Skype Spy Monitor – Keep Watching Your Children & Spouse

If you are trying to spy on your employees or anyone else, who is found cheating already, then Skype Spy Monitor will be best tool in 2013 to get the best results. Sometimes it is very necessary to spy on people. May be you are just looking after your spouse or children, so you have to do it. On the other hand, it will be a great tool for the people who are involved crime investigation. Skype Spy Monitor secretly saves all outgoing and incoming video, voice as well as text chats. It works as an intelligent Skype Monitor which can save the exact messages which will include not only names but also emails along with their timestamps of the chats. It will include complete conversation from the both ends. Skype Spy Monitor has ability to receive and record the entire conversation even user has disabled archive of the Skype’s History. Of course, it will be running in an invisible mode and user will never be able to figure out if something is working on the back end. You will be receiving all these messages through
an email or you can set up web page and you can check them by opening that page.

Significant Features of Skype Spy Monitor

• Skype Spy Monitor will be observing and saving every version of chat on Skype messenger. For video chats, it will keep on capturing snapshots of the screen after regular intervals. You will be allowed to setup the time interval to take these snapshots. It will be just working as hidden camera watching the screen of user’s computer.
• It completely works in stealth mode. While running on Windows Operating System, it will not be showing up in the Task List. Definitely, it will not be showing up any icon on the screen and you can make it invisible in uninstall entry as well.
• You have already made your monitoring invisible but if you are confident enough to unhide it then, you can make it password protected. You can apply some password so that no one will be able to check the recorded messages.
• Skype Spy Monitor shows you the reports in HTML format so you should be able examine all the saved logs and reports on your local computer.
• You can setup your Skype Spy Monitor to send the log reports after every hour to some FTP or Email server. It will compress the recorded files in a ZIP file which will significantly decrease the size of report. It will make the delivery of report pretty easy through email.
• There is a Task Scheduler which is the essential part of this software application. You can schedule the tasks for Skype Spy Monitor to start the monitoring at different timings. Otherwise, simply set it up to start monitoring as soon as the Windows Operating System is started up.
• This is very easy to use software application. You quickly install through its Start Wizard. It also has been provided with a Control Panel, which will help you to alter its settings.

Monitoring of Activities on Computer System – Power Spy is Ready to Help

Your computer is used by different other people and you are always worried about the activities going on your computer when you are away from your desk. Especially, if you are working in some office and your colleagues are habitual to use your computer without any permission in your absence then you must have to do something to catch them or at least find out what they are doing on your computer most of the time. If this computer is only assigned to you to do your official work then it is your right and it should be legal to monitor the activities of other people on your computer system.

Power Spy is application what exactly you are looking for. It can monitor the activities on your computer very secretly. This monitoring will be done in stealth mode so that user will never be able to detect the monitoring activity at all. You will be able to monitor the outgoing as well as incoming traffic which includes chats and IMS through different websites or messengers. It is capable to monitor the activities on MSN, Skype, Yahoo, Google Talk, Facebook, ICQ, TenCent QQ, AOL, GADU GADU and other messengers. It will be able to record the websites which have been visited, emails sent/read, opened documents, activities on clipboard, typed passwords and applications which have been executed on your system. Power Spy Software will serve as your surveillance camera which will keep taking the snapshots of your monitor screen after regular intervals.

In your absence, when anyone will start up your computer, Power Spy Software will start working automatically and invisibly. When you login back into your system and want to check the recorded activities. You can use your Hotkey which will unhide the Control Panel of the Power Spy. You can check all the reports directly on your computer or this application can send you all the reports through email as well. You can set up the report timing or intervals through the control panel. So it is not necessary to login back into your system to check the reports, you can check the reports from any remote location via email.

Power Spy is equipped with very powerful tools to monitor the activities on any computer. You can get the snapshots of the screen after every second. It will save the taken snapshot in JPEG format and it will be saved as an image on the computer hard drive. Remember that it will be hidden, so there is no chance to be caught by the user. Power Spy will stop taking the screenshots when user goes idle. If you want to know about each step of the activities then you can move on step by step. Otherwise you can enjoy the Slide Show as well. Power Spy will be able to save the user name and password which will be the part of reports. It can record each and every keystroke from the system which can exclude the specific keys such as numeric keys.

Report: Microsoft Investors Want Bill Gates to Step Down

New reports have surfaced regarding the software giant, Microsoft Corp. According to them, the board of the company is being pressurized by three of the top investors of Microsoft to force Bill Gates in stepping down from his role of Chairman. Bill Gates co-founded the company about 38 years ago and the company is now worth $277 billion. The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Steve Ballmer has been under pressure for years as he was given the role of improving the performance and the share price of the company. However, it is the first time that the investors have aimed at Gates, who is regarded as an influential and respected figure in the field of technology.

No comment was made by a representative of Microsoft Corp. Despite the pressure, there is no indication that the request of the three investors will be tolerated by the Microsoft board. According to the sources, when combined, all three investors hold about 5% of the company. However, it was requested by the sources that the identity of the investors should not be revealed because this discussion was simply a private matter. Bill Gates is the largest individual shareholder of Microsoft and owns about 4.5%.

