Google Finds More Malware from it's Own Google Play Store.

Google is hard at work killing more Fake ad networks in some more Apps found on their own Play Store. These directed users to install malware disguised as free applications
Yesterday, the folks over at Lookout divulged their latest find. 32 applications, mostly Russian language, were found to contain what Lookout calls "BadNews" -- a new piece of code that facilitates easy installation of malware onto users phones who have it installed. They estimate that apps containing BadNews have been installed over 2,000,000 times. While this is but a small drop compared to the hundreds of millions of Android devices and 25+ Billion apps installed from the Play store, it's still quite the eye popping number.
BadNews is disguised as an ad network. Besides serving ads for other less popular apps containing the BadNews code, it has the ability to send some of your private data (including your phone number and IMEI) to a server. It also displays fake news messages about app updates and links to actual malware that a user could install outside Google Play. 
The offending applications, distributed across four different developer accounts, have been purged from Google Play. If you think you may have been affected, or are running one of the apps, Lookout's security application can assist in identifying the things you need to remove.
We appreciate a well researched and legitimate look at malware like this news, and don't want it to get buried like the so many FUD stories around the Internet that are speculation with no numbers. For a list of the applications, and a look at how this was discovered, click the source link below. Carry past the break for some further discussion.
Source: Lookout
Now to talk a bit about how and why this happened, and what users could have done differently to protect themselves. To start with, over 2,000,000 people downloaded an application from Google Play, and said "yes" when asked if they wanted to allow the downloaded application to have access to their phone number. We understand that all the app permissions can be confusing, and that often there are legitimate reasons for apps to request permissions to sensitive information. But we have to be diligent and read those permissions, every time, and pass on the apps we think have requests that sound fishy. While this means that we'll likely have to pass on a few apps that are innocent, it also means we won't have some spammy app sending all our contact data off to some server in the Russian Federation. This is the price of having an open application store, and while Google can come back and remove apps that have gone wild after they are found, we have to practice a little care of our own.
The second one is a no-brainer. If you click an ad banner that promises an update to an app that you downloaded from Google Play, or directs you to download and install any files to your phone, you have to say no. This is why it was a big deal when Facebook decided to go rogue and update their app in an unapproved manner, and why many folks were calling for their heads and removal of their app from Google Play for doing so. If you allow things like this to happen, nobody can help you. This time, these apps would have been detected by a security app like Lookout, but next time they may not. Just Say No.
It's relatively easy to write malicious code and inject it into an application that users want. It's not so easy to distribute it from Google Play, and as a result we see convoluted methods like BadNews to get the job done. Be diligent, be safe, and whenever you're in doubt ask for advice in the forums. We may be bickering between ourselves over whether Samsung or HTC makes the better phone, but we all work together when a friend is in need.

Samsung Admits to Posting Fake Reviews Again!

Earlier this week, it was discovered that Samsung Taiwan hired students to post fake negative reviews about HTC’s smartphones on Taiwanese websites. Following the discovery of Samsung’s practices thanks to documents published by TaiwanSamsungLeaks.org, Taiwan’s fair-trade officials started an investigation.
Responding to these allegations, Samsung issued a comment to media outlets, admitting that the company had indeed engaged in such dirty marketing tactics:
HTC said that it regrets its competitors “malicious attacks” and doesn’t rule out a legal action against Samsung.
The Register has some of these anti-HTC comments that were posted by Samsung:
In the cache of forum posts, one user complained that his girlfriend’s HTC One X phone was always on the blink, while Samsung’s Galaxy Note phone was described as far better than HTC’s Sensation XL handset. Another post even asked if anyone who owned a Samsung phone had been given a job promotion.
The whole thing is obviously bad for Samsung from a PR standpoint, but the company has frequently come under severe criticism from press on several occasions:

• During the Samsung-Apple trial, an internal document went public that revealed how exactly Samsung formed its strategy to copy Apple.

• The company flew some bloggers across the world for the launch of the Galaxy Note 2, and then threatened to leave them stranded there if they didn’t promote Samsung’s products during the launch.

• Certain acts in Samsung’s Galaxy S4 launch event were labelled as “shockingly sexist“

Samsung certainly isn’t afraid to take unconventional marketing routes like staging a broadway show for the launch of a product, or launching the same product in a helicopter in a different country. And while employing new marketing tactics is nothing wrong in itself, paying people to badmouth competing brands certainly is, and we wonder if this was a global “initiative” that targeted Apple as well.

Adobe Lightroom Beta Available to the Public see the link:

Adobe has announced the availability of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 beta for Windows and Mac. Adobe Lightroom is a photography workflow application that allows photography enthusiasts and professionals to enhance, organize and share photos.
The Lightroom 5 beta offers a free, public preview of new features and tools that will be offered in the final release, expected later this year. Winston Hendrickson, vice president of digital imaging products, Adobe, says the Lightroom 5 beta offers photographers and enthusiasts many new features including:
° Advanced Healing Brush allows customers to heal imperfections and remove distracting elements;
° Upright tool analyzes an image to automatically level horizons and straighten objects like buildings to correct a keystone effect;
° Radial Gradient tool creates off-center or multiple vignette effects;
° Smart Previews allow customers to edit images without needing the original raw file;
° Video slideshow enables customers to combine still images, video clips and music in a creative HD slideshow;
° Upgrades to the Book module enhancing the ability to create, customize and order elegant photo books using a variety of tailored templates.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 beta is available immediately as a free download on both Mac and Windows at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom5/ .

Rise of the Tablet, Death By Windows 8, Global PC Sales Drop like a Stone.

Ok well maybe not but:
Global PC shipments* plunged 14 percent in the first three months of 2013, according to newly released figures from market research firm IDC.
It's the steepest decline since 1994, when IDC began keeping records for the device. (For rival Gartner's figures, read on.)
Worldwide PC shipments totaled 76.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013, down 13.9 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago, according to IDC. That's far worse than IDC's prediction of a 7.7 percent decline, and the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year shipment declines.
In IDC's own words:
Despite some mild improvement in the economic environment and some new PC models offering Windows 8, PC shipments were down significantly across all regions compared to a year ago. Fading Mini Notebook shipments have taken a big chunk out of the low-end market while tablets and smartphones continue to divert consumer spending. PC industry efforts to offer touch capabilities and ultraslim systems have been hampered by traditional barriers of price and component supply, as well as a weak reception for Windows 8. The PC industry is struggling to identify innovations that differentiate PCs from other products and inspire consumers to buy, and instead is meeting significant resistance to changes perceived as cumbersome or costly.
In short: Windows 8 was a bust, if success is defined as boosting PC shipments. But it's clear that the market currents are larger and more powerful than Microsoft (or any other single vendor) can manage -- nevermind the fact that its radically different operating system has seen slow adoption.
With Lenovo as an exception, PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell have been restructuring to accommodate the market shifts. The hardest hit: whitebox system builders.
Here's a look at how it's playing out across the globe:
The United States market contracted 12.7 percent year over year and 18.3 percent quarter over quarter. Total volume fell to 14.2 million. Quarterly shipments reached their lowest level since the first quarter of 2006.
The Europe, Middle East and Africa market posted a steeper double-digit decline than anticipated in 1Q13. In an already soft market with budget pressures all around, demand is shifting to tablets. Windows 8 and touch-enabled device adoption remains slow.
The Japan market saw some economic improvement thanks to commercial replacement demand ahead of the scheduled end of support for Windows XP next year. Consumer shipments were "very weak," IDC says.
The Asia-Pacific market -- which excludes Japan -- saw a sharp decline in shipments, dropping a record 12.7 percent year over year. It's the first time the region has ever seen a double-digit drop. "Lukewarm reception" to Windows 8 continues. As expected, China is in the driver's seat for this market, and its foot is off the gas.

