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Sony announces its Xperia Z4 Tablet, featuring a 10.1-inch 2K display

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | Mar 2, 2015 5:23 AM CST

MWC 2015 - We knew it was coming, but Sony has made the Xperia Z4 Tablet official at MWC 2015 in Barcelona, Spain. The new Xperia Z4 Tablet is one of the most powerful slates on the market, and some.

We have a 10.1-inch 2K display (2560x1600) giving us a pixel density of 299PPI, but inside we find the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor (an 8-core 64-bit CPU) at 2GHz. There's 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage which is expandable through microSD right up to 128GB. Sony will be offering the new Xperia Z4 Tablet as a Wi-Fi only tablet, as well as an LTE-capable model.

On the back we have an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, backed up by a 5.1-megapixel selfie shooter with a wide-angle lens. Sony has crammed a 6000mAh battery inside of the Xperia Z4 Tablet which the company says is good for around 17 hours of video playback. Out of the box we will have Google's latest Android 5.0 Lollipop.

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Continue reading: Sony announces its Xperia Z4 Tablet, featuring a 10.1-inch 2K display (full post)

We go hands-on with the new Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone at MWC 2015

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | Mar 2, 2015 5:15 AM CST

MWC 2015 - Samsung announced the Galaxy S6 smartphone yesterday at Mobile World Congress 2015, but our man on the ground Johannes Knapp has gotten some hands-on time with the new super-fast smartphone, with that video below.

As you can see, even with TouchWiz on top, Android 5.0 Lollipop on the Galaxy S6 is super slick and doesn't slow down. This would also be thanks to its incredibly quick 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM. We also have that 5.1-inch QHD 2560x1440 display, a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera with OIS backed up by a 5-megapixel camera for selfies, a 2550mAh battery, and comes in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB with no expandable storage unfortunately.

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Continue reading: We go hands-on with the new Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone at MWC 2015 (full post)

Windows 10 will have support for USB 3.1 Type-C soon

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Mar 2, 2015 4:30 AM CST

It looks like Microsoft will soon announce officialy support for USB 3.1 Type-C for Windows 10, with both the standard and USB Dual Role to be supported. The company will be hosting its WinHec conference next month, with the official website teasing the new USB connectivity scenarios in Windows 10 to be discussed.

The page says: "Windows 10 introduces support for USB Dual Role and Type-C, which will enable new wired connectivity scenarios such a phone interacting with USB peripherals, or laptops connecting to an external display using the USB Type-C connector. This session will go into detail on how Windows supports these technologies and what you need to do to enable them. Topics include: Overview of the new use cases introduced with USB Dual Role and Type-C, What scenarios are and aren't supported for Dual Role devices, Using Alternate Modes (e.g. DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, or MHL) over Type-C, Support for Power Delivery, enabling devices to provide/consume up to 100W over USB, Hardware and software architecture changes for Dual Role and Type-C, and Building a Windows system with Dual Role and/or Type-C support. Intended Audience: OEMs, ODMs, IDHs, IHVs, Peripheral Manufacturers, Driver Developers".

USB 3.1 will be delivering a huge increase in transfer speeds, right up to 10Gbps, up from the current ceiling of 5Gbps that USB 3.0 provides. Thunderbolt is still faster, but the adoption of USB 3.1 should hopefully be much higher.

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Continue reading: Windows 10 will have support for USB 3.1 Type-C soon (full post)

Android dominates iOS with 81.5% of global smartphone OS market

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Mar 2, 2015 2:29 AM CST

Apple may be the largest company in the world, but when it comes to the global smartphone OS market share, Google completely owns it with Android according to the latest report from the International Data Corporation (IDC).

With Google pushing out over 1.1 billion smartphones in 2014, a number that is up 32% from the 802.2 million Android devices shipped in 2013, Google is simply not stopping. Its mobile OS dominance was already there in 2013 with 78.7% of the global smartphone OS market share, but Google is out for more in 2014 with a huge 81.5%.

