Former ‘Game of War’ exec arrested for stealing company secrets
A former manager at the company that makes Game of War — that’s the one with Kate Upton, not the one with Ned Stark — has been arrested for allegedly downloading trade secrets relating to the title. Jing Zeng was grabbed by FBI agents at the airport shortly before he was due to board a flight to Beijing on August 20th. As the Wall Street Journal reports, it’s the latest in a series of efforts by American companies to prevent the theft of sensitive data, which is often taken by rival nations. It’s not clear if Zeng had any intention to share the information with others, since at the same time he was engaged in brinksmanship with his employers concerning a severance package. The case has yet to go to trial, but we’d suggest that no matter how much you hate your colleagues, you’ll probably hate a trip to the slammer slightly more.
Source:
WSJ
Tags: China, Data, GameOfWar, JingZeng, Leak, MachineZone, Theft
ICYMI: Firework autocannon, Sony drone, and manga noodle bots
Today on In Case You Missed It, we showcase a double-barreled fireworks cannon that’s just slightly less dangerous than that personal flamethrower you’ve had your eye on. We’ve also got Sony’s first drone prototype — it’s a little remote controlled Harrier! And if you thought that explainer video from Snapchat’s CEO was terrible, just wait until you see this Alienware unboxing. Finally, an enterprising noodle shop owner in China got his hands on a refurbished Ultraman assembly robot and converted it into, what else, an automated noodle slicer.
If you come across any interesting videos, we’d love to see them. Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd. And if you just want to heap praise on your handsome guest host, feel free to hit him up @mr_trout.
Filed under:
Sony
Tags: alienware, autocannon, drone, fireworks, flamethrower, icymi, incaseyoumissedit, personal, robots, sony, UAV, video
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 pre-orders start today
We know what the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 looks like, but what about the important stuff? Namely, when we’ll be able to get our paws on it and how much it’ll cost? Well, boy howdy the Korean electronics juggernaut’s answered both of those questions this morning. You can pre-order the slate starting today and the device hits “select” US retailers and carriers come September 3rd. A WiFi model packed with 32GB of storage and a 9.7-inch screen will set you back a cool $499.99 while the 8-inch model with the same capacity is $100 less.
Both sizes are available in black (AT&T, Sprint, US Cellular, T-Mobile), gold (WiFi only) and white (Verizon), and Samsung says it’s working with Amazon and Best Buy for a sort of trade-in deal where bringing in a qualifying tablet will knock $100 off the S2’s purchase price. Meanwhile, if you want something with mobile data, the required ducats will vary based on the carrier of your choice. Now, who’s ready for breakfast?
Filed under:
Tablets, Mobile, Samsung
Tags: GalaxyTab, galaxytabs2, mobile, mobilepostcross, preorder, samsung, september, tablets, whobuysthese
Meizu MX5 launched in India for Rs.19,999
A couple of months after making its latest flagship official, Chinese company Meizu has today launched the MX5 in India. Last week, the company detailed it would bring the handset to India and today’s announcement has revealed the price of the handset.
Meizu in video:
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The retailer is selling the 16GB variant of the handset in either silver black or silver white, for Rs. 19,999, which equates to around $300. If you need more storage, the 32GB and 64GB versions of the handset are not yet available but the retailer has confirmed these will launch in the near future.
The Meizu MX5 aims to pick up where the Meizu MX4 left off and features a 5.5-inch Full HD 1080p display with an octa-core MediaTek processor clocked at 2.2GHz and 3GB RAM. Under the hood, the handset packs a 3150 mAh non-removable battery with fast charging that can charge to 60% in just 40 minutes, while connectivity options include an infrared port, Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi n/ac.
On the back, the handset sports a 20.7MP rear camera with laser autofocus, dual-tone LED flash and 4K Ultra HD video recording while the front facing 5MP snapper can capture Full HD video. The handset supports dual Nano-SIM cards, comes with a fingerprint sensor and offers 4G LTE, making it an affordable yet premium LTE handset. It runs on Flyme OS 4.5, which is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop.
Related: Honor 7 & Meizu MX5 vs the competition
Do you plan to buy the Meizu MX5 when it launches in India? Let us know your views in the comments below and if you’re not sure whether this is the handset for you, check out our full Meizu MX5 review.
