Latest News - Page 2810

One of the biggest downsides of Samsung smartphones and tablets is TouchWiz, its own UI that is splashed on top of Android. But, according to the latest rumors, the South Korean giant is looking at replacing TouchWiz with Iconic UX.

The news comes from a patent that Samsung filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office back in March, which was for a conceptual user interface that it called Iconic UX. Screenshots of this purported UI are now surfacing thanks to @evleaks, is-he-retired-or-not leaker. On the surface, Iconic UX doesn't look too different from TouchWiz, but there are a bunch of internal changes that will make using Samsung devices mcuh better.

Iconic UX looks to make using Samsung devices in vertical ways, that we simply don't do now, as well as better widgets, and a new tile-shaped menu. The UI itself looks much cleaner, and should be far more user friendly on bigger screens, something that Samsung is famous for. This is perfect timing for news of Iconic UX, considering Android 5.0/L is just about to be released by Google this week with the Nexus 6 smartphone, and Nexus 9 tablet.

Not everyone is happy with the FAA's decision to allow use of personal electronic devices during flights, with news that on behalf of the flight attendant's union, a lawyer has filed a case in U.S. Court of Appeals raising safety concerns.

The Federal Aviation Administration gave a nod to 31 US airline operators to allow its passengers to use small electronic devices like tablets and smartphones during the flight, especially when taking off and landing; smartphones however need to be in airplane mode. It is also claimed that the FAA disregarded the Federal Administrative Procedure Act, and according to the union, passengers are not interested in listening to the safety announcements, with these devices quickly becoming dangerous projectiles.

The judges however, aren't convinced. Judge Harry T. Edwards said that airlines always had discretion on how to handle this. The lawyer for the government also argued that such small devices are no more dangerous than a book if such a turbulence occurs.

Samsung is claiming to have developed an incredible new 60GHz Wi-Fi technology, something that will bridge the gap between theoretical, and actual, real-life Wi-Fi speeds.

The South Korean giant has said that this new 60GHz Wi-Fi technology is capable of 4.6Gbps, or an insane 575MB/sec. Considering the fastest Wi-Fi technology available right now is just 866Mbps, which transfers at around 108MB/sec, this is a massive increase. The 60GHz technology would be capable of transferring 1GB in less than two seconds. Samsung's announcement of this technology teases "Unlike the existing 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi technologies, Samsung's 802.11ad standard 60 GHz Wi-Fi technology maintains maximum speed by eliminating co-channel interference, regardless of the number of devices using the same network".

The company has said that part of the success it found in its 60GHz Wi-Fi technology is that it uses millimeter waves, which travel by line of sight and are stopped by walls and other obstacles. Samsung uses wide-coverage, beam-forming antennae as well as micro beam-forming control technology to achieve the 575MB/sec, or 4.6Gbps speeds. Samsung has said that commercialization of the 60GHz Wi-Fi band spectrum would happen as soon as early 2015.

Late last month AMD released their Catalyst 14.9 drivers, but now the Catalyst 14.9.1 drivers are here with a pretty serious issue resolved. AMD has fixed several issues with Crossfire in Catalyst 14.9.1, namely quad GPU rigs running four Radeon GPUs.

Before the new Catalyst 14.9.1 drivers were released, quad Crossfire users would experience BSODs when enabling or disabling Crossfire. With the new drivers, this big problem has gone away. The new update also addressed the "crashes related to driver installation" problem, but the drivers haven't fixed everything - but what driver does?

The full list of issues, resolved problems, bug fixes and more can be found on AMD's website.

It's been a rollercoaster ride for Ubisoft over the last couple of months, starting with Ubisoft it wasn't going to port Assassin's Creed for Wii U, because it wasn't powerful enough unless they degrade the experience, which they do not intend to do.

Older reports have pointed out that Assassin's Creed Unity will be rendered at 900p with 30FPS lock for both Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Later, Ubisoft's World Level Design Director for Unity Nicolas Guerin stepped in, adding that the reason they didn't aim towards 60FPS was because it made the game look like a Hobbit's movie while 30 FPS can deliver 'cinematic' experience.

