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Nokia mocks Ellen's blurry Oscars selfies taken with Galaxy Note 3

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 03 Mar 2014 7:02

Nokia mocks Ellen's blurry Oscars selfies taken with Galaxy Note 3 Even though one of Ellen DeGeneres' selfies from last night's Oscars event is the most retweeted image of all-time, that hasn't stopped Nokia from mocking the blurriness of a few other photos taken throughout the night.

The photos, taken with a Samsung-sponsored Galaxy Note 3 (Ellen uses an iPhone in real life), did come out blurry (as do most impromptu selfies taken with 2MP cameras), so Nokia jumped at the opportunity to take aim at a rival.

"Let's do away with blurry photos, Ellen!", read the tweet from Nokia USA's official page, including the hashtags #blessed and #blurry.

Samsung has been a huge supporter of recent events, including being a sponsor at the Sochi Olympics, the NBA All-Star Game and now the Oscars.





AfterDawn: News

Ellen's star-powered Oscars selfie nears 3 million retweets, smashes record

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 03 Mar 2014 6:42

Ellen's star-powered Oscars selfie nears 3 million retweets, smashes record Ellen DeGeneres has managed to smash the record for Twitter retweets by a huge margin, and the photo has nearly 3 million retweets as of writing.

During the Oscars, Ellen grabbed a bunch of celebrity friends including Meryl Streep, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and more and snapped a "selfie" using her Samsung-sponsored phone.

Within an hour, the photo broke the record for most retweets, and even took down Twitter for a very brief period, bringing back bad memories of Twitter's early "fail whale" days.

The previous record was President Obama's celebratory 2012 election winning tweet, at nearly 780,000.

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AfterDawn: News

Microsoft to use pop-ups to warn Windows XP users of pending end of support for the OS, makes migration software free

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 03 Mar 2014 6:31

Microsoft to use pop-ups to warn Windows XP users of pending end of support for the OS, makes migration software free Windows XP's end is nigh.

The aging operating system will soon lose support from Microsoft, and the company has announced two initiatives to help those still using XP. The software giant launched XP twelve years ago.

Starting April 8th, there will be no more security updates or technical support for the OS, effectively making the OS unsafe for future use.

In order to help customers migrate to newer versions of Windows, Microsoft says it has partnered with Laplink to create a free data migration tool called PCmover Express that should simply move your files and data including user profiles and settings over to a new device or to a new partitioned OS. If you want applications to move over, you will need to buy a premium version of the software, which will be discounted.

Furthermore, starting March 8th, Windows XP users who have opted into Windows Update will receive pop-up messages letting them know about the end-of-life for the OS and where to learn more.

Finally, if you don't know what OS you are running, Microsoft will tell you here.




AfterDawn: News

Oppo Find 7 to feature hugely unnecessary 50MP camera?

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 03 Mar 2014 6:13

Oppo Find 7 to feature hugely unnecessary 50MP camera? Oppo keeps on teasing impressive specs for its upcoming Find 7 flagship.

First, it was leaked that the smartphone will run on the new Snapdragon 801 SoC, which features upgraded Krait 400 cores, a top clock speed of 2.5GHz, integrated 4G LTE Category 4 and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Additionally, the imaging processing has been improved so much that much higher resolution sensors can be used in the future.

Second, the company teased that the device will be available as a 5-inch 1080p device or as a 5.5-inch, 2560x1440 handset.

This week, an image uploaded to Weibo of a car has a 8160x6120 resolution and the EXIF data names the Oppo Find 7 as the shooter.

The image itself looks great and detailed, but 50MP is complete overkill. Regardless, the high-end device will launch on March 19th.

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AfterDawn: News

Samsung shows off new powerful ARM-based Chromebooks with textured, stitched design

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 03 Mar 2014 5:46

Samsung shows off new powerful ARM-based Chromebooks with textured, stitched design Samsung has unveiled two new Chromebooks today, using ARM-based SoC and a redesigned textured, stitched lid.

The company's current $249 Chromebook accounts for over 50 percent of Chrome OS device sales, and was popular enough to sell out of Google's hardware Play store.

Besides improved specs, the new devices have soft touch "durable textured lid and elegant stitched design" that looks like leather.

The smaller Chromebook 2 has a 11.6-inch LED with 1366x768 resolution, is powered by Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa clocked at 1.9GHz, has 4GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. Available in black and white, the device weighs just 2.43 pounds, promises 8 hours of battery life and will cost $319.99.

Moving up to the bigger Chromebook 2, you will get a 13.3-inch LED display with 1080p resolution, the same processor but clocked at 2.1GHz. At 3.09 pounds, the company promises 8.5 hours of battery life at the $399.99 price point.