At the corporate level, Hewlett-Packard remains king -- despite a 23 percent drop in global shipments, year over year, across all regions. (Yes, that's how tough this business has become.)
Lenovo came in second place and "nearly closed the gap with HP" thanks to an impressive, aggressive strategy. It's the only company that grew shipments, posting double-digit growth numbers in the U.S. as the rest of the market moved in the opposite direction. Interestingly, Lenovo saw declines in the Asia-Pacific region.
Rounding out the Top 5 were Dell (down 10 percent worldwide and 14 percent in the U.S., an improvement), Acer (hurting from its bet on netbooks) and Asus ("substantial decline" in EMEA and Asia-Pacific).
And if you're wondering, yes, even Apple saw PC shipment declines "as its own PCs also face competition from iPads," IDC says.
And what about IDC's rival, Gartner? That market research firm also released its figures today, measuring an 11.2 percent decline quarter over quarter and quarterly shipments of 79.2 million units, a bit higher than IDC's numbers -- and therefore the lowest levels since the second quarter of 2009, per its estimates.

According to Gartner's 1Q13 figures, HP and Lenovo are "in a virtual tie" for first place in PC shipments worldwide; Dell filled out the Top 3.
In the U.S., it remains an HP-Dell-Apple world. Only Apple and Lenovo (No. 5 in the U.S.) were among those in the U.S. top five to see PC shipment growth during the quarter. 
More key points of interest from the firm's report:

• The EMEA region saw the steepest decline worldwide: a 16 percent decline, to just 23.3 million units in 1Q13. Why? "Ongoing economic uncertainties" in Southern Europe, plus increasing mobile device adoption.
• The Asia-Pacific market wasn't much better: a 10.3 percent decline, to just 27.6 million units during the quarter. Why? You guessed it: "a fragile economic environment."
• Unlike the consumer PC market, the professional PC market has seen growth, driven by continuing PC refreshes. The professional market makes up about half of all shipments.
• HP "recorded its worst shipment decline since the acquisition of Compaq in 2003," under attack in both consumer and professional segments. Ouch.
• Despite Lenovo's extraordinary growth figures in the U.S., it was Lenovo's slowest growth worldwide since 1Q09.
• The economic recovery is having little impact on PC market conditions.
• U.S. PC shipments totaled 14.2 million units in 1Q13, a 9.6 percent decline from the same quarter a year ago.

*One important note: IDC defines PCs as "Desktops, Portables, Mini Notebooks and Workstations." This includes netbooks but excludes tablets with detachable keyboards. Gartner defines PCs as "desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad."

Apple adopts third-party API's for one of its own iOS apps. This is big news and a possible change in it's thinking.

Apple has updated GarageBand on iOS with support for Audiobus, a third-party interface that lets you use multiple music creation apps at the same time. Since Audiobus launched late last year, the developers behind several music apps have adopted it as a de facto communication standard for iOS, and it's easy to see why. The simple interface exponentially increases the iPad's value as a music creation tool by letting you do all the recording and sequencing on a single device without complex file imports, as well as enabling apps to talk to each other. For example, you could now record a synth track in Korg's iMS-20, filter it through the Amplitude amp modeler, and record the results as a track in GarageBand.

Apps can support Audiobus in up to three ways: as input, effect, or output. GarageBand only works as an output, meaning that you can't feed its own instruments into other apps; instead, the Audiobus support means you can use GarageBand to record and sequence sounds from Animoog, Figure, and a whole host of other apps that work as an input. When you launch one of those apps through Audiobus and select GarageBand as your output, you'll see a tab on the side of the screen that you can use to record your performance without actually switching apps. Once you're done recording you can use the tab to switch back to GarageBand, where your performance will appear just as if you'd played it within the app itself.
While GarageBand is just one of many apps that can be used in this way — Cubasis, Beatmaker 2, and Auria are popular choices — at $4.99 it's definitely one of the cheaper options for multitrack recording. It's also intriguing that Apple has seen fit to adopt a third-party API for one of its own iOS apps. This could signal a desire from the company to come up with a more robust way to share data between apps on iOS, or it might just show that Apple is content to let developers find their own solutions. Either way, Audiobus is likely to gain a lot more traction now that it has Cupertino's official blessing, and its creators have chopped its regular $9.99 price in half to celebrate.

Indepth HTC One review

HTC in-depth review:
The HTC One sure is a beautiful piece of hardware and it's very clear HTC has set out to differentiation it at every point on the spec sheet with other phones, and have done a fantastic job of this. As other smartphones are increasingly faceless, monolithic black slabs, HTC sandwiches its screen between two bassy front-facing speakers. BoomSound. As competitors crank out 13-megapixel shooters, HTC bucks the trend with a much lower megapixel count, but larger pixels and improved optics. UltraPixels. Add to that a new way to shoot and share images and video. Zoe Share. Plus, a new home screen experience that brings the world to you. BlinkFeed.
And let’s not forget how rare it is to come across a decent aluminium smartphone these days.
If HTC is to recover, it’ll be through a combination of intelligent marketing and great products. We can’t review the former, but you can bet we’re going to get stuck into the latter. In fact, we’ll do it right after the break, in our definitive review of the new HTC One.
There’s a certain futility about merely describing a device like the HTC One. We could fill paragraphs talking about each little nuance of its gorgeous brushed metal chassis, but to really understand and appreciate this phone you need to hold it in your hand. Neither renders nor photographs do it justice. What we’re trying to say here is that the HTC One is a very pretty piece of technology indeed.
The basic profile of the HTC One is a lot like the Droid DNA or its international cousin, the J Butterfly, but the feel is strikingly different. HTC’s recent history of polycarbonate designs makes way for a welcome return to the aluminum unibodies of old. This curved aluminum block is HTC’s most precisely-crafted phone yet. Reflective, diamond-cut chamfers adorn the edges of the casing, and the back has a subtle, ergonomic curve to it. (On the inside, HTC sandwiches the battery between the screen and PCB to achieve this look.) In the hand, it’s light yet substantial, and the feel of the brushed aluminum leaves you in no doubt that you’re holding a premium product.

An injected matte plastic trim can be found around the edge and back of the HTC One, and this houses part of the phone’s antenna assembly (on an all-metal phone, it’s got to go somewhere). It also breaks up the exposed metal areas quite nicely -- on the silver version we’re reviewing it’s white; on the black version it’s black. It houses the microSIM tray on the left edge, and on the right side it’s punctuated by a metal volume rocker. Up top is the power button, and there’s a good reason for its being there -- it also doubles as an IR blaster for the Sense TV app.

Thankfully, there’s no protruding One X-style camera hump this time around -- in fact, the camera is slightly recessed into the chassis itself. This way it doesn’t interfere with the flow of the curved back -- however, the lens may be more vulnerable to scratches when the the device is laid flat.
On the front sits a SuperLCD 3 panel at 1920x1080 resolution, and this has to be one of the best-looking screens we’ve ever seen. It uses the same display tech as the Droid DNA, but HTC’s condensed this 1080p panel into a 4.7-inch space, making it sharper than ever, at 468 pixels per inch. Its colors are bright and vivid without being overblown, and there’s no discoloration or wash-out when viewing at oblique angles. Being a modern LCD, the HTC One’s screen is expectedly excellent in outdoor performance.
The flattened business end of the HTC One is also home to its two front-facing speakers, forming part of HTC’s “BoomSound” system. This combination of larger speakers, more advanced membranes and Beats Audio results in the loudest and bassiest sound experience we’ve heard on any smartphone, without sacrificing clarity. For music and video content, that’s great. But on anything but the lowest volume setting, it’s almost too loud for regular notifications and ringtones. Powering on the HTC One for the first time, you’re assaulted by the full force of BoomSound in HTC jingle form. And the first phone call you receive on the device will be equally terrifying if it strikes you unprepared.
On the subject of audio, we should also mention the bundled HTC earphones. They’re not Beats-branded, but they’re about as good as the urBeats in-ear cans offered with some HTC handsets last year, and a significant step up from the truly awful HTC earbuds included with earlier devices. Kudos to HTC for not skimping in this area.

Beneath the screen is the one seriously questionable design decision we almost don't have to point out -- HTC’s unique button setup. Unlike about every other Android phone on the planet, you’re limited to just a back and home key on the HTC One. No multitasking key, no menu key. To jump to the task-switcher, you have to double-tap the home button. Want Google Now? Long-press the home key. We adjusted to the new button setup pretty quickly, but it's one nasty holdover from HTC’s 2012 phones. Moreover, it takes the home button out of the easiest part of the phone to reach -- the center.
Apps that require the menu key -- including the bundled Twitter application -- reclaim a lower portion of the screen to make way for a virtual menu button. The dreaded black bar. Whether HTC or app developers are to blame is debatable, but regardless it’s an ugly way of handling legacy apps, and one that detracts from the otherwise slick software experience.
On the inside, the HTC One’s hardware credentials mirror its impressive exterior. It’s running the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 CPU -- a quad-core chip at 1.7GHz -- with 2GB of RAM and 32 or 64GB of storage. Qualcomm’s new chip is about as fast as it gets in the Android space right now, and that was reflected in our daily use of the HTC One, which has been a completely lag-free experience with no slow-down and lightning-fast app loading times.

