5 effective networking strategies in the digital age

Networking will forever be the lifeblood of a professional’s career. No matter how old you are, what year it is and what technology is used, networking will continue to affect an individual’s professional growth, in addition to skillset and experience.
Not to mention, networking can help you land a job, earn a promotion, perhaps introduce you to your future co-founder and help you remain a valuable asset to your employer and industry.
In my own career as a tech writer and marketer, I’ve been lucky enough to grow by leaps and bounds writing for Forbes, Huffington Post, Mashable (and of course, The Next Web). There are many factors that contribute to my progress, but networking would have to be one of the biggest.
One of the most impactful networking moments that helped advance my career was in 2011 when I wrote a story for AllFacebook about successful apparel brands active on Facebook. After publishing the article, a staff member from one of the brands I mentioned, Marc Eckō Enterprises, reached out to me to thank me for the mention and to start an ongoing relationship.
After cultivating that relationship for some time, the company eventually hired me to help lead its social media, SEO efforts and other marketing needs. This incredible opportunity was the result of effective networking online that many can duplicate.
Technology today allows anyone to scale networking efforts more successfully at greater speeds than ever before with the use of Meetups, LinkedIn, blogging, videos, Twitter chats, Google Hangouts and more.
Don’t forget that these tools should be used in conjunction with networking offline as well, since they help add to your in-person interactions that are often the most effective at generating a strong bond with your contacts.
It’s all about creating a large quality network of contacts you can rely on, and who can rely on you. Quality and quantity are important attributes of networking, which are quite difficult to achieve but entirely possible once you’ve tapped into the right amount of hustle. Don’t sacrifice the quality of your contacts for the quantity, but find the happy medium.
Here are some strategies to best use the tools available today to network with other professionals in your industry and beyond.

1. Become a LinkedIn powerhouse

LinkedIn is the most successful professional social media channel for networking with like-minded people and it’s important that you take advantage of its helpful features. Once you’ve set up your LinkedIn profile and filled it out to its fullest, start connecting with other professionals of interest.
The key to getting your LinkedIn invitations accepted is to personalize the message you’re sending. This is obviously time consuming, but it’s more effective and personal to the connection you’re making.
Taking the extra few seconds will go a long way towards building a relationship with your new connection. Introduce yourself in the note, explain how you’re connected, what you have in common, what you’d like to achieve from connecting and any questions you might have for your new contact.
Join LinkedIn groups related to your industry and actively participate. Share content and answer the questions of other group members both publicly and privately.
Many are unaware that you can message LinkedIn users that you aren’t connected with as long as you are both members of the same group by clicking on the little black arrow near their post in the group.
Answer questions publicly first, then message privately with a more extensive answer and to let them know you’re willing to help again in the future, if needed. By continually providing value to other LinkedIn users in your industry through this tactic and others, you’ll slowly be able to build meaningful relationships and expand your network of contacts.

2. Find job openings, make contacts and learn with Meetups

The best part about all the online tools at your disposal is that they can help foster offline meetings with online contacts. Meetup is one of the more effective networks for connecting professionals who share similar career interests.
Start by joining multiple Meetups in your area that match your expertise, industry and most important, where you want to meet the right contacts. I’d suggest joining Meetups that other industry experts are members of as a good indicator of their quality, while also signing up for a few on your own to see what they’re worth and what type of networking events they typically host.
Join multiple Meetups to test the waters and attend their events to find the best networking value. I’m the member of 14 Meetups here in New York; they’re all related to content, social media, marketing and technology.
I don’t attend the events of all these Meetups, but I’m able to pick and choose which ones meet my schedule and pique my interest in terms of which panel discussions are occurring, what type of presentation is happening and who will be at each event.

