Leaked: Is this what the iPhone 6 looks like?

Is this the iPhone 6?

It’s just February and the dust has barely settled on the iPhone 5s and 5c launch, but it’s already time for news of the iPhone 6 to emerge. It looks like we’ve received what could be the first sneak peek into what the new iPhone will look like.

The leak could be considered the real deal as it comes from none other than prolific Apple tipster Sonny Dickson. He had earlier tweeted component pictures – including fingerprint sensor – of the iPhone 5c and the iPad mini with Retina display. The new pictures of the alleged iPhone 6 show a sleek grey casing that appears to be similar to the iPod touch.The leaked device also appears to have a larger flash than what we’ve seen in the iPhone 5s. However, one can’t be sure if the device is the next-generation iPhone or iPod.

iphone 6 #apple pic.twitter.com/cVxjk5llTi

The anonymous tipster has tweeted full images of the alleged iPhone 6 parts. A glance at these photos and one can clearly see a larger display without any bezel on the side. In fact, the bezel on the upper and lower side of the display also seems to have narrowed.

Rumours of the iPhone 6 started surfacing late last year, not too long after the last variants of iPhones were launched. One consistent rumour has been its large screen, possibly 4.8-inch. It is also believed that Apple will employ a Sapphire crystal display, manufactured at its Arizona plant. The device will run on the rumoured iOS 8 and work in tandem with the alleged iWatch.

Here’s everything we know about the iPhone 6, so far.

Windows 8.1 update leaks ahead of its March release

Microsoft's update of the Windows OS 8.1 has already leaked on a few file sharing websites ahead of the scheduled unveiling event in March.

The leaked screenshot reveals new updates related to navigation, a new tile bar along with major overhauls in the keyboard and mouse functionality. The new update will allow users to pin apps directly onto the desktop start icon, doing away the need to go to the start screen.

The new tile bar of Windows 8 style apps will now give users the option to close, minimize and snap apps simultaneously allowing users to quickly navigate through apps. Along with that, improvements have been made to the start screen where a right click on the Live Tiles will pop up a menu with options to resize, move or remove an app.

The new update will also feature the search button and the shutdown option right on the Windows 8.1 Start screen. The search is still the same- old side bar interface while the shutdown icon gives drop-down list style for restart, shutdown and sleep.

We expect Microsoft to release the final version if this update on March 11.

Microsoft's new CEO is Satya Nadella

Associated Press reports that Microsoft has named Hyderabad born Satya Nadella as the new CEO of their company. He’s been heading executive vice president for a while now and has been in-charge of Microsoft’s cloud computing offerings.

In other news, Bill Gates is also stepping down as chairman, but will stay on as technology adviser with John Thomson filling his shoes.

This change comes at a turbulent time for Microsoft, which is seemingly recovering from the Windows 8 fiasco and comes six months after Steve Ballmer announced that he would be stepping down. The new leadership is expected to help refocus the company on its core businesses, especially in the enterprise space.

LG launches the PD233 Pocket Photo printer for wireless printing

LG has launched a new pocket-sized photo printer called LG PD233 Pocket Photo, for Rs. 14,990. The printer allows you to connect wirelessly with your Android or iOS device and print small 2x3 inch photographs.

The LG PD233 is an ultra slim device that can easily fit into your pocket. It has a silver-colored exterior, with sleek dimensions of 72.4 x 120.9 x 24 millimeters and weighs merely 212 grams - roughly as heavy as a large-screen smartphone.

The printer offers mobile printing solutions and allows users to print photographs while on the move. You can connect the device with your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or NFC and print pictures. The printer uses Zink technology that works on inkless papers eliminating the use of expensive ink cartridges. It uses 'Zink Photo Paper' that embeds ink in the paper itself and gives smudge-proof, water resistant and tear-resistant pictures.

The user needs to download the LG Pocket photo app and then you can start printing photographs, birthday invitations and even personalize them using QR codes. The app has simple editing tools for photographs, and allows adding special effects and frames to them.

The LG PD233 has a 313dpi resolution and can deliver as many as 1000 printed papers. The device can print images in less than 40 seconds according to LG. It has a 5000mAh lithium-polymer battery of 7.4V that takes around 1 hour and 30 minutes to charge completely. Once fully charged it can print as many as 25 pages at a time.

Google releases five new games for Google Glass

Google has launched five mini games for its Google Glass to inspire developers to create more games. These new games are Balance, Clay Shooter, a Fruit Ninja clone, Tennis and Matcher.

Balance uses your head to shift around and stop a pile of shapes from toppling over. Clay Shooter lets the user say 'Pull' and move their head to the clay pigeon in the air to shoot it. Shape Splitter lets you slice shapes in mid-air by moving your hands in front of the Glass eyewear and Matcher is a traditional card-matching game. Tennis lets the wearer use their head as a racket and can play left or right by tilting their heads.

