RIM Calls It Quits, 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook

RIM has officially killed off the 16GB model of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. While RIM will no longer manufacture the device, you can still pick one up from any retailer that has the tablet in stock. “RIM will no longer be making the 16 GB model of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.” the company said in a statement obtained by Engadget. “The 16GB PlayBook will continue to be available for distributors and retailers while quantities last. We continue to remain committed to the tablet space and the 32GB and 64GB models of the BlackBerry PlayBook continue to be available from our distributors and retailers around the world. There is more value for our customers in the higher capacity models (32 GB, 64 GB), and as such we have decided to focus our efforts here.”

Apple Awarded Broad MacBook Air Patent For Wedge Design

The ultrabook movement might die before it even gets started. At CES this past January, manufacturers from Lenovo to Dell to Samsung championed the razor-thin computers as the next big thing. But a “broad” patent recently awarded to Apple might mean trouble for the swelling ultrabook market.

The patent in question, according to The Verge, covers the Air’s wedge design (as shown by the solid lines in the above picture), meaning that any ultrabook that falls into this category is fair game. And because the patent is so broad, Apple is within its rights to go after manufacturers that make ultrabooks that look sorta, kinda the same, but employ an overall design that clearly shows a noticeable difference.

Redesigned Foursquare App Live In Google Play And Apple App Store

The new app looks vibrant and clean, featuring a photo-centric news feed, ergonomically re-placed Check-In button, and colorful profile pages, but the real meat is a revamped Explore tab that pulls data on every Foursquare user in real-time and creates incredibly relevant recommendations. The effort was pioneered by Hogue, who previously led Google's Structured Data team on local search projects and before that studied pattern recognition at MIT. 




Foursquare Android download link
Foursquare iOS download link

Google Acquires Quickoffice

Google may already have Documents and Drive at its disposal, but the company has just announced that its acquiring Quickoffice to further expand its office capabilities. The main motivation behind the purchase seems to be Quickoffice’s ability to easily convert between many different office file formats. Google say that Quickoffice features will be rolled into Apps in the future.

Quickoffice also has dedicated apps for iOS and Android, something that Google may be keen to leverage for Docs going forward. Quickoffice Pro already integrates with Google Docs, as well as many other online cloud services such as Box.net, Dropbox, and MobileMe. Right now the Pro app does charge for such features, we’ll have to wait and see if Google will begin offering the same functionality for free.

Google Buys Magnolia Broadband’s Patents

Google’s adding some new IP to its already formidable patent arsenal.

According to an announcement from investment bank Mooreland Partners, the search behemoth has purchased a portfolio of patents from Magnolia Broadband, a fabless semiconductor company. According to the USPTO, Magnolia has 28 issued patents and 24 patents pending in the United States, many related to wireless data transmission.

Reached for comment, Google confirmed to AllThingsD that it has indeed acquired Magnolia’s patents, but it declined to provide the price it paid for them or its reason for buying. Said a company spokesperson, “Like many tech companies, at times we’ll acquire patents that are relevant to our business needs.”

Clearwire Joins The Rural Carrier Association

Clearwire recently announced that it has become the latest member of the Rural Carrier Association. The RCA, which is composed of carriers with fewer than 80 million subscribers, also counts Sprint and T-Mobile as members. The RCA believes that Clearwire shares concerns with its more-than 100 carrier members. 

Clearwire joined the RCA to help advocate for wireless competition.

Google Set To Gobble Up Meebo

An interesting twist in the world of social media came today with confirmation that Google has entered into an agreement to purchase Meebo, a company known for its eponymous Meebo Bar. Primarily a platform that’s intended to drive consumer engagement with brands via a social medium, Meebo also provides advertisers a less-intrusive way to reach their target audiences. Meebo announced the acquisition on its blog, and hints that its team will work with Google to grow and improve the platform. It’s unclear whether Google intends to integrate the Meebo Bar into its own online properties, or whether the Mountain View giant simply views it as a method to increase its advertising reach.

ASUS And BlueStacks Announce Partnership

Computer and tablet maker Asus has made a major announcement that they will be partnering with start-up BlueStacks to bring Andoid apps to their line of hardware. The announcement was part of the big Asus show at the Computex conference in Taipei, Taiwan. BlueStacks appeared out of nowhere just a few months ago with a new platform that allows Android apps to be installed and run on Windows computers.

Sony PlayStation Mobile Coming To HTC Devices

Sony has announced that PlayStation Suite has been renamed to PlayStation Mobile, and it’s HTC bound.

After being introduced as PlaySation Suite, the mobile gaming platform has been renamed to PlayStation Mobile and will be expanding past Sony phones.  It was designed for Android, and the first  manufacturer was announced tonight as being HTC.

Samsung Galaxy S III Coming To The US In June

Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S III will be coming to five major US carriers including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular. The device will arrive in June and retail pricing will start at $199 with contract. Exact pricing and retail availability will be announced by each of the five carriers in the coming weeks.

As expected, the US version of the device will features a dual-core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 processor and 2 GB RAM. All of the other specs will remain the same as the international version.  The addition of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 processor with integrated modem will allow the device to operate on the fastest LTE and HSPA+ 42 networks.

“The U.S. launch of the Galaxy S III is the most anticipated launch of the year. As promised, we are delivering the ‘next big thing’ for U.S. customers and across all major carriers,” said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America. “Galaxy S III introduces new technological innovation and takes sharing to the next level.”