At least three people have been killed and more that 100 injured, in two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. 


TV footage showed bloodied runners and spectators being treated at the scene and the road strewn with debris. Right now, the FBI stated that this was a "potential terrorist investigation". In a TV address, President Barack Obama said "we will find out who did this" and those responsible would feel the "full weight of justice". "we don't yet have all the answers," he said. "We still do not know who did this or why."

Details of the victims have not been revealed, however the Associated Press news agency reported that an eight-year-old boy was among the dead. Quoting a family friend, the report said the boy's mother and sister were also injured as they waited for his father to finish the race.

The city mayor's office has set up an emergency hotline for friends and relatives on +1 617 635 4500.

The Federal Aviation Administration has created a no-fly zone over the area, while security at keys sites in Washington DC and New York has been tightened. Vice President Joe Biden - breaking off from telephone conference call on gun control - said: "Or prayers are with those people in Boston who have suffered injury."

A doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital said "several amputations" had been performed there.

The first explosion came at about 14:50 local time (18:50 GMT) approximately two hours after the winners crossed the line.

There was a loud explosion on the north side of Boylston Street just before the finish line sending some runners tumbling down while others were knocked down by those rushing to the scene. Another loud explosion came soon after, and smoke rose from the scene of the blasts.

Bloodied victims were initially rushed to a medical tent set up there for fatigued runners. Emergency services descended on the scene, which was quickly locked down.

Stragglers heading for the finish line were rerouted away from the smoking site for the blasts.

A fire then broke out at the John F Kennedy presidential library a few miles away from the finish line. Police have said that it might have been caused by an incendiary device but it is unclear whether it is related to the bombings. The annual Boston Marathon this year had a field of about 23,000 runners and was watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators. It is held on Patriots Day, a Massachusetts sate holiday which commemorates the first battles of the American Revolution in 1775.

British police are reviewing security plans for Sunday's London Marathon, the next major international Marathon, following events in Boston.

Bombing· Boston· Boston Marathon· Breaking News· Explosions· J F Kennedy Library· Marathon· New York· News· Terror· Terrorist attack

Breaking News: Explosion at Boston Marathon: Three People Dead, over 144 injured

At least three people have been killed and more that 100 injured, in two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. 


TV footage showed bloodied runners and spectators being treated at the scene and the road strewn with debris. Right now, the FBI stated that this was a "potential terrorist investigation". In a TV address, President Barack Obama said "we will find out who did this" and those responsible would feel the "full weight of justice". "we don't yet have all the answers," he said. "We still do not know who did this or why."

Details of the victims have not been revealed, however the Associated Press news agency reported that an eight-year-old boy was among the dead. Quoting a family friend, the report said the boy's mother and sister were also injured as they waited for his father to finish the race.

The city mayor's office has set up an emergency hotline for friends and relatives on +1 617 635 4500.

The Federal Aviation Administration has created a no-fly zone over the area, while security at keys sites in Washington DC and New York has been tightened. Vice President Joe Biden - breaking off from telephone conference call on gun control - said: "Or prayers are with those people in Boston who have suffered injury."

A doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital said "several amputations" had been performed there.

The first explosion came at about 14:50 local time (18:50 GMT) approximately two hours after the winners crossed the line.

There was a loud explosion on the north side of Boylston Street just before the finish line sending some runners tumbling down while others were knocked down by those rushing to the scene. Another loud explosion came soon after, and smoke rose from the scene of the blasts.

Bloodied victims were initially rushed to a medical tent set up there for fatigued runners. Emergency services descended on the scene, which was quickly locked down.

Stragglers heading for the finish line were rerouted away from the smoking site for the blasts.

A fire then broke out at the John F Kennedy presidential library a few miles away from the finish line. Police have said that it might have been caused by an incendiary device but it is unclear whether it is related to the bombings. The annual Boston Marathon this year had a field of about 23,000 runners and was watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators. It is held on Patriots Day, a Massachusetts sate holiday which commemorates the first battles of the American Revolution in 1775.

British police are reviewing security plans for Sunday's London Marathon, the next major international Marathon, following events in Boston.

Xbox live is currently experiencing some major problems to the service, with many users reporting problems when trying to sign in to Microsoft's online gaming platform. The outage came across inconveniently during the peak weekend gaming hours. Many of the most popular apps on the Xbox 360 such as Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu, and YouTube are tied to Xbox live Gold subscriptions; which means if you're unable to sign in, then you will not be able to access any content. Microsoft has confirmed the ongoing issue on its Xbox support website, pledging that "every available resource" is currently working to get players back online. IN the meantime, the company is providing status updates every 30 minutes. 

Breaking News· Microsoft· News· Nvidia gaming console· outage· Service Disruption· Xbox 360· Xbox Live· Xbox Live Gold

Xbox live outage!

Xbox live is currently experiencing some major problems to the service, with many users reporting problems when trying to sign in to Microsoft's online gaming platform. The outage came across inconveniently during the peak weekend gaming hours. Many of the most popular apps on the Xbox 360 such as Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu, and YouTube are tied to Xbox live Gold subscriptions; which means if you're unable to sign in, then you will not be able to access any content. Microsoft has confirmed the ongoing issue on its Xbox support website, pledging that "every available resource" is currently working to get players back online. IN the meantime, the company is providing status updates every 30 minutes. 

One of UK's biggest supermarket chains ASDA could be on the verge of buying the troubled retailer HMV.

According to The Sun's unnamed source in the City a deal is on the cards but must be made within the next two weeks.

ASDA, of course already sells entertainment products within its stores, but owning HMV would give it tremendous presence in the entertainment sector. Recently ASDA launched Disney concessions within three of its supermarkets. if this deal went through, could we see a similar thing happening with HTMV concessions springing up in stores? It's just rumour and speculation at the moment.

A lot has happened to HMV since the beginning of the year, with Canadian restructuring firm Hilco stepping in to save the company from bankruptcy back in January by acquiring its debt and store closures being announced in February.

