Andreas' Blog

  During its press conference on Wednesday at the IFA trade show in Berlin, Samsung ( 005930 ) announced its Windows RT -powered ATIV Tab. The 10.1-inch slate packs a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor with a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera and 5-megapixel rear camera. The ATIV Tab also includes USB and uHDMI ports, and will come bundled with Office Home and Student 2013. As we’ve all come to expect, Samsung did not mention a specific release date or pricing for the ATIV Tab. Samsung’s press release follows below. Samsung Ready to Go With Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 August 29, 2012 Introduces ATIV[ati:v] family of Smart PCs, Tablets, and Smartphones with a true unified Windows experience BERLIN, Germany – August 29, 2012 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today announced its brand-new ATIV devices based on the Windows 8 for Smart PCs, tablets and Windows Phone 8 for smartphones. With the introduction of Micros...

  RIM just pushed out a small update to the venerable BlackBerry Messenger app. This update seems targeted at OS 7.1 devices but I don’t have an older device to test if it is also available. The change log mentions that this includes overall small bug fixes including support for Finish and improved Chinese handwriting. Check it out in App World If you liked this article, you might find these interesting: BlackBerry Messenger v6.0.1.15 Released in Beta Zone Updated: BlackBerry Windows Live Messenger v2.5.108 Released – Others Coming Soon? BlackBerry Messenger v6.2.0.15 Released in Beta Zone BlackBerry Messenger 5.0.0.56 Officially Released! BlackBerry Messenger v6.1.0.68 Hotfix Released in Beta Zone Unlock ANY BlackBerry for Only $9!!! @ BerryReview Unlocking Store Posted by the BerryReview Team for © BerryReview , August 29, 2012, 1:55 pm. | BlackBerry Messenger v6.2.0.56 Released for OS 7.1 Devices | Leave a comment | BlackBerry Messenger v6.2.0.56 Release...

  (Credit: Apple) Apple's much-rumored iPad Mini will in fact be called the iPad Mini. At least, that's the latest from Apple blog site Macotakara. Citing info from an "Asian source," the Japanese site said the 7.85-inch tablet is expected to sport the familiar iPad logo on the back. If true, this means that news reports and blogs speculating about the tiny tablet actually got the name right. Apple sometimes surprises its audience with its choice of names. Those of us expecting an iPad 3 earlier this year were treated simply to the iPad or the new iPad, perhaps not the ideal name but certainly unexpected. The purported iPad Mini will pop up in October , according to a report in AllThingsD. Citing several unnamed sources, ATD's John Paczkowski said that Apple will host two separate product launches for its newest devices. The iPhone 5 is expected to debut on September 12, ATD says, with actual sales to start September 21. Apple will then announce the new iPad ...

  If you’re a consumer who wants to be informed before buying a new mobile device, you likely do a great deal of research before buying a smartphone . However, as you begin to research smartphone choices, you start to get inundated with acronyms such as LTE, HSPA, GSM®, EDGE®, and so on. Instead of just nodding along with the smartphone rep the way you do when your crazy uncle corners you at the family reunion , let’s demystify a few of these popular acronyms to ensure you make intelligent buying decisions : CDMA: Code Division Multiple Access. CDMA is one of the 3G standards created by Qualcomm®. You can currently find CDMA networks in the U.S. Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, a handful of other countries. The standard for CDMA is Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) and it is a 3rd Generation (also known as “3G”) technology. EDGE: Enhanced Data (rates for) GSM Evolution. EDGE is an upgrade to 2nd Generation (2G or 2.5G) GSM software upgrade allowing for data transfer ...

  The most awaited Google+ feature is the vanity or custom URL for profiles and pages. It was reported last week that Google started to roll out Google Plus custom URLs to a selected number of celebrities and major brands, but today the social network has announced that is expanding it to a thousand more brands and profiles, including verified users. The company has already pre-approved custom URL for brands like Toyota , Delta and celebrities like Britney Spears . Google’s Saurabh Sharma posted the following to Google+: Today we’re rolling out custom URLs to thousands more verified (and well-known) brands and individuals. If you’re part of this expanded roll out, you’ll be prompted to claim your preapproved URL via email and/or when you visit your profile or page. We’re making these changes over the next few days, and we’ll be offering custom URLs to many more profiles and pages in the future. We appreciate your patience in the interim, and we look forward to hearing your f...

