NextPowerUP NEWS

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Xiaomi Redmi Pro will most likely become official at the upcoming July 27 event in Beijing. Over the last few days, the company released several teasers, hinting at the possible specifications. A new set of details has leaked online, confirming the key specs and features.

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With New Consoles Incoming, Microsoft's Gaming Revenue Drops 9%
Revenue from the Xbox and gaming division at Microsoft dropped 9% year-over-year. During the second quarter of this year, Microsoft reported a decline of $152 million, which has been attributed to lower Xbox One sale prices and a lack of sales due to the upcoming Xbox One S.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Goes On Pre-Order, Official Renders Leak Online
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will become official in less than two weeks and there is very little that we don't know about it. Not much is to say about its pricing and availability, as those are the last things we find out. Today, the phablet has went on pre-order in Dubai.

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First Human CRISPR Trial To Begin In China
Chinese scientists will test the CRISPR gene editing technique in humans for the first time. A team at Sichuan University's West China Hospital (Chengdu) wants to see how altered cells can be used in the treatment of lung cancer. Tests are set to begin in August.

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Samsung Responds To Huawei Lawsuit With Its Own
Huawei initiated legal action against Samsung in May and Samsung has responded by filing its own lawsuit. In Huawei's case, it claims some of its 4G wireless technology patents have been infringed upon and in Samsung's lawsuit, the company alleges Huawei infringed on six patents.

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Rocket League's Console Cross-Play Is Ready, Waiting On Sony's Approval
Once Sony provides its approval, cross-play between the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will be available in Rocket League. Psyonix, the game's developer, says the feature is completely ready to launch. Cross-play in the game already exists between the Xbox One and PC.

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Redbox Testing Its Second Streaming Service, First One Failed
Redbox is still trying to enter the streaming industry despite its failure with Redbox Instant. The company says it is working on a "transactional digital VOD and EST offering" that will complement its kiosk rentals. It appears users will pay for individual digital rentals.

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Pandora Turns Down $3.4 Billion Acquisition By Liberty Media
Liberty Media offered to buy Pandora for $3.4 billion ($15 per share), but the music streaming company refused, reports the Wall Street Journal. Pandora has a large user base of 80 million individuals and it could fit well in Liberty Media's portfolio.

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LG Creating Flexible Phone, Release Planned By 2017
Samsung isn't the only major smartphone company working on a flexible phone. LG is reportedly creating its own handset with a flexible display and it could appear on the market as early as 2017. Some reports claim LG is already setting up a factory for the displays.

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Apple Car Release Date May Now Be 2021
Apple's electric vehicle from its Project Titan program has reportedly been delayed, with the car likely to ship in 2021 rather than 2020. The Information reports computing power limitations and recent changes in leadership pushed the car's anticipated availability date back.

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Facebook's Internet Delivering 'Aquila' Drone Finishes First Flight
A solar-powered internet delivery drone from Facebook completed its first test flight in Arizona last month, Facebook has revealed. The Aquila drone was tested at a low-altitude and the trial run was so successful, it ended up running for 90 minutes rather than 30.

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Police Ask For 3D Mold Of Dead Man's Finger To Unlock iPhone
Law enforcement in Michigan have requested the creation of a 3D-printed mold of a murder victim's finger to unlock their iPhone. The police asked Anil Jain, a computer science professor at Michigan State University, to build the mold. Jain's team produced ten plastic fingers.

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Trailer Shows 12 Minutes Of Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare Campaign
Infinity Ward premiered a new trailer for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare during Comic-Con this week and it includes 12 minutes of gameplay from the campaign. The footage is from the Black Sky piece that takes place early in Infinite Warfare. The sequence occurs in Geneva.

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Verizon Cutting Off Unlimited Users After 100 GB
Verizon's plan to end an unlimited user's service if they are using "extraordinary" amounts of data was reported earlier this week, but we didn't know how much data Verizon considered "extraordinary." Now, Ars Technica has confirmed the limit is 100 GB.

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Advertisers Can Now Use Spotify's Listening, Demographic Data
Spotify is using its data on people's music listening to improve the platform for advertisers. The service says it has opened up its ad platform so that businesses can target users in all 59 markets based on age, gender, music genre, and playlist content.

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WikiLeaks Complains About Twitter's Banning Of Users, Threatens To Create Competitor
WikiLeaks has jumped on the #FreeMilo train to protest Twitter's allegedly biased banning of users like Milo Yiannopoulos, a conservative journalist. In tweeting at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, WikiLeaks made a number of complaints and then said it would build an alternative site.

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Snowden Designs iPhone Mod That Protects Against Monitoring
NSA leaker Edward Snowden has designed a modified iPhone that can protect you from monitoring and warn of surveillance. It is attached to your phone's SIM card slot to monitor its wireless activity. It'll let you know when your phone is transmitting despite being off.

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Last VCR Maker Soon Ending Production
The final VCR maker in the world, Funai, is ending production later this month. Due to the regularly declining VCR market and the difficulty in sourcing components, Funai does not believe it is worth producing them. The company's VCRs were sold in the US under the Sanyo brand.

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Google Play Books Improves Comics With 'Bubble Zoom'
Reading digital comics will now be a lot easier with the addition of Bubble Zoom to Google Play Books. The feature, which was introduced at Comic-Con, finds and boosts the size of speech bubbles as you read. You no longer have to pinch and zoom like you would in other apps.

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PlayStation VR Includes 226-inch Cinema Mode
Watching non-VR movies and playing non-VR games inside a virtual reality environment is possible using PlayStation VR's cinema mode, which can place you in front of a 226-inch display. For people who really love big screens, this mode gives you a very large display.

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According to the Wall Street Journal and a person familiar with direct knowledge of the situation, Verizon has agreed to purchase Yahoo's core business and some real estate for $4.8 billion. The deal is expected to be announced early Monday, before the market opens.

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Two Huawei Handsets Passes Through FCC, Could Be The Nexus 6P Successor
Both HTC and Huawei are rumoured to be working on new Nexus devices. HTC-made Nexus smartphone has already surfaced online and today two Huawei handsets passed through the FCC, which are believed to be the successor to the popular Nexus 6P smartphone.

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Prisma Now Available On Android
There are a lot of photo-editing tools with which you can manipulate the images and make them nicer, but the creator of Prisma Alexey Moiseenkov had something else on mind. Instead of manipulating the image itself, the Prisma turns your photo into paintings.

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T-Mobile To Start Charging Upgrade Fees Next Month
There are five top carriers in the United States and all of them have their advantages and disadvantages. Verizon and AT&T hold the top spot, while T-Mobile and Sprint are lurking from behind. However, T-Mobile could lose potential customers with a new strategy.

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HTC Desire 530 Is Now Available In The US
Starting next week, HTC Desire 530 will be available for purchase in the United States. The HTC's affordable Android smartphone will cost $179 and can be purchased from the company's website in Sprinkle White color. The same handset is also available from T-Mobile.

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New Details Confirm Galaxy Note 7's Rear Camera And RAM Amount
Apart from having a few key features for business users, the upcoming Galaxy Note 7 flagship phablet is very similar to the current Galaxy S7 lineup according to new details. In fact, it is almost identical as the Galaxy S7 Edge in terms of design and specifications.

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Oppo Sends Out Invites For August 3 Event
The upcoming Oppo F1s isn't the best-kept secret. We already know that Oppo plans to announce the smartphone next month, but we have learned now that the company has started sending out press invites for the unveiling event, which is set to take place in India on August 3.

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New iPhone Case Helps You Catch Pokemons And Is Available For Free
There are not many people who haven't heard of Pokemon Go. In less than a month, the game has become extremely popular that we are now starting to see new accessories for it. The new case for iPhone created by John Cleaver helps you catch the Pokemons.

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Google Promises To Fix Nexus 5 Volume Control Bug With Next Update
Earlier this month, Nexus 5 owners have received a small software update with version number MOB30P. While it brought new security improvements, the update also managed to mess up smartphone's volume controls, preventing users from adjusting the volume during a call.

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New LG Handset Coming To Verizon
LG has had a rough couple of months since its flagship LG G5 was not well received. The company already started restructuring its mobile division, but before that finalizes, a new handset is expected to be launched in the United States, precisely on Verizon.

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ASUS To Raise Prices In The UK By 9%
Following the depreciation of the British pound because of the Brexit vote, some companies have raised their UK prices. After Dell and HP, who reevaluated their product prices in the UK, the third top PC vendor ASUS has now also announced that it plans to raise UK prices.

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Google Releases New Algorithm That Makes Google Play App Updates Smaller
Most Android app updates are not big, but when you have 10+ updates, the amount of downloaded data easy climbs up. Since users are worried about storage and mobile data, Google has now announced a new delta algorithm that reduces Android app update size.

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Xiaomi To Ship Only 300,000 Mi Notebooks By The End Of 2016
Xiaomi's first ever notebook could be quite a success, but the company doesn't want any unnecessary risk. Although the Mi notebook comes with impressive hardware at very low price, Xiaomi will ship only 300,000 Mi notebooks this year, instead of the rumoured 1 million mark.

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Apple To Implement New Security Features With iOS 10
When you run out of cellular data, most of search for any open network. Most of the time nothing happens, but sometimes things don't go the way we planned. To prevent these problems, with new iOS 10, Apple will implement a "Security Recommendation" notification.

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Verizon Is Most Likely Buyer Of Yahoo's Core Business
Following months of speculations, we are finally close to find out the buyer of Yahoo. According to sources familiar with the matter, Verizon has emerged as the most likely buyer of Yahoo. The deal is worth about $5 billion and could be announced in the next few days.

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BlackBerry Rome Spotted On Geekbench, Another High-End BB Phone
If BlackBerry Priv is too expensive for you and you are waiting for next-gen BlackBerry phone, then you will have a chance to choose from three smartphones. The company plans to release three new smartphones, codenamed Hamburg or (Neon), Argon and Mercury.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 7 To Have Smaller Battery Than Galaxy S7 Edge
There is very little we don't know about the upcoming Galaxy Note 7 phablet and one of those things is the battery size. While the handset is very similar to the Galaxy S7 edge in terms of design with slightly bigger size, the Note 7 could actually end up with a smaller battery.

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MSI Is The World's Largest Gaming Notebook Vendor
We have recently reported that ASUS plans to put more focus on its gaming notebook business, which became the main source of consolidated operating profit for ASUS, and now we know why. MSI has just surpassed ASUS and has become the largest gaming notebook vendor.

