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Pikachu, I choose you! ... said Japanese National soccer team uniform designer, Adidas. Soccerly reports that everyone's favorite electric mouse and several of his poke-pals will be the official mascots for Japan's soccer team as they head to the...

It’s widely expected that the new HTC One will make its official debut on March 25, and it seems likely that a new version of HTC’s custom Sense user interface will be shown along with it. Just like the new HTC One itself, though, it looks like we won’t have to wait until later this month to get a peek at the software that’ll power HTC’s new hardware.

A new video has been posted to YouTube that claims to show HTC Sense 6.0 running on the original HTC One (M7). The clip was first posted to Reddit, and while the original clip has since been pulled, several mirrors have made their way online since then.

So what has HTC done with the newest version of Sense? There doesn’t appear to be any major user interface changes to be found, but there is one major new feature that’s shown off in the clip. Dubbed Motion Launch gestures, the feature allows the user to perform different actions by swiping or tapping on the display while it’s asleep. The list of Motion Launch gestures that are named in the video is as follows:

• Motion Launch gestures: “Allow Motion Launch gestures to wake screen”
• Double tap: “Pick up the phone in portrait orientation and double tap to wake”
• Swipe left: “Pick up the phone in portrait orientation and swipe left to wake phone and launch widget panel”
• Swipe right: “Pick up the phone in portrait orientation and swipe right to wake phone and launch BlinkFeed”
• Swipe up: “Pick up the phone in portrait orientation and swipe up to unlock”
• Volume buttons (in landscape): “Pick up the phone in landscape orientation and press the volume button to wake phone and launch the camera app”

The new version of HTC Sense that’s shown in this new video may not be radically different from the overlay that we’ve come to know on the HTC One, but there are some nice touches here and there that make Sense 6 look like an improvement over Sense 5.5. Plus there’s those Motion Launch gestures, and while this may not be the first time that we’ve seen such a feature in the smartphone world, they still make for a nice addition to Sense 6. Now we just have to wait until March 25 for HTC to give us the full rundown on the latest version of its new Android overlay.

Via: MobileSyrup
Source: Reddit, GadgetLeaks

This is Marshmallow—the incredible Houdini cat who can escape any cell at a veterinary clinic in Marseille, France, just by unlocking the door. The veterinary calls him the "king of evasion."

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Images of an Amazon-branded game controller have leaked, all-but confirming the existence of an Amazon set-top box for your TV. The images were first posted by media blog Zatz Not Funny, and come from a Brazilian regulatory agency similar to the FCC. They depict a traditional-looking game controller with media control buttons at its bottom. It actually looks remarkably similar to the controller for OnLive, but with Xbox-style offset analogue sticks. The controller also features three central buttons that look like Android's back, home, and menu keys, and a button beneath that bears the logo for GameCircle, Amazon's service for cloud saves, leaderboards, and achievements.

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It's suggested that the unnamed box will run a fork of the Android OS, just like Amazon's Kindle Fire line of tablets. Those tablets act very much as a storefront for Amazon, offering a wide selection of games, movies, and books. It's likely that Amazon will attempt to leverage its large content offerings with the launch of a set-top box. The recent acquisition of Killer Instinct / Strider developer Double Helix cemented rumors that Amazon had higher hopes for its TV box than just a media streamer, with gaming also said to be a focus. The Amazon TV box was apparently planned for a holiday 2013 release, but that date was reportedly pushed back, and the most recent rumors suggest an official announcement is imminent.

Here's a new look at the current state of the Steam Controller, which Valve just sent over in advance of next week's Game Developers Conference.

Every year, Reporters Without Borders publishes a list of "Enemies of the Internet," designed to draw attention to countries that disrupt the freedom of information with propaganda, surveillance, and censorship. For the very first time, that list now includes the United States of America.

It's perhaps not surprising that the US would make the cut, given the revelations that Edward Snowden has provided over the past year. Still, it sends a powerful message to see the country on the same list as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and the "Great Firewall" of China. However, the US isn't the only superpower that's new for 2014. The UK and India are also being accused of mass surveillance, and Russia of both surveillance and censorship.

