InfOGyan

Few Ways To Control Your Emotions Effectively

2015-03-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

Emotions are the most present, pressing and sometimes painful force in our lives. We are driven day by day by our emotions. We take chances because we're excited for new prospects. We cry because we've been hurt and we make sacrifices because we love. Without a doubt, our emotions dictate our thoughts, intentions and actions with superior authority to our rational minds. But when we act on our emotions too quickly, or we act on the wrong kinds of emotions, we often make decisions that we later lament.

Our feelings can alter between dangerous extremes. Veer too far to the left and you're bordering on rage. Steer too much to the right and you're in a state of euphoria. As with many other aspects of life, emotions are best met with a sense of moderation and logical perspective. This is not to say that we should stop ourselves from falling in love or jumping for joy after great news. These truly are the finer things in life. It is negative emotions that must be handled with extreme care.

Negative emotions, like rage, envy or bitterness, tend to spiral out of control, especially immediately after they've been triggered. In time, these sorts of emotions can grow like weeds, slowly conditioning the mind to function on detrimental feelings and dominating daily life. Ever met a person who's consistently angry or hostile? They weren't born that way. But they allowed certain emotions to stir within them for so long that they became inbred feelings arising all too frequently.

So how can we avoid operating on the wrong types of feelings and master our emotions under the harshest of circumstances?

Follow my six steps to control your emotions and regain rationality in any challenging situation:

Don't react right away. Reacting immediately to emotional triggers can be an immense mistake. It is guaranteed that you'll say or do something you'll later regret. Before refuting the trigger with your emotional argument, take a deep breath and stabilize the overwhelming impulse. Continue to breathe deeply for five minutes, feeling as your muscles untense and your heart rate returns to normal. As you become calmer, affirm to yourself that this is only temporary.

Ask for divine guidance. Faith is our saving grace in our darkest moments. No matter your creed, developing a healthy relationship with the divine world will help you surmount your obstacles more easily. This is because when you believe in a higher force, you also believe in the power of divine intervention to show you what you must do, teach you why something is happening or even save you from a certain unwanted situation. When burdened with emotion, close your eyes, envision a positive solution to your problem, and ask the universe to illuminate the best path forward.

Find a healthy outlet. Now that you've managed your emotion, you'll need to release it in a healthy way. Emotions should never be bottled up. Call or go see someone you trust and recount to them what happened. Hearing an opinion other than your own broadens your awareness. Keep a journal and transfer your emotions from your inner self onto the paper. Many people find it helpful to engage in aggressive exercises, such as kickboxing or martial arts, to discharge their feelings. Others meditate and chant to return to a tranquil state of being. Perform whatever activity is best-suited to you in order to liberate your being from pent-up sentiments.

See the bigger picture. Every happening of our lives, whether good or bad, serves a higher purpose. Wisdom means being able to see past the moment and discern the greater meaning of any given situation. You may not understand it in the beginning, but as time goes by, you'll begin to see the bigger picture falling into perfect order. Even in the midst of an emotionally upsetting moment, trust that there exists an ultimate purpose which you will come to comprehend soon.

Replace your thoughts. Negative emotions bind us to recurring negative thoughts, creating cycles of downright negative patterns. Whenever you are confronted with an emotion which is making you feel or think something bad, force it out of your mind and replace it with a different thought. Imagine the ideal resolution to your problem playing out, think about someone who makes you happy or remember an event that makes you smile.

Forgive your emotional triggers. Your emotional triggers may be your best friend, your family members, yourself or all of the above. You may feel a sudden wave of anger when your friend "does that thing she does," or a stab of self-loathing when you remember something you could have done differently. But when you forgive, you detach. You detach from the resentment, the jealousy or the fury lingering within you. You allow people to be who they are without the need for escalating emotions. As you forgive, you will find yourself disassociating from the harsh feelings attached to your being.

A constant reminder of our ardent nature, emotions surge through us at every second of the day. But we often take wrong actions when wrong feelings filter through our mind without restraint. To avoid the burn of acting out during an emotional upsurge, take a few simple steps to calm your heightened spirit and quiet your uneasy mind. When the moment has passed (in hindsight), you'll be grateful you were able to be the master of your emotions.

Source: Huffingtonpost

Dr. Carmen Harra

Author, clinical psychologist and relationship expert

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge puts design first

2015-03-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

Following countless leaks and endless teasers, Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones. The pair of S6 phones succeed the Galaxy S5, Samsung's prior flagship announced one year ago, and will be available across the world starting on April 10th. All four major US carriers plus US Cellular have committed to carrying both the S6 and the S6 Edge, while smaller carriers such as Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, and MetroPCS will only offer the S6. The Galaxy S6 Edge will be priced higher than the standard S6, though Samsung isn’t saying exactly how much either one will be at this point.

The S5 was largely considered a misstep by Samsung: its advanced display and plentiful features were overshadowed by its plasticky build and ho-hum design, and during the course of 2014, Samsung's smartphone profits fell dramatically as a result. Clearly Samsung does not want a repeat of the Galaxy S5 and 2014.

So consider the S6 phones complete reboots of Samsung's top-end Galaxy, a back to the drawing board approach that has resulted in the most visually stunning devices Samsung has ever produced. Where the 2014 S5 looked almost identical to 2013's S4, the S6 and S6 Edge have all-new designs that look and feel significantly different than the older Galaxy devices.

Samsung is essentially splitting its flagship model into two distinct, but very similar designs. The Galaxy S6 has a flat display, metal frame, and glass front and back panels. Its counterpart, the S6 Edge, has all of the above, but throws in a curve to the sides of its front and rear glass, giving it a distinctive character. The curved glass is similar to the curved display and glass Samsung utilized on the Note Edge, but it’s not as aggressive and is found on both sides of the phone instead of just the right. Needless to say, the S6 Edge is the far more interesting looking and feeling phone of the pair.

Both of the new phones are made entirely of metal and glass: the cheesy and cheap-feeling plastics that have dominated Samsung’s products for years are no where to be found. This change can’t be overstated: Samsung finally has made flagship products that look and feel like they are worth the premium price tag they command. The flat S6 will be available in white black, gold, and blue, while the S6 Edge can be hand in white, black, gold, and green.

Samsung’s lead designer on the project says the company spared no expense when it came to materials that they could use in the new phones. The front and rear glass panels are Gorilla Glass 4, and the metal frame is significantly nicer than the plastic used on Samsung’s prior phones (and even the metal frame used in the Note 4 and others released late last year). With Samsung competing in the high-end market against Apple and HTC, both of which use premium materials in their devices, it’s important that Samsung shows it can hang. For the most part, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge do.

Samsung didn’t just focus on design for the new phones either. In typical Samsung fashion, the Galaxy S6 phones are packed with the latest technology: an octacore Samsung Exynos processor (for the international version, Samsung would not confirm what processor the US models will use); 5.1-inch QHD Super AMOLED displays; 3GB of RAM; 32, 64, or 128GB of internal storage; 16-megapixel cameras with optical image stabilization; a new fingerprint sensor in the home button that no longer requires a swipe; an infrared heart-rate monitor that Samsung says also helps the camera obtain accurate white balance; integrated support for both Qi and PMA wireless charging; fast USB charging that’s 1.5 times faster than the Galaxy S5; a speaker that’s 1.5 times louder than the S5’s; and integrated support for Samsung Pay, which uses either NFC or MFT (LoopPay) technology for transactions.

MICROSD SLOTS, REMOVABLE BATTERIES, AND WATERPROOFING WERE SHOWN THE DOOR

But while Samsung certainly improved upon the Galaxy S5’s design in dramatic ways and upgraded the phone’s technology at the same time with the S6, it didn’t come without cost. Hallmarks of Samsung’s phones, such as removable batteries, microSD card slots, and waterproofing are nowhere to be found on the S6 or S6 Edge. That will likely upset some die-hard users and Samsung loyalists that relied on those features, but it’s clear that Samsung prioritized the phone’s design and its look and feel over things that appeal to a smaller segment of its customer base. Samsung also trimmed back the software features, claiming that there are 40 percent fewer features in the Galaxy S6 than the S5. Overall, the software feels largely the same as before, however. (It's based on Android 5.0 Lollipop.)

It’s easy to see where Samsung took its inspiration for the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge: the design is strikingly similar to the iPhone 6 in many places, and the features that Samsung did focus its efforts on are all things the iPhone has had for years. Look at the S6 from certain angles and you’d immediately think it’s an iPhone. Put your thumb on the home key and the phone unlocks almost instantly, just like an iPhone. Even the camera mount protrudes out from the rear of the phone, preventing the S6 from lying flat on a table, just like an iPhone 6. (The flat S6 looks like the lovechild of an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 6, while the S6 Edge is a little more distinctive.) Samsung has be known to copy Apple’s design before, which led to record sales and record-breaking lawsuits. It’s hard to say if the Galaxy S6 will bring about any lawsuits, but the similarities between it and the iPhone 6 are undeniable.

SIMILARITIES TO THE IPHONE 6 ARE UNDENIABLE

Of the two, I’m particularly drawn to the S6 Edge. While the standard S6 has a very generic design that could have come from any number of phone makers out of China, the Edge’s curved sides look cool and make it easier to swipe across the screen. The curves aren’t overly dramatic and the symmetrical design is far better than the Note Edge’s side panel. Also unlike the Note Edge, Samsung isn’t really using the curved sides to display specific information. It still has the bedside clock feature (activated by swiping back and forth on the curved part of the screen), but the news tickers, app launcher, and notifications panel are gone.

Design considerations and copycat accusations aside, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are sure to be great phones in their own rights. Samsung made them 2mm narrower than the S5, which doesn’t sound like much but does wonders for one-handed maneuverability. In my brief time with the two phones, performance was quick and snappy and it was easy to access all of the phone’s features with just my thumb, something I haven‘t been able to say for Samsung’s earlier devices.

Perhaps most impressive is the new camera. Samsung says it has listened to criticisms levied against its past cameras and has improved the S6’s camera to address them. It’s exceptionally quick, can be launched from anywhere with an easy double-tap on the home key (Samsung says it starts up in 0.7 seconds, and I have no reason to dispute that claim), and takes sharp, well-exposed photos. It also has automating focus tracking for moving subjects, a first for a mobile device. And Samsung claims that the infrared sensor on the back of the phone used to measure your heart rate can also pulls double duty to improve white balance quality when taking photos. I have a feeling it will see far more usage assisting the camera than it will measuring heart rates when the S6 hits stores. Most of those claims will need further scrutiny once we have a review unit of the Galaxy S6 to test, but my first impressions with the camera are really good.

The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge both support Samsung’s new mobile payments program, called Samsung Pay. It uses technology Samsung acquired through its LoopPay purchase to let you make purchases at any retailer that has a standard credit card swiper. It also works with NFC tap-to-pay systems and is authenticated with the fingerprint sensor in the phone’s home button. Between the two systems, Samsung says it will be accepted at 90 percent of retailers. Samsung Pay will work with both MasterCard and Visa, as well as American Express, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and U.S. Bank. It’s very obviously Samsung’s answer to Apple Pay, but it won’t be available until later this summer, a few months after the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge hit store shelves.

Samsung is also announcing a version of the Gear VR that will work with both the S6 and S6 Edge. It’s 15-percent smaller than the Gear VR for the Note 4, and it has improvements such as USB charging. Samsung is still calling it an "Innovator Edition", which means it’s not really designed to be used by everyday consumers. (Presumably, consumers will still be able to buy it pretty easily, however, just like the Gear VR for the Note 4.) I wasn’t able to test the S6’s Gear VR, so we’ll have to wait and see if it’s an improvement over the older model.

