Xiaomi to open online store for the US, but won't sell phones

At its mysterious event in San Francisco today, Xiaomi has announced that it plans to open its own online store in the US in a few months.

However, the caveat of the century follows. See, Xiaomi will not be selling smartphones or tablets through that storefront. So the most craved items it makes will still be off limits to US-based customers, at least in an official manner.

Instead, Xiaomi will offer its increasing range of accessories, such as headphones (pictured above),fitness bands, power banks, and more. The US isn't the only 'western' market targeted by the company - it will bring is online store to other countries too.

One of the reasons why phones and tablets won't be made available for US customers is that apparently Xiaomi finds that localization of its MIUI ROM (which is reportedly being used on 100 million devices already) is very difficult.

There are also (unnamed) issues with hardware certification, software testing, infrastructure, as well as other logistical challenges, all of which conspire to keep Mi handsets and tablets out of the hands of American consumers, for now at least. And it doesn't help that it's a market in which people are used to buying their mobile devices from carriers, and not directly from the manufacturer's online store.

Xiaomi hopes that if it launches simpler products first, they'll help build brand awareness before it makes any bigger steps in the US. However, as of now a phone launch is not on the roadmap at all.

HTC One (M9) leaks show us what the handset may end up looking like when its done

We’ve been hit by a ton of leaks about HTC’s next flagship smartphone lately, but so far official-looking press renders have not surfaced. Fret not, though, for that doesn’t mean we have nothing to look at. On the contrary. Thankfully someone decided to take all the recent leaks and rumors about the One (M9)and use that information to create some very nice looking renders of what could end up being the successor to the One (M8) from last year.

These aren’t official, nor are they leaked. They’re just exploring what the phone might look like, based on what we’ve heard about it so far (and what we’ve seen).

The images depict a very good looking handset, so much so that we actually wouldn’t mind at all if the finished product will be similar to what’s in these renders. The bigger camera module is there on the back, and it may be that big in order to be able to house a 20MP sensor.

The Duo Camera is gone, but overall the new device’s back won’t be a big departure from its predecessor’s. Things change on the front, though, with a huge front-facing camera module reminiscent of the Taiwanese company’s Desire Eye. The BoomSound stereo speakers have been redesigned, now boasting a much more elegant look – somewhat resembling the ones on the Nexus 9 tablet.

The HTC One (M9), codenamed Hima, is due to be announced in early March, so in just a few weeks we’ll find out how close these renders were to the real thing.

Wondering Who take over your facebook when you die:Facebook has now Added a Legacy Contact

Facebook has added a new feature today, and it’s already rolling out to accounts in the US. Basically, you can now add a “legacy contact” in the Security section of your account. This will be the digital ‘heir’ to your Facebook presence after you die.

Once someone lets Facebook know that you’ve passed away, the company will ‘memorialize’ the account and starting at this point the legacy contact will be able to do certain things with it.

Namely, the person you designate as the heir to your Facebook presence will be able to change the profile picture and cover photo for your account, as well as respond to friend requests from family members and friends who weren’t previously connected to you on the service. The legacy contact can also write a special post that will be displayed at the top of the memorialized Timeline – to announce a memorial service, for example.

You can choose to let your legacy contact download an archive of your photos, posts, and profile information. All of your settings will remain as they were while you were alive, however, and this person won’t be able to log in as you or see your private messages. If you don’t want all of this to happen once you’re gone, then you can let Facebook know that you’d prefer to have your account permanently deleted after your death.

Up until now the company offered a basic memorialized account for people who passed away. This was viewable but couldn’t be managed by anyone, so today’s measures make things more flexib

Starting March 31 the Lg G flex 2 will be available in Netherlands

The LG G Flex 2, which was unveiled at this year’s CES, and launched in South Korea late last month, is heading for its first European market. News has surfaced that LG's latest flagship will be available in Netherlands starting March 31.

This is only the second international market the device is entering following Singapore, where the G Flex 2 will be up for preorder on February 28. The curvy handset is slowly branching outside its native Korean market and even if you have to wait a while to pick it up at a local retailer, Amazon Germany already offers you to book your unit.

