Every new smartphone seems to be following the same set of rules: bigger display, better processor, improved camera and a few extra mAhs of battery life to tide us over. But not every OEM is following the archetypal new handset policy. The Russian makers of YotaPhone have expressed their interest in going against the grain by teasing a dual-screen handset featuring an LCD on one side and an eInk (think Kindle Paperwhite) display on the other, and after months of nothingness, the devices is finally being released throughout many parts of mainland Europe.
Apple's Siri voice-recognition technology might not yet have made waves among the iOS-using community, but the implementation first seen with the iPhone 4s back in 2011 shows no sign of disappearing. We've already seen how the likes of Honda and General Motors announce plans to include the Siri Eyes Free technology into upcoming production cars, and now, a new patent filing from Apple suggest that it too is ready to take Siri to the next level. Published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday, the filing outlines a speaker dock system that includes Siri integration, which would be interacted with via the in-built speaker system.
The Xbox One finally made its debut in several major markets almost two weeks ago, and since then, gamers have been busily familiarizing themselves with the new Dashboard interface, increased power, and generally reveling in that new-console feeling. The special Day One Edition of the Xbox One was offered by Microsoft in the run-up to the release, and brought with it a series of perks reserved only to those who pre-ordered it. Here at Redmond Pie, we managed to reserve our own limited Day One Edition Xbox One, and naturally, felt compelled to give it an elaborate, snap-happy unboxing for your viewing pleasure. Check out the photos of the grand unveiling after the leap!
Bluetooth, it is fair to say, isn't too heavily lauded at consumer level. In fact, I'd hazard that many presume Bluetooth as a piece of technology that has remained the same since it first made its way to market - allowing us to wirelessly connect two, or multiple devices and or accessories to one another and beam content around at will. The fact is, Bluetooth is being improved and upgraded at arguably a faster rate than anything else, and with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) having offered better performance while sparing battery life with Bluetooth 4.0, the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group) announced the forthcoming Bluetooth 4.1 standard, as well as some of the changes therein.
Foursquare is undoubtedly thought of as the App Store's premier location-based social network. In a genre that is extremely crowded with the likes of Twitter, Path, Facebook and even Instagram to a certain extent, Foursquare continues to shine bright due to their offering being all about location services. As with any premier App Store app that's worth its weight, Foursquare has been going through a regular period of change to fall in line with the aesthetics of iOS 7, resulting in version 7.0 of the Foursquare iOS app going live today featuring a completely new interface.
Although there are plenty of action-adventure titles available for gamers to enjoy, Assassin's Creed is arguably the most popular franchise, and having made a name for itself on console and PC, Ubisoft has just pushed Assassin’s Creed: Pirates for iOS over at the App Store, and Android on Play Store. The publisher made it known a few months back that the mobile version was on its way, and now, the simultaneous release for both of the two major ecosystems is upon us.
Square Enix has previously been guilty of teasing mobile gamers by announcing that the much anticipated Final Fantasy VI would be coming to mobile sometime "this winter". Developers and publishers are often understandably reluctant to commit to concrete launch dates for fear of having a spanner thrown in the works and subsequently having to renege on that promise. The winter is now well and truly upon us, and although we haven't yet been blessed with an actual release date, Square Enix has used the annual Jump Festa expo to release two official screenshots of the visuals that gamers can expect on iOS and Android when the title launches.
The stunning new Mac Pro is set for a December 16th launch according to Germany based Conrad Electronics. The extremely powerful and redesigned Pro has caused something of a stir after it was initially teased during this year's Worldwide Developer Conference. Apple provided us with more intricate details of the machine during a recent media event that also welcomed the official release of OS X Mavericks, but stopped short of actually providing power-hungry technology aficionados with an official release date for the professional desktop computer.
Apple can be, and has been, criticized for a lot of things in the past, and for good reason. However, one innovation that the fruit company deserves to be lauded for is the Lightning connector on newer iDevices and Macs. Forget about the fact that it has faster speeds and other similar advantages; the biggest gain is being able to plug the connector in both ways and have the “right side up” every time. It seems traditional USB is finally catching on, with the USB 3.0 Promoter Group announcing a new connector that can be plugged in both ways, and still work.
The olloclip started off as a great idea on Kickstarter, but unlike some crowd-funded products that revel in the initial buzz before seeming to disappear, the team behind olloclip has continued to update and improve photography for iPhone users. Having just released a special edition Gold and Space Gray color configurations of its second-gen 4-in-1 lens, the company has immediately followed it up with a 3-in-1 macro lens for both the iPhone 5 and the all-new iPhone 5s. Details can be found after the break.
