Google buys Gecko Design for X projects

Google is buying product-design firm Gecko to bolster the efforts of Google X, the search giant's

experimental division that carries out its most ambitious projects.

Gecko announced the acquisition on its website Friday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gecko, based in Los Gatos, Calif., has previously helped design products for clients including Fitbit, Hewlett Packard, Dell, and Logitech. Google confirmed the deal, but declined to provide further comment.

"This is an incredible opportunity for everyone at Gecko," wrote Jacques Gagne, design firm's president and owner, on its website. "We are very excited and honored to join Google(x) and work on a variety of cutting edge projects."

Gecko offers several services during the design process, including mechanical design work like assembly layout. The firm, which has been around since 1996, has worked with top industrial design firms like Frog Design and Fuseproject, which was founded by design veteran and Jawbone Chief Creative Officer Yves Behar.

Google's X division is responsible for the company's most out-there projects, which it calls "moon shots." Several of those initiatives have hardware components where Gecko could get involved. The company's head-mounted device, Google Glass, has run into image problems in its current form, now available to the general public. Earlier this month, the company was granted patents that hint a more low-key design, which looks more like ordinary glasses.

The X team has also worked on projects that range from driverless cars to smart contact lenses to high-altitude Wi-Fi balloons that aim to bring connectivity to rural regions. 

http://www.cnet.com/

How Microsoft will ride Android hardware to save Windows Phone

The HTC One M8 for Windows marks a new tack Microsoft hopes will lead to greater popularity for Windows Phone. The basic idea: Let handset makers reuse high-end Android hardware.

Microsoft vice president of engineering Darren Laybourn shows off the new HTC One M8 for Windows Phone at an event in New York City in August 2014, CNET/Sarah Tew

Rival Android could be the cavalry coming to the rescue of Windows Phone, in Microsoft's latest maneuver to advance its smartphone operating system.

The underlying notion is this: Microsoft wants to make it easier to introduce devices that use the Windows Phone software. That was the message delivered this week's announcement of the HTC One M8 for Windows Phone.

Specifically, Microsoft has tweaked its Windows Phone 8.1 software so that hardware makers can lean on the hardware and reference designs they're already using to build devices for Android-based phones in order to build a Windows Phone device.

"We wanted handset makers like HTC to be able to leverage their engineering investment and provide them with a real choice," said Darren Laybourn, vice president of engineering for Microsoft in an interview following the launch of the HTC One M8 for Windows. "We feel the software should be the differentiator and not the hardware."

For four years Microsoft's Windows Phone smartphone operating system has limped along, trying to gain traction against the much more popular Apple iOS and Google Android devices. But Windows Phone handsets remain niche products. In fact, they only garnered about 2.5 percent of the worldwide smartphone market in the second quarter of 2014, according to IDC.

Microsoft has struggled to convince hardware partners to make phones running the Windows Phone operating system in what has turned into a chicken-and-egg scenario. Device makers don't want to dedicate resources to building a Windows Phone because there are so few customers. But without the devices -- especially iconic ones that offer cutting edge components and technology -- the operating system will never gain popularity among customers.

Management knows that Microsoft's mobile ambitions are doomed if it can't break that pattern. The solution depends on finding a way to get device makers other than Nokia, whose handset operations Microsoft acquired earlier this year for more than $7 billion, to build high-end smartphones using Windows Phone.

With the release of the latest software, Windows Phone 8.1, and now the launch of the HTC One M8 for Windows, Microsoft has come up with a new approach that could point the way past this dilemma.

"Ideally, I'm sure that Microsoft wants HTC, Samsung and others to produce exclusive designs for their software," said Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research. "But I think they recognize the market reality now. And they're willing to let dedicated hardware go to get more high-end Windows Phone smartphones on the market."

Switching strategies

Microsoft's Laybourn said the company had begun tweaking the Windows Software to adapt to different hardware designs even before starting work with HTC. For instance, Windows Phone 8.1, launched in the spring, offers redesigned software keys that strip away the old hard buttons on the bottom of the device, replacing them with "soft keys" that pop up at the bottom of screen.

He said there are now 14 devices in Microsoft's reference design program expected to wind up as real products in the next six months. Some will use Android hardware designs reconfigured slightly to work with the Windows Phone software.

This strategy makes sense for handset makers. Previous versions of Windows Phone forced them to build hardware from scratch. In addition to supporting two reference designs, which means handling two separate component supply chains, it also meant developing separate marketing budgets for each device.

For a company like HTC, which is already struggling to keep up with the massive marketing budgets of Apple and Samsung, this is a huge barrier. Being able to leverage the existing brand recognition of the HTC One series of devices and being able to market both an Android and a Windows Phone version of the latest flagship device in that family can save the company millions in marketing dollars.

"HTC has never been able to compete on marketing spend," Rubin said. "So optimizing the opportunity to build on the marketing it has already done with the Android version of the One M8 makes a lot of sense."

What's more, the designs and specifications used to build Android devices are often a generation ahead of what's used in Windows Phone devices, Rubin added. This allows a company like HTC to build a truly high-end smartphone with the latest specifications.

Jason Mackenzie, president of HTC Americas, said during the presentation of the new device on Tuesday that the HTC One M8 for Windows marked "the first time a smartphone manufacturer has launched an iconic device on multiple operating systems without making any compromises."

HTC President of Americas Jason Mackenzie introduces the HTC One M8 for Windows in New York City in August 2014. CNET/Sarah Tew

In an interview, McKenzie acknowledged that it was difficult to build a flagship phone around the previous versions of Windows Phone. And he said that when it came to the overall Windows Phone line-up, he saw a gap.

"When you look at all of the available Windows Phones, there isn't a real premium smartphone that matches what's offered on Android," he said. "When we're announcing a flagship device, it's on Android."

