The leader of Apple’s rumored ‘Titan’ car project is leaving the company, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. Steve Zadesky, who also helped the company create the iPod and iPhone, has been leading the Cupertino-based company’s car efforts for the last couple of years.

The reason(s) behind Zadesky’s decision are said to be personal, meaning his stepping down has nothing to do with his performance in his current role. The report, however, notes that he is still at Apple for now.

The news comes nearly an year after the WSJ reported that the iPhone-maker is secretly working on an an electric vehicle that apparently looks like a minivan in its current form. While initially it was said that it would take several years to complete the project, the publication later reported that the company has sped up the work, and is now eyeing a 2019 shipment…

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HTC has announced that it has started rolling out the latest Android security update to unlocked One A9 units in the US. The announcement came in the form of a tweet from the company’s US VP of Product Management Mo Versi.

HTC One (A9) unlocked owners! The Jan security updates and bug fixes is being updated via OTA this morning! Thanks.— Mo Versi (@moversi) January 22, 2016

Aside from the January security fixes, the update also includes some general bug fixes, Versi revealed. If you haven’t received the OTA notification yet, you can manually check for the update by heading to your device’s settings.

For those who aren’t already aware, HTC had said last year that the One A9 will receive every Android update within 15 (business) days of the Nexus line having received it. And true to its promise, the Taiwanese company rolled out the November and December updates on…

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Offer Valid: January 22-23 2016

Best Buy wants to move Gear VR and Galaxy smartphone units out of its inventory at the very beginning of US tax season.

It is offering a free Gear VR with a qualifying purchase of either the Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+, or Note5.

Best Buy says “When you add a qualifying Galaxy smartphone to your cart, a free Samsung Gear VR will be added automatically as well.”, though it isn’t explicitly stated if the promotion is only valid online.

It wouldn’t hurt to call your local store and ask to speak to a Mobile or Samsung associate, though, you might have better luck talking to a Samsung Associate.

The Gear VR is one of best ways to get into VR since it’s made specifically for your Galaxy smartphone and straps to your head. No need to hold it up to your face.

The Samsung Gear VR retails at Best Buy for $99.99. You can ask any of the Samsung reps at Best Buy’s Samsung counter if you want to test drive the VR goodness.

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Ever since Facebook acquired WhatsApp back in 2014, not much has changed to the popular messaging platform beside the addition of voice calls between users. It and Facebook have stayed separate entities up until now.

New leaks reveal that WhatsApp is also planning to allow cross communication between Facebook and WhatApp accounts.

When messing with root commands, version 4.12.413 of WhatsApp shows the option of linking a WhatsApp account with a Facebook account to “improve Facebook experiences”.

We aren’t quite sure what the possible benefit of this is. Perhaps there will be shortcuts to post on a WhatsApp contact’s timeline, though this is entirely my own speculation.

Coincidentally, in the same week, WhatsApp dropped its subscription fees in pursuit of gaining even more users.

Maybe Facebook can use WhatsApp features that are exclusive to Facebook users as incentive for them to create a Facebook profile as this is where the company makes revenue.

Only time will tell, but WhatsApp is definitely up to something big.

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The oft-rumored and much-leaked Microsoft Lumia 650 was expected to become official on February 1, as per a report from a few days ago. That date has even been corroborated by a second source, though now a new rumor claims something different.

Apparently the Lumia 650’s introduction has been delayed until mid-February. An actual unveiling date hasn’t been mentioned this time around. Some unnamed software issues are reportedly to blame for this delay, according to “sources close to the matter”.

The Lumia 650 wasn’t expected to get its own launch event or anything like that, rather it was going to be made official through a blog post by Microsoft. That could still be the case, only we’ll now have a bit more waiting to do for it. Since the announcement itself has been postponed, we assume the Lumia 650 will become available very quickly after it.

