Monday, March 25, 2013

Steps For Upgrading Your iPhone

Upgrading your mobile phone is always a tempting thought. As people who consume and utilise a lot of technology, wanting the very best from our gadgets is only natural.


Even if you own an iPhone, one of the leading smart devices around, there will always come an inevitable time when the urge to upgrade comes along. This does, however, involve a number of things to consider. With this in mind, here are a few things you might want to think about to make the process easier.

When To Upgrade

When you want to upgrade will vary from person to person, and it depends on what you actually want from a handset. Are you a technology aficionado who simply wants the latest gadget in your hands as soon as possible? Or are you more conservative with your money, wanting to get the most value for your spending?

Either case has a bunch of factors with it to consider. In short, however, you need only upgrade when the time suits you. Some people want the newest phone as soon as it comes out; others are more than happy to wait. As long as you don't feel pressured, and can comfortably afford the upgrade, there's no argument to not do so.

What To Do With Your Old Phone

Whilst it’s great to talk about and consider new phones, the question still remains as to what to do with your old phone. The best solution is to turn it into money, which can help towards the current costs to upgrade. This though brings up another common question; wherecan I go to sell my iPhone?

To answer this shortly, you don't need to go anywhere. The best offers are found from those online, who offer competitive amounts to recycle your phone. There's no need to wander around your town or a shopping centre when all you need to do is head online, look up your phone and get an instant quote. If you're happy with this, you need only send it in the post. It’s quick and simple.

Your Next Phone?

Finally, bear in mind that your next phone doesn't always need to be the next generation of iPhone. Whilst Apple's handy little smart device certainly has its uses and appeal, it’s not the only competitive phone on the market. With the likes of the Samsung Galaxy range and the Sony Xperia models, you're not without alternative options. Personal preference will always be a big factor, but the phones do have slight variations that are worth paying attention to.

This of course, also depends on what you want. Do you want to try android, or a larger screen or something different? Each phone has a lot to offer, so it might be worth taking the time to think and consider what it is you're looking for in a phone. Of course, if you're familiar and well adjusted to the Apple phone and its operating system, then getting the latest iPhone will always have its advantages.



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Saturday, January 26, 2013

Customer Service Woes: There’s an App for That


Customer Service Woes: There’s an App for That

Wish.co.uk is, by its nature, an extremely customer-focused business. When you offer such a highly personalized service there are bound to be plenty of questions. Whether those questions are about spending a day fighting off blood-soaked zombie hordes, or floating peacefully above the countryside in a hot air balloon, is not important. What's important is that each potential customer gets prompt and comprehensive answers and feels they got the attention they deserved.

The challenge, when you're a company that has rapidly grown to a market-leading position, is managing those inquiries properly - particularly when a tweet from someone like Stephen Fry results in well over 140,000 hits in a single day!

The founders, Stephen Pavlovich and Richard Kershaw, soon realized that trying to provide sufficiently individualized customer service using email and canned answers alone, was far from satisfactory. You only get one chance to make a first impression - and in this business getting that first impression right is vital. There are time issues, too. An unmanaged flow of requests can quickly becoming overwhelming and tracking responses becomes almost impossible.

It's not the kind of situation Stephen and Richard would allow to continue. It was both inefficient and unproductive and was eventually going to damage a reputation they had put immense effort into building. Part of what has made Wish.co.uk so successful so quickly is their solutions-driven mentality. What they needed was a system that allowed them to provide VIP-standard customer service, but could also adequately manage large traffic spikes. It's a tough ask. What they were looking for was an application that resolved the classic "big enough to cope, small enough to care" conundrum.

After some intensive research, they found the answer at Desk.com - and it has transformed the speed and efficiency of customer interactions. “It took about half a day to setup," said Richard. "We spent that time up front so that now we can scale confidently."

The Desk.com program is built around a Case Management hub that arranges messages into a coherent ticket system in a single "universal" inbox. It allows Wish.co.uk to track and manage large numbers of inquiries quickly, while maintaining the flexibility to handle questions on a case-by-case basis when necessary. Priority and status of each ticket is instantly available and easily followed so nothing gets out of hand and nothing is missed.