But he said that HTC feels it's important to give consumers more choices. And even though Microsoft's Windows Phone market share is just that tiny, 2.5 percent sliver, Mackenzie said that it's wise to keep it as an alternative to Google Android.

Still, in spite of a relationship with Microsoft that dates back to the old PocketPC and the original Windows Mobile smartphones, HTC had not introduced a new Windows Phone since the fall of 2012. Part of the reason for the lag was Microsoft's relationship with Finnish device-maker Nokia, Mackenzie said. A year ago, Microsoft announced its plans to buy Nokia for €5.44 billion, or $7.2 billion.

"We were waiting to see how the relationship would take shape," he said. "Then there was the acquisition and a regime change at Microsoft. We weren't sure what their strategy was going to be."

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer left his post in February and was replaced by Satya Nadella. After months of speculation about Microsoft's intent, Nadella's plans for the former Nokia unit and for Windows Phone more generally are coming into focus. Last month, the company announced it will be laying off 18,000 employees, most from Nokia. The decision suggests that Microsoft won't rely on only Nokia hardware to drive its mobile strategy. The company still needs partners, like HTC.

"Microsoft needs someone else to build the hardware other than relying on the in-house Nokia," said Roger Entner, lead analyst at Recon Analytics.

Maribel Lopez, head of Lopez Research, agrees. She said that Nokia makes beautiful phones but it will take much more to broaden "ecosystem support" for Windows Phone.

"And that's what Microsoft needs to make Windows Phone a success," she said. "It needs to get the benefit of scale with parts and processors to lower the cost to make these phones."

The stage is set

Microsoft and HTC executives met in January at the Consumer Electronics Show to discuss the two companies' relationship. It quickly became clear that the two sides could work together to bring the new Windows Phone 8.1 to existing Android hardware being used on HTC's flagship device.

Laybourn said that Terry Myerson, Microsoft's executive vice president of operating systems, met with HTC CEO Peter Chou. But the dialogue quickly included the rest of the leadership teams from both companies -- including executives from Verizon Wireless. Laybourn said that Microsoft didn't see a gap per se at the high end of the Windows Phone market. But it was also clear that Microsoft needed to attract more handset makers and make it easier for them to deploy the operating system.

Meanwhile, Verizon saw the same gap in hardware that HTC saw.

"We realized at the end of 2013 that when we were selecting devices for the 2014 lineup that there were gaps in the market for Windows Phone, particularly at the high end," Jeff, Dietel, vice president of marketing operations at Verizon Wireless said in an interview.

Jeff Dietel, a Verizon executive, at HTC's event in August 2014 to launch the HTC One M8 for Windows. Sarah Tew/CNET

Verizon currently sells the Nokia Lumia Icon and the Nokia Lumia 928. Dietel acknowledged these are great devices, but he said the HTC One franchise is in a different category among Verizon subscribers.

"HTC has been more synonymous with material fit and finish, as well as just really good design," he said. "Nokia offers terrific hardware, but HTC is just more established in the US in terms of momentum."

He added that Verizon customers really wanted more choices when it came to smartphones. Not only did they want more hardware choices among Android devices, but he said customers want more software choices, too.

While HTC and Verizon have harped on this notion that consumers are clamoring for more choices, one could argue that they are actually being served well enough by Google Android and Apple iOS, which combined account for 96.4 percent of the market, according to IDC. What is more likely is that handset makers and the carriers themselves like having more choices.

"Windows Phone has a niche audience," Reticle Research's Rubin said. "But what it comes down to is that handset makers like having a hedge. They are uncomfortable being beholden to Google or Apple. They want to keep their options open."

With this latest effort and thanks to efforts by Qualcomm, which has also worked closely with Microsoft to make sure its processors can run on both Windows phone and Android handsets, it could be easier and more cost effective to build devices for each platform using the same hardware.

"There's been a lot of talk throughout the years of creating a dual-boot phone, which is essentially a single device that can run Android or Windows," Laybourn said. "So it's not like we had an epiphany about all this. But we did see an opportunity, and we did the work to make it possible."

Asked if he expected more high-end devices to come out that use the same hardware as Android phones, Laybourn chuckled.

Article source

Microsoft and TracFone partner on a pilot project and the HTC One (M8) comes to Windows

s summer winds down, Weekend Reading delivers stories on a project that helps diabetes patients, a profile on the chief technical officer of Microsoft’s Cloud and Services organization, the debut of the HTC One (M8) for Windows smartphone and Steve Ballmer stepping down from the Microsoft Board of Directors.
A new pilot project, in conjunction with Health Choice Network, will provide Windows Phone devices to diabetes patients to help them better manage their care. Microsoft and pre-paid wireless leader TracFone announced Thursday a better way for underserved and high-risk populations to access and keep up with their care, on the go.
A profile on Dave Campbell, Chief Technical Officer of Microsoft’s Cloud and Services, uncovers why he’s disruptive. And by that, we mean how one of the company’s elite corps of Technical Fellows can be considered transformative, tearing something down to create something new and better.

Dave Campbell

Tuesday, we saw the debut of the HTC One (M8) for Windows. It’s the first device to ship in the U.S. with the Windows Phone 8.1 Update, will be available exclusively through Verizon Wireless online and in stores. It comes loaded with features such as Cortana, Live Folders and Action Center. It’s made from a single block of aluminum, and has a 5-inch Super LCD3 1080p HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

HTC One (M8) for Windows

Steve Ballmer steps down as Microsoft board member. Effective Aug. 19, 2014, Steve Ballmer has stepped down from the Microsoft Board of Directors. Read Ballmer’s letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Nadella’s response.

A profile on teenager Alejandra Tristan, who has a rare genetic disorder that made it impossible to use a mouse or computer, revealed how Windows 8 has helped transform her life. Tristan suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), which makes her joints fragile and loose. With its customizable design, enhanced accessibility features and touchscreen, Windows 8 has helped Tristan reclaim her studies, her friends and her voice. She writes research papers by gently touching the on-screen keyboard and dictates notes using speech recognition software. When she works on vocabulary words, she uses digital notecards.

