Why You Should Buy A Windows Phone 8 Device in 2014

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 didn’t see a lot of momentum last year. Though sales definitely rose when compared to last year, the platform and the devices that it powers didn’t have many high profile moments that smartphone buyers could latch onto as a sign that it was improving. As such, many users are wondering whether 2014 is the right time to buy a Windows Phone.Understandably,key programmer potential Windows Phone buyers in 2014 are worried about Windows Phone 8, the often rumored update that it is believed will deliver some much-needed polish to the operating system as a whole.Thankfully, Microsoft has already confirmed that Windows Phone 8 users are entitled to software upgrades for two-years. That means that the new notification center and separate toggles for ringer and music volume will come to all Windows Phone 8 devices at some point in the future.Microsoft’s release of the Windows Phone 8 GDR3 update last year didn’t necessarily get users riled up. That makes sense because users who received the update only picked up the option to specify new notification sounds on their devices. Behind the scenes there was a bit more going on.With Windows Phone 8 GDR3 smartphone makers are finally free to create devices running Microsoft’s operating that compete head to head with the hardware included in high-end Android smartphones. In fact, the same Snapdragon 800 processor that powers the LG G2 is used in Nokia’s Lumia 1520 phablet. This is the first time that’s ever happened and definitely makes buying Windows Phone hardware in 2014 much less of a gamble.Of course, Windows Phone has always been optimized for the hardware it ships on. As such, users won’t notice a dip in performance regardless of what processor they have. However, I’d imagine that knowing you have the power to play the latest games even a year or two from now is a good thing. 

Windows Phones haven’t changed much in the year since Microsoft first announced Windows Phone 8.Menstrual Cup On the other hand, the services and products that surround Windows Phone have all grown and matured in a number of ways. There’s SkyDrive, which is now available anywhere and integrates seamlessly with apps running on user’s Windows 8.1-equipped laptop, desktop or 2-in-1. Every Windows Phone comes with a free version of Microsoft Office. These too are backed up by and expanding and ever-changing array of apps for desktops, tablets and the web. Windows Phone users can even access these documents for free online through Office Web Apps.Not all users are comfortable with two-year service agreements. After all, taking the risk on a new mobile platform and signing a two-year service agreement could be dangerous. What if they turn out to not like the platform? What if there aren’t enough apps to tide them over in the Windows Phone Store.Luckily, buying a Windows Phone device without a two-year service agreement has never been cheaper. The low-end Lumia 520 and Lumia 521 now hover at about $60 to $40 at most retail stores. Pricing for the now-midrange Windows Phone 8X b HTC is even lower. Buyers can pick up that device on Amazon for as little as $199 without a two-year service agreement.united-promo As we move forward into 2014 prices for once high-end Windows Phone devices without a two-year service agreement are only going to get lower.

Finland targets giant status in global cleantech arena

"We see ourselves as the Henry Ford of wave energy," said Tomasz Mucha, who is responsible for project financing and business development at AW-Energy, a small renewable energy company based in Vantaa, just north of the Finnish capital Helsinki."When Ford built the first car he knew what it should do and he had an idea of how it should be done. Eventually, he was able to take the technology to line production," said Mucha.Mucha and his colleagues are working hard to ensure that in the next five to 10 years, powering household devices with abundant clean energy harvested from the ocean will be more science fact than science fiction.Currently two companies in Finland's cleantech sector focus on wave energy: AW-Energy and Wello, headquartered in Espoo, a satellite town near Helsinki.Both companies have patented solutions that convert the kinetic power of ocean waves to electricity.Wello's Penguin is a specialized vessel that bobs on ocean surfaces while anchored to the seabed, allowing it to convert the rocking and rolling motion to energy.AW-Energy's WaveRoller is deployed on the ocean floor and features a moveable, fin-like panel that converts the constant undersea wave surge to electricity.AW-Energy is hoping that its first commercial project will take the company one step closer to the Fordian production line ideal. Plotted for Bretagne in France, the initiative has impressive Herb basilheavyweight partners behind it: Finnish energy giant Fortum, French naval shipbuilder DCNS and the support of the local Bretagne region."We need projects and their operational data before the industry can kick off and get results that will convince conservative organizations like financial institutions, energy companies and insurance companies," Mucha emphasized. 

