Latest News - Page 2793

Intel may be struggling in the mobile market, but things could change with the news that the chipmaker will soon combine its mobile divisions with its CPU-making division.

Bloomberg is reporting the news, after speaking with Intel's spokesman, Chuck Malloy, who said: "The lines are blurring between PCs, tablets, phablets and phones. The idea is to accelerate the implementation and create some efficiency so that we can move even faster". With Intel close to its goal of shipping 40 million tablet processors in 2014, the company still isn't hitting its stride when it comes to profitability in the mobile market, mainly because of its big subsidies to have them on-board in the first place.

LinkNYC, a new "communications network" has announced its plans to turn all of New York City's existing payphones into public Wi-Fi stations, with Superman being the most disappointed with this news.

The new Wi-Fi kiosks will be taller, and narrower than the average phone booth, but will still have ads plastered all over them. These Wi-Fi stations will boast "up to gigabit speeds", doubling as charging stations for devices, which is a nice touch. The new Wi-Fi network is part of a "public-private" collaboration between LinkNYC, the Mayor's Office of Technology and Innovation, DoITT, and CityBridge. A collective of New York-based companies, such as Qualcomm, Antenna, Comark, and Transit Wireless are also involved.

Not only will the phone booths be turned into Wi-Fi hotspots, but the LinkNYC kiosks will have touch screens that will provide information about the city itself, as well as allowing for free domestic phone calls. LinkNYC has said that the network will be "the fastest and largest free municipal Wi-Fi deployment in the world" and that it will be "more than 20 times fast than the average home Internet service in NYC" including a "seamless roaming experience from Link to Link". The best bit? LinkNYC said that the free gigabit Wi-Fi across NYC will be done "at no cost to taxpayers" with all of its revenue being secured through advertising, with around $500 million being made over the next 12 or so years. The roll out begins early 2015, with up to 10,000 Links to be installed across five boroughs of the city at first.

WhatsApp for Android is currently being updated, with the latest version providing end-to-end encryption. Previously, WhatsApp couldn't decrypt user messages, even if they wanted to for legal reasons. Most have said that it is the strongest encryption on any major text service.

The company has teamed up with Open Whisper Systems in order to usher in the secure feature, with Open Whisper responsible for multiple apps, but mostly TextSecure that had WhatsApp noticing them. This forces forward security to keep messages encrypted, even if the key is compromised in the future.

Open Whisper Systems spent around six months preparing TextSecure for WhatsApp, but at the moment it's locked to Android only. There's no word on when the iOS version will be updated, but it should roll out in the future at some point.

Maniac Mansion is one of those games I will forever cherish, with the point-and-click adventure game being one of the big Lucasfilm Games of their time. Well, Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick are now making something they're calling "the true spiritual successor" to Maniac Mansion, called Thimbleweed Park.

The developing duo are taking Thimbleweed Park to Kickstarter, hoping to hit $375,000 in required funds to get the point-and-click adventure off the ground. When explaining the game, they say it "cuts to the core of what made classic point-and-click adventure games so special ... It's deep, it's challenging, it's funny, it's everything you loved about adventure games". On Kickstarter, it says: "It's like opening a dusty old desk drawer and finding an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game you've never played before".

Thimbleweed Park will tell the tale of a pair of "washed-up detectives" who are in charge of an investigation into a death in Thimbleweed Park that "once boasted an opulent hotel, a vibrant business district and the state's largest pillow factory, but now teeters on the edge of oblivion and continues to exist for no real reason".

The long-running 'Peanuts' strip might have concluded 15 years ago, shortly before the passing of creator Charles M. Schulz, but the franchise has continued to live on in syndication and pretty soon the series will get an injection of life when Blue Sky animation and Twentieth Century Fox release a 'Peanuts' CG motion picture.

