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Showing posts from July, 2013

Review: Incipio Frequency Case for the HTC One

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Here’s another great case for the HTC One. We’ve already taken a look at the Incipio DualPro CF for the HTC One which was one of my all-time favorite cases for the device. Now we’re taking a look at the Frequency case for the One. It comes in four colors, purple, pink, grey and black. Unlike the DualPro CF, it’s only one case, and not two parts. It’s a rather hard case, but Incipio says that it is shock absorbent. I didn’t try that out because I really don’t want to drop the HTC One, it looks so pretty. The Frequency case is tear and scratch resistant, so your case is definitely going to keep looking nice and clean. I have the black one here, an similar to the DualPro CF, it looks great on the stealth black HTC One. Of course, it’s compatible with all the variants of the HTC One. Since they are all basically the same aside from the bands they support in various parts of the world. The Frequency case is another case I wouldn’t mind having on my Nexus 4 or any other device for that mat...

Oggl and Oggl Pro for Windows Phone get another update, myriad of fixes in tow

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Hipstamatic Oggl and Oggle Pro both launched last Friday . The apps were teased to come to Windows Phone back in May at the Nokia event in London. Since then, many of you in the community anxiously waited for them. When they did come out on Friday they were met with mixed impressions. We love getting big apps in the Store, but they were very much first versions of the app. The latest update today addresses a variety of those issues. Let’s check them out.

Motorola’s Website Goes Dark Ahead of Motorola X Phone Unveiling Tomorrow

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Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow is the day that we get to officially see the device that Google and Motorola have been working on since Google completed its purchase of Motorola Mobility in 2012. Tomorrow is the day that Motorola unveils the Motorola X phone. Motorola’s website is already preparing for the big announcement tomorrow. The Motorola website has gone dark in anticipation of the big revelation tomorrow. The press event for the unveiling of the Moto X phone is open only to members of the press, but news and announcements will begin hitting the internet at 3 PM Eastern Time in New York City. The Motorola website will be back up then, and we’re sure it will have all of the details about the new flagship device. Google and Motorola have been working to completely flush Motorola Mobility’s existing pipeline of devices. A smartphone begins life 18-24 months before consumers begin hearing rumors of it. The pipeline of smartphones Motorola Mobility was already working on ha...

Never Lose Track Of Your Luggage Again With Trakdot, Now Shipping

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When you’re traveling you can’t help but worry about your luggage and whether or not it will arrive at the same destination as you at the same time. With the Trakdot Luggage tracking device , you can keep tabs on your luggage while it’s out of sight. The Trakdot device made its first appearance at this year’s CES show and has officially begun shipping today all over the world. You can put the Trakdot device in any of your checked luggage. It will alert you by reporting the city and airport location in real time to your cell phone through text or e-mail. The Trakdot will be especially useful in situations of late check-ins where it will help travelers and airlines resolve issues of misdirected luggage. “We’re confident that this will forever change the way we travel and we’re looking forward to hearing feedback from the first users of Trakdot technology,” Harry Steck, CEO of Trakdot, said. Once you’ve landed and can safely turn your phone back on, the luggage locator system will automat...

Is this the Patent for Samsung’s Galaxy S5?

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Yes it’s time to hear about some Galaxy S5 speculation. Samsung has just been granted a patent for what appears to be their next Galaxy S flagship device. Now we’ve heard some inside reports from Samsung that they are worried about their build quality, especially when stacking up to HTC and Apple. So we figured Samsung might be ditching the plastic and going with some more premium materials. Personally, I’d be okay with Polycarbonate on the Galaxy S5, as it does feel very premium and is still plastic. This evening, Gotta Be Mobile is reporting that the image above is the “All-Aluminum Galaxy S5″ now I’m not sure that it’s going to be completely aluminum, they might use another material. But this is a patent for a phone that Samsung has filed for and have been granted. We still have some time before the Galaxy S5 is announced, so we’ll definitely be seeing many more reports surfacing soon and rumors as well. So far, no other details are known about the Galaxy S5. Heck, Samsung might ...

