Reseller lists OnePlus Two ahead of launch, reveals some specs

Just a day after OnePlus confirmed that the company’s next smartphone, allegedly dubbed OnePlus Two, will be launched by Q3 of next year, Chinese resellers have started listing the device with complete specifications as well as price.

According to online store Coolicool, the smartphone will sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, 5.5-inch display, 32GB internal memory, 5 mega-pixel front camera, 16 mega-pixel rear camera, and 3300mAh battery. As for the pricing, the website says $551.99.

Needless to say, none of this has been officially confirmed by OnePlus, so take it with a pinch of salt.

In other news, OnePlus One was lunched in India yesterday at a price point of INR21,999 for the 64GB model, which is approximately $355.

Twitter adds more photo filters to Android and iOS apps

Twitter is taking a cue from Instagram and adding new filters to enhance photo sharing experience. The micro blogging site is bringing new photo filters to Android and iOS apps.

Filters can be enabled after a photo is added to a tweet by selecting the image, which brings up Twitter’s in-app photo editing menu. All filters are now presented at the bottom of the image page similar to Instagram. Filter options slide out in a swipeable line and users can select from Radiant, Positive, Warm, Breeze, Glow, Golden, Fame, and Stark. Double tapping a filter after making a selection brings up an adjustable slider that enables users to adjust the filter density.

The latest update comes from Twitter two years after it had first introduced photo filters in 2012. Earlier today, Twitter improved tools for reporting online abuse on the site.

Yotaphone 2 goes official in the UK, pre-orders start soon

The Yotaphone 2 went official with a 5" 1080p AMOLED on the front and a 4.7" e-paper display on the back. The dual-screened phone should become available in the UK later today (no price or shipping date info is available yet).

Both the front and the back screens are protected with Gorilla Glass 3. The one on the back is always on and has qHD resolution (540 x 960px, 235ppi) and displays 16 levels of gray. Yota doesn’t clarify if it’s LCD-based e-paper or Kindle-like e-ink.

This display can be used both for customizing the back with widgets and for reading text (while using very little power). It's not clear yet what software support for e-books is available (will Amazon's and B&N's apps work?).

The Yotaphone 2 runs Android 4.4 KitKat on a Snapdragon 800 chipset with 2GB of RAM. There's a 8MP/1080p main camera and a 2.1MP front-facing camera, plus 32GB of storage to keep your photos and videos on (but no expansion slot).

Connectivity includes LTE (Cat. 4, 150Mbps downlink), Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, A-GPS + GLONASS and microUSB 2.0 with SlimPort. Inside is a 2,500mAh battery, wireless charging is supported out of the box.

You can now sign up on Yotaphone 2's homepage, delivery will be on a first come, first serve basis. Pricing is yet to be confirmed and in terms of availability the UK is all there is for now (but it won't be coming to the US).

#66 Live Tech Q&A Session with Geekyranjit - 2 Dec 2014

Project Ara challenger Puzzlephone should launch in the second half of next year

Google's modular Project Ara handset appears to have another challenger on the way. The appropriately named Puzzlephone will give users the option to change three parts of the handset. The Brain is where the electronics of the phone will live, including the camera. Want a better snapper on your Puzzlephone? Simply snap out the current Brain and snap in a new one. 

The Spine is where you will find the speakers, microphone and display. And the Heart is where you will find the Puzzlephone's battery. The modular handset is being built by Finnish startup Circular Devices. A forked version of Android will drive the phone. Eventually, the device will support other platforms, like Windows Phone, Sailfish and Firefox OS.

Puzzlephone is expected to launch sometime during the second half of 2015, priced the same as a mid-range smartphone. You might not get the full customization of Project Ara, but you still will have choices to make. One decision you'll have to make, is whether you want a modular phone without the Google Play Store.

Lollipop runs on less than 0.1% of all Android devices, KitKat now powers 34% of them

Google released the Android distribution report for the month of November. Android 4.4 KitKat continued its increase in share - the OS version now runs on one out of three devices out there (33.9% to be precise).

