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Xiaomi shows off giant MiMax smartphone

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 May 2016 12:44

Xiaomi shows off giant MiMax smartphone Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi has unveiled the MiMax, a 6.44-inch behemoth that is only 7.5mm thick.

The MiMax has a Snapdragon 650 processor, 4GB RAM and a massive 4850mAh battery. Additionally, the phone has dual 16MP/5MP cameras and a fingerprint sensor, while running on the company's own MIUI8 Android variant.

Xiaomi has priced the phone at 1499 to 1999 yuan ($229 to $306) based on internal storage.

The phone will be available on May 17th in China.

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AfterDawn: News

Startups Wallapop and LetGo to merge to take on Craigslist

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 May 2016 11:39

Startups Wallapop and LetGo to merge to take on Craigslist Wallapop and LetGo, two startups that provide easy ways for consumers to post their items for sale offline, are preparing to merge to better take on eBay, Craigslist and Facebook's Marketplace.

You have probably seen the ads for both companies, which promise the easiest ways to sell your used items anywhere, and the two companies have raised over $100 million together from investors.

Craiglist specifically has been very slow to innovate, especially with mobile, allowing startups to take marketshare relatively quickly. Both companies have over 15 million downloads for their mobile apps but it is unclear how many remain active users.

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AfterDawn: News

Amazon starts its own YouTube rival, Amazon Video Direct

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 May 2016 10:49

Amazon starts its own YouTube rival, Amazon Video Direct Amazon has announced Amazon Video Direct today, a service that will allow independent content creators to upload videos and get paid for it.

The service will compete with YouTube, and content creators will be able to pick how they get paid. Options include advertising revenue, royalties based on popularity, or through direct purchases or rentals on Amazon. They will also be able to collect royalties by making the content available to just Prime subscribers. Prime is Amazon's $99-per-year service that gives subscribers free 2-day shipping, free music and free streaming video through Amazon Instant.

Every month, Amazon will also give out $1 million total to the top 100 titles. "Amazon will distribute to creators a monthly bonus from the one million dollar monthly fund, based on the Top 100 AVD titles in Prime Video, in addition to any other revenue earned. Video creators and providers who use AVD to make their titles available in Prime Video will automatically be enrolled. The AVD Stars program launches today and the one million dollar monthly fund will make its first bonus distributions based on streaming activity from June 1st to June 30th," says the company.

Launch content includes partners like Conde Nast Entertainment, HowStuffWorks, Samuel Goldwyn Films, The Guardian, Mashable, Mattel, StyleHaul, Kin Community, Jash, Business Insider, Machinima, TYT Network, Baby Einstein, CJ Entertainment America, Xive TV, Synergetic Distribution, Kino Nation, Journeyman Pictures, and Pro Guitar Lessons, added Amazon.

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AfterDawn: News

EA will consider bringing games to upcoming Nintendo NX console

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 May 2016 10:20

EA will consider bringing games to upcoming Nintendo NX console Following the Wii U's failure to make waves with consumers, EA appears to be hesitant when it comes to Nintendo's next console, the NX.

EA has said it will be happy to bring games to the NX, but only "if it makes sense" to do so.

Patrick Soderlund, EA Studios VP, says that the company's devs have been in "constant communication" with Nintendo, but the gaming giant has yet to really give third-party publishers much to go on until the NX is officially unveiled later this year.

"We're in constant communication with them and when they come to market something - and if it makes sense for us - we'll be there," Soderlund noted. "I personally and the company are huge fans of Nintendo, they're the reason why I started making games."

EA stopped porting games to the last-generation Wii U, citing major development complications and specs that weren't competitive. There are hopes that the Nintendo NX will not follow in its predecessor's footsteps and most early reports seem to agree.

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AfterDawn: News

Hundreds of millions of stolen email passwords available for sale in Russia

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 May 2016 9:48

Hundreds of millions of stolen email passwords available for sale in Russia According to Hold Security founder Alex Holden, there are over 270 million stolen usernames and passwords trading in Russia's criminal networks.

Many of the stolen account credentials are from users of Russia's popular Mail.ru email service, with more millions coming from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo users, as well.

