Apple engineer says a 2005 Steve Jobs ultimatum made the iPhone what it is today

Ahead of Apple's patent-infringement trial with Samsung next week, a former senior software engineer from the company has given an Apple-approved account of how the first iPhone came to be. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Greg Christie has given a fairly detailed version of the revolutionary device's early days, while some of the information was already known, there is a few interesting bits to come out of the article.

Christie was working on what would become software for the initial iPhone back in 2005, when Steve Jobs gave him and his team an ultimatum. The team was to show serious progress on the touch enabled phone in two weeks or Jobs would put someone else on the project.

With a threat of that nature coming from someone like Jobs, Christie and the "shockingly" small team felt the pressure to come up with "bigger ideas and bigger concepts." They prototyped the ideas on a plastic touch screen running on an older desktop Mac in order to emulate the lesser performance of a mobile processor.

After pouring over minute details like what the perfect scrolling speed and response was, and how to get conversation based text messaging just right, Christie managed to present Jobs a prototype that would keep him and his team on the iPhone project moving forward. After the two weeks, the prototype featured the now famous swipe-to-unlock feature, an entirely software based keyboard design, and the full suite of iPod-based music listening capabilities.

While it may seem that Christie and his colleagues could finally settle down and finish development on the device, settling down just wasn't something Jobs would allow. Christie describes the following two and a half years as a "marathon," with Jobs obsessing over every tiny detail of the project. He said Steve required updates every two weeks for the entire duration of development, in a top-secret, windowless room.

You can check out the full article over on The Wall Street Journal.

Google's new WebP software brings animated graphics and 25% faster display times

Google has been developing WebP software for some time and has now introduced a new version into the latest Chrome beta. The company has been trying to speed the internet up with its yet to be fully supported web image format. Google said the updated version can allow browsers to display images up to 25% faster than traditional formats.

Not only is it designed to speed things up, but it also appears that Google is attempting to simplify things and aims to replace existing formats with its supposed superior one. While Google is sure WebP both can and should replace all of the major formats, it is yet to convince browser company's like Mozillla to move away from the long used JPEG format, even with support from Facebook and Netflix. While Mozilla is hesitant to jump on board to say the least, many outside developers tend to agree with Google in terms of WebP being a superior format to what is currently out there.

Generally speaking, most images on the web are either in the lossy JPEG, transparency supporting PNG or classic animated GIF formats. However, Google says that WebP will reduce file sizes greatly compared to JPEG and will also combine many of the benefits of JPEG and PNG into a single unified format. WebP can take advantage of small compressed file sizes like JPEGs, the transparency currently available with PNGs, animated graphics like GIFs and higher quality lossless options.

Google has already been replacing images with WebP throughout its services online, including thumbnails on YouTube and logos on Google Play. In a recentblog post, Husain Bengali, a WebP optimizer at Google, said "the rollouts within Google combined have raised our aggregate data transfer savings tally to tens of terabytes every day." Bengali went on to say that not only does this mean faster page load times for users, but its also means "fewer bytes counted against metered data plans."

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Facebook announces $2 billion acquisition of virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR

Facebook has reached an agreement to acquire Oculus VR, makers of the pioneering Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, as part of a deal valued at $2 billion. The deal includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock on top of a $300 million earn-out in cash and stock based on certain milestones according to a press release on the matter.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said mobile is the platform of today and now they're getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow. Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever and change the way we work, play and communicate, Zuckerberg added.

Most have associated the headset with gaming up to this point but with Facebook on board, the possibilities are suddenly wide open.

Brendan Iribe, co-founder and CEO of Oculus VR, said they are excited to work with Facebook to deliver the very best virtual reality platform in the world. As Iribe notes, it is a transformative and disruptive technology that enables people to experience the impossible and it’s only just the beginning.

The deal likely makes Oculus VR the most successful Kickstarter story to date which is impressive considering they haven’t even released a consumer product yet. A prototype started making noise in early 2012 and eventually hit the crowdfunding site during the summer of 2012, raising nearly $2.5 millionfrom the campaign.

