TAG Heuer's smartwatch will launch in November and cost about $1400, say sources, a price tag lower than expected for the luxury watch maker.
There is little known about the watch, but the company did announce a partnership with Google and Intel last month for joint development of the watch.
The new device will have a battery life of 40 hours, significantly higher than all existing Android Wear devices and over double the battery life of the new Apple Watch, which has an average range of 18 hours with use.
"I hope they sell millions and millions and millions of them," said Jean-Claude Biver, the head of watchmaking activities for parent company LVMH Louis Vutton Moet Hennesy SE, of the Apple Watch. "The more they sell the more a few people will want something different and come to TAG Heuer."
Earlier this year, AT&T settled with the U.S. FTC over "cramming," a practice in which the carrier allowed third-parties to charge customers for services without their knowledge and then hiding the charges deep in the billing statement.
AT&T will pay $105 million to the FTC to settle the charges, and any subscriber to the wireless carrier needs to complete the paperwork for a refund by tomorrow.
Many of the unwanted charges were as expensive as $9.99 per month, and included services that provided daily horoscope text messages or 30 second ringtones. The charges would then show up on your bill under the banner of AT&T monthly service charges, thus making them easy to miss.
More shockingly, the FTC charged that AT&T kept 35 percent of the revenue brought in from cramming, which amounted to tens of millions of dollars per year.
If you think you may be eligible, call 877-819-9692. If you know you are eligible, you can submit for the refund here: FTC. Because the government is handling the refund, you can expect your refund within the next nine months.
Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins has announced that there are now nearly 9 million paying subscribers to the streaming TV and movies on-demand service.
That figure is over 50 percent higher than last year, a significant jump for the premium service that costs $7.99 per month. "2015 is the year Hulu will break out," Hopkins boasted.
Total streams were up 77 percent in the last quarter, and viewers streamed over 700 million hours in first 90 days of the year, a huge 83 percent jump year-over-year. Those metrics are great for Hulu and Hopkins also noted that the average Hulu subscriber is watching about 30 percent more content this year than last year.
Hulu also announced a new deal with AMC to stream content that AMC makes from its own studio, which includes the brand new 'Fear the Walking Dead' spinoff series.
The service is owned by Disney, Fox and Comcast (NBCU) and therefore offers nearly all the traditional broadcast content you would be watching on TV regularly. There is a free Hulu that offers some library content and new episodes of popular shows a week after they air, along with ads while the $7.99 option still has ads but offers more full catalogs and episodes of new shows the day after they air on TV.
Evernote has rolled out their new pricing tiers, launching a "Plus" tier that sits comfortably between their free offering and the more fully featured "Premium" offering.
For the free option, you get up to 60MB of monthly uploads, cross platform sync and the ability to share and discuss within Evernote. For most people, this will be all you need, but if you are working in a team, the other options may be preferable.
The new Plus tier offers everything from the free, 1GB of monthly uploads, access to the service offline, you can save up to 250 emails into Evernote and finally, you can password-lock the app on mobile devices to stop family from snooping. The upgraded plan also supports notes up to 50MB compared to the free version at 25MB.
Up in the Premium tier, you get unlimited monthly uploads, all the Plus features, and the ability to convert your notes into presentations, search within Office docs and their attachments, annotate attached PDFs, OCR business cards and share Evernote files with everyone. Notes can be up to 200MB large with the premium account.
The Plus tier is just $2.99 per month or $24.99 annually if you pay it in full, and the Premium tier is $5.99 a month or $49.99 if you pay annually.
LG has officially unveiled its G4 flagship, and even though nearly every aspect of the phone had already been revealed or leaked in the previous two weeks, it is still nice to see the official hands-on and spec sheets.
The phone has a large 5.5-inch, 2560 x 1440 pixel (QHD) display, adds a bit of a curve (to help avoid shattering the screen if you drop it), is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage (microSD expandable), a 3,000mAh removable battery (no QuickCharging or wireless charging available however) and Android 5.1 with LG's own custom UI on top.
Notably, LG says its GPS nav and location services are "twice as accurate" as any other phone but that remains to be seen. Additionally, the company says it is removing lots of bloat, so the devices will seem almost like stock, and 100GB of free Google Drive storage is also included for 24 months.
Different from the G3 (and other devices) is that LG will offer a leather back plate and that the materials used are the same that go into luxury handbags but it is unclear how much a leather G4 will set you back.
The LG G4 is scheduled to reach all major U.S. carriers by the end of May.
Secret, the iOS and Android app that allowed users to share messages anonymously, has shut down for good.
Founder David Byttow posted the decision in an aptly named post called "Sunset" as the site will shut down a mere 14 months after being dubbed the next big thing by venture capitalists and given a value near $100 million.
Microsoft showcased its awesome hologram technology HoloLens today at their annual BUILD developer conference, demoing how it works in conjunction with Windows apps.
The company showed off the tech, which it appears is being aimed at consumers who want to enhance their normal PC usage and also at corporations and that workplace.
Microsoft says it wants developers to get started on developing apps for the holographic versions of Windows and has been provided HoloLens headsets to test at Build.
According to Windows boss Terry Myerson, over 1 billion devices will be running Windows 10 in just three years time, a hugely optimistic forecast that shows how confident the company is with its upcoming operating system that will run on PCs, mobile devices and more.
Myerson also revealed new tools that will let Android and iOS developers port their apps easier to Windows 10, without needing to completely rewrite the app's code.
"One thing we haven't had -- a great Windows release could drive people to refresh their PC," Myerson said in an interview. "I see people with these Windows 7 PCs and I look at a great new 2-in-1 device with touch and I think there's so much more you could have. I'm a little more optimistic."
King Digital has already used the new tools to bring Candy Crush to Windows, and the company says it is happy with the results. The hope is that popular app makers for the two most popular operating systems will convert their apps and games over and help drive usership to Windows.
Perhaps most importantly, Microsoft gave some more info about its Universal Apps, which will work no matter what size the device you are using is. The company says developers can tweak the code to make sure only certain content is seen on specific devices, like 3D holograms that can only be seen on HoloLens, for example. Myers says Disney, Netflix, Evernote, Tencent and other major companies are already creating Universal Apps.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer successor, previously codenamed as 'Project Spartan,' is officially known now as Microsoft Edge.
The software giant announced the details earlier today at their annual BUILD conference and Edge will be the built-in browser for Windows 10 devices.
Outside of the light details Microsoft has revealed in the past few months, there was little else revealed today besides the name and a teaser trailer.
What we do know is that Edge has a built-in reader, sharing features and the ability to take notes; support for the voice-activated Cortana personal assistant; minimalist design; a new rendering engine called EdgeHTML; more simplicity in features and options; tab previews just from scrolling over them and the ability to draw (?) on the page.
Google has released 'Password Alert' this week, a browser extension for Chrome that will help protect against phishing attacks that are out to get your Google credentials.
The new extension is great if you are a user of Google services as it will alert you if you have entered login info to fake Google sign-in pages created to steal your personal info.
Google is able to check this by scanning the page against its vast library of sign-in forms to see if it is a legitimate site or not. If you do get duped, the extension will inform you that it is time to change your password and to change the username/password combo on any other site you may have been using it on. If for some reason you need to submit your Google credentials to a legitimate third-party site, you can choose to ignore the extension's warnings.
Chrome comes with Safe Browsing phishing protection right out of the box, but Password Alert is great for new phishing sites that may not have been analyzed by Google yet.
After a year of building just Android phones, it appears that LG is developing at least one new Windows Phone device.
The LG VW820 has been rumored since December when its existence was inadvertently revealed by an ad network, and we seem to have better proof now.
LG's own Korean website has two listing for the VW820 now, confirmed to be running a Microsoft operating system. Additionally, the phone has been certified by the Bluetooth SIG now, as well.
There are no other details known about the device except for the basic info from the ad network which claims it will be a low-end 4.7-inch 480x854 resolution phone. It also has been suggested the device will run Windows Phone 8.1 and not 10, due to the listings stating "Windows Phone" and not just "Windows," which Microsoft has done for all 10-based devices.
