Sony Xperia SP and Xperia L priced in the UK

Earlier this week Sony announced the Xperia SP and Xperia L -- new mid-range and entry-level phones for the European market. Today we're starting to see the first UK pricing information for these two devices from some prominent online retailers.

First up, the Xperia SP, Sony's latest mid-ranger is up for pre-order for a little over £300 -- the cheapest price at present is from Handtec, which offers the SP for £314.40 inc. VAT. That gets you a dual-core, 720p-screened device with an aluminum trim and customizable light bar, backed up by Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and Sony's UI. There's also an 8MP Exmor RS rear camera, as well as LTE connectivity.

If it's the Xperia L you're after, the lowest price can be had from Clove, at £234 inc. VAT. The Xperia L bears a close resemblance to Sony's Xperia Arc series, and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core CPU with 1GB of RAM and a FWVGA screen. It's also packing the same Exmor RS camera tech as its big brother.

So far none of the major UK networks have announced plans to range either new Xperia handsets, but we'll keep you posted with any future developments. Both devices are due to appear in Q2, with a late April timeframe being specified by Clove.

[Source: AndroidCentral]

BBC vows to make six iPlayer-only films in next two years

The BBC has vowed to make six online-only short films over the next two years, that will live online service rather than being broadcast on TV.

The films themselves will be drama-based, and will be streamed exclusively over the Beeb's popular iPlayer catch-up service, viewable on all manner of gadgets from tablets, smart phones, smart tellies and laptops.

"Audiences will be able to discover, share and enjoy these dramas whenever and wherever they chose," the BBC's Hilary Salmon stated. It's not clear when the short films will air, but as they've just been commissioned we could be waiting a little while.

The move is a joint venture between BBC Three and BBC Drama, so I wouldn't be surprised if the films themselves are focused on those perennially pesky young people that the Beeb's third channel is aimed at.

The BBC's decision to produce streaming-only video follows subscriber service Netflix's release of House of Cards, a high-profile TV show that's only available online via the red-hued service.

It's less unusual for the BBC to make streaming-only TV of course, as it's already in the business of producing programmes. The Beeb's plot to "showcase more exclusive content" on iPlayer is more evidence however that television is increasingly moving online.

Unlike Netflix, the BBC allows iPlayer programmes to be downloaded, so if you have a compatible device like a laptop or iPhone, you could store these upcoming mini-movies to watch offline. Android devices are yet to get offline downloads, sadly.

[Source: CNET]

Hive Hatches On iTunes and Google Play – Evolve Baby Aliens in Sliding Tile/Match-3 Hybrid

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - March 21, 2013 - Appxplore today launched Alien Hive, a sliding-tile puzzle game about evolving baby aliens that’s free to play for both iOS and Android. Pastel watercolor graphics and a cute alien protagonist make the game appropriate for all ages, yet challenging enough for puzzle veterans. This mellow title is the latest from Appxplore, known for their award-winning game Lightopus (published by Bulkypix) as well as their recent biological puzzler Sporos. Harvest resources to grow and evolve new species of aliens, deploy massive power-ups, zap the villainous Naughty Bots and collect dozens of Supreme Aliens – there truly is life on Mars! Download Alien Hive today, free for iOS and Android.

Watch the trailer on the official website: Appxplore.com/index.php/games/alien-hive 

Alien Hive is all about evolving aliens, blending match-3 with sliding tile puzzles for a game that feels both familiar and fresh. Swipe tiles to make matches – combine eggs to hatch cute baby aliens, and then help them fully evolve into Supreme Aliens.

Match resource tiles for upgrades that let you take command of the board, with the goal of building the ultimate alien hive. Strategically avoid the Naughty Bots, who block your progress, by crafting power-ups to eliminate these baddies. As you advance, you will uncover the mystery of the hidden aliens… can you tame the Red Planet?!

Alien Hive Features:                                   

• Evolving-aliens puzzle gameplay: hybrid of match-3 and sliding tile puzzles… it’s a whole new type of casual fun
• Match tiles to harvest resources, grow new species of aliens and zap the villainous Naughty Bots
• Chill out: pastel graphics and mellow soundtrack, with no time limit to harsh the vibe
• Advance the alien society: collect and unleash dozens of Supreme Aliens
• 70 Achievements to suit all styles of play
• High Score and Achievements sharing via Facebook
• Free-to-play universal app for iPad, iPhone and Android
• iCloud & Game Center Support, with Scoreloop support on Android

Apple adds two-factor authentication to your Apple ID

Apple is beefing up the security of its Apple ID by adding two-factor authentication to the account login process. Customers concerned about unauthorized access to their Apple ID can login to their account at Apple'sMy Apple ID webpage and turn on the feature as described below

1. Go to My Apple ID (appleid.apple.com)
2. Click the "Manage your Apple ID" button to login to your Apple ID
3. Enter your Apple ID and password and click "Sign In"
4. Select "Password and Security" in the left-hand column
5. Type in the answers to your account security questions if you are prompted to answer them.
6. You will see Two-Step Verification at the top of the page. Click on "Get Started" and follow the on-screen instructions.