THE S6 AND S6 EDGE ARE DRASTIC IMPROVEMENTS OVER THE S5, BUT TIME WILL TELL IF THEY ARE ENOUGH

With sales falling and profits going down along with them, Samsung needed to do something much bigger and better this year than it did with the S5 last year. For most intents and purposes, the S6 and S6 Edge are just that: they are dramatically nicer and better phones than Samsung has ever produced. But it’s hard not to say that this is the phone the S5 should have been a year ago, and Samsung is still going to be playing catch up with Apple. The S6 and S6 Edge are certainly great phones, with solid performance and finally a design that Samsung can be proud of. Whether or not that’s enough to put Samsung back on top remains to be seen.

Input Source: THE VERGE

Tips To Work Well Under Pressure

2015-02-19T11:49:00.002-08:00

In the IT world working under pressure is a daily event. Knowing the steps to take when faced with an issue can lessen the stress of working under pressure.

Deadlines, project changes, unforeseen obstacles, critical outages are only a few of the stressful issues that can arise in the IT world. We face these circumstances often and can feel a great deal of pressure to get them taken care of.

“Pressure – The stress or urgency of matters demanding attention, The burden of physical or mental distress, The constraint of circumstances.”

Working under pressure involves dealing with circumstances that can be constrained by time, resources, the difficultly of the task, all of these and more. It involves the stress that comes from dealing with a matter that must be taken care of on time. This pressure can lead to physical or mental distress.

Maintain Control

The first step in learning how to work under pressure is to maintain control. For some pressure brings up emotions that can cloud decision-making and inhibit your ability to deal with a problem. If you cannot set your emotions aside take those emotions and turn them into the energy needed to deal with the situation.

Evaluate The Issue

Before you jump into action you must first evaluate the issue.

Be sure you know exactly what the issue is before you try to resolve it. On the surface it may seem like one thing, when in fact there is an underlying cause. By jumping to conclusions and acting on the wrong issue you may in fact make it worse. Ask the important questions who, what, when, where, why to get to the root of the problem.

Once you know what the issue is then determine the priority. Is it a high priority that must be dealt with immediately?

Have a Plan

The post “How a Proactive IT Manager Can Handle Any Crisis” details how important it is to have a plan or processes for dealing with a crisis already in place. When a crisis arises that puts you under pressure you execute the plan. Each step is outlined and everyone knows what they are supposed to do.

When There Is No Plan

There are times when something arises that there is no plan for. In these cases the best way to deal with it is a step-by-step process. Learning how to work under pressure means sometimes you have to work without a net.

Determine what the issue is and document all the circumstances surrounding it.
Determine how critical it is. This will determine how quickly it must be dealt with.
Create a simple to-do list for each step that needs to be done to resolve it.
Once you know the steps then it is just a matter of doing them or delegating them.

Anytime you deal with something for which you had no plan for after the issue is resolved write down everything while it is still fresh in your mind. You can use these notes later to create a step-by-step plan for dealing with that issue should it arise in the future.

Resources:

Take Away

How to work under pressure can be summed up into three steps.

Maintain control
Evaluate the issue
Execute the plan or prepare and execute the plan if no plan exist

You can relieve the stress of working under pressure by knowing what steps to take to deal with any situation that can arise. Being pro-active by having plans in place for common issues can make sure they are dealt with promptly and relieve the stress of working under pressure.

The more you have to work under pressure, the better you get at it. This builds confidence that you can deal with anything that arises. This confidence can relieve the stress and help reduce the emotions that can come up when working under pressure.

By Sam Grier

Source: IT Managers Inbox

Three Eating Rules Bodybuilders Follow

2015-02-16T11:29:00.001-08:00

Never Skip Breakfast

It's the most important meal of the day for building and maintaining muscle, says Jose Antonio, Ph.D., CEO of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. The longer you go without eating after you wake up, the longer your body remains in fasting mode, making it more likely that your muscle will be broken down and used for fuel. Eating as soon as possible after rising in the morning ensures that won't happen.

Eat Protein and Carbohydrates After a Workout

After exercise, your muscles are primed to take in glucose and amino acids. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch found that you can speed muscle growth by consuming 6 grams of essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein), or about the amount in 12 ounces of milk. Add carbohydrates to the equation, by drinking chocolate milk, and you will speed up muscle repair, says Antonio.

Take a Daily Dose of Creatine

Exercise scientists at the University of Hawaii found that older men who took creatine increased muscle, strength, and power after just 7 days of supplementation. "Creatine is the single most effective supplement in existence, and it has no harmful side effects," says Antonio. One 5-gram serving per day will do the trick. We like Power Creatine from Champion Nutrition ( for 1,000 grams; champion-nutrition.com).

source: Men'sHealth

Tips To Avoid Dry & Cracked Skin This Winter

2014-11-30T09:43:00.000-08:00

Let's just put it out there: winter and skin are not the best of friends.

At this point in the season, your door can't hang one more heavy coat and your online shopping cart is full of one too many scarves, but let's not forget about the most essential part of winter: the ongoing battle with dry skin.

As the temperatures continue to drop, the dry environment and lack of moisture allows for cracked hands, chapped lips and scaly legs. Ew. This winter weather demands an upgrade to your skin care regimen, because nothing complements that seasonal vampy lip more than a hydrated, glowing face.

Read below for the basic rules to follow for skin care this winter.

1. Moisturize, moisturize, MOISTURIZE.
Moisturizing is an essentialpart of our skin regimen, but it's particularly so in this dry, freezing weather. Be sure to choose a product that is specific to your skin type and remember to apply within a few minutes of bathing to trap much-needed water.

2. Don't rule out the humidifier.
Yes, it takes up space and, yes, it's not the first item on your Christmas list, but the added vapor will hyper-hydrate your skin and help prevent a flaky, itchy outer layer.

3. Vaseline is your best friend.
Dry feet? Check. Dry elbows and knees? Double check. Lather up, ladies and gentleman, that little plastic container is your go-to all winter long. From lip balm to foot cream to makeup remover, this gooey substance can "fix" just about anything.

4. Keep a bottle of hand cream in your purse or on your desk.
Cracked-hands? No thanks. Keep your hands soft and healthy this season by keeping a bottle on hand -- those mini bottles of lotion make great stocking stuffers, by the way.

5. Don't shower in super hot water.
We know it's tempting, but showering in scalding temperatures tends to dry out your skin even more. Hot water removes natural oils from the skin, and the more oils removed, the drier the skin becomes.

6. Brush your lips with a toothbrush to get rid of that excess skin.
Because NO ONE likes chapped lips.

7. What about those dry under-eye patches? Hello, Aquaphor.
It may be in the Vaseline family, but Aquaphor is the advanced therapy you need to survive the chilly season, specifically for those exceptionally dry areas. Meet you at Duane Reade.

8. Ditch the drugstore makeup remover wipes and reach for the cold cream cleanser.
The towelettes may be convenient, but the cold cream cleanser moisturizes AND removes makeup. Skin care products with added alcohols, and sulfates not only irritate but dry skin, too. We recommend Pond's.

9. Never forget Chapstick.
EVER.

Bonus: Don't shave your legs as often!
Hairy is better than scaly and who cares, you're wearing pants anyway.

Source: Huffingtonpost.com

7 Exercises To Lose Weight And Transform Your Body

2014-07-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

Looking for some effective ways to transform your body? There are a few great exercises that will help you to reach your fitness goal. These exercises are easy but effective in strengthening your body along with burning unwanted calories. However, sticking to these exercises is not enough to transform your body, you should also eat healthy and get enough sleep regularly. Don’t waste your precious time doing other workouts, here are seven exercises that will help you transform your body in no time.

1. Jumping rope

When was the last time you jumped rope? Perhaps in your childhood. Jumping rope is a cheap and easily portable exercise that you can do almost anywhere. This workout burns more calories per minute than any other workout. Get jumping for a perfect exercise and plenty of fun. One of the best things about jumping rope is that you can do it with your kids. Moreover, jumping rope is a fantastic way to fit in a highly effective cardio session when you are on the go. Simply toss your jumping rope in your carry-on and you don’t need to look for the nearest gym. So, who said jumping rope is only for kids?

2. Squats

The squat is a compound, full-body exercise that works more than one muscle group. This powerful exercise helps tone your glutes, strengthen your body and burn a lot of calories. To boost your calorie expenditure and raise your heart rate, you can try to do jump squats. Or stay in a squat hold with dumbbells in the hands to increase the resistance as well as feel the burn. Doing squats regularly is one of the best ways to transform your body as well as improve your physical health. If you sit all day at work or at home, you are at higher risk of serious disease. Why not do several squats whilst waiting for your dinner to cook, the kettle to boil, or your PC to boot up? Sometimes multitasking is a great thing!

3. Pushups

Unfortunately, many people avoid doing pushups since this exercise is a bit harder to perform, but it can do wonders for your body. There are plenty of different pushups that work the different muscles in the shoulders and arms. Try to vary your pushup style to lower your risk of becoming bored with exercise. Not only do pushups work the upper body, but also work the core. Do pushups a few days a week to help sculpt the arms and overall transform the body. Plus, pushups are good for your heart and cardiovascular health and this exercise helps to improve your posture. Just make sure you do them correctly – learn to do pushups with your back straight to reduce back pain and avoid straining your back.

4. Lunges

To tone the muscles in your legs try doing lunges. Lunges give you such amazing results because they isolate every leg individually, helping transform your body. To add some cardio and boost the intensity, do some jump lunges. I suggest you to do 3 sets of 10 lunges a day for the best results. Since lunges are a very effective workout for strengthening, sculpting and building a few muscle groups, why not do them every day? Even if you have a super busy schedule, you can still find time to do several lunges. Stop making excuses and start exercising to transform your body today.

5. Swimming

The great news for all lovers of swimming and for those who are trying to transform their bodies – swimming is a super effective workout that will bring you astonishing results. Swimming helps strengthen your core and work different muscle groups. Swimming boasts numerous health benefits. It helps to reduce your blood pressure, strengthen your heart and improve your aerobic capacity. Plus, swimming is a wonderful way for your family to get moving and have plenty of fun together. Though, this exercise is not as portable as jumping rope.

6. Running

There are many benefits of running. It helps to relieve stress, improve your heart health, reduce the risk of depression, burn mega calories and improve your overall health. Running can actually transform the body like nothing else. It builds strong, toned legs and makes them look thinner. I enjoy running, especially early in the morning, and I think it’s one of the best exercises to do every day. I always feel a great sense of accomplishment after my run. If you don’t feel like running, try jogging. Not only does jogging help to burn calories, it also helps to improve your overall health.

7. Cycling

A cycling workout is a foolproof way to get a great sweat and work your legs. Cycling is a wonderful exercise since you can push yourself at a higher intensity. It strengthens your legs, arms and back, encourages your heart to work more efficiently and aids in weight loss. Cycling is also one of the easiest ways to fit exercise into your everyday routine since it’s a great means of transportation. It gets you fit, saves you money, and is good for your health. Bring along your significant other or friend, or cycle solo, and ensure you get the most out of your workout.

So there you have it! The list of the most effective exercises that will definitely help you transform your body. Just make sure you do them on a regular basis to see the best results. What’s your favorite exercise?

Source: Womanitely.com

Remove Stress From Your Life Forever With These 7 Simple Steps

2014-07-11T11:04:00.001-07:00

We all face stress, and it's what we do when we're stessed that defines the outcome.

While some let themselves get overwhelmed and shut down, others use stress to motivate and push them to greater heights. Without the proper stress management tools, it's easy to give in and find ourselves overcome by stress. By following these seven steps, you can banish stress from your life--once and for all.

