HTC to launch next flagship smartphone on March 25th
The HTC One was one of our favorite smartphones of 2013, so naturally we’re incredibly curious to see its inevitable successor, codenamed M8. According to an invite that just landed in our mailbox, we’ll likely get that opportunity on March 25th at a launch event taking place simultaneously in New York and London. While the invite doesn’t call out the phone by name, this falls in line with HTC Chairperson Cher Wang’s promise that we’d see invitations for this specific event before February 24th. We aren’t in the dark about what it’ll look like, if prior leaks prove accurate, but there’s still no word on its official name; we just hope it isn’t called the HTC One Two.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, HTC, Google
UK to finally include streaming in its singles music chart
The UK could soon join its US and European counterparts by using streaming play counts to help determine its top 40 singles chart. BBC News reports that music streamed on services like Spotify and YouTube could be included later this year, expanding the traditional sales-based chart metrics to better reflect the tastes of the British public. The Official Charts Company, which compiles CD sales and music downloads from services like iTunes on behalf of the British record industry, already offers a separate Top 100 music streaming chart but has not set a date to roll out the new changes. It’ll have to take into account what services will be included and work out how many plays of a track constitutes as one sale before it does. Given that streaming now accounts for almost 10 percent of UK music revenue, it’s about time its public’s love of Daft Punk is recognized.
Source: BBC News
HTC now offers Americans free screen replacements within the first six months
HTC clearly doesn’t think that promising two years of Android updates is enough to win over American smartphone buyers. It’s launching HTC Advantage, an upgrade to its US support policy that goes beyond the usual warranty limits. In addition to delivering on earlier promises of OS upgrades and extra cloud storage, the Advantage program replaces one cracked screen for free within the first six months of ownership. You’re only covered if you buy a One series phone from today onward, but the initiative could be just the reassurance you need if you’re worried about dropping a shiny new handset.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC
Source: HTC
Apple Debuts New Mountaineering ‘Your Verse’ iPad Story [iOS Blog]
Apple has released another story in its current “Your Verse” ad campaign for the iPad Air that showcases the extraordinary use of the tablet in a variety of situations. This latest edition shows how mountaineers Adrian Ballinger and Emily Harrington have used the iPad when scaling some of the world’s most renowned mountains.
Ballinger and Harrington are shown using the iPad from base camp to summit, documenting their trip with photos and blog posts. Instead of waiting weeks to share their adventure, the pair used the iPad to provide expedition details as they happened. The iPad was also used for terrain mapping the terrain and route planning through treacherous mountain regions.
“Not long ago, they relied on outdated or inaccurate paper maps to inform their plan of attack. Sometimes maps of these areas didn’t even exist. But now with iPad and the Gaia GPS topography app, they can see remote mountain regions in great detail.”
“Five years ago, it was hard to even get a paper map of some of these places. Now with the iPad it’s remarkable how much we can plan ahead,” said Ballinger.
Mountain expeditions are only one of several stories highlighted by Apple. An earlier documentary shows how the iPad was used by biologist Michael Berumen to study underwater coral reefs, while other shorter profiles that encompass a variety of disciplines were summarized in the recent “Your Verse” ad. The “Your Verse” series is a continuation of the “Life on iPad” ad campaign that Apple kicked off last year. 
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Microsoft makes it easier to sign your Office 365 documents
It should now be much easier to sign your Office 365 documents without taking them offline or printing them out. Microsoft has reached a deal to offer DocuSign’s digital signature apps through both the Office Store and corporate deployments, letting you affix your virtual handwriting while staying in Office 365′s cloud. The two companies also promise to team up on future projects. The improved signature support isn’t likely to fulfill those dreams of a paperless workplace, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
[Image credit: Sebastien Wiertz, Flickr]
Filed under: Internet, Microsoft
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Office 365 Blog
Samsung Galaxy S5 might come with a fingerprint sensor
Folks excited to buy a Galaxy S5 so they can authenticate with their eyeballs and feel like Ethan Hunt might be in for a disappointment. According to Sammobile, Samsung’s upcoming flagship will come with a fingerprint sensor — one that’s embedded on the home button à la iPhone 5S. If this report is true, however, that’s about the extent of the scanners’ similarities, as S5′s is supposed to be markedly different and more sophisticated.
Users reportedly need to swipe their finger from base to tip across the button (their print will appear on the screen as they swipe), and authentication will fail if their hands are wet. The phone can store up to eight fingerprints for different purposes, such as to launch particular apps or verify their Samsung accounts. Some of these stored fingerprints can also be used to access two new features called Personal Folder and Private Mode, where users can keep apps, widgets and files for their eyes only. We obviously won’t know for sure until Samsung launches the Galaxy S5: thankfully, we might only have to wait a few more days to find out if any of these claims are even close to being real.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Via: Phone Arena
Source: Sammobile
Snowden documents reveal that the NSA spied on WikiLeaks website visitors
Two infamous serial leakers’ paths have just crossed, as new documents from Edward Snowden reveal just how much energy the NSA devoted to spying on Julian Assange and Wikileaks. According to documents from The Intercept, the US and British governments targeted not only the organization itself, but also “the human network that supports WikiLeaks.” In one instance, Britain’s spying agencies tapped fiber-optic cables and logged IP addresses from every visitor to a certain WikiLeaks site. Another showed that the US government urged its allies to charge Assange criminally over Afghanistan leaks, and considered designating WikiLeaks a “malicious foreign actor” — normally a term used for terrorist organizations. For his part, Assange called the NSA’s actions “unlawful and reckless” and urged an investigation into the activities.
