Samsung's yesterday's press conference at IFA Berlin included a lot of new products. From vacuum cleaners to washing machines and from Gear wearables to premium TVs.
The biggest news in TVs wasn't the new model, even though we'll get to that too, but instead Samsung exec's confirmation that Samsung is battling the onslaught of OLED TVs from competitors with their own QLED technology.
Samsung is confident that the Quantum LED technology is superior especially because it's easier and cheaper to produce in the large sizes of 2017 TVs. To express the commitment the company introduced the new Q8F model which is a flat version of the curved Q8C. You'll be able to buy it in two sizes: 55 inches at 2599 euros ($3095) and 65 inches at 3599 euros ($4285).
That brings the Q series to a total of 14 different models, six of which are curved.
Samsung also unveiled a new addition to its artistic TV lineup called The Frame. The new 43 inch version in the smallest of the bunch and costs 1499 euros ($1785).
The consumer electronics show in Berlin, Germany is officially open to public starting tomorrow but the press has been roaming the trade show for two days now. Yesterday Samsung held their press conference and unveiled new smart products.
Among the newly introduced electronics were three new Gear devices that are for people on the move, Gear Sport, Gear Fit2 Pro and Gear IconX (2018). Gear Sport is Samsung's new smartwatch that is, like the same suggests, aimed at people who are into exercising and sports. Likewise the Gear Fit2 Pro activity tracker is for the people on the move.
Both of them feature GPS, heart rate monitoring, and path and calorie tracking. However, they are aimed specifically towards swimmers, since both of them are waterproof up to 50 meters and feature Speedo swim tracking. They also support Spotify Offline if you have a Premium account.
Google has removed hundreds of apps from the Play store after they were found to hijack devices for the use of the WireX botnet.
The apps appeared to be normal common apps, providing abilities such as media playback and system resource and storage management. In reality, they would use the device to take part in DDoS attacks against targets online.
Akamai has been credited with discovering the WireX botnet after a client was targeted. It then went on to cooperate with security staff from competitors to try to solve the problem. During this cooperate effort, hundreds of apps available through the Play store were found to be bogus and malicious.
Google removed over 300 apps from the Play store so far and they are being removed from affected devices too. An estimated 70,000 devices in over 100 countries have been compromised already.
Some affected devices have also been hit by ransomware attacks.
Sony has responded to price cuts by VR competitors by cutting the price of its own popular PlayStation VR gear.
It did so by adding the required PlayStation Camera to a $399 bundle, starting from September 1. Another bundle including a pair of Move controllers will cost $449.
Sony has enjoyed something of an advantage in the space up until recently. Competitors Oculus and HTC had gear that was more expensive and had to be used with a decent PC setup. However, over time HTC cut the price of its Vive gear on multiple occasions, and Oculus recently followed suit with its own price cuts.
Additionally, the minimum specs also dropped meaning the Rift headset with Touch could work well with a lower priced PC. To take advantage of the PlayStation VR system, it is recommended that you own a PlayStation 4 Pro.
From Friday, the price cut for the bundles will take effect across the U.S. and Canada. The core PS VR bundle will include the PlayStation VR headset and PlayStation Camera for $399 USD (MSRP) / $499 CAD (MSRP), while the PlayStation VR Worlds bundle adds two PlayStation Move motion controllers and PlayStation VR Worlds for $449 USD (MSRP) / $579 CAD (MSRP).
comScore has released its latest chart showing which apps are the most used ones in the United States. As the American mobile phone culture differs quite a lot from other Western countries, the chart is quite interesting one.
First and foremost, the difference between the U.S. mobile phone usage and, say, European one, is the fact that iPhone has significantly higher market share in the U.S. than it has in most other countries - over 40 percent according to one statistic.
However, the list is mostly full of non-surprises, as both Google and Facebook dominate the charts.
In Finland, the Helsinki district court has ruled that two of the three founders of The Pirate Bay must pay over 400'000 euros to music industry for making their copyrighted material available to public without permission.