3. Meet someone new every week

To effectively scale your network and remain valuable in today’s ever-changing economy, strengthen your network by meeting someone new online every week.
Find these potential connections across social media by searching on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and elsewhere for like-minded people who you think will bring value to you and your network.
There’s always room to demonstrate genuine interest in others when building your network, says Mika Salmi, the CEO of creativeLIVE, and this notion will only help fuel the success of your daily outreach.
Use social media to foster this concern with others by complementing, thanking and being genuine with your network as you continue to expand and meet new people online.
In some cases, a full-fledged introduction might not be appropriate with certain contacts and in that instance, interact with them with a lower-risk action like commenting on their Facebook posts, sharing their LinkedIn posts to add your own commentary, re-tweeting their posts to slowly gain their attention, and build rapport by simply telling them they’re doing a great job at what they do.
Find other people tweeting, sharing content and participating in discussions about topics of interest and proceed to find their contact information. That can mean connecting with them on LinkedIn with a personal note, tweeting them to ask if they’ll DM their email address, adding them as a friend on Facebook or to your Google+ circles.
These introductions don’t need to be high impact, but meaningful and personalized to catch the interest of potential new contacts.

4. Create content at scale

According to branding expert Dorie Clark, it’s critical that you become known for your ideas and are willing to contribute to the conversations happening in your industry by creating valuable content.
As a speaker, consultant and writer for Forbes and the Harvard Business Review, Clark is an example of her very own advice. You can grow your network by conveying your value and worth as a professional by writing articles, creating videos, sharing information across social media or using other media channels.
In my career as a writer and marketer, I’ve written for numerous tech and advertising publications about industry developments, news and how-to guides. That level of visibility within my industry, along with consistent contributions to the overall conversation, has been invaluable.
Creating content put my byline in front of relevant people in my industry, which has helped me build a personal brand and a network of lifelong professional connections.
Not everyone should be a writer—or even likes writing—but as a professional, it’s important that you find your ideal medium. That will help you deliver your perspective online to help foster bonds with your existing and future connections.
If you’re eloquent, think about publishing your own audio books, starting a podcast or publishing YouTube videos to regularly contribute your professional point of view.
As Anita Newton, Adknowledge VP of marketing states in her recent post, the topic of reinvention is incredibly important because career paths are less like a ladder and more like a trampoline.
In today’s job marketplace, it’s critical that you distinguish yourself from your competition, and one way of doing so is by creating original content on a regular basis.

5. The economy of favors is endless

When networking, it’s always best to give more than you receive. You’ll feel better about yourself, see better results and build stronger relationships over time since you aren’t always looking for something immediate in return.
Perform favors in various forms to offer value to your existing network, as well as new connections.
Here are some of examples of the types of favors that help build your network:

• Introduce members of your network to one another via email or Twitter.
• Recommend your connections on LinkedIn, don’t just use Endorsements
• Re-tweet and Tweet the original content of others in your network, mentioning them
• Feature members of your community as guest bloggers on your blog
• Send a thank you note in the mail to stand out as truly appreciative
• Share the content of others across LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook and elsewhere
• Interview members of your community and feature them on your blog or other publications
• Invite members of your network to be guests on your Twitter chat, Google+ Hangout, etc.

Try your best to perform one of these favors once a day, or a few times a week, to provide unparalleled value to your network of contacts. It’s an effective way of nurturing your relationships with existing contacts and a way of building an ongoing rapport with new professional connections.
Networking is a non-stop commitment that takes a long time to pay off, but in order to reach that point, you’ll have to be fully committed to supporting your network and each individual relationship.
With an ever-changing landscape for marketers, it is as important as ever to stay up to date on the latest technology, tools, companies and developments affecting your industry. Your network is an ongoing resource to help you stay relevant with the collective knowledge, support and expertise of your contacts.
How do you network with others online and offline? What tools have you found most effective?

‘7’ Hot Jobs options for IT Post-Graduates

 

Job options for IT post-graduates are often limited to roles, where either demand is not high or candidates are given mundane tasks. TimesJobs.com probed recruitment experts to explore hot job options available to IT post-graduates in 2014. 

