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Vaio, Toshiba and Fujitsu are preparing to merge their PC operations by the end of the year, creating a producer that can, at least, dominate Japan.

Sony spun off Vaio in 2014 and the brand is run by buyout fund Japan Industrial Partners Inc., currently. The firm will have the largest share of the newly merged company. The move is similar to what has been happening with the Japanese display makers, who have been consolidating for years to stay relevant.

Hidemi Moue, chief executive officer of Japan Industrial Partners Inc: "The PC market is shrinking, which means there are merits in working together to make the most of research, production volumes and marketing channels. We can do it with minimal cannibalization."

To start, the merged companies will continue to make PCs as a core business aimed at the Japanese market.

Samsung has begin pushing Android 6.0 Marshmallow to its mobile devices, suggesting the new Android could finally get some real installs.

Until now, 6.0 has been installed on less than 2 percent of all Android devices but hundreds of millions of Galaxy S and Notes owners could be making the change soon.

The first devices to get the update are the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge but Samsung also says it will make "separate announcements on details of OS updates schedule for each market according to market situation and carriers' requirements."

According to a new report, Apple could be dropping Samsung completely for rival TSMC (the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) when it comes time to manufacture the new A10 chips for the iPhone and iPad.

TSMC was the sole supplier for the A8, but the A9 chips are currently manufactured by both companies.

If the report is accurate, TSMC could begin production in June ahead of the expected September launch. The report also claims that the A10 could use the new and more efficient 10nm design.

For Samsung, the loss will certainly be material as Apple ships over 150 million iPhones per year.

While Hulu has been available for all major platforms for some time, it was notably lacking full support from Microsoft's Windows 10.

That has changed this week as the two companies have announced a brand new version of Hulu for Windows 10 that includes universal voice search through Cortana and a Live Tile.

If you are one of the 120 million Windows 10 users, the update should come as a relief. The new Live Tile will eventually be smart enough to show you what shows you have watched and relay that there are new episodes waiting for you. The Cortana integration will allow you to put on shows without needing to move your hands, such as "Hey Cortana, play Hulu" to be brought into the app where you can choose a show or movie and play it using the voice assistant, as well.

"We're looking at how users interact with content and voice," says Hulu. "For us – and I think this is true of everyone investing in voice – it's a long-term play. It's not about success in the short-term...it's about understanding what in the eyes of the user will be successful."

Microsoft has revealed their third Lumia phone running on Windows 10 today, a budget flagship that the company says is great for business and productivity.

The new Lumia 650 costs just $199 unlocked and features a 720p 5-inch OLED screen, dual 8MP/5MP cameras and a mid-range quad-core Snapdragon 212 processor clocked at 1.3Ghz. The phone also has 1GB RAM, NFC, 16GB internal storage (microSD card expandable) and a 2000mAh battery.

Microsoft says the device is built for productivity and is the "smart choice for your business."

The software giant confirmed earlier this quarter that Windows 10 Mobile is an "ex-platform" as it has become abundantly clear that sales were nowhere near expected. That being said, Microsoft is still expected to release one final smartphone, a Surface Phone, to see if the mobile operating system has any shot in the market.

Patricia Drew, an 82-year-old great-grandmother in the UK, has received a £600 demand from copyright holder TCYK, alleging that she shared 'The Company You Keep' illegally.

Reportedly, TCYK has been sending out dozens of similar letters in the past few weeks to Sky broadband customers, accusing each of infringing copyright and demanding a settlement.

Drew responded only to say: "I'm upset to have been accused of something I didn't do... how many other people has this happened to?"

In a statement, Sky noted: "TCYK LLC successfully applied for a court order against Sky, which means we have been ordered to supply the details of some of our account holders that match the list of IP addresses they have identified."

It is unclear what the next step is for Mrs. Drew, who most likely had unsecured or poorly secured Wi-Fi, allowing others to get into her personal network.

Thanks to a new court ruling, Facebook will have to face a censorship lawsuit brought by a French teacher whose Facebook account got suspended after he posted an image of a famous painting that includes a naked woman.

The painting, a 19th century classic from Gustave Courbet called L'Origine du monde is famous enough that it hangs in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Claiming that the social network censored him, the teacher sued for €20,000 in damages. Facebook countered the suit by pointing out their Terms of Service which states that all users must sue "in the US District Court for the Northern District of California or a state court located in San Mateo County."

Last year, the Superior Court of Paris agreed that the ToS was "abusive" and "violated French consumer law by making it difficult for people in France to sue," and said the teacher could go ahead with the suit.

Facebook has pretty harsh rules about nudity and even uses human moderators in addition to algorithms to see which posts and images should be removed.

Apple Music continues to quickly gain subscribers, says SVP Eddy Cue, with the service now boasting 11 million paying members.

It had been reported that Apple reached 10 million last month.

Additionally, Cue says there are now 782 million iCloud users, with users uploading billions of photos every week. in total there are 1 billion iOS devices in use, suggesting that many consumers have multiple devices.

Google has boasted of 1 billion Android users for some time and Spotify remains the undisputed streaming king with over 20 million paying subscribers and 60 million free users. In time, Apple should be able to exceed both those totals at this rate.

