Apple TV 6.0 update fixed and re-released

Apple has re-released its Apple TV 6.0 software update after initial issues forced it to be withdrawn.

The Apple TV 6.0 update launched at the weekend, only to be pulled when it was found to brick a small number of devices. Now a supposedly fixed update has been released, bringing a host of new features and improvements to Apple TV customers.

Version 6.0 of the Apple TV software boosts the device's music offering considerably. You can now stream tracks from iTunes Radio, and you can also browse and purchase music directly from iTunes - a long awaited feature.

Sticking with audio, version 6.0 ensures that you can now sync and play podcasts from your Apple TV.

It's also now possible to view images and videos from shared photo streams. Thanks to the addition of AirPlay from iCloud, you can now push your content to other Apple TVs, provided you have iOS 7 on your iPhone or iPad.

Alas, there's been no dramatic iOS 7-like overhaul of the Apple TV user interface. Perhaps with version 7.0, eh?

Internet rumour also suggests that there will be a new Apple TV device announced over the coming weeks. Apple has launched a new version of its Apple TV device alongside a new iPad in the past (just last year, in fact), and it may well do so again this year.

The form that this new Apple TV will take is unknown at present, with rumours persisting that the company is developing a self-contained TV set for some unknown point in the future.

Next, read our iOS 7 tips and tricks.

Via: 9to5mac

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Gold iPhone 5S goes for $10,000 on eBay

The new gold-colour iPhone 5S is hot property right now, leading to one example fetching a staggering $10,000 through online retailer eBay.

When Apple's latest flagship smartphone launched on Friday, supplies of all three colours swiftly ran out. In particular, there seemed to be strictly limited numbers of the gold iPhone 5S available despite being in huge demand.

It's claimed that the gold iPhone 5S has been the most popular colour at pre-order, which has reportedly led to Apple asking its suppliers to ramp up production of the gaudy new tone. The company has evidently been caught by surprise by the popularity of the gold model.

This has resulted in one recent eBay auction for the champagne-coloured iPhone ending with a $10,100 winning bid. The 'lucky' recipient was a user in Connecticut.

It seems that on the final day of bidding, the 16GB iPhone in question (that's right, it wasn't even the top 64GB model) was set to go for around $2,500 - a still not-inconsiderable fee for a $649 smartphone. However, one bidder raised the stakes by slapping down a $10,000 bid, only to be pipped by $100 at the last through a second high-bidder.

One possible reason for the gold iPhone 5S's popularity could be the fact that the other colours, 'Space Grey' and 'Silver,' are inherently similar to those on offer for the similarly shaped iPhone 5. Gold is something new entirely, and it lets show-offy types demonstrate that they're carrying the latest and greatest Apple phone.

Another is that the gold iPhone 5S is actually surprisingly good-looking, and not quite the tacky abomination many had expected.

Read More: iPhone 5S vs Samsung Galaxy S4

Via: Business Insider

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Valve announces SteamOS for living room gaming

Steam, the popular cloud gaming service, will soon be available on living room machines thanks to the forthcoming launch of its own operating system.

The SteamOS operating system, announced on Monday , is based on Stream's current offering combined with Linux architecture and promises to bring a gaming experience built for the big screen.

The software will be available "soon" the company says, as a free stand-along OS for "any" living room machine, with manufacturers free to incorporate the software into their devices.

"In SteamOS, we have achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing, and we’re now targeting audio performance and reductions in input latency at the operating system level," Valve wrote on its website. "Game developers are already taking advantage of these gains as they target SteamOS for their new releases."

Valve's success has so far been in PC gaming, but claims once its new SteamOS is running on those big screens, users won't have to give up their favourite games or online friends.

Gamers will also be able to play all of their Windows and Mac games on the SteamOS-enabled machine also via streaming straight to the TV.

The company also plans on integrating popular on-demand music, TV and movie platforms within Steam OS. The family sharing option, announced this month, is also on board allowing gamers to share their purchases with up to ten friends and family members. There's also a Family Options mode that allows different users in the households to choose which games are seen by who, allowing everyone to get the most out of their Stream libraries.

Valve says there are hundreds of games already running natively on SteamOS, with forthcoming announcements regarding AAA titles in early 2015.

This is the first of three big announcements coming from Valve this week, where we may see the launch of the much-vaunted Steambox console, which naturally would run SteamOS.

Stay tuned for more info from around 6pm UK time tomorrow, when Valve will be posting details.

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BlackBerry agrees to $4.7bn sale to Fairfax Financial consortium

Ailing Canadian smartphone giant BlackBerry has agreed, in principal, to sell the company to a consortium of buyers led by private equity firm Fairfax Financial.

The agreement values the company formerly known as Research in Motion at $4.7 billion (£2.93 billion) and could be sewn up by November 5th once due diligence takes place.

BlackBerry has signed whats known as a 'letter of initial agreement' which kick starts the sale process. Once the deal is completed, BlackBerry will once again be a private company and Fairfax will cash-out current shareholders at $9 a share, according to the official announcement on Monday.

During the period of due diligence, BlackBerry remains able to enter into negotiations with other companies that may present it with a better deal.

Prem Watsa, Chairman and CEO of Fairfax, said: "We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers and employees. We can deliver immediate value to shareholders, while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company with a focus on delivering superior and secure enterprise solutions to BlackBerry customers around the world."

It is not yet certain which members of the BlackBerry hierarchy, namely CEO Thorsten Heins, will remain at the helm.

