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Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi plans to begin offering products to consumers in the United States, but that won't include smartphones any time soon. The company will offer smart wristbands, headphones, earbuds and a few other select items in a custom Xiaomi store - but still doesn't want to rush to compete with Apple, Samsung, and other manufacturers in the competitive US market.

"We felt that coming right after launching (the Mi Note) in China was actually ideal, because this is the best product we've ever made," said Hugo Barra, international VP of Xiaomi, in a statement to The Verge. "Our devices are really nice, but this is ultimately nice."

Launching Mi.com is a big deal for the five-year-old Chinese company, and could help create a roadmap towards future smartphone and tablet product launches. Investors and analysts are curious to see if Xiaomi can eventually crack the US mobile market, which remains the most financially lucrative market in the world.

Google Android smartphone shipments dropped quarter-on-quarter for the first time during Q4 2014, as Apple iOS shipments increased a whopping 90 percent. iPhone shipments rose from 39.3 million up to 74.5 million, while Android sales slid from 217 million down to 206 million, according to ABI Research.

"Google's Android is being attacked by Apple's iOS at the high-end and forked Android and AOSP at the low-end in high growth emerging markets," said Nick Spencer, Senior Practice Director of Mobile Devices at ABI Research. "The Android One initiative has slowed forked Android and ASOP growth outside China, but Apple's success has taken the high-end of the market away from certified Android's premium tier vendors."

Android-powered devices still topped 1 billion throughout 2014 - but a strong sales quarter from Apple shows that it still has plenty of fight left while promoting new iPhones.

Apple has today announced a two-step verification process for iMessage and FaceTime applications, announced in the wake of the massive celebrity leak uncovered late last year.

This new system means that users will be asked to supply their username and password alongside a verification code that Apple will send to a device with granted access to these services. This process has been recommended by computer security experts, with them stating the obvious - a hacker gaining control to your username and password is much easier than doing the former and stealing your phone.

The username and password issues most commonly seen are due to people using the same email and password combination for numerous accounts. This means that if a hacker has access to your iCloud, they likely have access to your Facebook, email, Twitter and more.

Thanks to our Facebook fan 'Daniel Ozankan', we've been told about another great sticker-bombed PC project. This CM690 II isn't quite as in-depth as our previously shared HEX GEAR R40 black and white build, but we've shared it because it's something a little more realistically obtainable for most would-be modders( including myself).

We've always been happy to share more simply modded PC builds, there's always $10,000 monster builds out there with multiple GPU's, SSD's and crazy water cooling loops - just like there are a thousand Ferrari's to gawk at online. But how about something you can actually do for yourself?

Janac has gone about modding this Cooler Master CM690II with a 'JDM style' sticker-bomb set, creating a shroud to cover the PSU and radiator - further display the sticker goodness.

One of the biggest downsides to any of Samsung's mobile devices is that there are so many pre-installed apps and bloatware on the phone, but according to the latest rumors, the Galaxy S6 could arrive without any of its pre-installed apps.

SamMobile is reporting that the Galaxy S6, while it won't have any of the Samsung pre-installed apps installed, would have some of Microsoft's applications such as OneNote, OneDrive, Office Mobile and Skype, which is due to an agreement between Microsoft and Samsung. The Galaxy S6 would arrive not only without the pre-installed applications, but it would also be faster, too. Faster than that of the Galaxy Note 4, which is already a quick handset. There are some nice UI changes to expect too, which you can check out below:

It has been rumored that NVIDIA would slide out from under those warm cuddles that TSMC provide to manufacturer its GPUs, into the arms of Samsung or GlobalFoundries, but it looks like this won't be happening any time soon.

NVIDIA's CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang said during the company's recent conference call with investors and financial analysts during the week, where he said that TSMC will continue to be a big partner of theirs, but didn't confirm or deny that it could shift some of its production to another company. Huang said: "We always look at all foundries, and TSMC remains our most strategic [partner]. They are going to continue to be a very important partner for us for the foreseeable future".

TSMC will begin its 16nm FinFET production in the second half of the year, much later than the likes of its competitors in Samsung and GloFo. When it came to talking about the 16nm FinFET process, Huang said: "TSMC is a fabulous supplier, [...] their FinFET technology is excellent. [We have been] working with TSMC on FinFET now for a couple of years, and so we have quite a bit of confidence in their ability to deliver amazing FinFET transistors".

With the return of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia to the next 'Star Wars' sequel 'The Force Awakens', some fans have questioned why the galaxy's smoothest dude Lando Calrissian hasn't yet made return. While Billy Dee Williams returned to the franchise voicing his CG animated character in the 'Star Wars: Rebels' TV show in the episode 'Idiot's Array', Williams has made his first comments on his possible live-action return.

Speaking with Cinelinx to promote his 'Rebels' guest starring role, Williams says: "I have a feeling I'm going to show up. There's nothing I can really discuss about it at this stage... I didn't come in until the second movie. I did 'Empire' and then I did 'Return of the Jedi', but I came in after everyone else was introduced. So I think they're probably proceeding in that way."