Former GAME boss Ian Sheperd remains sceptical over the story. He thinks it might be misinformation to drum up interest in the company:

Today's big retail story: "administrator tries to create illusion of bidding competition shortly before rent deadline"
— Ian Shepherd (@IanAShepherd) March 12, 2013

Asda· Games· gaming· General· HMV· News· Supermarket· The Sun

ASDA Interested in Buying HMV?

One of UK's biggest supermarket chains ASDA could be on the verge of buying the troubled retailer HMV.

According to The Sun's unnamed source in the City a deal is on the cards but must be made within the next two weeks.

ASDA, of course already sells entertainment products within its stores, but owning HMV would give it tremendous presence in the entertainment sector. Recently ASDA launched Disney concessions within three of its supermarkets. if this deal went through, could we see a similar thing happening with HTMV concessions springing up in stores? It's just rumour and speculation at the moment.

A lot has happened to HMV since the beginning of the year, with Canadian restructuring firm Hilco stepping in to save the company from bankruptcy back in January by acquiring its debt and store closures being announced in February.

Former GAME boss Ian Sheperd remains sceptical over the story. He thinks it might be misinformation to drum up interest in the company:

Today's big retail story: "administrator tries to create illusion of bidding competition shortly before rent deadline"
— Ian Shepherd (@IanAShepherd) March 12, 2013

NASA's Curiosity rover has powered down to wait out a Mars-bound solar blast, complicating efforts to bring the 1-ton robot back from a computer glitch.

Curiosity's handlers put the rover on standby after the sun unleashed a medium-strength flare in the Red Planet's direction Tuesday (March 5). It's the second recent shutdown for Curiosity, which had just come out of protective "safe mode" Saturday (March 2) as engineers work through an issue with its primary computer system.

"Storm's a-comin'! There's a solar storm heading for Mars. I'm going back to sleep to weather it out," NASA officials wrote on behalf of the rover via Curiosity's Twitter feed today (March 6).

The rover team views the shutdown as merely a precaution, as Curiosity was designed to withstand such solar outbursts, the Associated Press reported. But the move could delay the rover's return to science operations, which had been anticipated as early as this weekend.

Curiosity landed inside Mars' huge Gale Crater last August to determine if the area has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. The robot had been operating pretty much flawlessly on the Red Planet until last Wednesday (Feb. 27), when it failed to send recorded data home to Earth and didn't shift into its daily sleep mode as planned. [Curiosity Rover's Latest Amazing Mars Photos]

The mission team determined that a glitch had affected the flash memory on Curiosity's main, or A-side, computer system. So engineers swapped the rover over to its backup (B-side) computer, which spurred Curiosity to go into safe mode on Thursday (Feb. 28).

Since then, the robot's handlers have been working to configure the B-side computer for surface operations and fix the problem with the A-side, which they think may have been caused by a fast-moving charged particle known as a cosmic ray.

Curiosity has been on the road to recovery. The rover came out of safe mode on Saturday and began using its high-gain antenna again a day later. Mission officials have expressed confidence that engineers will fix or troubleshoot the glitch soon, saying Curiosity may resume science operations as early as this weekend if all continues to go well.

The solar flare may now push that timeline back a bit, however.

NASA officials do not expect Tuesday's solar flare to seriously affect any of the agency's other robotic Mars explorers, such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter or Opportunity rover, the Associated Press reported.

Tuesday's flare was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), which blasted a huge cloud of solar plasma toward the Red Planet. CMEs that slam into Earth inject large amounts of energy into our planet's magnetic field, spawning potentially devastating geomagnetic storms that can disrupt GPS signals, radio communications and power grids for days.

But CMEs don't have a similar impact on Mars, which lacks a global magnetic field, scientists say.

Curiosity Mars Rover· Mars· NASA· News· Space

NASA Puts Mars Rover Curiosity on Standby After Solar Flare

NASA's Curiosity rover has powered down to wait out a Mars-bound solar blast, complicating efforts to bring the 1-ton robot back from a computer glitch.

Curiosity's handlers put the rover on standby after the sun unleashed a medium-strength flare in the Red Planet's direction Tuesday (March 5). It's the second recent shutdown for Curiosity, which had just come out of protective "safe mode" Saturday (March 2) as engineers work through an issue with its primary computer system.

"Storm's a-comin'! There's a solar storm heading for Mars. I'm going back to sleep to weather it out," NASA officials wrote on behalf of the rover via Curiosity's Twitter feed today (March 6).

The rover team views the shutdown as merely a precaution, as Curiosity was designed to withstand such solar outbursts, the Associated Press reported. But the move could delay the rover's return to science operations, which had been anticipated as early as this weekend.

Curiosity landed inside Mars' huge Gale Crater last August to determine if the area has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. The robot had been operating pretty much flawlessly on the Red Planet until last Wednesday (Feb. 27), when it failed to send recorded data home to Earth and didn't shift into its daily sleep mode as planned. [Curiosity Rover's Latest Amazing Mars Photos]

The mission team determined that a glitch had affected the flash memory on Curiosity's main, or A-side, computer system. So engineers swapped the rover over to its backup (B-side) computer, which spurred Curiosity to go into safe mode on Thursday (Feb. 28).

Since then, the robot's handlers have been working to configure the B-side computer for surface operations and fix the problem with the A-side, which they think may have been caused by a fast-moving charged particle known as a cosmic ray.

Curiosity has been on the road to recovery. The rover came out of safe mode on Saturday and began using its high-gain antenna again a day later. Mission officials have expressed confidence that engineers will fix or troubleshoot the glitch soon, saying Curiosity may resume science operations as early as this weekend if all continues to go well.

The solar flare may now push that timeline back a bit, however.

NASA officials do not expect Tuesday's solar flare to seriously affect any of the agency's other robotic Mars explorers, such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter or Opportunity rover, the Associated Press reported.

Tuesday's flare was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), which blasted a huge cloud of solar plasma toward the Red Planet. CMEs that slam into Earth inject large amounts of energy into our planet's magnetic field, spawning potentially devastating geomagnetic storms that can disrupt GPS signals, radio communications and power grids for days.

