The Wall Street Journal reports that home automation company R2 studios is in acquisition talks with Apple, Google, and Microsoft. The company was founded by Blake Krikorian. He is known for creating Sling Media, the company behind the popular Slingbox product and service. R2 Studios is yet to release much publicly, but does have an Android app to control elements of the home such as lighting and heating systems. The talks are reportedly preliminary in some cases....

After a number of reports and tweets from across the Web announced outages for iCloud mail this morning, Apple updated its system status page confirming the outage lasted from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. PDT and affected approximately 12 percent—or 15 million— of iCloud’s 125 million users. Unfortunately, Apple’s iCloud Support page was not updated until after service was restored, which left most users in the dark as to why they could not access Mail and Notes during the outage....

Falling in line with analysts this morning, a new investor note from research company Nomura Instinet today outlines how the rising price of the iPhone could spell trouble for Apple. In the note, obtained by CNBC, analyst Jeffrey Kvaal writes that he sees “trouble” at the high-end of the market for Apple… Kvaal says that his demand checks indicate that there has been “little improvement in iPhone demand” thus far in 2018....

Nintendo has released a notable update for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp on iOS. The update brings the app to version 1.1 and includes new content and social features, as well as performance improvements and bug fixes… Most notably, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp adds gardening to the tasks available at your Campsite. You can then trade the flowers you growth for other items you can place in your Campsite. As for new social features, Nintendo has added a screenshot mode that makes it easier to share your Campsite layout with friends and followers....

Acer’s seven-inch Iconia Tab A100 tablet, which hit US shores earlier this month Sixteen months following the original iPad launch back in April 2010, the Android camp has hit unexpected roadblocks as first tablets based on Google’s software fail to impress the mass consumer or gain any meaningful traction in the marketplace. Earlier this year heads rolled at companies that couldn’t produce a viable answer to Apple’s market-defining product, while nasty quotes from competitors only served to stress their jealousy....

Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts have done a great job by releasing the Apex Legends Mobile video game after the success of the PC version. It’s a free-to-play multiplayer online battle royale shooter video game that becomes one of the most downloaded titles across 60 countries in a short period of time. However, it seems that some players are facing Apex Legends Mobile FPS drops quite often. If you too, you can check the steps to Boost Performance....

A viral tweet over the last week has led to a lot of confusion about whether or not Apple can delete movies you’ve purchased through iTunes from your library. In a statement to CNET this weekend, however, Apple addressed the controversy and offered a bit more detail on the situation. In his original tweet, Anders Gonçalves da Silva said that he had three movies disappear from his iTunes library. After reaching out to Apple support, he was told that the “content provider” had removed the movies from the Canadian iTunes Store....

Nortel decided to extend the deadline for the start of the auction for its patents until June 27 citing “significant interest” from third parties. Today we learn that two Silicon Valley giants are significantly interested in Nortel’s war chest of more than five thousand wireless patents said to be worth well over a billion dollars. They are Apple and Intel, reports The Wall Street Journal. Other bidders include Ericsson AB and a company called RPX Corp which “defensively buys up patents on behalf of other companies to stop them from being used against them by investors”....

Before we begin, one brief note: these suggestions are strictly intended for those corporations and businesses that are based in and do business strictly in the United States. If your organization has offices in different countries and wishes to apply these scenarios as detailed in this article, then those nation’s laws would have precedence. In these instances, it is best to consult with an attorney. When it comes to employee privacy, BYOD policies can be a double-edged sword for most businesses....

Apktool is a utility that can be used for reverse engineering Android applications resources (APK). With the help of Apktool, we can decode APK resources to almost original form; we can modify the source code on the fly and rebuild the decoded resources back to APK. Its project-like structure makes it easy to work with. Apktool has following primary features Decode APK resources (resources.arsc, classes.dex and XMLs) Rebuilding decoded resources back to binary APK Organizing and handling APKs that depend on framework resources Automating with repetitive tasks...

Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan (stars of The Falcon and Winter Soldier) have spoken about the Spider-Man controversy to show their support for Tom Holland. Reaction continues to pour in regarding the shocking news that Marvel will no longer produce Spider-Man movies going forward. Fans have been reasonably upset about the development, starting Spider-Man hashtags which have dominated social media and circulating online petitions to bring the Webbed Wonder back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe....

Concerns about the performance hit of mitigating the security flaw in Intel, AMD and ARM processors appear to have been dramatically overblown. The initial report in The Register suggested ‘a ballpark figure of 5-30% slow-down,’ but Intel now says that the performance impact ‘should not be significant,’ with Apple and others agreeing that this is the case … Reuters carried the report. Apple said in its own statement that there was no measurable hit....

Memorabilia from the early years of Apple regularly goes up on the auction block ranging from early Mac computers, manuscripts, and more. This week, we’re seeing a “ten years of creativity” plaque signed by Steve Jobs go up for action, as well as a unique version of the Apple-1 operation manual. The plaque is a rather unique piece of Apple memorabilia. It was issued to Suzzane Lindbergh in 2000 and a way to “recognize those who have contributed a decade of personal achievement to Apple’s phenomenal success....

The proposed laws in question are the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and the Open App Markets Act. Both pieces of legislation are set to be considered this week, and each threatens to force the two tech giants to comply with changes in US law surrounding app store exclusivity. Specifically, the bills contain language that would force Apple and Google to allow third-party alternatives into their respective walled garden mobile operating systems....

Obfuscating malware is a way to keep the files associated with the malware from detection and easy analysis. Packing is a type of obfuscation technique. Obfuscation Obfuscation takes code and basically makes it unreadable without destroying its intended functionality. This technique is used to delay detection and/or to make reverse engineering difficult. Obfuscation does have legitimate purpose. It can be used to protect intellectual property or other sensitive code....

We all are aware of the Security Updates that we receive on our Android devices from time to time. If you have the latest device than the update cycle will be cover more new security updates as compared to the old devices. However, there are times that we often delay to install the security updates even if they have arrived for our devices. Moreover, keeping our devices up to date especially, in terms of security is very essential and in today’s digital age it is a must....

I said “some Android fans”, because, as it always happens, not all Android devices will be getting it. Still, the number of devices getting it looks promising. According to a post on the official Android Google Plus account, the first devices to get the new Android version (starting today), are Galaxy Nexus HSPA+. The users of these devices will be notified of the update in the next few days. But they’re not the only ones that will be made happy by Google....

Apple today updated its App Store Review Guidelines with some changes that will impact app developers. The company has clarified more details about the game streaming platforms, besides the use of the “Rosetta” brand in the description of the apps and the prohibition of apps that promote illicit substances. The updated App Store Review Guidelines were shared today by Apple on the Apple Developer portal. Apple reinforces that apps that promote the consumption of tobacco, vape, illegal drugs, or excessive alcohol are not allowed on the App Store, as well as apps that encourage minors to use these substances....

App Store Search Ads will start showing up on more iPhones and iPads from today as the inventory expands to Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand. Search Ads allow developers to pay to promote their app above the organic results in the App Store. Each search can display only one sponsored result, which looks like a normal listing with the addition of a blue background and ‘Ad’ badge. Developers bid for search queries and Apple collects money from sponsored ads each time a user taps on one....

Apple has recently added the 27-inch iMac with Retina display, originally released in October 2014, to the refurbished section of its online store. Currently, the baseline 5K iMac with a 3.5 GHz quad-core Core i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM, a 1 TB Fusion Drive, and an AMD Radeon R9 graphics processor will cost you $2,119 refurbished from Apple. That’s $380 – or 15%- off the price of a new model....