During this time, the Rift caught the eye of legendary game developer John Carmack who ultimately resigned from id Software to work on the project full time. The company is now taking pre-orders for the final dev kit before the commercial release which still doesn’t have a date associated with it.

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New ‘Anti-Social’ App, Cloak, Lets You Avoid People

The whole point of social media is keep everyone connected and help you expand your number of friends and acquaintances, yet the new service named Cloak is turning the concept on its head and is aimed at helping you avoid everyone.

Created by the programmer Brian Moore and the former creative director of Buzzfeed Chris Baker, Cloak works by pulling public location data from Foursquare and Instagram. It determines the location of people you know and then alerts you if they are suspected of being nearby, giving you the chance to dodge them via a side-street.

This new kind of service has been termed an “anti-social app” or secretive app. It follows other apps like Snapchat and WhatsApp, which are geared towards providing private messaging services.

Cloak is described as a way to “avoid exes, co-workers, that guy who likes to stop and chat – anyone you’d rather not run into”.

Chris Baker expressed his feelings on the shift in attitude towards social media, saying: “Personally, I think we’ve seen the crest of the big social network.”

“Things like Twitter and Facebook are packed elevators where we’re all crammed in together… I think anti-social stuff is on the rise. You’ll be seeing more and more of these types of projects.”

However editor-in-chief of App Magazine, Nick Jones, thinks these types of apps are not created out of necessity but rather because developers are looking to explore new avenues in the social-media market.

“People are having to diversify their apps and find some unique angle to their app, and then try and sell it to Facebook and make a pretty penny.”

However, he admitted: “Secrecy has its advantages for people. It’s quite attractive.”

Does Cloak appeal to you? Who would you like to avoid?

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How to Protect Google Chrome Browser with Password?

In present days everyone uses internet for different purposes and most of them uses Chrome browser to browse different websites, play games online and to do so many things. If you are the only user of your computer then there is no problem but if your PC is used by others then you must be worried about your settings, browsing history, saved passwords and everything what you did on internet. To prevent from this situation you can protect your browser with password, but no browser will provide an option to lock your browser with password.

Don’t worry we come up with one smart extension which protects your online session history, your web services passwords and so many other things.

ChromePW:

ChromePW is the ultimate extension for chrome users to protect their web browsers from others without accessing. It provides an incredible solution to lock down your browser with password. Actually all browsers have some security about storing passwords but no browser give full support to protect everything which is related to you on browser. This extension gives so many options which tighten your browser security. Here security means it doesn’t stop hacker attacks and malware attacks, it only protects your browser from other users who try to access physically.

How to Setup password Protection to Chrome Browser?

1. First of all you need to download chromePW extension from the below link, after downloading extension install it on your browser by clicking on Add button.

2. After installing it shows a message which means extension installed successfully, before using it you need to do some configurations. Click on Ok button to continue extension setup.

3. Now you need to enable this chrome extension on “Incognito mode” also, because someone try to open it onprivate browsing mode. After enable it on Incognito mode click on next button.

4. Now it shows another window with some FAQ(Frequently asked questions) and answers. It listed four questions about security of extension and provide some tips to harden your browser security. If you use nonwindows operating system then choose your operating system from drop down list. For future purpose print all question and answers.

5. After that click on Next button and you will see extension security settings. It have 4 widgets and each one have some sort of settings.

6. First type password which is not easy to guessed by others and again type the same password, type password hint which will be useful in case of forgetting password.

7. Click on save button to turn on password protection, you can set automatic lock for your browser after certain time. Then it will automatically locks your browser with password protection.

8. You must enable security mode because it protects chromepw extension being terminated by task manager. If anyone try to open another program while chrome browser locked it will automatically closed.

9. You can also block websites from this extension and if you want to reset this extension settings and password click on Reset Button.

As mentioned earlier this doesn’t provide full security because someone try to remove this extension folder who use your computer, so to get advanced security you must follow guidelines provided by this extension at the time of password setup. I try this extension in my chrome browser and it works efficiently without creating any problems. This will surely protect your browsing data, saved passwords and other important data stored on browser.

