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AfterDawn: News

OnePlus releases their own operating system, OxygenOS

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 05 Apr 2015 9:34

OnePlus releases their own operating system, OxygenOS After a year of running the popular Cyanogen operating system, Chinese smartphone startup OnePlus had a falling out with the company and announced they would be creating their own operating system based on Android.

That operating system - OxygenOS - is now available for OnePlus One owners who are willing to take the plunge.

OxygenOS is close to stock Android 5.0 Lollipop, and the company says they went 'back to basics' while also "placing things like performance and battery life over gimmicks and bloated features."

In addition to the normal stock Android, you will also get gesture shortcuts that can be inputted even when the screen is off, a better file explorer, and some 'advanced options' that could be found in Cyanogen builds.

Check out more, including installation instructions, here: OnePlus




AfterDawn: News

Get your official BBC Doctor Who 'box set' bundle via BitTorrent now

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Apr 2015 10:11

Get your official BBC Doctor Who 'box set' bundle via BitTorrent now The BBC has released a 'Doctor Who' box-set bundle of 10 episodes available digitally via the BitTorrent network.

The bundle is free to download, but you will only be able to stream the intro video from the Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi and a 10-minute preview of the first ep. To fully own the 10 episodes, you will need to pay $12.

A full list of the episodes includes Rose, The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, The End of Time, The Vampires of Venice, The Doctor's Wife, The Rings of Akhaten, The Day of the Doctor, and Listen.

If you buy, you also get 5 additional intro videos from Capaldi and the 2014 documentary; Doctor Who: Earth Challenge.

"Our entire mission is to get content out legitimately to as many fans as we can around the world. We're in a lot of territories, but we're not everywhere, and not everybody has access to paid-for TV,"
said Julia Kenyon, director of drama brands at BBC Worldwide. "This is a really lovely way to extend it even further so that more of our fans can get our content. We have quite a young audience. They're very digital-savvy, and a lot of them access content in the digital space, so understanding their habits, and going where they are is very important for us."

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AfterDawn: News

Sony acquires game streaming service OnLive and shuts it down

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Apr 2015 8:59

Sony acquires game streaming service OnLive and shuts it down OnLive, the original streaming game service that disappeared unexpectedly in 2013, has been acquired today by Sony.

Unfortunately for fans of the service, Sony is immediately shutting down OnLive, likely integrating patents to its portfolio or potentially some tech into its cloud streaming service for PlayStation gamers.

Reads the blog post: "It is with great sadness that we must bring the OnLive Game Service to a close. Sony is acquiring important parts of OnLive, and their plans don't include a continuation of the game service in its current form. Your service should continue uninterrupted until April 30, 2015. No further subscription fees will be charged, and you can continue to play all of your games until that date.

After April 30, 2015, our data centers will shut down and the service will be offline. All accounts will be closed, and all data deleted including game save data, achievements, and credit card data will be deleted. If you purchased a Steam game from OnLive, that game will still be available on Steam. No refunds will be available for any game purchases, hardware purchases, or subscriptions."

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AfterDawn: News

Sling TV adds option for HBO for $15 extra per month

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Apr 2015 12:19

Sling TV adds option for HBO for $15 extra per month Last night, Time Warner and Dish Network avoided a blackout by agreeing to a new broadcasting deal and the deal came with an interesting side deal.

Sling TV subscribers, who currently pay at least $20 per month for online live TV streaming, will now be able to pay an additional $15 per month and have access to standalone HBO without the need for a cable or satellite subscription.

The HBO included with Sling TV has "one live channel and the same extensive VOD library HBO provides on its other platforms." This means live TV and movie viewing and also access to the back catalogs like HBO Go users have, which is a pretty big deal.

One thing to keep in mind is Sling TV owners does not allow streaming on more than one device at a time, but it does allow you to stream to a wide variety of devices including Roku, Xbox and more.

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AfterDawn: News

Sprint settles long-standing lawsuit over Nextel acquisition for $131 million

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 01 Apr 2015 11:13

Sprint settles long-standing lawsuit over Nextel acquisition for $131 million Sprint has agreed to pay $131 million to settle a long-standing class-action lawsuit dating back to their disastrous acquisition of Nextel in 2005.

At the time, Sprint merged with Nextel for $36 billion, and the company stated at the time that a merger would add billions of dollars in benefits and improve the subscriber base. The suit claimed that Sprint's former CEO Gary Forsee and other officials inflated the stock price of the company based on those claims, which turned out to be completely false.

