Joshua Gulick
Recent posts
In-app purchases are coming to late-model Samsung Smart TVs, thanks to new payment system with the straightforward name Samsung Pay On TV. Anytime you want to load up on gems, gold, or other digital merchandise, you’ll be able to make the purchase with just a few taps on your remote.
Samsung Smart TV supports PayPal accounts and credit
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Researchers appear to have found serious vulnerabilities in Mac laptops and desktops. Trammell Hudson at Two Sigma Investments and Xeno Kovah at LegbaCore are planning to discuss their discovery in detail at Black Hat USA 2015 in Las Vegas. The crux of their discovery: many of the same firmware vulnerabilities that...
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The hitchhiking robot hitchBOT has traversed multiple countries by relying on the generosity of strangers, but its adventuring came to an abrupt and disastrous conclusion shortly after it arrived in the U.S. The place of hitchBOT’s demise turned out to be Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, which apparently...
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Nokia may be down, but it’s not out. The company stands to rake in $2.8 billion from a deal today in which the former cell phone behemoth is selling off its HERE mapping and location services business. Nokia first started looking for buyers in April while considering a deal with Alcatel-Lucent. Today, the move should...
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Canon has a new camera that will be available just in time for the holidays, but at $30,000, the model is going to be on only a few wish lists. The ME20F-SH is capable of creating the equivalent of a 4,000,000 ISO setting, which means it can capture color video in extremely-low light settings. In fact, according to...
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There’s hot hardware, and then there’s a fire hazard. Nvidia is recalling all of its SHIELD tablets sold in the last 12 months, citing an overheating problem. The company is urging customers to stop using the SHIELD and to return it for a replacement tablet. Nvidia initiated the recall after discovering that the...
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Volkswagen is taking a kitchen sink approach to in-car infotainment technology for its new vehicles. All 2016 VWs will include both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay so customers can have a solid experience regardless of their smartphone brand.
Android Auto
“With the new MIB II infotainment platform, Volkswagen’s...
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Researchers in Japan announced this week that they have developed a functional 2-petawatt laser beam system. The tests appear to confirm that Japan create the world’s most powerful laser beam, which generated massive power in pico-second bursts.
The Laser for Fast Ignition Experiments (LFEX) at Osaka University...
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Leave it to a couple NASA scientists to develop technology that supercharges their smartwatches. NASA announced this week that it has applied for a patent on a technology that lets wearable devices reflect wireless signals instead of using traditional transmitters and receivers. Once the new tech is implemented, it...
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Streaming music services are getting creative with their advertising spots, making sitting through commercials a little more tolerable for listeners. One of those ads is the Sponsored Listening hour, in which listeners interact with an ad in exchange for an hour of uninterrupted listening. This week, Pandora is taking...
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More than 41,000 fake iPhones have been scooped up by Chinese authorities in a massive bust, thanks to a tip from U.S. officials. Beijing police picked up at least nine people believed to be involved in the operation, which involved a small factory posing as an electronics retailer.
It’s not clear where the fake...
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Is your phone recording your voice right now? If you have an Android smartphone, you shouldn’t be so sure that it isn’t, given a discovery by a researcher from mobile security firm Zimperium. The San Francisco-based company claims to have uncovered a method for attacking phones, known as Stagefright, which gives a...
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Doom’s official launch isn’t until the Spring of 2016, but you’re going to have a couple chances to scratch that itch while you wait. For one thing, QuakeCon 2015 is underway this weekend and Bethesda is expected to give some attendees a crack at a pre-Alpha version of Doom multiplayer. For another, the company is...
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After a string of disappointing game launches (some of which were possibly made worse by inadequate testing), it’s good to see Activision and developer Treyarch running a large-scale beta ahead of its Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 release. Scott Lowe of Activision announced this week that that the companies will run a...
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It’s back-to-school season, which has traditionally been a good time to pick up a laptop or tablet at a decent price. Asus just released a low-cost Chromebook that is worth a look, but Windows users are getting some love, too. The Acer One 10 is a 10.1-inch Windows tablet (with a keyboard) that rolls in at just under...
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At long last, the Asus Chromebook Flip C100 is reaching online retailers. The tiny Chromebook has been getting plenty of attention since Asus first began teasing the device earlier this year. Chromebooks aren’t for everyone, but the Flip C100 looks to be (on paper, at least) an attractive choice for people willing to...
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Microsoft suffered one more black eye as it emerged from the Nokia debacle this week. The company’s Q4 earnings statement formally announced a $2.1 billion loss, the biggest in Microsoft’s history.
Driving that dramatic loss is the $7.5 billion impairment charge from Microsoft’s failed attempt to revive the Nokia...
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Microsoft is plugging a security hole with a new Critical-rated security update. The patch will fix an issue in Windows and OpenType fonts that could expose users to malicious website content. So long as you have automatic updates enabled, your PC will download and install the patch, if it hasn’t already.
“This...
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If Apple wants to quell speculation about its rumored efforts to develop an electric car, the consumer electronics behemoth is going about it the wrong way. Apple hired quality manager Doug Betts from Fiat Chrysler this month and is keeping mum about his role in the company. This comes after Apple hired a key...
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This is a good year for creative professionals that are constantly on the go. After watching the corporate world trot around with thin and light notebooks that sport bleeding-edge hardware and touchscreens, the content creation and workstation set is finally getting to enjoy features in their notebooks that many others take for granted. Lenovo...
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Nokia is down, but not out. The Finish telecom company has been planning a way forward after a stunning fall from grace (similar to that of BlackBerry) as consumers turned away from inexpensive cell phones to smartphones running Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems. And, like BlackBerry, Nokia said this...
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Long after Apple Pay’s successful launch in the U.S., the contactless payment system is coming to the UK. Apple has already lined up more than 250,000 businesses who are accepting Apple Pay payments as of this week. British users with an iPhone 6 or an Apple Watch can start using Apple Pay immediately.
“Apple Pay...
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