Apple and Samsung may be closer to a ceasefire when it comes to their never-ending patent wars, according to a report from The Korea Times. The Times source—an industry official “familiar with the negotiations”—said the two companies no longer want to spend their time fighting each other over patents.
Read more here: Boy Genius Report
Fleksy on Wednesday launched a Messenger App that offers Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch users access to the company’s smart Fleksy keyboard app, allowing them to more easily compose SMS messages on the tiny display of the device. The application, a first of its kind for Samsung’s wearable device, is available as a free download from Samsung Apps.
Read more here: Boy Genius Report
Google published a video on Wednesday introducing future developers to Android Wear, the platform on which many of the most anticipated wearables will run in the coming months and years. Other than a few hardware announcements, there’s still a great deal we don’t know about Android Wear, but this video from Google’s Timothy Jordan should help clear a few things up.
Read more here: Boy Genius Report
Even various legit Android apps have been found to have additional hidden powers, which is why it shouldn’t surprise us that one more piece of malware has apparently made it to the Google Play Store. FireEye, the security firm that discovered the malicious app, worked with Google to have the app removed from the store after finding that it was able to steal user data including SMS messages, certificates and even banking details.
Read more here: Boy Genius Report
Do money and taste really go together? The newest smartphone from luxury brand Vertu suggests otherwise. The Wall Street Journal brings us word that Vertu’s recently launched Signature Touch flagship smartphone features “a digital camera by Hasselblad, global Wi-Fi from iPass, Dolby Digital Plus virtual surround sound and a personalized concierge service.” Oh, and it will also set you back $14,100. Yes, you read that correctly.
Read more here: Boy Genius Report
Elon Musk doesn’t invest in many companies, but when he does, you should probably pay attention, especially when that company is an artificial intelligence company. In a wide-ranging interview with CNBC, Musk said that pretty much the only companies he invests in are SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity, and an artificial intelligence company called Vicarious. Why invest in artificial intelligence?
Read more here: Boy Genius Report
Maybe the Wii U isn’t doomed after all. Following the release of Mario Kart 8, the two most recent VGChartz weekly sales charts show that the Wii U sold more units than the Xbox One for the first time since Microsoft’s next-gen console launched last November. The latest NPD report confirmed that Mario Kart 8 had been the second best-selling game of the month, even with just two days on the market after releasing on May 30th, but the ensuing resurgence of hardware sales is an even more exciting trend for Nintendo.
Read more here: Boy Genius Report
For hardcore Android fans, no smartphone on the planet is more exciting and intriguing than the OnePlus One. Based on CyanogenMod software, the One is powerful, affordable and probably more tweakable than any other Android phone on the market. It’s also practically impossible to buy. OnePlus is a small company and it’s simply not equipped to handle the demand among Android enthusiasts for its new phone. In an effort to manage all of that demand, OnePlus is currently offering 2,500 invites to purchase a OnePlus One.
If you thought getting one was going to be easy, however, think again.
Read more here: Boy Genius Report
So other than having a bigger display and a new A8 system on a chip, what other hardware features can we expect from the upcoming iPhone 6? 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman points to some code in iOS 8 that suggests the new device will have both a barometer and air pressure sensors that will help you measure both your current altitude and the weather. Gurman says the code is located within both iOS 8 and XCode 6, which happens to be the latest iOS software development kit.
Read more here: Boy Genius Report
Last year was a disappointingly boring year for smartphone fans. The Galaxy S4 was nothing special, the iPhone 5s was probably Apple’s least significant upgrade ever compared to the prior year’s iPhone, and there was really no consumer-facing innovation to speak of. Components got more powerful and technology certainly progressed in other areas, but all in all it was a pretty weak year.
Things seem to be moving in the right direction in 2015. Samsung’s Galaxy S5 was a bit of a disappointment but the HTC One (M8) was a gorgeous update and we even got a nice surprise from Huawei in the P7 Ascend. But neither of those phones offered any new and truly exciting features.
Instead, the only major smartphone innovations so far in 2014 have come from an unlikely source: Amazon. The problem, however, is that we’re not sure any of Amazon’s novel new smartphone features really matter.
Read more here: Boy Genius Report