PlayStation Now game streaming is coming to Samsung TVs in 2015

Samsung and Sony have struck a deal to bring the latter's PlayStation Now game streaming service to select Samsung Smart TV models in 2015. Jointly announced this morning, the partnership makes Samsung the first PS Now licensee and is notable for making it possible to play PlayStation games without the console, and now, without even any Sony hardware at all. You just open up an app and streaming the game directly over the internet.

PlayStation Now is still in its infancy, having been announced at CES 2014 almost a year ago, but its goal has always been to distribute the Sony gaming experience to the widest audience possible. With Samsung dominating the global TV market, it only makes sense for Sony to embed itself in the Smart Hub software shipping out with all of the Korean company's latest televisions.

"We can reach a broader audience of consumers who may not own a Playstation console."

Masayasu Ito, Executive VP of Sony Computer Entertainment, explains that "partnering with Samsung is a key step toward realizing this vision, as we can reach a broader audience of consumers who may not own a PlayStation console to show them why gaming with PlayStation is such a unique and amazing experience." For the moment, PS Now streaming is limited to the United States and Canada, and only offers PlayStation 3 games, but that still makes for a library of over 200 titles that's set to only grow as the service matures.

The first demonstrations of PlayStation Now on Samsung TVs will take place at CES 2015 in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks, though given Sony's ambitions for the streaming service, it wouldn't be at all surprising to see other big TV makers like LG joining in the fun as well.

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Samsung Galaxy Ace Style with 4-inch display, Android 4.4 announced

Samsung has finally announced the Galaxy Ace Style that surfaced online recently. It has a  4-inch (800 × 480 pixels) display, powered by a 1.2 dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat) with new Touchwiz UI. It comes with a 5-megapixel auto focus rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera. It comes preloaded with ChatON cross platform messaging app.


It is not clear if Samsung plans to sell the dual SIM variant of the  Ace Style in some markets like they did for Galaxy Ace 3.

Samsung Galaxy Ace Style specifications

• 4-inch (480 x 800 pixels) capacitive touch screen display
• 1.2 GHz dual-core processor
• Android 4.4 (KitKat)
• 5MP rear camera
• 0.3MP (VGA) front-facing camera
• 3.5mm audio jack
• 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC (Optional)
• 512MB RAM, 4GB internal memory, up to 64GB expandable memory with microSD
• 1500 mAh battery

The Samsung Galaxy Ace Style comes in Cream White and Dark Gray colors and would go on sale in select markets starting April. No word on pricing yet.

Huawei pokes fun at Apple and Samsung using Siri

Huawei has trolled rivals Samsung and Apple in its new teaser for Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014.

Chinese telecom giant Huawei, the third biggest smartphone maker in the world, has trolled rivals Samsung and Apple in its new teaser for Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014. The company has poked fun at the two biggest smartphone makers using iPhone and a Siri-like voice assistant. 

In a video released on YouTube, a smartphone user asks his iPhone "What's new at this year's Mobile World Congress?" and the digital assistant, whose interface and voice are quite similar to Apple's Siri, gives information about three devices. 

The first is "a new tablet with a beautiful, slim design" and its "huge battery gives you days of use." The second is a smartphone "with an amazing front camera." The last "really amazing" device headed to MWC 2014, as per the voice assistant, is "a multimedia tablet that gives the ultimate entertainment experience." This tablet also supports the fastest next-generation LTE (4G) connections. 

And now comes the punch line. The smartphone user asks the voice assistant "What are they? Fruit (indirectly Apple) or Some Song (Samsung's turn here)?" In response, the software says, "No, they are Huawei. It looks like Huawei is ready to amaze the world again." 

Huawei has been struggling to make headway into the profitable US market, despite strong sales in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa and Middle East. The company has been a fast mover, launching smartphones with big screen or thin profiles, but has been embroiled in controversy over claims of spying on US networks for China. 

The company has 4.8% share of the global smartphone market in 2013 and 5.7% in the fourth quarter of the year. 

Google Ends Fragmentation Problem of Android- New Phones to get latest Android

One of the big problems for Android is fragmentation, with some low-end smartphones hitting the market with the five-generation-old Android 4.0 installed. Apple has harped on this point quite a few times, the latest while unveiling the new iPads in October last year.

But things may be about to change, according to a new Google memo sent to a smartphone manufacturer. As per the memo leaked by technology website Mobile Bloom, the internet search titan will stop approving manufacturers' requests for Google Mobile Services (GMS) for older Android versions nine months after a new iteration of the platform is introduced.

Google Mobile Services include popular products like Gmail, Hangouts, Maps, Chrome, Now, Plus etc. Though a few manufacturers like Amazon do not use these services in their devices, most of the popular companies (Samsung, LG, HTC etc) put them in their products.

This practice will come into effect from February 2014, meaning that new smartphones will come preloaded with at least Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean), which was rolled out in July 2013.

The memo states, "Starting February 2014, Google will no longer approve GMS distribution on new Android products that ship older platform releases. Each platform release will have a 'GMS approval window' that typically closes nine months after the next Android platform release is publicly available. (In other words, we all have nine months to get new products on the latest platform after its public release.) The policy could only mean good things, especially for the smartphone user."

This policy would put a stop to manufacturers pushing low-end smartphones with older Android versions in the market just because of the high hardware requirements of newer operating systems.

The latest version of Android, named KitKat, has been optimized by Google to ensure devices with low configuration (mainly 512MB RAM) run smoothly.

According to data by Google, all three versions of Android Jelly Bean combined (4.1, 4.2 and 4.3) currently power 60.7% of all devices running on the OS. Gingerbread, launched in December 2010, has the second biggest share at 20%. Third comes Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with 16.1%, while KitKat is on just 1.8% of the devices. The May 2010 version of Google's operating system, Android 2.2 (Froyo), still powers 1.3% of the devices currently in use.

Apple future in cars, medical devices for growth | Apple's answer to Google Boston Dynamics and Nest Labs

Apple Inc is looking at cars and medical devices to diversify its sources of revenue as growth from iPhones and iPads slow, according to a report.

Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions, Adrian Perica, met with Tesla Motors Inc founder Elon Musk at the company's headquarters last year around the same time analysts suggested that Apple acquire the Model S electric car maker, the reported said on Sunday.

The company is also exploring medical devices and sensors that can help devices and sensors that can help predict heart attacks by studying sound blood makes at it flows through arteries.

The company's senior vice president of operations, Jeff Williams, has met with US Food and Drug Administration chief Dr. Margaret Hamburg and Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, who oversees the agency's approval for medical devices, to discuss "mobile medical applications," the paper reported, citing FDA records.

Apple could not be reached for comment.

Rival Google Inc recently bought thermostat maker Nest Labs for $3.2 billion, robot maker Boston Dynamic and artificial intelligence startup DeepMind Technologies Ltd. The company has also been working on projects including Google Glass and self-driving cars.

Investors hope that Apple, which last came out with a new device - the iPad - in 2010, has something up its sleeve for 2014. Speculation currently revolves around a smartwatch or even a long-rumored TV product.

Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 6, a mid-range smartphone, and may also launch wearable devices such as iWatch, in the second half of the year. 

Others say Apple can use its huge iPhone and iTunes base to get into mobile payments or advertising.

Apple reported lower-than-expected iPhone sales for the holiday shopping quarter and gave a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast. The company has been ceding ground to Samsung Electronics Co and other rivals in China, its No. 2 market.