Half Monk

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) on Monday announced the DisplayPort 1.3 standard. The new standard, which will replace the existing 1.2a standard, will support 5K displays at a resolution of up to 5,120 x 2,880 (equivalent to 14.7-megapixels) across a single cable. 4K monitors, we hardly even knew you. DisplayPort 1.3 will offer up to 32.4Gbps of single-link bandwidth split across four pipes (25.92Gbps when you factor in overhead). That is nearly twice as much as competitor HDMI 2.0 is capable of and 50 percent faster than the existing DisplayPort standard. The HDMI competitor isn’t just for 5K monitors, however. VESA said it will also be able to drive multiple monitors through a single connection using DisplayPort's Multi-Stream feature. For example, one could run two 4K monitors – each with a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 when using VESA Coordinated Video Timing. As 9to5Mac points out, the timing of the announcement couldn’t be better as 4K monitors continue to come down in price. What’s more, multiple 5K monitors are just around the corner. If you recall, Dell announced the UltraSharp 27 Ultra HD 5K monitor less than two weeks ago with a resolution of 5,120 x 2,880 and a pixel density of 218 pixels per inch. The screen will ship with a pair of 16W Harman Kardon speakers, a media card reader and six USB ports later this year with carrying a price tag of $2,500. DisplayPort 1.3 is available as of writing to VESA members. We’re told to expect devices supporting the new standard to crop up sometime next year (Dell's UltraSharp 27 requires two DisplayPort 1.2 cables).

Google has released its latest transparency report, revealing that the US government's requests for user data have risen 19% since the second half of last year and 250% since 2009, the year the company first started publishing transparency data. Worldwide, the increases were 15% and 150%, respectively. "This increase in government demands comes against a backdrop of ongoing revelations about government surveillance programs", said Google's Legal Director Richard Salgado in a blog post, adding that despite the revelations, some countries have in fact expanded their surveillance authorities in an attempt to reach service providers outside their borders. The Mountain View, California-based company received a total of 31,698 government data requests in the first half of 2014, affecting over 48,000 accounts. The list was topped by the US with 12,539 requests, followed by Germany, France, and India, with 3,338, 3,002, and 2,794 requests, respectively. The company said it provided data in around 65% of those cases. The aforementioned figures do not include requests received under the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or in the form of National Security Letters. Google said it understands that governments have a legitimate and important role in fighting crime and investigating national security threats, but asked for legislative reform to maintain public confidence in both government and technology. The search giant said the Electronic Communications Privacy Act should be updated to make it clear that the government must obtain a search warrant before it can compel a service provider to disclose the content of a user’s communication. In addition, Google also urged lawmakers to enact into law the USA FREEDOM Act, which would prevent the bulk collection of Internet metadata under various legal authorities.

In the lead up to the imminent launch of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 900 series, final specifications for the two top-end cards - the GTX 980 and GTX 970 - have been leaked thanks to VideoCardz.com. The GTX 980 flagship will reportedly come with 2,048 CUDA cores across 16 Streaming Multiprocessors Maxwell (SMM) units, up from the previously-rumored 1,920. It'll also feature 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 224 GB/s of bandwidth, while the card's TDP is listed at around 175 W. The TDP is especially interesting, considering it's much lower than the previous generation. The Kepler-based GTX 780 with its GK110 GPU had a TDP of 250 W, so if these specifications are accurate, we're looking at a 75 W drop in TDP in switching to a Maxwell architecture on the same 28nm fabrication node. In comparison, AMD's Radeon R9 290X has a TDP of 290 W, so if the GTX 980 really does outperform it, it'll be even more impressive when you consider the TDP is over 100 W lower. The GTX 970 will come with 13 SMMs, equating to 1,664 CUDA cores. It has the same memory specifications as the GTX 980, and has a TDP of just 148 W, down 82 W from the 230 W GTX 770. Again, it's looking like Nvidia will have a significant performance-to-power advantage over AMD with their Maxwell architecture. It won't be too long until we know for sure how the GTX 900 series performs, and what the final specifications for the cards really are. Nvidia is expected to launch their new series of GPUs at the end of this week.

