Facebook adds ‘hashtag’ feature

REUTERS

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook (FB) Inc, the world’s number one social network, is adopting the ‘hastag,’ one of the most recognisable features of its younger rival Twitter, in a move to position its web service as an important complement to television, sporting events and breaking news. The hashtag, which appears as the # symbol and was first popularised on Twitter, enables users to follow specific topics of conversation within a social network’s ever-changing stream of user comments. “Between 88 and 100 million Americans log in to FB every night during prime time TV hours, which represents a significant opportunity for broadcasters, advertisers and our other partners,” Justin Osofsky, director of platform partnerships and operations at FB, said in a blog post on Wednesday. The company said that hashtags were the first of several new features that will be introduced to highlight discussions about events on FB.

Right way to say No

Yes! A relationship with a company is no different than a relationship with your best friend. A company doesn’t have robots slaving for it, but people working for it. Sooner or later, some company is going to become your second home. As such, it is very important that you say no in the most pleasant way. Read further to know about how to decline a job offer in a courteous way:

Timely response:
Don’t wait for an age to pass through before you decide “now is the time”. Don’t freak out over how to decline an organisation. If you’ve made a decision, be courteous enough to inform them as soon as possible.

Manner of response:
Think about what you want to say before you call in or start typing on that declining letter. Call the person who offered you the job and address the letter to him or her only. Don’t blow the person away unprofessionally and for both cases. Avoid common slang while speaking and grammatical mistakes while typing!

Express gratitude:
No matter how unsuitable to the position you were, doesn’t matter how below your expected range you were offered the salary, doesn’t matter how much you despised their office or staff when you went in for the interview, and still doesn’t matter if you got the job of being a president of some high profiled company — what matters is they gave you a chance to work with them, when many of the companies out there didn’t.

Be professional:
Declining a job offer is not some obscene way for you to settle scores. Be professional and keep things like “less salary” or “office too far” away from your list of reasons. There might have been some option from the company’s side that you might have missed like — a quarter for you to live nearby or other benefits for proving a salary below your expectations. However, if the recruiter personally asks you about where you’ll be joining and at how much salary, tell the truth. Who knows, by knowing the name of the rival company, he/she might offer you a higher package and a better position.

Even saying no to someone has its share of etiquette. And now that you’ve read about how to decline a job offer, don’t blow away the company that wanted to invest in you, with just a shrug of the shoulders. Be professional!

Phone Wars: HTC One, Galaxy S4 and Xperia Z

The smartphone market is abuzz this summer with the biggest players of the Android universe releasing phones that have managed to awe potential customers. Samsung has managed to turn quite a few heads with the new feature packed installment of its Galaxy line; the Galaxy S4 and Sony has stirred a bit of gossip as well with the release of the waterproof Xperia Z. HTC has also joined the game, this summer, with the release of HTC One, that boasts excellent build and music quality. If you’re planning to buy a phone anytime soon, thank your lucky stars because every one of these comes equipped with technology that seems almost alien.

HTC One

The HTC One seems to be the final ray of hope for the troubled Taiwanese company and HTC has not failed to deliver. The HTC One is a stellar device that feels like a piece of jewelry in your hand because the One is made entirely out of aluminum. It feels elegant and expensive just because of the wonderful design and the software isn’t half bad either with the most recent Android Jellybean pre-installed and customized with the HTC Sense. The user-interface of the HTC Sense v5 is another beauty on the phone which comes with an easy to use dashboard for all of your notifications and updates. But no matter how aesthetically pleasing the HTC One maybe, it fails to deliver when it comes to specifications and features. The HTC One comes equipped with a 4 Mega-Pixel camera that seems almost prehistoric when compared to the 13 MP cameras of S4 and Xperia Z. Another aspect that HTC falls short in is on the feature of expandable memory because unlike S4 or Xperia Z, the One does not come with an option for any kind of memory cards. The One, however, is equipped with a powerful 1.7 GHz quad-core processor accompanied by 2 Gigabytes of RAM and a big 4.7 inch LCD3 touch screen.

Samsung Galaxy S4

The S4 is probably the most famous and awaited phone in this list and when Samsung finally did start to ship out the phone, they didn’t disappoint. Everything about the S4 seems too advanced for our age, the eye scrolling that scrolls web-pages or eBook based on your eye movement, the air gesture that makes it possible to interact with your phone without even touching it, seems almost supernatural. The S4 also comes with a beautiful 5 inch AMOLED screen that displays in Full-HD, which means that the number of pixel that you see on a HDTV would be visible on the 5 inches of the S4. Much like the S4’s predecessors, the power and volume keys are well-placed and are easily accessible even with the humongous screen. Another wonderful feature to the S4 comes from Samsung’s Tablet line, the infrared blaster that literally turns your phone into a universal remote. The infrared blasters enables you to control any TV, DVD Player, Satellite Box and even some air-conditioners right from your phone. But what the S4 delivers in features, it lacks in build. The phone is constructed from flimsy feeling polycarbonate plastic that gives it the feel of a much cheaper phone and even the design is very similar to S3. All in all, the S4 does not disappoint and it comes equipped with some blazing specifications that perform better than all its rivals.

Sony Xperia Z

When we think about the new Xperia Z, all that comes to mind is the fact that it’s waterproof. But although it’s waterproof, the Xperia Z has a lot more going for it than just that. The Xperia Z is rock-solid in design and build and not only does it keep water away but it is dustproof and the screen is shatter and scratchproof as well. Even though the phone has been constructed with plastic, it surprisingly does not feel cheap or flimsy at all. The Xperia Z also comes with the Bravia Engine that rivals Apple’s Retina Display because it uses the same chip used in high-end Bravia TVs. The screen on the Xperia Z displays on a 441ppi resolution against the 324ppi resolution of the iPhone 5, giving it a clearer edge over Apple’s display. There’s no doubt that the Xperia Z is one stellar device. However, there are certain aspects of the phone that might annoy some users. For example, the 5inch screen that many people are bound to fall in love with might be too big for some and many users have complained that the waterproof ports of the Xperia Z are too fiddly. One of the bigger problems on the Xperia Z is the battery life that exhausts itself quite quickly. Although Sony does ship the phone with a Battery Stamina mode that increases battery life significantly; it usually runs for an average of 2 days.

Verdict

Although all three of these new high-end phones have brought some awesome features to the table, the one phone that has managed to impress us the most is the Samsung Galaxy S4. The phone is a powerhouse of brilliant engineering and innovative technology that Apple was once famous for. Everything on the S4 feels like magic and Samsung does this without compromising on the performance of the device. So if you plan on getting a phone this summer, we recommend the awe-inspiring device by Samsung, the Galaxy S4.

Resolutions Worth Making

Most of you might made New Year’s resolutions related to your career. If not, read on to know at least one of these career — and life-boosting resolutions worth making and maybe even worth making and maybe even worth keeping. Write down at least one of those resolutions on a Post-It note and stick it on your computer frame as an ongoing reminder.

I will answer all email within 24 hours

It’s okay even to respond, “I’m swamped. Will get back to you in two-three.” But not responding at all within 24 hours makes people pull out their hair, and that’s not good for your career. Abbreviated reminder: Answer email!

I’ll talk less, listen more

The old saw is wise, “You have two ears and one mouth, so spend twice as much time listening as talking.” Being a chatterbox hurts you in and outside of work, especially if you also don’t listen carefully to others — a more difficult task than most people realise.

I’ll stay aware of the moment of truth

The key to managing procrastination is to be aware of that moment when you’re deciding, often unconsciously, weather to do that important task or to escape the uncomfortability by doing something.

I’ll involve the wise man/woman within me

Most of us know the wise thing to do but too often opt for expediency. As with the previous resolutions, key is staying conscious, often asking yourself, “What would my best self do now?”

I will look better

Alas, society is lookist, so if you don’t want to start out with a strike or two against you, it’s worth reasonable effort to look your best — clothes, hair and weight.

I’ll focus be competent and nice

Some people try to get away with laziness by being nice. That doesn’t always work. More important, successful, content people generally aim to be as productive as possible, not to get away with as little work as possible.

I will stop being so self-absorbed

Too much introspection can straitjacket you into analysis paralysis. It’s usually wise to not look back to past pain but to accept your basic self, put yourself in situations that accentuate your strengths, and focus on helping others and being productive, a baby step at a time.

I will spend time with important people

Is there someone in your life, professional or personal, who you should see more of? Less of? For example, is a co-worker so odious to you that you should try to get that person transferred or fired? If you’re a boss, is it time to counsel-out a supervise who’s in the wrong job, perhaps helping him or her to find a better-suited position? That can help avoid a painful “wrongful termination” lawsuit.

I will address my substance abuse problem

Most people don’t realise they have an abuse problem. Is your drinking affecting you at work? Is your pot smoking affecting your motivation and/or memory? Then address this problem.

Power of Acceptance

The virtue of ‘Acceptance’ is one of the extremely needed divine virtue that can bring not only simplicity in our life, but it is also the foundation on which divine powers like power to tolerate, to accommodate, to face can be built.

Usually, most of the people think that to accept or to confess their mistakes will lead to degrade their image. But this is a big misconception. The reality is that Acceptance of the mistakes committed is also of the great acts of charity. It is said that ‘Truth is always victorious’; “Truthfulness is the main element of character.” When we confess our guilt, the power of truth within us will emerge and ‘truth’ has the power to make the person in front of us contented and docile.

Whenever the thought of ‘hatred’ springs up in our mind or if our heart doesn’t agree to accept someone’s nature, then we have to think a while, why Supreme Almighty is being called Ocean of Love and Mercy? It is because he accepted all of us along with our vicious sanskars, defects and weaknesses. He never hates anybody, instead he praises us and always tries to make us similar to him by showering all the treasures of His knowledge, powers and virtues. In order to be like him, we have to make our hearts big enough to accommodate everyone. Hence, the one who accepts others would contribute his best to establish ‘World Brotherhood’, that would enable her/him to be ‘Loved by self, Loved by God and Loved by others.’

Editor’s note: Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji is a writer at www.brahmakumaris.com and can be reached at nikunjji@brahmakumaris.in.

Love your Mum

When you came into the world, she held you in her arms. You thanked her by wailing.

When you were one year old, she fed you and bathed you. You thanked her by crying all night.

When you were two years old, she taught you to walk. You thanked her by running away.

When you were three years old, she made all your meals with love. You thanked her by tossing your plate on the floor.

When you were four years old, she gave you some crayons. You thanked her by colouring the dining room table.

When you were five years old, she dressed you for the holidays. You thanked her by plopping into the nearest pile of mud.

When you were six years old, she walked you to school. You thanked her by, “I’m not going!”

When you were seven years old, she bought you a cricket ball. You thanked her by throwing it through the next-door-neighbour’s window.

When you were eight years old, she handed you an ice cream. You thanked her by dripping it all over your lap.

When you were nine years old, she paid for piano lessons. You thanked by not practicing.

When you were 10, she drove you all day, from soccer to gymnastics to many birthday parties. You thanked her by jumping out of the car and never looking back.

When you were 11, she took you and your friends to the movies. You thanked her by asking to sit in a different row.

When you were 12 years old, she warned you not to watch certain TV shows. You thanked her by waiting until she left the house.

When you were 13, she suggested a haircut that was becoming. You thanked her by telling her she had no taste.

When you were 14, she paid for a summer camp. You thanked her by forgetting to write.

When you were 15, she came home from work, looking for a hug. You thanked her by having your bedroom door locked.

When you were 17, she was expecting an importing call. You thanked her by being on the phone all night.

When you were 18, she cried at your high school. You thanked her by staying out partying.

When you were 19, she paid for your college tuition, drove you to campus. You thanked her by saying good-bye outside the dorm so you wouldn’t be embarrassed.

When you were 20, she asked whether you were seeing anyone. You thanked her by saying, “It’s none of your business.”

When you were 21, she suggested certain careers for your future. You thanked her by saying, “I don’t want to be like you.”

When you were 22, she hugged you at your college graduation. You thanked her by asking whether she could pay for a trip to Europe.

When you were 23, she gave you furniture for your first apartment. You thanked her by telling your friends it was ugly.

When you were 24, she met your fiancé and asked about your plans for the future. You thanked her by glaring and growling, “Muuhh-ther, please!”

When you were 25, she helped to pay for your wedding, and told you she loved you. You thanked her by moving halfway across the country.

When you were 30, she called with some advice on the baby. You thanked her by telling her, “Things are different now.”

When you were 40, she called to remind you of an relative’s birthday. You thanked her by saying you were “really busy right now.”

When you were 50, she fell ill and needed you to take care of her. You thanked her by reading about the burden parents become to their children.

And then, one day, she quietly died. There’s no substitute for her. At times she may not be the best of friends, may not agree to our thoughts, she is still your mother!

