Is BlackBerry’s Comeback for Real?

http://blog.laptopmag.com

This time last year, the death knell was sounding loudly for Research in Motion. Its market share was in steep decline, its product lineup was stale, and all it had to show for its future was a prototype and the promise of an often-delayed new operating system. Just 12 months later, the company has changed its name to BlackBerry, debuted a new OS in BlackBerry 10 and launched two new smartphones, the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10. A third device, the BlackBerry Q5, is set to hit emerging markets later this year.

During his keynote speech at BlackBerry Live in Orlando, CEO Thorsten Heins said the company was well on its way to its most successful year yet. While he didn’t say that BlackBerry is back in the driver seat for the mobile market, Heins believes his company is well on its way. BlackBerry has also said its latest smartphones have resulted in the most successful launches in company history. But is that really the case?

MORE: BlackBerry CEO Talks BB10, Future of Mobile Computing
A report out of Goldman Sachs released in March said that BlackBerry Z10 sales in the U.S. had been disappointing. Citigroup, at the same time, indicated that less than 5 percent of stores that were stocking Z10’s had sold out of the handsets, despite the fact that most stores only had 12 to 24 units on hand.
What’s more, Detwiler Fenton & Co. issued a report in April stating that retailers were seeing more returns of BlackBerry Z10 devices than sales. However, BlackBerry responded sharply to the report, stating that it was false and that sales of BlackBerry 10 devices in both the U.S. and international markets were in line with expectations.
More recently, the analyst group IDC, reported a steep drop in BlackBerry’s market share from 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2012 to 2.9 percent in the first quarter of 2013. That’s a decrease from 9.7 million units shipped to 6.3 million units shipped. IDC, however, pointed out that many of those units were older BlackBerry 7 devices.
MORE: BlackBerry Z10 (AT&T) Review
Still, not all analysts are down on BlackBerry. According to a report from Barron’s earlier this month, Macquarie Capital’s Kevin Smithen indicated his belief that the BlackBerry Q10 would be a bigger success than the Z10. According to BGR, RBC Capital Markets’ Mark Sue offered a more guarded stance on BlackBerry, stating that the company had essentially bought itself some time to “rebuild its business and develop new enterprise and consumer services to offset the shift away from its mandatory services model.”
And despite reporting a drop in BlackBerry device shipments and market share, IDC noted that  The group also stated that the company moved more than 1 million BlackBerry 10 units in the same quarter. That, as IDC pointed out, is a significant milestone for BlackBerry.

But if you follow Heins’ line of thought, the future of BlackBerry isn’t beholden to smartphones and tablets. Since he began talking about BlackBerry 10 at last year’s BlackBerry World conference, Heins has repeatedly stated that he sees a future where the operating system is more than a means to power a smartphone or tablet, and instead will serve as a, “mobile computing platform.”  During his keynote Heins displayed exactly what he meant by that when he rolled out a Bentley running a version of BB10. The integration is made possible using BlackBerry’s QNX software, which is already used by 60 percent of automakers.
It’s not just autos that BlackBerry 10 could find its way into, though. Heins said the company is also looking to target the medical industry. It’s this kind of forward thinking that IDC analyst William Stofega said he is looking forward to. 
“I’m glad to see finally that we are starting to see the word ‘platform,’ and that they are going to market with their advantages with BB10 and cars,” Stofega said. “It seems like a lot of the things that were said and promised are starting to come to fruition. The transition is still going on, but I get the sense that they are stable and able to deliver.”