Android 4.4 KitKat’s distribution number is up from 30.2% for the month of October. The KitKat share increase comes at the expense of Android Jelly Bean. The latter saw its share drop below 50% (it was 50.9% last month).

Shares of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Android 2.3 Gingerbread dipped 0.7% each from a month ago to 7.8% and 9.1% respectively. Version 2.2 Froyo on the other hand is still alive and kicking - it boots on 0.5% of all Android devices out there.

Android 5.0 Lollipop is yet to appear on the distribution charts. We will have to wait another month to find out how big an entry the latest build will make.

iOS 8.1 is available now, brings back the camera roll and enables Apple Pay

iOS users, rejoice! Apple has just released iOS 8.1, so if you're an owner of an iPhone 4s, iPad 2, iPad mini, or anything newer than these, be sure to visit your Settings app today in order to get what could be considered the first major update within the iOS 8 release.

Among the most notable additions and improvements brought by iOS 8.1 are support for Apple Pay, the company's new payment service, iCloud Photo Library, and SMS support for iPads and Macs. And, as promised, iOS 8.1 also brings back the good old Camera Roll, which was replaced by the weird "Recently Added" feature in the previous iOS version.

Starting today, users of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus can take advantage of Apple Pay by visiting one of the 220,000 enabled stored scattered across the US, and simply waving their mobile device next to the terminal for contactless payments, and then putting their finger on the Touch ID sensor to authorize a purchase. There are many chains and stores supporting Apple's new payment service, with some of the more notable ones being Mc Donalds, Nike, Subway, Macy's, Disney stores, and more. In order to use Apple Pay, though, users will first have to register a debit or a credit card in their iPhone's Passbook application.

In case you're wondering why you can't use your still-fancy iPhone 5s for contactless payments, even though it also has Touch ID, it's because the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are the only iPhones thus far to sport an NFC (near-field communication) antenna. Yep, the way the iPhone communicates with the payment terminals is exactly though the NFC antenna. But don't worry, starting sometime in early 2015, you'll be able to carry out such payments with your iPhone 5s, provided that you get the Apple Watch (which has an NFC antenna). Still, there's one more side to Apple Pay, and that's the fact that many third-party apps are going to support it as a purchase option. Utilizing the Touch ID sensor for authorization, users with any Touch ID-equipped device will be able to purchase things easily and safely from within compatible third-party apps. Examples of such apps include Uber, Target, and Panera Bread.

APPLE PAY GOES LIVE TODAY - BE SURE TO TRY IT OUT AT ONE OF THE 220,000 SUPPORTED STORES ACROSS THE US!

Next up, iCloud Photo Library is much more straightforward - it let's you store your photos in iCloud, leaving more free space for other content on your device. Your iCloud Photo Library will be accessible from your other Apple devices, as well as the iCloud.com website. Plus, any changes you make to an iCloud Photo Library photo on one device will be immediately visible on all other connected devices. Still related to the Photos app, users will be glad to know that the Camera Roll is making a return, allowing them to easily browse all of their photos, not just their most recent ones.

Another major enhancement coming with iOS 8.1 has to do with Continuity - the way a user's iPhone, iPad, and Mac all work together. With iOS 8.1, it'll now be possible to work with SMS messages directly from an iPad or a Mac, saving you the need to reach for your iPhone. In addition, the new Instant Hotspot feature will make enabling the use of internet tethering a piece of cake. Actually, once they set it up, users won't have to do anything - internet tethering between their iPhone and iPad or Mac will work instantaneously, whenever a Wi-Fi network isn't available.

As you can imagine, the iOS 8.1 update also takes care of many bugs and other issues that have plagued the early versions of iOS 8, including Wi-Fi unreliability. Hopefully, this latest release will finally bring Apple's newest mobile platform to a more mature and stable state.

You can install iOS 8.1 by going to Settings -> General -> Software Update on your iOS device, or by connecting your iPhone or iPad to a computer with an up-to-date iTunes.

