Business Articles

2019 is an important year for the adoption of 5G tech and MediaTek is ready to capitalize on it with the upcoming 5G-enagled mid-range SoCs. (Source: GizChina)

MediaTek's first 5G SoC slated for late 2019

5G adoption should explode in 2019 and MediaTek is ready to capitalize on it both with standalone 5G modems and 5G-enabled SoCs. The Taiwanese company would supply big names like Apple with standalone chips, while Chinese phone-ma...

Bogdan Solca, 02 Nov 2018 22:19

Apple enjoyed limited shipment growth of just 0.5%. (Source: Stuff)

Smartphone shipments down as Huawei aims for Samsung's crown

Global smartphone shipments for the third quarter have fallen by 6% over the last 12 months, according to data from IDC. The shipment volume for 3Q 2018 stood at 355.2 million units, compared to 377.8 million smartphones shipped i...

Daniel R Deakin, 02 Nov 2018 20:32

Apple lost its trillion-dollar value status today. (Source: AppleInsider)

Apple to cease sharing sales figures; stock prices fall

It has been reported that Apple will no longer provide detailed sales figures for its products in future financial reports, starting in Q1 2019. The Cupertino-based tech giant has just released its fourth quarter results; the quar...

Daniel R Deakin, 02 Nov 2018 19:16

We measured the system ourselves and it is definitely closer to 15 inches in width instead of the claimed 13.29 inches

Dell accidentally lists laptop over an inch smaller, promises to fix the error soon

The Precision 7530 is a powerful and hefty workstation, but it's definitely not smaller than the XPS 15. Dell has confirmed a minor measurement error on its product page and will update the dimension from 337.6 mm to a more accura...

Allen Ngo, 02 Nov 2018 02:55

Spotify shares were affected by less than completely positive earnings reports. (Source: djtimes.com)

Spotify shares sank by 11% due to pessimistic earnings forecast

The shares of the company Spotify were down 11% at the start of today (November 1, 2018) due to a forecast that shows relatively poor fourth-quarter performance. In addition, Spotify is now reported to be committed to new investme...

Deirdre O Donnell, 01 Nov 2018 19:20

QNAP TS-2888X AI-ready NAS with hybrid storage and Intel Xeon W (Source: QNAP Systems)

QNAP unveils the TS-2888X AI-ready NAS, pre-orders now open for 15 percent off

QNAP's new TS-2888X AI-ready NAS starts at US$4,900 (discounted) and can be pre-ordered for 15 percent off until the end of the month. All available models come with Intel Xeon W series processors, ASETEK liquid cooling, up to 512...

Codrut Nistor, 01 Nov 2018 16:30

Snapchat sues Instagram influencer for not promoting Snapchat Spectacles

After failing to fulfill a contract with Snapchat's PR firm, PR Consultants (PRC), Instagram influencer and actor Luka Sabbat is being sued by PRC for $90,000. Sabbat signed a contract with PRC to promote Snapchat's Spectacles v2 ...

Sam Medley, 01 Nov 2018 05:25

The next-gen high-end gaming GPUs are rumored to hit the market in 2020. (Source: VideoCardz)

AMD planning a comeback in the high-end gaming GPU sector

Even though AMD may look like it has lost focus of the GPU market, CEO Lisa Su reassures everyone that the red team is not giving up on the high-end gaming GPU market that easily. AMD is currently in the process of developing high...

Bogdan Solca, 31 Oct 2018 21:37

Nvidia seems to have known about the RTX 2080 Ti instabilities, since it delayed the shipments a few times. (Source: Nvidia)

Nvidia not too concerned about the reported faulty RTX 2080 Ti cards

Some users who managed to get the Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti Founders' Edition claim that the GPUs have critical instability issues that lead to black screens, BSoDs, and artifacting. There are instances where the cards were dead on arriv...

Bogdan Solca, 31 Oct 2018 21:02

Red Dead Redemption 2. (Source: El Paisano)

Red Dead Redemption 2 smashes global sales records, has the biggest opening weekend of any entertainment product ever

Red Dead Redemption 2 has been the talk of the town since it was released last week. All of that talk translated into hard cash for Rockstar Games, though, as the game sold over US$725 million in retail over its first three days.

Ricci Rox, 31 Oct 2018 14:35

The Nokia 7.1 makes its way to the US with a $350 price tag

HMD Global launched the Nokia 7.1 at the start of October. The mid-ranger, as promised, is now on sale in the US, with a US$350 price tag granting buyers ownership of a 5.84-inch FHD+ device with dual rear cameras and a Snapdragon...

