The 53 Gold-Plated iPhones For Nigeria’s Independence Arrive! [PHOTO]

Although it was denied by the Federal Government, gold-plated iPhones bearing the country coat  of arms have arrived the country in time for it’s 53rd anniversary.

The iPhones valued at N662m from Gold and Co, a British luxury products company to mark her 53rd independence anniversary. It is however not clear who and who will be getting the phone.




The spokesperson for FG, Dr.Reuben Abati has stated that there is no one in the administration that ordered for such commodity. The phones have generated much heated argument from all quarters, with people of the view that an ordinary individual cannot boldly order such number of customised phones with Nigeria’s crested coat of arm.

iPhone 6 again rumored to see Apple begin moving away from Samsung for chip production

Samsung was still very much a part of Apple’s latest flagship iPhone 5s, having been tasked with building the 64-bit A7 processor Apple designed to power the new handset. With the next-generation A8 processor that will power the iPhone 6 and other mobile devices in 2014, however, Apple will reportedly begin backing away from Samsung. According to South Korean newspaper Hankyung, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company will be charged with building as much as 70% of the A8 inventory Apple will use over the lifetime of its next product generation. Samsung will still handle 30% to 40% of Apple’s A8 orders, according to the report. Earlier reports claimed Apple would completely dump Samsung and use TSMC to build the iPhone 6′s processor.

How Small Firms Should Deal With Data

It has never been easier for entrepreneurs to collect information about their businesses.
Journal Report
But how do entrepreneurs know what to collect—and how to act on it? For small-business owners strapped for time and resources, sorting through reams of information from social media, website analytics and customer surveys can lead to confusion or paralysis. We asked experts and entrepreneurs for their best advice about dealing with that torrent.
Look Past the Latest Quarter

Before you plunge into data, keep some important points in mind. First: Whatever numbers you collect, take the long view. Expand your time frame to include the most recent quarters at least, says Hamilton Wallace, an independent consultant in Phoenix. Otherwise, you might mistake a one-time event for a genuine trend. What's more, use software to organize your data into a visual format such as charts or graphs. "It's easier to identify trends if the data are presented visually," says Steve King, partner at Emergent Research in Lafayette, Calif.

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Beyond that, set a routine. Avoid paralysis by sitting down regularly, perhaps once a week, with your stats so you become more attuned to the rhythms of your business and adept at interpreting information. But don't go to the other extreme of monitoring data all day, every day—it's more distracting than helpful, says Mr. King.
Figure Out What Stats Matter Most

As for what data to collect, look at numbers close to home about your regional or local market and your customers, says Mr. Wallace. Broader numbers like industry data or national trends are "too far removed."

So, what kinds of stats matter? A good place to start: Use such software as Google Analytics to learn how many people visit your site and when they come so you can see, for example, if a promotion you ran on a certain day brought an upswing in visitors.

You'll also want to know whether visitors located you through social media, an advertisement or a search engine, so you can figure out which marketing strategies are bringing you traffic. And look at which pages within your site people visit and whether they tend to leave from one particular page. For instance, Mark Spera, who uses Google Analytics to track Web visitors to his startup BeGood Clothing, has noted that traffic jumps significantly just after the company is mentioned in fashion and lifestyle blogs. So, "I spend a lot of time cold-calling and reaching out to bloggers," says Mr. Spera, chief executive and co-founder of the San Francisco apparel retailer.

As for customer data, solicit all kinds of information about individual customers, including age, gender and family size. You can learn customers' geographic locations and purchasing histories, too, from your ordering and fulfillment systems. Then put all of that information into a database program so you can slice and dice it by various criteria. If your data shows a big chunk of customers have large families or live in the suburbs, you can target your promotions and marketing accordingly.

But don't try to predict bigger trends in customer behavior on your own, since there are so many variables, advises Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro, a business-analytics consultant in Boston. Instead, use software that analyzes data and builds a decision tree. For example, if you want to see what might happen if you hold more big promotional events, the software can analyze past sales patterns and customer behavior and map out possible business outcomes.
What Customer Feedback Tells You

Customer suggestions can be valuable, but you can't afford to spend hours perusing all of them. Some social-media sites let you sort out comments written by those who have large followings or whose comments are frequently posted elsewhere. "Those are the ones that can have an impact," so you read those first, says Mr. King.

If your business attracts emailed comments, set up your inbox so that incoming messages from, say, existing customers flow into a high-priority folder. Whether you're reading online comments or emailed ones, search for hot-button words such as "quality" or "complaint," advises Mr. King.

Also, look for patterns as you would when analyzing numbers. When software maker Perrla LLC solicited customer input on product ideas in early 2012, it received 1,500 emailed responses. A big cluster of customers demanded a new version of the software for the Macintosh platform. Perrla had been planning to release a Macintosh version but decided to accelerate its effort. Now the Apple version accounts for 25% of Perrla's sales, says Cliff Batson, co-owner of Perrla, based in Nashville, Tenn.

How Google's New Web Tracking Plan Could Give It A Monopoly Over Facebook And Apple

In a country that has no shortage of vending machines, Google Japan has decided to join the fray. The company has announced three dedicated Google Play machines that will sell 18 different gaming titles which are a mix of free-to-play and paid-for titles. To use the machines, you'll need a smartphone running Android 4.0 and NFC -- and that's about it. You rest the phone on the tray below the screen, and NFC pairing takes care of the rest. We put the machine to the test with our LG G2 on hand, and had no troubles choosing and downloading a free game through the machine. There's a slick unified animation from the giant touchscreen (which looks almost identical to drinks machines elsewhere in the country) to your Android phone of choice when the download kicks in. Also, for trying out another Google app, you'll get a 'present' which 'drops' down from the screen and into the vending tray once your download is complete.
Not an Android user? Don't worry, because the vending machine will offer up a Nexus 4 for you to try out, although you do have to give it back, however. Several boiler-suited Google employees will man the machines when they're switched on tomorrow in front of the Parco department store in Shibuya. For now, it looks to be a Japan-only promotion -- but it's another great excuse to hit up the country's vending machines.

BlackBerry defers BBM rollout due to leak online

BlackBerry has put on hold its plans to open up its instant messaging platform to rival Android phone brands after an unreleased version of the BBM for Android app was leaked online.

“Consequently, this unreleased version caused issues, which we have attempted to address throughout the day,” BlackBerry said in a blog.

“Our teams continue to work around the clock to bring BBM to Android and iPhone, but only when it’s ready and we know it will live up to your expectations of BBM. We are pausing the global rollout of BBM for Android and iPhone,” the Canadian phone maker said.
Staggered rollout

BlackBerry will now begin a staggered country rollout of BBM instead of a simultaneous global launch, as was announced earlier. “These issues have not impacted BBM service for BlackBerry,” the company said.

The rollback has come at a time when BlackBerry is struggling to stay relevant in a highly competitive market dominated by the likes of Samsung and Apple. While BlackBerry phones, based on its new operating system BB10, have received lukewarm response from consumers, the decision to open up BBM to platforms other than BlackBerry had created some excitement.

The move had pit BlackBerry against players such as WhatsApp, WeChat and Nimbuzz globally.

“By opening up BBM to other platforms, we are doing two things. One, we want to expand the engagement levels of existing 60 million BBM users with other phone brands and, second, we are hoping to bring back some of those users who were once on BlackBerry but shifted to other platforms because BBM was restricted only to BlackBerry phones,” Sunil Lalvani, Managing Director, BlackBerry India, had earlier told Business Line.

Some of the Indian phone brands, including Micromax, had already announced plans to preload their devices with the BBM application and had also started advertising it. But the pause in rollout could further dampen the game for BlackBerry.

WHY didn't Microsoft buy RIM? Us business blokes would have queued for THAT phone

Sysadmin blog In the wake of Microsoft announcing that it's acquiring Nokia, and BlackBerry announcing that it's buying itself out of the public market with Fairfax’s help, I can’t help but come to a single conclusion: Microsoft has missed what could possibly have been the single greatest acquisition in its company’s history.

As you’ll know if you follow me on Twitter I have an iPhone. This iPhone constitutes the entirety of my mobile office. I do everything on it. I bank; I process payments; I surf the web; I write articles; I write specifications; I crunch numbers, manage spreadsheets and run a business that lately has taken on multiple layers of unexpected complexity.

If you’ve been paying attention you’ll notice that there’s one thing I haven’t yet said about my iPhone that I maybe would have said 12 months ago. What I haven’t expressed about my iPhone is any love whatsoever.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a great deal of affection and emotional investment in the device that stores and controls most of the things I do on a daily basis. I just don’t love it any more, and I suspect that I’m not alone. So I’ve been looking to see if I can find a replacement phone to use, and possibly love, on a daily basis and I have to say that I am thoroughly disgusted with what I’ve found.

What I’ve found is nothing. Not a single phone out there meets the requirements that I, as a mobile business user, need to get through my day. Looking for a high-end consumer smart phone? Sorted. Looking for an entry-level consumer phone? Sorted.

Most of my list of requirements were reasonably simple and easily fulfilled. It had to have decent specs and build quality; a reliable, updatable OS; decent productivity software; and a decent browser. It wasn’t until I sat down and really thought things through though that I realised I wanted something that could be considered unusual, something that it turns out is apparently impossible to to have given the single device = single user nature of our current software.

Looking for a mid-range, business suitable phone that can run profiles? You’re shit out of luck.

By profiles I don’t mean that I want user accounts, what I mean is that when it’s time to get down to work I want to be able to switch my phone into work mode and have it bring to the fore everything I would normally use while working. I want it to know that I spend most of my day switching between five apps and give me easy access to those apps. I want it to know that while I don’t call a lot of people, I do send a ridiculous amount of email every day from a business account and while I’m doing that, I really couldn’t care about what’s going on in my personal accounts.

What I want is a phone that I can tell I’m working and have it work with me, rather than having to work around it, through it and over it. If you’re still with me you’re probably wondering what in the seven hells this has to do with Microsoft missing the biggest acquisition in the company's history.

Well, here it is.

Microsoft should have bought BlackBerry, the phone maker formerly known as RIM. Forget Nokia. In fact, screw Nokia to the seven hells of Cthulhu and back. Nokia haven’t made a decent smartphone ever. Nokia make really really great feature phones and crappy smartphones that they market as high-end.

You might have guessed that I’m not a fan of Nokia and you’d be right. Microsoft buying Nokia doesn’t make any sense. It’s like me trying to get into the LCD panel business by buying a CRT manufacturer that’s going out of business.

RIM, on the other hand, understood the smartphone sector. It's been getting its ass kicked for the last five years because it misjudged Apple. Then again, the only biz that appears to have not underestimated the iPhone giant is Samsung, so this is one mistake that I’m willing to forgive.

Not only does BlackBerry know smartphones but it still employs some of the smartest people in the room. They also understand how to make a reasonably priced mobe. What they ran out of, though, was runway. By the time BlackBerry realised that it was in serious trouble, the kind of trouble where your company is about to end and you’re going to have to pink-slip everybody, it had no tarmac left. There were no options left other than to take the first offer that was on the table. It was highly unlikely that there was ever going to be another one.

It’s a shame really because this would have been a match made in heaven for Microsoft. As much as the Windows goliath appears to be floundering out of control in the consumer sector, Microsoft gets Enterprise. They understand, the needs of big biz in the smartphone and tablet markets are nowhere even close to being met.

Consumer smartphones are the handheld redheaded stepchild and should be treated with the same level of disdain in a corporate environment. I won’t name names but one popular OS (cough, Android, cough) has got so bad that it now appears to offer MaaS (Malware as a Service) and it seems to have been doing this for some time in various differing guises. Don’t look so smug, Apple fanbois. Your OS’s indifference to actually supporting Exchange email services properly, or even remotely well, is a disgrace and every update brings new ways to make it worse.

What Microsoft could have offered to BlackBerry was a reprieve. Not just a reprieve, though; Redmond could have offered them a shit-tonne of money. This is one situation where throwing billions of dollars at the problem would have actually fixed it.

Why? Not many people actually bought the latest BlackBerry handsets, but those who did reported a user satisfaction level akin to Samsung's Android.

Let that sink in for a moment. A relatively small Canadian company, running out of time, money, and options, produced a phone with an OS that people actually enjoyed as much as the most popular variant of Android and far, far more than Windows Phone 8. It’s incredible that with every single odd stacked against the BlackBurgers, they managed to pull that off.

Now imagine what they could have done had they Microsoft’s Marketing and Money Might™ behind them. Imagine what they could have come up with had Microsoft done what they did with the XBox boys in the beginning and set them up in their own building on campus and let them do whatever they needed to with no interference as long as they built products that were, in BlackBerry's case, aimed at Small Businesses and Enterprise users.

Can you imagine a phone built from the ground up with security in mind, running endpoint protection natively, with deep hooks for remote management built in? Can you imagine a phone smart enough to truly be called a smartphone?

With the awesome might of Microsoft behind them, BlackBerry could have built it.

Sadly, we don’t live in my fantasy world where Microsoft bails out BlackBerry and I end up with a phone that does everything I could ever dream of for productivity. Instead Microsoft is buying Nokia, and it’s a shame really. $4.7bn is an absolute steal for BlackBerry. Heck, I would have queued to buy a reasonably priced BlackBerry by Microsoft. I would have queued all night.

Apple Touch ID fingerprint tech 'broken', hackers say

Hackers claim to have broken Apple's iPhone 5S Touch ID fingerprint recognition system just a day after the phone was launched.

Germany's Chaos Computer Club claims it "successfully bypassed the biometric security of Apple's Touch ID using easy everyday means".

By photographing a fingerprint left on a glass surface and creating a fake finger they were able to unlock the phone, the hackers claim.

But Apple maintains Touch ID is secure.

On its website the iPhone maker says there is a one in 50,000 chance of two separate fingerprints being alike and the technology provides "a very high level of security".

Karsten Nohl, chief scientist at SRLabs, a German hacking think tank, told the BBC: "It would have been incredible if Apple had managed to do something the rest of the biometrics industry has failed to achieve after decades of trying, so I'm not surprised it was hacked after just one day.

"Claiming this system offers a high level of security is just ridiculous," he added.
Convenience

Apple does not suggest that Touch ID is a total replacement for traditional passcode security, simply a more convenient way of unlocking the phone.
Chaos Computer Club logo The Chaos Computer Club believes fingerprint biometrics "should be avoided"

"Touch ID is designed to minimise the input of your passcode; but your passcode will be needed for additional security validation," Apple says.

But it does not address the ability of hackers lifting individual prints and creating fake fingers, as the Chaos Computer Club claims to have done.

Mr Nohl says a five-digit password would be more secure than a fingerprint and believes Apple should have focused on convenience rather than security in its marketing of the Touch ID feature.

On Friday, an influential US senator called for Apple to answer "substantial privacy questions" arising from the technology.

Google unveils major upgrade to search algorithm

Google has unveiled an upgrade to the way it interprets users' search requests.

The new algorithm, codenamed Hummingbird, is the first major upgrade for three years.

It has already been in use for about a month, and affects about 90% of Google searches.

At a presentation on Thursday, the search giant was short on specifics but said Hummingbird is especially useful for longer and more complex queries.

Google stressed that a new algorithm is important as users expect more natural and conversational interactions with a search engine - for example, using their voice to speak requests into mobile phones, smart watches and other wearable technology.