We’re using the European model here in the UK, which packs 32GB of internal storage; other territories, including some Asian countries, will get a 64GB option. Storage is arranged in a single partition for both apps and media, and the HTC One connects to PCs and Macs via MTP connection, in line with Google’s guidelines. There’s no removable storage option -- unless you count HTC Sense’s ability to connect USB thumb drives -- but with a minimum of 32GB on-board, we’re not going to make too much fuss over this.
The version we’ve got also supports European 4G LTE frequencies -- 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2600MHz -- which are the main three in use in the UK and mainland Europe. In addition, you’ve got quad-band HSPA at speeds of up to 42Mbps. The HTC One is also one of the first phones to boast 802.11ac Wifi compatibility, so that’s an added bonus for owners of the latest super-fast Wifi routers. Both Wifi and Bluetooth capabilities work as expected.

And yes, it makes phone calls, too. HTC’s touting new software tweaks called “VoiceSense,” which automatically cranks up the call volume in loud environments. VoiceSense joins an array of other voice call features, including the ability to ring louder when the phone’s in a bag or pocket, and Sense’s automatic quieting of the ringer when the phone is picked up.
So all the requisite boxes are checked for a high-end Android smartphone in 2013. But as we’ll discover throughout this review, design is where the HTC One truly shines. As much as we’ve praised phones like the Nexus 4 in the past year -- and admired devices like the Windows Phone 8X from afar -- the HTC One is on another plane when it comes to build quality. That’s not hyperbole. With its latest handset, HTC leads everyone bar Apple in this area.

HTC One software, UI and apps
The HTC One runs the new HTC Sense 5 atop Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. That means you’re not quite running the latest version of Android, but on a non-stock phone there’s not a whole lot of user-facing stuff to miss.
In the latest version of its user interface, HTC has completely reinvented Sense, giving it its biggest makeover ever. The iconic flip clock has gone, swapped out for a new home screen dynamic based on the “BlinkFeed” news feed. And Sense’s cartoonish icons and menus are gone, replaced by sleeker, more geometric graphics. A new, condensed Roboto-based font  is used in the menus and many of HTC’s apps, and this looks great on the HTC One’s super-high resolution screen.

Sense 5 has also lost an awful lot of its visual noise, and that’s a good thing. The excessive embossing around the edge of buttons and menus is gone, replaced with clean lines and a curved gradient towards the notification shade. Further evidence can be found in the new HTC wallpaper gallery, which is stocked with classy, minimalist backgrounds now a million miles away from Android’s own “Holo” design language.
It’s also fast as all hell. Sure, that’s helped out by the speedy Snapdragon 600 CPU and Android 4.1’s “Project Butter” performance tweaks and the 2GB of RAM, but HTC also deserves credit for making Sense 5 an entirely lag-free experience. Seriously. Not once did this thing stutter or stall.
For serious news junkies (and bloggers), BlinkFeed isn’t going to replace your RSS reader, nor is it meant to.  BlinkFeed is clearly designed for "normal" people -- civilian smartphone users. It’s a supposed to be a quick, easy way to “snack” on information.
How well it works for you will depend on how well its curated list of integrated services fits with your social and news habits. We suspect most smartphone users will find some use for it, even if it doesn’t become their default home screen. 
This is HTC’s first iteration of BlinkFeed, and it’s very good for a first shot at this sort of thing. But its usefulness is hampered by its closed nature, and we’d like to see it opened up in the same way DashClock Widget is. That’d let the development community pick up where HTC left off and add even more capabilities into this flagship feature. With some more customizations, BlinkFeed could be a real asset for power users.
There’s also no way to turn it off entirely -- though you don't have to use BlinkFeed if you don't want to. Swipe to the right and you’ve got a standard Android home screen arrangement -- a four-by-four grid of icons and a selection of surprisingly stylish Sense widgets with which to customize it. Up to five home screens can be added, and you can set any one as the default home screen.
The app drawer has been redesigned too. It’s a lot more customizable, which is good because the default arrangement isn’t particularly easy to navigate. HTC seems to expect many users to hop between BlinkFeed and the app drawer without using much of the traditional home, and so the app drawer can be re-arranged into folders. That’s not necessarily a bad idea, but it means you’ve got more hoops to jump through if you want to create app shortcuts on a home screen page. The process of moving stuff in and out of the app dock is a more convoluted than it needs to be.
More: BlinkFeed: Inside the HTC One's home screen reader
Task Switching
As we mentioned, you can access the task switcher on the HTC One by double-tapping the home key. This brings up a grid of the nine most recently used apps. That places a hard limit on the number of apps you can switch between, but we figure nine is probably enough for most people. You can see all nine immediately without scrolling, which is good. However, the lack of app icons on this page means it can take a little longer to spot the app you’re after. A good many of them look the same -- black text on a white background.
Like the old Sense task-switcher, you flick a card up to get rid of the app. Thankfully, We didn't notice any of the multi-tasking issues that some folks reported on devices like the One X.
We’re not sure whether we prefer it to the stock Android task-switcher, but it’s an improvement on the old Sense 4 implementation to be sure.

Get Started
First introduced in Sense 4+, HTC’s “Get Started” web service lets you take the first steps towards setting up your new device on your computer, before you even purchase it. Pre-loaded apps. There’s a limit to how much you’re able to set up in advance -- Google accounts, for example, are out of the question. But allowing new users to set up their own wallpapers, ringtones, BlinkFeed services and a few common apps should go a long way towards making the smartphone setup process less painful.
Settings are saved to your HTC account, then, once you’ve signed into the HTC One with that same account, all your customizations are pulled down from HTC’s servers.
Music, Gallery and Beats Audio
 
As the branding on the back of the phone will remind you, the HTC One comes with Beats Audio software enhancements, and these can be enabled or disabled via the main settings menu. It’s possible we’re imagining this, but the Beats enhancements on the HTC One don’t seem to quite as overblown and excessively bassy as they’ve been in the past. Regardless, the effect is still noticeable -- there’s a welcome boost in volume and bass that’s clear whether you’re using headphones or the excellent front-facing BoomSound speakers.
The new HTC Sense music app is relatively spartan when it comes to visuals, but it’s just as full-featured as as ever. The music app comes with access to the Gracenote lyrics database, and these lyrics pop up on-screen when you enable the new visualizer effects. Similarly, artist images and album art are pulled down from Gracenote when you download or transfer a new album across to the HTC One. And there’s full DLNA support music app, too.
Naturally, DLNA support is also baked into the Gallery app. In addition to showing you your own photos -- and showing you animated previews of each event if you’ve been using Zoe mode. And as is becoming increasingly common, the Gallery apps hooks into Facebook, Flickr and LinkedIn to populate itself with photos from friends, too.
We’ll have more on the Gallery app in the camera section of this review.
TV and Movies

The HTC One is one of the many new Android devices shipping with an integrated IR blaster, allowing it to control TVs, sound systems and cable boxes. The phone’s TV capabilities are rooted in the Sense TV app, which is based on Peel. The setup procedure is pretty simple. Starting with your TV off, you’ll be asked to confirm a few details about your location and equipment branding, before calibrating the remote to work with your TV and assorted boxes.

