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Monday, 27 January 2014

Microsoft buys Gears of War franchise, new game in development

Microsoft now owns another major franchise tied to its Xbox game consoles: Gears of War. That includes "rights to all existing and future games, entertainment experiences and merchandise," and it looks like a new game (likely for Xbox One) is already in production at Black Tusk Studios in Canada (Microsoft actually teased that news back at E3 2013 during the company's press briefing). The franchise's former director of production, Rod Fergusson, will take on oversight.

The Gears of War franchise was exclusive to the Xbox 360 (and later on PC as well), and Unreal Engine developer Epic Games used the third-person shooter series to show off its engine's graphical chops. Beyond being a graphical showcase, however, Gears of War developed a loyal following among online console gamers -- last year's Gears of War: Judgment was the first entry in the franchise co-developed by Epic and Bulletstorm dev People Can Fly, and it was expected to be the final entry in the series.

Beyond a new entry in the massively popular shooter franchise, we expect re-issues (perhaps prettied up re-issues) will happen at some point (a la Tomb Raider's "Definitive" Edition). At very least, Gears fans can rest assured that more tales of meaty space marines taking down locust are on the way care of Microsoft.

Microsoft's Windows Store has a bunch of Windows 8 tablets on sale, starting at just $229 for the Dell Venue 8 Pro 32 GB, or for $20 more you can get the new Lenovo Miix 2 8. Dell's 8-incher sports a 1280x800 pixels display, and quad-core BayTrail Atom, which ensures it will run a full working day on a charge.

The 64 GB version is also slashed down fifty bucks, but the largest $350 discount in absolute sum goes to Samsung's ATIV Smart PC500T tablet, which sports an 11" display, and can run Windows 8.1, with its legacy program support and all device drivers you'll ever need. Razer'g gaming Edge tablet with Core i7 processor also gets under a grand, after a hefty $300 shave. It's not clear how long this sale will last, or if it will be a permanent discount offer, so if you are interested in any of those, hit the Store's link below. Here's a list of the devices on sale so far:

Dell Venue 11 Pro - $499 (save $50)
Dell Venue 8 Pro 32GB - $229 (save $70)
Dell Venue 8 Pro 64GB - $299 (save $50)
Lenovo Miix 2 - $249 (save $50)
Toshiba Encore WT8-A32M Touchscreen Tablet - $249.00 (save $70)
Samsung ATIV Smart PC 500T - $349 (save $350)
Samsung ATIV Tab 3 XE300TZC-K01US Tablet - $499 (save $200.99)
Razer Edge - $999 (save $300)

Massive vending machine offers electric car for $3 an hour

The Kandi Machine -- China's Sweet Pollution Solution (by Aaron Rockett) KNDIAaron Rockett

If you find yourself in need of a ride in Hangzhou, China, you can waltz up to a multi-story garage, punch a few buttons, and have a fully charged electric vehicle deposited in front of you.

It's a new car-sharing scheme launched by Kandi Technologies that takes the hyper-successful bike-sharing model in China and puts it onto four electrically powered wheels.

For a little over $3 (£1.82) an hour, these ultra-compact, Chinese-made EVs can get about 75 miles on a charge and max out at 50 mph, and when the driver is done, they can drop off their rented ride at another Kandi station near their destination.

Since its launch last year, Kandi has two EV vending machines in Hangzhou, a city of 10 million people about an hour outside of Shanghai. The company has plans to add another 10 this year, while expanding to China's most populous cities: Beijing and Shanghai.

Of the 1.35 billion people in China, only 10 percent of the population owns a car, and that's set to massively expand in the next decade. Since it's impossible to reduce the demand for transportation, Kandi believes the key is to reduce the demand for privately owned cars. And even better, make them EVs to reduce carbon emissions.

Bike sharing has taken off in China, with 2,700 stations -- the most in the world -- sprinkled throughout the country, so people are familiar with the concept. And with the Chinese government pledging 400 billion yuan (over $66 billion (£39.9 billion)) to get two million EVs on China's roads by 2020, the Kandi Machine solves the problems of getting people into cars and keeping smog in check.

This story originally appeared on Wired.com

4.5 out of 5
£500

For

Great design, amazing screen, S Pen interface keeps getting better, microSD expansion

Against

Expensive, slow charging times (no USB 3)

Samsung is doing a good job for many of its devices. The Note 3 is one of our favourite phones, and the Note 2 10.1 was a tablet that we expected not to like, but ended up adoring. A new year must bring a new Note, and that is the updated Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition.

What does the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition offer that might tempt you? It houses more powerful hardware, delivers some new specs and hangs on the hope that it will be chosen for its inclusion of S Pen for multiple input options over the other typically hands-on-only options on the market. There's also a new design and, of course, more up-to-date software - although, not the latest Android KitKat operating system at launch.

But all this comes at a price. And one of the bigger questions is whether the Note 10.1 deserves its fairly hefty price tag. We've been playing with one to find out.
Design update

One of the things we noticed about the new Note was the updated look Samsung has given the device. It's a lot more modern now. On the old device, everything was quite chunky and rounded. The opposite is true now, it feels more slimline and the edges are square now, giving it a look very much like the Note 3 smartphone.

READ: Samsung Galaxy Note 3 review

Also carried over from the Note 3 is that faux leather rear cover, complete with faux stitching, all made out of plastic. We don't mind this look, but some people absolutely hate it. It's also worth remembering that you can't change it on this device, unlike on the Note 3.

