Hasta La Gadget!

You won’t find a lot of top Apple executives on conventional social media channels. But Apple isn’t what it used to be a few years back, significant changes have occurred under the leadership of Tim Cook. One of the biggest changes has been seen today, Tim Cook has joined Twitter. His predecessor, Steve Jobs, never ventured on the microblogging network. This is yet another thing that he is doing differently than Steve Jobs. Cook’s appearance on Twitter comes the day the company has released its two new iPhones.

As of this writing, Tim Cook’s twitter account has amassed nearly 39,000 followers. The account already been verified, so there’s no doubt in the fact that this is the real deal. Earlier today, Tim Cook visited Apple Retail Stores in Palo Alto. The first tweet has been about those visits, Cook writes that “seeing so many happy customers reminds us of why we do what we do.” The tweet was retweeted by Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing chief, who has a verified Twitter account. It remains to be seen how Cook intends to reach out and interact with customers through this channel, though its nice to know that Apple’s CEO is now merely a tweet away.

Apple CEO Tim Cook Joins Twitter original content from Ubergizmo.

You’ve mastered opening your guest’s beers with your bare hands, but what about when a dinner party calls for something a little more sophisticated? You can try you hand as an amateur mixologist, hoping you’ve got the proportions right for the perfect cocktail. Or wait for Brookstone’s new Perfect Drink system that guarantees precise pours.

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BlackBerry has just announced that it expects to post a net operating loss of roughly $1 billion for the fiscal second quarter, the figure is expected to range between $950 million to $995 million. It was reported a few days ago that the company was contemplating laying off 40 percent of its entire workforce. BlackBerry has now confirmed that massive job cuts are going to take place, nearly 4,500 employees will be laid off from all departments. Trading of BlackBerry shares halted for a while in the U.S. prior to the announcement, trading has now resumed but the stock is down 16 percent as of this writing.

Total smartphone sales in the quarter are expected to be around 3.7 million units, as opposed to 7.4 million this time last year. No word as yet on service revenues and remaining number of subscribers. The situation isn’t expected to get better anytime soon. In fact, many analysts are of the view that perhaps BlackBerry’s phone business will have zero value if the company is sold. There’s also been chatter today that BlackBerry has retained PriceWaterHouse for a leveraged buyout. Recent reports suggest that the company is looking for a quick sale, which it hopes to close by November. Apparently, there’s thin interest in the market right now for a whole acquisition of BlackBerry. The company says that it will focus on offering two high end and two entry level devices from now on, with focus on the entreprise market.

BlackBerry Q2 Operating Loss Roughly $1 Billion, Job Cuts Confirmed original content from Ubergizmo.

Apple’s little black streaming box got a big software update today, including support for iTunes Radio, and the ability for guests to stream their purchased music, photos, and videos in iCloud to another person’s Apple TV.

This ain’t the same Digitizer we saw back at South by Southwest. The prototype that was unveiled in Austin back in March looked an awful lot like those early generation MakerBot printers, borrowing heavily from the plywood aesthetic that seemed to imply that its creators had built the thing with their own hands. The version the company showed off at SXSW was in keeping with the company’s mission statement of building things themselves, featuring a laser-cut wood frame and 3D printed parts. But the Brooklyn company’s come a long way since those simpler RepRap days, growing into the leading light in the world of consumer-facing 3D printers.

The Replicator 2 really drove the point home with a solidly constructed black frame that eschewed its predecessors’ wood finish, and the Digitizer can easily be viewed as part of a matching set. “The MakerBot Digitizer started because I really wanted a 3D scanner to go with our 3D printer,” said CEO Bre Pettis at today’s event at the company’s office in Brooklyn, “and they were all too expensive.” The 3D scanner joins the Replicator, MakerWare and the online community Thingiverse as the major missing piece of the MakerBot ecosystem puzzle, an attempt to create the most user-friendly 3D-printing ecosystem available. Now you can download, create and scan your way into the 3D-printing world, from the comfort of your own (admittedly sizable) desktop.%Gallery-slideshow89888%

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