The three investors have made this suggestion because they are concerned that the adoption of new strategies is prevented because of the role of Chairman held by gates. They have an objection to Gate’s presence in the committee that has been chosen to select a successor of CEO Ballmer, who has announced his decision of retirement. They are worried that the power of the CEO of making substantial changes will be limited as long as Bill Gates remains chairman. It is another concern that in comparison to his declining shareholding, Gates, who devotes most of his time to his philanthropic foundation, wields extra power.

Before Microsoft went public in 1986, Bill Gates had owned about 49% of the company, but as per a pre-set plan, he sells of about 80 million shares of the company every year. If this cycle is continued, Gates will lose his entire financial state in the company in the year 2018. In 2000, after handing the role of CEO to Ballmer, Bill Gates lowered his profile and instead shifted his focus on his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Ballmer had announced in August that he would be retiring in a year, amidst pressure from investors.

The hunt for a new CEO has begun at Microsoft, although the board has stated that his strategy of turning prominent software into services will still be followed through. However, some investors are of the opinion that the new CEO should not be forced to follow through this strategy. Mixed reactions were seen amongst shareholders when they heard that investors were lobbying for ousting Bill Gates from his role of Chairman of the company. Some are of the opinion that fresh eyes are needed while others maintain that he should be asked to play a larger role instead of ditching him.

iBlockbuster Weekend For Apple’s Latest Release

Apple Inc. announced on Monday that it had sold a higher than expected number of iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C in the first three days after its launch on Friday. As per the figures, a total of 9 million iPhones have been sold and that has prompted the company in issuing quite an optimistic financial forecast for the future. In early trading on Monday, the shares of the iPhone maker rose about 4.5% and reached $488.64. The sale of these two new models was double of that of the iPhone 5 in the first weekend after its launch in the past year. In its first three days on the market, the iPhone 5 had managed to sell about 5 million units.

Any analyst stated that the sales figure for the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C was indeed impressive and it looks like the company will be selling every 5S that they will manufacture. It had been expected by Wall Street analysts that the company would be selling approximately 6 million units of the two new iPhones. The financial forecast of the company was tweaked to reflect the high number of sales, which is quite an unusual move for the smartphone giant. The company’s previous forecast had included revenue of the fourth quarter of about $34 billion, but it was now adjusting it to $37 billion.

In addition, Apple had forecasted that the gross profit margin would be about 36%, but its estimates had been raised to 37%. Average revenue forecast by the analysts was about $36.10 billion. According to other analysts, the number of sales shows that Apple still bears a very strong connection with its customer base. The critics had assumed that Apple had lost its golden touch, but customers were clearly not singing the same song. The product has received the approval of customers and it’s not the numbers, but the sentiment that counts.

Initial supplies have been eroded by the demand of the iPhone 5S and a number of online orders will be shipped to customers in the next couple of weeks. It was the first time in the history of the company that two iPhones had been launched simultaneously and long lines had formed outside stores in San Francisco, Tokyo, New York and other cities as people were eager to get their hands on the top-of-the-line iPhone. As of Friday, the gold-colored version, which is also available in grey and silver, was sold out. The color will now only be available in October.

From Monday, the other two colors were also sold out and will only be available in October. Tim Cook, Chief Executive of Apple Inc. said that the demand for the new devices was incredible and although the initial supply of iPhones had run out, the stores would continue to receive their shipments of the device regularly. He stated that the patience of the customers was appreciated and the company would be working to provide them with their phones as soon as possible. Apple had also rolled out the iOS 7 just before the launch of the new devices.

Best Practices for Web Developers and Programmers

For a web programmer to be the best, he needs to understand a few things better than others. It is easy to understand that in order to stand first in the class; you need to do better than other students in the class. No matter what profession you are associated with, you need to be a good listener. When you are programming web applications, you need to be an even better listener because in many aspects your job will be harder than other professions. When we talk about best practices, it is not in a particular direction but it is an umbrella term covering a lot of aspects related to a profession.

Here are a few things that you must be careful about when programming web applications or any other desktop softwares:

• Always be a good communicator and whatever you do communicate it with others. There are collaborative servers and platforms especially created for the purpose of conveying messages across the board. The programmers need to work side by side with the testers and for things to go smoothly, communication is the key.
• A good web programmer must be a good listener and only starting working on a project when everything has been understood properly. When a customer wants you to create an application or work on a project, he doesn’t want you to show how vast your knowledge is in the profession; he wants to get satisfaction from the final product that you will create for him.
  A programmer must learn as many languages as his brain can absorb. The more languages you learn the more chances you have to stay in the job for as long as you want. The world of internet is ever-changing and even the most useful tricks and techniques of today could become obsolete and outdated tomorrow. Several languages that were being used by web programmers a few years ago have relegated with time. You must make sure that the one you know doesn’t become outdated within your career.
• To cover both sides of the world, programmers should learn both, the front-end and backend programming. The front end means to program the front end of the web applications i.e. the end that users work on. When you are on a website and placing your requests, they are being taken to the server through the programming done by a front-end programmer. Once the requests have reached the server, the backend works start where the backend programmer has been working.
• Always stick to the basics of programming – whatever small instructions you have read while starting with your career as a web programmer, you must remember them. It is because these small things are easier to forget and when you forget them while programming web services and applications, you will see them as repetitive errors. These repetitive errors are the most frustrating and irritating ones when programming applications and softwares.

