Software : HTC One Wear tipped as smart watch rival to Moto 360 |
- HTC One Wear tipped as smart watch rival to Moto 360
- It's goodbye to Android as Samsung Galaxy Gear Tizen update arrives
- 10 CRM systems small businesses should know
- Microsoft has reportedly built an iOS and Android-friendly watch with Kinect skills
- Samsung Galaxy S5 Active breaks cover in full gallery
| HTC One Wear tipped as smart watch rival to Moto 360 Posted:  Wearables are all the rage with consumer electronics companies these days, and HTC isn't about to sit on the sidelines and watch (pun intended) the likes of Motorola or Samsung bask in all the glory. TK Tech News filed a report from Taiwan today, with sources there revealing the extent of HTC's ambitions to jump squarely into the ever-crowded smartwatch market with a device tentatively known as One Wear. Expected to launch in late August or early September of this year, the gadget was apparently demonstrated to the lucky folks at TK, who described it as featuring a round design similar to Motorola Mobility's upcoming Moto 360. Furthermore, HTC appears to be planning to release both "polycarbonate and metal flavors" of the One Wear, an approach that seems to be working out well for the Taiwanese manufacturer with its HTC One (M8) smartphone line.
What to Wear?Although the initial report stopped short of revealing what HTC's smartwatch might actually look like, SlashGear did some additional digging and turned up the images above. One appears to show part of a metallic wristband presumably attached to the One Wear, while the other shows a trio of icons for notebook, music and camera apps, although they curiously seem to be formatted for a square display. While it seems unlikely HTC would incorporate an actual camera lens into the One Wear as Samsung did with the Galaxy Gear, the report suggests the icon could indicate some kind of "remote shutter button," presumably capable of controlling the camera of a connected HTC smartphone. Last but not least, the followup report claims HTC One Wear will be powered by Google's fledgling Android Wear software platform - not a big surprise, given everyone but the world's largest Android hardware maker Samsung appears to be jumping on that bandwagon.
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| It's goodbye to Android as Samsung Galaxy Gear Tizen update arrives Posted:  Samsung has followed through on its pledge to rid the original Galaxy Gear smartwatch of the Android operating system by updating the device with the home cooked Tizen software. The update, which as already started to roll out, will bring those early swartwatch adopters up to speed with the current crop of Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit devices, which arrived on Tizen out of the box. This will mean original Galaxy Gear owners (it's not so Galaxy-ish now, of couse), will have access to many of the features present on the second-generation models. That means it'll earns a sleep mode, which measures your sleeping patterns and an exercise mode which'll track your movement thanks to the pedometer (no heartrate tracker though). Back up firstTizen 2.2.0 also brings a stand music app, a privacy lock, new font sizes and styles, new clock-faces and wallpapers and easier access to key settings. SamMobile, which got an early preview of the update has warned that installing Tizen will wipe all data from the wearable and will prevent some of the third party apps from working. Users will have the opportunity to back up before installing the update via Samsung's Kies platform. The Galaxy Gear was somewhat of a commercial and critical failure, but for the limited number of people who jumped on board with the wearables era early, at least your smartwatch gets a new lease of life with this update. |
| 10 CRM systems small businesses should know Posted:  CRM systems SMBs should knowCustomer relationship management isn't something that only large enterprises can afford to do. No matter how many workers you employ, leveraging data to ensure your customers are happy - and that your workers are productive – is essential. We've put together a list of CRM systems for small and mid-size businesses in order to help you be more informed during the implementation process. BatchbookPrice: Starts at $20 per month for unlimited users. A free 30-day trial is available. As a cloud-based CRM social platform, Batchbook keeps track of important customers and deals. Batchbook Social CRM features contact details management, social integration, a to-do list, advanced searching, list building and reporting tools.
