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AfterDawn: News

Consumers eligible for up to $3.06 per book following price fixing settlements

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 01 Sep 2013 1:12

Consumers eligible for up to $3.06 per book following price fixing settlements According to new info from the states' Attorneys General, millions of consumers are in line to receive refunds following five major publisher's admission to price fixing and Apple's recent court loss for the same crime.

Once the settlements are finalized, customers who purchased ebooks from the publishers between April 1st 2010 and May 1st 2012 will be eligible for up to $3.06 per book. The refund will be given back as a credit to the bookstore you made the purchases, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and iBookstore. If the book you purchased was a New York Times best seller, you are eligible for the full $3.06 and if it was not, you are eligible for up to $0.73 per book.

HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster settled in April 2012, but Penguin and Macmillan settled much later, meaning their damages have not been finalized even though they have been approved by the Department of Justice.

If you have not received an email from your digital bookstore, you will likely be receiving one this week.


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AfterDawn: News

Report: Moto X to drop $100, add wood-grain backs next quarter

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 01 Sep 2013 12:56

Report: Moto X to drop $100, add wood-grain backs next quarter According to @evleaks, who has been extremely right with his leaks for a long time, the Moto X will drop to $100 on contract in the next quarter.

Additionally, the wood-grain back cases will be available at the same time, at a price of $50.

Google's Moto X has a 4.7-inch AMOLED 720p display, Android 4.2.2 (with minor Motorola bloat), a 10MP "ClearPixel" camera, and a new Motorola X8 chipset that includes a powerful 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4, an Adreno 320 GPU, 2GB RAM and built-in specialized processors for natural language processing.

The Moto X has a motion-sensitive Active Display, always-on Google Now voice commands and a camera activation gesture that requires just two wrist twists.

If you were considering buying the device, it may pay to wait another month.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Morgan Stanley decides against upgrading employee devices to BlackBerry 10

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 01 Sep 2013 12:44

Morgan Stanley decides against upgrading employee devices to BlackBerry 10 Morgan Stanley has decided to hold off on upgrading employee devices to BlackBerry 10, citing the fact they do not know if the company can back the platform over the long-term.

The investment bank will choose to stay with BlackBerry 7 until it can get assurances that support for BlackBerry 10 is long-term. BlackBerry is currently exploring strategic alternatives including a full sale of the company.

An unnamed bank, said to be Bank of America, has reportedly started a small pilot program for 100 workers with BlackBerry 10, giving a 90 day window to monitor the phone's performance. Morgan Stanley has over 55,000 employees and a move to BB10 would certainly be a boost for the struggling phone maker.

The company has two new flagships, the touch-screen Z10 and the enterprise-aimed Q10 which has a full physical keyboard.

Canadian banks have upgraded to the devices, possibly because the devices were made available two months earlier in the country and also possibly due to brand loyalty to the Canadian company.




AfterDawn: News

Target's 'Ticket' video download and streaming service is ready for launch

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 01 Sep 2013 12:26

Target's 'Ticket' video download and streaming service is ready for launch Target's long-awaited video download and streaming service, 'Ticket,' is ready for launch.

Consumers will be able to rent and purchase digital copies of their favorite movies and TV shows, and then stream them across any device they own including TVs, Blu-ray players, smartphones, tablets, consoles, and set-top boxes.

At launch, there will be 15,000 titles, ranging from classics to new releases. New movies will cost $15 to buy and rentals will cost $3.99/$4.99, on par with biggest rival, iTunes. A TV episode will cost $2.99 and a full season will cost in the range of $34.99.

Networks already signed up are ABC, AMC, CBS, CW, Fox, FX, HBO, The WB, NBC, Showtime, Starz, and USA.

While iOS and Android devices work out of the gate (among plenty of other devices), Crunch reports that only Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players will work with Ticket at launch, with Sony, Panasonic, Funai and Philips support coming in very near future.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

LG unveils iPad Mini rival, the G Pad 8.3

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 01 Sep 2013 11:09

LG unveils iPad Mini rival, the G Pad 8.3 LG has used a relatively quiet press release to unveil their iPad Mini rival, the G Pad.

The device will have a full announcement next week at the IFA 2013 event.

