In Depth: Partition your hard drive: keep your data safe

We've always advocated keeping your docs, files and other data on a separate drive to Windows and your applications. That way if something goes wrong with Windows, your data is kept safe.

It's not always viable to purchase a second internal hard drive for your PC though, which is where partitioning comes in. Partitioning allows you to divide a large hard drive into two or more smaller drives, each one to all intents and purposes a separate physical drive.

In this tutorial we'll show you how to divide a single drive into two partitions, then move your data across to the new partition so Windows knows where to find it.

The actual partitioning process is simple, but we suggest caution following the tips in the annotation opposite if unmovable files are preventing you from shrinking drive C: to an acceptable size. You might find using Partition Wizard Home Edition useful as well.

Step-by-step: Partition your hard drive in two

1. Review available drive space

Click the 'File Explorer'/'Windows Explorer' icon in the Taskbar and select 'Computer' from the left-hand menu. Check the free space available for the C: drive - remember, this drive needs to be large enough to hold all your data. To get an idea of how much data you have, browse to C:\Users, right-click your username and choose 'Properties' - you'll now see the amount of space needed to proceed.

2. Move data to an external drive

If your user folder is larger than the available free space on the C: drive, you'll need to move some of its contents to an external hard drive. Open the relevant folder - typically Documents, Pictures, Music or Video - and move its contents into a folder of the same name on your external drive. Repeat until the size of your user folder is smaller than the drive's free space.

3. Open Disk Management

Windows 8 users should press [Windows]+[X] and select 'Disk Management' from the Quick Access menu. For Windows 7 and Vista users, you'll need to click 'Start', select 'Run' and type diskmgmt.msc into the dialog box, before clicking 'OK'. When the Disk Management window opens, right-click drive C: as shown in the screenshot above and choose the 'Shrink Volume…' option.

4. Shrink drive

After a short pause, Windows will display the maximum size that the C: drive can be shrunk by. If this seems a little too small, the annotation above will show you how to temporarily remove the files that are responsible. If the figure is acceptable, click 'Shrink' - if it's too large, enter a different figure in MB. The average user needs around 50GB (around 51,200MB) in total.

5. Create a new partition

Now wait while Windows resizes the drive. When it's complete, you'll see a new Unallocated section will appear next to the drive in the Disk Management window. This will become your new data partition. To set it up, right-click the empty space and choose 'New Simple Volume…' to start the process of setting it up. Now click next on the New Simple Volume Wizard.

6. Set up data partition

When asked to specify the volume size, leave the default figure alone and click 'Next'. If you want to assign drive letter D: to the new partition, simply select 'Do not assign a drive letter or drive path' for now and click 'Next'. Give the volume a suitable label (such as 'Data'), leave the other options as they appear and finally click 'Next', followed by 'Finish'.

7. Change drive letter

Locate the drive that's been allocated the D: drive letter, then right-click it and choose the 'Change Drive Letter and Paths…' option. Now click 'Change' to pick a new drive letter (such as 'Z') and click 'OK' followed by 'Yes'. Now right-click your new data partition and select 'Change Drive Letter and Paths…' when you're done. Finally, click 'Add', select drive D: and click 'OK'.

8. Move documents folder

Open a folder window and browse to C:\Users\Yourusername. Right-click the 'Documents' folder and choose 'Properties'. Switch to the Location tab and click 'Move'. Open your new drive and create a new folder with your username. Create another folder inside it called 'Documents'. With this folder selected, click 'Select Folder', then choose 'OK', followed by 'Yes'.

9. Move other folders

Once the files have been moved to your data partition, repeat the same process for all the other user folders you need: typically Desktop, Downloads, Pictures, Music and Videos, but you might also consider using Contacts, Favourites and Saved Games, too. Once done, transfer back any files you moved to your external drive into the relevant folders on your data partition.

10. Finishing touches

Congratulations, you've set up a data partition on your drive to keep your documents and other files separate from Windows. You can now take a drive image of your Windows partition using the incredibly useful Windows Backup tool (or by using third-party programs, such as Macrium Reflect Free) and restore this image in future without ever having to touch your files.

Twitter Revamps Android App With Photo Editing Tools

In December last month, Twitter updated its mobile apps with support to private image sharing via direct message. Now, the micro blogging site has introduced photo editing and sharing feature to its Android app. “Over the past few months, we’ve made it easy to share and edit photos on Twitter. Starting today, you can make the photos you post on Twitter even better”, posted Matt Belland on Twitter blog.

The latest tools enables users to rotate and crop photos to wide or square before sharing. Twitter will allow you to @mention people within your tweet by getting you to tag them when you upload an image. I tried the new feature and it is pretty easy and  works smoothly.

Furthermore, Twitter’s Android app will also show recommended tweets, trending topics and suggestions for new accounts to follow on users’ home timeline when there are no new tweets to load. This stories aren’t specific to each user, but rather based on the most popular links and headlines shared on Twitter.

The latest tools and features are available for only Android app and Twitter said that it will  land on iOS soon. Last year, Twitter added filters to photos and entered into a competition with Instagram.  Prior to the recent update, Twitter had updates its mobile apps with improved photo search and improved conversations. The recent move of updating photo editing feature only justifies that the micro blogging network wants more users to be active on its platform.

FakeOff app to detect bogus Facebook accounts

As instances of cyber impersonation on social networking sites rise, an Israel-based start-up has developed an application, FakeOff, that helps to identify fake accounts on Facebook.

The app on the world's largest social networking platform claims to protects users from scams devised by fake Facebook users, who are mistaken for genuine 'new friends'.

"Recent statistics show that at least 10 per cent of about 1.35 billion Facebook users are not authentic. Besides, there are millions of users who create fake identities and appear as regular users," FakeOff creator Eliran Shachar told PTI.

