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AfterDawn: News

Sony planning new Xperia flagship for next month?

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Aug 2013 8:22

Sony planning new Xperia flagship for next month? According to Bloomberg, Sony is preparing a new Xperia flagship for launch next month.

The smartphone will feature "imaging technology developed for its cameras and ultra-high definition TVs," says the sources. That tech is the "X-Reality" picture-enhancement chips.

Sony will introduce the handset at the start of the IFA show the first week of September.

Kazuo Hirai, president and CEO, has been using Xperia as a centerpiece for the company's revival in the entertainment hardware world. The company also has new Web-connected TVs and the PlayStation 4 console coming out later this year.

The device is the codenamed "Honami," which was revealed in a teaser here. The Xperia Honami is said to have a 1080p 5-inch Triluminos display, a quad-core 2.2 GHz Snapdragon 800 processor and 2GB RAM. What makes the phone standout is a 20.7 megapixel camera with a Sony G-lens and BIONZ image processor. LTE, BT 4.0, NFC and Wi-Fi are standard, and the device has a microSD slot.

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AfterDawn: News

Woz: New 'jOBS' film was incredibly inaccurate

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Aug 2013 4:21

Woz: New 'jOBS' film was incredibly inaccurate In a new interview, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak discussed his thoughts on the new 'jOBS' film starring Ashton Kutcher.

It is safe to assume that Woz was not the hugest fan of the film.

When asked about Kutcher's portrayal, Woz says "I suspect a lot of what was wrong with the film came from Ashton's own image of Jobs." That being said, however, he also noted that "I thought the acting throughout was good."

Woz also responded to Kutcher's recent criticism that he was not prepared to advise the film because he was financially tied to next year's Aaron Sorkin-written Steve Jobs film. Kutcher was "disingenuous," says Woz.

The co-founder also added that the script was already in place and therefore there was no way for him to take creative control.

"I'm grateful to Steve for his excellence in the i-era, and his contribution to my own life of enjoying great products, but this movie portrays him having had those skills in earlier times," Woz concluded.




AfterDawn: News

Analyst: It would be 'bizarre' if Nokia built Windows RT tablet

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Aug 2013 2:15

Analyst: It would be 'bizarre' if Nokia built Windows RT tablet Recent reports, citing multiple sources, have claimed Nokia is building a Windows RT tablet for release next month.

One analyst believes, if the reports are true, that the decision would be bizarre and "highly surprising."

Informa Telecoms & Media analyst Malik Saadi says, "first of all the OS has been a flop, there is no doubt about that. So the choice to go with Windows RT is bizarre."

Less than 200,000 Windows RT tablets were sold in the last quarter, compared to over 14 million iPads and over 15 million Android tablets.

Saasi also believes Nokia should be focusing on their Windows Phone efforts, which are still struggling to carve out a place in the duopoly owned by Google and Apple. "At this stage it is really risky for Nokia to enter the tablet market," Saadi added.

The only way it would make sense is if the company already had a large purchaser lined up, adds the analyst.




AfterDawn: News

Twitter: New Tweets per second record hit

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Aug 2013 1:22

Twitter: New Tweets per second record hit Twitter has announced that they recently reached a new milestone in TPS (tweets per second).

Says the company:

"Recently, something remarkable happened on Twitter: On Saturday, August 3 in Japan, people watched an airing of Castle in the Sky, and at one moment they took to Twitter so much that we hit a one-second peak of 143,199 Tweets per second. (August 2 at 7:21:50 PDT; August 3 at 11:21:50 JST)"

Twitter says they normally see 500 million tweets per day and 5700 TPS, on average.

More importantly, the company says there was not a "blip" for users. Twitter fans have become accustomed to the "fail whale" over the last few years when the company's servers are overloaded from too many tweets.

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AfterDawn: News

Wikileaks releases 400GB encrypted file as 'insurance'

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Aug 2013 12:43

Wikileaks releases 400GB encrypted file as 'insurance' WikiLeaks has released a massive 400GB encrypted file that it claims is 'insurance' to 'nullify attempts at prior restraint.'

The group posted the links to Facebook and Twitter and asked fans to download and mirror them wherever they choose.

All of the files remain encrypted with Advanced Encryption Standard-256 bits, and WikiLeaks has not released the key. They may never release the key, either.

