HTC First’s and Facebook Home’s problems have been well chronicled over the past few weeks. Apart from getting sued by Eminem’s publisher, Facebook’s new Home on Android hasn’t been doing as well as the company had hoped. It has also taken its toll on the HTC First smartphone, which happens to be the first smartphone to ship with Home pre-installed. We had recently reported a rumor that this smartphone was going to be discontinued, it seemed possible as AT&T slashed its price from $99 on contract to merely $0.99. While it continues to sell in the U.S., the smartphone’s U.K. release has been put off indefinitely.

Facebook says in a statement that it is now focusing on adding new customization features to Home in the next couple of months. They say that they have “recommended holding off” the UK HTC First launch, though adding that they’re committed to bringing the latest mobile experiences to their customers. So as the smartphone’s future in the Kingdom looks bleak, those across the pond who wish to try out Facebook Home can do so if they have any one of the supported devices, for which Home can be downloaded from Google Play Store.

It isn’t far-fetched to think if Microsoft actually plans on integrating its Windows Phone platform with the newly unveiled Xbox One in some way. As a matter of fact, the likelihood of such an integration seeing the light of day has greatly increased. Microsoft’s senior marketing manager, Greg Sullivan, has said that the “general idea of an increased seamlessness and integration across these elements is a goal.” He also says that despite the fact that Microsoft didn’t even mention Windows Phone at the Xbox One unveil, that doesn’t mean “there’s nothing that’s being worked on.”

Unfortunately Greg didn’t reveal more than just these subtle hints. So obviously one can’t say for sure when exactly we’ll see this interaction formally be revealed. Greg also said that Windows Phone is an evidence of “great cross-divisional collaboration at Microsoft” and that the company aims to continue improving it. The Windows Phone platform is doing considerably well in the marketing, considering how it snapped up the third place title from BlackBerry recently. The idea isn’t outright impossible, though there aren’t any hints about the level of integration between these two platforms.

Google, the maestros of search, has certainly done their bit to further enhance the Google search experience on your email, where it will soon be made possible for everyone living in the US to be able to perform an instant search on relevant emails, Google Drive files, and Calendar events among others each time you decide to perform a search in Gmail. Of course, this particular feature did not come about just like that, as this was not an idea pulled out of thin air, but rather, it has been tested in recent months via a trial, and apparently, those “lab rats” so to speak have fallen in love with the time-saving convenience of being able to search for the entire slew of items from a single place.

Throughout the coming week, this particular search feature will rollout to all US users (affecting searches in English only for now), so if you happen to live in the land of the free and home of the brave, be patient if you have yet to enjoy this particular feature. [Press Release]

A new ‘Administrative Fee’ has been introduced by AT&T which will apply to postpaid consumer contracts and individual responsibility user of IRU business contracts. The fee was applied to aforementioned subscribers from 1st May. AT&T says that this new fee helps it to “defray” some expenses that it has to bear. These expenses include but are not limited to “charges AT&T or its agents pay to interconnect other carriers to deliver calls from AT&T customers to their customers” or “charges associated with cell sites rents and maintenance.” The administrative fee is $0.61 per month, which works out to be an additional $7.32 per year.

AT&T subscribers might find solace in the fact that their carrier actually charges less administrative fees than other carriers in the country. Carriers such as T-Mobile actually bundle this fee with the regulatory charges, so obviously its not as clear cut as the way AT&T is adopting to inform its subscribers about the charge. As a customer, what is your point of view on carriers charging such fees to subscribers? Do you think whether they should be paying for whatever expenses they mention out of their own pocket? Should carriers be liable to disclose if their collections are actually more than the mentioned expenses?

How many of you out there were exposed to the Transformers for the first time in your life through Michael Bay’s effort on the silver screen? Well, if you so happen to fall under that particular category, might I encourage you to check out the entire back history and story of the Transformers over the years so that you would not end up thinking that there is no such Transformer out there that is as large as an entire planet. Having said that, it is always cool to have a vehicle which changes its shape to that of a robot, and the folks over at the JDSF – Japan Self Defense Force might be on to something with this unique looking anime-inspired helicopter design that you see above.

Known as the Fuujin attack helicopter, it seems to be more fantasy than reality, and that is exactly what this is – the brainchild and inspiration of a DeviantArt-ist and ex-Lucasfilms animator who hails from Indonesia. Should the good people pick up this particular design concept and implement it in real life, expect to see the world go abuzz over it in no time at all.

