Microsoft doubles cloud storage for Exchange Online, Office 365 mailboxes

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Microsoft doubles cloud storage for Exchange Online, Office 365 mailboxes

Microsoft is currently on a streak of increasing cloud storage capacity for its customers. Earlier this week, Microsoft more than tripled the storage capacity for SkyDrive Pro users from 7 GB to 25 GB. The latest cloud mailboxes to receive a storage boost are for Exchange Online and Office 365, which will increase from 25 GB to 50 GB starting this Friday. Customers should see their storage capacity double sometime between now and November. According to the Office 356 blog, the following services plans will receive the upgrade: Exchange Online Plan 1, Office 365 Small Business, Midsize Business, Enterprise E1, Government G1, and Education A1. Shared mailboxes and Resources mailboxes will grow to 10 GB as well. A chart of the new plans follows below.

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Apple’s budget iPhone 5C already being undercut by cheaper Chinese knockoff

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Apple’s budget iPhone 5C already being undercut by cheaper Chinese knockoff

Apple may have trouble making headway into China with its budget iPhone as long as the knockoff artists at GooPhone are on the prowl. GizChina reports that GooPhone — which has already brought the world gems such as the GooPhone i5 and the GooPad mini — is planning to release a new budget device called the Goophone 5C in September that will sell for just $99.

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More evidence points to iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C launch on September 20th

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More evidence points to iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C launch on September 20th

Apple's next-generation iPhone 5S and all new iPhone 5C smartphones will likely launch on Friday, September 20th. An earlier report from Nikkei pointed to the 20th as Apple's target launch date in Japan, which was among the company's initial launch markets alongside the United States last year when the iPhone 5 debuted. Now, TmoNews reports that T-Mobile has put a vacation blackout in place from Friday, September 20th through Sunday, September 22nd. This means T-Mobile's retail store employees are not permitted to take vacation during that time period, and vacation blackouts at carrier stores are common when new iPhone models launch in order to ensure stores can accommodate the inevitable rush of foot traffic.

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Nokia Lumia 925 hits AT&T on September 13th for $99.99

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Nokia Lumia 925 hits AT&T on September 13th for $99.99

AT&T subscribers looking for a new Lumia smartphone who don't want to pony up $300 for a killer camera — or $200, if you live in one of the markets BGR exclusively revealed to be running Lumia 1020 sales right now — the carrier will soon have a great new option for you. Nokia's Lumia 925 smartphone will launch next month at AT&T for just $99.99 on contract, the same price Nokia's Lumia 920 and Lumia 900 debuted at last year. Spec highlights include an 8.7-megapixel PureView camera, a 4.5-inch AMOLED display (334 ppi), a dual-core Snapdragon processor and a 2,000 mAh battery good for 6.6 hours of continuous video playback per charge. Preorders for the Lumia 925 begin on August 28th and the phone will be available online and in AT&T stores beginning September 13th. AT&T's full press release follows below.

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Vevo, Disney Channel and other new apps hit Apple TV

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Vevo, Disney Channel and other new apps hit Apple TV

It's not quite the "Apple TV" news the world has been waiting for, but current Apple TV owners on Tuesday found themselves with a variety of fresh new content to stream to their televisions via Apple's set-top box. As 9to5Mac reports, several new apps hit Apple TV as part of an over-the-air (OTA) update on Tuesday, including the Disney Channel and music video giant Vevo. Also included in Apple's new update are a Weather Channel app, a Smithsonian app and a Disney XD app. As noted by AllThingsD's Peter Kafka, The Weather Channel's app provides on-demand content but it will also stream live Weather Channel reports during big storms.

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Nokia threatens to abandon business in India amid tax battle

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Nokia threatens to abandon business in India amid tax battle

In response to tax issues Nokia is currently having in India, the company has threatened to pull its manufacturing business out of the country. Authorities in India recently raided a Nokia factory following allegations that the company had failed to pay as much as $542 million in taxes owed to the Indian government. Nokia refuted the massive tax bill, however, and it didn't pull any punches in a recent letter to India's Ministry of Commerce & Industry. "India has suddenly become the least favourable market," Nokia said in the letter. It continued, "The political risk of operating in India [is] suddenly substantially higher and may inevitably influence future decisions to develop one's operations in India." The letter, portions of which were published on Friday by The Indian Express, stated that it might make sense for Nokia to shutter its operations in the country and move its business to China. The Indian Express noted that Nokia's tax bill now amounts to 20 million rupees, or roughly $316 million.

