BlackBerry Z10 UNVEILED

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A man holds the new touchscreen BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, during a launch event for the new phone in London, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) (CP)

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Last week, BlackBerry unveiled its new smartphone, the BlackBerry Z10. As many of you know, RIM is fighting quite the uphill battle. It has lost a tremendous amount of market share and this new and long-awaited release could be its last kick at the cat.

To start things off, I am quite disappointed that BlackBerry only released the Z10 this week; I was really hoping to see it release at least two new phones -- the Z10 and the upgraded Bold. I am personally looking forward to the new Bold. In fact I think a great percentage of people care more about the new Bold than the Z10.

However, the Z10 is a good smartphone. When all of the big tech blogs got their hands on the device, all the review scores came back decently well. The fact of the matter is, the Z10 is now swimming with many other smartphones that might be faster, stronger and have longer legs. If you are a RIM supporter, buy the BlackBerry Z10 -- you won't regret it. If you are price-conscious, and are looking to get the best bang for your buck, you might want to head in another direction.

BlackBerry may be a little late to the party. I should be receiving a Z10 review unit in the mail within the next few weeks, which will allow me to get very familiar with the device and allow me to give a more detailed review. On a side note, for all of you that bought the BlackBerry PlayBook during its fire sale, I come bearing good news! BlackBerry 10 software will be available for the PlayBook so all of you people who bought that tablet should really pull it out of your drawer, dust it off, and get it ready for when the new software comes out, because it will actually make that tablet worth using!

iPad Mini

A few days ago, I bought an iPad Mini for work. I didn't think too much into the purchase. I just went out and got it. After using it for a few days now, I can honestly say it's the best little device I have. I've used the original sized iPad before and I can say without a doubt that the mini is a much better alternative. I like the mini for several reasons. First it's compact and easy to get up and go with. Second, typing on it is easy and isn't clunky or weird. Third, the screen is clear and the overall design is fantastic. The battery life is also legen... wait for it... dary. I also decided to pick up a smart cover for the mini. It is quite functional. I'm neither impressed nor disappointed with the smart cover -- it does its job to put it simply. For only $330, I think the iPad Mini is an absolutely must. With the incredible selection of applications, this tablet makes for a great experience.

Twitter hacked

THERE have been quite a few security breachings this past week and Twitter experienced quite a big hit. More than 250,000 Twitter accounts were hacked in one way or another. User names, passwords, session tokens could have all been compromised.

I discovered this story by one of my friends on Twitter tweeting "has anyone else been forced to reset their password?" This tweet struck me in a weird way so I investigated and landed onto this story. If your Twitter account has been acting goofy lately, or you have had some security issues, do not be alarmed. Twitter is working on handling the issue. This comes as just the latest in a series of high-profile security breaches that have recently been revealed. Both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times revealed last week that they had been hacked, identifying hackers from China as the likely culprits. While Twitter does not directly make similar accusations, it does warn that "The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked." "This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident," Twitter's director of information security, Bob Lord, writes in the company's post. "For that reason we felt that it was important to publicize this attack while we still gather information, and we are helping government and federal law enforcement in their effort to find and prosecute these attackers to make the Internet safer for all users."

If you have seen a "retweet this to get verified on Twitter" tweet going around, please do not fall into that trap, as it is a fake account.

David Bell (@thedavidbell) is a young entrepreneur in Winnipeg. He specializes in emerging technology and online aspects of business, including web and social media consulting. Access his company online at iBXMediaGroup.ca. He is an active member of the YouTube community (http://www.TheDavidBell.com), with more than two million views and 5,000 subscribers. He was also a Dragons' Den contestant. Email: db@thedavidbell.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 3, 2013 ??65521