Fake profiles are divided into several groups including criminals, commercial and psychological, that can risk reputations (identity theft), children (paedophiles and sexual abuse), property (home break-ins) and personal safety, he added.

"FakeOff app uses sophisticated algorithm to investigate the behaviour of suspect 'friends' and rank them according to a 1-10 credibility score. It scans up to 365 days of timeline activity for every suspect Facebook friend and checks for abnormal activity," Shachar said.

The app checks timeline activity of the suspect and tries to locate abnormal activity that indicates a non-normal way of usage. It allows the user to scan the photos of the suspect to find out if it was stolen from someplace online, he added.

Also, FakeOff crosses information from all investigations and calculates results of a user based on other investigations on the same suspect, he said.

FakeOff has been live for two months now and has over 15,000 users so far.

"Twenty-four per cent of investigations conducted in the app return as fake. A fake profile can be very complex and some of the fakes that we help the users find is only for their eyes so we can't know the final result from the photo scan results, but the user easily can," he said.

According to Facebook, about 14.3 crore accounts on the social networking site may be false or duplicate, with a major chunk of them coming from developing markets like India and Turkey.

The firm said it estimates up to 7.9 per cent accounts being duplicate and up to 2.1 per cent and up to 1.2 per cent accounts being user-misclassified and un-desirable, respectively.

Facebook's monthly active users (MAUs) stood at 1.19 billion as of September 30, 2013.

Interview: Microsoft: Azure can beat Amazon and IBM cloud solutions

Amazon might be the name you think of when it comes to business cloud infrastructure, but with all the features Microsoft has been adding to Azure (with updates and improvements coming every two to three weeks), corporate vice president Scott Guthrie thinks Microsoft's cloud platform has the advantage. It's priced to be as cheap as Amazon but with more options worldwide.

"We have global coverage everywhere Amazon does and we have more regions too," Guthrie told us. "We have China, they don't have it yet; in Europe we have two [regions], they only have one, likewise in Japan we have two, they only have one. This gives you lots of options around redundancy. Right now, if Amazon went down in Europe or a natural disaster struck, every company that's in Europe would have to move their data outside of Europe. Our strategy of having multiple regions is helpful for the latency side and also for the disaster recovery side."

Neither Amazon nor Google offer businesses the same control over accounts Azure does, now that you can associate an MSDN account with your Active Directory account at work, he points out. "Being able to use your Active Directory credentials now to log in to Azure and associate it with your MSDN account; even very conservative organisations that previously said 'well, what happens when the employee leaves? I don't want them having a password.' Now you can [control that], now you can do multifactor auth. Now you can tie the two together and I can require that my employees only use ActiveDirectory in the cloud."

Azure also offers more secure ways to get your data into Azure, whether it's shipping a hard drive directly to Microsoft (in your own country) or getting a private network connection between your data centre and Azure using high-speed MPLS. Many wide-area networks already use MPLS and setting up a new connection is fast. "For an MPLS customer, connecting to Azure is super easy," says Guthrie; "it takes less than a day. Getting dedicated fibre, running a cable? That's not a day, that's more like three months. Azure doesn't support MPLS today, so we think we're differentiated there."

If you want to upload a lot of data, doing it over a network is necessarily the best way (it can be expensive or it can just slow down your other network traffic). If you ship a hard drive, Microsoft has an extra layer of protection Amazon doesn't, because you can encrypt the drive with BitLocker. "FedEx is usually pretty secure but if you've got critical data you want to make sure no-one can possibly tap it or intercept it, the BitLocker protection is a pretty unique thing that we offer to do that."

Big Blue comes to town

IBM's recent entry into cloud services doesn't impress him either. "We keep an eye on them; they seem to be spending a lot of time on the marketing side, but I haven't seen that much on the engineering side yet. They bought Softlayer, which wasn't really a cloud hoster; it was much more of a managed hoster." Just because the IBM name is familiar doesn't mean companies will choose them in the cloud. "For big enterprise vendors that don't have a solid cloud strategy, especially infrastructure vendors; well, it's interesting times."

Azure offers a lot more than just running your VMs in Microsoft's data centre and the backup services are proving particularly popular says Guthrie. "Take backup, take our Storsimple offering, take Hyper-V replicas, take database backup, take SaaS management with Active Directory [for single sign-on]; I think there are a lot of people who are basically extending the on premise environment to the cloud for IT scenarios, infrastructure scenarios. And next year I think you will see even more next year people using the cloud for disaster recovery and as a second backup site in case things go wrong."

The speed of getting a project started on Azure makes it appealing for developers. "Every time I ask people how long it takes their IT to set up a devtest environment, two weeks is usually considered good, a day is considered great and six months is considered poor. Being able to do it in minutes or seconds is just such a game changer for developers. Even these most conservative companies that don't want to run any other apps in the cloud are now comfortable with running devtest environments in the cloud."

Analytic interest

But customers are increasingly interested in analytics on Azure, using Hadoop and HDinsight. "Once companies realise they can take all they data have and do analytics on it and increase sales 10-20%. I have to imagine most companies, if they just look at their customer history, looked at their transactions and optimised their customer experience, it's not hard to see huge opportunities. We can see that these customers buying these products buy that as well or they're coming in from this site so let's move our marketing budget over here… It's easy to get wins."

For Guthrie, cloud isn't about sidelining or bypassing IT, it's about making them more productive. "You might spend weeks getting some of this stuff working the traditional way. People think it can't be that simple; but it is. You still have to learn it but stuff that traditional IT says today is too hard, so we'll do it next month or next quarter or next year? If we can make it so nothing is too hard, it makes IT so much more valuable as a discipline."