Hot Job Title: Big Data Crunching (collection of large and complex data sets that cannot be handled by regular tools) 

Job Description: Knowledge of Big Data Technologies such as Hadoop and NoSQL solutions Expertise in Java and SQL databases Knowledge of Analytics Platforms, and Business Intelligence tools Strong design and architecture skills & Agile; Scrum methodologies 

Salary Range: Rs 8-12 lakh per year 

Hot Skills: Design and Architectural skills; analytical skills 

Future Outlook: Big Data will enormously impact businesses everywhere in the world and therefore, has a lot of potential for trained professionals. There would be demand for around 1, 00,000 data scientists in the coming years. But right now there is skill deficit in this area as it is difficult to source people who can access, analyse and use humungous volumes of data with the help of specific technology; hence there is a growing need for specialised courses on BIG Data. 

Demand Scale: 9/10 

Hot Job Title: Analytics/ Business Analyst 

Job Description: Must be able to analyse specific business problems and derive answers from the same using an array of analytical tools S/he should be proficient in statistics in order to interpret the statistical results and link them to the business context. Improves systems by studying current practices; designing modifications 

Salary Range: Rs. 5-7.5 Lacs 

Hot Skills: C, COBOL, Software Design, Software Documentation, Software Development Process, analytical skills, excellent in statistical analysis skills. 

Future Outlook: It is expected that around 20,000 to 35,000 analytics-related jobs would be generated in India in 2014. There are a lot of job opportunities expected in this most sought after sector. The employment scene is promising even globally in this domain. 

Demand Scale: 9/10 

Hot Job Title: High Intensity Product Developer/ Manager 

Job Description: A mix of technology and capital markets domain Being able to work on Capital Markets Technology Defines, designs and develops critical front-office applications for the Global Foreign Exchange & Local Markets business With extensive experience in one or more of these asset classes and up-to-date with market trends within Capital Markets business and technology dimensions In depth knowledge of Java/J2EE, HTML/CSS, JSP/Servlets, JDBC, Struts framework, EJB and JavaScript 

Salary Range: Upto Rs 10 lakhs 

Hot Skills: Treasury products, Fixed Income & Derivatives, Java/J2EE, HTML/CSS, JSP/Servlets 

Future Outlook: As more companies are offering financial products through online platforms and big data playing increasing role, this profile is gaining traction and would find takers especially among the Engineers + MBA guys. 

Demand Scale: 8/10 

Hot Job Title: Cloud computing (Cloud computing is Internet-based service and facilitates sharing of technological resources, software and digital information). 

Job Description: 

Cloud computing career options are open in applications and infrastructure. It operates on a pay-per-use model, helping companies to cut costs as they don't have to invest heavily in infrastructure. Experience on cloud applications like Sales force and other. Knowledge of deployment on cloud servers; familiarity with test driven development methodologies Designing and managing of application frameworks and operations Knowledge of frameworks like Spring Source and Ruby on Rails preferred Responsible for the reliability and scalability of the applications and cloud environment 

Salary Range: Rs 5-10 Lacs 

Hot Skills: Architecting; Cloud Computing; NOSQL; Big Data; Openstack ; Java/C++/Python 

Future Outlook: Cloud market in India may create 100,000 IT jobs by 2015. Increasingly, IT companies are opting for cloud computing to save cost and to reduce the time to market for various IT applications and products. In-fact, cloud computing is giving rise to a new generation of software product companies, which can now sell their products on an on-demand basis over the internet. This can prove to be a long term career option for post graduate students who are looking to make it big in the cloud space. 

Demand Scale: 8/10 

Hot Job Title: Mobile Apps Developer 

Job Description: 

Knowledge and experience in HTML 5, Object Oriented Java script, Understanding of Andriod SDK, programming using J2ME, Andriod/Phone applications; Bluetooth; wireless data link layer Research oriented towards mobile network protocols including GSM, 2.5G, 3G or 4G Aptitude to analyse and develop algorithms for mobile applications Hands on experience in the identification, discovery, evaluation and managing security issues of the various mobile software programs 

Salary Range: Rs. 3.5 - 8.5 Lakhs 

Hot Skills: Mobile analytics; Mobile cloud, Mobile Security, Context-aware Services; Mobile HCI; designing and building skills on complex systems

Future Outlook: There is good growth in the number of mobile users and rapid penetration of mobile devices, we can expect huge demand in the mobile application development sector in the coming years. As smart phones are growing in India, mobile apps are also going to be a big thing and this will create a lot of opportunity for trained students in mobile applications. Mobile app development, app marketing and cross device compatibility will be the area wherein post graduate students can look to make a stable and challenging career. 

