[Deal] Pre-order the Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge from Best Buy and get a FREE wireless charging pad
Today is pre-order day for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, and there are some great bonus deals to consider. T-Mobile is giving one FREE year of Netflix and Sprint will lease you the phone for FREE.
Up next is Best Buy with another promotion. They will give you a FREE wireless charging pad with your order of the Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge. That’s a $59.99 value and will get you started with wireless charging. You can put it on your nightstand, your office, or wherever is convenient.
source: Best Buy
Come comment on this article: [Deal] Pre-order the Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge from Best Buy and get a FREE wireless charging pad
UK report concludes Huawei’s no threat to national security
For years, the UK government has been concerned that Huawei’s networking equipment is aiding the Chinese government and threatening national security. In Britain, the company supplies major network providers such as BT, O2 and EE, which only amplifies the anxiety of politicians and security advocates. In 2012, Huawei opened a “Cyber Security Evaluation Centre” to alleviate some of their fears. It’s designed to test all incoming updates to Huawei hardware and software used on UK networks. The problem is that all of the staff are employed by Huawei; in 2013, the UK’s Intelligence and Security Committee said it was concerned about the arrangement, which effectively relies on self-policing. The government agreed, and said it would investigate the processes inside the centre.
Now, the results of that investigation have come to light, and it’s good news for Huawei: inspectors say the evaluation centre is sufficiently independent from the rest of the company. An audit by Ernst & Young found “no major concerns” about the way it was being run. In particular, investigators looked at staff clearances inside the building, as well as the processes for budgeting and assigning bonuses from Huawei. The Oversight Board which managed the review said: “In the year 2014/15 (the centre) fulfilled its obligations in respect of the provision of assurance that any risks to UK national security from Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s critical networks have been sufficiently mitigated.”
So Huawei is in the government’s good books, for now. The centre is just one part of the supply chain designed to safeguard the UK’s network infrastructure, and these inspections will likely continue on an annual basis. The company may never win the trust of its harshest critics, but this report could go some way to putting their minds at ease.
Filed under: Networking
Source: GOV.UK
OnePlus delays Oxygen OS, but teases a drone (unless it’s an April’s Fool joke)
In a Reddit AMA thread, OnePlus representatives explicitly said the company would begin selling a drone from next month.
According to OnePlus’ Carl Pei and David S. the “game changing” product that the company has been teasing for the last couple of weeks is actually a drone dubbed DR-1 (DR-one, get it?). No details about the device have been shared, but Pei offered as “proof” a screen shot showing a stylized drone icon, suggesting the DR-1 will resemble Parrot’s AR.Drone 2.0.
The Parrot AR.Drone 2.0
Now, it wouldn’t require a huge leap of faith to believe that OnePlus could make a drone. After all, remote controlled drones are increasingly popular among techies and OnePlus may be trying to come up with a fun new product to stay in the spotlight until the OnePlus 2 arrives in Q3.
However, OnePlus never openly revealed new products like this before. The startup has been adept at keeping a tight lid over its plans and generating buzz with carefully designed teasers that don’t really reveal anything substantial about the teased product. So to see OnePlus reps cheerfully blow the surprise about this DR-1 is pretty suspicious.
What is OnePlus hiding?
And there’s the timing of this ask-me-anything thread. Besides DR-1, the OnePlus reps haven’t shared anything that is truly new. It’s almost like OnePlus went through the trouble of doing this AMA to “leak” the DR-1 ahead of April’s Fool Day next week. So, yeah, this could be part of an elaborate prank that OnePlus is trying to pull on us.
OnePlus may also be trying to deflect attention from some bad news: the release of OxygenOS, scheduled for today, has been delayed, and it looks like the March 30 deadline for the Cyanogen 12S OTA will be missed as well. Getting fans and tech blogs to talk about a mystery drone isn’t a bad way to keep this new delay under the radar.
We should see what OnePlus’s cooking from next month. Do you think they are really making a drone?
Oneplus OxygenOS release has been delayed yet again
If you are a OnePlus One owner and were expecting today’s major decision to be whether or not to carry on using CyanogenMod 12S firmware or to turn to the home-grown OxygenOS, you are going to be a little disappointed. As Justin predicted, the release date has been missed and no new date has yet been announced.
This time the delay is said to be down to the certification process taking longer than anticipated. The OnePlus developer going by the devildv nickname said that he and a colleague were each running a handset running CM12S and OxygenOS respectively as daily drivers and that things would be explained in the coming days. It’s disappointing news, hopefully, OnePlus will announce a new deadline for the OxygenOS release sooner rather than later. Perhaps they would be better off just providing a download link when it is actually ready instead of disappointing its customers and blasting past deadline dates.
I wonder if the OxygenOS firmware will be released before OnePlus announce its GameChanger device next month?
Source: Reddit
Via: PhoneArena
Come comment on this article: Oneplus OxygenOS release has been delayed yet again
BlackBerry launches Enhanced SIM-based Licensing for 3 Hong Kong
On top of the addition of China Mobile Hong Kong, BlackBerry has also announced 3 Hong Kong, the mobile telecommunications division of Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings Limited, is now also offering its enterprise customers Enhanced SIM-Based Licensing (ESBL) by BlackBerry, will provide enterprise customers an improved purchasing experience, meaning they can consolidate operational costs into one monthly invoice.
Google, Apple and others list demands for spying act changes
The US Congress, Senate and White House may be torn on what to do with a key Patriot Act spying clause, set to expire on June 1st. But Google, Apple, Facebook and other tech companies in the Reform Government Surveillance coalition know exactly what they want: no more bulk data collection. Together with numerous privacy groups including the ACLU and EFF, they presented a letter to the President and both houses with two key demands. The groups asked for “a clear, strong and effective end of bulk collection practices under the Patriot Act,” along with “transparency and accountability mechanisms for both government and company reporting.”