Still, for now, BlackBerry has to lean on its smartphone sales to make its keep. And while that will be a challenge for the company, Stofega said he believes the company is cognizant of the difficulties ahead and is willing to meet them head on. BlackBerry also has the benefit of its strong brand recognition in emerging markets such as South America and Asia.
In addition to the low-cost BlackBerry Q5, the company also announced that its BlackBerry Messenger app will be made available for Android and iOS. The reason BlackBerry is still incredibly popular in markets like South America and Asia is because of how inexpensive BBM is compared to texting. However, it’s possibe that by making the service available for Android and iOS, BlackBerry is giving users less of an incentive to buy BlackBerry devices.
Another possible setback for BlackBerry is that despite the fact that BlackBerry and its U.S. carrier partners announced that the Q10 will be available later this summer, they haven’t said exactly when or for how much. That means BlackBerry’s fortunes in the U.S. will continue to rely on the Z10 for now.
If BlackBerry’s stock price is any indication of what the market thinks of the company’s announcements, the future is still rather cloudy. Following the company’s reveal of BlackBerry 10 and its Z10 and Q10 smartphones, its stock price rose from a low of $11.40 to a high of $16.59 at the start of May. Two days after Hein’s keynote at BlackBerry Live , however, the company’s stock price dropped off, closing at $14.69 on May 16.
We’ll learn much more about BlackBerry’s status when the company announces its quarterly earnings later this month. For now, though, the speculation about the strength of the company’s comeback will continue.

New mobile updates for Android, iPhone and mobile web

  www.blog.twitter.com

We just released a new version of Twitter for Android. Its new design reflects a native Android experience: wider and taller timelines that fill the screen, a flat navigation bar, tap and hold for quick actions, and more. You can now quickly navigate between tabs by swiping across your screen. And as you type your Tweet or search, you’ll see username and hashtag suggestions, making it easier to connect with friends and join conversations.

In addition to the Android app, we’ve also updated Twitter for iPhone and mobile.twitter.com. All three mobile apps, plus twitter.com, now show more types of content in expanded Tweets: photo galleries, apps and product listings.

You’ll also see a new link right below content that is shared from another mobile app, such as Foursquare or Path.

The link lets you open or download the app right from the Tweet, depending on whether or not you have it installed. As an example, if you expand a Tweet to view a photo from Flickr, you can tap the link to open the photo in Flickr. If you don’t yet have the Flickr app on your phone, you can tap to install it from the Tweet.

These updates, which are rolling out to users over the next several days, are part of our ongoing effort to make it easier for you to connect with interesting and relevant content on Twitter. If you’re interested in the under-the-hood details, there are more on our Developer blog.

Study: Multitasking hinders youth social skills

(CNN) -- FaceTime, the Apple video-chat application, is not a replacement for real human interaction, especially for children, according to a new study.

Tween girls who spend much of their waking hours switching frantically between YouTube, Facebook, television and text messaging are more likely to develop social problems, says a Stanford University study published in a scientific journal on Wednesday.

Young girls who spend the most time multitasking between various digital devices, communicating online or watching video are the least likely to develop normal social tendencies, according to the survey of 3,461 American girls aged 8 to 12 who volunteered responses.

The study only included girls who responded to a survey in Discovery Girls magazine, but results should apply to boys, too, Clifford Nass, a Stanford professor of communications who worked on the study, said in a phone interview. Boys' emotional development is more difficult to analyze because male social development varies widely and over a longer time period, he said.

"No one had ever looked at this, which really shocked us," Nass said. "Kids have to learn about emotion, and the way they do that, really, is by paying attention to other people. They have to really look them in the eye."
The antidote for this hyper-digital phenomenon is for children to spend plenty of time interacting face-to-face with people, the study found. Tweens in the study who regularly talked in person with friends and family were less likely to display social problems, according to the findings in the publication Developmental Psychology.

"If you eschew face-to-face communication, you don't learn critical things that you have to learn," Nass said. "You have to learn social skills. You have to learn about emotion."

The Stanford researchers were not able to determine a magic number of hours that children should spend conversing per week, Nass said. Social skills are typically only learned when children are engaged and making eye contact, rather than fiddling with an iPod during a conversation, he said.

FaceTime and Skype are not replacements for actual face time because other studies have found that people tend to multitask while on video calls, Nass said.

Nass is a self-described technologist of 25 years, who has worked as a consultant with many major electronics firms, including Google and Microsoft. He said the findings disturbed him.