Kaisa Hernberg, executive director of the government-backed export promotion network Cleantech Finland, said that renewable energy companies represent just one aspect of Finland's dynamic clean technology sector.Altogether the sector includes 2,000 companies and organizations and cuts across a diverse range of industries: energy and materials efficiency; technology for built up environments; bioenergy and biofuels; and water management, including water treatment or purification.Finnish cleantech is quietly yet solidly increasing its contribution to the Finnish economy and conquering major markets abroad."In 2012 the turnover of the cleantech sector surpassed that of the forestry industry, so it's major business in Finland, and turnover in the sector increased by 15 percent in 2012," Hernberg elaborated."It's the competitive factor that spawns the growth," she added.According to AW-Energy's Mucha that competitive factor includes an operational model that has become a key feature of many companies operating in the techno-industrial sector.Fruit knife"Finland has well-established know-how in the heavy machinery and equipment industry, and has been traditionally involved in heavy industry. In addition there is a business model where R&D and core components are produced in Finland and exported to projects on-site," Mucha outlined.The competitive edge has also seen Finland's cleantech sector grow to employ 50,000 people with another 40,000 jobs to be added by 2020, according to estimates by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. 

Moreover, it has helped the Nordic nation spread its cleantech wings far and wide."China is the number one market for Finnish cleantech. They have ambitious emission reductions targets so they are very interested in cleantech solutions," Hernberg noted.She added that Russia, Brazil, India,Antique faucets Germany and Sweden are also major markets, and the United States to some extent."What they all have in common is that they are all large growth markets. And many of the emerging economies are struggling with the effects of wide industrialization and urbanization," she said.A 2013 analysis of the global renewables market by a specialist team at the business and financial information provider Bloomberg estimated that by 2030, renewable technologies will account for 50 percent of new power generation capacity globally.Groundbreakers like AW-Energy and Mucha want to play a major role in that transformation, and in so doing could make Finland a global cleantech giant.

Sony announces 1.1 bln USD annual net loss as deal to sell PC business reached, 5,000 jobs to be axed

Sony Corp. announced Thursday it had revised its full year forecast for the year through March to a group net loss of 110 billion yen (1.Vintage faucets1 billion U.S. dollars) from a profit of 30 billion yen, owing to sluggish sales of its televisions and personal computers.Sony, also known for its Xperia smartphones and PlayStation games consoles, also forecast an operating profit of 80 billion yen, from sales totaling 7.7 trillion yen.In the April-December period, the electronics giant returned to profit to the tune of 11.17 billion yen, from a 50.87 billion yen loss logged at the same time in the previous year, the firm said.Banner PenSony also said its sales were up 16.4 percent to 5.9 trillion yen, from the previous year, with its operating profit surging 70. 5 percent from the previous year to 141.45 billion yen.The firm however confirmed Thursday it has reached a deal to sell its flagging Vaio laptop business to investment fund Japan Industrial Partners."Sony has determined that concentrating its mobile product lineup on smartphones and tablets and transferring its PC business to a new company established by Japan Industrial Partners is the optimal solution," Sony said in a statement.The firms are planning to have themodern lamps deal finalized by spring this year and just ahead of a planned consumption tax hike from 5 to 8 percent a month later that could negatively impact demand for consumer electronics here, as purchasing sentiment for non- essential goods wins as consumers here rein in spending. 

