Sony shuts down its UK online retail store

Sony has never been a huge player in the Android world, at least not to the same degree as companies like Samsung or even HTC, but in the last few years they have quickly fallen further down the ladder.

Earlier this year, Sony made it clear they would be investing less in their mobile efforts, though this hasn’t stopped them from producing two flagships, the Xperia Z3+/Z4 and now the new Xperia Z5 family. While the Sony Xperia Z5 family takes some positive steps in the right direction, offering a further slimmed down UI and even a 4K model, high pricing and poor marketing are unlikely to change anytime soon. Another potential issue? Availability.

Sony has never had a major presence in the US, offering most of its products either through its website or a partnering retailer. Sony has also had a carrier presence, but it has generally been limited to just T-Mobile or Verizon. This summer, Sony shut off one of these channels: its retail store. This meant that Sony fans had to either go through a site like Amazon, or turn to carriers. And now they are essentially doing the same in the UK.

Effective immediately, Sony shoppers will now be reliant on carriers or Sony’s partnering retails for Sony devices in the UK. The Japanese giant’s UK website will continue to offer advice on their phones but will no longer sell them, similar to what we have seen with the US website.

Sony gets so much right with the design of their phones, but unfortunately fails at the areas that matter most to average consumers: pricing, availability, and marketing. Too bad nothing indicates that this situation will ever change, at least not under Sony’s current leadership. What do you think of Sony’s mobile products? What changes would you like to see in order to be more interested? How do you feel about their closure of the US, and now the UK, retail stores?

Tronsmart announces all new Quick Charge 3.0 compatible chargers

Qualcomm today announced Quick Charge 3.0, a new fast charging technology that can bring a device from dead to 85% in just 35 minutes. And now Tronsmart will be the first brand to bring Qualcomm-supported Quick Charge 3.0 adapters to the market.

Tronsmart says they’ve been working with Power Integrations for months to build and design the perfect Quick Charge 3.0 solution, and thus far, they’ve seen a lot of success. Tronsmart is using their most popular adapter, the WC1Q wall charger to demo the technology before consumers can get their hands on the new charger.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The company said they would be releasing their Quick Charge 3.0 chargers to partner websites and independent reviewers this month, but gave no firm indication as to when consumers could get their hands on the new chargers. There’s no doubt they’ll be available soon, as we’re only a few months out before we begin seeing devices running the new Snapdragon 820 chipset.

In the meantime, you can check out our review of some of Tronsmart’s Quick Charge 2.0 products!

source: Tronsmart

Come comment on this article: Tronsmart announces all new Quick Charge 3.0 compatible chargers

ISP wins 11-year battle to reveal warrantless FBI spying

A US district court has struck down an 11-year-old gag order imposed by the FBI on Nicolas Merrill, the former head of a small internet service provider. Originally issued in 2004, it forbade Merrill from revealing that he’d received a so-called national security letter (NSL), a warrantless demand for customer data. The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes about 300,000 such letters have been sent since the Patriot Act was enacted in 2001, but the decision signals the first time that a gag order has been lifted. “Courts cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, simply cannot accept the Government’s assertions that disclosure would… create a (public) risk,” said Judge Victor Marrero.

With the Patriot Act, Congress handed the FBI, NSA and other agencies the authority to demand phone and email records — but not their contents — from service providers, email services or social networks like Facebook. All it had to do was write a letter, sans warrant, saying it needed the data for national security reasons. On top of that, it usually gagged companies from revealing they even received NSLs, saying such disclosure could hamper investigations.

Merrill was the first person to challenge a gag order and never complied with the FBI’s original request for his customer’s information. Though his internet company ceased operations long ago, he created the Calyx Institute to inform the public about digital privacy and help other service providers build it into their products. In a Washington Post opinion piece, he said he the ongoing gag order had become a burden since he now speaks about privacy issues in public.

Proud to announce that I have won in federal court AGAIN and that my 11yr old #NSL gag order has been struck down https://t.co/0CrvNh1Cau

— Nicholas Merrill (@nickcalyx) September 14, 2015

Earlier this year, the White House said that NSL gag orders must be lifted after three years or the close of an investigation, whichever comes first. Unfortunately, the decision wasn’t applied retroactively, so the FBI kept Merrill muzzled, even though its case against his client ended prior to 2010. Merrill said the agency isn’t motivated by legitimate national security concerns, but rather “a desire to insulate (itself) from public criticism and oversight.”

Earlier this year, Merrill was granted permission to inform his customer that he’d been targeted by the feds. Unless the government appeals within 90 days, he’ll soon be free to disclose exactly which records the FBI ordered him to give up. “I hope today’s victory will finally allow Americans to engage in an informed debate about proper the scope of the government’s warrantless surveillance powers,” he said.

[Image credit: Getty Images]

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Via:
The Intercept

Source:
US District Court, Nicholas Merrill (Twitter)

Tags: FBI, GagOrder, NationalSecurityLetter, NicholasMerrill, NSL, privacy

Deal: Pandora One 6-month subscription only $24!

Pandora continues to be one of the most popular music streaming services around. This is mostly thanks to to its stations and random nature, which allow you to discover music that is similar to your own tastes. Allowing an application to choose your songs can also be a gamble, though. There will definitely be days when you will need that extra umph, which is why you should look into getting Pandora One.

Pandora’s One subscription gets rid of ads, grants the user more skips and reduces timeouts. In addition, you can access superior audio quality (192k bits per second) and custom skins while listening to the web version. In addition, you will get these benefits from all supported gadgets, which include home products, vehicles and mobile devices.

This premium service usually costs $4.99 a month, but today the AA Deals Store is offering a 6-month subscription to Pandora One for only $24. That is a 20% discount, which will definitely be a good deal to someone wanting to stick with a fuller Pandora experience. Not to mention, you can try and make the deal sweeter by referring a friend, which can earn you $10.

Interested? Any avid Pandora user probably should be, so just head over to the AA Deals Store to get take advantage of this offer. Happy listening!

Buy Pandora One 6-month subscription for $24!