Crypton's Dropspot

Acne At Different Locations In The Body Can Reveal Various Health Problems. Watch Out!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Jul 2017 21:38:00 +0800

People usually have acne at the different locations in the body. It remains as it is at the same place for years and we just do not give a damn about it. Well, the studies have shown that acnes at various location tell about various health problems. Acne shouldn’t be taken lightly by anyone as it can signal about something hazardous in your body. The acne does indicate these diseases but before reaching a conclusion you should consult a doctor to avoid various health problems.

1. On The Hips.

Skin rashes and red spots around the hips tells about two measure problems. The first is, your digestive system is not working properly and secondly, your clothes are quite sweaty and they do not let your skin breathe. Change your clothes first and if the acnes doesn’t go away, consult a doctor.

2. On Your Chest.

Red spots on the upper area of the chest also reveal digestive problems. Try changing your eating habits and if the condition persists consult a doctor immediately.

3. On The Upper Side Of The Neck.

The hormonal imbalance and problem in glands affect the area. Pimples at this place also indicates high sugar intake and over active adrenal glands. In any such case, a doctor should be consulted.

4. Behind Your Colar Bone.

If you have acne over that area then it’s a signal that you are suffering from stress. You are just taking more stress than you should take. Stress is the root of various health problems. Try to lighten your mood and keep a healthy surrounding around you. Just calm down and take rest.

5. Big Acne Throughout The Back.

These pimples are painful as well as leave marks. This acne is a result of nervous and digestive system malfunction. This is a sign of a broader line of diseases. You should consult a doctor as soon as possible.

6. Acne Around The Navel Area.

Acne on the stomach area surrounding the navel indicates an increased Blood sugar level. This could lead to diabetes if not taken care of. This is a very good symptom to avoid getting diabetic. Consult your doctor for this purpose.

7. On The Fingers And Other Surrounding Area.

Red spots on the fingers mean an over production of dead cells. It also symbolises poor blood circulation. Acne here means keratosis Polaris and this can be even caused by inefficient use of body vitamins and bad diet. This type of acne shouldn’t be taken lightly as it symbolises various diseases.

Thousand of YOGA beginner using this YOGA Secrets review, Streaming Online or (DVD)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 16:35:00 +0800

Hye YOGA Lovers,

This review is for you. In this video I review the Yoga Burn or Her Yoga Secrets course. It is apparently both a digital product and available as a physical product where they ship you the DVDs.

I just got the digital series because it gave me instant access. I really like that you can just download the entire video series or audio series to your local device. It's great that you can just put the audio on your MP3 player/iPod/phone etc and listen to the Zoe Bray Cotton walk you through the yoga exercises as you're doing them.

The exercises are provided in a video series that puts them in a progressive sequence. This progressive sequence means that everything is built upon the fundamental exercises that are considered the building blocks of all yoga sequences. They provide a dynamic journey to getting a flat belly through the power of yoga.

The exercises are not only good for your physical health. They also impact your mental health as it relieves stress. That is where the bonus video comes in. It is a 15-minute video that discusses Tranquility Flow and it is probably the favorite video of most people who are in the Yoga Burn course.

There are three main phases of the program.
They are:

The Foundational Flow: learn the basic yoga exercises that make up the foundation for all yoga sequences.
The Transitional Flow: start to transition into more complex combinations.
The Mastery Flow: begin to master fluid combinations of all yoga exercises that begin to ignite your metabolism, build muscle, and melt away fat.

How to entitle FREE OVERSEA TRIP ?? ( asia ) - ONLINE FRC Programme

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 08:49:00 +0800

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Just 19, Kylie Jenner Buys Third Home

noreply@blogger.com (Chryeon) — Tue, 4 Jul 2017 14:59:00 +0800

‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ star just closed on a new home in Hidden Hills

Most 19-year-olds are either living in less-than-glamorous college dorms or still stuck in their parents’ houses until they can afford to move out.

But Kylie Jenner isn’t most teenagers. The “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” star, who also has an eponymous makeup line, has bought her third home and the second one in Los Angeles’ exclusive Hidden Hills neighborhood, her broker Tomer Fridman of Sotheby’s International Realty confirmed.

She splashed out close to $4.5 million on the four-bedroom, four-bath home, which she will use as an office for her expanding makeup business, according to entertainment website TMZ. If she ever wants to take a break from work, then there’s a pool and a jacuzzi in the property, which boasts around 12,000 square feet of living space.

It won’t be her primary home as she is planning to move into a new $6.025-million house in Hidden Hills next door, where many other celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus and Jessica Simpson, have homes. Her sister, Kim Kardashian West, and husband Kanye West also have a home in the area.

Her 20-year-old supermodel sister Kendall Jenner, meanwhile, recently spent $6.5 million on a Hollywood Hills mansion overlooking celebrity haunt Chateau Marmont on the Sunset Strip. The previous owners were “The Devil Wears Prada” actress Emily Blunt and her husband and former “The Office” star John Krasinski.

use Instagram Stories like a pro

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 3 Jul 2017 15:50:00 +0800

Let’s face it, Snapchat is facing some serious, constant competition from Instagram. While the company is nowhere near down and out, brands and individuals are increasingly shifting over to Instagram Stories for a variety of reasons. Instagram has been relentless about bringing over some of Snapchat’s best features and tools — and often making its own refinements and improvements along the way.