As well as adding new services to Azure, the team will also be adding more features to existing services. "We're not done on Azure by any stretch; there is lot of work to do and I intend to keep my team busy for a while yet. But in the next six months we're round out and complete a lot of these things. We've had websites for 15 months but there is stuff we shipped a few weeks ago like web sockets and auto scale where you can set day and night times and holiday rules [to power down your site]."

It adds up to a cloud platform Guthrie believes is what companies need. "It's going to be a pretty sweet end to end solution, everywhere in the world, the easiest cloud to use with consistency across on premise where you can easily integrate your existing assets at prices as cheap as Amazon… It starts to become you really have to have some other axe to grind not to look at Azure seriously and say this is my default."

7 Things PS4 Buyers Need to Know for 2014

7 Things PS4 Buyers Need to Know for 2014 is a post by Josh Smith from Gotta Be Mobile.

The PS4 is cheaper than the Xbox One and with a better controller it is appealing to a lot of gamers who are looking for a console that skips over live TV for a game focused experience.If you plan to buy a PS4 in 2014 there are some things you should know before you head to the store and load up on PS4 accessories and games.

Shoppers looking to buy a PS4 in 2014 should check out these details that make up the PS4 experience. While the PS4 remains unchanged from its launch in late 2013 there are several updated details that will help shoppers find a PS4 in stock and to avoid wasting money.

The Good Games Are Coming Soon

The number of PS4 games will soon grow as big titles like Watchdogs, Diablo 3, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros, Tom Clancy’s The Division, Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn and others are on the way. Looking further out there are big names like Destiny and The Crew, which will arrive later this year as flagship gaming experiences on the PS4.

More PS4 games are coming including big name titles that may make it worth owning.

The current crop of PS4 games is a little slim, but there are fun games to be found and the gameplay is quite fun. Gamers that like first person shooters should check out Killzone: Shadow Fall and open world gamers will find Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag a fun adventure.

If you only see a few games on the store shelves, keep in mind the PS4 is a console that will see new games arrive over the course of the next five 5 to 10 years.

Still Hard to Find a PS4 in Stock

The most important thing to keep in mind for the early part of 2014 is that it is still hard to find a PS4 in stock at a local store or online. Many GameStop, Walmart and Best Buy locations cannot keep the PS4 in stock, even though it is relatively easy to find a Xbox One in stock.

Dell KACE can now deploy 250 operating systems in one go

Dell is aiming to make it simpler for businesses to upgrade from older versions of operating systems with a new version of its KACE Deployment Appliance.

With the end-of-life of Windows XP on the horizon, many companies are looking at upgrading their systems on a large scale. KACE 3.6 adds a host of new features to improve that upgrade and circumvent "major migration roadblocks".

The appliance is compatible with all operating systems for Windows tablets, laptops, desktops and servers as well as Apple laptops and desktops, offering wide-ranging coverage.

Multicasting is added in version 3.6, allowing the appliance to deploy new operating systems and applications on up to 250 multiple systems at the same time. The image is transferred just once, resulting in minimal bandwidth use.

Revamped engine, free upgrade

Integrated with the new multicasting system is a revamped task engine. The engine automates and controls the deployment tasks, including multiple reboots. The engine can automate scheduling and sequencing, allowing administrators to perform a "lights-off" operation in proper off hours.

David Kloba, general manager for Dell Software, said: "With the latest release of our Dell KACE K2000 Deployment Appliance, we offer a smarter approach to systems imaging that will help customers successfully move off Windows XP and be better prepared to handle large-scale deployments across multiple devices and operating systems."

Still going strong

Windows XP still holds a large share of the computer market and with April's support deadline drawing near, companies should begin to think about upgrading to Windows 7 or Windows 8. There should be no cause for panic, though, as Microsoft has extended its software support past the end-of-life (for the price of a subscription fee).

Dell's KACE K2000 is available for a price of $4,500 (£2,710, AU$5,121) through Dell and its channel partners. Owners of the K2000 can upgrade to the new version for free.

HDTV Buying Guide: What Buyers Need to Know in 2014

HDTV Buying Guide: What Buyers Need to Know in 2014 is a post by Josh Smith from Gotta Be Mobile.TVs on the way at prices consumers can consider and a prices dropping deeper on  good HDTV sets.

Wether you are planning a Super Bowl HDTV purchase or just looking to upgrade to a bigger HDTV for the new year we have the details you need to know before you buy.

While there is a lot of hype about Super Bowl HDTV purchases, a recent poll shows that the major sporting event doesn’t actually drive HDTV sales as much as it used to. In 2004 and 2006 interest spiked in Super Bowl HDTV purchases thanks to dropping prices and expanding HD channels and offerings, but since then many consumers choose to buy a HDTV in November and December.

Here’s what price to pay or a 55-inch HDTV in 2014.

Ramirez tells Gotta Be Mobile, “We don’t track prices for 65″ TVs that much. But we do have data for 55″ 3D sets.  The best deals on name brand 55″ 3D LCD HDTVs have averaged $700 for the past five months. It’s only a matter of time before they dip below $700, so if you’re shopping for a name-brand 55″ TV — look for deals in the $700 range. Lower than $700 and you know you’re getting a killer deal. ”

Without 3D, look for a 55-inch HDTV to run about $500 for a LCD 1080P set.

What Do I Need to Do Before Buying a HDTV?

“Don’t buy the first TV you see at the first price you see.” warns Ramirez.

Do i need a smart TV? WiFi? Plasma LED, LCD, and what’s a refresh rate?

Ramirez breaks this down by consumer type, to help you find the best TV at the best price for your needs. Below Ramirez explains who needs a high refresh rate, who should still buy a Plasma HDTV and what the average consumer should buy.

