Foxconn Buys Sharp For $6.2 Billion

Sharp has reportedly agreed to be acquired by Foxconn for $6.2 billion. Sharp also was supposedly being looked at by government run fund Innovation Network Corp. of Japan. The fund was rumored to have put together a $2.5 billion bid for Sharp that would have added a $2.67 billion cash infusion, and a $1.78 billion line of credit.

Sharp manufactures Apple’s iPhone displays, Sharp's purchase by Foxconn would give the manufacturer access to parts it needs to have in stock while manufacturing the Apple iPhone.

Source: Nikkei

Microsoft Officially Cancels Project Astoria

Microsoft has revealed it has officially canceled plans to offer developers bridge tools to port Android apps to Windows 10 Mobile known as "Project Astoria".

"We received a lot of feedback that having two Bridge technologies to bring code from mobile operating systems to Windows was unnecessary, and the choice between them could be confusing. We have carefully considered this feedback and decided that we would focus our efforts on the Windows Bridge for iOS and make it the single Bridge option for bringing mobile code to all Windows 10 devices, including Xbox and PCs. For those developers who spent time investigating the Android Bridge, we strongly encourage you to take a look at the iOS Bridge and Xamarin as great solutions."

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Xamarin a company that has created tools for making mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows that can share common code making for a be quick release for all three platforms.


Source: Windows Developer blog

Apple Releases iOS 9.3 Public Beta 3

Apple has released the third iOS 9.3 public beta to non developer testers today. iOS 9.3 public beta 3 adds new features for iPhones and iPads including Night Shift mode to change the display temperature for evening reading, Touch ID/secure passwords to protect Notes, new 3D Touch shortcuts on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, enhancements to the Health and Activity apps, and iCloud for iBooks PDF syncing.

Changes in iOS 9.3 beta 3 included:

• Verizon Wi-Fi Calling

• Fixed Control Center icons in landscape

• Apple News settings in Sweden, possibly other countries (although no app)

• Tweaked Night Shift explainer in Control Center

• Tweaked Lock/Unlock toggle in Notes outside of the share sheet

How to register and install iOS 9.3 beta profile...

Source: Apple

ZAGG To Acquire Mophie For $470 Million

Zagg today announced it has acquired Mophie, Randy Hales President and Chief Executive Officer of ZAGG said that the acquisition will allow the two companies to work together and deliver an even better customer and investor experience than they could as independent companies. 

Daniel Hung Chief Executive Officer of ZAGG had similar comments, saying that the partnership will see both brands grow around the world and continue to innovate in the mobile market.

Source: ZAGG

Microsoft Purchases Third Party Keyboard Maker SwiftKey For $250 Million

The Financial Times is reporting that Microsoft has purchased third party keyboard maker SwiftKey for $250 million. 

Microsoft recently ported their Windows Phone keyboard to iOS. If Microsoft will continue to support SwiftKey is unknown. We hope to find out more details when the deal is officially announced.

Source: The Financial Times

Samsung Galaxy S7 UNPACKED Event Set For February 21st In Barcelona

It's official mark your calendars, Samsung has sent out invites to an "UNPACKED" launch event on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 7:00 p.m. CET (1 p.m. ET and 10 a.m. PT) in Barcelona, Spain. 

For the third year running, the company will unveil new flagship phones the Galaxy S7 series ahead of Mobile World Congress.

Stay tuned, we'll keep you updated as more details become available.

How To Run Android On A Mac, Remix OS 2.0

Jide.com released an early alpha version of its new Remix OS, it’s a multi window desktop operating system built on Android.

Install how to guide

• Click "DiskImage"

• Click the "dropdown menu" and select "ISO"

• Click on the “…” button.

• Find “RemixISO.img” on your desktop and select it.

You need to ensure you have a fast USB 3.0 flash drive with at least 8GB capacity, and a speed of at least 20MB/s. You’ll also need to make sure you’re using an Intel based Mac.

Once you have your USB stick, and you’ve downloaded the operating system from Jide.com, you need to move the ISO file to your desktop and rename it RemixISO.iso. 

Once you’ve done that, launch Terminal and type the following exactly as you see it, spaces and all:

hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o Desktop/RemixISO.img Desktop/RemixISO.iso

This turns the Windows friendly ISO file in to a Mac friendly IMG file. You’ll notice you now have RemixISO.img.dmg on your desktop delete the ‘.dmg‘ part of the new file.