Gaming startup OUYA has put itself up for sale with a buyer likely needed for the company to avoid bankruptcy.
According to a leaked email from CEO Julie Uhrman sent to investors, the company could not restructure its existing debt with the venture capital firm TriplePoint Capital, and the debt is expected to be in excess of $10 million.
The company launched a Android gaming set-top box after a huge campaign on Kickstarter but the system could not compete with offerings from bigger tech companies and had to move away from hardware. The company began licensing its operating system, and very recently received $10 million from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba who will use the service on some of its set-tops. OUYA also has deals with Xiaomi for delivery of games on their TVs.
Uhrman wrote: "Given our debtholder's timeline, the process will be quick. We are looking for expressions of interest by the end of this month."
"Our focus now is trying to recover as much investor capital as possible," Uhrman added. "We believe we've built something real and valuable. I continue to read the tweets and emails of our fans who play OUYA every day, and our catalog is now over 1,000 apps and 40,000 developers. We have the largest library of Android content for the TV (still more than Amazon) -- hells ya!"
Samsung Electronics announced this week that its profits fell 39 percent year-over-year as Apple's latest offerings cut into sales.
For the quarter ended March 31st, net profit was 4.63 trillion won ($4.35 billion), down from 7.49 trillion in the same period last year. Most of the loss in profits was due to the underperforming mobile division, which saw profits of just 2.74 trillion won ($2.5 billion) compared to 6.43 trillion ($6 billion) a year earlier.
While Samsung still outsold Apple, it is clear the company lost major ground in the high-end luxury smartphone market, where the margins are biggest. Samsung is said to have sold around 83 million phones, compared to Apple's 61 million iPhones sold for the quarter.
Overall, the quarterly revenue for the company fell 12 percent YoY to 47.12 trillion won ($43.7 billion).
Despite the large drop, Samsung says it expects to rebound in the following quarters as the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, which feature high-end premium metal designs and the latest spec sheets.
According to the well-connected Paul Thurrott, Microsoft will announce this week that Windows 10 phone and tablet users will be able to run Android apps on their devices.
The announcement comes on the heels of the company's BUILD conference aimed at developers.
While the move is a huge win for consumers who would like to have access to great native apps, Microsoft appears to be quitting on Windows Phone if the report is accurate.
Thurrott says: "When it comes time to upgrade, why would anyone choose a Windows Phone at that point? (A problem exacerbated by Microsoft's focus on low-end Windows Phone handsets.) Instead, most will simply choose Android, since they are now comfortable with those apps, and for the many advantages that Android has over Windows Phone generally." I agree.
In addition, "For developers who have invested a lifetime of learning and mastering Microsoft's platforms, Android compatibility is a slap in the face. This sends the message that they have wasted their time and that it's time to move on to a more successful platform since, after all, the apps you create for Android will now work on Android and Windows/Windows Phone."
After months of fighting, Cyanogen has officially dropped OnePlus as one of its hardware partners.
The move was entirely expected, especially since OnePlus has already begun using their own OxygenOS operating system on their devices.
Cyanogen's Steve Kondik says the two companies had completely different visions and this caused clashes between employees and philosophies. "That's probably the last you will see from that partnership. Two new companies are trying to do crazy stuff, a lot of people collide," added Kondik.
CEO Kirt McMaster, never one to mince words, says OnePlus used Cyanogen's brand to sell hardware before moving on, essentially using the company, but he did wish OnePlus the best in the future.
So what is Cyanogen looking to do now? New partners, of course. "OnePlus shipped reasonable volume, but nothing compared to what some of these other partners can ship...we are working with partners that can scale much quicker," noted McMaster.
According to a recent filing with the U.S. SEC, it appears that Microsoft continues to lose money on every Windows Phone it sells, and may have to write-off a multi-billion dollar loss thanks to its acquisition of Nokia's handset business.
In the filing, it is noted that Microsoft lost at least $4 million for the quarter ended March 31st, losing up to 12 cents per phone before including costs of marketing and R&D.
"Given its recent performance, the Phone Hardware reporting unit is at an elevated risk of impairment," warned Microsoft in the filing. "Declines in expected future cash flows, reduction in future unit volume growth rates, or an increase in the risk-adjusted discount rate used to estimate the fair value of the Phone Hardware reporting unit may result in a determination that an impairment adjustment is required, resulting in a potentially material charge to earnings."
The last time Microsoft issued a similar warning was right before the company took a massive $6.2 billion write-off for its failed acquisition of the Quantive marketing company. Some expect Microsoft to take a $5.6 billion loss on the $7 billion acquisition of Nokia that former CEO Steve Ballmer pushed for before leaving the company.
Facebook has announced the addition of video calling to Messenger as the company looks to take on Skype and FaceTime.
The updated Messenger app will allow you to call anyone by simply tapping the video icon.
Reads the Facebook statement:
Today, we're introducing video calling in Messenger. Now you can have face-to-face conversations with your friends and the people you care about, via Messenger.
You can quickly start a video call from any conversation with just one tap. If you're messaging with someone and realize that words just aren't enough, you can simply choose the video icon in the top right corner of the screen and start a video call right from within an existing Messenger conversation.
Voice Calling has already been standard through Messenger for some time, if you prefer to not see the person on the other line.
Video calling in Messenger is available today for iOS and Android in Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the US and Uruguay.
Canon reported their quarterly earnings today and one thing is clear: nobody is buying compact digital cameras.
The Japanese company is the world's largest camera maker.
Profits came in at 33.93 billion yen ($284 million) for the period ended March 31st, much lower than the 53.64 billion yen ($450 million) analyst estimates for the quarter. This complete miss was due to an even larger drop in digital camera sales than expected.
Since Apple released the iPhone and Google released the first Android phone, sales of compact digital cameras are down 70 percent. The company lowered its forecast to 7-7.8 million units sold, a 23 percent decline from 2014.
High-end SLR cameras with interchangeable lenses saw a decline, as well, but lesser in scale. Sales are projected at 5.8 million, a 9.4 percent YoY decline.
LG's new Urbane smartwatch is available now via the Google Store, the first smartwatch to include Google's massive new Android Wear update.
The stainless steel watch with a circular display also comes with a leather band, giving it a luxury feel compared to rubber bands and plastic seen on many other Android Wear devices.
Google recently unveiled the Android Wear update, which enables Wi-Fi on some devices (meaning no Bluetooth necessary for some features even when your phone is not around), a low-power mode to dim the display while your apps remain open and even gesture-based navigation.
The device sells for $349 with free shipping and comes in both gold and silver. Google expects to start shipping on May 8th.
Major retailer Best Buy has finally announced support for Apple Pay.
The company has announced that their iOS app will now allow customers to purchase using Apple Pay for delivery or in-store pickup. If you are looking to use Apple Pay in the physical store, however, you have a few more months to wait.
Best Buy says that "later this year" shoppers will be able to use the NFC-based service to pay with their iPhone 6/6 Plus at local checkout registers. "Today's consumers have many different ways to spend their money and we want to give our customers as many options as possible in how they pay for goods and services at Best Buy," the company added.
While it is unsurprising that a major retailer would support Apple Pay, the announcement is surprising given Best Buy's previous stance on the service. Best Buy, Walmart, Sears, CVS and Rite Aid all created the Merchant Customer Exchange (CurrentC) mobile payments platform to compete against Apple Pay but that service has gotten zero traction in the industry so it's clear Best Buy adapted to the situation.
Samsung has revealed that its upcoming Gear smartwatch successor will have a circular display, keeping in line with the more popular non-Apple Watch designs.
In addition, the company will release their SDK for the Gear to developers even before the launch of the product, to ensure everything is smooth when it is released as current Samsung developers move away from the boxy shape of the previous smartwatches from the company.
"Samsung has actively adapted its approach to wearable device development as the leader of the rapidly developing category," said JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. "Through meaningful and progressive innovation, Samsung welcomes to developers and industry leaders to join this open collaboration effort to enrich and create unique user experiences for a new smart mobile life."
In their teaser media invite, the company promises apps from CNN, Yelp, Fidme, Baidu and Apposter as well as a specialized weather app.
