BBM For iPhone Update Fixes IOS 7.0.3 Issues

Earlier today we heard that BlackBerry is working on a fix for BBM for iPhone, that will fix the issues users have been experiencing on iOS 7.0.3.

It looks like BlackBerry has now released an update for BBM for iPhone, which is designed to fix the issue in iOS 7.0.3, the udpate also fixes some other bugs on Apple’s iOs device.

Also included in the update is the addition of contact categories, plus the ability to list sort and filter in BBM groups, the update also features a number of other performance improvements.

You can download the latest version of BBM for iPhone over at the iTunes store, the app is also available on Google’s Android platform.

The new BBM for Android and iOS, brings cross platform messaging to three platforms, which include of course BlackBerry, iOS and Android.

As long as your friends are on one of the three supported platforms and have the BBM app, you can now send message, photos and more to them, this was previously only available between BlackBerry devices.

Source iTunes

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Watch Dogs And Assassin’s Creed 4 DLC Exclusive To PlayStation 4 For 6 Months

If you are still undecided which next-generation games console you are going to opt for this holiday season, you might be interested to learn that today it has been reported that the PlayStation 4 will offer gamers exclusive DLC content for 6 months for two major games to be released.

The PlayStation 4 games that will be benefiting from this exclusive content will be the new Assassins’s Creed 4 which will be launching alongside the new next-generation PlayStation 4 console. Together with the recently delayed Watch Dogs game which is now expected to launch in the first quarter of 2014.

Unfortunately anybody looking forward to playing the highly anticipated Watch Dogs game on a next-generation console will be disappointed to hear that the earlier this week Ubisoft announced the game will unfortunately not be ready for the launch of the next generation consoles. But the development team is working hard at preparing it for release sometime early next year.

Even though games in the past have provided exclusive content to PlayStation owners, the six-month exclusivity period is much longer than anything previously announced. In the past Xbox 360 gamers have been able to enjoy a month’s head start on Call of Duty game DLCs but 6 months could be a real marketing point for gamers wishing to try out the new game content earlier rather than later.

Source: Eurogamer

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Apple Logic Pro X Receives Support For GarageBand 10 Project Files

Adding to the already long list of updates, hardware, and software which Apple have already launched and released this week. Is a new update for their Apple Logic Pro X music software which brings with it support for the new GarageBand 10 project files.

Apple launched their latest version of Logic Pro X back in July of this year and it was the first major update Apple and released for the software since way back in 2009.

Earlier this week Apple announced that their new GarageBand 10 iOS 7 application would be made free for users and now includes a wealth of new features and updates making it even easier to create your very own tunes and loops.

The last Garageband iOS application has been rebuilt from the ground up by Apple and now includes a fresh new user interface and with enhanced Sound Library with Smart Controls.

User can also now use Apple’s iCloud service to keep GarageBand projects up to date across multiple Mac computers as well as import GarageBand for iOS songs directly from iCloud.

Other features of the new GarageBand 10 app include a virtual session drummer to your song that takes direction and plays realistic beats, a new collection of sounds and instruments and the ability to design custom Pedalboard from a collection of 35 creative stompbox effects. Find out more over on the Apple iTunes App Store.

Source: Mac Rumours

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PlayStation 4 Real Name Online Profiles Feature Will Be Available From Launch

Sony has this week confirmed via the gaming website Kotaku that its new next-generation PlayStation 4 console will allow real name online profiles from launch.

Something that Microsoft’s new Xbox One games console will not be allowing gamers to enjoy until sometime next year. Sony confirmed that the new feature would be available from November 15, 2013 when their PlayStation 4 console launches worldwide.

But don’t worry too much if you prefer to play anonymously as you will still be able to use gametags rather than your real name if preferred.

Sony and Microsoft are pushing the new real name identification system onto their next-generation games consoles to make online gaming more social and bring it in line with social networks such as Facebook who already utilise real names for account holders.

