Eric Johnson

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AllThingsD Week in Review: BlackBerry’s Future and Predictions for Tech in 2014

In case you missed anything, here’s a quick roundup of some of the news that powered AllThingsD this week:

  1. BlackBerry interim CEO John Chen hasn’t said much since he took the reins of the once-great smartphone pioneer. But a recent C-suite shakeup and focus on emerging markets indicate that a new strategy is afoot.
  2. In a major talent grab, Facebook exec and Instagram advertising guru Emily White is leaving to become COO of Snapchat.
  3. While the Internet was abuzz when Jeff Bezos teased the idea of delivery by drone, the Amazon CEO also addressed something much more immediate in his “60 Minutes” interview last week: Small businesses that can’t compete.
  4. In its first two-and-a-half weeks, Sony has sold 2.1 million units of its new gaming console, the PlayStation 4. Microsoft, meanwhile, hasn’t disclosed a current sales number, but also reports record-breaking sales for its rival Xbox One, which has had one less week on store shelves.
  5. The consensus used to be that Twitter was for old people, but as the now-IPO’d social media company ages, it’s enjoying a youth movement, according to data from Wall Street analyst Doug Anmuth.
  6. While we’re on the subject, Apple has acquired social analytics company Topsy Labs, one of only a handful of startups with access to Twitter’s full Firehose of tweets. But Twitter considered buying Topsy, too; here’s why that didn’t happen.
  7. Nobody watches TV anymore, right? Wrong. We’re still tuning in, more than ever.
  8. Cards Against Humanity hiked its prices on Black Friday this year to mock the discount-driven American holiday. But then the joke got funnier: Sales increased during the “deal.”
  9. Plenty of people still say they prefer physical keyboards to touchscreens, but one iPhone owner — Ryan Seacrest — put his money where his mouth is. Seacrest has put $1 million into the Typo Keyboard, slated to debut at CES.
  10. As he has done since 2011, Arik Hesseldahl sat down with Strategic News Service CEO Mark Anderson to discuss what’s next in tech. Anderson’s predictions for 2014 include the mainstreaming of visualization and the quantified self, and a “new Microsoft that no one expected.”

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There was a worry before I started this that I was going to burn every bridge I had. But I realize now that there are some bridges that are worth burning.

— Valleywag editor Sam Biddle