PC and PlayStation 4 gamers started expressing disappointment towards Ubisoft and their actions towards the gaming community. PlayStation 4 gamers were also not happy because despite having more horse power than Xbox One, their experience will not be better. As the result of the backlash of its previous comments, Ubisoft had to reply to extinguish the fire, or at least try. Through its company's blog post, communications manager Gary Steinman said that the company will not stifle the game experience, rather it will try to achieve its full potential.

Microsoft India hyped the launch of the Xbox One in India last month, inviting media and those who have pre-ordered the console. The company signed up with Amazon India as en exclusive seller (for now) where they delivered Xbox One units to pre-ordered customers at the stroke of midnight on September 23.

However, ever since the launch of Xbox One console in India, the price of the unit has reduced within few weeks along with couple of freebies. When the console was launched, the cost was Rs. 39,990 ($652), while the units with Kinect version was priced for Rs. 45,990/- (US$ 750). This was accompanied with a Rs. 4,000 ($65) gift card.

Now, as a 'Diwali Dhamaka' offer, Amazon India is selling the Xbox One console for Rs. 35,990 ($587). Along with the console, FIFA 15 with DLC is pre-bundled and throwing in Rs. 3,000 ($49) Amazon India gift card. Xbox One consoles with Kinect are still priced for Rs. 45,990 ($750) - but is bundled with FIFA 15 with DLC and Dance Central Spotlight (also with DLC). Xbox One can be purchased from here.

Things do not look good as Sears Holding Corp said on Friday that its Kmart retail chains customer database may have been compromised last month. As a result, some of its customer's credit card and debit card details may have been stolen.

The company said on Friday that its Kmart's servers was affected by a malware. Kmart was not able to say how many customers are affected, and according to their investigation so far, no debit card pin numbers, email and phone contacts, social security number and personal information was stolen.

But, to be on the safe side, Kmart made an announcement that it will be providing a free credit-monitoring service for its customers who used a debit or a credit card during since last month until Thursday. Customers can then call Kmart customer service and report the unauthorized charges immediately. In the meantime, the company hired a security firm to look into the matter while working with its banking partners and federal authorities.

As part of his remote interview for the New Yorker Festival, Edward Snowden was asked various questions about what people can do about their privacy. His first reply was to cover the reform of government policies.

Snowden said that some people are fine with thinking along the lines of they "don't have anything to hide" but it's not about that according to the ex NSA contractor, who said "you're inverting the model of responsibility for how rights work". The full reply: "When you say, 'I have nothing to hide,' you're saying, 'I don't care about this right.' You're saying, 'I don't have this right, because I've got to the point where I have to justify it.' The way rights work is, the government has to justify its intrusion into your rights".

On an individual level, Snowden warns us all to find encrypted tools, and to stop using services that are "hostile to privacy". One of those services is Dropbox, where Snowden said "get rid of Dropbox", something that he said doesn't support encryption. Snowden did bring up Facebook and Google, both of which he said are "dangerous services". He also added to not send unencrypted text messages, but to instead of services like RedPhone and Silent Circle.

We've all been there, there's something wrong with you, you Google for symptoms, worrying that you're going to die, but don't want to call the doctor out of a variety of reasons.

But Google looks like it might be going down an interesting, and why-hasn't-it-happened-sooner path, trialing direct video chat with doctors after you Google your symptoms. Google confirmed the news with Engadget, telling the site that it is trialing a Helpouts-style feature that offers people video chats with doctors when they search for their symptoms.

There aren't many details on how exactly this works, but a search card mentions that Google is covering the costs of any video chats with doctors while in its trial phase. Virtual appointments would be the next step, but there would most likely be costs involved. I think this could be a great step for the company, who is investing and researching into health technology, allowing doctors from all corners to talk to patients who otherwise might not have contacted a doctor about their issues.

When Apple coughed up $3 billion to acquire Beats Electronics, I'm sure the executives over at Bose were wondering what would happen to their products once the acquisition was all said and done. Now that Apple has launched two new iPhones, and is preparing to launch a new iPad, iMac, and much more, the latest rumors are pegging the Cupertino iGiant to remove all of Bose's audio products from its retail stores.

A "reliable source" talked with MacRumors, who said that the removal of Bose products is most likely due to the recent Beats acquisition. Then we have the fact that Bose's new sponsorship deal with the National Football League, which has seen the league prohibiting players from wearing Beats headphones while anywhere near a TV camera, be it practice or on game days.

