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AfterDawn: News

Apple "has your back" when it comes to data, Whatsapp doesn't

Written by Matti Robinson @ 21 Jun 2015 7:53

Apple "has your back" when it comes to data, Whatsapp doesn't EFF has conducted another annual Who Has Your Back? survey and the results are in. The survey which researched the practices relevant to user data handling suggests that the likes of Yahoo and Apple are amongst the best.

The categories were: "Follows industry-accepted best practices", "Tells users about government data demands", "Discloses policies on data retention", "Discloses government content removal requests", and "has a Pro-user public policy: opposes backdoors". A total of eight companies scored a star in all five categories. The companies were Adobe, Apple, Credo Mobile, Dropbox, Sonic, Wikimedia, WordPress, and Yahoo.

Social networks Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin all scored four stars and the tech conglomerates Microsoft and Google joined e-commerce giant Amazon with three stars. The bottom of list were AT&T and alarmingly the massively popular messaging platform Whatsapp.

The whole list of companies and their stars can be found here.




AfterDawn: News

Taylor Swift denies 1989 from Apple Music

Written by Matti Robinson @ 20 Jun 2015 8:59

Taylor Swift denies 1989 from Apple Music Taylor Swift doesn't like streaming music services. I depends on their business model how much she dislikes them but there has yet been a good enough streaming service for her newest and most precious baby called 1989. At Apple Jimmy Iovine and Tim Cook have tried to convince otherwise her but to no avail.

BuzzFeed reports that like any other streaming service Apple Music will not get the album 1989. However, like other streaming services entirely based on paid subscription the Apple Music will have her older repertoire.

Last year, after the release of her newest album, Swift broke up with the most popular music streaming service in the world, Spotify. Spotify offers a free, ad-supported subscription model unlike Apple Music. According to Taylor Swift that is not how you pay the artists as much as they deserve.

According to reports Taylor Swift has sold over 5 million copies of 1989. Her other albums are currently available to stream, for example, on Rhapsody and Tidal.




AfterDawn: News

Sony surprised by Xbox backwards compatibility, says not in the works for PS4

Written by Matti Robinson @ 20 Jun 2015 8:47

Sony surprised by Xbox backwards compatibility, says not in the works for PS4 Microsoft announced at E3 this week that its current generation gaming console will be backwards compatible with selected Xbox 360 games later this year.

Microsoft says at first (this year) the target is at hundred games after which it'll expand to hundreds.

The announcement surely was a positive surprise to a lot of gamers but also might have caught Sony off guard. In an interview with Eurogamer Sony boss Shuhei Yoshida told that they had the impression that it wasn't technically possible.

According to Yoshida it would certainly require a lot of work from Sony to implement such compatibility with the PS4 and that is not currently in the works. Yoshida doesn't, however, say that it is not a possibility in the future.




AfterDawn: News

Problem opening The Pirate Bay? There's likely an easy solution

Written by Matti Robinson @ 20 Jun 2015 7:12

Problem opening The Pirate Bay? There's likely an easy solution Typing in www.thepiratebay.la and you are faced with a failed DNS lookup? Remove the www prefix and you are good to go.

Considering the nature of the site and its problems with the legal system it was not a surprise that reports suggested that it had gone offline once again. However, according to TorrentFreak the changes in The Pirate Bay's domain earlier this week were responsible for the mishap.

A month ago Swedish court ordered the seizure of .se domain but as TorrentFreak reports that is currently the one domain that works with the www prefix. The moderators of the site who spoke with TorrentFreak didn't know why the redirects are not working.




AfterDawn: News

Rumor: Features of second gen Apple Watch revealed

Written by Matti Robinson @ 20 Jun 2015 6:55

Rumor: Features of second gen Apple Watch revealed It has been only a couple of months since the original Apple Watch entered the shelves of Apple retail stores but already we have rumors about the successor. The release will likely be some time next year but already Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac claims to have some information.

Source can be considered fairly reliable but remember that a lot can still change before the actual launch. However, Gurman says that one of the key features added to the second gen device is a Facetime camera. The camera would be likely positioned unlike Samsung's Galaxy Gear, which had it directing forward to take pictures. Apple's would be mainly used for videocalls, and maybe selfies.

A new software feature Find my Watch would be also introduced thanks to a new WiFi chip enabling WiFi triangulation. This however would seem to prove that there is no GPS chip for positionin, a feature many would like to see especially for iPhone free fitness tracking.

The research Apple has done about the battery life of the watch seem to suggest that customers are happy with it – or enough so – that there won't be any major upgrades to the 18 hour battery.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and others leave Microsoft

Written by Matti Robinson @ 19 Jun 2015 8:23

Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and others leave Microsoft Microsoft has announced that former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and head of mobile phones Jo Harlow will be leaving the company. The two were considered the last standing ex-Nokia executives at Microsoft.

Stephen Elop took the job as Nokia CEO during a devastating decline and became known for the burning platform memo. Eventually his stay in the company lead to Nokia selling its mobile phone business to Microsoft.

Harlow's and Elop's departures are based on a new organizational structures that combine the devices (including Lumia smartphones) and operating systems under one Windows and Devices Group. The new division will be led by Terry Myerson who previously led the Windows division.

In addition to former Nokia execs Mark Penn, the man behind Scroogled campaign, will be leaving the company but his departure is not the result of the organization shake-up.




AfterDawn: News

Amazon unveils a new high-resolution Kindle Paperwhite

Written by Matti Robinson @ 19 Jun 2015 8:02

Amazon unveils a new high-resolution Kindle Paperwhite Amazon has revealed a new addition to their line of e-readers. The new Kindle Paperwhite features a high-resolution screen that is said to improve the reading experience significantly.

