Blackberry fans line up here: pre-orders for the new Classic are open

<b>Platform loyal BBM addicts have a new device to consider -- other than the Passport -- now that Blackberry is taking pre-orders for its upcoming phone.</b><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNGIjPZBXAfca5YhyXLCH8f7hamPlFbvIGJ9BGgnEC2oHSz9FrCLkZJCqIczLz9nfnAyg-QdBZgsI3a7dVO7zzYeF2Jj-QuYS0M7w5mK3XWFE5C56OcSE4ow2LsSPuXTiHOVvwrMF_RV6f/s1600/Blackberry-tech24h.blogspot.com.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Blackberry fans line up here: pre-orders for the new Classic are open" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNGIjPZBXAfca5YhyXLCH8f7hamPlFbvIGJ9BGgnEC2oHSz9FrCLkZJCqIczLz9nfnAyg-QdBZgsI3a7dVO7zzYeF2Jj-QuYS0M7w5mK3XWFE5C56OcSE4ow2LsSPuXTiHOVvwrMF_RV6f/s1600/Blackberry-tech24h.blogspot.com.jpg" title="Blackberry fans line up here: pre-orders for the new Classic are open" /></a></div> <div> <b><br /></b> <div> The Classic (aka Q20) brings the design, keyboard and trackpad users are used to, plus a large square touch screen, the latest version of BlackBerry OS and support for Android apps. Currently only a GSM version is available (no Verizon, Sprint or US Cellular support here) in the US for $450 and shipments are expected to start in mid-December. Oddly, BlackBerry hasn't revealed more details or specs about the phone, but those should be revealed closer to its release. Our best look at the phone came from this leak, feel free to take a look back before deciding to whether to place an order.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div>

Blackberry fans line up here: pre-orders for the new Classic are open

Platform loyal BBM addicts have a new device to consider -- other than the Passport -- now that Blackberry is taking pre-orders for its upco...

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Aviary's first update under Adobe brings Creative Cloud sync, free add-ons

<div> Back in September, Adobe snatched up Aviary to pad its mobile portfolio, and the photo-editing app has released its first major post-acquisition update.</div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1iZfDyRWTIQV7le0lRLoBYIDJcZQuiLL_Vpcmc2k-XhI0vP0ClQEz02Gn2Sn4L5QXVmLsEToOKKOSl4GHvrLpoMcCg7FyFt2khPfqg5aQ9IB3F6zTBNQb02P5D68kczQR4Gmc3sgK5R6/s1600/Aviary's-tech24h.blogspot.com.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Aviary's first update under Adobe brings Creative Cloud sync, free add-ons" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1iZfDyRWTIQV7le0lRLoBYIDJcZQuiLL_Vpcmc2k-XhI0vP0ClQEz02Gn2Sn4L5QXVmLsEToOKKOSl4GHvrLpoMcCg7FyFt2khPfqg5aQ9IB3F6zTBNQb02P5D68kczQR4Gmc3sgK5R6/s1600/Aviary's-tech24h.blogspot.com.jpg" title="Aviary's first update under Adobe brings Creative Cloud sync, free add-ons" /></a></div> <div> <br /></div> <div> In what will come as no surprise, Aviary now syncs all of your in-app tools with Creative Cloud after you sign in with a requisite Adobe ID. What's more, those effects, stickers and more that usually require shelling out funds are free until the end of the month -- all $200 worth. Stencil overlays (another in-app purchase) and vignettes make their debut alongside adjustments for fade, highlights, shadows and tint via easy to use slider controls. Finally, the iOS versiongets a revamped Draw tool that offers a more natural feel. Both that and the Androidupdate are ready for download, and if you're looking to test drive 'em, Aviary is free via the respective app repositories.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <br /></div>

Aviary's first update under Adobe brings Creative Cloud sync, free add-ons

Back in September, Adobe snatched up Aviary to pad its mobile portfolio, and the photo-editing app has released its first major post-acquis...