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Google announces Android Wear, the best chance for smartwatches

We’ve seen a handful of smartwatcheslaunch in the last year, although none of them have sold in huge numbers. However, the idea is starting to gain some traction with a second generation of Samsung watches and a much more attractive Pebble. Now, Google is throwing its hat into the ring with Android Wear. This is a typically Google approach to a new market — rather than design its own singular device with narrow compatibility like Samsung, Android Wear is a platform for OEMs to innovate and build wearables using the best features of Android. For this reason, Android Wear might finally get smartwatches right.

Android Wear is still Android, but it’s not just a shrunken down version of the smartphone operating system like the original Galaxy Gear. Google’s new wearable platform relies on a subset of features that make sense on a smartwatch. Google Now cards are a big part of Wear, as is voice search.

Google is working with OEMs to get devices powered by Android Wear on the market this year, and there’s no single “right” form factor. Just like with Android phones, OEMs are free to experiment with square and round shapes, as well as a variety of hardware features and styles. Yes, round, like almost every normal watch. That alone might convince some folks to give smartwatches a shot.The demo devices in the Google promo video really drive home how important the aesthetics of a watch are — these are fashion accessories as much as they are smart devices. In fact, Google called out Fossil specifically in the announcement as a company that is working with Android Round, which is exactly what smartwatches need.

One company in particular is all over Android Wear — Motorola. Google hasn’t completed the sale to Lenovo, so it’s no surprise the Moto 360 was announced in tandem with Android Wear. This device looks a lot like the round smart watch that Google included in its video, though with a slightly more watch-like aesthetic. Rather than tell us what sort of ARM chip is inside the Moto 360 or what the screen resolution is, Motorola stressed that it’s round and pretty. Frankly, that’s probably as important as the specs for a successful wearable.

The look and feel of Android Wear devices will certainly be important, but the hardware is going to come into play before smart watches become the next big thing. These are still screens on your wrist, which means battery life is going to be a concern. An LCD or AMOLED guzzles power when it’s on, and there’s not much space for a battery. Motorola mentioned the Moto 360 will show your notifications and alerts with a “twist of the wrist,” indicating it’s going to have some sort of movement detection to wake up the display like the Moto X’s Active Display. Pressing a button just to see the time rather defeats the purpose of having a watch on your wrist. OEMs will have to be clever to make these devices last, because no one wants another device that has to struggle to make it through the day.

Developers are invited to sign up for access to the preview Android Wear SDK and begin adapting their apps to take advantage of smaller displays. This is really the genius of Google’s wearable strategy — it’s leveraging the entire Android ecosystem to make smartwatches work. Samsung restricts the Gear mostly to its devices and services, but Google wants everyone to help make Android Wear a useful platform. At the same time, it still ties into advanced Android features like search and location services. Maybe no one really wants a smartwatch, but Google Wear devices will probably have the best shot at convincing them otherwise.This feels a lot like that era before official Android tablets, back when Samsung fiddled around with the original Galaxy Tab. It ran Android 2.3 scaled up to seven inches and was a pretty awful experience. Then Google swept in and offered the tools to standardize Android tablets beginning with Android 3.0. Samsung and everyone else fell into line, and that might be what happens with wearables too. Rolling your own Android smartwatch without Google’s backing is going to be pointeless from here on out. The Moto 360 is out this summer, but Google is also working with LG, Asus, Samsung, and others to make Android Wear devices a reality.

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Sony, with PlayStation Now and Project Morpheus, is our best bet for the future of video games

Last year, Sony released the most powerful game console ever created at a price point lower than the competition. At the beginning of this year, the company announced that it would release a Netflix-style game streaming service sometime this summer. Last night, Sony announced its own virtual reality gaming headset, called Project Morpheus. Now, more than anyone, Sony is leading the way to the future of video games.

The gaming industry — and consumers — have always had two main goals for the medium of video games. The first and more easily achievable goal has always and forever been to make playing a game feel like you’re playing a movie. This goal was arguably achieved back on the PlayStation 3 when Naughty Dog released Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Regardless of how you feel about the game itself — third-person cover-based shooting, ledge-climbing, hidden collectibles — nothing to date has felt more like fluidly playing through a summer blockbuster. A few years later, the developer showed that it could create a similar movie experience with other genres when The Last of Us felt like playing through an Oscar-nominated drama. All video games shouldn’t aim for this goal, but the goal has always been hanging in the air.

