- Created on 21 May 2013
Samsung Galaxy S4 Named Top Smartphone by Consumer Reports
(CNN) -- A month after being released to mostly positive reviews, Samsung's flagship phone is getting some validation from Consumer Reports. The publication has run all its tests, kicked the phone's tires, and named the Android-powered Galaxy S4 its top rated smartphone.
The previous list-topper was the Optimus G, a solid $100 4.7-inch phone from LG that held Consumer Reports' No. 1 spot for several months. The Optimus G is now ranked as the No. 2 smartphone, followed by the HTC One, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Apple iPhone 5.
Consumer reports bases its ratings on a number of extensive tests and rates the devices in categories including ease of use, display and voice quality, portability and battery life. The $200 Galaxy S4's weakest scores were in video quality and portability. Like all the other smartphones on the list, it also had mediocre scores for voice quality, a sacrifice that seems common in the smartphone market. The publication also lamented the lack of one-button phone access.
Consumer Reports specifically called out the S4's 5-inch, 1080p touch-screen, multitasking in split view, and a built-in IR feature as some of the handset's standout features. The abundance of features were seen as appealing to more advanced users without complicating the phone for more entry-level users. The publication said the device's camera was "among the best phone cameras for photo quality."
The Galaxy S4 is an update to Samsung's wildly popular S3 phone, which was one of the best selling smartphones of the past year. Samsung was the leader in the smartphone market in in the first quarter of 2013, according to research firm IDC, and it looks like its latest offering will help it hang on to that top spot for the time being.
Last week, Google announced a new version of the Galaxy S4 that will run a pure form of the company's Android mobile operating system. That unlocked and uncluttered phone will cost $649 when it becomes available at the end of June.
- Created on 20 May 2013
Top Internships For Minority and African-American Students in 2013/14
(BlackNews.com) -- Internships are a gateway for students that lead to careers. There are thousands of internship opportunities each year across the country, and some of these programs are specifically for minorities and African Americans. Here are just five of such programs:
1 - Explore Microsoft Internship Program For Women and Minorities
This program is for current college undergraduate minority students pursuing a degree in computer science or software engineering. Students may apply in their freshman or sophomore year of college.
Learn more at: www.findinternships.com/2013/04/Explore-Microsoft-Internship-Program.html
2 - White House Initiative's Year-round Internship Program For African Americans
This program offers an exciting experience for undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in improving education outcomes for African Americans. This is an unpaid internship working for the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C.
Learn more at: www.findinternships.com/2013/04/white-house-initiative-year-round-internship-program.html
3 - National Urban League Summer Internship Program
This program is for students interested in a career in the non-profit industry. The program provides an 8-week paid internship for college students in either New York City or Washington, D.C.
Learn more at: www.findinternships.com/2013/04/national-urban-league-summer-internship.html
4 - UNCF/NAACP Gateway to Leadership Internship Program
This program is a 10-week paid summer internship for undergraduate students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This program offers finance majors an opportunity to work with major financial organizations during the internship.
Learn more at: www.findinternships.com/2013/04/uncf-naacp-gateway-to-leadership-internship-program.html
5 - NASCAR Diversity Internship Program
This program is a 10-week, full-time, paid summer work opportunity for deserving students with an interest in the NASCAR industry, who are of Alaskan Native, American Indian, Asian/Pacific Islander, African American, Hispanic, or of other racial minority descent. Students must have an interest in the NASCAR industry.
Learn more at: www.findinternships.com/2013/03/nascar-diversity-internship-program.html
- Created on 16 May 2013
Apple's iTunes Store Hits 50 Billion Downloads
Apple will give the lucky downloader a $10,000 iTunes gift card. The next 50 people to download an app after that will each receive a $500 gift card.
There was no immediate word from Apple on who won. Apple had a live countdown ticker on its iTunes Web page.
The promotion is yet another reminder of the massive success of Apple's App Store, which opened in 2008, added to the appeal of the iPhone and spawned many bad "there's an app for that" headlines. It also inspired online app stores by Google, BlackBerry and other companies.
The contest was open to entrants 13 or older in a country where the App Store is available. People also could enter without downloading an app by filling out an online form.
This marks the second time in three months that Apple has celebrated an iTunes milestone. In February, Phillip Lupke of Germany received a 10,000 euro (about $13,528) iTunes gift card for downloading the 25 billionth song.
How massive a number is 50 billion? According to Apple, counting to 50 billion would take a person 1,600 years.
