Gregarius » éléments par David Curry

éléments par David Curry

Dell might snap up EMC for $50 billion

Publié: octobre 9, 2015, 7:28pm CEST par David Curry

Dell logo

A merger between Dell, private-equity firm Silver Lake and EMC might be on the cards, as the storage giant considers a few options. The merger would cost Dell $50 billion (£32 billion), making it the largest single-tech acquisition ever.

The move does make sense for Dell, as it moves from a consumer PC manufacturer to a data storage, security and enterprise service provider. EMC would be a large boost for the company’s revenue and add a large clientele to the portfolio.

Dell still holds a lot of debt, $11.7 billion (£7.6 billion) according to recent stats. In 2013, the founder and CEO Michael Dell paid $25 billion (£16.3 billion) to go private, but that hasn’t improved the company’s financial situation too much.

It did move out of the PC market, which lowered its revenue, but added more profit. The company is now focused on competing with IBM, Cisco, Amazon, and Salesforce in the cloud storage, security, and services market.

EMC may come without VMWare, its $32 billion (£20 billion) subsidiary that many investors say should be spun-off into its own company. Similar to eBay-PayPal, investors want to see the more innovative and profitable company move away from its older and less successful owner.

EMC without VMWare would still be great for Dell’s portfolio however, but we assume that the company wants VMWare to be added into the deal. EMC currently has a market price of $50 billion (£32 billion) and Dell isn't expected to pay over the valuation.

The deal may or may not happen this week, according to sources. EMC is definitely looking at all its options, which include a sale to other large US companies like HP, IBM or Cisco, all looking for more cloud storage clients.

Russia orders Google to unbundle its apps on Android

Publié: octobre 7, 2015, 11:58am CEST par David Curry

Finger Pointing

After three weeks of discussion over the punishment for Google, Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has ordered the company to unbundle applications on Android.

The complaint, originally filed by Yandex, asked for a change to Google’s pre-installation of apps. Instead of Google deciding what apps should and shouldn’t be on a mobile, the manufacturer will be able to pick and choose from a variety of services.

This should, in theory, allow local app developers more of a chance to surpass Google. Yandex, a Russian search engine, will receive more acceptance from Russian mobile manufacturers.

It should also allow manufacturers to remove apps deemed unpopular in the country, offering more space for users to fill with their own favourite apps. Apps like Drive, Google Play Books, Movies, and Music could be booted off.

Google has until November 10 to fix the bundle problem. It may face a 1 to 15 percent revenue fine for the violations on services.

It is the first time Google has been found guilty in an antitrust case, and should bolster the European Commission’s own investigation. Search might be safe, but Google’s conduct on Android is definitely worth looking into for any anti-monopoly and antitrust organization.

Google has not responded to the ruling. We might see the company "pull out" of the country if it comes down to the wire, or implement some structural changes -- we doubt the entirety of Google services will be unbundled, at least for now.

Russia does have a huge Android market however, so working with the government may be advisable. Google is also working on returning to China, where it has been banned since 2011, which shows a new value on markets regardless of regulation, censorship, and surveillance.

Photo Credit: zwola fasola/Shutterstock

Here are the Motorola devices that will get Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Publié: octobre 6, 2015, 12:08pm CEST par David Curry

Motorola-Marshmallow-Moto-G

Motorola has released a list of devices set to receive Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the latest update for Google’s mobile operating system, available today for manufacturers and carriers.

Android 6.0 Marshmallow brings a range of new features to smartphones, including Now on Tap, an intuitive addition to Google Now that understands the context of a search within an app; Android Pay, an NFC-based mobile payments service; and Doze Mode, a deep sleep mode for the phone that extends battery life significantly.

Motorola is removing a few of its own programs on Android Marshmallow. Moto Assist will be retired, as Android Marshmallow comes with ‘Do Not Disturb’ under the sound and notifications settings. Moto Migrate will be retired, as Marshmallow offers enhanced support for backing up user data. Moto Connect is the final program dropped from the Marshmallow upgrade, with Motorola claiming many over-the-top messaging services have cropped up since the last major Android update.

The Moto devices receiving the update include:

2015 Moto X Pure Edition (3rd gen)
2015 Moto X Play
2015 Moto G (3rd gen)
2014 Moto X Pure Edition (2nd gen -- US)
2014 Moto X (2nd gen -- Latin America, Europe, Asia)
DROID Turbo
2014 Moto MAXX
2014 Moto Turbo
Nexus 6

No word on what devices will receive the update first, though the Nexus 6 is most likely since it runs stock Android and is sold off contract. The DROID Turbo, Moto MAXX and Moto Turbo will most likely take the longest, since it requires Verizon’s approval.

Noticeable absences include the Moto E, the Moto X (1st gen), and the Moto G (2nd gen). The first edition of the Moto X might be a bit old for the update, but it would still be able to run Android Marshmallow without too many issues.

Motorola has not released specific dates when the update will hit devices, but most should be updated by the end of the year, considering Motorola’s fast paced update in the past. Carrier oversight might slow down the process in the United States.

eBay, Tencent, and Daum Kakao join forces to bid for South Korean Internet bank license

Publié: octobre 2, 2015, 7:10pm CEST par David Curry

Banking login

eBay and Tencent Holdings joined Daum Kakao in its bid to become South Korea’s first Internet bank. The bid is for one of two licenses to build Internet banks, which the government will commission later this year.

Korea Investment Holdings will take a majority share of the Internet bank, should it be licensed by the South Korean government. Daum Kakao will take a 10 percent share, and both Tencent Holdings and eBay will take a four percent share, the maximum allowed for a non-Korean, non-financial company.

Daum Kakao owns popular messaging service KakaoTalk, the number one app in South Korea. In the past few months, it has been making moves into the finance sector, with the launch of BankWalletKakao and KakaoPay in the country.

The Internet bank will be maintained by Daum Kakao if it is licensed. It will work with the existing apps available for finance, allowing Kakao to build an ecosystem of financial apps.

The South Korean government is offering the licenses after a lack of growth in the financial sector over the past decade. It also plans to lower regulation across the financial sector, to allow banks and non-financial companies to get involved.

Tencent Holdings has its own bid in China for an Internet bank. South Korean’s tend to prefer apps from their home country, regularly picking Samsung and LG over American brands, and Tencent must feel like an investment is smarter than a bid of its own, through a subsidiary.

The carrier SK Telecom has been looking into an Internet banking license, through its IT subsidiary. South Korea is looking for more Internet-centric companies, blacklisting Samsung and Hyundai, which could make Daum Kakao’s bid even more prominent.

Image Credit: mama_mia / Shutterstock

Samsung to shut down Milk Video service on November 20

Publié: septembre 30, 2015, 6:25pm CEST par David Curry

samsung-milk-video

Samsung’s unloved video streaming service is shutting down on November 20th, after a lukewarm start and plummet in usage in the months after.

In a market dominated by YouTube, it was always going to be an uphill battle for Samsung Milk Video. The service worked with BuzzFeed and College Humor, but could not attract the viewers Google, Vimeo, and Twitch have won over the years.

Milk Video also suffers from a range of bugs that have plagued the service, forcing users to find the content elsewhere. In the Google Play store, it averaged 3.7 stars out of 5, but for long periods reviews were all 1 star, due to issues with videos not starting.

This lack of polish and quick updates was one of the final nails for Milk Video. It already suffered from a severe lack of content and subscription options, something YouTube has built for years to make users feel more included in the system.

Samsung will continue to maintain its Milk Music service, a streaming service for music and music videos. It is a big loss for the Milk brand, Samsung’s odd name for all things multimedia.

"Thank you for using Samsung Milk Video", says Samsung on the Google Play store. "While we remain committed to providing premium entertainment services, we have decided to end support for the Samsung Milk Video app as of November 20, 2015".

The focus on competing against Google might be ending, after failing to beat the search giant in several service markets. When Samsung launched the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, there was a lot more focus on third-party services than its own offshoot offerings.

Samsung Pay takes off in South Korea, will launch on time in US

Publié: septembre 25, 2015, 8:39pm CEST par David Curry

Samsung-Pay

Samsung’s delayed payments service is a hit in South Korea, with $30 million (£19 million) or 1.5 million transactions in the first month alone. The company also confirmed it is on schedule with its launch in the United States, after a few delays.

The uptake is smaller than it could be, since Samsung Pay is only available on a set few devices. Using the payments service is also quite revolutionary compared to Apple Pay or Android Pay, as it doesn’t require a contactless card reader.

This means Samsung Pay should be usable in 90 percent of all stores in the US. Apple Pay is only available in 10 percent across the US, despite the rise in support for contactless.

Samsung’s payment service will also skip the regulation currently imposed on contactless. In the UK, that means Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge Plus, and Galaxy Note 5 will be able to spend over £30 at any store.

The US will receive Samsung Pay support earlier than the UK, but Samsung has the UK in its third tier launch, alongside Spain and China. It plans to push the update and explain to users how Samsung Pay differs from other payments services.

Depending on its reception in the first month, Samsung Pay could become the payment service of choice or another mid-tier service, used by techies but not by all consumers.

The ability to pay through all card readers is a massive advantage for Samsung, and it needs to tell customers that this is impossible on other payments services.

Instagram now has 400M active monthly users

Publié: septembre 24, 2015, 5:45pm CEST par David Curry

instagram

Photo sharing app Instagram has reached another milestone earlier this week, 400 million active monthly users.

That is 100 million more since the last update a few months ago, when Instagram surpassed Twitter. In the same time, Twitter has managed to add 25 million new users. The photo sharing app is growing at a faster rate than Facebook, but slower than Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

Over 75 percent of users are living outside of the United States. More than half of the last 100 million live in Europe and Asia, showing worldwide adoption of the platform. Instagram also said the most users come from America, Brazil, Japan, and Indonesia.

It is impressive to see such a large amount of users in Japan and Indonesia, since American based apps usually receive less attention in Asian countries. Indonesia is a weird country however, with most using Path -- the rather unloved social network -- as one of their main apps.

Instagram talked about how more celebrities are joining the photo app, like Caitlyn Jenner and David Beckham. Inspiring moments are also highlighted in the company’s blogpost. Events like the Pluto image, Champions League final, white pools of Turkey, Namibian ghost town, amongst others, led to 80 million shares per day.

The photo sharing app is far and away the most popular for that single activity, although Facebook offers its own photo sharing service for its 1.4 billion users. Pinterest is also the home for many users uploading photos, though these tend to be less personal.

Facebook’s £660 million acquisition of Instagram in 2012 is starting to look extremely fruitful. The 400 million active users coupled with the new adverts should be making Facebook a good amount of revenue, unlike its other £10 billion acquisition of WhatsApp, currently making next to nothing in revenue.

Apple Watch may have saved teenager's life

Publié: septembre 24, 2015, 4:41pm CEST par David Curry

Apple Watch Sport on wrist

Apple Watch has received a nice bit of publicity in the form of a health notification that may have saved 17 year old Paul Houle, a senior student at Tabor Academy, Massachusetts.

After practice, Houle noticed his heart rate was at 145 and it didn’t change once he got back home. He contacted his doctor, who diagnosed Houle with rhabdomyolysis, a fatal condition (if untreated) that can lead to kidney, liver, and heart failure.

Houle claims if he hadn’t of seen the heart rate on his Apple Watch, he would not have notified the doctor. That is a pretty huge deal considering the condition, and may inspire more health and fitness people to try the smartwatch.

The saving health functionality converted Houle’s father -- originally a skeptic of the Apple Watch -- into a believer. Now the entire family has the Apple Watch.

A few days after the event, Houle was contacted by Apple chief executive Tim Cook, who offered the student a free iPhone and summer internship at the company’s headquarters.

Cook is obviously happy with the positive press, after dismal sales following the first few introductory weeks. Showing the health functionality at work may draw interest from the fitness crowd, currently Fitbit and Jawbone customers.

Apple had a section dedicated to health on the Apple Watch at its September event. AirStrip got on stage to show heart rate for a mother-to-be and her child, how doctors can stay in contact with patients through the smartwatch, and receive automatic health evaluations.

Even with all of these impressive health features, the Apple Watch 2 will be where the company elevates medical functionality to a whole new level. Reports before the smartwatch launch claimed Apple was holding off on some of the health sensors until the second generation.

Photo Credit: Wayne Williams

Facebook rolling out missing children alerts in UK

Publié: septembre 17, 2015, 7:29pm CEST par David Curry

Facebook is rolling out its missing children feature to the United Kingdom, allowing people within a certain area to be notified when a child goes missing.

The social network uses geo-location to find people in the near area, and alert them to a child disappearance. Facebook users can learn more about the disappearance if they happen to know any information that might be of help, or share the post to friends and family.

Child Rescue Alert will be working with the UK and Facebook to help identify and get more lost children home safely. The first six hours are the "golden hours" according to the non-profit organization, meaning the faster the news spreads, the larger the chances of finding the lost child.

"While we of course hope that we don’t have to use this system, this partnership with Facebook will make a huge difference in extending the number of eyes and ears on the ground when the worst happens", Jo Youle, CEO of Missing People said.

Facebook started the service in the United States a few months ago, allowing people in the same community to receive alerts about lost children. There are plenty of advantages to Facebook compared to local TV or flyers, most prominently the amount of people on Facebook who would otherwise not see the alert.

Users should only see this alert once per month, if that. Children lost in the UK is much lower than the figure in the US, especially in some states, and police are using more tracking equipment to make sure kids don’t lose their parents.

Broadband Internet should be at least 10 Mbps

Publié: septembre 16, 2015, 12:59pm CEST par David Curry

If your internet connection isn't at least 25Mbps, it's not broadband

Broadband is a convoluted term, but market research firm Ovum wants to bring some restrictions, claiming 10Mbps should be the minimum download speed to use the term.

Market performance and surveys suggest that 10Mbps is the lowest speed customers will accept from their broadband provider. Anything lower, and it is unusable on today’s Internet, which needs broadband for high-quality video streaming and video gaming.

Three second loading speeds, stable connection and excellent tech support are also factors in customer’s decisions on broadband providers. Internet speed trumps all however, with a big reliance on having speeds over 50Mbps in new homes.

The Ovum speed rank would meet with the UK’s average broadband speed, currently at between 11 and 23Mbps depending on the source. Ofcom claims that the average broadband speed is 23Mbps, but other analysts claim it is much lower.

Even though this is the terminology for broadband right now, things will quickly move from 10Mbps to 50Mbps, according to several broadband analysts. With the rise in 4K video, always-on smart home equipment, and massive online video games, customers will need faster speeds, especially considering more people are going to be on the Internet at any one time.

Thankfully, those speeds already exist on most broadband providers. Sky, Talktalk, and BT all offer speeds up to 100Mbps, but Virgin Media has gone beyond what the other three offer with its 152Mbps package.

The UK was ranked in eighth place by Ovum, tied with the US and Russia on customer experience. Sweden was ranked first and all of the Nordic countries came in the top 10, showing the superior Internet service available in those countries.

Photo credit: Sam72 / Shutterstock

SpaceX plans to launch satellite Internet network

Publié: septembre 15, 2015, 7:33pm CEST par David Curry

NASA Space

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed plans to send a constellation of 700 low-orbit satellites, which would be capable of powering the world’s wireless Internet.

That plan took its next step when Musk filed the project to the Federal Communications Commission. Musk will also need permission from NASA to launch the satellites, alongside a few other organizations in the US government.

Offering low-cost wireless Internet service to people across the world could increase mobile adoption in regions like Africa, South-East Asia and South America. The satellite data will be offered to local carriers to boost the speed and consistency of their network.

Musk will use SpaceX to build and the launch the low-orbit satellites. Since SpaceX currently makes less money than it needs to build government-grade rockets, this could be a way to fund the company and keep it from relying on outside funding.

The last funding round, Google added £640 million to the pot in the hopes SpaceX would work with them on the satellite Internet project. Google may be able to push the wireless service to networks with Android devices, potentially pushing ads and updates.

SpaceX is not the only company working on satellites for Internet, Samsung has a similar constellation in mind, alongside a Qualcomm-backed project. Google is working on Project Loon, a hot-air balloon project with similar intentions. Facebook is working on large drones that will send satellite data to users on the ground.

Photo Credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre’s Photostream

Greece plans to roll out Bitcoin ATMs across the country

Publié: août 21, 2015, 10:04pm CEST par David Curry

bitcoin-atm

Greece might be settling for a deal with the European Union, but inside of the country big changes are happening to the economy to deal with sanctions and lack of funds.

The most expensive and popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin has shot up in popularity. The popularity has risen to the point BTC Greece is planning a 1,000 Bitcoin ATM rollout, available in stores, banks and tourist locations.

Bitcoin is not affected by the current trends in Greece, meaning it is a relatively safe option to invest savings into. Like gold or a solid public company, in times of uncertainty, Bitcoin seems like the solution for a lot of citizens.

The current sanctions imposed on Greek citizens include a £42 per day withdrawal limit, no payments outside of Greece and no swaps to foreign banks. The capital controls are designed to keep as much money in Greece as possible.

Rumors of plans to change the currency led to the surge in Bitcoin adoption, as citizens contemplated life outside of the Euro. Most leading economists see a move away from the Euro as a bad move, likely to hurt Greece’s economy in the short and long term.

Bitcoin is still not approved by most countries, with the European Union and America not accepting it as a form of currency. It is still valuable in the same way gold or stocks are, but we doubt the rise in popularity will create a rise in commercial adoption.

Most retailers, both inside and outside of Greece, do not accept Bitcoin transactions. Even if BTC Greece were to win over a few retailers, we doubt employees would ever be paid in Bitcoin.

This will no doubt have an affect on the price of Bitcoin, as the currency continues to fluctuate rapidly compared to most modern currencies.

Android devices and iPhones make up 96.8 percent of the smartphone market

Publié: août 21, 2015, 11:39am CEST par David Curry

Samsung Android Galaxy S5 iPhone 5s Apple iOS

When we think of smartphones, two platforms come to mind: Android and iOS. For some, Windows Phone is there as the third, but as Gartner’s second quarter smartphone sales results show, Microsoft is losing even more ground.

Combined, Android and iOS own 96.8 per cent of the smartphone market. Android actually dropped market share from 83.8 last year to 82.2 percent this year. Apple managed an increase from 12.2 to 14.6 percent in the same time period.

Microsoft increased its unit sales over the year, but dropped 0.3 percent market share. BlackBerry also dropped 0.4 percent market share, now managing an incremental 0.3 percent of the total smartphone sales.

Android’s lost market share can be chalked up to Samsung, HTC, Sony and LG all having a bad 2015. Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei are all showing growth. China isn’t enough to surpass Apple’s global dominance over the last four quarters with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

These numbers are only going to go more in favor of Apple in the months to come, as it prepares to launch the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus and 6c. Once those are available on the market, we expect Apple to jump another one percent.

The total smartphone sales continue to grow worldwide, from 290 million in the second quarter of 2014 to 329 million in the same quarter 2015.

Gartner Smartphone Sales Q2 2015

Photo Credit: Pieter Beens / Shutterstock.com

Aston Martin is working on Tesla Model S electric rival

Publié: août 20, 2015, 1:57pm CEST par David Curry

Aston Martin Rapide S

Tesla might face some real competition in the premium electric car market soon, with Aston Martin planning to launch an electric version of the Rapide and the DBX crossover.

Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said an all-electric, 800 horsepower version of the Rapide would be available within two years. The car would have a 200-mile range, a bit lower than the current Model S.

Making these high-end cars electric might be a way of balancing production. In Europe and some US states, car companies must balance portfolios to show low emissions, and the best way to do that is to manufacture electric cars.

The first Aston Martin car to receive an electric motor was the Cygnet, a Smart Car designed for the environmental ACEA agreement. Hopefully, the Riptide and DBX crossover will be a more premium option for customers.

Speaking on price, Martin said the Rapide would cost between $200,000 and $250,000 (£125,000 and £160,000). He did not confirm if this was before or after incentives.

aston-martin-dbx-crossover

Aston Martin would be able to rival Tesla on style, but when it comes to commitment the UK-based manufacturer might be less refined. It seems that most manufacturers are making a loss on each electric car sold, and only manufacture them to meet the environmental demands set by governments.