The second and likely more desired goal of video games is just over the horizon: virtual reality. Though virtual reality headsets and peripherals have been around for ages — ask anyone who has been to a fancy arcade, such as Disney Quest in Orlando — they haven’t truly been integrated with consumer-grade products. When the Oculus Rift was funded on Kickstarter in September of 2012 and backers started receiving their development kits, people realized that, actually, these VR headsets aren’t particularly complicated and could now be integrated into consumer products. It’s been a year-and-a-half since the Rift was funded, and it’s still only a dev kit that’s a chore to get working with anything. This doesn’t mean the Rift is a poor device, it just means that a Kickstarter-backed indie developer doesn’t have the manpower or funding to quickly produce and finalize advanced hardware. Sony caught onto the Rift’s popularity and announced its own virtual reality gaming headset, Project Morpheus.

Sony’s Project Morpheus.

As our own Grant Brunner noted, Sony just made virtual reality mainstream. So far, we only know a little about the Morpheus. It has a head-mounted 1080p display with a 90-degree field of view, and works in conjunction with accelerometers, gyroscopes, and the PlayStation Camera to deliver a precise VR experience. Both the DualShock 4 and PS Move can be used as controllers; one of the biggest issues with the Rift is that you’re stuck facing the direction of your keyboard and mouse, so it’s tough to spin around and still have control of your game. The Morpheus also allows you to wear your glasses, unlike the current iteration of the Rift. We don’t yet know the price, time frame of release, or even how deep Sony plans to integrate it into the PS4. What we do know, though, is that Sony is the first major game company to head toward video game virtual reality, and that’s still not the only future the company is working toward.

If PlayStation Now is still on track for its summer release, Sony is set to change the way we access games. Netflix already changed the way we accessed our movies and television, and PlayStation Now is aiming to do the same. It’ll begin with on demand, streaming PS3 games, which was surprising when announced, because many of us felt the beginning of game streaming would only be able to handle much older titles, not games that were brand new less than a year ago.

Of course, there are reservations. We can’t judge the quality of PlayStation Now until it publicly releases, because even an open beta won’t be dealing with the largest audience possible. It’s also currently impossible to make any official judgment regarding the Morpheus considering all we can really assume is that it’ll be a Sony-style Oculus Rift that only works with the PS4. However, what we can say is that the very attempt at a combination of modern game streaming, virtual reality, and the most powerful games machine on the market, Sony is at the forefront of advancing video games to the goals gamers have dreamed about since the medium’s mainstream inception. We may not have a Matrix- or .hack-like level of immersion just yet, but virtual reality headsets and data streaming are the closest we’ll have come yet, and the first stepping stone toward that level of immersion. Perhaps that’s why Sony went with the name “Morpheus,” the character that shepherded Neo through virtual reality.

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What is mesh networking, and why Apple’s adoption in iOS 7 could change the world

With iOS 7, Apple snuck in a very interesting feature that has mostly gone unnoticed: Mesh networking for both WiFi and Bluetooth. It also seems that Google is working to add mesh networking to Android, too. When it comes to ubiquitous connectivity, mobile computing, and the growing interest in the internet of things, it is not hyperbolic to say that mesh networking could change the fabric of society. But, I hear you ask, what is mesh networking? I’m glad you asked.

What is mesh networking?

A star topology network. Imagine your home’s WiFi router in the middle, with all of your devices around the outside.

One of the most important factors when discussing networking is topology. In basic terms, the topology describes how the various members (nodes) of a network are connected together. Most small networks (your office, your home) use a star topology, with a central node (a switch/router) connected to a bunch of clients (your laptop, smartphone, Xbox, etc.) The star topology dictates that if one client wants to talk to another (say, you want to send a photo from your laptop to your Xbox), the data must go through the central point (the router).

The internet, in case you’re wondering, because it’s such a mess of different networks, is hard to label as a single topology. One proposal says the internet has a jellyfish topology, with a very densely connected core (backbone links between data centers), and long tendrils that represent the sparsely connected ISPs and last-mile connections. The image at the top of the story shows a map of the internet that supports the jellyfish concept.

