" by holiday 2011.  That date slipped.  A few months later, co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie were shown the door, but that did little to halt RIM's burning descent.

_{Droves of clients are dumping BlackBerries. [Image Source: LihPao]}

RIM's new CEO, Thorsten Heins wasn't much better than his predecessors at pushing out BB10.  It ultimately took him another five more quarters before BB10 finally rolled out in the U.S. March 2013.

V. RIM -- a Final Girl in the Face of the BlackBerry Sales Bloodbath

When BB10 finally arrived, it felt eerily familiar to me.  It was like listening to the plaintive webOS swan song all over again.  Like webOS, BB10 was much overdo and had elements of brilliance, but lacked the firepower needed to change the minds of consumers who had long ago relegated BlackBerry to the scrap heap.

Still, much like with Palm, RIM (now BlackBerry Ltd. (TSE:BB) seemed to linger on quietly in its final days.  Much like a horror movie where you spent hour seeing everyone die, but the final girl survive, you almost thought that RIM might get away.

In 2012 I tried to explain the reality of RIM's decline, writing:

With RIM I'm not by any means trying to "troll" the company, and I constantly point out that it is still profitable. That said sales are dropping (U.S. and overall global), the brass posted a gloomy 2012 outlook, and BB 10 is late.

I'm glad to see there's some good notes and to hear a bit more about why the Torch 2 is worthwhile.

But ultimately I'm reminded of the Palm situation -- one where some customers swear by the product and point to its merits, while the majority dismiss it.

To be fair, BB proved far more capable of convincing tops shareholders foolishly not sell than I had expected.  

_{RIM held on for longer than many of us expected [Image Source: BGR]}

In mid-2012 I wrote:

Regardless, if there's one thing that's clear it's that a sale of RIM is likely coming soon.  It seems unlikely that RIM will survive to see its ever-slipping operating system arrive.

Investors will surely be eager to salvage what little they can from the company.  The company does have some decent assets -- namely its large intellectual property portfolio, its recognizable business brand, and its superb physical keyboard mastery.

Ultimate BB held on.  But after a confidence devastating $1B USD loss and abysmal sales in the last quarter investors finally successfully pressured BB to throw in the towel.

I'll admit -- I was a bit shocked.  After seeing BB survive for so long, like that final girl, it was a real shock to see it sold at last.  It was both utterly surprising and utterly predictable all at the same time.

VI. Cautionary Tales for Those Who Follow

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (TSE:FFH) has received a tentative agreement to buy BB for $4.7B USD.  And that may be all she wrote for BlackBerry.  In an interview with The Financial Times Fairfax CEO Prem Watsa cheers, "Rest assured when we do this it won’t be done to split the company.  I mean one of the reasons I went on the board, and I said it publicly, was to keep the company in Canada and to make sure it survives and exists in Canada. It is one of Canada’s most successful companies. Companies do fall on hard times and they come back again and we expect this company to do the same."

_{Prem Watsa claims he won't break up BB, but then he went on to say that he might -- hmm.
[Image Source: The National Post]}

It wouldn't be surprising see this billionaire angel investor and BB malinger about for a bit longer.  But the reality is after losing hundreds of millions on BB Mr. Watsa may be looking to cash out via sales of BB's rich intellectual property portfolio and enterprise business units.  The article closes with the comment:

He said all possibilities are open including getting out of the hardware business and changing the CEO. He said he’s a fan of CEO Thorsten Heins and thinks he’s done a very good job, but said he was handed a tough job when he took over in early 2012. “We have to in this due diligence look at all of these things,” Watsa said.

Not if, but when the coffin is nailed shut on BlackBerry, it should be marked as a cautionary tale of how even the mightiest can fall if they let stop innovating.  Together RIM and BlackBerry were once worth $137B USD at their respective peeks.  Now Palm is gone and BB is worth $4B USD and fading fast.

Companies like Apple or Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) may be sitting on seeming invincible cash piles -- and to be fair their hordes are much larger than anything BlackBerry or Palm ever clutched -- but Palm and BB/RIM illustrate that in time even they could fall, should they fail to keep up with market trends.
Source: Fast Company

Lenovo CEO Shares Bonus with Workers for a Second Year

Payouts will be about $325 per worker

Computer maker Lenovo has reported that its CEO Yang Yuanqing plans to share at least $3 million of his bonus with workers for the second straight year. Lenovo posted record sales for the year and the company’s CEO plans to spread his bonus amongst 10,000 workers with payment amounts going to recognize worker contributions.