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Windows Phone may at long last get Instagram

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Windows Phone may at long last get Instagram

It was only a matter of time — and possibly cash — before Instagram finally decided to develop a mobile app for Windows Phone 8. WMPoweruser points us to some remarks made by Nokia executive vice president Chris Weber, who claims that Instagram is at long last coming to Microsoft's mobile platform although he didn't give any specific release date for the popular photo-sharing app. Instagram is one of the major apps that Windows Phone is still missing, along with such mobile standards as Instagram, Vine, Pinterest, Google Maps, YouTube and Flipboard. Microsoft has been aggressively throwing money at developers to bring their apps to Windows Phone so it's probably only a matter of time before most of these apps make their way to the platform.

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Amazon looks to the sky in quest for complete control of content

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Amazon looks to the sky in quest for complete control of content

A report Thursday night from Bloomberg stated that Amazon has been testing Globalstar's wireless satellite network in order to determine if it could build a wireless service of its own. This could be a pivotal moment for the company. Amazon's video viewing audience has been growing at an amazing pace: it hit 38 million unique views in July, while the amount of time consumers spend watching Amazon videos has doubled in just six months. Amazon's Kindle and Kindle Fire ranges have turned out to be substantial successes — they have basically killed off Barnes & Noble's eBook and tablet product lines and are on their way to becoming the absolute eBook hegemon in North America with at least three new devices en route, according to exclusive BGR reports.

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Windows Phone gains critical momentum in Latin America

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Windows Phone gains critical momentum in Latin America

Although Windows Phone has little short-term hope of denting the iOS-Android duopoly in the United States, the story is different in emerging markets where many consumers are buying smartphones for the first time and are interested in low-cost handsets. Microsoft this week started passing around new research from IDC showing that Windows Phone has now become the No. 2 smartphone OS in Latin America behind Android, a critical milestone for a platform that needs to gain traction in key countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Windows Phone performed best in Colombia where it was found on more than a quarter of all smartphones in the country.

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LG tops Samsung in the display wars: New panel has 538 ppi

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LG tops Samsung in the display wars: New panel has 538 ppi

Just how many pixels can you cram into a smartphone display? LG is apparently determined to find out as it announced on Wednesday that it's developed a new 5.5-inch display that has a whopping 538 pixels per inch, which sets a record for pixel density on smartphones. Of course, with displays that are as small as smartphones it's fair to ask whether most people will really notice the difference between a screen that has 538 ppi and one that has 468 ppi such as the HTC One. LG also said that its new panel is "only 1.21 millimeters thin with a 1.2 millimeter bezel measured in LCD modules," which makes it thinner than any other display in the world. The company's full press release follows below.

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Rise of the Slurpee-phone: Foxconn may team with 7-Eleven on mobile devices

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Rise of the Slurpee-phone: Foxconn may team with 7-Eleven on mobile devices

7-Eleven convenience stores may soon be good for more than crusty hot dogs and oversized sodas. The Wall Street Journal reports that 7-Eleven is teaming up with iPhone manufacturer Foxconn to sell some of Foxconn's own television sets in 7-Elevens across Taiwan. What's more, the Journal says that the two companies "may cooperate in making smartphones and tablets in the future," which would certainly expand 7-Eleven's market well beyond the realm of unhealthy snacks. Foxconn has been pushing recently to make its own smartphones and tablets comes as the company is trying to lessen its dependence on Apple and broaden its revenue sources. Foxconn unveiled its first Firefox-based tablet earlier this year and the company plans to produce at least four more Firefox devices by the end of the year.

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Yes, the iPhone 5S must be gold

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Yes, the iPhone 5S must be gold

Back in 2010, 3G device sales in North America outpaced China and India by 185 million vs. 114 million. That's when the collective taste of American consumers still mattered a lot. But in 2013, China and India will outpace North America by 256 million vs. 215 million. Smartphone market is now defined by Asian tastes. And since they love yellow gold in China, that is a good color for a phone, regardless of whether or not it's deemed tacky by Americans.

