Everyone in the world has a wearable these days, and now it's Microsoft's turn. The Microsoft Band is now available after a surprise debut last night. Available only in the US for now, it costs $199, and works on Android, iPhones, and Windows Phone devices alike. It's a fitness band. But it also has smart features. It tracks heart rate, too. Availability for the UK or Australia has not yet been announced, but the price would directly convert to about £125 or AU$225.

It's natural for the first reaction to be skepticism: what can Microsoft offer an already-crowded landscape that existing smart devices and fitness bands don't already give us? But the Microsoft Band offers a lot indeed, not only complete fitness tracking with an astonishing array of sensors but the types of smart notifications that basically make it a smartwatch, too.

Dan Graziano/CNET

Design: Basic black band, high-res display

The Microsoft Band looks generic from a distance: basic black, with a rectangular color OLED display. It's stiff too, since the entire band contains hardware; the sides are practically bulging with what feels like batteries, and the back buckle contains the optical heart-tracking green LEDs.

It looks somewhat like Samsung's Gear Fit, except without the curved display. And that makes sense, because this is a similar idea, a smartwatch-meets-fitness band with an extra-wide and narrow display.

The flat OLED touch display only turns on when you press the side button, and doesn't turn on automatically, but it's bright and vivid. Microsoft's simplified tile-based interface shows time, fitness data, and app-like tiles for smart features. A second button also starts workouts.

A magnetically-attaching USB charger snaps in like the Surface Pro, or Apple's MagSafe cables.

Heart-rate tracking works pretty well.Scott Stein/CNET

Fitness: All the fixings

The Microsoft Band tracks steps, and also 24-hour heart rate. Once it locks in, it's easy to instantly see your heart activity. At night, the Band tracks sleep based on accelerometer and heart rate info, and calculates your resting heart rate overnight. During the day, active heart activity during workouts gets analyzed based on heart rate data already collected.

For workouts, the Microsoft Band can work with any gym activities, from weightlifting to ellipticals. There are also downloadable workout sessions from partners like Gold's Gym and Men's Fitness that are free to install on the band. Put them on the Band and they'll guide you to training sessions and track when you've completed each activity.

The heart rate tracker tech is in the buckle.Dan Graziano/CNET

There's also built-in GPS for runners, making this a stand-alone running accessory. Go jogging without a phone and it'll track your data and location, and map your run and how intensely you ran when you sync with your phone. Microsoft claims 5 hours of GPS battery life, or 48 hours for other activities.

Microsoft plans a number of insights that will get pushed to the Band and the Microsoft Health app, which acts as the hub for syncing and customizing the band's functions. All data is stored in Microsoft's cloud, and the collected coaching-style insights it gives you sound like the type of stuff Jawbone does via its Up app and fitness bands.

The band also has a UV sensor so when you step outdoors it can tell you how much sun you're getting. No other fitness band I can think of has a UV sensor.

Microsoft Health app has a clean design and feels like a part of Windows Phone that escaped and lives on my iPhone. The Band's background colors can be changed, app and feature tiles can be swapped out and workouts added. Charts and graphs show trends and activity over time, much like other data-rich fitness apps. The app connects with RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal to start, allowing synchronized food and social run-tracking.

Dan Graziano/CNET

Smart features: Very smart indeed

The Microsoft Band can get a ton of notifications: texts, incoming phone call caller ID, calendar appointments, email previews, Facebook and Twitter notifications, weather, stock data and any other notifications via your phone's stock notification center. It just took a few seconds to set up with an iPhone 6 and everything worked perfectly.

There's even a Starbucks mini-app that can load your barcode and pay at a local store: I tried and it worked like a charm for my daily iced coffee.

Dan Graziano/CNET

Impressively, all of the smart features work on Android, iOS or Windows Phone: you need Windows Phone 8.1 plus Bluetooth, Android 4.3.4 or above with Bluetooth, or an iPhone 4S or newer running iOS 7.1 or better.Windows Phone owners get another bonus: Cortana communication via built-in microphone. You can set reminders or ping your phone for information -- but the Band doesn't have a speaker.

Built-in vibrations can be used to set silent alarms or to get fitness goal reminders.

The perfect fitness smart band?