If you are currently residing in Brazil and are looking to get the trendiest and most expensive smartwatch out there, the Apple Watch, you better have a fat wallet.
Thanks to huge import tariffs designed to protect local businesses, and a volatile local currency, the Apple Watch Edition that costs $17,000 in the U.S. will set you back over $30,000 in Brazil.
Even the cheapest Apple Watch, the Sport edition that retails for $349 in the States will cost you $625 in South America's most populous country.
This is not the first time we've seen a mind blowing number for an electronic device in Brazil. Last year, gaming fans had to drop over $1800 to purchase the Sony PlayStation 4 that retailed for $399.
As expected, Apple has reported another massive quarter, thanks yet another strong showing from the iPhone and huge growth in China.
In addition to their big revenue and profits, Apple has announced it will return $200 billion to its shareholders via special dividends and stock buybacks over the next 24 months.
For the quarter, Apple had revenue of $58 billion, up 27 percent year-over-year, and net profit of $13.6 billion, up 40 percent YoY.
Apple sold 61.2 million iPhones for the quarter, up 40 percent YoY, and the average selling price for the smartphone was $658.53. Apple CEO Tim Cook noted: "We're seeing a higher rate of people switching to iPhone than we've experienced in previous cycles, and we're off to an exciting start to the June quarter with the launch of Apple Watch." Cook did not elaborate on Watch pre-order sales figures.
iPads remained a drag, with 12.62 million units sold, down 23 percent YoY and an average selling price of $430. Cook says the Mac and larger screen iPhones are cannibalizing the tablet and he's certainly right, and there does not appear to be a plan in place to slow down the falling sales.
Mac computers saw 4.56 million units sold, down from 4.7 million expected as consumers wait on the new line of thinner MacBook Pros.
The latest Windows 10 for mobile, build 10070, appears to show an update for the Live Tile app system that leaves very little room next to each tile.
Allegedly running on the Samsung ATIV S (which has a 4.8-inch 720p display), the update seems to line up four tiles per line with thin borders between each, seemingly squeezing as many tiles as possible.
As with all early builds, the tile sizing is subject to change but as of right now it looks pretty decent, at least on a 4.8-inch display.
Overall, the entire build is said to be buggy, but that is to be expected three months ahead of launch.
Thanks to WikiLeaks, we have an interesting look into the negotiations that it took Sony Electronics to get their latest Xperia smartphone into the hand's of James Bond for the upcoming Spectre.
Despite the fact that Sony Pictures is producing the film, there was no playing favorites, and Sony will have to pay an exorbitant amount to get the phone featured in Spectre.
Here are some of the emails:
30 September 2014
"The mobile phones seem to be the priority for placement. I know that the phones are Sony's priority as well. I've been asked to have the design team focus on creating an über modern phone instead of focusing on an existing product."
"I told AMy that we would try to get the phone in the film . I would like for you to send me a photo of the phone that they would like for us to use and Sam will ask the art department to alter it according to his specifications ..we do not want to do it the other way around..I told AMy that if we are to use the phone we would need to get compensation as we would be giving up a potentially huge product placement deal."
Followed by:
2 October 2014
"Barbara wants to get a PLACEMENT FEE for putting the phone in. She understands that Sony is willing to commit to a marketing/advertising campaign of 18MM, but she wants an additional placement fee. In the past, Sony Electronics/Mobile has not paid a fee...but has paid the following:
Activision has released the first official gameplay trailer for the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, the latest in the blockbuster franchise.
The publisher also confirmed the release date, which had been leaked yesterday.
"Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is a dark, gritty future where a new breed of Black Ops soldier emerges and the lines are blurred between our own humanity and the cutting-edge military robotics that define the future of combat," reads the statement.
The soldier in play appears to have a plethora of new and cool tools, including the ability to transform his arm into a gun and send out a swarm of nano bots.
COD: Black Ops 3 goes on sale November 6th and if you pre-order 6 months early (now) you can get access to the multiplayer beta.
Google has confirmed this weekend that the 2013 model of the Nexus 7 has now been discontinued, fully replaced by the newer and more powerful Nexus 9.
The original N7 was a great 7-inch tablet that was ultimately much more affordable than the iPad and was therefore popular among consumers.
While the Nexus 7 cost just $199, Google has moved to a more premium product, at $399 for its Nexus 9. The Nexus 9 packs an 8.9 inch 1536 x 2048 pixels display, a Nvidia Tegra K1 processor and upgraded cameras as well as a sleeker smaller bezel design.
If you are still in the market for a 7-inch tablet, Samsung has too many to count.
Nokia has denied recent reports that the company was preparing to reenter the phone manufacturing business.
"Nokia notes recent news reports claiming the company communicated an intention to manufacture consumer handsets out of a R&D facility in China. These reports are false," Nokia said. "Nokia reiterates it currently has no plans to manufacture or sell consumer handsets."
That quote is about as strong of a categorical denial as you can get, but for Nokia fans not all may be lost just yet. The company did suggest the Nokia brand could return as part of smartphone brand licensing, meaning OEMs could build devices and stick the Nokia name on it for added recognition.
Additionally, Nokia's sales agreement with Microsoft forbids them from entering the mobile phone business until 2016.
HTC has released a strange video this week, aimed at the smartphone duopoly of Apple and Samsung.
The ad, which mocks current pharmaceutical commercials, says users should move on to the new HTC One M9 if they are struggling with the fictional disease "Bi-phonal Displeasure Disorder": "SAD (Samsung Affective Disorder)", and "iOS (Irritable Operating System)."
Now, the diseases do have a cure - 'Cellami' (metalidone boomsoundide), but you don't need the medicine if you have an M9, because "your phone is the best."
In an effort to streamline their business and keep costs down, file sharing company BitTorrent Inc. has laid off around 40 of their 150 U.S.-based employees.
BitTorrent will move most of its resources to its Sync cloud storage and P2P tech that was released last year.
"We've recently realigned resources based on a regular evaluation of the business," noted BitTorrent. "Regrettably, this did include some employee departures. The business however, remains healthy, profitable and growing."
The company has seen its fair share of struggles in the last half decade as it tries to use the file sharing protocol made popular by pirates in the 1990s and 2000s for alternative, legal endeavors.
Jolla, the Finnish startup looking to break into the mobile industry, has delayed the initial shipping times for its popular Jolla Tablet.
The tablet was one of the highest funded campaigns in Indiegogo history, but just like with nearly all Indie tech items, consumers can expect some delays.
"We've been working very hard all year to get the Jolla Tablet ready. We have progressed very well in many areas, but as there are still many open items remaining, we are forced to postpone the delivery start of the Jolla Tablet,"says the company.
It appears that most of the issues are related to the display, clearly an important part of a tablet. "On the hardware side we've had some implementation challenges with the original display. Since we want to offer you the best possible hardware, we chose to switch to a new display. This display is better than the original with a more balanced color spectrum. The display change also causes a slight delay in the tablet production," noted Jolla.
New shipping date is expected at the end of July.
You can read more about the tablet and its specs here at AfterDawn.
Google has introduced their oft-rumored wireless network today, Project Fi, offering a "fast and easy wireless experience."
Project Fi aims to seamlessly connect you to the strongest connection available, whether that is a Wi-Fi connection, or 4G LTE offerings from Google's two partners: Sprint and T-Mobile US. Google says the Wi-Fi hotspots have been vetted and are fast and reliable, and Google will secure your data automatically with encryption.
Says Google: "Project Fi works to get technology out of the way so you can communicate through whichever network type and device you're using. Wherever you're connected to Wi-Fi--whether that's at home, your favorite coffee shop or your Batcave--you can talk and text like you normally do. If you leave an area of Wi-Fi coverage, your call will seamlessly transition from Wi-Fi to cell networks so your conversation doesn't skip a beat. We also want to help phone numbers adapt to a multi-screen world. With Project Fi, your phone number lives in the cloud, so you can talk and text with your number on just about any phone, tablet or laptop. So the next time you misplace your phone, you can stay connected using another screen."
