Hasta La Gadget!

In a few hours, RIM will be officially taking the wraps off Blackberry 10 and hopefully share additional details about the operating system, accompanying hardware, apps, availability dates and maybe even pricing, but until then we guess we will just have to contend with leaked images and whatnot. Now if you were planning on picking up a Blackberry 10 Z10 device for yourself, a photo spotted in the Crackberry forums has revealed what appears to be the retail box for the Z10 which appears to be a typical Blackberry-styled packaging except with a colorful Z10 wording on the front. It is unclear as to what sort of accessories RIM will be including in the box i.e. earphones, charger, casing (probably not) and etc., but given that the announcement is only hours away, hopefully more will be revealed then. It is also interesting to note that there is no carrier branding on the box either suggesting that this box could be an off contract device – either that or the carrier sleeve for the box was not shown on purpose.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: BlackBerry 10 Launched, RIM’s Roadmap for 2013, BlackBerry Q10 Announced,

If you thought yesterday’s news—that the 128GB Microsoft Surface Pro will only offer 83GB of usable storage—was bad, think again. The Verge has learned that the 64GB version will offer up just 23GB of space to the user. More »

With 2013 being a new year, we expect that companies are eager to roll out new and exciting products, and if you’re a photographer, word has it that Canon has several cameras lined up for 2013, and if you’re shopping on a budget then these cameras might be of interest to you. According to the folks at Canon Rumors, they have received a tip from a source that Canon plans to roll out 3 new DSLR cameras sometime later this year although no specific dates were mentioned. These new cameras include two entry level models followed by a mid-level model. The specifics were not revealed but the entry level models are expected to be of the Rebel lineup, while the mid-level model is rumored to be the successor to the Canon EOS 7D, which many believe will be the EOS 7D Mark II which is expected to see a launch in the second half of 2013. For mirrorless camera system enthusiasts, the source also revealed that a new EOS-M body will be revealed as well. However since Canon has yet to make any official announcements, we will be taking this with a grain of salt for now and suggest you do the same, but which of these rumored cameras will you be most looking forward to?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony A77 Successor Rumored For Late 2013 Release, Sony NEX-3N Rumored For CP+ Announcement,

BlackBerry 10 makes its long-anticipated debut today, but the official hype machine is off to a stumbling start with execs from RIM struggling to deal with criticisms around delays and how the iPhone changed the smartphone market. In a pair of interviews on different BBC programs this morning, RIM Europe managing director Stephen Bates faced understandable questions about where previous BlackBerry devices stumbled, as well as being asked where RIM has learned from Apple’s device. All didn’t go to plan, however.

In a radio interview with BBC Radio 5′s Nicky Campbell, Bates refused to address questions around the impact of the iPhone, preferring to list BlackBerry 10′s work/life balance functionality and position the OS as the platform RIM needs for the next decade. In a separate interview with BBC Breakfast [region-locked to the UK], Bates faced a similar repeated question – this time, “what went wrong” in RIM’s past to bring it from, as the executive himself argued, creating the smartphone segment to having a minority share – but again pushed the party line rather than addressing the criticisms head-on.

Neither interview paints either RIM or the BBC interviewers in a particularly positive light. For Bates, the reluctance to address what are legitimate talking points – the role of the iPhone and the missteps RIM has made in the past – suggests the BlackBerry maker may not in fact know, or understand, how the marketplace changed. As for the interviewers, the aggressive and challenging tone failed to achieve anything significant in terms of real insight into BlackBerry 10.

“There’s little to show RIM understands it’s the underdog option”

Nonetheless, while there will be more opportunities for the smartphone buying public to get information about the new platform, RIM’s opportunities to show it understands the ways the ecosystem it is in has changed are dwindling. Android and iOS monopolize the lion’s share – 92-percent – of the global smartphone market, and for all rivals like Microsoft and RIM insist that carriers, retailers, and consumers want a “third contender” there’s little to show RIM has figured out how it will sell itself as that underdog option.

That’s not to say the BlackBerry 10 OS is either without merit or without its differentiators. As the company itself explained to us back in October 2012, one of the key elements of the new platform is its ability to satisfy both work and personal use, while keeping a firewall of sorts between the two. There, arguably, is RIM’s biggest education from the rise of the iPhone and from watching the smartphone market as a whole: that people now carry their phones at all times, and want them to do all things, and while BlackBerry devices of yesterday may have been fit for one half of that, they fell short in the other.

Clarity of mission is all the more important when you consider that BlackBerry 10′s success probably isn’t going to be based on its strengths as a technical platform, but instead the halo of context RIM builds around it. We’ve already seen OSes with great potential rise and fall – MeeGo is a solid example, offering a far better user-experience than Nokia had with Symbian or even Windows Phone, but still eventually sidelined – because, in part, the companies behind them lacked the clarity of message that would convince consumers and businesses that they were worthy of consideration.

For RIM, with Microsoft directly aiming for its corporate audience with Windows Phone, and the mass market already addicted to the wide array of Android devices and the consistency and “halo brand” of the iPhone, it’s time to work hard on rebuilding perceived relevance. Trying to ignore the landscape of the mobile industry today – no matter how aggressive the interviewer – doesn’t distract potential customers to the reality of the market, it only leaves you looking like you don’t know where you went wrong.

SlashGear will be at RIM’s BlackBerry 10 launch today, bringing you the highlights from the new platform.

Does RIM even realize what went wrong? is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Philips is a brand that many of us are familiar with on the consumer front. The company has released products such as DVD and Blu-ray players, HiFi systems, audio equipment, home lighting and the likes, but it looks like its days as a consumer electronics business has come to an end as the company has announced (via The Wall Street Journal) that they have sold off their audio, video, multimedia and accessories division to Japanese company, Funai, for a little over $200 million in cash as well as a brand license fee. According to Philips’ Chief Executive Frans van Houten, “Since we have online entertainment, people do not buy Blu-ray and DVD players anymore,” suggesting that the company has been having some difficulty addressing the needs of today’s digital media consumers.

The transfer of the video division of Philips to Funai is expected to take place in 2017, and as far as the future of the company is concerned, Philips is expected to focus their efforts in the medical industry as well as its LED lighting systems, such as the Hue LED light bulb which can be controlled via a smartphone app.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Multi-purpose Glowing Block Chair Brings Tetris To Mind, Samsung Reveals Robotic Vacuum Cleaner With Longer Reach,