5 SECONDS OF SUMMER

Michael Clifford Fires Back at Abigail Breslin's Diss Track

Stars Most Stylish Selfie of the Week

Stars Most Stylish Selfie of the Week

GMAIL BLOCKED IN CHINA

5-Minute Outfit Idea

5-Minute Outfit Idea: An Effortless, Polished Look to Try This Weekend.

Facebook suffers outage

Facebook suffers outage affecting users worldwide!! .

Thursday, 2 October 2014

Vertu Aster is a luxury smartphone with 'mid-tier' price, top-tier specs

Vertu Aster is a luxury smartphone with 'mid-tier' price, top-tier specs

Richard Lai
Engadget


Since the launch of the Signature Touch, Vertu CEO Max Pogliani promised that "technology will be more a merging factor and not a differentiation point" for his phones. That's literally the case with the new mid-tier Aster launched today: This titanium Android device is every bit identical to its flagship sibling device internally, just wrapped within a more contemporary and unisex design. We're looking at a 4.7-inch 1080p display, a 5.1-inch 117 carat sapphire screen, a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 chipset, a 13-megapixel Hasselblad-certified main camera with twin LED flash, a 2.1-megapixel front-facing imager, 64GB of internal storage, a 2,275mAh battery, front stereo speakers, NFC, Qi wireless charging and great LTE compatibility (though no love for China, for some reason). With the specs out of the way, let's look at why this swanky phone starts from $6,900 or £4,200. %Slideshow-228640%

While the Aster is technically the successor of the Constellation, the former avoided the path of screen enlargement (from the Ti's 3.7-inch screen to the Constellation's 4.3-inch) while managing to bring back the iconic V-pillow. By keeping the same 4.7-inch screen size on both the Signature Touch and the Aster, Vertu could risk losing appeal to a wider audience, especially in China where phablets are the norm. But Pogliani opted for a more sensible strategy.
"Vertu is not here to follow general mass market mobile trends."


"Vertu is not here to follow general mass market mobile trends; our technology is leading edge but it doesn't have to be bleeding edge. The same goes for the physical design of Vertu products. The nature of our customers and of our products mean that we have to develop what is right for them, not follow generic broader industry design themes that may be more fleeting than those of the luxury market.

"Many of our customers desire and appreciate compact size Vertu products that comfortably fit the inside the pocket of a well-tailored suit or in an expensive clutch bag."
The CEO added that this also has nothing to do with the cost of sapphire, and he even said it's possible that his company might offer larger screen sizes in the future.
Much like the other Vertu handsets, the Aster is offered with a range of skins and colors. The base price gets you calf leather in black, pink or blue, while £5,600/$9,100 gets you shiny snake skin in black or orange (the latter is this author's favorite), and you can max out at £5,900/$9,700 -- a "little" below the Signature Touch's £6,750/$10,300 base price -- for ostrich skin in brown or purple. This is pretty much why the Aster comes in at 11.2mm thick, which is just a tad more than the Signature Touch's.

Going back to the point about differentiation, the Aster is more affordable because it comes with a shorter "Classic Concierge" subscription -- just six months instead of a year and no dedicated agent. This may tempt those who doubt they will make full use of Vertu's signature service; and they can always renew their subscription afterwards. There's also the Vertu Certainty package that offers six months of iPass WiFi hotspots around the world, 12 months of Silent Circle communication encryption and 12 months of Kaspersky mobile security subscription. Vertu Life, a curation service that offers exclusive access to events and venues, will continue to last for 18 months -- a figure based on usage statistics within Vertu's global customer base, according to Pogliani.

"Concierge and services continues to be of significant importance to Vertu and they are a key part of our brand DNA," the exec added. "We are continually developing this aspect of our business and new partnerships with the likes of Bentley indicate the level of our vision and ambition."

On top of that, Vertu is also entering the e-commerce space. The English company will be gradually rolling out its Vertu Digital service between now and early next year, by which point folks around the world will be able to directly order personalized devices online, though they can also collect their new phones at a boutique -- we think the latter is more fun, if there's one nearby. But of course, this alone still won't win the majority of us over -- we're waiting for that more affordable Vertu device that Pogliani is working on.

Source: Vertu

Apple's new iCloud tool can show if a used iPhone is stolen

Apple's new iCloud tool can show if a used iPhone is stolen

Steve Dent
Engadget 


The market for used iPhone's is fraught with risk, because you may end up paying hundreds of dollars for a locked off device, or worse -- one that appears legit but can't make calls. Apple has just revealed an iCloud tool to nip that in the bud by letting you check a device's activation lock status. All you'll need is the iPhone's IMEI or serial number. If you're the rightful owner, you'll get info on how to disable any activation locks before selling. If you're buying, you'll be shown how to remove the previous account (with the seller's cooperation). The tool will be particularly useful at sussing out "doulCi" devices, which bypass the iCloud to disable activation but won't actually connect to a cell network. Meaning you won't get fooled by a stolen or lost iPhone that appears to work, but is actually... an iPod.
Source: Apple

