Looks like Snapchat is planning to enter into e-commerce business as the company has invested in Spring, a shopping app that was launched just last year, according to a Recode report. There is, however, no information on the size of the investment as well as whether or not it has closed.

Spring raised $25 million in funding last month, but that did not include Snapchat. However, Jello Labs – the company behind Spring – has an option to raise another $5.7 million in a fresh round, which is where the messaging app company might step in, the report notes. Read more »

Best Buy began accepting pre-orders for LG’s latest flagship smartphone – the G4. To sweeten the deal, the retailer is offering a $100 gift card with all purchases of the device.

You can pre-order the handset, both with and sans contract on Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. Read more »

BlackBerry said that it is cutting jobs worldwide. The news arrives nearly a month after the company announced that it is mulling closing its offices in Sweden in a move that put around 100 jobs at stake.

“The company is reallocating resources to capitalize on growth opportunities and achieve profitability across all its business segments,” a company spokesperson said. There was, however, no word on the number of employees that will be affected in the latest wave of job cuts. Read more »

Over a month after there were reports that Nokia is contemplating a sale of its HERE maps business, CEO Rajeev Suri has said that the company is in no hurry to unload the division. He made the comment in an interview with trade magazine European Communications.

“Let’s give it more time…We may not end up selling it if we don’t get the right value. It has to be a good competitive deal for Nokia and our shareholders,” Suri said, while revealing that the division has managed to attract significant interest as the Finnish company is receiving high quality bids from potential buyers. Read more »

US-based technology companies, including Google, Twitter, and Facebook have been warned by Russia’s media watchdog Roskomnadzor against violating the country’s Internet laws.

The agency has sent out letters to the firms asking them to comply with the rules. “In our letters we regularly remind (companies) of the consequences of violating the legislation,” said the agency’s spokesperson Vadim Ampelonsky. He also said that the Russian government could block access to the services being offered by the companies if they do not fall in line. Read more »

BlackBerry has released a new version (v2.9.0.6) of its BBM beta app for iOS that brings along some new features as well as several bug fixes.

The update includes a new Timed Message feature that allows you to control how long messages and pictures you share with contacts can be viewed within BBM. It also adds support for the Message Retract feature that lets you remove your message from your BBM chat before or after it has been read by the recipient. Read more »

In what could be a severe blow to companies like Google, mobile operators in Europe are planning to filter out advertisements on their networks, according to a Financial Times report.

As per the report, one unnamed carrier has already installed an ad blocking software, which is developed by Israeli startup Shine, and plans to activate it by the end of 2015. “Tens of millions of mobile subscribers around the world will be opting in to ad blocking by the end of the year,” said Roi Carthy, chief marketing officer of Shine. Read more »

April 2015 witnessed Microsoft’s Xbox One gaming console outselling Sony’s PlayStation 4 in the US, according to a latest report from research firm NPD. “As the best-selling console in the U.S. in April, fans set record April sales and engagement for Xbox One last month,” said Mike Nichols, corporate vice president for Xbox Marketing.

Microsoft claims Xbox One sales in the US increased 63% compared to the same time last year, while the number of active global users for both Xbox One and Xbox 360 increased 24% during the period. Read more »

In an effort to compete with e-commerce giants like Amazon and eBay, Google is planning to add ‘Buy’ buttons alongside some of its search results, according to a report from Wall Street Journal.

The buttons will only appear next to sponsored search results on mobile devices, the report said, adding that clicking on them will take you to another Google product page where you can complete the purchase. Read more »

A California man by the name of Kevin Halpern has filed a lawsuit against Uber, its CEO Travis Kalanick, as well as several early investors in the company, claiming that they stole his idea of a GPS and cellphone-enabled taxi service.

In a YouTube video (hit the Source link below) called Grand Theft Uber, Halpern revealed that back in 2003 he founded a company – called Celluride Wireless – based on the idea, and in 2006 he developed a mobile phone prototype of the service. He also explained how while in San Francisco he met Kalanick, with whom he shared his concept, designs, and prototype. Read more »

Panasonic’s partnership with Mozilla, which was announced back in January at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), has finally borne fruit, as the electronics company’s latest line of Viera smart TVs (powered by Firefox OS) is now available for purchase in Europe.

The line-up – which includes the following models: CR850, CR730, CX800, CX750, CX700, and CX680 – will be available worldwide in the coming months, Mozilla revealed in a blog post. Although there was no official word on the cost of the TVs, the 50-inch CX700 and the 40-inch CX680 were found selling for £999 (around $1,570) and £657 (around $1,033), respectively. Read more »

Samsung has announced that its Wallet service, which allows you to store and manage tickets, coupons, boarding passes, and membership cards, will no longer be available after June 30. The announcement was made via an email to the users of the service.

While any tickets or reservations made through the service would remain accessible, coupons clipped with in the Wallet will no longer be available after the service is shut down, Samsung said, adding that users’ personal information will be handled in accordance with the company’s Privacy Policy. Read more »

The Samsung Gear Live smartwatch, which was announced back in June last year, is no longer listed on Google Play. The wearable, however, is still available for purchase on Amazon.

Although there is no information on why the device, which was recently spotted running Apple Macintosh II OS, was removed from the Play Store, the possibility of the South Korean company unveiling a new Android Wear smartwatch at the upcoming Google I/O conference cannot be denied. Read more »

Nokia, which celebrated its 150th birthday a couple of days ago, has announced that it’s planning to cut around 70 jobs from its Technologies unit in Finland.

“Nokia Technologies has revised its long-term strategy and will consequently reshape organization,” said a company spokesperson. “As part of this, talks have been initiated with the staff.” Read more »

A few weeks after it was revealed that Facebook’s Internet.org has benefited over 800 million people in nine countries, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the service, which was recently launched in the African country of Malawi, is now available to over 1 billion people around the world.

“Giving people free access is the right thing to do,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. “We will keep connecting more people and more countries, and we won’t stop until every person in the world can connect to the internet.” Read more »