News written by Andre Yoskowitz (February, 2016)

Swiss Army Knife and watchmaker Victorinox has shown off a new accessory that will turn your traditional watch into a smartwatch.

The new Cybertool attachment will clip on to your existing Victorinox INOX watch and will give you the ability to take calls, texts and view notifications.

Additionally, the accessory has GPS support and will have some basic fitness capabilities like step counting and calorie counting.

The attachment is set to retail for over $200 and, of course, you need the INOX watch as well, which will set you back another $500. There is also the question of how it will look (doesn't look too promising).

Nintendo has unveiled Pokemon Sun and Moon this week, the next games in the blockbuster franchise.

The games will hit the Nintendo 3DS handheld console in time for the holidays this year, and will be the first new games since 2013's Pokemon X and Y.

"We hope that, through Pokemon, players can overcome language barriers and interact with other players from around the world," Tsunekazu Ishihara, CEO of The Pokemon Company, said while adding that the game will launch worldwide and in nine different languages.

In celebrating the 20th anniversary of the franchise, gamers can also play the original titles on their 3DS's this weekend.

The hype for the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice may be close to peaking as Regal Cinemas has begun offering an "unlimited ticket" that allows unlimited access to the film throughout its entire theater run.

The ticket, which is actually a stainless steel card with laser cut symbols and your name engraved, will cost $100 and will include entry to all iterations of the film, including Imax.

Only 1000 of the cards are being made, and they have an expiration of September 24th.

It is hard to see anyone seeing this movie 5 or more times (in Imax) to make the card worth it, but it is a cool gift and idea if you have the disposable income.

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice will open on March 25, 2016.

Microsoft has announced this week that it has ended its quest to port Android apps to Windows.

"Project Astoria," as it was codenamed, would have given developers an easier way to bring their Android apps to Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile.

Microsoft director Kevin Gallo says, bluntly, that "bridge technologies to bring code from mobile operating systems to Windows was unnecessary."

The decision was likely an easy one after Microsoft agreed to acquire startup Xamarin, a company that lets developers write their apps in a single programming language and then customize it for the major smartphone platforms. Microsoft also has an open-source iOS migration tool that has proven popular.

Three years after YouTube added the ability for video creators to blur faces within their videos, the company has expanded the blurring ability to anything you want in your videos.

The new "Custom Blurring" tool, which is available now for the desktop version of the video sharing site, will let you "blur any object in your video, even as it moves. Whether you want to blur sensitive information such as a license plate or cover up a wardrobe malfunction without reshooting an entire scene, the new Custom Blurring tool will let you blur objects throughout your video, right within YouTube."

Easy enough, the feature lets you draw a box around whatever you want to be blurred and YouTube will automatically blur that object whenever it appears throughout the video.

You can also choose to move the blurred areas, resize them, and choose when the blur starts and ends.

An appeals court has overturned a $120 million judgement against Samsung in their ongoing patent feud with Apple.

The court said Samsung did not infringe on Apple's "quick links" patent and also discarded two other patents related to the iPhone's slide-to-unlock and auto-correct features.

Making it a completely lopsided victory for Samsung, the court also ruled that Apple infringed on one of Samsung's patents, as well.

Added Samsung: "Today's decision is a win for consumer choice and puts competition back where it belongs - in the marketplace, not in the courtroom."

In news that will likely not affect you - popular messaging application WhatsApp has announced it will drop support for some older, dead operating systems.

WhatsApp will end support for BlackBerry, Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60, Android 2.1, 2.2 and Windows Phone 7.1.

"When we started WhatsApp in 2009, people's use of mobile devices looked very different from today," the announcement read. "The Apple App Store was only a few months old. About 70 percent of smartphones sold at the time had operating systems offered by BlackBerry and Nokia. Mobile operating systems offered by Google, Apple and Microsoft – which account for 99.5 percent of sales today – were on less than 25 percent of mobile devices sold at the time. As we look ahead to our next seven years, we want to focus our efforts on the mobile platforms the vast majority of people use."

Why is WhatsApp (and parent Facebook) getting rid of support for the older operating systems even though they still have some (tiny) market share?

"While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app's features in the future," WhatsApp explained. "This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp."

Amazon has announced that its new season of "The Fashion Fund" will be available for free for non-Prime users, albeit with ads.

The reality show is in its third season and is not expected to be one of the company's most popular original shows, but the idea is interesting nonetheless.

If you subscribe to Prime, the show will still be free, without ads, but non-users can now log in to their Amazon account and watch for free with commercials. It may be the start of something larger, or it could be that Amazon just wants more viewers since they are also selling clothes and other accessories that are seen on the show.

"We're always experimenting on behalf of our customers, including experimenting with ads," said Amazon of the move. "For this Fashion Fund project, we found it to be a very effective way to fund its production. The show has strong interest from advertisers."

As has been reported for a couple of months, Apple is preparing a new 4-inch iPhone, one that will look similar to the company's previous iPhone 5s design, except with 2016 specs.

There had been rumors that the company would call the device the "iPhone 5se," but it is becoming apparent that Apple will drop the number scheme completely, sticking with just iPhone SE.

Of course, dropping the numbers make sense from a sales and marketing standpoint, as consumers may be upset to buy something with 5 in the title when the iPhone 7 is set for release. Additionally, by dropping the numbers, the product cycle does not have to coincide with the company's current release dates in the fall.

By most leaks, the iPhone SE will be identical to the iPhone 5s in design except that it will have curved edges. Under the hood, the phone will be powered by an A9 processor, an M9 chip, always-on Siri support, an NFC chip, Live Photo support and upgraded Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cameras.

Apple has a press event scheduled for March 15th where they are expected to launch the SE as well as a new iPad.

Just a month after they retired the option, Sprint has brought back two-year contracts.

The carrier says "We listened to our customers and are giving them more choices to get their new device," making them the only of the big four U.S. carriers to offer a 24-month payment plan.

A two-year contract is again available next to monthly finance plans, full-price purchases and Sprint leases.

T-Mobile began the downfall of the two-year contract in 2013 when it completely got rid of the option, and "upgrades," instead moving to monthly installment plans.

The RIAA has secured a $22 million judgement against MP3Skull, a site that did not host but linked to pirated song files.

MP3Skull lost because nobody ever came to court to defend the site, including the site's owner Monica Vasilenko, who currently resides in Russia.

Sued in April 2015, the "very popular rogue website devoted to the massive, brazen, and egregious theft of millions of copyrighted sound recordings" will now move into the control of the labels although it is highly unlikely they will ever receive a penny of the judgement.

MP3Skull was a very basic site that was created to "provide fast and relevant search" and then link to unauthorized music files.

The RIAA was "pleased" with the decision.

Source:
Arstechnica

According to the French finance ministry, the country is seeking $1.76 billion in back taxes from search giant Google - not the first time a European nation has demanded taxes back from the company.

