Hasta La Gadget!

Thanks to an earlier leaked photo, we caught a glimpse at the purported True Tone flash component for the upcoming iPhone 6 from Apple, and now thanks to new photos that have been obtained by the folks at AppleInsider, additional photos of the iPhone 6’s components have surfaced.

This time around it seems that the component in question is that of the speaker component for the iPhone 6. As you can see in the image above, AppleInsider has compared the alleged component to that of the speakers found in the iPhone 5s and safe to say that the differences are pretty obvious.

We can’t be sure if this will impact the iPhone 6’s audio greatly or if the component had simply been redesigned just to fit into the iPhone 6’s new body. However earlier leaks have revealed that Apple had redesigned the speaker grill of the iPhone 6, so instead of featuring two rows of grills, the iPhone 6 could sport a one-row grill with larger holes.

In any case there’s no way of verifying if the component is even the real deal to begin with, so as is with the case regarding rumors, you should probably take it with a grain of salt for now. In the meantime what do you guys make of the possible redesigned speakers?

Alleged iPhone 6 Speaker Component Caught On Camera

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

A few days ago, Samsung posted a teaser video for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 4. However if you thought that was the only teaser video to come from Samsung, think again as the South Korean tech giant has recently released a handful of new teaser videos. It seems that Samsung is making a pretty big deal out of the S Pen feature of the Galaxy Note 4.

In the new teaser, Samsung shows how creative people and artists have found ways to take advantage of the S Pen feature of the Galaxy Note series. They do not actually mention the Galaxy Note 4, but presumably all of this is alluding to the handset’s impending announcement which has been pegged for the 3rd of September.

Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy Note 4 on the 3rd of December. According to the rumors, the handset will sport a QHD display, support for S Pen, and is also expected to feature a fingerprint sensor similar to that of the Galaxy S5. According to previous rumors, the Galaxy Note 4 could feature the same fingerprint sensor functions but could also sport new functionality at the same time.

In any case if you have a few minutes to spare, you can check out the teaser videos above and below, but be sure to check back with us on the 3rd of September for the official details!

Samsung’s New Galaxy Note 4 Teaser Videos Boasts S Pen Features

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

When it comes to gaming, do you prefer to play mobile games on your smartphone or your tablet? We guess it depends on personal preference since smartphones tend to be more portable, but at the same time tablets with their larger displays makes gaming a bit more engaging.

However according to a recent report from Juniper Research (via Re/code), it seems that they are expecting that tablet gaming will be growing in the future. As it stands, they are estimating that tablet gaming revenue will pull $3.6 billion in 2014 alone, but according to their predictions, they expect tablet gaming revenue to grow to as much as $13.3 billion in 2019.

They claim that that is because our devices are becoming more powerful and are able to store more data, and with mobile broadband starting to become more commonplace, it is expected that more gamers will eventually turn to their tablets for their gaming needs. Juniper Research also states that they expect the smartphone gaming to grow, although the majority of the growth will take place in emerging markets.

In any case what do you guys make of their report? Do you believe that tablet gaming will become the new standard of mobile gaming in the future? Or do you think that smartphone gaming is still the way to go?

Tablet Gaming Revenue To More Than Triple By 2019

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Is everyone in Gaza crazy? Did they deserve what happened to them?

I was flying through the Phoenix airport this summer, stopped for lunch, and found myself sitting next to two men who were loudly discussing the recent Israeli bombing of Gaza. “They deserved what they got.” “Israel should bomb them back to the stone age.” “Gaza is nothing but a den of terrorists.” I quickly figured out that I had to change tables. Besides. This was Arizona and I was in “conceal-carry” central.

So I thought: should we step back and get a wide view of this place. How did Gaza become what it is? And what is it like to live there? The news media hasn’t the patience to explain this and if they did, it might surprise their audiences. No one can deny that Israel has a right to self-defense and it cannot tolerate waves of rockets threatening its cities.

But is there more to the story?

