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AfterDawn: News

Girls want iPhones, Boys want PS4 this holiday

Written by James Delahunty @ 03 Nov 2013 5:57

Girls want iPhones, Boys want PS4 this holiday A survey into what 12-17 year olds want this holiday has found Apple's iPhone and iPad are popular, but boys covet the next generation PlayStation 4.

The survey was performed on behalf of Ebates, a cash-back shopping site. It found that Apple's iPhone is the most wanted product this year among all kids aged 12-17. Over 32 percent of overall respondents wanted the Apple smartphone while just 12 percent wanted a device made by Samsung.

Girls pushed the iPhone into the top spot though, since 41 percent of them wanted an iPhone. Breaking it down by gender though shows that boys prefer Sony's next generation PlayStation 4 (PS4) console this holiday season.

As for parents of teens who took part, over 54 percent identified an Apple product as being their intended purchase for their kids during the holidays.




AfterDawn: News

Bill Gates thinks malaria research should be prioritized ahead of Internet access

Written by James Delahunty @ 03 Nov 2013 5:46

Bill Gates thinks malaria research should be prioritized ahead of Internet access In an interview with the Financial Times, Bill Gates branded prioritizing Internet access in poor countries ahead of malaria research a 'joke'.

Known worldwide as the co-founder of Microsoft, its former chief executive and being unbelievably rich, Bill Gates spends most of his work time now on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The goals of the Gates foundation are to fight poverty and disease in the developing regions of the world, and to advance education in the United States.

Warren Buffet is one of three trusties that control the foundation, along with Bill and Melinda Gates. The three were recognised in 2007 as the most generous philanthropists in America. Bill Gates has donated $28 billion to the foundation thus far.

Malaria is an obvious target for the Gates Foundation. in 2010, there were an estimated 219 million cases of Malaria with an estimated 660,000 deaths. It is one of the diseases that disproportionately affects poor countries not just in rates of infection, but the impact it has on resources. A malaria vaccine has been a holy grail for researchers - including the U.S. military - for decades but thus far efforts haven't produced the revolutionary weapon against the disease that it coveted.

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AfterDawn: News

Viacom v. YouTube lawsuit in appeals court, Viacom claims YouTube 'induced' copyright infringement

Written by James Delahunty @ 03 Nov 2013 5:13

Viacom v. YouTube lawsuit in appeals court, Viacom claims YouTube 'induced' copyright infringement Viacom is persisting with its billion dollar lawsuit against Google's YouTube, despite previous defeats and drastic changes at the service.

Viacom originally sued YouTube before it had tools like Content I.D. that could be used to control the upload of potentially infringing content on the service. Even so, Viacom already lost this battle when a New York district court didn't agree with its case, and now Viacom is heading to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

YouTube finds protection in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998, specifically the safe harbour provisions that protect service providers like it.

As long as YouTube - as a service provider - does not encourage or induce copyright infringement through its service, and responds and acts on legitimate DMCA requests, it should be safe under the provisions afforded to it in the DMCA, and so far it has.

However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is warning that Viacom's argument to the appeals court is challenging YouTube's protection under the safe harbor provisions and suggesting that YouTube actually induced copyright infringement.

The EFF makes two simple arguments against Viacom's position.

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AfterDawn: News

Google Play has more downloads than Apple's App Store, but only half the revenue

Written by James Delahunty @ 03 Nov 2013 5:02

Google Play has more downloads than Apple's App Store, but only half the revenue A report into the state of the major smartphone and tablet app marketplaces - the App Store and Google Play - has found that Google Play edged the Apple store by volume but lags far behind in revenue.

The third quarter 2013 report from App Annie shows that the Google Play store has 25 percent more downloads than Apple's App Store. The big sources of increasing downloads for the Google store are Brazil and Argentina, with game downloads leading the way.

"The increase in Google Play's downloads was primarily driven by Brazil and Argentina with the former climbing one spot in the rankings to #4 behind the US, South Korea and India. Games remained the leading category in Brazil, but gains made by the Communication and Media & Audio categories also helped them achieve their Google Play download ranking," said App Annie in its report.

While Google will be delighted to see its store deliver more apps to users, it only generated half the revenue that Apple's App Store did. Japan was the biggest source of revenue for Google Play, just ahead of South Korea. The United States was in third place.

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AfterDawn: News

Intel to fabricate 64-bit ARM chips next year

Written by James Delahunty @ 03 Nov 2013 4:53

Intel to fabricate 64-bit ARM chips next year In a revelation that nobody expected, Intel will fabricate 64-bit chips based on ARM architecture next year for a client.

Altera announced at the ARM developers conference that the iconic chipmaker will fabricate 64-bit ARM chips for it next year, which came as a surprise. Intel's ATOM chips compete directly with chips based on ARM architecture such as NVIDIA's Tegra, or Snapdragon's chips that power many Android smartphones.

Business is business though and if Intel would not fabricate the chips, somebody else would be happy to.

