BlackBerry Launches New 'Web-Based Facebook App' for BB10, BBOS Users

BlackBerry 10 customers can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The Canadian technology company says that it has worked with Facebook to launch an updated "web-based Facebook app" which people can use to continue enjoying the features of the BlackBerry 10 OS and BlackBerry OS app for Facebook. BlackBerry is now urging users to switch to the mobile Web client as soon as they get a moment.

Facebook announced earlier this month that it was discontinuing support of their essential APIs for BlackBerry. The social giant noted that as of March 31, BlackBerry users will have to perform a mandatory update for the Facebook for BlackBerry app (for BB10, BBOS), which will take away a number of features from the app. BlackBerry now announces that it has worked with Facebook to create a new Web-based app.

BlackBerry says that the two companies found making a Web-based app the "best solution" for their situation. Users are required to update their app, as not doing so, as previously stated by Facebook, will render several features in the existing app useless.

In addition, the new Web-based app offers some features that are not available in the existing Facebook app for BlackBerry. These features include the ability to reply to comments and see replies to comments. All posts will now load in your feed, and "any features available to Facebook website users will be available to you in the updated application."

The announcement will please some users who were otherwise concerned about accessing Facebook on their phone after March 31. To recall,WhatsApp also announced last month that its service will drop support for, among other platforms, BlackBerry's older mobile operating systems - including BB10. BlackBerry, as you can imagine wasn't pleased with this decision. WhatsApp hasn't extended the support deadline yet.

Virtual reality set to transform filmmaking

Chris Milk stepped onto a TED Conference stage and took the audience on an awe-inducing trip into the future of movies. While much of the early attention on virtual reality has focused on use of the immersive technology in video games, Milk and his US startup Vrse are using it to transform storytelling and filmgoing. "We have just started to scratch the surface of the true power of virtual reality," Milk said. "It's not a video game peripheral. It connects humans to other humans in a profound way... I think virtual reality has the potential to actually change the world." He had everyone in the Vancouver audience at TED , which ended Friday, hold Google Cardboard viewers to their eyes for what was billed as the world's collective virtual reality experience. Google Cardboard gear is literally that -- cardboard

Explained: Camera Improvements in the New HTC 10

With the HTC 10, the Taiwanese company is promising to undo the past wrongs in the cameras of its previous flagship phones. The camera has long a weak point in HTC devices. At first, HTC sacrificed image resolution in the M8 and made the size of individual pixels larger to capture more light (what HTC called Ultrapixel). But the resulting 4 megapixel images were often fuzzy, especially when cropped or enlarged. To fix the issue, in its next flagship - the M9 - HTC went with smaller individual pixels in a 20-megapixel camera last year, but it still underperformed in extreme situations, such as indoors and close-ups. In the HTC 10, the company attempts to strike a balance with larger individual pixels (1.55µm), but not as large as before and a 12 megapixel sensor in its camera coupled with a ƒ/1.8 lens. HTC accepts that in the imaging performance in the M9 was not up to the kind of spec of what they really like to see in a flagship. HTC is giving a slight boost to the selfi...

Freedom 251: 30,000 Units Sold, Components for Up to 2.5 Million Will Be Imported

Ringing Bells, the makers of the Rs. 251 smartphone - the Freedom 251 - confirmed to Gadgets 360 on Tuesday that it has still only accepted payments for 30,000 units of the phone. It also added that the components for these phones will be imported, and only assembled in India, not made here. Ringing Bells stopped accepting orders on February 19, and claims to have received over 70 million registrations. The company President and Director both repeatedly stated that the price of the phone would be made possible through economies of scale, and making the phone in India to cut out import costs. Economies of scale? However, in a discussion with Gadgets 360 the company revealed that it had only sold 30,000 units of the phone on day one. The company has now confirmed that it has not sent out the payment emails to anyone else who registered - "we were working out details of cash on delivery, which we are announcing now, so we will be sending emails to the first 2.5...

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