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Google's fourth-quarter earnings rose 17 percent even though a long-running slump in its online ad prices deepened.
The performance announced Thursday indicates that Google is still struggling to close the gap between the rates for ads shown on mobile devices and those on personal computers.

Advertisers haven't been willing to pay as much to reach prospective customers on the smaller screens of smartphones and tablets, but Google Inc. has been tweaking its digital marketing system so mobile and PC ad campaigns are bundled together. In doing so, Google Inc. is hoping advertisers eventually will recognize the advantages of reaching people on the go and gradually begin to pay higher prices for mobile marketing pitches.

But Google's average ad price during the fourth quarter fell 11 percent from the previous year. That was the steepest quarterly drop in 2013. It marked the ninth consecutive quarter that Google's average ad rate, also known as "cost per click," has fallen from the previous year.

Much of that erosion has been offset by more ads flowing into the system and Google's algorithms doing an even better job of showing the promotions to Web surfers mostly likely to be interested them. The total number of paid ad clicks increased by 31 percent from the previous year.

"The demand was very strong, but the pricing is still not there on the mobile side," Edward Jones analyst Josh Olson said.

Google earned $3.4 billion, or $9.90 per share, in the October-December period. That compares with $2.9 billion, or $8.62 per share, in the prior year.

Excluding costs to cover employees' stock compensation, Google said it earned $12.01 per share. That was slightly below the average estimate of $12.22 per share among analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 17 percent to $16.9 billion.

After subtracting Google's ad commissions, revenue stood at $13.5 billion, in line with analyst projections.

Google's stock edged up $1.61 to $1,137 in extended trading.

Samsung has formally announced the Galaxy Note 3 Neo variant in Poland. The Galaxy Note 3 Neo will be offered with 3G network and 4G LTE network supporting versions.

Samsung has formally announced the Galaxy Note 3 Neo which will be avaialble in Europe region, starting off with Poland. Samsung's idea of the Neo series is to let consumers enjoy features of the flagship devices with slightly less powerful hardware. With the same interest, the Galaxy Note 3 Neo bundles along the S Pen stylus. Samsung has not announced the availability and pricing for the Galaxy Note 3 Neo as yet.

Samsung aims to deliver the budget friendly versions of its top devices with the Neo moniker added to the corresponding model name. Samsung has quietly launched the Galaxy Note 3 Neo in Poland but kept it low profile about the processor inside. The Galaxy Note 3 Neo will be offered in two versions - 3G and 4G.

The 3G version comes with quad-core 1.6 GHz mobile processor - the model of the processor was not revealed. The LTE network supporting Note 3 Neo packs a hexa-core mobile processor which comprises of 1.7 GHz dual Cortex-A15 cores and 1.3 GHz quad Cortex-A7 crammed. Both versions feature a 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreen display with 1280x720 pixel resolution. Samsung has equipped both models with 2 GB RAM and offers 16 GB on-board storage space with memory slot.

At the rear, the Galaxy Note 3 Neo flaunts a 8 megapixel camera with BSI sensor. This camera offers autofocus and is coupled with LED flash. Touting zero shutter lag, the camera also includes Smart stabilisation to help reduce the handshake moments. One can record full HD (1080p) videos with this camera which also comes with several shooting modes for the user's bliss. In the front lies a 2 megapixel BSI sensor clad camera for full HD video calls. The native hardware is capable enough to play full 1080p HD video smoothly.

The Galaxy Note 3 Neo bundling S Pen offer support for the Air Command to expand the menu options of the stylus. Other software side improvements include Easy Clip for slicing out an image using stylus. Multi-Window view for multi-tasking and Notebook UX features trotting S Note are also there in the handset.


Samsung has packed a 3100 mAh battery to power the Galaxy Note 3 Neo. Clearly, the Galaxy Note 3 Neo is slightly underpowered than the Galaxy Note 3.

Oppo N1 vs Gionee Elife E7 Mini

Oppo N1 and Gionee Elife E7 Mini come with rotating camera module which allows users to use their rear camera as a front camera.

Oppo will launch its innovative smartphone - the Oppo N1 - in India today. The highlight of the handset is its rotating camera module which allows users to use its rear camera as the front camera as well. In December 2013, Gionee - another Chinese vendor - too had announced a phone with rotating camera module. The Gionee phone, named as Elife E7 Mini, is though yet to be made available in India.

Here we take the opportunity to compare the two handsets.

Design

"Oppo N1 is designed with a beautiful dual line philosophy. The entire device is wound by two finely cut chamfers. Visible from every angle, the dual chamfers run through the sides of the device's pure and minimalist design. The subtle curves and contours lend to its sophisticated yet simple design," Oppo says on the web page of N1.

