Derek Kessler is Special Projects Manager for Mobile Nations. He's been writing about tech since 2009, has far more phones than is considered humane, still carries a torch for Palm, and got a Tesla because it was the biggest gadget he could find. You can follow him on Twitter at @derekakessler.
The Xbox 360 will at long last see an expansion in the size of external hard drives it can accept. No longer will you have to wallow with a mere 32GB of space. In fact, the console will see hard drives up to 2TB, and support for up to two external drives at once. Per Major Nelson: The next update for Xbox 360 Preview Program members will allow the use of 2TB hard drives to store...
Stalwart PC maker HP is teaming up with premium audio firm Bang & Olufsen to put better audio into HP products. The partnership will see Denmark's Bang & Olufsen custom tuning select HP devices for optimal audio quality. Those HP devices will include desktop and notebook computers, tablets, and even HP audio accessories. That custom tuning will be applied to both built-in...
A leaked build of Windows 10 is showing an interesting new feature: support for peer-to-peer updating of apps and the OS. The leak of Windows 10 build 10036 (the current version is build 9926) includes a settings option that allows you download app and OS updates from Microsoft as well as PCs on your local network and PCs on the internet. Yep, P2P OS and app updates. There's no...
Microsoft launched the Windows Insider program back in September of 2014 and as of today they've logged their one millionth piece of feedback from testers. The news comes from Gabriel Aul, an engineering manager at Microsoft responsible for the Windows Insider program: Wow! We just received our one millionth piece of feedback from the Feedback app! Woohoo! #WindowsInsiders...
Alternative Android OS developer Cyanogen is poised to raise around $110 million in a funding round, but contrary to earlier reports, Microsoft might not be chipping in. Several weeks ago brought the news that Microsoft was considering investing in Cyanogen and their customized Android system CyanogenMod. That OS is installed on a few retail devices, including the OnePlus One and the...
After quite the delay, Nokia Lumia 1520 owners in Hong Kong are finally getting their first taste of the Lumia Denim software update. The update was supposed to hit unlocked Lumia 1520 devices in Hong Kong last week, but was held up over deployment issues. Per an email sent to Windows Central Forum member terencechan: "The Denim OTA delivery to Lumia 1520 Hong Kong Country...
Announced yesterday at MWC 2015 was the HP Spectre x360, the latest in HP's line of high-end high-design Spectre portables. The previous Spectres have been very nice machines, but the x360 might just take the cake. The Spectre x360 sports, as the name might imply, a 360° hinge mechanism that allows you to pivot the screen all the way around and close it onto the backside to use it as a...
Qualcomm has a host of new technologies in store, including an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, cognitive machine learning for your smartphone and tablet, and, of course, a new processor: the Snapdragon 820. Qualcomm today at MWC 2015 announced their newest device security measure: an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. Dubbed Qualcomm Snapdragon Sense ID 3D Fingerprint Technology, the tech...
SanDisk bills their latest microSD card has having the world's highest capacity, and at 200GB we have little trouble believing them. The just-revealed 200GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I "Premium Edition" is indeed the most capacious card we've seen, topping the 128GB we've previously seen from several manufacturers, including SanDisk. The are three questions you probably have in...
This story just keeps getting worse for Lenovo. After getting called out for inserting additional ads into user's browsing experience and claiming to have disabled and stopped installing the offending software, Lenovo's "Superfish" adware has seen its certificate cracked by security researchers. The worst part is, it evidently was easy to break the app's security. The end result is that...
Big Red has a new chief, with John Stratton replacing Dan Mead as CEO of Verizon Wireless. Stratton comes from within Verizon, having previously served as the company's President of Global Enterprise and Consumer Wireline. Mead will stay with Verizon to oversee the sale of the company's wireline assets, and then plans to retire. Verizon Wireless is still a subsidiary of Verizon...
This weekend, through Monday, Feb. 16, you'll be able to save big on the the [HTC One M8]/(/htc-one-m8) directly from HTC. Sure, the HTC One M9 might be right around the corner (though we don't know if or when we'll see a Windows-powered version), but that doesn't mean the One M8 is any less of a phone than it is right now. The discount rings in at $150, which brings the 2014 HTC...
AT&T's added another tier to their Mobile Share Value data plans: 7GB for $75. Of course, that's just for the data, but if you're thinking about grabbing a new smartphone at the same time and go with AT&T's Next payment plan option for a new smartphone, they'll cut the $40 smartphone access charge down to just $15/month. That equals out to $90/month in service charges for 7GB...
Parallels today released an update for their OS X virtualization software that will allow Mac users to download, install, and run the Windows 10 Technical Preview as a virtual machine. Yes, Windows 10 on OS X (ten) through Parallels 10. It's a mouthful, and technically experimental support right now. But it's also another avenue for people to try out Microsoft's latest and greatest OS (...
Attention users of the Blu Win HD and Blu Win JR: you have an update waiting for you. It's a small one, sure, but an update nonetheless. In typical Blu fashion there's nary a change log to be seen, for this update to 8.10.14226.359. At the very least, thanks to the keen eyes of Windows Central Forum member Greg Gray, it adds the ability to toggle cellular data through Notification...
The top five carriers in the United States will on Feb. 11 implement new unlocking procedures for smartphones, tablets, and other cellular devices sold on their networks. The new unlocking standards were set forth by the CTIA in late 2013 and, though a voluntary commitment by the carriers, define the conditions under which carriers must unlock your devices — and it's all looking good...
The super-handy Office Lens app for Windows Phone today's received an update that enables users to save their scanned real-world-paper documents as PDF files. The update to the free app brings it up to version 1.4.3727.0. Here's the full changelog: Now you can convert your pictures to PDF files with selectable text, in addition to Word and PowerPoint files, and save them to...
Swiss watchmaker Swatch has been toying with the idea of a smartwatch for some time, and now CEO Nick Hayek is saying that we can expect in in the next three months. Swatch isn't your typical Swiss watchmaker though — their wares fall on the much more affordable side of the watch spectrum, with retail prices as low as $50. What's most interesting, however, is Hayek's claim of a...
Sunrise calendar is getting snapped up by Microsoft for "at least $100 million." The calendar app, which integrates sources diverse as Google Calendar and Trello project management and is available on Android, iOS, OS X, and the web, has carved out a niche for itself on the devices of many users. According to TechCrunch, Microsoft's plans for Sunrise are varied: We've heard...
It's official, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler wants to reclassify internet service providers as utility providers under the FCC's Title II authority. The move aims to preserve the principles of net neutrality in law, barring ISPs from blocking, throttling, or prioritizing traffic. Said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler: "I am submitting to my colleagues the...