AfterDawn: Tech news

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AfterDawn: News

Last.fm adds 90,000 music videos

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 May 2013 10:46

Last.fm adds 90,000 music videos Last.fm has announced a new partnership today with MUZU.TV that will add 90,000 music videos to its Internet radio service.

The deal will add videos to each artist's profile page.

Currently, the deal is only good for European users, but Last.fm says support for other countries is coming very soon. It is unclear if the U.S. is part of the plans.

As part of the deal, MUZU will also get support for Last.fm's "scrobbling," which helps track your viewing and listening habits.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

New Pandora 'Premieres' station will let you listen to albums early

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 May 2013 10:38

New Pandora 'Premieres' station will let you listen to albums early Internet radio service Pandora has announced its new "Premieres" station that will allow users to preview upcoming albums up to a week before they go on sale.

Pandora says the service is a "first-of-its kind station," and will include new and established artists.

For example, the first album available is John Fogerty's "Wrote a Song for Everyone," which debuts at the end of the month.

"Pandora Premieres represents a great new discovery platform for our more than 200 million registered users and an equally powerful vehicle for artists, both established and emerging to reach new audiences," says Pandora Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Tim Westergren. "Never has so targeted a program been delivered on such a massive scale."

To add the station, login to your account and type "Pandora Premieres" into the search field.




AfterDawn: News

Spotify to begin publishing most-streamed songs and most-shared songs lists

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 May 2013 10:11

Spotify to begin publishing most-streamed songs and most-shared songs lists Popular music streaming service Spotify has announced today that it will begin publishing top 50 lists for its most-streamed and most-shared songs.

More importantly, the lists will be embedded with links that allow users to stream the tracks without needing to log in or even register a Spotify account.

The company has 24 million active users around the globe and 6 million paid subscribers but is aggressively looking to expand. Although not a direct rival, Pandora has 70 million active users and brings in much more revenue from advertising. Google just created a rival service, as well, Google Play All Access, which offers practically the same service but is backed by the search giant and its ecosystem.

Dubbed the Spotify 50 and the Social 50, the lists will be made available via an embeddable widget that can be placed on any website. The list updates every Monday at noon.




AfterDawn: News

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is here

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 May 2013 4:01

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is here While rumors have persisted for weeks, Samsung has kept the lid on its rugged version of the Galaxy S4, the S4 Active.

GSMA was able to get specs and pictures of the upcoming device, which will be dust and water resistant.

The Active will run on a quad-core 1.9GHz processor with an Adreno 320 GPU. Just like the S4, the screen is a 5-inch 1080p display.

One difference should be the camera, which is expected to be an 8MP standard camera compared to the S4's 13MP sensor.

Check the pics here:


asw3e421




AfterDawn: News

Microsoft unveils Xbox One

Written by James Delahunty @ 21 May 2013 1:12

Microsoft unveils Xbox One Microsoft has unveiled the next generation of Xbox today, the Xbox One, the All In One Experience that covers your entire TV experience.

Microsoft has unveiled its next generation of consoles, Xbox One. The console, Microsoft says, is an All In One solution for your living room, demoing on stage how quickly the Xbox One can switch to live TV, and use interactive TV features, by just yelling voice commands at the console.

The Xbox One Guide also helps, allowing you to change channels by literally commanding "Watch MTV" or "Show the Guide."

The Xbox One console comes with a 500GB hard drive, USB 3.0 and WiFi Direct. As earlier reported, the Xbox One features a Blu-ray disc drive. It runs "three operating systems," the first being a raw Xbox OS, the second being a Windows Kernel and a third is an OS that lets the two interact. Music, movies and your game saves can all be stored in the cloud too. Unfortunately, we did not get confirmation on the previously rumored specs for the new Xbox, such as the octo-core 1.6GHz, x86 CPU.

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AfterDawn: News

Samsung unveils new notebook with 3200 x 1800 display

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 May 2013 10:11

Samsung unveils new notebook with 3200 x 1800 display Samsung has announced a new notebook today that will include the highest pixels-per-inch display of any book.