It has a full metal aluminium alloy frame which said to have processed though 14 polishing stages before finalisation. Moreover, its body is said to be resistant to fingerprints while giving a soft feeling.

Oppo N1

But the main design aspect of N1 is its rotating camera module which allows its rear camera to be used as a front camera. This means that using the 13 megapixel rear camera you can make video calls or click selfies. It comes in only white colour.

Gionee Elife E7 Mini

Oppo N1

Gionee Elife E7 Mini

Oppo N1

The N1 has dual LED flash lights. While the dual flash design consists of a normal flash for back facing shots, they give a diffused softer light for when you flip the camera forward, Oppo claims.

Gionee Elife E7 Mini

Oppo N1

The Gionee Elife E7 Mini has dual SIM, 2100 mAh battery, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, micro USB, and GPS. Both are non-LTE phones.
Conclusion
At the time of publishing, Oppo has not announced the price of N1 but we expect it to be priced much above the Elife E7 Mini which will be available for Rs 18,999. Also many details about Elife E7 Mini is still obscure.

Gionee Elife E7 Mini

Trying to bring the heat to WhatsApp in India, African cross-platform messaging app and mobile social network has come to the country. The app was launched officially in India on Wednesday.

Mxit is available for download on not just smartphone OSes like Android, iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry, but is also available on Java and Symbian platforms. The company says that about 8,000 different feature phones, smartphones and tablets can run the application. Its USP is the fact that it can work on basic-data enabled feature phones too and can run on even plain-old 2G connections.

The app comes across a mix of multiple mobile based cross-platform messaging apps and social networks like WhatsApp and WeChat. Mxit borrows design elements from WhatsApp heavily, including the double tick to send and receive messages. Unlike WhatsApp, though, you can create a complete social networking profile on the app.



You can also use apps and games inside Mxit on your phones. It also provides for allowing business and NGOs a platform on the service. Organisations can set up and personalise the platforms from communicate with each other on it, says the company. There are a few mobile education, healthcare and community apps available on the service too.

You can send chat messages of up to 2,048 characters and the company aims to make Mxit a viable replacement for SMS, especially for users with feature phones. Mxit has appointed former South African cricketer, Gary Kirsten, as its brand ambassador in India. Having coached the Indian cricket team on its way to winning the World Cup, Kirsten now has a pretty huge fan following in the country. To capitalise on this, Mxit also has a Gary Kirsten app on the service, using which you can ask him questions and get replies.

To check out a list of platforms Mxit is available on, you can head on to the company’s website.

Oppo has set its foot in Indian market with the launch of its flagship smartphone - N1 for Rs 39,999. The Oppo N1 packs 5.9-inch full HD display, Snapdragon 600 chipset and ColorOS based on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth has jumped by USD 3.1 billion to USD 29.7 billion after the social networking giant’s shares surged on strong fourth quarter performance.

According to Wealth-X, a global wealth intelligence and prospecting company, Zuckerberg’s net worth increased substantially after the company announced its 2013 fourth quarter earnings after market close on Wednesday.

“Zuckerberg’s net worth is calculated after accounting for shares in public and private companies, residential and passion investments such as art, planes and real estate, and is based on the most recent publicly available disclosure of his shares and options in the Menlo Park social network firm,” a Wealth-X release said.

It added that the “29 years old Zuckerberg’s current fortune equates to more than USD 1 billion for every year he has lived.” The company’s shares surged 12 per cent to USD 59.98 in the after-hours trading on strong 2013 mobile ad revenues. Mobile ad sales rose to 53 per cent of revenues from 49 percent in the previous quarter.

According to the latest quarterly report, the company’s profits stood at USD 523 million, up USD 64 million from the year ago period. Revenue grew 63 per cent to USD 2.59 billion. At present, the social networking site has 1.23 billion monthly active users and 757 million daily active users.

Ten years after its founding as a simple website for a few thousand Harvard undergraduates to manage their social lives, Facebook is a far different company.
About 757 million people around the world used the social network on an average day last month, and three-quarters of them logged on using mobile devices.

Facebook's business has also been transformed. In 2012, most of its money came from generic banner ads delivered to users visiting its site by desktop computer. In the fourth quarter of 2013, 53 percent of the company's advertising revenue came from pitches delivered to iPads, smartphones and other mobile devices, with many of those ads highly targeted by gender, age and other demographics.

"I think it's inarguable that Facebook is a mobile-first company," Facebook's chief financial officer, David Ebersman, said in an interview.

The ascendance of mobile, both in use of the site and advertising, was apparent in Facebook's strong fourth-quarter financial results, which the company reported Wednesday.

