4

Microsoft's "iPad vs. Windows" campaign now includes iPad vs. Surface RT. Is Microsoft picking the right fight?

On the back of new ads that zero on the iPad's (purported) weaknesses, Microsoft has thrown up a comparison page that stacks the iPad against four Windows 8 tablets.

Microsoft isn't using the Surface RT in the anti-iPad ads. Rather, the Asus VivoTab is its weapon of choice.

But Surface RT is front and center on the comparison page. One small problem: the (highly-selective) Microsoft feature chart doesn't necessarily portray Surface RT as the clear winner (see … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Amazon's Kindle Worlds will pay writers to write fan fiction.

- Hire your favorite musician to write you a song .

- And now a reading from the worst fan fiction I've ever read.

- Follow Russ Frushtick on Twitter.… Read more

Hi SMS offers a nice skin for your texts, but it doesn't have many of the features you probably need from iPhone's app. It's a decent way to transition from it, though.

As you might have guessed, this app is designed to look exactly like iPhone's text-messaging inbox. There is one thing keeping it from doing that exactly--the ads. They're nowhere near as bad as some apps, but they wouldn't appear in an iPhone app. They tend to get in the way if you have a smaller phone, too. Since Hi SMS is only … Read more

AT&T's rivals could start seeing red over the carrier's exclusive lock on the Samsung Galaxy S4's latest hue.

The Aurora Red shade of the 16GB Galaxy S4 goes on sale to AT&T customers starting June 14, though pre-orders begin May 24.

AT&T seems to have a special affinity for red shades; just about a year ago it also scored exclusive U.S. rights to sell the GS4 predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S3, in a shade of red. Later, that color and others became available globally.

While AT&T may have … Read more

A picture depicting a girl's reunion with her father returning from war has won the top award in a Google Doodle contest.

On display Thursday at Google's home page, "Coming Home" is a simple but powerful piece of art that portrays a young girl holding an American flag and running to reunite with her father. The returning soldier appears. They exchange a glance. And finally they fall into a deep embrace as they treasure their moment together again.

Created by 12th grader Sabrina Brady of Sparta, Wisc., "Coming Home" faced great competition in being crowned the 2013 U.S. Doodle 4 Google national winner. Google received more than 130,000 submissions for the contest, which garnered millions of votes. But in the end, Sabrina's drawing clearly moved the voters.… Read more

Modders and ROMmers rejoice, almost as soon as it reached the hands of consumers, Verizon's Galaxy S4 has been rooted.

Instructions for rooting Big Red's S4 were posted on the xdadevelopers forum this week, allowing folks who want to take full control of all that sweet new hardware to do so and get the thrill of voiding their warranty at the same time.

Just a few short years ago, it seemed like a major milestone when each of these new Android devices were rooted for the first time. Now, directions for gaining root access comes almost automatically thanks … Read more

Samsung says it has sold more than 10 million Galaxy S4 smartphones to retailers and wireless operators less than a month after the handset's debut, making it the company's fastest selling smartphone to date.

In a press release Wednesday, the company noted that the GS4's predecessor, the Galaxy S3, hit the 10 million mark in terms of global channel sales -- not sales to consumers -- 50 days after its 2012 launch, and that the GS2 and GS took five and seven months, respectively, to reach that mark.

The GS4, then, would seem to be carrying Samsung … Read more

When Sony has a secret up its sleeve, the company loves to tease. If you missed last week's video enigma, Sony revealed very brief pictures of the mysterious PlayStation 4 hardware, leaving gamers in the dark about what the highly anticipated gaming console will look like.

Luckily, graphics guru Andy Gilleand has the imagination (and skills) to piece together Sony's puzzle, and created a general conceptual rendering of the PlayStation 4.

While Gilleand's interpretation will have most Sony purists crying foul, the render does align with the general shape and accents seen in the official teaser videos. It's widely expected that Sony will finally show off the PlayStation 4 during a company press event at E3 2013 on June 10.… Read more

This app inches so close to being the all-in-one photo app you need on Android. Sadly, it has some weird quirks and one glaring omission that make it just miss the mark. Magic Effects Studio Camera is still a solid editing app for your smartphone or tablet. If you like to shoot with your gadget, give it a shot.

One of the first things you might notice about this app is its layout. It's easier on the eyes than a lot of other Android apps, even though the ads it has often make some of the buttons disappear on … Read more