Marissa Mayer has announced some big news around Flickr today: starting right now, Flickr users get 1TB of storage for free, “enough for a lifetime of photos” she says (that’s 500,000 full-resolution photos according to Yahoo’s estimate). “Flickr users will never have to worry about running out of space”, Marissa Mayer adds.
Read full post →Flickr Users Get 1TB For Free + New Design [Marissa Mayer]

Apple has a number of records to its name. The iPhone become one of the most selling smartphones around the world after it was released in 2007. Same goes for the original iPad, which can be credited for giving a huge boost to the previously dormant tablet market. According to analyst Horace Dediu, Apple’s latest record comes courtesy of its beautiful Retail Stores around the world, which have achieved a record revenue of $57.60 per visitor during Q1, 2013.

The analyst claims that average revenue per Apple store now stands at approximately $13 million, which is the highest for a non-holiday quarter. A 7% increase in foot traffic was also noted, with average number of visitors per store being estimated at 250,000 per quarter. Comparing the sales per square foot figures of Apple with other major retailers in the U.S., the Cupertino company smokes everyone, performing twice as well as Tiffany in the same quarter. Apple’s Retail Stores are no doubt meticulously designed and fashioned in a way that makes the visitor’s visit worthwhile. One can only fathom how much of an increase will be noted in these numbers once the holiday season comes around.

We’ve covered countless Motorola X Phone rumors here and up till now there has been no confirmation from either Google or Motorola regarding the time frame in which this device will be released. It was widely believed that Google would announce this smartphone at I/O 2013, though merely days before the conference it was reported that Google had pulled its teams from the project because it thought the project wasn’t innovative enough. Motorola reportedly was left with the project on its own, which is considered to be one of the major reasons in the release delay.

A week ago we reported that Motorola XT1058, believed to be the X Phone, had stopped by the FCC for approval, the AT&T version to be precise. According to a new leak, a CDMA version of the same device is also being manufactured, which would enable those devices to be compatible with Sprint and Verizon’s mobile network. The leak also claims that the Motorola X Phone will be powered by a Snapdragon S4 Pro dualcore processor. As per recent reports, the Motorola X Phone is expected to be released around August.

As if the Galaxy S4 didn’t spend much time in the limelight any way, these days a “rugged” version of this smartphone is being heavily rumored. Today we even saw allegedly leaked pictures of this device, which is said to be dust and water proof, carrying the Samsung SGH=i537 model number. The company is yet to comment on the existence of this device, though an impending confirmation hasn’t ever stopped the rumor mill from speculating on alleged specifications.

Rumor has it that the rugged Galaxy S4 a.k.a Galaxy Active will not have the same processor as the original Galaxy S4. Instead of the Snapdragon 600 or Exynos 5 Octa processors, the Galaxy Active may be powered by a relatively slower Snapdragon S4 1.9GHz quadcore processor. It is not entirely clear why the Active may ship with a slower processor. The new smartphone is expected to be shipping in the next few weeks. Apart from that, it will come touting Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz pre-installed while retaining the full 1080p HD display. Perhaps the processor downgrade is to spread the extra costs associated with manufacturing of this “rugged” smartphone?

It was reported back in February that the Chinese Army apparently has a whole cyber-wing with the ultimate purpose of launching cyberattacks on the U.S., specifically targeting government agencies and major companies. According to an Akamai report, cyberattacks originating from China tripled last year, making China reportedly the biggest culprit of state-sponsored hacking. The Administration has already said that it will take a firm stand against Chinese cyberattacks, there are a number of options that the U.S. might pursue including but not limited to visa restrictions. The New York Times now reports that such attacks against the U.S. have started to originate once again from the People’s Republic.

It has not been revealed which companies have been hit by these attacks, the names have not been made public due to various agreements, though it is said that these same companies were targeted the last time around as well. It has also been reported that this cyber-wing focuses quite a bit on companies that have direct access to the U.S. national power grid. Obviously nothing is known for sure, and with U.S. and China already agreeing to the formation of a working group for cybersecurity, it wouldn’t be the best of ideas to outright blame China without an official confirmation of its alleged actions.

