The Blu Life Pro with a 5 megapixel, 1080p front-facing camera targets selfie addicts.
For $299 only, you can take selfie that is theoretically better in quality compared to other smartphones.
Two tech geeks.
Blu Life Pro is a selfie phone
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In case you missed it: Windows Phone gets essential apps, Yahoo employees reject company’s email system; a gold HTC One; and more?
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Not a bad week for Windows Phone users.
Windows Phone finally gets Instagram
It’s here. Windows Phone users rejoice.Instagram messaging?
Om Malik predicts that Instagram will be introducing a messaging system as a new feature.Waze joins Instagram on Windows Phone
Instagram and Waze on the same day? Definitely a good day for Windows Phone users.Dropbox’s new look on iOS
The new iOS 7-inspired design is gorgeous.Your typing pattern can be used to identify you
SC Magazine reports that researchers have developed a way to identify users based on the way they type.Only 25% of Yahoo staff are willing to dogfood Yahoo Mail
If Yahoo Mail is going to be a competitive product again, the Yahoo employees had better start picking it up.HTC introduces gold-colored HTC One for the masses
This, coupled with the Galaxy S4 gold edition, should silence the mocking of the gold iPhone 5s.Apple acquires PrimeSense for $360 million
Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet has confirmed that Apple acquired PrimeSense in deal rumoured to be worth $360 million18 months of research to switch to e-books ended in a disaster
Fail?Bitcoin value reaches $1,000
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When Bitcoin reached $700 recently, everybody thought it was crazy, now we’re looking at $1,000. The next question is: Will it continue to rise?
Bitcoin Crosses The $1,000 Mark On The Mt.Gox Exchange
Bitcoin just traded past the $1,000 per coin mark on Mt.Gox, one of its largest exchanges – as we write this, it’s at $1,022, with a high of $1,030 a few moments ago.
BBM to be preinstalled on some Android devices
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If this move happened a few years ago, BlackBerry’s BBM could have owned the mobile messaging scene. Disputes and infighting prevented that. Targeting developing markets is a good move, though BlackBerry will now have to contend with other messaging giants such as WeChat, Viber, LINE, and several more. LINE in particular just passed the 300 million user mark.
BBM will be preinstalled on some Android smartphones, BlackBerry says
BlackBerry this morning announced that BBM will be preloaded on some Android smartphones starting in December. The specific models weren’t named — BlackBerry said “from leading [original equipment manufacturers]” — but you’ll be able to find them in Africa, India, Indonesia, Latin America and the MIddle East.
How Google made Android 4.4 KitKat support older devices
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Android is improving all the time, and the new phone dialer with build-in search is pretty awesome. Strangely enough, despite the effort to reduce the memory footprint, my Nexus 4 feels slower after the update.
How Google Shrank Android For Version 4.4 KitKat
“The goal of Project Svelte was basically to reduce the memory footprint to fit into 512 megs. The way we did it by the way, which we didn’t talk about, was to take a Nexus 4 and adapted it to run at 512 megs,” Burke said.
Software is changing the world (again)
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This is a great article. All I can say is that you should read it.
Software Is Reorganizing the World
And this global technology cloud truly stretches over the whole earth, touching down at various locales both in the U.S. — at Sendgrid in Boulder, Tumblr in New York, Rackspace in Austin, Snapchat in L.A., Zipcar in Boston, Opscode in Seattle — and outside it — at Skype in Estonia, Tencent in Shenzhen, Soundcloud in Germany, Flipkart in India, Spotify in Sweden, Line in Tokyo, and Waze in Israel. Cultural connections forming between people in this cloud are becoming stronger than the connections between their geographic neighbors. Palo Alto’s Accel invests in India’s Flipkart, Estonia’s Skype is folded into Seattle’s Microsoft, Israel’s Waze is merged into Mountain View’s Google, and the SoundCloud engineer on a laptop in Berlin builds a deeper relationship with the VC in New York than the nearby Bavarian bank.
Today, the geocenter of the global technology cloud is still hovering over Silicon Valley. But in a world where technology is making location increasingly less important, tomorrow the reverse diaspora may well assemble somewhere else.
LINE’s 300 million users will be a problem for WhatsApp
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WhatsApp had an early start in the mobile messaging game, but it’s refusal (or delay) to support desktop messaging or stickers might come back to haunt it. If WhatApp doesn’t take some massive action soon, it runs the risk of being left behind in the wake of newer messaging systems from Asia.
Line has 300 million users, WhatsApp has a problem
The company has resolutely stuck to its singular vision of being an over-the-top messaging provider that works across platforms and devices. Even adding voice messaging, which Line, WeChat, and others have had for many months, was a big deal for the minimalist app. It makes money only by charging users 99 cents a year.
Newegg loses a patent dispute, ordered to pay $2.3 million
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Newegg has won the fight against patent trolls before, but it loses this round. Next up will be the appeal.
Jury: Newegg infringes Spangenberg patent, must pay $2.3 million
TQP’s single patent is tied to a failed modem business run by Michael Jones, formerly president of Telequip. The company has acquired more than $45 million in patent licensing fees by getting settlements from a total of 139 companies. TQP argues that the patent covers SSL or TLS combined with the RC4 cipher, a common Internet security system used by retailers like Newegg.
Google to pay $17 million for privacy violation
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The Business Insider reports that Google has to pay $17 million for privacy violation.
The case began in 2011 and 2012 when the states discovered tracking of Safari users after visits to Google’s DoubleClick ad network. Cookies are small files embedded in a computer that contain trace amounts of data based on visitor history. Based on the information they have, cookies offer its clients the ability to make tailored Web pages. In the statement given by Schneiderman, he said that Google directly violated customers privacy who deserve the right to know if someone is following them while they browse the Web. He continued by asserting that Google had violated several privacy laws as well.
Why target Safari in particular? Does this mean that Google is already tracking your data on Chrome and other browsers?
Microsoft’s Xbox One launch in Times Square
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Microsoft held several Xbox One launch events around the world. The Verge reports on the biggest event held in New York City’s Times Square.
It seems like Microsoft is still willing to pump in money to generate revenue, despite losing $2 billion to the Xbox platform.