MasHD Blog

Last week, Facebook faced one of those difficult security problems that companies usually have to face once in a while . The social network reported that a security bug left approximately six million users’ information exposed, namely email addresses and phone numbers. However, it seems the problem goes much deeper than that. Security research firm Packet Storm Security first discovered the bug, and they say that their data and Facebook’s data that they reported to users don’t quite match up. The researchers say that what Facebook told its users was much less than what the researchers found. They also said that the social network is hoarding non-user contact information. This means that even if you don’t have a Facebook account, you most likely have friends that do, and if they have you in their contacts, this could mean that Facebook still has information on you, and it’s being exposed. Obviously, users are furious that their not-for-sharing phone numbers and email addresses are ...

Sprint has announced another new Windows Phone smartphone for their network, the Samsung ATIV S Neo which will launch on Sprint shortly and will retail for $149.99 on a new two year contract. This price is after a $50 mail in rebate. The Samsung ATIV S Neo is a Windows Phone 8 handset that features a 4.8 inch HD display, processing comes in the form of a dual core 1.4GHz processor and there is also 1gB of RAM. Other specifications on the Samsung ATIV Neo S include a 1.9 megapixel camera up front for video calls. On the back of the handset is an 8 megapixel camera for photos and video. The Samsung ATIV S Neo comes with a number of camera modes, which include Beauty Shot and Manga modes, the handset also features a microSD card slot, Wi-Fi and a 2,000 mAh battery. You can find out more details about the device over at Sprint.

The past two days have been full of what’s called “Supermoon” sightings due to the fact that the Earth has been as close to our moon as it’s going to be all year long. While the past two days have brought on a flood of “oh my goodness that’s the biggest moon I’ve ever seen” photographs, today we must face the facts: it wont just be another 365 days before we see this happen again. What you’ve got here is a bit of science for your Monday morning. While the moon was just 221,823 miles from the Earth yesterday, it’ll be moving outward once again for its approximately 14-month journey out, around, and back in toward our larger planetary body. This occurrence isn’t something that brings about the same results each 14-month journey, either. According to Amanda Thompson, planetarium presenter at the Museum of Science in Boston, the closest the moon will get to the Earth this century will be just 221,439 miles away, and that cycle wont be taking place until December 6th, 2052. Speaking w...

Facing charges of espionage, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has left Hong Kong, WikiLeaks claims, and is headed to Russia. Snowden’s final destination is unclear, but Cuba is a strong possibility. Wherever he ends up, the move is bound to infuriate White House authorities eager to bring Snowden back to the United States for a hearing. The New York Times reported this morning that Snowden traveled on an Aeroflot flight. An unnamed reservations agent said he booked a one-way ticket. Russia’s Interfax news service, citing a “person familiar with the situation,” claims that Mr. Snowden will remain in transit at Moscow airport for several hours, and would not formally cross the Russian border. Snowden has been formally charged with theft of U.S. government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person. As we reported earlier today , the White...

Two days ago, some schematics showed up that appeared to reveal the general design and dimensions of both the upcoming iPhone 5S and the rumored lower-cost iPhone. While we haven’t been too concerned with the look of the iPhone 5S, since it’s likely to just mirror the 5, this budget iPhone has been a much more intriguing prospect. There have been rumors going back months which attempted to describe its construction, and this week’s contribution sure seemed to line up nicely with some of those. On the chance that this really is how the phone will arrive, an unofficial 3D render has been created with the data from that schematic, possibly giving us our first look. Again, this is all very unofficial – these are not Apple-sourced images. But what they lack in official provenance they make up for by helping to whet our appetites just a bit for this rumored hardware. We’re definitely getting a retro vibe here, as certain elements remind us of the iPhone 3G(S), not to mention the iPod –...