The phone will cost €699 for the 16GB model, which is around the €650 it is currently listed for online. No information is known yet about pricing and availability of the 32GB model. This is still significantly lower than the original LG G Flex, which cost some €850 when it first came out.

The G Flex 2 is the company’s first mobile device to feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 chipset, which has received some bad press lately, especially after there were reports that Samsung ditched it in favor of its own processors for its upcoming flagship, the Galaxy S6. However, LG has clarified that it has had no issues with the SoC, and has termed its performance as "quite satisfactory".

Other specifications of the device include a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a 2.1 MP front-facing camera, and 13 MP rear camera. There are 3GB of RAM in the international version of the device, while the Korean one is limited to only two. The smartphone also packs in a 3,000 mAh battery.

Technical Preview for Windows 10 Now Available for phones

As stated last week, the very first release of Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones is now out. You can download and install it on one of just six smartphones that are currently supported.

Microsoft promises more handsets will be added to subsequent Preview builds in the future, but for now you can only proceed if you own a Lumia 630, Lumia 635, Lumia 636, Lumia 638, Lumia 730, or Lumia 830.

The software giant also notes that this is a "very early" preview, which means many things may break or not work right from the start. Bugs are to be expected, and there's a very long list of known issues at the Source link.

Galaxy S6 Leaked Images and it Looks Cute

The amount of Samsung Galaxy S6 details that has made its way to the public ahead of launch has reached critical mass for designers to be able to create a pretty accurate vision of what the upcoming flagship will look like. The leaked schematics left little to the imagination and it actually took too long for people to dress them in proper attire.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen the work of Martin Hajek applied in the field of mobile devices and now we are treated to his take on the Galaxy S6.

The new camera/sensor arrangement on the back has been the most undisputed feature of the new Samsung flagship, confirmed by every leaked case out there. Whether the glass back will actually make it to production remains to be seen, but if it ends up looking anything like these images, arguments against it will be few.

The outer frame may be a bit too reminiscent of the current iPhone for hardcore Samsung fans. I does feature the characteristic bulges at the corners and finely trimmed sides, introduced with the Galaxy Alpha and carried to its disciples. It’s just that the rounded edges of the frame towards the front and back are simply not the Samsung of late we all know. But it may be just what the Galaxy S6 needs to distance itself from the past and mark the new path the Korean company is taking with its flagship.

Blackberry passport price gets cut ahead of valentines day

BlackBerry gave its flagship smartphone a price cut for Valentine’s Day. The squarish BlackBerry Passport is available with $100 off in the United States and $125 off in Canada.

The discount is available directly in the Canadian manufacturer’s official online store. It will run through Monday, February 16. All three colors of the handset are available - black, white, and red.

BlackBerry’s promo pricing means that you can pick up a Passport for as low as $499 in the United States (in black or white). The more eye-catching red color goes for $599.

Galaxy Note 4 gets Lollipop Updates

Samsung has started rolling out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the Galaxy Note 4 in South Korea.

The update is currently available only for the Exynos variant of the Note 4 on the SK Telecom network, but it should be available on other carriers shortly.

The update can be downloaded right now from Samsung Kies desktop application, with the OTA download arriving later.

The Note 4 Lollipop update started rolling out yesterday, with Poland being the first country to get it. It should be rolling out in other regions shortly.

Samsung will be launching its grand 3 in india

Following various numerous leaks,Samsung is about to launch the Galaxy Grand 3 smartphone in India. The phone appeared later last year in TENAA and little before that went through benchmark testing.

The Samsung Galaxy Grand 3 is teased as “The grandest ever” and is expected to go on sale via Snapdeal. However, a specific time frame for the launch isn’t given at this stage.

Samsung has upgraded this big monster mid-ranger all around. The 5.25” display boasts 720p resolution and under the hood, there’s a Snapdragon 410 chipset with a quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU running at 1.2GHz, 1.5GB of RAM and Adreno 306 GPU. The phone will ship with Android 4.4.4 KitKat out of the box.

