Hasta La Gadget!

There’s no question that RIM knows how key attracting as much developer support as possible will be to its upcoming BlackBerry 10 platform, and that’s where its focus seems to be at the BlackBerry Jam Asia event in Bangkok. CrackBerry‘s live blog notes that RIM has announced a new name for its store, going from BlackBerry App World to just BlackBerry World (likely due to its dedicated sections for music, movies and TV shows) as well as a number of regional partners pledging support for the platform like Baidu, Kantana and Fox Sports. Another feature shown off at the event was the ability of its keyboard handle multiple languages and prediction within a single conversation. It also celebrated the success of a recent port-a-thon event, continuing to tout the ease with which devs can bring their projects from iOS and Android to BlackBerry 10.

The SDK gold release is scheduled for December 11th with all the APIs necessary, and developers can register for that $10,000 Built For BlackBerry incentive guarantee starting today ahead of the January 21st deadline. While you’re signing up for that, BlackBerry app makers who want to try out the new hotness on a device with a physical keyboard should sign up for a Dev Alpha C unit. After passing out 7,500 Dev Alpha units since May, its promising these to the top 1,500 people who sign up, have submitted two apps or more and are ranked by score based on certain other developer activities. Also, those original 7,500 can sign up to swap their Dev Alpha for Limited Edition BlackBerry 10 hardware after launch. Counting 60 million active BBM customers in Asia and claiming it’s both the largest and fastest growing segment there we expect to see continued focus from RIM there, as of now we’re only a couple months away from finding out how the world reacts to BlackBerry 10.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM

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Source: CrackBerry, Research in Motion (Twitter), Dev Alpha C

Google has pushed out Chrome browser updates for iOS and Android, bringing with them a few bug fixes and some new features, with the new features being skewed toward the iOS version. As with all updates, you can nab the apps from the Google Play Store for Android, and from the App Store for iOS. Both updates are available for download now.

The Chrome for iOS update includes both new features and bug fixes. On the features side of things, users can now open PDF files in other applications, and there’s a user option for having the browser auto detect text encoding. Support has been added for Passbook, allowing users to save tickets and airline passes. A variety of security and stability updates have also been applied. This is version 23.0.1271.91.

For Android users, the Chrome update is a bit more sparse, side-stepping new features in favor of a few bug fixes and not much else. An update has been released for both ARM and x86 devices, with both of them offering a variety of fixes for common stability problems. This is version 18.0.1025469 for ARM and 18.0.1026322 for x86.

As is expected, there are some known issues with both varieties of Chrome. Apple device users might experience a “Data Unavailable” error message when trying to save images from the web, and may be disappointed to find out that there is presently no “History” option for viewing browsing history. Android users may find font size inconsistentcy on some websites, error messages and instructions for non-mobile versions of Chrome, tabs loading blank, and laggy scrolling.

[via Chrome Blogspot]

Chrome update for iOS and Android brings bug fixes, Passbook support is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Korg is known for its top-of-the-line musical instruments and accessories. But if there’s area that it is doing best, it is in making great keyboards. Korg has just announced the new MicroStation keyboard, a “Micro Multi-Tool” that’s perfect for small studios. The MicroStation keyboard is not only for live performances, it’s also great for songwriting. Musicians and professional keyboardists will love MicroStation for its portability and high-quality sound, thanks to Korg’s EDS-i (Enhanced Definition Synthesis-integrated) synth engine.

The keyboard also features dual arpeggiators and phenomenal sound effects. Other noteworthy features of the keyboard include 480 ready-to-use sounds, 256 dynamic combinations, full General MIDI level 2 compatible soundset, loop recording, grid sequencing, an SD/SDHC card slot, a USB Type-B connector, and a stand-alone and plug-in microSTATION software. But perhaps the key selling point of the Korg MicroStation is its price, which is just $399. If you’re interested to get one, you can order one here.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Epson Moverio Offers Live Subtitling For Hearing Impaired Folks, MultiTouch Windows 8 Interactive Displays Are A World’s First ,

When I first saw this tiny gaming cabinet this morning, I was fascinated. Who was the creator, Sprite_tm, and why did he do such and excellent and thorough job of turning a tiny Rasberry Pi device into a little gaming cabinet? In short, how did he get inspired as a maker?

