Jul 06
Mornin’! Welcome to Saturday! Before you put that piping hot cup of coffee to your lips, why not try some piping hot coffee for your ears? It’s not as bad as it sounds. Who doesn’t like a little aural pleasure?
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Jul 06
When Astrid was acquired by Yahoo in May, it warned us that its task management service would close within 90 days. Today, it has a more specific date: customers have until August 5th to export any data they can’t afford to lose. Astrid suggests alternative services like Any.DO, Sandglaz, Wrike and Wunderlist for those who want to import their tasks and pick up where they left off. The firmer schedule won’t ease the pain for Astrid loyalists, but it should prevent any rude surprises in the weeks ahead. Check out Astrid’s email to users after the break.
[Thanks, Alex]
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet
Jul 05
Motorola ‘Droid Maxx’ image leaks out, could be extended battery version of Droid Ultra
Posted in: Today's Chili
Closing out a week full of Motorola leaks, @evleaks has posted this image of a device claimed to be the Droid Maxx, due on Verizon later this year and flashing a Kevlar frame with capacitive buttons. Earlier tweets and a source from Droid Life suggest this is the XT1080M, an extended battery version of the Droid Ultra (XT1080) that popped up on Motorola’s website. An XT1080 recently appeared in the FCC database as well, spurring rumors we’ll see more Droid-branded smartphones on the Big Red carrier very soon. To round out the rumors, the XT1030 is pegged as a Droid Mini, plus the XT1060 Moto X variant for Verizon. There’s still no word on specs, but at this rate we’ll probably have more info by tomorrow.
Source: @evleaks (Twitter)
Jul 05
Though Samsung’s financial quarter announcements this week showed the company to be kicking up a storm (metaphorically, of course), with the Galaxy S 4 family of devices on the market today, shares fell internationally at word that analysis projections were not met. This sort of thing isn’t unheard of, but to the lay person, it’s not the easiest thing to make simple sense of. Why, if Samsung’s quarterly profits are up 47% compared to this quarter last year, are investors spooked enough to kick down shares 4% in the Seoul stock market?
You’ll find The Guardian quoting analyst CW Chung from Nomura Financial Investment in Seoul speaking on how “because of the marketing costs, the telecommunications business was probably weaker than expected.” Meanwhile Bloomberg quotes analyst Neil Mawston, executive director of Strategy Analytics saying “Apple is suffering from iPhone fatigue, while Samsung is suffering from Galaxy fatigue.”
The latter quote was issued before earnings were sent out publicly by Samsung while the same source has Byun Han Joon, a Seoul-based analyst at KB Investment & Securities Co., speaking after the fact:
“It sharply missed the market expectation, and that worries me. The market was initially concerned about the third- and fourth-quarter results, but today’s news raises questions if the earnings are already in bad shape.” – Byun Han Joon
This analyst speaks on the idea that what Bloomberg quotes as a “58.6 trillion-won average of 38 estimates” as concerning when compared to Samsung’s actual sales at 57 trillion won in this most recent quarterly results report. Estimates appear more important right this minute than the fact that sales ramped up from 47.6 trillion won this same quarter a year earlier – that’s no bump to scoff at.
And know this – final results haven’t even been announced yet in full. Today’s report from Samsung is only a preliminary report on their full financial Q2 2013 results which will be announced on July 26th. It would seem instead that the company is only preparing the world for their full report which will appear on July 26th.
You’ll find more information on what Samsung spent is money on this newest quarter in SlashGear’s first story on the company’s day, there speaking more on the stock drop when it was just 3% where here final numbers for the day set stock at 4% lower than at the beginning of the day.
There is indeed a supposed “slow down” that could be attributed to smartphone fatigue. Samsung’s mobile business continues to grow, but down to 4-percent above the quarter before this one rather than the 8-percent of that quarter compared to the one before it.
Samsung will be kicking out somewhere around 20 million Galaxy S 4 unit sales with 100 million units being eyed for the all-time unit sales record – eventually, that is. And it’s Jung Sang-jin, a fund manager at Dongbu Asset Management, (owner of Samsung shares) quoted by Reuters, that puts the situation in a rather clear light:
“Is Samsung’s smartphone story now over? Not quite yet. It’s growth is indeed slowing due largely to disappointing sales of the S4. Yet I think Samsung has some exciting stuff up its sleeves. The problem is no one is sure whether these products can really wow investors and consumers.” – Jung Sang-jin
Encouraging enough for you? We’ll see how the market reacts when Samsung actually truly does announce their real final numbers later this month.
Samsung’s Q2 2013 shows investors value analysis over record profit is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jul 05
Evernote has announced an update to its Windows Touch app, something that brings users a variety of new features, as well as newly added Evernote Business support. The changes are immediately notable due to a new hub page, which is designed to offer users the “core navigation items” and various content from their account that is most commonly needed.
The new hub page features a variety of options, among them being new note options: the ability to create a new text note, kick things off via a file attachment, or create a new snapshot. The hub will also make it easier to get to shortcuts by listing them together under the “Shortcuts” category, which you can see in the screenshot above. These shortcuts first have to be made in Evernote, whether it is the Windows Touch app or a different variety.
Recent activity is also displayed on the new hub page, which includes Business notebooks and updates that have been shared in recent times. Notes are displayed, with the order in which they show up depending on the users. Notes can be ordered so that the most recent appear, for example, allowing for customization based on personal needs and preferences.