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Apple To Announce iPhone 7 In The Week Of September 12, New Videos Leak Online
As we are approaching the official announcement which is still a few weeks away, more information about the upcoming iPhones is leaking out. Two new videos are now out and claim to show us how the Apple iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus/Pro will look like.

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Cyanogen Suddenly Fires 20% Of Its Workforce, Might Focus Only On Apps
Cyanogen earned its popularity with the custom Android ROMs that featured a cleaner and faster user interface compared to OEMs solutions. That has resulted in several partnerships, but it looks like days of glory have passed and the company is now struggling to stay profitable.

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[NextPowerUP]

Only hours after we heard rumours that LeEco will either buy Vizio or make a big investment in the TV brand, the Chinese company has managed to close a deal on Vizio and purchase the company for $2 billion. This comes weeks after LeEco became Coolpad's largest shareholder.

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ZTE To Launch Rose Gold Nubia Z11 Tomorrow
Gold or Rose Gold are one of the most wanted colors nowadays and almost every flagship phone is available in those two colors. ZTE's Nubia Z11 is currently available in all but Rose Gold color, but that is going to change with the next flash sale that is scheduled for tomorrow.

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Apple TV Gets Adobe Lightroom App
Adobe has today announced that its Lightroom app is now available for Apple TV, so users can enjoy their photos and share them across multiple devices. At the moment, the app doesn't support editing, so you can only start a slideshow, or stop to zoom in and pan around.

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Nintendo NX Is Reportedly A Tablet With Detachable Controllers
Nintendo's upcoming gaming device, the NX, is focused on portable gaming and it uses a tablet form factor. Eurogamer reports the NX is essentially a tablet with detachable controllers. It has a TV base station and relies on NVIDIA Tegra graphics. The NX has a built-in display.

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OnePlus 3 In Soft Gold Now Available In The US For $399
As promised, OnePlus has started selling a new color option of its OnePlus 3 smartphone in the United States. The Soft Gold color version has the same price as the Graphite variant, which is $399, and is available for purchase from the company's website.

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Twitter For Android Receives Night Mode
Twitter for Android now comes with a night mode design that should reduce eye strain and make it easier to browse the app, particularly later in the day. The design is optional, but it'll likely be enabled by many users given it does make the app look nice.

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New Samsung Gear VR Headset Listed Online, Costs €90
With the upcoming launch of Galaxy Note 7, Samsung is also planning to release a new Gear VR that will be compatible with the flagship phablet. The VR headset is expected to be officially announced any time now, since they are already available at some retailers.

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US Government Wants An End To SMS Authentication
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a new draft of its Digital Authentication Guideline that calls for SMS two-factor authentication to be abandoned. "In future releases of this guidance," SMS authentication will "no longer be allowed."

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BlackBerry Officially Announces Its Second Android Smartphone
All of a sudden, BlackBerry decided to announce its second Android-running smartphone. Dubbed the BlackBerry DTEK50, the handset is advertised as the world's most secure smartphone and is now available for pre-order through BlackBerry's official webshop.

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T-Mobile Exempts Apple Music, Others From Data Usage
Through an update to T-Mobile's Binge On offer, Apple Music will no longer count against your data allotment. John Legere, T-Mobile's CEO, announced Music's addition to the program and also announced the same for ABC, DISH Anywhere, Fox Now, and Nat Geo TV.

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Second Apple Watch Expected In The Fall
A second-generation Apple Watch will be available this fall, says DigiTimes. It'll likely be released in September or October, based on supply chain information. Demand isn't looking good for the smartwatch since various Apple suppliers have reported "rather conservative orders."

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Xbox One S Halo, Madden 17 Bundles Come Out August 23
Bundles including the Xbox One S and either Madden 17 or Halo will be available beginning August 23. The Madden NFL 17 bundle comes with a 1 TB console, a digital download of the game, seven Madden Ultimate Team Pro Packs, and a month of EA Access for $349.

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AT&T CEO Leading Robocall 'Strike Force' To Help FCC
AT&T and specifically its CEO Randall Stephenson will lead a "strike force" that aims to combat robocalls. The FCC believes wireless carriers like AT&T should offer free call blocking to their users and now Stephenson will lead an organization based around fighting those calls.

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Google Omnitone Adds Immersive 3D Audio To VR Content
Google Omnitone, a new open source project, aims to enhance web-based virtual reality through the addition of 3D audio. With the technology, VR experiences are more realistic since the sound coming through your headphones will change based on your orientation.

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Opera Mini On Android Gets Updated, Brings New Download Feature
Opera has just launched a new version of its browser for Android, which brings one new feature that users who like watching videos will definitely appreciate. The new Opera Mini brings the ability to download video from social media or other video platforms to your phone.

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Oculus Update Paves Way For Room-Scale VR
The Oculus Rift will soon offer a complete alternative to the HTC Vive's room-scale VR. An update has added support for four tracking sensors to Oculus Home. As it stands, you can't buy enough sensors to take advantage of the support (the Rift only comes with 1).

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All 2017 Ford Vehicles Will Offer CarPlay, Android Auto
Ford is bringing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to all of its 2017 vehicle models through the Sync 3 infotainment system. The Sync 3 will be offered for both Ford and Lincoln vehicles, which comes out to 22 models. Only a few 2017 models are available right now.

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Remix OS For PC Gets Marshmallow And Various New Features
Chinese startup Jide has released a first official version of Remix OS that is based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Besides updating it to Marshmallow, the company implemented various new features along with support for new NVIDIA and AMD GPUs, and other x86 PCs and notebooks.

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China's LeEco Trying To Buy, Invest In Vizio
LeEco, a Chinese tech company, is reportedly in acquisition talks with Vizio. Multiple reports state LeEco will either buy Vizio or make a large investment in the TV brand. Neither company has discussed the talks, but they are set to hold a joint press conference on July 27.

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Audi Creates Subsidiary Just For Autonomous Vehicles
Audi has established a subsidiary company dedicated to autonomous vehicle technology, demonstrating the company's interest in making self-driving cars. The subsidiary, SDS Company, was revealed by CEO Rupert Stadler during an interview with Stuttgarter Zeitung (Germany).

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[NextPowerUP]

LeEco isn't taking things easy and only a month after it has purchased 11% more shares of telecommunications equipment company Coolpad for $135 million and has become the largest shareholder, the company is already working on their first smartphone .

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Samsung Gear S3 With Rotary Bezel To Be Announced At IFA 2016
Samsung will finally announce a successor of the popular Gear 2 smartwatch. At the upcoming IFA 2016 trade show, the company will allegedly announce the Gear S3 smartwatch that is expected to keep the round shape of its predecessor, but with several improvements.

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ASUS Updates ROG G20CB Compact Gaming PC With NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GPU
ASUS has just announced that its powerful, compact gaming desktop computer has been updated with NVIDIA's GTX 10 Series graphics card. The G20CB packs a full-fledged NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card that will be powerful enough for almost all gamers.

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Cosmos Rings, First Apple Watch RPG, Now Available
Square Enix has released the first RPG for the Apple Watch. Called Cosmos Rings, the game utilizes the device's components (e.g. its Digital Crown and pedometer) to make the gameplay more interesting. Cosmos Rings was revealed last week and it costs $6.

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Stickers Now Live For All Twitter Users
Everyone on Twitter can now use stickers to alter their photos. Stickers were revealed last month and now they're rolling out for everyone. You can browse through a ton of emoji and other designs to find items you would like to place on your pictures.

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Video Support Coming Soon To Prisma
To make the most of a great start, Prisma is now working on adding new features to its photo editing app. At the moment, the app is only working with photos, but according to Prisma's co-founder Alexei Moiseenkov,the app will soon support video clips.

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US To Receive Its First Offshore Wind Farm
Offshore wind farms have already been established in a few countries and now the US is going to receive its first. Deepwater Wind is working with GE Renewable Energy to build a wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island's Block Island. It'll be attached to the grid this year.

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Nexus Marlin Phone Now Revealed In New Render
Google plans to launch two Nexus phones this year that are going to be made by HTC, but the lineup is still a big mystery as Huawei is also allegedly involved in next-gen Nexus lineup. The phones are codenamed Marlin and Sailfish, and the latest render shows the new Nexus Marlin.

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LG Working On V10 Follow-Up
A successor to the LG V10 is in the works and it'll be available soon enough to impact the current quarter. While talking about its mobile division, LG noted "the launch of the new V series" would be coming up and that means we can expect a V10 follow-up.

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Xiaomi Mi 4i Explodes While Charging, Xiaomi Promises To Replace It
It is not the first time we have heard about exploded smartphone, especially while charging. However, a new incident that involves Xiaomi smartphone has been caught on video. According to the owner, he was using the phone while it was charging, before it exploded.

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Court Rules Facebook Must Refund Child Purchases
If your child makes a purchase on Facebook, the social network will provide a refund. A California court has ruled the company is responsible for refunds when purchases are made by minors. The case began in 2012 when a couple parents sued the social network.

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Hyperloop One Opening Its First Manufacturing Facility
One of the first manufacturing plants dedicated to the Hyperloop has been established by Hyperloop One. With the facility, a full working prototype called the DevLoop will be constructed and it should be ready for testing in 2017. The facility is 105,000 square feet.

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First Official Galaxy Note 7 Video Ad Is Out; New Images Of Flat Version Appears Online
Samsung Mobile's Korean division has published the first official TV ad for the upcoming Galaxy Note 7. The flagship phablet has starred in a short video that confirms some of the features, including fingerprint scanner of other various unlocking methods.

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Using A VPN In UAE Is Illegal, Fines Can Be $545,000
Using a VPN to access blocked sites in the United Arab Emirates could land you in jail and result in a fine as large as $545,000. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE, has passed new federal laws covering IT crimes, among which is the mere use of a VPN.

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Snapdragon 830 Will Be Built Using 10nm Process, Scheduled For 2017
Qualcomm's next-generation chipset that will be used in majority flagship mobile devices should start rolling out in the first quarter of 2017. Apparently Qualcomm's CEO has confirmed that the Snapdragon 830 is taped out and is going to be available early next year.

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Meizu Smartwatch Leaks In Alleged Photos, Could Be Unveiled Next Month
Meizu has started sending out press invites for an event that will take place next month, on August 10. The envelope has an E printed on the front, which doesn't reveal much, but people are now reporting that the E signifies a new product launch and that it could be a smartwatch.