1. Look at the big picture

While you may be coming uncomfortably close to a deadline, your lack of progress is not your wife's or your children's faults, and probably not your coworkers' or employees' either. It's very important to remember what's most important in your life, and to be aware when you're blaming others for your problems and then taking it out on those closest to you. Sometimes we get so stressed that we blow up, which just causes more stress and drama in our lives.Try to keep things in proportion and you will see your stress level diminish daily.

2. Exercise

Being active is healthy for the body and the mind. When you're feeling stressed, take a quick break and go for a walk outside your office. This short interruption will give you a fresh perspective while removing immediate sources of stress. And as an added benefit, the endorphins released in your brain from the physical activity will make you feel better and at peace.

3. Eat healthy

Sugar crashes are a real thing, and with sugar hiding out in most every kind of processed food, it's extremely important to be aware of what you put in your body. Start out your mornings with a big, healthy breakfast--something along the lines of eggs and vegetables--and be sure to take breaks for lunch no matter how busy your day is. Keeping your brain fueled with healthy foods helps to keep stress from creeping up on you.

4. Keep track of progress

Write down how much you've accomplished on a project. Keep track of your average progress and make a goal for when you can and will complete it. Through this process, you can truly see how much is left to be done and plan accordingly instead of feeling overwhelmed inside because you aren't sure how much is left to accomplish.

5. Stay organized

Disorganization in any form causes the brain to feel stressed. Organize your work, your surroundings, and your activities in a way that gives you the most breathing room. If you are sitting in a room of clutter, your brain won't be able to focus on the task at hand. The more organized you are, the better you feel subconsciously. If you are feeling disorganized, spend 10 minutes a day on organizing different areas of your office and the work itself, and set a schedule for yourself.

6. Remain positive

Don't let yourself hang onto negative thoughts that you won't accomplish whatever it is that you need to to do. Tell yourself that you can and will finish on time, get organized, and get healthy. Make a goal, write it down, and hold yourself accountable.

7. Make time for fun

The old saying is work hard, play hard, but if you're focused on only work and set aside no time for fun, you will get stressed and burned out. Be happy, and spread some of that happiness around. Plan non-working vacations, get-togethers with your employees outside of your office, and fun-filled activities for everyone to participate in within your office.

BY PETER ECONOMY

@bizzwriter

PETER ECONOMY

While Peter Economy has spent the better part of two decades of his life slugging it out mano a mano in the management trenches, he is also the bestselling author of Managing For Dummies, The Management Bible, Leading Through Uncertainty, and more than 65 other books with total sales in excess of 2 million copies. He has also served as Associate Editor for Leader to Leader for more than 10 years, where he has worked on projects with the likes of Jim Collins, Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, and many other top management and leadership thinkers. Visit him at petereconomy.com and follow him on Twitter: @bizzwriter

Source: Inc.com

Keep Your Home Cool This Summer With These 10 Tips

2014-06-25T10:28:00.001-07:00

Keep Your Home Cool This Summer With These 10 Tips

Let's cut to the chase -- it's hot out and it's only going to get warmer over the next couple months. And while it's tempting to crank up the AC or plant yourself within a couple-foot radius of the nearest fan, these certainly aren't the only tricks for keeping cool.

1. Keep your blinds closed. As simple as it may seem, the Family Handyman notes that up to 30 percent of unwanted heat comes from your windows, and utilizing shades, curtains and the like can save you up to 7 percent on your bills and lower indoor temperatures by up to 20 degrees. In other words, it essentially prevents your home from becoming a miniature greenhouse, which is especially the case for south- and west-facing windows.

2. And be smart about your doors. Closing off unused rooms will prevent the cool air from permeating these areas during the hottest part of the day. You'll want to capitalize on the cooler night hours, however (see tip #7), and let air flow naturally through your home.

3. Swap your sheets. Not only does switching up your bedding seasonally freshen up a room, it's a great way to keep your bedroom cool. While textiles like flannel sheets and fleece blankets are fantastic for insulation, cotton is a smarter move this time of year as it breathes easier and stays cooler. And as an added bonus, buy yourself a buckwheat pillow or two. Because buckwheat hulls have a naturally occurring air space between them, they won't hold on to your body heat like conventional pillows, even when packed together inside a pillow case.

4. Set your ceiling fans to rotate counter-clockwise. Whether you know it or not, your ceiling fan needs to be adjusted seasonally. By setting them counter-clockwise in the summer at a higher speed, the airflow produced will create a wind-chill breeze effect that will make you and your guests "feel" cooler.

5. Worry about the person, not the house. If your ancestors survived without air conditioning, so can you. From sipping tasty iced drinks to applying a cold cloth to strong-pulsed areas like your neck and wrists, doing the cooling from the inside out is not a bad idea. Other tricks include being smart about your clothing choices and telling your partner you won't be cuddling until the leaves start changing color.

6. Turn on your bathroom fans, or your exhaust fan in the kitchen for that matter. Both of these pull the hot air that rises after you cook or take a steamy shower out of your apartment. That being said, you don't want to let the cooler air escape, so be sure windows, doors and cracks are caulked before things start really heating up.

7. Let the night air in. During the summer months, temperatures tend to drop during the night. If this is the case where you live, make the most of these refreshing hours by cracking the windows before you go to bed. You can even create a wind tunnel by strategically setting up your fans to force the perfect cross breeze. Just be sure to close the windows (and the blinds) before things get too hot in the morning.

8. Ditch the incandescent lights. If you ever needed motivation to make the switch to CFLs, this is it. Incandescent bulbs waste about 90 percent of their energy in the heat they emit, so throwing them to the curb will make a small difference in cooling your home while lowering your electric bill.

9. Start grilling. It's obvious, but we're going to say it anyway: Using your oven or stove in the summer will make your house hotter. If it already feels like 100+ degrees in your home, the last thing you want to do is turn on a 400 degree oven. Besides, who doesn't want to get more mileage out of their outdoor furniture and seasonal accessories?

10. Make a few long-term improvements. If you're really, really committed to the whole no-AC thing, you can make a couple changes to your home that will keep it cooler for seasons to come. Insulated window films, for example, are a smart purchase as they work similarly to blinds. And additions like awnings and planted trees or vines on or in front of light-facing windows will shield your home from the sun's rays, reduce the amount of heat your home absorbs and make your investment nothing but worthwhile.

Source: Huffington Post

Toyota Announces Its First Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle for $70,000

2014-06-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Toyota Announces Its First Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle for $70,000

Toyota has hung a price tag on its 1st commercial hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle (FCV).

And it's not cheap: 7 million yen, which converts to roughly $70,000, £40,000 or AU$73,000. That does, however, make the pricing competitive with the all-electric Tesla Model S. The Tesla retails for close to $70,000 in the US, £40,000 in the UK and AU$97,000 in Australia.

Toyota's first fuel-cell sedan will go on sale in Japan before April 2015 and in the US and Europe by the summer of 2015, the automaker said Wednesday when it announced the pricing. Australian availability was not announced.

Fuel-cell cars have become a pet project of the Japanese government. Japan is now considering subsidies and tax breaks so vehicles can be purchased by consumers for about 2 million yen ($20,000, £11,500, AU$21,000) -- the same price as gas-electric hybrids -- by 2025.

And Toyota sees fuel-cell technology -- not pure battery-electric cars like the Tesla -- as the future.

Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota's North American region, recently told Automotive News that battery-electric vehicles are viable only in "a select way, in short-range vehicles that take you that extra mile...But for long-range travel primary vehicles, we feel there are better alternatives, such as hybrids and plug-in hybrids, and tomorrow with fuel cells."

General Motors, for its part, has a fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and is working with Honda to accelerate the development of hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain technology. GM has mentioned the 2015-2020 timeframe for release to the public.

Fuel-cell vehicles -- which combine hydrogen with oxygen to generate electricity as the car goes along, and emit only water vapor as exhaust -- would presumably compete with all-electric cars like the Tesla and plug-in hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt.

One of the biggest challenges -- besides the high price -- is building a hydrogen fueling station infrastructure. Japan has stations numbering only in the dozens. California is one of the few states in the US allocating money for a fueling station infrastructure, with plans to have enough stations to support 10,000 vehicles.

Source: CNET

Apple launches Cheapest iMac valued at $1099

2014-06-18T09:59:00.001-07:00

Apple launches Cheapest iMac valued at $1099

Apple has launched a cheaper iMac which is aimed at boosting sales since tablets are dominating the market share these days. This model has a slower processor with lesser storage capacity and lower end graphics. This model is $200 (Rs. 13,000) cheaper than the current iMacs.si

This new model of iMac has Full HD 21.5 inch screen and dual core 1.4 GHz Intel i5 processor. It has 8 GB RAM, 500 GB hard disk with Intel HD Graphics 5000. This new model is priced at $1099 (Rs. 79,900 in India). It give storage options of 1 TB SATA, 1 TB Fusion Drive or 256 SSD to its buyers in which case the price rises up to $1349.

In terms of connectivity, it has options like 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0, 4 USB 3.0 ports, 2 Thunderbolt ports and a SDXC card slot.

The iMac has been reserved as the new base model for the iMac lineup and will sell alongside the iMacs that were launched a year ago.

Shipping orders for the new iMac has begun from today itself with 24 hours delivery time.

In April this year, Apple invigorated the Macbook Air line with a faster processor and also dropped price by Rs 2,000.

Fifa World Cup 2014: Complete Schedule

2014-06-12T10:52:00.001-07:00

FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 Brasil will start from 12th June. Brasil will host the world cup for the second time after 1950 when it first server as the hosting country. This tournament would be the 20th edition of the FIFA World Cup. This tournament will witness 32 nations distributed in 8 groups.

Here is the full Schedule of the FIFA WORLD CUP 2014

GROUPS

Group A	Brazil	Croatia	Mexico	Cameroon
Group B	Spain	Netherlands	Chile	Australia
Group C	Columbia	Greece	Ivory Coast	Japan
Group D	England	Italy	Uruguay	Costa Rica
Group E	Switzerland	Equador	France	Honduras
Group F	Argentina	Bonsia-Herzegovina	Iran	Nigeria
Group G	Germany	Portugal	Ghana	USA
Group H	Belgium	Algeria	Russia	Korea Republic

