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Toshiba completes acquisition of SSD maker OCZ's assets

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 22 Jan 2014 10:38

Toshiba completes acquisition of SSD maker OCZ's assets In December, SSD maker OCZ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after striking an agreement with Toshiba for the electronics company to purchase most of its valuable assets.

As of today, the deal has been completed.

OCZ had been seeing years of revenue falling, with losses mounting as the company was having issues with their supply chain.

Under Toshiba, OCZ will operate independently, and supply should no longer be an issue given that Toshiba is one of the largest makers of flash memory chips.

Last month, OCZ had this to say of the acquisition: "Over the past year, OCZ has dealt with numerous issues which have stressed the company's capital structure and operating model, posing a challenge to achieving near term profitability. The combination of NAND flash supply constraints and credit issues have impacted our ability to satisfy the demands of our customers; this combined with increased pricing pressure in our industry have contributed to our on-going operating losses. On an operational basis, we completed a complex investigation, several restructurings and a multi-year restatement that added significantly to our working capital requirements. We have been working diligently on this partnership with Toshiba and we believe that this is the best outcome under our current corporate conditions."




AfterDawn: News

Jolla's Sailfish OS ported to Google Nexus 4

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 22 Jan 2014 9:27

Jolla's Sailfish OS ported to Google Nexus 4 Developers have managed to port the open-source Jolla Sailfish operating system to the Google Nexus 4 hardware.

You'll be able to flash Sailfish using the standard ClockworkMod Recovery, which can flash all kinds of Android ROMs including CyanogenMod and even Ubuntu.

Jolla has long said they plan to offer dedicated tools for installing the OS on phones and tablets as long as they have unlocked bootloaders.

For those with a Nexus 4, you can check the video here from YouTube user "sledge":

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AfterDawn: News

Apple iBooks Textbooks expands to new markets

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 22 Jan 2014 8:41

Apple iBooks Textbooks expands to new markets Apple has announced that its iBooks Textbooks and iTunes U Course Manager educational apps have been expanded to new markets including countries in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Among the new major additions are Brazil, Italy and Japan and iBooks Textbooks is now avilable in 51 countries compared to 70 for iTunes U.

"The incredible content and tools available for iPad provide teachers with new ways to customize learning unlike ever before," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "We can't wait to see how teachers in even more countries will create their new lesson plans with interactive textbooks, apps and rich digital content."

Textbooks was launched in early 2012, allowing for fullscreen textbooks featuring interactive animations and other nifty features. There are now 25,000 titles available that "cover 100 percent of U.S. high school core curriculum and the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) core curriculum in the U.K."

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AfterDawn: News

BlackBerry secures Pentagon order

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 Jan 2014 7:53

BlackBerry secures Pentagon order BlackBerry shares have jumped 10 percent today and are now up 82 percent in the last two months, following more good news from the struggling smartphone maker.

The Pentagon has announced that it will install 80,000 new BlackBerry handsets on its network by the end of the month, as part of "new mobile program for unclassified work."

The mobile program also includes 1800 iOS and Samsung Galaxy Android devices.

BlackBerry shares fell to $5.50 last month, after news that the company had abandoned selling itself and was instead shaking up its management team and moving away from consumer hardware.

New CEO John Chen announced a deal with Foxconn in which inventory risk is offset and the executive will be focusing on enterprise and security.




AfterDawn: News

Verizon completes purchase of Intel Media

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 Jan 2014 6:28

Verizon completes purchase of Intel Media After months of negotiations, Verizon has completed their purchase of Intel's Internet TV division, Intel Media.

The price was not disclosed but has been rumored to be between $180-$220 million.

Intel Media had been working on an Internet TV service called OnCue, allowing users to watch live and VOD programming through the Internet and via a set-top box. The service also would have allowed for recording of live programming directly on Intel's servers without the need for a dedicated DVR.

Verizon has purchased the IP of Intel Media and will keep most of the 350 employees. The ISP will use Intel Media to improve its FiOS cable and TV service, "by improving users' ability to search for content both on a television set and on a Verizon smartphone or tablet."

"Strategically we're setting ourselves up in order to respond to the ecosystem as it evolves," Fran Shammo, Verizon chief financial officer, added.

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AfterDawn: News

LG G Flex headed to 20 European markets in coming months

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 Jan 2014 5:37

LG G Flex headed to 20 European markets in coming months LG has announced that the LG G Flex will be headed to 20 European markets in the coming weeks and months.

U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Sweden and Austria are among the nations noted by the phone maker, adding to availability in Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and the U.S.