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Reporters without Borders notes that government agencies like the NSA, rather than entire governments, may be the "enemies" in question, but the organization seems to worry that those governments are setting a bad example by tolerating such behavior:

"The mass surveillance methods employed in these three countries, many of them exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, are all the more intolerable because they will be used and indeed are already being used by authoritarians countries such as Iran, China, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to justify their own violations of freedom of information."

In a timely move, the US government just relinquished part of its control over the internet today. The US Chamber of Commerce will no longer have oversight of ICANN, the organization that manages IP addresses, domain names, and other administrative functions.

The disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines flight last Friday appears to be the result of deliberate action. That's according to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, speaking to reporters earlier today. Najib stopped short of using the word "hijacking," but instead stated that "evidence is consistent with someone acting deliberately from inside the plane," CNN reported.

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That statement follows days of speculation and troubling details about the flight's trajectory after it vanished from air controller screens shortly following take-off. An earlier report from The Wall Street Journal revealed that the flight's satellite communications system continued to send pings for around four hours after the loss of radar contact, raising the possibility that the plane had been intentionally ferried away to a distant location. Subsequent findings honed in on the plane's trajectory, suggesting that it was intentionally flown northwest towards the Indian Andaman Islands — and followed a course that would be well-known to someone with aviation training.

"Acting deliberately from inside the plane."

Now, according to Najib and other officials, a growing collection of information has shifted the investigation to focus on a scenario where the plane's disappearance was intentional. According to the Associated Press, it now appears that the plane's last known satellite ping came about seven and a half hours after takeoff, and that the craft deviated significantly from its original trajectory, turning back and crossing over peninsular Malaysia after its transponder was switched off. Sources familiar with the investigation now speculate that one or more individuals with flying experience took control of the aircraft, switching off communication devices and strategically re-routing the plane to avoid radar detection. It's still unclear, however, exactly where the plane was flown following that final point of contact.

Officials are now continuing their investigation with a renewed focus on the plane's passengers and crew — including a reported search of one pilot's home. They're also looking to additional radar and satellite data from several countries in the region where the plane may have been flown, in an effort to zero in on its trajectory and last known location. At the same time, they're also adamant that while evidence "is consistent" with deliberate action, investigators will consider "all major possibilities on what caused MH370 to deviate," Najib said. And a US official involved in the investigation told CNN that as they learn more about the flight, it becomes "more difficult to write off" the prospect of human intervention.

iPhone and iPad owners' latest gaming addiction is now available on Android. Threes, which has been out for just over a month on iOS, is launching today on Android 4.0 and above for $1.99. The deceptively simple puzzle game has players sliding together numbers to create larger ones until they fill up a grid, so players are only ever competing to beat their own (or maybe a leaderboard's) high score. The Android version, which was ported for developer Sirvo by Hidden Variable Studios, appears to be identical to its iPhone counterpart, with both featuring a playful and colorful style that makes the game a joy to play. If you buy it, just make sure that you have time for a few rounds — it can be hard to put down.

Can’t say we saw this coming (or did we?). Often criticized for beating a dead horse with the same tired gameplay that made them famous, we had a good feeling Rovio was planning to introduce something a bit different for their upcoming Angry Birds sequel.

After spotting the feathered fowl donning medieval attire in a recent teaser video, it’s now confirmed that the next Angry Birds title — officially revealed as Angry Birds Epic — will feature turn-based combat in the vein of RPG greats like Final Fantasy. It looks like Rovio will make crafting weapons and items a big focus of Epic’s gameplay, making it obvious to see how they plan on monetizing the game, with resources that can be purchased with either in-game currency or real money.

The game is set to soft launch this week in Australia and Canada, leaving the rest of the world left licking their lips. I mean, c’mon, you guys. That screeshot doesn’t look hella cool to anyone else? No word on when we can expect a global rollout, but let’s hope we wont have to wait for too much longer.

[Kotaku]

Razer has clearly been listening. Two years ago, we practically panned the company's first laptop. But today, just three models later, the company's new 14-inch machine is promising nearly everything we asked for. Compared to the 14-inch Blade we loved last year, not a lot seems to have changed. Razer's using the same external chassis — just a tiny bit thicker at 0.7 inches — with the same keyboard, the same speakers, even the same Core i7 processor inside its frame.

