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Google officially unveiled the operating system update that is currently known as Android M at Google I/O. Even though it doesn't have a full name or a version number yet Google did give specifics about the features.

Android M will be an update that focuses largely on quality, speed, and user experience rather than new functionality. There are however new features but they might not sound flashy to the end user.

Firstly Android M will bring a revamped app permission system. In the new version the permissions are not asked as the user installs the software but instead when they are used. This makes installing apps faster and permission requests more relevant.

Custom Chrome Tabs allows apps to use Chrome browser in a cleaner way. The user will get the app's user interface even in websites that the app opens with Chrome. It's a customized web view that includes all the functionality of Chrome.

One of the most important technological advances in the works is mobile payment. Google has addressed this before with Google Wallet but has now introduced a new feature called Google Pay. In addition to support for fingerprint sensors across Android devices this feature is ready to challenge iPhone and Apple Pay.

If there's anything that Google had to do with their maps it was adding proper offline support for mobile. And that is exactly what they've done at this year's Google I/O. There is a catch though.

Google announced that Maps app is becoming offline friendly with not only the map pictures but also navigation with voice assistance. The app currently only allows to download small areas for offline use and there is no navigation.

The company didn't reveal how the roll out will be happening but it did refer to developing countries a lot which might mean that in the US and Europe the feature might not appear immediately.

In addition to maps the YouTube app will feature offline mode as well. The videos can be downloaded for 48 hours after which they delete themselves. Good news to travelers.

A bug has been found in iOS that allows a certain message to crash your iPhone or iPad. The bug in the messaging app or notifications makes the device freeze when receiving specific Arabic text string in iMessage.

The string shown in the picture crashes the device in such a way that it is unusable until fixed. Luckily there is a simple fix: send another message to the device. You can do this with Siri or from another device.

Since Apple has also acknowledged that the bug exists and suggests using Siri to answer the message. This also unfreezes the device. Apple also recommends to remove the entire conversation.

It seems that the bug is in parsing of the Arabic language or specific text format. Apple has promised a fix to the issue in the next software update. Until then you have to rely on these workarounds.

An accused Dallas Buyers Club pirate has been told to remove P2P and BitTorrent software in order to avoid a $7,500 fine.

The woman was accused of downloading Dallas Buyers Club illegally using BitTorrent software, along with many thousands of other people targeted who have paid settlements of typically around $3,500.

In an interesting exception in an Oregon court is worth noting, however. A woman was essentially spared having to pay $7,500 in damages to the makers of Dallas Buyers Club as long as she promised not to pirate movies again in the future. She was offered this option due "extenuating circumstances" and "financial hardship."

The judgment was dug up by TorrentFreak.

The lady in the case had to agree to a permanent injunction that included a commitment to "immediately delete all unlicensed video and audio content in her possession and subject to her control, together with any and all BitTorrent clients on any computers(s) she owns or controls together with all other software used to obtain media through the Internet by BitTorrent peer-to-peer transfer or exchange."

Twitter's live streaming app Periscope is now available to download for compatible devices from Google Play after previously being available only on iOS.

Twitter bought Periscope earlier this year at a reported cost of $100 million, before relaunching the app for iOS on the App Store. It allows users to livestream to the public or to select users, and lets viewers interact with the broadcaster by sending them love (hearts) by tapping on their mobile screens.

Now Android users can get in on the fun, but only if your device is running Android 4.4 KitKat or newer.

The app is mostly the same as the iOS variant but there are a few noteable differences. For example, if a viewer is distracted by a phone call they have to take, then an alert will be put on the Android home screen after the call ends. Tapping the alert will return the viewer to the broadcast immediately.

It also reportedly gives more control over app notifications than the iOS variant.

Periscope has already been the subject of controversy as some users breached its terms and conditions by rebroadcasting HBO's Game of Thrones, and even the Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Junior boxing event earlier this month.

Samsung announced the new special edition Iron Man Galaxy S6 edge smartphone ahead of its initial release in South Korea.