Facebook had total revenue of $2.59 billion in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, up from $1.59 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue from advertising was $2.34 billion, up 76 percent from the previous year.

Net income was $523 million, or 20 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $64 million, or 3 cents a share, in the previous year's fourth quarter, when heavy stock compensation costs related to Facebook's initial public offering depressed results. Using a measure that excludes those compensation costs, profits were up 83 percent.

"It's hard to see any flaws in this quarter," said Ron Josey, an analyst at JMP Securities. "They're seeing demand for their ad product go through the roof."

Ebersman told investors in a conference call that despite selling 8 percent fewer ads, the average effective price for a Facebook ad was up 92 percent compared with the previous year.

Shares of the company surged on the results, which were significantly better than Wall Street had expected. The stock, which closed down about 3 percent in regular trading before the earnings were released, rose as much as 10 percent in after-hours trading.

Given that Facebook had virtually no mobile presence in 2012, the transition is a huge turn that now puts the company at the forefront of the industry's shift to serving people on the move.

The company deserves much of the credit for making that switch, said Nate Elliott, an industry analyst at Forrester Research. It revamped its once-clunky mobile apps and introduced better targeting.

But he said the company's principal ad format - messages inserted among the stream of status updates and photos that users share with one another - became mobile largely because that was how users chose to reach their news feeds.

"Their users changed their behavior," he said. "That was pretty much a stroke of luck."

Facebook continued to expand its user base, with about 1.23 billion people logging on to the service at least once a month.

But there remain worries that younger people are abandoning Facebook for instant-messaging service likes Snapchat. In October, the company warned that younger teenagers were engaging less with the service. On Wednesday, executives pointedly declined to discuss whether that trend has continued.

"They must know by refusing to answer the question, they are increasing the urgency with which that question will be asked," Elliott said.

In an interview, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, said that the company had "the best mobile app out there" and garnered about one out of every five minutes that mobile users were online.

She said the company had also been able to demonstrate to advertisers that buying ads on Facebook was effective. "Our investments in being able to prove results to marketers have really paid off," she said.

The company has refined its ad targeting so that marketers can reach the demographics they most precisely want to hit, while also simplifying the options for smaller businesses, she said.

Facebook accounted for more than 18.4 percent of worldwide mobile ad spending in 2013, according to the research firm eMarketer, up from 5.4 percent in 2012. Google still commands the greatest presence in mobile ads, primarily through search, with 53.2 percent of the market.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's co-founder and chief executive, said on the investor call that the company still had a lot of growth ahead.

Despite more than 1 billion users, "we're still a small part of the world's population," he said.

And Facebook has grand plans to make ads more relevant and to help users better sift through the more than 1 trillion pieces of information that have been shared so far. "We're really early in the game on this," Zuckerberg said.

When LG India originally announced G Flex for the Indian market in December 2013, the company had not revealed the pricing of the smartphone but as we head closer to availability, mystery is finally over.

According to Mumbai-based retailer Mahesh Telecom, LG G Flex has been priced at INR 69,990 (MRP) and will sell for a best buy price for INR 66,900. The first stocks of the phone are supposed to arrive in the next couple of days, so we can expect availability next week.

This is in line with LG’s earlier announced availability of February 2014. Given the high-pricing, we don’t see many consumers opting for the phone, it will remain a niche device and will only attract select few, who want to be the first consumers to get their hands on a smartphone with curved display.


To remind you, LG G Flex runs on Android 4.2.2 and comes with 6.0-inch HD Plastic-OLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 3500 mAh battery. In addition, the phone packs 32GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, 13MP rear camera and 2.1MP front camera.

iBall has introduced yet another entry-level mobile - Andi 4.5 Ripple with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean running on it.

Yet another entry-level smartphone has been launched for India and this time around it comes from the house of iBall. Newest in the iBall Andi series is the Andi 4.5 Ripple, available in 2G and 3G versions. The former is priced at Rs 5,499, while the 3G version will run you up Rs 6,399. Quite naturally, the Ripple will be competing with other low-cost smartphones, most notably Micromax’s Bold series as well as Lava’s 3G series.

Here are the specs: First up is a 1.3 GHz dual-core Cortex-A7 processor, backed by 512MB of RAM. It runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and gets features such as the Daydream screensaver as well as Wi-Fi direct support. As the name suggests, the Ripple has a 4.5inch FWVGA display (854×480). The display is decently large, but that resolution may end up being a terrible fit for it.

On the back is a 5MP camera with LED flash, and there’s a front camera too, though iBall has not mentioned its specifics. It comes with an in-built memory of 4GB and expandable up to 32 GB. Fairly standard stuff and the 1500 mAh battery underlines the low-end position of the phone.