There is a lot that needs to be understood for programmers when it comes into the technical point of view. However, technical practices are best understood when you are working with a professional. Mentioning the technical aspects here might not help you much because theory is often hard to implement when you are doing something practically and when you do something practically, that’s when you understand it the best.

However, here are a few things that you might want to keep in mind when creating web based programs: minimizing the HTTP requests, adding cache control headers, using the content delivery network, using the right software for taking care of your images, not confusing CSS and HTML, etc. There are many other instructions that could be found on the internet for web applications programming. Finally, when you are programming an application for tens of browsers, make sure to use the conditional comments during your programming. With these simple tips, you could become a professional programmer in no time.

79% of Total Threats Comprise of Android Malware

One of the most important and influential industry today is the smartphone industry. It grew rapidly since the introduction of the first iPhone back in 2007. Nowadays, it is one of the most powerful industries that exist and is being dominated by American multinational Apple Inc. and South Korean giant Samsung Electronics. Samsung was able to make a play in the market thanks to Android operating system that belongs to Google Inc. Apple, in contrast, uses its own iOS. According to the latest survey and reports, almost 70% of the smartphones sold today are based on Android OS and it is highly popular.

However, law enforcement as well as government and security workers have been warned by the US Homeland and Security Department (DHS) regarding the use of the outdated versions of the Android OS of Google. According to the department, around 79% of all malware is targeting that platform as compared to others. The warning was issued by the DHS in a Roll Call Release for the US emergency services. The department stated that the reason for the criminal interest in this particular platform was driven by the huge market share it possesses and also because of its fragmented ecosystem and open architecture.

Proof was offered by citing high malware figures and agents were advised that they should use the latest software available when they are using smart devices like smartphones and tablets. The report said that it is crucial that the mobile operating system is kept up to date and patched up because the use of mobile devices by local, state and federal authorities seems to be growing. What’s more interesting is that despite the fact that it is all but defunct now, the ancient Symbian OS of Nokia is the second most popular target as 19% of mobile malware was specifically designed for it.

Although this figure is high, it is not an accurate of the interest of criminals in the system and it’s probably because of old malware instead of current dangerous threats. Symbian had been the top choice of criminals before Android had arrived because of its ties with Nokia, but the interest has waned as buyers are now interested in iOS and Android. Apart from these operating systems, the iOS of Apple and others were the victims of about 0.7% of the total mobile malware attacks. The bottom of the list comprises of Windows Phone and BlackBerry’s OS, which are the target of about 0.3% of the attacks.

Apple’s devices like the iPhone and the iPad enjoy considerable popularity, but the numbers of malware attacks are low. This is mostly because of the closed security model that’s used by the company. According to this model, developers have to use the App Store of Apple for selling their wares and the company doesn’t allow applications in the market place until it has vet all of them. The company has been praised for its tight security as it keeps the devices of users secure and is safer in comparison to others.

What is Torrent and How Does This Technology Work?

 

The internet has everything; TV, software, music, photos, books and more. Everything is now within reach and very easy to get. There are different ways through which people can download any of these things. However, the most popular way to do it is via torrent. Data about files that are used with BitTorrent is stored in a torrent file. BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol, which can be used by people for sending and receiving files in small pieces to different computers with the help of the internet. BiTorrent is used all over the globe by hundreds of millions of people, according to the creator of the protocol.

The popularity of direct file downloading has been shot down because of the distributed nature seen in BitTorrent sharing. Fewer resources are used by BitTorrent because it downloads small pieces of the files and them reassembles them with the aid of software. In this manner, the file provider’s bandwidth costs will be reduced and the downloader will benefit from faster downloading speeds.

How Torrent Works

A torrent program is used for the purpose of downloading. The term torrent is used to indicate the downloading file itself. The torrent programs are also called torrent clients, which enable the computer to use a specific port for sending and receiving files and interpreting the data that’s stored in the torrent files. The entire information related to a specific torrent can be found in the torrent file. This includes the components of the torrents, who started it and how the information corresponding to that torrent can be downloaded and uploaded.

When a torrent program opens a torrent file, it connects to other users who are in the possession of small portions of the file and download the pieces from them. After the portions of the file have been received, the computer is now able to upload or ‘seed’ the file to any other users. Once all the pieces of the file have been received by the torrent program, they are assembled into a file that can be used. For assembling purposes, instructions given in the original torrent file are used.

Trackers

Large network servers that are called trackers have the responsibility of carrying out the download. A list that’s present in the original torrent file is used by the torrent client for connecting to these servers. Trackers have a full list of the files that they can seed and also of all the users that are connected to the servers. Users are picked by the client and data is downloaded from them accordingly. A user’s computer and the files that they can seed are registered when the client connects to a tracker. Logs of the share ratio are also kept by trackers i.e. how much the user’s computer can upload compared to how much it can download. Based on this ratio, the trackers calculate the amount of bandwidth received by the users.

A fair share policy is incorporated by nearly all torrent trackers. This either grants access or restricts it to bonus bandwidth. According to these fair share policies, a user will be receiving less bandwidth, if they aren’t seeding as much as they are downloading i.e. leeching. If people have a high seeding to leeching ratio, they will be able to download files at a quicker speed in comparison to someone with a low ratio of seeding to leeching. Those who have higher ratios are also given priority. This means that they can connect quickly to other users on the same server.

