‘Fallout Shelter’ Finally Coming To Android, Totally Worth The Wait

Fallout Shelter is finally coming to Android after a long wait, Bethesda Softworks vice president of PR and marketing confirms.

When Fallout 4 was announced by Bethesda, not only did the gaming community rejoice for the Fallout 4 console game, but they also celebrated the surprise release of Fallout Shelter, a Fallout-spinoff game for mobile users.

While Fallout Shelter was released early for iOS users, Android users were left in the dark for quite a time, since Fallout Shelter was not available for Android from the beginning. However, Destructoid reports that finally, the wait has almost come to an end, and Android users will be able to download Fallout Shelter to their smartphones by August.

The confirmation that Fallout Shelter will already be available in Android in August came from Pete Hines himself, Bethesda vice president for PR and marketing. Although he advises everyone to hold their horses for now, he expects Bethesda to come out with an official announcement sometime next month.

The eternal rumor: Will Microsoft dump Windows Mobile and go for Android?

There are certain tech rumors that make the rounds so regularly, you could almost write the stories in advance. Every year, someone is going to buy AMD, graphene is just around the corner thanks to one major breakthrough or another, OLED televisions are finally going to hit the mass market at near-LCD prices (I cry inside every time this one turns out to be untrue) and, inevitably, Microsoft is going to give up on Windows Phone10 Mobile and make Android devices.

This time, the rumor comes courtesy of Twitter user and known leaker MSNerd, who writes that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is discussing the option of dropping Windows Mobile altogether and instead licensing Android for use in smartphones and handsets. To be fair, this is not an entirely crazy idea. If the original Windows Mobile had a much higher market share than it deserved, Windows Phone has had the opposite problem — it deserves more users than it actually has, based on the overall quality of the OS.

“Nadella and the SLT debating continuing Windows on phones and small tablets vs bundling Microsoft services on Android as the way forward,” MSNerd said. “Microsoft would push Google Play devices with Microsoft apps in exchange for Google providing first-class Maps, YouTube, Search on Windows.”

With its signature mobile platform mired around 2.6% of the market, it’s not surprising that MS would evaluate its long-term plans for the platform. Satya Nadella made headlines recently for a memo in which he declared Microsoft would have to make hard choices around its product stack and the company announced the sale of some of its mapping platform to Uber not long after. The company’s mobile advertising business, meanwhile, will now be handled by AOL.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Spurs Strong Sales For Android, LG Soars, HTC and Motorola Lag: Analyst

Strong sales for the Samsung Galaxy S6 resulted in a stellar three-month period ending in May for both Android and the top smartphone manufacturer. LG also performed well, while Motorola and HTC lagged.

A new report analyzing smartphone sales for a three-month period ending in May shows good news for Samsung, LG and the Android operating system in general, while the latest numbers for HTC and Motorola show both smartphone makers falling behind.

The latest data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Phones indicates that phones running the Android operating system accounted for 64.9 percent of all smartphone sales during the period, a jump of nearly three percent. Samsung's U.S. market share rose by three percent to 55 percent for the three months ending in May as opposed to the 52 percent share for the company in the three months ending in April. May was the first full month that the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge were available for purchase in the U.S.

LG also had a stellar three-month period. Smartphone sales for the manufacturer practically doubled compared with the figures from a year ago. The data does not account for sales of the company's latest flagship smartphone, the LG G4, which debuted after the period of measurement occurred.

The news was not so rosy for HTC and Motorola, each of which saw a significant sales decline. HTC is still reeling from the poor reception to its latest flagship device, the HTC One M9, which debuted during the three-month period measured. The company has seen the resignation of its chief designer and is promising another new flagship by the end of this year.

Carolina Milanesi, chief of research for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech stated: "Sales of Android-based smartphones were fueled not only by Samsung, but also by LG, which was able to nearly double its share of the U.S. smartphone market year-over-year. Other tier-one Android players, such as HTC and Motorola, had a more difficult period, with their share decreasing both year-over-year and period-over-period, raising hopes for competitors — such as Huawei and Sony, who have yet to wow U.S. consumers — that share could be up for grabs."

Hello Gello! A Chromium Based Browser for Android by CM

Android ROM developerCyanogenMod (“CM”) has announced that it is working on Gello, an open-source browser based on Google's Chromium browser, offering several customization options for Android.

Chromium is an open-source version of Google’s Chrome browser. CM plans to bring loads of customization to Chromium by introducing innovative features to the upcoming Gello browser.

