BGR has learned from a trusted source that Apple is planning to demonstrate a brand new version of the Apple TV operating system next week at WWDC. This new OS is said to be much more feature-complete than the current OS that runs on the Apple TV, and is apparently the one that Apple’s upcoming HDTV will run. Yes, that one.

We’ve heard Apple is actively trying to court manufacturers to use a new “control out” API in order for third-party manufacturers to make accessories that are compatible with the new Apple TV OS and the upcoming “iTV.” It’s said that by using the API, it will be possible to control any connected components all from the Apple remote (and the Apple remote iOS app as well, we’re assuming).

This would be a huge change in the home theater landscape, which has until this point relied on a mess of thousands of infrared codes and physical cables in order for devices to be interoperable, or Wi-Fi-controlled apps for each component and piece of hardware.

The control out API is said to work with all aspects of various popular components, even allowing control over things like program guides on a cable operators’ set top boxes and other hardware components.

Our source believes Apple won’t actually show its physical TV at WWDC, but it’s certainly possible. Maybe Tim Cook and Apple are finally almost done “pulling that string.”

RIM has hired JP Morgan to “assist in reviewing RIM’s business and financial performance”:

To further enhance our commitment to successfully completing our transformation, after the release of our year-end financial results, we engaged J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and RBC Capital Markets to assist the Company and our Board of Directors in reviewing RIM’s business and financial performance. These advisors have been tasked to help us with the strategic review we referenced on our year-end financial results conference call and to evaluate the relative merits and feasibility of various financial strategies, including opportunities to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities and strategic business model alternatives.

This is relatively straight forward. RIM is reporting that the company will continue to lose money through their transitional period for the next few quarters, and RIM has hired JP Morgan and RBC to advise them on the best (or what available) road to take. BGR reported that RIM was pushing for a sale of the entire company to Samsung earlier this year, but RIM wanted an insanely high number — around $10 billion — and Samsung has denied talks ever having place. RIM is currently trading at around $10 a share, making the company worth about half of what they originally wanted in a sale.

Bold emphasis ours, full press release follows.…

May 29, 2012

Research In Motion CEO Provides Business Update

WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – May 29, 2012) – Research In Motion Limited

(RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM), a world leader in the mobile communications market, today provided a business update from Thorsten Heins, the Company’s President and CEO.

“During the Q4 2012 and fiscal year-end financial results conference call on March 29, I said that I would provide our shareholders with candid and timely updates when possible on the progress and challenges RIM is experiencing. While we are no longer giving quantitative financial guidance, I wanted to provide a brief business update at this time, and will provide more details when our Q1 financial results for the quarter ended June 2, 2012 are released on June 28.

In terms of challenges, as I mentioned on the March financial results conference call, RIM is going through a significant transformation as we move towards the BlackBerry 10 launch, and our financial performance will continue to be challenging for the next few quarters. The on-going competitive environment is impacting our business in the form of lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace, and we expect our Q1 results to reflect this, and likely result in an operating loss for the quarter. We are continuing to be aggressive as we compete for our customers’ business – both enterprise and consumer – around the world, and our teams are working hard to provide cost-competitive, feature-rich solutions to our global customer base. On the positive side, we expect to further increase our cash position in

Q1 from the approximately $2.1 billion we had at the end of fiscal 2012.

Despite the current challenges, we have made significant progress on a number of fronts in the past few months:

/T/

–  Our annual BlackBerry World conference and BlackBerry 10 Jam took place

earlier this month and both were tremendously successful. More than

5,000 developers, partners, carriers and enterprise customers from 115

different countries saw the first glimpses of our next-generation

BlackBerry 10 platform and their response was encouraging.

–  Our developer partners have been enthusiastic with the BlackBerry 10 Dev

Alpha prototype unit we distributed at BlackBerry World and many are

well underway in developing applications to be ready for the launch of

BlackBerry 10 in the latter part of calendar 2012.

