Latest Tech News

Debian and Kali Linux are the latest distros to join the Microsoft Store and can be tried out by anyone with Windows Subsystem on Linux (WSL) enabled on Windows 10. The availability of Debian and Kali underscores the importance of WSL in enabling seamless cross platform development and testing without the need to deploy separate installations or virtual machines.

Serial leakster Evan Blass is at it again, this time spoiling the official unveiling of the Huawei P20 line up. As rumored, the three model range all feature iPhone X-style notches, once the source of ridicule among the Android faithful.

Have you heard of the Dyson Cyclone V10? If not, don't worry; a deluge of YouTube channels posted "reviews" about the vacuum yesterday. However, the sponsored videos raise some concerns about the YouTube tech review community as a whole.

A new leak has confirmed that the OnePlus 6 will, in fact, feature a notch. This comes just weeks after OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei denied similar rumors on Twitter. The device will also feature a Snapdragon 845, a rear fingerprint reader, and dual rear cameras.

HTC has posted revenue figures for February. Keeping with the theme established over the past few months, the numbers are nothing to gloat about, as they show a 13-year low in income for the Taiwanese company.

HMD CEO Florian Seiche has confirmed that the company will not be selling its new retinue of devices in the US. The Nokia 6 (2018), however, will make the trip later in May, but not under the banners of any carrier.

The Sims Mobile is now available for both iOS and Android devices and — fortunately for the many mobile gamers on a very tight budget — comes for free on both platforms. However, those really into this iconic title can speed up the progress and enhance the user experience by purchasing various premium items that are priced between US$2.99 (Android) or US$4.99 (iOS) and US$99.99.

Apparently, some Alexa-enabled devices have started laughing in a disturbing manner at their owners. There have been reports made of unrequested creepy chortles issuing from smart speakers and Amazon devices by a number of users, who cannot understand why their personal assistant has suddenly become so sinister. Amazon is currently working on a fix for this disquieting issue.

Oculus Rift virtual reality headset owners have been struggling to operate their devices today due to an issue with the Oculus Runtime Service. Users who have tried to open the app have faced an error message stating “Can’t Reach Oculus Runtime Service.” Technicians at the tech company are currently investigating the problem, which is possibly down to an expired security certificate.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a stern statement in regard to potentially unlawful online trading platforms. The statement includes a warning to investors that they should use “SEC-registered and regulated marketplaces” for virtual currency (VC) trading. The value of Bitcoin, and other VCs, dipped dramatically after the statement’s publication.

The teaser image that was posted on Weibo reveals an iPhone X-style display with a similar notch as that of Apple's flagship that more and more Chinese brands seem to be after these days. The VIVO V9 will have a 24 MP front camera, but there is no other piece of information to talk about at this stage. However, we expect a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 4 GB of memory or more, and a 2:1 display.

The unnamed 8-core/16-thread CPU is part of the Zen+ 12nm wave of new processors that should launch this April. Boost clocks can reach up to an impressive 4.35 GHz, but the performance is marginally better when compared to last year's Ryzen 7 1700X/1800X or Intel's Core I7-8700K models.

Lenovo executive Chang Cheng teases the upcoming model in a Weibo post, revealing that it will come with an astounding 6,000 mAh battery. The teaser also informs about an official announcement that is to be made on March 20.

BlackBerry Ltd has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Facebook and its companies WhatsApp and Instagram for improperly implementing BBM IP in the social network's messaging apps. While BlackBerry is seeking to protect the interests of its shareholders, Facebook is not in a mood to give up and is ready to challenge the suit in court.

Microsoft has released the Surface Pro with LTE Advanced for members of the general public to pre-order. The device had previously been made available to business customers only, but now it will be possible for anyone to buy it. The Core i5, 256 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM version of the computer is available at a price of US$1449, with special pricing available to those who qualify (students, military, etc.).

It seems that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) may have just thwarted any further attempt by Broadcom to succeed in its quest to takeover Qualcomm. CFIUS has sent a letter raising concerns to officials at Qualcomm that has been made public, and the agency has also ordered the American technology company to delay an annual shareholder meeting whilst the proposed US$121 billion deal is thoroughly investigated.

The premium G52 GPU will be featured in mid-range mobile products, while the G31 GPU is designed for entry-level smartphones and tablets. Furthermore, the V52 and D51 processors deliver improved performance with reduced die sizes.

