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Samsung and LG will settle washing machine conflict outside court

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As some of you surely remember, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have been involved in a rather colorful dispute over alleged vandalism. The story involved LG appliances chief Jo Seong-jin, who was accused of orchestrating the deliberate damaging of several high-end Samsung washing machines by LG employees at two retail stores in Germany last September.

The allegation turned into quite a public spectacle after Samsung filed a formal complaint, seeking criminal punishment for the deed. The whole saga really got out of hand when LG published a surveillance video of the incident, which Samsung branded as misleading and heavily-edited. Read more »

A free wireless charger with a preorder of Galaxy S6 and S6 edge from BestBuy

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As most of our US reader are surely aware, the eagerly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are finally up for preorder today. The devices can be picked-up from a wide variety of vendors, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon, which carry both devices, as well as Boost, Cricket and MetroPSC, which only have the basic S6 model.

As it turns of, BestBuy is also offering preorders for both smartphones and to make the deal even sweeter, it will throw in a free wireless charger with the purchase. There is one condition,though – preorders must be made between today and April 11 to be eligible for the gift. Read more »

AMD might soon become part of the Samsung family

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AMD has definitely lost a lot of its former glory. Once on top of the food chain, the company is now struggling to make ends meet with shrinking CPU and GPU sales. This decline has naturally been felt on the stock market as well, where AMD is now priced at around $2.64 a piece – a number which was as high as $40 in 2006.

This has put the company in a tough spot, but its extensive R&D capacity really makes it a desired target for acquisition. Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about such buy-outs, most recently Mediatek was cited as a prospective buyer, but none of the plans has actually stuck. A new rumor now hints that Samsung might have its sight set on the struggling semiconductor company. Read more »

YouTube Live coming soon to take on Twitch

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As some of you surely remember YouTube has its sights set on Twitch – the popular game streaming platform, and was on the verge of paying $1 billion to own it last year. The online video giant has surely recognized the growing popularity of online streams and has likely not given up on its goals to enter the market.

Seeing how the deal was cancelled, allegedly due to “antitrust concerns” and Twitch was acquired by Amazon, for the sum of $970 million it is only natural that YouTube is looking at other options to deliver the service. A new report has surface, stating that the company is already hard at work on a new YouTube Live platform, which will focus on live streaming games and e-sports. Read more »

New Opera Mini update for Windows Phone brigs a fresh GUI

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Opera Mini has been around of Windows phone devices, since September 2014, so quite some time has passed. The browser is still in beta, but a brand new update signifies that development is still active on the project.

The new version comes with a total redesign of the user interface. Everything looks slicker and feels smoother. The update does not come with a detailed change log, so there might be some more improvements hidden away, under the fresh new exterior. Read more »

iFixit teardown reveals Galaxy S6 battery replacement is a really tricky job

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The Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are well on their way to consumer markets and with a record number of preorders piling up, both retailers and users are quite eager to get their hands on the Latest Samsung tech. There is, however, still some waiting to be done, as in most regions the two handsets will become available around the middle of April.

This, however, does not meant there aren’t already a few Galaxy S6 units out in the open. And while some are content simply marveling at them, others would love to see what is inside them and, more-importantly, how to safely open one. Read more »

Buy a Lumia and get a free plane ticket

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Microsoft has recently partnered up with AirAsia for a new promotion, bearing the catch name “Buy a Lumia and Fly”. Now, straight off the bat, this sounds like one of those sweepstakes, “buy for a chance to win” contests, but the offer is actually surprisingly straight-forward.

If you purchase a Lumia 532 or 535 between March 20 and April 30 you are eligible for 5,000 BIG Points at AirAsia. This is enough to buy you a ticket to Phuket, Krabi or Singapore, so the deal sound pretty sweet. Read more »

The Nexus 9 tablet can be yours for $300 from BestBuy, but you have to be quick!

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The HTC Nexus 9 tablet is now on sale at BestBuy, but it’s a 4-hour deal, starting at 11 a.m. and spanning up until 3 p.m. CT today. In this small timeframe the store has put both the 16GB and 32GB versions of the Google tablet on sale with a $100 price cut.

