New HTC One Aka M8 Image Gallery Leaks Out

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has been letting this year's new One flagship device slip from its stable. Just a day ago the company released the third teaser video of the All New One and this time around the video explained how the device would be capable of taking images even at a low-light condition.

Now the same handset has been shot in its full glory and thus the gallery of photographs of the all new one has now come to our notice. Also known by the popular codename M8, the device will launched later this month on 25th.

The images come from the well known Chinese website called Weibo showing a possible China Mobile retail model from nearly all angles. Among all the images leaked, you can see the speaker grills which seem to be coated with a clear layer of material, possibly for protection.

The leakster also reportedly said that the M8 used a lot of new CNC process tech, resulting in a very tight build of the handset. Also Twitter user @evleaks has already showed us a possible LED smart cover for the M8 handset.

According to the teaser video, the new HTC One would come with a 2.0 micrometer pixel that the company has used in this version of the HTC One smartphone and also explains how the ultrapixels allow 300% more light into the camera sensor which means that the quality is maintained even while shooting under low light conditions.

At the front, the smartphone is expected to bear a 5MP camera with an f/1.8 aperture to allow for sharp selfies even when the lighting conditions are challenging.

Amazing technological photography

Candle on an egg - Amazing photography 

Twitter paid $36 million over IBM patent threat

Twitter's first annual financial results were revealed on Thursday. Buried deep in the document is the price it paid IBM after it was confronted with a patent infringement threat by Big Blue: $36 million. Bloomberg was first to highlight the price tag.

IBM sent a letter to Twitter in November saying it was infringing at least three IBM patents. That resulted in a negotiation that ended up with Twitter getting a license to IBM's patents, acquiring about 900 of them for itself, and (we now know) paying $36 million.

The patent exchange was spun in positive terms, as something that would boost Twitter's intellectual property portfolio to help it defend itself from other threats against competitors. The exchange does do that, but this "deal" wouldn't have happened but at the end of IBM's massive patent gun, which was pointed at Twitter right before its IPO.

IBM is the largest US patent-holder. At one point, the company was receiving $2 billion annually from patent licensing.

The $36 million payment represents more than 5 percent of Twitter's 2013 revenue, which was just under $665 million. Overall, the company experienced a $34.3 million net loss for the year—so it might have been in the black, if it hadn't been for the IBM patent payout.

The three IBM patents asserted in November were: US Patent No. 6,957,224, "efficient retrieval of uniform resource locators," No. 7,072,849, "Method for presenting advertising in an interactive service," and No. 7,099,862, "programmatic discovery of common contacts."

Samsung offers Galaxy owners free music streaming

Korean smartphone titan Samsung has jumped into the crowded music streaming market with a radio service called Milk Music.

Samsung said that it felt like it had to intervene to solve "common problems" in the industry, like ads, interruptions, long setup processes and songs that play too frequently. Its solution? A radio app with no ads.

The interface is dominated by a huge dial. Running your finger around the edge changes the genre, nine of which are displayed at any one time along with a pair of other options. 'Spotlight' offers news albums and exclusive content, and 'My Stations' lets you start a new station based on an artist, song or genre.

Users are permitted to skip six songs per hour, which is the same number as with Last.fm, iTunes Radio or Pandora. You can also choose whether you prefer songs to be obscure or popular, or old or new.

It's powered by Slacker Radio, a company that's been trying to get its own radio service off the ground for years -- initially using a dedicated hardware device. Today the company aims more at mobile devices, and the partnership with Samsung should help it stay afloat.

Most notable is that the Milk Music service is both free and free of advertising. Ads may show up in the future, but there are no details as to how or when. It's only available on Samsung Galaxy and Galaxy Note phones in the United States, and device owners that qualify will be able to find it in the Google Play Store.

Will it succeed? Against competition from Beats Music, Pandora, Spotify and Apple, it's hard to be optimistic.

Korean smartphone titan Samsung has jumped into the crowded music streaming market with a radio service called Milk Music.

