Author: Diego Schiavoni

A lot of expectations have been burdened on the Korean company, Samsung, after successfully releasing an array of smart smartphones that have stormed the tech world. Currently, Samsung’s flagship smartphone towers above most other smartphones and is actually being used as a measuring tool to determine if a particular smartphone is cool or not.

Well, Samsung surely didn’t disappoint, and the Samsung Galaxy Gear, or commonly known as the smartwatch is the proof.

For years, Samsung has been a “follower” in the tech world. For instance, when Apple started using gyroscopes on their devices, Samsung and a whole bunch of other smartphone manufacturers soon picked the torch and carried on with the idea. However, the Samsung Galaxy Gear is actually the first of its kind.

True, Apple was working on a similar gadget which would also be worn on the wrist, but apparently Samsung dived in first.

Samsung Galaxy Gear Specifications
Without mentioning what features Samsung’s smartwatch comes with, the Galaxy Gear would appear to be your ordinary 50-bucks watch, but that is surely not the case.

Firstly, the smartwatch allows you to make calls, send SMS, and even stuff it with a few couple of apps. Besides that, you can listen to some of your favorite music directly from the watch. Since it comes with a 4GB on-board storage, all you really need is a perfect set of headphones to go well with the smartwatch.

Capturing those sacred moments in your daily life will also be super easy. This is because Galaxy Gear comes with a 1.9MP camera which has a BSI sensor, and it also allows you to record720p HD videos as well as watch them directly on the smartwatch.

Of course, all this is going to demand quite some amount of power, and the 800Mhz Exynos processor as well as the 512MB RAM chip in to support all these functionalities. However, when it comes to the battery, you only get a standard 315mAh Li-ion battery. For a smartphone, that would be pretty low, and you would have to keep your phone plugged in almost all the time, but for a smartwatch, this would suffice.

Apart from being a watch which simply tells you the time, it comes with some useful featured apps which are quite helpful to people who love working out. Some of these apps include:
1. MyFitnessPal – This tracks your nutrition as well as your exercises and empowers you to achieve your daily fitness goals.
2. RunKeeper – Helps you to track your runs, set goals, and eventually keep you motivated about your training.
3. Pocket – Allows you to save web content and view it later on any device of your choice. It also comes with a text-to-speech functionality.
4. TripIt – Makes it easier for you to organize your travel plans

Of course, let’s not forget that Samsung’s popular apps like ChatON, Voice Memo, and Smart Relay will also feature on the Galaxy Gear.

With all these features packed in a device that has a mere weight of 74g, a price tag of $299 would seem fair enough since you are in fact buying a smartphone that has managed to be fitted in an 11.1mm thick watch.

All in all, Samsung has now proved that it isn’t only good at following others, but by leading the way too.

Creativity has always been essential to a company’s success. The traditional drab office setup with its mazes of cubicles and neutral design schemes does little to encourage employees to adapt to the new challenges of today’s modern business environment. More and more, companies are turning to unconventional office design elements to spark the creativity necessary to compete in a changing market.

Brighter Decor
Many offices are still based in the same basic color schemes. White, gray and black with the occasional piece of blue or maroon furniture creates a space that feels boring, uninspiring and restrictive. On the other hand, workplaces that include bright colors and fun decorations help to stimulate the mind. Incorporating unique artwork and lots of natural light boosts moods among employees and provides a healthier work environment.

Outstanding Furniture
Who hasn’t worked at an office where they should have upgraded their chairs and desks 10 years before? Creating a stimulating work environment is all about finding the right office furniture. Make sure to spend the time researching the right stuff for your team, check out sites like ComputerDesk.com that specialize in one particular part of your office, and find something that will fit with your new environment, and that will help your employee be more comfortable and productive.

Common Areas
Common spaces allow employees to break free from the confines of their desks and interact in meaningful ways. These areas are sometimes called a “third place;” that is, a space that’s not work or home, and they serve a couple of important purposes. One, having a space designed for collaboration encourages creative conversations between employees. Two, spending time outside of office and cubicle spaces gives the brain a break from repetitive tasks. Another benefit of a common area is that it encourages movement throughout the day, thus decreasing the potential health hazards of sitting for hours at a time.