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iPhone 7 Preorders To Begin September 9
We now have a pretty solid timeline for the iPhone 7's launch and release. According to @evleaks, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will go up for preorder on September 9, with sales beginning September 16. No announcement date was provided in this leak.

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LG Mobile Reports $132 Million Loss
LG as a whole had a fairly good Q2 2016, but the company's mobile division posted a $132 million loss that can be partially attributed to low G5 sales. Granted, that loss is a 35% improvement compared to what LG Mobile experienced in the first quarter.

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Uber Will Officially Be Legal In China This Year
Uber and similar transportation services will be operating legally in China come November 2016. New regulations from the country's transport ministry allow Uber, Didi Chuxing, and others to operate, albeit with certain restrictions pertaining to vehicles and drivers.

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Samsung Reports High Profits, Galaxy S7 Sales
Strong sales of the Galaxy S7 contributed to a very good Q2 for Samsung. The South Korean company reported $7.22 billion in operating profit (up 18% year-on-year) and $45.2 billion in revenue. With those results, Q2 2016 was Samsung's most profitable quarter in two years.

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[NextPowerUP]

The US' Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has served Facebook with a notice of deficiency that values the company's unpaid taxes between $3 billion and $5 billion. An ongoing investigation by the IRS came up with that figure while looking at Facebook's 2010 transfer of assets.

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Yahoo Algorithm Makes Finding Online Abuse Easier
Yahoo has built a machine learning-based system capable of accurately finding comments that violate the rules. Keeping large platforms free of severely negative speech is difficult and it's not a job humans can handle. The algorithm is able to "detect hate speech."

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Google Maps For iOS Gets Multiple Destination Support
You can now enter multiple destinations in the iOS version of Google Maps, a feature that appeared on Android a month ago. There's no limit on the number of destinations you can enter, which makes multi-stop trips a bit easier to put together on mobile devices.

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Oculus Rift Teardown Shows Parts Cost $206
Oculus spends around $206 on parts and manufacturing for each Rift headset, according to a report from IHS Markit. The headset sells for $600, so Oculus is making a pretty nice profit on each unit. IHS' teardown accounts for nearly all of the components.

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SwiftKey Bug Presented Users With Personal Info, NSFW Results
A flaw in SwiftKey's cloud sync feature resulted in many users seeing other people's email addresses and even NSFW searches over the past few weeks. While the leaked information doesn't pose a security problem, says SwiftKey, it is a problematic bug.

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Google Adding HSTS Security
Google is making its domains more secure for all users by adding HSTS security. With HSTS, users are prevented from mistakenly ending up with less secure HTTP addresses. It does this by "automatically converting insecure HTTP URLs into secure HTTPS URLs."

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Lenovo Vibe P2 Leaks In Live Images
After yesterday's glimpse of upcoming Lenovo Vibe P2, the smartphone has now leaked in live images as it was showcased at a trade show that took place in Guangzhou. Along with the live images, the smartphone's specifications have also been revealed.

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Microsoft Sold Only 1.2 Million Lumia Phones In The Last Quarter
Microsoft is slowly reconstructing its mobile business and after it has sold its feature phone business to Foxconn along with some mobile assets in Vietnam, the company has now revealed in the SEC filing that it plans to lay off 2,850 employees by the July next year.

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TCL 950 Is The Upcoming Flagship Smartphone
If you own Alcatel smartphone, then you should know that Alcatel is only a brand that sells smartphones, while the company that produces them is TCL. Now, the company is rumoured to be working on a new flagship smartphone called TCL 950 that should be out very soon.

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Oppo F1s Leaks Ahead Of Announcement
Just like its predecessor, we expect that upcoming Oppo F1s smartphone to be a device with mid-range specifications and great pricing. Ahead of August 3 announcement, several new renders and official promo video has leaked online, revealing more details about the phone.

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WhatsApp To Implement Two-Factor Authentication
There is never enough protection when computers and mobile devices are in question. Each day, we hear about some security problems and we can't remember how many times we heard about serious security issues, on both Android and iOS mobile platforms.

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Kyocera DuraForce PRO To Launch On T-Mobile By The End Of 2016
Kyocera is working on a new smartphone in the DuraForce series that will launch on T-Mobile during the fourth quarter of the year. The device has similar design as the DuraForce and DuraForce XD, which were launched in 2014 and 2015, but we have no information on pricing.

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Leaked Video Shows Unannounced Tizen-Powered Samsung Z2
Samsung has big plans for its Tizen mobile operating system, but the OS is still far from the competition. At the moment, the company has two Tizen smartphones available on the market, the Z1 and Z3, and is now working to release the third devices, the Samsung Z2.

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Superbook Accessory That Turns Your Phone Into Laptop Passes $1 Million On Kickstarter
Andromium, the company behind this project, has started a crowdsourcing campaign a week ago to get the necessary funding for the production of Superbook. That took probably less than the company ever dreamed about as they have collected more money than they were asking for.

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Instagram For Windows 10 Gets Continuum Support, New Features Coming To Instagram
Instagram has just updated its official app for Microsoft's flagship mobile platform. The app for Windows 10 Mobile has received various improvements, but as always, we do not have the changelog. According to first reports, the app comes with Continuum support.

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Render Of Google Nexus Smartwatches Leaked
Google won't release only new Nexus smartwatches, but the company is reportedly working on two Nexus smartwatches as well. We already had a chance to read about the Nexus smartwatches known as Angelfish and Swordfish, and now new render revealed the watches.

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Disney Infinity Servers Closing, Game May Be Unplayable Soon
Disney Infinity's servers are being shut down by Disney Interactive and some versions of the game will only be playable until September of this year. All of the game's online servers will close in the coming eight months, meaning community and online features will be gone.

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OvRcharge Can Levitate Your Phone While Charging
The OvRcharge is a new third-party wireless charging solution that uses magnets to levitate and rotate your phone while its charging. Like with other wireless chargers, you must use a special case and the charging will be slower. It's a neat (but impractical) solution for many.

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AT&T U-Verse Data Cap Increases, Gigabit Plan Goes Unlimited
AT&T has altered its home internet data caps to give customers more data without any change in their monthly bill. U-Verse customers (up to 300 Mbps) will see their cap increase to 1 TB/month, while GigaPower users are going to receive unlimited service.

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Gear VR Photo Leaked, Reveals Design
A photo of the next Samsung Gear VR headset was leaked earlier today by OnLeaks, revealing the device's design. The headset is said to come with a larger profile (207 mm x 122 mm x 98.5 mm), a greater field of view (110-degrees vs 98-degrees), and a USB Type-C connection.

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[NextPowerUP]

Windows 10 is running on 21% of desktop computers, up from 19.1% in June. That increase is greater than what was seen in recent months, which could be connected to users taking advantage of the free upgrade offer. NetMarketShare reports Windows 7 remained in the lead.

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Comcast Will Face $100M Lawsuit From Washington State
Washington state is planning a $100 million consumer-protection lawsuit against Comcast that will be formally announced today. The legal action is in response to an alleged "1.8 million individual violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act."

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Samsung Galaxy Note 7 To Be Announced Tomorrow, Here Is What To Expect
Samsung is holding a press event tomorrow in New York where it will officially announce the Galaxy Note 7 phablet, and maybe some other devices as well. The most anticipating phablet this year has leaked numerous times over the last few months and here is what we know.

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Manual Exposure Control Could Come Back With Android 7.0 Nougat
Google has recently released third and the last developer preview build of Android 7.0 Nougat and we are starting to hear first feedback about it. According to Android Police, the company plans to bring back the manual exposure control in the camera app with the next Android OS.

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Apple MacBook Pro (2016) Won't Have OLED Touch Panel Or Touch ID
Apple has multiple products in the pipeline for 2016, including the new Watch 2 that is rumoured to sport thinner One Glass Solution display, new iPhone 7 lineup and an updated MacBook Pro notebook that should come out soon, most likely in autumn this year.

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After Xiaomi Mi 4i Fire Incident, Another Xiaomi Smartphone Explodes
Only 3 days after we heard about the accident with Xiaomi Mi 4i smartphone, which exploded while charging, another report coming from China reveals another incident with Xiaomi smartphone. This time we're talking about the flagship Xiaomi Mi 5, which should have top components.

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Sony Xperia F8331 To Launch As Xperia XR
Sony is slowly catching up with the competition thanks to its latest Xperia X lineup of smartphones. While there are many ways to improve, the lineup still offers great devices. To compete with flagship smartphones, Sony is preparing another flagship handset known as Xperia F8331

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Pokemon Go Tracking Apps Shut Down, Niantic Likely To Blame
Apps that helped people locate Pokemon in Pokemon Go are being shut down by Niantic, the game's developer, due to terms of service violations. The services, including PokeVision, PokeNotify, and PokeHound, had used data via the game's API to track Pokemon.

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Google Creating A Bioelectronics Company With GlaxoSmithKline
Google has partnered with GlaxoSmithKline, one of the biggest names in pharmaceuticals, to create a joint venture. Called Galvani Bioelectronics, the company will work on a variety of products, including electrical implants that may be used to treat conditions like arthritis.

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OnePlus 3 In Soft Gold Now Available In More Countries
The Soft Gold color option of the OnePlus 3 handset was recently launched in the United States, and starting today it is available in more countries. The new model can be purchased in the European Union, Hong Kong, and Canada from the company's official website.

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Sony Confirms To Sell Only High-End Smartphones In India
Sony's has recently reported $205 million profit in the second quarter of 2016, and surprisingly its mobile division posted $4 million operating profit, meaning the strategy to focus more on premium smartphones and drop the budget phone has paid off.

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Uber To Invest $500 Million In Mapping Around The Globe
To build its own internal navigation system, Uber plans to spend $500 million on mapping, reports the Financial Times. Uber intends to use its global mapping investment to separate itself from Google Maps and it will also use the collected data in self-driving vehicles.

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Uber China Merging With Didi Instead Of Competing
Instead of continuing to lose money in the Chinese market, Uber will merge its Chinese business with Didi Chuxing, a similar service based in the country. Bloomberg reported over the weekend that the companies will merge into an entity valued at $35 billion.

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HTC Vive Price Rises £70 In UK Following Brexit
The price of HTC's Vive virtual reality headset has gone up £70 in the UK due to changes in the value of the pound following Brexit. HTC explains in a blog post that this "adjustment" is the result of "recent currency valuation changes and the current value of the GBP."