Ricci Rox, 31 Oct 2018 14:34

2018 Surface Pro series still suffers from steep CPU throttling (Source: Own)

2018 Surface Pro 6 series still suffers from steep CPU throttling

There's no doubt that this year's Surface Pro models are significantly faster than the last generation since Kaby Lake-R doubles the number of cores from Kaby Lake. The bigger question, however, is how much or little the models wi...

Allen Ngo, 31 Oct 2018 06:56

Topjoy Falcon reaches over $170K in Kickstarter funding

The 8-inch convertible is off to a good start as far as user interest is concerned. Nearly 400 backers have already pledged an average of $450 USD each for the device. We obtained an early sample of the unit and can vouch for its ...

Allen Ngo, 30 Oct 2018 18:47

Custom OPPO R15 with 5G capabilities tested successfully

Although this is only about connecting a custom R15 to a 5G network in the company's research lab for now, OPPO is planning to become the first Chinese company to bring a 5G smartphone to the market in 2019. Unfortunately, they wi...

Codrut Nistor, 30 Oct 2018 14:34

Samsung ISOCELL GM1 and ISOCELL GD1 (Source: Samsung Global Newsroom)

Samsung intros 48 MP and 32 MP 0.8 μm ISOCELL sensors

The 48 MP ISOCELL Bright GM1 and 32 MP ISOCELL Bright GD1 are Samsung's new 0.8-micrometer image sensors for mobile devices that enable camera module manufacturers to build smaller modules or cram more pixels into existing designs...

Codrut Nistor, 30 Oct 2018 12:01

Google pledges US $25 million to developing "AI for social good"

Google launched a new grant initiative today, seeking to fund teams that want to develop "AI for social good." Dubbed the AI Impact Challenge, the initiative will award $25 million across multiple teams that qualify based on the s...

Sam Medley, 30 Oct 2018 05:40

Office 2019 is now more expensive than its predecessor. (Source: awok.com)

Microsoft increases prices for some Office 2019 suites by about 10% each

Microsoft has raised the prices of Office Home & Business 2019 and Office Professional 2019 to US$249.99 and $439.99 respectively. This is an approximate 10% hike compared to the corresponding Office 2016 suites.

Deirdre O Donnell, 30 Oct 2018 00:16

Google may start offering Android app bundles with a monthly subscription service called Play Pass

Code buried in Google's Play Store app hints that Google may one day offer an app bundle subscription service that offers access to several apps for a monthly fee. A question circulating through Google's Opinion Rewards app seems ...

Sam Medley, 29 Oct 2018 20:13

A schematic for the new plant in Shanghai. (Source: ABB)

Multi-million-dollar new Shanghai factory will have robots making other robots

The Swiss firm ABB appears to believe that robotics is the future. To this end, it has spent US$150 million on a new plant in China. This factory will focus on three main areas: manufacture by automatons, R&D and AI development.

Deirdre O Donnell, 29 Oct 2018 19:27

Xiaomi retail store, Xiaomi hits 2018 sales target in just 10 months, 100 million phones sold

Xiaomi has already reached its annual sales target

Although it might not be doing great on the stock exchange yet, Xiaomi managed to hit its sales target for this year already. Still trailing Huawei and OPPO in China, Xiaomi managed to go from 70 million units in the first 10 mont...

Codrut Nistor, 29 Oct 2018 17:56

Twitter will soon be removing the Like button. (Source: The Verge)

Twitter contemplating on removing the 'Like' button to improve quality of debate

Twitter might remove the red heart-shaped Like button soon as per reports by The Telegraph. According to the report, the decision to remove the Like button is to foster a healthier climate for debate. Twitterati, on the other hand...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 29 Oct 2018 16:03

LG Pay Quick apparently coming soon to Europe, South Korea, and the US (Source: LetsGoDigital)

LG Pay Quick coming to South Korea, Europe, and the US

Although LG Pay was supposed to reach the US back in June, it still needs to get there. However, LG has just registered the LG Pay Quick trademark in South Korea, Europe, and the US. There might not be a launch date to talk about ...

Codrut Nistor, 29 Oct 2018 13:45

IBM to acquire Red Hat for $34 billion

In a deal valued at US $34 billion, IBM will acquire Red Hat, the organization behind Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, and CentOS. IBM is buying Red Hat in order to compete in the cloud computing market against the likes of Amazo...

Sam Medley, 29 Oct 2018 13:17

Paypal bans alternative social media site Gab due to posts of the Pittsburgh shooter

Gab, a social media alternative to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, has come under fire yet again for posts from its users. This time, anti-Semitic posts from the Pittsburgh shooter, who shot and killed 11 people in a synagogue ...

Sam Medley, 29 Oct 2018 00:50

The newest software update for Tesla vehicles makes self-driving a partial reality. (Source: The Verge)

Tesla's latest software update makes its cars a little more self-driving

The latest update pushed to Tesla cars in the United States includes the feature 'Navigate on Autopilot'. It allows the car to suggest the next turning, if this movement will take it off or onto a highway, and complete it by itsel...

