HTC 10 shows its face again, black version pictured

HTC 10 is going official on April 12 but we know pretty much everything there is to know about company's next big thing. We know the design is a hybrid between the One M9 and One A9, we know about its Quad HD AMOLED screen and Snapdragon 820 chip, the possibility of a Snapdragon 652 model, its rumored retail price at €740, even the reported April 15 as a lunch date.

HTC has begun a marketing campaign with teasers over the social networks, but the leaks are quite more revealing than HTC's hints.

Today's leak show the black flavor of the HTC 10 shot next to its silver sibling. We've seen its metal chassis leak already in detail, though, and this gloomy shot only shows yet another view of the black version

Fingers crossed HTC did manage to keep something from leaking and will surprise us on April 12.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 to come with Snapdragon 823, possible 3D touch

The Xiaomi Mi Note 2 is due for a replacement and we're expecting it in the coming months. Rumors of it kicked off a few weeks ago stating that it may have a dual-edge display, but today we have some more concrete info on the specs of the Mi Note successor.

Xiaomi Mi Note (the first one)

Starting with that supposedly curved display, the source says that it will be 5.7 inches in diagonal like the previous model. Resolution will be QHD, and a 3D touch pressure sensitive capability is being considered.

The Mi Note 2 will be powered by either a Snapdragon 820 or an 823 chipset (higher clock rates?). RAM will be 4GB or even 6GB, and storage options will include 32/64/128GB, with a possible 256GB variant too. The camera will feature the 16MP Sony IMX298 sensor, complete with OIS. Powering things will be a 3,600mAh battery, with some form of fast charging allowing the charger to supply up to 18watts.

Mightily impressive specs there, and most of them seem pretty plausible. That said, you'd best hold off until everything's official before getting overly excited.

Google’s VR View will embed VR content into apps and websites

Thanks to Google, there is now going to be a web viewer for VR which can be integrated right into a website along with apps for Android and iOS. The new HTML and JavaScript code is up on Github for you to start embedding your vacation 360 images right away.

I've embedded a sample VR View of the coral reefs just above this text. You'll need to be using the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari all for desktop, iOS 8 and above, or KitKat 4.4 and above for mobile.

The desktop viewer is a simple image viewer which can go fullscreen and allows the users to click and drag around a VR image just like you would click and drag with Google Maps’ Street View. Google is also announcing its first native Cardboard SDK for iOS.

Google providing these source codes for developers is a step toward a larger adoption of VR viewers and VR-enabled content embedded within webpages and incorporated into more iOS and Android apps.

HoloLens developer kits are shipping to devs today

HoloLens is Microsoft’s foot in the door for incorporating virtual reality into the world of every day computing. With that said, today’s Microsoft event brought more information about the HoloLens and what it could mean for developers.

Microsoft has mentioned at today’s event that it is now shipping these HoloLens developer kits to those development teams who have signed up and pre-ordered the $3K dev kit to those who fit Microsoft’s qualifications. The following companies have shown interest in HoloLens for developers.

Microsoft has also announced that it has released its first full HoloLens application called Galaxy Explorer on the Microsoft Store and on Github where the source code in its entirety will be available for developers all over the world to tinker with or incorporate into their own HoloLens projects.

Keeping developers in the loop is among the most important things that should occur with introducing a brand new platform since if there is no developer community backing up the platform, the interest of consumers can be too low and the product’s platform could flop.

HoloLens is a new way to experience Windows in virtual reality, you will be able to interact with virtual elements in a real environment with your hands by using gestures. We hope the consumer models will be available soon, as there is still no information regarding a public launch.

Samsung tablets will be used in the Portuguese football league for match reports

Mobile devices and sports generally mix quite well, especially when we're talking about sponsorship deals signed by phone and tablet makers with various clubs or national teams. Samsung has however decided to go one step further in Portugal.

Samsung tablets will be used in the Portuguese football league to compile and file official match reports. These will be used by the staff of the Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP), making their jobs much easier through a dedicated app installed on the tablets.

Previously, such forms had to be filled out by hand and then faxed over to the league's official board. This means the reports reached their targets long after matches ended. From this point on though everything is transmitted electronically, after Samsung has helped LPFP digitize its operations.

According to LPFP President Pedro Proença, "this application is a technological leap that helps us to provide better service to all clubs and all their fans. It is a truly innovative system that sets us apart from what we did in the past".

Windows 10 Anniversary Update announced, will be out in the summer for free

At its Build conference today Microsoft has officially announced the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. This will be the first major update for the company's latest operating system version, and so far it's been known only by its codename - Redstone.

The Windows 10 Anniversary Update will roll out sometime this summer, and it will be free for everyone running Windows 10.

It will bring with it support for Windows Hello biometric ID in more apps, including the Edge browser - so you'll be able to sign into websites with your fingerprint. The Linux command line shell will be in too, alongside a smarter Cortana (who you can tell to send files to colleagues, for example), and a unified Windows 10 and Xbox app store.