Privacy
Bringing balance to your office with private areas is essential as well. Employees need personal space where they can go to perform necessary daily tasks and work on the ideas formed when collaborating with co-workers. These spaces don’t have to be cubicles, but they should be closed off enough that employees can work uninterrupted.

Playtime
Kids aren’t the only ones who need time to play during the day. Even in an office where employees are encouraged to move around and collaborate, stress can sneak in and cause tensions to build. The key to offering a playful area for workers is to make it meaningful rather than frivolous. Anyone can stick a ping-pong table in the break room and claim that the office is “fun,” but a company truly striving to foster creativity will provide manipulative toys that help employees focus and brainstorm as they unwind from whatever is bothering them.

Flexibility
A truly creative office design takes into account the needs of a company and its individual employees. Though many businesses are now taking advantage of unusual office layouts, it’s important to remember that no two groups are alike. Copying another company’s ideas in the hopes that it will work the same way for a completely different company can be a recipe for failure. Originality is a big part of fostering creativity. Supporting the work style of a unique group of employees produces more benefits in the long run.

Adopting a new office setup that breaks free from conventional styles can be a great asset to any company. When a business responds to the needs of its employees with unconventional design elements, creative juices flow more freely. Each individual company has the power to unlock new ideas and collaboration methods simply by changing the environment in which employees work and interact every day.

For companies that must build an online presence, it’s not enough to utilize a generic template that wasn’t created for a specific industry. Professionals and companies that serve a particular niche with their goods and services must approach the building of a website in such a way that the result will appeal to that company’s type of client or customer.

A niche website builder will approach the creation of the website from the point of view of the client or customer and how that person may tend to access the internet. As any business knows, it’s vital that demographics and consumer habits are considered when a company is looking for ways to encourage communication and purchases. Above all, a working professional’s website must inspire confidence in his or her clientele, and website building services that cater to a specific niche are a superior investment.

The following companies help specialized companies and professionals to create industry-appropriate web presences.

1. ClientWhys.com: For accountants and CPAs, it’s important to provide a website that will attract notice and look professional. With ClientWhys, it’s easy to get a professional website running. Professional websites make it simple to communicate with clients and provide new visitors with exceptional content.

2. Doctor Sites: For doctors who require a website presence online, Doctor Sites is a great resource for an all-inclusive website package. Doctors may try the service free for a month and the service includes web hosting, email, search engine optimization, and beefy technical support.

3. Legal Web Design: A legal website must showcase that a lawyer is an authority in his field. With Legal Web Design, it’s possible to create an exceptionally qualified website that will help share all the necessary details with clients about their chosen legal professional’s firm and experience.

4. Personal Trainer Website Design: Getting people healthy and in control of their fitness is the prime goal of any personal trainer, but to reach new clients it’s vital to have a strong website presence online. With Personal Trainer Website Design, a personal trainer can increase business and showcase training services through a professional website portal.

5. Repair Shop Websites: Anyone with a repair shop is probably more adept at fixing things and spending time meddling with the coding on a website is a waste of time. With Repair Shop Websites, it’s easy to get a website up and running that will let customers know exactly where the shop is located and how to get in touch.

6. Virtual Actor: Actors must take important steps to create and maintain a career, and by using Virtual Actor, it’s possible to present an artistic front with custom web design options that showcase exceptional acting and performance talent.

7. Websites for Daycares: A daycare is a special place where parents need to know that their children are safe, and with Websites for Daycare, a daycare owner can share all the important details with clients about childcare services, qualifications, and options.

Creating a professional website is something that anyone can do, but busy professionals shouldn’t have to learn code and try to figure out how to design a website from the ground up. Specialized website builders, which focus on a particular industry, are incredibly helpful for helping a professional to showcase the exact type of specialization, talent, and value he or she offers to clients.

If you watch tech news, you might have seen Google’s recent purchase of the Israeli company Waze. You might never have heard of them before, and wonder why Google decided they fetch the astounding price of a full billion dollars.

What is Waze?

Waze is an incredibly popular app for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. The app is a constantly up to date maps app complete with accurate traffic information, accident and construction statistics and directions. Waze has been immensely successful and gathered over 50 million users, which they leverage to increase the power of their app.

