Samsung to purchase OLED firm Novaled for $347 million

Despite the fact that Apple seems to be doing everything in its power to reduce its supply chain dependence on Samsung, the two appear to be inseparable. The Korean tech giant still makes a number of iOS device components, including processors and displays.

With that in mind, you can understand why we were interested to hear this afternoon that Samsung is in the process of purchasing Novaled, a German-based OLED (organic light-emitting diode) company, for a staggering 260 million euros, or $347 million USD...

T-Mobile ending ‘no money down’ promotion for iPhone 4S,5

If you were planning to pickup an iPhone 4S or 5 on T-Mobile anytime soon, you better act fast. According to a new report, the carrier is ending its popular '$0 down' promotion on the two handsets that it just started in late July.

The deal, which is said to be ending tomorrow for the aforementioned models, allowed new T-Mobile subscribers to purchase an iPhone with no downpayment, and monthly payments of around $25 until the phone was paid for...

Steve Jobs considered walking away from the pro market

Apple's late co-founder was never fond of die-hard creative professionals and wanted to walk away from that niche market segment in order to focus solely on the high-end consumer segment which appealed more to him and didn't eat up major resources. In fact, it didn't just cross Steve's mind to kiss the pro market good-bye.

He was actually considering dropping Apple products for the pros altogether, says Apple's former ad consultant Ken Segall, the guy who dreamed up the iMac name and revealed the iPhone could have been easily called the 'Telepod'...

AT&T cuts Next pricing, iPhone 5 now $27 a month

AT&T's new device upgrade program called Next has managed to enrage rival T-Mobile, which thinks the initiative is just plain "sneaky and underhanded." The early upgrade program is indeed a bad deal for consumers so the nation's second-largest telco has tweaked pricing earlier today, making a number of devices more affordable.

This includes Apple's iPhone 5, which can be now had for $27 per month for the entry-level model with sixteen gigabytes of storage. That's $5.50 per month cheaper compared to the previous $32.50 per month iPhone 5 pricing under AT&T's Next.

Sticking it to Verizon, the new $27 per month tier is also a buck per year cheaper versus Verizon's Edge plan...

President Obama outlines four government surveillance reform initiatives

Following a series of meetings with tech executives a government leaders this week, President Obama held a press conference this morning to describe his plan to assuage concerns among Americans and foreigners regarding the legality of US surveillance activities.

During his speech, the President said that the surveillance programs in use by government agencies right now are "operating in a way that prevents abuse." But the question for his administration, he posed, is how does it make "American people more comfortable?"

So he outlined the following four initiatives...

Apple’s request to suspend e-book ruling denied

Today's a big day for Apple as the company faces some major legal showdowns. First, the United States International Trade Commission handed down its final ruling on the long-running complaint against Samsung, ordering an import ban on infringing Samsung smartphones and tablets, which will take effect at the end of the 60-day Presidential review period.

It's a major win for Apple in its long-standing dispute against Samsung. However, the company is also waging another major battle, this one concerning the U.S. government's e-book price fixing allegations.

Apple's agency business model - where publishers get to price their iBooks themselves, with Apple keeping its standard 30 percent cut - has unfortunatelly suffered a major setback as its request to suspend Judge Cote’s ruling in e-book case has been denied...

Twitter #music updated with personalized recommendations, new ways of discovering music

Twitter's #music app launched in April as a way to discover music people share on Twitter. The micro-blogging giant updated the software in June with new discovery charts and the addition of genres. Since then, we haven't heard much from Twitter on the music front until today's version 1.3 update which expands on content discovery with new tools while adding the ability to scan your music library to provide personalized recommendations...

Apple wins ITC ban on Samsung products

Apple picked up another major victory in its ongoing patent battle with Samsung this afternoon. The International Trade Commission has just handed down a decision in the company's case against Samsung, finding the Korean tech giant guilty of infringement.

The final ruling on the complaint, which Apple first lodged in July 2011, finds several Samsung products guilty of infringing on two of Apple's patents. An import ban has been ordered on those products, and will take effect at the end of the 60-day Presidential review period...

Chain Reaction – Connect The Dots, a relaxing game for a relaxing weekend

Sometimes, you want to play a game that takes up hours of your day. Sometimes, you feel the need for speed and want a game that will make your palms sweat. Some days, you just want to sit back, relax and let your game be a sort of meditation.

Chain Reaction is a very simple game that doesn’t require a whole lot of skill. The only thing you need is patience and a bit of luck…

Cincinnati Bell landing the iPhone 5 on August 16

Another regional United States telco is about to land Apple's iPhone 5 soon.

Cincinnati Bell, the leading wireless carrier in Cincinnati, Ohio, and its nearby suburbs in the U.S. states of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, will start offering the Apple smartphone next Friday, August 16, The Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper has confirmed.

Although the device will be priced a bit higher versus other prepaid carriers, the launch festivities are said to include a nice $100 trade-in promo. I've included the full details after the break...

Blizzard posts StarCraft II World Championship Series streaming app

Blizzard, the maker of the award-winning Starcraft and Diablo series, has released a new iPhone and iPad app, called Blizzard WCS. As the name suggests, it's basically a client designed to allow for live streaming of the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS). If you can't make it to the WCS, the app will "keep you updated, informed, and entertained all the way through the Global Finals of the World Championship Series and beyond," Blizzard promises...

Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar begins its journey today

In the early 1980s, the Ultima series began. Fans of sorcery and adventure were transported to another land to fight dragons, loot dungeons, and become the hero of a world under attack from an evil wizard.

Nearly a dozen follow-up games were released in the Ultima series, but fans haven’t seen or heard a squeak for over a decade. Today, fans of the original Ultima Forever campaign can play a modernized version that follows the early storyline, but offers a completely new look…