Batchbook provides users with multiple ways to learn about customers, how they relate to each other and what additional steps must be completed in order to close the deal. Batchbook's Task System assigns tasks to team members, identifies contacts that haven't corresponded in awhile and notifies the team about who's reaching out to contacts to avoid redundant communication. Perhaps Batchbook's most useful feature is its easy access to communication history with customers. Users can automatically record emails, attach notes to a conversation and chat with colleagues about contacts. Capsule CRM Price: Most basic plan is free. Professional plan is $12 per user per month. Capsule CRM's straightforward, clean and user-friendly interface is a great option for the new CRM customer. With just five icons, users can view upcoming tasks, new contacts, the sales pipeline, open cases and calendars. Capsule CRM's integration with Google Apps is flawless. When a user adds a contact to Capsule CRM, their details will automatically get added to the Google address book. Additionally, Capsule CRM keeps a record of communications between the user and a lead or existing customer. With Google Apps, users can either utilize the Gmail gadget provided by Capsule to save communications, or send the email within Capsule. ContactMe Price: BizPro for small business starts at $7.42 per month. A free 14-day trial is available. Web-based ContactMe is an intuitive, easy-to use CRM solution. It offers a variety of useful features including notes and email forwarding, calendars, reminders, and reporting tools such as graphs and data charts. With many small business owners juggling emails, spreadsheets and other documents in order to manage contacts, ContactMe allows users to easily consolidate and sort contacts. Users can update their contact lists from one location and organize contacts into categories such as lead, potential and existing customer. Infusionsoft Price: Starts at $199 per month for up to three users. Infusionsoft offers a long list of perks for small businesses. Infusionsoft combines management, CRM, marketing automation and e-commerce into a single online system, making it an easy way to grow sales. Need to get organized? Infusionsoft allows users to keep track of contacts, appointments and tasks and in one place. Users can also access Infusionsoft from any computer with an Internet connection and work from anywhere. Infusionsoft also streamlines processes by automating lead capture and email follow-up, helping users attract more leads and turn them into customers. Ecommerce tools also manage online stores, inventory, fulfillment and billing from a single system, ensuring customers are satisfied with their transactions. Insightly Price: Most basic plan is free. Standard plan is $7 per user per month. A 14-day trial is available. Insightly is a powerful tool that helps users manage contacts, organizations, partners, vendors and suppliers. Users have access to contacts' background, email history and event calendars. Insightly's integration with social media also allows users to identify all social media profiles related to a contact's email address. Mobile Insightly apps allow users to add tasks, view contact details, log calls, or check a project status of a project. Android and iOS apps are available in addition to native mobile applications that do not require a download. #6-10Netsuite CRM+Price: $129 per user per month. Free trials are available. As the only cloud solution that delivers a real-time 360-degree view of the customer, Netsuite CRM+ offers a seamless flow of information across the customer lifecycle – from lead to opportunity, sales order, fulfillment, renewal, upsell, cross-sell and support. NetSuite CRM+ powerful dashboard provides quotes, order management, sales forecasting and integrated Ecommerce capabilities. Plus, it's versatile. Android, BlackBerry and iPhone users can access the latest business reports and calendars. On social media, NetSuite CRM+ integrates with solutions such as Yammer and Qontext using its Suite Social Platform. Microsoft Outlook and Google Apps are also supported within NetSuite CRM+. NimblePrice: Business plans start at $15 per user per month. A free 14-day trial is available. As the social butterfly of small business CRM, Nimble aims to help users manage social, team and customer contacts on one screen. All online conversations, including email, Twitter, Skype and Facebook, are easily visible with Nimble's lightweight platform. Nimble's team collaboration feature allows users to see pending tasks and who is working with each contact. Users can also view all conversations that have occurred with a contact and team member, making it easy to delegate and schedule tasks and meetings. Having trouble juggling important dates and deadlines? Nimble's Daily Digest helps keep your days on track, informing users of new social engagement opportunities related to birthdays, job changes and upcoming meetings. Sage CRM Price: Starts at $39 per user per month. A free 30-day trial is available. Specifically designed for small- to medium-sized businesses, Sage CRM is easy to install, manage, learn and maintain. With more than 12,000 organizations users in 70 countries, Sage CRM is a popular solution for businesses. The interactive dashboard helps sales teams monitor their opportunities, manage calendars and tasks, and identify networking opportunities from LinkedIn. In addition, Sage CRM's analytical tools help users identify the sales opportunities that exist within the customer database. Sage