A Google blog post stated that the games can be played by using the device's voice activation features, an inbuilt gyroscope and accelerometer sensors. “Each game is visually simple and straightforward to play,” said Google.

The new mini-games are definitely not the first games built specifically for the device. Some of the games released earlier include BrickSimple’s multiplayer Battleship-like game dubbed ‘GlassBattle’ and AMA’s puzzle game called ‘Escape’.

Google Glass which is expected to be launched later this year, recently added a wink to click feature to its eyewear. The new update from Google adds some much requested features including full hangouts support, video uploading to YouTube, a new wink gesture to take photos and additional security features. The new security features allow users to secure their Google Glass with a "secret Google handshake" that are a sequence of taps and swipes similar to a smartphone unlock screen.

Source: Google

Google, LEGO launch a virtual brick building app for Chrome

After joining forces with Lego, Google has launched a brick building game 'Builder with Chrome' app. The app allows users to build anything without any fear of running out of the LEGO bricks.

The application has been launched for Chrome browser on PCs, tablets and smartphones. The app was originally built by an Australian team as a Chrome Experiment and was later taken up by Google to bring it to the public.

The LEGO 'Build with Chrome' app looks like a virtual sandbox with Lego bricks in different shapes, sizes and colors. Users can stack, snap and rotate a variety of bricks with the keyboard shortcut keys. The app comes with brick building lessons starring characters from an upcoming LEGO film to improve your stacking skills and become a master builder.

Once a building is created, users can publish it on a world map. The app will look for your location and publish it. The tiles you build on, are stylized Google Maps tiles actually. It also comes with Google+ integration that allows users to share and view creations with their friends on the contact list. It has a new categorization system that allows users to sort and filter for specific structures from completed Builds.

Google product marketing manager Adrian Soghoian describes himself as a “beginning builder." "We think the creative freedom of Lego bricks shouldn’t be limited to plastic bins," Google said in a blog post announcing the website.

Source: Google 

15-year-old boy to build low-cost 3D printer in India

Angad Daryani who calls himself a 'maker,' is building 'Sharkbot'- a low cost 3D printer that he plans to sell in India. The 15 year genius built his first robot when he was just 8 years old and at 13 he started building his own versions of the open-source RepRap 3D printer.

Angad was hired by IIT Bombay last September to work with doctoral researchers who were building a 3D printer and has since then branched out on his own. He plans to begin marketing his Shark-Bot range of printers at a price as low as Rs 20,000 in the next 2 months. 3D printers imported in India generally cost between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.

"It's about starting a revolution," said Angad Daryani, says the tenth grader. He stated that it will be “the fastest and most robust desktop 3D printer that can print any material except metal.”

Daryani's products will be retailed by a computer peripherals business run by his father, Kunhar Peripherals. Daryani says that he wants the printers to be used by schools. He has also created Virtual Brailler, an e-book reader for blind people which can convert written text to braille as it scans across a text.

Shai Schechter, a college student from Purchase College, State University of New York, has also developed a new affordable 3D printer called the Deltaprintr that costs $475. He built a printer made of plastic that costs less than one third of the traditional 3D printers. He launched a kickstarter campaign, along with his free friends, to bring the low cost 3D printer for the masses.

Nokia X makes another appearance on the web

After showing up a couple of times in benchmark databases, Nokia X (Normandy) has made another appearance. This time some “real” pictures have been put up by a French website called www.nowhereelse.fr. We are already aware that Nokia will unveil Normandy at Mobile World Congress (MWC) on 24 February.

NWE has posted three images of the phone which show the photo from the sides, front as well as the back.

Apart from the information that we already know about the device (in rumours), nothing was added by the French publication. The already rumoured specs have been repeated again by the publication which include a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512 MB of RAM, 4GB of storage with expandable memory slot, 1500mAh battery capacity and a 5MP rear camera.

Nokia X will be the first Android powered phone from the Finnish mobile manufacturer.

   

Windows Phone 8.1 leaked screenshots reveal 'new notification center'

Two images have been posted online recently that give us a preview of changes made by Microsoft in its yet to be released Windows Phone 8.1 OS. One image (shown below) was posted on XDA Developers forum named “Lumia 620 with WP8.1 or GDR3 ?” by a user named 'when im gone' who alleges to have found an SD card with a screenshot on it. It shows a Lumia 620 with a notification tile with both Skype and Outlook together. The WiFi indicator can be seen on the left part of the notification bar.

