Teaser confirms January 12 launch date for Xiaomi Redmi 3

Xiaomi has confirmed that the Redmi 3 smartphone will be launched next week – on Tuesday, January 12. The confirmation came in the form of a teaser the China-based company posted on its official Weibo account.

The teaser also revealed that the device sports a 5-inch display, as well as features an all metal body with a unique plaid design on the back.

As for the remaining specs, there’s no official word yet. However, a Xiaomi device alleged to be the Redmi 3 recently passed through TENAA. The device’s TENAA listing revealed that it is powered by an octa-core 1.5GHz CPU, and sports a 5-inch (1280 × 720 pixel resolution) TFT display.

The listing also revealed 2GB/16GB memory configuration, 13MP/5MP camera combo, and Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.

Source (Chinese) |…

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Razer enters smartwatch market with Nabu Watch

Razer, a company known for its gaming peripherals and hardware, has now entered the smartwatch market. At the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the company unveiled its first product in the category, dubbed Nabu Watch.

Razer stresses that the Nabu Watch is not a smartwatch but a watch that’s smart. It focuses “first on the digital chronograph as the primary function and the smart features as a secondary addition,” the company says.

Featuring an illuminated backlit display, the smartwatch can be used for things like setting countdown timer and alarms, running a stopwatch, and viewing world time. It also automatically syncs with phone via Bluetooth to make sure the time is accurate to the global standard.

Then there’s a second OLED screen which delivers all the smart features including discreet notifications and fitness tracking. It also provides watch-to-watch communication capability that allows two Nabu Watch users to exchange Facebook and Twitter info with just a hand shake.

“We’re bringing together the reliability and incredible functionality of a digital timepiece, with added smart features to empower the tech enthusiasts of today,” says Razer CEO and co-founder, Min-Liang Tan.

Razer claims the main display has a battery life of 12 months (thanks to a coin cell battery), while that of secondary screen is seven days – you can recharge it using an included USB cable. Compatible with iOS 8 (or higher) and Android 4.3 (or higher), the watch is also water (5ATM) as well shock resistant (up to 5m).

The Razer Nabu Watch comes in two different variants: the standard edition and the Forged Edition. While the former is priced at $149.99 and will be available later this month, the latter sets you back $199.99 and is already available for purchase exclusively at RazerStore retail locations and at RazerStore.com.

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You can purchase Moto 360 Sport and pre-order Fitbit Blaze from Verizon starting today

As announced earlier, the Sport variant of the second generation Moto 360 smartwatch will be officially available for purchase in the United States starting today. The device was unveiled back in the month of September last year.

Verizon has announced that it’ll also be carrying the wearable device. Those interested in purchasing it from the Big Red will have to shell out $299.99, which is also the watch’s official price in the country. Color options include Black, Flame, and White.

In addition to selling the Moto 360 Sport, the carrier will also start taking pre-orders for the Fitbit Blaze (shown below), which was announced just yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

The pre-order price at Verizon will be $199.99, which similar to the smartwatch’s official pre-order price. Finally, starting today, the carrier will also be selling the Fitbit Charge at discounted rates – for $99.99, down from $129.99. The deal will run through the end of the…

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Verizon to start offering BlackBerry Priv by March-end

BlackBerry’s debut Android phone Priv will be available for purchase through Verizon in the month of March – or by the end of the month to be precise. This was revealed by the carrier’s VP of communications Jeffrey Nelson in a tweet.

We expect to have the @BlackBerry #PRIV on the nation’s most reliable network by the end of March (if not sooner).— Jeffrey Nelson (@JNels) January 6, 2016

The revelation comes a couple of months after the Big Red confirmed that it will start selling the device “soon.” Late last month the carrier’s variant of the device was certified by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

For those who aren’t in the know, the handset is currently an AT&T exclusive in the US – the deal expires on January 20 though. BlackBerry CEO John Chen confirmed at the ongoing CES that the Priv will soon be available from other major US carries, including Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint.

While the magenta carrier is expected to carry the smartphone starting January 26, there’s currently no information on when Sprint will start offering it.

Source |…

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Oculus Rift is finally up for pre-order, priced at $599

As anticipated, the Oculus Rift has become available for pre-order today. The VR headset can be yours for $599, and it will start shipping to 20 countries on March 28. You’ll find it at select retailers in the US starting in April.

When you buy an Oculus Rift, you receive the headset itself, complete with built-in headphones and microphone, the sensor, an Xbox One controller, as well as the newly unveiled Oculus Remote.

This lets you easily browse through the Oculus store, explore 360 video content, or experience VR games and entertainment. According to Oculus, the remote is “the easiest way to introduce non-gamers to VR”.

If you pre-order the Oculus Rift, you’re also securing your place in line for pre-ordering the Touch controller, which has recently been delayed until the second half of the year.

