From his images, we can see what is a purported casing of an iPhone 6 with a 4.7 inches diagonal display iPhone phablet with a 5.5-inch display.

Another set of pictures have leaked from MacRumors. These give us a better look into the design of the purported iPhone 6.

Apple is known for secrecy in its plans for any of its devices and services. However, last year’s rumours of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C turned out to be true.

Source: BGR , MacRumors

On January 24th 1984, Steve Jobs unveiled and demonstrated the first Macintosh to Apple shareholders. A couple of days later, he showed off the Macintosh at the Boston Computer Society. Time has published the 90-minute presentation. It has never been seen before on the Internet.

Steve Jobs explains how the Macintosh let users record video, process word documents in different fonts and create pictures. Don’t take my word for his awesomeness, watch the video below.

Source: The Verge via TIME

Tech giant, Apple announced their earnings statement during their conference call and they broke lots of their previous records. 51 million iPhones were sold between November 2013 and January 2014 – an all time quarterly record – up from 47.8 million in the same quarter last year. iPad sales also came in at record highs at 26 million, up from 22.9 million from the same quarter last year.

Mac sales weren’t left out in the record-breaking party either, coming in at 4.8 million sold from November to January, up from 4.1 million same quarter last year. Finally, Apple’s quarterly revenue was also record-breaking at $57.6 billion.

Although, lots of records were broken with Apple’s main devices, the iPod took a huge hit with year-over-year sales down by a huge 52 percent. This could be a sign that maybe the iPod that once took Apple to new heights may have nearly reached the end of its life. iPod sales aside, it was a great quarter for Apple as they continue to reach new heights.

Let’s now take a look at Valves Steam Machines

Image Cred: Kotaku.com

A Steam What? A Steam Machine is a PC gaming rig that runs Valves Linux-based SteamOS.

What is SteamOS? SteamOS is Valve’s attempt at bringing PC gaming to the living room, its aimed at Steam Machine manufacturers and livng room PCs. It will be availabe to download and install, completely free later this year.

The Steam Machines are below and sorted in order of which will have the greatest impact on your pocket.

Falcon Northwest, Tiki

This beautiful box starts at $1,799 and goes as high as $6,000. This is because of its range of possible components that will be available at launch. Memory ranges from 8GB to 16GB and storage goes as high as 6TB. The Tiki has a stone base, which is an elegant touch as well as an efficient one as it keeps the tall tower stable.

Digital Storm, Bolt II

Digital Storm’s Bolt II runs both SteamOS and Windows which makes this a very good cross audience PC since the more niche games that aren’t on Steam will run on its Windows side.  With the upgradable machine, Digital Storm is “taking aim at the high-end of the market, targeting consumers that demand the best possible gaming experience and who are looking for a PC capable of playing any title on their new 4K display.” Bolt II starts at $1,899 and boasts a 240mm liquid cooling system. Available from February.

Webhallen, Steam Machine

Webhallen’s Steam Machine starts with an Intel Core i7 CPU,  NVIDIA GTX 780 GPU, 16GB and a 1TB Solid State Drive, all for a $1,499 starting price. Available later this year.

Alternate, Steam Machine

Also sporting an all too familiar boxy chassis, Alternate’s Steam Machine will set you back about $1,339. For that price you’ll get an Intel Core i5 4570 processor, and a Gigabyte GTX 760 handling the GPU work. You’ll also get 16GB RAM and 1TB SSHD storage. At this point we can’t you’ll see it later in 2014 or earlier, we are only sure that you will.

Scan, NC10 

This sleek-looking machine is world’s apart from its competition in terms of design. The rig includes a 2.4GHz Intel Core i3 4000M, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M, 8GB of memory and 500GB HDD all smartly cased inside its attractive brushed aluminum housing. It will be available later this year for $1,090.

Materiel.net, Steam Machine

Like most of the others, the date this boxy machine will hit the shelves is unknown other than the fact that it will be this year. It comes equipped with an Intel Core i5 4440 CPU and graphics will be powered by a MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC. The machine will have 8GB of RAM, and storage will be 8GB plus 1TB SSHD. Avalaible for $1,098.