Source: WikiLeaks
Android 4.4 KitKat for the Sprint Galaxy S4. Sony Brings Android 4.3 to Multiple Devices. – Device Updates
Hello Android friends. Time for that time of the week where we talk about those updates that happened this passed week. The Sprint Galaxy S4 should be getting some Android 4.4, and Sony is getting a few of their Xperia devices up to Android 4.3. Other than that, a pretty slow update week.
Device Updates
Sprint Galaxy S4 Android 4.4 update rolling out
Sony Xperia devices getting Android 4.3
Sony’s sold 5.3 million PS4s already, hits sales target with three weeks to spare
Sony’s prediction that it would move 5 million PlayStation 4s before the end of the fiscal year turned out to be on target. It just announced 5.3 million of the next-gen consoles sold worldwide as of February 8th, all before the PS4 launches in Japan on the 22nd. The PS4 has held the overall next-gen hardware sales lead since it launched in November, and appears to be extending the gap on the Xbox One during these early stages of the war. We haven’t received exact US sales figures yet, but the PS4 sold the most units in January, and worldwide had 4.2 million sold at the end of 2013. Pushing over a million more new systems in just over a month is no small feat, and Sony’s upcoming launch in its home country is sure to expand that total. Once we have the system in our home however, it’s software and services that will be most important in getting use out of those boxes. Right now Microsoft is putting its next-gen eggs in the Titanfall basket, but Sony is pushing PlayStation Plus with its first-ever commercial for the service (embedded after the break), plus exclusive games on the way including Driveclub and Infamous: Second Son.
Source: PRNewswire
Avoid 4 Conversion Optimization Mistakes That Could Sink Your Website
Conversion optimization — finding out how to keep website visitors at your website longer and encouraging them to return to it to increase the likelihood of a sale — is more complicated than many website owners may think, although it’s almost always worth the effort if done well. However, if you don’t recognize how to avoid some fairly common conversion optimization mistakes, it won’t prove worth the time and money you’ve sunk into it. Whether you’ve attempted conversion optimization in the past or are just about to start the task, re-think your approach — it’s not as simple as changing the colors of your website buttons like some people believe.
Setting the Wrong Goals
Not every business goal is just to make money. Even a non-profit organization likely wants to encourage donations, but maybe they want to encourage volunteering, too. Perhaps you don’t need or want to make money, but you want your blog to become well-read. All of these goals boil down to encouraging more visitors to come to your website.
However, you can’t make the mistake of trying to get your website to fit your big business goals. Instead, you have to set individual, smaller goals for your website. For example, get 100 more unique visitors per day within half a year. Or decrease the number of crashes your website experiences. These smaller marketing goals are better for optimization. Research great conversion optimization goals and meeting your overall business goals will follow.
Assuming a New Website Means an Optimized Website
You just paid for a brand new website, and it’s easily the most stunning website your business has ever had. You paid professionals to create it, so surely they knew what they were doing. The website couldn’t possibly be better optimized, so now it’s time to relax and wait for the business to start rolling in.
Unfortunately, conversion optimization isn’t as simple as paying for a new website. Professional Web designers focus on meeting their client’s vision for a website, but they don’t often worry about conversion optimization. If you’re going to outsource optimization, you should bring in a firm of marketers or analysts. An integral part of optimization is collecting data about a website, seeing what works and what doesn’t and then tweaking it appropriately. You can’t know before your website has launched, and what may have been the case for someone else’s site won’t necessarily apply to your site.
Relying Too Heavily on One Form of Data
Even if you understand that optimization relies heavily on data analysis, it’s easy to get too narrowly focused. If you’re tracking the number of page views alone, you’re ignoring how visitors get to your website in the first place. If you consider only the fact that one page often leads visitors to another, you might mistakenly think it’s related to the size of your link, when in fact it’s something about the content on that page that’s redirecting visitors.
Incorporate as much data as possible into your conversion efforts to get a better overall picture of process. Tackle data in cycles if it gets too overwhelming. For example, focus on data that will help you meet your goal of bringing 100 more visitors per day to your website for a week. The following week, study page results revealing how often visitors click on one page from another. Don’t get sucked into one small goal and one set of data.
Giving Up Too Soon
http://foter.com/photo/group-of-young-people-in-training-course/
Optimization isn’t an easy process. There’s so much data to collect and analyze if you really want to achieve optimal results, and there are many small goals to meet along the way to your larger ones. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and give up, but you can’t waste the time and resources you’ve devoted thus far. An optimized website may just be one part of your overall business plan, or it may be the entire focus of your enterprise, but regardless, optimization is key to driving traffic.
KISSMetrics claims 96 percent of store website visitors don’t intend to buy when they first visit. The whole point of conversion optimization is to get these first time visitors to come back and shop and to recommend the site to their friends and family. Conversion optimization is worth the effort you put into it, but it’s best to make the most effective use of your time and budget by avoiding the most common mistakes.
Computer data image by SalFalko on Flickr’s Creative Commons.
Office group image by SalFalko on Flickr’s Creative Commons.
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