If you have two-factor verification enabled, you will be required to enter both your password and a 4-digit code to verify your identity. According to Apple's support page, you will need this information whenever you sign in to My Apple ID to manage your account, make an iTunes / App Store / iBookstore purchase from a new device or get Apple ID-related support from Apple. You can read more about the security feature on Apple's support website, and check out Glenn Fleishman's thorough pros and cons rundown on TidBITS.

[Source: TUAW]

BBC Twitter accounts hijacked by 'Syrian Electronic Army'

Several BBC Twitter accounts were hacked today, seemingly taken over by a group calling itself the 'Syrian Electronic Army'.

Control of the Weather, Radio Ulster and Arabic Twitter feeds was wrestled away from the Beeb, with the hackers posting a string of bizarre weather reports for the Middle East.

Every dodgy tweet has since been deleted, though Digital Spy has used Storify to preserve the tweets posted on BBC Weather, if you're curious.

"Saudi weather station down due to head-on collision with camel," one tweet reads. The final tweet sent from the hijacked meteorological account read, "Syrian Electronic Army was here," with a link to the group's own Twitter page.

BBC Weather has apologised, tweeting, "Sorry about that, we were hacked. Normal service resumes."

To hack a Twitter account, you need the account holder's Twitter name and password. One way to make the microblogging service more secure would be to offer two-step authentication.

Using this process, when you sign in from a new location you have to enter your password as well as a one-use code that is texted to your phone. Facebook and Gmail both already offer this security option, which is extra secure as any would-be hacker would require access to the account holder's phone as well as their password.

[Source: CNET]

iPhone 5S Home Button, Flex Cables Leaked

We typically begin to see hardware parts leak before the launch of any major product, and now we’re getting a glimpse of what are allegedly the home button, flex cable and internal vibrator for the iPhone 5S, thanks to a leak from a Japanese vendor.

As MacRumors notes, the odd part about this leak is that the home button looks similar to theiPhone 5 save for the positioning and size of the flex cable, which means we’re not looking at the a home button with the rumored fingerprint scanner. Either these aren’t for the iPhone 5S, or the fingerprint reader rumors aren’t true, or it’s built-in to that part and we just can’t see it.

The vibrating mechanism was also leaked. This part is what vibrates the phone when you put it on silent, and it looks similar to the part on the iPhone 5, again reiterating the idea that the iPhone 5S probably won’t offer much in the way of a major industrial design change.

We suspect these are the first of many parts to leak, so stay tuned for more in the coming weeks and months.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

UK budget leaked on Twitter as government re-states 4G vow

The UK budget was leaked on Twitter today, granting politically minded surfers a sneak peek at George Osborne's number-crunching ahead of time.

The key aspects of the chancellor's new measures emerged early when London's Evening Standard newspaper tweeted its front page, which detailed the most crucial aspects of the annual ploy to make the UK more economically healthy.

The Standard posted an apology on its site, with editor Sarah Sands saying, "An investigation is immediately under way into how this front page was made public." The person who sent the tweet has been suspended while that investigation happens, the newspaper boss says.

As for the budget itself, there was little for tech and gadget fiends to get excited about (though we can all rally around 1p off a pint of beer). Mr Osborne did take the opportunity to re-iterate hisplans for the UK's Internet speeds, saying, "We're giving Britain the fastest broadband and mobile telephony in Europe."

That doesn't quite jive with Ofcom's report on the UK's broadband progress from earlier this month, which places the UK third for superfast broadband take-up, for example.

The UK will get faster mobile data this year, as operators have just walked away from a big spectrum auction with slices of bandwidth to use in 4G networks. That auction raised £2.34bn for the UK, but fell short of the £3.5bn Mr Osborne had already factored into the nation's budget.

[Source: CNET]

Galaxy S4 most pre-registered phone ever, UK retailer boasts

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has seen the highest number of pre-registrations ever, according to phone retailer Carphone Warehouse.

A tingling sensation in our spines told us that the Samsung Galaxy S4 would prove popular, but Carphone Warehouse's claims of a record-shattering pre-registration period lend credence to our vertebral intuition.

Pre-registration means sticking your details into Carphone Warehouse's online form, which puts you on a list to receive news on when the Galaxy S4 becomes available to order. The high-street phone-flogger says the Galaxy S4 has received four times as many registrations as theGalaxy S3 did last year -- a 446 per cent increase.

Registrations were counted in the four days following the S4's official unveiling. I've asked for specific numbers, and how those figures compare with pre-release interest in last year's iPhone 5, and I'll update this story if I hear anything.

The Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch, 1080p display and a thinner, lighter casing than its predecessor. It's jam-packed with new software features, though its similarity to the Galaxy S3 hasn't been well received by everyone. You can see exactly how the S4 compares with its forebear in the video embedded below, and be sure to check out our S4 comparison, featuring rival phones from Apple, Nokia, HTC and Google.

[Source: CNET]

Evernote Food Updated to Include OpenTable Reservations and Foursquare Ratings

Evernote Food, Evernote's app dedicated to documenting cooking and dining experiences, was today updated to version 2.1. The release brings OpenTable reservations and Foursquare ratings to the universal app, allowing users to book seatings at restaurants within the app. 

In addition, users are now able to share recipes via Facebook, Twitter, or email, and new tag-based syncing capabilities have been implemented in the standard Evernote app. Recipes that are saved to Evernote can be synced with Evernote Food.

Evernote Food has a few other minor updates including improved search results and faster image uploads.

Sharing 
- Share recipes via Facebook, Twitter and email 

Restaurants 
- OpenTable integration lets you make restaurant reservations from the app 
- See venue ratings from Foursquare 

Images 
- Upload images from other albums 
- Meal images load more quickly 

Search 
- Improved search results for recipes and meals 

General 
- Various other bug fixes and performance improvements

[Source: MacRumors]

Apple In Trouble with EU Commission Over Warranty Coverage

Apparently Australia isn’t the only market where Apple fails to properly inform consumers of extended warranties beyond the company’s standard one year coverage. The European Union also has rights that protect consumers under a two-year warranty.

Tuesday, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding discussed a review of 27 EU states on whether Apple has properly advised buyer’s coverage rights, explicitly, the extension of two-year coverage under EU laws.

Most Apple consumers are likely familiar with the up-sell of Apple Care products when purchasing new Apple goods, however in some nations the standard warranty for specified classes of goods are automatically covered in extended warranty coverage. In the EU, that coverage extends to two years. Apple has been accused of not properly informing consumers that they have this coverage and employees have apparently been pushing Apple Care services without informing customers they already have two years without additional cost. Regarding practices in Europe, Reding said Apple’s approach is “simply not good enough.”

Apple has already faced fines and additional action in Italy, where employees failed to properly inform consumers of their product warranty protection, and instead were pushing Apple Care services. Apple ended up remedying the matter by simply pulling Apple Care off the shelves in Italy.

As of yet, no statement or reaction from Apple has been issued.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Using your Smartphone with a Projector

There are many who would love to host a backyard movie night with their friends or family members. Nowadays it is very common to store dozens of videos and movies in a smartphone or a tablet. However, this may those who would like to share their collection with others, mostly because of the limits of a small screen. There are currently many smartphone projectors that are small sized, but able to deliver great picture quality that will guarantee excellent results.

For those who don’t know where to start, remember that a blank screen is needed before you even think about investing in a projector. There's nothing quite as useful or cheap as a simple white sheet, and it is able to work great even with expensive setups. If you don’t want to invest in a blank screen specially designed for projectors, you can use just about any blank wall for a similar effect.

There are many apps to use along with your projectors. Most notably there is the Epson iProjection app. This app is a great option for those that are looking for an easy way to project their images on the go. The app is very simple thanks to its intuitive menu options that help bring all the content from your smartphones to the big screen. It is compatible with iOS and Android devices. Epson also makes many great projectors that are fully compatible with smartphones and tablet devices. With a simple search you will find more information about Epson projectors.

For those that own an iPhone device, one of the most versatile options out there is Brookstone's Pocket Projector. This innovative projector is very simple to use, since it was designed specifically with the iPhone in mind. It is very easy to slide onto the device and project a high quality image. If you don’t have any external speakers, this device has your bases covered too. This pocket projector has a built in rechargeable battery, so even if your Apple device is low on power, it is possible to use the Pocket Projector’s own energy as a back-up. You’ve got to be realistic though, a projector this small is not going to deliver the same picture quality as the bigger, more expensive models.

If you don’t own an iPhone, there are still many great options, such as the Optoma Pico Pocket Projector. This is another pocket device that is able to project hi-def images. This device is affordable, extremely light and portable, making it ideal for those that want to project their videos and movies anywhere they want. This mini device also comes with a remote that allows simple pausing.

Walmart extends iPhone scan-and-checkout feature

Walmart is expanding its Scan & Go checkout feature to over 200 stores, up from the current 70, according to Reuters. Scan & Go allows Walmart shoppers to scan items in the store with the Walmart iPhone app and then pay for them at self-checkout terminals.

The pilot program began in Arkansas stores in September 2012. According to Retuers, new markets that will feature Scan & Go inlcude Denver, Colorado; Phoenix, Arizona; Omaha, Nebraska; Dallas and Austin, Texas; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma; Wyoming; Bozeman, Montana; Seattle, Washington; San Jose, California; and Portland, Oregon.

It's important to note that Scan & Go does not allow a user to pay for items through the iPhone app. From the Reuter's report: "Shoppers scan bar codes on items they want to buy, using the Walmart app on their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad to keep track of the planned purchases and the total cost. Then they pay at a self-checkout screen, bypassing the typical registers."

[Source: TUAW]