CyberPowerPC, Steam Machine(s)

CyberPowerPC has two Steam Machine models called; “Steam Machine A” and Steam Machine I”. Both are highly customizable rigs, that come with the same base components; 500GB hard drives, 8GB DDR3 memory, and mITX motherboards with support for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and USB 3.0. They will both run the Linux-based Steam OS and come equipped with the Valve-made Steam Controller designed for playing PC games in the living room. The two models diverge in pricing, processors and video cards. The  $499 Steam Machine A ships with a 3.9 GHz AMD A6-6400K and 2GB AMD Radeon R9 270, the other $699 model; Steam Machine I features a 3.5 GHz Intel Core i3-4330 and 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760. These will be available in the second half of 2014.

Zotac, Steam Machine

We are probably the same thing; you could tell your friends that’s your new wifi router and none would be the wiser. Details about its  Intel processor, its Nvidia GeForce GTX, and its RAM and storage have yet to be revealed. Of course you’ll see it this year, Zotac just hasn’t said when.

iBuyPower, SBX

There aren’t many juicy details on the specifications of this rig. We know it will be out later in 2014 and will retail for $499. It will feature AMD and Intel processor options, a 2GB AMD R9 270. No word on memory or storage at this time.

Alienware, Steam Machine

Given that this is one the most talked about Steam Machine of all the thirteen, it was disappointing when Alienware did not disclose the details of its components. There will be an Intel processor and an Nvidia GPU, however that gives us as much to be excited about as its unknown release date in 2014. It will sport two USB 3.0 ports and like the Xbox One HDMI In and Out ports and unlike the Xbox One we don’t know exactly what Alienware plans to do with them. Pricing details are also unknown.

Origin PC, Chronos

The Chronos Steam Machine from Origin PC is an interesting rig, one reason would be because it offer support for up to dual Nvidia SLE GeForce GTX Titan GPUs, 14TBs of storage, and a liquid CPU cooling system. The rig will be built as it’s ordered so off the shelf configurations may be rare. Another interesting bit is that it will have dual-boot options to let users dual-boot SteamOS and Windows 8 or Windows 7. Pricing and availability or unknown at this time.

Next, Spa

We don’t get pricing or availability but we do get specs and here they are; an Intel i5 processor, along with an NVIDIA GTX 760 GPU, 8GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

Gigabyte, Brix Pro

This is by far the smallest of the pack, its design seems to appeal to those who don’t want a big machine taking up too much space in their living room and thus leaving things minimal. The Brix Pro will feature an Intel Core i7-4770R processor, an Intel Iris Pro 5200 chipset for handling graphics duties, 8GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. Gigabyte has not released details of how much it will cost and when we can pay that cost to get it.

Which of these is right for you?

If you are in the market for a new Retina Display Macbook Pro and you are not ready to shell out all the cash for it, then you’re in luck as Apple started selling the refurbished versions of the latest ones.

Apple announced its latest line of Retina Display Macbook Pros in October 2013 which are more powerful and pack the latest technologies inside. The equivalent version of the refurbished version on sale is selling for $2,299 while the refurbished is selling for $1,949 saving you about $350. You can use the money saved to pick up some nice accessories or even an iPad Mini if you are in the mood for that.

You can head on down to http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac to browse the refurbished deals.

I had Samsung’s 2014 edition of its Galaxy Note 10.1 for about two days this week. Here are a few thoughts after using it.

Too Large

10.1-inches is a bit too wide for a device that’s mean to be mobile. It’s really light so your hands won’t feel it but typing is a bit stressful because you’ll have to move your fingers from one end of the device to the other. Constantly.

Handwriting Recognition!

When your wrists hurt after moving your fingers around so much, you can use the Note 10.1 2014′s stylus and write instead. Handwriting recognition works great.