The Galaxy Grand 3 still retains its 5MP selfie camera of the Grand Prime but upgrades the main camera to 13MP stills. Both cameras can record 1080p video. There is 12GB user-available storage, with 4GB going to Android and TouchWiz. Unsurprisingly, Samsung Galaxy Grand 3 is thinner and lighter than its predecessor. Its measures are 146 x 74.8 x 7.95 mm, while its weight tips the scale at 140 grams.

Galaxy Note 11 Receiving Android Lollipop 5.0 Update

Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy Note II will also get the Android 5.0 Lollipop update, although its date  hasn't been officially been confirmed yet. 

The announcement was made by Samsung Poland via a tweet. It is worth noting that the South Korean company usually updates it flagship devices for around 1.5 years, but the Note II seems to be an exception as it has been more than two years since the device was launched.

The news comes just a day after the Galaxy Note 4 started receiving the Lollipop update in Poland.

Another Rumor : Galaxy s6 might offer wireless charging

 Rumors about Samsung's next highly-anticipated flagship phone just keep pouring in.  One of the more widely spread opinions on the tech scene is that the Galaxy S6 will keep with current design trends and spout a full-metal overall body.

However this might turn out to be not entirely true as two separate industry sources are now reporting that the Galaxy S6 will come with built-in wireless charging capability. The Reports came from DDaily and News 1 Korea and both hint at magnetic wireless charging in the smartphone.

Asus Zenfone C launched in India, priced at $96

Asus has launched an entry-level smartphone in India. Dubbed the Zenfone C-ZC451CG, the device is priced at INR 5,999 ($96), and is now available online via e-commerce website Flipkart.

The smartphone is powered by Intel's Atom CloverTrail Z2520 chipset with dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, and sports a 4.5-inch FWVGA TN Panel display with a 480x854 pixel resolution. It comes with 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage (expandable up to 64GB via a microSD card), and runs Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box with the Taiwan-based company's Zen UI on top.

As for the Camera, the Zenfone C sports a 0.3MP front snapper and a 5MP main shooter with PixelMaster technology, which the company claims can capture up to 400% brighter photos in low-light conditions, even without flash. The device also packs in a 2100mAh removable battery.

Connectivity options include WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, 3G, WiFi Direct, GPS, A-GPS, and GLONASS. The Zenfone C will also be available at Asus Exclusive Stores starting February 18.

LG G3 lollipop 5.0 update for AT&T rolling out

AT&T has started rolling out the update to Android 5.0 Lollipop for the LG G3 units that it's sold. This follows the rollout of the new software for G3 models from other parts of the world, which started last year.

If you have an AT&T G3, it should soon notify you that an update is available to download and install, if it hasn't done so already.

The file you need to grab comes in at around 690MB, and after performing the five-minute installation procedure your phone will be running Android 5.0.1, software version D85020f, build number LRX21Y.

If you haven't received the update notification yet, you can always manually make the smartphone check for it by using the relevant part of the Settings menu.

Exynos Galaxy Note 4 getting Lollipop OTA in Poland

With the Lollipop update frenzy at full speed manufacturers are pushing hard to update their device lineups as quick as possible. Naturally major players, such as Motorola, HTC and especially Samsung are under tremendous pressure to deliver the improved Google experience to their vast user base.

Just a few hours ago new information has surfaced, regarding Android 5.0 on the Galaxy Note 4 phablet. Apparently users in Poland are already receiving the OTA, but there are a couple of conditions.

The software package is only seeding to SM-N910C devices, which is the Exynos variant of the handset and only the ones using CSC XEO (Open Europe). If you are a lucky owner of such a unit then the update is now live so be sure to grab it while it's hot.

As a matter of fact Android Lollipop has been on the roadmap for Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge for quite some time now. Initial speculations hinted at Android 5.0.1 as the build under development, which coincides with the version of the new Polish OTA.

Is privacy loss inevitable?

People who use smart devices that monitor what they do will have to get used to giving up some privacy, warns a top technologist.

Prof Will Stewart of the Institution of Engineering and Technology said privacy loss was "intrinsic" to such gadgets.

His comments come after Samsung warned about a voice activation feature on some of its televisions.

