Calculator Unboxing Adds Up the Funnies

Selecting a new calculator can be a difficult decision, but worry no more.

While unboxing videos are traditionally left to high-tech devices like smartphones, Brady Haran ofNumberphile decided to tackle the equally important basic calculator.

The clip includes all the features you've come to expect from an unboxing video — from the accuracy test to the crucial portability question.

So before you purchase your next calculator, remember to think about display capability. You don't want to be stuck with a pathetic eight-digit display when you could be making all sorts of more meaningful calculations with a 12-digit model.

Source: Mashable.com

Samsung Curved Smartphone Leak Hints at Oct. 10 Launch

The curved smartphone from Samsung, rumored last month for an October release, has beenleaked on Twitter.

Based on this photo, the Samsung phone has a Salvador Dali-esque melting effect. The screen of the device displays a number of apps identified with Korean text.

Interestingly, the home screen of the device displays Oct. 10, a strong indication that Samsung may be prepping an official announcement for Thursday.

Samsung first featured its flexible screen concept devices in a commercial this January.

Source: Mashable.com

AT&T Fiber Network Coming: 'GigaPower' Beats Google Fiber In Ultra-Fast Internet Battle In Austin

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) finally revealed on Monday the details of its long-rumored fiber network for ultra high-speed Internet connections. AT&T will launch "GigaPower" in Austin, on Dec. 1, beating Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) planned Google Fiber network to the punch in the Texas capital.

AT&T and Google are both promising that their services will offer users Internet connection speeds of 1 gigabit per second. At first, GigaPower will only run at 300 megabits per second before AT&T upgrades next year, but that is still about 40 times faster than the average home connection in the U.S.

Google Fiber is already available in Kansas City, and Google is now running adsfor the service in Provo, Utah, where it will launch in mid-October. The service has generated a lot of buzz, and AT&T is hoping that it can overcome some of this in Austin by coming out first.

AT&T said GigaPower will be included in its U-Verse bundle of services but did not disclose how much a GigaPower connection will cost.

Google Fiber costs $70 per month for Internet service and $120 per month with a TV bundle. For comparison, Verizon’s 500 megabit-per-second service is only available for homes in a phone and TV package for $309.99 per month.    

Google may have an advantage with Fiber by starting from scratch and installing a brand new fiber optic network. This allows all Fiber customers to experience the same speeds. AT&T will instead by tapping into an existing network of fiber optics and copper lines, meaning that not everyone will get the same speed.

AT&T said this is just the start of its super high-speed services, but did not state where it plans to go next.  

Source

Facebook Home Opens Up to Instagram, Pinterest Content

As promised, Facebook is adding new content to its Facebook Home lock screen. This news, announced Thursday, means that Facebook Home for Android beta testers can now access Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr and Tumblr content without having to unlock their phones.

Users will be able to Like and view posts from these other services, but it isn't clear what other apps (like Twitter) may be available to Home users in the future.

The news comes just a few weeks after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg openly discussed the soon-to-be released update at TechCrunch's Disrupt event in San Francisco. Facebook Home, the software that lets Android users bring Facebook updates and content directly to their lock screen, was released in April and has since been deemed a relative misstep in Facebook'srevitalized mobile strategy.

Thursday's announcement is Facebook's attempt to put Home back on the map for Android users. Those utilizing Facebook Home on their smartphones can go to the settings and select which other apps they'd like to integrate with the software. Users who download Facebook Home for the first time will be prompted upon login to select which other content streams they'd like to see on their lock screen.

As of now, the update is only available to Android users who opt-in to Facebook's beta tester program (you can do that here if you would like to participate). There is no set timetable for when the update will be available to all of Facebook Home's Android users.

Source

Instagram to Start Rolling Out Ads in 'Next Couple Months'

The ad-free Instagram days are about to come to an end.

Instagram announced Thursday that it will start rolling out ads in the "next couple months." Instagram framed the move as part of an effort to turn itself into a "sustainable business."

"In the next couple months, you may begin seeing an occasional ad in your Instagram feed if you’re in the United States," the company wrote in a blog post. "Seeing photos and videos from brands you don’t follow will be new, so we’ll start slow. We’ll focus on delivering a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community."

Instagram also tried to put users at ease by noting they would have control over what ads they see. "If you see an ad you don’t like, you’ll be able to hide it and provide feedback about what didn’t feel right," the company wrote. "We’re relying on your input to help us continually improve the Instagram experience."

Facebook, which owns Instagram, had previously teased the idea of introducing ads on the social network and an Instagram exec revealed last month that ads would come within the next year.

Source

Control-Alt-Delete: Bill Gates Admits Windows’ ‘Three-Finger Salute’ Was A Mistake

The unique combination of three keys on the traditional QWERTY keyboard -- control, alt and delete -- is one of the most memorized gestures in the history of computing. But Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates said the all-important function was not supposed to exist.

“It was a mistake,” Gates said at a recent Harvard fundraising campaign, which evoked several laughs from the audience. “We could have had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn’t wanna give us our single button.”

