BlackBerry 10 is nearing its debut, and more screenshots have come out showing what's new in the BB10 operating system.

From the newest screenshots posted on Tihnte, it appears the BB10 is taking a book out of Apple's playbook and incorporating a smart voice assistant. Voice commands were announced earlier, and the screenshots show you will definitely be able to make dictations, but other functionality, if any at all, is unknown.

The screenshots also showcase BB10's Twitter client, which doesn't stray to far from the iOS and Android comfort zones. There's also some looks at the BlackBerry Hub and new visual stylings of the BB10.

Read More | Tinhte

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Way before Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion, Twitter apparently made an offering of its own, to which Instagram initially agreed to.

The offer from Twitter, according to The New York Times, was for $525 million. Instagram's CEO, Kevin Systrom, agreed to the buy-out, but changed his mind before selling Instagram to Facebook without allowing Twitter to make a counter offer.

What's interesting is that Systrom had stated while under oath to the California Corporations Department that Instagram had never received another formal offer. None of the parties have commented on the Times article that brought this information to life, but it could mean we might be in the throes of an intense legal battle shortly.

Read More | NY TImes

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If you thought you could just bury the past under an onslaught of new tweets, then you're about as wrong as Commissioner Gordon and Batman at the end of The Dark Knight.

The truth always comes out eventually, and this time it's coming out one tweet at a time in the form of your very personalized Twitter archive that, you guessed it, contains every tweet you ever posted. Each personalized archive is done up in HTML and divided by month, so you can remember the great (and not so great) times of your social media life a month at a time.

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo promised this feature earlier, but it appears to be rolling out for select users right now, and you may very well be one of them. To check, go to your Twitter account and see if you find "Your Twitter Archive" under the settings page.

Read More | The Next Web

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A "severe vulnerability" has been identified within the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy S II, Galaxy Note II, and possibly other Android devices.

The vulnerability leaves these devices open to malware downloaded in remote apps, which can then read user data and even brick your phone completely. "The good news is we can easily obtain root on these devices and the bad is there is no control over it," said xda-developers user Alephzain. Usually, vulnerabilities like this require physical access to the phone, while this vulnerability allows it to be attacked from apps downloaded from the Google Play Store.

Samsung is apparently aware of the problem, but has not publicly acknowledged the problem. Millions of devices are reportedly at risk right now as public knowledge of the issue spreads.

Read More | The Verge

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Ray Kurzweil announced via his blog that he is joining Google to work on projects that consisting of machine learning and language processing.

"I'm excited to share that I'll be joining Google as Director of Engineering this Monday, December 17," Kurzweil said. "I've been interested in technology, and machine learning in particular, for a long time: when I was 14, I designed software that wrote original music, and later went on to invent the first print-to-speech reading machine for the bling, among other inventions. I've always worked to create practical systems that will make a difference in people's lives, which is what excites me as an inventor."

Kurzweil will serve as a Director of Engineering, though it's not clear on how immediate Kurzweil's focus will be on consumer products.

Read More | Kurzweil

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I can't deny how excited we at Gear Live are about AgileBits's update to its successful password management app. 1Password Pro is now at version 4, and with it comes an overhauled UI and a host of cool, new features like iCloud support, integrated full browser, and demo mode.

Undoubtedly, iCloud sync has to be the stand out feature. Now all of your iDevices that have 1Password 4 (1P4) installed will automagically have the same data whether it be iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, all transferred and stored in 256-bit AES encryption. You can also simultaneously use DropBox as sync protocol along with iCloud; great news for those who use multivendor hardware.

1Password 4 now has a new full integrated browser built right inside the app that has a URL bar, tabs and full access to your password vault.

Read More | 1Password 4

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Apple has released an update to iTunes 11 that fixes a few bugs and reintroduces some essential functionality. In iTunes 11.0.1, you'll discover that duplicate item finding has been brought back, making it easy to purge duplicate items from your iTunes library. Additionally, iCloud items are now appearing like they're supposed to, and the AirPlay button now behaves and shouldn't disappear anymore. You can get the latest update now.

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Google has finally reincarnated its map offering and is free of charge in Apple's App store for your consumption. The app promises features that the fabled old stock maps didn't offer like voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation. It has been said by AllThingsD that Apple chose to do its own mapping solution because Google wouldn't offer that specific feature for iOS. My initial impression of the app is that it is visually appealing, and we are glad to see that Street View is present, along with public transit info. The most important thing is that the new Google Maps is vector-based, so navigating the map should be buttery smooth. Google reps have admitted that it's even better than maps for Android. Here's the run down of the features in the Google Maps reboot:

Read More | Google Maps for iOS

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If you were interested in the Drobo 5D, but wanted something a bit more network-friendly, the newly-announced Drobo 5N might just be your cup of tea. Built on the same architecture as the 5D, the Drobo 5N does away with the Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 ports and instead opts for a gigabit Ethernet port instead, giving all the devices on your local network access to the file storage array. You can pack up to five 3.5-inch drives into the chassis, as well as an mSATA SSD to make things even faster. All in all, you get a maximum capacity of 20TB. Not too shabby. The Drobo 5N is set to start shipping tomorrow, and will cost $599.

Read More | Drobo

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Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite is the first front-lit e-book reader that the company has released. Taking the spot as the prime e-ink reader in Amazon's Kindle line-up, the Paperwhite sports a touchscreen interface, Wi-Fi with 3G option, a paper-like display with lots of contrast, and of course, the light. We open up and set up the Kindle Paperwhite in this episode! Be sure to also check out Gear Live's full Kindle Paperwhite review, and our Kindle Paperwhite unboxing gallery.

You can buy the Kindle Paperwhite for $119.

Big thank you to GoToMeeting for sponsoring the show - be sure to check them out! GoToMeeting with HDFaces provides rich, super-simple collaborative virtual meetings.

Here's how to get the show:
[Download] - iPod-formatted H.264
[Download] - 720p HD
[Download] - 1080p MP4

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