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Apple slapped with a $23.6 million fine for infringing patents related to pager technology.

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The case stems from a lawsuit brought by Mobile Telecommunications Technologies, which sued Apple last year claiming that several of the its Wi-Fi-enabled products, including smartphones, tablets, and more, offering services like iMessage, emojis, and calendar invitations, violated a total of six patents issued to the company in mid-to-late 1990’s.

An eight-member jury in District Court for the Eastern District of Texas concluded that Apple did infringe on five of the six patents in question, while agreeing with the Cupertino-based company’s argument that emojis do not infringe on the Texas-based company’s patents. Read more »

Facebook introduces standalone Groups app for iOS and Android

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This year Facebook has pushed its Messenger app for mobile more than ever, even forcing people to use only that for messaging one another. And now the social network has announced a new standalone mobile app that focuses on one single aspect of your Facebook experience. In this case, we’re talking about Groups.

The new Facebook Groups app is already available in both the iTunes App Store for iOS and the Google Play Store for Android. Read more »

Rightware outs Basemark ES 3.0 to test mobile GPU potency

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Rightware, maker of the popular Basemark and Browsermark benchmarking products, today released the Basemark ES 3.0 test suite. It’s specialized in assessing the smartphones and tablets ability of running OpenGL ES 3.0 based graphics.

OpenGL ES 3.0 was introduced in Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, iOS 7 and BlackBerry OS 10.2. The new graphics API is used by developers to create stunning games and rich navigation software. Read more »

Snapchat will now let you send money to your friends

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In a move that sounds like an April Fool’s joke, Snapchat has launched a new feature called Snapcash that will let you send money to your friends by adding a dollar sign and entering an amount in your pictures. Yeah, it’s totally legit.

Snapchat has joined forces with Square, makers of the popular Square Cash, to let you add your debit card to the app and then send money to your friends. As mentioned before, it’s as simple as adding a dollar sign and the amount in your messages and sending it to your friends and the money is transferred from your bank account to theirs. The payment part is handled by Square, who has more expertise in this matter than Snapchat. Read more »

‘Candy Crush Soda Saga’ for iOS and Android game review

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Love it or hate it, there is no denying that Candy Crush Saga is massively popular and an obscene number of people still play it every day. It is the second most profitable game on the mobile platform right now and earns millions through in-app purchases.

Over a period of time developer King.com has come up with several clones of the game in an effort to also clone the success of the original but none of them have taken off the way the original did (this may have something to do with none of them being particularly different to make anyone want to play them). The latest one is Candy Crush Soda Saga, which is a slight improvement on the original. Having played the original for a while (back when everyone else did) I thought I’d give this new one a try. Read more »

Weekly poll results: Galaxy Note 4 crushes the iPhone 6 Plus

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A big fight was taking place in the sidebar of our blog this week – the Apple iPhone 6 Plus faced the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in a clash of two proper heavyweight champions.

After giving you our take on how the two compare, we were interested to find out what’s your take on it. And as it turns out, you guys really the latest Samsung phablet far more than its Apple rival. Read more »

Monument Valley ‘Forgotten Shores’ for iOS and Android game review

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Monument Valley was one of the best games to have come out this year, not just on the mobile but in general. The game received rave reviews for its stunning art design, wonderfully complex levels and intriguing puzzles. It was also one of the few games we have reviewed so far that received a perfect 10 score. The game has also been featured in promotional material by Apple and Google.

How does one follow something so successful and ensure that it’s not just as good but even better? Well, that’s what we are about to find out with Forgotten Shores, the first major update that adds eight brand new levels to the game. Let’s take a look. Read more »

Apple Pay gains traction, accounts for 50% of McDonald’s tap-to-pay transactions

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Apple Pay, the mobile payment system that Tim Cook said will change the way we pay for things forever is starting to gain traction in the US. The service has only been available for a month but already accounts for 50% of the tap-to-pay transactions at McDonalds – the fast food chain supports the service in 14,000 restaurants now.

Grocery chain Whole Foods has also seen plenty of Apple Pay action – more than 150,000 transactions already. Walgreens hasn’t given any specific numbers but has also revealed that mobile payments doubled since Apple Pay came to be. Read more »

Infographic tells about top 200 iOS games and their revenues

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Mobile gaming isn’t going to slow down soon and is ever rising with a lot of creative mobile game studios and developers making a decent chunk of cash. App aggregator and ranking website TopApps has made a useful infographic to show the top iOS games that make the most cash.

The total revenue which the top 200 iOS games make their developers just over $9 million. Taking the top spot is Clash of Clans with a revenue of $1,415,090, followed by Candy Crush Saga with earning of $989,307. Read more »

SanDisk outs a USB storage drive with Lightning connector

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SanDisk has announced the iXpand Flash Drive storage drive for iOS 7 and iOS 8 devices. The drive sports a Lightning connector and plugging it into an iPhone or an iPad automatically launches the iXpand sync ap.

You can configure it to automatically sync photos and videos from the camera roll. The iXpand sports cross-platform encryption and can be password protected. Read more »

YouTube updates its iOS and Android apps with Music homepage

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The YouTube app for iOS and Android has been updated with a new music homepage, which feeds you an endless YouTube Mix based on your favorite music videos.

The new section also contains recommended music playlists based on what you’re into and playlists of trending music across YouTube. Read more »

Apple iPad Air 2 hands-on

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The Apple iPad Air 2 has arrived at HQ and we’re already heavy into the reviewing process. But that takes time and we know you guys would like a sneak peak at Apple’s latest and greatest so here goes.

The iPad Air 2 lives up to its family name but also its moniker. It has shed off even more weight compared to its predecessor while still keeping focus on what made it so great. Read more »

Instagram adds caption edition, improved discovery options

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Instagram has released an update for its iOS and Android apps that adds two new features. The first is the ability to edit captions, which was sorely missed before.

Previously, if you made some typo in your caption or wanted to change it, the only way was to delete it and then add it again as a comment, which only worked if someone else hadn’t commented yet on your photo. Or, just reupload the photo altogether. Now an option appears in the menu below the image that will let you edit the caption of your photo whenever you want. Read more »

‘The Sailor’s Dream’ for iOS game review

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The Sailor’s Dream is the latest game from Simogo, the developer who made highly rated titles such as Year Walk and DEVICE 6.

The Sailor’s Dream is in typical Simogo style of interactive story telling. The game is already receiving rave reviews from people so let’s see how it is. Read more »

Weekly poll: Apple iPhone 6 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy Note 4

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The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is the company’s best effort in the smartphone segment, but in the face of the Apple iPhone 6 Plus, it faces a competition like never before. Apple’s first entry into the phablet realm carries the unique touch of its creators and is ready to show how iOS does on a properly large screen.

We already gave you our take on how the two fare against each other but now it’s time to hear your thoughts about it. Read more »