This puts the 16GB version at $299.99 and the 32GB one at $379.99 respectively. Both come with free shipping, but you better act fast if you want to snatch one. The offer comes with two additional accessories, also offered at promotional prices. Read more »

Windows 10 may not play well with a another OS

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For a lot of people Windows 10 sounds like the a dream come true. The net installment of the popular OS promises universal apps across all hardware platforms and versions and perhaps even more exciting – compatibility with every Windows Phone 8 handset out there.

Things looked even better after the US tech giant announced its plans to captivate the Chinese market by offering legal upgrades to both genuine and non-genuine Windows installs. Another piece of the Windows 10 puzzle has surfaces today, courtesy of a leaked China presentation and it could potentially show a slightly darker aspect of the upcoming OS. Read more »

Amazon to offer “unlocked” Android apps through its store

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Amazon is one of those instantly recognizable online vendors that are constantly trying its hand at new services and consumer markets. Besides goods and books, both digital ant traditional, for which the store is best known, Amazon probably has the most diverse catalog from all the major online stores, including movies, music and also Android apps.

It is undoubtedly hard to achieve popularity as an app store under Google’s own mobile OS, which, has its own proprietary shop and is not too keen on sharing sales profits. Still, Amazon has managed to stick with the niche and in order to do so, often resorts to quite impressive app promotions, like the regular “free daily apps”, which is even currently available with 43 titles, to celebrate the store’s forth birthday. Read more »

The new Apple TV might share hardware with the iPhone 6 and even support 4K video

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As most of you surely remember, last week Apple held its “Spring Forward”, which was buzzing with announcements. But amidst all the hype about the Apple Watch, which was undoubtedly the star of the show, a lot of you might have missed the news about the Apple TV, or at least not given it too much thought.

What Apple did was slash the price of the TV box from $99 to $69 and introduce the new HBO Now streaming service. A lot of people have speculated that this might be a precursor to an impending new Apple TV announcement and today a new rumor fuels speculations even further. Information slipped through the cracks that a new Apple TV is incoming and it will share the hardware platform of the iPhone 6. Read more »

Vivo Xshot hands-on

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Vivo is one of those small Chinese manufacturers that rarely make headlines, but when they do, it’s usually big. The company definitely deserves credit, as it is generally quite open to experimentation and has always employed a premium quality approach to their tech.

This, of course, has its down-sides, but the good news is that most every phone that bears the Vivo brand is quite distinctive in some way. The Xplay and Xplay 3S were very early adopters of cutting-edge hardware at the time of their releases and the Vivo X5 Max was the bearer of the title – “word’s thinnest smartphone”, that is before Gionee came along. Read more »

Subor S3 claims to be the World’s first bezel-less smartphone

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Being first in something, especially in the tech world, does bring about a certain level of attention. And coming up with new innovations and pushing the boundaries on the mobile tech scene has become increasingly harder. So when somebody claims to have created the World’s first bezeless phone, we, only naturally, give the company it’s much deserved two minutes of fame.

And before you ask “Why the bitter sarcasm?”, consider the following news – Subor, a virtually unknown Chinese manufacturer has constructed an odd, proof of concept device, which really sounds more like a bad idea than anything else. The company claims that its latest S3 model has no side bezels around the display whatsoever, which definitely sounds cool and looks nice, but is surely accident prone. Read more »

Google Play Books is coming to Bulgaria, Croatia, Iceland, Slovenia and Slovakia

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Google has recently updated its availability support page, and there are five new names eligible for the tech giant’s own digital book store – Google Play Books. The list now includes Bulgaria, Croatia, Iceland, Slovenia and Slovakia, which should now be able to access the service.

Play Books hosts both paid and free digital copies and has a formidable database, which, of course, is not really surprising, considering all the effort Google has been putting into digitizing content in recent years. The service is also quite convenient, as it allows you to upload your own books, acquired outside Play Books and read them as well. Read more »

The Volvorii e-ink shoe is a chameleon you can wear

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E-ink technology has definitely been on the rise lately. The amazing, monochrome, low-powered panels are what has basically allowed the e-reader market to sprawl. And while you would expect to find a e-ink display in a handheld device, the guys over at Ishuu Technologies have found a more unconventional use for the tech.

Their extravagant brain child is called Volvorii and it is basically a smart pair of high heels, which have a plastic e-ink display stretching along the surface. That display is hooked up to a tiny controller board, hidden away inside the thick sole, which offers Bluetooth LE connectivity and has a small battery with wireless charging. Read more »