If you happen to be an avid reader and like the whole idea of an e-book device, then you probably own a Kindle. Yet, Amazon’s signature device does have quite a few alternatives, most-notably the Barnes & Noble Nook, which a lot of users do find to be more-convenient than a Kindle.

All seems to be good and well with the company’s e-ink readers, but a new email sent out to international users paints a different story for the company’s Windows client base. It informs user outside the US and UK that the Windows Nook app will stop functioning on August 7. Furthermore, payments form Microsoft accounts are no longer supported, so any purchase made through that channel may be eligible for a full refund. Here is the original memo: Read more »

Say what you want about Google Cardboard, but the low-budget stereoscopic headset can be a lot of fun. Sadly, compatible and amusing content still seems to be scarce and hard to come across. Which is why we are happy to share every new bit of fun we find, like Legendary Picture’s new app.

It is available for both Android and iOS devices and should work fine as long as your smartphone has enough power to play back the content, which shouldn’t be an issues for most. And since it is simply done in stereoscopic 3D, you are not even limited to using only Google Cardboard. A lot of third-party products exist for a variety of devices and screen sizes and a quick search online should get you quickly geared up for some VR fun. Even if you don’t have a headset and curiosity hasn’t really convinced you to splurge a few bucks, Legendary has also included a traditional 2D viewing mode. Read more »

IBM hasn’t really been at the forefront of tech innovation for quite some time now, or at least, that is what its shrunken consumer electronics segment has led us to believe. However, the company is still investing heavily in research and development and like many others, is trying to advance modern computing. The latest breakthrough comes in a revolutionary new chip, manufactured using a 7nm process.

The major milestone is the result of a $3 billion investment in research and was accomplished in collaboration with Global Foundries, Samsung and the SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany, New York. The scale-down was achieved by using Silicon Germanium (SiGe) channel transistors and Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography integration. Read more »

Samsung’s cutting edge Galaxy S lineup has risen to of the industry standards for high-quality and innovation throughout the years. With the Galaxy Tab S, Samsung managed to uphold the legendary reputation of its flagship handsets and transfer it to a new form factor. Even a year after its release the premium tablet lineup still offers great hardware and performance, but it is time for and upgrade and the Galaxy Tab S 2 has been frequenting the rumor mill for quite some time now.

According to rumors, the new device family is inching towards an official release and the international prices will be as follows: The Galaxy Tab S 2 8.0 (SM-T710) and the Galaxy Tab S 2 9.7 (SM-T810) will come with price tags of €399 and €499 respectively for a Wi-Fi only unit while the 4G LTE version will cost €90 extra. Read more »

AMD has definitely been going through some rough times, struggling to retain profitability. It might not seem so on the surface, especially considering the company is working hard on its promising 6th Generation Carrizo A-Series chips and still holding its own in the competitive GPUs market with quality offers, such as the R9 chips. But,for all the technological advancements and move towards true heterogeneous computing, AMD is still struggling to earn enough cash.

This has forced the company’s management into more than one tough decision. The latest of those is another round of layoffs – industry sources claim that after a disappointing Q2 sales report for the company’s APUs, a lot of jobs are in danger. It is hard to say which positions might be affected in particular, but we can only assume that less profitable parts of the company will be hit the hardest. Read more »

Flipkart, India’s largest online retailer, is reportedly gearing up for a huge business change. The e-tailer is planning to shut down its website altogether and follow an app-only business model. This should happen this September and is sure to stir things up in the country’s online commerce segment. The announcement was made by Punit Soni, the company’s CEO at a staff meeting, so it is pretty much official.

As you can imagine, this is a well thought out move and definitely not void of logic. Flipkart has estimated that about 75% of its entire traffic comes from mobile devices, so it doesn’t make much sense to support and invest in a traditional website anymore. The company’s second site Myntra actually already went down the same route in May 2015. The fashion-centric market reported similar numbers prior to the shift – 80 percent of traffic and 70% of purchases were via mobile app. Read more »

We have no doubt that you have heard the “Over the Horizon” song by Samsung. Actually, it is hard not to, seeing how it has been around for quite some time now as the default ringtone for all of Samsung’s devices and is also featured in its marketing campaigns and frequently played at events.

However, chances are that you are only familiar with a couple of version of the said piece and it has gone through a lot of reimagining over the years. Samsung tells the story of how its beautiful theme was transformed yet again, prior to the release of the current flagship duo – the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. All versions of the song are based on the same six basic notes, enough to make it instantly recognizable, while leaving endless room for variations and ornamentation. Read more »

Remember Samsung Pay? It is the company’s ambitious payment solution, announced at this year’s MWC in Barcelona alongside the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge duo, so naturally it got slightly pushed to the sidelines. Since then, we haven’t really received any major progress updates, but the promise for a September release in the US and South Korea still stands.