But now, our primary criticisms have been addressed: that garish low-resolution 1600 x 900 display has been replaced with a crazy high-res 3200 x 1800 IGZO IPS screen that's incredibly crisp, with far wider 160-degree viewing angles, less color shift, and which the...

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I don't play multiplayer first-person shooters. And yet I stayed up way too late playing Titanfall last night. That's got to mean something.

Google launched the Add-on store today for Docs and Sheets, which basically gives you apps for your documents. The Add-on store has tools made by third-party developers (and a few Google originals) that you can install to add features to documents and spreadsheets that weren't available before, like creating labels or sending customized emails. The feature resembles the Google Play Store and currently features about 30 add-ons.

This is a way for Google to enhance Docs and Sheets with some of the features that are mainstays in Microsoft's Word and Excel programs. One of the launches is an add-on from Avery Label Merge, which lets you merge data from a Google spreadsheet into Avery address labels. Mailchimp's add-on lets you choose different templates and make customized emails, and then send them from directly within Google Docs.

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And then there are some unexpected add-ons that could prove to be really useful. EasyBib’s Bibliography Creator lets students look up academic sources, and then create and insert citations into a document in MLA, APA, and Chicago Manual of Style formats. UberConference also released an add-on that lets you invite people via email to a voice conference call from within a document, letting a group edit that document all together. This isn't the first time Google has opened up Drive to third-party developers, but these are the first app-like programs specifically for documents, and they could add enough new functionality to encourage users to convert from other services.

Google says it will put more add-ons in the store as it approves programs that developers have submitted.

Man versus machine. It's always the ultimate showdown, and in this case—where one of the world's best table tennis players, Timo Boll, goes against one of the fastest ping pong machines out there—it makes for an intense match.

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The official announcement of the next HTC One should happen soon, and it looks like the upcoming flagship phone will support at least one intriguing new accessory. Twitter account @evleaks has posted what appears to be a press image of the new One, with a sleek cover that can display information like the time and weather using colorful lights. With its plentiful holes, the case looks sort of like a modern take on a Lite Brite, and features much of the same utility as Yota's E Ink-enabled smartphone, letting you check important information without waking up your device. The news comes not long after we caught a glimpse of the new one in a leaked video; @evleaks also claims that, much like the previous One, the new version will be available in a Google Play edition. The next-generation HTC One is expected to be revealed on March 25th.

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Holes. Time. Colors. Also, like its predecessor, look for M8 to arrive as a Google Play Edition. pic.twitter.com/HtklHp2GP1

— @evleaks (@evleaks) March 8, 2014

Flappy Bird clones reportedly rolled in to the App Store at a rate of 60 games per day over the course of four days, according to numbers crunched by Pocket Gamer. The data comes from an investigation into 300 games that were deemed rip-offs of Dong...

There have been many theories bandied about as to the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Nothing conclusive has married the name to an individual or group, but now Newsweek claims to have found the Nakamoto, a 64-year-old Japanese-American man of the same name residing in California. Allegedly living an understated life, Nakamoto's said to no longer be connected to the digital currency he's implicated in making. We know this all sounds annoyingly cut and dried (a story's often more exciting than the reality, after all), but there's still Nakamoto's name changes and classified government work, among other things, to keep things mysterious. Whether this truly is the father of Bitcoin is still up for discussion, too -- there's still been no clear admission as such -- so we'll just point you to the Newsweek piece and let you make your own mind up.

Update: After an eventful day of dodging reporters and engaging in a multi-car chase through Los Angeles, Nakamoto has sat down with the Associated Press to strongly deny he has anything to do with the digital currency. Indeed, he told the AP that he's never even heard of Bitcoin until three weeks ago when his son told him a reporter called to ask questions about it. However, the Newsweek article itself quotes Nakamoto's brother as saying that "he'll never admit to starting Bitcoin" and that "he'll deny everything." All of which is to say the true identity of Bitcoin's founder remains very much unconfirmed.

