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Meltdown and Spectre threats could also hit Chromebooks with the exception of those with ARM processors

Meltdown and Spectre patches not coming to older Chromebooks

Although some ARM-driven Chromebooks do not need patching, there are also a few Chrome OS-powered notebooks that will not get any sort of protection from Meltdown and Spectre, including the Acer C7 and the Samsung Chromebook 5.

Codrut Nistor, 12 Jan 2018 19:47

OnePlus caught swiping user data again, only this time also sending it to China-controlled servers

OnePlus has been caught manhandling user data again, with a OnePlus 3T user on the OnePlus forums showing proof of his clipboard app sending data to an Alibaba-controlled server.

Ricci Rox, 11 Jan 2018 15:52

LG Pay in South Korea (Source: Yonhap News Agency)

LG Pay to hit the US by June

After a few delays, LG Pay launched in South Korea last summer and, thanks to its moderate success in that market, LG has decided to bring it to the US in the first half of 2018 with the help of the G7 and V40 flagships. The mid-r...

Codrut Nistor, 11 Jan 2018 11:55

HP Omen X 65 Big Format Gaming Display. (Source: HP)

CES 2018 | HP introduces Omen Game Streaming service to create your own Geforce Now style server, and the 65-inch Omen X 65 display

HP announces the 65-inch 120 Hz Omen X Big Format Gaming Display with G-sync, and the Omen Game Streaming service that is similar to Steam in-home streaming but can stream to remote locations over the internet.

Craig Ward, 10 Jan 2018 21:23

Sea of Thieves closed beta launch set for January 24 (Source: Sea of Thieves - Official Site)

Sea of Thieves Closed Beta coming at the end of the month

Last month, Sea of Thieves went through its biggest ever Technical Alpha play session. Now, the time has come for the first Closed Beta round, which is scheduled to kick off on January 24 and last for 5 days.

Codrut Nistor, 10 Jan 2018 14:45

Jumbo marshmallows, Android Marshmallow still most popular version as of January 2018

Marshmallow remains most popular Android version, Oreo still below 1 percent

The data collected by Google during the 7-day week period that ended yesterday reveals that Marshmallow is now below 29 percent, with Nougat getting closer to taking the lead, while Oreo still struggles to reach the 1 percent mark...

Codrut Nistor, 09 Jan 2018 22:45

Xposed beta for Android Oreo now available

Xposed for both Android 8.0 and 8.1 has been released, and although the current version is just a beta, it's reportedly stable enough for regular use.

Ricci Rox, 09 Jan 2018 22:15

Dell Mobile Connect showing an example call. (Source: Dell)

CES 2018 | Dell wants to seamlessly integrate your PC and mobile experience with Dell Mobile Connect

Dell Mobile Connect offers a way to securely link a PC and smartphone for shared notifications, calls, text (SMS), and screen mirroring.

Craig Ward, 09 Jan 2018 19:00

Whirlpool smart appliance close up (Source: Whirlpool Corp)

CES 2018 | Whirlpool smart appliances now feature Google Assistant and Alexa support

Next to the voice commands available via both Google Assistant and Alexa on multiple Whirlpool smart appliances, Amazon Prime subscribers also get to use the Amazon Virtual Dash Buttons feature with some of them.

Codrut Nistor, 09 Jan 2018 17:30

The official Android app market saw a 34.2% climb in revenue in 2017. (Source: Androidguys)

Smartphone app market saw 35% growth in 2017

Data by app intelligence platform Sensor Tower has shown Apple's dominance over Google in the smartphone app market. The iOS App Store, for example, recorded close to twice what the Google Play Store did, with the combined revenue...

Ricci Rox, 08 Jan 2018 20:57

CES 2018 | Acer Chromebook 11 brings USB Type-C goodness at an affordable price

Acer announced the Chromebook 11, a capable laptop for those wanting to hop on the ChromeOS bandwagon. The new Chromebook 11 comes with two USB-Type C ports and fully supports Android apps from the Google Play Store. Update: Photo...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 08 Jan 2018 20:26

Nokia 6 (2018) gets Android Oreo on first boot, and that may just be a diabolical ploy by HMD

There are reports that the Nokia 6 (2018) receives an Oreo update on first boot. Sounds great until you realize that Oreo was released almost five months ago. It also just reeks of a ploy to avoid Treble implementation.