But CMEs don't have a similar impact on Mars, which lacks a global magnetic field, scientists say.

The first iPad only newspaper is shutting down on the 15th of December. The shutdown doesn't come with much of a surprise because last year the news paper was put 'on watch' ad an option to help News Corp. As part of a major restructuring initiative some of The Daily's staff have moved over to the New York Post, but it is not clear on how many staff will be taking the transition. In a statement The Daily's creator and News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch said that "our experience was that we could not find a large enough audience quickly enough to convince us the business model was sustainable in the long-term."

There's no word yet on whether annual subscribers will receive any partial refunds for their $39.99 annual subscriptions, but the app is still available for purchase in the iTunes Store.

Apple· iPad· News· Newspaper· Subscription· Technology

'The daily' is shutting down

The first iPad only newspaper is shutting down on the 15th of December. The shutdown doesn't come with much of a surprise because last year the news paper was put 'on watch' ad an option to help News Corp. As part of a major restructuring initiative some of The Daily's staff have moved over to the New York Post, but it is not clear on how many staff will be taking the transition. In a statement The Daily's creator and News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch said that "our experience was that we could not find a large enough audience quickly enough to convince us the business model was sustainable in the long-term."

There's no word yet on whether annual subscribers will receive any partial refunds for their $39.99 annual subscriptions, but the app is still available for purchase in the iTunes Store.

A Facebook employee named Jonathan Dann has written a blog post detailing how the company's iOS engineering team designed earlier Facebook for iPhone apps and the coding that was required to rewrite the new Facebook 5.0 app.

Developers will love and others will be interested in how one of the most popular iPhone apps gets made, so its definitely worth the read.

Here's an excerpt:

One of the biggest advantages we've gained from building on native iOS has been the ability to make the app fast. Now, when you scroll through your news feed on the new Facebook for iOS, you'll notice that it feels much faster than before. One way we have achieved this is by re-balancing where we perform certain tasks. For example, in iOS, the main thread drives the UI and handles touch events, so the more work we do on the main thread, the slower the app feels. Instead, we take care to perform computationally expensive tasks in the background. This means all our networking activity, JSON parsing, NSManagedObject creation, and saving to disk never touches the main thread.

To give another example, we use Core Text to lay out many of our strings, but layout calculations can quickly become a bottleneck. With our new iOS app, when we download new content, we asynchronously calculate the sizes for all these strings, cache our CTFramesetters (which can be expensive to create), and then use all these calculations later when we present the story into our UITableView.

Finally, when you start Facebook for iOS, you want to see your news feed, not a loading spinner. To provide the best experience possible, we now show previously-cached content immediately. But this introduces a new problem: If you have a lot of stories in your news feed, UITableView throws a small spanner in the works by calling the delegate method -tableView:heightForRowAtIndexPath: for each story in your news feed in order to work out how tall to make its scrollbar. This would result in the app loading all the story data from disk and calculating the entire story layout solely to return the height of the story, meaning startup would get progressively slower as you accumulate more stories.

The solution to this particular problem has two main parts. Firstly, when we do our initial asynchronous layout calculations, we also store the height of the story in Core Data. In doing so, we completely avoid layout calculation in -tableView:heightForRowAtIndexPath:. Secondly, we've split up our "story" model object. We only fetch the story heights (and a few other things) from disk on startup. Later, we fetch the rest of the story data, and any more layout calculations we have to do are all performed asynchronously.

Apps· engineers· Facebook· iPad· iPhone· iPod Touch· News· Technology

Engineers Detail Major Efforts to Rewrite Facebook iOS App

A Facebook employee named Jonathan Dann has written a blog post detailing how the company's iOS engineering team designed earlier Facebook for iPhone apps and the coding that was required to rewrite the new Facebook 5.0 app.

Developers will love and others will be interested in how one of the most popular iPhone apps gets made, so its definitely worth the read.

Here's an excerpt:

One of the biggest advantages we've gained from building on native iOS has been the ability to make the app fast. Now, when you scroll through your news feed on the new Facebook for iOS, you'll notice that it feels much faster than before. One way we have achieved this is by re-balancing where we perform certain tasks. For example, in iOS, the main thread drives the UI and handles touch events, so the more work we do on the main thread, the slower the app feels. Instead, we take care to perform computationally expensive tasks in the background. This means all our networking activity, JSON parsing, NSManagedObject creation, and saving to disk never touches the main thread.

To give another example, we use Core Text to lay out many of our strings, but layout calculations can quickly become a bottleneck. With our new iOS app, when we download new content, we asynchronously calculate the sizes for all these strings, cache our CTFramesetters (which can be expensive to create), and then use all these calculations later when we present the story into our UITableView.

Finally, when you start Facebook for iOS, you want to see your news feed, not a loading spinner. To provide the best experience possible, we now show previously-cached content immediately. But this introduces a new problem: If you have a lot of stories in your news feed, UITableView throws a small spanner in the works by calling the delegate method -tableView:heightForRowAtIndexPath: for each story in your news feed in order to work out how tall to make its scrollbar. This would result in the app loading all the story data from disk and calculating the entire story layout solely to return the height of the story, meaning startup would get progressively slower as you accumulate more stories.

The solution to this particular problem has two main parts. Firstly, when we do our initial asynchronous layout calculations, we also store the height of the story in Core Data. In doing so, we completely avoid layout calculation in -tableView:heightForRowAtIndexPath:. Secondly, we've split up our "story" model object. We only fetch the story heights (and a few other things) from disk on startup. Later, we fetch the rest of the story data, and any more layout calculations we have to do are all performed asynchronously.

TextMate is a popular Mac text editor, and with the new version (2.0) it is now open source. As noted by ArsTechnica, developer Allan Odgaard made the decision based in part on what he calls Apple's "steps to limit our freedom." The tight measures that have been taken to secure the Mountain Lion operating system have inked a number of developers, but the sudden release of TextMate's source code offers some concern. The development for TextMate has been pretty slow - the app has been in the works since 2009, with only the alpha version released in December.

