SlashGear

Acer wearable due 2014: Smartwatch likely

Chris Davies, Jun 14th 2013 Discuss [5]

Acer is planning to add a wearable device to its range, but would-be owners shouldn't expect to see anything go on sale until 2014 at the earliest, the company's smartphone chief has confirmed. "We are looking at wearable" ST Liew, president of Acer's smartphone business group, told Pocket-lint, but argued that industry attempts so far have fallen short of ideal, particularly in the balance of usability and battery life. Read The Full Story

MacBook Air 11 2013 teardown breaks up baby Haswell

Chris Davies, Jun 14th 2013 Discuss [1]

It's a rite of passage, the post-launch teardown, and one the 11-inch MacBook Air couldn't escape after its bigger sibling suffered the indignity on Wednesday. iFixit stripped the slimline ultraportable to its component boards in the hunt for something electronically interesting, finding a bigger battery than the old model, as well as new flash storage that's a little less Samsung dominated. Read The Full Story

Must Read Bits & Bytes

Verizon DROID Combat: Herald of a Hardcore Phone

Steve Jobs an ebooks doubter Eddy Cue tells iBooks price fix court

Chris Davies, Jun 14th 2013 Discuss [0]

Apple's Steve Jobs had to be convinced of the potential for ebooks on the iPad, Eddy Cue has revealed, describing how he needed to petition for iBooks support during testimony at the ebook price fixing trial this week. Cue first pitched a digital bookstore in 2009, Cue told the court, AllThingsD reports, but Jobs "wasn't interested" as at the time the iPad was yet to be launched. However, after revisiting the idea on the iPad, Jobs gave Cue's team less than three months to get the iBookstore ready for public demo at the first launch event. Read The Full Story

Office 365 for iPhone hits App Store

Chris Davies, Jun 14th 2013 Discuss [10]

Office 365 has finally landed on iPhone, with Microsoft releasing a version of its Office Mobile package for Apple's iOS smartphone. Currently available for iPhone though not iPad, "Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers" is a free download from the App Store from today, though requires an active subscription to Office 365, and gives access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint document viewing and editing. It's also possible to create new Word and Excel files directly from the iPhone. Read The Full Story

Sony Cyber-shot RX100 MkII leaks with WiFi and tilting display

Chris Davies, Jun 14th 2013 Discuss [3]

Sony's Cyber-shot RX100 wasn't short on fans, and the new RX100 MkII looks set to build on that reputation, with the first details of the sequel cropping up in the wild. It seems Sony's engineers couldn't resist a little tinkering, according to the manual leaks shared by Sony Alpha Rumors, with a new tilting display added to the compact body. Read The Full Story

Columns & Opinion

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New Nexus 7 4G may have crossed FCC as ASUS Pad K009

Chris Davies, Jun 14th 2013 Discuss [3]

A new ASUS LTE tablet that's potentially the new Nexus 7 4G has been spotted crossing the FCC test bench, complete with twin cameras and Qualcomm's S4 Pro quadcore chipset. Filed as the ASUS Pad K009, and mostly covered with a temporary confidentiality order preventing test photos from leaking, the slate uses Qualcomm WiFi b/g/n (2.4/5GHz) and WLAN HSPA/LTE chips, as well as packing 32GB of internal storage. Read The Full Story

PRISM revelations continue: Microsoft bug access and court order workarounds

Chris Davies, Jun 14th 2013 Discuss [3]

Fresh revelations about the NSA’s PRISM surveillance program continue to emerge, with Microsoft admitting it pre-notifies the government about potential bugs and backdoors in software before they’re patched, while lawmakers confirmed the security agency does not need a court order to sift through call data culled from Verizon and other carriers. Seemingly confirming the suggestions of one US House representative briefed on the NSA programs this week that the original PRISM leaks by Edward Snowden were merely “the tip of the iceberg“, the new information underscores just how much access the government has to data many would assume is private.

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Boxee bought out insiders claim as Cloud DVR funding hunt fails

Chris Davies, Jun 14th 2013 Discuss [2]

Boxee, the streaming media company that had attempted to recreate itself from an HTPC software specialist to a set-top box provider, has reportedly been acquired. The news, currently at rumor status but tipped to be officially announced sometime next week according to VentureBeat, is apparently the culmination of several months of Boxee searching for a buyer, after attempts to drum up a new round of funding fell flat. Read The Full Story

Smartphone apps that mimic birds are harmful, says Wildlife Trust

Brittany Hillen, Jun 14th 2013 Discuss [1]

It is inevitable that technology and decidedly non-technological things will continue to merge as mobile devices and such become more powerful and less expensive. One such way this reality has manifested is birdsong apps, which are apps that play a specific type of bird's song, luring them in for bird watchers or photographers to enjoy. According to the Wildlife Trust of Dorset, this is harmful, and it has issued a warning against it. Read The Full Story

Google Play Music scores mobile data usage metering and faster downloads

Brittany Hillen, Jun 14th 2013 Discuss [0]

Google has updated its Google Play Music app again, this time tossing into the mix three features that, while not terribly detailed, do cover areas where users have lodged complaints and requests, and that preps it for the upcoming Google Play Music All Access service. The update is available now from the Play Store. Read The Full Story

NJ bill will allow law enforcement to inspect cell phones after a crash

Brittany Hillen, Jun 13th 2013 Discuss [8]

Distracted driving is responsible for many wrecks, and as a result there has been a push for auto makers to implement technologies aimed at reducing gadget-related distractions. There's some controversy about whether those technologies help or cause more of an issue than they fix, but both those issues aside, New Jersey has a proposal on the table that would allow police officers to search a driver's cell phone if they've been involved in a wreck. Read The Full Story

Rdio rolls out in Asia as part of seven country expansion

Brittany Hillen, Jun 13th 2013 Discuss [0]

Rdio has been making fairly regular changes, improvements, and expansions, with today marking its newest roll out into new locations, as well as a first for the service - availability in Asia. The service had not previously been available anywhere in Asia, but with expansion into Hong Kong and Malaysia, it has found added a new first to its global footprint. Read The Full Story