New JOBS Featurette Launches Alongside Dedicated Website

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Open Road Films, the makers of the upcoming JOBS film, staring Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs, has released a new featurette today that shows new clips of the movie alongside a website dedicated to the movie. The official website is promoting the film, which is expected to hit theatres on August 16, offering a few short video clips and critic reviews. Open Roads has also published the new featurette on YouTube and offers new clips of the movie as well as some commentary on the movie from the cast and crew. Both Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad, who plays Steve Wozniak in the movie, will be making appearances on a live YouTube event on Friday. The event will start at 11am PST and will offer more information on the upcoming movie. In the meantime, make sure to watch the featurette above and check out the official JOBS website .

Audible and Netflix both updated for Windows Phone

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We love when apps get updated, especially big apps that are used daily by a lot of people. Audible and Netflix are two apps that we use often, both are great time killers whether you’re catching up with the latest bestselling novel or hit television series. Both also just received two updates on Windows Phone.

Samsung Wants You to Sip Some Hennessy: A Quad-Core Clamshell Phone with A Keyboard and Dual Screens

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Samsung isn’t afraid to try new things. They aren’t afraid to try old things, either. The clam shell phone has been around for almost two decades, but the South Korean company is hoping to update things with the as-yet-unannounced Samsung Hennessy . The Samsung Hennessy has a model number of SCH-W789. It appears to be a rather uninspiring clam shell device with dual screens, supposedly both touchscreen displays. Both of the screens measure 3.3 inches with a screen resolution of 480 x 320. There is a numeric keypad on the inside that becomes available when you flip open the phone. It’s got a quad-core processor and 1 GB of RAM. Here’s a full spec listing: 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU, probably a Snapdragon 200 Dual 480 x 320 displays 1 GB of RAM 5 megapixel camera MicroSD card slot Dual SIM card slots Android 4.1.2 This phone is supposedly headed for China Telecom, although there has not been an official announcement. It’s definitely not designed for power users, but there is still a mark...

Google to Add Local News into Google Now?

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Google Now has successfully taken over our phones. Since Google Now was baked into Android 4.1 last year, I’ve found less and less reasons to install other apps like a weather app, or an app that shows me the scores of my favorite teams. Now there’s a report out that Google is testing a local news “card” for Google Now. Which as you all know, Google Now is on iOS and Android. Google Now sounds like a great product to add a local news “card” into because it always knows where you are. So if you travel to another city, it can show you whats going on around you. Currently, the beta test is not being disclosed but it being carried out solely within Google. It’s existence was revealed to Quartz last week when they interviewed Johanna Wright who is the Vice President of Search and Assist at Google. “One thing we’re testing right now is a very local hyper-local news card,” according to Wright. “Which is really useful – it tells me things about my neighborhood. For example, I found out Miss ...

Moto X, HTC One, Droid Mini, Droid Maxx, and Droid Ultra Launching Between 8/15 and 8/29

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So here we go with another leak roadmap from Verizon. This one shows a few devices including the HTC One, Moto X, DROID Mini, DROID Maxx and DROID Ultra. There’s also the LG Enact, which is said to be a basic phone. The folks from Droid-Life obtained the roadmap, which you can see the dates down below. New Device launch Schedule : HTC One – 8/15/13- Replacing DNA LG Enact- 8/15/13– Basic Phone Motorola X – 8/23/13– High end Smartphone Motorola Droid Ultra- 8/20/13– In store Launch Motorola Droid Maxx- 8/20/13– In store Launch Motorola Droid Mini- 8/29/13– In Store Launch So it appears that we are going to see the HTC One on August 15th, which we reported earlier today . Now the DROID Ultra and Maxx we already knew would be launched on 8/20. But the surprising thing here is the 8/29 launch of the DROID Mini. But probably the most important phone on that list is the Moto X launch on 8/23. We’ve heard that the Moto X might go on sale tomorrow after the announcement. But it looks like V...

More Apps Downloaded From Google Play Store, But iOS App Store Still Makes More Revenue

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According to a new report, the Google Play Store has surpassed Apple’s App Store in downloads for the first time ever. The report comes from App Annie , which looks at the latest download and revenue figures by stores, countries, and categories at the end of each revenue. With strong performances in India and Brazil, the Google Play Store’s total app downloads were higher than those from Apple’s iOS App Store in the second quarter of 2013. Despite this, though, Apple still managed to generate 2.3x the revenue with the App Store. According to App Annie, games continued to dominate the share of revenue for both app stores, and even more so for the Google Play Store, with 80% of revenues versus 75% on the App Store. Music and social networking apps also helped to fuel the App Store’s revenue, while communication app downloads came up to the second spot for Google Play downloads. Image Credit: Bizness Apps

UK soft drink maker Britvic dumps BlackBerry in favor of Windows Phone and Nokia

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Here’s another battle won by Windows Phone and Nokia as they battle it out in the smartphone wars. Britvic, a leading soft drink company in the UK, is dumping their BlackBerry devices and handing out Nokia devices for their employees. Few more details after the break.

