The City of Los Angeles has announced that it will become the first city in the world to deploy Philips’ SmartPole Street lighting. The LED poles are a collaboration between Philips and Ericsson that use energy-saving LED lighting and also function as 4G LTE cell towers – improving public lighting energy consumption as well as the city’s network coverage.

“The analog light pole has evolved right here in Los Angeles,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “L.A. is a world leader in LED street lights and has more poles than any other city in America. We are now taking advantage of previously untapped real estate to give our streets better broadband connectivity and future-ready infrastructure, while generating revenue for the city. This project shows what smart infrastructure can do for Los Angeles: create jobs, save tax payer dollars, and improve our environment.”

The SmartPoles use small cell technology – similar to femtocells used in homes and small business – to provide wider mobile broadband coverage and boost capacity of wireless network providers. The entire project is self-funding due to leasing agreements on the “valuable digital real estate on top of city light poles.”

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After launching the One A9, HTC is apparently getting ready to introduce another One-branded smartphone, which might be called One X9. This name is showing up on a leaked promo image, alongside what appears to be a white variant of the upcoming device that’s presented as being “packed with city smarts” – yeah, we all love ambiguous taglines.

Unlike the One A9, the One X9 seems to have BoomSound speakers, and could be a high-end smartphone.

Rumors coming out of China are suggesting that the handset sports a Quad HD (1440 x 2560 pixels) display of at least 5 inches, and will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, or a deca-core MediaTek Helio X20 processor.

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It’s been a bit more than a couple of weeks now since Apple released iOS 9.1, and the company is already working on a 9.2 update. Members of the beta program have installed it on some of their iDevices and there are numerous reports on the net, telling us what we can expect from the new version.

It seems that 9.2 will mostly be geared towards improving performance and making sure all UI animations are buttery smooth. It will probably be the operating system that ships with the upcoming iPad Pro, so Apple will naturally make sure that everything looks and feels up to par for its premium-class super-tablet. But owners of other iDevices will also benefit from the new update. There are some small changes, and some more prominent ones – here are 4 of the latter that you should look forward to!

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It hasn’t even been two months since the launch of the Apple iPhone 6s and Apple iPhone 6s Plus, but already there is talk about the next iteration of Apple’s iconic smartphone. According to a person who claims to be familiar with Apple’s plans, the tech titan is going to design, develop, and mass produce the next iPhone ahead of schedule. This source insists that Apple is looking to take advantage of what it expects will be heavy demand for a re-designed iPhone 7.

Apple’s design schedule calls for a newly designed iPhone to be followed the next year with an “S” model that keeps the same design as the prior year’s phone. In 2014, Apple raised the screen size from 4-inches on the Apple iPhone 5s to 4.7-inches on the Apple iPhone 6. A 5.5-inch phablet, the Apple iPhone 6 Plus, was also introduced. That led to this year’s Apple iPhone 6s and Apple iPhone 6s Plus. Apple’s schedule now calls for a newly designed Apple iPhone 7 and Apple iPhone 7 Plus for 2016. According to the source, Apple is concerned that as we move into 2016, sales of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will start to wane as consumers wait for the newly designed iPhone 7.

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Facebook’s Messenger app has taken on a life of its own ever since the social network giant made an unpopular move last year and chiselled it out from the main Facebook experience. Even though this meant friends had to use two separate apps for private messaging and general networking, Facebook Messenger uptake soared. Yes, Facebook knew what it was doing.

The Messenger experience has been tweaked and iterated in the 12 months since it went out alone — it arrived on the Web under its own brand, and it has gone some way toward killing phone numbers with Message Requests. But the biggest move, undoubtedly, was Messenger’s shift toward becoming a platform, enabling developers to build and integrate apps with Messenger.

In effect, Facebook wants Messenger to be the go-to platform for communication between friends, customers, and businesses. It will serve as a customer service channel, where you can receive booking and order confirmations and updates, and where you can request changes. There are already some big-name partners on board, including clothes retailer Everlane and, more recently, airline KLM.

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Back in September Lollipop finally went past 20% in Google’s monthly Android distribution chart, and now, with the latest iteration of the report, Marshmallow is making its debut.

Hopefully you weren’t expecting the latest version of the OS to have a big impact already in terms of market share. Because it doesn’t. It currently sits at 0.3%, which is just 0.1% past Froyo, a very, very old iteration of Android.

But the good news is that it’s there. And it can only go up from here, once more and more Android device makers start rolling out Marshmallow updates.

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In the previous iOS version of the Google Maps, you could see color-coded routes identifying congested areas and icons marking accidents, traffic, road closures and construction zones. You were also flagged when there was a faster route available and given details of how much faster or slower each route is.

An update released Wednesday takes traffic alerts to the next level. Now the app will speak alerts about congestion and incidents on your route, and it will summarize traffic conditions before you even start driving.

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Samsung is definitely a veteran on the smartwatch scene, perhaps even more so than LG. The Korean giant has already done a few experiments in the field, some of which arguably quite successful, but the Gear S2 might just be the biggest one yet.

The Gear S2 is radically different from any other wearable Samsung has put out. There is, of course, the obvious fact that it is the first to utilize a round form-factor, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. The new Gear is yet another radical development in Samsung’s wearable family that has been frantically moving towards and then away from standardization and the Android Wear OS.

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Last week Apple made the first public beta of iOS 9.2 available for those who had signed up for its software beta testing program. And today, just six days later, we get the second experimental iteration of the next version of the company’s mobile operating system.

iOS 9.2 Public Beta 2, as Apple is calling it, is now rolling out as an over-the-air update for devices which have had the first public beta installed. If you are part of the company’s software beta testing program, the update notification is imminent, if you haven’t received it already.

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Some would argue that Microsoft’s new Surface Book is an engineering marvel; the perfect hybrid, if you will. While that may very well be the case, Microsoft had to make some compromises in terms of design to do so as iFixit recently found out.

The teardown specialists ripped into the new Surface Book intent on determining just how easy or difficult it would be to repair. Things got off to a pretty slow start as the Surface Book is just as difficult to open as other products in the Surface line, first requiring careful removal of the display.

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Gather a group of experienced hackers and give them a week to crack the security of a popular Android phone. What do you get? Apparently, a lot of serious security flaws

Project Zero, Google’s team of expert security researchers, has done exactly that with Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge, devoting a week to find as many serious security holes as they can. As a result, 11 “high-impact security issues” were discovered, including one that lets an attacker write a file to the victim’s system without permission.

To find the holes, Project Zero divided into two teams — the North American and the European one — and focused on finding ways to either gain access to the phone’s contacts, photos and messages remotely or through an app installed from Google Play which has no permissions to do so. Finally, the researchers tried to make their unauthorized code “stick” to the phone even if it was wiped.

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In addition to the stable release of Firefox 42, Mozilla also launched Firefox 44 Developer Edition, adding visual editing and memory management tools. Today’s release coincides with the one-year anniversary of what Mozilla calls “the first browser created specifically for developers.”

Firefox Developer Edition sits between the Nightly and Beta channels. Firefox development starts with Nightly, which consists of the latest Firefox code packaged up every night for bleeding-edge testers, is then followed by Developer Edition, which includes everything that is labeled as “experimental,” then Beta, and then finally the release channel for the broader public.

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How would you like to have an LTE cell tower right in your own home or office? T-Mobile is “Amping” up Un-carrier 7.0 by becoming the first mobile operator to offer a femtocell with 3G/4G service and VoLTE capabilities. Called the T-Mobile 4G LTE CellSpot, it covers 3000 square feet with T-Mobile’s 4G LTE signal. And your phone will have all of its signal bars lit up.

Besides VoLTE, the 4G LTE CellSpot will allow users to use HD voice, advanced messaging, video calling, and fast data. Unlike the Wi-Fi CellSpot Router that was the focus of Un-carrier 7.0, the new femtocell does more than just offer calls and texts over Wi-Fi. The 4G LTE CellSpot will bring the entire T-Mobile network experience to your home or office. 16 callers at one time can use the signal generated by the device.

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Last week a controversial report from the Wall Street Journal claimed that Google is working on ‘folding’ Chrome OS into Android. The new, combined operating system would apparently launch in 2017, although it’s said to already have been in the works for a couple of years.

Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome OS, and Chromecast, soon after put out a tweet disputing the information, and today he’s written an entire official blog post about the situation.

“Chrome OS is here to stay”, he says, trying to once and for all put an end to all the speculation. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Google wanting (or “needing”) to combine its two operating systems, although oddly not many in the media seem as convinced that Apple should do the same with Mac OS and iOS.

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The average employee uses 30 cloud services at work, according to cloud security vendor Skyhigh Networks.

Some services are more risky than others, however. Skyhigh ranked 16,000 different cloud service providers based on whether they encrypted data, respected customer privacy and intellectual property rights, allowed anonymous use, deleted data immediately on account termination, and whether they had been recently compromised — 50 different security-related attributes in all.

The services were also ranked based on the number of users, since the more employees of a company used one of these services, the higher a risk it posed to the enterprise.

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If you’re looking to give Microsoft some feedback about Windows 10 Mobile, and the native apps that come with it, you should use the new Windows Feedback app. The Windows and Windows Phone UserVoice feedback sites that are currently employed for this task will shut down after November 16th.

Feedback sent through the app is accessible to Windows engineers, allowing them to respond quickly to comments. The app also allows engineers to engage in two-way conversations with Windows Insiders. Those who have given feedback can check with the app, to see if Microsoft is ready to act on their comments.

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If you’ve ever wondered how to use the Split Screen/View and the Picture in Picture features in iOS 9, then you’ve landed on the right page.

When Apple launched iOS 9 this past summer, one of the most fundamental changes that the company brought to its mobile operating system were the new multitasking capabilities.

While some of the most hardcore iPhone users were saddened to learn that both Split View and Picture in Picture are currently limited to the latest iPads, there can be no denying that the new multitasking skills felt like bliss to iPad owners looking to get some productivity work done on their slabs.

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The tech giant Lenovo, unveiled on October the 29^th the new YOGA 700, a premium Windows 10 convertible laptop with four usage modes (laptop, stand, tent, tablet) designed for performance and portability.

The Lenovo YOGA 900 is one of the best 2-in-1 laptops available, but it’s quite pricy. The trend for laptop producers (or any tech producers for that matter) is to roll out qualitative affordable models as well. The new YOGA 700 seems to be Lenovo’s affordable but still decent 2-in-1 laptop.

The new YOGA laptop is available in two models, each one designed for slightly different purposes. On one hand, we have the 11-inch YOGA 700. This model is designed for avid travelers needing a thin and light laptop. The price for the basic configuration starts at $649. Lenovo’s other model is the 14-inch YOGA 700, made for fast productivity with up to latest Intel 6th Gen Core i7 processor and optional NVIDIA GeForce 940M graphics card. This version is obviously heavier than the travel model, and it has a more work/gaming use. The price for the basic model starts at $799.

Both models come with Windows 10 and premium multimedia features, including standard Full HD IPS display for crisp visuals and solid-state drive (SSD) storage for fast, reliable performance.

It feels like Lenovo is trying to cover all the angles with the new YOGA 700. It can be good as a work station, it’s decent as a gaming device, and if you’re a travelling businessman – they have an option for you too. It’s as if the PC makers looked around, written down the necessities that their customers would have, and made a laptop out of that info (not that we’re complaining).

Avid travelers who need a thin and light option will find the 11-inch YOGA 700 as the ideal travel companion, while the 14-inch option packs powerful performance for those who need additional speed and reliability. Both options come with a responsive 10-point multitouch Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS display and Dolby DS1.0 Home Theater certified stereo speakers, allowing users to enjoy crisp visuals and clear sound whether working in a café or streaming a favorite show at home.

Ultra-portable, the 11-inch YOGA 700 weighs only 1.1 kg and measures 15.8 mm thin. With up to seven hours of battery life, the YOGA 700 allows travelers to work or play their way: watch a movie in stand mode, give a business pitch in tent mode, or navigate a map in tablet mode.

Suited for movie buffs and social gamers, the YOGA 700 offers a vibrant 10-point multitouch Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS display with Dolby DS1.0 Home Theater certified stereo speakers. Whether at home or in transit, the convertible lets users enjoy sharper visuals and clearer sound without paying more for a premium multimedia experience.

With up to Intel’s latest 6th Gen Core i7 processor, optional NVIDIA GeForce 940M graphics card and up to 8 GB DDR3L memory, the 14-inch YOGA 700 packs powerful performance for enhanced productivity. The 14-inch convertible laptop has up to 256 GB SSD storage so that users can launch apps and transfer files faster, focus on work with reduced noise and better recover their files even if they drop or knock the laptop.

The YOGA 700 also comes with an ergonomically designed AccuType backlit keyboard that makes typing more comfortable, accurate and easier on the eyes in dim environments. From switching between writing a report to editing high-res images in Photoshop software, the 14-inch YOGA 700 has the power and battery life to help users power through their work without interruption.

“We know fast performance, easy portability, and rich sound and display are features consumers expect in a laptop today,” said Johnson Jia, senior vice president, PC Business Group, Lenovo. “That’s why we made the new YOGA 700 thinner and more powerful than ever with Windows 10 and Intel’s latest processor. We also added a Full HD IPS display and Dolby stereo speakers as part of its standard features so that consumers can get a premium quality convertible laptop for work and travel, at the price of a standard laptop.”

At this point you might be asking yourself “what’s the catch?” Every affordable model – whether it’s a laptop or a smartphone, has to sacrifice something to make that price. In the case of Lenovo’s YOGA 700, as compared to the YOGA 900, most cost-cuts seem to be in the material quality area. The YOGA 700 replaced YOGA 900’s magnesium with plastic. The other noticeable difference is at the laptop’s hinge, which was also downgraded for the YOGA 700 but the laptop can still perform the needed articulation without any problems.

All the new Lenovo products are available on www.lenovo.com starting October. Lenovo YOGA 700 11-inch and 14-inch convertible laptops start at US $649 and US $799 respectively, and will be released at the end of November.

Team communication apps Slack today is announcing the launch of user groups for teams that pay for premium tiers of service. The feature provides more granularity than the channels for group discussions that existed since the app’s earliest days.

User groups also make onboarding easier. People who join existing user groups can automatically be added to certain channels, Slack wrote in a blog post on the news.

Slack today also released new usage numbers: 1.7 million daily active users and 470,000 paid seats. That’s up from 1.1 million daily active users and 300,000 paid seats four months ago.

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Facebook is working to increase its reach throughout the world, including emerging markets. To do that, it has increasingly become mindful of connectivity speeds and modifying its tools to make sure that it can reach the next set of users slowly coming online.

But as more people, and businesses as well, begin to jump online, Facebook has unveiled a new advertising option called Slideshow for brands to reach these new users no matter the device, connection, and where they are.

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Apple is once again facing user backlash for alarms failing to sound, after an issue with the iOS 9.1 update on iPhones has reportedly led to people sleeping past their scheduled alarm time.

Unlike with some previous iOS alarm issues, alarms failing to sound in iOS 9.1 appear to be just a one-off occurrence. The culprit is believed to be Apple’s new overnight update feature, which installed iOS 9.1 overnight on some devices at the user’s request, but failed to reactivate alarms after the update was completed.

After users woke up and used their iPhone post-update (tapping through some dialogs informing them of the update), alarms would then work normally. But because the update was performed overnight, some affected users couldn’t complete the update process before their alarms were scheduled to go off.

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The next big thing from Samsung is now official. And we do mean big, at least for a tablet. The 18.4-inch Samsung Galaxy View has been unveiled today, a week after we passed along pictures of the device that showed it from multiple angles. The manufacturer says that the Galaxy View is the largest mobile Android flavored device in the marketplace, although larger devices are purportedly being prepped by other companies.

