There's only one i in "iPhone," and it doesn't belong to Apple in Brazil anymore, according to a reported ruling by the country's trademark regulators.
The Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) in Brazil told the BBC that, instead, it has awarded the name's exclusive rights to Gradient Eletronica, ironically an Android-handset maker.
Gradient Eletronica had trademarked the iPhone name back in 2000, well ahead of Apple's first iteration of the smartphone in 2007.
Apple has already begun to appeal the decision, the INPI told the BBC, arguing that Gradiente had not used the name until December 2012.
For Apple, it gets worse
Gradient Eletronica now has the right to sue Apple for using the iPhone trademark on handsets in Brazil.
Worse, the Brazilian company launched an "iPhone" smartphone of its own this past December, and it runs rival mobile operating system, Android.
Adding insult to infringe-ry, Gradient's "iPhone Neo One" has paltry some specs: a single-core 700MHz processor, a 5MP camera, and the outdated Android Gingerbread OS.
Its low-resolution 3.7-inch screen at 320x480 pixels is far from a Retina display, and the phone has a meager 2GB of storage inside.
Then slightly better
Not much of a consolation prize, Apple can still use "iPhone" on products besides handsets. The California company retains exclusive rights to the name on clothing, in software, and across publications.
The good news for Apple is that it appears as if Gradient executives are keep their iPhone Neo Ones charged in case the company decides to call.
"We're open to a dialogue for anything, anytime," said Eugenio Emilio Staub, chairman of Gradient parent company IGB, to Bloomberg this month. "We're not radicals."
Staub said that Apple hadn't reached out to the company as of that Feb. 5 comment.
TechRadar reached out to be Apple and Gradient Electronica for comment on the matter, both companies didn't respond to media requests today.
Depending on how Apple's appeal process goes, however, Gradient may have a Cisco-style payday on its hands.
During a recent speech at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, GameStop CFO Rob Lloyd said that 60 percent of customers said they would not buy a new gaming console if it couldn’t play used titles. The admission comes as we continue to hear rumblings that at least one next generation console maker could be prepared to blocked previously played games.
The executive told those in attendance that consumers want the ability to play pre-owned games in addition to having portability and physicality in games. Not having these elements, he said, would be a substantial reason for potential buyers to avoid purchasing a new console.
What’s more, he noted that only about four percent of their used game sales are for titles that were released in the last 60 days. He likely highlighted that fact to show that their used games market typically deals with older, out-of-print games that are being given another chance at life.
GameStop didn’t elaborate on how they collected information for this survey and as Ars Technica points out, saying you aren’t going to buy a system for one reason or another is certainly different than actually sticking to your guns – especially when a game you really want is an exclusive on said console. Furthermore, one would be forgiven for thinking it a bit suspicious that GameStop, a company that has an obvious interest in used game sales, would issue such a statement.
What's your take on the topic? Would you buy a next genration console knowing it could only play brand new games?
After having incredibly wild success with the S3, a new iteration is a no-brainer for Samsung, which is believed to be readying the Galaxy S4 for 2013.
Though Samsung hasn't officially announced any plans for such a device, that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from churning out bit after bit of supposed Galaxy S4 information.
Today we have a few more data points to add, though by no means is any of this confirmed. Samsung, like most mobile companies, likes to stay close-mouthed about its new products, but we may have a jump on what to expect from the S4 thanks to all these squeaky wheels.
Home is where the button is
The Galaxy S4 has reportedly been in production since late last year, and a great many reports share similar details about what the insides will look like.
The Android-powered smartphone is routinely expected to include a 5-inch full HD screen with 440ppi, and feature the new 1.8GHz Octa processor.
Oddly enough, even after some images of the S4 were leaked, people still can't seem to agree on whether or not there will be a home button on the smartphone.
A new report from Korean news outlet D Daily seems confident the the Galaxy S4 will feature a home button like the S3, as well as touch keys.
Though the supposed images of the S4 featured a streamlined front screen with no visible buttons, it's still quite possible that's what the smartphone will look like.
