Google unveils Nexus 5 Android KitKat smartphone

Google on Thursday unveiled its Nexus 5 smartphone, the newest of own branded devices in the space and a champion for the latest version of its Android operating system.

The hotly anticipated addition to Google`s Nexus line is powered by a new “KitKat” version of Android, which was redesigned to work across the wide range of handsets built with the Internet titan`s free software inside.

“Now you have one version of the Android operating system that can ship across all versions of smartphones in 2014,” Sundar Pichai, head of the Android and Chrome teams, said while providing a look at the new software and Nexus 5.

“As we get on our way to reach the next billion people, we want to do it with the latest version of Android.”

The move sets out to address the problem that the wide variety of Android systems being used around the world make it challenging for makers of fun, functional or hip smarpthone or tablet apps to design programs that work on all devices.

Being stuck with old versions of Android also means that users don`t get access to upgrades or improvements cranked out by Google.

Apple executives routinely boast about how most users of its iPhones, iPads and iPod touches are on the latest version of the iOS operating system while many Android users are stuck with old versions.

Changes in KitKat included fine tuning it to work with the limited memory capacities of Android smartphones priced for markets in developing countries or other places where buyers are on tight budgets.

“It is important to us to get the same version of Android to scale across all versions of devices,” Pichai said.

Google partnered with South Korean consumer electronics giant LG to make the Nexus 5 smartphone to showcase the prowess of KitKat.

The Nexus 5 was available for purchase in 10 countries through Google`s online Play shop, priced at USD 349 for a 16-gigabyte model and USD 399 for a version with 32 gigabytes of memory.

KitKat was released to handset makers to begin building their own smartphones using the software, according to Pichai.

“It is a cutting-edge operating system meant to run on cutting-edge phones, but it can run on older phones as well,” Pichai said.

Rockstar updates something called GTA 5

Rockstar has released a fix for what we assume are long running problems with the online aspects of Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5).

We have lost count of the number of times that Rockstar has issued updates for its couple of weeks old game, but this one, which applies to both Sony playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360consoles, looks comprehensive.

It certainly promises to fix a load of issues, and anyone who is still suffering GTA Online gaming problems would be well advised to apply it.

“The latest automatic title update for GTA Online is now available for both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. As promised, this update addresses the remaining issues where some people’s vehicles or vehicle modifications were disappearing due to a cloud save failure,” said Rockstar.

Some people might still be having problems, and if you are one of them Rockstar still wants to hear from you.

“Of course, if you’re still experiencing any other technical problems, please visit our support website and subscribe to the GTA Online Launch Status article,” it added.

For now, a range of problems should be fixed. This includes what has become a perennial issue with lost cars and lost car upgrades. Basically it fixes either specific issues or multiple issues, with everything from long load times to job setups getting a polish.

Rockstar is well aware of the problems and has already lined up a sweetener for people that either want to play it and can’t or people that have and have not been pleased by what they saw.

Because of a blocky gaming experience Rockstar has promised to give all players $500,000 in virtual cash. Anyone who accessed GTA Online during October should expect two cash deposits of $250,000.

Microsoft’s phone update to feature driving mode

NEW YORK: Microsoft is updating its Windows software for cellphones to accommodate larger devices and make it easier for motorists to reduce distractions while driving.

It’s the third update to Windows Phone 8 software since the system’s release a year ago. Devices with this update will start appearing in the coming weeks, and older phones will be eligible for a free upgrade, too.

Something that may appeal to motorists: a new Driving Mode will automatically silence incoming calls and texts so that you can focus on the road. You also can configure the feature to automatically send out a reply to say that you’re driving.

It can be activated automatically when the phone is linked wirelessly with a Bluetooth device in the car, such as a headset. Apple has a Do Not Disturb feature for iPhones, but that needs to be turned on manually.

What the Driving Mode won’t do, however, is block outgoing calls or texts. And there will be ways to override it. The feature won’t stop a teenager from texting while driving, but it will help reduce distractions for those who want that, says Greg Sullivan, director for Microsoft’s Windows Phone business.

The new update also will allow for better resolution to accommodate larger phones. Currently, the system supports a maximum resolution of 1280 pixels by 768 pixels, which is adequate for phones with screens no larger than 5 inches on the diagonal. But video and image quality degrades when stretched out on larger phones, such as a 6.3-inch Android phone from Samsung Electronics Co.

