BLU Products has announced its latest in its Studio series, a 5.5″ no-contract phone pricing in at just $179—an extremely reasonable tag for such a huge screen. A respectable entry-level phone for the big-screen fans, the BLU Studio 5.5 is available in 80s neon yellow sports car, 80s lipstick pink, 80s ski boot blue, 80s […]
Microsoft’s annual proxy filing, made to the Securities and Exchange Commission, reveals that Chairman Bill Gates and outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer are both seeking re-election to the company’s board. The move might not sit well with investors who have reportedly tried to reduce the influence both personalities wield over the company, Reuters reports. Back in August, Steve Ballmer announced that he would be giving up the top slot at Redmond within 12 months. Gates has been out of that chair for a long time, though he has remained at the board since 1981, and is also the largest individual shareholder of Microsoft, owing 4.52 percent.
Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft’s board of directors over a decade ago, when he was given the top job. Apart from BlackRock, an investment firm that holds 5.57 percent of Microsoft shares, all the other directors hold less than 1 percent. Ballmer has 3.99 percent, so he and Gates will continue to have an influence if they’re re-elected to the board on November 19th, at Microsoft’s annual shareholders meeting. Recently it was reported that top Microsoft investors have lobbied to push Gates to step down as chairman of the board, apparently they see his presence as a hurdle in the way of fundamental change at the company. Microsoft hasn’t commented if something of this nature has happened, and Gates himself has not dropped any hints that he intends to step away from the company he co-founded with Paul Allen nearly 38 years ago. As it stands, Microsoft hasn’t nominated Ballmer’s successor. Names of potential candidates have been thrown around a lot, but no one has been finalized as yet.
Bill Gates And Steve Ballmer Seek Re-Election To Microsoft’s Board original content from Ubergizmo. 
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When you buy a new phone, you have a reasonable expectation that it will have nothing on it.
It therefore comes as a surprise when you open it up and discover pictures of people with nothing on.
This is the allegation being laid in a lawsuit against Sprint and Nextel by the father of a young son in Pasadena, Calif.
As CBS Los Angeles reports, Arsen Garibyan says the phone he bought from a Sprint dealer in October 2011 contained pornographic images and videos of people he identifies as Sprint store staff in a Pasadena, Calif., store.
His lawsuit claims that the his son, who is underage, began to play with the phone and discovered the offensive images.
Sprint issued a very carefully-worded statement: “This incident occurred at a retail store in Pasadena that was selling Sprint products. Sprint does not condone this behavior. The sales representatives allegedly implicated were NOT Sprint employees.”
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Insects, contrary to popular belief, are not that different from humans. Studies show that our buggy friends suffer from one of the human world’s most common emotional ailments: the friendzone. So, with that perspective, we look at these beautiful macro photos of bug BFFs.
Also note that many of these bugs were friendzoned by nature, as different species cannot reproduce with each other – this is, by definition, the reproductive barrier that defines a “species.” Permanent, unavoidable, natural friendzone.
This picture really speaks a thousand words: it seems to be the perfect friendship dynamic! The best friendship since Shaggy and Scooby, rivaled only by Timon and Pumbaa. Praying Mantis and Snail probably wouldn’t make a splash at the box office, but it would surely leave a trail of slime on our hearts!
Nature’s version of two friends stopping to get a drink out of a water fountain. On a related note, I never understood how snails can survive on both land and water. Are there just different types of snails? do snails have gills? The only logical conclusion: snails are robots.
It seems that snails (and the occasional frog) are actually just the forest’s form of free public transportation. Talk about a long commute.
These pictures were all taken by Nordin Seruyan, who lives in an area that is heavily-populated by giant snails, and he did an awesome job capturing the essence of nature’s symbiotic relationships in these photos!
Head on over to the Nordin Seruyan Photography page on Facebook and give this man your like! My feelings would be appropriately represented by the Give That Man a Cookie meme.
If you’re as into bugs as I am, you’ll want to head on over to look at these Solar Powered Robotic Bugs and these incredible Steampunk Bug creations!
[via Incredible Things]
Even Samsung thinks its Galaxy Gear is anachronistic – at least if the commercials are to be believed. New ads for the new Samsung Galaxy Gear that popped up on the company’s official YouTube page this weekend are supposed to be an exercise in wish-fulfillment, but they end up showing off a company and design mentality that’s been stuck in the same gear for 20 or 30 years.
As you can see, Samsung is pulling out nostalgia strings in these new ads, counting down the best sci-fi wrist-mounted communication tech from Star Trek, Knight Rider, The Jetsons and Might Morphin’ Power Rangers to remind us that we’ve always secretly wanted to talk into our wrists and be heard and understood by others. Except that what comes across isn’t how Samsung has finally been able to deliver this space-aged tech to a populace that’s been waiting for it for ages; instead, we see how dated this concept is, and how hilarious and awkward it looks with cheesy sets, bad special effects and costumes that definitely don’t scream ‘modern’ or ‘contemporary.’
