Latest news

Microsoft has confirmed it will be shutting down a number of MSN-branded apps (also once known as Bing apps) over the next few weeks and months.

Windows, iOS and Android users will soon receive notices that their MSN Health & Fitness, MSN Travel and MSN Food & Drink apps will be shutting down in the very near future.

Microsoft recently sold off its display ad business and sold its Bing map-data collection division to Uber, so it's clear that Microsoft is doing a bit of a cleanup of their non-essential businesses.

The company did confirm that its more popular MSN apps - News, Weather, Sports and Money - will continue to run and will actually be built for the upcoming Windows 10, as well.

J.J. Abrams and the cast of the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens absolutely took over Comic-Con yesterday, unveiling a behind-the-scenes video and even inviting all the attendees to a surprise concert behind the convention center, giving everyone a lightsaber in the process.

The new cast appeared for a panel, as did stars of the original films including Harrison Ford, Carrie Fischer and Mark Hamill.

Oh, and btw, Simon Pegg will play an alien.

Check out the video here:

According to research firm Gartner, global PC shipments totaled 68.4 million in the Q2 2015, a 9.5 percent decline year-over-year (YoY).

For the year, the firm expects an overall decline of 4.4 percent.

Gartner pinpointed three reasons for the decline, and all appear to be more temporary than permanent issues for the market: "The price hike of PCs became more apparent in some regions due to a sharp appreciation of the U.S. dollar against local currencies," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "The price hike could hinder PC demand in these regions. Secondly, the worldwide PC market experienced unusually positive desk-based growth last year due to the end of Windows XP support. After the XP impact was phased out, there have not been any major growth drivers to stimulate a PC refresh. Lastly, the Windows 10 launch scheduled for 3Q15 has created self-regulated inventory control. PC vendors and the channels tried clearing inventory as much as possible before the Windows 10 launch."

Lenovo remained the world's top PC maker, shipping 13.46 million units, good for 19.7 percent share. HP was close behind at 11.92 million units (17.4 percent share) followed by Dell at 9.6 million units (14 percent). The only brig loser for the quarter was Acer, who saw a 20.2 percent drop quarter-over-quarter.

For the second time this year, we have a viable rumor that Huawei will be building Google's upcoming Nexus flagship device.

The Information reports that the Chinese company will produce the device, although it's expected to be smaller than the current 6-inch Nexus 6.

Previous rumors had claimed that Huawei would build a 5.7-inch device and LG would build a 5.2-inch device, meaning Google would offer two models similar to how Apple created the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Besides the phone, a partnership would also help Google to get their mobile app store and ecosystem into China, says the report, a massive development if true.

(Mock pictured)

With the OnePlus 2 scheduled to launch on July 27th, we have yet another major reveal thanks to the OnePlus team.

The company has announced that the smartphone will feature the fastest mobile RAM on the market, LPDDR4, and the flagship device will have 4GB RAM.

"Why did we choose LPDDR4 for the OnePlus 2? Another notable benefit is lower power consumption for better battery efficiency. That means you'll be able to use your favorite apps (and more) without draining the battery. With LPDDR4, you get twice the bandwidth performance as the LPDDR3 at the same power consumption profile. The RAM of the OnePlus 2 uses a lower operating voltage than its predecessor, decreasing from 1.2V to 1.1V. And with speeds up to 32 GB/s, it is also twice as fast as the LPDDR3. It offers optimal support for power-saving low frequency mode that brings clock speeds down when performing those everyday and necessary tasks," noted OnePlus.

Among the specs that have already been revealed include a custom 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor and a fingerprint reader.

Treyarch's latest, 'Call of Duty: Black Ops III,' will have its own zombie game mode, entitled 'Shadows of Evil.'

The developer introduced the mode today at Comic-Con, and also released some info on the voice cast and the story line. Shadows of Evil will be set in a 1940s noir realm and feature four characters: The Magician, The Femme-Fatale, The Cop and The Boxer. The characters will face situations "masterminded by the mysterious Shadow Man."

Added studio head Mark Lamia: "Treyarch has crafted a totally unique and face-melting gameplay experience for our loyal Zombies community, with Call of Duty: Black Ops III: Zombies – Shadows of Evil. The development team has packed Shadows of Evil with more gameplay and fun than any other experience before it, and has an appropriately twisted and deep narrative, performed by fantastic acting talent, that will keep our fans spinning."

COD: Black Ops III is scheduled for release on November 6th.

Check out the first trailer here:

Admitting that the acquisition was a brutal mistake, Microsoft has written off its entire acquisition of Nokia's handset business, taking a $7.6 billion loss in less than two years.

Additionally, the company will cut 7800 jobs from its phone business, with a lot of former Nokia execs getting laid off.

New Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed what everyone already knew - that former CEO Steve Ballmer made a horrible purchase - and it is clear that Windows Phone is still relevant at Microsoft, but not necessarily a huge priority.

"We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem including our first-party device family," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said. "In the near-term, we'll run a more effective and focused phone portfolio while retaining capability for long-term reinvention in mobility."

In the past few weeks, former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has left Microsoft as has phones boss Jo Harlow so it appears that Microsoft has finally conceded that the smartphone industry is a duopoly.