Microsoft will unveil its next generation Xbox tomorrow after what seems to have been an endless cycle of rumors and speculation. The announcement will be made at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The full unveil of this console has been scheduled for the E3 conference which starts in June. Electronic Arts has confirmed that at the new Xbox launch event tomorrow, it will be unveiling FIFA 14 as well, a franchise of the hugely popular soccer series: FIFA. For now EA Sports has only posted a teaser on Facebook, which doesn’t exactly give anything away regarding this new game.

As far as the new Xbox is concerned, there have been a lot of rumors about what it may or may not have. Some believe that it might require an always-on internet connection, there has been much debate on that already, we’ll finally know for sure once Microsoft makes the official announcement. We’ve already posted a detailed roundup of the next generation Xbox, take a look and get up to speed about the gaming console that’s finally going to be unveiled tomorrow at Redmond.

HTC One, the Taiwanese manufacturer’s flagship Android smartphone, is certainly one amazing device. The company believes that it will rebound for its 98% fall in profits off the back of strong HTC One sales. This device is neck and neck with Samsung’s Galaxy S4, which does have an added advantage as it ships with Android 4.2.2 pre-installed, whereas HTC One comes with Android 4.1.2. A new report claims that HTC’s new flagship users won’t have to wait for long as the company is preparing to release HTC One Android 4.2.2 update in the next two or three weeks.

Today we’ve already seen a leaked Android 4.2.2 build go live for Galaxy S3, which brings back some S4 features. HTC wouldn’t want to delay the release of this new software version, though it is a bit too soon to speculate about the exact release date of Android 4.2.2 update. At this point in time, the company is probably ironing out any last minute bugs and applying fixes before the update goes live for millions of users around the world. Just a matter of a couple of weeks now, hopefully!

As Microsoft is about to announce the next-generation Xbox tomorrow, this may be the last day on which we use the term Xbox 720 (“Xbox Infinity” is rumored, but that seems like a very “final/ultimate” type of name… but why not?). Microsoft entered the console market at a time where many doubted that it could be successful as a new comer. After more than a decade, Microsoft now sits at the top of the market, with U.S console and game sales higher than both Sony and Nintendo. The company is about to introduce its next-generation game console, let’s take a look at what it’s likely going to be.
Read full post →Xbox 720: Everything To Look For

Soon after Google I/O 2013 in which the company announced Hangouts, we reported that video calls initiated through Hangouts app while on AT&T’s data network were not going through. It seemed like as if video chats from this new app were blocked like AT&T had blocked FaceTime when it came out. The company soon released a statement after that, throwing the ball back in Google’s court, saying that it was the Mountain View company that ultimately had the switch in its hands. AT&T also said that they don’t block video chat apps that are not pre-loaded on any Android device.

Today in yet another statement, AT&T assured us that it just might rolled out across the board support for all video chat apps by the end of this year. AT&T says that throughout the second of this year, their aim is to enable pre-loaded video chat apps over cellular for all of their customers, regardless of the device or data plan that they have. As far as the Hangouts issue is concerned, Google has yet to issue a statement of their own, for now AT&T has transferred the onus to them.

Some four months ago the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft was grounded by the FAA following a number of safety related incidents that had been caused to the battery system. In March, the manufacturer was finally given the go ahead to test its new battery system. Since then there have been many tests, including two certification flights. The ban was finally lifted late last month with Ethiopian Airlines becoming the first carrier to resume its 787 Dreamliner service. Today United Airlines has announced that its Dreamliner aircraft will once again roam the skies from this day on.

Despite the fact that the ban on flight was lifted last month, the entire fleet couldn’t be operational at once because it took teams more than a week to retrofit the new battery systems in all Dreamliner aircraft delivered to airlines around the globe. At the moment United Airline’s Dreamliner service is being operated on domestic routes inside the U.S. only. It is expected that the airline will resume long-haul international flights aboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft starting June 10th, the route being Denver, U.S. to Tokyo, Japan.