The primary principle behind BitTorrent is that no matter what corner of the world an individual is in, they can be the server of files and also the client and can make the file available for copying purposes. A torrent file will be easier to download if it has more copies in the system. The culture of torrent downloading has become popular all over the world. There are a number of torrent clients, which are being used by people for downloading various files. Some of these clients include uTorrent, which is an open source and lightweight client. There is also BitTorrent, the original torrent software client. BitTornado, Deluge, Transmission and Torrentus are some others that can be used.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 T311 Review

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 T311 is one notch higher than its close cousin, the T211, or the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. When the specifications include an 8-inch screen, WI-FI, 3G and Voice Calling; this thing is a steal. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 T311 is a delight because of its sheer credentials, which make this the owner’s pride and the lookers’ envy. Its other primary features include 5 MP camera with LED flash, Geo-tagging, touch focus; face detection, HD video recording, and 1.9MP front facing camera. Well, there is more, believe it or not.

The Anatomy of the Phone

This phone comes with a touch screen that has 1280x768 pixel resolution, making the images life like. Given that the phone is an Android phone, it has Android version 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, and 1.5GB RAM along with an internal memory which can be expanded to 64GB. Weighing only 320 Grams, this phone has an amazing battery life too, that of 24 hours on WCDMA. When you buy it, there is a lot of other surprises waiting for you in the box, like, the battery, power plug, warranty card, charger, USB cable, and user manual. So do not fret if you feel that you are reading Greek, with the help of the user manual, it is going to be a cake walk for you.

The Balance Sheet

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 T311 price in India is approximately Rs. 25000. Given the specifications listed above, this price seems to do justice both to the product and the buyer. If you still think that the price of the phone is a little steep, think again. It’s close cousin the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 T211, though priced at a much modest 17 k, may seem to be a little easy on the pocket, but the promise that the Galaxy Tab 3 holds, and clearly outshines it. It is unprecedentedly sleek given its dimensions, which are 21x0.7x12.4cm, and a wide variety of applications ensures that you are never bored.

A Multi-Tasker of Sorts

When it comes to Samsung Tablets, you can trust your instincts and go this phone as it combines not only best in class technology but also affordability. Who said that good things come at a price? Not always. All Samsung Tablets, especially this one, are crafted to meet your daily requirements, because today we know, nobody uses a phone only to make and receive calls. A wide arena can open in front of you are in touch with the world. The dual core processor of this phone not only makes it faster but also suitable for other functions, now that everyone believes in multi-tasking, it’s high time that our phones started multi-tasking too.

The Toys We Love

Features such as dual view, Pop up video and Group play make it easier for you to view two screens, get small tasks done while watching  a movie, and invite friends or make groups, where the contents can be easily created and shared by the members. Samsung has also come up with tablet PCs like the ATIV Smart PC which weighs nearly, but not as much as two pounds, and comes with 11.6 inch screen, which can be easily manoeuvred into the desktop, given your needs. What else is unique is the S Pen that gives you the freedom to write or scribble messages and notes in your handwriting, setting a personal tone.

Now that the point has been made, it is sure baffling for you to make up your mind about what to buy. If you are a music lover, more good news is waiting for you. This device is equipped with the trademark, Samsung Sound Alive, which ensures that you get a Dolby sound effect when watching your favorite movie or listening to your favorite songs. The sounds are crystal clear, crisp and consistent. At the end of the day, it is all about accountability, and when you decide on buying a Samsung product, you can be assured of that. Your allegiance is must matter, and take heart for it does matter.

About Author

Piya Gogia takes interest in latest gadget updates and loves to explore gizmos. Being an instinctive gadget nerd, she has already reviewed Tablet Price, Apple tablet, Karbonn Tablet and many other popular devices. The more she discovers, the more she writes.

Acronis Errors, Their Reasons and Solutions

Any software made by a company is created to address as many problems as possible that might arise while the software is in operation. However, not all of the problems could be taken care of because many errors arise due to some problem with the system in which the software is installed. Acronis has introduced some of the best backup and recovery softwares in the market recently but there are still some common Acronis errors that you might have to deal with occasionally. The good thing is that information about these errors is available on the internet so you can easily take help from the online websites.

One of the common Acronis errors is the Acronis.exe error. If you are new to softwares and terminologies used in software programming then .exe might be a new thing for you. However, let us tell you that every software that needs to be installed on your computer has a .exe file that runs the software, installs it on your computer and loads whatever information is packed into the file. If there is a problem with this file, your Acronis software might now work at all. However, there are several reasons for this problem including the missing of actual file, corruption of file, hardware issues, low disk space on hard drive and many other problems.

There could be many other reasons that could cause several errors to appear on your screen while your software is running on the computer. For example, if you are backing up all the files on your computer and there is some corrupt file that could not be read by the software, you will see a popup message on your screen telling you about the error. However, if you go into the advanced settings of the software, you could choose the option for software to take an automatic action against such Acronis errors. This will ensure that no popup message shows up on your screen and errors are automatically ignored.

Sometimes you might encounter issues while installing the software and these are mostly related to the licensing of your software. It could be that you purchased software that is not compatible to the operating system on your computer. You might also encounter problems during installations when there isn’t enough disk space on your hard drive. If you don’t have a registered copy of operating system, you might encounter many Acronis errors but that’s not the software’s fault. Make sure to read about the requirements and compatibilities of the Acronis softwares before making a purchase.