According to new reports, Paramount is looking to shorten the time between when a movie is released in theaters and when it is available on demand.

If successful, the studio would like to have all their films available on demand just two weeks after their theatrical debut, showing how important digital downloads, rentals and streaming are to the business.

The studio will release two small films this fall using the shorter window, but it will move its entire schedule to the shorter window over time.

"What other product creates its most attention at launch and then creates a significant period of time where the consumer can't acquire that product?" Rob Moore, Paramount's vice chairman, said of major motion pictures.

The theory is that a shorter window between theater and home release will help lower marketing costs and also put a dent in piracy, which still remains a problem for the studios, especially on blockbuster films that normally do not make it to home media for months after they have left theaters.

According to a new report, Apple is preparing to ramp up production of its next generation iPhone to record levels.

Apple is allegedly asking manufacturers to have up to 90 million units produced by the end of the year, with screen sizes equal to those of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Last year, Apple ordered a quarterly production run of up to 80 million units, then a record for the smartphone.

There is little known about the upcoming iPhone 6S, although it is expected to add Force Touch technology. The tech was added to the most recent Mac computers and the Apple Watch and allows users to control their device differently depending on how light or hard they touch the screen.

Besides the Force Touch addition, there is not expected to be any other drastic changes although the phone will most likely be available in at least one new color.

Netflix has announced that its first feature film, "Beasts of No Nation," will premier in all Netflix territories and in a few theaters on October 16th, 2015.

In addition, Netflix has announced the release date for a few more original movies, as well.

Beasts of No Nation is already being billed as a possible Oscar contender, starring Idris Elba telling the story of a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.

Looking ahead, Adam Sandler's first exclusive film, "The Ridiculous Six" will debut on December 11th and feature Adam Sandler, Terry Crews, Jorge Garcia, Rob Schneider, Taylor Lautner, Luke Wilson and Nick Nolte in a Western comedy.

Pee-wee Herman is back with "Pee-wee's Big Holiday," scheduled to debut in March 2016 followed by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend, which will be released in IMAX theaters and Netflix sometime in the Q1 2016.

Microsoft has started their 'Ultimate Game Sale' 2015, placing major discounts on a hundred titles for Xbox One and Xbox 360.

If you are a gamer, this is as good a time as any to pickup that game you've been looking for.

Let's take a look at the list, starting with Xbox One and a Silver Xbox Live subscription (Name, Content Type, Discount):

OnePlus has been slowly trickling out information about their upcoming flagship OnePlus 2 device, and now we have the first confirmation on price.

CEO Pete Lau has promised that the phone will sell for less than $450, adding that for them, "it's never been about the price."

Previously, the company had said the device will cost more than $325, so we now have a pretty reasonable expectation as to the price of the phone.

Here's to hoping it is towards the bottom end of the range.

Microsoft has announced updates to its Windows 10 entertainment apps, including one major rebranding.

The software giant has renamed Xbox Music as 'Groove,' as apparently the old name was confusing consumers.

Here's a rundown of the new features:

The Look and Feel: Groove provides an improved experience for listening to and managing your music in Windows 10. Getting into music is faster than ever with easy-to-use menus and navigation controls that work well with both mouse/keyboard, and with familiar touch gestures on touch-screen devices. Pinch to zoom in or out of different views, drag your favorite tracks in to playlists, hover over the Taskbar icon for playback controls, or right click for contextual menus to pin an album to your Start menu. And you can also infuse your personality in to Groove – choose a light or dark theme for the app depending on your mood, or pick an accent color in Windows Settings and the Groove app makes it shine.

Accessing Your Music on your favorite devices: We're also making it easy to access your content across your favorite devices – with built-in OneDrive integration making your favorite songs only a few clicks away. Upload all your MP3's to OneDrive, even songs purchased from iTunes, and access them all for free with the Groove app on your Windows devices, Xbox, the web -- and even on your Android phones and iPhones (coming soon).

Amazon is celebrating their 20th anniversary with the aptly named "Prime Day," a shopping day that the retailer hopes will trump Black Friday.

Says the company: "Next week, Amazon turns 20 and on the eve of its birthday, the company introduces Prime Day, a global shopping event, offering more deals than Black Friday, exclusively for Prime members in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada and Austria.

On Wednesday, July 15, new and existing members in the U.S. will find deals starting at midnight, with new deals starting as often as every ten minutes. They can shop thousands of Lightning Deals, seven popular Deals of the Day and receive unlimited fast, free shipping."

Amazon is even extending the festivities to new customers who sign up for the 30-day free trial of Prime, as long as they've signed up before the 15th. Amazon has promised Lightning Deals from nearly every category, so there could certainly be some great deals available.

Source:
Amazon

According to Nielsen, consumers in the U.S. are streaming almost twice as much music as they were last year.

For the first half of 2015, streaming jumped 92 percent year-over-year to 135.2 billion songs streamed. Digital downloads fell 10 percent year-over-year, as the medium is slowly being replaced.

Interestingly, video streams increased 109 percent to 76.6 billion, suggesting more music fans prefer to watch music videos or the convenience of sites like YouTube to streaming audio.

Overall, there were 160 million individual songs downloaded and 116.1 million total albums downloaded, still strong numbers for a format that brings the record labels and artists much more money than individual streams do.