"As far as our country is concerned, back taxes concerning this company amount to 1.6 billion euros," said an official, speaking anonymously.

French tax authorities "issue at least one preliminary assessment before its final assessment," say tax professionals in the country and the final assessment can be challenged in court.

Google recently settled with British tax officials for 130 million pounds for similar complaints. Google and other U.S. giants like Apple and GE have long used tax shelters like Ireland to keep their corporate tax rates low, even if they are making the revenue in places like France and the UK.

Sony has sent out press invites for an upcoming PlayStation VR event on March 15th at the GDC in San Francisco.

The VR headset will be available for the PlayStation 4 at some point in 2016, but there are still many unknowns for the system.

Sony recently refuted a report that the PSVR would be delayed until the fall, suggesting that we could see the anticipated device in the Q2. Most importantly, however, will be the price tag, with some speculating it could be as high as $799.

Instagram announced today that the photo-sharing site has over 200,000 active advertisers, well below its parent Facebook but well ahead of Twitter.

Facebook has 2.5 million advertisers while Twitter has 130,000, and Instagram also seems to be adding advertisers quicker.

"We've gone from hundreds of advertisers last summer to now more than 200,000, which is exciting because the more diverse our advertiser base, the more relevant we can make the ads people see," said James Quarles, global head of business and brand development at Instagram.

Instagram also noted they were extending their ad business overseas, with ads being sold in 200 countries now, up from 30 last year.

Amazon Studios, in their ongoing efforts to offer premium original content, has purchased Woody Allen's latest film for $15 million.

The movie stars Steve Carell, Blake Lively, Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart and sold for three times what Sony paid for Allen's last film, Irrational Man.

Additionally, Amazon bought the rights to the film, sight unseen, a hefty investment for a film that no one has seen.

"We have always been exceptionally pleased working with Michael Barker and Tom Bernard at SPC," added the film's producer Letty Aronson. "Amazon made us an offer we couldn't refuse, and we have a responsibility to our investors. Woody wishes SPC could be the subdistributor for this film, but apparently they would not. It's their policy to not do that. We certainly look forward to working with them again in the future."

Amazon is already working with Allen on a new TV series and says they will help release the new film in theaters, as well.

In a somewhat surprising announcement, smartphone startup OnePlus says their upcoming OnePlus 3 flagship will launch by the end of the second quarter.

Co-founder Carl Pei made the announcement during an interview but declined to give many details of the phone. Pei did say the design will be completely new compared to the OnePlus One and the OnePlus 2, which had pretty dry designs.

The company offers incredibly cheap phones that are packed with the latest high-end specs and features, but sales are usually light since the phone sells via an invitation system to start.

Just like with past OnePlus phones, Pei says the 3 will sell in the U.S. and other markets completely unlocked and directly through the company rather than through carriers.

Gaming giant Activision Blizzard has completed their acquisition of Candy Crush maker King Digital today, buying the mobile gaming company for $5.9 billion.

The deal gives Activision the "largest game network" on the planet, with over 500 million users.

"We see great opportunities to create new ways for audiences to experience their favorite franchises, from Candy Crush to World of Warcraft to Call of Duty and more, across mobile devices, consoles and personal computers," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, in a statement. "On behalf of Activision Blizzard, we are delighted to welcome Riccardo, Sebastian, Stephane and all of King's talented employees to our family."

King will continue to run independently from within Activision, and its CEO Riccardo Zacconi will remain at the helm.

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk recently tweeted that the company had acquired Tesla.com, leading many to infer that that the company could be ready to change their name to just Tesla, expanding outside of just cars.

"Just wanted to thank Stu G for tesla.com," said Musk. "Know it meant a lot to you. Will take good care." Stu Grossman, a huge Nikola Tesla fan, had owned the domain since 1992.

Besides cars, Tesla also offers the Powerpack energy-storage solution and the Powerwall, under its Energy brand.

Musk even alluded to a name change last year, saying that domain name challenges were the main concern. Those do not appear to be an issue anymore.

Bethesda, following the surprise success of Fallout Shelter, is looking to develop more mobile games.

Fallout Shelter made $5.1 million during its first two weeks of availability, buoyed by a franchise name and untraditional gameplay.

Todd Haward, creative director at Bethesda, says the company built a new Montreal studio specifically for PC and mobile gaming, suggesting mobile is a big deal moving forward.

It has been confirmed that the company is already building an iPad card battler, The Elder Scrolls: Legends, using another successful franchise name as a base.

According to multiple sources, Time Inc. is considering the logistics behind a merger with struggling tech pioneer Yahoo.

Time Inc. is small by market cap, at just $1.5 billion, but the company owns popular magazines and web destinations including People, Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated. Yahoo sees hundreds of millions of users click through their digital destinations on an annual basis, a number that would certainly benefit Time's other properties.

According to those looking at the deal, "Time Inc. may see it as a worthwhile because it could pursue a structure with Yahoo called a Reverse Morris Trust, a tax-free transaction in which one company merges with a spun-off subsidiary."

In any deal, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer would be let go, with Time CEO Joe Ripp taking over the position.

According to research firm IDC, Apple shipped 11.6 million Apple Watches in 2015, including 4.1 million in the final quarter.

Apple does not disclose Watch sales as a standalone number, instead hiding it within the "Other Products" category that includes Apple TV and other hardware and software.

In the larger wearables market, Apple was third behind Fitbit and Xiaomi, although both those companies sell devices that are often one-third the price of even the cheapest Apple Watch. Fitbit sold 21 million units for the year, and Xiaomi shipped 12 million units.

"Triple-digit growth highlights growing interest in the wearables market from both end-users and vendors," noted Ramon Llamas, Research Manager for IDC's Wearables team. "It shows that wearables are not just for the technophiles and early adopters; wearables can exist and are welcome in the mass market. And since wearables have yet to fully penetrate the mass market, there is still plenty of room for growth in multiple vectors: new vendors, form factors, applications, and use cases. This will help propel the market further."

Microsoft has announced today that 16 teams have made the finals of the annual Halo World Championship, which will no feature a massive $2.5 million prize pool.

The tournament is scheduled for March 18th to March 20th and has the largest prize for a shooter in e-sports history.

Most e-sports tournaments feature games that are prominently played on PCs, but Halo 5: Guardians is an Xbox shooter.

Microsoft also named the teams who made the finals:

Team Allegiance (North America)
Counter Logic Gaming (North America)
Evil Geniuses (North America)
Team Liquid (North America)
Noble eSports (North America)
Renegades (North America)
Triggers Pound (North America)
Denial eSports (North America)
Epsilon eSports (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa)
FabE (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa)
exceL (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa)
Team Infused (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa)
Team Immunity (Australia)
Team Exile5 (Australia)
Skyfire (Asia)
Chosen Squad (Latin America)

Microsoft has announced today that Skype Qik is being discontinued.

The app allowed users to send video messages from their mobile devices to groups of friends and was relatively popular despite many competing apps.

