Latest News - Page 2901

This week was the week when Xbox One owners expected to get a major system update from Microsoft, but unfortunately that update will not be coming until March. This morning Microsoft announced that it was delaying the February Xbox One System update until March along side some new gaming accessories for the console.

The update will be centered around improving the multiplayer and party experience, and will make it easier for you to find your friends by bringing the Friends List front and center by clicking on the Social Tile. The update will also enable the Party Chat by default, and will allow friends to chat with other friends who are online and not just in the same game. Microsoft will also be adding an "Invite Friends to Game" option that will let users do just what it says; invite their friends into their game.

Along side the Xbox One system update, the company will release a few accessories including the official Xbox One Stereo Headset that will offer a "premium audio experience" for under $100. Additionally, Microsoft will launch the Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter, a device that allows users to connect existing stereo headsets to the Xbox One. So if you already have an expensive gaming headset that has a 3.5mm jack, you only need to purchase this $25 headset adapter to use it.

Earlier this week, I reported on Bitcoin exchange MT. Gox suspending all withdrawal transactions over a long-known bug that allows nefarious users to basically make incoming transactions appear as if they never completed. Today word has came down that another Bitcoin exchange, Bitstamp has also suspended withdrawal transactions, but this time the issue is not due to a software bug, but rather was the result of a Denial of Service Attack (DDOS).

Bitstamp is the largest of several exchanges used for trading Bitcoins, and actually trades a little higher than Mt. Gox on average, making it a big target for attacks like these. At the time of this writing, Bitcoins were trading for $656 each, $100 higher than Mt. Gox. No further information was given on the DDOS attack, or any clue as to where it originated from, but with Bitcoins becoming more popular by the day, we can expect to see these types of attacks begin showing up more frequently.

USB flash drives designed for use with mobile devices are quickly becoming one of the fastest growing segments in personal storage, and today Sandisk has unveiled its first entry into the USB flash drive for mobile arena. Today the company announced the launch of its first Dual USB drive that is designed to work with both laptops and desktops as well a mobile devices running Android.

The Sandisk Ultra Dual USB Drive has been designed for Android-based smartphone and tablet users who have been looking for a reliable and fast method of transferring data from their mobile device to their PC. The new Ultra Dual USB Drive allows users to do this by featuring a micro-USB connector as well as a full-sized USB B connector for quick and easy file transfers. This frees up much needed space on the mobile device, and also serves as a way for users to carry additional data that can be easily accessed by an Android tablet or smartphone at moments notice.

"The Sandisk Ultra Dual USB Drive provides a simple, convenient way to offload and backup files from smartphones and tablets - with the peace of mind that comes with the trusted Sandisk brand," said Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product marketing, Sandisk. "This new drive integrates with Sandisk's Memory Zone app to make freeing up space on mobile devices simpler than ever, improving the user experience." The Sandisk Dual USB Drive is available in capacities of 16BG, 32GB and 64GB and is available now.

Today, Mozilla announced that it will soon begin selling ads within Firefox, its internet browser. This announcement serves as a followup on an earlier announcement made by the company last year when it said that its browser would begin blocking third-party advertising software automatically by default, something that sent the online advertising industry ablaze with chatter on the topic.

Mozilla says that the ads will appear within Firefox's "New Tabs Page," and will feature both locally targeted as well as mass market ads via a new initiative called "Directory Tiles." Mozilla unveiled a beta version of the Directory Tile system last year for users who opted in to receiving tailored content delivered to them based on their browsing history, and the company says that from its testing, it now sees more than 100 billion "tile impressions" annually. This opens up a big advertising niche that Mozilla hopes to capitalize on.

"Some of these tile placements will be from the Mozilla ecosystem, some will be popular websites in a given geographic location, and some will be sponsored content from hand-picked partners to help support Mozilla's pursuit of our mission," Mozilla said in a blog post. "The sponsored tiles will be clearly labeled as such, while still leading to content we think users will enjoy." A spokes person for Mozilla followed up by saying: "We are looking to partner with like-minded content owners and creators, such as leading publishers and curators as well as innovative advertising agencies."

In a world where stand-alone MP3 players are a quickly dying breed, companies are resulting to extreme measures to sell their products in which they have invested millions into. Sony's W Series Walkman is one of those devices that while it may be a barebones MP3 player with no additional special functionality, has one major thing going for it; its waterproof.