“If you’re a sports fan — look for LCDs that sport a 120Hz or 240Hz refresh rate. This ensures you’ll get the smoothest images possible during fast action scenes. If you like deep, inky blacks — plasma TVs will continue to be your best bet.  Yes, the technology is fading out (Panasonic said it would stop producing plasma TVs), but for image quality — they’re the best in the market today.  For the average consumer, you’ll probably want an LED-based LCD. That’s the technology being used in the majority of TVs today.”

What HDTV Features Can You Skip?

When it comes to buying a HDTV Ramirez tells Gotta Be Mobile, “you don’t need to have a TV that supports every feature available today.”

While you cannot add a better refresh rate or instantly switch to Plasma after buying there are some features that you can skip and add later. For instance, you don’t need a HDTV with built-in WiFi and smart features if you want to connect a Xbox One, PS4, Roku, Apple TV or ChromeCast to it as these will offer many of the same features.

You can also skip 3D when buying a new HDTV. “3D is definitely not worth the hype,” says Ramirez.

What About Generic Brands Like Seiki? How about Vizio?

If you are searching for a bargain HDTV, you will undoubtedly come across lesser known brands like Seiki and HiSense at prices that are much cheaper than the name brand competition. Ramirez shares the scoop on buying a Seiki or Insignia HDTV.

“You probably won’t catch a videophile buying a Seiki TV or an Insignia. However, as a bedroom TV or as a children’s TV — there’s nothing wrong with buying from off-brand manufacturers. As long as you’re ok with a no-frills TVs.  Meaning, no WiFi, no Netflix support, no touch-sensitive remote controls, etc. We still recommend doing a little research before buying any TV (especially since most TV purchases are not “impulse” buys).”

5 Questions to Ask During Your Job Interview

It’s easy to feel like you're in the hot seat during a job interview — you really want the position, you're battling all sorts of jitters and it certainly doesn't help that the stern executive sitting in front of you looks like he could use another cup of coffee

What often gets lost in the interview process, however, is a dialogue between job seekers and prospective employers, rather than a one-way Q&A. Instead of letting the interviewer ask all the questions, you should find the appropriate time to ask more about the position, the company and the industry.

Why Samsung quietly cheers when Apple sells an iPhone

In the marketplace,  Samsung  Electronics and Apple battle for customers. In the courts, they fight over patents. Yet every time Apple sells an iPhone, Samsung quietly cheers, too.

In addition to being one of Apple's main competitors, Samsung is one of its top suppliers. Samsung provides the application processor in the iPhone 5S - the brains of Apple's flagship handset, and one of its most expensive components.

Because Samsung is not only the biggest maker of smartphones, but also a leading provider of parts to Apple and other gadget makers, company executives say they are confident that the electronics giant can work its way through a difficult period. On Friday, Samsung confirmed that it had sustained a sharp slowdown in sales growth and earnings in the fourth quarter of 2013 and warned that business conditions would remain challenging in the first half of this year. Apple's sales have risen, and those gains have shored up Samsung by lifting the performance of its chipmaking business.

Samsung said that one-time factors were largely responsible for the fourth-quarter weakness. These included a special bonus totaling 800 billion won, or $740 million, that Samsung paid out to employees on the 20th anniversary of a management initiative to improve quality, as well as the effects of a surge in the strength of the South Korean currency, which Samsung pegged at 700 billion won.

"This kind of adjustment is normal for a high-growth industry," said CW Chung, an analyst at Nomura, though he added that Samsung's earnings could be "flattish" for the next two years.

Sales in the company's mobile division fell 9% in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter, it said, acknowledging that sales of high-end smartphones had been weaker than expected. The premium segment, in which Samsung offers handsets like the Galaxy S4 and the Note 3, is the most lucrative part of the business, but analysts say it is increasingly saturated.

Samsung faces a renewed challenge from Apple, which introduced two new handsets - the iPhone 5S and a less expensive model, the 5C - in the second half of last year. Apple also recently reached agreements to distribute its phones via the largest mobile carriers in Japan and China.

While analysts said iPhone sales grew strongly after the latest models were introduced, with Apple regaining market share, Samsung's chipmaking business shared the spoils. That unit posted a 7% quarter-on-quarter increase in sales, helped by "increased AP shipments for a competitor's new product," said Jee-Ho Baek, Samsung's vice president of memory marketing, in a conference call with analysts. He was referring to application processors, and while he did not mention Apple by name, the allusion was clear.

Samsung's mobile division provides about two-thirds of the company's operating profit, but analysts expect that portion to decline in the coming years as the smartphone business matures. The chipmaking unit is expected to pick up some of the slack. That trend was already apparent in the fourth quarter, when the semiconductor division provided 24% of operating profit, up from 16% a year earlier.

Overall, Samsung posted net income of 7.3 trillion won, or $6.7 billion, up from 7.04 trillion won a year earlier but down from 8.24 trillion in the third quarter of 2013. Fourth-quarter sales of 59.28 trillion won were up from 56.06 trillion won a year earlier but flat compared with the third quarter of 2013. Operating profit, at 8.31 trillion won, was in line with a forecast issued two weeks ago.

The company said it expected weakness to persist in the first half of 2014, though it insisted that this was because of the "seasonality" of the technology industry, in which purchases are often deferred until later in the year.

While Samsung makes a wide range of consumer products other than phones, including televisions and home appliances, many of these have sluggish sales and low profit margins. Sales and earnings fell sharply in the display panel business.

Tablet computers are one area of promise, with sales and market share growing. Samsung executives said in the conference call that they were optimistic that new devices with larger screens would expand the tablet business further. The company also sees so-called wearable technology as a promising trend, though an early example, the Galaxy Gear smart watch, has gotten off to a slow start.

For now, that has left Samsung's chipmaking arm to pick up most of the slack from the new softness in smartphones. Memory chips, which are recovering from a long price slump, are outperforming more complicated semiconductor devices like application processors. Samsung said memory chip sales had been bolstered in the fourth quarter by the introduction of new video game consoles like Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's Xbox One. 