A mesh topology is where each node in the network is connected to every other node around it. So, if you take the home network star topology, but then allow the smartphone, laptop, and Xbox to talk directly to each other, you have a mesh topology.

A fully connected mesh topology (left) and a partially connected mesh topology (right). Even in the partially connected mesh, each device can communicate with each other.

Why should you be excited about mesh networking?

The key reason for mesh networking being exciting is that it doesn’t require centralized infrastructure. If you turn off your WiFi router, chances are your entire home network would cease to work. If you had a mesh network instead, everything would continue to work just fine (assuming they’re still within range of each other, anyway). If you’ve used Miracast/WiDi to stream video directly from your smartphone/laptop to your TV, then you’ve already dabbled in mesh networking.

And so we finally get to iOS 7′s mesh networking capabilities, which Apple refers to asMultipeer Connectivity. Google hasn’t said a whole lot about its mesh networking efforts, though Sundar Pichai did mention it a couple of times at SXSW last week, in relation to itsAndroid Wear and home automation efforts. (Read: Ford working on car-to-car wireless mesh network for real-time telemetry, government use.)

With Multipeer Connectivity, iOS 7 can communicate to other iOS 7 devices without a centralized hub (WiFi router, cellular base station). If you’ve used AirDrop, you’ve probably used Multipeer Connectivity. Other than AirDrop, though, this functionality has gone mostly unused — until an app called FireChat hit the App Store this week.

FireChat is basically an app that lets you chat with other FireChat/iOS 7 users. The key difference, though, is that FireChat is fully decentralized and peer-to-peer — so, if you have two iPhones that are in Bluetooth or WiFi range of each other, they can communicate directly, without sending any data through a WiFi router or the internet. This is obviously rather useful, if you want to communicate privately, or want to transfer sensitive data.

Mesh networking is a game-changer

What’s interesting, though, is that iOS 7′s Multipeer Connectivity apparently allows for the chaining of peer-to-peer connections. So, for example, if Alice is connected to Bob, and Bob is connected to Carol, Alice and Carol can send messages to each other. Apparently, according to Cult of Mac, this chain can be indefinitely long — so, you might construct a chain of 10 or 25 or 50 devices. As long as no one device goes out of WiFi range, they can all communicate with each other. Furthermore, if one of those devices has an internet connection, every other member of the mesh can share that connection. You might imagine using this to extend internet access to rural or out-of-the-way (underground) locations — but I think installing a few WiFi repeaters is probably a more graceful solution than leaving an iPhone sitting on a chair somewhere.

Still, Apple’s inclusion of mesh networking in iOS 7 is an exciting indicator of things to come. For now, it’s just AirDrop and apps like FireChat — but tomorrow, it’s easy to see how your iPhone, Apple TV, MacBook, and the other internet-of-things around your home, use mesh networking to communicate with each other. Truly decentralized networking, especially if you throw in some cryptography, is one of the most disruptive technologies that you can imagine. If mesh networking takes off and the world’s billion smartphones suddenly start chattering to each other, I guarantee that you will see some mind-blowingly killer applications in the next few years.

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Apple wants to bypass net neutrality for its own streaming video service

Apple has been toying with the idea of modernizing the living room for the better part of a decade now, and it seems as if Cupertino is on the cusp of a breakthrough. Apple is reportedly in talks with Comcast to bring a modern video streaming service to its set-top boxes, and it doesn’t want to compete with the congestion of the public internet. If this deal progresses, we could even see Comcast and Apple sidestep net neutrality all together.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Apple and Comcast are currently working out the details that would enable a deeply intertwined business partnership. Supposedly, Apple wants to offer on-demand video and live broadcasts over IP without any of the buffering or dips in quality that services like Netflix and Amazon Prime are afflicted with. To execute on that vision, Cupertino wants to implement a dedicated service with America’s largest cable provider, and bypass the internet completely.

Fundamentally, this strategy treats the proposed streaming service more like a traditional cable set-up than a Netflixcompetitor. Sure, the data is being delivered in packets, but it just sounds like a modernized implementation of what already exists. The article makes it very clear that Apple “isn’t asking for its traffic to be prioritized over other Internet-based services,” so concerns over net neutrality become more complex. This isn’t adirect attack on net neutrality, but it does blur the lines between content company and utility company.

