Microsoft Pre-Touch Sensing For Mobile Interaction

Imagine A Mobile Device That Intelligently Anticipates Your Intended Action Even Before You Touch The Screen.

That’s what’s being presented in Pre-Touch Sensing for Mobile Interaction. Ken Hinckley, a principal researcher at Microsoft who led the project, said the research is based on a whole different philosophy of interaction design.

The research uses the phone’s ability to sense how you are gripping the device as well as when and where the fingers are approaching it.

“It uses the hands as a window to the mind,” Hinckley said.

By allowing the interfaces to adapt to you, on the fly, they are always tailored to the specific context of how you are currently holding or using your phone.

“I think it has huge potential for the future of mobile interaction,” he said. “And I say this as one of the very first people to explore the possibilities of sensors on mobile phones, including the now ubiquitous capability to sense and auto-rotate the screen orientation.”

Source:-Microsoft Research

the tablets with the highest battery life rated

The lst of tablets with the highest batter life rated from highest to lowest

All the data that has been compiled while making the comparison have been taken from manufacturer websites. Ratings from CNET, PC Mag, PC World, and LAPTOP Mag.

Thinnest Smartphone Manufacturers : 10 slimmest mobile phones

For Apple and specially for late Steve Jobs, having the slimmest smartphone was an obsession, and Apple it has continued his dream of  the  iPhone"being the slimmest mobile device handset in the market and it makes it right at the top as the slimmest smartphone with a  mere 7.09 mm.

The 10 slimmest mobile handsets in the market  from thinnest to thickest today are iPhone,Huawei, Samsung, Sony,Meizu,HTC ,BQ,ZTE,Blackberry,OnePlus,Xiaomi, Nokia,LG and Motorola

10  Thinnest  Smartphones Manufacturers: 

While iPhone is the undisputed no 1 being the slimmest mobile device,it  does have a lot of competitors racing in to take that coveted spot . Closely following Apple's flagship iPhone is Huawei which  is  7.69 mm thin, while Samsung with 7.89 mm takes the  3rd rank

Meanwhile at 9.62 mm LG ranks at the bottom of the list .On the thicker side,feather-light manufacturer Motorola—counter-intuitively—also makes the thickest device

This is likely yet another consequence of releasing more small-screen phones, on average, than competitors. A smaller display often means less room to squeeze in a battery, and as a result, the need for thicker internals.

This years most recommended vs least recommended tech brands

The Best Tech Brands : Highly recommended vs least recommended

 These product rankings were determined by an recommendation engine  algorithm  which extracted ratings and reviews from social  reviews,online forums, technology blogs, company blogs.
Each brand  was assigned a score by specout factoring  in expert scores from (CNET, Laptop Mag, PC Magazine, PC World, WIRED), over a dozen tech specs (battery life, video resolution, pixel density, etc.) and a variety of performance benchmarks (Geekbench, Basemark OS II, CamSpeed, DxO Mark, GFXBench, Broswermark)

.A total of 22 product categories were covered The  recommendation engine from  Specout  assigned each produc Smart Rating, based on

1. Expert reviews
2. Independent tests, 
3. benchmark performance
4. Specifications and features. 

To know more about the research methodology, head over at  Biggest tech brands; Fac vs Fiction

top 5 most reviewed smartphones on the web

Among the smartphone brand with most reviews  is the Samsung  Galaxy S6 Active . With a  advertised talk time of 23 hours, (longer than 9 hours which the average of phones released in the past year claims). This phone can hold 3,500 mAh, a massive battery capacity for a smartphone released in 2015
 

.LG G4, Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Samsung galaxy S 6 has had a unique distinction of having been been reviewed the most  online , across the smartphones category. Not to be outdone Samsung other products Samsung Galaxy s 6 edge continues to dominate in the top 10 global smartphone most rated and reviewed brands. 

In fact out of the 10 most reviewed smartphone companies, Samsung brands   occupies 7 slot ,while  leaving the other 3 for LG and iPhone . In fact so complete has been Samsung's smartphone dominance that Apple's iPhone 6S and 6S + is relegated at the 5th and 6th position in terms of online ratings and reviews across forums, blogs and social web sites 

five hottest digital music discovery start ups :

the list of music discovert start ups


Music Discovery, Recommendation and Creation start ups:Every year, at conferences like Midem and Berlin Music Week, latest music start ups and music discovery engines make their debut as latest start ups as the digital music newcomers Here are the most promising  top 5 music digital music startups

1.)Audioshot (USA)An iPhone app that gets people to send songs to friends via other messaging apps: Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp for example.

2.Fusic (Israel) An iOS and Android app that “takes the selfie to the next step” according to its app store listing. That means getting people to film videos of themselves singing, lip-syncing or dancing to their favourite songs, with that footage then being integrated with the song’s original video, for sharing.