Lenovo spokesperson Jeffrey Shafer said that the total amount the CEO paid out would be about $3.25 million, up from $3 million last year.

“This is quite rare, especially for a chairman of a Chinese company, to use his personal money as a bonus to reward employees,” said Kirk Yang, a managing director at Barclays Plc in Hong Kong.

^{Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing}

The shared wealth will be handed out to Lenovo staff in 20 countries with about 85% of those receiving money located in China. The average payment to individual workers at Lenovo will be around $325. While that may not sound like a lot of money, it is equal to about one month's pay for the typical city worker in China.

Lenovo currently has more than 35,000 employees around the world as of the end of March.

Source: Bloomberg

Roku Announces Its New Family of Streaming Media Players

Roku also announced a new M-Go TV and movie store

Roku has announced that it has launched a new and updated family of streaming media players. The new family includes the Roku LT that the company says is the easiest and most affordable way to stream content to almost any TV. This player supports up to 720p HD video resolution and is available in the U.S. only for $49.99.

The Roku 1 is the next media player in the family and it has one important feature that the LT version lacks: it supports streaming content in full HD resolution. The Roku 1 is also available outside the United States including Canada, the UK, and Ireland. Pricing and the U.S. is $59.99 with Canadian pricing set at $69.99.

The next player in the line is the Roku 2, which has all the features of the Roku 1 plus a remote control with an integrated headphone Jack and dual-band Wireless-N. It sells for $79.99 in the U.S.

The Roku 3 has been around for a while, but it's now available outside the U.S. including Canada, UK, and Ireland. This player has the same features as the Roku 2 and includes an advanced remote control with motion control for gaming and the player has integrated Ethernet and USB ports.

Along with new media players, Roku has also announced the M-Go movie and TV store that is integrated directly into the home screen of its media players in the U.S. The store includes TV shows such as Glee and Breaking Bad, as well as brand-new fall premieres such as Brooklyn 9-9 among others.

One of the features of the store that is designed to make it easy to use is the ability to bill rentals or purchases of content to a Roku account. That means users don't have to set up an individual account for the M-Go store or get out a credit card to make a purchase.
Source: Roku

Report: Samsung Smartphone Trade-ins Soared Ahead of iPhone 5s Launch

Samsung trade-ins soared 210% during new iPhone launch

It appears the huge number of smartphone owners with Samsung branded devices chose to trade those devices in during the iPhone 5s launch. Apple had a huge sales weekend for its iPhone 5S and 5C smartphones, with over 9 million sold. According to electronics recycling company Gazelle, trade-ins of Samsung devices also soared during Apple’s iPhone launch weekend.

^{iPhone 5S}

Gazelle says that during the launch weekend for the new iPhone models trade-ins of Samsung smartphones increased 210 percent. Gazelle says that on September 20, the day the iPhone 5s and 5c launched, it made five offers per second between 10 AM and 11 AM for Samsung branded smartphones.

^{Samsung Galaxy S4}

Gazelle also notes that the average value per trade was $50 higher this year than it was last year.

Source: TUAW

Motorola Mobility Looking for Engineering Talent in Waterloo; May Nab BlackBerry Castaways

  (Source: motorolastudents.files.wordpress.com)

Motorola may scoop up BlackBerry's ex-employees in Waterloo

BlackBerry is a wounded animal just waiting for predators to pick it apart, and it looks like Google's Motorola Mobility will make a move on its prey in BlackBerry's home turf of Waterloo.

According to the Financial Post, Motorola Mobility is settling in the Kitchener-Waterloo area of Ontario. It's building engineering space here, and word on the street is that it's looking for new talent in this tech-savvy city -- which may include laid-off BlackBerry employees.

“We’ve got big plans and we’re very optimistic,” said Derek Phillips, engineering director for Motorola Canada. “We’re always looking for places where there’s lots of opportunity for growth and it’s not always easy to find places that have significant tech talent in a variety of areas, but especially mobile.”

Waterloo has certainly become a tech town, and that's largely due to BlackBerry's presence. BlackBerry -- which used to be called "Research in Motion," or RIM -- has its headquarters there, and many other tech companies and startups have popped up since.

But now that BlackBerry is seeing its end days, other tech companies are looking to scoop up the talented employees which the device maker has been forced to lay off.