Police in the UK have arrested a 16-year old accused of leading a group that stole information from CIA and FBI officials in the U.S.

The young hacker, going by the name "Cracka," reportedly took responsibility for breaking into the AOL email account of CIA director John Brennan last year and stealing loads of personal and sensitive data.

Cracka and his group, 'C.W.A.,' then released the names, Social Security numbers and phone numbers of at least 20 people said to be closely affiliated with the official. Many of those affected were part of President Obama's transition team following his victory in 2008.

In an anonymous interview last October, 'Cracka' said his moves were motivated by an opposition to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and his own support for Palestinians.

The attack started through social engineering tricks, with the hacker able to get personal information from Verizon telephone support that allowed him to reset Brennan's AOL password.

According to Juan Andrés Guerrero-Saade, senior security researcher with Kaspersky Lab's Global Research and Analysis Team, and Jaime Blasco of the Lab Intelligence and Research team at AlienVault Labs, the hackers behind the massive and devastating Sony Pictures attack in 2014 are still active and could be behind some other low-profile attacks.

"[T]hey didn't disappear...not at all," Guerrero-Saade said bluntly this week. In fact, the attackers appear to be behind attacks on a nuclear power plant operator in South Korea and Samsung, and the "digital crumbs" include some re-used passwords, code, and some other small lists.

The investigators began by looking at samples of the 'Destover' malware that wrecked critical data on the hacked Sony computers and then used proprietary methods to find similarities in other attacks.

Wired has an excellent run through of the researchers methods, and a critical update to anyone interested in the Sony Pictures hack.

According to a new report, Apple is quietly preparing to launch a new 4-inch iPhone, the iPhone 5se, at an event on March 15th.

It appears that Apple has some regrets after moving away from tiny 4-inch devices, although the new iPhone 6 and 6s (and Plus) are huge sellers at 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches, respectively.

Sources say mass manufacturing began in January, and that Apple will not open up the device for pre-orders and just make it available the day of launch.

The iPhone 5se will look almost identical to the iPhone 5s, which launched in 2013, but it will include the brand new A9 and M9 processors, as well as an NFC chip and the ability to take Live Photos. Additionally, the 5se will be available in the same colors as the 6s; gold, rose gold, silver and space gray.

Source:
9to5mac

BitTorrent has introduced a new subscription tier for their popular μTorrent client.

For $4.95 per year, you can have an ad-free version of the software, an option that previously only came included in the μTorrent Pro client for $19.99 per year.

Says BitTorrent: "As reported in this forum previously, we've been busy experimenting with new ways to improve μTorrent for our users while financially supporting the amazing team that works every day to make μTorrent free for millions of people around the world."

If ad-free is not enough for you, you can still upgrade to Pro which includes built-in Internet security and anti-malware, premium customer support, the ability to stream torrents instantly, and a built-in file converter.

Qualcomm has announced its latest chip, the Snapdragon X16, which boasts Category 16 LTE download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second.

High-end phones today can hit 450Mbps (theoretically) and the upcoming Snapdragon 820 can touch 600Mpbs. Because sharing is caring, the X16 can also support 150Mbps upload speeds.

"The Snapdragon X16 LTE modem is designed to reach Gigabit Class LTE speeds using the same amount of spectrum as Category 9 LTE devices. By using carrier aggregation and 4x4 MIMO, the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem can receive 10 unique streams of data using only three 20 MHz carriers. Its support for 256-QAM boosts the peak throughput of each stream from ~75 Mbps to ~100 Mbps, with additional gains possible with modem data compression," reads the company's press release.

A full Snapdragon SoC with an X16 LTE modem integrated is expected early next year.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, legendary rapper and producer Dr. Dre is starring and executive producing Apple's first original program, 'Vital Signs.'

The show is being described as a "dark semi-autobiographical drama" and each episode will focus on a different emotion and how Dre's character (himself) handles it. In addition to Dre, the sources say the show will also star Sam Rockwell and Mo McCrae.

Sources also claim there is a plethora of violence and sex, and one of the first two episodes will feature an orgy.

It is unclear if the show will be released on iTunes and Apple TV exclusively, but there seems to be confirmation that the show's first season will be available in its entirety right from the launch, just like original shows on Netflix.

Google has announced today that it will no longer support their long-standing Picasa photo application.

As of March 16th, 2016, the Picasa apps will no longer be supported although you can continue to use it indefinitely.

The move is not unexpected given that Google has been investing heavily in the newer Google Photos app for desktop and mobile, but Google will make it easy to archive Picasa web albums and convert them to Google Photos.

"We know for many of you, a great deal of care has gone into managing your photos and videos using Picasa--including the hours you've invested and the most precious moments you've trusted us with," writes Anil Sabharwal, Head of Google Photos. "So we will take some time in order to do this right and provide you with options and easy ways to access your content."

If you don't want to try Google Photos, the company is also creating "a new place for you to access your Picasa Web Albums data." It's unclear what that site will be, but it will offer tools to "view, download, or delete" your Picasa Web Albums and will save your metadata.