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Delphi To Test Autonomous Car Service In Singapore
Delphi is working with Singapore's government to open the first autonomous car service in the country. It'll operate 24/7 and bring people from their homes/offices to mass transit, making it easier to get anywhere without using your own car. This is only a pilot program.

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Tesla Plans To Buy SolarCity For $2.6 Billion
As was suggested in his latest Tesla "Master Plan," CEO Elon Musk believes Tesla and SolarCity should become one. Now, that's exactly what's going to happen. Tesla has announced it intends to buy SolarCity for $2.6 billion, though the deal won't be final for a few more months.

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Warner Bros Targets Google Over Piracy Link In Subreddit
Google has refused to comply with a request from Warner Bros. to remove a subreddit entirely from its search results. A DMCA notice was sent to the search engine last week after a link to a pirated copy of Interstellar appeared in the /r/BestOfStreamingVideo subreddit.

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Amazon Patents Headphones That Turn Off In Response To Certain Sound Patterns
Headphones capable of turning off when there's an announcement or someone yells your name have been patented by Amazon. As usual, a patent doesn't mean a product is on the way, but this kind of feature would be truly useful. Amazon was awarded the patent on July 19.

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Huawei Also Announces Budget Honor 5 Handset
Besides announcing a flagship phablet, the Honor Note 8, Huawei has also unveiled an entry-level smartphone that costs only 599 Yuan or $90. Dubbed the Honor 5, the handset is expected to go on sale in China on August 2, while the global availability is unknown at the moment.

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Huawei Officially Introduces Honor Note 8 With 6.6-inch Quad HD Display And Kirin 955 SoC
As expected, Huawei has officially unveiled its flagship phablet in China. The Honor Note 8 will go on sale on August 9 from VMall and JD.com in China, and will cost 2,299 Yuan ($350) for the base model with 32 GB storage, while the top model with 128 GB costs 2,799 Yuan ($420).

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[NextPowerUP]

Lenovo's MIIX 2-in-1 tablet lineup is about to get a new member. After launching the MIIX 310 earlier this year, the company is now working on a follow-up called MIIX 510. The new 2-in-1 tablet is already listed at the multiple European stores, priced at around €730.

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Oppo Announces F1s With 16 MP Front-Facing Camera
Oppo continues expanding its camera-centric smartphones and the latest one, also known as "Selfie Expert," has been announced today in Mumbai, India. The Chinese electronics company has officially unveiled a successor to the last year's F1 smartphone, the F1s.

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JBL Launches USB Type-C Earphones With Ridiculously High Price Tag
If you visit almost every store out there, there is a high possibility you will find low-quality earphones for smartphones and other devices. There are also more premium earphones, like the new ones from JBL, but when you hear the price tag, we doubt you will still want them.

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Xbox One S Gets Teardown Treatment
As first units of Microsoft's latest gaming console went on sale yesterday, iFixit managed to get their hands on one unit and did its standard ritual - completely disassemble the unit and see what can be found inside and will it be possible to repair it in case of failure.

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Polar Unveils Its First Android Wear Smartwatch
These days, almost any device supports some kind of basic fitness or sleep tracking features and was inevitable for fitness tracker companies to develop better devices. Polar, one of the pioneers of fitness trackers, has now released its first Android Wear smartwatch.

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Motorola Moto Z Play Gets Certified By TENAA, Listing Reveals Hardware Details
The third member of the Motorola's latest Moto Z lineup has been certified by the Chinese certification agency. TENAA's listing always reveal some of the specifications, and nothing is different this time. The Moto Z Play has also gotten Bluetooth certification recently.

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Cool1 Is Official Name Of The First Phone Developed By Coolpad And LeEco
LeEco has recently become Coolpad's largest shareholder and both companies went to work right away. Less than two months from the stake acquisition, the companies have announced that their first smartphone is in finishing stages and should be announced very soon.

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Mozilla Releases Firefox 48, Features Multi-Process Electrolysis
Mozilla has just announced that its popular Firefox web browser has received a new update. Both desktop and Android apps have been updated to version 48, which brings significant performance improvements thanks to the multi-process Electrolysis feature.

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Pascal-Based Mobile GPUs To Launch At Gamescom, Including GTX 1060, GTX 1070 And GTX 1080
NVIDIA's Pascal graphics cards are now covering almost every desktop segment, but the company has yet to launch brand-new Pascal-based mobile graphics processing units. Since the new architecture is very efficient, the mobile GPU offering won't differ much from the desktop.

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OnePlus 3 Won't Be Available In Europe And Hong Kong Starting August 9
OnePlus thought it had solved all the problems and was ready to sell the current flagship smartphone without invites, but it looks like things are different. The company has just announced that sales of OnePlus 3 will be suspended in 23 European countries and Hong Kong.

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Dozens Of Telegram Users Hacked, 15M Users Affected By Data Collection
Hackers from Rocket Kitten fully compromised some Telegram accounts by intercepting SMS verification codes earlier this year and they've also collected the user IDs and phone numbers associated with 15 million Iranian accounts, out of the country's 20 million.

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Time Warner Takes 10% Stake In Hulu, Will Be In Live TV Service
A large chunk of Hulu is now owned by Time Warner, which has acquired a 10% stake in the company for an estimated $583 million. In addition to buying shares in the company, Time Warner's content will be included in Hulu's live TV streaming service, which arrives in 2017.

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Google Receives Permission To Test Delivery Drones In US
Alphabet (Google) has received permission from the US government to test its delivery drones in the country, according to the White House. The company's Project Wing initiative can now begin to fully test its drones at one of Google's six test sites.

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Netflix For Xbox One S Gets 4K, HDR Support
An update to the Xbox One's Netflix app has brought 4K and HDR support to the video streaming service. However, you are going to need the new Xbox One S to take advantage of either feature. The console recently went on sale for $400 and it includes support for 4K content.

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Bitfinex Exchange Hacked, $65 Million Stolen
A large Bitcoin exchange based in Hong Kong was hacked this week, resulting in the loss of $65 million worth of the digital currency. Bitfinex halted trading on Wednesday after it discovered a "security breach." Zane Tackett, an executive, took to Reddit to answer questions.

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Windows 10 Mobile Anniversary Release Begins August 9
The Windows 10 Anniversary Update has already been released for PCs and soon it will roll out for mobile devices. Microsoft's Lumia India team revealed on Twitter that the Windows 10 Mobile Anniversary Update rollout starts August 9. It'll bring some notable changes to the OS.

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Samsung Exec Targets Apple With iPhone 7 Headphone Jack Joke
Justin Denison, Samsung's senior vice president, took aim at Apple and the iPhone 7 during Samsung's Unpacked event. While walking the audience through the Note 7's features, Denison jokingly noted the phone comes with a headphone jack, unlike the rumored iPhone 7.

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Samsung Gear Icon X Earbuds Reach US On August 15, Cost $199
Samsung's wireless Gear Icon X earbuds will be available in the United States beginning August 15 and they'll go on sale for $199. The earbuds use Bluetooth and aren't connected to each other. Included with the Gear Icon X is a wireless charging case.

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Chrome For Android Gets Video Performance Boost, Lower Battery Use
Google's latest update to Chrome for Android brings superior video performance to the mobile browser as well as reduced battery usage. Chrome 52 makes mobile video "smoother" and it'll also "load faster and consume less battery." This only applies to HTML5 content, says Google.

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Google AMP Expanding On Mobile, Will Appear In Regular Search Results
Webpages that utilize Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology are no longer going to be confined to a carousel at the top of searches. Google says AMP links will soon appear throughout mobile searches, so you'll always be presented with the AMP version of a page.

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[NextPowerUP]

When first rumours came out earlier this year, the Galaxy Note 7 was rumoured to arrive with 6 GB of RAM. Over the years, the Note series were always one step above the S series, especially in terms of specifications. This year, the situation is a little bit different.

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Nexus 6 Has Problems With LTE Connectivity, Google Is Working On A Fix
All of a sudden, Nexus 6 owners around the world are reporting issues with LTE data. Reportedly, the smartphone is experiencing LTE outages on carriers across the globe and the issue is not limited to a specific carrier, but not all Nexus 6 users are having problems.

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Next-Gen AMD And NVIDIA Mobile GPUs Benchmarked
Next-generation mobile graphics cards are about to launch by the end of the month. NVIDIA could be the first to announce its lineup at the upcoming Gamescom 2016 event, which is going to be held from August 17 to August 21, but we doubt AMD will wait much longer.

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Gionee M6 Mini Passes TENAA Certification
Gionee has launched two new M-series phones last month with a 5.5- and 6-inches displays, but it is also getting ready to introduce more compact variant. Dubbed the M6 Mini, the handset will join the M6 and M6 Plus very soon as it has been certified for sale in China by TENAA.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Available For Pre-Order In Europe
Unlike previous year, Samsung won't disappoint Note fans by not offering the Note 7 in Europe. The flagship phablet will be officially available for pre-order across the Europe later this month, on August 16, but a few retailers already have opened their pre-order campaigns.

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Samsung Interested In Bringing Iris Scanners To Mid-Range Segment
The Galaxy Note 7 is Samsung's second device with iris scanner feature, along with the Galaxy Tab Iris, but it is the first flagship device that offers the iris scanning security technology. The company has now revealed some interesting thing about the new technology.

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Vertu Introduces Latest Premium Phones, Begin At $4,200
Vertu has unveiled a new set of phones that'll join its existing Aster Collection. The phones begin at $4,200 and for that price you'll receive a combination of old specs and an interesting design. All of the handsets feature a chevron-patterned exterior.

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Firefox Tests Replacing 404s With Archived Pages
Mozilla is trying out a new feature on its Test Pilot platform that replaces 404s with archived versions of webpages. While you won't be seeing the latest content from the site, Firefox will at least show you something other than a largely useless error page.

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Amazon Unveils First Prime Air Cargo Plane
Amazon Prime Air has launched, though it's not the Prime Air you've been hearing about. Instead, this Prime Air refers to Amazon's cargo airplanes, which will improve item delivery times and reduce the company's reliance on regular shipping providers.

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Top Torrent Search Engine, Torrentz.eu, Is Gone
One of the top torrent search engines has been disabled just a couple weeks after KickassTorrents (KAT), the most popular torrent site, was taken down. Torrentz.eu was founded 13 years ago, but it no longer contains any torrent links and the homepage just includes a farewell.

