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It was great to see my Twitter feed light up yesterday with the latest news on the Facebook-led initiative to   improve access to Internet for the developing world . Alongside Qualcomm, Opera, Samsung, and others, Team Zuckerberg is leading the charge on Internet.org, a   “global partnership between technology leaders, nonprofits, local communities and experts who are working together to bring the Internet to the two-thirds of the world’s population that doesn’t have it.”   That’s music to our ears here at Connectify. Our team is passionate about creating apps that get users and their devices online with fast and reliable Internet access no matter where they are. When we launched the first beta of Connectify Hotspot in 2009, we had no idea that our powerful little software router would become a lifeline for so many users around the world. Early on, we were thrilled to hear from business travelers and tech enthusiasts who wrote to tell us that Connectify Hotspot ha...

. BlackBerry Messenger may be where the company wants to push its resources. But enterprise software is where BlackBerry has to make its money BlackBerry knows who is paying the bills. And it isn't  people buying their smartphones.  BlackBerry's revenue these days comes mostly from its enterprise clients that use its services for security and management of mobile devices and applications. In its most recent quarter, almost half of the company's revenue came from its Services division as sales of its smartphones plummeted. BlackBerry serves these enterprises through its BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 hardware that enterprises install and maintain. But hardware of any sort may be an untenable solution for BlackBerry going forward. The future of BlackBerry, if there is one, is going to be in software for the enterprise. BlackBerry has some vague notions that it can turn its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service into a powerhouse messaging service that ...

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, said the state government had commenced the construction of the route for the cable car project to complement the transportation system in the state, saying, "the project is on the verge of completion." Fashola, who disclosed this at the event marking the 2013 World Habitat Day: 'Urban Mobility,' at the Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja, said the introduction of the cable car transportation was in line with the global practices. The governor, who was represented by Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, described the innovation as vital to achieving the mega city status. He assured that, "the present administration is committed to activating every means of transportation in Lagos in order to reduce numbers of vehicles on the road, which translates to unhealthy volumes of carbon emissions." Fashola noted that the state would soon commission the Blue and Red Rail lines to further increase res...

If  the long lines on Friday  weren't a good enough indication, Apple wants doubters to know the new iPhone is a roaring success. Early Monday morning,  the company announced  that it had sold 9 million models of the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C during the first three days of sales -- calling it a new record high for an iPhone debut. But that's not the whole story. Apple has turned boasting about record-breaking sales into a tradition: Three days after it debuts a new iPhone, Apple puts out a happy press release. In 2012, the company said iPhone 5 sales  topped 5 million . The year before, Apple sold  more than 4 million  iPhone 4S handsets during its first weekend, and the year before that, it sold only  1.7 million models  of the iPhone 4. So with more than 9 million new iPhones sold this year, the iPhone 5S and 5C certainly are record breakers for Apple again -- a nice fact that they can trumpet to weary...

(Photo: Robert Deutsch USA TODAY)  BlackBerry says its BlackBerry Messenger app for iPhone and Android will not relaunch this week. On Saturday, the company paused the rollout of the iPhone and Android apps for its popular BBM mobile social messaging service after an unreleased version of the Android app was posted online. That version saw 1.1 million active users in the first 8 hours, the company said, but the unofficial version caused issues, which the company continues to address. DEAL:  BlackBerry unveils deal with Fairfax investor group The unreleased, older version was posted on numerous file sharing sites, the company said Monday. That resulted in data traffic issues that affected the system in abnormal ways, according to a blog post by Andrew Bocking, head of BBM at BlackBerry. As the company worked to address the problems over the weekend, "it became clear that the only way to address the issue was to pause the rollout for both Android and iPhon...

who actually is to blame for the roll out failure well on google play i noticed there has been a reduction of fake BBM apps to one which is claimed to be the official one updated today but on the left hand side the reviews left for the apps is not worth it so i say again RIM where is the official BBM app we've been waiting for. Although it's been a long day for those waiting for cross-platform  BBM  and those in Waterloo working to make it all happen, there was some pretty interesting news in  the status update from BlackBerry . In case you missed it, they actually added 1.1 Million users to the BBM platform without even launching the app officially.  I'm not trying to sugarcoat it,  the rollout has been a frustration and not the best experience  but again, 1.1 Million users in less than 8 hours. I guess that answers the question about whether or not people are willing to give cross-platform BBM a go. Now all that needs to happen is getting it offi...

- Getty Images This weekend marks a new beginning for BlackBerry Messenger (popularly known as BBM) as it becomes available on iPhones and Android smartphones. With an addressable market of a billion users, BBM has the possibility of becoming much bigger than it could have ever been were it to be stuck with BlackBerry smartphones, sales of which have fallen so rapidly that the company is investigating “strategic options” (read going private or a sale). With just 60 million BBM users and increased competition from services like WhatsApp, WeChat, Line and others, can BBM still be relevant? A few things I hear regularly from existing BlackBerry users is how their BBM contacts have shifted to WhatsApp and how most of the conversations have moved on from BBM. Then there are also some users who keep a BlackBerry just because of BBM. “I cannot wait for BBM to come to Android. I want to move from BlackBerry but cannot do that right now,” a journalist friend who works for a newswir...

The gold rush was on Friday morning at Apple stores in the U.S. and Europe . Hungry iPhone buyers, some who had waited in line for days, attempted to get their hands on the gold-colored iPhone 5S, the latest version of Apple's flagship phone. Some of Apple's most devoted fans left the stores disappointed, as stores quickly ran out of the highly-coveted silver and gold versions of its phone. Apple's "space gray" model seemed to be more abundantly stocked. Joseph Cruz, 20, came out of the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan with a sleeping bag in one hand, a chair over his shoulder and two new iPhones. He waited for 15 days and was second in line -- but still didn't manage to nab a gold phone. "I'm pretty bummed out, but you know, I still had a fun experience being here," he said, adding he felt bad that he couldn't get his mom a gold iPhone. "I can still always order it online." Not so fast. AT&T's onlin...

Share on twitt BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is expected to make its debut on Android and iPhone devices this weekend, as the firm fights to retain its customer base by opening up the software to a wider group of users. The beleaguered smartphone maker  announced yesterday  that Android users will be able to download the app on Saturday, but iPhone fans will have to wait until Sunday to get access to the messaging service. Reports had previously suggested that BlackBerry was gunning for a summer launch, for both Apple and Android, but this failed to materialise. Pictures and videos have been doing the rounds on the web showcasing a beta version of BBM on handsets. The app is expected to have many of the features that are on BlackBerry devices. This includes the ability to send text and voice messages. Below is a demo from BlackBerryOS.com. What is BBM? BlackBerry Messenger or BBM as it is commonly known was one of the first mainstream instant-messaging serv...