It seems nothing is going Apple’s way when it comes to the next iPhone’s production. A recent report suggested that the company might face component yield issues in an attempt to meet the thin form factor of the iPhone 6.

Now, KGI Securities’ analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that due to production issues, the launch of the alleged larger iPhone 6 variant, believed to be the 5.5-inch model, may be delayed to next year. He adds that in any case the phone is indeed launched in October, it is likely be available in limited quantities.

MacRumors quotes Kuo who noted, “Production bottlenecks on 4.7-inch iPhone 6 centre on the yield rate of in-cell touch panel and metal casing. As in-cell touch panel becomes larger in size, the edge of the panel may become insensitive to touch. Meanwhile, under new manufacturing process for the iPhone 6 metal casing, colour unevenness is an issue.”

Notably, this is not the first case of yield issues reported for the long-rumoured 5.5-inch iPhone 6 variant. Back in May, a report suggested that the use of costly sapphire as a display material, waslimiting the production of the alleged iPhone 6 with 5.5-inch display.

Last week, a report tipped that Apple might introduce a new haptic feedback technology in its next generation iPhone devices, while another leak suggested that the company had almost doubled orders for the iPhone 6 when compared to the iPhone 5.

Earlier this month, a report revealed a September 25 (Thursday) availability date for the alleged 4.7- and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 models, which is not in line with Apple’s traditional Friday launch, while also claiming that the name of the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 variant will be iPhone Air.

-NDTV

The additional language support will roll out Monday in Gmail on the Web and feature-phone browsers, Google said. Users can try them out by adjusting their settings.

Changing Gmail’s display language does not change the language in which people send and receive their messages.

Google worked with linguists to make each language accurate.

Another day and another iPhone 6 rumour. This time a report out of China details an astonishing new launch date for the next iPhone from Apple, ahead of most dates in previous leaks. The report is accompanied with purported pricing details, as well as the name of the anticipated larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 variant – iPhone Air.

The report citing industry sources claims Apple will unveil the iPhone 6 on September 15, which falls on a Monday, while retail availability will begin on September 25, which falls on a Thursday.

Apple traditionally starts sales of new iPhone models on a Friday to capture the weekend crowd, so the dates seem a little fishy. Previous leaks had indicated a more credible launch date of September 19, which happens to be Friday.

According to the  report, China will also be amongst the first countries to receive the iPhone. The report also details the pricing, which matches previous leaks, claiming the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 (32GB) will cost CNY 5,288 , while the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 (16GB) will be priced at CNY 5,998 . This would also imply the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 (32GB) is cheaper than the current 4-inch iPhone 5s (16GB), which costs CNY 5,300.

The same report claims the much-rumoured 5.5-inch iPhone 6 variant will be called the iPhone Air, following the naming scheme of the latest, largest iPad. The report adds that China Mobile and China Unicom, Apple’s carriers in the country, have begun field testing the iPhone 6 on their networks.

Recently, Japanese daily Nikkei had posted two alleged images of the rumoured 4.7-inch iPhone 6 dummy model, side by side with an iPhone 5s. The leaked images corroborate what’s has been widely expected based on earlier leaks, that the next iPhone will house the power button on the right panel of the device, instead on the top panel seen on current iPhone models. It also seen to feature the Touch ID sensor.

Previously, another Chinese report indicated the alleged 5.5-inch iPhone 6 variant will feature a 128GB storage variant. The report further claims that the 128GB storage variant will be limited to the bigger variant of the rumoured iPhone 6, and the alleged 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will offer the conventional 64GB as its maximum storage variant, while the 16GB variant will be dumped for both models.

An earlier report citing a research note from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also suggested that the alleged 5.5-inch iPhone 6 would sport OIS (optical image stabilisation) for the rear camera. The report further claimed that the alleged 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will not come with OIS.

The Cupertino-based company has also been rumoured to be testing a higher screen resolution of 960×1704 pixels on at least one of the two iPhone models likely to debut this year.

-NDTV

The Blackphone has been designed first and foremost to protect the owner’s privacy as data security becomes increasingly important to consumers amid NSA spying revelations and data hacking concerns.