AppleInsider also notes speculation now that Apple may look to Intel for some of its A-series orders. The A-series SoC's that power its iPhones and iPads (A7 in iPhone 5s and iPad Air) are fabricated by smartphone arch-rival Samsung. Despite Apple striking a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. during the summer, reports circulated that the Taiwan firm was having yield issues due to the 20 nanometer process used in the upcoming A8.

Intel already is tapped by Apple for for its MacBooks, and of course both companies have worked on other projects like Thunderbolt.




AfterDawn: News

Boost Mobile to begin offering iPhone 5C and 5S for $100 off

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 03 Nov 2013 4:41

Boost Mobile to begin offering iPhone 5C and 5S for $100 off Boost Mobile, one of the more popular prepaid carriers in the U.S., has announced this weekend that they will begin offering the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, with a $100 discount to boot.

The devices will be available starting on November 8th, and the pricing matches that of Virgin Mobile, another prepaid carrier in the States.

Discounting all versions of the phone, the 5S will retail for 549/$649/$749 for the 16/32/64GB models, respectively. The 16GB 5C will sell for $100 off at $449, but the 32GB model will strangely retail for $649, leaving little incentive to purchase that model when you can get the better 5S for the same price.

The aging iPhone 4S will sell for $300.

Boost offers monthly unlimited everything no-contract plans for $55 that run on Sprint's 4G network.




AfterDawn: News

WATCH: YouTube Music Awards live tonight in NYC

Written by James Delahunty @ 03 Nov 2013 4:20

WATCH: YouTube Music Awards live tonight in NYC The first YouTube Music Awards will be live tonight from New York, and of course you can watch the proceedings online.

The YouTube Music Awards kick off at 6PM E.T. from Pier 36 in New York City, co-hosted by Jason Schwartzman and Reggie Watts. Each nomination category was created YouTube users' views, comments, likes, subscriptions and shares.

In the lead up to the music awards, an International celebration of music was underway with performances from Seoul, Moscow, Rio and London. The show itself will feature performances from Eminem, Lady Gaga, and Arcade Fire.

Of course the first ever YTMA's will be streamed live online, and you can watch them below.

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AfterDawn: News

Skype explains why add-ons might stop working next month

Written by James Delahunty @ 03 Nov 2013 4:09

Skype explains why add-ons might stop working next month Skype is retiring the Desktop API in December, meaning that third-party add-ons and accessories may not function correctly or at all.

The Skype Desktop API was created in 2004 and it doesn't support mobile application development. This conflicts with Skype's goal of making the service better on mobile platforms. At the moment, Skype is working on significantly improving call quality and the speed of delivery of instant messages, all while lowering the drain on batteries.

"As people are using Skype on more devices, we're also working hard to create a more familiar and consistent Skype experience across all major platforms," the Skype blog reads.

From next month, the old Desktop API will be retired and so the functionality of recording add-ons or other third-party Skype apps will be hit.




AfterDawn: News

Warner promises Batman: Arkham Origins bug fixes this week

Written by James Delahunty @ 03 Nov 2013 4:04

Warner promises Batman: Arkham Origins bug fixes this week Warner Bros. has apologized to gamers for a range of bugs affecting the Batman: Arkham Origins title across platforms.

Within the next week it promised to issue a patch that will address this range of issues. In particular, players have complained that sometimes they are unable to continue the Story Mode of Arkham Origins from the Main Menu of the game.

Others also said that the "FreeFlow Focus mode" was not unlocking upon reaching "Shadow Vigilante" rank 3, and of course the good old "infinite falling" and falling out of the world bug is back with Arkham Origins. A fix for that bug in particular will push you back to your previous save.

Xbox 360 gamers might have to wait a while for other annoyances to be fixed though, including corrupted saves and ongoing crashes/freezing on the platform. As a temporary workaround for story mode, Warner suggests you disconnect the Xbox 360 from the Internet.




AfterDawn: News

Woz wishes Google and Apple were 'partners in the future'

Written by James Delahunty @ 03 Nov 2013 3:59

Woz wishes Google and Apple were 'partners in the future' Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has said he wished Apple and Google were partners in the future to make devices smarter.

In an interview with the BBC's Click, Woz admitted that sometimes Siri on his iPhone simply isn't as good as the Android alternative.

"Sometimes I say 'Go to Joe's Diner' and [Siri] doesn't know where Joe's Diner is. And very often usually I find out that Android does," he said. He believes the reason why Android has this extra knowledge is the access to Google's enormous search engine data.

"That is actually the future of intelligence probably for computers getting smarter and getting artificial intelligence. I wish to God that Apple and Google were partners in the future," he said.

Woz believes that encouraging openness and the sharing of information and methods would benefit everyone and the best of technology would result.

"I believe you should have a world where you've got to license something at a fair price. There are good things I see on Samsung phones that I wish were in my iPhone. I wish Apple would use them and could use them, and I don't know if Samsung would stop us," he said.

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AfterDawn: News

Ebay removes Holocaust memorabilia, apologises

Written by James Delahunty @ 03 Nov 2013 3:51

Ebay removes Holocaust memorabilia, apologises Ebay has reportedly removed around 30 items of 'Holocaust memorabilia' from its auction site, and apologized that the items were allowed to be listed.

