Google Launches A Bad App

(c) Google Europe Blog

Three(3) Apps in the Google Play Store has been flagged red as they contain malicious adware, millions of android users had already installed the said apps before warning was made.
These are the apps :>>

Samsung wants to buy Blackberry for $7.5 billion

Samsung has reportedly offered $7.5 billion for BlackBerry. Here's why I think they would be a great match.

Reuters is reporting that Samsung wants to pay $7.5 billion to buy the surprisingly resurgent BlackBerry, which has had a turnaround under CEO John Chen, if you call "not going out of business when everyone said they would" a turnaround.

Blackberry Tweets from iPhone

Oh, BlackBerry. We can understand when your celebrity creative director accidentally tweets from a competitor's smartphone — or is the victim of a "hack." But your own, central Twitter account? That's no good. And yet somehow it's exactly what's just happened. Moments ago, BlackBerry tweeted out a (since deleted) message urging its last bastion of loyal users to keep up with the conversation on Twitter. You'd think the BlackBerry Classic would be a perfect device for thumbing out 140-character missives and sending them to the world; that keyboard is undeniably fantastic.

Convert your iOS photos into animated GIFs and Videos

If you find yourself taking a lot of burst photos on your iOS device, Burstio is an app you're sure to find useful.

Man Smuggling iphones into China

One man reportedly just got busted for a less-than-clever attempt to sneak iPhones past the authorities. China's Sina News shared a series of photos showing the smuggler's improvised try at sneaking 94 iPhones into the country. The result is what looks like body armor fashioned from phones, including an iPhone loincloth of sorts. The phones were wrapped in plastic and taped into place.

Nokia Lumia 1520 first hands-on

After much anticipation the Lumia 1520 finally arrives, and i am excited just like you, it lived up to expectation, below is the video showcasing the first hands on by Nokia.

 

Don't worry, your severed fingers won't unlock your iPhone 5S

Panic ensues when Apple announces its fingerprint scanner. However, a closer reading suggests that finger-chopping might not be so worthwhile for thieves.

I've been going through Apple's App Store in search of new products.

I've been looking for specially designed needles, thread for stitching, and possibly fingernails.

You see, some people have been worrying that with the new Touch ID, a biometric fingerprint sensor built into the iPhone 5S, they will have their fingers cut off. And, well, you know, business is business.

Still, there was no sign of such accessories in the App Store. And there may be less cause for concern than first entered people's suspicious heads.

I am grateful to Fast Company's CoLabs for attempting to soothe furrowed brows and tightly clenched fists.

It explains that Apple's scanner doesn't work by optics. Rather, Apple's new system probes beneath the layer of you skin to see the real live action beneath.

So the sensor is looking for something that has slightly more alive characteristics than, you know, a severed finger.

However, because those with devious minds tend to have a lot of time on their fingers to be devious, there might be all sorts of ruses that will arise in order to break into a fingerprint-locked iPhone 5S.

Fast Company posits the idea of whether one might try and imprint a fingerprint on a piece of red meat, or perhaps molding a fingerprint in ballistic gel.

But iPhone thieves generally work on the principle of fast and furious. Will they really bother with vast technological setups in order to make a few hundred dollars?

Will they really try and recreate the live prints of severed fingers? The whole thing sounds like an especially gruesome movie starring John Malkovich.

It is, indeed, possible that Apple's fingerprint scanner is a genuine upgrade in phone security.

There's still, though, something slightly uncomfortable about one's fingerprint being recorded in yet another database somewhere.

One great problem, as exemplified by German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble a few years ago, is that once your fingerprint has been copied, you can't get new ones.

If there's one thing that society has learned over the last few years, it's that the more you put yourself out there, the more your information can be used to ends that you might never have imagined.

Nokia slaps Apple with backhander during iPhone event

Nokia takes a look at the colorful iPhone 5C and sees, well, itself. It has to tweet what it sees. Then its UK arm decides to mock the gold 5S.

(Credit: Nokia/Twitter)

Your level of whelmed after Tuesday's Apple event might depend on your level of loyalty.

The folks at (Micro)Nokia in the US, however, were moved to paroxysms when they saw the new iPhone 5C.

They racked their brains as to where they'd seen it before. The mirror, that's where.

So out went a tweet that offered, quite simply: "Thanks, Apple."

Was (Micro)Nokia sincere in its admiration of the pretty iPhone 5C with the plastic back and joyous colors? Was it grateful that Apple was still the finest, most innovative phone creator on the planet?

