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.