Yahoo has launched new search software

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Yahoo's Axis offers visual results to search requests

Users can swipe through the visual previews when using touch screen devices

Yahoo has launched new search software which offers results as a swipeable string of webpage previews rather than a list of links.

Called Axis, the service is being released as an app for Apple's iPads and iPhones, and as a plug-in for web browsers.

It may help Yahoo combat the declining popularity of its search tools.

However, it will not be a money-spinner at launch since adverts are not included in the results.

Other innovations include:

• A list of trending search topics when the service is activated
• The ability to deduce which page previews are wanted and display them before the full query has been typed in
• Different devices can share bookmarks, partly-completed searches and a customised home page
• Social sharing options via Twitter, Pinterest and email

"By supercharging the browser with a visually rich search experience and seamlessly connecting that experience across all of your devices, we are delivering an experience that will change the game," blogged Yahoo's special products management director Ethan Batraski.

"We decided to remove all the noise so you can focus on what you really want."

The app is initially only available in the US, but will become available to France, the UK and some other markets by the end of the year.
Catching up
Recent data from digital analytics firm comScore suggested that in April, Yahoo sites accounted for just 13.5% of search queries in the US. Two years earlier the figure was 20.4%.

The web portal is also engaged in a tie-up with Microsoft's Bing search service, sharing its AdCenter technology.

But last month Yahoo's former chief executive admitted that the alliance was "not yet delivering" what had been expected.

Early reviews have praised Axis's design and the convenience of the service.

However, other attempts to introduce visual search results have failed to win much traction.

Oolone, Redz and Simploos already offer webpage previews as an alternative to links.

In some cases users can obtain all the information they need from the preview results

Bing also used to offer a "visual search" feature using its Searchlight technology offering tease image results, rather than webpage previews. However, it ditched the option because it was hardly used.

But one internet analyst told the BBC that Yahoo may have more success thanks to its focus on mobile devices.

"What is neat about this is that their user interface helps reinvent search by allowing people to swipe and flick through results," said Ian Maude from Enders Analysis.

"That takes advantage of the way they typically interact with their tablet and smartphone touch screens.

"I particularly like the visual aspect to it - for instance allowing you to preview the weather forecast without having to click through to the page selected."

Yahoo says it aims to add more features and release the app for other devices "in the coming future".

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Cell Phones With the Best Battery Life????

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Phones With the Best Battery Life

Why not recharge your smartphone on-the-go at your nearest chargezone or check out the models with the longest continuous talk time on each major carrier.




There's no sense in denying it: For most of us, mobile phones are at the center of our universe. It's your phone, your messaging device, your on-the-go Web browser, your camera, your music player, your GPS navigation unit—and soon, with NFC technology, it could even be your wallet.

If you thought choosing a cell phone was difficult before, it's even tougher today. That's a good thing, though, because it demonstrates how innovation in the wireless industry has skyrocketed. We're seeing rapid progress across all fronts, including displays, data networks, user interfaces, voice quality, third-party apps, and even mobile gaming.




Have you ever felt your cell phone vibrate and pulled it out of your pocket, expecting to to see a text or e-mail message, only to see a low-battery warning instead? Surely, you've uttered the dreaded words, "My phone is dying, so I have to say this fast!"

It may be time to consider investing in a phone with better battery life.

I don’t know about you, but the idea of carrying an extra battery or charger around, or even strapping a battery case to my phone is not all that appealing. But I’m realistic. Smartphones, with their big touch screens and fast processors, suck up a lot of power, so I’m not expecting to make it through the week on a single charge. Still, there’s no excuse for not being able to make it through the day.

For every phone we review, we test continuous talk time, to measure just how much chatting you can do between charges. Although talk time doesn’t account for all the other ways we use our phones throughout the day, it’s still a useful indication of how long you can expect your battery to last. For most smartphones running on a 3G network, the average talk time is a little over five hours, which isn't bad. There are also a good number of phones that fall in the six-hour range, which is even better. For the phones that support it, we also measure audio streaming time over 4G LTE, because 4G has proven to be a major battery suck. Right now, the average streaming time is just under four hours.