Some of these features allow users to rename and relocate downloads, to swipe through open tabs, as well as offer privacy setting site wise.

Added features that CM plans to include are a power saver mode, a night mode, an immersive mode that removes advertisements and pictures that surround an article, and a feature like save for offline reading mode use.

Gello won’t be released on Cyanogen OS, which runs on OnePlus One phone. It will, however, be available in a future version of CyanogenMod’s Android ROM.

The Gello browser targets those who prefer Android Open Source Project (AOSP) instead of Android. Since details aren’t available, it’s not clear whether it can be installed directly on Android devices.

Gello is Surely Expensive

Gello is on the expensive side. Joey Rizzoli, a CM team member said that Gello will not be available on "low end devices or devices with small system partitions, they'll get the AOSP Browser instead ".

Going forward, Rizzoli stated that the team intends to introduce more interesting features.

The release date for Gello has not yet been fixed. However, it will have an open source license allowing anyone with sufficient imagination or programming skills to add to the project.

Android One Initiative Reaches Pakistan With QMobile A1 Smartphone

Google's Android One initiative has been launched in Pakistan on Monday. With the launch in a new Asian country, Pakistan has become the ninth country after India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Turkey (first country outside Asia) where Google's low-cost Android One smartphones will be sold.

Google has announced QMobile as its OEM partner for the Pakistan market. The newAndroid One phone - the QMobile A1 - will be available starting Monday via retail stores across Pakistan and is priced at PKR 11,500 (approximately Rs. 7,000).

Google has confirmed that the QMobile A1 smartphone will run Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out-of-the-box. As for specifications, the smartphone will come with identical specifications as the Karbonn Sparkle V, Micromax Canvas A1, and Spice Dream Uno. It will feature a 4.5-inch FWVGA (480x854 pixels) display; 1.3GHz quad-core processor; 1GB of RAM; 8GB of built-in storage; expandable storage via microSD card (up to 32GB); Dual SIM (Micro-SIM cards) support; 5-megapixel rear camera; 2-megapixel front camera, and 1700mAh battery. It measures 132x67.9x9.15mm.

Google last month expanded its Android One initiative to Myanmar launching theCherry Mobile One smartphone. The company tied up with Cherry Mobile as its OEM partner for the Myanmar market. Cherry Mobile was earlier also Google's Android One OEM partner for Philippines market.

In a blog post announcing the expansion of Android One to Pakistan, Caesar Sengupta, VP, Product Management at Google, said, "Like all Android One phones, the QMobile A1 combines high-quality hardware that's been tested by Google with the latest version of Android (Lollipop 5.1.1) and all of the features that come with it. Android One phones will also automatically receive updates to the latest version of Android soon after they are released."

Moto X (2014) Android 5.1 Lollipop Update Now Rolling Out On Verizon, AT&T and US Cellular

Motorola has just announced that the Android 5.1 Lollipop update for the Moto X (2014) is currently rolling out on several U.S. carriers. Customers of Verizon, AT&T and U.S. Cellular can now access the update on their smartphones.

Last week, Motorola announced that the Moto X (2014) would be receiving an update to Android 5.1 Lollipop: "We are excited to announce a new software update for Moto X (2nd gen) by Motorola. This update brings Android 5.1 Lollipop to your phone along with other improvements. Android 5.1 Lollipop improves stability and provides better control over notifications."

Now, the company has confirmed that the Android 5.1 Lollipop update is currently rolling out in various stages on several top U.S. carriers. David Schuster, vice president of Product Sales and Operations at Motorola Mobile Devices Unit, has announced that the update is ready for customers of Verizon, AT&T and U.S. Cellular.

Schuster, who has acted as the defacto spokesperson for recent operating system updates on Motorola devices through his Google+ account, announced that the Android 5.1 Lollipop rollout for the Moto X (2014) on U.S. Cellular is now being fully deployed. The carrier published release notes for the update in May, and last week, Schuster confirmed the soak test for the device on the network, which was apparently successful enough to engage full deployment.

Schuster also announced that the previously announced soak test for the device on Verizon has been expanded, and Android 5.1 Lollipop is now available for open pull. "Open pull" means that users of the smartphone on the network can access the update manually via the settings menu.

A full soak test for the Moto X (2014) on AT&T was also announced to be deployed today, and then later, Schuster updated his notes to announce that the Android 5.1 Lollipop update on the network was also available for open pull.