Gmail 'spams' Hotmail user's account

 Google has reportedly fixed a bug with its Gmail service that sent a user thousands of unwanted e-mails.

The bug allowed auto-fill of e-mail address in Gmail when accessed from the Google Search results page and affected the Hotmail account of David S Peck.

According to CNET, it was discovered that Google filled in another person's e-mail address in a new Gmail message whenever anybody signed into a Google account and clicked on the top Gmail sub-link in Google search results for Gmail.

Unfortunately, the receiver of the unsolicited e-mails was Peck, whose Hotmail address had been auto-filled.

A Google spokesperson cited a 'technical glitch' on e-mail addresses that were already revealed on public web pages appearing 'too prominently' in search results, adding that the bug had been fixed. 

On Friday, the site experience major outage of its Gmail and Google+ service due to a temporary error at the same time when members of its reliability team sat down to answer questions on Reddit's AMA session.

The Perfect Size for an Apple iTV is 60 Inches?

The Perfect Size for an Apple iTV is 60 Inches? is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.According to the latest report from the Wall Street Journal, Apple may not have plans to construct an Apple-branded iTV HDTV that measures less than 60 inches diagonally. Citing comments made Terry Gou, chairman of Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn, a U.S. manufacturing facility is to be constructed and would be purposed for making LCD displays no less than 60 inches.

“Automation, software and technology innovation will be our key focus in the US in the coming few years,” Gou said. “We will continue to invest in displays as it is an important component for all products including smartphones, tablets and TVs.”

It’s still unclear whether Foxconn will bring a manufacturing plant into the U.S. The company does have a broad and diversified global presence outside of China and operates facilities in countries such as Hungary, Vietnam, and Brazil currently.

Though there’s speculations that Apple would expand beyond the inexpensive $99 Apple TV set top box and create its own branded, standalone HDTV, the company has remained quiet on those plans. If Apple is in fact exploring an Apple iTV that would run some variant of Apple’s iOS platform and may come with support for apps and games, and the company does partner again with Foxconn, then an iTV under 60 inches may not be part of the equation.

Extrapolating Gou’s comments along with prior speculations about Apple’s plans may give us a better understanding of the iTV. Given that it would be expensive or prohibitive to ship large panels and large HDTVs from Asia to the U.S., a U.S.-based manufacturing plant from Foxconn would help to alleviate these concerns of Apple being able to deliver and sell an iTV in the U.S. to U.S. consumers.

Apple has been trying to bring back manufacturing to the U.S. and a joint presence in the U.S. with Foxconn may help the company improve its image to American consumers. It already is assembling the Mac Pro desktop computer in Texas and is partnering with GT Advanced Technologies to manufacture sapphire glass displays in a facility in Arizona.

Most recently, Apple is rumored to be launching an Apple TV hardware refresh this year that would add additional capabilities to the streaming set-top box. It’s unclear if a full scale App Store would be in Apple TV’s future this time around, but a revamp of the UI was mentioned in that rumor.

9 Ways Social Media Marketing Will Change in 2014

From the decline of Facebook use among teens to Twitter's IPO, if there is one thing we know for sure about social media, it's that few trends hold on for long — so marketers need to stay on their toes.

See also: The Top 10 Most-Shared Super Bowl Ads of All Time

With that in mind, we asked nine successful entrepreneurs how they are planning on altering their social media marketing strategies in the next six months, based on their predictions for the new year. Here's what they had to say.

1. Graphic software will rise.

 Posts on Facebook with photos get 53% more likes, 104% more comments and 84% more click-throughs than text-based posts, according to Kissmetrics. With the rise of Pinterest and Tumblr, it's going to become increasingly important to produce content in visual form, whether it is infographics, images with text overlay or pretty quote graphics. We'll be using more graphic software to turn our written content into visual content to make it more shareable on social media.

Why Samsung quietly cheers when Apple sells an iPhone

In the marketplace,  Samsung  Electronics and Apple battle for customers. In the courts, they fight over patents. Yet every time Apple sells an iPhone, Samsung quietly cheers, too.

In addition to being one of Apple's main competitors, Samsung is one of its top suppliers. Samsung provides the application processor in the iPhone 5S - the brains of Apple's flagship handset, and one of its most expensive components.

Because Samsung is not only the biggest maker of smartphones, but also a leading provider of parts to Apple and other gadget makers, company executives say they are confident that the electronics giant can work its way through a difficult period. On Friday, Samsung confirmed that it had sustained a sharp slowdown in sales growth and earnings in the fourth quarter of 2013 and warned that business conditions would remain challenging in the first half of this year. Apple's sales have risen, and those gains have shored up Samsung by lifting the performance of its chipmaking business.

Samsung said that one-time factors were largely responsible for the fourth-quarter weakness. These included a special bonus totaling 800 billion won, or $740 million, that Samsung paid out to employees on the 20th anniversary of a management initiative to improve quality, as well as the effects of a surge in the strength of the South Korean currency, which Samsung pegged at 700 billion won.

"This kind of adjustment is normal for a high-growth industry," said CW Chung, an analyst at Nomura, though he added that Samsung's earnings could be "flattish" for the next two years.

Sales in the company's mobile division fell 9% in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter, it said, acknowledging that sales of high-end smartphones had been weaker than expected. The premium segment, in which Samsung offers handsets like the Galaxy S4 and the Note 3, is the most lucrative part of the business, but analysts say it is increasingly saturated.

Samsung faces a renewed challenge from Apple, which introduced two new handsets - the iPhone 5S and a less expensive model, the 5C - in the second half of last year. Apple also recently reached agreements to distribute its phones via the largest mobile carriers in Japan and China.