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Microsoft Planning Two Big Windows 10 Updates For 2017
Microsoft intends to release a couple big Windows 10 updates next year, with the recent Anniversary Update being the last "feature update" for 2016. Smaller security updates may come out, but you should not expect any notable feature changes until 2017.

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Apple Struggling In India, Android Overwhelmingly Dominant
India is a massive potential market for Apple, but it's sufficiently different from wealthier countries that Apple has struggled to make a dent in the local handset industry. During the second quarter, it shipped 800,000 phones in India, down from 1.2 million last year.

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Spotify Personalizes New Music Recommendations With 'Release Radar'
If you're a fan of Spotify's Discover Weekly playlist/feature, you'll be happy to hear the same kind of playlist now exists just for new releases. Spotify has introduced Release Radar, a personalized playlist that'll surface recently released songs which fit with your history.

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Tesla's Self-Driving AI Will 'Blow Minds,' Is Very Close
Fully autonomous vehicles will be available much sooner than you'd expect, says Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Tesla's self-driving AI in particular will "blow people's minds." In a press release, Musk noted, "full autonomy is going to come a hell of a lot faster than anyone thinks."

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iPhone 7 Leak Supports Larger Camera, No Headphone Jack Reports
The iPhone 7's unveiling is just a few weeks away and yet another report has seemingly confirmed a few key changes with the device. Based on the latest leak, which appeared on Nowhereelse.fr (OnLeaks), the iPhone 7 doesn't have a headphone jack, but does have a larger camera.

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Facebook Altering Algorithm To Fight Clickbait
Clickbait headlines will be a part of the internet for the foreseeable future, but Facebook is doing what it can to limit people's exposure to them. In the coming weeks, the network will introduce an algorithm change that is biased against clickbait content.

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Microsoft Cuts Windows 10 Update Rollback Period To 10 Days
Windows users now have just 10 days to roll back updates, which is down from the 30 they were previously given. This change has been applied with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Once those 10 days are up, the Windows.old folder will be cleared out.

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ABC Not Planning On Streaming Service, Will Stick To Hulu
ABC recognizes streaming is important, but it doesn't plan on launching a standalone streaming option, opting to instead stick with Hulu. This is in contrast to CBS and NBC Universal, both of which have ventured into standalone streaming with various services.

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Rockstar To Reveal Latest Projects 'Soon'
We're not far from learning more about Rockstar's upcoming games, with Take-Two Interactive noting the developer is "hard at work on some exciting future projects." Those games will be "revealed soon." That statement came alongside Take-Two's latest earnings report.

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T-Mobile Will Match Verizon's Coverage Within A Year
T-Mobile plans to provide the same level of coverage as Verizon Wireless within a year and it may reach that level of coverage by the end of 2016, says CTO Neville Ray. By OpenSignal's measure, T-Mobile is already the second-best in the United States for network availability.

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[NextPowerUP]

Finally a video that clearly shows the upcoming iPhone 7 series has leaked online, alongside another video of the new official iPhone 7 Lightning earphones. With the Galaxy Note 7 now out, the Apple iPhone 7 should be the next major announcement on the market.

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Xiaomi Mi Band 2 Is Prone To Overheating, Causing Wrist Burns
After burning incident with Xiaomi Mi 4i and Mi 5, which unfortunately for the company were well documented, another Xiaomi device is having similar issues. The Xiaomi Mi Band 2 is a very popular fitness tracker, but what we didn't know is it's prone to overheating.

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UMi Max Wants To Compete With Galaxy Note 7
Samsung is a top-tier company that has a lot more resources to make a great smartphone, but in return they charge it way more than it really cost. On the other hand, there are various companies that make great smartphones that are quite more affordable.

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Raspberry Pi 3 Get Anniversary Update
Microsoft's first major Windows 10 update is now rolling out to users, but except for the desktop version, the company has also prepared the same update for mobile and IoT devices. Mobile devices should get it on August 9, while some IoT devices are now receiving the update.

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Nintendo NX To Go Into Mass Production In 4Q16
Microsoft has started selling its next-gen gaming console, while Sony and Nintendo are preparing to make their next move. Sony is rumoured to launch the PlayStation 4 Neo on October 13, according to recent Amazon listing, while Nintendo has something for early 2017.

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ASUS Launches ZenFone 3 Lineup, More Countries To Get It In August
Announced two months ago, the ASUS ZenFone 3 lineup is only now launching around the world nad the first country to get the smartphones is Malaysia. The company has already scheduled a new press conference in India, where it should also launch the ZenFone 3 smartphones.

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Improved Version Of Lenovo Vibe C2 Launched
Lenovo Vibe C was announced in July, but it took Lenovo only a month to announce an improved version of the smartphone. The Vibe C2 Power, an enhanced version of the Vibe C2, has been announced in Russia, but the official pricing has yet to be revealed.

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Meizu M1E Leaks In New Live Images
Over the years, Chinese smartphone maker Meizu has become a rather important player on the smartphone market. To keep up with great results, the company is working on a new smartphone series and the first device is expected to launch next week, on August 10.

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Samsung Postpones Gear IconX Launch To August 19
Samsung's flagship Gear IconX Bluetooth earbuds are currently available for pre-order from Samsung and Verizon for $199.99 and was supposed to go on sale in the US on August 14. Since the Galaxy Note 7 will hit the market on August 19, Samsung decided to postpone the launch.

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HP Elite X3 To Be Available In The US On September 5
HP's flagship Windows 10 Mobile smartphone was rumoured to go on sale on August 29 in the United States, but an HP spokesperson has confirmed the real release date. According to the company, the highly-anticipated HP Elite x3 phone will go on sale on September 5 in the US.

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Google Nexus Sailfish Spotted On GFXBench
There has been a lot of talking regarding Google's 2016 Nexus phones and today, the Sailfish model has allegedly been spotted in a GFXBench listing, which did reveal its specs. Besides design and specs changes, the new Nexus will have some software changes as well.

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Android Wear Gets July Security Patches
Google is trying to keep up to date all its platforms and is now rolling out a new software update for Android Wear platform. The update comes with a build number M1D63G that includes latest July security patches and is now rolling out to numerous devices.

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HTC Announces Viveport, Store For Non-Gaming VR Content
HTC has just announced that it will be opening a dedicated virtual reality app store called Viveport. Unlike Steam and Oculus Home, which are stores geared more towards gamers, the Viveport is going to be a place that largely hosts non-gaming content not served by Valve or Oculus

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Notebooks With GTX 1060 And GTX 1070 Listed Online, Here Are The Prices
Only a day after first benchmarks of GTX 1070 leaked, retailers have started listing gaming notebook featuring the unannounced GTX 1060 and GTX 1070 GPUs. At the moment, there is no information on gaming notebooks from top-tier companies such as ASUS, MSI, Razer and others.

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Nexus 6 Has Problems With LTE Connectivity, Google Is Working On A Fix
All of a sudden, Nexus 6 owners around the world are reporting issues with LTE data. Reportedly, the smartphone is experiencing LTE outages on carriers across the globe and the issue is not limited to a specific carrier, but not all Nexus 6 users are having problems.

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Next-Gen AMD And NVIDIA Mobile GPUs Benchmarked
Next-generation mobile graphics cards are about to launch by the end of the month. NVIDIA could be the first to announce its lineup at the upcoming Gamescom 2016 event, which is going to be held from August 17 to August 21, but we doubt AMD will wait much longer.

More...

Gionee M6 Mini Passes TENAA Certification
Gionee has launched two new M-series phones last month with a 5.5- and 6-inches displays, but it is also getting ready to introduce more compact variant. Dubbed the M6 Mini, the handset will join the M6 and M6 Plus very soon as it has been certified for sale in China by TENAA.

More...

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Available For Pre-Order In Europe
Unlike previous year, Samsung won't disappoint Note fans by not offering the Note 7 in Europe. The flagship phablet will be officially available for pre-order across the Europe later this month, on August 16, but a few retailers already have opened their pre-order campaigns.

More...

Samsung Interested In Bringing Iris Scanners To Mid-Range Segment
The Galaxy Note 7 is Samsung's second device with iris scanner feature, along with the Galaxy Tab Iris, but it is the first flagship device that offers the iris scanning security technology. The company has now revealed some interesting thing about the new technology.

More...

[NextPowerUP]

Many Samsung smartphones and tablets are using Qualcomm's chipsets, although the company has its own Exynos lineup. While it doesn't really matter what is used on entry-level and mid-range devices, flagship smartphones need to have only the best chipset.

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Samsung Gear S3 Classic Now Confirmed
The next-generation Gear S3 smartwatch lineup from Samsung is expected to continue the success of the Gear S2, which is one of the best smartwatches on the market. Samsung reportedly plans to announce the Gear S3 lineup at the upcoming IFA 2016 trade show.

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Jawbone Reportedly Selling Its Wearable Business
Back in May, we have learned that the fitness tracker manufacturer Jawbone has stopped the production of its UP2, UP3, and UP4 models, hinting at the possible problems inside the company. The company has shortly after released a statement, saying it isn't going out of business.

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First Renders Of Upcoming LG V20 Emerge Online, Reveal Dual Rear Camera
LG isn't really trying to keep the V20 under wraps as more details are leaking online. The company already confirmed several things about the smartphone and we were blessed with a full list of specifications. Now, we have first renders of the LG V20 handset.

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Samsung Z2 Specs Leak Ahead Of Announcement
Samsung's third Tizen-powered smartphone is near its official announcement, which is expected to happen on August 11. SamMobile has managed to get the full specifications list of the Samsung Z2 smartphone, which are decent considering it is an entry-level device.

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Apple Working With TSMC On 10nm A11 Chipset
10nm manufacturing process is slowly getting more mature and companies are are starting to utilize it. Latest information reveals that Apple has started working with TSMC on the Apple A11 chipset, which should be the heart of many 2017 Apple smartphones and tablets.

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Chrome Will Block Flash Content Starting Next Month
Flash is slowly becoming a thing of the past as almost every internet browser will block Flash content by default. Google has now announced that with Chrome version 53 all Flash content will be made click-to-play by default, marking a new era of HTML5.

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Anniversary Update For Windows 10 Mobile To Be Released Next Week
It was expected that the first major update for Windows 10 Mobile platform will arrive today, but if you own a device with Windows 10 Mobile OS, then you know the rumours were false. This was also confirmed by Windows Insider head Dona Sarkar on Twitter.