Instagram makes more changes, restores Windows Phone third-party app posting privileges, for now

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Instagram has evidently made one more change, hopefully the last, to their API for publishing photos to the service. We can now confirm that users can upload to the network using third party apps like Instance , and that those photos are public ( unlike the last change ). That’s an improvement from yesterday, where posting was blocked only to return later, but with photos marked as ‘private’. At this point, it is unclear if Instagram is reversing course out of good will or if this was part of their plan, with the side effect of monkeying with third-party apps. Regardless, if you have Instance on your Windows Phone, you should be able to directly post without any compromises. No telling how long that will last though.

Samsung Trademarks 7 New Names – Interestingly None of them have “Galaxy” in Them

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Samsung has filed trademarks with the USPTO for seven new names. Samsung is looking to trademark the Samsung Micro, Mobile Samsung 5G, Samsung Fit, Samsung Expo, Samsung Go, Samsung Pro and the S MUSICIAN. Yes the S MUSICIAN is in all caps, sounds like a Verizon device, right? It’s pretty interesting to me to see that none of these devices are “Galaxy” or even “ATIV” devices which are their Android and Windows brands respectively. Now the Samsung 5G is probably for their 5G Network that they are reportedly working on. The Samsung Fit is probably a wearable like Fitbit’s devices and the Jawbone UP. Sounds about right, right? The S MUSICIAN sounds like a music device, maybe with Beats Audio built in? Or some crazy good headphones with it? Who knows. One thing is certain, Samsung is up to creating more devices, it just seems like they never stop. We’ll have to keep our eyes open to see what we can find out about these devices. Hopefully we’ll know more soon. But it’s still odd that thes...

Samsung Clarifies the Issues Regarding Overclocking the Galaxy S4 for Benchmarking

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On Tuesday, we ran a story (along with many other sites) that Samsung actually has the Galaxy S4 hard-coded to overclock the GPU when running a variety of Benchmarking apps. Like AnTuTu or Quadrant. Today, Samsung Electronics came out on their Samsung Tomorrow blog to clarify the issue. The company says that under ordinary conditions the Galaxy S4 was designed to run at a max of 533MHz for the GPU. But the max GPU frequency is lowered to 480MHz, for some gaming apps that may cause an overload on the device. The company also explains that running the GPU at a maximum of 533MHz is applicable for running apps that are usually used in full-screen mode, such as the S Browser, Gallery, Camera, Video Player, and some benchmarking apps. Samsung is stating that the Galaxy S4 has been given varying GPU clock speeds to provide optimal user experience for their customers. And is not to be gaming the benchmark scores, as we originally thought. So what do we think about this? Well it seems plaus...

Otterbox reveals protective case for Nokia Lumia 1020

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Smartphones are expensive investments, especially the high-end models. Anyone purchasing a new Windows Phone will want to care for it as if it were a living being, and cases are available to help prevent damage to a mobile device. While Nokia handsets are known for being built to survive nuclear fallout, even the Lumia 1020 needs some pampering here and there. Otterbox has unveiled a case for the new flagship Windows Phone.

Microsoft celebrates Outlook.com's first birthday since replacing Hotmail

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Microsoft is celebrating the birthday of Outlook.com , which turned one today. The new email service replaced Hotmail last year , offering a revamped user experience, as well as new features and integration with other Microsoft products. Being well-received, Microsoft has updated the service numerous times since launch, implementing fixes and improvements highlighted in consumer feedback.

JBQ from AOSP Talks about ETA’s “Don’t Ask”

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If you’ve been in the Android world as long as I have, then you know by now that there is one thing you don’t ask or. And that’s an ETA (Estimated time of Arrival). There’s one thing you don’t want to do and that’s rush developers into making a dead line. Then the proper testing doesn’t get done and you normally see bugs in the code, which make most people more upset. JBQ, or Jean-Baptiste Queru took to Google+ to talk about ETA’s on OTA’s and basically said don’t ask about them. As many of us know, Google does not send out the OTA for the Nexus family all at the same time. They need to stagger them throughout a time frame so that their servers don’t go down or have any other problems. In fact, it took me about 2 weeks to get the Android 4.2.2 update on my Nexus 7 (for Android 4.3 I just flashed the factory image). JBQ explains the deal with ETA’s on OTA’s: OTAs intentionally start very slowly, both in terms of numbers and in terms of timing. The goal is to try to identify catastrop...

