This week the final member of the Guardians of the Galaxy has been announced, bringing Marvel Comics’ high-flying space-bound superhero movie forward for 2014 with Vin Diesel as lead character … Continue reading
Sony’s second-generation SmartWatch may not have impressed the critics, but those lukewarm feelings haven’t deterred the company from making another wearable. The FCC has revealed that Sony is testing a “BT Wrist Notifier” with the model number …
Samsung has evidently pushed into the business market this year, trying to rope in more enterprise customers, who have traditionally opted for BlackBerry smartphones. The trend in shifting though as major companies opt for BYOD environments, which is why Apple and Samsung have been trying hard to capture what ground BlackBerry has lost. The Korean company launched its Knox security suite earlier this year which basically creates a “container” that runs a separate execution environment for apps and data on top of Android. Therefore any apps run outside of the container can’t access their data. A team of researchers at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel claim that they have found a “serious vulnerability” in Samsung Knox.
To put it in a nutshell, the newly discovered vulnerability would allow a hacker to access data in the container, which basically eliminates the entire premise that Knox is built upon. Apparently the vulnerability can be used to track emails, as well as monitor communications and steal saved data. The threat is said to exist on all smartphones based on the Knox architecture. Samsung has commented on the report, saying that it is looking into the claims made by the researchers. The company says it has found out through initial investigation that this vulnerability isn’t as severe as the researchers claim it to be.
Researchers Find ‘Serious Vulnerability’ In Samsung Knox Security Suite original content from Ubergizmo. 
     |
It’ll never happen again, you said; this year will be different, you said. And yet, here we are—mere hours to Christmas day and you have yet to finish your holiday shopping. For shame. Fortunately for you and everyone on your gift list—and just like with everything else in life—the internet has the answer to your problems.
| |
There has been a lot of speculation about Samsung’s highly anticipated Tizen handset. Already dubbed by the company as a “simple alternative to Android,” Samsung is yet to publicly release a device that’s powered by the Tizen OS that it has built in collaboration with Intel. Recent rumors suggest that Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has been pushing Samsung to release its Tizen smartphone soon, and it appears that the carrier’s variant of the first Samsung Tizen smartphone has gone through the FCC, receiving approval for its network radios.
Carrying model number SC-03F, the smartphone seems to be similar in design with the Galaxy S4. There’s no word about what specifications it touts under the hood, but its expected that they’ll at least be similar to what’s found in the Galaxy S3. Samsung has already confirmed that it is going to unveil the first Tizen devices in February a day before the Mobile World Congress 2014 takes place. Samsung says it will give attendees an “exclusive sneak preview” of the devices. But still it stays mum on when the public can finally expect these devices in the market. If one were to guess, it may perhaps happen towards the end of the first half of 2014. [Image via FCC]
NTT DoCoMo’s Tizen Handset Goes Through The FCC original content from Ubergizmo. 
| |
Apple sees education as one of the key markets where the iPad can play a major role. We’ve already seen school districts in the U.S. dole out free iPads to students in order to help them with their education. Turkey has a similar project called FATIH which aims to modernize the country’s classrooms by replacing traditional blackboards with devices such as tablets, including the much sought after iPads. As per local media reports, Apple CEO Tim Cook and several other top executives are scheduled to travel to the country in February 2014 to meet with the President of Turkey, Abdullah Gül.
Cook and his entourage will be going to Turkey after the country’s Prime Minister paid a visit to Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California earlier this year. The FATIH program is expected to run for about four years, initially the country aims to purchase some 10.6 million tablets followed by an additional cache of 2 to 2.5 million iPads. Overall, the deal is expected to cost around $4 billion. In Turkey, Cook and Co. are also expected to stop by the company’s first retail store in that country, located at the Zorlu Center in Istanbul. The store is said to be quite similar to Apple’s iconic Fifth Avenue store in New York.
Apple Executives Rumored To Meet Turkey’s President As $4B iPad Deal Looms original content from Ubergizmo. 
| |
Christmas has certainly come early for LG G2 owners in Korea. Reports coming in from inside the company reveal that LG G2 Android 4.4 KitKat update is finally being released there. A couple of week’s back, the company’s Korean website had revealed that the update will be released within this month. The update is definitely being rolled out in phases, so it could still take a lot of time before its available in the U.S. Users across the border in Canada will receive the update towards the end of the first quarter of 2014, which runs from January through March.
LG released the G2 smartphone earlier this year. Its a powerful smartphone with an impressive camera that received rave reviews, it is considered to be one of the most powerful Android devices available in the market right now. The device seems to have performed well in the market, particularly in lucrative markets such as North America and Europe. Android 4.4 KitKat being released for the G2 today in Korea is said to weigh in around 637.39MB, Korean carrier KT is apparently releasing it sequentially. Though it hasn’t been clarified in the local media report if the carrier is basing the release on model numbers or date of purchase.
LG G2 Android 4.4 Update Starts Rolling Out In Korea original content from Ubergizmo. 
| |
Artists generally like to sign their work. Painters, sculptors, poets, all leave their name as a mark of pride. But when your brush is a scalpel and your canvas is the human body, it’s probably best to avoid that urge. One British surgeon is finding that out, after being suspended for branding his initials on a patient’s liver. These ain’t cattle, doc!
| |
A company like Apple is in the position of picking up a lot of companies, and we’ve seen many acquisitions happen this year. As many as 15 companies were acquired by Apple in 2013, out of which only ten have been revealed. Apple almost always has a boilerplate response when asked about acquisitions, the company says that it acquires smaller companies from time to time and doesn’t disclose for what purpose they were acquired. Multiple reports indicate that two of the five mystery acquisitions include mapping firm BroadMap and an Evernote rival called Catch, both acquisitions are said to have taken place in the last few months.
Apple has made a number of acquisitions this year that will help it to improve its mapping features, Embark was one such company. BroadMap offers a variety of different mapping solutions and its likely that they have been brought onboard to help improve Apple Maps. However, AllThingsD reports that Apple hasn’t purchased BroadMap, rather the acquisition has been centered around the company’s technology and team, BroadMap itself and its name have not been acquired. This isn’t the case with Catch, which used to a popular cross platform application for taking notes, similar to Evernote. It was shut down in August and while many wondered why that happened after a new product called Catch Team was announced merely a month back, that’s because it was acquired.
Two Of Apple’s Five Mystery Acquisitions In 2013 Revealed original content from Ubergizmo. 
| |
We all have at least one person in our lives who says they have everything they could want when it comes to holiday gift-giving items. As their friend, you still want to show them that they mean something to you, so you write a card or try and think of a swell gift even though they didn’t want anything. More often than not, they already have all the practical items they could ever ask for, as well as the frivolous stuff.
The best way to go at that point is usually by way of joke-gifting. It doesn’t need to be useful, because it’s only meant for a momentary laugh. So if you still want to hand them something with wrapping paper on it, why not give them the Gift of Nothing? Keep in mind that I’m not talking about just any old nothing either. This is some clean-cut, professional-looking packaging that contains a big, heaping helping of nada, zip, and zilch.
It will work wonderfully as a gift meant only for a momentary giggle, but you have to have enough money to think $6 is worth this sort of joke. The item itself costs less than a dollar, but shipping is what jacks up the price. The only purpose it will serve is as a conversation starter on your bookshelf, but it will have fond memories attached to it. Well, assuming you have the right connotation when giving it.
Available for purchase on Amazon, found via Technabob
[ When all else fails, give the Gift of Nothing copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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.