The usual array of Samsung controls are on the front - the large home button, alongside the "back" and the context sensitive menu control. In this updated Note, it's interesting that the speakers have moved from forward-facing to side-mounted, which potentially reduces the quality of the sound, and does make them liable to be interrupted by your hands.
S Pen improvements

We've always loved the pen input on the full-sized Note devices. After all, it makes a lot more sense on a device this size, especially if you're a graphic designer or artist. We use it most for writing notes, because we have roughly the same artistic talent as a chewed bone. Even so, drawing with the kids or just doodling is a massive amount of fun on this device. While Apple has shown the world how to make devices that work brilliantly with the finger, there are some things where the pen is just mightier.

Like the Note 3, the Note 10.1 2014 also offers advanced "hover-over" features too, so now when you have the S Pen near the glass pressing the button on the side of the stylus will bring up a quick shortcut menu to jump to the relevant tool. Hovering gives it a new scope, as it can also be context sensitive based on which app is open as to which tools are offered - although for the most part, the functionality doesn't change from app to app. This might be something that improves in the future.

The Note 10.1 has improved no end in its note conversion and handwriting recognition stakes, which is a similar trend the one we've seen on the Note 3, versus the older Note 2. Writing on this latest tablet is utterly brilliant. The S Pen and screen work beautifully together, and mistakes are rare enough that, with a little training, this can become a really good way to make notes.

We also find that just handwriting can be a nice way to use the device. This just gives you notes as if you were using paper, but also gives you more creativity, and the option to doodle when your mind wanders.

You can also use the S Pen to make a note of names and numbers to add to your contacts list. This already works on the Galaxy smartphones, and is handy in the tablet form for managing your contacts, or calling people with, say, Skype. We didn't have the 4G tablet for this test, but that bump in over-the-air speeds would be good enough to make calls on the go, which adds more use again to this feature.
Screen

The Note 10.1 now has an almost ridiculous resolution, in common with a lot of newer tablets. This is, in some ways at least, a blessing. In others, it might be less so. For example, higher resolution screens can use more power. In a tablet, that might not be a problem because the space for batteries is large, but it can attribute to a very long charge time.

Ignoring the downsides though, the Note's screen is amazing. It's incredibly bright - so much so you can see it in strong, outdoor lighting, although we're not getting too much of that in the UK at the moment - and is very detailed. As a matter of trivia the 2560 x 1600 pixel screen here is higher resolution than Apple's 2048 x 1536 panel in the iPad Air, and boasts more pixels-per-inch too, even though the Note has a slightly larger screen.

High resolution screens are all well and good, but without some high resolution video or games to play there might not be much point. Video will, as the coming years roll on, become 4K and so we will see a benefit on these screens. Right now everything still looks amazing, but most apps and video is not optimised for these screens. This is noticeable on apps in particular, as they look soft when increased in size and resolution to fit this panel. It's a small grumble, but the Android ecosystem has been slower to move to tablet-optimised versions of apps than iOS developers seem to have been. There are, for example, frustratingly few high-resolution, tablet-ready Twitter apps.
Things of Note

It's a oddity, really, but the Note 10.1 2014 Edition doesn't have the same USB 3.0 socket that's found on the bottom of the Galaxy Note 3 smartphone. It makes almost no sense because the tablet is bigger and you're almost certain to want to move stuff on and off your tablet for travel purposes.

It's not the end of the world of course, but we're just slightly baffled as to why you'd make a move to the new USB standard on one device in the range, but not others. That said, USB 3.0 on the Note 3 smartphone isn't as brilliant as it could be and using it is hardly a hassle free experience, so perhaps Samsung just decided that it would be better to ignore it on this year's model tablet.

At the top of the tablet there's a small, reddish window. This is infrared, known as an IR Blaster, that allows the tablet to act like a TV remote, or control pretty much anything that has infrared. For example, your DSLR might have an IR trigger, which allows you to use the Note to fire the shutter.

Most people will use it as a universal remote for TV, if it's used at all, and for that it works just great. Don't throw away your controls though, as the tablet needs to be charged, switched on and in the same room to work.
Battery

As we mentioned the Note 10.1 has a big, high-resolution screen and that will use a fair amount of juice if you leave it on a lot. But in terms of stamina, we certainly think it's fair to say that the Note 10.1 will last a decent amount of time with "normal use". Although we always make a point of saying that there is no such thing as "normal" use. In our tests, we tended to use the tablet for a bit, then put it down for a while, then use it again. In that pattern, the battery lasted days as there's more than enough battery power here.

If you watch video constantly, you should expect the battery to deplete the power a lot quicker. Games, too, are a good way to drain it into oblivion because they draw so much more on that quad core 1.9Ghz processor and 3GB of RAM. Other chipset configurations are available for the 3G and 3G+LTE models, we're testing the Wi-Fi only UK model here.

However charging the tablet from flat can take a long time. The 8220mAh battery has a large capacity, and although the charger supplied delivers 2amps, it still takes as long as 8 hours to charge. And that's interesting, because it uses a Qualcomm chipset that supports fast-charging, something we've seen on some phones, and is mind-blowing when it works. In theory, the Note could support this - but it would need a 4amp charger that USB 3.1 would be able to deliver. But Samsung has missed that physical feature out, so perhaps another argument for its inclusion?
Camera

As with all tablets, there's a pair of cameras included in the Note 10.1 for 2014. The rear-mounted one has an 8-megapixel sensor, and the front-facing one offers 2-megapixels. Both are capable of shooting video at 1080/30p. Not bad specs either of them.