The Microsoft Band seems nearly perfect at first glance. Its biggest limits are that it's not swim or shower-friendly, its battery life is significantly shorter than competing fitness-based bands and watches, and it feels a little awkward on the wrist. Stay tuned for a full review, but so far Microsoft looks like it's made some pretty smart moves...ones that devices like Samsung Gear Fit should have added a long time ago

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Side by side on a table, the two nearly identical rectangular handsets look innocuous enough and extremely familiar. Yet two things quietly make the Samsung Galaxy A3 and A5 stand out: their all-aluminum material and their unibody construction. Following the metal-framed (and plastic-backed)Samsung Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy Note 4, the A5 and A3 represent Samsung's first stab at an all-metal build, and the first of its smartphones to seal in the battery completely.

The square-sided handsets look and feel good, similar to the Alpha, or like smaller, more maneuverable versions of the Note 4. They're also on the light side and are noticeably slim -- in fact, they're the most svelte Galaxy phones yet. Don't look for any real standout textures or design elements to show off the move to metal; these smooth-backed specimens are understated as far as that goes.

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Since the back cover isn't removable, you'll find the SIM-card and microSD-card slots on the right edge. In some countries, a hybrid slot will accommodate either a second SIM or a storage card, just not both at the same time. As midrange phones, you won't find a heart-rate monitor built in with the camera module; Samsung says that sensor is reserved for more premium phones like the Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 4, and Galaxy Alpha.

Midrange specs

You might think that luxe metal casings like these would house equally high-end specs, but the A series is actually defined by midrange specs that target a more youthful demographic. Samsung's market studies revealed that this group isn't fussy about top-flight hardware, but is turning toward the metal trend in a serious way.

SAMSUNG GALAXY A3, A5 SPECS

	A5	A3
Operating system	Android 4.4 KitKat	Android 4.4 KitKat
Screen size	5-inch AMOLED	4.5-inch AMOLED
Resolution	1,280x720; 294ppi	960x540; 245ppi
Dimensions	5.5 x 2.7 x 0.26-inch; 139.3mm x 69.7mm x 6.7mm	5.1 x 2.6 x 0.27-inch; 130.1 x 65.5 x 6.9mm
Weight	4.3 ounces (123 grams)	3.9 ounces (110.3 grams)
Cameras (back/front)	13-megapixel; 5-megapixel	8-megapixel; 5-megapixel
Processor	1.2GHz quad-core	1.2GHz quad-core
Storage	16GB	16GB
Expandable storage	Up to 64GB	Up to 64GB
RAM	2GB	1GB
Battery	2,300mAh	1,900mAh
Bluetooth	4.0	4.0
4G LTE	Yes, Category 4	Yes, Category 4

Samsung also points out that the A5 ad A3 emphasize sound quality, with adjustable audio that increases volume when it detects competing background noise. Another feature, called Wise Voice, helps keep volume levels constant for the receiver even if you're holding the phone away from your face. Sounds good in theory, though I didn't get a chance to test out either enhancement.

In terms of color, both the A3 and A5 will come in six shades. There's the usual black and white, gold and silver metallics, and the same blossom pink and light blue as the Note 4. As usual, not every color will be available in every country.

Extra themes

Android 4.4 KitKat is the OS standard for these phones, with Samsung's TouchWiz interface on top. In a nod to self-expression, a new take on the UI lets you apply four new themes -- such as "nature" -- that applies pre-selected images and ringtones. The A3 and A5 also have their own unique touch sounds that other Galaxy phones don't.

Supercharged selfies

The A3 and A5 may fall in the middle of the hardware spectrum, but they have a few fun new camera features dedicated to selfies, another huge trend we're seeing in smartphones.

The Note 4's rear-camera selfie mode is alive and well on the A3 and A5.Josh Miller/CNET

It all starts with wide-angle selfies that shoot up to 100 degrees in portrait and a 120-degree landscape/panorama mode. The A3 and A5 also get the same rear-camera selfie feature first seen on the Note 4 (I really like this one). In addition, the airbrushing Beauty mode found in pretty much every Samsung and LG front-facing camera goes a step further here with effects to correct your skin tone and slim your face, plus one to enlarge your eyes. If you prefer to send your selfies au naturel, you'll have the option to turn this off.

You can trigger selfies with a voice prompt as before, and Samsung also adds the ability to launch a count-down by holding your hand in front of the camera. You'll have 3 seconds to get your palm out of the way before the shutter snaps to life.

