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The U.S. carriers weren't particularly enthusiastic when selling BlackBerry's debut next-generation product, the BlackBerry Z10, but you can expect them to get louder with the follow-up Q10.

That's according to BlackBerry Chief Operating Officer Kristian Tear, who spoke to CNET on the day of the Q10 launch. T-Mobile is the first to offer the Q10, which hit stores on Wednesday, and the other three carriers will follow in the coming days.

It marks the first time a BlackBerry device has sold across all four U.S. nationwide carriers, a feat that should help get the company'… Read more

Big Red faithful who have long been craving a physical keyboard's reassuring typing touch, this is your moment. Verizon will begin offering the new BlackBerry Q10 smartphone in stores starting next Monday, June 10 -- but eager beavers can preorder theirs starting Thursday.

Verizon and the other three major carriers -- AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile -- are pretty much on target with previous timelines that marked sales starting in early June.

Another consistency is the price. BlackBerry's QWERTY master sells for $199.99 on Verizon and AT&T with a new, two-year service agreement. Expect … Read more

Starting June 5, BlackBerry's keyboard-equipped BlackBerry Q10 smartphone becomes available for preorder through AT&T.

The carrier announced in a tweet that it would sell the Q10 for $199.99 with a new, two-year service agreement.

June 5th pre-order the #BlackBerryQ10 for $199.99 w/2-yr agreement soc.att.com/1b1u550 #KeepMovingUp pic.twitter.com/CRIpfDJZd1

Keyboard enthusiasts will love the Q10's terrific physical keyboard, and BlackBerry holdouts will similarly appreciate the upgrades stacked into Blackberry 10 OS.

If you're thinking of preordering the device, stop by for all … Read more

Apple released what is likely to be the last round of fixes to 10.8 Mountain Lion ahead of a look at the next major version of OS X at next week's Worldwide Developer conference.

10.8.4 -- which has been in developer testing for months -- went out Tuesday and fixes a handful of bugs while promising "improvements' in other areas.

Key among them is a fix for a bug in Apple's Messages software that would display messages out of order, an issue that could make the app's conversational style useless and confusing.

On … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Steve endorses the VPI Industries turntables built in Cliffwood, N.J., and the VTF-3 MK4 subwoofer from HSU Research.

- Sony MDR-R10: The world's best headphone?

- The top 10 reasons why music is compressed.

- Compare your favorite albums in the Dynamic Range Database.

- Catch Steve on a panel with Avery Lipman, COO of Republic Records, at the New Music Seminar 2013.

- Follow Steve "Sphere" Guttenberg on Twitter.… Read more

Space Tower Defender is not a tower defense game; rather it is a fast paced turret game in which you must destroy wave after wave of enemies before they can reach you. The quick setup, ease of entry into the mechanics, and enjoyable theme all make it a very well executed game that will keep you entertained for hours.

In Space Tower Defender, you will occupy a tower in the center of the game screen. You can turn the tower and fire by tapping anywhere on the screen around you. This is important, because shortly after starting, enemies start appearing. … Read more

Open Pics provides an invaluable service, searching through millions of open-licensed pictures on digital libraries from New York City, the Library of Congress, "LIFE" Magazine, and more. With the tap of a button you can find and use images from throughout the last two centuries from the streamlined interface of this very useful iPad app.

The app is designed to be as minimalistic as possible. Open it and you're presented with a black screen and a white search box. Type in your query and choose the library in which you want to search, and then press "… Read more

Wig Wiggle DJ Scratch is a fairly basic, but ultimately very fun app that allows you to choose songs from your library and play them as a digital record. You can scratch the record all you want, though the similarities to a real DJ's booth end there. With many feature limitations, this isn't a perfect DJ simulator, but it is a lot of fun.

Open the app and you see a large record on the screen along with Load and Play buttons. The Load button allows you to search through your song collection to find a tune to … Read more

Not to be outdone by T-Mobile, Verizon sets June 6 as the launch date for the BlackBerry Q10. Priced at $199.99, the long-anticipated device features a superbly crafted physical keyboard plus the latest BlackBerry 10 software.

Verizon is now taking preorders for the Q10 and expects to stock its store shelves with the phone by June 6. This development will no doubt come as welcome news for the BlackBerry faithful. Many in this camp are zealously addicted to typing on real keys and poo-poo messaging via touch screen.

And what a keyboard the BlackBerry Q10 sports. Based on the … Read more