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Alongside the new Surface Studio, Microsoft also unveiled an updated Surface Book notebook yesterday, one that offers incredible battery life and graphics performance.

The Surface Book, when it was first released last year, reflected one of the most innovative pieces of hardware we've seen out of the Windows camp in quite some time, but the price was and remains out of the realm of those looking for a casual laptop.

In the 2016 "Performance Base" model, Microsoft has used the same 13.5"PixelSense Display (3000 x 2000 (267 PPI) resolution), upgraded the Intel Core i7 processor to the latest generation and pumped up the GPU to a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M with 2GB GDDR5 memory.

Best of all, Microsoft now promises 16 hours of battery life, an unheard of figure, compared to the 12 hours of its predecessor.

Starting with 256GB of internal storage, the new Surface Book is priced at $2399 and goes up from there. Pre-orders start now for shipment on November 10th.

According to a new report, Snapchat will seek to raise up to $4 billion in its 2017 initial public offering (IPO), giving the company a value as high as $35 billion.

The company currently has revenue of less than $1 billion but has hundreds of millions of active users. The company had a private market value of $18 billion as of earlier this year.

Snapchat, now known as Snap Inc., has ramped up its revenue in the past year, aiming for $350 million in ad revenue for 2016 up from $59 million last year. The company also allows partners to create mini mobile magazines, which can sell products.

Microsoft unveiled a new ergonomic keyboard yesterday at their special event, a wireless device for Surface fans.

The company says a pair of AAA will power the keyboard for a year and part of the ergonomics includes a double-cushioned Alcantara palm rest for comfort on your hands and wrists.

In addition to the ergo keyboard, the company also released a backlit, minimalist "Surface Keyboard" that takes up less space. You can even get a version of the Surface Keyboard with a fingerprint reader.

All of the items ship November 10th, with pre-orders starting today. The base Surface model is $100 and the ergonomic is $130.

Microsoft used their special event yesterday to unveil a handful of new products and features, with the most promising being the Surface Studio all-in-one PC.

The PC has a 28-inch PixelSense display (4500 x 3000 (192 DPI)), a 3:2 display ratio, 6th gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, up to a 2TB HD/SSD combo, up to 32GB RAM and up to a 4GB GeForce GPU. The AIO also has integrated 2.1 speakers, a flexible hinge that allows you to draw and video edit more easily, and has a haptic feedback controller device.

For ports, the Studio has four USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, Audio, SD, Mini DisplayPort. Microsoft also promises the display is the thinnest ever in an AIO.

With its incredible specs and form factor comes an astronomical price -$2999 for the base model and up to $4200 for the top model.

BlackBerry has unveiled their latest "secure" Android phone, the DTEK60, following up on this year's mid-range DTEK50.

The phone is available unlocked for $499 and is built by China's TCL with a very basic but nice metal-framed, dual-glass panel design.

At launch, the DTEK60 will have Android 6.0, a BlackBerry-secured bootloader, Hardware Root of Trust, a DTEK app and the promise of lightning fast security patches. BlackBerry has also included their HUB, Calendar and Keyboard productivity apps.

The smartphone has a QuadHD resolution, 5.5-inch display, is powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor, a 3000mAh battery with QuickCharge 3.0, a 21MP rear camera, a backside fingerprint scanner and a new USB-C port.

Earlier this year BlackBerry got out of the hardware business and now licenses its brand and apps to other manufacturers. The company also said it is not looking to the average consumer but rather to corporate and government buyers.

Nintendo shocked the gaming community earlier this month when they unveiled the Switch, a console/tablet hybrid that has AAA publisher support.

The gaming company has now announced a new "Nintendo Switch Presentation" in Tokyo on January 12th, where the company will unveil price, release date and launch games.

We know for sure that the system will launch in March but there has been little other info revealed to date.

Struggling social media company Twitter is preparing to fire hundreds of more employees after they failed to sell themselves in the past few weeks.

Twitter could lay off about 300 employees, equivalent to 8 percent of their total workforce

The layoffs are likely to be officially announced during Twitter's earnings report tomorrow and it will be interesting to see from what divisions the layoffs are coming.

Twitter is actively trying to sell itself but the price appears to be too expensive as Disney, Salesforce, Google and Apple have all inquired but then stepped away.

AT&T has announced a streaming TV package, DirecTV Now, for just $35 per month.

The service will have over 100 channels and includes unlimited mobile data on AT&T when using the service. DirecTV Now significantly undercuts rival services and is certainly cheaper than similar cable or satellite alternatives. For example, Sony's Vue service is $55 for 100 channels and Dish's Sling TV has just 50 channels for $40.