Also brand-new is an animated GIF mode, which combines up to 20 pictures you capture by pressing and holding the shutter button. You can adjust the frame rate for 1-to-10 frames per second, and also tweak the GIF quality using a sliding scale. You'll also be able to reorder frames and adjust the settings before saving your animated 

It's a cute idea, but one that's clearly still in its infancy. Quality on my GIF was choppy in my hands-on demo, and that's because it caps off at a 640x480-pixel video resolution. Sharing is also limited. While animated GIFS are shareable through a messaging app, it wasn't clear if you could upload them to social networks like Facebook.

Where can you get the A5 and A3, and for how much?

The Galaxy A3 and A5 will launch in Asia first in November (including China), followed by rest of the world. While Samsung hasn't released pricing or distribution details yet (carriers will likely do that on their own), look for costs of unlocked models to come in significantly lower than the Note 4.

Outlook

Once again, Samsung's approach of aiming its first fully metal devices to the middle of the market rather than the tippy-top is a different strategy than I'd have expected from the smartphone leader. It isn't an unreasonable position, however. Appearances matter, and with midrange specs largely on par with competing devices, the more premium metal may very well help the A3 and A5 stand out against rival phones

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some readers asked us how to turn their smartphones into a hotspot. As it turns out, it's much simpler than turning your laptop into a hotspot and all mobile operating systems come with one-click methods of doing this very easily.

However, some telecom operators may not allow you to create a hotspot. They might restrict it if you are on a plan that allows high data usage or they may not enable this feature unless requested. So if you don't see these options, try getting in touch with your operator.

Here's how to turn your phone or tablet into a Wi-Fi hotspot.

iOS
Here's how to share your mobile Internet connection on iOS devices - will work for both iPhone and iPad.

1. Go to Settings > Personal Hotspot > On.

2. Enter a password.

3. Now you'll see a Wi-Fi network on other devices, which you can connect to easily.

4. The name of this Wi-Fi network is the name of your phone. You can change it by going to Settings > General > About > Name.

5. By default, iOS devices use the fairly secure WPA2-PSK encryption on Wi-Fi hotspots.

Android
Follow these steps to create a Wi-Fi hotspot on Android devices.

1. Go to Settings > More... > Tethering & portable hotspot. While this option is there in all Android phones, the wording may vary depending on the device. In some phones, this shows up under Settings > Networks > Sharing. Look for words such as Sharing or Tethering to find it in your phone.

2. Now set up the hotspot by tapping Set up Wi-Fi hotspot. This option shows up asConfigure Wi-Fi hotspot on some smartphones.

3. Key in the name of the Wi-Fi network, a password and tap Save.

4. Tap Portable Wi-Fi hotspot to switch on the hotspot.

Windows Phone
Check these steps to start a Wi-Fi hotspot on your Windows Phone device.

1. Go to Settings > Internet Sharing.

2. Tap the edit icon (pencil) at the bottom to configure the hotspot.

3. Tap Broadcast Name to change the name of the network and enter a password in its field below.

4. Tap the tick mark to finish configuration. 

5. Now flick the Internet Sharing slider to On.

BlackBerry 10
Here's how to quickly set up a hotspot on a BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

1. Swipe down from the top of the screen. Tap Settings.

2. Tap Network Settings > Mobile Hotspot > Next

3. You'll see four warning prompts (data use, monitor users on hotspot, battery usage and inactivity timer). Tap Next each time.

4. Type a password for the Wi-Fi network you are about to create. Tap Next

5. Tap Configure. You can now change the name of the network if you want to.

6. Once that's done, tap Save to create a hotspot

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Google previewed 'Android L' at its Google I/O developer event in June, and since then, developers and consumers have awaited the final version, which was finally announced on Wednesday as Android 5.0 Lollipop. The company also launched the platform lead devices for Android 5.0 Lollipop, namely the Nexus 6, Nexus 9, and Nexus Player.

Since the Android L preview earlier this year, Google has added several new features to the final release of Android 5.0 Lollipop. While some changes are extensions of the themes introduced in Android L, some are relatively new, and other previously known features have now been detailed by the search giant.

Here are some of the biggest changes that Google brought to its widely-popular mobile and tablet platform with Android 5.0 Lollipop:

Material DesignFirst up is the ambitious Material Design. Remember when Google had introduced Android L saying that this next version will receive a complete visual overhaul for a consistent experience across devices? Well, here it is. Android 5.0 Lollipop features a cleaner, flatter design with a more fluid interface and animations.