There is no annual contract required and the plans start at $30 a month for unlimited text (including international), Wi-Fi tethering and talk and 1GB of data. Each additional GB of data is $10 more, which is almost prohibitively expensive although Google will refund you for any unused data. For example, 3GB is $30 but if you only use 1GB Google will refund you the $20.
A day before the latest season of the blockbuster 'Game of Thrones' launched on HBO, pirates took the wind out of the company's sails, leaking the first four episodes of the season online ripped from a review screener.
Within hours, the episodes were downloaded over a million times.
While HBO used to be relatively nonchalant about piracy and HBO Go password sharing, the company certainly took offense to this latest leak. HBO has sent out thousands of warnings to file sharers via its anti-piracy partner IP-Echelon, demanding ISPs tell their subscribers to cease their activities.
Reads the alert given to the ISP: "1. Contact the subscriber who has engaged in the conduct described above and take steps to prevent the subscriber from further downloading or uploading HBO content without authorization. 2. Take appropriate action against the account holder under your Abuse Policy/Terms of Service Agreement."
HBO does not know the identities of the thousands of IP addresses, nor does it appear to be searching for any but it does appear that the company is looking to dissuade potential pirates for the future.
Last week, Apple began pre-orders on the Apple Watch and its hundreds of varieties before the smartwatch goes on sale officially this Friday.
Carl Howe of Think Big Analytics has been one of the biggest bulls on the launch of the device, suggesting that Apple has already sold over 3 million units at an average price of over $500, selling 1.8 million Sports (starting at $349), 1.3 million Watches (starting at $549) and 40,000 Edition (priced at $10,000 or higher).
"I've built a simple model that predicts that the initial run of watches was more than 3 million units and will yield Apple Watch revenues of over $2 billion for the first two weeks of sales," said Howe. "The model suggests that while Sport Watch will lead sales in volume, selling 1.8 million units through May 8, Apple Watch will actually lead in revenue during that period, garnering about $900 million versus Sport's $675 million. I also believe that Apple's decision to introduce the Edition will be validated by $500 million in sales on only 40,000 units." If accurate, the figure crushes all other smartwatches to date, including the popular Moto 360, and that's only with pre-order sales.
In addition, Howe believes the device will be Apple's most profitable, with gross margins over 60 percent compared to the already large 35-40 percent it sees for its iPhone line. "Why? Because the core electronics modules in the expensive models are the same ones used in the Sport models, and they just don't cost that much," noted Howe.
Tidal, the high-fidelity music streaming service recently acquired by Jay-Z, has announced a new partnership that will help rival service users to bring over their existing playlists.
The partnership is with a company called Soundiiz, which will let you connect to your Spotify, Rdio, Xbox Music, iTunes and Soundcloud accounts to convert your playlists over to Tidal.
Soundiiz is currently in beta and nearly everyone who has used it says there are plenty of glitches to go around, mainly related to translation and text issues.
Overall it appears that Soundiiz, and Tidal in general are still works in progress but Jay-Z and his group of A-list musician friends are well on their way to competing with the big boys.
According to chipmaker AMD, Microsoft's heralded launch of Windows 10 will take place at the end of July.
Speaking during the company's recent earnings call, CEO Lisa Su let slip the release time frame, which has generally been acknowledged as "Q3" for the time being.
"With the Windows 10 launch at the end of July, we are watching sort of the impact of that on the back-to-school season, and expect that it might have a bit of a delay to the normal back-to-school season inventory build-up," said Su.
Microsoft will release Windows 10 in 190 countries and in 111 different languages over the summer but consumers willing to deal with bugs can download the Technical Preview here (you will need to sign up for the Windows Insider Program).
About a year ago, Chinese startup OnePlus launched the OnePlus One flagship smartphone and it quickly gained accolades for its smooth operation, high-end specs and rock bottom price.
There was a major catch, however, as it was nearly impossible to get the device unless you received an invite from an existing owner or through promotions being thrown by the company. Late last year, the company changed the model a bit offering the One through flash sales every few weeks for a couple of hours in addition to the invites.
Reads the company's release: "Since the early days, our company has changed quite a lot. We've grown to over 700 employees and have sold over one million OnePlus Ones worldwide. We've also learned an immeasurable amount from all of you. We pour over your comments on our forums and social media and soak in the feedback you give us at events all around the world. We try to not just listen, but also act on these lessons. Your feedback has resulted in a wider range of accessories, better logistics options and an evolution from invites to pre-orders to Tuesday Open Sales. Now, we're taking it one step further.
On Tuesday, Google will update its mobile search algorithm, a move that will likely affect millions of sites and has already been dubbed 'Mobile-geddon.'
The algorithm will soon begin favoring sites that are mobile-friendly (meaning they easily resize to all screen sizes and have larger text and are easy to navigate), and non-mobile-friendly sites will get lowered in search rankings.
Google says about 60 percent of total Internet traffic now comes from mobile devices and they want these users to have good experiences when searching. Google first noted the changes back in February giving webmasters over two months to update their sites.
The change has already been called mobile-geddon because it is expected hurt millions of small business websites that may not be tech savvy enough to have 'mobile-friendly' experiences or are just outdated after having paid for a custom site years ago.
Microsoft has decided to pull a recent build of its Windows 10 Technical Preview for a few of its cheaper, low-end Lumia smartphones after early testers reported their phones bricking after the update.
The affected models are the Lumia 520, 525 and 526, which is a shame given that the phones are some of the most popular Windows devices Microsoft/Nokia has launched to date.
"We are seeing some reports of failures on Lumia 520/525/526 devices when trying to roll back to Windows Phone 8.1 using the Windows Phone Recovery Tool. We are pausing build availability for these devices temporarily while we investigate the issue and work with customers who have reported problems," said Microsoft.
The build in question is 10051, released last week to the Windows Insider program for 'Fast Lane' users who are willing to work with buggier operating systems get quicker updates.
Microsoft should be quickly working on a fix for the build which is an important milestone for Windows 10 thanks to the addition of the Project Spartan browser.
AMD has reported another poor quarter as the company continues to restructure its core businesses.
For the quarter, the company had revenue of $1.03 billion, a large 26.4 percent decrease year-over-year and the company had a net loss of $180 million.
A good chunk of the losses came via the ongoing restructuring fees AMD is paying to get out of the dense server business, where it is winding down its Seamicro brand. For the quarter, the wind down cost $75 million.
Computing and Graphics saw a major 38 percent revenue decline year-over-year thanks to lower desktop and notebook processor sales as well as GPU channel sales. The Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom segment fared better with a mere 7 percent YoY decline in revenue. AMD saw the declines due to lower server processor sales. The company is now banking on the upcoming Carrizo APU to offset losses.
A year after launching their first 4K TV sets, Sony is now taking pre-orders for six new HDR-compatible 4K sets ranging from 43-inches to 75-inches.
"Sony has always been the leader in 4K and our exclusive Sony technologies have been at the core of providing TV lovers with the best picture quality, no matter what content they are watching. Our decade of experience allows us to now improve color accuracy and clarity even better than before," said Taka Fujita, vice president of home entertainment and sound at Sony Electronics. "And now, by pairing our unrivaled picture quality with Android TV, we are setting out to provide our customers with the best user experience possible."
In case you didn't catch that, the new TVs will run on Google's Android TV platform that offers connectivity to Google Play, casting features, Android gaming and the ability to use your Android phone as a remote.
Adds Sony: "The full 2015 4K Ultra HD lineup is powered by the X1 processor engine, maximizing contrast, color and clarity in both HD and 4K content. While Sony TVs have had expanded color, brightness range and upscaling for years, the X1 processor takes another step forward in improving these features. Thanks to X-Reality™ PRO Picture Engine, developed from over ten years of experience in upscaling, all existing HD content is upscaled to super clear 4K quality. And TRILUMINOS™, found on the X850C series and up, provides the widest color range ever and dynamic color correction ensures colors are as consistent and accurate as possible."
According to a new report, the country of Norway will shut down FM radio beginning in 2017, with the nation moving to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB).
The Norwegian Ministry of Culture made the decision, and if it's true, will mark the first time a country has killed the long standing radio standard.