It is unclear what the channel catalog will look like, but AT&T said there will be channels from Time Warner, NBCUniversal, Fox and Disney.

AT&T recently bid $85 billion for Time Warner Inc., looking to create a massive ecosystem of wireless, broadband, satellite and media properties.

Pokemon Go fans will be getting a treat this year from developer Niantic, with extra Candies and more sightings of ghost Pokes.

Reads the press release: "Halloween is here, and Pokémon GO has its own treats to give out! Starting October 26 and lasting through November 1, you can receive way more Candies than usual. Every Pokémon you catch will award six Candies--twice the normal amount. The Professor will give you two Candies instead of one for every Pokémon you transfer to him. And your Buddy Pokémon will award Candy four times faster than they usually do. Plus, you'll get twice the Candy you'd normally get when you hatch Eggs. Walk and catch all the Pokémon you can to get your fill of Candy during this special event!"

Some spooky Pokémon will also be much more common leading up to Halloween. Be on the lookout for more of the following Pokémon on your trick-or-treat route:

Chinese smartphone startup Xiaomi has unveiled their new Mi Mix smartphone, quite easily the best-looking device released in 2016.

The phone, developed with product design genius Phillippe Starck, has a 6.4-inch edgeless body, meaning no bezels on three sides. Additionally, the body is made entirely of ceramic, giving it a premium feel unlike other devices on the market.

Because of its bezel-less design, the Mi Mix has a screen-to-body ratio of 91.3 percent, crushing the iPhone 7 at 67.7 percent and even the Pixel XL at 71.2 percent. To get such a high level, Xiaomi got rid of the physical earpiece speaker and sensors that most smartphones employ, going with a piezoelectric ceramic driver for the speaker instead and an ultrasonic proximity sensor, both of which are behind the glass.

Of course, such a screen comes with a caveat; the selfie camera. The module has been moved to the bottom half of the device, meaning it will take a little getting used to.

Google has announced new strategic partnerships with Visa and Mastercard, bringing Android Pay to thousands of stores that accepted Masterpass or Visa Checkout.

Says the search giant: "Android Pay users will soon be able to pay on hundreds of thousands of new sites where Visa Checkout or Masterpass are accepted using their preferred device authentication method - like fingerprint recognition. No longer will users have to remember multiple usernames and passwords in order to checkout, saving them time and hassle."

Users of either wallet can link their accounts to Android Pay starting early next year and merchants that have enabled Visa Checkout or Masterpass will not have to do any maintenance as the payment buttons will update automatically.

The popular Facebook Messenger service will be adding PayPal payment support in the coming weeks, an expansion to the current debit card payment option.

Facebook Messenger has 1 billion users, so PayPal has huge potential in working with the tech giant. The company recently signed partnerships with MasterCard, Visa, Vodafone, and Alibaba, as well.

For now, the PayPal functionality is only available to some users in the U.S., but that will expand over time.

"This collaboration continues to showcase our march to be a customer champion," says Bill Ready, EVP and chief operating officer at PayPal. "We will continue to execute on our vision of offering PayPal in more places where people shop online, in app and in store by partnering with companies who share our desire to create meaningful products that benefit both consumers and merchants."

WhatsApp, the most popular messaging app across various platforms, is rolling out video call support although it is unclear how long it will be until everyone gets the option.

For the time being, Android users are receiving the new feature if you have the latest update or if you have any of the latest betas.

If the person you are calling doesn't yet have the feature, the call will be converted to a voice call on their end.

For those that are desperate to get the update before their time, it appears that if you wipe the app data and log in again fresh, it helps with getting the video calling working.

According to the most recent IDC report, smartwatch sales hit significant "growing pains" during the Q3 2016, showing a year-over-year (YoY) decline of 51 percent.

Total smartwatch volumes fell to 2.7 million units, including a massive drop from 3.9m to 1.1m units for the market leading Apple Watch. Garmin was the only company in the industry to show any type of growth, shipping 600,000 units for the quarter, up 324 percent YoY.

The five-year-old online consumer guide The Wirecutter is being acquired by The New York Times for $30 million.

Wirecutter was founded by Brian Lam, formerly of Gizmodo, and Lam has funded the company and its growth ever since.

The site has a simple premise; provide "Best of" lists that have been meticulously researched by editors that actually have experience using the products. For example, the homepage of the site today has a feature on "The Best Standing Desks." The company makes money off affiliate links.