Says Microsoft: "We're always hard at work evolving Skype for mobile, and have continued to add new features, such as group video calling. Some of the features we've added might look familiar, and for good reason. In 2014, we launched Skype Qik, a mobile video messaging app to help share moments with groups of friends. Since then, we have learned that many of you are already doing these things in Skype, and as a result, we migrated some of Qik's most used features into the Skype app you already know and love.

We've enabled video messaging in Skype and fun features such as filters, to make your messages even more personal. To send a video message in Skype today, simply look for the video message icon in the media bar.

Due to these updates, the last day Skype Qik will be available for use will be March 24th, 2016. Please make sure to save any special messages you may want to keep before March 24th. After this date, you will no longer be able to send or receive messages."

Amazon has announced today that it is raising the free shipping minimum on its orders from non-Prime members to $49.

When Amazon first launched, the minimum total to get free shipping was $25 and the company raised that to $35 in 2013. The only exception to the rule are books, which keeps the original $25 minimum.

Amazon Prime costs $99 per year and gives you free two-day shipping on millions of items, free streaming music, the Amazon Prime Video catalog with original TV and movie content and more perks.

Dish Network's Sling TV streaming service now has over 600,000 subscribers, a year after launch.

Of note, Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch said that a vast majority of its new customers are "not currently pay-TV subscribers," an incredibly interesting fact. "Either they have never had pay-TV because they are 25 years old and it never crossed their mind to have pay-TV," Mr. Lynch added. "Or, they cut the cord some time in the last one, two, three, four, five years."

The service costs $20 per month and includes the following channels: TNT, TBS, CNN, Food Network, HGTV, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, the Disney Channel, Galavision, El Rey Network, IFC, AMC, a Maker Studios channel and ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN 3.

Additionally, you can buy specialised packages that include movies or sports, for example.

According to multiple reports, Yahoo will begin approaching potential buyers as early this week in an effort to sell off its core businesses.

There are a few companies supposedly interested, including Verizon, Comcast and AT&T, but there is a better chance of Yahoo selling to a private equity firm like Bain, KKR or TPG, say the sources.

CEO Marissa Mayer was hired to turnaround the company but so far all her acquisitions and efforts have fallen flat to the point where the company's stock shares are almost worthless after you take away their $25 billion stake in Alibaba.

Samsung has announced that their fledgling mobile payments service Samsung Pay now has over 5 million registered users.

In the service's first six months, Samsung has processed over $500 million in transactions, all from consumers in South Korea and the United States.

"Since its introduction last year, Samsung Pay has changed the way people pay and use their smartphones," said InJon Rhee, Samsung's head of research and development and EVP of mobile communications, in a statement. "We've already seen significant consumer adoption and we continue to see great momentum. Our aim is to expand Samsung Pay to even more locations around the world, and our customers should expect to see more features in the year to come."

Samsung Pay is expanding to China, Australia, the UK, Brazil, Singapore and Spain this year.

Lenovo has introduced a new, highly affordable tablet running Windows 10.

The MIIX 310 has a 10.1-inch 1080p display and runs on an Intel Atom X5 processor with integrated graphics. Additionally, it is a 2-in-1, meaning there's a detachable keyboard that gives the device a more "notebook" feel for productivity.

Priced at $229 with the keyboard, the rest of the specs are predictably mid-range. There are 2GB RAM, 802.11b/g/n wireless, and 128GB internal storage.

Lenovo will begin shipping the devices in June.

Hundreds of Spotify Premium accounts have been compromised - with the details showing up on Pastebin in at least three data dumps.

Spotify claims they were not hacked, but users have confirmed that the passwords and usernames posted were theirs and unique to the streaming site. "Spotify has not been hacked. We monitor Pastebin and other sites regularly," a spokesperson said from Spotify. "When we find Spotify credentials, we first verify that they are authentic, and if they are, we immediately notify affected users to change their passwords."

Even worse, those users all claimed that "Spotify failed to notify them their account information had been compromised." If you want to see if your details have been compromised, you can visit haveibeenpwned.com.

According to research firm Gartner, smartphones sales rose to 403 million units in the Q4 2015, 9.7 percent higher year-over-year.

Despite the seemingly high growth, the number is actually the lowest the smartphone industry has ever seen, suggesting that smartphone sales have completely peaked.

Overall, smartphone sales reached 1.4 billion units for the year, an increase of 14.4 percent YoY.

"Low-cost smartphones in emerging markets, and strong demand for premium smartphones, continued to be the driving factors," said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. "An aggressive pricing from local and Chinese brands in the midrange and entry-level segments of emerging markets led to consumers upgrading more quickly to affordable smartphones."

Samsung remained king, shipping 320 million units for the year, followed by Apple at 225 million. Chinese giant Huawei jumped to 104 million and Lenovo/Motorola fell to 72 million but still took fourth.

According to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, the company is losing a billion dollars a year trying to compete against rival Didi Kuaidi in China.

Uber's China business is valued at $8.2 billion, but the ride-hailing service has yet to make a cent of profit thanks to intense price wars in mainland China.

"We're profitable in the USA, but we're losing over $1 billion a year in China," added Kalanick. "We have a fierce competitor that's unprofitable in every city they exist in, but they're buying up market share. I wish the world wasn't that way."

Didi is backed by Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba, both of which are subsidizing fares in order to gain as much market share as they can.

Vevo, the lead streaming music video service, is planning a subscription-based model.

The paid version of the service could be available as soon as this year, noted CEO Erik Huggers.

"Today our business is all about ad-supported," said Huggers. "So we think that one of the important things -- we hear this throughout the industry -- is the move toward subscription. That's something we're interested in."

Vevo, a joint venture between giants UMG and Sony Music, sees about 17 billion video views a month and the companies receive all their revenue from the site from advertising.

It is unclear what the paid service will cost consumers, or what exactly will make it worth the monthly fee. We will likely know more this year.

The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has paid $17,000 in bitcoin to attackers who shut down access to their computer system via ransomware.

The malware first infected the computers on February 5th and hospital staff was forced to use paper for nearly 10 days before deciding to pay to have their files decrypted.

Hospital CEO Allen Stefanek says the initial ransom figure was large but ended up at 40 bitcoin. Each bitcoin is worth $430 as of writing. "The malware locks systems by encrypting files and demanding ransom to obtain the decryption key. The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key," Stefanek said. "In the best interest of restoring normal operations, we did this."

The hospital alerted authorities and technology experts who helped them regain access to their systems. No hospital records or patient records were stolen, nor was patient care compromised.

The U.S. Department of Defense has laid out plans to upgrade "4 million devices and systems" to Windows 10 by February 2017.

It appears that Windows 10 is ready for secure deployment, a huge deal for Microsoft since corporations and especially governments are infamously slow to upgrade their systems. The government PCs are running Windows 7, skipping the oft-maligned Windows 8 and 8.1 completely.

