Samsung Galaxy S3 first Android smartphone with Quick Tap functionality



Orange and Barclaycard have revealed that the Samsung Galaxy S3 has been the first Android phone chosen to get QuickTap functionality.

QuickTap is the contactless payment system conjured up by Barclays, and, using NFC, that offers users a way to pay for goods without having to punch in their pin numbers.

All you need to do is find a QuickTap enabled shop and, well, give the payment machine a quick tap and payment is achieved.

Yes, it's not really contactless – you actually have to tap the machine – but that's the term coined for such a service and who are we to argue?

QuickTap is already on a number of phones, such as the Tocco and Wave 578, but there's been something of a wait for an Android phone to come bearing QuickTap gifts.

Orange exclusively told TechRadar back in July, though, that something would appear soon and the company has stayed true to its word.

Tap dance

Although Barclaycard is now offering its service to Samsung galaxy S3 customers, not everyone can join the QuickTap club. You have to also be on the Orange network for the service to work, and you have to have gotten your phone from 5 September. Oh, and you need to have a UK MasterCard or Visa card as well.

We're guessing Orange will be bringing this feature to phones bought before this date but there's no news on when this is happening.

To rub salt in the wounds of those who went elsewhere for their S3, Barclays is offering Orange S3 customers who sign up to the service between 5 September and 5 October of this year £50 credit to spend using their phone.

Currently 100,000 locations support QuickTap – including the likes of McDonalds, M&S, Co-op Food, Prêt a Manger and EAT.

Although, from our experience, you may have to tell the shops that they actually have the technology installed before you start waving your phone at them, telling them that you no longer need money as your phone can perform QuickTap magic.

For more information, head over to www.orange.co.uk/quicktap.

Source: techradar.com

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Get Ready: Some Of The Most Important Gadgets Of The Year Will Be Announced This Week (And We're Not Just Talking About The iPhone 5)



Summer is all but over. Which means fall is coming. Which means the holidays are already right around the corner.

Which means just about every major player in tech will be announcing new gadgets soon.
This week is going to be especially huge with product announcements from Nokia, Motorola, and Amazon. And then we get the new iPhone next week.
So what's on tap? Here's the breakdown:

Nokia Will Unveil New Windows Phones

Poor Nokia. All signs show that its hero phone, the Lumia 900, has been a dud with consumers. The price was recently slashed in half to $50. (That's never good when a product is just a few months old). And it won't be able to run Microsoft's new mobile operating system called Windows Phone 8.

But there's hope!

Nokia and Microsoft are holding a big press event in New York on Sept. 5 to unveil two new Lumia-branded devices that will run Windows Phone 8. Tom Warren of The Verge has already dug up most of the details on the phones. So far, we know the top-of-the-line device will be called the Lumia 920, have 32 GB of storage, a dual-core processor for faster performance, a 4.5-inch display, and a cool wireless charging feature.

Like its older brother, the Lumia 920 will be Nokia and Microsoft's new flagship Windows Phone. Unfortunately, don't expect to get too many more details on Wednesday beyond the basic specs. Microsoft isn't finished building the Windows Phone 8 software, so pricing and a release date probably won't be announced until later this fall.

Get Ready For Apple To Steal The Spotlight Anyway With The iPhone 5

Apple has all but confirmed it'll announce its new iPhone at a press conference on Sept. 12. Yes, that's a week after Nokia's event, but don't think Apple is going to let Nokia enjoy all the fun. Apple likes to send out press invites a week before it holds an event. Don't be surprised if press invites hit reporters' inboxes around the same time as Nokia's press conference on Wednesday.

Motorola Supposedly Has An Interesting New Smartphone In The Works

Motorola will also hold a press event on Sept. 5 to announce its new flagship device. While not much is known about the phone, Bloomberg reports that it'll sport an edge-to-edge screen and run on Verizon's LTE network. (Don't forget, Motorola is now part of Google, so this is going to be the company's first real rest under new leadership).