You can thank David Bradley for “control-alt-delete.” One of the key designers on the first IBM PC, Bradley initially created the mechanism to trigger a “soft reboot” of the computer, choosing those particular keys since it would be impossible to press all three with one hand (on the original IBM PC keyboard). Since then, the “control-alt-delete” combination has been designed for different purposes relating to interrupting or facilitating certain functions on the computer. In DOS and the early years of Windows, “control-alt-delete” would trigger a reboot of the computer. After Windows 3.1, the command would invoke a task manager that would allow users to end Windows sessions, and in most Windows versions since then (including Windows XP and Windows 7), it will let a user log in or log out of their account.’

Source: IBTimes

Apple Will Pay Some iPad Owners Cash in Legal Settlement

Some iPad owners will soon be cashing checks from Apple. The Cupertino, Calif. company andAT&T settled a long-standing, class-action lawsuit on Friday, in which consumers sued them for ending unlimited data plans for iPads in 2010.

Those affected are set to collect settlements worth $40 in cash, plus data discounts. Any consumers who purchased an iPad 3G on or before June 7, 2010, can benefit from the settlement, according to court documents. Those who submit a claim will receive $40 cash from Apple. What's more, any iPad 3G owner who did not opt in to AT&T's data plan can now get a 5GB plan for the iPad 3G with a $20 monthly discount for up to one year.

The ruling was announced Friday in a district court in San Jose, Calif. Apple and AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The agreement comes years after the original lawsuit was filed back in 2010. At the time, Apple and AT&T had promoted unlimited 3G data plans to iPad 3G owners, only to take that option away after a number of iPads had already been sold. (AT&T instead sold users 2 GB of data for a $25 monthly fee.)

Plaintiffs in the case argued that this bait-and-switch move caused them to overpay for their iPads, and also "[deprived] them of promised access to an unlimited data plan," according to court documents.

Once the settlement receives final approval in early 2014, Apple will begin contacting those who are eligible to file a claim.

Sorce: Mashable

The Garage Where Google Was Born

It all started in a garage that you can still find with minimal effort — especially if you're usingGoogle Maps.

Less than one mile off U.S. Route 101, the highway that links San Francisco to the rest of Silicon Valley, you'll come to a quiet neighborhood a stone's throw from Stanford's beautifully manicured campus. It was in Menlo Park, in a single-story home on Santa Margarita Avenue, that Googleco-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin rented the garage from Susan Wojcicki, now a Google senior VP, who was fresh out of business school and afraid of missing her mortgage payments.

The duo spent the winter of 1998 in the now famous garage, building the tech company that would change search, and consequently the Internet, forever.

That was 15 years ago, and Google has since become a multi-billion dollar corporation that answers all of our questions and may soon even drive our cars. The company now owns the house, which is no longer lived in, but will always serve as a reminder of where Google started.

To celebrate the company's 15th birthday, Mashable put together a slideshow looking back at the company's earliest days and the garage where it all started.

Source: mashable.com

Apple iOS 7 Update Plugs Lock Screen Security Hole

Apple iOS 7 Update

Apple has just released an update for the Apple iOS 7 that aims to repair a security flaw: a lock-screen bypass that allows a user to call phone contacts without unlocking the phone.

The notes that complement the iOS 7.0.2 update say it "fixes bugs that could allow someone to bypass the Lock screen passcode." 

Apple iOS 7 update has another changing, it brings back a Greek keyboard option for giving the lock screen passcode. To download the new Apple iOS 7 update, Open your iPhone’s settings and Go to General>Software Update.

The passcode bypass is a very not new in-fact it’s a common security flaw in mobile OS. The bug is now cropped up daily after Apple released there software updates, the new updates includes new Control Centre in Apple iOS 7.

Twitter Ads: Twitter Started Twitter Ads For Media Brands

Twitter Ads: In this spring, Twitter released a new product “Twitter Amplify,” which allows all media brands to advertise their TV ads through Twitter Ads.After some months of beta testing with the choose media partner, Twitter officially announced that on Tuesday that their new Twitter ads are now available for all advertisers who are running national TV commercials in the USA.

Twitter team also announced that they are adding a new analytics view to its Twitter ads Dashboard, which will help the advertisers to track their campaigns analysis.

Twitter said due to Twitter Ads the advertisers including Jaguar, Holiday Inn and Samsung observed an increase in message association, their brand recall and also the purchase intent using Amplify. If we talk about general advertisers, they also observed a 27% increase in engagement rates.

HTC One Mini the Smaller Version of HTC One

HTC have introduced their new smartphone HTC One Mini the smaller version of HTC One.

We know that in today’s market the bigger is always considered better. But on last Thursday HTC introduced their new Android smartphone which is basically a smaller version of their previous smartphone, HTC One.

Stephen Blum who is an analyst said:

"The HTC One Mini is a nice addition to HTC's product range,"He further told "It gives their primary customers -- mobile carriers -- one more good reason for going with HTC. Some consumers will like the size and feel of it."

The new HTC One mini has a reasonable 4.3 Inch display which is not much smaller than HTC One who has 4.7 Inch display.

