In a recently posted story on Microsoft’s site, the designer of the Xbox One, Carl Ledbetter, revealed that it took 75 prototypes before Microsoft settled on the current console’s design.

75 3D-printed models were made of the system, 100 just for the kinect camera, and over 200 for the Xbox’s controller. It just goes to show how much thought goes into not only the technical specs of a console, but its aesthetics as well.

Ledbetter says that the goal of designing the latest iteration of Microsoft’s popular console was to blend classic Xbox looks with the idea that the system would be an “always on” multimedia powerhouse. Read more »

Love him or hate him, J.J. Abrams will be directing the newest Star Wars movie, and is now one step closer to making the film, as he’s just announced that the script is complete.

He also revealed and confirmed a few more details regarding the movie. Jesse Plemons, (aka the sociopath, Todd) from the hit show Breaking Bad, will have a prominent role in the film.

There were also rumors that Star Wars 7 wouldn’t be a digital production and that the movie would be recorded on film. It seemed like a fantastical report, but it turns out that the rumors are true. This will come as a surprise to many, considering J.J. Abrams penchant for the digital medium and IMAX presentations of his previous works. Read more »

Samsung has teamed up with popular espresso maker illy in the UK but the partnership doesn’t have coffee machines planned. Instead Samsung and illy will represent their products in each other’s stores, starting on London’s Regent Street.

Samsung VP Yoinghee Lee has revealed to Pocket-Lint that “this partnership is about sharing a communality between two brands.” – hopes are that by the end of this year Samsung devices will be in two illy coffee shops and illy coffee in two Samsung flagship stores in the UK. Read more »

The PC market has seen some dark days the past couple of years, but it does seem to be on its way to stabilization. This isn’t any solace to 5,000 Intel employees, as the chip manufacturing giant will put them out of work this year.

Intel Spokesman Chris Kraeuter said, “This is part of aligning our human resources to meet business needs.”

The number accounts for about 5% of Intel’s entire workforce. The announcement may come as a surprise to many, especially since Intel’s revenue was improving thanks to a growing number of tablet sales. Read more »

It looks like the NSA scandal has gotten enough attention to warrant a serious response from the US Government. President Barack Obama has announced that all of the data collected through NSA surveillance will now be viewed by a third party. He has also announced that there will be an end to the collection of data “in-bulk”.

The third party that will be handling the public’s data hasn’t been revealed. In President Obama’s speech today regarding the matter, he didn’t exactly announce that there would be an end to the NSA’s surveillance of US Citizens,but made promises as to how the agency would go about collecting said data. Read more »

Acer announced today its last quarter financial results and they’ve turned up a lot worse than the company initially expected.

According to the financial report No.4 PC manufacturer based in Taiwan has accumulated $254 million (T$7.6 billion) net loss – twice the predicted $122.66 million (T$3.69 billion). Read more »

Intel has revealed that it’s going to delay the opening of its completed chip facility in Chandler, Arizona. Called simply Fab 42, the facility lacks the robots and infrastructure to actually produce processors.

Instead of investing in Fab 42 right now, Intel spokesperson Chuck Mulloy has shared the company’s plans to upgrade three of is other factories. The reason behind the decision is that Intel will be able to use the existing equipment that is already present. Read more »

Nike has officially announced a new limited edition of its FuelBand that comes with a new silver paint job. The activity tracker is now up for grabs in six color options – Black, Pink Foil, Total Crimson, Volt, Rose Gold and the newly launched Silver hue.

The Silver version of the Nike+ FuelBand SE comes with a silver plate on the clip and apart from that there are no alterations to the design. Read more »

Google has expanded the availability of its Nexus Wireless Charger to four new countries. The new markets include Australia, Japan, Korea and India.

Right now, in some of these countries the accessory is listed as “coming soon”, but the status is bound to change in next couple of hours. Read more »

Samsung has released an official app for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, which will kick off next month. As a partner of the event, the global market leader has designed an exclusive app for the upcoming games.

The app that is named WOW for Wireless Olympic Works and offers one of the easiest ways to keep track of what’s happening at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Read more »

Sony has taken the wraps off its Xperia T2 Ultra and T2 Ultra Dual phablets. As tradition goes on such occasions, a couple of promotional videos of the 6-inch smartphones have gone live.

The first video runs for about 90 seconds and features the single SIM variant of the Xperia T2 Ultra in action. Read more »

Twitter has completely revamped its web interface to bring it closer to the look and feel of its iOS and Android applications. The new design comes with a cool new white navigation bar at the top, replacing the dark hue.

Twitter has retained all its navigational elements such as home, connect, discover and user profile in its new tweak, but the overall design of the micro-blogging site is a lot lighter now. Read more »

Microsoft released a duo of new Xbox one promo videos on YouTube. The clips are focused on the gaming prowess of the console, as well as the accolades it received from both users and the press.

The first clip is entitled “Immersive Gaming” and highlights the realistic gameplay which the Xbox One provides. Read more »

Google acquired the designer and manufacturer of home products Nest Labs. The search engine giant paid $3.2 billion in cash for the Palo Alto-based company.

Founded in 2010, Nest brings modern design and functionality to ubiquitous home products. Read more »

CEO of Branch, Josh Miller, has announced that the service has been bought out by Facebook. As part of the deal, Facebook will also acquire Potluck, a similar service. If you’re not familiar with Branch or Potluck, they’re link-sharing services that allow friends to share news stories and internet articles, and have conversations about said stories. This news-centric app’s intention was to move discussions away from Facebook and email and allow users an easier, more “feed-like” way to talk about the links they’re sharing.

The news doesn’t really come as much of a surprise, considering that Facebook has been moving more towards putting real news stories in your feeds along with photo albums of your best friend’s weird night in Bangkok photo album. Facebook is bringing on CEO Josh Miller to do just this, so he’ll be working for Zuckerberg in addition to being bought out. Read more »