SCHEDULE

Group Matches
Match No	Local Date & Time		Match	Group	Venue	Indian Date & Time (IST)
1	12-Jun-14	17:00 Hrs	Brazil vs Croatia	A	Sao Paulo	13-Jun-14	1:30 AM
2	13-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Mexico vs Cameroon	A	Natal	13-Jun-14	9:30 PM
3	13-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	Spain vs Netherlands	B	Salvador	14-Jun-14	12:30 AM
4	13-Jun-14	18:00 Hrs	Chile vs Australia	B	Cuiaba	14-Jun-14	3:30 AM
5	14-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Columbia vs Greece	C	Belo Horizonte	14-Jun-14	9:30 PM
6	14-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	Uruguay vs Costa Rica	D	Fortaleza	15-Jun-14	12:30 AM
7	14-Jun-14	18:00 Hrs	England vs Italy	D	Manaus	15-Jun-14	3:30 AM
8	14-Jun-14	22:00 Hrs	Ivory Coast vs Japan	C	Recife	15-Jun-14	6:30 AM
9	15-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Switzerland vs Ecuador	E	Brasilia	15-Jun-14	9:30 PM
10	15-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	France vs Honduras	E	Porto Alegre	16-Jun-14	12:30 AM
11	15-Jun-14	19:00 Hrs	Argentina vs Bosnia-Herzegovina	F	Rio de Janeiro	16-Jun-14	3:30 AM
12	16-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Germany vs Portugal	G	Salvador	16-Jun-14	9:30 PM
13	16-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	Iran vs Nigeria	F	Curitiba	17-Jun-14	12:30 AM
14	16-Jun-14	19:00 Hrs	Ghana vs USA	G	Natal	17-Jun-14	3:30 AM
15	17-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Belgium vs Algeria	H	Belo Horizonte	17-Jun-14	9:30 PM
16	17-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	Brazil vs Mexico	A	Fortaleza	18-Jun-14	12:30 AM
17	17-Jun-14	18:00 Hrs	Russia vs Korea Republic	H	Cuiaba	18-Jun-14	3:30 AM
18	18-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Australia vs Netherlands	B	Porto Alegre	18-Jun-14	9:30 PM
19	18-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	Spain vs Chile	B	Rio de Janeiro	19-Jun-14	12:30 AM
20	18-Jun-14	18:00 Hrs	Cameroon vs Croatia	A	Manaus	19-Jun-14	3:30 AM
21	19-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Columbia vs Ivory Coast	C	Brasilia	19-Jun-14	9:30 PM
22	19-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	Uruguay vs England	D	Sao Paulo	20-Jun-14	12:30 AM
23	19-Jun-14	19:00 Hrs	Japan vs Greece	C	Natal	20-Jun-14	3:30 AM
24	20-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Italy vs Costa Rica	D	Recife	20-Jun-14	9:30 PM
25	20-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	Switzerland vs France	E	Salvador	21-Jun-14	12:30 AM
26	20-Jun-14	19:00 Hrs	Honduras vs Ecuador	E	Curitiba	21-Jun-14	3:30 AM
27	21-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Argentina vs Iran	F	Belo Horizonte	21-Jun-14	9:30 PM
28	21-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	Germany vs Ghana	G	Fortaleza	22-Jun-14	12:30 AM
29	21-Jun-14	18:00 Hrs	Nigeria vs Bosnia-Herzegovina	F	Cuiaba	22-Jun-14	3:30 AM
30	22-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Belgium vs Russia	H	Rio de Janeiro	22-Jun-14	9:30 PM
31	22-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	Korea Republic vs Algeria	H	Porto Alegre	23-Jun-14	12:30 AM
32	22-Jun-14	18:00 Hrs	USA vs Portugal	G	Manaus	23-Jun-14	3:30 AM
33	23-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Netherlands vs Chile	B	Sao Paulo	23-Jun-14	9:30 PM
34	23-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Australia vs Spain	B	Curitiba	23-Jun-14	9:30 PM
35	23-Jun-14	17:00 Hrs	Cameroon vs Brazil	A	Brasilia	24-Jun-14	1:30 AM
36	23-Jun-14	17:00 Hrs	Croatia vs Mexico	A	Recife	24-Jun-14	1:30 AM
37	24-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Italy vs Uruguay	D	Natal	24-Jun-14	9:30 PM
38	24-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Costa Rica vs England	D	Belo Horizonte	24-Jun-14	9:30 PM
39	24-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	Japan vs Columbia	C	Cuiaba	25-Jun-14	12:30 AM
40	24-Jun-14	17:00 Hrs	Greece vs Ivory Coast	C	Fortaleza	25-Jun-14	1:30 AM
41	25-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Nigeria vs Argentina	F	Porto Alegre	25-Jun-14	9:30 PM
42	25-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Iran	F	Salvador	25-Jun-14	9:30 PM
43	25-Jun-14	16:00 Hrs	Honduras vs Switzerland	E	Manaus	26-Jun-14	12:30 AM
44	25-Jun-14	17:00 Hrs	Ecuador vs France	E	Rio de Janeiro	26-Jun-14	1:30 AM
45	26-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	Portugal vs Ghana	G	Brasilia	26-Jun-14	9:30 PM
46	26-Jun-14	13:00 Hrs	USA vs Germany	G	Recife	26-Jun-14	9:30 PM
47	26-Jun-14	17:00 Hrs	Korea Republic vs Belgium	H	Sao Paulo	27-Jun-14	1:30 AM
48	26-Jun-14	17:00 Hrs	Algeria vs Russia	H	Curitiba	27-Jun-14	1:30 AM
	27-Jun-14		Rest Day
Round of 16
49	28-Jun-14		1A V/S 2B	13:00 Hrs	Belo Horizonte
50	28-Jun-14		1C V/S 2D	17:00 Hrs	Rio de Janeiro
51	29-Jun-14		1B V/S 2A	13:00 Hrs	Fortaleza
52	29-Jun-14		1D V/S 2C	17:00 Hrs	Recife
53	30-Jun-14		1E V/S 2F	13:00 Hrs	Brasilia
54	30-Jun-14		1G V/S 2H	17:00 Hrs	Porto Alegre
55	01-Jul-14		1H V/S 2G	13:00 Hrs	Salvador
56	01-Jul-14		1F V/S 2E	17:00 Hrs	Sao Paulo
	02-Jul-14		Rest Day
	03-Jul-14		Rest Day
Quarter Finals
57	04-Jul-14		W53 V/S W54	13:00 Hrs	Rio de Janeiro
58	04-Jul-14		W49 V/S W50	17:00 Hrs	Fortaleza
59	05-Jul-14		W55 V/S W56	13:00 Hrs	Brasilia
60	05-Jul-14		W51 V/S W52	17:00 Hrs	Salvador
	06-Jul-14		Rest Day
	07-Jul-14		Rest Day
Semi Finals
61	08-Jul-14		W57 V/S W58	17:00 Hrs	Belo Horizonte
62	09-Jul-14		W59 V/S W60	17:00 Hrs	Sao Paulo
	10-Jul-14		Rest Day
	11-Jul-14		Rest Day
3rd Place
63	12-Jul-14		L61 V/S L62	17:00 Hrs	Brasilia
Final
64	13-Jul-14		W61 V/S W62	16:00 Hrs	Rio de Janeiro

Legend: 1A= First in Group A, 2B= Second in Group B, W53= Winner of Match No. 53, L61= Loser of Match No. 61

Sony Xperia Z2a launched with 20.7 MP Camera and Android Kitkat

2014-06-11T11:53:00.000-07:00

Japanese handset maker Sony has launched the Xperia Z2a, which is the international variant of the Xperia ZL2, in Taiwan. Sony has announced that the Xperia Z2a will be available in Taiwan starting July without revealing the price of the handset.

Unfortunately, the company has not revealed any details whether the Xperia Z2a will be available outside Taiwan.

The Sony Xperia Z2a, much like its Japanese sibling the Xperia ZL2 that launched in May on KDDI, runs Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box.

The smartphone features a 5-inch full-HD LCD Triluminos Display with Mobile Bravia Engine 2 and X-Reality, delivering a pixel density of 440ppi.

Notably, the Xperia Z2a, much like the Xperia ZL2, runs a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.3GHz coupled with Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB RAM. It's worth noting that Sony's 2014 flagship, the Xperia Z2, is also backed by the same processor.

The Xperia Z2a sports a 20.7-megapixel CMOS 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS sensor with f2/2 aperture and Bionz image processing technology that is capable of recording 4K (3840x2160 pixels) resolution videos. It also comes with a 3.1-megapixel front-facing camera.

The smartphone comes with 16GB of inbuilt storage, and can be expanded via microSD card (up to 128GB). The Xperia Z2a supports LTE connectivity (Taiwan's 4G LTE bands) apart from Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS/ A-GPS, GPRS/ EDGE and 3G connectivity options. It is backed by a 3000mAh battery.

The Xperia Z2a, much like other high-end Xperia handsets, is a waterproof (IPX5/IPX8) and dust-proof (IP5X) device.

The Xperia Z2a launch was first reported by Focus Taiwan and the handset will be available in Black, Turquoise, and White.

Sony also launched its new mid-range smartphone, the Xperia T3, in Taiwan, alongside the Xperia Z2a. The Xperia T3 was recently announced with an end-July availability.

Sony Xperia Z2a

KEY SPECS

Display

5.00-inch

Processor

2.3GHz

Front Camera

3.1-megapixel

Resolution

1080x1920 pixels

RAM

3GB

OS

Android 4.4

Storage

16GB

Rear Camera

20.7-megapixel

Battery capacity

3000mAh

Source: NDTV Gadgets

Apple announces iOS 8, OS X Yosemite at WWDC2014

2014-06-04T07:22:00.002-07:00

NEW DELHI: Apple on Monday announced an all-new iOS 8 for iPads and iPhones, and OS X Yosemite, the next version of its desktop operating system for Mac range of computers. However, it disappointed some by not announcing any new hardware as was being expected.

Apple updates OSX, IOS, announces health apps

The new iOS, as also the new OS X, comes with a slew of new features and some that indicate Apple is keen to catch up on the ground it has lost to rival Android from Google.

The announcements were made at the WWDC 2014 (Worldwide Developers Conference), Apple's ongoing annual developer conference.

Calling it 'the biggest release since the launch of the App Store, giving users new features and developers the tools to create new apps', the Cupertino giant listed out a number of new features that mark a virtual overhaul of iOS to suit its new mobile devices that will get launched later this year.

"iOS 8 offers simpler, faster and more intuitive ways to use your device with incredible new features like iCloud Photo Library, a new Messages app, the QuickType keyboard and an entirely new Health app," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering.

"We're also giving developers amazing new tools to make managing your health and your home from your devices an integrated, simple and secure experience."

Yosemite now also offers users the ability to make iPhone calls on your Mac. Federighi demonstrated the feature by making a call to Apple's latest high-profile hire (after the Beats acquisition), rapper and entrepreneur Dr Dre, during the keynote address.

The iOS 8 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 8 will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad 2, iPad with Retina display, iPad Air, iPad mini and iPad mini with Retina display.

Visually, iOS 8 isn't very different from iOS 7. But Apple said the OS delivers a simpler, faster and more intuitive user experience, and comes with new features like iCloud Photo Library, allowing users to access their photos and videos more easily across their devices.

The iOS 8 Photos app and iCloud Photo Library offer better browsing and editing features. Photos are easy to find and are organized consistently across devices. The Photos app can automatically straighten horizons and users can quickly adjust light and colour or access individual tools for deeper fine-tuning. Effects are automatically updated across the user's multiple devices.

Interestingly, using the new Messages feature, a user can easily share voice, video or photos a la WhatsApp. The improved Messages app now offers the ability to communicate with just a swipe. Tap to Talk feature allows users to share their voice and the same gesture also works for sharing videos and photos within Messages app. Users can choose to share their current location from within Messages for an hour, a day, or longer.

There is also an entirely new Health app that gives users a clear overview of their health and fitness data, all in one place. But a number of Apple lovers were left disappointed as the company failed to announce any fitness device as of now.

The Health app gathers the information that users choose from their various health apps and fitness devices, and provides a clear, consolidated overview in one place. iOS 8 offers developers the ability for health and fitness apps to communicate with each other.

Apple has also introduced predictive typing for its QuickType keyboard, which is smarter and more personalised, and takes context into account, such as who the recipient is and in which app users are typing.

Another nifty and much-demanded feature called Family Sharing has now been introduced. Using Family Sharing, a iOS user can share all purchases, photos and calendars within the same household. Family members can browse and download each other's iTunes, iBooks or App Store purchases. Up to six members can participate, each with their own Apple ID. Parents can create Apple IDs for children, which includes Ask to Buy, requiring parental permission for purchases.

Apple's voice assistant Siri has also received an update and now allows users to launch it without having to press a button with "Hey, Siri" voice command. It will also offer Shazam voice recognition, 22 new dictation languages,and streaming voice recognition to offer users search results as they speak. However, there is no clarity if Hindi has been included in the languages spoken and understood by Siri.

With iCloud Drive, any type of documents can be stored, accessed and edited across devices. Users can edit documents on one device and the most up-to-date version will be available across all devices, including on iOS devices, Macs, Windows PCs or on icloud.com.

iOS 8 also comes with Enterprise features and according to Apple, improves the way users are informed of how their devices are configured, managed or restricted. It offers expanded security and management improvements as well as new productivity features, including an expanded level of data protection for key built-in apps, the ability to set out of office response, see colleague's availability when scheduling a meeting and support for configurable Thread Notifications in Mail.