Some hackers enjoy defacing property or stealing sensitive data to demonstrate security vulnerabilities. Others, like Michael Jordon from Context Information Security, would rather get their point across by playing video games. The latter is exactly what Jordon showcased during his talk at 44CON, an annual Information Security Conference and Training event that recently took place in London. The target of his talk was the Canon PIXMA printer, a popular choice for homes and small businesses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=INZR9P_SnjY After discovering the printer had a web interface with no username and password protecting it, the device was at his mercy. Jordon then realized this interface could be used to initiate a firmware update. So he did what any ethical hacker would do to demonstrate a vulnerability – loaded a copy of Doom on it. “If you can run Doom on a printer, you can do a lot more nasty things,” Jordon said. “In a corporate environment, it would be a good place to be. Who suspects printers?”

Despite the fact that mobile photography has never been as big as it is today, smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom that put the quality of the camera above all other specs haven’t really caught on with consumers. The approach that’s proven most successful thus far is to pack the best possible camera inside a phone without making it actually look like a camera. That precedent is doing little to deter Panasonic, however, as the electronics giant has announced a new smartphone at the Photokina imaging trade show that puts the camera first (or as Panasonic refers to it, a capable camera with communications capabilities). The device in question is the Lumix DMC-CM1, an Android-based smartphone that packs a 1-inch image sensor capable of producing 20-megapixel images with help from a Leica-branded fixed f/2.8 lens that works out to the equivalent of a 28mm zoom lens. If you’re keeping up, that’s the same size image sensor found in mirrorless cameras such as the Sony Rx100. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fJiJfGY_tLA There’s also a dedicated shutter button as well as a manual lens ring to assist in dialing in the aperture / shutter speed. Oh, and did I mention it can capture 4K video, too? As for the phone itself, you’re looking at a device with a 4.7-inch full HD display. Under the hood is a quad-core Snapdragon 801 SoC clocked at 2.3GHz mated with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (expandable via microSD card slot). It’ll run Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, we’re told. Panasonic plans to launch the hybrid camera phone in limited quantities. Expect to pay around 899 euros ($1,162) for the opportunity when it arrives in France and Europe this November. No word yet on whether or not Panasonic is planning to bring the CM1 to the US or other regions.

Today, WikiLeaks has released FinFisher's "weaponized malware," which is used by governments and other organizations around the world for spying on people. Using common malware techniques the software can be used to not only tap PC systems, but also mobile data via iOS, Android and Blackberry devices. The controversial move to put the software out into the wild is part of a push by WikiLeaks to bring awareness to its existence and to allow developers to create ways to protect against it among other things. WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange said “FinFisher continues to operate brazenly from Germany selling weaponised surveillance malware to some of the most abusive regimes in the world. The Merkel government pretends to be concerned about privacy, but its actions speak otherwise." The "weaponized malware" is developed by a German company and is documented to be mainly "used against journalists, activists and political dissidents," according to WikiLeaks. It is estimated that FinFisher's revenue from sales pertaining to this software amount to nearly €50,000,000 (more than $64,700,000). WikiLeaks includes governments from the following countries as FinFisher surviellance product clients: Slovakia, Mongolia, Qatar State Security, South Africa, Bahrain, Pakistan, Estonia, Vietnam, Australia, Belgium, Nigeria, Netherlands, and more. While WikiLeaks is very aware of the risks in making software like this freely available to anyone, it feels that the benefits outweigh the risks and that developers may also be to help track down its "command and control centers."

After German officials proposed to lock down its internet due to security breaches, it looks as though newly discovered NSA activity could get the agency into trouble once again. Evidence has surfaced saying the NSA network infiltration in Germany reaches much further than the political leaders and other important individuals we reported on previously. It seems US agents tapped into the networks of both local internet provider Netcologne and German tech giant Deutsche Telekom. Known as Treasure Map, the operation was part of the NSA's attempt to map the country's internet and is designed to allow the agency to track particular devices and complete infrastructure systems throughout Germany. While there is no direct indication the US is using Treasure Map to track every individual device in the country, reports say it does appear to allow the NSA to do so. Even with the potential to track massive amounts of German internet data, right down to individual routers and mobile devices, when British intelligence agents hacked German infrastructure for seemingly similar reasons, it was later believed to be for tracking particular suspects. While not proven to be a mass dragnet operation, data regarding the breach from Netcologne suggests that it took place on German soil, which violates national law and could certainly cause more issues between the two countries.

