Microsoft and BlackBerry team up to offer smartphone security and productivity in enterprise

Microsoft and BlackBerry announced a strategic partnership to offer enterprises a solution that integrates BlackBerry’s expertise in mobility and security with Microsoft’s unmatched cloud and productivity products. Both companies have deep roots in enterprise as well as in mobile. While neither BlackBerry nor Microsoft currently have a dog in the fight for smartphones, they are combining strengths to bolster efforts on Android and iOS.

Through this partnership, the companies have collaborated on a first-of-its-kind solution: BlackBerry Enterprise BRIDGE. This technology provides a highly-secure way for their joint customers – the world’s largest banks, healthcare providers, law firms, and central governments – to seamlessly use native Microsoft mobile apps from within BlackBerry Dynamics.

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Samsung Galaxy Note8 gets Android 8.0 Oreo

Samsung first brought Android 8.0 Oreo to the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in early February. Now, there are reports that the latest Android update is coming to the Note8, starting out with users in France and possibly some other countries as well. The baseband version of the Note8’s Android 8.0 update (or Samsung Experience 9.0) is N950FXXU3CRC1 and it includes the March security patch. We don’t have the official Oreo update notes yet so we can’t say yet what new features you can expect to come to the Note8.

Source: Android Police

Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key will reunite for a stop-motion Netflix film

Academy Award-winner Jordan Peele commented earlier this year that he was done with acting and would rather focus on writing and directing. But it seems the appeal to work with his good friend Keegan-Michael Key was too much to resist as the two are working on a new stop-motion animated film called Wendell and Wild, which will be distributed on Netflix. Wendell and Wild features two mischievous demon brothers that will be played by Key and Peele and it will be directed by Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick. The film will mark Netflix’s second stop-animation acquisition to date (the first one was a film about Michael Jackson’s chimpanzee called Bubbles).

Selick will be working with Argentinian artist Pablo Lobato to design the characters for the film. His style is described as Andy Warhol-esque, giving us an idea of what we might expect from the film. No release date yet has been specified but we’ll keep our eyes and ears peeled for any updates.

Source: Deadline

Oculus Go will reportedly launch at Facebook’s F8 developer conference

If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on the US$199 Oculus Go headset, we’re sorry to disappoint but you might have to wait a couple of months more before it officially launches. Variety reports the relatively inexpensive virtual reality headset will make its debut at Facebook’s F8 developer conference on May 1^st. As CNET points out, it isn’t exactly a delay but it does stretch that promise of an “early 2018” release. And it will put Facebook at a disadvantage if they take longer to release their version of a budget-friendly VR headset with the likes of HTC and Lenovo with Google gearing up to release their own headsets.

Oculus Go is an important venture for Facebook though as it helps them reach the company’s lofty goal of getting a billion people to use virtual reality, as said by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the launch of the headset back in October. It makes sense, though, for the social media company to debut the Oculus Go at F8 with the company absorbing Oculus more and more into its brand and the conference will feature “the biggest AR/VR news from Facebook to date,” according to Facebook VP of VR/AR Andrew Bosworth. Facebook has declined to comment on the report.