Terry Halvorsen, CIO for the DoD, directed all Combatant Commands, Services Agencies and Field Activities "to rapidly deploy Windows 10 to improve the DoD's cybersecurity, lower the cost of IT and streamline the IT operating environment."

Each branch will be allowed an additional 12 months via a "limited waiver authority" to get their systems upgraded, added Halvorsen, which unfortunately means for Microsoft that 4 million updates are probably not getting done by next February.

Additionally, the Surface family has been certified via the DISA Unified Capabilities (UC) Approved Product List (APL), allowing the government to purchase the devices in bulk.

According to ARM, your phone will see such a leap in computational power by the end of next year that they will be more powerful than the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.

The chips will, at least, be able to generate graphics that are on par with the current-gen dedicated consoles, noted ARM ecosystem director Nizar Romdan.

"Mobile hardware is already powerful," said Romdan at Casual Connect Europe. "If you take today's high-end smartphone or tablet, the performance is already better than Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It's catching up quickly with Xbox One and PlayStation 4."

As a simple way to compute their power, the current consoles can compute around 1.84 TFLOPS (floating point operations per second (in this case TerraFlops). By the end of 2017, the most powerful chips will hypothetically be able to output 2 TFLOPS.

While gamers are not likely to ever move exclusively to mobile gaming (touch is not always as fun as a controller), the chips will have the ability to power the next generation of virtual reality.

"Our view is that mobile VR is the use case that could unlock the potential of mobile for hardcore gamers," Romdan added. "For once, mobile devices are on par with PC and consoles in terms of experience [when it comes to the form factor of VR]. We won't have the same processing. And battery life is a problem. But it is the same user experience. That could be a game changer for mobile gaming."

Yahoo has announced that nearly all of their digital magazines will be shut down soon, including Yahoo Food, Health, Parenting, Makers, Travel, Tech, Autos and Real Estate.

The company had put millions into building their media division in the past few years, but they failed just like all of Yahoo's attempts at a turnaround.

Moving forward, only News, Sports, Finance and Lifestyle, the company's four most popular verticals, will remain active. Popular writers, including former New York Times' writer David Pogue, will move from their magazines to 'News.'

Yahoo's general popularity has fallen, as daily active user visits to the homepage have fallen 16.5 percent year-over-year and time spent on the site has fallen significantly, as well.

Google has introduced 'Gmailify' this week, giving users the "best of Gmail, without a @gmail address."

The company had previously allowed Yahoo, Outlook and Hotmail users to link their accounts to Gmail and the service will now give those users Gmail's spam protection, Google Now card integration and mail organization (tabs).

Says Google: "For the last year, you've been able to access your email from other providers, like Yahoo! Mail or Outlook.com, in the Gmail app on Android. And we've been getting lots of great feedback from those of you that do. Many of you would like more of Gmail's powerful features, like spam protection and inbox organization, on these accounts--but don't want to go through the hassle of changing your email address.

We agree. So starting today, if you use Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail/Outlook.com, you now have the option to Gmailify your inbox.

Gmailify links your existing account to Gmail so that you get all the bells and whistles--spam protection, inbox organization and even Google Now cards based on your mail--without having to leave your current address behind.

All you need to do is open the Gmail app, sign in to your email account(s), and enable Gmailify. And of course, you're always in control--so if you ever change your mind, you can unlink your account(s) at any time, and continue to access them through the Gmail app without using Gmailify."

According to multiple reports, Spotify is nearing 30 million paying subscribers, a large increase from previously announced milestones.

Spotify announced in June 2015 that its paying subscriber base had jumped to 20 million. By the end of last year, that number had reportedly reached 25 million.

If the numbers are accurate, streaming growth is accelerating very quickly. It took Spotify 5 years to get its first 20 million premium consumers but just 9 months to get the next 10 million. Apple Music has added 11 million paying subscribers since September of last year.

Other major competitors are in the industry, such as Google, although their numbers appear to be growing less quickly. That could change with the new launch of YouTube Red and its original content as well as the upcoming on-demand service from Internet Radio giant Pandora.

Movie ticketing site Fandango has acquired movie rating site Rotten Tomatoes and streaming/discovery app Flixster.

Fandango is owned by NBCUniversal, and RT and Flixster were owned by Warner Bros. studios, so the sites are moving from one major Hollywood studio to another.

Earlier this year, Fandango purchased streaming service M-GO, a smaller catalog of streaming video available on mobile devices, Roku set-tops and some smart TVs. The overall goals for Fandango appear to be a one-stop shop where a consumer can see what critics are saying about a movie, buy their tickets the movies and eventually purchase and stream them.

Additionally, the press release announced plans for "super tickets," although details were lacking. Speculation is the ticket will come with a code for a digital download/streaming copy of the same movie when it actually releases.

Vaio, Toshiba and Fujitsu are preparing to merge their PC operations by the end of the year, creating a producer that can, at least, dominate Japan.

Sony spun off Vaio in 2014 and the brand is run by buyout fund Japan Industrial Partners Inc., currently. The firm will have the largest share of the newly merged company. The move is similar to what has been happening with the Japanese display makers, who have been consolidating for years to stay relevant.

Hidemi Moue, chief executive officer of Japan Industrial Partners Inc: "The PC market is shrinking, which means there are merits in working together to make the most of research, production volumes and marketing channels. We can do it with minimal cannibalization."

To start, the merged companies will continue to make PCs as a core business aimed at the Japanese market.

Samsung has begin pushing Android 6.0 Marshmallow to its mobile devices, suggesting the new Android could finally get some real installs.

Until now, 6.0 has been installed on less than 2 percent of all Android devices but hundreds of millions of Galaxy S and Notes owners could be making the change soon.

The first devices to get the update are the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge but Samsung also says it will make "separate announcements on details of OS updates schedule for each market according to market situation and carriers' requirements."

According to a new report, Apple could be dropping Samsung completely for rival TSMC (the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) when it comes time to manufacture the new A10 chips for the iPhone and iPad.

TSMC was the sole supplier for the A8, but the A9 chips are currently manufactured by both companies.

If the report is accurate, TSMC could begin production in June ahead of the expected September launch. The report also claims that the A10 could use the new and more efficient 10nm design.

For Samsung, the loss will certainly be material as Apple ships over 150 million iPhones per year.

While Hulu has been available for all major platforms for some time, it was notably lacking full support from Microsoft's Windows 10.

That has changed this week as the two companies have announced a brand new version of Hulu for Windows 10 that includes universal voice search through Cortana and a Live Tile.

If you are one of the 120 million Windows 10 users, the update should come as a relief. The new Live Tile will eventually be smart enough to show you what shows you have watched and relay that there are new episodes waiting for you. The Cortana integration will allow you to put on shows without needing to move your hands, such as "Hey Cortana, play Hulu" to be brought into the app where you can choose a show or movie and play it using the voice assistant, as well.