Update 2: Apparently the genuine Satoshi Nakamoto has just posted on to the P2P Foundation (a forum for peer to peer currency) stating that he is not Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, the person whom Newsweek fingered as Bitcoin's founder.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Newsweek, Bloomberg, Associated Press, P2P Foundation

Cyanogen's Koushik Dutta has been teasing the prospect of mirroring your Android screen on Chromecast for a few weeks, and today you can finally try the feature -- if you have the right smartphone, that is. An updated version of the Mirror for...

Pixel Soccer is a game currently in development at Super Rock Games, an indie studio in London. It is speaking directly to my interests.

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Off-white business cards with Silian Grail lettering are so passé -- these days, it's all about creativity. This GameBoy look-alike, for instance, demonstrates its creator's skills in one fell swoop: it doesn't just display résumé, it's also a...

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has reclaimed the title of world's richest person in Forbes' latest ranking of billionaires. The finance publication puts Gates' net worth at $76 billion and says Microsoft stock has helped him unseat Mexico's Carlos Slim, who held the top slot for four consecutive years. But Slim's reign was the exception, not the rule: Forbes has listed Bill Gates as the world's richest man for 15 of the past 20 years. And while his stake in Microsoft makes up less than a third of his total fortune (Forbes says Steve Ballmer may soon pass Gates as the company's largest individual shareholder), the stock has shot upward on Wall Street over the past year and tacked several billion onto Gates' net worth.

Despite stepping down from his role as chairman last month, the Microsoft founder plans to spend more time at the company serving as technology advisor to new CEO Satya Nadella. "I'll have over a third of my time available to meet with product groups, and it'll be fun to define this next round of products working together," Gates said last month. When away from Microsoft's headquarters, Gates will continue to focus his attention on various philanthropic projects including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates has already given away more than $28 billion over the years. Among tech executives, Mark Zuckerberg has gained the most momentum this year. Facebook's strong stock performance has doubled Zuckerberg's net worth and at $28.5 billion, he's now within spitting distance of Forbes list mainstays like Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos. And thanks to Facebook's massive acquisition offer, WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton have joined the billionaires list.

Several years ago, technology research firm Gartner predicted Apple would maintain its hold on the tablet market until 2015. A new study from the company, however, shows Android taking a decisive lead: in 2013, it boasted 62-percent market share, compared to 36 percent for iOS. Google's mobile operating system climbed to the number one position thanks to more tablet sales overall, though Gartner also credits the proliferation of cheaper, smaller-screen slates (the Nexus 7 no doubt included) with establishing Android's newfound dominance.

The other winner, according to this study: Samsung, which grew by 336 percent in 2013 to a 19.1-percent share of the tablet market. That's still a much smaller piece of the pie than Apple's 36 percent, but among Android device makers the Korean company is still very much the king. Conversely, Microsoft has seen very modest growth; Windows 8 tablets accounted for just 2.1 percent of the market in 2013. Click through the source link for more stats.

Filed under: Tablets, Mobile, Samsung, Google

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Source: Gartner

IGN 9/10 - Gamespot 7/10 - Edge 8/10 - Eurogamer 8/10 - Polygon 8.5/10 - Kotaku Not yet

Game Informer 8.5/10 - CVG 9/10 - Destructoid 8/10 - USGamer 5/5 - Rock Paper Shotgun No Score - Joystiq 3.5/5

Videogamer 6/10 - OPM 8/10 - Shacknews 6/10 - GameTrailers 8.3/10 - PC Gamer 90/100 - GamesRadar 4/5

Gasmereactor 8/10 - Giant Bomb 5/5 - GamesBeat 95/100 - The Escapist 4/5 - NowGamer 8/10 - Hardcore Gamer 4/5

Digital Spy 4/5 - EGM 8.5/10 - Strategy Informer 9/10 - PlayStation Universe 8/10 - We Got This Covered 4.5/5

PCGamesN 10/10 - Original Gamer 9/10 - GameZone 8/10 - OnlySP 9/10 - Gaming Trend 95/100 - ZTDG 9/10

OXM 9/10 - Game Revolution 4.5/5 - XONE Magazine 8/10 - Gamesided 8.5/10 - Push Square 8/10 - Rev3Games 3/5

IncGamers 8/10 - God is a Geek 9/10 - Lazygamer 8.5/10 - The Koalition 90/100 - Metro 8/10 - DualShockers 6.5/10

Dealspwn 8/10 - BT Games 5/5 - Start Replay 9/10 - Talkingship 8/10 - Entertainment Buddha 8.5/10 - GameCloud 9/10

Valve recently enabled Steam Family Sharing functionality for all Steam users. Sharing your game library with another user (or vice versa) is rather complicated but Neowin is here to help. Read more...