While analysts said iPhone sales grew strongly after the latest models were introduced, with Apple regaining market share, Samsung's chipmaking business shared the spoils. That unit posted a 7% quarter-on-quarter increase in sales, helped by "increased AP shipments for a competitor's new product," said Jee-Ho Baek, Samsung's vice president of memory marketing, in a conference call with analysts. He was referring to application processors, and while he did not mention Apple by name, the allusion was clear.

Samsung's mobile division provides about two-thirds of the company's operating profit, but analysts expect that portion to decline in the coming years as the smartphone business matures. The chipmaking unit is expected to pick up some of the slack. That trend was already apparent in the fourth quarter, when the semiconductor division provided 24% of operating profit, up from 16% a year earlier.

Overall, Samsung posted net income of 7.3 trillion won, or $6.7 billion, up from 7.04 trillion won a year earlier but down from 8.24 trillion in the third quarter of 2013. Fourth-quarter sales of 59.28 trillion won were up from 56.06 trillion won a year earlier but flat compared with the third quarter of 2013. Operating profit, at 8.31 trillion won, was in line with a forecast issued two weeks ago.

The company said it expected weakness to persist in the first half of 2014, though it insisted that this was because of the "seasonality" of the technology industry, in which purchases are often deferred until later in the year.

While Samsung makes a wide range of consumer products other than phones, including televisions and home appliances, many of these have sluggish sales and low profit margins. Sales and earnings fell sharply in the display panel business.

Tablet computers are one area of promise, with sales and market share growing. Samsung executives said in the conference call that they were optimistic that new devices with larger screens would expand the tablet business further. The company also sees so-called wearable technology as a promising trend, though an early example, the Galaxy Gear smart watch, has gotten off to a slow start.

For now, that has left Samsung's chipmaking arm to pick up most of the slack from the new softness in smartphones. Memory chips, which are recovering from a long price slump, are outperforming more complicated semiconductor devices like application processors. Samsung said memory chip sales had been bolstered in the fourth quarter by the introduction of new video game consoles like Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's Xbox One. 

How to Save Money and Use Less iPhone Data

How to Save Money and Use Less iPhone Data is a post by Craig Lloyd from Gotta Be Mobile.

If you’re on the road a lot, chances are that you use up a lot of data, and that could be costing you overage fees if you’re not careful. According to a survey of mobile data consumption in 2013 conducted by JDSU, iPhone 5s users (and iPhone users in general) are using up the most data compared to any other smartphone or tablet.

The survey examined data usage habits of over a million mobile subscribers using over 150 different mobile devices over a 24-hour timespan in Europe, and it was discovered that Apple flagship smartphone owners gobble up more data than anyone else. Using a lot of data can end up costing subscribers at the end of the month, whether it’d be in overage fees or the need to upgrade their data plan to account for more data.

This got us thinking. Aren’t there ways to try and reduce your monthly data usage without making a ton of sacrifices while out on the go? Indeed, there are. Let’s take a look at some simple tricks that you can pull in order to save yourself the embarrassment of overage fees.

Get on WiFi

One of the most effortless methods to save precious data is to simply jump on a WiFi network, whether that be at home, at work or at a coffee shop. You can watch all the YouTube videos you want without having to worry about using up your allotted data amount. However, if a WiFi network isn’t around, there are still a few settings that you can change to at least lessen the damage done to your data plan.

Turn Off Cellular Access for Specific Apps

More than likely, most of your apps need to access the internet to download data and other information so that it’s up to date and can provide a better user experience. However, that requires the app to tap into your data allotment and go wild, and the damage can be pretty bad if it’s an app like Netflix or Spotify.

However, you can easily disable these kinds of apps from connecting to the internet if you’re on a data connection. Simply open up the Settings app, tap on Cellular and then scroll down to the section titledUse Cellular Data For. You’ll see a list of the apps that you have installed and from there, you can disable any specific app from accessing the internet when you’re on a 3G or LTE connection.

Personally, I have the data-hogging apps disabled, including the App Store, Netflix, Spotify, Downcast and even FaceTime (because video chatting uses up a lot of data if you’re not on WiFi).

Disable Background App Refresh

On smartphones, apps can automatically refresh with new information, even when they’re not open and being used. This new information has to be downloaded, though, and if you’re not on a WiFi connection, the data used can add up quickly, depending on how many of your apps are refreshing in the background.

However, you can disable this feature on specific apps. Simply open up the Settings app and navigate to General > Background App Refresh. You can flip the main switch at the top to completely disable Background App Refresh, or you can disable it only on specific apps. Disabling this feature also saves battery life, so it’s a win-win situation.

Disable Data Usage in Cloud and Photo Apps

While you can disable certain apps from using cellular data, it’s also a good idea to disable the feature inside of the app itself, if it provides such a setting. In many cloud storage apps and photo apps, you’ll find a setting that allows you upload files only over a WiFi connection or use a data connection if WiFi isn’t available.

It’s always safe to only allow uploads over WiFi, that way you’re not hit with any surprise overage fees when you’re next statement rolls out.

6 Best Calendar Apps for iPhone and iPad

6 Best Calendar Apps for iPhone and iPad is a post by Kevin Purcell from Gotta Be Mobile.The built-in iOS calendar app offers only the basics for handling a person’s schedule, so we went looking for the best replacement calendar apps for iPhone and iPad.

The six calendar apps include some that work only on the iPhone while others run natively on both the iPhone and iPad. We believe any of these 6 apps will better serve users better than the Calendar app that Apple provides.

Fantastical 2 – $1.99 (iPhone)

This great app does one thing better than all the others. Fantastical 2 creates an appointment by typing in natural language. Instead of tapping a bunch of buttons to add an appointment, type or speak using the mic on an iOS keyboard. For example, one might write or say, “Lunch with Barb at noon on Saturday at El Portal in Morganton.” The app automatically takes the name of the appointment, “Lunch with Barb” and creates it. The noon time gets added as well as the date. Fantastical 2 adds the place too. The app syncs in real-time with the calendars set up in iOS.