Motorola Mobility, which is calling its new Waterloo space "Motorola Kitchener-Waterloo," is just a 10-minute drive from BlackBerry’s global headquarters and is walking distance to Google’s Waterloo office in the Tannery Building.

While Phillips didn't specifically mention grabbing up BlackBerry's ex-employees in its Waterloo spot, this is likely a big draw for the company. Phillips said its new talent could come from a variety of places, though, such as the University of Waterloo.

Motorola Mobility isn't the first tech company to move into BlackBerry's neighborhood. Square Inc. also announced that it was interested in Waterloo real estate.

Earlier this week, BlackBerry signed a letter of intent agreeing to a sale of the company valued at $4.7 billion to a consortium led by its largest shareholder -- Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., which owns 10 percent of BlackBerry. This deal, which would be completed November 4 after a due diligence period, would ensure that BlackBerry goes private. Additionally, each shareholder would receive $9 per share in cash.  

BlackBerry was once a big player in mobile, but has hit rock bottom after failing to compete with Apple's iOS and Google's Android. In 2011, BlackBerry had 14 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, and now, it has less than 3 percent.

Last week, it was reported that BlackBerry is expecting a GAAP net operating loss of $950 to $995 million, and will cut 4,500 jobs. As of March, BlackBerry had 12,700 employees.

Quick Note: Black Friday Not Offering the Best Deals; Shopping Numbers Drop

The number of shoppers and the amount they spend have dropped over the past few Black Fridays

Black Friday is considered the biggest shopping day of the year in the U.S., but its popularity is on the decline.

According to a new report from TIME, Black Friday has seen a drop in shoppers over the years. For those who aren't familiar, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving where retailers promote big savings for the holiday season.

A study from Accenture said that 52 percent of shoppers were likely to go out on Black Friday in 2009. This number dropped to 44 percent in 2011.

Furthermore, ShopperTrak said shoppers spent $11.2 billion in physical stores on Black Friday last year, which was a decline of 1.8 percent compared to Black Friday in 2011.

TIME says the reason for the decline may be that retailers are expanding deals to days other than just Black Friday. One of those days is Cyber Monday, for example, where shoppers can jump online and get great deals without leaving the comfort of home.

In fact, dealnews reported that Black Friday won't have the best deals this year. Thanksgiving Day and the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend will offer better savings than the traditional Black Friday rush, it says.

However, it's unlikely that Black Friday will ever completely disappear, since it has become an American tradition for many holiday shoppers who enjoy more than just the savings -- some actually like the crowds and competition. 
Source: TIME

High School Students "Hack" iPads in LA Unified School District

Home use of the iPads is now on hold

It only took a week for high school students to hack their iPads once the L.A. Unified School District (LAUSD) rolled them out.

According to the Los Angeles Times, students who received iPads for learning purposes at Theodore Roosevelt High School (which is part of LAUSD) were able to “hack” them after only one week. The hack allowed Theodore Roosevelt's 300 students to access websites like Facebook, Twitter and Pandora.

Westchester High School and the Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences in Granada Hills also reported iPad hacks.

The students were able to hack the iPads -- which had security locks on them to prevent certain activities like social networks -- rather easily. According to students, all they had to do was delete their personal profile information. Without the profile, they could access the Web freely.

LAUSD has halted the use of the iPads at home until the situation can be figured out.

"Outside of the district's network ... a user is free to download content and applications and browse the Internet without restriction," two senior administrators said in a memo to the Board of education and L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy. "As student safety is of paramount concern, breach of the ... system must not occur."

Apple scored a $30 million contract from LAUSD back in June, which aimed to put an iPad in the hands of every student in LAUSD for educational purposes. LAUSD is paying $678 per iPad, which comes pre-loaded with educational software, but won't include a keyboard.

The school district also committed to spending "hundreds of millions of dollars" with Apple over the next two years, since they chose the company as their only tablet vendor.

This means that LAUSD better find a solution quick so that its millions of dollars don't go to waste. The iPads are needed both in school and at home for reading and homework purposes.

Source: The Los Angeles Times

Micron Samples "Hybrid Memory Cube" With 8x the Transfer Rate of DDR4

FPGAs, ASICs, and other high performance commercial applications will be targeted by next year at volume

Today, vertical NAND (v-NAND) flash memory is in production and bumping storage densities in mobile devices to new highs.  Yet while many players -- including Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KSC:005930) -- are actively producing v-NAND, vertical DRAM -- stacked volatile memory -- remained unsampled until now.

