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Motorola Solutions acquires Psion

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Jun 2012 11:13

Motorola Solutions acquires Psion Motorola Solutions has announced their acquisition of Psion, the designer and manufacturer of rugged mobile handheld computers for commercial and industrial applications.

The acquisition will cost Motorola $200 million, or 88 pence in cash per Psion share.

"Psion is a compelling opportunity to strengthen our industry-leading, mobile-computing portfolio with ruggedized handheld products and vehicle-mount terminals that will deepen our presence in the global markets in which we compete," reads the press release.

The company has 830 employees, "customers in more than 50 countries and delivered 2011 revenues of £176 million."

Adds John Hawkins, chairman of Psion: "The Psion directors are pleased to unanimously recommend this offer by Motorola Solutions at a price which offers a significant cash premium to both the current and recent market prices. Psion continues to successfully deliver on its strategy of introducing exciting new products while strictly managing the cost base. The offer by Motorola Solutions provides Psion's shareholders with certainty in an environment where certainty is in short supply."




AfterDawn: News

Nintendo's Iwata questions spec bumps for PS4, Xbox Next

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Jun 2012 6:48

Nintendo's Iwata questions spec bumps for PS4, Xbox Next During a lengthy interview with the Telegraph, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has given his thoughts on the competition, the yet unconfirmed PS4 and Xbox Next.

The CEO mainly questioned whether the expected boost in specs for the consoles will live up to expectations of gamers.

Adds Iwata: "If they decide to increase the spec numbers, will the consumers be able to realise the difference enough so that they can understand it's much superior to today's machine?"

The boss also notes that if the machines do in fact launch with high-end specs, it will just prove to be a hindrance for devs who will have a steep learning curve.

Iwata believes the uniqueness and experience of the Wii U should leave gamers unconcerned about the next-generation of consoles: "I never think in terms of how we can compete against the other companies, rather our primary focus is to make consumers feel the uniqueness and attractiveness of our products. So any improvements in graphics are just a portion of what we want people to enjoy from Nintendo. More importantly, I want people to say Nintendo are offering unique experiences."




AfterDawn: News

Microsoft unveiling its own Windows RT tablet on Monday?

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Jun 2012 1:43

Microsoft unveiling its own Windows RT tablet on Monday? According to multiple credible sources, Microsoft is preparing to unveil their rival to Apple, Google and Amazon at an event on Monday.

The new tablet will run on Windows RT, the software giant's tablet version of Windows 8.

Windows RT runs on ARM processors, so the tablet may be the first with Windows to run on an ARM processor.

AllThingsD says the decision was made after "Microsoft concluded that it needs its own tablet, with the company designing both the hardware and software in an effort to better compete against Apple's strengths."

Microsoft will also be manufacturing the device itself, cutting out third-party manufacturers.




AfterDawn: News

Report: PC GPUs now 24 times more powerful than Xbox 360

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Jun 2012 1:31

Report: PC GPUs now 24 times more powerful than Xbox 360 According to a new report by New Scientist, new release GPUs for PCs are 24x more powerful than the one in 2005's Xbox 360 console.

The source, Nvidia engineer Simon Green, says one of the company's most recent card, the GTX 680 is the only card needed to demo the new Unreal Engine 4.

Nvidia's most recent, the GTX 690, is twice as powerful as the 680 and will play all games at the highest framerate possible.

The real future is in cloud gaming, says Green, with the "the whole idea of owning a separate piece of hardware to play games on might be completely redundant" as technology evolves.




AfterDawn: News

Microsoft buys Yammer for $1 billion

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 Jun 2012 11:20

Microsoft buys Yammer for $1 billion Microsoft will be purchasing the business social networking site at an unheralded price.

Yammer, which is little known outside of corporate circles, has been called "Facebook for the workplace" due to its ability to create private social networks within companies.

The company launched in 2008 and was started by PayPal's former COO and has raised $140 million in venture capital since its founding.

Last year, Microsoft purchased Skype for $8.5 billion, in its largest acquisition, ever.

By buying Yammer, many expect Microsoft to add more social features to its popular Office suite. Office brings the company over $20 billion revenue per year.

Yammer has 4 million corporate customers but only 20 percent pay for the premium subscriptions.




AfterDawn: News

T-Mobile giving away all 4G phones for free on Father's Day

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 Jun 2012 9:58

T-Mobile giving away all 4G phones for free on Father's Day T-Mobile has announced that on June 15th and 16th, they will be offering all 4G phones for free with new contract.

