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Last month, Nokia confirmed it was strategically reviewing its HERE maps service with the possibility of selling it.

Today, we have a reported bidder, with the startup taxi service Uber allegedly bidding $3 billion for the business.

The sources noted that Uber is competing against major luxury automakers BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz who have teamed up with Chinese search engine Baidu to create a consortium to bid on the service.

While it certainly seems that HERE will be sold soon, Nokia Chairman Risto Siilasmaa would not confirm. "I'd like to stress that the review will not necessarily lead to selling of HERE. We strongly believe in the possibilities to develop HERE also as part of Nokia," he said.

The service has a book value of $2.2 billion without taking any growth into account, suggesting a $3 billion bid will be too small.

Source:
Reuters

Since its launch a little over a year ago, Google's smartwatch platform Android Wear has matured substantially, as has Android in general. The latest release, built on Android 5.1.1, brings quite a few new features and generally polishes the operating system making the experience better than what we've experienced in the past.

On the hardware side, it seems that every few weeks we see the launch of a new smartwatch from a top tech company, but so far none have really struck a chord with consumers, with the Moto 360 being the only possible exception. We have reviewed a few smartwatches here on AfterDawn, but none has ever been worth keeping. That leads us to the LG Watch Urbane, the latest offering from LG and the first Android Wear smartwatch to get 5.1.1. LG promises "timeless aesthetics" in a luxury package along with a premium price tag. Is the combination of the LG Watch Urbane and Android Wear 5.1.1 enough to get the casual consumer to finally embrace Android Wear?

After a year of strained relations, BlackBerry and T-Mobile are back in business.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere has confirmed that the BlackBerry Classic will launch on the 'Uncarrier' on May 13th, available for $0 down and 24 monthly payments of $18.33, or for a full price of $440.

The two companies have been at odds ever since T-Mobile sent out a marketing email with a coupon urging current BlackBerry customer to upgrade to the iPhone. BlackBerry CEO John Chen called the email "inappropriate" and eventually did not renew their licensing agreement.

Being that BlackBerry sales have cratered year after year and T-Mobile is the hottest carrier in the market right now, it is clear that BlackBerry was willing to let the past stay in the past.

"Together with T-Mobile, we hope to deliver highly differentiated solutions that appeal to our mutual users: the power professionals who depend on their smartphones to get things done and make things happen," said Chen at today's press conference.

Oculus VR has confirmed that the first retail consumer model of their highly anticipated Oculus Rift VR headset will launch in the Q1 2016, with pre-orders beginning later this year.

Says Oculus: "The Rift delivers on the dream of consumer VR with compelling content, a full ecosystem, and a fully-integrated hardware/software tech stack designed specifically for virtual reality. It's a system designed by a team of extremely passionate gamers, developers, and engineers to reimagine what gaming can be."

Developer kits have been available for early adopters (and Kickstarter backers) over the past year but the consumer model will have some design differences.

Reads the press statement: "The Oculus Rift builds on the presence, immersion, and comfort of the Crescent Bay prototype with an improved tracking system that supports both seated and standing experiences, as well as a highly refined industrial design, and updated ergonomics for a more natural fit."

Oculus has promised more details about the hardware, software, input and games in the coming weeks and months.

Gaming giant Nintendo has announced today that profits will double for the fiscal year, thanks to their long-awaited entry into mobile gaming.

In March, the company announced a partnership with DeNA to bring games to smartphones and tablets, and more recently the company announced a partnership with Universal Parks and resorts to bring their characters to theme parks.

Nintendo has forecasted an operating profit of 50 billion yen ($419.71 million) for the fiscal year ended March 2016, well ahead of the analyst estimates of 39 billion yen.

"We definitely want one game this year. And after that we want to come out with new applications, and make sure each one is a hit," said CEO Satoru Iwata.

DeNA CEO Isao Moriyasu said the company hopes the titles will bring in over 3 billion yen per month.

The Wachowski siblings, best known for creating 'The Matrix' and more recently 'Jupiter Ascending,' are back with a new sci-fi series exclusively on Netflix: Sense8.

The show follows the story of eight people around the world that can now tap into the minds of each other, including the ability to use their skills and physical abilities. As Netflix says: "One moment links 8 minds in disparate parts of the world, putting 8 strangers in each other's lives, each other's secrets, and in terrible danger."

All 12 episodes will be available on June 5th, and available in 4K for those that have the hardware for it.

Check out the very interesting trailer here:

According to OnePlus' CEO Pete Lau, the upcoming OnePlus 2 smartphone will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor.

The executive was discussing the phone with fans on Weibo (basically, the Twitter of China), and let some nice tidbits of info out.

In addition to confirming the device will launch in the third quarter and will have the 810 processor, Lau also suggested that 2500 yuan seemed like a "reasonable" price for the device when it launches. At current rates, the phone would sell for $400 in the U.S., much more expensive than its current OnePlus One cost when it launched.

The Snapdragon 810 will be an 'older' chip by the Q3, but the device maker is still expected to have high-end specs across the board for everything else. As rumored, the phone is expected to have a 5.5-inch QHD display, 3GB RAM and a fingerprint scanner that can outperform offerings from LG, HTC and market leader Apple.

If you owned a Nokia phone in the past two decades (let's face it, almost everyone did), then you have definitely played 'Snake' before.