- Created on 20 May 2013
Yahoo Buys Tumblr. Promises to Not 'Screw it Up'
(CNNMoney) -- Yahoo announced a $1.1 billion deal for blogging site Tumblr early Monday, and said it "promises not to screw it up."
The deal, which had been rumored since last Thursday, will help Yahoo to tap into the younger, active online user base at Tumblr. But the deal raises concerns among some Tumblr fans that the site could end up being cluttered by the ads that brings in billions of dollars a year to Yahoo. Tumblr CEO David Karp has resisted the use of traditional display advertising on Tumblr to this point.
To answer those worries, Yahoo said that Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business with Karp staying on as CEO.
"Our team isn't changing. Our roadmap isn't changing," said Karp in a statement. "Tumblr gets better faster with more resources to draw from."
Tumblr has 300 million monthly unique visitors and 120,000 sign-ups every day, with about 900 posts a second. As big as that is, it is dwarfed by Yahoo, which posted revenue of about $5 billion last year and a profit of $825 million excluding special items. Yahoo had $5.4 billion in cash on its balance sheet according to ts most recent quarterly earnings statement.
The deal is the biggest move yet by Marissa Mayer, the Yahoo CEO who has has shaken up the company in less than a year on the job. She's rolled out a new homepage, a redesigned Yahoo Mail and refreshed Flickr, its photo-sharing service that some critics said had been dying on the vine before Mayer's changes. She also purchased mobile start-up Stamped for its engineering staff.
Mayer is scheduled to appear at an event in New York later Monday. It is unclear if she will only be talking about the Tumblr deal or if Yahoo has something else to announce as well.
Shares of Yahoo were down in premarket trading Monday. But the stock is up more than 33% this year as investors bet that Mayer will be able to turn around the company, which has faced stiff competition from Google, Facebook and AOL in the past few years. Yahoo still trails Google widely in the online search market, despite a partnership with Microsoft.
- Created on 16 May 2013
Google Unveils 41 New Google Plus Features
(CNN) -- Google is working hard to make you love Google+, its growing but still often-overlooked social network.
How hard? The tech titan introduced 41 new Google+ features Wednesday, including a spiffy design, a Hangouts mobile chat feature and more tools for editing your photo library.
With some 360 million active users, Google+ has surpassed Twitter to become the world's second-most popular social network, after Facebook.
Here's a closer look at the updates, which were announced by Vic Gundotra, senior vice president and Google+ manager, at the company's I/O conference.
Google as photo assistant
Google+ has added automated photo-editing features that, depending on how well they work, could save amateur photographers huge amounts of time.
Given an unedited batch of photos from a recent family vacation, Google+ can narrow the images down to what it determines are the best shots. "I don't have time to pick them out (myself) because my vacation is over," said Gundotra.
The process begins with elimination, culling images that are blurry, duplicates or poorly exposed. It recognizes and includes landmarks and people in its final selections. Google's algorithms have been learning what people find beautiful in a photograph and uses that information to identify shots that are aesthetically pleasing.
It also uses facial detection to identify who appears in your photos to find people to whom you are close, such as family members.
Once the best shots are isolated, the next step is making them even better. Many people now rely on the auto-enhance button found in photo editing apps, from iPhoto to Instagram. Google+ has added its take on the auto button, which dabbles in white balance, skin softening, vignettes, sharpening and taking out red eye.
Finally, Google+ is adding something called Auto Awesome that does kicky things with photos such as turning them into small collages and turning multiple images into everyone's new favorite image format, the animated GIF.
Hangouts turns into a chat client
Hangouts, the free group video-calling service that's become one of the more popular Google+ features, is getting into the mobile chat business.
Google is rolling out a standalone app version of Hangouts that combines text, photos and live video. The feature will work across Android and iOS devices and can include multiple people.
Users of the app will now be able to save logs of chats if they want to swipe back in time to recall conversations.
The idea, according to Gundotra, is to offer a communication tool that can be used on any device, regardless of the platform.
"Why should OSes matter? People matter," said Gundotra. "Frankly even Google's own services have been fragmented and confused at times,"
A new G+ look
The new Google+ layout emphasizes multiple streams, or columns, of posts, athough the number you see will change to fit the device you're using, whether it's a giant desktop screen or a small smartphone.
Images are front and center in the new design, and photos and videos can fill the entire width of the stream. In other words, Google+ will look more like Pinterest.