Hummingbird is focused more on ranking information based on a more intelligent understanding of search requests, unlike its predecessor, Caffeine, which was targeted at better indexing of websites.
Continue reading the main story  
“Start Quote

    We just changed Google's engines mid-flight - again”

Amit Singhal Senior VP, Google Search

It is more capable of understanding concepts and the relationships between them rather than simply words, which leads to more fluid interactions. In that sense, it is an extension of Google's "Knowledge Graph" concept introduced last year aimed at making interactions more human.

In one example, shown at the presentation, a Google executive showed off a voice search through her mobile phone, asking for pictures of the Eiffel Tower. After the pictures appeared, she then asked how tall it was. After Google correctly spoke back the correct answer, she then asked "show me pictures of the construction" - at which point a list of images appeared.
Big payoffs?

However, one search expert cautioned that it was too early to determine Hummingbird's impact. "For me this is more of a coming out party, rather than making me think 'wow', said Danny Sullivan, founder of Search Engine Land.

Tamar Yehoshua of Google Search demonstrates Google's new user interface, by looking for information on impressionist painters

"If you've been watching this space, you'd have already seen how they've integrated it into the [predictive search app] Google Now and conversational search.

"To know that they've put this technology further into their index may have some big payoffs but we'll just have to see how it plays out," Mr Sullivan said.

The news was announced at an intimate press event at the Silicon Valley garage where founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page worked on the launch of the search engine, which is fifteen years old on Friday.

At the event, the search behemoth also announced an updated search app on Apple's iOS, as well as a more visible presence for voice search on its home page.

DOGS VS BOKOHARAM: The ‘dogs of war’ in Boko Haram enclave

Lance Corporal  Adi  of the Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police (NACMP) is one of the  heroes of the war against the Islamist  group, Boko Haram, in the North-east. A native of Pakistan,  Adi’s platoon was  singled out for commendation  by  the Chief of  the Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azibuike Ihejirika,  for executing an  operation  in Maiduguri, Borno State capital..

“Acting on a tip-off that that there was a  house in the town serving as an armoury for the terrorists”,  recalled Major General Raphael Isa, Provost Marshall of the Nigeria Army, at a  crowded gathering of serving and retired military officers,  royal fathers and journalists  at the parade grounds of the Nigerian Army School of Military Police, Basawa, Zaria, Kaduna State on  Monday,” the house  was searched  thoroughly for weapons. But  not  a single weapon was found”. He went on: “Frustrated, the troops began to leave thinking the information was false”. But Adi and  his colleagues refused to leave, insisting that there were weapons concealed somewhere in the house.

Since Adi is a dog – brown-white sported Labrador – and his team were international trained canines, the human soldiers had no choice than to respect the sniffing sense of the animal.

Adi was a gift from the Pakistani Chief of  the Army Staff  to his Nigerian counterpart  when the latter visited Pakistan last year.

“On the insistence of the dog”, the Provost Marshall went on, “this time the house was taken apart  pieces by pieces”.
*One of the dogs with sniffing sense (Insert) Capt. Nneka Olimma-Osakwe

*One of the dogs with sniffing sense (Insert) Capt. Nneka Olimma-Osakwe

“If you see the kind of armaments that were recovered from the house, you will shudder.

“You could imagine what kind of damage these weapons could have wreaked on human beings”.

He had interrupted a demonstration of  the feat of  the sniffer dogs  to narrate the story.

In one of the shows, a row of army rug sacks was arranged  with  a sample of narcotics hidden in one. The sample drug was placed in one of the bags by the representative of the Director General of the Nigeria  Intelligence Agency (NIA).

It took just about five minutes for the dogs  to search the  bags to reveal the drug It would have taken about 60 minutes by a human to search the 12 bags.

Moments later, Lance Corporal   Asko, a huge tailless German Shepherd – or is it a Doberman? -was led by its handler to the sacks. He went round sniffing from bag to bag. Some four minutes after,  it arrived where the sample narcotic was concealed. It dipped its snout into the bag, sniffed and sat still beside the bag. The trainer  opened the bag and took out the offensive substance to the wonder of the crowd, which clapped at the performance.

In another, a cocktail of “ingredients” for making Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) was put in can-coke container and hidden  underneath a  car. Lcp Zana – another fierce looking German Shepherd – was led to find it among  a row  of cars. Wagging its tail, the dog  smelled the first car from corner to corner, tyre to tyre and dragged away it handler to the next car, where  the evil material was placed.

As it went from corner to corner, it pulled its handler to the spot where the bomb material was tugged up underneath the car. It went down, sniffed up, wagged its tail vigorously and went down on its four and refused to move, to indicate it had accomplished its mission.

In  an interview, the person in-charge of the training of the dogs, Capt. Nneka Olimma-Osakwe,  opened up to Sunday Vanguard about her “soldiers”.

“They are trained to be disciplined, brave and tough”, she said.

“We have about 60 of them, and each can perform most  of all the tasks though a few are specialists. They can crawl for long under enemy fire to rescue someone. They can find persons trapped in collapsed structures; help you find your way back home if you are lost, and so on. Where machines may fail, the dogs don’t make mistakes. They are very dependable”,  Nneka, who finished from Inland Girls Secondary School Onitsha in 1990 before joining  the Army in 1993, said. According to her, the   dogs and their handlers were trained in Nigeria and  the US.

“It takes a lot of effort, time and resources to train these dogs. But, most of all, you must have love for them if you must be an effective handler. It is all about love for animals, and dogs have the highest sense of smell among all animals. And you can take that advantage and make them  do so many things for the benefit of human beings and still accord them their rights and respects as reliable partners “.

“My dogs are  my soldiers. They have their ranks and they also get promotion. If they are promoted, their salary is increased.  And please don’t ask me how they spend their money . But it  is reflected by the extra luxury accorded them when promoted”, she said.

The dogs were brought in for demonstration during a one-day law enforcement seminar organised by the NACMP.

At the opening ceremony of the seminar,  Isa had this to say on  the dogs: “The performance of the Military Working Dogs (MWDs) in the North-east is a testimony of the innovation of the Chief of the Army Staff. Currently, a platoon of MWDs are being used for search and rescue operation, cordon and search, detection and other sundry operations in which excellent results are achieved,” been given for the purchase of more, to form another platoon.

Mexican Tycoon Carlos Slim Welcomes Telecom Challenge From Britain's Richard Branson

Britain’s headline-grabbing billionaire Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, plans to take on Carlos Slim, the world’s second richest person, on Slim’s home turf: Mexico. In an exclusive interview with Expansión magazine this week, Branson said that he is getting ready to enter the cell phone market in Mexico, currently controlled by Carlos Slim’s América Móvil. “I think there’s room for both of us. I don’t think [Slim] will suffer much from our presence,” he told the magazine.

Asked about Branson’s expansion plans, Arturo Elías Ayub, Slim’s spokesperson and son-in law, responded: “Competition is always welcomed.”
Mexico's Congress Passes Monopoly-Busting Telecom Bill, Threatening Tycoon Carlos Slim's Business Empire Dolia Estevez Dolia Estevez Contributor

Challenging Slim casts Branson in his familiar role as underdog. “Compared to Slim, whose wealth is estimated at $73 billion, he is a relative minnow in the global billionaire pond, with a personal fortune of $4.6 billion,” commented The Daily Telegraph of London. Forbes currently pegs Slim’s net worth at $67 billion, a drop from Forbes $73 billion estimate in March 2013.

Branson appears to be taking advantage of a new Mexican telecommunication law designed to boost competition in the phone and television industries. América Móvil (NYSE:AMX) currently controls 80% of Mexico’s landline phone and 70% of the country’s wireless market.

The far-reaching telecom law, approved overwhelmingly by the Mexican Congress in May, imposes a 50% market share limit. It also gives a new regulatory body power to revoke operating licenses for monopolistic practices.