Now, original creator Taneli Armanto is launching the inevitable smartphone sequel, set for release on May 14th for Windows Phone, Android and iOS.

The original game, first released for Nokia phones in 1997, had you controlling a snake and eating objects that made the snake longer, thus making it progressively harder to not hit your own tail or the sides of the screen, in which case you die.

'Snake Rewind' will have the same basic principles and will have 10 separate levels, new types of objects to eat and full high score and rankings leaderboards. The game is free, with in-app purchases.

Check out the trailer below:

Spotify has brought back their popular introductory trial offer for Spotify Premium: 99 cents for three months of the service.

Spotify Premium normally costs $9.99 per month and offers higher bitrate tracks, no ads, and the ability to play music offline and on mobile devices.

There is some small print, however, as anybody who has ever used a trial offer before or are already subscribed to Premium or Unlimited (no ads, no mobile for $4.99) you are ineligible.

Check out the offer here: Spotify Premium

Three months ago, Lenovo was found to have pre-installed the 'Superfish' malware onto PCs, making the computers highly vulnerable to attacks. This week, security researchers have unveiled yet another 'massive security risk' in Lenovo PCs.

Security researcher firm IOActive found major exploits in Lenovo's own update system that could have allowed attackers to completely bypass any validation check and then replace legitimate Lenovo programs with malware, including software to gain remote access to your PC or run commands.

All of the security exploits are found in Lenovo System Update 5.6.0.27 and earlier and were first discovered in February. IOActive worked directly with Lenovo on a fix before going public with the exploits. "Lenovo's development and security teams worked directly with IOActive regarding their Lenovo System Update vulnerability findings," Lenovo said in a statement, "and we value their expertise in identifying and responsibly reporting them."

If you haven't already, make sure to update your system with the patches.

Check out more information on the vulnerabilities and the patches here: IOActive

Year after year, cable and Internet giant Comcast is ranked as having the worst customer service in the U.S., and it appears that the company is looking to shed that horrible reputation finally.

As part of a new "multi-year customer experience transformation" plan, the company is creating 5500 customer service jobs.

Starting in the Q3 of this year, the company has set a goal to always be on time for customer appointments (wow, just wow) and to make sure techs are trained properly so they actually know what to do when they get to your home (sigh). If the tech is late or doesn't show up, customers will be credited with $20 off their monthly bill for that month.

On the back end, the company is rolling out new customer service tools to "simplify billing and create better policies to provide greater consistency and transparency to customers." Additionally, the company says phone calls to the company should be less painful now, and in-store visits shouldn't be like pulling teeth thanks to new software.

Comcast has been so bad, that a few phone calls with Comcast reps have even gone viral for how abusive they are and Comcast didn't even seem to care that they did. Hopefully, this really is a change for the better.

Roku and Sharp have announced this week that Best Buy will soon be selling Sharp Roku TV models, smart LED TVs that are built on the Roku OS.

"We are pleased to offer Sharp smart TVs that run the Roku OS and provide consumers with an easy and elegant way to enjoy their entertainment," said Vishnu Rao, director of technology planning for Sharp Electronics. "We believe the benefits of the Roku platform combined with the superiority of the Sharp brand makes an appealing combination for consumers looking for a great smart TV experience."

"Roku TV has garnered high praise. People love how easy it is to access all their TV entertainment sources from one simple home screen, including access to the biggest streaming channel line up in the industry," added Chas Smith, general manager of OEM for Roku. "Sharp is an exceptional brand, and these new Sharp Roku TV models offer consumers a fantastic smart TV experience we know they'll love."

The main page of a Roku TV allows you to personalize your favorite streaming apps and other entertainment choices including attached Blu-ray players, live TV and game consoles. The Roku TV streamlines multiple inputs into one interface. Additionally, you can find the availability of your favorite movies and TV shows on hundreds of different streaming channels, and you can also search for actors, directors and filmographies.

According to Windows insider Paul Thurrott, the Xbox One should be getting a DVR feature later this year.

Currently, Xbox owners have TV tuner capabilities, but you can only pause live TV, not record it.

While DVR makes 100 percent sense given the Xbox's media center tech and its HDMI-in support for cable boxes, there is a major logistic issue. The Xbox One has a standard 500GB hard drive, which may not be enough to record your favorite episodes and hold games that can be as large as 40GB each.

Of course, Microsoft could allow for recording to external hard drives or flash storage, but we won't know until later this year.

CRM king Salesforce apparently has a major suitor: Microsoft.

Salesforce has already hired two investment banks to help it respond to offers, and is open to being sold.

The company's suitor will have to pay a pretty penny to get into the customer relationship management business. Salesforce helps companies interact with customers including tech to organize marketing, sales, customer service, tech support and more.

Microsoft has a partnership with Salesforce to ensure their software integrates easily, and each company's CEO has said great things about the other company.

As of writing, Salesforce has jumped over 15 percent in the past few weeks and is now valued at near $47 billion.

Nvidia has announced they are winding down their Icera division, the team responsible for developing LTE modems.

The company purchased Icera in 2011 but was never able to compete with market leader Qualcomm, and more recently even with MediaTek or Intel.

Initially, Nvidia had a goal of integrating their own Icera modems into the popular and powerful Nvidia Tegra processors, but only one such hybrid exists - the Nvidia Tegra 4i - and it never made it to any device worth mentioning.

Noted Nvidia: