Latest news

Earlier this week, Spotify updated its privacy policy and it quickly angered and outraged users.

Under a section that read "Information Stored on Your Mobile Device," Spotify noted that "with your permission, we may collect information stored on your mobile device, such as contacts, photos, or media files." As you can imagine, there was considerable outrage as to why a streaming music service would need your contacts or your photos so CEO Daniel Ek posted a new blog post to clear up the confusion.

The post in its entirety:

We are in the middle of rolling out new terms and conditions and privacy policy and they've caused a lot of confusion about what kind of information we access and what we do with it. We apologize for that. We should have done a better job in communicating what these policies mean and how any information you choose to share will – and will not – be used.

We understand people's concerns about their personal information and are 100 percent committed to protecting our users' privacy and ensuring that you have control over the information you share.

So let me try and clear things up.

In our new privacy policy, we indicated that we may ask your permission to access new types of information, including photos, mobile device location, voice controls, and your contacts. Let me be crystal clear here: If you don't want to share this kind of information, you don't have to. We will ask for your express permission before accessing any of this data – and we will only use it for specific purposes that will allow you to customize your Spotify experience.

A number of Popcorn Time users have been sued in a U.S court for viewing and sharing a film using the popular BitTorrent-based app.

The complaint was filed in an Oregon District Court, identifying 11 IP addresses allegedly used while downloading and sharing "The Cobbler". All IP addresses are linked to Comcast customer accounts. The complaint seeks a permanent injunction against the defendants ordering they halt pirating movies, and up to $150,000 in damages.

More than likely the alleged pirates will receive a settlement offer in time, as is common with BitTorrent users sued for sharing content without consent. Popcorn Time doesn't resemble a BitTorrent client, but it does connect to BitTorrent swarms to download the content in the background.

In another interesting case linked to Popcorn Time, two men were arrested this week in Denmark for operating websites that provided information about Popcorn Time.

What makes their arrest interesting is the fact that their websites offered no copyright-infringing content at all, nor did they even host Popcorn Time apps for visitors to download. Instead, the sites posted updates about Popcorn Time and provided instructions and tips on using the apps.

According to new reports, BlackBerry is preparing an Android smartphone for release this November on all the major U.S. carriers.

Codenamed the BlackBerry Venice, the device will be the company's first smartphone to not run on proprietary BlackBerry software.

The new leak comes via "retired" leaker Evan Blass who also posted a detailed picture of the device. If accurate, the Venice will be a slider that slides to expose a full tactile keyboard bringing back the most popular option for smartphones in 2009.

If the other piece of the report is also accurate (all four major carriers), that will be a huge boost for BlackBerry as the company has struggled to secure deals with all the carriers in the past especially since the carriers will no longer use marketing dollars on their devices.

Vaio, the computer brand once owned by Sony, is trying to make a comeback.

Sony sold the brand last year to a private-equity fund as it tried to exit unprofitable businesses and the firm immediately discontinued global sales as it tried to makeover the brand in Japan.

Vaio Corp. will begin selling new notebooks in Microsoft retail stores starting in October and CEO Yoshimi Ota also noted that the company will attempt a move into Brazil using Positivo Informatica as a partner.

The brand will likely have a hard time making a comeback. Even in Sony's home of Japan, Vaio only has 1 percent market share. The global PC market in general continues to contract and Vaio will have to compete against giants like Dell, HP and Lenovo with just one factory and 250 employees.

However, Ota says the company will be profitable by attacking the super high-end niche market, rather than trying to take market share like Sony did. "At the new Vaio, I ask every project team to make realistic goals and be accountable," Mr. Ota said.

The new designs will sell for about $2,199 in the U.S., and the first model - VAIO Canvas Z - is really more of a "giant tablet" that has an i7 processor, 256GB SSD, 16GB RAM and a detachable keyboard. The device is being aimed at graphic designers, photographers and high-end Mac users.