When the new featured is launch on the new PlayStation 4 it will be interesting to see how many gamers use their real name whilst playing. As it is thought in some cases players using their real name might possibly be easier targets for harassment outside of the gaming environment.

Sony also explained to the Kotaku website that PlayStation 4 owners who use real names, will also be able to use and play games with nicknames or aliases if preferred.

The new next generation PlayStation 4 console will be launching on November 15th 2013 in the US and slightly later throughout Europe on November 29th 2013. The Sony PlayStation 4 console is priced at $399, €399, and £349 depending on your location.

Source: Kotaku

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OS X Mavericks Adding Up To 30 Percent Improved Battery Life On MacBooks

OS X Mavericks was released on Tuesday after the Apple iPad event, one of the features that Apple have been touting is that it will improve battery life on MacBooks.

John Siracusa from Ars Technica has published an in depth review of OS X Mavericks, and also revealed some details on battery improvements that the update brought to some MacBooks.

On a 2007 MacBook Pro there was an improvement in battery life of around 20 percent, and on a 2013 MacBook Air there was an improvement of around 30 percent.

I suspect the aggressiveness of the auto-playing Flash ads that happen to be on specific websites on a particular day may partly explain the huge variability in Mountain Lion’s numbers. Some of the lower-scoring Mountain Lion trials may have also had the bad luck to coincide with energy-intensive periodic jobs—jobs that are prevented from running on Mavericks due to AC power or battery-level restrictions as part of centralized task scheduling.

These tests may or may not be representative of how you use your Mac, but regardless, it’s clear that Apple’s efforts have not been in vain. Mavericks really does consume less energy than Mountain Lion when performing the same tasks.

From what we have seen so far, Mavericks has a definite effect on battery life on Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Air range, although we have not conducted any specific tests.

Source Ars Technica, MacRumors

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BBC iPlayer App Passes 20 Million Downloads

The BBC has today announced that its popular iPlayer application has now passed the 20 million download mark across iOS and Android mobile devices.

The BBC also explains that smartphone and tablet TV viewing has overtaken TV viewing via computer and the most popular days for downloading the BBC iPlayer application have been Christmas day during both 2011 and 2012. So it goes without saying that the BBC should expect another large surge of downloads during this year’s holiday season.

Since its release the BBC iPlayer has help TV viewing on mobile devices rocket with more and more people using the BBC iPlayer whilst on the move. Using their mobile devices to catch up on the latest TV programs and series.

The BBC reports that in September 2013 a record 70 million TV requests came from mobile devices accessing the BBC iPlayer app and made up to 41 percent of all the iPlayer requests. Which compares to 3 years ago when mobile device made just 6 percent of requests. The BBC explains a title more about the demand for its programs:

“Top Gear has topped the list for the most popular downloaded individual episode, with 92,000 downloads for episode one, series 20. Ten other episodes of Top Gear made the top 20 downloaded programmes, along with dramas such as Luther, Ripper Street and Doctor Who, and comedies such as Miranda and Bad Education. And EastEnders was the most downloaded series overall, with 1.9 million downloads to date, as viewers caught up with the drama in Albert Square on their handheld devices.”

Source: BBC

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Giant Microsoft Surface 2 Tablet Lands In London

Microsoft recently launched their new Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 tablets, and the company is obviously hoping to have a big impact with these new tablets in the UK.

Microsoft has put up a giant Microsoft Surface 2 tablet in London, the tablet was snapped by The Verge and it features a massive 383 inch display.

The giant Microsoft Surface 2 tablet has been put up in Trafalgar Square in London, the tablet is 27 feet wide and 17 feet high, and the device actually works.

Microsoft has been letting some school kids in London play with the tablet, you can jump on the giant keys to control the giant Microsoft Surface 2 tablet.

We wonder if this will help Microsoft increase sales of their new Surface 2 tablets in the UK, both versions of the tablet is now available in the UK.