It warned people to avoid talking about personal issues in front of their TV in case it grabbed sensitive information.

Teen Faces Murder Charge After Posing for Snapchat Selfie with Victim

A 16-year-old from Pennsylvania is facing murder charges after allegedly killing a classmate and sharing a picture of himself with the victim’s body over Snapchat.

Maxwell Marion Morton was charged with first-degree murder last Friday reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, after police were shown a photo of Morton at the murder scene of classmate Ryan Mangan, also 16. Morton reportedly shared the picture over Snapchat, but a recipient took a screenshot to save the photo, and his mother contacted the authorities.

"(Police) received a copy of the photo, which depicted the victim sitting in the chair with a gunshot wound to the face," the Tribune-Reviewreports the police affidavit as saying. “It also depicts a black male taking the ‘selfie,’ with his face facing the camera and the victim behind the actor. The photo had the name ‘Maxwell’ across the top.”

Morton reportedly sent texts with the photo: “Told you I cleaned up the shells.”

Morton also allegedly sent a number of texts alongside the photo, saying, “Told you I cleaned up the shells,” and, “Ryan was not the last one.” The Pennsylvania teenager confessed to killing Mangan after police searched his home and found a 9mm handgun hidden under the basement steps.

District Attorney John Peck described the picture as “a key piece of evidence that led investigators to the defendant,” but said that it was the first time he’d ever encountered a “selfie” taken with a dead victim. Social media has given scores of individuals the chance to incriminate themselves, from admitting to drunk driving on Facebook to automatically sharing pictures from a stolen iPad.

Calm Down :Your Samsung Smart TV isn’t spying on you

Before you waterboard your TV in an attempt to extract the secrets it has learned about you, allow us to explain exactly how these TVs work, and why they aren’t the emissaries of evil they’re being made out to be.

The charge

The apparent epicenter for this tidal wave of TV terror appears to be this Reddit post, which cites the following excerpt from Samsung’s Smart TV Privacy Policy: “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.”

Granted, that sounds pretty nefarious, especially when taken out of context. Unfortunately, Samsung’s overly succinct description is missing some critical context. Namely, it doesn’t say when the spoken words are captured, under what conditions data is transmitted to a third party, or who that third party is.

We asked Samsung to clear up all of these questions, and frankly, the conspiracy theorists might be giving these “smart” TVs too much credit.

Tablets processing power to overtake consoles in four years, says EA CFO

Given the rate at which mobile processing power is growing, handheld devices like tablets could soon overtake consoles to become an integral part of gaming, according to EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen.

Speaking at the 2015 Technology, Internet & Media Conference, Jorgensen said, “what that might mean is that a tablet, three or four years from now, has more power than what a typical console has.

Apple captured 93% of smartphone profits during Q4 last year by canaccord

Apple captured 93% of smartphone profits during Q4 last year, according to leading financial services company Canaccord Genuity, which has raised its price target on the Cupertino-based company to $145 from $135.

Analyst Mike Walkley said that market data suggests continued strength for the iPhone 6 upgrade cycle, and predicted that by the end of the year 2018, the iPhone maker may have a third of all smartphone users.

As you can see in the chart shown above, Apple and Samsung are the only two companies to register significant profits in the industry during Q4 last year. For the whole of 2014, Apple captured 79% of profits.

Exynos Galaxy S4 in India now recieving lollipop udate

Samsung has already updated the GPE model and the I9506 Galaxy S4 with Android 5 Lollipop. It recently begun seeding Lollipop to the Exynos-based I9500 Galaxy S4 flavor in Russia, too.

As promised, the I9500 is the next major Samsung Galaxy S4 model to get the latest Android version. The second market to get the Lollipop treatment is India. The update is now available there over the air and weighs about 990MB. This means you must have at least 3GB free space before updating.

Naturally, if your Samsung Galaxy S4 model is locked to a specific carrier it may took some extra time before the Lollipop updates reaches you because of the additional testing required.

The Snapdragon 600-running I9505 Galaxy S4 will be next to taste Lollipop. The update is already in testing and should begin rolling out very soon.