Latest news

Facebook has launched 'Facebook Lite,' an Android app that promises to "use less data and work well across all network conditions."

The app itself is just 1MB and will include the basic core functions of the social network such as the News Feed, photos, notifications and status updates.

Says Vijay Shankar, Product Manager for Facebook Lite: "More than a billion people around the world access Facebook from a range of mobile devices on varying networks. In many areas, networks can be slow and not able to support all the functionality found in Facebook for Android. Facebook Lite was built for these situations, giving people a reliable Facebook experience when bandwidth is at a minimum."

Facebook says the app is available now across Asia and will be rolled out to countries in Africa, Europe and Latin America in the coming weeks.

Smmartphone maker HTC is forecasting a really bad quarter.

The Taiwanese company has slashed their revenue projections for the Q2 drastically, claiming poor sales of their "high-end Android devices," namely the HTC One M9 and increased competition from the Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6.

HTC had a previous forecast for between $1.48 billion and $1.56 billion USD in revenue for the quarter, but that has now been slashed dramatically to $1.06 billion to $1.16 billion.

Besides the slowing sales in the U.S., HTC also noted that sales in China were slow due to competition from Xiaomi, Apple, Samsung and even LG.

"In recognition of prevailing market conditions, HTC has embarked on a comprehensive review on our assets based on current business conditions and future operational needs," the company noted in their filing. The company will have an uphill battle moving forward.

In two separate announcements this week, Netflix has announced that its popular streaming service will reach Italy, Portugal and Spain this October.

The company currently services 50 countries but wants to eventually expand to 200. Netflix currently has 62 million subscribers, each paying at least $7.99 a month for access to thousands of movies, TV episodes and original content like the critically acclaimed "House of Cards" and "Orange is the New Black."

Netflix says new users will have access to 4K content, as well, if their TV can support it.

In other Netflix news, the new Sci-Fi thriller 'Sense8' just launched, one of a few new original programs scheduled for the next twelve months.

Amazon has begun a new service dubbed "Fulfillment by Amazon Small and Light" in which the company will ship any item that weighs 8 ounces or less for free.

Previously, to get free shipping from the giant etailer, you needed a Prime subscription or your order had to total over $35.

Customer will receive the orders between four and eight business days from their order date.

The service was tested in select markets for the past few months, and Amazon quickly found that the items selling with free shipping sold quicker than rival items. Some of the items affected include headphones, phone cases and makeup.

Netflix has become almost synonymous with movie streaming. There are others but it is Netflix that is the Kleenex of streaming services. There are many reasons why this happened but the CEO of the company says piracy was among them, TorrentFreak reports.

The CEO and the face of Netflix, Reed Hastings, spoke to Spanish press preparing the launch in Spain this year. In Spain like in other European countries entertainment industry has been plagued by piracy and Hastings says Netflix has been successful in these type of markets.

Once the consumer has a choice to use a reasonably priced and easy to use legal service they will flock to use that. This is why Hastings told El Mundo that piracy has prepared the internet users for their service.

Online users want ease of use which Hastings says Netflix excels at. He isn't afraid of the competition from free (and illegal) services. "Tap water is free but there is still people buying bottled water," said Hastings.

At first the release in Spain will not be as full fledged version of the service as stateside but the catalog will expand over time, like it does in other newer markets. Exact launch date has not yet been revealed.

Apple's TV revolution has so far been an effort driven only by the small media streaming box. Apple TV has gradually improved little over time but no major updates have been released in three years. Unfortunately for Apple TV fans that is not going to change soon.

Earlier rumors had it that Apple would release a new version of Apple TV as well as developer kits and web TV service next Monday at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco. The newest information suggests, however, that this will not be the case.

New York Times reports that Apple indeed did have an intention to release the products but at last minute decided it was not ready for the spotlight. Their guess is that the launch was hindered by the content licensing which has been described as the biggest obstacle for Apple's TV revolution.

It seems that the main focus will be on new versions of iOS and OS X as well as iTunes' new streaming service. Stay tuned for more news from the WWDC.

Apple has recalled nearly 222,000 of its Beats Pill XL speakers in the U.S., after 'rare' reports of batteries overheating.

The company said they received 8 reports of batteries overheating and one of a user who received minor burns.

Apple has asked anyone using the speakers to discontinue using the product and will offer all customers refunds or $325 store credit.

The speakers were first launched in November of 2013, a few months before Apple acquired Beats for $3 billion to expand its accessories and streaming music lines.

For the past year, thousands of you have been satisfying your needs for news content with our HIGH.FI app, and we couldn't be happier to have you!

The app, built by AfterDawn (our first!), was made to simply aggregate news content from all over the web. We wanted to make an app that could drag in news from everywhere and still could be categorized and filtered, without getting too bloated. In a way, we wanted to build a kind of "pre-loaded Feedly".

About a year ago, that app debuted for Windows Phone devices titled HIGH.FI, after the en.high.fi domain that provides a lite-version of the service for Desktops. Surprisingly, people liked it and several months later we dropped an Android app onto Google Play.