"Sony and JIP will now proceed with due diligence and negotiate detailed terms and conditions of the business transfer, targeting the conclusion of a definitive agreement by the end of March 2014," said Sony."Following reevaluation of the product lineup, the new company is expected initially to concentrate on sales of consumer and corporate PCs in the Japanese market and seek to optimize its sales channels and scale of operations, while evaluating possible further geographic expansion," the statement added.As well as making wholesale changes to its TV business, by restructuring the struggling section as a subsidiary and not one of the mainstay businesses of the firm, Sony also announced it will be cutting personnel in a bid to reduce costs.Sony said that as part of the sale of its PC business, some 5, 000 jobs will be axed."For employees of Sony Corporation and Sony EMCS Corporation that are not hired by the new company or transferred within the Sony Group, Sony plans to also offer an early retirement support program to assist their reemployment outside of the Sony Group," Sony said in an official statement Thursday.

UPDATE 1-Golf-Walker joins Spieth in share of Pebble Beach lead

American Jimmy Walker edged one step closer to a third victory on the 2013-14 PGA Tour when he moved into an tie for the lead after the rain-delayed second round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Friday.FedExCup points leader Walker, who won the season-opening Frys.com Open in October and last month's Sony Open in Hawaii fired a three-under-par 69 at Spyglass Hill, one of three venues being used this week, to sit on nine-under after 36 holes.Walker clearly relishes playing on the picturesque Monterey Peninsula, having recorded top-10 finishes in each of the last three years at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.polyester resin"I do like playing golf out here, playing Pebble beach is pretty amazing," Walker told reporters. "I seem to play well out here. I don't know what it is but I do like playing out here."The 34-year-old collected three birdies in a bogey-free display in mainly overcast, breezy conditions to finish level with fellow American Jordan Spieth, who returned a six-birdie 67 at Monterey Peninsula.Spieth, the 2013 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year who clinched his maiden title at the John Deere Classic in July, birdied his final hole, the par-three ninth, to join Walker at the top."We are just having a lot of fun," Spieth said of the pro-am atmosphere."We are playing a little slower rounds and we are not catching the best weather but everything is laughs and it just a good time."It feels a little more relaxed and when things are going wrong there are some the people there to pick you up." 

Just one stroke shy of the lead sits fellow American Hunter Mahan after a four-under 68 at Spyglass Hill moved the 31-year-old five-time Tour winner to eight-under.Mahan carded six birdies and two bogeys to move into the mix.First-round leader Andrew Loupe, a PGA Tour rookie making only his seventh start on the U.S. circuit,Banner Pen was another stroke back at seven under after carding a one-over 73 on the hosting Pebble Beach Golf Links.Richard Lee (72) sits alone in fifth place at six-under while 11 players are tied sixth at five-under.Tournament favourite and world number four Phil Mickelson, bidding for a record-equalling fifth victory at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am,Clawfoot tub accessories was five off the pace in a tie for 17th after signing for a roller-coaster 73.The American left-hander, wearing a glove on each hand to cope with increasingly chilly conditions on the Pebble Beach Golf Links, mixed a double-bogey at the second with four birdies and three bogeys to finish at four under.Loupe's overnight lead of two shots held up when the rain-delayed first round was completed earlier on Friday.The 25-year-old Loupe had set the pace with a sizzling 63 at Monterey Peninsula on Thursday but 40 players were yet to finish when play ended for the day in fading light.Of those, Mickelson was three strokes off the pace with three holes remaining but he was unable to get any closer to Loupe as he finished up with three successive pars on Friday morning to card a 66. (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by John O'Brien)

Samsung Electronics fourth-quarter profit sags

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd posted its first decline in quarterly profit in two years, hit by one-off special bonus as well as slowing smartphone sales as it braces for a year of tougher competition with rival Apple Inc.The world's biggest smartphone maker kept its full-year investment plan conservative and warned it would be difficult to increase earnings in the first quarter as demand pulls back from the year-end holiday period.October-December operating profit fell 6 percent on year to 8.3 trillion won ($7.7 billion),amino resin in line with a previous estimate of 8.3 trillion won, Samsung said in a statement on Friday.The figure was brought down by an 800 billion won ($745 million) special employee bonus to commemorate 20 years since Chairman Lee Kun-hee announced a management strategy that the company regards as the catalyst to its recent growth. 