On the bright side, it’s available in a bunch of colours with different paintjobs on the 2G and 3G versions. We can only assume that the phone has Wi-Fi support of some kind, though the press release does not mention it. It does say there’s GPS with A-GPS, which is a great addition at this price point.

One of the most common issues that gadgets like smartphones and tablets suffer from is poor battery life. Using a few simple tips, apps and accessories in your daily routine can help maximise the battery back-up of your device.

Here are six tips to boost the battery life of your smartphones and tablets.

Brightness level

Display is one of the biggest battery drainers on a phone. Instead of opting for automatic brightness in settings, manually set it to 40-50% in order to conserve battery.

Connectivity

Keep the phone and tablet's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC and 3G connectivity switched off when not required.

Uninstall apps

Various apps run background processes that constantly consume battery. If you are not using a particular app, it's better to uninstall it.


Haptic feedback

The vibrating feedback from the phone every time the touchscreen is used might feel nice, but switching it off saves battery life.


Battery Doctor

This free app is available for iOS and Android. It shows which apps are consuming more battery and the remaining battery time of the device. The Android app also lets you do one-touch optimization of the battery.d Portronics Limebox (Rs 8,499) are two Android media players that are already available in India.

Carat

Carat is available for both Android as well as iOS and shows how much power each running app is consuming. After a week's usage, it starts giving recommendations on phone usage to improve battery life.

WASHINGTON: The Google Android system was used on 78.9% of smartphones sold globally in 2013, a survey showed.

The report by the research firm Strategy Analytics confirms the ascendancy of Android, which has extended its lead over Apple's iOS, which is used on the iPhone.

"There is little doubt that 2013 was the year of Android," said Neil Mawston, analyst with the consultancy.

"However, Android's annual growth rate slowed to 62% in 2013, its lowest level in the platform's history. We expect Android's growth to slow further in 2014 due to market saturation, and rivals like Microsoft or Firefox will be ready to pounce on any signs of a major slowdown for Android this year."

The report said Apple's global market share slipped to 15.5% in 2013 from 19.4% in 2012. Meanwhile Windows Phone grabbed third place with a 3.6% share, up from 2.7% a year earlier.

"Microsoft is now firmly established as the smartphone industry's third major ecosystem, shipping 35.7 million units worldwide," Mawston said.

"However, the Windows Phone platform is still struggling to gain traction in the low-tier and premium-tier smartphone categories and they remain serious weaknesses that Microsoft will need to address in 2014."

Strategy Analytics said global smartphone sales rose 41% last year to 990 million.

A report Monday by IDC said the total was just over one billion, with Samsung the largest vendor at 31.3%.

Dual-SIM Nokia X has 4-inch display and packs dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile processor.


There have been many speculations about Nokia's Android phone, purportedly named as Nokia X. Now EVLeaks, a popular technology-focussed Twitter account, has posted few more features of the phone on its Twitter account.

According to EVLeaks, the Nokia X will have dual-SIM slots, a 4-inch touchscreen with 480x800 pixel pixel resolution, a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 mobile processor, and 512 MB RAM. It further added that the Nokia X will offer 4 GB on-board storage; we hope there is a memory card slot in the phone as well. At the back will be a 5 megapixel camera. The leaked press images do not show any camera in the front.

Nokia X will come with dual-SIM configuration and we hope for the 3G network support in at least one of the SIM card slots. The Nokia X is expected to sport Nokia Store for apps along with support for third party applications. Nokia will add a 1500 mAh battery to make it run for decent hours. There is no clarity on the Android version and whether it will have any similarity with the Asha devices. Meanwhile, as per EVLeaks, the Nokia X will be offered in six basic colours.
More from The Mobile Indian

This app runs through the timestamps on every post in your feed until it reaches the earliest one, which it uses as the estimated date that you created your profile. Users who are extraordinarily active on the site may get an estimate that is considerably later than the actual date that they joined.

After the previous week's range of rumours regarding colour variants for the popular Google Nexus 5, it appears that now the packaging cover for a Red colour variant has been spotted.

If the image is real, it would at least confirm the Nexus 5 is soon to come in at least Red, if not Yellow, Blue, Green, Orange and Purple variants seen via previous rumours and fake videos.

The news comes from the Twitter account of @artyomstar, a Russian Android OS fan, who posted a series of images online. When contacted by AmongTech, @artyomstar refused to divulge an email address for further communication, saying "have no point of it ;) it was from LG warehouse in UK" - apparently referring to the provenance of the images.

Not one, but a total of five images appear to have been clicked for this leak, which includes three images of the Google Nexus 5 (Red) packaging cover, apart from shots of its front and back panels.


