The Westly Group said it raised a $160 million cleantech venture capital fund with LPs that include Citi, E.ON, the utility company, and Korea based SK Group. The fund is 25% larger than the firm’s previous fund.
PRESS RELEASE
The Westly Group Raises $160 million Clean Technology Fund
Menlo Park, CA – The Westly Group has successfully raised its next cleantech venture capital fund which will have $160 million in committed capital, a 25% increase over the size of the previous fund. Key investors include Citi, E.ON (the world’s 7th largest utility), and SK Group (the third largest conglomerate in Korea).
The Westly Group has had four portfolio companies go public on the NASDAQ including Tesla Motors. The firm will manage one of the larger venture funds investing in the clean technology sector, and will target high growth companies with revenues as well as earlier stage opportunities with capital efficient business models.
“We’re proud to complete this raise in this challenging fundraising environment,” said Steve Westly, a managing partner of the Fund. “We’re particularly proud of our investment partners such as Citi, E.ON and SK Group.”
“We are extremely pleased to partner with one of the leading venture firms in the country to bring innovative technologies and community benefits to regions across the country, as well as efficiencies to our public sector clients,” said Ward Marsh,
head of the Municipal Securities Division at Citi.
“We feel this is a great time to invest in clean technology and believe that there are better companies and business models than what we have seen since we started our firm six years ago,” said Mike Dorsey, a managing partner of the fund.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is looking for new innovations in round 11 of it “Grand Challenges Explorations” initiative. And one of the areas that they want to improve is contraception – specifically the condom.
Basically, the project looks to develop a better, more enjoyable condom so that people will be more apt to use it – thus preventing unwanted pregnancies and tons of STIs including HIV.
We are looking for a Next Generation Condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure, in order to improve uptake and regular use. Additional concepts that might increase uptake include attributes that increase ease-of-use for male and female condoms, for example better packaging or designs that are easier to properly apply. In addition, attributes that address and overcome cultural barriers are also desired.
People have been using condoms for hundreds of years, and the condom that we know and love tolerate today hasn’t really been improved upon in five decades. That’s a problem, according to the Gates Foundations.
“Material science and our understanding of neurobiology has undergone revolutionary transformation in the last decade yet that knowledge has not been applied to improve the product attributes of one of the most ubiquitous and potentially underutilized products on earth,” they argue.
And it’s relatively easy to develop and get better condoms out on the market. Condoms using new materials can be prototyped quickly and easily, and huge clinical trials aren’t really necessary. Plus, there’s already plenty of distribution channels and a marking niche already built in.
“To overcome persistent health and development problems, we need new, game-changing ideas,” said Chris Wilson, Director of Global Health Discovery & Translational Science at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Inspiration can come from anywhere and we are hopeful that this new round of Grand Challenges Explorations will uncover innovative approaches to improve lives around the world.”
The Gates Foundation says that initial grants for selected projects will be $100,000, and there’s a chance that they could receive up to $1,000,000 in additional funding.
If you have a idea, you can file your proposal here.
LG is looking to continue its impressive 2013 assualt by having yet another smartphone in the works. A mysterious device called the LS720 has just tiptoed its ways down the FCC halls and while it doesn’t have too much details or info— we do know that it will come dressed in LTE frequencies that screams Sprint which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise since we saw plenty of 4G LTE-capable LG devices throughout 2012. Considering the Optimus G has its model name of LS970, it’s probably a safe bet to say that this device is probably going to be in the lower end of the mid-range category— but we’ll know for sure once more deets leak out as the device’s launch gets closer.
The 36-year-old Capriati has been hit with battery and stalking charges in Palm Beach County, Florida. The charges stem from an incident between the former tennis star and her ex-boyfriend on Valentine’s Day. She is alleged to have hit Ivan Brannan on that day, and is also charged with “willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly” stalking the man around Valentine’s Day in 2012.
The New York Post has reported that Brannan told police that Capriati accosted him at a gym on Valentines day and hit him in the chest four times. The report also recounts accusations that Capriati stalked Brannan at his workplace, pounding on the windows and calling him dozens of times a day.
Capriati has denied the allegations via Twitter, stating that Brennan is lying and that she is “outraged” about the allegations:
BlackBerry Travel is an app that helps manage your air travel. This first party app notifies you of your flight’s status and automatically imports your flights by scanning your device for trip details.
