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As if there needed to be more proof that Amazon's foray into the smartphone hardware has been a complete disaster, the company has now slashed the price of the device to almost as low as it can go.

Amazon is offering the 32GB model, GSM unlocked for $199 (originally priced at $599 unlocked), including a free year of Amazon Prime, which is $99 per year.

If you were already a Prime member, the device is effectively down to $100, well within the price range of anyone looking for a smartphone with mid to high-end specs.

If the "fire" sale on the Fire Phone, interests you, check the page here while supplies last.

For a more in-depth look at the Fire Phone, see our past articles here.

According to a new report, Apple may be ditching Google as its default search engine for the Safari browser starting next year.

Google's deal with Apple expires in 2015, and Microsoft and Yahoo have already each pitched their respective search engines to Apple SVP Eddy Cue.

Microsoft already has their Bing engine as default for Apple's personal assistant Siri, and on the new Mac OS X Yosemite, the "Spotlight" feature uses Bing results, as well.

While Yahoo doesn't have any inroads with Apple, they recently announced that Mozilla's Firefox browser would use Yahoo as default for the next five years, a major win for the world's third-largest search engine.

Of course, no matter what the default engine is, you are free to switch it right back to Google although some less tech-savvy consumers may not know or care to change it back.

Universal has dropped the new "Jurassic World" trailer two days ahead of time, finally giving fans a look at the movie outside of tiny teaser trailers and set pics.

In the video, the park is open to the public and is wildly popular, but of course that is never enough and the scientists and engineers behind the rebirth of the dinosaurs have created a genetically modified hybrid that, of course, starts running wild and killing things.

Reads the video's small blurb: "Steven Spielberg returns to executive produce the long-awaited next installment of his groundbreaking Jurassic Park series, Jurassic World. Colin Trevorrow directs the epic action-adventure from a screenplay he wrote with Derek Connolly. Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley join the team as producers."

The movie hits theaters next June.

As the popularity of their franchise games wanes, Rovio has made all of their Angry Birds game free for Windows Phone users.

Among the included freebies are hits like the original Angry Birds, Angry Birds Epic, Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Star Wars, Bad Piggies and Angry Birds Roost.

Notably absent is the latest in the series, Angry Birds Transformers, which is still not available for the platform but will be early next year. It is also expected to be free.

Check the full listing here and download away: Windows Phone Store

Although the limited beta invites quickly got eaten up, Windows Phone users can look forward to being able to use the VLC media player in the near future.

The media player is one of the most popular for Windows, given its feature set, software acceleration and ability to play nearly everything thrown at it.

Videolan, the team behind VLC, created a desktop Windows VLC with the modern/metro style for Windows 8 but there have been issues building the software for ARM devices.

British Telecom (BT) appears to be in talks to buy back major UK carrier O2, the company it sold back in 2005 for £18 billion.

Telefonica, of Spain, was the acquirer and could sell the carrier back in exchange for a 20 percent stake in BT as a whole. The "strategic alliance" could benefit the pair, say early reports.

The report did note that talks are still early, and could fall apart.

In a statement, BT added that they are "assessing the merits of an acquisition of a mobile network operator in the UK," without mentioning any names.

Yahoo has acquired yet another startup, the photo app maker Cooliris.

Colliris was founded in 2006 and created the "3D wall" for easier navigation of photos and media content from different sources. The company now has a popular mobile app of the same name that allows you to do the same: browse photos from across services. Included are your social media sites like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Instagram and Dropbox

Yahoo will keep all 17 employees of the company but it is unclear what Yahoo will use the company or its products for.

Says Cooliris of the acquisition: "Cooliris is passionate about creating fast, fluid mobile experiences for content and communication – as exemplified by our newest product, BeamIt. Yahoo has a clear vision and unwavering commitment to making mobile an intuitive and effortless experience.

This makes Yahoo the perfect partner for Cooliris, and we are excited to come together to bring indispensable products to a worldwide audience.
Cooliris for Mobile and BeamIt Messenger will continue to work as usual for the time being.

We are grateful to our users, mentors, investors, and partners. We have been committed to building innovative products for you, and are pleased that CoolPreviews, PicLens, the 3D Wall, Android Gallery, LiveShare, Cooliris for Mobile, and BeamIt have touched hundreds of millions of users around the world. Know that we will remain focused as we pursue our passion from our new home at Yahoo."

According to a new report by the Wall Street Journal, the flagship Samsung Galaxy S5 is a flop, selling nearly 40 percent lower than the company expected.

Samsung is said to have increased production of the device by 20 percent compared to last year's popular Galaxy S4, but sold just 12 million units in its first 90 days. By comparison, the S4 sold 16 million in the same time frame.

With profits down and innovation waning, the report claims that Samsung could be looking to shake up its high-level executive team, giving current TV/home electronics CEO B.K. Yoon the Samsung Mobile business, as well. Samsung Mobile currently has its own CEO: J.K. Shin.

Earlier this month, the company also confirmed that it would be reducing the amount of phones it introduces by up to 30 percent, looking to focus more on a smaller pool. Samsung has already introduced 56 smartphones this year, well above its competition.

Source:
WSJ

Google has confirmed the shut down of their "Basecamp" physical stores from which the company offered support for Google Glass headsets.