Age ratings come to YouTube and VEVO music videos

Publié: août 19, 2015, 3:19pm CEST par David Curry

youtube big

Under a new program designed to protect children from seeing adult content, YouTube and VEVO have announced new age ratings for music videos in the UK.

It is the first initiative of its kind, which will block videos that show inappropriate content. Musicians like Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Robin Thicke have irked parents with the lack of clothing and rather provocative music videos released on the web.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will rate the videos. So far, 132 videos have been submitted for approval. Only one has been added to the 18 and over category, Dizzee Rascal’s Couple of Stacks.

International artists will not be forced to submit age ratings to the BBFC, but in the future we may see more age ratings added to YouTube.

Recently, the UK forced YouTubers to disclose any promoted videos inside the video and in the title. It seems the UK is making YouTube a big focus for film, especially since children and teenagers watch more YouTube videos than cable TV.

Music videos are oftentimes nonsensical, but some try to send a message. The BBFC believes they should be classified under the same ratings as films. The US and rest of Europe has not announced plans to add similar ratings to YouTube content.

Google's Project Ara will debut in 2016

Publié: août 19, 2015, 9:12am CEST par David Curry

Google’s in-house modular smartphone project has been delayed until 2016. Project Ara announced the news on Twitter, claiming lots of iterations changed the course of action.

Last week, Project Ara announced a change of plans and said Puerto Rico would miss out on the modular smartphone. The original plan was to launch in Puerto Rico, offering Project Ara modules from food trucks.

The new plan involves a few cities in the United States, with the goal of launching sometime next year. It is not clear if Google’s restructure to Alphabet had anything to do with Project Ara’s decision, or if this was always going to happen regardless.

Project Ara, for those unaware, was Motorola’s pet project while under Google’s control. Once Motorola was sold to Lenovo, Google kept the modular smartphone project and continued to develop it as one of its many moonshots.

It has been silent throughout 2015, with these new updates the first we’ve heard.

Where are we headed next? We are looking at a few locations in the U.S. #ProjectAra #newlocationcomingsoon

— Project Ara (@ProjectAra) August 17, 2015

Why? Lots of iterations... more than we thought. #ProjectAra

— Project Ara (@ProjectAra) August 17, 2015

We have seen previews of Project Ara’s phone working, but Google might be giving the team more time to refine the process. The goal is to be able to buy parts of a mobile device, in the same way we buy PC parts, and recycle the old parts.

This level of customization is currently unavailable in the mobile industry.

Project Ara still hasn’t announced a firm date for launch, meaning we could see the modular device in six or twelve months. This is a little disappointing, considering the massive change a modular smartphone could have in the industry.

Image Credit: iQconcept / Shutterstock

Uber wants to keep your data safe, so it's quadrupling its security staff

Publié: août 18, 2015, 6:24pm CEST par David Curry

uber_logo_black

Uber intends to quadruple its security staff by the end of 2015, from 25 to 100 full-time staff members. This investment comes a few months after hiring ex-Facebook chief security officer Joe Sullivan to work as security chief for the mobile cab firm.

The security staff will make back-end data even more secure, while also protecting customers and drivers on the road. Uber is also working on security for staff in volatile countries like China, India and France.

Even though Uber isn’t the only company attempting cab rides over mobile, it has come under enormous amounts of pressure from governments and regular cab drivers. It was forced out of South Korea for "illegal transportation" and had to shut down UberPOP in France after protests spiraled out of control.

"Every company is a data company now, no one can be unsophisticated", said Joe Sullivan in an interview with the Financial Times. "The challenge is half the company needs access to customer data some of the time -- it is not just customer support, it is marking, engineering as they iterate, communications when they need to figure out what happened in an incident".

Uber beefed up protection for customers inside cabs a few months back, after two rape allegations in India. Customers are now able to press a button that alerts security teams inside Uber and the police, a feature that is coming to other countries in the near future.

It is a start for the cab firm when it comes to security. Uber is still being hit hard by multiple lawsuits from ex-drivers and unions, wanting to see worker’s rights established for cab drivers. These rights would include paid leave and minimum wage.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 vs Apple iPhone 6 Plus: Which is best?

Publié: août 17, 2015, 10:25am CEST par David Curry

iphone-6-plus-vs-galaxy-note-5

Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Note 5, the newest phablet on the market. With a few new changes, can the Galaxy Note 5 stand up to the extremely popular iPhone 6 Plus?

Samsung and Apple are arguably pushing out the most well designed smartphones in the industry. After a slump for a few years, Samsung has found its stride with the dual-glass design and metallic frame.

Design

The iPhone 6 Plus is a touch larger and wider than the Galaxy Note 5. The iPhone 6 Plus also seems to have a slightly larger display, even though the Galaxy Note 5 has a higher pixel density.

There isn’t much difference when comparing the two models. The Galaxy Note 5 has a back cover curve, whereas the iPhone 6 Plus curves on the side. The iPhone 6 Plus camera is also located on the top-left, while the Galaxy Note 5 is in the center and much larger.

Personal preference is going to be the decider for this part. We found the iPhone 6 Plus more attractive, but only by a small margin.

Display

The Galaxy Note 5 display is the winner here, with a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution display surpassing the iPhone 6’s 1,920 x 1,080 display. Even though Apple optimizes its display to surpass some of the other panels on the market, Samsung is also one of the better display manufacturers in the industry.

The Super AMOLED display offers a rich set of colours from the darkest blacks to the glaringly white, which the IPS LCD panel on the iPhone 6 Plus cannot reach. That said, AMOLED has a history of messing up the colour accuracy, something an IPS LCD panel is much better at achieving.

Camera

Apple decided to keep the iPhone camera at 8MP, despite growing concerns that 8MP is not good enough for photographers on mobile. Samsung upgraded the camera on the Galaxy Note 5 to 16MP, adding optical image stabilization and generally made it a much higher quality sensor.

Even though the iPhone 6 Plus has OIS technology, we still give this one to the Galaxy Note 5. The extra megapixels, coupled with the amount of features Samsung has pushed onto the camera, will make for a better photo and video experience.

Under the Hood

Samsung has blown us away with plans to add 4GB of RAM to the Galaxy Note 5, a large upgrade over the already large 3GB of RAM inside the Galaxy S6. Add to that the Exynos 7420 octa-core processor, and you have a stellar machine capable of running almost any app.

Apple continues to pump out the dual-core processor with 2GB of RAM, and though arguments can be made that the iPhone 6 Plus needs less power to compete, the Galaxy Note 5 still surpasses it in performance.

The Galaxy Note 5 is the one for the power users, capable of doing a whole lot more things with the performance under the hood.

Verdict

Samsung has delivered a high-end, super fast and well designed smartphone. Unless the iPhone 6 Plus design appeals to you, or there is a specific app on iOS not available on Android, we would consider the Galaxy Note 5 the winner.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5	Apple iPhone 6 Plus
Display
Screen size	5.7in	5.5in
Resolution	2,560 x 1,440 pixels	1,920 x 1,080 pixels
Pixel density	518ppi	401ppi
Type	Super AMOLED	IPS LCD
Processor and battery
Family	Exynos 7420	Apple A8
CPU	Cortex-A53 / A57	Cyclone
Cores	Octa-core	Dual-core
Clock speed	1.5GHz / 2.1GHz	1.4GHz
GPU
Battery	3,000mAh	2,915mAh
Claimed 3G talk time	Up to 20h	Up to 24h
Storage and memory
RAM	4GB	1GB
Internal storage	32 / 64 / 128GB	16 / 64 / 128GB
microSD	No	No
Camera
Rear	16-megapixel	8-megapixel
Video	2,160 (Quad HD)	1,080p (Full HD)
Front	5-megapixel	1.2-megapixel
Wireless
Standard	4G LTE	4G LTE
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac	Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac
NFC	Yes	Yes
Bluetooth	v4.2	v4.0
Integrated wireless charging	Yes	No
Dimensions
Size	153.2 x 76.1 x 7.6mm	158.1 x 77.8 x 7.1mm
Weight	171g	172g
Operating System	Android Lollipop 5.1	iOS 8
Price (SIM-free)		£619 / £699 / £789

Availability

August 2015

September 2014

Ingress and Field Trip developer Niantic Labs is Alphabet's first independent spin-off

Publié: août 14, 2015, 11:18am CEST par David Curry

niantic-labs-ingress-900x506

In the post announcing Alphabet, CEO Larry Page said Google would be "slimmed down" to focus on the goal of collecting all the world’s information. The first spin-off from Google to independent company will be Niantic Labs, the developers of Ingress and Field Trip.

The augmented reality gaming startup launched Ingress a few years ago, an augmented reality discovery game built on top of Google Maps. It is free and has over 12 million players, who try to track down gems around the city. On top of the two apps, Niantic Labs is also working on a TV show inspired by Ingress.

The future of Niantic Labs could be based on building apps for Google Glass or working on interface design for the augmented reality device. With Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap both coming in the next two years, Niantic might also be able to move cross-platform.

It is not a massive spin-off, considering Niantic doesn’t make any revenue on its two apps. Google will continue to help fund the startup, but we suspect some type of monetization will occur in the next year or two to keep Ingress running.

Android and YouTube are the two big departments we could potentially see split off from Google. YouTube already has its own CEO, Susan Wojcicki and has been separate from the ambitions of Google for over a year now. Google+ sign-up was disabled a few months ago on YouTube.

Having Android out of the Google bubble would also be a strong move to avoid European Union investigation. Russia is also investigating Google on anti-monopoly charges, pushed by Russian search engine Yandex—they claim Google is using Android to push Yandex out of the mobile market.

We still don’t know about Google’s robotics division or DeepMind Technologies either, whether they will be a separate company or inside Google. Alphabet will most likely update us on the status of these divisions in the next financial report.

Vodafone Connect now live nationwide across the UK

Publié: août 14, 2015, 8:56am CEST par David Curry

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Vodafone is launching its home broadband service nationwide, after a soft launch in Manchester, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire in June. Vodafone Connect will be available with options up to 76Mbps, utilizing the BT Openreach infrastructure.

Vodafone is using Cable & Wireless, which it acquired in 2012, alongside partnering with BT for full nationwide coverage. It seems unlikely Vodafone will acquire Virgin Media, as was rumored a few months ago.

"We started our broadband journey with an exclusive offer available only to a few Vodafone customers", said Cindy Rose, Consumer Director at Vodafone UK. "We have now extended this to all of our millions of customers as our way of saying thank you for their loyalty. We know our customers depend on us to stay connected, and now we can satisfy their needs both at home and on the go".

Vodafone Connect will be able to prioritize one device using a Boost feature, alongside sending a stronger signal through Beam.

It is one of the first mobile and broadband deals, initiating the "quad-play" deals for customers. Landline and TV can also be provided through BT, although right now Vodafone is focused on broadband and mobile.

BT is trying to reach quad-play as well, with the £12.5 billion acquisition of EE earlier this year. That deal is still going through Ofcom investigation. Meanwhile, Sky and O2 are working on a partnership to offer quad-play services, although that deal may have been shut down with Three UK’s £10 billion acquisition of O2 from Telefonica.

Ad blocking estimated to cost publishers nearly $22 billion in 2015

Publié: août 11, 2015, 4:29pm CEST par David Curry

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The advertising industry could be in for a rude awakening, with the growing adblock trend snatching $21.8 billion in revenue from the web in 2015. This figure is expected to grow, with a report from PageFair and Adobe claiming a potential $41.4 billion in lost advertising revenue by 2016 worldwide.

In the UK, adblock services grew up 82 percent, with 12 million users deciding to block adverts. AdBlock Plus is the most popular service, which provides a large database of blocked adverts alongside some approved adverts that are not obnoxious.

Across Europe, the growth is much lower, with only 35 percent growth in adblock over the past year. That accounts for 77 million Europeans blocking adverts. The United States also noted 42 percent growth in adblock users.

"It is tragic that adblock users are inadvertently inflicting multi-billion dollar losses on the very websites they most enjoy," said PageFair CEO and co-founder Sean Blanchfield. "With ad blocking going mobile, there’s an eminent threat that the business model that has supported the open web for two decades is going to collapse. PageFair is working with thousands of publishers to securely display user-friendly advertising and keep free websites in business. I hope this report will prompt more editors, website owners, and publishers to join with us to combat the problem".

AdBlock Plus has already launched its service on mobile, to start blocking ads on the mobile web. Even though some may call this theft, AdBlock has won its case in court many times, most recently in Germany where it was deemed legal.

Even Google/Alphabet’s Larry Page acknowledges the reason adblock is so popular, because obnoxious adverts force web users to start blocking. The real question is how many adblock users unblock sites they regularly view -- this stat hasn’t been tracked by Pagefair.

Another almost untraceable statistic is the growing donations and merchandise option. Instead of watching ads, some users are deciding to donate a small amount per month to keep the site active, or buying a piece of merchandise. The latter option would equate to years of viewing adverts, which would take 100,000 views to be worth the price of a t-shirt.

The generation of free web content might be coming to a close, but it is more likely websites and content creators will find new ways to make money from an audience.

HTC and Samsung phones storing unencrypted fingerprints

Publié: août 11, 2015, 9:12am CEST par David Curry

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HTC is having trouble keeping investors happy, reporting its worst quarter in history earlier this month. If that wasn’t enough to contend with, FireEye researchers have found a way to steal fingerprint information from the HTC One Max and Samsung's Galaxy S5.

Fingerprints were stored in an image file named dbgraw.bmp in an open, readable folder. This means anyone that gains access to these files is capable of editing the fingerprints, deleting them and even forcing fake fingerprint scans to pay for items. Malicious apps can utilize the fingerprint files by asking for them in start-up.

Both Samsung and HTC used a third-party fingerprint provider, who seems to have messed up on the security end. Samsung’s latest Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge use a new sensor, with additional security to make sure hackers cannot find the fingerprint images.

Once the hacker has gained control of the file, they are able to view every slight fingerprint change. The hacker can also utilize the phone indefinitely, as long as the user doesn’t delete the fingerprint from the smartphone.

"To make the situation even worse, each time the fingerprint sensor is used for auth operation, the auth framework will refresh that fingerprint bitmap to reflect the latest wiped finger", the FireEye team says. "So the attacker can sit in the background and collect the fingerprint image of every swipe of the victim".

FireEye claims it is the first to spot this vulnerability, meaning Samsung and HTC will hopefully patch it before hackers snap onto the simple access.

This is extremely clumsy by Samsung, HTC and fingerprint creator. It is probably why Samsung hopped ship after 2014 to a different provider. Considering 50 percent of phones could feature a fingerprint sensor by 2019, it is even scarier to think of the lack of security on some devices with scanners.

Source: Blackhat FireEye [PDF]

Tesla Model X ships to customers on September 30

Publié: août 10, 2015, 12:22pm CEST par David Curry

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After three years of waiting, Tesla has finally set a launch date for the Model X. It will be shipping to customers on September 30, and arriving at show floors shortly after.

The Model X pre-orders started in 2013, with production set to start later that year. Sadly, Tesla went into a state of polishing for two years, where they didn’t want to release the car without making it perfect for the customer.

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk commented on how the Model X will look different from concept models back in 2012, and will actually look better. The team has been working on fine tuning the car, along with a few design changes for 24 months.

An option for designing the color, interior and performance will be available on the Tesla website in a few weeks, according to Musk. The CEO also confirmed the Model X will cost around the same as the Model S, which starts at £50,000 for all wheel drive after tax subsidies.

In an investor’s call, Tesla said it expects to ship 12,000 cars in the third quarter, with a small number of those being Model X. This is a 60 percent increase in car’s shipped compared to Q3 2014.

The Model X "has more functionality than a minivan, more style than an SUV and more performance than sports car", as said in the original reveal back in 2012. One of the wackiest features on the SUV is the falcon wing doors, which fold upwards when opened instead of outwards.

Tesla has been riding a wave of consumer change from gasoline to electric, pushing cars and governments to change their views. It has also set up electric stations to top up on juice for the Model S, with over 27 Superchargers located in the UK.

The investment Tesla has put into changing the opinions on electric cars can be seen by the amount of people that want to own a Model S. Musk hopes that the same hype will surround the Model X, and in the future the Model 3.

Oculus will let you enjoy VR movies with friends

Publié: août 10, 2015, 8:31am CEST par David Curry

Oculus Cinema

Facebook-owned Oculus plans to make going to the virtual reality cinema a bit less of a lonely experience, by adding a new multiplayer mode to sit in the cinema with friends.

The movie will play at the same time across all Oculus VR headsets, and the user will be able to see friends sitting next to them in the VR cinema. This might be a weird experience, but it is part of Facebook’s goal to make VR a more social experience.

Facebook and Oculus are also working with the film industry to stock movies early. If Oculus is to become mainstream, we might even see the film industry start premiering movies for around the same price as they would in a real cinema.

Oculus Rift will receive quite a few social upgrades in the coming months. Speaking on Road to VR, co-founder Palmer Luckey said avatars and remote multiplayer functionality will be added to the platform.

There is still a year of work before the Oculus Rift hits the market. Facebook intends to make this a big event worldwide, investing millions into advertising next year. It is the first first-party hardware product from Facebook.

Other real-life events that are being built into VR include a dog park, the Antarctic and Mars. Nokia announced a virtual reality camera earlier this week, for filmmakers to start recording VR worthy video.

Parents, monitor your kids' spending in Angry Birds 2

Publié: août 6, 2015, 6:59pm CEST par David Curry

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Angry Birds 2 has already hit 10 million downloads in three days, but it might not all be fun and games for parents letting their kids use bank accounts on mobile.

"Whilst gamers delight in the arrival of the latest version of our feathered friends in the form of Angry Birds 2, the new format should come with a slight health warning for unsuspecting parents", says Hannah Maundrell, editor in chief of Money.co.uk. "With 8.7 million 5-16 year olds on school summer holidays at the moment, this well-timed launch lands in peak season for children racking up bills on their parent’s online payment accounts".

Rovio launched the game at the perfect opportunity to snap up kids off school, since free apps are downloaded by a much younger audience. The original Angry Birds was a free game, and age demographics were much older for the first six months.

"Our research shows that over half of 5-16 year olds use their parent’s online payment accounts and one in three has already racked up a bill that has got them into trouble", Maundrell continued. "Some of the parent’s surveyed claim their children have spent almost £600 on their accounts, with over half totally unaware they were doing it. Gaming is the most likely trap for children, many of whom make in-app purchases without realizing what they’re doing—in fact 33 percent of those surveyed have fallen foul of this".

Apple has added new controls and refund policies to avoid the massive in-app purchase madness on iPhone and iPad, but some sneaky purchases are swept under the rug. The way Angry Birds 2 advertises in-app purchases is also tied directly into the game, making it easy for young people to be misled by the purchase.

Maundrell advises parents to block in-app purchases, something that can be done with family settings enabled on iOS 8. Parents that have not set up family settings should warn kids against purchasing anything in the game, or removing bank details on the account.

Sadly, Apple has not implemented a limited spending option for iOS, which would allow kids to have a set limit per week or month to spend on in-app purchases. Currently the only middle ground is a notification asking for the parent’s permission to buy an app.

Over £33 million will be spent in the next six weeks on in-app purchases for children on mobile, £13 million of which will be done without a parent’s permission.

Android Lollipop is now relevant

Publié: août 5, 2015, 9:07pm CEST par David Curry

Android 5.1 Lollipop announcement image

Google released its monthly distribution numbers for Android earlier this week, showing quite a large spike in Lollipop growth in the month of July. Lollipop went from 12.4 percent in June to 18.1 percent in July. The growth mostly came off the back of Jelly Bean updates and new device sales.

Jelly Bean, the previous holder of the top spot, slumped down to 33.6 percent in July from 37.4 percent last month. KitKat received a slight boost of 0.1 percent this month, most likely due to continued sales of early 2015 devices running the OS.

Ice Cream Sandwich is in the dead zone, with 4.1 percent adoption. That is lower than Gingerbread, Google’s Windows XP, which still holds 4.6 percent of the market. Somehow Froyo still has 0.3 percent market share, meaning there are hundreds of thousands of people still actively using devices from 2010.

Android continues to show improvements in upgrade speed, with the Gingerbread clump finally removed. The yearly upgrades with increased developer support mean devices that launched running Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean are being upgraded to KitKat and Lollipop, instead of being left in the dark.

