Items tagged with Mobile
If you listened to rap music in the early 1990s, you undoubtedly heard Flava Flav spit rhymes to "911 is a Joke," the song he is most famous for. However, it was no laughing matter when mobile phone users subscribed to AT&T's wireless service were unable to call 911 emergency dispatchers in more than a dozen states on Wednesday night. Service has since been restored, but given the seriousness of the situation, the FCC has opened an investigation into what went wrong. During the outage, law enforcement and emergency response officials were on social media warning people across the nation of the trouble AT&T was having. The outage lasted around five hours, with AT&T indicating at 10:30...
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It shouldn't be too shocking to learn that there are many people anxious to get their mitts on Nintendo's Switch console, and thanks to one retailer that didn't check its calendar carefully, many people are now envious of one lucky customer who managed to get their unit a full two weeks early. That lucky user is Hiphoptherobot, who happens to frequent popular gaming site NeoGAF and decided to show off his unexpected wares. In a three-minute video posted to Vidme, Hiphoptherobot shows us what we can expect to see after powering on the Switch tablet for the first time. While there's not a lot to be surprised by, we do at least get to see the job Nintendo has done with the software aesthetics. After...
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What's that sound? Oh, it's just the collective sound of Fallout fans who'd rather not game on mobile platforms letting out a collective "Finally!". That's right: Bethesda's super-hot mobile game based on the Fallout universe, called Fallout Shelter, is coming to Xbox One, as well as Windows 10 PCs. Sorry, PlayStation fans. This is one of those times where you can hear about an announcement and not have to wait forever and a day for it to come to fruition. Microsoft says that Fallout Shelter will hit both of its platforms on February 8, and like the mobile game, it's going to be free to download, but will have in-game purchases to peruse (the Android version shows these prices can range from...
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Just a couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the Israeli security firm Cellebrite, and how it suffered a major data breach. After the information began to trickle out, it seemed like no real damage was done. Cellebrite itself said that what leaked was an old, irrelevant backup. A new discovery, however, questions that answer. If you're not familiar with Cellebrite, it was the firm that the U.S. government hired to break into an iPhone 5c to aide with investigation of the December 2015 San Bernardino terror attack. Apple at the time refused to help crack the phone, so Cellebrite was brought in, and succeeded. Not long after, the firm boasted about its ability to crack nearly any smartphone - be...
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It was a pretty big deal when Facebook amassed 1 billion active monthly users a little over four years ago. Of the achievement, company co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said it was "humbling and by the far the thing I am most proud of in my life." Now just a few short years later, Facebook is on the cusp of doubling the number of people who connect with others through the world's largest social playground, the company revealed in an earnings report. Facebook capped off 2016 with 1.86 billion monthly active users, an increase of 17 percent year-over-year. Most of the people using Facebook are now connecting through mobile devices. By Facebook's tally, on average there were 1.15 billion mobile users...
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If you're in a situation where your phone has data, but your tablet doesn't, and Wi-Fi isn't an immediate option, things can get frustrating pretty quickly. Consider checking into a hotel, for example, which only allows one or two devices to connect to the Wi-Fi - that's a major roadblock for those with their families, or those with multiple devices. While your smartphone is charging, you could be kicking back using the tablet, for example. That assumes that the hotel's Internet service allows you access without dinging you again for another device. Situations like those or similar will be less of a problem going forward for Android users with Google Pixel or Nexus devices. In the Google...
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It seems that Apple is working on a new "Theater" mode for iOS devices that iPhone owners can enable when watching a movie at the local cinema. That is our assumption, anyway, following a pair of Twitter posts by Sonny Dickson, a well known leaker of Apple products. In one of Dickson's tweets he describes a new popcorn-shaped icon that he says will be accessible through the Control Center. What exactly the Theater mode will do is not clear, though if it really is geared towards settings appropriate for watching a movie in public, we imagine it would block or otherwise silence incoming calls and texts, reduce screen brightness, and turn off vibration feedback so that users are not tempted to whip...