In April, Instagram Stories usage surpassed all Snapchat activity, with Instagram Stories users surpassing 200 million, and Snapchat stories rounding up to 160 million (both numbers are likely higher now). Even if you’re not ready to fully move away from Snapchat, I’m here to teach you the ins and outs of Instagram Stories, and how to become a true pro on the stories platform that people are increasingly starting to explore.

WHY EVEN USE INSTAGRAM STORIES

Instagram Stories generally provide a better, less perplexing user experience. Now if you’re a brand, the list of reasons why you should use Instagram Stories are endless. Most importantly, the amount of people you are likely to reach on Instagram is usually far greater than on Snapchat. Additionally, it provides another platform to make creative content, and ultimately drive to your goal, whether that’s to have someone buy clothes, read a blog post, or download a song. You also don’t get that ugly white square around your media like you do in Snapchat when you upload content from your camera roll, either. The ways to get creative on the platform are truly endless. It’s almost like a small TV channel for your brand where you can go to town with out-of-the-box concepts.

THE BASICS

How to add to your story: There are two ways to add to your story: the first is by going to your profile page and clicking on your icon. The second is going to your main feed and clicking on the camera icon on the top left corner. Once you are done adding text, drawings, and stickers on your masterpiece you tap the “+ your story” icon at the bottom right corner and it has officially been added to your story.

How to add to your story: option 1

How to add to your story: option 2

How to select a media format: Once you’ve made it to the “add to your story” screen, the bottom of your screen will allow you to swipe right and left to choose between Normal (a regular photo or video), Boomerang (a GIF), Rewind (your video in reverse), and Hands Free (which automatically takes a 15 second video without you having to hold down the record button).

How to add filters: Just like Snapchat, you swipe left to advance through a series of filters that can be applied to your photo or video clip. Easy.

How to add filters

How to add an image or video from your camera roll to your story: There are two ways to do this. You will notice a small icon on the bottom left of the screen next to the flash icon. This will have a thumbnail of the latest media in your camera roll. You can click this to unveil your photos and videos from the last 24 hours. The other way to do this is to swipe your screen down. You can’t post anything that has been taken more than a day ago, but I’ve got a hack for that later in this article. If you are uploading a custom image (like a flyer in my case for when I’m DJ’ing), the dimensions are 1080 x 1920 pixels. The video aspect ratio is 9:16, and the length can very from anywhere between one second and 15 seconds.

STICKERS

How to add geotags: You get to stickers by clicking on the square happy face icon on the top right corner of your screen. You’ll see a “location” sticker. Once you tap this, a series of options will come up. If you don’t see your location you can also search for it. I don’t really need to explain how to use other stickers as its just a matter of scrolling and finding whichever one you want to use.

How to add a selfie sticker: Once you hit stickers icon, you’ll see a camera icon to the left of #hashtag. You can click on this and take a selfie, and then tap the image to add a white circle around it or leave it with glowing edges. You can only take a selfie with this sticker. This is great for many things: I’ve seen people take multiple pictures and add each of their friends faces to different bowls of ramen. Or you can be like me and add your face to a picture of the sky and pretend to be god or the sun. The possibilities are endless.

How to add geotags and selfie stickers

Look at god.

How to change the size of your sticker: With any sticker, you can increase and decrease their size by pinching or expanding it with two fingers.

How to pin a sticker or text to a moving part of your video: Place your text or sticker in the desired location and tap and hold the screen until you get a little bar at the bottom that says “pin”. Find the subject in the video you want to pin it to and then hit “pin” when you’re ready. If you are not happy with the result, you can tap and hold the image or text again and keep trying.

How to pin

How to add a hashtag: There are two ways to do this. You can click on the stickers icon and hit “hashtag” and add it that way. You can also just type in a hashtag using the text icon. Either approach will result in a tappable, searchable hashtag in your story.

USING YOUR PEN

How to change colors: There are two key hacks here. The first is swiping left to reveal an array of preselected colors. The second is picking any color and holding your finger down, which reveals an entire palette of colors to chose from.

How to unlock more colors

How to change the pen size and style: On the top of the screen you’ll see four different options for pen styles, and one eraser. They each provide their own style and the eraser tool is a relatively new addition so you can easily erase any mistakes. On the left hand side, you’ll see a slider that allows you to adjust the size of your pen.

ADDING COLOR OVERLAYS

If you want to make your entire screen one solid color, just take your image or video, select any pen, pick a color, and then tap and hold the main part of the screen. When you lift your finger, the screen will become that color. From here, you can use the eraser tool to selectively reveal certain parts of your original image or video. Get creative!

ADDING TEXT

How to add text and change style: To get to the text, you click on the top right corner on the “Aa” icon and start writing. Once you write your text and tap out of the text box, you can also tap on it to change the style and alignment. There are three options: one with a slight faded color in the back, one solid color background, and with no background — just the colored text. Changing the color of your text works much the same as it does with drawing / pens.