I. HMC -- 70 Percent Less Power, 8x the Transfer Rate of DDR4

Micron Technologies Inc. (MU) this week announced the industry's first stacked DRAM.  While Micron describes the stacked chips as a "hybrid memory cube" (HMC) (also known as vertical DRAM (v-DRAM), the structure appears more like little stacks of poster board on a circuit board.

_{Micron's hybrid memory cube is finally sampling. [Image Source: Micron]}

Each layer features a 4 Gb (Gigabit) die, and there are four layers for a total capacity of 2 GB (Gigabytes) for the stack.

Micron is claiming to get 160 GB/s (Gigabytes per second) of bandwidth for the chip.  That's an incredible data transfer rate, compared to the approximately 11 GB/s DDR3 gets and the 21-24 GB/s DDR4 is expected to get.  Moreover, the packaging cuts power consumption by 70 percent by reducing the distance signals have to travel between chips.

The Boise, Idaho-based chipmaker sees potential demand for HMC chips in "data packet processing, data packet buffering or storage, and computing applications such as processor accelerators."  The latter sounds like the new DRAM could be targeted at graphics processing units (GPUs), among the most memory-hungry components of a modern PC.

But HMC stock for consumer devices such as GPUs or smartphones won't be available for "three to five years", according to Micron.

II. Commercial Clients Get First Dibs on Smoking Fast HMC

In the meantime Micron plans to work its way up to volume production, selling the chips at higher prices to performance-sensitive commercial clients that are willing to pay more for the fresh technology.  To those ends the chipmaker's plan is straightforward; following its 2 GB sampling Micron plans to sample 4 GB stacks in early 2014, followed by volume production of the 2 GB and 4 GB stacks in late 2014 for enterprise clients.

Micron's DRAM Solutions VP Brian Shaw boasts, "System designers are looking for new memory system designs to support increased demand for bandwidth, density, and power efficiency.  HMC represents the new standard in memory performance; it's the breakthrough our customers have been waiting for."

In a press release distributed by Micron, Jim Handy, an analyst for Objective Analysis, says that it's natural for DRAM to evolve a similar 3D stacking approach to flash, despite inherent technical difficulties that have stymied top chipmakers like Samsung.  He comments, "The Hybrid Memory Cube is a smart fix that breaks with the industry's past approaches and opens up new possibilities.  Although DRAM internal bandwidth has been increasing exponentially, along with logic's thirst for data, current options offer limited processor-to-memory bandwidth and consume significant power. HMC is an exciting alternative."



Samsung should eventually have a HMC of its own, as it's been working with Micron to develop some of the specifications and technologies underlying the process.  Both companies are part of the HMC Consortium (HMCC).

Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX), the top designer of field programmable gate array (FPGA) chips, has also been collaborating on the project and has a keen interest in becoming an early adopter of the faster, more power-efficient v-DRAM.  FPGAs are key application for Micron's HMC chips to target next year, as they are very sensitive to the DRAM that's embedded inside the devices' many reprogrammable logic cells.

Micron is also winding up towards its launch of DDR4 memory, which may be made available at volume to commercial clients later this year.

Microsoft Looks to Unify Development for Xbox, Windows, and Windows Phone

Microsoft wants you to be able to run any app in all three ecosystems

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) currently curates three environments -- Xbox, Windows 8, and Windows Phone 8 -- all of which have different development libraries and require a lot of work to port from one to another.

But Microsoft hopes that with the Xbox One and Windows/Windows Phone 8.1 releases, these platforms can be brought together to the extent that a developer can make single app that can run on all three devices.  That's the vision new Windows Chief Terry Myerson -- formerly the head of the Windows Phone unit -- is pushing as Microsoft reorganizes following the acquisition of phonemaker Nokia Oyj. (HEX:NOK1V) and the pending departure of CEO Steve Ballmer.

At the a Financial Analysts meeting, he remarked:

The first of those [beliefs] is that we really should have one silicon interface for all of our devices," he said. "We should have one set of developer APIs on all of our devices. And all of the apps we bring to end users should be available on all of our devices. [We want] to facilitate the creation of a common – a familiar – experience across all of those devices, but a fundamentally tailored and unique experience for each device.  [We] should have one set of developer APIs on all of our devices.

Of course it may be impossible to escape some sorts of optimizations for more serious apps; after all Windows Phone is a very different screen size, while Xbox has extra media and gaming hardware resources.

