Google Grows in 3rd quarter of 2013

Google Grows in 3rd quarter of 2013

According to Google, its sales topped the original estimates made for the third quarter. It is speculated that the number of promotions sold via mobile, video and other services were sufficiently lower than originally anticipated.

According to the reports compiled by Bloomberg, the original estimate was $11.64 billion but the revenue, without including sales from partner sites alone was $11.92 billion.

Google expanded its channels by providing not only search results on the web but promotions that targeted users of mobile phones, tablets, and applications found on the smart-phones. It is reported that the paid clicks jumped up to 26 percent. According to EMarketer, Google will hold 33% share on the global on-line-advertising market this year. 2% higher than last year (31%).

The analysts predicted that the profit per share would go up to $10.36 but profit was about $10.74 USD per share. Increasing the Net income by 36% to $2.97 billion from the year-ago period.

Google encouraged its users to take advantage of its “enhanced campaigns” feature. This special campaigns targeted wireless devices and has been proven significantly profitable than the original PPC search results model that Google setup decades ago.

Even after all these years and the ups and downs, Google still remains the on-line giant it was a decade ago. With its advertising and revenue powerhouse in place Google is working on other changes. They are updating their marketing rules to allow the users to display their own reviews and pictures by the ads, give the advertisers the tools to analyze and understand user behaviors and habits and much more.

Google Grows in 3rd quarter of 2013

Top 5 Drones You Can Use Right Now!

Top 5 Drones You Can Use Right Now!

Have you ever wondered if you can have your own drone? Here are some of the coolest drones you can purchase right now and start using them without a complicated flight training.

Not only these drones fly, they can travel in air and some of them even travel under water. Some of the drones even come with built-in HD camera, and other features that makes controlling a drone as easy as using an iPad.

The top five picks are:

1. Parrot Ar.Drone 2.0 Quadricopter

2. Lehmann LA100 GoPro Drone

3. DJI Phantom

4. Walkera Dragonfly Qr Infra X

5. Ziphius

1. Parrot Ar.Drone 2.0 Quadricopter

You can control this drone using your smart-phone or an iPad. Some of its features are, it can do flips, comes with a 720p HD video camera and can play augmented reality games. You can also use this drone to fly around the neighborhood.

2. Lehmann LA100 GoPro Drone

Allows you to attach a GoPro camera, built with carbon fiber, and can fly up to 100m altitudes up.

3. DJI Phantom

The only drone to feature an on-board GPS system, with accuracy within less than 1m. The unique feature of this drone is to hover over a single spot continuously. Allowing the fellow film makers take shots automatically from a particular location.

4. Walkera Dragonfly Qr Infra X

Dragonfly is the smallest drone out there. It is so small that it will fit on the palm of your hands. This drone features 10 collision sensors, and two ultrasonic altitude sensors.

5. Ziphius

What makes Ziphius unique is its ability to swim underwater. The battery lasts up to one hour and it travels around 6 mph. Ziphius allows you to shoot 720p videos both above and below water level.

Top 5 Drones You Can Use Right Now!

Sony Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R camera review

Sony Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R camera review

Ever since Sony arrived at the digital camera business, they have been experimenting with various types of models and concepts. To name a few Sony developed the SLRs, Translucent Mirror Technology, NEX and the ones with dual auto-focus systems. There is no doubt Sony left no stones unturned when it comes to digital imaging. Sony’s latest product, the Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R will no doubt have something more exciting to offer.

Sony created full-frame cameras that are the same size as the Olympus OM-D E-M1. These are much more smaller than any other full-frame interchangeable lens camera.

It is said that Sony will be combining the Alpha and the NEX brands. This will force all the lens cameras to fall under the Alpha models.

The Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R identical to each other. The only difference is in their sensors and the auto-focus systems. The A7 models come with 24 mega-pixel CMOS, but the A7R comes with the 36 mega-pixel CMOS. The CMOS sensors do not have optical low-pass filter. You will find the AF system found on the SLT-A99 on A7 but the A7R has the regular contrast detection.

The cameras use Sony’s new Bionz X processor, supports XGA (1024 x 768 pixel) electronic viewfinder, Wi-Fi, tilting LCDs and the weatherproof body found on the Olypmus E-M1. To accommodate the full-frame sensors Sony developed new lenses. They are called the “FE-series”. It is announced that there will be initially 5 lenses and as much as 10 more will be introduced by 2015.

If you already have the E-mount lenses, they will work. However, it won’t illuminate the entire sensor. Or if you have the A-mount lenses they will also work but you have to use Sony’s adapter to make them work.

Sony Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R camera review

Twitter, Inc prepares for IPO hires Google Exec

Twitter, Inc prepares for IPO hires Google Exec

Recently Twitter, Inc hired the Google, Inc advertising executive to lead its retail sector. It is speculated that the company is expanding its workforce in order to expand its business before offering the new services to the public.

Who was hired by Twitter, Inc?

At Google, J.J. Hirschle was in charge of the media and entertainment advertising. But at Twitter he will be working on selling advertising products to retail companies. According to the spokesman for Twitter, Will Stickney, J.J. Hirschle will start on October 28, 2013.

The hiring process was not intended but as Twitter was building up its advertising business by reaching out to the retailers they needed someone experienced to lead the effort. After Facebook, Twitter is one of the leading social networking website on the Internet. Twitter disclosed in S-1 prspectus that it is growing revenue from advertising even though it remains unprofitable.

