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A week ago it was announced that that semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom has made an offer on one of the largest competitors in the same space. Known for its mobile chipsets, Qualcomm was offered $105 million for the company's acquisition.

This would have created the world's third largest chip manufacturer, after Intel and Samsung, and would have been by far the largest deal in the industry ever. However, even though Broadcom offered 30 percent over what was the current stock price for the company, Qualcomm's leadership was not having any of it, said sources.

It seems that Qualcomm was fairly swiftly able to convince shareholders that the deal was not the right one for the San Diego, California, based company. Qualcomm has officially rejected the offer now a week after deal proposed was first reported.

According to Qualcomm's executive chairman and chairman of the board Paul Jacobs, the decision, made today by the board, was unanimous in rejecting what they called a "proposal significantly undervalues Qualcomm relative to the Company's leadership position in mobile technology and our future growth prospects."

You might have heard of quantum dot, and if so it probably is thanks to Samsung. Samsung has been investing tons on their QLED television lineup that uses the quantum dot technology, and they think it's better for customers – and obviously manufacturers – than OLED.

However, Samsung is not the only company that is interested in the possibilities that the quantum dot technology provides. Now ever Apple seems to be fairly invested as it has acquired a company called InVisage Technologies, known for their QuantumFilm technology.

Found in 2006, InVisage has been researching and developing quantum dot technologies in camera sensors for over ten years. It's been funded by private equity firms, including one owned by former smartphone powerhouse Nokia.

The QuantumFilm technology created by InVisage has two benefits compared to current smartphone camera sensors. Firstly, it allows the shutter to close instantly on the entire lens which means that you won't get artifacts or distortions even with fast moving targets – everyone has seen video of plane rotors.

The second benefit is that it offers hugely increase color dynamics. High-end smartphones already have HDR modes that combine many pictures to provide better dynamic range but QuantumFilm could possibly increase the dynamics even further without the need to increased processing.

Unveiled first time officially last in September and finally released to the public exactly a week ago, the iPhone X has been the focal point of attention for media and consumers alike. As soon as the phone started selling some of the question marks surrounding the phone and its technology have been exposed.

Maybe the most questioned feature was the Face ID that replaced Touch ID as the sole biometric authentication method on iPhone X. It appears that most worries were alleviated, perhaps the range and tilt being the one problem people seem to have with it.

Obviously every single phone launch comes with its own problems and criticism. In some cases they are rather mild, like OnePlus 5 not having 4K video stabilization that was added shortly after, and in others they cause fires and cancel flights like in the case of Note7.

The new iPhone seemed to have mostly dodged the harshest criticism but a new problem has been found that does not bode well to people living certain areas. It appears that the iPhone X is really prone to not working in cold temperatures.

According to some users freezing, or even close to freezing, temperatures have caused the touch screen to interpret touches incorrectly or just flat out fail to work. One thread has been started on MacRumors forums by a Finnish user who experienced problems at -1°C (~30°F). The thread spanning now 6 pages has similar reports from other users.

We at AfterDawn followed the early days of digital music very closely, and that meant obviously reporting on the historical Metallica vs. Napster case not only inside the courthouse but perhaps especially outside.

At the turn of the millennium Napster, a music sharing service that allowed users to share music in MP3 format with others over peer-to-peer (P2P) technology, was booming. Napster was really the first service to really bring digital music into homes in large scale, but it was certainly not an industry innovation, in fact it was a reaction to industry not innovating.

This also meant that it didn't bring any money to the table, especially not to the tables of any record companies. It wasn't even designed to make money and/or share it with the artists, copyright holders, or record companies.

While this wasn't the first time piracy or even music piracy had been an issue to the industry, it was certainly the first time it got massive media coverage. This was due to the fact that Metallica, the world's leading heavy metal band, took Napster to court in a massively publicized fashion.

Facebook has released a feature in Australia that sounds more like a teenage boys' prank than a real feature. Company asks people who are worried that their intimate pictures and videos might get to wrong hands to send them all to Facebook.

The logic behind this bit unorthodox request is that Facebook would then scan all the photos, create digital fingerprints out of them and when somebody is distributing pictures with same digital fingerprint, Facebook would prevent them doing so. This could apply to all Facebook-owned properties, such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook and Instagram.

Company has seemingly good intentions: so-called revenge porn has become a major problem in online world. A situation where after an ugly breakup, the other half of the disbanded relationship distributes the couple's intimate videos and pictures is all too common nowadays. Facebook has taken steps to prevent this in the past, too: company has used facial recognition to block such behaviour and has also shut down accounts found guilty of distributing unauthorized pictures.

But to send all the intimate photos and videos to Facebook? Company claims that they'll delete the material after digital fingerprint has been created. But we only have Facebook's word for it. And obviously, if there are copies left somewhere in their servers, it opens up endless possibilities for hackers to get their hands to material that can be used for extortion.