The layout for larger phones also will change. Phones may now sport a third column of tiles, for instance. Contact lists and other features will be able to fit in more information. That’s a contrast to Android, where text and images simply get bigger with larger screens, without actually fitting in more content.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone software holds a distant third place behind Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, with a worldwide market share of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, according to research firm IDC. But shipments of Windows Phone devices grew 78 percent to 8.7 million in the April-to-June period, compared with the same time a year ago. The tile-based layout in Windows Phone is the inspiration for the Windows 8 software powering tablets and personal computers.

There are a few ways Microsoft Corp. will catch up to the iPhone and Android phones with the new update.

For the first time, Windows phones will have a rotation lock function, so that the screen won’t switch back and forth between horizontal and vertical mode while you’re curled up in bed. There also will be a central way to close open apps. Before, you had to go into each open app and press and hold the back button.

And Microsoft is launching a program to give app developers early access to the new software. Apple has had a similar program for the iOS software behind iPhones and iPads, while Google often has worked with selected developers on unreleased features.

Samsung’s first ‘curved’ smartphone hits S. Korea market

Samsung’s first smartphone with a curved display screen enter the South Korean market on Thursday, as the electronics giant seeks to maintain its lead in the increasingly saturated market.

Galaxy Round — a 5.7-inch handset with a display that is slightly rounded on both sides — will hit stores in South Korea by Thursday afternoon, said SK Telecom, the country’s top wireless operator that carries the device.

Curved screens — said to be lighter and thinner than current display panels — are at a nascent stage in display technology, which is shifting towards flexible panels that are bendable or can even be rolled or folded.

The new phone is priced at about 1.08 million won ($1,000), Samsung said on Wednesday.

It did not say when the new phone — powered by Google’s Android system and which offers a 2.3 GHz quad-core processor — would be available globally.

“The display (of Galaxy Round) is ergonomically shaped to fit the curve of a hand and comfortably embrace an ear and cheek during a phone conversation,” SK Telecom said in a statement.

The latest device arrived as global smartphone makers vie for growth in the increasingly saturated market.

Samsung — the world’s top maker of smartphones and mobile phones in general — unveiled in January the prototype of a bendable display called “Youm”.

Samsung’s smaller rival LG said last week it had started mass production of curved display panels for smartphones and is reportedly set to unveil its own curved smartphone this month.

But companies still face a major challenge in making other handset components — such as batteries — that can bend with the rest of the unit.

Curved displays are already commercially available in large-screen televisions offered by companies including Samsung and LG.

The displays are supposed to offer a more immersive viewing experience but are significantly more expensive than standard screens.

Samsung’s New Bright Spot: Memory Chips

While there are concerns that growth of Samsung Electronics Co.’s smartphone business will slow, the South Korean technology giant’s memory-chip business may become its new bright spot.

Samsung is best known for consumer electronics such as its Galaxy smartphones and television sets, but the company is also the world’s biggest supplier of memory chips used to save data in various electronic devices.

“The strong outlook for the memory-chip business more than makes up for concerns about a slowdown in smartphones,” said Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Mark Newman, who has an “outperform” rating for Samsung shares.

A major factor behind the bullish view on Samsung’s memory-chip business is the rise in chip prices, due in part to a fire that broke out last month at a factory that produces dynamic random access memory chips.   DRAM chips are widely used in personal computers, tablets and smartphones, and Samsung is the largest supplier of such chips. SK Hynix Inc., the South Korean chip maker that runs the factory, has said that it expects the plant to return to normal operations by November.

DRAMeXchange, which tracks the chip market, said last week that the rise in DRAM prices will likely persist in the coming months amid tighter supply.

The fire has spurred expectations of a possible shortage of not only DRAM chips but also of another type of memory chip called NAND flash memory. Hynix has said it may use some of its NAND chip production capacity to produce DRAM chips instead to make up for lost output after the fire. NAND chip contract prices rose between 3% and 6% in the second half of September, according to DRAMeXchange.

Solid chip pricing is not just a temporary outcome of the fire, but also a longer-term trend as a result of consolidation in the chip industry, Mr. Newman said. In the DRAM market, for example, U.S. chip maker Micron Technology Inc.’s acquisition of Japanese rival Elpida Memory Inc. last year, as well as the decline of Taiwanese DRAM chip suppliers, has resulted in more restrained supply and better pricing, he said.

Increasingly, investors are wondering whether Samsung’s smartphone business can sustain its profit growth even if the percentage of cheaper handsets — typically sold at lower margins — increases in Samsung’s overall smartphone sales volume.

As of Monday afternoon in Asia, Samsung shares were up 1.3%.