The 18.4-inch display features a 1080 x 1920 FHD resolution, and the Samsung Exynos 7580 SoC is under the hood, carrying an octa-core 1.6GHz CPU.

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HTC One A9 is not just a phone, it’s a corporate rejuvenation. A9 is the boost HTC needs to swim out of the murky waters and claim its piece on the market. HTC may have outed a few very capable phones this year, but it needs a game changer, a statement that the king is still alive and kicking. But will the One A9 turn out to be everything HTC hopes it to be, or quite the opposite – a Pandora’s Box of sorts?

HTC One A9 may seems like a departure from other One phones, but in fact – it’s an evolution of the One M7. HTC flattened the metal unibody, thinned the profile and added a 2.5D front glass with curved edges following the recent trends. And there is the vivid AMOLED screen, the OIS camera and the microSD expansion slot – we won’t object to any of that.

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A couple of months ago Google surprised everyone by getting into the business of designing and selling Wi-Fi routers. Its first effort in the space was created in partnership with TP-Link, and today a new model has been unveiled. This one is made by Asus.

The OnHub devices and the way Google does things with them by partnering with other companies that have been in the networking business already does certainly bear more than a slight resemblance to the Nexus program for smartphones and tablets, especially since Google is in charge of software updates for the OnHubs as well.

The second OnHub costs $219.99, which is $20 more than the TP-Link model. It’s already up for pre-order at certain retailers such as Newegg and Amazon, but also in Google’s own hardware store. Although the others are mum about this, Newegg does list a shipping date of November 3.

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Google quietly changed some rules around how much Android apps are allowed to cost in the Play Store. All around the world, the app price limits have been raised, potentially meaning more money for developers. In the US alone, app can now be listed in Google Play for as much as $400, which is quite a jump from the previous limit of $200.

While the price limit doubled in the US, the bump was more dramatic in other regions around the world.

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Apple has just released its fiscal fourth quarter earnings report, and the number that everyone was waiting for was 48.04 million. That is the number of iPhone units that the company sold in the quarter. While higher than the 39.27 million iPhones sold in the same period last year, the number fell short of the 48.72 million units that Wall Street was looking for. Apple might get a pass on this however, because its new models, the Apple iPhone 6s and Apple iPhone 6s Plus, were sold for only two business days during the period.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that 30% of iPhone buyers this past quarter were replacing an Android powered handset. Cook says that this is the highest rate of Android users who have switched to an iPhone. The current quarter could be tough for Apple, since it goes up against the record 74.5 million iPhones it sold during last year’s fiscal first quarter. But the executive notes that two-thirds of iPhone users are still sporting iPhone models with a screen smaller than the 4.7-inches first offered with the Apple iPhone 6 last year, allowing Cook to predict that iPhone sales will be higher in the current quarter than last year’s tremendous number.

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Oracle have announced 154 new security vulnerabilities in its latest critical patch update — but says the most serious have not been successfully exploited “in the wild.”

The most severe vulnerability received a Common Vulnerability Scoring System Base Score of 10.0, the highest possible. Oracle’s software security assurance director Eric P. Maurice said the score denoted “a vulnerability that is remotely exploitable without authentication, which, if successfully exploited, can result in a full compromise of the targeted system.”

Among the seven other patches for the Oracle database, a further three critical vulnerabilities received a CVSS score of 9.

Also scoring a CVSS Base Score of 10 are vulnerabilities for Oracle Sun Systems Products Suite, Oracle Communications Applications, and Oracle Java SE.

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Gert Frolund Pedersen, professor at Aalborg University in Denmark had his name first known in the tech circles with the iPhone 4 “Antennagate” scandal. Ever since, the antenna expert has been putting phones under careful testing, with a focus on the antenna performance. The Apple iPhone 6s reception was the latest to be subjected to his tests and the findings aren’t very flattening.

Pedersen pitted the iPhone 6s against a variety of phones including the iPhone 6, Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact. The reception test measures the antenna performance in the GSM 900 frequency band in dBm. This is the band most often used for placing calls and is the backup band of choice in Denmark and a number of other GSM countries.

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When we fire up our computer or tablet, some of us unlock it using a password or passcode — a number, word, series of symbols or combination of all three, based on something you hope you’ll always remember off the top of your head.

But these days, some of us unlock devices by using our bodies — our fingerprint, iris or face — a rather new and innovative method called biometric authentication. It uses the unique characteristics of your body or DNA to allow you to access protected machines and data.

Now that biometrics have made it into the security mix and have started to gain popularity, the debate between which is better — and which is safer and more secure — has begun.

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According to the government, you don’t own the software inside your iPhone or iPad. This came up during a recent legal tussle involving the Department of Justice. The DOJ is trying to get Apple to crack encrypted code inside an iPhone that is part of a court case. Apple says that not only does it not have to do this, it claims that it doesn’t have the technical prowess to do so.

Apple’s statement that it does not have to do the DOJ’s bidding was basically shot down by Justice Department lawyers that claim Apple does not sell you iOS, it licenses it to you. The distinction is important in this case, because with the latter, Apple still owns the copy of iOS in your iPhone. This means that the DOJ can request that Apple decrypt it. If Apple were to sell iOS to you with the purchase of an iPhone, the software would belong to you and the government couldn’t force you to let them see it.

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If you’re in need of a new, off-contract water-resistant smartphone, you don’t necessarily have to spend too much in order to get one. Of course, if you want high-end features, you’ll need to shed out at least $500-$600 to buy something like Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Active, or Sony’s Xperia Z5 or Z3.

But what about more affordable water-resistant handsets, let’s say priced at less than $300? Well, there are some of these out there, and they’re actually worth your attention, so let’s check them out. Please note that the selection below was made with the US market in mind, and includes smartphones listed in alphabetical order.

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The new Apple TV is now open for pre-order, starting at $149. We did an in-depth hands-on over the weekend, concluding that the system finally has a shot at truly becoming the “hub of the connected home.”

Tim Cook revealed last week that pre-orders for the Apple TV will begin today, with the devices expected to ship by the end of the week. Apple also opened up tvOS app submissions last week in preparation for the next-gen TV experience hitting consumers’ living rooms.

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Next Tuesday, Motorola will introduce the first phone with a “shatterproof screen,” the Motorola DROID Turbo 2. And that means that other manufacturers will have to play catch up. Apple might have already have a response ready. A filing with the USPTO called “Active Screen Protection for Electronic Devices,” reveals a method that will protect a glass screen from shattering. We must note that this is a much more complex form of protection than whatever Motorola is adding to its screen to prevent it from shattering.

This method uses a phone’s accelerometer and sensors to trigger four screen protectors, each positioned on a corner of the handset. When the phone is determined to be falling, the screen protectors pop up and absorb the shock of the impact. Once the sensors determine that the fall is over, the protectors drop back into position using motors

Other variations of the technology include one where the device’s camera is used to determine if the phone is falling. Apple originally filled the application on Apr. 18, 2014. While the company toughened up the iPhone’s body this year by employing Series 7000 aluminum, the glass still remains vulnerable.

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Mobile payment services got a shot in the arm from Apple Pay. Such services seemed stuck, destined to be a tool that no one used until Apple Pay changed things. Apple’s advertising, the popularity of the iPhone in the U.S., and consumer’s desire to make checking out at the store a quick and easy experience, combined to make Apple Pay the early leader in mobile payments.

But a report by Digitimes says that Android’s 75% global market share will eventually make shops and banks more interested in offering Android Pay than Apple Pay. Apple’s global share is 20%. In addition, Apple Pay is found only on the newer iPhone models and Apple Watch. Any Android phone with NFC enabled will work with Android Pay after a simple software update. Lastly, Google has said that it won’t take a fee from the use of Android Pay, while Apple collects a percentage of each transaction that uses Apple Pay. That difference alone could lead many retailers to join Android’s camp instead of going with Apple.

Android Pay has multiple verification options including fingerprint scanners, eye-scanners and PINs. This allows the feature to be used by Android phones in the entry-level, mid-range and high-end categories. According to Digitimes, it all means that Android Pay will eventually become the most popular mobile payment system, used by more people than Apple Pay.

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Samsung teased a product it’s calling the Galaxy View at last month’s IFA event. As the days passed, we’ve learned more and more about this mystery device yet still, the only images we had to go on were those initial teasers from Samsung.

Needless to say, they didn’t really reveal much.

That’s all changed now as SamMobile managed to get ahold of a cornucopia of purported Galaxy View images which appear to be screenshots from a promo video. The validity of the photos is plausible as they at least match up with the official teasers from Samsung.

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The Apple Watch got off to a fast start, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. During the summer, the executive said that the timepiece had a better initial quarter of sales than the iPhone and iPad had, when those two devices were first launched. But on Wall Street, analysts have a differing opinion about Apple’s first smartwatch. A survey of 17 analysts produced a wide range of estimates from a low of 2.5 million sold last quarter, to a high of 6 million units sold.

The Apple Watch is different than the Apple iPhone in the sense that Apple breaks out sales of the handset every quarter. Apple thus far, has been mum on sales of its timepiece. According to research firm IDC, Apple was second in the wearables market to Fitbit last quarter, with 3.6 million in shipments and a 20% share. Fitbit delivered 4.4 million units, according to the researcher.

Cook says that sales are improving each quarter. “We shipped a lot the first quarter…then last quarter we shipped even more,” said the CEO. “I can predict this quarter we will ship even more.” The executive isn’t the only one who sees sales picking up for the Apple Watch. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimates that sales for the product will slowly build. Munster is on the low end of last quarter’s predictions, believing that 2.5 million sold over the three months. But he sees 14 million selling for all of 2016, with a surge to 40 million expected in 2017.

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Despite being stuck with a small market share as it struggles to drive profits, Sony Mobile is adamant about fighting to stay alive in the business. Perhaps a little background is in order, so there you go — by the end of the company’s first fiscal quarter, June 30, Sony Mobile suffered an operating loss of $188 million and revenue decline by 16.3%, caused by “significant decrease in smartphone unit sales”, among other problems. Sony actually considered the option of selling its unprofitable mobile business, like it did with the VAIO line of laptops.

But, following the storm of “Sony Mobile may call it quits” headlines, CEO Hiroki Totoki affirmed that Sony Mobile won’t ever sell or exit the current mobile business, which is very much what fans of Xperia handsets wanted to hear. Yet, nothing says “yeah, we’re doing this!” like opening up the company’s first smartphone factory in 20 years!

Asian business publication Nikkei reports that Sony is investing “several billion yen” in equipping an existing site in the Pathum Thani province, Thailand, with an end-to-end production system covering chip mounting through assembly. Its gears will be set in motion in fiscal 2016, with initial output set to reach several million units a year.

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Today seems to be one of those ‘Apple software update’ days. At the same time it released iOS 9.1 to the public, the company is also making Mac OS X 10.11.1 available. This is the first update to hit the Mac OS X El Capitan release, which itself went out just a few weeks ago.

As you can surely tell by the fact that it’s a .1 version, Mac OS X 10.11.1 El Capitan is mostly about fixing bugs. Installer reliability should be improved now, as is compatibility with Microsoft Office 2016, and VoiceOver reliability.

An issue where outgoing server information may be missing from Mail has been fixed, as well as a problem that prevented showing messages and mailboxes in Mail, and an issue that didn’t let some Audio Unit plug-ins function properly.

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If you’re one of those people who will drive out of the way just to save a penny a gallon for gas, Google Maps is calling your name. You should notice changes to Google Maps over the next few weeks as an update starts rolling out. One new feature is the inclusion of gas prices to the map so you can see which nearby station is selling unleaded gas at the cheapest price. Think about how useful this information will be, and how much money you might save.

Another new feature allows you to make a detour in the middle of navigating from point “A” to point “B”. Let’s say you are navigating to a hotel when you decide to stop and pick up some supplies. Clicking on the magnifying glass in the top right corner will give you a drop down menu with gas stations, restaurants or grocery stores among the categories to choose from. In this situation, clicking on grocery stores will help you find the closest place to pick up some drinks and snacks.

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The original Microsoft Surface Pro was supposed to be the flagship PC for the touch-centric world of Windows 8. It was, in the company’s own words, “the tablet that can replace your laptop.” And last year, after two respectable tries, it finally delivered on that promise (mostly) with the excellent Surface Pro 3.

The Surface Pro 3 was a huge leap forward from the good-but-lacking designs of Surface Pros 1 and 2: It was larger, thinner and — most importantly — much more usable. A greatly improved keyboard and genius kickstand meant compromises weren’t deal-breakers anymore; it was about as close as a tablet could get to a laptop experience and still be a tablet.

It’s been a year and a half since that debut, though, and the technology calendar demands iteration. With the Surface Pro 4, Microsoft has done just that — iterated on a winning design. Sure there are changes, but most are incremental.

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Dell launched a new range of enterprise security solutions that protect organizations from threats that can evolve almost every day. With a fresh approach to malware blocking and sandboxing capabilities, data security, as well as multi-factor authentication, customers have plenty of new products to be excited about.

Announced during the Dell World Conference the new security portfolio of the company includes: a new approach to detecting and blocking advanced persistent threats; expanded user security for cloud apps with multi-factor authentication; enhancements to the Dell Data Protection (DDP) suite of data security solutions; management and policy integration across Dell next-generation firewalls (NGFWs), the switch and wireless access point; and new application security services.

Faced with so many security challenges, businesses have adopted strategic approaches with their security investments. The tech world has become too complex for enterprises to function otherwise. Dell led a survey that showed strategic approaches improved since 2014, both in the US and Western Europe. Dell’s Global Technology Adoption Index (GTAI 2015) surveyed IT and business decision makers around the world, and discovered that since 2014, up to 10 percent more companies think of good strategic security as a competitive advantage.

The company mentioned in the official press release:

“Dell’s approach to security is based on simplicity, efficiency and compliance connectivity that tie together the siloed aspects of IT security into a modular and integrated solution capable of sharing insights and control across the organization. It also makes security simpler, so that business users can manage the rules and policies, and end users can easily comply.”

Network security solutions

One of the new additions to the security portfolio is Dell’s answer to advanced persistent threats (APTs):  SonicWALL APT Protection Service. Available on both firewalls and email security solutions, the SonicWALL scans files and quarantines potential malicious unknown files until it reaches a verdict. The great advantage of Dell’s addition is that this solution is built on multi-layered sandbox technologies that use both system emulation and virtualization techniques to detect more threats than the usual single engine solutions. It also leverages Dell’s cloud forensic platform – the SonicWall GRID, with access to real time analytics from over 500K connected NGFWs, according to the company. In other words, the customers get better effectiveness for less money.

The network security solutions was one of the (if not the) most consistent page in the new portfolio chapter unveiled at the Dell World Conference. Besides the preview of the impressive SonicWALL APT Protection Service, network security offerings also included a new integrated management of Dell Networking X-Series switches through the Dell SonicWALL firewall interface. This allows customers to manage and enforce security policies across their network security, switching, wireless and WAN acceleration from a single pane of glass. This reduces complexity, increases operational efficiency and ultimately leads to better network security for multi-unit deployments.

Another important addition presented at the conference was Dell’s improved SonicWALL Email Security with the addition of Cyren anti-virus signatures. According to the information released by the company, Dell Hosted Email Security and Email Security appliances and software running release 8.2 now feature best in class multi-layer AV protection including DELL SonicWALL GRID AV, McAfee AV, Kaspersy AV and Cyren AV.

Cloud access and security analytics

Cloud has become essential for most enterprises, therefore secure access to it is crucial. Dell One Identity Cloud Access Manager 8.1 is a safe access way not only for cloud-based applications, but for internal software as well. The 8.1 version added SaaS-based, multi-factor authentication via Defender as a Service, just to be extra-safe.