Deirdre O Donnell, 28 Oct 2018 18:46

Snap Camera is Snapchat for Twitch. (Source: Snapchat)

New app brings Snapchat filters to Twitch

Snap Camera is a freshly-launched desktop app that adds Snapchat Lenses to webcam feeds for vlogging or Twitch streams. Like all similar things Snap, it relies on facial mapping to super-impose a range of effects on a video's subj...

Deirdre O Donnell, 28 Oct 2018 18:24

DxOMark: The $500 Mi Mix 3's cameras are every bit as good as any on the market right now

Xiaomi's new Mi Mix 3 made the trip over to DxOMark just after launch and impressed, delivering performance figures on par with devices carrying twice its price tag. The Chinese flagship may be far from the priciest on the market,...

Ricci Rox, 28 Oct 2018 13:32

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro. (Source: Business Insider)

Apparently, DxOMark hasn't published the Mate 20 Pro's camera review because the device's scores would cause havoc

The Mate 20 Pro was released a short while ago but its DxOMark review is yet to be seen. Sources claim that the report hasn't been published yet because the Mate 20 Pro's scores were just too high and Huawei believes releasing tha...

Ricci Rox, 28 Oct 2018 13:27

Samsung Headquarters. (Source Social Barrel)

Samsung hit with massive fine for slowing down devices with updates

Samsung was nabbed slowing down devices with its software updates and has been hit with a $5.7m fine in Italy. This comes after Apple was caught doing the same thing earlier in the year, although the American company did have plau...

Ricci Rox, 28 Oct 2018 13:22

The OnePlus 6 accounted for 30% of all premium smartphone sales in India in Q3. (Source; CNET)

OnePlus continues to dominate India's premium smartphone segment

OnePlus may not be a big player in the global smartphone market but the company has continued its dominance over the premium segment of the Indian smartphone market, with the OnePlus 6 being the best-selling premium phone in India...

Ricci Rox, 28 Oct 2018 13:19

The Nebula Capsule II is a hit on Kickstarter. (Source: Kickstarter)

Nebula Capsule II portable projector goes on Kickstarter, raises about 13 times original goal so far

Anker's Nebula Capsule is a 720p portable cinema projector that could put your streamed or saved movies on any flat surface. Now, the company is back with the Nebula Capsule II. This Android-powered projector has raised just about...

Deirdre O Donnell, 27 Oct 2018 15:31

ThinkPad UEFI failure: Experienced users can repair their laptops with some effort

Yesterday, we reported on a catastrophic failure related to a setting in the UEFI-firmware of recent ThinkPads. Essentially, if the users changed a certain setting in the UEFI of their ThinkPad, there is a good chance that the mac...

Benjamin Herzig, 27 Oct 2018 01:17

It's not yet known what the people behind Fortnite will do with the money. (Source: Inverse)

Fortnite helps Epic raise US$1.25 billion

A press release from Epic Games has announced that the company has managed to raise US$1.25 billion from a group of investors. Undoubtedly, the massive global impact of Fortnite will have contributed to the success Epic has had in...

Daniel R Deakin, 27 Oct 2018 00:27

It looks like Intel was caught off-guard by outstanding market demand for its Coffee Lake CPUs, which lead to impressive revenues in Q3 2018 and also the CPU shortages. (Source: Engadget)

Intel releases impressive Q3 financial report, 14 nm shortage expected to get worse

The Santa Clara giant reported the best quarter in its entire 50-year history, even though the company was not able to meet the outstanding market demand. The 14 nm shortages will continue throughout the rest of the year and Intel...

Bogdan Solca, 26 Oct 2018 22:59

Western Digital unveils new 15 TB hard drive, the largest HDD yet

Western Digital just announced the largest mechanical hard drive in the industry, a 15TB helium-sealed monster. Designed for data centers and cloud storage services, the 15TB HDD is intended for enterprise customers in need of den...

Sam Medley, 26 Oct 2018 22:25

All the Intel-powered streaming-ready systems will feature a Streamlabs badge. (Source: Streamlabs)

Intel and Streamlabs initiate Twitch-ready mini PC program

As online streaming becomes more popular, the need for specific hardware is also rising. Twitch partner Streamlabs and Intel have joined forces with mini PC OEMs like Shuttle, SimplyNUC, Zotac and Acer to bring streaming-ready sys...

Bogdan Solca, 26 Oct 2018 21:46

5G coming to India in 2019 as a large-scale trial thanks to Samsung

Samsung plans to bring 5G to India next year for a large-scale trial

Samsung and India's Department of Telecommunications teamed up to conduct the first large-scale 5G trial in the country, which is scheduled to take place in the first quarter of 2019 if everything works as planned. Samsung made th...