It still lags behind iOS adoption rate however, with iOS 8 grabbing over 60 percent of customers in the first year. Apple has lowered the system requirements for iOS 9, meaning even more iPhone and iPad owners will jump over to the new OS in the fall.

Android M is the next big step for the mobile OS, with performance enhancements, privacy, developer support and fingerprint software. Google is currently offering a developer preview for enthusiasts and developers, before launching it later in the year.

Android distribution July 2015

Meet YouTube's new HTML5 desktop player

Publié: août 5, 2015, 10:54am CEST par David Curry

YouTube new HTML5 player for desktops PCs Macs

After months of testing the new video player, YouTube is finally rolling the update out to all desktop users. Even though it is not a full revamp to the video player, it lowers the size of the various elements and offers smarter automatic resolution options.

All the parts of YouTube’s video player are still where they were pre-update. Play/pause, fast forward and sound are located on the bottom left; video quality, size, Chromecast and fullscreen are located on the bottom right. For some videos, a promotional button will be located on the top right, highlighting featured content.

YouTube hasn’t changed annotations either, something that users regularly turn off due to overuse. We were hoping to see at least some streamlined way to view annotations without having them all over the page, ruining the viewing experience.

This is not the only update coming to YouTube in the next few months. The Google-owned video sharing service plans to launch two subscription services, Music Key and an ad-free subscription to all channels.

There is also YouTube Gaming coming sometime later this year, which will be focused on e-sports and pro gaming content. Reports say YouTube is lining up deals with e-sports teams and personalities, to stream on the new platform instead of Twitch.TV.

New OnePlus smartphone to launch around Christmas

Publié: août 4, 2015, 7:51pm CEST par David Curry

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With the OnePlus 2 officially announced, the Shenzhen-based startup is starting work on its third smartphone, set for launch near Christmas. OnePlus CEO Carl Pei confirmed plans to launch the smartphone around that time in an interview with USA Today.

Pei said it may or may not be higher spec than the OnePlus 2, and did not branch off into any more details. Rumors of the OnePlus Mini, Plus and Ultra have all been published, but we have yet to see any concrete proof of a size change.

Considering the OnePlus 2 features a 5.5-inch display, we might see OnePlus try for a 6-inch phablet. A 4.7-inch smaller device could be in the works as well, to compete with the HTC One M9 and iPhone 6.

In the interview, Pei also spoke about the lack of NFC on OnePlus:

"I think the entire issue of NFC is overblown. Very few people are using NFC, so we cut it. It’s as simple as that. I know that Android Pay is coming but all that is in the future. It (NFC) is going to gain widespread adoption in stores 12-18 months from now. By that time people will have moved on to the next device".

This is an interesting take on features. Where Samsung and HTC are rushing to add things like NFC and waterproofing, OnePlus is considering what customers want right now. It also goes against OnePlus’ experimental crowd, who want to use all of the new features on Android.

Pei also thinks OnePlus will be one of the three main smartphone providers in five years. He claims Samsung and Apple will remain in the industry, alongside OnePlus. This is optimistic, considering neighboring mobile giant Xiaomi’s massive hold on the Chinese market.

Sony unveils Xperia C5 Ultra mid-ranger

Publié: août 4, 2015, 10:09am CEST par David Curry

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Sony has announced a slew of smartphones, with the Xperia C5 Ultra one of the more interesting in the range. The 6-inch phablet comes with a duo of 13MP cameras on the front and back of the smartphone, offering a wide angle selfie camera for all those interested.

On top of the selfie camera, the Xperia C5 Ultra offers a 6-inch 1920 x 1080 display, 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek CPU, 2GB of RAM and ARM Mali 760 GPU. The smartphone features 16GB of internal storage, with an optional microSD card slot capable of holding up to 200GB of additional storage.

Design-wise, the Xperia C5 Ultra looks similar to most of the Xperia devices. The edge-to-edge display is a nice touch, along with the rather large front facing sensor with flash.

Android Lollipop 5.0 comes pre-loaded on the Xperia C5 Ultra, underneath Sony’s Xperia UI.

The cameras are the real selling point of the Xperia C5 Ultra. The front camera features a 13MP Exmor RS camera, with a 22mm focal length and soft LED flash. The rear camera has more of the same, but has a 25mm focal length. Neither have optical image stabilization, opting for software stabilization to hold the camera steady.

Phablet devices are popular in South-East Asia, where Sony will sell the Xperia C5 Ultra. The problem with this device is beyond the 13MP selfie camera, which might be seen as more of a gimmick than a real feature, the device is quite bland. Sony hasn’t added water resistant materials to the device, and it lacks the stereo speakers some of the higher end Xperia devices feature.

Sony has not mentioned a price, release date or global availability. We will update the article when Sony makes these details public.

Yahoo! launches! LiveText! video! messaging! app!

Publié: juillet 31, 2015, 4:47pm CEST par David Curry

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Yahoo is making a first step in the messaging world, with the launch of LiveText for iOS and Android. The app will be available in North America and Europe, following a brief test in Hong Kong and Taiwan last month.

The messaging app is similar to Snapchat, with an image or video and superimposed text. When video streaming is unavailable, LiveText will offer a text only option. Interestingly, the video will be silent, meaning no audio playback between the two recipients.

Both users need to have LiveText accounts and there is no Tumblr or Yahoo account integration. This is something we didn’t expect, since Yahoo has been working on bringing all of its services under one umbrella account, similar to Google.

LiveText doesn’t have any group chat functionality yet. Yahoo has not said if it plans to add group chat functionality. Reports earlier in the year said Yahoo was working on two communication apps, LiveText appears to be the one-to-one app, while there is another group chat app still in development.

The live video app follows in the footsteps of Periscope as well, where anyone can broadcast video to friends or fans and reply to chat. Yahoo’s LiveText is a private version of that, with one-to-one conversations.

Yahoo seems to be going down the route of Facebook or Google, creating applications that have no current revenue, in the hopes that users will continue to use the platform and invest at a later date.

Things like emojis, themes and other in-app purchases have become commonplace in communication apps. We would suspect Yahoo is planning to use the same in-app purchases on LiveText.

Apple's iPad still rules the tablet market, despite declining sales

Publié: juillet 31, 2015, 4:26pm CEST par David Curry

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Apple is still first place in the tablet market, despite two years of solid decline in sales. The figures released by IDC earlier this week show Apple as the major vendor, with 24.5 percent of the market share.

This is a far cry from Apple’s performance three years ago, when it held almost 50 percent of the tablet market. The tablet has continuously lost market share since, dropping three percent since 2014 and shipping 2.4 million less units.

Apple is not the only provider dropping sales, Samsung has also seen a 12 percent decrease in year-on-year sales. The South Korean manufacturer holds second place in the tablet market with 7.6 million sales and 17 percent market share.

Below Apple and Samsung, things look brighter. Third place Lenovo managed a 6.8 percent increase this year in sales, but only sold 2.5 million units. Huawei noted a much larger increase, 103 percent, with 1.6 million sales in 2015.

Samsung’s main rival in South Korea, LG, is the biggest winner this year, with 246 percent increase in sales. It managed 1.6 million tablet sales in 2015 and has shown a ferocity in its first year, with a large G Pad lineup ranging from 7 to 10-inches.

Apple might not be down for the count just yet, with plans to launch the iPad Pro later this year. Its iOS 9, the latest software update, also comes with iPad-specific multitasking functionality, a boon for power users that want a tablet.

Tablet Shipments Q2 2015

Windows 10 Mobile will soon support Xiaomi smartphones

Publié: juillet 31, 2015, 11:33am CEST par David Curry

Xiaomi Mi4 running Windows 10 Mobile 10240

All the news surrounding Windows 10 is focused primarily on desktop and tablet, with little mention of Windows 10 Mobile from any Microsoft executives.

Vice president of Operating Systems Joe Belfiore has finally updated us on Windows 10 Mobile, stating that the Insider program allowing Mi 4 owners to flash the operating system will be open to anyone.

The Insider program allows Mi 4 owners to flash Windows 10 Mobile, swapping out the default MIUI Android skin. Microsoft partnered with Xiaomi to grow the Windows 10 Mobile brand in the country, where it currently holds less than one percent market share.

Belfiore also hinted at more smartphones having this functionality, but declined to mention any partners. Samsung would be the most obvious partner, already working with Microsoft to bring Android apps to the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.

Other devices like the OnePlus 2, which previously had a deal with Cyanogen to create a custom ROM for the OnePlus One, could be on the menu for Microsoft. Windows 10 Mobile needs to be popular, and OnePlus 2 is the hottest piece of tech currently.

Porting Windows 10 Mobile onto Android devices seems a bit dirty, but it is part of the drawbacks for Google when it designed an open source system. Even with the major launch of Windows 10, its mobile arm does not look to be winning any major partnerships in the next year.

We intend to start our insider program in China with Xiaomi phones in the next few weeks... The software is running very nicely on these!

— joebelfiore (@joebelfiore) July 30, 2015

Nokia unveils OZO: 360 degree VR camera

Publié: juillet 30, 2015, 8:07pm CEST par David Curry

Nokia OZO 360 degree VR camera

Nokia’s event in Los Angeles wasn’t a smartphone, but instead a 360-degree film camera for virtual reality projects. Named OZO, it is intended for Hollywood and other video makers who intend to use virtual reality in the future.

The eight sensors that cover the spherical camera will collect film in 360-degrees, with playback stitched together within minutes. Nokia claims this is the first of its kind, with playback through VR normally taking hours in post production.

This near real-time software is a big enhancement for directors, who want to check a scene for mistakes before moving on. The software stitching is not bulletproof, with a lot of tearing and processing making the 360-degree film look wonky, but Nokia claims that can be fixed in post-production.

The virtual reality device will also have three microphones, capable of tracking where the noise came from. This is the most interesting feature on the camera setup, binaural audio allows the user to look behind them and see where the noise is coming from, instead of the developer or film editor adding the noise in later.

Having a more natural audio system will remove some of the issues with lip syncing, an issue virtual reality films have suffered from in their short lifetime. Nokia also plans to make headway with the design of the device, a lot less bulky than other virtual reality cameras.

Nokia OZO will be available for a five figure price, meaning hobbyists will need to empty their pockets to pay for this. Hollywood, advertisers and professionals are the target demographic and Nokia wants this to become the standard tech for filming VR.

It already has a few film studios lined up to partner with, but has not disclosed the price for OZO. We expect to hear about it more in the coming months, as Nokia ramps up production for the camera.

Unlike the phone and tablet, Nokia intends to manufacture and sell this directly. This will be the first product post-Microsoft sale that is built by Nokia, instead of licensed to a third-party company.

Hawking, Musk and Wozniak want strict regulations on AI weapons

Publié: juillet 29, 2015, 4:02pm CEST par David Curry

Artificial intelligence is the next step in the world of technology, but some of the leaders and speakers in the industry have asked for more oversight on weapons with AI.

Renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and co-founder of Apple Steve Wozniak have all spoken out in favour of more regulation on AI weapons. In the open letter posted on A Future For Life Institute, which Musk donated $10 million (£6.4 million) to see further research into AI, it asked for governments to not allow offensive weapons manufacturing that uses AI to pick out targets.

"AI technology has reached a point where the deployment of such systems is -- practically if not legally -- feasible within years, not decades, and the stakes are high", said the group in the letter. "Autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms".

It is a worry shared by a lot of public speakers, who find the advancement in AI to be both a blessing and curse. The amount at stake when bad people gain access to these technologies, and enhance them to benefit their own cause, could be catastrophic.

We are already seeing a major shift in America on the subject of guns, following a wide series of mass shootings. This latest move would see both commercial weaponry and military grade robots and weapons banned or regulated in the future.

The Future of Life intends to present the open letter to the International Joint Conference in Buenos Aires this week. It will also pursue governments and other speakers to sign the letter, pushing the dangers of AI weapons into the mainstream.

Even though technology firms are looking to use AI for home and service means, not all companies are thinking for a brighter future. Having AI that can be dangerous to people is bound to happen, what The Future of Life wants is regulation, oversight and standards to make sure that the risk is reduced.

Google offers lots of free cloud storage to take on Amazon Web Services

Publié: juillet 24, 2015, 4:38pm CEST par David Curry

Cloud storage

The launch of Cloud Storage Nearline brings Google firmly into the battle against Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and all the other cloud platforms currently available, but, unlike search, Google is way behind the competition.

To gain some early customers, Google is offering an enormous 100 petabytes (100 million gigabytes) of storage for free. To a single customer, that is enough to last a lifetime, but for a medium sized business it may last a few months.

Cloud Storage Nearline is focused on offering document, file and folder storage for all types of content. This makes it applicable to almost every company that does business on the web.

Google plans to offer 1GB for less than a penny, meaning customers are likely to save over £6,000 with the Amazon Web Services deal. The offer also extends to other cloud services, meaning any customer using cloud storage for a business may be entitled to some free storage.

That said, Google is actively promoting Cloud Storage Nearline against Amazon Web Services. It is pretty obvious the two companies would clash, since AWS is in first place by most metrics on users and income.

Even though Google has kept most of its business customer-to-customer, it has tried to expand into enterprise level storage, apps and security. Some of these have worked out, but Google is still an outsider compared to Microsoft, IBM, Cisco and HP, who have all invested billions in the enterprise market.

Amazon and Google are both well known for long-term goals that harm the short-term income of the company. Google might be willing to drop £6,000 for a new client, but we could see AWS offering even better terms to stay on as a customer and not leave for Google.

Photo Credit: wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock

Twitch.TV dumps Flash for HTML5

Publié: juillet 24, 2015, 1:33pm CEST par David Curry

twitch-tv

Twitch.TV is the most popular platform for professional and casual gamers to livestream, but it has always run slower than the competition. This is partly due to Twitch’s server support, but also due to the Flash video player it built being a clunky mess for users on slow connections.

This has been worked on over the years, but retaining Flash support is starting to become a burden for Twitch.TV, so much so the company has announced HTML5 and JavaScript support will be coming in the next few months.

Livestreaming will be the first destination for the new HTML5 player, which should bring improved performance and no need for a plug-in. Videos will be next on the list, although for now these will still require the Flash player.

Twitch.TV is actually quite late to the party, considering Google moved YouTube to HTML5 in 2014. Netflix is another streaming service planning on moving to HTML5, once Microsoft Silverlight expires in 2018.

Adobe Flash was already seen as inefficient, and the recent vulnerability leaks only add to the pressure to remove it. Facebook, Google and Apple have all called for its demise, accepting open-source alternatives.

Twitch.TV has continued its upward rise to the top of the food chain in the gaming world, but YouTube has plans to launch its own livestreaming service in the near future. YouTube is reportedly planning to invest in exclusive contracts with pro-gaming teams and players, alongside offering 60 frames per second and 2K playback.

This is what OnePlus Two looks like

Publié: juillet 23, 2015, 6:16pm CEST par David Curry

OnePlus Two Leak

OnePlus has been dropping hints on the OnePlus Two for a few months now, but one part we haven’t seen is the design. Chinese wireless regulator TENAA fixed that, by showing all four sides of the OnePlus Two.

We are not sure if TENAA meant to upload the images or if there was an issue internally. Usually, phone manufacturers make sure regulators don’t publicize images of the phone before release, a request usually granted.

The OnePlus Two looks similar to the OnePlus One, but features a rectangular home button similar to the Samsung Galaxy S6. The camera has also been moved further down on the back of the device, and looks to feature a two-tone flash.

The home button is undoubtedly for the fingerprint sensor OnePlus is adding to the device. The company has hyped up the sensor, claiming it is faster and more accurate than Apple’s Touch ID.

Other known features coming to the OnePlus Two include the Snapdragon 810 and USB Type-C charging support. OnePlus has also confirmed the device will cost no more than $450 at launch, but customers will need to wait on an invite list.

OnePlus plans to launch the new device at an event on July 27, with pre-orders potentially starting a few hours later. No word on when the invite system will be removed, or if OnePlus even intends to remove it this time. It took the OnePlus One a year to leave the invite system, now customers are able to buy it without waiting.

Nokia's HERE Maps goes to BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen

Publié: juillet 23, 2015, 1:01pm CEST par David Curry

Nokia buys Alcatel-Lucent for $16.6 billion, considers selling HERE

Nokia has agreed to a deal with a consortium of German car manufacturers for the sale of Here Maps, for $2.71 billion (£1.73 billion). The deal would see Here Maps turn into an open platform, which all car manufacturers can use for navigation and mapping inside vehicles.

Volkswagen (Audi’s parent company), Daimler (Mercedes-Benz parent company) and BMW are the main buyers. The three German manufacturers managed to worm their way out of paying upwards of $4 billion (£2.56 billion), which is what Nokia was apparently looking for when all of the interest started surging on Here Maps.

Sadly, Nokia failed to convince Uber, Baidu, Alibaba, Facebook and other tech companies to stick around. Uber and Baidu even looked at a split investment in Here Maps, with Uber calling in banks to help fund the bid, but it wasn’t enough.

We’re not sure if that is incompetence on Nokia’s side, not realizing the importance of Uber’s bid and how valuable Here Maps was, or if it wanted to side with the German consortium from the start.

Either way, the consortium is the only bidder left. It plans to offer Fiat Chrysler, Renault, Peugeot, Ford, Toyota and General Motors in on the deal, allowing them to use the mapping service for free without licensing issues.

This is a much easier solution for car manufacturers, who have to pay for mapping software installments inside cars. Having this license cost removed, while maintaining a strong mapping and navigation platform, could save the car companies quite a bit per year.

Nokia is selling the entire unit of Here Maps, meaning the car consortium will likely continue hiring developers to work on the platform. Keeping it maintained is necessary, although the goal of the open platform is to remove all costs currently associated with Here Maps.

We are not sure how open the platform will be to outsiders, like Baidu. The Chinese search giant currently uses Here Maps to power Baidu Maps outside of China, and Facebook recently switched to Here Maps to power its own mapping services.

Nokia has lost quite a lot of money on mapping, originally acquiring Navteq for $8.1 billion (£5.2 billion) in 2008. It has lost most of its value since then, only recently starting to compete with Google and Apple.

Photo credit: Joe Ravi / Shutterstock

Windows 10 Mobile supports cutting-edge hardware

Publié: juillet 23, 2015, 11:04am CEST par David Curry

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Microsoft has revealed the minimum hardware requirements for all of its different Windows 10 platforms, including Windows 10 Mobile.

For the most part, none of the requirements are shocking. Microsoft is making sure all of the low-end options are compatible with Windows 10 Mobile, while pushing to the limit with 2K display, 4GB of RAM and octa-core processor support.

Interestingly, Microsoft only added Qualcomm and Intel processor requirements. With the low-end focus from Windows Phone 8.1 vendors, we would expect Microsoft to at least acknowledge MediaTek and Nvidia processors.

Qualcomm is the only required provider on WiFi and SoC as well, giving it a lot of influence over the Windows 10 Mobile system. That doesn’t mean Microsoft will ban providers who do not abide with Qualcomm, but for companies looking to stick to the recommended set-up, it might hurt third-party providers.

Microsoft is maintaining a stranglehold over the button placement on Windows 10 Mobile, making sure the three buttons are in a familiar pattern. Unlike Android, where manufacturers can place whatever buttons they want, Windows 10 Mobile is a lot less flexible.

These requirements don’t mean a lot to anyone, considering the major thing Windows Phone 8.1 was missing was apps. It lacked the app store iOS and Android fielded, which in turn lead consumers to look at other options.

Microsoft has plans to launch its own mobile devices, both low and high-end, in the coming months. Other manufacturers have not commented on Windows 10 Mobile and whether they will be actively supporting the operating system.

Apple might ditch the 16 GB option from upcoming iPhone lineup

Publié: juillet 21, 2015, 2:30pm CEST par David Curry

16GB iPhones and iPhones quake in fear as Apple increases maximum app size to 4GB

When Apple announced the new storage sizes for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, a lot of customers were bummed that the 32GB option did not replace the 16GB option. It essentially forced anyone who used a fair share of apps to buy the 64GB model.

Thankfully, Apple might be planning to change this with the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. According to MIC Gadget, Apple will make the 32GB model the standard, with 64GB and 128GB for those that want to use all of the storage of music, movie and photo files.