By all accounts, the Galaxy Gear is a first attempt that pretty clearly misses the mark for what a smartwatch ultimately should be, and consumers don’t seem all that energized by the concept, at least not based on local evidence here in London. Per CNET UK editor Jason Jenkins:
Samsung Galaxy Gear & Note 3 stand at Waterloo not exactly overwhelmed with people http://t.co/CYmb0gzWds—
Jason Jenkins (@jenkojenkins) October 03, 2013
And again later:
Still no love for the Galaxy Note 3/ Gear stand at Waterloo this morning http://t.co/tiVqBon9Tj—
Jason Jenkins (@jenkojenkins) October 04, 2013
These ads do a good job of taking those of us old enough to remember the shows in them on a trip through memory lane, but in no way does that make me want to strap something to my wrist and start talking to it. And call me crazy, but I can pretty much guarantee that each of those devices depicted in these fictional TV shows got more than a day’s worth of use on a full battery charge, too.
Earlier this year at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2013, Apple unveiled OS X 10.9 Mavericks, its latest platform update for Mac. With this update, the company moves away from its tradition of naming the releases after cats, such as Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion and the likes. There are also a number of new features in this update, which is yet to be released to the public. Rumor has it that after seeding OS X 10.9 Mavericks GM build last week, work on OS X 10.10 has already begun at One Infinite Loop.
No fancy name has been attached as yet to OS X 10.10, which is likely to be unveiled next year. It will be the next major software update from Apple for Mac. It is said that OS X 10.10 will continue with the trend of bringing design elements from iCloud and iOS to the desktop. Apple is expected to stick to its tradition of making software related announcements at WWDC, so its highly likely that OS X 10.10 will be unveiled alongside iOS 8 at WWDC 2014. As far as OS X 10.9 is concerned, the company is yet to provide a concrete release date, though it is expected that Mavericks will drop towards the end of this month. Mac users have been anxiously waiting for this update, which brings more than 200 new features for compatible Mac machines.
Apple Said To Have Begun OS X 10.10 Development original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Back when the Moto X smartphone was announced in August, Motorola also announced Moto Maker, which is basically an online studio that customers can use in order to add their own special cosmetic touches to their new Moto X. Up till now, Moto Maker has been exclusive to AT&T customers. If you want a custom Moto X, you must be willing to stick with AT&T for two years. It was said back then that Moto Maker would be opened up for other carriers as well down the road, and if @evleaks is to be believed, Verizon customers might finally be in luck on November 11th.
The infamous @evleaks has tweeted that Moto Maker will be coming to Verizon on the aforementioned date. If this turns out to be true, Moto X customers on Verizon will be able to customize their smartphone and have it shipped to them. Verizon itself hasn’t confirmed if this rumor is true. There are a number of cosmetic changes that customers can make. They can choose front, back and accent colors, choose storage option and matching accessories as well as add custom engraving. If you’re curious about how Moto Maker works, take a look at our detailed guide on how to use Moto Maker to customize your Moto X.
Moto Maker Reportedly Opens Up For Verizon On November 11th original content from Ubergizmo. 
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This article was written on August 20, 2008 by CyberNet.
Ever since Apple’s App Store launched, we have been waiting for a free app to view Wikipedia articles. Up until today, the only Wikipedia application for the iPhone that we knew of was called iWik, but you had to pay for it. Today Wikipanion launches, it’s nearly perfect, and it’s free.
Wikipanion auto completes as you type which means that you may not have to type out the full search term of what you are looking for. One of the things we like about Wikipedia is that there is a table of contents which makes finding the specific information you’re looking for a little easier. Wikipanion incorporates the table of contents and you’ll find it by tapping the bookmark button at the bottom of the screen (shown in the image below).
Another nice feature is that you can click the button with the arrow at the bottom of the screen, and you’ll be shown a list of the links that are found within the article. It also works in landscape mode, and you can navigate forward and back. The paid application doesn’t even offer this type of navigation.
One feature that we’re not too fond of is the super large text. It may be nice for some people because it’s easier to read, but there needs to be an option to scale the text down or zoom out. On the bright side, everything loads fast which makes viewing Wikipedia articles on the iPhone easy to do, and the photos are an appropriate size as well.
Just remember that you can tap at the top of the screen (by the time) if you want to quickly navigate to the beginning of an article. You may need this feature if you are viewing some of the longer articles.
Get Wikipanion here (iTunes link)
Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com
People have instagrammed and live tweeted from pretty much everywhere. The peak of a mountain, the birth of a baby, the toilet. Users don’t seem to crave permission. But somehow the idea for a social media-themed hotel keeps coming up
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New Smoked Bacon Doritos from Frito-Lay Japan are a limited edition flavor from the firm’s Doritos Gourmet line that’s due to be discontinued on October 31st… now THAT’s frightening! In related news, Japanese snackers enjoy gourmet Doritos while you can only sit there and drool, Bubba.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