The TV app shows you a grid of shows that are currently on, with a blue bar beneath indicating how long they’ve been running for. Tapping the show will trigger the TV app keys in the appropriate channel number. It’s a neat alternative to the traditional TV guide layout we’re all familiar with. What’s also useful is the ability to tell the TV app your favorite shows and have messages pop up in BlinkFeed when they’re showing. When you're using the TV app, you'll also get a notification widget allowing you easy access to the universal remote.
HTC Watch, the company’s own streaming service is also present, and the selection of movies and TV content available has been slowly expanding over the past year or so. We’re not sure you’ll find anything there that’s not on Netflix or Google Play, but having another source of streaming content certainly doesn’t hurt.
While other built-in apps include DLNA support, wireless streaming from the Watch app is reserved for HTC’s own Media Link HD peripheral.
HTC Sync Manager
HTC’s own synchronization app is available for HTC One owners, and there’s a Mac and PC version that’ll help you transfer music
The latest version of the app seems to be a marked improvement on earlier builds. HTC Sync no longer chokes on larger music libraries, and it’s relatively easy to import albums or playlists from third-party players like iTunes.
Contacts and calendar appointments can be synced too if you’re still using PC-centric clients for these.
Other bits

• As before, the HTC Sense contacts app can draw in contacts from multiple sources, including Google accounts, Twitter, Facebook and Skype and unify them into a single location. It also has the ability to import high-resolution photos from social networks too, which is nice.
• To expand notifications in Sense, you’ll need to pinch horizontally rather than dragging down. Unfortunately that’s not a particularly obvious gesture, nor is it easy to perform.
• The data usage control panel -- the bar chart showing mobile data consumption -- is hidden Settings > Wireless and Networks > More > Usage in Sense 5. That’s a shame, as it’s one of Android’s most useful features.
• HTC's stock keyboard is fast and responsive, and we were able to type pretty quickly on it thanks to its accurate auto-correction. If you're a fan of Swype-style keyboards, the "trace" option can be enabled in the keyboard settings.
• There’s a variety of lock screen templates available, just like earlier versions of Sense. The Weather lock screen, with its assortment 3D of animations, has been culled, however.

Considered alongside all HTC’s earlier software suites, Sense 5 is easily the fastest, the best designed and the easiest to use. If you weren’t a fan of Sense’s tendency towards 3D animations and pompous visual flair in the past, then you’ll welcome the refined look HTC’s brought to the table on the HTC One. Sense 5 also stacks up pretty well against vanilla Android. There’s still more going on in Sense, and it’s nowhere near as minimalist as what you’ll find on a Nexus, but it’s just as quick and just as stylish.
HTC One battery life

The HTC One is fitted with a 2300 mAh internal battery, which in numbers alone is about average for a high-end Android smartphone. There’s no way inside that aluminum unibody, so as you might’ve guessed, the battery is not removable.
We found the phone’s battery performance to be decent, but not outstanding. It’d easily last us a full day, just as the Sony Xperia Z and LG Nexus 4 have in the past. Some of that will depend on network connectivity, of course.
With moderate to heavy usage patterns consisting of browsing and social networking over LTE, HSPA and Wifi, music playback, photography and video recording, we clocked just under 14 hours of use before reaching the warning level of fifteen percent. With more conservative use, mostly restricted to Wifi, we reached the end of the day with around 30 percent left after 18 or so hours on battery. With all day spent on Wifi, we reached around 50 percent in the same timespan. We used the HTC One on DC-HSDPA on Three UK and LTE on EE, and we didn’t notice any significant additional battery drain when using 4G data services as opposed to good old HSPA. (That’s in line with other modern 4G devices we’ve reviewed, including the Xperia Z and Galaxy S3 LTE.)
 
HTC Sense doesn’t allow users to measure screen-on time directly -- or battery used by the screen -- but we suspect that gorgeous 1080p display is a responsible for much of the phone’s battery consumption, particularly outside where auto-brightness cranks the backlight all the way up. In fact, on its automatic setting, the screen was consistently brighter than most other Android phones. So there might be some battery savings to be made by manually controlling this setting.


Another predictable battery-guzzler is the “UltraPixel” camera and associated software set. Though straight-up still shots didn’t seem to drain our battery too badly, video recording and Zoe shots took a greater toll. Because of the way Zoe shots work -- recording 20 separate JPEGs and one MP4 video file, having any automatic upload services enabled (e.g. Dropbox) will further cut into your battery life. (To say nothing of mucking up your folder with dozens and dozens of images.)
HTC includes a prominent Power Saver widget in the notification shade at all times, allowing users to switch to a low-power mode to conserve power. Power Saver mode can slow the CPU, dim the display or shut off the data connection when the screen’s off. This is similar to the “Stamina Mode” found on the Sony Xperia Z, though there’s no whitelist to allow apps through the bar on background data. In any case, we’d avoid using this unless we were limping along with very little juice remaining, which is why we’d welcome the ability to remove the widget from the notification area.
To summarize, we were more than happy with the battery performance of the HTC One. Its battery life was a marked improvement over both the (international) One X and One X+, which failed to impress us in this area. But if you’re coming from a phone with really great battery life or greater battery capacity -- or expecting super-long battery life from HTC’s latest -- you may come away disappointed.
HTC One 'UltraPixel' camera review

The HTC One’s rear shooter is no ordinary smartphone camera. Eschewing the traditional megapixel race, the phone includes a 4-megapixel “UltraPixel” camera with much larger pixels -- 2 microns -- on the sensor itself. This, together with the f/2.0 aperture lens, is designed to make the device suited to low-light and indoor photography, where HTC believes smartphone photography goes on.
As well as an impressive set of optics, the HTC One includes a second-generation ImageSense chip. The successor to the chip that debuted in the One X last year is responsible for the HTC One’s fast capture speeds and general image-crunching duties.
So how do all those technical specs and buzzwords translate into real-world performance?

The HTC One records still images at 2688x1520 resolution at 16:9 aspect ratio -- that’s the maximum resolution, and as such if you want to shoot in 4:3, the phone does so by chopping off the sides of the image. That means you get the full benefit of the camera’s wide-angle lens in widescreen shots, and a narrower view in 4:3 mode. Just like last year’s One X, the HTC One is incredibly quick to capture shots, and there’s a burst shooting mode that can be activated by long-pressing the shutter key.
The main camera view is made up of the photo and video shutter keys, zoom controls, filter options, a flash control and the Zoe toggle key (more on that later.) All other settings are accessed via a slightly cumbersome list of options, some of which are expandable. And as the HTC One doesn’t automatically flip into macro mode or backlight mode as required, you’ll have to deal with this menu more often than you might like. (That’s a point in favor of competitors like Sony, which has an excellent “Superior Auto” mode to switch between relevant scene settings.)

HTC’s grand plan with its “UltraPixel” sensor is that the reduction in overall megapixels should be made up for by the overall increase in image quality. That’s true in many images, and especially noticeable in night photography, but it’s no stunning across the board.
Let’s start off with strengths -- the HTC One is probably the best low-light smartphone camera we’ve tested. Indoors or at night, the benefits of the “UltraPixel” sensor and f/2.0 lens are clear to see. HTC’s camera produces sharper, clearer low-light images than other Android competitors. Even shots from Sony’s Xperia Z, which has pretty good low-light performance, appear a blurry, noisy mess by comparison.
Similarly, the HTC One is an excellent macro performer -- though you’ll need to enable macro mode manually under “Scenes.” The same goes for HDR mode, which can produce some stunning landscape shots when used correctly.
In daylight, though, things get a bit more complicated. In conditions where there’s plenty of light to go around, the HTC One’s low megapixel count becomes a bottleneck. It is in no means bad but from a purely technical standpoint it doesn't knock your socks off.