Niantic, company behind the mega-successful Pokemon Go augmented reality mobile game, just announced that they will release a Harry Potter mobile game.

The game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will be an augmented reality mobile game, just like Pokemon Go and Niantic's previous game, Ingress, are. Basically thus means that the game will be set in real world and players must walk around the cities and towns to play the game.

Player will be one of the wizards, fighting the beats all over the world - and just like in Pokemon Go, players must join their forces in order to defeat the toughest enemies.

Expect to see lots and lots of people walking around the neighbourhood with a battery pack hooked to their phones, throwing spells at virtual beasts. Wihtout hesitation, the game has pretty good chance to be The Most Popular Game of 2018.

Niantic hasn't told yet when the release date will be, but stated tat they'll keep everyone informed.

It's no secret that Apple, among other tech giants, is very interested about virtual and augmented reality. Their ARKit, which stands for Augmented Reality Kit, is a development platform for iOS AR application that was unveiled at WWDC this June.

ARKit and apps created with it had a part in this year's iPhone unveiling and the company showed off iPhone's AR prowess on stage. Now rumors have it that the Cupertino company might be introducing soon even a dedicated AR headset.

There's still ways to go, but, according to Bloomberg, the AR headset project has been running within Apple for years and could become reality in a few years time. A final product is expected to be revealed 2019, or as soon as all the required technologies have been fully developed. According to Bloomberg's timeline the headset would hit the stores in 2020.

Next year Apple will further upgrade the ARKit to ease the use of AR apps on the iPhone but we'll have to wait a bit for a bigger update. However, the ecosystem, alongside the technology, will need to develop further before Apple joins the ranks of AR/VR headset manufacturer.

Apple has released a new feature with its latest iOS version. The new feature is called Apple Pay Cash and can be found it the OS 11.2 beta 2.

As you might imagine from the name, Apple Pay Cash is a function that allows iOS users to send cash to each other. It was yet quite ready for a stable release but considering that beta users are now able to send cash to each other it should be available to all fairly shortly.

To transfer cash from one to another you just open up your iMessage app and add the cash essentially as a attachment to the message. If another iOS users sends you a message asking for a payment with a dollar amount your device also shows the Apple Pay Cash as a quick reply option.

There are, however, few limitations, TechCrunch notes. You need a iOS device with 11.2 or later to get the beta, and you'll need two-factor authentication on your Apple ID.

Any credit or debit card added to your Apple Pay will suffice but note that credit card transfers will have a fee that Apple hasn't quantified but calls "industy standard." With debit cards there is no fee.

Google has added a new feature to its iconic search engine. Google does small, incremental changes to its search engine fairly frequently, and most of them are probably not immediately visible or easily noticeable to the wider public.

The newest addition is the ability to easily compare two smartphones and their specifications. The feature, added without much fuss, was spotted by Android Police, and seems to be currently online in at least to some demographics in the U.S., confirmed by AfterDawn as shown in the pictures.

It allows the comparing of two, and only two, devices against each other with a simple search of the two device names split by the word versus, or, as it's perhaps more commonly used, with abbreviation "vs." The Google search returns a form with pictures of the devices as well as a short list of features on the top of the search page.

You can then expand the list further and reveal approximately 15 fields worth of comparison, the amount of details depending on the devices.

We did notice a few issues with the new feature in addition to only limiting it to two devices. The search doesn't seem to require very specific names (i.e. Samsung Galaxy S8) to pull up devices but instead you can just type "s8 vs iphone 8" and you'll end up with an appropriate comparison between Samsung's Galaxy S8 as well as Apple's iPhone 8.

A leak from Appleby, a company offering tax haven services, has revealed tons of information about tax evasion practices from companies to rich individuals. The so-called Paradise Papers have also unveiled how the world's richest company has been moving money around.

The tax agreement signed between Apple and Ireland was proven hugely important for Apple's profits. After years of avoiding most of the taxes in Europe, thanks to the deal with Ireland, EU started to crack down this special relationship.

According to EU the deal is illegal and Ireland is being forced to collect the $15 billion from Apple after the fact. Obviously Ireland has wanted to retain the warm relationship with Apple and keep the business but it's becoming increasingly difficult.

The Paradise Papers now reveal that Apple has indeed been fleeing Ireland and moving much of its off-shore assets from the subsidiary in Ireland to a tax haven in the island of Jersey, off the shore of France in the English Channel.

According to the leaks around $252 billion worth of monetary assets have been relocated, and while this doesn't in itself avoid taxes, except for the fact that they aren't brought to the U.S. to be taxed, it has reassured the lowest possible rate now that Ireland became too hostile due to pressure from EU.

Broadcom, a U.S. chip manufacturer, has offered a whopping $105 million for another semiconductor company, the world's largest mobile chip makes Qualcomm. If the deal is to come to fruition this would make Broadcom the third largest chip maker in the world.