Waze works by crowd-sourcing traffic updates. Anyone with Waze installed on their phone can use it as a driver, allowing them access to turn by turn navigation akin to a GPS, accurate traffic information, notes about construction or accident delays and anything else that could be useful on a trip. The bonus is that Waze users can also update that information. If they come across a 15-minute delay caused by an accident, they can upload that information and inform other Waze users. If another user takes the same route an hour later and finds it all cleared, they can update the note to say as much.

As Waze grows in users, it gains access to a larger field of information with a higher degree of accuracy. This in turn feeds back to a higher quality app that attracts more users.

Google’s Interest and the Map Wars

Google is one of the predominant map providers online. The streetview cars have been steadily mapping the world at a ground-level view for years. Apple and Microsoft both strive to beat out Google in the map wars, so each of them are always looking for an edge.

Google is obviously interested in acquiring Waze. Adding a popular crowd-sourced app with up to date information is a huge boon. After all, the map wars are won or lost by the volume, quality and accuracy of the information provided. Google stands to gain an impossible to beat lead with an app that benefits from having more users. It’s no wonder that Google was willing to outbid Facebook and Apple.

The Power of Local Advertising

Google sees more than just a mapping opportunity with Waze. Waze users expect up to the minute information about the traffic situation around them. Google can help provide that information, but it can take it one step further. Google is, among many other things, a powerful advertising company. They can bring together their vast stores of advertising information, targeted locally, to a pinpoint precision.

Imagine driving to a new city for the first time. You’ll be able to use Waze to pick out the best route, knowing for sure how to avoid the congested rush-hour traffic downtown. You’ll know ahead of time about the accident at the corner ahead and can easily take a detour. With Google, you’ll also be able to ask for dinner information — what restaurants are nearby, what their hours are, what their reviews look like — or any other industry you’re researching.

Google sees the acquisition of Waze as a step towards a massive content providing network that is fueled by user input and runs on Google networks and ad revenue. They stand to gain massive profit and network control over the map industry with this purchase.

Consumers cannot wait to get their hands on the next generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony. Although it is less then a year old, why does now mark the beginning of the end for the Wii U? Let us call it the Dreamcast Syndrome.

1. It Already Feels a Generation Behind
Although both Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3 brought consumers into the high definition age with their 1080p capable machines in the last round of the console war, the Wii stayed behind with only 480p. When the Wii U came out last year touting 1080p simply nobody was left to care.

2. Lack of Innovative Third Party Titles
Though Nintendo put a lot of hope into the third party developers, they were left high and dry. Any Wii U exclusive title is sure to be an in-house developement. Nintendo is lucky to get ports of many games for the other current generation consoles. Now that developers are looking towards the Playstation 4 and Xbox One, will the Wii U get any consideration? Probably Not.

3. No Holiday Plans
To the dismay of Nintedo fans, E3 saw no news of a new Zelda title, simply a remake of Wind Waker, as well as news that the new Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros won’t arrive until 2014. A wonderful stocking stuffer opportunity that Nintendo will miss.

4. Storage Space
Both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One are touting massive hard drives for storing all of your media content needs. A SD card slot is simply behind the times.

5. No Media Extras
Another problem the SD card slot brings to the Wii U is the lack of support for exclusive media content from Nintendo. Both Microsoft and Sony want to dominate your home entertainment experience, Nintendo hasn’t considered the option.

6. Lackluster Online Experience
Online networks are another field dominated by Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo has felt the need to keep the core gaming experience with those around you in the living room while neglecting much of the online experience. It’s there if you need it, but for the most part basic online features only.

7. Sequels All Around!
Nintendo is still flushing out series that are decades old. With no third party support it seems unlikely that the game catalog will diversify anymore.

8. Microsoft and Sony Are Now After the Average Consumer
When both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 were announced their intended target was the gamer, while Nintendo found a huge success with the average home consumer. Microsoft has shown that the Xbox One is for everyone, especially the home consumer. Kinect, DVR integration and voice command are more than enough to satisfy the non-gamer who might have once considered a Wii.

9. The Controller
Though considered one of the strong points initially of the Wii U, it seems unlikely that a consumer will choose to use the in controller screen over any other mobile device. Want to play a mobile game? There is the 3DS or Vita. Want to watch Netflix? Consumers will use their iPad or Android tablet over the Wii U controller any day.