A mobile travel management app like BlackBerry Travel can bring a lot of piece of mind to an otherwise stressful travel experience. No more double-checking printed confirmations or missing an important announcement about your flight. Be instantly notified of flight changes so that you can be one of the first to re-book. The BlackBerry 10 version sports a few new features as well as Turkish localization.
Here are some of the new BlackBerry 10 features:
BlackBerry ID now controls access making it more secure
Book Hotel rooms or compare your hotel reservation with a better deal or a better hotel in the same price range
Added sharing with BBM, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter
ClearFit Inc., a developer of human resources software for the construction, retail, restaurant, hospitality, and franchise industries, has raised C$7 million in Series A financing from GrandBanks Capital and Relay Ventures. ClearFit, which has offices in San Francisco and Toronto, previously raised C$1.7 million in late 2012 from Relay and a group of Toronto-based investors.
PRESS RELEASE
ClearFit Secures $7 Million in Series A Funding
Funding from GrandBanks Capital and Relay Ventures will help ClearFit to grow team and fix North America’s hiring problem for the construction, retail, restaurant, hospitality, and franchise industries.
TORONTO – March 21, 2013 – ClearFit, the company that makes it easy for organizations to find and hire the best person, has closed a $7 million Series A round of funding from GrandBanks Capital and Relay Ventures.
Over eight thousand businesses use ClearFit. The company offers a free trial that can be set up in a quarter of the time of a traditional job posting, then — with partners like Monster.com and CareerBuilder — helps find candidates. ClearFit’s patented software then uses data analysis to predict employment success five times better than traditional hiring, all included in the cost of a regular job posting.
Tim Wright, partner with GrandBanks Capital, will join the ClearFit board. Wright has over twenty years of operating experience in various technology industries and his significant operational experience and work in the human capital management (HCM) space offer strategic alignment with ClearFit’s focus on small businesses.
“Small businesses are inadequately served by large, enterprise hiring software. ClearFit puts enterprise-class capabilities within reach and tailors them directly to the needs of small business owners,” said Tim Wright, partner with GrandBanks Capital. “They are addressing a massive sector of the economy that does not have a capable solution.”
ClearFit addresses a $60 billion underserved market, delivering a tailored hiring solution to construction, retail, restaurant, hospitality, and franchise customers. The company previously raised $1.7 million in late 2012 with investments from Relay Ventures and a group of prominent Toronto investors.
“We’ve experienced incredible growth this year and we’re scaling ClearFit to keep up with demand,” said Jamie Schneiderman, co-founder of ClearFit. “Scaling this quickly would be impossible without our own product to help us find the best people for our culture.”
ClearFit is building a unique organizational structure, designed to appeal to entrepreneurial talent. According to Ben Baldwin, co-founder of ClearFit, “an increasing number of enterprising young people are choosing incubators and accelerators over continuing school or traditional entry level jobs. We’re attracting this talent by allowing young entrepreneurs to run a vertical business within ClearFit.”
The smart home is still a few years away as companies are now just dabbling in the idea of a smart fridge or a smart washing machine. Even so, Google is preparing for this future if its latest Glass patent application is any indication.
In a patent filed on September 21, 2011, Google outlines how Glass could be used to control appliances within the home, like a washing machine or refrigerator.
A wearable computing device includes a head-mounted display (HMD) that provides a field of view in which at least a portion of the environment of the wearable computing device is viewable. The HMD is operable to display images superimposed over the field of view. When the wearable computing device determines that a target device is within its environment, the wearable computing device obtains target device information related to the target device. The target device information may include information that defines a virtual control interface for controlling the target device and an identification of a defined area of the target device on which the virtual control image is to be provided. The wearable computing device controls the HMD to display the virtual control image as an image superimposed over the defined area of the target device in the field of view.
In layman terms, Google’s patent would basically allow Glass to bring up a menu whenever you look at an object that can be controlled via Glass. The menu would be laid over the item in question to bring an augmented reality flair to the experience. From there, the user would be able to control the object in question with either a touchpad, voice command or gesture.
Like most patent applications, this is just one possible idea out of many for Google Glass. I wouldn’t be surprised to see something like this come to Glass in the future, but we’re probably going to see simpler apps starting out. We’ll have to wait for the smart house of the future, and hopefully not Disney’s Smart House, to come along before stuff like this becomes more common.
In honor of William shatner’s birthday (he’s 82 today), Hulu is looking to kill your productivity this month by making nearly every Star Trek episode free until the end of the month.
This includes Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, and Star Trek: Voyager.
In all, this is 693 episodes. And you have just under 10 days to catch them while they’re still free.
You do the math.