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Netflix Explains How It's Switching To HTTPS, Plans To Largely Finish This Year
Netflix is moving all of its streams over to HTTPS in order to add another layer of protection to its service, but doing so for 80+ million regular users without affecting performance isn't entirely straightforward. The company has released a paper about the transition.

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iPhone 7 Plus Could Be More Powerful Than iPad Pro
Apple is almost certainly going to introduce two distinct iPhone models next month, a 4.7-inch iPhone 7 and a 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus. The latter may be more powerful than the iPad Pro, according to a recent Geekbench leak. The phone has a multi-core score of 6430.

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Google Maps For Android Improves Offline Capabilities
Google Maps for Android is now easier to use without a great data plan since the app has a WiFi-only mode that'll only download maps when you're connected to WiFi. Also, support for microSD cards has been added, allowing you to store far more maps on your handset.

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NASA Releases Over 1,000 New Photos Of Mars
More than 1,000 new photos of Mars have been published by NASA and they were taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRise camera, which has been focused on the planet since 2005. Between all of the images, you can see Mars' mountains, craters, and ice caps.

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Pokemon Go's Battery-Saving Mode Returns On iOS
With version 1.3 of Pokemon Go for iOS, the game's battery-saving mode has returned. Your battery usage will be reduced with the feature since it can automatically dim your display when your phone is held upside down. This is ideal for when you're walking around.

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Video Games Linked To Better Academic Performance In Study
Playing video games may improve rather than hurt academic performance, according to a correlational study from the Albert Posso at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Posso found a positive link between near-daily video game playing and higher performance.

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Most Bluetooth Smart Locks Aren't Secure
Many of the Bluetooth-enabled smart locks available on the market aren't terribly secure and can be opened when wirelessly attacked. According to researcher Anthony Rose, an engineer who presented at DEF CON, 12 out of the 16 locks he tested were vulnerable.

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Internet Archive Publishes Thousands Of Playable Amiga Games
Thousands of games from Commodore's decades-old Amiga computer have been made available by the Internet Archive. All of the games are playable either through a web browser or through an emulator. Among the titles are games like Batman: The Movie and Double Dragon.

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Facebook Tests Express WiFi Service In India, Working With Local ISPs
Facebook is trialing a new WiFi service in India that lets users purchase data from local ISPs to access the web through hotspots. The service, called Express, currently lets users get online through 125 rural WiFi hotspots that are powered by a local state-run telecoms company.

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Lyft Intros Multi-Stop Rides
Riders who decide to use Lyft instead of Uber will have the ability to enter multiple stops for their ride instead of a single destination beginning this week. The extra stops can be added before or during your ride. You can remove stops at any time.

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Verizon, AT&T Sued For Shortchanging 911 Call Centers
There is supposed to be a $1 fee per-line that goes directly to 911 call centers, but in an attempt to make their services more attractive to businesses, AT&T and Verizon have reportedly reduced that fee. A lawsuit accuses the carriers of shortchanging call centers.

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AT&T Must Pay $7.75M For Letting Customers Be Charged For Sham Tools
A company offering sham directory assistance tools was allowed to charge many AT&T customers $9 per month, leading to a settlement against the carrier. AT&T must pay $7.75 million, says the FCC, because it allowed all of the bad charges to go through.

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[NextPowerUP]

When you publish a 360-degree video on Facebook, it'll now be possible to establish a guide for viewers that helps them see the most interesting parts of the content. Using Facebook's new "Guide" tool, you can easily highlight points of interest that viewers will see.

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All-In-One Surface To Be Available In Three Sizes; Surface Book 2 Won't Have Hinge Gap
DigiTimes claimed that Microsoft is working on a new Surface product that is scheduled for release in the third quarter of the year. To expand its offering, Microsoft plans to launch an all-in-one system, which pushed back the release of its second-gen Surface Book to 2017.

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Quantum Break Arrives On Steam On September 14
For gamers who aren't interested in shopping on the Windows Store, Microsoft and Remedy will release Quantum Break on Steam next month. The game will be available for $40 beginning September 14. On the same day, Remedy is going to release a special physical edition.

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Fan-Made Pokemon Game Now Available, Took Nine Years To Create
Pokemon Uranium, a fan-made game based on the likes of Fire Red and Leaf Green, has finally been released after nine years of development. The game features a set of 150 unofficial Pokemon, helping it avoid copyright infringement. You can download it here for PC.

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MSI Announces New VR-Ready Gaming Laptops
MSI has just announced that it plans to launch new gaming notebooks in August. The new notebooks from GT, GS, GE and GP series will be VR-Ready and feature latest cooling design, higher gaming performance thanks to better hardware, new ID design and better sound experience.

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White House Now Has A Facebook Messenger Bot
It's now possible to send a message to the White House and President Obama in the same way you message your friends on Facebook. The White House has launched a Facebook Messenger bot that can receive messages, allowing people to "speak" to the president.

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Bang & Olufsen's Latest 4K TV Runs Android TV
Bang & Olufsen has introduced a new member of its BeoVision line, the BeoVision 14, that will run Android TV. It has a stylish design based around aluminum and oak wood. The 4K TV uses a 360-degree light sensor to figure out the lighting in the room and adjust accordingly.

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ASUS G752VS With GTX 1070 Listed Online
Laptops with unannounced next-gen NVIDIA graphics cards are slowly emerging online and for the second time, ASUS' G752VS model has been spotted. After it was listed by an online retail shop in Bulgaria, the same notebook model is now listed in Russia.

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'Gwent' Witcher Card Game Beta Delayed By A Month
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game's closed beta has been pushed back by a month. CD Projekt Red says the beta is going to begin in late October rather than September. It had to be delayed in order for the developer to have a little more time to improve the game.

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Adidas To Open Robot-Filled Factory In Atlanta In 2017
Adidas' robot-filled Speedfactory in Germany will be replicated in the United States, the shoe maker has revealed. A new Speedfactory will open in Atlanta next year and it will be used to quickly make shoes for the US market. It is a 74,000 square foot facility.

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SolarCity Creating Roof Made Of Solar Panels
SolarCity, which is going to merge with Tesla, is working on a roof made entirely of solar panels. Plans for the company's "solar roof" were discussed during an investors call, with chairman Elon Musk explaining it will "look way better" and "last far longer" than a regular roof.

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Kyocera DuraForce Pro Now Official, Features 13 MP Action Camera
Late last month, we have learned that Kyocera is working on a new smartphone in the DuraForce series that was rumoured to launch on T-Mobile during the fourth quarter of the year. Today, the company has officially announced the smartphone that packs an action camera.

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More Details On Redmi 4 And Mi Note 2 Surface Online
Until very recently, 2016 wasn't the best year for Xiaomi, but the company has launched several new devices in the last few weeks that are worth looking. Xiaomi is not stopping and has a few more devices in the pipeline, including the Mi Note 2 and affordable Redmi 4 smartphones.

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Next Zenwatch To Have A Circular Face
ASUS' next Zenwatch will seemingly come with a circular face. A rectangle has been used on all of the company's Zenwatch devices thus far, but for the Zenwatch 3, things are going to change. A picture included in an FCC filing reveals the device's name and its apparent design.

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HP Updates Its Low-Cost Stream Laptops
HP has decided to refresh its budget notebook series with under the hood modifications and a new 14-inch model. The new HP Stream laptops cost around $220, depending on a model, and will go on sale next month, on September 7 with pre-installed Windows 10 OS.

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Online Drug Sales Tripled After Silk Road Takedown
Getting rid of Silk Road and going after its creator, Ross Ulbricht, did little to stop online drug sales. A report from RAND reveals sales of illegal drugs on sites like Silk Road have tripled since the service was shut down. Around 50 dark net markets are now operational.

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TSA Catches Loaded 3D-Printed Gun In Carry-On
A 3D-printed weapon filled with live ammunition has been caught by TSA employees. An individual at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport attempted to bring the gun in their carry-on luggage. The firearm was first spotted in an X-Ray, which led TSA officers to call the police.

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Google Fiber To Test Wireless Home Internet Across US
To skip around regulatory requirements and avoid a lot of hardware installation, Google plans to test high-speed wireless home internet across the United States. An FCC filing reveals Google wants to test wireless transmitters in the 3.4 to 3.8 MHz range.

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Apple App Store Expected To Have 5M Apps By 2020
Apple's App Store will grow from its current 2 million apps to over 5 million apps by 2020, says a report from Sensor Tower. The store launched in 2008 with just 5,000 pieces of software and it has expanded quickly since then, with many of the latest additions being games.

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Google Improves Gmail Security With Malicious Link Warnings
New malicious link warnings are now included in Gmail. When you receive a link from a known malicious site, you will be warned by Google about the possible dangers of the target webpage prior to the link bringing you to it. Google recognizes not all links will be dangerous.

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[NextPowerUP]

BlackBerry has recently annoucned its second Android-based smartphone called DTEK50, but the company has yet to laucnh the smartphone. The smartphone is available at various retailers in the Netherlands, but the company has promised to start shipping it next week.

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Apple Watch Is Almost Out Of Stock
As we are waiting for a new Apple Watch 2 device, the current Watch model is running low on stock, and a variety of Apple Watch Sport models are listed as "Sold Out" on Apple's website. This is pretty common since we know Apple is planning a newer and better product.

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HTC Desire 10 Pro And Desire 10 Lifestyle In The Works
HTC 10 is a great smartphone, but the company is failing to achieve great sale figures with it and has now switched its focus on new devices. HTC is rumoured to be working on not one, but two Desire 10 smartphones that are expected to be announced in near future.

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OxygenOS 3.2.4 Now Available For OnePlus 3
OnePlus 3 owners have been reporting about having a few auto-restart problems and call quality inconsistency and lucky for them, the company has identified the problem and is now rolling out the fix. The new software update bumps the OxygenOS version up to 3.2.4

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Samsung Sends Press Invites For IFA 2016 Event, Hints At Gear S3 Announcement
There have been rumours stating Samsung is working on a new Gear S3 smartwatch that will be introduced at the upcoming IFA trade show in Berlin on September 1. And while the press invites don't specifically mention Gear S3, the design of the invites hint at the new watch.

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ASUS Launches New Chromebook With 4 GB Of RAM And 64 GB Of storage_
One of the main advantages of Chromebooks is their affordable pricing, but as always that means some cuts on either design or hardware. There are Chromebooks with higher price tags that offer more storage, memory or better displays, but not everyone is willing to pay that much.

