Latest News - Page 2957

In a day that seems to be all about Google, the company has released yet another new and exciting product. Google has just launched a new Android app named Google Play Games, which will serve as a central location for social gaming as well as game and content discovery. We first heard mention of this new app at Google I/O but details were a bit scarce and we almost forgot all about it.

The new app aggregates all of your installed games into a single location where you can see earned achievements, multiplayer engagements, and a list of frequent opponents and public leaderboards. The app is very similar to Apple's Game Center, which has been around for almost 3 years now. Unlike the Game Center which uses your Apple ID for identification, Play Games requires a connection through Google to update your account with new achievements and data.

For years now, San Francisco citizens have wished for there to be a free Wi-Fi service in their parks, and now thanks to Google, 31 of the city's plazas, playgrounds, parks, and rec centers are getting just that. Google donated $600,000 to install the free service, which is still pending approval.

The $600,000 gift will cover the equipment, installation, maintenance and service for the next two years after which it is still uncertain what will happen to the networks. If things go as planned, installation will begin as early as November and would wrap up sometime in April of 2014, just in time for park weather. Advocates and Google hope that this installation will serve as a model that will eventually grow into a city-wide free Wi-Fi network.

A full list of the areas getting the new free Wi-Fi are listed below:

Any of my regular readers know that I absolutely, positively, 100 percent hate patent trolls. They do nothing to further innovation and quite frankly, they hurt the US economy more than anything else. Today, Newegg informed us of updates in a pending patent infringement case in which they have been battling a lawsuit filled by the notorious patent troll TQP Development, LLC.

Based in East Texas, TQP has filed hundreds of lawsuits against pretty much every kind of business imaginable over patent infringement. In the case against Newegg, TQP says that Newegg has violated its patent on encryption used on eCommerce websites. Newegg filed a Motion to Compel Discovery of TQP's communications with its patent monetization firm IP Navigation Group, which is associated with yet another patent troll, Erich Spangenberg.

Magistrate Judge Payne of the Eastern District of Texas denied Newegg's Motion on July 23, and said that the communication between TQP and IP Navigation was privileged as "work product" and were to be treated as mental impressions and notes created during litigation. This ruling came even though TQP never argued that its privilege applied to any of its briefs. Additionally, the judge ordered Newegg to pay 50 percent of TQP's reasonable costs and legal fees that occurred as a result of the motion filed by Newegg.

This morning, ROCCAT announced the release of a new gaming mouse alongside a new mousepad to match. The new Kone Pure Optical Gaming Mouse is designed for those who do not want the high dpi resolution of a laser mouse, but prefer the softness of an optical mouse. Additionally, the company released the new Sense Meteor Blue Mousepad which is the latest installment in the company's praised Sense line.

"The new sensor featured in the Kone Pure Optical is the successor to the sensor featured in the famous Savu mouse. The Savu drew praise from gamers and reviewers alike, who complimented the mouse for its accurate and reliable tracking. Building on this success, the Kone Pure Optical has a new and more powerful MCU, which features more memory, and two new native DPI steps." said ROCCAT founder and CEO Rene Korte.

Today during its breakfast event, Google officially unveiled the next-generation Nexus 7. Unfortunately for Google the cat has been out of the bag for well over a week now as the next-gen Nexus 7 is one of the most leaked devices of the year.

Pretty much all of the specs that we reported on earlier today were confirmed during the event and it appears that nothing extra popped up. Additionally, ASUS appears to continue to be the manufacturing powerhouse behind the 7-inch slate.

The second-gen Nexus 7 features a 7-inch 1920 x 1200 display and is set to life by a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, while 2GB of RAM handle the memory duties. An Adreno 320 graphics processor crunches HD video and games, while Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and Wi-Fi handle the network connectivity. The long-anticipated Android 4.3 is the Nexus 7's OS of choice, which brings forth a new camera app and several other exciting features.

Today Intel confirmed the existence of the 4.5 watt Haswell CPU that popped up in a datasheet last month. Intel says that the chip will hit markets before the end of the year and that it will be geared towards fanless tablets and convertibles, which do not have much space for cooling hardware.