I sent him a few questions and he was kind enough to reply.

TC: I love the project. Why did you do it?

Jeroen: The intro to the article basically states that already: I had a Raspberry Pi and I wanted to get familiar to how it works. It’s a great tool to have in your toolbox: need a powerful controller running a standard OS for your robot / Internet-controlled doorbell / Twitter-based death ray? Just get one of these for a few quid. Knowing how they work means I can put them to work much faster the next time, which may come in handy if I actually try to make something useful.

TC: Who are you?

J: I’m Jeroen Domburg, nickname Sprite_tm. I’m a 30-year old software/hardware guy from the east of the Netherlands. I’ve been fiddling with electronics all my life and when I studied electronic engineering, I decided my projects should get a site of their own. That site became Spritesmods.com and I’ve been adding projects to it since. In real life, I have a job as a software engineer at a broadcast equipment manufacturer.

TC: What was the most difficult part?

J: I thought it would be designing the case; I’ve never designed something to be lasercut before, and immediately trying a ‘weird’ shape instead of a cube to try it on meant I’d have to learn about quite a few things. In the end, it did take up a lot of time to make sure I got everything right, but the process itself wasn’t as complex as I thought.

The most difficult part probably was the LiIon circuitry. Not only because the design itself is tricky (some components have two or three separate functions, making it hard to not break function A when you want to modify function B) but also because LiIon-batteries have the nasty habit of going ‘boom’ when you mis-treat them. It took some time and calculation to convince myself it was actually going to work OK all the time, and even if one part doesn’t do its job, I still won’t have an explosion on my hands.

TC: How did you start hacking?
J: I don’t know why I started it, mostly because I was probably too young to remember. It’s always been a hobby of mine, even in my childhood I’ve been tearing apart stuff to see how it works. I’ve never made hacking in itself my daytime job, although I’ve always been trying to get some overlap: hacking and electronic and software engineering go well with each other ofcourse.

TC: What’s your advice for folks trying to hack their own Raspberry Pi projects?

J: Just dive into it! Raspberry Pi’s are cheap as chips, and the community supporting it isn’t half bad. So, if you have an idea, just get one, read up on whatever you’re going to need and just try to make it work.

TC: Easy for you to say. What’s your favorite arcade game?

J: From a technical point of view, I really like the vector arcade games. It’s awesome to read the engineers had to almost build their own secondary CPU from scratch to get the vectors working, not to speak of the analog mess involved. I actually built one myself – Black Widow – just to see if I could do it.

Just to play, I have a soft spot for Dragon Saber. I ran into one of those on a holiday, and fell in love with the levels and especially the music. I also like Outrun, I was addicted to the PC-version when I was young and the arcade version is even better.

Adding to the flurry of updates on its popular file storage service that is Google Drive, Google is announcing an update today that will allow users to edit spreadsheets on their mobile devices. This is definitely good news for many Google Drive users. Google previously updated its Google Drive app for iOS and Android to support document editing. Yet, those who use spreadsheets a lot have been praying for the feature since the beginning.

Just in time for the holiday season, the spreadsheet editing feature lets users switch fonts, resize columns, sort data, and view edits to shared spreadsheets in real time. Google also says that its Drive mobile app now supports better text formatting when copying and pasting on documents. Users can also edit text inside tables in documents and add a shortcut on the homescreen of their device to any specific file in the app. You can get the app from the App Store and Google Play. Today’s announcement comes after Google improved the Google Drive integration on Gmail.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Chrome For iOS Adds Passbook Integration, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean For Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Leaked,