Samsung said that it felt like it had to intervene to solve "common problems" in the industry, like ads, interruptions, long setup processes and songs that play too frequently. Its solution? A radio app with no ads.

The interface is dominated by a huge dial. Running your finger around the edge changes the genre, nine of which are displayed at any one time along with a pair of other options. 'Spotlight' offers news albums and exclusive content, and 'My Stations' lets you start a new station based on an artist, song or genre.

Users are permitted to skip six songs per hour, which is the same number as with Last.fm, iTunes Radio or Pandora. You can also choose whether you prefer songs to be obscure or popular, or old or new.

It's powered by Slacker Radio, a company that's been trying to get its own radio service off the ground for years -- initially using a dedicated hardware device. Today the company aims more at mobile devices, and the partnership with Samsung should help it stay afloat.

Most notable is that the Milk Music service is both free and free of advertising. Ads may show up in the future, but there are no details as to how or when. It's only available on Samsung Galaxy and Galaxy Note phones in the United States, and device owners that qualify will be able to find it in the Google Play Store.

Will it succeed? Against competition from Beats Music, Pandora, Spotify and Apple, it's hard to be optimistic.

VW Appoints New Chief Executive for Bentley and Bugatti

The Volkswagen Group has appointed Wolfgang Dürheimer as head of its two ultra-luxe divisions, Bentley and Bugatti. He will replace Franz-Josef Paefgen as chairman and chief executive of Bentley, and president and chief executive of Bugatti. Mr. Paefgen will serve as a consultant to the Volkswagen Group, which owns Bentley and Bugatti.

Under Mr. Paefgen, Bentley expanded its facilities in Crewe, England, and increased its work force. The automaker released several new models, and sales rose from 6,576 units in 2004 to more than 10,000 in 2007. In 2003, Bentley won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time since 1930.

At Bugatti, Mr. Paefgen was responsible for the development of the Veyron 16.4 supercar.

In a news release, Bentley said that Mr. Paefgen will reach “the normal retirement age of 65 in May.” Mr. Dürheimer, 52, will assume his new position on Feb. 1.

Mr. Dürheimer comes from Porsche, where he was the vice president of research and development. Before that, he managed the 911 product line.

“Wolfgang Dürheimer personifies the outstanding technical competency of Porsche,” said Martin Winterkorn, chief executive of Volkswagen, said in a statement. “He will bring this expertise and his experience to Bentley and Bugatti, helping them maintain their leading positions within the luxury segment.”

iPhones More Likely To Be Stolen, But Less Likely To Require Repair

It is no secret that when it comes to smartphone theft, iPhones are the smartphone of choice. This is thanks to the fact that iPhones are typically seen as being desirable products (say what you will about specs and the pitfalls of iOS) and can be resold at a higher price. Apple has since introduced features such asActivation Lock which is part of iOS 7 thus making the phone more secure.

That being said, would you rather have a phone that has a higher probability of being stolen, but in exchange is less likely to break or require replacing? Or vice versa? Well according to device insurance firm, ProtectCell, it has been found that while iPhones tend to be stolen more often, they do require less repairing and replacement.

According to their findings, it seems that iPhone users are 54% less likely to need a replacement device for any reason compared to other smartphone owners. They also found that iPhone users are 11% less likely to report a broken or damaged device.

We’re not sure if this is attributed to iPhone users taking better care of their phones, or if it might be because AppleCare and paying for repairs out of warranty is too expensive. However the report seems to suggest that iPhone owners tend to be a bit forgetful as they 65% more likely to request a replacement due to their device going missing.

It is a little ironic considering that iPhones have the Find My iPhone feature. In any case what do you guys make of these numbers? Do you agree with ProtectCell’s findings?

WhatsApp will add voice calling to messaging service

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum says the popular messaging application for smartphones acquired this week by Facebook will soon be offering a voice service.

Koum says "we are going to introduce voice in WhatsApp in the second quarter of this year."

Koum made the announcement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

On Wednesday, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in a deal that is by far the biggest by the social networking company and any other done by Google, Microsoft or Apple.

Koum says "there are no planned changes" to WhatsApp after its acquisition by Facebook.