A new report indicates that Samsung Pay is already in the final stages of its testing. The Korean tech giant is working in cooperation with eight local card vendors to ensure everything works as intended. But, there might still be quite a few problems along the way. Unlike most other payment services, Samsung seems to be facing technical issues, rather than legal ones. Read more »

You definitely shouldn’t trust everything you hear and even more so, everything you read online and the recent MediaTek, Nvidia merger rumor is a prime example of exactly what can happen otherwise. The speculation was quickly debunked MediaTek, but apparently, not before the memo reached the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The implications of such a merger could potentially be huge for the entire industry, and stock brokers reacted quicker than just about everyone else.

This is most-probably why the chip maker decided to post a filing with the said stock exchange, explaining that it is not considering any such deal with Nvidia and is not the source of the rumor, originally reported by Economic Daily News. That is some pretty official explaining that MediaTek was forced to do. Read more »

Stress and torture test videos have really become trendy and only seem to be growing in popularity.Nowadays it seems that scientific and carefully though-out testing procedures have almost entirely given way to over the top experiments and often senseless carnage and destruction, simply for the sake of it. Mind you, we are not complaining – there is something oddly satisfying in watching others destroy their valuable tech in increasingly-creative ways.

The latest such clip is the unassumingly titled “LG G Flex 2 drop test”. It definitely delivers on its promises, as it starts off with a few quite-likely drops of the phone, first from something close to a meter. Actually, to the presenter’s credit, he does attempt to make at least a few valid points and give a nice damage report. As you might remember, the LG G Flex 2 features a special finish on the back, which the company has often referred to as “self-healing”. Actually, the coating favored pretty well after a few drops, but not even it can prevent denting to the edges. Read more »

We’ve seen similar videos from its phone division, but now Samsung chose to demonstrate just how seriously in takes build quality for its notebooks. The clip shows extensive torture testing done at a massive industrial scale. The horrors these computers are put through are enough to make any tech geek weep, but it is all for the greater good! Still, we wouldn’t blame you if you look away.

Samsung really seems to be extensive in its stress tests. The video shows quite a few, highly-sophisticated and entirely automated test rigs toying away over unfortunate Samsung Series or Samsung ATIV Book ultrabooks. Read more »

YouTube is working hard retain its dominance in the online multimedia realm. And while a lot of that has to do with engaging audiences and encouraging creativity and content-creators, maintaining a technical edge is equally important. Innovations on the PC front are now way past high-definition content, with resolutions of 4K and beyond already available, as well as frame rates up to 60fps.

Dealing with mobile devices, however, presents a whole new set of challenges for YouTube, along with new possibilities to explore, like offline playback for example. Still, it is only a matter of time before our increasingly-powerful mobile tech gets access to proper high-definition content as well. Today, YouTube has made another step in this direction. The company’s Android and iOS apps now have 60fps content at 720p and 1080p resolutions. Read more »

Amazon’s revolutionary one-hour delivery service has finally landed in Europe. But, before you rush over to order new socks and make Amazon race your washing machine, there are quite a few notes to be made. Prime Now did indeed launch in the UK, but with a rather modest start. Not only is the service limited to London only, but also to just a few areas within the city. More are sure to come soon, but currently you need to check whether your post code is covered.

And even if you are among the select few who get to experience online shopping within the hour, outside the US, there are still some restrictions. Naturally, the service is only available to Amazon Prime users and is not a free service. Deliveries will set you back £6.99, but if that is too steep for you, the “sluggish” two-hour or same-day shipping option is free with a Prime account. Read more »

A while ago, we asked for your opinion on a few upcoming OS releases in the mobile realm. You’ve had some time to think and to evaluate the contenders and now it’s time to see what you think of Android M, iOS 9 and Watch OS 2.0. Results are in and, for the better part, they are conclusive, but we do suspect some Apple “bashing” might have occurred as well.

Let’s take it from the top. Read more »

We’ve heard it time and time again and add some. A new revolutionary battery that is going to prolong the life of our tech, unshackle it from the bounds of the wall socket, well, maybe not quite as dramatic, but, you definitely get the idea.

Joking aside, however, we are in dire need of a portable power revolution if we are going to keep up with the ever-increasing needs of our sophisticated tech. Given that the basic principles under which batteries operate, as well as their size limitations have become pretty fixed, the only salvation seems to be in new materials to enhance the controlled electro-chemical reaction we rely on. Researchers at Samsung have done just that and promise to deliver whopping 1.5 to 1.8 times greater charge in future commercial batteries. Read more »