The stage lights had barely dimmed at the Xbox One event before the internet started tripping over itself with questions about how the second-hand market was expected to operate -- or if there was going to be one at all. Microsoft assured us there would be, but aside from whispers of a used game "activation fee" the finer details were kept under wraps. We may know a little more now, however, as MCV claims to have heard specifics from retailers who have been briefed by Redmond on the trade-in process. Allegedly, shops that wish to buy and sell a title will need to be hooked up to a Microsoft database so that access to the game can be removed from the previous owner's account and transferred to a new one. A retailer can sell the game for whatever it likes, but the system will ensure that a cut goes to publisher as well as Microsoft. It all sounds fairly logical, but who knows? The truth could be even more complicated.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft

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Source: MCV

AT&T's official GoPhone prepaid policy has always officially prevented network data access for iPhones (and other 4G devices except for BlackBerry), but a tipster reports that will change tomorrow. The new policy adds 4G HSPA+ and LTE support as well as Visual Voicemail access to the GoPhone package, with customers able to bring their own device or buy a new one at off-contract unsubsidized prices. According to the details, existing customers with iPhones will be automatically updated with network access on June 21st, however they'll be able to call in and make the switch manually before that. The new features work on the $65, $50 and $25 monthly plans, however the two lower priced options will require data packages to work. You can get a peek at the leaked terms after the break, although we'd wait for an official announcement before picking up your 4G-capable handset and requesting service.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, AT&T

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Huawei's upcoming Ascend P6 must be as slim as we've heard, because it just keeps slipping out -- this time, in an official rendering obtained by @evleaks. The imagery appears to validate what we've previously seen in photos, including the wafer-like 6.2mm thick body, a metal chassis and an iteration of the Emotion UI layer that we just saw on the Ascend Mate. And in case there's any lingering doubts, we've even received a possible launch window from the company itself. In a quickly deleted Sina Weibo post referring to the previous leak, Huawei Device Chairman Richard Yu told his followers that this device is indeed part of the P series, and should be revealed at the company's June 18th event in London. At this rate, all that's left for the company is to walk on stage and make its skinniest Ascend official.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: Engadget Chinese (translated)

Source: @Evleaks (Twitter)

As was the case with another LG device recently, the Optimus F3 is making an appearance before going official. Today we're getting an early look at what appears to be an entry-level member of the Optimus family, courtesy of @eveleaks, and one which will reportedly join Sprint's smartphone lineup pretty soon. Among the alleged specs said are a 4-inch WVGA display, 2,460mAh battery, LTE capabilities and one of the latest versions of Android -- Jelly Bean (4.1.2). Meanwhile, precise availability and pricing deets are still unknown, but, if all goes according to Phone Arena, we'll find all that out here "in the next few weeks."

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, LG

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Source: Phone Arena

First came the model number mentions, then the pictures, and now Samsung's rumored and rugged Galaxy S 4 Active has been caught on film. In a situation that screams "controlled leak," MobileTechReview appears to have handled exactly the same tethered unit we've seen snaps of, and says the device sports a dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus CPU and an 8-megapixel main camera. Even though it's just another unconfirmed piece of the rumor puzzle, an alleged AnTuTu benchmark puts a Snapdragon 600 inside the Active, matching that of the regular S 4, which packs a 13-megapixel shooter. If MobileTechReview are correct, then it wouldn't really be a hardy version of the GS4 at all, but rather another new Samsung mid-ranger that'll put up with a bit of a beating.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Via: Sammy Hub

Source: MobileTechReview

Starting to get bored of the ThinkPad's classic look but not keen on the Edge series? Then we have good news for you! Earlier today we received a couple of photos that show off two upcoming Lenovo Ultrabooks: the 13-inch ThinkPad S3 (codename "Labatt") and the 15-inch ThinkPad S5 ("Guinness"). As you can see above and after the break, both aluminum laptops feature a new "floating design" that might have taken a page out of Samsung and Vizio's book: shaving off the front outer edges of the bottom side to create that slim and floating illusion. Also, these will apparently come with either a black or silver lid.