The Moto X Will Have Oversampling Technology and 3D Audio Recording

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We’ve talked in length about the Moto X this past weeks and the device hasn’t even been announced yet. Rumor after rumor after rumor and so many leaks about its specs, its design, everything and one of the first specs to be leaked was the camera, a 10 megapixel ClearPixel camera, which now we know it exists because it’s in the Droid Maxx, Ultra and Mini recently introduced by Verizon recently. The Moto X camera should come with 1.4 micron sized pixels. This pixel size is larger than those found on the Samsung Galaxy S4 camera but smaller than the camera from the HTC One. A larger pixel size makes the sensor collect more light, giving the camera better low-light performance. That’s why the HTC One has a superb performance on low-light, but it has low detail because it’s only 4 megapixels, a 10 megapixel camera should have much better detail. Taylor Wimberly , a great source for rumors and leaks, is saying that the Moto X camera will use a similar technology than Nokia’s PureView techn...

Verizon Pushing the HTC One Launch back to August 15th

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Will Verizon ever release the HTC One? It looks like by the time they launch the device, it’ll be a year old. We had seen a roadmap that showed the HTC One launching on August 1st. Now the folks over at Droid Life have gotten an internal document that references the HTC One launch date has been moved. “HTC One Launch moved to 8/15″ at the bottom of the image shown above. We don’t know why Verizon is taking their sweet time with the HTC One. But we figure that they don’t care too much about the HTC One right now. Especially with their new DROID lineup, the Moto X and the Galaxy Note 3 coming in just a few months. Hopefully it’ll get released before the Galaxy Note 3 does. But at this point, who knows. The Verizon HTC One has already stopped by the FCC. So we are literally only waiting on the launch date for the HTC One on Verizon. We aren’t the only ones that have said this, and probably won’t be the last. But with the Moto X launch coming tomorrow, and it possibly going on sale the s...

Pantech Unveiling a 5.6-inch Snapdragon 800-Powered Phone on August 5th?

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Pantech is probably not a company you’re familiar with. I’ve only heard of them creating mid-range and low-end devices here in the US. But Pantech is working to be a big competitor for Samsung and LG. Since Pantech is another Korean manufacturer. According to DDaily , the Korean manufacturer is getting ready to announce a new phone on August 5th. It’ll be a 5.6-inch 1080p display and powered by a Snapdragon 800 processor. This might be the first device I’m excited about from Pantech. Judging by the images above and below , it appears that this device is going to feature LTE-A or LTE Advanced. Which is the next generation in LTE evolution. But it’s not available anywhere in the US just yet. Pantech doesn’t normally launch many phones here in the US, so I’m hoping they bring this one over to the US. It’ll be a good choice on T-Mobile and AT&T. Not sure it’d sell as much as the Galaxy S4, but it will definitely sell well here in the US. This Pantech device looks to have a rather b...

UK Government Bans Google Glass Behind The Wheel

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The UK government has banned drivers from using Google Glass behind the wheel , rendering the device useless for driving directions. The government wants to make sure that drivers are focusing their full attention on the road, not on a digital device. The ban looks to treat Google Glass like a mobile phone, a device that was ruled illegal behind the wheel in the UK in 2003. Using Google Glass or a mobile phone on the road will give you three points on your license and a £60 fine. The UK Department of Transportation told Stuff Magazine the following: It is important that drivers give their full attention to the road when they are behind the wheel and do not behave in a way that stops them from observing what is happening on the road. I have mixed feelings about this ruling. While I do agree that Google Glass is completely hands-free and safer than a smartphone when driving, it can do more than just give directions. For instance, a driver may want to check his texts while driving on a co...

