Hasta La Gadget!

Mike Lazaridis may now have a considerably smaller role at RIM, but he’s isn’t exactly receding from the technology scene in the company’s hometown of Waterloo, Ontario. That’s no more evident than in the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre opening tomorrow on the University of Waterloo campus, a science and technology research center that not only bears his name but was built with $100 million of his money. As Lazaridis makes clear in an interview with Bloomberg, he’s also not modest about his ambitions for the center, noting that it is “absolutely” going to be the Bell Labs of the 21st century. Or, perhaps more specifically, a Bell Labs for quantum computing and nanotechnology, areas of research that Lazaridis says are key in order to “break through those barriers” of traditional computing. You can find the full interview and more details on the center itself at the links below.

Filed under: Science, Alt

Lazaridis-backed Quantum-Nano Centre opens tomorrow, aims to be a new Bell Labs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We did catch some leaks of a photo as well as a rendering of the upcoming Blackberry 10 L-Series smartphone sometime this week, where this is one device that will roll off RIM’s production lines that will not come with their signature physical keyboard. Since the outside is pretty much set (although do bear in mind that what we have seen so far are most probably just prototypes, and the final release might veer off course – the degree greatly depends on test user input), why not take a gander at what lies underneath the hood instead?

What you see above could very well be part of the first collection of images of the Blackberry 10 L-Series smartphone’s innards, hailing from a Vietnamese Blackberry forum. It has so far confirmed the inclusion of a NFC antenna, in addition to a 1800mAh battery that ought to last a full day at best, a rather plasticky construction, and a dual-core processor. Presumably, you will be able to choose from black and white color options available, while the camera is said to come with burst mode capability in addition to video chat support.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Fan-made “Blackberry Love” commercial is certainly attention grabbing, but might not be entirely appropriate [NSFW], Blackberry Tablet with concealable keyboard in the pipeline?,

Struggling BlackBerry platform holder RIM announced today that it has reached a licensing deal with Microsoft, but instead of RIM licensing out its tech like CEO Thorsten Heins has suggested many times in the past, RIM is the one paying out the licensing fee this time around. The deal gives RIM access to Microsoft’s Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) technology, a system that allows for the easy transfer of large files between PCs and other devices like smartphones.

Microsoft said in a statement today that exFAT allows flash memory-based devices to handle files that are five times larger than the older FAT system could facilitate, and that RIM has licensed the system “for certain BlackBerry devices.” Neither company clarified which devices those are, but it seems safe to assume that the exFAT system will be present in the first BlackBerry 10 devices when they eventually arrive. Beyond that, we’ll have to wait for more details.

RIM actually enjoyed a rise in stock price after the announcement hit, but the company’s stock price continued fluctuating throughout the day, losing here and gaining there. Still, RIM finished the regular trading day up 2.28%, posting a $7.41 stock price at the closing bell. After hours trading see a bit of an increase over that closing amount as well, with RIM’s stock currently sitting at $7.45. It seems that shareholders view this as a step in the right direction for RIM, but will it be enough?

RIM will definitely need more than Microsoft’s exFAT system to get users excited about BlackBerry 10, but this is a good addition. Speaking of the beleaguered operating system, it’s still scheduled to launch early next year, after a number of delays that pushed it back from previous release dates. RIM has a lot riding on the hope that the launch of BlackBerry 10 will pull the company out of this rut, so here’s hoping that the OS is a beast when it finally arrives.

RIM and Microsoft strike up a licensing deal for exFAT is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
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RIM has big ambitions for media on BlackBerry hardware — really big. Accordingly, it just reached a patent licensing deal with Microsoft that lets it use the exFAT file system on “certain BlackBerry devices.” We have a hunch that’s a reference to future BlackBerry 10 phones and tablets rather than retrofits of existing (and likely incapable) mobile gear. The move will let any devices that do recognize exFAT handle much larger files, such as long videos, in addition to streamlining transfers between computers and other gadgets. The conditions of the deal haven’t been given out, but we suspect RIM’s negotiations with Microsoft were on more voluntary terms than those faced by Android supporters.

Continue reading RIM licenses Microsoft’s exFAT file system to stuff extra-large files into BlackBerry devices

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile

RIM licenses Microsoft’s exFAT file system to stuff extra-large files into BlackBerry devices originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 12:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another day, another Blackberry 10 L-series leak – alright perhaps not, but it looks like another L-series photo has been leaked. Unfortunately these leaks still show serial numbers on them which could suggest that they are merely test units and might not be the final design, but based on what we’ve seen, if these are merely test units, we can only imagine that the final version should look pretty good. In fact personally I wouldn’t mind using the version pictured in the photo above, what say you? Anyway the photo also reveals a battery door which means that Blackberry 10 hopefuls can rest assured in knowing that unlike the iPhone and certain Android devices, the battery is removable (read: replaceable). There also appears to be NFC which we guess isn’t too surprising. Either way with Blackberry Jam Americas coming up, hopefully RIM will have more details or photos to share, so stay tuned!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: BBM will be making its way onto Dev Alpha devices later this month, Verizon’s CFO says not to count RIM out,