"Listeners will have access to more diverse and pluralistic radio-content, and enjoy better sound quality and new functionality," Minister of Culture Thorhild Widvey said in a statement. "Digitization will also greatly improve the emergency preparedness system, facilitate increased competition and offer new opportunities for innovation and development."
The Ministry says transmitting through FM radio is eight times more expensive than its digital counterpart. DAB has been around since 1995 and DAB+ was introduced in 2007.
Months after the site was raided and taken down, The Pirate Bay is finally completely back as new registrations have reopened for the public.
The site returned from its 8 week downtime in January but registrations had been closed for security reasons and also to avoid spam and other abuse as moderators worked overtime to get everything back in shape.
"The registrations remained closed as a security precaution. But now that the mods are back and stable, new accounts won't flood the site with fakes," The Pirate Bay said.
Moderators have taken down thousands of suspicious accounts that could have been used to flood the site with malware and other fake downloads but they will certainly still have their hands full with registrations reopened.
Following last week's Android update to Material Design, the WhatsApp team is still hard at work, adding the ability to backup and restore from Google Drive.
Using the popular cloud service, you can back up and restore your conversation history as well as any included media.
Starting with WhatsApp 2.12.45, if you head to Settings -> Chat Settings -> Chat Backup you can choose the frequency of your backups and whether you want to be able to backup over Wi-Fi-only or over data (which is generally not recommended).
Those who have tested the new app say videos don't appear to be backed up but convos and photo media seem to work seamlessly.
Massive messaging app WhatsApp has announced 800 million monthly active users, on pace for the 1 billion mark by the end of the year.
CEO Jan Koum revealed the new impressive milestone, which shows that the company is adding 100 million active users every quarter since last January.
Facebook acquired the messaging service last year for about $22 billion in stock, one of the largest tech acquisitions of all-time. Facebook has 1.4 billion users and its own Messenger app has nearly 600 million.
WhatsApp is expected to begin being profitable for Facebook after it reaches 1 billion users.
When Facebook last year announced it will acquire WhatsApp many sighed in frustration and went even so far as switching messengers. There was a slight rebellion behind the scenes, also fueled by the decisions concerning Facebook's own Messenger.
It seems that the move has anything but reduced the popularity of the world's most popular IM software. New figures suggest that WhatsApp has already over 800 million users and is closing fast on a billion.
The messenger platform is finding new users in a never before seen pace. In the past three months alone it has increased its user base by an incredible one hundred million.
Facebook is yet the only one to break the coveted billion user base but even its own Messenger has "only" 600 million users.
One of the more important factors to such an aggressive growth is most likely the addition of free calls to other WhatsApp users. If WhatsApp continues on this pace it'll reach the goal later this year.
A year ago, Microsoft stopped support for their decade-old Windows XP operating system, meaning the millions of users still running the OS are vulnerable to exploits. Google wants to help.
Says Google: "At the operating system level, computers running XP are inherently in danger of being infected by malware and viruses, making it increasingly difficult for Chrome to provide a secure browsing environment. That's why we strongly encourage everyone to update to a supported, secure operating system.
That said, we know that not everyone can easily switch to a newer operating system. Millions of people are still working on XP computers every day. We want those people to have the option to use a browser that's up-to-date and as safe as possible on an unsupported operating system."
Google had promised to keep Chrome on XP support through April 2015, and now that we are here, Google says support has been extended until the end of the year.
Netflix has ordered "Our Planet," an eight-part nature documentary from the makers of the popular "Planet Earth" series.
The series will explore remote wilderness areas including deep ocean and polar ice caps and be filmed in 4K. The project is in conjunction with Silverback Films and the conservation group WWF and will be filmed over the next four years before release in 2019.
Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey are behind the new series, and the same team created "Planet Earth," "Frozen Planet," "Blue Planet," "Earth," "Bears," "African Cats" and "Chimpanzee."
"Netflix is proud to be the global home for perhaps Silverback's most ambitious project to date," said Lisa Nishimura, VP of Netflix original documentaries. "The 'Planet' projects have enjoyed great success on Netflix and have helped launch new technologies for viewing at home. We think watching 'Our Planet,' fully on-demand in 4K, will be an unforgettable experience for our members."
A few days ago, Rockstar launched GTA 5 for the PC, and now we have multiple videos of the blockbuster game being played with the developer models of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.
Using the software vopX, which is a "driver specifically aimed at VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and supports many DX9-DX11 games," gamers have been able to get into the gigantic world of GTA for the PC.
How does vopX work? "It converts the displayed image to an output that is suitable for watching a game on the headset, in many cases in stereoscopic 3D. Beyond this base functionality vorpX offers many features specifically geared towards VR."
Check out one of the many very cool videos from the Oculus here:
Sony was infamously hacked and its secrets revealed last year. Now a few months later WikiLeaks has made the thousands of documents and hundreds of thousands of emails more accessible by creating a searchable database.
A lot of people have obviously been going through the archive and found all kinds of "new" information. In addition to highly confidential emails between the US government and Sony there's been less high profile leaks. A new one suggests that we might have our hands on an upcoming Sony flagship smartphone.
The device pictured in this article portrays close to what has been rumored of the next flagship smartphone by Sony. Xperia Z4 is expected to feature a new all-metal design, a reimagined power button with a fingerprint sensor, and a wholly updated user experience.
Even though the latter cannot be confimed from the pictures it does seem like the all-metal design is evident as is the redesigned and larger power button that might in fact have a sensor being rumored of.
These pictures seem like valid confidential Sony renders but they still can be just drafts that will never see the light of day. However it is also possible that they are in fact one of the first renders of the upcoming Z4.
GameStop has revealed that it will buy off your dusty retro gaming consoles, games, and accessories for in-store credit, reports IGN.
Beginning next week, April 25, GameStop's 250-ish stores around NYC and Birmingham will start accepting your old gaming hardware and software.
Reports say that amongst accepted systems are Nintendo Entertainment Systems (NES), SEGA Genesis, PlayStation, N64, and SEGA Dreamcast. The devices will go through GameStop's refurbishing and will be resold with a warranty like the other (new) hardware.
Two months after starting the buying of retro games the stores will start reselling them. That means that you can expect to buy your own NES maybe in late May or early June.
Days ahead of its official reveal in front of Imax movies starting next week, the first "Batman V Superman" trailer has leaked online.
The trailer seems to show the movie taking place right after the events of 'Man of Steel' with Batman attacking Superman over the destruction from the last movie.
Warner Bro.'s blockbuster film will hit theaters March 25, 2016.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has reported today that the firm expects the Apple Watch to top 2.3 million units pre-ordered globally by the end of May.
Earlier reports had put first day pre-orders at 1 million units, a strong figure for a device that sells for $500 on average.
Kuo also wrote that the cheaper Sport model accounted for 85 percent of pre-orders, with the Watch model accounting for nearly 15 percent and Edition (which can cost up to $17,000) accounting for less than 1 percent.
"We estimate production could reach 2.5mn units in June, absent supply chain bottlenecks; thus global preorders are less than the 4.8mn units of combined production in March-June as most of those preordering can get Apple Watch in June. At present, iPhone shipments stand at 50-60mn units per quarter, suggesting less than one-tenth of iPhone users have preordered Apple Watch," added Kuo.
Target has said today that it will pay $19 million to financial institutions that used MasterCard-branded cards that were compromised in the huge 2013 security breach in which over 40 million card numbers were stolen from the retailer.
The settlement number should help the banks to cover their costs of reissuing the cards for millions of clients.
Target will make the payment by the end of the Q2 as long as at least 90 percent of eligible financial institutions accept the offer by May 20th.
A separate negotiation is in the works for Visa-branded cards, and that figure is expected to be larger because there are more outstanding Visa cards.
According to research firm comScore, Bing has reached a significant milestone: 20 percent share in the search market.
Google had 64.4 percent share, continuing its undisputed time as search leader. Bing jumped to 20.1 percent share while Yahoo fell to 12.7 percent share. Ask and AOL took most of the remaining share.
Microsoft wins whenever anyone searches with Yahoo, anyways, as Bing serves results and ads to Yahoo search for desktops.