Demand Scale: 8/10 

Hot Job Title: Software Developer Vtiger 

Job Description: 

The person should have know-how of Vtiger V 5.2 Should have complete knowledge of module creation and how to handle permission Vtiger admin Understanding of how to use web-service Vtiger Knowledge of JSP, JS and J query would be beneficial H/She should have good communication skills, high-energy level, and should be presentable 

Salary Range: Rs. 3.5-4 lakh 

Hot Skills: Vtiger, web services, JSP, JS and J query 

Future Outlook: The demand for software developers with knowledge of Vtiger is growing tremendously. Especially, the Indian IT product companies across India are hiring software developers with specialisation in this domain. Job options are available in abundance in south India, and Bangalore is the major demand hub in this domain. 

Demand Scale: 7/10 

Hot Job Title: CRM Expert 

Job Description: (CRM technical professional) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) expert requires to work on complex CRM applications and their role includes programming, project management, project development, systems configuration, and development Experience in CRM Packages like Siebel, Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft, Solution Oriented Architecture (SOA), Java, WebSphere, B2B, B2C, databases and integration Ability to create and debug plug-ins, custom workflow activities and ribbon customisation Understanding of solutions, security in Dynamics CRM Knowledge of dot net framework and silverlight - SSRS would be an added advantage. 

Salary Range: Rs. 2.5-5 lakhs 

Hot Skills: Debugging skills; e-commerce knowledge; business analytics; ability to multitask, data mapping 

Future Outlook: Demand for CRM professional is high and the CRM domain is expected to create lot of job opening in all sectors as CRM provides a strong competitive edge to the companies. There would be a lot of demand for professionals trained in different CRM platforms like SAP, Oracle etc. 

Demand Scale: 7/10 

(With inputs from Sunil Goel, Director, GlobalHunt India Pvt Ltd, Asim Handa, CEO, Gi Group India and Srikanth Rengarajan, Executive Director and President, Manpower Group India) Data Source: TimesJobs.com

In Depth: Store your stuff for free: how to make the most of free cloud storage

Stop calling it the cloud; it's just the damn internet! With that off our chests, let us proceed.
It seems that if a new product hasn't had the term 'cloud' simply crowbarred into its marketing bumf, the entire production team is set to create its own stream of personalised precipitation when it gets its marching orders.
All good board of directors know their latest product has to be in the cloud, otherwise why would anyone use it? As it is, their pulsar-dense level of thundering stupidity is our gain.
While every man and his start-up are piling free cloud storage in with their app, phone, tablet, computer, service and kitchen sink, we can benefit by taking time out to hoover up this free online storage. See, 'online' is a perfectly good word for it, plus it takes us back to the days when AOL used to send out discs.

• Powerline networking: what you need to know

From just rough calculations of the services on offer, you could easily net yourself over 70GB of general internet storage. We're not even talking a huge number of services either; targeting the top eight should easily net you that much, while a little more work could almost quadruple that amount.
"Fine, but how are you suppose to combine that into an easily usable lump?" we hear you cry. That's exactly why we're here. We're going to look at the various storage services that are being offered, which are best for your needs and how you can more easily access them as a whole. Alongside that, we'll look at how you can maximise your free cloud storage, too.
Before we begin, an important point to note about cloud storage systems is that there's a distinction between general and specific-service storage. While DropBox only offers 2GB of general-purpose storage, an image service such as Flickr is happy to provide 500 times that, with 1TB for your photos and videos. So let's see how we can snap up terabytes of free storage.
Despite our moaning, every marketing cloud has a silver lining - in this case, free space. With broadband download speeds heading towards the sort of pace you'd expect from a slower USB thumb drive, it's not an outrageous statement to say you could start using online storage for generalised low-speed, long-term storage and backup. So just how much cloud storage can you snag?
It depends how determined you are to snaffle every gigabyte available and how open-minded you are to exactly what you define as 'storage'. Even for the lazy, it's an easy to job to grab at least 50GB. If you're looking for a quick and dirty solution, heading over to www.mega.co.nz and creating an account bestows you with 50GB of storage and very few limitations. In fact, there are no file size or bandwidth limits at all. It'll resume upload and downloads, and includes mobile access. The only real restriction is only a single transfer is possible per tab. It doesn't offer device synchronisation currently, but that's supposedly coming in a future update to the service.
Two words of warning, though: firstly there's no password recovery system, so if you lose it you can wave goodbye to your data, and secondly this service is run by notorious Kim Dotcom, so who knows if it'll be busted by the FBI.

