NYT drops the BlackBerry app

REUTERS

NEW YORK: BlackBerry users can no longer use the official New York Times (NYT) app to read news stories over their devices, in a fresh blow to Research In Motion, the maker of the smartphone once considered an essential tool for business professionals. NYT Co, which publishes the prestigious newspaper, said it stopped supporting its applications for BlackBerry and the Palm Pre as of Monday, meaning the apps will no longer download news stories. “It’s a matter of usage of our apps, and we dedicate our resources where we think there’s the highest level of usage,” said NYT Spokeswoman Eileen Murphy. “We’ve seen a drop-off.” But Murphy said the company has not ruled out developing an app for devices that will run on RIM’s new operating system, BlackBerry 10, due out early next year. “That decision has not been made, and it’s entirely possible that we might,” she said. In response, RIM said it is investing in apps and content.

Number of active FB users escalates

WASHINGTON: Facebook (FB) added about 50 million users worldwide during the April-June quarter.

It now has more than 950 million people using the service in a given month, 29 per cent more than a year ago. The company said 543 million of them accessed the service through

a mobile device, a 67 per cent increase. FB also said it had a daily average of 552 million users in June, a 32 per cent increase from a year ago. The latest numbers came Thursday

as FB reported its quarterly earnings for the first time as a public company. The networking site started with one million users at the end of 2004. By the next year, it had 5.5 million users. By 2006, the number reached 12 million. Having gathered 845 million active users by the end of 2011, FB upped the number to 901 million on March 2012. In the latest appraisal on June 2012, the number of its users is touted to be 955 million.

Channel Tunnel goes live

LONDON: Just in time for the start of the Olympic Games in London, passengers traveling between continental Europe and the UK via the Channel Tunnel will now be able to

remain connected to the telephone and data networks through the tunnel 100 metres below sea level. Theservice, first announced by Euro-tunnel and French mobile operators in March, took effect July 25 and allows customers to use their mobile phones to make calls and access the internet using 2G or 3G technology. The announcement is good news for the more than 20 million passengers using the 53 kilometre tunnel every year.

Eurostar announced back in May that travelers will be able to use Wi-Fi to surf the internet onboard from early next year, after a 700 million pounds (USD 1,100 million) fleet renewal and refurbishment programme.