Earlier today, Microsoft and Yahoo extended their search partnership for years to come.
WikiLeaks has released "The Sony Archives" today, a fully searchable database that contains 173,132 emails and 30,287 other documents that were stolen and released following the cyber attack on Sony Pictures last year.
The site appears to have added the exchanges due to the fact that there are thousands of emails between Sony and politicians with "almost 100 US government email addresses" found in the database. Some of the emails show that Sony employees attended campaign dinners to help get current NY governor Andrew Cuomo elected.
"This archive shows the inner workings of an influential multinational corporation," WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange said in the press release. "It is newsworthy and at the centre of a geo-political conflict. It belongs in the public domain. WikiLeaks will ensure it stays there."
The leaked emails were a huge embarrassment for the company, as many of its high level executives were found to be speaking crassly of actors and celebrities that Sony often worked with.
Microsoft and Yahoo have announced today the amendment of their search agreement first signed in 2009 in a deal that will "improve the search experience, create value for advertisers and establish ongoing stability for partners."
"Our global partnership with Yahoo has benefited our shared customers over the past five years and I look forward to building on what we've already accomplished together," noted Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft Corp. "Our partnership with Yahoo is one example of the diverse partnerships we'll continue to cultivate in order to have the greatest impact for our customers."
"Over the past few months, Satya and I have worked closely together to establish a revised search agreement that allows us to enhance our user experience and innovate more in our search business," added Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. "This renewed agreement opens up significant opportunities in our partnership that I'm very excited to explore."
According to the press release, the new deal will give Yahoo more flexibility on mobile devices, but will continue to serve Bing ads and search results for most desktop searches.
As of writing, Microsoft's 'Halo' series spinoffs are now available for purchase on iPhone, iPad, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.
The new 'Halo: Spartan Strike' sells for each respective platform for $5.99.
Microsoft says the new "Halo: Spartan Strike tells a compelling new story in the Halo universe set during the events of Halo 2 on New Mombasa in 2552. As a Spartan supersoldier in a classified ONI simulation, delve into 30 challenging missions while leading UNSC troops through cities and jungles with an all new arsenal of weapons, abilities and vehicles."
The game is also available as a bundle with the existing "Halo: Spartan Assault" game for $9.99.
After months of rumors, it's finally happening: Mobile operating system maker Cyanogen has announced a strategic partnership with rival operating system maker Microsoft.
"People around the world use Cyanogen's operating system and popular Microsoft services to engage with what matters most to them on their mobile devices," said Kirt McMaster, CEO of Cyanogen Inc. "This exciting partnership with Microsoft will enable us to bring new kinds of integrated services to mobile users in markets around the world."
Cyanogen says that under the deal "Cyanogen will integrate and distribute Microsoft's consumer apps and services across core categories, including productivity, messaging, utilities, and cloud-based services." Each of the apps and services will be natively integrated.
Among the services listed are Bing, Bing Maps, Skype, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, and Microsoft Office.
Apple has announced that their annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will be held from June 8-12 this year at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
Anyone developer looking to get tickets can register until April 17th, and there will be a random drawing to give out the limited tickets. Winners will be notified by April 20th.
Keep in mind, to be eligible for an invite you have to be enrolled in the iOS Developer Program, the iOS Enterprise Developer Program or the Mac Developer Program and if you are offered an invite you have to pay $1,599 to attend.
Apple is expected to preview updates to iOS and OS X, show off their updated Beats Music streaming service and potentially unveil a sequel to the aging Apple TV set-top box.
Torrent client provider BitTorrent was hit by user uproar earlier this year when it was found that their most recent uTorrent versions included a bundled software that mined for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Starting with version 3.4.1, uTorrent came bundled with Epic Scale, a mining software that used your PC's idle CPU time to "solve complex problems" and mine for currencies.
Many complained that their PC's performance was significantly decreased after installing 3.4.1, and others complained that the software was extremely hard to remove. Yet more users complained that they never gave permission to install Epic Scale.
Version 3.4.2 removes Epic Scale but otherwise is identical to 3.4.1, which should make plenty of users happy.
Chinese startup giant Xiaomi says counterfeiters and taking a major chunk out of their revenue, especially for one specific accessory: The Mi Power Bank battery pack.
CEO Lei Jun says the battery pack hit 14.6 million units sold last year but that an additional 15 million counterfeit devices were sold as well, taking nearly $115 million of potential revenue for the company.
"What is the biggest problem? There are many fakes," Lei said. "If there were no counterfeits, our sales would be double or triple. The product has been recognized by everyone."
Xiaomi shipped 61.1 million smartphones last year, quickly becoming the third biggest smartphone maker in the world behind Samsung and Apple and that figure is expected to jump over 30 percent this year.
The Mi Power Bank, which comes in multiple varieties depending on how much "juice" you need, retails from $8 to $21.
Last week, LG revealed that its G4 flagship is ready for unveiling on April 28th and today we have some more design details thanks to a major leak.
The leak comes via LG themselves, who temporarily launched an "LG micro site" before removing it.
On the front of the device, there's a single LG logo and a single speaker grille, while the back houses the camera, volume rocker and power button. The device has been updated to a 5.5-inch QHD display, and the camera has been redesigned to a 13MP F/1.8 lens.
The back continues to have a removable battery, and LG showed off leather casing in addition to the standard plastic. Because its removable you can switch out different leather cases with plastic and vice versa.
LG's latest will likely launch with Android 5.0 if not 5.1, and will include wireless charging capability, NFC, and even HDMI-out via the SlimPort-enabled USB port.
A few lucky Amazon Prime users have been using the Prime Stations service for some time but now all mobile users with a membership have the ability (that means you, Android).
If you have a Prime membership ($99 per year) for Amazon, and have downloaded the Amazon Music App for your respective device (iOS, Android, Kindle Fire) you now have access to Prime Stations, "an ad-free, internet radio service you can enjoy at no additional cost to your Prime membership."
Amazon continues: "With Prime Stations, you can find a genre or artist you like and hit play to hear a continuous stream of music that you can pause, replay, or skip as many times as you'd like. As you listen and give songs a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, each station will adapt to your music tastes."
Basically, the service is similar to Pandora One, where you can listen to millions of tracks based on a track or artist or song you like in playlists.
A reserach company specializing in digital commerce, Slice Intelligence, has revealed their first date for Apple Watch purchases. The data is an estimate based on around nine thousands online customers and suggests that the Sport version of Apple Watch was the most popular as expected.
According to the data 957 000 Americans ordered an average of 1.3 Apple Watch products. 62 percent of the over one million Apple Watches were the cheaper Sport version. The average cost of the Apple Watch Sport was $382.83 and the stainless steel Apple Watch $707.04. The all around average spending was $503.83.
As much as 71 percept opted for the larger 42 mm version and the smaller 38mm case was more popular amongst the Sport byuers. The Black Sports Band was the most popular choice amongst both Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sports buyers. Just over a half of the Apple Watches were bought with the Black Sports Band.
Slice also reported that approximately 48 000 of the recently announced new Macbooks were sold. A whopping 42 percent of whom also pre-ordered an Apple Watch.
Apple has unleashed their hefty checkbook in an effort to bring exclusive music to their new Beats Music streaming service.
Among the hit makers approached by Apple are Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Florence and the Machine, each of which have reportedly been offered millions to partner with the service.
Jay-Z's new rival high quality FLAC streaming service Tidal has been making similar bids, with reports circulating that it is offering up to 3 percent of the company and $3 million in exchange for exclusivity.
Gaining Taylor Swift could be a game changer as the artist recently, and very publicly, shunned Spotify and streaming services in general claiming they did not respect musician's value.
For Apple, a company that has $180 billion in cash, paying to gain marketing for a service that is dying to differentiate itself seems like a small price to pay.
Publisher Square Enix has made an interesting announcement this weekend; launching a cloud-based 'Final Fantasy XIII' for iOS and Android, as long as you live in Japan.
You must have a connection better than 3MB/s to play the game, which is a tiny 20MB download and then streamed from G-Cluster servers.
Since the game was built for console, the screen has touch targets that will match the PS3/Xbox 360 controller scheme the game was intended for.
