Valve announces free Linux-based SteamOS

Valve wants to bring the gaming experience straight into your living room with its new SteamOS. The free Linux-based operating system will let you play games from your PC right into your television, turning any computer you own into a Steam-powered console. Games can be streamed right from your PCs or Macs to the Steam-powered machine over your home network. What’s more, SteamOS allows for multiple accounts, letting you share the gaming experience with the people in your household.  

This OS announce is one of three major announcements from Valve, each being represented by a different symbol on Steam’s site. It raises speculation that an actual console or "Steambox" might make its debut.

FNotes: Stylish and simple iOS note-taking

If you’ve been looking for a new note-taking app, you might want to consider FNotes. The US$0.99 iOS app (requires iOS 5.0 or later) features a minimalistic look that can be customized using six different themes. It can be taken from business to personal use, allowing you to type in notes of any length.

Aside from being easy to navigate and use, FNotes includes Dropbox integration and note security into the mix. You can keep any important information you want to store on the app and lock these using passwords. You can also share notes to others via email, SMS, or even through Facebook and Twitter.

BlackBerry sold to Fairfax Financial for US $4.7 Billion

The die has been cast. The inevitable has happened. BlackBerry, once Canada's most valuable company and a pioneer of the highly competitive smartphone and mobile industry has been sold to Toronto-based FairFax Financial Holdings for US $4.7 billion or $9.00 a share.

The next step is to take BlackBerry private, move away from consumer end of the business and focus on prosumer and enterprise segment of the market.

The company also said Friday it plans to streamline it sproduct portfolio,  focus on offering only two high-end devices and two entry-level handsets going forward, with emphasis on the business market.

Trading of the company’s stock was halted last Friday. BlackBerry shares plummeted after the company announced Friday a loss of nearly $1 billion and layoffs of 4,500 workers. An attempt to introduce its once dominant BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) service to rival iPhone and Android devices this past weekend, was halted as well because a leaked version of the app was apparently causing problems. Stay tuned for more developments.

ASUS' Intel Atom powered MeMO Pad FHD 10 comes to Canada for $349

More tablet news this morning as ASUS’ new 10-inch tablet has just hit shelves in Canada. ASUS MeMO Pad FHD 10 features a powerful Intel Atom Z2560 (1.6GHz) processor and 2GB RAM for a smooth gameplay, social networking and multimedia experience. It retails for $349.

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