Galaxy Note 4 Case

2014年3月13日星期四

Sony cuts 1000 US jobs

Sony cuts 1000 US jobs, puts former Tokyo headquarters on sale

Although Sony hardly ever shows signs of weakness, its consumer electronics business isn't as glossy on the inside as it seems on the outside. According to a WSJ report, Sony is looking to sell its former former headquarters and surrounding buildings in central Tokyo. In addition, Sony plans to cut around 1000 work positions in the USA - a one fifth of the company's planned global staff reduction for 2014.

As unfortunate as it may seem - Sony is basically putting its birthplace for sale, and people will be losing their jobs, the company must be commended for fearlessly disposing of its unprofitable ventures. As the Japanese media said, there are "no sacred cows" here. Speaking of which, last year Sony parted ways with its US headquarters at 550 Madison Avenue, NYC - the famous Sony tower. It also sold off one of its main buildings in Tokyo, and both buildings went for $1.1 billion. In addition, this year the company galaxy S5 genuine leather case sold its VAIO computer business to Japan Industrial Partners.

The "Gotenyama" complex in Tokyo's Shinigawa Ward became home to Sony's founders, Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka, way back in 1947. Allegedly, it's there where they invented revolutionary pieces of technology, such as the transistor radio, the Walkman music player, and the Trinitron TV. However, Sony officials claim that the true birthplace of the company, where all the engineering history happened, is now a historic museum. And that's not up for sale.

Now that Sony has shed off the extra weight of its PC business and real estates, it will continue to focus predominantly on mobile technology, entertainment, and photography. The company expects a loss of $1.1 billion until March 2015, due to costs associated with maintaining its struggling TV and PC divisions.

source: The Wall Street Journal

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2014年2月23日星期日

Baby steps: LTE smartphone sales in China will grow over 500% in 2014

Baby steps: LTE smartphone sales in China will grow over 500% in 2014 Last month, we shared analyst reports that projected 2014 will be a very good year for overall smartphone growth in China. Indeed, more smartphones will be sold in China this year than the population of the United States.

Out of a possible 400+ million sales figure for the world’s largest cell phone market, it is projected that LTE capable smartphones in China will exceed 135 million units. That equates to a year-over-year growth rate of roughly 547%.

All the usual suspects will be sharing the glory (and profits) of that growth, China Mobile, Samsung, Lenovo, Huawei, Qualcomm and MediaTek to name a few. Based on this growth, China will be the largest LTE market in no time and if we had to venture a guess, that will probably become a reality in 2015.

It looks like Apple timed its introduction with China Mobile just in time. How Chinese manufacturers manage growth of this magnitude will be interesting. It would be nice to see some branch out and introduce products in other markets.

Source: Strategy Analytics

2014年2月9日星期日

Android OS now further ported to the iPhone 3G too

You’ve seen the guy running an Android OS port on their iPhone 2G phone and you’ve got your hands itching to give it a try? Boy, you’ll be glad to hear you are now able to install a similar Android OS port on your shiny iPhone 3G as well.

David Wang and a couple of his friends managed to port the Android OS on the iPhone 3G. It has almost full functionality and seems to work great.

The only thing that is still in the works is the audio support, but David claims he’s done it and it’s only a matter of time to include it in the image file.

Here is a demonstration video of how Android works on iPhone 3G. As you can see all the radio is working, multi-touch, etc. When he finished the audio support we will have a fully functional Android OS running on the iPhone.

The OS image file is now undergoing some final adjustments, so in a couple of days Mr. Wang will release the proper image file. Dual boot is available and it can even apply unlocking if your device needs that.

Good job!

You may watch this blog for the image file and further instructions.

Amazon Appstore grows 500% YoY

Amazon Appstore grows 500% YoY, has the Kindle Fire to thank for it

The downloads in the Amazon Appstore are up 500% from last year, which makes it the fastest growing app repository around.

Of course, Amazon mostly has its aggressively priced Kindle Fire and Fire HDs to thank for that but we shouldn’t underestimate the other Android smartphones that use it daily. That free app per day promotion has certainly helped the growth, too.

There were no specific numbers given though, nor did we get a free apps vs paid apps breakdown.

The Kindle Fire (original and HD) tablets can only download apps from the Amazon Appstore, whereas other Android smartphones can opt-into the Amazon repository.

Source

Accessories for Samsung Galaxy Tab officially announced - docks and cases galore

Samsung officially announced the accessories for the Samsung P1000 Galaxy Tab. The keyboard dock is one of them and there’s a multimedia dock, cases, cable chargers and others – here’s the shopping list…

The keyboard dock holds the Samsung Galaxy Tab in portrait orientation and offers a full QWERTY keyboard with 83 keys, charger plug and 3.5mm audio jack. It will set you back 69.99 pounds (110 US dollars or 80 euro) – as much as it was expected to cost.