"We're looking at how users interact with content and voice," says Hulu. "For us – and I think this is true of everyone investing in voice – it's a long-term play. It's not about success in the short-term...it's about understanding what in the eyes of the user will be successful." Read more...

Microsoft has revealed their third Lumia phone running on Windows 10 today, a budget flagship that the company says is great for business and productivity.

The new Lumia 650 costs just $199 unlocked and features a 720p 5-inch OLED screen, dual 8MP/5MP cameras and a mid-range quad-core Snapdragon 212 processor clocked at 1.3Ghz. The phone also has 1GB RAM, NFC, 16GB internal storage (microSD card expandable) and a 2000mAh battery.

Microsoft says the device is built for productivity and is the "smart choice for your business."

The software giant confirmed earlier this quarter that Windows 10 Mobile is an "ex-platform" as it has become abundantly clear that sales were nowhere near expected. That being said, Microsoft is still expected to release one final smartphone, a Surface Phone, to see if the mobile operating system has any shot in the market.

Patricia Drew, an 82-year-old great-grandmother in the UK, has received a £600 demand from copyright holder TCYK, alleging that she shared 'The Company You Keep' illegally.

Reportedly, TCYK has been sending out dozens of similar letters in the past few weeks to Sky broadband customers, accusing each of infringing copyright and demanding a settlement.

Drew responded only to say: "I'm upset to have been accused of something I didn't do... how many other people has this happened to?"

In a statement, Sky noted: "TCYK LLC successfully applied for a court order against Sky, which means we have been ordered to supply the details of some of our account holders that match the list of IP addresses they have identified."

It is unclear what the next step is for Mrs. Drew, who most likely had unsecured or poorly secured Wi-Fi, allowing others to get into her personal network.

Thanks to a new court ruling, Facebook will have to face a censorship lawsuit brought by a French teacher whose Facebook account got suspended after he posted an image of a famous painting that includes a naked woman.

The painting, a 19th century classic from Gustave Courbet called L'Origine du monde is famous enough that it hangs in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Claiming that the social network censored him, the teacher sued for €20,000 in damages. Facebook countered the suit by pointing out their Terms of Service which states that all users must sue "in the US District Court for the Northern District of California or a state court located in San Mateo County."

Last year, the Superior Court of Paris agreed that the ToS was "abusive" and "violated French consumer law by making it difficult for people in France to sue," and said the teacher could go ahead with the suit.

Facebook has pretty harsh rules about nudity and even uses human moderators in addition to algorithms to see which posts and images should be removed.

Apple Music continues to quickly gain subscribers, says SVP Eddy Cue, with the service now boasting 11 million paying members.

It had been reported that Apple reached 10 million last month.

Additionally, Cue says there are now 782 million iCloud users, with users uploading billions of photos every week. in total there are 1 billion iOS devices in use, suggesting that many consumers have multiple devices.

Google has boasted of 1 billion Android users for some time and Spotify remains the undisputed streaming king with over 20 million paying subscribers and 60 million free users. In time, Apple should be able to exceed both those totals at this rate.

Police in the UK have arrested a 16-year old accused of leading a group that stole information from CIA and FBI officials in the U.S.

The young hacker, going by the name "Cracka," reportedly took responsibility for breaking into the AOL email account of CIA director John Brennan last year and stealing loads of personal and sensitive data.

Cracka and his group, 'C.W.A.,' then released the names, Social Security numbers and phone numbers of at least 20 people said to be closely affiliated with the official. Many of those affected were part of President Obama's transition team following his victory in 2008.

In an anonymous interview last October, 'Cracka' said his moves were motivated by an opposition to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and his own support for Palestinians.

The attack started through social engineering tricks, with the hacker able to get personal information from Verizon telephone support that allowed him to reset Brennan's AOL password.

According to Juan Andrés Guerrero-Saade, senior security researcher with Kaspersky Lab's Global Research and Analysis Team, and Jaime Blasco of the Lab Intelligence and Research team at AlienVault Labs, the hackers behind the massive and devastating Sony Pictures attack in 2014 are still active and could be behind some other low-profile attacks.

"[T]hey didn't disappear...not at all," Guerrero-Saade said bluntly this week. In fact, the attackers appear to be behind attacks on a nuclear power plant operator in South Korea and Samsung, and the "digital crumbs" include some re-used passwords, code, and some other small lists.

The investigators began by looking at samples of the 'Destover' malware that wrecked critical data on the hacked Sony computers and then used proprietary methods to find similarities in other attacks.

Wired has an excellent run through of the researchers methods, and a critical update to anyone interested in the Sony Pictures hack.

According to a new report, Apple is quietly preparing to launch a new 4-inch iPhone, the iPhone 5se, at an event on March 15th.

It appears that Apple has some regrets after moving away from tiny 4-inch devices, although the new iPhone 6 and 6s (and Plus) are huge sellers at 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches, respectively.

Sources say mass manufacturing began in January, and that Apple will not open up the device for pre-orders and just make it available the day of launch.

The iPhone 5se will look almost identical to the iPhone 5s, which launched in 2013, but it will include the brand new A9 and M9 processors, as well as an NFC chip and the ability to take Live Photos. Additionally, the 5se will be available in the same colors as the 6s; gold, rose gold, silver and space gray.

Source:
9to5mac

BitTorrent has introduced a new subscription tier for their popular μTorrent client.

For $4.95 per year, you can have an ad-free version of the software, an option that previously only came included in the μTorrent Pro client for $19.99 per year.

Says BitTorrent: "As reported in this forum previously, we've been busy experimenting with new ways to improve μTorrent for our users while financially supporting the amazing team that works every day to make μTorrent free for millions of people around the world."

If ad-free is not enough for you, you can still upgrade to Pro which includes built-in Internet security and anti-malware, premium customer support, the ability to stream torrents instantly, and a built-in file converter.

Qualcomm has announced its latest chip, the Snapdragon X16, which boasts Category 16 LTE download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second.

High-end phones today can hit 450Mbps (theoretically) and the upcoming Snapdragon 820 can touch 600Mpbs. Because sharing is caring, the X16 can also support 150Mbps upload speeds.

"The Snapdragon X16 LTE modem is designed to reach Gigabit Class LTE speeds using the same amount of spectrum as Category 9 LTE devices. By using carrier aggregation and 4x4 MIMO, the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem can receive 10 unique streams of data using only three 20 MHz carriers. Its support for 256-QAM boosts the peak throughput of each stream from ~75 Mbps to ~100 Mbps, with additional gains possible with modem data compression," reads the company's press release.

A full Snapdragon SoC with an X16 LTE modem integrated is expected early next year.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, legendary rapper and producer Dr. Dre is starring and executive producing Apple's first original program, 'Vital Signs.'

The show is being described as a "dark semi-autobiographical drama" and each episode will focus on a different emotion and how Dre's character (himself) handles it. In addition to Dre, the sources say the show will also star Sam Rockwell and Mo McCrae.

Sources also claim there is a plethora of violence and sex, and one of the first two episodes will feature an orgy.