Coming in a year's time, 'Peanuts' will feature the voice of original Snoopy and Woodstock voice artist Bill Melendez, using archival recordings, and will be directed by Steve Martino (Horton Hears a Who), with a script from Charles Schulz's son, Bryan Schulz, and grandson Craig Schulz, along with Cornelius Uliano. The principal voice cast has yet to be announced.

'Peanuts' hits US cinemas on November 6, 2015.

We are finally learning more about Apple's first wearable, Watch, as the company has released its WatchKit for developers to tinker with. We now know that third-party apps will require a connected iPhone in order to work, as the processing for Watch is offloaded to the iPhone, with the Watch just rendering the result.

Apple's WatchKit also revealed some animations being pre-rendered as an image sequence on the iPhone, before it is blasted up to the Watch for display. We also don't know what will happen if your iPhone disconnects from Watch while you're looking at it, as the Watch apps are installed to the wearable by "your existing app" found on your iPhone. The documentation does state that Apple will support "fully-native" Watch apps in the future, but this won't happen until this time next year.

One thing we know for sure, is that the Watch will come in two different display resolutions; 272x340 for the 38mm Watch, and the 312x390 for 42mm version. Apple won't start selling its Watch until "early 2015", but it could be delayed a little later into the year yet.

It looks like Sony could have one of the best smartphone cameras in recent history with the news of the commercialization of its new Exmor RS IMX230 stacked CMOS image sensor, an image sensor that will be baked into the company's upcoming smartphones.

Why is this a better sensor? Well, according to Sony, the sensor will capture 21-megapixel still photos, and is the first CMOS image sensor for smartphones that features an on-board image plane phase detection AF single processing function, something that can use up to 192 auto-focus points. This means it will allow super-quick focus for fast-moving objects, and much more.

The new sensor is also capable of capturing HDR still images, and video, and can gather data from two different exposure conditions. From there, it will create a single image output that attempts to correct the bright and dark areas of the photo. When it comes to video capabilities, the new sensor is capable of capturing 720p video at 120FPS, 1080p video at 60FPS and 4K video at 30FPS. We should see this new sensor baked into Sony smartphones sometime in the second half of 2015.

The wearable electronic devices market will reach 68.1 million units in 2015, a slight drop from 70.1 million units in 2014, the Gartner research group said. The industry will take a hit as consumers consider a wider adoption of smartwatches, especially devices that can be easily paired with their Google Android or Apple iPhone smartphones.

The five most prominent fitness wearables currently on the market: wristbands, sports watches, heart rate monitors, smart garments, and other fitness monitors. While sport watches and heart rate monitors are common place, newer generation of devices are disrupting the market - but not fast enough to prevent the onslaught of smartwatches that will be released in 2015.

"Smartwatches having retail prices of $149 or more will typically have the capability to track activity and have accelerometers and gyroscopes similar to their smart wristband cousins," said Angela McIntyre, Gartner research director. "The smartwatches differ from smart wristbands in that smartwatches need to display the time and have a user interface oriented around communication. However, some smart wristbands have the ability to display and send text messages. The overlap in functionality between smart wristbands and smartwatches is expected to continue."

The Interactive Advertising Bureau's Anti-Malware Working Group has teamed up with the FBI and US Department of Justice in their effort to fight malware and cybercrime. There has been an increase in organized cyberattacks targeting the IAB, and federal partnerships could help limit future widespread issues.

The FBI and other government agencies want to increase proactive behavior to clamp down on cybercrime, and this marks the first industrywide relationship they have created. The IAB Anti-Malware Group formed in September and has generated widespread interest, including from the US government, as cybercriminals make millions from compromising companies and users.

"We have become such a target of organized crime that we think this is the only way to truly be successful long-term," said Mike Zaneis, IAB executive vice president. "In the advertising space, what we're particually worried about is the type of malware that will basically make your computer a zombie, or a bot, and will begin to generate non-human traffic back to criminal websites or just selling traffic on networks or exchanges."

