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The new BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones were officially announced today as the company's first smartphones powered by QNX technology, which has also been used in the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, as well as in the auto and health care industry. The BlackBerry Z10 is the touchscreen device with a textured surface, a slight curve on the back and a 4.2-inch display. It also has a 1.5 gigahertz dual-core processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage, with an expandable memory slot and micro HDMI out port. Near Field Communication, or NFC, is included to support the emerging mobile payments technology. The BlackBerry Q10 comes with a physical QWERTY, Bold-style keyboard that has been so popular with BlackBerry fans over the years. It has the same specifications as the Z10, along with a glass-weave cover that is pitched as being stronger than plastic. Both devices will come in white and black and have a removable battery. BlackBerry fans will find many

I've had another experience where a particular smartphone was just a joy to carry around. This time, it was the Nokia Lumia 822 from Verizon Wireless. Maybe it was the live tiles of Windows Phone 8 or the seamless integration with everything Microsoft, such as Windows Live and all the features surrounding it. Whatever it was, I took a likening to the Lumia 822 and now I must say "well done" to Nokia and Microsoft. Nokia has been around for the long term and most of us remember them as always having quality hardware. Although the Finnish crew have been making mobile phones since the early 1990s and used to be the King of cell phones, the smartphone craze from Apple's iPhone and Google's Android platform caused Nokia to fall by the wayside. Microsoft has been around since 1975 and needed something significant and exciting in the mobile communications arena. So these two giants teamed up in 2011 to create market-leading mobile products. Before the year was out,

PayPal likes the numbers coming from their 2012 balance sheet. The online mobile payment company is reporting $14 billion in customer payments, compared with a projection of $10 billion for last year. According to PayPal, during the holiday season from October to December, 692 million payments were processed, making it the busiest three months in the company's 14-year history. PayPal's growth continues with 123 million active accounts, driven by the addition of more customers in the last three months of last year than at any time during the past eight years. "To all of our customers, both old and new, I’d like to say thank you...for your loyalty, your enthusiasm and for your valued feedback, said David Marcus, president of PayPal. "We are committed to making 2013 a great year for you." PayPal has been turning their attention to offline retailers and small business. According to PayPal executives, this market is 17 times larger than the online sector. Th

The winners of the first annual TechRadar Best of CES Awards 2013 were announced today. TechRadar editors touched, played, used and reviewed the hottest and newest items the Consumer Electronics Show has to offer and named their top choices direct from the show floor at the convention center in Las Vegas. Winners of the TechRadar Best of CES Awards 2013 include: Best in Show: Sony Bravia 4K 65-inch Television Peoples' Choice Award: Steam Console Concept – Valve Best Cell Phone: Sony Xperia Z Best Tablet: Razer Edge Best Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad Helix Best GPS Device: Bad Elf GPS Pro Best Digital Camera: Fuji X20 Best Audio Accessory: MUNITIO PRO40 High Performance Headphones Best All-in-One Computer: Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC Most Unique Product: Panasonic 20-inch 4K Windows 8 Tablet Best Car Tech: Lexus Self-Driving Car Best Home Theater Product: Sony Bravia 4K Television 65-inch TechRadar, owned by Future U.S. media group, is the United Kingdom

Members of the media enjoy a sneak peak of what's to come at this year's CES event. The 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show is underway and Las Vegas is the place to be this week for gadget lovers. The keynote addresses will kick things off today, with Kazuhiro Tsuga, president of Panasonic Corp. leading the way. Tsunga was to share to his vision for the future and elaborate on how Panasonic is engineering a better world for us all. We'll also hear from Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA, and Lowell McAdam, chairmen and CEO of Verizon. As we know from previous years, Apple Inc. will not be in the house and Microsoft was on tap on a keynote appearance, but I hear that Chairman Steve Ballmer worked in a few comments on the new Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 devices. It didn't take long for gadget news to start filtering out from the convention booths at the Las Vegas Convention Center/Hilton and The Venetian. Huawei, a leading global information and