Google Debuts Inbox By Gmail

Google announced a new service called Inbox. The app, which was developed by Google's Gmail team, offers a new take on email by categorizing emails and highlighting the important details therein. 

Inbox offers three core features: bundles, highlights, and reminders/assists. Bundles categorize similar emails, such as bank statements or purchases, to make them easier to read and dismiss en masse. Users are able to tweak which emails are grouped together, but Inbox will also do so automatically. Highlights show the important information found within emails, such as flight itineraries, event details, and photos/documents. Inbox is smart enough to pull in additional details from the web if they're not offered in the original email. 

Last, reminders/assists are tools for managing tasks and to-do lists. According to Google, Inbox can handle any type of reminder and can snag pertinent info from the web. For example, if you make a flight reservation, Inbox will automatically provide a link for online checkin. Reminders can be silenced with a snooze feature that relies on time and/or location to resume notifications. For now, Inbox is being offered as an invite-only beta. Google said those who receive invites can invite others to test out Inbox. 

Google didn't say when the service might reach 1.0 status or become more widely available to the public, sound off in the comments section. Did you request and invite? Have you received your invite to Inbox by Google?


Source: Google Blog

Inbox by Gmail official site.
Inbox by Gmail Chrome Web Store app.

Iliad Bails On T-Mobile Acquisition Attempt

Iliad today said it will no longer pursue an acquisition of T-Mobile U.S. The company first proposed to acquire 56% of the company back in July, but T-Mobile's majority owner Deutsche Telekom rejected the bid. 

Iliad later put together more resources with the help of financiers and proposed to acquire 67% of the company for $36 per share. Iliad arrived at today's decision "following exchanges with Deutsche Telekom and selected board members of T-Mobile US who have refused to entertain its new offer." Deutsche Telekom has long sought to rid itself of T-Mobile, but has yet to successfully sell the company. Iliad believed acquiring T-Mobile would have helped the combined entities realize $2 billion in annual cost savings, as well as given Iliad a toehold in the U.S. market.

HP To Shut Down WebOS Support January 15

HP recently indicated that it will cease all backend support for WebOS devices on January 15. After that time, WebOS device owners will no longer be able to download or update apps, reset or restore their devices, setup new devices, or retrieve lost passwords. 

According to HP, the web services shut down will not disable existing hardware. HP recommends that WebOS device owners download any apps they may want to keep prior to November 1, 2014. "Shutting down webOS cloud services is part of an orderly end of life program," explained HP. "HP announced the end of WebOS devices over 3 years ago, but the services were kept running to allow customers to continue to have a richer user experience. The user count has dwindled to the point where it is no longer viable to keep the services running." 

HP acquired WebOS when it bought Palm in 2010. HP killed its Palm hardware business in 2011 and has since open-sourced WebOS. LG eventually purchased WebOS from HP, for use in select consumer electronic devices.

Source: HP WebOS Developer Center

HTC Officially Unveils The Ultimate Selfie Phone, Meet The HTC Desire EYE

HTC unveils the HTC Desire EYE, the device features a 5.2-inch full HD display with BoomSound speakers.

The big selling points of the device, however, are its camera features. On both the front and back you’ll find 13MP cameras with dual color LED flash and wide angle lenses. The device is also IPS7 water resistant, meaning that it can be submerged in 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes. The device carries an all-aluminum, unibody design, as well, similar to the One (M8). It weighs in at 154 grams and is 8.5mm thick. The device is powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 2,400mAh battery.

The HTC Desire EYE will come with a variety of camera enhancements, most of which apply to selfies and the front-facing camera. HTC calls this the EYE Experience. For instance, when you’re video chatting, the camera can detect up to four faces and display each in their own frame. Face Fusion allows you to merge two faces to together, which HTC says you should use before deciding to have kids with your significant other. Split Capture lets you take a rear picture and a selfie and merge them. Photo Booth takes four pictures and puts them into a photo booth frame. Finally, Live Makeup lets you touch up your pictures and look prettier.