Australian real estate company Eview Real Estate made a mistake when it posted a listing on a billboard, after being informed they used a picture that included a topless sunbather only wearing a thong. Mandy Lingard discovered the picture of herself after spotting it in the neighborhood, and Eview Real Estate has now removed the listing.

"Images of Miss Lingard were not used intentionally, it was merely an oversight and Eview Group have put into place systems and procedures to ensure that such instances do not occur in the future," said the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority, the national group responsible for licensing commercial drone flights.

Meanwhile, Lingard said she is embarrassed by the situation, as she explained what happened: "I heard a noise and then I saw this odd thing flying around and thought it was a kid's toy. It hovered around and luckily I was face down at the time."

There were a number of major data breaches reported in 2014, but it would appear companies have higher hopes for data security in 2015, according to a study published by ThreatTrack Security. In its "2015 Predictions from the Front Lines," 81 percent of enterprise security staffers said they would be willing to "personally guarantee that their company's customer data will be safe in 2015."

Hearing that eight out of 10 security staff would be willing to guarantee customer data sounds absolutely ridiculous - but might be a necessary leap of faith to win over customers, increasingly concerned their personal information could be leaked.

Millions of US consumers faced debit and credit card fraud from the Home Depot and Target breaches alone, with a number of other companies also breached in between.

Logitech has announced its latest addition to the UE Boom lineup, with the company teaming up with six-time Grammy Award-winning electronic dance music producer Skrillex for the Skrillex Edition UE Boom.

Skrillex has provided a unique visual style to the Skrillex Edition UE Boom, with his own hand-drawn work splashed onto the already slick-looking mobile speaker. Skrillex said: "UE BOOM is awesome because it's small, portable and powerful. They get so loud! I listen to them all the time on tour - from the bus to backstage. They're the best little speakers you can get, which is why I'm pumped to have my own artwork covering a custom edition".

The Logitech UE Boom is a great speaker, with my very positive review on it right here, but this new Skrillex Edition UE Boom is definitely for fans of Skrillex. General Manager of Ultimate Ears, Rory Dooley, said: "Skrillex has been a disruptive force in the EDM evolution, changing people's expectations of and experiences with music. UE is thrilled to work with an artist as notable as Skrillex to bring people their music in an exciting - and expressive - package. Skrillex finds inspiration in the combination of music, people and technology, and this collaboration is a natural fit for our brand".

After years of waiting, and months of rumors, Netflix has announced that it is launching its content streaming service in Australia, starting in March 2015.

Netflix will also be offering its streaming goodness to New Zealand in March 2015 too, and has teased that it will be offering Australians and New Zealanders HD content, as well as "4K [content] where available". There's not much more to know right now, but you can be sure we'll deliver you more news as it happens - and as an Australian, I'm very excited about this.

Not only is it great that Australians finally have access to Netflix, but it is going to disrupt the very, very controlled media market we have here. The rest of the world has so many options for content, especially in the US, but Australia is so tightly controlled, Netflix is really going to shake things up - let's just hope it doesn't have localized content to the point where it is better for people to VPN their Netflix accounts to the US.

In May of 2013, Apple was granted two patents toward waterproofing. One was for a water switch and the other for gauging electronic device moisture. This shows us Apple is thinking about the waterproofing as necessity. Sony and Samsung had already come out with waterproof smartphones by the time Apple received the patents. Motorola introduced its first version of a waterproof smartphone in 2009.

No smartphone is completely waterproof, and it all comes down to the grade given when tested.

Smartphones are graded on Integration Protection (IP), which is a two-digit number indicating how the phone stands up against dust and water. The first number is how a smartphone stands up against dust. The second number is how it stands up against water. For testing purposes, the phone is immersed in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes. The number is also indicative of how hard it can be sprayed with water before it breaks. Each of the two numbers is independent of the other. Numbers 5 and above are considered good.

