Tech News Headlines - Yahoo! News

• New Samsung Galaxy S4 features coming soon to Galaxy S III
  Samsung is staying true to its word and will soon bring new features from its Galaxy S4 smartphone to its older Galaxy S III. SamMobile has got hold of a leaked version of the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean update for the Galaxy S III and has found that it will bring several Galaxy S4 features to the Galaxy S III, including the new version of S-Voice, a revamped settings UI that will feature a tabbed interface and the Galaxy S4′s new lock screen system. SamMobile says that Samsung will push out the Android 4.2.2 update to Galaxy S III owners starting in June. Samsung said earlier this year that any new features for the Galaxy S4 that aren’t reliant on hardware
  
  
• Samsung takes on Google and Apple with highest-resolution notebook display in the world
  Samsung on Monday announced a new super-high resolution display for laptop computers. The company revealed a 13.3-inch QHD display with a resolution of 3200 x 1800 and a pixel density of 276 ppi. The display’s pixels are packed even tighter on Samsung’s new panels than on Google’s Chromebook Pixel and Apple’s MacBook Pro with a Retina display. The Chromebook Pixel previously featured the highest laptop resolution display with a 2560 × 1700 pixel resolution and 239 ppi, while the Retina MacBook Pro features a 2560 x 1600 pixel display and 227 ppi. Samsung claims its displays are 30% more power efficiency than existing LCD displays. The company gave no details about when we may see these displays arrive in future products.
  
  
• Britain's Cameron tells Google and others to play fair on tax
  

  LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday told Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and other business leaders that he expected their companies to pay their taxes in exchange for benefiting from low tax rates. Cameron's intervention came days after British lawmakers accused Google of using "smoke and mirrors" to avoid paying tax, fuelling a debate over corporate taxation that has angered the public and led to calls for a tougher approach from the government. ...

  
  
  
  
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Active revealed in leaked photos
  Among the many new variants of the Galaxy S4 Samsung has planned is the Galaxy S4 Active, a ruggedized version of the company’s popular smartphone. Details have trickled out over the past few weeks since Samsung confirmed that the phone is being developed, and now the Galaxy S4 Active has been revealed for the first time in purported leaked photos. GSMArena published the images on Monday, and they show a smartphone with a design that strays from the original S4. A shot of the handset’s “About” screen also reveals a quad-core Qualcomm processor and a full-HD 1080p display. Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S4 Active in the coming weeks but in the meantime, several leaked photos of the phone follow
  
  
• Online takeout companies GrubHub and Seamless to merge
  By Sarah McBride SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two of the nation's biggest online food delivery businesses said they are merging in a deal that they hope will drive more orders, in more cities, through their platforms. GrubHub and Seamless, which allow consumers to easily order online from various restaurants, are part of a group of fast-growing businesses that standardize local services under a national umbrella. Think restaurant reservations, where OpenTable dominates, or car services, where privately held startups such as Uber are making significant inroads. ...
  
  
• Yahoo buying Tumblr for $1.1 billion, vows not to screw it up
  

  By Alexei Oreskovic and Jennifer Saba SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc will buy blogging service Tumblr for $1.1 billion cash, giving the Internet pioneer a much-needed social media platform to reach a younger generation of users and breathe new life into its ailing brand. The deal, announced on Monday, is a bold bet by Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer to revitalize the company by co-opting a Web property with strong visitor traffic but little revenue. ...

  
  
  
  
• Blackstone group offers to take Pactera private
  Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, along with Pactera's CEO and other managers, have offered to take Pactera private in a deal that values the Chinese technology consulting and outsourcing firm at $680.4 million.
  
  
• Google’s X Phone could be headed to Verizon and Sprint later this year
  The rumored X Phone being developed by Google and Motorola unit is headed to AT&T later this year. A recent filing with the Federal Communication Commission revealed that the device, which carried the codename Motorola XT1058, will support AT&T’s LTE and HSPA+ networks. The smartphone didn’t include CDMA radios for Verizon and Sprint’s networks, however a new leak suggests a CDMA model is also in the works. A configuration file reportedly from a leaked Motorola USB driver that was obtained by Droid-Life revealed a device with the codename XT1060, similar to the recently leaked AT&T model. The file also confirmed that the smartphone will be equipped with a dual-core Snapdragon 4 Pro processor and support for CDMA networks, although it isn’t clear if
  
  
• Get ready for a flood of Google Glass apps
  With Windows Phone, Microsoft has shown us how difficult it is to launch a new mobile product without an expansive app ecosystem available right out of the gate. Thanks to the early buzz Google is creating around Google Glass, the company’s upcoming connected eyewear likely won’t face the same challenge. We have already seen a bunch of apps emerge for Glass — some intriguing and some just creepy — but mobile application promotion company AppLaunch is looking to make Glass app development as easy as possible. AppLaunch on Monday unveiled a simple template for creating Google Glass apps. With the free tool, AppLaunch says developers can build Glass apps in just 15 minutes. The company even supplied a sample — a
  
