BlackBerry announced today that it has made the Android version of its BBM messaging app available for Gingerbread-powered devices, delivering on a promise made last month.
Launching a product for Gingerbread, an operating system that is already two years old, might not seem entirely logical, but it accounts for 20 percent of all active Android devices – and is particularly well-used in emerging markets, where BBM remains a reasonable player in the messaging space.
Gartner estimates there were 877 million active Android devices last year, which suggests that (roughly) 175 million were on Gingerbread — BBM claimed 80 million active users at the end of October, right after launching apps for iOS and Android. The move to Gingerbread could be big for BBM, but there are many cross-platform messaging apps and BBM has far fewer users than WhatsApp, WeChat, Line and others.
Image via Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Rakuten opens an R&D center in Paris, its third worldwide, to find ‘next big thing in e-commerce’
Feb19
It’s all go at Rakuten right now. Fresh from announcing the $900 million acquisition of Viber last week, the Japanese e-commerce giant has opened an R&D office in Paris, which becomes its first Rakuten Institute of Technology (RIT) in Europe.
Rakuten has existing RIT centers in Tokyo and New York, which company CEO Hiroshi Mikitani says aim to bring “the next big thing in e-commerce to market.” RIT innovation is designed for Rakuten’s businesses and the e-commerce market in general, and past products have included analytics tracker services, recommendation engines and ROMA, an open source replacement for e-commerce databases.
The Parisian branch of RIT is located in the same building as PriceMinister, the French e-commerce firm Rakuten bought for $250 million in 2010. It is initially staffed by five employees, though Rakuten aims to add 20 new hires by the end of this year.
“The Paris team will be focusing on the links between bricks-and-mortar stores and online services in particular, as well as exploring new forms of digital interaction. Setting up our department alongside the Rakuten PriceMinister team should also present some opportunities for collaboration and we are looking forward to learning from them, ” said Laurent Ach, who is heading up the RIT in Paris as its Director.
Image via Chris McGrath/Getty Images for Rakuten
Android KitKat is now rolling out to Samsung Galaxy devices in the US
Feb19
on February 19, 2014
at 2:23 am
Samsung is rolling out Android KitKat to a handful of its Galaxy devices in the US — including the variants of its flagship Galaxy S4, the Galaxy Note 3 and Note 2, as well as the Galaxy Tab 3. The update is starting today and will continue in the next few months.
A few new features will be introduced with Android KitKat. One of them is an integrated location menu that lets users activate GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile networks while checking the battery usage of apps running location service capabilities. Users can also choose between Messages or Hangouts as a preferred default messaging app, automatically back up photos and videos, as well as open, view, rename and share Google Docs and files.
Google formally unveiled the latest version of its Android operating system in October 2013, touting it as as a “smarter, more immersive” experience with a revamped messaging interface, a built-in pedometer, improved multitasking and “full-bleed UIs” for apps. Android 4.4 first arrived with the Nexus 5, and the update has been rolling out gradually.
➤ Samsung Confirms KitKat for U.S. Smartphones and Tablets [Press Release]
Image via Sundar Pichai / Google+
Flickr now lets you insert photos into comments on the Web version of its photo-based social network
Feb19
Flickr has launched an improved commenting system to the photo-based social network. Starting today, users can insert photos into comments. The news first came by way of tweet from Markus Spiering, Flickr’s head of product.
Inserting a photo into a comment works exactly like how you’d expect on a social network like Facebook and Google+. When you find that one image to engage with, copy and paste the URL of the file you wish to insert into the comments into the discussion box. Then post your comment and it will appear. All comments can be edited and deleted at any time.
The addition of Flickr photo comments comes just a week after the social network marked its 10 year anniversary. However, it’s already behind the curve, as Facebook and Google+ both have photo commenting enabled.
This feature appears to only be available for the Web version, but it’s probably safe to expect it on Flickr’s mobile apps soon. When an image is added to a comment on the Web browser, it will show up as a URL string on Flickr’s mobile app.
Today we added photos in comments to our new photo experience! Happy commenting and storytelling. pic.twitter.com/Ln4iMBSdse
— Markus Spiering (@spieri) February 19, 2014
Photo credit: LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images