Sprint never properly integrated Nextel and lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers between 2006 and 2008 eventually taking a $30 billion loss on the acquisition of Nextel.

The calculated damages were $1.07 billion so the settlement is very large considering what similar cases have gone for.

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AfterDawn: News

Netflix wants universal content for all of its libraries

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 01 Apr 2015 10:27

Netflix wants universal content for all of its libraries Netflix is tired of trying to deal with VPN and proxy users and CEO Reed Hastings says the company's ultimate goal is universal content across the globe.

"The VPN thing is a small little asterisk compared to piracy,"
Hastings added. "Piracy is really the problem around the world."

"The basic solution is for Netflix to get global and have its content be the same all around the world so there's no incentive to [use a VPN]," he explained. "Then we can work on the more important part which is piracy. The key thing about piracy is that some fraction of it is because [users] couldn't get the content. That part we can fix.

"Some part of piracy however is because they just don't want to pay. That's a harder part. As an industry, we need to fix global content."


Hastings obviously has a point. Netflix has nearly 60 million paying subscribers, and many watch over 50 hours a week of content. The demand is out there for paying subscribers but it is unfair for catalogs to be different based on stupid and outdated laws.

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AfterDawn: News

Two federal agents accused of stealing Bitcoins seized from the Silk Road

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 01 Apr 2015 9:08

Two federal agents accused of stealing Bitcoins seized from the Silk Road Two former federal agents, one from the DEA and one from the U.S. Secret Service, have been accused of stealing Bitcoins after millions of dollars were seized from the online drug bazaar Silk Road.

The agents have been charged with wire fraud, money laundering and other offenses for the alleged theft, which took place before and after the raid that took down the black market in 2013.

DEA agent Carl Force was the lead agent in the murder-for-hire case against convicted Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht and U.S. Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges was a computer forensics expert on the case.

Allegedly, Force set up fake online profiles in attempts to extort funds from Ulbricht. At one point, Force extorted $100,000 in Bitcoin from Ulbricht, which was deposited to his personal accounts and later wired to an account in Panama to launder the funds.

Additionally, Force was an investor in CoinMKT, and he used his position as an executive to illegally seize accounts and Bitcoin, taking as much as $297,000.

Bridges allegedly stole $820,000 from Silk Road and was also the person who signed off on the seizure of about $33 million in bitcoin from Ulbricht and the Silk Road.

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AfterDawn: News

Redbox, Warner Bros. extend their Blu-ray, DVD deal

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2015 11:29

Redbox, Warner Bros. extend their Blu-ray, DVD deal Redbox has announced a new two-year deal with Warner Bros. to release top Blu-ray and DVD discs in Redbox kiosks after the standard 28-day delay window.

"As America's destination for new-release home entertainment, Redbox is pleased to establish a new deal with Warner Bros. that allows us to continue to add value to our customers and content creators,"
said Mark Horak, president of Redbox. "Redbox remains committed to driving substantial industry revenue and providing consumers with affordable access to new-release movies."

"Redbox is an important partner,"
said Ron Sanders, president, Warner Bros. World Wide Home Entertainment Distribution. "And I am very pleased that we have finalized a new two year agreement."

Redbox has 35,000 locations around the world.

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AfterDawn: News

LG G4 announcement expected on April 28th

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2015 11:10

LG G4 announcement expected on April 28th LG has sent out press invites for events on April 28th and 29th around the globe in NY, London, Seoul, Paris, Singapore and Istanbul in which the tech giant is expected to announce the LG G4 flagship.

The invite says "See the Great. Feel the Great," and includes the G series logo.

Last year, LG launched its G3 in the same cities and the invite was eerily similar, as well.

As usual, the upcoming G flagship is expected to include a large screen and top specs.

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AfterDawn: News

PlayStation Music powered by Spotify now available on PS3, PS4, Xperia

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2015 10:12

PlayStation Music powered by Spotify now available on PS3, PS4, Xperia A few months after announcing the service, Sony has launched PlayStation Music on the PS3, PS4 and Xperia devices in 41 markets.

PlayStation Music is powered by Spotify and has over 30 million tracks and 1.5 billion playlists.

Reads the post: "PS4 users can soundtrack their gaming sessions with their favorite songs. To make controlling your music even easier PS4 and PS3 users will be able to take advantage of the Spotify Connect feature on the official Spotify app for Android/iOS. You can select a playlist, skip songs, adjust the volume, and more."