Apple has announced today that it sold 4 million of its new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus during their first 24 hours on sale. The large number clearly shows that there was significant demand for the device and also explains why some of the phones are now backordered several weeks. Apple said that this is the fastest-selling iPhone launch in the company's history. If you don't want to wait the extra time it now takes after ordering to receive your device, you can take a chance by visiting an Apple Store on Friday to see if you can get your hands on one. The new iPhones comes in much larger sizes, 4.7in and 5.5in; this is a big shift from the prior devices that had 4in screens or smaller. With new features like Apple Pay, a 'one-handed' mode, and of course, iOS 8, consumers were evidently eager to jump on the device. Even though Apple's devices are rarely first to incorporate new features like NFC, they tend to make whatever feature they introduce mainstream. Apple Pay will likely be widely supported by retailers even though many have been slow to adopt other forms of NFC payments that have been available on Android devices for years. For comparison, Apple's iPhone 5 sold 5 million units in the first weekend of availability.

Motorola has announced that its new flagship smartphone, the Moto X (2014), along with the Moto Hint earbud, and the Motorola Turbo Charger, will be available for pre-order Tuesday. The smartphone, which the company launched earlier this month, will be available in two versions: the AT&T model and the unlocked Pure Edition. While the former will set you back $99 on a two-year contract, the unlocked and unbranded version will go for $499.99. Unlike last year's model, the revamped X carries high-end specs including a 5.2-inch, 1080p AMOLED display with 423 pixels per inch, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset with a 2.5 GHz quadcore CPU, an Adreno 330 graphics processing unit, 2 GB RAM, 2,300mAh non-removable battery, as well as a 13-megapixel camera with dual-LED rind flash capable of shooting 4K video. It runs Android KitKat version 4.4.4, and comes in 16 GB or 32 GB variants. The Hint wireless earbud lets you control your smartphone with voice commands, and the Turbo Charger, a device that according to Motorola takes just 15 minutes on the latest Moto phones to get up to 8 more hours of battery life, will be available for $149.99 and $34.99, respectively. Alongside these products, the Moto 360 smartwatch, which sold out shortly after going on sale earlier this month, will also be back in stock tomorrow, although the company is warning that stock will be limited. All four products will become available for pre-order at Motorola's website starting at 11am CT. As for shipping dates, the company says they vary by product, and will be provided at checkout.

There was much more to Apple’s media event last week than the unveiling of two new iPhones and a smartwatch. Near the end of the keynote, CEO Tim Cook invited U2 on stage to perform for those in attendance. Afterwards, the two announced that U2 was releasing a brand new album called “Songs of Innocence” and that every iTunes user in 119 countries around the globe would be able to download it free of charge. Never before has a group launched an album that has been available to so many people (500 million iTunes customers) at once. It was a historic occasion but as with most publicity stunts, the driving factor is money. No, U2 didn’t release the album free of charge out of the kindness of their hearts or to create a lot of publicity. Apple paid for the opportunity to launch the album exclusively on iTunes which appears to be part of an overall larger ad campaign. As noted in this Billboard article, the lead single from the album is set to be featured in a massive media campaign from Apple that’s valued at $100 million by multiple sources. U2 manager Guy Oseary never actually confirms or denies the figure but odds are, the album release kicked off the beginning of the campaign. In a separate post from Re/code published last Friday, the site claimed users had downloaded more than 2 million copies of the album since it was released on Tuesday. It’s difficult to tell whether that’s a solid number or not as there are multiple variables at play not to mention the fact the album is streaming on iTunes Radio. Either way, we can expect to hear a lot from the band in Apple advertising leading up to the lucrative holiday buying season.