Tweetbot now does justice to Twitter on your iPhone 6

Tweetbot now does justice to Twitter on your iPhone 6

Jon Fingas
Engadget


Tweetbot 3 for iOS is frequently regarded as one of the better mobile Twitter apps, no matter the platform -- it's full of shortcuts and visual flair that most clients (including Twitter's own) sorely lack. It has been lagging on support for Apple's latest developments, however, which makes today's version 3.5 update pretty important. The interface now scales properly on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, giving you much more screen real estate when you're browsing tweets. There are also a few noteworthy upgrades that apply to everyone, including interactive notifications, sharing sheets and support for fetching your login from 1Password. It'll cost you $5 to get the new release if you don't already use Tweetbot, but it might well be worth the outlay if the free Twitter apps aren't quite cutting it.
Source: App Store

Netflix to launch a King Kong cartoon for kids in 2016

Netflix to launch a King Kong cartoon for kids in 2016

Mariella Moon
Engadget


Kids have now two mythical creatures to look forward to on Netflix: after dragons are done invading the streaming service in 2015, a colossal gorilla's slated to follow suit. The company has just announced that it's pairing up with Executive Producer Avi Arad (who also produced the Spider-Man, X-Men and Iron Man movies) to create a King Kong animated series, making the absence of Saturday morning cartoons sting just a bit less. This version's quite different from the Kong movies, as it's set in 2050 and depicts the famous gorilla as humankind's only hope against an army of robot dinosaurs. We'll find out whether Kong will also scale the Empire State Building in this one when Netflix begins airing it in 2016, beginning with a full-length film that's followed by 12 half-hour episodes.
Source: Netflix

Taylor Swift Debuts Her Fourth Fragrance, Incredible Things

Taylor Swift Debuts Her Fourth Fragrance, Incredible Things


Exciting news, Swifties! If you love 
Taylor Swift's three sweet-smelling perfumes, Wonderstruck,Enchanted, and Taylor, you'll be thrilled to know that the singer is adding a fourth fragrance to her line! Tay just announced that her new scent, Incredible Things will be available at Kohl's this month.

The perfume's bottle design looks like Taylor painted it herself using pretty watercolors, and the cap even features her lucky number 13 incorporated into it.
Fans can't wait to smell the perfume, which smells like a mix of vanilla orchid, suede flower, musk, wild passion flower, white amber, Madagascar vanilla and Haitian vetiver. It sounds so great!

Justin Bieber Punches the Paparazzi in the Face

 Justin Bieber Punches the Paparazzi in the Face


According to a source, the paparazzi swarmed Justin's car outside of his hotel and it was nearly impossible for him to even walk forward. Instead of letting his bodyguards clear the path for him, Justin took things into his own hands and shoved photographers out of the way, even punching one of them.
While we definitely realize how frustrating the paparazzi can be, we don't think Justin should get involved in any more fights with them. Between his improved relationship with Selena Gomez andhis new music, Justin needs to focus on the positive things happening in his life and not let other brings him down.

Wunderlist now lets you attach Dropbox files to tasks

Wunderlist now lets you attach Dropbox files to tasks

Billy Steele
Engadget


Wunderlist has long been a popular choice for folks looking to wrangle both individual and collaborative to-do lists. With today's update though, the productivity app gets a major boost from Dropbox. When creating a new task, you can attach files from that cloud-based repository, and they're accessible right from the to-do list. From an item's detail menu, simply clicking the paperclip or Dropbox icon allows you to hunt for the file(s) you'll need, added as links for easy grabbing later. Update a document that's attached to a task? No worries. It'll automatically sync, ensuring that the latest version is available when needed. As TechCrunch notes, this is Wunderlist's first third-party integration and it's one that'll save some time searching for and opening up files. TC also reports that Evernote and calendar syncing could be next up. If you're anxious to give it a try, the new version is available now on iOS, Android and on the web.
Source: Wunderlist

Apple Fanboys Discover Another iOS 8 Glitch

Apple Fanboys Discover Another iOS 8 Glitch

Kerry Flynn
The Huffington Post 



Apple fanboys have discovered a new issue with iOS 8, just a week after the company had to pull the latest update to its operating system because of other bugs.

According to MacRumors, a bug in iOS 8 is deleting iWork documents (Apple's office suite that includes Numbers, Keynote, and Pages) stored through iCloud Drive if people choose to reset the settings on their iPhones.

The “Reset All Settings” option -- found within Reset, at the bottom of the Settings > General page -- restores all iOS settings to factory defaults. It’s a quick troubleshooting measure if your Apple device is being slow or acting glitchy. Before confirming the reset, a pop-up states, “This will reset all settings. No data or media will be deleted.”


But that reportedly hasn’t been the case for people who have upgraded to iOS 8 and use iCloud Drive -- a new feature that allows seamless syncing between documents and data on all Mac products.
MacRumors discovered the bug after people posted complaints on the site’s blog last week about losing their data. MacRumors tested the function and found that selecting “Reset All Settings” did in fact erase all iWork documents on the iPhone, a Mac running OS X Yosemite, and iCloud.com.