Amazon Will Take Another Stab At The Kindle Fire

Amazon is holding a press conference on Sept. 6 to announce its new lineup of Kindle devices. According to The Verge, Amazon's new E Ink Kindle readers will have a special back lighting technology called "paperwhite" that'll let you read in the dark, just like Barnes & Noble's latest Nook reader that launched earlier this summer.

Amazon is also expected to announce an update to its 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet. Reports on the device have been mixed, but it'll supposedly have a higher screen resolution, new design, and a front-facing camera for video chat. Since the device will be unveiled in Los Angeles, we're expecting Amazon to announce some sort of new video content partnership too.

There are also talks of a 10-inch version of the Kindle Fire, but the closer we get to the Amazon's announcement, the less likely it seems that'll happen.

Source: businessinsider.com

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Windows 7 Overtakes Windows XP As the Most Popular Desktop OS

Windows 7 is now the world’s most popular desktop operating system, according to the August report from Net Applications.

In August, Windows 7 had a 42.76% market share, a fraction of a point more than Windows XP’s 42.52%. Windows Vista sits at third place with a 6.15% market share, followed by Mac OS X 10.7 and Mac OS X 10.6 with 2.45% and 2.38%, respectively.

All in all, older versions included, Microsoft controls some 92% of the market.

It took three years for Windows 7 to become the world’s most popular OS. Microsoft’s desktop operating system, which was launched in October 2009, will soon be replaced by a newer version — Windows 8.

Windows 8, which is scheduled to go on sale on October 26, will be Microsoft’s first operating system designed to work just as well on tablets as it does on desktop computers. Users running Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Professional for $39.99 via an online download.

Source : mashable.com

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Acer holds off on touch for Windows 8 business ultrabooks

Summary: President Jim Wong tells ZDNet that Acer won't release a touch-enabled business ultrabook until late 2013, as he explains where a potential Windows RT tablet and AcerCloud fit into its SME plans.

Acer does not plan to bring out a touch-enabled business ultrabook until the second half of 2013, company president Jim Wong has said.

Speaking at IFA in Berlin on Saturday, Wong said business users tend to hold off buying into a new version of Windows until application compatibility has had a chance to be established. Windows 8, due for release in October, is the first version of the operating system to be properly designed around touch and underpins all the latest ultrabook models.

"The consumer market is moving faster than the commercial market," Wong told ZDNet. "In commercial [ultrabooks] there will be no touch until the second half of next year. Commercial markets are always considering application [compatibility]."

Acer's business-oriented notebooks go under the TravelMate banner, and tend to be a bit tougher than their consumer counterparts, with added security.

However, Wong suggested that mobile professionals who did want a touch-capable Acer ultrabook would be reasonably served by its S7 models, which were unveiled at IFA.

"We believe [the S7] is very suitable for both consumers and commercial users," Wong said.

Windows RT

The touch-capable ultrabooks shown at IFA, including those from Acer, use the standard x86 version of Windows 8. The other version is the more tablet-focused Windows RT, which is designed to run on ARM's architecture.

Acer has not yet announced a Windows RT tablet, and it caused quite a storm last month by criticising Microsoft for releasing its own RT tablet, the Surface. Acer chief JT Wang said Microsoft risked alienating its partners by doing so.

Wong reiterated on Saturday that the company did still have plans to produce a Windows RT tablet.

"We mainly mentioned two things: that we had concerns and that we continue our dialogue with Microsoft," Wong said. "We don't know exactly the plan of Microsoft, [but] Microsoft and the Windows environment is so important to our own ecosystem."

"We need to have a much better discussion in making sure we are competitive," he added.

Pricing

One detail missing from all the Windows 8 ultrabook and hybrid announcements at IFA has been that of price. Even Microsoft has yet to reveal the pricing of the Surface.

This is a particularly important issue with Windows 8. Many of the devices running the heavily redesigned and as-yet-unproven operating system will be competing against entrenched rival platforms — Android and iOS — in a way that was not the case in the pre-tablet era.

According to Wong, the current reticence is a result of seasonality.

