BlackBerry 10 now available

The BlackBerry 10 has been officially launched this week, after nearly a year’s worth of delays. Research In Motion, which has changed its name to BlackBerry, has successfully launched its latest, highly anticipated mobile device, which has a very strong focus on mobile gaming. For nearly the entire lifespan of the BlackBerry, the platform has catered to business professionals and enterprises in various industries. Now, however, the platform is beginning to expand its capabilities.

New BlackBerry adopts focus on mobile gaming

While BlackBerry has never been exclusive to business professionals, it has not won the favor of a wide range of consumers because of its lack of consumer-oriented features, such as mobile gaming. The BlackBerry 10 was initially slated for a 2012 release, but Research In Motion decided to delay the launch of the new smart phone several times due to emerging competition in the mobile device market. During these delays, the company hosted several events in which Android developers were encouraged to port their mobile games over to the BlackBerry platform, making these games available for the first time on a platform apart from Android. Many of these developers were provided financial incentives to participate in this campaign.

Mobile gaming may attract attention of new consumers

The BlackBerry 10 boasts of a wide range of features that are likely to be well-received by diehard BlackBerry fans, as well as appeal to consumers suffering from iOS and Android fatigue. Given that the device has become more accommodating of mobile gaming, it may see a great deal of interest from tech-savvy gamers that have long been interested in the platform but had chosen either the Android or the iOS to satisfy their gaming interests.

BlackBerry 10 designed to last more than a decade

According to Research In Motion, the BlackBerry 10 is designed to have a lifespan of at least 10 years. This is significantly longer than most of today’s mobile devices, which have a lifespan of a little over one year. The device’s stronger focus on mobile gaming may come in handy if it is meant to last for over a decade before a new BlackBerry device is released.

Visulead has just unveiled its brand new technology to fade out the appearance of the standard 2d barcode.

Though marketers have fallen in love with QR codes because of their cost efficiency and the fact that consumers can use them very easily through a regular smartphone, ad and graphic designers have struggled with these black and white squares that aren’t all that appealing to the eye.

A startup company has just released its latest technology to help overcome that issue.

Visulead, a startup based in Israel, has now produced a technology that can “fade” the look of typical QR codes in order to make them more visually likeable in printed marketing materials. The hope is that it will help to grow their popularity even further, and to encourage more people to use them.

This technology from Visulead is still evolving so that nearly invisible QR codes will be more attractive with time.

The standard black and white squares can currently be seen on virtually everything, ranging from product packages to billboards and poster ads. However, these QR codes stand out as blocky and can often not be well suited to the ad that they accompany.

With the new technology from Visulead, the typical appearance of the QR codes can fade out by up to 70 percent. This is the second generation of its design, which is patent pending at the moment. However, the evolution hasn’t stopped there, as the third generation is expected to be released within the next few months. That even newer technology, says the startup, will fade the barcodes even more, until they look like very little more than a box that can be scanned.

The CEO and co-founder of Visulead, Nevo Alva, explained that “We think of our product as the ultimate marriage of QR code and image recognition technologies; essentially, an invisible QR code.” The latest version of the nearly invisible barcode is meant to be used by marketers and advertisers. However, it is still possible for individuals to head to the company’s website and create their own.

The free QR codes do come with an intermediary short landing page before the user is directed to the actual destination of the scan. Small businesses choosing this option can opt to have that middle step removed for a per-code fee.