Stories by Matt Hamblen

Canadian Tire forgoes BYOD, issues BlackBerries to workers

Canadian Tire began issuing thousands of BlackBerry Q10 smartphones to corporate employees in Toronto after rolling out Z10 models weeks earlier.

By Matt Hamblen | 20 May, 2013 10:14

Tags: Mobile/Wireless, consumer electronics, Networking, wireless, smartphones, mobile, IT management, consumerization of IT, Blackberry

Google Now, Hangouts feel here, there and everywhere

Google this week unleashed a blizzard of updates and improvements that fundamentally change -- and radically improve -- how we get information and communicate.

By Matt Hamblen | 18 May, 2013 11:11

Tags: Mobile/Wireless, applications, consumer electronics, Google, Networking, wireless, software, mobile, Personal Technology

A stock Android Galaxy S4 from Google will cost you $649

A special edition, stock Android version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone will go on sale June 26 on the Google Play store for $649, Google announced at its annual Google I/O conference.

By Matt Hamblen | 15 May, 2013 18:08

Tags: consumer electronics, Google, at&t, smartphones, Android, T-Mobile USA

Dell slashes its Windows RT tablet price by $US200; XPS 10 now sells for $US300

Dell drastically cut the online price of its Windows RT tablet, reducing the price by $US200 to $US299.99 for Dell XPS 10.

By Matt Hamblen | 15 May, 2013 17:58

Tags: Mobile/Wireless, Networking, wireless, Windows, hardware systems, qualcomm, nvidia, tablets, software, mobile, operating systems, Dell, IDC

BlackBerry Messenger is expanding to iOS and Android

BlackBerry's free Messenger service is being expanded to work with iOS and Android devices, the company announced today at its BlackBerry Live event.

By Matt Hamblen | 14 May, 2013 17:24

Tags: Blackberry, Mobile/Wireless, Networking, wireless, twitter, mobile, mobile apps, Facebook

Upbeat BlackBerry launches new Q5 qwerty smartphone

The annual BlackBerry Live conference was kicked off Tuesday with the launch of a new 3.1-in. qwerty smartphone, the BlackBerry Q5, that's slated to go on sale this summer in emerging markets, but not in the U.S.

By Matt Hamblen | 14 May, 2013 15:06

Tags: Blackberry, Mobile/Wireless, consumer electronics, Networking, wireless, smartphones, mobile, mobile apps

No Chrome-Android merger, at least in the next year or two

Android's new boss hinted of an eventual merger of Chrome and Android but said the two will remain separate "for the short term," in an interview posted prior to Google I/O's opening keynote on Wednesday.

By Matt Hamblen | 13 May, 2013 17:45

Tags: Mobile/Wireless, Google, consumer electronics, Networking, wireless, smartphones, Android, mobile, mobile apps, youtube

AT&T offers iPhone 5 through pre-paid Aio Wireless

AT&T launched a new wireless subsidiary called Aio Wireless on Thursday that offers phones like the iPhone 5 with no annual contract.

By Matt Hamblen | 10 May, 2013 19:22

Tags: Mobile/Wireless, wireless carriers, consumer electronics, at&t, Networking, wireless, smartphones, mobile, T-Mobile USA, Apple

Google Wallet chief's resignation another bad sign for NFC

The chief of the Google Wallet operation has resigned to pursue new opportunities, another sign of continuing troubles in convincing U.S. smartphone users to adopt mobile wallets using NFC technology.

By Matt Hamblen | 10 May, 2013 14:34

Tags: Mobile/Wireless, mobile payments, consumer electronics, Google, Networking, wireless, smartphones, mobile

Amazon may be working on a smartphone with hologram-like 3D

Amazon is reportedly developing a smartphone that sports a 3D screen that relies on retina-tracking technology to make images seem to float above the screen like a hologram.

By Matt Hamblen | 09 May, 2013 20:18

Tags: amazon, 3D smartphones, consumer electronics, emerging technology, Microsoft, smartphones, hardware systems, wall street journal

Galaxy S4's U.S. version needs added image processor for eye-tracking

Samsung has built several different Galaxy S4 smartphones, including a U.S. version running a Snapdragon processor that requires an extra image processor to enable heavily promoted user functions such as eye-movement recognition.

By Matt Hamblen | 09 May, 2013 19:37

Tags: Mobile/Wireless, Networking, iSuppli, wireless, smartphones, Components, IHS, processors, mobile, Fujitsu, IHS iSuppli, consumer electronics

For young students, a C# coding workshop for kids

As the need for mobile apps developers increases and interest in computer science courses wanes, professional educator-programmers are reaching out to a younger generation of potential coders: students as young as 10.

By Matt Hamblen | 09 May, 2013 12:06

Tags: App Development, education, IT careers, training, IT management, industry verticals, Education/Training

More support for Windows RT, this time from Nvidia

Nvidia will stay on board with making Tegra ARM-based processors for Windows RT tablets despite sluggish early sales of the devices, making the same commitment that Qualcomm has made, an Nvidia executive said

By Matt Hamblen | 08 May, 2013 20:41

Tags: Mobile/Wireless, IT industry, Networking, hardware systems, wireless, qualcomm, nvidia, tablets, Components, processors, mobile, IDC, Microsoft

Canadian Tire CTO impressed with BlackBerry Q10's long battery life

Canadian Tire began issuing thousands of BlackBerry Q10 smartphones to corporate employees in Toronto on Monday after rolling out Z10 models weeks earlier.

By Matt Hamblen | 07 May, 2013 16:49

Tags: Blackberry, Mobile/Wireless, consumer electronics, Networking, wireless, smartphones, mobile

Tablet shipments to outpace laptops in 2013, NPD says

New tablet shipments will outnumber laptops for the first time in 2013, as touch display capabilities drive buying patterns rather than new operating systems like Windows 8 and Windows RT, research firm NPD DisplaySearch reported on Monday.

By Matt Hamblen | 06 May, 2013 15:01

Tags: Mobile/Wireless, Networking, hardware systems, wireless, tablets, NPD DisplaySearch, laptops, mobile, intel, Apple, DisplaySearch, Microsoft

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