Former Intel CEO and Chairman Andy Grove has died

Some sad news coming from Silicon Valley, Intel's former CEO and Chairman Andy Grove has passed away at 79. Grove is credited for helping build Intel to great heights as a semiconductor giant as well as a key figure in the consumer technology landscape. He served as Intel's leader from 1979 to 2005.

According to Intel, "Grove played a critical role in the decision to move Intel’s focus from memory chips to microprocessors and led the firm’s transformation into a widely recognized consumer brand. Under his leadership, Intel produced the chips, including the 386 and Pentium, that helped usher in the PC era. The company also increased annual revenues from $1.9 billion to more than $26 billion."

Grove was also a bestelling author and business strategist, his book Only the Paranoid Survive: How To Exploit the Crisis Points that Challenge Every Company is a must-read for managers and one of the best references for managing change within companies and industries. Grove served as an elder statesman of the shifting technology industry even after his retirement in 2005.  Read more about his life and achievements here.

Apple launches 9.7-inch variant of iPad Pro, smaller 4-inch iPhone SE

Apple revealed the iPhone SE which has all the key features of the larger iPhone 6S models and retains the design of the iPhone 5/5S. Hoping to entice users of older and smaller iPhones, the iPhone SE will be made availble in 16GB and 64GB variants (Canadian pricing starts at $579 up to $709). 

The new iPad Pro, brings all the features and horspower of the large 12.9-inch iPad into a more familiar 9.7-inch form factor previously devoted to the iPad Air. The new iPad Pro will start at $799 (CAD) for the 32GB with Wi-Fi model and $979 (CAD) for the 32GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model. Both iPad Pro sizes are available in offerings of 32GB, 128GB and a new 256GB capacity although pricing for other models has yet to be released. Both the new iPhone SE and iPad Pro 9.7-inch will be available for pre-order on March 24, they will begin shipping and be available in Apple Retail Stores on March 31.

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LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE reappears

The LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE was briefly launched and then quickly and inexplicably pulled off the market in November of last year. Well, it looks like this particular wearable is back at least for AT&T customers. An Android Wear device with its own LTE radio and which can function as a standalone phone, it is being offered at a pre-order price of US $199.99 in tandem with a service plan. Not sure if this LG Watch Urbane variant is coming to Canada anytime soon.

SOurce: 9to5Google

Amazon Cloud Drive launches unlimited cloud storage for Canada

Amazon.ca today announced unlimited cloud storage with Amazon Cloud Drive—two new storage plans for customers to securely store their existing content collections and automatically upload endless amounts of new content, including photos, videos, movies, music, and files.

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