New Samsung Ativ Book 9 Style Laptop Might Come With Faux Leather Finish

New Samsung Ativ Book 9 Style Laptop Might Come With Faux Leather Finish

We saw Samsung opt for a faux leather finish in the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1, which were released earlier this year. It feels as if leather has been used on the back of these devices, and there’s stitching along the borders to give it an additional oomph factor, it certainly isn’t real leather but the imitation doesn’t look so bad either. If a rumor coming out of Korea is to be believed, Samsung might go for the same finish in its upcoming Ativ Book 9 Style laptop.

(more…)

  • Follow: Computers, , , ,
  • New Samsung Ativ Book 9 Style Laptop Might Come With Faux Leather Finish original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Sprint Chairman Approaching Banks To Secure Funding For T-Mobile Acquisition

    Sprint Chairman Approaching Banks To Secure Funding For T Mobile Acquisition

    It was rumored recently that Sprint is interested in acquiring T-Mobile, having Magenta’s user base and infrastructure onboard would allow Sprint to launch a much more effective competition against rivals Verizon and AT&T. While AT&T pursued its own buyout bid for T-Mobile, it could get through due to regulatory concerns. It remains to be seen how far Sprint is able to go in this rumored bid for T-Mobile, but apparently its Chairman, who also happens to be the CEO of Softbank which purchased Sprint, is meeting to banks to advise and finance the T-Mobile acquisition.

    Masayoshi Son, the gentleman we’re talking about in this article, has discussed financing with banks like Mizuho, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase and Credit Suisse Group, people “familiar with the matter” tell Bloomberg. These are the very same financial institutions that advised and financed SoftBank’s buyout of Sprint. Apparently the chairman and CEO is looking to raise $20 billion, and take control of T-Mobile by paying cash for the 67 percent stake in Magenta that’s owned by Deutsche Telekom. According to the report, while Deutsche Telekom and Sprint haven’t sat down as yet, apparently the former is willing to sell its stake for around $16 billion. According to the sources, discussions with the banks are in initial stages, but so far it appears that financing is available for this deal.

  • Follow: General, , ,
  • Sprint Chairman Approaching Banks To Secure Funding For T-Mobile Acquisition original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Untethered jailbreak released for iOS 7

    Apple's iPhone 5C running iOS 7.

    (Credit: CNET)

    For many iOS 7 users, one of the things missing from the mobile operating system since its release three months has been the ability to jailbreak devices — until now.

    Related stories

    The Evasi0n team announced Sunday morning it had released an untethered jailbreak for devices running iOS 7.0 through 7.0.4. The security bypass gives iPhone, iPod, and iPad owners deeper access to the software on their devices than Apple allows.

    The jailbreak takes 5 minutes to install and works on both OS X and Windows-based machines, according to Evasi0n, which included step-by-step installation instructions. The bypass allows devices to be rebooted without connection to an external device.

    Apple is, of course, expected to eventually fix the exploits Evasi0n is using to jailbreak the company’s device… [Read more]

    Related Links:
    Six things every new phone owner should do first
    Dive on in: Fabien Cousteau and the urge to live under the sea
    Top 10 predictions for the mobile market in 2014
    Nvidia Shield, Qualcomm Toq: Carrying a torch for consumers
    Micropayments, mega angst, and the future of console games

        



    T-Mobile’s Project ‘Houdini’ Will Reportedly Cover ETF Fee For People Switching Carriers

    T Mobiles Project Houdini Will Reportedly Cover ETF Fee For People Switching Carriers

    A couple of days back T-Mobile CEO tweeted that an uncarrier 4.0 announcement is going to be made soon. Throughout this year the carrier has made a number of “uncarrier” announcements which radically changed the way T-Mobile does business. With the first announcement T-Mobile stopped requiring subscribers to sign a conventional two year service contract, it also unveiled its Jump! program which lets them upgrade their smartphones without having to worry about eligibility. Another daring announcement was 2G global unlimited data roaming at no extra cost. Uncarrier 4.0 which is apparently internally referred to as Project Houdini will reportedly cover ETF or early termination fees for people switching over to T-Mobile from other carriers.

    It is claimed that T-Mobile will position this new deal towards families with up to five lines of service, giving them instant credits for the smartphones from their previous carriers that they trade-in. When T-Mobile receives a copy of their final bill, it would issue credit to cover the early termination fees that the other carrier charges. The maximum credit for smartphones is said to be $350 and for feature phones it is said to be $200. While the folks at TmoNews have two sources who claim that Project Houdini exists, no official announcement has been made by T-Mobile as yet. They haven’t even given a hint of what uncarrier 4.0 is. An official announcement is rumored for January 15th, so we’ll just have to wait until then to be absolutely sure.