Of course, as with all leaks, it's wise to take this one with a pinch of salt, and so far, there's been no official word about any colour variants for the Google Nexus 5. While the possibility of colour variants only being made available in certain regions still exists, it is expected that the variants should reach all regions where the Black and White models are being sold currently.

Google launched its much-awaited Nexus 5 smartphone in India back the third week of November, at Rs. 28,999.

Google Nexus 5 was the first device to run Android 4.4, which brings a new dialler that automatically suggests to people the most likely call; as well as Caller ID by Google that matches an incoming phone number to a business even if that number isn't stored in the contact list. Users can send and receive text messages directly from Hangouts, and Hangouts for Android now supports location sharing.

Microsoft is renaming its cloud storage service "OneDrive" after British broadcaster BSkyB took issue with its former name, "SkyDrive."
The two sides settled the dispute last July for undisclosed financial terms after British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC won an initial case in a British court.

Microsoft said the change would be made soon but didn't give a date.

While the rebranding doesn't involve a change to the service's logo - two blue clouds on a white background - it does bring the name more in line with other company brands.

Last July, Microsoft re-organized its corporate structure to focus on providing both devices and services in a strategy it called "One Microsoft."

Its latest game console, released in November, is called "Xbox One."

Microsoft last week reported revenue and earnings for its fiscal second quarter that topped Wall Street expectations, as the company sold 3.9 million Xbox One consoles to retailers and doubled revenue from its line of Surface tablets from a quarter earlier.

Net income in the quarter through December climbed to $6.56 billion, or 78 cents per share, from $6.38 billion, or 76 cents per share, a year ago.

Outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer, who announced he'd step down by August, said in a statement the Redmond, Wash.-based company's devices and consumer segment had a "great holiday quarter." A new CEO is expected to be announced soon.

Lower-than-expected holiday iPhone sales and a weak revenue forecast by Apple Inc renewed fears about Chinese demand and a tepid global market, wiping 8 percent off company stock.
This year was to have been Apple Inc's watershed moment in China, when a long-awaited deal with the nation's largest carrier was to have propelled it back toward the top ranks of its most crucial market, clawing back ground from rival Samsung Electronics.

Instead, the forecast for the March quarter - when Apple is expected to have reaped the fruits of that long-awaited deal - raises questions of whether investors had over-estimated that arrangement, and broader concerns about flagging demand for smartphones and tablets in general.

"There's no doubt that shipments (to China Mobile) are lower than almost anybody expected," said Pacific Crest Securities' Andy Hargreaves. Globally, "the high-end smartphone and tablet markets are saturated, and that's not going to grow."

The world's most valuable technology company sold a record 51 million iPhones in the quarter, but that was still shy of the 55 million or so that analysts had expected.

The company forecast sales of $42 billion to $44 billion this quarter, brisker than usual because of Apple's new deal to sell iPhones through China Mobile Ltd, the country's No. 1 carrier. But Wall Street had expected even more - $46 billion, on average.

The company on Monday recorded sales of $57.6 billion in its December or fiscal first quarter, versus expectations for about $57.5 billion. Net profit was flat from a year earlier at $13.1 billion, or $14.50 a share, compared to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S estimate of $14.07.

"After showing modest signs of improvement, we're back to a no-growth outlook," said JMP Securities' Alex Gauna. "It's something Apple needs to find an answer to... If it can't prove that it's going to be a growth story again, the valuation is too high."

Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer told analysts on a conference call the March-quarter revenue outlook reflected the effects of a strong U.S. dollar, and more balanced levels of demand and supply for iPhones at the start of 2014 than a year earlier, when demand outstripped available inventory.

Emerging strength

In the December quarter, Apple recorded gross profit margins of 37.9 percent, roughly in line with expectations.

But it was the iPhone sales and revenue outlook shortfall that drew attention.

The iPhone maker has been ceding ground to Samsung and other rivals in China, its No. 2 market, but investors hope its tie-up with the country's dominant mobile carrier will help reverse its fortunes in the world's largest cellular arena.

In the closely watched greater China region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, revenue jumped 29 percent from a year earlier to $8.84 billion, bolstered by strong iPad sales and the iPhone's global launch in September, when China was included among launch countries for the first time.

Company executives did not talk about iPhone unit sales in the world's No. 2 economy. But intense competition not just from Samsung but also lower-cost, local rivals like Huawei and Xiaomi is impeding its progress.

The latest figures show Samsung increasing its lead in global smartphone sales.

In the less competitive tablet arena, Apple sold a record 26 million iPads globally in the quarter, in line with Wall Street estimates. Oppenheimer told Reuters the company more than doubled sales of the tablet in mainland China during the December quarter, helping drive that milestone.

The iPod, which sparked the revival of Apple last decade, is now a waning product, selling just over 6 million in the quarter, less than half the year-ago tally.