Clumping clouds

Over on Wikipedia there's a useful curated list of storage services. By our maths, if you take out accounts for most of them, you could get yourself over 330GB of free space. With a few tricks you could boost this by a further 100GB. This next point might be stretching things a little, as we realise there's a big difference between general storage and specialist-service storage.
Take Flickr, for example - it's happy to give you 1TB of space, for free to store your photos, but not those oddly-named MKV files of yours. Similarly, Google Music offers space to store 20,000 MP3 tracks for free. Each track can be up to 128MB, so that's technically a ludicrous 2.4TB of storage for your music, just waiting to be claimed.
We could even claim that Google+ offers infinite storage for sub-4MP photos and sub-30-minute 1080p videos, but even we know that's going a little too far. So before we've even got through the door we're looking at 3.4TB of free specific online storage. That's enough to use as a decent backup space for your media files, but let's find out what more we can do.

Starting small

Rather unimaginatively, we're going to begin by looking at Dropbox. We're starting here for several reasons, the first of which is that it's a damn good online storage service. Beyond the obvious, it offers multi-device file synchronisation, a basic 2GB of free starting storage, mobile app access and a number of innovative ways to boost your free storage.
In many ways we're interested in that last point, as we're all about the free storage and many of these cloud services offer you ways to boost your base free storage by doing simple tasks. For example, while the base free storage for Dropbox is 2GB, it'll give you an extra 250MB just for following its introductory guide. Another 625MB can be gained from linking to Twitter and Facebook, plus following the Dropbox social accounts and firing off a spam tweet for them.
The best free gig is to use the camera upload feature in the mobile Dropbox app; you get 500MB of free storage for every 500MB of images you upload, up to 3GB. All of those combined make it easy to snag 5GB of free Dropbox storage.
Friend referrals are another spacemaker; for every person who installs on a referral you'll get another 500MB free, up to 16GB. That brings your total free storage to 21GB or so.

Cloud seeding

As you might have noticed, this referral gig can be quite lucrative if you have gullible - sorry, gracious friends who are willing to help out.
So what other storage sites have decent referral schemes on offer? MediaFire is an excellent choice, offering 10GB to start and 1GB for each referral up to 32G. It also offers 2GB for installing the desktop tools and 2GB of the mobile app, alongside 1GB bonuses each for Twitter, Facebook and social mentions.
Just working with referrals, MiMedia gives you 7GB base storage with 1GB for each referral up to 5GB. SugarSync is a pretty cool service in itself, as it adds its cloud storage as a mapped drive letter on your system. It gives you 5GB as a free account anyway, with up to 32GB via referrals in 500MB chunks. Similarly, Ubuntu One provides 5GB free, with 500MB for each referral up to 20GB.
It's also worth keeping an eye open for offers, too. Over recent years manufacturers such as HP, HTC and Samsung have bundled enhanced cloud storage packages with their devices. And these have been as generous as 50GB with the HP Touchpad and some Samsung tablets. HTC has also offered 25GB with some phones, though often these offers are limited to a year's subscription. We've also seen Box.net give away 25GB and 50GB worth of space on Facebook. We haven't seen one of these offers since February, but it could be worth following, just in case.
At this point, with Mega, a free Box.net 50GB bonus and referrals in full swing, you could be packing 247GB without really breaking into a sweat. Add to this little lot a generally standard 15GB of Google Drive/Gmail storage, 7GB of Microsoft SkyDrive and 5GB of Amazon Cloud (after all, you probably already have an Amazon account), and you're looking at 274GB of total cloud storage. Even ignoring the potentially dubious referrals, that's 169GB for the taking.

