Hasta La Gadget!

BlackBerry has until the first week of November to try and find another buyer before Fairfax Financial Holdings comes back with its final offer. Both parties have currently signed a letter of intent, which puts the buyout bid at $4.7 billion. There have been rumors of a number of other companies looking at BlackBerry’s books, companies such as Lenovo, Intel, Google and more, but no other bids have been received as yet. The Wall Street Journal reports today that BlackBerry executives flew to California to meet with Facebook, in an effort to secure a potential bid from the world’s largest social network.

It is not entirely clear if Facebook is interested in buying out BlackBerry, spokesmen for both companies have declined to comment on this report. Facebook has long been rumored to be interested in making a “Facebook Phone,” it even reportedly tried to reach some sort of an arrangement with Samsung, but nothing of this sort has materialized as yet. Could Facebook finally jump into the hardware game by acquiring the ailing Canadian manufacturer? Its too soon to say right now, though it doesn’t come as a surprise to see BlackBerry try and find new potential suitors, as analysts fear Fairfax might come back with a reduced bid if it sees that its the only buyer BlackBerry has.

BlackBerry Reportedly Courting Facebook For A Buyout Bid original content from Ubergizmo.

If you regularly share your Android gadgets with others, you’ll be glad to hear that Mozilla has officially released Firefox 25. The finished web browser lets Android users run guest sessions, which hide personal info while friends borrow a device. Mobile surfers also get a mixed content blocker to …

"Yosemite I, October 16th 2011," one panel in David Hockney's series "Bigger Yosemite."

(Credit: David Hockney)

There are iPad drawings you look at on a screen, and there are iPad drawings printed on sheets of 3×6-foot paper and mounted on a giant wall. One might call the latter a David Hockney-style iPad drawing.

Hang five such works together and you have “Bigger Yosemite,” a series of wonderfully vibrant drawings of Yosemite’s rocks, trees, and waterfalls that each measures 9 feet wide by 12 feet high. The piece now hangs in San Francisco’s De Young Museum as part of “David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition,” a comprehensive survey of more than 300 works made since 2002 by the influential British painter, stage designer, and photographer.

The exhibit, which runs through January 20 across two floors, highlights Hockney’s ability to engage with, and master, a wide variety of tools and media. It includes watercolors, charcoals, simple pencil drawings, and oil paintings, but also encompasses 17 works made on an iPad and then printed out on paper, and 147 other iPad and iPhone drawings that rotate on seven LED displays.

… [Read more]

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Google Hangouts SMS support on Android is no longer a dream. Vic Gundotra announced a number of improvements that have been made to Hangouts, today. Improvements include support for SMS, location sharing and animated GIFs. It was previously rumored that support for SMS messages in Hangouts will come with Android 4.4 KitKat, but evidently Google doesn’t want us to keep waiting. Unfortunately, Google Voice still hasn’t been integrated in the Android app. Nevertheless, users will no longer need to use the stock SMS app, texts will go through Hangouts exactly the way they do through the stock app. Location can be shared through just one touch of a button that’s placed beside the one used to share photos.

Google has also made some improvements to Hangouts apart from its mobile app. Auto enhance has been added to video calls, the feature automatically adjusts contrast and brightness levels to provide clear video. Moreover, all video calls made through Hangouts will be in HD, regardless of the mobile or desktop device being used. Hangouts on Air receives a couple of updates as well. Once a broadcast is scheduled, a dedicated landing page is created that is integrated with Google+ events, and it lists RSVPs and even includes a countdown timer. Pre-show Q&A sessions and trailers can even be run. Some changes have been made to the user interface as well, which now lets hosts adjust audio or even kick people from the session. The updated Google Hangouts app will be rolled out over the next few days, whereas updates to Hangouts on Air will take several weeks to go live.

Google Hangouts SMS Support Is Finally Here original content from Ubergizmo.