Microsoft Surface successors already rumored

The Microsoft Surface RT is barely in the hands of some people, while the Surface Pro isn’t even out yet and here we are, hearing early rumors for the successors of Microsoft’s flagship tablets.

The rumor comes from MS_Nerd, a reliable Microsoft leaker. He indicates in his tweet that Microsoft is already preparing three tablets for next year, namely the Surface RT 2, the Surface Pro 2 and the Surface Book.

The RT 2 is rumored to feature a smaller 8.6″ display with a Qualcomm CPU. It seems that Microsoft will be trying to compete with both the 7-inchers and the 10-inchers.

The Surface Pro 2 will feature a larger 11.6-inch display and the upcoming AMD “Temash” APU, the successor to the Hondo. We have yet to see the prowess of the chipset as the Hondo isn’t even widespread yet.

The third one in the rumor mill is the “Surface Book”. We have no idea how this will eventually turn out to be as the current Surface is already cumbersome to hold; the Surface Book will have a 14.6-inch display and Intel’s upcoming “Haswell” CPU.

We can get the impression that the RT will be targeted at the smaller tablets while the Pro will be targeted on the larger ones. On the other hand, the Surface Book will be like Microsoft’s flagship notebook, since 14.6-inches will be impossibly mobile, especially with heavy specs.

Anyway, these are all expected to be released mid-2013. Take the details as a pinch of salt; they are rumors after all.

It looks like Microsoft has a lot of things under their sleeves. We already have rumors on Windows Blue, a Project Glass competitor and some other stuff, so it won’t be surprising if Microsoft really is investing a lot for this year.

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Note: Images above are YugaTech renders.





****** A word from the fine folks of Sun Cellular ******

Sun Cellular launches BlackBerry Prepaid!

Get the Sun BlackBerry All Day 50 for all-day unlimited mobile internet, unlimited social networking, unlimited instant messaging, unlimited BlackBerry browsing and unlimited BBM for only Php50.

Follow @suncelltweets for more info.

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RIM focuses on apps in preparation for BB10

In line with the upcoming launch of the BlackBerry 10, RIM has recently announced the new name of the BlackBerry App World which is now called BlackBerry World. Of course, rebranding their app market isn’t gonna be enough to elevate the OS to the next level. So what will? Investing heavily on the devs to ensure quality apps for the BlackBerry World.

RIM is really stepping up their game in preparation for the upcoming launch of the BlackBerry 10 OS. But instead of just trotting the tried and tested path of bringing the best communication app in the business, the Canadian company is trying a more app-centric approach that would hopefully bring them good results. Below are some of their schemes to encourage developers to create apps for the upcoming OS.

BBWorld

BlackBerry 10k Commitment and Appcelerator Offer

To entice developers to bring their A-game when developing apps for the BB10, RIM is running an incentive program called 10K commitment. What the program does is if the developer, in compliance of the program’s terms and conditions, earns a minimum of $1,000 on his app over the span of 12 months, RIM will pay the difference between the dev’s earnings and the $10,000 for the app.

In addition to the BlackBerry 10k Commitment, RIM has partnered with Appcelerator to give developers more reason to push for excellence with their apps. With this partnership, RIM plans to reward developers for porting their app to the BlackBerry world. For more information on how to be part of this, you can check Appcelerator’s site here.

JamHack

BB Dev Alpha device and SDK Update

The company will also provide a BlackBerry Dev Alpha C device for developers who are interested in creating/porting an app to a handset with physical QWERTY keyboard. For those who are already using a Dev Alpha device, they are entitled to swap their device for a limited edition BlackBerry 10 handset given that they were able to meet a RIM’s eligibility criteria. Information about these requirements can be found here.

To ensure that each developer has the right set of tools needed to build quality and hopefully viral apps, RIM also updated the BlackBerry 10 SDK. This update enables devs to install BlackBerry 10 IDE to Mac OS X and will improve the Visual Studio plug-in along with other functionalities of the SDK.

There’s no doubt that RIM has a lot of catching up to do, but with a good game plan and a proper mind set, we think that they might just have a shot at reclaiming their old glory with the release of BlackBerry 10.





****** A word from the fine folks of Sun Cellular ******

Sun Cellular launches BlackBerry Prepaid!