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AfterDawn: News

IIPA: Canada continues to be a hotspot for piracy, remains on watch list

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Mar 2014 1:28

IIPA: Canada continues to be a hotspot for piracy, remains on watch list The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) has once again called out Canada for being a magnet for piracy, where piracy sites are free to operate and downloaders are free to download unauthorized content without fear of retribution.

IIPA members include the MPAA, RIAA, BSA and ESA among others, and the group last month released their latest report to the U.S. government in which countries are not doing enough to combat piracy. Just like in years past, Canada was placed in the 2014 Special 301 "watch list" for countries on the naughty list (via TorrentFreak).

In their complaints, one of the largest criticisms was that Canada remained a popular home to many "rogue" businesses including torrent sites like torrentz.eu and kickass.to as well as the recently shut down giant isoHunt. "Even after the shuttering of Isohunt, Canada is still the home to some of the world's most popular Internet sites dedicated to piracy, including torrentz.eu and kickass.to, which garnered rankings of third and second place, respectively, on one of the most widely accessed listings of the world's most popular illicit BitTorrent sites," the IIPA writes. The Pirate Bay of course remained in the top spot.

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AfterDawn: News

Alleged UK 'cam' pirate has property returned, criminal charges dropped

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Mar 2014 1:10

Alleged UK 'cam' pirate has property returned, criminal charges dropped Last year, police officials in the UK, in conjunction with Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) raided the home of an alleged movie cammer, seizing tons of evidence. The officers then returned months later, arresting the man and his sister and her ex-boyfriend on charges that they had cammed 'Fast and Furious 6' and 'Epic.'

Released on bail, the arrested were banned from entering any movie theater in England and Wales.

In total, three smartphones, seven laptops, a desktop, tablets, two Xbox 360s, a modem, a router, USB flash drives, and almost 20 hard drives were seized but were eventually returned (minus the modem and router and one phone) and it appears the criminal prosecution will be dropped (via TF): "Speaking with the officer in charge of the case this week he informed me that when I do go to answer bail all criminal charges will be dropped, or NFA [no further action] as they call it," says the alleged cammer.

FACT is still looking to bring a private prosecution against the man, he informs, but they may not get anything in a lawsuit. "The fact that there is no evidence for a criminal prosecution begs the question as to whether or not there is sufficient evidence for a private law suit. Surely if there was any evidence at all [the police] would not be dropping the criminal charges," the man adds. "Also what can they possibly sue me for? I have no job, no savings and no means of paying any compensation regardless of the outcome. Is it simply going to be a waste of everyone's time?"




AfterDawn: News

Comcast acquires FreeWheel, a large ad-serving platform for streaming TV content

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Mar 2014 12:53

Comcast acquires FreeWheel, a large ad-serving platform for streaming TV content Comcast, in their ongoing efforts to own the world, is preparing to acquire FreeWheel, one of the largest ad-serving platforms for streaming TV content online, says a new report.

The deal will be announced in the near future with a $320 million price (still in negotiations) and should clear in the coming quarter.

FreeWheel was founded in 2007 and has major clients including MLB.tv, ESPN, FOX, NBC Universal, Sky, Turner, Amazon and VEVO. The content providers use FreeWheel to serve ads alongside their content.

Comcast, the U.S.' largest cable company, has their own video ad platform, and will integrate FreeWheel. The service will almost certainly continue to serve its other clients into the future, as many have already partnered with Comcast for its TV Everywhere on-demand service.

The massive ISP/Cable company recently announced its bid for the U.S.' second-largest cable company, Time Warner Cable, in a $45 billion deal that would mark one of the largest acquisitions of all-time.




AfterDawn: News

IBM to lay off up to 25 percent of hardware division workers

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Mar 2014 12:32

IBM to lay off up to 25 percent of hardware division workers IBM has confirmed this week that it will be laying off employees as the company continues to focus on more priority areas including the cloud, analytics, and cognitive computing.

"As reported in our recent earnings briefing, IBM continues to rebalance its workforce to meet the changing requirements of its clients, and to pioneer new, high value segments of the IT industry," IBM spokesman Doug Shelton added. "To that end, IBM is positioning itself to lead in areas such as cloud, analytics and cognitive computing, and investing in these priority areas."

Although the company would not state how many people or from where, sources claim almost 25 percent of the entire Systems and Technology group (the server hardware division) will be laid off.

IBM has over 400,000 employees, and last month sold its x86 server businesses to Lenovo for $2.3 billion. Not all the employees were expected to migrate to Lenovo, so the layoffs do make some sense.

