BlackBerry interim CEO Chen gets $85 million of restricted stock and $1 million base salary

On Monday, Fairfax Financial pulled out of its $9 a share purchase of BlackBerry. The company's largest shareholder not only couldn't find financing for its bid, it also felt that this was not the time to invest in an LBO. The deal was scrapped and instead, Fairfax said that it would lead a $1 billion investment in the beleaguered manufacturer. BlackBerry will sell convertible debt, and Fairfax itself will take down $250 million of the paper.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal listed the names of the other investors in the Canadian company, as listed in a regulatory filing made by Fairfax. For example, Ontario-based Canso Investment Counsel Ltd bought the biggest slice of the debt, $300 million. Other names in the group include Toronto firms Mackenzie Financial Corp. and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. Other investors include Markel Corp.out of Virginia, and Qatar Holding LLC.

Nvidia CEO calls Android the most "versatile" OS in history

Jen-Hsun Huang is a co-founder, president and CEO of Nvidia which means that the executive wears quite a few hats at the chip manufacturer. One hat is that of an Android fan. During Nvidia's conference call on Thursday following the release of its third quarter numbers, Huang had some positive words to say about Google's open source OS.

"Android is the most disruptive operating system that we've seen in a few decades, in a couple of decades," said Huang. He also called it the most "versatile" operating system ever seen, noting how it connects to the cloud and can also come out of the box full of apps making it useful from the moment you first boot up an Android powered device. The versatility comes from Android's ability to drive more than just smartphones. Huang notes how the OS can also be found on tablets, gaming systems, set-top boxes and all-in-one PCs.

iPad Air costs Apple $274 to make, has fatter profit margin than the iPad 4

Research firm IHS iSupply has torn down the new Apple iPad Air, providing valuable insight into the components cost breakdown. Its full report is not due until a few weeks from now, but for the time being it lets us know that the iPad Air starts off at $274 for Apple. This makes it actually cheaper to produce than the previous generation, despite the ultra thin and light machined aluminum design.

The most expensive part is, naturally, the 9.7" 2048 x 1536 pixels display package, which is now 20% thinner than before, with brighter and more efficient LED lighting, reducing the amount of sources from 84 to 36, thus contributing to one of the most compact tablet designs out there. This screen is said to cost $90 for the display, and $43 for the integrated touchscreen part, making for a grand total of $133 - the most expensive part in the tablet.

HTC's Q4 forecast shows that the company is still bleeding money

The story of HTC is really beginning to scare us a bit, due to the parallels our minds instinctively draw. A company of zero repute in the distant 1997, HTC became one of the biggest (contract) manufacturers in the world, but today, it's on its way to a post a second consecutive disappointing showing in Q4. In its 16 year history, HTC has only ever posted a loss once before.

These news come directly from HTC's financial forecasts for Q4. According to the Taiwanese maker, their revenue is projected to be between $1.4 and $1.5 billion. That's below analysts' estimated average of about $1.8 billion, a number compiled by Bloomberg. It would, therefore, appear that HTC's efforts in cutting expenses, enlisting some marketing help, along with the latest entries to its portfolio are unable to drive demand for the company's wares. HTC's sale of its 25% (about $860 million, pre-tax) share in Beats Electronics, also appears incapable of stemming the tide of losses the company is making. Multiple sources have already reported that the Taiwanese manufacturer is working on a new portfolio of lower-end devices for the Chinese market that it hopes will rejuvenate its finances, but these are probably still a few months off.

T-Mobile adds 1 million new customers in Q3

T-Mobile's innovations paid off with 1 million new customers added to its rolls during the third quarter. That continues the trend seen in the previous quarter when it added 678,000 new subscribers to its T-Mobile and MetroPCS brands. CEO John Legere, who has been a breath of fresh air in the industry with his brash attitude and actions, said during a conference call on Tuesday that T-Mobile alone had added more new phone customers than the rest of the industry combined. 

With the introduction of new plans that eliminated subsidized equipment pricing, smashing the old 24 month phone upgrade cycle, and eliminating international roaming charges in over 100 countries, T-Mobile has done more to shake up the industry in a matter of months than any other carrier ever. Legere has even made T-Mobile fans forget all about Carly, the operator's longtime spokeswoman who has apparently gone the way of two-year contracts.

Nexus 5 teardown marks nice 8/10 repairability score, just don't drop it face down

Google's Nexus 5 has received the teardown treatment by iFixit we've been awaiting for with bated breath to see what makes it tick, and some interesting observations have popped up.

First off, despite the sealed unibody design, it receives a repairability score of 8/10, due to the minimum use of adhesive and the modular components that aren't tough to replace, including the 2300 mAh battery. On top of that, the destroyers found the Nexus 5 relatively easy to pry open, with the back cover holding on a few plastic clips and some bottom adhesive. The back has wireless charging coils integrated indeed, as well as NFC connectivity.

The worst piece of news from the teardown - the whole screen assembly is glued together, and it won't be a very cheap replacement if you drop your Nexus 5 face down to a nefarious surface, so we'd advise to put a protector on, but other than that the whole teardown was smooth sailing.

Qualcomm to introduce new Snapdragon chips and Adreno 400 series in early 2014

Qualcomm is expected to unveil its new generation of Snapdragon mobile system chips and along with them the Adreno 400 graphical chips, according to chip-focused website Fudzilla. Qualcomm is usually making its unveiling at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in mid-January in Las Vegas. 

There aren’t many details about the upcoming 2014 Snapdragon chips, but the Adreno 400 graphical chip that is said to be getting ready for the limelight won't have a compute part and will not support OpenCL.

In 2014, Qualcomm might have tougher competitors in both CPU and GPU. Nvidia’s Tegra 5 with Logan chip has already shown impressive capabilities that the Adreno series will have to try and match. PowerVR’s 6-series graphics (used in the new iPhone 5s and iPads) are another strong player and ARM has also just unveiled its Mali 700 GPU. Vivante is also making a mobile graphics chip design. With all this, competition will definitely be heated next year.