“Resistance is futile. Almost as futile as controlling a population of tribbles,” says Hulu.
Games for the Weekend is a weekly feature aimed at helping you avoid doing something constructive with your downtime. Each Friday we’ll be recommending a game for Mac, iPhone or iPad that we think is awesome. Here is one cool enough to keep you busy during this weekend.
Vector ($0.99 iPhone, $0.99 iPad) is a side-scrolling runner that mimics the street gymnastics of modern day free running. Given the fact that the character in the game is attempting to free himself from a mind controlling regime, there is more of the philosophy of parkour, which is free running with the intent of expressing your own freedom, at play here.
As a practitioner of parkour, your traceur as they are referred to, starts every level running from the authorities. As obstacles present themselves, you have to decide how you want to get around them. For instance, there is a water tower obstacle in the game that you can either jump up and climb over, or slide under from a distance. Sliding under the water tower is quicker, and helps increase your distance from the authorities that are chasing you. Jumping up and climbing over the water tower on the other hand could allow you to grab extra coins that may be stashed atop the water tower. It’s up to you how you approach each obstacle.
There are two major environments to choose from, with a third new environment on its way via a future update. Each environment has 57 levels to complete. There is a countdown timer on each level where the faster you complete each level, the faster you earn your stars. These stars are important as they unlock various elements throughout the game. The second environment, Construction Yard, will only unlock when you earn 25 stars in the first environment, Downtown. With each level giving up a maximum of three stars, you will need to complete at least seven levels Downtown before you can take a chance on jumping into the Construction Yard.
Along the way you also collect coins that can be used to increase your character’s abilities. You can purchase gadgets, tricks and gear with these coins. The gadgets can buy you extra time, slow things down to help you perform difficult combinations, and even stun the authorities when they get too close. Don’t be too quick to purchase a hoard of coins through the in-app purchase, as many of the items you will want to purchase are only unlocked when you achieve a certain number of stars in each environment. The game does truly reward your skill rather than block you from advancing until you pay.
Increasing your character’s abilities is important as each level requires a different skillset. If you do not have a skill, you are offered a chance to purchase the skill at the beginning of the level. If you do not have enough coins, you can either go back and try to improve your score and earn more coins on previous levels, or make your way to the store to purchase more. I have tried completing levels without all of the necessary skills just to see what would happen, and it ended up being much more challenging than I expected. After gaining the recommended skill I was missing, passing the level was much easier.
Stars are also used in the game to unlock bonus levels. Each of the 57 levels in each environment also has an accompanying bonus level. After achieving the right number of stars, previous levels you have already completed unlock their bonus levels. This is a great way to go back and play previous levels and collect some more stars and earn some extra coins. You never really can play each level exactly the same way, so going back to play earlier levels with newly acquired skills can be more fun the second time.
The opening cut scene looks like it is taken from Apple’s famous 1984 commercial with a single authority figure speaking to a mindless society. While the backstory explaining why you are running is a nice addition to a game of this genre, it is the variations you can apply to your jumps that keeps the gameplay interesting. You will play Vector this weekend, you will enjoy playing Vector this weekend, everything has already been thought of for you, you have no choice.
The tech news these days seems filled with stories of piracy, security flaws and every company trying to push its latest software and hardware releases. Then, every once in a while, something truly fun and enjoyable comes along to save us from our otherwise overwhelming tech world.
Today is the birthday of Captain James Tiberius Kirk, who also goes by the alias of William Shatner. To celebrate the Captain’s birthday, online TV streaming service Hulu wants to open up the Star Trek world to even more viewers.
The service today announces that users should “set phasers to Hulu“. The company’s Katherine Rea tells us that “Hulu is making every episode from every Star Trek series available to watch for free until the end of the month. Resistance is futile. Almost as futile as controlling a population of tribbles”.
Hulu is also playing off of the March Madness frenzy that is currently in full swing. The service has set up “Star Trek Madness 2013” brackets and is looking for your input on the best episodes ever.
You have nine days to try and catch every show, unless of course, you subscribe to the service. Fire up your browser or comapible set top box and…Live long and prosper.
Search engines and fair use suffered a legal blow this week, as a judge sided with the Associated Press in its ongoing case against Meltwater, a service that scans news from around the world, and helps businesses track keywords and topics of interest.
Essentially, Meltwater’s service displays content with links and snippets in a similar format to Google News and other search engines and aggregators, which is why this case could have broader industry significance.
Last month, we saw newspapers like The New York Times, Gannet and McClatchy get on board with the AP.
