Latest News - Page 2877

We thought it was coming, and it did: Apple has just launched a cheaper 8GB iPhone 5C smartphone. The cheaper iPhone has just launched on Apple's European online stores, where in the UK it is priced at £429, or around $714.

This is around 10% cheaper than the iPhone 5C, which is around 10% cheaper than the iPhone 5S. We should see it arrive on Apple's US store any minute now. There are no changes to the device apart from the smaller amount of flash storage on it, so we still have Apple's custom dual-core A6 processor, an 8-megapixel iSight rear-facing camera, and the new FaceTime HD front-facing snapper.

At $700+, I wouldn't exactly call this a cheap smartphone, especially when there are plenty of flagship smartphones on the market that are cheaper. One main competitor comes to mind, the Nexus 5 from Google, which is priced at $349 outright - close to half the price of the 'even cheaper' 8GB iPhone 5C.

Collider recently sat down with Arnold Schwarzenegger, where they talked with him about his new movie Sabotage, but when you sit down with The Terminator himself, how can you not talk about the upcoming Terminator: Genesis?

Arnold was asked a few questions, but had some exciting things to say about the upcoming Terminator movie: "But Terminator is going to have the exact same feel. The way it reads, it has the same feel of Terminator 2. It's big. There's hardcore action and it has some really great visual effects in there, but not over the top. It's not a Thor type of movie, even though it's the same director. It has good special effects, but just enough to say, "Wow, where did that come from? How did they do that?"

This could all just be talk, but I want to try and have hope for Terminator: Genesis. But if Alan Taylor, the director of the movie and the recent Thor: The Dark World, can pull it off, it could be a new start for the Terminator franchise.

To help the Spanish people "break free from their shackles," the new SpainCoin will pre-mine and share 50 percent of Spaincoins to Spanish nationals.

The cryptocurrency is valued around $50 million.

"Using SpainCoin is a way for the individual to get back his freedom and have 100% control over his money and assets, breaking free from the shackles of central banks," the official SpainCoin website notes. "Unlike other cryptocoins, less accessible for the general population, SpainCoin will be distributed among all Spaniards."

Some news broke a little earlier than it should, with Unity Technologies revealing its next iteration of its cross-platform game engine, known as Unity 5. The updated game engine has some new tricks up its sleeve, too.

The team has described Unity 5 as a "massive update," with the new engine featuring a "completely overhauled audio system," physical shaders and enhanced real-time lighting. The updated engine will also include an ad-sharing network that should make it easier for developers using Unity 5 to cross-promote their mobile games.

Unity Technologies is hoping to attract more developers, and praise, with its support for the WebGL graphics API. Unity 5 will be available for pre-order sometime today, directly from Unity Technologies.

Independent UK film distributor Second Sight have announced they have secured the rights to 1993's Super Mario Bros feature film from Disney's now defunct offshoot Hollywood Pictures and are planning a world-first Blu-ray release for mid this year.

Starring Bob Hoskins in the role of Mario, John Leguizamo as his brother Luigi and Dennis Hopper as King Koopa, Super Mario Bros was not a critical success, with the production beset by numerous behind the scenes battles which culminating in husband and wife Directors Rocky Morton and Annabelle Jenkel locked out of the editing room, nor was it a financial success either, making little more than half of its $48 million production budget in its original release. Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park which was released one week later then wiped the film from theaters soon after.

Despite this, the film has gone on to become something of an underground cult hit over the last twenty years, holding many fond memories for gen x-ers such as myself. In bringing the Blu-ray release forward, Second Sight have partnered with fan site Super Mario Bros: The Movie Archive which promises to produce new bonus features, alongside striking a brand new HD transfer.

The gold-colored smartphone craze is something that still baffles me, and I am having a hard time understanding why anyone would want a gold-colored device. My personal queries aside, Vodafone announced today that it will the the exclusive dealer of the new gold-colored Samsung Galaxy S5 in the UK region.

Samsung will release the Galaxy S5 in the UK on April 11th and with this new announcement, the only place to get a gold version in the UK is to visit a Vodafone store. Vodafone says that it will begin pre-orders for the yellowish-brown device starting next week on March 28th, but the company failed to disclose any price points for the 32GB and 64GB versions.

"It's a real tribute to the engineering prowess that we have within Samsung that our R&D guys have managed to increase the screen size in the Galaxy S5 to 5.1-inches without increasing the footprint. That's really important: when it's in your pocket or in your hand there's no increase in size, yet you've got a bigger screen to enjoy the range of services at your fingertips," said Samsung's James White. "And on that score, looking at the way that Samsung and Vodafone are working together is great," James adds. "The services that Vodafone offers, such as Spotify and Sky Sports Mobile TV, really leverage the 4G network and come to life on the Galaxy S5. In that respect, increasing the screen size has to be benefit-driven."

Today OCZ Storage Solutions announced that it has partnered with AMD to showcase the benefits of using high-performance solid state drives in gaming systems. The team is showing off several professional-class gaming systems built around OCZ's line of high-performance SSD's and AMD's high-end gaming hardware at the 2014 Game Developers Conference being held this week in San Francisco, California.

"We are excited to partner with AMD for the upcoming Game Developers Conference to support the fast growing interactive game development industry," said Alex Mei, CMO for OCZ Storage Solutions. "OCZ is dedicated to delivering premium solid state storage solutions that are not only a useful tool for developers, but also meet the unique demands of enthusiasts and gamers on all levels."

"Our presence at the 2014 Game Developer Conference will feature a number of high-performance gaming systems running 24/7 in harsh conditions," said Darren McPhee, director of product marketing, Graphics Business Unit, AMD. "We knew that OCZ Vector SSDs were uniquely ready to meet the reliability requirements of our gaming installations. Between the high performance graphics of AMD Radeon GPUs and the fast load times of OCZ Vector SSDs, visitors to AMD's booth in the South Hall are in for a great gaming experience!"

In a world of developed medical and mental health research, Internet addiction is a cause for concern, especially younger demographics, medical researchers indicate.

Internet addiction isn't specific just to the Web, with growing concern of overindulgence with smartphones, tablets, computers, and other forms of technology - while medical researchers continue to debate how serious the problem is.

To battle addiction, there are customized special camps hosted in Japan, which has an estimated eight percent of Japanese school children addicted to the Internet. The Japanese Ministry of Education hopes to help children improve on verbal and non-verbal communication during sports and games - and will be staffed with clinical psychoterhapists and psychiatrists, according to The Tokyo Times.

Battlefield 4's upcoming Naval Strike DLC is one of the most anticipated expansion packs to hit the Battlefield franchise in quite some time now, mainly due to the return of "Titan Mode" in the form of a new mode called Carrier Assault. In this new game mode teams will be pitted against each other with one single goal, destroy the other teams aircraft carrier before they destroy yours.

In Carrier Assault, teams will need to take control of key points on the map that when captured, release a torrent of missile attacks on the rival teams aircraft carrier. Once enough of these missiles reach their target, the carrier will have suffered enough damage to allow enemies to breach its hull and enter the ship. Once the rival team has entered the carrier, the objective shifts to arming two M-Com stations placed within the carrier. When both M-Coms have been destroyed for either team, the round is over. Alternatively, users can continue the missile barrage and bring the ships hull health down to zero percent which also ends the match.

The Naval Strike expansion launches later this month for Battlefield 4 Premium members, and to the rest of the world in April. The DLC will launch simultaneously across consoles and PCs. No word has been released on how big of a download Naval Strike will be, but if any of the previous Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 expansions are any indication, you may want to free up 30GB-50GB on your install drive just in case.

Time-lapse videos of nature are one of my favorite genres of internet video to watch, especially when shot the right way. A new video released recently by Project Yosemite is just the type of time-lapse that I love. The video features expansive views from deep within Yosemite National Park during both the day and the night. Breathtaking shots of the Sierra Nevada mountain range framed by a very bright and sharp Milky Way take this video above and beyond.

Project Yosemite is a coloration between Colin Delehanty and Sheldon Neill, two videographers who met through Vimeo that decided to shoot the undeniable beauty that is Yosemite National Park. The videos are a compilation of more than 45 days spread over ten months of work to generate the five minute video. The pair hiked over 200 miles to get the shots seen in the video and had to carry more than 70lbs of camera gear with them. The video below is simply amazing. I highly recommend setting it to HD, cranking up the sound and going full screen when viewing it for the first time.

A shorter four minute version is on Vimeo as well and it is no less spectacular than the first. Do you know of any other amazing time-lapse videos that are breathtaking? Share them in the comments below!

Mobile phone metadata is more valuable than the National Security Agency (NSA) tries to imply, and it's possible to find sensitive information with phone metadata, using social media, and pattern matching, according to Stanford University researchers.

Computer science graduate students learned, using 546 volunteers, that 57 percent of volunteers made at least one medical-related call, with 40 percent calling financial services. In total, the callers made 33,688 unique numbers and were able to make corroborations related to medical conditions and firearm ownership.

"At the outset of this study, we shared the same hypothesis as our computer science colleagues - we thought phone metadata could be very sensitive," the researchers found.

A little over 10 years ago, Microsoft released its revolutionary note-taking program, OneNote, and today the service is hitting a new mile stone. Today Microsoft announced that it has released the Mac version of OneNote and is offering it to all Mac users for free. OneNote for Mac features the same interface and functionality as its Windows counterpart, but the programs UI design is just a little different to better align with other Microsoft programs featured on Mac.

Microsoft has also released the Windows, Web, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone versions of the application for free as well in hopes of becoming the number one note taking app in the world. There will be a premium version that offers integration with SharePoint and Outlook though, but all of the software's core features are free. Additionally, Microsoft has released a new cloud API that will enable developers to integrate OneNote into their apps easily.

Microsoft has already put this new API to use and created a feature called OneNote Clipper, a feature that is similar to Evernote's clipper that lets users save webpages to OneNote from all major browsers. Perhaps the biggest new feature is the integration of Microsoft's new Office Lens for Windows Phone app that lets users take snapshots of notes on whiteboards and optimizes them for viewing. OneNote can now recognize the text in the photo and create entries from the image.

During the winter months when it gets cold, it gets much harder to get to the shops and buy your beer... so what step do you take next? You order your beer to be delivered by an unmanned aerial drone, that's what.

Lakemaid, a Minnesota-based brewing company, has done just that - after it saw 60 Minutes' bit on Amazon's same-day delivery system that uses drones. The owners of Lakemaid Brewing Company developed its own unmanned aerial delivery vehicle, which just delivered Lakemaid's popular winter lager to an ice fishing shack near Lake Millie Lacs.

A drone had a 12-pack of Lakemaid's popular Winter Lager strapped to it, where it took off to its delivery point. The video above, was met with divided response, with beer fans wanting to know when their local brewers would adopt the same technology, but was also met with criticism as drones are often used for surveillance by the military.

Respawn Entertainment has teased that it has been playing Titanfall with Oculus VR's virtual reality headset, the Oculus Rift. The developer's Community Manager, Abbie Heppe told Digital Spy: "We've been so busy just trying to get the game out. That is one of those things that we will evaluate post launch. We have them in the office, we've definitely played around with them, but that was more a side project for some of our coders."

Heppe continued: "After launch we will have probably a little more time when we are not totally crazy trying to get a game out. I've walked through a couple of the demos and it's pretty neat, especially with the cool stuff we have in Titanfall, there is a lot of possibilities. I'm always a little bit sceptical when it comes to stuff that's wearable because you've seen people attempt to do it in the past and it's never caught on large-scale. But it's so much fun to play with, so we'll see"

So there you have it, we could expect some virtual reality goodness in Titanfall, but I wouldn't hold your breath, it could be a while.

Watch Dogs is still a few months away, but now we know just how long people will be wandering around in the open-world title from Ubisoft if they plan on finishing the main story line: 35-40 hours.

The news comes from Jonathan Morin, Ubisoft Montreal's Creative Director. He tweeted a response to a question asking how big Watch Dogs is, story wise - as in the amount of hours required to complete the main story. Morin replied with: "I would say the average player which does free roam a bit tend to reach the end within 35-40h. But doing everything is close to 100h."

The last time we heard about Watch Dogs, was when we found out that it would be running at 1080p at 30FPS on the PS4, 960p at 30FPS on the Xbox One and on the PC, up to 4K and beyond with variable FPS. Watch Dogs is set for release on May 27, 2014.

Members of European Parliament called for an effort to develop a common charger standard for mobile phones to reduce waste and therefore reduce the hassle to find compatible chargers. The MEPs have drafted a Radio Equipment Directive which points out the need to bring harmonized rules for 'radio equipment' such as mobiles phones and modems.

The draft law was amended to emphasize the need to have universal charging port for phones, though it will be up to the EU to decide which type of smartphones will need to use universal charging port.

The draft also makes sure that the increasing the range of particular devices will not interfere with other devices, followed by new health and safety requirements. Part of the draft emphasizes on reducing waste.

The latest issue of the Official PlayStation Magazine revealed exclusive information such as gameplay detail and screenshots, including the new Batmobile design.

The game has a function where gamers will be able to call the Batmobile while gliding towards the spot you have chosen to land. All elements of the location can get affected when hit by the vehicle. You can drive through the city at high speeds, drifting around corners using boost function. Rocksteady Studios did not reveal any information regarding upgrades of the vehicle, if possible.

It is also being known that Batman can use some of his gadgets while gliding. When using gadgets in mid-air, it will trigger a slow-motion effect.

Apple and Samsung continue to find success in the smartphone market, while companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Intel try to catch up. However, yearly sales and overall price are both dropping, so the profit margin also is shrinking for manufacturers.

A slowing market means all companies that jumped in late will find it even harder to try and compete. The smartphone market has greatly accelerated with a larger number of casual consumers embracing the devices for the first time - and even started to outsell feature phones.

Emerging markets are now driving smartphone sales, which is good to expand device ownership - but bad because profit margins shrink even further.

Sony PlayStation 4 was priced at CAD $400 since 4 months, but now the suggested retail price as increased to CAD $450 more from today onwards. Following the price hike on PS4 console, its accessories and games will also have a price bump in Canada. As of now, the reason for this price hike is uncertain whether its due to exchange rate or supply/demand issue.

Currently, the PS4 camera and DualShock 4 controller is priced for CAD $65, while upcoming titles Infamous: Second Son and MLB 14: The show will be sold for CAD $70 as opposed to CAD $ 60 which was typical pricing for gaming up to this point.

Sony made a vague statement that price changes were made to respond to the changes in the marketing environment. On November 15th, the console was priced for $400 in the US while it was priced for CAD $417 in Canada. Now, while its the same price quote in the US, the console is now sold at CAD $444. But Microsoft confirmed that the company has no plans to increase the price of Xbox One in Canada, which may indicate that Sony is trying to handle limited hardware supplies for consoles. Many large retailers in Canada have reported that Sony PlayStation 4 is out of stock since February.

Amazon's plan to make a gamepad has been leaked. As the images from Dave Zatz (Brazil's equivalent of the FCC), the chances are high that these images are not fake.

The controller consists of 4 action buttons A,B,X,Y with 2 analog sticks, a directional pad and four function buttons in the center. Towards the edge, Amazon provided media controllers. The controller uses two AA size batteries.

What's uncertain is that the purpose of these controllers. It is speculated that Amazon might have made this gamepad for Kindle Fire's GameCircle service. It could also be possible that this could be a part of Android powered gaming console that Amazon's probably working or. Seeing that there are basic media controls, it may be for an upcoming set-top box unit with an inbuilt gaming console.