OnePlus One pre-orders go live for one hour on October 27

OnePlus announced its upcoming pre-order system for the one last month, when it only said it would roll out in October. And today the Chinese company has followed up with an actual date and time at which you'll be able to pre-order its first smartphone, no invite needed.

So here's what you need to mark in your calendar: October 27, 15:00 (3 pm) GMT. That's 8 am PST and 11 am EST for those of you in the States, or 4 pm if you're somewhere in Central Europe.

OnePlus One

There's a big catch to all this, though. The pre-orders will only be live for exactly one hour. To make sure everything will go smoothly, you can already 'prepare' your pre-order on a special website, adding the OnePlus One to your cart, and entering your details - so you'll need to do as little as possible next Monday.

To celebrate the opening of pre-orders, OnePlus will offer accessories at reduced prices - for example, the JBL E1+ earphones will be sold for just $24.99 (their normal price is $39.99).

If you do pre-order the OnePlus One and then receive an invite, you'll have your phone shipped immediately. Otherwise, you'll have to wait in the pre-order line, but you'll be told how much once you've gotten your pre-order through.

Samsung's 6-inch Galaxy Mega 2 launches on AT&T this week

Released not long ago in a few Asian markets, the Samsung Galaxy Mega  is officially coming to the US. AT&T today announced that it would sell the new Mega later this week, starting October 24.

AT&T will offer customers various ways to pay for the Mega 2. You can get the handset for $149.99 with a 2-year contract agreement, or for $474.99 outright. Moreover, the device is available for $19.80 per month with AT&T Next 18, and for $23.75 per month with AT&T Next 12. 

Coming as the successor to last year’s 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega (which is now out of stock at AT&T), the Galaxy Mega 2 is slightly smaller, sporting a 6-inch 720p display. The handset runs Android 4.4 KitKat with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI (including stuff like one-handed operation, dual window, Private Mode, and Ultra Power Saving mode). Other features: LTE connectivity, 8 MP rear camera with LED flash, 2.1 MP front-facing camera, quad-core 1.5 GHz processor, 1.5 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of expandable internal memory. The device is 0.34 inches (8.6 mm) thin, and comes with a 2800 mAh battery.

Google releases Android 5.0 Lollipop SDK and Nexus preview images

Google has released official SDK for recently launched Android 5.0 Lollipop . In addition, the company has also updated developer preview images for Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (2013).

The release comes following the Android L SDK Preview that was released earlier this year at Google I/O. Lollipop comes with 5,000 new APIs. In order to get the latest Android SDK, users will need to head to SDK Manager and select the Tools section followed by SDK Tools, SDK Platform-tools, and SDK Build-tools. Select everything under the Android 5.0 section, then click Install packages. Finally accept the licensing agreement for the packages, then click Install.

“The Android 5.0 SDK includes updated tools and new developer system images for testing. You can develop against the latest Android platform using API level 21 and take advantage of the updated support library to implement Material Design as well as the leanback user interface for TV apps.”

posted Google on a company blog post.

The release of final APIs level 21 means that developers can begin to create new apps that take advantage of Lollipop’s features, as well as update existing apps with Material Design and more. Google confirmed that Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Nexus Player will be the first devices to run the new operating system, and Google plans to roll it out to other supported Nexus devices around the time of the new devices’ launch. This includes Nexus 4, 5, 7 (’12 & ’13), and Nexus 10.

Android 5.0 SDK is now available for download.

More Motorola Droid Turbo press images leaked ahead of launch

Motorola has not yet officially announced the Droid Turbo, but the phone has been leaked in specs and photos on several occasions. The phone has once again leaked in press images over the weekend.

The leaked press images of the Droid Turbo shows the phone in black and red. While earlier pictures revealed a Kevlar /87`back for the phone, the new press shots show a textured finish. The images were tweeted by famous leakster @evleaks who has a great track record.  Droid Turbo was leaked in user manual earlier this month.