The smartphone is the result of an ongoing partnership between Samsung Electronics and Marvel. The Galaxy S6 edge Iron Man Limited Edition package is equipped with a vibrant red and gold Iron Man-themed Galaxy S6 edge including 64GB of storage and matching wireless charger, as well as a clear cover that enhances the device's exclusive design.

"We are excited to be able to offer our world-class Galaxy S6 edge smartphone designed especially for Iron Man fans through our continued collaboration with Marvel," said Younghee Lee, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, IT & Mobile Division at Samsung Electronics.

"The limited edition Iron Man Galaxy S6 edge embodies the power of the iconic Avenger with a dual-curved edge design and advanced features that will provide Marvel fans with the ultimate entertainment experience."

It's initial launch is May 27 in Korea, followed by China and Hong Kong in June.

Here's an official unboxing video:

Skype has failed to comply with a request to hand over customer information to authorities to aid in a criminal investigation.

The Microsoft-owned online communications firm has been dragged into court in Belgium after it failed to hand over customer data to authorities to aid a criminal investigation.

A court based in Mechelen, north of Brussels, sought information on messages and calls that were exchanged over the Skype service. All telecoms operators in the country are required to comply with such requests in certain circumstances.

A court spokesman said the question now is whether or not Skype is also a telecoms operator, and if established to be so, it will have to hand over the information and may be fined, according to the Reuters news agency.

Microsoft announces Cortana will land on iPhone and Android devices this year, and more goodies coming over the next couple of months.

Cortana on Android and iPhone will be capable of much of the same things as on Windows Phone, including having Cortana remind you to do something, to provide notifications of sports scores, track flight information, and so on. However, because Cortana won't have the same OS-level access on iOS and Android, it won't be able to launch apps on command, and the user won't be able to invoke Cortana hands-free by saying "Hey Cortana".

Changes you make on one device will be reflected when you use Cortana on any device, including iOS and Android.

Microsoft will also soon make the new Phone Companion app available on the Windows 10 Preview. It will help to sync your Windows, iOS or Android phone with your Windows 10 PC.

We can also expect the updated Xbox Music app for Android and iPhone in June or July, which will enable streaming your music files from your OneDrive account.

An original founder of the Pirate Bay will challenge the seizure of the piratebay.se and thepiratebay.se domain names, it has been confirmed.

Fredrik Neij will appeal the Swedish court's ruling that ordered the two domain names to be seized by the Swedish government. Neij is not interested in the domain names himself though, instead he has concerns with how the court came to the decision to order the seizure.

The court had identified Fredrik Neij as the holder of the two domain names, even though they are held under a third party's name. Since Neij has been prohibited under threats of sizeable fines not to be associated with the operation of the Pirate Bay, and he is due to be released from prison soon, being identified as being the holder of the Pirate Bay domains by a court of law could complicate things.

"The prosecution has alleged two things. One is that crimes have been committed via The Pirate Bay. Fredrik Neij really has no views on this. The second is that he is involved in The Pirate Bay operation," said lawyer Jonas Nilsson.

With Neij's release on the horizon, it is in his self-interest to reject any determination by a court of law that he is in any way involved with the administration of the Pirate Bay.

A Netflix billing glitch has resulted in some customers reporting that their accounts were charged the monthly fee for the service multiple times in a single day.

The error seems to be limited to customers in Australia and New Zealand. One customer reported that he had been charged 11 times on Sunday by Netflix, before going into redraw.

Another customer in New Zealand tweeted that, "Netflix just charged me my monthly fee of $12.99 FOUR TIMES IN ONE DAY," adding that "And they're trying to charge me again but it won't let them because they've taken all the f***ing money out of my account."

Netflix said the problem has only affected a small number of its users in the region.

"While no extra money was withdrawn from users' accounts, it may take several days for the authorisations to drop from users' bank accounts," Neflix said in a statement.

"Members may contact Netflix customer service if they have additional issues. We regret any inconvenience related to the problem."

