Business Articles

The decreased licensing cost is the direct result of pressure on the market from inexpensive Chromebooks. (Source: Microsoft)

Pressured by Chromebooks, Microsoft will reduce Windows licensing costs on 14-inch and smaller notebooks

Microsoft has lowered the volume licensing fees for Windows notebooks with screen sizes of 14-inches or less for 2017. The move comes in an effort to combat the rising popularity of inexpensive Chromebooks.

Douglas Black, 15 Jan 2017 03:18

Microsoft acquires Maluuba

The Montreal-based deep learning startup joins the Redmond giant to improve its artificial intelligence-driven reading and writing capabilities thanks to the "state-of-the-art technology of machine literacy" that is now owned by Microsoft.

Codrut Nistor, 14 Jan 2017 09:10

Oppo R9S New Year Anniversary Edition Android smartphone special/limited edition

Oppo launches R9S New Year Anniversary Edition

This new special edition handset comes in red, without any hardware changes when compared to the regular R9S - Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage, 16 MP and so on.

Codrut Nistor, 13 Jan 2017 23:25

Google Mapsgets update with full Uber integration and new UI for ride options

Google Maps gets Uber integration

The new update received by this service brings full Uber integration, as well as a new user interface for the section showing the ride options available at current location.

Codrut Nistor, 13 Jan 2017 12:05

Increased dependence on Smartphones for basic computing has disrupted the PC industry. (Source: T-Mobile)

PC shipments down again: Gartner

Research firm Gartner says that the PC market has declined for the 5th straight year, with 2016 ultimately showing a 6.2 percent year-on-year decline. The PC market is continuing to stagnate while the phone market continues to grow.

Douglas Black, 13 Jan 2017 03:53

Nvidia: New Quadro-GPUs for mobile workstations introduced

After the CES has ended, Nvidia has announced the newest mobile workstation GPUs. The new Quadro-GPUs will be used in upcoming workstations, unfortunately, not all of them are based on Pascal.

Benjamin Herzig, 13 Jan 2017 02:56

Panasonic Toughpad FZ-A2 rugged Android tablet with Intel Atom x5-Z8550 SoC

Panasonic launches Toughpad FZ-A2 rugged tablet

Expected to arrive back in July in Europe, this 10.1-inch Android Marshmallow-driven tablet is now available for purchase in the US. It uses the Intel Atom x5-Z8550 processor and has a list price of $2,189 USD.

Codrut Nistor, 12 Jan 2017 23:55

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Android smartphone, Xiaomi hopes for $14 billion revenue in 2017

Xiaomi aims for $14 billion revenue this year but stops disclosing sales figures

With more than 50 million connected devices as part of its ecosystem and over $1 billion annual revenue in India for the first time in 2016, the Chinese brand targets a total income of no less than $14 billion this year.

Codrut Nistor, 12 Jan 2017 22:00

Google Android 5.0 Lollipop remains the most popular version as of January 2017

Lollipop remains the most popular Android version

Although Nougat has been around for a while, its usage continues to struggle below 1 percent. Lollipop leads the market with over 33 percent, closely followed by Marshmallow, with nearly 30 percent.

Codrut Nistor, 12 Jan 2017 13:25

Sharp to invest over $800 million USD in OLED production

The trend towards OLED is ramping up with Sharp, JDI, LG, Foxconn, and SDP all devoting more resources to large-scale OLED manufacturing.

Allen Ngo, 12 Jan 2017 07:31

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Android smartphone coming to India next month

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 coming to India next week

According to an invite recently sent by Xiaomi to local media outlets, the successor of the Redmi Note 3 launches in India on January 19. Although it arrived in China with a MediaTek Helio X20 on board, the Redmi Note 4 is expected to hit India with a Snapdragon processor inside.

Codrut Nistor, 11 Jan 2017 23:21

LeEco Le Pro3 Android phablet goes on sale via Target

LeEco Le S3 and Le Pro3 hit Target's website

As previously announced, these two unlocked Android handsets are now up for sale via Target. Le S3 has a $249.99 USD price tag, while the more powerful Le Pro3 can be acquired for $399.99 USD.