Other phones, including the M7, M8, One Mini, Mini 2, and Butterfly 2 is said to receive updates to add the EYE Experience to their device over the coming month.

Facebook Finalizes WhatsApp Acquisition

Facebook today closed its acquisition of WhatsApp. Announced earlier this year, is valued at $19 billion. U.S. regulators approved the proposal in April, but it did not receive approval from the European Commission until last week. 

As part of the deal, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum joined Facebook's board of directors who will be granted $1.9 billion in stock if he remains with the company for four years. 

WhatsApp is a cross-platform messaging service that many use an alternative to traditional, carrier-based SMS services.


Source: WhatsApp

HTC Said To Release M8_EYE, Features 13MP Rear Facing Duo Camera

According to two several recent leaks, HTC is set to launch a new variant of the One (M8), known internally as the M8_EYE, complete with a 13MP rear facing Duo Camera in tow.

The phone should feature all of the M8’s same specifications, except for its new 13MP camera. In addition, the phone will run Android 4.4+ with Sense 6 out of the box, same as the current M8 offering from HTC. 

It is reported that HTC will announce and release this device in October, where HTC is slated to have an event on October 8 for its Recamera event in New York City.

Pantech Puts Itself Up for Sale, Seeking A Cool $366 Million

Pantech, based in Korea, has staked a For Sale sign in its front lawn. The company, which declared the equivalent of bankruptcy last month, is seeking a buyer to scoop up the entire business. Pantech has been facing trouble all year long. It twice sought delays in debt payments and entered into court receivership in August. The company believes it will fetch a higher price if sold as a single entity (approx. $366 million) rather than broken up and sold in pieces (approx. $181 million). 

Bids for the company are due in early October. Pantech found itself unable to compete with Samsung and LG, which are also based in Korea. It faced financial losses six quarters in a row, which led to its debt problems and eventual bankruptcy.

Source: CNET

Apple To Acquire Beats Music & Beats Electronics For $3 Billion

Apple has officially closed on a deal to purchase Beats Electronics for $3B. 

Apple announced the deal in an official press release:
Apple today announced it has agreed to acquire the critically acclaimed subscription streaming music service Beats Music, and Beats Electronics, which makes the popular Beats headphones, speakers and audio software. As part of the acquisition, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will join Apple. 

Apple is acquiring the two companies for a total of $3 billion, consisting of a purchase price of approximately $2.6 billion and approximately $400 million that will vest over time.

“Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “That’s why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.”

“I’ve always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple,” said Jimmy Iovine. “The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple’s unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple’s deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special.”

The deal marks the largest acquisition ever made by Apple including its $400 million deal in 1996 to purchase the company NeXT which brought Steve Jobs back to Apple.

AT&T To Acquire DIRECTV For $48.5 Billion

Today, AT&T officially announced plans to acquire DIRECTV for $48.5 billion. AT&T thinks the combined companies can become a content distribution leader across mobile, video and broadband platforms. For now, this move shouldn't impact AT&T wireless service at all.

From the press release AT&T stated “This purchase price implies a total equity value of $48.5 billion and a total transaction value of $67.1 billion, including DIRECTV’s net debt.”

Source: AT&T

Meet The Moto E, Complete Specs Revealed

The unannounced Moto E recently made a brief appearance on Motorola Mexico’s Facebook page, only to be pulled by its publisher. This quick sneak peek gave us a look at what we might see during the company’s media event on May 13th.

Here’s what we can expect under the hood of the Moto E:

• 4.3-inch Gorilla Glass display
• 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor
• 1GB of RAM
• 4GB of storage
• 1,98 0mAh battery
• Dual-SIM slots
• 5-megapixel rear-facing camera
• Android 4.4 KitKat

We will bring you more details as they become available, what do you think is Motorola/Google/Lenovo doing it right with the Moto E?