We saw the revamped navigation and status bar in the Android L preview, and Google has stuck to the design but now the status bar can be coloured or kept transparent (depending on the app) and features refreshed status icons. The 'Quick settings' menu has also been revamped, and includes new controls like flashlight, hotspot, cast screen controls and more. Also new is the toggle for location services. The recent apps menu or task switcher now appears like a stack of cards instead of a list of screenshots of recently open apps.

Google explains the new Material Design for Android 5.0 Lollipop as "A bold, colorful, and responsive UI design for consistent, intuitive experiences across all your devices. Responsive, natural motion, realistic lighting and shadows, and familiar visual elements make it easier to navigate your device. Vivid new colors, typography, and edge-to-edge imagery help to focus your attention."

Improved Notifications/ Do Not DisturbAndroid 5.0 Lollipop's lock screen displays richer notifications, and users can view and respond to messages directly from the lock screen. In fact, Google has further gone ahead with notifications and included rich floating descriptive notifications on top of your activity. Users will be able to view or dismiss any notifications without moving away from an activity.

Essentially, Google has provided better overall control for Notifications.

Users will be able to control notifications triggered by their apps, and choose to hide sensitive content, apart from prioritising or turning off an app's notifications completely. Android 5.0 Lollipop users can also turn on 'Priority mode' via the device's volume button and allow notifications from only certain people or apps to be shown - users can schedule when Priority mode turns on as well. The feature also works as a Do Not Disturb mode as seen in Apple's iOS, and allows users to also selectively silence notifications and calls on the Android device.

Importantly, Google has also now downgraded the priority that incoming phone calls are given, and users can now choose to answer the call, cancel it, or just continue to do what they were doing without waiting for the call to end.

Kill Switch and Improved SecurityAndroid 5.0 Lollipop will come with an opt-in kill switch dubbed 'Factory Reset Protection', which will allow users to wipe out the device's data on will. If a user activates this feature, they will be required to enter their Google login to factory reset the device and it will only work when the phone passcode is enabled. Google also says that new devices come with encryption automatically turned on to help protect data on lost or stolen devices. Google had announced the feature last month, after Apple revealed its own version. Not much is known about this feature as yet, but we will soon find out the details.

Other security options in Android Lollipop includes SELinux enforcing for all applications claimed for even better protection against vulnerabilities and malware. Users will also get an Android Smart Lock feature to secure their device by pairing it with a trusted device like a wearable or even their car, says Google.

New Messenger App

There is a new Messenger app that will be shipping with the Nexus 6 as part of Android 5.0 Lollipop It is said to be a more simplified of Hangouts, and is not a replacement for it, says a Google spokesperson, "Messenger and Hangouts offer users choice, each have their own benefits. Hangouts work great for cross platform (web, iOS, Android) and cross medium communications (video, voice,messaging, SMS). Messenger will be specially designed to be a quick and easy way to send and receive SMS and MMS messages on Android; more to come (Nexus 6 will come with both apps)."

Device SharingGoogle has finally brought device sharing features that will help users share their Android 5.0 Lollipop device with members of their family and friends without worrying about access to sensitive content. Android 5.0 Lollipop features a guest user mode with custom options for access, as well as screen pinning that lets users fix in place the screen that's displayed without allowing guests to go further. Interestingly, it has also introduced a new feature in Lollipop that lets users log in to another Android phone to access synced messages and content in case they forget their phone at home.

Battery SaverGoogle has also added a new battery saver feature to Android 5.0 Lollipop, claiming to extend device battery life by up to 90 minutes. Android 5.0 Lollipop will also display the estimated time left to fully charge the device when plugged in, as well as the estimated time left on the device before the user needs to charge again.

Quick Device Set UpGoogle has introduced new ways for users to set up their devices with Android 5.0 Lollipop. Users can instantly set up their new Android phone or tablet by simply tapping it on their old device - though this requires NFC support. All apps from Google Play are also carried over on the new device, as long as the same Google account is being used.

Other new features in Android 5.0 Lollipop include the new ART Android runtime for improved application performance and responsiveness; support for 64-bit devices and SoCs; native 64-bit apps; improved hardware keyboard accessory support (including support for multilingual, emoji input, search key, and improved app and system key chords), support for 15 new languages (including Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu); improved accessibility features (such as text contrast boost, colour inversion, and enhanced colour differentiation); improved audio, video, and camera capabilities, and improved Internet connectivity everywhere and with more powerful Bluetooth low energy capabilities

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Lava has launched the Iris Fuel 50 smartphone under the company's new Iris Fuel range, priced at Rs. 7,799. The smartphone will be available starting Friday for the Indian market in Black colour.