IDC has noted that Samsung is the top OEM of Android-powered devices, shipping more units than the five vendors under it. The report says: "At the same time, Samsung's total volumes for the year remained essentially flat while Asian vendors including Huawei, Lenovo (including Motorola), LG Electronics, Xiaomi, and ZTE fueled the most growth for Google's platform".

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Continue reading: Android dominates iOS with 81.5% of global smartphone OS market (full post)

'Adventure Time' movie on the way

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Mar 2, 2015 12:20 AM CST

Now in its sixth season, the crazily irreverent Cartoon Network animation 'Adventure Time' has only become increasingly popular as audiences embrace the show in the millions weekly, and gobble up all manner of merchandise.

Not content with all that, Cartoon Network's owner, Warner Bros. is now preparing a feature length movie adventure to be produced by 'The Lego Movie' duo Chris McKay and Roy Lee. 'Adventure Time' creator Pendleton Ward will serve as writer, as well as a producer.

It's not yet confirmed if Jeremy Shada and John DiMaggio will return to voice their roles of Finn and Jake respectively, but it's hard to see that they won't. "Mathematical!"

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Continue reading: 'Adventure Time' movie on the way (full post)

HP impresses with its new Spectre x360 13.3-inch convertible laptop

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | Mar 2, 2015 12:12 AM CST

HP has started off 2015 with a bang, announcing its new 13.3-inch Spectre x360 convertible laptop, with the aforementioned 13.3-inch display rocking a QHD resolution of 2560x1440, which also happens to feature Panel Self-Refresh technology, which lets the laptop power down when the display is not changing.

There will be two models of the Spectre x360 released, with one bumping the 13.3-inch screen down to 1920x1080 touch-capable display, while the higher-end model features the QHD panel. There are also two choices when it comes to the processor, with HP offering up the Intel Broadwell-ULT-based Core i5-5200U and Core i7-5500U. The Core i5-5200U is a dual-core part with HT enabled at 2.2GHz or 2.7GHz with Turbo Boost, while the Core i7-5500U is also a dual-core part with HT at 2.4GHz, or 3GHz with Turbo. HP has provided just 4-8GB of DDR3 RAM on the Spectre x360, while storage options range from a 128GB SSD up to 512GB.

HP has priced the Spectre x360 competitively, with the starting price of just $900 for the Core i5 model with 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD and 1080p touchscreen. HP will offer up the Core i7 model with 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD and the same 1080p touchscreen for $1150, while the best model will feature the Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD and the QHD touchscreen for $1400.

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Continue reading: HP impresses with its new Spectre x360 13.3-inch convertible laptop (full post)

The Division to feature 100-player 'Dark Zones', PvP, and so much more

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Mar 1, 2015 10:33 PM CST

Ubisoft doesn't have much trust with gamers, especially PC gamers, but The Division is still continuing to shape up nicely - even if it looks like its graphics have been watered down over time. A closed beta of the game is currently active, with a bunch of people playing The Division and discussing specific gameplay details and more.

The participants have detailed the way players will enter 'Dark Zones' which are public combative spaces within The Division, which are both cooperative and competitive, filled with friendlies and enemies. Players must pass through a decontamination chamber when entering and leaving the Dark Zone. There are special weapons are gear that you can collect in the Dark Zones, but you must pass through the decontamination process in order to have these weapons and items become a permanent part of your kit.

These Dark Zones in The Division feature up to, or around 100 players. Other players in here can act as friendlies, but hostile players can be killed, which build up something called a reputation meter. Once your reputation meter begins to build, you become more visible on the in-game mini map. You and your team can choose to work together with another team, with alpha players saying that there have been scenarios where players hide on rooftops, scale up and down buildings with grappling hooks, and more.

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Continue reading: The Division to feature 100-player 'Dark Zones', PvP, and so much more (full post)

Google hit AI breakthrough that could be huge for self-driving cars

Anthony Garreffa | Science, Space, & Robotics | Mar 1, 2015 9:32 PM CST

Google has reportedly reached a milestone in its artificial intelligence research, showing off an algorithm that could beat a human being playing Atari video games. Not only playing it, but it was learning from the experience, just as we would, according to a paper published by Nature last week.