Source..
 

Google's search app gets friendlier to bilingual Android users

Want to Google the name of a restaurant in English and then ask for the weather in Japanese? On Android it

no longer requires switching back and forth between language settings.

For voice searches, users can now select up to five languages in the search app from the more than 50 supported, Google said Thursday. The app already supported that many languages, but users had to change their settings every time they wanted to switch between them. Now it recognizes automatically the language being spoken.

The change lets people search information in different languages back-to-back. That means you can ask for the weather in Spanish and then dictate a text in French, Google explained.

For now, the update is only for voice search with the latest version of the search app on Android, a Google spokeswoman said.

Getting it to work requires a one-time change to the language settings in the apps menu. Some languages are available in quite a few dialects. For Spanish, there's different versions for El Salvador, Spain, Mexico and other countries. For Chinese, there are three versions of Mandarin and also Cantonese. A handful of forms for Arabic are supported.

Results are displayed in the language spoken, assuming the app detects it. In one test, spoken results were given for the local weather in Japanese, but not in Spanish.

Google said it will add more languages over time.

On the desktop, people can select their preferred language for all Google services via their Google+ page. But as it works now, only one language can be chosen.

Link

 

Trade-in volume signals 'tremendous' sales for iPhone 6

Big screen rumors and the usual even-numbered-year redesign combine to prompt early adopters to raise cash for next month's new iPhone

Apple will have a "tremendous" opening of the iPhone 6, buyback vendors said today, basing their predictions on activity so far by consumers locking in prices for their old smartphones.

"There's tremendous pent-up demand for a larger-screen iPhone," said Jeff Trachsel, chief marketing officer at NextWorth, a Billerica, Mass. company that buys used consumer electronics devices, including tens of thousands of iPhones each year, and resells them domestically or overseas.

Trachsel and others based their opinions on an increase this week in the number of quote requests for used iPhones.

"We've seen a lift of about 350% from the baseline this week," said Trachsel, referring to quote volume since Monday compared to the average of the month prior to that. "That's up from a lift of 182% last year, or almost two times the acceleration."

NextWorth mined its data for this week because it marked the beginning of its 30-day lock guarantee -- where it promises to pay a quote of today for up to a month in the future -- that would carry customers through the expected sales launch of the iPhone 6. Most analysts, Apple watchers and pundits believe Apple will unveil its new iPhone(s) on Sept. 9, and begin selling them on Sept. 19.

Boston-based Gazelle has seen a similar boom in quote volumes. "We've seen a 50% increase compared to 2013," said Alyssa Voorhis, a senior tech analyst at Gazelle, in an interview.

On Monday, Gazelle kicked off its own lock-in that guarantees quotes through Oct. 10. Like NextWorth, Gazelle offers the price lock-in so that customers know how much they'll be paid for their used iPhone, but have enough time to buy and activate a new phone before they have to ship their old one to the company.

It's normal, said both Trachsel and Voorhis, for their companies to see a spike in quotes in even-numbered years, because that's when Apple historically introduces new iPhone designs. 2012's iPhone 5, for example, was far different from 2011's iPhone 4S -- a bigger display for one -- but much more similar to what Apple unveiled last year in the iPhone 5S.

The every-other-year phenomenon is well know, of course, because Apple capitalizes on the exterior redesign -- a "form factor" change in Trachsel's words -- to sell more iPhones. "The form factor is the single biggest reason to trade up," said Trachsel today in an interview. "If the new model looks the same as last year's, we don't see the same interest in trading in."

So part of the upswing in quote volume -- and thus interest on the part of consumers to trade in their current phones for cash -- is driven simply by the fact that everyone anticipates an iPhone design refresh, and would have even if the talk of larger screens had not been incessant.

But Trachsel and Voorhis were both confident that, from the early data, the iPhone 6 would be a much bigger hit than either last year's iPhone 5S or the preceding year's iPhone 5, at least in part because it will come with a larger screen. Apple sold 51 million iPhones in the first full quarter after the introduction of the iPhone 5S/5C last year, and 48 million in the same period of 2012 and the iPhone 5.

One reason for that confidence, said Voorhis, is that Gazelle has already seen a 15% to 30% jump in quotes for used Android smartphone compared to the benchmark of the 30 days prior to Monday. "Apple might finally offer what some Android users have been clamoring for, a larger iPhone," she said.

The speculation about bigger iPhones has centered on one with a 4.7-in. screen, another with a 5.5-in. display.

As the expected Sept. 9 announcement approaches -- that date has been widely reported for at least the last two weeks -- others will get on the trade-in bandwagon. In the past, trade-in volume has climbed at the reports of a definitive announcement date, then soared as soon as Apple's introductory event concluded.

"Announcement day is Gazelle's Christmas," said Voorhis.

That has shown up in the mix of iPhone models people are requesting quotes for. NextWorth, for example, has seen a big shift in the mix: In the 30 days prior to Monday, 69% of the iPhone quotes were for the iPhone 4 and 4S; this week 61% of the quotes have been for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S.

"Early adopters," said Trachsel of the latest quotes. "Before it was people looking to get a new discounted 5S [iPhones], not the early adopters like this week. Early adopters are willing to pay termination fees to get the very newest."

Voorhis also cited a recent survey commissioned by Gazelle to back up her contention that the new iPhone would be a hit.

"Forty-six percent of all smartphone owners want an iPhone 6, and they're particularly interested because of the larger screen, even though they haven't seen it yet, only bits and pieces of [leaked] components," Voorhis said. Another 21% said they were undecided, but she suspected that many of those were only waiting for confirmation of the rumors.