Stylin' and profilin'
In January, it was reported Samsung made a $58.9 million (UK£37 million, AU$56.4 million) investment in Wacom, earning the company a 5 percent stake in the stylus maker.
It was then believed future Samsung devices would include the company's proprietary S-Pen, including the rumored Galaxy S4.
Sadly, the D Daily also indicated Samsung would be dropping the S-Pen stylus from the Galaxy S4, adding that the phone would still include "non-contact gesture."
What that means is the phone may be able to recognize fingertips from a small distance away from the screen, allowing users to keep the display free of smudged fingerprints.
There seems to be a lot of "fact or fiction" surrounding the Galaxy S4 at the moment, but we should discover very soon just what Samsung has in store for the next generation of the S series.
The man responsible for giving Microsoft’s original Xbox its name has penned a blog post outlining the poor job he says the company has done with the console over the past five years – and especially during the last 12 months. The former employee has a laundry list of activities where Microsoft is going wrong and believes that Apple could kill console gaming as we know it if they wanted to.
Nat Brown said Microsoft has been coasting on past momentum for several years and failing to innovate and capitalize on innovations like Kinect. He goes on to say that Microsoft has a total lack of tactical versus strategic understanding of the long game with regards to the living room.
Brown isn’t against the broad content / entertainment business with a living room connected device. In fact, he said that is exactly what the Xbox was designed for and why it was the Trojan horse for the living room. They wanted the Xbox to be welcomed by millions and replace non-console devices like set-top boxes and WebTV.
The problem, he says, is that Microsoft is forgetting the key purpose of the console: gaming. He says they are making it very difficult for indies to develop Xbox games and get them published. It should be just as easy to create a game for the Xbox as it is to build one for Android or iOS. Furthermore, Brown says the device OS and nearly the entire user experience outside the first two levels of the dashboard are creaky, slow and full of shit.
He concludes the rant by suggesting that Apple could put everyone under by introducing an open 30 percent cut app / game ecosystem for Apple TV. On the gaming side, that would likely require a beefed-up Apple TV but considering the company sold 5.3 million units in 2012, it says a lot about what Cupertino could do if (when) they wanted to.
It seemed like a safe assumption. With the arrival of the BlackBerry Z10, we figured that the company previously known as RIM would move forward with the BlackBerry 10 platform alone, fleshing out its lineup accordingly. And we would be wrong. Whereas the BlackBerry line used to run all the way from cheap Pearls and Curves to more expensive Bolds and Storms, it seems that the new BlackBerry 10 is focused on the high-end only. At least for now.
This comes by way of BlackBerry European MD Stephen Bates. He says that BlackBerry wants to be seen as a “high-end” company first and foremost, so it will only be launching flagship devices like the Z10 and the upcoming Q10. However, they are going to “evolve that portfolio to enter the mid-tier” at some point. They won’t, though, get “to the entry level tier for some time, certainly not this year.”
Given that a substantial part of BlackBerry’s current market share comes in the form of cheap prepaid phones on cheap prepaid plans, they’re not giving up on the entry level just yet. That said, that end of the market is just going to be stuck with a BB7 Curve for the foreseeable future. Indeed, “it was important for us to show that we’re not giving up on BB7…. we launched BBM voice and it connects into the BB10 world where we’ve added video and screen sharing.”
BB10 will get to the entry level market eventually, assuming that BlackBerry is still around to see it. Just know that if you want some BB10 action this year, it’s at the higher end with the Q10 and Z10.
Although you can usually click through most software license agreements with little consequence, you should probably skim Microsoft's terms before spending $140 to $400 on a retail copy of Office 2013 as two key parts have changed from previous versions of the suite.
If you purchased a retail edition of Office 2010, the end-user license agreement (EULA) permits you to install the software on up to two devices at once (a desktop and a laptop) and if you retire one or both of those systems, your license is transferable to new machines.
Neither of those permissions exist with Office 2013. Microsoft's updated EULA only lets you install the boxed editions on one computer, and only that computer -- forever. If we understand the terms right (and they seem pretty clear), you aren't allowed to transfer your license:
"Can I transfer the software to another computer or user? You may not transfer the software to another computer or user. You may transfer the software directly to a third party only as installed on the licensed computer, with the Certificate of Authenticity label and this agreement. Before the transfer, that party must agree that this agreement applies to the transfer and use of the software. You may not retain any copies."