Demis Hassabis, one of the authors from the paper said: "We can go all the way from pixels to actions as we call it and actually it can work on a challenging task that even humans find difficult. We know now we're on the first rung of the ladder and it's a baby step, but I think it's an important one". The team started their work at DeepMind, which is the London-based start up that Google acquired back in January 2014. When they joined Google, they began looking at ways of baking their intelligence into Google products.

The researchers then began working with Atari games, which had more complicated 3D environments, which Hassabis says the algorithm would be able to beat those games within the next five years. Hassabis added: "Ultimately the idea is that if this algorithm can race a car in a racing game then also essentially with a few extra tweaks it should be able to drive a real car. But that's again, even further away than that".

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Continue reading: Google hit AI breakthrough that could be huge for self-driving cars (full post)

Sandisk unveils huge 200GB microSD card for Android devices

Anthony Garreffa | Storage | Mar 1, 2015 8:40 PM CST

MWC 2015 - Sandisk has come out of nowhere unveiling the new 200GB Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition, with a gigantic 200GB of storage on a tiny little microSD card.

The largest microSD card that Sandisk made up until now was 128GB, but this new 200GB card is capable of 90MB/sec. Even at 90MB/sec, it would take around 35 minutes to fill the card and its 200GB capacity. The new Sandisk 200GB Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition is only compatible with Android smartphones and tablets.

What does a 200GB microSD card cost? $400, which is four times the cost of a 128GB card on Amazon right now. Sandisk sweetens the deal offering you 10 years of warranty, which is a very nice touch.

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Continue reading: Sandisk unveils huge 200GB microSD card for Android devices (full post)

Concern in rising number of tax-related scams and cybercrime

Michael Hatamoto | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Mar 1, 2015 4:47 PM CST

The US federal government is worried about a growing number of cases related to Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF), with criminals filing state and federal taxes - and making off with the tax refunds. Tax-related identity theft was the most reported type of fraud submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2014, with the agency receiving 109,063 complaints.

Recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued another public advisory to remind people that any telephone calls or emails claiming to be the IRS are fraudulent. In these scams, criminals ask victims to provide personal information or transfer money to them.

"It is a massive problem," said Brian Krebs, independent cybersecurity investigative reporter, in a statement published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It's probably going to emerge as the biggest identity theft problem this year."

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Continue reading: Concern in rising number of tax-related scams and cybercrime (full post)

Samsung makes the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge official, with 14nm CPU

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | Mar 1, 2015 11:45 AM CST

MWC 2015 - Shock horror! Samsung has just unveiled the new Galaxy S6 at Mobile World Congress 2015 at its Samsung Unpacked event.

Samsung's CEO, J.K. Shin, took the stage to unveil the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge official. The new Galaxy handsets have an all-new design, with wireless charging built into the smartphones finally. We have a 5.1-inch QHD display (2560x1440) with pixel density hitting a huge 576PPI. Samsung has continued the use of its great Super AMOLED display technology on both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge.

Inside, we have Samsung's incredible 14nm, 64-bit, 8-core Exynos processor with 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM making it one of the fastest, if not the fastest handsets on the market. On the back, we have a 16-megapixel camera. The Galaxy S6 edge has the dual edge display, which will show users details like the time, weather and notifications on its side. One of the downsides of the two new handsets, is that Samsung has removed the microSD slot, which means we do not have expandable storage now. A move toward the way Apple does things with its iPhone. The company has also cut out the removable battery, which is another downer.

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Continue reading: Samsung makes the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge official, with 14nm CPU (full post)

Acer launches its first Windows 8.1 smartphone, the Liquid M220

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | Mar 1, 2015 10:24 AM CST

MWC 2015 - Acer just unveiled its new Liquid Leap+ smartband, but the company has also unveiled its new Windows 8.1-powered smartphone, the Liquid M220.

The new Liquid M220 is powered by Windows 8.1, but it will be upgradeable to Windows 10 when it's released later this year. Acer has a 4-inch display with 233 pixels per inch (PPI), the full suite of Microsoft applications like OneDrive, Skype, Office and more. We have a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera backed up by a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.

