First Screenshots of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for Android Spotted in the Wild

Although rumors about the possible release of a BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) application for Android devices leaked more than six months ago, no confirmation has been received from Research in Motion. However, the first screenshots of the BBM app for Android devices just leaked, courtesy to the guys over at TechRadar. The screenshots come by way of a Research in Motion (RIM) employee who also stated that the application is in the final stages of testing and will be released by 2012. In addition, the company plans to launch an iOS version of BBM, which might be released soon after the Android software. According to the latest hearsay, Android and iOS users may be charged a certain one time or recurring fee in order to be able to use the BBM f...

Read more »

Nokia SeaRay, Sabre and Ace Windows Phones Get Spec'd

Later this month, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is expected to unveil to the world its first smartphone running under Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, and some more info on three such devices has just emerged.  Apparently, the first Nokia Windows Phones might include the SeaRay, which was already unveiled to the world, along with the recently leaked Nokia Sabre, and the Nokia Ace.  While no official info on these handsets' arrival on the market emerged for the time being, nor on the hardware they might pack inside, some leaked details on their specs did emerge, showing quite appealing smartphones.  The Nokia SeaRay, for example, is expected to arrive on shelves with a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen, a Clear Black Display,...

Read more »

AMD Details Next-Generation Bulldozer Processors in Leaked Slide

Even though AMD hasn't even launched its first processors based on the Bulldozer architecture, the company is looking ahead and has already started designing its next-generation high-performance chips based on this arch, the first details about these CPUs just making their way to the Web. For now, the processor is known as the “FX Next” and the slide reveals that this is based on the second generation Bullodzer cores, known under the code name of Piledriver. If this designation sound familiar to you, is because the Piledriver core will also be used in AMD's Trinity APUs which are expected to launch in early 2012. Compared to the current Bulldzer core, AMD's leaked slide says that Piledriver will deliver about 10% better x86 performance and...

Read more »

Intel X79 Chipset is $20 (€15) More Expensive than the X58

Those of you that have been keenly waiting for Intel to release the high-performance LGA 2011 platform should get ready to shell out more money out of your pockets as the chip maker has raised the price of the X79 chipset significantly over that of the previous X58. Intel has reportedly set the price of its upcoming X79 Express chipset for LGA 2011 motherboards somewhere in the region of $70 US (€52), which is $20 (€15) more than what it asked for X58. If we were to compare the two chipset it becomes clear that the X58 is the more complex part as its comprised not only from an I/O hub but also includes the ICH10R southbridge, while the X79 is a single-chip solutions since most of the traditional hardware logic found inside the chipset was moved...

Read more »

Vodafone Germany Lists iPhone 4S

Apple is expected to make an official announcement on its new iPhone models as soon as tomorrow, and some more proof of various device flavor has started to emerge recently.  Wireless carrier Vodafone Germany has just put on its website the iPhone 4S in two color flavors, namely black and white, which suggests that the operator might be getting them soon.  Moreover, the company also listed the mobile phone with three different amounts of internal memory, namely 16GB, 32GB and 64GB, showing that Apple is indeed interested in expanding the available options for its users.  The iPhone 4S model, which is still unofficial for the time being, was seen at Vodafone Germany next to already launched handsets from Cupertino-based vendor,...

Read more »

AMD to Bundle Battlefield 3 with New Graphics Cards

If you are one of those who have been waiting impatiently for Battlefield 3 to arrive, you should be happy to know that AMD has prepared you a surprise as it seems like some graphics cards from the Radeon HD 6000-series will be shipping with a coupon for DICE's title. Graphics card manufacturers have for a long time now taken advantage of highly expected game titles by bundling them for free with their video cards and AMD is no different. According to SweClockers, AMD plans to bundle the latest version of Battlefield with Radeon HD 6870 graphics cards, mainly because of the supply issues faced by the HD 6900 series. The promotion will be available from a select number of the company's partners and the coupon included can be used for downloading...