To highlight this unique feature in New Zealand, Sony has began packaging the W Series inside of a bottle full of water with the help from an ad firm called DraftFCB. The bottle appears to be a reusable sports bottle with a stainless steel band around the top that bears the Walkman logo. Getting your hands on one of these will not be easy though as Sony has placed vending machines containing the Bottled Walkman inside of select gyms and pool facilities around New Zealand.

This morning we are getting some insight into why one of the most popular apps in recent months was abruptly pulled from the market despite it earning its creator more than $50,000 per day. In an interview with Forbes, Flappy Bird creator Dong Ngueyen, said that he made the decision to pull the game from the Apple App Store and Google Play because it has became addictive for so many players.

"Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed," said Nguyen. "But it happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem. To solve that problem, it's best to take down Flappy Bird. It's gone forever." He went on to say that he could not sleep due to the pressure and the stress that the games success was causing him, and that even though it is gone, the game has given him new found confidence. Unfortunately the decision to pull the game has given profiteers new confidence as well with several knock offs popping up as well as iPhone 5S models with Flappy Bird installed popping up on eBay for tens of thousands of dollars.

Ngueyen is not a one hit wonder developer though, at the moment he has several other top games in both the Apple App Store and on Google Play. Super Ball Juggling, and Shruiken Block rank number 6 and 18 respectively in the App Store and he has no plans to remove them. However, he did say that if they became addicting to users, he would not hesitate to remove them. When asked if he now felt that pulling Flappy Bird was a mistake, Ngueyen said; "I don't think it's a mistake," he says. "I have thought it through."

Former NSA analyst Will Ackerly and his brother, John Ackerly, are the co-founders of Virtru, a startup security company helping users encrypt e-mails and digital communications. Unlike other encryption solutions, Virtru allows users to encrypt information - and send it - and has an extremely easy user interface to ensure neither user needs to be overly tech savvy.

The Virtru plugin easily and quickly encrypts e-mails and other contents using AES 256 encryption standard, and senders must have the plugin installed. However, recipients only need to authenticate their identity with an e-mail address, and Virtru holds the decryption key.

"What we've tried to do - and what's different from what a lot of encrypted communication tools out there have done - is really spend time to integrate the encryption technology directly into Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook.com," John Ackerly, Virtru CTO, in a statement to the media.

Sprint and SoftBank are trying to determine if a continued effort to acquire T-Mobile is worth the trouble, as antitrust officials want to keep as much competition alive as possible. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and Chairman Masayoshi Son reportedly have met with U.S. Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials, though trying to convince antitrust officials to approve the deal will be difficult.

When AT&T, currently the No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier, expressed interest in purchasing T-Mobile a few years ago, the deal was almost instantly shot down. It would be hard to imagine the No. 3 wireless carrier being allowed to successfully acquire T-Mobile, which is No. 4, especially after SoftBank purchased majority stake in the company.

"A few years ago only AT&T and Verizon were growing," said tech analyst Jeff Kagan. "At that time T-Mobile and Sprint were in trouble. Since that time things are starting to change. T-Mobile got a new CEO and has started to grow once again. Sprint has been acquired by Softbank and has not started to grow yet, but we are hoping to see that growth begin sooner rather than later."

Ice hockey, maple syrup, Bieber and... Internet piracy? The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) recently recommended Canada's addition to the Special 301 "watch list." There is special interest in the number of torrent sites and online piracy groups that are based in Canada, including a wide collection of smaller torrent sites.

"Even after the shuttering of Isohunt, Canada is still the home to some of the world's most popular Internet sites dedicated to piracy, including Torrentz.eu and Kickass.to, which garnered rankings of third and second place, respectively, on one of the most widely accessed listings on the world's most popular illicit BitTorrent sites," the IIPA claims.

The IIPA is made up of the RIAA, MPAA, ESA, BSA, and other copyright groups that share information, effective anti-piracy measures, and current legal efforts. IIPA officials would like to see U.S. lawmakers influence Canadian peers to crack down more harshly on piracy.

Batman: Arkham Origins has been plagued with issues since launch, and it appears that its developer, Warner Bros Montreal, has no plan on any further patches to fix the games remaining bugs. In a support post on the game's official forums, a developer revealed that the development studio is not planning any future patches to fix issues with the game. Instead, Warner Bros Montreal will focus on bringing new DLC to the game.