How to add color overlays

How to add text and change style

How to have text with multiple colors and sizes: Highlight the individual word in the text to change the color of it. The other way to do this is once you write one word and make it the color and style you want, you simply hit the text button again and write another word or phrase and give it a different color. You can use this to layer the same word over itself in a different color to give it a layered effect, or just make fun typography stuff like this:

Fun!

How to tag people: You do this by clicking the text icon and typing @ followed by the handle. Instagram should generate a list of people who you’re trying to tag as you type, and then you click on their image to tag them. You have to make sure this happens otherwise you can type @soandso and it won’t actually tag them. The way you can tell it worked is by seeing an underline under the tagged name.

SAVING & DELETING

How to delete a sticker or text: This is drag and drop in all its glory. You take your undesired item and drag it to the bottom center of the screen into the garbage icon. Simple!

How to delete a sticker or text

How to save and delete individual shots and your entire story: You’ll see an arrow on the bottom left corner that points down once you snap a pic, boomerang or video. Click that to save your singular image. In order to save your entire story, click on your profile icon and click on the bottom right corner of the screen on the three dots. Click “Save” and it will give you two options: save image, or save story. Select save story to get the story from the last 24 hours saved into one single video file. That’s pretty convenient! This is also where you will find the option to delete.

EXTRA TIPS

How to add face filters: When in the camera view, you’ll find a face icon on the bottom right corner of your screen. You tap this to reveal a series of face filters. You can be the judge of whether they’re better or worse than Snapchat’s filters.

Post to Instagram from Desktop? Easy New Hack!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 3 Jul 2017 00:40:00 +0800

Wondering if you can post to Instagram from desktop?

NOW YOU CAN! Right in the Instagram mobile app, but on your computer.

Just released today, May 9, 2017: Instagram mobile site.

So???

So, this means you can actually run the mobile app, and upload photos like on your phone or tablet, right on your computer!

This info came to me from Martin of Goos3d.ie. I tried it and it’s brilliant!

Go to Instagram.com on Chrome browser.
Open Developer Tools by pressing Control+Shift+I at the same time.
Ignore all the code. Click the little mobile icon at the top.
Above the Instagram site, click the word Responsive and choose a mobile device.
Now you can upload a photo and type your caption, right on your computer!

Here are the features still unavailable on the Instagram.com mobile website:

Video uploads
Filters
Stories
Direct Messaging

But no worries on breaking any Instagram Terms of Use, because you’re not using any third-party tools. If you want a scheduling feature, note that Tailwind and Hootsuite are approved Instagram partners. Read more below.

10 Ways to Post to Instagram from Desktop with Scheduling

You can’t schedule Instagram posts without a third-party tool. But you have many options!

Just remember that Instagram doesn’t allow uploads via their API, so these are workarounds. Check them out to see which will work best for you.

The Instagram desktop methods below fall into 3 groups:

Schedulers that let you set up your posts and send you a reminder on your phone.
Schedulers that set up your posts and then post for you via mobile devices or emulators.
Emulators that allow you to post right on your desktop.

Of these, the first group is definitely sanctioned by Instagram because you do the actual posting from your own device.

The second group is not sanctioned by Instagram and could possibly get your account closed – though three of them have told me it’s never happened.

The third group is probably okay with Instagam. I can’t guarantee it, though.

There are 3 more options if you just need to get stuff from your computer to your mobile device for posting. You’ll find those at the end of this post.

NOTE: Prices current at time of writing but are subject to change.

Why Would You Want to Use One of These Instagram Tools?

Instagram was created as a share-the-moment social media network. Its intention was sharing moments as you’re experiencing them. But it’s evolved and expanded as new communities have come to love Instagram. With these tools:

Brands can keep a constant and cohesive presence.
Photographers can easily post dSLR photos from their computer.
Designers can use their favorite desktop tools and share on IG.
Videographers can edit on desktop and share directly to Instagram.
The visually creative can plan a kick-ass profile page.

A couple creative options you can engineer when you plan your Instagram account!

The tools that include scheduling allow you to plan a consistent look to your account, as well as to post when you’re busy working – or even off-grid.

The last group of tools allows you to post even if you don’t own a smart device. OR use the new hack mentioned at the beginning of this post!

One fairly new feature of Instagram: Now you can open an account via instagram.com – no need for a smart device.

9 things Apple can do with 137 billion of cash

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 9 Feb 2013 00:05:00 +0800

Apple Inc came under attack Thursday from an influential investor David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital for its practice of stockpiling cash. Its hoard totaled $137 billion at the end of last year, and it keeps growing.

Corporations normally don't hoard cash the way Apple does. They keep enough around for immediate needs, and either invest the rest in their operations or dole it out to shareholders in the form of dividends or stock buybacks. If they need more cash for, say, an acquisition, they borrow it.

Apple has never explained why it is salting away so much cash -other than to say the company is preserving its options.