–  The support and enthusiasm from our developer community is also

reflected in our app growth, where we now feature more than 80,000 apps,

which represents a 220% increase from one year ago, and more than 15,000

apps for PlayBook compared to less than 2,000 last year. We believe this

bodes well for our ecosystem as we get set to launch BlackBerry 10.

–  We are making steady progress with the innovation of our next-generation

BlackBerry 10 mobile computing platform, which is still on track to

launch in the latter part of calendar 2012.

–  Our global subscriber base continued to grow this quarter to

approximately 78 million, driven primarily by growth in international

markets, which is partially offset by high churn in the United States,

and our BBM user base has grown to approximately 59 million users

globally.

–  Our strong brand internationally was recently enhanced with the

successful launch of two new BlackBerry 7 phones in India and Latin

America.

/T/

We continue to make strategic changes to RIM’s senior management team with the hiring of two key new members to RIM’s executive leadership team.

Kristian Tear, our Chief Operating Officer, whose background also includes extensive experience in international sales in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and Frank Boulben, our Chief Marketing Officer, who will provide our team with deep experience in the mobile computing and communications industry. Both will assist me and the existing executive team as we continue to make the organizational changes necessary to position RIM for the future and prepare for the launch of our new BlackBerry 10 platform.

The CORE (cost optimization and resource efficiency) program we told you about previously is focused on delivering key operational savings through various initiatives. The financial objectives for the CORE program are targeted to drive $1 billion in savings by the end of fiscal 2013, based on our Q4 run rate. We are targeting better efficiency and use of resources in our sales and marketing initiatives to effectively leverage marketing windows and evaluate our country portfolio to determine where it makes sense for us to prioritize our efforts. We will also continue to review RIM’s organizational structure and clearly define accountabilities for all key businesses and business processes with a goal of eliminating fragmentation, duplication and inefficiencies. While there will be significant spending reductions and headcount reductions in some areas throughout the remainder of the fiscal year, we will continue to spend and hire in key areas such as those associated with the launch of BlackBerry 10, and those tied to the growth of our application developer community. We will share more details regarding our progress throughout the year as programs are implemented or changes are completed.

To further enhance our commitment to successfully completing our transformation, after the release of our year-end financial results, we engaged J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and RBC Capital Markets to assist the Company and our Board of Directors in reviewing RIM’s business and financial performance. These advisors have been tasked to help us with the strategic review we referenced on our year-end financial results conference call and to evaluate the relative merits and feasibility of various financial strategies, including opportunities to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities and strategic business model alternatives.

Although we are facing challenges, we remain excited about BlackBerry 10 and believe that this platform coupled with the results of the strategic review will create long-term value for our stakeholders. We will provide another more detailed business update when we report our first quarter results in June.”

Q1 Results Conference Call Details

RIM will be reporting results for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 on June 28,

2012 after the close of the market. The Company will discuss today’s announcement and first quarter fiscal 2013 results on a conference call and live webcast beginning at 5 pm ET, June 28, 2012. The call can be accessed by dialing 1-800-814-4859 or at www.rim.com/investors/events/index.shtml. A replay of the conference call will also be available at approximately 7 pm by dialing

1-416-640-1917 and entering passcode 4501363#. A replay of the webcast will be available clicking the link above. The replay will be available until midnight ET July 12, 2012. The conference call will also appear on the RIM website live at 5 pm ET and will be archived at http://www.rim.com/investors/events/index.shtml.