Of course, it's not clear how many people this apparent bug may actually affect. You'd have to have iOS 8, use iWork, and have opted for iCloud Drive. The reported glitch is just one of several issues Apple users have complained about with the new operating system, ranging from problems with third-party keyboards and iMessage to phones becoming much slower overall.

MacRumors reported Apple support has been contacted about the reset issue, and that Apple is investigating. The company has not made any public comment about the apparent bug, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article originally appeared in The Huffington Post

The NFL’s Flirtation With the Web Is Over (For Now)

The NFL’s Flirtation With the Web Is Over (For Now)

Peter Kafka
Re/code 


One day, a tech giant like Google or Apple might stream pro football games to American homes. But not anytime soon: DirecTV has renewed its deal to carry the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket” subscription package.

The two sides aren’t commenting on pricing, but the satellite TV company’s last NFL deal cost it about $1 billion a year.

The renewal means that the most plausible way for a non-TV company to get its hands on TV’s most valuable programming is now off the table; people familiar with the deal say it will extend for eight years. Meanwhile, the rest of the NFL’s games are also locked up in long-term deals.
So if you want to watch pro football, you’re going do it via a broadcast or cable TV network, for quite some time.*

This deal isn’t much of a surprise, since AT&T’s $67 billion plan to purchase DirecTV hinged in large part on the satellite company keeping the deal. Then again, the deal was supposed to be wrapped up late last year, and the delay prompted some observers/wishers to wonder if Google, Apple or someone else might be bidding on the package.

That hope isn’t entirely fanciful, as the NFL itself has suggested that some of its games will come to the Web without stopping on TV. And last year, managers at Google’s YouTube unit liked the idea enough to pitch it to CEO Larry Page, who didn’t bite.

*Many of those networks have deals that allow viewers to stream the games on laptops or tablets — but those deals are still built around the notion that the best way to watch the games is on TV.

Firm says phone apps spy on Hong Kong protesters

Firm says phone apps spy on Hong Kong protesters

Associated Press 



HONG KONG — The Chinese government might be using smartphone apps to spy on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, a U.S. security firm says.
The applications are disguised as tools created by activists to protests, said the firm, Lacoon Mobile Security. The firm said that once downloaded, they give an outsider access to the phone's address book, call logs and other information.

The identities of victims and details of the servers used "lead us to believe that the Chinese government are behind the attack," said a Lacoon statement.
China is, along with the United States and Russia, regarded as a leader in cyber warfare research. Security experts say China is a leading source of hacking attacks aimed at foreign governments and companies to computers in China.

The Chinese government has denied engaging in cyberspying and says China is among the biggest victims of hacking attacks.
Lacoon said it found two similar "malicious, fake" apps that appeared to be related. One targets phones that run Apple Inc.'s iOS operating system; the other is meant for phones using Google Inc.'s Android system.

The "very advanced software," known as an mRAT, or multidimensional requirements analysis tool, "is undoubtedly being backed by a nation state," the company said. Lacoon said it was calling the software Xsser.

"The Xsser mRAT represents a fundamental shift by nation-state cybercriminals from compromising traditional PC systems to targeting mobile devices," the company said.
Such "cross-platform attacks" that target both Apple and Android phones are rare, which adds to signs a government is involved, Lacoon said. It said the app might be the first spyware for iOS created by a Chinese government entity.

In May, U.S. prosecutors charged five Chinese military officers with cyberspying and stealing trade secrets from major American companies. A security firm, Mandiant, said last year it traced attacks on American and other companies to a military unit in Shanghai.

Wednesday, 1 October 2014

Arduino's new 3D printer lets you modify just about everything

Arduino's new 3D printer lets you modify just about everything

Jon Fingas
Engadget


If you're a fan of Arduino's tinker-friendlyapproach to computing, you'll be glad to hear that it's now extending that open philosophy to 3D printers. The company has teamed up with Sharebot to unveil the Materia 101, a small (5.5 inches by 4 inches) printer that's built to be both friendly to beginners and very accessible. You can modify the code on the underlying Arduino Mega mini-PC, of course, but you also have access to the full schematics of the printer -- you can upgrade it or even make your own, if you have the know-how and parts. Arduino hasn't said when it plans to ship the Materia, but it'll be available both as a build-it-yourself kit (priced under $800) and fully assembled (under $1,000).
Source: Arduino

Philips' new LED light strap lets you treat skin disease at home

Philips' new LED light strap lets you treat skin disease at home

Jon Fingas
Engadget 

A skin disease like psoriasis is bad enough by itself, but it's made worse by the frequent need to visit your physician just to alleviate the pain and all-too-visible symptoms. Thankfully, Philips has just unveiled a wearable device that will let most psoriasis sufferers treat themselves. Its new BlueControl strap uses its namesake blue LED lights to slow down cell division (and thus painful inflammation) on your arms and legs; in tests, it cut the severity of symptoms in half without any side effects. The light therapy equipment will require a prescription when it reaches Germany, the Netherlands and the UK this October, but it will likely be worth the effort if it helps you avoid the doctor's office and get on with your life.
Source: Philips