The Note5 Stylus design flaw is Samsung’s “Antennagate”
I’m a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 owner. I picked it up on launch day after previously owning the Galaxy S6 and still owning the Galaxy S6 Edge. I love the premium materials, design and their new take on TouchWiz (even if I still do have some issues with it). To say the least, I’m a big fan of Samsung’s recent moves.
But the issues with the S-Pen recently coming to light are a huge problem and shows a massive oversight on Samsung’s part.
If you haven’t heard of the design flaw yet here’s what the issue is. If you eject your S-Pen, flip it around and enter it backwards (clicky end first) the S Pen will catch on the stoppers that hold the pen in place and you won’t be able to pull it back out. The phone isn’t broken at this point, it’s removing the pen which destroys the sensors that tell the phone whether the pen safely inside or not. Since there’s no way to release the stoppers from outside the phone you’re forced to yank the pen out and destroy everything in it’s path. Some users have been able to wiggle it out but the fact that you can destroy a major part of your phone this easily is a big design flaw.
We’ve seen multiple professional bloggers break their Note5’s by inserting the the pen backwards. These are people who know about phones, knew about the issue in advance and are still stunned by how easy it was to break. The pen simply slides in backwards with zero issue. Such a design flaw by Samsung should not be forgiven so easily just like it wasn’t for Apple with Antennagate.
To refresh your memory, when the iPhone 4 was released there was a flaw with how the antennas were designed and if you put your hand on the break between the two bands, there were cell signal issues often times resulting in dropped calls. The initial response from Apple CEO Steve Jobs, was simply not to hold your phone like that. Obviously that consumers were disappointed with that response. Consumer Reports refused to recommend the phone to its readers and shortly thereafter recalls were issued.
Samsung apparently didn’t learn the lesson from Apple’s sins. As reports have surfaced of many people permanently breaking their new Note5’s, Samsung’s response has been as disappointing as Apple’s first was.
““We highly recommend our Galaxy Note5 users follow the instructions in the user guide to ensure they do not experience such an unexpected scenario caused by reinserting the S pen in the other way around.”“
Telling your customers they’re doing it wrong and to read the manual is a serious PR issue. Almost as serious as designing an accessory that can so easily break a major part of the feature.
Samsung, you need to redesign your phone. Issue a recall if you need to but this is a huge issue and the public shouldn’t let you off the hook just like they didn’t let Apple off the hook.
The post The Note5 Stylus design flaw is Samsung’s “Antennagate” appeared first on AndroidGuys.
(Deal) Stop losing cables with this 2-in1 charging cable
Finding cables can be annoying. Especially if you’re someone like me with multiple devices from opposite ends of the world. Most everyone knows that I use both Android and Apple, so today’s deal is perfect for those out there like me. The deal we have for everyone today is for a 2-in-1 Charging Cable.
This deal is a back to school special from AndroidGuys and StackCommerce and is a 6-foot long certified charger with both microUSB and Lightning connectors. The solid portion of the cable is a microUSB connection, but there’s an adapter attached to the end of the cable that allows you to use it for Apple’s Lightning compatible devices.
In order to switch between using Lightning and MicroUSB, you’ll just need to plug the attached adapter into the microUSB cable, and voila. You’re ready to charge an iOS device that you may have lying around. Then if you need to charge your MicroUSB device, just pop the adapter off, and you’re ready to go.
If you’re worried about the connector being flimsy, you won’t have to worry about that here. The attached connector for Lightning cable devices, is made out of a sturdy rubber/plastic so it won’t just break off easily. Also, you won’t have to worry about losing the Lightning adapter because it’s attached to the cable itself.
This cable is normally around $40, but today, you can get it for $19.99, a savings of 50%. This is a great deal for those who have multiple devices, and don’t want to have to carry around a bunch of cables around and worry about forgetting the one that you need.
If you like this deal, and want to see more of these, let us know in the comments below. Until then, head over to the AndroidGuys deal page, and grab this deal, or another one today. You can find this, and many other great tech bargains through our Deals Page. Backed by StackCommerce, there are daily promos, giveaways, freebies, and much more!
The post (Deal) Stop losing cables with this 2-in1 charging cable appeared first on AndroidGuys.
All is not well at Rovio as it lays off 260 workers
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Rovio has been one of the biggest driving forces of the mobile gaming industry ever since its original hit game, Angry Birds, however it appears the studio has fallen on tough times. Despite the fact its first official sequel, Angry Birds 2, was incredibly well received, it appears that it hasn’t been enough to keep Rovio smoothly. The studio today announced that it is laying off 260 works in an attempt to slim down and get their profits back up.