A few years ago, Nass worked on a study about how multitasking affects adults. He found that heavy multitaskers experience cognitive issues, such as difficulty focusing and remembering things. They were actually worse at juggling various activities, a skill crucial to many people's work lives, than those who spent less time multitasking, Nass said.

Source
By Mark Milian, CNNhttp://edition.cnn.com/

Google+ Users Estimated at 62 Million

An enthusiastic Paul Allen (not the Paul Allen of Microsoft fame, but founder of Ancestry.com) predicts continued adoption of Google+, the social network which launched earlier this year, saying that it is on track to reach 100 million users by the end of February 2012. Allen penned this forecast as part of a post on Google+, where he also released an independent estimate that the site now has 62 million users worldwide.

Allen, whose verified name on Google+ lists him as founder of Ancestry.com and "unofficial Google+ statistician," has reportedly been tracking the number of new users who sign up for Google+ and adjusting how he and his team count when Google releases official statements on the number of members. On October 1, Allen says his estimates pointed to about 38 million users; not two weeks later on October 13, Google pronounced the figure at more than 40 million.

Google+, which first appeared as a beta social network in late June of this year and finally opened up to the public in September, garnered a lot of early attention for its potential to become an alternative to Facebook. However, despite the numbers, activity on the social network hasn't lived up to expectations. While a small number of users seem to be use the site fervently, Google+ doesn't have as much social activity or connectivity as its primary rival—so far.

Another one of Allen's predictions for Google+ in the year ahead is that the Network Effect will take hold, meaning the more people use Google+, the more valuable the site will become for everyone on it. However, there's a big difference between using the site and joining, which has been the primary reason for lackluster response to date.

source : www.pcmag.com
By Jill Duffy

Facebook Rolls Out Enhanced Commenting System

Facebook, in a latest development to make websites more social, has deployed commenting system for blogs and websites.

This commenting system will allow website owners to make it possible for their readers to comment on their websites using their Facebook or Yahoo IDs. Yes, Facebook comment system doesn’t allow comments with twitter, Google, name/website or anonymous IDs.

All comments posted on websites will be relayed on users’ Facebook feeds. Not only this, Facebook users will be able to comment on websites from their Facebook home/news feeds as well.

Comments will look like something following:

If you want to get these comments rolled out for your website, then click this link

A great tool to go ahead, However, before you get the plugin you may need to think about following:

• This comments system by Facebook can’t be backed-up, so there’s returning back. Once you integrate Facebook comments with your website then you won’t be able to get rid of it to revert back to your default commenting system. If you do so, you will lose all the comments.
• You may miss comments from those users who have Facebook blocked in their offices/schools.
• Not everyone would want to reveal their real identity while commenting
• Facebook comments accepts only Facebook and Yahoo IDs for commenters, no Twitter or Google IDs so far.
• Very limited number of comments are loaded first up. You will have to load more to see all the comments coming
• Users are reporting slower performance (in terms of load time) of Facebook comments’ system.

Facebook comes to the Nokia E71 & Nokia E72

The Nokia E71 and Nokia E72 now has a Facebook application, available right at the Ovi Store.


The application is pretty nifty, and lets you use all the basic features of Facebook.



There are still a couple things missing like the Facebook “like” feature, etc but hey atleast there’s finally an official app now.



It’s basically a non-touch version of the S60v5 Touch app.



To download the app, go on over to the Nokia Ovi Store on your Nokia E71 or Nokia E72 and search for “Facebook” to find the application.



No doubt more S60v3 devices will get the application soon.

Facebook Allows Users to Upgrade to the New Messages Product, Why You Should

Some users are seeing a prompt when they visit their Facebook Messages inbox allowing them to upgrade to the New Messages product launched in closed beta in November. The product automatically filters non-essential communications into an Other folder, allowing the main inbox to show only important messages. It also routes sent messages to whichever device or interface Facebook deems is the most convenient for the recipient, whether that’s Chat, Messages, SMS, or email. While initially only available to press and an early tester-base, it appears all users will soon be able to upgrade to New Messages.