Google is optimistic that the 72-qubit quantum computer codenamed Bristlecone will achieve "quantum supremacy" over conventional supercomputers and wil also pave the way to quantum scalability and improved error rates.

HP has reportedly has plans for a slew of Ryzen and Vega powered Elitebooks going by a listing on its Care Pack Central support page. References to the new Elitebooks appear to have since been removed but we can expect the official unveil to be not too far away.

Vivo’s Apex concept phone was one of the more interesting products on display at the recent Mobile World Congress. The device offered a massive screen-to-body ratio, an in-display fingerprint sensor and a cool pop-up camera. The Chinese technology company has now unveiled this concept device in its homeland and reports of further specification details and possible future production have appeared.

A seemingly coordinated series of burglaries has taken place in Iceland leading to the loss of around US$2 million worth of computing equipment used to mine Bitcoin. The thefts actually occurred back in December and January, but they have only just been reported as Iceland’s police did not want to reveal details until their investigation had been completed. An estimated 600 devices were taken.

There are reports that EA Dice is working on the next installment of the Battlefield video-game series, with the developer possibly launching the new game later this year. The game was originally known in-house as Battlefield 2 but has apparently now been renamed Battlefield V. It will be set in World War II and may feature cosmetic loot boxes rather than pay-to-win microtransactions.

Although HMD Global unveiled the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835-powered Nokia 8 Sirocco at MWC 2018 as its top-of-the-line device to arrive this year, an exclusive report reveals that at least two handsets with a Snapdragon 845 inside are scheduled to be introduced later this year. The first one is the 5.5-inch Nokia 8 Pro, and its 5.7-inch sibling is rumored to hit the market as the Nokia 9.

The 4th largest smartphone manufacturer (as of Q4 2017) may be entering one of the only markets it hasn't actively pursued: the United States. While the brand sells several other electronic devices (like speakers and home products), the OEM's phones may soon be on the store shelves of the four major U.S. carriers.

Modders prove the gen 8 Coffee Lake can run on older motherboards with minor software upgrades. Unlocked CPUs might not run stable, but locked 6-core versions should be fine.

Dell joins the AMD mobile APU bandwagon with two Ryzen 5 2500U and two Ryzen 3 2200U notebook models. These come with 17-inch FHD screens, pre-installed Windows 10, fingerprint sensor and sub-US$1,000 prices.

According to VentureBeat's editor and popular Twitter leakster Evan Blass, the first Developer Preview release of Android 9.0 should arrive in around two weeks. Although there are a lot of name-related speculations, he only named "Pumpkin Pie" as a personal preference. Other desserts that could turn into Oreo's successor include Popsicle, Pecan Pie, Pastry, Popover, Pandoro, and Praline.

Although the new Samsung Galaxy S9+ does not come with major improvements over its predecessor, it looks like the difference is solid for mobile photography fans. The dual-camera Galaxy S9+ scored a combined score of 99 DxOMark points and 104 points for its still photography performance, also scoring 91 in the video recording department. With a combined score of 98 points, the Google Pixel 2 now holds the second place.

Apple could be looking to play the waiting card until Intel gets its 5G modem ready, which implies Qualcomm is being given the slip. We might not be seeing a 5G enabled iPhone in 2019 although Apple is already testing the technology.

A second generation Ryzen chip has leaked in the wild and it looks like it will continue the Zen architecture's success story. The new Ryzen chip is seen listed as Ryzen 7 2700X and sports the same 8C/16T configuration as the Ryzen 7 1700X but has a higher turbo clock at 4.2 GHz — 300 MHz more than what the 1700X can offer.

Mac owners can now stream and play Xbox One games directly to their computers using the OneCast app — a feature only natively available for Windows 10 users. The app is available for a 14-day free trial after which it costs US$11.79 (till April 1) for a standalone license.

KGI Securities is expecting Apple to launch a new MacBook Air sometime in Q2 2018 with a lower price tag. The analyst firm does not offer any details as to how much of an upgrade will the new Air be but obvious internal upgrades inline with a 2018 notebook can be expected.

Samsung's battery specifications sheet for the S8 and S9 show similar performance numbers across the board, with both devices posting the same numbers in the video playback, talk time, and Internet tests.