The promotion is thanks to Father's Day, and all prices are after mail-in-rebate.

Current and new T-Mobile subscribers are eligible for the deals although "current Classic subscribers are subject to the standard upgrade eligibility rules if they decide to stay with a Classic plan."

All the phones will cost money out of pocket, some with substantial amounts, but they all net out to be free after the rebates.

"We want to say thanks to fathers for all they do and keep them easily and affordably connected to family throughout the entire year," said Andrew Sherrard, senior vice president of marketing for T-Mobile USA. "Whether through voice calls, photos, texts, video conferencing or social media updates, T-Mobile's 'All Phones Free' promotion provides families a great opportunity to get the latest cutting-edge smartphones running on lightning-fast speeds via America's Largest 4G Network."

Check the phones here:




AfterDawn: News

Ryan Cleary charged in LulzSec hacking case

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 Jun 2012 8:53

Ryan Cleary charged in LulzSec hacking case Ryan Cleary, the 20-year old British student arrested last year for his alleged part in the LulzSec hacking episodes, has been charged with hacking Fox, PBS and Sony sites to steal personal information.

The federal grand jury has indicted Cleary "on conspiracy and hacking charges for allegedly hacking sites for the talent competition "The X-Factor," the site for "PBS NewsHour," Sony Pictures and others," reads the Bloomberg report.

Allegedly, Cleary and other LulzSec members would exploit security vulnerabilities in the sites of major companies to gain unauthorized access to administrative panels. Many of the sites were defaced while others were completely taken down.

Cleary was arrested last year in the UK over allegations he hacked various British music sites and law enforcement agencies.

In the PBS hack, Cleary and LulzSec posted a fake story claiming deceased rapper Tupac Shakur was actually living in New Zealand. The hits on Sony and Fox were to steal personal info.

The young adult faces up to 25 years in prison.




AfterDawn: News

Nokia to lay off 10,000

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 Jun 2012 8:01

Nokia to lay off 10,000 Nokia will layoff up to 10,000 jobs around the world by the end of next year.

The cost cutting will help Nokia save $1.6 billion by the end of 2013, says the handset maker.

As part of the plan, the company also announced the acquisition of imaging specialists and all technologies and intellectual property from Scalado of Sweden.

The company has also shaken up its senior management, including appointing Juha Putkiranta, formerly senior vice president of supply chain, as executive vice president of operations, says CW.

Finally, the company will reduce expenses in research and development projects including the planned closures of offices in Ulm, Germany and Burnaby, Canada.




AfterDawn: News

Online retailer to penalize users who use Internet Explorer 7

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 Jun 2012 7:16

Online retailer to penalize users who use Internet Explorer 7 The online electronics retailer Kogan has announced on its site today that it will be charging any customer using the site through Internet Explorer 7 with a 6.8 percent tax on their purchase.

Why 6.8 percent? "That's 0.1 per cent for each month IE7 has been on the market," reads the post.

Founder Ruslan Kogan says the tax is because he is forced to spend too much energy (and money) on making the site usable for IE7 users:

"Internet Explorer 7 has long since passed its use-by date. It's a constant source of frustration for our web guys and we're sick of burning cash on a browser that hit the market nearly six years ago. It goes against everything Kogan stands for."

In order to remove the penalty, users can switch to any other modern browser, including IE 8 or later, Chrome, Opera, Firefox or Safari.

Read Kogan's post here: New IE7 tax




AfterDawn: News

Nintendo already developing next-gen 3DS successor

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 Jun 2012 6:40

Nintendo already developing next-gen 3DS successor For pretty much every generation of their handheld consoles, Nintendo has elongated the life span of the device by creating updated models introducing new features.

That does not appear to be the case for their most recent, the 3DS. There will be no 3DSi or 3DSXL as Nintendo has moved on to their next-generation handheld.

"I really feel like I am satisfied with the 3DS hardware as it is. I feel like it is the best for this generation. What we are thinking about right now is probably going to be for a future generation of handheld," said Shigeru Miyamoto, the general manager of Nintendo entertainment analysis and development.

In the past, when the company released the Game Boy, they extended its life with the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Light. For the Game Boy Advance, the company extended its life with the GB Advance SP and the GB Micro.