Elías Ayub, who is also director of strategic alliances at Telmex, América Móvil’s landline phone subsidiary, said this week during a forum sponsored by Forbes Mexico, that the new telecom law establishes a level playing field for competitors in the industry and that this will attract more investment, which will in turn create certainty, new competitors and greater benefits to the end-user, with more competition, better prices, quality and services.

Elías Ayub admitted, however, that while the new law provides greater legal certainty, it’s hurting Telmex where Telmex has a higher market share. Nevertheless, he said, the convergence in telecommunications called for by the reform will open the door for Telmex to offer TV services, which are currently 70% controlled by fellow billionaire Emilio Azcarraga.

In 2011, Branson launched Virgin Mobile Latin America (VMLA), the cell retailer that  buys airtime minutes wholesale and resells them under its brand. VMLA operates in Chile and Colombia. According to Expansión, 2011 was also the year that Branson received his licenses to operate in Mexico, which he now plans to do in 2014.

In the interview, Branson also spoke about a possible agreement with a Mexican cell phone carrier to buy time as well as the percentage of the market he seeks to control in Mexico.

Branson ranked 272 in this year’s Forbes World’s Billionaires list, with a net worth of $4.6 billion, $400 million more than in 2012,  thanks mostly to the sale of Virgin Media to fellow billionaire John Malone‘s Liberty Global.

BlackBerry apps a top priority: VP

BlackBerry has attempted to convince app developers not to abandon the struggling smartphones, saying its phone ecosystem remained a top priority for the company.

VP of developer relations for BlackBerry World, Alec Saunders, says taking advantage of a robust developer environment and experience for BlackBerry smartphone end users remains an absolute priority for the brand.

Despite a turbulent year culminating in the announcement of a sale last week, Mr Saunders told the delegates collected for BlackBerry Jam Asia in Hong Kong Thursday morning that the company was focused on scaling the BlackBerry app environment.

“There’s one thing I want to clear up right at the our set of this talk,” he said in his keynote address. “We remain dedicated to providing the best mobility experience for our customers ... Our focus is unchanged. There has been tons of progress too, especially in the developer community.”

He said that in the first seven months, BlackBerry World had amassed 131,708 apps in its ecosystem compared with 17,500 apps on iOS in the App Store’s first seven months and 2,908 in the same period for Android.

“Many of these unique apps were built right here in Asia,” he said. “Thirty-seven per cent of BBWorld apps were built in Asia.”

He said BlackBerry’s Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures how likely a developer is to recommend developing for the platform to friends, colleagues and co-workers, had risen from -43 wehn it first launched in May 2012 to +46 today.

“Nine out of 10 APAC developers now recommend BlackBerry as a developer platform,” he said.

Sanders said platform was the core focus of BlackBerry, meaning there would be investment in apps for connected cars, wearable devices and connected homes.

He said BlackBerry was mobile first and the first to enable application development for the mobile environment through the Java environment. As such, he believes BlackBerry should have advantages in these nascent connected spaces.

“When you’re developing an application for a wired world you can make all kinds of assumptions [about the technology]...in the mobile world you cant make any of those assumptions.

“How do we make that user experience easier, more useful, more transparent, seamless.”

A demonstration was executed to show how a BlackBerry device could use Bluetooth enabled monitors to measure heart rate and securely record and show that information to a third party such as a trainer or GP.

Senior director for BlackBerry Development, Chris Smith, and Saunders then demonstrated a new user interface function where you can link a BlackBerry phone to your desktop and project your BlackBerry Messenger onto your desktop screen. The application is not hosted on the desktop or laptop device at all, but is in fact completely run by the phone itself.

It is currently ready for PC environments and is being tested for Mac and others.

The Internet of Things

JUST DAYS after Apple launched its new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C — selling more than nine million units of the smartphones last weekend — a German biometrics hacking group claimed to have cracked the fingerprint scanner that features in the first model. The Chaos Computer Club, which has been exposing several other fingerprint sensors, claims they are easy to hack, and are unreliable.

 A few weeks earlier, TRENDnet, a marketer of video cameras that allows consumers to monitor their homes remotely came to a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over charges that its lax security practices exposed the privacy of hundreds of consumers to public viewing on the Internet. Hackers exploited a flaw in the system and posted links to live feeds of nearly 700 cameras. The action was the first by the agency against a marketer of an everyday product, linked to the internet and known popularly as the Internet of Things (IoT).

 Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the FTC, noted that while IoT holds great promise for innovative consumer products and services, consumer privacy and security must remain a priority as companies develop more devices to connect to the internet. Regulators around the globe will soon have to grapple with serious issues relating to privacy as billions of new devices get connected to the internet,

Internet of Things, along with mobile Internet, are the two most potent ‘disruptive’ technologies that will have profound impact on the global economy, the technology space and even issues related to privacy over the coming decades. It has been predicted that by 2020, 50 billion ‘things’ — including personal gadgets, devices, vehicles, machinery and equipment — will go online as the Internet of Things spreads like a wild forest fire across the world. Not only will ‘things’ be connected to the net, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications will also emerge as a major business. And the dramatic fall in the cost of some of the building blocks of IoT, including radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, is encouraging manufacturers of a variety of products to embrace the new technology.

 Consumers will soon be ‘wearing’ smart devices including head gear, eyewear and smart watches that will ensure they are connected to other ‘things’ and the virtual world all the time. Samsung has just launched its Galaxy Gear, a wristwatch that “enhances the freedom of mobile communications.” Apple will also soon launch its iWatch. And Google’s much-awaited Glass will enable the consumer donning the eyewear and muttering the magical words ‘ok glass,’ to trigger off a series of actions including taking pictures or recording a video, getting directions, sending a message, making a call or even for Google search, all hands-free.

These paradigm shifts and technology disruptions are occurring at a breakneck pace. For instance, while it took 30 years (from 1978 to 2008) for personal computer sales to touch the one billion-mark, smartphones — introduced just a few years ago — reached that magical figure in October 2012. Another billion smartphones will be sold in just three years.

Another bleak day for BlackBerry

It's another black day for BlackBerry. The company officially announced dismal quarterly results, which included a $965 million quarterly loss.

BlackBerry warned of the loss a week ago, and also announced that it will lay off 4,500 employees by the end of the year.

Sales for the struggling smartphone maker's second fiscal quarter came in at just $1.6 billion, a 45% drop from what BlackBerry (BBRY) reported one year ago, the company said Friday.

The results included a $934 million charge for unsold Z10 devices, the first phone launched on the new BlackBerry 10 operating system. BlackBerry added that a big chunk of the devices it did sell in the quarter were of older BlackBerry 7 phones.

In what could be the understatement of the year, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said in a press release that the company is "disappointed" with the results.

"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," Heins insisted.

Shares of BlackBerry were up about 1% in early trading following the release, as investors had braced themselves after last week's preliminary announcement. But the stock is down more than 30% so far in 2013, and nearly 90% over the past five years.

Friday's results could be one of the last public earnings reports from BlackBerry.

On Monday, Fairfax Financial -- a Canadian insurance company that is BlackBerry's largest shareholder -- said it was considering buying BlackBerry for $4.7 billion. Cynics think Fairfax is simply trying to draw in other offers and cash out its 10% stake, but if Fairfax does make an offer, it could face a bidding war over BlackBerry's valuable patents.

BlackBerry may have little left of value besides those patents. The company said last week it now plans to offer just four smartphones instead of six, and it's finally giving up on the consumer market. BlackBerry's market share has plunged in the past few years due to competition from Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and companies like Samsung that make phones running on the Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) Android operating system.

Instead, BlackBerry will focus on corporate customers and "prosumers" -- professional consumers who are also increasingly opting for iPhones and Androids.

BlackBerry's consumer struggles became worse with Blackberry 10, the operating system that was meant to save the company. The software's release was delayed several times -- essentially leaving BlackBerry customers with no new phones to buy. After it finally launched in January, sales of the new devices have sorely disappointed.