Dell’s very own Security Analytics Engine has also been expanded. CAM gathers information so that it can adapt and offer users context-aware, real-time security.

Data Security Solutions

Dell Security Solutions announced three new solutions to the Dell Data Protection (DDP) portfolio to ensure data is protected wherever your travels will take your business.

Dell Data Protection | Cloud Edition 2.0 – data encrypting with enterprise-class controls whenever your data travels. The latest version also encompasses Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive for Business in addition to Box and Dropbox.

Dell Data Protection | Server Encryption – comprehensive software encryption for Windows servers in branch or remote offices, including state and local government offices, retail outlets and law offices handling confidential client data.

Dell Data Protection | Endpoint Recovery – simple continuous backup for laptops, desktops, with an easy recovery process.

Clients deploying assets on Amazon Web Services (AWS) can now rely on Dell SecureWorks’ new on-demand Emergency Cyber Incident Response capability (ECIR). Together with AWS, Dell SecureWorks discovered a growing customer interest for on-demand incident response solutions. Growing production workloads means more risks. Dell SecureWorks’ Emergency Cyber Incident Response helps organizations investigate cyber incidents affecting their assets deployed on the AWS Cloud.

Last but not least, Dell AEGIS was also introduced. This remarkable tool helps enterprise customers identify and assess the vulnerabilities associated with a company’s mission-critical applications and take preventive measures.

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AT&T will soon start selling a new smartphone manufactured by LG. Called LG G Vista 2, the new device is, obviously, succeeding the LG G Vista from last year (which was launched not just by AT&T, but also by Verizon).

The Vista 2 is about the same size as last year’s model, but it comes with various upgraded features. For example, its 5.7-inch screen is a 1080p one, instead of just 720p, while its processor is an octa-core one (possibly a Snapdragon 615), instead of the quad-core Snapdragon 400 that’s powering the old Vista.

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Google has wanted to make sure that all data on Android devices would be encrypted by default, but unfortunately that idea didn’t go too well the first time around with Android 5.0 Lollipop. But, Google thinks it has gotten it right this time and will try again to require full-disk encryption for devices that release with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and higher.

The problem in Android 5.0 was that full-disk encryption caused a hit on performance that would be too much for some devices, so Google backed down and made it optional for manufacturers to turn on encryption by default.

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Augmented reality headsets are the next virtual reality headsets.

Asus is interested in building its own version of Microsoft’s HoloLens, a visor that can display holograms right on top of the real world, according to CNET.

Asus chairman Jonney Shih told the publication the company is “still evaluating” the idea of releasing its own augmented reality headset and that consumers will have to “wait and see.”

Microsoft is betting on HoloLens to be a pillar of success in its mission to get up to 1 billion users on Windows 10, its newest operating system.

Playing with holograms won’t come cheap. For developers, a HoloLens dev kit will cost $3,000. The consumer version of HoloLens will likely be priced much lower.

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If you have a OnePlus One or other device running the latest version of Cyanogen OS 12, then chances are you know the “native” email client that came with the KitKat Lollipop based ROM is made by none other than Boxer. In addition to the email client, Boxer is also the outfit behind the calendar app found on the most recent skin from Cyanogen.

VMware is acquiring Boxer for an undisclosed amount of cash. There are a couple reasons why this is interesting. First, WMware is a subsidiary of EMC. Second, EMC is about to be acquired by Dell for the cool sum of $67 billion.

EMC is known for its storage area networking solutions. VMware is known for its cloud-based virtualization solutions that basically enable a desktop user environment without the machine needing an operating system (think a modern day mainframe with dummy terminals, except these terminals have all the functionality of a PC). Just about everyone knows what Dell is famous for, and with resources like that in the picture, Boxer’s outlook is very bright.

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Imagine a magic button that turns your Windows 10 Mobile handset into a phablet. While no phone can stretch its screen size just yet, the latest build of Windows 10 Mobile includes a feature that allows those with a regular-sized handset, to experience what it feels like to own a phablet. This is accomplished by scaling down the UI on the phone, so that the QWERTY and images on the screen are reduced in size making the screen seem larger.

If the Nokia Lumia 1520 phablet has the UI scaled down, the result is a tablet-like experience. Some of the phone apps become tablet apps, including the Microsoft Edge browser, which looks like the PC version with the UI scaled down.

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If your MacBook or MacBook Pro with Retina has some odd stains or discolorations on the screen, good news: Apple may be doing something about it.

Apple quietly launched a program through which it will replace Retina displays on affected laptops for free, counting one year from Oct. 16, 2015 or three years from the date of original purchase, according to a MacRumors report.

Staingate has seemingly stemmed from the Retina screen’s anti-reflecting coating wearing off, which is documented on the website Staingate.org and a Facebook group called “MacBook Retina STAIN ON DISPLAY / damaged AR coating,” which has collected numerous reports from users experiencing its effects.

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With the iPhone 6s series, Apple has managed to break the pre-order record set last year with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, selling 13 million units in the first weekend of commercial availability. However, while it may seem like Apple’s new smartphone generation was off to a great start, it looks like some analysts don’t believe that the new iPhones are going to sell better than the previous ones.

According to Pacific Crest Securities chip analyst John Vinh, Apple has reduced component orders by about 15% following weaker-than-expected sales in the week following the launch. This information was allegedly obtained from multiple sources within the chip-making industry. Vinh writes that his company now expects Apple to sell about 67 million iPhone 6s and 6s Plus units in the fourth quarter of the year, significantly below the 75-80 million unit shipments that many market analysts predict.

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AT&T has announced “NumberSync” which seems to be focused on being the solution for when you forget your phone, lose your phone, or your phone battery dies. AT&T didn’t explain the service too well in the announcement, but said that it would be a network-based service so it would be fully cross-platform (however, that would mean manufacturers need to work with AT&T to support NumberSync). AT&T says that with NumberSync, you’ll have “freedom” from the following situations:

• You will no longer need a fitness band and your smartphone to stay connected when you go for a run.
• Forget your phone on the way to the store? You won’t have to turn around to be able to ask your spouse if eggs should be on your list.

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A jury has ruled that Apple infringed on a patent owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s licensing arm, and could be forced to pay as much as $862 million in damages. The patent covers a method used to make processors run more efficiently, and was found to be used by Apple on its A7, A8 and A8X chipsets.

The A7 is found inside the Apple iPhone 5s, while the A8 is employed by the Apple iPhone 6, Apple iPhone 6 Plus and Apple iPad mini 4. The Apple iPad Air 2 is powered by the A8X. Apple’s legal team tried to convince the jury that the patent in question was not valid. The tech titan filed a request with the USPTO to review the patent, but the request was denied by the agency.

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The latest version of Android — 6.0 or Marshmallow — has been out for a few weeks now, but most Android users were unable to install it, since it was only available for Nexus devices.

This changes next week, when LG will start rolling out Android 6.0 to LG G4 devices. The list of improvements include simplified permissions control; Do Not Disturb mode, which blocks all sounds or only alarms and notifications; and Doze mode, which increases battery life by shutting down the background processes of certain apps when the phone is not in use.

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You no longer need to enter a password when using the Yahoo Mail app.

The company unveiled a redesigned email app on Thursday introducing a new Account Key feature, which lets users log in without entering their passwords. The update also adds support for more types of email accounts, including Outlook.com and Hotmail.

Account Key enables Yahoo’s mobile users to log in to their email accounts while bypassing the password step of the process. When enabled, the app will send a push notification for users to accept in place of a password. The thinking, according to Yahoo, is that users will be able to easily shut down any unauthorized attempts to get into their account users will be able to easily shut down any unauthorized attempts to get into their account without needing to remember a complex password.

“It’s also more secure than a traditional password because once you activate Account Key — even if someone gets access to your account info — they can’t sign in,” the company’s VP of product management, Dylan Casey, notes in a statement.

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It’s quite clear that Skype has been more business-oriented lately, even without the business app. With over 300 million users, Skype has become one of the most important communication tools available. In the tech world, because of its impact and use, Skype is one of the very few brands that got verbalized: to skype. In today’s world, communication mobility has become essential not only for regular users who have friends and family all over the world, but also for businesses. Important meetings can come up at any time, and Skype is a great option that can make you productive on any device.

With a dedicated Windows phone app since July, Skype for business for Android and iOS debuted about two months ago. Today’s announcement revealed that the Skype for business app for iOS is now publicly available. The company mentioned that the Android dedicated app is still in development, and it will be available by the end of the year.

iPhone users with Lync 2013 will be automatically updated to the Skype for Business app. Besides a number of impressive features, the app also fixes sign-in issues that some Lync users encountered. Formerly known as Microsoft Office Communicator, Lync uses a Microsoft server, and has a dedicated enterprise infrastructure with instant messaging, conferences, VoIP, and others. Building on the same capabilities of Lync, Skype for Business includes content sharing and telephony. The key to success in any app seems to be simplicity. The developers revealed that transferring and joining a call now takes only one touch/click instead of three. App users will appreciate anything that simplifies their efforts. According to the official Skype for Business iOS app press release, the simplification of joining a call is one of the most important new features. An updated dashboard brings the contact search bar, your upcoming meetings and most-recent conversations to one place. The contact search bar allows you to search your Global Address List by first name, last name, email alias or phone number. Regardless of the used device, all your recent conversations are now at your fingertips. You can also easily glance at your upcoming appointments—simply tap on the left for the meeting details or on the icon on the right to join immediately.

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Another important new feature is the enhanced in-meeting experience. Besides the full-screen video that makes every meeting better on any device, the larger important buttons (mute and add) make every action easier, even if you are on the move. The simultaneous viewing feature is also pretty impressive. Some content might have gotten lost along the way before, but the Skype for Business app makes sure you never miss anything from the conversation – video or text/content.

A future update will give users the ability to view PowerPoint slides directly in the meeting. The only option for the moment is still via screen sharing.

Security is important for any software, so additional authentication and security options can only make the app more trustworthy. Office 365 customers can now take advantage of Active Directory Authentication Library (ADAL)-based authentication.

Microsoft explained in the official press release: This enables your IT admin to configure multi-factor authentication for the Skype for Business iOS app, increasing the security beyond just a user name and password. With multi-factor authentication, users are required to acknowledge a phone call, text message or an app notification on their device after correctly entering their user name and password. Other Office applications also support ADAL-based authentication, which allows for consistent authentication across your organization. Learn more about setting up multi-factor authentication using ADAL.

Skype has become very important for the Microsoft ecosystem, and it will be built in all the future products. So far we can only experience it in Office 365 and mobile apps, but it’s safe to say that a Windows built-in version is probably the next logical step.

If you want to upgrade to the new app, the new Skype for Business iOS is now available as a Universal app in the iTunes Store. As we mentioned before, iPhone users with Lync 2013 will automatically get updated to the Skype for Business app. iPad users that want to switch from Lync 2013 to Skype, need to download the new Universal app from the iTunes Store. IT admins should use the Skype for Business iOS productivity guide to learn more and prepare their users.

Even if Microsoft didn’t mention a release date yet, users that are still expecting the release of the app – Android users for instance, can join the Skype for Business IT Pro Yammer community to subscribe to the upcoming product updates, interactive Skype broadcast sessions with the product team, and learn from the community. Regular announcements and updates will keep you posted on all the upcoming releases.

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Looking to hit Google’s Android where it hurts, Microsoft announced today that the company will control software updates for the Windows 10 Mobile OS. The software giant is in the process of talking to the carriers about future updates. The plan is for the carriers to run their tests on Windows 10 Mobile updates, and then Microsoft will push them out. Besides the carriers, Microsoft will also rely on feedback from members of the Windows Insiders group to determine when a new update is ready to be sent out.

This is a bit different than the way Android updates are handled. After Google releases a new Android build, the carriers test it and then send it out themselves. With this method, Android users have to wait for each carrier to be satisfied before the update is disseminated. Since some carriers take longer to test updates than others, the result is an unbalanced process. Different owners of the same phone could have their handsets running on different builds of the same OS at the same time, depending on which carrier they subscribe to. It is this uneven experience that Microsoft is looking to avoid.

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According to a new report from LG’s home market of South Korea, LG is developing its own mobile payment platform to compete against rival offerings from Samsung, Google, and Apple.

It was recently discovered that LG has applied to register the G Pay trademark in both South Korea and the US. While registering a trademark doesn’t always lead to a product launch, this info does to suggest that LG’s upcoming mobile payment platform will eventually land in the United States, although nothing can be confirmed at this pint.

The report says that, starting earlier this year, LG has been studying rival offerings while also “sharing information” with credit/debit card companies.

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Pepsi – yes, the beverage maker – is preparing to release its first smartphone. A mysterious post from Pepsi’s official Weibo account led to a leaked image and plenty of speculation over the weekend before the company confirmed the plans with Reuters.

The leaked image claims the Pepsi P1 will feature a 5.5-inch 1080p display that’s powered by a octa-core MediaTek processor clocked at 1.7GHz and 2GB of RAM. The device is also expected to ship with 16GB of local storage, a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter and a 3,000mAh battery.

It’ll run Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box.

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Dropbox and Adobe announced a new partnership today that they say is just the first phase of “even deeper mobile integrations” expected to be rolled out in the coming months (iOS this year, Android in 2016).

This first step will allow users to add their Dropbox account to Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader desktop apps (PC and Mac), enabling them for the first time to open PDFs stored in Dropbox from directly inside Adobe.

“We want you to be able to collaborate with PDF files on Dropbox in as few steps, clicks, or swipes as possible,” Dropbox said in a statement. “Ultimately, we want you to be able to work with any kind of file easily, from viewing to editing to sharing. Our collaboration with Adobe, the inventor of the PDF, is the next step in this process.”

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We love Chromebooks. They’re fast, lightweight, provide a great web experience, and they’re so cheap you could leave them at the beach or drop them in the toilet and not worry. With everything saved online, the only thing you’d lose is whatever text you typed in the browser. And with some extensions these days, maybe not even that.

Acer’s been at the front of the Chromebook phenomenon, and we even called their Chromebook C720 i3 one of the top 12 in tech last year. But what if you made a Windows laptop that inexpensive? We already saw a good example in HP’s Stream 11 earlier this year running Windows 8.1, but how about Windows 10?

That’s what the Acer Aspire One Cloudbook promises to be, the first low-priced Windows 10 laptop on the market that’s worth the price. Starting at $170, with a free year of Office 365 (a $70 value), is the Cloudbook the fruitcake of laptops or can it make a home in your messenger bag?

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Earlier this year, Google said that offline turn-by-turn navigation would eventually be available to Google Maps users. However, the feature is still missing as we type this. The same goes for Apple Maps: at the moment, the app requires an internet connection in order to provide turn-by-turn navigation. Thankfully, this doesn’t mean that Android and iOS users can’t get offline turn-by-turn navigation. In fact, there’s a certain third-party app that’s offering this right now for free.

The app that we’re talking about is HERE Maps, formerly known as Nokia Maps, and soon to be acquired by a powerful consortium of German carmakers (including BMW and Audi). HERE Maps is available on Android and iOS for free – no in-app purchases, no ads.

After you download HERE Maps on your Android or iOS device (see the source links at the end of this article), you’re almost ready to benefit from all of its features. In order to have access to offline turn-by-turn navigation, you first need to download maps for the areas that interest you – this is done from HERE Maps’ main Menu. You can download maps for entire continents, entire countries, or just for particular states. Needless to say, maps for entire continents are very large (for example, North and Central America will occupy about 7 GB on your device). But, if you have enough free space and you’re using a Wi-Fi connection, you should have no problems downloading all the maps you want.

