Show HTC how good your selfies skill are for a chance to win an HTC 10

HTC's latest guerilla marketing campaign is all about that perfect selfie. The company recently launched a new contest that may land you a free HTC 10. All you have too do is upload your best selfie at the source link and keep your fingers crossed. Oh, you also have to be over 18 and live in the US and to participate.

#PutYourselfInOurSelfie, as HTC is calling it, seems be after raw material for a video, undoubtedly to promote the HTC 10 and its OIS-enabled front-facing shooter. There are even instructions for you to follow on the website and it appears you can enter as many of your portraits as you like. Hopefully, HTC has thought this one through and is prepared for the influx of files, as the form itself doesn't really have a captcha or any form of data validation, so, we can only assume script ideas for the clip are welcome too.

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We're making another "Selfie" video starring #TeamHTC. Send yours for a chance at a #HTC10: http://www.htc.com/us/selfie/ 

12:30 AM - 4 Jun 2016

 
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Submissions are accepted up until June 10, so you still have plenty of time to get creative with those selfies next week.

Microsoft promo shaves $150 off the prices of the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book

This isn't the first limited time price cut that Microsoft applies for the Surface Pro 4 andSurface Book, and it clearly won't be the last. It is a pretty sweet deal however, so if you've been eyeing either of these devices it would be a pity not to take advantage of it while it lasts.

Through Microsoft's online store, you can now buy select Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book models for $150 less than before. This means that, for example, the Surface Pro 4 with 128GB of storage, Core i5 processor, and 4GB of RAM can be yours for just $849 (was previously $999).

Get the tablet with the same CPU but 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and you'll shell out $1,149, down from $1,299. Move up from that to a Core i7 and pay $1,449, and not $1,599. Or just splurge for the i7 paired with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage if you can part with $1,649.

The situation is similar for the Surface Book. It now starts at $1,349 (not $1,499), with a Core i5, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. You can also save on the model that sports double that internal storage, which now goes for $1,749 (previously $1,899).

All of these offers are valid only until May 30, so this coming Monday.

Google says existing smartphones likely won't work with its Daydream VR platform

Has Google's new Daydream VR platform caught your fancy? Are you waiting to try it on the smartphone you own? Well, sadly, you are out of luck as Google has said that existing smartphones will "most likely" not work with the Android-powered VR platform.

"I can tell you that there will most likely not be any retroactively Daydream-ready phones," said the Mountain View, Califronia-based company's VR division head Clay Bavor.

"We want to hold a very high quality bar, and for that to happen all of the components need to be just right. So, to VR fans, I would say, hold off for a few months to get your next phone… and get a Daydream-ready phone."

It's worth mentioning that Google hasn't yet made public the exact minimum specifications that are needed for a phone to be certified as Daydream-ready.

Of all the already-available flagships, currently only the Nexus 6P is Daydream-supported, but that's only for development - there's no official word on whether or not the device would be supported once the VR platform is officially launched.

Samsung is still world's largest SSD maker

The latest report from storage market tracking company TrendFocus shows that Samsung remains the top dog in the SSD market. According to the report, a total of 30.77 million SSDs were shipped during Q1 2016, an increase of 32% from the same period last year.

The company has over 40% market share and for Q1 2016 shipped 12.93 million SSDs compared to 9.42 million last year. SanDisk follows with 12.8% of the market while Lite-On is third with 11.4% market share.

Samsung's SSD business includes not only selling products to PC makers like Lenovo, Apple and HP, but also directly to customers. The company's latest SSD is the 750 EVO, which was made globally available earlier this week.

New Apple patent might reinvent the walkie-talkie

Yes, you read it right and yes, the idea does sound silly on the surface. Still Apple has pulled off even stranger reinvention stunts in the past, so, we have to at least give the newly uncovered patent the benefit of the doubt.

The document in question outlines a "Point-to-point ad hoc voice communication", which, taking into consideration the diagrams as well, seems to boil down to using a short range communication technology, like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to establish a voice link between individuals on a peer-to-peer basis. So, the walkie-talkie analogy is a perfect fit, but we can only presume Apple's intention is to rethink the concept for the 21 century.

It would appear that the key element that differentiates the device outlined in the patent from, a fancy Bluetooth headset is the smart software component. The document outlines some sort of smart touch interface that appears to be used to manage advanced talking rules, perhaps with the addition of things like separate channels with encryption, priority, or user roles and privileges. The device cold be powering this interface by itself, but there are also parts in the text, suggesting that it will be able to connect wirelessly or otherwise to Apple devices, like an iPhone.

When you think about it, such a technology could actually make a lot of sense. Walki-talkies or at least similar radio-based communication equipment is still widely used in many professional settings - security, construction, logistics and all types of people coordination, to name a few. Even Apple employees sometimes benefit from such communication within front desks and the back of an Apple store.

Adding a dash of smarts to the otherwise antiquated technology could definitely revitalize it. Even a simple contact management system is way better than punching in channels, which is usually the case. But, before we get ahead of ourselves and ponder about the patent any longer, it is worth noting that like most patents, it is uncertain whether it will make it to a product at all, let alone when.

Still, tell us what you think about the patent and its possible implications and would you buy an iTalkie (if it sticks, you heard it here first)?

Samsung Galaxy Tab Iris with biometric technology lands in India

Samsung has been investing heftily in its local India research and development divisions lately and consequently, more and more interesting offers and innovations, tailor-made for the fast-growing market have started to appear. The latest such device is the newly announced Samsung Galaxy Tab Iris, which as its name suggests, is equipped with specialized iris-recognition technology.

The model is meant to be used with certain biometric-based services within the government, like Aadhaar - a centralized biometric and demographic database, operated by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) agency. The tablet is fully compatible with said system and is also STQC-certified and thus proudly wears the "Made for India" moniker as a tool aimed to simplify adoption and usage of the Aadhaar system among others.

As for the device itself, it is far from a tech powerhouse by today's standards. It is based on the 2014 Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite, which it might actually based on, with its 7.0-inch, 600 x 1024 pixels display. It also packs a quad-core processor, clocked at 1.2 Ghz, 1.5GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.

The 193.4 x 116.4 x 9.7mm, 327 gram tablet has a 5MP camera on the back, alongside the iris-recognition hardware itself. There is also Wi-Fi b/g/n on board, Bluetooth 4.1 USB host functionality, which might come in handy and a 3600 mAh battery pack powers the show. The only notable absence seems to be 4G, which is odd, considering the Korean giant's push towards the technology in its India-tailored offers of late.

The price point for the Galaxy Tab Iris is set at INR 13,499, or around $200, but most units are likely to arrive in bulk orders for professional use, rather than see much exposure on the end user market.