Fantastical 2 displays information in a simple easy to use user interface. Pull down to switch between Day, Week and Month views as well as an Agenda list of appointments in chronological order with Reminders mixed in based on their date/time.

We recommended the first version and it’s Mac cousin and still love it for both iPhone and Mac. We just wish Flexbits would code a version that ran natively on the iPad instead of just the blown up iPhone version.

Sunrise Calendar – Free (Universal)

Sunrise Calendar isn’t just a pretty face. It also makes data entry and editing simpler. Tap an appointment and a box flies out to the side to view the details. Then edit them as needed. To add an appointment hit the plus button in the upper right and enter the details.

Sunrise doesn’t do live syncing with Google calendar very well. I added an appointment and it took some time before it showed up on my computer calendar. It also doesn’t let users enter natural language details like Fantastical 2 unless the user does a long press on the plus button. That only works on the iPhone version, but we assume it will show up on the iPad soon. We like the free price and the look of Sunrise though. We also like the simple event editing features making this a nice choice if Fantastical 2 doesn’t appeal to users.

Be warned that it asks for an Apple ID, which will make some nervous. People who don’t plan to use iCloud’s calendar won’t worry about this. It does require a Google ID to use with Google Calendar.

Calendars 5 – $6.99 (Universal)

Readdle makes another beautiful and functional Calendar replacement. Calendars 5 works well with both appointments and reminders. It lets users input information using the same kind of natural language that Fantastical 2 offers, but comes with the added benefit of running natively on iPad as well as iPhone.

When a user installs Calendars 5, it asks whether the iPad or iPhone should sync with a Google calendar or the local iPad or iPhone calendar.

Tap a date in Month view and it takes the user to that day. There’s a column on the left third of the screen showing appointments from the week after the date. The day’s agenda takes up the right two-thirds of the screen.

Tempo Smart Calendar – Free (iPhone)

Tempo does one thing really well. It integrates the calendar, email, contacts and maps to create a solution for busy people who attend a lot of meetings and want to manage all the data in one app. It’s overkill for many of us, but people who send and receive a lot of meeting appointment requests via email and meet with people will love Tempo.

We only wish we didn’t need to create an account with Tempo. For the right people, it’s worth it.

Calvetica Calendar – $2.99 (Universal)

While Temp works best for people in an enterprise situation or for people who make a lots of appointments with others, Calvetica Calendar takes a simpler approach. It looks better than the iOS Calendar app and makes it simple to work with a light or busy schedule.

We like that Calvetica Calendar uses the built-in calendar system in iOS so there’s no need to enter account info. It syncs reliably and quickly with the iOS calendars. We also love the month view which shows a day’s agenda along the side when the user highlights it in month view.

Pocket Informant Pro – $12.99 (Universal)

Pocket Informant gives users a digital day timer. It handles the calendar and reminders or to do lists just fine. It adds note taking to help a person stay organized all in one place like we used to do with paper day timers. The old ugly version used to use a skeuomorphic look, but they went with the iOS 7 design theory and made it look more modern and flat.

The various parts of the app sit along the right side. A view for each class of information shows itself when the user taps the tabs. There’s a summary view, calendar, tasks, notes and contacts.

The app could stand a few improvements, like inking options in the note taking section. It’s also the most expensive in our roundup. However, we like that we get an option for those who like all of their personal information management in one app and it syncs with a web version, useful for people who want to use their data on another person’s computer.

7 Early Tips for Samsung Galaxy S5 Buyers

7 Early Tips for Samsung Galaxy S5 Buyers is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

We aren’t sure how many people are thinking about buying the rumored Samsung Galaxy S5 but we’re sure there are a lot of people that fall into that category. As we march closer to an expected Galaxy S5 release date, we want to offer up some early tips for those who might be committed to the device already or are truly on the fence, wrestling with a decision.

Samsung hasn’t confirmed anything yet but it has become very clear that the company is hard at work, preparing a successor to the Samsung Galaxy S4. The device, currently dubbed Galaxy S5, has seen an absurd number of rumors emerge over the past few months, some of which have started to firm up inside the new year. Galaxy S5 rumors point to a powerful device and one that should compete with the likes of the iPhone 5s, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the HTC One, and HTC’s rumored HTC One successor, the HTC M8.

Rumors point to both a plastic and metal design for the Galaxy S5, the metal design being a change from Samsung’s previous Galaxy S models. It’s also rumored to have a 5.2-inch QHD display and or a 1080p display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor or a Exynos 6 processor, a 16MP camera that could include ISOCELL technology, Android 4.4 KitKat, and a number of wide sweeping software changes that should ensure that the Galaxy S5 is vastly different from its Galaxy counterparts. At least until Samsung upgrades the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 with some of the new features.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 rumors also suggest a possible launch in February or March with a release at some point in April, possibly around the same time that the Galaxy S4 was released. Nothing is set in stone but it’s quite clear that things are progressing and those who have waited for the Galaxy S5 or are simply in the market for a high-end smartphone, will see a launch very soon.

With that in mind, we want to offer some tips for those who might be caught in the Galaxy S5 rumor maelstrom, are looking to buy a smartphone for the first time, or simply need some tips in order to improve their plans. Here, we offer up seven of our own Samsung Galaxy S5 buyers tips, derived from years of preparing and buying smartphones.

Prepare for an April Samsung Galaxy S5 Release Date

Rumors are swirling, Galaxy S5 launch date rumors have backtracked, and Samsung still hasn’t sent out any invitations for its launch event. Suffice to say, prospective Galaxy S5 buyers are probably confused and looking for answers. Well, we don’t know exactly when Samsung is going to announce the Galaxy S5 but we imagine that it will be in February or March. Every single rumor, leak and report can’t be wrong. There has to be some truth to it all.