The case dates back to 2011 when Finnish legislation stated that in order to stop a website that breached copyrights was to sue its owners. IFPI Finland that represents Finnish and international music industry in Finland, sued three Pirate Bay founders, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Warg and Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi in 2011.
Since the case began, Finland has changed its legislation and nowadays the access to accused pirate sites can be - and is - blocked by ISPs. All three major ISPs in Finland block the access to official Pirate Bay site and users who wish to access the site must use one of the several proxy sites (or VPN) to do so.
The ruling was made with the defendants being absent from the hearing, as the court hasn't been able to reach the defendants Neij and Warg. The case against Kolmisoppi is still in process and the ruling is expected later.
The exact amount the defendants Neij and Warg must pay to the copyright holders is 405'678.91 euros (appx. $477'000).
Microsoft today released an announce trailer for Age of Empires IV as we approach the 20 year anniversary of the release of the original title in the franchise.
The cinematic trailer takes the user through the ages but doesn't confirm much about the game at all. For now, all we really know is that Age of Empires IV is coming and is being developed by Relic Entertainment (Company of Heroes, Warhammer, Homeworld).
It has been 12 years since a major release in the Age of Empires series and it's likely to be some time before Age of Empires IV is available to buy. In the meantime, Microsoft will be releasing Age of Empires: Definitive Edition on October 19, the 20th anniversary of the original Age of Emprires.
Here is the trailer released by Microsoft, and a second video showcasing the history of the iconic franchise.
Preemptive action from a U.S. court aims to stifle illegal unauthorized streams of the hotly-anticipated fight between Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Conor McGregor this weekend.
The upcoming bout between the undefeated Mayweather, and UFC star Conor McGregor, has generated phenomenal interest. As such, Showtime is concerned about a loss in revenue from pay-per-view receipts due to the availability of unauthorized streams on the web.
The premium cable and satellite network went to court seeking an injunction against several websites that are advertising the bout ahead of the weekend. United States District Judge André Birotte Jr. approved a preliminary injunction forbidding the site's operators from providing illegal streams. The injunction is valid until August 28.
All of the domains affected appear to be associated with LiveStreamHDQ, according to TorrentFreak. Showtime has clashed with LiveStreamHDQ's operator, Kopa Mayweather, in the past.
Given the high profile nature of the fight, it is likely that a very wide range of sites will offer illegal streams through browsers, while others will be available through P2P streaming (Acestream etc.) and by other means. The unauthorized streaming of sports events has come to the forefront in recent months around the world. In the UK, efforts are underway to block illegal streams of Premier League football matches during the games, for example.
The next iteration of the Android mobile operation system is called Oreo, Google has revealed.
It promises that Android 8.0 Oreo improves speed, performance, security and introduces several new useful features. Oreo will feature much faster boot speeds (up to twice as fast on Pixel, Google claims) and brings Autifill, which will remember logins and other information with your permission to make things more convenient.
On the security side, Settings now puts Security front and center. Additionally, Oreo brings tighter app install controls, and has Google Play Protect built-in. To alleviate charge concerns, Android Oreo minimizes unintentional overuse of battery from apps in the background.
Picture-in-Picture is a useful new addition that allows you to see two apps at once, so you can, for example, check your schedule while being on a video call without having to swap apps. Notification dots let you tap to see what's new in your apps, meaning you can view notifications only for priority apps.
Oreo also features built-in support for Android Instant Apps, letting you check out new apps without having to install them, and also features a team of fully-redesigned emojis.
More than 100 robotics and AI experts, along with heads of tech companies in the field, have signed a letter urging the UN to prevent the use of AI in lethal weaponry.
Signatories include billionaire Elon Musk, and Mustafa Suleyman, the founder of Google's DeepMind. It specifically warns about a forthcoming third revolution in warfare with the development of robotics and artificial intelligence.
"Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend,"the letter reads.
"These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways."
They are calling for the inclusion of "morally wrong" technology in the list of weapons banned under the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).