The Android 5.1 Lollipop update for the Moto X (2014) will include fixes for various bugs and issues in addition to several performance improvements. The update will also include user device protection, which prevents anyone other than the owner signed in with their Google password, from using the device, even if the smartphone is factory reset.

ANDROID 5.1.1 UPDATE: VERIZON GOOGLE NEXUS 6 AND SAMSUNG GALAXY S6 DUOS STARTS RECEIVING THE UPDATE

Google released a new Android 5.1.1 Lollipop Update for all Nexus smartphones and tablets. It was aimed at removing some additional bugs and improving the overall Lollipop experience. The update was released for devices like the Google Nexus 6 and is currently arriving for other devices like Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Motorola Moto X. Sadly, there are still Nexus 6 owner who are stuck with the older Android versions.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Duos isn’t being made available in many markets but it’s time for this device to taste the latest Android 5.1.1 Lollipop Update. Since the last few weeks, the Samsung Galaxy S6 (single-SIM variant) has been receiving the latest update, depending on the carrier and also the region where it’s located.

Meanwhile, the latest update will be available at a size of 620MB download for the Samsung Galaxy S6 Duos. The update will be available over-the-air. You can definitely go for the over-the-air version but in case the update notification is not available on your device, you should head over to Samsung’s desktop PC app, Kies, for further assistance.

You will be able to install the new Android 5.1.1 Lollipop Update using this software. Right now, the release of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop Update for Samsung Galaxy S6 Duos is restricted to Dubai, UAE but it will soon be released on other markets.

Besides the increase in Android version, the new software will introduce some unnamed security enhancements, superior system stability and an improved User Interface. The update will also bring further performance improvements.

Meanwhile, Google delivered the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop Update by the end of May but most of the older tablets received it in the beginning. Right now, it’s July and the Verizon Nexus 6 was still stuck on the old Android 5.1 update. At the same time, Google recently announced the successor to Android 5.1.1 known as Android M.

Many Nexus 6 owners can now try the latest Android version. However, many users are yet to receive the latest release while all news and excitement surrounds Android M (which could be Android 5.2 or Android 6.0) at the moment.

Right now, Verizon announced that it’s ready and all details have been released. Google released the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop Update in late May for the Nexus 6 on various carriers like Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular.

After a few weeks, it started arriving for AT&T. Sadly; no updates arrived for the Verizon Nexus 6. The latest update was not a single update for all users. Instead, it was exclusive to various carriers.

However, around 90 days after the release of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop Update for other Nexus 6 smartphones, it was finally announced for Verizon. Reports indicate that it should start rolling over this weekend. Verizon owners are habituated with updates arriving late for their devices but thankfully it was released within the next 3 months.

Game of Thrones season 6: Thousands queue in Spain in hope of becoming extras

PRINT A A A Just when you thought Game of Thrones didn’t need any more characters, pictures have emerged of more than 3,000 fans queuing in Spain for the chance of becoming an extra in the upcoming sixth series. According to reports, 3,500 fans turned up in Spanish cities Tudela and Girona to audition for a part as an extra. The cast of Game of Thrones is currently filming the sixth season in Spain, having previously filmed outside Seville where more than 550 extras took over the local bullring, which was used to represent a Daznak fighting pit in season five. The recent pictures of queues in north east Spain have prompted speculation that the large crowds may be needed for Daenerys Targaryen’s ongoing battles in the continent of Essos. According to the casting call, people who are thin with natural coloured hair were given priority. Only men with short or medium length hair were asked to apply, while women had to have long hair to stand a chance of success.

microsoft surface

Microsoft surprised everyone in 2012 by announcing a tablet designed in house to run the company’s brand new Windows RT operating system. It was the first time we had seen Microsoft, a company mostly focused on software products, come out with a fully-fledged tablet of their own, and it wasn’t just a rehash of a competitors’ design: the Surface RT’s magnesium-alloy body combined with the innovative Touch and Type Covers made it stand out from the crowd.

Unfortunately by the time the Surface RT launched in late 2012, it wasn’t as stellar as everyone was expecting. The ARM-based Tegra 3 SoC made the tablet feel slow and clunky to use. On top of that, Windows RT itself was void of many features found on tablets that used fully-fledged Windows 8, most notably the ability to run desktop applications.

Along with the Surface RT, Microsoft also announced the Surface Pro which did run Windows 8 Pro 64-bit and came with ultrabook-class internals and a high-resolution display. However it also came at twice the price so it wasn't a product that could compete with hot-selling iPads of the time.

The Surface RT and the Surface 2 were not commercial successes in spite of the excellent hardware. In early 2015, both devices, along with Windows RT in its entirety were discontinued.