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Samsung’s monstrous Galaxy Mega 6.3 hits AT&T, other carriers this month starting at $150

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Samsung’s monstrous Galaxy Mega 6.3 hits AT&T, other carriers this month starting at $150

Samsung's most massive phablet to date, the Galaxy Mega 6.3, will debut on AT&T and other wireless carriers in the U.S. later this month. Following Samsung's announcement that the Mega 6.3 would be available in the U.S. from AT&T, Sprint and U.S. Cellular beginning later this month, AT&T announced that it will launch the new 6.3-inch smartphone on August 23rd for $149.99 on contract. AT&T will also offer the phablet for $24 per month as part of its AT&T Next plan. Samsung's Galaxy Mega 6.3 features a dual-core 1.7GHz processor, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, a 3,200 mAh battery and an 8-megapixel camera along with its 6.3-inch display. AT&T's full press release follows below.

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Bloomberg: Samsung to debut Galaxy Gear smartwatch on September 4th

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Bloomberg: Samsung to debut Galaxy Gear smartwatch on September 4th

Following an earlier confirmation that Samsung intends to take the wraps off of its Android-powered Galaxy Gear smartwatch during a press conference on September 4th, a new report from Bloomberg reaffirms the plan. The news organization on Friday issued a report stating that its unnamed sources have confirmed Samsung's upcoming September 4th announcement at IFA in Berlin, Germany. Interestingly, Bloomberg says the Galaxy Gear will "make phone calls, surf the Web and handle e-mails" making no mention of a requirement to connect to a smartphone. Earlier reports suggested that the Gear will be a companion device that must be tethered to a phone for connectivity. Finally, Bloomberg says that the Galaxy Gear will not feature a curved display, as some older rumors had suggested.

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The funniest Amazon product reviews of all time

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The funniest Amazon product reviews of all time

Amazon users' product reviews have helped guide millions of people as they researched various purchases, but sometimes they're as entertaining as they are helpful. As such, Amazon recently compiled a list of the funniest product reviews on its site. "Helpful product reviews written by Amazon customers are the heart of Amazon.com, and we treasure the customers who work hard to write them," Amazon wrote. "But occasionally customer creativity goes off the charts in the best possible way." The site's list includes some well-known items like the Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer that drew some of the most widely reported funny comments, but there are also a few obscure ones you might not have seen before. Amazon's full list is linked below.

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Apple releases iOS 7 beta 6

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Apple releases iOS 7 beta 6

The world had to wait a bit longer than usual to get its hands on the last iOS 7 beta thanks to a recent security breach so Apple apparently wanted to get ahead of the game. iOS 7 beta 6 has now been released to developers much sooner than expected. The new update is available immediately as an over the air (OTA) update for developers with compatible iPhone, iPad, iPad mini and iPod touch models, and Apple's iOS developer portal should be updated soon with the relevant OS files. According to an exclusive BGR report from last month, iOS 7 beta 6 is the last beta Apple plans to release. The GM (gold master) version of iOS 7 will then be pushed out in early September ahead of the software's public release, which will likely happen in mid-September ahead of the iPhone 5S launch.

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World’s top PC vendor now sells more smartphones and tablets than PCs

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World’s top PC vendor now sells more smartphones and tablets than PCs

If anyone needed more evidence that the post-PC era is upon us, they likely got it Thursday morning. Lenovo on Thursday posted its fiscal first-quarter results, revealing that it earned $170 million in profit on a record $8.8 billion in sales. The most interesting news from Lenovo, however, was that it confirmed that combined smartphone and tablet sales overtook PC sales last quarter. Lenovo, mind you, is currently the top PC vendor in the world, and yet its smartphone and tablet sales outnumber PCs. And it's also not as though Lenovo's PC sales are doing poorly — in fact Lenovo just outgrew the overall PC market for the 17th consecutive quarter. Lenovo's full press release follows below.

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IDC: Windows 8 touch PCs off to a rough start

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IDC: Windows 8 touch PCs off to a rough start

Microsoft's bet that people would come around to Windows 8 once they got to experience it on touch-based PCs hasn't gone well so far. Computerworld reports that research firm IDC will "likely" drop its estimates on touch PC shipments from 17% to 18% of all laptops shipped in 2013 to between 10% and 15% of all laptops. IDC analyst Bob O'Donnell tells Computerworld that high prices on touch-based notebooks are big reason why touch-centric PCs haven't taken off yet this year.