Holden, who helped uncover data breaches at Target and Adobe in recent years, said the latest discovery came after a young Russian hacker began bragging in underground forums that he had 1.17 billion stolen credentials. After removing duplicates, that number ended up being 272 million, including 57 million Mail.ru accounts. That number is massive given the fact that Mail.ru only has 64 million active users.

40 million of the combos were from Yahoo Mail accounts, 33 million were from Microsoft Hotmail accounts and 24 million were Gmail. Millions of others came from corporate emails.

"This information is potent. It is floating around in the underground and this person has shown he's willing to give the data away to people who are nice to him," said Holden. "These credentials can be abused multiple times."

The hacker asked for just $1 for all the records and ended up giving Holden the entire dataset for free in exchange for favorable posts in multiple hacker forums.

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AfterDawn: News

Apple adds cheaper tier to Apple Music

Written by Matti Robinson @ 06 May 2016 6:24

Apple adds cheaper tier to Apple Music Released last summer Apple Music was expected to become a success that quickly rivaled and possibly even surpassed Spotify as the leading streaming service for music. Due to failures mainly in UI design the service has had troubles rising to the occasion even with exclusives like Taylor Swift.

Apple is expected to revamp the messy user interface completely though. The overhaul is said to be unveiled at the WWDC in June, but that is not the only measure Apple is taking in order to catch up to Spotify.

Now Apple has revealed a new, cheaper tier that is solely meant for student. College students around the US as well as in countries like the UK, Germany, and Australia will be able to get Apple Music subscription for half the price. This amounts to $5.99 (depending on the market).

However, Spotify has its own Premium subscription for students for $4.99 and obviously something that Apple does not – a free ad-supported tier.

So the question remains will this get people on board the service that has been accused of randomly deleting songs and ruining the experience with a garbled and confusing user interface. Things could well change, though, if on June 13th bulk of the problems disappear.




AfterDawn: News

Microsoft's Pre-Touch to revolutionize UI design?

Written by Matti Robinson @ 06 May 2016 5:14

Microsoft's Pre-Touch to revolutionize UI design? Even if not all products out of Redmond have captured the market (yes, I'm looking at you Windows Phone), you have to give it to Microsoft Research for being one of the most innovative R&D departments in the country. Be it HoloLens or the AI features now used in Cortana, every one loves a glimpse at the future of computing.

One those futuristic glimpses might as well be in the video below. Microsoft Research has released a video on YouTube in which it demonstrates a new type of predictive touch display which it calls Pre-Touch.

The display on what looks like a Lumia looking prototype recognizes when a hand or a finger is coming close to the display, and even measures the pressure when squeezed.

Like you can see on the video this enables all kinds of handy tricks with the user interface. Knowing where the users hands are before the touch makes it possible to cater for a specific need, for example one handed use always on the right side of the phone.

As this video comes from Microsoft Research and not a keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress, it'll probably still be a while before we see this in our own handsets. Maybe that will happen when Microsoft allegedly transforms its smartphone business under Surface brand.

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AfterDawn: News

TIME selects iPhone as the most influential gadget ever

Written by Matti Robinson @ 05 May 2016 11:04

TIME selects iPhone as the most influential gadget ever TIME magazine has released its list of 50 most influential gadgets of all time. The winner is not a surprise but there's a lot of variety further back.

The number one spot was clinched by the original iPhone released by Apple in 2007. Many would say that was an expected top spot for the highest grossing consumer gadgets of all time.

Following iPhone the rest of the top five Sony's revolutionary color TV Trinitron from 1968, Apple's first Macintosh, '80s sensation Sony Walkman, and IBM Model 5150 that taught us what PC is.

Later on the list you can also find possibly your first proper cellphone Nokia 3210 equipped with internal antenna and of course Snake, gaming systems like NES and Sony PlayStation, and my personal favorite Commodore 64.

While a nostalgia trip is inevitable there's many recent invention in the top 50 as well, including some virtual reality and 3D printing equipment. Check the list in its entirety here.