With Microsoft conceding that Windows RT had failed, the company updated the Surface line with a new product that consumers would find considerably more attractive.

Rather than continue down the path of ARM-based tablets, Microsoft switched to low-power x86 SoCs, while also taking inspiration from their performance Surface Pro line. The end result is the Surface 3, and it’s mighty attractive.

The Surface 3 packs a similar design to last year’s Surface Pro 3, albeit in a slightly smaller, fanless body. The outer shell is made from a magnesium alloy that gives the tablet a pleasing matte grey finish, while the 10.8-inch display features the same 3:2 aspect ratio as its larger brother. Internally we’re getting a new quad-core Intel Atom ‘Cherry Trail’ SoC and up to 4 GB of RAM, while keeping features like the full-sized USB port that makes the Surface line so versatile.

The metal body of the Surface 3 is one of my favorite aspects of the tablet. It not only makes the device feel sturdy, but it also gives it that premium edge over tablets that stick with plastic or other inferior materials. The use of a matte finish, rather than a polished or brushed finish makes the Surface 3 less of a fingerprint magnet and I quite like the dulled look this finish provides.

Another aspect of the Surface 3’s design that I appreciate is the clean, hard lines that give the tablet a slight isosceles trapezoidal shape, rather than the boring round rectangle we see on so many other devices. The use of grey metal along the edges also contributes to a clean, minimalist and consistent design.

There are a couple of areas on the Surface 3 that aren’t made of metal. The first is a strip of grey plastic along the top edge, which is necessary to ensure the wireless radios are able to function. This strip contains the slightly off-center rear camera and its accompanying status LED, while the top edge features both the power button and volume rocker. The power button isn’t exactly in a perfect spot for portrait or landscape operation, but I’ve yet to see a tablet that really nails this.

The front of the Surface 3 is protected with Gorilla Glass and has a very swooshable feel to it. The screen bezel is appropriately sized for holding the tablet without covering up much of the display, and the location of the Windows button on the right edge (in landscape orientation) makes sense. Above the display is the almost hidden front facing camera, while on either side you’ll find the adequate front-facing speakers.

The right-hand edge of the tablet is also where you’ll find all the ports. Here we have a 3.5mm audio jack, a microUSB port that’s used for charging, a full-sized USB 3.0 port that’s incredibly handy for attaching devices and peripherals, and a mini-DisplayPort that provides great versatility for connecting displays. I expect the three latter ports will be combined into USB Type-C in future Surfaces, and this would allow the tablet to shed some thickness, but for now having all three is great for device compatibility.

Speaking of thickness, the Surface 3 clocks in at 8.6mm thick and 620 grams heavy, which is average for a tablet of this size. The design of the device doesn’t pretend to make the device look slimmer than it really is, so compared to more curved rivals it looks a bit chunkier. And in many cases, it is technically chunkier as well: the Apple iPad Air 2 and the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet (both ARM-based) are just 6.1mm thick.

Along the bottom edge of the Surface 3 is the powerful magnetic connector that allows to connect to the Type Cover. Above this is the hinge, which acts as a stand for the tablet and has three positions it can lock in to. I prefer the infinite-position hinge of the Surface Pro 3 to the limited design Microsoft used for the Surface 3, but nevertheless the hinge comes in handy often for positioning the tablet on desks and on your lap. The hinge is made of metal and is very strong. Hidden behind it is a microSD card slot.

The display included with the Surface 3 is a 10.8-inch “ClearType Full HD Plus” IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1920 x 1280. As I mentioned earlier, this a 3:2 aspect ratio display, which personally I think is a much better resolution than 16:9 for a tablet as it provides great usability in both landscape and portrait orientations. 16:9 has always felt a bit wide for tablet use and, with a 10-inch plus display, can make the device hard to hold and operate. With a 3:2 aspect ratio, these issues aren’t nearly as prevalent.

This panel packs a pixel density of 214 PPI, which essentially matches the density of the Surface Pro 3’s larger 12-inch, 2160 x 1440 display. It’s not quite in the same class as some tablets we’ve seen, particularly on the Android side, that use 1440p or 1600p resolutions – the Xperia Z4 Tablet’s 10-inch 1600p display is 300 PPI, for example, while the latest 9.7-inch iPads are 264 PPI – but the Surface 3 still looks sharp and crisp while viewing text, images and videos.