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Samsung faces the bad news: sales of its high-end phones are sliding

<b>Confirming its own estimates from earlier this month, Samsung announced tonight that it accumulated an operating profit of $3.9 billion in Q3.</b><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQo9PrYrm_3oVBwAu3jhz5qglEaEDci_-8rOrIHwx3-x7g1P99tzgTkMCsmFt4PQ5tuO4N_FdPM7-hu-p-lrMAAFmo1Bnx3rSQBTgdFROFrKgMl9Ny4x8G7FiVGJ6-teaHvjcCVlqpoKp8/s1600/Samsung-tech24h.blogspot.com.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Samsung faces the bad news: sales of its high-end phones are sliding" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQo9PrYrm_3oVBwAu3jhz5qglEaEDci_-8rOrIHwx3-x7g1P99tzgTkMCsmFt4PQ5tuO4N_FdPM7-hu-p-lrMAAFmo1Bnx3rSQBTgdFROFrKgMl9Ny4x8G7FiVGJ6-teaHvjcCVlqpoKp8/s1600/Samsung-tech24h.blogspot.com.jpg" title="Samsung faces the bad news: sales of its high-end phones are sliding" /></a></div> <div> <b><br /></b> <div> That's not a bad haul for most companies in the July to September period, but last year Samsung proudly celebrated a record profit of $9.6 billion and now it's down to less than half that. Now the company is breaking down the reasons behind the drop, and everything starts with the flagship Galaxy S smartphones. Reuters notes that phones drove its growth over the last couple of years, but profits in that area dropped from 6.7 trillion Korean won last year, to 1.75 trillion in the same period this year.<br /> <br /> That drop came as a result of price cuts for older phones and "declined shipments" of high-end models. Even slightly higher sales of midrange smartphones apparently weren't enough to right the ship, and the Galaxy Note 4 hasn't been on sale long enough to contribute. Worse, the phone sales have an effect across the company for its display, memory and CPU businesses. It expects to sell more Ultra HD and curved TVs to close out 2014, but investors will likely be more interested in how it responds to cheaper Chinese phone manufacturers.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div>

Samsung faces the bad news: sales of its high-end phones are sliding

Confirming its own estimates from earlier this month, Samsung announced tonight that it accumulated an operating profit of $3.9 billion in Q...

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Next Office for Mac leaks, shots of UI appear

<b>A Chinese website yesterday published what it claimed were screenshots of Microsoft's next edition of Office for the Mac.</b><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9eELFulG7uxHT-jnkPua0vmACW7mWAoGjreaQoROegpRIg7LwA-7uXdCFue4q-ivDJgyPKylFlhk10ZYWkSRbD01YeFTRZuA_CoR1WbE_tPrkkRoJ6J05facPSFiHprdrzHH9_qwzoxIt/s1600/Office-tech24h.blogspot.com.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Next Office for Mac leaks, shots of UI appear" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9eELFulG7uxHT-jnkPua0vmACW7mWAoGjreaQoROegpRIg7LwA-7uXdCFue4q-ivDJgyPKylFlhk10ZYWkSRbD01YeFTRZuA_CoR1WbE_tPrkkRoJ6J05facPSFiHprdrzHH9_qwzoxIt/s1600/Office-tech24h.blogspot.com.jpg" title="Next Office for Mac leaks, shots of UI appear" /></a></div> <div> <b><br /></b>The nearly two dozen screenshots posted by cnBeta.com were of Outlook, the email client that’s included in Office on both Windows and OS X. cnBeta.com said that the screenshots were taken from a leaked internal test version of the application.<br /> <br /> Some long-time Microsoft watchers, including Tom Warren of The Verge, have reported that previews of a new Office for Windows have been circulating among partners and testers. The software that cnBeta.com obtained may have come from a similar early-look program for Office on the Mac.<br /> <br /> cnBeta.com’s screenshots showed an Outlook more closely aligned with the user interface (UI) of the client in Office 2013, the current edition for Windows, and fit OS X Yosemite’s look-and-feel with a “flatter” design.<br /> <br /> According to the leaked build, Outlook will still rely on a “ribbon” at the top of the window, a UI feature that debuted in Office for Mac 2011 four years ago to some resistance.<br /> <br /> Additionally, the new Outlook will integrate with OS X’s Notification Center to show the most-recently-received messages. And, not surprisingly, the suite’s applications will be tightly bound to Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud-based service for document storage and collaborative work.<br /> <br /> Where's the new version?<br /> <br /> An upgrade from Office for Mac 2011 is long overdue: Microsoft shipped that edition in October 2010. The long lag time has implications because 2011’s support retirement date—when the company stops providing security updates—is Jan. 12, 2016, less than 14 months away.<br /> <br /> In the past, Microsoft’s OS X development team has talked up upcoming editions, but this cycle there was been only silence from the company. Among the unknowns are a release date, the name of the edition and pricing.<br /> <br /> One certainty is that the next Office for Mac will be available to subscribers of Office 365, Microsoft’s rent-not-buy program. It’s also likely that Microsoft will continue to offer perpetual licenses—the traditional kind that are paid for once, with rights to use the software as long as the customer wants—because revenue from the Office 365 subscription model continues to lag far behind the more familiar one-off or volume perpetual licenses.<br /> <br /> It’s also a good bet that Microsoft will retain the price synchronization of retail Mac licenses with Windows’ Office 2013, a move the company made last year when it introduced Office 365. Currently, a single-license Office for Mac Home & Student lists for $139.99, and Home & Business for $219.99, prices identical to the same-named version of Office 2013.<br /> <br /> The Office 365 editions of Office for Mac 2011 are equivalent to Home & Business in that they include Outlook, but subscribers can also use Office on tablets, such as Office for iPad.<br /> <br /> cnBeta.com also cited “Outlook 16” as the application’s formal name, implying Microsoft has skipped a version: Office for Mac 2011’s Outlook was pegged v. 14. The v. 16 may indicate that the next Office for OS X will be based on the same code as the next edition for Windows: Office 2013 is formally tagged v. 15. Rumors have also pinned the code name “Office 16” on the upcoming Windows edition.<br /> <br /> Office 16, probably named to match Microsoft’s convention, may launch as early as the spring of 2015. If that’s the case, and Microsoft releases a companion upgrade for the Mac at the same time—or even earlier—it would be another departure for the Redmond, Wash. company, which in the past has shipped the OS X version an average of six months after the one for Windows.<br /> <br /> On the side of an early appearance of Office for the Mac is the fact that Microsoft shipped a touch-only version for the iPad in March, but has yet to do the same for touch-centric Windows devices, including Microsoft’s own Surface.</div> <div> <br /></div>