Camera

The camera is a bit slow by a few milliseconds. The good part is you can take a selfie and a picture of what you’re seeing at the same time. Here are 2 pictures taken at the journalists training at cchub last weekend.

Way Too Many Features

Samsung boasts of its multi-window feature on this device. For me, it’s a lot of stress. There are also too many options that pop up when you don’t need them. Like the notepad and calendar that pops up when you turn of the display and turn it back on. You can also swipe down from the homescreen for another window. Its function I couldn’t figure out.

If there’s one thing you have to get used to, it’s the number of gestures you can make from the home/middle button. When you hold it for a while, it shows you apps that are currently running so you can switch. When you tap it twice, S-Voice comes up.

On the left of each app you run is a small arrow icon. When tapped, it shows a list of shortcuts to other apps. I mean, when I want to go to other apps I can just go home or switch apps right?

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition reminds me a lot of a desktop working environment. There’s just so much chaos.

Polaroid has announced the Socialmatic at this year’s Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. The camera gives users the ability to print instant photos and share them to social networks they wish.

The Socialmatic has a built-in Zero Ink printer that prints out a 2×3 inch full colour sticker photo in less than a minute – you don’t even need to shake the paper. Each Socialmatic also has a unique QR code – which users can scan and move to other devices or print out.

On the digital front, the Socialmatic runs Android behind a touchscreen interface. It features a 14 megapixel front camera and a 2 megapixel rear camera. For storage, there’s 4GB of internal memory and a Micro SD slot for additional storage.

There’s WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity so you can easily share photos to others. Polarioid’s Socialmatic will ship in the fall of this year at a price of $299 and is available in white or black.

Can Polaroid get its groove back?

Source: The Verge, Polaroid

BlackBerry revealed the Porsche P’9982 – the first BlackBerry Porsche running BlackBerry 10. The Porsche Design P’9982 is an all touch smartphone and is the second model in the BlackBerry and Porsche Design series.

The luxury of the P’9982 can be seen in its satin finished frame forged from stainless steel and a hand-wrapped  Italian leather back door. The limited edition model of the P’9982 features a back door,  hand-wrapped in genuine Crocodile leather. It’s so exclusive, there are only 600 of this in the entire world. The P’9982 phones have a series of unique BBM PINs that distinguish them from all other BlackBerry devices.

The BlackBerry Porsche P’9882 ships with the latest BlackBerry 10 update – BlackBerry 10.2 which features a Priority Hub for important contacts and messages, BBM now which allows users reply BBM messages within any app and special Porsche Design only apps.

The phone hits stores on November 21 with an exlusive launch at Harrods, London. The limited Crocodile edition will be available beginning early December, and will be exclusive to the Porsche Design shop-in-shop at Harrods. Pricing starts at $2,400.

Here’s a video of the BlackBerry Porsche P’9882

The Android platform for example, has a lot of controllers but letting those controllers work with games has always been a matter between game developers and the controller hardware manufacturers. Of course this means that fragmentation doesn’t make it easy for controller manufacturers. It took a long time for MOGA and similar companies to build up a strong library of games that work well, but now, it’s a pretty good experience.

The pioneer controllers retail $100 each, which makes playing games on your iPhone somewhat of an expensive hobby. First up is MOGA’s Ace Power, instead of the usual retractable arm that holds the phone just above the controller, the MOGA Ace Power splits in half and clamps the phone in between the two sections. The controller connects to the phone via Lightning connector rather than Bluetooth.

Touch Arcade has a hands-on report detailing the device, the report shows that they are unimpressed by MOGA’s new flagship controller.

The hollow feeling of the MOGA Ace Power, the clicky buttons, how little it weighs, the texture of the plastic and the loose rattle of the sliding mechanism when it’s not fully extended with an iPhone or iPod touch inside all work against the device feeling like a $99 piece of kit.