Just like the Note 3 and Galaxy S4 smartphones the software is great. There are lots of shooting options, the camera app itself is well laid out, very logical and easy to use. You can touch to focus and there are HDR (high dynamic range), panorama, best photo, best face and beauty face modes that will help you have a bit of fun with images. You can also remove moving objects too, based on five single images.

The problem is - other than using a tablet as a camera looks plain silly - that the cameras don't really produce brilliant images. Things have improved compared to the last generation, but in normal, indoor light during the day the pictures lack any punch in colour and are generally quite grainy. This is a bit of a disappointment, but we do come back to the truth of tablets, which is they make hopeless cameras from an ergonomic point-of-view. Put simply, use the front camera for Skype, and forget about anything else. And never, ever use the damn thing at a gig. Please.
Verdict

Once again we find ourselves loving a Note device. The 10.1 2014 Edition tablet is a steady leap forward from the previous generation model. Aesthetically, we much prefer this new design to the old model, and while the faux leather back is a bit tacky, we can live with it for the smaller dimensions and general improvements in style.

The S Pen input remains the strong advantage here over most competitor tablets. If you work with a tablet, we think this beats everything else on the market. You can get capacitive pens for a wide range of touchscreens, but Samsung's stylus and screen combination are something much better. Factor in the brilliant software, and this becomes a real advantage over any other 10.1-inch device out there.

But price remains an issue. Nearly £500 for the 16GB model is hefty. Our Android tablet of choice remains the Nexus 7 (2013) because it's a nice size for use at home, costs £200 and works beautifully. We do love the Note, but the high price will put some people off. Perhaps think of this as a laptop replacement - and it is good enough - and you might feel that it's worth the cost. Ultimately, you will decide if it's right for you, but we promise you'll love it as a tablet.

Pinterest more popular than email for sharing content online

Sometimes, the tech startup world can make your brain hurt. This tends to happen, for instance, when a website where people share pictures of their favourite hairstyles, cars, and historical moments is valued at nearly $4 billion (£2.4 billion).

But this particular site, Pinterest, has become a potent force on the internet. According to a new study, it's now one of the primary ways that people share stuff online. It even tops email.

The study comes from ShareThis, makers of a ubiquitous website widget that lets you share stuff in myriad ways. The company found that in the fourth quarter of 2013, Pinterest raced past email to become the third-most popular way to share online. It was topped only by Facebook and Twitter.

"In a sign of how quickly social media has changed the digital landscape, consumers are now 'pinning' things like articles, photos and recipes to share with their friends more often than emailing links," wrote Kurt Abrahamson of ShareThis in a blog post.

Facebook remained the most popular way to share, according to ShareThis. But Pinterest's sharing stats are growing the fastest. Its popularity took a 58 percent leap, while Facebook came in just behind at 57 percent. LinkedIn's growth was 40 percent, while Twitter topped out at 15 percent. Use of email, meanwhile, declined by 11 percent.

ShareThis says that the rise of Pinterest was driven in large part by women, a trend also identified by a recent Pew survey, and by users in the Midwest. The West Coast leaned toward Facebook and Google+, while the Northeast preferred Twitter and LinkedIn.

Giving advertisers exactly what they want
Given Pinterest's apparently massive popularity, it's hard to imagine the company will have difficulty getting advertisers on board, especially because its users are so eager to share their consumer preferences.

On Facebook, you're more likely to share pictures of your kids than the next pair of shoes you want to buy. On Twitter, you're probably linking to Justin Bieber's mug shot. But Pinterest is perfectly tailored for aspirational consumerism. "I covet this" is the subtext of innumerable pins. For advertisers seeking to target a relevant audience, it looks like a pretty efficient way of spending their dollars.

The question is how Pinterest users will react to seeing ads among their pins. As with Twitter before Promoted Tweets or Facebook before Sponsored Stories, Pinterest feeds enjoy a certain commercial-free purity, even though much of what people share and see through the site amounts to free advertising for whatever is being pinned.

Pinterest must design its ad streams carefully to avoid alienating its users. So far, its design instincts have been spot on, judging from the figures from ShareThis. If it can extend this to ads, that $4 billion valuation won't make our heads hurt quite so much.

This story originally appeared on Wired.com

Samsung and Google's lawyers have been busy bees over the weekend. Now the two companies have announced a global patent license agreement that will extend 10 years into the future in the hopes of fostering innovation and perhaps to also shield themselves from patent litigation.
Buying patents and making patent agreements are already familiar ways companies can protect themselves against the patent portfolio of rival companies. And perhaps no other company needs such protection right now than both Samsung and Google. Both companies have been the target of patent lawsuits, both jointly and individually, which seem to be escalating recently.

Perhaps the most prolific patent litigation that Samsung has been and continues to be involved in is the one brought upon it by Apple. Although one chapter of that saga has been closed with Apple emerging victorious, it is far from over and the two will meet again in court in March should the mediation session scheduled next month fail. Google is also in hot water as it has been named as one of the defendants in a lawsuit brought by the Rockstar consortium. Interestingly, other defendants in that lawsuit include Samsung and other Android device manufacturers.

It not hard to imagine that Google and Samsung are trying to get their patent ducks in a row to strengthen each other's portfolios. Of course, the official press release points to this move a way to help them focus on innovation instead of expending resources in courts and legal fees. After all, it's easier to come up with new ideas and products when you don't have the threat of patent suits breathing down your neck.

The details of the actual patents involved are a bit murky at this point, save that they cover a broad range of technologies and business areas, we can probably safely assume that a good number of these would be related to mobile devices and Android. The coverage of the patent agreement is also quite exhaustive, including both companies' existing patents as well as those that will be filed for the next 10 years.