Speaking to sources inside Foxconn, the 16GB sticker does not exist. It has been replaced with 32, 64 and 128GB stickers, which will be slapped on the models before getting shipped to Apple stores all around the world.

The news is contradictory to what Apple vice president of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, said a few months earlier. The VP claimed that due to cloud storage and music streaming, 16GB wasn’t that bad of an option for the iPhone.

That doesn’t mean Apple isn’t thinking of new ways to settle the differences. Perhaps we will see the 16GB model on the iPhone 6c, while the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus changes to 32GB minimum. Apple could add a price increase to the 6s and 6s Plus to compensate for the removal of the 16GB model.

The "s" model is normally where Apple experiments on the inside, while the iPhone 7 is likely to see major changes on the design and hardware. We expect an increase in performance and perhaps an increase in display resolution for the iPhone 6s may be the two big changes this year.

Photo credit: Bloomua / Shutterstock

Netflix gains 3.3 million new subscribers

Publié: juillet 17, 2015, 12:42pm CEST par David Curry

NetFlix keeps out foreign pirates with a VPN clamp down

Netflix has had another excellent quarter, announcing 3.3 million new subscribers in the past three months. The company’s revenue continues to grow with £1.05 billion this quarter, but investment in originals and advertising is taking a bite out of the profit, with only £16 million reported this quarter.

Even with the profit issue, Netflix’s stock went soaring once again. The video streaming service has managed an 100 percent rise in stock price in six months, and announced in the financial report a seven-to-one split in revenue, bringing the price back down to $100 (£64).

Netflix said it would continue to push into new territories and lower advertising to $1 billion (£640 million) in 2016. The company plans to continue investing in original content like Orange is the New Black and House of Cards.

When speaking on rapid expansion, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said he was fine grabbing the same amount of subscribers every quarter, rather than pushing too hard. He also said pricing was fine for the United States, although price increases could be on the way before the end of 2016.

In the United Kingdom, we have already seen a price increase from £6.99 to £7.49 per month for the two screens and HD package. The lowest price package remains at £5.99, although one screen and standard definition isn’t feasible for most families.

Netflix has plans to launch in India and China in 2016, although Hastings did not say anything about those plans in the quarterly report.

Photo credit: Sukharevskyy Dmytro (nevodka) / Shutterstock

Google will let you shop straight from search results

Publié: juillet 16, 2015, 8:07pm CEST par David Curry

Google is preparing to make shopping online even easier, by cutting out the middle-man and allowing customers to shop directly on the search engine.

Called Purchase on Google, a small list of retailers will allow Google to show their products on the search engine, with a Buy button for quick sales. Once the user clicks the buy button, it will take them to a mini-site with the look and feel of the real site, and advance straight to payment.

This should save a few seconds for every purchase, since the customer doesn’t need to click a shopping ad, which may take them to a slow or annoying site. It also strengthens Google’s hold on the shopping market, something sure to annoy Amazon.

Google is also focusing on deep linking adverts to a store. Say, for example, if an ad for an eBay auction is clicked, it will take the user to the eBay mobile app (if installed) rather than the eBay mobile website.

Deep linking is expected to become even more useful in Android M, with developers able to choose the destination when the user clicks a link. Having interlinking apps will remove the time the user spends choosing an option, although it does take away user preference.

Google will be sorting these products by review and other algorithms, meaning if the user types in "headphones for under £200" or "running shoes", it will check all of the available ads and sort them on how highly rated the product is, price and other factors.

Retailers are mostly happy with this change, considering Google’s own search engine might provide a lot more sales than their own storefront. It will also promote advertising on Google, since the retailer will be able to sell and promote a product.

Google did not give an exact date for a full launch, but will be bringing the feature to the search engine later this month.

HTC One (M8) will get Android M

Publié: juillet 16, 2015, 4:32pm CEST par David Curry

HTC One M8 Official

HTC is sticking with its promise to offer quick updates, with the vice president of product management Mo Versi confirming that the HTC One M8 will receive Android M.

Versi didn’t give any dates for the update, and it doesn’t look like HTC are sticking to the 90 day policy it promoted in 2014. The company had various issues fulfilling this promise, including carrier blocks in the United States and some parts of Europe.

HTC has already confirmed the Android M update would arrive on the HTC One M9 and One M9+. The HTC One (M8) is another smartphone that will receive the update, although due to it being older we may see the update come later.

We expect other devices like the recently released Desire range will receive Android M at some point, but the HTC One (M7) might be out of reach. Other device manufacturers like Sony and Samsung have announced Android M updates to most of their high-end smartphones.

Google is still testing the waters with Android M, through a developer preview available to millions of Android devs and users. It has not released a finalized date for launch, but it is expected to come before October this year.

Android M was announced at Google I/O last month, featuring various software upgrades for developers and manufacturers to utilize. The actual changes for users are smaller than Android Jelly Bean and Lollipop, but Google thinks with the increased focus on developers, it will see more productivity from third-party apps.

To see the full recap of the Android M update, check here.

Apple's App Store is host to 1.5 million titles

Publié: juillet 16, 2015, 1:50pm CEST par David Curry

Apple App Store 1.5 million apps

Apple’s App Store has passed another huge milestone, 1.5 million total apps.

It is an enormous amount of active projects on one platform, considering Apple’s Mac OS X store only has 25,000 apps. The only platform to rival iOS is Android, which has a large app library but lower revenue.

The 1.5 million apps are split between iPhone and iPad:

1,008,031 iPhone apps
479,857 iPad apps

Those iPad apps are made specifically for the larger display, showing the investment in the iPad’s software has paid off. Games, business and professional applications have become extremely popular on the iPad, using the extra real estate.

Over half of all iPhone apps work on the iPad, with 544,716 universal apps on the iOS App Store. There is no stat for how many iPhone apps are also available on Android or Windows Phone, but we would expect the former to be extremely high.

Those 1.5 million apps have been downloaded over three billion times.

Over one million apps have been removed from the App Store, either by Apple or by the developer, since 2012. Most of these are apps that were not updated to recent versions of iOS, either due to the developer giving up or the studio folding.

That is a bit of a worrying stat, considering Apple’s review process boots out a lot of the poor quality apps. It means over a quarter of all app developers that created an app for iOS have not been able to keep it updated.

Apple has paid out over £13 billion to app developers since 2008, with over half of that amount sent in the past 12 months. The company is planning to expand into other sectors with the launch of Apple Watch and Apple Pay, offering new opportunities for developers.

Samsung announces Galaxy A8 Android smartphone

Publié: juillet 15, 2015, 4:19pm CEST par David Curry

Samsung Galaxy A8

Samsung has announced the Galaxy A8, a continuation on the A series of smartphones, in China.

The Galaxy A8 features a super-thin design, measuring at 5.9mm, alongside a 5.7-inch 1920 x 1080 display. Like other devices in the A series, Samsung has added a metallic frame to the device.

Internally, the Galaxy A8 runs on a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB or 32GB of internal storage (with microSD expansion) and a 3,050 mAh battery. Samsung has added a 16MP rear camera and 5MP front camera.

The home button on the front of the Galaxy A8 also acts as a fingerprint sensor, allowing the user to unlock the device and make payments. Samsung has not announced any partnerships in China, although we expect it will work with some of the contactless payment providers.

Software wise the Galaxy A8 runs Android Lollipop 5.1.1 out of the box, with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. Since it launched in China, quite a few of the Google Play apps are banned, including the Google Play Store.

Samsung has not made any further announcements regarding the Galaxy A8, so it seems China is the only region receiving the phablet. It is surprising that Samsung would prioritize China, where it has lost all recognition, instead of South Korea, Europe or the US.

Apple owns the smartphone market

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 9:24am CEST par David Curry

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There are over 1,000 smartphone manufacturers in the world, but Apple is still taking the lion’s share of profit from the smartphone industry. A report from Canaccord Genuity claims Apple took 92 percent of all profit in Q1 2015, with Samsung the only other manufacturer hitting 15 percent profit.

This is a big worry for the industry as a whole and shows how volatile the smartphone business is for new and old manufacturers. The report does not include private companies, meaning upstarts like Xiaomi and Micromax -- two of the most interesting manufacturers -- are not relevant in the discussion.

Lenovo, Huawei, BlackBerry, Microsoft and HTC have all failed to reach profitability on the mobile front, either due to lack of sales or lack of profit per unit. Apple sells each iPhone at $624 (£401) average, while Android devices have an average sale price of $185 (£119).

Of course, the average sale price differentiates depending on the manufacturer, but for the most part Android partners are incapable of matching the price Apple is hitting with the iPhone, yet cannot match Xiaomi or Micromax on low cost Android devices.

This puts manufacturers like HTC, Lenovo and Huawei in an awkward middle ground position, where they’re not seen as premium brands like Apple or cheap brands like Xiaomi or Micromax.

Apple’s lead on the smartphone industry continues to grow, with Samsung failing to estimate sales for the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge leading to a rather poor second quarter. The Cupertino-based company managed to hit 74 million iPhone sales in the first quarter, beating the entire Samsung mobile range in overall sales.

Depending on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus' success, we may see another year of Apple’s complete dominance, or a slight downturn in the company’s fortune. The growing private companies in the East also spell a bit of danger for Apple, which cannot match their low prices.

Image Credit: komar_off / Shutterstock

Blame confused consumers for Xbox Music rebranding

Publié: juillet 8, 2015, 12:52pm CEST par David Curry

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Microsoft recently rebranded its music service from Xbox Music to Groove Music, and the reason is pretty simple: consumer confusion.

In a tweet earlier this week, Microsoft’s corporate VP for operating systems Joe Belfiore said "Lots of people were saying 'I don’t have an Xbox, why would I use Xbox Music?'".

It’s easy to see why consumers would be confused, with the Xbox brand focused on gaming for over a decade. That said, Sony is using the same logic with PlayStation, with a music, TV and movie streaming services all available under the brand.

Microsoft recently dropped the Xbox moniker from the Video app as well, shoving the Xbox brand back into gaming-only. Groove will be its own brand, similar to Zune, focused directly on music.

Whether this has any effect on the success of Microsoft’s music streaming service, we are still unsure. Groove is certainly more... groovy than Xbox Music, but without the brand recognition and lack of advertising, we cannot see how Microsoft plans to win over customers.

Add to that the fact Microsoft has to compete against Spotify, Rdio, Tidal, Google Play All Access and Apple Music, it is going to be a tough battle. Microsoft needs to have the same investment Apple is putting into its own music streaming service, with Internet radio, social networking and curated playlists, to stand a chance.

The problem is Microsoft does not see music as its core market, meaning it is likely to receive little to no advertising, like Zune.

Image credit: Prazis/Shutterstock

Facebook in talks with music labels

Publié: juillet 4, 2015, 2:23am CEST par David Curry

Facebook at Work unleashed to cater for the office

Social giant Facebook has been in talks with music labels for the past few months, although nobody is quite sure what the company is planning.

Reports say Facebook has met with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, three of the big music licensing labels. Since this doesn’t seem to involve indie labels, we can assume it isn’t a music streaming deal, but instead a licensing and content protection deal.

This would most likely mean Facebook is planning some big changes on its video service, allowing music licensing owners to have more control over video. A system similar to YouTube’s content ID, along with a VEVO channel for each artist, would be the best way to uproot any channels trying to upload music videos for a profit.

Facebook’s video platform has made huge steps in the past two years, going from near nonexistent to over 15 percent of all video watched on the web. The platform still lacks any formatting, however, meaning most videos are viewed on the News Feed by friends liking or sharing; not by subscribing and following the channel.

The issue with Facebook going down YouTube’s route is the social network recently dropped the amount of influence Pages have on the News Feed. The company will either have to re-emphasize Pages and channels or make liked channels more influential.

Facebook has still not revealed plans to anyone outside of the organization, but we should expect a mobile focus and potentially a new application for video channels.

Prince pulling music from popular streaming services

Publié: juillet 3, 2015, 9:26am CEST par David Curry

prince-2014 streaming music

One of the most prominent skeptics of digital music, Prince has surprisingly been off the radar on the whole music streaming debate, until now.

The Minneapolis sound pioneer removed all of his songs from Deezer, Spotify, Rdio and Apple Music earlier this week, while keeping music on Google Play and Tidal.

It is a weird selection of services, but, for all we know, it might be taking a little longer to have the tracks removed from the remaining services.

This is a direct removal from Prince’s publisher, Warner Bros. It is the first attack at music streaming, although Prince has been venomously removing any mentions of his songs off YouTube and other free to listen music sites for a long time.

For Spotify, it is yet another removal of content from the service. Tidal’s co-founders, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Jay-Z, Kanye West and several artists from The Beggars Group, continue to keep music off the service. Rdio faces similar oppression from artists that don’t appreciate the freemium model.

Apple Music has not run into the same problems, winning over indie labels and Taylor Swift with the 180 u-turn on paying artists in the free trial period. Prince is one of the only artists keeping music off Apple Music, which may indirectly hurt iTunes revenue.

Music streaming is starting to become embraced by more artists, who see the change as inevitable. Some artists, like Taylor Swift and Jay Z, are trying to fight some of the features, but it is hard to make customers turn away from streaming altogether.

YouTube getting 60fps playback on Android, iOS

Publié: juillet 2, 2015, 11:26am CEST par David Curry

YouTube My Break

Google has been steadily updating YouTube to run high frame-rate (HFR) video, and the silky smooth 60 frames per second is coming to YouTube's iOS and Android mobile apps this month.

HFR was originally added to YouTube in October last year, allowing video game channels to stream videos at 720p 60fps or 1080p 60fps. The difference in the frame rate was quite astounding, compared to frame rate difference in a video game.

YouTube started pushing HFR on its streaming platform in May this year, allowing video streamers to stick at a high frame-rate. It is not a surprise iOS and Android received the update a few months later, considering the size of mobile viewership on YouTube.

The YouTube Gaming platform will undoubtedly feature the same high frame-rate when it launches in the summer.

Google has been slow to react to the growing gaming community on YouTube, instead trying to diversify attention and grow niche brands. The YouTube Gaming platform appears to be focused on eSports and professional gamers, a direct competitor to Twitch.TV.

Whether adding 60fps is enough to win over the gaming community is another matter. YouTube still has a poor reputation due to its DMCA policy, allowing game developers upset with criticism to take down all videos showing gameplay.

The rather sluggish performance in other areas of YouTube, like running high-resolution video without taking up a huge amount of bandwidth, is also a problem. Google may need to optimize its entire back-end for YouTube Gaming, to make sure the streaming site doesn’t falter for users on lower speed connections.

Netflix targeting 70 million subscribers

Publié: juillet 1, 2015, 8:52pm CEST par David Curry

NetFlix keeps out foreign pirates with a VPN clamp down

Netflix wants to reach 70 million subscribers by the end of 2015, adding an additional 13 million in 12 months. The ambitious goal follows several launches in Western Europe and South America, alongside Netflix’s saturation in the United States.

In January, Netflix reported 57 million subscribers in an investor’s call. Most of the subscribers, a large 43 million, are based in the US. The second largest region is the United Kingdom, where Netflix has five million subscribers.

Other countries like Canada, Brazil and Mexico are seeing strong results.

Asia is still a non factor in terms of subscribers, but with a planned launch in India next year, alongside talks to launch in China, Netflix is preparing to hit two of the largest countries in the world in terms of eyeballs.

Netflix might already have some fans in China, using VPNs and proxies to watch TV shows and movies. The company does not want to acknowledge these subscribers however, stating it does not have any users in China.

Hitting 70 million worldwide would put Netflix in the mix with big cable TV providers like HBO, AMC, CBS, BBC and NBC, all offering shows that are watched by tens of millions worldwide.

Even though Netflix does not have a hit show at the same scale of Game of Thrones, House of Cards and Orange is the New Black are both Internet sensations. It is not hard to see why millions are willing to pay £7.49 per month, when other services are charging double -- especially in the US -- to watch similar high quality content.

Netflix does have a problem with content outside the US, but CEO Reed Hastings is looking into a global standard for licensing from third-party studios. This would remove the current barrier forcing some users to change geo-location or use a VPN.

Photo credit: Sukharevskyy Dmytro (nevodka) / Shutterstock

Samsung technology will double battery life

Publié: juin 30, 2015, 10:14pm CEST par David Curry

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Samsung's flagship devices already have great battery life, hitting well over 10 hours of usage without a problem, but the company wants to double the numbers with a new technology being worked on in-house.

The prototype adds a graphene layer on top of silicon anodes, adding 1.8 to 1.5 times greater density to the battery. In early tests with large scale batteries, Samsung is noting double the amount of life.

"The graphene layers anchored onto the silicon surface accommodate the volume expansion of silicon via a sliding process between adjacent graphene layers. When paired with a commercial lithium cobalt oxide cathode, the silicon carbide-free graphene coating allows the full cell to reach volumetric energy densities of 972 and 700 Wh l−1 at first and 200th cycle, respectively, 1.8 and 1.5 times higher than those of current commercial lithium-ion batteries", writes Nature Journal.

Samsung's high-end Galaxy Note 4 already averages around 18 hours battery life, making it a big seller in the productivity market. Even the smaller Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge hit 11 hours on average, three more hours than Apple’s iPhone 6.

Considering one of the most wanted features on modern smartphones is a killer battery, Samsung might be onto something with this new technology. It is not only useful for smartphones however, with Samsung’s ambitions stretching into electric cars.

Samsung has already partnered up with leading automotive suppliers to build batteries for electric cars, and this new technology might woo big electric car fans like Tesla Motors and Toyota -- although Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been critical of "battery innovations" in the past.

There was no planned smartphone Samsung will test the innovation out on first, meaning it could be a few years before double the life is available.

By that time, we might need double the life to sustain the 4K screens bleeding normal smartphone batteries dry.

When in Istanbul, Uber lets you hail a boat

Publié: juin 30, 2015, 2:51pm CEST par David Curry

UberBOAT Istambul

Uber is planning to add boats to its growing list of travel services, which now include all variety of cars alongside a growing delivery service for merchants and food.

Named UberBOAT, the service will be available first in Istanbul, Turkey. The city is famous for the Bosphorus, the connection between Asia and Europe, split by a strait.

Uber is partnering with luxury sea transport company Navette to kickstart the travel option, but has plans to add other companies and destinations in the near future. Venice is probably the most alluring city.

The Uber app uses geo-location to understand if the user is near the seaside, and will show the UberBOAT if there is one nearby. The captain of the boat will call to confirm the ride, and arrive at a designated location.

It offers a traffic free route for those wanting to travel up or down the Bosphorus, especially enticing for tourists. There are only five routes available at the moment, stretching across the Bosphorus.

Prices are quite expensive, £150 for a 35 minute trip from Kabataş to Ataköy, the longest trip. Shorter trips across the Bosphorus are available for under £20, for those wanting to cross the strait without going over the Bosphorus bridge.

Uber has not announced plans for any further expansion outside of Istanbul.

Google introduces Cloud Source Repositories -- new GitHub rival

Publié: juin 26, 2015, 4:51pm CEST par David Curry

Google Cloud Source Repositories

Google closed its own project hosting site, named Google Code, earlier this year, in a move that allowed GitHub and Bitbucket to become the dominant platforms. The move away from project hosting only lasted a few months, with a new place called Cloud Source Repositories now available on the Google Cloud Platform.

Part of Google’s ever growing line of services on the cloud platform, Cloud Source Repositories allows users and teams to upload, build and deploy applications for the web and mobile.

It is also part of Google’s plan to be in every step of the development, creating IDE programs like Android Studio to write the code, Cloud Source Repositories to edit and upload the code and its own cloud platform to host the finalized application.

This should give Google more fight against the current market leader, Amazon Web Services. That said, Amazon launched a similar project hosting platform for AWS in November 2014, revealing a platform for developers to build the code before deploying.

Microsoft also offers a Virtual Studio Online with unlimited service for customers, working on the Azure cloud platform. It seems all of the major cloud platform providers are pushing for project hosting programs to keep programmers integrated.

Google didn’t make any announcements of this project, noticed by VentureBeat very recently. It has been available for a month now, but Google decided not to share this information with any media outlet, perhaps due to the recent removal of Google Code.

