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Showing posts from July, 2016

R.I.P To VHS: The End Of VCR

This month will see the last videocassette recorder (VCR) produced in Japan, according to reports. Once no home was complete without a library of chunky black cassettes and a recording device with a slot you had to keep telling the kids not to insert their toast into. Home video changed everything. Now you could record TV programmes and watch them again, rather than having to commit them to memory and then play them back in your head. Plus you could rent movies from the video shop and enjoy them at home, instead of having to sit in a cinema alongside other humans who might not appreciate Tom Selleck or Molly Ringwald as much as you did. In the "format wars" of the 1970s and 80s, Video Home System, as no-one ever called it, handily saw off rival like LaserDisc and BetaMax. Some speculated the pornography industry's preference for VHS made the difference, although this has never been proved. The adverts in which an animated skeleton, channelling Buddy Holly, promised th

KickassTorrents is Back Online?

The alleged founder and operator of the most popular torrenting site in the world, KickassTorrents (KAT), has been apprehend by the US authorities and the site's domains seized. However, as we learned with the campaign to stop The Pirate Bay, you just can't keep a good pirate site down. We've already spotted at least two clones of KAT, including one created by IsoHunt (KickassTorrents.website — a fairly limited mirror), and a second located at KAT.am. A statement emailed to The Verge from the creators of KAT.am claims the site is "hosted on multiple cloud servers to prevent blockade, and the hosting information is well hidden behind Cloudflare." The anonymous contact said they'd improved on the original KickassTorrents site by adding a mobile version, and noted (with the original, ambiguous, wording retained here) that the site "will has the complete torrent database of KAT, including the comments, user information intact." We're not sure w

How To Find The Best Monsters In Pokémon Go

All Pokémon are not created equal: some are definitely better than others. If you’re serious about creating a formidable team, or if you want the satisfaction of having some of the best monsters available in Pokémon Go, you’ve come to the right place. The Silph Road is a collective that is one of the leading researchers on Pokémon Go, with hundreds of members dedicated to collecting data on the popular augmented reality game. Their findings have been uploaded to The Silph Road’s official website, where players can look at Pokemon based on the best attack stats, defense stats, stamina stats, as well as best combined overall stats. Unsurprisingly, Pokémon Go’s legendary Pokémon, all of which are currently not even obtainable, top out the list of best overall stats. But if we were to narrow down the list of best Pokémon to the critters you can actually capture, it would include Dragonite, Snorlax, Lapras, Arcanine, Blastoise, Exeggutor, Gyarados, Vaporeon, Slowbrow, Venusaur, Flareon

Pokémon Go is the Most Downloaded App in its first week ever - Says Apple

Apple has told TechCrunch that Pokémon Go has broken an impressive App Store record. While the game was only available in a few countries at the time, the app has attracted more downloads in the App Store during its first week than any other app in App Store history. Pokémon Go initially launched in New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. Apple didn’t provide any hard number, but it’s clear that Pokémon Go became a massive phenomenon and an instant hit. The Pokémon Company has continued rolling out the game in more countries over the past few weeks and the game just launched in Japan today. The Pokémania isn’t going to stop any time soon. It’s interesting to see that more than eight years after the launch of the App Store, there are still some app phenomenons like Pokémon Go. Sure, the App Store novelty has worn off. But you would be crazy to say that apps are dead. Instead, it looks like usage is shifting as people now know what they want to do with their phone. At first, it was a co

New iPhone 7 Leak Will Anger Everyone

Apple is criticised for many things, but design is rarely one of them. At least until the iPhone 7… In recent months a series of leaks have revealed Apple’s new iPhone will look almost identical to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S, but that isn’t the big problem. What the iPhone 7 surprisingly does worse than its predecessors is what will anger users… Lighting up social media is the ever reliable Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka OnLeaks) after the leaker who famously nailed the iPhone 6, iPhone 6S, Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7 designs prior to release, revealed the first iPhone 7 real world photos as well as a new schematic. And, surprisingly, it was not the photo which had everyone talking. While the photo showed what we have been expecting: an iPhone 6S lookalike with revised antenna lines and a slightly larger camera (believed to increase aperture not megapixels), the schematic gave a more unsettling viewing angle showing the extent to which the new rear camera protrudes.