The Microsoft Surface 2 retails for £359 in the UK this is for the 32GB model of the tablet, and prices of the Surface Pro 2 start at £719 for the 64GB model.

Source The Verge

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Dead Trigger 2 Launches On Android And IOS With Global Player Missions And Realtime Story (video)

Gamers with Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich or higher or iOS smartphone and tablets, might enjoy the new and highly anticipated first-person shooter (FPS) video game sequel Dead Trigger 2 which is now available from the Google Play Store.

If you thought Dead Trigger 2 was another run of the mill FPS game you would be wrong, as the game story has been designed to include “real time story development” which is effected by every Dead Trigger 2 player engaged in the zombie-themed shooter.

The game enables all players worldwide to partake in global missions that run along side the regular storyline gameplay and missions adding extra involvement and excitement to the games mechanics.

“Find a safe place to hide-out, get equipped, and fight for your life in a real time bid for survival against an onslaught of bloodthirsty undead. Join the Global Resistance and fight to crush the Zombie plague that has positioned the Earth on the edge of peril. It’s up to you to provide humanity with a new chance at survival.”

Dead Trigger 2 has been developed by Madfinger Games and is also available for desktops and notebook systems and includes a a touch control scheme created especially for casual players or an enhanced virtual joystick option to choose from.

Source: Mad Finger Games

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Apple iPad Air TV Ad Released (Video)

The Apple iPad Air was announced at Apple’s iPad event earlier in the week, and at the event they showed a new TV advert for the iPad Air, which they have now released and you can see in the video below.

The iPad Air comes with a new design, it is thinner and lighter than the previous iPad, and it also comes with some new hardware, including Apple’s latest mobile processor.

The new iPad Air features a 9.7 inch Retina display that has a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, the device is powered by Apple’s new 64-bit A7 processor, it also features Apple’s new M7 motion processor.

Other specifications on the tablet include a front facing FaceTime HD camera, which can take 1.2 megapixel cameras and is capable of 720p HD video.

On the back of the iPad Air is a 5 megapixel Apple iSight camera, this camera can take 5 megapixel photos and can record full high definition video in 1080p.

The iPad air measures 6.6 inches wide by 9.4 inches tall, the tablet is just 0.29 inches thick, and it is much lighter than the previous model, weighing just 1 pound.

Prices for the Pad Air start at $499 for the WiFi only model and $629 for the Cellular model, the tablet is available with a choice of 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB of storage, it will launch on the 1st of November.

Source Apple / YouTube

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Oppo N1 Expected to Launch Globally in November

Oppo N1 was officially unveiled last month with a rotatable 13MP camera that can be used as a front-facing camera as well as the main camera. Oppo N1 is expected to launch in China by the end of this month, but if the latest information is to believed, the handset will make a global appearance by the end of November.

Oppo didn’t make any official announcement, but the information came from the CynogenMOD team who revealed in their presentation that it will launch by the end of November. You can view the complete CynogenMOD presentation here.

Oppo N1 features a 5.9-inch full HD display sporting a resolution of 1920 x 1080p with 377 ppi, a quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset with a clock speed of 1.7GHz with Adreno 320 and 2GB RAM. On the storage side, the phablet comes with 16/32GB storage, plus a massive 3,610 mAh battery and runs Oppo’s Color operating system based on Android 4.2.

The most interesting feature is the 13MP rotatable camera with f/2.0 aperture that can be used as a front-facing camera as well as the rear camera, as it can rotate over 180 degrees. Other features include 5G WiFi, WiFi Direct, WiFi Display, GPS and Bluetooth 4.0

Meanwhile, you could just sign up for the company’s Pioneer program, which allows ten lucky users to try out the phablet for just $99. This is a great deal, so you can go ahead and try your luck.

We’ll update you if there’s any official word from the company about the global launch of Oppo N1.

Source: PhoneArena

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