SOURCE: Samsung

Kantar's data shows worldwide decline in iOS market share during Q4, Android and Windows Phone gain

The fourth quarter market share numbers from Kantar are out, and the whooshing sound you hear is BlackBerry circling the drain. The period from October through December included the failure of the Canadian manufacturer to complete the $9 a share privatization bid from its largest stockholder. As a result, BlackBerry had to settle for $1 billion in capital and the replacement of CEO Thorsten Heins with turnaround expert John Chen. In the fourth quarter in the U.S., Kanter shows BlackBerry losing 55% of its market share from the same period in 2012. BlackBerry finished the year with a .4% slice of the U.S. smartphone market, down from the prior year's .9%.

Android and Windows Phone were the big winners in Q4

Even in regions where BlackBerry had a fairly good share of the smartphone market, things collapsed during the final three months of the year. In Latin America, where BlackBerry controlled 10.3% of the smartphone market at the end of 2012, the company saw a huge decline to 2.8% at the end of 2013. Incidentally, Android had a monumental quarter in that very area, as Google's open source OS finished the period with an amazing 83.5% of the market compared with 61.6% the year before.

In the U.S., Android made it over the 50% mark, rising to 50.6% from 46.2%. Apple's iOS suffered a fairly large drop stateside, with a market share that declined from 49.7% to 43.9%. The combination allowed Android to leap frog over its major rival for the top spot in the U.S. But it wasn't only the states where iOS lost share. In Italy, Apple's mobile OS saw its share of the smartphone market crash from 23.1% to 12.8% with Android having nearly a corresponding rise. In five major European countries, iOS saw its market share decline from 23.7% to 18.5% while Android's share increased from 62.9% to 68.6%.

Windows Phone showed momentum in the quarter. In Europe, Microsoft's mobile OS had 10.3% of the market, up from 5.6% a year ago. In the U.K., the figures showed Windows Phone with an 11.3% slice of the market at the end of 2013, up from 5.9% during the same time in 2012. And in the U.S., the platform took its 2.4% market share at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012, and ran it up to 4.3% at the end of the fourth quarter in 2013.

via: WMPoweruser

Not long after it announced its first LTE-capable smartphone (the Vibe Z), Lenovo might also introduce its first handset with a Quad HD (1440 x 2560) display.

According to a leaked Antutu benchmark test result, the Quad HD Lenovo smartphone is called K7t (codename: Kingdom). It seems that the handset runs Android 4.4.1 KitKat, and features a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM-8974 processor clocked at 2.26 GHz, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal memory, 5MP front-facing camera, and a 13MP rear camera. The size of the handset’s display is not known, but we assume it’s of at least 5 inches (since a 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution wouldn’t really make sense on a smaller screen).

The name of the alleged new Lenovo smartphone suggests that it’s a successor to the K800 from 2012 and the K900 that was introduced in early 2013.

Of course, since it’s not that hard to fake a benchmark result, we can’t be certain of the K7t’s existence. What we are certain of is that China has already given us the world’s first Quad HD smartphone (Vivo Xplay 3S), and the second one might also come from China, thanks to Oppo. Will Lenovo become the third Chinese hardware maker to offer a Quad HD handset? Let’s hope we’ll find out soon!

source: GizChina

LG has made the LG G Pro 2 official, announcing on Monday the phablet will launch in February, presumably at Mobile World Congress.

LG didn't share any specific details about the handset, however rumours detail the LG G Pro 2 as being the company's first with fingerprint scanning technology. Additionally, it's expected to feature a 6-inch Full HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM, Android 4.4 KitKat, and LTE Advanced.

LG's G Pro successor is set to take on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, HTC One Max, and Sony Xperia Z Ultra, at a time when phablets have become necessary in a company's product line. Research firm IDC noted phablets accounted for 21 per cent of smartphone shipments in Q3 2013, up from 3 per cent in Q3 2012.

Pocket-lint will be live from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain from 24 February to 27 February to bring you the latest.

Google has just made an acquisition that is somewhat both puzzling and, on further analysis, feels quite natural. It has just bought DeepMind, a startup that focuses on artificial intelligence, for a rumored but unconfirmed amount of $400 million.

The London-based startup is just three years old, according to LinkedIn, and the company hasn't really made headlines in the tech industry. It's roster, however, includes some impressive names such as Skype and Kazaa developer Jaan Tallin and neuroscientist Demis Hassabis. The latter is considered to be a genius, a progidy in chess, and one of the best mind games player of late.

DeepMind's profile says it specializes in artificial intelligence for simulations, e-commerce, and games. At first glance, it might not make sense for a company more known for search, ads, and Android, but a closer analysis of Google's products and sometimes strange projects reveals that it could be a close fit.

Google has lately been making acquisitions and hires that reveal the company's new bent towards even smarter machines. Under Andy Rubin's guidance, the company has beenreported to have bought several companies and startups related to robotics and it isn't hard to imagine Rubin's team needing a bit of brains for those. And last December, Google was also reported to have hired a former Microsoft employee to work on machine learning.

A more down to earth application of artificial intelligence would actually be for Google Now. Google has been steadily selling Google Now as the personal assistant of choice that is able to predict what you want or need before you even ask it. Google and Apple are believed to be taking their rivalry to virtual personal assistants, and a dash of machine learning and artificial intelligence might go a long way in gaining the upper hand.

VIA: Re/code

BLU outs Vivo 4.8 HD; costs $250

BLU is known for producing mid-range Android phones for bottom dollar prices, and the 4.8 HD is their newest handset to continue this trend.