First Nokia Android Device, P1 Rumoured To Have 3GB RAM Plus HD Display

If you have used Nokia, you will remember the rugged Nokia 3310 and other smartphones that could break a wall and still survive. Nokia is back to making smartphones but Android operating system. Nokia in late May had issued a press release announcing that not only would it be returning to the smartphone arena, but also its new line of devices would have Android running on it. The Finland-based company will license its brand to its Asian partners, which will then create Nokia handsets. Since the announcement, rumors about the new Nokia smartphone have been doing the rounds. In early July, leaked images of a device bearing Nokia branding, deemed to be the Nokia P1, appeared online creating a lot of buzz. However, these images turned out to be that of Sharp Aquos P1, which is designed by engineers at InFocus and Sharp, a Foxconn subsidiary. In its bid to return to smartphone production, Nokia has leased its name to Foxconn, which was announced earlier this year. Foxconn also purchased

You Can Now Save Your Memories Using the New Snapchat ‘Memories’ Feature

  Snapchat’s new Memories feature in action    Snapchat is growing up. Well, sort of. The ephemeral messaging app has added a new feature, Memories, that allows you to save your snaps and stories for posterity. Available via an update for both Android and iOS versions of the app , Memories will let you swipe up from the bottom of the screen to see your saved snaps and stories, which you can then share with others. If you’ve got a snap or story in Memories that’s a little too, shall we say, “adult,” you can mark it as My Eyes Only. To see those, you’ll have to enter a passcode. Memories live on Snapchat’s own servers, and the company specifically goes out of its way to state that it doesn’t save every image from your phone’s camera roll — only those used in Memories.   snapchat memories save The new feature is a big change for Snapchat, which gained popularity by allowing users to share photos and short videos that self-destruct without leaving a tr

HP Spectre 13: Worlds Thinnest laptop and Most Beautiful

  The HP Spectre 13 Whether you’re a fan of Apple’s MacBooks or not, there’s no denying the brand’s aesthetic appeal. They’re easily the most attractive notebooks you can buy. Well, I should say they were the most attractive notebooks until HP released its new Spectre 13. Yes, that beauty of a laptop you see above is an HP. I know — I had a few coworkers who didn’t believe it, either. But the 13-inch Spectre 13 has more than just good looks. It’s got a powerful processor and plenty of memory for all of your multitasking needs, and a fantastic display. And did I mention it’s the thinnest laptop in the world? But all of that power and beauty comes at a hefty price tag; the Spectre starts at $1,170. That’s $30 less than Apple’s MacBook and $170 more than Samsung’s Notebook 9 . Still, this laptop is worth the cost of admission. Here’s why. Did I mention it’s really pretty? “That’s an HP? No. Really!?” That’s the exact reaction I got from my coworker when I asked

BlackBerry Rolling Out 3 New Android Smartphones. When? Soon!

Inspired by childhood readings of The Little Engine that Could, BlackBerry has summoned the gusto to develop three new Android smartphones. Godspeed, BlackBerry. Godspeed. Blackberry Mercury Yes, in the face of terrifying sales results after their first foray into the Android market with the Priv, the Canadian company has elected not to hedge their bets, but rather to double down. Nay, triple down. This trio of new smartphones attempts to hit a variety of target audiences with their varied price points and specs, and their current codenames are Neon, Argon, and Mercury. Take the following details with a grain of salt, as they come a “briefed individual,” not an official BlackBerry source. Neon Neon will be the first of these devices to hit the public. It’s a 5.2-inch midranger that lacks BlackBerry’s signature physical keyboard. This aluminum-frame device is said to have a soft-coated plastic back and will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 SoC. Reportedl

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 rumored to have 6GB RAM, ‘Force Touch’ feature

Xiaomi’s sequel to its successful  Mi Note , the Mi Note 2, is expected for release later this year, but leaked specs and images of the device have been relatively sparse. But yesterday,  GizChina   released information on the device that would suggest it’s a followup worth waiting for. Coming this summer, the company’s newest flagship will feature three variants — a standard version with a 1080p display and a premium version with a 2K curved display, the latter coming with 64GB or 128GB options. The higher end models will feature a 5.7-inch curved display and a rear dual-camera at 12 megapixels each. The lower end version with 4GB RAM will have one 16MP camera on the back — that means no dual-camera, but the resolution will be a bit higher. Here’s a better breakdown of the varying specs on the three device options: 4GB RAM with 32GB storage, 1080p display6GB RAM with 64GB storage, 2K curved display6GB RAM with 128GB storage, 2K curved display The top model is rumored to come with

'Samsung Galaxy Note7' name confirmed

Can't wait for Samsung's next entry into the plus-sized phone category? A tweet from Evan Blass aka evleaks reveals three colors of what will apparently be called the Galaxy Note7 (no space?), in Black Onyx, Silver Titanium and Blue Coral. There have been rumors about the phone and its number-skipping name floating around, but the clear images confirm this is what we'll see announced this summer. Naturally, there's a stylus and curved edges, while the specs cited by Blass on Android Police include a 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED display, 12MP/5MP front/rear camera setup, 64MB of storage and IP68-rated water resistance.