If you have been on the lookout for the Kindle Fire HD from Amazon, but never really meant business by purchasing one, you might want to take note that the Amazon Kindle Fire HD is now available for pre-orders in more than 170 countries, not to mention doing their bit to expand the Amazon Appstore so that folks living in nearly 200 countries will be able to take advantage of it. If you are interested in the Kindle Fire HD but never really got around to getting one, may we know what is stopping you from picking it up? You are able to place pre-orders for the 7-inch and 8.9-inch models of the Kindle Fire HD via Amazon.com, its UK site, France, and Amazon Germany so far, where shipments are tipped to make its way to customers from June 13th onwards.

The Kindle Fire HD was on sale in the US, select countries in Europe, and Japan previously, so this extension of a device rollout in even more countries is definitely a welcome move. Not only that, Amazon has also requested app submissions from developers so that they can distribute these in the new Appstore regions, which so happen to be usable as well on normal Android devices in addition to the Kindle Fire HD. The 7” model can be pre-ordered from $214 or the regional equivalent, while the 8.9” model will start from $284.

I am not sure about you, but I know that for some folks out there, their dream island destination would be something that is definitely not on most Top 10 lists – the Galapagos Islands. If you grew up reading stories on Charles Darwin spending time on the Galapagos Islands which played quite an important role in shaping up his worldview of evolution, and always wanted to drop by the Galapagos Islands for yourself but never had the opportunity to do so, Google has got your back – albeit virtually, of course.

All it takes on your part would be a simple click of a mouse or a finger swipe on a tablet to do your own exploration on select areas of the Galapagos Islands, including its most remote areas, surrounding waters and unique creatures. Just how did Google do this if they had no way of sending their Street View cars there? Easy, as Google decided to harness the assistance of hikers insteads, where they were fully equipped to the hilt with Street View gear that so happen to be 42-pound computer backpacks with large, soccer ball-like cameras mounted on a tower to get the job done.

Only yesterday we reported that it was expected that Microsoft will release the new Kinect for PC, though an official time frame was not known at that point in time. Just a couple of days back Microsoft unveiled the next generation Xbox, called Xbox One, and along with it the new and majorly improved Kinect sensor. Kinect for Xbox 360 was brought over to PC, albeit a year after its release. Microsoft has confirmed today in a blog post that the new Kinect will be coming over to Windows in a little over a year from now. History repeats itself, so it seems.

Microsoft says that the new Kinect and the new Kinect for Windows will use a shared set of technologies, which puts them on a path to “revolutionizing gaming and entertainment” as well as “computing experiences.” Technologies such as improved skeletal tracking, new active infrared, higher fidelity, expanded field of view and various other improvements will aid in the Kinect’s ‘revolutionizing’ goals. The company also says that it will share more details on how developers can tap in to these technologies to create their apps at the Build conference, which takes place next month.

When we talk about Samsung smartphones, what is it that comes into the mind of most folks? Why, certainly the entire Galaxy range would roll off the tip of most folks’ tongues, especially when you consider what a huge success the Galaxy family has been to date, with the most recent success being the Samsung Galaxy S4 hitting 10 million units worth of sales in record time for the South Korean company. Having said that, one should also take note that most of these devices run on the Android operating system, so for us to see a Tizen-powered Samsung device is not too common a sight. In fact, that is exactly what caught our eyes with a new Tizen OS Samsung device spotted on Samsung’s UAProf website, where it was given the codename Redwood GT-I8805.

This should not come across as a surprise, however, since Samsung did make an announcement before that the masses should prepare themselves for a Tizen device sometime in 2013, with whispers of the codename Redwood floating around, too. What kind of hardware will this bad boy pack underneath the hood? We are looking at LTE connectivity, a 720p resolution display, and a standard Cortex-A9 SoC. Hopefully more details will be revealed in due time.

We humans are extremely creative beings, and you know for sure that this is a fact throughout the ages, where there is always a certain segment of the population who prefer to express themselves through the arts, be they music, poetry, painting, songs, plays – the list is a long one. Thanks to the wonders of modern day technology, one can express him or herself through art in ways that our ancestors would have never thought of before. Take Random International’s Rain Room installation for instance. It is currently on display at the MoMA in New York City now through July 28, where steady sheets of rain will pour down from the ceiling in order to mimic rainfall, and whenever someone steps into the room, sensors will stop the water from running down temporarily, allowing you to walk through the room without getting soaked.

In a nutshell, you can say that the Rain Room is a carefully choreographed downpour, which so happens to be a monumental piece of work which encourages folks to end up as performers on an unexpected stage, in addition to creating an intimate atmosphere of contemplation.