Camera+ Updated WIth New Filters, Layered Effects

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Tap Tap Tap, the developers behind Camera+, has announced details of Camera+’s next update and released it into the App Store. The app now allows you to stack filters and rearrange the order of these affects. This means that you will be able to use two or more filters of your choice in the same photo. You can manually adjust the intensity of each filter, giving you total control. Camera+ also offers pre-made filter packs for inspiration and ease of use. All filters will be applied dynamically, meaning that you can fine-tune your image and see the tweaks in a live view. Camera+ has also added a few more effects to its catalog. The Hollywood FX pack, a new $0.99 in-app purchase, has brought nine new filters to the app. Some of these include Gotham, Home Movie, and Neo. If you’re into movies, the Hollywood FX pack is likely worth the price. Camera+ is one of the best camera apps on the iTunes App Store. It offers tons of customizable camera options: from filters, to front flash, to an aw...

The death of privacy: The internet is always watching, and it never forgets - Talk Mobile

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Our smartphones and tablets are increasingly becoming repositories of our personal information. It's a treasure trove of data that could be used to build a frighteningly complete picture of you as a person. It's more than just your contacts, calendar, memos, and photos - it's your web history, your calls and text messages, your banking data and social network logins. People say "my whole life is on my phone", and while that hopefully isn't entirely true (time to reevaluate your priorities if it is), an increasingly large portion of our lives - or at least the data that comprises it - is finding residence on these devices. So just how are we going about keeping it all secure? How do we deal with the threat of the less-than-thoughtful people around us, let alone the government's intrusions? How do we keep our devices and the accounts on them secured? And how do we train our children, the ones that are growing up in a world where ubiquitous internet is a f...

Nokia Lumia 1020 polycarb replacement shell shows up on eBay in all three colors

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While the Nokia Lumia 1020 ’s design is one of their most solid yet, with a smooth, matte polycarbonate shell, there’s still the off chance you may drop and ding up your 41MP camera phone. Luckily for you there may be a way out, assuming you have some technical savvy. On eBay, a seller has posted for sale the Lumia 1020 body/shell for replacement. The item goes for a fair-priced $30 and is available in black, white and yellow, meaning in theory you could swap out one color for the next (though no matching SIM door is included). The seller is based out of China and has a 99.5% reputation on the auction site.

Samsung releases MangaCamera and Paper Artist for Windows Phone

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Samsung is an interesting Windows Phone OEM and has shown support for Microsoft and its mobile platform, as well as proving to be distant enough to focus on its Android products. Today we've learnt of two new exclusive apps the company has released for its Windows Phone hardware. MangaCamera and Paper Artist are now available for those who own Samsung Windows Phones.

So long SkyDrive, Microsoft required to change name after trademark dispute

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SkyDrive, most of you use it daily and love it. It’s the cloud service from Microsoft that offers storage to your files anywhere and anyhow. If you’re using Windows 8 or Windows Phone it’s also the service that backs up a lot of your settings to create a coherent experience. Unfortunately, you won’t be calling it SkyDrive for much longer.

Nokia overhauls Glam Me self-shot app with loads of new features

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We’re not entirely into the idea of “selfies” aka the practice of photographing yourself and posting it to social networks, but we know many people are these days. Nokia released their Glam Me app earlier this year after a Mobile World Congress announcement for this exact purpose, hopefully appealing to the youth crowd. The app is for taking self-shots but it has the added bonus of an onboard editor for making your face all pretty-like. Nokia just pushed out version 1.5.5.12 of the app today and boy did it get a makeover itself. The app now has numerous new features that are really interesting, even if you have no plans for a “selfie” anytime soon.

Getting Spam On iMessage? You Can Now Report It To Apple

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While I’ve personally never received any iMessage spam, it seems as though for some it’s an annoying issue. Thankfully, Apple has now added a support page on its site where you can report those pesky spammers that have been making your phone unwillingly play its tri-tone sound. Apple asks that if you’ve been receiving spam, to e-mail the company at imessage.spam@icloud.com with the following information: 1. Include a screenshot of the message you have received. 2. Include the full email address or phone number you received the unwanted message from. 3. Include the date and time that you received the message. It’s an interesting time for Apple to implement the support option, seeing as how iOS 7 will be bringing a block feature to iMessage. If you can’t wait that long, however, send Apple an e-mail and perhaps they’ll send their goons after that annoying spammer for you.