A recent report from Bloomberg suggested a release by the end of April and the report backed up just about every Galaxy S5 release date rumor that has emerged thus far. So, at this point, it’s probably time to circle the month of April on the calendar and prepare for the Galaxy S5′s arrival sometime during that month. Samsung will more than likely send out invites to an event weeks in advance and when it does, consumers will have their official answer. For now though, start preparing for a Galaxy S5 release in April and stop thinking about the “what ifs” and alternatives. April is likely.

Research Other Devices

Now is the perfect time to start researching alternatives to the Samsung Galaxy S5. There are going to be a ton of options on the table once the Galaxy S5 arrives and the more prepared that you are, the easier the decision is going to be. We suggest taking a look at the current crop of smartphones first and narrowing down your options from there. Devices like the HTC One and Galaxy S4 may be old, but they’re still potent and most importantly, they’re affordable. They will likely be much cheaper than the Galaxy S5 once it arrives on shelves.

Consumers will also want to look into devices like the iPhone 5s, Galaxy Note 3 and Moto X, three of the strongest smartphones out on the market. The Galaxy Note 3 and iPhone 5s are both going to be on shelves once the Galaxy S5 arrives as they are relatively new. Prospective Galaxy S5 buyers would be wise to take a look at both of them in the build up to the Galaxy S5′s launch. It won’t hurt.

From there, we suggest taking a look at some of the rumored smartphones of 2014. The HTC M8 and iPhone 6 both come to mind as they will pose a threat to the Galaxy S5. The HTC M8 is rumored for next month while the iPhone 6, or at least one version of it, could arrive sometime this summer. It’s important to take note of these devices before diving into the Galaxy S5.

Look Into Carrier Options

In addition to doing your homework when it comes to Galaxy S5 competitors, we suggest exploring potential Galaxy S5 carriers as soon as possible. The Galaxy S5 hasn’t been confirmed for any U.S. carriers at this point but there is no reason to believe that it will land beyond the Galaxy S’ usual crop of carriers. That means AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, and a host of smaller regional and pre-paid carriers.

Each carrier has its pros and cons. Verizon for instance has the largest network in the land but it also tends to be last in line when it comes to software updates. T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network is small but it also has a speedy HSPA+ 42 network backing it up, something that other carriers do not have. Data plans vary, costs differ, and it will be important to know what you’re getting into once the Galaxy S5 is announced for these carriers. And it will be.

Research how much data you use and which carriers offer the best 4G LTE coverage in your area right now and deciding on a new carrier will prove to be a much easier task come release day.

Don’t Hype Yourself Up

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is going to be a good phone, there is no doubt about that. However, it’s probably not going to be perfect and those who are expecting a perfect smartphone from Samsung need to start tempering their expectations right now. A lot of the people that were disappointed by the Galaxy S4 last year were the people that bought into the insane hype and got themselves worked up to the point that there was no way that the Galaxy S4 would meet expectations.

Rumors are going to emerge all the way up to the Galaxy S5 announcement and you will want to keep a level head or else you’re going to be setting yourself up for disappointment. Those that don’t let that happen will find that their smartphone shopping experience will be a much more manageable one and far more pleasant.

Stay Up to Date

That said, we encourage prospective Galaxy S5 buyers to stay up on the latest Galaxy S5 rumors. While there will be features and dates that don’t pan out, rumors do do a good job of narrowing things down. In the next few weeks, we expect to have most of the Galaxy S5 figured out thanks to rumors and those who have been paying attention will certainly be a leg up on those who join the game late.

Rumors should always be taken with a grain of salt but we expect Samsung Galaxy S5 rumors, now that we’re this late in the game, to continue to peck away at Samsung’s new flagship, revealing just about everything buyers need to know about the Next Big Thing.

Keep those expectations tempered but take in a healthy dose of speculation. It’s part of the fun.

Start Saving Money Now

This may sound like a no-brainer but it’s important to keep in mind. The Samsung Galaxy S5, more likely than not, will come with a price tag that is in and around $199.99 on-contract, $650 off-contract. We haven’t seen any confirmations just yet but given the pricing of the iPhone 5s, we expect Samsung and its carrier partners to offer competitive pricing. The only rumor that we have seen is from SamMobile who suggests that the metal Galaxy S5 will be around 800 Euros and the plastic model will be 600 Euros. That’s extremely expensive, if true.

Point is, the Galaxy S5 isn’t going to be cheap. It’s a flagship smartphone and it will command a flagship price tag. Those who are thinking about buying it should think about setting some money aside for the purchase. Perhaps it’s $5 each day up until the Galaxy S5 launch, or something of that nature. We’ve done this in the past and it has helped soften the blow of buying an expensive piece of technology.

Evaluate Storage Needs

It’s not clear just how the Samsung Galaxy S5 lineup is going to look. Last year’s Galaxy S4 came in 16GB form only to Sprint, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular though the device did come armed with a microSD card slot that can store up to 64GB. As we’ve pointed out, the microSD card storage is limited to certain files, making the on board storage that much more crucial. 32GB versions of the Galaxy S4 came to AT&T and Verizon and those two carriers only. Whether the Galaxy S5 follows that or not is unclear.

What’s important is that prospective buyers start evaluating their needs right now. Are you the type of person that takes a lot of photos or shoots a lot of video? Then you’re probably going to need to go with one of the largest Galaxy S5 storage options or if there is only one option, think about investing in a cloud service. Average users that don’t game or shoot a ton of content might think about getting the smallest Galaxy S5 storage option available.

This may seem ridiculous but it will make deciding on a specific option easier come release day. In some cases, it may also save a lot of money. Larger storage variants are always more expensive.