^{Critcs complain about Microsoft's lack of a unified tablet/phone Windows Store.}

Some are surprised that given Microsoft's push of various apps including the Office Suite to the cloud that it still lacks a single unified app store for its tablets and smartphones.  Apple, Inc. (AAPL) already has such an app store.  Microsoft might be able to follow a similar model to Apple in order to deal with the screen size problem -- allowing phone apps to run on the tablet, in upscaled form -- while making higher definition apps tablet/PC exclusive.

It's important to understand that at this point it's just talk -- we have no idea when Microsoft's unified environment will actually be ready for the market.  But Microsoft already has a unified interface (the Modern UI, aka "Metro UI") across all of its upcoming devices, so we're not that far off.  Microsoft's many developers should prepare themselves for this shift.

IPhone Fingerprint Sensor Cracked, Researchers Call Tech "Plain Stupid"

Chaos Computer Club unlocks iPhones with high resolution-image based tactic, points out legal dangers

For iPhone owners that use the fingerprint sensor as a password, be aware that it's pretty much useless from a security perspective.  It turns out that as with past inexpensive fingerprint readers, the system could easily be tricked by showing it a photograph of the target's fingerprint.

A site sponsored a crowd-funded competition to see who could be the first to crack the security feature found on the new Apple, Inc. (AAPL) iPhone 5S.  The prize -- which included a pledge of $10,000 USD from a Chicago-based venture capital fund -- attracted a lot of attention.

I. CCC Makes Short Work of Apple's Supposedly Secure Sensor

It appears that the first group to successfully circumvent the sensor's security was the veteran Chaos Computer Club (CCC), a German hacker ring that has accomplished many challenging hacks and exploits over the years.

The trick -- as a CCC member who goes by the handle "Starbug" states -- is to use at least 2,400 dots per inch (dpi) for the photograph of the target's fingerprint, and 1,200 dpi for the printed copy.  Comments "Starbug", "In reality, Apple's sensor has just a higher resolution compared to the sensors so far. So we only needed to ramp up the resolution of our fake.  As we have said now for more than years, fingerprints should not be used to secure anything. You leave them everywhere, and it is far too easy to make fake fingers out of lifted prints."

The hack is demonstrated in a video posted by the CCC to YouTube:

The only "trick" outside the resolution is that you need to print onto a transparent sheet and after printing; you need to lift the fingerprint onto a polymer using "pink latex milk or white woodglue".  The latex layer is then cured and lifted, and breathed upon to "make it a tiny bit moist and then placed onto the sensor to unlock the phone."

Don't make it too moist, though as the fingerprint sensor can only be used with "dry" fingers.

_{The iPhone 5S's sensor can easily be tricked with a "fake finger". [Image Source: Apple]}

 

It's important to note that the only part of the process that involves the target user -- getting their fingerprint -- can be done quickly and surreptitiously.  The remaining steps can be taken at their own pace at a secure location of the unlocker's choosing.

II. Another Danger -- Police Seizing Your Data

CCC spokesperson Frank Rieger chides Apple and others for proliferating the myth of security regarding fingerprint-based biometrics.  He states:

We hope that this finally puts to rest the illusions people have about fingerprint biometrics. It is plain stupid to use something that you can't change and that you leave everywhere every day as a security token.  The public should no longer be fooled by the biometrics industry with false security claims. Biometrics is fundamentally a technology designed for oppression and control, not for securing everyday device access.

The group raises another interesting point regarding smartphone unlocking and legality.  The group writes:

Also, you can easily be forced to unlock your phone against your will when being arrested. Forcing you to give up your (hopefully long) passcode is much harder under most jurisdictions than just casually swiping your phone over your handcuffed hands.

_{If you get arrested, and have an iPhone with fingerprint unlock enabled, police can easily get ahold of your private data. [Image Source: BUSINESS, GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY FIVE]}

In other words, the supposed "crowning" feature on Apple's new smartphone may be worse than worthless -- it may be luring users into a false sense of security and compromising their data.

The site istouchidhackedyet.com says the CCC was the first group or individual to report a successful hack on the sensor.  The site is in the process of confirming the CCC's hack.  Once confirmed they'll receive the horde of goodies, including sweet, sweet cash.