Article source

 

iPhone 5s vs iPhone 6 comparison preview: What's the difference between iPhone 5s and iPhone 6?

Apple is set to release the iPhone 6 in September, but how will it differ from the iPhone 5s? We explore the rumours.

Phone 5s vs iPhone 6: Screen size

First things first let's talk about screen size. Expect bigger from the iPhone 6, that's for sure.

The iPhone 5s has a 4in display, which for a flagship smartphone in 2014 is actually pretty tiny. Even mini versions of flagship phones from Samsung, LG and HTC have displays bigger than 4in.

It's widely expected that the iPhone 6 will have a 4.7in display. There's also talk of a second new iPhone coming this year, this one dubbed iPhone Air with a 5.5in display.

The screen of the iPhone 6 could also be higher resolution than the iPhone 5s. The iPhone 5s has a 326ppi display, but it's possible that the iPhone 6's display could have a pixel density of up to 538ppi like the LG G3. See also: LG G3 vs iPhone 5s comparison. 

iPhone 5s vs iPhone 6: Design

Not only is the iPhone 6 expected to have a bigger screen, it's also expected to have a significantly different design to the iPhone 5s.

The iPhone 5s has straight edges, but it looks like the iPhone 6's edges will be rounded, a bit like the iPad Air and iPod touch. It's also expected to be thinner than the iPhone 5s's 7.6mm.

Apple could achieve this thinner and lighter design through the use of super-durable sapphire glass for the display, combined with lightweight and strong Liquidmetal, which Apple has exclusive rights to use.

This means that, not only will the iPhone 6 be lighter and thinner than the iPhone 5s, it should also be less likely to scratch, crack or shatter.

Several allegedly leaked photographs of the iPhone 6's back seem to suggest that the iPhone 6 will have an illuminated Apple logo on the back. The iPhone 5s's Apple logo is made of metal.

It's thought that the iPhone 6's power button might be on the side of the device instead of on the top like it is in the iPhone 5s.

iPhone 5s vs iPhone 6: Features & specs

In addition to the changes we can expect to see on the outside of the iPhone 6, you can also expect significantly improved internal specs. The iPhone 5s has a powerful A7 processor, so we're expecting an even better A8 processor in the iPhone 6.

There's an M7 co-processor in the iPhone 5s that's expected to carry across to the iPhone 6, and both iPhones will share the Touch ID fingerprint sensor.

We've heard rumours about a bigger and better battery in the iPhone 6, but some of that extra power could be used up by the iPhone 6's bigger display.

Other additions that we could see in the iPhone 6 include wireless charging, an NFC chip, 802.11ac WiFi and a new 128GB option, none of which are available in the iPhone 5s.

iPhone 5s vs iPhone 6: Camera

The camera in the iPhone 6 is likely to represent a significant improvement over the iPhone 5s. The iPhone 5s has an 8Mp camera with an f/2.2 aperture, but rumour has it that Apple is planning on boosting that to a 10Mp camera with an f/1.8 aperture and an improved filter. Image stabilisation and other image editing enhancements are expected, too.

iPhone 5s vs iPhone 6: Price & availability

The iPhone 5s is available to buy from Apple now, with a starting price of £549. The iPhone 6 is expected to become available in September, and will probably have a similar starting price. We'll update this article when we find out more about the iPhone 6 release date and price, as well as the design, specs and new features you can expect from the new phone. You can find out even more about the iPhone 6 in our iPhone 6 rumour round-up.

Source

iPhone 6 to get curved screen: Apple to follow Samsung and LG

The iPhone 6 smartphone is set to feature a curved screen of at least 4.7in in size, according to a report.

A person familiar with Apple's plans told Bloomberg that the firm is developing new iPhone designs which feature bigger screens made of curved glass. Apple will supposedly launch two models in the second half of next year with the design. See also: iPhone 6 release date: When will the iPhone 6 be launched?

The source says that the glass which 'curves downward at the edges'. Upcoming iPhones will also include sensors which can detect different levels of pressure. They even reveal that the two new iPhones, one of which will presumably be the iPhone 6, will have 4.7in and 5.5in screens making them Apple's largest to date.

Apple recently launched two iPhone models at the same time, the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. They both have the same 4in screen which was introduce with the iPhone 5, of which the size has been somewhat criticised when compared to the competition.

Curved screen smartphones have become a reality thanks to Samsung and LG have both revealed handsets with this feature, the Galaxy Round and G Flex respectively. They have each opted for a different approach with one curved vertically and the other horizontally. 

See also: The best phones you can buy in 2013

These phones are being rolled out on a small scale, mostly in Korea, to measure consumer interest for such a design.

From: LINK

Windows 9 is set to be unveiled on September 30

Microsoft is planning to release a preview build of Windows 9 at a special press event on September 30,consumer preview of Windows 9 before you get to play with your new Cortana digital assistant, however.
according to sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans. The date could still change, but September 30 lines up neatly with previous leaks that suggested a late-September or early-October release date for the Windows 9 technology preview. It’s still unclear exactly how many of Windows 9′s hotly anticipated features will actually make it into the September 30 release — but hopefully we’ll at least see the resurrected Start menu and Metro apps running on the Desktop. We wouldn’t be surprised if you have to wait a little longer for the
A few days ago, news leaked that Microsoft was planning to release the first public build of Windows 9 at the end of September or beginning of October. Now, sources are telling The Verge that Microsoft is planning a Windows 9 press briefing on September 30. The tech preview build of Windows 9 will likely be released at the event or shortly after. Hopefully everyone will be able to download the Windows 9 preview — just like the early public builds of Windows 8 — but there’s a chance that Microsoft will only release it to developers and professionals via TechNet and MSDN.

Windows 9, build 9788, leaked screenshot showing PC Settings Metro app running in a window on the Desktop. Microsoft’s current Windows 9 builds are around the 9820 mark.