OS X Yosemite comes with a new, overhauled user interface, new apps and new continuity features that make working across Mac and iOS devices virtually seamless.

Apple will now offer iCloud Drive (which will be located in the Finder) to store files of any type. Basic plan for free iCloud storage, however, stays the same at 5 GB. But 20 GB onwards, the more affordable rates indicate Apple is keen to fight it out with Google in cloud storage arena for its users.

Instant Hotspot is another interesting feature that makes using the iPhone's hotspot as easy as connecting to a Wi-Fi network. Yosemite now also offers users the ability to make iPhone calls on your Mac.

The new OS X offers a new Today view in Notification Center that gives a quick look at everything users need to know in one place, just like Notifications in iPhone. But it is doubtful if Mac users would want to use Notifications the way they use them on iPhone. Safari has a new design that puts the most important controls at the front, but not much seems to have been done to it. Apple did, however, claim the tweaks have made it the fastest browser in the world.

OS X Yosemite also has Handoff that lets users start an activity on one device and pass it to the other which means they can continue with that activity while on the move with their iOS device like iPad or iPhone.

After the end of the keynote, Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted, "Thrilled to meet many talented developers, especially these winners of our student scholarship program. Enjoy #WWDC!"

(Source: TOI Tech)

MORTAL KOMBAT X Announced its released for 2015

2014-06-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

Mortal Kombat X is officially on the way, after weeks of teasing by creator Ed Boon on twitter. NetherRealm, who saw success with their recent Mortal Kombat reboot as well as last year's DC Comics themed fighter Injustice: Gods Among Us returns to the brutal fighter that made their team famous in 2015.

Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat X

CREDIT: NetherRealm

The announcement trailer features a battle between Sub-Zero and Scorpion, arguably the two most recognizable fighting game characters this side of Ryu, with signature elements like the close-up bone breaking, the moves everyone who has played a fighting game in the last 20 years know, and some new variations on the theme. Stay tuned all the way to the end for a new fatality by Scorpion - which is not for kids or the faint-of-heart.

While there are no platforms listed in the trailer (typically those would come at the end underneath the game's logo), retailer listings have noted both current-gen and last-gen consoles, with pre-order listings for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 3. That has since been confirmed, alongside PC as well. Check out the trailer, which is decidedly M-rated, below.

Update: Here's the official description of the game, from a press release:

Mortal Kombat X combines cinematic presentation with all new gameplay to deliver the most brutal Kombat experience ever, offering a new fully-connected experience that launches players into a persistent online contest where every fight matters in a global battle for supremacy. For the first time, Mortal Kombat X gives players the ability to choose from multiple variations of each character impacting both strategy and fighting style. Players step into an original story showcasing some of the game's most prolific characters including Scorpion and Sub-Zero, while introducing new challengers that represent the forces of good and evil and tie the tale together.

By Lucas Siegel, NEWSarama.com

World’s 1st Phone with Tizen OS: Samsung Z

2014-06-02T01:19:00.000-07:00

Samsung has finally launched its first Tizen smartphone, the Samsung Z. The new Tizen smartphone will be available initially in Russia starting Q3, and will be launched in other markets soon after.

The South Korean giant has revealed that it will be offering additional apps for Samsung Z users via the Tizen Store. The company in an attempt to lure more developers to its new Tizen ecosystem has announced a special promotional program for developers which will for one year.

Unfortunately, the company has not announced pricing details of the Samsung Z; though it can be expected to be announced in Q3. Samsung will be showcasing the new Tizen smartphone at the Tizen Developer Conference on June 3 in San Francisco.

Notably, the Samsung Z sports an angular design with lines, providing a differentiated look and feel from company’s Android-based Galaxy range of smartphones. It will be available in two colours – Black and Gold. Much like the Samsung Galaxy S5, the Samsung Z also features the Heart rate sensor, Fingerprint sensor, and S Health 3.0 app.

The Samsung Z is a single SIM device which runs the Tizen 2.2.1 OS out-of-the-box. It comes with a 4.8-inch (720×1280 pixels) HD Super AMOLED display. It is powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM.

It comes with 16GB of inbuilt storage, which is further expandable via microSD card (up to 64GB). The Samsung Z sports an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash and BSI sensor, while there is a secondary 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera.

On the connectivity front, the Samsung Z includes 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, Micro-USB, Bluetooth, GPS/ GLONASS, and NFC options. The smartphone packs a 2600mAh battery with an Ultra Power Saving Mode feature. The Samsung Z measures 138.2×69.8×8.5mm and weighs 136 grams.

Commenting on the launch of first Tizen smartphone, DJ Lee, President and Head of Global Sales and Marketing Office, Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics said, “Samsung is committed to enhancing the mobile experience of consumers with innovation that is both personal and unique to their needs. The Samsung Z integrates the power and adaptability of the Tizen platform, enabling users to browse the web faster and utilize applications more effectively.”

(Source: NDTV Gadgets)

Quit Tobacco with 20 Mins of Daily Exercise

2014-05-31T08:51:00.001-07:00

If you are looking to ditch tobacco, make sure you include at least 15-20 minutes of physical exercise each day to maintain unwavering focus on quitting, a fitness expert said Saturday on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day.

According to WHO estimates, tobacco use kills someone every six seconds, while nearly six million people die from tobacco-related illness each year.

Scientific findings have indicated resistance training can help tackle the effects of quitting, such as cravings and the reported weight gain.

"Regular exercise can increase mental concentration and that could help in quitting and maintaining discipline," Soumen Das, owner of a fitness centre, told IANS on the sidelines of a walk with college and school students to raise awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco use.

Das said the first step towards quitting should be to introduce light exercise every day, followed by counselling sessions to monitor progress.

"The first changes are lifestyle alterations, like exercising, that should be introduced when one wants to quit," he said.

There are over 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful, and over 50 are known to cause cancer.

Tobacco-related diseases often strike people in the prime of their working lives, leading to fall in productivity and income, according to WHO.

Source: IANS

A Guide To Networking For Introverts

2014-05-31T07:16:00.000-07:00

Once I was making oatmeal in the microwave in my dorm and two of my other flatmates came in…

I never cooked food in that kitchen again.

I’m an introvert and people scare the hell out of me.

For the rest of the year I made instant soup using hot water that came out of the tap in my room.

It’s hard for me to meet people, but I’ve been working at it for a long time and I wanted to share some of the things I’ve learned along the way.

Extroverts and introverts, of different minds

Most people aren’t all introverts or extroverts, instead they probably share some characteristics of both.

The brain of an extrovert is wired feel reward and pleasure from engaging in social activities. Their nervous system signals the brain to free up extra attentional resources to be available when around other people. They are more motivated by social stimuli. Those same resources are not made available in the introverts brain. Extroverts also respond more to positive stimuli, whereas introverts respond more to negative stimuli.

Research says that extroverts rely on blood flow traveling a short pathway where it is transmitted to the areas of the brain where external sensory processing occurs. Extroverts require a good amount of the neurotransmitter dopamine to feel rewarded. Activation in this part of the brain is said to be the extroverts drive for sensory and emotional stimulation from the outside world.

For introverts, the blood flow is focused on the areas of the brain necessary for the following: memory recall, self-talk, making future plans, or problem solving. The introvert pathway is much longer and more complex and requires the use of a different neurotransmitter known as acetylcholine.

Individuals who are introverted are able to take in much more information regarding what is happening around them. They also expend a considerable amount of mental energy analyzing that information. People who score highly on the introversion scale are acutely aware of any changes to their surroundings. This is why social events are so taxing.

In summary:

Extroverts: Obtain energy from social situations
Introverts: Obtain energy from being alone

Whether you’re more extroverted or introverted, the tips below can help you gain more confidence when meeting new people.

Get comfortable

There are plenty of opportunities to meet people outside of networking events. Finding locations where you already feel at ease can help to make talking to complete strangers a little easier.

The effect your environment has on you is substantial. Your environment can improve your mood, participation, and even influence your willingness to act (or not) with others around you. Feeling comfortable in your surroundings also increases confidence and lowers stress. When you experience environmental stress, however, you also experience personal stress. Which can make the idea of talking to others seem downright impossible.

How can you make an uncomfortable or stressful environment seem less so?

Try to bring some of your routines from home with you. I have a habit of checking my phone when I’m uncomfortable—as I’m sure many of us do.

If I were to leave my phone at home, that would be an added stressor on me, and one that would make me feel even less comfortable. Instead, I will look at my phone when I feel my anxiety levels getting too high. It’s always easy for me to tell when that’s happening because I begin to sweat profusely from my right armpit.

The habit of checking my phone eases the mental burden (if only for a little bit). This is thanks to the basal ganglia aka the habit center.

The basal ganglia is what allows you to perform tasks without “thinking” about them, it’s that autopilot feeling. Routines serve a purpose. They free up mental space and make room for other cognitive tasks and thoughts—like talking to people.

Feeling Prepared

If there is one major thing that keeps me from speaking my mind it is my fear of looking stupid. I hardly believe I am alone in this feeling. This fear is what is known as evaluation apprehension. Preparing yourself for an event or social situation can help ease this fear.

Give yourself enough time: If you’ve ever been rushed to a job interview, or come in late to an event, you know it is a pretty awful feeling. It completely throws you off your game—not to mention the increase in blood pressure and heart rate. By giving yourself the time you need to get ready, you help to reduce your stress level.
Plan some conversations: Okay, this might sound like a little much, but having some planned out questions or quips to fall back on, it does seriously help. Consider where you are going, what the event is and who will be there. Planning is something introverts are really good at, so play to your strengths.
Give yourself permission to say no: In the past I have created a fake sense of obligation to say yes to every event regardless of my intention to go or not. This leaves me in a terrible position. I either go and have a miserable time because I did not want to go in the first place—or I back out at the last minute, in which case my trustworthiness is questioned. Maya Townsend from Inc.com puts it this way:

Focus on being trustworthy. Keep your word. Follow up on your commitments. Give reliable, accurate information, and, if you can’t, say so. Don’t try to be something you aren’t.

The purpose of all of this, is about being as genuine to yourself as you can be. Do that, and the rest will come easily, or at least easier.

Get out there

You know that feeling you get when you have something really good to say, and you just know that people would like it if you said it, but then you don’t say it? This happens to me more times than I can bear to count.

There’s an actual warmth that rushes through my body when I have a joke I really want to tell, but then abandon at the last second. I think about the joke for years and ‘what might have been.’

Those on the introverted side of the scale do receive emotional benefits when they occasionally act extroverted. It is actually good for introverts to engage in momentary extroversion. So why don’t either groups take on the traits of one another more often? Because we assume that the social costs will be too high—that people will think less of us, or judge us.

Being in large groups also induces what is known as “social loafing.” That’s when we exert less effort in larger groups than we would alone. We do this for a variety of reasons:

We cannot judge how our contributions will be received (so we do not make any to avoid negative judgements.)
We assume others will do the work for us.
The more meaningless we feel a task is, the less effort we are willing to put into it.

This is less about trust and more about group cohesion. Having ties to a group increases your sense of obligation to participate. Finding the connection you have to a group or identifying what it means to you, can help reduce your desire to rely on others and speak up for yourself.

So, I may never be the most comfortable person in the room, that’s okay with me. What I want is to be able to stop passing up opportunities to meet new people, to build new relationships because I was too afraid.

BY ANDREA AYRES, Crew BLOG

Andrea Deets is the Lead Writer at Crew, an invite-only network connecting short-term software projects with handpicked developers and designers. This post originally appeared on the Crew blog.

What women actually want in men?