Last night, HBO got hit pretty hard by leakers as the first four episodes of the upcoming 'Game of Thrones' season hit the Internet in full (non-1080p) glory.
Season 5 of the blockbuster series is set to premier tonight on HBO at 9PM but now 40 percent of the season has been leaked.
HBO should be particularly upset by the leak as the show's launch coincided with the launch of their standalone streaming service - HBO Now - which is available without a cable subscription.
If you are a GoT fan, it's best to stay away from social media for a while until the spoilers die down. The first episode is said to have already been downloaded over 500,000 times.
HBO's smash hit Game of Thrones returns today with season five but quite a few have already acquired the first four episodes. The first four episodes of the new season are already out on BitTorrent sites – and therefore for millions to grab.
According to TorrentFreak the episodes were downloaded over 100 000 times in the first three hours and they quickly spread to all popular BitTorrent sites. The video and the sources suggest that it was leaked from review copies sent to the press.
If there's a silver lining to this it might be that the videos are relatively low quality and the first episode will officially air in approximately 12 hours in all the 170 countries it is shown.
According to a new report, Google has been working on bringing its Android Wear smartwatch platform to the iPhone, a move that would put Google once again in direct competition with Apple.
Currently, the developing platform for iPhone supports basic functions like notifications (texts, missed calls, etc) and it supports Google Now cards and voice search.
Google did not confirm but did say "that we always want as many users as possible to enjoy our experience, so in terms of enabling more people to use Android Wear we're very interested in making that happen."
While there will be plenty of Apple fans that would love access to more than just one smartwatch, there is a chance that Apple will deny letting the app into the App Store, outright.
Samsung has confirmed today that it is having supply issues for its new Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone, with the company confirming that there are difficulties manufacturing the curved displays.
JK Shin, the company's mobile boss, warned there would be limited supply of the Edge model due to the manufacturing process, and that the issues could be around "for a while."
Without giving any predictions, Shin did say they expect the S6 and S6 Edge to outsell their predecessor, the S5, which sold weakly compared to predictions.
By all accounts, the phones are already a hit, seeing over 20 million in pre-orders. The S6 has a 5.1-inch OLED QHD display, up to 128GB internal memory, 3GB RAM, 16/5 MP cameras, a fingerprint scanner, curved glass on the front and will launch with Android 5.0 with Samsung's own UI on top.
SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket company, has just a released a great 2 minute video of its Falcon 9 rocket launch in crisp 4K resolution.
The 'supercut' has slo-mo footage, HDR footage and any angle you could imagine of the rocket.
SpaceX is launching another Falcon 9 next week, delivering cargo to the International Space Station and then trying to land on an autonomous drone ship out in the ocean although it has failed to land safely the last two attempts.
Last year, Facebook annoyed users by splitting off their Messenger service into its own dedicated app that you had to download if you wanted to be able to send messages.
The company is somewhat remedying that situation now launching Messenger.com, an in-browser version of the popular chatting service. While you can still use Messenger from within the desktop Facebook page, Messenger.com allows you to just use the chat service, without any other distractions like games or timelines.
You can send pictures, stickers, and the gigantic Like emoji. What you cannot do, however, is send or even record voice messages.
HTC has launched the metallic One M9+ for China, a slightly larger and feature-full version of the recently launched One M9.
The M9+ has a QHD 5.2-inch display, runs on the new MediaTek premium 2.2GHz Helio 64-bit octa-core processor, has a fingerprint reader, a circular 20MP rear camera with new "Duo Camera" for 3D effects, 3GB RAM, the same UltraPixel selfie camera and 32GB internal storage.
While the fingerprint reader is new, there have a few complaints about the design, which looks like a home button and splits the bottom grill in half.
Finally, the device has a 2840 mAh battery with promised battery life in line with competition.
"HTC is excited to bring the HTC One M9+ to customers in China, where we have worked closely with mobile operators to create a phone with the right balance of screen size, processor performance, software, and radio network compatibility to meet consumers' needs. Ranging in other markets will be confirmed locally at a later date. The One M9+ is not currently planned to be released in North America or Europe, where we believe our flagship HTC One M9 is the best choice for blazing fast performance, incredible sound, and network compatibility across the broadest range of operators," read HTC's statement.
Disney has announced this week that the blockbuster 'Star Wars' series will be available as HD digital downloads for the first time ever, starting on Friday.
Dubbed 'The Star Wars Digital Movie Collection,' downloaders will get all six of the films and some bonus features. Each movie is also available individually if you are not a fan of specific movies (looking at you Phantom Menace).
"Since the debut of the first film nearly 40 years ago, Star Wars has become a worldwide phenomenon with legions of fans from every generation," said Alan Bergman, president, The Walt Disney Studios. "It's only fitting that audiences enjoy this legendary saga and its many fascinating behind-the-scenes stories on a wide variety of devices."
The team over at Popcorn Time has announced that their iOS app is now available for non-jailbroken devices, a massive launch that the team has been teasing for over six months.
iOS beta version 1.2 was also launched in conjunction, adding Chromecast and Apple TV support along with a ton of performance fixes and bug fixes. Free VPN will also be added in the coming days, notes the team.
"Ever since we released iOS for jailbroken devices in September 2014, we've been wrecking our brains to find a solution that will enable iOS users who don't want to jailbreak their device and use Cydia to also enjoy Popcorn Time on their iOS device.
Our relentless pursuit for a solution led us to a fruitful collaboration with another group of brilliant developers who came up with the awesome solution of making an iOS installer," said Popcorn Time.
Last year, Logitech released the waterproof, Bluetooth 'Keys-To-Go" keyboard for iOS devices and it quickly became one of the company's most popular products.
Today, Logitech has announced that they are releasing a version of the keyboard that will work with Android and Windows devices, significantly increasing the potential userbase.
"The keyboard's thin and light form makes it easy to slip into your purse, beach bag or coat pocket without taking up precious space or weighing you down. The Logitech Keys-To-Go is wrapped in a water-repellent FabricSkin that helps protect the keyboard from spills and dirt, so it easily wipes clean and survives drops. It's durable enough for a variety of situations – indoors or outdoors," says Logitech.
The respective boards will also include a row for Android and Windows shortcut keys, just like the iOS keyboard had. The boards also comes with a portable stand making it easier to type on smartphone, which is held in an upright position. You can see more pictures below.
Logitech's latest will cost $69.99 and ship this month.
Square Enix has released the first trailer for the upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, a sequel to the blockbuster cyberpunk action hit Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
The game itself will take place two years after its predecessor, but the game will have a more open-ended structure that leaves more decisions in the hands of the gamer. Additionally, there will be "new gameplay twists including new augmentations."
It is also important to note that the game was built on the new Dawn Engine game engine.
The game is set for release later this year (unknown date so far) for PC, Xbox One and PS4.
Earlier this week, reports hit the Internet that Samsung had paid people to pretend to be fans at the Chinese launch of their Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge phones.
A Shanghai-based newspaper started it all by claiming that up to 500 of the nearly 1000 attendees came via Samsung recruiters and were paid 30 yuan (US$4.80) per hour to pretend to be fans.
Samsung has shot back today, calling the reports "totally groundless and bogus."
The company added: "Our findings have indicated that under no circumstances has anyone been hired or given money to attend the event. In fact, the more than 1,100 attendees, including consumers and industry officials, have all been formally invited to the Shanghai Culture Square where the event took place."
Samsung says the original newspaper took down the report after Samsung proved it was false.
As Sony continues to try to break into the U.S. smartphone market, it has been blocked by yet another hurdle: T-Mobile has pulled its latest flagship, the Xperia Z3, after just six months on the market.
Now that T-Mobile has dropped the phone, that leaves Verizon as the only major U.S. carrier to carry the Sony smartphone, selling their Xperia Z3v variant.
Although it is unclear why the phone was pulled, it is easy to assume there was a lack of demand for the device. Besides being from a brand that has not historically succeeded in the U.S. in the mobile world, Sony was also slow to launch Android Lollipop on the device, losing out to competitors.
According to reports, Sharp is looking to spin off at least part of its LCD business and the company is looking for help from a large government-backed fund to do so.