About Research In Motion

Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry(R) solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ:RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding: RIM’s intention to provide shareholders with updates, when possible, relating to RIM’s progress and challenges; RIM’s transformation as it moves towards the BlackBerry 10 launch; RIM’s expectation that the business will continue to be challenging for the next few quarters; the effects of the intense competition in the wireless communications industry, and RIM’s plans and strategies to address competition; RIM’s current expectations regarding its financial performance in Q1 of fiscal 2013, and its anticipated cash position at the end of the quarter; RIM’s expectations and beliefs relating to the support of its developer partners and the development of its ecosystem in advance of the launch of BlackBerry 10; the anticipated timing of the launch of RIM’s BlackBerry 10 platform; the anticipated benefits of recent strategic changes to RIM’s senior management team and the hiring of outside advisors; RIM’s plans and expectations relating to the CORE program; and RIM’s expectation that it will be able to create long-term value for its stakeholders. The terms and phrases “would”, “will”, “transformation”, “move towards”, “continue”, “ongoing”, “expect”, “likely”, “well underway”, “to be ready”, “believe”, “progress”, “still on track”, “position RIM for the future”, “prepare for the launch”, “targeted”, “goal”, “accelerating”, and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by RIM in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that RIM believes are appropriate in the circumstances, including but not limited to general economic conditions, product pricing levels and competitive intensity, supply constraints, the timing and success of new product introductions, RIM’s expectations regarding its business, strategy, opportunities and prospects, and RIM’s confidence in the cash flow generation of its business.

Many factors could cause RIM’s actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: RIM’s ability to enhance current products and develop new products and services in a timely manner or at competitive prices, including risks related to further delays in new product introductions, such as the Company’s BlackBerry 10 smartphones; risks related to intense competition, including RIM’s ability to compete in the tablet market, strategic alliances or transactions within the wireless communications industry, and risks relating to RIM’s ability to maintain or grow its services revenues; RIM’s reliance on carrier partners and distributors; risks relating to network disruptions and other business interruptions, including costs, potential liabilities, lost revenue and reputational damage associated with service interruptions; RIM’s ability to manage inventory and asset risk; RIM’s ability to implement and realize the anticipated benefits of its Cost Optimization Program and CORE program; RIM’s ability to maintain or increase its cash balance; security risks and risks related to the collection, storage, transmission, use and disclosure of confidential and personal information; RIM’s ability to attract and retain key personnel; RIM’s ability to adapt to recent management changes and fill vacant key management positions; RIM’s reliance on suppliers of functional components for its products and risks relating to its supply chain; RIM’s ability to maintain and enhance the BlackBerry brand; risks related to RIM’s international operations; risks related to government regulations, including regulations relating to encryption technology; RIM’s reliance on third-party network infrastructure developers, software platform vendors and service platform vendors; RIM’s ability to expand and manage its BlackBerry App World applications catalogue; RIM’s reliance on third-party manufacturers; potential defects and vulnerabilities in RIM’s products; risks relating to litigation, including litigation claims arising from the Company’s past practice of providing forward-looking guidance; RIM’s ability to manage its past growth and its ongoing development of service and support operations; potential additional charges relating to the impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets recorded on RIM’s balance sheet; disruptions to RIM’s business as a result of shareholder activism; risks related to intellectual property; and difficulties in forecasting RIM’s financial results given the rapid technological changes, evolving industry standards, intense competition and short product life cycles that characterize the wireless communications industry.

These risk factors and others relating to RIM are discussed in greater detail in the “Risk Factors” section of RIM’s Annual Information Form, which is included in its Annual Report on Form 40-F and the “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” section of RIM’s MD&A (copies of which filings may be obtained at www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov).

These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on RIM’s forward-looking statements. RIM has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Apple’s next iPhone, which is reported to launch in the fall, seems to have leaked. It’s entirely possible these parts are for a non-final version of the handset, but they do perfectly match up with what has been reported about the new iPhone — mainly a metal and glass rear case, and a new dock connector. Smartphone repair company uBreakiFix has sent us in these photos of the new case, and there’s a lot of differences compared to the current iPhone 4S. Among a redesigned rear case, the camera module cutout looks to be larger, there is a redone speaker and microphone configuration at the bottom, new dock connector, and it looks like Apple has moved the 3.5mm headset jack to the bottom of the device like the iPod touch. Read on for more photos.

UPDATE: 9to5Mac has high resolution photos of the parts.

Apple has officially confirmed that the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote will be held at 10:00am on June 11th at Moscone West. Surprisingly, Apple has not confirmed who will in fact be delivering the keynote. Traditionally Apple’s CEO has participated, with Steve Jobs famously speaking for many years, and Tim Cook filling in for him among other executives. We’ll be covering the WWDC keynote live.