It’s no real surprise that this has happened as even Rovio CEO, Pekka Rantala, admits that the company dived in the deep end too quickly to “explore new opportunities”. While there has been good coming out of these ventures, it’s clear that they haven’t been as profitable as planned and perhaps a definitive sign that the Angry Birds franchise has well worn out its welcome. We can only hope that these are the last of the layoffs and that Rovio returns to the big leagues sooner rather than later.
What do you think about Rovio cutting 260 jobs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: engadget
The post All is not well at Rovio as it lays off 260 workers appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Facebook Moments updated with video creation tools
Facebook has just released an update to its Moments app, bringing it up to version 2.0. This is the first major revision to the app since its launch back in June. The latest version includes just a small number of new features, but also marks the application’s release outside of the US.
Contained within the update you’ll find a new way to create moments by simply tapping the plus button in the top right. Not listed on the change-log is another new feature, which allows users to create a short video clip from a selection of six or more photographs. The video creation feature also has options for background music and the pictures can be swapped around until you’re happy to upload the creation to your Facebook page.
The application now also supports more than 30 different languages, and version 2.0 has seen its share of bug fixes and performance improvements too. If haven’t tried out Facebook Moments before, it is essentially an app to help you easily share your photos with groups of friends.
Previously, Facebook Moments had been limited to consumers living inside the US, but is now apparently available in many more countries. It hasn’t landed in the UK for me yet, but the app could be gradually rolling out to new regions over the coming days. You can download the app for free from the Google Play Store.
‘Angry Birds’ studio cuts another 260 jobs
The firm behind Angry Birds has announced that it’s laying off a further 260 employees as it attempts to become a smaller and more profitable company. CEO Pekka Rantala admits that Rovio was too eager to “explore new business opportunities,” which it did by doing “too many things.” Unfortunately, with profits tumbling, the outfit is going to have to go back to being a stripped-down games maker. The lay-offs will come from all areas of the business except those working on the Sony-backed Angry Birds Movie in the US and Canada. It’s not much of a surprise since it looked as if the company’s day in the sun had ended a while ago. After all, Angry Birds 2 is the thirteenth title in the series, so it’s clearly been flogging a seriously-injured horse for quite some time.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Gaming
Tags: AngryBirds, Business, Layoffs, PekkaRantala, Rovio
Samsung talks up Note 5 / S6 Edge+ charging features
Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge earlier this year were the world’s first handsets to be compatible with two wireless charging standards and also came with fast charging built in, with the latter letting you charge your phone battery quickly and easily.
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 / S6 Edge+ in video:
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In the new Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+, Samsung sought to improve the experience and at the launch, it revealed that its two new handsets came with faster wireless charging and wired charging. It wasn’t clear just how much faster they were, however and in a blog post today, the Korean manufacturer has revealed more details about the improved charging in its new smartphones.
Both smartphones feature 3000 mAh batteries, which is 450 and 400 mAh larger than the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge respectively. Despite the significant increase, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ can charge to full in just five minutes more than the Galaxy S6 Edge. By way of comparison, if the S6 Edge+ battery was the same size as the S6 Edge, it would take approximately 78 minutes, which is 7 minutes faster than the current S6 Edge charging speeds; it may not seem that much faster but it works out to be 9 percent faster, which is certainly a welcome improvement.
Samsung has achieved these improvements using Adaptive Fast Charging (AFC), which lets the charger communicate with the smartphone and when the charger recognises a device is compatible with AFC, it ramps up the voltage and delivers faster charging. As Samsung wrote in its blog post:
Not only is the charger discharging more power at a faster speed, the device battery receives the power properly and stores it cell by cell, to further accelerate the battery charging.
The charging improvements in the new smartphones are not just limited to the wired charger as Samsung has also introduced a new much faster wireless charging pad. Using the new charging pad, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ can charge to full in just 2 hours, which is much faster than the S6 Edge, which takes three hours to charge to full with a wireless charging. If the Galaxy S6 Edge+ had the same battery size as the S6 Edge, it would take just 104 minutes to charge to full wirelessly, which is approximately 43 percent faster than the current S6 Edge wireless charging speeds.
What do you think of Samsung’s improvements in the charging speeds and do you use fast charging / wireless charging? Let us know your views in the comments below guys!
AIVAnet 