There’s certainly a lot of talk about Apple this year. With the company’s stock price continuing to drop, it’s imperative for the company to regain global marketshare, and in that, regain their stock price. Today’s leak comes from Tactus, a case maker who has revealed what we were all speculating about. The design is very similar to the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS’s design, with squared edges and space for separate volume buttons.

It’s presumed this model will be introduced in growing markets, and could be a smash hit in China, as China Mobile continues to be the #1 carrier worldwide. We just hope that Apple revamps iOS at the same time as it releases new iPhone models this year. It’s reported by Tactus that the new model will be released on the 15th of October this year. It’s also reported to carry an A5 chip, a 5 megapixel camera with flash, and a 3.5-inch retina display.

[Source: MacRumors]

Earlier this year Amazon acquired Ivona, a text-to-speech firm. Now it’s reported that Amazon has just acquired Evi, a voice recognition app. It could certainly be presumed that Amazon is working on a smartphone, and it could be presumed that this is their answer to siri. Of course all of this is still rumors, and it could just be a feature that they are working on for the Kindle lineup. When asked to comment, Amazon and Evi both declined the request. Of course this could be viewed as suspicious, but we have to wait for the official word. Certainly it’s very interesting however!

[Source: TechCrunch]

[Image Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Apple’s not doing to well as of late, the company’s hit a 52-week low dropping to $400.72 per share. The company’s stock price has continued to drop for around 7 months now, ever since the release of the iPhone 5. The silicon valley company really needs to pick itself up, it hasn’t released anything groundbreaking in years. The iPhone, iPad and Mac lines need some serious work, sure the iPhone was updated 7 months ago, but with minor tweaks and contrasting that with Samsung who just announced their Galaxy S 4 with a bunch of groundbreaking innovative features, the iPhone just looks tired. It doesn’t look like the iPhone  has had anything innovative done to it since the iPhone 4 was announced. Come on Apple, we know you have it in you! We have to hope that Jonathan Ive’s can do something substantial for the iOS operating system. What would you guys like to see from Apple?

It’s crazy to think that we are at the foot of the next technology breakthrough; it’s been rumored for a while now that Apple, Samsung and various other technology companies have been working on the next BIG thing, the smart watch. When you think about it the wrist watch hasn’t undergone any big change’s in the last 50 years, so to think that we are about to see it change, and change enormously, it’s just cray cray if you ask me.

Microsoft was reported by The Wall Street Journal to be working on a Smart Watch earlier this week, and now The Verge is reporting that the “smart watch” that Microsoft has been working on has been in the works for over a year now. It’s also reported by The Verge that the Redmond Washington company has allocated the project to their Xbox team. The Verge is a credible source however, so we wouldn’t be surprised if this was actually the case. For more info stay tuned to the site.

[Source: The Verge]

Reuters on Friday released an article which gave us some insight into the future of Dell. The company is reportedly in the works of going private, and we now have a time frame to look at in regards to when it will happen. It’s reported that Microsoft have pledged $3 billion to help with the process, and it’s reported that the deal could happen as soon as monday.

Reuters reports that CEO Michael Dell will take the majority share in the company when it goes private, and the company is currently in talks with several banks and various tech company’s.

TechnoBuffalo notes that PC sales fell 6.4% this last holiday season, while tablet sales grew to a staggering 75%.

We’ll have to see if the rumor mill turns out to be true in this case.

[Via: TechnoBuffalo]

[Source: Reuters]

Samsung Ukraine announced today a list of devices that are set to receive the Jelly Bean update. These are all older devices, among the list also included the Galaxy Ace 2, which is set to be updated on April 22, Galaxy S Advance which will be updated on Feb. 18th, and finally the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus which will be updated on Feb. 22. The Galaxy Note will receive the update on March 3rd. So look forward to your Samsung device receiving the Jelly Bean update soon!

[Via: TechnoBuffalo]

[Source: Samsung Ukraine]

Sony on Thursday announced that the company will be holding a special event on Feb. 20th, about the future of playstation. The teaser video shows the triangle, square, circle and X, surrounded by bolts of electricity. What this could mean for the future of Playstation is unknown, but it’s likely they will announce the Playstation 4. Get your curiosity thinking caps on for this one. It’s likely we will get an abundance of rumors in the lead up to the event. Probably mostly fake, but we’ll be sure to inform you on the credibility of the rumors.

[Via: TechnoBuffalo]

[Source: Sony]

It’s been quite a week for Apple, seeing their marketshare drop by 20% is something else, but what can Apple do to improve their company? Well for starters lets analyse the current products Apple has for sale, they have Mac’s, iPod’s, iPhones and last but not least their iPad’s. So what does Apple need to do to improve this lineup? Well first we’ll start with iOS, it’s stale and needs a revamp. Asap. As a fellow tech blogger put it (Jon Rettinger), Apple is missing things like the live tiles we see in Windows Phone. Now granted Windows Phone is no where near as successful as iOS, but it’s more fresh. With the firing of Scott Forstall, the man behind the iOS back bone, and the step up of Sir Jonathon Ives to the plate, we may see innovation return to Apple (hopefully).

Next lets analyse the Mac OS, yes it’s fantastic, but again it’s been over a decade and we haven’t seen anything new come from it. There’s only so many iterations of Mac OS X you can push out, and Mountain Lion is pushing it. I’m going to go out on a wild card here and say that Apple will release Mac OS X 11 next year, but that’s just a prediction. And again we need to see something amazing in that department.

So those are just some opinions and predictions of mine, of course they could not do any of it. But I believe it’s time for us to see something truly amazing from Apple again. I mean the last time I was blown away by Apple was when they announced the first generation of the iPhone and iPod Touch; And that was nearly 6 years ago. Get the point Apple?

 [Via: TechnoBuffalo]

[Source: NoWhereElse.fr]

Bill Gates recently sat down with CNBC to talk about Windows 8 and it’s success. Gates said Windows 8 is doing “well”, and the same for the Microsoft Surface. As TechnoBuffalo noted, PC sales are on a decline, with the rise of Tablets these days. They also noted that the amount of sales could be in part just in store show models, not being used. Microsoft claims to have sold sixty million licenses for the OS. Though Gates is no longer CEO, he continues to be the largest share holder in Microsoft. As for Windows 8, the prices are set to skyrocket next month to upwards of $199.99, currently you can update to Windows 8 for $40; So hurry up if you want to get in on windows 8.

[Via: TechnoBuffalo]

[Source: CNBC]