Apple has been working on an in-house mapping solution for a few years, and it appears as if the company is finally ready to release a new Maps app for iOS, sidestepping Google’s mapping data for its own. BGR has obtained exclusive information and photos of parts of Apple’s new Maps app from a trusted source, and the app features a refreshed user interface including a brand new navigation bar. This bar, we’re told, is silver instead of blue. Since the current Maps app follows the standard blue iOS color scheme, we think it’s possible Apple might shift toward a silver color theme in iOS 6 like on the iPad.

The iPhone version of Maps has a floating locate me button (it sounds very similar to Android’s Google Maps app) in the bottom left corner. To access 3D mode, which will make use of Apple’s C3 Technologies acquisition, you have to peel back the lower right corner of Maps just like the current version and enable 3D mode. Once enabled, you can switch in and out of 3D mode by tapping a 3D icon in the lower left corner. A photo of this feature can be seen in our gallery.

Apple is now putting the finishing touches on its 3D mapping functionality, and it is currently being tested in build 10A3XX of iOS 6.

The above image is a mock up based on what Maps will look like, as communicated by our source, and it includes elements of Apple’s actual refreshed Maps app taken from photos we received. These photos can be viewed in the gallery linked above.

The first episode of The BGR Show doesn’t premiere until May 31st, but we wanted to put together a little something to tease the show with Pharrell Williams — and it’s hilarious. We have some amazing segments lined up, and we would tell you about them but we don’t want to spoil it. The show will air weekly around 11:00 a.m. Eastern every Thursday on i am OTHER‘s channel beginning on May 31st. Make sure you subscribe to stay updated with our show schedule; you can find the show every week at the read link below, and of course, on BGR.com (and more places coming soon!).

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BGR has learned from a reliable source that Microsoft is currently planning to release the company’s full Office suite for not only Apple’s iPad, but for Android tablets as well. The company is targeting November of this year for both launches. Additionally, our source has seen Microsoft Office running on an iPad first-hand and has said that it looks almost identical to the previous leak from The Daily a few months back, despite the fact that Microsoft flat out denied that the app was authentic. It is also plausible that Microsoft Office will be coming to the iPhone and iPod touch rather than only the iPad, as we’re told the loading screen in the app clearly said “Office for iOS” and not just iPad.

Thanks, John E.

Over the past six years, BGR has grown into one of the most prominent destinations in the world for mobile and tech news. We have broken some of the biggest stories in tech and offered up some of the most honest opinions. But we’ve never done video. Today, we’re announcing The BGR Show, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with a long-time friend of mine, Pharrell Williams, to bring the show to his new YouTube channel, i am OTHER.

The BGR Show won’t be a boring show that looks at the technical aspects of cell phones. It’s a show that focuses on the fact that technology is now present in practically every aspect of our lives, and we’ll dive deep into this idea during exciting segments with manufacturers, celebrities, personalities, executives and more. We’re working with an amazing design and production team to develop the series and build out a huge BGR set for the show, and we can’t wait to show it to you.

In addition to working with Pharrell and Google, we went to Just Blaze for an original BGR theme song for the show, and we’ve partnered with Sennheiser on the audio front as well.

Episode 1 of The BGR Show will premier on May 31st. From then on you can catch our show every single week on Thursday on YouTube, and of course here on BGR. In the meantime, here the teaser for the channel can be seen below — stay tuned for a clip of Pharrell and BGR. Also feel free to drop us a comment below with some suggestions for segments and interviews you’d like to see on the show.

P.S. You will notice a huge new personality for BGR roll out onto the site and elsewhere in the coming weeks, but that’s for another time.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is finally real, and it’s just about everything we have reported it would be, though the specs have been dialed back a bit in some areas. The super-smartphone features an insanely fast 1.4GHz quad-core processor, a 4.7-inch HD display, an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p HD recording, 1GB of RAM and of course, 4G LTE. It’s all tightly packed into a slim case that is just 8.6 millimeters thick. Samsung is launching the Galaxy S III on May 29th in Europe and in the coming months, nearly 300 carrier partners will offer the phone. It will start to appear on local carriers in the United States some time this summer, and it will be the official phone of the Olympic Games in London this summer. Samsung’s full press release follows below along with a video.

