A Finnish woman turned up at Microsoft offices demanding help after a Windows 10 update rendered her computer useless.
Microsoft has come under fire for how aggressively it pushes users of older versions of Windows to upgrade to its shiny new Windows 10 consumer operating system. Some even go as far as to accuse the Redmond-based giant of deception. When users do decide to give in to the constant nagging and upgrade, they would hope for a painless transition but that hasn't always been the case.
In Finland, one lady turned up at Microsoft offices demanding to be helped after a botched attempted update from Windows 7 to Windows 10. According to reports out of Finland, she even threatened to sue the company if she wasn't helped.
Leena Aro's attempted upgrade to Windows 10 resulted in nothing more than a black screen with a spinning circle that never moved on to anything else. After failing to restore her PC to Windows 7, Aro had enough and decided to confront someone at Microsoft. Aro is a photographer and had thousands of images stored on her PC that she was naturally concerned about.
"On Monday, I went to their offices. Surprisingly, they allowed me in, when I threatened to sue them," she said, according to digitoday.fi.
According to Sony, as May 22nd there have been over 40 million PlayStation 4 units sold, making it easily the best-selling console of the current generation.
Sony also says the console is the fastest-selling in PlayStation history, which is certainly an interesting note given how many Sony PS2 and PS3 consoles sold over time.
In addition, 271 million games have been sold for the PS4, including physical copies and digital downloads.
"We are truly grateful for the enormous support from our fans and partners across the globe, which helped us achieve this significant milestone in such a short span of time," said Andrew House, President and Global CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. "We will strive to deliver even more exciting gaming experiences to our users, further driving the momentum and accelerating the expansion of the PS4 platform and its business this fiscal year by offering an unparalleled line-up of games, bringing our virtual reality system, PlayStation VR, to market and providing ground-breaking features and network services."
Microsoft has announced plans to streamline its smartphone business, trimming more than 1,850 jobs mostly in Finland.
Having completed the purchase of Nokia's handset only a couple of years ago, Microsoft now plans to drastically trim its smartphone business with the loss of around 1,850 jobs worldwide. Approximately 1,350 of these jobs are located in Finland, where Microsoft plans to shut its research and development site in Tampere.
The Redmond-based firm bought Nokia's once-dominant handset unit for $7.2 billion in 2014.
"We are focusing our phone efforts where we have differentiation -- with enterprises that value security, manageability and our Continuum capability, and consumers who value the same," said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft.
"We will continue to innovate across devices and on our cloud services across all mobile platforms."
Microsoft will continue to support its Lumia smartphones and the development of Windows 10 Mobile, but its unclear whether it will develop new phones.
The firm will write down $950 million due to these changes, of which approximately $200 million will relate to severance payments.
Netflix has unveiled a new exclusive pay TV deal that will bring extra Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm content to the streaming giant starting in September.
The company also showed off their summer catalog additions, including some films that they claim are exclusive for streaming services:
Last week we reported that an unknown Chinese company was looking to buy SoftBank's majority share in Finnish gaming giant Supercell, and it appears that that unknown company was actually Tencent.
The talks remain in early stages, but it is clear that Tencent is very interested in the company behind Clash of Clans, Boom Beach and Clash Royale.
Supercell has an estimated value as high as $5.25 billion. According to the reports, Alibaba tried to buy the stake last year, but the two companies could not agree on the price.
Tencent recently flew their president out to meet Supercell's founders, who have ultimate veto authority on any acquisition, but it is reported that the founders (still based in Finland) prefer SoftBank since the carrier has given Supercell complete autonomy.
Despite that hurdle, there are clear synergies for a merger. Tencent owns Riot Games, the maker of "League of Legends," an extremely popular desktop game, and has stakes in Glu Mobile and Pocket Gems, as well.
According to the most recent StatCounter figures, Firefox has surpassed Internet Explorer/Edge in market share for the first time ever, although all three browsers still have nothing on Google's Chrome.
For desktop web traffic, Firefox now has 15.6 percent share compared to Internet Explorer and Edge at a combined 15.5 percent. Chrome remains the big dog at 60.5 percent, with the rest of the traffic (8.4 percent) coming through other browsers but mainly Safari and Opera.
Not all is lost for Microsoft, however, as StatCounter notes that IE/Edge remain well ahead of Firefox in both the U.S. and the UK, two of the world's largest PC markets.
Apple has announced the opening of a new office in Hyderabad, India, a move that will create up to 4000 new jobs in the country.
The office will focus on the development of Maps across all iOS products, including expansions of features like 3D views, Flyover and Transit.