A new Sony Xperia model number has appeared over at the Indonesian Postel website. The model number C6903 suggests that this is a high-end device, above the Xperia Z (C660X), and the last digit ’3′ would suggest that it supports European LTE bands. This model number follows on from other unidentified models such as the C6802 & C6833 that have been around for a while. We have previously been told that the C6907 model number was internally used for the Xperia Tablet Z Wi-Fi variant, so we’re not sure if this number has been re-deployed to a different device or whether it relates to the LTE SKU of the Xperia Tablet Z. If we are looking at a different device, there is a good chance that this model number will be adopted by the upcoming Xperia Z Ultra (‘Togari’) or Honami handsets. We’ll bring you more as we have it.

Qualcomm recently announced the first quad-core chipset with Windows Phone 8 support and Nokia may already have a phone with it in the works according to GFXBench results. The promised GDR3 update should bring quad-core and 1080p screen support. However, the Nokia device that ran the benchmark had screen resolution of 720p, suggesting this might be a separate update. The GPU of the chipset was Adreno 305, but unfortunately GFXBench didn’t detect CPU clockspeed or the amount of RAM. The Snapdragon 400 chipset that Qualcomm announced was a mid-range model with four Cortex-A7 CPUs at 1.2GHz and LTE support. Qualcomm also has Krait 300-based quad-cores with Adreno 305, but it's not clear if they support Windows Phone 8 and without CPU clockspeed it's hard to guess which one it is anyway. The benchmark is also mum on the name, but it confirms Nokia as the manufacturer and Windows Phone 8 as the OS. There's been some talk that the Nokia EOS will pack a quad-core CPU, but ...

RBMen has come across some more specs for the upcoming next Oppo Find handset, which we already heard is rumoured to be running the brand new Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. The new device will supposedly be called the Find 7 not the Find 6, as it seems that Oppo prefers odd numbers. So without further delays here are the specs: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor (unknown clock speed) 5 inch 1920×1080 display 2GB RAM 13 megapixel rear camera 8 megapixel front facing camera NFC enabled 4000mAh battery The big deal here is the massive 4000mAh battery, which should help give this 5 inch handset plenty of battery life. Compare this with other 5 inch smartphones, like the Galaxy S4 which only has a 2600mAh battery, and you’re looking at a significant battery improvement. However there’s still no word on whether the battery will be removable or not, I wouldn’t bet on it based on the Find 5, but with that size I doubt it’s going to be such an issue for many users. Apart from...

aah ..the illuminati symbolism  It seems that the “new thing” for 2013 is celebrity endorsements, as we’ve seen Alicia Keys join BlackBerry and Jessica Alba join Windows Phone, among others. For all of those curious as to what Samsung and Jay-Z had in store for us after some teasers last week, well, let the rumors reach a halt as of today. It turns out that Jay-Z’s new album, “Magna Carta Holy Grail” is slated for a launch on July 4th, and as a benefit to current owners of the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S 4 and Galaxy Note II, Samsung will be offering an app on the Google Play store on June 24th that will give Jay-Z’s new album for free. This give away is limited to only one million lucky Galaxy owners, and we assume this is a first-come first-serve thing, so just remember that there are currently 10 million Galaxy S 4 owners in the market, without counting all the other tens of millions of people that own all the previous Galaxy models. At this time it’s hard to tell how many ...

The global mobile market is expected to be ushered into a 500 ppi (pixels per inch) era next year. The display industry, which sported 5-inch full-HD displays this year, is expected to bring about another innovation in picture quality. According to industry insiders, Korean and Japanese display makers are currently working on the development of LTPS (Low Temperature Poly Silicon), WQXGA (2560x1600) mobile LCD panels. This year, 5-inch full-HD displays with 440ppi have been the best specs. Next year, 6-inch, WQXGA 500ppi displays are likely to be released. LG Display has opted for AH-IPS (Advanced high performance-In plane switching) so as to manufacture panels with over 500 ppi. Japan Display (JDI) and Sharp are also taking pains to develop 500 ppi mobile displays, an improvement on full-HD displays, as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are contemplating the adoption of Japanese panels in order to diversify their supply lines. The industry which evolved from 720p display...

