When the PlayStation 4 debuted in February, all we saw of Sony's latest console was a new controller, the Dual Shock 4, and a short preview of new games. At the E3 gaming expo on Monday night, the company finally revealed the socially focused platform's hardware and price, leaving many Xbox fans One-dering whether or not Microsoft's new all-in-one entertainment console is worth the big ticket price.
For those still on the fence about which system to buy this holiday season, we've pitted the newest iterations of the two most popular consoles for hardcore gamers — the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One — against each other in terms of price and specs.
The slightly updated PlayStation 4 hardware revealed at E3 isn't anything special. At the keynote, Sony looked away from the design, and instead stressed what the console had to offer that the Xbox One was clearly lacking. The ability to freely play used games and not having to log in every 24 hours are gamer-friendly features that give the PS4 a major edge over the super strict Xbox One.
Both consoles are big black boxes with new controllers optimized for ergonomics and sharing gameplay video with peers. Both Microsoft and Sony provide paid subscriptions for online gaming: Xbox LIVE Gold ($60/year) and PlayStation Plus ($50/year). It all boils down to what you will choose to buy this Fall.
Xbox hasn't released their full specifications for the One yet, but we've broken down the technical details and pricing information we do have. Which console prevails? See a side-by-side comparison after the break.
Alright kiddo, Father's Day is June 16, and if you don't have the perfect present for Dad yet, time is tickin'. If he's always tinkering with a new tech toy, consider a gadget gift full of high-tech geeky features he'll enjoy. In the gallery, we've got futuristic goggles, an adventure suit for iPhones, the highest-definition TV on the market, and much, much more.
WWDC is not the only tech conference going down on the West Coast — the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles is also under way this week, and the latest news out of the video game trade fair comes from Microsoft, which announced pricing and availability for the new entertainment system/gaming console Xbox One and a new, sleeker Xbox 360 on Monday.
As is tradition for new console releases, the Xbox One will be available this November (in time for the holidays) with a big-ticket price tag of $500. The Xbox One does come with a new Kinect, powerful graphics processing, and advanced wireless performance . . . but is it enough?
After the One's reveal two weeks ago, many gamers voiced their concerns over the inability to share games with friends, having to connect to the Internet every 24 hours, and privacy issues with the always-on eyes and ears of the new Kinect.
Microsoft addressed the used games issues, saying in a statement that users can buy both disc or digital games and "anyone can play your games on your console — regardless of whether you are logged in or their relationship to you." On the matter of privacy, Microsoft commented that living room conversation is "not being recorded or uploaded" and "Xbox Off" will disable the Kinect sensor until the user voices the "Xbox On" command.
Click on to see the newly redesigned Xbox 360.
The rumors were right: iOS 7, unveiled on Monday, is indeed "black, white, and flat all over" as suspected. But Apple's WWDC keynote revealed an even more dramatic overhaul to the mobile operating system, which was redesigned with new typography, colors, animations, a one-tap control panel, notifications, all over transparency, and distinct layers that give the UI a sense of "hierarchy and order."
New features like multitasking for all apps and battery-life saving upgrades are much needed additions to the mobile platform, but the most noticeable changes in iOS 7 are to the operating system's built-in apps. AirDrop, Camera, Safari, SIRI, and, a completely new music player, iTunes Radio, are now packed with features seen in Android and popular apps. In the gallery, hover over the images to zoom in on iOS 7 from all angles (available in Beta today for developers and for everyone else this Fall).
Apple bid farewell to the big cats of OS X at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on Monday in San Francisco. California, where Apple headquarters is located, will now serve as naming inspiration for the next generation of operating systems. First up is OS X Mavericks, named for the Northern California big wave surfing destination, which is filled with updates like a tabbed Finder system, documents tagging, an iCloud password keychain, and deeper notifications integration between all your OS devices.
Changes are also coming to Safari, iCal, and Maps. Reading lists automatically scroll to the next article in Safari, while you can easily see all shared links from people you follow on Twitter and LinkedIn. Meetings in iCal will show weather and travel time, while directions found in Maps can be sent directly to an iPhone to appear on the lock screen. Get a closer look at OS X Mavericks in the gallery.
— Additional reporting by Kelly Schwarze
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off today! At 10 a.m. PDT/ 1 p.m. EDT on June 10, catch the highly anticipated keynote online at the Apple Events page with Safari 4 or later on Mac OS X 10.6 and up, or on Safari for iOS 4.2 or later. Check to see if your machine will work under the Apple tab in the top menu bar (click on "About This Mac").
If you have an Apple TV, watch the keynote on your big screen with the updated Apple Events app. Update your software (the live stream requires version 5.0.2 and up) if you don't see an app with this year's logo.