Priced at $629, the smartphone runs ProvatOS, an Android-based operating system and has features which optimises the phone’s security.

These include a remote wipe to delete data at any time, secure file storage and transfer, browsing, voice, video and text, using encryption technology. It’s also bundled with privacy-enabled apps and security subscriptions.

These security and encryption tools are designed to prevent users from leaving a trail of information behind as they navigate the digital world.

The company behind the phone, SGP Technologies, is actually two firms recently joined together, one specialising in hardware design, the other an encryption communication service.

In a blog post about the company, CEO Toby Weir-Jones explains: “Our industry is pretty good at selling security tools to enterprise and government, and we have good relationships with the private citizens who already “get it.” But more people can benefit from what we offer.”

For anyone worried about their digital data and who has access to it, here’s the answer.

cityam

Facebook has acquired LiveRail – a tech start-up that helps companies place more relevant ads in the videos that appear on their websites and apps.

LiveRail also provides a real-time bidding platform for marketers looking to place ads on online videos.

The firms did not reveal the financial terms, but some reports indicate that Facebook paid between $400m and $500m (£233m and £291m) to buy the firm.

Online video advertising is forecast to grow robustly in the coming years.

“More relevant ads will be more interesting and engaging to people watching online video, and more effective for marketers too,” Brian Boland, vice president of ads product marketing and atlas at Facebook, said in a blog post.

“Publishers will benefit as well, because more relevant ads will help them make the most out of every opportunity they have to show an ad.”

According to LiveRail, it delivers more than seven billion video ads per month.

BBC

If you find Facebook overwhelming and Twitter just too much, a new social network aims to make communication even simpler.

Emojili, set to launch later this year, will only allow its users to send emoji to each other.
Even usernames on the system will be emoji – and over 10,000 people have already signed up.

‘We’ve just passed 10,000 usernames reserved, the firm said on its Twitter feed.

‘Fortunately there are more than 250,000 possible two-emoji combos, so most are still available!’

The site was set up by Londoners Matt Gray and Tom Scott, who say they were inspired by Yo, which allows users to simply send the word Yo.

‘The two of us had the idea at about the same time — we weren’t sold on it until we realized that usernames should be emoji too,’ said Gray.

‘At that point, we burst out laughing and realized we had to build it.’

However, the pair have so far refused to say exactly how the app will work.Earlier this year it was revealed Apple is working to expand the diversity of the hugely popular emoji characters for the iPhone.

Following complaints that the current character set was not diverse enough, the firm said it was working with the standards body that controls them.

Because Emoji have to be displayed on different devices, they are tightly controlled by the Unicode Consortium.

At present the list of characters contains dozens of faces of people that appear to be white.
However, only two of the symbols seem to be Asian and none are black.

Since 2010 a basic list has been developed and maintained by the Unicode Consortium – a Silicon Valley-based non-profit organisation made up of major computer firms, software producers, user groups and others.

It does this to ensure that different devices and mobile carriers can share a basic set.

The latest disclosure came after Apple boss Tim Cook was emailed asking if the firm was going to address the issue.

The diversity of emoji was also questioned in a petition posted to DoSomething.org calling on Apple to increase the ethnic diversity found within its emoji keyboard.

‘Of the more than 800 Emojis, the only two resembling people of color are a guy who looks vaguely Asian and another in a turban,’ it says.

‘There’s a white boy, girl, man, woman, elderly man, elderly woman, blonde boy, blonde girl and, we’re pretty sure, Princess Peach.’

Orkut, Google’s first social networking site, will cease to exist after September, with the Internet giant deciding to shut down the service launched 10 years ago.

Google said it will shut down Orkut, which is very popular in India and Brazil, on September 30. The service, however, did not do so well in other parts of the world and lost sheen to rivals like Facebook.

Orkut, which popularised posts or “scraps” between friends, did not disclose the number of users on the website.

However, according to its website about 50.6 per cent of its users were from Brazil. Another 20.44 per cent came from India, while the US and Pakistan accounted for 17.78 per cent and 0.86 per cent, respectively.

“Over the past decade, YouTube, Blogger and Google+ have taken off, with communities springing up in every corner of the world. Because the growth of these communities has outpaced Orkut’s growth, we’ve decided to bid Orkut farewell,” Google said in a post on the Orkut blog.

Orkut was launched in 2004, the same year when Facebook was founded. Facebook is now the world’s largest social network with 1.28 billion users.

Orkut was the result of a “20 per cent project” in which Google workers got to spend a fifth of their time on ideas not necessarily related to their job responsibilities.

Google launched its Google+ social network in 2011 and has been slowly weaving it into other services. While Google+ was positioned to compete with Facebook in the beginning, over the last few years, it has established Google+ as a unified “user identity” system.

In 2010, Facebook overtook Orkut as the top social networking site in India with 20.9 million visitors in July that year compared to Orkut’s 16 per cent growth with 19.9 million visitors, according to research firm comScore.

Google said it would preserve an archive of all Orkut communities that will be available from September 30.

“If you don’t want your posts or name to be included in the community archive, you can remove Orkut permanently from your Google account,” Google said.

The Economic Times

Did your Facebook News Feed seem a little too happy, or perhaps a little too depressing, for one week in January 2012? That may have been because researchers were experimenting with your News Feed to figure out more about how humans’ emotions work when we’re physically apart.

By tweaking the Facebook News Feed algorithm and studying nearly 700,000 Facebook users’ posts, Facebook’s data scientists and researchers found that emotional states can be transmitted between people without face-to-face interaction, according to a study published earlier this month.

For the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers analyzed over 3 million posts containing over 122 million words and used an algorithm to characterize the language as positive or negative. Facebook’s data team then adjusted the amount of positive or negative Facebook language users were exposed to on their News Feeds to see how they would react.

Researchers Adam Kramer, of Facebook; Jamie Guillory, of the University of California, San Francisco; and Jeffrey Hancock, of Cornell University, found that when users were exposed to fewer positive posts, they would themselves produce fewer positive posts and more negative posts. The reverse was true when they were exposed to fewer negative posts. In other words, verbal and textual cues have a big impact on our emotions, even if we don’t hear a person’s tone of voice or see their body language.

“These results suggest that the emotions expressed by friends, via online social networks, influence our own moods,” said the team in the study.

The data was analyzed by computers, so it’s not like a scientist was poring over your Facebook posts. And if you feel weirded out about Facebook looking at your posts without your consent — well, you’ve already given your consent. You just haven’t read Facebook’s privacy policy, which gives the company permission to carry out studies like these.

In any case, the next time you feel your mood changing while you’re on Facebook, it might have something to do with what your friends are posting.

Looks like the next iPhone might be able to measure temperature, air pressure, and altitude, with a new report tipping addition of a new barometer sensor into the handset.

Apple’s next iPhone, believed to be dubbed the iPhone 6, has been in headlines with numerous leaks tipping details about the unannounced handset’s design and display size. However, this is the first time we have heard details of the alleged iPhone 6′s new sensor system.

The details about the possible presence of a new sensor on the anticipated iPhone 6 come via references found in Xcode 6 and iOS 8, which are the latest iPhone software developer kit (SDK) and operating system. The report claims that the software includes updated CoreMotion APIs, which include reference of the new altitude measuring capabilities. A 9to5mac report claims that there are a number of apps in the App Store which can track altitude and one of them is even listed on the company’s Your Verse section.

Notably, the reference of the new altitude measuring capabilities in Xcode 6 and iOS 8 is a new framework that is dedicated to altitude tracking. The report, citing a few developers, claims that this framework requires a new Apple hardware.

The report informs the App Store currently comes with apps that use the iOS device’s inbuilt GPS and motion chips to determine altitude; however, a barometer sensor could get more accurate data and could be quick to load data, thanks to the dedicated chip.

A developer from FutureTap, as cited by 9to5mac, tested the new framework on an iPhone 5s, which in result confirmed that the device [iPhone 5s] did not support the altitude changes.

The report speculates that the new sensor could be a part of, and be powered by, the alleged iPhone 6′s M8 motion co-processor that’s said to be a part of the expected A8 processor rumoured to debuton the alleged iPhone 6 and be designed for improved efficiency and battery life.

Reports have been tipping that Apple’s next iPhone would hit shelves on September 19. The Cupertino-based company has been rumoured to be testing a higher screen resolution of 960×1704 pixels on at least one of the two iPhone models likely to debut this year.

As part of its efforts to regain lost ground, Canadian handset maker BlackBerry is set to launch its latest smartphone, Z3, in India next week. This smartphone is likely to be priced below Rs 12,000 to take head on the likes of Samsung, Motorola, HTC, Microsoft Devices and Micromax.

Launched in Indonesia earlier this year, the full touchscreen device was priced at IDR 2,199,000 ($190 or Rs 11,500) and is the most affordable device powered by the latest BlackBerry 10 operating system.

According to the invite sent by the firm, BlackBerry will unveil the “next generation BlackBerry 10 devices” on June 25.

Times of India

Facebook has launched a Snapchat-like mobile app that lets users trade ephemeral photo- and video-based messages that disappear after a few seconds.

With the new app, called Slingshot, you can’t view an incoming message until you respond with a photo or video of your own. That’s right: There can be no passive users on Slingshot, which is basically forcing its community to trade photos and video clips, quid pro quo, like schoolkids exchanging stickers or lunchbox snacks.

“With Slingshot, we wanted to build something where everybody is a creator and nobody is just a spectator,” its creators said Tuesday in a blog post announcing the app. “When everyone participates, there’s less pressure, more creativity and even the little things in life can turn into awesome shared experiences.”

Judging by initial reaction, however, at least some users may find this stricture a little annoying.

It’s frustrating, not exciting when a friend sends you a shot and you can’t immediately view it,” wrote Ellis Hamburger in tech-news site The Verge. “Slingshot is a new and strange example of a messaging app that raises barriers instead of tearing them down, and increases the friction to viewing a friend’s photo instead of reducing it.”

In fairness, the app is designed not for sending urgent information — we have texting or even phone calls for that — but for exchanging spontaneous moments or snippets of creativity.

Slingshot, which leaked briefly last week before Facebook pulled it offline, is the social networking giant’s latest attempt to compete with Snapchat, a rival messaging app that is popular with teens and young adults.

Snapchat is estimated to have more than 30 million users and reportedly turned down a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook last fall. Facebook later went on to buy WhatsApp, a messaging app that’s especially widespread overseas.

Slingshot succeeds Poke, a messaging app that Facebook launched in 2012 and shut down last month after it failed to gain traction with users.

Slingshot messages are photo and video only, although users can superimpose bits of text on the images. Like Snapchat (and Poke), Slingshot messages self-destruct after a few seconds unless the user adjusts his or her phone settings to save them.

“Photos and videos that don’t stick around forever allow for sharing that’s more expressive, raw and spontaneous. We can connect the same way we like to live: in the moment,” Facebook said in its post, which takes the unusual step of crediting its competitor.

“We’ve enjoyed using Snapchat to send each other ephemeral messages and expect there to be a variety of apps that explore this new way of sharing,” it said.

Unlike Snapchat, Slingshot allows users to send, or “sling,” messages to multiple friends at once. A push notification will appear when somebody sends you something.

CNN

ONLINE RETAIL GIANT Amazon is expected to announce its debut smartphone, likely to launch under its Kindle brand, at an event in Seattle on 18 June, with the firm looking to challenge the likes of Apple and Samsung.

We've rounded up everything we already know about the Amazon Kindle smartphone so far, and will update this as we learn more, so keep this page bookmarked.

Release date
It's pretty much confirmed that Amazon will launch a Kindle smartphone at the firm's 18 June event, which it teases in the below video, but there's no word yet as to when the device will hit shelves.

However, given Amazon's track record of prompt device release dates, it likely will arrive before the end of the month, despite the Wall Street Journal having previously claimed that it will go on sale in September.

Price
Amazon's smartphone, much like its Kindle tablets, likely will be cheaper than its top-end rivals, such as the iPhone 5S and Galaxy S5. It's unclear how much the smartphone will cost - but it's expected to be priced similarly to the Google Nexus 5.

Specs
Of course, with Amazon yet to unwrap its debut smartphone, the handset's specifications remain to be announced. However, there has been plenty of speculation surrounding the device - telling us almost all we need to know about it.

The screen is expected to be the Amazon smartphone's standout feature, with rumours claiming that it will boast a 4.7in HD 720p screen, complete with three-dimensional features. According to reports, the display will support glasses-free 3D images, which it will achieve by using Retina tracking technology embedded in four front-facing cameras. This also will apparently allow users to navigate the device by moving their eyes.

The WSJ reported in April, "The 3D screen technology can sense the movement of a person's eyes and whether the screen is moving closer to a user's face, according to people familiar with the matter. In response, the phone will be able to automatically zoom into images as it moves closer to a user's face and could manipulate text and images as a person moves the phone."

Beyond its screen, the Amazon smartphone reportedly will look a lot like Apple's iPhone, with leaked images (above) pointing towards a boxy, glass-coated casing, complete with exposed screws on its rear. It;s unclear what material the device will be built from, but given that it's likely to be cheaper than its competitors, we'll put our money on plastic.

The Amazon smartphone likely will arrive running Google's Android 4.4 Kitkat mobile operating system, although the firm will skin this in its heavy custom user interface, similar to that found on its Kindle smartphones. This skin likely will provide the phone with Amazon's "Mayday" feature, and will offer access to Amazon's Appstore, which has tripled its content over the past year.

Other rumoured specifications include a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a yet-unspecified dual camera set up, and support for 4G LTE.

Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 4 will be released in two separate variants, one with a curved OLED screen, and the other with a conventional flat display. This is according to the latest report from the company’s native South Korea.

The curved panel may be similar to the one used in the Galaxy Round (pictured below), or it could actually be a three-sided YOUM display, similar to the prototypes Samsung has previously demonstrated.

The sources for the information are said to be a couple of executives at local Samsung partners. These people think the world’s biggest smartphone maker will want to impress the world at IFA in Berlin this September.

The next top of the line Samsung phablet will only be using a curved screen in “niche markets”, while the version with a good-old flat display will take care of the mass-market. This is likely due to issues with making as many of those flashy bent panels as Samsung would need were it to exclusively use the new tech in the Note 4.

Along with the Galaxy S devices, the Notes are the best selling items in the company’s portfolio, so ramping up flexible OLED production to the necessary levels probably isn’t feasible – at least not this year.

Samsung will apparently lease 6000 square meters of the IFA exhibition venue, in which it will showcase many new products.

Aside from the Galaxy Note 4 in its two iterations, we’re also going to see Samsung’s competitor for Google Glass surface. Even more wearables, home appliances, as well as curved OLED TVs will be presented too.

Samsung hasn’t officially confirmed any of this, as you could probably guess.

Google is planning to spend more than $1 billion on satellites which will reportedly be used to give internet access to parts of the planet that still have no connection to the web.

The news comes courtesy of The Wall Street Journal which claims that Google will start by building 180 small satellites in low orbit and then expanding from there because, why not.

Whilst the initial projection is $1 billion, there are some reports that the final cost of the project could be anything up to a massive $3 billion.

According to the WSJ Google has been hiring satellite engineers as well as experts in order to better fulfill their plans.

This isn't the first time Google has looked into expanding internet coverage over the globe with Project Loon proposing the idea of high-altitude balloons which would provide broadband coverage to out of reach areas.

Whilst balloons are cheap they're by no means a permanent solution, a fleet of satellites however would be able to reach much further whilst requiring very little maintenance.

Google and Facebook have both been looking at ways to bring Internet coverage to the rest of the world with Facebook's Internet.org partnership bringing together some of the tech-world's biggest players to improve web coverage globally.