Codrut Nistor, 11 Jan 2017 21:35

HTC revenue for 2016 almost halved from the previous year

While Huawei recently reported a successful year, HTC has been less fortunate with revenue falling sharply from 3.6 billion Euros in 2015 to just 2.3 billion Euros in 2016.

Allen Ngo, 11 Jan 2017 20:49

Nokia 6 Android smartphone China-exclusive might get a voice assistant soon

Nokia working on a voice assistant as well

Dubbed "Viki" for now, Nokia's voice assistant is expected to take on Siri, Cortana, Google Voice, and Samsung's upcoming Bixby/Kestra some day in the future. For now, there is only a recent trademark file and nothing more.

Codrut Nistor, 11 Jan 2017 13:05

Samsung Galaxy S8 upcoming flagship unofficial render

Samsung hopes to ship 60 million Galaxy S8 units in 2017

Insiders familiar with the matter claim that Samsung aims to ship no less than 60 million Galaxy S8 handsets by the end of 2017, higher than any of the flagships they ever released.

Codrut Nistor, 11 Jan 2017 11:35

Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro Android phablet hits India and other Asian markets

Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro coming to India and other Asian countries

After spending a while exclusively on the Chinese market, this Snapdragon 653-powered phablet comes to India, where is expected to become available by the end of the month. Other countries in the area, including Thailand and Vietnam, will get it soon as well.

Codrut Nistor, 10 Jan 2017 22:10

HP ProBook 600 G3 series coming with Kaby Lake and Radeon options

HP will be silently updating its affordable ProBook series with new Kaby Lake 14-inch and 15.6-inch SKUs. Prices and availability have yet to be announced.

Allen Ngo, 10 Jan 2017 22:03

LG G6 display may feature 18:9 aspect ratio and no bezels

The upcoming flagship may feature a new 2880x1440 display produced by LG Display.

Sam Medley, 10 Jan 2017 20:34

Samsung Pay Mini and Bixby reference on official Samsung Pay webpage

Samsung Pay Mini and Bixby spotted online

Although it looks like this was not intended, Samsung might have just confirmed the Bixby voice assistant and the Pay Mini service, as both have been spotted on an official Samsung Pay beta page.

Codrut Nistor, 10 Jan 2017 20:30

Fitbit acquires Vector Watch

Continuing its corporate acquisition spree, the leading smart wearable maker engulfs another competitor, namely Vector Watch. This European startup is behind a lineup of smartwatches that deliver a battery life of no less than 30 days.

Codrut Nistor, 10 Jan 2017 19:39

Yahoo's remains to become Altaba, the rest of the company now part of Verizon Wireless

Yahoo's remains to be rebranded as Altaba

Yahoo Japan and the company's stake in Alibaba are not going to Verizon and are considered to have an impressive value - around $35 billion. These key parts will soon be known as Altaba.

Codrut Nistor, 10 Jan 2017 10:15

Samsung Galaxy A8 (2016) Android phablet now reaches Taiwan and the UAE

Samsung Galaxy A8 (2016) hits Taiwan and the UAE

Exclusively available in South Korea via SK Telecom until now, this 5.7-inch Android phablet has been quietly released in Taiwan and the UAE, hopefully opening the path to other markets as well.

Codrut Nistor, 09 Jan 2017 21:35

Samsung OLED TV and appliance factory to open in US

Samsung might open a TV and appliance manufacturing facility in the US

As a direct answer to Donald Trump’s protectionist policies, Samsung reveals that is now considering to establish an appliance factory in the US soon, but nothing is official yet.

Codrut Nistor, 09 Jan 2017 18:20

LG G5 Android flagship with modular design

LG anticipates its first quarterly operating loss in six years

Despite the introduction of its innovative G5 modular flagship and a 12 percent increase in revenue compared to previous quarter, LG's preliminary earning results show a loss of almost $30 million.

Codrut Nistor, 09 Jan 2017 14:20

Gartner predicts that a rebound of iPhone sales will primarily drive Apple to overtake Microsoft. (Source: Apple)

User-share of Macs may have hit a five-year-low, but Gartner predicts future Apple domination

Despite missed sales expectations and a five-year-low user share, research firm Gartner is predicting that iOS and macOS devices will overtake Windows in terms of devices shipped per-annum.