Joli rancher

Now that you've got a basket full of cloud storage, what's the best way to manage and access it all without going nuts? First, let us point you in the direction of www.jolicloud.com, an incredibly neat all-in-one cloud manager. It isn't a cloud consolidating system - all the services remain separated and you're unable to move files, images or anything else between them. What Jolicloud does is give all of your most-used social networks and cloud storage one pretty damn slick web interface, which you can access from anywhere.
If you happen to also use a password manager such as LastPass - the benefits of we've bored you with previously - the setup process takes just a minute, even with a long list of cloud service and social networks. It's nothing more complex than selecting the service's icon from the list of supported ones, entering your username and password then enabling access for Jolic m8loud. You can even create an account via Facebook or Google+, which makes registration a one-click process.
So Jolicloud puts all your cloud services and social networks in one place for easy perusing, but nothing beyond that; they remain separate services. How can you clump these lumps of cloud storage together to make life easier?

One solution is Otixo - a browser and app-based collaboration and cloud consolidation service. It's a paid-for service; the web version is available for a one-off fee of $39.99 for a limited time, but once that's gone it's $9.99 per month.
Otixo does a number of clever tricks. It enables you to add multiple cloud services and access them from a single login. Unlike Jolicloud, it then enables you to search and view files across all of the services. You can also copy and move files between cloud storage, and upload files directly to any of your online accounts. Setting up Otixo doesn't take long; you'll need to register for an account, but once that's done, adding most service accounts is just a matter of entering the username and password, then authorising access.
One of Otixo's most interesting features is its ability to organise collaborative projects. This works best if everyone involved has an Otixo account, but that's not essential. Once you've created a project, you can add files from any of your accounts and share the Space with selected collaborators. The Space logs changes and comments made, and any changes to documents are also made to the original file. The monthly fee and collaborative elements make Otixo most suitable for business use and academic projects, but if you're a power cloud user it could certainly be of interest.

If you're looking for a free alternative to Otixo, Primadesk offers a free account that is limited to adding 10 linked services. Even then the full paid-for service is just $50 for a year, offers unlimited linked services and provides an additional 10GB of storage too.
Why the additional storage? One service that Primadesk offers is cloud backup of your cloud backup. It's straightforward enough - just select the folders you want to copy and it'll do the rest. It might sound overkill to you, but it's a potentially life-saving service that's not well catered for, offering a lifeline if another service is cut off.
Otherwise it's very much like Otixo, albeit perhaps not as slick. You can easily drag and drop files and folders between services. If you want to edit a file, a double-click takes you to the original service's editing page, but there's no preview feature. Usefully the search is cross-service, and can index the contents of files too. For a free service it's well worth taking the time to check out.

Little fluffy clouds

It's unlikely that you're going to run after every gigabyte of free storage, but part of the point here is that even with the basic services (Dropbox, Google Drive and Skydrive), you're likely to have upwards of 30GB of free cloud storage available. It's also likely that the files stored here will become somewhat muddled and accessing all the systems will be a pain.
Primadesk provides a single login for most (if not all) of your cloud storage services. With space for 20,000 tracks, which you can stream from anywhere, Google Music is a prime example of an excellent service that gives you terabytes of free storage.
If you're looking for something that covers all of your media, check out QVIVO. It's a paid-for streaming media service, but it offers unlimited storage and streaming for HD video and audio to your desktop for just $1.99 per month (or $2.99 for use with mobile devices).
One of the drawbacks of online storage is the time it takes to upload your files, so running a home server puts you in a better position. You probably have most or all of your media and backup files stored on a server already, so you won't have to scramble around trying to gather all of your files in one easy hub.