Generally speaking, the HTC One is able to capture shots that look good when viewed on a laptop, tablet, monitor or TV with all the downsampling that that involves. But when blown up to full 4MP size it’s clear to see there’s some quite aggressive noise reduction and sharpening going on. Telltale signs like graininess and artifacting around dark areas in daylight images (e.g. branches of trees) demonstrate that even with this new sensor tech, photographic aberrations persist in full-sized images. That’s not true of every image, but it’s something you’ll notice if you inspect your photos close-up. Now lets be realistic the average users is never going to pick this even if they look for it.
The HTC One’s dynamic range is pretty narrow, and the camera struggles in outdoor scenes with dark and very bright areas. This is aggravated further by the phone’s inability to automatically toggle into backlight mode where necessary. If you’re shooting landscapes or anything with bright sky in the background, this can quickly become a major bugbear, as you’re forced to navigate the sprawling camera menu and select either Backlight or HDR mode. To HTC’s credit, though, its HDR mode is among the best out there -- extremely quick and ghost-free, and capable of producing seriously impressive images.
HTC probably isn’t aiming this camera at people who’ll use their smartphone photos at full resolution. In fact, we wouldn’t even include ourselves in that group. If you share images to the web, chances are the image you end up seeing will be 1- to 2-megapixels anyway. But we can’t help feeling that the UltraPixel camera just doesn’t live up to all of the pre-release hype. In the right conditions it’s impressive for sure, but it’s not the holy grail of smartphone photography.Nor is it the savior of smartphone video recording, even with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) onboard. The HTC One’s video performance is generally decent -- and footage shot at 1080p looks good most of the time -- but there are too many niggling issues for our liking. The camera’s comparatively poor dynamic range takes a heavy toll on daylight footage in some instances, resulting in stuttering as it attempts to adjust to the changes in light level. There is an HDR video mode -- a feature we’ve seen before on the Sony Xperia Z -- though this falls victim to the same occasional frame rate reductions.
We are, of course, picking nits here. The phone’s video performance isn’t universally bad by any means, as you‘ll see in our sample reel. But we can’t avoid the fact that we’ve seen better daylight performance from the competition. The HTC One does excel in low light video, delivering near-unmatched clarity in night-time footage. It’s just a shame this isn’t the case across the board.
On the front-facing camera side, HTC brings to bear a 2-megapixel shooter with a BSI sensor and a wide angle lens. This means you can fit more people in each shot, and it holds up pretty well in low light too.

Zoes, Highlights and sharing
The HTC One debuts a new type of photo in HTC Zoe. Zoe mode, enabled by tapping the Zoe icon in the camera app, records 19 or 20 still frames at 4MP and three seconds of 1080p video at the same time, resulting in a “slice” of time being recorded rather than a single frame. At a practical level, this can help you catch time-sensitive shots, as each Zoe records five frames before the shutter is pressed, and 15 afterwards. And it’s also fun to view Vine-like snapshots of each photo.
But another main reason to shoot in Zoe mode is the phone’s automatic video highlight capability. The gallery app automatically arranges photos into events based on location and date, and the HTC One conjures up 30-second highlight reels for these events -- complete with background music and filters -- based on Zoes, videos and stills. Video highlights are generated on-the-fly, and there’s no way to disable this feature, though you can ignore it by viewing photos in a traditional folder arrangement.
 
In each event, pictures, videos or Zoes can be tagged as “Highlights,” which is supposed to tell the app to use them in the reel. This feature wasn’t working correctly in the firmware version we were using, though, and the gallery app continued to pick out shots at random for highlight reels. HTC says it’s aware of this bug and is working on a fix.
Videos, stills, Zoes and highlights can be shared through HTC’s (somewhat confusingly-named) Zoe Share service, which is essentially a web-based sharing system tweaked to handle the HTC One’s unique imaging output. Using Zoe Share on the HTC One is quick and easy -- a few taps to select the content you want to upload, and you’re done. Zoe Share then gives you a URL you can share using Android sharing intents via email, social networks and so on.The interplay between Zoes, Highlights and Zoe Share is probably the most unique and interesting part of HTC’s new photographic equation. The implementation isn’t quite perfect, but we can see how these features will be both enjoyable and useful to most smartphone photographers.
More: HTC One: Zoes and video highlights
In summary, HTC’s UltraPixel experiment shows promise, but on the HTC One it isn’t a resounding success. Nevertheless, at the very least we’d call the HTC One’s camera satisfactory, and there’s no denying that it excels in certain areas. What’s more, features like Zoes, highlights and Zoe Share are examples of real innovation in mobile imaging.
The bottom line

To pull itself back from the brink, HTC knows it has to produce something special. And the HTC One is exactly that. It’s an exquisite piece of design and engineering. From the hardware to the software, HTC’s new handset incorporates some of the very finest design work in the industry. It’s the best-looking, best-feeling phone we’ve used -- nothing beats the feel of HTC’s curved brushed aluminum chassis. The new Sense has been pared back, sped up and redesigned in ways that make it a huge improvement on earlier iterations.
The majority of HTC’s “buzzword” features also deliver. The BoomSound speakers offer unparalleled bass and clarity for smartphone speakers. Sense TV is a really useful app for dual-screen viewing. BlinkFeed isn’t perfect, but the implementation is good for a “version 1.0” feature.

We’re not overly keen on HTC’s two-button setup, though we’ve learned to live with it over the past week. On a related note, we’d still like the on-screen menu bar that occasionally pops up to die in a fire, though not all the blame for this crime against user experience design lies with HTC.
If there’s something to be disappointed about, it might be the much-vaunted “UltraPixel” camera. Which is not to say it’s bad per se -- in fact, it’s pretty good. But it’s a long way off being the silver bullet to cure all your mobile photography woes, and though its low-light performance is fantastic, it lags behind the competition in some other areas but only just but in low light it rips the others apart.
In spite of this, is it HTC’s best phone yet? Without question. And on balance, is it the best Android phone you can buy? For the moment, absolutely. Well see how the Samsung Galaxy 4 (the SG3s as some are calling it) stacks up but on initial impression it looks in most areas like the HTC One is a clear winner

Evernote Passwords Stolen So Reset Yours Fast.

On logging into Evernote you'll find that you have to reset your password. Why? Well according to a post on the official Evernote blog, they were hacked, and while no personal information was snatched, emails, usernames, and passwords were. Luckily, those passwords were encrypted, but better safe than sorry.

Playstation 4 Revealed

On stage at the "See the Future" event in New York, Sony has just announced its latest gaming console: the PlayStation 4. "We believe that PlayStation 4 represents a shift from thinking of a box or console," said Sony's Andrew House. "PlayStation is the best place to play." The console will be arriving in the holiday season of 2013, though unfortunately no pricing details were given, and Sony didn't provide any glimpses of the new hardware.

As introduced by lead system architect Mark Cerny, the PS4 is based on a "supercharged PC architecture," with an X86 processor, enhanced PC-style GPU, and 8GB of GDDR5 unified high-speed memory. The controller is called, unsurprisingly, the DualShock 4, and features the Vita-style touchpad we'd heard about, and a light bar on the back to identify players. Each PS4 will contain a 3D camera to track the various controllers using the bar. The PS4 contains 8 CPU cores, providing almost 2 teraflops of computational performance. The power allows for 30,000 polygons to be rendered in real time (by way of comparison, Heavy Rain on the PS3 utilized 15,000). "Overall, our goal has been to architect the system to support a breadth of experiences," said Cerny.

For those tired of waiting around for lengthy boot times, there's some welcome news, as the console will let users suspend and resume play just by pressing the power button. The console also contains a secondary chip that is designed just to manage uploads and downloads, even if the power is off — and digital titles will be playable as they're being downloaded. On the upload side, the PS4 has always-on video compression that will allow users to upload video as they go (proving another set of rumors correct), and letting gamers share footage or photos of their gaming excursions easily. Showing off the feature, Cerny said "Our goal is to make sharing of video as popular in the PlayStation 4 as screenshots are today."
That social focus extends to chat, where the platform will allow users to watch games being played by others, and "reach out" to play on a friend's system. Owners will also be able to use their smartphones and other personal devices to browse videos and use companion apps. Facebook and Ustream were both touted as third-party services the PS4 was designed to work with.
Sony's acquisition of Gaikai is also bearing fruit with the new console. Gaikai co-founder and CEO Dave Perry took the stage to introduce his company's contributions to the new PlayStation, which include instant notifications when your friends buy a given title. Trying a game ahead of time is also in the cards, with Perry saying "With Gaikai and the PlayStation Store, you'll be able to instantly experience anything you want. Try it for free, share if you like it, and pay only if you like it."
While not many specific examples were given, users will be able to broadcast themselves in real time — triggered by the new "share" button on the DualShock 4 (video trimming is built into the PS4 interface). Developers will also have the tools to enable what Perry called "director" status, letting one individual alter the gaming environment of the player using the console, such as changing maps, or throwing power-ups when they're in need.

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The company is also betting heavily on the PlayStation Vita: developers will be able to implement second screen functionality that will let gamers play PS4 titles on their Vita. The stated goal is that all PS4 titles will eventually be playable on the Vita. Unfortunately, while the new console will in fact not be backwards-compatible with current PlayStation 3 titles, the much-anticipated streaming solution for PS3 titles isn't here. However, Perry did say that the company was "exploring" the ability for PS3 titles to eventually be available on almost any device.
A series of game demos rounded out the presentation — including the confirmation that Bungie's Destiny would be coming to the console. Sony's decision to not announce the price or a firm shipping date for the PlayStation 4 will no doubt give the company room to maneuver should it need to respond to any gaming announcements from Microsoft, and the lack of a hardware reveal will give it something new to trumpet as the year progresses. We imagine we'll learn a little bit more at this year's E3 in June.