We're not sure how "new" this news is, but it definitely hasn't gotten the exposure it deserves and many TechSpot staffers were surprised to learn about it. The updated EULA essentially demotes retail builds to OEM status, which seems comically restrictive given the price of Office -- especially the Professional edition. Are you really supposed to spend another $400 on a new copy if, say, your computer croaks?
The quoted EULA text above sure seems to suggest so, but Adam Turner of The Age set out to get a concrete statement straight from Microsoft. After various frustrating encounters with the company's PR and tech support departments -- the latter of which was totally clueless about the new terms -- Turner received a candid response: "No, the customer cannot transfer the license from one PC to another PC."
It remains unclear how or if this policy is enforced, though Turner suggests that it may be accomplished through your Microsoft cloud account. It's also unclear how Office 2013 determines what counts as a new computer. Would your license be toast after a RAM upgrade? Turner says he's still waiting on answers to these questions, but it took several days of contacting Microsoft to get the comment above.
The HTC One name has hit the big stage after it popped up on advertising boards during the Real Madrid vs Manchester United football match.
Hype surrounding the Taiwanese firm's next flagship handset is building and the originally touted M7 name looks set to be usurped by the simpler HTC One handle, but that's not the reason behind the ad in question.
During the first half of the match we noticed the branding appear on the boards surrounding the pitch and it made us wonder if this was the beginning of what we'd expect to be a worldwide marketing campaign for the upcoming device.
Game on?
However having spoken to HTC, TechRadar can confirm that this particular advert is not connected to the firm's next flagship handset and is instead referring to the umbrella brand which covers the likes of the One X, One S and One V.
The timing of this particular campaign is interesting though, considering the firm has an event lined up on February 19 where it will unveil its next flagship smartphone.
Until then we're going to enjoy the second half and for those of you who are not one of the 200 million fans watching the game there's always a countdown timer to ogle.
While Google and Motorola's rumored X Phone remains a mystery, it is already making waves by impressing Australian wireless carriers.
Hugh Bradlow, the chief technology officer for Australian carrier Telstra, is very enthusiastic about the new smartphone.
Reportedly Bradlow told senior mobile staff at the firm that X Phone is a "real breakthrough, a game changer that will put pressure on Samsung and Apple."
An anonymous Motorola source added while speaking to Smarthouse, "Google has been working on this device for a long time. It has software features and capabilities that are not available on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone or Apple iPhone. The software is really powerful and it pulls together Google services like no other manufacturer has done in the past."
X marks the spot
Concrete details are still scarce about the much-mentioned X Phone, which appears to be the handset's official codename thanks to a LinkedIn job listing.
The X Phone's specs are said to include a debut for the Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie OS, along with a virtually bezel-less edge-to-edge 5-inch display.
Rumors have also hinted at a new Nexus-like UI for the X Phone, which is said to bring new features to rival Samsung's S-Beam, S-Voice, and other UI enhancements.
With the Google I/O conference coming up in May, the event could make a fitting unveiling for the mysterious X Phone. Motorola has been rather quiet since its buyout by Google in 2011, so TechRadar will keep a keen eye out for any developments on the firm's Google debut.
There's a new Jelly Bean in town, and it's on its way to an Android device near you - but first, a quick stop at the Android Open Source Project (AOSP).
Android Community reported Tuesday that the latest flavor of Android Jelly Bean is now rolling out to users everywhere in the form of version 4.2.2.
As part of the rollout, the minor Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update has been pushed to AOSP as build number JDQ39, with files tagged as "android-4.2.2_r1".
Don't be too surprised if your device isn't seeing the update yet - history has shown that such updates often take time, but if you're impatient, you can manually check for Android 4.2.2 via the Settings page on your device.
Update in motion
Android 4.2.2 is a modest update for improved performance and stability, but the custom ROM community appears eager to get their hands on it regardless.