The spun off company would make small LCDs, like those found in smartphones and tablets.
Sharp is seeking investment from Innovation Network Corp. of Japan (INCJ), the government-backed company that is also the largest shareholder of Japan Display. Japan Display was created from the corpses of the LCD divisions of Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba.
Industry watchers say a spin off would make it much easier to stay focused and track performance.
A year after Facebook spent $19 billion to acquire the messaging giant WhatsApp, the social media behemoth is beginning to integrate the service.
Currently in an early beta, Facebook has begun testing integrating WhatsApp into its mobile apps, starting with Android.
Reads the report: "Facebook has added a "Send" button with the familiar WhatsApp icon as a part of the status actions buttons that appear under each status update. The new button appears on the right side (for left-to-right languages) for some users in the most recent version of the Facebook for Android app."
Other reports have claimed that both the Facebook and WhatsApp teams have been working on deeper integration that will let users of both Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to send messages cross-platform and cross-app. If accurate, the move would be a huge deal for both especially as Facebook looks to take control of the instant messenger market.
Beatport, the popular electronic dance music (EDM) desktop streaming service, is now available for free on Android and iOS.
After downloading and installing the app you get free and unlimited access to millions of tracks including music from popular acts like Sam Feldt and Dimitri Vegas and even bigger name DJs like David Guetta and Afrojack.
You can search for tracks and artists and you can also use discovery tools including a 'Pulse Chart' that shows what is trending and a "New on Beatport" chart to see what's new and hot.
You can log in with your existing account or sign up for a new one. Additionally, you can also search for live performances and festivals in your area from your favorite artists.
40 years ago, Bill Gates and Paul Allen started a small software company that they named Microsoft.
Thanks to their creation of the Windows operating system and the Office suite of productivity tools, the company is now one of the largest corporations in the world, and Bill Gates is the wealthiest person in the world with an estimated $78 billion.
A decade ago, Gates began committing full time on philanthropy through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, looking to solve some of the world's biggest problems, but Gates has always been a specter around Microsoft, even more so now as the company transitions to just its third-ever CEO - Satya Nadella.
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the company's founding, Gates sent a letter to celebrate the company and its roots.
After a year of running the popular Cyanogen operating system, Chinese smartphone startup OnePlus had a falling out with the company and announced they would be creating their own operating system based on Android.
That operating system - OxygenOS - is now available for OnePlus One owners who are willing to take the plunge.
OxygenOS is close to stock Android 5.0 Lollipop, and the company says they went 'back to basics' while also "placing things like performance and battery life over gimmicks and bloated features."
In addition to the normal stock Android, you will also get gesture shortcuts that can be inputted even when the screen is off, a better file explorer, and some 'advanced options' that could be found in Cyanogen builds.
Check out more, including installation instructions, here: OnePlus
The BBC has released a 'Doctor Who' box-set bundle of 10 episodes available digitally via the BitTorrent network.
The bundle is free to download, but you will only be able to stream the intro video from the Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi and a 10-minute preview of the first ep. To fully own the 10 episodes, you will need to pay $12.
A full list of the episodes includes Rose, The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, The End of Time, The Vampires of Venice, The Doctor's Wife, The Rings of Akhaten, The Day of the Doctor, and Listen.
If you buy, you also get 5 additional intro videos from Capaldi and the 2014 documentary; Doctor Who: Earth Challenge.
"Our entire mission is to get content out legitimately to as many fans as we can around the world. We're in a lot of territories, but we're not everywhere, and not everybody has access to paid-for TV," said Julia Kenyon, director of drama brands at BBC Worldwide. "This is a really lovely way to extend it even further so that more of our fans can get our content. We have quite a young audience. They're very digital-savvy, and a lot of them access content in the digital space, so understanding their habits, and going where they are is very important for us."
OnLive, the original streaming game service that disappeared unexpectedly in 2013, has been acquired today by Sony.
Unfortunately for fans of the service, Sony is immediately shutting down OnLive, likely integrating patents to its portfolio or potentially some tech into its cloud streaming service for PlayStation gamers.
Reads the blog post: "It is with great sadness that we must bring the OnLive Game Service to a close. Sony is acquiring important parts of OnLive, and their plans don't include a continuation of the game service in its current form. Your service should continue uninterrupted until April 30, 2015. No further subscription fees will be charged, and you can continue to play all of your games until that date.
After April 30, 2015, our data centers will shut down and the service will be offline. All accounts will be closed, and all data deleted including game save data, achievements, and credit card data will be deleted. If you purchased a Steam game from OnLive, that game will still be available on Steam. No refunds will be available for any game purchases, hardware purchases, or subscriptions."
Last night, Time Warner and Dish Network avoided a blackout by agreeing to a new broadcasting deal and the deal came with an interesting side deal.
Sling TV subscribers, who currently pay at least $20 per month for online live TV streaming, will now be able to pay an additional $15 per month and have access to standalone HBO without the need for a cable or satellite subscription.
The HBO included with Sling TV has "one live channel and the same extensive VOD library HBO provides on its other platforms." This means live TV and movie viewing and also access to the back catalogs like HBO Go users have, which is a pretty big deal.
One thing to keep in mind is Sling TV owners does not allow streaming on more than one device at a time, but it does allow you to stream to a wide variety of devices including Roku, Xbox and more.
Sprint has agreed to pay $131 million to settle a long-standing class-action lawsuit dating back to their disastrous acquisition of Nextel in 2005.
At the time, Sprint merged with Nextel for $36 billion, and the company stated at the time that a merger would add billions of dollars in benefits and improve the subscriber base. The suit claimed that Sprint's former CEO Gary Forsee and other officials inflated the stock price of the company based on those claims, which turned out to be completely false.
Sprint never properly integrated Nextel and lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers between 2006 and 2008 eventually taking a $30 billion loss on the acquisition of Nextel.
The calculated damages were $1.07 billion so the settlement is very large considering what similar cases have gone for.
Netflix is tired of trying to deal with VPN and proxy users and CEO Reed Hastings says the company's ultimate goal is universal content across the globe.
"The VPN thing is a small little asterisk compared to piracy," Hastings added. "Piracy is really the problem around the world."
"The basic solution is for Netflix to get global and have its content be the same all around the world so there's no incentive to [use a VPN]," he explained. "Then we can work on the more important part which is piracy. The key thing about piracy is that some fraction of it is because [users] couldn't get the content. That part we can fix.
"Some part of piracy however is because they just don't want to pay. That's a harder part. As an industry, we need to fix global content."
Hastings obviously has a point. Netflix has nearly 60 million paying subscribers, and many watch over 50 hours a week of content. The demand is out there for paying subscribers but it is unfair for catalogs to be different based on stupid and outdated laws.
Two former federal agents, one from the DEA and one from the U.S. Secret Service, have been accused of stealing Bitcoins after millions of dollars were seized from the online drug bazaar Silk Road.
The agents have been charged with wire fraud, money laundering and other offenses for the alleged theft, which took place before and after the raid that took down the black market in 2013.
DEA agent Carl Force was the lead agent in the murder-for-hire case against convicted Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht and U.S. Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges was a computer forensics expert on the case.
Allegedly, Force set up fake online profiles in attempts to extort funds from Ulbricht. At one point, Force extorted $100,000 in Bitcoin from Ulbricht, which was deposited to his personal accounts and later wired to an account in Panama to launder the funds.
Additionally, Force was an investor in CoinMKT, and he used his position as an executive to illegally seize accounts and Bitcoin, taking as much as $297,000.
Bridges allegedly stole $820,000 from Silk Road and was also the person who signed off on the seizure of about $33 million in bitcoin from Ulbricht and the Silk Road.
TAG Heuer's smartwatch will launch in November and cost about $1400, say sources, a price tag lower than expected for the luxury watch maker.
Earlier this year, AT&T settled with the U.S. FTC over "cramming," a practice in which the carrier allowed third-parties to charge customers for services without their knowledge and then hiding the charges deep in the billing statement.
Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins has announced that there are now nearly 9 million paying subscribers to the streaming TV and movies on-demand service.
