Just a few weeks before the launch of Apple Watch, documents have been leaked detailing how Apple will handle the sales of the wearable. As per the documents, that were obtained by MacRumours, the Cupertino-based company will not be selling the device to walk-in customers at launch.

Customers will instead be required to make an online “Product Reservation” to hold or pick-up a specific model of the smartwatch at a retail store. “If a customer walks in and wants to purchase a watch, offer the option to try on a watch. Then help them place an order online or through the Apple Store app,” the documents say. Read more »

The UK Court of Appeal has denied search giant Google’s request to block lawsuits from Apple Safari users in Britain over alleged privacy violations.

“These claims raise serious issues which merit a trial.” the court said. “They concern what is alleged to have been the secret and blanket tracking and collation of information, often of an extremely private nature… about and associated with the claimants’ internet use, and the subsequent use of that information for about nine months. The case relates to the anxiety and distress this intrusion upon autonomy has caused.” Read more »

Less than a couple of weeks after there were reports of the voice calling feature being tested on WhatsApp for iPhone, co-founder Brian Acton has revealed that the feature will be made available to iOS users soon.

Although Acton, who made the revelation at Facebook’s F8 developer conference yesterday, first said that the feature would roll out in a couple of weeks, he later backtracked from the statement, saying that it will take “several weeks”. Read more »

The Jide Remix tablet, which was announced back in January this year and is already available in China, is set to be available globally in the coming months. The company has launched a Kickstarter campaign that allows people in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and most European countries to order the tablet, which is priced at $349 and begins shipping in May.

Specs-wise, the Remix ultra-tablet features an 11.6-inch, 1920×1080 screen, a 1.8 GHz Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, 2 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of expandable storage space. The device sports 5MP front and rear-facing cameras, packs in a 8100 mAh battery, and runs a modified version of Android 4.4.2 called Remix OS. Also, it looks similar to the Surface, with a kickstand at the back and a detachable keyboard. Read more »

A German court has ordered a nationwide ban on UberPop, a ridesharing service that lets drivers without a taxi license register with Uber and offer trips in their own cars at a lower rate. The case was brought last year by German taxi operator group Taxi Deutschland.

The ruling came after the Frankfurt district court found the low-cost service to be in violation of the country’s public transportation act, according to which any service carrying passengers for a fee must be operated by licensed drivers. The court also set a fine of $270,000 for each violation of the order. Read more »

Less than a year after the authorities in the South Korean city of Seoul announced plans to ban it, 30 executives of the ridesharing company Uber, including its CEO Travis Kalanick, have been charged by the local police with operating illegal taxi business and hence violating the country’s transportation law.

Aside from the CEO, the company’s South Korea brand manager, as well as other employees and drivers have been booked. Authorities have also seized 432 items as evidence, including handsets that the company’s South Korean unit distributed to its drivers. Read more »

Google has opened registration for the 2015 edition of its I/O developer conference, which is scheduled to take place on May 28 and May 29 in San Francisco. To apply, head over to the Google I/O registration page (click the Source link below) – registration will remain open until March 19 at 5:00 PM PDT.

For those who aren’t in the know, Google I/O is an annual developer-focused conference, featuring highly technical, in-depth sessions focused on building web, mobile, and enterprise applications with Google and open web technologies like Android, Chrome, Chrome OS, and Google APIs. Read more »

The successor to the Apple Watch will be launched later this year, and unlike its predecessor, it will not require an iPhone to work, according to analyst Timothy Arcuri from Cowen & Co. He also said that the wearable might feature an OLED screen exclusively supplied by Samsung.

As for the first generation Apple Watch, which is set to go on sale next month on April 24th, Arcuri said that the iPhone maker is still facing yield issues with the device, predicting that the company will be able to build only 6 million units by June. He added that Apple is working with Foxconn to solve the low yield problem. Read more »

Google has opened its first-ever brick-and-mortar store. Called the Google shop, the store (or “shop in shop” as the search giant is calling it) is located on London’s Tottenham Court Road, within a store belonging to UK’s largest consumer electronics retailer Currys PC World.

“The Google shop will offer customers the chance to sample Google’s range of Android phones and tablets, Chromebook laptops and Chromecasts and learn about how they work together, from one device to the next, to make users’ lives as seamless as possible,” the Mountain View, California-based company said in a press release. Read more »

Nearly a couple of weeks after social bookmarking website Reddit, which calls itself the “front page of the Internet,” banned unauthorized nude or sexually explicit visual content, Twitter has also updated its rules to prohibit users from posting revenge porn (when jilted ex-lovers publicly post intimate images) or other non-consensual, intimate images or videos.

“You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent,” says a new line added to the Private information section of Twitter’s rules for content boundaries. A similar revision was also made to the company’s Abusive behavior policy. Twitter said that user accounts in violation of the new policy would be suspended. Read more »

The United States President Barack Obama has announced a new program aimed at getting more Americans rapidly trained for well-paying technology jobs. Dubbed TechHire, the initiative will see Obama administration providing $100 million in competitive grants to support innovative approaches aimed at helping low-skill individuals with childcare responsibilities, disabilities, and limited English proficiency, get training in the technology sector.

“America has about 5 million open jobs today, more than at any point since 2001. Over half a million of those job openings are in information technology fields like software development, network administration, and cybersecurity,” the White House said. “The average salary in a job that requires information technology (IT) skills – whether in manufacturing, advertising, retail or banking – is 50 percent higher than the average private-sector American job.” Read more »

Google has updated its Sheets, Slides and Docs iOS apps with a feature that was previously only available in the web UI. Dubbed Make a copy, the feature allows you to make a copy of a spreadsheet, presentation, or document, depending on the app you’re using.

In addition, the update brings the ability to copy links to the device’s clipboard. There is also a new accessibility settings menu which appears within Slides and Sheets apps when VoiceOver is enabled in Settings. Finally, the updated apps also feature bug fixes and performance improvements. Read more »

Instagram has started rolling out a new ad format, dubbed carousel ads, that the company says lets advertising brands share more images with people interested in their posts. You will be able to swipe left and right to look through these images, with a click-able Learn More button below them that’ll take you to a website of the brand’s choice.

“One way to look at it is carousel ads bring the potential of multi-page print campaigns to mobile phones – with the added benefit of taking people to a website to learn more. Read more »

Ridesharing company Uber has acquired deCarta, a San Jose-based startup that provides a software platform focusing on location and map services, including in-map search, location APIs, and turn-by-turn navigation. The financial details of the acquisition, which was first reported by Mashable, were not disclosed.

The deal, which will close later this week, will see Uber acquiring the startup’s technology and talent: 30 out of 40 deCarta employees, including its CEO and President Kim Fennell, will remain with the company. The mapping company will continue to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber, although it will still use its own name. Read more »

To celebrate the 2015 Mobile World Congress (MWC) happening this week in the Spanish city of Barcelona, Qualcomm has started a sweepstakes that allows US residents (age 18 older) a chance to win some really cool prizes. Dubbed #InventForBetter, the sweepstakes runs through Friday, March 6.

To enter, just sign into your Twitter account, follow Qualcomm, and then send a tweet answering the question “What’s the mobile invention you can’t live without? Your smartphone? 4G LTE? Apps?,” using the hashtag #InventForBetter. Read more »