Some folks on Sina Weibo have received other teaser photos of the ThinkPad S5, with one confirming the presence of JBL stereo speakers. The funny thing is Chinese website Yesky reported on a charity auction that actually sold limited editions of the S3 and S5 earlier this month, but those unannounced Ultrabooks went under everyone else's radar. If you're curious, Yesky speculates that a launch is due in China at the end of this month, but you'll have to stay tuned for the prices and specs.

Filed under: Laptops, Lenovo

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A stock GS4 may look virtually indistinguishable from its predecessor, but it looks like Samsung's got a new variant of its flagship phone that'll bring it some much-needed visual flair. The folks at GSM Arena unearthed photos of a GT-I9295 model (allegedly called the GS4 Active) sporting a bright red shell with black inserts at the top and bottom and a trio of physical buttons on its chin. If the results returned by the AnTuTu benchmark are to be believed, the phone's equipped with standard GS4 fixins: a quad-core CPU clocked at 1.9Ghz and an Adreno 320 GPU (aka, a Snapdragon 600 SoC) and a 1920 x 1080 display. Naturally, there's no word on pricing, carrier support or an arrival date, but there are a couple more photos of the handset at the source.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: GSM Arena

Samsung didn't stray far from its comfort zone when designing the Galaxy S 4, and now a leaked build of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean for the S III makes it even harder to distinguish the older flagship from the newer one. The folks at SamMobile got their mitts on a test firmware build and, better yet, have combed through it to see what's new. As you may know, the S 4 ships with 4.2.2 under a TouchWiz layer, so it's not surprising to hear most of the features new to this S III build are on the S 4 already: an updated version of S Voice, more lock screen options / unlock effects, new display modes, a redesigned settings interface, voice control, and more. SamMobile has put together a video walkthrough of the build (embedded below), and you'll find an expanded changelog and software screenshots at the source link. Apparently, the firmware "works perfectly," so if you'd rather not wait through the (often lengthy) carrier approval process, you can download it for your S III right now (flashing required, of course).

Update: This is for the international model of the GS III (i9300).

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Samsung, Google

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Via: Sammy Hub

Source: SamMobile

Info about the Iconia W3 Windows 8 tablet has already slipped out a few times, and now this 8.1-incher is live on Acer's Finnish website. While there's no mention of price or availability, the specifications list matches what's already been leaked. You're looking at Windows 8 Pro running atop an Intel Atom Z2760 CPU, aided by 2GB of RAM. Other features include a 1,280 x 768 touchscreen, an eight-hour battery, up to 64GB of storage, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. Port lovers will be pleased to find micro-HDMI and micro-USB hookups onboard, as well as a microSD slot. Microsoft Word comes pre-installed, but there's no concrete info about the optional full-size keyboard dock -- other than that it exists, anyway. It'll likely be closer to June when we'll be staring at it in the flesh, so you'll have to settle for the info at the source link for now.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Acer

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Via: Phone Arena, SlashGear

Source: Acer

It was only a couple of weeks ago that we got an early peek of T-Mobile's Xperia Z thanks to the FCC, but we've now already gotten word of another unannounced Sony handset. While the published FCC report doesn't offer much more than a label, Blog of Mobile has turned up some images of what's purported to be the Xperia UL (codenamed "Gaga"), giving us an early look at the 5-inch device clearly inspired by other members of the family design-wise. What's more, the UL is allegedly sporting Qualcomm's Snapdragon 600 chip, along with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, a 2,300mAh battery and waterproof / dustproof attributes (these being common Japanese standards). Word on the internet is the Xperia UL will be launching as a KDDI exclusive, though we'll have to wait for something more concrete to see if that's indeed the case. Until then, you can peruse the gallery after the break to get a slight idea of what to expect.

Gallery: Sony Xperia UL

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony

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Via: UnwiredView

Source: Blog of Mobile, FCC

If you're looking for details, you might be disappointed. We don't know much about the alleged Nokia Lumia 925 pictured above, other than its rumored codename: Catwalk. We probably don't have too much longer to wait for a full spec list, however, with the company hosting a launch event in London tomorrow. The relatively low-resolution press shot posted by @evleaks on Twitter shows a Windows phone with styling typical of the Lumia series. There does seem to be a slight taper toward the face of the device and we can report the headphone jack appears to be on the top edge. And that edge does have a slightly metallic look to it, not unlike the integrated antenna on another high-profile device. Otherwise, we're as in the dark as you are. But just stay patient -- all will be revealed tomorrow.