The next 'Star Wars' film; 'The Force Awakens' is currently scheduled for a 3D, IMAX and 2D worldwide release on December 18th, 2015.

It looks like Crytek is ready to push into the world of VR gaming, as the studio will be showing off a new VR experience on the Oculus Rift at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2015 next month.

VRFocus is reporting that Crytek has confirmed with the site that it will be showing off a "a brand new experience" for VR, especially when compared to what it was showing off at last year's GDC. Last year, Crytek was showing off a VR technology demo running in CryEngine on the Oculus Rift DK2 at 100FPS.

Crytek will be showing off its CryEngine running on Android, too. GDC takes place between March 2-6 in San Francisco, California. You can be sure we'll be reporting about any and all things from the event.

In less than two months, Ubisoft has sold more than 7 million units of Far Cry 4, and it doesn't look like the game franchise is going to end just yet.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot didn't confirm a new Far Cry video game, but indicated Far Cry 4 may not be the last title for gamers. "The Far Cry franchise is here for the long-run and is a stronger contender in the shooter genre," Guillemot said during a recent earnings call.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft released the Overrun Far Cry 4 DLC for PC and console gamers, providing new maps, a new vehicle, and a new PvP mode. The game publisher seems focused on releasing updates for Far Cry 4 and will keep any rumblings of a new title under wraps for the time being.

Cybercriminals have their pick of vulnerable targets to compromise, and want to focus more on conducting identity theft over just stealing payment information.

After a data breach, especially if a debit or credit card information has been stolen, compromised users ask their banks to cancel cards. However, a data breach in which names, addresses, Social Security numbers and other personal data are stolen give criminals the ability to take their time to launch future attacks.

"We're clearly seeing a shift in the tactics of cybercriminals, with long-term identity theft becoming more of a goal than the immediacy of stealing a credit card number," said Tsion Gonen, VP of strategy for identity and data protection of Gemalto. "Identity theft could lead to the opening of new fraudulent credit accounts, creating false identities for criminal enterprises, or a host of other serious crimes."

Antivirus products missed almost 70 percent of malware infections within the first hour of submission, according to Damballa's "Q4 2014 State of Infections Report." In addition, only 66 percent of malware signatures were accurately identified when rescanned within 24 hours of infection - with that number going up to 72 percent within seven days.

Antivirus security companies share malicious file findings with one another, but it takes time for new discoveries to be integrated into their own programs.

"What's clear from these figures is that we have to turn the table on infection 'dwell' time," said Brian Foster, CTO of Damballa. "In much that same way that a flu vaccine hinges on making 'best-guess' decisions about the most prevalent virus strains - AV is only effective for some of the people some of the time. Viruses morph and mutate and new ones can appear in the time it takes to address the most commonly found malware."

Anthem's recent data breach should be a startling wakeup call to other insurance carriers and companies operating in the medical world.

Up to 80 million of the company's members could be at risk of identity theft, with hackers able to make off with client names, physical mailing addresses, birth dates, email addresses, Social Security numbers and medical ID data.

The cost of the breach could top $100 million, as Anthem's cyberinsurance policy will likely be exhausted following this incident.

NVIDIA had a huge year last year, ending the second half of the year launching its new Maxwell architecture, giving birth to the great GeForce GTX 970 and GTX 980 cards. Well, the company has just posted its Q4 FY 2015 results, with revenues of $4.68 billion, up 13% from 2014.

The last three-month period was also a record for the company, with revenues of $1.25 billion, up 9% from the previous year. Gross margin for Q4 2015 was $699 million, or 55.9% which is up 1.8% over Q4 2014, and 0.7% up from Q3 2015. When it comes to the GPU business of NVIDIA, Q4 saw the company launch multiple GPUs in its GTX 900 series, with GPU revenue reaching $1.073 billion for Q4 alone, a nice 8% increase over Q3 2015, and a year-over-year gain of 13%.

The mobile sector of NVIDIA didn't do too well, with Tegra sales falling over the quarter, after multiple quarters of increasing amounts of shipments. Tegra revenue was just $112 million for Q4 2015, down from $168 million in Q3, and $131 million from a year ago. This is a 33% drop in revenue quarter-over-quarter, and 15% year-over-year. Strong GPU sales were able to offset the slump in smartphone and tablet SoC sales, but the automotive sector for Tegra is doing well for the company. For Q1 FY 2016 (doesn't this get confusing, fast?) has the company expecting revenues of $1.16 billion, or so.

Intel isn't sure what will happen with the booming Internet of Things (IoT) market, but the Silicon Valley company wants to make sure it is involved.

During CES last month, Intel unveiled the Curie chip designed for wearables and other connected technologies - which it hopes will be introduced in a variety of different future products. Intel predicts there will more than 800 million Web-connected homes over the next three years, and that number will only grow higher.

"What we see in that segment of the market, the Internet of Things, there's lots of innovation going on," said Stacy Smith, CFO of Intel, in a statement to CNET. "If anybody tells you they know who's going to be the winner three years from now, they're making it up, because nobody knows."

