i-Bell, a WiFi-enabled camera doorbell, is among the connected gadgets to be approved as one of Apple's HomeKit partners, ahead of the launch of iOS 8.

As anyone who's ever come home to a Royal Mail red slip of doom can attest, missing a much-needed delivery is one of life's many irritations. But a new smart doorbell hopes to change the way we interact with our postman forever, under Apple's HomeKit umbrella.

First announced at the company's event in June, HomeKit is one of the key new features of impending operating system iOS 8. The new software is expected to be downloadable from  Wednesday following Tuesday's 'special event' - widely expected to be the launch of the iPhone 6, and potentially the iWatch.

The framework has been designed to allow you to control your smart home appliances through your iPhone or iPad, such as turning off lights or locking doors. These products' apps can be grouped under HomeKit in order to work together, for example, setting your thermostat to lower at the same time lights are dimmed.

i-Bell is a WiFi connected doorbell complete with camera, which syncs with your smartphone, smart TV, laptop or tablet to alert you when someone's at your door. Once the bell is pressed, a call is made or text sent to the linked device, while live video is automatically streamed from when they approach (the guest / visitors cannot see the homeowner).

One of the main attractions is the ability to let callers know a safe place or designated neighbour you'd like your delivery left with, regardless of your location. It also has a night vision camera for visitors calling after dark.

The device senses a visitor is approaching through a motion detector, and will store images for security purposes in the cloud, explains chief executive Graham Kershberg.

"The images will be available for seven days for free, after which the user can pay to store the images for longer periods," he says.

The sensitivity of the detector can be customised for the location of your home, for example, those living on a busy street can opt out of being alerted when something or someone is detected as moving outside of a certain range, up to eight metres.

Users can also turn the camera on through remote activation to check if anyone's passing by at any time, Mr Kershberg says, helping to deliver peace of mind if you're abroard or wanting to keep tabs on who may be calling on an elderly relative.

Launched on KickStarter at the end of July, the i-Bell initially sought £30,000 to help make the project a reality. The project eventually raised over £60,000

"It was something I thought 'why doesn't this exist', and started looking for it, and I couldn't find it this time last year," he says. "It took us 10 months to get it to the stage when we could launch it on KickStarter, and we've now been working on it for a year."

Alerts are sent via the internet, meaning that while your phone will need to be connected via 3G/4G or WiFi, the i-Bell maintains a standard connection through your home's router.

"It's connects to the router inside your home, and if for whatever reason the broadband fails, or there's a loss of power, you'll receive an alert. It is battery powered as well, and you'll be notified once the power begins to run down and it needs to be recharged."

Mr Kershberg expects the product to go on sale around November, retailing at around £170.

In the future, the i-Bell could be used to grant access to properties through secure connected locks, outside lighting or home irrigation systems. Advances in facial recognition technology could also be used to alert owners to when family members or other specified individuals are outside their front door. From homeowners looking for peace of mind while on holiday, to workers who can't be at home all day waiting for a package, the i-Bell could be the gadget to banish the 'Sorry we missed you' slip from our future doormats.

Will you replace your security guard with an i-Bell?

Angry Birds Stella for Android and iOS

Rovio has made gazillions of dollars from their popular Angry Birds franchise, and now a new game touched down that’s a bit different from the rest. It’s called Angry Birds Stella, and it has just landed for Android and iOS.

Angry Birds Stella is all about a pink bird by the name of Stella, and she’s obviously angry. The lead character may have changed, but the piggies stay the same, and you’ll have to get through a slew of them if you want to complete the games 120+ levels. Don’t expect getting a perfect score to be easy although we’re sure there will be plenty of Angry Birds Stella cheat videos up soon.

The gameplay behind Angry Birds Stella looks to be the same physics-based flinging action the franchise is known for. You can expect some new abilities from Stella including a cool freezing power, and there are 6 other birds to unlock as you make your way through the game. It’s obviously a game geared towards the female persuasion, so you can expect a softer color scheme and a mostly female cast.

