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According to new reports, Sony Pictures considered buying Netflix or BitTorrent back in 2006 but obviously backed out.

In fact, BitTorrent was higher on the short list of potential acquisitions by the studio, who also looked at TiVo and Starz Media.

Sony praised BitTorrent's effectiveness for downloading large quantities of online media, and Sony was actively trying to "build a substantial presence in aggregation, distribution and services businesses that complement the core business."

The company was looking to invest between $2 and $4 billion to make their goals a reality, and BitTorrent was valued at around $100 million at the time. Even Netflix, which is now the king of streaming, was only worth $1.2 billion back then and could have been purchased even at a premium. Netflix is now valued at over $40 billion.

In the end, Sony bought a large stake in Starz and purchased video streaming service Grouper which was rebranded as Crackle. Crackle offers free streaming of Sony content, with commercials and is available via set-top boxes, gaming consoles and PCs.

Microsoft has quietly acquired Double Labs, the developer behind the Android app Echo Notification Lockscreen.

The app, which has been downloaded over 2 million times, allows users to personalize the lock screen of their device, including sorting your notifications by categories of your choosing such as "social" or "priority."

Microsoft actually already has an Android lockscreen app, that is equally as popular as Echo, although aesthetically it cannot compete against Echo.

According to Microsoft Chief Experience Officer Julie Larson-Green, the new acquisition is about "[taking] productivity to the next level" and "[keeping] you in the moment." But what's wrong with the default lockscreen? "It's a list of what apps want you to know, not necessarily what's important to you," Larson-Green added.

Source:
BI

According to Apple fan Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Fortune, the new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are already on significant back order in China.

The rose gold iPhones appear to be the most popular (or the least in stock) as around the world it has been selling out earliest.

Apple has already begun accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the UK, and the United States with more to come in the following weeks and months.

In the U.S., the iPhone 6S is in ample supply and available through all major carriers without any delay (shipping date September 25th) while the 6S Plus is running into large delays (unless you have AT&T for some reason).

Check availability here: iPhone Inventory

Angry Birds creator Rovio is trying its hand at puzzle games again, launching the 'Nibblers,' "a delicious new matching game with cute characters and fresh and fruity puzzle gameplay."

While it is hard to argue that game does not have cute characters (it certainly does), this is Rovio's second game of the same type in the last year. 'Jolly Jams' launched earlier this year with cute characters and matching features and so far has not been a hit despite good reviews.

The puzzle matching game lets you match fruits and your Nibblers have special abilities that can help as you advance through 200 levels.

"We're thrilled to bring a completely new IP to the mobile gaming scene," says Heini Kaihu, Head of Studio at Rovio. "Nibblers may be newly evolved creatures, but fans of our other games will recognize the Rovio touches – strong characters, beautiful visuals, and a lush soundtrack recorded with live orchestra and soloists. This will be a game you want to return to again and again."

Kabam's new 'Star Wars: Uprising' is now available for download, with the game being the "first Star Wars RPG set between Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

The game has been teased for a few weeks for iOS and Android and so far critical reception seems mixed at best, although many appear to be having issues with installation which will likely get fixed soon.

Within the game, you get to build your own character and perform missions in well known locations (like Cloud City) and there are also co-op modes so you and buddies can take on the Empire together.

As with most games available now, Uprising is free to play but requires money to power up.

Stephen Colbert, new host of CBS's The Late Show, will have Apple CEO Tim Cook on the show next Tuesday, September 15th.

To promote the show and guest, Colbert tweeted "Siri, put Apple CEO Tim Cook on my calendar for Tuesday, Sept. 15. Oh, and come up with some questions to ask him," while dictating to an Apple Watch.

Colbert has actually promoted Apple products in the past on his previous show, The Colbert Report, so it is likely the two will discuss Apple's newly announced iPhone 6S, Apple TV and more.

The Late Show airs at 11:35PM eastern time.

During the past couple of years Sony has been introducing waterproof phones left and right. Xperia series is full of flagship phones and midrange ones that are in most cases IP68 certified. But now the company wants you not to use them in the water.

Xperia Blog has found out that Sony has changed its policy on water protection. While the IP68 certified phones have been tested to endure 30 minutes of water in 1,5 meters (5 feet) the company says users should not do that.

The Xperia Care webpage declares: "Taking photos and movies in wet surroundings. Remember not to use the device underwater. If you accidentally get the device wet with non-fresh water, wash the device with tap water." and "The IP rating of your device was achieved in laboratory conditions in standby mode, so you should not use the device underwater, such as taking pictures. Do not use the device to take photos while performing any type of activity underwater, including diving or snorkeling."

So in essence the phones should indeed be good to go if all the plugs and connector protectors the phones comes with are used but the company doesn't want to take the chance that people misuse the phones – or use at all – under water.

Chinese OEM Alcatel has announced it will launch a Windows 10 smartphone before the end of the year.

"We are very supportive of the Windows ecosystem," said Alcatel OneTouch SVP Steve Cistulli.

Cistulli's confirmation follows Evan Blass' leak earlier this week about the Alcatel Fierce XL. According to the notorious leaker, the Alcatel OneTouch Fierce XL with Windows 10 will feature a 5.5-inch 720p display, a Snapdragon 210 processor (quad-core at 4 x 1.1GHz), 2GB RAM, dual cameras 8MP/2MP and a 2500mAh battery.

Microsoft has found support for Windows Phone tough to come by since they acquired the handset business of Nokia but the purchase has been one of the biggest flops in the company's history, and that is saying a lot. Microsoft recently wrote off a $7.6 billion loss related to the acquisition.