It said a stronger won also hit profit, knocking off around 700 billion won.Shares of Samsung Electronics, worth $204 billion, edged up 0.4 percent after the earnings release, compared with the benchmark index which fell 0.3 percent. The stock has fallen 8 percent in the past month on concern over slowing smartphone growth."It will be challenging for Samsung to improve its earnings in the first quarter as the weak seasonality of the IT industry will put pressure on demand for components and TV products," the company Cast iron tubsaid in a statement.Samsung said its 2014 capital expenditure, a barometer of broader technology industry demand for manufacturing tools such as chip equipment,World of Warcraft US - Golden Pig will be similar to 2013's 23.8 trillion won. 

Operating profit at its cash cow mobile division stood flat at 5.47 trillion won, but slipped 18 percent from July-September's record 6.7 trillion won as new iPhones drew away sales during the year-end holiday period.Operating profit from display unit Samsung Display tumbled 90 percent to 110 billion won as weaker-than-forecast sales of the Galaxy S4 left smartphone screens sitting in the inventory, while subdued sales of television sets also had an impact on TV screen shipments.

The future of Dynamics in a Nadella-led Microsoft

Microsoft's Dynamics ERP and CRM product lines seemed safe immediately following former CEO Steve Ballmer's sweeping reorganization of the company last year. But now that longtime Microsoft executive Satya Nadella has been named Ballmer's successor, the time is ripe for more focused speculation on the future of Dynamics. Here's a look at what could be in store.He knows Dynamics well: Nadella served a stint in the Dynamics business from 2001-2007, so he has an intimate knowledge of the ERP applications and their user bases, as well as Dynamics CRM, which has made strides against the likes of Salesforce.com, thanks to factors including aggressive pricing and the option of cloud or on-premises deployments."It's not as if he's going to take a lot of time to come up to speed," said analyst Frank Scavo, managing partner of IT consulting firm Strativa. "I think Dynamics increases in stature at Microsoft under Nadella."Nadella played a "fairly prominent role" at a Microsoft analyst event Scavo attended several months ago, taking part in a lengthy session that primarily focused on Dynamics and Microsoft's Azure cloud service, which Nadella oversaw before taking the CEO job, Scavo added.x431Meanwhile, Nadella has said that to be a leader in enterprise cloud computing, a vendor must have "best-in-class first-party SaaS applications," running on its own cloud infrastructure. 

All in all, Nadella will likely be a strong advocate for Dynamics as he settles into the CEO slot.key programmer"We are very happy about Satya's appointment as CEO,BMW ICOM" a spokesperson for Dynamics said via email Thursday. "Microsoft Dynamics is on a strong growth path and is seeing great traction market. We are innovating at a rapid pace and are excited about what we plan to deliver to our customers in the upcoming months."Customer enthusiasm: Customers are happy too. "We're extremely excited about it," said Frank Vukovits, co-founder and director of programming for the Dynamics AX User Group, regarding Nadella's appointment. In fact, Nadella spoke at the group's first summit meeting in 2005, Vukovits said. "He has always been a big supporter of the community and sees a lot of value in users and customers getting together and sharing their knowledge to allow them to do more with the product." 

Nadella understands business applications and the needs of users that work with them, Vukovits added. "What would have made me nervous is if they brought someone in with a history focused just on sales and licensing, the volume side of the business, versus the need to truly embrace the business customer," he said.Eyes on the enterprise: In order to substantially grow the Dynamics business, Microsoft will have to go after ERP deals with large enterprises. To that end, it's been building out its global services capabilities, even though traditionally Dynamics has mostly been sold through partners around the world, who tweak the software for customers' needs. Many have also built out industry-specific functionality for Dynamics.

