HTC Butterfly

OVERVIEW

The HTC Butterfly is a pretty interesting device with some really great technology in it. Its screen is one of the fortes as it uses that new screen technology - Super LCD3. It's a pretty rare screen type which hasn't really spread all that much as of yet. What it's particularly great at is being able to make 5.0 inch screens support 1080p full HD resolutions and it generally has a pixel density that is unlike anything you've ever seen. Also, the hardware of the Butterfly is extremely powerful, even for today's standards. However, with all things considered, this device being one of the strongest out there and such, it will mean that it costs a little bit more to purchase. While an estimated price was of 600 euros, the true price will actually depend a lot on the carrier and provider, as most add a bit more to the price in order to generate a profit for themselves.

GENERAL
This phone, depending on the market in which you purchase it from, can be a 4G phone with LTE enabled, or one with regular 2G and 3G networks. The SIM of this device is a Micro-SIM, so if you have one of those good for you, otherwise you will have to go to your local network provider and change your SIM into a Micro one. This phone was initially announced in December of 2012 and it came out the next month in January 2013. It is currently available for purchase and depending on where you get it from, certain offers and deals may apply for it.

BODY
The phone is pretty massive, so if you're uncomfortable with phones that have 5.0 inch screens, this may not be the best alternative. Personally, it doesn't really bother me that the phone is 5.0 inches big (screen-wise). I personally find even the Note 2 of a decent size, despite people claiming that it's too big to be a phone. Then again, some people even use 7.0 tablets which have SIM support as phones (I have seen it with my own eyes, and it's a pretty amusing sight). Back to the point: the specific size of the phone is 143 x 70.5 x 9.1 mm big (or 5.63 x 2.78 x 0.36 in, if you prefer this system) and it weighs around 140 g (or 4.94 oz, if you'd rather have this system).

5 Staggering iPhone Apps That Will Change the Way We Work

It is no doubt that iPhone apps offer enhanced user experiences and customized services to its valuable users. These apps are easy to download and provide a secure platform, to corporates and individuals alike. As per a report published by Apple, The App Store has over 500 million active accounts and had a record-breaking December with over two billion downloads during the month. Besides this Apple saw 40 billion unique downloads excluding re-downloads and updates. Needless, to say, that iPhone apps are will redefine the app market in times to come.

Let's take a look at the 5 staggering iPhone apps making way to The App Store in 2013:

Qwiki
This is a free app that lets you turn your personal pictures and videos into striking movies. You can share or post these movies with your friends around via Facebook, Twitter, email or SMS. Your friends can post comments, like or follow your Qwiki movie just like any other regular post on social networking site. The app can be embedded as an icon on any web page. The new version of Qwiki has improved stability features and offers enhanced scrolling to its users. Moreover, every movie you create can be easily customized as per your liking with options like drag and drop, filtering and song choices. You can share even more pictures using Instagram and share it in your circle using SocialCam.

The app is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. It requires iOS 5.1 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. This is a great tool for people who like to click pictures with their mobile.

Samsung Chromebooks: An Overview

Chromebooks are portable, laptop-style personal computers that run Google's Chrome OS operating system. It is based on Linux, and inherits much of the stability and security that Linux is famous for.

ChromeOS supports a variety of USB devices, including cameras, mice and flash drives, and employs a verified boot feature, which enables the system to check for system integrity and potential security breaches at startup.

However, as Chromebooks are intended to be used while connected to the internet, their user interface consists of a variation on Google's Chrome web browser, with a media player and file manager built in. No other native applications are provided, and, as a result, their offline capabilities are somewhat limited compared to a standard laptop.

Rather than installing native software onto the Chromebook, as they would on other types of operating system, users are expected to take advantage of online services - such as Google's GMail email service, for example - or install web apps from the Chrome App Store.

This approach ensures that the user is always automatically presented with the latest version of their favourite software, without being constantly prompted to install updates. It also means that a lost, stolen or damaged Chromebook need not cost the user their important documents, as, in most cases, files are stored in online repositories, like Google Drive, rather than on the machine itself. The user need only obtain a new Chromebook, then sign in with their Google account, to have virtually instant access to their documents, settings and apps.