The display of the new version has a 300 PPI (pixels per inch) resolution which is on par with the more expensive Kindle Voyage. The new Paperwhite will not have as bright and as high-contrast display but it is being sold for $119 – $80 less than Voyage.

Amazon says the user experience of the most popular Kindle device has been revamped as well. The new typesetting engine will feature proper hyphenation in addition to more advanced letter spacing among other changes.




AfterDawn: News

OnePlus confirms their upcoming flagship will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 CPU

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Jun 2015 10:53

OnePlus confirms their upcoming flagship will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 CPU OnePlus has announced this week that their upcoming OnePlus 2 flagship will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 processor that has actually been designed for the phone itself.

"Just like we did with the OnePlus One, our engineers debated endlessly over which CPU would be the perfect fit for the 2. While we played around with other options, we always came back to the 810. Its speed and ability to multitask while maintaining optimal battery performance remain unmatched amongst others in the industry," said Pete from One Plus.

The 810 v2.1 is a 64-bit chip with eight CPU cores and the device will have an Adreno 430 GPU allowing for streaming 4K.

Pete was also quick to discuss the overheating issues of the 810, which caused Samsung to ditch the CPU for its Galaxy S6 series.

"Although there have been reports that the 810 runs warmer than its predecessors, we assure you that we have taken all the necessary precautions and beyond to prevent this from occurring in the 2. We worked very closely with Qualcomm's engineers to integrate an improved version of the chipset (v2.1) in the OnePlus 2, and fine-tuned both hardware and software. The 2 will be 'cooler than ever,'" he added.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Best of E3: Mad Max is dystopian madness

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2015 10:53

Best of E3: Mad Max is dystopian madness Avalanche Studios has unveiled a new trailer for Mad Max, one that promises to take you into the "Eye of the Storm."

The trailer follows Max and his goal of building the "ultimate war" machine.

Just like with all the Mad Max feature films, the game will feature a ton of dystopian madness and carnage.

Mad Max will be out for PS4, XBO and PC in September.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Best of E3: Mass Effect: Andromeda is coming next year

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2015 10:36

Best of E3: Mass Effect: Andromeda is coming next year BioWare has unveiled the first teaser for their upcoming Mass Effect: Andromeda.

There is little known so far about the game, except that it will launch for the holiday season 2016 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

"A new adventure awaits in the Mass Effect universe. With stunning visuals and a new galaxy to discover, BioWare delivers the next generation of space exploration," added the publisher.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Best of E3: New 'Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain' trailer unveiled

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2015 10:12

Best of E3: New 'Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain' trailer unveiled Konami unveiled a new trailer for the highly anticipated 'Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,' edited and directed by Hideo Kojima.

The new trailer shows off a more serious and dramatic turn than previous trailers, and there is also a decent amount of blood.

Metal Gear Solid V is slated for release on September 1st, 2015.

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AfterDawn: News

Best of E3: Remastered Gears of War headed to Xbox One as 'Ultimate Edition'

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2015 9:59

Best of E3: Remastered Gears of War headed to Xbox One as 'Ultimate Edition' As rumored, a remastered remake of the original Gears of War is headed to the Xbox at the end of the summer.

Xbox One gamers will get Gears of War: Ultimate Edition on August 25th, and a public beta has begun today.

The remastered game will run at 1080p/60gps and include 90 extra minutes that were previously only released on the PC version of the game.

Besides the remaster, developer The Coalition announced Gears of War 4 scheduled for next year.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Best of E3: Rare Replay brings 30 classic titles to the Xbox One

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2015 9:41

Best of E3: Rare Replay brings 30 classic titles to the Xbox One Over the past few months there had been a crescendo of hype following Rare's announcement that they would be returning to E3 after a major hiatus.

Rare has now exceeded expectations in launching Rare Replay, a collection of 30 of their classic games bundled for the Xbox One.

The headliners are Banjo-Kazooie, Battletoads and Perfect Dark but there are plenty more to love in the collection.

Most importantly, the game will cost just $30 and launch soon on August 4th.

Check out the launch trailer:

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

E3 Video: Microsoft previews Gears of War 4

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2015 8:58

E3 Video: Microsoft previews Gears of War 4 It's been a long time coming, and now we have some footage of the upcoming franchise Gears of War 4.

During the Microsoft E3 keynote, developer The Coalition showed off the first gameplay preview of Gears of War 4, which is now scheduled for the holiday season 2016.

The trailer suggests two-player co-op and features JD with an unknown woman.

Check out the trailer here including some new monsters firing projectiles:

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

E3 Video: The boys are back as superheroes in 'South Park: The Fractured but Whole'

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2015 8:44

E3 Video: The boys are back as superheroes in 'South Park: The Fractured but Whole' The boys are back in Ubisoft's sequel to 'South Park: The Stick of Truth.'

While the predecessor parodied blockbuster fantasies like Lord of the Rings, the new game will be a parody of the whole superhero genre, and feature Cartman as "The Coon" and Butters as "Professor Chaos," characters they have played in multiple TV episodes.

"Players will delve into the crime-ridden underbelly of South Park with Coon and Friends. This dedicated group of crime fighters was formed by Eric Cartman whose superhero alter-ego, The Coon, is half man, half raccoon. As the New Kid, players will join Mysterion, Toolshed, Human Kite, Mosquito, Mint Berry Crunch and a host of others to battle the forces of evil while Coon strives to make his team the most beloved superheroes in history,"
reads the press release.





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