Acronis Tutorials for the New Users

If you have been looking for new software to back up the important and crucial data on your computer, you definitely need to look at the Acronis products, especially if you are using a Windows or Linux operating system. Acronis is probably one of the best companies and in fact the best companies out there in many regards. With its easy to use softwares to cover different areas of computer backup, recovery and management it has proved to be the best toughest competitor in market over time. Furthermore, the Acronis Tutorials on the internet will help you in using the softwares.

Acronis softwares are available for Microsoft Windows operating system and Linux as well. The company has a long lineup of softwares meant for server backups and other resolutions related to servers. There are softwares for home users to back up their computers, manage their hard drive space and clone them to shift to a new storage media. At the same time, there are softwares for small to big businesses for backing up their servers, centralizing their server tasks and performing various tasks remotely. Acronis Tutorials are easily available for all these products easily on the internet.

Acronis Tutorials are definitely useful for the new users however the trial versions offered by Acronis for most of its products remove the need of using these tutorials. During the trial period you can use the software as much as possible and in whatever way you desire. This is the time for you to learn how to use the different features of the software and within a few days you can get know-how of all features of the software. However, whatever additional that you may require while using the software could be found in these tutorials.

There might be occasions when you are not able to understand the instructions given in Acronis Tutorials but you can make things easy for you by looking at the video tutorials. With step by step guides and tips, most of the websites are now trying to put up video tutorials for different Acronis softwares. You can use these guides and tutorials from the online internet resources to help your employees during the training sessions. They can also be collected and saved separately for the new hired employees in the IT department so if they are stuck in a situation, they could get help from this material instead of asking you about each and everything.

LG Takes on Samsung With New Smartphone

 

The smartphone market has grown rapidly in the past few years and has enabled a number of companies to make and break their fortunes while competing. Initially, the market was dominated by the likes of BlackBerry and Apple, but it lasted only until Google launched its Android Operating System. Since then, a myriad of companies have entered the market and have launched their phones. However, it is Samsung Electronics that has made the most of the OS and has reached the top of the smartphone market, even beating Apple Inc. with its Galaxy range of smartphones.

Even though other manufacturers have tried, but none of them have been able to challenge the success and dominance enjoyed by the Galaxy phones. But, now it seems that LG has finally managed to do so. The company has been striving hard to find a foothold in the ongoing smartphone battle taking place between various companies. The South Korean firm is determined to take on the flagship smartphones of its competitors like Samsung, HTC and Sony and has therefore launched its new smartphone called the G2, which boasts a Snapdragon 800 processor and was highly anticipated in the market.

According to the CEO and president of LG, Dr. Jong-seok Park, technology cannot be deemed innovation if it is without empathy. He made this statement at the launch of the G2. This new smartphone of the company has a 2GB RAM and a 2.26 GHZ quad-core processor. Optical image stabilization technology has been incorporated in the smartphone and it also has a 13 mega pixel camera on the rear end. Measuring 5.2 inch, the phone shows off an edge to edge screen. A 24 bit/192kHz sound is offered by the G2 in order to enhance the music and video experience of users. Apart from that, LG has also brought a change in the traditional design pattern by moving the physical buttons on the back instead of the front.

The model is operating on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. A lot of user friendly features have also been installed into the phone by the manufacturers such as the Answer Me sensing that will answer the calls automatically when it’s moved to the ear. No button will have to be pressed. A calendar event can also be created by a text link with the help of a simple text message if it comprises of information like time or location. The quick remote feature of the gadget also allows people to control all their electronic devices with the use of the infrared port.

The plug and plop feature of the G2 is also very useful as the former shows whether the device has been plugged into the right port and the latter shows the icons of the app that are most commonly used. A security feature is also part of the phone that will keep the data confidential when the device is with a second user. All 130 wireless carriers all over the globe will be offering the model in a couple of weeks.

BlackBerry Takes Fourth Place In The Smartphone Race

BlackBerry was once a force to be reckoned with in the smartphone market when there weren’t many players. However, in the past couple of years, BlackBerry has seen its market share erode with the introduction of the Android OS of Google Inc. Various other companies have entered the market since then and have gained a stable share. Things haven’t been looking up for the company. Nonetheless, not the one to give up, the Canadian smartphone maker came up with its own new line of smartphones.

BlackBerry had a lot of expectations with its new range of smartphones that it had launched according to the market demand. However, the phones did not garner much success and are still attempting to gain traction in the highly competitive and slowing down smartphone market. Currently, Apple and Samsung are the two firms that are leading this market, Apple with its iPhone and Samsung with its Galaxy range. BlackBerry, on the other hand, has been competing with the Windows Phone for the third place in the market.

But, in a bad turnaround of events for BlackBerry, it seems that Windows Phone has won that battle and the Canadian company has managed to cement the fourth position in the market. More and more data is indicating that the third place has been swapped by the Windows Phone. International Data Corporation (IDC), the research firm has provided this latest information, which indicates that in the second quarter of this year, a total of 6.8 million handsets were sold by the maker of BlackBerry. This is around 2.9% of the total smartphone sales. In comparison, last year, the company had had 4.9% market share and sold around 7.7 million handsets.