The money belongs to shareholders, so Apple is limited in what it can legally do with it. Leaving legality aside, here are some things Apple could do with $137 billion:

-Give every American a check for $437.
-Buy 213 million iPhones at the average wholesale price, enough for every American who lives east of the Mississippi River, plus Texas.
-Based on market value at Thursday's close, Apple could acquire Facebook, Groupon, LinkedIn, Netflix, Pandora, Research In Motion (Blackberry), Yahoo, Yelp, Zillow and Zynga -and have more than $2 billion left to spare.
-Create a stack of dollar bills 9,300 miles high, 38 times higher than the orbit of the International Space Station.
-Buy 100,000 luxury Manhattan apartments, enough to house the population of Omaha.
-Foot the bill for U.S. federal spending on education for two years.
-Give every Apple employee a bonus of $1.7 million.
-Double U.S. foreign economic aid to the developing world for three and half years.
-Provide shareholders with a one-time dividend of $145 per share. (The stock closed Thursday at $456.95)

Rumours: Facebook Inc in talks to buy WhatsApp

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 4 Dec 2012 00:39:00 +0800

Facebook Inc(NASDAQ:FB ) is in talks to acquire cross-platform mobile chat program, WhatsApp, TechCrunch reported citing sources.

WhatsApp was founded in 2009 and it provides the smartphone application across all operating systems such as Android, Blackberry, iOS and Windows. It works on phones that support text messages, transfer of images, audio and video messages. According to reports the application has about 100 million daily users, presence in about 250 countries on a variety of platforms.

The report in TechCrunch did not have any details about the likely size of the deal nor how far the talks had progressed between the two companies.

Last year in October WhatsApp had said in a blog post that it was transmitting 1 billion messages daily.

"Just how much is 1 billion messages? That is 41,666,667 messages an hour, 694,444 messages a minute, and 11,574 messages a second," it said.

It added that it was a "small step closer towards our goal: providing a great mobile messaging system for a global market, regardless of your handset."

For Facebook it’s a strategic acquisition since the social networking site is being accessed across platforms and having a platform-agnostic application would be a definite help specially as the company is getting aggressive on monetising its mobile subscriber base.

CNET, which followed up the story, said that WhatsApp's messenger application had come in for criticism "recently from security and mobile researchers who alleged security risks based on its authentication process."

The authentication process was pronounced to be a security nightmare by bloggers, who said that the application leaked data when the information collected for authentication purposes was sent to servers

Facebook Rollout of Mobile Photo Sync Background Uploads

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 4 Dec 2012 00:37:00 +0800

Facebook Inc(NASDAQ:FB) is trying to re-establish itself as a storage locker. They can save images you don’t publish and the Photo Sync background uploads feature has already been rolled out to users on 30th November after it has been tested on Android for quite some time. If it can tackle upload friction, they will get loads of photos and will also pull in lots of juicy photo metadata to aid its ads business.

Users can activate the feature via a “Sync” button below the photos in their primary Facebook for iOS or Android app. Once turned on, it will automatically upload all images you take to a private folder. The Photos section can be selected from the navigation menu on the app and then the Synced section can be accessed or it can be done from the Synced From Phone section at the top of your photos on desktop to select which photos to share with friends. Currently, 2GB of photos can be stored free of cost.

When people use a 3G or 4G network, photos synced will be smaller in size, about 100K each and bigger versions will be available on Wi-Fi. There is an option in the Sync settings to deactivate cellular uploads so that you don’t use up your data plan or turn it off completely. When the battery of your device is low, there will be no sync-ing from Facebook.

The real issue when it comes to sharing mobile photos was the upload process where many seconds would be wasted in looking at the progress bar. People will be more open to share a number of photos now that the problem has been dealt with. Facebook will also access your geo-location data from your photos. This data will help them to show more relevant ads to you in your news feed.

But on the back-end, Facebook gets to chow down on a ton of extra data. Just because you don’t share them doesn’t mean Facebook doesn’t suck in the geo-location data from your photos that can help it refine your news feed and show you more relevant ads for nearby businesses.

Just imagine – Facebook detects a Coca-Cola beverage in your hand, and Pepsi tried to make sure you buy their product instead via ads in your feed.

November, a good month for Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 4 Dec 2012 00:30:00 +0800

On the first day of trading in November Facebook‘s stock shot up from $21.08 a share to $28 a share at the end of the day Friday, which is its highest price since July. Zuckerberg, who owns about 504 million shares of Facebook stock, has therefore gained about $3.48 billion. Zuckerberg’s shares were worth $19.1 billion when Facebook first went public at $38 a share in May.

November has been one of the best months yet for the stock. This can be attributed to a strong earnings report in late October, which showed that Facebook has been making progress in monetizing mobile. Also, the second and largest lockup period for stocks held by employees finally expired in the middle of November, which was something investors had been concerned about for months and which appears to have held down the stock price.

As of Friday, Zuckerberg’s net worth was $14.1 billion and will probably grow more as Facebook continues to meet with success.

Text Message’s 20th Anniversary Sees Users Turning to Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 4 Dec 2012 00:28:00 +0800

By Amy Thomson

Text messages turn 20 today and their use may rise 40 percent by 2016, even as mobile-phone owners increasingly rely on Facebook Inc. (FB) and WhatsApp to communicate.