Related story: Terrible apps killed BlackBerry

Although BlackBerry is in bad shape, it's premature for BlackBerry diehards to worry about their service being taken away just yet. Still, some analysts think BlackBerry's userbase could fall to 0 within just two to three years as subscribers continue to leave in droves.

BlackBerry will not be holding a conference call with analysts Friday to discuss its results. A spokeswoman for BlackBerry said it was due to "the Fairfax news." But analysts and investors haven't heard from BlackBerry's management beyond what's been said in recent press releases.

The company didn't hold a press call after the preliminary earnings release last week. It also was silent following the announcement of Fairfax's offer

Four Nigerian apps for Demo Africa

Among the over forty of Africa’s most innovative technology products that will be launched at Demo Africa, in Nairobi Kenya, October, would include at least four from Nigeria that are finalists.

They include ChopUP  an app developed by a Nigeria youth, Bayo Puddicombe . The app is a social platform that connects mobile device gamers across Africa and allows them to interact based on in-game achievements and transferrable points.

OTGPlaya; Also developed by another Nigerian Modupe Ajibola. This app is also an affordable platform solution that brings “accessibility” to critically underserved sectors.

RAMP,  is another innovative web app developed to simplify the management process of Resident Associations in Nigeria or anywhere in the world. The app was created by Nigeia’s Tunde Aguda.

Save & Buy by Hugo Obi is another web and mobile platform that enables anyone save towards any item they desire in an easy to use, fun and safe environment. Obi is also a Nigeria local app developer.

The other two slots that complete West Africa’s six slots at the finals of the event were taken by Ghana and Senegal. They were BoxBuzz, an SMS alert system which sends text message to owners of Post Office Box addresses whenever they receive a letter in their boxes, created by Ghana’s Maximus Ametorgoh, and Teranga Hospitality Suite, a suite of Web and Mobile Applications for hospitality professionals in Africa, created by Moustapha Ndoye of Senegal.

Organisers of the event which is now in its second year, say the event will provide the most innovative new and established companies from across Africa the opportunity to launch their products on stage at this high profile event.

Is it Black out for Blackberry?

Could it be all over for Blackberry? A mobile device that is still one of the best companions of upward mobile people in many parts of the world. How could its fortunes begin to experience a near blackout at twilight?

Last Monday, it announced, that it has reached a preliminary deal with one of its biggest shareholders, Fairfax Financial Holdings to take the company private for about $4.7 billion.

This deal also followed BlackBerry’s an embarrassing announcement, Weekend, that it had nearly $1 billion in unsold phones and would slash 40% of its workforce. Immediately after that announcement, its stock  plunged from 17% to below $9, that day. Yet there were still rumours of bankrupsy hovering around the once robust outfit.

Blackberry has had slow pace of growth in recent times despite launch of Z10 and Q10 brands which were expected to have raised its market shares.

The Canadian insurance firm which it is now entering the deal with is a 10 percent shareholder in Blackberry and has already signed a letter of intent with the BlackBerry board under which it could pay $9 a share in cash for the 90% of BlackBerry shares it doesn’t already own.

However, the deal has not been totally completed because it is subject to six weeks of due diligence and Fairfax would still have to arrange financing. During this period, BlackBerry still has the right to change its mind.

The agreement also doesn’t compel Fairfax to ultimately come forward with a firm offer and technology experts said this underscores the weak negotiating position BlackBerry stands at the moment. BlackBerry, on the other hand, would have to pay a breakup fee of more than $150 million if it turns to another buyer by Nov. 4.

Technology business experts said that by publicizing a deal with a starting price, the company’s hope is to lure rival offers for part or all of BlackBerry.

BlackBerry unveils jumbo Z30 with company fate up in the air

BlackBerry hasn't thrown in the towel yet.

The company on Wednesday introduced the BlackBerry Z30, a new model that features a 5-inch display, stereo speakers, a bigger battery, and the latest version of its BlackBerry 10 operating system.

The Z30, which was previously known as the BlackBerry A10 when it was in development, and which CEO Thorsten Heins has alluded to, is the company's newest flagship smartphone, occupying the tier above the Z10 and Q10.

The Z30 comes as BlackBerry is actively "exploring strategic alternatives," which is business-speak for looking for a buyer. Speculation has ranged from partnerships and joint ventures to the company getting broken up into pieces that would be more palatable for purchase.

Concerns have mounted on BlackBerry's viability after a brutal first quarter, which saw a disappointing number of BlackBerry 10 devices sold. The company reports its fiscal second-quarter results next week. Reports of layoffs have only exacerbated those fears.

Indeed, despite a buzz-filled launch and early positive impressions, BlackBerry got swallowed up by the flood of other high-profile smartphone launches, including the Samsung Galaxy S4. The announcement comes as Apple is prepared to release iOS 7, and will launch the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S on Friday.

As such, it's no surprise that BlackBerry is choosing a more low-key format to introduce the Z30, one that doesn't involve a major press conference spanning multiple global locations, like the Z10 launch, or even at its developer conference, like the Q5.

BlackBerry appears to be taking a cue from the trend to go bigger with screen size, pioneered by Samsung and its Galaxy Note franchise. The Z30 features a 5-inch Super AMOLED display, as well as "top-of-the-line components," including a 1.7-gigahertz processor and quad-core graphics. The phone also features a larger 2,880 mAh battery, which it boasts is the largest put into a BlackBerry, which gets 25 hours of mixed use.

Other additions include stereo speakers and Paratek Antenna technology that it said would dynamically tune the reception and provide a better connection in low-signal areas.

On the software side, the Z30 will come with BlackBerry 10.2, which features an enhanced Hub that prioritizes certain contacts and messages, a new notification system with BlackBerry Messenger, and the ability to have icons on the lock screen for better messages and notifications. BB 10.2 will be available to existing BlackBerrys starting mid-October.

The Z30 will launch at select carriers and retailers in the U.K. and the Middle East starting next week, with other regions coming ahead of the holiday season. The Canadian carriers will release their availability dates "shortly," and details for a U.S. release would come soon, according to a representative.

Hacker group in China linked to big cyber attacks: Symantec

Researchers have discovered a group of highly sophisticated hackers operating for hire out of China, a U.S. computer security company said on Tuesday, and it linked them to some of the best-known espionage attacks in recent years.

Symantec Corp said the group, which it dubbed "Hidden Lynx," was among the most technically advanced of several dozen believed to be running cyber espionage operations out of China. Unlike a previous report by another company, Symantec did not accuse the Chinese government of involvement in the cyber attacks.

Symantec's 28-page report described Hidden Lynx as a "professional organization" staffed by between 50 and 100 people with a variety of skills needed to breach networks and steal information, including valuable corporate secrets.

The company said its researchers believed Hidden Lynx might have been involved with the 2009 Operation Aurora attacks, the most well-known cyber espionage campaign uncovered to date against U.S. companies.

In Operation Aurora, hackers attacked Google Inc, Adobe Systems Inc and dozens of other companies. Google in January 2010 disclosed the attacks, in which hackers tried to read Gmail communications of human rights activists and to access and change source code at targeted companies.

Dmitri Alperovitch, the researcher who named Operation Aurora in February 2010 when he was the first to uncover key details about the attacks, said he believed that Symantec's conclusions were generally accurate.

Alperovitch, who is chief technology officer at the cyber security firm CrowdStrike, said his company has also linked Operation Aurora to other attacks by the same group including a high-profile breach at EMC Corp's RSA security company in 2011. CrowdStrike has not publicly shared details about the group, which it calls Aurora Panda, because the firm makes money by selling proprietary research to clients, he said.

Symantec researcher Liam O'Murchu said his company could not determine which individuals were behind Hidden Lynx or if it was linked to the Chinese government.

