After the US, it looks like the pre-orders for the Windows 10-powered Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950 XL flagship smartphones have also started shipping in Europe. Stock is also available in stores so no need to worry if you didn’t book your unit.

Users from Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain who pre-ordered the devices are reporting on Reddit that the software giant has charged their bank account for the order, and has also sent emails informing them about the shipment.

In Germany, only the Lumia 950 is on pre-order at the Microsoft Store – the 950 XL is currently out of stock. However, both are currently on pre-order on Amazon, which says they’ll be shipped starting December 4.

It’s worth mentioning that those purchasing the devices from Amazon will also get a Transcend Micro SDHC 32GB memory card as well as a Fatboy wireless charging pillow for free – the deal is valid till tomorrow. In addition, Lumia 950 XL customers will also get a free Microsoft Display Dock until January 31 – similar deal is also there at the Microsoft store.

Over in the Netherlands, although both are available for pre-order at the Microsoft Store, they in stock (ready to ship) at several third-party stores – including Belsimpel, Studentmobiel, GSMwijzer, and Algebeld – with delivery in 2 to 4 working days.

As for the price, while the Lumia 950 carries a tag of €599, the bigger cousin Lumia 950 XL will set you back €699.

Via 1 2 (translated) 3…

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Raspberry Pi has long been the favorite of modders and hackers who wanted a small, but more importantly, a cheap computer they can play around with. At around $20-35, it is one of the cheapest computers you can buy today. But what if you wanted something even cheaper? Sounds kinda impossible but they have managed to make it in the form of the new Raspberry Pi Zero, a $5 computer.

So what does $5 get you? For starters, it has the same Broadcom BCM2835 processor from Raspberry Pi 1, except it’s now 40% faster. There’s also 512MB of LPDDR2 RAM, microSD slot for storage, mini-HDMI port for 1080p60 output, microUSB for data and power, unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header and unpopulated composite video header. At 65mm x 30mm x 5mm, it is also the smallest Raspberry Pi yet.

The Raspberry Pi Zero will be available in UK from element14, The Pi Hut, and Pimoroni and in the US from Adafruit and Micro Center. They will also be giving away one with every December issue of The MagPi magazine in the…

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Just like its Korean cousin Samsung, LG is a huge corporation with many divisions across a number of markets. And while it is no secret that the company’s mobile division has been struggling to turn a profit lately, some of LG’s other branches have been thriving. The OEM is currently supplying the majority of display panels for the iPhone 6s and TV sales have been quite profitable as well.

In a bold new step, LG has opted to reform the overall company structure in hopes of giving more freedom within divisions to enable: “more independence and responsibility to facilitate rapid decision-making,”. LG will now be led by thee veteran executives, who will be overseeing every aspect of the business: Jo Seong-jin, president and CEO of the home appliances division; Juno Cho, president and CEO of the mobile business; and David Jung, overall president and CFO.

Executive rearrangements don’t stop there. David Jung will also take the role of Corporate Business Administration Officer. Current Vice Chairman and CEO Koo Bon-joon will be taking a leading role in LG Corp – the LG Electronics parent company – although it is yet to be specified.

Executive Vice President Lee Sang-bong, head of the LG Energy Business Center, will be promoted to President and will also act as B2B Officer. Global Sales and Marketing Officer Wayne Park will assume the new title of Executive Vice President and Head of LG’s European Operations. Executive Vice President Brian Na will be responsible for LG’s Overseas Sales and Marketing.

New appointments will take effect on December 1 and the whole process should be complete after a general shareholder meeting in early 2016. Hopefully, the radical undertaking will prove beneficial for LG’s overall business, as despite hardships as a smartphone manufacturer, the company still has a lot to offer the mobile industry.

Source |…

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For those planning to purchase the LG G4 or V10 from Verizon this holiday season, here is some good news: the South Korean company is offering a $100 prepaid card with the purchase of any of the two handsets from the carrier.

Keep in mind that the promotion is available till December 25. Also, to receive you prepaid card, you need to register at a special website (head to Source link below) after you purchase your unit – this has to be done before January 8.

If LG V10 is what you are aiming for, then you’re in for a double treat as Verizon is also offering a solid discount on the handset on Black Friday. The carrier will be selling the device for just $11.33/month for 24 months.

Source |…

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WhatsApp for Android has been updated with a few handy new features, couple of which had been introduced on iOS a few weeks back.

The first is the ability to star messages. You can now press and hold on a message and get the option to star it. This works like bookmarking, where you can star messages to go back to them later in a separate folder.

The other new feature is rich link previews. No longer will you see just the URL or a small thumbnail when you or someone else shares a link. The app will generate a small preview with the article title and a larger thumbnail. You can choose not to show the preview while sharing links.