3.)Mixcloud ( London) founded in 2008, positions itself as the “home for on-demand radio shows, DJ mixes and podcasts”. The service, which counts about 10 million monthly users, recently introduced subscription plans in an attempt to  monetize itself

 4.)Deezer ( France )Music streaming service Deezer, founded in 2006, is live in more than 180 countries around the word. The company is backed by approximately $150 million in financing. Deezer claims to have 16 million active users and 5 million paid subscribers.

5)SoundDrop (Norway)Founded in 2011, Soundrop offers a social music discovery app as well as marketing tools for artists and labels to promote their music. The startup has about $6.4 million in funding to date . It has offices across Oslo, New York, Los Angeles and London.

London's hottest 3 start ups in 2015

Which  industry verticals  are venture funds most likely to invest in

London’s investors list an average of 13 market  verticals tags each and are most interested in the large general markets like  (404), Consumer Internet (367), Enterprise Software (266) and E-Commerce (215). The most popular markets for London’s investors:

1)DELIVEROO 76-78 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4QS

 Deliveroo drivers collect the food and deliver it "usually seven to eight minutes after it leaves the kitchen".Its a QS food ordering system as well as provides logistical support to fast food giants as well as neighbourhood stores.Orders can be delivered only via tablet ( android and iOS app). Its present in ten UK cities -- as well as Dublin, Paris and Berlin -- Deliveroo raised £16m in January

and plans to expand into 30 cities by year end

Co Founders:Will Shu and Greg Orlowski

 2)IMPROBABLE 20 Farringdon Road, London EC1M 3HE 

Improbable calls itself as an enabler of connecting gaming enthusiasts online . Its vision is to  create vast online games with thousands of players playing across virtual worlds.The company is using the " technique of "distributed systems" used in high-frequency trading and applying them to video games.
 the company recently announced $20 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz.

Co-founders:  Cambridge graduates Herman Narula and Rob Whitehead

3)WORLDREMIT 66 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD Worldremit is your typical money exchange services, much like western union. However WorldRemit makes the process easier while charging lower commission than high-street banks. The company already has raised fund to the tune of raised $100 million in February from Technology Crossover Ventures and Accel, with plans to expand into the US and worldwide The World Bank estimates that international money transfers will hit $646 billion in 2015.

Co-founders :Having a former UN advisor as a co-founder surely helps . Its founded by  former UN adviser Ismail Ahmed.

LG Nexus 5X vs Huawei Nexus 6P Comparison

Detailed specs :Huawei Nexus 6P | SpecOut

Detailed LG Nexus 5X | SpecOut

Ben Carson and Marco Rubio gained highest twitter followers during 3rd Republican debate:

Ben Carson and Marco Rubio  gained the highest twitter followers followed by Donald Trump.

Growth in Twitter Followers During Third Republican Debate | InsideGov

The volume of of Tweets during the third Republican debate .

Lists of 36 US software start ups ,with a valuation of $1 billion and above

US Start ups based on cloud that are among the are the top 10 biggest software start ups with highest valuation

the complete list  of US based software start ups with equity and VC funding that are worth more a billion USD .Among the top 3 are PALANTIR and DROPBOX

As of October 2015:PALANTIR

Latest valuation:$20.0b (October 2015)

Total equity funding:$1.6b

Valuation-to-funding: 12.8 to 1

As of October 2015: DROPBOX

Latest valuation:$10.0b (January 2014)

Total equity funding:$607m

Valuation-to-funding: 16.5 to 1

:mobile broadband subscriptions vs fastest mobile broadband speeds

comparison of nations :Mobile broadband penetration vs mobile broadband speeds

In terms of mobile broadband penetration Europe and America tops mobile broadband subscriptions, followed by CIS nations, Asia pacific and  Middle east. The Europeans amd Americas have an average of 75-77% mobile broadband penetration

In terms of mobile broadband speeds, Akamai's latest report  confirms that  UK now has an average mobile connection speed of 20.4Mbps, a huge 28 percent increase on the previous quarter. The average UK speed is twice that of second-placed Denmark, which has a 10Mbps average, while other leading nations such as Germany (5.7Mbps), the US (4Mbps) and even South Korea (8.8Mbps) lag some way behind.
The UK can also boast that more than 95 percent of all mobile connections are over 4Mbps, which is twice as fast as the 2Mbps stipulated by the last government as the basic speed needed for fixed broadband services.

GoPro releases its first images shot from its new quadcopter drone

via Statista

In April 2014, GoPro was listed by Adweek as one of the "Top 10 Best Brand Channels on YouTube" based on a combination of views, shares, comments and overall engagement

 while early this year there were rumors about GoPro  making a quadcopter drone, but few details have since been shared about the project. However today that was confirmed as GoPro had just uploaded the first footage from the drone to its YouTube channel .GoPro ( former  Woodman Labs, Inc), is an American manufacturer of action cameras, often used in extreme-action videography.

The quadcopter drone "video grab were remarkably smooth, and the video also claims that the footage was not stabilized in post, but this could just be a result of careful filming.

In about 13 months since GoPro’s IPO , it is  currently trading at around $60 per share (up 150 percent from its IPO price of $24) and reported another great quarter this week, with the company posting a $35 million profit on revenue of $420 million.