In Depth: Cutting the cord: why wireless charging will finally power up in 2014

Wireless power today is mostly about convenience; not having to fish out a cable and get it the right way round when you plug it in. But once it becomes ubiquitous, it will change the way devices are designed; they can have smaller batteries or save space by not needing the power port at all.
This year at CES, as well as seeing the latest wireless power products and the next step in wireless charging technology, we also got some good news on getting more users and businesses on board with wireless power - 2014 will definitely be a big year for wireless charging.
There are over 60 different phones that have Qi wireless charging (the inductive charging standard) built in today - and 40 million of them have been sold - and because it's a standard, you can put your phone down on any Qi charging surface and it will just start grabbing power.
If your phone doesn't have Qi built in, Incipio introduced a line of wireless charging pads and protective cases at CES that add it (including Lumia models like the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 1520 that have a connector designed to simplify adding a charging case).

That surface doesn't have to be a pad on your desk either. It could be a light or a mouse mat: silicon valley startup Kudos Tech had prototypes for both, although no dates for putting them into production yet.
You don't have to only charge a phone; IDAPT has added a Qi charging module to its clever Modulo battery system, which lets you connect up to five external 2000mAh batteries to charge your phone or tablet.
Snap on as many batteries as you need to take with you and drop it onto a wireless charger to keep them topped up before you leave.

7 Things Xbox One Buyers Need To Know In 2014

7 Things Xbox One Buyers Need To Know In 2014 is a post by Travis Pope from Gotta Be Mobile.
Fresh off its winter release, Microsoft’s Xbox One entertainment console is doing better than most industry watchers would have predicted. Sales — in spite of the console’s rather large $499 price tag – seem to be steady, and Microsoft’s decision to abandon its original plans for putting disc-based games on the back burner seems to have paid off.
With the holiday season over and fresh titles on the horizon there’s never been a better time to pick up an Xbox One. As such, users who wanted the console but couldn’t be bothered to wait in line on launch day are expected to begin snatching up units heading into the New Year.
Here’s what those Xbox One buyers need to know in 2014.

Good Games Are Coming

The Xbox One’s first big exclusive title, Titanfall, launches March 11th.

Sure, the Xbox One might have had some decent exclusive launch titles, but what every Xbox One owner seems to be waiting for is Titanfall. The action/adventure game melds two different play experiences. First, users play as the pilot of a giant robot. They can then leave that robot and use jetpacks and rifles to take out enemies. The title is only coming to Windows PCs and the Xbox One so fans of adventure games and first-person shooters have another small reason to pick up an Xbox One if they needed one.

You’ll Need Some Extra Equipment

A full version of Kinect Sports: Rivals won’t come until later this year.

I’ll be frank. As of now there aren’t any Kinect-only games that I’d recommend potential Xbox One owners pick up. That isn’t to say that this won’t change; I expect that Kinect Sports: Rivals will be great for families and parties. Either way, now is not the time to buy the Xbox One if a user is looking for Kinect-only games.  Fighter Within, Zumba Fitness and Just Dance 2014 just aren’t that fun.
On the other hand, buying an Xbox One for other titles and then using the console’s Kinect Fitness app isn’t a bad idea. It’s free for the time being and acts as a great private physical fitness trainer replacement.

Don’t Leave Live TV Running

This might sound pretty basic but it’s still pretty sage advice for Xbox One buyers eager to save some money anyway they know how. The Xbox One has a setting that allows it to turn itself off when it’s been sitting idle for too long. The trouble is that you have to enable that. Even when it’s enabled the Xbox One treats the Live TV app as if the console isn’t idle. This keeps the Xbox One from turning off in the middle of a show or movie. It also ensures that the console won’t turn itself or the television off if the user has fallen asleep.
So far, the only work around I’ve really found is to watch video from another app before you fall asleep. Of course, you can also tell the Xbox One to turn itself off before you fall asleep too.

Look at the List of Entertainment Apps Before You Buy

The are a lot of apps missing from the Xbox One.

The Xbox One and Xbox Live have an impressive amount of entertainment apps available today. However, users upgrading from the Xbox 360 may want to check out the list of available apps  to make sure their favorite apps have made the transition.
For example, HBO Go, Starz and Xfinity are still missing from the Xbox One’s line up.