Even though Github is still far and away the most prominent project hosting site, with a valuation of $2 billion (£1.27 billion) as it attempts to expand into Europe. The problem for Github is it’s surrounded on all sides by companies willing to lose a ton of money to win customers, similar to Dropbox’s cloud storage issue.

Sony's ultra-thin 4K TVs go on sale in July

Publié: juin 23, 2015, 11:50am CEST par David Curry

Sony's ultra-slim 4K TV

Sony delayed the launch of its wafer-thin 4K TVs in May, but has officially penned the launch month for July. The three models, all running Android TV, are ahead of the curve in terms of design.

Take the 55-inch model for example, measuring at 4.7 mm at the thickest screen point. That is thinner than the iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy S6 and the thinnest display on the market.

There are two other models, 65-inch and 75-inch, all featuring 4K displays with Sony’s X1 image processor boosting the color depth and accuracy. Similar to most Sony TVs, the new models feature a very minimalist design.

Google’s new Android TV platform will power the Sony TVs, allowing a wide range of media content, games and apps. Sony plans to make Android TV the default platform for all of its smart TVs, after the failure of the Google TV platform.

Prices for the UK are still unreleased. In the US, the 55-inch model will cost $2,499 (£1,600), the 65-inch model will cost $2,999 (£1,900) and the top-end 75-inch model will cost $3,999 (£2,500).

Sony also plans to add PlayStation Now functionality on the Sony TVs, allowing gamers to play PlayStation games on the TV without owning a PS3 or PS4. This feature is planned to launch sometime in the summer, although no specific date is set.

Nokia will re-enter the smartphone market in 2016

Publié: juin 22, 2015, 9:26am CEST par David Curry

Nokia buys Alcatel-Lucent for $16.6 billion, considers selling HERE

Finnish navigation and mapping giant Nokia is planning a return to the mobile industry in 2016, but it will not manufacture any smartphones.

Instead, CEO Rajeev Suri plans to find partners capable of working on the manufacturing and distribution parts, while it designs and licenses its brand name.

Nokia denied plans to return to the mobile industry a few months back, but this new interview from Suri shows it has some plans for a return, even if it’s not with the factories.

Nokia has already shown this model works, with the launch of the N1 tablet in China. It is manufactured and distributed by Foxconn and a Taiwanese company, both taking the Nokia brand name for solidarity in the extremely competitive Chinese market.

Even though the Nokia brand might hold little appeal to customers in the West, in South-East Asia it still manages a good amount of feature phone sales. Of course, with the Microsoft acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services division, all those profits go directly to Redmond.

Before the Microsoft acquisition, Nokia was in a bad state due to the fallout from the iPhone growth and the loyalty to Windows Phone. Both were poor management decisions by Stephen Elon, the previous CEO of Nokia, who received a cushty reward, after sinking the ship.

That said, Nokia still is one of the largest feature phone brands and there are some that say Android adoption in 2010 would have kept Nokia above water. We cannot know for certain, but there was an appeal for a Nokia-made Android handset in 2013.

The Nokia smartphone that does arrive in 2016 will most likely not be manufactured by a Western company, unless one of the less well known mobile companies in Spain, Italy or Brazil plan on picking up the brand license and design.

We expect the phone will feature Android and should be priced similar to the N1, around the mid-range market with upper market specifications. Suri did not reveal any potential partners for this project.

Nokia is currently attempting to sell its Here Maps division for £2.5 billion, with a handful of investors including Uber, Baidu, Facebook and a consortium of German car manufacturers interested in the division. The division sale will help Nokia afford the £10.5 billion acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, which would add a new mobile division to the company.

Photo credit: Joe Ravi / Shutterstock

Fallout Shelter now more popular than Candy Crush Saga on iOS

Publié: juin 19, 2015, 8:46pm CEST par David Curry

Photo-18-06-2015-17-15-32-900x506

Bethesda Softworks' first mobile game, Fallout Shelter, was announced at E3 2015 alongside the full gameplay trailer and release date for Fallout 4. When speaking about the game, Bethesda’s game director Todd Howard said it wasn’t meant to be a microtransaction mess, but it looks like people are spending a lot of money on it anyway.

The free mobile game involves building a vault and managing the people inside the vault, assigning them tasks. Fallout Shelter generates revenue through its Lunchbox microtransactions, gifting players four cards with at least one rare.

These cards can be anything from 50 water, 100 electricity (water, electricity and food are needed to keep the vault running) a new weapon or a new vault dweller with higher SPECIAL levels.

It seems like a lot of people are buying these lunchboxes, since Fallout Shelter has surpassed Candy Crush Saga on 'Highest Grossing'. It is also ahead of Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram on the 'Most Popular' chart on the iOS App Store.

Candy Crush Saga made £1.2 million per day in Q1 2015, although that is a game available on Facebook, Android and a host of other platforms. Fallout Shelter is only available on iPhone and iPad for the time being, with a planned Android launch in the next few months.

Still, in order to surpass all of these massive apps, Fallout Shelter must be gaining a lot of new players. It speaks of the success of the Fallout brand and Bethesda not wasting mobile talent on a microtransaction filled mess.

DuckDuckGo sees 600 percent growth off the back of NSA surveillance fears

Publié: juin 19, 2015, 8:31am CEST par David Curry

duckduckgo-900x506

For all those that say Edward Snowden’s leaks didn’t change public opinion on surveillance, "We’ve grown 600 percent since the surveillance revelations started two years ago", said DuckDuckGo CEO Gabe Weinberg on CNBC.

DuckDuckGo, for those unfamiliar, is a search engine that does not track users. To make money, it simply allows advertisers to bid on keyword search like 'cars', 'insurance', similar to what Google did in the early days.

Even though DuckDuckGo has less than one percent market share, Weinberg claimed it was doing three billion searches a year, a huge number showing the size of search.

The growth does not push Weinberg to think about new advertising opportunities, in the interview he claimed keyword advertising search is all DuckDuckGo needs to be successful in the long term, even if they scale up employees.

Google and Facebook both harvest user information for all types of advertising, including location, contextual, photographic, social and video. These type of ads tend to be sold for more than typical keyword searches, since they hit a much more relevant target audience.

The NSA surveillance has struck a chord with American citizens, who clearly don’t like the idea of having their Internet browsing history. In the UK, people seem more relaxed to the idea of the GCHQ harvesting data from companies like Facebook, Google and Yahoo.

Game of Thrones season finale sets new piracy records

Publié: juin 17, 2015, 10:37am CEST par David Curry

Game of Thrones Jon Snow

The season finale of Game of Thrones managed to break piracy records once again, despite HBO clamping down on pirates in Canada and the UK.

An estimated 1.5 million downloads of the tenth episode happened during the first eight hours, with a further five million since. It is expected to rise to over 10 million by the end of the week, as latecomers catch up.

The most popular countries for torrenting Game of Thrones appear to be the US, UK, Canada and India. 480p torrents continue to the most popular, with a lot of viewers watching on streaming sites like Popcorn Time.

HBO has distanced itself from comments made by executives earlier in the show’s history, promoting piracy. HBO programming chief Michael Lombardo even claimed the high piracy rate is a compliment and leads to more DVD sales and even more subscriptions in the long term.

This is most likely due to HBO Now and the launch of Game of Thrones worldwide in more than 40 countries within the same week. In the UK, Now TV is the only subscription service offering Game of Thrones content, with Sky owning the cable rights through Sky Atlantic.

The large investment will have an impact on DVD sales, if viewers in Europe and Asia have already watched the series. HBO has not released its own figures on viewership worldwide, hopefully it is higher than last year given the availability of Game of Thrones in 2015.

The fifth season featured some of the largest turns away from the A Song of Ice and Fire books, which Game of Thrones is based off. George R.R. Martin has been working hard to publish the sixth book in the series, The Winds of Winter, before season six airs in summer 2016.

These plot changes from the book have seen mix reactions, with the Dornish plot heavily criticised due to poor choreography in the fighting scenes and acting that doesn’t make sense due to the merger of several characters into one.

The last episode had several characters in the same position they are in A Dance With Dragons, meaning if Martin does not release The Winds of Winter before season 6, book readers will be in for some massive spoilers.

Netflix increases subscription cost in UK

Publié: juin 12, 2015, 12:02pm CEST par David Curry

NetFlix keeps out foreign pirates with a VPN clamp down

Video streaming service Netflix has announced another price increase to its monthly subscription, now costing £7.49 per month to watch House of Cards, Better Call Saul and other favorites in the UK.

The price increase is the second in the company’s history. It bumped the price up from the original £5.99 to £6.99 two years ago, following an expansion in Netflix Originals.

Netflix owners already subscribed will not receive the price increase until June 2016.

The UK is one of Netflix’s top priorities when it comes to content, given its large user-base. Second to the US, Netflix has been acquiring a whole host of local TV licenses and movie rights, alongside launching its original series in the region.

In the UK, Netflix competes against Amazon Instant Prime and Now TV, the two other major streaming services. Instant Video hasn’t been getting much attention, but Now TV’s Game of Thrones on-demand content has brought in a few million subscribers.

Netflix has plans to introduce a global version of its current platform in the next few years, if it can acquire global licenses from content creators in the US. This global platform will hopefully slow down the growth in piracy online.

Until that time, Netflix will continue to buy new shows from the BBC, ITV and other copyright holders.

Photo credit: Sukharevskyy Dmytro (nevodka) / Shutterstock

iOS 9 users will be able to block ads

Publié: juin 12, 2015, 9:18am CEST par David Curry

no ads

The next update to Apple’s mobile web browser Safari will include a way to block annoying ads, working similar to AdBlock Plus on desktop browsers.

Under the banner of user experience, Apple promoted the new loading system capable of blocking JavaScript, cookies and even images from displaying. The system came to the desktop version of Safari first. Users will be able to opt-in to this experience on iOS 9.

Even though this is a bummer for content creators, Apple might create a whitelist for users to select trusted websites. It might also offer its own whitelist, compiled of sites without annoying ads that take over the screen or move to another tab.

Those ads are becoming less and less prominent on the web, as integrated video and contextual adverts become more prominent. Some websites are also building mobile apps and exploring new payment methods through an online subscription or Patreon.

Apple does not need adverts on Safari, but it does work with advertisers and developers for banner ads on mobile apps. The Safari ad blocking system indirectly hurts Google though, who still makes most of its revenue through search and AdSense adverts.

AdBlock already takes around 20 to 40 percent of content creators revenue, if they use Google AdSense. For creators that gain a lot of traction on mobile, things could get worse later this year.

Apple threw a lot of punches Google’s way at WWDC, claiming it was wrong to use user’s email addresses and searches for advertising gain. Even though Apple does work with advertisers on mobile app ads, it tends not to bring that up at conferences.

Photo Credit: Quka/Shutterstock

London cyclists will have dedicated traffic lights

Publié: juin 8, 2015, 3:48pm CEST par David Curry

People cycling through London

London is looking for new ways to tackle city congestion. Instead of focusing on cars, a new scheme would allow cyclists to move around the city at a faster pace.

The plan, created by Transport for London, adds new sensors to traffic lights. These sensors can keep the lights green for large waves of cyclists for longer, allowing bike riders to commute around the city without holding up regular traffic.

Traffic lights will be outfitted with radar and thermal sensors, capable of tracking groups of cyclists and the flow of traffic, before making a decision on whether the lights should stay green for longer.

TfL is testing the system on one of London’s Cycle Superhighways. Plans to launch the system on three other highways are in place, but London has still not confirmed whether it will roll out the system across all roads in London.

Having a smarter traffic system would allow less congestion inside London, a major issue for the city that Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, has been trying to tackle for years.

Cyclists are becoming a more common sight in London and more paths for commuters is making it safe, but there are still some cracks in the system. For one, some London streets still lack basic safety features like cycling paths.

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Uber's adding 'hundreds of thousands' of new drivers monthly

Publié: juin 5, 2015, 4:17pm CEST par David Curry

Uber taxi

Uber made some impressive announcements at its San Francisco headquarters for the fifth anniversary of the mobile taxi service. Chief executive Travis Kalanick revealed one million drivers have worked on Uber and it is adding "hundreds of thousands" of new drivers every month.

The ramp on Uber’s growth is massive, steadily moving upward from 2010 to 2013 and escalating in 2013 and 2014 to massive heights. It has 26,000 active drivers in New York, more than the entire Medallion workforce and its San Francisco drivers make more revenue than the entire taxi industry in the city.

It is not just the United States where Uber is popular. In London, Uber has over 15,000 drivers contracted. In Paris, 10,000 taxi drivers use the mobile app to earn money. Even in Chengdu, China, where Uber controls a measly five percent of the market, 22,000 drivers work on the platform.

Global investment will power Uber to a higher valuation, as it looks to settle issues in India and South Korea. Uber faces challenges in all parts of the world as regulatory offices start to clamp down on mobile taxi services, alongside accusations of unfair pricing, rape charges against drivers and poor business practices from executives.

Even with the issues surrounding Uber, it is hard to argue against the overwhelming success of the platform over the past two years. Uber has risen in valuation from $35 to $50 billion (£22 billion to £33 billion) in under a year, bolstered by movements in other delivery markets.

Uber plans to create a new merchant delivery service and is expanding its food delivery service to target other cities. The inclusion of front door delivery could put rival services out of business, since Uber can afford to charge less for delivery to both the consumer and merchant.

The planned IPO will not be coming this year however. Kalanick made no mention of going public and rumors say Uber will start filing for a NYSE IPO in early 2016.

Google+ is slowly being killed

Publié: juin 3, 2015, 2:31pm CEST par David Curry

Google+ logo

After three years of hard pushing, Google has accepted the failure of Google+ and is starting to dismantle the overbearing social network.

Google’s service no longer directly links to users' Google+ profile, instead the forename and surname takes over as a placeholder, although it is unclickable. Google has not said what it plans to add in Google+' place.

Even though Google claims Google+ is still alive, the lack of announcements at Google I/O earlier this week speaks volumes as to how much Google cares about its social network, which turned out to be a horrible experiment.

Not only did it fail to win over the millions of fans Google wanted it to, it became the laughing stock of social; a barren wasteland making even MySpace and Bebo look active.

Part of the issue with Google+ was the company’s own overbearing attitude, forcing users to submit. It started forcing the Google+ profile instead of the YouTube account, followed by influencing bloggers and news networks to integrate Google+ or face lower rankings on the most prominent search engine.

The stats of Google+ suggest great success, with over 500 million users, but only a small amount are active and it lacks the appeal of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other networks that have genuine people actively socializing.

Google+ will remain on the services page, but its prominence is wearing following the launch of new services to occupy the nine blocks. How long until Google+ goes the way of Orkut, Reader and other services that didn’t make the cut?

Chrome VPN service Hola allegedly boosts revenues by facilitating DDoS attacks

Publié: juin 1, 2015, 2:36pm CEST par David Curry

moneydoe

Popular peer-to-peer VPN service Hola has become one of the most popular extensions for web users for its free and easy-to-use service, but it looks like the company has been using bandwidth from users for illegal DDoS attacks, amongst other things.

Image board 8chan first reported multiple DDoS attack from Hola, claiming it used an affiliated Luminati network to send the huge traffic spikes. DDoS attacks have been a frequent issue for 8chan, as it struggles to build reliable servers and infrastructure.

Utilizing the power of nine million users, Hola was able to create a botnet strong enough to take down most websites. Even though Hola claims stealing bandwidth from users to sell to others is perfectly legal, millions are outraged at what is being done with their own network.

Hola claims Luminati has the same power as any other VPN network, but other VPNs tend not to use user networks to power the VPN. Instead, VPNs normally set up dedicated servers worldwide, which users jump on to avoid geo-location blocks.

In order for users to remove the peer-to-peer VPN service, they have to pay $5 per month. Hola has always been rather secretive when it comes to its paid model and even more secretive with what it does with free user’s bandwidth.

Seeing the massive growth in Hola over the past few years, it is clear users crave a reliable VPN service that is free. The issue is for a VPN service to be free, it needs another business model.

Most free VPN services adopt the advertising model, slapping ads all over Google Search. Hola found another way around it, by selling user’s bandwidth to its other VPN service, something we doubt any user is happy to hear.

Photo Credit: Pavel L Photo and Video / Shutterstock

Microsoft could launch two high-end Windows 10 Mobile phones

Publié: mai 29, 2015, 8:12am CEST par David Curry

Microsoft launches Windows 10 Technical Preview for Phones

Considering the apprehension from smartphone manufacturers on Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft is planning two smartphones quick out the gate to keep customers and developers interested in the platform.

Codenamed the Talkman and Cityman, the two devices will feature aluminum edges with removable polycarbonate backs. Following the color scheme of past Lumia devices, both will come in various vibrant color options, which can be switched in and out.

The Talkman will be the smaller of the two with a 5.2-inch QHD display, alongside the Snapdragon 808 hexa-core CPU, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage with room for extra expandable storage via a microSD slot and 3,000mAh removable battery.

It will also feature a 20MP camera on the back and a 5MP camera on the front. Interestingly another German report claims Microsoft will add a USB Type-C port, allowing for fast charging and USB support, alongside a range of other supported connectors.

This would be a first for mobiles, even though talk of USB Type-C becoming the common port for all mobiles has been floating around since Apple introduced the new technology with its 12-inch MacBook.

The Cityman sports a larger 5.7-inch QHD display, alongside Qualcomm’s faster Snapdragon 810 octa-core CPU and similar internals to the Talkman. The battery has been beefed up to 3,300mAh and it features the same USB Type-C support.

These are two impressive devices, perfect to kickstart the Windows 10 Mobile launch. The question is will Microsoft (previously Nokia) be the only contender on the Windows Phone platform? Or will others like Samsung, HTC and LG offer new smartphones with unique features unavailable on Android?

Google might launch two new Nexus phones in 2015, but no tablet

Publié: mai 27, 2015, 1:45pm CEST par David Curry

Nexus 6 Back

Google revealed lower revenue from its Nexus devices last year, putting some pressure on the low-cost, high performance program’s future. Fortunately, it sounds like Google is planning to give the Nexus smartphone another try in 2015, according to Android Police.

Instead of having a single mobile, Google is planning two Nexus devices this year. One will feature a 5.2-inch display, the other a 5.7-inch display. LG will work on the smaller device, while Huawei will take its first role in the Nexus program with the 5.7-inch model.

Both will run Android M, Google’s newest operating system update. Android M should be announced at Google I/O this week, alongside a few other new apps and updates.

The 5.2-inch device, codenamed the LG Bullhead, will feature a similar design to the Nexus 5. LG might add some of its changes from the G3 onto the Nexus 7, meaning we might see multi-colored leather backs or super-thin bezels. It should feature a low-cost price of £299 to £399 off contract, to keep customers interested.

Huawei’s Nexus device will be more like the Nexus 6, featuring a larger screen and better performance. It will still come cheaper than the Galaxy Note 5 and other phablets, but we expect it to be in short supply similar to most of Google’s devices.

No word on when Google plan to announce the two Nexus smartphones. We doubt Google I/O will be the place, considering for the past two years the event has been heavily software focused.

Google also has no plans to continue the Nexus tablet line, and will keep the Nexus 9 as the flagship product in 2015.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox

Google Play hosts over 30 malicious Minecraft apps

Publié: mai 26, 2015, 9:25am CEST par David Curry

virus malware infection mobile

Malware is still a worry on the Google Play store, even though the rate of malware is dropping to its lowest levels since the inception of the store in 2008.

One of the easiest ways to push malicious apps is by masquerading them under popular names, in this case Minecraft. Guides, tutorials, tricks and other apps would offer help, but quickly turn into a user’s worst nightmare with malware and adware spam.

Over 30 apps have been spotted using the Minecraft name, but instead of adding Minecraft content the creators would try and trick users into thinking they had malware issues. The user would be directed to sign up for "premium SMS anti-virus updates", costing £4 per week.

The 33 apps were scanned and had between 660,000 and 2,800,000 downloads. Some of the apps received over 500,000 downloads alone, showing the severity of the malware issue when it comes to app masquerading.

Most of these apps didn’t start out this way, originally offering low quality information to Minecraft fans in an attempt to bait them in. Once downloaded, the app would ask to be updated, and then add the anti-virus malware.

If the user is confident the app is legitimate, he/she is more likely to subscribe to the SMS anti-virus updates. It is not clear how many users actually paid for the premium service, although we wouldn’t be surprised to see less than 10,000.