I was generally pretty impressed with the color reproduction and accuracy of this display, while still showing off a great level of vibrance and saturation. The color tone of the display leans towards the warm end of the spectrum, which is more noticeable when viewing white or grey web pages. Contrast is great, and black levels are acceptable, although gamma is well below what it should be for an sRGB-calibrated panel.

Viewing angles are also excellent and the high levels of brightness allow the screen to be viewed in nearly all conditions. I also found the 10-point multi-touch display to be very responsive.

Microsoft’s New Tossup App Lets You Poll Your Friends, Plan Events

A number of apps over the years have attempted to make it easier for friends to get together offline by helping them to plan everything from casual get-togethers to more formal events. Now Microsoft is taking a shot at this space with a new social polling app called Tossup. The app lets a group of friends vote on things like where and when to meet, what restaurant to choose, as well as RSVP. In addition, the app can also be used for general opinion-gathering.

Tossup is one of the latest projects to emerge from Microsoft Garage, the company’s program which works something like an internal accelerator at Microsoft, allowing employees and teams to turn their ideas into real-world projects, many of them being cross-platform mobile apps. Recent Garage releases have included things like social apps for trip tracking or seeingwhat people are chatting about nearby, Android lockscreens, an alternative mobile keyboardfor Excel users, an Android Wear search app, news and weather apps, games, and much more.

With Tossup, the focus is largely on simplifying event planning. To use the app, you first have to register with both your phone number and Facebook or your email. Then, you can create the question or questions you want to send out to friends, either using Tossup’s own polling options (e.g. “Where should we go for lunch?”) or you can write your own. In the case of determining a venue, the app lets you pull up nearby restaurants via Yelp to include in your poll.

To get friends’ input, you invite them to chime in via a link that’s sent out via email or text message, if they’re not already on the app. When a friend clicks the link, they’re prompted to install the app in order to participate in the poll. If the app is installed, the link will take them right to the poll question itself.

As recipients vote, their selections are shown visually in the app, and a “comments” section allows users to further discuss their upcoming plans by way of a text chat interface.

While the app is best used for event planning, you can also use it to ask any sort of question, which puts it into competition with other social polling apps like Straw, Rudder, Cinch, Polar(Google acqui-hired the team but the product lives on), and many more.

Tossup is available on both iOS and Android as a free download – Microsoft doesn’t generally charge for its Microsoft Garage apps, as the organization is more interested in just getting the projects out there in the wild and seeing what sort of consumer feedback or adoption follows.

Tossup’s arrival follows on the heels of Microsoft Garage’s recent release of a wave of five other projects, a JavaScript software library called Maker.js, and apps including InstaNote, Work Item Studio, and Receipt Tracker, plus a Surface Pro 3 dock called 3-in-1 Dock. In total, Microsoft Garage is now home to over two dozen different projects.

BlackBerry isn’t dead; an Android phone ‘Venice’ on its way

BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) is all set to make a comeback into the whopping Smartphone Android market. According to specs, the BlackBerry Android phone buys a similar look of a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with its curved slides. BlackBerry was planning to build a phone in conjunction with Google’s Android software, earlier this year. But, this is considered to be company’s last move to make up for its catastrophic drop-in sales of BB10 touchscreen handsets.

Evan Blass, also known as @evleaks, identified for leaks of new handsets, who posted its supposed first look in his twitter account, and says that the latest BlackBerry can be launched on AT&T and taken to be codenamed as Venice. BlackBerry tried its best to make a few noticeable lateral entries with a slider gadget, a dual-curved, all-touch display with a keyboard, but still it could not compete-well with the Android or Apple, briefly due to lack of big labelled apps.

However, the Company mentioned in an email statement as,

‘We don’t comment on rumors and speculation, but we remain committed to the BlackBerry 10 operating system, which provides security and productivity benefits that are unmatched.’

New BlackBerry Android phone will perhaps make use of a promising slider device, likely to be released this autumn, two sources said. The slider will be a mashup of a physical keyboard with a touchscreen, all at the user’s service. Sources said, that if BlackBerry moves forward on a plan to launch an Android device that boasts of its upcoming release will definitely include some of its patented features in its BlackBerry 10 operating system. BlackBerry showcased the slider device model at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona in the Month of March this year.

A while ago, the company had revealed its well-known BlackBerry Messaging app to all those using competing operating systems, trumpet-blasting its preparation to overpower them with its in-house features, including the BlackBerry Hub and its virtual keyboard. The company, which was dwelling the Android sales market lately in 2011 had engaged 17,500 people, came down to a meager slot to 6,225 in February, and that it’s going to further cut off the number, by how much, is not known yet.