CRM's native apps for iPhone and Windows 8 devices provide real-time data to help users manage business and customer relationships from anywhere. Salesforce Price: Packages start at $25 per user per month. A free 30-day trial is available. Popular CRM provider Salesforce offers the same high quality solution for small business as it does for the large enterprise. Salesforce Small Business CRM provides an easy-to-use interface to manage leads, prospects and existing customers. The fully customizable Salesforce Dashboard gives users a comprehensive view of their sales processes and activities. The Salesforce Contacts feature allows users to organize contacts and keep a detailed history of all interactions. From the moment a contact is added to the system, users can simply click on an individual's name to bring up contact details and histories. The pipeline section helps sales teams visualize where contacts are in the sales process. Zoho CRM Price: Free for entrepreneurs. Starts at $12 per user per month for other small businesses. Zoho CRM is a flexible solution for small business owners focused on identifying and winning new customers with features such as sales tracking and social profiles. For users on the go, Zoho CRM is available in a mobile edition for iOS, Android and Blackberry operating systems. The Opportunity Tracking Tool provides a detailed explanation of where a customer is in a sales cycle, past deal sizes and contact histories. Competitor information is also available and can provide vital insight on how to retain customers. Google service synchronization is also available with Zoho CRM. Small businesses using Google Apps and Google Drive can easily synchronize Google Mail in addition to accessing other information within the Zoho CRM system. |
| Microsoft has reportedly built an iOS and Android-friendly watch with Kinect skills Posted:  Microsoft plans to stake its claim for a slice of the rapidly-expanding wearables pie, possibly as soon as this summer, with a multi platform-friendly smartwatch, if reports on Thursday are to be believed. Forbes has received a heads up from its sources, claiming a wrist-mounted device that'll play nice with Android, iOS and Windows Phone is at an advanced stage of development. According to the report, the computing giant has enlisted the Kinect engineering team to spearhead the device, which will feature a continuous heart-rate monitor, among many advanced sensors. Interestingly, the unnamed insiders claim, the watch's display will be placed on the inside of the wrist in order to make it easier for users to keep their notifications to themselves. Gum stickThat display size, the report asserts, will be the size of "half a stick of gum," while the battery will last for two days. The Kinect team has also developed software to harness the data served up by those health and fitness sensors, perhaps not to dissimilar to Samsung's newly-announced, open source Simband platform. Forbes said the timescale for release is unclear but claimed a summer 2014 launch is possible as it seeks to beat Apple and its rumoured iWatch or iBand to the punch. While it has been rumoured Microsoft has been working on a wearable for quite some time, the prospect of a device compatible on all of the major platforms would be big news and would increase the chances of success exponentially. Perhaps this will be the first indication of new CEO Santar Nadella's plans for a much more inclusive Microsoft with services that are available on a much wider array of devices? |
| Samsung Galaxy S5 Active breaks cover in full gallery Posted:  Looking to pick up Samsung's latest flagship smartphones but concerned the fragile plastic casing might not be able to keep up with your active lifestyle? There appears to be a new model on the way that promises to be as rugged as you are. Famed gadget leaker @evleaks posted a new gallery full of images for the as-yet unannounced Samsung Galaxy S5 Active, which appears to be a variant of this year's Galaxy S5 with additional protection for owners who spend more time outdoors. The gallery of seven images reveal just about everything a potential buyer would want to know about the Galaxy S5 Active, right down to the familiar AT&T branding which seemingly confirms the second-place US carrier will be a launch partner for the device. If this all sounds familiar, it's because Samsung has pretty much ripped a page right out of the Korean manufacturer's own 2013 playbook, which saw the more rugged Galaxy S4 Active follow closely on the heels of last year's flagship model. Rugged good looksIn the case of the Galaxy S4 Active, Samsung cut a few corners such as reducing the quality of the camera, but offered a sturdier, water-resistant casing in trade for those compromises. Given the current Galaxy S5 is already water-resistant out of the box, the S5 Active would appear to be stepping up its game, courtesy of a frame that ditches the curvier look of its predecessor for sharper edges and construction that offers a better grip in the hand. Judging from the latest leak, the Galaxy S5 Active also features raised, more rugged navigational buttons, including a "convenience key" that can be customized for quick access to almost any function the user desires. Other rumored specs tick off most of the Galaxy S5 feature list, right down to a 1080p HD AMOLED display, quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor and a 16MP rear-facing camera, leaving only pricing and a firm release date left to the imagination.
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