This iPhone-Sized Device Can Hack A Car, Researchers Plan To Demonstrate

Auto makers have long downplayed the threat of hacker attacks on their cars and trucks, arguing that their vehicles’ increasingly-networked systems are protected from rogue wireless intrusion. Now two researchers plan to show that a few minutes alone with a car and a tiny, cheap device can give digital saboteurs all the wireless control they need.At the Black Hat Asia security conference in Singapore next month, Spanish security researchers Javier Vazquez-Vidal and Alberto Garcia Illera plan to present a small gadget they built for less than $20 that can be physically connected to a car’s internal network to inject malicious commands affecting everything from its windows and headlights to its steering and brakes. Their tool, which is about three-quarters the size of an iPhone, attaches via four wires to the Controller Area Network or CAN bus of a vehicle, drawing power from the car’s electrical system and waiting to relay wireless commands sent remotely from an attacker’s computer. They call their creation the CAN Hacking Tool, or CHT.“It can take five minutes or less to hook it up and then walk away,” says Vazquez Vidal, who works as a automobile IT security consultant in Germany. “We could wait one minute or one year, and then trigger it to do whatever we have programmed it to do.” 

Just what commands the researchers can remotely inject with the CHT, Vazquez Vidal says, depends on the model of car. They tested four different vehicles, whose specific make and model they declined to name, and their tricks ranged from mere mischief like switching off headlights, setting off alarms, and rolling windows up and down to accessing anti-lock brake or emergency brake systems that could potentially cause a sudden stop in traffic. In some cases, the attacks required gaining under-the-hood access or opening the car’s trunk, while in other instances, they say they could simply crawl under the car to plant the device.For now, the tool communicates via only Bluetooth,Soft cup limiting the range of any wireless attack to a few feet. But by the time the two researchers present their research in Singapore, they say they’ll upgrade it to use a GSM cellular radio instead that would make it possible to control the device from miles away.All the ingredients of their tool are off-the-shelf components, adds Vazquez Vidal,x431 GDS so that even if the device is discovered it wouldn’t necessarily provide clues as to who planted it. “It’s totally untraceable,” he says.The Spanish researchers’ work adds to a growing focus in the security industry on the vulnerability of networked automobiles to hackers’ attacks. Before the Defcon hacker conference last July, researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek put me behind the wheel of a Ford Explorer and a Toyota Prius and then showed that they could plug their laptops into a dashboard port of vehicles to perform nasty tricks like slamming on the Prius’ brakes, jerking its steering wheel and even disabling the brakes of the Explorer at low speeds.That work helped to spur Senator Edward Markey to send a seven-page letter to 20 automakers asking that they detail their security practices. Though the automakers’ answers were due on January 3rd, Markey’s office hasn’t yet released the results of their responses. 

Toyota both brushed off Miller and Valasek’s work by pointing to the fact that their hack required physical access to the vehicle. “Our focus, and that of the entire auto industry, is to prevent hacking from a remote wireless device outside of the vehicle,” Toyota safety manager John Hanson told me at the time.But Miller and Valasek counter that others had already shown that the initial wireless penetration of a car’s network is indeed possible. In 2011, a team of researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California at San Diego wirelessly penetrated a car’s internals via cellular networks, Bluetooth connections, and even a malicious audio file on a CD in its stereo system.Vazquez Vidal’s and Garcia Illera’s CHT device adds yet another way to cross that wireless divide,Period Cup and one that’s likely far cheaper. But like prior researchers, they say their intention is to show that digital car attacks are possible, not to enable them. Though they’ll detail the physical construction of their tool, they say they don’t plan to release the code used to inject commands into their test vehicles’ networks. “The goal isn’t to release our hacking tool to the public and say ‘take this and start hacking cars,’” says Vazquez Vidal. “We want to reach the manufacturers and show them what can be done.”Like Miller and Valasek, they argue that car makers need to look beyond the initial wireless penetration of a car’s network to consider adding security between a vehicle’s systems, limiting a rogue device’s ability to wreak havoc.