There is:

(1) Refugees. It is little-known that when Israel became a nation in 1948 it expelled about 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. Israeli historians Benny Morris and Ilan Pappé have now overturned the myth that they left voluntarily. This is what some call Israel’s “original sin” in that it pursued ethnic cleansing to redress demographics that were against them. Many Palestinians fled to the West Bank and surrounding Arab nations (and were never allowed to return home). Others fled south to Egypt and the oasis of Gaza. Today Gaza has about 1.7 million people and over half are descendants of these refugees. So, as Cambridge historian Colin Chapman has said, “the rockets that Palestinians have been firing from Gaza have been landing on areas from which their parents and grandparents were driven out in 1948.”

Take Ashkelon. This is an Israeli town about 35km north of Gaza. But wait. In 1948 the town had about 12,000 Arab residents and a thriving textile industry. But during that war it was shelled fiercely by Israel and a forced expulsion pushed all but 1000 Arabs into Gaza. Some slipped back home and they were rounded up and kept in camps until an expulsion order in 1950 removed all but about 20 families. Then most of these people then ended up in Gaza too. And the town? It was repopulated by incoming Jewish families. The Gaza refugees haven’t forgotten this.

(2) Casualties. As of this week (Aug 28) about 2,000 Gaza Palestinians are dead and over 10,000 have been wounded. And on the Israeli side: 67 (mostly) soldiers have died. According to the UN, of these Gaza casualities, 1400 were Palestinian civilians. And of those injured, 3000 were children. 1000 of these children will have life-long disabilities. It is no wonder that we’ve seen UN staff express outrage at what they see. But the UN has taken its own losses. 30 of their Palestinian staff were killed and 11 UNRWA personnel were killed.

This is remarkably disproportional and it explains the limitations of the military arm of Hamas, the ruling government of Gaza. And it makes ludicrous the claim that Hamas could destroy Israel. It also underscores Israel’s world-class military (sustained by U.S. technology and funding) and its effective “Iron Dome” anti-missile defense system which rendered Hamas’ missile-barrages relatively ineffective.

However Israeli bombing of Gaza has been a staple of the region for years. In 2008-09 another bombing campaign (Operation Cast Lead) did the same thing killing 1400 people there. In 2012 (Operation Pillar of Cloud) repeated it (133 killed). And since the election of Hamas in 2005 (and its complete takeover in 2006), Israel has pursued a policy of assassinating Hamas political leaders with rockets and has successfully killed hundreds. But at the same time, it has killed many innocent civilians as well. Which has led to worldwide criticism.

The bottom line: Israel has been actively bombing Gaza for a long time. Of course Israel will argue that these are preemptive strikes on those whom they judge to be terrorists. But many have argued – as in the present war — that the deaths of civilians have crossed a moral line. And besides, who gets to decide that this or that person is a “terrorist” and worthy of assassination?

(3) Conditions on the Ground. Gaza is perhaps one of the worst places to live imaginable. Period. Its population density is one of the world’s highest and its living conditions are shocking. For eight years Israel has had Gaza under a crippling blockade. And it is severe. The problem is that building materials that could reconstruct Gaza can also be used to build tunnels. And so steel, gravel, pipe, concrete, etc. have not come in. But there is more. Israel also limited the importing of food and has been accused of calculating calories in order to keep Gaza’s economy on the brink of collapse. To make life miserable, inexplicably at one point shaving cream and soda were blocked. And chocolate. Chocolate? Most of the tunnels that Israel decries are not “terrorist tunnels” used to attack Israel. They are economic. They sneak in everything from cars to chocolate. I even saw a photo of donkeys coming through the tunnels from Egypt.

But there is more. About 70 percent of the people in Gaza are food dependent. Over 60 percent of the water there is undrinkable. And thanks to the destruction of Gaza City’s only power plant, electricity is off. This means pumping fresh water into the system is a problem as is the removal and treatment of sewage. And this means disease. Lots of it. Unemployment? 45 percent — one of the world’s highest. And the list could go on. Add to all of this the remarkable bombing of population centers recently and you have an environment rife with hopelessness, anger and despair. Exactly the sort of breeding ground for any organization — religious or otherwise — that offers some degree of empowerment and revenge.

(4) The Consequences. I have visited Gaza prior to the current round of fighting. And it is stunning. And it is no surprise that numerous Jewish organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace are leading the way condemning what is happening in what they call “the world’s largest open air prison.” People of conscience don’t just see the rockets flying out of Gaza, they recognize that hope has taken flight as well. As a man there told me: “When you’re already dead, you’re not afraid of dying.” That worldview is a prescription for genuine terrorism.