Facebook Now Lets You Pay To Promote Your Friends’ Posts

You can already pay to promote your own Facebook posts, and now you can cough up the cash to promote the content your friends are posting, too.
You don't even need your friend's permission, so go forth and dig up all their embarrassing old photos from college. You'll see a promote button alongside the like, comment and share buttons. So have your credit card handy. Of course more money, means more eyes on a post. There's just one stipulation—the content can only be viewed by the people your pal shared with in the first place. So don't think that photo of a keg stand will get out to a wider audience. But it will remind those select people that your friend was a real tank back then.

Microsoft Surface Pro Review.

Microsoft is introducing its second-ever personal computer. As with the first, it’s a multi-touch 10.6-inch tablet that has some of the attributes of a laptop, such as a USB port and snap-on keyboards. But unlike the first, this new tablet is capable of running full-featured Windows 8, though at a price — in dollars, bulk and battery life.
Both machines are called Surface and at first glance, they look similar. But there are big differences. The original Surface, launched in October, uses a limited version of Windows 8 called RT and runs on the type of processor common in rival tablets and smartphones. As a result, while it can fully handle Windows 8’s new Start Screen tabletlike interface and apps, it can only run four standard Windows desktop programs — Microsoft’s Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. You can’t install other desktop software.
The new Surface, called Surface Windows 8 Pro, is powered by an Intel processor typically found on laptops and uses the high-end Pro version of Windows 8. So it can run a vast array of standard Windows 7 desktop software. That means you could theoretically use the new tablet as a full replacement for a Windows laptop — if you used one of Microsoft’s thin keyboard covers.


The Surface Pro looks like the Surface RT, but it has a much higher screen resolution. The Pro also comes with a pen that makes navigating on the desktop much easier and allows for jotting notes or annotating documents.
Microsoft views the Pro as a new kind of PC, a sort of hybrid of a tablet and a laptop that spares users the hassle of carrying two devices. It goes on sale Saturday.
The Surface Pro starts at $899 — $400 more than the base model of the biggest, newest iPad or the base Surface RT. To be fair, this entry-level Surface Pro has 64 gigabytes of storage, four times what the base iPad offers. But an iPad with the same 64 GB is $699. A higher-end Surface Pro model with twice the storage costs $999, but an iPad with the same amount of storage is $200 less.
Not only that, but the keyboard covers cost extra — $130 for the one with movable keys, which brings the price to over $1,000.
As with the original Surface, the Pro is solidly built, with the same innovative metal kickstand that keeps it upright on a desk or table. It ran all the software I threw at it — both the new type and the old desktop type — speedily and well. I was able to install and run the full Windows 7 desktop versions of such popular programs as Microsoft Outlook, Google Chrome, Apple iTunes, Adobe Reader and Twitter’s TweetDeck.
The Pro has a much higher screen resolution than the RT. It comes with a handy pen, not included or usable on the RT, that makes navigating on the desktop interface much easier and allows for jotting notes or annotating documents. And it has corporate-friendly security features not found on the RT.
But the Pro has some significant downsides, especially as a tablet.


The Pro is thicker and heavier than the RT, which makes it clumsier to use as a tablet and on your lap as a laptop with the snap-on keyboard.


The Surface RT
I like the original Surface and see it as a tablet with the extra benefit of some Microsoft Office programs. However, I am less enamored with the Surface Pro. It’s too hefty and costly and power-hungry to best the leading tablet, Apple’s full-size iPad. It is also too difficult to use in your lap. It’s something of a tweener — a compromised tablet and a compromised laptop.
The Pro weighs 2 pounds, which is light for a laptop but anvil-like for a tablet. That is almost 40 percent heavier than the weightiest iPad and over 40 percent thicker. I found this bulk made the Surface Pro even clumsier than the RT is to use on my lap with the keyboard cover, even with the kickstand, which works far better on a desk than on one’s knees.
In my tough battery tests, where I set the screen to 75 percent brightness, turn off power-saving features, leave the Wi-Fi on and play locally stored videos until the machine dies, the Surface Pro did pathetically. It lasted just under four hours between charges — less than half the stamina of the iPad on the same test and three hours less than the Surface RT. In normal use, you might stretch that to five or 5½ hours, still poor for a tablet.
Also, as on the RT model, the Windows 8 system files take up a huge chunk of available storage. Of the 64GB of solid-state storage on the entry-level $899 model, only 30GB of that is free for the user, according to Microsoft. On the $999 model, 90GB of the 128GB total is available for the user. Microsoft notes you can add more storage via a flash memory slot.
And unlike the RT, the Pro doesn’t come out of the box with Microsoft Office. That costs extra, just as on most laptops. Unlike the iPad and some Android tablets, neither Surface can be ordered with built-in cellular connectivity, though the Pro can accept extra-cost plug-in cellular modems and, like competing tablets, it can be wirelessly tethered to a cellphone or stand-alone cellular modem.
When used on a desk, table, or airplane seat tray, with the kickstand holding the screen upright and the keyboard cover with movable keys, the Pro is a serviceable laptop, especially since, unlike on an iPad or Android tablet, you can use full-fledged PC programs.
But just as the Pro is compromised as a tablet, it’s compromised as a laptop. You get fewer ports and less storage than on many laptops and a keyboard that can’t compare with those on many laptops.
Some users may not mind the price or bulk of the Surface Pro if it frees them from carrying a tablet for some uses and a laptop for others. But like many products that try to be two things at once, the new Surface Windows 8 Pro does neither as well as those designed for one function.

IntelliscreenX - Another Reason To Jailbreak Your iPhone

One of the best reasons to Jailbreak your iPhone is IntelliscreenX.
This is one amazing add-on.

Features:
- View Calendar, Email, Text Messages, News, Facebook, Twitter, Weather, and more from your iPhone "Slide To Unlock" screen
- Taskbar Icons for Missed Email, SMS, Phone calls, and Silent status
- QuickView/Preview Entire Email
- View/Mark Read/Unread/Delete your Emails from the Lock Screen
- Reply to SMS/iMessages with Message+ (free)
- Completely integrated into iOS6 Notification Center
- Integrated Twitter and Facebook pages
- Post/Comment/Tweet from anywhere
- Access QuickSettings like brightness, airplane mode, Bluetooth +
- Advanced RSS Reader uses iOS 6 Reader to show "just" news
- Can "pull down" and display in any app!

As always you need a jailbroken IOS device and then go search in Cydia app to find this


Someones done a great video so watch it

Auxo – One Reason I Jailbroke My iPhone

Auxo – the awesome replacement for the iOS app switcher, which we had previewed few days back is now available on Cydia.
Auxo is based on a concept by designer @Sentry_NC aims to replace the app switcher. The designer has joined hands with Jack Willis, and JamieD360 to make the concept a reality.
Auxo replaces the app icons in the app switcher with a card-like screenshot of the current state of the app. The card-like screenshot makes it easier to identify the app you want to launch from the app switcher.
You can remove apps from the app switcher by swiping down on the app rather than going through the tedious process of pressing and holding the Home button etc. You can also kill multiple apps by using multiple fingers (though it is debatable if killing apps is a good idea). We liked the feature where the jailbreak tweak prompts you if you really want to close the music app when the music is playing in the background.
The jailbreak tweak allows you to access some of the frequently used toggles such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc.
Auxo also redesigns the music controls that are available when you swipe from left to right, with album artwork etc and gives you quick access to the volume controls. Check out the video walkthrough.
Auxo is available on Cydia for $1.99. Auxo is currently compatible with iOS 6, but the developers are planning  to release an update to add support iOS 5.x.x sometime next week. They also plan to release Auxo for iPad shortly.