The device feature a 720p 6-inch curved P-OLED, which LG claims is ultra-light, ultra-thin and flexible. The device runs on Android 4.2.2, is powered by a 2.26GHz Snapdragon 800, an Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB RAM and a 3500mAh battery. In addition, the device has a 13-megapixel rear camera, and a 2.1-megapixel front camera. The OLED panel is also built with plastic substrates, for better durability. The display also includes Real RGB technology for all three sub-pixels in one pixel, increasing brightness.

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AfterDawn: News

Beats Music streaming service now live

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 Jan 2014 5:01

Beats Music streaming service now live Beats Music is now available in the U.S. on iPhone, Windows Mobile, Android, PC and Mac.

The headphone company, run by music industry exec Jimmy Iovine and famous producer Dr. Dre, says all U.S. consumers can try the service for free for 30 days and can download or stream unlimited music for $10 per month afterwards. For $15 a month, a family of five can access the service through a deal will AT&T. The charge will be part of your regular monthly bill.

Unlimited downloads will allow you to listen to music offline, but the downloads expire and disappear when your membership ends.

To differentiate itself from rivals like Google Play Music All Access, Spotify, Rdio and others, Beats Music combines algorithms with specialized curated programming from "tastemakers." The service itself comes from "the trust that comes from excellent handpicked music with the personalization that knows you're an individual and that a handful of stations can't satisfy all listeners," says the company.

"In our experience it's always been a living, breathing human who has brought us that song we fell in love with. The song you couldn't stop playing over and over. The album you deemed a headphone masterpiece. The mix tape that made you think "I'm gonna marry this one." We tried to remember a time a robot found us magic but all we could find were the times the robot made us laugh: "You like Pantera? Have you heard of Black Sabbath?" "You like Mumford and Sons? Here's another song with banjos!," jokes the company in its blog post.

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AfterDawn: News

Here are the alleged specs for Nintendo's upcoming consoles, codename 'Fusion'

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 Jan 2014 4:35

Here are the alleged specs for Nintendo's upcoming consoles, codename 'Fusion' Rumors of Nintendo working on next-gen consoles have picked up in pace recently, and now we have a full alleged spec sheet to accompany the rumors.

The next-gen consoles are now codenamed "Fusion Terminal" and "Fusion DS" (for the handheld).

Here are the rumored specs (via Gaminrealm):

FUSION DS

CPU: ARMv8-A Cortex-A53 GPU: Custom Adreno 420-based AMD GPU
COM MEMORY: 3 GB LPDDR3 (2 GB Games, 1 GB OS)
>2 130 mm DVGA (960 x 640) Capacitive Touchscreen
>Slide Out Design with Custom Swivel Tilt Hinge
>Upper Screen made of Gorilla Glass, Comes with Magnetic Cover
>Low End Vibration for Gameplay and App Alerts
>2 Motorized Circle Pads for Haptic Feedback
>Thumbprint Security Scanner with Pulse Sensing Feedback
>2 1mp Stereoptic Cameras
>Multi-Array Microphone
>A, B, X, Y, D-Pad, L, R, 1, 2 Buttons
>3 Axis Tuning Fork Gyroscope, 3 Axis Accelerometer, Magnetometer
>NFC Reader
>3G Chip with GPS Location
>Bluetooth v4.0 BLE Command Node used to Interface with Bluetooth Devices such as Cell Phones, Tablets
>16 Gigabytes of Internal Flash Storage (Possible Future Unit With 32 Gigbytes)
>Nintendo 3DS Cart Slot
>SDHC "Holographic Enhanced" Card Slot up to 128 Gigabyte Limit
>Mini USB I/O
>3300 mAh Li-Ion battery

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AfterDawn: News

Leaked: The Sony Xperia Z2

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Jan 2014 9:07

Leaked: The Sony Xperia Z2 It appears that most of the specs for the upcoming Sony Xperia Z2 flagship have now been leaked.

The device will be powered by a Qualcomm MSM8974AB chipset with 2.3GHz quad-core processor and Adreno 330 graphics and includes a larger 5.2-inch 1080p display.

Among the impressive specs are 3GB RAM, a 20.7MP rear camera and Android 4.4 KitKat at launch.

In one of the leaked shot, the display shows a smaller size and lesser resolution but this is excluding the virtual buttons of Android devices.

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AfterDawn: News

95 percent of ATMs run on Windows XP and XP loses Microsoft support in April

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Jan 2014 11:58

95 percent of ATMs run on Windows XP and XP loses Microsoft support in April On April 8th, Microsoft will end their support of the ancient Windows XP operating system, and with that deadline comes an interesting time for the world's banks and the estimated 3 million ATMs around the globe.