Codrut Nistor, 26 Oct 2018 14:12

LG G6 and LG Q6, LG Mobile still bleeds money Q3 2018

LG Mobile's new strategy is allegedly working, but Q3 2018 losses reached US$130 million

Although LG Electronics has reported a profit of almost US$668 million for the third quarter of 2018, the LG Mobile Communications Company had to face a weakening demand and increasing competition and reported an operating loss of...

Codrut Nistor, 26 Oct 2018 12:35

AMD's GPU sector has taken a serious hit, but the CPU side is stronger than ever. (Source: Network World)

AMD's shares drop 24% after Q3 earnings report

AMD is now feeling the full hit of the GPU-based crypto mining decline that started back in Q1. Instead of a projected US$50 million downturn in GPU sales, the red team reported losses of US$150 million, thus triggering a share dr...

Bogdan Solca, 26 Oct 2018 11:20

Google to disable Nearby Notifications following three years of complaints of spam advertising

After years of users complaining about spam and irrelevant ads, Google will finally shut down the Nearby Notifications system on December 6th. Google said that the service did not meet the "high bar" the company holds to when deli...

Sam Medley, 26 Oct 2018 04:53

HP has no plans for an EliteBook x360 1020 G2 successor for now

HP's best 12.5-inch convertible will be taking a hiatus in order to focus on the 13.3-inch EliteBook x360 1030 series. All of its features will be integrated into the EliteBook x360 1030 including Sure View and its super-bright ba...

Allen Ngo, 25 Oct 2018 20:20

Samsung Galaxy S10 now rumored to come in 4 variants, one of which will have 12GB of RAM

A leak on Weibo claims that the Galaxy S10 lineup will consist of 4 versions of the phone rather than the usual 2. One of these will be a 5G variant - with 12GB RAM. The Weibo poster also believes that the Huawei P30 Pro will have...

Deirdre O Donnell, 25 Oct 2018 20:05

The OnePlus 6's successor may be certified on the Verizon network. (Source: Android Authority)

OnePlus allegedly secures Verizon certification for the 6T

With less than a week to go until its next major launch event, it appears that OnePlus has gained what could be a significant advantage for its next phone, the 6T, in the United States. The company has reportedly succeeded in its ...

Deirdre O Donnell, 25 Oct 2018 18:56

A large part of the point of the IoT revolution was to automate the home. (Source: uxdesign.cc)

Less than 40% of IoT consumers consider themselves reliant on their connected devices

Most people who own connected devices appear not to need them in their everyday lives. This is one of the findings of a new study into IoT use in the home and similar settings. 29% of these users were unsure of how their data was ...

Deirdre O Donnell, 25 Oct 2018 18:18

Some recent ThinkPads can be destroyed by changing a UEFI-BIOS setting

Some recent ThinkPads can be bricked by changing a UEFI-BIOS setting

Some modern ThinkPad laptops apparently have an issue with the UEFI-BIOS. When a certain setting is activated, this action can potentially brick the laptop. The only fix in this situation: Exchanging the motherboard.

Benjamin Herzig, 25 Oct 2018 00:41

Lyft is pushing hard into self-driving cars. (Image via TechCrunch)

Lyft buys AR firm to help with its self-driving cars

Lyft, the second most popular ride-sharing business, announced its first acquisition centered around autonomous cars. The company will purchase Blue Vision Labs, an AR startup, for US $72 million (with an additional $30 million op...

Sam Medley, 24 Oct 2018 23:05

Yahoo suffered from massive data breaches in 2013 and 2014. (Source: PYMNTS)

Yahoo to pay US$50 million in data breach damages

Web service provider Yahoo has agreed to pay out US$50 million in damages in response to the huge data breaches the company suffered from in 2013 and 2014. Once the settlement has been legally approved, Yahoo accountholders affect...

Daniel R Deakin, 24 Oct 2018 21:35

Samsung LPDDR5 DRAM, delayed to 2020, UFS 3.0 coming in 2019

UFS 3.0 storage coming next year, LPDDR5 in 2020

Although both were supposed to enter production in the second half of this year, it looks like the next-gen UFS storage solutions and LPDDR5 will not hit the market as soon as expected. While the UFS 3.0 memory will arrive in the ...

Codrut Nistor, 24 Oct 2018 14:41

Despite repeated delays, the 10 nm node seems to be alive and well, according to Intel. (Source: Anandtech)

Intel denies rumors concerning the death of its 10 nm node

The 10 nm process gave Intel quite a bit of a headache in the past few years. It was supposed to arrive in 2017 initially, but the fabrication process had to be delayed because of design problems, and it looks like Intel may not b...

Bogdan Solca, 24 Oct 2018 11:21