Ricci Rox, 08 Jan 2018 15:27

NVIDIA's GeForce NOW service is now live as a free beta. (Source: NVIDIA)

CES 2018 | NVIDIA GeForce NOW brings modern AAA gaming to el cheapo PCs

NVIDIA's GeForce NOW enables cloud streaming of game content that can be played on virtually any PC with the company's datacenters offloading all the dirty processing work. The service is currently in public beta for Windows PCs a...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 08 Jan 2018 15:25

Andy Rubin's Essential Phone gets January 2018 Spectre and Meltdown fix

Essential Phone gets Spectre and Meltdown fix

Although the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities are quite serious and Microsoft already issued patches that take care of them, smartphone makers are not that fast. Surprisingly enough, Andry Rubin's Essential Phone is one of the...

Codrut Nistor, 08 Jan 2018 14:05

The Samsung Flip allows for more interactive team discussions. (Source: Samsung)

CES 2018 | The Tizen-powered Flip is Samsung's take on the digital whiteboard

Samsung has joined the likes of Microsoft and Google by creating its own version of the digital whiteboard. Named Flip, the whiteboard enables seamless collaboration and is powered by the Tizen 3.0 OS.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 08 Jan 2018 13:37

Toshiba showed off some of its storage advancements at CES. (Source: Overclock 3D)

CES 2018 | Toshiba unveils RC100 Series M.2 NVMe SSDs and a 96-layer QLC BiCS 3D NAND

At CES 2018, Toshiba showed off a new RC100 Series of M.2 NVMe SSDs along with their 96-layer QLC NAND technology. The RC100 SSDs enable mainstream PC users to upgrade to SSDs in a cost-effective and power-optimized manner.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 08 Jan 2018 09:05

Verizon acquires Niddel

Verizon decided to buy Niddel for improving its malware detection and response for enterprise customers thanks to the machine-learning-based automated threat hunting technology of the latter.

Codrut Nistor, 06 Jan 2018 23:25

Moto G4 Play Android smartphone with Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 gets Android 7.1.1

Moto G4 Play finally gets Android 7.1.1 Nougat

Although Android 7.1.1 Nougat has been around for more than a year, the Moto G4 Play did not get it until now. Even with this delay, it is still a good thing to offer the update to a phone that is almost two years old and arrived ...

Codrut Nistor, 05 Jan 2018 23:15

Apple devices are already protected against Meltdown without any hit to performance

With the massive vulnerabilities recently discovered in Intel CPUs, the main question on everyone's minds are when affected devices will be updated to guard against possible exploits. Apple is ahead of the game; apparently, the la...

Sam Medley, 05 Jan 2018 21:27

Spotify has 70 million paid subscribers

Compared to September 2016, Spotify now has 50 percent more paid subscribers. The count of 70 million comes just in time since Spotify apparently filed for its direct listing IPO at the end of December.

Codrut Nistor, 05 Jan 2018 15:20

Linux Mint 18.3 running the Cinnamon desktop environment. (Source: Linux Mint)

Linux Mint 19.x 'Tara' to release in mid 2018

The next version of Linux Mint, Linux Mint 19, will release sometime in May or June this year. The popular Linux distro will be based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 05 Jan 2018 09:56

It is rumored that an embargo on the details of the flaw are due to be lifted later this month, after patches have been issued. (Source: Intel)

UPDATE | Intel hardware flaw will cause a drop in performance for kernel heavy processes once fixed

Updated with response from Intel. A security flaw has been found in the way that Intel processors from the last ten years handle kernel memory. The solution being implemented in the Windows and Linux kernels can vary from virtuall...

Craig Ward, 04 Jan 2018 16:19

Google is testing its Fuchsia OS on its Pixelbooks. (Source: Google)

Google testing unreleased Fuchsia OS on the Pixelbook

Google has expanded the testing of its mysterious Fuchsia OS to its recently released Pixelbooks. The operating system differs from Google's Android and Chrome operating systems, although Google has yet to reveal its purpose.

Sanjiv Sathiah, 04 Jan 2018 02:16

Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple buys Buddybuild

Apple acquires Buddybuild

The Canadian app development toolkit makers Buddybuild have joined Apple, where they will become a part of the Xcode engineering group. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Codrut Nistor, 03 Jan 2018 23:08

LG G6 set for Oreo update in February

The LG G6, released at the start of 2017, may be set to get its stable Oreo update, months after users in China received their betas.

