BBM for Windows Phone Beta to Start Arriving on Devices on July 17

Last week, Canadian mobile phone maker BlackBerry has officially announced the availability of its BBM application for Windows Phone users in a beta flavor, and it seems that it is finally ready to make it available for download.

The company has provided users with the possibility to register for the beta testing of the application, but did not provide users with info on when the application will actually arrive on their devices. A recent tweet coming from Jeff Gadway, the head of product and brand marketing for BBM, reveals that this will happen as soon as tomorrow, July 17. The beta testing program filled up pretty fast after BlackBerry’s official announcement, yet the company also offered users the possibility to sign up for a waiting list, which should provide them with the possibility to get a taste of the app before many others.

Those who did make it into the beta program, however, should sit tight and wait for the application to become available for download for them tomorrow. No specific info on when the rest of Windows Phone users out there will receive access to the app has been provided as of now, but BlackBerry did say that the app will enjoy general release in a matter of weeks, so they might not have that long to wait in the end.

BBM for Windows Phone

Image credits to BlackBerry

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Google Adds Bitcoin Price Conversion

All Bitcoin fans should rejoice as Google has finally introduced price conversion for the cryptocurrency directly into the search results page.

The ability to make the switch between various currencies in the world is one of Google’s coolest features on the search engine since it considerably cuts down on the time needed to find a proper conversion tool. Now, if you want, you can simply type “price of Bitcoin” or “5 bitcoin to Euro” and get the result straight on the page. The feature was recently rolled out by Google and it seems like it was the logical next step after the company introduce Bitcoin prices into the Finance section. Furthermore, the fact that Bing has already been offering such conversion options for a while must have annoyed Google quite a bit. Just like Bing, Google is providing the currency conversions from Coinbase after signing a partnership with the site.

This isn’t exactly a major update for Google, but it does indicate that the company has come to the conclusion that Bitcoins should be treated just like any other currency by including it in the list with all the rest. While integrating Bitcoin in the Google Wallet may still be some distance away, this is a good step for the company.

Google has added a cool new feature
Image credits to Google

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MSI WS60 2OJ is 19.9 mm and 1.9 Kg Ultrathin but Powerful Workstation

The term Ultrabook may only be used to describe entertainment-minded, super-thin mobile personal computers, but there are other types of laptops that are just as thin, or close enough that the difference is negligible. The WS60 2OJ from Micro-Star International is such an example.

In truth, the Origin EVO15-S gaming notebook is an example as well, but that one is still an entertainment-minded device, if on a level far higher than mere web surfing and film playback. MSI's newest laptop stands out even more because it is not made for consumer entertainment, although one could still use it to run films, games and pretty much anything else. Basically, the MSI WS60 2OJ is a mobile workstation, a professional laptop in other words, that even the most demanding video/virtual designers should find sufficient, if not excellent, for their needs. After all, between the Intel Core i7 quad-core central processing unit (Core i7-4710HQ, 2.5 GHz clock) and the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M graphics card (2GB GDDR5), CAD/CAM programs will run smoothly, much to the joy of M&E (Multimedia & Entertainment) designers, as well as engineers. The diagonal of the MSI WS60 2OJ is 15.6 inches, which is another point scored in the “ultrabook” trait list.

It's actually surprising that MSI didn't use a discrete graphics card with more VRAM, but we suppose space still set some limits as to how many heat-generating parts could fit before the cooling stopped keeping up. After all, while MSI did implement the Cooler Boost 2 technology, the dual-fan thermal cooling can only do so much before even its efficiency proves not enough to offset the heat waves. Moving on, storage is provided by an HDD of 1 TB and two solid state drives of varying capacity. The top transfer speed, for reading and writing files, is of 1,000 MB/s because of the SuperRAID technology that “merges” the two SSDs into a single whole, as far as the operating system is concerned.

Furthermore, the newcomer uses Thunderbolt 2 technology with bi-directional 10 Gbps speed, plus USB 3.0, which, while 4 times slower, is still essential and much more widespread. Combined, the interfaces let you transfer 10 HD videos in 3 minutes to and from an external storage device (though it depends on the flash drive, HDD, SSD or whatever else). Finally, the 15.6-inch LCD is a 2880 x 1620 IPS panel and can be extended to two other monitors if you have them. This is good for multi-tasking (one window per screen). All in all, the MSI WS60 2OJ notebook weighs 1.9 kg / 4.18 pounds and is 19.9 mm thin / 0.78 inches.

MSI WS60 2OJ
Images credits to MSI

MSI WS60 2OJ
Image credits to TechPowerUp

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