Christmas is certainly nearing, and the twelve day countdown is fast approaching. Many of the major companies in tech are expected to join in the festivities to varying degrees with a bunch of special offers and deals, and Microsoft has kicked things off by announcing its own two-week promotion on a myriad of products. The deals begin today and run through to Friday next week, so if there's a product that you've had an eye on, check the full list below.
Samsung's Galaxy S4 is the company's current flagship, and since its release in the spring, many millions of units have been sold. With so many in the wild, it's only natural that some should develop faults, but with all the extensive testing carried out by Samsung to ensure that users aren't put in any danger, GS4 owner Richard Wygand was stunned to wake up next to his device bellowing smoke and flames.
China may be the location in which most Apple products are manufactured, but the iPhone has yet to make a huge mark on the country. With the iPhone 5c outlined as the first step towards making an impact on this developing market, the The Wall Street Journal suggests that China Mobile, the nation's foremost carrier by some distance, will begin taking iPhone pre-orders from 12th December. Although China's 4G network doesn't officially launch until next week on the 18th of December, it looks as though China Mobile wishes to get interested parties to commit early, and if all runs smoothly, this could be the first significant step for Apple in its quest to expand its mobile reach.
With the news late last week that the iPhone 5s was shipping within 1-3 days for the UK and many other markets across the world, the signs were there that Apple was finally getting on top of supplies. Now, it has emerged that - in the U.S., at least - the Cupertino giant has achieved 100 percent stock rate in all of its Retail Stores, with each variant of the iPhone 5s available in every single outlet.
Microsoft's decision to not offer any kind of backwards compatibility with the Xbox One undoubtedly ruffled a few feathers. The decision is entirely understandable from a business perspective, but it has definitely left a bitter taste in the mouths of many users who will go to great lengths to try and "enable" compatibility with older Xbox 360 games, even if it means putting their console at risk. Larry Hryb - better known as Major Nelson to most - has taken to his official Twitter timeline to warn Xbox One users of the dangers involved in enabling the built-in developer mode on the console in the hope of playing those old games.
For as long as Facebook has been using its famous 'Like' button, people have wondered when they would be able to click on something a little less jovial when the need arises. We've all been forced to 'Like' a friend's status update on Facebook when the situation really demands something quite the opposite. With people posting about things ranging from bad days at the office and pets being ill to marriage breakups and loved ones dying, hitting that 'Like' button as a form of acknowledgement feels crass at best, and downright cruel at its worst. And it seems someone at Facebook would agree.
In the video below, we pit Moto G vs Samsung Galaxy S4 in a comparison test to see which of the two smartphones offer best value-for-money.
Microsoft's Xbox One is the console that the company hopes will carry it through to 2020 and beyond, but while all the talk is often about how powerful these new game consoles are and whether they will usher in a new era of hyper-realistic games or not, often one of the important aspects of a new console is overlooked - how does the thing look?
Losing a leader like Nelson Mandela is always a huge loss not just for his own nation, but for all of humanity on the whole. When the former South African president and national leader passed away, almost everyone paid tribute to his achievements and his life in their own way, but seeing a corporation doing that is always different and noteworthy. Cupertino tech giant Apple has honored the great leader by updating its home page with the photo of Mandela, paying homage to a giant life that was taken away from us.
Valve's SteamOS gaming PC operating system may not be ready just yet, but that doesn't mean that bespoke computer makers around the globe aren't working on hardware that will be ready to run it when it finally does see a release. British computer builder Piixl is just one of those companies, and it has announced its own entry into the Steam Machine market.