It is unclear if the show will be released on iTunes and Apple TV exclusively, but there seems to be confirmation that the show's first season will be available in its entirety right from the launch, just like original shows on Netflix.

Google has announced today that it will no longer support their long-standing Picasa photo application.

As of March 16th, 2016, the Picasa apps will no longer be supported although you can continue to use it indefinitely.

The move is not unexpected given that Google has been investing heavily in the newer Google Photos app for desktop and mobile, but Google will make it easy to archive Picasa web albums and convert them to Google Photos.

"We know for many of you, a great deal of care has gone into managing your photos and videos using Picasa--including the hours you've invested and the most precious moments you've trusted us with," writes Anil Sabharwal, Head of Google Photos. "So we will take some time in order to do this right and provide you with options and easy ways to access your content."

If you don't want to try Google Photos, the company is also creating "a new place for you to access your Picasa Web Albums data." It's unclear what that site will be, but it will offer tools to "view, download, or delete" your Picasa Web Albums and will save your metadata.

YouTube Red, Google's premium version of the site, has its first streaming original programming.

Red, which allows subscribers to play videos in the background on mobile devices, and usually without ads, has four original programs available now. There are new pieces from YouTube king and queen PewDiePie and Lilly Singh, a feature-length Lazer Team film from Rooster Teeth and Dance Camp from AwesomenessTV.

Coming soon is a new CollegeHumor show and 'Fight of the Living Dead,' a show where popular YouTubers will be placed in "a frighteningly realistic zombie apocalypse."

The service costs $9.99 per month in the U.S. and includes a free subscription to Google Music.

Elon Musk has confirmed today that the Tesla Model 3 will be officially unveiled next month (although we are unlikely to see too much) and that you can begin reserving a car on March 31st.

On that date, you can make a reservation at any Tesla store, and on April 1st you can reserve one online. The reservation will require a $1000 down payment, which will go towards the car's $35,000 base price tag.

Musk did note that there will be no "Signature Series" this time around, but early adopters will likely have to buy a Model 3 with a few higher-end options pre-installed, suggesting the $35,000 price tag will be a bit low if you are reserving now.

The Model 3 is expected to go on sale in August, 2017 and will offer 200 miles per charge at minimum.

German Klimenko, Russian president Vladimir Putin's new Internet adviser, really wants Apple, Microsoft and Google to pay more taxes.

"We are breeding the cow and they are milking it," Klimenko said in regards to the three tech giants and the tax rates they pay for business done in Russia.

Klimenko believes raising taxes on the U.S.-based companies will help Russian competitors such as Mail.ru to better compete. In Parliament, Klimenko has a staunch ally, Andrey Lugovoi, a former KGB officer accused of murdering UK agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, but who has denied all wrongdoing.

Lugovoi has already proposed a bill to apply an 18 percent VAT on certain revenue brought in by Google, Apple, Microsoft and others. Those transactions include ads, games, movies, marketplace transactions and cloud computing."

There are scores of other bills going up for vote as Russia tries to fight its way out of the worst recession in two decades.

Time Inc has acquired Viant, the parent company of MySpace, in what the company is calling a "game changing" event.

Time is the parent company of popular publications like Fortune, People and, of course, Time, which is over 90 years old.

CEO and Chairman Joe Ripp did not disclose the financial details but did note that the acquisition is all about first-party data, including up to 1 billion email addresses.

Viant acquired MySpace for $35 million in 2011, taking the dead social network from News Corp who had bought it for $580 million in 2005.

Time says "Targeting ad delivery to the optimal audiences; linking devices back to real people; converting ad spending to actual sales and closing the ROI loop," are the plans for MySpace.

Opera, the browser company, has received a $1.2 billion buyout offer from a group of Chinese firms, and the company's board has unanimously voted to approve the offer.

A few of the best-known names from the consortium are Qihoo 360 and Kunlun, and the group is backed by investment funds.

The offer is a 53 percent premium to Opera's current stock price on the Osla exchange, suggesting the Chinese firms really want the company, at any price.

"There is strong strategic and industrial logic to the acquisition of Opera by the Consortium," Opera CEO Lars Boilesen said on Wednesday. "The Consortium's ownership will strengthen Opera's position to serve our users and partners with even greater innovation, and to accelerate our plans of expansion and growth."

Opera has been actively shopping itself since August of last year as losses have mounted and share in the browser market have fallen, leading to slower ad sales.

Last April, Nokia announced its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent for €15.6 billion in an all-stock deal that was intended to strengthen the company's telecom-equipment market share.

As of writing, Nokia has acquired 91 percent of Lucent's shares, suggesting the transaction will close in the coming weeks.

Nokia has begun combining operations for the two companies in an effort to better rival giants Ericsson and Huawei.

HBO CEO Richard Plepler has revealed today that the HBO NOW streaming service has 800,000 subscribers, well below industry expectations of 1-2 million.

NOW allows consumers to stream HBO shows and movies standalone without a cable TV subscription, similar to services like Hulu and Netflix.

Despite the lower than expected numbers, Plepler says the company "is just getting started" and that recent launches on the PlayStation and Xbox consoles will boost numbers significantly.

Additionally, Plepler noted that extra content would be coming soon that should boost the userbase: "We've not yet put out the content like Jon Stewart, Bill Simmons, Vice daily news show, that we think is particularly suited for those platforms," Plepler added.

HBO Now costs $14.99 per month and is available on nearly all platforms.

Thanks to the latest tvOS beta released this week, we have confirmation that the popular Apple TV set-top box is finally getting voice dictation - a long awaited feature.

At launch, the device only accepted text entry, despite having support for Siri. Siri is usually pretty bad, but needing to type in questions to Siri is even worse. This should fix that issue.

As of Apple tvOS 9.2 beta 3, you can now speak into the Siri remote for any text field, and the voice dictation will also support the spelling of usernames and passwords, although it probably still makes sense to type in your password to avoid mistakes.

Additionally, you can search the App Store from any page in the Apple TV interface by holding down the Siri button and speaking commands.

In non-Siri updates, the tvOS update will also allow you to group apps into folders on the Apple TV home screen, just like on your iPhone.

Square Enix has finally released the remade Final Fantasy IX for Android, available now for $16.99.

The title was initially released for the original PlayStation, and was one of the more popular games for the console.

As with other ports, Square Enix has added HD graphics, auto-save, achievements and other modern "game-boosting" features.

Of importance, you will not be able to play this game if you have thousands of selfies saved since the game requires 8GB of storage just to download it. The initial download from the Google Play is 1.4GB, and the rest comes via installation.

Samsung's first Ultra HD Blu-ray player is available for sale now, about two weeks earlier than expected, at least if you live in Southern California.

Retailers like Fry's have units in stock in SoCal, and online with a shipping date of the 16th or later. Other companies, like Best Buy, have updated their pre-order pages to show a February 10th ship date.

