The PlayStation 4 may be on the agenda for many a Sony fan this year, but as the company has indicated on numerous occasions, there's still plenty of gaming to be had, and money to be made, from the current-gen PlayStation 3. As such, Sony announced just last September that it was planning to throw out a 12GB, flash storage-based version of the console, with the catch being that it would only be made available to the Hong Kong and European markets. However, much to the benefit of US-based PlayStation 3 fans, the company has gone back on its word, and decided to throw out the new variant of the ageing games machine to those based in the States.
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While the adoption numbers of Microsoft's Windows 8 platform have been relatively impressive, many consumers have struggled to adapt to the new tiled interface. It's not particularly complicated by any means, but the significant changes made from Windows 7 mean there is a bit of a learning curve involved for anybody looking to be just as productive on the latest and greatest OS. To aid the continued transition, Microsoft has just dropped an all-new keyboard and mouse package that is, the company says, tailored to suit the needs of Windows 8 users.
One of the reasons why Samsung is among the most dominant smartphone vendors in the game, is that it seems to have few qualms with developing a device to suit every consumer. As well as an array of smartphones to cover all bases, the South Korean giant still pumps out plenty of dumbphones, but one particular type of handset the company seems to be dragging back from yesteryear is the flip-phone. We've already heard numerous reports of the reasonably strong Galaxy Folder, complete with dual displays and a dual-core processor, and now, a leak suggests another, named the Hennessey, could be about ready for the market.
The tech lines have been buzzing with after BlackBerry announced over the last couple of days that it was considering "joint ventures," which, in simpler terms, indicated that the Canadian firm was gearing up for a potential buyout. Now, the company has gone a step further by officially hanging the "for sale" sign at its headquarters, and the once-mighty brand's monumental fall from grace has been certified.
As with any new Apple gadget, let alone the flagship iPhone, the rumors of the iPhone 5's successor have been at the fore ever since, well.. since the iPhone 5's first weekend sales figures were posted last fall. When it comes to modern technology, we cannot help but speculate on what might be packed into the next installment, and things got a little more real this weekend with the revelation that the device could be announced on September 10th. But while many consumers may have hoped this would mean they could upgrade their handsets next month, but according to a TechManiacs report, the world's most sought-after smartphone may not hit shelves until October 25th.
Since announcing the Xbox One, Microsoft has been doing quite a lot of back-tracking, and as well as rethinking its Xbox One used games policies and DRM, the company has now stepped out and admitted that in actual fact, the Kinect sensor is not required in order for the console to function. Hitherto, Microsoft has said that the bundled second-gen motion sensing peripheral would need to be connected for the purpose of the console's operation, but while that may be true of certain features, it's not essential for all tasks.
Although most Xbox LIVE users get their fill of the online multiplayer experience through the Gold membership, Microsoft also used to run a "Home Gold" package designed to target families. For $99 per year, everybody in the family could have their own little piece of the sprawling universe that is Xbox LIVE, but having stopped accepting signups for the family package earlier on this year, it doesn't look as though it will be carrying through to the next generation. With that said, there's plenty of good news for those currently tethered to the Home Gold plan, for not only will all sub-accounts get their very own Xbox LIVE Gold membership, but Microsoft is throwing an extra three months into the bargain.
Apple's Messages app, save a little occasional downtime to iMessage, provides a fairly solid and secure overall service, but customization is extremely limited. Your chat bubbles remain two colors, the background has the aura of the sky on a dull, wintry day and aside from the aesthetics, options regarding functionality are few and far between. Luckily for the jailbreakers, there are plenty of tweaks out there to rectify this, and one, which goes by the name of MessageRenamer, allows you to change the name of a conversation to anything you like.
The smartphone industry is, slowly but surely, edging users away from the makers of standalone camera brands, with some of the biggest names in photography space forced to develop new strategies in order to adapt to the changing face of technology. You only have to look at Nokia's impressive 41-megapixel Lumia 1020 to realize just how much we value that lens on the rear side of our handsets nowadays, and in an attempt to cash in on the obsession with high-quality smartphone snappers, Sony looks to be prepping a lens attachment for both Android and Apple handsets.
The Xbox One may have arrived late on in the day compared to the February launch of the PlayStation 4, but Microsoft seems determined to make up for lost time. Towards the end of last week, we saw Major Nelson run a special unboxing of the forthcoming console for fans to drool over, and with a short clip focused on the controller also arriving on the same day, the Redmond company has now come through with a feature-length video tour of the new game pad.