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Fingerprint sensor woes could cut Q3 iPhone 5S shipments by 70%

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Fingerprint sensor woes could cut Q3 iPhone 5S shipments by 70%

The iPhone 5S's long-rumored fingerprint sensor is still apparently proving difficult to mass produce. Digitimes reports that Apple's supply chain partners are still having major problems producing the next iPhone's fingerprint scanner on a wide scale and that low yields of the sensor could cut iPhone 5S shipments in the third quarter from an expected 10 million to as little as 3 million. Low supplies of new Apple products are nothing new, of course, as last year both the iPad mini and iPhone 5 similarly faced production woes that limited their early supplies when they first hit the market.

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Why now, BlackBerry?

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Why now, BlackBerry?

Just a few months ago, BlackBerry seemed dedicated to going alone. Now, the company is surprisingly blunt about its willingness to consider a joint venture or selling the company. Why now? Well, the crucially important "value" model Q5 launched about six weeks ago in the UK and Africa, markets that used to be BlackBerry's cornerstones just two years ago. The Q5 gained sudden importance after the high-end Q10 and Z10 phones put in disappointingly weak volume performances during the May quarter, driving BlackBerry's U.S. market share down to just 1.1% according to one estimate.

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Acer backs away from Windows

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Acer backs away from Windows

Microsoft is having a tough time getting many of its PC manufacturing partners to use Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT for their new devices and now The Wall Street Journal reports that longtime Windows OEM Acer is trying to grow its "non-Windows business as soon as possible" by embracing Android for mobile devices. Acer's goal is to generate 30% of its revenue from Android devices and Chromebooks by the end of 2014, up from the 10% of revenue that the company expects those devices will deliver this year.

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iPhone’s market share in China falls to just 5%

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iPhone’s market share in China falls to just 5%

Tim Cook's talks with China Mobile have just taken on some more urgency. Bloomberg reports that research firm Canalys has just found that the iPhone's market share fell to just 5% in China in the second quarter of 2013, down from 9% in Q2 2012. Nicole Peng, Canalys's China research director, tells Bloomberg that Apple is getting walloped by low-cost Android phones being pushed by vendors such as Lenovo, ZTE and Xiaomi, which have all been peddling dirt-cheap smartphones with surprisingly strong specifications.

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The Pirate Party tries to get Sweden’s IT minister busted for copyright violations

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The Pirate Party tries to get Sweden’s IT minister busted for copyright violations

Sweden's Pirate Party has suddenly become very enthusiastic about enforcing copyright laws. TorrentFreak reports that the Pirate Party has found evidence that Swedish IT minister Anna-Karin Hatt has violated copyright law repeatedly by posting copyrighted Calvin and Hobbes cartoons and artwork from the Lord of the Rings films on her Instagram account. What's more, the Pirate Party has turned its evidence over to law enforcement officials who have in the past have raided the Pirate Bay website's servers and have arrested its founders.

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The budget iPhone might not be enough to help Apple in China

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The budget iPhone might not be enough to help Apple in China

By now we all understand why Apple is building a budget version of its iPhone: So it can reach consumers in emerging markets who don't have the money to spend on high-end smartphones. But Bloomberg Businessweek points out that a mid-range iPhone with quality specs might not be enough to help the company improve its presence in China, especially when it's going up against phones with similar or better specs that come with insanely low price tags. To get a sense of the brutal competition Apple faces, consider the recently released Xiaomi Hongmi phone that is priced at $130 features a quad-core 1.5GHz processor, a 4.7-inch display with a pixel density of 312 pixels-per-inch, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2,000 mAh battery.

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iPad’s legacy seen falling short of iPhone

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iPad’s legacy seen falling short of iPhone

Whereas the iPhone reinvented a category, the iPad define an entirely new one. Companies like Nokia had toyed with media tablets in the past, but they were nothing like the iPad Apple debuted in 2010. Companies raced to enter the new market Apple created with the iPad and while their early efforts were absolutely awful, they eventually morphed into the slates currently selling by the truckload. But despite the iPad's significance in the broader consumer electronics market, one industry watcher thinks the device's legacy will never measure up to Apple's iPhone.