The Best Apps For Valentine's Day

For most of us Valentine's Day can be very stressful unless it can be planned successfully. There can be so many things to arrange like arranging a home cooked meal, knowing what is on at the cinema so that you can book it, buying a present and sending flowers. And if you are not up to cooking then it is helpful to have a few apps you can investigate to let you know the best places to eat, Take the strain out of the day by letting the following apps do all the work, which will allow you to sit back and revel in all the praise.


Valentine's Day Recipes by Aimfire LLC
Sometimes a home cooked meal shows your loved one that you are prepared to go that extra mile to show them that you care. Great! But then the question is 'what do you cook'? This app has over 140 recipes and displays each menu in a step by step way so that even the most inexperienced cook will not fail to impress. It also has a good menu of starters, desserts and drinks to mix with the meal.

Slacker Radio by Slacker, Inc.
If you need the right music to set the mood for your romantic meal then Slacker Radio is the app you should choose. Slacker radio has over 250 themed radio stations that will provide you with just the sort of music you are looking for. You will find yourself dancing the night away in your own front room or any room you want to take advantage of.

Movies by Flixster, with Rotten Tomatoes by Flixster
If you fancy going to the pictures on Valentine night, Flixter will show you the closest theatres and cinemas in your area and let you see all the films that are being shown there. It will also allow you to see trailers of selected movies and let you book tickets.

Advancements in IT in the Workplace

It is impossible to think what the workplace would be like without an IT infrastructure. It doesn't matter whether you work for a small business with just a few employees or a huge multi-national with thousands of employees, information technology is a very key part of the day to day workings. Many companies have a managed IT structure to their business which works tirelessly to make sure the systems are supporting the workings either running their computer systems or the building environment they work in.
There is a very interesting series on Television called Man Men which depicts an Advertising Agency in the 1960's. Their technology extended to a switch board controlled by several operators who put calls through to various offices in the building. There was also a Xerox photocopier which took up a whole office by itself, but not one sign of a computer anywhere as this was way before the IT industry boom. The security was a guard at the desk in the foyer and the heat of the office controlled by fans.
Back then it would have been impossible to imagine how the modern day office of 2013 would look. The things we are able to do these days seems only limited by the imagination as we are able to communicate and collaborate on projects with each other instantly irrespective of where we are based in the world. We have limitless information at our fingertips and we can feel safe in the knowledge that the buildings we work in are secure from intruders whether they are cyber intruders or the real thing.
Buildings can be designed to create the optimum working environments with the technology installed managing lighting and temperature. Workers can simply plug in their laptop or tablet pc into the network and access their desktop from any workstation in the building or even at other locations where the network is enabled.

Cloud Computing, More Than Just Hype

As head of Operations and Technology at my current company, I have personally seen the explosion of the term "Cloud" from every vendor who contacts me. But like any other clever marketing term, you have to look behind the hype to see what exactly is being offered and what value it has to you as a business.
Cloud Computing refers to the hosted offering of infrastructure and development platforms, made possible by the Internet, or "Cloud." It is not a new concept, as Software as a Service (SaaS) providers like Salesforce, have offered Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software in the cloud for the past decade. But it grew in popularity as virtualization technology improved to the point that vendors could easily spin up, and support virtual servers, at a cost effective model for themselves and their customers.
Cloud Computing can be divided into three major categories being provided by vendors: Infrastructure, Platform and Software. Infrastructure is the provisioning of virtual servers, firewalls, load balancers and network switches. It is in this area that most executives and business stakeholders have taken notice. Because of the delays and costs associated with getting physical or virtual servers setup internally in the organization, the prospect of be able to create a virtual server from a provider in a manner of minutes is incredibly attractive. Add to that the concept of "pay what you use" where you only pay for server processing time, and which allows you to grow and shrink environments at will, and you've gotten senior leadership's attention. We had a development project where the estimated internal infrastructure costs were around $500,000. Instead we chose to use Amazon Cloud at the cost of $4,500 per month.
Platform offerings go further to offer application, database and web tiers on top of the infrastructure. Some platform offerings like Microsoft Azure are proprietary. Others are open platforms that allow you to develop in the language you are comfortable in. Many providers make the offering especially attractive by providing services like high availability, or deployment tools and processes, so you as the customer don't have to worry about having that internal expertise.