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Many are the new features introduced to Android by the 6.0 Marshmallow update. Many of them we’ve talked about already – Android’s latest release brings better control over app permissions, improved power management, native support for fingerprint scanners and the USB Type-C connector, as well as enhanced search features powered by Google Now on Tap. But for every major Android 6.0 feature, there’s probably a dozen minor ones that we may have not mentioned yet. One of these minor features is the new, built-in file manager.

Yup, there’s a file manager build into Android 6.0, and even if you’ve updated your device already, you might haven’t even noticed its presence. That’s because it isn’t launched your app drawer. It wouldn’t have been fun if it was that obvious, would it?

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The common phrase “Just Google it” has always been indicative of our dependence on search engines, though we never think about how frequently those searches occur.

Amit Singhal, senior vice president of Google Search, put things into perspective on Thursday at Re/code‘s Code/Mobile conference when he said Google gets over 100 billion searches a month. Additionally, more than half of those searches are coming from mobile devices. That doesn’t include devices with screens bigger than 6 inches such as tablets.

With voice recognition and features like Google Now, the search engine box is only just the beginning. Singhal explains that user environments and device capabilities dictate how we search now — from typing in a box the old-school way to talking directly to our phone to retrieve information.

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Over the past couple of days, reports have been spreading that suggest iPhone 6s and 6s Plus smartphones that use a Samsung-made Apple A9 SoC feature worse battery life than devices that contain a TSMC-made A9. The discrepancy has reportedly been as large as 2 hours in GeekBench’s battery test, which is pretty significant for two devices that are supposed to be identical

According to Apple, though, the differences in SoCs produced by TSMC and Samsung are nothing to worry about. In a statement regarding the matter, an Apple spokesperson said that the “actual battery life” of the iPhone 6s line varies “within just 2 to 3 percent of each other… even taking into account variable component differences”.

The company went on to suggest that the battery life figures reported by some “are not representative of real-world usage,” since the benchmarks are too processor heavy and “misleading” to measure real-world battery usage. In short, according to Apple, consumers shouldn’t worry about whether their iPhone comes with a TSMC or Samsung SoC.

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Okay, that’s a fictitious dictionary entry that we came up with in a moment of mental genius, but it perfectly depicts the reason why we and a large part of the smartphone users around the globe are loving Android. Recently, we welcomed Marshmallow to the family of sweet versions of the OS, and frankly said, we have little to no gripes with it – it’s stable, with a host of interesting features aboard, and most importantly, it feels mature, of sorts.

Well, as we already told you, there’s a nifty hidden menu in Marshmallow that allows you to change or access features previously unavailable to Android enthusiasts (on a non-rooted, stock Android phone, of course). It’s called System UI Tuner and is a hidden feature, of sorts – we already made a guide on how to enable it and access one of its more important features, but now we will present to you the multitude of tweaks System UI Tuner provides.

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Slowly, but surely, Apple Pay is adding more supported merchants.

At Re/Code’s annual Code/Mobile conference on Thursday, Jennifer Bailey, the vice president of Apple Pay, announced the company’s mobile payment system on the iPhone and Apple Watch will roll out to select Starbucks stores as a pilot program by the end of the year. She also revealed KFC and Chili’s will support Apple Pay in 2016.

While the Apple Pay rollout at Starbucks this year will only be a test run, Bailey said the coffee company will expand the service to its 7,500 stores worldwide in 2016.

Bailey didn’t go into detail on whether or not customers would receive any loyalty rewards from making purchases with Apple Pay. She did, however, restate how iOS 9 incorporates loyalty program cards during the Apple Pay transaction process, hinting that Starbucks could incorporate the feature.

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After over a year long hiatus, Microsoft is back in business with a new, high-end offerings in the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. Quite frankly, what Microsoft did — saying no to premature updates to its premium line before Windows 10 for Mobile was ready to action — took some serious guts, and, we guess, the loyalty of some fans. But now that we’ve finally seen the end of the tunnel, it’s time we judged whether what awaits on the other side was worth it.

Many of you will have already gotten themselves acquainted with the two new devices, but here’s a quick rundown of the specs:

• 5.2″/5.7″ Quad HD OLED screens with Gorilla Glass 3 or 4 with the 950 and 950 XL, respectively
• Snapdragon 808/Snapdragon 810
• 20MP main cameras with triple LED flash and OIS, 5MP selfie cams across both models
• 32GB of storage, expandable through microSD
• Iris scanner with Windows Hello (Beta)

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Around the end of August, eagle-eyed users noticed that the Verizon logo is absent from the list of Samsung Pay partners. This did not bode well for any Galaxy S6-line or Note5 owner who got it from the large carrier, as it seemed that the mobile payment program may not be active on their devices. Shortly afterwards, however Verizon contacted us and confirmed that it is in the process of evaluating the service, deciding whether it will be getting on board with it.

Well, a bit more than a month later, the company has said that it is ready to launch Samsung Pay services on Verizon-issued devices. Users should look out for an update in the (near?) future, which will enable the app on their Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, or Galaxy Note5.

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Dell‘s line of high-performance XPS laptops just got better with new models that feature Intel’s latest Skylake processors. The new 12-inch, 13-inch, and 15-inch laptops are designed to be thin and small.

Frank Azor, general manager of Dell XPS, said in an interview with VentureBeat that the 13-inch XPS model has the “smallest footprint for a 13-inch laptop on the planet.” That’s due in no small part to the power-efficient, high-performance Intel code-named Skylake processors, formally known as sixth-generation Core processors. The laptops are an example of a whole generation of new devices based on Intel’s newest chips and Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system.

The XPS 13 has a virtually borderless InfinityEdge display. The system is virtually identical to a previous version unveiled at the International CES 2015 trade show in January, but now it is upgraded with the new Intel processors, which offer better performance, long battery life, and other features such as improved security. It has 1 terabyte of solid state drive (SSD) memory and 16 gigabytes of main memory. The battery lasts up to 18 hours and 14 minutes.

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It’s finally happening. The smartwatch market is growing up. Manufacturers are learning from their own mistakes and those of others. They’re listening to customers and paying attention to fashion and watch history. And with the arrival of Samsung’s wholly refashioned Gear S2 smartwatch, we now have two or more solid contenders for the best wearables on the market.

Over the last two years, virtually every smartwatch manufacturer has gone back to the drawing board at least once. Some, like Motorola and LG have made welcome, if incremental, improvements to their designs. However, when Apple introduced the Apple Watch earlier this year, it appeared as if the company had ingested every lesson in the history of wearables and then leap-frogged the competition. Quite honestly most of what I’ve seen since then has been companies playing catch-up. No one appeared to have the courage to start over.

Until Samsung.

Samsung calls its new wearable the Gear S2 to remind people that it’s part of the Galaxy Gear line of wearable products it started introducing in 2013. The first batch of large and not particularly well-designed devices all ran Android Wear, Google’s powerful wearable OS that’s also a notorious battery-life hog.

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Google today brought out its Cloud Security Scanner service for finding potential security issues into general availability — for free. The tool came out in beta back in February.

The timing is the interesting part. Google published its blog post on the news less than one hour after Amazon Web Services, the biggest public cloud and the No. 1 competitor of the Google Cloud Platform, announced the release of Inspector, a cloud service that automatically looks for security and compliance issues based on input from an admin.

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Language barriers are falling down one app at a time.

If you’re running Android 6.0 Marshmallow on your device, you can now translate text directly within apps without the trouble of switching between apps.

First, download the Translate app; you won’t have to open it for the feature to work. When you’re in an app like TripAdvisor, just highlight the text you want to translate. Next to the Cut and Copy options in your floating toolbar, you can now select Translate. The translation will appear in a pop-up right in the app.

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While some still harbor a blasé attitude to digital security, the mobile community does appear to be paying more attention in this regard. With so many well-documented hacks and leaks of private information, it pays to think twice before downloading a potentially malicious file, or using a very basic, easy-to-guess password. Still, even with less ignorance and more information, the fight against malware is an ongoing one that will never end completely, as some iOS users in China and Taiwan have recently discovered firsthand.

With Apple’s mobile OS being a walled garden, it’s sometimes perceived as a safe haven from malware, particularly when compared to close rival Android. But this assumption is simply incorrect, and a new piece of malware by the name of YiSpecter seems to have found its way into a number of Apple devices throughout Asia.

Cyber security firm Palo Alto Networks reports that once YiSpecter gets its claws in, it gets to causing all manner of havoc; spoofing stock apps with those downloaded while hijacking others to display ads. YiSpecter’s courtesies also extend to changing Safari’s default search engine, modify bookmarks and uploading certain device information without a user’s permission.

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That’s right folks – this year around, Google announced not one but two new Nexus devices. One to satisfy users who are looking for that bang-for-buck affordable quality that made the 2013 Nexus 5 famous, and one to please customers who prefer their phone to have that premium flair to it – and a huge screen to boot. We are talking about the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, of course.

Now, if you’re a devout Android fan, in love with the stock experience that the Nexus line provides, you’ve been probably foaming at the mouth for months now, waiting for the new phones to be announced. But, if you are only somewhat aware of what Google has been up to lately, you may still be a bit confused – “Wait, what? Two phones? Is that an iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus kind of move?”.

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In the world of professional networking, having relevant and intelligent conversations is an important part. When you take the relationship digital, it’s far from perfect, especially when on LinkedIn. On the social network, connections are certainly being made, but actual discussions takes place within its Groups product. But a quick Google search paints an ugly picture: people don’t like it. This is all about to change.

LinkedIn has begun notifying group administrators of an upcoming change that reimagines what members probably thought it should have been in the beginning. The entire product has been reimagined from the ground up and a standalone iOS app will be released on October 14 in an effort to make LinkedIn Groups valuable once again for the more than 380 million registered users.

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On Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled new Surface, Lumia and Microsoft Band devices, among other important announcements. It’s pretty soon to tell which device will deliver and which will not, but one thing is certain: the Surface Book is a possible MacBook Pro killer. This laptop/tablet was definitely the highlight of the event.

With Windows 10 running on 110 million devices around the world, the obvious added benefit for the new Microsoft devices is that they take full advantage of powerful and versatile hardware to unlock new Windows 10 experiences, including fast and secured login with Windows Hello1; new Cortana2 experiences that turn Windows 10 devices into a personal assistant; improved touch and pen experiences on Surface; and Continuum for phones, which enables the new Lumia 950 and 950 XL phones to work like PCs3. Showcasing the innovation possible with Windows 10, Microsoft also shared new gaming experiences from Xbox and new details on Microsoft HoloLens, the first fully untethered holographic computer.

“With Windows 10 and these new Microsoft devices, you are at the center of magical new experiences,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “We’re moving people from needing to choosing to loving Windows, and these devices promise to fuel even more enthusiasm and opportunity for the entire Windows ecosystem.”

The convertible laptop that changes the game

In a couple of years, we will probably call Microsoft’s Surface Book the Cadillac of laptops. For some time now, laptops haven’t really gone anywhere new. They have been getting better, of course, but not much else has changed.

Microsoft’s Surface Book is a powerful, high-performance laptop, with responsive pen and touch support. Ultrathin, Surface Book combines the impressive power of 6th Generation Intel® Core i5 and Core i7 processors with up to 12 hours of battery life4. The 13.5-inch optically bonded PixelSense Display delivers a high-contrast 267 dpi display with improved latency and parallax, making it not just beautiful to look at but natural and fluid to write on. The pen holds to the side of the screen, in a magnetic grip. An optional discrete GPU allows Surface Book to harness the full power of hardware-accelerated graphics for seamless video editing, fast rendering or immersive gaming. According to Microsoft, when used as a laptop, the Surface Book is more powerful than the MacBook Pro.

The Surface Book brings something new to the table, and the most interesting feature is its detachable screen that practically becomes a tablet, well not exactly a tablet but more of a clipboard according to Panos Panay, head of the Microsoft 10 devices. The device will be used about 80% of the time as a laptop, that’s why they call the detachable part a clipboard instead of a tablet.

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It will be used for reading, and learning more than anything else. There is a prompt displayed on your screen so that you know when the thin lightweight clipboard is safe to lift. When you need more power for your device, you can assemble the full laptop with a simple click of the display unit into the base unit. The safe-to-remove click that you hear is actually a little audio effect that reassures you that it’s ok to detach the screen. The display can also be reversed. After you detach the clipboard, you can simply reattach it reversed, so that you can take full advantage of the laptop’s graphic power.

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The battery and the Intel Core processor are built into the screen, while the GPU is in the base. That’s why the detachable part won’t be used as a tablet that much, because it will be more convenient to reattach it for more power. The battery should hold up to 12 hours in laptop mode, and about 3 hours in tablet mode.

Another major improvement is the multi-touch glass trackpad, a much needed change given the previous trackpads of the Windows laptops. The Surface Book trackpad has a special edge palm rejection feature that allows you to type without constantly looking at your cursor flying about. The keyboard is also similar to the one of the 12-inch MacBook, in the sense that the buttons are more rigid.

The basic configuration of the Surface Book includes 128GB storage and 8GB of RAM, and starts at $1,500. The full-option configuration tops out at 1TB storage and 16GB of RAM (same as the MacBook Pro), with a price that goes over $3,000. It’s not the cheapest laptop you can get, but not exactly overpriced either.

Is this the MacBook Pro killer?

It’s still early to say, but it definitely has a good shot. The Surface Book is without a doubt one of (if not the) best Windows laptop in recent years. Its success should be guaranteed, but it probably won’t “kill” the MacBook Pro, simply because usually, one product isn’t enough for customers to agree to switch tech ecosystems. This is an aggressive move for Microsoft nonetheless, that forces PC makers to either innovate and improve, or leave the business altogether.

Surface Book, Surface Pro 4 and new accessories are available for preorder in select markets Oct. 7. Shipments begin on October 26th.

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A District Court in Pennsylvania ruled today, that a passcode that locks a smartphone is protected by the fifth amendment to the constitution. This amendment protects a person from being forced to incriminate him or herself in a criminal case. We’ve all seen those cheesy Perry Mason episodes or movies where the defendant tells the wily D.A. that he is “pleading the fifth.”

The case in Pennsylvania revolves around two Capital One analysts accused of insider trading. The government believed that the evidence of this crime was hidden inside the defendants’ phones, and requested that they turn over the passcodes so that the handsets could be unlocked. The employees refused, and the matter became a separate legal issue.

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We’ve seen both Motorola and HTC list which of its handsets will receive the Android 6.0 update. In the case of Motorola, it is quite an emotional matter as owners of certain models ended up disappointed to find out that their handsets are forever stuck on Android 5.1.

On LGWorld.com, a website that is run by the manufacturer, it was discovered that you can select a country, in this case the U.S., and are taken to a page where apps and games are listed. You then pick a phone and see which versions of Android are available for each handset. Interestingly, Android 6.0 was listed on two models.

According to LG, Android 6.0, also known as Marshmallow, will be headed to the LG G3 and the LG G4. One model not listed is the LG V10. The recently unveiled multimedia monster will launch with Android 5.1 pre-installed, and will be updated fairly quickly to Android 6.0.

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Learning the intricacies of Photoshop can be a daunting task if you’re not a pro and really only want to use a few tools.

So Adobe added another app to its growing mobile lineup on Monday with Photoshop Fix, which breaks out Photoshop’s retouching capabilities into a free app.

One of the biggest problems with photo editing apps is that developers try to cram too much in. The editing tools may be exactly what you need, but you’ll never find them because they’re buried beneath layers of menus and submenus. Or, once you find what you’re looking for, it’s really easy to overdo it. Our collective Instagram addiction has trained us to expect bold, saturated colors and grainy filters.

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Dell is preparing a refresh of their XPS 12 laptop-tablet convertible, and thanks to some leaked photos and specifications from WinFuture, we’re getting a good look at what this entirely new product will be.

