Latest news

Amazon has announced that The Washington Post is now available as a free app for Amazon Kindle Fire tablet owners.

CEO Jeff Bezos acquired the newspaper last year, so the move is not too surprising.

The new app was developed by a group within TWP, and will offer a curated selection of news and photos. Free and pre-loaded for Kindle Fire owners, the app will also be available as a free download for iOS and Android tablets, although you will have to pay for a monthly subscription if you are not using an Amazon device.

Bezos purchased the paper for $250 million last year, picking up a legendary news outlet that was consistently losing tons of money. Since then, readership is up 60 percent and Bezos has actually hired 100 new reporters and other staff. Many believe the content has significantly improved since the acquisition.

Source:
BusinessWeek

Plex has announced the official release of its Plex for Xbox One, the first updated personal media app for the next-gen consoles.

In addition, there is a a Plex for Xbox 360, although it is not available today but should be "soon." Plex is software that allows the streaming of videos, music and photos to a wide range of devices and is compatible with Mac, Windows 8, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, many popular NAS devices, and others.

Plex CPO Scott Olechowski says the Xbox One platform was the most requested by fans of the service: "Plex for Xbox is an exciting milestone in our continued effort to help people enjoy their personal media, wherever they happen to keep it, on all of their screens. It also happens to be the platform most requested by Plex enthusiasts, and we have worked hard to design an experience that will delight them and Xbox fans alike."

For current Plex Pass subscribers, the apps are free but they will be available to non-subscribers for a one-time purchase price, likely at $9.99.

A few of the key features:

Your Plex Media Server makes your media library look beautiful by automatically collecting and displaying artwork, content ratings, plot summaries, and more for your media. Now, Plex for Xbox provides a new experience in your living room with a bold presentation that feels right at home on Xbox.

Jonathan D. Hall, former indicted hacker and president of Future South Technologies has confirmed that many major web properties have been infiltrated using the Shellshock vulnerability.

Shellshock was made public last month, and the bugs allow attackers to possibly gain unauthorized access to a computer system via an unpatched Unix Bash shell.

Reads Hall's post:

"Yahoo! Has been HACKED, and all your information with them is now in danger! All stemming from them not keeping up with technology and failing to patch a world-known vulnerability! This document is being released due to several high profile companies being infiltrated using the recent Shellshock vulnerability, and what I have deemed as an improper response, or lack thereof, to resolving the issue from certain key companies contacted, as well as the FBI. Amongst the affected companies are Yahoo! and Lycos, major players and names in the technology world. This breach affects ALL of us in one way or another, and it's crucial that this problem be resolved with haste. The FBI took the information down and went on their way. Yahoo! has not responded at all. I've attempted to email them, call them, and resorted to contacting Marissa Mayer directly via both email and Twitter, neither to which I have received a response as of yet. The ignoring of this issue is grossly negligent and even almost criminal. As such, I felt that for the safety of anyone using these services, it would be best to publicly disclose as much information as needed to get them moving and working towards resolving the issue before things get worse."

HP has confirmed this weekend's big rumor that it will split into two separate businesses.

The struggling PC and Printer business will remain as HP, and the faster growing corporate hardware and services business will become Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. Both companies will be public, and existing shareholders of HP will be not face any tax consequences.

This is the second re-organization for HP since Meg Whitman became CEO. In 2012, the company made printers a focus and combined the PC and printer divisions.

Whitman will remain on as CEO of Enterprise, and chairman of computer and printer while head of PC/Printer operation Dion Weisler will be CEO.

"Our work during the past three years has significantly strengthened our core businesses to the point where we can more aggressively go after the opportunities created by a rapidly changing market," said Meg Whitman. "The decision to separate into two market-leading companies underscores our commitment to the turnaround plan. It will provide each new company with the independence, focus, financial resources, and flexibility they need to adapt quickly to market and customer dynamics, while generating long-term value for shareholders. In short, by transitioning now from one HP to two new companies, created out of our successful turnaround efforts, we will be in an even better position to compete in the market, support our customers and partners, and deliver maximum value to our shareholders."

