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  • Apple told to produce an ‘iPhablet’ or risk losing ‘a lot of market share’

    Apple iPhablet Market
    Nokia (NOK) should take solace because it’s not the only company getting panicky advice from analysts who want it to produce a “phablet” within the coming year. Per Barron’s, ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall, who maintains a Strong Buy rating on Apple shares, told CNBC on Wednesday that Apple needs to “migrate to the 5-inch screen iPhone this summer” or the company will “lose a lot of market share.” Marshall noted that at Mobile World Congress this year, “every major high-end smartphone was had a larger screen” and claimed that “most people are migrating to five inches” for smartphones in the future. Even more dramatically, Marshall said that the “phablet” craze presents a “do or die moment” for Apple. As we’ve noted in the past, it seems that having the world’s best-selling smartphone just isn’t enough anymore for some Apple analysts.

  • Samsung sets new goal: 500 million handsets in 2013

    Samsung-Logo-with-Galaxy-Tab_Logo

    A new report from Digitimes says Samsung has set a goal to sell 500 million handset devices in 2013. This is a step up for Samsung given that they sold 420 million handset devices in 2012. The report also stated that BOE, a China-based panel maker, is supplying Samsung with a rate of 10 million panels per month for its entry-level and mid-range handset devices. Samsung is shooting for the stars, and depending on the success of their newly announced Galaxy S 4, they may very well reach their goal.

    Source: Digitimes

    Come comment on this article: Samsung sets new goal: 500 million handsets in 2013

  • Samsung continues to inch away from Google, teams with Mozilla on browser engine

    Samsung Mozilla Browser Engine
    Samsung (005930) would love to lessen its dependence on Google (GOOG) services and now the company plans to team with Mozilla to create a next-generation browser engine that will presumably power non-Google web browsers on future Samsung devices. Mozilla says that the new engine, dubbed Servo, “is an attempt to rebuild the Web browser from the ground up on modern hardware” that entails “addressing the causes of security vulnerabilities while designing a platform that can fully utilize the performance of tomorrow’s massively parallel hardware to enable new and richer experiences on the Web.” Needless to say, giving a Servo-powered future version of Firefox a prominent place on Samsung devices would do wonders for Mozilla’s mobile browser market share and would give Samsung an alternative to both the default Android browser and Google’s Chrome on its smartphones and tablets.

  • Major League Baseball on BlackBerry 10: MLB.com At Bat 13 Premium App

    Get the premium mobile baseball experience for the 2013 season on BlackBerry 10 with MLB.com At Bat 13. Packed with features, media and detailed info on each game and play, the only thing At Bat 13 is missing is stadium snacks.

    Here’s a list of MLB.com At Bat 13 features:

    • Watch the Free MLB.TV Game of the Day
    • Access a MLB.TV Premium subscription to watch every out-of-market game live
    • MLB.TV Premium subscribers may access complete archives to watch every 2013 game on-demand
    • Home and away live radio broadcasts
    • In-progress video highlights
    • Gameday pitch-by-pitch tracking, including realistic ballpark renderings from all 30 MLB ballparks
    • Condensed Games
    • Classic games library
    • Breaking news, standings, schedules, rosters and stats
    • Favorite team selection for priority placement in scoreboard, news and video
    • Video library archive, searchable by player, team or keyword

    Click here to buy MLB.com At Bat 13 for $19.99 for BlackBerry 10 from BlackBerry World.


  • Mozilla, Samsung Working Together On New Web Browser Engine

    The modern Web browser is most likely powered by one of three engines – WebKit, Trident or Gecko. The latter is currently developed by Mozilla, and is used in its popular Firefox Web browser. One Web browser engine is apparently not enough for the non-profit, though, as it’s now working on another.

    Mozilla and Samsung jointly announced today that they have begun work on an advanced Web browser engine called Servo. The engine will be built in Rust, a new programming language in development at Mozilla that the non-profit hopes will “fill many of the same niches that C++ has over the past decades.”

    A new Web browser engine is already pretty big news, but that’s only half of the story. Mozilla and Samsung are also bringing Rust and Servo to Android and ARM devices. It seems its both parties’ intention to make a next generation Web browser engine for mobile devices that “can fully utilize the performance of tomorrow’s massively parallel hardware to enable new and richer experiences on the Web.”

    At the moment, there isn’t much to show for Servo, but Mozilla says it’s now putting more resources into the project to prove that it can “build a fast Web browser with pervasive parallelism, and in a safe, fun language.” At the same time, the non-profit will also be working on completing the first major revision of the Rust language.