2014-05-30T05:57:00.000-07:00

New York, 30 May, (IANS):

What types of men heterosexual women find attractive may have no relationship with their menstrual cycles, a significant study shows.

The findings contradicts a long-held view in evolutionary psychology that vouched that women are more likely to find highly masculine, dominant men more attractive when they are ovulating and fertile.

“The idea that menstrual cycles will affect who women find attractive just does not hold up in the research literature,” Wendy Wood, a professor of psychology at University of Southern California, was quoted as saying.

For the new analysis, Wood aggregated data from 45 published studies and 13 unpublished studies on this topic.

The message is that women's biology does not necessarily drive particular social judgment, but we are all biological beings, that is a given, Wood noted.

Various evolutionary psychologists have published studies demonstrating that women are more likely to find highly masculine, dominant men more attractive when they are ovulating.

In these studies, masculinity is defined by various cues like vocal quality, facial structure, scent and musculature.

These traits are thought to indicate genetic fitness, or a high volume of "good genes."

They study appeared in the journal Emotion Review.

MySleepButton: An App That Helps you to Induce Sleep

2014-05-26T12:34:00.001-07:00

Researchers at Simon Fraser University have designed an iOS app to help people to fall asleep that makes use of cognitive science to hijack thoughts so that the brain stops trying to make sense out of them.

The app, mySleepButton, works by reading out a stream of random, unrelated things or scenes that people are asked to imagine. The app might suggest a user thinks of a baby, then a football game, then London, then a bird on a branch.

Users can select a specific timeframe for the app to read out these shuffled thoughts, which change every five to 10 seconds.

By performing a "cognitive shuffle", the brain stops trying to make sense of thoughts, helping users fall asleep.

"The number one thing people think about at night is problem solving, so they can't switch off. Another big thing is that people start worrying about how much sleep they're going to get, which stops them from falling asleep," Luc Beaudoin, an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University and president of CogSi Apps, told IBTimes UK.

"You can't just tell yourself to fall asleep, the way you might tell your arm to move if you want to raise it in the air. There's a level of indirection there, yet somehow the cortex, which is the higher part of your brain, needs to signal to the lower part of your brain to fall asleep. I wanted to know what the signal is and I hypothesised that it has to do with the suspension of sense-making."

Three types of thinking

Beaudoin coined three terms to explain how people think when they're trying to go to sleep – "insomnolent thinking", whereby people are kept awake by worries; "asomnolent thinking", a neutral form of thinking which neither interferes with nor promotes the onset of sleep, such as counting sheep; and "super-somnolent" thinking, where people manage to avoid thinking about problems that might keep them awake, and experience thought patterns that help them successfully fall asleep.

His research paper, "The possibility of super-somnolent mentation: A new information-processing approach to sleep-onset acceleration and insomnia exemplified by serial diverse imagining", has been published in the Simon Fraser University research repository Summit.

Sleep psychologists have found that when people are drowsy, if they are woken up before they fall asleep, they will experience micro-dreams. Beaudoin realised images were important in attempts to sleep.

He warned that his app was not a replacement for "sleep hygiene" such as avoiding caffeine and heavy meals before bed.

Cannot replace sleep hygiene

The best way to get your mind used to the app is to use it even when you are able to easily fall asleep.

Luc Beaudoin, creator of mySleepButtonSimon Fraser University

Luc Beaudoin, creator of mySleepButton

Luc Beaudoin, creator of mySleepButtonSimon Fraser University

"The app is not just for people with clinical insomnia, it helps people to go to sleep quickly. You can use it when you don't have problems falling asleep, and then you're positively conditioning yourself that listening to the app will help you fall asleep," said Beaudoin.

After a pilot study of 20 people, the app has attracted thousands of users.

"We'll be able to collect more data about sleep onset than ever before to find which content helps people to sleep the best and how long it takes them to fall asleep," said Beaudoin.

"I hope to stimulate the discussion with other sleep researchers and form partnerships with them. My end goal is to help people with their lives. Scientists are doing the research but they're not developing enough apps."

The app is free to download but comes with expansion packs that users can buy to download. An Android version is in the works, together with different language translations, starting with French.

By Mary-Ann Russon, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES

HTC One Mini 2 Review

2014-05-26T04:54:00.000-07:00

HTC One mini 2 review

By Chris Hall Follow on Twitter

4 out of 5

£379

For

Design, Sense 6.0 is mature and refined, BoomSound speakers

Against

Price is too high, can be a little slippery in dry hands

The HTC One mini 2 sets off to an unsteady start, with name that's almost impossible to say sensibly, and a 4.5-inch screen that isn't really as small as the name suggests.

It's also pitching into a mid-range smartphone market that's now dominated by substantially cheaper devices. With Motorola Moto G getting a timely 4G update and costing just £149, the

HTC One mini 2 has to really sell itself on its strengths: it needs to appeal to your taste in design and your desire to have HTC Sense 6.0 in your pocket to justify the £379 price tag. But in these two very areas - design and user interface - it's equipped to offer some of the top-spec HTC One M8 experience, which is very good.

So where does the HTC One mini 2 sit in the order of smartphones? Can it overcome the price-point obstacle, or is it a handset destined to struggle?

Family design

The HTC One mini 2 takes the design of the HTC One (M8) and shrinks it down into a more compact package: measuring 137.43 x 65.04 x 10.6mm and weighing 137g. Although this is a smaller device than the 5-inch flagship, there's still quite a lot of phone here.

In fact, there are only a few millimetres of difference between the One mini 2 and the original 4.7-inch HTC One of 2013; by the same measure, it's quite a bit larger than the Motorola Moto G that has the same size display at 4.5 inches.

However, some of this additional size is perfectly acceptable because it gives you those front-facing BoomSound speakers than have become symbolic of the HTC One family of phones. It might be slightly larger than some, but compensates with excellent sound quality - certainly best in class when it comes to speaker performance.

The HTC One mini 2 exhibits the sort of savvy design and build quality we've come to expect from HTC. The curved back makes it comfortable to hold and although the finish of the brushed metal back might be a little slippery when your hands are dry, we love the look and the feel of this smartphone. It's a good size, easy to manage, with a display that offers plenty of space to play.

However, the finish isn't quite to the same high standard that you'll find on the HTC One (M8). Although it's the same look, this smaller model doesn't show quite the same precision in build.

Where the M8 has metal wrapping around the sides to the display, the One mini 2 has a plastic border encircling the screen and you don't get the same zero gap construction.

We actually like the look, but it means you're touching plastic rather than metal: a subtle reminder that this isn't the best of HTC's fleet of phones.

The One mini 2 also carries the same IPX3 rating as the M8. That means pulling the phone out in quick rain shower to check Google Maps, for example, isn't going to be a problem. It can take more than a bit of a soaking.

Display performance

While the design follows the cues of the M8, this isn't a miniaturised version of the same phone. It has different hardware both inside and out, meaning a substantially different specification, unlike the more powerful approach taken by the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. That sees the HTC handset sit firmly in the mid-range, rather than at a flagship level.

The display measures 4.5-inches on the diagonal. Whether you consider that to be mini or not is a moot point; the display has grown slightly over the original HTC One mini launched in 2013, but it's the resolution that's important here.

With 1280 x 720 pixels, it gets the HD tag, with 326ppi. That's becoming typical for devices at this level - it's the same as the Moto G, for example, but it offers a higher resolution than some cheaper devices like the EE Kestrel (based on the Huawei Ascend G6). That means there's plenty of detail and graphics are nice and smooth.

There's plenty of brightness, colours are well reproduced and the viewing angles are good too. This display isn't as capable as the full HD screens on larger devices in terms of detail, and it's lacking some vibrancy and punch to colours, but at this size there's little to complain about. We also had no problem viewing the display in bright conditions.

The hardware

Sitting under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core chipset clocked at 1.2GHz. There's 1GB of RAM supporting this and in day-to-day use there's no lack of power. Browsing through email, diving into Google Maps and such like all happen without delay, giving you every inch of the smartphone experience.

Compared to the HTC One M8 there's noticeable difference in the speed of launch, but that's as expected from this less powerful chipset. From Netflix to Spotify, things take a little longer to happen, but that's typical of this level of device and the compromise you have to accept.

If you're a mobile gamer then you'll find there's enough power in the Qualcomm chipset to handle most things. Games take longer to load, there's a noticeable warming of the phone body, but even intensive games, like Real Racing 3 for example, are perfectly playable.

It doesn't deliver quite the same slick experience that devices further up the scale do, but for the most part, the HTC One mini 2 offers a great experience. This is a 4G LTE handset too so you'll be able to gobble fast data on the move.

There's 16GB of internal storage, with the option to expand this by up to 128GB with microSD card. That gives you plenty of space for apps, games and any media you might want to carry with you. Many cheaper devices only offer half the internal storage, so at least you're getting something more from HTC for your money. Even if it does cost a fair slice of extra cash.

The software

The HTC One mini 2 launches on Android 4.4 KitKat, with HTC Sense 6.0 layered over the top. In this regard, it's very close to the M8, offering the same sort of visuals and most of the same features as the flagship device.

Sense 6.0 is the most refined version of HTC Sense yet: clutter has been trimmed and things simplified over previous versions of Sense and that makes it feels mature. We prefer it to Sony's Android res-kin and think it's slightly more mature than what Samsung offers too.

When comparing to pure Android, there's a number of areas where HTC joins the dots, giving you a more connected experience out of the box - be that in the dialler, contacts or music experience - so you're not dependent on so many apps. We love the customisable apps tray, for example, as well as the customisable quick settings menu.

BlinkFeed is one of HTC's headline features. This service will allow you to customise content from a number of different sources to bring an at-a-glance digest of news or happenings from your social accounts. It's a nice feature, much refined in Sense 6.0 and a good way to quickly browse content. You also get the option to switch it off, so if you don't want it then you don't have to have it.

HTC provides its own browser, which adds little, but the keyboard is pretty good. It might be a little too aggressive in autocorrection, but we found it fast to enter digits, including trace entry. If you don't like it, there are plenty of alternatives in Google Play.

There's no sign of lag in Sense 6.0 on the HTC One mini 2. Like the M8, navigating through HTC's interface is swift and fast, making this a pleasure to use.

Lacking sensors

There's a big difference between the HTC One mini 2 and the HTC One M8 and that's in the sensor hub. This is something that provides some of nice features of the M8, that the mini 2 doesn't offer.

It's not entirely fair to judge the One mini 2 by some of the things it doesn't offer compared to the more expensive M8 handset, but it's important to know that you don't get tap-to-wake, or the low power sensors for sports tracking, or the motion gestures.

Also missing from the mix is the gyroscope, so this handset isn't as accurate a motion detector as some others - and with the Moto G 4G offering sensors, in this department the One mini 2 feels a little deficient. Even the Nokia Lumia 630 offers support for fitness trackers and it's a quarter of the HTC's £379 asking price.

Battery performance

One of the changes HTC made with the introduction of Sense 6.0 was to give you more power saving options, including an extreme power saving mode. This is in addition to the normal power saver mode that dims the screen and throttles the power slightly.

Extreme power saver mode will basically turn your phone into a dumb phone when you hit a particular battery level - five, 10 or 20 per cent. This means that at the end of a busy day your phone can slip into this low-power state and keep you connected for basic functions such as messages and calling, with the display switching to a simple interface.

You might need it too, because the 2100mAh battery in the mini 2 doesn't quite match the performance of bigger models. Although it will get you through a busy day, come the evening you'll find it running short of juice. Typically we found that we'd reached the end of the battery by 8pm. That's still over 12 hours of use, which is better than older generations. Of course it depends on what sort of demands you make of the battery - hours of gaming is going to considerably drain the juice.