While the previous XPS 12 featured a swiveling 12.5-inch display, the new XPS 12 separates the display and keyboard into a dockable, Asus Transformer-like hybrid. This gives the device greater flexibility than the previous iteration, and with a new, sleeker design, the XPS 12 could be a great competitor to the Transformer and Microsoft Surface lines.

The main tablet portion of the XPS 12 will reportedly come with a 12.5-inch 4K display, although there will also be a cheaper 1080p model available. Inside the 8mm thin tablet body is an Intel ‘Skylake’ Core M SoC, alongside up to 8 GB of RAM, a 30 watt-hour battery (smaller than the iPad Pro), and optional LTE.

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The smartwatch space is heating! So far, we’ve seen the Huawei Watch, the 2nd generation Moto 360, and even the Samsung Gear S2. All of them, naturally, are unique in their own specific way, but we have yet to see a true Android Wear smartwatch with cellular connectivity. Well, that’s until now, as the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition is the first one running Android Wear that offers a truly untethered experience thanks to cellular connectivity.

We got the chance to check out a pre-production model during a private event, but despite being able to turn it on, it still seems like a promising addition to the ever growing smartwatch lineup. Gone is the elegance of the original LG Watch Urbane, replaced instead by this beefy sized smartwatch that doesn’t try to hide its girth. Playing around with it briefly, it feels like it’s meant for the outdoorsy type of person – those who want to take a hike, or do some climbing, but without the worry of having to bring their smartphone to stay connected.

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People have always been interested to find a proper way to communicate with a person who speaks a different language. We want to be connected. So far we managed to find different ways to solve this issue – universal languages, translators, or apps. Even though there are other apps that revolutionized the translation scene, none of them are used at the same scale as Skype. With about 300 million active users that make more than 3 billion calls every day, Skype Translator should be a game changer. Most of the times we remember the cases that make a technology popular, not necessarily the ones who invent the technology. It’s the impact that matters for the normal user, because that’s when the change is truly felt.

The Skype Translator preview app was released at the end of 2014, and since, hundreds of thousands of users have offered feedback, so that the end product could be as good as possible. Among the participants who helped with valuable feedback, there were some inspirational and creative uses:

– A student who planned her yearlong study abroad trip to China only through Translator

– A multicultural, newly-engaged couple who kept in touch with each other’s families via weekly video chats

– An owner of a small business who communicates with his best suppliers through IM

– A PhD student who enhanced his thesis research with the help of experts in other countries

– A non-profit worker who used Skype Translator to unite donors and those in need

– An Australian world traveler who found his way across continents by translating key phrases

Early users were instrumental in the improvement of the translator. Some changes were actually made to the preview app. The progress should only benefit from expanded use.

The time has come for the Skype Translator to be available for millions of users, and break (at least some) language barriers. With six voice languages – English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish, and 50 messaging languages into the Skype for Windows desktop app, the translator should improve global communication considerably. A whole new world of personal and professional possibilities has opened.

Researchers, engineers, and many others across Microsoft have been working for almost a decade at this project, based on Deep Neural Networks. It leverages Microsoft’s work in the areas of natural language processing, speech recognition, and machine learning. According to the company, the software is built on a world-class machine learning technology that gets smarter with usage. Basically, the entire experience should get better as more people use it.

To use Skype Translator, you will need to download Skype for desktop, and check your audio and headset settings if you want to make a call. Skype Translator works on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 PCs. Using Skype Translator is, as you would expect, quite easy. Here is all you have to do:

1. Select the contact that you want to chat with or call.

2. If you need translator, click the settings button/globe icon. Choose the contact’s written language to see translations in the chat, or from the spoken and written list to hear the translation on a call.

3. Check the globe icon to see if translator is on.

Video guidance

The Translator update is being introduced to the Skype for Windows desktop app over the next few weeks. Look for two new icons in your Skype window, as shown in the red box below. Once they are installed, your Skype Translator is ready to use.

So far, there is a positive feedback for the Skype Translator. Users have reported some issues regarding translation, but not significant enough that your conversations will suffer. Some translation issues you will probably encounter, will be related to proper names or the names of smaller towns. Microsoft is keeping a close eye on the tool, taking into consideration every feedback sent by users. The next few months will probably be very update-friendly. There are no comments yet about the update for iOS or Android, but Microsoft has always been very cross-platform oriented, which means we can expect the update sometime soon.

In a post on the company blog, Skype said: “It has been a long-time dream at Skype to break down language barriers and bring everyone across the globe closer together. Now, you have even more reasons to chat with people around the world – bringing together family, friends, and students. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities to do even more together across not only distances, but also languages.”

To some extent, we must believe that language barriers are starting to break. Though it might not seem like much, globally connected users will look back on this update some time from now – after talking in Mandarin for the first time, and they might just think: that’s when it all started.

With the Nexus 5X, Google stays true to the original concept of its phones to be affordable, near-cost showcases of the newest Android version. Unlike the premium metal Nexus 6P, the Nexus 5X’s comforting polycarbonate and somewhat weaker specs sheet, have ensured a lower starting price of $379, and $429 for the 32-gigger.

While that might sound a bit steep for the Nexus line standards of late, especially in its LG-made versions, let’s not forget that Google didn’t spare much when it comes to its new phones, which are supposed to be the posted kids of the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow. A 1080p display, hexa-core chipset, and a 12.3 MP camera sensor with largish 1.55 micron pixels are nothing to sniff at within this price range, not to mention the finger scanner on the back.

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Timely software updates have always been a troublesome topic when talking about Android, especially considering the confusion added with some security updates coming as part of Google Play services rather than the Android OS. However, Google has a new plan with Android 6.0 Marshmallow to make security patches more visible to users.

Android Marshmallow will begin rolling out to Nexus devices next week and there is a small change that could have big repercussions: under the “About” settings menu, Google has added a new line for “Android security patch level”, which will show a date for the latest security update pushed to a user’s device. If all goes well, anyone checking this line will see a date within the past month because Google and some manufacturers promised to push monthly security updates following the recent Stagefright mess. Unfortunately, there will be no way for users to take action when their device is lagging behind other than calling the manufacturer to complain.

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Ever since Nest Labs first started selling its learning thermostat in 2011, consumers have responded to its simplicity and the fact that it just works. It wasn’t the first thermostat on the market, but likely helped accelerate the move toward more connected homes. Today, the company has several announcements aimed at promoting this space and improving its Works with Nest program.

Starting today, Nest Labs is introducing a new device-to-device communications protocol, called Weave – which works sans Wi-Fi — into its developer platform. Initial launch partners include P&G, GE’s branded lighting controls, Hunter Douglas, Philips Hue, iHome, and Lutron Electronics.

Developers can also now build on top of the Nest Cam, thanks to the open availability of a new Camera API. Additionally, there’s now a Works with Nest store that features a catalog of all the third-party integrations with Nest’s line of products.

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It is an exciting day for every smartphone enthusiast and fan of the Android operating system. At an official media event, and after a lengthy track of leaks and rumors, Google just announced its newest Nexus smartphones. These are the LG-made Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P built by Huawei. This post is all about the latter and what it can do.

So yeah, as the rumor mill predicted, Google has partnered up with Huawei for the Nexus 6P smartphone. And they seem to have done a good job at designing the handset. It is a metal-made phone, built of aircraft-grade aluminium. The phone is 7.3 millimeters thin, which is a good figure considering the 3450mAh battery packed inside. You’ll be able to have a Nexus 6P in one of three colors, named white, aluminium, and graphite. Sorry, folks, but the rose gold color variant is only coming to Japan. The smartphone is 159.3mm tall, 77.8mm wide, and weighs 178 grams.

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Apple has been awarded a patent for an application it filed in 2013 for a curved screen. The interesting thing is that Apple’s patent not only covers a curved display like the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge, it also covers the ability to make the screen flexible. With such a display, Apple’s screen could show more content than a competitor’s screen, without having to increase its size. For example, Apple could fold the screen in a way that video or still images would appear to look as though they were coming from a continuous loop.

With the patent, Apple could make the iPhone a cylinder, a sphere, or whatever shape tickles Jony Ive’s fancy. In theory Apple could develop an iPhone made entirely of glass that could replace certain buttons with 3D Touch. Additionally, by making the screen flexible, Apple could put a second screen behind a first one in a manner that would create 3D images. We’ve seen 3D images and photography offered on smartphones before, like on the HTC EVO 3D and the LG Thrill 4G, but those phones used a different stereoscopic technique.

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It’s not hard to get people riled up about Internet privacy.

Privacy policies can seem long and technical, and it’s easier to listen to the digital shouts of the Twittersphere and the media.

After Windows 10 was released this summer, people said the operating system was spying on users and collecting data for extraneous purposes. Now, Microsoft is attempting to put those prickly privacy issues to rest with articles addressing the data Windows 10 collects and why.

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Isn’t it funny to suddenly live in a time where Microsoft is leading and others follow? The perennial late-to-the-party Windows giant has somehow set the tone for Apple and Google and a growing number of system manufacturers in something I like to call the Ultrabet Race.

What’s an Ultrabet? It’s a tablet and an ultraportable, or — looked at another way — a tablet that only reaches its full potential when attached to its companion keyboard. The pairing is far more symbiotic than that of a typical Bluetooth keyboard accessory and tablet. These keyboards literally provide support and or connectivity

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Apple chief executive Tim Cook stopped by Box’s customer conference today to chat about his company’s efforts into the enterprise: “It’s a huge area for us.” In an interview that appeared reminiscent to Cook’s appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the talk covered all areas, including mobility in the workplace and also a few potshots at Android.

In one of many lighthearted moments, Box CEO and cofounder Aaron Levie opened up the talk by setting up an iPad showing a lit fireplace — it was a fireside chat, after all. But quickly the conversation shifted towards Apple’s role in the enterprise, a $25 billion annual market.

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An IPO may be one of the most significant events in the life of your business. But graduating to the big leagues means big responsibility. When your company is in its high growth phase, you’re probably not thinking about compliance. You are probably more focused on ramping up the business instead. But as you near a liquidity event, that is when you need to address certain issues that weren’t on the radar before.

Here are six fundamental tax and control considerations CFO’s of any high-growth tech company should contemplate when preparing for an IPO.

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The Apple iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are out and if you’ve already bought one of the new iPhones, one question pops up immediately: what are the most essential free iPhone apps that you can download to make the best of it?

After years of try and fail, we’ve come with a list of essential iPhone apps that we keep on coming back to every time we put our SIM card in an iPhone.

Unlike Android, the Apple ecosystem has a much better represented tier of premium, paid applications. We’ve left these as a topic of a separate discussion, instead focusing on the essential free iPhone apps spread across various categories. You can find the list right below, and we’re also looking forward to your suggestions and favorites in the comments section.

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After exiting the global mobile phone market in 2005 due to poor sales, Panasonic attempted a comeback in 2012, only to essentially flop again the following year with 5.4 billion yen ($45 million) in operating losses in its mobile division. Samsung and Sony emerged as two of the big winners in the space, though Panasonic has still been trying to sell smartphones in India.

On Monday, however, there seemed to be fresh signs of optimism from inside the company about the outlook for its global smartphone business between now and 2018. According to The Economic Times in India, Panasonic is targeting close to $2 billion in smartphone revenue by 2018, as it seeks to make a global comeback in the space. The comments come from a top Panasonic executive in the country.

Global is perhaps not an entirely accurate way to describe the new push, as Panasonic seems to be doubling-down specifically on opportunities within emerging markets across south Asia, the Middle East, and Africa (largely ignoring Europe and the U.S.). But it’s certainly a step out of Japan, and for the low-end play and small margins it’s likely looking at for its smartphone business, the real growth and opportunity is indeed in the emerging markets. Playing a numbers/volume game rather than targeting wealthier consumers makes sense, and can be better accomplished in these rapidly growing regions.

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Open-source content management system, Drupal, got another boost today when Boston-based Acquia announced it has raised $55 million in venture capital.

“At Acquia, we pride ourselves on guiding today’s leading organizations as they digitalize their business,” Acquia CEO Tom Erickson said in a statement.

The money comes on the heels of $50 million the company raised in May 2014, which was increased just three months later when Amazon tossed in an additional amount of funding.

While the latest investment is a sign of confidence in the company, it’s also worth noting that back in 2012, while raising a round of $30 million, Acquia said it was closing in on an IPO. Those plans have obviously been shelved.

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Already in the crosshairs of European regulators because of Android’s dominance, Google could now be facing a second antitrust investigation in the U.S. involving its mobile operating system.

According to a report by Bloomberg today, the Federal Trade Commission will lead the investigation to determine whether Google hurt competition by limiting competitor’s access to Android. Bloomberg cited “two people familiar with the matter.”

If true, it’s the latest in a string of antitrust battles the search giant has faced.

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With loyal Apple fans lining up around the world Friday to get their hands on the new iPhone 6s models, Tencent updated its popular iOS messaging app WeChat with some 3D Touch goodness. (The update is live here.)

It also rolled out an update to its Windows app — I bet you didn’t even know WeChat was available on Windows! — to allow for free video calling on desktop between users. (You can download that here.)

The 3D Touch functionality allows iPhone 6s users to launch certain in-app features pre-selected by the developer right from the home screen by pressing down slightly more firmly on an app icon.

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Virtual reality as a concept, has probably been around for centuries. On some level, it has always been somewhere lodged in our brains. If drugs, alcohol or adrenaline rushes teach us anything, is that it’s in our nature to look for alternate feelings and realities. Call it curiosity, or just desire for escapism, the search for a virtual reality has always been in our DNA.

The idea that lead to the first recorded researches in the VR field, originated in the fifties, from the mind of a cinematographer. Morton Heiling wanted to enhance the movie experience, so in the early sixties he came up with Sensorama – a single user console meant to change the way we watched movies, through odor effects, stereo speakers, a moving chair and a stereoscopic display. It wasn’t the right time for Heiling’s inventions yet, but some of his works helped achieve the breakthroughs that lead to VR tech becoming useful, mostly for military simulators, until recent years.

Consumer-ready?

Two years ago, Oculus Rift was launched on Kickstarter, and thus announced the beginning of mainstream VR sets. Palmer Luckey, the passionate tech geek that somewhat started the VR revolution, fell in love with this field while collecting vintage virtual reality headsets. The market thirsted for such a product, hence the incredible ascension of Oculus Rift. The goal of the campaign on Kickstarter was quite modest by today’s standards: $250,000. In three days, the campaign raised over 1 million dollars. The age of the virtual sets had begun.

Either because they were not affordable enough, or just not satisfying enough, VR sets haven’t really gone mainstream yet. Enter Samsung Gear VR. Created in partnership with Oculus, the new set brings hundreds of new content options and a better, more enjoyable user experience. With overall weight reduced significantly, and a touchpad redesigned to be more user-friendly, this collaboration has consumer-ready written all over it.

Announced on September 25th, the Gear VR is compatible with more multimedia content and more smartphones – Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 edge+, S6 and S6 edge. Each device’s display is used to provide the color, clarity and performance for the best virtual reality experience.

“Samsung has been at the forefront of delivering mobile experiences and ‘Gear VR Innovator Edition’ launched last year was no exception,” said JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Division, Samsung Electronics. “We see virtual reality as the next computing platform, and we are thrilled to partner with Oculus on Gear VR to set the standard for mobile VR and bring this revolutionary product to consumers.”

It’s confirmed that customers that buy the headset will have access this fall to Netflix, Oculus Arcade – classic gaming, and Oculus Cinema – over 100 movies from Fox. Other apps will follow in the coming months, Twitch and Hulu being in the works right now. No comments were given yet about HBO.