Spencer Kleyweg seemingly confirmed the move via his Google+ page. Kleyweg explained: "Google Glass Basecamps are the home to demos and one-to-one appointments for Glass. With only four locations (Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and London) they specialized in showcasing Google's wearable device across the US and a section of Europe. People interested in Glass or Explorers needing support could schedule an appointment at one of the Basecamps. Within the past week I have noticed that the page used to schedule said appointments shows no availability for all the Basecamps.

I contacted Glass Support to see if it was a glitch or if they were no longer taking appointments to which they confirmed that the Basecamps are no longer taking appointments."

In reality, it appears that Google, which is now selling the device online to anyone who wishes to shell out $1500, does not need the stores any more nor the cost. Consumers can purchase and have it shipped next day air, avoiding the need to pick it up at a Basecamp. Additionally, Google offers phone tech support. It is unclear how many early adopters have picked up Glass, but judging by recent developer sentiment, that number is likely low.

Earlier this year, T-Mobile made waves by announcing that its customer's data caps would no longer be affected by music streaming.

Unfortunately, the "Music Freedom" program only launched with a few services including Spotify, iTunes Radio, Pandora, Songza and Rdio and iHeartRadio (most of the biggies), and the carrier has now doubled the services that will be exempt from eating up your precious data.

T-Mobile has added Google Play Music (thankfully), Xbox Music, SoundCloud, RadioTunes, Live365, Mad Genius Radio, radioPup, radio.com, Fit Radio, Fresca Radio, JAZZRADIO, ROCKRADIO, and Saavn to the program, effective immediately.

To take advantage, you must be on the Simple Choice or Pay in Advance plans, and the carrier notes that it does not work when roaming or when using a Mobile Hotspot to tether.

Notably, Beats Music remains unavailable, although that seems to be mainly due to lack of a big enough subscriber base asking for it.

T-Mobile did add an interesting tidbit of info with the press release, stating: "The number of T-Mobile customers streaming music each day has jumped nearly 300%, and they're streaming a whopping 66 million songs per day − or roughly 200 terabytes of data per day."

Google says they are getting in the holiday spirit and passing on a great deal for consumers.

All new Chromebook buyers will get 1TB of free Google Drive storage, good for two years - double the normal promotional period for such offers.

Says Google: "Chromebooks make day-to-day computing fast, simple and secure, whether you're searching for a great pumpkin pie recipe or sharing a family photo from Google Drive. And now, as a bonus for the holiday season, new Chromebook buyers can get 1TB of Google Drive storage for two years -- almost $240 in value -- absolutely free.

That's enough space to keep more than 100,000 awkward holiday sweater pics safe and shareable in Drive. With that much free storage, you can use your Chromebook for work, play and pretty much everything else you'll do this holiday season.

The 1TB comes with the purchase of a new, eligible Chromebook for as little as $199. You'll find them at these retail stores and online outlets or on Google Play. Just be sure to redeem the offer before January 1, 2015."

A year after its release, the Xbox One gaming console finally has access to HBO Go as a native app.

The streaming service gives HBO subscribers access to the company's entire catalog of movies and TV shows and the addition of the app is a big positive for the console in general as it will be the first next-gen console to feature it. HBO Go has been available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 for years.

"Xbox One users can get in on the action and 'Kinect' with HBO" said Jeff Dallesandro, HBO's vice president of digital domestic network distribution.

HBO announced earlier this year that it was building a standalone service for HBO Go, for consumers who have "cut the cord" on cable or other pay TV services.

Aereo has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, confirming that the streaming TV service is completely out of options after losing multiple court rulings.

In June, the service lost a major Supreme Court case to the big broadcasters, and from there the service has been essentially shut down while it tried different routes to make a comeback, including trying to become a cable company.

Here is Aereo's post to its subscribers and investors:

According to a new report by Skift, Amazon is preparing to open their own travel site, including bookings at independent hotels and resorts.

Initially, Amazon Travel will launch with a few hotels that are all within a couple of hours drive of LA, NY and Seattle. The service is expected to launch in the new year, perhaps as early as January 1st.

Skift says "properties would load their room types, availability, pricing information, and photos into an Amazon extranet and would pay a standard 15% commission to Amazon for the prepaid bookings."

Each property would get notified by Amazon of any bookings, and their calendar would be updated on the extranet. Hoteliers do have the right to discount their rooms and can also negotiate with Amazon over the commission price.

Amazon told the independent hoteliers that they were selected by TripAdvisor ratings, and they had to have four stars or higher.

The massive etailer will include editorials, attractions and more at the site, to make it more consumer friendly as only Amazon can, adds the report.

Earlier this week Jolla announced a new tablet on crowdfunding site Indiegogo, and the device quickly hit its target on route to hitting $1 million raised in under two days.

Thanks to the success of the tablet, Jolla is celebrating by dropping the price of their signature Jolla phone, the first device to run the Sailfish operating system.

Originally priced at 350 euros, Jolla has dropped the price of their phone to 250 euros, a significant discount for anyone who may have been on the fence of buying the smartphone.

The Jolla phone has mid-range specs including a 4.5" IPS qHD display with Gorilla Glass 2, a Qualcomm dual-core processor at 1.4GHz, dual 8MP/2MP cameras, 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and a microSD slot.