Monday's announcement follows weeks, nay months, of speculation that the iconic firm could soon be sold off.

The company admitted last month it was actively seeking out buyers and on Friday announced it was cutting 4,500 jobs (around 40 per cent of its workforce) around the globe.

Today's announcement signals the end of an era for fans of the company's qwerty-toting smartphones, but not necessarily the death many were predicting. What Fairfax intends to do with the company remains to be seen.

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Google Nexus 5 rumours once again point to LG as manufacturing partner

LG could manufacturer the new Google Nexus 5

Having collaborated with Google to produce last year’s Google Nexus 4 handset, new Google Nexus 5 rumours have once again pointed to LG manufacturing the next flagship Android phone.

Despite having seemingly ruled itself out of the race to be the manufacturing partner of the Google Nexus 5, last week saw LG’s name thrown back into the, with claimed insider leaks now further hinting that LG is in the driving seat to piece together the Google branded iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4 rival.

With the latest round of rumours emerging courtesy of repeated Vietnam based tipster Tinthe, the Google Nexus 5 will reportedly be manufactured by LG and feature an array of specs similar to that found within the company’s recently unveiled own flagship phone, the LG G2.

Expected to boast a 5.2-inch Full HD edge-to-edge display similar to that on the LG G2, the Google Nexus 5 will reportedly feature a design similar to that of the Nexus 4 with a plastic body finished with a glass panel on the rear of the device.

Last week’s claimed Google Nexus 5 rumours suggested that further specs would see the handset pack the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU as the G2 alongside a 2GB of RAM and the option of 16GB or 32GB of internal storage.

The Google Nexus 5 release date has been tipped for October with the handset widely believed to be heading to the realms of reality with the long awaited Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie operating system in tow.

Back in May LG seemed to rule itself out of the running to manufacture the Google Nexus 5, stating it did not need to publicity after last year’s success.

“The Nexus 4 was a great success despite the production problems for us and Google,” Kim Wong, Vice President of LG Mobile in Europe said. He added: “We do not need such a marketing success again.”

Read More: Samsung Galaxy S5 rumours

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Full GTA 5 achievements and trophies list leaked ahead of release

The GTA 5 achievements list has leaked

The full GTA 5 achievements and trophies list has leaked online just one month ahead of the eagerly awaited GTA 5 release date.

Revealing the full extent of challenges and rewards that will offer gamers the chance to improve their gamer scores, the complete collection of Xbox 360 bound GTA 5 achievements is made up of 49 rewards worth a total of 1,000 gamer points.

Made up of a wide selection of challenges from the mundane to the frankly bizarre, the leaked list of GTA 5 achievements sees the usual 100 per cent game completion challenge backed up by an array of more peculiar tasks such as the ‘From Beyond the Stars’ achievement for “Collecting and returning all spaceship parts.”

With the GTA 5 achievements list split between in-game challenges and trophies for tasks within Grand Theft Auto Online, there are also 11 secret achievements of which no details are as yet known.

Forcing gamers to make use of the ability to switch between the three lead in-game protagonists, the GTA 5 achievement list includes a trophy dubbed ‘Three Man Army’ which requires gamers to “Survive 3 minutes on at least a 3 star Wanted Level with all three characters together off mission.”

Combining the usual crime-based GTA action with more light hearted, casual rewards, the leaked GTA 5 achievements list has shown that gamers will need to do things like fly planes under bridges, attend church and trade stocks in order to attain all rewards.

Although it is currently unclear how easy or hard it will be to obtain all 49 achievements, the rewards for completing the different tasks range from as little as five gamer points for completing the online introduction, to 100 points for completing the story mode.

The full list of leaked GTA 5 achievements for the Xbox 360 iteration of the game can be viewed at Xbox360achievements.org.

Read More: Call of Duty: Ghosts News

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Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak lambasts Steve Jobs biopic

Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs in 'Jobs'

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has lambasted the newly launched Steve Jobs biopic, stating there are “a lot of things wrong” with the movie ‘Jobs’.

Suggesting that the film’s portrayal of the iconic Apple co-founder and former CEO unfairly paints Jobs as a flawless cult leader of sorts without touching on his many faults, Wozniak has claimed that the movie unfairly overlooks the achievements of many others at Apple.

"There were a lot of things wrong," Wozniak stated while discussing ‘Jobs’ in a televised interview with Bloomberg on Friday. He added: "I didn't like seeing a lot of people I know not get the respect they deserve.”

Although suggesting that he liked Ashton Kutcher’s acting in his title role as Steve Jobs, Wozniak has said the star’s performance could have been improved and more true to the real-world events simply by having picked up the phone and giving Woz a call directly.

"Ashton has too much of this 'fan' thing like a cult leader," Wozniak said. "He could not see that [Jobs] had a lot of flaws in knowing how to run things and execute and make products that were worthwhile at his time there."

He added: "You know what, I'm really easy to get a hold of, he could have called me and consulted over the phone any time."

Away from the film, Wozniak has discussed the shape of Apple following the loss of its talismanic leader back in 2011. Despite the Apple board having reportedly pushed CEO Tim Cook to innovate quicker in recent weeks, Wozniak has warned that it is too early to rule Apple out of the game.

"There's time to tell," he said. "I wouldn't judge Apple as being out of the innovation sphere yet... Sometimes Apple has the bigger surprise than anyone."

Read More: iPhone 5S rumours

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