Angry Birds Stella is one of two new Rovio games slated to arrive before the end of the year. The other is called Angry Birds Transformers, and it will arrive on October 15 – save the date. While Stella is geared for the girls, there’s plenty of physics flinging fun to be had if you enjoy the franchise or are just looking for a solid game. You can pick up Angry Birds Stella on Google Play or the App Store for free.

Facebook Inc (FB.O) is prepared to spend billions of dollars to reach its goal of bringing the Internet to everyone on the planet, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday.

What we really care about is connecting everyone in the world," Zuckerberg said at an event in Mexico City hosted by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.

"Even if it means that Facebook  has to spend billions of dollars over the next decade making this happen, I believe that over the long term its gonna be a good thing for us and for the world."

Around 3 billion people will have access to the Internet by the end of 2014, according to International Telecommunications Union (ITU) statistics. Almost half that, 1.3 billion people, use Facebook.

Facebook, the world's largest social networking company, launched its Internet.org project last year to connect billions of people without Internet access in places such as Africa and Asia by working with phone operators.

"I believe that ... when everyone is on the Internet all of our businesses and economies will be better," Zuckerberg said.

One of the biggest events in the smartphone world every year is the official unveiling of a new iPhone. This year we are expecting to see two model sizes launched at an Apple event that will take place exactly one week from today. Many people will want to follow developments as they happen, and today we have some details about watching the Apple Sept 9 keynote live.

Nothing is set in stone yet about this but we do have an idea of what could be offered. You might remember that the October Apple event last year was streamed live on Apple TV, so we expect users to be able to watch the Apple September 9th keynote live on the little black box in 2014 as well.

Also Apple.com tends to put live streams up, and the events page can feature the event live and also after it takes place. It’s too early to tell if this will happen this time around as Apple usually only puts up this information just before the keynote takes place, so it’s worth checking from time to time as we get nearer to the launch event on September 9th.

While we wait for the first official sightings of the new iPhone you might like to catch up with some of our most recent iPhone 6 articles. These include a look at pricing, specs expectations compared to the iPhone 5S, and some recent images that give us an idea of the design of the handset.

Did you know that there are developer options hidden inside Android? Here's some tips and tricks with some things you can do with them!

Developer options are enabled by default, so many people may go their entire Android experience without knowing that they exist. Once enabled, you are greeted with a plethora of different settings and many of them may seem like gibberish to the average person. However, there are many of them that are very useful for day to day use. Check out these 5 “secret” tips to help you optimize and make your smartphone run faster. 

Enable developer option

First and foremost, you need to enable the developer options on your Android. To do this, head intoSettings > About Phone / Tablet. From there, head down to Build Number and tap it 7 times. Don’t worry about keeping an exact count of the number of times that you’ve tapped it, as when you get close a little notification will pop up. If you’ve already enabled the developer options in the past, you’ll also received a notification when you tap on the build number saying that you’ve already enabled developer options.

After you’ve completed this, head back to the Settings main menu and you’ll find the Developer options under the System subheading.

Speed up animations

This is probably one of the most talked about improvements you can tweak in the Developer options. You can completely disable the animations, which would make your phone load applications as fast as your hardware permits, or even make the animations twice as fast. In day to day usage, I prefer to use the latter since I enjoy having the animations still in place but have them load faster at the same time.

Head to Developer options and scroll down until you see Window animation scale,  Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale. If you want the fastest animations, put all three to “0.5x” and if you want no animations, put all three to “Off”. If your device has a good processor inside of it, you will see load times and general use improve drastically.

Force 4x MSAA

This option allows you to improve the quality of graphics in games and applications that run OpenGL ES 2.0. While this does increase the demand on your performance hardware and consume your battery faster, you will notice that some games and applications will run smoother. This is done by smoothing the pixels via the Multi Sample Anti-Aliasing 4x technique.