Additionally, there are some 4K Blu-rays available, as well, although the selection leaves much to be desired.

The Pirate Bay has integrated the new Torrents Time plugin, allowing users to stream torrents directly from their browser.

If you have Windows or OS X and are running IE, Chrome or Firefox, you can hit the new "Stream It" option on the torrent page rather than download the content.

Currently, the option is in beta, but users seem to like the ability to stream. Torrents Time works on other warez sites, but The Pirate Bay appears to be the first of the majors to implement it.

Says Torrents Time: "By harnessing the incredible abilities of torrents, you can transform your website, in a matter of seconds to an amazing, simple to use streaming website. With Torrents Time you'll be able to [...] generate more revenue than with any other monetization company while putting a stop to annoying ads."

Microsoft and GoPro announced a patent licensing deal earlier this week for "certain file storage and other system technologies."

It is unclear what patents are specifically included in the licensing deal but both companies appear to be excited by the prospects.

"This agreement with GoPro shows the incredible breadth of technology sharing enabled through patent transactions," said Nick Psyhogeos, president of Microsoft Technology Licensing. "Microsoft's licensing of personal wearable technologies is seeing strong demand as we partner with companies from all industries to optimize solutions for their customers around the globe."

There is speculation that the deal will cover licensing of the exFAT file system for storage media of 32GB and larger. GoPro currently uses FAT for 32GB and 64GB cards, which forces files larger than 4GB to be split up. This can be a nuisance if you are recording larger videos.

Despite its struggles, Microsoft's Windows Phone (Windows 10 Mobile) program could be getting a boost from a well-known brand.

VAIO, the brand born of Sony and then spun-off in 2013, is back to making hardware and they have just announced a new Windows 10 smartphone.

The new VAIO Phone Biz (what?!) will launch in April in Japan in partnership with NTT DoCoMo and will sell for ¥50,000 (about $420) unlocked.

Overall, the device seems like a step up from the boring, plastic Lumia phones of year's past (where are you, Surface Phone?) including an aluminum design, a 5.5-inch 1080p LCD, dual cameras (13MP/5MP), 3GB RAM and a mid-range Snapdragon 617 processor under the hood.

It appears that the digital version of the popular game Red Dead Redemption is available now for Xbox One via the backwards compatibility service (if you have a little technical know-how).

For some odd reason, the game is not available via your "My Games and Apps" page or in the Xbox Live Marketplace, but if you already own the game digitally, then you can download it and start playing via the instructions embedded below in the video.

If you own the game on physical disc (most of you do), it's just a waiting game now until it is officially launched for the system, and many are speculating that the official launch will come alongside an announcement of a Red Dead sequel for Xbox One.

Stay tuned.

According to research firm Canalys, Apple completely dominated the smartwatch market in 2015, shipping over 12 million units.

The company accounted for nearly 70 percent of all shipments for the year, handidly beating out Samsung, Pebble and Huawei. Making that top 4 notable is the fact that Apple uses iOS, Samsung uses Tizen, Pebble uses Pebble OS and Huawei uses Android Wear - suggesting that Android Wear has a long way to go before it becomes popular.

For the overall wearables market, there were 37 million fitness bands shipped for the year and Fitbit continued to dominate by shipping over 20 million. Xiaomi shipped 12 million Mi Bands for the year, a siginifcant figure given its limited availability outside of Asia.

"Cashing in on holiday sales, Apple managed to rack up over five million shipments in the fourth quarter," added analyst Jason Low. "Software increasingly belongs on the wrist, and this is the direction the market is going," said another analyst, Daniel Matte. "As the next step along this path, the Fitbit Blaze is the right product for the company to develop. It is competitively priced and is still being squarely focused on fitness."

Yesterday, news broke that Twitter was preparing to launch a new 'algorithmic timeline' which would reorder your timeline in levels of popularity and importance based on their algorithm.

For example, a popular post from 5 hours ago might show up on top of a brand new tweet from 1 minute ago based on the algo.

Fans of the service went into an uproar, even getting #RIPTwitter trending for most of the day. CEO Jack Dorsey tried to stop the all-out revolt by posting this morning but he did not deny the report. In fact, other media outlets have posted evidence that the new timeline is coming, and as rumored, as soon as this month.

Here were Dorsey's tweets, which basically tell users to relax:

Fans that have been waiting a decade for the next 'Doom' now have a set date to get their hands on the new game.

Bethesda and id Software announced this week that the game will be available for PC, PS4 and Xbox One on Friday, May 13th. The companies also dropped a new trailer, albeit a short one, showing off the campaign mode.

Pre-orders are available now at $60 for standard and $120 for Collector's Edition (pictured) which includes a 12-inch, LED-lit statue of a Revenant demon.

Twitter made an important post this week, explaining how they are taking actions against accounts that promote terrorism.

The microblogging giant says they have taken down 125,000 accounts since June, 2015, with more being suspended daily.

Here is the site's post on the matter:

According to multiple reports, BlackBerry is laying off more employees, this time from their Waterloo offices.

Most estimates place BlackBerry employing nearly 3000 in Waterloo, and reports claim up to the 35 percent of those are being laid off over time. The company's BlackBerry 10 and Devices teams saw 150 employees laid off, by themselves.

Additionally, BlackBerry is said to be laying off 75 employees from their Florida office.

Essentially, BlackBerry as an operating system is dead (a move that is five years too late), as the company made clear when it launched the Android-powered Priv smartphone late last year. The company shut down its "Built for BlackBerry" certification program for BlackBerry apps last month, pushing developers to Android.

"As BlackBerry continues to execute its turnaround plan, we remain focused on driving efficiencies across our global work force. As a result, approximately 200 employees have been impacted in Canada and Florida. For those employees that have recently left the company, we know that they have worked hard on behalf of our company and we are grateful for their commitment and contributions," noted the company.

Amit Singhal, Google's head of search, is retiring after 15 years at the position.

Singhal has led the technical development of the search engine since 2000, supervising the tool that over 60 percent of the world uses every day for their search needs.

"When I started, who would have imagined that in a short period of fifteen years, we would tap a button, ask Google anything and get the answer," Singhal wrote. "My dream Star Trek computer is becoming a reality, and it is far better than what I ever imagined."

John Giannandrea, who has been overseeing Google's recent forays into artificial intelligence, will move into the role when Singhal officially leaves. Giannandrea had started a company that was acquired in 2010 by Google and eventually became the foundation of Google's knowledge graph.

Google's efforts into AI include the addition of a neural network to boost the accuracy of search results, a "Smart Reply" option in Gmail for auto-responses and better results using image recognition.

A court has ruled that Apple must pay $625 million to VirnetX, a publicly traded patent troll, over infringement of multiple intellectual properties.

The jury ruled unanimously against Apple, agreeing on all counts that Apple had infringed communications protocol patents in its FaceTime, VPN on Demand, and iMessage services.

