Hasta La Gadget!

RIM is considering splitting up its ailing BlackBerry business and selling off the handset manufacturing side, sources have claimed, with both Amazon and Facebook tipped as potential suitors. Details of the possible cleavage are scant, with UK newspaper The Sunday Times citing no sources in its report; RIM is supposedly weighing whether its messaging division would perform better as a standalone business.

That would leave the handset division either operating on its own, independent of the software and services teams, or – if RIM could find a buyer – spinning it off altogether. As for the messaging half, that too could be sold off if it made good business sense, with the paper mentioning Apple and Google as third-parties which might be interested.

Finally, another possibility is avoiding splits altogether and selling off the business entirely to a larger company, with Microsoft cited as a possibility. The Windows maker has made headlines recently with its push into tablet hardware in the shape of Microsoft Surface, though it’s generally believed that Nokia would make a more reasonable acquisition target given it has already adopted Windows Phone.

RIM confirmed last month that it had engaged JP Morgan and RBC Capital to examine possible options for the future, with significant job losses already on the cards. Whether it could muster sufficient interest among rivals to persuade them to open their wallets remains to be seen.

[via Reuters; Image credit: miggslives]

RIM weighing smartphone split-off: Amazon and Facebook suggested suitors is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Fears of Windows tablet manufacturer apathy spurred Microsoft’s Surface development, despite insistence that the slates are intended to support not compete with OEM efforts, according the latest batch of rumors. Observations of the extent to which Apple will go to secure the materials necessary to develop distinctive and unique products – and concerns that its own Windows OEMs were playing device strategy too safely – prompted Microsoft taking Surface into its own hands, a former executive told the NYT, burned too by the ill-fated HP Slate 500 project.

That tablet, demonstrated by Steve Ballmer back in 2010 as a poster-child of Windows 7 on touchscreen hardware, highlighted the shortcomings both of off-the-shelf components and Microsoft’s own platform. Components sufficient to run Windows 7 left the slate heavy, thick, hot and expensive, while the performance of the OS itself fell significantly short of the iPad’s usability. “It would be like driving a car, and the car not turning when you turn the wheel” a former HP executive who worked on the Slate 500 project said, blaming underwhelming finger-friendliness in Windows and the multitouch display for the issues.

HP went on to spend hugely on acquiring Palm for webOS, then dropped the platform into open-source vagueness after the initial HP TouchPad feedback proved subpar. According to insiders at the firm, HP was frustrated at the apparent lack of time and investment Microsoft appeared to be demonstrating in getting Windows 7 to the level where it could legitimately compete with iOS on the iPad. For its part, Microsoft was supposedly reluctant to free up engineers and developers from coding Windows 8, which is designed from the outset to accomodate touchscreen control.

Opinion is now divided as to whether Microsoft wants to continue with its own hardware range or if, after it has shamed OEMs into action, it will bow out. “I think once they jump-start it, they plan to make money the way they always have,” MIT management professor Michael A. Cusamano suggests, “from licensing software,” echoing similar comments recently from Acer’s founder.

The company itself, though, is playing its cards close. “Microsoft has tremendous respect for our hardware partners and the innovation they bring to the Windows ecosystem,” Microsoft corporate VP Steven Guggenheimer insisted in the aftermath of the Surface reveal last week. “We are looking forward to the incredible range of new devices they are bringing out for Windows 8.” No pricing or specific release dates for either the ARM-based Windows RT Surface or the more expensive Intel-based Windows 8 Surface Pro have been confirmed.

As of late-2010, the ex-Microsoft exec claims, it was still undecided internally whether Surface would be Microsoft-branded or licensed out as a hardware reference design. The added control of helming the project from drawing board to store shelves seems to have tipped Microsoft’s hand, however.

Surface spawned over timid OEMs tip ex-Microsofties is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Microsoft is looking to bury its Kinect, Windows Phone, Windows 8, Bing and other technologies into your next dashboard, with a job listing outlining the ambitions of the next-gen Connected Car Platform. The advert sketches a telematics system that can pulls together ”speech, gestures, face tracking, augmented reality, vehicle networking, navigation, [and] entertainment” that turns simple cars into “intelligent assistants.”