Now that the update has landed on the Android Open Source Project, developers like CyanogenMod and AOKP can get to work tweaking their ROMs to support the latest and greatest version Google has to offer.
Android enthusiasts are also eagerly awaiting a post from Android's chief release engineer, Jean-Baptiste Quéru, which is typically posted to the Android Building Google Group shortly after a release hits AOSP.
Finally, a full changelog for the Android 4.2.2 release is also expected, which could detail any small revisions that early adopters might not have noticed.
After years struggling to capture a bigger share of the browser market Opera has announced it is dropping its own Presto rendering engine in favor of WebKit -- the same engine used by Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome. The move will happen gradually over the course of 2013 across desktop and mobile products.
The Norwegian firm says that it will show off a WebKit-based version of its Android browser at the Mobile World Congress show in less than two weeks. This and an upcoming desktop counterpart will be based on Chromium, Google's open source project that contains most, but not all, of the code used in Chrome.
Commenting on the decision, CTO Håkon Wium Lie said "The WebKit engine is already very good, and we aim to take part in making it even better. It supports the standards we care about, and it has the performance we need. It makes more sense to have our experts working with the open source communities to further improve WebKit and Chromium, rather than developing our own rendering engine further.” Opera will contribute to the WebKit and Chromium projects, and has already submitted a first set of patches to improve multi-column layout.
The moves also responds to the need of improving compatibility with mobile devices, where the company has usually been a strong contender but faces a growing threat as mobile content is widely designed for WebKit alone -- no doubt thanks to the prominence of Chrome and Safari on Android and iOS, respectively. The latter prohibits browsers based on engines other than the Apple-supplied version of Webkit.
With Opera throwing the towel on Presto, the market will be reduced to three major engines: WebKit, Microsoft's Trident, and Mozilla's Gecko. Mozilla developer Robert O'Callahan expressed disappointment with the decision, claiming it will make their job of promoting web standards harder.
There's a new Jelly Bean in town, and it's on its way to an Android device near you - but first, a quick stop at the Android Open Source Project (AOSP).
Android Community reported Tuesday that the latest flavor of Android Jelly Bean is now rolling out to users everywhere in the form of version 4.2.2.
As part of the rollout, the minor Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update has been pushed to AOSP as build number JDQ39, with files tagged as "android-4.2.2_r1".
Don't be too surprised if your device isn't seeing the update yet - history has shown that such updates often take time, but if you're impatient, you can manually check for Android 4.2.2 via the Settings page on your device.
Update in motion
Android 4.2.2 is a modest update for improved performance and stability, but the custom ROM community appears eager to get their hands on it regardless.
Now that the update has landed on the Android Open Source Project, developers like CyanogenMod and AOKP can get to work tweaking their ROMs to support the latest and greatest version Google has to offer.
Android enthusiasts are also eagerly awaiting a post from Android's chief release engineer, Jean-Baptiste Quéru, which is typically posted to the Android Building Google Group shortly after a release hits AOSP.
Finally, a full changelog for the Android 4.2.2 release is also expected, which could detail any small revisions that early adopters might not have noticed.
Fame and Young? Sound more like accountants than hot smartphones.
The Samsung Galaxy Fame and Samsung Galaxy Young have been announced in South Korea and the budget devices will be heading to the UK.
Update: Three has confirmed it will be offering the Samsung Galaxy Fame, although the network was unable to give us a release date or price with "coming soon" the only thing we have to go off.
Design wise, both handsets borrow heavily from the Samsung Galaxy S3, as do all the new Galaxy handsets - probably in an attempt to get away from any potential law suits with Apple.
The Galaxy Fame sports slightly better features than the Young with a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 display, 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB internal storage, 5MP camera, VGA front snapper, NFC, 1,300mAh battery and Android Jelly Bean (version 4.1).
Jelly Bean for all
Probably coming in slightly cheaper than the Frame, the Samsung Galaxy Young has a smaller 3.27-inch display, the same 1GHz processor and Jelly Bean OS - but surprisingly more RAM at 768MB.
NFC doesn't feature on the handset and you only get a 3MP camera round the back, while the Bluetooth technology is version 3.0 instead of the Galaxy Frame's 4.0 offering.