Perhaps the biggest new feature in the update is the addition of the Windows Ink system. This is all about taking stylus support up a notch. So you'll be able to do things like jot down something along the lines of "Call Joe at 9 pm" on sticky notes, and Cortana will automatically recognize that as a reminder. Windows Ink will work with both a pen and your finger, and you can even use both at the same time. Microsoft apps such as Office will obviously support Ink, as will Adobe's apps. And the platform is open for integration into other apps too.

Buy an iPhone from T-Mobile, get half off a second one

T-Mobile has a new deal for you if you're a fan of Apple's iPhones. Starting tomorrow, the magenta carrier will give you half off one iPhone when you purchase two of them. So you pay the full price for one iPhone, and half of it for the second one. That's the theory.

In practice, you'll find that the discount will come to you in the form of a prepaid MasterCard. Oh, and you need to add a line for the second device. This line needs to remain active until at least July 15.

The deal works with any iPhone model currently sold by T-Mobile, so you can pick and choose from the iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, and iPhone 5c, or the new iPhone SE. You can take advantage of the promotion even if you've already pre-ordered an iPhone SE.

The second iPhone needs to be cheaper or the same value as the first, as you'd expect. The iPhone SE officially becomes available tomorrow, after a full week of pre-orders.

Sony Xperia Z3 now available for just $250 in US

Sony's flagship smartphone from 2014 - the Xperia Z3 - has received a price cut in the US, where retailer B&H Photo is currently selling the device for $249.95, down from its usual price of $449.95.

That turns out to be a solid $200 discount for a device that is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 chipset, sports a 5.2-inch full HD IPS display, and has 3GB RAM and 20.7MP main camera. A quick look at Amazon reveals that the retailer is selling the same model for around $300.

It's worth mentioning that the deal is available for the next few hours only (11 as of writing). So, those interested in taking advantage of it need to act fast.

Apple has signed a deal with MLB to provide iPads to teams

Microsoft struk a lucrative advertising slash professional tool deal to provide Surface tablets to the NFL, and now Apple is after the same kind of exposure. The Cupertino giant has opted for a quite different sport and went after Major League Baseball, but other than that, the premise of the new deal seems to be the same.

In exchange for exposure during games, Apple will provide specially tailored iPad Pro units to each team in the league, to be used as professional tools. The devices in question will be of the bigger 12.9-inch variety (more visible on camera, I guess), bear the team logo and be tailored to its specific needs, like a digital playbook of sorts. Some potential features could include access to historical game statistics and various data analysis on the fly even down to pitcher-batter match simulations.

On the software part of things, the iPad Pro's will be running a specialized iOS app, called MLB Dugout, built in-house by MLB’s Advance Media Division. It is intended as a standalone solution, meaning that each iPad will be fed with only the owner team's specific data, as opposed to a cloud-based solution. This should help protect security and guard sensitive tactical data, although judging by the adoption difficulties Microsoft has been facing with its NFL contract, we can only expect to see the iPads mostly hang around as a banner background for some time to come.

Canonical and Microsoft are working to bring Ubuntu to Windows 10

Yes, that is correct, as per industry sources, Canonical - the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution and Microsoft have partnered up to integrate Ubuntu into Windows 10.

By all accounts, this won't be done through the use of virtual machines, nor containers, which still seem to be in development within project Barcelona. Rather, the idea is to bring over the Bash shell experience, along with all of its powerful console tools, to run on top of Windows libraries and the Linux subsystem, introduced in the new Windows 10 Redstone build.

While running Bash on Windows is in no way a new concept, having it integrated within the OS is a whole different thing, which will surely clear the way for many new powerful Linux tools on the platform.

This might not be all too exciting for regular Windows users, of course, other than some potential UI modding, if desktop environments like Unity, Gnome, KDE and the like become available as well. However, it is a move aimed squarely at increasing the popularity of Windows 10 as a powerful development environment.

Apple updates Maps with Nearby search and Flyover in more countries

Apple has updated its Maps service to expand the Flyover and Traffic support in a number of countries. Now Austria, Denmark, Japan and Switzerland proximity-based Nearby search results on iPhone and iPad..

As for the Flyover - you can now enjoy 3D imagery with photorealistic bird's eye view of Augsburg, Braunshweif, and Hanover in Germany, Newcastle upon Tyne in England and the Japanese prefecture of Niigata.

Finally, in Turkey Maps has been updated to support real-time traffic data. Apple has done a nice job with this one, but has to put in a lot more effort in Maps before it stands a chance against Google Maps.

LG G5 pre-orders in Germany come with free Cam Plus grip

Mainland Europe is getting the LG G5 a bit later than the US and South Korea, but Amazon Germany will start selling the flagship in the middle of the month and will offer a free Cam Plus grip.

The phone - available in Gold, Silver and Titan - costs €700 and the grip alone is €100, but using the LGG5AKTION code, the grip becomes free. The deal is valid for orders until April 16.

The grip helps shooting with an additional 1,200mAh battery and hardware controls - photo shutter and video recorder keys, plus a zoom dial.

The LG 360 Cam and LG B&O DAC are available too, but you'll have to pay for those - €267 and €150 respectively.