VirnetX had sued Apple back in 2012 over the same patents, winning $368 million before the decision was overturned by an appellate court. Apple redesigned FaceTime but VirnetX sued again last year, increasing the damages figures because Apple continues to use the protocols.

As with all cases of this magnitude, Apple is likely to appeal the most recent ruling.

Source:
AI

Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn is looking to close a proposed deal for struggling display maker Sharp before the end of the month.

Foxconn says that they have received preferred negotiating rights and any remaining issues are regulatory and legal, which attorneys are working on.

The company offered 659 billion yen ($5.6 billion) in Sharp, nearly double the next highest offer for the company, which came from a Japanese government-backed consortium.

"We have a consensus," noted Foxconn CEO Terry Gou. "The rest is a process ... I don't see a problem completing this process."

If the deal is completed it will show how desperate Gou is to acquire Sharp's technology. Before the bid, Sharp had a market capitalization of just $2 billion, has lost money for years, and has tons of debt, some of which comes due this year.

Steam has announced that their latest sale has begun, this time celebrating the Lunar New Year.

The sale is on until February 12th at 10 PST and includes thousands of games.

A quick glance at the sale shows quite a few franchise packages, including Fallout, Lego, Trine, Game of Thrones and more.

If you have been waiting to get your favorite games, check out the sale here: Steam Lunar Year Sale

LG Mobile has confirmed this week that their upcoming G5 flagship will be officially unveiled on February 21st.

There had been much speculation as to whether LG would announce the device at the upcoming Mobile World Congress event, but it appears the company had decided to unveil a day before, likely to be able to demo its features throughout the show.

LG will have some heavy hitters to face off against, especially the Galaxy S7, which will be unveiled the same day.

Just days after it was launched, Samsung's Android ad blocking app Adblock Fast has been removed from the Google Play Store.

The plug-in came from startup developer Rocketship Apps, and worked within Samsung's pre-installed mobile browser.

Google shut out the app for violations of the Developer Distribution Agreement, namely section 4.4. 4.4 states that apps and plugins cannot "interfere or disrupt devices, networks, or services of third parties."

Reads the email the company received:

Microsoft has announced it will be recalling 2 million Surface chargers after it received 56 complaints of overheating or fire and an additional 5 complaints of electric shocks.

The recall was initially announced last month but the amount of complaints and the scope of the recall were unknown.

Affected chargers were sold before March 2015 in North America and before July 2015 for everywhere else.

"As a result of damage caused by AC power cords being wound too tightly, twisted or pinched over an extended period of time, a very small proportion of Surface Pro customers have reported issues with their AC power cord," said Microsoft in a statement. If you own a Surface Pro, Pro 2 or Pro 3 please check here to see if you are affected.

Yahoo has written down the value of Tumblr by $230 million, yet another misfire by CEO Marissa Mayer.

The company purchased Tumblr for about $1 billion in cash in 2013, despite the fact that it made no money and usership had grown relatively stagnant.

Overall, Yahoo took a $4.5 billion goodwill impairment, writing down nearly every division in the company,

When Mayer acquired the company, she projected Yahoo's user base would jump to 1 billion within weeks, but it actually ended up taking around 18 months until Yahoo announced they had hit the milestone. That number, however, is questionable. Yahoo began using a new "undisclosed metric" to calculate its user base. Traditional research firms, like comScore, still have Yahoo well below the billion mark.

Mayer also estimated that Tumblr would bring in $100 million in revenue for 2015, but that didn't happen either. "In 2015, we experienced a slower ramp in monetization than we initially expected, and coupled with the sales realignment, the business didn't deliver that $100 million revenue goal for the year," Mayer noted.

Google's latest operating system is still being used by an insignificant amount of users.

Android 6.0 Marshmallow is installed on just 1.2 percent of devices, placing it well behind all other Android versions including Android 2.3, an operating system launched in 2011.

Google reveals the figures every month, hashing out the market share by checking which devices visited the Google Play Store during a seven-day period.

The low numbers are not completely unsurprising. As of writing, the OS is only available on the Nexus 5, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P and LG G4, although a number of other manufacturers including Samsung have announced roadmaps to upgrade early this year.

Android 5.x Lollipop is up to 34.1 percent share, right behind the aging Android 4.4 KitKat at 35.5 percent, which is an encouraging sign, at least.

Xiaomi has denied reports that it will finally bring its popular phones to the U.S.

US Mobile had begun selling the Xiaomi Redmi 2, Mi 3, Note 2 and Mi 4, but the phones are not optimized for the U.S. and don't even support LTE for US Mobile (T-Mobile network).

Says the Chinese startup giant: "Recent reports have indicated that Xiaomi products will be available in the US. Xiaomi only offers a small selection of accessories for sale in the US through Mi.com. There are no plans to sell smartphones through any authorised distributors in the US. US Mobile is not authorised to sell Xiaomi products in the US."

Despite this lack of support from Xiaomi, US Mobile will still sell the devices and provide full services and support for the phones.

Seemingly overnight, Uber has changed their entire branding, including their logo.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick made the announcement today with a large blog post, which I have posted here:

Zagg has announced it will be acquiring smartphone battery pack and case maker Mophie for $100 million.

Besides the $100 million, Mophie can actually earn more money depending on how well the company performs from April 2016 until March 31, 2017.

Zagg believes the synergies of both companies will lead to "numerous opportunities" for boosting revenue due to the company's respective strengths and distribution networks.

Mophie is best known or their JuicePack battery cases but the company also has 140 global patents and a plethora of retial relationships in the U.S.

Despite the fact that Microsoft has arguably the best mobile keyboard of the major operating systems, multiple reports claim that the software giant is preparing to buy SwiftKey for $250 million.

SwiftKey has long been a popular keyboard for Android and more recently for iOS, but the alleged selling price still seems high given that the company's main source of revenue is from in-app payments for different themes and emojis.

FT speculates that the deal and the high price has nothing to do with the keyboard but more to do with SwiftKey's current research in artificial intelligence and their new keyboard that uses a neural network rather than algorithms for predicting what you are typing.

Regardless of how they use the IP, Microsoft continues to make smart investments in smart teams as the company expands its cross-platform services.

Marissa Mayer's company is in deep trouble.

Yahoo reported their quarterly earnings this week, making $63 million in net profit on $1.27 billion in revenue. Four years ago, when Mayer was hired to turn around the company, the company had higher revenue showing that despite all of her efforts to make Yahoo 'cool' again, there has been very little to show for it.

After the report, the company announced it will be laying off 15 percent of its employees in a cost-cutting measure that will save it $400 million over time, likely a move to help the company be sold. At the same time, Yahoo is reportedly having issues selling their core assets, since investors value the company at little to nothing outside of the company's Alibaba stake and the cash it has on-hand.

Furthermore, Mayer killed off Yahoo Smart TV and Yahoo Games, with the company focusing now on Search, Mail and Tumblr, and four verticals - News, Sports, Finance, and Lifestyle.