Coming in the standard Black and White colors, Blue is also offering two other ostentatious paint jobs: neon pink and neon yellow.

Aside from BLU's...interesting choices in alternate colors, the 4.8 HD will pack a, you guessed it, 4.8” display. It's a super AMOLED unit with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels.

Under the hood, BLU's latest offering will pack a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, and 16GB storage capacity. It's also rocking an 8MP primary camera, and a 5MP front-facing snapper. The most impressive aspect of the 4.8 HD's design is that BLU has managed to squeeze all of this tech into a device that is only 6.9mm thick.

It's capable of HSPA+ speeds only (sorry, no LTE), however, and runs Android 4.2 out of the box. Does this sound like a good deal to you?

Report: AT&T looking to buy Vodafone for as much as $82 billion

Vodafone and Verizon stockholders will be voting next Tuesday, on whether or not to approve the $130 billion USD deal between the two companies. Verizon Communications is buying the 45% stake in Verizon Wireless owned by the European telecom giant. Yes, it will go down as the biggest M&A deal of 2013 and will result in Vodafone shareholders receiving a special £54.3 billion ($84 billion USD) payout consisting of $24 billion in cash and the remainder in Verizon stock.

But there is some speculation again, that AT&T is about to plunk down as much as £60 billion ($82 billion USD) to buy what is left of Vodafone following the sale of its stake in Verizon Wireless. This was a deal that was tipped to take place this year, all the way back in November. AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson met with EU telecom commissioner Neelie Kroes during the World Economic Summit in Davos and expressed AT&T's desire to be a major European player.

While AT&T has yet to approach Vodafone about a deal, sources from London's financial district say that the American carrier has been advised to hold off until Vodafone has completed its deal with Verizon. That is expected to happen on February 21st. Meanwhile, Stephenson and Vittorio Colao, Vodafone's Italian CEO, are scheduled to talk during MWC in Barcelona next month.

Sources say that AT&T has been working on the regulatory, financial and legal issues surrounding a bid and the company's investment bankers are waiting for the green light from AT&T's board. After the deal with Verizon closes, analysts expect a deal for Vodafone to come in between £50 billion and £70billion ($68 billion USD and $96 billion USD, respectively). Even after closing the deal with Verizon, Vodafone will be one of the top ten largest public companies in the U.K.

source: SkyNews via AndroidCentral

Apple CEO Tim Cook jokes about iRing in interview with ABC

It's not often Apple executives sit down for an interview, but to celebrate the Mac's thirtieth anniversary on Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook talked candidly with ABC News. It's a rare look inside such a secret company.

Cook, along with Apple executives Craig Federighi and Bud Tribble, discussed the culture at Apple where secrecy is their hallmark. Cook told interviewer David Muir there are locked rooms at Apple, products are under black drapes, and executives can't tell their families what type of projects are being worked on.

Manufacturing Apple products in the US was also discussed, including the company's Mac Pro factory in Austin, Texas, and its new sapphire glass factory in Arizona. When pressed on whether the sapphire glass could be used for a larger iPhone or iWatch, Cook chuckled saying he couldn't answer. He jokingly added Apple is making a ring, however.

The spying program in the US that's made headlines since summer 2013 was discussed. Cook said Apple isn't providing governments with a backdoor to its servers and called the US government for more transparency.

Cook's daily routine consists of him waking up at 4:35AM and receiving between 700 and 800 emails daily from customers alone, Muir said.

Apple executives gave the rare interview to ABC following an interview with Macworld a day prior. Apple'smarketing boss Phil Schiller revealed the company won't be merging iOS and OS X, and the Mac is still an important component of Apple's product line.

Since the release of the Oculus Rift development kit, many major game developers have been experimenting with virtual reality in their labs. Now, another one of them has come forward in support of the technology: Sony Online Entertainment, the company behindEverQuest. Now, it sounds like the upcoming EverQuest Next will offer some kind of support for the technology.

Last August, the company teased possible support for the virtual reality headset in a behind-the-scenes video for EverQuest Next. Without saying a word about VR, a developer donned an Oculus Rift while the camera knowingly lingered for a few moments. It wasn't just a visual gag: In a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) yesterday, SOE president John Smedley confirmed that the company would indeed support the Oculus Rift "in some way shape or form."

"Probably for no other reason then it's really damn cool and programmers love that stuff," added Smedley.

"I'M THINKING THIS IS REAL AND WE MAY HAVE OUR SNOWCRASH AFTER ALL."

While that doesn't sound like much of a committment, another Redditor asked about supporting other virtual reality systems besides the Oculus Rift, and Smedley responded in promising fashion: "hearing good things about 2 competitors... one of which actually comes from Sony. so I'm thinking this is real and we may have our Snowcrash after all," wrote the executive.

While a number of other MMOs have proclaimed support for the Rift — primarily space sims like Vendetta Online and the upcoming Star Citizen, but also Second Life — SOE's EverQuest Next could be the first to offer a virtual reality fantasy role-playing experience.

Smedley also told Redditors that his company has another unannounced MMO in the works which he hopes will appease Star Wars Galaxies players.

The unannounced mid-range HTC Desire smartphone that we first saw a few days ago may not be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (as initially rumored), but by an octa-core chip manufactured by MediaTek. What’s more, it appears that the handset has several cheerful color versions, including blue, yellow, red and orange. Paired with the phone’s thin, plastic construction, these colors make us think about Apple’s iPhone 5C.