The new 13.3-inch QHD laptop will include a 3200 x 1800 resolution with 276 pixels-per-inch (PPI).

By comparison, the Retina MacBook Pro has 227 PPI and the new Google Chromebook Pixel has a 239 PPI.

Samsung is following the trend of extremely high-resolution computers. Last week, Sharp announced high PPI IGZO LCD panels for 11.6, 14 and 15.6-inch variants. Toshiba also just announced the 13.3 Kira ultrabook with a 2560 x 1440 display.

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AfterDawn: News

Yahoo: We will not 'screw up' Tumblr

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 May 2013 9:21

Yahoo: We will not 'screw up' Tumblr Earlier today, Yahoo announced a $1.1 billion deal for photo blogging site Tumblr.

CEO Marissa Mayer promises "not to screw it up," giving some hope to disenfranchised users who are scared that Yahoo will destroy the thriving community by adding ads.

Traditional display advertising has been blocked from Tumblr by founder/CEO David Karp so far.

Mayer noted that Tumblr will remain independently operated and Karp will remain the CEO. There will be no Yahoo branding, either.

The executive went as far as to compare the deal to some of the more successful tech "game changers" of the past, including Google's purchase of YouTube and eBay's purchase of PayPal. Of course, Yahoo still has to find a way to make the site worth the investment, to which Mayer says it will "monetize Tumblr in a way that is meaningful ... to the user experience."

Tumblr currently has 300 million unique monthly visitors.




AfterDawn: News

Nexus variant of Samsung Galaxy S4 will be U.S.-only

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 May 2013 8:57

Nexus variant of Samsung Galaxy S4 will be U.S.-only Google has confirmed that its Nexus version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be U.S.-only.

The version comes with a vanilla version of Android 4.2.x, stripping Samsung's user interface and their suite of premium applications.

Available on June 26th, the device is contract-free for $649 supporting T-Mobile and AT&T's LTE networks.

"We've worked closely with Samsung to create a special Samsung Galaxy S4 exclusively for Google Play," Google said at launch. "It brings together cutting edge hardware from Samsung with Google's latest software and services -- including the user experience that ships with our popular Nexus devices."

The device is largely the same in terms of specs, except for running the stock Android OS, the lack of a provider lock and an unlocked bootloader. Google has also promised prompt Android updates in line with the Nexus 4.




AfterDawn: News

Sony teases PS4 hardware via video

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 May 2013 8:25

Sony teases PS4 hardware via video Sony has teased the upcoming PlayStation 4 hardware with a quick video set to some house music.

The company had not shown off any piece of the hardware except for the controller since its reveal in February.

More importantly, the console will be unveiled on June 10th, during Sony's E3 event. The console is expected to go on sale in November.

Rival Microsoft is unveiling their next-generation Xbox tomorrow at a special event.

Check the video here:




AfterDawn: News

Jolla announces first Sailfish-based smartphone

Written by James Delahunty @ 20 May 2013 10:21

Jolla announces first Sailfish-based smartphone Jolla, a Finnish mobile startup, has announced its first smartphone running the Sailfish OS.

Sailfish is developed by Jolla in cooperation with the Mer project (based on Intel's MeeGo). It sports a multi-tasking user interface that differentiates it from Android and iOS devices.

Today, Jolla announced its first mobile handset, "Other Half", and gave some limited spec details....

  • Jolla original design with ample 4.5" Estrade display
  • Dual core and 4G)
  • Keep it and share with 16GB + microSD
  • 8MP AF camera
  • User-replaceable battery
  • The Other Half
  • Gesture based Sailfish OS
  • Android app compliant
Shipping is targeted for the end of the year, and one will cost €399.

For more information: Jolla

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Ubisoft: We are confident in the Wii U

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 19 May 2013 10:46

Ubisoft: We are confident in the Wii U Ubisoft is sticking up for Nintendo at a time when others are not.

The publisher says it is confident that Nintendo will make the Wii U a success, saying we know "Nintendo will take steps to ensure that the Wii U is successful in the market."