A few weeks ago at Google I/O some of us were expecting new hardware, but the only new hardware that was unveiled during the event was a Samsung Galaxy S4 with stock Android, so we are still waiting on a new Nexus device and the Asus Nexus 7 should be one of the first devices to receive an upgrade. There is however some good news, because we spotted a new ASUS tablet at the FCC that is running on Android 4.3, which is expected shortly, and some other decent specifications, making it a serious iPad Mini competitor. The Asus K008/K009 stopped by at the Bluetooth SIG last week, where it was certified for Bluetooth 4.0 and the software version number made it clear it was running the unreleased version of Android (4.3). This new tablet features a 7-inch 1080p or 1920 x 1200 display with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) and an Adreno 320 GPU. Last year this system-on-a-chip was mainly used for high-end smartphones and tablets. The device also has 3950mAh battery, 32GB of storage,...

A week before its scheduled announcement, the previously tipped Samsung Galaxy NX appeared in press and live images. The photos confirm that Samsung is about to release a mirrorless camera which boots Android – right in line with what Samsung’s CEO JK Shin told the press today. As you can see in the image above, the yet to be revealed Samsung Galaxy NX is way different from the Galaxy S4 Zoom. In terms of design, the Galaxy NX closely resembles the Samsung NX 20 – the DSLR styled member of the manufacturer’s line of enthusiast cameras. The Samsung Galaxy NX is rumored to feature a 20.3MP APS-C sensor with support for ISO up to 25,600, and 1080p video capture. The touchscreen on the back of the camera is tipped to be a 4.3″ unit. The Galaxy NX is expected to boot Android 4.2.2 when released. As a member of the NX family, the Samsung Galaxy NX will support the manufacturer’s range of compatible lenses. We are yet to see if the camera will be offered as body-only setup. We...

Jolla recently revealed its first phone , and now Finland-based carrier DNA has confirmed it will be the first operator in the world to offer the self-titled handset. Running the Sailfish operating system, these devices continue on a path blazed by Meego while also promising Android app compatibility out of the box. The Jolla phone features 4.5-inch "HD" display, dual-core CPU, 16GB storage with microSD expansion slot, LTE and an 8MP rear camera. DNA/Jolla source

HTC is readying an updated version of its Butterfly smartphone, with the HTC Butterfly S already caught in the wild complete with BoomSound speakers as on the HTC One. The new model, spotted by VR-Zone in China, is expected to be roughly the same size as its predecessor, which was HTC’s first device with a 1080p display, in this case measuring in at 5-inches However, whereas the original Butterfly had a speaker on the rear of the casing, this new Butterfly S removes that and switches instead to stereo speakers on the front of the phone. HTC debuted that approach on the One, dubbing the system BoomSound and using specially wide-range drivers and amplification to reduce distortion at high and low frequencies, as well as at high volume. The system paid off, with the One being one of the best smartphones for audio performance that we’ve tested. HTC then rolled out the Desire 600, a dual-SIM device for limited markets, also including BoomSound, while the oft-rumored HTC One mini is al...

We saw a couple images surface on June 6 of a device said to be the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, a 6.4-inch phablet previously known as the Sony Togari. While both the images certainly look like they could be the handset, neither are official, unlike the one that surfaced today. In a Sony event invitation, the Xperia Z Ultra is shown in profile, revealing a very slim body. Below you can see a portion of the Xperia Z Ultra that is the real deal, however, featured from the side in a French Sony Mobile invitation to an event on July 4. In case you didn’t do so well in French class, here’s a translation: “Sony Mobile reservers a big surprise for you,” with the second sentence reading, “Don’t forget to mark your calendars!” Of course, the second sentence is written with a stylus, which is likely a coy way of confirming the rumors that the huge smartphone will have a stylus for drawing and handwriting and such. The image doesn’t show us much of the phablet, but the small amount we can see app...