GPL· News· Open source· Source code· TextMate

TextMate 2.0 is now open source

TextMate is a popular Mac text editor, and with the new version (2.0) it is now open source. As noted by ArsTechnica, developer Allan Odgaard made the decision based in part on what he calls Apple's "steps to limit our freedom." The tight measures that have been taken to secure the Mountain Lion operating system have inked a number of developers, but the sudden release of TextMate's source code offers some concern. The development for TextMate has been pretty slow - the app has been in the works since 2009, with only the alpha version released in December.

So far, Microsoft have been slowly adding customisation features into Windows 8 throughout there major preview releases, but the final Release will include 20 Start Screen patterns. From the leaked screenshot, it is hard to make out if this is real or fake, and some patterns look a bit more complex compared to the other the five existing patterns that have shipped in the Preview copies of Windows 8 - suggesting that the customisation options will quickly change the look of the Start Screen for some. Win8china posted a new lock screen image today, which includes a render of Seattle's space needle. Microsoft is expected to announce the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) of Windows 8 this week.

Source: Win8China

China· Headlines· Metro· Microsoft· News· Rumours· Start Screen· Windows 8

20 new Windows 8 Start Screen patterns in final build

So far, Microsoft have been slowly adding customisation features into Windows 8 throughout there major preview releases, but the final Release will include 20 Start Screen patterns. From the leaked screenshot, it is hard to make out if this is real or fake, and some patterns look a bit more complex compared to the other the five existing patterns that have shipped in the Preview copies of Windows 8 - suggesting that the customisation options will quickly change the look of the Start Screen for some. Win8china posted a new lock screen image today, which includes a render of Seattle's space needle. Microsoft is expected to announce the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) of Windows 8 this week.

Source: Win8China

Many Gmail users have wanted this feature for a long time, and Hangouts has been a key part of Google's Social network since last year; and now Google has integrated the feature right into Gmail. For Gmail, this isn't entirely new. Google first implemented it back in 2008, but Google says this will be a more "modern" implementation of video calling. Gmail video chats used peer-to-peer technology, but Google+ Hangouts use "the power of Google's network" for reliability and quality. Some other useful features is now you can benefit from other Hangout features, such as the ability to chat with nine other people at once. You also have the option to use "masks" by turning yourself into a Cat or Dog. One more thing... You can now chat through Gmail directly with people using Google+ on your Android or iOS devices.

It wasn't a big surprise that Google is taking its Hangout service to Gmail, mainly because people have requested it for some time now. We may also see it in some of Google's other services as well. Google says that the service rollout is starting today and should be available to all users in the coming weeks.




Sources: Google

Gmail· Google· Google Plus· Headlines· News· Video

Google updates Gmail's 'Video Chat' with 'Hangouts'

Many Gmail users have wanted this feature for a long time, and Hangouts has been a key part of Google's Social network since last year; and now Google has integrated the feature right into Gmail. For Gmail, this isn't entirely new. Google first implemented it back in 2008, but Google says this will be a more "modern" implementation of video calling. Gmail video chats used peer-to-peer technology, but Google+ Hangouts use "the power of Google's network" for reliability and quality. Some other useful features is now you can benefit from other Hangout features, such as the ability to chat with nine other people at once. You also have the option to use "masks" by turning yourself into a Cat or Dog. One more thing... You can now chat through Gmail directly with people using Google+ on your Android or iOS devices.

It wasn't a big surprise that Google is taking its Hangout service to Gmail, mainly because people have requested it for some time now. We may also see it in some of Google's other services as well. Google says that the service rollout is starting today and should be available to all users in the coming weeks.




Sources: Google

iMore reports that they have heard that the next generation iPhone, new iPod nano, and the new 7.85" iPad mini will be announced on September 12th. They also said that the actual launch date for the next iPhone is September 21, 2012.

"iMore has heard that Apple is planning to debut the new iPhone at a special event on Wednesday, September 12, 2012, with the release date to follow 9 days later on Friday, September 21. This information comes from sources who have proven accurate in the past."

The next-generation iPhone, is expected to have a 4" screen as shown in the photo above. Rumours have also suggested that the phone may include high speed LTE wireless networking.

As many of us generally refer to the next iPhone ans the "iPhone 5", Apple may follow the example of their most recent iPad release, by dropping the numbering scheme.

There has been a giant increase in rumours about the 7.85" iPad mini. The smaller iPad is believed to help Apple fill a cheaper price point in their tablet lineup.

iMore has been an accurate source of information in the past, such as pinpointing the iPad 3 launch date, as well as pre-order date for the iPhone 4S.

Apple· Breaking News· Headlines· iPhone· iPhone 5· News· Release· Release Date· Rumours

iPad Mini to be Announced on September 12th with iPhone 5 Release September 21st

iMore reports that they have heard that the next generation iPhone, new iPod nano, and the new 7.85" iPad mini will be announced on September 12th. They also said that the actual launch date for the next iPhone is September 21, 2012.

"iMore has heard that Apple is planning to debut the new iPhone at a special event on Wednesday, September 12, 2012, with the release date to follow 9 days later on Friday, September 21. This information comes from sources who have proven accurate in the past."

The next-generation iPhone, is expected to have a 4" screen as shown in the photo above. Rumours have also suggested that the phone may include high speed LTE wireless networking.

As many of us generally refer to the next iPhone ans the "iPhone 5", Apple may follow the example of their most recent iPad release, by dropping the numbering scheme.

There has been a giant increase in rumours about the 7.85" iPad mini. The smaller iPad is believed to help Apple fill a cheaper price point in their tablet lineup.

iMore has been an accurate source of information in the past, such as pinpointing the iPad 3 launch date, as well as pre-order date for the iPhone 4S.

Do you remember yesterday, the leaked photos of the fully connected 'iPhone 5'? Well now, there is a video over view of the phone itself. Now, over the weekend, we have now seen the side-encompassing backplate, paired with the front cover that showed up in the first assembled photos of this handset. Today, Macotakara has a video of the same assembly, giving us a quick glimpse of what the next-generation iPhone may look and feel like in the hand.

