Google sweetens up its next mobile OS version, names it Android KitKat

Seems we have to start getting used to calling the latest Android version 4.4 as KitKat instead of Key Lime Pie. Android and Chrome Head Sundar Pichai confirmed the news on his Google+ account and the splash page is up and ready as well. 

Google made the switch from the previously known key lime pie after realizing that very few people know the taste of said dessert, according to director of Android partnerships John Lagerling. Also, it is supposedly a favorite snack of Android coders and it didn't take much or cost them to convince Nestle to allow them to use the brand. Naming it after the Nestle-trademarked chocolate bar keeps in line with the brand’s long-standing tradition of naming its mobile OS versions after desserts. There are no details yet what the new OS is going to offer but our sweet tooth and tech loving selves are ready. 

BlackBerry announces ten women scholars

BlackBerry started the BlackBerry Scholars Program in an effort to encourage more women to pursue careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Now, they are ready to announce the 10 scholars who will receive a full, four-year grant to pursue any STEM-related degree from her school of choice. Since announcing the initiative at BlackBerry Live in May, they have received over 500 applications from 65 countries over a two-month period. Listed after the jump are the 10 recipients.

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Amazon Kindle Matchbook lets you buy discounted e-books of printed titles

We have to agree with author Marcus Sakey when he says he finds it ridiculous that readers usually have to pay full price twice if they want to buy both a printed and digital copies of books. That’s why Amazon’s new offer can be considered godsend for bibliophiles out there. The Kindle Matchbook will give Amazon customers who have bought print books the option to buy Kindle editions of those purchases for $2.99 or less (some are even free!).

This offer extends to purchases made back when Amazon opened its online bookstore in 1995 as long as the publisher enrolls the title in Kindle Matchbook. The service will be launching in October and expect over 10,000 books to be available from authors like Sakey, Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, Jodi Picoult, Michael Crichton, and many more.

Verizon CEO denies Canadian market entry

Looks like Verizon won’t be posing a threat to Canada’s “Big Three” carriers (Bell, Rogers, and TELUS) as Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam dispelled rumors that the New York-based telecoms giant was setting up shop here. 

The statement was made by McAdam during a phone interview with Bloomberg after Verizon bought out Vodafone’s 45 percent share in Verizon Wireless for $130 billion—not only giving them full control of the United States’ most profitable mobile phone operator but making this the biggest acquisition in the US in over a decade.

“Verizon is not going to Canada,” McAdam said. “It has nothing to do with the Vodafone deal, it has to do with our view of what kind of value we could get for shareholders. If we thought it had great value creation we would do it.”