"Apple is focused on making the best products and services in the world and we are thrilled to open this new office in Hyderabad which will focus on Maps development," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "The talent here in the local area is incredible and we are looking forward to expanding our relationships and introducing more universities and partners to our platforms as we scale our operations."
"We are honored Apple chose Hyderabad as a home for its Maps development office," added Telangana Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao. "This will create thousands of jobs here and is a testament to our proactive approach, quality infrastructure and the excellent talent base we have in the region."
Google has unveiled Android Instant Apps, a potentially killer project that lets users launch apps without installation required.
The company says Instant Apps is ideal for those who visit a place infrequently or use a service infrequently and don't want to download and waste space with the app for a one-and-done situation.
An app will likely offer a better experience compared to a full or mobile site when on your phone, and when you close an Instant App, it is gone from your phone, although technically it will remain in your web cache until it is cleared out.
If you love the app, you can actually download the full installation by clicking "Install" in the top right-hand side of the Instant App.
For developers, it is a win-win. "It's the same Android APIs, the same source code, the same project," Android Instant Apps product management director Michael Siliski said. "In fact, it's taken some developers as little as a day to get up and running." Of course, the developers will have to work on editing the app so only necessary bits are downloaded for "Instant," but for some apps that will likely not be an issue given their low complexity. There is one restriction, however. All modules for Instant Apps must be 4MB or less, replicating an average web page.
According to the WSJ, Verizon and other bidders for Yahoo are expected to bid under $3 billion for the core assets of the once tech giant, much lower than Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's initial hopes for up to $10 billion.
Verizon is the front-runner in the bidding process, although a number of private-equity buyers are said to be interested, including Warren Buffet and Dan Gilbert.
Yahoo has set a deadline for the first week of June for the upcoming round of bids, and it could end up being the final round if the deals are sweet enough. Regardless, the buyer of Yahoo is buying a business in decline, with revenue and profits falling quarter after quarter with no end in sight. In fact, quarterly revenue fell below $1 billion for the first time since 2011 in the most recent quarter.
Health and fitness wearables giant Fitbit has announced the acquisition of Coin, the one-time Kickstarter darling that offered smart payment products including a connected card that could hold all of your different credit card information.
Says Fitbit of the acquisition: "This acquisition is indicative of Fitbit's commitment to innovation, which centers on making connected health and fitness devices that are motivating, smart, and stylish."
The company acquired all of Coin's wearables payment platform IP as well as employees but does not include the actual credit card hardware, like the Coin 2.0.
"We are focused on making wearable devices that motivate people to reach their health and fitness goals, and that also make their lives easier with the smart features they need most," said James Park, CEO and co-founder of Fitbit. "Coin has been one of the key innovators in advanced payment solutions. The inclusion of their payment technology into our offerings will further our strategy of making Fitbit products an indispensable part of people's lives."
Philips has unveiled their first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player, the BDP7501/301.
The player will be available for $400 starting next month in two colors, brushed aluminum and piano black.
Philips' latest has Dolby TrueHD Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio support, HDR video support, a second HDMI-out for audio receivers and the ability to stream 4K from Netflix and YouTube right out of the box.
Right now, the Philips BDP7501/301 is just the second UHD Blu-ray player on the market, joining Samsung's UBD-K8500 which sells for the same price with similar features.
Nokia has confirmed they are laying off another 1032 employees, this time in Finland, and across all business divisions.
Many expect the layoffs are part of a much larger move as Nokia tries to cut $1 billion in expenses by 2018 following their recent merger with Alcatel-Lucent.
Nokia's feature phone business, sold to Microsoft and recently sold again to Foxconn, was once the bread and butter of the company which has now become a networking tech giant.
According to Nomura Securities analysts, Sony has been struggling to meet supply needs for their dual camera systems, forcing Apple to order from LG for at least a portion of the upcoming iPhone 7 order.
Says Nomura: "We think Sony may not be able to deliver its full share of dual cameras to Apple due to: (1) lower-than-expected yield, and (2) damage to its production facility from the April earthquake in Kumamoto. As a result, we think LGI will gain majority share of the initial dual camera orders from Apple."
Sony, for its part, has confirmed the earthquake has left significant damage and delays at some of their facilities including those that build image sensors.
Nomura also expects the iPhone 7 to add optical image stabilization and new dual camera system.
According to sources, Apple is working on allowing you to use your phone's Touch ID fingerprint sensor to unlock your Mac computer.