This technology preview of Windows 9 will contain a lot of new features, but it won’t be feature-complete. In much the same way that the first Windows 8 preview still looked a lot like Windows 7, expect the Windows 9 preview to be a Frankensteinian hodgepodge of new and old features. We would expect the new Start menu to make it into the tech preview build, and the ability to run Metro apps in a window on the Desktop, but beyond that is anyone’s guess. One of Windows 9′s larger new features — integration of Cortana — might not make the cut. You should also expect a lot of smaller changes — UI tweaks, new stock Metro apps, etc. — to pop up a couple of months later in the first Windows 9 consumer preview.
Microsoft might also use the September 30 press event to tell us about the fate of Windows RT, too, which is being integrated into Windows Phone as part of the grand unified theory of Windows.

 

Microsoft, with its accelerated release schedule and exciting features like Cortana and virtual desktops, is clearly trying to prove that it still cares about normal (laptop/desktop) PC users. While Cortana is useful on a smartphone, I think it might be surprisingly powerful on a laptop or tablet as well. I might be getting a bit ahead of myself here, but it would be really cool if you could say “Cortana, show me all of my photos from 2012″ rather than fiddling with various filters and search boxes in Explorer. Using Cortana on a PC could be just like the voice-activated computer in Star Trek — if Microsoft does it properly, anyway, and doesn’t just half-assedly drop the Windows Phone version into Windows 9.

<<Source>>

iPhone 6 rumor roundup: Will the next iPhone have a 4.7-inch sapphire display, NFC, or a reversible USB cable?

Apple’s iPhone 6 press event is only a few weeks away — it’s scheduled for September 9 — so it’s no
surprise that iPhone rumors are running wild right now. This time around, the rumor mill’s refrain is “bigger, stronger, faster.” The potential for larger screens, scratch-proof sapphire glass, and incredibly fast hardware specs is being widely reported by the enthusiast press and traditional news outlets alike. Unsurprisingly, Apple is going to have a lot of hype to live up to for the iPhone 6 release.
There are just too many iPhone 6 rumors floating around to count, so I’ve selected only a handful of the most intriguing examples to discuss today. Some of these are certainly more likely than others, but each one is incredibly tantalizing to gadget lovers. Whether or not you plan on buying Apple’s next smartphone, something here is bound to tickle your fancy. After all, once Apple implements a feature in its flagship product, other companies are bound to respond.

4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhones

From the iPhone’s inception, there have been rumors about larger screens. Apple stuck with the 3.5-inch screen for years before finally upgrading to a 4-inch screen with the iPhone 5 in 2012. Now, the rumor mill is betting heavily on Apple releasing two new screen sizes: 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches. There doesn’t seem to be much consensus on whether or not these larger phones will be offered alongside the 4-inch models, though. If I had to guess based solely on my gut feeling, Apple probably won’t ditch its 4-inch phones any time soon. Besides, you can still buy a 3.5-inch iPhone 4S directly from the Apple Store.
We’ve been seeing these screens and miscellaneous phone parts show up frequently across the net, and these larger devices are certainly the most wide-spread rumor this time around. However, popularity doesn’t make the rumors true. Remember back when we were supposed to have a teardrop-shaped iPhone? That rumor ran rampant up until the moment the next model was actually announced with a uniform flat design. Unless you’re being told something directly by an Apple executive, take any discussion of future Apple products with a grain of salt.

Sapphire screens

The word on the street is the new iPhones will sport sapphire screens. This rumor has been very persistent, and with good reason. As you can see in the video embedded above, sapphire glass is incredibly durable and scratch-resistant, so it’s perfect for smartphone screens. Stab it, scrape it, or shove it in your pocket with your keys — it makes no difference.
Considering how often I see friends and family with jacked-up smartphone screens, this would be a huge improvement. Unfortunately, we might have to wait another generation for these super screens. JP Morgan’s Rod Hall seems skeptical that Apple will be able to push out sapphire screens in 2014. If Hall is right, we might have to wait for the iPhone 6S or iPhone 7 for these nigh-on indestructible screens.

iPhone 6 shell

So, individual parts have supposedly leaked here and there over the last couple of months, but an assembled iPhone 6 shell has just recently surfaced. These images are allegedly of a 4.7-inch iPhone 6, and it looks incredibly slick. If the real McCoy ends up looking like this, I’ll be pleased. However, Apple’s design aesthetic is constantly being aped by Chinese counterfeiters, so it’s not much of a stretch to think that something this polished could be completely fake.

Bigger batteries

With the addition of bigger screens comes the need for bigger batteries, right? According to a number of leaks, we’ll be seeing some notable bumps in the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models. One leak has the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 sporting a 1810 mAh battery while another photo shows a 2915 mAh battery for the 5.5-inch iPhone 6. Considering that the iPhone 5S’s battery is roughly 1570 mAh, these are substantial jumps in power. I’d certainly like to see a longer battery life for my next phone.

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Lenovo Z50 laptop with Core i7 and 2GB GeForce 820M for $729

If you want a versatile laptop that does a little bit of everything, check out today’s big discount on the newly

updated Lenovo Z50. This laptop packs a Core i7 processor, dedicated graphics, great specs and respectable portability, all for just $729 after our coupon code is applied. That’s $370 off the regular price.
This laptop packs a recently released Core i7-4510U processor, a CPU that will deliver powerful performance while also preserving precious battery life. This pairs with a similarly new 2GB NVIDIA 820M dedicated graphics card, a solid GPU that can handle most of today’s games and will certainly fly through all your old favorites. Together this combo will let you put the 15.6-inch 1080p anti-glare display to good use, opening up tons of real estate for games, movies, or other applications.
With a 1TB hybrid hard drive that includes an 8GB SSD cache, you’ll get speedy boot and resume times while also keeping ample storage space for all your high-def media. 8GB of RAM are also included standard, giving you plenty of memory for multitasking at will.