The items were pointed out to eBay by the Mail on Sunday in the UK, including a complete Auschwitz uniform reportedly worn by a Polish baker who died at the Nazi camp. According to the newspaper, the auction giant offered to donate £25,000 to a suitable charity.

"We are very sorry these items have been listed on eBay and we are removing them. We don't allow listings of this nature, and dedicate thousands of staff to policing our site and use the latest technology to detect items that shouldn't be for sale," eBay said in a statement.

"We very much regret that we didn't live up to our own standards. We have made a donation to charity to reflect our concern."

Shoes, a toothbrush and yellow Star of David armbands were among the other items listed. The Auschwitz uniform was being offered for £11,300 by Viktor Kempf, a Ukranian man living in Canada, but he said he was selling the items to document them and fund history book projects.

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AfterDawn: News

Three potential bidders consider teaming up to purchase BlackBerry

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Nov 2013 10:45

Three potential bidders consider teaming up to purchase BlackBerry According to the WSJ, three potential bidders are considering joining together for a bid for the struggling smartphone maker, BlackBerry.

Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, who co-founded the company in 1984, but left the company in the last two years, have been talking with mobile chipset giant Qualcomm and major investor Cerberus Capital Management for a joint bid on the company.

In September, top shareholder Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. offered $9 per share for the company, but it has still not lined up the financing necessary and is likely to get hit with a breakup fee over $100 million for its wasted offer. Fairfax already owns 10 percent of the company. Investors have laughed off the preliminary deal, with the stock closing at $7.77 on Friday, well below the $9 offered.

BlackBerry has been up for sale in the last few months but buyers are cautious as the company only has a few assets worth anything. Its BBM network, its enterprise and security network and its patents are the only parts of the company seen with any value, and those may not be worth more than the company is currently trading for. The company's stock currently gives it a value of $4 billion.

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AfterDawn: News

Android 4.4 KitKat will ship with Google QuickOffice already pre-installed

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Nov 2013 10:27

Android 4.4 KitKat will ship with Google QuickOffice already pre-installed Google has announced that Android 4.4 KitKat will ship with the company's own word processing suite, QuickOffice, already pre-installed.

The app, purchased in 2012 by the search giant, allows you to edit Microsoft Office documents, including spreadsheets and presentations.

Before it was acquired, the app sold for up to $9.99 and still had hundreds of thousands of downloads. In December of last year, the company made the app free, as long as you used Google Apps on iPad, iPhone and Android. As of last month, the app is now free to everyone using iOS and Android.

Microsoft offers a version of their market leading Office for Android and iOS, but it requires an Office 365 subscription to use, which is not cheap as it costs at minimum $5 per month.




AfterDawn: News

GTA V took top prize at Golden Joysticks

Written by James Delahunty @ 02 Nov 2013 9:11

GTA V took top prize at Golden Joysticks Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V took 'Game of the Year' at the Golden Joysticks awards last week.

The awards are the the largest publicly-voted video game awards in the world, with over 10 million casting votes for this year's awards.

A new addition to the ceremony is the Lifetime Achievement award, which was presented to Ken Levine (BioShock). "The great thing about the still-maturing nature of video games is you get to be inspired by the work of novices and veterans alike," he said.

"We're all figuring out day by day exactly what the medium is capable of."

Full List of Awards:

  • Game of the Year: Grand Theft Auto V
  • Hall of Fame: Activision: Call of Duty
  • Lifetime Achievement: Ken Levine
  • Best Newcomer: The Last of Us
  • Most Wanted: Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
  • Best Indie Game: Mark of the Ninja
  • Best Visual Design: BioShock Infinite
  • Best Multiplayer: Payday 2
  • Best Gaming Moment: Far Cry 3 - The Definition of Insanity
  • Studio of the Year: Naughty Dog
  • Innovation of the Year: Oculus Rift
  • Best Storytelling: The Last of Us
  • Best Online Game: World of Tanks
  • Best Handheld Game: Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
  • YouTube Gamer Award: Yogscast
  • Best Gaming Platform: Steam
  • Best Mobile/Tablet Game of the Year: XCOM: Enemy Unknown




AfterDawn: News

Man charged with hacking U.S. government networks

Written by James Delahunty @ 02 Nov 2013 9:02

Man charged with hacking U.S. government networks A man has been arrested in England on suspicion of hacking into U.S. government networks.

Lauri Love is accused of hacking into U.S. government systems, including military systems, to steal confidential information and to disrupt operations. Three other co-conspirators - two in Australia and one in Sweden - remain unnamed.

Systems that they allegedly attacked included NASA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency.

"Such conduct endangers the security of our country and is an affront to those who serve," said U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey.

He said that the hacking took place starting in October 2012, and let to personal data of U.S. military personnel being compromised.

Love was arrested by the cybercrime unit of Britain's National Crime Agency on October 25, and is currently out on bail.





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