The domestic handset maker has also confirmed that it will be launching more smartphones under the new Iris Fuel series, based around strong battery life. However, the company has not revealed an exact time frame for the launch.

The highlight feature of the Lava Iris Fuel 50 is its 3000mAh battery, which is arguably the largest battery in a sub-Rs. 10,000 smartphone. Lava claims that the battery can deliver up to 13 hours of talk time and up to 360 hours of standby time on 3G networks.

Notably, the Iris Fuel 50's 3000mAh battery is larger than some of the popular smartphones in its category, such as Xiaomi's Redmi 1S (2000mAh), Moto E(1980mAh), and even the Zenfone 5 A501CG (2110mAh).

The Lava Iris Fuel 50 is a dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) device which runs Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box. It comes with a 5-inch (480x854 pixels) FWVGA IPS display. The smartphone also features the scratch resistant Asahi Dragon-trail glass.

It is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core (unspecified chipset) processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. The Iris Fuel 50 comes with 8GB of inbuilt storage, which is further expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB). It sports an 8-megapixel rear autofocus camera with dual-LED flash, while there is a secondary 2-megapixel front-facing camera also onboard.

On the connectivity front, the Iris Fuel 50 offers 3G, GPRS/ EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Micro-USB, and Bluetooth options. It measures 144.8x72.9x9.5mm and weighs 160 grams.

The Lava Iris Fuel 50 comes with features such as double tap to wake up screen, and even supports drawing customisable gestures.

Commenting on the launch, Hari Om Rai, Chairman and Managing Director, Lava International said, "As smartphones are increasingly becoming a very integral part of our daily lives and drive a lot of tasks for us, we need devices that are able to support heavy usage without having the need to carry power banks for frequent charging. Lava's product development and R&D team worked on this insight and with our new Fuel series of smartphones we will address just that. Lava has launched the first smartphone in this series, Iris Fuel 50 and shall soon come up with more products at different price points in this series."

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Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled two new mid-tier handsets with a premium design as it prepared to deliver a riposte to its low-priced Chinese rivals and reclaim its title as the top brand in the world's biggest smartphone market.

The Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 will be Samsung's first devices to feature fully metal bodies and its thinnest smartphones to date. In size, they are comparable to those of the top-of-the-line Galaxy S5 , though of lesser screen resolution quality.

Samsung said on Friday that it will start selling the Galaxy A3 and A5 in China sometime in November. It classified them as mid-tier, and said they will be launched in other "select markets", without disclosing the pricing.

The announcement, combined with hopes for an earnings recovery and bigger dividends, pushed Samsung's shares to a two-month high in Seoul in midday trade on Friday.

The news comes a day after Samsung reported its worst quarterly operating profit in more than three years. Earnings from its handset division slumped 73.9 percent from a year earlier.

The company said its responses to "rapid shifts in the competitive landscape" were not quick enough. It vowed to revamp its offerings.

"For our mid to low-end smartphones we will enhance product competitiveness by differentiating our displays and materials as well as upgrading camera functionality," Senior Vice President Kim Hyun-joon told analysts on Thursday.

The world's smartphone leader is regrouping as it lost market share in annual terms for the third straight quarter in July-September, according to Strategy Analytics.

It has been beaten by Apple Inc's iPhones in the premium segment and undercut by Chinese rivals like Lenovo Group Ltd and Xiaomi Inc at the bottom end.

Samsung will likely accept lower margins going forward to preserve market share and growth volume, analysts said. But most do not expect a firm recovery until mid-2015 at the earliest.

"A lineup change is a costly process, just like re-doing your home interior design," said KTB Investment analyst Jin Sung-hye.

© Thomson Reuters 2014

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LG, back in 2013, launched what it claimed was theworld's first Quad-HD AH-IPS LCD panel for smartphones, and the company used the panel on its 2014 flagship, the G3.

Now, the South Korean company further has upped the ante and has developed a 5.3-inch full-HD LCD panel for smartphones sporting what it claims is "the world's narrowest bezel at 0.7mm".

