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Apple has acquired the power-efficient LED startup LuxVue, although financial terms were not disclosed (Apple never does).

The micro-LED maker will be integrated to help Apple in its "hardware innovations areas" say sources, which could mean the tech will be used in upcoming iPhones or iPads (or maybe even an iWatch).

There is also the potential that Apple may be looking to start building their own device screens in-house, cutting out other manufacturers like Samsung and Sharp and Japan Display.

So far, LuxVue has allegedly seen a breakthrough in display tech, allowing for much better power efficiency than currently seen in LED.

The company has raised $43 million in venture capital funding to date.

Earlier this week, a federal jury ruled in favor of Apple in its ongoing patent war against rival Samsung.

Samsung infringed on two patents, ruled the jury, and Apple was awarded almost $120 million in damages, a fraction of the total $2.2 billion it had demanded.

On the other side, Apple was also found to have infringed on a Samsung patent, and Samsung was awarded $158,400.

The ruling follows Apple's victory in 2012 where it was awarded $1 billion in damages from a few more serious patent violations.

"Today's ruling reinforces what courts around the world have already found: that Samsung willfully stole our ideas and copied our products," Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said at the time. Among the software, code and patents that Samsung allegedly stole were related to word correction, slide to unlock, quick links, background syncing and universal search.

Popular video clip sharing platform Vine has updated its Web site, adding search, navigation and discovery features including playlists, Editor's picks and more.

Best of all, all the content is available to everyone without the need for a Vine account or even to login if you do have an account.

In addition, users will have access to trending tags, channels and popular pages, similar to the mobile apps.

Vine has kept the recently launched TV mode, which allows for full-screen and TV playback.

The company, which was acquired by Twitter last year, has been relatively quiet with plans and features so the newly revamped site is certainly a pleasant surprise.

Nintendo has denied the rumor that it will be revealing a new console at this year's E3 event, squashing hopes that the company could be preparing a sequel to its failed Wii U.

"I can confirm Nintendo is not revealing any hardware at this year's E3," reads the official statement.

There have been rumors for the past year that Nintendo is working on its new "Fusion" console. Most recently, IGN and other outlets reported that trusted sources including third-party developers and former Nintendo employees had confirmed the new hardware.

While the company may not be unveiling new consoles, there certainly could be a revision to the Wii U or a new accessory or peripheral.

For a look back at the rumored specs of the Fusion, check our previous report here.

Nintendo's keynote at E3 is scheduled for June 10th.

Thanks to the end of quarter research report from Strategy Analytics, we have a better look into how the major operating systems are faring in the tablet market.

Overall, global shipments reached 57.6 million for the Q1, with Android and iOS dominating as expected. Android had a near 66 percent share, followed by iOS at 28 percent and Windows moving up slowly to a 6 percent share.

Peter King, Director of Tablets at Strategy Analytics, said, "Global Tablet shipments reached 57.6 million units in Q1 2014, up 19 percent from 48.3 million in Q1 2013. Android continues to make steady progress and now commands two thirds of the tablet market share.

Apple iOS shipments (sell-in) were 16.4 million iPads in Q1 2014 which declined 16 percent annually, but Apple claimed that due to channel inventory changes which were reduced significantly from the same period last year, sell-through only declined 3 percent. We believe that the disappointing performance in the early part of the calendar year is because Apple has changed its product release cycle to the holiday timeframe. iOS will likely lose share over the next several months to refreshed Android products, but we believe Apple will win back meaningful high-end market share during the final months of the calendar year."

T-Mobile USA had another great quarter, adding 2.4 million new net customers for the Q1.

The carrier, which remains the fourth largest in the nation, once again saw bigger net additions than rivals AT&T and Verizon, and revenue grew 47 percent quarter-over-quarter to $6.88 billion.

Despite the growth, aggressive discounting took its toll as the company lost $151 million for the quarter.

T-Mobile has attacked the wireless industry of late, offering cheap unlimited plans, no-contracts, easier phone upgrade plans, free international roaming and texts and paying off ETFs from other carriers.

Kim Dotcom's latest venture, MEGA, has seen explosive growth in the last six months, with uploads tripling and now totaling 500 million per month.

The founder, always one to challenge authorities, has thanked industry trade groups RIAA and MPAA, (as well as the US Department of Justice) for their lawsuits and added publicity for the sites. The entertainment industry was key in shutting down file sharing colossus Megaupload in 2012.

"There are several growth factors. People spend more time at the computer due to the cold weather, the lawsuits by MPAA and RIAA which advertised Mega, and the ongoing advertising from the dumbest ever U.S. Department of Justice case," Dotcom noted.

"We are experiencing massive growth. We can't add new servers and bandwidth fast enough," Dotcom concluded.

MEGA, which has prioritized security and privacy, also started to get a boost when it was revealed that the NSA was using surveillance techniques on U.S. and foreign citizens. MEGA uses encryption on all files and servers.

John Carmack, the legendary creator of Doom and new CTO for Oculus VR, has been accused of stealing intellectual property (IP) when he left for his new position.

id Software, the company he co-founded (and now owned by ZeniMax) sent a claim to Oculus with bold accusations: "It was only through the concerted efforts of Mr. Carmack, using technology developed over many years at, and owned by, ZeniMax, that [Oculus founder] Mr. Luckey was able to transform his garage-based pipe dream into a working reality."

Of course, Oculus VR has responded and denied the allegations: "It's unfortunate, but when there's this type of transaction, people come out of the woodwork with ridiculous and absurd claims. We intend to vigorously defend Oculus and its investors to the fullest extent."