“Next, Meltwater argues that the extent of its copying is justified because its purpose is to serve as a search engine. But, Meltwater has failed to show that it takes only that amount of material from AP’s articles that is necessary for it to function as a search engine. Indeed, the evidence is compellingly to the contrary.”
Masnick writes that the court “seems to think it knows how to run a search engine,” adding, “I’m curious. What is ‘the amount necessary to function as a search engine?’ One might reasonably suggest that a search engine would be wise to index everything. Yet the court here seems to be suggesting otherwise. I’m curious how many search engines the judge has built.”
“Basically, Meltwater points out that what it does is no different than a search engine, and the court says (without much basis) that it doesn’t think Meltwater really is a search engine, and thus these defenses don’t apply,” he adds. “But this is extremely troubling for actual search engines, because you can take each of the pieces out and then try to apply them to a basic search engine, and you’ll find that if this ruling stands, it makes being a search engine much more difficult as well.”
Meltwater will of course be appealing the judge’s decision. AFP quotes CEO Jorn Lyseggen as saying, “We’re disappointed by the court’s decision and we strongly disagree with it. We’re considering all of our options, but we look forward to having this decision reviewed by the Court of Appeals, which we are confident will see the case in a different way.”
We’ve talked about HTC having to delay the One and although it won’t be out as originally expected, they’ve released an official statement today. According to HTC, “unprecedented demand for and interest in the new HTC One, and the care taken to design and build it” is to blame. The HTC One will roll out in the UK, Germany, and Taiwan next week while North America and Asia will see the phone by the end of April. Next month will be tough for HTC considering the Galaxy S 4 will launch around the same time, and we’ll keep you updated on carrier details.
What if Tumblr started on mobile instead of on the web? It might look something more like CheckThis, an app from a startup that began in Brussels and is now based in New York City. The app was launched very quietly over a week ago; it’s free and available for the iPhone only right now.
The idea behind it came from the founder’s history running his own digital agency for 15 years: his musician and creative friends wanted a way to share content online, but felt limited by some of the more popular social tools available. “People wanted a place to make content and share,” Frederic della Faille told me when we met up in midtown Manhattan earlier this week. ”A tweet was not enough, an image was not enough. They wanted bigger space for more content.”
Della Faille likes Tumblr, but he’s not a huge fan of the comparison. “CheckThis is for producing content and Tumblr is for browsing,” he said. And I think I agree with him, as a user of both services.
CheckThis is a great way to tell stories with your mobile device: as I demonstrate in the video below, with just a few taps, you can create a “story” with color, some images, some text, and even take polls of fellow CheckThis users. While most stories I saw were very image-heavy, CheckThis stories are more like a blog posts than social photo-sharing. It has an “insta” aspect to it because the app is on an always-on type of device, but it also lets you be more reflective and thoughtful about what you share.
A standout element of CheckThis is the design: you can tell this is made by hyper-creative types. The choice of fonts; the ability to select specific colors and shades; and the clever scrolling that you won’t find in other iOS apps were purposeful. But the key is giving users just enough tools without overwhelming them, della Faille said. “We try to create a product where you can’t make an ugly thing, where you are proud of every post.”
Like, Vine, it’s almost stupidly simple to use. But unlike Twitter’s short-video sharing app, it’s not nearly as intimidating when it comes to actually producing content. Vine seems to assume a certain facility with what makes a good video; CheckThis is far more open.
Naturally, an important question is: Do we really need another social network? For some people, they will. They might appreciate the creative community popping up in CheckThis. And for those who just want to use the tools, you can connect your account to other platforms you use, like Facebook and Twitter. It isn’t yet connected to Tumblr, but della Faille tells me that will be added in a future update.
The team of seven developing the app has been mostly quiet about CheckThis, but it has raised funding over the last year: just under $1 million from Lerer Ventures, Betaworks, Index Ventures and SV Angel.
Barnes & Noble is seemingly trying to get some stock off its hands with a new, week-long promotion: Anybody who buys a Nook HD+ tablet between March 24 and 31 will get a Nook Simple Touch e-reader (the non-front-lit version) for free.
The offer applies at Barnes & Noble retail and college stores, online, and third-party retailers Walmart, Best Buy and Target. The Nook HD+ tablet, which has a 9-inch screen and is Barnes & Noble’s answer to Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD, is $269 for the 16 GB model and $299 for the 32 GB model. The Nook Simple Touch is normally $79.