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Galaxy Note 7 Postponed In Some Countries Due To High Demand
First reviews of Galaxy Note 7 show that the phablet isn't a step above its competition, but it still offers so much and people love its design. That is also confirmed by pre-orders, because Samsung had to postpone the Note's launch in some markets due to overwhelming demand.

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Meizu Smartwatch Caught In Action
Meizu is gearing up to launch its first smartwatch and the company is trying to keep it under the wraps until it becomes official. Unfortunately for them, the smartwatch has already leaked several times and today, we have another image of the alleged Meizu smartwatch.

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Skype Won't Work On Windows Phone 8 And 8.1 Starting Next Year
Back in July, Microsoft confirmed that it plans to drop support for Windows phones with the 8 and 8.1 operating systems. The reason behind that is because Skype is moving to a modern infrastructure for a better experience, and Windows Phone platform isn't compatible with it.

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Huawei Mate 9 Appears On GFXBench, Rumoured To Be Announced At IFA 2016
It has been a long time since we last heard about Huawei's new flagship phablet. Like many other companies, Huawei will also be present at the upcoming IFA trade show in September as it has already scheduled a press event and the main topic could be the announcement of Mate 9.

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Samsung Promises To Release Android 7.0 Nougat In 2-3 Months
Google's upcoming Android operating system has yet to be released and we still don't know the exact release date except "later this summer." What we do know is that Samsung plans to release the Android 7.0 Nougat for the Galaxy Note 7 in two to three months.

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ASUS ZenWatch 3 Photos Confirm Round Design
A day after ASUS' next Zenwatch was listed by the FCC, where we found out about its apparent design, the smartwatch has now appeared in new photos confirming the round design. The ASUS ZenWatch 3 is rumored to be released during this year's IFA in Berlin.

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Nexus Sailfish Now Spotted On AnTuTu And Geekbench
After GFXBench, Google's upcoming Nexus Sailfish smartphone has surfaced on AnTuTu and Geekbench. The listings of the smaller Nexus smartphone are in line with previous rumours, and is expected to be officially announced by HTC later this year, alongside Nexus Marlin.

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LeEco Cool1 Handset To Be Announced On August 16
The first smartphone developed by LeEco and Coolpad will be announced next week, on August 16 during a special event that will take place in China. The Cool1 is still under the wraps and we know very little about the smartphone, except it will be a high-end device.

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Spotify Intros Section Built Around Video Game Music
Video game soundtracks oft feature great original music and now it's easier to find songs from a large number of games using Spotify. The music streaming service has introduced a new portal built around video game music. It features full soundtracks for many games.

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Nordic Games Rebrands As THQ Nordic, 13 Unannounced Titles On The Way
Nordic Games has changed its name to THQ Nordic in order to emphasize its connection to the THQ portfolio. During a bankruptcy auction last year, Nordic picked up a large set of THQ's IP, including Darksiders and Red Faction. THQ Nordic says it has 23 games in development.

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ZTE Working On 4,900 mAh Phone
ZTE appears to be working on a fairly high-end smartphone that has a massive 4,900 mAh battery. Its specs, which are attached to the model number BV0730, have appeared on the website for TENAA, China's certification authority. The phone has a 1080p display.

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Google Fined In Russia For Android Business Activities
Russia has fined Google $6.75 million for antitrust activities with its Android operating system. The company was found to have effectively forced Android device makers into installing the Google search engine on their devices. Yandex had complained about Google's activities.

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Deep Space Industries To Reach An Asteroid By 2020
Deep Space Industries (DSI) plans to launch the first private mission to an asteroid by 2020 and it will establish the first private base on a space object when that asteroid passes Earth. According to the space mining company, it'll land a 110-pound spacecraft on an asteroid.

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Microsoft Picks Up 'Beam' Game Streaming Service
Beam, a lesser-known game streaming service, has been acquired by Microsoft. The site differentiates itself from Twitch by cultivating interaction between viewers and streamers. In real time, viewers can affect a streamer's weapon choices, game mode, and other things.

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[NextPowerUP]

Over the last few months, Foxconn and Sharp have been trying to complete the $3.5 billion deal, which is now finally done. Foxconn has now officially acquired the debt-ridden Japanese company Sharp and has appointed Tai Jeng-wu as the company's new president and chief executive.

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Apple MacBook Pro Will Have AMD Polaris GPU Option
There is not much to tell about the upcoming Apple MacBook Pro refresh as we have yet to hear any solid information. Current rumors are pointing to a major design update, including an OLED display bar above the keyboard and a Touch ID sensor power button.

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NVIDIA's Mobile Pascal-Based GPUs Get Detailed, First Live Images Leak Online
NVIDIA plans to announce its next-generation GPU lineup for notebooks anytime now. The new lineup will be based on the Pascal architecture that is built using 16 nm process and will include three models - the GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile, GTX 1070 Mobile and GTX 1060 Mobile.

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Twitter Trying To Release App On Apple TV, Bringing Live NFL Games With It
Twitter would like to deliver its live NFL games to as many viewers as possible and it believes releasing an Apple TV app will help. According to The NYT, Twitter is negotiating with Apple to bring the service to the platform. Twitter has signed similar deals with other leagues.

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Microsoft Developing Patch For Windows 10 Anniversary Update Freezing Issues
Some Windows 10 users have encountered freezing issues with the operating system following the Anniversary Update and Microsoft says it is aware of the problem. On the Microsoft Answers forum, the company acknowledged the issue and says a solution is in the works.

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Tim Cook Says Apple Could Unlock Some iPhones, But It Refuses To
Apple was praised and scrutinized when it decided to limit its cooperation with the FBI when they requested access to the contents of the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. In talking with the Washington Post, Cook said the phone could have been unlocked, but not safely.

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Google Developing Entirely New 'Fuchsia' OS
Google might be creating a new operating system from the ground up that's not based on Linux and can run on a larger range of devices. A reference to the OS, called Fuchsia, was found on GitHub. Documentation accompanying the reference fleshes out the OS.

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SolarCity Will Offer Full Solar Roofs This Year
One of SolarCity's new products that'll be revealed and available this year is a complete solar roof intended for those who are having their roof replaced or are building a new home. The product was recently discussed by Elon Musk, who said it will truly be a roof, not a module.

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Twitter Adds Night Mode To Latest iOS Beta
Twitter's mobile night mode design was released for Android devices last month, but it didn't make its way to the iPhone. However, it seems Twitter is preparing to bring the design to iOS devices, as it has introduced the night mode with its latest beta on the platform.

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Microsoft, MIT Create 'Smart' Tattoo Capable Of Controlling Phone
Students at MIT's Media Lab have created a temporary gold leaf tattoo called DuoSkin that could be used as a track pad, to control your phone, or to share data via NFC. DuoSkin was developed in collaboration with some researchers at Microsoft Research.

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Larger Battery Versions Of Tesla Model S, Model X Approach Release
Tesla appears to be getting close to a release of new Model S and Model X models that will have notably extended ranges. The 100D models were previously hinted at in Tesla firmware and now regulators in the Netherlands have granted Tesla approval for the EVs.

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Pokemon Uranium Unavailable After 1.5M Downloads, Nintendo To Blame
Within a week of it becoming available, Pokemon Uranium has been taken offline, though not before 1.5 million people downloaded the game. The team behind the fan-made game were "notified of multiple takedown requests" from Nintendo and they decided to "respect those wishes."

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Cheaters In Pokemon Go Face Perma-Bans
Niantic is cracking down on cheaters in Pokemon Go and those who have been caught are being given permanent bans. The company says it is going after players who have spoofed their location or accessed the game "in an unauthorized manner." You can appeal a ban.

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SpaceX Lands Sixth Falcon 9 Following Satellite Launch
SpaceX has completed another fully successful mission, ending with a Falcon 9 landing on the company's drone ship. This is the sixth time SpaceX has landed a rocket and the fourth time it has been successful with the ship. The mission began early in the morning.

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Apple To Release 10.5-Inch iPad Pro Next Year
A 10.5-inch iPad Pro model will be introduced sometime next year alongside two other iPads, says KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The other iPads are a 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2 and a less expensive 9.7-inch iPad. Kuo believes the 10.5-inch iPad Pro could do well in commercial settings.

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Final Fantasy XV Release Delayed To November 29
Final Fantasy XV's release has been pushed back a couple months and the game will now be released on November 29, Square Enix has announced. The game was supposed to arrive on September 30, but its release has been delayed so that it can ship with a "day-one patch."

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Apple Confirmed To Be Working With AR 'Behind The Curtain'
Apple CEO Tim Cook first mentioned the company's interest in augmented reality a couple weeks ago and now he says Apple is doing "a lot of things" with AR "behind the curtain." Speaking with the Washington Post, Cook made it clear Apple is investing in AR technology.

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New Earth-Like Planet Soon To Be Revealed
Scientists are planning to unveil a new Earth-like planet that may have conditions favorable for life, reports Der Spiegel (Germany.) The exoplanet is in Alpha Centauri and it orbits a star known as Proxima Centauri. Because of its distance from its star, it may have water.

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New Samsung Gear VR Now Available For Pre-Order
Alongside Galaxy Note 7, Samsung also announced a new Gear VR headset to go with the smartphone. The new version of the Samsung Gear VR features USB Type-C port and various other improvements over the original model, and yet it isn't compatible only with the Galaxy Note 7.

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Samsung Cloud Now Available For Galaxy S7 And Galaxy S7 Edge
To keep up with Galaxy Note 7 in terms of software, Samsung has released a new update for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge that is currently rolling out in Italy. It is only a matter of time before the update hits more countries, so make sure to check your notifications.

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[NextPowerUP]

Owners of unlocked HTC One A9 and HTC 10 have just received latest Android monthly security update. The August security patches are now rolling out to both HTC smartphones, while the carrier versions will have to wait until operators test the update and approve it.

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ASUS Teases New Device For August 31, Could Be The ZenWatch 3
FCC's recent listing has confirmed ASUS' upcoming ZenWatch 3 smartwatch, which will be the company's first circular smartwatch. ASUS has now released a new image on official Twitter account, hinting at the possible unveiling date of the ZenWatch 3 smartwatch.

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Samsung Warns Of Limited Galaxy Note 7 Availability In Europe
Samsung is expected to launch its flagship phablet in Europe on September 2 and many users can't wait to purchase the device since the Note 5 didn't get a proper launch in Europe. According to pre-orders in Canada and South Korea, the Note 7 has exceeded Samsung's expectations.

