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EU to Apple, Google: Free game apps? Yeah, right

Apple and Google will be among the organizations to talk to the EU this week about the impact “freemium” apps are having on the industry. In a statement on Thursday, the EU’s European Commission said that it wants to investigate in-app purchases on games that can be downloaded for free. The Commission argues that while games can be downloaded for …

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Secrets of the Samsung Galaxy S5: MWC daily round

All the big announcements may have been made at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but there’s still plenty happening there. We’ve found the Samsung Galaxy S5‘s hidden superpowers, tried out a Chinese mobile that stays secure just by recognising your face, uncovered some new Samsung goodies, and found some of the craziest concepts of recent years. And it’s all in …

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The Germans get serious about making great in

InEar is a new name to me, but it’s an established German maker of high-end headphones. ALO’s Ken Ball contacted me a few months ago about trying out some InEars and he sent over two models, the StageDiver 2 and StageDiver 3. They look similar to custom-molded in-ear monitors from Ultimate Ears and Westone, but the StageDivers are universal-fit models …

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I’m Tracer is a wearable GPS tracker for kids and pets

BARCELONA, Spain — Italian company I’m Spa’s latest product, the I’m Tracer, is a GPS tracker that can be worn as a wristband — or a collar for your pet. Underneath the water- and shock-resistant rubber casing is a GPS tracker as well as a SIM card. The I’m Tracer uses GSM to triangulate your position before getting a lock …

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Hands

Wednesday is usually the hump day of any tech trade show. The big guns have announced their main products, and everyone is generally a bit tired. But there’s still plenty going on at MWC. Like Sony’s SmartBand, for example, that we went hands-on with. Throw in Sony’s wearable camera concept that tracks everything you do, some cool new in-car tech, …

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UppWireless offers $15 BYOD phone service

Looking for dirt-cheap phone service for your smartphone? If it’s an unlocked GSM phone that began life on AT&T or T-Mobile, you might want to check out UppWireless. For as little as $15 per month, you can stock your smartphone with a no-contract SIM card that leverages Wi-Fi and 3G/4G connectivity for calls, text, and data. But is it really …

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Windows Phone to be fastest growing mobile OS, says IDC

Windows Phone could be the only major mobile OS to see a gain in market share in the next few years. Released Wednesday, IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker forecasts a rise in Windows Phone’s global market share from 3.9 percent this year to 7 percent in 2018. That may not seem like a huge leap, but such growth will …

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