The update could come as soon as OS X 10.12, and is certainly a nice feature for those that also have an iPhone, although anyone who doesn't will be waiting for a Mac with a hardware sensor or some other fix.
Bluetooth LE will have to be enabled on both devices, and will be similar to the "smart unlock" feature of the Apple Watch.
Many expect that the new unlocking feature will also work "hand-in-hand" with the rumored upcoming web browser support of Apple Pay.
Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi has confirmed it will add a drone to its widening range of products, with the hardware launching next week.
The company has teased a May 25th press event for its new Mi Drone, but there are very scant details otherwise.
Xiaomi has only said there is "something wonderful and cool is flying to us very soon."
The company, known for its powerful yet highly affordable smartphones in China, recently announced a massive 6.44-inch phablet, a 4K-supporting set-top box with Android TV, and a VR phone that will support Google's Daydream tech, suggesting a big year of expansion.
According to IDC, Google's line of Chromebooks outsold Apple Macs for the first time ever, in the U.S.
"Chrome OS overtook Mac OS in the US in terms of shipments for the first time in 1Q16," says IDC analyst Linn Huang. "Chromebooks are still largely a US K-12 story."
What Huang means is that schools and students continue to buy Chromebooks, which are normally a tenth of the price of Macs, given their solid feature set and Google's programs for educators.
IDC estimated U.S. Mac shipments at around 1.76 million in the most recent quarter, and Chromebook shipments at close to 2 million.
Netflix has launched a rival to Speedtest.net, a simple site that shows you fast your Internet connection is.
Head over to Fast.com and the site will calculate your download speeds, the determining factor in how solid your video quality is when streaming from Netflix.
That's it.
Netflix does note that if your Netflix streaming experience is not optimal but your speeds are fast, then your ISP may be throttling your connection.
Google has announced this week that the Google Play Store is headed to Chrome as Android and Chrome continue to merge.
Said the company earlier: "Today we announced that we're adding the best mobile app experiences in the world, Android apps and the Google Play store, to the best browser in the world, Chrome! Come to this session and test your Android apps for Chrome OS. You will get hands-on help from our friendly engineers on how to optimize your Android app for Chromebooks. Oh, and we will also be giving the first 50 developers to show up a free Chromebook so they can get a head start bringing their apps to Chrome!"
For now, it seems like Google will be testing the store with devs before going live but the move is certainly an interesting development in Google's ongoing goals to merge Chrome and Android into one operating system.
Uber has unveiled their first self-driving car, a hybrid Ford Fusion that will drive around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the coming weeks.
The car "will be collecting mapping data as well as testing its self-driving capabilities. When it's in self-driving mode, a trained driver will be in the driver's seat monitoring operations. The Uber ATC car comes outfitted with a variety of sensors including radars, laser scanners, and high resolution cameras to map details of the environment," adds the company.
"Real-world testing is critical to our efforts to develop self-driving technology. Self-driving cars have the potential to save millions of lives and improve quality of life for people around the world. 1.3 million people die every year in car accidents -- 94% of those accidents involve human error,"notes Uber. "In the future we believe this technology will mean less congestion, more affordable and accessible transportation, and far fewer lives lost in car accidents. These goals are at the heart of Uber's mission to make transportation as reliable as running water -- everywhere and for everyone."
Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi has unveiled a 4K Android TV-powered set-top box called the Mi Box.
The Mi Box supports 4K UHD content, as well as HDR, and will have standard options like Netflix and Hulu as well as updated native Android TV apps like Watch ESPN, Comedy Central and Spotify.
Xiaomi's latest sports a Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU, a Mali 450 GPU, 2GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, a USB port, HDMI 2.0a, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS Surround Sound support.
Additionally, the set-top will have Google Cast support, allowing you to mirror your phone, tablet and desktop to the big screen.
Finally, Xiaomi will ship the device with a Bluetooth remote that includes voice search capability.
Google used their developer conference to show off some new feature for the upcoming Android N operating system.
The company released a developer preview earlier this year and has been furiously updating since, significantly improving the graphics and runtime. Google says the compiler for Android N is up to 75 percent faster than previous operating systems, and Google also notes that the space required for app installations has been reduced significantly, as well.
In the multitasking menu, Google will cap the visible windows at just 7 (thank you, Google) and there will now be a "Clear All" button to dismiss all your active apps at once rather than sliding manually.
Google has also promised split-screen and picture-in-picture modes, allowing you to slide videos to the corner while you write your emails, for example. This will make your Android tablet more useful certainly, but it probably won't be too effective on your phone.