This also would be, as Bloomberg calls it, the largest takeover ever in the industry, and would fuse together the fourth and eighth largest semiconductor companies (according to 2015 revenue).

With $25 billion of net debt the acquisition would be considered to have a total value of $130 million. That is roughly twice the value of the previously largest deal made in 2015 between Dell and EMC.

The $70 a share price was nearly 30 percent above market value at the time of the first reports of the deal. The stock quickly jumped above $60 raising Qualcomm's market cap to over $90 million. After the deal Broadcom's stock had also small gains and market cap is now just above $110 million.

According to Bloomberg, the deal is far from clear-cut. Broadcom has struck the deal in a moment when Qualcomm is struggling with one of their major partners, Apple, who happens to be one of Broadcom's largest buyers. While the deal might help with the relationship with Apple, Qualcomm's execs are expected to make a case for shareholders of an opportunistic move that wouldn't benefit the shareholder in the long-term.

Intel has revealed that its developing a new type of processor, called the Core H, for ultrabooks. According to Intel with the new technology ultra-portable laptops are going to get a significant boost in perfomance that will bode well especially to gaming and VR applications.

However, the Core H itself isn't the big news here, even though it will be nice to get some dearly needed improvement to ultrabook performance. Instead its the company Intel is partnering with to produce this new chipset.

You might ask how is a partnering company news in any form? Well, in this case the partner is also a long time rival, and one could call it the archnemesis of Intel.

Yes, Intel is partnering with AMD to provide graphics knowhow, and the chipset will thus include an Intel processor and an AMD GPU for the first time ever. This might be a win-win-win. Not only does Intel get superior graphics performance in their products but AMD gets finally a proper introduction to ultraportables and, best of all, the public gets a speedy ultraportable chipset.

In addition to improved performance, Intel says that the a new technology allows them to package CPU, GPU and graphics memory (HBM2) closer together to save precious space. That obviously means slimmer products that have more room for battery among other things.

Sony has revealed a new Reward Pass program that allows PlayStation players to earn PlayStation Network (PSN) credit by playing games and achieving Trophies. The program was revealed on Sony Rewards website.

The Rewards program has been available previously but only now are you able to get PSN credit with your PlayStation Trophies, DualShockers.com notes. When you link your PlayStation Network and Sony Rewards accounts you'll be able to get credit also by renting and buying movies as well as subscribing to PSN services.

The new Trophy rewards are called Silver, Gold, and Platinum Trophy. They reward you with 100, 250, and 1000 points respectively, and they require 100 Silver Trophies, 25 Gold Trophies, and 10 Platinum Trophies.

1000 Reward points translates to $10 that can be used to any PSN Store items including games and movies. The rewards program is exclusive to the United States.

Like many other smartphone manufacturers, Apple released their quarterly earnings earlier this week. With massive gains on almost all fronts Apple posted more than $10 billion in net income.

However, it wasn't iPhone's that were leading the pack this time around, actually the opposite. Because iPhone 8 sales has been slow and iPhone X, released only this Friday, wasn't included at all in the numbers, the iPhone growth was the slowest of any division within Apple.

However, the investor call focus a lot on, at the time, upcoming iPhone X. CNBC noted, that according to CEO Tim Cook the $999 starting price tag was easily justified with just a cup of coffee.

Cook answered a question about the iPhone X price explaining that Apple doesn't try to charge as high a price as possible "or anything like that", insinuating perhaps that Apple customers would be willing to pay more to get their hands on a revolutionary iPhone X. According to Cook Apple prices the products based on the value they provide.

To further explain this he reminded that people often pay their devices on a monthly basis which is around $33/mo. According to Cook that's just a few cups of coffee a week at "one of these nice coffee places" or under a cup a day.

After rumors of Sprint and T-Mobile ending the merger talks we have finally an official statement. T-Mobile has released a statement clarifying the situation and saying the companies were unable to get an agreement in merging their operations.

T-Mobile Newsroom states: "T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) today announced that it has ceased talks to merge with Sprint, as the companies were unable to find mutually agreeable terms."

The premise for the merger was to create a larger carrier that could challenge the two largest mobile operators, AT&T and Verizon, more effectively. T-Mobile remains the third largest and Sprint the fourth largest carrier in the United States.

It remains unclear why the negotiations were ended but T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in the statement that in the end it's all about making a deal that would benefit the shareholders in the long term.

It seems fairly clear that one of the companies couldn't find the benefits with any proposed deals but nonetheless it might be a better result for the customers. Now there are still four nationwide carriers that are challenging each other.

T-Mobile has been the fastest growing carrier for years and passed Sprint for the third place in 2015. Now it has a lead of over 15 million subscribers over Sprint. Without the merge, however AT&T and Verizon stay in a league of their own with nearly 140 and 150 million subscribers respectively.