AfterDawn: News

Want to fix the Retina Display MacBook Pro yourself? Forget it, you can't

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Jun 2012 11:37

Want to fix the Retina Display MacBook Pro yourself? Forget it, you can't The news comes via popular DIY tech site iFixit.

iFixit was able to get their hands on the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display and has some bad news for eager Mac fans.

The site took the notebook apart and gave it the worst repair score possible, a heinous 1 out of 10.

"This is, to date, the least-repairable laptop we've taken apart," added Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit. "Apple has packed all the things we hate into one beautiful little package. Laptops are expensive. It's critical that consumers have the option to repair things that go wrong, as well as upgrade their own hardware to keep it relevant as new technologies roll out."

Weins is not kidding. The base model of the new MacBook is $2199. Unfortunately, it's non-upgradeable and almost impossible to fix yourself:

"The new MacBook Pro is virtually non-upgradeable -- making it the first MacBook Pro that will be unable to adapt to future advances in memory and storage technology," noted Wiens.

Just like in the MacBook Air, the new notebooks have "proprietary screws, copious amounts of glue and expensive parts" that must be replaced by Apple even after a minor failure. The RAM is soldered to the logic board, making RAM upgrades impossible. Apple charges almost triple the price for RAM upgrades as it would cost you to purchase on (for example, NewEgg) and install yourself.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Rumor: Apple preparing to kill off failed Ping social network

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Jun 2012 11:21

Rumor: Apple preparing to kill off failed Ping social network According to multiple reports, Apple is preparing to kill of its failed Ping music social network.

Ping was launched in September 2010 to little fanfare, and has remained unpopular amongst Apple users.

If accurate, the reports claim Ping will disappear with the release of iTunes 10.6.4 and iOS 6, set for release in the fall.

One analyst believes Apple will now focus on integrating better with Twitter and Facebook: "It's fair to say Ping has been a flop," said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with ZK Research. "I think it was always too limited... It makes all the sense it the world to leverage the large social networks that are out there."

"Apple doesn't fail at things very often," concludes the analyst. "The lesson is to stick to your core competency and leverage what's available... But if you don't fail at things, you're not taking enough risks. You're always being safe. The key is to know that if you've failed, not to continue throwing good money after bad and they're not doing that."




AfterDawn: News

Nokia on verge of selling luxury subsidiary Vertu

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Jun 2012 11:13

Nokia on verge of selling luxury subsidiary Vertu The Finnish handset maker is preparing to sell the luxury line after months of searching for a buyer.

If accurate, reports have the company selling Vertu for $250 million to private equity group EQT.

There are still some roadblocks due to the "difficulty of carving the unit out of Nokia," but the sources expect the deal to close within a week.

Vertu sells ridiculously expensive phones, most costing $300,000 due to crystal displays, gold cases and keys made of sapphire.

Nokia, in an effort to raise cash and focus on their core smartphone division is selling "non-core assets".




AfterDawn: News

Here are the leaked Windows Phone 8 screenshots

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Jun 2012 5:39

Here are the leaked Windows Phone 8 screenshots Microsoft is expected to unveil the updated operating system next week, but leaked screenshots of Windows Phone 8 Apollo are already here.

The alleged shots show off the expected Skype integration, RCSe and more features. RCSe stands for "Rich communication suite."

Outside of Skype, one screen shows the updated camera app and new button, although it is unclear what the "Lenses" function performs.

There is a data usage app similar Android 4.0's which shows data, how many days left in your monthly cycle and allows you to block data at certain points or adjust accordingly.

IE 10, the new browser, will use "data compression" to help those with smaller data plans, and it is expected to reduce data up to 30 percent.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

All upcoming Crytek games to be free-to-play

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Jun 2012 2:08

All upcoming Crytek games to be free-to-play Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has confirmed today that all future titles from the studio will be free-to-play.

Each of the games will also be "AAA" titles, meaning they will hold nothing back. The new move will take effect after the release of Crysis 3 and Homefront 2, which are both in development.

The future games will keep budgets between $10-$30 million to ensure "the best quality, console game quality," and will also support the social gaming platform Gface.

"As we were developing console games we knew very clearly that the future is online and free-to-play," Yerli added (via GS). "Right now we are in the transitional phase of our company, transitioning from packaged goods games into an entirely free-to-play experience."

Yerli also noted what most consumers think, in saying: "If you look at what kind of games are done in the packaged goods market, with DLCs and premium services and whatnot, it's literally milking the customers to death."





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