There are also some extra parts, including black and white home buttons, the probability of the entire thing is still tough to establish since the video is titled with a question mark at the end.




Source: Macotakara

Apple· Headlines· iPhone 5· Mobile· News· Rumours· Video

Claim of 'iPhone 5' case now makes video appearance

Do you remember yesterday, the leaked photos of the fully connected 'iPhone 5'? Well now, there is a video over view of the phone itself. Now, over the weekend, we have now seen the side-encompassing backplate, paired with the front cover that showed up in the first assembled photos of this handset. Today, Macotakara has a video of the same assembly, giving us a quick glimpse of what the next-generation iPhone may look and feel like in the hand.

There are also some extra parts, including black and white home buttons, the probability of the entire thing is still tough to establish since the video is titled with a question mark at the end.




Source: Macotakara

The Japanese website iLab has posted a set of high-resolution photos (via CydiaBlog)of what the iPhone 5 may look like.

CydiaBlog:

"The leaked parts shows the bigger screen, different internals (such as a new flex cable holding the Home button in place), and the camera modules (front and rear). The camera module cutout looks to be larger, there is an enhanced version of speaker and microphone configuration at the bottom, new smaller dock connector (instead of 30-pin Dock Connector, 16-pin connector could be introduced). Another notable design change in the new iPhone front panel shows the FaceTime camera has been moved to a centered position above the earpiece speaker (it is currently to left of the earpiece in iPhone 4S and iPhone 4)."

Rumours suggest that the next iPhone would sport a taller 4" screen, but would remain the same width. The next iPhone is expected to be released sometime this fall along side of iOS 6.

Apple· Headlines· Imagery· iPhone· iPhone 5· News· Rumours

Photos of Complete Next-Generation iPhone Enclosure Leaked

The Japanese website iLab has posted a set of high-resolution photos (via CydiaBlog)of what the iPhone 5 may look like.

CydiaBlog:

"The leaked parts shows the bigger screen, different internals (such as a new flex cable holding the Home button in place), and the camera modules (front and rear). The camera module cutout looks to be larger, there is an enhanced version of speaker and microphone configuration at the bottom, new smaller dock connector (instead of 30-pin Dock Connector, 16-pin connector could be introduced). Another notable design change in the new iPhone front panel shows the FaceTime camera has been moved to a centered position above the earpiece speaker (it is currently to left of the earpiece in iPhone 4S and iPhone 4)."

Rumours suggest that the next iPhone would sport a taller 4" screen, but would remain the same width. The next iPhone is expected to be released sometime this fall along side of iOS 6.

Dropbox

Free

Dropbox is probably one of the most key app that you need on your Nexus 7 device. You can access your important documents from anywhere, and now, even your Nexus 7. You get 2GB in the free account, and that it quite a bit given that the maximum memory of the device is 8GB to 16GB. The latest version features upload notifications and custom-tailored video streaming, and the app also automatically uploads photos and videos in the background over Wi-Fi on the Nexus 7.

Facebook

Free

Pretty much everyone is on Facebook now, so this is a well needed app to keep up-to-date with your Facebook notifications, chat to friends, browse pages and more all from this app.

Mint

Free

Mint's Android tablet app is pretty much the same as its iOS app, including a homescreen that focuses on charts and graphs letting you see your current overall financial picture at a glance. The latest version lets you create and edit budgets right from within the app.

Pulse

Free

Pulse pulls in news from thousands of sources and presents them in an amazing format, complete with art work. You can easily customise it by browsing lists sources and tapping the plus sign that interests you. This creates a completely personalised news page and delivers every story as it happens, so your always up-to-date. The app also contains news and information about any Jelly-bean related fixes. 

TweetCaster

Free

While you can easily download the Official Twitter client for Android, TweetCaster has a much more fluent interface and takes better advantage of the Nexus 7. TweetCaster also offers more of a sophisticated search, customisable retweets and content filters, and you can set up individual tables for local trends and retweets.

Skype

Free

The Nexus 7 has a built in mic and a front facing camera, so why not put it to use with Skype? Video call or audio call your friends or colleges. You can also instant message your friends or colleges. You can also make low-cost calls to regular mobile phones and landlines. 

DC Comics

Free

Who doesn't love comic books? If you are fans of Batman, Superman and Green Lantern, then you have waited a long time for this day to come, and now you can read all of the comics from your Nexus 7. You can also view the comics with choices from guided page views and full-page views. 

Kindle

Free

Google play has over 4 million titles, but that doesn't come close to Amazon titles. The Kindle version takes advantage of the Nexus 7's screen - which is still one inch larger than all dedicated E Ink-based Kindles - and now offers more control of margins and line space. 

TED

Free

The official TED app brings over 1,200 TED talks straight to your Nexus 7 device, from tech wizards, business experts, and music legends, among others. Now, you can save each individual talks to the device for later viewing - even offline. The latest version includes a better video player for 7-inch tablets, as well as plenty of bug fixes.

Hulu Plus

Free; $7.99 per month

Hulu Plus is one of the biggest competitions to Netflix and as far as streaming movie and TV apps are concerned, both of them cost the same amount. There are a few differences in the available catalogues; Hulu offers full seasons of The Office, Modern Family, Battlestar Galactica, and Family Guy, among others. The latest version includes improved support for 7-inch tablets like the Nexus 7, and you can now sign up for a weeks trial in the app.

IMDb

Free

Lets say you are watching a movie or a TV show that you like and you would like to quickly see the actors in that show, you can easily and quickly do this right from your Nexus 7 devices. The IMDb's interface is highly optimised for tablet like the Nexus 7, and the latest update adds the ability to stream movie trailers in HD.

Netflix 

Free; $7.99 per month

Netflix remains the go-to destination to watch all of your favourite movies and TV shows. Your $7.99-per month subscription works for all devices, so you can install it on your Smartphone and play it back on your Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. The latest version supports Jelly-bean - so it looks like you are all set. 

Pandora 

Free

Like free music? Then it doesn't get any better than this. The Pandora app is more expansive tablet-based interface that fits just right on the Nexus 7's screen. And Pandora's discovery algorithms - which break down down by tempo, chords and other features in a much more granular fashion than relying on mere genre - are still the best in the business. Finally audio now pauses whenever you unplug your headphones, instead of continuing to play out-loud through the tablet's speaker. 