TechRadar spoke to Samsung regarding pricing and availability of the Galaxy Fame and Galaxy Young, with the manufacturer confirming that "availability for the UK will be week commencing March 25."
Both handsets will likely be knocking around MWC 2013 at the end of February, and we'll be there to get hands on with both of them, so stay tuned for our early findings.
The HTC One is almost upon us as a teasing countdown has appeared on the Taiwanese firm's website, complete with candid flashes of its new flagship device.
Give the HTC homepage a couple of seconds to properly load and you'll notice short video clips will begin to play behind the timer, offering up the briefest of looks of the HTC One.
It's the final countdown
There's little to be gained from these snapshots, with HTC going heavy on the flare effect to conceal the majority of the handset.
What you do see is a rather imposing camera lens, rumoured to support new ultrapixels technology, and various flashes of a curved chassis and the metallic HTC logo on the back of the white One.
TechRadar will be present at the event on Febraury 19 where we expect to see the flagship device officially unveiled, so keep a look out for our hands on HTC One review.
Last week we reported on the LG Optimus G Pro, a 5.5-inch smartphone believed to be heading exclusively to South Korea. Now the company has posted an official image of the handset to its Facebook page.
For the moment, no details on a global launch, though considering the growing popularity of massive smartphones it wouldn’t be too surprising to see a global version sometime in the near future. As for the Korean version, it is expected to feature a quad-core processor and full HD display.
No details about the exact release date have been mentioned just yet, and the same goes for official pricing. That said, LG does indicate it will be available sometime this month. Hopefully we’ll know more about the LG Optimus G Pro (and hopefully its global plans) at MWC later this month.
Would you be interested in this phablet version of the Optimus G or are you more interested in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2? Conversely, do you feel that 5.5-inches is just way to big for a smartphone?
Next week everyone expects the HTC M7 to be officially unveiled, quite possibly under the name “HTC One”. Now HTC has placed a countdown clock on its front page teasing the HTC M7.
The clock is counting down to synchronous events in London and New York, where we hope to see the HTC M7 and perhaps even a few other devices like the rumored HTC M4. There has been quite a few leaks about the HTC M7 before, but hopefully HTC still has a few surprises up its sleeves for the big event. For those that need a refresher, we believe that the HTC M7 will feature a quad-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and 2GB of RAM. Other specs include 32GB storage, a 13MP camera, a 2MP front-cam and a 2,300 mAh battery.
Based on what we believe we know so far, are you excited about the HTC M7?
INQ, the erstwhile mobile phone manufacturer, has decided to get into the content game by using social media-powered info.
The Material app, which is currently in beta and only available on Android, doesn't just involve a list of news – it actively seeks to curate the news you look at based on your Facebook and Twitter profile.
At the entry page you're asked to log in to Facebook and Twitter, and from there a profile is built. As you read more items, the app will learn what your preferences are, and will deliver a curated 'magazine' twice daily based on what it thinks you'll want to scroll through.
The future on your phone
It's very much a beta release at the moment though, with no functionality for tablets or the ability to 'unlike' things based on what you're seeing as targeted for your interests. However, INQ CEO Ken Johnstone told us that the tablet version was coming soon.
He also pointed out that this 'discovery engine' was based on the power of the original INQ Cloud Touch mobile that launched a couple of years ago, which was also centred on using social graphs within Facebook to promote the content and people you cared about the most.
The current iteration is middling in its ability to provide you with the information you really want, with elements like football bringing in both the European (proper) and American versions of the sport – and with no way to discard content from your feed, it can get annoying.
Getting involved
Also, once you click on a story it can take an age to load within the app – which uses the standard Android web interface – but once in, it's great that you can continue scrolling down and get to the next article instantly.
You can also add topics you think might be interesting, and twice daily the list will refresh based on what your Twitter following is doing. Johnstone told TechRadar that the idea was to work out what you cared about – so pulling up the author profiles of any writers you follow, for instance, will mean the app will try to offer content within their genre.
It's a novel and ambitious idea, and if it can be done will be a great app for serving up the content that really matters – which is what we all want, after all, given our dependency on smartphone content when bored – but it could be a good few months of refining before this app is ready for the mainstream.