Download Xbox One SmartGlass

Microsoft created the Xbox SmartGlass apps as a way to extend the Xbox 360 to the devices that users typically have on them when they’re watching anything on their television. The Xbox One’s version of SmartGlass, which is available for Windows, Windows Phone, iOS and Android, adds a few new ideas to this concept. For starters, there’s now volume control and keyboard functionality for most apps. Plus, Microsoft has added the ability for game developers to treat SmartGlass-equipped smartphones and tablets as controllers.
In theory, Xbox One users will only see SmartGlass come into play more in 2014.

Delhi took top slot as job creator; overall hiring declined in 2013‘

Delhi-NCR region has emerged as the leader in creating the maximum number of jobs in 2013, even as overall generation of new employment avenues declined last year, says an Assocham study. Information technology (IT), IT-enabled services ( ITeS) and IT hardware sector together accounted for a majority share of about 43 per cent in the total number of new jobs generated across sectors in 2013, the study found.

"About 5.50 lakh new jobs were generated across India during January-December 2013 as compared to over 5.52 lakh new jobs a year ago thereby registering marginal decline of about 0.4 per cent," it said. "Cornering over one-fourth share of the total number of new jobs generated across India, Delhi-NCR emerged on top with over 1.39 lakh new jobs created during 2013," it added.

The study also found that new job generation plummeted in most sectors as about 20 out of the total 32 sectors tracked by the study registered a fall in new job generation.

Despite being the top employment generator, the IT/ITeS and IT hardware sector recorded a dip of one per cent in new job generations as it created over 2.36 lakh new jobs in 2012 as against 2.34 lakh new jobs in 2013, the study found. However, academics, banking, construction, financial services, fast moving consumer goods ( FMCG), human resources (HR), advertising & event management, real estate, retail and telecom are the sectors that witnessed a surge in new job creation during 2013, according to the study.

Among the metros, Delhi-NCR (national capital region) and Bangalore clocked significant year-on-year growth of 12 per cent and four per cent, respectively, in new job generation while Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai registered a fall to the tune of over 21 per cent, two per cent and 22 per cent, respectively.

Among tier I cities, Hyderabad recorded marginal increase of about one per cent in new job generation whereas Ahmedabad saw a decline of about 6.5 per cent, it added. In the tier II category, prominent cities that registered a surge in hiring activity during 2013 include Chandigarh (19 per cent), Kanpur (21 per cent), Ranchi (25 per cent), Raipur (25 per cent) and Vizag (1.5 per cent).

Global smartphone users to touch 1.75 billion in 2014: eMarketer

Aided by growing adoption of smartphones, especially in emerging markets, global smartphone users are expected to touch 1.75 billion this year, market research firmeMarketer said. The firm also pegged global mobile phone users to reach 4.55 billion in 2014.

"The global smartphone audience surpassed the 1 billion mark in 2012 and will total 1.75 billion in 2014. eMarketer expects smartphone adoption to continue on a fast-paced trajectory through 2017," the firm said. Nearly two-fifths of all mobile phone users, close to one-quarter of the worldwide population, will use a smartphone at least monthly this year, it added.

The firm said the slowing mobile adoption will get a boost from developing regions in Asia-Pacific and other places. "eMarketer expects 4.55 billion people worldwide to use a mobile phone in 2014. Mobile adoption is slowing, but new users in the developing regions of Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and Africa will drive further increases," it added.

Between 2013 and 2017, mobile phone penetration will rise from 61.1 per cent to 69.4 per cent of the global population, the research firm said in its 'Worldwide Mobile Phone Users: H1 2014 Forecast and Comparative Estimates' report. Mobile phone users are fast switching over to smartphones as devices become more affordable and 3G and 4G networks advance, it added. "More than 2.23 billion people worldwide, 48.9 per cent of mobile phone users, will go online via mobile at least monthly in 2014 and over half of the mobile audience will use the mobile Internet next year," eMarketer said.

Analysts feel that mobile data network expansion in emerging markets with a rising middle class and the adoption of smartphones and feature phones with Internet capabilities will fuel the growth of mobile Internet.

Rising low-cost smartphone devices with dual core processors and multi GB RAM being offered by many smartphone vendors will also lead to greater data consumption and a growth in communication over smart devices. In 2014, mobile devices will become the primary computing devices for many end users and smartphone users will seek full-functionality and access to major applications and data from their mobile devices.