Droid turbo will sport a a 5.2-inch ‘ultra-high definition’ display and will be powered by 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor. It will have 21-megapixel rear camera, 3GB of RAM and a powerful 3900mAh battery. The phone will run on Android KitKat 4.4 and support 4G LTE connectivity. Motorola’s convenient software additions like Moto Assist, Moto Actions, and Moto Voice will also be present on the phone.

Motorola Droid Turbo is scheduled for a launch on October 28.

Microsoft to reportedly launch fitness wearable device in coming weeks

Microsoft is planning to launch a wearble device in coming weeks, according to a new report from Forbes. The report claims that the device will be a smartwatch focusing on fitness activities that will be compatible across multiple platforms like iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

This news seconds a report from July that stated that the fitness focused smartwatch will be launched in October. As per the latest report, the smartwatch from Microsoft will have a battery life of more than two days under normal use. The device will track your heart rate and work with multiple platforms too.

The Forbes report claims that Microsoft’s device should be unveiled “within the next few weeks” while a separate report from The Verge claims the launch of Microsoft’s wearable is “imminent.”The smartwatch will reportedly launch soon after its announcement for the holidays, said the report. Microsoft’s smartwatch will focus more on fitness and track steps, calories and so on. Earlier report had stated that the smartband will come equipped with 11 sensors open APIs and cross-platform compatibility

Samsung debuts Chromebook 2 with Intel Celeron processor

Samsung has introduced a new version of  Chromebook 2 that boasts the Intel Celeron processor. The company already offers the Chromebook 2 with a Exynos Processor.

The latest model comes with Intel’s Celeron N2840 CPU at 2.58GHz. It has a 1.6-inch FWXGA display,  2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage space. Other features include Intel HD Graphics, Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi 802.11 ac, a HDMI port, 1 USB 2.0 and 1 USB 3.0 port. The device boasts of dual stereo speakers and 720p webcam and has a 4,080mAh battery that offers 9 hours on full charge.

Priced at $249, the Samsung Chromebook 2 is available for pre-order while shipping is expected next week. It will also be the first Chromebook to include Google Help, a feature where users will be able to get placed in line with next support agent by typing ‘Chrome:Help’ in to the Chrome’s address bar.

Xolo One is a $105 smartphone that will get Android 5.0 Lollipop

Xolo introduced the latest addition to its lineup of attractively priced smartphones. Dubbed Xolo One the new droid costs just INR 6,599, which translates to about $105, making it one of the most affordable KitKat-powered handset around. More impressively, the company has committed to updating the Xolo One to Android 5.0 Lollipop later on, making it one of the cheapest tickets to Google’s latest ride.

As you could expect at this price point, the hardware of the smartphone isn’t quite as impressive. The Xolo One comes with a 4.5” IPS screen of the lowly FWVGA resolution (854 x 480 pixels) that gives a pixel density of 218ppi. The handset is powered by a Mediatek MTK 6582M chipset with a quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU running at 1.3GHz, a Mali 400 MP2 GPU and 1GB of RAM.

The Xolo One comes with dual SIM slots and support for 3G and 21Mbps HSPA networks, but no LTE. There’s a microSD card slot for expanding the 8GB of available storage by up to 32GB.

On the photography side the Xolo One offers a 5MP fixed-focus camera with BSI sensor, LED flash and 1080p video recording as well as a VGA front-facer. Connectivity is covered by microUSB 2.0, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi b/g/n.

The smartphone is powered by a 1,700mAh battery that should be able to last for up to 430 hours of stand-by and up to 19h of talk-time as long as you stick to 2G networks. If you switch to 3G however the numbers fall to 377 and 8 hours, respectively.

The Xolo One will be available in 6 different colors, including brown, black, white and red and will feature “leather finish back” .

Sony SmartWatch 3 arrives in the Google Play store

Sony Smart Watch 3 quietly made its way to the Google Play store. The Japanese manufacturer's first Android Wear device is listed as coming soon.

The wearable gadget is priced at $249.99. The price tag positions the IP68 certified Sony SmartWatch 3 as a premium Android Wear offering - it costs as much as the Moto 360.