Douglas Black, 09 Jan 2017 11:52

Samsung Chromebook Pro closeup, one of the many Samsung products that got awards at CES 2017

CES 2017 | Samsung wins 120 awards

Next to quite a few media and industry awards, Samsung received no less than 34 CES Innovation Awards at this year's edition of the Las Vegas technology show, including a Best of Innovation award in the video display category.

Codrut Nistor, 09 Jan 2017 09:07

Huawei boasts 139 million smartphones sold throughout 2016

Sales were significantly higher compared to 2015 but they were still not enough to have met Huawei's initial target.

Allen Ngo, 09 Jan 2017 03:13

CES 2017 | Dell introduces Latitude 7285 detachable with wireless charging

The Latitude 7285 will carry a similar 3:2 touchscreen as the upcoming Latitude 5285 with a special keyboard dock capable of wireless charging from WiTricity.

Allen Ngo, 08 Jan 2017 20:19

Dell announces Precision 7720 with Pascal GPUs

CES 2017 | Dell announces Precision 7720 with Pascal Quadro GPUs

The manufacturer has revealed Pascal-based Quadro workstations for launch next month ahead of Nvidia's own next generation Quadro announcement.

Allen Ngo, 08 Jan 2017 20:02

ZTE Hawkeye crowdsourced Android smartphone with eye tracking features coming later this year

ZTE to cut up to 3,000 jobs worldwide

Although it is currently expanding on multiple Western markets, including the US, ZTE seems to be profoundly affected by a drop in its market share in China, industry sources revealing that over 3,000 employees will be soon laid off.

Codrut Nistor, 08 Jan 2017 14:45

Fitbit Charge 2 fitness tracker, Fitbit app store rumored to launch soon

CES 2017 | Fitbit working on an app store

Not long after buying Pebble, Fitbit reveals its plans to launch its wearable app store that uses some of the assets gained thanks to this corporate acquisition. Sadly, the launch date is not public yet.

Codrut Nistor, 08 Jan 2017 13:35

CES 2017 | Asus unveils super-light 14-inch Asuspro B9440 business notebook

The new Asuspro will be even lighter than the just-announced Lenovo X1 Carbon and will launch this March for 1200 Euros.

Allen Ngo, 08 Jan 2017 05:40

Apple App Store loaded on iPhone and iPad tablet

Apple's App Store generated $20 billion for developers in 2016

In addition to the massive income generated in 2016, Apple's digital distribution platform also achieved sales of $240 million on January 1st, 2017, a performance that made it this digital distribution platform's busiest day ever.

Codrut Nistor, 07 Jan 2017 18:20

TCL's Mercury is the most "BlackBerry-like" handset to have the company's name on it in years. (Source: TechCrunch)

CES 2017 | BlackBerry Mercury makes a surprise showing at CES 2017

Though officially debuting at MWC Barcelona, TCL's flagship BlackBerry Mercury made a surprise appearance at CES. Those who have gone hands-on with the device have good things to say, but the success (or failure) of this device, perhaps pivotal for BlackBerry, remains to be seen.

Douglas Black, 07 Jan 2017 05:42

Garmin Fenix 5 series multisport GPS watches

CES 2017 | Garmin launches Fenix 5 multisport GPS watches

The existing Fenix 3 Sapphire multi-sport watches and the Fenix Chronos luxury smartwatch get three successors, all part of the same family, simply dubbed Fenix 5X, Fenix 5S, and Fenix 5.

Codrut Nistor, 06 Jan 2017 23:55

AMD's upcoming Vega architecture brings some major improvements in graphical computing. (Source: AMD)

CES 2017 | AMD reveals more information on upcoming Vega GPUs

Expected for release in the first half of 2017, AMD's highly anticipated Vega GPU architecture looks to build on features first presented in the Fury X, including an evolution of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM).

Sam Medley, 06 Jan 2017 22:41

Limes Audio Swedish company joins Google to improve Hangouts and Chromebox for Meetings

Google acquires Limes Audio

The 10-year-old Swedish company joins the US-based giant to help them improve Hangouts and its enterprise counterpart, Chromebox for Meetings. The financial terms of the deal are not known.

Codrut Nistor, 06 Jan 2017 18:20

SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I card Premium Edition that meets the Application Performance Class 1 or A1 requirement of the SD Association’s SD 5.1

SanDisk unveils the world’s first Application Performance Class 1-compliant microSD card

The 256 GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition memory card is optimized for smartphones, being the first one compliant with the A1 specifications. This product will hit the market this month for $199.99 USD and can manage up to 1,500 random reads and 500 random writes per second.

Codrut Nistor, 06 Jan 2017 11:10

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air ultrabook, Xiaomi India revenue exceeded $1 billion in 2016

Xiaomi India's revenue exceeded $1 billion in 2016

Back in October, Xiaomi sold over one million smartphones in India in 18 days. Now, the local division reported over $1 billion in revenue in 2016, thanks to its focus on online sales and the creation of an entire ecosystem of companion products.

Codrut Nistor, 06 Jan 2017 09:25

Apple retail store in Beijing, soon similar location to open in Seoul

Apple confirms plans for its first South Korean store

A few months after the reports claiming that Apple signed three long-term lease contracts and had plans to build a two- to three-story store in Seoul, the Cupertino-based company finally confirms these rumors in an official statement.

Codrut Nistor, 06 Jan 2017 07:45

First Amazon bookstore, located in Seattle; new Amazonbooks location to open in New York City

Amazon to open a bookstore in New York City this spring

The three existing Amazon Books retail bookstores will be joined by a new one that is expected to open in New York this spring. The location chosen is inside Manhattan’s Time Warner Center.

Codrut Nistor, 05 Jan 2017 21:35

QNAP CES 2017 flyer, QNAP Thunderbolt 3 NAS and

CES 2017 | QNAP announces Thunderbolt 3 NAS and other new storage solutions

The Thunderbolt NAS introduced back in 2015 has been updated with Thunderbolt 3 connectivity, but QNAP has also unveiled a NAS with optical disc drive compatibility, as well as a few other new products.

Codrut Nistor, 05 Jan 2017 20:55

ZTE to launch its first Android Wear smartwatch later this year

In a recent interview, ZTE USA's chairman and CEO confirmed they are working together with a local carrier for the release of the company's first Android Wear smartwatch. Unfortunately, he did not reveal any other details.

Codrut Nistor, 05 Jan 2017 09:15

The WT73VR looks to be one of the most powerful mobile workstations in the world. (Source: MSI)

CES 2017 | MSI unveils new line of workstation notebooks

The powerful mobile workstations feature 7th generation Intel processor and the latest Quadro graphics cards from Nvidia.

Sam Medley, 04 Jan 2017 22:00

First OnePlus Experience Store opens in India, Bengaluru, in January 2017

First OnePlus Experience Store opens on January 7

India is a big market for OnePlus, but the company only sells its products on Amazon for now. Later this week, OnePlus will expand its reach into the offline market by opening its first retail store, which will be located in Bengaluru (Bangalore).

Codrut Nistor, 04 Jan 2017 17:22

The updated XPS 13 Convertible is equipped with Kaby Lake-Y series chips for fanless operation. (Source: Dell)

CES 2017 | Dell officially announces XPS 13 Convertible

The popular notebook line of computers from Dell gets an interesting update - the newest XPS 13 is a fanless convertible.

Sam Medley, 04 Jan 2017 16:53

Samsung Galaxy S8 concept render, Samsung to have in stock 10 million units at launch

Samsung to have 10 million Galaxy S8 units available at launch

A recent report reveals that Samsung's suppliers received a production plan that involves no less than 10 million Galaxy S8 units that should be ready to hit the market in April.

Codrut Nistor, 04 Jan 2017 15:35

Samsung Gear S Strap by Swarovski, Swarovski Android Wear smartwatch for women coming in March

CES 2017 | First Android Wear smartwatch by Swarovski coming in March

The first Android Wear smartwatch by Swarovski is expected to show up in March at the yearly Baselworld show for the world's watch and jewelry industry. Sadly, it seems this new luxury smart wearable will only target ladies.

Codrut Nistor, 04 Jan 2017 14:35

Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate GT world's largest flash drive with 2 TB capacity

Kingston unveils world's first 2 TB flash drive

Dubbed Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate GT, this impressive flash drive has a shock-resistant zinc-alloy case, offers USB 3.1 speeds, and will hit the market next month in 1 TB and 2 TB variants.

Codrut Nistor, 04 Jan 2017 13:50