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Canada’s Industry Minister Christian Paradis denied TELUS’ $380 million bid to acquire Mobilicity last week, plus also declared that the upcoming 700 Mhz auction would be delayed until January 2014.

Upon hearing the news, which at one-time TELUS said “will benefit our customers and employees,” the carrier noted that the “decision is unfortunate for Mobilicity’s 250,000 customers, 150 employees and debtholders, who now face considerable uncertainty due to the pressing financial challenges facing the company. TELUS will drive on with our proven strategy that has served us so successfully over the years.”

TELUS officially decided to drop the hammer today and let Mobilicity’s “considerable uncertainty” come a bit sooner than later. In a press release “Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Holdings Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, Mobilicity) today announced that TELUS has exercised its option to terminate the TELUS Acquisition Plan. Mobilicity also announced that it will now pursue its previously announced recapitalization plan, which will be voted on by debtholders at a meeting on June 25, 2013.”

WIND Mobile and possibly Public Mobile have expressed interest in merging with Mobilicity, however previous reports have indicated that Mobilicity is currently $450 million in debt and losing an incredible $30 million every month.

Source: CNW

Do you worry that the 2GB of RAM inside your Nexus 4 or HTC One just isn’t enough? Want to be the person who says his phone has more memory than his 2006-era desktop PC? Your time will come, perhaps sooner than you think.

SK Hynix, one of the world’s largest memory manufacturers and direct competitor to Samsung, has announced that it will begin manufacture of 8Gb (1GB) LPDDR3 RAM modules, which can be stacked together to tally 4GB, by the end of the year.

The chips will be some 25% faster than current-generation LPDDR3 chips such as those inside the Galaxy S4, but the main thing here is the density: these chips will work nicely with Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 800 SoC and improved camera modules in next year’s crop of smartphones.

SK Hynix is moving to a 20nm manufacturing process for these modules, which will be thinner, lighter and more energy-efficient than their current counterparts. The first recipients of the 4GB combination will begin this year, but will be far more common by Q2 2014.

Via: Engadget

Apple unveiled its all-new iOS 7 operating system today for iPhone and iPad, and the company is digging deep and going far back to allow legacy devices to take advantage of all the new features.

According to the newly-unveiled iOS 7 portal, the new software will be a free download this fall for iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, and iPad 2, iPad with Retina (both gens) and iPad mini. This brings the support back to 2010, when the iPhone 4 was announced.

Apple was keen to point out that 93% of the over 400 million current iOS users are running iOS 6 and above, compared to just 33% of Android users running Jelly Bean. While there are some discrepancies Apple failed to mention, including some features not working on older hardware running the latest version of iOS, the numbers are unimpeachable.

iOS 7 is available to developers today, and will be coming to all iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users this fall, likely when the new iPhone is announced.

Via: Apple

Just in case you missed all the details of Apple’s WWDC, specifically iOS 7, you can now relive the full experience from the keynote. Apple has quickly uploaded the lively presentation for you to stream on the web, or in iTunes.

Source: Apple

Apple is launching iOS 7 today, having announced 600 million iOS devices sold since 2007. Buoyed by a brand new user interface, the update will be the biggest change to the operating system since the iPhone was announced six years ago.

Tim Cook also announced that iOS mobile web share is 60% on iOS compared, to 24% on Android. iPad is 82% web share. iOS users also tend to be more satisfied compared to Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry users.

Apple announced today that it will bring its controversial Maps app to OS X Mavericks, the newest version of its desktop operating system. With requisite features like Flyover, it will allow users to look up 3D maps and directions.

The biggest improvement, though, is the ability to synchronize directions to iPhones using iCloud. iPhone users will see directions show up, like Passbook, on their iPhone home screens.

Apple is also adding notifications synchronization between iOS and OS X using iCloud, too.

Source: Engadget

Apple has announced that after nearly five years it has paid out $10 billion to developers, with $5 billion coming in the last year.

The company has also announced that it has paid out three times more to developers than all the other platforms’ app stores combined. This includes Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and, presumably, Windows 8.

There are also 900,000 apps available in the Apple App Store. What’s amazing about this stat is that among those, there are 375,000 apps created specifically for the iPad.

The day has finally arrived. Apple will be unveiling a brand new version of iOS at the annual WWDC. Some early rumours are that we’ll see the software completely overhauled, plus an updated option to share pictures and videos. The events will unfold around 1PM EST and you can either follow along online, or below during our live blog of the event.

The HTC One has been bootloader unlockable since day one — meaning users can gain access to the guts of the device and install custom recoveries, kernels and ROMs — but there has always been one more step before true device freedom.

Even with an unlocked bootloader, most HTC devices come S-ON, referring to the installation of a security flag that prevents users from truly messing with their hardware. Achieving S-OFF, which has been hit-or-miss for a few generations of HTC devices now, refers to that security flag being removed, allowing users to install custom HBOOT versions, including downgrading, which isn’t possible when S-ON; SIM unlocking, which is usually a paid service; and, perhaps most importantly, SuperCID, which allows users to install any RUU from any manufacturer to a formerly carrier-locked device.

RUUs are important tools, as they let users fully recover from a software fault, returning to a completely pristine install of the original software. But HTC works with the carriers to ensure that, when S-ON, the CID string is locked to, say, Rogers or Bell. Only a compatible RUU will install. With SuperCID, you can install a European or Asian ROM, opening up some new features or just doing away with the bloatware that comes with a lot of Canadian installs.

More relevant to the situation, however, is the fact that there are currently no RUUs available for Canadian HTC One devices, so if a near-brick scenarios comes about, there’s no way to revert to the original software. It’s all very confusing (which is why I gave it up, for the most part).

The new tool, called RevOne, comes from experienced HTC hacking teams, Revolutionary and AlphaRevX, and is not for the inexperienced hacker. There is no graphical UI to use at the moment; the process involves ADB and knowledge of the terminal screen.

There are also other benefits to going S-OFF: the device will no longer warn you that you’re using unauthorized software, nor will the bootloader scream “TAMPERED” at the top like some accusatory officer.

If you’re interested,  head to XDA-Developers and give it a try.

Source: XDA
Via: Android Police

Google is reportedly set to purchase crowd-sourced maps provider, Waze, for upwards of $1.3 billion, according to sources. The Israeli-based company may not be well-known in some parts of the world, but its map data, coupled with a tremendously popular social element, has kept 32% of its sign-ups as full-time users.

The app, which is available for iOS and Android, contributes data to the cloud when open, creating real-time updates on congestion, traffic snarls, accidents and best routes. For that the company has earned previous bids from Facebook, which fell through, and Apple was also considering a nibble at some point.

Google’s bid for Waze would most be a defensive move, acquiring the one independent company with sufficient brand recognition to turn away users from Google Maps — not many, but enough. The crowd-sourced technology is also something Google does, but lacks the social element that makes Waze so much fun to use.

According to Globes, who first got wind of the acquisition, Waze will stay independent in the short-term, but could be folded into Google’s Israeli operations down the line. Waze has raised $67 million to date, the latest of which was a $30 round in late 2012.

Source: Globes
Via: AllThingsD