Spotify 

Free; $9.99 per month

The amazing cloud-based music streaming service now contains over 15 million songs, all of which you can listen to on your Nexus 7. Unlike any other music streaming services, Spotify lets you set up playlists and choose all of your songs. Spotify has so many songs in its catalog, that it is in-fact possible you'll never need to buy music again. 

Dungeon Hunter 3

Free

Dungeon Hunter 3 is a little different, as it's not quite the action role-playing game earlier installments were; instead, you choose one of four new character classes and fight in 16 different areas, gaining experience points and unlocking over 1,000 items along the way. Motion blur and dynamic particle effects make the areans look sharp.

Galaxy On Fire 2 THD 

Free for first solar systems; $14.99 in-app purchases for full game

Explore over 20 different solar systems, mine asteroids, work as a pirate, and hone your space - mercenary skills with Galaxy On Fire 2 THD, a smooth running, Nvidia Tegra 3-optimised game that plays beautifully on the Galaxy Nexus 7 and runs on the tablets native 1280-800 - pixel resolution. The game features over 100 space stations and 30 customisable space stations.

Minecraft Pocket Edition

$6.99

Minecraft works extremely well on the Nexus 7, with very fast frame-rates and more screen real estate. Build anything you want with 36 different kinds of blocks, play with friends and save multiplayer worlds on the Nexus 7. 

Oregon Trailer: Settler 

$4.99

Make yourself at home on the American frontier in 1843. This newly-optimised game for the Nexus 7 features sharp, well drawn graphics and compiling gameplay that sucks you right in from the start, and the latest version looks amazing on the Nexus 7.

Riptide GP

Free

This game was incredibly fun on smartphones, but give it a amazing 7-inch display and watch how impressive the game gets. It's amazing and plays great, it offers higher-resolution textures on multi-core tablets like the Nexus 7. The game still defaults to a slightly lower resolution than what the screen is capable of, but that could change in the future. If you crank the sharpness slider to "native" and you saw impressive smooth frame rates, if not always at 60 per second. 

Android· Apps· gaming· Google· Headlines· News· Nexus 7

The Best Google Nexus 7 Apps

Dropbox

Free

Dropbox is probably one of the most key app that you need on your Nexus 7 device. You can access your important documents from anywhere, and now, even your Nexus 7. You get 2GB in the free account, and that it quite a bit given that the maximum memory of the device is 8GB to 16GB. The latest version features upload notifications and custom-tailored video streaming, and the app also automatically uploads photos and videos in the background over Wi-Fi on the Nexus 7.

Facebook

Free

Pretty much everyone is on Facebook now, so this is a well needed app to keep up-to-date with your Facebook notifications, chat to friends, browse pages and more all from this app.

Mint

Free

Mint's Android tablet app is pretty much the same as its iOS app, including a homescreen that focuses on charts and graphs letting you see your current overall financial picture at a glance. The latest version lets you create and edit budgets right from within the app.

Pulse

Free

Pulse pulls in news from thousands of sources and presents them in an amazing format, complete with art work. You can easily customise it by browsing lists sources and tapping the plus sign that interests you. This creates a completely personalised news page and delivers every story as it happens, so your always up-to-date. The app also contains news and information about any Jelly-bean related fixes. 

TweetCaster

Free

While you can easily download the Official Twitter client for Android, TweetCaster has a much more fluent interface and takes better advantage of the Nexus 7. TweetCaster also offers more of a sophisticated search, customisable retweets and content filters, and you can set up individual tables for local trends and retweets.

Skype

Free

The Nexus 7 has a built in mic and a front facing camera, so why not put it to use with Skype? Video call or audio call your friends or colleges. You can also instant message your friends or colleges. You can also make low-cost calls to regular mobile phones and landlines. 

DC Comics

Free

Who doesn't love comic books? If you are fans of Batman, Superman and Green Lantern, then you have waited a long time for this day to come, and now you can read all of the comics from your Nexus 7. You can also view the comics with choices from guided page views and full-page views. 

Kindle

Free

Google play has over 4 million titles, but that doesn't come close to Amazon titles. The Kindle version takes advantage of the Nexus 7's screen - which is still one inch larger than all dedicated E Ink-based Kindles - and now offers more control of margins and line space. 

TED

Free

The official TED app brings over 1,200 TED talks straight to your Nexus 7 device, from tech wizards, business experts, and music legends, among others. Now, you can save each individual talks to the device for later viewing - even offline. The latest version includes a better video player for 7-inch tablets, as well as plenty of bug fixes.

Hulu Plus

Free; $7.99 per month

Hulu Plus is one of the biggest competitions to Netflix and as far as streaming movie and TV apps are concerned, both of them cost the same amount. There are a few differences in the available catalogues; Hulu offers full seasons of The Office, Modern Family, Battlestar Galactica, and Family Guy, among others. The latest version includes improved support for 7-inch tablets like the Nexus 7, and you can now sign up for a weeks trial in the app.

IMDb

Free

Lets say you are watching a movie or a TV show that you like and you would like to quickly see the actors in that show, you can easily and quickly do this right from your Nexus 7 devices. The IMDb's interface is highly optimised for tablet like the Nexus 7, and the latest update adds the ability to stream movie trailers in HD.

Netflix 

Free; $7.99 per month

Netflix remains the go-to destination to watch all of your favourite movies and TV shows. Your $7.99-per month subscription works for all devices, so you can install it on your Smartphone and play it back on your Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. The latest version supports Jelly-bean - so it looks like you are all set. 

Pandora 

Free

Like free music? Then it doesn't get any better than this. The Pandora app is more expansive tablet-based interface that fits just right on the Nexus 7's screen. And Pandora's discovery algorithms - which break down down by tempo, chords and other features in a much more granular fashion than relying on mere genre - are still the best in the business. Finally audio now pauses whenever you unplug your headphones, instead of continuing to play out-loud through the tablet's speaker. 