The fear is the development of fully autonomous weapons that can select and engage targets without any human oversight once deployed. While no such weapons are known to exist now, developments in robotics, drone technology and AI makes their eventual development inevitable.
HTC has permanently cut the price of the Vive VR headset by $200, bringing it closer to the cost of hardware from rival Oculus.
That brings the cost of the Vive headset down to $599, which is still $100 more expensive than Oculus Rift & Touch. It also includes Google Tilt Brush, Everest VR, Richie's Plank Experience, and 1-month free access to VIVEPORT Subscription.
It was only a matter of time before HTC would cut the cost of Vive following cost cuts by rival Oculus. Consumers have been choosing between two similar VR systems but with a $300 difference on the price tag.
According to Engadget, HTC said that the cost cut is not aimed at clearing inventory, so it's unlikely that HTC is preparing to unveil any new hardware.
Microsoft has made a limited Xbox One X Scorpio Edition available for pre-order ahead of the launch of the revamped console.
The Xbox One X Project Scorpio Edition features a custom design with "Project Scorpio" printed on the console and the controller. Additionally, it also comes with an exclusive vertical stand so you can choose how to display it in your home.
With only a limited number available, the only way to buy one new is through the pre-order through Microsoft's store, Best Buy and Amazon. It is available for $499 while stocks last.
In the box: Xbox One X Project Scorpio Edition 1TB Console, Project Scorpio Edition Wireless Controller, Xbox One X Vertical Stand, 1-month Game Pass subscription trial, 14-day Xbox Live Gold trial, HDMI cable (4K capable), and AC Power cable.
Reddit has launched its own video hosting service for its millions of users, cutting out the need for separate third party uploads.
The user-driven, community-based content sharing site added the ability for users to upload GIFs and images last year too. Up until that point, Redditors had to rely on third-party services like Imgur for content uploads and some communities (subreddits) still largely do choose third party options.
Most videos shared through reddit have typically been hosted on popular platforms like YouTube and Streamable, but now Reddit is launching its own video hosting service to cut out the third party, and open up a new potentially lucrative ad-revenue source.
Reddit said that the need for users to upload content to third-party services inhibited their abilities to share quickly and easily, and that the new hosting is intended to streamline the process from video capture straight to upload.
Not all communities (subreddits) will be able to use the service however, as Reddit wants to stick to content that isn't infringing or unsuitable for a family audience. Reddit has a large number of adult-themed subreddits and sports communities that often share highlights and content without permission.
Judges have ordered ISPs to block a list of 59 websites that provide access to pirated movies and TV show content.
Two seperate orders from courts in Australia obliges Internet Services Providers to block a total of 59 websites and 127 domain names. In one case, based on a complaint from Roadshow, a judge ordered ISPs to block 42 websites, while in a second case brought by Foxtel, a further 17 blocks were mandated.
The list of websites includes popular sources for unauthorized streams, including PrimeWire, Project Free TV, Watch Servies and PutLocker, which can blocked based on legislation passed in 2015.
"This is a historic moment for Australia to have what is effectively 95% of the criminal trade blocked," Graham Burke, co-chief of Village Roadshow, and also the head of Creative Content Australia, said. "The thieves who run pirate sites contribute nothing to Australia -- they employ no one and pay no taxes here. Of the enormous profits they earn, not one cent goes back to the original creators of the content."
Creative Content has threatened to sue pirates in Australia later this year.
Microsoft has shared a list of game titles that will be visually enhanced by the Xbox One X console, due to be released in November.
The Redmond giant has released details about game enhancements with the upcoming Xbox One X over the past few months. On Sunday, Xbox' Major Nelson dropped a list that includes newer titles from Microsoft's own studio but also from third-party and Indie developers.
The list - which will be updated continuously - does not detail exactly what kind of enhancements to expect per title, and not all listed games will be enhanced by Xbox One X on launch day, which is November 8.
Still, the list gives us an idea of what to expect when it comes to Xbox One X enhancements.
