Latest news

As part of a broader report on Apple today, the WSJ has suggested that Apple's rumored 12-inch MacBook Air could be launched as early as Monday.

Apple has scheduled a press event for Monday in which they are widely expected to reveal a firm launch date for the Apple Watch including pricing. However, Apple could have more than one announcement scheduled.

Says the report: "While suppliers are gearing up to ship the new 12-inch MacBook Air in large quantities in the second quarter, Apple's launch schedule remains unclear, the people said."

The new Air will be thinner and lighter, and the 12-inch display will take the same space as the current 11-inch Airs, suggesting smaller bezels. The new laptop will also have minimal ports, with some reports suggesting there will be a single USB C port.

Nvidia has unveiled the new Titan X GPU - the most powerful video card ever created.

CEO Jen-Hsun Huang says the GPU has 8 billion transistors, uses the new Nvidia Maxwell architecture and has a ridiculous 12 gigabytes of VRAM.

More will be revealed on the spec side in the coming weeks, but Nvidia demoed the power of the Titan X by showing off 'Thief in the Shadows,' a VR experience that lets gamers "wade through acres of coins, pass between stacks of gold ingots and explore subterranean crevices all guarded by an enormous dragon that has no intention of giving up any of his hoard" (Smaug from The Hobbit). The game plays at 90fps.

Last month, Chinese smartphone giant announced that they were opening an online store for U.S. customers and the company has confirmed now that it will be doing the same for Europe.

Unfortunately, just like in the U.S., the European store will not include phone or tablet sales, just accessories and smaller devices like the Mi Band fitness tracker and Mi speakers and headphones.

"It's going to be a different Mi.com experience from what we have in our markets in Asia, because we're not selling phones," said Hugo Barra, former Android exec and now Xiaomi's global vice president. "We're only going to sell a small number of our hero accessories, things like the Mi Band, studio-grade headphones, in-ear headphones and the world's most popular power banks."

The lack of phone sales is notable as the company has quickly risen to the world's third largest smartphone maker in just 4 years of existence, thanks to brisk sales in Asia. The company has massive revenues but short profits as the margins are tight on all devices they sell in an effort to get their ecosystem into the hands of millions where they can sell software and services at nearly 100 percent margins.

First thing this morning, Marvel's The Avengers Twitter page tweeted out a simple request: Tweet #AvengersAssemble to 'unlock' a new trailer for the hotly anticipated film.

Thousands of fans quickly tweeted the message and Marvel rewarded them with a brand new trailer that includes new footage and a good luck at Vision.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is set for release on May 1st.

Check the tweet followed by the trailer:

Although the date was leaked last month, Konami has confirmed that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be released on September 1st.

Notably, Metal Gear Online will also go live the same day, giving gamers the chance to get into the competitive multiplayer mode right out of the gate.

The game will sell for $60 for PS4 and Xbox One and $10 less for PS3 and Xbox 360. PC gamers will have to wait two weeks to get the title via Steam.

Dish has confirmed today that Sling TV subscribers will now have access to AMC and IFC - without any increase to their subscription price.

The service will cost $20 per month and includes the following channels: TNT, TBS, CNN, Food Network, HGTV, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, the Disney Channel, Galavision, El Rey Network, a Maker Studios channel and ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN 3.

For $5 extra, there are add-on packages, the latest of which is called 'Hollwood Extra' and includes EPIX, EPIX 2, EPIX3, EPIX Drive In, and Sundance TV.

AMC is a big deal given the hit status of Better Call Saul, the last season of Mad Men and the ongoing Walking Dead series.

Nvidia has announced the latest generation of their SHIELD series, introducing the "world's first 4K Android TV console."

The design of the console is pretty cool compared to the ugly black boxes we have become accustomed to with Apple TV, Roku and Amazon, with Nvidia's green accents (and LEDs) and a triangular shape.

Launching in May, the console will cost just $199 and include a controller. Nvidia's Grid cloud service will be pre-installed. The console supports 4K video at 60fps, the first piece of hardware to do so. Under the hood is a new Tegra X1 superchip, making it multiple times more powerful than existing set-top boxes.

In their demo, Nvidia promised 50 curated Android games that were ported specifically to work with the X1 including Crysis 3.

Here's the full spec breakdown:

•NVIDIA Tegra X1 Processor with 256-core Maxwell GPU
•3GB RAM
•4K Ultra-HD Ready with 4K playback and capture up to 60fps (VP9, H265, H264)
•Audio Features: 7.1 and 5.1 surround sound pass through over HDMI, High-resolution audio playback up to 24-bit/192kHz over HDMI and USB, High-resolution audio upsample to 24-bit/192hHz over USB
•16GB on board storage, MicroSD slot supporting 128GB
•Wireless: 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi
•Bluetooth: 4.1/BLE
•Interfaces: Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.0, Two USB 3.0 (Type A), Micro-USB 2.0
•IR Receiver (compatible with Logitech Harmony)

Nvidia has confirmed that its 'Grid' cloud gaming service will indeed be a subscription service that allows gamers to stream new and older catalog titles at up to 1080p and 60fps.

The service will launch in May and will have over 50 games at launch. You can purchase additional titles, normally at full price, from Nvidia's store. Most new high-end games will be available on Grid the same day as their physical and digital releases.

There will be two tiers of the service, free and premium, although it is unclear how much the premium tier will cost.

CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said the lag time is almost non-existent, as the service is backed by Amazon Web Services and Nvidia's own Grid supercomputers. "If you have a fairly good internet connection, I can get a response from a computer based in Oregon in 150 milliseconds. That's half the blink of an eye," added the exec.

You will need at least a 25Mbps downstream connection to be able to stream at 1080p.