It is unclear what is in the files but the speculation is it is the full NSA files partially released by Edward Snowden earlier this year.

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AfterDawn: News

AMD gains market share in GPU market

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Aug 2013 11:38

AMD gains market share in GPU market According to Peddie Research, AMD has gained share again in the GPU market.

Year-over-year the company saw its share jump significantly, to 21.9 percent from 20.6 percent quarter-over-quarter.

Intel also gained, from 61.1 percent up to 62 percent.

Both companies gained at the expense of Nvidia, which took a deep dive from 18.3 percent to 16.1 percent thanks to a weak PC market.

Intel and AMD seem to be boosting their share thanks to integrated graphics chips, which have all but killed off the low-end GPU market. Nearly 100 percent of Intel's non-server processors now have integrated graphics, and two-thirds of AMD's do.

Overall, PC GPU shipments fell 6.8 percent for the quarter.

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AfterDawn: News

Sony reaches agreement with Viacom to carry channels on new Internet-based TV service

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Aug 2013 5:28

Sony reaches agreement with Viacom to carry channels on new Internet-based TV service According to the WSJ, Sony has reached a preliminary agreement to carry Viacom's cable channels on its upcoming Internet-based TV service.

Sony will stream traditional cable channels along with movies and on-demand content over the Web in an effort to rival cable and satellite providers who have long sold subscription services through dishes or cable boxes hooked to your TV.

Many companies are trying to get into the space, with varying degrees of success. Intel and Google are the two largest and Intel is said to have secured some very basic deals but nothing on the scale of Viacom, which owns major channels such as Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV.

Sony has also had talks with Walt Disney, Time Warner and CBS, say the sources, but the status of those negotiations are still not clear.

The company is expected to launch the service by the end of the year through their PS3 and PS4 consoles. It will eventually be available through Xperia tablets and smartphones, as well.




AfterDawn: News

iPhone 5S to sport gold colorway, 128GB storage option

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Aug 2013 4:49

iPhone 5S to sport gold colorway, 128GB storage option Tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI says Apple may have a couple more varieties outside of their standard options when the iPhone 5S hits.

While the device will keep the same screen size and resolution, Apple is expected to update the processor to an A7 system-on-chip design with 1GB of LPDDR3 RAM. Due to the ARMv8 architecture, efficiency will be increased 20 percent.

On the camera side, the sensor will remain the same, but the device will have a larger f2.0 aperture lens with dual LED flashes.

Kuo does believe a fingerprint sensor is coming, as part of an embedded sapphire glass home button. Furthermore, a 128GB model will be made available, as well. Apple will not introduce NFC with the iPhone 5S, says Kuo.

Finally, the analyst believes a gold colorway will be made available alongside the traditional white, silver and black.




AfterDawn: News

Ubuntu Edge breaks crowdfunding record, phone may be saved by OEMs

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 16 Aug 2013 7:18

Ubuntu Edge breaks crowdfunding record, phone may be saved by OEMs Canonical's efforts to develop the Ubuntu Edge smartphone has smashed the record for crowdfunding, beating out the Pebble smartwatch.

The record had been $10,266,844, but with six days to go, the Edge has reached $10.6 million in funding. Unfortunately, that number is way below the $32 million the company had set as a goal.

Jane Silber, Canonical's CEO, added: "When we started this campaign three weeks ago, we hoped it would resonate with our community. So, to break the world record for a crowdfunding campaign is absolutely mind-blowing. We felt that innovation had substantially slowed down in the mobile industry, so wanted to address this. We're still astonished by the generosity of our community and will continue to do all we can to make the Ubuntu Edge a reality."

The phone is selling for $695 to all pledgers.

Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth says there may be a second life for the device, as OEMs have "come out of the woodwork" to discuss moving the device forward.




AfterDawn: News

Microsoft will no longer sell PC games through Xbox.com

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 16 Aug 2013 6:56

Microsoft will no longer sell PC games through Xbox.com Microsoft has announced they will be closing down the PC Marketplace, for good.

On August 22nd, the company will shut down the platform and stop selling PC games via Xbox.com.

The company recently announced it would be doing away with its virtual currency, Microsoft Points, finally allowing gamers to use their own local currency. That update is scheduled to hit when the next Dashboard update does.

For those that have purchased games already, your titles will stay available forever. You just will not be able to buy more.