Most notable, however, is the addition of a VR Mode as part of the larger Google "Daydream" VR project. Google also has content partnerships with HBO, Netflix, Hulu, CNN, the NBA, the Wall Street Journal, IMAX and the New York Times.
Microsoft has announced that it is selling their entry level feature phone assets to Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile for $350 million.
Additionally, FIH Mobile has also acquired Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, the company's manufacturing facility in Hanoi.
When the deal closes, 4500 employees will have the opportunity to transfer to the new company.
Microsoft says it will continue to support Lumia phones and support Windows 10 Mobile moving forward even though the company has not released a new device in months.
The FBI has been trying to subpoena one of Tor's core software developers to testify in a federal hacking investigation, but the developer Isis Lovecruft has left the U.S. for Germany.
Lovecruft says she fears that the FBI will force or coerce her into undermining the Tor network, thus exposing Tor users who legitimately use the network to protect their identities. "I was worried they'd ask me to do something that hurts innocent people -- and prevent me from telling people it's happening," she added.
Reportedly, FBI Special Agent Mark W. Burnett left a card for Lovecruft at her parent's home while she was on vacation and the agency then refused to talk to her with her attorney present. Lovecruft then began to fear what the FBI wanted with her knowledge of Tor's inner workings: "That would undermine all the work that we do to protect human rights activists, women researching birth control... all these people need privacy. They need what Tor provides," she said. "I would not undermine that."
Lovecruft then flew to Germany, where she had been planning to move in the future and now expects to stay. She still doesn't have an official word from the FBI on what they need from her. "I don't know what they want. I don't know what happens to me if I go back."
Amazon has added "Alexa" features to its popular Fire TV ser-top box, giving users the ability to launch apps, movies, shows and more using the Alexa voice-activated personal assistant.
"Customers have told us they love having the convenience of Alexa on their Amazon Fire TV," said Tim Twerdahl, General Manager, Amazon Fire TV. "We're excited to add new Alexa features to Fire TV, making it easier than ever to enjoy their favorite TV shows, movies, and apps."
Amazon says Fire TV owners now have the "ability to control playback of Amazon Video and Add-On Subscription content, launch apps, access local movie show times, search local businesses and restaurants, and more--all just by using your voice."
Voice search has also been integrated throughout all of Amazon's "59 content partners including Hulu, Showtime, Starz, HBO Go and more."
Fire TV owners can expect the OTA update in the coming weeks.
Nokia announced that it has licensed its brand exclusively for next 10 years to be used in mobile phones and tablets, globally, by HMD Global Oy.
HMD Global is a recently founded company with its sole purpose to use Nokia's brand in mobile phones and tablets. HMD will pay Nokia royalties and license fees for every device sold under Nokia brand. Company has also made an offer for Microsoft to sub-license Microsoft's current rights to use Nokia in cheap, basic functionality phones. The offer for basic phone brand licensing is expected to happen in H2, 2016.
If these deals both emerge, HMD would be the sole company allowed to use Nokia's brand in mobile phone and tablet business. HMD plans to invest more that 500 million dollars to marketing and advertising of Nokia-branded devices over the next three years.
"Nokia branded basic phones are still among the most popular phones in several markets. HMD will continue to market these phones as part of its integrated mobile phone portfolio that will also include smartphones and tables", Nokia says.
HMD plans to use Android as its operating system for Nokia-branded smartphones and tablets. Nokia doesn't own shares of HMD, but will receive a seat in HMD's board.
Apple has updated iTunes this week with an all-new design and a patch for a glitch that was deleting user's music files from their computers.
The problem, although rare, had some devastating consequences for users. One musician reported 122GB of music (including original tracks) disappearing without his permission. Apple responded to the growing amount of complaints, stating: "In an extremely small number of cases users have reported that music files saved on their computer were removed without their permission. We're taking these reports seriously as we know how important music is to our customers and our teams are focused on identifying the cause. We have not been able to reproduce this issue, however, we're releasing an update to iTunes early next week which includes additional safeguards."
iTunes update 12.4 should correct the issue although Apple has confirmed they were not able to reproduce the music deletion glitch during their own internal testing, begging the question of what the patch will actually do.
According to reports, SVOD services operating in the EU including Netflix will likely be subject to European content quotas moving forward.
European Commission VP Andrus Ansip says that there needs to be a more level playing field between the streaming companies and TV providers that have to show a mandated percentage of European-originated programming.
The quota would be for streaming content and for the material marketed on each site's home pages.
It is expected that the European Commission will require at least 20 percent European-originated programming for the SVOD providers.
