Techlicious

Apple launches in-store Android trade-in program to boost iPhone sales In  line with our report from earlier this month , Apple today launched its first trade-in program for non-iPhones in its Apple Retail Stores. The program allows users of select Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry phones to bring in their devices and receive credit toward the immediate purchase of a new iPhone 5c, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6 Plus (but  not an Apple Watch ). Apple first launched its standard iPhone Reuse and Recycle  trade-in program in 2013 , and the company  expanded the feature  to the iPad last year. Apple made today’s announcement on the individual  retail store pages , indicating that the program is so far now available in the U.S., France, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Italy, and multiple retail sources say that the program has indeed gone live today. A version of the iPhone trade-in program that does not support non-iPhones is  launching this week in China . Stay connected fo

Microsoft reveals Halo 5 release date, teases plot in new live-action trailer Microsoft unveiled a release date for the much-anticipated  Halo 5: Guardians  game in  two   new  trailers that posted online and aired during The Walking Dead finale on Sunday evening. The trailers are live-action and do not show off any gameplay. They also don’t include many concrete details about the game, but do reveal potential plot lines that involve Master Chief and a new character named Locke. Halo 5  will be the third Halo installment from Bellevue-based 343 Industries, which also developed  Halo 4  and  Halo: The Master Chief Collection  after taking over the franchise from Bungie in 2007. Halo 5 will be exclusive to Xbox One, which promises more Xbox 360 owners to upgrade to the latest Microsoft console. Microsoft started taking pre-orders for the game in December. You can watch the trailers here: Stay connected for more latest updates...

This Microsoft help page comes with a warning: 'this process requires patience' How could something so simple become so hopelessly complicated? I may have accidentally stumbled into the purgatory of Microsoft online services. It all happened innocently enough: if you're anything like me, you probably set up your Xbox Live account many years ago. Maybe you were even a child or a teenager. And when you were forced to tie your Gamertag to an email address, you probably didn't give it a second thought. The Hotmail email address I chose that fateful day nearly a decade ago has since become a relic of another time, utterly swamped with spam emails and hindered by an embarrassing account name. It's with good reason, then, that I hoped to switch my Gamertag over to my primary Microsoft account, the email address that now ties together everything from my email and calendar to Microsoft Office and OneDrive. And since Windows 8 is intimately connected to my Microsof

Microsoft Aims To Kill Google Chromebooks With $149 Windows 10 Laptops Despite a lacklustre start, Chromebooks are becoming relatively popular in the super-budget end of the portable market. This has worried Microsoft for some time. After all, with a Google-centric experience, not to mention an operating system in the form of Chrome OS, there’s little if anything to be gained here by Microsoft and everything to lose. That’s why it’s targeting the Chromebook specifically, with a most likely Windows 10-based  $149 laptop. They’re no MacBook killers and don’t expect them to play GTA V, though  (when it finally makes a PC appearance that is). According to tech rumour site www.Digitimes.com , these laptops are geared primarily towards emerging markets, education and the super-low end market, which includes users whose tasks are limited to web browsing, word processing and social media use. The Chromebook has gained traction in quite a few areas and Microsoft is looking to halt i

Could This Be The Apple Car? There’s been plenty written about the potential Apple car. Now, though, we have an interesting guess as to what it might look like when it hits the road. This version is quintessentially Apple with smooth lines, tons of technology, and that iconic Apple logo prominently featured. These Apple car concepts were drawn up by  CarWow ,and they include both interior and exterior design possibilities. It starts by taking a cue from Tesla with an absentee grille and flowing, aerodynamic lines that look a bit like the Magic Mouse. Colors are white, black, and gold in a nod to the newest iPhones with carbon-fiber reinforced plastics that include a coating to keep dirt from marring that perfect finish. The wheels are designed to cut drag and look good. The interior is where it suddenly looks like no other car. There’s a fingerprint-reading home button on the driver and passenger front doors and it’s all unlocked from the outside with a left to right s

Top Android news of the week: Galaxy phones coming, Microsoft apps, Motorola guilty Summary: In Android this week was news that Microsoft apps will be preinstalled on Android phones, Galaxy S6 gets an availability date, and Motorola was found guilty of patent infringement. Cyanogen gets funding for taking Android from Google The company that started as a custom ROM builder for Android has received $80 million in funding. Cyanogen has made it clear it will try to free Android from Google, by making it open to all. The funding will help the firm give that a good try.  Google has firm control over Android by integrating its services into the heart of the OS. Cyanogen doesn't like that and intends to build its forked version that lets users integrate other services as they see fit. Dell to preinstall Microsoft apps on Android The folks in Redmond are getting a boost from Dell with an agreement to preinstall Microsoft apps on Dell's Android devices. This agreement

Apple is Hitler, says Chinese CEO Chinese tech firm LeTV is rumored to be entering the smartphone market Jia Yueting, the billionaire founder and CEO of Chinese internet video site Leshi TV (LeTV), has compared Apple to the Nazis in a poster teasing the launch of LeTV's new smartphone. The image was posted to Jia's  verified Weibo page  (with more than 5 million followers) and shows a cartoon Adolf Hitler wearing a red armband with the Apple logo in place of the Nazi swastika. "CROWDSOURCED, FREEDOM VS ARROGANCE, TYRANNY." The text across the top of the poster compares the attributes of the Android and iOS ecosystems — "Crowdsourced, freedom vs arrogance, tyranny" — while Jia's accompanying post argues that Apple's approach to the smartphone industry is stifling innovation and harming the interests of users. "Under the arrogant regime of iOS domination that developers around the world love yet hate, we are always carefully askin

This Could Be Apple’s Plan to Make the Next iPhone Wildly Better A new patent could mean vastly improved iPhone photos Apple has been awarded a new patent for a digital camera component that could dramatically improve the quality of pictures taken with an iPhone. The patent details a new design for a “digital camera with light splitter,” a component that’s typically found in high-definition camcorders. The “light splitter” parses red, green and blue light across three dedicated sensors. Current iPhones use a single sensor to detect all three colors, but splitting the light across three separate sensors has the potential to dramatically boost color accuracy, even in a dimly lit room. SEE THE WORLD AWAIT AND CELEBRATE APPLE'S IPHONE 6 A man wearing a replica of an iPhone 6 Plus model on his head yawns while waiting in front of an Apple Store in Tokyo on Sept. 19, 2014. Apple has not confirmed if the patented technology, first  spotted  by Apple Insider, will ap

Microsoft draws line between Spartan and IE11 browsers Changes mind: New Windows 10 browser will not be backward compatible with sites designed for IE Microsoft on Tuesday said that, contrary to earlier statements, it would not make Project Spartan, the new browser for Windows 10, backward compatible with websites and Web apps designed expressly for Internet Explorer (IE). The announcement was a turn-about: In January, Microsoft said that Spartan would call on either a new browser rendering engine -- a streamlined "fork" of Microsoft's longstanding Trident -- or the older IE11 engine, depending on the sites or apps it encountered. "Spartan provides compatibility with the millions of existing enterprise websites designed for Internet Explorer," said Jason Weber, an IE group program manager, two months ago. "To achieve this, Spartan loads the IE11 engine for legacy enterprise websites when needed, while using the new rendering engine for mod