And perhaps this is the consequence. Conflicts like this reinforce anger. Toxic anger. They simply do not pacify a population. I see photos of children who have been shredded by Israeli shrapnel and I wonder. What will these children be like when they grow up? How does one recover from the traumas they have witnessed? Lesser traumas in the west harm people for the balance of their lives. What happens to a little girl who watches her family cut to pieces by a bomb?

Israel contributed richly to what Gaza is today. And failed Palestinian leadership contributed as well. Even Egypt is complicit. Gaza has been a jointly built horror of unspeakable proportions. Gaza is not a lively neighbor-nation sitting next to Israel who just happens to hate the Jewish state. It is a camp surrounded by an army and threatened regularly one of the world’s elite militaries.

We should expect that militant groups like Hamas will exploit the anger there. I have a feeling that if any of us were born in Gaza we would feel uncontrollable anger. We would find it utterly unacceptable. What if the situation was reversed and Gaza was filled with Jews who were surrounded by an aggressive Arab army and a crushing blockade. Would the world’s reaction be different?

But the real challenge is what happens next. How do we fix Gaza and not simply end the fighting? If we don’t fix it this tragedy will repeat itself in another five years.

Gary M. Burge, Ph.D., is a professor of theology at Wheaton College in Chicago, IL. He writes extensively on the Middle East and has traveled frequently to countries from Iraq to Libya. He is also the author of numerous books and articles on theology as well. His recent publications on Israel/Palestine include Jesus and the Land: The New Testament Challenge to Holy Land Theology (2010) and Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians (2013). www.garyburge.org.

Last time you checked, you carried no credit card balances, had six months of take-home pay saved up in your emergency fund, and had been steadily increasing your retirement contributions every year.

Congratulations! You’re one of the lucky, financially diligent few who have your basic financial security numbers — that is, retirement, credit card debt and emergency savings — under control, and you deserve a big pat on the back. But the big question remains: Now what?

For starters, you should make sure you’ve really met those financial security needs. This means that on top of having six months of net pay saved up in an emergency fund and zero credit card debt, you should also consider being on track to replace about 85 percent of your income in retirement through regular contributions to a retirement account.

If that still sounds like you, that means you’ve likely got a cash stash that you’re trying to figure out a use for. Before you decide to start living a little larger, check out these four ideas for your extra dough from LearnVest Planning Services CFP® David Blaylock. They just might give you some options for smart decisions about your spending and saving.

1. Set New Financial Goals With Timelines
The basic financial security goals are similar for everyone. But beyond that, the plans you have for your money are all yours. What do you need and want in life? What is worth saving for next? Your answers to these questions can help you get started on financial goal-setting, the process by which you figure out which goals to focus on first based on what you want, when you want it.

“We always have goals beyond [basic financial security],” says Blaylock. “It could be college savings. Maybe we’re looking to purchase a home [and need the] down payment. Or maybe it’s saving for something special, like a large trip, a wedding or a new vehicle. Those are some common ones I see. Some people even want to save up to start their own business. There’s always a next-in-line goal.”

RELATED: Checklist: I Want to Set Financial Goals for Myself

Chances are you’ll find yourself making a list of multiple goals, and to help figure out which of them you want to start saving toward first, determine a timeline for each. For example, your goal could be saving at least $30,000 for a down payment on a home in the next five years, or saving $5,000 for a vacation in two years.

“You want to determine, ‘What is your target date for that goal?'” says Blaylock. “Timing does have an impact on how much of our resources we want to devote to it.” In other words, if you have more time to save for a goal such as college for your kids, that goal might be less of a priority than saving for the house you want to buy in the next few years — unless saving for your child’s college tuition is, far and away, the most important financial goal you have.

Once you’ve determined what your savings priorities are, you can figure out how you want to allocate the dollars you have left over at the end of the month. And it’s usually better to save for more than one goal at a time, Blaylock suggests.

RELATED: 5 Money Mistakes Even Good Savers May Make

“You may decide that putting all $400 per month [that you have left over in your budget] into a particular goal is important, and there’s nothing wrong with that — but then you’re giving up on other goals,” says Blaylock. “It’s usually better to have a balance.”