A Plague Tale: Innocence
Anthem
ARK: Survival Evolved (Game Preview)
Ashen
Assassin's Creed Origins
ASTRONEER (Game Preview)
Battlerite
Below
Black Desert
Brawlout
Chess Ultra
CODE VEIN
Conan Exiles
Crackdown 3
Danger Zone
Dark and Light
Darksiders III
Dead Rising 4
Deep Rock Galactic
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls – Ultimate Evil Edition
Nintendo's latest gaming console, Nintendo Switch, has been near impossible to get in some parts of the world for some time now. In July, Nintendo finally managed to produce more units for retailers - and the results were impressive: Switch outsold both PS4 and Xbox One in July.
NPD Group, who tracks the console sales, says that two factors were there to push Switch to the #1 spot: first of all, the supply of the units hasn't been on par with the demand and now that problem has finally been solved by Nintendo. Secondly, Splatoon 2 has gained massive momentum and has made the console interesting even for the "hard-core gamers".
At the same time, the upcoming SNES Classic is already sold out - the year 2017 seems to treat Nintendo pretty well.
HMD Global who currently has the rights to use iconic Nokia brand in its phones, released its latest Android flagship phone just moments ago.
New Nokia 8 is a direct challenger to other Android-based flagship models in the market and is priced accordingly - and packs pretty familiar features, too.
Nokia 8 has a heatpipe-cooled Snapdragon 835 chipset, 4GB of RAM memory and a 5.3-inch QHD (2560 x 1440px)Gorilla Glass 3 display. It ships with 64GB of internal storage which can be expanded with microSD memory cards.
According to HMD, the phone is meant for "content producers" - not meaning people who write blogs for living, but people who use social media actively and post lot of a/v content to net. This means that HMD has made an extra effort to make sure all the audio and video features of the phone are on par with the top models in the market.
Both, front and rear camera can record video and capture still images at the same time without video recording suffering from this. Both cameras can be operated at the same time and can be viewed on screen simultaneously. To enhance the "multi-dimensional" video recording, Nokia 8 also supports Nokia OZO surround audio recording.
Mobile payments have been the de facto method of making person-to-person payments in developing countries for more than a decade now - and the rest of the world is catching up, it seems. Obviously, the fact that most people in developing countries don't have a bank account, but most of them have access to a mobile phone has created such seemingly weird disparity between the industrial countries and developing countries.
Now, tech companies around the world have finally decided to jump he bandwagon before the market has matured. Facebook introduced payment transactions to its Messenger app in United States and is rumored to expand the service to India soon.
Facebook's other messaging product, WhatsApp hasn't made such move previously - until now. People have dug through the latest Android beta version's code and have found out that the app has hidden feature to support UPI payment model, standardized in India.
Beta version has TOS clauses that ask user to approve WhatsApp's payment policy and user's own bank's payment policy before proceeding with transactions.
Microsoft has announced a new edition of Windows 10, aimed for power users. The new version, Windows 10 Pro for Workstations has four major selling points over existing editions.
Firstly, there is ReFS(Resilient file system), a file system that provides cloud-grade resiliency for data on fault-tolerant storage spaces and manages very large volumes with ease. Using its integrity streams, ReFS detects when data becomes corrupt on one of the mirrored drives and uses a healthy copy of your data on the other drive to correct and protect your precious data.
Second major selling point is the support for NVDIMM-N memories that allow super-fast read and write times - and are non-volatile, meaning that the memory keeps the data even when the power is switched off.
Thirdly, Windows 10 Pro for Workstations adds a new, faster mechanism for sharing files called SMB Direct, which promises to improve speeds of sharing large files. SMB Direct requires network adapters to support Remote Direct Memory Access(RDMA). It will reduce the load sharing the files puts on CPU and moves that load to the network adapter instead, resulting faster sharing and lower latency.
Browser war veteran, Norwegian Opera browser has been updated. New version, Opera 47, brings only handful of improvements, as Opera - just like all other browser vendors - have shortened their release cycle recently.
