Tag: 100

New Google Doodle Celebrates MF Hussain’s 100th Birthday

Today Google has a very ‘artsy-fartsy’ doodle with MF Hussain in it. Why? Well it’s his 100th birth anniversary. So we’re going to tell you a bit about him, maybe you already know this stuff, or maybe you don’t but here we go anyway.

Hussain was born into a Muslim family on the 17th of September 1915, his family trace their roots way back to Yemen, but were based in Maharashtra. Hussain became interested in art while studying calligraphy in a Madrasa and is well known for being ‘self-taught’. Forbes magazine has gone to the extent of calling him the “Picasso of India”, whether he is or not, is a whole other topic.

But what was he best known for? It’s hard to say because his topics ranged from Mohandas K. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the British Raj, and motifs of Indian urban and rural life. His work was applauded and criticized equally as it is said to be a “blend of cubism and classical Indian styles”. Now, we all know what happens when you try to mess with the Indian classical version of things. But, Google has made a decent attempt at trying to showcase the artist’s style through this doodle.

It is refreshing to know that this art maestro was also linked with the Mumbai cinema industry in his early days when he would make posters for films and also apparently worked for a toy company to earn a little extra money. That’s a humble background for someone who owns a Buggati Veyron and drives it with equal finesse as his art.

Oh! The Buggatti isn’t the only luxury car he owned.

September 17, 2015
Report : Microsoft Paying Devs $100,000 To Develop For Windows Phone

Sources close to Microsoft have confirmed that the tech giant is determined to prop up its Windows Phone 8 App Store, and it’s willing to bust out the big boy checkbook to do it. According to Business Insider, Microsoft has offered several top tier developers upwards of $100,000 to bring key apps to its mobile platform.

This is on top of offers to pay $100 per app, up to $2000, if developers publish an app before the end of this month.

The payment aims to entice developers to create apps for Windows Phone 8 as Microsoft play catch up to other app stores for Apple, Android, and BlackBerry.

Windows Phone chief marketing office Thom Gruhler told Bloomberg that Microsoft currently has around 145,000 apps and games in the Windows Store, although versions of Pinterest and Instagram are still missing for Windows Phone.

Although Windows Phone 8 is missing these two particularly popular apps, Gruhler explains that the store does still contain 48 of the 50 most-downloaded apps across all platforms.

While some may argue bribing developers is cheating, this is exactly the level of support we expect Microsoft to provide for the ecosystem, and of course Google and Blackberry both used the same strategy in their early years.

Last year, Google announced that Google Play had 600,000 apps, matching Apple’s App Store.

June 17, 2013
BlackBerry 10 Now Has 100,000 Apps

Today, BlackBerry announced that the owners of devices running under the BlackBerry 10 operating system have access to over 100,000 applications through the official BlackBerry World app store, as over 30,000 new apps have been added to it in the past seven months.

Formally unveiled back on January 30, the BlackBerry 10 platform launched with 70,000 fully optimised applications in tow.

BlackBerry Z10 owners can now enjoy a wide selection of applications and games on their handsets, including Facebook, Foursquare, NHL GameCenter, N.O.V.A. 3, Slacker, Songza, Twitter, Waze, WhatsApp, and more.

Furthermore, they will soon be able to take advantage of the capabilities of other mobile applications specifically designed for them, such as CNN, The Daily Show Headlines, eBay, eMusic, Maxim, MLB at Bat, MTV News, Pageonce, PGA, Rdio, Skype, Soundhound and Viber, BlackBerry announced.

Early reports suggest that the Z10 handset has been performing well since it launched in Canada and the UK, historically two of the company’s strongest markets. There have even been stories that 50 percent of customers are moving over from Android or Apple in favor of the phone.

[toggle title=”Press Release”]BlackBerry 10 Now Offers More Than 100,000 Applications to Customers

Application catalog grows by more than 30,000 apps in seven weeks

More top brands building for BlackBerry 10 as platform launches in the U.S.

Waterloo, ON – Developers continue to support BlackBerry® 10, bringing more than 30,000 new applications to the platform over the past seven weeks. BlackBerry® (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB) today announced that BlackBerry 10 customers now have access to more than 100,000 applications for the BlackBerry® Z10 smartphone on the BlackBerry® World™ storefront.

Today, Amazon Kindle, OpenTable and The Wall Street Journal are available to BlackBerry 10 customers and in the coming weeks CNN, The Daily Show Headlines, eBay, eMusic, Maxim, MLB at Bat, MTV News, Pageonce, PGA, Rdio, Skype, Soundhound and Viber will be available for download or purchase.

BlackBerry 10 customers already have access to leading apps and games, including 8tracks, Angry Birds Star Wars, ATP World Tour Live, BBC Top Gear News, Bloomberg Anywhere, CBS Sports, Delta Air Lines, F1 2013 Timing App CP, Facebook, Foursquare, Jetpack Joyride, Keek, LinkedIn, Navita Translator, Need for Speed, NHL GameCenter, N.O.V.A. 3, The New York Times, PressReader, Slacker, Songza, Twitter, UFC, USA TODAY, Waze, WhatsApp, and Zara.
“The response to the BlackBerry 10 platform and applications has been outstanding. Customers are thrilled with the applications already available, and the catalog just keeps growing, now with more than 100,000 apps,” said Martyn Mallick, Vice President, Global Alliances at BlackBerry. “Top brands and application providers are joining us every day and are seeing the benefits of being early supporters of the new platform. We constantly hear from developers that the BlackBerry 10 tools are easy to build with and that we provide opportunities for app differentiation that they do not see on other platforms.”

-more-

“It now appears that the already impressive levels of developer support for the BlackBerry 10 platform are accelerating into the launch window for the BlackBerry Z10. The prospect of a very robust app catalog can only bolster momentum for the product and the platform itself,” said John Jackson, Research Vice President, Mobile & Connected Platforms at IDC. “The ability to attract and sustain developer support is like lifeblood for any mobile platform, and it’s not something that simply happens. This progress is a testament to BlackBerry’s early and innovative engagement with developers worldwide and the innovative architecture of the platform itself.”

BlackBerry 10 applications take connecting to the next level with the ability to leverage social, gamification, and integration frameworks that other platforms are not able to offer. Customers can easily share applications with those in their social networks including BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger), Facebook, and Twitter. Applications can incorporate gaming features such as leader boards, badges, rewards and more using the Scoreloop tools, and BlackBerry 10 applications can tie to core OS integration points to allow developers to create compelling experiences to keep people moving and flow with BlackBerry 10 experience features.

In addition to apps and games, BlackBerry World for BlackBerry 10 offers access to one of the most robust catalogs of music and video content for mobile users*, with partnerships across all major movie studios, all major music labels and television networks.

The BlackBerry Z10 (all touch) is the first smartphone powered by BlackBerry 10, the re-designed, re-engineered, and re-invented BlackBerry platform. The BlackBerry Z10 will be available in the U.S. from March 22.[/toggle]

[Engadget]

March 21, 2013