At what point will this private video distribution be seen as anti-competitive? What safeguards will be put in place to prevent Apple and Comcast from eroding available bandwidth from internet traffic to bolster their private services in the future? All of this is still up in the air, and these questions won’t be answered any time soon. The FCC is slowly working towards implementing net neutrality regulations, but companies like Verizon,AT&T, and Comcast are doing their damnedest to prevent progress.

I would love to see how an Apple-designed video streaming solution would work, but not at the expense of the internet at large. Private IP networks could potentially be useful tools for content providers, but only if the internet itself is protected. It’d be really nice ifMythbusters didn’t need to buffer, but that’s not worth eroding the public internet. Even if this Apple-Comcast deal never happens, we need to remain on alert. The big ISPs have a history of bad behavior, and that isn’t going to change without severe regulatory pressure.

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Intel details new enthusiast CPUs, including Broadwell, Haswell-E, Devil's Canyon

At GDC 2014, Intel has unleashed a flurry of news relating to a range of their upcoming desktop-class CPUs, from Broadwell to high-performance Haswell-E and even new Pentium processors.

Starting from the top, Intel has announced that new enthusiast-class Haswell-E processors will be available in the second half of 2014. These CPUs will be the first desktop-designated parts with eight cores, and the first desktop platform that supports DDR4 memory through Intel's new X99 chipset.

Intel declined to specify what other features we may see in Haswell-E or the X99 chipset. Previous enthusiast parts, Sandy Bridge-E and Ivy Bridge-E, utilized Intel's X79 chipset, which lacked many of the features seen in Haswell's 8-series parts such as USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps. It seems that Haswell-E and the X99 chipset will finally update the feature set of enthusiast setups, but this hasn't been confirmed.

Another enthusiast part has been announced today, codenamed 'Devil's Canyon'. Essentially this part is an improved Haswell K processor designed for overclockers, with an improved thermal interface material and 9-series chipset support that should see the chip reach its full potential.

The thermal interface improvement is especially critical, as some enthusiasts with current K-series Haswell CPUs realized that the material used between the die and heatspreader was poor, reducing the overclocking ceiling due to high temperatures. Again, Intel didn't go into specifics on the thermal interface or what frequencies to expect from Devil's Canyon, but the part will be available mid-year.

Moving on to Broadwell (5th Gen Core), and Intel has said that a high-end, socketed, fully-unlocked desktop part will be available with integrated Iris Pro graphics. This won't be that important for those that will use this part in a top-end gaming machine with a discrete GPU, but it'll be great for small form factor PC builders. Sometimes there's just not enough room for a dedicated GPU in these builds, so a high-end Broadwell part with Intel's highest-end graphics will make these types of systems more powerful.

The final part announced by Intel is the Pentium Anniversary Edition, designed to celebrate 20+ years of the Pentium brand. The CPU is targeted at enthusiasts who might not want to spend the cash on high-end Core parts, but still want a fully-unlocked, Haswell-based processor.

Like with all previous announcements, Intel aren't saying a great deal about the Pentium Anniversary Edition, save for a release date of mid 2014. Pentium parts typically feature two cores, no hyperthreading and mid-tier HD Graphics GPUs, but if unlocking them leads to extreme overclocking, they could be a win for budget-minded system builders.

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Google moves Gmail to HTTPS-only connection and encrypts all data between data centers

Google has boosted Gmail’s security measures in an effort to ensure nobody can listen in on your messages as they go back and forth between you and Gmail’s servers, even if you are on public Wi-Fi or logging in from a public machine.

To do this, the service now will always use an encrypted HTTPS connection when checking or sending e-mails according to a blog post on the matter.

The search giant said Gmail has supported HTTPS since the day it launched and made it the default in 2010. Up to that point, the choice was left up to the end user because HTTPS can make e-mail slower as encrypted data doesn’t travel as quickly across the web as unencrypted data.

What’s more, Google also said that 100 percent of every single message you send or receive is now encrypted when moving internally. This means that messages will be safe and secure not only between you and Google but as they move between Google’s data centers. Google said they made this a top priority after last year’s revelations.