The exact launch date of the smartwatch is yet to be revealed. I doubt it will be a long wait.

iPhone 6 went on sale in China without much fanfare

Many were expecting China to be one of the initial launch countries for the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but that didn't happen. Following the announcement of the devices, there was much speculation as to why Apple didn't receive timely certification from the Chinese authorities for the new phones.

And though i might never know what took so long, the Cupertino company did finally get all the thumbs-up it needed in China, in order for its new products to go on sale. After the last certification was passed  in late September.

Since there were apparently 20-million pre-orders logged for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, you might have expected thousands of people lining up in the streets in front of Apple stores over there. But you'd be wrong, since the launch was mostly low-key - at least compared to past Apple releases in the country.

At the Beijing Apple store, only around 100 people waited in line this morning prior to its 8 am opening time. These were all customers who had pre-ordered the devices. The reason for the small queue has to do with the fact that the handsets have been available at carrier stores and in other places since midnight.

This calm and peaceful launch contrasts with what happened, for example, at the same Beijing venue in May 2011, when the white iPhone 4 got released. Then a fight between customers and employees broke out. And in January 2012, on the first day of iPhone 4S sales, a delay in the Apple store's opening led to something of a riot.

Samsung Galaxy Golden 2 flips through TENAA

The yet to be revealed Samsung Galaxy Golden 2 flip phone made its way through TENAA. Sporting the model number SM-W2015, the upcoming smartphone is bound to replace the original Samsung Galaxy Golden, which debuted during this month last year.

Despite its old school form factor, Samsung Galaxy Golden 2 packs proper flagship specs. Highlights include Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable memory, and Android 4.4.4 KitKat.

The handset features two 3.9” AMOLED displays with a resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels. Its main camera is a 16MP unit, coupled with a 3.7MP front-facing solution.

Physical measures of the Samsung Galaxy Golden 2 are 153.5 × 78.6 × 8.5mm. Its weight tips the scale at 173 grams.

There is no word on when will Samsung Galaxy Golden 2 made its debut. Don’t expect to see it outside of select markets in Asia.

New features on BBM Beta allow you to control the level of privacy

Everyone loves to have privacy when it comes to sending messages on their smartphone. Well, perhaps everyone but FBI chief James Comey. BlackBerry notes that no one likes to see a message they send, end up in the wrong hands. So the new Beta version of the BBM Messaging app adds a number of new features that make it "Ultra-Private" according to the Canadian company.

The first new feature allows you to set a timer to determine how long a message can be viewed on BBM. All you need to do is tap the icon before you send a message or picture, and decide how long you want the recipient of the message to be able to view it. The message remains hidden until the recipient touches it with a long press. Once the timer expires, or the recipient takes his finger off the screen, the message is hidden once again. And if sometime takes a screen shot of the message, a notification is sent to the sender.

Another new feature will allow you to remove a message you've sent via BBM. Suppose you send a credit card number via a BBM message, but you don't want this message to stay forever in the recipient's BBM in-box. With the capabilities of the new BBM Beta, you can retract a message. The sender simply long presses on the message and selects "Retract Message" from the menu. Keep in mind that this will not work on pictures, or messages with multiple recipients.

You can check out these new features, soon to be coming to BBM, by clicking here for the official BlackBerry video .

Oppo finally updates Find 7 and Find 7a to ColorOS 2.0, based on Android 4.4 KitKat

Owners of the Oppo Find 7 and Find 7a are finally able to grab an update to ColorOS which is based on Android 4.4 KitKat.

While some might ponder the timeliness of this update, made available just as Google is getting ready to roll out Android 5.0 Lollipop, the Oppo community has been waiting for this update for a while, and it is packing a lot of feature and user enhancements.

Before list all the updates, you should know that Oppo does not plan to provision this update via OTA (over the air), so you will need to download the update package and move it to the root directory of the phone, then update while in recovery mode. We shared the instructional video on how to do that below in case you do not have the greatest comfort level with such activities.  On one of our Find 7 devices, the update (including downloading and transferring the near 1GB update package to the device) took less time than most other major system updates we have experienced on other platforms.