How Technology Is Changing the Face of Education

Technology is a facet of society that is constantly changing and when these changes take place the members of a particular culture have to be willing to make adjustments. This particular fact is especially true for people who are employed within the field of education. Technology has infiltrated the educational system rather quickly and its usage is expected to significantly increase in the coming years. Teachers can (and still do) instruct students without the use of computers, laptops and tablets but sooner or later they will have to make some adjustments for the use of digital equipment as part of the learning environment.
The Department of Education and the International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) have developed technology standards that have been adopted by the majority of states within the U.S. These standards encourage the use of computers, smart boards, laptops and tablets within the classroom. Laptops and computers have already been implemented in school buildings across the country. Tablets are the latest form of computing technology that is now being adapted for the learning environment.
Many teachers currently use smart boards to instruct their pupils especially on the lower grades. Smart boards provide teaches with the ability to use computer software and media presentations in order to instruct their students.

Electronic Point Of Sale (EPOS) Identifying The Right Fit Of EPOS Software

Your choice in an electronic point of sale (epos) system is essential to the success of your business. Your epos system and epos software basically serve as a hub to which everything around the business revolves. In picking the right epos software and system, you need to have confidence in its performance because the system will be solely responsible for customer transactions, inventory management, and all the other actions involved in your business. The task of picking an epos software and system is a critical because choosing the wrong point of sale (POS) system can cost you a thousand dollars to replace.In choosing an epos software or system, the first thing you need to look at is the needs of your store. You need to identify the particular needs of your business. There are basically hundreds of epos software products and packages available in the market. Some are specified for large establishments like groceries and supermarkets, while some are designed for fast-moving businesses dealing with thousands of transactions in a day like fast-foods and restaurants. Make sure that you research the right fit of system and epos software for your business. One way of researching is by asking feedbacks from your customers about the things that has to be improved in your business. Get their perspective on their shopping experience to determine the features needed in choosing your system. Researching on the right epos system will also help you establish a budget for the system and the epos software. A standard POS system includes a point of sale terminals, devices, and an internet connection.

Is Windows 8 A Fit For Your Business?

The new Windows 8 operating system has received little of the hype usually associated with the introduction of a major new product from Microsoft.
Launched over three months ago, the usual publicity stunts and saturation type television advertising seem missing from what is basically a relatively quiet coming out party.
Many industry experts surmised that the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas would be the optimum launching point for the new operating system. Yet, despite the fact that many hardware companies had installed the system on their display PCs and tablets, reports from the show about the effectiveness of "8" as a business tool have been mixed.A test of Windows 8 by this writer generated more doubts than an endorsement. It raises the question of not only when a business should convert to the new OS but if they should do so at all.
Why? Unlike past versions of Windows, The User Interface (UI) is in a tiled format. This takes some getting used to such as the "Start" page. It also seems to works best in a touch-screen implementation.
Most businesses do not use touch-screen applications across the enterprise. To take advantage of the new system companies would have to not only purchase the software for the end-user but also budget for new hardware. This can involve investing in dozens of new machines depending upon the size of the business.
Another issue involves the system itself. It is exactly the same for use on PCs and tablets. Unlike other providers such as Apple, that has two distinct operating platforms-one for its iPad and one for its Macs, Microsoft has designed the same program to work with both mobile devices and PCs. Many users who like to utilize these devices for different tasks may not be enamored with similar implementations.