In a way. For accompanying the tweet was a picture of a lot of joyously colorful Nokia phones and the headline: "Imitation Is The Best Form Of Flattery."

Gaining spirit from its American cousins, the good people at (Micro)Nokia UK decided to join the Twitter partisanship.

So it tweeted: "Real Gangsters Don't Use Gold Phones."

Accompanying it was an image. Oh, take a look below.

Of course, this was all in good humor. MicroNokia has its own little challenges ahead, such as finding a way to raise its market share from the micro level.

One can't help feeling, though, that these tweets expressed some relief that Apple hadn't surprised anyone at all.

Not glittery.

(Credit: Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Apple invention would let you check the status of another iPhone user

A newly published patent application outlines a method to check the availability of any iPhone user you want to call.

Apple has envisioned a way to see whether a fellow iPhone user is free to talk before you even complete the call.

Published Thursday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent appropriately called "Methods to determine availability of user based on mobile phone status," describes just that process.

How many times do you call someone only to get dumped into voice mail? Maybe the person isn't available or is in a dead zone or has just turned on Airplane mode. Apple's proposed invention seeks to eliminate that uncertainty by alerting you to the person's status right off the bat.

To accomplish this feat, a person's iPhone would talk to Apple on the backend to report its status and call preferences. Such settings as location, signal strength, battery life, and mode (Normal, Airplane, or Vibration) would be sent to Apple's servers. A fellow iPhone user who attempts to call that person would see the status of the callee's phone on the screen and can then decide whether to complete the call.

(Credit: Apple/USPTO)

In essence, your phone would borrow a key feature from instant messaging in which you can see if someone is online, offline, free, or busy.

As Apple describes it in typical patent language:

New, high-quality shots of 'iPhone 5C' casing appear

New shots purport to be the back of Apple's upcoming low-cost iPhone.

Could this be Apple's next iPhone?

(Credit: Sonny Dickson)

More photos of what appears to be Apple's next iPhone, or at least a lower-cost version of it, have cropped up.

Sonny Dickson, who is a frequent leaker of all things Apple hardware, has posted a rather large gallery of the rear case of a white, plastic iPhone.

It's just a piece of the device, so there are no internals inside, just some mounts for various components. Also of note is that there don't appear to be any openings for the typical volume buttons and mute switch, which have been included on each and every iPhone model so far.

The iPhone 5C, as it has been dubbed, is expected to debut alongside an updated model of the iPhone 5 this fall. The device, which already has some cases on places like Amazon, is rumored to be a low-cost iPhone model aimed at better penetrating prepaid markets, like China.

Apple's strategy thus far has been to sell older models at lower costs. Come the next model, that might not work out as well with the iPhone 4S, which has a smaller screen size and uses an older 30-pin connector instead of Apple's Lightning connector. The 5C could knock it out of the lineup. The device was even mentioned (though not by name) in a recent report about one of Apple's contract manufacturers from the China Labor Watch.

Dickson has posted 5C photos before, but these latest offer a more diverse look. Last month the Australian blogger posted a shot that depicts various possible colors for the 5C rear shell.

(Credit: Sonny Dickson)

I bet you didn't know your iPad could do that

Discover the iPad's hidden keys, set it to read selected text, and get quick access to hundreds of emoticons, plus four other handy iPad customizations.

There has never been a "handier" computer than the iPad. Yes, that's a bold statement. Here are seven tips that back it up.
Use your thumbs to type letters that have no keys
When it comes to entering text on an iPad, many of us are all thumbs. The device's split keyboard lets you type characters with your thumbs while holding the iPad with both hands. To activate the split keyboard, press and hold the small horizontal lines to the right of the minimize-keyboard button in the bottom-right corner, and then choose Split.

Split and shrink the iPad's onscreen keyboard by pressing and holding to the right of the hide-keyboard button.

The keyboard shrinks, undocks from the bottom of the screen, and splits into two halves appearing on the left and right sides of the screen. When you hold the iPad in two hands, you can use your thumbs to tap keys as you enter text.
If you favor one thumb over another, you can tap the split keyboard's invisible keys to enter in the vertical row to the   right of the left edge and to the left of the right edge, as   shown in the screen below.

Press to the right of the left edge and to the left of the right edge of the iPad's split keyboard to enter the "invisible" characters (shown in small boxes I've added to the image).