Highest Paid CEO's compared with their 1 year shareholder return to investors

These are the top 10 highest paid Chief Executive Officers

Top 10 CEO compensation ranked by Shareholder Returns

While compensation levels of CEO's have skyrocketed.. so have the attrition rate . The average stay of Fortune 500 CEO's have today come down to an average of less than 3 years compared to 5 years a decade ago. This chart published by Wall Street Journal compares the compensation of top 10 executives versus the shareholder return in the last one year.

Only 4 companies  General Electric ,Liberty Global , Aetna and Estee Launder managed to deliver a whooping more than 100% return , with GE and Liberty global delivering 250% shareholder return

Oracle's Larry Ellison and  Iger Roberts of Walt Disney have their shareholders a negative return of -18% and -8%

European tech start ups with the highest valuations

These are the top 10 European start ups with highest valuation

Spotify, Global Fashion group and Delivery hero are among the top 3 European start ups with the highest valuation.

Spotify is valued at $8.5billion with a total equity funding of $1.0billion,
The global fashion group is valued at $3.5billlion with a equity of $1.5billion.
Delivery Hero ranks number 3 most valued start up with 3.1billion USD  having been funded to the extent of 1.3billion USD

US top 3 billion dollar start up valuation exceed $95billion

These are the top 10 highest valued start ups

source : Wsj

The top 3 start ups  in US is now valued at a combined $95 billion. Uber leads the list with $51billion  followed by  Airbnb which is valued at  $25.5billion while Palantir is valued at $20billion

Snapchat and SpaceX is respectively valued $16billion and $12billion .

Meanwhile in terms of available funding these 5 top start up companies  has been funded combined upto the tune of $16billion. Effectively the  start up funding to valuation ratio for these top 5 companies is 5 times.

the real reason why iphones and ipads cannot be manufactured in US

r those of you using apple products . specially iphone and ipad would have noticed the following t? "Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China.". So why exactly does ipad and iphone cannot be made in US, is it the cost of production, the costs of labor in US that makes it  difficult to made iphones in US.. Why cant  apple 's  iPhones, iPads, and all the rest of Apple's magic gadgets be built in the States?

The real story of why this cant be done ... will be a revelation .. and its also a sad  comment how America  have been loosing its " manufacturing base"  and we are no longer producing the kind of people " with the required skills "

 The New York Times asked that question, and after an extremely well-researched report involving interviews with both former and current executives at Apple, the answer the Times found is both simple and chilling: iPhones aren't made in America because they just can't be, not because of  manufacturing costs and other hyperbole . The infrastructure and labor force that apple needs to manufacture iphones and ipads  doesn't  exist at any levels  in US , which is necessary to support Apple's operations -- in fact its not even close to China...

• The Chinese factory where most iPhones reach final assembly employs 230,000 workers. Compare this with US: how many cities in the US have a population higher than that, ( according to SIRI the answer was a mere 83 cities )-- and that's total population, not workforce. With an average labor force of around 65 percent of the population, only 50 US cities are large enough to provide that kind of labor pool... and even in the biggest US city of them all, New York, 230,000 people still amounts to almost three percent of the city's entire population. 

•  One of apple's biggest supplier Foxconn  has  over  60,000 people living and working at the factory. Many of the people at "Foxconn City" work six days a week, twelve hours a day.. In US you just cannot do that .Apple employs 43,000 people in the United States, less than a fifth the number of contractor employees assembling iPhones at one Chinese factory

• Even though the 200,000 assembly-line workers putting part A into slot B could potentially be classified as unskilled labor, the 8700 industrial engineers overseeing the process  are highly skilled -- and according to the nytimes Times, finding that many qualified engineers in the States would take 9 months . Chinese manufacturers found them all in 15 days..In US the demand and supply gap between engineers who  graduates every year is appalling .

 So the reason of iphone being manufactured  is not " a merely"  manufaturing cost issue,, Instead, it's about who can build manufacture  the greatest number of iPhones within the shortest period of time, all while remaining flexible and instantaneously adaptable to Apple's needs.

Internet Explorer preferred by 52% desktop global users

Web Browser Marketshare for desktops

Internet explorer marketshare across dekstop browsers has crossed 50% . In september 2015,IE marketshare was 52% while google chrome ranked a distant 2nd with overall 30% of browser marketshare as of

Meanwhile Firefox with 11.5% and Opera with 5.6% were at the bottom.Chrome has seen a rise of 10% as compared to 2014 October where it had a desktop marketshare of 20%.

most common overlooked errors when working on Wordpress sites

Like this infographic? Get more WordPress publishing content from Copyblogger.

5c smartwatches having the best battery lives

Smartwatches with the Best Battery Life | Testest and Published by  SpecOut 

top 10 most popular online buyer persona research software

The infographic shows a list of research software most popular Project management campaign tools that allows users to create online buyer personas ,allows companies and organizations to track and manage tasks, goals, and teams for projects. The below infographic shows the list of top 10 research and online buyer persona capturing trends.