You require a Jailbroken IOS device and then simply open the cydia app to done load it

Jailbreak now avaialable for all Devices Running IOS6 and 6.1

Hey jailbreaking fans! The iOS 6.1 untethered jailbreak is here! Here is our tutorial, with download links and all:

http://www.jailbreaknation.com/jailbreak-6.1-untethered-with-evasi0n-for-ios-6-iphone-5-4s-4-3gs-ipod-touch-5g-4g-ipad-mini-432

Here is a video tutorial, step-by-step:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYoOxZZN32o

Jailbreak on the way for all iPhones/iPads with IOS 6.1 or below.

The evad3rs dev team has just announced that the untethered jailbreak tool will be called evasi0n.
The evad3rs dev team have made the announcement on their website.

According to the website, the dev team is currently working on finishing the GUI.
We are in the process of finishing the GUI. Come back soon!
They have also revealed that the next step will be beta testing.
As reported earlier, evasi0n jailbreak will work on iOS 6.0, iOS 6.0.1, iOS 6.0.2 and iOS 6.1. It will support all iOS 6.1 compatible devices except for Apple TV 3. So the following iOS devices will be supported:

• iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS

• iPad 4, iPad 3, iPad 2, iPad mini

• iPod touch 5G, iPod Touch 4G

• Apple TV 2

It looks like it is going to be another easy jailbreak. They have mentioned the following requirements on their website:

• 5 minutes of your time!

• A computer, running Windows (XP minimum), Mac OS X (10.5 minimum) or Linux (x86 / x86_64)

• An iPhone, iPad or iPod running iOS 6.0 through 6.1 (you may check in Settings / General / About => Version)

• A USB cable to connect the device to the computer

evad3rs dev team could release the evasi0n jailbreak as early as this Sunday. If you want to give them donations for their hard work, head over to their site and hit the Contribute button.

Ignite Music Software It's New and Interesting

Inspiring Sounds
Ignite includes over 275 instruments, many of which are taken from our renowned instrument collections - including Strike, Structure, and Velvet. All sounds have been optimized to load quickly, and the editing controls are automatically mapped to your connected M-Audio keyboard. These extraordinary sounds include keyboards, drums, percussion, basses, guitars, synths, strings, brass, and woodwinds.
Powerful Creative Tools
Ignite features Smart MIDI technology to help jump-start your ideas and enhance your music-making skills. The Chord Player generates a chord pattern from a single key, while the Phrase Player can provide a single-voice line to add to your composition. Both the Chord and Phrase player include dozens of patterns in modern music genres - these aren't canned, boring MIDI patterns. Tailor the performance of these Players by adjusting feel, speed and intensity. The Flexible arpeggiator plays held notes individually, either as a musical flourish or in a rhythmic pattern.
Designed to Work with M-Audio Keyboards
Simply connect any current M-Audio keyboard controller to your computer, and Ignite provides seamless integration. The keyboard is automatically detected and controls are automatically mapped when connected to your computer. Adding or changing your keyboard? The controls are automatically updated and mapped.
Share Your Passion
Share your latest creation with friends, fans, and family - or collaborate with other musicians - by taking advantage of direct uploads to SoundCloud. Plus, you can export your individual audio (WAV or MP3) and MIDI files, which can then be imported into any computer-based recording software - including Pro Tools.

Never buy a Windows Surface Pro as Windows takes up 36% of your drive space!

The 128GB Microsoft Surface Pro will only offer 83GB of usable storage— the 64GB version will offer up just 23GB of space to the user. Talk about rediculas
It seems the Windows 8 install, built-in apps, and a recovery partition will consume 41GB of the total storage space, leaving just 23GB—that's 36 percent—of storage for the user. Perhaps it's time manufacturers started quoting available storage space in their ads, too?

Novation Announces the new Launchkey Controllers & iPad App

• Novation Launchkey - integrated instrument with DAW control and 16 launch pads.

Launchkey is a next generation instrument for computer and iPad with 16 velocity-sensitive multi-colour launch pads capable of playing drums and triggering loops in the brand new Launchpad iPad app, as well as launching clips and scenes in Ableton Live. It is a fully featured DAW control surface with over 50 physical controls (34 on the 25 key version). Launchkey also comes with two Novation plug-in soft synths: the V-Station and the Bass Station.  
Launchkey iPad app
Launchkey app is a powerful analogue modelling synthesiser for iPad. It integrates with the Novation Launchkey hardware creating a unique hands-on synth workstation for your iPad – along with  the new Launchpad app. Launchkey app includes 60 brand new synth sounds for performing and producing music with iPad. 
Launchpad iPad app
The Novation Launchpad is a music performance app for iPad that will have you making beats and triggering loops instantly with Launchkey hardware. It's packed full of high quality loops and sounds that can be combined in the multi-colour 8x6 Launchpad grid to make and remix music. The built-in time stretching always keeps you locked in to the beat so your loops don't go out of time.

NAMM 2013: Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 Synth.

12-voice polyphonic synthesizer from the man behind Sequencial Circuits


Dave Smith, the man behind Sequencial Circuits, has just announced a brand new synth which shares a name with the '70s classic. Here's the press release: 
Press Release: Dave Smith Instruments today introduced a new polyphonic synthesizer, the Prophet 12, at the 2013 NAMM Show. “After 35 years of creating synths, this is simply my best synth yet,” said Smith. “We sort of started from scratch on this one rather than spinning off another product from our previous designs.”
At twelve voices, the Prophet 12 boasts the greatest polyphony of any instrument designed by Smith. Each voice features four oscillators capable of generating classic and complex waveforms, a sub-oscillator, resonant analog low- and high-pass filters, and analog VCAs. The new Character section adds a variety of wave shaping and sound sculpting options, like Drive, Hack, Decimation, Girth, and Air. Additional features include a tuned feedback path, a four-tap stereo delay per voice, expanded arpeggiator functionality, deep modulation capabilities, and bi-timbral operation. The LFOs, delay, and arpeggiator can all be synced, either to the internal clock or an external MIDI clock. Two programmable position- and pressure-sensitive touch sliders take the performance controls beyond the standard pitch and mod wheels (also included).
“We’re already blown away by the sonic breadth of this synthesizer’s new voice architecture,” Smith continued. “It doesn’t sound like anything else and I’m very excited for people to hear it.”
The Prophet 12 is expected to be available Q2 of 2013 and is projected to cost $2999

Mega Password Reset Not possible As it is the Encryption Key Enabaler.

Right now, Mega, the zombie file sharing service currently only useful for people with infinite patience and/or dial up Internet, doesn't offer any sort of password reset or recovery system. If you forget your Mega password, you're shit out of luck. That's because the password you use is the master key in decrypting the files you uploaded. You cannot lose that password. For now.
Mega has announced that in the future it will allow you to reset your password. But unlike normal password resets, you don't automatically gain full access to all your uploaded files. Mega says:
A password change feature will re-encrypt the master key with your new password and update it on our servers
A password reset mechanism will allow you to log back into your account, with all files being unreadable. Now, if you have any pre-exported file keys, you can import them to regain access to those files. On top of that, you could ask your share peers to send you the share-specific keys, but that's it - the remainder of your data appears as binary garbage until you remember your password.
That means the password reset feature for Mega is going to be super secure and better than a typical reset. If someone tries to tap into your account by reseting your password, they still won't have access to the files you previously uploaded. You can only access those old files if you have the old keys. The annoying thing though? If you really just forgot your Mega password, you're going to be pretty annoyed that you can't access those files. So in the name of security, DON'T FORGET IT!

Kim Dotcom’s Mega Is Up and Running and Open To the Public

Kim Dotcom's Mega site with encryption up the wazoo has finally launched. You can head on over and sign up right now. That is, so long as the site can hold under the crazy traffic. So far, it looks like it's getting crushed. But different people are experiencing different things.

Mega Uses Random Data From Your Mouse and Keyboard To Beef Up Its Already Insane Encryption
Kim Dotcom's newly launched Mega is determined not to get screwed over by the Feds the way MegaUpload did, and the trick is encryption, lots of encryption. Mega's really going that extra mile too; it's using your random mouse and keyboard data to strengthen your crypto keys.
Cryptography relies on having complex keys to encrypt you data, and obviously those keys should be random. But if you know anything about computers, you know they're horrible at generating random numbers. They just can't do it. Instead, they'll take obscure variables like your computer's clock time, and spin those out into something pseudorandom. If somehow you can find out the variable though, it's not random at all.
Mega's taking that a step further by adding you to the equation; the way you twitch your hand on the mouse, or how you type out your username will get wrapped into your cryptokeys as well. And those are variables that are unlikely to be traced and damn near impossible to reproduce. Stuff like this isn't unheard of, but it goes a long way to show how serious Mega is about security. And that should come as no surprise since all that encryption is there to protect Mega more than it is to protect you. And with precautions like this, how could it not?