85% of internet users worldwide choose mobile: Report

ISLAMABAD: Recent reports have shown that 85% of users around the world name mobile as their first choice, making it the preferred channel for accessing the Internet.

Further findings revealed that not only does the vast majority prefer to go online via their mobile devices but 11% also choose them at home as an alternative to turning on their personal computers, Live Science Website Reported.

The reason for mobile devices’ massive popularity is that they allow users to stay connected at all times and in all places, but the results also show a tendency for multiple device utilization.

Users are likely to combine browsing on smartphones with Internet activities carried out via PCs and tablets. PCs are used as a complementary device by 6% of respondents, while tablets are used by 0.48%.

Communication with friends is still the most popular activity for mobile Internet users, as stated by 61%, followed by entertainment, at 35%. The survey also found that demand for media and financial services is still high, with these categories scoring 31% and 23% respectively.

’World’s first’ bitcoin ATM opens in Canada

Three young entrepreneurs opened an automated teller Tuesday in this western Canadian city, calling it the world’s first ATM able to exchange bitcoins for any official currency.

The machine, delivered to Vancouver by Robocoin, an American manufacturer, stands against a wall of a popular coffee shop, and resembles an ordinary cash ATM.

However, instead of cash transactions it swaps Canadian dollars for bitcoins, the virtual currency of the Internet invented in 2008 by an anonymous computer scientist known only by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

Customers lined up here Tuesday to use the ATM, then used their smart phones to buy coffee and muffins at the Waves coffee shop.

The ATM is the world’s first, said co-owner Mitchel Demeter, a local entrepreneur who started trading in bitcoins several years ago, then earlier this year with two partners set up Bitcoiniacs, a Vancouver storefront money exchange.

He and his friends, who were high school students together, said they saw ATMs as a business opportunity. “Nobody had an ATM, everyone was buying and selling on websites,” said Demeter. Customers use a private key – like a bank PIN number – to access their online account of bitcoins on the ATM.

They withdraw cash equivalents (the conversion rate is currently about one bitcoin for $200) from their bitcoins, or deposit cash bills.

The machine transfers the money on the Internet via the Canadian VirtEx exchange. Users can then spend their bitcoins with a smartphone, in a similar way to the way interact or credit cards are used, or by transferring the money to purchase goods online.

“It’s the currency of the Internet, as real as any other,” said Demeter.

The volatile currency is as yet unregulated by any government in the world, and it has had a share of notoriety by being used in the drug trade.

Germany, however, became the first country in the world earlier this year to declare bitcoins a “private currency.” And earlier this month investors were startled when a senior investment officer with giant hedge fund Fortress Investment Group said bitcoins could be used as a cheaper way of transferring money in countries with weak banking systems, reported the Financial Times.

In Vancouver, bitcoins are accepted by some 15 local businesses, from coffee shops to a landscaping business. Bitcoins are also increasingly common in several hotspots around the world, especially San Francisco, Berlin, and Argentina, and accepted by online companies such as WordPress.

David Lowy, a city businessman who used his smart phone to transfer .0101 bitcoins to the Waves barista, for a cup of dark coffee worth $2 (Canadian), said Vancouver was a likely candidate to claim the first bitcoin ATM because the wealthy city is popular with Internet entrepreneurs.

One of the ATM’s first customers was Mike Yeung, a business student at the city campus of Simon Fraser University, where he helped set up a university bitcoin club, one of a handful of such clubs in the world.

The club’s mission “is to educate people about bitcoin so they can adopt bitcoins in their everyday lives,” he said. “I think bitcoins are the wave of the future, because they provide maximum value and efficiency,” said Yeung.

Once bitcoins are more established, Yeung predicted, they will commonly be used to send money around the world cheaply, the way the Internet allows people to talk with each other on apps such as Skype.

He gestured at the new machine in the coffee shop. “The ATM is a step forward.”

Apple’s new iOS 7 makes bold statement

NEW YORK: With consumers eagerly awaiting the release of two new iPhones this week, the more dramatic change may be in the software, not the hardware.

The new mobile operating system called iOS 7 became available Wednesday, providing users of iPhones and iPads a bolder look, which may be a shock for some, but which Apple hopes will keep its fans happy and draw new customers.

“It is a major upgrade,” said Gerry Purdy, analyst and consultant with Compass Intelligence who follows mobile technology.

“This is the first big thing that (Apple chief executive) Tim Cook has implemented, which puts all the software and hardware design under one roof, to have a unified experience across products.”

While the new iPhone 5S and 5C, set to be released Friday, have received a lukewarm response, some analysts say the bolder statement from Apple comes in the new operating system, designed to keep people in the Apple “ecosystem.”