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Microsoft gives the Surface Pro an RT-style discount

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Microsoft gives the Surface Pro an RT-style discount

Since Microsoft has reportedly been having more luck selling the Surface RT after its deep price cut, the company probably figured it would try its luck by enacting a smaller price cut on the Surface Pro. The Verge reports that Microsoft has cut $100 off the price of both the 64GB and 128GB Surface Pro models, a move that Microsoft says is in response to the "great worldwide success with Surface RT pricing and keyboard-cover promotions over the past several months." Microsoft originally lopped off $150 from the price of its Surface RT tablet last month just before the company announced that it had to take a $900 million write-down on the device, so it seems that Surface Pro sales might be a little more in line with the company's expectations compared with the Surface RT.

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Startup working to hook Raspberry Pi up to 3G networks

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Startup working to hook Raspberry Pi up to 3G networks

Raspberry Pi, everyone's favorite ugly-but-cheap mini-computer, may be about to get a lot more mobile. Ars Technica reports that a company called SparqEE is developing a yet-to-be-launched Kickstarter project that's looking to raise $70,000 to produce an add-on for the Raspberry Pi that will let users install a SIM card that will give it access to 3G networks around the world. Even more impressively, SparqEE says that it can sell users low-cost SIM cards they can use in their Raspberry Pis since the company has "contracted with a worldwide SIM provider" that can deliver global SIM cards cheaply. In the United States, 3G-enabled Raspberry Pis will be able to hook up to AT&T's 3G network, the company says.

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Motorola plans to release a budget Moto X after all

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Motorola plans to release a budget Moto X after all

One of the more surprising aspects of Motorola's Moto X launch this week was that the company decided to sell a smartphone with mid-level specs at a high-end price. Motorola says that users who don't want to pay $200 for Moto X don't need to worry, however, because the company plans on releasing a cheaper version of the device as well. CNET reports that Motorola this week revealed that it will release a low-cost version of its new flagship device that's tailored specifically for prepaid carriers and consumers in emerging markets later this year. Motorola Mobility CEO Dennis Woodside told CNET that the company's goal is to give more people "access to affordable smartphones" that don't scrimp on quality, since "the experience of devices you can get for less than $200 is subpar right now."

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Hulu is trying to out-weird Netflix

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Hulu is trying to out-weird Netflix

Perhaps goaded by the dazzling media blitz Netflix has managed to generate with its original shows, Hulu is now attempting to launch a string of its own buzz-worthy shows. Compared to its far larger rival, Hulu seems to be a lot more budget conscious with its original content. There is nothing as classy as Kevin Spacey or Robin Wright in the new roster. Instead, the Hulu shows are anchored by fading TV stars like Eva Longoria and Seth Myers.

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WSJ: The FBI can remotely flip on Android phone mics to record conversations

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WSJ: The FBI can remotely flip on Android phone mics to record conversations

Anyone worried about being tracked by law enforcement officials really ought to think twice before buying an Android phone. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation can now "remotely activate the microphones in phones running Google's Android software to record conversations" and that it can also "do the same to microphones in laptops without the user knowing." The FBI is now able to perform these feats because it's invested heavily in recruiting hackers to help it improve its surveillance capabilities, the Journal writes. The Journal's report suggests that federal officials do need to get a warrant before employing such tactics, which means that the FBI isn't just casting a wide dragnet as the National Security Agency has been doing with cell phone users' metadata.

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Google may send out Gmail-style friend invites for Google Glass

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Google may send out Gmail-style friend invites for Google Glass

Life can get lonely for early Google Glass adopters, especially if you're the only person in your social circle who's using Google's experimental digital headset. And that's why, as 9to5Google reports, the company is toying around with letting select Glass users send out invitations to their friends who are interested in joining the Glass Explorer Program. A Google spokesperson tells 9to5Google that the invitation initiative is an "experiment" for the time being and that the company doesn't have plans to send out more invitations other than the ones it's already handed out to a limited number of developers. Of course, even if you're invited to join the Glass program you'll still have to pony up $1,500 to get the headset so the invitations likely won't be worth much to people who don't have a good chunk of spare cash on hand.

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