Next Office for Mac leaks, shots of UI appear

A Chinese website yesterday published what it claimed were screenshots of Microsoft's next edition of Office for the Mac. The nearly...

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'Microsoft Band' fitness tracker leaks out

<b>It looks like the curtains have been raised early on Microsoft's attempt to join the wearable game.</b><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB_bSUvfchSSqWcxcVtWI0zoy4sCt5qlmRgK1EErTTdrxAwH6y1x1eBfhe8m6CqBjWbk_sTzMJVqNCg5zZpJvjIQCYAui45wUXX9WHVMJpMdRHDM9PebKOpYDjOegnIOrxqRawOEHZTy4h/s1600/Microsoft-Band-01-tech24h.blogspot.com.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="'Microsoft Band' fitness tracker leaks out" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB_bSUvfchSSqWcxcVtWI0zoy4sCt5qlmRgK1EErTTdrxAwH6y1x1eBfhe8m6CqBjWbk_sTzMJVqNCg5zZpJvjIQCYAui45wUXX9WHVMJpMdRHDM9PebKOpYDjOegnIOrxqRawOEHZTy4h/s1600/Microsoft-Band-01-tech24h.blogspot.com.jpg" title="'Microsoft Band' fitness tracker leaks out" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">update: goes on sale Thursday for $199</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div> <div> Windows Central points out that sync apps have appeared in the Mac and Androidapp stores (update: and Microsoft's), set to personalize and track data for your "Microsoft Band." Rumors had pointed to a fitness tracker more than a watch that could debut within weeks, and judging by the apps that's just what we'll get. According to the Google Play, Windows Phone Store and iTunes listings, the device itself has more in common with Nike's FuelBand than the what we've seen from Apple and Google so far. That includes tracking steps, heartbeat, calories burned and sleep quality. 9to5Mac linked a privacy agreement that goes into even deeper detail about what else it can do, namely display notifications from your mobile device or take notes and set reminders with Cortana.<br /> <b><br />Update:</b></div> <div> Microsoft confirmed that the Band will go on sale for $199 Thursday in its online and physical stores, to US customers only, in "limited quantities." Designed by Quentin Morris (who also developed the Xbox One controller), it carries ten sensors onboard to measure things from heart rate to UV exposure to stress levels, and can last as much as 48 hours on a single charge.</div> </div>

'Microsoft Band' fitness tracker leaks out

It looks like the curtains have been raised early on Microsoft's attempt to join the wearable game. update: goes on sale Thursday for...

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