Useless 'Minecraft' apps promising cheats and other materials on the Google Play store were actually laced with scareware warnings about non-existent viruses.

Over 600,000 Android users installed at least one of the malicious apps. The goal of the apps is to get an unsuspecting user to sign up for a premium SMS service at a cost of 4.80EUR per week.

ESET reported its discovery last week on its blog, detailing over 30 different apps that had managed to get through Google's malware filter, Bouncer. They were uploaded to the market over the past 9 months from different developer accounts, though they all likely come from the same source.

"According to public data from the Google Play store, several of them were installed between 100.000 – 500.000 times and the total number of installations of all 33 scareware applications lies between 660.000 and 2.800.000," ESET Malware Researcher, Lukas Stefanko, writes.

The apps have pretty much no functionality. Instead, any interaction with the apps just brought up warnings about dangerous virus infections. Eventually, the app would prepare a text message in the phone's default SMS application, appearing to be a code to activate an antivirus product. In reality, if the user sends it, they will sign up for a premium SMS service at a cost of 4.80 EUR per week.

An eight-hour long "swatting" live stream on YouTube leads police to a 17 year old, later charged with extortion, criminal harassment, making false police reports and more.

The Canadian cannot be named due to his age, but reports say he identified as part of the group Lizard Squad. He was accused of harassing targets he found on League of Legends and on Twitter, usually because they wouldn't accept his friend request.

Victims had their personal information, including financial records, posted online. The worst of all offences he admitted to was swatting, in which a false report would be made to police with the goal of getting a heavily armed response unit to show up the victim's location.

In one case, a University of Arizona student dropped out after multiple cases of swatting against her and her family.

The teen was eventually tracked down by police after tips were received about an 8 hour long YouTube live stream in which he had multiple people swatted.

He faces sentencing on June 29.

NOTE: Image accompanying the article is a screenshot of swatting occurring during a live stream. It is not linked to this particular case.

Following last week's leaked benchmarks, we have more alleged specs of the upcoming OnePlus Two.

According to the new report, the new device will feature a Full HD 1920 x 1080 display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC with Adreno 430 GPU, 3GB of RAM and dual 13MP/5MP cameras.

So far, the specs do not seem too out of the ordinary, although it is surprising that OnePlus went with an HD display rather than the more common high-end QHD displays.

The second-generation flagship is set to go on sale in a few months with an expected price around $400 USD.

According to Slice Intelligence, Apple has sold 2.5 million smartwatches, to date, but demand has already slowed significantly.

The firm studies consumer spending in the U.S., and it has taken a stab at the fledgling smartwatch industry.

Half of the sales came in the first 24 hours of availability, and since then orders have averaged under 30,000 per day.

Although demand has slowed, 30,000 daily sales means Apple could move 11 million units in its first year of sales, a strong number when the average sales price for the watch is around $400.

Unfortunately, we may not know exact sales of the Watch, even from Apple, as the company will dump the Watch sales in its "other" sales category that includes iPods and accessories like Lightning cables.

A fire that damaged an RV home and burned up much of its owners possessions earlier this week was likely started by an Nintendo Wii console, according to fire investigators in Colorado Springs.

A news report by a local NBC news channel KOAA 5 quoted the fire department as saying all other possible sources of ignition for the blaze had been ruled out. "I got a phone call from the neighbors saying my camper was on fire," Trevor Pellegrin said.

"When I opened the door, I got thrown back by thick black smoke and flames."

The roof was damaged by the flames, as well as clothes that ignited and the man's television had started to melt. The Wii console was rendered a charred ugly mess. Luckily, Pellegrin managed to save some of his personal items but lost a lot to the fire.

The Wii console was switched off, but still plugged into an electrical outlet when he left. Typically games consoles are left plugged in by owners 24/7.

On very rare occasions, home entertainment electronics are linked to fires, but it's often a case of an overloaded electrical outlet or problems with wiring.


More info: www.koaa.com
Video report: www.kktv.com