If we are lucky, there could be movies coming soon featuring Nintendo's legendary characters.
Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima confirmed rumors and says the gaming giant is in talks with production companies to expand their video content business, including the possibility of movies.
"We're talking with various partners. I think we'll be able to decide something in the not-too-distant future," Kimishima said, adding that projects would be slated for the next 1-5 years.
Nintendo has been expanding its operations recently, as console sales for the Wii U have lagged significantly. Nintendo recently expanded into mobile gaming and is working with NBCU to develop theme park attractions.
The last time Nintendo licensed their characters for a live-action film was in 1993 for the historically bad "Super Mario" movie.
The BBC has been given the green light by the British government to start a new subscription streaming service that will rival Netflix in the nation.
Currently, the project is codenamed "Britflix" (we hope that changes eventually) and it is expected to be a collaboration between BBC and commercial rival ITV.
The new service would be delivered through the company's popular iPlayer and besides ITV, NBC Universal and Carnival Films are expected to provide content for the fledgling service.
According to multiple sources, Amazon is looking to expand its private-label brands to include household items and perishable food including nuts, coffee, baby food, and diapers.
The rollout is expected in the coming weeks and will be available to Prime subscribers.
Reportedly, some of the new brands are called Happy Belly, Wickedly Prime, and Mama Bear. Happy Belly will be the brand for nuts, trail mix, teas, and cooking oils and Wickedly Prime will include snack foods. Mama bear will be the brand for baby products like diapers and baby-safe detergent.
Most expect the Amazon brands to undercut major brands in price, and with free Prime shipping, the products could certainly gain a cult following.
Didi Chuxing, China's leading ride-hailing app company, has denied it plans to go public in the U.S. next year.
Multiple sources reported yesterday that the Uber rival was preparing to IPO in the U.S. in the next 18 months following a large fundraising campaign that included Apple's recent $1 billion investment.
"We currently have no IPO plan, so there's no point of talking about location or schedule," a spokesperson for Didi said in an announcement today, shutting down any talks of an IPO (for now).
Didi currently leads Uber in China, and the company claims 14 million drivers and 300 million active users. Didi offers taxi service, private cars, bus services and more.
Twitter has finally addressed a long-standing user complaint and will no longer count photos or links as characters against your 140-character limit.
Previously, even shortened links took up as much as 23 characters, leaving even less space for your messages and text.
According to the sources, the change could take place by the end of the month although Twitter has not officially announced it.
The underlying goal appears to be to encourage users to add more media to their posts, especially during live events. Twitter itself has also been pushing for more original video content and having users reshare that content will be paramount.
Microsoft has confirmed this weekend that the Xbox One's backwards compatibility has now added support for multi-disc games starting with "Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut."
"We know fans were asking for this feature and our engineers worked hard developing a solution to enable it so we could further expand the titles included in Xbox One Backward Compatibility," an Xbox spokesperson said. "We're continuing to listen to our fans on Xbox Feedback and work with our publishing partners to grow out library of Xbox One Backward Compatibility titles and will work to include more multi-disc games."
Earlier in the day, Xbox spokesperson Major Nelson confirmed the news, as well. "I can confirm that the BC team has done work to support multi-disc scenarios," he wrote. "Be sure to thank the BC engineers."
Just two months after launching voice call functionality to the app, WhatsApp now appears to be testing video calling.
The latest beta for Android (v2.16.80) now shows the option for video calls, although the functionality is still not active.
Most likely, the feature will be activated server-side in the next update, or the feature can be rolled out in waves like past features have been including voice calling.
Some lucky users were actually able to complete a call, although it is unclear how. Here is one example:
According to Adobe's Google I/O Digital Index Report, iOS users are increasingly moving from Safari to Chrome for their browsing needs.
"iPhone users have to go out of their way to download the Chrome browser," said Adam Lloyd, an Adobe Digital Index (ADI) analyst. "The fact that people are actually doing so is a sign that Chrome offers an experience consumers are interested in."
After review of 600 billion site visits from mobile devices between January 2015 and March 2016, Chrome usage grew 77 percent year-over-year on Android smartphones and by 20 percent on iPhones.
ADI says users found Chrome but easier to use, and faster, than alternatives.
According to prominent smartphone industry leaker Evan Blass aka @evleaks, Lenovo will release two models of the next Moto G phone.
We recently saw some FCC filings that alluded to two sizes for the Moto G, and Blass' recent leak seems to confirm it.