The group sees no reason why Congress can’t “protect both national security and privacy” at the same time to “restore trust in the internet.” Companies like Google and Facebook bore a large part of the public’s wrath when it was suggested that they funneled data directly to the NSA, albeit unwillingly or unknowingly. With greater transparency, the group no doubt feels it could at least justify any user data collection it does on behalf of the government.
Companies like Google and Facebook bore a large part of the public’s wrath when it was suggested that they funneled data directly to the NSA.
The Patriot Act’s infamous clause 215 authorizing bulk spying via the “roving wiretap” provision has already been extended several times. However, the upcoming debates in Congress and Senate will be the first post-Snowden, and figure to be contentious. The heads of both Republican-controlled chambers are dead-set against any major changes, and blocked a bill that proposed minor reforms last year. However, other Republicans and Democrats, along with President Obama, favor significant changes. The letter from the tech coalition is obviously designed to give any representatives who may be on the fence a tiny nudge.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Filed under: Storage, Apple, Microsoft, Google
Via: CNET
Source: Reform Government Surveillance
HTC lead designer departs after less than a year
Jonah Becker, Vice President of Industrial Design at HTC, has announced that he has left the company, news which has also been confirmed by HTC. Becker had taken up the roll less last April from Scott Croyle, and is to be succeeded by HTC Creative Director Daniel Hundt.
Becker worked for One & Co when it was acquired by HTC back in 2008. Both Croyle and Becker had worked at the company, but the departure leaves Claude Zellweger is the last remaining senior designer from One & Co at HTC.
It’s been an amazing seventeen year journey with One & Co and HTC, but it’s time for a new adventure. Stay tuned for details of what’s next.
— Jonah Becker (@JonahABecker) March 26, 2015
HTC has already undergone a major senior managerial shake-up this month, Peter Chou stepped down as CEO and has been replaced by Cher Wang. This leadership adjustment looks to be marking a change in direction for the company, but it is not known how much or little this influenced Becker’s decision. For HTC, losing its second lead designer in less than a year suggests deeper internal issues within its senior ranks.
Although the reasons for Becker’s departure have not been made clear, one industry source suggests that there has been an ongoing power struggle between the HTC design team and the company’s sales goals. How much of this struggle is reflected in the HTC One M9’s similar aesthetic design and subtle component changes from its predecessor, I don’t suppose we’ll ever know.
Here is the statement from HTC with regards to Jonah Becker’s departure:
“We can confirm that Jonah Becker has left HTC; he had been with the Company since HTC acquired One & Co over six years ago. We would like to thank Jonah for his work with HTC, and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. He has been succeeded by Daniel Hundt, based in our San Francisco design office.”
Leak: The HTC T1H Tablet features an 8.9-Inch QXGA display and Allwinner CPU
If HTC were a kitchen utensil, one might think that the Taiwan-based company is a sieve, considering all the recent leaks about its upcoming handsets. On top of the much-leaked HTC One E9(here and here) and One M9 Plus handsets, we now have news about a tablet with the codename HTC T1H that will be launched in China in partnership with China Mobile. We have the image and specifications after the break.
Intriguingly, the HTC T1H eschews Qualcomm’s processor offering, and even passes by the king of budget chips, MediaTek. Instead, the HTC T1H will purportedly use an Octa-core processor produced by Allwinner. We have the list of specifications below:
- 8.9-Inch QXGA display (2048 x 1530)
- Allwinner (Gazetteer) H8 Octa-core processor, 4 cores @2.2GHz + 4 cores @1.4GHz
- PowerVR SGX544 GPU
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB/32GB Internal Storage
- 8MP Rear camera/ 1.6MP Front camera
- HTC BoomSound (Dual front speakers)
- GPS
- Dimensions: 228.35 x 153.67 x 7.88mm
- 6,700mAh Battery
- Android 5.0
- Sense 7.0 for Tablet
The HTC T1H will be available in WiFi and LTE variants and is expected to launch in China sometime in May. It’s unknown if this tablet will be released in other regions, but if it were, would you be interested?
Source: Weibo
Via: GizmoChina
Come comment on this article: Leak: The HTC T1H Tablet features an 8.9-Inch QXGA display and Allwinner CPU
Incipio feather cases for iPhone 6 are on sale today for $14.95
Lightweight and durable, the feather case is engineered to provide inconspicuous protection. The snap-on application of this hard case allows for quick installation when needed and its soft touch finish provides a comfortable grip in the hand.
Leaked renders of HTC One E9 Plus show off multiple color schemes
If you were getting tired of the HTC One M9 Plus leaks, we have a slightly different offering for you today in the form of some leaked renders of the HTC One E9 Plus courtesy of the serial leaker @upleaks. The leaked images show the handset in a variety of colours, with the gun-metal grey version posing as the main image above.
In the gallery above, we have the gold variant as well as the dual-tone gold and white. The E9 will available in two versions; the standard E9 will carry a full-HD display and 13MP main camera while the E9 Plus will sport a Quad-HD display and 20MP rear camera and appear as though they have glossy, plastic rear panels. The HTC One E9 (and Plus) could be announced at the ‘More than One‘ event in China on April 8th that could also see the launch of the HTC One M9 Plus. It’s not too long to until then, and I’m sure we will see many more leaks in the interim.
Source: Twitter
Come comment on this article: Leaked renders of HTC One E9 Plus show off multiple color schemes
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