Get the Sun BlackBerry All Day 50 for all-day unlimited mobile internet, unlimited social networking, unlimited instant messaging, unlimited BlackBerry browsing and unlimited BBM for only Php50.

Follow @suncelltweets for more info.

The post RIM focuses on apps in preparation for BB10 appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.


Nokia apps: my Top 5

Nokia was the first cellphone I ever used and with the inception of mobile apps in the free market, they’ve come a long way. A few months ago, I got the chance to review the dual-SIM Nokia Asha 202 phone and I had fun trying out some of the applications. The Finnish brand is still one of the best there is for ease of use and the same holds true when you access their modern smartphones for games, information and the like. Here are the top (read:favorite) apps I used in the Nokia:

top nokia apps

MMDA or the Metro Manila Development Authority app (Rating: 5/5)

What can I say. The geniuses who made this are simply brilliant for letting us know in real time the road situation in the city before we venture out. Very useful if you commute, drive, or a tourist. If you’re riding a taxi, simply flash your phone and show to the driver. A red line shows the road is experiencing heavy traffic, yellow means moderate and green means roads are clear.

Facebook (rating: 5/5)

This is rather self-explanatory, especially if you’re as much an FB junkie as me :) Facebook for Nokia is quite easy to navigate and I can see pretty much everything in list view. No matter what platform, I can’t live without Facebook for letting me know about the whole goings-on in the universe – from the latest news, jokes, tsismis, births, deaths, photos and all sorts of trivia imaginable.

Photofunia (rating: 4.5/5)

I like taking photos of everything and Photofunia, as an online editing tool , lives up to its name. I love how it can transform my photos into pop art, movie-like billboards and countless other effects.

Coffee Craze (rating: 4.5/5)

The very mention of coffee! drew me to this game. I certainly had fun playing out two of my frustrated roles in life: that of a baker and barista. I had fun working in the kitchen, serving customers and letting the cash register ring. Aye!

My Elba Kitchen (rating: 4/5)

Am using less and less of actual cookbooks these days whenever I experiment in the kitchen. I just make notes on my smartphone or copy recipes there so that it’s all very handy when I work. That’s why I appreciate apps like My Elba Kitchen on the Nokia phone with tips from the masters and level of difficulty you will encounter. I just wish they’d expand this app to include more content.

Nokia apps: my Top 5

Nokia was the first cellphone I ever used and with the inception of mobile apps in the free market, they’ve come a long way. A few months ago, I got the chance to review the dual-SIM Nokia Asha 202 phone and I had fun trying out some of the applications. The Finnish brand is still one of the best there is for ease of use and the same holds true when you access their modern smartphones for games, information and the like. Here are the top (read:favorite) apps I used in the Nokia:

top nokia apps

MMDA or the Metro Manila Development Authority app (Rating: 5/5)

What can I say. The geniuses who made this are simply brilliant for letting us know in real time the road situation in the city before we venture out. Very useful if you commute, drive, or a tourist. If you’re riding a taxi, simply flash your phone and show to the driver. A red line shows the road is experiencing heavy traffic, yellow means moderate and green means roads are clear.

Facebook (rating: 5/5)

This is rather self-explanatory, especially if you’re as much an FB junkie as me :) Facebook for Nokia is quite easy to navigate and I can see pretty much everything in list view. No matter what platform, I can’t live without Facebook for letting me know about the whole goings-on in the universe – from the latest news, jokes, tsismis, births, deaths, photos and all sorts of trivia imaginable.

Photofunia (rating: 4.5/5)

I like taking photos of everything and Photofunia, as an online editing tool , lives up to its name. I love how it can transform my photos into pop art, movie-like billboards and countless other effects.

Coffee Craze (rating: 4.5/5)

The very mention of coffee! drew me to this game. I certainly had fun playing out two of my frustrated roles in life: that of a baker and barista. I had fun working in the kitchen, serving customers and letting the cash register ring. Aye!

My Elba Kitchen (rating: 4/5)

Am using less and less of actual cookbooks these days whenever I experiment in the kitchen. I just make notes on my smartphone or copy recipes there so that it’s all very handy when I work. That’s why I appreciate apps like My Elba Kitchen on the Nokia phone with tips from the masters and level of difficulty you will encounter. I just wish they’d expand this app to include more content.