Among the powerful specs are an 8.3-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200 pixels / 273 ppi) display, a 1.7GHz Quad-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 Processor, 16GB eMMC internal storage, 2GB RAM, dual 5MP/1.3MP cameras, Android 4.2.2 and a large 4,600mAh battery,

The device is heavier than the iPad Mini at 338 grams, but it does have a marginally larger display to account for the extra weight.

Among the new LG-exclusive features:

Slide Aside enables seamless multitasking by simply "sliding" currently open apps off to the side using a three-finger swipe
QSlide controls up to three different apps in one window with no interruption, especially convenient on a large screen
KnockON turns the device on and off by tapping the display twice

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

BlackBerry director: We can survive as niche smartphone maker

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 01 Sep 2013 10:48

BlackBerry director: We can survive as niche smartphone maker Bert Nordberg, part of BlackBerry's board committee, has said the company can survive as a niche smartphone maker, but they will have to sell off parts.

The board is in charge of exploring 'strategic alternatives' to keep the company afloat, including a sale of parts or the entire company.

Nordberg did not specify which parts of the company should be sold off.

The director did admit that being a tiny overall player in the global market is difficult and will only get worse for BlackBerry. Nordberg says most importantly, the "company needs to close the gap between its value on paper and how Wall Street perceives the company's worth," via Reuters.

BlackBerry is reportedly seeking to spin off its popular messaging service (BBM) into its own subsidiary with more independence.




AfterDawn: News

Google acquired Android smartwatch maker WIMM Labs

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 31 Aug 2013 12:48

Google acquired Android smartwatch maker WIMM Labs Google has confirmed their purchase of smartwatch maker WIMM Labs in an effort to boost their own wearable device offerings into the future.

WIMM released a smartwatch back in 2011, running on an older version of Android and including a platform for developers to code.

The company appeared to disappear last summer, however, it seems Google had just quietly acquired them.

Outside of Google Glass, Google is widely expected to introduce a smartwatch in the future, as well.




AfterDawn: News

AT&T takes its no-contract Aio Wireless service nationwide

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 31 Aug 2013 12:33

AT&T takes its no-contract Aio Wireless service nationwide AT&T has announced that its Aio Wireless no-contract prepaid service is now live nationwide.

As of writing, the service is only available in Florida, Texas, Metro-Atlanta, and Chicago.

The service costs between $40 and $70 a month depending on your minutes and data plan, and if you sign up before September 29th, you get a free month of service.

Aio's service has caught some flack from T-Mobile USA, as it originally had a magenta colored banner.

"We invite customers across the country to switch to Aio and experience our first class service with no annual contracts," said Jennifer Van Buskirk, president of Aio Wireless. "We want to make it easy for consumers almost anywhere in the US to get great value in their wireless service, with the network coverage and experience they deserve, and devices they can be proud to own."




AfterDawn: News

Microsoft updates email storage to 50GB for Exchange Online, Office 365

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Aug 2013 11:19

Microsoft updates email storage to 50GB for Exchange Online, Office 365 Microsoft has announced it has doubled its cloud mailbox storage to 50GB.

Users of Exchange Online and Office 365 will see their current 25GB capacity double over the next few weeks, or months, depending on your location.

There is no additional charge for the extra space.

Microsoft notes that customers of Exchange Online Plan 1, Office 365 Small Business, Midsize Business, Enterprise E1, Government G1, and Education A1 will see the increase.

Exchange Online Plan 2, Office 365 Enterprise E3 and E4, Government G3 and G4, Education A3 and A4 will see their primary inboxes increase to 50GB even though they had unlimited storage in their personal archives.




AfterDawn: News

Aereo to launch for Android in September

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Aug 2013 11:02

Aereo to launch for Android in September Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia has confirmed that the streaming service will be available on Android devices starting next month.

While an exact date was not confirmed, the exec says the announcement will take place in the coming weeks. The company had originally wanted an Android app earlier in the summer, but delayed the development.

Since launching in NYC and Boston, the service has expanded to over 20 cities now, with more planned.

The startup's service, which costs $8 per month, allows users to watch free, OTA content on any mobile device along with a free remote DVR. Aereo does not pay any re-transmission fees as it uses tiny digital TV antennas for each user in its own facilities and links to the streams.

The company has faced significant backlash since launching in 2011. Last year, CBS, NBC, Fox and other smaller broadcasters filed a copyright suit claiming unauthorized access to their content. So far, two federal courts have sided with Aereo and the company continues to expand and innovate.




AfterDawn: News

As expected, Windows 8.1 RTM leaks early online

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Aug 2013 10:27

As expected, Windows 8.1 RTM leaks early online The leaks started earlier this week but the floodgates have now been opened.

On the 26th, a Chinese-language version of Windows 8.1 Enterprise RTM leaked online, followed by Windows 8.1 Pro RTM x64, in full English, on the 28th, as a .wim file.

As of this weekend, we now have x86 and x64, both as untouched ISO files, ready for download and install.

The official download goes out on October 18th, so these ISOs are likely the packages Microsoft's OEM partners received.

Both ISOs are for build 6.3.9600.16384.WINBLUE_RTM.130821-1623, made available by Microsoft on August 21st. The files range from 3GB to 4GB.

If you are a frustrated Windows 8 user, it may be time to preview the latest update to your OS.




AfterDawn: News

Apple's iPhone trade-in program goes live around the country

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Aug 2013 10:09

Apple's iPhone trade-in program goes live around the country Apple has confirmed their iPhone trade-in program, following months of leaks and speculation.

The company had previously offered recycling programs, exchanging gift cards for your old Apple devices. The new program will give you credit towards the latest model phones.

Apple spokeswoman Amy Bessette added: "iPhones hold great value. So, Apple Retail Stores are launching a new program to assist customers who wish to bring in their previous-generation iPhone for reuse or recycling. In addition to helping support the environment, customers will be able to receive a credit for their returned phone that they can use toward the purchase of a new iPhone."

There is one caveat, however. Anyone using the program must leave the store with a new contract, but older devices should give you decent credit. For example, one report claims the company will pay $336 for a good condition iPhone 5 (16GB) complete with box and accessories, more than paying for a new iPhone 5S.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

BlackBerry Messenger gets Android and iPhone landing page

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Aug 2013 9:51

BlackBerry Messenger gets Android and iPhone landing page BlackBerry Messenger is one step closer to making its way to Android and iOS.

The struggling smartphone maker has set up a landing page to help Android and iPhone users learn about what BBM is and what it offers.

At launch, which is set for next month, BBM will only include messaging, but it is expected to add video and voice chat later in the year.

The move is a necessary one for BlackBerry, which has almost disappeared from the market. However, BBM has 60 million active users and is still generally regarded as one of the best messaging services. WhatsApp and Line, which are available for rival platforms, have quickly amassed hundreds of millions of downloads, and have threatened to make BBM even more irrelevant.

Regardless, the company should have a hard time penetrating the market as Android and iPhone users already have native messaging clients, like iMessage and Hangouts, along with options like WhatsApp.




AfterDawn: News

Tencent gives away 10TB free cloud storage

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Aug 2013 8:40

Tencent gives away 10TB free cloud storage Just days after rivals Baidu and Qihoo 360 began offering users 1TB of free cloud storage, Chinese tech giant Tencent has one-upped them, offering 10TB of free storage.

You must sign up for a Tencent QQ account and also download the most updated Tencent Cloud (Weiyun) mobile app. From there, you must click through Weiyun's promo site and you will receive 1TB.

As you use up more space, Tencent will continue to add to your storage space, up to the max at 10TB.

By comparison, American-based companies have been offering anywhere between 5GB-25GB for free.

Check how the space increases:

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

IDC: Global PC shipments to fall 9.7 percent this year

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Aug 2013 7:05

IDC: Global PC shipments to fall 9.7 percent this year Research firm IDC has reported today that they expect global PC shipments to fall more than previously forecasted.

Total unit sales will fall 9.7 percent this year, a steep drop from the 7.8 percent the firm expected at the end of May. The market will continue to shrink until 2015, when the market is expected to 'bottom' and post a small single digit gain.

Sales will never reach 2011 levels, where they peaked around the world, adds the firm. China and other emerging economies, which had been compensating for declining sales in the U.S. and other developed nations, have now begun contracting, as well.

Altogether, IDC predicts 315.4 million PCs this year, down from 349.2 million last year.





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