10. The Price
The original Wii’s main selling point was the cheap selling point for the holiday season. Fun for the whole family for $149 and in the past few years even less then a hundred bucks. The current price of $249 might not be much compared to the Xbox One, but it’s quite the hike for consumers who are already happy with their current Wii.

Most people don’t pay attention to their gaming hardware. Stock computers come with stock monitors and operate through stock peripherals. It’s the so-called “hardcore” gaming community that’s constantly in the market for high-end gaming equipment. Their hobby depends on their toolset, much the same as tennis players rely on their rackets. Professional StarCraft players value their keyboards more than life, and the First-Person-Shooter crowd debates endlessly about which mice offer optimal DPI. Regardless, many gamers with “hardcore” sensibilities still utilize stock peripherals. There are plenty of compelling reasons why they may consider upgrading: more comfort, increased competitiveness, or even as a form of expression. Here are a few simple, though not always inexpensive, upgrades to boost the gaming-edge.

NaNiwa

Keyboard

Gaming keyboards offer precision and versatility beyond a stock model’s capabilities. Foremost is the ability to disable the god-awful windows key. Its proximity to control and alt has rightfully made it a gamers’ worst enemy. These keyboards also come with programmable macros that permit increased control in certain titles, although this is against some developer’s terms of service so use with discretion. Advanced keyboards usually offer customizable backlighting and LCD screens. The backlighting is wonderful for those with custom-built desktops who desire a uniform color scheme throughout their hardware, while the LCDs can be configured to display some very useful data.

Popular Brands: Logitech, Mad Catz, Razer.

Gaming Mouse

The demand for gaming mice revolves around DPI, dots per inch. More equates to higher responsiveness, less to lower. Low DPI is preferred for titles requiring precision aiming, such as Mechwarrior Online, whereas higher is optimal for “twitch” shooters such as Call of Duty. Gaming mice often come with more buttons than standard models, increasing reflex times by allowing keyboard commands to be mapped to more than control.

Popular Brands: Logitech, E-3LUE, Razer.

High Resolution Monitor and Multiple Displays

A larger monitor offers increased resolution over smaller displays, considerably augmenting graphical fidelity and detail. 1920×1080 remains the gold-standard resolution, but higher levels are achievable with sufficient hardware. For the ultimate in monitor upgrades consider purchasing just one additional display for your setup. Two monitors are immeasurably better than one. They grant the user much more flexibility for everyday tasks, even those outside the scope of gaming. Truthfully, three is the magic number if there’s enough desk space. Crysis in particular is known for brilliantly accommodating triple display setups.

Popular Brands: Acer, Viewsonic, Samsung, Asus.

Headset

Bullets are loud. Magnificent orchestral soundtracks are loud. Gamers love to play it loud, but wives and children don’t appreciate that much while they’re sleeping. For that reason headsets are the cure for the common “aggro”. Better audio quality equates to hearing the footsteps coming around the corner in Counter-Strike, the difference between a victory screen and game-over.

Popular Brands: Tritton, Turtle Beach, Astro.

Gaming Chair

It doesn’t need electricity to be a hardware upgrade, gamers need a good chair for the same reasons everyone else does. Ergonomic comfort is often neglected, yet a sore back is nothing to be ignored. Comfortable chairs encourage proper posture, providing support where the body needs it most.

Popular Brands: Ace Bayou, Cohesion, Steelcase.

While stock hardware is perfectly serviceable, those wishing to up their game can’t go wrong with any of the above.

Using Kickstarter can be a great way to raise money for a business venture or some other project that you have, but not everyone using the site is successful. In fact, the majority of people who start Kickstarter campaigns do not reach their goal, and do not get any of the money they need. So what exactly separates the winners from the losers on Kickstarter? Here are a few tips to help you run a successful Kickstarter campaign in the future.

1. Come Up With a Quality Offering

The most important part of the process is coming up with something that people will actually with be interested in. It doesn’t matter how good of a marketer you are, if you are selling something that no one is interested in, it’s probably not going to be very successful on Kickstarter. When you create a product or a service, make sure that it is something that people actually use and has a purpose. When people see something cool, they’ll take notice and probably fund your campaign.