Wireless connectivity will be superb thanks to the dual-band Intel Wireless-AC 3160 WiFi, as well as Bluetooth 4.0. When it comes to hooking up your wired devices, you’ll find a trio of USB ports (one USB 3.0), HDMI, a multi-card reader, and ethernet to make that easy. This laptop also packs a DVD-RW for accessing physical media, something that’s getting a little harder to find these days.
Lenovo has worked to keep this device fairly portable for its class, with the ULV processor contributing to a 5-hour battery life, and measuring under 1-inch thick and weighing 5.29lbs. Dolby certified stereo speakers and Veriface Pro round out the features list.
Lenovo Z50 Core i7 15.6-inch laptop with 2GB GeForce 820M for $729. Apply coupon code Z50DEAL for total $370 savings.
Love the look, but don’t need quite that much power? Lenovo is highly discounting a few other Z50 models – here’s two of our favorites:
Lenovo Z50 Core i7 15.6-inch laptop with 500GB hybrid hard drive for $589 (model 59426425). Get $260 savings instantly.
Lenovo Z50 Core i3 15.6-inch laptop with 500GB hard drive for $439 (model 59426424). Get $260 savings instantly.

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Don’t want the bigger iPhone 6? Then check out these killer iPhone 5s and 5c deals

Not all iPhone fans will want the bigger iPhone 6 models, and many people might be waiting foriPhone 5s or iPhone 5c. From previous years’ experience, we know that Apple likely offers discounts on its older iPhone models when it releases new ones and this year probably won’t be any different. However, prospective iPhone buyers who don’t want to wait until September can already check Walmart’s new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c deals, which may offer even better prices.

Apple to finally unveil its 2014 iPhones just so they can purchase a discounted, on-contract

Walmart, which already had the iPhone priced lower than other retailers, is now selling the 16GB iPhone 5s for just $79 (a $20 discount from previous price point) with new contracts from either AT&T, Sprint, U.S. Cellular or Verizon, Engadget reports.

Similarly, the 16GB iPhone 5c is now $28 cheaper and costs just $0.97, again, with carrier agreements.

The best part is that both deals will be available for 90 days, which means iPhone buyers can still wait for the iPhone 6 to come out before committing to a new contract with a carrier for either the iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c, and still enjoy Walmart’s discounted prices even after the iPhone 6 launches.

It’s likely that Apple will discount the 16GB iPhone 5s by $100, not more, when the iPhone 6 launches, which means Walmart’s deal will likely be better for buyers looking to on-contract iPhone purchases.

Source: HERE

Most of your favorite free Android apps leave you open to hackers

Security has always been a huge concern for Android users. From seemingly insignificant security flaws to massive outbreaks that make international headlines, it’s never a bad idea to be cautious when downloading a new app or browsing the web. Unfortunately, sometimes even being careful isn’t enough. In a recent analysis, the FireEye Mobile Security Team discovered that 68% of the top 1,000 free apps on Google Play are vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.

According to OWASP, a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack is when an attacker intercepts a communication between two systems and then splits the connection in two, injecting new data in between.

The 1,000 free apps were just a sample of the roughly 10,000 applications FireEye checked during the analysis. The results are just as unsettling on a larger scale as well:

“Roughly 4,000 (40%) [apps] use trust managers that do not check server certificates, exposing any data they exchange with their servers to potential theft,” writes the security team. “Furthermore, around 750 (7%) applications use hostname verifiers that do not check hostnames, implying that they are incapable of detecting redirection attacks where the attacker redirects the server request to a malicious webserver controlled by the attacker. Finally, 1,300 (13%) do not check SSL errors when they use Webkit.”

It’s up to developers to ensure their apps are protected from common vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to stolen data and information. Until then, think twice before downloading the latest free app.

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The Nexus 6 might be one of eight hot new phones Motorola launches this fall

After reporting that the Motorola Shamu – also known as the Nexus 6 in most rumors – might actually be called the Moto S a few days ago, TKTechNews is back with a different Motorola leak and this one says that the Lenovo-owned company is preparing an arsenal of new Android devices, including the Motorola Shamu Nexus 6.

 According to its sources, Motorola will launch up to eight devices by Christmas, including a Droid, Droid Maxx, Droid Turbo, Moto S, new Moto G, Moto X+1 and Moto X Play. Interestingly, one of the Droids is apparently tied to a Star Wars promotion.

The Moto S, which was previously said to be the Shamu, appears to be an independent version of the Nexus 6, and will reportedly pack a 5.9-inch display. A smaller version of it may ship with a 5.2-inch – the Moto X Play.

Verizon might be getting the “lion share” of these devices, although there’s also a possibility the Droids will hit other carriers, such as AT&T, under a different brand.

Motorola has yet to confirm any of these handsets, although the company may unveil some of them at its upcoming media event – likely the carrier-branded models, as a Nexus 6 is unlikely to arrive before Android L is ready for mass consumption.

TKTechNews has also provided a picture of a purported Nexus 6 handset, which displays specs for the handset, including a 2K display of unknown size, Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 CPU, 13-megapixel camera and AOSP version of Android L. The device is clearly branded as a Google handset, assuming the image (available below) is accurate.

 

http://bgr.com

New leak hints Apple is making an iPhone 6 with a massive 128GB of storage

If you’re an iPhone user who likes to store a lot of data on your phone, then you’ll absolutely love 9to5Mac points out that a leaked schematic on Geekbar’s Weibo account seemingly shows that Apple has developed an iPhone 6 with a whopping 128GB of NAND Flash storage. This is double the maximum storage you can get on the iPhone 5s, which tops out at 64GB.

this next leak.