The Liquid M220 is a cheap handset coming in at under $90, and will be made available through select EMEA retailers in April.

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Continue reading: Acer launches its first Windows 8.1 smartphone, the Liquid M220 (full post)

Acer leaps into wearable game with Liquid Leap+ and multi-OS support

Anthony Garreffa | Wearable Computing & Fashion | Mar 1, 2015 10:16 AM CST

MWC 2015 - The wearables game is heating up with Mobile World Congress now kicking off, with Acer announcing its next-gen Smart activeband products, starting with the new Liquid Leap+.

Acer's new Liquid Leap+ supports multiple operating systems, with Android, iOS and Windows being supported. We have a 1-inch OLED touchscreen that gets slapped onto your wrist, with the wristband coming in many different colors giving you some personalization. The Liquid Leap+ tracks users' steps, running distance, and calories burned.

The Liquid Leap+ is a wearable that can be worn day and night thanks to its waterproof certification (rated IPX7). Music controls are also provided, where you can play, pause, previous, and next song through your favorite tunes. The Acer Liquid Leap+ is powered by Bluetooth 4.0 LE, and uses Acer Leap Manager to communicate between your Liquid Leap+ and iOS, Android and Windows.

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Continue reading: Acer leaps into wearable game with Liquid Leap+ and multi-OS support (full post)

Acer's new Liquid Jade Z smartphone revealed at MWC 2015

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | Mar 1, 2015 10:09 AM CST

MWC 2015 - Acer has just announced its new Liquid Jade Z smartphone, with the company teasing its Zero Air Gap technology that will get rid of those annoying reflections, all while it's protected by Gorilla Glass 3 from Corning.

The Liquid Jade Z also features 4G LTE (Cat 4), a 64-bit quad-core MediaTek processor, 13-megapixel rear-facing camera which is backed up by a 5-megapixel selfie snapper. Acer calls the new Liquid Jade Z "wallet-friendly" as it is just 7.9mm slim and weighs only 110g. The Liquid Jade Z can also be easily connected to Windows PCs thanks to AcerEXTEND.

Acer will have the Liquid Jade Z available through EMEA retailers later this month.

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Continue reading: Acer's new Liquid Jade Z smartphone revealed at MWC 2015 (full post)

HTC surprises with a new VR headset 'Vive', partnering with Valve

Anthony Garreffa | Extended Reality (XR) | Mar 1, 2015 9:33 AM CST

MWC 2015 - HTC has surprised the world, giving me goosebumps in the meantime, by announcing at Mobile World Congress that they've partnered up with Valve on a VR headset.

HTC's new Vive headset will feature a room-scale experience, features 70 sensors, full 360-degree tracking where you can walk around your environment, 90Hz refresh rate, and it will come with two wireless controllers. HTC's Vive headset will be compatible with Valve's SteamVR service, too.

We don't know the resolution of the display yet, but I could guarantee we're looking at a minimum of 1920x1080 (or 1080p). Now, HTC has three letters in its name - 3 letters - Half-Life 3 confirmed?!?!

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Continue reading: HTC surprises with a new VR headset 'Vive', partnering with Valve (full post)

HTC unveils its new One M9 smartphone at MWC 2015

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | Mar 1, 2015 9:12 AM CST

MWC 2015 - After being splashed around in countless rumors before Mobile World Congress, HTC has made its new One M9 smartphone official. Robert Downey Jr was used in a voice over during the presentation in Barcelona, Spain - something we knew Iron Man would be doing as he has been involved with the Taiwanese company for a while now.

HTC had the slogan of 'Utopia in Process' where the company unveiled the new One M9 smartphone. HTC has a dual tone, dual finish body on the phone. The HTC One M9 features a 5-inch 1080p display, but inside we have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor (an 8-core CPU), with LTE Cat 9 (450Mbps), Android 5.0 Lollipop with Sense 7 on top. HTC is popular for its rear-facing cameras, with the new One M9 featuring a 20-megapixel rear-facing camera. Up front, we have a new front-facing camera with great low-light image quality.