The last new feature is exclusive to Android, or more specifically to Marshmallow, where you can now get access to Android DirectShare, allowing you to share directly to specific contacts or groups on WhatsApp within the share sheet itself.

The update is now live on the Play…

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As expected, Huawei has launched the Mate 8, which is being called the company’s “most advanced flagship smartphone.” In line with what was teased before, the smartphone is powered by the Chinese firm’s latest Kirin 950 SoC with octa-core CPU, and sports a 6-inch FHD display

For those who aren’t already aware, the Kirin 950 chipset comes with four high-power Cortex-A72 cores, clocked at up to 2.3 GHz and an additional four power-saving Cortex-A53 ones, working at 1.8 GHz.

There’s also an i5 coprocessor that “supports speech recognition, low-power consumption MP3, all the functions of a sensor hub, fused location provider (FLP) navigation, and reduces location-based power consumption,” the company said in a press release. The SoC is manufactured using TSMC’s 16 nm FinFET process.

Made from aerospace-grade aluminum and 2.5D curved diamond cut glass, the Mate 8 also features a fingerprint sensor at the back, and will be available in Champagne Gold, Moonlight Silver, Space Gray, and Mocha Brown color options.

On the software side, the handset comes with the company’s next-generation EMUI 4.0 OS based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and offers features including voice controls, a power-saving firewall, a defragmenter, and eRecovery.

Other details will be made available when the Mate 8 will be officially unveiled at CES 2016, after which it will be available for purchase in China sometime in Q1. There’s currently no information on if and when it will be available in other markets…

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Mozilla – the company behind the popular Firefox Web browser – has revealed that it’s no more dependent on search giant Google for its revenue, noting that it’s expecting to earn even more from the new search deals.

For those who aren’t aware, for the past several years, Mozilla’s main source of revenue was Google – the search giant paid for being the default search engine in Firefox.

However, the deal – which earned Mozilla nearly $330 million in 2014 alone – ended late last year when the non-profit organization entered into a similar agreement with Yahoo instead. Mozilla also struck some local deals including those with Baidu in China and Yandex in Russia.

For 2015 and beyond, Mozilla seems to be confident that things will only pick up. “We really look forward to displaying our results next year,” said CFO Jim Cook. “2015 will show our continued track record of really strong financial results.”

As for Google, it’s still the default option on Firefox in Europe, but Mozilla is getting no money from the arrangement now. “We don’t have a commercial relationship with Google at this point,” said Denelle Dixon-Thayer, Mozilla’s chief business and legal…

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Microsoft’s latest flagship smartphones – the Lumia 950 and 950 XL – are now available for purchase at some of the software giant’s retail stores in the United States. FYI, that’s a day earlier than what was previously announced.

That’s good news especially for those planning to purchase the Lumia 950 XL given that the device isn’t available to order online currently – instead of ‘Order’ or ‘Pre-order’, the official listing currently shows ‘Email me when available’ button.

The Lumia 950, on the other hand, is available for purchase online. Currently an AT&T exclusive in the country, the device is not only listed on the carrier’s website, it’s also available from the Microsoft Store website.

Via | Microsoft Store 1 2 |…

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Sony’s flagships have always been playing off each other in a nice but, after a certain point, rather repetitive way. When Sony decided to pass on QHD screens, it looked like it had the right reasons to keep up with 1080p for flagship generations on end…

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The C1 is supposedly going to be the first handset to bear the Nokia logo after the Finnish company sold its smartphone business to Microsoft a few years ago. That there will be new Nokia mobile devices coming in 2016 has already been confirmed by the CEO, so that’s nothing new.

Yet whether the first one will be called C1 remains to be seen. Also a mystery are its specs and even what it looks like. We’ve already seen a round of alleged renders back in September, quickly followed by a supposed hands-on photo session showcasing a different device.

And today we get yet another interpretation of the C1’s design, courtesy of the leaked render you can see above. This is in fact the fourth time a picture is claimed to show the C1 – one of them was quickly debunked, while the remaining three are all different.

So at this point it’s still anyone’s guess which of these is the C1. The image that leaked today reportedly comes from a first-time tipster, which lends even less credence to what’s shown. Also interesting is that the C1 is depicted running both Android (in the foreground), as well as Windows 10 Mobile (in the background to the right).

The tipster seems to allege that there will be two versions of the smartphone, one running each mobile OS. But so far all of the rumors have only mentioned Android, and no Nokia official has ever said the company would be making Windows phones as well. Given how well Windows Phone has been doing with Microsoft itself making devices running it, it’s unclear why any other company would want to release products running its latest…

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