It's thought that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is being developed under the codename Project J, but apparently the project doesn't just cover the firm's next flagship smartphone.
According to the folks over at SamMobile, Project J actually consists of three devices, with the flagship Galaxy S4 (also referred to as GT-I9500 or Altius) being joined by Project J Mini and Project J Active.
The Project J Mini, or Serrano as Samsung is calling it, looks set to the be the Galaxy S4 Mini following in the footsteps of the Galaxy S3 Mini.
Tick tock
Things get a little more interesting when we look at the Project J Active (or Fortius, if you prefer) which appears to be a slightly different device with accessories such as an arm band, bike mount and pouch listed.
This has lead people to speculate that Samsung may be working on a wearable piece of tech, possibly to rival the rumoured Apple iWatch.
Of course it could just be another tough phone to follow on from the Galaxy XCover 2, and apparently Project J Active is yet to be finalised unlike the others which have already been given the green light.
S4 spotted again
The Korean version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 has supposedly popped up in a benchmark test over at GLBenchmarks.
According to the results for a handset going by the model ID SHV-E300S, it out performs the Galaxy S3, Nexus 4 and HTC Butterfly during off screen tests, while only the Nexus 4 comes out better from the on screen benchmarks.
We're not getting too carried away with any of these reports as it's not clear where the Project J information came from and benchmarks can be easily forged.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 release date is currently thought to be scheduled for May, so we're going to have to wait a couple more months before we start getting anything official from the Korean firm.
Belkin has produced another solid product with the Belkin Lightning Car Charger for the iPhone 5.
Some companies have made a good living out of making peripherals for Apple's old iPod, iPhone and iPad connections. However, the launch of the iPhone 5, iPad mini and iPad 4 introduced the new Lightning connector, that's smaller and faster than the older port. It's undoubtedly a nice feature, but it can render the peripherals we've bought for our older Apple products obsolete.
You can buy an adaptor so that you can use a Lightning port with an older device, though it's a rather inelegant solution that removes almost all of the benefits of the new port. It does mean you get to keep your old peripherals, and is also useful if you have a number of Apple devices, with some of them still using the older port, since it enables you to use all your devices.
The second option, as Belkin took with its Lightning Connector Car Charger, is to make a device that works from the ground up for Lightning connections. It's small, good looking and charges the device quickly, thanks to its 10 watt power output. There's no need for an adaptor, and it can be easily stored in the car when not in use.
Rubber grips around the head of the adaptor make it easy to insert and unplug the adaptor, and the included 1.2m (4ft) lead is a decent length.
Verdict
Overall this is a good product to buy if you only have an Apple product with the new Lightning connection. However, if you have other Apple devices with the older port, then this car charger will be of limited use, and you might be better off getting an adaptor.
Nokia witnessed its global mobile phone market share drop significantly over the course of last year while Apple and Samsung continued to grow.
According to analyst firm Gartner the Finnish manufacturer saw a year on year drop of 4.7 per cent, with a larger 5.4 per cent decline in the final quarter of last year.
Apple and Samsung on the other hand managed to increase their dominance in the market, with the firms now controlling 52 per cent of all smartphone sales.
Record breaking smartphones
Smartphone sales were at a record high during the fourth quarter of 2012 with 207.7 million units being snapped up by consumers, which is up almost 40 per cent over the same period in 2011.
On the flip side feature phones continue to decline, partly due to the swath of affordable Android smartphones now on the market, with sales down almost 20 per cent year on year.
Possibly the biggest winner from these results is Chinese firm Huawei which now sits comfortably in third place in the global smartphone sales ranking, although there's quite a gap between it and second place Apple.
Adobe has released a patch for two Flash player vulnerabilities that are being actively exploited against Windows and OS X users to install malware on their systems. The first of them, CVE-2013-0633, works by tricking Windows users into opening a Word document containing malicious Flash content, while the bug, cataloged as CVE-2013-0634, can be exploited via Apple’s Safari or Mozilla’s Firefox browsers in both platform as well as Word documents booby-trapped with malicious Flash content on Windows.
Adobe credited members of the Shadowserver Foundation, Lockheed Martin's Computer Incident Response Team, MITRE, and antivirus provider Kaspersky Lab for their help in discovering the vulnerabilities. Although only OS X and Windows have been reported to be under attack, Linux and Android received an update as well.
Users are warned to update their software as soon as possible using the in-built updater or standalone installer.
Ars notes Adobe’s advisory came the same day the company announced that a future version of Flash will make this sort of embedded attacks in Microsoft Office documents more difficult to achieve. Namely, it will introduce a "click-to-play" prompt for users of Office 2008 and earlier so content only runs with user approval. Office 2010 and later already has a “Protected Mode” that limits the privileges of content within a document.
Mozilla also announced a similar security feature for an upcoming version of its Firefox browser. The change will happen gradually and eventually plug-ins like Silverlight, Adobe Reader, Java will be blocked by default. Flash will still be allowed to run but only when the most recent version is installed.
Time Warner CFO and chief administrative officer John K. Martin recently revealed during an investors call that the company is planning a strong games release this coming year which will include a new game under the Batman: Arkham franchise. Not much else was revealed during the chat but it certainly gives Batman fans something to look forward to in the coming months.
The fact that a new game in the franchise is on the way isn’t a real shocker at this point. Last month it was revealed that Warner Bros. registered some 15 new Arkham-related domain names. The company used MarkMonitor to register the domains, a brand protection firm that they have worked with in the past.
The list of registered domains include arkhamuniverse.com, dcarkhamverse.com, batmanarkhambegins.com and batmanarkhamstories.com. It’s likely that most of these were picked to throw off any guesses about the true title of the upcoming game but at least one of the URLs could give some credit to a rumor from last year pointing to a Batman prequel.
VG247 said their own sources were able to confirm that Rocksteady Studios, the company behind Arkham City and Arkham Asylum, is not making this new game. Furthermore, it is widely known that Paul Dini, the writer for Arkham City, won’t be returning for a follow-up job.
Based on Martin’s wording, the title could come this year or sometime in 2014 as part of the company’s next financial year.
Apple made the screen bigger last time. Is an even bigger iPhone on the way?
When Apple unveiled the iPhone 5, the reaction was a bit muted: where previous phones were massive leaps forward, the iPhone 5 was a bit longer and a lot easier to scratch.
So what can we expect from the next iPhone, the iPhone 6 or 5S? Let's see what the crystal balls are saying.
The iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5S are two different phones
The rumour mill doesn't seem too sure whether the next iPhone is going to be the iPhone 5S or the iPhone 6. Given the iPhone's history - from the 3G onwards, there's always been a half-step S model before the next numbered iPhone - we'd bet on an iPhone 5S first and an iPhone 6 a few months later.
The iPhone 6 might have a plastic case
Multiple rumours say Apple's working on plastic cases for its next iPhone, mixing plastic and metal in such a way that "the internal metal parts [are] able to be seen from outside through special design."
It's unclear whether such cases would be for the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, or if Apple is simply considering making cheaper iPhone 4s to sell when the iPhone 3GS reaches the end of its life.
Pretty, yes, but also horrifically scratch-prone. Will your next iPhone have a plastic back?
The iPhone 6 will finally do NFC
That's what iDownloadblog reckons, quoting Jefferies analyst Peter Misek: it'll have a better battery too, he says.
The iPhone 6 will run iOS 7 and the iPhone 5S probably won't
Developers are seeing new iPhone model identifiers in their server logs: the device identifies itself as the iPhone 6,1 (the iPhone 5 is 5,1 or 5,2) running iOS 7, and its IP address is an Apple one. If the two-phones strategy is true, we'd expect Apple to unveil the next major revision of iOS at its WWDC conference in June, with it shipping on the iPhone 6 a few months later.
The iPhone 6 release date is September 2013, probably
Some pundits predict a spring release for the iPhone 6: Money Morning reckons that the iPhone 5's lack of NFC and Jumbotron display is because Apple's got a proper iPhone ready for a springtime release.
It's quite likely that Apple is moving to a two-phones-per-year upgrade cycle, but we'd bet on a springtime S model and a bigger update in the Autumn.
Even Digitimes reckons a springtime iPhone 6 is unlikely: it's predicting a summertime reveal for Apple's next generation phones, which again fits with a WWDC unveiling.
Apple may have a new roadmap, with new phones every spring and autumn
The iPhone 6 will have 128GB of storage, and it'll cost a fortune
We've already seen a 128GB iPad, so why not a 128GB iPhone 6? Yes, it'll cost a fortune, but high-spending early adopters love this stuff.
The iPhone 6 may not have a home button
According to Business Insider, of the many iPhone 6 prototypes Apple has made, one has a giant Retina+ IGZO display and a "new form factor with no home button. Gesture control is also possibly included".
The iPhone 6 screen may be bigger
Take this one with a pinch of salt, because China Times isn't always right: it reckons the codename iPhone Math, which may be a mistranslation of iPhone+, will have a 4.8-inch display. The same report suggests that Apple will release multiple handsets throughout the year over and above the iPhone 5S and 6, which seems a bit far-fetched to us.
You'll probably still be able to see the camera lens in the iPhone 6
The iPhone 6 processor will be an Apple A7
Not a huge surprise, this one: the current processor is a dual-core A6, and the next one will be a quad-core A7. The big sell here is more power with better efficiency, which should help battery life.
Expect to see it in the 2013 iPad first, and expect to see an improved A6 processor, the A6X, in the iPhone 5S.
The iPhone 6 camera should have more megapixels
Apple's bought camera sensors from Sony before, and this year we're going to see a new, 13-megapixel sensor that takes up less room without compromising image quality.
The iPhone 6 will have better 4G LTE
On its UK launch, just one UK network had 4G LTE: Everything Everywhere, which currently offers 4G on the 1800MHz band. In 2013, all the other big names will be coming on board, offering 4G in other frequency bands. International iPhones already work across different 4G bands to the UK, so you can expect the UK iPhone 6 (and possibly the iPhone 5S) to be more promiscuous than the iPhone 5.
The iPhone 6 Wi-Fi may be 802.11ac
Apple likes to lead Wi-Fi standards adoption - its Airport really helped make Wi-Fi mainstream - and there's a good chance we'll see ultra-fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi in Apple kit this year. It's faster than Lighting, and not very frightening.
The iPhone 6 may get wireless charging
Wireless charging still isn't mainstream. Could Apple help give it a push? CP Tech reports that Apple has filed a patent for efficient wireless charging, but then again Apple has filed patents for pretty much anything imaginable.
The tasty bit of this particular patent is that Apple's tech wouldn't just charge one device, but multiple ones.
A new rumor indicates that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of three products that are making up Samsung’s “Project J”. What are the other two devices? Apparently the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and some kind of companion device for both the Mini and standard S4.
That’s right, seems like the S4 is getting the “Mini” treatment right out of the gate, at least if the rumor mill proves correct. So who is the source of this rumor? It comes from SamMobile, and while it should be taken with a grain of salt, I wouldn’t be that surprised either.
If the Galaxy S4 is getting a larger 4.99-inch 1080p display, it makes sense that Samsung might want to position the S4 Mini as an alternative for those that just don’t want a screen that big. So what can we expect from the S4 Mini? Hard to say, but hopefully it delivers a heck of a lot more than the Galaxy S3 Mini. Except in styling and name, the S3 Mini was more along the lines of Galaxy S2 then an S3.
If Samsung follows this pattern, the S4 Mini might have close to the same specs as the Galaxy S3. Here’s to hoping that the Galaxy S4 Mini is quite similar to its bigger brother, though odds are it will probably feature a 720p display over a 1080p.
What about the third device? The rumor mill says it is currently called “Fortius” and is designed to work with a number of accessories like a bike mount, arm band and more. This isn’t a smartphone, but it is unclear what exactly it is– maybe some kind of smartwatch?
Hopefully we learn more on March 15th, when Samsung is supposedly set to unveil the Galaxy S4. Would you be interested in a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini or not?