Google has fought back on claims Android is still a cesspit for malware and bugs, claiming its automated service Bouncer removes most of the malware, and its own human checking makes sure all other malicious content is removed.

The issue is updates, Google does not monitor app updates with the same scrutiny Apple’s iOS team does, meaning some malicious content can slip through the cracks from time to time.

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Microsoft plans to purchase leading to-do service Wunderlist

Publié: mai 25, 2015, 3:43pm CEST par David Curry

Microsoft is planning to acquire German application developer 6wunderkinder, the team behind Wunderlist, for around $250 million (£161 million).

It is another move by Microsoft for a small development studio, following the acquisition of New York-based calendar developers Sunrise and email startup Acompli.

Wunderlist is a task management service, capable of serving almost every need from the most personal tasks to business relations. The great thing about Wunderlist, compared to other task managers, is it works on every relevant platform.

6wunderkinder has been working on Wunderlist for a good few years, winning an award in 2013 on the Mac App Store for "Best of 2013", alongside other awards and is featured on Windows Phone, iOS and Android.

Wunderlist integrates heavily with the Sunrise calendar, meaning the pickup could be used in tandem with Sunrise for Microsoft’s new Outlook, calendar and Bing applications.

It is not clear if Microsoft is on this startup binge for talent or features. Wunderlist and Sunrise are both quite popular, but neither offer any major advances in task management or calendar services that are not available on other apps.

An American corporation acquiring a German startup might be harder than Microsoft’s usual procedure, considering the regulations in Germany are much more strict when it comes to acquisitions.

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Pebble Time starts shipping this week

Publié: mai 25, 2015, 1:43pm CEST par David Curry

Pebble Time on wrist

The Pebble Time first batch of units will be shipping to customers starting May 27. Manufacturing started earlier this month, following a small delay to the smartwatch.

Pebble plans to send out a backer invitation allowing them to add shipping address and other final details. Some international customers will still have a few months wait on their hands, depending on how fast Pebble can get the 70,000 units delivered.

Timeline is also launching on iOS and Android in the next few months to coincide with the launch of the Pebble Time. The app itself will be named "Pebble Time Watch", allowing the user to connect a smartphone to the smartwatch.

Even though Pebble had a successful second run on Kickstarter, rumours of the company taking out large loans do not bode well for the future. The Apple Watch has managed over five million sales, and big names like TAG Heuer and Swatch are planning moves into the smartwatch industry.

Combine that with the growing focus on Android Wear by manufacturers not named Apple, Pebble might have to conform into another Android Wear maker, or lose out to the big names in technology.

Pebble plans to open up the Pebble Time to all customers within the next few months, hopefully grabbing the attention of more customers. It is not clear how many original Pebble units were sold post Kickstarter, but the numbers will undoubtedly mean nothing to the likes of Apple and Google.

Apple Pay to launch in Europe this summer

Publié: mai 22, 2015, 3:05pm CEST par David Curry

Apple Pay on iPhone 6

Apple Pay is still a US-only service, despite it being available for seven months, but the European launch is reportedly coming as soon as this summer.

That’s according to Belgium’s KBC Bank, confirming on Twitter that Apple Pay support will be available this summer. Even though KBC Bank removed the tweet after a few hours, it suggests that the Apple Pay European launch is coming sooner than expected.

Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed European customers would receive Apple Pay before the end of 2015, but that was quite a large window. A summer launch is more precise, and fits with Apple’s plans to expand the payments service at WWDC 2015.

Reports earlier this year suggested that some European banks were not prepared to support Apple Pay, due to security and competition worries. Apple’s payment service does offer a new bridge for banks to cross, and removes some of the interaction between the customer and the bank, but it may also lead to more money spent on mobile.

One large UK bank reportedly refused to support Apple in late 2014, leading to a delayed rollout in the country. Apple was planning to move forward with the UK launch, ahead of other European countries with stricter regulations on mobile payments.

Apple Pay has received a large amount of support from banks in the US, with local banks even joining in on the effort. Retailers have also showered the payment service with support, although Walmart and Best Buy continue to work on their own payment service instead.

Microsoft to launch new iPhone messaging app

Publié: mai 21, 2015, 8:44am CEST par David Curry

iPhone in Red leather case held in left hand, tapped on the screen

Microsoft is reportedly planning another messaging app for the iPhone, this time utilizing Outlook contacts without all of the formalities on email.

Spotted by Twitter user @h0x0d, Microsoft has named the app Flow and is preparing to launch it in the coming months. Instead of sending an email with titles and signatures, Flow will allow Outlook contacts to chat like they would on Facebook Messenger or any other messaging platform.

Outlook already has a messaging platform built into the email client, but Microsoft might not be satisfied. The messaging feature is not available on mobile, and auto-connects to connected Skype address, creating a cluttered messaging experience.

Microsoft has over 300 million active Outlook and MSN users, but it is unclear how many are active accounts that speak to friends through the email client. Most have moved onto WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Snapchat, meaning Flow will have to offer better messaging features than all those current services.

It would not be the first time Microsoft tests a new feature using an older and established user base. Skype Qik offers a new type of short video message and allows users to sign in with their Skype or Microsoft account ID.

well Microsoft, if it really confidential, don't put it on publicly accessible Internet, LOL. pic.twitter.com/BX0Bw0SpKw

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) May 19, 2015

Microsoft has also been very open to building apps specifically for the iPhone, dropping Windows Phone as its flagship mobile OS of choice. We expect with Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft will add all of these unavailable mobile-focused apps onto its own platform.

Ever since Satya Nadella took over the reigns at Microsoft, it has been all about cloud and mobile. This means Microsoft cannot go on supporting its own platform, and not care about the iPhone and Android devices, taking 90 percent of the mobile market share.

Photo Credit: D. Hammonds/Shutterstock

Which companies are lining up to buy Nokia's HERE?

Publié: mai 20, 2015, 8:57pm CEST par David Curry

Nokia's HERE seen on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in a BMW car

Ride-sharing company Uber and Chinese search giant Baidu have teamed up to acquire Nokia’s Here Maps division for £2.2 billion. The partnership is the second of its kind, with Baidu investing £387 million in Uber late last year.

The two will look for an all-cash acquisition, but Uber and Baidu are not the only partners trying to acquire Here Maps. Tencent Holdings, NavInfo and EQT Partners have partnered as well, bringing a Chinese rivalry into the mix.

Other buyers include a consortium of German car manufacturers -- including Audi, BMW and Daimler -- along with Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo and Amazon all looking to take the mapping division off Nokia’s hands.

All of these buyers may mean a rise in the price of HERE, potentially surpassing £3 or £4 billion. Nokia plans to use the money to close the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, which was acquired earlier this year for £10.7 billion.

Even though most of the US corporations listed last would be able to raise £3 billion alone, Nokia might be looking for a full cash acquisition, something Uber and Baidu can offer.

Uber would use Here Maps on its taxi service to offer driver navigation and customer mapping tools for selecting a route. It would save Uber millions in the long run, considering it currently pays a large amount of mapping licensing fees to Google.

For Baidu, it would also be a good move in the long term, since the search giant uses Here Maps already for international mapping outside of Mainland China. It might also help Baidu gain popularity outside of China for its services.

Nokia has not commented on the bids for its mapping division, although it has confirmed it plans to sell Here Maps.

The 10 countries with the fastest Internet speeds -- is yours on the list?

Publié: mai 19, 2015, 4:27pm CEST par David Curry

Internet Worldwide Globe Connections

The Internet has become such a necessity for hundreds of millions of people worldwide, it is hard to believe that billions still live each day without scrolling through a Facebook feed or watching a YouTube video.

That said, a lot of the people that have Internet connection do not enjoy the speed offered by Internet service providers, especially in parts of the world where oligopolies rule the web pipes.

This is seen most commonly in America, where despite having the most people online (151 million) it still lacks the average speed to make it into the top 10. Even the UK -- marveled by the US for its competitive Internet speeds -- has missed the top 10 spot.

Here are the countries that made it into the list:

10. Finland

Finland noticed a large growth in Internet speeds this year, with a 33 percent increase. It is one of the wealthiest countries in Europe, with high quality of life and education, but lacks some of the peak speeds other countries in Europe and Asia reach.

9. Czech Republic

While some may still point to the Czech Republic as a ruin of a country, the truth is it is one of the fastest growing regions in Europe with high education and quality of life levels. The Internet isn’t bad either, with 12.3Mbps average speed.

8. Ireland

UK's neighboring region, Ireland has a growing technology sector and Internet speeds to match, with an average speed of 12.7Mbps. It has seen 24 percent growth in Internet speeds over the past year.

7. Latvia

Another region with a rather desolate past under the occupation of both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Latvia is starting to show a large amount of growth in all sectors. With an average Internet speed of 13Mbps, it takes the number one spot in East Europe.

6. Netherlands

Always one of the premier places for Internet dependency, The Netherlands has an average Internet speed of 14.2Mbps, a 15 percent increase on the previous year.

5. Switzerland

Another small European country with an impressive Internet speed, Switzerland managed to hit 14.5Mbps average, a 21 percent increase over the previous year.

4. Sweden

When it comes to Europe, Sweden has won the battle for average Internet speeds by a whisker, with 14.6Mbps average. Sweden has shown the most year-over-year growth with 34 percent improvement, 1 percent higher than neighboring country Finland.

3. Japan

Known for many decades as the digital capital with giants like Sony, Toshiba and Nintendo, Japan has fallen out of the limelight slightly with the growth of China. Even with the spotlight off the country, it still maintains strong Internet speeds with an average 15.2Mbps.

2. Hong Kong

The highest growing country for Internet speeds, Hong Kong hit an average of 16.8Mbps with 37 percent growth year-over-year.

1. South Korea

Still far and away the country with the fastest Internet speed, South Korea managed to hit 22.2Mbps, but that is only a 1.5 percent increase on last year’s numbers.

Image Credit: Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock

Apple is the greenest tech giant according to Greenpeace

Publié: mai 15, 2015, 2:01pm CEST par David Curry

Apple CEO Tim Cook writes to employees after Q4 2014 earnings call

Internet companies might not seem like major contributors to pollution, but Greenpeace is not letting them have a free ride, in a new report showing how some companies are much cleaner than others when it comes to energy.

For those that don’t know, most large-scale Internet companies invest heavily in data centers. These data centers run on electricity 24/7, meaning companies like Google, Oracle and Amazon are indirectly pushing the rate of pollution.

Some companies went fully green, including Apple who received top marks in Greenpeace’s report, but others are still transitioning or, worse, have not made any efforts to acquire clean energy.

Amazon, Oracle, eBay and HP are bottom of the list when it comes to clean energy, scoring between 10 and 25 percent. eBay is by far the worst, using 51 percent natural gas, 29 percent coal and 9 percent nuclear, although it is unclear if eBay knows where its energy comes from to power servers.

Greenpeace is working off murky information when it comes to Amazon, considering it does not list its energy sources. Amazon has committed to building its own data centers and working with companies like SolarCity and Tesla Energy, but the numbers do not look too appealing.

Microsoft, Facebook and Google have all shown positive numbers between 39 and 49 percent clean energy, although it does not come near Apple’s 100 percent clean energy commitment.

Google and Facebook are both committed to running data centers on clean energy within the next five years. Yahoo is already at 73 per cent and looks to be the second company to reach the 100 percent green energy goal.

Lets hope this Greenpeace report brings more questions as to the ways Internet companies receive energy, instead of letting them get a free pass when it comes to the environment.

Greenpeace Green Internet Companies Scorecard

Photo credit: pio3 / Shutterstock.com

The Top Gear we love could return as Netflix's House of Cars

Publié: mai 14, 2015, 4:57pm CEST par David Curry

Top Gear Clarkson May Hammond Magazine

Netflix might be looking to revive Top Gear, following Jeremy Clarkson’s BBC outing after punching a producer in the face over a cold steak.

That is not the weirdest part of the rumor, it is what Netflix is planning to rename Top Gear, since it cannot use the BBC’s brand. The Mirror is reporting that Netflix plans to name the show House of Cars, and it will feature a similar format to Top Gear.

The name is a spin on the hugely successful House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood, the ruthless politician trying to make his way to the top of the ladder. We are not sure if The Mirror has caught wind on internal satire, or if Netflix is serious about the name.

Either way, the rumor of Netflix picking up Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May is still only a rumor, with no official confirmation from either party. The BBC claims it will continue to air Top Gear with new presenters, although the magic might not work without Clarkson.

Netflix wants to make a mark in the UK and the best way to do that would be to offer a highly successful cable TV show on the Internet. It has managed a few reworks onto Netflix and is one of the main reasons Breaking Bad became the uber-successful show worldwide, which should be as good a portfolio as any for the Top Gear team.

Having Top Gear on Netflix would mean full seasons at a time, instead of one episode each week. Considering Top Gear has become one of the main reasons channels like Dave survive and one of the most watched shows on BBC iPlayer, we can see this being prime time TV for binge watchers.

Photo Credit: Emka74/Shutterstock

More people now searching Google on mobile than desktop in some countries

Publié: mai 7, 2015, 7:43pm CEST par David Curry

google_search

Google has revealed it has more traffic on mobile in 10 countries for search, showing the large amount of growth in the past few years.

Even though desktop revenue still trumps mobile, Google is surging towards a mobile future. The most recent change to the search engine focused on pushing mobile friendly websites higher up the search rankings.

The United States and Japan were the only two countries disclosed by Google as having more mobile traffic than desktop. We don’t know why Google is actively keeping the other eight countries hidden, perhaps due to some desktop advertising agreements.

It also didn’t confirm solid worldwide numbers when it comes to desktop vs mobile. We know desktop is still Google’s primary platform for engagement, but there is no way of knowing the exact percentage between desktop and mobile.

Facebook has confirmed 800 million users are on mobile, alongside 600 million on Facebook Messenger, 750 million on WhatsApp and 350 million on Instagram. The social company has made a huge mark on mobile devices, after the screw up four years ago when Mark Zuckerberg sided with HTML5 over native applications.

Some of Google’s newest improvements like Inbox and YouTube have focused primarily on the mobile side of design and development. It has been investing heavily into building its iOS portfolio, making sure both platform have all of Google’s services.

Google still needs to fix its current advertising rut in the mobile space. Banner and static advertising doesn’t work, meaning Google needs to find organic ways to place ads without freaking users or making them switch off the app for an alternative.

Shhh! Anonymous messaging app Secret shuts down

Publié: mai 1, 2015, 9:02am CEST par David Curry

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The new trend on mobile is anonymous messaging apps capable of hiding all personal information, while allowing thousands of people to converse on one platform.

It looks like not all of the apps are making a killing. Co-founder of Secret, David Byttow announced he would be closing the application and deleting all the content in the coming weeks, following the steady rise of apps like Whisper and Yik Yak, which appeal to the same demographic as Secret.

Whisper was also banned in Brazil due to bans against anonymous free speech, and has been sectioned away from schools due to the location based service allowing students to bully others without any punishment.

Byttow said in a blog post "Unfortunately, Secret does not represent the vision I had when starting the company, so I believe it’s the right decision for myself, our investors and our team… I’m extremely proud of our team, which has built a product that was used by over 15 million people and pushed the boundaries of traditional social media".

Secret will reimburse investors who previously invested in the startup. The company still has most of the $35 million (£22 million) invested in the latest funding round, having no reason to overspend.

These anonymous apps do have advantages to things like Facebook or even Reddit, with location based chatting, no personal information shown and a unique way to chat, but the downsides are there are no repercussions for outing someone’s dirty laundry or harassing another user.

Yik Yak, one of Secret’s main competitors, recently raised $62 million (£40 million) in Series B funding. Earlier in the year Whisper received $36 million (£23 million) in Series C funding, and is still continuing to grow.

It is not the first time an anonymous app has decided to drop out of the race, StreetChat was removed from the iOS App Store after multiple reports of abuse on school grounds.

Bing predicts where your team will finish in the Premier League

Publié: avril 30, 2015, 9:31am CEST par David Curry

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The Premier League is almost over, but the final positions of the 20 teams is still up for debate, with several middle of the pack teams currently tied. Microsoft’s Bing Predicts looks to answer where every team will be come the end of the season.

Using algorithms based on past matches against future opponents, current form, injuries and other factors, Bing Predicts has a good overview of the entire situation, although nothing is for certain.

Chelsea is the obvious favorite to win the Premier League, Bing has them first with 91 points, followed by Arsenal taking second with 84 points. Manchester City comes third with 79 points, and Manchester United holds on to fourth spot with 77 points.

Liverpool comes fifth with 72 points, meaning they will qualify for the UEFA Europa League, but instead of Tottenham, Southampton will claim sixth spot with 68 points and take the other spot in the UEFA Europa League, since Chelsea revokes its own spot for finishing in the top four.

Tottenham will come seventh with 63 points, meaning it may have a shot at the UEFA Europa League if Arsenal beats Aston Villa in the FA Cup Final.

At the bottom of the table, Sunderland will make it out of relegation with 32 points, moving from its current spot in 18th to 16th. Leicester, Burnley and QPR will be relegated from the Premier League, according to Bing.

Cortana has been right before, predicting the score of the Super Bowl last year. Microsoft’s use of complex algorithms capable of analyzing every small detail makes it hard to go against the judgment, even in a sport with unexpected results at the end of the season.

The full table of predictions can be found below:

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Image Credit: Flickr (CFC Unofficial Debs)

Microsoft confirms Windows 10 universal apps will work on HoloLens

Publié: avril 22, 2015, 3:01pm CEST par David Curry

Microsoft steps into the future with HoloLens, holographic computing meets virtual reality

Microsoft has launched a question and answer section for Windows Holographic and the HoloLens headset, sent in an email to Windows 10 'Insiders' currently testing the new updates to the operating system.

The FAQ answers ten of the most popular questions on HoloLens, before Microsoft’s annual BUILD conference on April 29th to May 1st. Amongst the answers, Microsoft details that HoloLens will be able to run Windows 10 universal apps.

The universal apps will run on Windows 10 desktop, tablet and mobile. It is also suspected Xbox One will run universal apps, although that has not been confirmed by Microsoft.

This means universal apps may go beyond the current format of coding, allowing Microsoft to implement the app on an augmented display. The display will pop up in front of the user, like a floating object in real life, allowing a whole new user interface without any physical representation.

Microsoft will launch an entire API for developers that want to dig deeper into the world of AR. HoloLens will be the first headset, but we expect Microsoft will launch Windows Holographic to all manufacturers and OEM partners, similar to Windows 10 and Phone.

HoloLens is not the first AR headset, with Google Glass and several Kickstarter projects trying to implement AR in the real world. HoloLens does take a different look at AR, instead of being a social or navigational tool, it builds a home theater for users, allowing users to play games, watch videos and message people on Skype.

It is expected to launch late this year or early next year, although Microsoft has not set an exact date. We will likely hear more about the whole AR platform at BUILD, where Microsoft will also detail the price of Windows 10 and how it intends to integrate apps into mobile and tablet interfaces.

Microsoft brings OneDrive app to Apple Watch

Publié: avril 21, 2015, 10:54am CEST par David Curry

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Microsoft has been quick on the ball when it comes to supporting other platforms, adding OneNote with an experimental keyboard to Android Wear a few weeks after the launch, and now OneDrive on Apple Watch before the device even launches.

It is part of the new Microsoft goals, to have services on all platforms to keep customers loyal. Microsoft doesn’t have a lot of mobile market share, meaning it needs to focus on iOS and Android in order to keep Office and other services relevant against competition.

The new OneDrive application for the Apple Watch allows users to view albums, skim through photos, and delete unwanted ones. The digital crown allows users to zoom in on a photo, but access to OneDrive is limited due to the lack of user interface on the smartwatch.

OneDrive is also an odd first app, considering OneNote would be more useful on a smartwatch for notifications. Microsoft is bound to port more apps onto the Apple Watch, considering its early popularity selling over two million units before launch.

Microsoft ported Office to iOS and Android early last year, in an attempt to win over customers. It has since added unlimited OneDrive storage on top of an Office 365 subscription, adding a lot of additional benefits for regular customers.

This focus on iOS and Android has led to some of the Windows Phone apps becoming rather redundant, begging the question why consumers would choose Microsoft’s own platform over Android and iOS with more apps.