In order to stay ahead with rest of the competition Twitter is increasing its workforce aggressively. According to Twitter, the company added 300 employees in the third quarter. Increasing its workforce size to 2,300 in total. It is rumored that Twitter is planning to lease a 320,000-square-foot office space adjacent to its San Francisco headquarters.

This isn’t the only time Twitter, Inc hired someone from Google. Matter of fact Twitter hired Shailesh Rao from Google in 2012. Shailesh Rao was in charge of the Google’s display-advertising sales in Asia. It is not clear whether Twitter, Inc  will be hiring talents from other companies or not but it is not unusual to see employees from Google to go to Facebook, Facebook to Twitter and swap between these technology giants.

Do you feel Twitter made the right decision by hiring J.J. Hirschle? Since Twitter’s advertising sector is still not profitable do you think going public or utilizing the retail market will help twitter increase its revenues?

Twitter, Inc prepares for IPO hires Google Exec

Lenovo Miix2 8-Inch Windows 8.1 Tablet review

Lenovo Miix2 8-Inch Windows 8.1 Tablet review

Lenovo’s new Miix2 took the tablet industry by storm. It is a fresh tablet powered by the Windows 8.1 operating system. Here are some of our initial findings:

1. Colorful 1200 x 800 HD display

2. 178-degree viewing angle

3. 8.48 inches x 5.18 inches x 0.32 inch

4. Glossy front and smooth rear finish

5. MicroUSB charging port, microSD slot (supporting up to 32GB cards).

6. Volume rocker, the power button.

7. Bluetooth 4.0 LE, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and up to 128 GB of eMMC onboard storage.

8. Intel quad-core Bay Trail-T Atom processor (same processors found on the more matured Dell and Acer tablets)

9. Intel HD graphics

 

The Lenovo Miix2 also features many other enhancements and features. For example, you are able to tilt the tablet to switch the views, the on-screen keyboard is very smooth and elegent, there is a 2-megapixel camera in the front, etc…

The only con we found was with the 2-megapixel camera. The pictures were not as impressive as you would find a more dominant tablet like the iPad or one some of the Android tablets.

At the time of writing the Lenovo Miix2 is priced around $299 each. The tablet is useful enough to package a Windows operating system with support for any traditional applicaton you will need to carry out your daily tasks.

Does the new Lenovo Miix2 impress you? Do you think the tablet is reasonably priced or it should be more or less?

Lenovo Miix2 8-Inch Windows 8.1 Tablet review

Grand Theft Auto V Breaks Guinness World Record

Grand Theft Auto V Makes History in the Entertainment Industry !

 

In the entertainment industry, especially the gaming industry the latest installment of Rockstar Games, the Grand Theft Auto V took the world by storm. The game Grand Theft Auto V grossed over $1 billion US dollars just under 3 days of its launch on September 17, 2013. It has also overtaken the lifetime sales of GTA IV in the UK within three weeks of its release.

The previous holders of this world records were Call of Duty series and the movies, The Avenger and the Avatar.

Games like Call of Duty and GTA proves that there is a huge market in the gaming industry. According to Guinness World Records editor-in-chief, Craig Glenday, “Gaming is no longer a niche hobby, as GTA 5 has proved, and how exciting that it’s taken on the might of Hollywood and won! I’m also doubly proud as a Dundonian to welcome this home-grown series back into the Guinness World Records book,”

Even though the Guinness World Records claimed that GTA V sold over 112 million copies in its first day on sale but Rockstar chose not to make any public statements. It is speculated that the numbers might be even higher.

Here are some of the records held by GTA alone:

1. Best-selling action-adventure videogame just within 24 hours

2. Fastest videogame to gross $1 billion

3. Most viewed trailer for an action-adventure game

How do you think this will shape the entertainment industry? Do you feel more companies will start investing their money in making video games rather than on movies?

Grand Theft Auto V Breaks Guinness World Record

Sonos Play1 Portable Wireless Speaker

Sonos Play1 The Ultimate Portable Wireless Speaker

Play1, developed by Sonos, is probably one of the coolest speaker ever created. It is a much smaller version of the previous Sonos models, the Play:3 and the Play:5 speakers. using Play1 you are able to stream high-quality audio from any music service of your choice.

How does Play1, Sonos cost you?

At the time of writing Play:1 is priced around $199 USD. It is rumored that the price will go down significantly as the device hit the major on-line retailers.

What are the pros?

Here are some benefits to Sonos Play1.

1) Super sleek, affordable and plays high quality sound.

2) Ability to stream music from any music source.

3) Ability to organize and play music from a central location.

4) Allows you to pair with another Sonos Play1 to play stereo.

What are the cons?

1) Sonos does support a lot of music services but few are still in development. They are iTunes Radio, iTunes Match, XBOX Music, Soundcloud, Grooveshark and also Google Music.

2) You do have to keep the speaker plugged in to make it work.

3) Getting another Play1 to achieve stereo is overkill. (another $199)

Overall, the portability, user interface and the sound quality of Sonos is outstanding. However, until Sonos support more music services or give you a special deal for a second Play1, it might not be your number once choice. But if you are after the high quality sound it produces, go get it!

Full Speification

Wireless networking support

Speakers

• One Tweeter


• One Mis-Woofer

Audio Compatibility

• Audio MP3 playback


• Audio WMA playback


• Audio AAC playback


• Audio WAV playback


• Audio OGG playback

Sonos Play1 Portable Wireless Speaker