By adding, an Android line-up to its already prevailing BlackBerry Keyboard operated services, the company aims to catch a role in the touchscreen subjugated Android market. It’s possible that the device may fascinate those users who are still using the older BlackBerry keyboard handset, but are in a trance to access the widest possible options that Android has to offer.

Also, BlackBerry has a strong faith in its trump card, which is its all-new device-management system, BES12, which has the potential to embark corporate as well as government network to not only administer, but all the BlackBerry devices on its internal network. Irrespective of the device found in the internal network, the BES12  can monitor the manage devices, which are powered by Android, Apple’s iOS platform and Microsoft’s Corporation’s Windows OS. However, getting the customer’s conviction on this subject, its device management system can able to support multiple platforms.

Android-Based BlackBerry Venice and Passport Smartphone Images Leak Ahead of Release

Images of two BlackBerry smartphones running Android have leaked. One of the devices appears to be based off of the current Passport, and the "Venice" will feature a quad-HD display and slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

BlackBerry 10 was supposed to be the OS that would allow the former smartphone king to compete with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android handsets. The OS made its debut on the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10, which were released in 2013, but the new smartphones and OS never took off with consumers and developers. In an effort to appeal to both groups, BlackBerry added support to run Android applications with the release of BB10.2.1. Now, the company is taking things one step further and is rumored to launch two new smartphones that will drop BB10 for Android.

We recently reported that BlackBerry is planning to release its first completely Android-based smartphone, and like previous devices, would include the company's iconic and much-loved physical QWERTY keyboard to the mix. The smartphone, which is codenamed Venice, is said to include a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and high-end specs that will allow it to compete with current flagship Android smartphones. It looks like we can expect two new BlackBerry smartphones that will run Android, thanks to a new report from a reliable tipster.

@evleaks has posted an image of what is reportedly the BlackBerry Venice, as seen above, and another image of what appears to be the BlackBerry Passport running Android. This is the first time we've heard about a second Android-based smartphone from BlackBerry, and you can clearly see the Passport's familiar keyboard and Android navigation buttons in his tweet.

The BlackBerry Venice image does not show its slide-out QWERTY keyboard but provides a look at the smartphone's home screen, Android navigation buttons and BlackBerry logo at the top of the device. He says that the Venice will be making its way to AT&T, and current reports suggest it will make its debut on the network in November.

The BlackBerry Venice is expected to feature a 5.4-inch 2560 by 1440 quad-HD display, 16 megapixel rear camera, 5 megapixel front-facing camera and a hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor.

As always, we'll keep you posted on any new information regarding the BlackBerry Venice and Android-based Passport.

HBO and McFarlane Toys unveil Game of Thrones figurines and playsets

HBO has announced that it is teaming up with McFarlane Toys for a series of character figurines and “construction” sets for the epic fantasy series Game of Thrones, starting with the Iron Throne Room, which you can see here in all its glory…
   

According to EW, the Throne Room will be joined by Mother of Dragons and Attack on The Wall sets, which will feature scene specific characters and accessories and retail for between $14.99 and $49.99 (although the images above consist of a starter kit plus additional characters at $3.99 apiece).

“[HBO is] a world-class network and Game of Thrones is one of the most visually compelling shows that I’ve ever seen,” states Todd McFarlane. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to create high-quality collectible construction sets based on this fan-favorite property. Both collectors and fans of this epic series can build their favorite scenes with this new product line.”

'Game of Thrones' Cast: Could Season 6 Reveal Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister as Targaryens to Regain Iron Throne?

Weeks after the last episode of ‘Game of Thrones’ season five aired on HBO, the theory that Jon Snow could be a member of the Targaryen family continues to take the online fandom by storm.

Many fans have refused to believe that the Lord Commander has met a most brutal end, thereby emphasizing the possibility that he could “rise from the ashes” and follow in Daenerys’ Targaryen’s footsteps.

The theory explains that Snow might not be Ned Stark's illegitimate son, but rather the son of Ned's own sister Lyanna and Daenerys's older brother, Rhaega.

As made clear in the books, on her deathbed, Lyanna asks her brother Ned to promise her something, and fans have long since guessed that this could be a request to raise her son as his own.

Others also believe Tyrion Lannister could also come from the Targaryen family line.

Daenerys's father, widely known as the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen, particularly had a soft spot for Tyrion's mother, Joanna Lannister.

In the fifth book, ‘A Dance with Dragons,’ Daenerys learned that her father "took liberties" during the bedding ceremonies when Joanna exchanged wedding vows with Tyrion's father, Tywin.

Also, when Tyrion wields an arrow and shoots his father at the season four finale, Tywin says: "You are no son of mine."

Consequently, numerous fans believe that the former Hand of the King’s final retort could be suggestive of much more.

Jon and Tyrion might also be the other two dragon riders who are needed by Daenerys to regain the Iron Throne, as pointed out by a vision that the Mother of Dragons had in season three.

In the vision, she walks through three areas- a Dothraki tent that represents her, the Wall that could possibly represent Jon and the throne room at King's Landing that could possibly point towards Tyrion who became hand to King Joffrey.

Another probable connection that has been speculated is the Westerosi myth that "a dragon must be born of blood". Daenerys, Jon and Tyrion’s mothers are all known to have died upon giving birth to them.

Since Daenerys came out unharmed from her husband Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre, ‘Game of Thrones’ fans have been crossing their fingers that Kit Harington’s character might be given an opportunity to reappear during his own cremation if he really comes from the Targaryen family with a supernatural connection to fire.

For the sixth season of the HBO hit program, five directors will reportedly be working on the new series, three of whom– Jeremy Podeswa, Mark Mylod and Miguel Sapochnik- are ‘Game of Thrones’ veterans while the other two are newcomers.

These include Daniel Sackheim, who has previously worked on ‘The X-Files’, ‘Miami Vice’ and House,’ and Jack Bender, who is best known for his directorial duties for ‘Lost.’

TV review: Game of Thrones - The many-faced game

Game of Thrones has always been a show that elicits extreme reactions from its fans, and as the seasons have progressed, it has only increased in its divisiveness. On the one hand, there is the epic scope of its storytelling, the nuanced insight into deplorable characters and the fascinating way it explores themes of morality, war and power. And on the other hand is the over-the-top violence and nudity, which in recent seasons has combined into gratuitous and unnecessary instances of sexual violence. The show’s fifth season, which recently concluded, amplifies both these aspects.

If there was an overarching theme to this season, it was how difficult it is to retain power once you have it. In their disparate storylines, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) all struggle with the power they have suddenly acquired: Cersei finally rules at King’s Landing, with her young son merely a puppet whose strings she can easily pull, Jon Snow is unexpectedly pushed into a leadership position at the Night’s Watch, where he has to contend with the growing threat of the White Walkers, and Daenerys struggles to maintain some semblance of order in Meereen in the aftermath of her abolition of slavery. All three character arcs go in wildly different directions but all three are hugely satisfying to watch. Both Daenerys and Jon learn, over the course of the season, that having good intentions and idealistic notions doesn’t always translate into mass popularity or effective governance, while Cersei finds out how alliances to maintain power can sometimes backfire horrifically.

This season also has one of the most highly-anticipated character interactions in the history of the show — Daenerys finally meets Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) as he travels across the Narrow Sea to see her. The meeting is everything a fan of the show hoped for — her no-nonsense idealism and his sardonic witticisms clash perfectly as both bond over politics and personal issues. The season also boasts its most breath-taking and thrilling battles to date, with all the necessary twists and turns finally bringing to a head the White Walker storyline.

In contrast to these positives was this season’s infuriating treatment of women and the blasé way in which it meted out sexual violence, including to fan favourite Sansa Stark. In a storyline the showrunners changed from the books (written by George RR Martin) specifically for her character, Sansa is married to the sadistic Ramsay Bolton, who rapes her on their wedding night and continues to assault her throughout the season. The storyline caused great controversy amongst the online community and for good reason — it’s not only the violence that has become too much to stomach, it’s the fact that the storyline was doubly redundant. In the past seasons, the show has already established (in gruesome detail) the depths of Ramsay’s depravity, and Sansa has already been in a position where she was subjected to abuse (lest anyone forgets Joffrey), so the storyline served no purpose other than to incite outrage.

The season was also a disappointment in some other storylines which had a great deal of potential but were a huge let-down. The biggest was the Dorne arc in which Jamie goes to Dorne to rescue his daughter-slash-niece. The arc was supposed to highlight the Sand Snakes, a group of female warriors, but it depicted them as unintelligent women bent on revenge. The Stannis storyline was also clumsily executed, with a focus on shocking twists instead of nuanced character development. Both are examples of producers taking great liberties with the source material. With the finale ending at the same place the latest book in the series ends, the next season will plausibly include more improvisation on the  producers’ part.

