What to Expect at BlackBerry Live 2013

Google isn’t the only company holding a mobile developer conference this weekBlackBerry’s annual BlackBerry Live conference kicks off Tuesday in Orlando.

It’s been a big year for BlackBerry. In the last four months the company has changed its name, released its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone (the BlackBerry Z10) and rolled out its first QWERTY BlackBerry 10 device, the BlackBerry Q10.

While the verdict is still out as to whether BlackBerry is truly “back” — and if it can realistically compete against the iOS and Android juggernauts — the company is certainly going into the conference in a better position than it did last year. Read more…

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Amazon Cloud Player Launches PC App

As part of its mission to bring its music service “everywhere,” Amazon announced the release of a dedicated Cloud Player app for desktop PCs Monday. The release comes less than a week after Amazon announced iOS compatibility with Ford Sync-enabled vehicles.

PC users could already access Cloud Player through their web browsers, but the primary benefit of the PC application is the ability to store music offline. Users can also scan their hard drives for music files that haven’t yet been uploaded to their storage locker.

Cloud Player allows users to stream music files they’ve purchased from Amazon or uploaded to to a cloud-based storage locker. An unlimited number of Amazon songs, plus 250 songs purchased outside of Amazon, can be uploaded to the cloud and streamed wirelessly using one of Amazon’s players for free. First launched on Android two years ago, the service is also available on iOS, Mac, Sonos, Roku and (as mentioned) Ford Sync vehicles Read more…

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Benevolent Is Like Kiva for the Silicon Valley’s Working Poor

Ask the average American what comes to mind when they think of Silicon Valley, and you’ll often hear answers about the area’s booming technology sector. Less discussed even among the technology community is the skyrocketing number of poor and homeless people who live just miles from the doorsteps of such business behemoths as Google and Amazon

Silicon Valley’s technologists are beginning to pay close attention to the problem, which is evidenced by a 20% rise in homelessness over the last two years, a dramatic increase in food stamp participation and a drop in average income for minority groups Read more…

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Tiny iPhone Charger Fits in Your Pocket

The team at Phonesuit wants to iPhone 5 users with extra battery power, but they don’t want to cramp your already existing iPhone case’s style. So, the company released an external battery that works alongside any case. Best of all, it fits right in your pocket.

The Phonesuit Flex Pocket Charger contains a 2600 mAh battery and a Lightning charger. That battery tops the Mophie Helium, another external battery pack, by 73%. The Flex Pocket Charger is tiny enough to carry around comfortably. At an arm’s length away, it’s ready to provide when you need some extra juice for your iPhone 5.

Phonesuit claims its new device will boost iPhone 5 life by up to 125%, and the charger works with any other Lightning-era Apple device. Read more…

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Facial Recognition Comes to Google Glass

For those who wish they could better remember names and faces, a new demo app for Google Glass gives you notes on how you know each person.

Although the concept seems perfect for party or networking events, the app — called MedRef for Glass — was actually designed for hospital employees. By using facial recognition technology, staffers wearing Google’s high-tech specs can pull up patient folders with photo, voice and text notes

SEE ALSO: This Is What the World Looks Like Through Google Glass

For example, a doctor might want to record that a certain patient likes to be rolled over on one side of their body or is allergic to nuts. And because the data is shareable with Google Glass, other nurses and physicians can have immediate access to this information. Read more…

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Commander Hadfield’s Top 5 Moments in Space

The Internet’s favorite astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield returns to Earth on Monday evening after living on board the International Space Station since December.

During his five months in orbit, Hadfield stayed in constant contact with Earth using Twitter, YouTube and even Google+ Hangouts. His iconic images and willingness to answer even our most mundane, sometimes gross, questions made the rest of Earth feel like we were also part of his mission. That is, of course, exactly what Hadfield wanted

As he wraps up his final day in space, we look back at Commander Hadfield’s most memorable moments on the ISS. Read more…

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Biggest Solar Flares of the Year Erupt From Sun

A hyperactive sunspot on the surface of the sun has fired off two of the most powerful solar flares of the year in just 24 hours, and promises to unleash more solar storms over the next several days, space weather experts say.

The active sunspot went into overdrive on Mother’s Day when it erupted late Sunday night with an X-class solar flare, the strongest type of solar storm possible, NASA scientists said in an update. That first eruption registered as an X1.7-class event on the space weather scale, and was followed midday Monday by an even more powerful X2.8 solar flare, which is the third-strongest solar storm in recent years. Read more…

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Why Newt Gingrich Won’t Call a Smartphone a Smartphone

You know that shiny new iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S4 in your pocket? You probably call it a cellphone, right? Well, Newt Gingrich says you’re wrong.

Gingrich recently posted a three-minute video arguing modern cellphones shouldn’t be called cellphones at all.

“Think about it,” petitions Gingrich, who’s been attempting to shape himself as a Republican thought leader on high-tech issues from moon colonies to flying cars. “If it’s taking pictures, it’s not a cellphone

“If it has a McDonald’s app to tell you where McDonald’s is based on your GPS location, that’s not a cellphone. If you can get Wikipedia or go to Google, that’s not a cellphone.” Read more…

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20 Songs for Space Exploration

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield made history on Sunday when he filmed the first ever music video in space (fittingly, a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”). To commemorate his accomplishment, we’ve dedicated this week’s Music Monday to the most epic songs for space exploration. We curated the selection of songs you tweeted to us, and added in a few of our own. These songs range from gravity-defying newer releases like “Crest” by The Antlers to old school, space-related jams like “We Are All Made of Stars” by Moby

So dim the lights, power up your glow-in-the-dark star generator and go on your own space odyssey with this playlist. Know of a song that should be included? Send it to us on Spotify and we’ll add it to the playlist! Read more…

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Twitter Acquires Data Analysis Startup Lucky Sort

Twitter has acquired Lucky Sort, a startup that specializes in data visualization, the two companies announced Monday. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Lucky Sort was founded two years ago and launched its first product called TopicWatch last February. TopicWatch let users analyze real-time trends on social media (including Twitter) as well as from other news sources. As part of the acquisition, Lucky Sort will shut down its services in the coming months.

“Our goal was to make huge document sets easier to analyze, summarize and visualize by building elegant and user friendly tools for text analysis,” Noah Pepper, CEO of Lucky Sort, wrote in a blog post. Today I’m very excited to announce that our journey has entered a new phase: Lucky Sort has been acquired by Twitter!” Twitter confirmed the acquisition in a tweet. Read more…

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