Alperovitch said, however, that CrowdStrike believes the group works solely for the Chinese government and state-owned enterprises. "Whether they are formally a military unit or a defense contractor, that is unknown," he added.

A separate study released in February from Mandiant, another firm that closely follows Chinese hackers, said a secret unit of the Chinese military was engaged in cyber espionage on American companies. Beijing vehemently denied the accusations in that document, which contained photos of the building that Mandiant said was the unit's headquarters.

O'Murchu said Symantec believes Hidden Lynx is based in China because much of the infrastructure used to run the attacks is there and because the malicious software was written using Chinese tools and with Chinese code.

The Symantec report attributed several recent attacks to Hidden Lynx, including a breach at cybersecurity firm Bit9 and follow-on attacks at three Bit9 clients. (reut.rs/XXMqKs)

It also connects Hidden Lynx to a major campaign dubbed Voho, which was discovered last year by EMC's Corp's RSA security company. Voho targeted hundreds of organizations, including financial service, technology and healthcare companies, defense contractors and government agencies.

FINANCE TARGETED

Symantec's report described the group as a "highly efficient team" capable of running multiple operations at once and of targeting specific organizations across a variety of industries. That profile suggests that they were hired by clients seeking out very specific pieces of data, the report said.

For example, the financial services sector was the most heavily affected industry, representing about a quarter of targets since November 2011, according to Symantec.

While Symantec would not identify particular victims within the financial industry, it said they included companies with information on pending merger and acquisition activity. Such information might prove valuable to Hidden Lynx clients in negotiating takeovers or trading shares.

The victims did not include commercial banks, Symantec said.

Hidden Lynx's arsenal of tools included Trojan Naid and Trojan Moudoor, which siphoned data from infected computers.

Symantec, which sells software and services to protect corporate and consumer computer systems from cyber attacks like the ones mentioned in the report, said Naid was also used by hackers in Operation Aurora.

The Hidden Lynx hackers "were either responsible for the Aurora attack or were working in conjunction with the Aurora attackers," O'Murchu said.

Google Expands Chrome Data Compression Feature On iOS

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Google Expands Chrome Data Compression Feature On iOS
Sarah Perez
Tuesday, September 17th, 2013
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Google has begun expanding access to its Chrome data compression feature to more users, specifically those on iOS devices who have the company’s mobile browser app installed. The feature’s existence was announced some time ago, but TechCrunch understands that Google is now rolling out notifications about its iOS availability to more users, making many aware of the feature for the first time.

As someone who recently recovered from a stroke induced by a $600 mobile bill courtesy of my household’s data-hungry smartphones and tablets, consider me personally interested in advancements in mobile data compression technology — in whatever shape or form they arrive.

In Google’s case, the company said back in March that it was releasing a new feature for the Chrome Beta for Android browser that would speed up web browsing and save on bandwidth. Essentially a Google proxy, the feature routes web requests through Google’s servers where the company’s PageSpeed libraries compress and optimize the content. The connection between the browser and Google’s servers is also handled by the SPDY protocol for further optimization.

This process can reduce data usage by 50 percent, as it both compresses and minimizes HTML, JavaScript and CSS resources, removing unnecessary whitespace, comments and other metadata not essential to rendering the pages, the company previously explained. To some extent, the feature is similar to Opera’s “Turbo” mode in its desktop and mobile browsers, as well as the compression capabilities that ship with Amazon’s Silk browser, though Google’s technology is designed to not slow down browsing quite as much as Opera’s, in particular, once did.

Earlier this summer, Google noted that it would begin rolling out its experimental data compression technology to Chrome users on iPhone and iPad, but we hadn’t heard much about that expansion since. However, we’ve confirmed that more users are now being introduced to the option because Google is starting to alert them via notification pop-ups asking them if they would like to opt in to this “limited preview.” These seemed to have been kicked off following a recent update to the Chrome iOS application in mid-September.

The notifications read “you’re invited” and encourage users to “save bandwidth and browse more securely” by tapping the big blue “Enable” button below the alert’s text. If you choose to opt in, you’re taken to a Settings interface where you can toggle “Reduce Data Usage” on or off, and presumably later view the ongoing savings Google provides. Unfortunately, without the invite, there doesn’t appear to be a way to toggle the feature on by yourself. Similarly, if you initially decline the invite, you can’t seem to pull up the option a second time. (Got a workaround? Let us know.)

Google is running a staged rollout on iOS because it’s unable to test new features like this, as it does on Android, where a beta version of Chrome is supported. It’s unclear how many users are being invited into the early tests so far, but it appears to still be a rather limited trial given social media postings and other tips. Stay tuned.

Apple To Release New iOS 7 Wednesday; Tips Before You Update [LISTEN]

Wednesday, Apple will roll out its newest mobile operating system. But before you update your “i-device” to iOS 7, experts say there are a few things you need to know.

Get Breaking News Alerts On Your Phone

    First, clean out the clutter.
    Remove all those apps you don’t use, music you don’t listen to, and pictures of things you don’t really need.
    Then, update your device.
    Back up everything, sync it to your computer and get the latest version of iTunes.

Of course, anytime a new operating system launches, there are usually a few bugs to be ironed out. So you might want to consider waiting a few days.

Youtube to add offline viewing to its mobile apps in November

INTERNET VIDEO SERVICE Youtube will add an offline mode viewing option to its mobile applications in November.

At the moment to view videos on Youtube on a mobile device, you have to be connected to some sort of internet connection. That will change in November however, with Youtube revealing plans to add a new offline mode to its applications.

It's unclear exactly how it will work, but Youtube said that the feature will let users watch videos for a "short time" without a 3G, 4G or WiFi connection, likely by allowing users to download and store videos on their smartphone, tablet or laptop. It's unclear for how long users will be able to save content, although 48 hours is doing the rounds in the rumour mill at present.

Google said on the Youtube Creators Blog, "We're always exploring ways to bring more viewers to your content. As part of this effort, later this year we'll launch a new feature on Youtube's mobile apps that will help you reach fans - even when they're not connected to the internet.

"This upcoming feature will allow people to add videos to their device to watch for a short period of time when an internet connection is unavailable. So your fans' ability to enjoy your videos no longer has to be interrupted by something as commonplace as a morning commute."

The offline mode likely will be added to Youtube's iOS and Android apps, with Windows Phone and Blackberry still lacking an official Youtube app.

Expect to hear more about the incoming feature in November

The iPhone 5S proves Apple hasn't lost its touch

For the most part, the iPhone 5S is a just another smartphone -- faster and marginally better than its predecessor, not exactly cheaper, or longer in the battery life. It gets some points for being beautifully designed hardware supporting a completely overhauled iOS user interface, but improved design and engineering from the competition is making that part of the Apple equation less of an advantage. CNET's review of the 5S deemed it the fastest and most advanced Apple smartphone to date, but not a required upgrade.

True, it could use a larger screen, along with more apps that can take advantage of the new faster processor and motion sensing co-processor. But with the Touch ID integrated fingerprint scanner, the iPhone 5S shows Apple can still lead the way in establishing new mainstream features on computing devices.

The basic technology of the Touch ID isn't new. Apple shelled out $356 million to acquire fingerprint sensor developer AuthenTec in July 2012. Motorola's ATRIX 4G smartphone, circa 2011, included a "power lock" fingerprint scanner that used AuthenTec's sensor technology. However, it was built into the back side of the phone, near the top, not on the front in the "home" position like the fingerprint scanner in the iPhone 5S.

The Touch ID home button is practically invisible, and it works with a simple tap rather than a swipe, recognizing a finger from multiple angles. While it's used today just as an alternative to keying in a four-digit passcode, which doesn't save a great amount of time or energy, it's primed to be at the center of password control and a "tap-to-pay" mobile wallet on Apple's family of mobile devices.