Spotify 

Free; $9.99 per month

The amazing cloud-based music streaming service now contains over 15 million songs, all of which you can listen to on your Nexus 7. Unlike any other music streaming services, Spotify lets you set up playlists and choose all of your songs. Spotify has so many songs in its catalog, that it is in-fact possible you'll never need to buy music again. 

Dungeon Hunter 3

Free

Dungeon Hunter 3 is a little different, as it's not quite the action role-playing game earlier installments were; instead, you choose one of four new character classes and fight in 16 different areas, gaining experience points and unlocking over 1,000 items along the way. Motion blur and dynamic particle effects make the areans look sharp.

Galaxy On Fire 2 THD 

Free for first solar systems; $14.99 in-app purchases for full game

Explore over 20 different solar systems, mine asteroids, work as a pirate, and hone your space - mercenary skills with Galaxy On Fire 2 THD, a smooth running, Nvidia Tegra 3-optimised game that plays beautifully on the Galaxy Nexus 7 and runs on the tablets native 1280-800 - pixel resolution. The game features over 100 space stations and 30 customisable space stations.

Minecraft Pocket Edition

$6.99

Minecraft works extremely well on the Nexus 7, with very fast frame-rates and more screen real estate. Build anything you want with 36 different kinds of blocks, play with friends and save multiplayer worlds on the Nexus 7. 

Oregon Trailer: Settler 

$4.99

Make yourself at home on the American frontier in 1843. This newly-optimised game for the Nexus 7 features sharp, well drawn graphics and compiling gameplay that sucks you right in from the start, and the latest version looks amazing on the Nexus 7.

Riptide GP

Free

This game was incredibly fun on smartphones, but give it a amazing 7-inch display and watch how impressive the game gets. It's amazing and plays great, it offers higher-resolution textures on multi-core tablets like the Nexus 7. The game still defaults to a slightly lower resolution than what the screen is capable of, but that could change in the future. If you crank the sharpness slider to "native" and you saw impressive smooth frame rates, if not always at 60 per second. 

The widely used email client Sparrow has been acquired by Google today.

From Sparow's website:

"We're excited to announce that Sparrow has been acquired by Google!

We care a lot about how people communicate, and we did our best to provide you with the most intuitive and pleasurable mailing experience.

Now we're joining the Gmail team to accomplish a bigger vision — one that we think we can better achieve with Google.

We’d like to extend a special thanks to all of our users who have supported us, advised us, given us priceless feedback and allowed us to build a better mail application. While we’ll be working on new things at Google, we will continue to make Sparrow available and provide support for our users.

We had an amazing ride and can't thank you enough.

Full speed ahead!

Dom Leca
CEO
Sparrow"

Sparrow was first launched on the Mac, but now an iPhone version was released earlier this year. Leca also said that Sparrow's products will continue to be made available with "support and critical update", but Sparrow does not plan to release new. There is still no word whether the Push email support (which was promised this year) will make its way to the iOS app, or if it will be delayed or it will never make it's way to the iOS app.

Late last year, Google did in-fact release an iOS Gmail app, but it did not take off because of the poor feedback from users.

"The Sparrow team has always put their users first by focusing on building a seamlessly simple and intuitive interface for their email client. We look forward to bringing them aboard the Gmail team, where they’ll be working on new projects."

Apps· Google· Headlines· iOS· Mac· News· Sparrow

Sparrow email client acquired by Google

The widely used email client Sparrow has been acquired by Google today.

From Sparow's website:

"We're excited to announce that Sparrow has been acquired by Google!

We care a lot about how people communicate, and we did our best to provide you with the most intuitive and pleasurable mailing experience.

Now we're joining the Gmail team to accomplish a bigger vision — one that we think we can better achieve with Google.

We’d like to extend a special thanks to all of our users who have supported us, advised us, given us priceless feedback and allowed us to build a better mail application. While we’ll be working on new things at Google, we will continue to make Sparrow available and provide support for our users.

We had an amazing ride and can't thank you enough.

Full speed ahead!

Dom Leca
CEO
Sparrow"

Sparrow was first launched on the Mac, but now an iPhone version was released earlier this year. Leca also said that Sparrow's products will continue to be made available with "support and critical update", but Sparrow does not plan to release new. There is still no word whether the Push email support (which was promised this year) will make its way to the iOS app, or if it will be delayed or it will never make it's way to the iOS app.

Late last year, Google did in-fact release an iOS Gmail app, but it did not take off because of the poor feedback from users.

"The Sparrow team has always put their users first by focusing on building a seamlessly simple and intuitive interface for their email client. We look forward to bringing them aboard the Gmail team, where they’ll be working on new projects."

On July 12, the social aggregation site Digg announced that it had been purchased for $500,000 by Betaworks. Digg has an another announcement, with a new site called 'rethinkdigg.com,' where it says it plans to rebuild Digg from "scratch," and would like to do it in just six weeks.

On August 1st it will roll out its first version, and Digg is not taking in feedback from users from an online survey that anyone can fill out.

Source: Rethink Digg

Betaworks· Digg· Headlines· News· Rethink Digg· social Media

Digg announces 'Rethink Digg' plan to rebuild in six weeks

On July 12, the social aggregation site Digg announced that it had been purchased for $500,000 by Betaworks. Digg has an another announcement, with a new site called 'rethinkdigg.com,' where it says it plans to rebuild Digg from "scratch," and would like to do it in just six weeks.

On August 1st it will roll out its first version, and Digg is not taking in feedback from users from an online survey that anyone can fill out.

Source: Rethink Digg

Ever heard of a mirrorless camera? Well now you have. The world's largest DSLR maker, Canon will be making a change soon if rumours are to be correct. The EOS M camera has been revealed on a Japanese website called Digicame. The site claims that they have got their hands on the camera and that it came straight from a retailer. The camera looks to use a new lens mount called EF-M, and is pictured with a 22mm f/2 STM macro lens.

