The World Cup may have come to a close over the weekend after what has been, by all accounts, an epic tournament, but for football / soccer fans, it was only a precursor to the season upcoming. We're approaching that time of the year when, for Europe and many other parts of the world, the games are about to commence, and on cue, the launch of the new FIFA title. Lionel Messi, Argentina's talisman, may have just missed out on the sport's most coveted prize, but he can take some solace in the fact that as well as scooping the official award for best player, he's also the face of FIFA 15.
The iPhone 6 is easily the most eagerly-anticipated device releasing in 2014, and although this tends to be the case with each year that goes by, the reported size increase has certainly helped to ramp up the hype this time around. A new listing on the Amazon Japan marketplace, which has since been removed, showed the device as on sale for upward of $1,300, and although the source of this posting is currently unknown, some intriguing details were recovered prior to the page's swift removal.
Having wrapped up the acquisition of Nokia earlier on in the year, Microsoft's BUILD developers conference was largely focused around the Windows Phone 8.1 update. Having been seen as a distant third place to iOS and Android thanks to its lack of key features, Windows Phone has struggled to make a dent in the market share of the Big Two, but with the newer software promising some great features including a voice assistant in Cortana, there's renewed optimism that the software giant may finally stake more than just a token claim to the smartphone industry. After the developer preview launch shortly after BUILD, Windows Phone 8.1 is this week rolling out to Lumia devices via the Cyan update, and as ever, we've got all of the major details right here.
Google is inarguably the most innovative company in the modern mobile industry, with several exciting products already in the pipeline. The head-mounted Glass device is perhaps the most eagerly-anticipated of them all, but as far as allowing us to engage with digital products using just our eyes, it's not the only project that the search giant is plotting. The company is also working on some smart contact lenses offering significant health benefits those suffering with diabetes, and today, this enterprise got a significant boost with the Big G having struck a licensing deal with Novartis subsidiary Alcon.
For better or worse, lots of people get their movies via torrents. One of the things that often puts people off the process is the unwieldy way of getting movies down the pipe and then onto a TV. Popcorn Time beta, which is an app for Android, seeks to rid users of the headaches usually associated with BitTorrent by making it possible to stream torrents on the fly. It's been a popular app since its introduction, but the new beta 2.0 release is sure to take things to a new level.
Not content with already having singlehandedly cornered the music recognition market, Shazam has just updated its iOS apps to include some new music streaming integration that will see users able to identify and then listen to entire tracks without ever having to leave the comfort of the Shazam app.
We've covered plenty of great app deals here, but on this occasion, we've a special treat. For instead of four, five or six apps gone free, we've got a sizeable haul of nine, and if your home screen is looking a little scant, check the details below!
Beats Electronics, which was recently acquired by Apple, has enjoyed an immensely successful first few years in business, and while its hardware arguably offers premium audio quality, there's no doubt that the company's ties with music and popular culture have helped it to reach the dizzy heights of being Apple's largest ever acquisition. As well as music, an industry in which founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine are heavily invested, football / soccer players have certainly helped to broaden the appeal of the brand, and now, Beats has returned the favor by presenting Germany's World Cup-winning squad with some 24-carat gold Beats Pro headphones.
During the course of the past few years, the gaming industry's sales charts have been dominated by Activision's Call of Duty franchise, but last year, things changed. Not only did Grand Theft Auto 5 blow CoD: Ghosts out of the water, but its monumental success saw it break several Guinness World Records, and even though Rockstar Games' most celebrated release is now effectively done and dusted, there's still the small matter of the next-gen release. In retailing the original GTA 5 just two months before the arrival of the PS4 and Xbox One, Rockstar knew that it could further monetize with an up-scaled version for the newer consoles as well as the PC, and while the official announcements of these upcoming editions have just been made, we may now also have a firm date.
Apple's iPad is among the most coveted in the tablet game, and given that the Cupertino outfit is credited with forging this now-lucrative market, this is to be expected. However, while it's a well-made device - as is the case with most hardware out of Cupertino - the nickel element of its metal finish is apparently causing irritation on the skin of young children coming into contact with the slate.
