| Samsung to invest more in Best Buy, planning to buy stake? Oct 4th 2013, 19:26, by Dima Aryeh What’s the best way to get people to buy your product? In my opinion, it’s to get people to use your product. Many products I would have never bought if it weren’t for using them in a retail store. It’s the reason I’m not a huge fan of internet shopping; it occasionally ends in disappointment. Many companies have their own retail stores, and Samsung is trying to replicate that experience on a smaller scale. Instead of full-fledged stores, it opened many “Samsung Experience Shops” in Best Buys around the US. They’re literally a big space in the center of a Best buy with nice signs and stands and tables full of Samsung products on display. It’s definitely a great concept and provided my first contact with a Galaxy S4, which I quickly fell for. Samsung seems to be looking to expand their Experience Shops, as Samsung’s vice chairman Lee Jae-yong met with Best Buy executives recently. Analysts believe that “Samsung has been considering increasing subsidies paid to Best Buy in a strategic move to help the retailer and also increase the exposure of its products.” The Experience Shops might get quite a bit better sometime in the future, but there is another possibility. Samsung may be considering buying a stake in Best Buy to provide a better budget to its own shops inside retail stores. This exposure inside such a popular store must be doing the company wonders in terms of sale, as seen with the success of the iconic Apple stores. This is a piece of the puzzle many manufacturers are missing. HTC doesn’t have any sort of store for me to go to. If I wanted to try out an HTC One, I’d have to go to a specific AT&T store. That store does has one on display, and often it doesn’t even work properly. Many stores don’t even have a real one on display, but rather a dummy phone. If more manufacturers had stores for people to play with their products freely, they would get more customers. Samsung is on the right track with these Experience Shops, and maybe it’s an even better idea than dedicated stores that many people won’t walk into unless they have an express interest in Samsung. This way, they’ll be entering a Best Buy for miscellaneous products and stumble upon the Experience Shops. What do you think of Samsung’s Experience Shops? Tell us in the comments!  |  | Top 10 Android app updates this week: Root Explorer, Yahoo, Light Flow Oct 4th 2013, 18:18, by Steve Raycraft Welcome back to our weekly Top 10 Android App Updates column, where we take a look at the most upgraded apps for the week. I've found that one of the best ways to discover useful apps is to look at what people are actually updating, not focus on which apps have the most installs. As in the past, we’re going to filter out minor updates for the super popular apps that have over 10 million installs, but I'm going to make an exception for apps that had significant updates. I hope you enjoy this weekly feature and discover some apps that you might find useful. TeamViewer for Remote Control – Version 8.0.1432 
What’s new in this version: - "Lock remote computer" at the end of the session can be set to: Auto select, Always or Disable.
- "Play computer sounds and music" can be deactivated.
- Clipboard synchronization.
- When leaving the app during a connection, possibility to return to the open session by clicking on the TeamViewer icon on the desktop.
- Various other minor fixes and improvements.
Root Explorer – Version 3.1.2 
What’s new in this version: - New themes (available in preferences). Light, light with dark action bar and home wallpaper (including live wallpaper).
- Allow permissions and owner change on multiple selected files.
- Miscellaneous bug fixes.
Yahoo – Version 3.2 
What’s new in this version: - Ability to save articles.
- Receive notifications for breaking news.
- Support for slideshows and videos.
- Revamped visual design.
Hulu Plus – Version 2.9.2 
What’s new in this version: - Start casting your favorite TV shows and Movies on Chromecast from Hulu Plus on your phone or tablet.
Google Search – Version Varies 
What’s new in this version: - New hotword: "Ok Google" (US only).
- More beautiful search results (rolling out gradually).
- Tell Google to keep you updated about notable people when you search for them.
TripAdvisor – Version 8.0.4 
What’s new in this version: - Complete re-design.
- Faster, simpler, cleaner.
- See hotel prices right away when you enter dates.
- New maps are faster to load and smoother to navigate and are always at hand.
- Now integrates with standard Android accounts storage; requires new permission to add and remove the TripAdvisor account from the storage.
PushBullet – Version 11.2 
What’s new in this version: - Completely redesigned and improved UI.
- You can now push files with the app.
- New homescreen and lockscreen widgets.
- Browse all of your pushes from any of your devices.
Light Flow – Version 3.11.2 
What’s new in this version: - More knox/Samsung root mode fixes.
- Added intents for other apps to pick up on such as Llama and Tasker, etc.
- Activities for other apps to Trigger such as NFC Task Launcher.
- Bug fixes.
Sensorly – Version 3.0.4 
What’s new in this version: - New features.
- New design.
- New coverage maps with speed tests displayed.
Scout GPS Navigation & Traffic - Version 1.6.0 
What’s new in this version: - Meet up with friends! With real-time group ETA sharing, everyone can see where the others are on a map. All invitees get free voice-guided directions to the destination, no matter what smartphone they have!
- No more "where are you??" texts. Share your ETA with others with OnMyWay® and let them see your real-time progress on a map.
- Find your friends faster. Scout's intelligent search now includes friends in your contact list so you can drive to them or invite them to meet up easily!
 | | Microsoft, HTC in talks about Windows Phone option on Android devices Oct 4th 2013, 18:03, by Dima Aryeh As you may know, Microsoft Windows Phone has not been doing well in regards to user adoption. And HTC has not been doing well with sales… or profitability in general. Combining a failing company and a failing operating system is either the best or the worst idea ever, but Microsoft seems intent on it. According to information provided, Microsoft is talking to HTC about installing Windows Phone on their Android devices. The details on this proposition are very light. Microsoft seems to want HTC’s Android-based hardware to run Windows Phone, but it doesn’t state whether it would dual boot or just be an option to the user when purchasing the phone. It’s not likely that Microsoft would approve of a dual boot system, as app support alone would keep most people on the Android side, but an HTC One running Windows Phone 8 does sound pretty cool. On the other hand, dual booting would allow more people to give Windows Phone a try without having to sacrifice their app portfolio from Android. People could boot into Windows Phone and maybe fall in love with it, adopting its ecosystem and making Microsoft a good amount of money. Windows Phone is an admittedly nice OS, so that could work out if executed and advertised properly. Microsoft may also be planning to lower their licensing fees. The company charges a fee for companies to use Windows Phone on their devices, and paired with slow adoption, many companies have stopped making the devices (like HTC and LG). A lower licensing fee can help get HTC to agree to run Windows Phone again. If HTC were to release a Windows Phone/Android hybrid HTC One and use Microsoft’s advertising budget to advertise the heck out of the device, it could sell pretty well. But poor execution and poor advertising have always been HTC’s Achilles heel. Would you buy this Windows Phone/Android hybrid device from HTC, if it ever came into existence? Leave a comment!  | |
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