AfterDawn: News

Here are the leaked specs for the OnePlus 3

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Apr 2016 8:45

Here are the leaked specs for the OnePlus 3 Thanks to a couple of leaks, we have the alleged specs for OnePlus' upcoming flagship, the OnePlus 3, as well as price.

The phone is expected to be officially launched in late May, with a release date expected in June.

Thanks to benchmark tests, we know the device will sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, either 3GB, 4GB or 6GB of RAM depending on the configuration, dual 8/16MP cameras and NFC and fingerprint support. Strangely, the tests also cite 5-inch, 5.2-inch and 5.5-inch screens, suggesting there may be multiple models available.

OnePlus 3 devices will launch with an Android 6.0-based Oxygen OS and you can choose 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of internal storage.

According to other reports, we have a price, as well. $350 will get you the base model (likely 3GB RAM/32GB storage), with the price going up for each improved spec, although it is unclear by how much.

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AfterDawn: News

Steam adds bitcoin support

Written by Matti Robinson @ 29 Apr 2016 5:09

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

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

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

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




AfterDawn: News

Samsung reports strong quarter, thanks to Galaxy S7

Written by Matti Robinson @ 28 Apr 2016 12:28

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

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

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

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

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




AfterDawn: News

Apple Music now boasts 13 million subscribers

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Apr 2016 12:48

Apple Music now boasts 13 million subscribers Despite an overall rough earnings report, Apple did have some promising tidbits of note.

One such note was Apple Music, which now boasts 13 million subscribers.

Apple last noted a Music milestone in February, and the number was 11 million, so growth remains strong. Industry leader Spotify has over 30 million paying subscribers, but the service has been around since 2009. Apple Music launched just 9 months ago.

Overall, Apple's "services" divison, which includes Apple Pay, Music and iCloud, saw large 20 percent growth to $6 billion in revenue, making it the second biggest division for the company behind the iPhone.

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AfterDawn: News

Nintendo NX to launch in March 2017

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 Apr 2016 11:20

Nintendo NX to launch in March 2017 Nintendo has announced today that their upcoming NX console will launch in March 2017.

The company gave little more details but they did also announce that the highly-anticipated Legend of Zelda open-world title will launch simultaneously with the NX, tacking on at least a six-month delay for the game, which had been expected for the Wii U.

While many had hoped to see the console launched at E3 this year, but that is not happening. There is still likely to be a lot more revealed this June at the event, however.

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AfterDawn: News

Gmail for Android adds Microsoft Exchange support

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 Apr 2016 10:44

Gmail for Android adds Microsoft Exchange support Google has updated Gmail for Android to add support for Microsoft Exchange.

Previously, only Google Nexus owners had the Exchange support but the ability has been expanded to a billion other Android owners. "Exchange support was previously only available on our Nexus devices, but as of today, Exchange support covers mail, contacts, and calendar data in Android across all devices," a Google spokesperson added.

While Microsoft Outlook is more popular, Exchange is still the defacto standard for many corporate email systems, as well as calendar syncing.

Thanks to the new support, business employees can now use Exchange through their Gmail app, getting their work email, contacts and calendars without the need for a separate app.

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AfterDawn: News

Sony to add two-factor authentication to PlayStation Network

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 Apr 2016 10:05

Sony to add two-factor authentication to PlayStation Network Nearly five years after a major cyberattack exposed the data of nearly 100 million users, Sony has announced two-factor authentication for the PlayStation Network.

The company did not give a timeframe for when the service would be available, or what Sony would use for the 2-factor. Many services use one-time verification codes sent via text or email, but others use authenticator apps connected to your phones or other methods.

For Sony and the PSN, two-factor is a big deal. The company currently has 110 million users and 65 million monthly active users that access the network via the PlayStation 3 or 4, PlayStation Vita, the PlayStation mobile app or even through the site. Rival Microsoft has used two-factor since 2014 for the Xbox Live gaming platform.

Back in 2011, Anonymous claimed responsibility for the attack that took down the PlayStation Network for weeks and exposed the account names, birth dates, email addresses and encrypted credit card numbers for nearly 100 million gamers.

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