Update: Nokia's Lumia 925 has had its right side exposed in a press photo blasted out by @evleaks. Hit the jump for an image of the device in profile.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

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Source: @evleaks (1), (2)

Mum may still be the word at Samsung, but between user agent profiles, leaked details and the word of the Wall Street Journal, the arrival of the Galaxy S 4 mini seems imminent. Still, there's nothing like a leaked gallery of snapshots to stoke the fire, and Weibo user PunkPanda -- who seems to have a track record of spying Samsung devices early -- is happy to provide. A series of new images shows the diminutive Galaxy sizing up to its full sized sibling and a stray cigarette. Rumor has it the handset will debut later this summer with a 4.3-inch display, a dual-core 1.6GHz processor and an 8MP camera. No word on pricing, availability or market just yet, but check out the attached gallery for an early eyeful.

Gallery: Galaxy S 4 Mini (Weibo)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: PunkPanda (Weibo)

A Google-built alternative to Game Center on iOS and Games Hub on Windows Phone surfaced last month, and we know even more about it. Android Police dug into a new Play Services (an Android component you don't access directly, but does things like update Google apps) APK, and found the latest version hid a massive update getting ready for Google Play Games. Although it's not directly accessible yet, so far it's revealed support for system wide notifications, standardized notifications managed by Google+, and cloud synced game saves to work across multiple devices. Also built in are the other parts of any modern gaming service like matchmaking, leaderboards, achievements, lobbies and such. Exactly how all this works and how devs will put it to use will probably be revealed next week at Google I/O, but for now there are a few more screenshots beyond the source link.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

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Source: Android Police

Yesterday NASA reported that an ammonia leak had been discovered on the ISS. Astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy are embarking on an emergency spacewalk to fix the problem. NASA TV is broadcasting the walk live, and you can follow along on the somewhat safer journey past the break.

Update (3:54PM ET): Nasa has reported within the last or so that the faulty pump has been successfully replaced. The entire spacewalk took about six and half hours to complete, according to NASA's Twitter.

Filed under: Science

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Source: Space.com, NASA (Twitter)

The International Space Station has been a font of good news and scientific progress since it received its first human residents at the start of the millennium, but now it may be starting to show its age. The current crew reported seeing damage to the vessel's truss structure yesterday and NASA has since confirmed there's been a leak of ammonia from the station's cooling system. The Agency says the problem isn't dangerous and that regular ISS-style activities are continuing as normal while earth-bound helpers figure out a way of re-routing power channels before part of the cooling system shuts down. If you want to hear what unflustered voices sound like at an altitude of over 200 miles, check out the audio of Commander Hadfield's initial report of the leak at the source link below.

Update: Commander Hadfield has also confirmed on Twitter that there's been a "big change in plans," and that astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will perform a spacewalk today to fix the leak.

Filed under: Transportation, Science

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Via: SlashGear, Spaceflight Now, CBC News

Source: NASA

We've already seen Sony take a stab at a Windows 8 hybrid in the form of the VAIO Duo 11, and now a clip has appeared on YouTube apparently showing an unannounced 13-inch Ultrabook slider with a 1080p Triluminos touchscreen display. Allegedly, the video is being used for training at UK retail chain Dixons, and in addition to repeatedly collapsing and opening the slim white and silver unit, the demonstrator plays around with a stylus in Microsoft's Fresh Paint. There are a couple of text overlays near the end of clip, highlighting the "SurfSlider design," backlit keyboard, ClearAudio+ and ActiveSleep tech, as well as its 10 hours of battery life. NFC is also said to be on board, along with an 8-megapixel camera with Exmor RS sensor, Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD. The incredibly grainy video is embedded after the break, and although we can't verify its authenticity, we also can't ally it to any known product.