Microsoft Forced To Rename SkyDrive After Trademark Case

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Microsoft has been forced to rename SkyDrive, it’s cloud storage service, after a lawsuit with British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB). A UK court has ruled that Microsoft was indeed infringing on trademark owned by the broadcasting company. Microsoft has decided to not appeal the ruling, and will indeed change the name of the service. The court has stated that Microsoft will be given “a reasonable period of time to allow for an orderly transition to a new brand.” Microsoft released the following statement to The Verge on the suit: We’re glad to have resolution of this naming dispute, and will continue to deliver the great service our hundreds of millions of customers expect, providing the best way to always have your files with you. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Microsoft have trademark issues in Europe. German Metro AG almost took Microsoft to court after it started to use the term “Metro” to describe Windows 8′s tile interface. Microsoft ended up changing the name accordingl...

Rumor: Nokia’s next launch event will be September 26-27th; Windows tablet in bound?

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Windows Phone Central has learned that Nokia is not planning on slowing down anytime soon with a new company event supposedly set for 60 days from now. It’s not a 100% clear either if this is a public press event or something else. Scheduled for September 26-27th in New York City, details remain scarce as to exactly what would be shown to the public, though if we had to speculate it would be a Nokia tablet. Nokia traditionally has only reserved the New York City location for major US launches, including the recent Lumia 920 and Lumia 1020. Smaller launches that are non-US focused usually take place in London or more rarely, industry conferences like CES.

Apple Hiring Dozens More “Ground Truth” Employees To Improve Maps

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A while back you may remember that Apple was looking to hire what it calls “Ground Truth Experts”, employees that are tasked with improving and ensuring the most accurate Maps information for their local area. Well now it seems like the company is making another big push for ensuring its Maps app is accurate, as the company has just posted 30 new job openings for Ground Truth Experts around the world. The job openings range from Tokyo, to Paris, to Seoul, to Amsterdam, to Los Angeles, and all look for people that are familiar with their location and that would be able to help improve that region’s mapping information. Here is the complete job description for one of the openings: The Maps team is looking for people with a passion for mapping, great testing skills, and deep regional knowledge to help us build better and better maps. In this position, you will be responsible for the quality assessment of Apple Maps for your region, including both data and map services. You will monitor c...

Surface Case Reviews: MiniSuit Classic Flip Case and Classic Stand Case for Surface RT and Pro

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We promised you more accessory reviews for the Microsoft Surface, and we intend to deliver. A growing number of accessory manufacturers sell cases for either version of the Surface. Some users will balk since the Surface is one beautiful tablet on its own, but other users just want to protect their devices as much as possible. Enter MiniSuit, who produces a handful of cases and screen protectors for Microsoft’s premiere tablets. Today we look at two of those cases. The Classic Flip Case protects the Surface RT tablet, while the Classic Stand Case Cover shelters the Surface Pro. Both cases come in any color you want – as long as it’s black. Head past the break for our complete review of both cases with video!

Microsoft Office Now Available for Android Smartphones

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While Microsoft is obviously looking for their Windows Phone platform to take off, it’s clear that they’ve realized that to “go mobile” they need to develop apps for both Android and iOS. Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a number of different Microsoft apps make their way to Android. From the Xbox Live app , to the strange on{x} to even a port of the Kinectimals game that made the Kinect so popular. Now, it’s finally the turn of Microsoft Office, the Office Suite we all love to hate, and one that some of us can’t avoid having to use. If you were hoping that there was finally an office suite worth downloading on Android, you might want to hold your horses. The app is only available to those that have an Office 365 account and so, this is not just another app download. By all means go ahead and sign-up for Office 365 but, it’s not a viable option just to get access to this app. It costs (for a home account) $99 a year, although there is a free trial in the US. Meanwhile, the ...

Facebook Sex App “Bang With Friends” Sued By Zynga Over Name

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Perhaps you’ve heard of Bang With Friends? The Facebook app that lets you anonymously mark down which of your Facebook friends you want to “bang”, and that then notifies the two of you that you share a mutual desire. Well Zynga’s not too happy about the app’s use of its “with friends” tagline, which Zynga uses in the title for games such as “Words With Friends” and “Running With Friends”. Zynga has sued the app’s developers “Bang With Friends Inc.”, stating that the company “selected the name ‘Bang With Friends’ for its casual sex matchmaking app with Zynga’s game trademarks fully in mind.” In other words, Zynga thinks that the company simply stole the “with friends” name to try and ride the fame that Zynga had created for it. “We heard through media reports that Zynga has filed a trademark infringement claim with respect to the ‘with friends’ part of our name,” Bang With Friends told the BBC. “As a technology company, we take intellectual property seriously, and will evaluate the cas...

