Latest News - Page 2966

Earlier this week Google announced that it was increasing Drive storage to 15GB and today we are finding out why. At today's Google I/O keynote the company showed off several new and exciting features on how its Google+ social network handles image storage, manipulation and sharing.

In the past, if you uploaded full size images, you had just 5GB of storage, but now with 15GB you can upload all of your images to Google+. Google pointed out that it is the only social network that allows true full resolution image uploads and included a graphic showing the relative resolution of various social networks.

Google also unveiled a sort of intelligent image sorting process that is aimed at reducing the time it takes for a photographer or individual to sort through large image albums. Google can now take your entire vacation photo album and automatically highlight the best. Say there is 600 photos total, it will filter out duplicates, analyze for bad exposure and automatically identify major landmarks. Then it will look for people, and for photos of people smiling.

NVIDIA is set to release their next-generation GPUs in the form of the 700-series next month, with some sources stating that you can flash your GeForce GTX 680 to a GeForce GTX 770 with a BIOS flash.

If this is true, this means that the GTX 770 is going to be a simple rebrand of the current GTX 680, but we should be used to this by now. There's a post on Reddit with someone saying that they've uploaded a BIOS (.bin) file and the required driver information (.inf) file which will have a GTX 680 owner get a GTX 770 card, all for nothing. The post states: "The upcoming GTX 770 is a GTX 680 in disguise. NVIDIA has gently revised the GK104 architecture, mostly with process improvements, but the 770 is basically the same beast! Which is good for us enthusiasts".

But, don't get your hopes up just yet, as a post on TechPowerUp has said that the BIOS supplied to the Reddit user isn't a GTX 770 BIOS, but a "modified GTX 680 BIOS" that has increased clock speeds and the .inf file has been edited to change the card's descriptor string to 'GTX 770'.

Microsoft has issued patches for both of its existing Surface tablet lines as part of its monthly Patch Tuesday. The patches aim to boost wireless performance, enable PXE boot, and various other stability concerns. The updates continue Microsoft's current trend of releasing monthly updates for the Surface tablets.

The Surface Pro is receiving the following updates and fixes:

The Surface RT is receiving the following updates and fixes:

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Google will unveil a music-streaming service at this year's Google I/O. The event, which kicks off tomorrow, will reportedly focus on services instead of hardware, which would tie in nicely with a new music-streaming service.

Google already offers a music product, but it requires users upload their own music to stream or buy new songs. This new service would be more like Spotify's offering. According to people familiar with the matter, Google has already signed deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group. These deals will allow unlimited streaming of certain libraries for a fee.

It's not clear what the fee would be, though it would have to be competitive with current offerings. This means we could expect the fee to be less than $10 for unlimited streaming on any device.

Apple has been sued over allegations that the power flex cable in the iPhone 4 was defective. According to the lawsuit, Apple decided not to disclose this defect in order to sell more units. Debra Hilton has filed a class action lawsuit in San Jose, California on behalf of iPhone 4 purchasers. The lawsuit demands over $5 million from Apple.

As evidence for the lawsuit, Hilton cites posts on Apple's own forums, in which users have complained about the power button. Hilton also provides a YouTube video explaining how to repair the button and comments made by a self-described iPhone repairman that assert the power button is a common issue on the iPhone 4.

Apple has not yet commented on the lawsuit.

Nokia made the Lumia 925 official today at an event in London. The Lumia 925 is an updated Lumia 920 and is one of Nokia's first devices to feature an aluminum shell. This is a marked improvement in durability and tangible feel. Aluminum makes the device feel so much more like a premium device.

The screen is a 4.5-inch AMOLED display capable of a 1,280x768 resolution. It's covered in Gorilla Glass 2 to protect from scratches. The camera is 8.7MP, as rumors suggested it would be, and is of the OIS variety. While the Lumia 925 doesn't come with a Xenon flash, it does feature software enhancements ssuch as Smart Cam, Best Shot, Action Shot, and Motion Focus.

The CPU is a dual-core Qualcomm MSM8960 clocked at 1.5GHz. This is the same CPU that was used in the older Lumia 920. It's coupled with 1GB of RAM and a 2,000mAh battery, both of which remain the same as the Lumia 920. The new device is thinner than the older Lumia 920, but lacks the wireless charging capabilities of the older device.

Thanks to a licensing deal with Qualcomm, makers of the mobile Snapdragon processors, Kaspersky security software will now come pre-installed on Android systems powered by a Snapdragon processor. This will, theoretically, help with Kaspersky's market share and hopefully help Kaspersky become a household name for Android security.

By itself, Kaspersky's apps normally retail for $15 and $20 for the smartphone and tablet version, respectively. Users are gaining this software for free, though some may not like the idea of more pre-loaded apps on devices that already have limited storage space.

Eugene Kaspersky, Chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Labs:

ASRock has announced that their top-of-the-line Z87 Extreme9/ac is the first Intel 8 Series motherboard to be awarded Thunderbolt certification from Intel. The Z87 Extreme9/ac is ASRock's highest performance motherboard designed for Intel's upcoming Haswell CPU's.

We expect to see the Z87 Extreme9/ac at Computex during the first part of June. It, along with Intel's Haswell CPU's, should be one of the main highlights of the show.

It's often said that laws can't keep up with modern technology. Interestingly enough, this phrase has been used a lot lately in conjunction with drones, specifically in regards to whether or not they should be allowed to fly over US soil. The US government apparently isn't the only interested group in using drones.

A resident in Seattle, WA tells CHS:

Google is well-known for hiding Easter eggs in its search engine. For instance, typing "do a barrel" into the all-knowing Google search bar will result in the whole web page doing a barrel roll. The latest Easter egg to be discovered celebrates Atari's classic game, Breakout.