The big question now is if Apple is going to release a 128GB iPhone 6, will it be the 4.7-inch model, the 5.5-inch model or both? It would make sense for the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 to get a 128GB storage option and 9to5Mac notes that “earlier reports have claimed that Apple might offer some premiums on the bigger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 which could get exclusives like more storage.”

The good news is that we now have less than three weeks until we learn about at least one version of Apple’s new iPhone during the company’s big media event on September 9th. However, it’s entirely possible that Apple will only unveil the smaller 4.7-inch iPhone 6 at that event and we might have to wait a bit longer for the 5.5-inch version.

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Huge leak shows the 5.5-inch iPhone’s rear shell side-by-side with the 4.7-inch iPhone 6

An image showing the alleged rear shell of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 next to the same component for the 5.5-inch version has been leaked from a source “deep within Apple’s supply chain in China,” BestTechInfo reports. In case you’re wondering, the same publication previously published on YouTube a hands-on review of an actual backplate for the 4.7-inch model, and has posted similar YouTube videos last year showing back shells for 2013 iPhones before they became official, so it has a pretty decent track record.

FROM EARLIER: This is what the iPhone 6 might look like compared to Samsung’s iPhone 6 ‘killer’

According to the source, only a few such 5.5-inch iPhone 6 shells are available in the factory where the photo (see below) was taken, which may be intended for testing only.

Furthermore, a September launch of the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 model is “unlikely,” the source revealed, which appears to be in line with the previously reported launch delays for the bigger model.

Various rumors have indicated that the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 has either been pushed back because of various production delays, or that Apple has decided not to launch the two devices together to prevent competition between them. The 5.5-inch phablet should head to production only in September alongside new iPad models, Taiwan’s Economic Daily News said recently.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 6 on September 9, and launch at least one model in the weeks thereafter.

The leaked image showing the two iPhone 6 parts, along with a video discussing it, follow below.

 

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Samsung unveils the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, the Nook’s potential savior

Back in June, Samsung announced it would be joining forces with Barnes & Noble to release aGalaxy Tab 4 and the content of the Nook library. On Wednesday, the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook became official.

new tablet which combines the hardware of the

As expected, the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is nearly indistinguishable from Samsung’s original tablet, all the way down to the specifications. The tablet features a 7-inch 1280 x 800 OLED display, 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and Android 4.4 KitKat. There’s also a microSD card slot for expanded storage, which you’ll probably need if you plan on loading the device up with book.

What separates the new Nook from the Galaxy Tab 4 is its interface. Once you turn the tablet on, you’ll be presented with Barnes & Noble’s familiar Nook UI. It’s definitely an eReader first, tablet second.

“The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK is the most advanced NOOK ever, delivering the great NOOK experience our customers have come to love, with the high-performance tablet features they’ve asked for,” said Michael P. Huseby, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “We invite reading and entertainment fans to visit their local Barnes & Noble store to experience the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK. Once they do, we’re certain they will make this innovative device part of their daily routine.”

The Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is available now at Barnes & Noble locations as well as online at BN.com for $179 (after a $20 instant rebate). The tablet also includes over $200 in free content from the Nook Store, including book, TV shows and magazines. The full press release follows below.

Samsung and Barnes & Noble Introduce New Samsung Galaxy Tab^® 4 NOOK^®

NEW YORK & RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Samsung Electronics America and NOOK Media, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), today announced the introduction of the new Samsung Galaxy Tab^® 4 NOOK^®, a 7-inch tablet combining Samsung’s leading technology and NOOK’s extraordinary content and reading experience. This new co-branded tablet offers the best of both worlds: the first-ever full-featured Android tablet optimized for reading. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK is now available in more than 660 Barnes & Noble bookstores and online at www.bn.com and www.nook.com for $179 after a $20 instant rebate, and includes more than $200 in free content from the NOOK Store^® including bestselling books, popular TV shows, top magazines and more.

With tablet tools for everyday use and an endless collection of reading and entertainment options, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK lets readers connect to the world when they need to, and escape from it whenever they want. Barnes & Noble research shows that while the rise of mobile technology, including tablets, has undeniably changed how, what and the ways in which Americans read, they’re doing more of it than ever.

• Over three-quarters (77 percent) of U.S. adult respondents to a recent online study conducted by Harris Poll for Barnes & Noble agree with the statement that “Reading has always been an important part of my life.”
• Over two-thirds (67 percent) say reading puts them in a better mood.
• Seventy-six percent of U.S. adults state their reading habits have increased over the past three years, and nearly half, over two in five (44 percent), attribute access to an eReader, tablet or smartphone as the reason.
• Tablets have not only changed our reading habits, but what it even means to read – personal email (96 percent) is now the number-one item read, followed by social media (67 percent); Web sites, online articles or blogs (73 percent); work-related materials (46 percent); eBooks (31 percent); and digital magazines or newspapers (40 percent).

So the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK is designed for those who love to read in all forms as well as browse the Web, watch videos, enjoy apps and more.

“The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK is the most advanced NOOK ever, delivering the great NOOK experience our customers have come to love, with the high-performance tablet features they’ve asked for,” said Michael P. Huseby, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “We invite reading and entertainment fans to visit their local Barnes & Noble store to experience the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK. Once they do, we’re certain they will make this innovative device part of their daily routine.”

Mr. Huseby added that Barnes & Noble will continue to support all NOOK devices and said that the new product would be sold alongside the popular NOOK GlowLight™ eReader.

Easy-to-Hold, Premium-Designed Tablet

The new 7-inch device features Samsung’s sleek, ultra-light premium tablet design and all of the hardware specs of its Samsung Galaxy Tab 4. It is lighter and thinner than any previous color NOOK device at 9.74 ounces and .35 inches. Designed to be comfortable to hold, consumers can easily read, watch or dive into any other features or content at home or on-the-go. The crisp, brilliant and beautiful HD display makes it immersive to enjoy books, magazines, games and videos, with long-lasting battery life to match.