For the first time, US consumers spend more time using their smartphones and mobile devices than watching TV, according to a study released by the Flurry mobile analytics firm. Along with phone calls and texting, smartphone users are able to play games, visit social media, watch Netflix, and enjoy other entertainment - at the expensive of TV viewership - as companies find ways to keep consumers more engaged.

"In our analysis, we found that time spent on mobile devices grew in the US by 9.3% - from 2 hrs. and 42 minutes to 2 hrs. and 57 minutes - in the past nine months," according to Flurry. "That is almost 3 hrs. per day spent on mobile devices by the average American consumer, while time spent on TV has remained flat at 2 hrs. and 48 minutes daily, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics."

Of course, there is overlap when consumers watch TV while using their mobile devices, and it's a difficult metric to track, except for asking families.

Electronic Arts will give gamers a break from the traditional warfare featured in the Battlefield franchise next year, but already is excited about the next title in 2016. The new game was announced last month and will be a military-focused game that is reportedly a "fun, new Battlefield," according to an Electronic Arts executive.

"That will be a return to a Battlefield military-style game; more to come on that," said Blake Jorgensen, EA CFO, in a recent statement.

Meanwhile, EA CEO Andrew Wilson wants to "give Battlefield 4 and Battlefield Hardline players more time to enjoy these games and immerse themselves in a game, the live service, and the community," when explaining EA's decision to release Battlefield games as they are finished.

The Islamic State cleverly uses the Internet to spread propaganda and recruit new militants, and the group currently might be looking to evolve its cyber abilities. Each time a social media company, or video site boots the group, it only finds new methods to share its gruesome and reprehensible messages, according to security experts.

"They are posing a threat on multiple fronts," said Army Brig. Gen. Peter Gallagher, US Central Command director of communications, in a recent statement. "I don't want to get into what they may or may not be able to do in the world of cyber, I will tell you they are obviously a threat and we are doing everything in our power to mitigate the threat."

Even though Islamic State has been banned by several social networking websites, the group is still actively able to recruit new members in the Western world. Ideally, the group's members make contact with young women - to convince them to head to Syria - where they are often brainwashed and married to Islamic State rebels. The group also finds new fighters willing to pick up arms in Syria and Iraq, with social media used as a first point of contact.

Automakers are pushing ahead with self-driving, autonomous vehicles, but 65 percent of drivers believe these vehicles are "a dangerous idea," according to a Harris poll conducted for AutoTrader.com. However, drivers are interested in automatic collision avoidance, parking assistance, and other features, with 61 percent saying they would consider buying cars with these features.

Despite public concern - and growing interaction with US lawmakers - automakers will continue to push ahead with autonomous vehicles. It will take some time before these types of self-driving cars will be available to the general public, and swarm the open road, but it appears that is the next step in the coming years.

There will be a continued blend of technology inside vehicles, with in-dash video, GPS, smartphone-enabled features, and similar perks being integrated into new vehicles.

Facebook has spun off its Groups feature, and while mobile users will still be able to access their Groups through mobile apps, will also benefit from using a standalone Groups app. The app is now available in the Google Android and Apple iOS app stores today.

The No. 1 social networking website continues to unbundle core features, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously telling investors and journalists that individual apps could be the future of mobile Facebook. He previously said that "each app can only focus on doing one thing well, we think."

"Facebook is another outlet for students to share stories, swap lyrics and collaborate outside of the program," said Donnie Smith, Donda's House Executive, in a statement. "Phone numbers change, email addresses stop working, but we can always find our participants whenever we need to on Facebook."

SCEA head Shawn Layden recently said online harassment in gaming is "completely unacceptable," and is one of the highest profile executives to speak out against cyber harassment. Layden also complemented his own company's stance on women in gaming, saying Sony is "best in class," in its efforts to get women more involved in the gaming industry.

"Over the past couple of months, there's been a small group of people who have been doing really awful things," Layden recently noted. "They have been making some people's lives miserable, and they are tarnishing our reputation as gamers. It's not right."

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo offered public statements, published by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), speaking out against harassment in the gaming world.