  
• Dell’s experimental ‘computer-on-a-stick’ shipping to developers in July
  One of the most intriguing concepts for the future of the PC industry we’ve heard lately has been Dell’s Project Ophelia, a USB thumb drive-sized “computer-on-a-stick” that can plug into any monitor’s USB port to transform it into a makeshift computer capable of running multiple operating systems. PCWorld reports that an early version of Ophelia that will only run Android will ship out to developers starting in July and could ship out to consumers as soon as August. The first version of Ophelia “will have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities and is aimed at users who do most of their computing on the Web,” says PCWorld, which means that monitors using Ophelia will be more like Chromebooks than traditional PCs. Dell’s
  
  
• Idaho couple and Sun Valley in Twitter tussle
  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A central Idaho couple is suing the Sun Valley Co. and the Twitter Inc. social media site seeking to bar the resort from using the handle "SunValley."
  
  
• Samsung seemingly confirms upcoming Galaxy S4 Mega
  Because Samsung isn’t already prepping enough new variants of the wildly popular Galaxy S4, a new “Galaxy S4 Mega” is reportedly under development as well and has been confirmed by Samsung. The Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy S4 Active, Galaxy S4 Zoom and Galaxy S4 Google Edition with stock Android Jelly Bean are all expected to debut in the coming weeks and months, and now a phablet version of the S4 looks like it has been confirmed in a recent update to Samsung’s WatchOn TV app discovered by SamMobile. No other details have been provided, but unless this was a typo — and it doesn’t appear to be, since the update also references two other unannounced Galaxy S4 variants — we should see
  
  
• Seamless and GrubHub to combine, no terms revealed
  NEW YORK (AP) — Rival online takeout services Seamless North America and GrubHub on Monday announced plans to combine and create a new company covering more than 20,000 restaurants in 500 cities across the U.S.
  
  
• Video: Sony teases PlayStation 4 hardware unveiling with blurry console photos
  A video game console’s exterior hardware is undoubtedly the least important part of the gaming experience, but fans were still angry when the PlayStation 4 event came and went with no physical console having been unveiled. As expected, however, Sony plans to debut its new console design during the annual E3 conference that kicks off next month on June 10th. In a newly released promotional video, Sony teased the PlayStation 4 console for the first time, showing blurry images of the box and zoomed-in pictures of various parts. It’s impossible to make out the PS4′s final design for the time being, but all will be revealed in under a month during Sony’s E3 press conference. In the meantime, the full
  
  
• Former Nokia software team unveils its first smartphone
  

  HELSINKI (Reuters) - A group of ex-Nokia software developers unveiled its first smartphone on Monday, aiming to prove their former employer wrong by making a success of a technology dropped by the Finnish mobile phone maker. Jolla was founded by Nokia's former MeeGo software team that was shut down after the company decided to switch to Microsoft's Windows Phone software in 2011. With just 70 employees and 11 million euros ($14. ...

  
  
  
  
• Chat live with renowned biohackers about 'hacking your body' at 12:30PM
  At 12:30 PM EST, join Yahoo's Virginia Heffernan and biohackers Dave Asprey and Alisa Vitti
  
  
• Shakespeare's sonnets come to life in new app
  By Natasha Baker TORONTO (Reuters) - A new app launched on Monday aims to bring William Shakespeare's sonnets to the masses with the help of short films starring stage actors performing them in front of New York landmarks. The Sonnet Project is a free app for the iPhone and iPad that showcases the bard's poetry through films of up to two minutes and performances by Tony-Award winning actors Joanna Gleason and Cady Huffman, among others. "Shakespeare gets a bad rap. ...
  
  
• Physician, hack thyself
  

  Biohackers are gulping down Dave Asprey's Bulletproof Coffee Breakfast. What the heck is it -- and more importantly, does it work?

  
  
  
  
• Apple reportedly testing 1.5-inch OLED ‘iWatch’ displays
  With Apple’s “iWatch” likely to release this year, it’s not surprising that we’re starting to hear rumors about components being cobbled together just before the company starts ramping up production of the device. Japanese blog Macotakara points us to a new report from Taiwanese publication Economic Times claiming that Apple is testing out 1.5-inch OLED displays produced by RITEK subsidiary RiTdisplay for its upcoming smartwatch. Macotakara notes that earlier rumors claimed the iWatch would have a 1.8-inch display, so it seems that Apple may be thinking of reducing the device’s size if it’s really giving 1.5-inch panels a long look.
  
  
• Is Google’s greatest strength the freedom to fail?
  Google clearly has a number of strengths, but its greatest may be the freedom to fail. Google shares are up more than 28% so far in 2013 and the company’s market capitalization recently topped $300 billion for the first time. Investors are bullish on Google’s prospects for the future and perhaps one of the reasons is that Google has shown time and time again that it is willing to take big risks in an effort to drive innovation. In a recent article, The Wall Street Journal’s Steve Rosenbush hypothesized that Google’s greatest strength may be “the luxury of failure.” He describes Google’s strategy as a “reckless, up-for-anything approach” and notes that it seems to be working quite well since Google’s stock