The PS4 was released back in 2013 and has finally been jailbroken, allowing users of the system to run custom applications, game backups, and even install Linux. It's exclusive to users on the 4.55 firmware, though.

The Mi 6 was Xiaomi's flagship device for 2017. The device has had its Oreo update in the beta stage for weeks but has finally received a full, stable update. The Mi 6, Mi Mix 2, and Redmi 4X have also all had their kernel sources released by Xiaomi, with the Mi 6 also receiving Treble support via unofficial channels.

Horizon Zero Dawn has been hailed as one of the best video games of this generation, and it certainly is putting up the sales numbers worthy of the hype. The game celebrated its first year anniversary this week and has already sold over 7.6 million copies since it was launched.

Those who plan on purchasing a PC powered by AMD Radeon get to claim a free copy of Far Cry 5 from a participating retailer. This offer only applies to pre-built systems sporting the RX 580, RX Vega 56, and RX Vega 64 GPUs and not to standalone Radeon GPUs.

The most controversial design element of the iPhone X has now been embraced by Oppo, and by default, OnePlus for their next flagship smartphones. Both the Oppo R15 and the OnePlus 6 will feature a “me too” notch when they arrive in the coming months.

According to a report, technology company Broadcom Limited could be redomiciling to the US in the near future, possibly by May. The company is currently based in Singapore and has a co-headquarters in San Jose, California. Broadcom was bought out by Avago Technologies in 2015 for a deal worth US$37 billion and the newly combined company was then renamed Broadcom Limited.

Although the YouTube mobile apps have been providing offline viewing capabilities for more than two years, the availability of this feature that can come quite handy in certain situations was limited to a list of select markets. That list was not long at all, but now 109 new items have been added to it, bringing the total of markets with YouTube offline viewing support to no less than 125.

Could central regulation for cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, be coming sooner rather than later? Canadian economist and current Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, brought up a number of issues about cryptocurrency during a speech at the Scottish Economics Conference held at Edinburgh University. These concerns included the current volatility of cryptocurrency values, the relation crypto-assets have with illicit activities, and the need for some form of regulation.

The talented folk at Cyan, Inc. have released a cinematic trailer for the upcoming game, Firmament. A spectral voice narrates as the viewer is steered around some truly stunning graphics while briefly exploring the latest world being created by the developer behind games such as Myst, Riven and Obduction. Very few details for Firmament are currently available, but it is described as “a new VR experience” on Cyan’s YouTube channel.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey expressed concern that the social network has a problem with trolls and bots infesting the platform often fueling hate and abuse. The CEO is inviting proposals from users on how to improve the platform and encourage civil behavior.

The unified chip powering the Intel Hades Canyon NUC combines the power of the Kaby Lake-G i7-8809G CPU and the Radeon RX Vega M GH GPU. Overall performance is decent, matching that of an i7-7700HQ + GTX 1050 laptop, although the limited cooling system might pose some problems for overclockers.

A prototype Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has surfaced in an HTML5 test. While the test does not reveal any hardware details as such, it does seem apparent that the upcoming Note phablet will be sporting an 18.5:1 aspect ratio display similar to the recently launched Galaxy S9.

3D Realms has announced a new retro-like first-person shooter, Ion Maiden. The game uses an adapted version of the popular Build engine that was introduced in the ‘90s. Ion Maiden greatly resembles classic shooters such as Duke Nukem 3D, Blood and Shadow Warrior. The game has released in Early Access and will receive a definitive release in the coming months.

The special hinge system allows the upper part of the Surface Phone display to act as a laptop screen, while the lower part displays a virtual keyboard with trackpad.

The BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition has been around since last August in various markets, and now it is finally available in the US. While the original came in February 2017 with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage, this version comes with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage. Fortunately, the price tag of this handset reads US$549, which is just US$50 higher than the price of the regular BlackBerry KEYone.

LG brought its scrapped G7 design to MWC for some reason and showed it off to a select few journalists behind the scenes. Given its derivative “me too” iPhone X-style notch, it looks like the decision to redesign the device made by incoming management was a good move.

The ThinkPad A series is a line of Lenovo ThinkPad laptops created solely for the use of AMD CPUs. According to a leaked roadmap that Notebookcheck attained, this series could be refreshed in the third quarter of 2018. It seems likely that these refreshed models will be the ThinkPad A285 and ThinkPad A485 and that they will feature Ryzen Mobile.