Ballmer explains how Apple forced his hand with the Surface
Outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has revealed in an interview with ZDNet that the company felt forced to manufacture its own Surface line of tablets …
Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2007. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he closely follows the events in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.
Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming new movies and TV shows, or training to run his next marathon.
Articles by Chris Smith
Microsoft yanks update that wrecked the Surface Pro 2
Many Surface Pro 2 users who have updated their device using recently released system firmware have posted complaints all across Microsoft’s support pages demanding that …
Will 2014 be the year of Windows Phone?
The Windows Phone mobile platform may be looking to have an even better 2014 after showing some encouraging momentum this year, at least according to …
Samsung reportedly still very much present in iPhone’s future
Apple has reportedly been trying to get rid of its dependence of Samsung when it comes to mobile device components, but the iPhone future is …
Court: Torrent uploader to pay $652,000 for one Swedish movie
A man in Sweden who used to upload movies to a torrent site for years has been ordered by a court to pay $652,000 in …
Carrier lets customers rent iPhone 5s, Galaxy Note 3 for almost nothing
French carrier Iliad, which operates the well-known local Free brand, has a new offer for its mobile customers that will let them rent high-end smartphones, …
Sony kicks top executive to the curb after terrible U.S. sales
In a bid to increase consumer electronics sales in the U.S., Sony replaced Sony Electronics (SEL) President Phil Molyneux with Michael Fasulo, who has been …
Facebook invades your feed with auto-play video ads
Facebook on Tuesday confirmed that it will bring auto-playing video ads to the news feed only hours after The Wall Street Journal published a story saying that …
Kinect-like face recognition, touchless control tipped for Surface Mini
The rumored Surface Mini Windows tablet that wasn’t introduced alongside the new Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 earlier this year is still coming, a …
Facebook ‘dislike’ button is finally here, but only in Messenger
Facebook has updated its Messenger app with a new set of stickers that include a “dislike” button, All Facebook reports, a feature that some users …
That iPhone 5s ‘marketing gimmick’ apparently ‘set off panic in the industry’
Apple’s 64-bit A7 chip found inside the iPhone 5s, but also the 2013 family of iPads, is the feature that surprised the competition, setting off …
AT&T wants to track your illegal downloads, ban access to file-sharing sites
A new AT&T patent awarded in mid November describes methods through which the Internet service provider may track the privacy-related habits of customers and assign …
Windows 9 concept: Saving Windows from itself with a focus on ‘little things’
After hearing that Microsoft may bring back the Start menu button to Windows starting with the next major release, codenamed “Threshold,” a user imagined some …
Video: iPhone 6 concept imagines an EYE ID retina scanner
The same design team that imagined the iPhone Air and curved iPhone 6c concepts has also worked on an iPhone 6 concept that would offer …
‘Extremely popular’ Surface Pro 2, Surface 2 sold out at retailers
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 2 and Surface 2 tablets are selling very well, according to Mashable‘s checks with various retailers where the devices are sold out with …
Video: Steam Machine beta unboxing, gameplay, teardown and specs
Valve on Friday shipped Steam Machine beta units to 300 lucky developers, with some of them already posting details – including image galleries and hands-on videos …
Mayer on mail issues: Yahoo ‘really let you down this week’
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer on Friday posted an apology on Yahoo’s official Tumblr blog for the extended Yahoo Mail issues that affected many users for …
Santa may have a Retina iPad mini for you after all
Santa may have an easier time finding the Retina iPad mini in stores this Christmas than initially anticipated, as Apple’s online store has dropped shipping …
‘Younity’ is a Snapchat for everything
Younity is a new service from Entangled Media that brings Snapchat-like sharing features that apply to all the possible files users would have on their …
Your entire world will soon be connected
Intelligent connected machines and services that surround us – effectively known as the “Internet of Things” (IoT) – will become a $309 billion business by …
Yet another huge market Apple’s iPhone is dominating
An email management company revealed that 3 out of every 4 mobile devices activated by the small and medium business it tracks were iPhones or …
NPD: PlayStation 4 sort-of outsells Xbox One in the U.S. in November
Despite both Sony and Microsoft reporting similar new consoles sales numbers so far, AllThingsD says citing a new NPD Group report that the PlayStation 4 outsold the …
Video: iPhone Air, iPhone 6c concepts that may never be
Even though the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c have only been available in stores for a few months, fans are already trying to imagine …
Microsoft says Google still isn’t playing fair
Microsoft and other interested parties that have antitrust complaints against Google in Europe are not happy with the concessions the search giant is ready to …
Video: New 3D motion-tracking system sees you through walls
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a radar-like 3D motion-tracking system that can spot body movement through walls, Engadget …
You’ll never guess what type of people use Google+ the most
A new study looks into Google+ usage, a social network that has been labeled as a “ghost town” in the past for not being actually …
Microsoft planning $1B ‘bribe’ so Samsung keeps making Windows Phones?
In addition to mentioning several unconfirmed details about upcoming Windows Phone 9 changes, Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin has also revealed an even more interesting note …
Windows Phone 9 will reportedly ditch Metro UI, launch in late 2014
Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin, known for some of his accurate tips on the mobile industry in the past, said on Twitter that Windows Phone 9 …
Yahoo struggles to properly acknowledge, fix ongoing Yahoo Mail service issues
Yahoo on Wednesday finally fully acknowledged on Twitter and on the service’s personal blog that its Yahoo Mail service is experiencing issues which some of …
Google engineer: Smartphone displays may soon be a relic of the past
A Google engineer seems to be certain that the future will bring us display-free computing devices that rely on voice recognition software to get the job …