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The parents of a five-year-old girl who lost her life in a car accident involving another motor vehicle in which the driver was using Apple's FaceTime app have filed a lawsuit against the Cupertino outfit. Filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, the lawsuit holds Apple accountable for the girl's death for not utilizing technology that would prevent people from using FaceTime while operating a vehicle, or at the very least issue a warning as to the potential hazards. "Plaintiffs allege Apple Inc.'s failure to design, manufacture, and sell the Apple iPhone 6 Plus with the patented, safer, alternative design technology already available to it that would automatically lock-out or block users...
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It's been a very rough year for the folks at Cyanogen, and it doesn't look like anything is going to be changing about that any time soon. At the end of last month, it was revealed that Cyanogen wanted to consolidate all of its employees to Palo Alto, California, which as an announcement on its own might not have seemed so bad, but it came at the same time that co-founder Steve Kondik decided to pack it up and move onto other ventures. Alcatel's POP Mirage shipped with Cyanogen OS Now, we learn that Cyanogen's OS and services are going to be shuttered at the end of this year (aka: one week from the time of this post). This was announced on the Cyanogen website with a small, bittersweet message:...
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Research firm SuperData has just released its latest year-in-review report. While some of the findings are expected, others are a little surprising. Some are also great if you happen to be a PC enthusiast, as PC game sales dwarfed game sales on all of the consoles combined. That's an amazing data point, so let's bring in some real numbers. According to SuperData, the entire console market generated $6.6 billion in 2016, which is a Far Cry (pun intended) from the $35.8 billion the PC platform generated. That's a staggering difference, but the PC isn't the only platform to vastly outperform consoles -- so did mobile. Thanks to hits like Clash Royale and Pokemon GO, mobile gaming reached an impressive...
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When Chris Sawyer's RollerCoaster Tycoon hit the PC back in 1999, the world couldn't have expected what kind of masterpiece it would be. It's not perfect, but the fact that it gave anyone and everyone reigns over complex theme parks and wild rides drew people in by the millions. And now, that same gameplay that hooked people nearly 18-years-ago is back, and it's on mobile. Released for a meager $5.99, RollerCoaster Tycoon takes the best elements of the first two games to create a robust mobile port that's sure to hook you for hours (or even dozens of hours, for that matter!) Based on its preview screenshots, RCT on mobile looks almost no different than RCT on the PC. However, when you look closer,...
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Popular mobile games such as Pokemon Go helped make 2016 the biggest year in digital games and playable media ever. Counting all games across all platforms, the market reached $91 billion this year worldwide, with several different sectors showing tremendous growth rates, according to a new report released by market tracking firm SuperData Researcher. The games and playable media audience is one of the most valuable and most engaged demographics, the report claims. A little bit of research easily confirms this. According to Statista, global box office revenue tallied $38.3 billion in 2016, which is not even half the amount that digital games and playable media brought in. The divide is likely...
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At long last, Nintendo is beginning to embrace the massive market that is mobile gaming. The company's early involvement in bringing its iconic characters to smartphones has been nothing short of incredible—there was Pokemon Go, the mobile title by Niantic that licensed Nintendo's IP and created a gaming frenzy, followed by Nintendo's own Super Mario Run, which notched 5 million downloads in 24 hours. So why is Nintendo's stock dropping? Fickle investors, is the short answer. A longer answer involves the mobile title's payment structure. Super Mario Run is free to download, but after completing a few levels, the games asks users to pay $10 to unlock the remaining content. This is a deviation...
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The ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom is likely headed for an official reveal in the not-too-distant future. It was just recently spotted passing certification on China's certification website TENAA by its model number Z01HDA and will presumably join a growing list of ZenFone 3 models that include the ZenFone 3 Deluxe, ZenFone 3 Ultra, and ZenFone 3 Max.According to the listing, the ZenFone 3 Zoom sports a 5.5-inch Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) display powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processors. It also boasts 2GB, 3GB, and 4GB RAM options; 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB storage capacity options; and a pretty large 4,850 mAh battery that should keep the handset juiced up for a long while.Interestingly the listing only...
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Hot on the heels of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 exploding in certain cases came a number of stories of other smartphones following suit. The biggest of those is with Apple's iPhone, and in particular, the two-year-old iPhone 6. At least eight cases in China arose from consumer iPhones that caught fire, and as you'd expect, Apple took the complaints very seriously (especially given the timing). After its research, the Cupertino company established that the phones only caught fire due to external physical damage, not a fault of the product itself. The company's official statement reads, "The units we've analyzed so far have clearly shown that external physical damage happened to them which led to the...