Samsung Introduces the GALAXY S III, the Smartphone Designed for Humans and Inspired by Nature Effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, Samsung GALAXY S III reveals a new concept of smartphone 

London, UK—May 3, 2012—Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, announced today the third generation GALAXY S, the GALAXY S III. Designed for humans and inspired by nature, the GALAXY S III is a smartphone that recognizes your voice, understands your intention, and lets you share a moment instantly and easily.

This sleek and innovative smartphone has the enhanced intelligence to make everyday life easier. With Samsung GALAXY S III, you can view the content like never before on the device’s 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display. An 8MP camera and a 1.9MP front camera offer users a variety of intelligent camera features and face recognition related options that ensure all moments are captured easily and instantly. Samsung GALAXY S III is powered by Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, with greatly enhanced usability and practicality to make life easier. Packed with intuitive technology, the GALAXY S III delivers a uniquely personalized mobile experience that refuses to be compromised.

“With the GALAXY S III, Samsung has maximized the consumer benefits by integrating superior hardware with enhanced smartphone usability,” said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung. “Designed to be both effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, the GALAXY S III has been created with our human needs and capabilities in mind. What makes me most proud is that it enables one of the most seamless, natural and human-centric mobile experiences, opening up a new horizon that allows you to live a life extraordinary.”

Introducing Natural Interaction

The GALAXY S III enhances the interaction experience between the device and user. Smart enough to detect your face, voice and motions, the GALAXY S III adapts to the individual user to provide a more convenient and natural experience. With the innovative ‘Smart stay’ feature, the GALAXY S III recognizes how you are using your phone – reading an e-book or browsing the web for instance – by having the front camera identify your eyes; the phone maintains a bright display for continued viewing pleasure.

The GALAXY S III features ‘S Voice,’ the advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to your words. In addition to allowing information search and basic device-user communication, S Voice presents powerful functions in regards to device control and commands. When your phone alarm goes off but you need a little extra rest, just tell the GALAXY S III “snooze.” You can also use S Voice to play your favorite songs, turn the volume up or down, send text messages and emails, organize your schedules, or automatically launch the camera and capture a photo.

In addition to recognizing your face and voice, the GALAXY S III understands your motions to offer maximized usability. If you are messaging someone but decide to call them instead, simply lift your phone to your ear and ‘Direct call’ will dial their number. With ‘Smart alert,’ the GALAXY S III will also save you from trouble by catching any missed messages or calls; your phone will vibrate to notify missed statuses when picked up after being idle. 

Easy and Instant Sharing 

The Samsung GALAXY S III is more than a personal device that can be enjoyed by one user – it wants you to share and experience smartphone benefits with family and friends, regardless of where you are. With the new ‘S Beam,’ the GALAXY S III expands upon Android™ Beam™, allowing a 1GB movie file to be shared within three minutes and a 10MB music file within two seconds by simply touching another GALAXY S III phone, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. The ‘Buddy photo share’ function also allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with all your friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery.

With ‘AllShare Cast’, users can wirelessly connect their GALAXY S III to their television to immediately transfer smartphone content onto a larger display. ‘AllShare Play’ can be also used to instantly share any forms of files between GALAXY S III and your tablet, PC, and televisions regardless of the distance between the devices. Under AllShare Play is also the ‘Group Cast’ feature that allows you to share your screen among multiple friends on the same Wi-Fi network; you can make comments and draw changes at the same time with your co-workers, witnessing real-time sharing on your individual device. 

Human-centric Design with Uncompromised Performance

The GALAXY S III not only presents features with enhanced usability, but also provides an ergonomic and comfortable experience through its human-centric design. Its comfortable grip, gentle curves, and organic form deliver a rich human-centric feel and design. Inspired by nature, its design concept is the flow and movement of nature. The elements of wind, water and light are all evoked in the physical construct of the GALAXY S III. In its essence, the minimal organic design identity is reflected in the smooth and non-linear lines of the device. Available in Pebble Blue and Marble White at launch, Samsung will introduce a variety of additional color options.