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AfterDawn: News

Google adds full restaurant menus to search results

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Mar 2014 12:02

Google adds full restaurant menus to search results Google has updated their search results with full restaurant menus, a cool feature when it works.

You can search for menus using multiple types of searches including "[name of restaurant], city, menu" or "show me the menu for [name of restaurant]."

The menu will then show up in its entirety (if that menu was available online in the first place) and be broken down into sections like appetizers, entrees, etc.

While the feature is very cool, it does not always work, and in my testing, the results popped up just under 30 percent of the time. This will almost certainly improve in the coming weeks and months, as with most services Google releases.

Google's menus appear to be powered by AllMenus.com.

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AfterDawn: News

Apple TV now a billion dollar business

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Mar 2014 11:41

Apple TV now a billion dollar business Speaking during the company's annual stockholders meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that their "hobby" project Apple TV set-top box is now a billion dollar business.

The hardware set-top box along with movie rentals and TV show purchases generated $1 billion in sales for 2013.

In fiscal 2012, the company sold over 5 million set-tops, which was double the 2.5 million they sold in 2011. It is unclear how many were sold in 2013, but with the sales hitting a new milestone sales, Horace Deidu suggests the sales are near 10 million. While it is the fastest growing device in the company's lineup, it is still a very small piece of revenue.

The company is expected to launch a new, updated model this year with gaming support and an Apple TV app store which will coincide with the released of an Apple SDK for application development.T





AfterDawn: News

Nokia X already hacked to run Google services and apps

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Mar 2014 11:24

Nokia X already hacked to run Google services and apps In less than a week since launch, Nokia's Android-based X smartphone has already been hacked to run Google's apps and services.

Gaining root access, xda-developers member Kashamalaga then added Google apps (like Gmail, Google Now, Maps, Hangouts, and more) in less than five steps.

The Nokia X, despite running on Android, was built with Microsoft in mind. For example, the device has Outlook, OneDrive, Skype and other Nokia/Microsoft services pre-installed including Nokia's own curated Android app store.

It appears Nokia has anticipated the device getting developer love, tweeting that they are excited at the developments.

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AfterDawn: News

Warner Bros. working on Minecraft movie

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 01 Mar 2014 12:01

Warner Bros. working on Minecraft movie Warner Bros. Pictures is working on a movie based on Mojang's hit game 'Minecraft.'

"Someone is trying leak the fact that we're working with Warner Brothers on a potential Minecraft Movie," tweeted Minecraft creator Markus 'Notch' Persson. "I wanted to be the leak!"

When asked for more detail, Persson joked: "It's for real. I think every part of that tweet was real, including me wanting to be the one to spill the news about a potential movie. Also, I [am] very well aware that this might be Minecraft jumping the shark, but how often do you get to be part of making a movie?""

Warner acquired the rights from Mojang earlier this year, and the live-action film will have Roy Lee and Jill Messick as producers. Lee just produced the hit "The Lego Movie."





AfterDawn: News

Ashton Kutcher designing line of Lenovo smartphones

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Feb 2014 10:57

Ashton Kutcher designing line of Lenovo smartphones Actor Ashton Kutcher has designed a line of smartphones for Lenovo that will launch later this year.

The star of 'Two and a Half Men' was hired in October as a product engineer and to promote other devices including the Yoga hybrid tablets. At the time, Kutcher said "This partnership with Lenovo brings together my love of technology and design that makes your life better. I can't wait to dig in and help Lenovo develop future mobile computing products."

Lenovo Chief Marketing Officer David Roman confirmed the new line of phones, and says Kutcher worked extensively on the user experience. "I know on one level, it sounds corny, but it is real," said Roman (via Re/code). "He not only sees himself as an engineer, but he is an engineer. If he sees a problem, he wants to solve it."

Kutcher is not new to the technology world, as a co-founder of venture capital group A-Grade Investments. The group has been an early investor in Foursquare, Airbnb and Uber.




AfterDawn: News

Microsoft confirms Halo news for E3

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Feb 2014 10:30

Microsoft confirms Halo news for E3 Microsoft Studios corporate VP Phil Spencer has confirmed Halo news for this year's E3 event in June.

"Halo news will be coming at E3," Spencer tweeted. "343i [343 Industries] has a great plan in place, will be cool to share with everyone."

For fans that hoped this would mean a new Halo title this year, the voice actor for Master Chief, Steve Downes has put a damper on those rumors. "I think you may be ahead of yourself on Halo 5," Downes said. "I wouldn't expect anything until 2015. What you can look forward to this year is an anniversary edition of Halo 2."

Microsoft has said Halo 5 will be released in 2014, and has yet to change their stance.

E3 begins on June 10th.






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