Latest news

Twitter has pulled the chord on Vine today, shutting down the popular video clip sharing service.

Reads the company's press release:

"Since 2013, millions of people have turned to Vine to laugh at loops and see creativity unfold. Today, we are sharing the news that in the coming months we'll be discontinuing the mobile app.

Nothing is happening to the apps, website or your Vines today. We value you, your Vines, and are going to do this the right way. You'll be able to access and download your Vines. We'll be keeping the website online because we think it's important to still be able to watch all the incredible Vines that have been made. You will be notified before we make any changes to the app or website.

Thank you. Thank you. To all the creators out there -- thank you for taking a chance on this app back in the day. To the many team members over the years who made this what it was -- thank you for your contributions. And of course, thank you to all of those who came to watch and laugh every day.

What's next? We'll be working closely with creators to make sure your questions are answered and will work hard to do this the right way. We'll be sharing more details on this blog and our Twitter account, and will notify you through the app when we start to change things."

Samsung has announced that operating profit fell 30 percent in the most recent quarter to 5.2 trillion won ($4.6 billion), its lowest profit since 2014.

The dip is thanks to the recall and subsequent discontinuation of the Galaxy Note7 after hundreds of the devices literally exploded thanks to faulty batteries.

Samsung said the company would now focus on "expanding sales of new flagship products... as well as regaining consumers' confidence," before the launch of the Galaxy S8 early next year.

Over 7 million of the Note7 have been recalled, with millions more still out there.

Thanks to new component analysis from IHS, we can now estimate what it costs Google to build their new Pixel XL smartphone.

The firm says the XL with 32GB of internal storage has a total materials and manufacturing build of $285.75. The phone has a retail price of $769, suggesting a gross margin of $483.25 per unit.

Of course, IHS does not take into account R&D and other costs but no matter what, Google is making significant numbers for every Pixel sold. Indeed, according to teardowns of the latest Apple products, the gross margins by Google are even higher.

"Google is getting the same pricing for the same components as other tier one manufacturers of phones," said Andrew Rassweiler, senior director of cost benchmarking for IHS Markit. "They have as much pull as any of the big guys." That may be true in certain respects, but it is highly unlikely that Google can get the same pricing as Apple, a company that sells over 120 million units per year. Google has never released Nexus data, but it has been suggested that they have sold less than 50 million total Nexus devices since launch in 2009.

Most of Google's XL costs come from the 5.5-inch AMOLED QHD display at $58 per unit and the Snapdragon SoC at $50.

Daily deals site Groupon has acquired its one-time rival LivingSocial for an amount it called "not material," suggesting the company paid very little for the company that was once worth a billion.

Investors were not happy with the move, however, as the company's stock fell 19 percent following the news.

"We are happy to have them join us on our mission to build a daily habit in local commerce," Groupon CEO Rich Williams said. The company will take on LivingSocial's 200 employees.

In 2010, at its peak, LivingSocial had a valuation of somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion and Amazon even invested $175 million in the company. However, by 2012, Amazon had written down its entire investment and stopped marketing for the company.

Groupon says the deal will bring 1 million customers over and could bring $15 million in additional revenue per quarter.

Alongside the new Surface Studio, Microsoft also unveiled an updated Surface Book notebook yesterday, one that offers incredible battery life and graphics performance.

The Surface Book, when it was first released last year, reflected one of the most innovative pieces of hardware we've seen out of the Windows camp in quite some time, but the price was and remains out of the realm of those looking for a casual laptop.

In the 2016 "Performance Base" model, Microsoft has used the same 13.5"PixelSense Display (3000 x 2000 (267 PPI) resolution), upgraded the Intel Core i7 processor to the latest generation and pumped up the GPU to a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M with 2GB GDDR5 memory.

Best of all, Microsoft now promises 16 hours of battery life, an unheard of figure, compared to the 12 hours of its predecessor.

Starting with 256GB of internal storage, the new Surface Book is priced at $2399 and goes up from there. Pre-orders start now for shipment on November 10th.

According to a new report, Snapchat will seek to raise up to $4 billion in its 2017 initial public offering (IPO), giving the company a value as high as $35 billion.

The company currently has revenue of less than $1 billion but has hundreds of millions of active users. The company had a private market value of $18 billion as of earlier this year.

Snapchat, now known as Snap Inc., has ramped up its revenue in the past year, aiming for $350 million in ad revenue for 2016 up from $59 million last year. The company also allows partners to create mini mobile magazines, which can sell products.

Microsoft unveiled a new ergonomic keyboard yesterday at their special event, a wireless device for Surface fans.

The company says a pair of AAA will power the keyboard for a year and part of the ergonomics includes a double-cushioned Alcantara palm rest for comfort on your hands and wrists.

In addition to the ergo keyboard, the company also released a backlit, minimalist "Surface Keyboard" that takes up less space. You can even get a version of the Surface Keyboard with a fingerprint reader.

All of the items ship November 10th, with pre-orders starting today. The base Surface model is $100 and the ergonomic is $130.

Microsoft used their special event yesterday to unveil a handful of new products and features, with the most promising being the Surface Studio all-in-one PC.