"Now is the very end of the back-to-school cycle," Wong said. "Do you want to talk about it now, hurting your back-to-school business, or wait a bit?"

Cloud strategy

Acer's current strategy is very much built around the cloud. While rivals such as Samsung and Sony are offering broad device ecosystems in which tablets and PCs can easily talk to TVs and Hi-Fis, Acer — more of a computing specialist — is hoping buyers will be attracted to the cloud capabilities it acquired when it bought iGware last year.

The resulting AcerCloud lets users upload as much data as they like, but it only stores it for 30 days: this is intended to ease the sharing of data between different Acer devices, rather than to provide long-term storage.

According to Wong, this makes AcerCloud a primarily consumer play.

"For SMEs and corporates it's very different," he said. "Our cloud focus for the next three years is on consumers. [For business users] we are working with VARs and qualified channels, and we already have a very good service network."

Source : zdnet.com

 

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Samsung Wins Patent Lawsuit Battle vs. Apple in Tokyo Court; Analysts Say Win Will ‘Turn the Tide in Favor of Samsung’



After losing two patent-infringement lawsuits in a row over the past two weeks, Samsung finally came out victorious with a verdict from a Tokyo court on Friday ruling that the company was not guilty of infringing on patented Apple technologies.

Tokyo District Court Judge Tamotsu Shoji ruled that Samsung had not, in this case, infringed on Apple smartphone patents related to synching mobile devices with computers. After announcing his verdict, he ordered Apple to pay costs for its lawsuit against Samsung.

"We welcome the Court's decision, which confirmed our long-held position that our products do not infringe Apple's intellectual property," Samsung said in a statement responding to its courtroom win today.

Apple representatives refused to comment on this most recent verdict.

"This will likely turn the tide in favor of Samsung," Kim Hyung Sik, a Seoul-based analyst at Taurus Investment Securities Company told Businessweek in an interview. "Samsung had this win in a country that's strong at intellectual property. The mood is turning positive for Samsung."

Prior to the legal squabble in Japan, Samsung suffered heavy losses in the United States last week when a jury found the company guilty of patent infringement. As a result, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages and had eight of its products banned from the U.S. marketplace, most of which belonged to its line of Galaxy smartphones. Additionally, the company's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet was banned in June under the order of U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh.

Samsung has requested that the tablet ban be lifted immediately, as a jury eventually found that it did not infringe on any patents. The company has also requested that the jury verdict from last week be tossed out entirely and said that if this request was denied, Samsung would appeal up to the level of the Supreme Court if necessary.

udge Koh has set a hearing date for September 20^th to consider lifting the tablet ban and another hearing date for December 6^th to consider Apple's request to ban the eight alleged infringing devices.

Source: latinospost.com

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Facebook ad targeting to use e-mails, phone numbers

A new tool for advertisers lets them target ads to customers who have already used their services.

Facebook plans to roll out a new advertising tool that will let companies target their ads to existing customers based on their phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

The social network is launching the new tool next week and touts it as a way for businesses to reengage with customers who have already used their services, according to a Facebook spokesperson.

For those who may have privacy concerns over this exchange of personal information, the social network said the process is secure.

What this means is Facebook isn't giving any of your data away, it's taking existing numbers and addresses from businesses and letting those businesses use the information to target its ads.

On the flip side, Facebook won't be gaining any new data from businesses. When advertisers give Facebook your data, it is hashed -- a security technique that scrambles your data -- before it is fed into the advertising machine. Once the ads are placed, Facebook dumps the hashed data, so that if an advertiser wants to do another ad, the process starts over again.

The new method was available briefly in the Facebook Power Editor, a virtual toolbox used by advertisers to create ads, according to InsideFacebook.

Facebook continues to figure out how to improve its advertising service amid revenue reports and forecasts that have not been up to par.

Of course, it's not the only company expanding its targeted advertising efforts. Twitter launched a feature today that puts tweets in the streams of a broader audience than before.