The next thing you might want/need to do is format your USB flash drive. You may not need to, but I found it solved some boot error issues I experienced early on. Open Disk Utility on Mac while you have the USB drive plugged in, select the drive, hit ‘erase’ and choose MS-DOS (Fat) from the list of format options.

After that, I was ready to load the software on to the USB stick. I downloaded a program called UNetbootin from GitHub and used it with the following steps:

You might find the program changes your initial selection from ISO to Floppy, in which case, you need to change it back to ISO. 

Once you’ve hit ‘OK’, it’ll run through its process, which takes a few minutes, and you should have Remix OS 2.0 ready to use on your USB stick.

It will more than likely give you a warning that it won’t work on Mac, ignore it.

When starting up your Mac, press and hold the option/alt key just as it starts booting up when you hear the Mac startup sound, then select the ‘Windows’ option from the two drives on screen.

The first time you do it, it’ll take a few minutes to install, then you’ll get to the set-up window. Now you can boot it up in guest mode or resident mode. In resident mode, it saves all your apps, history and information on the USB stick. So you can take it with you wherever you go, plug it in to any Mac, and never lose anything.

All the apps are placed in the pop-up menu which shows up when you click in the bottom left corner. The bottom bar shows all running apps. Because there’s no Google Play Services or Play Store installed, you need to install apps by downloading APK files directly. I grabbed a bunch of my most-used apps from APK Mirror.com. I discovered afterwards, there is a method for getting Google Play Services and the Play Store on to Remix OS manually.

Source: jide.com

Apple Releases iOS 9.3 Beta 1, Download And Install How To

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iOS 9.3 update to developers for testing purposes. 

The iOS 9.3 beta is available for download immediately from the Apple Developer Center, and a public beta is likely to be available in the near future. With iOS 9.3 developers can also download the update over the air using the new iOS 9.3 Configuration Profile. 


What's new in iOS 9.3: 

Apple Watch - With iOS 9.3 and watchOS 2.2, the iPhone is able to pair with more than one Apple Watch. Both updates are required, with each watch running watchOS 2.2 and the iPhone running iOS 9.3. WatchOS 2.2 was seeded to developers alongside iOS 9.3. 

Night Shift - iOS 9.3 includes a feature that reduces blue light at night, much like f.lux does on a Mac. 

Notes - Notes is now password protected and there are new features for sorting by date created, date modified, or alphabetically. 

Apple News - News algorithms have been improved to offer more tailored articles in the For You section. There's also a new landscape mode and in-line video playback. 

Health - Health has been updated with a new interface that makes it easier to see move, exercise, and stand data. There's also a new menu in certain categories to help users discover apps that can be used to track health data. 

CarPlay - CarPlay includes iOS 9 features like New and For You sections in Apple Music along with a Nearby feature in Maps for discovering the best local restaurants, coffee shops, and more. 

Education - iOS 9.3 includes multiple Education-oriented features including shared iPads for students, a new Classroom app, and an Apple School Manager.

Source: Apple

Goodbye Motorola, Motorola Brand To Be Phased Out

Lenovo plans to phase out the Motorola brand from its phone lineup. Lenovo will now put its own name on all of its phones and related products. 

The company will still use Moto as a line brand, so phones like the Moto X will now be called The Moto X By Lenovo" making Moto a brand for high-end devices, while Lenovo's existing Vibe line will designate lower end Lenovo phones. 

The company will also keep using the iconic circular "M" logo on Moto phones. Lenovo bought Motorola Mobility from Google two years ago. Motorola Solutions continues to exist as a separate company making radio equipment for the public safety industry and related products and services.

Project Fi Now Supports Data Only Devices

Google announced that Project Fi subscribers can add a tablet or other data only device to their plan if they choose. Customers will need to order a data-only SIM card from Google through the Project Fi web site. 

Google charges $10 per 1GB of data, but only bills customers for what they actually use each month. The offer is available only to existing Project Fi subscribers. Tablets cannot be used as mobile hotspots. 

The initial batch of tablets compatible with the service include the Nexus 7 and Nexus 9, iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 4, and the Galaxy Tab S. Project Fi uses a mix of cellular service from Sprint and T-Mobile, and WiFi to provide coverage. Devices that run on Project Fi can dynamically switch to the strongest network to optimize performance.

Source: Project Fi Help Forum