Microsoft has confirmed that most of the mobile apps will be updated in the Windows 10 update, reportedly coming in late July.

Huawei P8 vs Samsung Galaxy S6: Which should you choose?

Publié: avril 17, 2015, 8:42am CEST par David Curry

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Huawei has officially announced the P8, the flagship for 2015. It is the Chinese company’s attempt to compete with Apple’s iPhone 6 and Samsung’s Galaxy S6, two of the biggest devices this year.

Even though Huawei won out against Samsung last year in China and some other markets, the Galaxy S6 is a formidable smartphone and shows the South Korean giant is back in business -- but which flagship is better?

Design

Both smartphone manufacturers have been on the bottom end of design in the past, but Samsung made great strides with the Galaxy S6 to appeal to a wide variety of customers. The dual-glass back and front, alongside the metallic frame, is a unique design and one that millions seem to love.

The Huawei P8 features a metal unibody similar to the iPhone 6 or HTC One M9, although instead of a curved build the P8 is a rectangular brick. It makes holding the device a bit awkward, something that is not an issue on the Galaxy S6.

It is easy to see the progress Samsung has made in 2015 when it comes to design. It really has knocked it out of the ballpark, where Huawei has stayed timid and not ventured into any unique area -- we would give the design victory to Samsung.

Display

The Huawei P8 features a 5.2-inch 1080 x 1920 IPS display, a rather decent if somewhat underwhelming panel. The Galaxy S6 features a 5-inch 1440 x 2560 AMOLED display, a much higher resolution display with more color saturation, offering deeper blacks.

Samsung builds its own displays and is one of the best in the business. The Galaxy S6 panel has a higher resolution, better color saturation for movies and better color accuracy from the short time playing with the two devices -- it is a definite winner.

Camera

Android has been called out for its poor cameras for years, but both Samsung and Huawei are trying to make a case for their own camera. The P8 features a 13MP rear shooter with optical image stabilization and dual LED flash, compared to the Galaxy S6 with a 16MP sensor, OIS but a single LED flash.

Both cameras have their separate issues, the Galaxy S6 is not great in low light conditions, and the Huawei P8 fails to attain accurate color representation. Both falter when it comes to consistency, something that seems to be ingrained in Android smartphones.

We would give the slight edge to Samsung, but it is not much of an edge.

Under the hood

Both smartphone vendors decided against Qualcomm this year, both utilizing their own semiconductor divisions. The Galaxy S6 and Huawei P8 both feature octa-core processors, although the P8 is a little slower on clock speed.

Other specifications are similar, both run 3GB of RAM and offer between 16 and 64GB of internal storage. Huawei does offer a microSD slot while the Galaxy S6 has a fingerprint sensor, it is up to the consumer to decide which is the more valuable feature.

Performance should be similar regardless, unless Huawei plans to bootload a few gigs of bloatware on the P8 when it launches. Samsung has worked hard on resorting TouchWiz to be operable and offer a good amount of space at launch.

Verdict

The Galaxy S6 takes home the victory today. Even though the Huawei P8 is a thinner and lighter device, the Galaxy S6 packs more pixels, offers a better design and just peaks in the

Malicious Pirate Bay clones scamming pirates

Publié: avril 4, 2015, 1:30pm CEST par David Curry

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When The Pirate Bay was taken down in late 2014, IsoHunt announced the Open Bay Project, a way for internet users to collaborate and make sure the torrenting service was always available on a domain.

Now that The Pirate Bay is back online, it looks like some of these pet projects are being used by hackers as a way to steal users’ bank information. The hackers are using the iFrames plugin for WordPress to embed malicious content on WordPress sites without the current update.

The hackers were able to intercept WordPress sites through the SoakSoak cyberattack, which happened last year. It took advantage of the RevSlider plugin and allowed hackers to place a 'man-in-the-middle' booter to sit on Windows PC and find banking information.

The amount of WordPress sites actively working as part of The Pirate Bay hackers plan is unknown, although some security experts claim it is a substantial amount of sites without the latest version of WordPress installed, likely abandoned by the owner.

It is one of the downsides of offering a system to every person in the world, someone is going to find out how to add exploits. Most Pirate Bay clones are simple and offer no threat -- some even remove the annoying advertisements found on the original -- but thepiratebay.in.ua loads malware on the system.

WordPress has not commented on the apparent malware bug. There is no official word as to whether anyone has been scammed from the Trojan, although given the capabilities and low input from the user, it should be quite easy for the scam to work.

The limited viewership on thepiratebay.in.ua makes it hard for a lot of people to be scammed by the site, especially with original Pirate Bay coming back online in February. Hopefully, as we move into a world where anyone can make a Pirate Bay clone, we will see less of these malicious clones trying to scam pirates.

South Korea looking to scrap ActiveX payment requirement -- bad news for Internet Explorer

Publié: avril 4, 2015, 2:29am CEST par David Curry

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In 1999, South Korea pushed a law that forced online vendors to adopt Microsoft ActiveX, in order to utilize the SEED cipher developed by the Korea Information Security Agency (KISA) for online transactions.

Even though at the time it seemed like a good decision, the government is now looking to scrap the system and create new online encryption that works with all browsers and supports SSL.

The adoption of ActiveX forced all South Korean internet users to download Internet Explorer, leading to the huge adoption in the region. This move away from SEED cipher will allow South Koreans to have the freedom of choosing the web browser, with Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari all viable alternatives.

The Korea Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning will provide funding and support to have 90 out of 100 of the top online websites "ActiveX Free" by 2017. It is a big effort to finally expel the aging encryption system, that was not adopted anywhere outside of South Korea.

Even though mobile providers like Apple and Samsung do not encrypt mobile payments through SEED cipher, for the millions still using desktops in the region it is a pain to keep booting up Internet Explorer for purchases.

It also comes a few months before the launch of Windows 10, which will come with a new web browser named Project Spartan. Internet Explorer will be removed in a later update from Windows 10 and Microsoft is removing the entire brand.

Even though South Korea’s internet adoption has not been harmed by the need for Internet Explorer, online shopping has been hurt when compared to other developed internet countries like the United States, the UK and places like Singapore and Taiwan.

The South Korean government has a weird overview of the internet, regulating gamers to a curfew where the gaming network is shut down. League of Legends players also need to show citizen identity before being allowed to play the game.

Even though the government activity has led to growth in the gaming and internet market, it has also slowed down some procedures due to government intervention or laws that regulate new types of practices.

Google will continue to dominate search ad market in 2015

Publié: avril 2, 2015, 9:30pm CEST par David Curry

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Google is looking at another dominant year in the search ad market, with estimated spending to reach $81.59 billion in 2015 according to research firm eMarketer.

Holding a solid 54.7 percent of the search ad market in 2014, Google will drop 0.2 percent of the total search ad revenue. This does not mean a decrease in revenue though, going from $38.42 billion to $44.46 billion in one year.

The biggest leader this year in search ad revenue is Google’s rival in China, Baidu. In 2015, Baidu will jump to 8.8 percent of search ad share, from 7.4 percent last year. This follows even more growth in the advertising industry in China.

Microsoft and Yahoo will take 4.2 and 2.3 percent respectively. Microsoft has held the same amount last year, while Yahoo drops 0.3 percent in 2015, due to restructuring efforts shutting down some of Yahoo’s legacy services.

Yahoo’s major acquisition of 2014 for Tumblr -- the blogging website -- for $1 billion might have been a mistake in terms of short term financials. Yahoo is hoping that as Tumblr grows, so will the revenue generated from its users.

Digital ad spending will reach $170.85 billion this year, with search ads taking up almost half of all advertising online. Mobile app advertising has become a prominent part of digital advertising, but does not make as much ad revenue as normal search ads.

eMarketer projects the search ad market will be spending $130.58 billion by 2019.

Fitness tracker market could double in value by 2019

Publié: mars 27, 2015, 2:44pm CET par David Curry

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The fitness tracking market might boom to $5 billion by 2019, according to tech analyst group Parks Associates.

That would be double the current value at $2 billion, but correlates with the current growth rate quite nicely, bearing in mind the surge in interest thanks to the Apple Watch and other smartwatch vendors.

What Parks Associates fails to take into account is the downturn in interest caused by the smartwatch market. Once the Apple Watch and premium wearables from Swiss watchmakers like TAG Heuer and Swatch hit the market, other analysts like NPD Group and CCS Insight see the fitness tracking market taking a nosedive.

We are inclined to agree with the other two analysts, considering fitness trackers will have to lower prices in order to compete heavily with feature-rich smartwatches, which provide fitness tracking alongside other functionality.

Fitness enthusiasts are a big portion of the wearables market right now, but several projections make the Apple Watch a more popular gadget than all wearables combined.

If the Apple Watch makes a huge splash in the industry, it will have a knock on effect on other wearable makers.

In China, Xiaomi already seems to be on top of the game, launching the Mi Band for under $30. It will launch the Mi Watch later this month, which is expected to feature a premium design and more expensive price tag.

Companies like Jawbone are already having issues selling fitness trackers, apparently looking for another funding round to cover the costs of its business. Rumors were even floating around that Jawbone would sell to Google for a little shy of $1 billion.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak warns of the dangers of artificial intelligence

Publié: mars 26, 2015, 1:39pm CET par David Curry

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Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has warned the dangers of artificial intelligence could seep into jobs and our life, potentially creating robot leaders and CEOs capable of running a country or company more efficiently than humans.

Wozniak shares the opinion of Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and scientist Stephen Hawking that unregulated artificial intelligence could have catastrophic consequences for humanity.

Musk even went as far as to call it the single largest threat to the extinction of humanity. Wozniak did not say the same thing, but did warn that once AI becomes smart enough, it could remove jobs and life from humans.

AI right now is at its first steps, learning about the world and being able to take in small parts of information. The current supercomputer can transmit in one second of a human brain in around ten minutes, so there is still some work on that front.

In a few years’ time, AI might be at the same pace as humans when it comes to assessing a situation and knowing what to do, or looking at a piece of art and understanding fully what is on the painting.

Once AI is developed for real life, it could start out harmlessly enough as a cleaning droid, but soon we might start seeing robots and AI take over office jobs. Imagine you send your robot to work a day when you’re feeling a bit under the weather, only to find out you have been replaced because the robot’s work was better than your own.

These are all wacky sci-fi concepts, but several of the best minds in technology believe AI is a major threat to society. That said, both Musk and Bill Gates -- who is also against rogue AI adoption -- are both active investors in AI projects.

Regulation is what is needed to push AI forward, without having it take away humanity. But the regulations have not been drawn up yet, and AI continues to press forward.

Fitbit Surge gains cycling and multi-device support

Publié: mars 26, 2015, 11:10am CET par David Curry

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Fitbit has announced new cycling features will be added in the next major update, alongside multi-device support. It is the first major update for the Fitbit Surge, the watch-styled fitness band launched earlier this year.

The new cycling support offers better metrics when on a bicycle, allowing the user to track distance, duration, calories burned, average speed, heart-rate (using the heart-rate monitor) and other stats -- all synced up to a companion smartphone.

Fitbit will offer a GPS service on the Surge for tracking the route of a cycling track. The Surge has a built in GPS radio for keeping track of where the user is at all times.

The update also comes with the promise of multi-device support, a feature Fitbit Surge owners have been wanting for a while. The current state of Fitbit only allows one associated device, but with this update users will be able to add multiple devices to connect with the fitness tracker.

This makes it easier for the user to track stats on an iPhone when mobile, and on an iPad when at home. Fitbit’s app works cross platform on Android and iOS, allowing the user to choose between multiple devices.

"Our users are passionate about fitness and have consistently requested a way to track their outdoor cycling activity", said Tim Roberts, VP of Interactive, Fitbit. "We are delivering this feature on Fitbit Surge for active consumers looking to track and better understand performance during rides, in addition to their other workouts".

Fitbit will launch the new update in April for US owners. No word on an international launch date.

BlackBerry, Samsung and IBM join forces to create a secure tablet

Publié: mars 17, 2015, 4:58pm CET par David Curry

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BlackBerry, IBM and Samsung have all partnered to create a new enterprise tablet, named the Secutablet, in cooperation with BlackBerry’s subsidiary Secusmart.

The tablet is focused on the business sector, taking the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and fitting a ton of new software inside to make it accessible for business and government bodies.

Secusmart’s encryption allows all phone calls, text messages and other activities to be private from any surveillance technology implanted on the device, or stolen through the airwaves.

IBM is adding its own software partition on the Secutablet, meaning if the user downloads a malicious app from the Google Play store, it will not affect apps inside the secure part of the device.

This secure partition can also not be looked at by apps like Facebook, Twitter and other services seeking new information for advertising purposes. This should make the Secutablet an excellent option for CYOD (choose-your-own-device) work programs.

It is not the first time BlackBerry has partnered with Samsung on a project. The two companies worked on Samsung’s KNOX security platform last year and Samsung pre-loaded BlackBerry Messenger on all Galaxy devices in Africa.

There were reports Samsung was eying up a potential acquisition of BlackBerry, but the two companies did not manage to strike a deal. This new partnership shows BlackBerry lack of interest in building a new PlayBook tablet, instead borrowing Samsung’s device.

Apple's App Store outage cost $25 million in lost revenue

Publié: mars 13, 2015, 11:02am CET par David Curry

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Apple’s App Store went down for over 11 hours on Wednesday, alongside iTunes, iBooks, iCloud and even its Mac App Store.

It is the single largest outage Apple has faced, and happened due to an internal issue with its DNS [domain name system].

The economic aspect of this outage has been valued at $25 million in lost revenue. For Apple, this is a few coins dropping out of a $178 billion wallet, but for app developers and musicians, this could mean a big loss in revenue.

"We apologize to our customers experiencing problems with iTunes and other services," Apple said in a statement. "The cause was an internal DNS error at Apple. We’re working to make all of the services available to customers as soon as possible, and we thank everyone for their patience".

DNS is the system that links IP addresses to domain names like apple.com. It is not clear why Apple had the internal issue, perhaps moving an IP address on one of its major servers lead to the crash.

Apple iOS App Store is the bread-and-butter of its service revenue, with iTunes continuing to dwindle down in sales from a peak in 2009. When it goes down for 11 hours it is extremely bad for developers that only work on iOS or mobile.

Thankfully, this is not a regular occurrence like PlayStation Network or EA Servers being down, meaning the likelihood of this happening again is extremely low (touch wood).

HTC Re Vive promises an amazing VR experience

Publié: mars 6, 2015, 8:50am CET par David Curry

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The HTC Re Vive looks to be the main contender against Oculus Rift Crescent Bay, according to early hands-on tests by press at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Using Valve’s own Steam VR platform, the HTC Re Vive does more than strap a smartphone onto a VR headset, it offers the complete package similar to the Oculus Rift.

This makes it a true VR headset and not just two eye holes and a smartphone screen, allowing the developers to truly take advantage of things like depth and positional tracking, two sensors that will become very important in the VR battle.

HTC has added new sensors capable of understanding where you are in a room, creating a projection of the room and allowing the game to understand these limitations.

It offers a new immersive experience, alongside the new remotes for the HTC Re Vive. Oculus has had to get by on third-party remotes and accessories, meaning it cannot optimize the controls to the same level Valve can with its own controller.

Four demos are shown off to press at the two events, as teasers of what the HTC Re Vive is capable of offering in terms of gaming. Valve is clearly more focused on the gaming side than offering entertainment, but experiences could be a crucial thing in VR.

Experiences are not games per-se, they do not offer an end-goal or sense or reward. Instead, they plonk the user down in a world and let them walk around, potentially unraveling different mysteries inside of the world.

There are already games like this on PC, like Gone Home and Dear Esther, both without any sense of reward or fail-state, and only there to show a story. Most developers see virtual reality as a world for these types of genres to be explored, and the HTC Re Vive offers the most intuitive and immersive platform to make these games.

ZTE launches a new range of fitness-focused smartwatches

Publié: mars 5, 2015, 4:58pm CET par David Curry

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ZTE has launched three new smartwatches at Mobile World Congress this week, in an attempt to win over three of the sub-markets interested in wearables: runners, fitness trackers and health nuts.

The Venus G1 will feature a GPS chip made for runners, giving them detailed map information and routes. The Venus S2 will feature all of the fitness stats on its own operating system. The ZTE Business Intelligence Watch (excellent name by the way) will work similarly to the Withings Activité, sending health information back to a smartphone app.

It's claimed all three of the smartwatches will offer higher battery life than the normal Android Wear watch, in exchange for no touch-screen functionality. It works as a feeder for a mobile app, rather than offering any services on its own.

ZTE is using the same tactic Withings has popularized, but it is still unknown whether people want to give up the touch-screen features and some sensors for an arguably better looking watch.

The ZTE smartwatches are not especially impressive, making the argument against owning an Android Wear smartwatch or the Apple Watch all to do with battery life and watch usage.

One feature ZTE does have an advantage on is health information, since it has partnered with some of the leading health companies to offer more tracking for fitness and health nuts.

On the Venus G1, the battery life is sorely lacking any real oomph, but it does come with GPS tracking and other fitness features to make up for the lack of touch-screen.

Prices were not disclosed, but the ZTE smartwatches will launch in China on Q2 2015. No word on whether it will come to Europe or the US.

Image Credit: Wearable

Qualcomm challenges Apple's fingerprint sensor tech with new Touch ID rival

Publié: mars 3, 2015, 7:44pm CET par David Curry

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Fresh from a few big mobile announcements at MWC, Qualcomm has announced a new fingerprint sensor technology to compete with Apple’s Touch ID.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sense ID is a new technology using ultrasonic waves to create a 3D fingerprint of the user, offering more depth than Touch ID, which uses an area-type capacitive 2D fingerprint.

Ultrasonic waves are already used in biometric facilities and business services, meaning this is the first consumer variation of the technology.

Not only can Qualcomm’s fingerprint sensor understand more from a fingerprint, but it also can be used on glass, sapphire crystal, metal, aluminum and plastic, meaning it could be featured anywhere on the device.

Users’ fingerprints are even readable if wet or dirty, unlike Touch ID and Samsung’s own fingerprint sensor technology from Synaptics. It is still not clear how reliable Qualcomm’s sensor will be compared to Touch ID.

Apple managed to get a huge lead over the competition in 2012 when it acquired AuthenTec, the best-in-class when it came to fingerprints and other biometric security.

The iPhone 5S was the first smartphone to launch with a decent fingerprint sensor, and the iPhone 6 improves on the accuracy. The Galaxy S6 might have finally caught up with its own technology, but Qualcomm’s looks to trump both.

Qualcomm will import the technology onto the Snapdragon 810 and 425 chips from now on, but it is not confirmed if the processor maker will have any partners on this venture.

How Netflix helped millions of TV viewers cut the cord

Publié: mars 2, 2015, 6:53pm CET par David Curry

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Netflix just won another indirect victory in the form of a net neutrality proposal passed by the Federal Communications Commission, which would ban all types of paid prioritization on the Internet.

This means Verizon, AT&T and Comcast will be unable to seek more revenue from Netflix, in exchange for fast video streaming rates to Netflix’s 40 million US subscribers.

Even though it is the removal of another roadblock, Netflix was already on its way to destroying the current cable industry, according to several TV business experts and analysts.

Netflix did not win through the $7.99 per month service that offered hundreds of movies and dozens of TV shows, but from its own collection of original programming.

It all started with the launch of House of Cards on 1 February 2013, an ambitious recreation of the UK TV show by the same name. The third season launched on Netflix late last week and is already seeing huge demand.

Having original content on Netflix drew subscribers who would have otherwise not subscribed, and set a precedent for customers to keep returning for more House of Cards while checking out the latest on the service.

That was only the start. Netflix followed up with another TV hit, Orange is the New Black, and made Breaking Bad one of the most successful TV shows ever to hit US cable TV, despite it having only a small amount of viewers pre-Netflix.

Netflix’s only fault in the original programming part is Marco Polo, which received mixed reviews. Still, it maintained popularity on Netflix where viewers obviously found it more of a fun ride than movie and TV show reviewers.

The streaming service is working on dozens of original series now, and even working on a few movies, meaning by the end of 2015 we could have a library full of Netflix’ own content.