Ubi's stance is completely opposite that of EA, which just pulled support from the console. One engineer for the studio even called the console "crap" and said Nintendo is "walking dead."

The publisher expanded a bit on its support, noting "As with any new console, it takes some time to grow an established base. Ubisoft has a varied and high-quality line-up for Wii U, with more big titles on the way including Rayman Legends, Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag and Splinter Cell Blacklist. We're confident that this will help in continuing to attract gamers to the Wii U system and that Nintendo will take steps to ensure that the Wii U is successful in the market."

Nintendo better start working fast before it is too late.




AfterDawn: News

Verizon quietly increases data limits for prepaid plans

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 19 May 2013 10:38

Verizon quietly increases data limits for prepaid plans Verizon has quietly increased the data limits for its new prepaid plans, with the changes taking place June 6th.

The plans, which cost $60 and $70, respectively, had originally offered unlimited talk, text and 500MB or 2GB of data.

Now, the plans will offer 2GB or 4GB, for the same price.

Existing customers will not have to do anything but new customers will have to wait until June 6th.

The prepaid plans are restricted to 3G and do not include the new fast LTE service making the plans less attractive than similar ones from T-Mobile and Sprint.




AfterDawn: News

Dell's Android thumb PC to ship in July

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 19 May 2013 10:31

Dell's Android thumb PC to ship in July Dell's "Project Ophelia," which is an Android-based thumb PC, will begin shipping in July.

The device will sell for around $100, says the company.

Plugging into a display's HDMI port, the PC can run applications and access files that have been stored remotely. Additionally, it will have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support.

Jeff McNaught, executive director of cloud client computing at Dell, says Ophelia will turn any display into a PC, a basic gaming console or a set-top box.

The device will have access to the Google Play Store, giving users access to 800,000 apps and movies, TV and music. Because Android has Netflix and Hulu Plus apps, users can stream films and TV, as well.

Additionally, Dell is working on a keyboard tech that will let users type more easily when Ophelia is docked to the screen.




AfterDawn: News

Samsung: Some Galaxy S4 have Wi-Fi connection issues with D-Link routers

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 19 May 2013 10:19

Samsung: Some Galaxy S4 have Wi-Fi connection issues with D-Link routers Samsung has confirmed that some of its Galaxy S4 handsets have issues connecting to Wi-Fi networks that use certain D-Link routers.

"This is a problem caused by firmware stored on a specific access point in D-Link routers. Customers should update their firmware to the latest version or reboot the access point," said a Samsung spokeswoman.

The most often affected routers are the D-Link model DIR-655 and DIR-855 routers but there are a few others, as well. The issue is not region specific, as all users are affected.

Some users were able to get around the bug by changing the cypher type to TKIP, but that has also had adverse affects on other devices within their networks.

D-Link was quick to issue a statement as they search for a permanent solution: "Recently, a limited number of customers have reported connection issues between their D-Link wireless router, including the DIR-855 and DIR-655, and the Samsung Galaxy S4 handset. Problems include intermittent disconnection from the wireless network, especially while browsing YouTube. Other devices continue to function normally. The problem has also been reported with wireless routers from other manufacturers. D-Link is actively researching this issue now to determine the cause."




AfterDawn: News

EA Sports developer: Nintendo needs to quit making hardware, the Wii U is 'crap'

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 19 May 2013 10:09

EA Sports developer: Nintendo needs to quit making hardware, the Wii U is 'crap' Earlier in the week, EA announced it was not developing any games for the Wii U console.

This weekend, an EA Sport's Canada developer tweeted that the console is "crap" and that Nintendo should quit making hardware.

Bob Summerwill, a senior software engineer, tweeted (since deleted): "The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet. Nintendo are walking dead at this point."

While the first tweet was harsh enough, the engineer continued: "Nintendo are still operating like it's 1990. Instead [of licensing their hit games for other consoles], they make this awful console."

Why did EA stop developing for the Wii U: "It is an utterly intentional decision to focus our resources on markets which actually matter."





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