Valued at $15 billion by venture capitalists, it appears that Snapchat has a long way to go before it is even remotely profitable.

According to a new report, Snapchat lost $128 million between January and November 2014 while only bringing in $3 million in revenue. That being said, the company only started ads last October, so the revenue could be much higher this year but there is evidence to the contrary.

Snapchat's new killer feature, 'Discover,' which allows media properties to offer micro-broadcasts saw a huge surge in popularity when it launched, but traffic (and ad revenue) have both fallen off a cliff since then, says the report. Snapchat was allegedly asking for $750,000 per day from advertisers but has since dropped their rates to just $20 per 1000 views.

Only in a tech bubble could a company with no chance of ever being profitable be valued at $15 billion.

Microsoft is clearly not being subtle in codenaming their upcoming Surface Phone.

According to sources, the device is code named 'Project Juggernaut Alpha.' Of course, a juggernaut is a large, overpowering and unstoppable force which Microsoft certainly hopes its flagship device will be.

Now, we have a look at the alleged specs, which are (true to the name) very powerful:

Display: 1440×2560 16:9 AMOLED 5.5″ ClearBlack with Gorilla Glass 4
Processor: Intel Atom x3 (SoFIA) 64-bit
Camera: Back: 21MP PureView Zeiss 6-lens, and the selfie camera will be a 8MP Zeiss Wide-Angle
RAM: up to 4GB RAM (base model will have 3GB and top model will have 4GB)
Operating System: Windows 10 Mobile
Storage: Internal storage of 64GB or 128GB expandable to 256GB with microSD.
Surface Pen
USB Type-C
Wireless Charging
Aluminium & Magnesium unibody

Now, whether the smartphone will remain a rumor or actually launch remains to be seen but Microsoft will be aiming high if it does.

Android fans rejoiced last week when Bethesda announced that Fallout Shelter was finally headed to the platform.

The game, first announced at E3, should excite fans of the classic Sims games as it takes features of Sims, Sim City and Sim Tower.

In Fallout Shelter - a dystopian future - you create a "vault" underground to survive, basically building homes and trying to find a mate while protecting your vault from thieves.

Check it out on Google Play here.

First teased in 2011, music streaming service Baboom has finally launched.

The service is inviting consumers to sign up and begin creating collections either through the Web app or via its Android and iOS mobile apps.

Despite offering features that are similar to Spotify and others, Baboom is fundamentally different. Its entire platform is "direct-to-fan." Musicians who use the service will receive 90 percent of the revenue from their music and gain full transparency of the platform's 'Fair Trade Streaming' initiative, which promises to make sure fees are distributed properly to artists.

As with most streaming services, you can register as a standard (free) user or a premium ($9.99 per month) user. Free users get unlimited streaming, with ads, and the option to create collections of up to 100 songs. Premium users get unlimited collections, no ads, mobile streaming and "exclusive experiences," although it is unclear what that may entail.

Kim Dotcom, of MEGA infamy, first announced the service in 2011, and then named it and teased it again in 2013. Last year, Dotcom "stepped down" from the service as he claimed the music industry's hatred of him was delaying the service from launching.

After a week of teasing, Google has confirmed that its upcoming Android M mobile operating system will take the name Marshmallow and will take version number 6.0.

The early confirmation came when Google added the giant Android statue to its building, with the statue holding a giant marshmallow.

Later in the day, the company released Android 6.0 Preview 3 images to load to your Nexus devices, confirming the operating system would not be version 5.2 as previously expected.

If you'd like the update, you can get it here: Android Devs Blog

According to a new report, the use of ad blockers will cost the ad industry $21.8 billion this year, and could potentially spell the end of free content in the future.

The new report comes via PageFair and Adobe, which says that 200 million monthly Internet users are now using ad blockers via their browsers, up 41 percent year-over-year.