Android Flagships Are Twice as Slow at Touch as iPhone 5

Benchmark reveals why the iPhone's touch gestures feel so fluid, and why Android may feel laggy to iOS users

App maker Agawi has developed a new benchmark, which it hopes will challenge phonemakers and cast light on the performance of their touchscreens.  Dubbed TouchMarks, the benchmark targets devices running Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) iOS, Google Inc.'s (GOOG), and Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Windows Phone -- the three most used smartphone platforms on the market.

The results of Agawi's preliminary tests are fascinating -- and pretty embarassing for Windows Phone and Android.

In order to measure latencies typically in the millisecond range, Agawi has come up with a set of probing hardware dubbed "TouchScope" and supporting software, all of which it hopes to open source.

The TouchScope utilizes probes hooked up to an Arduino microcontroller and is capable of measuring Minimum App Response Time (MART) -- i.e. the fastest response you can expected from your smartphone touchscreen.  Agawi warns that actual responses in-app may be slower as the touch processing has to contend with other resources, e.g. graphical rendering or streaming data I/O, where as the TouchMarks app is a bare bones native app.

_{The TouchScope is powered by an Arduino microcontroller. [Image Source: Agawi]}

In the tests the iPhone 4 -- a three-year old device -- beats every single Android and Windows Phone tested in response time.  Nokia Oyj.'s (HEX:NOK1V) Lumia 928 managed 117 milliseconds (ms), while the fastest Android -- Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd.'s (KSC:005930) Galaxy S4 -- managed a barely better 114 ms.

Meanwhile the iPhone 4 scored an 85 millisecond response time.  And it's clear Apple isn't resting on its laurels -- the iPhone 5 achieved an even more formidable 55 ms.  Apple was the only OEM to achieve under 100 ms.

_{No Android or WinPhone was capable of iPhone-like response times. [Image Source: Agawi]}

Fluidity of the interface is often cited as a selling point of iOS/the iPhone.  It's pretty sad to see all Androids/Windows Phones getting beat by a three-year old Apple device.  Agawi raises an interesting point, speculating:

Another possibility is that while the Android and WP8 code are running on runtimes (Dalvik and CLR respectively), the iPhone code is written in closer-to-the-metal Objective-C, which may reduce some latency. In future TouchMarks, we’ll compare C/C++-based Android apps to Java based apps to determine if this is the case.

If so, Google and Microsoft might be wise to incorporate features into their development environments to require native compilation of touch-related secitons of code.

Fake Online Review Crackdown Leaves 19 Companies Paying $350,000 in Fines

Investigation found foreigners leaving positive reviews for places they had never been

Regulators in New York are expected to announce today one of the most comprehensive crackdowns on fake Internet reviews posted by companies online. The New York Times reports that agreements have been reached between the state of New York and 19 companies that will see them stop any misleading practices and pay a total of $350,000 in penalties.

The NYT reports that the investigation has lasted a year and has included companies that create fake reviews. Among the companies that are signing agreements include a charter bus operator, a teeth whitening service, laser hair removal chain, and an adult entertainment club. None of the companies were specifically named.

All the companies involved have placed fraudulent reviews on websites such as Google, Yahoo, Yahoo, and CitySearch. The investigation allegedly uncovered services posting fake reviews that have good a more significant impact on the life of duped users including fake reviews for dentists, lawyers, and an ultrasound clinic.

“What we’ve found is even worse than old-fashioned false advertising,” said Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York attorney general. “When you look at a billboard, you can tell it’s a paid advertisement — but on Yelp or Citysearch, you assume you’re reading authentic consumer opinions, making this practice even more deceiving.”

Investigators posed as the owner of a yogurt shop in Brooklyn who claimed to be the victim of unfair online reviews. A reputation management firm was hired and investigators discovered foreign persons were leaving positive reviews for places they never been in countries that have never traveled to. The investigation found that these favorable reviews could be purchased for as little as one dollar each.

The investigation also found that companies charged with getting good reviews for clients also bribed customers to give good reviews with things such as $50 gift certificates. This investigation was specifically focused on New York, but could have wider implications around the country.

"This shows that fake reviews are a legitimate target of law enforcement,” said Aaron Schur, senior litigation counsel for Yelp.

AMD Soft Launches "Volcanic Islands" GPUs With Programmable Audio in Hawaii

New R7 and R9 2xx GPUs will launch as a complete family from day one

At a tech preview event in Hawaii, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) revealed its vision for next generation GPUs, APUs, and graphics technologies.  It also teased at a path away from DirectX for PC gamers, a new proprietary, AMD-specific API dubbed "Mantle" that works on the PC, console, and potentially Linux (e.g. the Steam Box) in the future.

I. Is Radeon Gaming?

Today AMD has some ammo when it boldly proclaims "Radeon is Gaming".  The PC market remains a very competitive two horse race between AMD and NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA); but in the the console market AMD controls all three of the current/upcoming next generation consoles.

Of course the one place AMD is weak is the mobile market where NVIDIA's GeForce-equipped Tegra, Imagination Technologies Plc.'s (LON:IMG) PowerVR, Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM) Adreno, and ARM Holdings Plc.'s (LON:ARM) Mali compete for market dominance.  But AMD is content to ignore its weakness in that market, in this bit of chest puffing.

AMD began its talk by emphasizing its console wins and bragging that it is adding 16x as much accessible memory and TFLOPs of computing performance in the Sony Corp.'s (TYO:6758) PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Xbox One.  AMD produces the CPU and GPU for both consoles; it also produces the GPU for Nintendo Comp., Ltd.'s (TYO:7974) WiiU.

_{Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's Xbox One are expected to amount to millions of APU and GPU sales per month for AMD. [Image Source: Sony]}

(NVIDIA, for the record claims it "allowed" AMD to dominate this generation of the console market.)

Some have speculated that AMD isn't making much of its console contracts, but at the very least it's giving AMD market share and the ability to control the direction of the graphics hardware market to a broader extent than when it was simply a player in the PC component market.

AMD plans to use that broad base to drive new technologies -- such as programmable audio -- onto the market via its diverse coalition of hardware partners and game makers.



Matt Skinner, General Manager of AMD's graphics business unit outlined a central premise of the talk, remarking, "We need both sight and sound for an immersive gaming experience.... when you're playing a game you don't turn off your monitor... and when you're playing a game you don't turn off your speakers."

But as much as AMD's event outlined a broad platform-level vision, it's juiciest parts were targeted at the business AMD knows best -- the $18B USD PC gaming market; a market that is expected to grow to $21B USD by 2016.

II. Volcanic Islands Erupts Onto the Scene

At the heart of AMD's ambitions for desktop dominance are the much-anticipated successors the Radeon HD 7000 (Southern Islands) series cards.  These cards are based on a brand new GPU -- Volcanic Islands -- and are branded as the R7 2xx and R9 2xx family cards.

These are the first announced GPUs to support Microsoft's upcoming DirectX 11.2 standard, which will be introduced with the free upgrades to Windows 8.1/8.1 RT.  This is more than a bit ironic -- as you'll see if you read on -- as AMD is also working to provide customers with a new path (albeit a proprietary one) away from Microsoft's DirectX altogether (Mantle).

 

The Volcanic Islands GPUs utilize the next iteration of Graphics Core Next (GCN) which was introduced with the Radeon HD 7000 series.  The latest GCN chips will compete against Intel Corp.'s (INTC) Xeon Phi (available) and NVIDIA Corp.'s (NVDA) (upcoming, unannounced) Maxwell chips in GPU computing supercomputers and will compete with Maxwell and Intel's Iris Pro in the gaming market.

The new GCN-based R7 and R9 architectures are built on a mature second-generation Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comp., Ltd. (TPE:2330) process -- or possibly a similar 28 nm process by the Common Platform Alliance whose manufacturers include International Business Machines, Corp. (IBM), GlobalFoundries, Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KSC:005930).

_{Volcanic Islands is produced at a 28 nm node. [Image Source: Reuters]}

Clearly AMD has worked hard to get its supply chain in order and is opting for a bit different strategy for this family of chips versus the Radeon HD 6000 and 7000 series.  Where as past series it did a soft launch, followed by the hard launch of one or two cards, for this family it's introduced an entire full-fledged family of R7 and R9 cards with Volcanic Islands GPUs at the soft launch, which will launch from day one when the hard launch hits.

The R7/R9 two tier system is similar to NVIDIA's GT versus GTX divide, although that divide is muddled slightly by the 'X' that appears following all but the lowest R7 card's numbering.

 

III. Meet the R7, R9 Cards

Mr. Skinner brags that the new Radeons family features "a top to bottom product line for every gamer", and that, "We believe we have winners at ever price."