  • Follow: CellPhones, ,
  • T-Mobile’s Project ‘Houdini’ Will Reportedly Cover ETF Fee For People Switching Carriers original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    People Are More Scared of Hacking than Tracking

    People Are More Scared of Hacking than Tracking

    According to a November survey of 1,000 voters, people are more creeped out by the possibility of a person or group ascertaining their personal information, than the idea that someone might be following their online movements and habits.

    Read more…


        



    Verizon Galaxy Note 2 Android 4.3 Update Brings Galaxy Gear Support

    Verizon Galaxy Note 2 Android 4.3 Update Brings Galaxy Gear Support

    Over the past couple of weeks the Android 4.3 update has been released for a number of Samsung devices, primarily those that have already been succeeded by newer models. The update is important in the sense that it brings support for the company’s new smartwatch, Galaxy Gear. After having been released for the Sprint and AT&T variants, today Verizon Galaxy Note 2 Android 4.3 update has been released which finally adds support for the smartwatch to Big Red’s version of the popular phablet.

    Apart from support for the smartwatch, this update comes with all of the goodies that users expect from Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. A number of preinstalled applications from Samsung are also included in the update, and so is the Samsung Knox enterprise security suite. The update also makes improvements to the music player, S Voice, camera and more. Verizon Galaxy Note 2 Android 4.3 update weighs in around 700MB, its a hefty download, once you’ll definitely want to start on a strong Wi-Fi connection. Verizon is rolling out the update over the air, by now it should have gone live in almost all regions. Those who haven’t received the update notification as yet on their Galaxy Note 2 units can try manually requesting the update through the “Update” button in the Settings app.

  • Follow: CellPhones, , , ,
  • Verizon Galaxy Note 2 Android 4.3 Update Brings Galaxy Gear Support original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Microsoft’s Early Christmas Present: 20GB Of Free SkyDrive Storage For WP users

    Microsofts Early Christmas Present: 20GB Of Free SkyDrive Storage For WP users

    Christmas is just around the corner and people are busy with shopping and wrapping of gifts that they intend to give out. It is certainly going to be a festive time and even Microsoft has pitched into the holiday festivities. Redmond has sent out an email, which actually comes as a rather early Christmas present. The company is offering 20GB of free SkyDrive storage to people who use Windows Phone devices.

    The email invites Windows Phone owners to activate the 20GB free bonus SkyDrive storage, they have until the end of January to claim this generous gift. It goes without saying that SkyDrive has become a crucial part of Microsoft’s entire ecosystem, and offering free storage only gives people more on an incentive to start using its cloud storage service, while those who already do will no doubt be overjoyed with an additional 20GB of storage in their accounts. Microsoft has been rather generous lately, with regards to offering free SkyDrive storage. It already offers 200GB free for two years with every purchase of its new Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 tablets. The free cloud storage will be good for an entire year. So if you do own a Windows Phone, it would certainly serve your own interest to claim your free 20GB SkyDrive storage.

  • Follow: CellPhones, , ,
  • Microsoft’s Early Christmas Present: 20GB Of Free SkyDrive Storage For WP users original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    This Is What Happens When You Drive Through Three Miles Of Mars

    This Is What Happens When You Drive Through Three Miles Of Mars

    NASA’s Curiosity rover has been on Mars for over a year now, and in the time has traversed nearly three miles. While its wheels are made of high-grade aluminum, they’re not strong enough to last forever. NASA announced this week it was taking an extra-long look at the wheels, and boy are they in rough shape.

    Read more…


        

    Artist Turns a Building into a Giant Rubik’s Cube

    How good are you at solving Rubik’s cubes? I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m particularly bad at it. In fact, I have yet to successfully solve a 3×3 cube and I’ve been trying for five years and counting already.

    If the usual handheld cubes are starting to bore you and you happen to be in Austria, then you might want to drop by the Ars Electronica center in Linz. The building’s facade is actually covered in 1,085 glass panes that are illuminated by 95,000 color-changing LED lights. It has been used by a number of artists as a medium for their work.

    Building Rubiks Cubezoom in

    The latest is Javier Lloret, who turned the building into a game. Specifically, he turned it into a giant Rubik’s cube, and he’s calling it the Puzzle Facade.

    The interface-cube holds electronic components to keep track of rotation and orientation. This data is sent via Bluetooth to a computer that runs the Puzzle Facade designed software. This software changes the lights and color of the large-scale Ars Electronica’s media facade in correlation to the handheld interface-cube.

    Puzzle Facade is made more challenging since the player can only see two sides at a time. However, it’s not really a huge factor since the player can flip and rotate and interface cube.

    The Puzzle Facade is part of Lloret’s thesis for the Interface Culture master program at the University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz.

    [via C|NET]

     

    Time Machines: Apple’s attempt to sell the future at CES

    Welcome to Time Machines, where we offer up a selection of mechanical oddities, milestone gadgets and unique inventions to test out your tech-history skills. In the week’s leading up to the biggest gadget show on Earth, we’ll be offering a special …