The "keys" on the iPad's split keyboard are even smaller than those on the standard keyboard that is docked in the bottom of the screen. Data entry using the onscreen keyboard is challenging to say the least. The thumbs-only approach using the two-hand grip isn't any easier, but two-thumb tapping is faster than the single-digit approach.
If you go the thumbs route, you might as well use all the keys available -- visible and invisible.
One emoticon is worth a thousand words
One way to reduce your reliance on the iPad's onscreen keyboard is to express yourself using emoticons. OK, I admit I feel like I'm back in junior high school whenever I see an emoticon embedded in a message, but the goofy characters certainly do help you make your point.

To add emoticons to the iPad keyboard, press Settings > General > Keyboard > International Keyboards > Add New Keyboard > Emoji. The first time you activate the onscreen keyboard after enabling a second keyboard layout, a message pops up instructing you to tap the Globe key to switch keyboard layouts.

After you enable a second iPad keyboard layout, a message appears instructing you to press the globe button to switch keyboards.

 The Emoji keyboard lists hundreds of colorful emoticons in six categories: those you've used recently; smilies, hand gestures, and hearts; animals and plants; common items; transportation and flags; and common symbols (such as clock faces, astrological signs, and Japanese Kanji characters).

Among the hundreds of symbols on the iPad's Emoji keyboard are transportation icons and flags.

Save key taps by creating keyboard shortcuts for repeated text
I wish I had a nickel for every time I've typed "I wish I had a nickel" on my iPad. (I have a thing for nickels.) Now I just tap "nkl" and a space to add my nickel aspiration in a note or document.
To create a keyboard shortcut that enters frequently used text automatically, tap Settings > General > Keyboard > Add New Shortcut.... Enter the phrase, press your preferred shortcut keys, and press Save. The entry is added to your Shortcuts list, which is shown just above the Add New Shortcut option.
Thereafter when you enter the shortcut, the phrase appears below the shortcut. Press the space bar to enter the phrase or press the X to the right of the text to retain the shortcut letters.

Enter repeated text more quickly on an iPad by creating custom keyboard shortcuts.

 Set the iPad to recite selected text
If you'd like your iPad to read to you, press Settings > General > Accessibility, and in the Vision section, toggle Speak Selection to On. Use the slider control to set the speaking rate; the default setting is a couple of clicks to the slow side of the median.

Set the iPad reader's playback speed via the slider control, which is set by default a bit to the slow side of middle.

After you enable selection speaking, a Speak option appears when you select text. Press it to hear a Siri-like voice read the selection. At the default reading speed the voice seems hurried, although the pauses at punctuation are unnaturally long. But like the dancing dog, it's not that the iPad reads text well, it's that the machine reads it at all.
Select an entire paragraph with four taps
Selecting text on an iPad is crazy-making: tap the screen to select a single word (or press Select to highlight the word you tapped), and then grab and slide one of the little blue dots that appear in the top-left and bottom-left corners of the selection.
The fast way to select an entire paragraph is to tap it four times. Just like that, your paragraph is ready to be copied or read to you (if you've used the above tip to enable the iPad's text reader).
Swipe the screen to switch among open apps
Most people move from one iPad app to another by pressing the Home button and then pressing the new app's icon, which may entail a lot of screen swiping or folder opening.

A faster way to go from one open app to another is to swipe the screen left or right using four or five fingers. Alternatively, you can swipe up with four or five fingers to open the multitasking bar at the bottom of the screen, which shows all the apps currently open on the machine.
Double-tap to zoom the screen
You probably know that you can stretch the iPad screen with two fingers to zoom in and pinch with two fingers to zoom out. To get more control over screen zooms, tap the screen twice with three fingers. Repeat the three-finger double-tap to zoom out.
To control the zoom magnification, double-tap with three fingers and hold, then scroll up to zoom in and down to zoom out. Once you've got your preferred zoom level, navigate around the screen by swiping left, right, up, and down with three fingers.
To enable zoom, press Settings > General > Accessibility and toggle the Zoom setting in the Vision section to On.

T-Mobile Offers Free iPhone 5

T-Mobile trade-in program offers free iPhone 5 to switchers

T-Mobile USA announced the latest move in their continuing initiative to lure iPhone users to their network, which currently boasts the smallest subscriber base in the country. The new iPhone trade-in program allows subscribers switching to T-Mo from other carriers to recieve deep discounts on the iPhone 5 by swapping out their older model.