  On Tuesday Research In Motion published a blog post talking about how enterprise messaging is handled on the PlayBook and BlackBerry 10. The article RIM posted was clearly in response to a story from BGR earlier that day. The BES and BlackBerry 10 story can be a confusing one to follow, but it's one that has been unraveling throughout 2012. While the BGR story didn't deliver any new news, it prompted us to want to clear up some of the confusion that's out there. These are the key points regarding the roll out of BlackBerry 10 devices in enterprise:   For enterprise mobile device management, BlackBerry 10 devices will require the new BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 (BES 10).  BES 10 is not backwards compatible with existing BlackBerry phones, so companies transitioning to BlackBerry 10 will have to run legacy BES 5 and BES 10 servers in parallel during the changeover. To simplify this setup for administrators, BES 10 will feature a unified console that ca...

  Facebook ( FB ) on Thursday announced that it rebuilt its iPhone and iPad app from the ground up for a faster and more enjoyable user experience. The company claims “Facebook 5.0 for iOS is twice as fast as the previous version when launching the app, scrolling through news feed and opening photos in feed.” While the app looks nearly identical to the previous version, the company chose to abandon HTML5 and instead built Facebook 5.0 with Apple’s ( AAPL ) native iOS SDK. Along with a noticeable speed boost, the app now displays “likes” and comments in real time and includes a few updated design features, such as a ripple effect when “liking” a post. Facebook also revealed that its native applications will be arriving on other platforms, however no time frame was given for additional launches. Read Facebook app for the iPhone and iPad gets major overhaul Dan Graziano Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:20:45 GMT

  Research In Motion ( RIMM )  has had an incredibly difficult time getting QNX-based devices to work with the company’s existing systems. The reason the BlackBerry PlayBook shipped without email and BlackBerry Messenger, among the other missing items, is because a QNX device won’t work on the company’s NOC like the older java-based devices. While email finally came to the PlayBook, the email app is a local client that doesn’t use RIM’s BIS or BES back-end. It will sync with an Exchange server directly and download mail from Gmail, but it is all done on the device and not through RIM’s famous back-end network like every BlackBerry before it. This will continue with BlackBerry 10, as we have reported in the past. We received word from a trusted source that RIM will be stopping development on the current BlackBerry Enterprise Server platform. We were told RIM plans to end development with version 5.0.3 — and only security patches will be issued after that — but RIM has public...

  Microsoft-owned Skype has today pushed new updates for its iOS apps on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, bringing new features which include the introduction of a long-awaited photo sharing feature, also tweaking them to reduce battery drain and improve navigation speed. In both the iPhone and iPad apps, Skype now allows users to send and receive photos, but it has also updated its privacy settings and fixed bugs that previously stopped some users from making and taking calls over a Bluetooth connection. Both the iPhone and the iPad app have been given a slight visual update too. Having frustrated users over the way it rapidly drained battery life, Skype has made its apps "less battery hungry" when they run in the background, which should mean that if you want to leave it open to receive an important call, you should now be "able to answer Skype calls throughout the day when they come in." If you use Skype on a daily basis, the new update brings few...

  Fix Missing Windows Metro Apps in Windows 8 Published on Help Desk Geek - Help Desk Tips For IT Pros | shared via feedly If you recently upgraded Windows 8 Release Preview or Windows 8 Consumer Preview to Windows 8 RTM, you may have run into a couple of strange problems like missing apps and tiles. Some users have reported that the Desktop tile was missing from their Start Screen and a bunch of other preinstalled apps like Windows Store and Remote Desktop! In some cases, upgrading to Windows 8 from a pre-release version of Windows 8 or even Windows XP or Windows 7 can corrupt some of the system files and cause some of the default preinstalled apps to simply disappear like Games, News, Sports, Travel, etc. In this article, I'll show you what to do in order to fix the corrupt system files in Windows 8 so that you can recover your preinstalled Metro apps and also the Desktop tile on the Start Screen if that is missing too. Run System File Checker In ord...