News written by Matti Robinson (April, 2016)

Bitcoin has been called a revolutionary currency but it has had its problems, and adoption in the mainstream is far from perfect. One big name in the gaming industry has decided to embrace the so-called cryptocurrency.

From now on Valve's gaming platform and game store Steam supports bitcoin. You can buy games and other content with bitcoins, the currency mediator being Bitpay. Bitpay is one of the largest bitcoin payment services.

Even though bitcoin has been adopted mainly in the western world Steam believes that the new currency will bring new customers from developing countries and within communities that do not use credit cards to a western degree.

It's essentially the alternative to mobile payment which Steam didn't see as well fit for the purposes of PC gaming.

Samsung has revealed its quarterly earnings for the first three months in 2016. The results are impressive as the company gains momentum with Galaxy S7.

Samsung's mobile business revenue increased by 8 percent but the big impact is seen in the profits. The company reported an impressive 42 percent growth in net profits in the three month period compared to year before.

The new strategy with Galaxy S7 and more streamlined portfolio of middle and entry-level devices has paid off. The flagship has been received well nearly universally and the orders have blown the predecessor out of the water.

Increasing profits are not given even for giants like Samsung and Apple as we know from the quarterly results from Cupertino. Apple's iPhone sales has dropped as have the company's profits.

Estimates are that still a fairly new Galaxy S7 will keep Samsung steady through the summer while Apple will be reporting decline in sales probably until Q4.

Microsoft hasn't seemed too interested in smartphones after acquiring Nokia's mobile phone business. Oddly the number of phones released has dropped drastically, even though Windows 10 should be living its heyday.

The executive VP of Devices and Windows, Terry Myerson, has however sent an email to employees assuring that smartphones have not been forgotten. In the email Myerson explains how Microsoft is still dedicated to developing Windows 10 as a mobile operating system.

Even more specifically, he says that Microsoft is going to make Windows 10 for small devices with ARM chips.

The company is obviously trying to calm the employees down after a horrific decline in Windows Phone sales. Just couple days ago Microsoft reported a 73 percent decline in quantity and nearly 50 percent decline in Windows Phone revenue.

According to the rumors, Microsoft is shifting smartphone strategy and moving them under the more successful Surface brand in 2017.

Apple has released the first quarterly earnings of 2016. As expected, the results weren't as impressive as quarters in recent history. The most significant drop was witnessed in iPhone sales.

The first time in years Apple had to tell shareholders that profits have declined compared to the corresponding quarter last year. The drop was orchestrated by a first in a history decline in iPhone sales.

Apple sold 16 percents less iPhones than year ago, amounting to 51.2 million phones. Also declining were iPad and Mac sales, just over 10 million and 4 million units respectively.

Even sales in China, which has been a big boomer for Apple for recent years, declined a hefty 26 percent.

Apple predicts this trend to continue in the second quarter as well. We might have to wait for iPhone 7 for more positive sales figures from Apple.

While no one was watching, Netflix introduced HDR content to its streaming service. Currently there's a very limited supply of HDR video but you can be assured that there will be more.

According to Engadget Netflix show Marco Polo is available in HDR video. Currently that is the only show available in High Dynamic Range but another Netflix Original, Daredevil, will soon be available in HDR as well.

To watch shows in HDR you obviously need equipment that supports the playback of such content. Netflix says that the service supports TVs with either Dolby Visual or HDR10 features.

As many of you know, the music industry, just like Hollywood, loves to play the blame game. Whether it's Napster or Spotify, the new technologies and services are here to steal the hard earned cash of artists. Well, it seems that digital music has gotten the music industry out of the 20 year recession.

But don't for a second think there's no internet services to blame. IFPI, the industry's lobby group, is still blaming YouTube for not doing its share, despite Google and Alphabet shelling out more than 3 billion dollars so far to the industry.

According to WSJ, IFPI claims that YouTube is allowing people to listen to music without them paying anything. YouTube of course points at its subscription service YouTube Red and the fact that it does everything it has to, or can do, to eliminate illegal music.

IFPI still doesn't seem too happy about the streaming services, but maybe it should look at the figures. Worldwide digital music topped physical media first time ever. And it was streaming services that were responsible for the growth. Even if both physical and digital media sales declined the industry as a whole saw meaningful growth first time since the 90s.

HTC has revealed its newest smartphone called simply the 10. It's the successor to years of One lineup that ended in One M9 last year.

HTC 10 clearly carries the same design principles from previous One models. It looks like one continuous piece of metal, just like its predecessors. Of course the innards are what matter, and HTC has covered certainly all the basics.

Specs include octa-core Snapdragon 820, 3 (32GB model) or 4 gigs of RAM (65 GB model), a 5.2 inch Quad HD display, and 12 and 5 megapixel cameras. The camera in the back, hailed already as one of the best around, has larger than conventional pixels which qualify it as an UltraPixel camera.

The phone features a 3000 milliamp hour battery, Type-C USB, and stereo speakers. Unfortunately the so called Boom Sound speakers are no longer front-facing. HTC 10 will be available in four colors (Carbon Grey, Glacier Silver, Topaz Gold, and Camellia Red) on April 12 for $699.