It was only a week ago that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick defied the ban, wearing his bright pink Beats for all to see, having him slapped with a $10,000 fine. Bose and Beats are also in a patent dispute, which has seen Bose filing suits against Beats, claiming the infringement of five patents related to noise cancellation technology.

Nothing makes gamers more angry than a poorly-executed port of a game over different platforms, fixed resolution and lack of graphic options, at least for the PC gamers. Square Enix recently announced the PC port version of its fantasy-based JRPG Final Fantasy XIII, but gamers are not amused with the stifling performance of the PC variant.

The digital download via Steam requires 59GB of hard drive space, mostly due to huge cutscenes. Gamers who have already installed the game are complaining about that issue with the resolution and lack of basic graphic options that you'll usually find in a PC game.

Many gamers have started ranting and raising genuine complaints about the problems they're facing while playing the game. According to a pinned article in the Steam forums, there is no proper way to quit the game. The game apparently exits when you press the ESC button, but no pause scene with menu options provided at all. Final Fantasy XIII also doesn't provide an option to change antialiasing, anisotropic filtering, tesselation, V-sync, Shadow resolution and many such options. Though the game does come with dual audio support, many want the option to uncheck the audio file before downloading the game to reduce the download size.

Dragon Age Inquisition is all set for release in the United States on November 18th, but Bioware just released the official PC specification requirements for the upcoming game. Previously, it was reported that BioWare and EA were giving away Dragon Age: Origins which should help them to get newer players on board their fanbase.

While Dragon Age is available for the consoles, the older and the newer generations from Sony and Microsoft, PC is where it should be interesting, assuming the game is made to please to PC master race. Along with the PC specification requirements, three screenshots of the game from its PC variant have been released.

But according to what is posted EA Origin's company's blog, the PC version is 'the real deal' since BioWare's roots are in PC gaming. EA and BioWare promises 'fine-tuned' for mouse and keyboard gameplay, along with many visual options for tweak and a support for 4K resolution and AMD Mantle support. The blog post goes on, saying that Dragon Age: Inquisition is a true testament to BioWare's love for PC gaming.

iBUYPOWER introduces its newest 'ultra-simplified' entertainment center: SBX Entertainment System. The team designed this new unit to make it reflect the aesthetics and physical characteristics of a game console, but with the raw power that only high-end desktop systems can provide.

The unit is designed keeping living room computing in mind, and iBUYPOWER assures that its new system can provide 60FPS gameplay at high definition resolutions. As you'd imagine, just like any game console or any properly configured and optimized desktop rigs, this is made to provide the best out-of-the-box PC gaming and entertainment experience.

"What we really wanted to do was make an impact in the living room. We wanted to really show the world that the power of desktop gaming machine can be experienced in the living room in a totally seamless way, " said Darren Su, Co-founder and VP of iBUYPOWER. "All preconceptions of what entertainment in the living room should and can be, are out the door."

Apple has been awarded the most valuable brand in the world for a second consecutive year, worth an estimated $119 billion, according to the Interbrands 2014 Best Global Brands list. There are four technology companies in the top 10 this year, though tech remains extremely fickle, forcing companies to try to adapt to changing customer demands.

"A lot of our thinking about this year's report is really around the 'Age of You,'" said Alfred DuPuy, Interbrand Executive Director.

Trailing behind Apple is Google ($107.4 billion), a 15 percent increase year-over-year, and Coca-Cola round out the top three - with IBM, Microsoft, General Electric, Samsung, Toyota, McDonald's, and Mercedes-Benz round out the top 10 overall most valued brands in the world. As an honorable mention, Facebook's value increased 86 percent, and the company jumped up to No. 29 on the list - and will likely continue to rise.

Hackers aren't only interested in embarrassing celebrities, as thousands of pictures and videos were stolen from Snapchat users and will be posted online. The online service was quick to confirm its servers weren't breached, however, users of third-party Snapchat apps were targeted - and will be posted online in a searchable database.

Unfortunately for the users, they believed the images were quickly purged after being sent - instead, "The Snappening" will be posted on 4chan and other websites soon enough.