According to the firm, the level of BlackBerry sales had never come as low as the level they have reached since IDC had started keeping track of the sales of mobile phones. What’s worse is that the sales figure is a combination of the sales of the two smartphones that were supposed to revive the company; Z10 and Q10. As the sales of the company decline, Windows Phone seems to be climbing up. So far the year-on-year increase of the Windows Phone is about 77%. As compared to the 4.9 million headsets sold last year, this year the sales were about 8.7 million. The majority of the growth is because of the Nokia Lumia smartphones that contribute about 80% of the Windows Phone sales.

In the US, BlackBerry has managed to retain third position because it has around 4.4% market share. However, even this position seems to be in jeopardy. From March to June, the subscribership of BlackBerry decreased by 15%. Even more worrying is that with 3.1% market share, the Windows Phone is nipping at the heels of Blackberry, ready to take over the lead as soon as possible.

Trade-In on Faulty Chargers Offered By Apple

From August 9th and onwards, users of Apple devices in China who are facing concerns and problems regarding their USB power adapters will have the option of visiting any Apple retail store or authorized service provider and dropping off their chargers. In return, they will be provided with an official USB adapter of Apple for $10 or half of its original price. This deal is applicable on a single charger for all Apple devices i.e. the iPod, iPhone and iPad. The USB Power Adapter Takeback was announced by Apple Inc. on Monday. In the US, this program is going to kick off from August 16th and will last till October 18th.

No reason was offered by Apple for introducing this program. On its website, the company only stated that recent reports had indicated that the third-party adapters weren’t designed properly and seemed to have some issues with security. The company said that not all counterfeit chargers and adapters had these issues, but it was still offering the Takeback program through which they could be exchanged. It is believed by some that the program was introduced by Apple because of the recent electrocution incidents that had occurred in China. A 30 year old man had received a shock from his iPhone 4 when it was on charge and is still hospitalized.

In the second incident, a 23 year old girl had answered a call on her iPhone while it had been on charge and had died of electrocution. Guidelines had been posted by the iPhone maker on the Chinese website it has after these tragedies had occurred. The company had recommended that people utilize only the authentic Apple USB adapters. Although the exact circumstances regarding the 23 year old flight attendant aren’t clear, but it is indicated by the series of measures taken by Apple Inc. that it has become cautious about approaching China, the second largest market for the company.

A 1% year on year growth in global sales had been reported by the California based technology giant in the last quarter. However, there had been a 14% decline in sales in Great China where sales had been worth $4.6 billion. This decrease had been attributed to a falling demand of iPhones and lesser inventories. Last week, the CEO of Apple Inc., Tim Cook made his third trip to China in a period of 18 months. Although exact details about his trip remain unknown, it is speculated by analysts that the CEO met the head of China Mobile to work on a potential deal. Also, it is said that he met with partners to discuss the slowing sales of the company in China.

It is rumored that Apple is about to launch a cheaper iPhone for the purpose of attracting customers in China. This device can be successful in the emerging markets and offer Apple the sales figures it desires. However, the company has to ensure that it doesn’t compromise its brand image in the process. This new venture may become crucial for Apple in order to maintain its market share in the competitive smartphone market.

The Prices of Surface Pro Tablet Cut by $100 by Microsoft

 

The prices of Surface Pro tablet has been reduced by $100 this weekend, a few days after Microsoft revealed that more money has been spent by the company on the marketing of in-house tablet than the revenue it has generated. The discounts, which were first revealed by The Verge, cut the cost of 128GB and 64GB tablets of Microsoft to $899 and $799 respectively. These discounts have been announced 3 weeks after Microsoft reduced the price of the Surface RT tablets by 30%.

Surface RT tablets sales, which debuted during last October, have been observed as expected. On Tuesday, the technology giant revealed that it has generated the revenue of $853 million from the Surface tablets since they debuted during last fall. However, this figure is less than $900 million, which Microsoft paid for the inventory adjustments of Surface RT. Also, it is less than $898 million that Microsoft had to pay for the advertising of Surface and Windows 8.

Although Microsoft unveiled the revenue it made from Surface tablets, the company did not reveal the number of units it sold. Also, Microsoft did not specify the individual income either from its Surface Pro or the Surface RT tablets. Bloomberg, in March, published a reported that Microsoft probably sold about 1.5 million tablets to date. As per Bloomberg, though one million of these sales had been for RT version, the number was around half of Microsoft’s initial expectation.

Samsung to Launch Galaxy Tab 3 Line on July 7th

Samsung is going to launch its latest Galaxy Tab 3 line tablets in upcoming weeks, as per TechCrunch. The new devices will arrive in 3 different sizes 7.0, 8.0, and 10.1 inches varying in prices, The launch date is July 7th.

Features known so fare are a dual-core Intel processor with Z2560 1.6GHz, 1280x800 display, 1GB of RAM, along with a 6800mAh battery. Screen of Galaxy Tab 3 8.0's uses the same exact resolution as screen of 10.1” model, but comes with the dual-core Exynos 1.5GHz processor of Samsung, and 1.50 GB of RAM. Both the tablets have 16.0 GB of built-in storage and support of microSD card, a pair of cameras, and also they come with Android Jelly Bean (4.2) with TouchWiz.

