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BBM now at 85 million monthly active users

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 31 Mar 2014 3:17

BBM now at 85 million monthly active users BlackBerry's most popular product, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) has reached a new milestone this week, reaching 85 million monthly active users.

The messaging service was recently made available to Android and iOS, increasing the potential userbase by a massive amount. The now cross-platform client appears to be sticky, seeing decent growth in its monthly active users (MAUs) and a strong growth in its registered users.

As of this week, BBM now has 85 million monthly users and 113 million registered users. "We have a very solid BBM monetisation plan," says CEO John Chen. "We're seeing a solid uptick in multi platform users, driving growth in total registration. Like last quarter, growing the BBM user base is a top priority and we have a number of initiatives driving this."

In addition, BBM is headed to Windows Phone by the end of the fiscal Q2, and it is already pre-loaded on the Nokia X and some other Lumia devices.

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AfterDawn: News

Evleaks shows off Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 press images

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 31 Mar 2014 2:59

Evleaks shows off Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 press images After the potent leaker @Evleaks showed off the renders of the Tab 4 7.0 last week, he has posted the Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 press images, as well.

The devices look very similar to previous models, and the Tab line is mid-range when compared to the TapPRO and NotePRO models which were just recently released.

Samsung's Tab 4 will have a 10.1-inch display with an expected 1280x800 resolution, a quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400, 1.5GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and dial 1.2/3MP cameras. The device will also launch with Android 4.4 KitKat and Samsung's own suite of apps.

The images have April 24th prominently, which could imply the release date. With low-to-mid-range specs, the device is expected to sell for $300 or less.

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AfterDawn: News

Apple boosting output at Arizona sapphire plant with new expansion

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 31 Mar 2014 2:37

Apple boosting output at Arizona sapphire plant with new expansion Even though construction on the Apple and GT Advanced sapphire manufacturing plant in Arizona is not yet complete, it appears the companies are already planning an expansion.

"Project Cascade," which encompasses the plant and its surrounding 83 acres of land, has a large main structure and parking lots, support structures and other equipment. The current talks would be for an extension into the area behind Cascade.

The adjacent land is vacant and could replicate the size of the current facility, read reports.

Apple/GT's current facility is not yet completed by still outputs product, remaining powered by an array of temporary generators, a mini substation and large chiller units. Construction is slated to finish in June.

The facility builds sapphire boules in bulk, and is used as an alternative to Gorilla Glass, a protective (unscratchable) tech for glass. Sapphire is thinner and lighter than the potassium-enhanced Gorilla Glass, but has been much more expensive in the past. So far, Apple has used the sapphire as a cover for its iPhone cameras and as a cover for the new Touch ID sensor.




AfterDawn: News

BlackBerrry wins preliminary injunction against Typo case for iPhones

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2014 4:13

BlackBerrry wins preliminary injunction against Typo case for iPhones BlackBerry has won an injunction against Typo Products LLC, the makers of the Typo Keyboard cases for iPhones.

The $99 case, which does have a striking resemblance to legacy BlackBerry devices, snaps on to iPhones allowing for easier typing than the native virtual keyboard.

Ryan Seacrest, the producer and TV personality, founded the company and is its largest investor. District Judge William Orrick said BlackBerry "had established a likelihood" that it could prove Typo infringed its patents. Typo could not, at least initially, prove otherwise.

With the preliminary injunction, Typo is now prohibited from selling the keyboard. "BlackBerry is pleased that its motion for a preliminary injunction against Typo Products LLC was granted. This ruling will help prevent further injury to BlackBerry from Typo's blatant theft of our patented keyboard technology," a spokesperson added (via Reuters).

"Typo will continue to make and sell innovative products that busy people can't live without," said Typo, who promised to appeal the decision.




AfterDawn: News

Maker Studios signs content licensing deal with cable TV network

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2014 3:42

Maker Studios signs content licensing deal with cable TV network Maker Studios, the top content creator on YouTube recently acquired by Disney for $500 million, will now be on TV, following a content-licensing deal with music video service Music Choice.

The company will provide over 500 hours of clips and content. For April, Music Choice will feature Maker Studio talent partner Bart Baker's music-parody videos for the entire month. Baker has over 568 million views to his videos so far in 2014 on YouTube.

Music Choice VP of programming Damon Williams says he approached the content maker well before Disney ever came calling. "I went after them before I knew anything about Disney," he said. "I felt the content they were creating would really resonate -- and saw an opportunity to bring their content to the TV platform."

Besides its own talent, Maker Studios has deals to develop channels with Will.i.am, Snoop Lion and other musical acts. Such programming would definitely fit in Music Choice's catalog.

"This is a valuable partnership for Maker, as Music Choice's multiple properties are a perfect fit to for our artists and music programming," said Jenna Seiden, VP distribution and strategic partnerships at Maker Studios. "We're thrilled that Music Choice viewers will now be able to experience stars like the incredible Bart Baker and we look forward to sharing more great music content in the coming year."

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AfterDawn: News

Mozilla employees want brand new CEO Brendan Eich to resign, already

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2014 2:38

Mozilla employees want brand new CEO Brendan Eich to resign, already Mozilla's brand new CEO Brendan Eich, hired earlier this month, has already seen employees publicly demand his resignation.

Eich, who is one of the creators of the JavaScript language, donated money to California's Prop 8 (a proposal to ban gay marriage) in 2008, and protests over his anti-gay views have been increasing, especially since his promotion.

Several prominent employees have already called for the CEO's ouster, and three Mozilla board members stepped down this week, as well. Former CEOs Gary Kovacs and John Lilly, along with Shmoop CEO Ellen Siminoff, have all stepped down. The board members stepped down because they had been looking to bring in an outside CEO with better experience in mobile. This did not happen. Mozilla says one of the board members had decided to leave at the end of the CEO search no matter who was selected, and the other had plans to leave since January.

Mozilla has been trying to expand into mobile but the road has been slow and not fruitful to date.




AfterDawn: News

Apple rebuffed by Swiss watchmakers as it tries to poach employees

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2014 2:15

Apple rebuffed by Swiss watchmakers as it tries to poach employees According to the FT, Apple has been trying to poach top Swiss watchmakers from luxury brands in its efforts to bring an innovative smartwatch to market.

Apple is not the only tech giant trying to court watchmakers, however, with at least one company claiming to have seen advances from Apple, Samsung, Google and Motorola. The Swatch Group, the world's biggest watchmaker by volume, says it has little incentive nor want to working with tech companies: "We have been in discussions – not ever initiated by us – with practically all players in smart wearables up until today," Swatch CEO Nick Hayek said. "However, we see no reason why we should enter into any partnership agreement."

Rather, Hayek says, the company is looking to protect their IP for design, longevity and battery life against big tech rivals.

LVMH, the biggest luxury smartwatch maker in the world, recently accused Apple of trying to poach away staff at its Hublot brand, and from several of its part manufacturing companies. "Apple has contacted some of my employees – I saw the emails personally," LVMH President Jean-Claude Biver said. Everyone contacted rejected the proposals.

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AfterDawn: News

Valve's VR boss is now chief scientist for Oculus VR

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2014 1:44

Valve's VR boss is now chief scientist for Oculus VR Despite Facebook's acquisition of Oculus VR, it appears some of the brightest in the industry are not scared to join the team.

Michael Abrash, the lead expert for VR at Valve, has confirmed he is leaving the company to become Chief Scientist for Oculus.

Says Abrash of the move: "Facebook's acquisition of Oculus means that VR is going to happen in all its glory. The resources and long-term commitment that Facebook brings gives Oculus the runway it needs to solve the hard problems of VR – and some of them are hard indeed. I now fully expect to spend the rest of my career pushing VR as far ahead as I can."

Valve founder Gabe Newell hired Abrash in 2011, saying at the time that he had "been trying to hire Michael Abrash forever." The scientist is a long-time industry veteran, whose code is found in Windows, tons of video games, and other software. Abrash is the third VR engineer to leave Valve for Oculus this year.




AfterDawn: News

Roku CEO: Apple loses money on Apple TV

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2014 1:29

Roku CEO: Apple loses money on Apple TV Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood had some interesting speculation about the Apple TV, which is considered one of the company's biggest rivals in the streaming set-top box market.

"Apple TV is essentially an accessory for the iPad. They lose money, which is unusual for Apple," Wood noted. "If you're losing money, why would you want to sell more?"

Tim Cook, CEO at Apple, recently said that the Apple TV (which was once called a 'hobby' by the company) brought in $1 billion in revenue between hardware sales and the content purchased through it. That being said, the devices are very low-margin compared to their iOS devices, and does not fit with Apple's usual modus operandi.

In addition, Wood also thanked big tech companies like Apple for getting into the market, because consumer awareness immediately went up. For example, when the Apple TV was launched, Roku sales doubled, says Wood, as the company offered a cheaper price tag and more features.




AfterDawn: News

Class action against Apple over e-book scandal gets OK from judge

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2014 1:10

Class action against Apple over e-book scandal gets OK from judge A judge has given the OK for class action certification to a group of consumers who sued Apple last year for its violation of antitrust law in a major e-book scandal.

The company was found guilty of conspiring with five major book publishers to raise the price of e-books with the launch of the iPad in 2010.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote made the ruling, claiming that the plaintiffs had "more than met their burden" to be approved as a group. "This is a paradigmatic antitrust class action," wrote Cote in her ruling, with a trial set for later this year to determine monetary damages. Apple will likely have to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to millions of consumers affected. 33 states will also be part of the class action suit on behalf of their consumers, with all the plaintiffs seeking over $800 million in damages from Apple.

As part of the price-fixing conspiracy, all the publishers settled and paid millions in fines and damages, but Apple took it to court before losing last summer to the U.S. Department of Justice. At the time, Amazon had a monopoly on the e-book market, and they began to charge whatever price they saw fit, sometimes offering the books for less than retail to sell more Kindle hardware. When Apple came around, they conspired with the publishers to change the pricing scheme, setting a strong floor for book prices and making it much more expensive for consumers.




AfterDawn: News

Yahoo trying to create its own YouTube with poached YouTube stars?

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Mar 2014 6:16

Yahoo trying to create its own YouTube with poached YouTube stars? According to a new Re/code report, Yahoo is looking to start its own video sharing site, poaching some of Yahoo's biggest stars in the process.

The new strategy could be launched in the coming months, and will provide popular video sharers with more revenue for their videos. The last point has been a major criticism of YouTube since its inception. It can sometimes take hundreds of thousands of views to your videos to receive any kind of compensation.

Besides individuals, Yahoo has also approached large networks that are currently on YouTube, offering better ad revenue or guaranteed ad rates for their videos. In addition, the company has also offered marketing for the videos, even on the front page of its Yahoo.com portal.

While the service will be similar to YouTube, it won't allow millions of users to upload whatever they want at all times. The service will instead offer hand-picked professional YouTube users and content. Yahoo tried to purchase French video-sharing service DailyMotion but was blocked. The company will likely create its own content management system for the service, but sources also suggested they could look into purchasing Vimeo, which sees over 100 million page views per month and has 22 million registered users.

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AfterDawn: News

Device makers must now add 'Powered by Android' to their devices or risk losing access to the Google Play Store

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Mar 2014 5:30

Device makers must now add 'Powered by Android' to their devices or risk losing access to the Google Play Store Google has updated their Google Mobile Services agreement for Android phones, adding the new mandate that each device must have a bootup logo that states "Powered by Android."

The new logo has its own guidelines, as well, and must be present for devices to keep their access to the Google Play Store and other Google services.

This new move certainly makes sense for Google. Google is a globally known household name, but not everyone knows Android is the operating system on their, for example, brand new Galaxy S device. By adding the logo during boot up, Google hopes to make the operating system more widely known, no matter who is your OEM of choice.

On new devices, like the Galaxy S5 and the all-new HTC One M8, the companies are already using the new logo, underneath the classic green Android robot and their own name.

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AfterDawn: News

Sony brings its e-ink tablet 'Digital Paper' to the U.S., for $1100

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Mar 2014 5:11

Sony brings its e-ink tablet 'Digital Paper' to the U.S., for $1100 Last year, Sony released their Digital Paper e-reader/tablet in Japan to a niche audience. It will now try to reach that same niche audience in the U.S.

The device, which is part e-reader and part tablet, is aimed at legal professionals with extreme note taking needs.

Digital Paper devices have 13.3-inch flexible e-ink displays with 1600x1200 resolution, 3GB internal storage (with microSD slot for more), Wi-Fi support, a battery that lasts over three weeks on average and a design that is just 6.8mm thick and 0.79 pounds heavy.

The device also has optical and active digitizer touchscreens for both finger and stylus inputs. You can mark documents right on the screen, although the device shockingly only supports PDFs. Even with Wi-Fi ability, there is no way to add an email client or other apps.

Sony will sell the Digital Paper through document management company Worlddox for the hefty price tag of $1100, even more expensive than the highest capacity 4G-capable iPad Air.




AfterDawn: News

Songza music app can now recommend tracks based on current weather

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Mar 2014 4:30

Songza music app can now recommend tracks based on current weather Songza has announced a partnership with The Weather Channel in which the current weather in your area will be combined with your musical preferences within the app to create customized recommendations for you.

The service allows you to get curated lists of music from "experts" depending on the activity you are doing (trying to nap, jogging) or your mood (sad, happy), or just by standard genres.

With the new deal, Songza will leverage actual weather data to help curate your music. "With new data provided by The Weather Channel, we can more accurately predict your context, helping you enjoy more sunsets and weather more storms," added Songza CEO and co-founder Elias Roman.

For example (and pictured), you will greeted with a few options depending on your weather like "angry and brooding" or "Relaxing and Soothing" if it's thunderstorming out.




AfterDawn: News

iPhone 6 rumor roundup

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Mar 2014 3:54

iPhone 6 rumor roundup Every year, the rumors for the next-generation iPhone have been steady since the launch of the previous iPhone, and this year is no different.

The most prominent rumor is that of the size of the upcoming device. A new report in the Nikkei Asian Review states that suppliers are actually building two models, a 4.7-inch and a 5.5-inch screen variety, a huge jump from the 4-inch iPhone 5, 5C and 5S and the 3.5-inch iPhone 4S, which still remains on sale.

By comparison, nearly all Android phone makers have flagships with screen sizes at 5 inches or larger, some going as large as 6.3-inches.

As the company has been doing nearly every year, as well, the Retina Display resolution will be increased, as well, with reports claiming it will be above 1080p finally.

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