The 4.5W Haswell is expected to fill in the blank left by Intel's 6W Haswell processors that require an active cooling solution.

It should be noted that the 4.5W rating is the SDP or Scenario Design Power, which describes the sustained power consumption for sustained workloads, and that Intel has not released any information on the processors TDP, which is used to describe power draw in short burst.

This morning Google announced the release of a new media streaming dongle dubbed Chromecast. The small $35 HDMI dongle mirrors content that is being played on a nearby smartphone, computer or tablet. Coming in at just 2-inches long, the device plugs directly into your HDTVs spare HDMI port.

The device is able to run certain apps and if you are an early adopter, you will get a free three month Netflix subscription. Google says that Chromecast runs a simplified version of Google's Chrome OS and unfortunately, it will require a separate USB power source. The device features 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and comes with an HDMI extender, a USB cable and a USB power source.

Chrome apps that work with Chromecast will feature a "cast" button that will push the video feed to your Chromecast connected television. "Once Chromecast is plugged in, you just go to YouTube on your smartphone," Google reps said. "You'll see the cast button in your UI and you press it -- Chromecast will pull the info you requested from the cloud and play it on your TV." Google demoed the device at this morning's breakfast event and showed how Chromecast could display a YouTube video from your tablet onto your TV, and still allow you to use other apps on your tablet at the same time.

If what we have previously seen about the upcoming new Nexus 7, then today's news equates to a virtual dam breakage. This morning, Best Buy opened up pre-orders for the new 7-inch pure Android tablet. This major leak comes just hours before Google is expected to unveil the new Nexus at a breakfast being held in Mountain View at 9AM Pacific today.

With the full product listing being made available, we finally learned what hardware the refreshed device will feature and it is pretty hefty. The 7-inch display will feature a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution, while a QUALCOMM 1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4 Pro and an Adreno 320 graphics processor will handle the data crunching duties. A 5-megapixel rear-facing camera will handle all of the photon capturing duties, while 2GB of DDR3 RAM keeps things running nice and smooth.

The new Nexus 7 will be available in both 16GB and 32GB configurations, with both devices featuring Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, and NFC. Falling right in line with recent rumors, the tablet will run Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, which also lends credence to the rumor that we will see 4.3 detailed at today's event. The product listing shows that the 16GB model will run consumers $229.99 while its 32GB brother will cost just $269.99. As of this publishing, the pre-order button has been removed.

YouTube's Comedy Week has widely been considered a smashing success and the company is now looking to follow up that success with another week of themed, highlighted content. On August 4, YouTube will kick off its first annual Geek Week event in which the video sharing service will highlight more than 100 channels that feature Geeky and Nerdy content.

Participating channels include heavy hitters such as Chris Hardwick's Nerdist, the UK's Channel Flip, Machinima, and Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton's own Geek and Sundry. Additionally, Schmidt and Co will be hiding easter eggs over the event and will give users collectable virtual badges if spotted. Some big time players in the motion picture industry have taken notice as well, and an exclusive trailer for Thor: The Dark World will premier on Wednesday, August 7, right in the middle of the event.

I'm still looking forward to unboxing my first 4K, or Ultra HD, display, but until then I can only dream. But, during SIGGRAPH this week, Dell unveiled their new UltraSharp 32.

Dell's UltraSharp 32 is a 32-inch 4K-capable display that features an IGZO-based 3840x2160 display. Beautiful. Dell has opted for an aluminum stand, which replaces their usual plastic-based stand in previous models. The usual height adjustment is at play, and the UltraSharp 32 is jam-packed full of display inputs.

We have miniDisplayPort ports, HDMI, a built-in USB hub and an SD card reader. Dell haven't told us how much we can expect it to suck from our bank accounts just yet, but we should all prepare for Q4 of this year, just in time for the holidays.

I've used Oculus Rift HD and I really just don't want to go back to normal reality, but I guess I have to. Oculus VR, the company behind Oculus Rift, and IndieCade are teaming up for a three-week long gaming event called VR Jam.