Both HTC One and HTC One Mini runs on Android 4.2 “Jelly Bean,” the Mini is a bit slower.

What’s Different in Mini
A number of new smartphones have gone into the category of ‘Phablet’ having 5 Inch or larger displays.

But the sleek design and the attraction of HTC BlinkFeed feature, which delivers the social media updates directly to your home screen, could still appeal some users.

The new smartphone is available in silver or black, The HTC One Mini has the same dual stereo speakers on front side and a 4 MegaPixel UltraPixel camera which has the ability to capture 1080p videos and a front camera of 1.6 MegaPixel which can capture 720p videos.

The HTC One has Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300 with Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600 and the new HTC One Mini has Dual-core 1.4 GHz Krait 300 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 400. The HTC One has a 2GB RAM and HTC One Mini 1GB RAM which is definitely a bit slower than its elder brother the HTC One.

Stephen Blum, president of Tellus Ventures Associates Said:

"The HTC One Mini is a nice addition to HTC's product range."
"It gives their primary customers -- mobile carriers -- one more good reason for going with HTC. Some consumers will like the size and feel of it."

He Said:

"The HTC One Mini doesn't offer anything new that might otherwise make it significant," he said. "Trading a smaller form factor for lower performance specs and price is pretty ordinary."

It doesn’t look like the HTC One Mini will make any extra-ordinary impact on the market but a good number of sales can be expected from this smartphone.

The Future of HTC

HTC was never a top smartphone brand and so far, the older brands like Nokia and BlackBerry are still very well recognized and the current efforts of HTC were swapped away by Samsung and Apple. But HTC is still trying hard to improve their sales and to gain that top mark.

Nokia vs Apple vs Samsung

A Clear Difference In Popularity: Nokia vs Apple vs Samsung

These figures Show the clear difference in the popularity of three biggest smartphone companies and their smartphones.

After reading this one doesn't needs to see any other rankings as the Google Search Results shows it all.

The Top Three Smartphone Rivals Search Report From "Google"

Samsung Global Monthly Search

226,000,000

Samsung Global Daily Search

7290323 approx

Nokia Global Monthly Search

101,000,000

Nokia Global Daily Search

3258065 approx

Apple Global Monthly Search

83,100,000

Apple Global Daily Search

2680645 approx

The Top Three Smartphone Search Report From "Google"

iPhone Global Monthly Search

185,000,000

iPhone Global Daily Search

5967742 approx

Lumia Global Monthly Search

16,600,000

Lumia Global Daily Search

535484 approx

Galaxy Global Monthly Search

151,000,000

Galaxy Global Daily Search

4870968 approx

Microsoft Windows 8.1 With Interesting New Features

During the keynote for the Microsoft Build conference in San Francisco, Microsoft announced the preview version of new Microsoft Window 8.1 with a point upgrade in its previous Windows 8.

They made a few changes in their previous Windows 8. Microsoft added new features which makes the new OS more friendly with keyboard and mouse.

The new features are: 

                      Return Of Start Menu:

One of the biggest complaints about Windows 8 was the ejection of the Start Menu Button in the left corner of the desktop.

Direct Boot To Desktop:  Another change which you may like is the option to set the Windows device to boot directly to the desktop in place of start menu.

Xbox Music Gets Better:  In previous Windows 8, Xbox Music allowed its users to stream free music from a huge library of over 30 million songs. And now in Windows 8.1 this app has been redeveloped to make it more easier to use.

Search Gets An upgrade:  The search attraction in Windows 8.1 is even more than before. Now when user perform a search, he/she will get global search results from different sources.

More Flexibility Of Snap views:  Windows 8.1 user will be also able to run more apps at the same time on single monitor by resizing the app windows and using the Snap Function. A person can run upto 4 apps at the same time as long as he/she has high enough resolution (2,560×1,440 pixels) to run the app.

Improved Camera Application:  The new camera app is much improved in Windows 8.1 in which its user has a complete set of Photo Editing tool to enhance its color, brightness and contrast adjustment and much more.

Windows Store Upgrade:  The new development in Windows 8.1 seems to be in the right direction as Microsoft have added an Auto Updating feature which will keep you r apps updated with the latest versions.

New Samsung Galaxy S4 may come this February

Samsung has publicized the dates for its yearly Forum and promised “major announcements”, sparking speculation that it could launch the New Samsung Galaxy S4 phone in February in Monaco.

Although the current model, the Samsung Galaxy S3, launched only in late May last year, rumors of a beneficiary have been circulating for months already. Samsung was previously forced to deny that it would debut the S4 at CES in Las Vegas in January.

The Samsung Forum event, taking place in Monaco from 4 to 6 February, replaces last year’s European Forum with a global event where sources say “major announcements” are expected.

Features for the S4 have yet to be exposed, although a Samsung executive confirmed the name. While Samsung has shown flexible displays, the ‘bendy-phone’ technology is not yet thought to be ready for mass production. An HD display and a 13 Mega Pixel camera are widely expected, as are wireless charging and mobile payment options.