Carmack defended himself, as well, adding: "No work I have ever done has been patented. Zenimax owns the code that I wrote, but they don't own VR."

ZeniMax, when asked for comment, offered a long response.

Samsung is preparing a new event in which it will unveil upcoming health-based apps or devices.

The event will take place on May 28th and promises a "new conversation around health."

Samsung recently unveiled its Gear Fit fitness band, and its Galaxy line of devices have been using a powerful S-Health app for the last couple of years.

Most likely, Samsung will unveil upcoming components for the Fit and future iterations, and a conversation about health related apps.

Source:

According to BGR and 'trusted sources,' we may have an authentic render of the alleged upcoming Amazon 3D smartphone.

The device does not appear to be anything special, with a standard metal body, curved edges, dual speakers and a "home" button like the Galaxy and iPhone lines.

Of course, the most notable feature is the extra cameras to add the depth, eye tracking and "3D" sensors to the device. For its standard cameras, the device will have a 13MP rear camera and a 12MP selfie camera.

Additionally, the phone is expected to have a 4.7-inch display, a quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, Amazon's Fire OS operating system, and a special data and content plan known as Prime Data but otherwise a mystery.

Amazon is said to be preparing a launch at the end of June.

Box, the popular cloud storage service, will need to sell itself to survive, says at least one tech analyst.

The company, which had been planning to go public this year, has supposedly delayed those plans following a "wreck" in technology stocks over the past few months where some stocks have fallen over 25 percent, including Facebook, Amazon and many newer IPOs like FireEye and Splunk.

Supposedly, founder and CEO Aaron Levie originally denied his board the ability to sell the company but there may be a search for buyers again now that the IPO has been delayed.

Sam Hamadeh, CEO of PrivCo, an analyst firm for private companies, left a tough assessment of the company's prospects: "Box was not and is not ready for prime time for the IPO market, and it would have difficulty surviving in the wilderness of the public markets ...Box's only realistic option is to sell the company."

"Box was bleeding cash, could not seem to decide if it is a consumer app company or an enterprise software company, and has powerful competitors in Amazon, Google, Apple and others who were initiating a price war," he adds. "And Box simply cannot ever win a price war against rivals like those."

UFC parent Zuffa has sued a major torrent uploader, seeking $32 million in damages.

Going by the online handle "Secludedly," the uploader allegedly uploaded 124 UFC events to popular sites like The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents. Zuffa has accused the man of copyright infringement, fraud, breach of contract, and more.

Steven A. Messina, aka Secludedly, is a 27-year-old from Staten Island, New York, is one of three defendants of the suit, as well as an unknown business entity.

"Defendants have, on over 124 occasions, used the torrent websites known as kickass.to and thepiratebay.se to upload, distribute and publicly display the Broadcasts to the users of said websites," the lawsuit states. Secludedly also accepted PayPal donations for his work, thus profiting off the copyright infringement.

Seeking damages of $150,000 per infringement, the company also alleges that the uploader violated the Federal Communications Act willfully, and is asking for an additional $110,000 per infringement. The total is $32.2 million. "Defendants, wishing to use Plaintiff's Broadcasts for their own commercial gain, surreptitiously gained access to Plaintiff's Broadcasts by purchasing the programming through their satellite TV provider, without proper authorization, at residential rates, and subsequently copying the Broadcasts and uploading them to the users of the websites known as kickass and thepiratebay.se" adds the suit.

Earlier this week, popular photo sharing app Snapchat added new features including the ability to text and video chat.

"The goal has always been to move beyond messaging," says founder Evan Spiegel. "We're trying to take the traditional text conversation and make it better."

Snapchat, which allows users to send photo messages that disappear within a few seconds, will allow for more in-depth conversations with the updated features, and the easy ability to switch modes within the app.

"If I'm walking around and want to show you something, why do I have to switch apps?" Spiegel concluded. "It stops the conversation and makes it a transaction, rather than free-flowing."

Spiegel added that video chatting works on Wi-Fi and cell data, and audio was prioritized so even if the picture degrades, the audio should remain clear.

Source:
Yahoo

According to sources, AT&T has approached DirecTV about acquiring the satellite TV giant.

Given the current value of DTV, any deal would have to be over $40 billion, making it one of the largest deals in history.

If a merger were to occur, the new company could compete in size and scale with the colossus of Comcast were it to complete its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable. Comcast's deal was for $45 billion in cash and stock.

In order to get the deal passed by regulators, Comcast has agreed to give up 1.4 million subscribers to Charter Communications, a smaller cable company, and has agreed to spin-off a new company that Charter is a 33 percent owner of, which will have 2.5 million subscribers.

Source:
Business Insider

Sony has once again slashed its operating profit forecasts for the fiscal year, this time by 70 percent.

The electronics giant cited its exit from the PC market as the main culprit, with the move costing them up to $300 million in added costs.

Operating profit expectations for the fiscal year were reduced from ¥80bn ($780 million USD) to ¥26bn ($253 million USD), and the company's DVD and CD-ROM production unit booked a ¥25bn ($250 million) impairment loss.

The company still expects a large net loss of ¥130bn ($1.27 billion), a stark contrast from the net profit the company had forecasted over a year ago.

New CEO Kaz Hirai has been tightening the focus of the company since taking the reigns, and has shuttering and selling businesses that do not fit in the core Sony wishes to achieve. The company has also sold buildings and other tangible assets, netting billions.

Hirai also announced that the company's TV business would be spun off, after losing nearly $8 billion over the past decade. The PC division has been sold. Sony's new focuses are on mobile, imaging and gaming, where its PlayStation 4 console has been a major hit so far.