With the VR headset you get Lucky’s Tale by Playful, an “amazing VR platformer”, but also access to EVE: Valkyrie through the Founder’s Pack, which will include exclusive in-game content, and founder status in Valkyrie, among other things.

From February, you’ll be able to pre-order bundles including the Rift as well as an Oculus-ready PC, starting at $1,499. These computers have been tested by Oculus to ensure they can deliver great experiences with the…

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Nextbit Robin “cloud phone” starts shipping on February 16

The cloud-centric Nextbit Robin smartphone started off as a Kickstarter campaign – a very successful one actually. After the initial $299 units got grabbed, and the $349 tier was sold out too, the device was put up for pre-order for $399.

And now, quite a few months away from its September 2015 debut, we’re very close to its shipping date. Nextbit has announced that the first 1,000 people who backed the project on Kickstarter are set to receive their Robins on February 16. The one caveat here is that only the GSM version will be shipping at this time. The CDMA-capable model will follow at some point later this year.

The Nextbit Robin has been billed as the first “cloud phone”, because it backs up everything in the cloud – apps, data, and multimedia included. With a purchase of the phone you get 32GB of built-in storage, but also an additional 100GB in the cloud. The point here is for you to never run out of storage. As soon as the internal space starts filling up, the phone automatically deletes stuff – but since everything is backed up to the cloud you can get things back if you need to. This entire process is supposedly seamless, requiring little to no user interaction.

Otherwise, the Robin is a pretty decent upper-midrange Android smartphone, coming with a 5.2-inch 1080p touchscreen, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 808 chipset at the helm, 3GB of RAM, a 13 MP rear camera with phase detection autofocus and dual-LED flash, a 5 MP selfie snapper, a USB Type-C port, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS, and a 2,680 mAh battery. It even boasts a fingerprint scanner as well as front-facing stereo…

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Netflix is now available in 190 countries

In a rather surprising move, Netflix has expanded its online movie and TV show viewing service to a whopping 130 more countries than before today. This takes the grand total of territories where you can watch what Netflix has to offer to over 190.

The service is already live in all of these, by the way – so if up until now your country was left out, head to netflix.com now and you might be in for a nice surprise. The first month is free, after which you pay a monthly amount based on which plan you pick.

The cheapest plan lets you watch on a maximum of one screen at a time, and doesn’t feature HD content. This is priced at €7.99 in Europe, for example. For €9.99 each month you get HD access and the ability to watch on two screens at the same time. The premium plan is €11.99 per month and comes with Ultra HD (4K) support and the ability to watch stuff on four different devices at the same time.

Netflix also added Arabic, Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese to the 17 languages it already supports.

The service still isn’t available in China, though the company says it’s exploring options over there. Furthermore, you can’t watch Netflix if you’re in Crimea, North Korea, or Syria, because of restrictions placed on American companies by the US…

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Pair two of Kodak’s new SP360 4K action cams, get VR videos

Kodak’s latest entrant into the action cam space (which is getting busier and busier each year) is the SP360 4K. As the name implies, the small cube-shaped camera has the ability to record in 4K (3,840×2,160) with its 12.4 MP sensor.

But that’s when you use its “front” mode, which comes with a 16:9 aspect ratio. There’s also the “global” setting which brings with it a 1:1 aspect ratio and a shooting resolution of 2,880×2,880. In this mode, it captures an almost spherical image, 360-degrees horizontally and 235-degrees vertically.

Fret not, however, for you can create a fully spherical VR film with the Kodak Pixpro SP360 4K – you just need two of them. If you pair a couple of these, and place them back-to-back, you’ve got your VR footage. Kodak even sells a two-pack, which also includes a dual-camera mount as well as software that stitches everything together after you’re done shooting.

One Kodak SP360 4K currently goes for $499, while the double-pack is priced at $899. Using the camera’s built in Wi-Fi lets you control it with your iPhone or Android device.

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Apple App Store generated $1.1 billion sales during the holiday season

Apple officially announced the App Store generated $1.1 billion in sales during the 2015 holiday season. In fact, the company calls it the “biggest ever” milestone for the App Store for the two-week period ending January 3, 2016.

Christmas and New Year’s have both set single-day records with more than $144 million sales. In total, Apple has paid out close to $40 billion to developers since the App Store launched eight years ago.

The App Store had a holiday season for the record books. We are excited that our customers downloaded and enjoyed so many incredible apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV, spending over $20 billion on the App Store last year alone,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “We’re grateful to all the developers who have created the most innovative and exciting apps in the world for our customers. We can’t wait for what’s to come in 2016.

The company also shared another interesting statistic: it has now created 1.9 million jobs in the US alone. 1.4 million of them are related to the community of app creators, software engineers and entrepreneurs building iOS apps. Previously, the company said it was responsible for 1.2 million jobs in Europe and 1.4 million jobs in China.

For 2015, Apple App Store sales topped $20 billion. Apple keeps 30% of the App Store revenue, meaning the company made $6 billion for 2015 after paying…

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