According to sources, Yahoo plans to use some if its Alibaba proceeds to buy a stake in popular messaging app Snapchat.

Yahoo owns a 22 percent stake in the company valued at $46 billion (before taxes), and CEO Marissa Mayer recently confirmed the company would be selling half of its shares.

Snapchat does not make any money but will be valued at around $10 billion in its next funding round. It is unclear how big of a stake Yahoo is looking to take.

The messaging app allows you to chat with friends and also send pictures that disappear in a matter of seconds.

Source:
Reuters

Tech giant HP could be on the verge of splitting in two, says a new WSJ report, a move that could help the struggling company to better focus and re-invent itself.

The company has struggled greatly in the computer and mobile areas, but still brings in over $100 billion in revenue per year and has over 300,000 employees despite the recent announcement that 30,000 employees would be laid off in a cost cutting move.

A split would separate the struggling computer and printer businesses from its fast-growing and much more profitable corporate hardware and services operations.

Over the past few years, investors have grown louder in their call for a split of the company or a full sale of the PC and mobile businesses. The corporate services division provides computer servers, networking and data storage to businesses, a much higher margin endeavor.

After the split, current CEO Meg Whitman will become CEO of the enterprise company and stay as chairman of the PC business.

Earlier this week, Netflix announced that it had signed a deal with Adam Sandler for four feature length films that will be available first on the streaming service, skipping a theatrical release.

Sandler and his Happy Madison Productions will work on the films, which will be exclusive to Netflix and be available in all 50+ countries the service is available. Sandler says he will produce and star in the films.

The move is a huge deal for both parties, as Sandler is a big name in the Hollywood world, even though his recent films have been critically panned. Altogether, Sandler's films have a lifetime gross of over $3 billion. Netflix says Sandler's films are always incredibly popular when they are available for streaming.

"When these fine people came to me with an offer to make four movies for them, I immediately said yes for one reason and one reason only ... Netflix rhymes with Wet Chicks," Sandler said in a statement. "Let the streaming begin!!!!"

"People love Adam's films on Netflix and often watch them again and again. His appeal spans across viewers of all ages -- everybody has a favorite movie, everyone has a favorite line -- not just in the U.S. but all over the world," added Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos.

According to sources, Apple is planning a "special event" on October 16th in which the company will reveal new iPads.

Besides the updates to the iPad line, the company is also expected to show off new iMacs computers and a full launch of OS X Yosemite.

The new event will be more "laid back" than last month's iPhone release event, say the sources - meaning most likely no U2 performance this time around.

There are not likely to be any "game-changing" announcements, but a new Retina iPad Mini is expected with Touch ID, and a gold color is expected to be added to the iPad Air line, which will somehow get even thinner.

Apple needs to reverse the trend the iPad has been facing, which is stagnating sales. Last quarter, sales actually fell 9 percent year-over-year.

Redbox Instant, the streaming service built as a joint venture by Verizon and Redbox, is going the way of the dodo.

The company's service will shut down at 11:59 PM PST on Tuesday, and users can continue to stream films or use kiosk credits for the next couple of days.

In their release, the company confirmed that the streaming service was a failure, explaining that "the service is shutting down because it was not as successful as we hoped it would be. We apologize for any inconvenience and we thank you for giving us the opportunity to entertain you."

All users who have paid for a monthly subscription but did not receive a full month of service will get a full refund. Refunds will be credited on October 24th.

Redbox added that the app for your smartphone, smart TV, set-top box or game console will go inactive and then be deleted automatically from your device.

There have been quite a few rumors circulating this week that there could be a large tech merger in the near future.

Reportedly, major Yahoo investor Alternative Investment Management & Research SA sent letters to Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son, discussing the benefits and synchronization of the two companies as one.

SoftBank was the recent recipient of a massive windfall from its investment in Alibaba. The company invested $20 million for a 30 percent stake when the company was just getting started, a stake that is now worth about $70 billion. Yahoo can also thank Alibaba for most of its value, owning a 22 percent stake in the company valued at $46 billion (before taxes). Yahoo has little else in marketable assets, but still remains a popular portal and a popular source of content like news.