There are millions of people that use Facebook, that think that everything outside of it - you know, the Internet - doesn't exist. According to Helani Galpaya, who surveyed a large number of Indonesians, they said that they didn't use the Internet.

But, when they were in focus groups, these same people talked about how much time they spent on the largest social network on the Internet; Facebook. Galpaya works at LIRNEasia, a think tank, who said: "It seemed that in their minds, the Internet did not exist; only Facebook". QZ has a large piece on the matter, but diving into it, the article says that Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg says that in the developing world, "people will walk into phone stores and say 'I want Facebook'".

Continuing on that statement, Facebook's Head of Localization and Internationalization, Iris Orriss, says that "Awareness of the Internet in developing countries is very limited. In fact, for many users, Facebook is the internet, as it's often the only accessible application".

We only just reported about the Galaxy S6 Edge and its soon-to-be awesome benchmarking abilities, but the boss of Samsung's Camera R&D, DongHoon Jang, has teased that its upcoming 2015 flagship smartphone will have "the future of cameras".

Jang also said that the new flagship handset "will be intelligent and do all the thinking for users, allowing them to take amazing pictures under any conditions, without having to worry about anything more than just pressing the shutter button". Rear-facing cameras don't need to have the most megapixels, as we've seen with Apple's iPhones over the years. Let's hope that Samsung doesn't just throw in a 20-megapixel camera and hope to win, and that the software, speed, and the entire package is ready to be "the future of cameras".

We know that NVIDIA will be hosting a special "Made to Game" event on March 3 during the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2015, but the company hasn't said anything outside of the new product will "redefine the future of gaming". No details, not even so much of a tease of what it could be.

We know that it has been five years in the making, but what we're going to report is that it will be an Android-powered console. We're sure that it will be powered by a Tegra processor, most likely the Tegra X1 that NVIDIA unveiled at CES 2015 earlier this year. It would make sense, as NVIDIA has been pushing in that direction with its Shield line for a while now.

It wasn't long ago that we reported on a Tegra X1-powered Shield Tablet, but maybe it is the new Android-powered console that we here at TweakTown think it will arrive as? We have a Shield Tablet that would be close to an Android-powered console as it is, the Shield Controller which could connect to it, but a new 4K-capable gaming box that could bake down to 1080p 60FPS? Yes, please. This is all speculation until NVIDIA unveils the new device on March 3, which isn't too far away from now.

We are expecting a few new handsets to be unveiled at Samsung Unpacked 2015 on March 1, but there's a lot of time between then and now so we can enjoy some leaks regarding performance numbers in the meantime.

PhoneArena has noticed a new multi-core Geekbench result that sees the Galaxy S6 Edge, something Samsung hasn't even announced yet, beating the Apple iPad Air 2, which is the current champion of that benchmark - even though it's a tablet, the new Samsung smartphone beats it. PhoneArena reported: "[The Galaxy S6 Edge's] octa-core Exynos 7420 chipset managed to crush it with 1,492 points in the single-core, and 5,077 points in the multi-core test. To put things in perspective, this multi-core result is way higher than any other mobile at the moment, including the iPad Air 2, the reigning champ, which scores 4,532".

Switching the conversation over to the Galaxy S6, it was spotted on an AnTuTu benchmark where it blew the pants off of anything else on AnTuTu's database. We should expect the Galaxy S6 to rock Samsung's own Exynos 7240 processor clocked at 2.1GHz, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of flash storage, a 20-megapixel rear-facing camera, 5-megapixel front-facing snapper, Android 5.0.2 Lollipop and a 5.1-inch display with a resolution of 2560x1440.

With 37 days to go on their Kickstarter and £9,658 ($14,700 US) pledged out of a £200,000 ($304,880) goal - The OwnFone has an uphill battle to face. This device isn't exactly a new thing, seeing success in the English market - however they're now wanting to expand globally and are using this campaign as a launching platform. But what exactly is it?

Described as "the world's first 2D/3D printed mobile phone that calls the numbers you need," the OwnFone is a small, light and portable device that allows you to customize the face to suit exactly who you wish to dial. You can throw in pictures of your friends, simple catchwords like "Mum" and "Uncle" or even a short list of names.

With no screen, internet connectivity or text messaging services, the OwnFone sets out to be a great child phone or emergency alternative. It's perfectly safe for your children, meaning if they're stuck or lost they can take out the phone, press the "Dad" button and chat away.

Automakers want to embrace connected technology in new vehicles, but have failed to ensure proper cybersecurity protocols are available, according to Sen. Edward Markey (D - Mass.). The Senator believes almost all connected vehicles are vulnerable to some type of security risk, according to Markey's staff.

Following a number of security-related incidents showed connected cars are vulnerable, Markey wants to know what safeguards are being put in place to keep car owners secure. The report indicated "there is a clear lack of appropriate security measures to protect drivers against hackers who may be able to take control of a vehicle or against those who may wish to collect and use personal driver information."

"Drivers have come to rely on these new technologies, but unfortunately the automakers haven't done their part to protect us from cyberattacks or privacy invasions," Sen. Markey said in a statement.