About 22 percent lighter than its Innovator Edition predecessor, Gear VR includes new foam cushioning that makes the device much more enjoyable to wear. The touchpad has also been improved, providing greater control. The overall tactile experience is better, keeping the device firmly on the user’s head.

“Together with Samsung, we’ve redefined virtual reality and created the best mobile VR experience available today,” said Brendan Iribe, CEO, Oculus. “On Gear VR, people are playing immersive VR games with friends, sharing 360 video experiences, and teleporting around the world with photos and videos – and it’s only the beginning for what’s possible with mobile VR.”

Specs

Dimension: 196 x 107.9 x 82.9 mm
Sensor: Accelerator, Gyrometer, Proximity (Mount/Unmount Detection)
Field of View (FOV): 96 degree
IPD Coverage: 54 ~ 70 mm (Fixed Lenses)
Accessory: Replaceable Face Form, Carrying Pouch, Lens Cleaning Cloth
Color: Frost White
Connectivity: microUSB connection to the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge

Though not as versatile as the Oculus Rift, the Gear VR is more affordable, and unlike the Innovator Edition, it is compatible with more devices, basically all the 2015 Samsung smartphones. The fact that you can get it at just $99 starting this fall, means that Virtual Reality could finally be ready for mainstream, and that Samsung smartphone sales will probably go up. Although most sets still have pretty high prices, this collaboration between Samsung and Oculus encourages other developers to step up their game, and focus on more customer-affordable products.

Your mind makes it real

Virtual reality is truly a great achievement. Even the brightest minds couldn’t have envisioned such a frantic pace for technological evolution. But with all the advancements, the line between our physical and virtual lives becomes thinner and thinner. We are diving in new, spectacular worlds, but it’s important to keep in mind that virtual reality shouldn’t replace real life, regardless of how advanced it becomes.

Shanghai-based workplace collaboration platform Teambition announced this week that it has raised $12 million in Series B funding from investors including NLVC, IDG, Vangoo Capital, and Gobi Partners.

Teambition is an online platform that allows for workplace collaboration on things like events, tasks, posts, and cloud-based file libraries. Immediate comparisons that come to mind include Planner, Asana, Basecamp, Wunderlist, Trello, Slack, Jive, Dropbox, Google for Work, and even Microsoft 365.

This Series B round brings Teambition’s total funding to date to $17 million — it previously raised a $5 million Series A in December last year, and was, ironically, a 2013 graduate of Microsoft Ventures Accelerator program in Beijing. The company declined to comment on valuation.

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I spent one week using Motorola’s revamped Moto 360 smartwatch with an iPhone — so you don’t have to.

The 360 is now available for pre-order, and while Motorola nailed it in terms of coming up with what looks and feels like an expensive accessory, the experience too often falls flat. In fact, I got compliments on how nice it looked, but felt morally obligated to explain that it didn’t do much for me.

Let’s take a closer look at the gadget — the design, battery, the maligned “flat tire” – before coming to a verdict on whether the watch is actually worth the price tag (the most basic model starts at $299 and it runs as high as $450).

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More than a week after the frenzy surrounding iOS 9 and its rocky start, Apple is already releasing an update.

When iOS 9 was released, users received error messages saying the software update failed, while others had success downloading iOS 9 via iTunes.

During the installation of iOS 9, many users got stuck on the “Slide to Upgrade” screen. The iOS 9.0.1 update addresses that issue as well as multiple other bugs.

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Easily one of the most anticipated releases ahead of us, the LG Nexus 5X is likely to be unveiled on September 29. Little has been left to the imagination, and the smartphone has shown up in benchmark listings and more than one blurry hands-on photoshoot.

If that wasn’t revealing enough, Amazon.in has now jumped the gun and listed the upcoming Nexus 5X, confirming some key specs. Yes, it is going to have a 5.2-inch FullHD display, and yes, it will be powered by the Snapdragon 808 chipset. No surprises in the imaging department, either – rumors of a 12.3MP primary camera and a 5MP front-facing one turn out to be true.

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With Apple announcing its new leasing — or “financing” — program at its iPhone 6s launch event earlier this month, it seems that T-Mobile doesn’t want to be left behind.

The U.S. carrier’s social media savvy boss, John Legere, took to Twitter late Tuesday to announce that T-Mobile customers will be able to trade in their current iPhone 6 or iPhone 5s models for a shiny new iPhone 6s.

Prices will range from $5 to $15 per month depending on the model, with the deal available via T-Mobile’s JUMP! On Demand upgrade program.

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Apple last week launched its first-ever Android app, a new tool designed to help Android users jump ship for iOS.

Of course, for the pedants out there, this technically isn’t the first Apple-owned app that has been available on Google Play. Back in 2012, Apple acquired app discovery engine Chomp, a service that let you discover iOS and Android apps using keywords. The Android app was swiftly culled on Google Play, while the broader service was shuttered several months later.

Then there’s Beats Music, which Apple inherited through its $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics in May 2014, and which was the only Apple-owned app on Google Play.

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Google today added a new feature to Gmail that other email providers have had for years: blocking. Gmail now lets you block specific email addresses with the click of a button — the feature is rolling out today to Gmail on the Web, and will arrive in the Android app “over the next week.”

The block sender option does exactly what you’d expect: It puts the email address into a block list that tells Gmail, “Never show messages from this person again.” Future emails from blocked addresses go in the spam folder, and you can always unblock the sender in Gmail’s settings.

Until now, Gmail users had to use the “Report spam” button to achieve this. Yet sometimes you simply want to block someone, even if their email isn’t exactly spam.

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Skype has formally apologized for the worldwide outage users experienced on Monday. In a blog post, the company attributed the extended downtime to a “larger-than-usual” configuration change that resulted in users being disconnected.

The disruption in service put heavy pressure on Skype’s free chat service, which wasn’t able to deal with the increased traffic to messaging, presence, and contact list management. Some users have reported that they couldn’t log in or out of Skype or even use it to make calls to landlines or mobile phones.

Microsoft corporate vice president for Lync and Skype Engineering, Gurdeep Pall, said that Skype for Business wasn’t impacted by the issue and that the team “worked quickly to put in measures to re-balance the traffic load so that normal Skype service could resume.” The problem was fixed around midnight GMT, nearly 24 hours after the incident began.

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Apple says it will alert users who downloaded apps infected with malware from its App Store, it emerged Tuesday.

In an FAQ posted in Chinese and in English on its Chinese website, Apple outlined the steps it is taking with users and developers to both fix the infected apps and keep affected users informed.

“Customers will be receiving more information letting them know if they’ve downloaded an app/apps that could have been compromised,” the company wrote, though it did not specify when or how users would be notified.

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When hackers remotely hijacked a speeding Chrysler Jeep in June, it marked the opening salvo in a new and escalating cyber-war between hackers and the auto industry, where new vehicles are increasingly Internet-enabled.

Just a week later, a security researcher disclosed he could breach GM’s vaunted OnStar system to unlock car doors, remotely start the ignition, and even access a car owner’s email and address.

Car and Driver magazine reports that researchers are expected to publish a paper later this year claiming they can remotely take control of new cars through the on-board “black boxes” that collect and transmit critical vehicle maintenance and performance data.

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Cost-per-impression ad pricing is so yesterday. A New York City-based ad tech shop is today launching a limited beta of what it describes as the first-ever cost-per-second (CPS) platform for ads.

Sled Mobile’s Parsec platform is based on the idea that the key thing display advertisers want is user attention. Time spent with the ad, CEO and founder Marc Guldimann told me, is “a proxy for attention.”

While direct response advertisers have performance standards like making a sale or getting a form filled in, he noted that the key performance indicator for brand advertising is attention.

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Collaborating for free is always a plus, and now Dropbox is making that easier.

The company is launching a new feature called Dropbox Teams, which makes it easier for people to use their personal accounts at work. The feature will be available to Basic and Pro users over the next week.

Here’s how it works: Users can create a team folder to keep files in one place. Group members added to the team folder will have access to all the files within that folder. Anyone added to that team will have immediate access to everything, even if they’re added later on.

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Google’s second-generation Chromecast has been a while in the making, but now there appears to be some fresh leaks on what we can expect to see from it — and when.

The new Chromecast, which almost looks like a party balloon with a USB stick poking out (based on newly leaked images), is expected to include the option to pull feeds into the home screen (that could mean social media feeds, for example, but is not confirmed), better Wi-Fi (perhaps 802.11ac), a new “Fast Play” feature, and more, according to 9to5Google.

The blog also said in a separate report Thursday that we can expect to see Chromecast support for Spotify’s mobile app.

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Everybody and their dog is talking about Facebook and Instagram ads, but with Pinterest finally sharing its monthly active user numbers Wednesday — the service claims 100 million — I expect that advertising eyeballs will suddenly be looking a lot closer at “promoted pins.”

Pinterest is the hugely popular social curation platform that allows users to share and categorize images, or “pins,” online, and it actually lends itself incredibly well to advertising.

Why? Because, as the company itself argues, users are oftentimes saving and collecting pins of items that they eventually want to buy.

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Phone security is a serious matter. Whether you have done something or not, if your phone bodyguards fail, it’s time for damage control and repair. It’s recommended that you use an antivirus or some sort of protection, but I guess you probably wouldn’t be reading this if you did.

First of all, how can you tell that your phone might have a virus? The typical (and usually your first) sign for every virus infection is slow function combined with random freezing. App failure or multiple bootings out of the blue are also strong suggestions that your phone might have a problem.

Let’s see what we can do before any more damage is done to your data.

Step 1. Install a good antivirus.
You should check the reviews and ratings before making a decision. Some of the best choices at the moment are 360 Security, Avast and AVG. You should be fine with either option, but the more practical one is 360 Security because of its features and overall resource friendliness.

Step 2. Scan.
Once installed, use your new antivirus to scan both the phone memory, and the memory card. Let the antivirus do his thing, and clean or remove any malware that it finds. You might even fix the whole thing at this stage, it depends on the complexity of the issue and your antivirus choice.

Step 3. Keep the antivirus updated and scan regularly.
This is more of a future habit that you should have, but it’s good to check all the settings at the beginning for each app/software. Chances are you will forget if you don’t set them correctly now.

Step 4. Find out what you’re fighting against.
In case your simple scan didn’t fix everything, you should investigate what you’re battling against. There’s a possibility you might have to remove the virus manually. Don’t worry, as long as you know your phone model number, you will find anything you need with a simple search.

Step 5. Remove the virus manually.
Just like uninstalling any other app, you can remove the virus manually, once you find out what you need to do. Be careful and double-check so you don’t remove something you’re not supposed to.

Step 6. Reset the phone to its original settings.
If your problem is still there, a simple settings reset might help. Every phone has this option. Look for “original settings” or “factory settings”.

Step 7. Format.
Is that annoying thing still there? Then you should probably format your phone and card memory. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to this, but if it does, the option is available in the Options menu.

Step 8. Ask for help from pros.
Nine out of ten times you will not reach this stage. Yet if you do reach it, there’s really not much else you can do. Your phone will most likely have to be flashed.

Step 9. Backup your important data
I bet that by now, you figured out this step on your own. You should always have a backup of your important data, no matter what. You can skip most of the steps in this list if you already have a backup, because you can simply format your device.

What safety measures do you take to prevent or remove viruses from your phone? Share your thoughts in the comment section bellow.

Help Me Fix IT: I just dropped my phone in water

LG is feeling the heat of rising competition, which is forcing it to cut the prices of its high-end smartphones, according to a report out of the company’s home country of South Korea.

The report cites data released by South Korea’s top carrier SK Telecom, according to which, the average cost of 17 smartphones manufactured by the country’s number two smartphone vendor was around $150 for customers who opted for SK Telecom’s $51 level subscription plans.

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Payroll startup ZenPayroll has changed its name to Gusto and has started to offer both health insurance and workers’ compensation, combined with payroll services, according to a blog post out today.

“Today, we are also launching two incredible new services: health benefits and workers’ comp,” cofounders Edward Kim, Tomer London, and Josh Reeves wrote. “These services are fully integrated with payroll, which removes a tremendous amount of unnecessary manual effort for business owners. Most importantly, both employers and employees can now onboard and manage all forms of compensation in one modern product.”

That’s a big change for the startup, which is backed by Google Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, among others.

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Tablet shoppers now have a tough choice: A 16GB iPad Mini 2, or six of Amazon’s new Fire tablets for $19 less. Seriously.

Amazon announced Tuesday it’s launching a new line of Fire-branded products, including a tablet simply called Fire, which it’s selling for $49.99 or in a six-pack for $249. The device is currently available for pre-order, with shipping beginning September 30.

While Apple is currently pushing its tablets towards productivity, Amazon’s Fire line embraces entertainment. The Fire Tablet isn’t a device you bring to work; it’s a device you bring with you to the couch.

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years since the Samsung Galaxy TabPro 12.2 was released, but that one still remains a solid tablet. It was also thinking ahead, since it took Apple 2 more years to figure out a 12 inch slate would be popular. Well, Samsung’s tablet gets the first Android 5.1.1 firmware released today, at last.

The 12.2 inch 2560 x 1600 pixel tablet, in the SM-T905 LTE version got its Lollipop fix with a build date of September 3rd. The software is up for grabs here, together with instructions, if you’re willing to do a bit of manual flashing. There’s also the option of waiting for the OTA update, that has been spotted in Nordic countries, but that may take a while.

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Since it’s Fall, this is the time of the year when we see fresh launches from Amazon, like the one of a new tablet for example. That’s why it doesn’t quite surprise me to see that there’s a fresh press render out there, portraying an upcoming 10 inch Kindle Fire tablet.

The source of the leak is the reliable @evleaks, aka Evan Blass. The renders show a flat front and back and an approach that feels more fit for an 8 inch or 7 inch model. The slate adopts a more angled design and a metal frame, from what we can see. There’s a rear camera in the mix and a Power key on the top edge from what we can see. If the renders are true and nothing has been altered, this time the software approach is pretty close to the stock one, compared to the previous models.

Previous devices from the Kindle Fire tablet series relied on a content-first approach, with flowing album covers, books and videos floating in the foreground. A new UI would certainly be welcomed by users, with the UI being one of the many drawbacks of Amazon hardware products over the past years. Rumors say that aside from this 10 inch tablet there will also be a $50 6 inch model coming in time for the holiday season.

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The Huawei Nexus has cropped up in another benchmark database, this one gives more detail about the upcoming Google phablet. GFX Bench 3.1 detected 5.7″ screen with QHD resolution (1,440 x 2,560px).

The chipset is the expected Snapdragon 810 with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. It will be running Android 6.0 Marshmallow, naturally.

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LG started sending out invites to a press event on October 1 in New York City. Although the company did not reveal any details about the products that the event will focus on, there’s reason to believe that this event will bring the introduction of the rumored LG “V10” smartphone.

Last month, a new high-end LG smartphone was spotted in the TENAA database. Although at first we believed that the phone in question will be the often-rumored LG G4 Pro, it was then discovered that the phone might actually come with an auxiliary display. This wouldn’t be the first handset from a big manufacturer to integrate a secondary display, although we’re obviously hoping that the functionality will be significantly improved compared to efforts such as the 2010 Samsung Continuum.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to launch 4,000 satellites into low Earth orbit. The satellites will eventually be used to blanket much of the globe with wireless Internet connectivity.

As The Independent points out, satellite Internet is far from a new idea. The problem with beaming a connection to the web from space right now is latency. Musk plans to reduce latency by launching his fleet into low orbit, putting the satellites closer to users on Earth.

The only issue with this approach is that putting satellites closer to the surface of our planet means more are required for the intended coverage area. Satellites in higher orbit can cover a much wider area.