This build of ColorOS 2.0.0i firmware is stable, but Oppo is not pushing it out for mass consumption. An OTA “should” be available in the next month or two, unfortunately, Oppo, like its invite-only cousin OnePlus, has some idiosyncrasies about it, so that means an OTA package may be a bit later than stated in the company’s highly active forums.

So what has Oppo been feverishly been working on these past months to update its attractive take on Android? Quite a lot actually. The user interface has been refined a bit, and made a little more minimalistic. Animation effects have been implemented system-wide, there is a new “Live Weather 2.0” feature, and a new Task Manager. A whole host of gesture commands have been implemented, and there is a new “Super Power Saving” mode. As ColorOS 2.0 is based on Android 4.4 KitKat, Google Now can be accessed from just about anywhere.

The most obvious change to ColorOS 2.0 is the implementation of a single-layer launcher. This follows the set-up commonly seen on Huawei devices, there is no App Tray. Rather, all your apps are managed on the home screens, which Oppo admits, was not an easy decision to make, but felt it was a step toward making ColorOS as smooth and simple as possible.

All the changes are outlined below, as well as a video overview of ColorOS 2.0.0i, and an instructional video to update your Find 7 or Find 7a.  Oppo is eager to learn what you think about the update, and is an active participant in the online forums.

CHANGE LOG

Refined UI Design - The ColorOS 2.0 has inherited the UI design of ColorOS 1.0, by removing redundant elements from the 1.x icons the new design are more minimalistic and easier to recognize.

Global Gaussian Blur Effect - System wide Gaussian blur effect makes the whole system looks more beautiful and consistent in different interfaces, such as the notification center, folders, music now playing interface etc.

System Wide Animation - The ColorOS 2.0 is more energetic, with system wide transition animation the whole system comes alive, each operation seems so natural and fluid.

Live Weather 2.0 - Added a new weather effect "Haze", given sound effects for some effects and you may found more surprises when using the live weather 2.0.

Global Gesture Panel 2.0 - The new gesture panel is now activated by slide up from the bottom of the screen. Each gesture you've used can be recorded and shown on top as a reminder.

Redesigned Task Manager - The new task manager design shows every task running in background as a card you can simply slide it up to close it or slide it down to lock it or tap the end all button to close them all (locked apps will not be closed).

Easy Crop for Screenshots - After you've taken a screenshot you can pull down the notification center to crop, share or delete it.

Single Layer Launcher - The changing from dual layer to single layer launcher is not simple a win/lose situation, both design has it's own advantage and disadvantage. ColorOS decided to go with single layer design is just another step towards the purse of simplicity and perfection.

Super Power Saving - By reducing animation, underclocking the CPU or shutdown all applications except for calls and messages your phone can be under deep power saving mode so as increase the battery life as much as possible.

Memory Cleaner - Added "Memory Cleaner" in security center, which enables you to control and release memory more easily.

Other Detailed Improvements

• Redesigned the guide interface, now it's able to auto select the language according to your SIM card
• Changed the default lockscreen to "Slide upward to unlock", added Call & Messages shortcut in the default lockscreen
• Added the double tap to blurry the wallpaper in Settings ->Gesture & Motion -> Screen-on Gestures
• Added the feature to show network speed in status bar, Settings -> Display -> Show network speed
• Added resolution settings for ultra-HD photos, you can now choose between 50MP and 24MP
• Added continuous play settings in video player, when you disabled it the player will not continue to play the next video in your phone
• Added USB debug options in notification center, when your phone is connected with your computer
• Added the ability to manually adjust the screen brightness when auto-brightness is enabled
• Added file safe in the "Files" app, files added into file safe will not be shown publicly
• Added the ability to sort contact list by Given name/Family name
• Added a quick to top button in Files, Email and Message list interface
• Optimized the cleanup feature in "Files", added the function to delete large files and duplicated app installation package.
• Redesigned the calendar interface, which is now more elegant
• Removed the "Notes" app and replaced it with Google keep as the default note app
• Optimized the "Backup & restore" app improve the back/restore speed and added the ability to backup homescreen layout, so that your apps & folders will all be backed up
• Integrated all security related tools into "Security Center", such as App Encryption, Data Saving etc.
• Updated the pre-installed Kingsoft Office app