Before the big event, read up on all the Apple rumors making the rounds, including iOS 7, iRadio, new MacBook Airs, and more. Stay tuned right here for all the iOS and Mac OS X announcements to come.
Inspiration can strike when you least expect it, which is why Adobe Kuler (free) is a must for your app arsenal. The newly released iOS app automatically creates color themes based on photos from your camera roll, Flickr, or the web.
In camera mode, Kuler extracts the dominant hues in an image, and animated little circles move around, revealing the most eye-popping colors of that picture. Tap the image to stop the animation, then drag the circles around the screen to target specific colors in a photo. Adjust the colors with a color wheel or RGB sliders and, once your theme is set, share it via Twitter or email. Kuler will also display colors' monochromatic and complementary colors to help you round out your theme.
All of the themes you've worked with are synced with the Adobe Creative Cloud and saved in the app so that you can refer to them whenever you need. If your Adobe Creative Suite Software (InDesign, Photoshop, etc.) is synced to your Creative Cloud account, then the color themes will show up automatically in your work spaces, too.
Give Kuler for iOS and the corresponding web app at kuler.adobe.com a try and let us know which hues are on your mind!
Whether he's a renowned Jedi master or a secret Sith Lord, your dad deserves a greeting that reflects his love for you — and galaxies far, far away. Grab one of these Darth Vader-, Yoda-, Fett-themed paper and ecards for Father's Day (which, by the way, is June 16), and tell your pop that you'd follow him to the Dark Side if it came to it.
Science! Giant ice creatures! Space! Statistics! Our favorite geeks on Twitter covered it all, including The Star Wars Craft Book author Bonnie Burton, who barely escaped Wampa wrath, and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, who's currently on board the International Space Station for Expeditions 36 and 37. See messages from Bonnie, Luca, and more in our top 10 tweets of the week from geeks we love.
The annual Worldwide Developers Conference, also known as every Apple fangirl's Christmas in June, is just days away and speculation on the Mac news to come is rampant. Before the highly-anticipated keynote streams on June 10, take a look at what may be next for iOS and OS X.
We will, of course, keep you up to speed as the Apple news pours in when the WWDC Keynote goes live on June 10, so stay tuned for more iOS and OS X coverage right here!
The leading photo editor and photo-sharing network app is still Instagram — but phoneographers are using other apps to supplement their square-shaped Insta-shares — like text-on-photo software or additional editing tools — more and more. We're going behind the lenses of the most popular camera apps (and hidden gems, too) for iOS and Android to find the next big thing in photography app-land.
Today, we're digging into the features of Viewmatic ($1, plus in-app upgrades on iOS only), a retro-themed photo editor by the makers of the wildly popular Wood Camera ($1) app. Vintage photography fanatics will revel in the app's old-school, Hasselblad-esque interface, and power phoneographers will definitely make use of Viewmatic's granular options for different photo shapes, frames, viewfinders, and filters. Click on to get an inside look of Viewmatic, which was just released last week, and find out how we rated the new photo app.
Update: The identity of the NSA whistle-blower was revealed on Sunday, June 10, by the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers at the request of the man responsible for the intelligence leaking, Edward Snowden.
On Wednesday, reports of the NSA tapping into Verizon customers' phone records surfaced, and now more information on the top-secret data collection program has been revealed by government-issued documents obtained by The Washington Post. While the blanket order unveiled yesterday to obtain all of Verizon Business customers' telephone metadata is unusual, the collection of digital data by the National Security Agency has been authorized for at least the last six years.
The slides detail the name of the surveillance program, the Internet companies providing the data, and what types of communication can be accessed by the NSA.
The Program
The Companies Involved
While the companies listed in the confidential document have denied knowledge of the program, these Internet giants are listed in the "Current Providers" category in the PRISM documents. Microsoft was the first company to be part of the program, with the documents saying its involvement began as early as December 2007.
The Data Collected
Most of the above companies offer a range of Internet services from search to email to chat, all of which could be collected under the terms listed in the leaked PowerPoint document. The collection document lists expected data to include email, video/voice chat, videos, photos, VoIP, file transfers, login activity, online social networking details, and any special requests as they occur.
Learn more about the NSA-Verizon scandal, who is involved, and what section of the USA PATRIOT Act allowed it, in our guide to essential terms.
— Additional reporting by Kelly Schwarze
The National Security Agency was granted a top secret order forcing Verizon to turn over all of its US customers' phone records over a three-month period according to The Guardian, who published the full court order on Wednesday. Documents reveal that one of Verizon's subsidiaries is obligated to give the NSA all "telephony metadata" between the end of April through the end of July — all in the name of national security.