For this list, we’re rounding up phones that delivered at least seven hours of talk time—some go well beyond that—which should be more than enough juice to get you from morning to evening without a charge.

Check out the full list in the next post!

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SIM card to help parents protect children from bullying (Good or Bad ?? )

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SIM card to help parents protect children from bullying


Parents will be able to control their child's mobile phone thanks to a SIM card remotely managed from a computer.

The Bemilo system, to be run on the Vodafone network, offers a service for parents to prevent their children from going online, texting or calling during certain hours.

Unlike an app, a child will not be able to switch the service off.

The UK's Family and Parenting Institute said the SIM would help protect children from mobile phone bullying.

To have the service, parents would need to buy a "safety pack" with a SIM card inside, install it into the child's phone and use it on a pay-as-you-go basis, from £2.95 per month.

"It's a SIM that is just like any other SIM you would buy for any other network, but it enables parents to have full control in the context of safety," Simon Goff, founder and chairman of Bemilo, told the BBC.

"They can allow or disallow certain contacts to call them, and they can set the times of day the phone can operate."

For instance, he explained, if parents wanted to switch off the phone during school hours, they could do so remotely from a website on their computer.

But even if nearly all the functions on the child's phone are disabled, parents can always manage the handset in such a way that they are able to reach their children, and the child is able to contact them.

Parents would also be able to read their child's texts, added Mr Goff.



Today's generation of children are facing new pressures such as mobile phone bullying, and parents want help in protecting them” (Family and Parenting Institute)

******According to a poll by Bemilo, 40% of children who own a mobile phone are sleep deprived*******




Sexting threat

The service could help prevent mobile phone bullying and "sexting" - when a child is subjected to unwanted phone calls or texts.

A recent report commissioned by the NSPCC has found that teenage girls were coming under increasing pressure to text and email sexually explicit pictures of themselves.

It could also prevent a child, especially a teenager, from visiting websites parents deem offensive.

But besides enabling parents to help ensure their children's safety, they would also be able to control other aspects of their behaviour, said Mr Goff.

"If you put a child to bed, and we're talking about young adults here, those who are just under 16 years old, the parents often think they've gone to bed - but then they find out that they're texting very late into the night or accessing the web into the night," said Mr Goff.

According to a survey of 2,000 parents conducted by Bemilo, 40% of children from eight to 16 who own a mobile phone are sleep deprived, and 25% have been subjected to mobile phone bullying.

The new service has been welcomed by a UK independent charity called the Family and Parenting Institute.

"Today's generation of children are facing new pressures, such as mobile phone bullying, and parents want help in protecting them," said Dr Katherine Rake, the organisation's chief executive


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(Good or Bad ) Met Police to extract suspects' mobile phone data ?

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Met Police to extract suspects' mobile phone data

The Metropolitan Police has implemented a system to extract mobile phone data from suspects held in custody.
The data includes call history, texts and contacts, and the BBC has learned that it will be retained regardless of whether any charges are brought.
The technology is being used in 16 London boroughs, and could potentially be used by police across the UK.
Campaign group Privacy International described the move as a "possible breach of human rights law".
Until now, officers had to send mobiles off for forensic examination in order to gather and store data, a process which took several weeks.
Under the new system, content will be extracted using purpose built terminals in police stations.
It will allow officers to connect a suspect's mobile and produce a print out of data from the device, as well as saving digital records of the content.