Read more »

Windows 8 Shut Down Process Needs Some Streamlining

I have been playing with Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) even before it was officially made available for download, and while I fully enjoy the new experiences and innovation from Microsoft, I also see a few aspects of the OS that could be better.  Close buttons for Metro apps for example, but I’ve already talked about those, so here’s a new one, a streamlined Windows 8 shut down process.  At this point in the development process shutting down a Windows 8 machine is a tad more complicated than it should be.  Ahead of anything else, I just want to stress that I’m fully aware that Windows 8 is tailored to always-on devices, such as tablets / slates that come with their own sleep / hibernate / shut down /...

Read more »

New YouTube for BlackBerry 7 Phones Optimized with HTML5 Capabilities Released

BlackBerry 7 smartphones owners rejoice, as YouTube has just released a fully optimized HTML5 version of its client. Many changes can be noticed at first glance, just by looking at the app's layout, which now includes touch-friendly buttons. In addition, the client is now much faster and offers users a higher quality video steaming experience, along with other attractive features that were only available on other mobile platforms, including Android. Although Blackberry users had access to YouTube videos in the past via its mobile website, this is the first time that the company launches a HTML5 YouTube version for BlackBerry operating system. However, those who still own a BlackBerry 5.0 / 6.0 smartphone will not be able to take advantage of...

Read more »

iPhone 5 Is Crafted Around iOS 5, iCloud, Packs A5 Chip - Industry Sources

The usual industry sources cited by a Taiwanese publication seem 100% confident that Apple will not only release an A5-based iPhone tomorrow, but that the device will boast WCDMA and CDMA connectivity in separate configurations, much like today’s GSM and CDMA iPhone 4 versions. Industry publication Digitimes bluntly states that several sources have shared with them some of the hardware specifications pertaining to Apple’s next iPhone, believed to be either the iPhone 5, or a handset dubbed 'iPhone 4S'. Citing the intel gathered from these sources, the site confidently reports that Apple is poised to use tomorrow’s event to launch an iPhone packing an A5 dual-core processor. The phone is allegedly tailored for iOS 5, the next major version of...

Read more »

Intel Core i3-2332M Upgradeable Processor Spotted

Earlier this year, Intel introduced a new series of processors based on the Sandy Bridge architecture featuring an upgradeable design, and now this lineup has received the addition of a new CPU dubbed the Core i3-2332M. This new part features the same specs as the current Core i3-2330M, which means that it packs dual processing cores with a base frequency of 2.2GHz, Intel HD 3000 graphics and 3MB of Level 3 cache memory. However, compared to the i3-2330M, this processor can be unlocked into a more powerful CPU by purchasing a special upgrade card from the Santa Clara-based chip giant. After the update, the processor will be identified as the Core i3-2394M and will carry 4MB of Level 3 cache, while its base clock speed will be set at 2.6GHz. The...

Read more »

Asus Crosshair IV Extreme BIOS Adds Support for AMD FX-Series CPUs

Asus has just announced the release of a new BIOS for Crosshair IV Extreme and Crosshair IV Formula motherboards which adds support for AMD's upcoming FX-Series processors based on the Bulldozer architecture. Asus has announced back in March of this year that select motherboards from their AM3 series will be compatible with FX-Series CPUs using the AM3+ socket. The list of motherboards with AM3+ compatibility released back then also included the Crosshair IV Extreme and Crosshair IV Formula, which have now received BIOS support for these chips. Both the Crosshair IV Extreme and Crosshair IV Formula are built around the AMD 890FX chipset, which is paired with the SB850 southbridge. As a result, the motherboards are compatible with 3 and 4-way...

Read more »

EXIF ReName 0.1.10 - Rename Photos Based on EXIF Data

Classifying and organizing digital pictures often involves sorting them by various criteria such as the date they when taken or their file name. With EXIF ReName you can combine these to obtain the optimal categorization. A task many of us have run into and found it simple at the beginning but it proved to be rather time consuming is cataloging the photos taken with our digital cameras. This is particularly true if you stack a couple of thousands of pictures in a single location and then realize that they were made on many different occasions. That would be a good time to start cleaning the mess and put some order in those chock-full directories. An important part of cataloging images (or any other type of document) is sorting them by name,...

Read more »