Gravity won big tonight at the Oscars, as Alfonso Cuarón's space drama took home seven awards including best director — but it was 12 Years a Slave that won the highest honor of the evening. Going into the Oscars, the two films that seemed to be in the strongest position were Gravity and Steve McQueen's drama, with ten and nine nominations each, respectively. But the Matthew McConaughey-starring Dallas Buyers Club was the film that got off to the quick start, with Jared Leto taking home the statue for best supporting actor while the film also snagged best make-up.

Gravity first made a statement in the technical categories, picking up awards for best visual effects, sound editing, and best sound mixing. The roll continued as Gravity...

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As was rumored on Friday, Apple is today finally ready to launch a new iPhone integration setup for car infotainment systems. Calling it CarPlay, the Cupertino company claims it's "designed from the ground up to provide drivers with an incredible experience using their iPhone in the car." CarPlay is built primarily around the use of Siri voice commands and prompts, providing an "eyes-free" experience where you can respond to incoming calls, dictate text messages, or access your music library. It's also predictive, claiming to know where you'll most likely want to go based upon addresses found in your email, texts, contacts, and calendars. Apple's Maps are also an integral part of the service, which was previewed back in June of last...

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Sure, Sharknado and Sharktopus are fun to watch with friends on a weekend, but they also prove that sharks still get a bad rap. Clearly, what we've learned about the animal's behavior since Jaws came out isn't nearly enough, so a group of researchers are attempting to find out more... by strapping a bunch of gadgets to a bunch of sharks. Think of these things as a combination of a GoPro and a sportsband -- they're equipped with sensors and cameras that monitor and video a shark's adventures.

Thanks to the researchers' efforts, they were able to disprove a couple of misconceptions about how the animals move. Unlike what scientists previously thought, sharks power swim (rather than glide effortlessly) to traverse vast expanses of water, and deep sea species aren't lazy slowpokes compared to their shallow water brethren. The researchers (who hail from University of Hawaii and University of Tokyo) even got some sweet underwater footage that the subjects (unknowingly) took themselves embedded after the jump.

So, what's next for these shark-loving scientists, you ask? Well, now that they know what's going on around the sharks outside, the next step is inward -- they're planning an ingestible device. Hopefully, that can give us a better understanding of the predators' diet, so people will stop assuming that human limbs are a shark's favorite snack.

Filed under: Misc, Alt

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Via: SlashGear

Source: University of Hawaii

Google Hangouts just jumped a full version number on Apple hardware -- the first major update since it added voice calls late last year -- and 2.0 has more than just a new iOS 7-ready look. The new app is "fully optimized" for iPads, with a "two-pane" conversation view. On all devices, it's ready for animated stickers -- look out Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger -- 10-second video messages for when your friends are offline, and can send a map of your current location with a few button presses. It's rolling out on the App Store now, assuming you prefer the matchup of Google services and Apple devices.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Apple, Google

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Source: iTunes, Frank Petterson (Google+)

Nintendo will shut down its ageing Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service on 20th May, bringing to an end the use of online features in a huge range of games.

Wii titles such as Smash Bros. Brawl, Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City and Mario Kart Wii will lose their online multiplayer, matchmaking and leaderboard support.

Affected DS games will include Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime Hunters, Animal Crossing: Wild World and around a dozen Pokémon titles.

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Sony's Playstation Plus service brings six new free games in March, including Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite for Vita owners and Tomb Raider for those who still haven't gotten around to playing it on PS3. Perhaps most exciting is Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition, the PS4 port of the Housemarque co-op zombie shooter that will be free from day one for Plus subscribers. [Playstation Blog]

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