With a 4.8” HD Super AMOLED display, the GALAXY S III offers a large and vivid viewing experience. Samsung Mobile’s heritage Super AMOLED display even enhances to HD and 16:9 wider viewing angles. To ensure faster content sharing and connectivity, the GALAXY S III offers Wi-Fi Channel Bonding which doubles the Wi-Fi bandwidth.

The GALAXY S III also sports a range of additional features that boost performance and the overall user experience in entirely new ways. It introduces ‘Pop up play,’ a feature that allows you to play a video anywhere on your screen while simultaneously running other tasks, eliminating the need to close and restart videos when checking new emails or surfing the Web. Its 8MP camera features a zero-lag shutter speed that lets you capture moving objects easily without delay – the image you see is the picture you take. With the ‘Burst shot’ function that instantly captures twenty continuous shots, and the ‘Best photo’ feature that selects the best of eight photographs for you, the GALAXY S III ensures users a more enhanced and memorable camera experience. HD video can be recorded even with the 1.9MP front-facing camera, which you can use to capture a video of yourself. Improved backside illumination further helps to eliminate blur in photos that result from shaking, even under low lights.

Mobile payment is also accessible with the device through advanced Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The gaming experience is enhanced through ‘Game Hub,’ providing access to numerous social games, while Video Hub brings users high quality TV and movies. Furthermore, Samsung Music Hub will offer a personal music streaming service. Game Hub, Video Hub and Music Hub will be introduced in select countries initially and soon rolled out to global markets.

The Samsung GALAXY S III will be available from the end of May in Europe before rolling out to other markets globally.

RIM made an unprecedented move earlier this week when it gave away pre-production BlackBerry 10 hardware to developers, but it was a smart one. In order to develop for a brand new operating system and help grow develop support for a new platform, you need to be able to test on real hardware. Since this isn’t the phone that RIM will launch in the fall, there’s no issue letting the public see the hardware, right? Well, there’s more to the story.

The BlackBerry 10 Alpha unit is a device RIM has been testing internally for quite some time. In fact, our sources have confirmed that it’s the BlackBerry Colt handset that RIM originally planned to ship as its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone, which was later canceled.

This is just another insight into how disorganized RIM is — looking at the phone, you can clearly see how much time, effort and money RIM put into it. It’s pre-production, but this is a phone that is set up for the company to ship. It’s manufactured very well, feels good, and has way too many details for this to just be something RIM made to give away to its developer base.

The display is beautiful, and the unit is literally a smaller PlayBook. I have also been told that Mike Lazaridis and other RIM executives have been showing BlackBerry 10 off to partners using this exact device over the past few months — another sign that this was indeed in the running to be RIM’s first real touchscreen device.

Apple’s new iPhone, which is currently rumored to launch in September or October, is reportedly going to be the first iPhone to have a larger display. Multiple reports have suggested that the new iPhone will feature a 4-inch screen, and iLounge’s Jeremy Horowitz is throwing his weight behind it as well. Additionally, he’s reporting that the device will be taller and 20% thinner than the current iPhone 4S. The back of the device will have a metal panel according to the report, though it won’t cover the entire back of the phone. This seems a little strange, especially with iLounge’s rendering. What about the white version? Lastly, there will indeed be a new dock connector to make room for the thinner case, so no doubt third-party accessory manufacturers are going to be thrilled about that, but Apple’s move to introduce a thinner and smaller dock connector is likely a necessary step toward making the iPhone insanely thin. One barrier that Apple has not yet tackled is the 3.5 mm headset jack, which some day might disappear completely in favor of Bluetooth and AirPlay streaming. One more mockup of the new iPhone from iLounge is after the break.