“We’ve taken our bestselling Samsung Galaxy tablet and made it the best tablet available for reading and entertainment,” said Tim Baxter, President of Samsung Electronics America. “We are excited to bring the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK to customers through Barnes & Noble’s bookstores nationwide.”

Tablet Tools for Everyday Life

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK is a high-performance tablet with all of the tools that customers need to stay entertained, connected and productive. For the first time ever, NOOK customers can enjoy one of their most requested tablet features: built-in 1.3-megapixel front- and 3-megapixel rear-facing cameras for photos and video chats. The Wi-Fi^® enabled device has the full suite of Google applications featuring Chrome Web Browser, as well as built-in GPS capabilities for location-based apps and more. With Samsung Multi Window innovation, customers can use more than one app simultaneously and share content between apps at the same time, like reading an email and finding a location on Google Maps.

Get the Most Out of Reading and Entertainment

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK gives customers an extraordinary collection of digital content to explore from Barnes & Noble. The expansive NOOK Store’s reading and entertainment content offers:

• Over 3 million books including bestsellers, new releases, classics and enhanced titles with special content.
• An extensive offering of popular comic books and graphic novels as well as picture-perfect art, photography, travel guides and cookbook titles.
• An expansive collection of best-loved children’s books – over 9,000 – including chapter books and a selection of picture books with a proprietary interactive experience.
• The NOOK Newsstand^®, with the largest digital collection of the top 100 bestselling U.S. magazines available for both digital subscriptions and single copy sale, and a vast collection of newspapers and magazines from around the world. Find reading tools like ArticleView™ that lets the reader focus on the text, customized to their needs and the Visual Table of Contents that provides a quick scan of the entire issue allowing a reader to jump directly to any article or section.
• A large collection of NOOK Apps™ featuring a wide range of uniquely curated titles for the whole family, including the hottest games, as well as lifestyle, productivity, news, entertainment and other apps.
• A wide NOOK Video™ selection offering customers their favorite movies and TV shows from major studios and networks, available for purchase or rental.

Discovery couldn’t be easier for all types of content with a bookstore-like browsing experience, NOOK Today, and unique cross-content features based upon customer interests and relevant topics. Hundreds of NOOK Channels™ support expert content curation based on interest and sensibility. This popular discovery feature is powered by Barnes & Noble’s breakthrough recommendation system which combines its bookseller knowledge with advanced algorithmic technology.

Free with Purchase: $200 in Popular NOOK Content

Barnes & Noble will welcome all Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK customers with more than $200 of free NOOK reading and entertainment content including three free bestselling eBooks including Freakonomics, The Wanderer, and I Am Number Four, and an episode each of three hit TV shows: HBO’s Veep, NBC Universal’s Hannibal, and BBC America’s Orphan Black. As part of the package, magazine lovers can choose up to four 14-day free trial subscriptions from a selection of 12 popular magazines – including Cosmopolitan, Sports Illustrated, US Weekly and more, and also receive the previous 12 issues of each title at no cost. A $5 credit will also help customers get started as they explore the NOOK Store. More detail on the free NOOK content offer can be found at NOOK.com.

Barnes & Noble also offers great complimentary content through its Free Fridays program, offering a free NOOK Book^®, NOOK Video or NOOK App each week. For a limited time, Barnes & Noble is also offering up to 50 percent discounts on over 50 top items in categories including books, magazines and newspapers, apps and movies. Visit NOOK.com or the NOOK Store on a NOOK to learn more.

Easy-to-Use and Customizable

Intuitive and user friendly, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK enables users easy access to recent and favorite content and to discover new interests across all content types in one place. Current NOOK customers who upgrade and sign in will find their existing library of NOOK content loaded and ready to enjoy.

Right from the fully integrated home screen, get customized recommendations, access the NOOK Store or browse the web. With customizable NOOK Profiles, every member of the family can create their own immersive reading experience, curated and tailored to their individual interest and reading preferences.

Availability and In-Store Support

The ad-free Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK is available immediately in both white and black 8GB models for $179 after a $20 instant rebate at Barnes & Noble bookstores and on BN.com and NOOK.com. Customers can personalize their new devices with a number of NOOK-designed accessories including colorful two-way stand covers and kimono sleeves, an anti-glare screen and more.

Experience the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK in a local Barnes & Noble store and learn more from one of the company’s expert booksellers. In store, NOOK customers receive complimentary, personal NOOK support with no appointment needed. While in-store, customers can also receive suggestions on what to read next, access free Wi-Fi, and enjoy the popular Read In Store program, which allows guests to read any book free for up to one hour per day, just like browsing the physical shelves. Customers can also take advantage of a full calendar of popular NOOK events, including NOOK Night workshops, family Storytimes, book discussion groups and author signings.

Source: http://bgr.com

The next-gen iPad Air might not have miserably wimpy RAM

Specs certainly aren’t everything, but Apple fans should still be relieved to know that theiPad Air will feature a memory boost up from the 1GB of RAM the first-generation model had. Per MacRumors, Taiwanese publication TechNews is reporting that Apple’s followup to the iPad Air will feature a full 2GB of RAM, which just happens to be the same amount of memory that came with Google’s last Nexus 7 tablet when it was announced more than a year ago.

next-generation

As MacRumors explains, boosting the new iPad Air up to 2GB of RAM is important mostly because the device is expected to feature iOS 8-enabled split-screen multitasking for the first time, which will obviously require more memory than what the first-gen iPad Air had.

In addition to the reported 2GB of RAM, the next-gen iPad Air is also expected to be the first Apple tablet to feature a Touch ID fingerprint scanner that will let users make mobile payments over the device. We also expect the new iPad Air to be slightly thinner than the previous model and to have more recessed buttons on the side of the device. We still have no idea when the new tablet will be released, although it will likely be part of Apple’s massive fall release slate that will also include the iPhone 6.

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