Google To Take Over All 7,000 Free Starbucks HotSpot Locations

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While we recently heard that Google plans to start offering free Wi-Fi at parks across San Francisco, the company is now set to bring its gift of Wi-Fi to Starbucks across the U.S. Google announced today that it will become the exclusive Wi-fi provider for all 7,000 Starbucks locations across the US. Coffee shop + Internet—it’s a pairing that many us have come to rely on. WiFi access makes work time, downtime, travel time and lots of in-between times more enjoyable and productive. That’s why we’re teaming up with Starbucks to bring faster, free WiFi connections to all 7,000 company-operated Starbucks stores in the United States over the next 18 months. When your local Starbucks WiFi network goes Google, you’ll be able to surf the web at speeds up to 10x faster than before. If you’re in a Google Fiber city, we’re hoping to get you a connection that’s up to 100x faster. Expect to see Starbucks locations start to change their Wi-Fi network names to “Google Starbucks” beginning in August...

Deal: Get CrossOver And 7 Other Great Mac Apps For Over 80% Off

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The Mac Variety Bundle 4.0 has 8 great Mac apps that will hugely improve how you use your computer. Buy it for CrossOver Mac 12 and love it for the other 7 apps that you’ll wonder how you ever lived without. Here are the apps that are included in the bundle: CrossOver Mac 12 – CrossOver allows you to install many popular Windows applications on your Mac. Your applications integrate seamlessly in OS X; just click and run. No rebooting, no switching to a virtual machine, and no Windows Operating System license required. iTeleport: VNC & RDP – Teleport yourself to your computer from anywhere in the world. iTeleport gives you full control of your computer’s mouse, touchpad, and keyboard, and provides a rich visual display of your computer screens without any screen resolution limit. Mac Data Recovery Guru – Mac Data Recovery Guru is the most modern, the most technologically advanced, and the easiest to use Mac data recovery software available. Sparkbox – Sparkbox helps you manage i...

BBC News Mobile updated with closure warning; check out the beta for Paper Boy

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BBC News Mobile for Windows Phone has been bumped to version 4.1, which we believe to be a minor update to alert consumers that the app will be shutting down soon due to the entanglement with the BBC. Developer Lawrence Gripper has published a public beta for a new app to take BBC News Mobile's place, called Paper Boy. When launching BBC News Mobile after updating, a warning screen (pictured above) is displayed, linking to the Paper Boy beta.

HP Is Entering The Android Hybrid Market With The SlateBook x2

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We’ve already covered the announcement of the SlateBook x2 , but now it has appeared on HP’s site if you want to check it out, with an actual price tag, release date and the full spec sheet. Even if Hewlett-Packard is trying to make this new device as a brand new idea with a selling line like “100% notebook, 100% tablet, 100% Android” the fact is that HP is entering the hybrid tablet business late, with ASUS being the dominant player with its Transformer line and Samsung only having the Ativ Q, a Windows/Android dual OS hybrid. The SlateBook x2 appears very attractive on paper with a Tegra 4 processor at 1.8 GHz, a 10.1 inch 1920 x 1200 LED screen and 2GB of RAM, but we all know that there’s much more to a device than the numbers, specially if that device is a tablet and even more if its a hybrid, there’s so much stuff to consider like materials, keyboard quality, software optimization and so much more than the specs. Don’t get me wrong, these specs are great even for 2013, all I’m ...

Ugh, You Can Already Go On Amazon And Buy An iPhone 5C Case

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You’ve likely heard by now about the iPhone 5c, the rumored name for Apple’s expected lower cost plastic iPhone. Well even though Apple has yet to officially announce a cheaper plastic iPhone, and even though it likely won’t be announced for a while to come (if at all), you can now go on Amazon to order a case for the mythical device. The case is produced by Elago and is set to ship around August 26th. It’s currently selling for $24.99 and comes in white, black, and indigo. Its August 26th release date puts it a couple weeks ahead of the iPhone 5C’s anticipated anticipated September launch. Here is the product’s official description: Our new S5C Slim Fit 2 case for the iPhone 5C lets you protect and cover your phone in style! The case was molded to fit perfectly and allows easy, full access to all buttons and ports on your device. Our Slim Fit 2 cases are specially coated to reduce the amount of scratches, oil, and dirt residue left on your phone, all while improving grip quality. The ...