Sunday, 29 April 2012
THE WEEKLY ROUNDUP
BlackBerry World 2012 kicks off on Tuesday May 1st in Orlando and we will be ready to cover any gossip or announcements that are made.
As well as the BlackBerry World taking place RIM are holding a developer conference called BlackBerry Jam at the same time. It is common knowledge that the developers attending will each be given a BlackBerry 10 Alpha device. What this is likely to be is a touch screen device running the PlayBook OS to allow devs to prepare apps for the new platform later in the year. I'm pretty excited about trying the OS on a device smaller than the PlayBook although I would image that many features will be disabled so it wont actually be a working phone.
What we will see though is RIM's vision over the next few years and how they intend to revamp their popularity in certain countries.
Stay tuned over the next four days as we should have a slurry of interesting news for you BlackBerry fans.
Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and its unconventional 48fps frame rate came under fire after a ten minute preview screening was held at CinemaCon last week, but the director seems unfazed by the controversy and remains confident it was the right way to bring his Lord of the Rings prequel to the big screen.
Critics say the enhanced clarity stripped the picture of filmic characteristics and made it all too obvious they were looking at a movie set and props, which gave the experience an unpleasant, artificial feel. For his part, Jackson does admit there will be an adjustment period before viewers get accustomed to the quicker frame rate, but says it shouldn't take long. "At first it’s unusual because you’ve never seen a movie like this before," he told Entertainment Weekly. "It’s literally a new experience, but you know, that doesn’t last the entire experience of the film — not by any stretch, [just] 10 minutes or so." He adds, "you settle into it."
He also implores fans to wait until they've seen the completed film before passing judgement. But for those who simply aren't fond of the visual style, Jackson doesn't seem worried about playing the role of convincer. "I can’t say anything," he said. "Just like I can’t say anything to someone who doesn’t like fish. You can’t explain why fish tastes great and why they should enjoy it."
You'll be able to form your own opinion when The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hits theaters in December.
Samsung Electronics has overtaken Nokia to become the world's largest maker of mobile phones, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
Nokia took the top spot in 1998 from Motorola, but in the first quarter of 2012 Samsung shipped 93m phones compared to almost 83m by Nokia.
Samsung also reported its highest quarterly profit since 2008.
Net profit was 5.05tn won ($4.5bn; £2.8bn) in the quarter ending 31 March, up 81% from 2.78tn won last year.
Samsung is also the world's biggest TV and flat screen maker.
"We cautiously expect our earnings momentum to continue going forward, as competitiveness in our major businesses is enhanced," said Robert Yi, head of investor relations at Samsung.
Bright future
The firm said its IT and mobile communications division, which manufactures the smartphones, made an operating profit of 4.27tn won during the period, as revenues in the division surged 86% from a year earlier.
Samsung will unveil the latest version of its Galaxy range of phones on 3 May.
The Galaxy range has been very popular and helped Samsung overtake Apple to become the world's biggest seller of smartphones.
"The smartphone market has almost only two players, Samsung and Apple," said Lee Sei-Cheol of Meritz Securities.
"Since its Galaxy3 phone is being unveiled in May, Samsung will keep enjoying sales growth in its mobile phone division.
Gamers will soon be able to buy games for their 3DS handheld console digitally on the same day they are released in stores.
With the move, the Japanese game giant joins its rivals Microsoft and Sony in a combined retail and digital approach.
Analysts say the firm hopes the push into the digital space could boost its revenues, as figures show Nintendo lost 43.2bn yen (£330m) last year.
It will also make digital versions for the forthcoming Wii U device.
The tablet-sized Wii U is the firm's updated version of its best-selling Wii console. It is due to be launched at the end of 2012.
The first game for the 3DS handheld available simultaneously at Nintendo's eShop and in stores will be New Super Mario Bros 2, due to come out in August.
The digital-retail move was outlined by the Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata at an investor meeting.
He said the company would "offer the software titles that Nintendo itself publishes in both packaged and digital download formats so that our consumers can choose the way to purchase them".
The Kyoto-based firm reported its first annual loss after disappointing sales of the Wii game console and a strong yen, hit revenues.
Nintendo had also been selling the 3DS below cost during the year because of a price cut it was forced to make in response to intensifying competition in the sector.
Many gamers have turned away from dedicated handheld consoles and are playing games on social-networking sites or buying game apps for their smartphones.
There's plenty more where that came from as this Thursday we see the reveal of the Galaxy S3 and more. We'll be live blogging to fill you in on the details!
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