New features include the ability to export bookmarks, a pretty standard feature among browsers, but one that as been missing from Opera for some time now. Also, Opera 47 promises a smoother video playback for Windows 7 and macOS users.
Furthermore, the "recently closed tabs" list has increased to list 32 recently closed pages from the previous limit of 10 pages. Other improvements are merely cosmetic - some fine-tuning of colors, brightness, etc of the browser's user interface.
You can download the latest version of Opera from our download section. Download links:
We are seeing some major changes in the world of cryptocurrency as the most popular currency amongst them was divided into two entities. The split has been in the works for a while but it is still considered highly controversial action.
Current Bitcoin will remain as it is and the new cryptocurrency Bitcoin Cash will be created alongside. They use the same transaction history but currently Cash is much less supported.
Behind the split, or "hard fork" as it's called, is the fact that Bitcoin has become very popular and many believe that it has become too overcrowded and may not function much longer given the increases in transaction frequency.
Bitcoin Cash has been designed to tackle the problems with high transaction fees as well as bitcoin size limit that doesn't allow mining larger blocks and thus slowes down the transaction process.
The Bitcoin transaction process is rather limited as the maximum amount of block data per 10 minutes is one megabyte. That means that only seven transactions can be completed every second, which obviously is not enough as the platform gets more and more popular.
Bitcoin Cash on the other hand is said to have up to eight times faster transaction speeds.
Home Box Office, more familiarly known as HBO, a cable TV network owned by Time Warner Cable was hacked earlier this week. The hackers apparently got their hands on 1.5 terabytes of data which included, as one might imagine, information about future shows.
According to EW hackers have already leaked some of the acquired material to the internet. Included in the published things are "upcoming episodes of a couple series and at least one alleged script or treatment," says EW.
The leaked episodes are from TV shows Ballers and Room 104. However, there's also been leaks from HBO's most valued franchise Game of Thrones. While there hasn't been entire episodes leaked, at least yet, the hackers have revealed some details about an upcoming fourth episode of Game of Thrones' currently running season seven.
The leakers have said that more releases will be coming later on.
HBO has not commented on what kind of material might have been stolen but acknowledges that hacking took place and has started an investigation into the affair.
In April, the streaming giant Netflix was hacked, and the hackers leaked since released episodes from the fifth season of Orange is the New Black. The largest hack perhaps ever in entertainment and especially in Hollywood history happened in late 2014 when hackers hit Sony bringing down their computer systems and stealing data.
Spotify has been steadily gaining ground for years but many expected that Apple's unveiling of the new Apple Music two years back would change the dynamic radically. Nevertheless Spotify has been gaining momentum even with the world's largest tech company on its heels.
The Swedish streaming company might not be very profitable but it is definitely the biggest. Spotify boasts now over 60 million paying customers while the closest competitor, now Apple Music, is at mere 27 million.
In addition to paying customers Spotify has over 80 million free tier users that it tries to, and obviously succeeds to en extent, turn into monthly Premium subscribers meanwhile collecting ad revenue, albeit at less than adequate rate.
Even though there's a lot to be done to eliminate the free tier altogether, if it's in the plans or even a possibility, Spotify has managed to decrease the free-to-paying ratio. A year ago twice as many Spotify's users were using free tier compared to Premium, with less that 30 percent of users paying for a subscription. Ratio has decreased from more than 2:1 to 1.33:1.
One can estimate that soon the number of paying subscribers will be overtaking that of free tier users. In fact, if the same rate continues it'll happen around this time next year, and some would consider that a pessimistic evaluation, especially in the wake of news about expansion to new type of content.
Samsung's yesterday's press conference at IFA Berlin included a lot of new products. From vacuum cleaners to washing machines and from Gear wearables to premium TVs.
The consumer electronics show in Berlin, Germany is officially open to public starting tomorrow but the press has been roaming the trade show for two days now. Yesterday Samsung held their press conference and unveiled new smart products.
Google has removed hundreds of apps from the Play store after they were found to hijack devices for the use of the WireX botnet.