The other photo which shows a similar notification tile was published by Windows Phone PL. The notification bar on the top also includes a “star” which, likely, is a sign for unread notification.

Microsoft seems to be bringing some changes in the interface which is expected because this update is expected to be an extensive overhaul.

Both these photos seem to compliment a screenshot that Microsoft's Joe Belfiore accidentally posted to Twitter recently.

Windows Phone 8.1 update is expected to debut in early 2014 and Microsoft has already been pushing small updates..

Samsung Galaxy Tab for Education to launch this year

Samsung has announced a new variant of its Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 tablet that the company says will be “exclusively developed for education”. According to Samsung, the tablet – dubbed Galaxy Tab for Education – will feature Google Play for Education and will be available for K-12 school deployments for the 2014-2015 academic year. Though there's no word on pricing and release date, tablet is expected to be available by April this year.

Samsung hasn't revealed the specifications of the forthcoming tablet. However, it's expected to be identical to the original Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 tablet. The tablet runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and is powered by a 1.6GHz dual core Intel Atom Processor Z2560 along with 1GB of RAM.

The tablet has a 10.1-inch display with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution. It has 3MP rear camera and 1.3MP front camera. The tablet comes with Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity options.

Samsung's Senior VP of Enterprise Business Division Ted Pike said: "Samsung and Google for Education share a commitment to delivering innovative learning experiences to improve student outcomes. The new Galaxy Tab with Google Play for Education integration was created to specifically address the needs of today’s schools and support our vision for powering education by empowering educators."

Yahoo's email accounts hacked again

Yahoo Inc. has admitted that email accounts of its users were hacked by a malicious computer software. The internet giant states on its official blog that attackers were attempting to access accounts by using data from third party websites.

According to comScore, Yahoo is the second-largest email service globally, after Gmail. There are 273 million Yahoo email accounts globally, including 81 million in the United States alone. Yahoo has not admitted to the number of accounts being affected but states that the hackers were looking for information in the most recent emails sent by the users.

Yahoo Inc. says in a blog post, "The information sought in the attack seems to be names and email addresses from the affected accounts' most recent sent emails."

"Security attacks are unfortunately becoming a more regular occurrence," Senior vice president of Yahoo for platforms and personalization products Jay Rossiter said in his blog post.

"We regret this has happened and want to assure our users that we take the security of their data very seriously. We have no evidence that they were obtained directly from Yahoo's systems," Rossiter added.

Yahoo has reset passwords on affected accounts and has "implemented additional measures" to block further attacks and is now working with US federal law enforcement in its investigation of the attacks.

This cyber attack comes after Yahoo has encrypted all its emails and data servers. The company had announced default HTTPS encryption for Yahoo mail users to protect email accounts against cyber crimes. However these methods seem paltry as days after the data encryption the internet giants email server got hacked and some user data was stolen. This is the second mishap the company has experienced in the past two months. Their service suffered a multi-day outage earlier in December also.

Source: Yahoo

Indian hackers deface Pakistani websites after over 2,000 Indian sites hacked

India and Pakistan are at war – in the cyber space! According to reports, Pakistani hackers defaced over 2,000 Indian websites on Republic Day followed by Indian hackers defacing more than 100 Pakistani websites.

The Pakistani websites that were hacked showed the message "Hacked by Indian Cyber Rakshak". The defacement of Pakistani websites began on Tuesday night and continued through Wednesday, add reports.

Earlier, Pakistani hackers defaced about 2,118 Indian sites including of the Central Bank of India and the website of Bollywood actress Poonam Pandey.

Most of the Indian sites were defaced by Pakistani hackers using handles called "StrikerRude", "KashmirCyberArmy", "PakCyber Expert", "HUnter Gujar" while the Operation was named as "#OP26jan".

The Indian websites have regularly been targeted by hackers from across the world. According to reports, prior to Republic Day attack, about 1,400 Indian websites were hacked.

Android dominated with 79% smartphone shipments in 2013: Report

 According to a research carried out Strategy Analytics, almost 8 out of every 10 smartphones shipped in 2013 were Android. The Google's mobile operating system accounted for 79% share of all the smartphones shipped. Another interesting finding from that report was the growth in sales of smartphones which grew 34% in a year from Q4 2012 to Q4 2013. 

Almost 990 million smartphones were shipped last year as compared to almost 700 million in 2012 which shows a growth of 41%. Out of these shipments, 781.2 million were Android run smartphones which translates to as many as four times as many shipments of both Apple and Microsoft combined.

 

Despite still ruling the total sales, Android saw a growth rate in 2013 at 62 which still sounds impressive but it is the slowest since its debut. Strategy Analysts predict that Android's growth rate will slow down further in 2014 due to market saturation which will create more opportunities for other companies.