In describing his philosophy, Apple design chief Jony Ive told the Telegraph that his aim was "to bring a calm and simplicity to what are incredibly complex problems, so that you're not aware really of the solution, you're not aware of how hard the problem was that was eventually solved."

Aided by its acquisition of AuthenTec, Apple has brought calm and simplicity to a complex problem.

Samsung to bring BBM for Android to Africa on Friday

The much-anticipated BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) app for Android looks set to appear on Friday, with Samsung's African customers apparently lined up to be the first to get access to the app.

The news was reported locally yesterday, and apparently confirmed by Samsung Nigeria over Twitter.

Since the tweet, though, Samsung has refused to comment further and BlackBerry has denied that there will be an exclusivity agreement in place preventing BBM for Android from being installed on other phones, as had been originally reported.

A spokesperson for Samsung says that the company will support all instant messaging apps available on Android, but the two firms have already entered into a marketing partnership around BBM which will see the BlackBerry app become part of Samsung's Messaging Hub on its smartphones once its released and promoted by the South Korean company.

Analyst Steven Ambrose of StrategyWorx says that the move by Samsung was a shrewd one: "Samsung is very opportunistic in all markets and especially in Africa. It realises that BBM is big in emerging markets and once the opportunity arose to grab the lead in offering the app on Android came up, it jumped on the opportunity to offer it first. It's part marketing and part smart."

There's no word yet about whether BBM for Android will be available in other African countries on Friday, although more details could emerge at BlackBerry launch events around the world tomorrow. The events are widely expected to be about the app.
While BlackBerry's future is uncertain thanks to declining marketshare and a looming sale, the company does still have a stronghold in emerging markets and especially in Africa. In South Africa and Nigeria, it still commands around 50 percent of the smartphone market — although that share is likely to drop as low-cost data connectivity through BlackBerry Internet Services is phased out in favour of less competitive tariffs.
Samsung, meanwhile, is investing heavily in the continent with dedicated retail stores and a new CEO for its African operation, Sung Yong Hong. Hong is looking to aggressively expand Samsung's already strong position in Africa and is aiming to be the number one vendor of both low cost and high end handsets — effectively displacing both Nokia and BlackBerry.

It does face tough competition, however. Nigerian company Tecno has successfully built up Africa's only homegrown phone brand thanks to keenly priced white labelled Android handsets, and was recently singled out by chip manufacturer Qualcomm as a key partner on the continent.

Bill gate - CTRL+ALT+ DEL is a mistake

If you pressed Control-Alt-Delete to log on before reading this, Bill Gates says he's sorry.

The Microsoft founder says the triple-key login should have been made easier, à la Apple's Macs, but that a designer insisted on the more complicated step.

"We could have had a single button. But the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn't want to give us our single button," Gates said Saturday during a question-and-answer session to launch a Harvard University fund-raising campaign. His comments have gained attention since a video of his Harvard Q&A was posted on YouTube on Tuesday.

Smiling, Gates tried to follow through on the thought, noting it was a basic security feature. But he eventually surrendered to common sense.

"And so we had ... we programmed at a low level that you had to ... it was a mistake," he said, throwing up his hands to laughter and applause from the crowd.

Gates defended innovation on the earliest Microsoft software though.

"We did some clever stuff," he said. "We were able to experiment with a lot of stuff, but more on the software side than the hardware."

Long the first interface step for PC users, Control-Alt-Delete still exists in Windows 8 as a way of either locking the computer or accessing the control panel. While the system defaults to a log-in screen, users may tweak their settings to return to the old way of logging on to Windows.

Sometimes informally called the "three-fingered salute," the login required users to use both hands and was intended to avoid accidental keystrokes from rebooting a computer.

Engineer David Bradley, a designer on early IBM computers, said he invented the combination as a shortcut during development.

"I originally intended for it to be what we would now call an Easter egg -- just something we were using in development and it wouldn't be available elsewhere," Bradley said while appearing on a 2011 panel that included Gates. "But then (software publishers) found out about it. They were trying to figure out how to tell somebody to start up one of their programs, and they had the answer. Just put the diskette in, hit Control-Alt-Delete, and by magic your program starts."

He then tried to deflect what he perhaps wryly called "credit" for its continued use.

"It was like a five-minute job in doing it. I didn't realize that I was going to create a cultural icon when I did it," he said "... I may have invented it, but I think Bill made it famous."



A tight-lipped Gates appears to force a smile in a video of the panel but does not respond.

Gates attended Harvard until he left during his junior year to start Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975. While at Harvard, he lived down the hall from current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Gates received an honorary degree in 2007.

Gates remains Microsoft's chairman although he stopped full-time work at the company in 2008.

During Saturday's session, Gates reflected on a variety of topics, from the philanthropy he's made his life's work since stepping back from an active role at Microsoft to his company's relationship with Apple in the early days.

That included helping keep what would become Microsoft's fiercest rival afloat in the 1990s when it was foundering.

"In the Apple II era, we were kind of friendly competitors," he said. "We actually put more people on the Mac than Apple had."

When co-founder Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, "he sort of says, 'I want this, this and this and I'll give you this, this and this.' ... We did the deal in three days," Gates said.

That included buying a 6% share of Apple, which lawyers convinced Gates that Microsoft shouldn't keep for antitrust reasons.

"It would have been nice if we had," he said.

Yahoo in trouble for recycling emails

Email addresses assigned to new users by Yahoo are receiving personal messages intended for the original owners of the email addresses.

Yahoo announced in June that Yahoo addresses and IDs that have been inactive for more than a year would be reassigned.

Experts on privacy are now calling on Yahoo to rectify the issue immediately, and Yahoo has said it has embarked on measures to ensure privacy and allay security fears.

A Yahoo representative, however, said "Before recycling inactive accounts we attempted to reach the account owners [in] multiple ways to notify them that they needed to log in to their account or it would be subject to recycling,"

He further added that “"We took many precautions to ensure this was done safely - including deleting any private data from the previous account owner, sending bounce-backs to the senders for at least 30-60 days letting them know the account no longer existed and unsubscribing the accounts from commercial mail."

Yahoo also plans to include a process known as the “Not My Email”, useful for people who are receiving emails not intended for them.

Nokia's ex-CEO set for $25 million windfall

Nokia's former CEO Stephen Elop is set to receive an 18.8 million euro ($25 million) payout when he leaves the Finnish tech company to join Microsoft, upsetting many who think the windfall seems unfair.

Elop announced earlier this month that Nokia (NOK) had inked a 5.4 billion euro ($7.2 billion) deal to sell its mobile phone business to Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500). The takeover -- considered a win-win for each company -- also stipulated that Elop would move to Microsoft.

That's when the trouble began.

Nokia then amended its employment contract with Elop, ensuring he received the large payout when he leaves, even though his previous contract would not have allowed the payment.

New Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Arrives Oct. 10

If you're in the market for a new Android tablet, Samsung might have just the thing for you.

The tech giant on Thursday announced that the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition will be available at major U.S. retailers beginning Oct. 10. Pre-orders for the new Note 10.1 will begin at select retailers on Friday at midnight Eastern Time.

The device is Wi-Fi-enabled and available in 16GB and 32GB variations, with an additional 64GB available via a microSD card. It comes in either black or white, and retails for $549.99 for the 16GB version and $599.99 for the 32GB model. It will be available for purchase through Best Buy, Amazon, PC Richard & Son, Fry's, Tiger Direct, Walmart, Samsung.com, and other retailers.

The new slate, first introduced earlier this month at IFA in Berlin, offers improved S Pen capabilities, an upgraded display, and improved multi-window functionality. It is smaller in size and lighter than its predecessor, with scaled-down bezels and a thinner profile.

"Last year's launch of the Galaxy Note 10.1 introduced the integration of S Pen capabilities to the tablet category and created a new experience for consumers," Travis Merrill, vice president of tablet marketing at Samsung Electronics America, said in a statement. "We continue to evolve the Galaxy Note experience with the new Note 10.1 – 2014 Edition."
Hands On With The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, 2014 Edition
Samsung Galaxy Note Air Command
Samsung Galaxy Note Air Window
Samsung Galaxy Note Multitasking Choices
Samsung Galaxy Note Mini Browser
VIEW ALL PHOTOS IN GALLERY

In terms of specs, the new Note 10.1 features a 2,560-by-1,600 screen, 8,220mAh battery, is powered by an Exynos 5420 quad-core processor and 3GB RAM, and runs Samsung's take on Android 4.3. As for features, the tablet lets you use two different apps side by side and drag-and-drop content from one window to another. It comes with a host of bundled news, productivity, and entertainment content, including three months of free Hulu Plus and SiriusXM, one year of free Boingo Hotspot access, and 50GB of free Dropbox storage for two years.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will sport the same features seen in the new Galaxy Note 3 phablet; for more see PCMag's hands on.

Fairfax says it won't abandon BlackBerry bid

 The head of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. said Wednesday he has every intention of completing the acquisition of BlackBerry, despite doubts that the $4.7 billion deal for the troubled smartphone maker will go through.

BlackBerry announced earlier this week that Fairfax signed a letter of intent that "contemplates" buying BlackBerry for $9 a share. Fairfax, BlackBerry's largest shareholder, is trying to attract other investors.

BlackBerry shares on Wednesday lost 6 percent, closing a dollar below Fairfax's bid on fears the deal won't happen.

There is no breakup fee should Fairfax walk away, but Fairfax Chief Executive Prem Watsa told The Associated Press his firm is not in the business of making an offer and then walking away or redoing the deal.

"We've got a track record of 28 years of completing what we've done. We've never re-negotiated," Watsa said. "We thought long and hard before we offered $9 dollars a share and we're not in the business of offering a number and at the last minute changing the figure. Over 28 years our reputation is stellar on that front. We just don't do that."

Watsa noted the deal is subject to six weeks of due diligence but stressed Fairfax won't abandon it.

Watsa stepped down as a board member last month because of potential conflicts when BlackBerry announced it was considering a sale. If the proposed deal goes through, BlackBerry would go private and no longer be traded publicly.

Watsa said Fairfax won't be contributing more to the bid than the 10 percent it already owns.

"The 10 percent is like $500 million. It's a significant amount of money," he said. "We're going to bring equity partners and we think the company will be very well capitalized."

He declined to name the other investors he is trying to bring in.

Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said the lack of details make the chances of the deal going through appear grim. Ferragu noted that Fairfax is not committing any more equity and said other investors are unlikely to join a bid "that sounds like a last chance rescue attempt for Fairfax's stake."

Fairfax's average cost per share in acquiring BlackBerry shares is $17. The Canadian insurance and investment firm has lost hundreds of millions on BlackBerry.

Analysts say that although BlackBerry's hardware business is not worth anything, the company still owns valuable patents. BlackBerry is also strong in having total cash and investments of about $2.6 billion, with no debt, though it's burning through that stockpile. In just the past few months, it's spent about half a billion dollars.

Watsa said Fairfax is not buying BlackBerry to break it apart.

"Rest assured when we do this it won't be done to split the company," Watsa said. "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."

Watsa said BlackBerry needs to get out of the media glare that comes with being public and work on a long term turnaround in private.

The billionaire founder of Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. is one of Canada's best-known value investors and has taken over troubled companies before. He compared his BlackBerry interest to his stake in the troubled Bank of Ireland. Watsa said his Bank of Ireland stake is now worth double what he paid for it a few years ago at the height of the European crisis.

The tentative BlackBerry deal comes just days after the Canadian company announced plans to lay off 40 percent of its global workforce.

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, was once the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers. But then came a new generation of competing smartphones, starting with Apple's iPhone in 2007. The BlackBerry suddenly looked ancient. Although BlackBerry was once Canada's most valuable company with a market value of $83 billion in June 2008, the stock has plummeted to $8 from over $140 a share, giving it a market value of $4.2 billion, short of Fairfax's offer.

"This is a company that's had a tremendous amount of success. It's got a brand name, BlackBerry, that's recognized all over the world," Watsa said. "It's got subscriber base in the 60 or 70 million area, it's got very smart people. In the enterprise market it's got a very significant market advantage so we think that by focusing it on the enterprise market, it's not going to be as big as it used to be, but it will be profitable again."

Watsa said Blackberry can focus on business users and its smartphone service business where it manages the security of BlackBerry and competing smartphones on its network. 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.

9 Things You Need To Know today

1. Nest, the company that makes the Web-connected thermostat, will now allow developers to integrate their apps with the device.
2. There's a Google Talk glitch that will send your instant messages to the wrong person.
   BlackBerry won't hold a conference call after it announces earnings tomorrow.
3. You can set up your Apple TV just by tapping your iPhone against it.
4. Pebble, the smart watch that raised millions on Kickstarter, is now available through AT&T for $150.
5. Nokia will announce six new devices on October 22.
6. Twitter reportedly added J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley as bankers for its IPO.
7. You might have to wait until spring 2014 to get a "mini" Surface tablet from Microsoft.
8. T-Mobile will no longer sell BlackBerry phones in stores.
9. Now you can rent a Tesla Model S from Hertz.

Bill Gates sympathizes with your Windows NT login woes, admits three-button start 'was a mistake'

While most of the world associates the classic control-alt-delete keyboard command with soft reboots and frozen applications, a small portion of the population battles with the bizarre concept of the command as a login as well. Windows NT users, specifically, recall using the command as a means to turn on their desktops -- something that Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates is finally calling "a mistake."

In a wide-ranging interview on-stage at Harvard University, Gates regaled current students of his alma mater with tales of his time at the school. But apparently Harvard Campaign co-chair David Rubenstein couldn't forego his chance to get an answer -- or at least an apology -- from Gates on the bizarre login procedure. Gates admitted, "It could've had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn't wanna give us our single button. It was...it was a mistake." Of course, Gates laughs it off, having moved beyond guilt over software released 20 years ago. Head below for the full video, and jump to the 17-minute mark should you wish to see the exchange over Windows NT first.

Motorola plans hiring spree in BlackBerry's hometown

Unless BlackBerry bosses embark on some wild scorched earth policy as they retreat from the smartphone business, their hometown of Waterloo, Ontario, should prove to be fertile ground for other mobile companies looking to expand. Motorola could become one of the first to capitalize on the situation, having just opened a small office in Kitchener-Waterloo, where its parent company Google has already had an R&D base since 2006. Speaking to the Financial Post, Motorola Canada's engineering director, Derek Phillips, said he has "big plans" for the area and is "optimistic" about finding the right mobile tech talent. He stopped short of saying he wants BB workers specifically, instead pointing to other sources of brainpower like the University of Waterloo (which happens to be the home of the Lazaridis-backed Quantum-Nano Centre). For the sake of the 4,500 people recently left unemployed due to BlackBerry's strategic failures, however, we hope he was just being diplomatic.

Samsung: We’ll Have a Gold Phone Too

The South Korean company posted a photo on one of its Twitter feeds Wednesday advertising a gold-colored version of its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone.

“Elegance is a touch of Gold,” the ad says, with the shiny new Galaxy phone standing amid gold-sheened sand dunes.

As the Verge noted, the announcement comes just two weeks after Apple announced its iPhone lineup would get a new gold color.

When the iPhone went on sale last Friday, customers lined blocks outside Apple stores in hopes of getting the device, and many said they preferred the gold color. Demand was so high that Apple asked its suppliers to increase manufacturing for that color of the iPhone to meet demand.

A Samsung spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment about when the company began making its gold-colored Galaxy S4. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.