"IPod sales declined by 52 percent year-over-year in the December quarter and we would expect them to continue to decline year-over-year in the March quarter," said Oppenheimer.

Longer term, investors continue to hope that Apple, which last came out with a revolutionary new device - the iPad - in 2010, has something up its sleeve for 2014. Speculation currently revolves around a smartwatch or even a long-rumored TV product. Others say Apple can use its huge iPhone and iTunes base to get into mobile payments or advertising.

"What we need to see from them is some sort of new product development and it would be likely in the area of software, mobile payments and advertisements that would get us thinking that there is an opportunity for accretion," Gauna said.

"Hardware can only go in one direction and that's flat or down. It has to be something in the innovation space and they have a lot of things they can do."

© Thomson Reuters 2014

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd sold a record 86 million smartphones in the fourth quarter and widened its lead over Apple Inc even after the U.S. firm reached a new iPhone sales high, data from research firm Strategy Analytics showed.

Samsung took 29.6 percent of the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter, ahead of Apple's 17.6 percent, as strong low-end market growth led by Chinese vendors continued to shake up the smartphone industry, the data showed.

Apple sold a record 51 million iPhones in the year-end quarter although its market share slipped from the previous year's 22 percent, as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Lenovo Group Ltd rose to become the world's No.3 and No.4 respectively.

Huawei sold 16.6 million smartphones and Lenovo sold 13.6 million, each taking 5.7 percent and 4.7 percent of the market.

"There is clearly now more competition coming from the second-tier smartphone brands. Huawei, LG Electronics and Lenovo each grew their smartphone shipments around two times faster than the global industry average," Strategy Analytics analyst Linda Sui said.

"Samsung and Apple will need to fight hard to hold off these and other hungry challengers during 2014."

For the entire 2013, global smartphone shipments grew 41 percent to reach a record 990 million. Samsung sold 319.8 million units to take 32.2 percent, up from 30.4 percent in 2012.

Apple sold 153.5 million iPhones with a 15.5 percent market share.

2014 is to be Apple Inc's watershed moment in China, when a long-awaited deal with the nation's largest carrier was to have propelled it back toward the top ranks of its most crucial market, clawing back ground from rival Samsung Electronics.

© Thomson Reuters 2014

Now preserving voice

Wikipedia has long been touted as the encyclopaedia for generations to come. The crowd-sourced encyclopaedia contains articles on nearly everything in the world and is now planning to expand this feature. Wikipedia has announced that it intends to store audio clips on the biography pages of select famous people to preserve one more aspect of their lives.

So, years from now, when you may be reading about famous personalities on their Wikipedia pages, you will also be able to hear what they sounded like. The project is being called the Wikipedia Voice Intro Project or WikiVIP and was launched along with television presenter, actor and author, Stephen Fry.

According to Wikipedia, the project asks people who are subjects of articles on the websites to make short recordings of their voices. The recordings could be as short as 10 seconds or so and are then uploaded to the articles. This solves purposes like letting people know how they sound and even how to pronounce their names. Other contributors to the WikiVIP project include lunar astronaut Charlie Duke and the Baron Knight of Weymouth.

The project will also see BBC team up with Wikipedia. For the sake of preservation, BBC will provide short voice clips from some of its programming. This seems like a really good move since it could help Wikipedia users get access to voices of luminaries, celebrities and personalities who are no more, for purposes of art or critique. It has already extracted voices of Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Wikipedia has also urged users to ask people who have their own page on the website to send in voice samples in any language they wish to. You can listen in to all the voice recordings made on the WikiVIP project so far on Wikimedia Commons or on the appropriate Wikipedia articles.

Nokia is reportedly planning for the mini version of Lumia 1520.

The mini version of Lumia 1520 is code named Lumia 1520V.

The Lumia 1520V is expected to be small-screen handset.

If you just got a brand new Windows 8.1 copy or system for the holidays, some of you might be struggling to learn the ins and outs of Redmond’s latest platform, especially if you bypassed Windows 8 and made a jump to 8.1 from Windows 7 or Windows XP. In such times of transition, one of the greatest ways to cut down on frustration and time spent getting from Point A to Point B on your Windows 8.1 system is by getting cozy with keyboard shortcuts.

Microsoft just put out a guide that aims to introduce some of Windows 8.1′s features to newcomers. One of the pages in the PDF includes a list of 15 keyboard shortcuts that will help you roam through different parts of the OS.

It’s worth noting that we recognize that some of these (like searching through your system) may be holdovers from Windows 8, while others are new to Windows 8.1. But why should we continue yammering about them when we can just give them to you? So, here they are!