The official image of the upcoming Windows Phone 8 smartphone, the HTC Tiara has leaked. The design of the HTC Tiara is quite similar to the HTC One SV and the specifications of the device lies between that of HTC Windows Phone 8S and the HTC Windows Phone 8X. The HTC Tiara is rumored to sport a 4.3-inch Super LCD2 display of WVGA resolution and will be powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor along with 1 GB of RAM. HTC Tiara also features an 8 megapixel rear camera, 1.6 megapixel front shooter and 8GB internal memory. HTC Tiara will run on Windows Phone 8 OS and the juice for the smartphone will be provided by a 1,800mAh battery. Unfortunately, there is no official word on the release date of the HTC Taira, but the smartphone is rumored to be launched by the end of the month. ( GSMArena )

We all find ourselves from time to time wondering if a particular corner of the Internet we were hoping to access is really down, or if it is just something on our side. Such is the case of Pirate Bay users the world over who can rest assured: it’s not just you. For whatever reason, The Pirate Bay is down from one side of the world to the other, and no one is sure why. Reportedly, most of the proxies aren’t responding either, although some are reporting being able to access certain ones still. Overall, however, The Pirate Bay is down across the globe, and thus far no one involved with TPB has provided any reasons for the downtime. Nevertheless, users need not fear – they haven’t had their access blocked or any other unfortunate individual-level changes. The folks over at Torrent Freak report that they’ve tried to get a reason from Pirate Bay administrators, but that thus far they haven’t been given any word on the matter, either. In all likelihood, everything will be back up and f...

If you're in Texas, Florida or other Southern states this summer, watch out for "crazy ants," warns Edward LeBrun, a University of Texas research associate who studies the species. Also known to scientists as Nylanderia fulva, they're called crazy because of their unpredictable movements and swarming populations. The bug is reddish-brown, about an eighth of an inch long and has a hankering for honey dew — with a side of electronics. The insects nest anywhere and are easily transported, but so far have mostly infested Texas and several Southern states after being inadvertently transported from South America by humans. They've spread to 24 counties in Texas, 20 in Florida and a few in Mississippi and Louisiana, according to LeBrun's study, published in the journal Biological Invasions. They cause about $146.5 million in electrical damage a year because millions of ants are electrocuted in small circuits or wires, where they seek warmth, according to a Tex...

Apple has revealed its new Mac Pro, the much-anticipated refresh of its professional-grade workstation, and it’s quite the departure from the old machine. Gone is the meaty aluminum tower, replaced by a compact, glossy black cylinder just 1/8th the volume of its predecessor. That doesn’t mean it’s slow, however: in fact, the new Mac Pro is set to be the fastest Mac ever. Inside, there’s Intel’s new 12-core, 256-bit Xeon processor keeping things moving. That’s paired not with traditional hard-drives, but instead with flash storage; Apple is pretty excited about the type of flash, too, using a new-generation flash with a PCIe controller. That’s good for up to 1.25GBps read rates and up to 1.0GBps write rates. It’s not the only turn of speed Apple says the Mac Pro is good for: if you want to add external storage, there’s support for Thunderbolt 2. As you might recall, Thunderbolt 2 is good for up to 20Gbps, with six devices supported per port. You also get six Thunderbolt ports...

Apple has officially taken the wraps off of iOS 7 at its Worldwide Developer Conference today. iOS 7 is the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system that debuted back in 2007 on the original iPhone. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, iOS 7 is the biggest change to the platform since the iPhone was introduced five years ago. The new design is evident in everything from sharper, flatter icons, slimmer fonts, a new slide-to-unlock function, and a new control panel that slides up from bottom for frequently accessed settings. The stock apps have all been redesigned — including a major revamp of the weather app with new animations that is scarily reminiscent of the recent Yahoo Weather. Apple's head of design Jony Ive notes that all of the new icons have feature a new palette of colors — gone are the bold, primary colors, replaced by modern shades and tones.. Flat design is very prominent in iOS 7, everything from the buttons to the switches to the chrome surrounding apps...

We’ve been following the progress of the Huawei Ascend P6 and are waiting for it to officially launch at an event being held in London on June 18. From what we’ve heard and seen so far this could be an extremely impressive device, and while we’re waiting Huawai has just posted an official image of the device along with a video tease of its long journey to the official debut in London. A few weeks ago we showed readers some official photo leaks of the Huawei Ascend P6, and it looked to be a beautifully stylish device, rumored to be an incredibly slim 6.18mm. Following this we recently gave details of a leaked price for the device that made it seem like incredible value. However, as usual something that seemed to be too good to be true, was too good to be true. Huawei’s Richard Yu went on to dismiss the price that had been claimed, although the more realistic approximate price that he then gave of around $490 still seems very reasonable for the Ascend P6. Yu himself has just posted...