“For the next generation of the Connected Car Platform, we plan to leverage the full power of the Microsoft ecosystem including Kinect, Windows 8, Windows Phone, Windows Live, Bing, Azure, and Tellme. The combination of rich local sensing, user identification, cloud access, and data mining will transform tomorrow’s cars from passive objects into intelligent assistants for both the driver and their passengers. The new Connected Car will know its riders, and will interact with them naturally via speech, gestures, and face tracking. It will learn their habits, and offer personalized contextual information and driving assists to get them to their destination as quickly and safely as possible. Through a growing catalogue of applications, it will inform and entertain them, and keep them connected with the people and information they care about. The possibilities are endless”

Most interesting is perhaps the degree of inter-device connectivity Microsoft envisages. Current in-car entertainment systems generally limit their interaction with phones and other devices to streaming music, making hands-free calls and occasionally tethering so as to share a 3G/4G data connection. However, Microsoft’s intentions call for “distributed, concurrent, and adaptive software running on a network of devices spanning cars, mobile devices, PCs, and the cloud.”

That could lead to cars that know your favorite routes, your preferred playlists, automatically adapt to changes in schedule, and that can be upgraded with downloadable apps in the same way that a Windows Phone might. Cloud synchronization could ensure your latest music downloads are automatically ready to be listened to on your next journey, or instantly load presets and preferences into a rental car.

Meanwhile the increasingly contentious matter of dashboard distraction – with too many buttons, dials, touchscreens and displays taking driver attention away from the road – could also be addressed using new motion gestures and simple speech commands.

Earlier this year, Microsoft’s Project Detroit demonstrated how a 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback could be brought up to speed with 21st-century tech like remote starting from a smartphone, integrated WiFi and cloud analytics, Kinect sensors for all passengers and more. The conversion was intended to encourage developers to consider cars the next great frontier for apps.

Microsoft’s current Connected Car system powers telematics kit in vehicles from Honda, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin, and McLaren, among others, and is the backbone of tech such as Ford SYNC, Fiat Blue&Me and Kia UVO (as in the Kia Soul we reviewed recently). Exactly when we can expect this next-generation of all-singing, all-dancing technology to show up in road-going vehicles remains to be seen.

[via istartedsomething]

Microsoft Connected Car plans include Kinect, WP8 and the cloud is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

MSI’s sliding/folding touchscreen ultrabook, the Slider S20 unveiled at Computex earlier this month, will carry a hefty $799-$899 price tag when it launches according to the latest rumors. The Windows 8 hybrid, fronted by an 11.6-inch touchscreen, will drop in October or November, according to DigiTimes‘ sources.

MSI is yet to confirm final specifications for the convertible, though it’s known to use processors from Intel’s 3rd Gen Core range which pits it against Microsoft Surface Pro rather than the ARM-based Surface. That also means a full version of Windows 8 rather than Windows RT.

Connectivity, meanwhile, includes Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 3.0, along with wired ethernet and HDMI. Interestingly it seems MSI doesn’t think the S20 needs a trackpoint buried in the keyboard, instead seemingly relying solely on the touchscreen, though that could change by the time the laptop/tablet hits shelves.

There’s more on the MSI Slider S20 ultrabook in our hands-on from Computex.

MSI Slider S20 tipped for October $800+ release is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Classic Nokia game Snake II has been revived for Windows Phone, bringing dot matrix retro gameplay to your shiny new Lumia. The handiwork of developer Willem Middelkoop – who also recreated the original Snake of 1997 for Windows Phone – Snake 2K doesn’t just look like Snake II (which replaced the original, you might have guessed, in 2000) but is a faithful replica of it, down to the timing of the gameplay and the design of the labyrinths.

There are five original layouts to choose from, as well as two extra ones that Middelkoop has added in. As per the original, you can pick between nine difficulty levels (with three extras thrown in for good measure) and there are bonus creatures to catch, the sounds from the proper game, and the ability to run through the walls.

Just as with the original game, the high score can’t be reset, so be careful about loaning your Windows Phone to a good player if you want to keep your top spot. We can’t help but love the classic Nokia 3310 interface, too, which replaces the touchscreen with a numeric keypad.

Snake 2K is available to download from the Windows Phone Marketplace now, priced at $0.99/£0.79. You don’t need to have a Lumia to play it, either, though we think Nokia is missing a trick by not bundling the game with all of its new Windows Phones.

[via Nokia Conversations]

Snake 2K brings Nokia classic to Windows Phone is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.