Along with this information comes word that the metal edge of the phone is laser cut, which means it’s going to be matte on the sides but shinier on the edges. The 650 is also said to be the only new Lumia-branded smartphone launching this year. And it’s unclear what will happen to the brand from 2017 onwards. On the other hand, a Surface phone may be unveiled towards the end of this…

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The Nextbit Robin “cloud phone” is finally going to start shipping on February 16, after many months since its initial introduction. However, that date is only valid for the GSM version of the crowdfunded device. The situation is completely different for the CDMA model.

The people behind Nextbit have explained today that the CDMA Robin will probably start shipping in April, although an exact date can’t be given yet. More information should become available as we get closer to that month.

The delay of the CDMA model compared to the GSM one has to do with the fact that development of the former only started after Nextbit saw people’s response on Kickstarter. The team now admits they “got a little carried away in the excitement of the campaign” when they estimated they would be able to deliver the CDMA Robin in February…

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Just a few days ago we learned that Sony is finally getting ready to bring the Xperia M5 to Europe. Back then the only confirmed countries to get it were Poland and the Netherlands, but from today you can add the UK to the list as well.

That’s because Carphone Warehouse has started taking pre-orders for the Xperia M5, with delivery expected to happen by February 8. What’s more, this retailer says it has an exclusive on the gold color of this smartphone. So you won’t be able to buy the handset in gold anywhere else in the UK.

At the moment you can’t pre-order an Xperia M5 in SIM-free form or on Pay as you go – you have to pick a contract with an operator. If you do that, the M5 is free with plans starting at £22 per month.

That cheapest option is at Vodafone and will bring you 500 minutes, unlimited texts, and 500MB of 4G data each month. If you need more, you can pick different plans of course, all the way up to one that nets you unlimited talk and text as well as 10GB of data. This is £36 per month at Vodafone, £39 at O2, and £44.99 at EE.

The Sony Xperia M5 has a 5-inch 1080p touchscreen, a 21 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 13 MP front-facing camera, MediaTek’s Helio X10 chipset (with a 2 GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU), 3GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, 4G, and a 2,600 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.0 Lollipop.

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Motorola is certainly into promotions for the second-generation Moto X these days. Following a deal for the UK, which we told you about earlier this week, the company has decided to shave something off the price of the device in the US too.

So you can now buy a brand new Moto X (2nd gen) for just $249.99. That’s $50 less than before. The caveat here is that the offer expires on January 26 at 10:59 am CT. So if you’re interested, make sure you act fast and purchase the handset this weekend (or on Monday).

Obviously, $249.99 is just the new starting price. You can use the MotoMaker service to customize your handset how you wish, and certain options do cost extra. Oh, and one more thing to note – we’re talking about unlocked units here, so there’s no requirement for you to sign a long-term contract with a carrier.

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OnePlus has decided to stop selling the 16GB version of its latest flagship smartphone in the US, UK, and continental Europe, according to a new report.

The Chinese company has confirmed the move, a spokesperson basically saying that people in these regions simply haven’t been interested in the 16GB iteration of the OnePlus 2.

The model has been removed from the OnePlus online store in the US and Europe at the beginning of this week. The 16GB variant will however still be offered in other markets such as India, where customers have been much more interested in it.

The 16GB version of the OnePlus 2 was being sold for $329 or £239 and it was the cheapest of two options, the other being the one with 64GB of storage. Now this is the only one on sale in the US and Europe, and it costs $389 or…

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Today Microsoft has started selling a new version of both its Surface Pro 4 tablet and the Surface Book (pictured below). In both cases, the company has paired a 6th generation Intel Core i7 processor with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

You can already purchase the models in the US and Canada. In this configuration, a Surface Pro 4 costs $2,699, while the Surface Book is priced at $3,199.

Finally, Microsoft is bringing a gold-colored Surface Pen to Canada, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the US. Obviously in this case there aren’t any internal changes, just a different hue being introduced. As such, the price for the gold Surface Pen is the same as for the black, blue, or silver models, namely $59.99.

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