Microsoft is selling its own Samsung Galaxy S8 Microsoft Edition

Samsung originally bundled Microsoft’s Skype, OneDrive, and OneNote apps on the Galaxy S6 and S7, but it appears things are a little different this year. Samsung unveiled its latest Galaxy S8 handset yesterday, and now Microsoft is planning to offer its own customized version. The Samsung Galaxy S8 Microsoft Edition is available for preorders today at Microsoft's US retail stores, and will include Microsoft’s range of apps and services.

“A Microsoft customization is applied to the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ Microsoft Edition when the devices are unboxed and connected to Wi-Fi,” says a Microsoft spokesperson. “This customization ensures customers a best-in-class productivity experience with Microsoft applications such as Office, OneDrive, Cortana, Outlook and more.”

Microsoft originally started bundling its apps on Samsung’s Galaxy S6 handset after a bitter Android royalties dispute. Both companies settled, eventually, but kept the deal terms confidential. This secret deal doesn't appear to have expired for the Galaxy S8, as Microsoft continues to bundle the OneDrive, Skype, and Office on all handsets. This special Microsoft edition includes additional apps like Outlook and Cortana. We’ve reached out to Microsoft to clarify why the additional apps aren’t bundled on all Galaxy S8 handsets, and we’ll update you accordingly.

GoPro finally realizes that smartphones can do exactly what its cameras can

One of GoPro's biggest challenges is competition. 

The action-camera maker is striving to return to profitability, and on Wednesday announced its third round of layoffs in just over a year.

GoPro cut 270 full-time and open positions in the latest round. Last November, it laid off 200 people, or about 15% of its workforce, and reduced its headcount by 100 people in January. 

In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, CEO Nick Woodman said the company had realized one crucial error it made since it went public in 2014.

"We failed to make GoPro contemporary and failed to align GoPro to the smartphone movement," Woodman said. "The smartphone has set a new bar for convenience" and for how much work consumers are willing to put into making video, he added. 

GoPro largely achieved the brand recognition of being the catch-all moniker for small point-of-view cameras. "We believe that there's a mega trend of consumers who are increasingly sharing themselves online," Woodman said. 

However, GoPro faced a tough ask getting consumers with smartphones to buy an additional camera. In addition, GoPro's niche was getting crowded with cheaper models. GoPro's flagship device, the Hero5 Black, retails for $399.99 excluding any mounts or harnesses needed to use it handsfree. 

GoPro has also struggled with new product launches. To the dismay of some analysts, the company cut the price of its tiny Hero4 Session camera by $100 to $299 within three months of its launch in 2015. At the time, Morgan Stanley's James Faucette and his team said in a note that consumers preferred the preceding model's better video quality over the Session's form factor.

The company entered the drone market last September but quickly recalled about 2,500 units of the Karma after some of them lost power mid-flight. The Karma went back on sale in February. 

Achieving profitability

Amid these challenges, GoPro shares have fallen 76% from their 2014 IPO. Traders cheered news of the latest cost cuts, sending the stock up nearly 15% to $8.53 a share on Thursday. 

However, Morgan Stanley analysts said there was room for deeper cost cuts. 

"While we are encouraged by further cost cutting, we are not convinced GoPro can achieve profitability this year yet," said Morgan Stanley's Jerry Liu and his colleagues in a note on Wednesday. 

They raised their price target on GoPro shares from $7 to $7.50, but maintained their "underweight" rating. Liu said they were encouraged by the cost cuts, and what CJ Prober, the chief operating officer, described as a shift from focusing on growth to costs.

GoPro estimated restructuring charges of up to $10 million in the latest round of layoffs, mostly related to severance costs. It raised its revenue guidance for the first quarter of 2017.

2017 ‘Dodge Barracuda Price and Specs

To start with the design of the 2017 Dodge Barracuda, we immediately see some familiar exterior elements. We see the highly recognizable elements that were taken from the legendary 1971 model and we see that they have been given a modernistic twist on them, making this a highly interesting choice to go with. The front fascia adds a retro vibe to it but has been made to be slightly bigger compared to before. It is also slightly taller than the Plymouth original and does come with a whole ne set of new LED shaped headlights. But the overall length of the car has been shorten and this modern version has taken a few inches off the top.

But this has been done in order to improve the specs of the car and the performance, so with a shorter body comes a lighter body as the lightweight materials and carbon additions truly make a difference. The estimation is that this new version has been made a total of 300 ponds lighter and it makes for much better performance rates of the car and driving ability. All in all, the vehicle is much more impressive aesthetically speaking. The shell of the care is a lot bigger and much more masculine and with the added twin exhaust pipes to the back it turns on the aggressiveness even more.

Interior

The interior of the 2017 Dodge Barracuda has an equally impressive combination of traditional and modern elements as the outside of the car has. The classic parts and the new ones give us a very vogue-like cabin. The upholstery is pretty handsome looking with the stylish black fabric that goes with the metal accents is a great choice for the car and brings out the best in the latest Barracuda model.

There are a few exciting pieces of news related to the engine options for the 2017 Dodge Barracuda model. The base one will certainly be the 6.0L V8 engine which can produce 425 hp and also is going to come with a 5 speed manual transmission. But we also manage to get a much more powerful option in the 6.2L V8 engine which is capable of going beyond 700 hp. Further engine possibilities that have been rumored are also the 3.6 l V6 liter Pentastar, 2.4L Tigershark and a 6.2 L Hellcat, but we are still waiting for these to be confirmed. But the thing that has been confirmed is the base option ahs an EPA rating of 15 mpg in the city and 19 mpg on the highway with a top speed of around 167 mph.

Release date and price

The newest 2017 Dodge Barracuda is going to be available by next year with a release date at around the first quarter of the year. The sales rate is going to be somewhere between $30,000 to $50,000 as the price is yet to be determined exactly.