To initialize the latest Easter egg, simply do a Google Image Search for "Atari Breakout." This will cause the game to start. Simply control the platform with your mouse to bounce the ball and destroy the pictures of, you guessed it, Breakout. Successfully beating that level will result in more levels generating with random pictures.

Raspberry Pi's long-awaited camera module will be coming to the UK come May 14. While the price is still unknown, the small, yet still capable, camera module will be available from CPC/Farnell come May 14. CPC/Farnell has already invited users who signed up for info on the module on the Raspberry Pi forums to preorder the device tomorrow.

If the device can be ordered tomorrow, it's likely we will also know the final price. Current estimations put the price at $25, so we'll see if that holds true. The camera is capable of taking pictures 2592x1944 in resolution, 1080p video at 30 FPS, 720p video at 60FPS and VGA at 60 or 90 FPS. One of the modules has made it into the wild and you can see the video it took embedded below.

Who would have thought a charity auction for coffee with Apple CEO Tim Cook would be worth so much. After all, the purchaser is only guaranteed 30 minutes, though it could end up being as long as 60. In fact, coffee with Tim Cook appears set to pass the previous charity auction record set by the auctioning off of a 2013 Lamborghini Aventador.

CharityBuzz CEO Coppy Holzman:

We've been hearing that Samsung plans to release several variants of the popular Galaxy S4. One of the main variants that keeps popping up is the Galaxy S4 Mini, a smaller version of the S4 that is easier on the pockets and wallet. According to documents from Samsung and Korea Investment & Securities, the S4 Mini will be released in the next few weeks.

According to the documents, the S4 Mini will feature a 1.6GHz dual-core Exynos 5210 coupled with 1GB of RAM for 3G devices and 2GB of RAM for LTE devices. It will feature 32GB of internal storage, Android 4.0, and a 4.3-inch qHD(540x960) Super AMOLED screen. The camera is said to be an 8MP sensor and battery capacity is pegged at 2,100mAh.

For now, this remains a rumor as nothing official has been confirmed. As with all rumors, take this with a grain of salt. However, the details look to be about right for the S4 Mini.

Sundar Pichai, the new head of Android, has said that Google will focus on "all of the kinds of things we're doing for developers" at Google I/O this year. During an interview with Wired, the head of Android, who is also at the wheel of Chrome, has said that now isn't the time that Google has "much in the way of launches of new products or a new operating system".

Pichai talked about a bunch of subjects, touching on Android updates, Google's relationship with Samsung, Facebook Home and the challenges of managing two operating systems:

I'm not even enjoying 4G yet, and all I keep hearing is talk of a 5G network being deployed within the next decade. Samsung are behind the new talks, with an under-development wireless network to be capable of giving users the speed to stream data faster than ever dreamed before, even from current wired networks.

You might want to sit down to hear this, but Samsung's 5G network will be capable of 10 gigabits per second, giving users download speeds of around 1.25GB/sec. Considering 4G LTE provides around 75 megabits per second, or around 9.375MB/sec, it is a gigantic leap that can't be frowned upon. We're talking about downloading a Blu-ray movie in under one minute over your mobile Internet connection.

Microsoft may have sold 100 million licenses of Windows 8, but this doesn't mean that those licenses are all installed onto consumers' PCs. ComputerWorld talked with Patrick Moorhead, a principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, who estimates that the actual number of Windows 8 devices being used is closer to 59 million.

This is according to the most recent data from Net Applications shows that Windows 8 is being used on around 4.2% of all Windows PCs. There are over 70 million PCs in the wild still running Windows Vista, which is a number that needs to change.

Google I/O is only days away, and the stream of teases isn't stopping anytime soon. Today, brings the news of Google Play Games, which has been seen in the just-updated Google Play Services that is being distributed around the place.

There's been teases of a game-related unveiling at Google I/O, but Android Police have done the detective work for us, showing off some game-related goodness. There are things such as leader boards and matchmaking services are activities that a future application can trigger, as well as achievements and invitations.

Google Play Games will intertwine with Google+, which will give it a nice social aspect, but is it enough? Can Google do it better than Apple's Game Center? Time will tell, and that time is getting shorter and shorter with Google I/O fast approaching.

There's a glitch to the discreet hookup app 'Bang With Friends', that lets you see which of your Facebook friends are looking for a bang. The big, huge, gaping hole of a problem here is that Bang With Friends is pushed as a silent, untraceable way of looking for a hookup.

Well, not for now - as there's a huge glitch letting you find out which friends are using the app. I used the glitch myself and thankfully, there's only one person on my Facebook list using the app, but there are many of you who might find this an interesting look, and maybe spread the word about the glitch so people know and can remove their accounts from BWF.

You can use this link here to find out which of your Facebook friends are using Bang With Friends. Remember, what is seen cannot be unseen.

During Activision's recent earnings call, CEO Bobby Kotick warned that the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 might suffer slow sales, much like the Wii U has been experiencing since its launch last November. Kotick adds that new competition from smartphones and tablets could play into customer demand.

It's worth noting that NVIDIA's upcoming Tegra 4 is capable of running games with graphics similar to those that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 launched with. And with NVIDIA's Grid technology, those graphics can be improved to levels higher than the next-generation consoles are believed to be capable of.

Google has announced that Chrome and Chrome OS are getting Google Cloud Messaging. Cloud Messaging is Google's implementation of push notifications and allows notifications, updates, news, and other alerts to be sent to an app even when running in the background. It pushes the update rather than the app having to go out and check for updates.

Push notifications are commonplace in the mobile app world. It looks like they are finally crossing the divide and will start showing up in Chrome apps.