Enable USB debugging

This is another extremely handy option that can be used by anyone. It allows programs to access your device when it is connected to your PC via USB cord. It is a necessary step prior to rooting your device, unlocking your bootloader, and installing a custom ROM. As well, this will allow you to make a backup of your device information on your PC.

Password protection for computer backups

If you’ve enabled USB debugging as we talked about above and created a backup on your desktop computer, you can go a step further and make sure it is protected while it’s on your computer. By enabling this option, you can encrypt your copy with a password of your choosing. However, take note, if you forget the password, you won’t be able to access the backup information stored, so make sure that you’re using something you won’t forget or write it down somewhere.

Allow mock locations

By enabling this option and using an app such as Fake GPS Location, you can make your device “spoof” your location to different parts of the world. While somewhat impractical, this will cause all applications that use location based information in them to believe you’re near whatever location you’ve spoofed: from the deserts of the Sahara one minute to the beautiful Rocky mountains the next.

Something to be aware of: don’t go playing around with all the settings in Developer options if you don’t know what they do. In any case, if you’ve managed to enabled/disable an option that you’re unsure of, you can reset all changes by switching Developer options to “Off” in the top right corner of the menu.

Let us know in the comments if you like this tricks

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Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Thursday unveiled what it said was the first smartwatch capable of making and receiving calls without a mobile phone nearby, in the South Korean firm's latest effort to find a new growth driver.

The world's biggest smartphone maker has been pushing hard to develop the wearable devices market as it looks to counter slowing earnings in its mobile division, which led to weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings.

Samsung is hardly alone in pushing wearables, which have yet to catch on with consumers. Rival Apple Inc is expected to launch its own device later  this year and LG Electronics Inc on Thursday announced its new G Watch R smartwatch featuring a circular plastic OLED screen, a stainless steel frame and leather strap.

Samsung's new smartwatch, called the Gear S, differs from its predecessors with a bigger 2-inch (5 cm) curved display and offers features like WiFi connectivity, pedestrian navigation and a built-in GPS. This device will run on Samsung's nascent Tizen operating system.

Samsung said the Gear S will start selling from October. It did not give details on pricing or where it will be available.

LG said its G Watch R will launch in key markets in the fourth quarter, without indicating a price.

Samsung Gear Solo specs The Gear Solo has shown up a few times this month in the rumor mill as it was rumored to make calls and have a curved display. Both those rumors are true as you can see the curved panel in the photos, and the Samsung Gear Solo does indeed have 3G capabilities.

The Samsung Gear Solo specs don’t quite measure up to LG’s new smartwatch as it has a dual-core 1GHz chip and 300mAh battery compared to the R Watches Snapdragon 400 and 410mAh battery. The storage and memory are the same, but the Gear Solo has a larger 2-inch curved 360 x 480 curved display of the Super AMOLED variety. Both wearables are thankfully water-resistant.

The differences continue when it comes to software, as the Samsung Gear Solo will run on Sammy’s Tizen platform instead of Android Wear. It can also handle calls, texts, and other info without being tethered to your smartphone thanks to 2G/3G capabilities. As you’d expect, the Solo also has Wi-Fi and Blueooth.

In terms of features, the smartwatch’s various sensors will track your fitness along with the GPS and S Health. It’ll work with Nike+ and has a UV sensors and heart rate monitor thrown in for good measure. In other words, it should be a very solid gadget for the fitness crowd.

LG Circular G Watch R

The LG G Watch R has a circular P-OLED display, and it’s the first company in the world to use the Plastic OLED displays on a watch.

That P-OLED display comes in at 1.3-inches and is said to remain bright in the sun and at various angles. The rest of the specs are impressive as well considering the LG G Watch R will have a Snapdragon 400, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. It’s basically a mid-range handset on your wrist and it’s powered by a 410mAh battery. Impressed?

On the design side of things, the smartwatch will come with a suite of watch faces that can be swapped out with the push of a button. The body is made from stainless, and it has a 22mm calfskin band. It’s also water-resistant to a degree and can handle apps from the Play Store. Want to keep tabs on your fitness? It can handle that as well thanks to a pulse rate sensor.