The new operating system “has a different look, a different feel,” said Ramon Llamas, analyst with the research firm IDC.

“People are going to have to rethink how they do things with their phone, and Apple is asking people to make a leap of faith.”

With Apple seeking to regain traction in a mobile market dominated by the Google Android system, Llamas said iOS 7 will be a key test for Apple, because the new iPhones have failed to wow consumers.

“The feedback I’m getting is that people say (the new iPhones) are nice but they will wait for next year’s model.”

A small number of journalists who were allowed to review the new iPhone and iOS 7 underscored the dramatic change in the operating system.

“If you’re coming brand new to iOS 7 and have been ignoring the Internet for the past three months, you’re going to be in for a visual shock,” wrote Darrell Etherington of the tech news site TechCrunch.

“The look is bound to be controversial; Apple has opted for bright, bold colors with more clean lines and far fewer textures, shadows and gradients. There is still some depth to the OS, however, with transparency effects giving a sense of background and foreground elements.”

David Pogue of The New York Times said even with the iPhone launch, “the bigger news is iOS 7.”

“The look of iOS 7 is sparse, white — almost plain in spots. No more fake leather, fake woodgrain, fake green felt, fake yellow note paper,” Pogue writes.

“The complete absence of graphic embellishments makes it especially utilitarian — in both senses of the word. That’s good, because whatever button or function you need is easier to find; it’s bad, because, well, it can look a little boring.”

Walt Mossberg at AllThingsD called the new operating system “a big improvement,” adding: “The icons have been redesigned to be flatter and simpler, but they appear to float over your wallpaper, giving the effect of depth.”

Apple says the new system has more than 200 new features, including improved multitasking, sharing, new camera apps, male and female voices for its Siri software, and the much-anticipated iTunes Radio.

The new software has drawn considerable attention even as the iPhone launch appears to be less spectacular than those in the past: Apple has said little about sellouts or delivery delays, and few expect the kinds of queues typical of iPhone debuts.

Purdy said that Apple may inadvertently hurt new iPhone sales by releasing the software upgrade for older models.

“It allows people with the iPhone 4 or 5 to get all the benefits of the Apple environment from a software standpoint, and therefore reduces the absolute need to upgrade the physical device,” he told AFP.

The free upgrade helps Apple solidify its user base, the analyst said, even for those unwilling to buy a new device.

“It makes it attractive to stay in the walled garden of Apple,” Purdy said, even without a revolutionary hardware change.

“This allows Apple to keep its users, though it may not change the direction of the Android ecosystem,” Purdy added.

“But Apple isn’t out to win market share. They want to produce the best products in the market and they’re doing a good job at that.”

Amazon unveils new tablets with live video helpdesk

Amazon.com Inc unveiled two new high-definition tablets on Tuesday with a unique on-screen helpdesk feature it hopes will give it an advantage over devices from rivals Apple Inc and Google Inc.

The new Kindle Fire HDX tablets feature what Amazon has called the ‘Mayday Button’, which instantly brings up a video chat with a tech-support representative who can tell a user how to operate the device or even do it for them remotely.

Amazon said the service is free for HDX customers, is available at all times, and is aiming for a 15-second maximum response time. Users can move the video box around the screen as it suits them and they cannot be seen by the Amazon representative.

The world’s largest Internet retailer takes a different approach to the tablet market than Apple, selling its Kindle devices at close to cost then profiting off the sale of digital content such as video and music, or physical goods like books from its website. Since Amazon took the plunge into the then-nascent tablet market with the Kindle Fire in 2011, the devices have proven to be effective vending machines for purchases.

It is unclear how the up-close-and-personal support feature will affect the underlying cost of supporting the Kindle.

“This is the kind of feature that we are well-suited to do,” said Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, showing off the new tablets to reporters at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters on Tuesday. “Many of the things we’ve done marry together high-tech with heavy lifting. This is one of those things.”

Amazon would not say how many support staff were behind the Mayday service, but Bezos said the company was training “thousands” and was prepared to hire more people if needed.

“We’ll be ready for Christmas morning, which is always a very big tech support day for us,” said Bezos.

The new tablets, one with a 7-inch (18cm) screen and one with an 8.9-inch screen, are lighter and more powerful than the last Kindle HD line and appear to be aimed at Apple’s market-leading iPad. Amazon’s new HDX tablets come in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage sizes.