PSN users can link their existing accounts to Spotify but you will need to pay $9.99 per month for the premium subscription that offers unlimited music.

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AfterDawn: News

Some alleged details leak about OnePlus Two

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2015 9:52

Some alleged details leak about OnePlus Two We now have some alleged details about the upcoming OnePlus Two smartphone that is set for release later this year.

OnePlus, a Chinese startup, became pretty popular for its high-end specs and low price. The device was also hard to get since OnePlus had a ridiculous invite system that has only since changed to a more open system.

According to the new reports, the new device will have "laser focus fingerprint identification embedded in the home button." In addition, the phone is said to look like the Oppo Find 7, which is another device with top specs and a low price, especially when compared to the iPhone and Samsung line of devices.

The new OnePlus Two is expected to launch in the Q3, and there will be more details likely in short order.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Halo 5: Guardians will launch on Xbox One on October 27th

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2015 9:21

Halo 5: Guardians will launch on Xbox One on October 27th Microsoft has announced that Halo 5: Guardians will be released for the Xbox One on October 27th.

343 Industries studio head Bonnie Ross also added a little background about the game, noting it deliver "epic scope and scale and drama," while expanding and changing the existing Halo universe.

"We wanted Halo 5: Guardians to be the game that pays off the epic promise of the Halo universe in scope and scale and drama," Ross said. "We want to amaze players with the sheer size of the worlds and battles they'll experience, even as they question everything they thought they knew about its heroes, marvels, and mysteries."

Check the latest trailer here:

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AfterDawn: News

Report: Thousands of stolen Uber accounts on sale for $1 a piece

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Mar 2015 11:22

Report: Thousands of stolen Uber accounts on sale for $1 a piece According to a new Vice report, darkweb sellers claim to have thousands of active Uber login credentials for sale, for as low as $1 a piece.

With a username and password, you have access to a user's trip history, as well as the last four digits and expiration date of the attached credit or debit card and their telephone number.

Of course, you can also get a cab with the information and travel anywhere you want on someone else's dime.

Uber says they have not seen any security breaches, but the report verified that quite a few of the accounts were active by calling the users and reading back the info. "We investigated and found no evidence of a breach. Attempting to fraudulently access or sell accounts is illegal and we notified the authorities about this report. This is a good opportunity to remind people to use strong and unique usernames and passwords and to avoid reusing the same credentials across multiple sites and services."

While Uber may not have been directly breached, if Uber user's info was taken from any other breach and they used the same password and user combo on Uber, the info could have been compromised that way.

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AfterDawn: News

Microsoft and Yahoo extend their search partnership negotiations for another month

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Mar 2015 5:25

Microsoft and Yahoo extend their search partnership negotiations for another month First started five years ago after Microsoft failed to acquire its smaller rival, the two companies have extended negotiations on a search partnership between their Bing and Yahoo search engines.

The deal is a ten-year deal, but the contract allowed for a termination or re-negotiation after five years.

That point hit on February 23rd, but they have agreed to extend the negotiations to 60 days from 30.

"We value our partnership with Microsoft and continue discussions about plans for the future. We have nothing further to announce at this time,"
Yahoo said in a statement.

The two tech giants teamed up to take on Google but Google's share has not dipped in the last five years.

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AfterDawn: News

Pebble crushes Kickstarter record, raises $20 million for latest color e-paper Time smartwatch

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Mar 2015 3:36

Pebble crushes Kickstarter record, raises $20 million for latest color e-paper Time smartwatch Pebble easily crushed crowdfunding records with its latest campaign, which just closed on Friday.

The Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel watches were the fastest to reach $1 million, taking just 49 minutes to do so. Additionally, by the time the campaign was done, the company had raised $20.3 million, crushing the previous record set by the "smart" cooler 'Coolest Cooler.'

Altogether, 78,463 people pledged, each paying at least $159 for the upcoming watch, which will retail for $199. The Pebble Time Steel will retail for $299.

"We cannot thank the Pebble community enough for their monumental support,"
Eric Migicovsky, Pebble CEO, said in a statement. "We continue to listen to and be inspired by the backers who believed in us and supported our vision from day one."

Differentiating the watch from its predecessors is the color e-paper display, which is the first time Pebble has gone a route other than black and white. The device also has 7 day battery life for the Time and 10 days for the Steel, a big jump from Android Wear and the Apple Watch which normally require a charge in under 24 hours.

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