LG really spilled the beans on the LG G Watch R, and we know everything there is to know about the smartwatch… except for the price. Hopefully LG will announce that at IFA along with a firm release date as all we have to go on at the moment is early Q4.

Are you blown away by these Wearables?

Apple Confirm New iPhones Sept. 9 event

Apple Inc invited media to a "special event" in its hometown of Cupertino, California, on Sept. 9, when the iPhone maker is expected to unveil the latest versions of its best-selling smartphones.

Apple's typically cryptic invitation read: "Wish we could say more." It came on a simple black-and-white background dominated by the company's familiar corporate logo.

The launch date had been widely reported. Apple was expected to unveil larger 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens for iPhones, a move thought to be driven in part by the success of larger devices by rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. Tech blog also reported Apple may introduce its long-awaited smartwatch.

Apple uses its September events to showcase its most important products. The iPhone accounts for half its business and is gaining more prominence as tablet sales falter.

The company that defined the smartphone industry has not introduced a new product since the iPad in 2010. CEO Tim Cook has promised new product categories for 2014. Software chief Eddy Cue has called Apple's product pipeline the best he's seen in decades.

But it remained unclear whether the company has another groundbreaking gadget up its sleeve.

Much of the pre-event speculation has centered on the use of "sapphire" display screens said to be more scratch-resistant. Separately, some suppliers have told the media about screen production snags that have raised questions about availability at launch time.

Beyond the hardware, the next generation of gadgets will incorporate new software features such as HomeKit, which will help manage connected devices within the home, and HealthKit, a central repository of health data and services.

Apple has been discussing its "HealthKit" data service with health providers and apps developers, people familiar with the discussions say. They said HealthKit, while still nascent, will become the lynchpin in a broader push into mobile and digital healthcare, a fertile field that rivals Google and Samsung are also exploring.

Shares in Apple have rallied in past months in anticipation of the event. On Thursday, they were up 0.4 percent at $102.55 in afternoon trade.

Just recently, researchers have found a big loophole in Gmail and are quite very conducive to hacking – raising alarm in its million users. This particular vulnerability in Google’s mainstream Android working framework that lets them hack into Gmail accounts with a 92% achievement rate.

As indicated by the subtle elements of the exploration, the hack — as you may expect — depends on a malware application acting like an authentic bit of programming, so you ought to be protected on the off chance that you take a great mind over what’s permitted to run on your handset. Once the vindictive code is set up, it can utilize a cell phone’s imparted memory to bounce into different applications, including Gmail.

The hack greatly depends on having the capacity to anticipate what the client will do next and timing capture splendidly, so a few applications demonstrated more powerfully than others. Of the seven applications tried, Gmail was the most effortless to get to, while the Amazon application was the most troublesome for the malicious program. The exploit was run on an Android gadget, however the scientists say the same standards can possibly be connected to both iOS and Windows Phone operating systems.

The hacker will be able to get access by bringing in a client to introduce an apparently innocuous application, for example, wallpaper, and uncover a newfound open side station that doesn’t oblige benefits. This peculiarity permits methods to impart information, productively and is very basic, since all phones’ downloaded applications connect with one working framework.

On the account of the techniques set up to shut and find malware, the helplessness reported here shouldn’t stress the greater part of clients. In any case it’s a working exhibit of how a gadget’s imparted memory might be abused, and an alternate update your application introduces — especially in case you’re on a rooted phone.

As what Google’s spokesperson said, users should be more vigilant with they are particularly downloading – apps, music, and other files. They have to make sure that they are downloading from trustworthy sources – and not in any bogus websites and app stores. A routine checkup should be made of your apps – most especially if you have children who are using it. If you can see questionable apps that may have appeared from nowhere, you have to immediately uninstall and delete in on-site. You have to clean your phone or tablet from time to time to make sure unnecessary apps are also deleted.