There will be a "regular" sized phone in addition to a "Plus" sized model, with the larger phone having a physical home button. There is little else confirmed for now, but expect Lenovo to release the devices by the end of the summer.
Nokia has released their financial earnings report for the first quarter, posting a huge €613 million net loss.
During the quarter, the company completed its €15.6 billion acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent and also had significant goodwill impairment charges and restructuring costs.
"I am pleased that we were able to deliver solid profitability in what is typically a seasonally weak quarter, and at a time when the risk of integration-related disruption was high," said Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri. "While our revenue decline was disappointing, the shortfall was largely driven by Mobile Networks, where the challenging environment is not a surprise."
In the coming years, Nokia will reduce costs with some layoffs and more cost-cutting measures expected to save the company €900 million moving forward. "The headcount reductions are expected to take place between now and the end of 2018, consistent with Nokia's synergy target timeline," said Nokia. "Reductions will come largely in areas where there are overlaps ... As part of the program, Nokia also continues to target savings in real estate, services, procurement, supply chain, and manufacturing."
According to sources, Japanese carrier SoftBank is looking to sell their stake in Finnish gaming giant Supercell after seeing significant interest in the company.
It appears the potential buyers are based in China, but it is unknown who may be interested.
Supercell, known for massive hits like Clash of Clans, Boom Beach and Clash Royale, is 73 percent owned by SoftBank. SoftBank is alleged to have paid near $3 billion for the stake, and the full company is expected to net a $5 billion valuation in an outright sale. The other 27 percent of the company is still owned by management and employees.
SoftBank has struggled to use Supercell's popularity to break into the notoriously hard Japanese market and Supercell has even called the country "the toughest market in the world."
For the time being, any discussions are preliminary and the sources say SoftBank may choose to not move the company.
Africa's largest company, Naspers, has expanded its streaming service ShowMax to 36 new sub-Saharan African countries in an effort to challenge the global leader Netflix.
The service began last August and has since expanded to 65 countries. Netflix is in 130 countries, including African nations, and has over 70 million subscribers. Naspers is Africa's largest pay-TV provider and the company has been actively looking to take customers in Africa before Netflix does.
"We've adapted our apps to address the needs of consumers in Africa, introducing features like downloads for viewing TV shows and movies when not connected," Barron Ernst, ShowMax chief product officer, added. "In the first four months of 2016 we pretty much doubled the number of active subscribers, and that's despite the entrance of Netflix into Africa."
Despite their foothold in the continent, Naspers has the same issue as all other streaming providers; limited Internet coverage, speeds, and bandwidth for the majority of the population.
According to sources, Google could be a facing a massive multi-billion fine in the EU in the coming weeks over their alleged abusive search monopoly in Europe.
The fine would be the conclusion of a seven-year investigation and could be as high as $3.4 billion USD (€3 billion). If true, the fine would be almost triple the largest the European Commission has levied to date, 2014's €1.1 billion fine against Intel.
Google had been accused of promoting its own price comparison service in general search results while pushing down the visibility of rivals. The EC has also been investigating alleged search abuses within Android, and the potential for monopoly abuses in search markets like travel.
It also appears that the EC feels Google used stalling tactics during the investigation and also made changes to algorithms during the investigation that made it harder for rivals to compete.
Google entered the VR market two years ago with Google Cardboard (pictured). At the time it was a low risk investment into virtual reality, one that it expressed the interest towards a possibly a tremendous opportunity in the future. Now it seems that Google is ready to gear up for a proper go at VR.
According to information Android Police managed to find from Google Play Developer Console, Google is indeed going to release an actual virtual reality device. Google Cardboard is, after all, just a box that fits a smartphone. It is a simplistic version of what Samsung is promoting with its newest flagship, Galaxy S7.
There's really three types of VR devices at the moment: the Gear VR type that require a phone or a tablet, the ones that have displays but require a PC for processing such as Oculus Rift, and the entirely standalone devices that run the software and have displays to display it.
Some rumors have it that Google is going to release VR goggles that are in the latter category. This would also mean that it would not rival Oculus or HTC Vive in terms of pure processing power but would be more portable.
Apple has been revealed to have invested a small chunk of its $130 billion bankroll on a transportation company that is one of the main rivals of Uber. Didi Chuxing is essentially the Chinese version of Uber, and it provides transportation to 11 million people daily.
Didi Chuxing (formerly Didi Kuaidi) was looking for a billion dollars worth of investment and had to look no further than Apple. The smartphone based transportation service offers cab rides, personal drivers, and premium cars in what is one of the fastest growing market for apps and technology.
Founded in 2012, the company has already gathered a few billions of investments but Apple's latest addition is the largest single investment. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the investment is strategic and helps them understand "the critical Chinese market."
Apple is said to be developing an electric car, which seems to be the obvious reason for a such a huge investment. Also the pressure from Chinese regulators has increased on Apple, says Reuters. The investment will possibly aid both situations.
The app that stroke gold with vintage camera filters years ago has decided to renew its look and feel both in and outside the app. Outside it means replacing the logo with a flatter one, inside the changes update the UI.
The logo has abandoned the skeuomorphic design and adopted the colorful and flat-faced look known from iOS. The change seems to be more or less the same what Apple did in iOS 7 back in 2013.
Even though the logo is a breath of fresh air with bright colors, that does not carry out to the new UI. User interface consists only of shades of grey, black and white. According to the company this is to draw attention to the user generated content, which is, after all, the point of the service.
The Instagram related apps, namely Boomerang, Hyperlapse, and Layout, got the same logo update.
As you can imagine, the web went insane over the changes. Especially the change in logo seems to have baffled a lot of people. The narrative is that a recognizable logo has been switched for one that iPhone has 13 in a dozen.
In the end, however, all Instagram wants is for people to use the app more.
One of the most frequently requested "features" among WhatsApp users has been an official Windows desktop client. Now, the messaging app reaching almost billion users each month, has finally released official Windows and Mac OS X desktop clients.
Until now, desktop users have had to cope with WhatsApp's web client in order to use the app through their computers, but after the official desktop client, web app is no longer needed. Desktop client, like the web service, requires the app to be installed on user's phone and to be synchronized with the phone, as the encryption authentication is tightly linked to the user's phone and phone number.
So far, the desktop client doesn't support VoIP calls and provides just the same feature set as the web client does.
You can download the Windows version from our download section:
...and you can download the OS X version (as well as other editions, including the Windows desktop client) from developer's webpage. Windows version requires Windows 8 or newer, while Mac OS X version requires OS X 10.9 or newer.
Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi has unveiled the MiMax, a 6.44-inch behemoth that is only 7.5mm thick.
The MiMax has a Snapdragon 650 processor, 4GB RAM and a massive 4850mAh battery. Additionally, the phone has dual 16MP/5MP cameras and a fingerprint sensor, while running on the company's own MIUI8 Android variant.
Xiaomi has priced the phone at 1499 to 1999 yuan ($229 to $306) based on internal storage.
Wallapop and LetGo, two startups that provide easy ways for consumers to post their items for sale offline, are preparing to merge to better take on eBay, Craigslist and Facebook's Marketplace.
You have probably seen the ads for both companies, which promise the easiest ways to sell your used items anywhere, and the two companies have raised over $100 million together from investors.
Craiglist specifically has been very slow to innovate, especially with mobile, allowing startups to take marketshare relatively quickly. Both companies have over 15 million downloads for their mobile apps but it is unclear how many remain active users.
Amazon has announced Amazon Video Direct today, a service that will allow independent content creators to upload videos and get paid for it.
The service will compete with YouTube, and content creators will be able to pick how they get paid. Options include advertising revenue, royalties based on popularity, or through direct purchases or rentals on Amazon. They will also be able to collect royalties by making the content available to just Prime subscribers. Prime is Amazon's $99-per-year service that gives subscribers free 2-day shipping, free music and free streaming video through Amazon Instant.
Every month, Amazon will also give out $1 million total to the top 100 titles. "Amazon will distribute to creators a monthly bonus from the one million dollar monthly fund, based on the Top 100 AVD titles in Prime Video, in addition to any other revenue earned. Video creators and providers who use AVD to make their titles available in Prime Video will automatically be enrolled. The AVD Stars program launches today and the one million dollar monthly fund will make its first bonus distributions based on streaming activity from June 1st to June 30th," says the company.
Launch content includes partners like Conde Nast Entertainment, HowStuffWorks, Samuel Goldwyn Films, The Guardian, Mashable, Mattel, StyleHaul, Kin Community, Jash, Business Insider, Machinima, TYT Network, Baby Einstein, CJ Entertainment America, Xive TV, Synergetic Distribution, Kino Nation, Journeyman Pictures, and Pro Guitar Lessons, added Amazon.
Following the Wii U's failure to make waves with consumers, EA appears to be hesitant when it comes to Nintendo's next console, the NX.
EA has said it will be happy to bring games to the NX, but only "if it makes sense" to do so.