Microsoft is all set to announce a $2.5 billion deal to buy Mojang, maker of Minecraft on Monday. The deal, which has been rumoured since earlier in the week, is being aimed at bringing more users to Microsoft’s mobile platform rather than the PC or Xbox, according to Reuters. So far, Microsoft hasn’t commented on the deal, saying that they don’t like to discuss rumours, but the potential for the game on Windows Phone devices is likely to be very compelling for the company. Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has previously stated that he wouldn’t design a Windows Phone version of the game because the market share for the OS is so small. According to Dave Bisceglia, Chief Executive of independent game studio Tap Lab: “It seems like Microsoft is looking at Mojang and Minecraft as a way to tap into this enormous cultural phenomenon, If you look at iOS, Minecraft has been a top-grossing game for quite some time, if Microsoft could on Windows phones give players a unique and compelling experience that you can't get on the other platforms, that could be a driver to sell devices to existing Minecraft fans." Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has been no stranger to turning down potential business in the past, famously cancelling an Oculus Rift port of the game in March when it was revealed that Facebook had purchased Oculus VR for $2 billion. Considering how outspoken Notch has been about his displeasure for Windows in the past, when he told Microsoft to stop "trying to ruin the PC as an open platform," this deal would be an interesting divergence from his previous beliefs. Despite these comments, Notch has not only joked about endorsing companies for $2 billion, but also asked back in July if anyone would like to buy out his shares in the company as he was fed up with the hate coming from players of the game.

While Windows Phone users have taken advantage of a notification center with the release of Windows Phone 8.1 earlier this year, Windows users have been stuck with an odd mix of balloon tips and app toast notifications that quickly disappear. With Windows 9, however, desktop users will also gain a notification center, and now a video has been released of it in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7hG_0pLq49s In a video published by WinFuture, the notification center can be seen aggregating alerts from both toast notifications sent by Windows Store apps and balloon tips sent in the traditional notification area on the taskbar. By clicking on the notification center icon in the taskbar, all the alerts are displayed with the application's name and a summary of the notification (in Skype, for instance, the text sent by a friend is displayed). The notification center also displays the time an app sent an alert as well as a button to clear all notifications. Additionally, alerts in the notification center can be removed one at a time by clicking an "X" icon when hovering over them with a mouse. Alerts are segregated by app, with the video showing all Skype alerts displaying first, followed by all File Explorer alerts. Windows 9, known internally at Microsoft as part of a wave of updates codenamed "Threshold," is expected to be officially revealed on Sept. 30. Major updates include the return of the Start menu, the addition of virtual desktops and the notification center. Microsoft's Cortana digital assistant, currently found in Windows Phone, is also expected to make the leap to Windows, though it's not fully clear how it will be implemented. A public preview of Windows 9 is expected to be released on or near its Sept. 30 unveiling.

Cord-cutters, rejoice! Time *****W Cable has dropped some hints that in the future it could shift from selling HBO Go, the streaming service that gives access to HBO's vast catalog of movies as well as new and old shows, through cable and satellite companies to a direct-to-consumer model. "[it] is becoming more viable, more interesting", said TWC CEO Jeff Bewkes during a talk at a Goldman Sachs conference this week. “We’re seriously considering what is the best way to deal with online distribution". That's clearly a change in stance, given that last year, at the same conference, Bewkes said the company's primary focus was to give HBO an inroad into the 70 million households that subscribe to pay TV but not HBO, not just the 5 million to 6 million that don’t have a pay TV service. The direct-to-consumer model isn't new for HBO, as it's already offering its programming via subscription in Nordic countries including Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Add to that the fact that rival Netflix has more paid US subscribers than HBO, the idea of selling standalone subscriptions to HBO Go would make a lot of sense. In addition, on the question whether there are plans to spin off HBO into a separate company, Bewkes said he has no such intentions, adding that the company is instead focused on having its three core business units (HBO, Turner Broadcasting, and *****W Bros.) work together.

A leaked image has appeared of what could be a prototype cooler for the upcoming AMD Radeon R9 390X, designed by Asetek. Just three weeks prior, Asetek boasted about a major design win with an "undisclosed OEM" relating to graphics liquid cooling, with this new image practically confirming that said OEM is AMD. Asetek is the company who designed the hybrid liquid-air cooler for the dual-GPU Radeon R9 295X2, so it makes perfect sense for their partnership with AMD to continue. The cooler they're developing for the R9 300 series card is similar in design to that for the R9 295X2, but with the fan moved towards the back to cool just one GPU. Along the top you can still see the liquid cooling loop connectors. At this stage there's not much that can be gathered about AMD's upcoming flagship graphics cards, other than they're looking at drastically improving the reference cooler. The R9 290X was a hot, loud card when cooled by the weak stock cooler, so moving to a hybrid cooler will allow it to push the performance boundaries while keeping cool. It's rumored that the Radeon R9 390X, the high-end card that'll likely use this cooler, will launch in early 2015 equipped with a Volcanic Islands-series 'Fiji' GPU. Specifications at this stage are unknown, as AMD is clearly still in the development phase for the card. Meanwhile, as has been the case with the past few generations of graphics cards, Nvidia will launch their new line of Maxwell-based graphics cards first. It's expected that the GeForce GTX 900 series will launch as early as next week.

Yahoo has been one of the more transparent tech companies as it relates to privacy ever since whistleblower Edward Snowden stunned the world with his NSA surveillance revelations. In an effort to prove that they didn’t just go along with whatever the US government demanded of it, the Internet pioneer is working to release more than 1,500 pages of once-secret papers from their 2007-2008 challenge to the expansion of US surveillance laws. A Tumblr post by General Counsel Ron Bell claims the US government amended a key law in 2007 to demand user information from online services. Yahoo refused to comply with what they viewed as unconstitutional and overboard surveillance, instead challenging the government’s authority. Said challenge, as well as a later appeal, was unsuccessful. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) ordered Yahoo to hand over the user data they had originally requested. At one point during the proceedings, the government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 per day if they refused to comply. Documents pertaining to the lawsuit remained classified until just last year and now that the FISC-R has agreed to unseal the documents at Yahoo’s request, the company is working to make them available to anyone interested in having a look. Even still, however, Yahoo said some of the documents remain sealed and classified, unknown even to their legal team. Either way, Yahoo considers it an important win for transparency and they hope the records promote informed discussion about the relationship between privacy, due process and intelligence gathering.

Apple on Friday revealed that pre-orders for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have set a new record. The admission is an indicator that consumer demand for a larger-screen iPhone is indeed real. The Cupertino-based company sold more than nine million handsets during last year’s opening weekend for the iPhone 5s and 5c and if pre-orders are any indication, they’ll likely eclipse that number – perhaps by a significant margin – with this year’s offering. Or in other words, Apple better be prepared to back up the Brinks truck next weekend because they’ll be generating an enormous amount of money. The new handsets went up for pre-order at 12:01 am this morning but the sheer amount of traffic to Apple.com meant that many were unable to place an order. Instead, shoppers were met with a message that read, “We’ll be back. We’re busy updating the Apple Store for you and will be back soon.” The site remained offline for nearly two and a half hours which prompted many to take to Twitter to vent their frustrations. Those trying to order through their wireless carrier experienced similar server overload issues as well. As of writing, estimated ship delays on Apple.com for the iPhone 6 Plus, for example, are listed at 3-4 weeks while the soonest AT&T could get you the phone would be sometime between November 9 through November 27. At this point, the best way to try and snag an iPhone on launch day would be to check your local Apple Store or a retailer like Best Buy, Target or Wal-Mart.

Uber and Lyft are the most well-know private transportation services in the US. Judging by the news coverage of how they’ve both been jockeying for customers, many might think that the two startups operate on a level playing field in terms of financial performance and valuation. That assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. According to new research from FutureAdvisor, the competition isn’t even close as Uber is winning by a landslide in every category. By analyzing the credit and debit card transactions of 3.8 million Americans, the firm found $28.6 million was spent across the two services from June 2013 through May 2014 $26.4 million went to Uber while Lyft accounted for the remaining $2.2 million. Or in other words, Uber’s revenue was about 12 times that of its rival. What’s more, Uber offered up more than seven times the number of rides and gets by with charging significantly higher rates. On average, a trip with Uber costs $21 while a ride with Lyft only sets the customer back $13. This may or may not be a surprise depending on how closely you’ve been watching the two companies. As Wired points out, Uber is valued at roughly $17 billion. Lyft, meanwhile, carries a valuation of around $700 million. You’re probably wondering why Uber is so far ahead of Lyft when the two offer practically the same service. As Forrester analyst James McQuivey points out, much of it has to do with the fact that Uber had a significant head start in the industry. The company was founded in 2009 while Lyft launched in its current iteration just two years ago.

It’s been nearly a year since Grand Theft Auto V hit the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Many wondered how long it’d take Rockstar to port the title to next-gen consoles and the PC. After nearly a year wait, we finally have a solid launch date in hand. Rockstar on Friday announced that Grand Theft Auto V will arrive on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 18. Unfortunately, PC gamers will have to wait until early 2015 – January 27, to be exact – to get their hands on the title. The good news, however, is that these new releases will feature a range of major visual and technical upgrades that’ll make the in-game environment more immersive than ever. In addition to increased draw distances and a higher resolution, gamers can expect to see new weapons, vehicles, activities, additional wildlife, denser traffic, a new foliage system, enhanced damage / weather effects and enhanced radio selections with more than 100 new songs. What’s more, those that per-order the game will receive $1 million in-game bonus cash to spend across the main game and Grand Theft Auto Online ($500k for each game). If you’ve already played the game, you know that it can be hard to come across cash early on in the game. Do you plan to pick up a copy of GTA V for a next-gen console or will you be holding out for the PC version?

Ever wanted an SD card that holds as much, if not more stuff than your solid state drive inside your PC? Look no further than SanDisk's new line of Extreme Pro SDXC cards: the top-of-the-line model holds a whopping 512 GB, complementing 128 GB and 256 GB variants. Designed for 4K video recording, the Extreme Pro SDXC cards are rated for transfers of 95 MB/s, which is fast enough for consistent Ultra HD recordings from a professional or enthusiast camera. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 can record 4K at 100 Mbps, for example, which is comfortably under the rated speed of the card. Just how much 4K content could you record or store on a 512 GB SD card with a bitrate of 100 Mbps? Around 11 hours, if our calculations are correct. That's a decent amount of high-resolution footage for that new Ultra HD television or monitor you just bought. 512 GB of SD card storage naturally isn't going to come cheap: it'll set you back $800, or around three to four times as much as a similarly-sized SSD. SanDisk hasn't revealed how much the lower capacity cards will cost, but you can expect some significant savings if you don't need all that space.

If you spend five or more hours each week playing shooters or strategy games on your PC, you’re considered a “heavy core” gamer according to a new report from The NPD Group. In its “Understanding PC Gaming: 2014” study, the analytics firm breaks down PC gamers into three categories: heavy core, light core and casual. In order to qualify as a core gamer, respondents had to currently play action/adventure, fighting, flight, massively multiplayer, racing, real time strategy, role-playing, shooter or sport games on a PC or Mac. Light core gamers still enjoy core games but play for less than five hours a week while casual gamers only play non-core titles. Of those surveyed, 56 percent were considered casual gamers, 24 percent classified themselves as light core gamers while just 20 percent ranked as heavy core gamers. Even though heavy core gamers make up the smallest segment, they spend roughly twice as much money on physical or digital games compared to casual gamers. The study also found that PC gamers are just as likely to be men as they are women – in this case, it was a 51 percent to 49 percent split, respectively. Gender differences become apparent by the type of gamer, however. Heavy and light core gamers are mostly men while casual PC players are overwhelmingly female. PC gamers also tend to be older at an average age of 38 and have an average income of $69,000 annually. Data for the study was collected from 6,225 individuals ages nine and older between June 2, 2014 and June 16, 2014.

A couple of German tech sites have published nearly two dozen Windows 9 “Threshold” screenshots. The images allegedly come from the “Windows Technical Preview,” a version of the operating system that is expected to be available later this month. Specifically, the images are said to have come from an early build of the OS seeded to close Microsoft partners. By all accouts, they appear to be authentic. These aren’t the first Windows 9 photos to leak onto the web but they do provide a closer look at the return of the Start Menu. If you recall, Microsoft removed the Start Menu in Windows 8 which left many users up in arms. The images also show some obvious changes to the taskbar like a new search icon beside the Windows button as well as one for what could be the virtual desktops feature. As is trendy in the UI world, it would seem that Microsoft has created new “flatter” icons for the file explorer and desktop. As The Verge points out, this will help it match the “Metro-style” look and feel of Windows 8. Last month, the same publication said Microsoft was preparing to showcase the new operating system at a special media event on September 30. This date corroborated an earlier report that suggested the OS would break cover in late September or early October. Most expect Microsoft to release a preview version of Windows 9 to developers and enthusiasts at the unveiling.

