Latest news

Samsung has announced it has begun mass producing 128GB Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 embedded memory chips for next-generation smartphones.

"With our mass production of ultra-fast UFS memory of the industry's highest capacity, we are making a significant contribution to enable a more advanced mobile experience for consumers," said Jee-ho Baek, Senior Vice President of Memory Marketing, Samsung Electronics. "In the future, we will increase the proportion of high-capacity memory solutions, in leading the continued growth of the premium memory market."


According to Samsung, UFS "memory utilizes 'Command Queue,' a technology that accelerates the speed of command execution in SSDs through a serial interface, significantly increasing data processing speeds compared to the 8-bit parallel-interface-based eMMC standard.

As a result, Samsung UFS memory conducts 19,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) for random reading, which is 2.7 times faster than the most common embedded memory for high-end smartphones today, the eMMC 5.0. It also delivers a sequential read and write performance boost up to SSD levels, in addition to a 50 percent decrease in energy consumption. In addition, the random read speed is 12 times faster than that of a typical high-speed memory card (which runs at 1,500 IOPS), and is expected to greatly improve system performance."

A number of Chinese streaming sites have backtracked on their promise to stream the uncensored full version of 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' citing 'special reasons.'

The movie, which features sexual bondage and has been a hit across the globe, set February box office records in the U.S. The book on which it is based upon, was a best-selling hit, as well.

LeTV.com, iQiyi.com and QQ.com had each said on Weibo that they would stream the film but just posted apologies. "We pray that everyone won't have to watch a 'big-head' version when it becomes available," LeTV said, referring to recent films and TV shows that censor out low necklines by zooming in on the women's faces during scenes.

The aforementioned site did say it would release the uncut version for premium subscribers.

Even though the Apple Watch is at least two weeks away from launch, luxury design company Brikk has already announced a line of Apple Watches that cost as much as $75,000.

We are a couple of weeks away from learning the pricing and availability of the different models of the Apple Watch, but many have speculated that the high end 'Edition' model will cost $10,000.

Brikk has placed 30 different models of the smartwatch up for pre-order, starting at $7500, and each watch is a teardown of the original which is then "rebuilt with luxury materials" including diamonds.

Besides the diamonds, you can choose from 24-karat yellow gold, 18-karat pink gold, and 950 platinum and you can also choose between the standard 38mm face or a larger 42mm for extra money.

At the very base price, you get the Lux Watch Standard with a leather strap and a single row of 0.5 carat diamonds. The $75,000 model gets you a titanium band and 11.3 carat diamonds on the face and strap. The top model requires a non-refundable $10,000 deposit. It even comes with an "aluminum zero" case with carbon fiber and suede interior.

Swedish telecom hardware maker Ericsson has sued Apple for patent infringement, filing a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).

Apple allegedly refused Ericsson's offer to have a court ruling determine licensing terms between the companies.

Ericsson's patents are related to the 2G and 4G/LTE standards used in all of Apple products and Ericsson wants an injunction on the affected products and also damages.

The previous licensing agreement expired a month ago. At that time, Apple filed a lawsuit claiming that the patents were not essential to the industry's standards, and that Ericsson was charging exorbitant royalties fees.

If Ericsson wins, Apple will have to pay at least $250 million a year in royalties, depending on how many iPhones are sold.

Panasonic has unveiled their first 64-bit Android smartphone, the awfully named Eluga U2.

The device runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop, has a 5-inch 720p IPS display, a 64-bit quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and a 2500mAh battery. The cameras are 5MP/13MP, providing clearer selfies than most existing phones.

Most importantly, the phone will be priced at $250 unlocked when it launches, although it is unclear if it will ship outside of Asian markets.

Paired with the recently announced Lumix CM1 and its DSLR-esque, it appears that Panasonic is back in the game.

Google SVP and head of Android and Chrome Sundar Pichai has said today that some popular products may soon breakaway from Google+, starting with Hangouts and Photos.

Currently you need Google+ to have access to the other products but that could change soon. "I think increasingly you'll see us focus on communications [Hangouts], photos, and the Google+ stream as three important areas, rather than being thought of as one area," Pichai noted.

Hangouts, which allows users to chat, video chat and send photos, is popular among Gmail and Android fans but has nowhere near the popularity of WhatsApp or even Facebook's own Messenger service. That's okay, says Pichai: "Things like WhatsApp are a great example of success that others have had on Android, which we see as welcome innovation on the platform. In the aggregate, we also care about building great services for people. At that level, we view communications as an important area. But that doesn't mean the answer is always a vertical service. We do have products like Hangouts which we will invest in and evolve. But we also care about the platform in these areas, how we evolve the platform so we support others to do these innovations as well."

Sony has confirmed that its oft-rumored Z4 tablet is ready for primetime, with launch expected on March 3rd during the Mobile World Congress event.