At the product’s launch event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained that New Messages was built to facilitate modern communication which is simple, immediate, lightweight, and personal like SMS and instant messaging, opposed to more formal, asynchronous email. Though users get an @facebook.com email address, Facebook doesn’t expect users to shift things like payment receipts and newsletters there. Instead, the product reduces noise, eases cross-interface conversation, and creates a more comprehensive record of the communication users already perform. Users who don’t see the prompt to upgrade on their inbox can visit the New Messages about page to request an invitation. We expect a full rollout to occur in the next month or so, similar to how the profile redesign is now being pushed to all users.

The best part about New Messages is how it brings Chat into threaded, searchable conversation history. If someone sends you Message, but you’re online, you’ll see it as a Chat. If you send them back a Chat and they’ve already logged off, it will be routed to their New Messages inbox, and shown in the same thread as your previous Chat. This means you don’t have to worry about conversations breaking down because one person changed the interface through which they were communicating. Or if you accidentally close your last Facebook web interface window or head out the door, you’ll still be able to access those Chats from your phone in the form of Messages.

This system is similar to the interplay of Gchat and Gmail, and its adoption could pull users away from Google who use that company’s product for their reliability of delivery. The New Messages product also separates conversations by people rather than by interface, between which the lines are blurring as users increasingly use Chat, email, and Facebook Messages from their mobile device as well as the web. Other useful features of New Messages include forwarding and attachment support, and a one-click “Mark as Read/Unread” option.

The main problem with New Messages at present is the filtering of conversations. Event, Page, and Group updates are usually filtered properly into the Other inbox, leaving a high-signal, low-noise main inbox of one-to-one messages. However, Messages, including time-sensitive businesses communications, from people who aren’t your friend and don’t have mutual friends are filtered into the Other inbox as well. Without the red notification counter on your home page or gray counters on your Messages sidebar navigation link, it’s easy to forget that important Messages may be being filtered out.

For instance, I didn’t check my Other inbox for a few weeks and had multiple Messages from people who wanted to show me their soon-to-launch products. When Facebook sought to inform users of the five-day window to give feedback on proposed changes to its privacy terms via the Facebook Site Governance Page, that Message was also filtered out. Some users prefer to Message someone they’ve met before adding them as a friend, but these personal, social, one-to-one Messages might not reach their recipients until much later. Users can move a conversation between inboxes once it has started, but Facebook could address part of the problem by allowing users to opt to have the first Message from someone they aren’t connected to routed to their main inbox.

Overall, Messages will help most Facebook users. It anticipates the shift to using multiple devices and interfaces to conduct a single conversation. It also declutters the inbox by removing spammy and low-value Page and Event updates. Professionals who are frequently contacted by those they aren’t connected to will need to pay attention to their Other inbox. But for most, we advise upgrading or requesting an invitation to New Messages because it improves one of the core uses of Facebook — instant communication with friends.

Engro Rupiya Facebook Page Got Hacked and then Re-Hacked

Apparently, the Engro Rupiya of Engro Company has lost its facebook page. According to updated available on Facebook, the page was officially used on 3 back.

However, as per latest status update on the page, a Pakistani hacker is claiming that the page was hacked and he had to re-hack it to brings it back. Hacker is now looking for the real admin to give the page control back to the owner.

Hacker claims that the page was hacked by some Albanian hacker. We are awaiting response from the hacker and the company on the situation.

Meanwhile, go through following conversation made after recent most status update.

Facebook to remove users in prison

After a prisoner updated his status from Facebook, the user’s account was closed because internet access in prison is not available which means someone else was operating his account. That is a violation of the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities of Facebook, which governs the relationship with users.



Prisoners in the state of South Carolina are not allowed to keep a mobile phone. Yet prisoners are found with mobile thrown to them over the fences. Prisoners found with mobiles face solitary confinement, loss of visitation and canteen privileges. Now anyone caught with a cell phone or using Facebook via mobile internet or any other means might soon be looking at 30 extra days behind bars and a $500 fine.