'Retained and handled'
A Met Police spokesman told the BBC that when a suspect was released, "data received from the handsets is retained and handled in accordance with other data held by the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service]" - regardless of whether charges had been brought.
Guidelines given to officers state that data extraction can happen only if there is sufficient suspicion the mobile phone was used for criminal activity.
"Mobile phones and other devices are increasingly being used in all levels of criminal activity," said Stephen Kavanagh, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service.
"When a suspect is arrested and found with a mobile phone that we suspect may have been used in crime, traditionally we submit it to our digital forensic laboratory for analysis.
"Therefore, a solution located within the boroughs that enables trained officers to examine devices and gives immediate access to the data in that handset is welcomed."

'Illegal'
Over 300 London officers will be trained in using the "intuitive, fully-guided touchscreen desktop data acquisition tool", created by mobile forensic firm Radio Tactics.
The cost of leasing the 16 terminals for 12 months and training the officers will be £50,000, the Met said.
Privacy International has expressed serious concern over the system.
"We are looking at a possible breach of human rights law," spokeswoman Emma Draper told the BBC.
"It is illegal to indefinitely retain the DNA profiles of individuals after they are acquitted or released without charge, and the communications, photos and location data contained in most people's smartphones is at least as valuable and as personal as DNA."
Ms Draper added that while the Met's current plans were limited to fixed extraction terminals in stations, portable technology was readily available.
"Examining suspects' mobile phones after they are arrested is one thing, but if this technology was to be taken out onto the streets and used in stop-and-searches, that would be a significant and disturbing expansion of police powers

Privacy International has warned against the possibility of such tech eventually be used on the streets

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Is Keeping the Customer Digitized Really a Good Thing?

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Keeping the Customer Digitized



At the John Lewis department store in London, would-be fashionistas don’t have to change clothes before trying on new outfits.

Hanah Ebdon, 19, stood in front of a full-length digital mirror situated in the women’s wear department at the flagship John Lewis Partnership Plc store on Oxford Street. She used hand motions to swipe from one brand to the next, seeing how she looked in a blue dress, then a patterned one, projected onto her reflection. “People will see it initially as more of a gimmick,” says Ebdon, whose skinny jeans showed below the dress. Still, she says, “it’s better than online shopping.”




The mirror, installed by Cisco Systems (CSCO) on April 19, uses a 3D camera to capture a person’s shape, show different styles, and help with purchases. It’s part of a push by retailers to provide, in stores, more of what customers get on a website such as Amazon.com (AMZN): wide selection, electronic ordering, and a chance to buy immediately or add items to a cart. “This is really one of the first chances we’ve had to try to bring some of those great features of the Web into an actual physical store,” says Clive Grinyer, director of customer experience at Cisco’s Internet business solutions group. “There’s a real digital revolution in retail that’s just beginning to be understood.”

Companies from PepsiCo (PEP) to Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) are adopting tablets, digital signs, touch-screen kiosks, and mobile applications designed to help customers interact with products before buying. They’re attempting to capture the estimated 85 percent of purchases that will be influenced by some kind of digital experience in 2015, up from 40 percent this year, according to Gartner. Adding a digital dimension to buying decisions is already taking hold in transportation (boarding-pass kiosks) and grocery stores (self-check-out options). Now it’s disrupting the clothing, restaurant, and hospitality industries. Of the top 100 retailers, about 40 will record more than $1 billion in sales apiece for purchases through the Internet in 2015, up from 28 in 2011, says Gene Alvarez, an analyst at Gartner. That’s partly a reflection of the growing use of Web-based devices and mobile apps for in-store use, he says.



Consumers may soon have a broader range of gadgets to use while shopping. Kraft Foods (KFT) worked with Intel (INTC) to build a vending machine for grocery stores that gives Jell-O samples only to adults, based on software that analyzes video to determine age. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (KKD) worked with Kansas City (Mo.) advertising firm Barkley to create a “Hot Light” application that alerts users via smartphone when donuts at a nearby shop are fresh out of the oven.