The sensor size is still unclear, but Canon Watch's source claims that the EOS M will take on a APS-C sensor, but it is a possibility that Canon will reuse the slightly smaller 1.5-inch chip found in the G1 X. The camera looks to be small, simple and accessible camera, the design is very much close to the Nikon J1 or the Panasonic GF5. The camera doesn't appear to have a pop-up flash either, but it does have a hotshoe mount. The image could be fake, but with a official reveal said to be coming on Monday, we do not have long to find out.

Camera· Canon· Headlines· Leaked· News· Rumours

Canon EOS M mirrorless camera leaked

Ever heard of a mirrorless camera? Well now you have. The world's largest DSLR maker, Canon will be making a change soon if rumours are to be correct. The EOS M camera has been revealed on a Japanese website called Digicame. The site claims that they have got their hands on the camera and that it came straight from a retailer. The camera looks to use a new lens mount called EF-M, and is pictured with a 22mm f/2 STM macro lens.

The sensor size is still unclear, but Canon Watch's source claims that the EOS M will take on a APS-C sensor, but it is a possibility that Canon will reuse the slightly smaller 1.5-inch chip found in the G1 X. The camera looks to be small, simple and accessible camera, the design is very much close to the Nikon J1 or the Panasonic GF5. The camera doesn't appear to have a pop-up flash either, but it does have a hotshoe mount. The image could be fake, but with a official reveal said to be coming on Monday, we do not have long to find out.

Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Hauawei have already shipped the first round of Windows Phone 8 devices, all running on Qualcomm chipsets, but Acer would like to get their hands on the action too. After shipping its low-end Allegro Windows Phone in Europe last year, Acer spokesperson Chen Guowei has revealed that the company is planning to launch its first Windows 8 device in the second half of 2013.

iMobile reports that Guowei is confident with investing in the Windows Phone 8 platform, and also expressed confidence in the platform because of the long history between the two companies in the PC market.

Microsoft is preparing to support a new range of Windows Phone 8, with all new hardware, including muli-core processors, NFC chipsets, and a new screen resolution. Microsoft is expected to launch the new range of Windows Phone 8 in late October.

Source: iMobile [Translated]
Image Credits: The Guardian

Acer· Hardware· Headlines· News· Release· Release Date· Rumours· Technology· Windows Phone

Acer reportedly planning a Windows Phone 8 Device

Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Hauawei have already shipped the first round of Windows Phone 8 devices, all running on Qualcomm chipsets, but Acer would like to get their hands on the action too. After shipping its low-end Allegro Windows Phone in Europe last year, Acer spokesperson Chen Guowei has revealed that the company is planning to launch its first Windows 8 device in the second half of 2013.

iMobile reports that Guowei is confident with investing in the Windows Phone 8 platform, and also expressed confidence in the platform because of the long history between the two companies in the PC market.

Microsoft is preparing to support a new range of Windows Phone 8, with all new hardware, including muli-core processors, NFC chipsets, and a new screen resolution. Microsoft is expected to launch the new range of Windows Phone 8 in late October.

Source: iMobile [Translated]
Image Credits: The Guardian

Today, Hulu has agreed a deal with the BBC to co-produce a new season of the UK comedy The Think Of IT. This marks the first of Hulu's international co-production agreement. As part of the deal, Hulu will have exclusive US rights to premiere the popular political satire, which has generated three seasons and the TV series may even feature a full length movie. Already, Hulu has started uploading past seasons of the show to its website.

The show will still continue to be made in the UK at the BBC, but will now be credited as produced "in association with Hulu".

bbc· Headlines· Hulu· News· Television· TV

Hulu to co-produce 'The Thick of It' season four with BBC

Today, Hulu has agreed a deal with the BBC to co-produce a new season of the UK comedy The Think Of IT. This marks the first of Hulu's international co-production agreement. As part of the deal, Hulu will have exclusive US rights to premiere the popular political satire, which has generated three seasons and the TV series may even feature a full length movie. Already, Hulu has started uploading past seasons of the show to its website.

The show will still continue to be made in the UK at the BBC, but will now be credited as produced "in association with Hulu".

Microsoft has just announced the release date for the long-awaited Windows 8. The public can get their copy of Windows 8 on October 26th 2012. Steven Sinosfky made this announcement at Microsoft's annual sales meeting, and the Windows blog quickly shared the news. The launch date applies to both upgrades or installs on a new PC. Microsoft have been hinting an October release date for months now, but now we can official count down until the release.

Source: Microsoft

Headlines· Launch· Microsoft· News· Operating System· OS· Release· Release Date· Upgrade· Windows· Windows 8

Windows 8 will be available on October 26th

Microsoft has just announced the release date for the long-awaited Windows 8. The public can get their copy of Windows 8 on October 26th 2012. Steven Sinosfky made this announcement at Microsoft's annual sales meeting, and the Windows blog quickly shared the news. The launch date applies to both upgrades or installs on a new PC. Microsoft have been hinting an October release date for months now, but now we can official count down until the release.

Source: Microsoft

YouTube is still improving their website, and now they have introduced a new technology for the video sharing site, which is face blurring technology. The new option is available to unloaders in the Video Enhancements menu after uploading your video, and it activates in one click. The technology will then be used o identify faces throughout your video and blur them. It's designed for any sort of sensitive video. Unfortunately, there's no option yet to manually add blurring, but this may come in the future. YouTube believes the new feature "allows people to share personal footage more widely and to speak out when they otherwise may not." They also state that face blurring is just the "first step towards providing visual anonymity" - this means that we may see updates to the technology on the site soon. 

Google· Headlines· News· YouTube

YouTube introduces face blurring technology

YouTube is still improving their website, and now they have introduced a new technology for the video sharing site, which is face blurring technology. The new option is available to unloaders in the Video Enhancements menu after uploading your video, and it activates in one click. The technology will then be used o identify faces throughout your video and blur them. It's designed for any sort of sensitive video. Unfortunately, there's no option yet to manually add blurring, but this may come in the future. YouTube believes the new feature "allows people to share personal footage more widely and to speak out when they otherwise may not." They also state that face blurring is just the "first step towards providing visual anonymity" - this means that we may see updates to the technology on the site soon.