Where is FOI committee report? Evardone on dribble mode again

IT PASSED last Tuesday, Nov. 27, with 17 lawmakers voting for, and only three others against, at a hearing of the Committee on Public Information of the House of Representatives.

Three days ago, in fact, the committee report on the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill had been approved, raising expectations that it would soon move to plenary debates.

But committee chairman Rep. Ben Evardone seems hell-bent on taking his own sweet time to delay sending the committee report to the House plenary.

The committee had voted to approve the consolidated FOI bill as the report of the Committee on Public Information on the 16 FOI bills that had been referred to it earlier.

Under the House Committee’s Internal Rules of Procedure, the next step that Evardone should have taken is to ask the majority of the committee members to sign the committee report, and transmit it together with other supporting documents to the Committee on Rules in the required number of copies.

Alas, that has not happened. Evardone has not moved at all to make that happen.

Instead, he has scheduled another committee hearing on Dec. 11, so the committee members may supposedly sign the committee report that they had actually approved on Nov. 27.

By standard practice of Congress, committee chairpersons only has to pass around committee reports for signing by committee members, without need to call another committee meeting.

But Evardone seems inclined to dribble the FOI bill yet again.

(Only nine session days remain, however, before Congress takes its Christmas break on Dec. 22.)

This was what Atty. Nepo Malaluan, co-convenor of the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition, found out when inquired on Thursday, Nov. 28, with the Committee Secretary on the progress of the FOI committee report.

“We were informed that the chairman, Rep. Ben Evardone, will have to call another committee meeting to approve the committee report!” Malaluan said.

“Rep. Evardone must respect and do justice to the mandate of the 17 lawmakers who voted for the bill,” Malaluan said. “We appeal to him to perform his duty to immediately transmit the report to the Committee on Rules.”

In a statement on Thursday, the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition urged Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and leaders of Congress to move with dispatch and assure the passage of the FOI bill in the 15th Congress.

About 160 organizations of students, workers, government workers, professionals, church groups, businessmen, and media and civil society groups compose the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition of FOI advocates.

“With the FOI bill out of committee in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, it is now squarely at the front of the country’s highest leaders, in Congress and the Executive,” the Coalition said.

“Given the lack of time, the FOI bill remains as good as dead in the 15th Congress, unless the Senate and House leadership, together with President Aquino, accord its passage the urgency it deserves,” the Coalition added.

Aquino, the Coalition said, “can certify to the necessity of its immediate enactment, thereby placing it on par with the highest priority measures of Congress, and saving it the delay from the interval of days needed in passing bills on second and third readings.”

“In the Senate, the Senate President, the House Committee on Public Information Chairman, and the Senators only need to make good their earlier commitments to pass the FOI bill,” it added. “They must find time to proceed with interpellation, amendments, and passage on second and third reading before it adjourns for the December break.”

“In the House of Representatives, the Committee on Rules, through the Majority Leader, is empowered to declare a bill urgent, and to set the number of days or hours to be allotted for the consideration of the bill in plenary, and when vote on the bill shall be taken,” the Coalition said.

It urged the House leaders to “start the process… calendar the sponsorship of the Committee report by next week.

“In sum,” according to the Coalition, “the resurrection and passage of the FOI bill in the 15th Congress is a matter of leadership, commitment, good faith, and political will.”

The Coalition cited “the leadership of Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada and the crucial interventions by Akbayan Reps. Walden Bello and Kaka Bag-ao, Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, CIBAC Reps. Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales and Sherwin Tugna, and Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño” for the approval of the FOI bill by the House committee on public information on Nov. 27.

In addition, the Coalition expressed “heartfelt gratitude for the other regular, deputized and ex-officio members of the committee, notably Cebu 1st District Rep Rachel Marguerite del Mar, Bagong Henerasyon Rep Bernadette Herrera-Dy, Kabataan Rep Raymond Palatino, AAMBIS-OWA Rep Sharon Garin, Basilan Rep Jim Hataman-Salliman, Isabela Rep Rodolfo Albano, DIWA Rep Emmeline Aglipay, Ako Bicol Rep Rodel Batocabe, An Waray Rep Neil Benedict Montejo, and Pasig City Rep Roman Romulo.”

All that remains for the 15th Congress is the fulfillment, or another betrayal, of a solemn promise to the people to pass the long-overdue Freedom of Information Act,” the Coalition said.