VR Jam will get developers together in order to create content for Oculus Rift. VR Jam starts on August 2, and ends on August 25 with two categories to compete in. The first of which is 'Selected Developers' and the second, 'Open Call.' Selected developers will compete against hand-picked teams of 10, while Open Call pits any independent developer to register and compete.

Oculus VR and IndieCade will don their judging hats, with winners being announced on September 19. Games will be scored by their innovation and virtual reality design. As for prizes, there will be more than $50,000 in total with a $10,000 prize for the winners of either category. Registration, rules and everything else you need to know about VR Jam is available on Oculus VR's website.

Microsoft appears to be having issues today with its Xbox Live service. The company says that some members are currently unable to sign in to their Xbox Live accounts and they have a team engaged with fixing the issue. When visiting the current status page, users are prompted with a notice that says the outages is affecting Games for Windows Live, Windows 8, Windows Phone, the Xbox 360, and Xbox.com.

After trying to sign into my Xbox Live Account, I was greeted with an error, and also experienced a similar error when trying to connect to Xbox Live via a Games for Windows Live game. Microsoft says that those who are trying to post or view messages on Xbox.com may experience issues as well. Additionally, some 360 owners are currently unable to watch video content or listen to streaming music from their consoles.

Following both Apple and EA games, AT&T posted their Q2 2013 financial report today with stronger numbers over the same quarter a year ago. During the second quarter, AT&T saw $32.1 billion in total revenue, which is looking pretty good when compared to the same quarter in 2012 in which the company posted $26 billion. Net income for the second quarter totaled $3.8 billion, which amounted to about $0.71 per diluted share.

"This was a solid quarter for revenue and customer additions across our key growth platforms," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. "Our 4G LTE network is the fastest and the most reliable in the nation, and deployment is ahead of schedule. That contributed to a step-up in postpaid subscriber gains, and strong mobile data revenue growth of nearly 20 percent. Growth in U-verse and strategic business services also continued to be strong - adding to our momentum."

The company posted several highlights in the report:

Today, EA Sports released an extended version of the trailer it showed off at E3 for its upcoming game Need for Speed Rivals. The new trailer is one minute and 45 seconds long, which is about a minute longer than the original version, and places a lot of emphasis on the cops-versus-racers aspect of the game. Unlike previous Need for Speed games, players can now choose to play as a racer or as a cop when stepping behind the wheel of a new vehicle.

The trailer shows that the game will be sent in an entirely open environment, which will allow players to make the most of their high powered vehicles. Additionally, a series of difficult challenges will be presented for the player to complete, which will add collectible items to their inventory. Throughout the game players must maintain a healthy rivalry with the law in order to earn more street cred.

Today, Apple announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2013. The report says that Apple managed to post a revenue of $35.3 billion with a net profit of $6.9 billion, which equates to $7.47 per diluted share. This means that Apple's profit is down by nearly $2 billion over the same quarter in 2012. The company said that international sales accounted for 57 percent of the quarter's revenue.

The Cupertino based company sold 31.2 million iPhones during the third quarter alongside 14.6 million iPads and 3.8 million Macs. Overall, only the iPhone sales were up as during the same quarter last year Apple managed to sell 17 million iPads and 4 million Macs. The company's Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $3.05 per share of the company's common stock which will be payable on August 15, 2013 to all shareholders who own stock before the close of business on August 12, 2013.

"We are especially proud of our record June quarter iPhone sales of over 31 million and the strong growth in revenue from iTunes, Software and Services," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We are really excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and we are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014."

EA released its earnings report for Q1 of the fiscal year 2014 today, and the numbers are looking pretty good for the game publishing powerhouse. The company posted a total net revenue of $949 million, which was down about $6 million from the same quarter in 2012. EA said that their gross profit was up $5 million from the previous year at $755 million. Additionally, the company had total operating expenses of $522 million, which brought their net income to $222 million, up $1 million from Q1 of 2012.