In their demo, the company showed off streaming of new games like Resident Evil: Revelations 2 and Witcher 3 and there seemed to be no visual lag. Quality did appear a bit lower than playing on a $2000 gaming rig or the PS4, for example, but that was to be expected.

Google has announced today that starting with the release of Chrome 42, the browser will no longer support Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Currently in stable Chrome 40, Chrome 42 is expected to launch in April. If you are one of the 6 percent of Android users that still uses the old version of the mobile operating system, after the new release you will no longer be able to update your Chrome browser, leaving it potentially vulnerable but certainly without whatever new features and performance tweaks newer versions may offer.

Ice Cream Sandwiched launched in late 2011, and the OS has been substantially upgraded by the newer Jelly Bean, KitKat and Android 5.0 Lollipop.

So why the new move? Google answered: "While the number of Ice Cream Sandwich devices is shrinking, supporting them in terms of engineering effort and technical complexity is increasingly difficult over time. Each new feature or web capability that's added to Chrome must be built and tested for ICS. Often workarounds and special cases have to be added specifically for ICS, and that adds code complexity, slows performance, and increases development time. The number of ICS devices is now sufficiently small that we can better serve our users by phasing out support for earlier devices and focusing on making Chrome better for the vast majority of users on more modern devices."

Netflix has announced that fans in Australia and New Zealand will finally get access to the company's streaming catalog.

Many Aussies and Kiwis have heard a lot about Netflix over the years, and we're excited they'll get to experience our unique blend of Netflix original content, local series and films, and popular movies and TV shows from around the world, all for a low monthly price," said Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder and chief executive officer.

Starting on March 24th, consumers can choose between three service plans: single stream SD, two-stream HD and a four-stream 4K 'family plan.' Pricing is not official yet, but it is expected to be in line with global prices, which are $7.99 for the base plan, $1 more for the HD plan and $3 more for the family plan.

Most notably, Australian customers of ISP iiNet, which has a bandwidth cap, will not see Netflix counted towards their monthly quota, a relief as Netflix and other streaming services can quickly and quietly eat up your monthly data cap in no time.

Sony has boasted today that global PlayStation 4 sales have reached a new milestone: 20 million units.

"We are so grateful for the enormous support from PlayStation fans worldwide, and we are truly humbled that gamers around the globe have continued to select PS4 as the best place to play," added Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House. "We remain steadfast in our commitment to deliver unique and interactive entertainment experiences powered by the network and the PS4 system's deep social capabilities."

The company expects sales to continue to be strong with an upcoming lineup of games including Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Bloodborne, Until Dawn, Tearaway Unfolded, and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.

Major rival Microsoft has not had any new milestones to share since November when they reached 10 million units sold, but undoubtedly the Redmond giant has sold millions since given the exceptionally strong holiday season the company had thanks to a price cut across the board on its console and bundles.

Source:
Sony

Netflix's first original sci-fi program 'Sense8' will launch on June 5th via the streaming service.

The drama follows the story of eight 'sensates' - people that are linked to each other technologically following an accident.

Sense8 was created by the Wachowskis (The Matrix), and written by J. Michael Straczynski (most recently Thor, World War Z).

"We're excited to work with Netflix and Georgeville Television on this project, and we've wanted to work with Joe Straczynski for years, chiefly due to the fact his name is harder to pronounce than ours, but also because we share a love of genre and all things nerdy," added Andy and Lana Wachowski when the show was first announced. "Several years ago, we had a late night conversation about the ways technology simultaneously unites and divides us, and out of that paradox Sense8 was born."

Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to African war drama 'Beasts of No Nation' as the streaming giant sets on a path to win an Oscar.

The movie, which stars Idris Elba, will be available for a limited theatrical run and then available around the globe on Netflix later the same day.

Netflix paid $11.9 million for the rights, and industry sources say the company will make a strong Oscar push for the film, hence the reason it is going to theaters at all. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rules states "films that in any version, receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release will not be eligible for Academy Awards in any category."

The film is the story of an African child forced to join a group of soldiers.

Outside of their own exclusive original TV programming, Netflix has made a strong move into feature films. The streaming service will host 4 original Adam Sandler films, a sequel to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," 4 original films from comedy and drama writers Jay and Mark Duplass and 'Jodatville,' starring Jamie Dorman of recent Fifty Shades of Grey fame.

Samsung has released eight sample photos that the company claims they have taken with the freshly announced Galaxy S6 (or the Galaxy S6 edge).

Obviously the settings have been optimized for the best result whether it is the lighting or stationary objects or the camera but the photos should give you a sense of what kind of quality you can expect in a perfect situation.

The first five of the pictures have been taken with Galaxy S6's 16 megapixel camera in the back and the last three with the five megapixel selfie shooter. The size of the selfie photos are around 2,5 megabytes but the size of the 16 megapixel ones range from just over three to nearly seven megabytes depending on the quality and amount of detail.

HTC's this years flagship reveal was as expected the One M9. A new versio of last year's One was just that – a new version.

Starting with the five inch Full HD display everything seems to be pretty much as it is with the company's offering. They have made a change in the camera department and switched the UltraPixel camera in the back for a 20 megapixel one that will improve the detail but that seems to be it.

The aluminum shelled One M9 features a Snapdragon 810, outperformed by the Samsung's own Exynos chip, 3 gigabytes of RAM, 32 gigabytes of microSD expandable storage and a UltraPixel selfie camera that claims to provide low light performance to the facial shots that you desire.

The phone has a 2840 mAh battery and an improved front facing duo BoomSound speakers that support Dolby Surround.

HTC One M9 is expected to land on all major carriers "early spring" with a $199 on two year contract price tag.