At 4 percent share of the global markets, Microsoft needs all the help it can get before it unveils its highly anticipated flagship "Cityman" and "Talkman" phones before the end of the year.

The world's third largest PC maker will make a massive $125 billion investment in China.

Dell says the company is actively looking to expand in the world's most populous nation and the investment will sustain one million jobs in the country.

"The Internet is the new engine for China's future economic growth and has unlimited potential," CEO Michael Dell said. "Dell will embrace the principle of 'In China, for China' and closely integrate Dell China strategies with national policies."

Dell will have some serious competition with home favorite Lenovo, but it's clear Dell is willing to play.

Apple has announced that its new operating system 'El Capitan' will be available on September 30th.

The operating system will serve to improve system performance and "the Mac experience" by better adding Apple Metal, the company's own graphics technology. Apple says Metal will allow games and pro apps to "tap into the full power of Mac graphics processors."

Additionally, Apple has updated windows management, made improvements to the pre-installed apps and Spotlight search, and improved the startup speed of apps, emails and music. El Capitan also adds a split screen view for multi-taskers and better copy/drag-and-drop options for Notes.

"OS X delivers unparalleled integration between Mac hardware, iOS devices, apps and online services, and has helped Mac sales outpace the PC industry every year for the last decade," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering earlier this year. "Customers loved last year's landmark OS X Yosemite release and made it the fastest-adopted PC operating system ever. With El Capitan, we're further refining the Mac experience with enhancements to window management, Spotlight and built-in apps, and improving performance so everyday activities -- from launching apps to accessing email -- are faster and more responsive."

Even though the date was leaked over a month ago, we now have official recognition from Microsoft.

Microsoft says the new Office suite will be "broadly available" on September 22nd, following months of testing by private beta testers, developers and IT professionals.

Of note, Office 2016 adds collaborative co-editing in the cloud (just like Office Online users have had), and will generally make syncing to the cloud easier.

While the new announcement does not include Mac availability, the 2016 version has been available as part of Office 365 since July. Microsoft did note at the time that a standalone version would be available in the future.

Google has announced the official U.S. launch of Android Pay, the mobile payments tech that will allow you to use your phone to pay at millions of retail locations.

The company says the service is live now, but will be rolling out in the coming days.

To use Android Pay, you need an NFC-enabled Android device with Android 4.4 or later. The service supports credit and debit cards from AmEx, Discover, MasterCard and Visa as well as gift cards, loyalty cards and store cards. Notably, most of the largest banks are supported but Wells Fargo, Capital One and Citi are "coming soon."

In regards to security, Google was very quick to note how secure using the service will be: "We know how important it is to keep your personal and financial information secure, so Android Pay is supported by industry standard tokenization. This means your real credit or debit card number isn't sent with your payment. Instead, we'll use a virtual account number that provides an extra layer of security. As soon as you make a purchase, you'll see a payment confirmation that shows where a given transaction happened, so it's easy to catch any suspicious activity. And if your phone is ever lost or stolen, simply use Android Device Manager to instantly lock your device from anywhere, secure it with a new password, or even wipe it clean of your personal information."

Alongside the launch of the iPad Pro, Apple also unveiled a new high-precision stylus, the Pencil.

The Pro is aimed at professional artists and designers who could use the higher resolution and larger canvas and the stylus, at least in practice, looks like a great way to keep drawings precise.

Additionally, the Pencil can respond to different pressure and different angles, allowing for a reportedly seamless transition from pin point to broader brush strokes.

"Highly responsive sensors built into the tip of the Apple Pencil work with the iPad Pro display to detect position, force and tilt," says Apple's design chief Jony Ive. "With force data you can press lightly to get a thin stoke or press harder to get a darker, bolder stroke. Signals emitted from two locations in the tip calculate the angle and orientation to produce broad or shaded strokes."

Here is a good look at the Pencil:

Microsoft has announced today that their new Edge browser will soon support the open source WebM/VP9 video format.

The software giant says the support is now in development, and initial support will be available for Windows Insider Preview builds in the very near future.

"This is part of our continuing effort to expand codec offerings in Windows. We continue to evaluate other formats and look forward to receiving feedback as we work on implementing them," added the company.

Microsoft also got more technical about how VP9/WebM will work with the browser: "Our initial VP9 implementation in Microsoft Edge will support adaptive streaming using Media Source Extensions, and will be detectable using the MediaSource.isTypeSupported() API. It will be specifically targeted to meet the needs of websites that use VP9 to deliver video in combination with MP4/AAC or other audio codecs already supported by Microsoft. We are working on future support for VP9 for media tags and local playback, as well as considering support for additional audio formats likely to be used with VP9 such as Opus."

Popular DVR maker TiVo has sued Samsung over patent infringement this week, claiming that Samsung's own DVRs violate four specific TiVo patents.

The move is unsurprising as TiVo has a long history of suing over its DVR patents. In the past decade the company has racked up $1.6 billion in settlements from companies like Dish, AT&T, Motorola and Cisco.

"Today's action should help address one of the questions regarding the value, breadth and applicability of TiVo's IP portfolio," said TiVo president and CEO Tom Rogers in a statement.

TiVo also made it clear that the lawsuit is to protect their future value: "This morning we filed a patent infringement suit against Samsung in the Eastern District of Texas. Our complaint asserts four patents, including the '389 Time Warp patent and the '195 Trick Play patent, both of which we have litigated before. Our complaint also asserts two patents that are related to the '389 patent but have expiration dates further into the future. Today's action should help address one of the questions regarding the value, breadth, and applicability of TiVo's IP portfolio post the 2018 expiration of the '389 patent."