"EA had a solid quarter driven by continued digital growth and disciplined cost management," said Executive Chairman Larry Probst. "We are also executing on a clear set of goals for leadership on mobile, PC, current and next generation consoles."

"EA delivered first quarter EPS above our guidance through a combination of revenue growth, phasing of expenses, and cost control," said Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen. "We are reaffirming our annual non-GAAP guidance of $4 billion net revenue and $1.20 earnings per share."

Today, trademark filings by LG were spotted by website PocketDroid that point to the company's future plans of developing a smartwatch, tablet, exercise band, and even something that might rival Google Glass. The filings were all placed under the company's use of the letter G, which denotes LG's high-end products. G Pad, G Watch, G Glass, G Link, G Band, and G Hub were among many of the names that were trademarked today and they all may very well be linked to current products in development.

Obviously, the G Pad would refer to an G-branded tablet that would most likely run Android, while the G Band would function similar to Nike's Fuel band. G Watch most certainly refers to the smartwatch LG is said to be currently developing, while the G Glass sound like the most interesting product of all. This means that LG could be working on its own version of Google Glass.

It is important to note that company's file for trademarks every day and more times than not, they are simply filing to protect their brand from squatters or other companies who might brand their product in a similar fashion to confuse consumers into thinking their product is associated with another company's brand. Simply put, LG may have filed for these trademarks just to protect the G brand or preserve them for products we may not see for many years.

Today, Verizon and Motorola teamed up in a press event to officially announce Verizon's newly refreshed lineup of Droid smartphones. Over the last month, we've seen many leaks surface about the phones and it appears that most of them were correct. The announcement included the new Droid Ultra and Droid Maxx, which are the follow-up devices to last year's Droid Razr HD and HD Maxx.

The two new phones bring forth some impressive new features and hardware specs. The Droid Maxx is said to have an insanely impressive battery life of up to 48 hours, yet it still only measures in at 8.5mm thick. The Ultra comes in thinner at 7.2mm. Both phones apparently feature a 10-megapixel rear shooter that sports an f/2.4 lens which allows for superior low-light performance.

Additionally, both devices feature a five-inch 720p OLED display which in a way makes up for the resolution letdown. Both phones make use of the new touchless control system that has been reported in so many Moto X leaks. This new feature lets users make phone calls, get directions, or activate other functions by voice rather than having to physically pick up and unlock their phone.

Seagate announced today that the Enterprise Turbo SSHD, a drive which has been in use with IBM in their Series X servers for over a year. This SSHD has 32GB of flash onboard that allows the SSHD's, in capacities up to 600GB, to produce twice the IOPS performance from its 10,000 RPM's than a 15,000 RPM HDD. The SSHD provides up to 900 IOPS in random performance and comes with a standard five year warranty.

The massive speed increases are due to the tiered caching at the I/O level, accelerating 'hot data' via the flash layer inside the SSHD. This boost in performance will provide gains in performance with fewer devices, lowering the overall TCO of the storage solution. The Enterprise Turbo SSHD will provide radical acceleration in mission-critical applications such as big data analytics, virtual desktop infrastructure, and database and transaction processing. Key features of the SSHD include:

Tiered infrastructure, with SSDs serving as cache for large banks of HDDs, are becoming increasingly popular in the datacenter. The Enterprise Turbo SSHD bridges the gap between HDD and SSD, allowing for a one-drive solution in an environment where there is usually a requirement for multiple types of drives to perform caching duties.

A new report this morning is suggesting that Samsung is ready to beat Apple to the punch on releasing a smartwatch. Patently Apple is claiming that Samsung will show off its very own smartwatch in September ahead of the annual IFA trade show which is held in Berlin, Germany.

Dubbed the "Samsung Gear," the smartwatch will be shown off during a press conference in which we will also see the Galaxy Note III unveiled. Although the report cites no sources, we do know that Samsung is developing a smartwatch, and we've even seen leaks of the device's supposed interface. If Samsung does debut the Gear a little over a month from now, it will beat Apple in the smartwatch race by more than a year, which puts it in a very good position for market dominance.