Cameras

The camera is one of the key areas for HTC, with a lot of time and effort spent recently trying to educate people about the benefits of the UltraPixel sensor that previous One models have carried. The One mini 2, however, offers a regular 13-megapixel sensor instead, avoiding the 4-megapixel UltraPixel sensor of its brethren.

Also, and again unlike the M8, there's no Duo Camera to be found here. Nor is there dual-tone flash, leaving the mini 2 quite a step away from the flagship.

The camera app loses some the headline features as a result. There's none of the fancy depth of field options, no post-shoot refocusing, and not even Zoe capture (although you do get to make the Zoe videos in the Gallery, which is one of our favourite features). HTC is yet to launch its Zoe network designed for sharing those videos, with an update promised for the future.

Moving away from UltraPixel has made the HTC One mini 2 camera slower than other One series models. It's still fast to focus, but tap the shutter button and there's more of a delay to capture and make that photo available to view. There's a slight disconnect at times too: shoot a frame and you'll expect a thumbnail to jump into the top right-hand corner to confirm the shot, but it takes longer than expected to appear. Most of the time you will capture the image you want, you just won't know that until you've taken a second shot to be sure.

However, the results are impressive. Given the higher resolution sensor than found in the M8 there's plenty of detail, plus you'll get more scope to zoom and crop photos after you've taken them. Low light performance is average, though, with higher ISO settings resulting in mottled mush - but that's entirely normal in almost any smartphone.

Despite not rocking the UltraPixel sensor, there are still a range of clever camera features.

HTC's manual mode is here, as is HDR (high dynamic range), both of which we've always been fans of. This means you can set things like the ISO sensitivity and the shutter speed to take more deliberate shots: ideal for low-light static shots, sunsets, and more.

There's also a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, which at one point we'd have said was a little over the top for a secondary camera, but as the selfie crazy sweeps social media channels it's becoming rather commonplace. The Huawei P7 has an 8-megapixel front-facing camera for example.

The big difference between the front camera on the HTC One mini 2 and the HTC One M8 is the focal length: the mini 2 isn't as wide-angle, so is less beneficial for capturing groufies (again, see P7 review link above), but we like the countdown counter and the results are good - much better than some rivals.

You also get full HD video capture from both the front and rear cameras. This is often limited on some mid-range devices, but not so here.

Overall, the HTC One mini 2 equips itself rather well on the camera front.

Verdict

There's a lot of good going on in the HTC One Mini 2. For many it will be perfectly powerful, the battery performance is reasonable if not exemplary, but the software experience is one of our favourites in the current market.

The design and build quality id above average and there's no denying that this is a lovely phone to use and hold. The shift away from UltraPixel to a different camera - if you can accept that it doesn't offer all the features that HTC has become known for - doesn't really do the phone any damage either.

However priced at £379, this is an expensive mid-range handset. If you're buying SIM free, then it's more than twice the price of the Motorola Moto G 4G. Although it offers some benefits, we can't see they are justified by the price difference. The HTC doesn't deliver twice the experience.

The price might be levelled when you take a network contract, but then you could be walking away with many of last year's flagship devices instead: the LG G2, for example, is only £20 more SIM free, or could be yours for free on a £19 a month contract.

That's the biggest barrier we see to the HTC One mini 2: you have to really want that design and Sense 6.0 software to justify the price. It's a phone that doesn't do anything inherently wrong, but you can buy yourself a phone that will offer a similar experience for half the price.

(Pocket-lint.com)

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Review

2014-05-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Review

MICROSOFT’S SURFACE PRO 3 WANTS TO BE EVERYTHING TO EVERYONE, BUT IT’S NOT THERE YET. IT SACRIFICES TABLET FEATURES TO BE A GOOD LAPTOP, AND LAPTOP FEATURES TO BE A GOOD TABLET, BUT ENDS UP SOMEWHAT DISAPPOINTING ON BOTH ENDS.

(7 out of 10)

PROS

Thinnest, lightest Core Intel tablet we’ve seen
Great keyboard
Comfortable touchpad
Stylus works great
MicroSD card support

CONS

Still not comfortable in your lap
Too heavy as a tablet
Windows 8 still a disjointed experience
Proprietary charging port
OS takes up 20GB of free space

INTRODUCTION

If at first you don’t succeed, get better and keep trying. This is the tactic that helped Microsoft win a near monopoly in the PC market, own the gaming space with Xbox, and become the default office suite around the world. Microsoft hasn’t lit up the sales charts with Windows Phone 8, Zune, Windows 8, and Surface, but it’s not done trying.

The Surface Pro 3 is Microsoft’s third “Pro” tablet in about 18 months, and this time around it’s made some big changes to try and compete with high-end laptops and tablets, like Apple’s MacBook and iPad lines. The big idea here: Instead of buying a tablet and a laptop, you can buy a Surface and get both things in one expensive, but well-designed package.

Initially, we weren’t impressed with the Surface Pro 3, but we have to admit, after a few days of use, it’s growing on us. Below is a candid list of pros and cons about this tablet/PC. Everyone values different aspects of a device; judge for yourself whether this device is for you.

WHAT’S GREAT ABOUT THE SURFACE PRO 3

Industry-leading design and build quality: The Surface Pro 3 is one of the most well-built pieces of hardware we’ve used. Microsoft has improved the design a lot from its previous iteration, making it far more functional as a laptop with a bigger screen, but taken pains to keep the build quality high. The frame is made from magnesium and at 0.3 inches thick, it’s the thinnest full-fledged Intel Core device we’ve ever seen. Believe it or not, Microsoft has put one of the thinnest fans in here of all time, but it’s still whisper quiet, like any other tablet. The kickstand is also now adjustable to almost any position, and feels more durable than ever. If there’s one thing the Surface has going for it, it’s build quality — this is a device that feels like it’s worth money.

Fantastic keyboard (and touchpad): The click-on Type Cover keyboard is pricey at $130, but we can report that it works much better than previous type covers. The keys feel as natural as any ordinary laptop keyboard, and the touchpad for mouse control is greatly improved from the Surface Pro 2. You can use two finger scrolling on this device, and it works well. The other solid change Microsoft made was adding a magnetic strip so you can fold the keyboard up a bit when it’s on your lap, giving it a slight angle and stabilizing it.

Great for airplanes and trains: Thanks to the kickstand, which can now adjust to almost any angle (nearly flat, even), the Surface Pro 3 may be one of the best tablets for use on a nightstand, table, airplane seat, or a train. It sits upright better than most devices, and if you detach the keyboard, it doesn’t take up a lot of space either. The big screen means you can more effectively multitask in these types of environments, too.

Absolutely gorgeous screen and adequate cameras: For the first time, Microsoft has altered the aspect ratio and size of the Surface screen. It has grown from a 16:9 10.6-inch screen to a 3:2 12-inch display. The difference is striking and almost entirely positive. The new Surface screen is big enough to multitask on and use as a desktop computer environment, and thanks to an incredibly gorgeous 2,160 x 1,440 pixel screen, everything is crystal clear as well.

The move to a 3:2 aspect ratio has tablet benefits as well. Though we think the screen is too large for a standard tablet, the fact that it’s wider (more like a 4:3 iPad), makes it more comfortable to use in portrait and landscape modes.

On the flip side, the front- and rear-facing 5-megapixel cameras are nothing special, but are more than adequate for video chats and basic shots.

Industry-leading stylus: Hot damn, do we love this stylus. We’ve been using Galaxy Note products and other styli for years now, but Microsoft’s N-Trig Surface Pen really takes the cake. It only has 256 levels of sensitivity, which sounds worse than the 1024 on some Wacom screens, but the experience is phenomenal. The on-screen writing kept up with our handwriting, it was accurate, and the pen has built-in erasing and selection buttons. There’s even a button on top of the pen that launches OneNote. It’s slick and anyone who wants to take notes on an extra large tablet (and has a lot of cash to spend), should strongly consider the Surface.

Clear stereo sound: The two front-facing speakers on the Surface Pro 3 are clear, loud, and get the job done. Few tablets have good sound, but Microsoft is right up there with the sound quality from an iPad. The Surface sounds sensational for the kind of device it is.

Windows 8 is most tolerable in this form: There is no product better designed to capitalize on the strengths of Windows 8.1 than this Surface. The new Windows is built to work on tablets and desktops, and this device is as close to being both as something comes.

Great battery life: Our battery-drain tests keep failing, so we don’t have precise benchmark results yet, but a few days of anecdotal use make it a clear winner. It seems to get around 8 or 9 hours of battery life, which is in line with Microsoft’s estimates. That’s not revolutionary for a tablet, but for a PC it’s great.

WHAT’S ANNOYING ABOUT THE SURFACE PRO 3

Very expensive with a lot of pricey extras: The bad thing about good build quality is that it comes at a high price. The Surface Pro 3 starts at $800 for a Core i3/64GB unit, but if you want that keyboard (and you do), it’s gonna cost you another $130. The Surface Pen (stylus) will set you back an additional $50.

Add it all together, and you’re at about $1,000. If you want a 128GB unit with a faster Core i5, you’re at about $1,200, and the high-end 256GB/Core i7 model starts at close to $1,700 with all the accessories. This is a lot of money, roughly equal to some of Apple’s MacBook Air and Pro models, and double the cost of an iPad, and most Windows or Android tablets.

It’s not lap-able: As much as Microsoft is trying to make the Surface into a more competent laptop alternative, it’s still not nearly as comfortable in the all-important lap position. Most people, including Windows Weekly hosts and Microsoft enthusiasts Mary Jo Foley and Paul Thurrott, are going to find the Pro 3 too large to comfortably sit on the lap. The Pro 3 is less comfortable than previous Surfaces because the screen is larger, making it more top heavy, and the keyboard sticks out further. Add in a rear-protruding kickstand and the Surface Pro 3 needs mighty long thighs to sit comfortably in a lap.

Big and heavy as a tablet: While it’s good as a stationary tablet, and its amazingly thin when you consider its PC origins, if you start carrying Pro 3 around, you’re going to notice pretty quickly that it weighs almost 2 pounds, and more with the keyboard. Thanks to its 12-inch screen, we found it too bulky to store in any kind of bag other than a full backpack or laptop bag, and carrying it around will tire out your arm. For its size, the Surface is remarkably thin and light, but you make a lot of portability sacrifices when you opt for a tablet with a 12-inch screen. And because there is no smaller Surface to choose from (yet), those who want a premium compact tablet will have to search elsewhere — probably among Android and Apple competitors.

Some desktop apps are blurry: That very high screen resolution creates a few problems, too. For some reason, a number of classic PC desktop apps and menus look a little blurry. Everything is functional … just not pretty. Spotify, iTunes, and Chrome browser are a few examples of apps that suffer from this. Other installations, like Avast and LibreOffice (this tablet does not come with MS Office), showed up very clear and crisp. Whatever this problem is, we hope it’s easily fixable by application developers.

Only one USB port: Though the Surface desperately wants to compete with laptops, it also has one other crippling disability: a lack of ports. There’s only one fully-functional USB (3.0) port and one Thunderbolt port. The proprietary charging cord has one extra USB port on it, but we’d hardly call that functional. If you want a full swath of ports, you need to opt for a Surface desktop dock. It would have been nice to have two full-size USB ports, at least. Plug in a mouse and you’re done, currently.

We should also note that there’s a MicroSD card reader, but no full-size SD card slot, which will make it difficult for those who use a camera.

Needs more configurations for buyers: We like that there are a bunch of different models to choose from, but laptop buyers used to the Windows ecosystem may find it frustrating that you cannot mix and match storage, RAM, and processor options. There are only five models of the Pro 3 to choose from, and they escalate in storage, RAM, and processor in very rigid ways. If you want a more powerful Core i7, be prepared to also buy at least a 256GB solid-state drive and 8GB of RAM as well.