Windows for the Media-Junkie

A PC is not only for work and most of the times, a PC is in use as a media device, rendering HD videos and playing high-quality audio files. People use PCs to watch movies or television series and use media players to play some music while working. Windows comes built-in with decent media applications but these applications have more flaws that a user can handle. MACs, on the other hand, are equipped with pretty good media applications; one of them being a media player that many Windows users love as well – iTunes. But the internet offers many alternatives to these built-in applications that work better and are free. Any media junkie on a Windows PC would only benefit from using these media applications.

Music

Windows Media Player or iTunes, comes to everyone’s mind when we talk about a quality application for music but as good as iTunes is, the Apple software takes up a lot of system memory and has a pretty slow usability. There are many applications that work as good as iTunes but works light, one of them being Winamp. Very lightweight with support for various types, Winamp is one of the best audio applications you can install on Windows but it falls short of the usability because of its traditional music library view. It does not flaunt the album view or the cover flow of Windows Media Player and iTunes but beats both these applications when it comes to performance and file compatibility.

But in recent times, there have been applications that work as a bridge between your media library and the internet. These applications keep a live internet connection with their hosts and work while you’re enjoying your music to bring you dynamic content from famous music sites like Last FM. One of the best applications in this field is Songbird, developed by Mozilla, the same company that brings you the famous browser Firefox. Songbird is a browser and media player built in one and lets you browse the internet as you listen to music but apart from its browser capabilities, it also brings you song lyrics and artist information from the internet as you go through your library. Another software that works in the same way as Songbird is MusicBee, a relatively new software that connects your music library with the internet but does not come equipped with a browser. Instead, it provides plenty of options to reorganize and collect internet data for your music.

Video

Microsoft does not have a very good video player and the video playing capabilities of Windows Media Player is limited, so many people are in the lookout for an advanced media player that can handle any file format you throw at them, like VLC Media Player. No doubt that VLC Media Player is one of the best video players but if you want a change from the bland user interface that comes with it, then a perfect replacement is the Cowon Audio’s JetAudio. JetAudio supports all the popular video formats but might not be able to handle any kind of video files like VLC. It has a slick interface that stays out of your way as you watch videos. It comes equipped with most of the features that people commonly use, such as subtitle feature and aspect-ratio option that lets you manually force a video into different aspect ratios. It also comes with brilliant audio processors that give a certain depth to your video, like BBE sound effects which make watching music videos a pleasure. If you want a more stable and lightweight player, then go for K-Lite Codec Pack’s Media Player Classic. The codec pack installs all the codec files you need to play videos and is a must-install on all Windows PCs. Apart from the codecs, it also comes equipped with a very advanced media player that resembles the Media Player of Windows XP.

Podcasts

Microsoft has conveniently not focused on the need for a Podcast system and it’s also pretty difficult to find a reliable podcast manager for Windows but if you happen to a big podcast buff, there are some excellent applications that can bridge the gap left by your operating system.

The first option comes from Microsoft itself but has now been taken off the internet but can still be found on different download sites. Zune Player was actually constructed as a PC suite for their line of Zune Media Players but Microsoft did such a great job with it that many people still use it as an independent media player and Podcast manager. It is, however, quite flashy and so it takes up a big part of your memory and graphical memory but in all other aspects, it performs wonderfully. The podcasts can be queued up and the user can configure each podcast session to automatically download a certain number of episodes, silently in the background, every time the player starts up. If you want a lightweight option, Sony’s GO Media Manager is also an equally good alternative. Much like Zune, it lets you manage your podcasts easily. Downloading is also very easy.

eBooks

If you are a big bookworm and like to keep a huge collection of ebooks, then a good eBook manager is a must. There’s one that can help you organize you library as well as get your books ready for any device that you may want to read then in.

Calibre is one of the few eBook managers that does not disappoint. It gives you options to change the layout settings of .ePUB files and also helps you get them ready for many eBook readers like the Kindle, Nook or any Android or Apple tablets. It also downloads cover art for your books. Management and device syncing are made very easy with Calibre and that’s all you can ask from an eBook manager.

Your Windows PC can perform a lot better with these applications but there is an abundance of different options that media junkies can experiment with. These applications can help you get through your large media library and make your overall media experience a joy on a Windows PC. So get on your browser and start experimenting with different media players and managers out there.