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Zebra Technologies is going to release today a series of rugged tablets for the workplace, that can take quite a beating. Their new devices can take a 6 foot drop in the air and keep functioning even with gloves on and sprinkled with water.

The ET50 and ET55 are the new slates, intended for people who work in logistics, on construction sites, operate forklifts and the likes. The expectation is that these tablets will eventually be dropped on cement floors and they have to survive that. Zebra already has a line of rugged smartphones and they’ve been preparing tablets for the military for years now.

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Will VR enable a perfect blending of games and movies, or usher in a whole new form of story-telling and content creation? We interviewed execs from Oculus and Epic to gain some insight.

Last month I wrote a story about the premier of a short animated VR film, Henry, produced by Oculus Story Studio, which is an internal content division of Oculus started by former Pixar and Dreamworks animators and producers. In that story, I gave some of my impressions of this VR “movie” experience, and wondered aloud whether we were heading toward a new creative outcome that was difficult for us mere mortals to predict or imagine, given years of ingrained notions about movie-going, story telling, and game playing.

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Cricket announced their latest premium devices at affordable prices and the offer of the HTC Desire 520 exclusively. Starting tomorrow, Cricket will be the only U.S. carrier offering the new HTC Desire 520 smartphone for $99.99 with activation on a smartphone plan. Here’s more info:

The HTC Desire 520 includes two cameras and a cool “Double Exposure” function letting you combine photos for artistic effects. It also comes with 720p video and “Zoe Highlights” which allows you to share photos and videos inHollywood-type mini movies. And you can use HTC BlinkFeed, a live home screen, to automatically get content from news feeds and social media content tailored to you.

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The budget-friendly Galaxy J series just got a new member – the Galaxy J2, which was officially launched in Bangalore today. It is the fourth member of Samsung’s “J” line and can be best summed up as a device by ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make for India’, delivering on the Korean giant’s promise to tailor devices for the vast emerging market.

The Galaxy J2 improves on the specs of its J1 sibling and comes with a 4.7-inch qHD Super AMOLED display, an Exynos 3475 chip with quad-core 1.3 GHz CPU and 1GB of RAM. That is coupled with an entry-level camera setup (5MP f/2.2 on the back and 2MP f/2.4 of the front), a 2,000 mAh battery and an up to date Android 5.1 experience. But perhaps best of all – the small phone comes with dual-SIM support and a unique feature called Ultra Data Saving Mode.

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Apple’s announcement last week to work with Cisco on optimizing networks for iOS devices is another key enterprise partnership that pretty much cements Apple as a once unlikely key player in the enterprise IT domain.

Most IT organizations have already had to deal with the onslaught of personal mobile devices entering the workspace. However, the Cisco partnership, and Apple’s earlier announcement with IBM, highlight just how deep Apple (and Android) have penetrated the once Windows-dominated enterprise and will influence more decisions and spend in the multibillion dollar IT market in the coming years.

Here are some of the main areas in end-user computing and app development that IT organizations will have to tackle as they continue to increase adoption of Apple products in the enterprise.

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Apple’s iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus (both announced hours ago) come with various improvements, including 3D Touch control, 12 MP rear cameras, 5 MP front-facing cameras, a new A9 processor, and 2 GB of RAM. However, some things haven’t changed, and battery life seems to be one of them.

According to Apple, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus offer the same battery life performance as last year’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. This means that, in most cases, users will have to charge the new iPhones on a daily basis.

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Apple announced an array of new products at its big show at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

These included a couple of new iPads (one very small and one very big), some cool new tablet accessories, a couple of new phones, and a new Apple TV streaming device.

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It’s alright, we’ve all been there. Sink, toilet, pool, you name it. There are plenty of wet places where you can drop your precious phone. As soon as the phone hits the water, the warranty is gone, so you can forget about the easy way out. But don’t panic yet, you might still be able to save your phone if you follow these 7 simple steps.

Step 1. Take the phone out of the water as fast as possible.

This is the part where you need to move fast. If your phone is still submerged while you are reading this article, it would be a good idea to pause the reading and go take it out. The more time it spends underwater, the harder it becomes to save it.

Step 2. Power down and remove battery (if you can).
If it’s not responding, try removing the battery. You need to reduce the risk of a short circuit. If your phone is connected to a charger, both underwater, avoid removing them from the water. It’s better for your safety to call a professional in these cases so he can walk you through the safe steps.

Step 3. Disassemble.
Try to open and remove as many parts as possible from your phone – the more, the better. Your priorities are the battery and your SIM. Remove everything you can (free guides): cases, protective covers, memory cards, ear buds. Shake your phone as hard as possible. You have to get rid of as much water as you can.

Step 4. Tap and clean.
Use paper towels or any good moisture absorbent and tap the phone as well as the removed parts to start the drying process. At this stage you can use rubbing alcohol to clean your phone. Sometimes this alone could help you fix it.

Step 5. Vacuum the phone.
Yes, you read it right. The vacuum is your best bet of removing most the water that’s left. Don’t hold the vacuum too close to the phone because you can do more damage than good that way. You should take your time vacuuming the phone for at least 20 minutes. Do not use a hair dryer! You want to get the water out, not push it further in.

Step 6. Get rid of the remaining water.
At this stage you have 2 options:

A. Put the disassembled phone on some paper towels in a dry, well ventilated room and let it rest for up to two days. Any sort of air ventilation that can be directed on the phone and a sunny spot will help a lot. Rotate the phone every hour when you can.

B. Cover the phone and the disassembled parts in silica gel. You could also use couscous if you don’t have any silica gel. This will help absorb the remaining moisture. Use a large container or a drying pouch if you have one, and add at least 4 cups of silica gel. Mix it with your hand every now and then so the phone doesn’t stay in the exact same position. Let it rest for up to two days. I know there are plenty of suggestions flying about that recommend using rice, but experiments have shown that it’s not that helpful.

Step 7. Turn on and test.
You will have to keep a close eye on your phone for at least a couple of days. Some things might not operate correctly. If any problems occur, repeat the process or ask for help from a professional.
In most cases it all depends on how much time the phone has been in the water. Unfortunately, there are some phones that you won’t be able to fix, at least not without changing the battery.

I hope you will never need this guide, but in case you do, share your thoughts in the comment section bellow. Do you know other useful methods of reviving a phone that fell overboard?

From hiring artificial intelligence experts to demonstrating its Proactive smart assistant, Apple has been focusing a lot of its efforts into making Siri faster, easier to use and more accurate.

Now, sources are claiming the voice assistant will soon let users ask questions without touching the device using a tool called ‘Hey Siri’.

These rumours suggest Siri will be permanently switched on and listening for the voice command, even if you’re phone is on the other side of the room.

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With more and more smartphones now launching with 4GB of RAM, it’s time to look forward and catch a glimpse of the future. Thanks to Samsung, it’s now in sight, as the company has started mass producing the industry’s first 6GB mobile DRAM chips.

Based on the company’s 20-nanometer technology, the new high capacity mobile RAM consumes 20% less energy compared to the preceding 20-nanometer based 8Gb LPPDDR4. It’s also 30% faster reaching a read speed of 4.2Gbps.

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HTC is looking to catch the next big trend wave – VR headsets (now delayed), smart bands (cancelled maybe?) and now, perhaps, smartwatches. The company has been listed as an Android Wear partner since Day 1, but hasn’t produced anything yet.

According to some anonymous info, HTC is developing a smartwatch with a round 360x360px display. The watch is codenamed halfbeak. The company has an event on September 29, presumably for new flagships but we may get a watch too.

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In 2013, Motorola launched the first-generation Moto G, and with very respectable hardware and a price tag of just $180 off-contract, it was easily the best budget smartphone of the year. In 2014, it was a similar story: Motorola launched the second-gen Moto G, it still cost $180, it still featured great hardware for the price, and it was still the best budget smartphone of the year.

Motorola is hoping for a hat trick this year with the release of the third-generation Moto G. This new model isn’t a huge upgrade on last year’s Moto G, with Motorola sticking to incremental updates to some aspects of the hardware. However, considering the Moto G is still being sold at the same $180 price point as its predecessors, any hardware upgrades are much appreciated.

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If you want a good battery life, get a Sony phone – that seems to be the overarching conclusion from several graphs plotting how a few popular phone brands changed in terms of handset endurance since 2011. A very welcome trend of a constantly increasing battery life on average can be observed, too.

Sony is the big outlier here – starting at the bottom in battery endurance in 2011, it has constantly strived to optimize power consumption of its components, to the point that it is now the phone maker offering the best battery life from all major players, with most of its handsets lasting about two days on a charge with normal usage. The next outstanding performer is Samsung, which has also done wonders for the battery life from its handsets, especially given the relatively small capacities they are outfitted with.

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Is it the case that your smartphone lacks a fingerprint sensor, but you really wished to have one, either for serious use or just messing around in general? What do you know, it’s possible! Try Finger Print App Unlock, an app that actually does what has long been considered a tired joke in the Google Play kingdom. It uses your smartphone’s rear camera to get a good up-close snapshot of your fingers’ unique patterns, and then lets you use that to lock specific apps.

The application is extremely easy to use. Upon first launch, the user is being walked through the fingerprint scanning ordeal.

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Sony has started sending out a new software update for some of its older Xperia Z-series devices. The software in question is Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, still the latest stable version to come out of Google.

The devices for which the rollout has started today are the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR, and the Xperia Tablet Z in both Wi-Fi-only and LTE-enabled iterations.

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I never think about my router until there’s been a terrible mistake. And then it’s all I can think about. Once my internet goes down, I have to shove my television out of the way, sift through a tangle of identical-looking wires, and then hope that everything can be resolved with a quick reset. If it can’t, then I’m off to the store to replace my router with one that will do its baffling job without giving me a headache.

Google is trying to lessen the pain associated with routers by fueling your internet with its own device. It’s carved from the Apple “It just works!” method of design in which simplicity is the key, so even though it comes with a hefty cover charge ($200? For a router?) it may be worth it, if only for the money you’ll save on headache medicine.

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Amazon is reportedly looking to launch a $50 tablet. The device will feature a 6-inch screen and go on sale in time for the holiday shopping season, according to “people familiar with the matter” cited by The Wall Street Journal.

It’s not a huge stretch to see Amazon slashing the price of its tablets even lower than they already are: After all, the online retail giant has always played a margins game. Amazon’s 6-inch tablets currently start at just $79 for the Kindle and $99 for the Fire HD.

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Lenovo has launched the 5.0″ Lenovo VIBE S1, a unique smartphone with two front cameras and an attractive curved-glass back design available in two color options. This latest addition to the VIBE family combines the ability to take really creative selfies with a fashionable exterior. Here’s more info:

The VIBE S1 is truly unique because of its dual selfie cameras. The 8MP primary front camera takes the sharpest photos and a 2MP secondary front camera analyzes depth of field information to replicate human binocular vision. These two cameras work in tandem to unleash a myriad of new possibilities that can give selfies a creative twist.

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ZTE’s Axon brand already launched in China and the US and by the end of the month it will set off for the rest of the world with the ZTE Axon Elite leading the way. The initial rollout will concentrate on Europe and will go through eBay.

Starting September 24 the phone will be available in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK for €420 and £300 respectively. Soon after that ZTE will open up a more traditional retail channel in partnership with MediaMarkt retail chain in Germany. Brick-and-mortar availability will expand to Spain and France later on.

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Google has released Chrome 45 for desktop, which is now available to download on PC, Mac, and Linux. The biggest change in this update is improved RAM management, which reduces the memory usage of idle tabs in the background.

Chrome can now check on tabs in the background and can tell if there is no activity on them for a while. It will then aggressively clear unused memory to reduce the memory footprint of those tabs. Google claims it can free up about 10% memory on an average and as much as a quarter for sites like Gmail.

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Google has updated its Maps app for Android. The update brings improvements to the app’s Explore feature with an aim to make it easy for users to find a nearby restaurant of their choice.

The Explore section in the Maps app now shows a variety of categories like Best lunches or Best dinners. Choose a category and the app will show you in-depth details about each location, including photos, ratings, reviews, as well as other information like whether or not it’s family-friendly.

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If you were on the lookout for a new Android Wear smartwatch, you just have two great options now. The Huawei Watch is finally on sale, and even Motorola announced the new Moto 360 – 2nd Gen, and both are available for pre-order on the Google Store.

You can buy the Huawei Watch only in stainless steel with mesh strap for $399.99.

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Samsung has launched a new “Internet of Things” healthcare device designed to improve your sleep.

At the IFA consumer technology event in Berlin, Samsung unveiled the cylindrical device that connects with your TV, air conditioning, music system, and other home appliances, which you manage through a mobile app. “It’s connected to your life,” the company says.

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Hate ads on Hulu? There’s finally a solution… but it’ll cost you

Hulu announced on Wednesday that it would be introducing a new subscription tier that will remove advertising from its platform

The ad-free version will cost $11.99 per month, a significant step up from the company’s $7.99 option that includes regular (and annoying) commercial breaks. The new option puts Hulu’s price on par with a Netflix option that charges $11.99 for high definition and the ability to watch on up to four screens at the same time.

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It’s no secret that Huawei’s premium smartphones take cues from Apple’s iPhone, both in design and functionality.

But with the Mate S, a smartphone Huawei unveiled at the IFA trade show in Berlin Wednesday, the company brought an iPhone feature to life before it actually arrived on the iPhone.

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Lenovo has an important event today at IFA 2015, where it will showcase a series of interesting devices, including one or two Windows 10 slates. Those include the Lenovo MIIX 700, that’s pictured below and also priced.

The product looks a smidge like the Surface Pro 3, because of the kickstand at the back and it will be priced starting at $699. It comes with either Windows 10 Home or Pro and features up to a 6th gen Intel Core m7 (Skylake) processor, as well as up to 8 GB of LPDDR3L RAM. Its screen is a 12 incher, with a 2160 x 1440 pixel resolution and we can also get up to 256 GB of SSD storage.

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No matter what smartphone you have, all of them work within some concrete limitations. The battery can only last so long, the screen can only be so big, and the internal storage can only hold so much data. Some phones let you use microSD cards to alleviate that last problem, but many don’t and it’s not a ideal solution for many.

Nextbit, the company formed by former members of Google’s Android team, thinks the cloud is the answer to many of these questions, and its first device, the Robin, promises to never run out of storage.

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For years, Android fanatics have been accusing Apple of stealing “borrowing” its best iOS features from Google’s mobile operating system. With the upcoming release of iOS 9 and Android 6.0 Marshmallow, however, the tables finally turn.

Here are all the “new” Android features that might look very, very familiar to iOS users.

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Lately, there has been a lot of talk about how high-end smartphones give little reason to upgrade compared to their predecessors, and it must be said that there are a lot of arguments to sustain these claims.

If you’re more optimistic about the trajectory of smartphone tech, however, you’ll probably find that we still live in exciting times for smartphone fans.

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Ever since manufacturers have started outfitting handsets with GPS antennas, navigation apps have slowly, but surely, grown into a common and extremely useful tool. But GPS navigation is not end-all be-all of driving-related apps.

As you know, operating a smartphone when behind the wheel is not only dangerous, but illegal. Yet, in the 21st century, our lives and everyday doings are so tied up with the gizmos that sometimes – it’s just too hard not to reach for the touchscreen – to make a call or answer one, dismiss a forgotten alert, or whatever else.

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Lenovo’s Phab Plus is not exactly a new face, since the device got certified by the Chinese TENAA agency a while back and today the phone has been officially unveiled.

Closer to a tablet than a phone, this model is going to be available on China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.

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LG just unveiled its Watch Urbane Luxe smartwatch – its answer to the Apple Watch Edition. It sports 23-karat gold finish coupled with an alligator leather strap.

