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Microsoft still has its eyes set on BlackBerry after acquiring Nokia’s handset business, Bloomberg reports citing anonymous sources. BlackBerry recently announced it was open to strategic partnerships including a sale and its presence in the enterprise segment could be of interest to Microsoft. Microsoft buys Nokia Microsoft first approached Nokia in February at this year’s MWC in Barcelona to discuss the acquisition. Both companies were of the opinion that the two-year partnership between Nokia and Microsoft wasn’t working. Both the companies’ marketing campaigns were overlapping and Nokia’s Lumia smartphones still had just 3 percent of overall smartphone market share. Nokia was the sole handset vendor dedicated to Windows Phone and a situation, where Nokia felt that its Lumia smartphones are not worth the time and money being poured into it, would have killed Microsoft’s smartphone dreams for good. Nokia’s codename in the talks was Nurmi, after the nine-time gol...

An all-new high performance external sound card - The Sound Blaster Omni Surround 5.1 has been announced by Creative. Sound Blaster Omni Surround 5.1 The Sound Blaster Omni Surround 5.1 (with enhancing audio playback via Creative’s SBX Pro Studio suite of processing technologies) comes with a 600ohm headphone amplifier that allows listeners to hear every enhanced audio detail through powerful studio-grade monitoring headphones. It also features recording capabilities that will be appreciated by today’s new generation of audio content creators, including podcasters and budding YouTube musicians, housing a built-in dual array microphone that records clear audio, and all recorded audio is further enhanced and cleaned up via Creative’s CrystalVoice technologies. Connecting to laptops, PCs, and Macs via a simple USB cable, the device also offers conveniently accessible controls and input options. Creative also revealed the Sound Blaster Audigy Rx and Sound Blaster Audigy...

After the announcement of the Xperia Z, the Z1 comes with a similarly sized 5" screen, a faster Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core 2.2Ghz processor, a larger 3000 mAh battery, 4G LTE support, is also dust and water resistant (rated IP55 and IP58), built with tempered glass and a single piece aluminium frame.  From left to right; the Sony Xperia Z, Z1 and the Z Ultra. The Z1 features a fast f/2.0 G lens with a wide-angle view of 27mm. The 5" screen features Sony's TriLuminos display for mobile, and it looks good in real life, with none of the washed out viewing angles which plagued the Xperia Z. The key draw for the Z1 however, is definitely its camera. It's not just about the 20.7 megapixels, the 1/2.3" Exmor RS CMOS sensor inside is as big as sensors found in most digital compact cameras today. Sensor size matters when it comes to image quality, and the Z1's sensor size makes it the third-largest found in smartphones today, on par with...

A translucent speaker has been developed by Material scientists at Harvard University, which is made out of a thin sheet of rubber squished between two membranes of saltwater gel. Transparent loudspeaker | Harvard School of Engineering and Applied  By running a high voltage ionic signal across the surfaces, the rubber can be made to rapidly contract and vibrate, producing sounds that span the audio spectrum between 20 hertz and 20 kilohertz. The technology was used to play Edvard Grieg's Morgenstimmung in a demonstration video embedded in this post. This is an important proof of concept for ionic conductors, since speakers require both a high voltage and high-speed vibrations i.e.  two criteria that are important for a wide range of applications, but have been ruled out of previous tests of ionic materials. This is because high voltages tend to set of electrochemical reactions, which cause damage to the materials. This demonstration could pave the way for...

The Pressy button on Kickstarter has excited more than 2,900 people as it adds an external physical button to your Android device. Pressy is a small button with big potential The Pressy app is set up to handle a few default actions. A short click toggles the flashlight. A long click toggles silent mode. Double click takes a photo. Pressy can be customized to fit your needs, so you can turn it into anything from an emergency button to a voice recorder activator. The tiny button connects into the headphone port on Android smartphones or tablets. Coupled with the Pressy app, it can control certain functions, like turning on your flashlight, snapping a picture, or putting your phone on silent.  The idea is to save the steps of unlocking your phone, locating an app, and tapping or swiping your way to your goal. The small device is shaping up to be a handy time-saver for Android users, especially if you don't have your headphones plugged in all the time. Pre...

Newly, Logitech has announced their latest gaming gear i.e.  the Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse, Logitech G440 Hard Gaming Mouse Pad, as well as the Logitech G240 Cloth Gaming Mouse Pad. G602 Wireless Gaming Mous G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse Boasting a staggering 250 hours of lag-free gaming battery life, the gaming mouse comes equipped with Logitech's own Delta Zero sensor technology (LED-illuminated 2500dpi sensor) for high-accuracy cursor control and power-saving optimization. It includes a performance/endurance switch to allow you to switch modes easily so you can further conserve power for when you require it the most. Moreover, with 11 programmable controls (customizable with optional Logitech Gaming Software, LGS) that have been tested for a 20-million click lifespan, the G602 has an LED battery indicator which warns you when the charge runs low, and is backed by a 3-year limited hardware warranty. G240 Cloth Gaming Mouse Pad Designed f...

Acer has unveiled the Liquid S2, a brand new Android handset that features 4K 'Ultra HD' video recording i.e. the "first" to do so according to Acer's press release.  Liquid S2 as first 4K video recording smartphone Specifications The smartphone packs a 13-megapixel camera with a BSI sensor and f/2.2 lens, surrounded by a ring LED flash, which alongside 4K recording is also capable of 1080p video at 60 frames per second, and 27-megapixel panoramas. The phone itself is reasonably large, accommodating a 6-inch, 1920 x 1080 (368 PPI) IPS LCD display, as well as a 2-megapixel camera, on the front. To facilitate 4K video encoding and decoding, Acer has harnessed the power of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 SoC, which packs a 2.2 GHz quad-core Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU and wireless radios onto the one piece of silicon. Speaking of connectivity, the Liquid S2 is definitely a high-end device, as you get tri-band 150 Mbps 4G LTE alongside Wi-Fi 80...