Like many places around the world, UberX is illegal in most Australian states, as the law clearly says that ridesharing services must be provided in a licensed taxi or hire car, by a driver holding a taxi driver’s license, and that’s the reason why the country’s transport officials have been conducting sting operations to fine UberX drivers. However, according to an ABC report, the company is outsmarting transport inspectors by blocking their smartphones from accessing the service.

The report cites emails obtained under Queensland’s Right To Information (RTI) laws, revealing the problems being faced by undercover investigators tasked with penalizing the service’s drivers. “Due to blocking by Uber, only two covert rides were undertaken [today],” said an official from the Department of Transport and Main Roads in an email to colleagues last year, adding that “time was spent purchasing new credit cards, activating Gmail accounts, and setting up two more phones.” Read more »

Google has updated its Google Maps for Android app to version 9.3, bringing the ability to share directions, tweaks to location settings notifications, and some bug fixes.

The most prominent feature the update brings to the table is sharable directions. This means that any application accessible through the standard share function can now accept directions, which appear as a list of instructions, something which could be really useful especially when you want to share this information with someone who doesn’t have a smartphone and/or Google Maps installed on their device. Read more »

It appears Samsung is planning to update its entire Galaxy Tab and Note slate lineup. A Sammobile report is suggesting that South Korean company is working on at least four new tablets: the Galaxy Tab AS (Small) (SM-T350/351), Tab AL (Large) (SM-T550/T551), the SM-P350/351 (Wi-Fi/Cellular), and the SM-P550/551 (Wi-Fi/Cellular).

As per the report, the first two might be successors to the Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 and the Galaxy Tab 4 10.1, respectively, while the last two could be mid-range Galaxy Note devices, given that the current Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note Pro tablet lineup bears model numbers SM-P600 and SM-P900. Read more »

Worldwide PC shipments in Q4, 2014 grew 1% year-on-year to reach a total of 83.7 million units, according to a latest report from market research firm Gartner, which clearly contradicts a recent International Data Corporation (IDC) report stating that shipments declined 2% year-on-year.

“The PC market is quietly stabilizing after the installed base reduction driven by users diversifying their device portfolios. Installed base PC displacement by tablets peaked in 2013 and the first half of 2014. Now that tablets have mostly penetrated some key markets, consumer spending is slowly shifting back to PCs,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. Read more »

The wearables market may have created a lot of buzz over the past few quarters, but looks like it will take some more time for that buzz to convert into genuine consumer interest. According to a latest research report from GlobalWebIndex, which surveyed around 170,000 adult internet users across 32 markets, only 9% said they have a smartwatch, and even less, 7%, said they own smart wristbands.

In contrast, around 80% of the people surveyed said they own a smartphone. While that’s undoubtedly a major chunk, it’s still less than the proportion (91%) using PCs. As for Android vs iOS, the data presented in the report puts the former far ahead of the latter (see image below). Read more »

China’s top smartphone player Xiaomi, which is also the world’s third-largest mobile handset vendor, is expected to launch its next flagship, allegedly dubbed Mi 5, this week. Previous rumors have indicated that the device will sport a 20- or a 16-megapixel rear camera, but some latest leaked photos (see below), which were allegedly taken using the device, suggest otherwise.

According to a report from GizmoChina, which first spotted the pictures, they carry the Xiaomi Mi5 name in their EXIF information, and were taken with a resolution of 4208×3120, which indicates that the device will sport a 13 megapixel camera. Read more »

Asus has launched a contest giving fans a chance to create a watchface and see their design feature on the company’s ZenWatch devices, as well as win one of their own. The contest, dubbed Face the Future ASUS ZenWatch Face Design Contest, runs through February 28, and is open to users all over the world.

Selected designs will be awarded under the following categories: Overall Gold Medal, Best Beauty in Design, Best Practical Design, Best Creative Design, Best Student Design Award, and Fan Favorite. In total, 6 ZenWatch devices will be awarded to winners, the company says. Read more »

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that took place in Las Vegas broke all records to become the largest show in history, according to a VentureBeat report. The event witnessed a total of over 170,000 attendees (of which over 45,000 were from outside the US) compared to around 160,000 a year ago.

“This CES vastly exceeded our expectations. The show inspired and likely gave almost every attendee a sense that innovation will provide solutions to a range of global issues from the environment and agriculture to transportation, health and safety,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Read more »

Bored of that little cursor that shows up on your device’s screen when you use the S Pen? That’ll no longer be the case as you’ll soon be able to customize it using Samsung’s upcoming app dubbed Penvatars.

The South Korean company has teamed up with Marvel for the first set of Penvatars. This means that you’ll be able to select from characters like Nick Fury, Iron Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor. Read more »

Following a November deal that saw Yahoo replacing Google as the default search engine on Firefox browser in the United States, the former’s Internet search market share for the month of December jumped to 10.4% from 8.6% the previous month, and 7.4% a year ago, according to analytics firm StatCounter. That’s the highest share for Yahoo in the last five years.

On the other hand, search giant Google saw its December market share drop to 75.2% from 77.3% the previous month, and 79.3% a year ago, making it the lowest for the company since 2008, when StatCounter started tracking the data. Meanwhile, Microsoft Bing’s market share stood at 12.5%. Read more »

Google has updated its Google app for Android to version 4.1.21.1657903, bringing several new features and improvements, including new Google Now card settings, as well as changes to OK Google settings.

The updated app now offers a new “Now cards” settings option that allows you to manage your card history, delete card preferences, manage notifications for card updates and show/hide cards. You can access this option by pulling out the slide-out navigation menu and heading to settings. Read more »

Back in September last year, when Panasonic announced its smartphone/high-end camera hybrid Lumix CM1, the company said that the device would launch only in select European markets. But that’s all changing as it has now been announced that the smartphone is headed to the US, where it will go on sale later this year. The announcement was made during a press event at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The smartphone will be available as an unlocked GSM version for $1000, which means that it will be compatible with either AT&T or T-Mobile’s network, although Panasonic is in talks with other carriers for future versions of the device. Read more »

To celebrate the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) happening this week in Las Vegas, Qualcomm has started a sweepstakes that allows US residents (age 18 older) a chance to win some really cool prizes. Dubbed Qualcomm #InventForBetter, the sweepstakes runs through Friday (4:00:00 pm PT) this week.

To enter, all you have to do is to sign into your Twitter account, follow Qualcomm, and then send a tweet expressing what you would do with a mobile device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor, using the hashtag #InventForBetter. Read more »

Mobile messaging service WhatsApp now has over 700 million monthly active users, up from the 600 million the company reported around four months ago. The announcement was made by co-founder and CEO Jan Koum in a Facebook post, where he also revealed that WhatsApp users are now sending more than 30 billion messages per day.

“Most of all, we’re grateful that so many of you are using WhatsApp to stay in touch with your friends and family, business colleagues and classmates,” Koum said. Read more »

Just a few months after it went on sale, Sony has unveiled a stainless steel version of the SmartWatch 3, giving it a fashionable finish. The company said the wearable device will be rolling out globally from next month.

As it turns out, apart from the new look, the stainless steel edition is essentially the same as the original release. This means that it also features the same 1.6-inch, 320 x 320 pixel transflective LCD, Qualcomm processor, built-in GPS, and standard microUSB port charging. However, the water and dust resistance rating has been upgraded from IP58 to IP68. Read more »