"We can confirm that Snapchat's servers were never breached and were not the source of these leaks," a Snapchat spokesperson recently said. "Snapchatters were victimized by their use of third-party apps to send and receive Snaps, a practice that we expressly prohibit in our Terms of Use precisely because they compromise our users' security. We vigilantly monitor the App Store and Google Play for illegal third-party apps and have succeeded in getting many of these removed."

As it stands, the PlayStation 4 seems to be winning the 'next-gen' and now current-gen console war, with the Xbox One lagging behind. Microsoft obviously wants to change this, something that was pointed out in an interview with The Inner Circle Podcast, with the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer.

Spencer said during the interview: "I'll announce it here: I was told themes and background [pictures] are something that we are working on. And screenshots, I know people beat me up on screenshots". Spencer is aware that Xbox One gamers want to be able to personalize their dashboards, and do things that PC gamers can do easily, such as taking in-game screenshots without having to have the game have a built-in screenshot-taking feature.

He wasn't willing to tell the world when these new themes, backgrounds and screenshot-taking abilities would be appearing, but he did say "people should know that they're in development".

EA is doing something good for PC gamers and it's something that a lot of people would appreciate. The company is giving away Dragon Age: Origins for free via Origin. The best part is that this does not come with any strings attached - no gameplay time limits, no restrictions such as minimum purchase/regular Origin user - just a free copy of DA: Origins for all.

You will have to claim the free copy of Dragon Age: Origins before October 14th and you will need an Origin account. The game can be claimed from here

Dragon Age: Origins is developed by Bioware in 2009 and its an action-based RPG game. The game retails for $20. EA is going to release the sequel of the game Dragon Age: Inquisition On November 18th and there's no better way to increase the fan base before the sequel release by providing the first instalment up for the grabs, for free.

Flipkart barely can step out of the oven now that the Indian government plans to crack down 'predatory discount' and unfair trade practice claims. But now its all ready to be grilled thanks to top electronic makers like LG, Sony and even Samsung.

While Flipkart claimed that its Big Billion Day Sale was a huge success despite the server downtime issues it faced, consumer good manufacturers were not amused. The companies did not like what Flipkart did, and is considering a legal action over 'predatory pricing and discount scheme' allegations. Several personnel assumed that Flipkart intends to disrupt the livelihood of the organized retail market in India.

One of the company's staff also claimed that goods that are sold via Flipkart with unrealistic pricing are via unauthorized channels. Therefore, they will be compelled not to provide warranty to those consumers who have purchased from such sites. An executive said, "This is a clear case of predatory pricing just to shoot up traffic at their website, and build up valuations unrealistically. This is not acceptable and we will ensure that this does not happen again."

Earlier, we've reported that Ubisoft's upcoming game Assassin's Creed: Unity will be running at 30FPS at 900p for both consoles- Sony's PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. To justify the move, Ubisoft's Creative Director Alex Amancio said that selling the game with different levels of experience would be unfair.

However, Nicolas Guerin, the World Level Design Director for Unity is giving a different reason. He said: "At Ubisoft for a long time we wanted to push 60 fps. I don't think it was a good idea because you don't gain that much from 60 fps and it doesn't look like the real thing. It's a bit like The Hobbit movie, it looked really weird."

He continued by saying that series like Rachet and Clank also dropped the 60FPS standard. Another reason is that its twice as hard as 30 fps, and its doesn't make it look good when the game is rendering. On the other hand, 30 FPS feels more 'cinematic' while 60 FPS is perfect for FPS and action-adventure genres.

Lenovo took the wraps off of its Broadwell-powered Yoga 3 Pro earlier today, but the company unveiled two other devices, with the second being the new Yoga Tablet 2 Pro.

The new Yoga Tablet 2 Pro is a 13-inch, Android-powered slate that features a built-in projector. Yes, a built-in projector, that is capable of firing out a 16:9 high resolution image, or video, that Lenovo is pushing as the ultimate entertainment device. Considering the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro features a 2560x1440 QHD display and 8-watt sound system with subwoofer, we can see why.

How much will this bad boy set you back? $799? $999? Just $499... for a 13-inch tablet with a 2560x1440 display, 8-watt sound system, and built-in projector. Yikes, Apple/Samsung/Google/LG/HTC/Motorola/world.