Jamie Iannone, president of digital products at Nook Media (the spinoff of Barnes & Noble’s digital and college businesses, which was completed in October and includes investments from Microsoft and Pearson), said in a statement that the two-for-one deal lets customers “fully experience all that the expansive Nook Store of more than 3 million titles has to offer.” The idea is that tablet users who are coming to the Nook HD+ for its “movies, apps, magazines and more” — though it’s unclear how many people actually want these things from Nook, especially following the launch of the iPad Mini) — might stick around and buy some ebooks if they have a device to do so. (Of course, they can also read ebooks on a Nook Tablet.)
The deal might just be intended to get rid of Nook e-readers — it’s possible that Barnes & Noble wants to focus on the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight going forward. It may also be Barnes & Noble’s effort to compete with Amazon, which recently slashed the price of the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD, bringing the WiFi versions price in line with the Nook HD+.
Kate Winslet has been on a bit of a hot streak lately. The actress, who won an Oscar in 2008 for her role in The Reader, recently married Ned Rocknroll and discussed her love life (including her divorce from director Sam Mendes) in the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar.
Now, it appears that the Titanic actress could be part of the next big young adult movie series. Reuters is reporting that Winslet has been cast in the role of Jeanine Matthews in the movie Divergent.
Divergent is will be adapted from a series of young adult novels by Veronica Roth. The books are set in a dystopian Chicago, where a young girl deals with the political and philosophical realities of the different factions that rule society.
Though Winslet’s name will lend credibility to the movie, it could also be a chance for the actress to step away from the more serious dramatic roles she is known for. Winslet has shown a knack for comedy in the past, as the clip below from a 2005 episode of the Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant comedy Extras demonstrates:
Nokia (NOK) priced its latest flagship Windows phone ambitiously — the Lumia 920 was at parity with the 16 GB iPhone 5 in early January. Both the Lumia 920 and the 16 GB iPhone 5 cost €540 in Germany, the largest smartphone market in Europe. By third week of March, the 16 GB iPhone price in Germany has dropped to the €510-€520 range at retailers such as Modeo, Notebooksbilliger and Handyschotte. The price of the Lumia 920 has declined to €497 at retails like Handyshop and Notebooksbillige, but perhaps surprisingly, the price has remained above €520 at most retailers, ranging from Modeo to Notebook.
The question is top of my mind as the smartphone arrives in the United States today from AT&T and next week from T-Mobile and Verizon. Did I miss something, or is this an atypical debut? AT&T usually starts sales on Sundays. This is Friday, right? The phone, which launched January 30, could be yours today for around $200 with two-year contractual commitment.
Way back then I asked: “Will you buy BlackBerry Z10?” The responses aren’t as interesting as the lack of them. Less than 700 as I write, which is a surprisingly low number for one of my buying polls and for such a hotly-anticipated device. One-third of you say, yes, by the way, “as soon as available”, which for Americans is today. Nearly an equal number of respondents will buy immediately or within three months as won’t buy at all — around 43 percent for each.
AT&T sells BlackBerry Z10 for $199.99 with two-year contract, $449.99 with single-year commitment and $549.99 no contract or month to month. Obviously the carrier wants your money for 24 months. Verizon, which is accepting preorders (for March 28 availability), offers the Z10 for same longer-commitment price but more, $599.99, off-contract. All three carriers tout 4G LTE. Verizon’s network is largest, followed by AT&T, while T-Mobile is in processing of building out LTE.
BlackBerry Z10 specs: 4.2-inch touch display with 1280 x 768 resolution and 356 pixels per inch; 1.5GHz dual-core processor; 2GB RAM; 16GB storage (expandable to 64GB with microSD card); 8-megapixel auto-focus rearing-facing and 2MP fixed-focus front-facing cameras; 1080p video recording (rear camera), 720p (front); 4G: Quadband LTE 2, 5, 4, 17 (700/850/1700/1900 MHz), Triband HSPA+ 1, 2, 5/6 (850/1900/2100 MHz), Quadband HSPA+ 1, 2, 4, 5/6, (850/1700/1900/2100 MHz), Quadband EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz); Verizon 4G: LTE Band-13 (700 MHz), CDMA Cell-band and PCS-band (800/1900 MHz), WCDMA Band-1 and Band-8 (2100/900 MHz), GSM/EDGE Quadbands (850/900/1800/1900 MHz); WiFi N; 4G mobile hotspot; Bluetooth 4; NFC; micro-HDMI; accelerometer; ambient light sensor; gyroscope; magnetometer; proximity sensor; 1850 mAh battery; and blackBerry 10. Measures 130 x 65.6 x 9 mm and weighs 137.5 grams.
Crappberry?
Yesterday, BlackBerry revealed reaching 100,000 mobile apps in its store. “Top brands and application providers are joining us every day and are seeing the benefits of being early supporters of the new platform”, Martyn Mallick, BlackBerry vice president, says. “We constantly hear from developers that the BlackBerry 10 tools are easy to build with and that we provide opportunities for app differentiation that they do not see on other platforms”.
While the number pales in comparison to Android or iOS, selection matters more. There, like Windows Phone, choices trouble — not so much for what’s missing but who isn’t supporting the platform. Facebook is available, but like Windows Phone, the app is homegrown, as is Google Talk. Instagram and pretty much anything Google are among the missing apps. Updated LinkedIn and Twitter apps arrived earlier this month.
Showcase developers are crucial to gaining support, particularly with Android and iOS combined smartphone sales share topping 90 percent, according to Gartner. BlackBerry now battles Microsoft for the role of third platform, and there’s not much share to share.
Sink or Swim
During fourth quarter, BlackBerry OS smartphone sales share was 3.5 percent, just barely ahead of Windows Phone/mobile. By comparison, Android and iOS had 69.7 percent and 20.9 percent share, respectively.
Three years ago, BlackBerry’s share of smartphones was 15.9 percent, according to IHS iSuppli. In 2012: 5.2 percent. For fourth quarter 2009, BlackBerry commanded 19.6 percent market share, putting it ahead of Apple (16 percent) and behind category leader Nokia (38.2 percent), according to IDC. Three years later, BlackBerry didn’t even make the top 5, with Apple in second place.
So question “Who will buy BlackBerry Z10?” is no small one. Flagship smartphone, along with BlackBerry 10 OS, in some ways represent the company’s last stand. It’s do or die time. Gartner forecasts BlackBerry 10 market share not reaching 5 percent by 2010. Then again, the smartphone market remains volatile and analysts have repeatedly proved wrong forecasting sales or shipments.
Loyalty Question
What BlackBerry commands is loyalty, particularly among some enterprise customers and even President of the United States. In late January I asked you: “Should Barack Obama stick with BlackBerry?” The majority of respondents say “he should upgrade to BlackBerry 10”. From the arguably small sample size, nearly 50 percent say the President should stay with the BlackBerry platform.
Gartner sees consumers as being more important and warns enterprises to “wait six months until it is clear that BB10 has proven successful in the consumer market”. That strikes me as putting BYOD — bring your own device — ahead of corporate IT needs, which include deciding whether to upgrade existing BlackBerries or switch platforms.
Platform switching is crucial for BlackBerry, whether keeping existing customers or gaining new ones. Smartphones are more than devices, or even platforms, they are anchors to digital lifestyles. The more people invest in one, the less likely they will switch to another. BlackBerry’s immediate need is to close the artery and stop bleeding loyal customers to Android and iOS.
Now that BlackBerry Z10 is really here, will you buy? Please take the original poll embedded above, if you haven’t already, and comment below.
DuckTales is fondly remembered as one of the few licensed games that actually got it right. The perfect platforming and the amazing music have inspired countless gamers the world over. Now the classic is coming back and it looks better than ever.
Capcom announced today at PAX East that it’s working together with Disney and developer WayForward to bring DuckTales back to current gen consoles. The game is being billed as a remake of the original NES title, but WayForward will be adding much more to the game. One of the additions is a recreation of Scrooge McDuck’s money vault that players will be able to swim in.
Check out the first gameplay footage below and be prepared to get the DuckTales them stuck in your head all over again:
DuckTales Remastered will be available this summer on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, Nintendo eShop and PC for $14.99.
We know Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z is one heck of a device, but we know that more than a few of you out there have been intrigued to say the least to take a gander at its innards, right? Well you’re in luck as some ambitious folks decided to take some time and give us a gander of what’s inside powering the device. If you recall, the device is completely dust and water-resistant, so it’s only fitting that it is difficult to even access the inside of the device thanks to its heavy-duty tape on the back cover which covers the battery. Once that task is done, getting into the guts of the device is even more difficult as the teardown includes delicately handling the tablet in order to remove miniscule screws that hold much of the important components together.
When all’s said and done— this job is certainly not one for everyone… but you’re probably going to want to see the insides of the device anyways– so hit the flip and check out the juicy teardown for yourself.
Vector ($0.99 
