After the recent iMac with Retina 5K display teardown, iFixit has now gotten its hands on the new 2014 Mac mini. Although the machine looks identical to the past several generations, there are some new bits inside, some of which are quite troubling.

For starters, the circular plate on the bottom can no longer be twisted to open. Inside is another metal gate with unconventionally small TR6 Torx Security screws. Apple has officially made it harder to get inside the new Mac mini. Why is that? Well, it doesn’t take long to figure that out. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 adopted the metal frame of the Galaxy Alpha but disassembling it doesn’t seem too hard if you know what you’re doing. The metal frame comes off with the back side of the device and brings the antennas with it. The middle part is the motherboard, which houses a collection of sensors and chips.

One of the more interesting discoveries from the internals of the Galaxy Note 4 is the confirmation that the 16MP optically stabilized camera uses a Sony IMX240 sensor, rather than the 16MP ISOCELL sensor made by Samsung. Read more »

One of the cool features of iOS is that the screen lights up whenever you get a notification. This does consume a bit more battery than just having a notification light but it’s far more informative, and you know not just what the notification is about but can also get a brief look at the contents of the notification, making it easier to decide if you should act upon it or ignore it.

With the updated lockscreen notifications in Android Lollipop, Google has now also added a feature called Ambient display mode. This will allow the phone to light up the display when notifications arrive. Even better, it will wake the screen when you pick up the device, similar to the Moto X. Read more »

Sony opened the pre-order books for the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact in the United States. The IP68 certified compact slate is available to order directly from Sony’s official online store.

Only the 32GB version of the Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact is available for pre-order for the time being. Read more »

The next version of Google’s beloved Gmail app for Android will feature a a lot more than new material design. Gmail 5.0 for Android is bound to make most email clients for the OS redundant by offering support for accounts beyond those hosted by Google.

Gmail’s hot new feature appeared in a short walkthrough video. Read more »

Microsoft has published a new update for Skype in the Windows Phone app store. The new version is 2.24, and it debuts an interesting feature: drawing.

It’s just as it sounds, basically. You can tap the “+” icon in any chat and then select “drawing” to, well, draw – a picture, or whatever else your talent level allows you to. There’s also the possibility of adding a “personal touch” to a photo, or to annotate a Bing map. Read more »

Dropbox has updated its mobile app for iOS today, and with the new version comes support for Touch ID. Specifically, you can use the fingerprint sensor embedded into Apple’s wares to get access to your Dropbox.

This means no more entering passwords to view the files you have stored in this particular cloud service. Read more »

Thinner and lighter than an iPad mini, more resilient to water too. It’s the Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact, the third member of the Z3 family. Like the other two it’s waterproof and has front-facing stereo speakers, a Triluminos display and Snapdragon 801 chipset plus a camera with Exmor RS sensor.

There’s not much to the box – a charger and a microUSB cable. It may be worthwhile to invest in a magnetic charging dock or at least a cable so you don’t have to open the flap that protects the microUSB each time you want to charge the tablet. Read more »

The Tizen Association has added 16 additional partners to its list making the list grow to more than 100 members. The announcement came at the Tizen Developer Summit in Shanghai that’s taking place today.

The focus of the conference in on wearables and Internet of Things. However, the members are also discussing the possibilities of Tizen to make a mark in the automotive industry and in the consumer electronics industry. Read more »

Thanks to the hard work of very talented developers over at the XDA-Developers community, the LG Nexus 4 has received Android 5.0 Lollipop earlier than Google is rolling it out officially. In addition, you can now get all of the Google apps with the updated looks on your own phone.

However, only rooted users may apply and the apps won’t work on all smartphones. Currently, the latest Material Design Google apps that are available as downloadable .apk files include Play Music, Play Books, Keep, Calendar, Gmail, Drive, Maps, Messenger and Fit. Read more »

We’re not much for popularity contests but we’re popping the champagne for this one – GSMArena.com has broken into the Top 300 web sites on Alexa’s rankings for the first time in its history.

We’ve briefly entered this exclusive club for a few days before but Alexa’s Global Rank is calculated over a three month period. Read more »

Following the latest iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 announcements, Apple is now offering a total of 56 different tablet configurations with a price starting from $249 and reaching $829.

And to help guide potential buyers into the world of iPad, Forbes has created an infographic that ought to help navigate future iPad owners to the right one for them. Read more »

The maker of wearable devices Fitbit has a smartwatch with built-in GPS on the way. Dubbed Fitbit Surge, the device will reportedly be released in the coming weeks.

According to a leaked slide, Fitbit refers to the Surge as a “superwatch.” Read more »

According to a report in Forbes, Microsoft is about to launch a wearable device in the coming weeks. The gadget will reportedly hit the shelves in time for the holiday shopping season.

Microsoft’s upcoming creation will focus on tracking physical activities that include steps, heart rate, and calories burned among others. Read more »

The freshly announced Apple iMac with 5K Retina display got the iFixit treatment. Cupertino’s latest desktop computer received the average repairability score of 5.

The internal setup of the new iMac closely resembles that of the previous model, save for some of the new components it features. Read more »