According to ePrice, apart from possibly featuring an 8-core MediaTek CPU, the new Desire could come with a 5-inch 720p display, 1.5GB of RAM, 8MP rear camera with LED flash (no UltraPixel nonsense here), Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, and Sense 5.5 UI. The smartphone may be sold for no more than $330 in China. Unfortunately, nothing is confirmed at this point. However, if this Desire is real and HTC intends to launch it internationally, we might see it at MWC 2014 in Barcelona at the end of next month.

It’s not the first time we are hearing about a possible HTC-MediaTek collaboration. The Taiwanese company could certainly benefit from choosing MediaTek’s affordable chipsets - which are used by many companies that commercialize smartphones in China (and South East Asia in general).

Microsoft is readying a number of improvements to win over desktop PC users with Windows 8.1 Update 1. In the latest round of screenshots from Russian leaker WZor, it appears some of those changes will make it easier for PC users to shut their machines down. The shutdown and restart options are clearly repositioned on the Windows 8.1 Start Screen in the latest Update 1 screenshots, alongside a new search button. It also appears you can right click on Live Tiles and get a context menu for options to resize, pin, and uninstall. It’s a subtle change from having to right click and then move to the app bar at the bottom of the display to manage the options.

While the position of shutdown options seems like a minor point, one criticism with Windows 8 is the way the shutdown and restart options have been hidden away under the new settings options on the Charms Bar. You can also access them by right clicking on the new Start button in Windows 8.1, but for consumers it’s frustrating to have to learn where the shutdown options have vanished to. For businesses it’s also an additional training point that employees need to learn. Windows 8 does support the option to shutdown a machine by pressing the physical button, but that’s not ideal if a desktop PC is located under or a desk or you simply want to restart it.

It’s encouraging to see Microsoft finally address some more of the frustrating points of Windows 8 for desktop PC users. Original feedback over the unusual shutdown positioning was disregarded as the "same number of clicks now and similar mouse travel" by Microsoft’s official Windows 8 engineering Twitter account — run by former Windows chief Steven Sinofsky. Since Sinofsky’s abrupt departure, shortly after the Windows 8 release, Microsoft has made a number of changes in Windows 8.1 and appears to be reversing and fixing some of Sinofsky’s decisions on the product.

Windows 8.1 Update 1 is largely focused at making the operating system easier to use for business users. Microsoft is taking the first steps towards a "Metro" and desktop merge, with the ability to pin and interact with Metro apps from the desktop taskbar, and new Media Center-like close and minimize options for Metro apps. Windows 8.1 Update 1 is expected to be released on March 11th, ahead of Microsoft’s Build conference in April where the company will likely detail further improvements for the upcoming Windows 9 release.

HP Explains Why It Is Selling Windows 7 Again

It's all about choice. There's no doubt that Microsoft caused quite a commotion when it launched Windows 8 in October 2012. Many opinions in the press have made the change seem somewhat apocalyptic, especially where desktops are concerned. Sure, Windows 8.1 cleaned up the place a bit, but there are a vast number of people still clinging to Windows 7 and even the decaying Windows XP like a life preserver. So enter Hewlett-Packard, or HP for short, who has decided that, thanks to popular demand, it should sell a number of PCs with Windows 7 installed. Although Microsoft pulled the plug on retail sales back on October 30, 2013, OEMs can still sell machines with Windows 7 pre-installed until a date that's yet to be determined. So the next question is: Why sell Windows 7 PCs at all? The answer, according to HP, is dead simple -- choice. "We like giving our customers the option to get the computer that's right for them," reads the company's blog . "For some folks, that's Android. We've got everything from 2-in-1 detachables like the SlateBook x2 to the giant- sized Slate21 All-in-One." "And, yes, some people still want to run Windows 7 on their computers," continues the blog. "We want people to be happy with our computers – whichever option they choose – BUT WE ARE NOT DROPPING WINDOWS 8." Point made. The blog also points out that HP has five machines with Windows 7 installed with a Windows 8 option, whereas the company has several dozen machines that only offer Windows 8. So there you go; it wasn't much of an explanation other than HP wants to provide a choice. And perhaps Microsoft gave the green light, knowing that OEMs are struggling in a declining PC market. For that matter, it wouldn't be surprising to see other OEMs like Dell and Acer give in to "consumer demand" and launch a number of Windows 7 products. Given the choice, which OS would you pick, and why?

Samsung Galaxy NotePRO and TabPRO series launching in the first half of February?

Samsung unveiled its new, high-end Galaxy TabPRO and NotePRO Android KitKat tablets at CES at the beginning of January, saying that they’d all be available sometime this quarter. And it looks like they might arrive in the first half of the quarter, rather than in the second half.

RootzWiki has it from an anonymous source that the NotePRO and GalaxyPRO tablets will be released in the US on February 14 (yes, that’s Valentine’s Day, and it’s a Friday).

It’s said that Samsung employees in the US would not be allowed to take paid time off in the weekend starting February 14, which might mean that Samsung expects intense in-store activity in that period.

Granted, this is not info that we can truly trust. Still, we have to add that, according to a retailer in the Netherlands (which already accepts pre-orders for the new tablets), the Galaxy NotePRO Wi-Fi is expected to be launched there on February 11. So, if the NotePRO does indeed arrive in Europe then, a US launch could happen at about the same time.