Patrick Soderlund, EA Studios VP, says that the company's devs have been in "constant communication" with Nintendo, but the gaming giant has yet to really give third-party publishers much to go on until the NX is officially unveiled later this year.
"We're in constant communication with them and when they come to market something - and if it makes sense for us - we'll be there," Soderlund noted. "I personally and the company are huge fans of Nintendo, they're the reason why I started making games."
EA stopped porting games to the last-generation Wii U, citing major development complications and specs that weren't competitive. There are hopes that the Nintendo NX will not follow in its predecessor's footsteps and most early reports seem to agree.
According to Hold Security founder Alex Holden, there are over 270 million stolen usernames and passwords trading in Russia's criminal networks.
Many of the stolen account credentials are from users of Russia's popular Mail.ru email service, with more millions coming from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo users, as well.
Holden, who helped uncover data breaches at Target and Adobe in recent years, said the latest discovery came after a young Russian hacker began bragging in underground forums that he had 1.17 billion stolen credentials. After removing duplicates, that number ended up being 272 million, including 57 million Mail.ru accounts. That number is massive given the fact that Mail.ru only has 64 million active users.
40 million of the combos were from Yahoo Mail accounts, 33 million were from Microsoft Hotmail accounts and 24 million were Gmail. Millions of others came from corporate emails.
"This information is potent. It is floating around in the underground and this person has shown he's willing to give the data away to people who are nice to him," said Holden. "These credentials can be abused multiple times."
The hacker asked for just $1 for all the records and ended up giving Holden the entire dataset for free in exchange for favorable posts in multiple hacker forums.
Released last summer Apple Music was expected to become a success that quickly rivaled and possibly even surpassed Spotify as the leading streaming service for music. Due to failures mainly in UI design the service has had troubles rising to the occasion even with exclusives like Taylor Swift.
Apple is expected to revamp the messy user interface completely though. The overhaul is said to be unveiled at the WWDC in June, but that is not the only measure Apple is taking in order to catch up to Spotify.
Now Apple has revealed a new, cheaper tier that is solely meant for student. College students around the US as well as in countries like the UK, Germany, and Australia will be able to get Apple Music subscription for half the price. This amounts to $5.99 (depending on the market).
However, Spotify has its own Premium subscription for students for $4.99 and obviously something that Apple does not – a free ad-supported tier.
So the question remains will this get people on board the service that has been accused of randomly deleting songs and ruining the experience with a garbled and confusing user interface. Things could well change, though, if on June 13th bulk of the problems disappear.
Even if not all products out of Redmond have captured the market (yes, I'm looking at you Windows Phone), you have to give it to Microsoft Research for being one of the most innovative R&D departments in the country. Be it HoloLens or the AI features now used in Cortana, every one loves a glimpse at the future of computing.
One those futuristic glimpses might as well be in the video below. Microsoft Research has released a video on YouTube in which it demonstrates a new type of predictive touch display which it calls Pre-Touch.
The display on what looks like a Lumia looking prototype recognizes when a hand or a finger is coming close to the display, and even measures the pressure when squeezed.
Like you can see on the video this enables all kinds of handy tricks with the user interface. Knowing where the users hands are before the touch makes it possible to cater for a specific need, for example one handed use always on the right side of the phone.
As this video comes from Microsoft Research and not a keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress, it'll probably still be a while before we see this in our own handsets. Maybe that will happen when Microsoft allegedly transforms its smartphone business under Surface brand.
TIME magazine has released its list of 50 most influential gadgets of all time. The winner is not a surprise but there's a lot of variety further back.
The number one spot was clinched by the original iPhone released by Apple in 2007. Many would say that was an expected top spot for the highest grossing consumer gadgets of all time.
Following iPhone the rest of the top five Sony's revolutionary color TV Trinitron from 1968, Apple's first Macintosh, '80s sensation Sony Walkman, and IBM Model 5150 that taught us what PC is.
Later on the list you can also find possibly your first proper cellphone Nokia 3210 equipped with internal antenna and of course Snake, gaming systems like NES and Sony PlayStation, and my personal favorite Commodore 64.
While a nostalgia trip is inevitable there's many recent invention in the top 50 as well, including some virtual reality and 3D printing equipment. Check the list in its entirety here.
A Finnish woman turned up at Microsoft offices demanding help after a Windows 10 update rendered her computer useless.
According to Sony, as May 22nd there have been over 40 million PlayStation 4 units sold, making it easily the best-selling console of the current generation.
Microsoft has announced plans to streamline its smartphone business, trimming more than 1,850 jobs mostly in Finland.
