This week in tech

MANILA, Philippines – Blackberry’s latest attempt for relevance in the smartphone market, the Android-powered Priv, is now in the Philippines. The 5.4-inch smartphone which, in true Blackberry fashion, sports a physical keyboard, will retail for P45,000 and will be available by the middle of December 2015.

The company’s last effort in the smartphone space was the Blackberry Passport, which still ran on Blackberry OS, did not do so well in the market.

The Priv packs a punch on paper. It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, has a 3410 mAh battery, and a Schneider-Kreuznach certified 18MP camera that integrates technology commonly found in DSLR cameras.

It’s also big on storage. While internal storage is only at 32 GB, it can be expanded up to 2 TB (yes, terabytes) via microSD card.

Blackberry hopes its expertise in security and privacy, coupled with the power of Android and its host of apps on Google Play Store, can breathe new life into the company. However, at that steep a price, it may have a hard time doing so.

Lumia 950 & 950 XL now in PH

The first smartphones to come pre-loaded with Windows 10, the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, have finally arrived in the Philippines. Both come equipped with the latest Snapdragon processors, and 20 MP cameras with PureView technology.

The two phones, launched alongside the Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book during Microsoft’s Windows 10 devices events in New York last October, will have an estimated price of P28,990 for the Lumia 950 and P32,990 for the Lumia 950 XL and will be available starting Dec. 14.

Also available is the Microsoft Display Dock. It’s an accessory that allows the two Lumias to run like a desktop computer when connected to a monitor and a keyboard.

Zuckerberg welcomes daughter to the world, pledges his Facebook shares to charity

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg welcomed his daughter to the world through a Facebook note detailing how he wants her to grow up in a world focused on ‘advancing human potential’ and ‘promoting equality’.

Zuckerberg goes on to describe his vision of the world he wants his daughter to grow up in – one where diseases are prevented instead of cured, where education is geared towards drawing out the best in each individual, and so on.

The young billionaire along with his wife Priscilla Chan also pledged to give 99 per cent of their Facebook shares to charity for the duration of their lives. They will do it through what they call the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The pledged shares are valued at around $45 billion today.

Power Mac Center, Microsoft Philippines launch Office 2016 for OS and iOS devices

Office for Mac has reached the Pearl of the Orient through Power Mac Center and Microsoft Philippines.

Office 365, which lets users install Microsoft Office on multiple platforms, will be offered in different bundles by Power Mac Center for the coming holidays. Customers who will buy any Mac device on cash or installment will get a special offer on the Office 365 Personal. Promo runs until Feb. 29, 2016.

Office 365 is also available as a standalone product. Office 365 Personal goes for P2,730, Office 365 Home is at P3,500, and Office 365 University costs P3,360. Meanwhile, Office for Mac Home Student 2016 is priced at P7,650 and Office for Mac Home and Business 2016 costs P14,500. Office 365 requires 4GB RAM and at least Mac OS X 10.10.

Microsoft’s productivity suite brings familiar apps like Word, Excel, and Powerpoint along with improved versions of OneDrive and OneNote which, like Google Docs, lets multiple people access and work on a document at the same time.

Switching accounts on IG

Great news for anyone handling more than one Instagram account! Android Police reported that the photo and video sharing platform is now already testing support for multiple accounts - similar to how you can switch from one account to another on Twitter’s mobile apps.

The feature is currently only available to anyone who has Instagram Android Beta.

This may not mean much for casual users but once rolled out, this solves the problem of having to constantly log-out and then log back in again if you’re a social media manager handling more than one IG account.