The desire to deal with each person individually has to be balanced against the need for rapid responses. Where appropriate, this area is effectively controlled by use of business rules that automate some of the workflow and filters that can be set to help prioritization - for example in the case of inquiries pertaining to a fast-approaching event, like a zombie experience, that has multiple participants.

While Stephen and Richard have been impressed by the way Desk.com has allowed such a small team to handle such large traffic volumes, they also had an eye on the future when selecting the system. As their business grows, the application can keep pace, assigning tickets to individual customer support personnel. Each person can quickly check which tickets a customer has declared completed, so the time available is concentrated on pending cases. It's possible to customize alerts if, for example, a ticket has remained unresolved for a pre-determined period. Management always has the option to overview particular tickets if required.

What's more, the value of the Desk.com application doesn't end when the customer's question is resolved. Case histories offer invaluable insight and can highlight ways to improve overall service. Over time, the intelligence gathered will provide an accurate picture of how the business is perceived and how well it reacts to particular challenges. That, in turn, will allow Wish.co.uk to better meet customer demands and expectations and to continue to build on the extraordinary success they have already enjoyed.

Jack Harding is a customer service manager. He fills some of his free time keeping up on the latest innovations in customer service programs and services. To see their customer service operations in action, visit Wish.co.uk.
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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Protecting your Android login information


Protecting your Android login information

It's always a good idea to protect your login information on an Android device and the best way to do that is by using 2 factor authentication. Two factor authentication is also known as dual factor authentication, and it will use any 2 of 3 pieces of information to establish your identity.

One of the identity authentication methods will consist of either a password or personal identification number (PIN) or the answer to a security question. It is based on something you know.

The second authentication method will be based on something you possess. It may be a smart card or ID badge, a USB key, or a one-time password device which may be used to set a browser or application cookie.

The third possibility is usually something unique to your person such as a fingerprint or other biometric data. Sometimes this will also be done through phone verification. Voice or phone verification may fall under the heading biometric data or it may be something you possess, based on caller ID or a PIN sent by SMS text message.

There is identity verification software available that will make two factor authentication easier to implement. These will usually include managing the creation of a one time use password which gets sent to the user by e-mail or text message. There is usually a cutoff time during which the password is valid such as 30 or 60 minutes.

These software tools can be important not only for protecting your smart phone login, but they're also important for many things we do online such as shopping and online banking. They also make it easier to stay in compliance with various regulations related to security and privacy since they make it their job to stay on top of the various changes as they happen, whether it be in the U.S. or anywhere around the globe.

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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Cool Windows 8 gadgets for Desktop

Cool Windows 8 gadgets for Desktop

Windows 8 is the newest and latest edition of Windows Operating System launched by Microsoft. Even before the launch of Windows 8, customers had shown interests in the new Windows 8 gadgets which would be available. The Windows 8 developer version was downloaded by many people to check out the cool Windows 8 gadgets for Desktop. The new gadgets had a lot of new features. The gadgets are blended with a cool and stylistic appearance and are less RAM consuming than the previous gadgets of Windows 7. With 3D reflections and 3D effects, these gadgets are more fun to use and more users friendly. However, Microsoft has disabled the option of uploading new gadgets from unofficial sources in the net in order to protect the user.  But this doesn’t mean that you cannot get new gadgets. Microsoft has however enabled the use of CSS3 and HTML5, through which gadget developers can build new and exciting gadgets for Windows 8. 

Some of the cool Windows 8 gadgets for Desktop are listed below.

Win8 Weather gadget
This is the weather gadget for Windows 8. The Win8 Weather gadget collects information from different weather stations situated across the globe and provides information regarding the weather and climatic conditions of a place. The gadget also gives information regarding the maximum and minimum temperatures of a place, relative humidity, dew point, etc. One can also enter their own location coordinates and get updates on an hourly basis.