Ricci Rox, 03 Jan 2018 22:45

PostmarketOS wants to extend the life of your smartphone to ten years. (Source: PostmarketOS)

PostmarketOS team makes progress towards goal of 10 year smartphone lifecycle

PostmarketOS has expanded rapidly in their first 219 days to include 25 more devices (since the 100 day update) and six UI options.

Craig Ward, 03 Jan 2018 02:32

New first-person ROM hack of Super Mario 64 is the closest thing to a VR Mario game

Ever wondered what the chunky polygonal world of Super Mario 64 would look like from Mario's perspective? Thanks to a new ROM hack, it's now possible to experience the game from a first-person POV, but you may not want to.

Sam Medley, 03 Jan 2018 00:12

The Pixel 2's Portrait mode has been ported to the OnePlus 3. (Source: XDA Developers)

Pixel 2's Portrait mode being ported to non-Google devices as well

Following the porting of Google Camera's Portrait mode found exclusively in the Pixel 2 to older Google devices, other developers have joined the fray in the porting the feature to non-Google devices running Android Oreo.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 02 Jan 2018 12:34

Torrenting can affect your coziness at home. (Source: The WireCutter)

Torrenting can cost you the ability to remotely control your smart thermostat

Armstrong Zoom Internet has sent notices to its users that copyright infringement can lead to speed throttling that not only affects file transfer but also the ability to remotely control connected devices such as smart thermostat...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 02 Jan 2018 10:36

The Samsung 'Nautilus' could have a similar form factor to its Galaxy Book. (Source: Samsung)

Samsung prepping Chrome OS tablet

Samsung is said to be prepping a Chrome OS tablet codenamed 'Nautilus.' The device would be the first of its kind for the company and sit alongside its Chrome OS stablemates the Chromebook Plus and the Chromebook Pro.

Sanjiv Sathiah, 02 Jan 2018 10:26

Portrait mode on Nexus 5X using the Camera NX mod. (Source: Chromloop)

Camera NX brings Portrait mode to the original Pixels, Nexus 5X, and Nexus 6P

A developer has created a Google Camera mod that enables portrait mode on devices such as the original Pixel series, Nexus 5X, and the Nexus 6P. This mod enables the Pixel 2 exclusive portrait feature on older generation Google de...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 01 Jan 2018 14:23

HQ Trivia is now available in the Google Play Store. (Source: TechCrunch)

HQ Trivia now available on Android for users in the United States and Canada

Popular trivia app, HQ Trivia, is now available for Android users in the United States and Canada. The free-to-play app is immensely popular on iOS and players can actually cash out real money by answering questions correctly.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 01 Jan 2018 12:07

Honey Quest uses technology to target ads based on the user's viewing habits. (Source: NY Times)

Android games found tracking users' TV viewing habits

Many Android games have been found to track the user's TV viewing habits for displaying ads. The games use software from Alphonso that collects data from the phone's microphone, identifies the audio stream, and displays targeted a...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 01 Jan 2018 11:11

WhatsApp had a brief outage at the dawn of the New Year. (Source: VentureBeat)

WhatsApp outages greet users in the New Year

WhatsApp went down in many parts of the world on the occasion of New Year much to the dismay of users. The outage, however, was quickly resolved and the service is now back online.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 01 Jan 2018 07:56

OnePlus 5T Star Wars limited edition Android flagship, Android Oreo beta now available for OnePlus 5T

OnePlus 5T receives Android Oreo beta

Not long after the release of the Oreo updates for the OnePlus 3, 3T, and 5, this Chinese underdog is back with the first open beta of the Oreo-based OxygenOS firmware for the OnePlus 5T flagship.

Codrut Nistor, 31 Dec 2017 23:15

Xiaomi Mi A1 with Android Oreo update, software details

Xiaomi Mi A1 gets Android Oreo as promised

After a short time spent as a beta release, Android Oreo is now rolling out to Xiaomi Mi A1 handsets across the globe. Unfortunately, it also carries a minor bug that makes the Phone app shortcut disappear from the home screen, bu...

Codrut Nistor, 31 Dec 2017 12:15

Google Duo videochat app coming soon to tablets

Google Duo is almost ready for tablets

Although there is no official launch date for it yet, a Google Duo developer confirmed on Twitter that a special version for tablets is currently in the making.