A new bill prepared by a Democrat Wendell Gilliard would make it unlawful for an inmate to be a member of any internet social-networking site. Anyone found using any social networking site will be convicted and will get a penalty for the offense. The bill has already 12 co sponsors as legislators think it is a good idea.


A newspaper provided details of the people in South Carolina prison who were active on Facebook. Such as Anthony Enriquez, who is serving life without parole for murdering a man he robbed of a pack of cigarettes, is an active member of Facebook, despite the facility of internet in the prison.
Wendell Gilliard said. "The inmates have been using social networking to put coded messages out about where money is to be found, who turned them in, wanting revenge. It s putting innocent people s lives at stake. The goal of the bill is to stop the inside from coming out.”


In March of 2010, Facebook closed the account of Tennessee death row inmate Nikolaus Johnson. "Being imprisoned and having a Facebook account isn t against our policies, but providing others with a password to access an account is a violation of our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which governs our relationship with users," Andrew Noyes, public policy communications manager at Facebook, said in statement then. "Since this individual does not have Internet access, someone else is maintaining the profile. Thus, the account was disabled." added Andrew Noyes.

* News * Technology * Facebook Facebook considers $1bn staff share sale

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's stake in the company is currently worth $15bn. Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters

Facebook is weighing plans to let employees sell up to $1bn (£621m) of their shares to outside investors. The sale would value the social network at about $60bn, according to an influential industry blog.

Major investors have been clamouring to invest in privately-held Facebook. The sale would allow Facebook employees to raise money on their stakes in the company while the firm considers selling shares in an initial public offering (IPO), the All Things Digital blog said, citing Facebook sources.

At $60bn Facebook would become one of the world's most valuable companies, worth as much as Ford Motor Company. The new valuation marks yet another jump in valuation, coming just a month after company founder Mark Zuckerberg raised $1.5bn in financing in a deal that valued Facebook at $50bn.

In the interim period social media firms have been attracting ever increasing attention. Goldman Sachs led the last round of financing for Facebook and had planned to offer shares to its top tier US clients. Those plans had to be scrapped when the bank was inundated with requests for shares and the publicity over the share sale threatened to breach rules about private placements.

Zuckerberg, who started the firm in a Harvard dorm room, owns about a quarter of the company, making his stake worth $15bn. In December he joined fellow billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in The Giving Pledge, a network of super-rich people who have promised to give most of their fortunes to charity.

The news of Facebook's potentiall share sale follows revelations that Facebook and Google are both stalking Twitter, the micro-blogging site. The price for the fast growing but still loss-making firm is said to be between $8bn and $10bn. Alongside Facebook and Twitter's valuations, social media firms including Groupon and LinkedIn are planning to raise billions in IPOs.

Zuckerberg, who started the firm in a Harvard dorm room, is expected to lead the biggest social media IPO when he takes Facebook public in 2012. The company now has over 600 million members worldwide and has become the hottest investment property on the planet. Last year it eclipsed Google as the world's most visited website. According to Experian Hitwise, 8.9% of unique online visits were to Facebook last year, compared with Google's 7.2%. A survey by Nielsen found that Americans spend nearly 23% of their time online using social networks, up from about 16% in 2009.

Under US rules a private company with 500-plus shareholders must either go public or start publishing full accounts. Facebook has been keen to keep rivals from looking over its books and Zuckerberg has carefully managed those numbers up until now. The firm recently said it would publish financial results by April 2012 even if it hasn't held an IPO, according to a document sent to prospective investors.

Employees were given the opportunity to sell shares in 2009 to one of Facebook's investors, Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies (DST). Current and former employees were able to sell up to 20% of their common shares at $14.77 per share at a $6.5bn valuation. If the latest deal goes through, those who sell their shares this time will get almost 10 times that amount.

The prices have led some to claim a new dotcom bubble has been formed and is about to pop. Colin Gillis, internet analyst at BGC Partners, said: "I wouldn't say there was a bubble but there is certainly more confidence than scepticism about. It all depends on whether you think social media is going to be more or less important in the future. Personally I think it's going to be more important."