2011 was the year of the Samsung Galaxy Ace; in 2012 Samsung introduced the Galaxy Ace 2; this year we’re expecting the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3. We’re seeing nothing groundbreaking in today’s leaked press render that features the same design language. The Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 allegedly depicted in the shot above wears the model number .GT-S7270. It is expected to land in both a single and a dual-SIM version, packing a four-inch WVGA display. Under the hood rumors mention a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, five-megapixel camera, VGA front-facer, and 4GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD card). The usual suspects include Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi, GPS, all powered by a 1,500 mAh battery. According to our information will the dimension of the device be 121.2×62.7×9.79mm. Three color options are rumored: Metallic Black, Wine Red, and Pure White. There is no exact information on pricing and availability for the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 but we might see it at the London 20 event.

We’ve been talking about the Galaxy S 4 family of phones for weeks, and now the GS4, the GS4 Active, and the GS4 mini are all official. The one that continues to remain unannounced is still the biggest mystery of them all, the Galaxy S 4 Zoom. From the start, we’ve struggled to positively ID the device as a smartphone or an Android-running camera, and though we’ve been strongly leading towards the “phone” side in recent weeks, rumors continued to play both sides. Today, we may be able to put that business to rest, getting our first look at what just might be the GS4 Zoom. As you can see, it appears to be a thicker version of the Galaxy S 4 Mini, along with a big lens on the back with optical zoom and a hardware shutter button. Honestly, though, it doesn’t really seem that far removed from a point-and-shoot version of the Galaxy Camera, which is possibly what led to all the confusion. We’d still love to get a full-on look at the phone’s rear and that all-important lens, but this i...

After much of the world was shocked by allegations that the NSA was actively spying on citizens through the PRISM program , Anonymous, a group of internet activists, released a series of documents that they claim can prove the existence of the intelligence sharing network. Despite the U.S government confirming the existence of the seven-year initiative, some of the companies that were allegedly on board quickly denied their involvement. Major tech corporations that include Microsoft, Apple, AOL, Yahoo, Facebook and Skype were supposedly providing exclusive government access to their servers and all of the customer information contained within. Although many would argue that it is the NSA’s moral obligation to thwart potential attacks using any means necessary, the big concern is what could happen if this information were to fall into the wrong hands. After all,  if Anonymous retrieved documents from an intelligence agency that should have unbeatable network security, what’s sto...

By now , most of us are very much awake to the fact that we are losing personal liberties and privacy to some form of global governance that wants to control each and every part of our lives in the guise of national security . Although we usually avoid politics and bilderberg  related articles , we cant help but post this because it has some relevance to technology which we use in the form of cell phones and most importantly - the internet . As you already know , the internet is not as safe as you might think it is . with bot-ware and different tracking systems , you are constantly being monitored by companies and different groups to know what you are into these days , although this seems to be  harmless at first , the purpose behind this might be much sinister  than what you think ,anyway , we are really not going to dig further into that because you all came here to read about the so called PRISM  program , so what is PRISM ?  , The name  PRISM,comes ...

When the Verizon HTC One hit the same process we’re seeing a new HTC One Mini (aka HTC M4) entering today with the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, it was unveiled by the carrier later that day. Today, on the other hand, it’s a bit more likely that this machine will remain under cover. The HTC M4 has been rumored to be in the mix for a late summer 2013 release for some time – in some cases, appearing as an HTC One Mini before the HTC One was revealed on its own! The HTC M4 represents a slightly smaller and slightly less powerful version of the HTC One. Though Niels Zomer – the fellow behind TechTastic and the spotter of this Bluetooth listing – seems to “know” some details about the device before it’s been made official, there’s still no absolute guarantee that this device will be delivered with these details: • 4.3-inch display with 720p resolution • Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual-core processor • 2GB RAM • 4.3 UltraPixel camera (same as HTC One) • Android 4.2 Jelly Bean • S...