Codrut Nistor, 31 Dec 2017 09:10

Project Andromeda app listing spotted in the Microsoft Store

A listing on the Microsoft Store could give further impetus to the fact that Microsoft could be testing app development on an unknown platform, currently designated '8828080'. Interestingly, the number also refers to Microsoft's t...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 30 Dec 2017 10:41

Moto Z2 Force Android smartphone gets Oreo update on T-Mobile

Moto Z2 Force on T-Mobile gets Android Oreo

One week after Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile releases Android Oreo for the Moto Z2 Force handsets on its network. The new firmware comes without any surprises and includes picture-in-picture mode, improved notifications, and more.

Codrut Nistor, 30 Dec 2017 00:15

Apple had a lot of explaining to do after the recent reports of iPhone slowdowns. (Source: Steemit)

HTC and Motorola say slowing down older phones is not their cup of tea

In emails to The Verge, HTC and Motorola have clarified that they do not slow down phones as the batteries start wearing out. This comes in the wake of Apple's now controversial policy of slowing down phones with ageing batteries.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 29 Dec 2017 12:45

Beta builds of Android Oreo for the LG G6 have started rolling out to Chinese users. (Source: GFan BBS)

LG G6 undergoing beta testing for Android Oreo

The LG G6 will be soon receiving the Android Oreo update as beta testing has started for users in China. This follows on the heels of the LG V30 receiving the final Oreo build in South Korea a few days ago.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 28 Dec 2017 13:02

The Apple Lisa computer in 1983. (Source: MacRumors)

Apple's Lisa OS source code to be released for free in 2018

Apple and Computer History Museum will jointly release the source code for Lisa, one of Apple's first commercial OSs to feature the GUI. The source code, currently being reviewed by Apple, will be made available for free in the pu...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 28 Dec 2017 12:06

Downloads for the desktop version of Ubuntu 17.10 have been temporarily stalled. (Source: OMG! Ubuntu)

Ubuntu 17.10 'Artful Aardvark' burrows into PC BIOSs causing boot issues

The latest Ubuntu release has a bug in the Intel SPI driver in the Linux kernel that seems to be corrupting UEFI firmware on certain Lenovo and Acer laptops leaving users with no options to change UEFI settings or select an altern...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 28 Dec 2017 09:14

Eelo prototype software running on a LeEco Le2. (Source: eelo)

Eelo, the Google-less Android OS from the creator of Mandrake Linux

Eelo is a new non-profit project started by the founder of Mandrake Linux with the goal of creating a fully open-source smartphone environment (Android, associated software, and associated services). It is in the early stages but ...

Craig Ward, 27 Dec 2017 23:05

OnePlus 5 Android flagship receives OxygenOS 5.0 update based on Android Oreo

OnePlus 5 gets Android Oreo via OxygenOS 5.0

Thanks to OxygenOS 5.0, the OnePlus 5 flagship finally gets all the Android Oreo features, but also the latest security patch from Google. Face Unlock is also on its way, but was not included in this build.

Codrut Nistor, 27 Dec 2017 17:15

The 'Surface Phone' is rumored to be foldable device like the Microsoft Courier. (Source: All About Windows Phone)

Microsoft India chief keeps the possibility of a 'Surface Phone' open

In an interview to Digit, Microsoft India President, Anant Maheswari, did not deny the existence of a Surface Phone but also did not reply in the affirmative. He also touched upon some points about the broader availability of Micr...

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 27 Dec 2017 13:46

The Moto G4 Plus can now be flashed with a 64-bit custom ROM.

64-bit custom ROM support now available for the Moto G4 Plus

The Moto G4 Plus can now get 64-bit custom ROMs thanks to the fine folks at XDA. Except for the system server process, all other processes now run in native 64-bit code.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 27 Dec 2017 10:58

LG has announced Android Oreo rollout for the South Korean market. (Source: LG)

LG V30 gets a taste of Oreo in South Korea sans Treble

LG has announced on its Korean website that it is rolling out Android 8.0 Oreo to its V30 handset. The update is currently rolling out in the Korean market but users have found that it does not support Project Treble.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 27 Dec 2017 09:31

Android One Moto X4 receives Oreo

The Moto X4 was initially launched as an Android One phone, which guarantees timely updates due to its affiliation with Google. Users of the device received Oreo updates a few days ago.

Ricci Rox, 26 Dec 2017 13:52