Source: news.yahoo.com

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Finally, Someone Has Made A 'Pause' Button For Emails

Aye Moah of Baydin Inc has done busy people everywhere a giant favor.
She's created a Gmail/Chrome extension called INBOX PAUSE. This glorious tool was discovered by The Next Web's Zee Kane.

It does exactly what you think it does. It prevents any more emails from popping up in your inbox the moment you press the "pause" button. Emails are stored in a hidden place until you're ready to receive them.

What's more, INBOX PAUSE can send auto-replies to email senders saying their messages were not received -- kind of like a voicemail box that's run out of room.

When your inbox is paused, a Gmail-style yellow banner appears at the top of your inbox that reads, "Your inbox is currently paused. Please click the blue UNPAUSE button to see what's waiting for you."

INBOX PAUSE is currently available for Chrome. "Take a break from email," the creator says. "Be Free."

Source: businessinsider.com

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New Samsung Devices to Get 50GB of Dropbox Storage

Galaxy Camera and Galaxy Note II owners will have oodles of storage to go with their new gadgets. 

Despite last week's crushing blow in the U.S. courts, Samsung put on a killer show at IFA with the launch of its much-rumored Galaxy Note II, and a brand new point-and-shoot camera, the first in its Galaxy range. Today it emerged that anyone buying either of these devices will also benefit from 50GB of free Dropbox storage for two years.

The cloud storage company today announced a partnership with Samsung that will see Dropbox integration with the recently announced Samsung Galaxy Camera and Galaxy Note II. The two devices will follow in the footsteps of the Galaxy S III and Galaxy tablet, which earlier this year launched with Dropbox embedded. Users starting their Galaxy device for the first time will be given the option to sync photos and video content automatically. Additionally, the Galaxy Note II will automatically sync photos and videos stored in Dropbox with the device's Gallery application, which means users accessing the Gallery will also be able to access all photos already stored in their Dropbox.

"The most important thing to us is to provide our users with the ability to have a seamless experience across the many mobile devices they use and this partnership shows our mutual commitment to offering Samsung users the best possible experience," said Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen, Head of Mobile Business Development at Dropbox. "These integrations with Samsung's latest Wi-Fi and 4G enabled camera and Galaxy Note II means Dropbox users can rest assured their photos and videos will be with them anytime, anywhere."

Dropbox integration will be particularly useful for the Galaxy S Camera. Set to launch later this year and running Jelly Bean, the camera is available with WiFi and 3G/LTE and features an Auto Cloud Backup feature that will back up your photos to the cloud as you take them. It's not yet clear if this feature is powered by Dropbox, but considering today's announcement, it certainly seems that way.

Source: tomshardware.com

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Torchlight 2 Release Date Announced

Torchlight 2's release date has finally been revealed!

A few days ago, Runic Games announced that they would be revealing the release date of the much anticipated dungeon crawler Torchlight II at PAX Prime.

Now that we're squarely in PAX Prime Day 1, Runic Games has kept its promise… sort of. Runic Games first made the announcement to its fans via its official forums last night.

Travis Baldree, Runic President, broke the news with the following post:

"The official Release Date for Torchlight II is Thursday, September 20^th, 2012.

"3 weeks away!

"We'll announce it 'more' officially and bigger tomorrow.

"You know first!"

Months prior, Runic Games expected to launch Torchlight's sequel in June, just a month after Diablo III's intended release date. However, when June rolled past into July, it became apparent that Runic Game's wasn't going to be releasing Torchlight II any time soon. Baldree then revealed that Torchlight II was delayed for tweaks, balances, and some polishing.

Now that Torchlight II is within tangible reach, hopefully, Torchlight fans have used time delay in release as time to revisit the series.

Source: tomshardware.com

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I Just Played With Samsung's Amazing Galaxy S III And Now I'm Even More Annoyed By My iPhone 5

As I mentioned last month, I haven't even gotten my iPhone 5 yet, but I'm already annoyed by it.

Why?

Well, first, the wait.

I was all set to buy my iPhone 5 last year, when everyone expected the iPhone 5 to be released. But then Apple went and released a modest upgrade to the iPhone 4, and there seemed no reason to buy that when the iPhone 5 was about to come out.