Price of Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 is going to be $399, and 8.0-inch tablet will cost $299. Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 utilizes a 1024 x 600 screen display, and it is equipped with a Marvell dual-core 1.20 GHz processor, 1.0 GB RAM, 8.0 rGB of internal storage plus an option to use microSD card. It is run on Android Jelly Bean4.1. The 7.0 tab will be priced at $199 at its launch.

All these Galaxy Tab 3.0 tablets, which will be Wi-Fi only and in brown and white, could be pre-ordered at various stores from tomorrow.

Galaxy NX by Samsung is a Pro-Camera Run on Android JellyBean

Galaxy brand is more than just about smartphones. As per TechCrunch, a professional-level, mirrorless camera along with substitutable lenses has just been revealed by Samsung on Thursday during an event in London. Galaxy NX operates on Jelly Bean (Android 4.2.2), adding the capability of posting high quality images to popular social applications such as Instagram directly from within the camera.

While the NX moniker has previously been used by Samsung for its cameras, and the most recently revealed Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom also is a hybrid smartphone 10x shooter, Galaxy NX seems to be made exactly for the professionals. The back of Galaxy NX has a 4.8’’ HD LCD, supported by 1.60 GHz quad-core processor. Offering a 20.3mp APS-C sensor, Galaxy NX is a 4G LTE also, with Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi ready.

The Galaxy NX can be interchanged with the line of currently available NX lenses by Samsung. A 1/6,000 shutter speed per sec and 8.60 fps shooting borders on an expected quality level are found in the DSLRs, but still Samsung hasn’t released any information on its pricing. Apparently, stores in UK will first have the Galaxy NX this summer, but availability in any other regions has not yet been announced.

What Can You Get When You Choose VPS As Hosting Solution?

VPS hosting has become the most popular hosting method for midsized businesses today for many benefits and advantages. Shared hosting still remains the basic hosting solution for businesses that have just stepped in the online world or are still thinking of entering the cyber market. However, if your business has crossed the level where shared hosting is most suitable and you are looking for a better hosting solution, VPS hosting is probably what you would find as the best option. The many features and facilities that come with VPS hosting are given below so you can make a well-informed decision.

First, you have to choose the most suitable hosting platform on the basis of operating system being used. You have to make a choice to either go with Linux VPS or spend a few extra bucks to get the Windows VPS. However, this decision is best when left on your IT professionals because they know the best reasons for picking any of them. While Windows VPS is a bit expensive but it has many benefits if you are using particular platforms for developing your websites and find it useful to be able to manage your server from a remote location.

While there is no remote desktop control feature in Linux VPS but there are many other options e.g. improved optimization and security that make it a very competitive candidate. Coming to what you will get with your VPS solution; the first thing you get is dedicated (virtually) hard drive size. You also get an allotted size of memory and bandwidth. Today you can get a hard drive space as huge as 1TB or more and memory as massive as 32GB with your VPS packages. However, this takes your monthly costs up and thus you must take a decision after considering your budget.

Most of the companies are willing to give you an easy setup so you don't have to do anything technical yourself. A team of professionals performs that job for you so switching from shared hosting to VPS hosting wouldn't be a challenge for you. You also get dedicated IPs when you choose to have your website hosted through virtual private server. It even gives you the opportunity to be a host yourself and provide shared hosting to other clients on the internet. You are bestowed a control panel to take control of your own server based on the operating system you choose.

With your VPS hosting you are also entitled to install almost anything you want to on your server to customize and configure it to your needs. Regardless of whether you choose Linux VPS or Windows VPS, always make sure that you are being provided with a 24/7 customer support. In case of any issues you must always have someone to get to. However, you must also have a team of professionals to take care of things because you actually own this virtual server and that's why it's called the virtual private server. Go ahead and start hunting for the best VPS host in the market right now.

Why Did We Need VPS In First Place?

People are often confused about VPS hosting because they can't think of good reasons for the presence of VPS hosting in the first place. They are of the view that if there was shared and dedicated hosting already present for small and bit businesses, there was no need to have VPS hosting. Furthermore, you are still not allowed to install your own operating system on the actual server and you must make a choice of either a Windows VPS or Linux VPS. Furthermore, it's not cheaper than shared hosting so what's the actual purpose of having it to begin with?

If you are faced with similar questions and can't think of any answers then read on to get a better idea of VPS hosting. The first thing you must know is that there was a need of VPS hosting and that's the first reason why it was brought into existence for. Shared hosting offers a very limited freedom to businesses when it comes to customizing and controlling their servers and thus all businesses are not happy with shared hosting. Dedicated hosting is way too expensive for smaller businesses to afford in their initial stages when they must control their expenses.

So, for businesses that were expecting to grow but were still not in a position to afford dedicated hosting, VPS hosting came for rescue. This type of hosting made its way in between the two already-existing methods and it filled the gap quite well. Smaller and midsized businesses can now cling to VPS hosting and customize their virtual machine as they wish to. Even though you have to choose between a Windows VPS or Linux VPS before you pay for the hosting, your level of customization remains great with a virtual private server and this gives you many benefits.