And finally, as far as the hub page goes, there’s the ability to choose a tag in order to see the notes associated with it, as well as notebooks, with some of them being listed on the hub and users being able to go directly to them by tapping. This applies to Evernote Business notebooks as well, which leads to the last feature addition: support for Evernote Business.
With the new support, those who use Evernote Business can do so from the Windows Touch app, having access to their Business library. The content from the Business library is distinguished from regular notebooks using color codes. From there, the changes are more minor, such as the ability to convert a note into plain text by removing the formatting. Evernote doesn’t detail these smaller changes, but stresses that, overall, this update is a “major” one.
SOURCE: Evernote
Evernote for Windows Touch scores several new features, Business support is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jul 05
Hoarded Dogs Need Rescue After Ordeal At Rainbow’s End Animal Sanctuary in Apple Valley, Calif.
Posted in: Today's ChiliLOS ANGELES — More than 130 dogs saved from a hoarder in California two weeks ago need to be saved again – but only rescue groups can save them now.
The dogs were seized from Rainbow’s End Animal Sanctuary in Apple Valley on June 18, where they had been living in one large pack for years without proper food, medical care or human interaction, San Bernardino County Animal Care and Control officials said.
Jul 05
In a world where seemingly every physiological foible is being reclassified as a disease or an addiction (looking at you, husky sex addicts) it was really only a matter of time until the biological mechanism behind assholism surfaced. As this documentary by December Works explains, it’s not your fault that you’re a poorly-socialized, narcissistic, self-serving little prick (unless you’re Justin Bieber
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Jul 05
Take a virtual tour of Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley set on Google Street View
Posted in: Today's Chili
Google has alohomora’d a way for everyone (even muggles) to visit Diagon Alley without the need for magic wands. You can now explore the famous Harry Potter set at Warner Bros. London studio via Street View, and virtually visit its shops like Ollivander’s or the garishly colored Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. It’s not the first Street View location within a building — in fact, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello residence is now open for digital visitors — but movie sets are a rare treat. This is probably the next best thing for those who want to see Diagon Alley in person but can’t fly to London, even though the studio lights and the green screen behind Gringotts could ruin childhoods. Unless, of course, Schmidt, Page and Brin are actually wizards who added those final touches to make a real magical marketplace look fake.
Via: Mashable
Source: Google Maps
Jul 05
Instagram is wildly popular, but has notably lacked a few features that users have been asking for. Today, the company updated its app for iOS, adding a couple of those much-requested features, perhaps the best being the addition of landscape mode, allowing users to flip their smartphone in a horizontal orientation when desired.
The new support for landscape mode works for both recording videos and taking images, being more relevant to the former, the launch of which had produced a fair bit of criticism and issues related to the lack of horizontal orientation support. As The Next Web notes, this feature had originally been intended to launch with it, but there was a problem with the recorded videos not being flipped along with the changed orientation.
Beyond that, the second biggest change with this update is the Cinema stabilization feature being added for the front-facing camera, which we noted above. This feature aims to reduce the shakiness and wobbles that are so common with videos taken with a smartphone. As such, those who record videos of themselves the camera on the front of their phone will benefit from the feature.
The video feature for Instagram was announced on June 20 at a Facebook product event, among some other features. The feature allows for 15-seconds of video recording, and offers 15 filters that can be applied in the same way effects are added to photographs. The change log doesn’t specify what the other changes are, aside from “many other improvements and bug fixes.” As such, iOS users might notice some other niggling issues they’ve had being corrected after updating.
The app is available now for iOS users over at the App Store, weighing in at 14.5MB in size and being pegged at version 4.0.2. Users will need to be running iOS 5.0 or later. There’s no word on when Android users will also see the feature roll out, but hopefully we won’t have to wait too long. Stay tuned, and we’ll keep you updated!
SOURCE: The Next Web
Instagram for iOS app updated with landscape mode and more is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jul 05
According to an inspector general’s report, the government spent approximately $630,000 from 2011 through 2012 to increase the number of “likes” the State Department’s Facebook page received. While the initiative was successful, having increased the numbers on the page dramatically, many critics are speaking out against the action, calling it a waste of money.
Before the campaign was started, the total number of Facebook fans on four Bureau of International Information Program Facebook pages totaled about 100,000, a number the State Department considered too low for its intentions. In order to boost the number of likes, the bureau initiated an advertisement and social media program with the intention of increasing the number of likes its accounts collectively had.
As a result, the numbers increased to over 2 million “likes” per Facebook page held by the bureau, with the total cost exceeding half a million over a two-year period. Beyond that, the effort also drew a smaller amount of attention to the company’s non-English Facebook pages, having increased the collective numbers from approximately 68,000 to in excess of 450,000.
Such likes were achieved via advertising, which is where the funds were used, with the inspector general’s report also indicating the use of photos to garner additional followers. Said the report, which was released in May: “Many in the bureau criticize the advertising campaigns as “buying fans” who may have once clicked on an ad or “liked” a photo but have no real interest in the topic and have never engaged further. Defenders of advertising point to the difficulty of finding a page on Facebook with a general search and the need to use ads to increase visibility.”
While there are arguments on both sides, at the end of the day the numbers speak for themselves: the number of “fans” engaging with the four Facebook pages is reported as considerably lower than how many likes each page has. According to the report, the combination of numbers between fan commenting, sharing, and liking amounts to about 2-percent of the page’s total followers. The average status has less than 100 comments, and the average interaction with the pages come in the form of “likes”.
SOURCE: The Atlantic
State Department spent over half a million to boost Facebook page “likes” is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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