15 Windows 8.1 keyboard shortcuts and how to use them

1. Hold the Windows key and press D to show and hide the desktop.
2. Hold the Windows key and press X to pull up the Quick Link menu.
3. Hold the Windows key and press E to open File Explorer.
4. Press Control, Shift and Esc together to open Task Manager.
5. Hold the Windows key and press X and down arrow to open the Mobility Center.
6. In Internet Explorer 11, hold CTRL and Press T to open a new browser tab.
7. In Internet Explorer 11, hold CTRL and press Tab to switch between different browser tabs.
8. Hold CTRL and scroll the mouse wheel up or down to zoom in or out.
9. Press the Windows key and simply begin typing in order to search through your Windows 8.1 PC to find any files, folders, programs or menus you’re looking for.
10. Hold the Windows key and press down arrow in order to close a Modern UI app.
11. Hold the Windows key and press Tab to switch between open Modern UI apps as well as the classic desktop UI.
12. Hold Alt and Press Tab to switch between all open apps, including those in the Modern and desktop UIs.
13. Press the Windows key, Shift and Tab together to scroll through open Modern UI apps backwards.
14. Hold the Windows Key and press P to select a display presentation mode.
15. Hold the Windows key and press Spacebar to choose a keyboard language and pick a different keyboard layout.

Microsoft’s newest operating system has its fair share of problems, and while many issues are related to the confusing new interface, some have deeper roots. Yes, like any new operating system, Windows 8 has bugs. Gasp!
Fortunately, Windows 8 shares something else in common with prior version of Windows; a trend towards maturity. Many showstoppers and annoyances now have solutions. Here are the common problems we’ve run into – and how to fix them.

Finding the Start menu
The number one issue that new Windows 8 users complain about is the missing start menu. Despite what early rumors suggested, Windows 8.1 didn’t bring the Start Menu back, though it did add an “App view,” which sorta-kinda does the same thing.
Fortunately, there are some third party solutions that resurrect the Start Menu in Windows 8, and we’ve already covered the best options. If you install one of these menus, then set Windows 8.1 to boot directly to the desktop, you can almost forget that the Metro interface exists. Almost.

Explorer.exe crashes and reloads frequently
Some users have reported repeated appearances of “Windows Explorer has stopped working” after installing a fresh version of Windows 8. The problem usually occurs every few minutes, which obviously makes Windows a bit hard to use!
The trigger for this appears to be a bug between the operating system and a hardware driver or installed software (usually the former). To fix the problem, you’ll need to use the “Refresh My PC” feature. Go to Settings, then Change PC Settings, and then Update and Recovery. After that, open Recovery, and click or tap Get started under Refresh your PC without affecting your files. This effectively re-installs Windows, but your files will not be deleted. With that said, it’s a good idea to back up your data before a refresh, just in case something goes wrong.

Svchost.exe hogs your processor’s performance
A common Windows’ system process, svchost.exe, can start consuming processor cycles it doesn’t need. This can make your system feel sluggish, and may even cause it to crash.
There are a few potential causes. The first is malware. Because svchost.exe is a common Windows service, some malware will use it as a disguise, knowing most users have come across svchost.exe before and are unlikely to think it’s a virus. You can rule out this possibility by downloading a free anti-virus suite like Avira and scanning your system.
Another potential trigger is the Windows uPNP (universal plug-and-play) service, which scans your home network for compatible devices. The service can get out of hand, scanning continuously and  using resources until no more are left. To fix this, do a Windows search for the Network and Sharing Center, and open it. Then go to Advanced Sharing Settings and turn Network Discovery off.
Finally, some programs install services that can make svchost.exe go bonkers. The most likely culprits include anti-virus apps, backup apps and networking utilities. Try un-installing any software that you installed just prior to the problem arising.
Note that consumption of some CPU resources by svchost.exe is normal, including periodic spikes. You only need to look for a solution if the process is continuously using a significant portion of your processor’s power.

Backup saves multiple copies of files that haven’t been changed
Windows has a robust backup utility with file history functionality built in. This means the backup service can detect files that changed and backup the new version while retaining the old one. If you later decide something you did to the file was in error, you can restore the older backup.
This is a great feature, but some users have noticed Windows 8 backing up new versions of files that haven’t changed. This fills the backup drive to capacity with redundant files, which is a major headache.
Unfortunately, while this issue has generated many complaints, the exact cause is unknown and there is no accepted solution. Your best bet is to disable the default backup service and use a third-party backup program instead. We’ve covered some of the best options, like CrashPlan and EaseUs ToDo, in a separate article.