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Lenovo is making a pretty big push for Moto Z Mods, those snap-on accessories that extend or otherwise improve the functionality of the Moto Z handset. And why not? As one of the company's television commercials points out, the smartphone form factor has remained relatively the same for about the past decade without too much innovation to get excited about. The question is, are Mods the answer?Motorola's newest daddy seems to think so. Lenovo, which acquired Motorola from Google for $2.91 billion in early 2014, indicated a bit of buyer's remorse earlier this year when it said that it's "integration efforts did not meet expectations." That was after a previous quarterly report indicating that...
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It's no secret that Apple places a high value on customer security and privacy, and the company goes to great lengths to make sure that it's a market-leader in both regards. However, even the most careful companies can be exposed to crippling security vulnerabilities. If software contains a previously unidentified bug or exploit, it just sits there waiting for some enterprising user to spot it. And that's just what happened with Apple's Activation Lock. When an iPhone or iPad is lost, the user has the ability to enable "Find My iPhone", which can immediately locks the device, requiring correct credentials to regain access. This is useful in case a device gets stolen or is simply found by...
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ASUS launched an array of products a few weeks back at its Zenvolution event in New York City. Among them was the gorgeous ZenBook 3 Ultrabook, the convertible Transformer 3, and an assortment of Android-based smartphones that carried ZenFone 3 branding. The four ZenFone 3 models that launched included the entry-level ZenFone 3 Laser, a 5.5” ZenFone 3 Deluxe, a 5.7” ZenFone 3 Deluxe, and a flagship 5.7” ZenFone 3 Deluxe Special Edition, which packs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 SoC. The specifications, build materials, and pricing for the various ZenFone 3 phones that launched are all different. The ZenFone 3 Laser is a $199 phone, which the 5.7” ZenFone 3 Deluxe Special Edition commands a loft $799....
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Each new "Redstone" release of Windows 10 is notable for a handful of reasons, but Redstone 3 could include one of the most ambitious features yet: x86 on ARM64 emulation. What that ultimately means is that ARM-based devices running Windows 10 Mobile, such as the Lumia 950 XL, could see an immediate boost of supported applications. x86 emulation could prove extremely important for ARM-based Windows devices, as it would allow users to run the same applications they're used to running on their x86 desktops and notebooks. If the emulation works well, it could dramatically bolster the number of apps Microsoft's mobile platforms could run, essentially giving it the best of both worlds -- especially...
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Study after study have shown the dangers of driving while distracted, something that has become a growing problem with the advent of smartphones. However, it used to be that making calls and firing off text messages were the biggest culprits. Not anymore. They're still responsible for distracting drivers, but so are smartphone apps, which led to the biggest increase in traffic related fatalities in 50 years in 2015. This year isn't looking much better. Just in the first six months of 2016, highway deaths tallied 17,775, a disheartening gain of 10.4 percent compared to the same six-month period a year ago, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). the situation has...
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If you thought Samsung was going to fold after its Galaxy Note7 debacle played out, you'd be partially right. As has been rumored for quite some time, Samsung has been hard at work on a new smartphone concept that would allow its users to fold it up to save on space. We're not talking flip-phones here, but a phone that literally folds up like a wallet, thanks to its bendable display. Now we have even more proof of this concept, as Samsung has filed a patent which shows rendered images - and, for the most part, it looks exactly as you'd expect: As seen in the render, the middle of the phone is essentially a hinge that allows the entire device to fold in half - but not perfectly. When folded, you'll...
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Google has started experimenting with a mobile-first approach to indexing webpages. The reason for change is because these days "most people" who search for something on Google are doing so on their mobile device. As things exist, Google's ranking system still looks at a desktop version of a page's content to evaluate its relevance to the user even though the mobile may see something different. "This can cause issues when the mobile page has less content than the desktop page because our algorithms are not evaluating the actual page that is seen by a mobile searcher," Google explains. "To make our results more useful, we’ve begun experiments to make our index mobile-first." Google shot down the...
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