Latest Technology News

There are a lot of lawyers in the world, and in order to support their families, they must work. This means that lawsuits are essential for the overall economy; sad but true. Lately, it seems like a lot of tech companies are suing each other over patents, and quite frankly, it is tiring. I am sure some lawsuits over patents are legit, but many seem to be patent-troll nonsense.

Well, to the possible dismay of the lawyers for Verizon and Google, there may not be any legal disputes over patents between the companies for a while. Why? The two giants have signed a patent license agreement for various products and technologies. Which products and technologies, however, are not yet revealed.

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A new Kickstarter project promises a better night’s sleep using smart earbuds and noise-canceling technology.

Hush can provide a silent environment no matter how much noise is taking place around you, by actively recording and playing opposite sound waves in order to cancel out any potential disturbances.

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Windows Phone is a great operating system. If you disagree, you are wrong. Sure, it has frustratingly low app availability, including a lack of Google apps, but the underlying OS is wonderful. Live tiles are useful, and the UI is smart and attractive. Hell, the hardware is wonderful too, and it is often sold at very affordable prices.

Today, Microsoft and Sprint are joining forces to bring the Lumia 635 to Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile USA and Sprint's own network. Believe it or not, this is the first-ever Lumia handset for Boost and Virgin USA -- two of Sprint's sub-carriers.

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Microsoft is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the US government, and the fight has led to an unlikely alliance between several rival companies. Microsoft was handed a government order requesting access to emails stored at a datacenter in Ireland. The company has been battling the order for several months, and now Apple, Amazon, Verizon, and HP are among the big names lending their support to the fight.

It's not just technology firms who are putting their names forward in support of the challenge of the search warrant. Several global media outlets, including the Guardian, the Washington Post, and CNN as well as numerous trade associations and advocacy organizations have signaled their support for Microsoft.

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There is more than one way to keep your data safe from prying eyes, but the practice that is most recommended is still the use of encryption. It will ensure that only you will be able to access personal information, requiring a decryption key to unlock your data. Proving just how effective it can be, the US government basically wants both Apple and Google to allow it to bypass the encryption in the latest versions of their mobile operating systems, namely iOS 8 and Android 5.0 Lollipop, respectively, because currently it is unable to directly access that data.

However, there are quite a few things that you should also know about encryption before you decide to go down this road. To learn more about what encryption entails, you can check out the following infographic, called "Protected: A Beginner's Guide To Encryption".

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When we took our first look at the original Aorus X7, we were decidedly impressed at how much Gigabyte had managed to fit into a notebook just over 2cm thick.

The Aorus X7 Pro v3 improves the specs further, promising even more performance in an incredibly portable package for a notebook aimed primarily at entertainment.

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Avast has long been a favorite with home PC users thanks to its free antivirus offering, and protects 175 million computers worldwide. It also launched a free mobile product in 2011 and now protects around 50 million smartphones too.

In 2015 it's looking to move into the business market and is seeking beta testers to help perfect its product before launch.

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Windows Phone started off as an easy to use smartphone operating system without many bells and whistles. Over the years, it has picked up more and more advanced features, reaching the point where it can now hold its own in a comparison against main rivals, Android and iOS. And Microsoft keeps adding to the list.

One area where Windows Phones have struggled -- against Android rivals -- is gesture-based features, like the ability to answer a call by holding the phone to the ear. (You can find that on some old Android devices, like Samsung Galaxy S3.) It is not a major feature by any means, but it is nice to have. Well, Microsoft is trying to catch up by introducing a new app, called Gestures, which enables (more) gesture-based features.

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It has been a few weeks since Microsoft introduced us to the latest addition to the Office family -- Sway. In fact, as Microsoft points out, the preview was unveiled 10 weeks ago. While the initial preview required anyone interested to join a waiting list, now it's possible to get in on the action straight away; and it seems there has already been great interest in the product.

Microsoft says that there have been 175,000 requests to access the Sway Preview, and the Sway.com website has received over one million visitors. Now anyone with a Microsoft account is able to try out the data collection and presentation tool and check out a batch of new features.

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Microsoft has an end-of-year present for Skype users in India. Starting now and running until the beginning of March, calls from India to the US and Canada are completely free of charge. Interestingly, this includes calls placed to mobiles as well as to landlines.

Unusually for such an offer, there's no commitment, no free trial and, seemingly, no catch -- just free calls for the next three months. The news comes just after Microsoft unveiled details of its Skype Translator preview, and is just in time for the holiday season when the number of phone calls placed tends to skyrocket.

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If you sit in front of a computer screen all day, as so many of us do, there’s the risk of developing eye fatigue and headaches. Taking regular breaks can help, but you have to remember to do so.

Monitor-maker AOC says it has found a way to reduce the risks of spending so much time in front of computer screens and is debuting two new displays which offer Anti-Blue Light and Flicker FREE technology that it claims can combat eye-related issues such as retinal stress and macular degeneration.

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Samsung, the largest smartphone supplier, has had a surprising year and reported losing over 20 million sales, compared to 2013.

Samsung sold 7 million less units in Q3 and 23 million less overall in 2014, compared to the previous year. The Galaxy S5 has been a huge letdown for Samsung, selling less than 20 million units in 2014, a number Apple’s iPhone 6 has already surpassed.

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Digital comics often come in the form of comic book archives, typically JPGs stored in a single archive file (cbz = zip, cbr = rar, and so on).

You might think these simple compressed formats would already produce the smallest possible files, but no -- the free CbxConverter can resample images and convert them to WebP, shrinking the archives even further.

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As downtown Sydney was in full panic Monday during a hostage crisis at a local cafe, Uber sat at the ready to get people out of town. There was only one problem: the ride would cost you $100 or more, four times the service’s normal rate.

The reasoning? Surge pricing.

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Google removed its news aggregation service from Spain a few days ago, but the Spanish Newspaper Publishers’ Association (AEDE) is already asking the government to bring it back.

AEDE claims the removal of Google News will be bad business for the publishing industry overall and will have more of a negative effect on smaller internet-based publications.

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