Support for Android apps on Chromebooks has finally arrived. After making the announcement during Google I/O in June, the first Android apps for Chrome OS are now available to download – there just aren’t very many of them yet. The first four Android apps for Chrome OS consist of a couple of familiar apps in Evernote and Vine as well as two that you might not have heard of before: Duolingo and Sight Words. For those not up to speed, Duolingo is a language-learning app that teaches users Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and English free of charge. The app earned the honor of Google Play’s “Best of the Best” for 2013. Sight Words, meanwhile, is an app for kids designed to help improve reading skills. These four apps are just the start as Google said they are working with a select group of developers to make more apps compatible with Chrome OS. Back at I/O, Google demonstrated a version of Flipboard for Android running on a Chromebook so it’s probably a foregone conclusion that we’ll see support for it arrive soon. As The Next Web correctly points out, bringing Android apps to Chrome OS is a huge opportunity for Google. In addition to introducing millions of existing Android users to Chrome OS, there’s also the potential for both Google and developers to sell even more app to another group of users. The aforementioned apps are available as of writing from the Chrome Web Store.

Microsoft is reportedly planning to change the way they market their smartphone OS for this holiday season, dropping both the Nokia and Windows Phone brands from product references and advertisements. The news originates from Geek on Gadgets, who received a confidential Microsoft document revealing the changes. It marks a shift in branding since Microsoft acquired Nokia's devices and services division in September last year, with the company looking to refreshen up their image in the lead up to the launch of Windows 'Threshold' next year. Windows 'Threshold' (or Windows 9 as it'll likely be called) is set to unify all versions of Windows, including Windows Phone and Windows RT, into effectively one operating system. With this in mind, it makes sense for Microsoft to transition away from Windows Phone branding: it's reported that this holiday season, marketing material will simply refer to it as "Windows". Some of Microsoft's recent promotions appear to have already started the shift away from Windows Phone branding. Some of the latest videos for Cortana and Nokia's upcoming smartphones don't mention "Windows Phone" at all, and even HTC's latest handset is simply the HTC One M8 for Windows. As for the Nokia brand, it was always expected that Microsoft would eventually drop it following the acquisition. The confidential documents reveal that the Lumia brand will stay, but future devices will be branded as Microsoft Lumia rather than Nokia Lumia. The upcoming Lumia 830 and Lumia 730/735 will be the last devices to launch with Nokia branding printed on the phone.

Activision is off to a solid start with Destiny. The publisher recently announced they racked up $500 million in sales to retailers and first party buyers on day one which means they’ve already recouped the money they spent on the game’s development and marketing. It’s worth pointing out that sales to retailers and sales to customers are two totally different figures. Even still, however, it’s an impressive figure that indicates sales of about 10 million units to stores according to Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter. In a statement on the matter, Activision said the sales figures make the game the biggest new video game franchise launch in history, topping Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs this past May. Cowen & Co. analyst Doug Creutz added that it was the most pre-ordered game in history that wasn’t a sequel, eliminating titles from the Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and Battlefield franchises from the discussion. Creutz added that the first five days of sales for a title in this genre are crucial to its success as almost 40 percent of revenue generated in the first year come from the first five days. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said the industry milestone marks another blockbuster success for his company and demonstrates their unique ability to create some of the most successful entertainment franchises in the world. More than 11,000 stores around the world held midnight launches for Destiny.

Google has announced that it is integrating Google Voice with Hangouts. This means that in addition to sending messages and having video chats, you'll now also be able to make calls from within the new Hangouts app for Android, iOS, and desktop. Calls to other Hangouts users, as well as numbers in the US and Canada, are completely free, while the international rates are pretty cheap. “We think there is an important role for voice”, said Amit Fulay, Google’s product manager of Hangouts. “We want to emphasize people. The mode you use simply depends on the urgency level”. The integration, however, isn't consistent across all platforms, as SMS and voicemail support is not yet available on iOS. Also, not all features and settings have arrived on Hangouts; the Google Voice team says that it is currently focusing on primary functions, and plans to take on some of the edge cases later. To enable the integration on Android, you'll first need to install the new Hangouts app (version 2.3), and then install the accompanying dialer, which not only activates the feature but also serves as a shortcut to placing voice calls. On the other hand, for iOS and desktop users, voice calls will be available the next time they open the app. In addition to Google Voice integration and VoIP calls, the update also brings some of Google's Material Design to Hangouts, giving the app a brighter look. The new version of Google Hangouts is currently rolling, and it may take a few days to reach everyone.