Also keep in mind that you may have new life circumstances — such as the birth of a child, day care, or taking care of an elderly parent — that could change your financial situation. If that’s the case, you may need to reevaluate some of the goals you thought you had and rework your budget. Working with a financial planner can help you come up with a strategy for reallocating your extra funds or help you find more room in your budget in anticipation of any big life changes.

2. Invest With Purpose
The word “investing” often conjures images of buying shares in, say, a brand-new tech start-up to see if it hits the big time — and can result in a big payout for you. But the reality is most of us probably don’t have money to throw into high-risk ventures, says Blaylock. “I always hate investing without a goal,” he adds. “In my world, there is no ‘play money.'”

So if you’re looking for other ways to invest your money beyond retirement, you should stop and think about what you want to grow your money for, what level of risk you’re comfortable with and the vehicles you have at your disposal — not all investing has to be done through a brokerage account. For example, you might save for college by choosing to invest in a 529 plan.

If you do opt to open a taxable brokerage account, you should consider investing only toward a goal that is five or more years away. If you intend to pull your money out sooner than that, a brokerage account may not be worth the risk because you may be forced to sell when the market is down — or you may need to put off your goal until the market goes up again.

RELATED: Quiz: Should You Be Investing?

How much risk you can afford to take is largely based on the timeline for your goal. “If we’re talking about college savings, investment makes perfect sense for the future. If it’s a goal to start your own business, investing doesn’t make much sense,” says Blaylock.

For those who work with a financial planner, consider talking to him or her about your risk preferences, time horizon and the specific goal you’re trying to reach so you can both come up with an amount of money you’re comfortable setting aside and investing each month.

3. Reward Yourself … but Don’t Go Overboard
All good behavior deserves to be rewarded, so once your basics are covered, treating yourself to a little something — such as a new iPad or a pair of designer jeans — can be used as a motivator for continuing down your smart financial path.

After all, the “extra” money you have left over when you don’t spend more than you earn — what Blaylock calls “free cash flow” — can be spent or saved at your discretion, so “it would not be terrible to use some free cash flow to treat yourself once in a while,” he says. That said, the important thing is to make sure these little splurges don’t occur every month, so that they don’t get in the way of making progress on your money goals. In fact, consider using the splurge in tandem with the new savings goals you’ve set for yourself — when you’ve set aside your target amount three months in a row, feel free to celebrate with something special, within reason.

The other category of extra money, by the way, is a windfall, such as cash you receive from a tax refund, bonus or gift. This windfall could be another source of splurge money if you don’t want to use up your free cash flow to treat yourself. “With any windfall, we recommend taking 10 percent and doing something fun and using the other 90 percent to pay down debt or fund another financial priority, like additional retirement savings,” says Blaylock.

RELATED: How to Splurge Right

4. Do Good by Donating
Giving money to a cause that resonates with you, whether it’s protecting the environment or supporting your neighborhood shelter, reaps plenty of emotional rewards. It can also help you out come April 15, as the donations you’ve made by the end of the previous calendar year could offer up a tax break.

“I think [donating to charity] can be a great way for clients to spend some of their money. In my eyes, this is part of your flex spending,” or the part of your budget that you devote to variable expenses after you’ve taken care of your monthly fixed costs, Blaylock says. “This is no different than spending it on a new handbag, from a budgeting standpoint. However, I would argue the reward is much greater, and could be tax deductible.” And if you want to go the extra mile and make charitable contributions a monthly part of your budget, you can also consider building this into your fixed expenses, just like other bills you pay every month.

Just note that there are IRS rules for how much you can deduct and what types of organizations you can contribute to in order to get the benefits. The agency offers tips for making charitable contributions here.

RELATED: Money Mic: Why I Give 10% of My Salary to Charity

This post originally appeared on LearnVest.

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LearnVest Planning Services is a registered investment adviser and subsidiary of LearnVest, Inc. that provides financial plans for its clients. Information shown is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended as investment, legal or tax planning advice. Please consult a financial adviser, attorney or tax specialist for advice specific to your financial situation. Unless specifically identified as such, the people interviewed in this piece are neither clients, employees nor affiliates of LearnVest Planning Services, and the views expressed are their own. LearnVest Planning Services and any third parties listed in this message are separate and unaffiliated and are not responsible for each other’s products, services or policies.