Update to Flickr for iOS adds iPad optimization

An update to Flickr's iOS app on Saturday, added full optimization for the Apple iPad. The iPad version of the app takes advantage of the additional real estate available on Apple's tablet. You can snap pictures using the camera interface that comes with the app, and use the editing tools and filters to enhance your pictures. The update also allows both iPhone and iPad users of the app to share photos through social media sites like Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter.

Other changes include the ability to edit photo details, and perform unified search across your Flickr photos, albums and groups. The update also repairs bugs and makes the app more stable.

Flickr offers 1TB of free cloud storage to users. That should keep you busy trying to use up all of that available storage space. Flickr for iOS can be downloaded for free from the Apple App Store.

"This version of the Flickr iOS app is optimized to take full advantage of the larger screen on iPad, while delivering the gorgeous design you expect of Flickr, our powerful camera, and the versatility you need to manage your photos while on the go. On iPad, Flickr can now display images in high resolution by pushing up to 3,000,000 pixels per photo."-Flickr

iOS 8.1 launches on Monday; here is what you should expect

Apple iDevice users are looking forward to Monday, when they can download and install iOS 8.1 on their iPhone or iPad. The update will help correct some of the bugs that have been afflicting users of iOS 8. The most talked about new feature coming with the new build is Apple Pay. This is a mobile payment system that allows you to use your NFC enabled Apple iPhone 6 or Apple iPhone 6 Plus to tap a pad near the point of sale at a participating retailer, to make a payment.

The update will also bring back the Camera Roll, which had been removed with the release of iOS 8. At the same time, the iCloud Photo Library will be available so that you can save all of your pictures and video to the cloud. The feature ties in to your iCloud account and uses your available iCloud storage space. A smaller version of the pictures are stored on your iOS device, in order to use up less memory.

Another new feature, Instant Hotspot, requires a Mac with OS X Yosemite, to turn on the hotspot feature of an in-range iPhone running iOS 8.1. With SMS relay, iPads and Macs can receive SMS messages routed through an iPhone. While the Mac and Apple's tablets can receive iMessages, SMS messages have been limited to Apple's smartphones.

Among the bug fixes that iOS 8.1 will fix, is one that makes it difficult for an iPhone to pair with a Bluetooth device. While the update is expected to be disseminated on Monday, Apple has not yet released a time when we will start seeing notifications pop up on iOS devices.

Here are some new features coming to Cortana today

Windows Phone virtual personal assistant Cortana, is adding new capabilities with every update pushed out by Microsoft. Cortana can roll dice, or flip coins. And we all know about her prowess in picking wining soccer team. On Friday, the Bing Blog was full of news about features that are coming to Cortana starting today.

An evening version of The Daily Glance, which shows every thing you need to know to start your day, including appointments, travel time to work, and top headlines, is being added. Starting today, you will see the travel time home, and your upcoming appointments. This way, you'll know if you need to rush home to get ready for a dinner meeting, or if you have to hit the sack early for a morning appointment. Update your home and office address with Cortana for this new feature to work.

Cortana will now even tell you when one of your favorite musical acts will be playing within 100 miles of your home. She knows who your favorite artists are, by keeping track of the artists you search for on your phone, Windows 8 PC and Bing. To activate this feature, go to the notebook, select  music and enableConcert Watch.

If you look up a particular flight twice a week from Bing or Cortana, she will know how important that flight is to you and will prompt you to ask if she should continue to monitor this specific flight. The feature is available in the U.S. only. Lastly, Cortana now recommends apps based on your location. Say you're in Orlando. Cortana will suggest you recommend apps related to DisneyWorld or SeaWorld.

Microsoft is continuing to update Cortana, and you can see that the new features are making her more like Google Now, which pops out information you need, before you need it.

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