Over 77 million users in Europe use ad blockers, followed by 45 million in the U.S. Interestingly, Greece had the highest percentage of users of ad blocking services, at 36.7 percent of all Internet users.

"It is tragic that ad block users are inadvertently inflicting multi-billion dollar losses on the very websites they most enjoy. With ad blocking going mobile, there's an eminent threat that the business model that has supported the open web for two decades is going to collapse," says PageFair in the report.

The figure is expected to jump even higher later this year after Apple introduces ad blocking software for its Safari browser.

Earlier this year, the backers of the critical hit Dallas Buyers Club won the right to obtain the names and addresses of 4700 John/Jane Does that they believe had downloaded and shared unauthorized copies of the film.

The individuals were all users of Australian ISPs iiNet, Dodo, Internode, Amnet Broadband, Adam Internet and Wideband Networks.

Justice Nye Perram has denied the claim from Dallas Buyers Club LLC (DBC LLC), and will not lift the temporary stay without the company changing its demands. DBC LLC is trying to charge thousands of dollars in licensing fees to everyone who allegedly shared the film, but the Judge said that demand is "so surreal as not to be taken seriously. If such a claim were made in a proceeding for copyright infringement in this Court I am satisfied that it would be dismissed summarily without trial ... as a case having no reasonable prospects of success."

Smartly, Justice Jerram also said that pirates should only be required to pay back the "equivalent cost of renting the film on iTunes and the costs DBC incurred in finding the name" of each pirate.

In under three weeks, Microsoft's new Windows 10 operating system has quickly taken significant market share.

The OS has been well received, and is free for legitimate Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 owners.

According to StatCounter, Windows 10 has reached 53 million installs, good for 4.95 percent of a massive market.

By comparison, Windows 8.1 had 13.09 percent market share before Windows 10 was released, following nearly two years on the market. OS X 10.10 only had 4.74 percent share, meaning in three weeks Windows 10 has surpassed Apple's year-old OS.

Windows 7 remains with the lion share at 60.75 percent, but that number is expected to continue falling.

CurrentC, the mobile payments app backed by major retailers, may be delayed until next year.

The app is backed by the consortium known as MCX, a group that includes 7-Eleven, Alon Brands, Best Buy, CVS Health, Darden Restaurants; HMSHost, Hy-Vee, Lowe's, Michaels, Publix, Sears Holdings, Shell Oil Products US, Sunoco, Target Corporation and Walmart.

MCX CEO Brian Mooney says an initial pilot will launch in Columbus, Ohio next month, but the group will not rush the global rollout. "This is a long game," Mooney said. "Certainly going faster is always better -- that's not necessarily a debatable point. But we're going to do it right."

CurrentC is very different than apps like Apple Pay (and soon, Samsung Pay and Android Pay) as the app does not allow you to link your credit/debit cards. You can either hook up your checking account, use a store gift card, or attach the retailer's private-label payment cards.

Unfortunately for the group, CurrentC might already be dead on arrival. Two key members, Best Buy and Rite Aid, will begin accepting Apple Pay later this year after an exclusivity period ends with CurrentC.

Source:
Re/code

Dropbox has announced this week that it has enabled USB (U2F) keys as part of their two-factor authentication security.

The keys, which are actual physical pieces of hardware, can be placed on your keychain and can be used as the second piece of a two-factor login, rather than needing to receive a code via text, email or authentication app.

Google made a similar announcement last year, allowing for Gmail login with the keys.

U2F keys are the most secure form of two factor authentication, since there is no code to be stolen or intercepted by attackers. That being said, the keys could still be stolen the old fashioned way: off your person.

Microsoft has announced that its Windows 10 IoT (Internet of Things) Core operating system is now available for Raspberry Pi.

The OS, built specifically for embedded devices, will rival Linux-based portable operating systems such as Raspbian, Arch Linux and OpenELEC.

Microsoft's latest strips the UI from Windows 10 and allows you to program C++, C#, JS, VB, Python and node.js.