Next up is the Multimedia Desk dock – it holds the Galaxy Tab vertically (wouldn’t horizontally have been better?) and features a mini-HDMI (and why not regular HDMI, given the available space?), a 3.5mm audio jack and of course a charger plug. It’s slated to cost 39.99 pounds (63 USD or 45 euro).

Samsung Galaxy Tab
Samsung P1000 Galaxy Tab and its optional QWERTY keyboard ? HDMI dock

The Notebook/Stand case is made from leather and serves a double purpose as its name suggests – it’s a case to protect the Samsung Galaxy Tab but can also be used as a stand. The price tag on the Notebook/Stand case is 29.99 pounds (47 USD or 34 euro). There’s also a Leather Slip (24.99 pounds) and D30 Silicon/Gel case (19.99 pounds).

The list of accessories includes portable battery powered speakers and headphones too (both 19.99 pounds/31 USD/23 euro). There are other things like data cable (14.99 pounds), TV-Out cable (14.99 pounds too), travel adapter (34.99 pounds) and a car charger too (24.99).

All these accessories for the Samsung Galaxy Tab will be available in the UK on November 1 along with the Tab itself, except the D30 Silicon Gel case, which will come out in mid-November, and the portable speakers, which are available now.

Those all sound great, though a bit pricey – the keyboard dock for the iPad is 55 pounds for one. And what’s with the “multimedia” dock that doesn’t let you view videos (16:9 in portrait orientation won’t do) and doesn’t use a regular HDMI cable to hook up to your TV?

Source

2014年1月6日星期一

'Switch to Windows Phone' app helps you find your favorite Android apps on Windows Phone

Microsoft has been asking users of other platforms to switch to Windows Phone for a long time now but so far the biggest hurdle has been the lack of a good quality apps on the platform. Or at least that’s what it seems like. Things aren’t that bad in reality, though, and there are Windows Phone versions of several of the popular apps out there right now.

To bring this to everyone’s notice, Microsoft has now released a new app for Android, called Switch to Windows Phone, which scans your Android phone for all the installed apps and then shows you which ones are available on the Window Phone Store. After that, you can choose to save the list on your SkyDrive account and later if you happen to purchase a Windows Phone, you can download the companion app, which will download this list and then help you find those apps on the Windows Phone Store.

The app currently only shows direct matches but it would be better if Microsoft tweaked the app to show alternatives as well, so even if there isn’t a Windows Phone version of a particular Android app you could still download something similar and get the job done. Also, the app should be made available in more regions, which at present, it isn’t.

Source ? Download

A Mass Effect movie would generate a tremendous amount of interest

A Mass Effect movie would generate a tremendous amount of interest, BioWare still play it cool

In an interview for MTV, the project director of Mass Effect 2 shared some very interesting info. While Mass Effect 2 will be released tomorrow (USA) and Friday (Europe), the interest in a motion picture based on the game universe grows rapidly.

The first Mass Effect game was a huge success and won a lot of fans with its huge and very well developed world and characters. Of course the story was as good as the rest of the game and the rumors of a Hollywood production started circling only months after the initial Mass Effect release.

Only a day (or a few) holds us from the official launch of the sequel, but it’s already tagged as an industry benchmark for its incredible and incomparable world, non-linear story, characters, relationship realism and gameplay. The best-respected gaming publications have rated Mass Effect 2 from 9.5/10 to 10/10 and didn’t spare their compliments. Even BioWare themselves claim this is the best game they have ever created.

The great popularity certainly attracts Hollywood, just like WarCraft, Prince of Persia, Blood Rayne, Alone in the Dark, etc did before. Well Uwe Boll did ruin quite a lot of movies based on games, but Sam Reimi got to work on the WarCraft movie, while Prince of Persia is almost ready and I believe it will become a blockbuster.

Anyway the Mass Effect 2 project director Casey Hudson says: “Obviously we have a tremendous amount of interest from people in Hollywood to make a major motion picture about ‘Mass Effect’. The most important thing for us is, we don’t just want to see a movie get made. We want to see a great movie get made, if it’s going to get done at all.”

He then continued to say that “We’re just looking at our options there, but waiting to make sure we have something really right before we do it.”.

I am more than happy that BioWare won’t sell the Mass Effect rights to the highest bidder, but will ensure they will go with the best idea and scenario. And when the time comes I really believe we are going to see an epic movie.

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