The new One M9 has 5.1-channel sound from its from speakers, which will provide an even more immersive audio thanks to HTC's BoomSound technology. We have 3GB of RAM, 32GB of on-board storage which is expandable by microSD, and a nano SIM.

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Continue reading: HTC unveils its new One M9 smartphone at MWC 2015 (full post)

Real cabon fibre in a PC build - we're not joking

Chris Smith | Modding | Mar 1, 2015 12:54 AM CST

It's almost completed and it sure does look amazing. Math Military Modding has put a few more touches on this real carbon fiber build, using R/C plane carbon fiber rods in place of your general rigid tubing options.

Sponsored by ASUS France, Seasonic, EK Water Blocks and Kingston Technology HyperX, we've covered this build in detail previously, highlighting exactly how special it is.

Well here's another quick update, as you can see the custom-build chassis is all ready to go and almost all of the components have been put into place. The carbon fiber rigid tubing being laid out neatly and professionally and all that's left is to add the video cards, fill up the watercooling and put a few minor touches on the build as a whole.

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Continue reading: Real cabon fibre in a PC build - we're not joking (full post)

Round 2 - Smartflash is suing Apple after their previous $533m win

Chris Smith | Business, Financial & Legal | Feb 28, 2015 10:35 PM CST

In more extremely ironic news and fresh off their $533 million lawsuit win against the tech giant, Texas-based company Smartflash is taking Apple into round two of hearings with attorney Bradley W. Caldwell stating "Apple has released new products that came out too late for inclusion in Smartflash's previous action against Apple."

This new case is based around allegations that Apple has infringed on seven of Smartflash's patents through their release of the "iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad mini 3, and iPad Air 2 devices containing any version of iTunes that can access the iTunes Store or any version of the App Store app," as reported by PC World.

Smartflash also alleges that Apple has infringed on their patents titled "Data Storage and Access Systems." We haven't been told exactly how much Smartflash are chasing with this lawsuit, but expect it to be in the hundreds of millions yet again.

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Continue reading: Round 2 - Smartflash is suing Apple after their previous $533m win (full post)

US regulator worried of major 'Armageddon' cyberattack targeting banks

Michael Hatamoto | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Feb 28, 2015 10:15 PM CST

Ben Lawsky, a New York financial regulator and head of the New York Department of Financial Services, is reportedly considering new regulation to help prevent against "an Armageddon-type" cyberattack. There is concern that a coordinated cyberattack would be able to hit the "broader economy" of the United States.

"We are concerned that within the next decade, or perhaps sooner, we will experience an Armageddon-type cyber event that causes a significant disruption in the financial system for a period of time," Lawsky said while speaking at Columbia Law School.

To help prevent against a "cyber 9/11," Lawsky wants financial institutions and insurance companies be graded by the DFS. The legislation may also require multifactor authentication and other requirements to keep data secure. Banks also must be proactive in their effort to keep data secure, as foreign-based hackers continue their attempts to disrupt Wall Street.

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Continue reading: US regulator worried of major 'Armageddon' cyberattack targeting banks (full post)

Google will launch two new Nexus smartphones made by LG and Huawei

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | Feb 28, 2015 9:40 PM CST

We all know there's a new Nexus smartphone coming, but with Google already using up the Nexus 4, Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 product names, we can't have a Nexus 7 come out for two reasons. First, we already have two Nexus 7 tablets, and second, the new Nexus won't be anywhere near 7 inches.

Rumor has it Google is now working with both LG and Huawei, with the latter being the interesting choice for Google to partner with. Huawei is the leading smartphone manufacturer in China, and is quickly becoming a favorite around the world. Weibo is reporting that we will see Google using two manufacturers work on the Nexus smartphone that will be announced later this year, most likely at Google I/O 2015.

There's a few things to be excited about here: Google working with Huawei on its flagship handset which should rock Android 6.0, Huawei getting a very big stage to showcase its manufacturing talents to the world alongside LG, and the fact that we might receive not one but two Nexus handsets. Google could very well finally step up its game, showing the competition how to do the best Android smartphone, it just needs the right mojo to make it happen. You can do it, Google.

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Continue reading: Google will launch two new Nexus smartphones made by LG and Huawei (full post)

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