Ranking All 50 Game Of Thrones Episodes From Worst To Best

Season 5 of Game Of Thrones has completed, and after 50 episodes, it is already one of HBO’s most successful series. Combining the medieval fantasy elements of Lord Of The Rings with the language, violence, and sex of HBO stalwarts like The Sopranos and The Wire, Game Of Thrones appeals to all demographics.

At the end of Season 5, fans of both the books and the show alike are in a new situation where neither group knows what’s going to happen next. Book readers have had an advantage of knowing pretty much what’s going to happen on the show thus far, because they’ve already read the source material. But since Martin has taken his sweet time to release the sixth book in the series, The Winds of Winter, and the showrunners of the HBO series, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, have started to introduce plot elements in the show that haven’t happened in the books yet.

While seemingly standing at a cross-roads, this it is now a great time to rank all 50 of the episodes of the show from 50 to 1. Since everyone surely must now be caught up, you can feel safe in knowing that if you’ve seen all 50 episodes, there will be no spoilers as to what will happen next, because nobody really knows. However, please be wary that there will be some talk of events that happened in the books but not in the show.

'Game of Thrones' Collector's Edition Game now available in stores

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- With a wait of nearly a year before 'Game of Thrones' fans can satiate their addiction with new episodes (Season 6 premieres in April 2016), Westeros withdrawal is sure to set in at some point.

Thanks to USAopoly, Hasbro and HBO, 'Game of Thrones' fans can experience the battles and spoils of the Lanister, Stark, Targaryen and Baratheon families in a board game format. MONOPOLY: Game of Thrones Collector's Edition Game is now available at game and toy stores, and through store.hbo.com.

With the exception of the four corner panels (GO, Jail, Free Parking and Go to Jail), the entire board has been redesigned to reflect all things Westeros. The Chance and Community Chest cards are now 'Valar Morghulis' and 'The Iron Throne' cards. The money features the symbols of Essos and Westeros.

The classic Monopoly game tokens have been replaced with zinc-cast replicas of a White Walker, a Dragon Egg, a Three-Eyed Raven, The Iron Throne, a Crown and a Direwolf. Houses and hotels are Custom Villages and Keeps.

The Monopoly: Game of Thrones Collector's Edition Game is the latest in an ever-growing catalog of 'GoT' keepsakes.

Microsoft's WiFi Sense Poses Manageable Security Risks

NEWS ANALYSIS: The Windows 10 WiFi password sharing feature poses a potential risk, but it's manageable if you have implemented real wireless security.

The expressions of alarm are all over the place. Suddenly people have discovered something called "WiFi Sense" that Microsoft is including in Windows 10 when it's released at the end of July.

Once the new version of Windows is released, this feature of Windows will have an impact on your wireless network security. So you will need to plan on how to handle it before it launches.

Microsoft's WiFi Sense is a means of sharing connection information between users. The original idea was to make connections between wireless hotspots quick and easy so that you don't have to fumble around with your wireless device every time you find yourself near a new source of WiFi.

To make this happen, Microsoft learns the log-in characteristics of WiFi access points, and it saves them. In addition, WiFi Sense can share those characteristics with your other Windows devices and, if you wish, your friends and contacts. The information it shares includes the WiFi password, which effectively opens up private WiFi to public use.

Before you hit the panic button, a little context and some background might be helpful. WiFi Sense isn't new. This feature was part of Windows Phone 8.1, but you likely never heard of it because almost nobody used that version of Windows Phone. The carriers that sold Windows phones mostly didn't upgrade them, so the proportion of phones with that feature was vanishingly small.

WiFi Sense also isn't unique in its capability to share wireless log-in information. Analyst Craig Mathias of Farpoint Group pointed out to me that Passpoint from the WiFi Alliance performs a similar task of sharing log-in information and automating the process of using access points. Passpoint is also not new.

What is new is that WiFi Sense will now be a standard part of the mainstream version of Windows, which unlike the previous edition is expected to be widely adopted. This means that there will be millions of users who have the ability to share their WiFi log-in information with all of their social media and address book contacts, likely without actually being aware that they're doing so. It's the lack of awareness that provides part of the risk.

The reason for the risk is that WiFi Sense also automatically accepts any terms and conditions presented by the WiFi access point. Normally this isn't a problem, since what you're agreeing to is that you won't do anything illegal. But suppose a WiFi site includes terms that say the site has the right to download your personal data? Sometimes it's a good idea to actually read all that legal boilerplate.