The first SMS, or short message service, text was sent over Vodafone Group Plc (VOD)’s network on Dec. 3, 1992 with the message “Merry Christmas.” By 2016, users may send 9.4 trillion texts, generating $127 billion in revenue, up from 6.7 trillion forecast for this year, according to researcher Informa Plc.

SMS became a key source of income for carriers worldwide, initially costing users a few cents per text and eventually becoming wrapped into unlimited voice and data plans. As more customers have switched to smartphones, with better access to the Internet and more applications, people are increasingly using chat features on Facebook and other websites.

“The concern for mobile operators is that the malaise that SMS faces in countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, China, South Korea and the Philippines, where SMS traffic and revenues are in decline, will inevitably spread, as the penetration of smartphones and mobile broadband grows,” Informa said in a note.

Growth will come via emerging markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America where fewer users have smartphones and they rely on SMS for communication as well as services such as mobile banking, Informa said.

21.5 inch iMac available today

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 1 Dec 2012 23:53:00 +0800

Apple Inc, much to the celebration of fanboys and holiday shoppers everywhere, has officially begun selling the 21.5-inch iMac today, both online and in its trademark stores and select retail partners. The company originally announced the sale date
on its website on Tuesday
, while mentioning that the "27-inch iMac will be available for order through the Apple Online Store and will begin shipping in December."

Interestingly, the Cupertino-based tech giant's online store did originally mention that the 27-inch iMac, which costs an average of $500 more than its smaller counterpart, would be available to ship in "2-3 weeks." As this time has already slipped one week later, to "3-4 weeks."

A quick check of the Apple Store confirms that this is the case, which may leave some holiday shoppers out in the cold, so to speak, for Christmas morning.

Facebook Inc To Hit $10 Billion In Revenue By launching "want" button

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 23:14:00 +0800

Facebook Inc will launch a “want” button in 2013 to further their commercial ambitions according to a new report from Piper Jaffray. The move could bring the company $10 billion in revenues by 2015. The report places a twelve month price target of $38 on the company’s stock.

With Facebook Inc shares currently trading at just over $26, that price target means just under 50% return in twelve months, nice work if you can get it. Facebook shares debuted in May, and were priced at $38.

That, of course, assumes the company will reach the price target assigned by Gene Munster, the Piper Jaffray analyst who authored the report. According to Munster, Facebook Inc will manage to boost its revenue by taking a chunk of online commerce.

The want button, which will allow users to directly pick out products that they are likely to buy. The move, according to the report, would boost advertiser spending on the social network, improving the quality of the advertising and the amount of advertisers seeking to use the platform.

The report cites a figure from Google Inc in order to estimate Facebook’s likely revenue from an increase in commercial prominence. In 2011, Google Inc said it impacted $80 billion worth of purchases with its online platform.

According to the report that number should be doubled to take into account the company’s worldwide impact. Google Inc revenue was $38 billion in 2011. That corresponds to a25% from the company’s assumed commercial impact of $160 billion.

Facebook Inc, according to the analysis, could take a 25% share in that market by 2015. $10 billion in commerce related revenue by 2015 would correspond to the dreams of many Facebook Inc investors.

The company has a substantial opportunity for growth in the commercial sector in the opinion of the Piper Jaffray, and the contribution of that sector will begin as early as next year.

Supplementing and complementing the want button and other commerce driven initiatives is the new partnership the firm has forged with Datalogix, an online information gathering service. The partnership will allow Facebook to track the effectiveness of advertising methods in generating offline trade.

The ability to present possible advertisers with data on offline purchases made by customers will help Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) seal those partnerships, particularly in dealing with purchases consumers are unwilling to complete online.

In the smartphone sector, many customers prefer to enter stores in order to get their hands on the product they are considering buying. Facebook now has a way to more effectively track these purchases and relate them to the social network’s influence.

According to the company, Samsung spent $10 million advertising its latest premium smart phone, the Galaxy S III. That investment generated $129 million in related sales. If the firm manages to collect data more efficiently than Google Inc, its major competitor, it will begin to steal advertising revenues away from the company.

Facebook Inc has an interesting but tough year ahead. The company needs to substantially boost revenue in order to meet the expectations of the market. If it does not, it could face a quick and harsh backlash from investors and advertisers alike.

Facebook can bring out 'Dark traits' in you

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 23:01:00 +0800

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) can bring out the dark traits in you, according to new studies from Lund and Gothenburg University in Sweden. Professor of Cognitive psychology at Lund University and co-founder to the study, Sverker Sikström, says competition for social status on Facebook (FB) has caused these dark traits.

Professor Sverker Sikström said that when people try to attract friends, they write theirselves better and then they suffer that Machiavellianism, these traits and narcissism. The researchers found that some users on the social network are developing interpersonally aversive personality traits, named as ‘The Dark Triad’ which is a group of three personality traits including narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy.

It is time to think about what we write on Facebook and perhaps be more moderate and humble in our expressions, professor said.