The PC has a 28-inch PixelSense display (4500 x 3000 (192 DPI)), a 3:2 display ratio, 6th gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, up to a 2TB HD/SSD combo, up to 32GB RAM and up to a 4GB GeForce GPU. The AIO also has integrated 2.1 speakers, a flexible hinge that allows you to draw and video edit more easily, and has a haptic feedback controller device.

For ports, the Studio has four USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, Audio, SD, Mini DisplayPort. Microsoft also promises the display is the thinnest ever in an AIO.

With its incredible specs and form factor comes an astronomical price -$2999 for the base model and up to $4200 for the top model.

BlackBerry has unveiled their latest "secure" Android phone, the DTEK60, following up on this year's mid-range DTEK50.

The phone is available unlocked for $499 and is built by China's TCL with a very basic but nice metal-framed, dual-glass panel design.

At launch, the DTEK60 will have Android 6.0, a BlackBerry-secured bootloader, Hardware Root of Trust, a DTEK app and the promise of lightning fast security patches. BlackBerry has also included their HUB, Calendar and Keyboard productivity apps.

The smartphone has a QuadHD resolution, 5.5-inch display, is powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor, a 3000mAh battery with QuickCharge 3.0, a 21MP rear camera, a backside fingerprint scanner and a new USB-C port.

Earlier this year BlackBerry got out of the hardware business and now licenses its brand and apps to other manufacturers. The company also said it is not looking to the average consumer but rather to corporate and government buyers.

Nintendo shocked the gaming community earlier this month when they unveiled the Switch, a console/tablet hybrid that has AAA publisher support.

The gaming company has now announced a new "Nintendo Switch Presentation" in Tokyo on January 12th, where the company will unveil price, release date and launch games.

We know for sure that the system will launch in March but there has been little other info revealed to date.

Struggling social media company Twitter is preparing to fire hundreds of more employees after they failed to sell themselves in the past few weeks.

Twitter could lay off about 300 employees, equivalent to 8 percent of their total workforce

The layoffs are likely to be officially announced during Twitter's earnings report tomorrow and it will be interesting to see from what divisions the layoffs are coming.

Twitter is actively trying to sell itself but the price appears to be too expensive as Disney, Salesforce, Google and Apple have all inquired but then stepped away.

AT&T has announced a streaming TV package, DirecTV Now, for just $35 per month.

The service will have over 100 channels and includes unlimited mobile data on AT&T when using the service. DirecTV Now significantly undercuts rival services and is certainly cheaper than similar cable or satellite alternatives. For example, Sony's Vue service is $55 for 100 channels and Dish's Sling TV has just 50 channels for $40.

It is unclear what the channel catalog will look like, but AT&T said there will be channels from Time Warner, NBCUniversal, Fox and Disney.

AT&T recently bid $85 billion for Time Warner Inc., looking to create a massive ecosystem of wireless, broadband, satellite and media properties.

Pokemon Go fans will be getting a treat this year from developer Niantic, with extra Candies and more sightings of ghost Pokes.

Reads the press release: "Halloween is here, and Pokémon GO has its own treats to give out! Starting October 26 and lasting through November 1, you can receive way more Candies than usual. Every Pokémon you catch will award six Candies--twice the normal amount. The Professor will give you two Candies instead of one for every Pokémon you transfer to him. And your Buddy Pokémon will award Candy four times faster than they usually do. Plus, you'll get twice the Candy you'd normally get when you hatch Eggs. Walk and catch all the Pokémon you can to get your fill of Candy during this special event!"

Some spooky Pokémon will also be much more common leading up to Halloween. Be on the lookout for more of the following Pokémon on your trick-or-treat route:

Chinese smartphone startup Xiaomi has unveiled their new Mi Mix smartphone, quite easily the best-looking device released in 2016.

The phone, developed with product design genius Phillippe Starck, has a 6.4-inch edgeless body, meaning no bezels on three sides. Additionally, the body is made entirely of ceramic, giving it a premium feel unlike other devices on the market.

Because of its bezel-less design, the Mi Mix has a screen-to-body ratio of 91.3 percent, crushing the iPhone 7 at 67.7 percent and even the Pixel XL at 71.2 percent. To get such a high level, Xiaomi got rid of the physical earpiece speaker and sensors that most smartphones employ, going with a piezoelectric ceramic driver for the speaker instead and an ultrasonic proximity sensor, both of which are behind the glass.

Of course, such a screen comes with a caveat; the selfie camera. The module has been moved to the bottom half of the device, meaning it will take a little getting used to.

Google has announced new strategic partnerships with Visa and Mastercard, bringing Android Pay to thousands of stores that accepted Masterpass or Visa Checkout.

Says the search giant: "Android Pay users will soon be able to pay on hundreds of thousands of new sites where Visa Checkout or Masterpass are accepted using their preferred device authentication method - like fingerprint recognition. No longer will users have to remember multiple usernames and passwords in order to checkout, saving them time and hassle."

Users of either wallet can link their accounts to Android Pay starting early next year and merchants that have enabled Visa Checkout or Masterpass will not have to do any maintenance as the payment buttons will update automatically.