As we previously reported, Galaxy NotePRO prices might start at about $750 (the Dutch retailer that’s taking pre-orders is asking €749 for it). As for the Galaxy TabPRO line, prices will vary depending on screen size. The TabPRO 8.4 could cost as low as $390, while the TabPRO 12.2 might be sold for up to $750. These prices aren’t officially confirmed, though, so don’t bet on them just yet. More details will probably be available soon, so make sure to stick around.

here’s been a proliferation of “smart tags” for smartphones: little tokens with Bluetooth technology inside that pair with a phone to provide direction to an attached keychain or camera or whatnot. But there’s been two problems keeping many of these from being effective. The first being that a rechargeable battery only lasts for hours (in some cases) but certainly not weeks or months. The second issue is ease of use — not just in setting up the token to take note and respond, but in how it functions while the user goes about doing other things. Fortunately Elgato’s Smart Key deals with both of these problems when used with an iPhone 5/c/S or 3rd gen iPad or Mini (although realistically it’s designed for use mainly with phones).

The Smart Key itself is about the size of a poker chip and certainly unremarkable in appearance — the included keyring going through an integrated hole in the Smart Key if desired. There’s a small card that reveal just enough information to get started — as in telling you to get the iOS app and pointing out how the Smart Key “connects.”

The Smart Key’s simplistic look is mirrored by simplistic operations. You load in the Smart Key app (free from the iOS store), hold the Smart Key nearby and give the activation button side a hard press and hold till a short melody is heard and the green LED pulses. Bring the Smart Key close to the phone and the app switches to the initial menu. It’s here that you decide where it’s going to be used — on a keychain, in the car, a purse, luggage or camera — with the default deciding how the connection will be seen and/or heard (flashing LED on the Smart Key, sound or vibration on the iPhone) as well as how the disconnecting will be heard. These can be altered at any time through a preferences/settings menu. Since the Smart Key itself doesn’t have GPS, all of the choices work through the apps integration with the Smart Key’s position, and the technology built into the iPhone itself working in tandem with the app. “Safe Zones” can also be created — these disable both the Connect and Disconnect features. The Zone can be named based on your preference.

So the first test comes by putting the Smart Key on my keychain (having already paired it to the app). I mimic a common scenario by getting up and leaving with the keys left on the tabletop. I don’t get far before my iPhone lets me know in no uncertain terms I’ve screwed up. The next test is more interesting — I put the Smart Key in a luggage bag and leave the apt and walk down the hall. I now walk back in to have the app signal me that the Smart Key is connected so that I know that the bag which “just arrived” on the “airport carousel” didn’t end up in another state.

Using the other options provided by the app would seem obvious (although customization is available). I found the “Car” setting extremely useful as my car often get “lost” in parking lots. Not only did the Smart Key app tell me when it’s was in range, but it could be used to show the last known location via GPS.

Now what if I had a whole bunch of papers scattered all over and the keys got lost beneath them (or stuck in the couch)? A press of the dedicated “button” on the app causes the LED to flash on the Smart Key. But what if it’s the opposite situation where it’s the iPhone that’s gotten lost? Then a press on the Smart Key itself makes the iPhone emit a recognizable sound.

So what’s the second problem that the Smart Key solves? The power supply, is what. There’s a replaceable button battery that installs into the Smart Key’s backside. This provides power for a much longer period of time without the need for constant recharging or having to carry around a charger for when it runs down.The CR3032 battery is not expensive and can be readily had at pretty much any drugstore or other location, so it’s not an issue to have to replace it in a pinch. But the main issue is its longevity (as in about 6 months or so). Plus there’s a useful addition in that you can turn the Smart Key off not just by pressing/holding the button, but through a command in the app itself (which can be reversed as well).

Bottom line: The Smart Key’s up to 160 foot range provides simple and efficient means for keeping track of one’s phone or personal property. The $39.95 retail is more than reasonable for the technology and control over same being provided.

Overview
Release Date: Available now
Price: $39.95
Size: 41 x 41 x 9-mm
Weight: 0.04 oz
Battery Size: CR3032
Version of OS: iOS 7
Article Type: News
OS: Apple iOS

If you have an iPhone 5S, Apple can verify your fingerprint in a flash. The company likely has your credit card on file, and it can theoretically even figure out where you are inside a store with its iBeacon service. So far, the company hasn't put the puzzle pieces together to let you buy whatever you can see, but that might be changing soon. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is building its own mobile payments business to take on the likes of PayPal, Google, Square, and Isis.

The publication doesn't have any details about what the program might entail, only that the company's careful executive search process suggests strong interest. Apple has reportedly tapped Jennifer Bailey, the head of the company's online store, to build the new payment business, after speaking to "at least five other well-known executives in the payment industry" about the same position.

If you ask The Wall Street Journal, though, this isn't a new push for Apple. In 2012, the publication reported that Apple nearly launched a mobile payment system, only to abort the idea. Though iOS VP Scott Forstall allegedly championed the idea, the company was concerned about the potential battery life drain of near-field communication (NFC) tech, and marketing VP Phil Schiller feared that people would blame Apple if they had a bad experience with a merchant. Scott Forstall left Apple later that year, and Schiller later downplayed the NFC technology.

Mobile payments are a mess, and they need to be foolproof to succeed. We're curious if Apple has figured out a better way to let people pay with their handset.

Malware installs phony Google App Store on your device
Earlier this week, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, tweeted out a report showing that 99% of malware is targeted at Android devices. One sneaky way to inject this poison into the veins of your Android device was disclosed by Symantec. When you sync your Android flavored device to a Windows PC, this malware, named Trojan.Droidpak, creates a phony version of the Google Play Store while the device is in USB debugging mode. This is a mode normally used by developers, but is sometimes used when rooting an Android device.