Countdown Timer & Future Clock
This gadget is basically a counter. The user can enter the date and time of future event and the gadget will keep a track of how many days, hours and minutes are left for the occasion.
This an interesting gadget developed by Microsoft. It is basically a clock, but the design and the functioning are unique. It is an ideal reproduction of what a clock might look like in the future.   

Game card viewer
The Game card viewer is the Xbox 360 games. It enables the user to view their game cards and also view their achievements in various games and also to keep track. When the gadget is run, it opens in a Fly out window showing the list of your Xbox 360 games.

CPU Meter & AlertCon
This gadget is very helpful. The gadget shows a CPU meter which indicates what amount of the CPU is being used and what portion of the RAM is working. It also gives information regarding the system memory usage.
This is also a useful gadget. It provides the AlertCon status of your PC directly at the www.iss.net (Internet Securities Systems site). The status is refreshed automatically every hour.

PlayStation 3 gadget & FTP Access
This gadget provides news and updates about the latest and hottest games released by Sony for the PlayStation. It also gives information regarding release date of anticipated games for the Sony PlayStation. Overall this is very useful for game lovers.
The FTP Access is a gadget which provides a much faster and efficient technique to log into an FTP server.


About the Author - PrIyAnGsHu is a blogger, internet marketer and a web entrepreneur from India. He generally writes about gadgets and software on his technology blog and also covers androidtutorials on knowtechbetter.com.
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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Android Apps for High-Tech Home Improvement



Home improvement is now made faster and easier with the help of specially designed Android apps which mainly help with the organization process. There are various apps available in the Android Market that will help you tackle any home redesign or renovation project, whether you're simply rearranging furniture or painting a room. Here's a list of the best and newest home improvement apps for your Android device.

ColorSmart by BEHR Mobile

With the use of ColorSmart, you can find, preview or coordinate any BEHR paint color for your paint projects. The app allows you to browse colors from any of the BEHR color collections. It also lets you take a picture and tap on it to get a similar BEHR color. There are many other convenient features such as discovering new color combinations from an array of designer-coordinated palettes, previewing your choice of colors in a room image and painting a room easily by using your fingers. You can save room images, colors and calculations and store to your smartphone. This app is available for free at the Play Store.

iHandy Level Free

iHandy Level is completely functional with calibration capability. The app works accurately after you calibrate it. It's a great utility app to use if you're preparing for a wall hanging project. Considering that wall hanging requires much patience and precision, iHandy Level helps provide a precise measure for alignment. The level can be used in face-up, portrait or landscape mode. It's part of the five tools in the iHandy Carpenter toolkit. iHandy Level is available for free, whereas the five tools are paid ones.

Handy Construction Calculators

This is a useful productivity app for construction or renovation projects. It comes with 69 precise and easy-to-use calculators along with precision inputs including feet-inch-fraction and meters-millimeters. Whether you're a builder, do-it-yourself homeowner or contractor, this app can help quicken the calculation process. It also features drawings and layouts to help users understand the output better. The price is $7.99 in the Android Market.

My Measures & Dimensions

Instead of dealing with the hassles of writing on paper, My Measures allows you to take a photo of an object and add dimensions directly. It's a fantastic app for storing and sharing dimensions of various objects. You can add text, arrows and angles to the photo, and store the measurements so you can check them later or share through email. The app supports landscape and portrait orientation. You can purchase the app for $4 at the Play Store.

Work Calendar

If you're busy juggling different activities, and you're bugged with having to set up every calendar entry to match your work schedule, Work Calendar is a useful app to try out. It helps you manage your work schedule in an easy and convenient method. You can set up categories that can be used as templates, combine categories for a more complex schedule and keep an overview of events. The app can be downloaded for $3.

Improving your home has never been more convenient with the slew of Android apps available today. You can enhance and beautify your home easily with the help of these apps. And since your house is one of your most valuable properties, getting it adequately insured is indispensable. Be sure to check that the changes you make are covered by your insurance policy, or get a quote from an online insurance company. Start a home improvement project today, and make your home lovelier with these tips.
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