95 percent of current ATMs run on Windows XP and when support ends, that means security patches will no longer be executed for the machines, putting them out of compliance with industry standards. With billions of dollars involved, the banks will be forced to upgrade the machines to Windows 7.

Robert Johnston, a marketing director at NCR, the largest ATM supplier in the U.S., says the need to upgrade will affect machines differently. For example, older machines will need to be completely scrapped since their internals cannot support Windows 7. JPMorgan Chase, which has 19,000 ATMs, says 3000 of its machines will need to have its components upgraded before the transition can even begin.

Aravinda Korala, chief executive officer of ATM software provider KAL, says the world is not ready for the dealine: "The ATM world is not really ready, and that's not unusual. ATMs move more slowly than PCs." In fact, Korala says only 15 percent of devices will be ready by April 8th.

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AfterDawn: News

HBO is okay with you sharing HBO Go logins

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Jan 2014 11:12

HBO is okay with you sharing HBO Go logins We all know you are sharing that HBO Go login with all of your friends, but HBO is okay with it.

According to HBO CEO Richard Plepler, account sharing is a "terrific marketing vehicle for the next generation of viewers."

"It presents the brand to more and more people and gives them an opportunity, hopefully, to become addicted to it," adds the exec. "What we're in the business of is building addicts, building video addicts, and the way we do that is exposing our product and our shows and our brand to more and more people."

When asked if he was worried that the account sharing would be negative on the bottom line, Plepler was not: "It's not that we're unmindful of it, it just has no impact on the business." Eventually the account sharing will lead to more subscriptions, says the company.




AfterDawn: News

Kim Dotcom's 'Baboom' music streaming site now live in beta

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Jan 2014 10:51

Kim Dotcom's 'Baboom' music streaming site now live in beta Kim Dotcom, the larger-than-life founder of Megaupload and now "MEGA," has introduced his Baboom music streaming site in beta.

In its preview mode, there is just one album, a europop album made by Dotcom himself which includes some contributions from unknown artists, including his wife Mona Dotcom.

Eventually, when it fully launches, Baboom will let you stream and download music, including HD file types like FLAC.

Differentiating itself from other services, Dotcom will allow users to install an advertising plugin to their current browser and be rewarded with ongoing free music.

Baboom reported 80,000 plays in its first hour online.

Check the site here.




AfterDawn: News

WhatsApp message traffic now exceeds that of SMS

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Jan 2014 10:17

WhatsApp message traffic now exceeds that of SMS WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum has announced that the popular cross-platform messaging app now handles up to 54 billion messages per day on average.

Outbound messages accounted for 36 billion and inbound for the rest.

Mobile analyst Benedict Evans tweeted, following the news, suggesting that WhatsApp traffic now exceeds that of global SMS sent daily.

WhatsApp has over 400 million active monthly users, each of which pay just $1 a year for the service. The numbers are even more impresive given that the company has just 50 employees and has never spent any money on marketing.





AfterDawn: News

J.J. Abrams: Star Wars Episode VII script just completed

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Jan 2014 9:39

J.J. Abrams: Star Wars Episode VII script just completed The director has confirmed that the script for the upcoming blockbuster was just recently completed.

"We're working really hard and we've got our script and we're in deep prep," Abrams noted, "full steam ahead, y'know."

Speaking at a press event, Abrams also confirmed that Jesse Plemons (recently of Breaking Bad) is being considered for a role in the film, saying he "is one of the actors that we've talked to."

Unfortunately, Abrams also revealed that the movie would be shot on film, and not in IMAX. When asked why, the director says the cameras are "very loud ... very unreliable," and "you can't really do intimate scenes with it."

Episode VII will be released in December 2015.




AfterDawn: News

HP to prominently sell PCs with Windows 7, with the OS 'back by popular demand'

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Jan 2014 9:15

HP to prominently sell PCs with Windows 7, with the OS 'back by popular demand' HP, the world's second largest PC maker, has begun emailing customers that "Windows 7 is back" as an option for those looking to buy new PCs.

The new promotion comes along with "$150 in savings" and the PC maker claims the operating system is "back by popular demand."

By heading over to the HP desktop PC section, all computers are set to Windows 7 by default, with Windows 8.1 only available through customization. Under the all-in-one section, HP's Android device is positioned favorably over Windows 8 models.

The move is a huge blow to Microsoft, which has tried to make Windows 8 more popular after a rough launch. In the past, when the failed Windows Vista launched, manufacturers made similar "back by popular demand" promotions for Windows XP.






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