Samsung Refuses To Launch Windows RT tablets in the US.

Samsung's line of Windows Ativ tablets was announced just this past fall, but it doesn't look like the company will be bringing the RT version to the US any time soon. Speaking to CNET, Samsung executive Mike Abary said that the Qualcomm-powered RT tablet will not be sold in the US, citing the high cost of educating the consumer on Windows RT and studies from retail partners that said demand for Windows RT tablets was not enough to warrant the heavy investment in consumer education.
When we did some tests and studies on how we could go to market with a Windows RT device, we determined there was a lot of heavy lifting we still needed to do to educate the customer on what Windows RT was," noted Abary. Consumer education is something that Microsoft has had to struggle with for both Windows 8 and Windows RT, and it looks like this is a direct consequence of that. He added that Samsung was also not willing to bring the Windows RT tablets to market with the compromises it would need to make to hit the lower price point expected from RT tablets. "We didn't necessarily attain the price point that we hoped to attain," Abary said.
Samsung isn't completely abandoning the US market with its Ativ products — it's been selling the Ativ Smart PC with Windows 8 at AT&T retail stores since November, and it just announced availability of the Ativ Odyssey smartphone for Verizon Wireless. But the Samsung's decision to not sell the Windows RT Ativ tablets in the US doesn't bode well for other manufacturers that may plan to launch their own tablets with the platform. Fortunately for Microsoft, Samsung hasn't completely ruled out the US market for Windows RT if it is able to address the issues of customer training and cost. But we aren't getting our hopes up to see one any time soon. "It's still a viable option for us in the future, but now might not be the right time," concluded Abary.

USB 3.0 Next Revision Is Going To Double Speeds

USB data transfer is about to get a lot faster. The USB Promoter Group is rolling out SuperSpeed USB, a supplement to USB 3.0 due out later this year that should surge your speeds two-fold.
SuperSpeed USB is supposed to give you 10 Gbps USB data rate, which is the same theoretically as Thunderbolt but in actuality this is only burst speeds and not sustainable like Thunderbolt and of course is not two way or capable of driving monitors are like Thunderbolt is It's also expected to feature better data encoding for transfers, more efficiency power efficient ports, and best of all, compatibility with existing devices. Later this year when you download a movie or a CD, it could take much less time thanks to the new standard.

To take advantage of the double-speed USB 3.0 interface, devices such as computers, hubs, and digital cameras will need new USB controller hardware. However, the new version of USB 3.0 uses the same connectors, so existing USB devices can be plugged into the higher-speed ports.

USB 3.0 cables may or may not work. "Existing SuperSpeed USB cables are not certified to operate at 10 Gbps; it is possible that some existing SuperSpeed USB cables may be capable of operating at 10 Gbps," the group said.

The New Tegra 4 CPU for Smartphones Is here and it's fast. It packs

The New Tegra 4 CPU for Smartphones Is here and it's fast. It packs 72 GPU cores, 4 A15 CPU cores, and a built-in LTE.
In a (somewhat simulated) head to head test between a Nexus 10 tablet and and a Tegra 4 mystery machine, the latter loaded 25 webpages in only 27 seconds, with the older chip taking 50. Not many of us will be loading up 25 webpages simultaneously, but Nvidia is hammering beefed up browser performance here—as well as topping the iPad 4's A6X processor across the board. Nvidia says it's simply the fastest mobile processor in the world. Nvidia says.

The Tegra 4 will also have supercharged HDR photo rendering, Nvidia says, beating out the iPhone 5's abilities with better capture speeds thanks to all of those aforementioned cores working at once. In actual life terms, Nvidia says it'll be the difference between two seconds of rendering on the iPhone and 0.2 seconds on a Tegra 4-powered mobile camera.

One particularly nifty feature is "live HDR," which actually shows a video preview of the difference between a shot with and without HDR. Very impressive, and nothing we've ever seen before.

Nvidia is banking pretty heavily on the virtue of HDR here! Sometimes it looks nice, sometimes it looks tacky—but at least with a live preview you'll be able to tell beforehand.

A demo of Dead Trigger 2 running on Tegra 4 yielded some highly purty visuals—think early-PS3 era—though there was some slowdown. Still! This is phone and tablet tech. Fancy stuff.
No word on when we'll start seeing these things in our things. Soon!

BlueStacks Strikes Distribution Deal With Lenovo To Bring 750K Android Apps To Its PCs

The good news keeps rolling in for BlueStacks, the startup best known for making technology that enables one and all to download and use Android applications on their desktop PCs — and more recently, their Macs. In anticipation of CES, the company announced today that it has secured a global distribution deal with Chinese PC maker, Lenovo.
Lenovo, which some say recently surpassed HP as the largest maker of PCs, now hawks ultrabooks, convertibles and desktops and has been aggressively integrating Windows 8 into its product lines and pushing touch technology upgrades into its laptops. With its new distribution agreement with BlueStacks, Lenovo will begin preloading BlueStacks’ software and service in its Idea-branded PCs — Lenovo’s consumer line, which represents about 40 million units.
The deal, which has been slowly formulated over the last six months, is the latest in a series of similar distribution agreements for BlueStacks, which now includes Asus, MSI and AMD. The most recent of which was its partnership with AMD, secured in September, which enabled the chipmaker to optimize Android apps for AMD-powered Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs with the launch of its “AppZone.”
All told, BlueStacks’ agreements with Asus, MSI, AMD and Lenovo means that more than 100 million PCs will be preloaded with its App Player software in 2013. This helps give context to the startup’s recent announcement that it had exceeded five million organic installs from its website, something it was able to do in under eight months.
If it wasn’t clear in AMD, Qualcomm and Citrix’s collective investment in BlueStacks (the company has raised a total of $15 million in outside funding from these companies as well as Andreessen Horowitz and Ignition Ventures), some of the largest OEMs out there are clearly eager to tap into the enormous potential inherent to transforming Windows devices into a platform to run mobile apps.
When it comes to PCs, Windows represents a colossal market, but one that has (as of yet) has failed to offer the same access to native apps compared to Google and Apple. BlueStacks’ technology allows OEMs to offer Android apps to its PC users, while enabling developers to touch a whole new audience (of Windows users) without spending months creating a whole new Windows-facing product.
While the company isn’t disclosing the terms of the deal, it’s likely that OEMs are paying for the ability to put BlueStacks’ tech on their machines, seeing as that will give them access to another revenue stream via pay-per-install.
For Lenovo users, this means that they will be able to enjoy the same apps on the PC that they’re already using on their smartphone, with BlueStacks linking their smartphones to the PC via the cloud, enabling them to sync their apps, data and SMSes between their phones and their PCs. When they boot up an Idea PC for the first time, they’ll see Lenovo App Player first thing, along with other content like music and photos. At CES 2013, BlueStacks will be showcasing the latest version of the App Player designed and optimized for Windows 8 Ultrabooks, laptops and tablets.
BlueStacks will also be running all mobile apps on PCs for Lenovo, and the company is set to to launch a mobile app that Lenovo plans to preload onto its phones. This will connect Lenovo PCs to peoples’ Android devices, presumably incentivizing those who have a Lenovo PC to buy a Lenovo phone and sync their apps — and vice versa.
For BlueStacks, these partnerships are all about expanding its footprint and helping to bring Android apps to an enormous audience of Windows users. Of course, it’s not only about Windows users. The company is also in talks with several large TV and phone manufacturers, as it’s looking to integrate its App Player into these next-gen, connected systems.
“In two years, there will be no ‘mobile’ apps as opposed to ‘PC’ applications,” says BlueStacks CEO, Rosen Sharma. “We expect Apple will gel iOS and OSX this year, and we are working on the same for Google.”
Of course, that being said, BlueStacks isn’t leaving Mac users out of the equation. In late December, the startup launched its App Player for Mac in beta, offering those 750,000 Android apps on the market to Mac users. For BlueStacks, it seems clear that the domino effect is underway. Expect to see the connected TV makers signing on next.