Update: There's also a handful of press images -- we've included one after the break too.

[Thanks, Aiga and Christopher]

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Sony

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Source: YouTube, Notebook Review forums

Quite frankly, Huawei's 6.18mm-thick P6-U06 is quickly becoming the company's worst leak in this half of 2013. Following yesterday's spy shots of said phone in black, today we received three new ones courtesy of an anonymous tipster, and this time we have a close-up of the brushed metallic back of the phone. Interestingly, the camera looks different than the one -- what appears to be a dual-SIM model -- in the TENAA filing, and we also noticed that the volume rocker is on the left side of the phone this time, while the headphone jack is now located at the top left side instead of at the bottom left. The overall shape of the device matches what we've seen before, though.

On a related note, we've also been notified of an upcoming Huawei launch event in London on June 18th (Huawei Device chairman Richard Yu told us he's attending), and we wouldn't be surprised to see this slim phone popping up there -- hopefully alongside the mysterious Edge that was leaked in March. Two more shots of the P6-U06 after the break.

Update: Meixcan blog Circular got hold of a couple of photos -- embedded after the break -- of the P6-U06 lit up. One of the shots reveal that the phone features a 1.5GHz quad-core chip, 2GB RAM and 8GB of storage space, along with Emotion UI 1.6 running on top of Android. We're not sure if the "No SD card found" message is an indication of microSD expansion, though.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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At the beginning of last week, we learned of a Huawei smartphone, model number P6-U06, by way of the TENAA in China (their FCC equivalent). In addition to some pictures of the handset and a few internal components listed by the TENAA, its thickness, or rather, its thinness was the most interesting spec -- at 6.18mm, it could be the super-slim P series model a Huawei exec has been teasing all year. While the company remains tight-lipped, the folks at NowhereElse have received what are thought to be some in-the-wild shots of the P6-U06, this time in black. The French site admits it can't verify the legitimacy of the pictures, and there's none of the back that should show the Huawei logo, but they do marry up with what we saw at the TENAA, and it looks pretty trim. We wouldn't be surprised if Huawei made it official sometime soon, if only to stop the leaks before we know it all and lose interest. There are a couple more pictures after the break, and luckily, it appears Mr. Blurrycam was on another job.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: NowhereElse

Our initial look at the BlackBerry R10 quickly suggested that the smartphone would be a budget alternative to the Q10, but it wasn't clear just what we'd lose by penny-pinching. If DGtle is on the ball with its newly claimed specs, though, we won't sacrifice as much as we thought. Along with offering more photos of the R10, the site believes that the handset will have the same 3.1-inch screen size and 2GB of RAM as its QWERTY sibling. Instead, the sacrifices would mostly affect media hounds: the R10 reportedly steps down to a 5-megapixel camera in addition to previously hinted cutbacks in storage (to 8GB) and battery (to 1,800mAh). We may learn the full truth soon enough -- while there's no guarantees anything will happen, next week's BlackBerry Live conference is a prime opportunity for an unveiling.

Filed under: Cellphones, Blackberry

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Via: MobileSyrup, N4BB

Source: DGtle (translated)

Hello, what's this? While many of us were out enjoying the spring weather, @evleaks was busy posting photos of an unknown LG smartphone that, if real, represents a notable shift in the Korean company's design language. The device shares the Nexus 4's slightly curvy outline and lack of front-facing hardware buttons, but appears to have a taller screen, a new speaker grille and a different sensor layout. It's not very likely to be part of the Nexus program with that conspicuous LG logo at the front, but there are few other clues as to where it would fit in LG's phone family -- is it an Optimus G sequel, an Optimus LTE2 follow-up, or something entirely fresh? We may well see more of this mystery hardware in the near future, though, and there's already a close-up of the top bezel to be found after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

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Source: @Evleaks (Facebook), (Twitter)