Digital Dictation Recorder Designed For Professional Use

Voice recorders have been an important gadget to professionals for many years. This is particularly true to those who rely on the transcription of information to documents. Lawyers, researchers, media men and medical transcriptionists are just some of these professionals. However, analogue recorders use tapes for recording and do not allow users to automatically edit or upload recorded information to computers. Digital dictation recorders were developed after that. Soon enough, professionals were conveniently recording their works and easily transcribing them into documents. Digital dictation is the recording and editing of spoken words using a digital recorder. These are then formatted to MP3, WAV or WMA. Ideal for professional use, the digital dictation recorder has proven its many benefits in improving data transcription works.
User-friendly - Digital dictation recorders like the analogue models work with the same function. The difference lies in the added features that make it easier and convenient to use. For one, it makes possible hands-free recording or one-thumb operation. This recorder is featured with easy to read indicators for low battery and storage space. Thus, gives users warning for possible loss of recordings. Moreover, it is also designed compact which makes it easier to carry around and handle. The recorded files can also be edited and deleted real time or it can be uploaded on a computer through smart menu buttons which makes it a more diverse gadget than any recorders.

Flexible OLED Screens - A Bright and Colourful Future for Digital Advertising

In early Jan 2013, Brian Berkeley, senior vice president of Samsung's display lab, announced at CES what is to become the future of display technology with it's OLED flexible screen called Youm. While other manufacturers are in advanced design stages of their own flexible screens, Samsung are the players who are making the industry moves, and it's not just mobile devices that will be part of this revolution - indeed the whole of the way we advertise products is about to change dramatically too.
Clearly smart phones will be one of the first places we see this tech available to the consumer, but there is another industry buzzing about this - digital marketing.In digital marketing we've already been thorough massive advances in recent years - essentially the low cost and high availability of broadband speed internet connections mean we are increasingly streaming more and more content into our home via the web than our regular TV service. For the consumer it offers far greater choice & flexibility of viewing habits - watch live or schedule your programmes to suit your lifestyle. We are also seeing increasing quantities of interactive content, and integration with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. In terms of how the merging technology will change the face of digital media as we know it - flexible screens will have far greater and further reaching impact than today's mobile web access and smart phones.

Why It Is Advantageous To Outsource Your Computer Support And IT Network Needs?

The Benefits of Outsourcing Computer Support and IT Network Needs
The main benefit of outsourcing computer support and IT services is savings. Let's face it, for a fledgling company hiring a staff that takes care of one's IT needs can be a bit expensive. It is also not that practical since you will be hiring staff that you may not need all-year round. There are computer support and IT services that aren't needed on a daily basis. Imagine the cost of having to pay for staff on a daily basis when you only need their services on a need by need basis.
Another benefit of outsourcing is maximizing your office space. Hiring an in-house IT support is not ideal if you have a small business because these professionals need to be housed or have to have their own room, which means that they will take up some of your well-needed office space. If you outsource, you won't have a problem with space. In fact, you can focus on hiring other staff that you really have to have in the same office space.
Another thing, your IT staff is not expected to know everything there is to know about computer support and IT services, which means, they may be inadequate in meeting your needs. This is just one of the reasons why it is more practical to outsource your computer and IT networking needs. If you outsource your IT needs, you will be able to have access to a number of skilled and knowledgeable IT specialists and technicians without having to hire additional staff. The outsourcing companies have a number of skilled people that have their own areas of expertise and specialization. It's more than likely that they would be able to help you with your specific needs.

The Distinction Regarding Web Application Development And Software Development

Web development and software development are two widely used idioms that individuals, who are not involved in the computer field, tend to mix up. Software engineering or design is basically the process of creating any software product whereas web application development pertains to the coding necessitated to produce any form of web site or program for the world wide web or private networks.
Software development is a comprehensive term with various fields and expertise, incorporating the various forms of web application development. A Software Development Company will typically provide more than one software related solution. It engages specialists in both web-based applications and desktop apps.
Previously, web developing incorporated less coding skill and pretty basic practice and courses could authorize individuals for the work. However, at present the online applications require advanced functions and frameworks, larger systems and demand an extensive knowledge in several computer languages and operating systems. As a result, the historical differences between software and web development are blurring. The main difference left is the interface being used.