Posted on their on Xperia Lounge app before getting pulled, the device has a "stunning 2K display" (likely 2048 × 1536 resolution), "the latest ultra fast processor" (likely the Snapdragon 810) and "industry leading battery performance" (hopefully 12 hours+).

The teaser of the design shows a thin device with curved edges, familiar to owners of the Z3 Compact.

We will know the full specs and prices next week.

According to a new report, Motorola has confirmed that its Moto 360 smartwatch will soon get MotoMaker customization, allowing users to pick and choose what they want for their watch.

Motorola says the new addition to its MotoMaker site is coming in March, and that the options available at launch are 'just the beginning.'

There will be three different finishes; black, silver and gold and eight different band styles. You can also choose the default watch face you want.

Moto 360 through MotoMaker will be available in the U.S., UK, France and Germany and will most likely launch before Apple's Watch event on March 9th.

Aereo, the now-defunct online TV service, saw its assets sell for just $2 million in bankruptcy auction.

The company said it was expecting a low floor price of $4 million so the final results were less than encouraging.

TiVo purchased the company's trademark, customer database and some other assets while RPX Corp (a patent risk-management co.) acquired the company's patents. IT consultant Alliance Technologies purchased some of the antennas. Altogether, the auction had 10 total bidders, below expectations.

"We are very disappointed with the results of the auction," William Baldiga, a lawyer for Aereo at Brown Rudnick LLP, said in a statement Thursday. "This has been a very difficult sales process and the results reflect that."

Aereo used thousands of tiny OTA antennas to stream live TV to subscribers with the ability to DVR. The broadcast giants sued and the case eventually got to the U.S. Supreme Court where Aereo lost. The company filed for bankruptcy about 5 months later.

Apple has sent out press invites for a special event on March 9th at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.

Although it is unconfirmed, there is little question that Apple will use the event to unveil prices and a firm release date for the highly anticipated Apple Watch.

Apple's base 'Sport' model will cost $349, followed in higher price by the steel Apple Watch and then the gold Apple Edition.

Speaking to sources and getting his bearings in the watch world, connected insider John Gruber recently posted that he believes the steel Apple Watch with sport band will start at $749, while the Edition models will retail for $10,000 or higher.

We will know in two weeks.

Google has purchased the entire '.app' top-level domain (TLD) for $25 million.

In 2012, Google applied for a few new TLDs including .android, .docs, .app and more. ICANN, the group that controls the world's domains, began auctioning the TLDs in June and other tech giants have already acquired their own TLDs for millions of dollars.

At $25 million, however, Google's investment dwarfs previous purchases including '.tech' which sold for $6.7 million and '.buy' which sold for $5 million.

"We've been excited and curious about the potential for new TLDs for .soy long. We are very .app-y with .how, at a .minna-mum, they have the potential to .foo-ward internet innovation," a Google spokesperson said, making references to some of the search giant's other TLDs.

After about 15 months of exclusivity, Spotify appears to have lost their hold on the popular Led Zeppelin discography.

As of this week, fans can find the artists on Rdio, Beats Music, Google Play Music, Xbox Music, Deezer and a few others including Jay Z's new high fidelity Tidal service.

Zeppelin was one of the notable holdouts in the streaming world until their deal with Spotify in 2013. A few others like Metallica and Prince still refuse to offer their catalogs via streaming but hopefully that will change in the near future.

In 2013, Target had a massive data breach in which 70 million customers had their credit and debit card information stolen.

Today, the company has finally revealed the losses it took from the breach, a staggering $162 million.

In 2013, the company booked a $61 million gross loss and $191 million for 2014. Cyber attack insurance covered $90 million over the two years. Those figures could get larger in 2015 as the retailer faces a number of class action lawsuits.

In recent months, attacks on retailers and other companies have escalated, culminating with a breach by Anthem Health, one of the largest health insurance companies in the U.S.

Motorola has unveiled their second-generation Moto E today, adding a larger display and LTE for the same low price: $149.

The new smartphone has a 4.5-inch screen (540 x 960 resolution), 4G LTE networking and an improved Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor. Additionally, the device has a 5MP rear camera, a VGA front side camera, and 8GB internal storage to go with Android 5.0 which is basically stock.

Almost identical to its predecessor in design, the backplate has different color options.

If you don't need LTE, you can get the 3G model for $119, making the phone even a better value.

Earlier today, Lenovo.com got defaced by someone claiming to be the Lizard Squad, an embarrassing take down and more bad PR for the company still reeling from the fallout of pre-installing adware on some of their PCs.

At around 4PM, visitors to the site saw a slideshow of teens with 'Breaking Free' from High School Musical playing in the background.

The attackers are said to have hijacked Lenovo's domain record, having the ability to redirect Lenovo.com to a third-party server. In the source code of the hijacked pages, you can find the sentence "the new and improved rebranded Lenovo website featuring Ryan King and Rory Andrew Godfrey."

Both names have been identified as members of Lizard Squad, but it is unclear if they were really behind the attack.