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HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle And Desire 10 Pro Leak In New Renders
Since the flagship HTC 10 smartphone failed to achieve great sale figures, HTC has turned its focus on the mid-range market where they could make a name for themselves. The first new smartphones could be the two Desire 10 that have now emerged online in new renders.

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Nokia Plans To Launch Its New Android Phones And Tablets By The End Of 2016
This Monday, a Finnish company HMD Global Oy that signed an exclusive licensing agreement for the Nokia brand, has hired Pekka Rantala as its chief marketing officer, suggesting that the Nokia devices will soon hit the market for the first time since Microsoft's acquisition.

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Nexus Marlin Spotted On AnTuTu, Features 5.5-inch Quad HD And Snapdragon 820 Chipset
Shortly after HTC's upcoming Nexus handset has been spotted on the FCC, the bigger 5.5-inch model has joined the Sailfish over at AnTuTu. The benchmark confirmed some specifications that were rumored earlier and now we know what to expect from next-gen Nexus phones.

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Windows Holographic Will Run On Most PCs Next Year
Support for a mixed reality Windows 10 experience will be added next year, allowing most users to experience Windows Holographic, even if they do not have a high-end PC. Microsoft's Terry Myerson says an update to the OS will let mainstream PCs run Holographic.

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iPhone 7 Expected To Release September 23
Apple is likely to release the iPhone 7 on September 23 following a preorder period that'll begin on September 9. This release timeline fits with that of previous iPhones and the exact date comes from 9to5Mac, which learned about the release from AT&T.

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Gears Of War 4 4K Gameplay Shown, PC Spec Requirements Revealed
A video of Gears of War 4 for PC running at 4K has been released at Gamescom alongside information about the game's required specs. Regardless of which set of specs you meet (minimum, recommended, or ideal), you will need to be running Windows 10's anniversary update.

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OpenAI Receives First NVIDIA Supercomputer, Wants To Teach AI To Chat Using Reddit
OpenAI, a nonprofit founded last year by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has received its first supercomputer from NVIDIA. With the NVIDIA DGX-1, the nonprofit can carry out artificial intelligence research with greater power. The DGX-1 costs $129,000 and uses eight GPUs.

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Nuance Uses Deep Learning To Improve Dragon Speech Recognition
The latest version of Nuance's Dragon speech recognition software will soon be available and it comes with significant performance improvements, some of which are made possible by continuous deep learning techniques. Accuracy is improved up to 24% in this version.

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Google Helps People Figure Out How To Vote
Google has added a "how to vote" feature to its search engine, allowing people to easily figure out the requirements for voting in their state. When entering "how to vote" and similar search terms, Google will present you with your area's voting laws.

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Android Malware Spreads Via Google Ad Network
Security researchers have discovered a piece of malware that's spreading through Google's AdSense network and can infect Android devices. The malware, known as "Trojan-banker.androidos.svpeng.q," was discovered by a team of Kaspersky Lab researchers.

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Twitch Acquiring 'Curse' Gaming-Related Software, Site Maker
Amazon-owned Twitch is buying Curse, a company that's been involved in the gaming space since its launch in 2006. Among the assets in Curse's portfolio are popular websites dedicated to League of Legends, World of Warcraft, and video game-related news.

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Titanfall 2 Multiplayer Beta Begins Friday
A test of Titanfall 2's multiplayer section will begin this weekend on August 19 and there will be another session next weekend. The beta is only available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players and it includes three multiplayer modes which are available on two maps.

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Telltale Publishes Mr. Robot Text Adventure Game
A mobile game set in the first season of USA Network's Mr. Robot is now out. Night School Studio's game has been published by Telltale, which is primarily known for its episodic adventure games like The Walking Dead. The game is a text adventure title.

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Ford Will Have A Fleet Of Autonomous Cars In 5 Years
Ford has announced a greater investment in autonomous vehicle R&D alongside plans to introduce a fleet of thousands of self-driving vehicles by 2021. According to the company, it'll have thousands of autonomous vehicles on the road as part of various services.

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Intel Reveals Wireless VR Headset 'Project Alloy'
Intel now has its own virtual reality headset called Project Alloy. It's a wireless and controller-less system that'll be heavily focused on "merged reality," says CEO Brian Krzanich. In a demo, Krzanich revealed Project Alloy lets users manipulate real-world items.

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Apple Investing More In China, Opening R&D Center
Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, has visited China for the second time this year. He spoke with government officials this time around to talk about further investments from the company in China. Cook told Zhang Gaoli, China's vice premier, that Apple will open an R&D facility.

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BioShock Remaster Graphics Shown In Video
2K has released a video comparing the graphics of the original BioShock for Xbox 360 with the graphics of its remaster, which is included in The Collection, a bundle which is coming out next month. The video also includes some comparisons for the other two BioShock games.

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[NextPowerUP]

It has been awhile since GoPro last unveiled a new product. The company is trying to turn around and get back to its famous days and to do that, it has to release almost perfect new product. What we know is that GoPro is working on two new devices - a drone and an action camera.

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HTC 10 Gets A Price Cut, Available In Red And Gold In The US
It isn't a secret that HTC is struggling with sale figures of its flagship phone. Despite achieving high rates from reviewers, the HTC 10 never managed to impress customers and some carriers, such as T-Mobile, already discontinued the phone, while AT&T never offered the phone.

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Snowden Documents Confirm NSA's Leaked Tools Are Legitimate
More documents from the Edward Snowden leak have been published by The Intercept and they confirm a mysterious hacker group, The Shadow Brokers, did steal actual tools from the NSA. Included in the Snowden documents is a 16-character string from the US spy agency.

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EFF Takes Aim At T-Mobile's New Plan, Claims It Violates Net Neutrality
T-Mobile's new One plan, which includes an unlimited quantity of data but limits video content to 480p unless you pay extra, has come under fire from advocates of net neutrality. Among those advocates is the well-known Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

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HP Postpones Launch Of Elite X3 In The UK
The most powerful Windows 10 Mobile smartphone won't hit the shelves for a few more days. HP Elite X3 was supposed to begin shipping on August 18 in the UK, but the company decided to postpone its business-focused device for next week and will now start shipping next week.

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Galaxy Note 7 Already Receiving Its First Software Update
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has officially hit the shelves earlier today and is available for purchase from various carriers and retailers in the US, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, the UAE and Korea, while Europe will get in on September 2.

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ZTE Teases Bezel-Less Handset For IFA 2016
ZTE is gearing up to launch a new smartphone just ahead of the upcoming IFA 2016 trade show. According to a new teaser, the bezel-less smartphone is expected to be introduced at an event on August 31, but the image doesn't say much about the smartphone.

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Twitter Has Suspended Another 235,000 Accounts For Extremist Content
Hundreds of thousands of accounts were removed from Twitter for featuring extremist or terrorist content over the past six months. According to the network, it has removed 235,000 accounts since February. It previously removed 125,000 accounts between mid-2015 and February.

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Comcast Begins Intro Of Gigabit Service In Chicago
Tests of Comcast's gigabit internet service are now beginning in Chicago, allowing some consumers to purchase faster internet for $140 per month without a contract. Gigabit service in other Comcast markets, like Nashville and Atlanta, is much cheaper at $70 with a contract.

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Uber's Proposed $100M Settlement With Drivers Rejected By Judge
Uber's proposal to settle a class-action lawsuit from its drivers for $100 million has been rejected by US District Judge Edward Chan. With the settlement, around 385,000 drivers would have received $24 each and kept their status as independent contractors, not employees.

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ICANN To Take Over More Domain Name Control From US
The United States is relinquishing much of its control over the domain name system (DNS). Supervision of the DNS will be firmly in the hands of ICANN rather than the US beginning October 1, 2016. A transfer of supervision was proposed in 2014 and recently approved.

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Next Apple Watch Reportedly Doesn't Have Cellular
The next Apple Watch is still going to be heavily dependent on the iPhone due to a lack of cellular connectivity, reports Bloomberg. While Apple had worked to include cellular in the device, it failed to do so for this generation. It will come with GPS.

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Nintendo 3DS Sales Increase 80%, Partly From Pokemon Go
On the back of Pokemon Go's success on mobile devices, NPD Group has recorded an 80% year-on-year increase in 3DS sales. The most recent Pokemon games, Omega Red and Alpha Sapphire, also saw their sales increase by 80%. And, sales of Pokemon X and Y increased 200%.

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Third-Party Wireless Charger Revealed For Model S
Plugless has revealed the final version of its wireless charging pad for the Tesla Model S following its initial unveil months ago. In a video demonstration of the product, Plugless shows how your car just has to park over the pad to receive a charge.

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Tesla Model S Totaled Due To Battery Explosion During Test Drive
A test drive of the Tesla Model S abruptly ended recently when the car's battery exploded, destroying the entire vehicle. The four people who were in the Model S during the test drive got out fine. Since the story first appeared, Tesla has confirmed the incident.

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NASA Wants To Hand Over ISS To Private Company
NASA, given its budget and goals for the future, won't be able to maintain the International Space Station beyond 2024. Rather than shut down the station and perhaps sell pieces of it, NASA is looking to hand over control of the ISS to a private company.

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T-Mobile Getting Rid Of Data Plans, Unveils Restrictive 'Unlimited' Plan For All
T-Mobile is framing its latest Uncarrier update as a positive one for consumers, but a lot of people feel the carrier has taken a step backwards with a fairly negative move. With Uncarrier 12, T-Mobile has announced the elimination of data plans and the introduction of One.

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Facebook Creating Desktop Gaming Platform With Unity
Facebook is working with Unity to build out its online gaming experience and introduce a Steam-like downloadable gaming platform. The partnership with Unity makes it easier for developers to bring their games to Facebook's platform. Bigger games will eventually be included.

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Two New Fitbit Trackers Get Detailed In Leaked Images
It looks like many gadgets are going to be announced in August and September, as another company is now rumoured to be working on new wearables. Two new Fitbit fitness trackers have been detailed in a series of leaked images and both are expected to be unveiled at IFA 2016.

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Images Of Meizu's Dual Curved-Edge Smartphone
It is believed that Meizu is developing a smartphone that will compete with Samsung's Edge lineup. The speculations suggest that the phone will be the Meizu Pro 6 Plus that could be announced next month, on September 3, when Meizu is holding a media event.

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