Windows 8 is tough to use, and disjointed: Unfortunately, we don’t love Windows 8. Right now, it’s still a very disjointed experience requiring you to hop around between a flat, squared, tablet-friendly Live Tile Start screen to the classic Windows desktop. There is probably a way to merge these worlds, but Microsoft hasn’t found it yet. There are still two totally different kinds of apps, two totally separate settings menus, and most other things about the operating system oddly jump from the complicated old look to the overly modern, overly simplistic design of the Live Tile environment.

If you’ve gotten used to Windows 8, more power to you. Or maybe you’re a fan. But for the premium price tag, we wish this tablet came with more user-friendly version of Windows.

Not great for gaming, and it gets hot: Gamers may want to avoid the Surface Pro 3. We tested performance by installing and playing League of Legends on native resolution and compared to other tablets, the Surface dragged its feet. It had a low of 15 frames per second (fps), a high of 31fps, and averaged about 24fps, which is noticeably slow, even for a PC with an Intel GPU. When we lowered the resolution to 1080p, it upped the average to 28fps, but still performed choppy.

More troubling was the heat and fan. We could audibly hear the fan and the temperature of the tablet reached about 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which isn’t enough to burn you, but may be enough to eventually cause a shut down. Our unit was using a Core i5 processor, so we can only imagine how hot the Core i7 may get. Encoding a long video could result in an overheated Surface.

CONCLUSION

There’s a lot to like about the Surface, and Microsoft is going out on a limb to create a premium product to showcase Windows 8.1. Unfortunately, for the $1,000 to $2,000 asking price, we think many of you would be better off just buying a nice laptop, and maybe an extra tablet if you still have the cash. When it comes down to it, the Surface is designed as a laptop alternative.

It has some strengths thanks to its more portable tablet form, but it also fails to do a few things as well as an actual laptop would. If you can only buy one product, and you want it to be mostly a PC, but have some tablet elements to it, this may work for you. But for everyone else, we still recommend buying a standard laptop and a standard tablet.

By Jeffrey Van Camp, DigitalTrends

Facebook Introduces New Privacy Options, defaults to friends only

2014-05-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

Facebook is narrowing who gets to see a new member’s posts, dialing back what gets shared on the social network after facing years of outrage over its privacy policies.

Starting 22nd May 2014, the posts of new users who begin sharing on Facebook will only be visible to their friends. By contrast, the social network’s default settings previously made posts public, making it easy for people who didn’t know their way around the service to accidentally share information more widely, Facebook said on Thursday in a blog post.

The change reflects how Facebook has been working to adjust the site based on what its 1.28 billion users say they want. As the company strives to retain and grow its membership, it is trying to avoiding clashing with members over privacy issues. Facebook said the shift in settings is based on user feedback and it anticipates people will share more frequently if they are more comfortable with the service.

If people share more publicly than they want to be sharing, that doesn’t benefit us because it leads to bad experiences over time, said Mike Nowak, Facebook’s privacy product manager. We want people’s first impressions of Facebook to be as awesome as possible, and we know it’s worse to accidentally overshare than to accidentally undershare.

For existing members, the Menlo Park, California-based company is expanding its use of a blue dinosaur mascot for privacy that pops up and asks if people are sure they are sharing with the right audiences. The company also runs thousands of surveys about privacy with its users every day in 27 languages.

Privacy issues

Facebook has had a long history of privacy snafus. In 2011, the company settled with the Federal Trade Commission and agreed to never make deceptive claims about its privacy procedures and agreed to independent reviews of its practices.

In November, Facebook removed language criticized by consumer-advocacy groups about how teens’ content on the website can be used in ads as the company completed changes to its user privacy policies. The revised user privacy rules went into effect that month.

The latest update follows three weeks after the company altered its tools for using Facebook to log into other apps. An option to log in anonymously lets users try out a new product before sharing their identity and personal information. Another tool, which lets consumers decide line by line which kind of information an application can see, is also designed to encourage users to feel comfortable logging in using their Facebook credentials, Nowak said.

The company continues to face litigation about its privacy practices. On 9 May, the US Court of Appeals in San Francisco revived Facebook users’ claims that the social network’s alleged dissemination of information about their online activities defrauded customers and breached its user agreement. Some of the lawsuits’ privacy claims are based on practices that Facebook has since changed, lawyers said at a January hearing. (BLOOMBERG)

Google Plans To Buy Twitch For One Billion Dollar

2014-05-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

According to reports, Google may acquire video game streaming site Twitch and may acquire by offering over one billion dollar.

It is also heard that Google may incorporate the service with YouTube.

Twitch is a video game streaming site where people upload videos of game play from PS4 and Xbox for others to watch the game plays. Twitch claims to have over 45 million monthly users and 10 million active uploaders.

The site twitch.tv was launched by the co founders of justin.tv Justin Kan and Emmett Shear as subsidiary of justin.tv in mid 2011 for focussing gaming related content when they noticed that the gaming channels attracted large numbers.

By acquiring Twitch, Google could bring a video gaming section in YouTube which can bring 45 million monthly users of Twitch into YouTube.

Fossils Of World's Largest Dinosaur 'Titanosaur' Found In Argentina

2014-05-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Fossilized remains of a Titanosaur has been unearthed by Paleontologists in Argentina's Patagonia region. Titanosaur is supposed as a dinosaur which may have been the largest dinosaur ever on earth.

Titanosaurs were long necked and long tailed sauropod they lived during the Cretaceous Period, approximately 95 million years ago who walked on four legs.

Paleontologist’s team led by Dr. Jose Luis Carballido and Dr. Diego Pol of Egidio Feruglio Museum has said that it’s a Titanosaur weighed around 100 tons or equivalent weight of 14 African elephants and as long as 40 meters.

In a statement, they also said that these are true paleontological treasure and there are many remains which were practically intact, something that does not happen commonly.

The bones of Titanosaur were among 200 fossils which were found at the site in Patagonia's Chubut province which is approximately 800 miles south of Buenos Aires. This fossil site was accidentally discovered in the year 2011 by a farm worker. According to the experts, the site also has remains of 7 dinosaurs and broken teeth of carnivores among others at the site.

GODZILLA 2014 Movie Review

2014-05-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

May 17 (John Nolte / BREITBART.com)

Director Gareth Edwards claims his summer blockbuster "Godzilla" is some sort of Global Warming cautionary tale. If that was his intent, unless you want to count the expected and clichéd platitudes about "controlling nature," he failed miserably (thank God).

Saying such things might be a cynical attempt to win favor with elite critics, but what Edwards actually delivers where it counts -- up on the screen -- is a spectacularly mounted and unpretentious Godzilla romp that might be the best recruiting commercial for the United States Navy since Tony Scott's "Top Gun" (1986).

Godzilla opens in 1999 on the morning of Joe Brody's (Bryan Cranston) birthday. Joe's a loving husband to his wife Sandra, (a welcome Juliette Binoche) and young son Ford, but a series of tremors affecting the Japanese nuclear power plant he oversees are making him nervous, and no one over there is listening to the "crazy American."

Cut to 15 years later and still no one is listening. Joe's still in Japan trying to piece together the mystery. In the meantime, Ford is a grown man (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) living in San Francisco with his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and a boy of his own. Ford is also a Navy man who specializes in defusing bombs. Just back from what we assume is a deployment, Ford hardly gets reacquainted with his young family before he has to fly to Japan to bail Dad out of jail -- again.

Dad, as dads usually are, is eventually proven correct. There is something going on. Worse, the Japanese government and its top scientists are covering it up, trying to control and understand it, and naturally that plan doesn't work out so well.

I'm not a hater of 1998's "Godzilla." I know I'm supposed to hate it or at least lie about hating it. But I've always found director Roland Emmerich's destruction of Manhattan as Ferris Bueller runs around trying to stop him, plenty entertaining and satisfying. In fact, now that my Godzilla whistle has been whetted, I'm probably going to watch it again this weekend. And I'm a Godzilla fan going back 40-plus years with a pile of Toho DVDs this high. But I'm also pretty easy to please. Cast a spell, Mr. Director, and don't break it… I'm yours.

Edwards' "Godzilla," however, is something else entirely. It's not just a Godzilla movie, it's nearly the best Godzilla anyone could possibly make. It's the "Dark Knight" of Godzilla movies -- the one that catches you off guard, not only with what is possible with the genre but what has been done with it. Legendary Pictures produced (Warner Bros. is the distributor) and you can feel their "Dark Knight" influence all over it.

That doesn't mean that "Godzilla" is as edgy, dark, or even as mean as Christopher Nolan's masterpiece. It's not. And that's to its credit. "Godzilla" gives us plenty of uncomplicated, old-fashioned heroism; a competent and brave United States Navy from top to bottom (no one suffers from PTSD or suggests we waterboard giant lizards); and a loving, perfectly functional American family.

The special-effects are first-rate. The monster action is as well-choreographed as the 1933 fight between King Kong and the T-Rex, which 80 years on is still The Standard. Edwards also stages a couple of smaller set-pieces (one on a railroad bridge is a real highlight) that effectively bring The Awesome down to a human level.

And Godzilla is Godzilla. I don't want to get into spoilers, but if you're a franchise fan, you'll see what I mean. Edwards knows and respects his Toho history, and builds a real character out of a battleship-sized iguana.

Unlike what some other critics have reported, Edwards doesn't really play "hide the monster." He does, though, keep you waiting for what you paid your money to see: monsters using skyscrapers as speed bags. The movie is so good, you actually enjoy the teases (news footage of destruction you did not witness destructed). The anticipation is part of the fun. And all that really matters is if it pays off in the end, and believe me it does.

"Godzilla" has its flaws. Unfortunately the story's focus does eventually shift away from Joe in favor of the generic in-a-Channing-Tatum-kind-of-way Ford. Whereas Cranston and Binoche could make you feel something for their characters and relationship with little more than a shared glance, the odyssey Ford is on to reunite with his wife and son doesn't grab you like it should. In the end it feels like it's there only because it is supposed to be.

Japanese actor Ken Watanabe is also wasted. When you are dealing with an actor of this presence and caliber, a lot can be done with very little. It wouldn’t have taken much to give Watanabe's scientist character a little depth, or even some hint of an emotional life.

Instead, Watanabe is relegated to the role of the guy whose constantly telling everyone they're going to need a bigger boat. Characters try to figure stuff out; Watanabe's eyes grow bigger with a horrific realization; everyone stops to look at him; out comes exposition explaining how the stakes just got bigger. It's also a little off-key giving this particular scientist this role after we watch him blow it in a big way early on (which is another reason the Global Warming allegory makes zero sense), which forces the American military to take control.

Edwards gives Watanabe's character a "moment" involving an old pocket watch, but it unfortunately is the only eye-roller of a thud in the whole movie. A much better moment is watching a group of selfless Navy men thank the Lord for the honor of serving a "great nation" as they, without complaint, head into what we're told is a suicide mission,

Overall, Godzilla delivers, and it delivers all that really matters: As you head out of the theatre and into the night towards your car, you are enveloped in the warm and glorious satisfaction of knowing you have just witnessed all the kick-ass monster action, chaos, and destruction you could have ever hoped to see.

Twice during the climactic battle, the audience I saw it with broke out in spontaneous and enthusiastic applause. They couldn’t help themselves, and neither could I.

Go. Now. Take your kids and the kid in you.

"Godzilla" isn't just the Godzilla movie you dreamt of, it's actually a little better.

P.S. If you're intent on looking for a political message, here in America, only Barack Obama's Hawaii, Harry Reid's Nevada, and Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco are destroyed. Some kind of sub-conscious hostility towards the destructive leadership of the Democrat Party…? Why not. (BREITBERT.com)

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC