The new in the world of technology

Today Samsung announced that it has released the Galaxy J3 Pro in India. The phone is a low-to-midrange device with no exciting specifications to speak of, save one. It is launching with Android 5.1 Lollipop. This is noteworthy almost to the point of humor, as Lollipop is now two major updates behind and a year old. There's no telling if this is just a result of delays or an intentional move on Samsung's part, but it's surprising to see such an old version of Android on a new phone. Typically Google won't put its  seal of approval  on something so out of date, so there must be some mitigating circumstances around the phone's release. Perhaps it suffered a drawn-out regulatory approval process, or a retailer asked for a delay. The SoC might not have more recent drivers and Samsung could have gotten some sort of exemption. Or it might simply not ship with Google Play services. If you do happen to be interested, for some reason, the device is available now at...

Mozilla has long maintained four release channels for Firefox: Stable, Beta, Aurora, and Nightly. Only Firefox, Firefox Beta, and Firefox Aurora have been available on Android via the Play Store. Now, Mozilla has followed through on  an earlier promise to swap Aurora for the nightly build. The Play Store listing remains the same, but the app will be a little different. While the package name is still "org.mozilla.fennec_aurora," Mozilla will deliver the nightly build to users on this version of the browser. You don't have to do anything, just sit back and enjoy the daily updates. The company says that Aurora had a small user base, so it opted to streamline its releases. Nightly builds are the fastest to get updates, but are also the least stable. Nightly releases for the Android version of Firefox are not actually new—they've been available for download on the Mozilla website for a while. However, putting them in the Play Store makes this cutting edge build ...

All the way back in September of last year,  YouTube began testing  a new layout with a bottom navigation bar. Over the past few months, it has continued to go live for more users on Android,  with a few minor tweaks along the way . Now YouTube has officially revealed the new design. The new layout ditches the large top navigation bar, in favor of a smaller top bar with a few buttons and a bottom navigation bar. The upload button has moved from a floating action button to the top bar, and a profile icon replaces the overflow menu. The bottom bar has the same tabs as the previous layout, but the Account tab has been renamed to Library. Your likes, favorties, uploads, and playlists are still in Library, but your account and app settings are now accessed by tapping the user icon. The bar stays on the screen at all times, except when watching videos. YouTube says the new layout is already live on iOS, but it is still rolling out for Android. I don't hav...

witter can be a fun place to share and interact with your fellow humans. However, it can also be a wretched hive of scum and villainy. That's why keeping your Twitter direct messages open is a bit of a risk, but Twitter is rolling out a feature to keep the riffraff at bay. Soon, all DMs from strangers will be segregated from the messages you care about. The change to DMs only applies if you have your account set to allow messages from people you don't follow. If that's the case, new direct messages from these people will start going into a separate "Requests" tab. You can check the conversations there at your leisure and either accept or delete them. Accepting a request allows that person to send you DMs that appear in your main inbox. DMs from those you follow will still hit the inbox as normal.  Follow Twitter   ✔ @Twitter If you’ve opted-in to get Direct Messages from anyone, messages from people you don’t follow will go ...

Humble Bundle is a great source for cheap games, and you get to support charity while you enjoy your cheap content. The recent " Epic Platformers " bundle is now halfway through its run, and that means it's time for some new games and a giveaway. There are now 11 games, and we're giving them all away to some lucky readers. This bundle is split into three tiers. The base tier is unlocked at $1 or more, and it includes Devious Dungeon, Devious Dungeon 2, and Eggggg - The Platform Puker. The middle tier is unlocked if you pay more than the average price, which is currently at $4.77. That one launched with Gunbrick, RunGunJumpGun, and RETSNOM. The new games, VVVVVV and Goo Saga, are in this block as well. The last set of games is unlocked if you pay $5 or more, and includes Never Alone: Ki Edition, Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons, and LIMBO. Anyone who bought previously and unlocked the middle tier will automatically get the new games. New buyers have a week to de...

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus are currently on sale over at eBay. The Galaxy S8 is coming in at a price of $669, and the Galaxy S8 Plus for $769. That’s $80 off of their prices, and makes them the cheapest available, and these are new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus models as well. These are both the dual SIM models, which will work in the US, but only on GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Unfortunately, Sprint and Verizon customers are out of luck. Samsung announced both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus back in March, and it officially launched in late April. They have quickly become some of the best smartphones on the market. The Galaxy S8 sports a 5.8-inch display, with a 18.5:9 aspect ratio, giving you a taller display, but with smaller bezels. The Galaxy S8 Plus has a larger 6.2-inch display. Both are powered by the Exynos 8895 processor (since these are the international variants and not the US ones), along with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The Galaxy S8 sp...

T he   ASUS ZenFone AR  is going to be launching in the US in July, with the   Verizon   variant coming in the fall. And now, according to ASUS’ Canada unit, the ZenFone AR should also be arriving in Canada in July. This isn’t set in stone, and could change (it likely will) before it actually launches. ASUS has not confirmed the pricing of the ZenFone AR yet, at least in Canada, but the company’s CEO, Jerry Shen had stated that they won’t charge more than a Galaxy S8, which costs around $1150 in Canada. ASUS made quite a bit of noise at CES when they announced the ZenFone AR, and for good reason. The ZenFone AR was the first phone in a few areas. One of them being the fact that it’s the first smartphone to support both Daydream and Tango. Google’s VR and AR platforms. It was also the first to sport 8GB of RAM under the hood, although the more popular variant will have 6GB of RAM for the user. Other specs include a 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED display, powered by the...

While not as major as Black Friday, Memorial Day is known for its great sales, and many online retailers are having notable ones to mark the occasion. Below, we’ve rounded up the tech sales worth checking out during your long weekend, including three of our favorite deals. OUR FAVORITES Amazon has  Anker’s popular PowerPort 10  at its lowest price ever of $28 with promo code  BEST2133 . We’re unclear when the code expires and recommend acting fast if you need one of these. (And if you’re curious about Anker and how it beat Apple and Samsung at their own accessory game, well,  we’ve got the perfect story for you .) You’ll be able to save up to  50 percent off at Dell this weekend , including $220 off the new XPS 15 , bringing the price down to $1,530. eBay has  Vizio’s M50-D1 50-inch 4K TV  marked down to its lowest price ever at $489. Although this is a 2016 model, it’s a great TV that has pretty much every feature you need.  Update:...

Android creator Andy Rubin is returning to the smartphone business with his new  Essential Phone , and one of its signature features is a modular accessory system that Rubin and co promise will "keep your phone cord-free, future-proof, and always up-to-date." Featuring a pair of magnetic pins on the back of the device, this so-called Click cordless connector will hook up to Essential’s 360-degree camera and its Essential Phone Dock (pictured below). Beyond those two publicized accessories, we’re left guessing as to what additional modules Essential might be planning, or how exactly this physical modularity would assist with keeping the phone up to date. Lacking an onboard headphone jack, the Essential Phone would be a great candidate for an audio accessory that bumps up its headphone-powering capabilities while also adding in that universally compatible port. Another company that’s eschewed a headphone jack in its recent designs is Motorola, and it too has opted for a sys...

Nvidia has announced Max-Q at Computex Taipei today, a new design approach that’s intended to enable thin, light, and quiet laptops with strong gaming performance. The company says that the Max-Q spec can cut the power consumption of a GTX 1080 in half, for example, allowing it to be used in an ultraportable notebook. Nvidia is working from the principle that you get diminishing returns at some point when increasing performance capability, and Max-Q software figures out the optimal point to target. That GTX 1080 with half the power consumption is the exact same chip you’d find in a bulky gaming laptop today, but Nvidia says it should achieve about 90 percent of the performance in a thin and light design. Each Max-Q laptop requires the manufacturer to work closely with Nvidia on thermal and acoustic design to eke out extra efficiencies wherever possible. Several manufacturers are announcing Max-Q designs at Computex Taipei this week, and the most interesting we’ve seen so fa...

It’s happened to the best of us: you’re in the heat of a critical moment in a boss battle, throwing back cans of  Mountain Dew Game Fuel  to keep you going, and  tragedy strikes . The condensation-slicked can slides out of your grip, and, as if in slow motion, you watch your drink plummet toward your prized gaming keyboard. Even if the hardware somehow survives the fizzy flood, everyone knows the switches will never feel the same with all that sticky sugar on them. Fortunately, Corsair has engineered a new ending to this tragic tale with its K68 mechanical keyboard, designed to survive dust and spills with an IP32 rating. Each key on the K68 has an individual silicone rubber shield to protect the internal hardware. Water resistance aside, the K68 is a solid gaming keyboard that’s in line with the company’s other midrange offerings. The K68 is available with Cherry MX Red switches backlit with red LEDs, which can be customized using Corsair’s Cue application ...

Samsung is bringing its S Pen technology to the company’s notebook line today. At Computex, Samsung is launching its new Notebook 9 Pro. Unlike the previous Notebook 9 series , this Pro version now has a 360-degree hinge just like Lenovo’s Yoga laptops and it means the Notebook 9 Pro can be used as a tablet or a laptop. Samsung is pairing that hinge with an embedded S Pen that slides into the base of the Notebook 9 Pro. The S Pen includes 4,000 levels of pressure and the ability to detect tilt for shading (just like Microsoft's  new Surface Pen ). It also includes Samsung’s Air Command software for drawing, notes, and editing documents. Samsung is also ensuring its S Pen is fully compatible with Windows Ink, allowing Notebook 9 Pro users to use the stylus across all of Windows 10. Samsung is releasing 13.3- and 15-inch models of the Notebook 9 Pro, and both will include Intel’s latest Core i7 processors. The 13.3-inch version will ship with 8GB of RAM, while the larger ...

The Xiaomi Redmi 4, which was  launched in India  a couple of weeks ago, is now on sale in the country. The smartphone can be purchased from either Amazon or Xiaomi’s online store in a few different variants. You can get your hands on a model with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage for Rs. 6,999, while the version with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of space will set you back Rs. 8,999. Both of them come in Matte Black and Elegant Gold. The Xiaomi Redmi 4 also comes with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, but this variant won’t be available in India until the end of June. Once it goes on sale, you’ll be able to get it for Rs. 10,999. Xiaomi Redmi 4 was officially announced back in  November in China . It sports a 5-inch HD display and is powered by the Snapdragon 435 chipset. The smartphone is equipped with a 13 MP primary camera with Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) and LED flash, while the front-facing selfie snapper has a 5 MP sensor and an f/2.2 aperture. The de...