According to a press release from the magenta-branded company, the down payment on the iPhone 5 will completely vanish when customers trade in an iPhone 4 or 4S, and a $120 credit will be applied to the monthly payment for the phone, essentially cutting the price down to only $15 a month for the remainder of the two-year don’t-call-it-a-contract “agreement.”

Apple Fires Samsung

Apple Has Reportedly Fired Samsung From A7 Chip Production 

We have all heard the rumors that Apple will move away from Samsung and find another fab to make all of their sexy, super-fast A-series processors, but today, The Korea Times is reporting it as a done deal, saying that Apple has shut Samsung out entirely from the design of their A7 processors. Who are they going with instead? The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC for short.

The Korea Times says that the A7 chip is actually still a ways away, and won't be released until the first half of next year. When it does, it will boast a 20-nanometer processing technology, and TSMC will be the chip’s sole manufacturer.
This is a big blow to Samsung’s foundry business, which makes billions off of the production of Apple’s chips. This is going to hit Samsung where it hurts.

HTC One

• 
  SIZE: 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3mm
• 
  WEIGHT: 143g
• 
  DISPLAY: 4.7 inch, Full HD 1080p, 468 PPI

CPU SPEED

Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 600, quad-core, 1.7GHz

PLATFORM ANDROID

Android™ with HTC Sense™

HTC BlinkFeed™

SIM CARD TYPE

microSIM

MEMORY¹

Total storage : 32GB/64GB, available capacity varies¹

RAM : 2 GB DDR2

NETWORK²

HSPA/WCDMA:

• Europe/Asia: 850/900/1900/2100 MHz

GSM/GPRS/EDGE:

• 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

LTE:

• EU: 800/1800/2600 MHz
• US (AT&T): 700/850/AWS/1900 MHz
• US (TMO): 1700/AWS MHz
• US (Sprint): 1900 MHz
• Asia: 1800/2600 Mhz

GPS

Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS
Digital compass

SENSORS

Gyro sensor
Accelerometer
Proximity sensor
Ambient light sensor

CONNECTIVITY³

• 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
• NFC capable³
• Compliant with Bluetooth 4.0
• Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX™ enabled
• Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n
• DLNA® for wirelessly streaming media from the phone to a compatible TV or computer
• HTC Connect
• Miracast wireless display standard
• Support consumer infrared remote control
• micro-USB 2.0 (5-pin) port with mobile high-definition video link (MHL) for USB or HDMI connection (Special cable required for HDMI connection.)

SOUND ENHANCEMENT

HTC BoomSound™

• Dual frontal stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers
• Studio-quality sound with Beats Audio™
• HDR Microphone
• Sense Voice

CAMERA

• HTC UltraPixel Camera
• BSI sensor, Pixel size 2.0 µm, Sensor size 1/3'
• Dedicated HTC ImageChip™ 2
• F2.0 aperture and 28 mm lens
• Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)
• Smart Flash: Five levels of flash automatically set by distance to subject
• Front Camera: 2.1 MP, 88⁰ wide angle lens with HDR capability
• 1080p Full HD video recording with HDR Video
• HTC Zoe™ with Sequence Shot, Always Smile and Object Removal
• Gallery with Video Highlights and HTC Share
• Continuous shooting and VideoPic
• Slow motion video recording with variable speed playback

MULTIMEDIA

Audio supported formats:

• Playback: .aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9)
• Recording: .amr

Video supported formats:

• Playback: .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv (Windows Media Video 9), .avi (MP4 ASP and MP3)
• Recording: .mp4

BATTERY⁴

Embedded rechargeable Li-polymer battery

Capacity : 2300 mAh

AC ADAPTER

Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz

DC output: 5 V and 1 A

1. Available storage is less due to phone software.
2. Network bands in regions other than Europe and Asia Pacific may be different, depending on the mobile operator and your location. Upload and download speeds also depend on the mobile operator.
3. NFC availability depends on the mobile operator and your location. Please check with your mobile operator.   
4. Battery times (talk time, standby time, and more) are subject to network and phone usage.
   
   A Standby time specification ("specification") is an industry standard that is only intended to allow comparison of different mobile devices under the same circumstances. Power consumption in a standby state is strongly dependent on factors including but not limited to network, settings, location, movement, signal strength and cell traffic . Comparisons of different mobile devices using such a specification can therefore only be done in a controlled laboratory environment . When using any mobile device in real life circumstances for which the mobile device is intended, the standby time could be considerably lower and will be strongly dependent on the factors as mentioned above.

Note: Specifications are subject to change without prior notice.