    Like most Mozilla projects, the non-profit is inviting the community to help them develop Rust and Servo. If you would like nothing more to poke and prod untested code, you can grab the source code for Rust and Servo at their respective GitHub repositories.

  • Fargo Flood Likely to Peak After April 15

    Peak flooding on the Red River at Fargo will likely occur sometime after April 15, according to U.S. Geological Survey streamgage data and National Weather Service information. 

    Scientists with the USGS and NWS meteorologists are closely monitoring the Red River at Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., in anticipation of April flooding. USGS streamgages indicate that on Wednesday, April 3 the river still had not begun its spring rise, meaning that the impending 2013 flood will be considerably later than the large floods of 2009 and 2011. The 2013 flood likely will be later than the 1997 flood, which was exacerbated by an early April blizzard.

    “The large floods at Fargo that have previously occurred in April—1952, 1965, 1969, 1979, and 1997—peaked from April 15 to April 19,” said Gregg Wiche, Director of the USGS North Dakota Water Science Center. “Above normal snowpack and cold March temperatures have contributed to this year’s late melt.”

    According to NWS preliminary data, 2013 brought the sixth coldest March since hydrologic observations began in 1900. This year also had the deepest average snow depth for the last day of March since weather records began in Fargo in the mid-1880s. The NWS ranked the month of March, 2013, as the 14th for coldest average temperature, the 12th snowiest, and the 11th wettest (including rain and melted snow) for Fargo.

    The USGS compares current Red River conditions to past large floods on its Fargo flood tracking webpage.

    Additional data for the USGS Red River at Fargo streamgage is available online.

    NWS flood forecasts for the Red River at Fargo are available online.

    caption available below
    This chart compares current gage height of the Red River at Fargo, N.D., to floods in 1997, 2009, and 2011 at the same location. The chart is available for download. 

  • Tom Hanks Tears Up After Broadway Debut

    There may be no crying in baseball, but Tom Hanks demonstrated this week that there is plenty of room for emotion on Broadway. The actor this week made his Broadway debut in the play Lucky Guy.

    According to a New York Post report, Hanks teared up after the play, while receiving a standing ovation. He told the publication that he had wanted to take a bow with the show’s writer, Nora Ephron, who died last year after a battle with leukemia. From the Post:

    Of the emotional curtain call, Hanks told us, “That was a tough moment. We were going to do this, and Nora and [show director] George C. Wolfe were going to walk out onstage. I miss her. What more can you say?”

    Hanks and Ephron, apart from being personal friends, have a long history of working together in Hollywood. Ephron wrote and directed the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle, and followed that up with 1998′s You’ve Got Mail.

    As for Lucky Guy, the show is getting mixed reviews as a play, though some critics have praised Ephron’s writing.

  • Instagram: Android Users Make Up Nearly Half Our User Base

    Today, on its one-year anniversary, Instagram has announced that nearly half of all Instagram use comes from its Android app.

    After some time as an iOS-only service, Instagram finally launched on Android in April of 2012 and quickly racked up over a million downloads in less than 24 hours.

    Thus began the great, but short Instagram platform war that saw iOS users whine about their beloved service opening up to the Plebian droiders. In less than six months, Instagram for Android hit 50 million downloads.

    And now, in just one year, Android users have risen to become almost half the user base. The photo-sharing network broke the 100 million monthly active user milestone about a month ago, so we can assume that almost 50 million active users are snapping, filtering, and uploading via Android.

    In a celebratory blog post, Philip McAllister of Instagram’s Android team acknowledges that the the Android community has been vital to spreading the service around the world:

    Instagram for Android has helped make this community more global than ever. Major events such as Brazil’s Círio de Nazaré festival, the 85th birthday of Thailand’s King Bhumibol, and a streak of severe thunderstorms throughout Malaysia have been captured by Android Instagrammers and shared to global audiences like never before. We’ve also seen Android Instagrammers contribute to the community in innovative and powerful ways, including @daveedgamboa’s incredible jumpstagrams around Southern California, photos of England’s beautiful Lancashire county from @adamgrayson and even a glimpse into the life of Kenya’s nomads from @grantsmind.

    So, Android Instagram users: How’s your first year been?

  • Huey Lewis Goes Patrick Bateman On Weird Al

    If you’re a fan of American Psycho, Huey Lewis and/or Weird Al, than this video is for you. Funny or Die put out this pretty great parody of the film’s iconic Huey Lewis scene, cleverly putting Huey in the Patrick Bateman role, discussing the film’s context and Christian Bale’s performance in the manner that Bale discussed Huey and his work. Weird Al does a fine job in the Paul Allen role as well.

  • Plenty of Fish Free Online Dating App Comes to BlackBerry 10 and the PlayBook Tablet

    Plenty of Fish is the world’s largest free online dating community boating over 55,000,000 members. They’ve recently launched a BlackBerry 10 app allowing users to browse profiles and flirt their way to monogamy and more on their mobile.

    Available on both BlackBerry 10 and the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, mobile POF users can browse profiles, send messages, find local users and upload images. POF users send each other more than 200 million messages a month and more than 40% of people use POF on their mobile. With 40,000 new users every day, there’s no shortage of new local singles.

    Click here to download Plenty Of Fish free for BlackBerry 10 and the PlayBook tablet from BlackBerry World.


  • SkyDrive app is Microsoft’s ‘new normal’

    Microsoft continues to match development pace with Google, releasing today yet another app update. SkyDrive 3.0 for iOS follows many other recent releases, including Outlook.com Calendar (this week), Windows 8/RT Mail, Calendar and People apps (last week) and SkyDrive (mid-March), among others.

    In my news analysis about the new Windows 8/RT core apps, I asserted: “It’s a new Microsoft”, explaining how the company has greatly picked up the pace of new product development — something also seen in Windows Blue, which I expect to ship less than a year after the great 8. A day following my analysis, Frank Shaw, Microsoft corporate communications chief, said that “continuous development cycle is the new normal across Microsoft”, which is consistent with reinvention as the “devices and services” company that CEO Steve Ballmer described last year.

    The new SkyDrive for iOS version is one more part of a process every Microsoft customer should get used to. Expect more-frequent updates and stronger support for more platforms — yes, Android and iOS. Mike Torres, Microsoft group product manager ticks through the improvements:

    • Support for iPhone 5 and iPad Mini
    • Updated app icons and user experience
    • Works better with your photos:
      • Download full resolution photos to your iPhone or iPad
      • Control the size of photos you upload and download
      • Photo metadata is retained when you upload to SkyDrive
    • Opening and saving files to SkyDrive works better with other apps on your iOS devices
    • Many other small changes, bug fixes and performance improvements

    SkyDrive 3.0 requires iOS 5 or later and supports iPhone and iPad. Expect ongoing updates to truly be Microsoft’s “new normal” — and too long coming.

    Photo Credit:  Krivosheev Vitaly/Shutterstock

  • FCC will review cell phone radiation danger – and lawyers are already sharpening their claws

    FCC Review Cell Phone Radiation
    Well, that did not take long. Within a few days after the Federal Communications Commission confirmed it will review cell phone radiation guidelines, class action lawyers of a certain ilk have swung to action. Since the FCC previously issued guidelines about cell phone use in 1996, it is quite natural it will revisit the issue in 2013. But that does not mean you can’t put a sinister spin on the development.

    Continue reading…

  • The TED Global lineup, as tweeted by you

    TEDGlobalA monk, a “gentleman thief ” and a drones ecologist. These are just a few of the speakers who’ll be at TEDGlobal 2013, themed “Think Again.” Since revealing the speaker lineup yesterday, we’ve noticed a multitude of tweets flooding in. Excitement certainly seems to be brewing. Below, some of the most fascinating tweets — from speakers and members of TED’s global audience alike.

  • Sponsored post: Unconstrained data center networks for the cloud era

    The value of cloud services lies in the rapid and cost-effective instantiation of applications that can be consumed by users anywhere. Enterprises expect cloud services to increase their agility in turning up applications while simplifying their operations. For cloud services to thrive, the networks within and across data centers must evolve to become as virtualized and readily available as the server and storage infrastructure.

    Nuage Networks removes the constraints of the data center network through an innovative Virtualized Services Platform that provides abstraction and automation to unbound any data center network infrastructure. With the Nuage Networks’ software-defined networking solution, cloud service providers, web-scale operators and large tech enterprises can build a robust and scalable multitenant networking infrastructure that delivers secure virtual slices of readily consumable compute, storage and networking instantaneously across thousands of tenants and user groups.

    The Nuage Networks’ solution takes advantage of proven technology from the routers that scale the internet and support thousands of enterprises on a multitenant VPN infrastructure today. With this heritage, the Nuage Networks’ solution can confidently deliver the robust and scalable performance required by cloud data center networks. In today’s environment where CSPs cannot afford to experiment with fragile or unproven platforms, the decade of ethernet and IP network deployment experience that is at the heart of the Nuage Networks offering proves critical.

  • A Tableau IPO could validate the big data visualization push — or not

    When Tableau Software’s IPO actually happens, it could validate — or poke a hole in — the hype bubbling up around data visualization, a market segment some experts predict will hit $51 billion within three years.

    Tuesday, Seattle-based Tableau filed for an IPO with an initial “placeholder” value of up to $150 million. Unlike many tech companies going this route, Tableau is profitable, with net income of $2.7 million in 2010, $3.4 million in 2011, and $1.6 million in 2012. Its revenue more than doubled last year to $127 million. It also boasts an impressive customer list including Bank of America, Barclays, Pfizer, Goldman Sachs and others.

    Total venture funding for the company, which will trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “DATA,” stands at $15 million in two rounds, both from NEA.

    Tableau is not the first new-look data visualization company to go public.  Competitor QlikView went public in July 2010 at $15 per share and is now trading at $24.70. Splunk, which analyzes and visualizes machine data, went public last August at $17 per share and is now trading at just over $39 per share.

    The company’s challenge going forward will be to keep up the pace it has set thus far with its “80+ percent year-over-year growth,” said Ovum analyst Fredric Tunvall.  The company will clearly need to keep investing and it may be hard to manage shareholder expectations based on past performance, he said in a statement.

    At the same time it must add more advanced and richer analytics to the mix and factor in back-end data management capabilities including data integration, data quality and master data management, Tunvall added in a research note.

     

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  • AP: ‘Illegal Immigrant’ No Longer an Acceptable Term

    The AP, apart from being a news organization, also publishes a highly influential stylebook used by schools and journalists across the country. And they have just made a pretty significant change to it.

    Starting now, the AP Stylebook no longer supports the use of “illegal immigrant” to describe people living in the country illegally.

    In fact, the AP Stylebook no longer allows for the use of the term “illegal” to describe any person. The word “illegal,” according to the AP, should only be used in reference to an illegal action – but not in reference to an actual person.

    The AP had been using “illegal immigrant” for some time, after deciding that other popular terminology like “undocumented” failed to provide a credible alternative (they could have plenty of documents – just not the one that grants them citizenship).

    Here’s what the Stylebook’s updated entry for “illegal immigration” says:

    illegal immigration Entering or residing in a country in violation of civil or criminal law. Except in direct quotes essential to the story, use illegal only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant. Acceptable variations include living in or entering a country illegally or without legal permission.

    Except in direct quotations, do not use the terms illegal alien, an illegal, illegals or undocumented.

    Do not describe people as violating immigration laws without attribution.

    Specify wherever possible how someone entered the country illegally and from where. Crossed the border? Overstayed a visa? What nationality?

    People who were brought into the country as children should not be described as having immigrated illegally. For people granted a temporary right to remain in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, use temporary resident status, with details on the program lower in the story.

    So, according to the AP, people can enter the country illegally, but they are no longer to be referred to as illegal immigrants.

    The move is already sparking political debate, with conservatives upset. The Media Research Council, who says their job is “exposing and combating the liberal media bias,” called the move “politically correct mumble.” Others claim the move had a purely political motivation.

    On the other side, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus called the decision a “great move forward.”

    For their part, the AP says that it’s all about “ridding the Stylebook of labels.” For instance, another move nixed the term “schizophrenic” and replaced it with “diagnosed with schizophrenia.”

    [Photo via Thomas Hawk, Flickr]

  • Disney Shuts Down LucasArts, Cancels All Current Projects

    LucasArts, the game publisher and developer subsidiary of LucasFilm, was shut down today by its new overlords at Disney. The brand will remain as the company will look to licensing its crop of franchises out to other developers, but the development staff has been let go. Projects currently being worked on at the studio, like Star Wars 1313, have also been canceled.

    Game Informer received the following statement regarding the closure of the development studio:

    “After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”

    Unfortunately, the news doesn’t come as too surprising as some thought Disney would at least downsize the studio when the company bought LucasFilm last year. At the time, Disney said it would be moving more towards a licensing model, and today’s news confirms that reality.

    As for the games LucasArts was working on, Polygon reports that Star Wars 1313 is no longer being worked on at the studio. The game could be licensed to an outside developer for completion, but an inside source speaking to Kotaku says that’s unlikely.

    Even if Star Wars 1313 never sees the light of day, it’s not the end of Star Wars video games. Disney will undoubtedly have game tie-ins available alongside the release of the next film that’s due in 2015. Under a licensing model, we’re also likely to see more original projects that expand the universe, much like Knights of the Old Republic and Republic Commando did under LucasArts.

    Aside from Star Wars games, gamers are also rightly concerned about LucasArts’ stable of adventure games, like Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion. The developer dabbled in its roots a few years ago with remakes of the first two Monkey Island games, but nothing has been done with its other properties. Some are hoping that Disney will license out these properties to other developers for new entries.

    As we say our goodbyes and wish all the talented people at LucasArts the best; let’s look back on what made LucasArts so unique – it’s awesome logo:

  • Cisco To Acquire Ubiquisys For $310 Million

    Cisco just announced yet another acquisition. The company announced its intent to acquire privately held Ubiquisys for $310 million in cash and employee retention incentives.

    Ubiquisys provides 3G and LTE small-cell technologies, and Cisco says the pick-up will further reinforce its commitment to service providers and strengthen its mobility capabilities. In a blog post, Cisco’s Hilton Romanski writes:

    The acquisition of Ubiquisys exemplifies Cisco’s innovation framework based on a build, buy and partner approach. The Ubiquisys acquisition also complements Cisco’s mobility strategy along with the recent acquisitions of BroadHop and Intucell, reinforcing in-house research and development, such as service provider Wi-Fi and licensed radio. These technologies will tie together the mobility architecture that leverages the intelligence of the network from the wireless edge of the network into the wired core.

    As carriers around the world increase cellular data capacity to serve the rapidly growing population of smartphone and tablet users, adding small cells is one of the most cost-effective ways to multiply data capacity and make better use of scarce spectrum assets. Ubiquisys’ indoor small cells expertise and its focus on intelligent software for licensed 3G and LTE spectrum, coupled with Cisco’s mobility portfolio and its Wi-Fi expertise, will enable a comprehensive small cell solution to service providers that supports the transition to next generation radio access networks.

    “Cisco is ‘doubling down’ on its small cell business to accelerate strong momentum and growth in the mobility market,” said Kelly Ahuja, SVP and GM of Cisco Mobility Business Group. “By acquiring Ubiquisys, we are expanding on our current mobility leadership and our end-to-end product portfolio, which includes integrated, licensed and unlicensed small cell solutions that are tightly coupled with SON, backhaul, and the mobile packet core. For service providers, Ubiquisys supports cost effective coverage and capacity that delivers a differentiated customer experience.”

    The Ubiquisys team and portfolio will be integrated into Cisco’s Small Cell Technology Group, led by Partho Mishra. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013.

    Other recently announced acquisitions for Cisco include: Intucell, Cognitive Security, SolveDirect, and BroadHop.

  • Kendra Wilkinson Quits ‘Splash’ Over Fear of Heights

    Kendra Wilkinson may be skilled at modeling, but it turns out that high-diving isn’t her thing. This week, the former Playboy model was failed to make her dive on the new ABC reality show Splash, which features celebrities learning how to dive.

    Wilkinson successfully made a dive on the show’s previous episode, but got cold feet on this week’s high-dive attempt. She stood on the top of the platform and began to cry as her co-diver, Rory Bushfield (a professional skier by trade), attempted to encourage her to dive. Eventually, Wilkinson decided that she could not get over her fear of heights and would not be diving. The host informed her that she would be eliminated from the show as she repeatedly said, “I’m sorry” to the live audience.

    After the show, Wilkinson took to Twitter to explain her anxiety and apologize to her fans. She also fended off the heavy criticism that was tweeted her way. She explained that signing up for the show was a “big mistake” and that she had thought about quitting during last week’s episode.

  • We’ll be live from Facebook’s Android event tomorrow at 1:00PM!

    Facebook Home Liveblog
    Facebook (FB) will finally put an end to the rumors and speculation on Thursday as it prepares to show the world its “new home on Android” during a special press conference, and BGR will be reporting live from the event. Some pundits have said that Facebook will finally unveil an own-brand smartphone — the much rumored “Facebook Phone” — but more solid reports suggest the company will instead debut a new Android app that offers deep integration with a variety of Facebook services. The app is expected to be showcased on the new “HTC First” smartphone, which should launch as one of the first handsets to feature the new Android software. Will Facebook also have a few surprises in store? Be sure to tune into our live coverage to catch all the action as it unfolds.

    Bookmark this link, which will go live shortly before the event begins tomorrow, and make sure to head there for our live coverage of Facebook’s press conference! Coverage will begin just before 1:00 p.m. EDT / 10:00 a.m. PDT.