They’re of course referring to leaked documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden regarding a program known as Muscular. Operated jointly by the NSA and Britain’s GCHQ, the program was reportedly able to tap into the main communications links that connect data centers belonging to the world’s largest Internet companies like Google and Yahoo.

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BlackBerry inks deal to sell majority of real estate holdings in Canada

BlackBerry on Friday said they have reached an agreement to sell a large portion of their real estate holdings in their home country of Canada. The company is parting ways with 3 million square feet of space that also includes vacant land although Waterloo will continue to serve as BlackBerry’s global headquarters.

The company first announced plans to sell the property in January.

The struggling handset maker said they will lease back some of the retail space although it is unclear exactly how much space they will retain or at what rate.

Real estate brokerage firm CBRE highlights the fact that the deal consists of office and warehouse space and land in Cambridge, Mississauga, Ottawa and Waterloo. The firm also notes that 37.5 acres of land are included in the sale.

CEO John Chen said the successful sale of property will help them move toward their goal of continued operational efficiency.

Terms of the deal will only be disclosed once the principal conditions have been satisfied or waived by the interested parties, BlackBerry revealed. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.

The deal comes just months after the company sold five buildings and some land to the University of Waterloo for around $41 million. To put today’s announcement into perspective, the previous deal included 300,000 square feet of office space and 1,000 parking spaces.

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Future iPhones may conserve battery by determining your daily activities and charging patterns

As we keep on waiting for breaktrhoughs in battery technology, Apple is looking at creative ways of maximizing the autonomy of its devices, as revealed by a couple of related patent filings. The filings were published yesterday by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

One patent, titled “Inferring user intent from battery usage level and charging trends”, details a way to optimize your mobile device's power consumption by using contextual clues like how often you use your smartphone, how often you charge it, and so on. Using all this information, the phone's software could alter different parameters like screen brightness, CPU clock speed, Wi-Fi connectivity, and more.

For example, if you charge your phone overnight, and start using it at the same time each morning, it would learn the duration of your working hours, or the time you use your phone the most.

The other patent, titled “Predicting user intent and future interaction from application activities”, describes a way to adjust power consumption by monitoring apps and tasks. Your phone could use your GPS location and app activity to learn how you would be using your device. 

For example, if you use an eWallet application like Passbook to purchase a drink at a coffee house, your phone could use your GPS location to conclude that you will be enjoying your drink in the coffee house for the next 20 to 30 minutes, and would be using your phone for things like reading the news, playing a game, and more. Using all this information, your phone would come to know that for next 20-30 minutes, it will need the most power.

Whether or not Apple builds this technology into products is yet to be seen, but the Cupertino-based company is actively exploring ways of getting around battery life constraints. In a recent report, the company was said to beexploring new charging methods for its hardware, including magnetic induction, solar power, and charging via movement. The company is supposedly testing the technology for its long rumored iWatch.

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Microsoft sweetens XP upgrade offers as support deadline nears

Microsoft is sweetening the pot in hopes of getting holdouts to switch from their dated Windows XP machine to something a bit more modern. Last week, the Redmond-based company offered a $50 gift card to those purchasing a Windows 8.1 computer but they’ve since improved that offer in more ways than one.

From now through June 15, XP users looking to move to a new system are eligible for a $100 discount on a qualifying machine priced at $599 or higher. A Microsoft rep said the deal will only show up for those who visit the Microsoft Store via a Windows XP machine in a clear nod to make sure that only XP users receive the savings.

Users that prefer to shop via brick and mortar can physically bring their XP machine to one of over 80 retail Microsoft stores across the country as proof of eligibility.

In addition to the $100 savings, buyers will also qualify for 90 days of free support and free data transfer. Thedata migration tool from Laplink was announced earlier this month and is available to all users free of charge from Microsoft's website.

With two offers coming from Microsoft in as many weeks, some will no doubt be enticed to play the waiting game to see if the company has even sweeter deals up its proverbial sleeve. That could be a dangerous proposition, however, as XP will most certainly become an easy target for hackers once the April 8 end-of-support date has passed.

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