Motorola's been talking up its phones in the pipeline as of late, which are said to feature stock Android, broader carrier availability and less bloatware. We first saw hints of such a device from a leak in Vietnam, but now @evleaks has weighed in with a stock Android smartphone that looks eerily familiar -- although this time, it's in a black box. What's to gain from the latest peek? First of all, it's plain as day that the phone in question is for AT&T, which features the carrier's name in the top left corner, its unique LTE logo in the top right and a bundled myAT&T app. Granted, it's not much of a surprise that Motorola is giving carriers some sway in the development of its smartphones, but given the latest leak, it seems that some of the more egregious customizations and bloat might stay on the sidelines. As for the back of the device, with a label that reads "XFON," well, we'll leave that to your interpretation.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

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Source: @evleaks (1), (2)

Korean agency Yonhap News is reporting that there's been a second major leak of hydrofluoric acid at Samsung's main chip factory in the city of Hwaseong. Three workers are said to have been injured, with no word yet on how badly. Only three months have passed since the last such accident at the plant, which proved to be fatal and which got Samsung a nominal $1,000 fine as well as a telling-off from police investigators -- but which evidently didn't lead to sufficient safety improvements.

Update: Samsung has been in touch to say that the acid leak wasn't in gas form, as Yonhap (and we) initially reported, and that the injured workers were contractors hired by Samsung rather than staff:

At approximately 11:30 a.m. on May 2, three external contract workers were partially exposed to diluted hydrofluoric acid at Samsung's semiconductor manufacturing facility in Hwaseong, Korea. The workers received immediate first aid attention on site and were admitted to hospital for further examination. This occurred while the workers were upgrading parts of an existing facility in line with Ministry of Employment and Labor requirements. Samsung has reported the incident to the appropriate local authorities and is fully cooperating with investigations. We take the health and safety of workers very seriously and are committed to addressing any issues regarding the well-being of those working in our facilities.

Filed under: Misc, Samsung

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Source: Yonhap News

Olympus is about to add another branch to your camera-buying decision tree judging by new images and specs that leaked out showing a new PEN E-P5 model. The classically shaped Micro Four Thirds flagship was shown in leaked photos along with specs pointing to a 16-megapixel sensor, WiFi, a 1.04 million dot tilt screen, 5-axis stabilization, 5fps burst shooting and a 1/8000 shutter speed -- if accurate. While an earlier teaser from Olympus suggests it'll launch around May 11th in China, none of the tea-leaf readers have divined a price yet -- though a look at the company's last mirrorless flagship, the PEN E-P3, might give a clue. You can catch several more photos after the break.

Filed under: Cameras

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Via: 43Rumors

Source: Mobile01, 43Rumors

While AMD announced its new Temash APU (alongside others) at this year's CES, the only device we've seen sporting it was an intriguing reference hybrid that made the rounds at the show. Now, details of an Acer Aspire V5 notebook have emerged, indicating the company is preparing its first Temash-powered device for general consumption. Acer already has a trio of Aspire V5 models with Intel Core processors and NVIDIA handling the graphics, but a half-complete product page for an unannounced V5-122P-0643 swaps those components out for AMD's wares. Formally called the AMD A6-1450, the Temash APU combines a quad-core 1GHz processor -- or 1.4GHz in "Turbo" state -- with a Radeon HD 8280 GPU. When put into tablets, it has an unusually low, sub-5W power envelope that allows for passive cooling. While we don't know exactly what wattage this Acer notebook will have, the presence of Temash should bode well for battery life. Head past the break for more details.

Filed under: Laptops, AMD, Acer

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Via: MiniMachines

Source: Acer

Google has opened its Mirror API for devs while passing out Glass headsets to early adopters -- including our own Tim Stevens -- and now there's evidence Twitter is already working up an official app. As TechCrunch points out, developer Jonathan Gottfried noticed images popping up from a "Twitter for Glass" client sporting the same #throughglass hashtag he'd been using on his own TweetGlass project and that Google puts on G+ images shared from the device. The original tweet he pointed out has been deleted, but as he informed AllThingsD, there are several others still live. Most notably, they originate from Googlers working on the Glass project, and ATD astutely mentioned Twitter's rules prohibit third-party apps from using the company's name, suggesting this is something developed in-house.

Filed under: Wearables, Google

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Source: TechCrunch, AllThingsD, Jonathan Gottfried (Twitter)