2. Figure Out How Much You Need

Before setting up your campaign, it is important to find out exactly how much money you will need to make things work. Spend some time coming up with a legitimate number that will actually help you get your business or project off the ground. Once you come up with a number that you need, do not hesitate to ask for it. If you really need $60,000 to make it work, don’t ask for $40,000 because it seems more realistic. If the idea is good enough, people will fund it.

3. Don’t Avoid Your Network

Many people do not want to tap into their network of immediate friends and family members. They are afraid of asking friends or family members for help, because they do not want to bother them or inconvenience them. In reality, most of your friends or family members would be proud to support you in your idea or project. If you don’t give them a chance, they will not be able to help you out.

4. Be Prepared to Grow Quickly

If your campaign is wildly successful, you will have to be able to handle a large number of orders quickly. Many people who use Kickstarter don’t truly expect to be really successful. If you’re not ready for it, then it can be a big problem.

5. Be Open to Responses

When you put a product or service on Kickstarter, you should actively seek out feedback from other people. They may be able to give you some great input or ideas that you can use to improve the product even more.

6. Use Tried and True Marketing Techniques

When you start a Kickstarter campaign, you are basically selling your idea to a large number of people. Because of this, you should use tried and true marketing techniques to get the job done. Try to grab people’s attention with a well-produced video and high-quality photos. Use attention-grabbing headlines and rich descriptions of the product or service. When you rely on marketing techniques to help get the job done, you will most likely attract attention from more people.

Once people start talking about your great idea, it will take on a life of its own. Just make sure that you are ready to go once you raise the money you need.

There are millions upon millions of different Internet sites available on the Internet, all of which provide something a little bit different than the competition. However, when it is all said and done, some websites are more popular than the rest. This is a list of the 10 10 websites of 2012, not just in the United States, but throughout the world. Many of these sites you have probably heard of and even visited over the past year, which is exactly why these sites are just this popular.

10. Amazon

The global rank for Amazon comes in at 10, which is an improvement on its global rank of 15 the previous year. This website allows you to shop for essentially anything you can possibly think off, right online. This way, you never have to worry about where you will buy something, especially when in a crunch.

9. QQ.com

If you haven’t heard of this website, you’re not alone. It is the second most popular website in China, and none of it is in English, so you probably haven’t even ben to the site at all. This is similar to an Amazon based service online, although it is also possible to look up videos and watch other content through the site. If, of course, you understand Chinese.

8. Twitter

This is the first major social media website to make it onto the list, as it makes a slight jump in the standings from last year, as it came in at the number 9 spot the previous year. Twitter is looking to become even more relevant with the integration of Vine, which is a video sharing service similar to Instagram, although users are only allowed to upload up to 6 second video clips at a time.

7. Live.com

Live has a variety of names, including Hotmail. This is Microsoft’s main email log in page and allows users to access their information. Of course, you are able to log onto your Live account or most other Microsoft accounts directly through this service. It also made a small jump in the rankings, moving up from the 8 position in 2011.

6. Wikipedia.org

This is the free library website where you can learn just about anything and most teachers and professors absolutely hate the service. This is, of course, because anyone is able to add information to the site.

5. Baidu.com

China’s number 1 website, this is the Google of China.

4. Yahoo

Yahoo held its own and maintained the 4th position, as it did the previous year.

3. YouTube.com

This is the second major social media website to make the list, but it won’t be the last.

2. Facebook

Facebook is the most popular social media website on the planet, but it was bested only by…

1. Google

Google, the plan search engine that dominates the Web, causing all other websites to bow down to it in order to obtain better search engine rankings and bring in additional search traffic.

Let me be upfront: the “.hack” (sic) games for Playstation 2 are not MMORPGs. They are a series of story-driven, single-player RPGs about a fictional MMORPG.

Throughout the four-volume “.hack” series, the player controls a Japanese child who is playing an MMORPG called “The World”. All of the plot events that happen outside of the “The World” are explained through news clips, email exchanges and monologues from the main character, who you never actually see. The player experiences “The World” through the eyes of the protagonists’ character, a boy with blue hair named Kite. At the start of “.hack” Kite’s friend, whose online persona is a large ogre named Orca, shows Kite how to play the game. The opening serves as a tutorial.

