The criticism from Apple’s chief designer Jony Ive towards Motorola’s Moto Maker in a recent New Yorker magazine profile, saying “that’s abdicating your responsibility as a designer,” prompted a high-level response from the Lenovo subsidiary. Rick Osterloh, the CEO of Motorola has hit back at the Cupertino-based company, describing iPhone prices as “outrageous.”

“We do see a real dichotomy in this marketplace, where you’ve got people like Apple making so much money and charging such outrageous prices. We think that’s not the future,” Motorola president Rick Osterloh said. Read more »

The UK e-retailer Expansys has started accepting pre-orders for both gold and silver versions of the LG Watch Urbane. The posh smartwatch is priced at £299.99 (around $465).

At that price point, the Watch Urbane becomes the most expensive Android Wear smartwatch in the market, though it’s worth keeping in mind that this is not its official price. Read more »

Blackberry has filed a second lawsuit against Typo Products, the company backed by US TV and radio personality Ryan Seacrest, alleging that the latest version of their product, dubbed Typo2, also copies its design and patents.

“The Typo2 Keyboard still blatantly copies BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard trade dress designs that have been embodied in numerous BlackBerry smartphones from the 2007 BlackBerry 8800 to the current Q10 and Classic models,” the company said in its complaint. “The Typo2 Keyboard also infringes numerous BlackBerry utility patents related to BlackBerry’s proprietary keyboard design, backlighting and typing automation technologies.” Read more »

In 2015, Apple will sell around 20 million units of the Apple Watch, making it the most successful smartwatch ever, according to a latest report from the market research firm CCS Insight.

According to Ben Wood, CCS Insight’s Chief of Research, the smartwatch will play an important role in taking the wearables market to the next level of growth. “If successful, it’ll create a rising tide that will lift the whole market.” The report, however, warns that if sales of the wearable device fail to meet expectations, it could hurt the whole smartwatch market. Read more »

Dropbox has updated its iPhone and iPad app to version 3.7. The app’s latest build brings a new action extension for iOS 8 that lets you upload files directly from other apps. You will now see a new Save to Dropbox option in the sharing menu for certain types of files, thus meaning that you will no longer have to open up the cloud storage app to perform the task.

To set up the new extension, open the share menu for a file that you want to save, scroll to the far right of the bottom row of gray icons, tap More (…), and toggle on the Save to Dropbox option. You can also drag and place the extension icon anywhere in the list. Read more »

Market research firm Harris Poll has ranked Samsung as the third most reputable company in the United States, ahead of Apple and Google, which came in at ninth and tenth positions, respectively. The list was topped by New York-based grocer Wegmans Food Markets, followed by Amazon.

This is the first time the South Korean company has surpassed the Cupertino giant in the firm’s annual Reputation Quotient study. Last year, Samsung was at the seventh spot, while Apple grabbed the third position. Read more »

Apple has invited nearly 100 third-party developers this month to its Cupertino, California-based headquarters to help them finalize their Apple Watch applications, according to a 9to5mac report. These developers are working on titles for sports applications and productivity software.

As per the report, developers have been asked to travel to Cupertino on an urgent basis, indicating that the apps are being readied for either an upcoming marketing or media event, given that the smartwatch is scheduled to release in April. Read more »

The HP Stream 7 tablet, which was launched last year at a price tag of $99.99, can now be purchased for just $79 from the online Microsoft Store.

The deal also includes a free one-year subscription to Microsoft Office 365 Personal (worth $69.99), which means you get the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, plus 1TB of OneDrive online storage as well as 60 minutes of free Skype calls per month. Read more »

The VAIO PC brand, which became an independent company after Sony sold it off to a to Japanese investment fund last year, has announced two new Z series PCs: the VAIO Z and VAIO Z Canvas.

The VAIO Z features an Intel Core i7-5557U (3.1GHz) processor, a 13-inch display with a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels, and Intel’s Iris Graphics 6100 GPU. It comes with 8GB/16GB RAM and 256/512GB SSD options. Connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI, USB 3.0, as well as IEEE802.11 ac / a / b / g / n wireless support. The device is said to have around 15 hours of battery life. Read more »

Hundreds of Apple employees are secretly working on an electric vehicle that apparently looks like a minivan in its current form, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Dubbed Titan, the year-old project is being headed by former Ford engineer Steve Zadesky who also helped the company create the iPod and iPhone.

The project would take several years to complete, and that’s assuming Apple decides to go through with it, something which isn’t certain as the company often develops prototypes for testing other products and technologies. Read more »

Google has announced that it’s shutting down its real-time expert assistance service Helpouts. “The Helpouts community includes some engaged and loyal contributors, but unfortunately, it hasn’t grown at the pace we had expected,” the Mountain View, California-based company said in a blog post.

The service will be discontinued on April 20, and you’ll be able to download your Helpouts history by using Google Takeout until November 1 this year. Read more »

The Samsung Gear app has received an update, bumping it to version 2.2.15011799. Although there isn’t any changelog associated with it, Sammobile is reporting that the update likely brings along fixes for issues related to Android Lollipop compatibility.

Earlier, the app was failing to automatically reconnect to a paired smartwatch after losing connection; the report confirms that the issue has been fixed. Read more »

Android Lollipop experiences less application crashes when compared to Apple’s iOS 8, according to a latest report from app performance management company Crittercism. While app crash rate on Lollipop is 2%, that on iOS 8 is 2.2%.

Not only this, the data also reveals that even iOS 7 is better than iOS 8 in terms of app crashes, having only a 1.9% rate. On the other hand, Lollipop is better than the previous Android versions, with both KitKat and Ice Cream Sandwich having an application crash rate of 2.6%. Read more »

Uber has launched its services in Birmingham, making it the fourth British city after London, Manchester and Leeds where the ride-sharing service is now available.

A ride from Birmingham New Street Station to Selly Oak will cost you £5-7 ($7.7-10.7), while that from the Bullring to Edgbaston and City Centre to Birmingham Airport will cost £4-6 ($6.2-9.2) and £14-17 ($21.5-26.1), respectively. As a gesture of goodwill, the company is also offering up to £15 ($23) off on first ride in the city. Read more »

Pinterest has partnered with Apple to launch App Pins, a feature that’ll let you stick iOS apps to Pinterest boards, allowing other users to download and install them on their iPhone or iPad without ever leaving the visual bookmarking service.

“Let’s say you’re Pinning workout inspiration to your Marathon Training board. If you see a fitness app that helps you reach your goals, you can download it right from Pinterest,” the company said in a blog post. Read more »