The Bloomingdale’s store on in New York’s Upper East Side erected several digital screens, one for each of such luxury brands as Fendi and Prada, in storefront windows that let passersby virtually try on designer sunglasses. On some days, small crowds form on the sidewalk in front of each interactive display, though they have led to only a handful of sales of the pricey shades so far, according to sales associate Danielle Link. “It’s like a game—just incredibly catchy,” Jeff Tannenholz says after he attempted to try on a pair of Fendi glasses. Tannenholz is evidence that mature shoppers respond to new technology: He’s a 67-year-old stylist.

At John Lewis, the mirrors are part of a pilot program designed to help Cisco, in San Jose, Calif., determine how to roll out the technology to other prospective clients.

Efforts to make the customer experience more digital are getting a nudge from the spread of smartphones, which let people interact with brands through an array of downloadable applications. AT&T (T) has helped 27,000 business customers deploy mobile applications, and its traffic over Wi-Fi networks almost tripled in 2011 as retailers set up in-store wireless connections, says Chris Hill, vice president of AT&T business and home solutions. “The idea here is that organizations no longer can compete on how well their call center is working or how well their website works,” Gartner’s Alvarez says. “It’s really the sum of all of the touch points and digitizing the experience in a way that enhances it.”

A big challenge is ensuring that the technology meets a genuine need and works seamlessly, Alvarez says. Retailers and carriers are installing near-field communications technology (NFC in industry parlance), which lets customers make payments by tapping a phone against a machine. Still, some NFC projects are facing slow adoption by customers. Of the more than 50,000 people who have downloaded Google (GOOG) Wallet tap-and-pay software, only a small percentage use it, according to Rick Oglesby, an analyst at Boston researcher Aite Group. Part of the problem, he says, is that many phones don’t have the compatible technology installed.

 

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Are These 16 Of The Most Intentionally Offensive Ads You will Ever See ?

Are These 16 Of The Most Intentionally Offensive Ads You will Ever See ??

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Agencies, freelancers, and advertising students around the world are waiting to see whether they've won the U.K.-based Chip Shop Awards, honoring "creativity with no limits."
The awards go to ads that creative types wish they could run if only their clients would let them.
Finalists have been announced in categories ranging from "best use of bad taste" to "best politically incorrect," and as suspected, they are pretty shocking.

An offensive fake ad submitted by The CBK Group made headlines when it circulated in February, but it didn't make the final cut. (The ad for Sapporo read, "A beer so good it's hard to believe we made it with our eyes three-quarters closed.")
Judges include bigwigs from agencies including TBWA, GS&P, and Leo Burnett.

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what do you think about Galaxy S III vs iPhone 4S ???

Here's How The Galaxy S III Stacks Up Against The iPhone 4S

Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy S III in London yesterday, 45 mins away from Chargezones HQ. It is one of the most highly anticipated Android phones to date, and for good reason.
Here's how it stacks up against the iPhone 4S.


  iPhone 4S                                                                 Galaxy S III Connectivity HSPA+                                                           HSPA+ (4G LTE on the way)
Display 3.5 inches                                                                 4.8 inches
Resolution 960 x 640                                                          720 x 1280
Operating System iOS                                                       5 Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Storage 16, 32, or 64 GB                                           16 or 32 GB (64 GB on the way), additional SD storage
Weight 140 g 133 g
Dimensions 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm                                      136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm
Camera 8 MP 8 MP
Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, light, compass      Accelerometer, compass,gyro,barometer, .........................................................................................      proximity, light       
Processor 1 GHz dual-core                                    1.4 GHz quad-core

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New Blackberry 10 prototype!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the prototype BlackBerry developers will get. It looks a lot like the iPhone.

RIM introduces new BlackBerry prototype early

 A prototype new BlackBerry operating system and designed to bring the struggling smartphone range up-to-date with its Android and iPhone rivals has been unveiled and released to app developers early.The prototype smartphone, called the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha, features a 4.2-inch screen and the usual range of wireless and wired connectivity options. RIM stressed it had been created “just for our developers”,

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