While exploring a dungeon, Orca and Kite meet a young girl character being chased by a monster that is unfamiliar to Orca. Orca engages in battle with the monster, but it performs a powerful attack on him, killing his character, causing the game to crash and, we soon find out, putting the real player into a coma. Kite meets other players who know people who have fallen into coma while playing the game, and he sets on a mission to solve the mysteries of “The World” and, hopefully, save his friend.

Like a real MMORPG, the player can trade money and items with other “users” (who are actually non-playable characters). When exploring dungeons and and battling monsters, the player controls only Kite, but he can recruit two other characters (who are controlled by A.I.) to go with him. While engaged in battle, the player can press a button to do a standard weapon attack against enemies or open the menu to use an item or special skill. Kite can also issue specific or general commands to other party members, like telling them to stay on the offensive or focus on healing. This feature could be seen as a precursor to Final Fantasy XIII”s paradigm system.

The series’ story explores issues within the real-life MMORPG community. The biggest theme is that of the dangers of anonymity, as the main character is unsure who to trust. Some of the other characters are actually hackers or employees of the company that made “The World”, and some are even computer viruses!

If you complete a volume, you can can save your game file and transfer all your data to the next volume. You can also start a new game in any volume, but the plot wouldn’t make much sense and your character would not be strong enough to survive. If you missed out on the .hack series, there’s no excuse to not pick them up and play them in order.

A printer can seem like the most complex device to many customers. Besides the little LCD screen usually on it, everything else is a mechanical combination of wires, metals and plastic in huge indecipherable joints. If you are having troubles with your printer, take condolence in the fact that this frequently happens to many other customers. The good news is that most printer issues can be easily resolved by you, the customer.

Here are 5 tips for troubleshooting your printer

Problems with the Quality of Printed Documents: Perhaps the most common printer-related problem is of quality. A printer can be producing high quality print-outs one second and the next; it starts to look faint or smudgy. This is usually the result of one of the following reasons: the ink level is low, you’ve just installed a new ink cartridge or the print setting has not been properly configured. If your print-out is faint, check the ink level of your cartridge; some printers would notify you of this whilst others may not. If your printer has not notified you of low ink levels, get to the cartridge, remove it and check the ink level, if its full, simply install it in properly and it should be alright. If your print-out is smudgy because you’ve just installed a new cartridge, do some test print-outs, it should normalize after a while. If it’s smudgy and you haven’t installed a new cartridge then check to make sure the settings have been configured properly, i.e. set text when you’re printing a typed or written document.

Printer TigerPaper Jam: Another common printer issue is stuck paper. A paper can get stuck in a printer for many reasons; a power failure or multiple papers fed in at once. To solve this problem, simply check the power to see if it’s on, if it’s not then put it on and your printing should continue. Now if it’s on and the problem persists, then put it off and gently pull the paper out, don’t pull too hard because you may damage the wheel that controls the paper movement. Make sure the papers are not stuck together so that only one goes in at a time.

Unresponsive Printer: The next printer issue we’ll deal with is an unresponsive system. If you have powered on your printer, fed in paper and issued a print but it’s not responding. Check to make sure your USB cable is properly fixed in. Since every printer usually has its own unique set up, refer to your guide and ensure everything has been set up as directed in the guide. If this still persists, try reinstalling the printer drivers which is on the disc that it came with. If you have damaged or lost your driver disc, download it online and run it to fix the drivers again. Your printer should work now.

Unresponsive Scanner: If the scanner on your multifunctional printer is not working, here’s what you can do. Ensure all the proper wires have been put in place as they ought to. Ensure you’ve put the right side of your document to be scanned on the screen and it has been fit in properly. If the problem persists, re-install your drivers and consult your printer guide for directions.

Problems with Scan Quality: Finally if the documents you scan don’t come out right, here’s what you can do. Go to your printer scan settings and check the resolution settings. Photos need a higher resolution than text documents and images for the web usually need a higher resolution than images to be printed out. Set the appropriate format for the document JPEG, PDF et cetera. And ensure the document is as you want it by previewing before hitting the scan button. If this persists, try cleaning the printer screen and ensure your document is dry and free of dust before you scan again.