However, with surprise comes disappointment, and the main source of that disappointment is how incredibly obvious to us that all of the developers out there releasing updates to add iOS 7 controller support are doing so without actually testing on a controller. For instance, Dead Trigger 2 [Free] comes with default sensitivity settings that were so high there’s no way any human could play that way. Similarly,LEGO Lord of the Rings [$4.99] has controller support, but you can only move using the D-Pad, not the analog stick. Strange little inconsistencies like that are everywhere, and I’ve yet to find a game that recognizes analog button presses.

The MOGA Ace Power has large potential, future iOS controllers will follow it’s layout and much like every new device it can only get better from here.

Logitech’s controller is called PowerShell, a slightly wider competitor to MOGA’s Ace Power that retails at $100. This controller also connects via Lightning port. Just to be clear both the Ace Power and the PowerShell are for non-iPad iOS7 devices. Analog sticks are absent on the PowerShell and all the buttons are analog. Similarly unless you have very deep pockets, throwing the nearly eight-inch PowerShell into your pocket might be a daunting task.

That said hands-on reports at TechRadar and SlashGear show that the PowerShell is a much sturdier product in comparison to the Ace Power. However in practice most the same problems that affect MOGA’s Ace Power also affect the PowerShell, and since it’s been barely a week I’m pretty sure that nothing has changed with Apple’s MFI APIs and Lightning software support. The keyword here is “potential”.

So what can you play with these controllers, MOGA and Logitech share a list of 300+ titles and still growing. Dead Trigger 2, LEGO Lord of the Rings and The Walking Dead are popular games out now with MFI controller support. Limbo, Terraria and The Cave are coming out soon and major publishers are bringing some of their hit franchises to the scene. Eidos’ Deus Ex: The Fall, Ubisoft’s Trials Frontier and Electronic Arts’ Dead Space are all slated for 2014. There are also old hits ranging from Pac-Man to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. 

iOS has grown as a gaming platform, more people own iOS devices than Xbox consoles now, it’s a good time to own an iOS device.

Move over Tecno. Motorola has announced the Moto G – a $179 smartphone with amazing specs and the lack of a contract. We’ll go straight to the specs.

At 4.5 inches, the Moto G’s HD display has a resolution of 1280 x 720 giving it 329 pixels per inch(more than the iPhone 5S). It runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean(will be getting Android 4.4 soon)  and is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 1GB of RAM. Internal storage options are 8GB and 16GB. There’s no memory card slot. Buyers of this device get 50GB free Google Drive storage for 2 years.

The Moto G boasts a 5 megapixel rear camera with LED Flash that takes pictures with an aspect ratio of 4:3 and 3.8 megapixels for pictures with an aspect ratio of 16:9(you can choose between them).  Slow motion video, burst mode, auto HDR, panorama and Tap to Focus are features of the rear camera. The front camera stands at 1.3 megapixel. Video capture on both cameras is up to 720p HD at 30fps. Video playback is at 30 fps.

Motorola Highlights features of the Moto G in this video.

 Connection options are WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a headset jack and  microUSB.  Internet speeds are up to 21 Mbps on HSPA+ networks.  Sorry, no 4G on this  device. For location, the Moto G uses GPS and  GLONASS.

Apart from this device running pure Android, Motorola has added  Motorola  Migrate – an app that lets you wirelessly transfer your  photos, videos, SIM  contacts and even your call and text history from  your old Android phone  to your new Moto G.

The Moto G’s 2070 mAh battery lasts 24 hours of mixed usage  according to  Motorola’s website. The smartphone comes in 7 different  colours and users  can buy flip and grip shells to protect the Moto G.

$179 is roughly N30,000. This price and spec sheet beats every Tecno phone we’ve seen this year. More importantly, you’ll be getting a phone made by Google and you’re sure of getting Android OS updates without hassles.

However, our friends at TechCabal have learnt that the Moto G will not be coming to Nigeria officially but will get to Ghana. We find this decision odd and we’re hoping our e-commerce friends will give us a good price when they eventually get it.

We’ll be looking at how this phone does in the Nigerian market. In the meantime, would you buy the Moto G at this price?

Source: Motorola

Images: TechCrunch