The new family of Volcanic Islands GPUs consists of five cards:

• R7 250
  • "The most powerful GPU for under $90"
  • 1 GB GDDR5
     
• R7 260X
  • "The most powerful GPU for under $160"
  • $139 price point (rumored)
  • 2 GB GDDR5
     
• R9 270X
  • "The most powerful GPU for under $200"
  • 2 GB GDDR5
     
• R9 280X
  • "The most powerful GPU for under $300"
  • 3 GB GDDR5
     
• R9 290X
  • AMD claims this is the "world's most powerful" GPU
    • 6 billion transistors (+2 bill. from Radeon HD 7970 GE)
    • 4 GB GDDR5 (+1 GB from 7970 GE)
    • 5 TFLOPS of compute power (+1 TFLOP from 7970 GE)
    • Capable of rendering 4 billion triangles/sec
    • 300 GB/sec. bandwidth (vs. 288 GB/sec. in 7970 GE) 
      • AMD says this bandwidth will support 4K gaming with "100+ layers" of effects
         
  • No announced price
  • Bundled with Electronic Arts Inc.'s (EA) Battlefield 4 for those who preorder, which will go live Oct. 3:
    
    

It's clear from the R9 290X launch bundled that the formal launch date for the cards is sometime after early October -- potentially in the early November alongside Windows 8.1/Windows 8.1 RT, and the new wave of consoles (PS4, Xbox One).

IV. GPU Programmable Audio -- Revolutionary or Hype?

The most intriguing feature in the new R7/R9 series cards is a new programmable audio engine dubbed "TrueAudio".  AMD bragged the TrueAudio was the first "fully programmable audio engine" built around the shader model.

Raji Koduri -- the chief technical officer of AMD's graphics group, who returned to AMD recently after a stint at Apple, Inc (AAPL) -- recalls, "Programmable shaders revolutionized graphics... programmable shaders let the artists at graphics companies to express themselves, to differentiate themselves."

He then went on to argue that the ability to use GPU hardware to speed up audio processing via its massively parallel core model will revolutionize the quality of gaming sound.

To support that claim Mr. Koduri discussed two examples -- one in which hundreds of voices of non-player characters (NPCs) are processed in real-time (think Skyrim) using graphics acceleration, and another in which 24 channel audio is squeezed into 7.1 channel audio via a computational approximation.

Versus competitive digital signal processing (DSP) engines, AMD brags that its TrueAudio solution is the most effective for game audio as it works hand in hand with graphical position data, so that it's far simpler for developers to write code to simulate 3D sound.

AMD is rolling out TrueAudio to its higher end R9 family, and to its GPUs in the Xbox One/PS4.  This means that most of the console market and a significant chunk of the PC enthusiast markets will have game-optimized 3D audio DSP on tap for the first time.

V. New Games, Better Multi-Monitor, New Technologies Are Incoming

AMD also invited a broad host of gaming partners to show off their upcoming wares and highlighted a number of technologies in R7 and R9, and technologies which it's pushing towards.

Among the major goals AMD highlighted was its efforts to wipe out the barriers to porting games between Linux, consoles, and Windows.  AMD is working to push PCs towards a console-like model for rendering, doing away with Microsoft's proprietary DirectX intermediate (which would also minimize the cost of porting your title to, say, a Linux Steam Box -- uh oh).

The technical details of this are a bit hazy, but it sounds like AMD is building a slimmer, multi-OS API that will allow for common graphics code between, consoles, Linux PCs, and Windows PCs.  Clearly this is very onerous to Microsoft.  The new slim API is dubbed "Mantle".

EA has developed a rendering engine called "FrostBite 3" designed to run on Mantle on the PS4, Xbox One, and Windows.  The test case for the new engine will be BattleField 4.

AMD also highlighted its Forward+ feature for the Volcanic Islands family -- sort of like an improved forward rendering scheme -- which allows transparent materials and numerous hardware-acclerate light sources.

AMD also highlighted its multi-monitor and ultra high-definition (UHD) gaming (aka 4K gaming) efforts.  Mr. Skinner says this technology "makes gamers more competitive", adding, "AMD pioneered multiscreen gaming with our Eyefinity technology."

Crytek and AMD co-developed a demo using AMD's "Ruby" red-headed female mascot which shows off the power of Volcanic Islands.

Aside from EA's Battlefield 4, other titles shown off included Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. (TYO:9684) subsidiary Eidos's latest iteration of the "Thief" franchise -- which reboots the series -- and Xaviant LLC's CryEngine-based "Lichdom" RPG-esque spellcaster first person adventure game.

_{All images courtesy of AMD, unless otherwise noted.}