"Hi all, the team is currently working hard on the upcoming story DLC and there currently are no plans for releasing another patch to address the issues that have been reported on the forums," said the forum post. "If we do move forward with creating a new patch, it will try to address the progression blocking bugs for players, not the minor glitches that do not prevent one from continuing to play. The issues that are not progression blockers will unfortunately no longer be addressed. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused for some of you, and want to thank you for having been patient."

The thread was quickly inundated with post from angry gamers, and rightfully so. When you spend upwards of $60 on a game and commit to different DLC packs at additional cost, you expect that the game will work out of the box, and expect any issues that may arise to be taken care of swiftly. This is just a small segment in a long list of games that have been released with lots of bugs in recent years which have either taken quite a while to address of even be addressed at all.

Shuttered electronics company OCZ Technology has sold its power supply assets to Firepower Technology, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Firepower paid just $850,000 for the OCZ business unit, as the former Silicon Valley company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2013.

Specifically, ZCO Liquidating Corporation brokered a deal between OCZ and Firepower Technology, "mainly consisting of its power supply and power management assets," according to the SEC filing. Firepower is a private company based in Delaware, and it is rumored OCZ product technology will be absorbed and possibly re-distributed by Firepower.

Previously, Toshiba stepped up to pick up OCZ's solid state drive (SSD) technology, as companies continue to circle, trying to get some bargain technology. The company's fall from grace left PC enthusiasts with one less company - despite creating fairly popular products, OCZ was unable to properly transition from niche consumer company to successful business able to cater to the enterprise.

For the most part, LTE connectivity has widely been reserved for the high-end smartphone market which is generally comprised of phones in the >$400 price range. Broadcom says that with the release of its new M320 and M340 system-on-chip processors, LTE could finally come to the low to mid-range smartphone market segment.

"We project that the LTE baseband market will register about 64 percent year-on-year growth in 2014 to reach over 500 million units," said Sravan Kundojjala, Senior Analyst, Handset Component Technologies service at Strategy Analytics. "Broadcom is one of the only players with a mature carrier-ready multimode LTE SoC, the engineering expertise and the worldwide scale required to deploy complete LTE platforms. The new Broadcom turnkey design will help accelerate the adoption of LTE worldwide and make high-performance, yet affordable devices available to the broader market."

The new M320 and M340 chips feature dual and quad-core processors respectively as well as 150Mb/s LTE radios built on board and Broadcom says that it has already integrated the processors with Android 4.4 KitKat, so OEMs will not have to worry about software support. While no mention was made of which OEMs might be utilizing the chips in upcoming phones, it did say that it has sent out sample units to "leading" manufacturers, so one would expect that to mean Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and Nokia have all gotten samples.

While Flappy Bird may be gone from the App Store, its still available on thousands of iPhones around the world. With Flappy Birds quick rise in popularity combined with its abrupt end, there is no doubt that there are those who are willing to pay handsomely for a copy of the game they never got to download.

After the game was pulled from both marketplaces yesterday, iPhone's began popping up on eBay with the game installed. Surprisingly many of these phones quickly sold for anywhere between $400 to upwards of $2000, but the biggest surprise came when one phone quickly climbed to $10,000 and continued to rise from there. At the time of this writing, the price is sitting at $99,000 with 74 bids in total and over six days left on its auction clock.

I have bid on some crazy stupid stuff on eBay before, but spending $100,000 on an iPhone to be able to play a simple game that amounts to noting more than a rip-off of a rip-off takes the cake. In my town, $100k will buy you a fairly new 1500 square foot home, with enough left over for an economy-class car. On a side note, if anyone is looking for a slightly used HTC One with Flappy Bird installed, I know where one might be for sale for a cool $98,000.

HTC had some bad times last year, but the Taiwanese smartphone maker is looking to right wrongs in 2014. HTC will make more mid-range smartphones this year, selling them for a cheaper price than its current models.

HTC's Chief Financial Officer, Chang Chia-Lin, said that the company will sell products in the $150-$300 price range in both existing and developing market. HTC hopes this will turn the company around from its problems from last year, where in saw its global market share drop to just 2%, its stock price dive 80%, and its profits slide 83% in Q2 of 2013, from the previous year. HTC co-founder and chairperson Cher Wang, when speaking with Reuters, said that HTC's "problem" last year was "concentrating on [its] flagship".

Out of HTC's entire range in China, just two of them retail for under $150 - where 21 of its handsets retail for over $500. Wang said that with HTC focusing on higher-end models, it saw the company miss "a huge chunk of the mid-tier markets" in 2013.

You might have heard of the brand Dyson - which makes some of the best-engineered vacuum cleaners and hand dryers - with British entrepreneur, Sir James Dyson, outlining his latest vision for what he sees as the future of households: advanced household androids.

Dyson envisions a future where this autonomous robots will clean your house, guard your property, and as the technology improves, many more household tasks. Dyson has announced a new $8.2 million robotics center at Imperial College London, where the inventor says the technological revolution is coming, and he sees a future where every home in Britain is filled with "robots that understand the world around them".

Dyson's team of engineers are now working on the first multi-purpose household android with scientists in Japan, where researchers at Waseda University have just unveiled their Twendy-One robot, which is capable of obeying voice commands, cooking, and providing nursing care. Dyson employs close to 2,000 engineers and scientists, with his plans involving the new center to overcome the problem with robotic "vision", so that the androids could see, and react to everything around them.

Social media plays an important role for viewers, businesses, and sponsors of major international events, with the 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi, Russia, providing a great opportunity for Twitter and Facebook. Twitter gives smaller countries and lesser known Olympic athletes a way to share their love and passion for their sports with new fans - and give sponsors additional return-on-investment.

"The social media experience it's all about time and efficiency," said Justin Maas, fishbat Client Relations VP, in a press statement. "By making it easier for users to retrieve the information they want, Twitter has added value to its site. Twitter is essential for gathering news. Adding special pages for Olympics athletes and events was a smart move by the social network."

Journalists and Olympics viewers share stories, results, and interviews with one another - and with mobile content increasing, it's become even easier to share information to Twitter and other social media websites. However, athletes and coaches in Sochi aren't allowed to post audio or video from sporting events or anything happening in the Olympic Village. They can record audio or video for personal reasons, however, it cannot be done with professional recording equipment.

LG Electronics grabbed headlines when it announced its 55-inch curved OLED HDTV in 2013, which originally sported a $14,999 retail price tag. Early into 2014, LG decided to issue yet another price cut so the TV can be found for $6,999 at major North American electronics e-tailers.

Prior to the 2013 Christmas holiday shopping season, LG cut the TV's retail price from $14,999 down to $8,999 to draw interested buyers with deep pockets. It's no surprise to see the price drop even lower in early 2014, but seeing it slide down to $6,999 in such a short amount of time may be all that is needed to entice some consumers to pull the trigger.

LG's price cut will also make it more competitive with Samsung's rival OLED HDTV that started with a price tag of $8,999.

In less than two months, Microsoft will officially pull the plug on Windows XP after more than 12 years of general availability of the popular OS. XP served as a dependable OS that already surpassed Microsoft's expectations, though the software company is anxious to migrate users to the still struggling Windows 8/8.1 operating system.

Microsoft will officially end support for XP on April 8, and is now urging home users, small and midsize-businesses, and corporations to finally migrate. Consumers that might be more interested in Windows 7 will be discouraged that Microsoft pulled the OS from its retail stores, and stopped selling to OEMs long ago - though many e-tailers still have Windows 7 OS copies - and Windows 7-powered PCs and laptops available.

Despite 8/8.1 frustrating some users, the OS is significantly more secure than XP - and has modern support from hardware and software makers - but XP still controls around 29 percent of the desktop OS market.

Major pizza chains are able to use customized online ordering systems to woo Internet users, while mom and pop shops are having trouble trying to keep up. Papa John's, Domino's Pizza, Pizza Hut, and other large chains are able to support online ordering using automated systems tested across multiple locations - but smaller local pizza shops traditionally need to use walk-in and telephone orders to handle customer interactions.

Younger customers are more inclined to order delivery through mobile or online services ,with smart TV and game consoles giving customers the chance to easily place orders.

"Most of the small and regional chains who still continue to sell the majority of the pizza in the U.S. simply aren't able to play on these technology platforms with the level of sophistication that we have," said Patrick Doyle, Domino's CEO, during an investor's financial call.

Cloud computing is predicted to reach $121.1 billion by 2015, according to a report from MarketsandMarkets, though other analysts guess the market will have a difficult time in 2014. Embracing the cloud gives users the chance to utilize a scalable and cost-effective way to access and share information from any Web-connected device.

For companies trying to sell cloud services to the consumer or B2B markets, it's quickly coming down to service quality. Any company trying to drive innovation in the cloud market must pay attention to good product support, customer support, and clear lines of communication with users.

Companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon tend to get a lot of headlines for their respective cloud efforts, though software providers like Red Hat and CA are expected to have a difficult time growing this year.