Microsoft says after the 22nd, if you try to purchase or redeem points they will "add to your account an amount of currency equal to or greater than the Marketplace value of your Microsoft Points, and your Microsoft Points will be retired."

If they get retired, they can no longer be used to buy products.




AfterDawn: News

Xbox tops U.S. sales for 31st straight month

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 16 Aug 2013 6:26

Xbox tops U.S. sales for 31st straight month According to the latest July NPD figures, the Xbox 360 topped U.S. sales for the 31st straight month.

The console sold 107,000 units for the month, beating out the PS3, Wii and Wii U. Sales were lower than usual as the PS4 and Xbox One will launch at the end of November.

Additionally, total retail spend on the Xbox 360 (hardware, software and accessories) reached $178 million for the month, beating out rivals, as well.

The Xbox One, even at $500, is said to be sold out of pre-orders in most retailers.




AfterDawn: News

Skype bundled with Windows 8.1 update

Written by James Delahunty @ 16 Aug 2013 2:45

Skype bundled with Windows 8.1 update Skype has announced that its Windows 8 app will be bundled with the Windows 8.1 update due to roll out in mid-October.

The app will be added to the revamped Windows 8.1 Start Screen, meaning that not only can you login and reach over 300 million Skype users across many different devices but also everyone with a Windows 8.1 PC.

"As the default communications experience in Windows 8.1, we will continue to focus on delivering the best communications experience for Windows users through Skype," the Skype blog reads.

"With Skype in Windows 8.1 it will be easier than ever to connect and do more with the special people in your life, in any moment."




AfterDawn: News

VIDEO: Grand Theft Auto Online

Written by James Delahunty @ 16 Aug 2013 2:36

VIDEO: Grand Theft Auto Online Rockstar Games has shown off some Grand Theft Auto Online gameplay footage in a video released yesterday.

Grand Theft Auto Online is a dynamic and persistent online world for 16 players that begins by sharing gameplay features, geography and mechanics with Grand Theft Auto V, but will continue to expand and evolve after its launch with new content created by Rockstar Games and the Grand Theft Auto community.

Despite the session limit, you have a permanent stake in the game world. Players can invest in their character through customizing their appearance, improving their stats, owning customized vehicles, purchasing personal property, and taking part in missions, jobs and activities to earn reputation and cash to open up new opportunities to rise through the criminal ranks.

Access to Grand Theft Auto Online is free with every retail copy of Grand Theft Auto V and launches on October 1.

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AfterDawn: News

Google blocks YouTube app on Windows Phone, again

Written by James Delahunty @ 16 Aug 2013 2:16

Google blocks YouTube app on Windows Phone, again Microsoft has responded angrily to Google's decision to block its re-launched YouTube app, despite the company introducing ads and removing video download features.

The much improved YouTube app relaunched this week for Windows Phone devices, with advertisements added before monetized videos. It also lacked a video download feature that Google objected to in May, while adding a (albeit limited) video upload feature.

Reviews for the app suggested that Windows Phone users found it much better than the outdated YouTube app for the platform. However, it appears that Google has found more reasons to block the app on its fierce rival's platform, and Microsoft has responded angrily to its actions in a long statement posted online.

In the statement, Microsoft claims that while collaborating with Google, the search giant asked them to transition to a new coding language for the app, HTML5. Microsoft points out that neither the Android or iOS YouTube apps are built with HTML5.

Nevertheless, Microsoft "dedicated significant engineering resources" to examine the possibility, but that eventually experts from both companies found that building a new HTML5 YouTube app would be technically difficult and time consuming to complete - which is why it hasn't been done on Google's own Android, Microsoft asserts.

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AfterDawn: News

Man fired after Twitter request for drugs is retweeted by police

Written by James Delahunty @ 15 Aug 2013 7:34

Man fired after Twitter request for drugs is retweeted by police A Canadian man has lost his job after he requested a marijuana delivery on Twitter, which was seen and re-tweeted by the police department.

"Any dealers in Vaughan wanna make a 20sac chop? Come to Keele/Langstaff Mr. Lube, need a spliff," the man tweeted.

York Regional Police noticed the publicly visible request and decided to reply. "Awesome! Can we come too?," they replied on Twitter with an RT of the original request.



The shop, Mr Lube (.. seriously), told CBC News later that the man was fired for requesting that drugs be brought to the workplace, and thanked the police force.





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