Windows 8 does not go to sleep or stay asleep
Putting Windows to sleep is a great way to save energy, but sometimes a PC refuses to go to bed – or stay in it. This is usually caused by devices triggering a wake command.
You can see the devices that have permission to wake your PC by opening the Command Line (do a Windows search for “cmd”) and then typing the command powercfg –devicequery wake_armed.
Now that you have a list, open Device Manager and track down each component. Double click to open a component’s properties, and then go to the Power Management tab. In this tab you’ll see a checkbox next to “allow this device to wake this computer.” Uncheck this box. Go through your devices one-by-one, putting your PC to sleep after each, to find the offender.
If your PC still wakes, the problem may be Windows Update. Do a Windows search for, and open, the Action Center. Then click on the Maintenance section. In the menu that opens, click the “change maintenance settings” text, then uncheck the box next to “allow scheduled maintenance to wake up my computer.” Alternatively, you can re-schedule maintenance to run at a time that won’t bother you.

A blank Explorer.exe window appears on boot
Many things can happen when your PC boots, but one thing that shouldn’t appear is a mysterious window. Some users have reported this problem, however, which takes the shape of a blank Explorer.exe pop-up with no text and an OK button.
There are various things that can cause this problem, but whatever the source, the root cause is the same; an erroneous Load value in your registry. To see it, do a Windows search for “regedit” to open the Registry Editor, and then use it to find the Windows registry fold. In it you will see an entry called Load, which may or may not have data associated with it. Get rid of that entry and the blank box will go away.

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL blue screen of death
While the dreaded blue screen of death can occur for many reasons, perhaps the most common message flashed alongside it is the dreaded “DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL.” This bizarre message is trying to tell you that Windows has crashed because of a problem with a driver.
If you pay attention to the additional text that often appears, you may be able to figure out what driver is the root of the problem and proceed from there. However, since your PC automatically restarts, you may not have time. You can find BSOD error dumps in the C:/Windows/Minidump folder. Wading through them is not an easy task for the average user, but if you look for names associated with hardware in your PC, like “Nvidia” or “RealTek,” you can probably spot what happened. If not, you can try talking to the helpful folks at Microsoft’s TechNet, who can analyze your dump file and pinpoint the problem.
You’ll need to upgrade the drivers for whatever you find to be the cause of the problem. If you still are plagued by BSODs, the issue may be faulty hardware, which means you’ll have to replace the offending part.

Windows 8 activation fails with Error: 0x8007007B
Windows 8, like previous versions, requires online activation to verify that your key is legitimate. However, some users upgrading from Windows 7 have had problems with the code from the previous version of Windows becoming “stuck” and, since it’s for Windows 7 and not Windows 8, activation fails.
To solve this you need to use the command line. Do a Windows search for “cmd” and make sure you have elevated privileges – you may need to right-click and use “Run as administrator.”
Now type these commands:
slmgr.vbs /ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
slmgr.vbs /ato
In the first command, the “XXXXX” characters should be replaced with your Windows 8 product key. Your activation should now complete successfully.

Blurry or fuzzy text
You may notice that some programs display poorly on your Windows 8 PC. This typically is a problem with older software which was designed for screens that have a lower resolution that those today. Windows will often try to scale the software to a higher resolution, but not everyone likes the blurry appearance that results.
To turn this off, right-click on a program’s executable, go to the Compatibility tab and check the box for “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.” Then restart the program.
If your problem is with icons and general text, rather than programs themselves, you may simply need to scale the Windows UI. Do a Windows search for Display and, in the menu that opens, change to a larger or smaller UI scale. You can also customize text scaling with the “set custom text size” link on the left.

Google has reportedly announced a whopping 2.7 million dollars bounty if security experts are able to hack its Chrome browser-based OS at the Pwnium 4 hacking contest.
This year at the Pwnium 4, researchers would be allowed to choose between Intel- or ARM-powered laptops, while last


year, they had to try to crack a Chromebook with an Intel processor.
According to PC World, hackers would be paid prizes of 110,000 dollars and 150,000 dollars for exploiting the Chrome OS, and the highest bounty would be rewarded to those who deliver an exploit able to persistently compromise a Hewlett-Packard or Acer Chromebook.

Last year Google put 3.14159 million dollars in the contest, but paid out just 40,000 dollars to a prolific hacker who goes by "Pinkie Pie," the contest's sole participant, for what Google later called a partial exploit.

Google said that it would consider larger bonuses to researchers who demonstrated a "particularly impressive or surprising exploit," like one that could circumvent kASLR, a new variant of the better-known ASLR anti-exploit technology used by Apple, Microsoft and Chrome OS.

The report said that for hackers to qualify for the prizes or bonuses, they must provide functional exploit code and details on all the vulnerabilities put into play.

Pwnium 4 is scheduled to take place on March 12 at the Canadian Security conference.