(I have an iPhone 3GS, which still works great. But I confess I have been coveting some of the newer features. I tried to buy an iPhone 4 once, a couple of months after it came out, but hundreds of people had been waiting all night in line to buy them to ship them to Asia, so I gave up. But I have decided to upgrade to the iPhone 5, unless it totally sucks.)

But it's not just the wait.

Despite Apple's assertion that it is going to crack down on leaks, people seem confident that they know pretty much everything about the iPhone 5. And here are the things they think they know that have jumped out at me (and annoyed me):

• The iPhone 5 is not going to have a really big screen, like the gorgeous screen on the Samsung Galaxy S III. I played with an S III the other night, and it confirmed my suspicion that it is just awesome to have such a big screen. Next to the Samsung, my iPhone felt small and old. Given that Apple thinks Samsung has ripped off everything about the Galaxy from the iPhone, I assumed that Apple would want to return the favor and rip off the awesome big Galaxy screen from Samsung. But according to the gadget gods, Apple has decided to just make the iPhone 5 screen slightly taller, not huge and insanely great like the Galaxy S III. And that's annoying. Who cares about having a "taller" screen? I certainly don't want to have to turn the phone to "landscape" view every time I want to look at something.

• The iPhone 5 will have a new power cord, one that will render the dozen or so Apple power cords I have obsolete. This is also annoying. One of the positive side-effects of becoming an Apple household is that we have one of those power cords lying around pretty much everywhere you look. And now, I gather, Apple is going to make all of those cords worthless. (Unless I buy some special adapter. But having to do that is annoying.)

So all that is annoying.

But the screen thing is really annoying. I'm not a watch-movies-or-play-video-games-on-my-phone guy.  I'm a do-email-and-tweet-and-read-the-Internet-on-my-phone guy. So the idea of having to turn the phone to landscape to take advantage of the screen being slightly taller sounds more annoying than anything.

Also as this video produced by Mac Rumors shows, having a slightly taller screen is pretty much a complete yawn of a difference relative to the iPhone 4, especially because a lot of the apps won't even take advantage of it. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S III is bright, gorgeous, and huge.

And do you know what is extra, extra annoying? Apple is now trying to get Samsung blocked from selling the S III because of those patent claims. Apple, the richest and most valuable company in the world, resorting to litigation to try to stop the sale of a phone that is clearly better than anything Apple has yet produced. Sorry, but that's just lame.

I gather Apple is making some other changes to the iPhone 5, too--moving a button, for example. But I haven't seen any changes that I care about.

Who wants a TALLER screen?

All of which means, I'm already annoyed by my iPhone 5. If, after using it, I determine that the smaller screen is, in fact, inferior to the big Samsung screen, I'm going to be really annoyed.

So, if I'm so annoyed by the iPhone 5 and Apple's lame patent attack, why am I not just rushing out and buying a Samsung Galaxy S III before Apple gets them sued off the shelves?
Well, I'll tell you, I'm close to doing that. Very close.
But, as I feared a couple of years ago when I realized the lengths Apple was going to to build a closed system with "network effects," I'm also kind of stuck with Apple now, given that our entire household has standardized on it. If I switched to Samsung, I'd have to learn how to use something new. And none of my iTunes stuff and passwords would work. So the sad truth is that I'm going to buy an iPhone 5 even if it's an inferior phone.

But it's going to bum me out knowing that I have to go with Apple even though it's an inferior phone.
And it's going to really bum me out now that Apple is suing people to protect its vast profits instead of just making superior products like it used to.

(Litigation might protect you for a little while, but not over the long run. And I know I'm not the only one who finds it disheartening to see Apple resorting to it.)

Bottom line, like a lot of other Apple customers, I am quietly hoping that everything that has been reported about the iPhone 5 isn't true.

Because if I'm going to finally shell out another $200 for a new phone, it would be nice to be buying the best one on the market

Source: businessinsider.com

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