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Samsung Music service now available in South Korea

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Samsung has officially outed its own proprietary music service in its home market of South Korea.

Samsung Music will let you choose from a selection of 3.2 million sound sources, which you can download or stream to a Galaxy smartphone or tablet. Read more »

PowerUp brings smartphone-powered amateur aviation to the masses

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A nifty new Kickstarter campaign looks to take the paper airplane a step further with the help of a new smartphone-controlled module called PowerUp.

The PowerUp 3.0 Smart Module is an ultra-lightweight attachment that works with any regular paper airplane and allows tilt, throttle and steering remote control through a paired smartphone and app. Read more »

Xbox One drive defect will get you a free game

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Microsoft has promised to reward new Xbox One device owners suffering from broken disc drive issues with one of four exclusive launch titles.

Xbox One owners who replace their faulty units through Microsoft’s Xbox One advance exchange program will be eligible for free digital copies of Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse, Zoo Tycoon or Dead Rising 3. Read more »

New Tegra 4-powered Nook leaked from GFXBench

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Barnes & Noble has had a hard time recently (heck, most manufacturers have had a hard time recently) competing with the runaway success that has become Amazon’s Kindle tablets.

In an attempt to pry away some market share, B&N looks to be working on new versions of its popular Nook tablets line as revealed by the popular GFXBench GPU benchmarking tool. Read more »

Google’s Nexus 7 (2013) gets discounted to $199

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As if the Nexus 7 wasn’t already a desirable enough tablet, the 2nd generation model has been discounted to last year’s prices from several top retailers.

The 16GB WiFi-only model can now be had for $199, while the 32GB variant will run you $239. Read more »

Tablet makers accused of overcharging for internal storage

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Apple, Google, and Amazon have all been accused of marking up costs of additional storage options for their tablet offerings in order to boost their profits.

A report out of popular tech review site Which? indicates that manufacturers like Apple pay roughly £6 to manufacture a tablet variant with an additional 16GB of storage, yet charge £80 to customers – a markup of 1267%. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 battery test

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The Galaxy Ace 3 comes in as the most recent member of Samsung’s budget Ace lineup, bringing dual-SIM connectivity and a 4-inch screen to the entry level.

Our dual-SIM variant of the Galaxy Ace 3 features a 1,500 mAh battery, which is the same capacity as its non dual-SIM predecessor, the Galaxy Ace 2. Let’s see if the updated Jelly Bean build is able to compensate for the extra power required by the additional SIM card. Read more »

HTC wants your facial hair

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HTC has launched its own Movember campaign urging people all over the world to submit pictures of themselves donning mustaches.

For everyone who posts a picture on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with the hashtag #HairsToChange, HTC will donate one dollar to the Movember movement aimed at raising awareness for men’s health. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Gear scores 800,000 sales, gets first custom ROM

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Smartwatches may still be in their infancy, but that hasn’t stopped Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch from selling an impressive 800,000 units in just two months.

To help boost sales the Galaxy Gear has also had its first custom ROM appear. Based off of Nova launcher, it features Bluetooth tethering, live wallpaper support, and video recording up to 60 seconds – all without needing to be paired to a smartphone. Read more »

Samsung looking to eclipse Apple and ship 100 million tablets in 2014

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Apple’s stranglehold of the tablet market may be coming to an end next year, as Samsung has polled its supply chain to ship an even greater amount of tablets in 2014. The Korean company’s ambitions amount to some 100 million units.

This follows reports of a sizeable increase in tablet market share in Q3 2013 where Samsung was able to ship almost 10 million units, an increase of 123% over the same period in 2012. Read more »

Nokia Music to make its way onto Android and iOS

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A leaked internal document coming out of China reveals that the proprietary Nokia Music service will be coming to Android and iOS as a web app.

Nokia Music lets you download playlists to listen offline for a monthly subscription fee, and is available in some 43 countries. Read more »

Apple iWatch could come in men’s and women’s styles as early as this year

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Apple’s speculated foray into the wearable devices category – the iWatch – has been touted as the next big thing from the Cupertino company.

The latest rumors surrounding the iWatch come out of Korea, where sources indicate that Apple will produce different models for each gender – a 1.7-inch for men, and a 1.3-inch for women. Read more »

Upcoming BlackBerry update to allow Android app installs but no Play Store access

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Rumors surrounding the upcoming BlackBerry update have made quite a stir in recent days, as it was speculated that it would allow access to the Google Play store to install Android apps.

A BlackBerry spokesman has recently quashed allegations that BlackBerry is planning any sort of Google Play access. Nevertheless, insiders have revealed that the update will include the Android runtime, which means that you’ll be able to install and run Android apps. Read more »

Microsoft fixes mouse lag issue in Windows 8.1

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The Windows 8.1 update released a new DPI framework that caused problems in games that don’t read raw mouse data. The result was significant mouse lag across several titles like Call of Duty.

Microsoft has released a hotfix that addresses the issue, and has included a list of affected games. There are also instructions on how to extend the update to other games. Read more »

Apple allegedly in talks with Samsung to fix burn-in issues on Retina iPad mini

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Starting last month, industry insiders close to Apple’s supply chain reported on potential supply issues Apple could face regarding production of its Retina iPad Mini display panels.

The latest report out of Korea indicates that burn-in problems with the LCD panels will result in Apple delaying its launch of the new iPad mini, and could cause Apple to reopen negotiations with Samsung in order to help complete the order of some 15 million panels. Read more »