LG didn’t pull this one off by itself and has partnered with jewelry company REEDS Jewelers. The packaging oozes premium, too, with the watch shipping in a piano-gloss lacquer case.

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T-Mobile chief executive John Legere is upset about customers stealing data from the carrier. In an open letter on T-Mobile’s site, he writes that starting on August 31, his company will be targeting the 3,000 users who are knowingly stealing more than their share of LTE tethered data.

This is the first official word from the carrier that seems to confirm a memo leaked earlier this month. According to that leak, action would be taken starting August 17 as the company went after those who use their unlimited LTE data for torrents and peer-to-peer networking.

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Rumors agree that with the iPhone 6s generation Apple will upgrade the camera that hasn’t seen a major improvement since the iPhone 4S in 2011. The new shooter will have a 12MP sensor (or perhaps 13MP with the extra used for digital stabilization) and will record 2160p video.

The new Apple A9 chipset will feature improved ISP for better image processing with hints of a top-notch HDR mode.

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Congratulations! You’ve already figured out what should have been the hard part: Getting people to download your app. But as you now know, that’s not even the half of it. Once they’ve installed it, how do you get your customers to actually use it?

According to a recent report from Google, 25 percent of all apps are used just once before being discarded. To try to keep that from happening, savvy app marketers tend to use some combination of traditional and emerging technology to re-engage with consumers.

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The Obama Administration will make an announcement later today that it will establish a new flexible hybrid electronics manufacturing innovation hub in Silicon Valley. More than $171 million will be invested into this “manufacturing innovation institute,” marking the first time such an organization has been headquartered in the West Coast.

This institution is another extension of the U.S. government’s relationship with the private sector, which is led by the FlexTech Alliance. Included in this arrangement are 162 companies, nonprofits, labs, and universities, including Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Boeing, General Motors, Motorola, Stanford, and many others. Both the Department of Defense and this private consortium will look to enhance the U.S.’s standing in “next-generation bendable and wearable electronic devices.”

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2015 will be remembered as the year budget Android smartphones stopped being junk and started being pretty damn good.

The $199 Obi Worldphone SF1 and $129 SJ1.5 are the two latest budget Android phones to shake things up on the low end of the mobile scene.

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LG announced it’ll unveil the industry’s first solid rollable wireless portable keyboard at IFA 2015 in Berlin. Unlike other portable keyboards on the market, LG’s Rolly Keyboard (model KBB-700) folds up along the four rows to create an easy-to-carry “stick” that fits into one’s pocket as easily as any purse or briefcase. Here’s more info:

Featuring high-contrast keys and a fold-out mobile device stand, typing on Rolly Keyboard is extremely comfortable because its 17mm key pitch is nearly as generous as the 18mm key pitch found on most desktop keyboards.

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Over the last year Square has built out an array of back-office tools for small businesses, pivoting away from some of their more consumer-facing aspirations. Now the company is taking the tools it’s built for its point of sale and bringing them to mobile.

Today Square is giving its Appointments service a stand-alone iOS mobile app. The scheduling software lets merchants accept and cancel appointments from their phone as well as access client contact information.

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One of Samsung’s designers has revealed the firm’s new smartwatch on Instagram.

Dennis Miloseski, the studio head of Samsung Design America, posted the image to his personal account, saying he was ‘Giving the new Samsung Gear S2 a test drive.’

Until now, the firm has only revealed glimpses of part of the watch.

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Dollars made from mobile startup exits — that is, acquisitions and IPOs — have dropped below the number of dollars earned from venture capital investments (per quarter) for the first time since 2013, says a new report from Digi-Capital.

The firm says that during the past 12 months investors put a record $50 billion into mobile startups.

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You may not need to buy a new Apple product to be able to use Force Touch-like technology with your devices.

A new gadget called the Sensel Morph promises to bring similar pressure-sensitive capabilities to PCs and tablets with its tablet-sized touchpad.

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Any cloud provider that believes in data gravity is trying to make it easier to collect and store data in their facilities. To make data movement between cloud and on-premises endpoints easier, Microsoft recently announced the general availability of Azure Data Factory (ADF). However, this pay-per-use service is being positioned as part of Microsoft’s analytics suite, not as a pure-play Extract Transform Load (ETL) tool.

In a post earlier this month on Microsoft’s Machine Learning blog, Microsoft VP Joseph Sirosh described ADF and explained the benefits of the service.

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Berlin’s IFA trade show usually matches up with Sony’s flagship smartphone release schedule, and it seems this year will be no exception.

Sony Xperia’s UK arm posted a teaser photo for a “smartphone with greater focus” on Twitter Monday, saying all will become clear on Sept. 2, two days before the official start of this year’s IFA.

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During April and May 2015, Google for Education ran a regional roadshow – featuring pop-up classrooms full of Google technology – to show teachers and students how technology can be used to fully support learning.

Schools already using Google’s technology, dubbed “Lighthouse schools”, hosted these demonstrations to show how involving technology at the core of learning will improve performance.

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The competitive $300 Android smartphone market is more about good performance than good design, and Asus’ ZenFone 2 is no exception. But the company is trying to make progress on both fronts: today it announced the ZenFone 2 Deluxe Special Edition, which contains a whopping 256GB of internal storage and a trendy polygonal pattern on its backplate.

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Mobile developments across today’s enterprises have put IT security teams at the centre of the business.

These teams are not just building walls to keep things out, but are working close to the business to improve internal efficiency and even help it make sales.

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O2 has implemented new features on its UK mobile network designed to analyse the activity of customers in real time and make changes to the network on the fly to optimise their experience.

The mobile network operator (MNO) has set up two partnerships with self-optimising network technology firm Cellwize and customer experience management specialist Empirix to add a number of features.

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Samsung is offering iPhone users the chance to test drive a Galaxy smartphone for 30 days for just $1. The new promotion is specifically targeted at Apple users, with individuals only able to sign up from an iPhone.

Samsung will provide either a Galaxy S6 Edge, Edge+, or Galaxy Note 5 on a choice of carriers with an activated SIM and data plan, mailing the handset to the tester for a $1 processing fee.

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A company called Gadget Lab has produced a very interesting infographic that reveals which mobile browsers are used the most in various countries.

For example, in the U.S. it might not be surprising to learn that Safari is responsible for 58.28% of the mobile internet traffic in the country, with Chrome’s 31.15% share next. The Android Browser handles 7.72% of U.S. mobile web traffic with less than 1% running through Internet Explorer. The BlackBerry Browser has a .14% share in the U.S. with .03% belonging to Opera.

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Mobile messaging giant Line has launched a new standalone app for friends to share their current location with each other in real-time.

Line Here for Android and iOS adopts a map-based approach, with group members able to view each other’s position in real-time. It’s similar to the likes of Glympse, an app that’s perhaps better known for individual location sharing, but it does also offer a group feature.

For the uninitiated, Line is a Japan-based company that rose to prominence as a WhatsApp-style messaging app back in 2011, and today it claims north of 200 million monthly active users (MAU) in more than 200 countries. However, more than half of these exist across just a handful of countries in Asia.

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1.5 million apps in Apple’s App Store and another 1.5 million in Google’s Play store. That’s a lot of apps, and for a growing number of mobile users. An average user in the US will download only three new apps per month (at best), according to comScore’s “US Mobile App Report.”

Competition in the App Store is fierce, and if an indie app developer wants to get noticed, having an amazing product is no longer enough.

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Fossil has long been rumored to be working on a new smartwatch.

Now we have finally got a glimpse of the watchmaker’s Android Wear device, which is powered by Intel and looks more like a traditional timepiece than others on the market.

Unlike the Apple Watch, the wearable has a circular face and will compete with Motorola’s Moto360, LG’s Gwatch R and the Huawei watch.

The design was unveiled at the Intel Developer’s Forum in Shenzhen, China along with two other accessories.

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Call it a selfie stick on steroids or just a less technical way to get great aerial shots. Either way, the Fotokite Phi is a camera tool that may have arrived just on time.

Instead of forcing you to learn how to fly a camera-mounted drone, the Fotokite Phi tethers the flying device to you via a leash, eliminating sometimes unwieldy software controls and shaky, newbie piloting from the aerial-image-capturing equation.

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FiftyThree is bringing its award-winning iPad app Paper to the iPhone. The company revealed plans to bring the drawing app to smaller screens on its blog, though isn’t saying much else at this point. All we know is that it’s “coming soon,” and there’s a single image of what Paper’s interface on the iPhone looks like. The phone version of Paper will support the company’s Pencil stylus — but using the accessory with iPhone may be a bit less practical than a full-size iPad Air 2 or even the iPad mini.

Still, as a mobile notebook for sketches and impromptu artwork, Paper could be a nice addition to your current roster of iPhone apps.

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Google’s modular smartphone project has been delayed.

In a series of tweets Monday, the company confirmed the initial market pilot for Project Ara, which was slated to begin in Puerto Rico later this year, will instead be delayed until 2016.

Project Ara began in Google’s secretive Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group. The aim is to create an Android-based smartphone platform where nearly every piece of hardware, including the battery, processor and camera, is a separate piece of the handset that can be replaced or customized without upgrading to a completely new device.

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Refueling rumors the tech giant’s next big project is to bring a self-driving car to market, documents obtained by the Guardian say the company is searching for a location to test the autonomous vehicles to rival designs already manufactured by Google.

In May, engineers met with officials from GoMentum Station, a 2,100-acre former naval base near San Francisco, in a bid to set up a high-security site.

Typically secretive, the company – who recently launched the Apple Watch – has yet to confirm or deny the rumors – but that hasn’t stopped Apple fans speculating and imagining what it could look like.

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We’ve reviewed many gaming monitors over the past couple of years and with only three exceptions, they’ve all been based on TN panels. While twisted-nematic parts provide fast response and keep the price down (relatively speaking), they still require some minor compromises that IPS does not.

With gamers begging for more choices in IPS monitors you’d think the industry would have more options, but so far there have only been a small handful of products introduced. And it’s not as if in-plane switching is a brand new cutting edge technology. We’ve been covering it in our monitor reviews since the AOC I2757Fh and ViewSonic VX2770Smh came out over two years ago.

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The past few days in the mobile realm were quite busy to say the least. August 13 finally came and with it the eagerly anticipated Samsung Unpacked event. As expected, the Korean giant revealed a pair of new devices and made the Galaxy Note5 and the Galaxy S6 edge+ official.

Both phablets lived up to the bulk of the rumors and come with Exynos 7420 SoC, gorgeous 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED displays and 4GB of RAM. Besides a tour of the phones, we also got to see the odd clip-on keyboard that Samsung is offering as an accessory, earned some info on pricing and availability and even got our first glimpse of camera quality in a few Note5 sample shots.

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Apple Pay, Apple’s first foray into mobile payments, was announced by the technology heavyweight in September last year, but its global roll out hasn’t been all smooth sailing.

It ran into multiple problems on the London Tube after its UK introduction, while take up in the U.S. seems to be a little slow, and now the company is reportedly in a standoff with the major Australian banks.

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Note-taking app Evernote today announced that its redesigned web client is coming out of beta and rolling out to everyone over the next few weeks. The new look, featuring a chat function and a distraction-free writing mode, premiered last October.

The new look is meant to be “light, fast, and clear,” but as powerful as ever before, Evernote wrote in a Knowledge Base article on the new features.

“We revisited every element of the user interface and concentrated on making things as streamlined as possible,” Jeremy Brand Yuan, head of marketing and communications at Evernote, wrote in a blog post on today’s launch.

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NASA wants you to design a smartwatch app for astronauts in space.

The NASA Tournament Lab (NTL) is asking members of the public with programing skills to help design a smartwatch app that will assist astronauts living and working in space.

“The challenge is to design the general user interface for smart watch applications for use on the International Space Station,” NTL wrote in the competition description on Freelancer.com.

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Apple’s next iPad Mini could come with a split screen feature that allows you to run two apps at the same time side-by-side.

The company first revealed the feature at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

At the time it said split-screen would only be available on the current iPad Air 2 because of its large A8X processor and extra memory.

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Now that Windows 10 for PCs has shipped out the door, all eyes are squarely focused on Windows 10 Mobile, which is expected to launch later this year. Microsoft isn’t quite ready to release the OS to manufacturers, but the latest Insider Preview build certainly adds a lot of polish.

The Windows 10 Mobile Preview build 10512 is the first update to the operating system since build 10166 over a month ago. Microsoft has been saying for a few weeks now that Windows 10 Mobile is “significantly feature complete”, so it’s not surprising to see this build come with essentially no new features.

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Google’s Life Sciences division (which now appears to be a stand-alone Alphabet company) has been working on a number of projects to help people with diabetes. This week, we’re learning details about new one: it’s going to help build a bandage-sized, cloud-connected sensor to help people monitor their glucose levels.

The product is being developed in partnership with DexCom, an established manufacturer of continuous glucose monitoring systems; DexCom will be building the sensors, while Life Sciences will be handling the miniaturization.

The product that Life Sciences and DexCom hope to create would be pretty impressive.

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Ready for the next big thing? Good, because Samsung is widely expected to announce the Galaxy Note 5 (and maybe the rumored Galaxy S6 Edge+) at its Unpacked 2015 event on Thursday.

Mashable will be reporting live from the event in New York City, providing sights and sounds. You can follow Chief Correspondent Lance Ulanoff, Senior Tech Correspondent Christina Warren and myself right here in out liveblog. We’ll be covering the festivities on Twitter and Periscope as well.

Will Samsung give us another crazy spectacle like the one we got a few years ago at the Galaxy S4’s launch event?

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Percepto, an Israeli startup developing hardware and software that drones can use to handle computer vision processes such as obstacle avoidance, is announcing today that it has raised a $1 million seed round from some impressive early-stage investors.

Richard Parsons, the former chief executive of media giant Time Warner, led the funding round. Billionaire Mark Cuban and Chinese angel investor Xu Xiaoping also participated in the round, as did Elevator Fund and Emerge. The new funding comes a few months after Percepto raised more than $100,000 through an Indiegogo campaign.

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From cameras to address books, our pockets and handbags already feel lighter compared to ten years ago thanks to the rise of smartphones.

Futurist Dr. Ian Pearson believes handsets are the new Swiss Army knife because they offer users multiple tools in a compact space.

And by 2025 he claims many of our everyday essentials will be rendered completely redundant as devices become more powerful and ubiquitous.

Items we consider everyday essentials will be rendered redundant as smartphones (stock image) become increasingly more powerful, according to futurist Dr. Ian Pearson

Over the next decade it is estimated more than eight billion people will use at least one smartphone, making it the go-to gadget for our daily lives.

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The announcement of Google’s new holding company, Alphabet, initially led to near-universal bafflement among the tech cognoscenti: why would Google, an industry leader, create such upheaval?

The most immediate benefit may simply be that CEO Larry Page, who is stepping away from day-to-day management, can spend more time playing with Legos.

Even in the early days of Google, cofounders Page and Sergey Brin would let their minds wander to other seemingly impossible projects beyond the already ambitious task of building a search engine to change how millions use the Internet.

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Samsung’s first round smartwatch, which is hopefully going to be released by the end of this year, has been leaking for months. The Gear A was codenamed Orbis, and recently its features and specs have been made public. Samsung itself even confirmed certain details about it too.

That said, the Gear A is still not official. That may change soon, but in the meantime we’ve got some new information on it thanks to yet another leak.

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We’ve seen films depicting human-controlled robots with lightning reflexes, mimicking its human puppet master, but the reality of such constructs has been less than viable, until now.

The Hermes robot is shown in a video released on Friday responding to the real-time physical input from a human controller. In the demonstration, the robot shows it can be imbued with faster reflexes for emergency response situations.

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