The smaller Kindle Fire HDX tablet starts at $229 and the bigger tablet starts at $379, both for 16GB wifi-only models. By comparison, Apple’s 16GB wifi iPad mini starts at $329, and its 16GB full-sized wifi iPad starts at $499.

Amazon is taking pre-orders immediately for wifi-only models, with shipping scheduled for October for the 7-inch tablet and November for the 8.9-inch tablet. Wireless 4G versions of both will also be available, for $100 extra, later this year.

In addition, Amazon is selling an updated version of its Kindle Fire HD for $139, down from $199 for the last generation.

Together, Amazon is hoping the new offerings will give it a bigger share of the exploding tablet market, currently led by Apple’s iPad, followed by Samsung’s Galaxy range of tablets running Google’s Android system.

To promote profitable cross-selling, Amazon has extended its popular ‘X-Ray’ feature, which now allows users to buy music featured in TV shows and films at the touch of a button.

The new tablets run on the latest version of Amazon’s Fire OS, codenamed ‘Mojito’, which is its own operating system based on Google’s Android.

Twitter wants to fly with billion-dollar IPO

Twitter on Thursday unveiled plans to pump up the globally popular one-to-many messaging service with a $1 billion stock market debut.

The initial public offering (IPO) is expected to be the most sought-after since Facebook in May 2012, a listing that faced numerous glitches on the Nasdaq and which saw the company’s share price slump before recovering this year.

Twitter outlined its plans in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, providing the the first public insights into the San Francisco company that has rocketed to Internet stardom since its launch in 2006.

“Social media is red hot,” said Internet analyst Lou Kerner. “Twitter is front and center benefiting from market enthusiasm for all things social, and remarkably strong metrics.”In the regulatory filing, Twitter disclosed that it had 218 million active users as of June 30 in a 44 percent increase from the same point a year earlier. It reported that it lost almost $80 million on nearly $317 million in revenue in 2012.

Twitter brought in $253.6 million in revenue in the first half of this year, but remained in the red with a loss of about $69 million, the company said in the filing.

Some noted that Twitter would be close to breaking even this year if it hadn’t spent slightly more than $67 million on social television analytics firm BlueFin Labs.

Forrester analyst Zachary Reiss-Davis sees the capital-raising move by Twitter as a sign the company is intent on improving ways people enjoy content on its platform and how marketers connect with users.

“Users should be happy about this,” Reiss-Davis said.

“It looks like Twitter is looking at how to enrich the experience and it understands that to build a successful service they have to create something people like and want to come back to and spend time on.”

A challenge for Twitter will be finding money-making advertising methods that take advantage of the real-time, and short-lasting, nature of posts at the service while not annoying users.

“Things on Twitter have very short shelf lives, and advertisers are going to have to adapt to that,” the analyst said.

He expected marketing on Twitter to become integrated with other media such as television viewing in what are referred to as “second-screen” experiences in which people delve into tweets while watching shows.

The public version of the IPO filing came three weeks after Twitter filed a confidential document, taking advantage of a recent law designed to help emerging companies.

Twitter will trade under the symbol TWTR, the filing said, without indicating on which exchange the stock will be bought and sold.

Private share transactions have valued the company around $10 billion, making a billionaire out of co-founder Evan Williams who is reported to have a 12-per cent stake.

Twitter did not give a date for the IPO but said it would take place as “soon as practicable.”The company, which allows users to share messages of up to 140 characters, said its mission is to “give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly without barriers,” the IPO document said.

It users range from celebrities and professional news agencies to individuals with thoughts to share. Twitter reported that about 500 million Tweets are fired off daily.

While the number of users has grown, Twitter has been losing money since 2010, which is as far back as the financial statements go.

Some 85 to 87 per cent of its revenues come from advertising, mainly in the form of “promoted” or sponsored tweets.

Twitter offered the customary caution for investors, saying it faces risks if conditions shift.

“We may face challenges in increasing the size of our user base, including, among others, competition from alternative products and services, a decline in the number of influential users on Twitter or a perceived decline in the quality of content available on Twitter,” it said.

The research firm eMarketer has estimated that Twitter would bring in $582.8 million in global ad revenue this year, and nearly $1 billion in 2014.

Twitter opened the door to advertisers in 2010 by allowing marketers to insert paid “promoted tweets” into user feeds. It is likely to woo investors with its natural fit with the trend of connecting with the Internet on smartphones or tablet computers.

It began mobile ads in 2012 and allowed advertisers to target users based on their geographic location or whether they access the service using mobile devices or personal computers.

Twitter said some 75 per cent of its users access the the service from a mobile device.