In the past when VPS hosting wasn't existent, you had to face a lot of problems when you thought of expanding your online business without affecting the level of service. What is the level of service when you are talking about an online business? Well, the level of service for an online business is how quickly the website loads, how accessible the information is and how reliable the website is. With thousands and millions of alternate solutions available on the internet, if your website takes long in loading just because your shared server has too much burden to handle, your customers will move away within seconds.

The downtime, uptime, availability, control and customization are all the issues that could not be addressed with the old shared hosting method. If you were not comfortable with your shared hosting there was no other option but to go for dedicated hosting, which again wasn't very suitable in the beginning. Therefore, VPS hosting has a lot to offer for a business that is in its expansion stages. You can always use the combination of shared and VPS hosting if you can't afford to have all your websites on VPS host. Less busier and smaller websites can be hosted on shared host and those with huge volumes of traffic can then be managed through VPS hosting.

Google Attempts To Retain Mobile Maps Lead by Buying Waze

A renowned American multinational corporation, Google Inc. has become dominant in the world of the internet and provides a multitude of products and services. Its search engine was the major income-earner for the company, but it has expanded due to rapid growth and has become immensely successful today. One of the numerous services it offers includes that of maps and navigation. These services have become crucial for technology companies as more and more consumers are adopting mobile devices and smartphones. Google is the largest provider of these services nowadays and has succeeded where others like Apple have failed.

In order to continue its domination in the mapping and navigation area, Google Inc. purchased Israeli mapping startup called Waze for a price of over $1 billion, according to an inside source. The primary purpose of buying Waze is to safeguard the lead possessed by Google Inc. in one of the most important aspects of smartphone utilization. On Tuesday, the company announced in a blog post that it had managed to close the deal. It did not clarify how much it had paid, but did say that it would use the startup for improving its own mapping service.

Satellite signals of the smartphones of users are used by Waze for the purpose of generating traffic and mapping data. This data is shared with the users and it provides real time information about traffic in this manner. Google Inc. revealed that for now, the product development team of Waze will remain in Israel and will continue their operations separately. It further said that this startup will be helpful in enhancing the mapping application of the US company, but at the same time, it will also reap benefits because it will be integrated with the search capabilities of Google.

This acquisition made by Google Inc. marks the largest acquisition to be made of an internet company this year, especially when technology deals are heating up considerably. Last month, it was Yahoo Inc. that purchased the popular blogging service called Tumblr for a cost of around $1.1 billion. A separate blog post was made by Noam Bardin, the chief executive of Waze said that they had decided to avoid the typical route for startups that involved an initial public offering because their aim was to focus on the product to be offered. He said that an IPO shifted attention towards bankers, lawyers and Wall Street.

Waze deemed Google to be its right partner and therefore made this decision. Maps are ranked amongst the five most-used applications available on smartphones and tablet computers. According to analysts, Google’s motivations to purchase Waze included a desire to keep the real time traffic information of Waze out of the hands of rival companies. According to some sources, the largest social network of the world, Facebook Inc. had been interested in purchasing Waze some time back. However, the disagreement about the team remaining in Israel or not, had caused the negotiations to come to an end. Nonetheless, Google seemed to have taken the right step. 

Irish Tax Holiday A Boon For Apple From The Start

Based in Cupertino, California, Apple has had its offices in other countries as well, including Ireland. Since 1980, Apple has been able to carry out its operations without paying any tax. This is primarily due to the fact that the government of Ireland was keen to bring jobs in the country. Ireland had been included in the list of one of the poorest countries of Europe, according to the Irish officials and former executives.

Criticism was faced by chief executive of Apple Inc. Tim Cook from a Senate subcommittee over the tax practices of the iPad and iPhone maker. The company’s practices had been shrouded from public view because of the other corporate entities that are secretive and tax-exempt. One of the top multinational employers of Ireland, Apple denied the allegations that it had avoided paying billions of dollars in the form of US taxes. Instead, the company said that various research jobs had been funded in the United States, all thanks to the iPhone maker.

However, it was revealed by the Senate committee that the Irish companies of Apple were not tax resident in any jurisdiction and therefore, the company was not paying any tax on most of its overseas earnings in the past few years. The chairman of subcommittee, Senator Carl Levin stated that ‘Holy Grail of tax Avoidance’ had been created by the company.  A former executive of the company and the Irish officials said that the iPhone maker had enjoyed this status of being tax free in Ireland since it entered the country almost thirty-two years ago. For both Cork and Ireland, Apple may have seemed extremely attractive.

This is due to the fact that the unemployment in Cork had been on the rise and its economy was under huge threat. Apple’s staff had had the habit of having meals together in the early days of the company. Now, Apple has become the biggest multinational employer of Ireland and employs around 4000 people. The Vice President of Apple in the 1980s said that the tax concessions for going to Ireland had been very lucrative. Another executive said that for the first 10 years, the company had enjoyed a tax holiday and had not paid any tax at all. Nevertheless, Apple wasn’t the first company to get this concession, although it did take advantage of it the most.

Apple Inc., on the other hand, has stated that it pays all its tax dues in whichever country it operates. Furthermore, the company declined to make any comment on its tax treatment in the 1980s. Payment of tax had become compulsory for companies in Ireland in 1980, but at a lower rate. Regardless, the investment of Apple Inc. had proved to be a major coup for the country because it had been suffering from low rates of employment. Low wage rates of workers were another attractive factor for the American firm.