The Obama administration was in hot water not too long ago over a similar seizure of call information. The Justice Department recently secretly subpoenaed months' worth of the Associated Press's phone records.
Whether or not the collection of private information is "a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats," as The White House claims, is still up for debate. Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Michigan), told reporters a domestic terror attack was thwarted as a result of the order — but details on the nature of the attack are slim.
How, as a US citizen, Verizon customer, and phone caller, does all of this affect you? Here's what you need to know about who's involved, how this happened, and what exactly is being collected.
Who Is Involved?
Exactly what data is collected from Verizon customers after the break.
Dad doesn't really need another tie, does he? Get your pop a unique gadget gift instead, like a vibrating "un-alarm" clock, an e-ink smartwatch, or a portable grill that does double duty as a phone charger. Watch to find out more about the ultimate tech treats for Father's Day with, of course, high geek factor.
The third season of HBO's hit series Game of Thrones is coming to a dramatic end on Sunday, June 9, at 9 p.m., but just because Winter is over doesn't mean the battle over the Iron Throne has to be.
Since Summer is coming, HBO and location-based app Foursquare are teaming up to bring you Game of Cones, an intense challenge between ice cream parlors (or should we say . . . houses) for the Iron Throne, er, Cone.
The most popular destinations for sweet creamy treats in San Francisco and New York are participating, including Bi-Rite Creamery and Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream. Support your favorite local jaunt by checking into your ice cream shop of choice between June 7 and the first day of Summer, June 21, and include the hashtag #GameofCones. The shop with the most check-ins will win the Iron Cone.
Find leaderboards, house sigils for your favorite parlors, and more at gameofcones.foursquare.com. But before you join in on Foursquare's fun summertime festivities, answer this: if each house in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series could only be represented by one flavor of ice cream, what flavor would it be? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
Instagram user cyrenakh shows mobile photogs how to capture afternoon light the right way in this beautiful capture of an apartment in Lyon, France, which was submitted using the #CoolCapture hashtag.
Have you been testing out your photography skills and snapped a shot you want to share? Submit your pics to our Cool Capture group or to Instagram with the #coolcapture hashtag, and your pic might be featured on the POPSUGAR Tech homepage. And don't forget to follow @popsugartech on Instagram!
One recipe for viral success is the video mashup: two parts addictive video and one part expertly chosen soundtrack make for a perfect meme. The Berlin-based startup Weavly is bringing mashup creation to the people with its web-based editor that pulls video from YouTube, Loopcam, Vine, and/or GIFs from Tumblr, then pairs them with music from SoundCloud.
You can easily create multimedia right in the browser with Weavly's online tools. Enter a search term or paste the URL of a video/GIF you like, then drag and drop the media into the timeline editor. Preview each video, cut where the clip should start and end, and make more precise edits in the timeline. Select some audio, drag and drop that file into the editor, and — voilà — video is made. The video mashup can be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, or via embed code. So, mix it up and send us your viral video sensations in the comments below.
The rays of light look amazing through the cloud filter captured by Instagram user _thomasfisher_, who submitted this skylit snap with the #CoolCapture hashtag.
Have you been testing out your photography skills and snapped a shot you want to share? Submit your pics to our Cool Capture group or to Instagram with the #coolcapture hashtag, and your pic might be featured on the POPSUGAR Tech homepage. And don't forget to follow @popsugartech on Instagram!
Strong and smart heroines are finally leading the Marvel charge: first, in an all-female X-Men comic series, and now, in two new prose novels from Marvel and Hyperion Books featuring the power-absorbent Rogue and transforming She-Hulk Jennifer Walters.
In February, Marvel and Hyperion Books announced plans to publish the female-focused fiction, and this month, Rogue Touch ($15) and The She-Hulk Diaries ($15) are finally available for preorder ahead of the titles' June 18 release.
Christine Woodward's Rogue Touch explores the challenges of everyday life and romance for Anna Marie of X-Men. Anna's touch is, of course, deadly, and after accidentally leaving her first boyfriend comatose, she flees her home. She meets a mysterious — but handsome — stranger named James, and the two embark on Bonnie-and-Clyde-esque adventures.
The She-Hulk by Marta Acosta features the Avengers character of the same name, who shares her cousin Bruce Banner's mutant transformative powers. The novel follows Jennifer Walters, as she's known in her nongreen state, and the delicate balance between her corporate-ladder-climbing career by day and justice-avenging, villain-fighting duties by night. There's also the matter of finding love, not exactly easy for a woman prone to, on occasion, becoming very big and very green.
We're excited to dig into the new female-powered superhero fiction — but before the books' June 18 release, preview excerpts from Rogue Touch and The She-Hulk at Marvel, and let us know what you think about the leading ladies of Marvel's new roles.