Netflix has not only won over millions of US cable subscribers, who are now full blown internet-only TV viewers, but is has changed the pay TV industry for the better.

HBO, CBS and other cable TV channels are working on their own streaming service to rival Netflix’s original series, and satellite TV provider Dish Network launched its own Sling TV to bring the best of cable TV onto the internet.

The revolution to internet TV would not have been possible without Netflix, but the next few years will be an even bigger challenge as Netflix has to keep customers interested in renewing subscription while HBO and other TV channels launch their own streaming services.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox

Smartphones just as accurate as wearables for tracking fitness

Publié: février 19, 2015, 7:09pm CET par David Curry

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Fitness trackers have become all the range and over 3 million were sold in the second half of 2014, making up over three quarters of the total wearable sales, but it looks like the benefits of a fitness tracker might be minimal.

That is according to a new study by the University of Pennsylvania, which measured the amount of steps on a treadmill with two smartphones and three wearables.

The case study claims smartphone apps work just as well for collection step counters -- a major feature on most health apps -- and don’t offer the wild variants that some fitness trackers show.

Smartphones apps offered a -6.7 to 6.2 percent relative difference in the step counter, while the three wearables offered a much wider range, -22.7 to -1.5 percent.

This means wearables are also failing to document footsteps, while smartphones (normally in a pocket) are capable of keeping with the rhythm.

"In this study, we wanted to address one of the challenges with using wearable devices: they must be accurate. After all, if a device is going to be effective at monitoring -- and potentially changing -- behavior, individuals have to be able to trust the data", head author Meredith A. Case said. "We found that smartphone apps are just as accurate as wearable devices for tracking physical activity".

This is a worry for those that carry around a smartphone and fitness band, not knowing their smartphone is capable of collecting all of the information anyway.

Wearables do offer ways to track blood oxygen, heart-rate and other health information due to the position on the wrist, but most fitness bands do not offer that functionality.

VAIO makes a comeback with two new hybrid laptops

Publié: février 17, 2015, 9:24am CET par David Curry

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VAIO might not have the market presence it did ten years ago -- especially with the recent sale by Sony -- but it is still an exciting brand to look out for in the laptop market.

The two new hybrid laptops are the first from Japanese Industrial Partners (JIP), the new owners who acquired the VAIO brand late last year.

Named the VAIO Z and VAIO Canvas Z, the two laptops represent the top of the range for the brand. It looks like JIP is conforming to the usual design of laptops, but with the classic sleek black finish.

Both laptops have a 'multi-flip' mode allowing for tablet, laptop or outward screen usage. This gives the VAIO Z new flexibility, while maintaining the same design and performance of the usual high-end VAIO laptop.

The VAIO Z features a 13.3-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) display, Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM and 15.5 hours of battery life. The VAIO Canvas Z features a 12.1-inch QHD (2560 x 1704) display and this will be completely detachable from the main frame.

It is certainly interesting for VAIO to return to the laptop market, considering rumors of a VAIO branded smartphone and potentially an Android TV, however the two laptops will only be available in Japan to start off.

The new VAIO Z doesn’t come cheap, in Japan it will cost 900,000 yen (approx. $1610) around the same price range as the Windows Surface Pro 3, MacBook Pro or 13-inch MacBook Air.

Here are the specs for Sony's upcoming Xperia Z4

Publié: février 11, 2015, 10:36am CET par David Curry

Z3 & Z3 Compact

It looks like the Xperia Z4 will be coming to stores earlier than expected, following a new leak from Geekbench showing a Sony device running Android 5.0.2 and Snapdragon 810 processor.

Not many devices come running the latest Android Lollipop update, and only two devices currently feature the Snapdragon 810 processor, the LG G Flex 2 and Xiaomi Mi Note Pro.

Geekbench's benchmark also showed 3GB of RAM, surprisingly not 4GB like the Mi Note Pro or reported Galaxy S6 specs. Considering the Snapdragon 810 features a 1.5GHz octa-core CPU, most device manufacturers are adding another gig of RAM to the device.

Sony will split the Xperia Z4 into two options, a QHD display and 1080p display. It is not known how big the price gap will be between the two devices, possibly $100 more for the QHD display.

Previous rumors claimed the Xperia Z4 would come much later in the year, as a result of poor sales overall from Sony’s mobile division, however this new leak shows it is only a few months away.

Sticking to six month release dates does put Sony at a slight disadvantage when it comes to big improvement announcements, while Samsung, HTC and Apple all have one year to plan the new device.

This has been a big problem in trying to get customers to buy a Sony device, if the customer knows it will be irrelevant in six months when the successor is announced.

The next major event is Mobile World Congress, which starts on March 1, where Samsung, HTC and Huawei are all planning to announce new devices.

Could the FBI be involved in the Pirate Bay revival?

Publié: février 6, 2015, 8:28am CET par David Curry

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The Pirate Bay re-launched last week to much fanfare after two months offline following a raid on the server room by Swedish authorities, but the new owners have revealed very little about the plan going forward.

What started off as curiosity quickly became finger pointing. Twitter user 'TheAnonMessage' claimed users should stop using The Pirate Bay, due to CloudFlare integration and potential FBI IP bugs.

Nobody knows who really runs The Pirate Bay, but the old moderation team were all removed as part of the relaunch. The Pirate Bay now allows people to 'report' malicious torrents instead of having a moderation team.

Some claim the FBI re-launched The Pirate Bay or had connections to the owners, implanting IP bugs on all torrent’s uploaded for investigation.

The Pirate Bay has denied these accusations, claiming CloudFlare is only a temporary measure to help with the influx of traffic on the torrenting site.

CloudFlare is a cloud server provider, but is based in the US. Many privacy advocates claim CloudFlare is not a safe tool, due to the potential warrant-less searches from the FBI and other US agencies.

On the topic of working with the FBI, The Pirate Bay has not responded, but TorrentFreak claims the accusations are "complete nonsense" but said that "general security concerns of using a US-based service are legitimate".

The three original owners of The Pirate Bay are either in prison or disconnected from the service, leaving new mysterious admins in charge of the show.

The Pirate Bay is still the most popular file sharing site on the web, but new services taking the 'Pirate' and 'Bay' name are being used by Isohunt and other torrent providers, to reap some of the benefits of two months offline.

The FBI has not commented on The Pirate Bay rumor.

Nokia shows sharp Q4 profit growth

Publié: janvier 30, 2015, 8:43am CET par David Curry

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Nokia’s best decision might have been selling its mobile division to Microsoft for £5 billion, removing the sinking division and giving the Finnish company enough capital to re-invest in networking and mapping technologies.

The results are already noticeable; Nokia reported £2.84 billion in revenue and £331 million net profit in the fourth quarter, compared to £2.60 billion in revenue and £17 million in net loss last year.

Networking sales increased by 10 percent since last quarter, partly due to strong interest in North America. Nokia also managed to maintain a strong portfolio of patent sales throughout 2014.

CEO Rajeev Suri was pleased with the results and bringing Nokia back to profitability, after removing the loss leader Nokia.

"We will not shy away from investing where we need to invest", he said. "But, we plan to always combine that with disciplined cost control and a focus on delivering ongoing productivity and quality improvements across the company".

Nokia HERE is another big market the Finnish company is actively exploring, after making a deal with Baidu to provide mapping technologies to Chinese people when on holiday.

In its quarterly report, Nokia said it expects all three sectors -- networking, mapping and patents -- to see growth in annual sales across 2015.

Nokia is also preparing to invest in other technologies and markets in 2015, but for now has been silent on the subject of a mobile device. Nokia recently announced the N1 tablet running Launcher Z on top of Android, but this has not been released yet.

Microsoft also noted growth on its mobile division, selling 10.5 million Lumia devices with an average sale price of £139. Microsoft decided to try and push Nokia’s into the low-end market, instead of competing against Apple and Samsung.

Xiaomi: Hand over your iPhone, get a Mi Note flagship for free

Publié: janvier 28, 2015, 7:04pm CET par David Curry

Xiaomi Mi Note

Xiaomi is going hard against Apple in 2015. CEO Lei Jun recently gave several shoutouts to the Apple's inferior design quality on the iPhone 6 when compared to the Mi Note.

And now the next step in the battle will focus on swapping iPhones for Xiaomi Mi Note and Mi Note Pro at no extra cost, according to a new report citing Xiaomi's media development director.

Users will be able to trade in iPhone 5s (or an older model) for a free Mi Note and trade in an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus for a free Mi Note Pro, Xiaomi's two new smartphones launched earlier this month.

The Mi Note and Mi Note Pro are already half the price of the iPhone alternatives, making it quite a gamble in the price department.

If a user is able to get a Mi Note from an iPhone 5 it might be worth it, but we doubt Xiaomi will have any large success with the Mi Note Pro trade in offer.

Xiaomi has added a 5.7-inch full HD display, quad-core Snapdragon 801, 3GB of RAM, 16/64GB of internal storage and 3000mAh battery to the Mi Note, or an upgrade to a QHD display, octa-core Snapdragon 810 and 4GB of RAM on the Mi Note Pro.

Both exceed specifications for price, beating Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus without much of a fight, however Apple has made it an objective to never compare specs and always test the feel and software.

Apple's total iPhone marketshare is up to 16 per cent in China. Xiaomi is no longer the de-facto ruler of mainland China, so it needs to pick up the pace if it wants to be competitive against the leading Apple in 2015.

UK government tries sneaking previously rejected snooping laws into Counter Terrorism bill

Publié: janvier 26, 2015, 1:05pm CET par David Curry

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The UK government has been trying to impose new surveillance laws on the internet at large, but for the past four years privacy activists have thwarted attempts by Labour and the Conservatives.

In a recent push, the government secretly added 18-pages to the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill (CTSB), including a mirror image of the Communications Data Bill, rejected in 2012 for the potential of national surveillance on every person.

Currently, the government has to apply for a warrant to see a user’s basic information online, like time, date and IP address, but the new law could make warrantless demands on millions of internet users’ daily activities, including chat logs in games and messaging apps.

Former Metropolitan police chief Lord Blair pushed the new CTSB through the House of Lords, with support from Lord Carlisle, Lord King and Lord West.

The two sides, Labour and the Conservatives, seem to agree on the adoption of massive internet surveillance.

Thankfully various Liberal Democrats and 'Lords' have been against the idea in the past, forcing the Communications Data Bill to be scrapped in 2012.

The underhand tactic shows the amount of hatred for the bill by most people, but the UK government is using the banner of 'freedom of speech' and 'counter-terrorism' to try and impose new surveillance laws across the entire country.

Not only does this go against the whole idea of freedom of speech, it follows from startling reports on the British intelligence agency (GCHQ) hacking and tracking journalists and other media figures, claiming investigative journalists were on the same threat level as terrorists.

Several commentators, including NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, claim the GCHQ is a much larger threat than the NSA, due to the lack of a constitution in the UK to defend people’s rights online.

Essentially, this looks like the first step for the UK government to essentially legalize mass surveillance.

Lumoid's wearables service lets you try before you buy

Publié: janvier 15, 2015, 6:29pm CET par David Curry

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Lumoid wants to make the wearable buying experience a little less painful by launching a 'try-before-you-buy' service, allowing users to test five wearables for a limited time and find out which one suits them the best.

Users will be able to choose up to five wearables for $20 and have seven days to test them out, after which users send back all the wearables and can keep any they want to buy.

Over thirty wearables are available to test out, and Lumoid may be able to arrange a wearable not featured on its site if the user contacts them by email or phone beforehand.

Lumoid sorts the different wearables out into different categories. For example the Jawbone UP24, Withings Pulse O2 and FitBit Charge all go under the 'Sleep Tracking Devices' category. A short description, some tech reviews and a comparison tool is available, allowing the user even more information before purchasing.

Even though the $20 might seem unappealing to users already set on one wearable, it gives users who are unsure about the upside to certain devices the chance to try out a few of the top-rated wearables on the market before making a decision.

Wearables tend to be cheaper than other devices like tablets and smartphones, but there are fewer places to actually test out wearables since the majority of stores do not stock more than a few wearable devices at one time.

And the service comes at a good time, as everyone is predicting that the wearable market will really start to heat up in 2015, with several new companies hoping they can develop 'the next big thing'.

However, this may be a struggle as everyone is waiting for the Apple Watch at the moment, especially with all of the investor hype surrounding the device.

Apple has reportedly ordered 30 million units for 2015, a huge amount considering the most popular wearable -- the Samsung Galaxy Gear -- only sold 1 million units in over one year.

Samsung and Nokia are 2014's biggest smartphone losers

Publié: décembre 16, 2014, 12:11pm CET par David Curry

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Samsung, the largest smartphone supplier, has had a surprising year and reported losing over 20 million sales, compared to 2013.

Samsung sold 7 million less units in Q3 and 23 million less overall in 2014, compared to the previous year. The Galaxy S5 has been a huge letdown for Samsung, selling less than 20 million units in 2014, a number Apple’s iPhone 6 has already surpassed.

Samsung has reportedly reformed the mobile division, to create more competitive products to excite customers in 2015. The competition on Android is fierce, with top-tier smartphones like the Moto X and HTC One M8, so it might take more than a piece of metal for Samsung to win back customers.

Lower-cost feature phone sales were also down for Samsung with fierce competition, such as Xiomi and Micromax entering India and China. Even in its home nation of South Korea, Samsung lost to LG and Apple for most of the year in sales.

Nokia had troubles in 2014 as well, losing 20 million customers in 2014. Microsoft’s $7.2 billion (£4.9 billion) acquisition has still not shown any change in fortune, even after CEO Satya Nadella sacked 18,000 workers from the hardware division.

This year’s big winner is Xiaomi, the Chinese based manufacturer sold 15.7 million smartphones in Q3 2014, compared to 3.6 million in 2013. Xiaomi has become the largest smartphone maker in China and the expansion to India and Singapore has shown excellent sales results.

Huawei and Lenovo, the two other mobile giants in China, seen growth in the mobile market, although considerably less than Xiaomi.

Apple also had a sales increase in Q3 2014, selling 8 million more units than last quarter. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have worked wonders with South-East Asian audiences, and even in Europe, Apple is seeing growth.

Google’s Android OS now holds 83 percent of the overall mobile market, iOS sits comfortably in second with 12.7 percent and Windows Phone has dropped to 3.6 percent in 2014. BlackBerry has been wiped off the records with under one percent share.

Spanish publishers demand the return of Google News

Publié: décembre 16, 2014, 9:51am CET par David Curry

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Google removed its news aggregation service from Spain a few days ago, but the Spanish Newspaper Publishers’ Association (AEDE) is already asking the government to bring it back.

AEDE claims the removal of Google News will be bad business for the publishing industry overall and will have more of a negative effect on smaller internet-based publications.

The request does not mean a change in the law, meaning if Google were to bring its news service back, it would still need to pay the charges to publishers for distribution, something Google is surely keen to avoid.

AEDE is willing to negotiate terms with Google, but it is unlikely the search giant will even come to the table. Google has a track record of getting its way or simply ignoring the issue.

Google News has quickly become the defining goal for many publications. Hitting the number one spot often draws in hundreds of thousands of unique viewers to the site.

In the past few years, Google has worked on its news algorithm, to ensure only the best articles get to the top. Google has also added tags like "Trending on Google+", "In Depth", "Opinion", "Live Updating" and "Wikipedia" to refine the service.

Google does not actively pick-and-choose what articles hit the top spot, it is all done through algorithm and automation. It makes hitting the top spot a lot more random as the reaching the spot is based on a plethora of factors, including audience size and time of day.

Spain is the only country currently enforcing this tax on news, meaning Google News should continue to operate as normal outside of Spain.

Lack of IT skills is hindering cloud and BYOD deployment

Publié: décembre 15, 2014, 7:33pm CET par David Curry

Warning Sign Sky Cloud Cloudy

Utilizing the power of cloud technology and mobilizing the workforce are two key interests for most organizations, but several issues are currently affecting progress in the field.

In a survey conducted by NaviSite and Time Warner Cable on migration to the cloud and BYOD (bring your own device) support, several key points were brought up on the reasoning behind the slow progress.

In the survey, 89 percent of the 250 US and UK based business said they would be moving to a cloud service in the next 12 months. 68 percent said they do not have a BYOD policy currently active in the organization.

On cloud migration, 59 percent said the main concern was security, both through the migration process and once everything has been set up. The recent iCloud and Dropbox hacks have put doubts on the safety of cloud technology in the workplace.

94 percent said the main reason for cloud migration is to create a mobile workforce. Having a system based in the cloud allows for more devices to be utilized and allows workers to be based in remote areas.

The lack of BYOD policies comes from the poor IT skills in most organizations, company leaders are worried the deployment of a BYOD policy will confuse staff and potentially lead to less efficiency at work.

Moving to a new system can always bring issue, it is part of the reason outsourcing agencies have become so popular in the past ten years. Organizations will need to give staff extensive training, to keep efficiency high in the workplace.

Plenty of organizations are keen on employing a BYOD policy, especially with wearables becoming a new market for enterprise customers and mobile device usage continuing to rise.

With this in mind, tech companies are starting to offer more customizable services for mobile, taking the power of analytics and the cloud to deliver personal experiences for each company.

Photo Credit: bahri altay/Shutterstock

GCHQ spy agency releases code-breaking app on Android

Publié: décembre 15, 2014, 9:15am CET par David Curry

cryptoy

The UK’s history of cryptography is fascinating, with famous cryptanalysts like Alan Turing, Dillwyn Knox, and W. T. Tutte deciphering different code machines used in World War I and II.

To celebrate the achievements of the past and reinvigorate students on cryptography, the GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) has released a code-breaking app on Android, named Cryptoy. An iOS version is set to see a 2015 release.

Cryptoy currently focused on four methods of encryption: Shift, Substitution, Vigenère and Enigma. The app makes it especially hard at higher levels, testing students who have the ability to crack code.

The GCHQ is interested in finding the next batch of code-breakers for the future. It is unclear how the GCHQ will get in contact with the potential candidates, or how the GCHQ will be able to identify actual codebreakers from cheaters.

This is not the first time the GCHQ has used public routes to employ new code-breakers, the Daily Telegraph ran a cryptic crossword and those who solved it received a chance to work at the GCHQ.

Encryption has moved from a wartime function designed to hide messages, to a way for Internet services to provide security against surveillance. This has blackened the GCHQ’s reputation when it comes to codebreaking, and now the next generation will most likely be cracking Facebook or Apple code.

New encryption techniques are on the rise, as more people worry about who is reading their private messages. Apple and Google recently announced new encryption on mobile devices, set to stop the FBI from accessing the devices without a warrant.

Terrorist organizations still use some encryption techniques when messaging, but some have been caught chatting on Facebook about potential attacks. The attack on UK soldier Lee Rigby was reportedly planned on Facebook a year beforehand the incident.

Google's new design language will add functionality across devices

Publié: décembre 12, 2014, 7:19pm CET par David Curry

Lollipop Forest

Google wants to get all of the platforms updated to Material Design -- the new design language first previewed at Google I/O this year.

Android Wear has been waiting for the Lollipop update for quite some time, after Nexus, Google Play Edition and some OEM (original equipment manufacturers) gained early updates to the new OS update.

The new update will include new Material Design watch-faces and animation. Google launched a new Watch API, for developers and users to upload new watch-faces for their Android Wear device.

Google has also added a new "cinema mode" to Android Wear, allowing the phone’s voice commands to shut down when watching a film. Most Android Wear smartwatches have a built-in voice recognition chip, which can hear voices from across a room.

The Chromecast has received a small design update to fit with the Material Design aesthetic. Google has been slowly optimizing performance and adding more third party channels, capable of broadcasting video to the Chromecast.

Hangouts, YouTube and a few other Google apps have been updated with the new Material Design aesthetic. Google is confident in the new approach and Android fans -- for the most part -- seem to enjoy the new animations and fluid shifts from page to page.

Google added a few new functions to Hangouts -- when a person asks "Where are you?" Hangouts will prompt a location share -- giving an exact location. Google claims there are more minor tweaks, but wants the community to find them.

Android 5.0.1 has been released a few days ago, offering a plethora of bug-fixes and small updates. Lollipop was one of the largest updates to Android, stepping away from Jelly Bean and KitKat to a new redesign which nearly 5 percent of Android smartphones now run the new update.

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