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We’re only a day from the official announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S III, but that doesn’t mean the leaks are done. One of our contacts sent us a photo of the Samsung Galaxy S III’s boot screen as it is turning on, but wouldn’t allow us to post photos of the actual device. Maybe next time! Samsung is set to unveil the highly anticipated Galaxy S III during a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

I sat at my computer in amazement a little earlier. Most of me knew that RIM is too damaged and too slow to pivot, and just too out of touch with its customers to know it actually has a chance. But, there was this small part of me that was genuinely excited for BlackBerry World’s announcements. Then I saw Thorston Heins start off the company’s most crucial keynote ever with Salesforce and Cisco.

This company has not changed, and won’t change. The parts of BlackBerry 10 demoed are slick — capturing a series of images and combining different elements from each one before you save a photo seems genuinely incredible, though how is that done, with an EDoF camera, so no autofocus? What we saw wasn’t truly innovative, though. It wasn’t compelling enough, and it’s unfortunately too late to try and gain enough traction and support for a third mobile ecosystem.

RIM is a company that has failed to deliver for the last eight years, and it doesn’t deserve another chance to mess it up. My live-tweets are embedded below so you can follow along to my instant (rambling) thoughts.

Also of note: RIM declined to make its BlackBerry 10 Alpha device available for BGR. Coincidentally, two publications that had early access to the smartphone also have advertising campaigns from BlackBerry running.

honestly, yes, it’s possible RIM can fuck up a live stream.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

this is so terrible.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

same shit, same shit. security. infrastructure. business.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

yes, when your company is dying because you missed the consumer boat, your first guest should be salesforce.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

oh, look, cisco is on stage now.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

camera is dope as fuck

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

probably wont work well though and will take 90 seconds to power on.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

everyone complaining about me complaining, just remember there are less and less of you every day.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

this is very simple. this company has failed to ever deliver in the last 8 years.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

also they had been working on blackberry 10 for how long? 3 years and we get 3 little demos?

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

sorry 2 years ago they acquired QNX.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

How many times have you or someone you know lost a pet? I’ve been looking for something I can use to keep track of my dog, Moto, when we take him out of the house — you know, in case he starts to chase a squirrel and gets off leash. The Pet Tracker is the best thing I’ve found so far. It’s a reasonably small puck (with wings) that securely attaches to your dog’s leash, and it features a cellular connection to provide data on your pet’s whereabouts. It will also provide information about the device itself. The Pet Tracker charges on an included charging base in under a few hours, and in normal usage with Moto in the house most of the time, and the Pet Tracker reasonably close to the charging base, I’ve seen it last upwards of one week.

The concept isn’t new, but it’s done in a way that completely takes the frustration out of using something to track your pets. After you set up and register your Pet Tracker through their website, you’re able to define geo-fences that will alert you whenever the device is outside of that zone (from 75 to around 1,000 yards). This includes push notifications on your iPhone through the company’s iPhone app, text messages, and emails that even include a snapshot of a map with your pet’s location. You can also get alerts when the battery on the unit is low to remind you to charge it, too.

While the features of the Pet Tracker are impressive, they aren’t always completely accurate, and don’t offer 100% perfect real-time information about your pet all of the time. Additionally, the web site interface could be simplified and could be a bit faster to load and navigate.

Even so, having something that combines an always-on connection with GPS into a small and compact package is refreshing when other options are bulky and incredibly expensive. That’s not to say that the Pet Tracker is totally inexpensive — it’s $99.95 for the package with one month of monitoring service, and $7.95 a month after that. Compared to other alternatives though, this is easily the best all-in-one solution by far. Make sure to check out all of the photos in the gallery.

We received a photo of what looks like it could be Samsung’s upcoming flagship handset, the Samsung Galaxy S3. Although it isn’t confirmed at this point, this is one of the most compelling images we have seen so far. We’ll know in a couple days if this is the real deal but compared to all the decoys we’ve seen, we definitely hope the flagship smartphone Samsung unveils next week ends up looking like this instead. This phone also matches up exactly with what we have reported, something many people have continued to miss — the Galaxy S3 will have a physical button in the center beneath the display.

UPDATE: Looks like this image was sent to a few different sites around 3:00 a.m. this morning…