Krista K

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 14:17:00 +0800

Upcoming pop singer and Miss Philippines International 2010 talks to MSN Malaysia about her love for music and dance

Krista Kleiner is 23 year old upcoming pop singer with newly released debut single "Feels So Good." Krista kicked started her career in TV hosting, ventured into acting, singing, dancing and ended up taking home the Miss Philippines International 2010 title she competed for that year.

How did Miss Philippines International 2010 turn into upcoming pop singer-songwriter? After getting through auditions, Krista embarked on a worldwide tour with Julio Iglesias as his guest star; it was during this time that she realised that she wanted to pursue singing and performing full time.

"The tour was amazing...I got to see how he did it, got a lot of advice from him and he really encouraged me to go for it...he's so smart, he was able to really give me advice that made me decide this was something I wanted to pursue."

English (which included some poetry) may have been Krista's best subject in school but prior to her upcoming album, "Krista K," she has had no writing experience. Krista, however, has been very hands on with her music, "I didn't want a label or someone else to decide the type of music that I did, or dictate, so I went the independent route; I picked all the music myself, I wrote all the music, I didn't want to just buy the music from someone, I wanted it to be very personal which is why I pushed myself to write although I've never wrote before

Acer Unveils Windows 8 Devices

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 16:39:00 +0800

Acer Malaysia unveiled a range of Windows 8 devices yesterday, led by the highly anticipated Acer Aspire S7, together with the ICONIA W Series tablets and Aspire U Series All-in-One (AIO).

The 11.6-inch Acer ICONIA Tab W700 cradle combo is the only Intel Core tablet in the market, putting incredible power, true full HD instant productivity at users’ fingertips. The 10-point touch control, ultra-responsive and powerful tablet is flexible thanks to the multi-position dock that allows it to be positioned perfectly for landscape or portrait mode for easy browsing, sharing, control and keyboard productivitiy.

The 27-inch new Acer Aspire 7600U All-in-One (AIO) is of minimalist design running on Windows 8 and is powered by the 3^rd generation Intel Core processor. The 1920x1080 screen supports up to 10-point simultaneous touch which enables multiple users at one-go. It can be viewed at an angle from 0-90 degrees and swivels at four sides when it is flat on the table.

Apple Inc initiate 2.5 Billion Dividend Today

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:24:00 +0800

By Aman Jain

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shareholders will be receiving the second installment of the mega-rich company’s dividend program today, reports Apple Insider. The iPhone maker, which has 935 million outstanding share, will distribute a dividend of $2.65 per share to its shareholders, making the total payout around $2.5 billion.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) last paid a regular cash dividend in 1995, and today will be the second time in the last 17 years that the company will pay excesses to its shareholders. The iPhone maker has billions of cash in reserves and liquid assets; they carry no debt. One of the most lucrative companies in the world, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), in its most recent
earnings report, in October, showed that $121.4 billion in cash.

The Cupertino based firm announced its dividend program in March, which includes a regular quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share and a $10 billion share repurchase program, beginning on September 30, 2012. The dividend and repurchase programs are scheduled to take place over the next three years.

The company will be paying new quarterly dividends about a month and a half after the end of each subsequent quarter. A similar dividend will be paid to holders of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s restricted shares, although Cook refused to collect dividend payments for the 1.125 million shares of restricted stock he has been granted, which would otherwise be worth over $75 million.

Hinting on the dividend program, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook told in February, “we used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure. You’ll see more of all of these in the future”.

“Even with these investments,” he added, “we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program”.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock reached an all time high of $705.07 per share when iPhone5 became commercially available, but has been declining since then. The iPhone makers $2.5 billion in quarterly dividend payments makes it one of the highest dividend payers in the U.S.

US to be the World biggest oil producer

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:15:00 +0800

The US will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer "by around 2020", an International Energy Agency (IEA) report has said.

The IEA said the reason for this was the big growth and development in the US of extracting oil from shale rock.
This has enabled the US to gain significantly more extractable oil resources.

As a result, the IEA predicts the US will become "all but self-sufficient" in its energy needs by around 2035.
The US shale oil industry has grown significantly in recent years.
It extracts oil from the ground using a method called fracking - pumping down a mixture of sand, water and chemicals at high pressure.

The industry says the method is safe, but critics say it could cause earthquakes and pollute water sources.

The IEA predicts that the US will be producing 11.1 million barrels per day by 2020, compared with 10.6 million from Saudi Arabia.

Is Qualcomm the New Intel?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:11:00 +0800

By Evan Niu, CFA

In case you haven't noticed by now, smartphones are kind of popular right now. Wait, scratch that. Smartphone growth is exploding. Meanwhile, the PC market has become mature and somewhat saturated and simply isn't the poster child of growth that it used to be.

As the dominant supplier of PC chips, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC ) got rich providing processors during the rise of the PC. As the dominant supplier of smartphone chips and technology, Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM ) is getting rich providing the chips and IP during the rise of the smartphone. In many ways, these two heavyweights embody the growth prospects in the markets they dominate.

Pass the crown
This storyline has now culminated in the fact that Qualcomm has just now overtaken Intel in market cap for the first time ever, driven by its strong earnings report last night.

That's a major milestone that symbolizes where consumer demand is shifting. Qualcomm is now the largest semiconductor company in the world by market cap. We can even add in estimates on each of these markets for the third quarter to really drive the point home.

The shift in spending to smartphones isn't exactly a zero-sum game, though, since computers and smartphones are highly complementary. One big difference is that smartphones have shorter upgrade cycles, with consumers typically getting new phones every two years when their service contracts are up. PCs typically last a bit longer before consumers feel the itch to upgrade.

That's also not to say that Intel isn't benefiting at all from smartphone adoption, since smartphones tap into cloud infrastructure, and data center growth benefits Intel. However, there's less upside there for Intel, as its data center segment comprised just 20% of sales last quarter, vastly overshadowed by the 64% of sales that the PC client business brings in.

A tale of three markets
The chip giants are going to increasingly cross swords in the future. Intel continues to try to work its way into smartphones with its mobile Atom processor. It's partnered with Google (Nasdaq: GOOG ) to optimize Android for its chips, even as many popular Android devices run Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. In the market for smartphone processors, Qualcomm boasts a 48% revenue share, while Intel has just a 0.2% unit share.

As much as Intel is trying to crack into smartphones, Qualcomm is also now set to crack into PCs. With Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT ) decision to support ARM-based (Nasdaq: ARMH ) architecture in Windows RT, Qualcomm has an opening to power some of the next generation of Windows tablets and convertibles. The company has less of a presence in tablets, with NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA ) showing particular strength in that form factor, but Windows RT represents a lot of key opportunities for Qualcomm.

Microsoft is also an important partner on the smartphone side, since its Windows Phone platform runs exclusively on Snapdragon chips. Intel and NVIDIA can't get in there, although that's currently not a high-volume platform.

Intel has a much stronger position in the cellular baseband modem market than in mobile applications processors. Intel completed its acquisition of Infineon's wireless unit early last year, in order to bolster its cellular offerings. Intel now ranks as the No. 3 player in the baseband market, grabbing 12% revenue share in the second quarter, according to estimates by Strategy Analytics.

As top dog, Qualcomm took home a 50% slice. Intel's figures were boosted by 2G and 3G shipments, while Qualcomm benefited from 3G and 4G basebands. NVIDIA also wants in on basebands, acquiring Icera last year, and plans to integrate cellular connectivity into its chips just like Qualcomm.

Between mobile processors, PC processors, and cellular baseband modems, Qualcomm and Intel will continue to find themselves competing for key design wins.

The new Intel
The PC's growth days are now in the rearview mirror. The smartphone's growth days are just now beginning, and Qualcomm dominates two out of the three aforementioned markets where it will see increasing competition from Intel and NVIDIA.

Qualcomm is the Intel of the smartphone era.

When it comes to dominating markets, it doesn't get much better than Intel's position in the PC microprocessor arena. However, that market is maturing, and Intel finds itself in a precarious situation longer term if it doesn't find new avenues for growth. In this premium research report on Intel, our analyst runs through all of the key topics investors should understand about the chip giant. Better yet, you'll continue to receive updates as news develops for an entire year.

Rumor: Office For Android And iOS On The Way

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 8 Nov 2012 23:29:00 +0800

Microsoft Corporation is supposed to release Office app for Android, iPhone and iPad sometime in early 2013, according to the reports of The Verge. The software, Dubbed Office Mobile is expected to take the form of free apps that will allow users to view Office documents. Users will need an account with Microsoft, like apps such as SkyDrive and OneNote.

It is being speculated that in order to have the capability of editing documents, users would need an Office 365 subscription. Users will be able to purchase one through the applications itself, or enter a code, a move that must allow larger organizations to set up their workforces. Options for editing may be relatively restricted, not projected to replace the desktop Office versions.

The push toward subscriptions fits in with Microsoft’s strategy for Office. The centerpiece of the New Office is the move to subscription packages and pricing. There will be payment versions of Office for small businesses and home users that would offer a year of Office usage on five PCs and Macs in total.

Sources reveal that Office Mobile for iOS may be launched first in late February or early March. The Android version is predicted to be launched sometime in May. Microsoft has denied commenting on the matter, but it has said that the Office will work on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. There was no divulgence regarding the date when the Windows Phone apps may release.

Office is a part of the Business Division that is the biggest producer of Microsoft’s revenue. Having Office available on Android and iOS devices will undoubtedly help in increasing revenue of Microsoft. It will also help in making sure that users continue using Office instead of Google Apps or Google Docs. That is more crucial than the comparatively small incremental market share that Microsoft may gain by not releasing a version of Office for Android or iOS.

Windows Live Messenger will end soon?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 6 Nov 2012 21:52:00 +0800

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is reportedly preparing to replace its Windows Live Messenger client with Voice over IP (VoIP) and chat service Skype. According to sources close to The Verge, the company’s Windows Live Messenger will be moved into Skype and then killed as a separate service in the coming months. If the rumor holds true, this news is expected to be declared soon, perhaps even as quickly as this week.

The software giant has not yet commented on the rumors. It seems possible that Microsoft will replace Windows Live Messenger with Skype, particularly when taking into account the release of Skype 6.0 for Windows and Mac OS X last month, which enables users of services such as Hotmail, Outlook.com and Windows Live Messenger to be in touch with other subscribers of those services all in one place.

Microsoft's Windows 8 'strong'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 6 Nov 2012 06:58:00 +0800

Microsoft (MSFT) launched Windows 8 with much fanfare. Estimated to be at a $1.5 billion budget, Microsoft wants consumers to look at the company in a fresh new face. Creating a new branding message against an established reputation is a challenge, but it is not impossible. Leading the fresh new marketing messages are a number of updates: the Surface tablet release, Windows Phone 8, music and movie services, software updates for the Xbox, and an upgrade to Skype.

Reinvigorating the growth of a company is possible. Starbucks (SBUX) found itself drifting, before its founder returned to bring new, original ideas that made the company what it is today. Microsoft’s rebirth is more complex. Despite a pricing strategy that may hurt initial sales for Surface RT, Microsoft built RT without partnering with hardware makers. Microsoft chose instead to use Qualcomm (QCOM), NVIDIA (NVDA), and ARM Holdings (ARMH) to supply parts for RT.

Building on its aggressive marketing strategy, Microsoft lowered developer registrations for 8 days, from $99 USD to $8, to grow its developer base. At its Build 2012 conference, Microsoft will be giving away a Nokia (NOK) Lumia 920, a Surface RT, and 100 GB of SkyDrive storage. The conference is being held in Belfast, Ireland on November 12 -16.

Windows 8 Sales Strong

Critics pointed to Windows 8 being far too different for consumers to embrace, but a 3 minute video shows how easy it is to use. Still, there is clearly a benefit in using a touch-enabled device to greater ease of use. Over the weekend, Microsoft sold 4 million upgrade copies of Windows 8. This would add between $60 and $160 million in revenue for Microsoft alone.

16GB iPad Mini is Top Choice, Survey Says

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 6 Nov 2012 06:55:00 +0800

By DAVID WOODBURN

Apple Inc . (NASDAQ:AAPL) launched its new iPad Mini this past weekend, and it appears that the entry-level model was the one that sold the best - to the point that the majority of retail stores had run out of the 16-gigabyte model that has a retail price of $329 - about $130 more than the entry level Nexus 7 from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Kindle Fire by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).

Topeka Capital Markets, one of the top firms tracking all things Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), took a survey of retail stores to gauge the business in terms of iPad Mini sales. And in the results of the survey, Topeka found that 60 percent of all U.S. retail stores ran out of iPad Mini devices, and specifically every retail store ran out of the 16GB model. Also, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) retail stores saw 90 percent of the 32GB models in black and slate were sold, while 76 percent of white and silver models were off the shelves.

Of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) retailers that had inventory left (about 40 percent), less than 15 percent had sold out of any of the high-end 64GB models, with 14 percent selling out of the 64 in black and slate, with 10 percent sold out of white and silver. And Topeka analyst Brian White noted in the exit survey that nearly half of those who bought an iPad Mini had never owned a tablet computer before, which he says indicates that the device may be a good opportunity for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to reach out to a new market of customers. This survey, however, does not indicate numbers of iPad Minis that were sold, nor how many remained in stock as of Sunday night.

Apple Will Give Google The OK For Google Maps For iOS

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 6 Nov 2012 06:52:00 +0800

By Anna Peel

There was a recent cause of concern over a report from The Guardian that indicated Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may have a hard time approving Google Maps for iOS.

The report read, “Sources at Google, familiar with its mapping plans say they are ‘not optimistic’ that Apple will ever approve a dedicated Google Maps iOS app. Though the app is reportedly in development and should be ready to ship by the end of the year, the sources say their plans are only proceeding in ‘the unlikely event’ that Apple will choose to approve the app.”

Last summer, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ditched Google Maps in favor of their own iOS maps program, but that turned out to be quite a disaster.

IntoMobile responded to the rumor, “This screams of shadiness on Apple’s part, if the report is true.”

Business Insider had similar feelings, “It might be a long time before we see a native Google Maps app on iOS.”

The Guardian’s report proved false. It does make a little sense that Google fans are concerned over the report, especially considering that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has some ever-changing requirements regarding their apps. It’s not uncommon for Apple to remove an app that’s been in their store for several years for arbitrary reasons .

Facebook Employees, Including Sheryl Sandberg, Dump FB Shares

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 6 Nov 2012 06:47:00 +0800

By Vikas Shukla

As soon as “lock up” period expired, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) top management, including COO Sheryl Sandberg, have started dumping the company shares. It resulted into a 3 percent decline in

Facebook share prices, the biggest drop in the last two months. According to an SEC filing, Sandberg sold approximately 353,000 Facebook shares on Wednesday for about $7.44 million. Sheryl Sandberg still owns about 20 million vested Facebook shares, some of them held in her trust.

General counsel Theodore Ullyot, who once worked for AOL, Inc. (NYSE:AOL), sold 149,000 shares on Wednesday and Thursday for $3.13 million. Chief Accounting Officer David Spillane sold 256,000 shares, collecting $5.4 million. Now he holds just 160,479 shares.

It’s the first time that the senior management is selling Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) shares after its disastrous IPO in May.