LG reveals that it will start mass production of the display next month, and will be supplying it first to China. The company believes that China has more demand for large screen smartphones.

The company notes that to achieve a narrow bezel of 0.7mm, it used a new 'Neo Edge' module processing technology and the Advanced In-Cell Touch (AIT) technology.

LG says, "To realize the 0.7mm bezel width on the left and right sides of the panel, which is narrower than the 0.8mm thickness of a credit card, LG Display used its "Neo Edge" module processing technology and the world's first "Advanced In-Cell Touch (AIT)" technology."

The company explains that the new Neo Edge technology uses an adhesive, which replaces a double-sided tape used previously for attaching and completely sealing the total area and edges of the panel's circuit board and backlight unit.

"Because there is no plastic guide panel to attach the panel and backlight, the Neo Edge technology helps achieve minimal bezel width, while blocking light leakage and being waterproof and dustproof," it adds.

The Advanced In-Cell Touch (AIT) technology, on the other hand, is said to be exclusively developed by LG Display and is claimed to "reduce the need for bezel space because the touch panel is embedded into the LCD module."

Commenting on the announcement, Byeong-koo Kim, Vice President and Head of IT/Mobile Development Group at LG Display said, "With this innovative product having many advantages, ranging from its narrow 0.7mm bezel and high resolution picture quality to its slim design and touch-embedded solutions, LG Display will continue to lead the growing market for large screen smartphones, meeting the expectations of customers and users by enhancing the quality of devices."

LG earlier on Wednesday revealed that its July-September operating profit more than doubled from a year earlier, with the company's mobile division serving up its highest profit since 2009, with 16.8 million smartphones sold in the quarter.

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Timothy D. Cook, Apple's chief executive, said he was "proud to be gay" in an essay published early Thursday, becoming by far the most prominent executive of a public company to come out.

"Let me be clear: I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me," Cook wrote in the essay, published by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Cook, 53, has never spoken publicly about his sexual orientation in the many years he has worked in the spotlight at Apple.

In his essay, Cook also noted that he had spent much of his life trying to keep his personal matters private, which is why he had not previously spoken in public about his sexual orientation.

"Apple is already one of the most closely watched companies in the world," he wrote, "and I like keeping the focus on our products and the incredible things our customers achieve with them."

But in private forums, he has alluded to facing difficulties growing up as a young man in Alabama, where he was raised for much of his childhood. He has said that human rights and dignity are values that need to be acted upon.

With his essay, Cook becomes the most high-profile gay man in the corporate world, joining a very short list of openly gay executives at public companies. He also defies corporate sexual identity norms; 83 percent of gay, lesbian and bisexual people hide aspects of their identity at work, according to a Deloitte report.

While Cook had not spoken previously about his sexuality, he noted that Apple had done much to advance human rights and marriage equality in its workplace, and had consistently enacted progressive policies to encourage gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender candidates to work for the company.

Apple has publicly supported a workplace equality bill in California, site of the company's headquarters, and spoke against a bill passed in Arizona which Apple said discriminated against the gay community.

Arthur D. Levinson, chairman of Apple's board, issued a statement, saying, "Tim has our wholehearted support and admiration in making this courageous personal statement."

Levinson added: "His decision to speak out will help advance the cause of equality and inclusion far beyond the business world. On behalf of the board and our entire company, we are incredibly proud to have Tim leading Apple."

In the essay, Cook cited Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose framed photos are on his office wall, as his inspiration for publishing his essay Thursday.

"I don't pretend that writing this puts me in their league," he wrote. "All it does is allow me to look at those pictures and know that I'm doing my part, however small, to help others."

"We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick," he wrote

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Motorola has launched its latest Droid-series smartphone, the Droid Turbo, exclusively on US mobile carrier Verizon.

Verizon announced that the Droid Turbo smartphone by Motorola will be available starting October 30 from its online and retail stores. It comes in a choice of a durable "Ballistic Nylon" build, or a "metalized" Kevlar fibre build.

The Droid Turbo has been priced at $199.99 (approximately Rs. 12,250) for the 32GB model with new two year activation or $25 per month on Verizon Edge, and will be available in Metallic Black, Metallic Red, and Black Ballistic Nylon models. The 64GB variant comes at $249.99 (approximately Rs. 15,300) with new two year activation or $27 per month on Verizon Edge, and will be available in Black Ballistic Nylon.

As expected, the new Motorola Droid Turbo comes with some top-notch specifications, such as a QHD display - which has been seen on smartphones such as LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4, and is perhaps the highlight of the device. It features a 5.2-inch QHD (1440x2560 pixels) display offering a pixel density of 565ppi, much higher than the 5.5-inch LG G3 at 534ppi and 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 4 at 515ppi. The screen also includes Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protective layer.

The smartphone is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor clocked at 2.7GHz coupled with an Adreno 420 GPU and 3GB of RAM.

The Android 4.4.4 KitKat-based Droid Turbo features water-repellent nano-coating and is claimed to be 'water resistant', as per Motorola.

The Droid Turbo features with a massive 3900mAh battery, the biggest amongst some of the high-end phones such as Sony Xperia Z3, Samsung Galaxy S5, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and even Moto X (Gen 2). The company claims that the smartphone can deliver up to 48 hours of mixed usage. The Droid Turbo also supports Motorola's Turbo Charger, a new accessory from the company stables that is said to provide 8 hours of battery life in just 15 minutes of charging.

The Motorola Droid Turbo sports a 21-megapixel rear autofocus camera with f/2.0 aperture and dual-LED flash. The rear camera comes with features such as slow motion video; burst mode; auto HDR; Panorama, and tap to focus. Meanwhile, it can also record 4K videos at 24fps. It includes a 2-megapixel front camera.

The Motorola Droid Turbo supports 4G LTE with LTE Cat 4, apart from CDMA, EVDO Rev A, GSM/ UMTS/ HSPA+ (depending on the plan chosen).

The Droid Turbo also includes features from the Moto X (Gen 2) such as the Moto Display, which can wake up the phone to show the time and notifications when user's reach for the phone. Other pre-installed apps include Droid Zap app, feature that makes sharing of images and videos easy with nearby friends, and Zap to TV, which uses Google Chromecast to create a slideshow on a big screen.

The Metallic Red and Metallic Black variants measure 143.5x73.3x10.6mm, while at the thinnest the handset measures just 7.8mm. It weighs 169 grams. The Black Ballistic Nylon model, on the other hand, comes with dimensions 143.5x73.3x11.2mm, while measures 8.3mm at the thinnest. It weighs 176 grams. The handset includes accelerometer, ambient light, e-compass, gyroscope, Infrared, and proximity sensors

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Samsung has quietly announced a new smartphone by listing it on its China website, the Galaxy Core Max. The handset comes with model number SM-G5108, and as the name suggests, is larger than any other Galaxy Core handset in the family. For now, no price has been listed by Samsung, and details of both China and global availability have also not been provided.

As per the official listing, the dual-SIM Galaxy Core Max smartphone runs Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box skinned with the firm's own TouchWiz UI. It features a 4.8-inch qHD (540x960 pixels) Super Amoled display, and is powered by a quad-core processor (unspecified) clocked at 1.2GHz, clubbed with 1GB of RAM. There is 8GB of built-in storage, which can be further expanded via microSD card (up to 64GB).

The Samsung Galaxy Core Max sports an 8-megapixel rear camera with flash, while also housing a 5-megapixel front camera. The smartphone Max packs a 2200mAh battery, and comes with 3G, 4G LTE, GPRS/ EDGE, GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB, Bluetooth 4.0, 3.5mm audio port, and Wi-Fi connectivity options. The Galaxy Core Max measures 136.3x69.6x8mm, weighs 132 grams and is listed in a White colour variant only.

Notably on Wednesday, Samsung listed the Galaxy S5 Plus on its Netherlands website, a variant of its flagship smartphone that is actually the European version of the Galaxy S5 4G+ introduced in Singapore in August.

Both the Galaxy S5 Plus and Galaxy S5 4G+ feature the same model name as well - SM-G901F - and have the same specifications, of which the most notable is the 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 SoC - a significant bump up from the Galaxy S5 and its Snapdragon 801 processor that also brings integrated LTE-A connectivity

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Xiaomi, the popular smartphone maker also known as China's Apple, has been rumoured to be working on a successor to the Redmi Note, expected to be called the Redmi Note 2, for a while. Earlier this week however, a purported image of the handset's rear panel, including the camera module, has been leaked online.

The successor of Redmi Note phablet, as per the leaked image by a Chinese website (via GSMArena) that shows the upper part of the back panel, sports what seems to be an 8-megapixel camera with flash, along with a microphone and an MI logo placed below the camera module.

Notably, the 8-megapixel rear camera sensor size is different from last month's rumoured 20-megapixel snapper. Previous rumours had indicated the unannounced Redmi Note 2 phablet will be powered by MediaTek's octa-core MT6595 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. The chipset might work on the big.LITTLE architecture with 4 Cortex-A17 cores (up to 2.2GHz clock speed) and 4 Cortex-A7 cores (up to 1.7GHz clock speed).

Other purported specifications of the rumoured Redmi Note's successor include a 5.5-inch display (unspecified resolution); a 3500mAh battery; 4G LTE, and NFC support. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 is also rumoured to launch in four storage variants - 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB priced at $165, $215 and $245 respectively, while the price of the 128GB variant is not available.

While the company might be gearing up to launch the rumoured successor to the Redmi Note globally, Mi India is yet to provide an actual release date for the first-generation Redmi Note for the Indian market. However, earlier this month, Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's Vice President of International Operations, said the Redmi Note can be expected to launch within the next two months

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Earning $100, $200 or even $300 per day with Google AdSense is not an impossible job.

Many bloggers and website owners are doing it, and you are not an exception. The only thing you need is better planning and execution, hard work, determination and passion for blogging about your topic or niche.

Before diving into the exact process, let’s know some terminology for better understanding of Google AdSense and how you can generate more revenue by selling your ad inventories on your blog.

What Is AdSense: It’s a monetization program by Google for online content from websites, mobile sites, and site search results with relevant and engaging ads.

CTR : Your ad Click-through Rate is the number of ad clicks divided by the number of individual ad impressions. Suppose you are showing 3 AdSense ads on every page, your 1 page view is equal to 3 ad impressions.

CTR = Clicks / Ad Impressions X 100

Suppose, you get 5 clicks out of 500 ad impressions, your CTR would be 1% (5/500X100).

CPC : Cost-Per-Click is the revenue you earn each time a visitor clicks on your ad. CPC is usually determined by the advertisers. In some competitive niches like finance, marketing, online products etc. advertisers may be willing to pay more per click than others.

CPM: CPM means “Cost Per 1000 Impressions.”

Sometimes advertisers opt for CPM ads instead of CPC and set their price for 1000 ad impressions. And they pay each time their ads appear on any website.

Let’s Make $100 Everyday With Google AdSense, Right?

For the convenience of calculation we assume that – You serve your AdSense ads on your blog or website, irrespective of showing your ads on your mobile site and added the site search results with AdSense.

Your CTR is 1% and your average CPC is $0.25. It’s quite achievable and lots of bloggers usually get it. We also assume that Page View = Ad Impression for easy calculation. You can manipulate the parameters on your own for desired results.

To make $100 everyday you need 40,000 Page Views/day Or, 400 Clicks a day @ 1% CTR and $0.25 CPC. For 40,000 Page Views you have to produce 500 awesome articles or blog posts which attract at least 80 or more page views/article everyday.
Apart from CPC, you will also earn from your CPM ad impressions. Irrespective of any niche, the average CPM earning is $1 to $1.5 per 1,000 impressions. You can make $40 to $60 per day easily from 40,000 page views.
You can also sell your Ad space directly or via BuySellAds.com and generate $6,000 Per Month on an average from 40,000 page views. Check out how webmasters and bloggers are making $6,000 to $8,000 Per Month from BuySellAds with forty thousand page views per day. So your daily earning will be $200 (6000/30=200).
A niche blog with high quality articles converts very well with affiliate marketing. You can easily earn $40 to $80/day from affiliate selling with correct implementation and execution.
Now your total earning per day is $100 + $40 + $200 +$40 = $380 from CPC, CPM, Direct Ad Sell, Affiliate Marketing for 40,000 page views per day. I’ve taken the lowest possible earnings from all the 4 sources.

$380 per day means $11,400 per month (380X30= 11,400) Or, $136,800 per year (11,400X12=136,800). Isn’t it a whooping amount to lead a lavish life?

Which is well above your desired earning of $100 per day from Google AdSense, right? 1000s of bloggers are making money this way, and you can also do it. The only thing I want to say is “Be Focused!”

P.S. The above results can be possible if you produce at least 200 to 250 great articles or blog posts per year for 2 years. So how much traffic you actually need to make $100 per day from Google AdSense – It’s way less than 40,000 Page Views Per Day!

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