With no significant promotion other than our own, HIGH.FI is approaching 10,000 installations on Windows Phone, and 14,000 on Android. It has an aggregate rating of 4.1/5.0 on Google Play, which also surprised us for our first app. It turns out there are plenty of news junkies like us who find this app useful, and thousands of you use it everyday! Thank you for choosing to keep our app and using it so often because it has kept it a priority even as we are on the verge of some major updates and changes at AfterDawn.

According to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers study, consumers are finally spending more money on streaming and digital downloads than they are on buying and renting physical media.

Digital revenue is expected to top $9.5 billion this year, with sales of physical media dropping to $7.8 billion.

Streaming and digital could be a $12 billion industry by 2017, added the company.

Netflix, Hulu and iTunes are the biggest gainers in the industry, but streaming and digital download options are becoming more plentiful on a regular basis.

As we learned earlier this month, Windows 10 is ready for launch on July 29th, a major update to the operating system that will cost most legitimate Windows users nothing to upgrade.

Besides bringing back the Start Menu (thankfully), and adding smaller but important features like quick startup and resume, Windows 10 will introduce some serious updates on the browser and software side. Windows 10 will also be the first of Microsoft's operating systems to be a true ecosystem, one that expands to the Internet of Things, console gaming, tablets, desktops and of course, mobile.



Here's the list, courtesy of Microsoft:

Yahoo has been announced as the exclusive livestream provider for the October 25th Jacksonville Jaguars-Buffalo Bills game.

Even more importantly, the game will be completely free for viewers.

It is believed Yahoo paid over $20 million for the rights to the game, and Yahoo will also have exclusive ad rights for the game, with the potential to make a good return.

There is, of course, downsides. The game is to be played in London, meaning it will air at 6:30am for West Coast Americans. Even diehard Jaguars and Bills fans will have to think hard about waking up that early on a Sunday.

According to CBS, who is producing the Web stream, quality is a priority as is availability and the game will be available on mobile devices, PCs, Chromecast, Xbox 360 and the Apple TV.

Showtime has announced that it will offer a standalone streaming service starting next month with a price that undercuts HBO's Now service.

On July 12th, Apple users will get first crack at the service, which will cost $10.99 per month and give access to new and catalog Showtime shows. The service will be eventually available on more platforms, including Android.

"Going over-the-top means Showtime will be much more accessible to tens of millions of potential new subscribers," said CBS CEO Les Moonves. "Across CBS, we are constantly finding new ways to monetize our programming by capitalizing on opportunities presented by technology. This works best when you have outstanding premium content – like we do at Showtime – and when you have a terrific partner like Apple – which continues to innovate and build upon its loyal customer base."

"We're excited to offer Apple customers SHOWTIME's live channels and extensive on demand library of great TV shows and movies, without a cable or satellite subscription," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV customers will now be able to subscribe to SHOWTIME directly and instantly start viewing their favorite programming with the same simplicity as buying an app."

Microsoft has been so far unable to fix issues affecting 'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" for Xbox One.

According to Microsoft's Xbox status update page (and hundreds of posts to sites like Reddit), it appears that gamers have been unable to access the game due to an unknown Xbox Live issue. The error code is 0x87de2726.

"Are you unable to launch or install The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt? We're working to address this ASAP! Thanks for staying patient. We'll fill you in as soon as we know more," reads the last status from 7PM EST.

The Witcher 3 is one of the highest rated games of the year, even receiving 10/10 from some prominent gaming sites.

Sony has revealed the free games that are now available for PlayStation Plus members on the PS Vita, PS3 and PS4.

There are six games total - two for each platform - and the games will be available throughout the month and until July 7th.

Title list:

PlayStation 4:
•Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
•Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-a-Fide Edition
•Super Exploding Zoo (via cross-platform playing from Vita)
•Futuridium EP Deluxe (via cross-platform playing from Vita)

PlayStation 3:
•Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
•Cloudberry Kingdom

PlayStation Vita:
•Super Exploding Zoo
•Futuridium EP Deluxe

You get to keep the games as long as you are a paying Plus subscriber.

After years of complaints from gamers, Valve's popular online games platform Steam has updated their refund policy.

For the most part, all purchases are part of the refund policy, and refunds can be for "any reason."

Reads the new page: "You can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam--for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn't meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn't like it.

It doesn't matter. Valve will, upon request, issue a refund for any reason, if the request is made within fourteen days of purchase, and the title has been played for less than two hours....You will be issued a full refund of your purchase within a week of approval."

Valve will refund the money to your Steam Wallet or to the card you used to purchase it.

Of note, DLC and in-game purchases have different rules. That content can be refunded within 14 days (for DLC) and 48 hours (for in-game) as long as the content hasn't been "consumed, modified or transferred."

It will be interesting to see if the rules change for games that can be completely played through in under 2 hours, and how Steam will monitor that.