Symantec has made an interesting discovery, This particular malware, when installed on an Android device, looks for Korean on-line banking apps, deletes them, and installs an infected version of the app. But there are solutions to avoid getting infected. Symantec suggests that Android users turn off USB debugging when not in use. Symantec also suggests that Android users be very cautious when syncing to an unknown PC, and install security software like Norton Mobile Security.

We have a screen shot from an infected Android handset for you to take a gander at, and most of you right away will note how the malicious app is listed as Google APP Store. If something doesn't look kosher on your app tray, odds are that you should tread lightly.
"The malicious APK actually looks for certain Korean online banking applications on the compromised device and, if found, prompts users to delete them and install malicious versions. It also intercepts SMS messages received by the user and sends them a remote server."-Flora Liu, Symantec researcher
source: Symantec, PCWorld via BGR

Motorola is offering not a one day promotion on the Motorola Moto Xthis Monday, it is actually having a one hour promotion. From 3pm to 4pm Eastern Standard Time on January 27th, Motorola will sell you the Moto X for $299 off-contract, while supplies last. That's a discount of $100 off the regular price. While there are a number of ways that Motorola could do this, one possibility floated would have Motorola hand out promotional codes good for the discount, which would be valid for a few days.

And even if you can't get away for that one hour on Monday, Motorola will continue to discount the Moto X by $70 from January 27th until February 14th, Valentine's Day. That would price the handset at $329. That might not be as great a deal as the $100 haircut available for that hour on Monday, but a nice discount nonetheless.

Motorola has a couple of deals for the Motorola Moto X

HTC insider LlabTooFeR has leaked an HTC roadmap containing its update plans for many of its actively used models. On Thursday, we passed along word from the Taiwan based manufacturer that the Android 4.4 update for the HTC One is now undergoing carrier testing and should receive certification as soon as next week. Once that occurs, the carriers are free to push out the chocolatey update.

This is confirmed by the roadmap which shows the HTC One, HTC One Dual SIM, HTC One mini and HTC One max receiving Android 4.4.2 and Sense 5.5 in late January to mid February. The map also reveals that so far, only the HTC One has been confirmed to receive another update during late summer or autumn. This update will include Sense 6.0, along with what apparently will be the next Android build after 4.4.2.

While the roadmap did confirm the cancellation of Android 4.3 for Verizon's HTC DROID DNA, the phone, along with the HTC Butterfly and HTC Butterfly S, will receive the Android 4.4.2 update in March or April. These phones are presently undergoing testing for the update.

We should also point out that the HTC EVO 4G LTE is undergoing testing for an update to Sense 5.0, and the HTC Desire 601 is being tested for the Android 4.4.2 update that carries Sense 5.5. The roadmap did not provide possible dates for when those two units might be updated.

Parrot is known for their Bluetooth products, but they’re transitioning into the drone market and revealed two new drones at CES earlier this month. Both are new smartphone-controlled bots: The Sumo and the MiniDrone. The Sumo is a rolling and jumping bot that features two wheels and moves around the ground. It features a camera and a foot built in that allows it to stop instantly (like the company’s bigger AR Drone) and can leap up in the air to 80 cm. It’s a pretty rugged drone that’s ready to tackle your adventurous lifestyle.

The MiniDrone is a smaller version of the AR Drone and can fly and roll. It’s only about a tenth of the size of the bigger version, which allows you to slide it in your pocket. Because it’s small in size and portable, it doesn’t have a camera but adds removable, large wheels that allows it to roll on the ground or run along the wall or ceiling. So far, no ship date has been announced, but the company did promise that they’ll be available soon.

Sony launched an official camera attachment case for its Xperia Z1 f in Japan. Called SPA-ACX4, the case costs about $29, and allows users to attach any of the QX10 or QX100 lens-style cameras to the handset. The Xperia Z1 f is the Japanese version of the water-resistant Xperia Z1 Compact, having the same size and specs, so we’re expecting the Compact to get the SPA-ACX4 case as well.

Announced by Sony in September, the QX10 and QX100 lens-style cameras are especially made to be paired with smartphones (they even work with Apple’s iPhone), turning them into more advanced cameras. The QX10 costs $248, featuring 10x optical zoom, while the QX100 costs $498, offering a very large 1-inch 20.2 MP Exmor R sensor with Carl Zeiss f/1.8 lens and 3.6x optical zoom - these are DSLR-like features.

As for the Xperia Z1 Compact itself, this should be released around the world starting early February, costing around $500 unlocked. Our Sony Xperia Z1 Compact review shows that the Japanese company really nailed it with this handset. It seems to be the best mini smartphone released until now - and it’s no wonder, since it’s as powerful as the larger, critically-acclaimed Xperia Z1.

Sony SPA-ACX4 for the Xperia Z1 f / Xperia Z1 CompactFullscreen

Smartphones are all the rage nowadays. They can take photos, run apps, give directions, and much more that was once impossible to do a cell phone. But the smarter and more powerful smartphones get, the more fragile they become, it seems. For example, here's what happens when a top-of-the-line smartphone meets concrete with the aid of gravity (spoiler: it isn't pretty).

These smartphones, however, are a bit different. They aren't going to wow you with their hardware specs and they're definitely not going to win any beauty awards with their designs. But they will outlive the average smartphone thanks to their rugged construction. They can withstand water and dust damage, drops onto hard surfaces, extreme temperatures, and all kinds of torture tests we can think of. Interested? Then here's a rundown of the most durable smartphones money can buy today.

Toughest rugged smartphones everFullscreen