If true, the move would not be SoftBank's first foray into the American market. Last year, the company became majority shareholder of struggling wireless carrier Sprint, paying over $20 billion to do so.

SoftBank is one of the largest carriers in Japan and the company's founder and CEO is well known to be aggressively seeking acquisitions.

The team behind Popcorn Time has unveiled the latest update for the Android version of the popular software.

Updates are a bit smaller than previous releases, but many movie fans will be happy with subtitle support for TV shows, and subtitle support for Chromecast.

Says the company:

So what's new?

Subtitles support on Chromecast!!! Yes, you've all been asking nicely for a while now, we promised that it was in the works, and here it is!!! Now you can watch Popcorn Time from your Android on your TV screen with subtitles!! Woohoo :)

***DESKTOP USERS: Since Google blocked our subtitles on Chromecast solution, we've been working very hard on finding a work around which will bring back the subtitles support on Chromecast for you all. We're happy to say that we found a way to make this work and this solution will be released in a few days, so stay tuned!!

Subtitles for TV shows!!! Yes, you've all been asking nicely for a while.. ;-)

Favorites!! Mark what you want to watch so you can queue it up and watch it later!! Just click the <3 in the movie/TV show details view and it's added to your favorites list. Don't want it there anymore? Just give it a long "click" and it will be removed.

According to a new report, Google tried to buy Cyanogen Inc, the makers of the popular and fast custom Android ROM, CyanogenMod.

Allegedly, Cyanogen's CEO said that Android boss Sundar Pichai "expressed interest in acquiring the firm" but Cyanogen declined, citing its fast growth and want for independence.

While on the surface the report makes sense, when digging deeper it doesn't really make any.

Cyanogen admits that the company is not making any real revenue, and if Google is looking to acquire for talent which is what is often done when acquiring startups - well, Google has no shortage of talented engineers. Google could want to buy Cyanogen to shut it down, but at just 1% of all Android installs, Cyanogen is hardly a scary competitor.

Most likely, Cyanogen's venture capital backers reached out to Google as they look to cash out, but it led nowhere. There have been rumors that Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo all looked into acquiring the company, but its founders are said to have been only accepting a $1 billion valuation.

According to Bloomberg, Apple will add a gold colorway to boost iPad Air sales, and release their rumored 12.9-inch iPad Pro next year.

The iPad Air is expected to see its second-generation model unveiled this month, and gold will join silver and gray as available color options.

While nearly every product at Apple has seen growth, the iPad has seen its sales stagnate and actually decline year-over-year.

Perhaps more notably is the report states Apple will release its alleged iPad Pro, which sports a gigantic 12.9-inch display, next year.

Amazon and Disney are on the verge of settling their two-month old dispute, with new Disney movies now available again for pre-order on the e-tailer's site.

The issues were aplenty. Among the negotiations were pricing, promotion on Amazon's homepage and media pages, and which one of the companies should cover any losses that may occur if Amazon price matches a competitor's price.

As of writing, new films like "Guardians of the Galaxy" "Maleficent," "Million Dollar Arm," "Planes: Fire and Rescue" and "The 100-Foot Journey" are all available for pre-order, a welcome site for fans.

Disney is not the only major media company in a fight with Amazon. Time Warner had similar issues in May that were resolved, and the e-commerce giant has been negotiating with book publisher Hachette for over six months over ebook pricing. Amazon has limited pre-orders and slowed down delivery of the company's popular books in an effort to gain leverage. It has worked as authors have increasingly complained about their sales nose diving without Amazon on board.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has teased today that the company's upcoming "D" car will be unveiled next week, on October 9th.

Musk said nothing more than "about time to unveil the D and something else" while adding a teaser photo.

It is still unclear what the D will be, and especially what the "something else" will be, although there have been numerous rumors.

Tesla has been long rumored to be introducing a "budget sedan" or a smaller SUV, either of which can be the aforementioned D.