Here is How to Survive Halloween… with Minimum Effort

No offense here. Many of us love Halloween, but there are some people here at Samsung Tomorrow who just aren’t ready for it. Trick-or-treating, costumes, horror films, pranks, decorating, carving pumpkins, parties, food… the sheer amount of things you have to do just to celebrate Halloween is downright scary… to some of us. This article is for those ‘some of us’.

If Halloween feels like a social obligation rather than a celebration, you aren’t alone. That is why we would like to introduce you a brand new system called the ‘EEE’ or ‘3E’. EEE stands for: Easiest Costumes, Effortless Food and Excellent Excuses (ok, technically that’s 4Es, but you know what we mean). This system will guide you on how to survive Halloween with the bare minimum effort, as long as you manage to keep your head on your shoulders.

Easiest costumes

Halloween costumes can be quite overwhelming for many, not to mention that they come with a strong sense of peer pressure as well. You want to make sure that you spend the least amount of effort on a costume, but you also want to make sure that you look at least semi-cool. The best way to do achieve this is to do a ‘wordplay’ costume, such as going as a ‘cereal killer’, ‘French Kiss’ or ‘ceiling fan’. This will insinuate that you have put more of a ‘mental’ effort rather than a ‘physical’ effort into your costume. Therefore you can not only reaffirm your wittiness, but also hide your laziness at the same time, sort of. Here are two more ideas.

Galaxy Note 4

Had to do it, plus it is simple. Draw 4 musical notes on a shirt.  There you have the Note 4. If you want to do it totally properly, add couple of stars around it. Tuck a pen or pencil behind your ear to symbolize the S Pen.

Quarterback

Attach the tails side of a quarter on the back of your shirt. Or write a 1/4 on the back of shirt. Get it?

Okay, maybe not the best of ideas, can’t help you much here.

Effortless Food

If you had to dress up, chances are you are going to a party. And you are either going to a club or a house party. If you are going to a house party, you also might be responsible to pitch in for some kind of Halloween-themed food, like a potluck. You cannot disappoint people by not bringing anything, besides, it is what is expected of you as one of the guests. One easy thing you can do is bring something to drink to the party. Get some water, add some lime drink mix, pineapple juice and ginger ale, you will get a green colored punch called Brew-Ha-Ha punch. But not everyone can bring drinks – here’s an idea for effortless food.

Finger Food

Get some shortbread cookie recipe and roll tapered logs of the dough to form “fingers.” Press a sliced almond onto each one for a fingernail, and use a toothpick to draw creases at the "knuckles." Then you can bake them in a moderate oven until lightly golden.

*check out more ideas for Halloween food here.

Excellent Excuses

This is the last resort for time when you feel compelled to refuse to put on a costume or make any kind of food for anyone including yourself. We understand you. No matter what the world or society says, it is your time, you should be able to do whatever you want. Moreover, it’s Friday!

So, if making excuses isn’t your forte, but if you must do so to avoid Halloween, you must do it right. Your excuses should not only be 100% relatable, they should also be factual. Most importantly, it should be witty to make it sound less like an excuse, and more like your attempt to deal with the situation with some levity. Here is a line you can use and everyone will… sort of.

* I’m hanging out with my wife/husband or boyfriend/girlfriend and he/she is scary enough.

* There is something strange in my neighborhood. And I’ll be busy finding out who I’m going to call. (Get it?)

* I’m not afraid of ghosts, but I am afraid of people who want to be dress up like ghosts.

* My Smart TV made me an offer I cannot refuse.

* The internet has possessed me.

* It is my spiritual belief to do absolutely nothing on Friday but eat, sleep and repeat.  

* I’m dressing up as a hikikomori this year.

* No thank you.

That is it and you’re welcome. If you have something to add on the EEE system, leave us a comment to let us know your own ideas for costumes, food or excuses. Good Luck and a happy Halloween!

- See more at: http://global.samsungtomorrow.com/?p=44038#sthash.WSnL4S9A.dpuf

Here is How to Survive Halloween… with Minimum Effort -

No offense here. Many of us love Halloween, but there are some people here at Samsung Tomorrow who just aren’t ready for it. Trick-or-treating, costumes, horror films, pranks, decorating, carving pumpkins, parties, food… the sheer amount of things you have to do just to celebrate Halloween is downright scary… to some of us. This article is for those ‘some of us’.

If Halloween feels like a social obligation rather than a celebration, you aren’t alone. That is why we would like to introduce you a brand new system called the ‘EEE’ or ‘3E’. EEE stands for: Easiest Costumes, Effortless Food and Excellent Excuses (ok, technically that’s 4Es, but you know what we mean). This system will guide you on how to survive Halloween with the bare minimum effort, as long as you manage to keep your head on your shoulders.

Easiest costumes

Halloween costumes can be quite overwhelming for many, not to mention that they come with a strong sense of peer pressure as well. You want to make sure that you spend the least amount of effort on a costume, but you also want to make sure that you look at least semi-cool. The best way to do achieve this is to do a ‘wordplay’ costume, such as going as a ‘cereal killer’, ‘French Kiss’ or ‘ceiling fan’. This will insinuate that you have put more of a ‘mental’ effort rather than a ‘physical’ effort into your costume. Therefore you can not only reaffirm your wittiness, but also hide your laziness at the same time, sort of. Here are two more ideas.

Galaxy Note 4

Had to do it, plus it is simple. Draw 4 musical notes on a shirt.  There you have the Note 4. If you want to do it totally properly, add couple of stars around it. Tuck a pen or pencil behind your ear to symbolize the S Pen.

Quarterback

Attach the tails side of a quarter on the back of your shirt. Or write a 1/4 on the back of shirt. Get it?

Okay, maybe not the best of ideas, can’t help you much here.

Effortless Food

If you had to dress up, chances are you are going to a party. And you are either going to a club or a house party. If you are going to a house party, you also might be responsible to pitch in for some kind of Halloween-themed food, like a potluck. You cannot disappoint people by not bringing anything, besides, it is what is expected of you as one of the guests. One easy thing you can do is bring something to drink to the party. Get some water, add some lime drink mix, pineapple juice and ginger ale, you will get a green colored punch called Brew-Ha-Ha punch. But not everyone can bring drinks – here’s an idea for effortless food.

Finger Food

Get some shortbread cookie recipe and roll tapered logs of the dough to form “fingers.” Press a sliced almond onto each one for a fingernail, and use a toothpick to draw creases at the "knuckles." Then you can bake them in a moderate oven until lightly golden.

*check out more ideas for Halloween food here.

Excellent Excuses

This is the last resort for time when you feel compelled to refuse to put on a costume or make any kind of food for anyone including yourself. We understand you. No matter what the world or society says, it is your time, you should be able to do whatever you want. Moreover, it’s Friday!

So, if making excuses isn’t your forte, but if you must do so to avoid Halloween, you must do it right. Your excuses should not only be 100% relatable, they should also be factual. Most importantly, it should be witty to make it sound less like an excuse, and more like your attempt to deal with the situation with some levity. Here is a line you can use and everyone will… sort of.

* I’m hanging out with my wife/husband or boyfriend/girlfriend and he/she is scary enough.

* There is something strange in my neighborhood. And I’ll be busy finding out who I’m going to call. (Get it?)

* I’m not afraid of ghosts, but I am afraid of people who want to be dress up like ghosts.

* My Smart TV made me an offer I cannot refuse.

* The internet has possessed me.

* It is my spiritual belief to do absolutely nothing on Friday but eat, sleep and repeat.  

* I’m dressing up as a hikikomori this year.

* No thank you.

That is it and you’re welcome. If you have something to add on the EEE system, leave us a comment to let us know your own ideas for costumes, food or excuses. Good Luck and a happy Halloween!

- See more at: http://global.samsungtomorrow.com/?p=44038#sthash.8dmQeUUs.dpuf

This is an unofficial review of the Galaxy Note 4: Apps, Ultra Power Saving Mode, Fast Charging and more -

If you think this review of the Galaxy Note 4 is going to be biased, that is totally understandable. But it seems that quite a few people enjoyed Samsung Tomorrow’s most average editor’s first review of the Galaxy Note 4. So, thanks to you, that I was given the task of reviewing the Galaxy Note 4… again (only minimal sarcasm).

Before we start, let’s make sure that we avoid talking from an in-depth technical perspective, or any perspective in that matter, such as how the Quad HD Super AMOLED adaptive display can reproduce over 90% Adobe RGB, 3,686,400 pixels and has a response times as fast as a millionth of a second.

Instead, let’s stick with the perspective of the average Joe and talk about apps.

First of all, as much as I love to download apps, I enjoy deleting them just as much. However, it always feels like downloading apps is much easier than deleting them. Luckily enough, the Galaxy Note 4 that I’m using to review has already been passed around the office like a fresh edition of your favorite comic book, so there were plenty of apps I already wanted to delete. I’ve found out there are two ways you can delete/disable apps on the Galaxy Note 4: an easy way and the pro way.

Here’s the easy way.

Select ‘Apps’ on the Home Screen

Click the icon on the upper right corner with three buttons laid out horizontally.

Select Uninstall/disable apps

Select the apps you wish not to use anymore with the ‘-‘ icon.

Now here is the pro way. As a word of caution, using the pro way should be done carefully, because you don’t want to accidently delete any critical system related apps that can bring trouble to your phone. If you are 100% confident of what you know and doing it like a pro, go ahead and use this method.

Select ‘Apps’ on the Home Screen

Find the ‘Settings’ icon then go to ‘Application Manager’

Here you have four options – ‘Downloaded’ ‘SD Card’ ‘Running’ and ‘All’ – which you can browse by swiping to the right.

Select the apps you wish not to use anymore and disable or delete.

OK, since we got that cleared up, it is time to play. However, I realized that the person who used the Galaxy Note 4 before me did not charge it. It only had about 6% battery left. Therefore, immediately, I thought of the Ultra Power Saving Mode.

Ultra Power Saving Mode changes the screen to black-and-white, and operates only several essential apps while turning off all the non-essential services on your phone to prolong battery life.

As fancy as it sounds, activating Ultra Power Saving Mode doesn’t require much effort. Just go to the settings, select Power Savings, and then select Ultra Power Saving Mode.

As you can see with the Ultra Power Saving Mode of the Galaxy Note 4, 6% means 18 hours.

Since I checked out Ultra Power Saving Mode, the temptation of testing out the fast charging was unbearable. For those of you who aren’t aware of the fast charging, the mode charges about 30% faster.

To use this mode, you have to use the charger that comes with the device or specific chargers (DC 9.0V 1.67 A or DC5.0 V 2.0A). And to activate it, all you have to do is simply check off the box for ‘fast charging’ on the setting.

So first I had to drain the battery out. This was actually harder than I thought it expected it to be, because it took so long to drain it out.

To activate the fast charging, all you have to do is check the ‘Fast charging’ box, turn the device or display off and plug in the charger.

Although it isn’t one of my most frequently used apps, I was intrigued by the ‘Voice Recorder’ app. While one of my colleagues was talking about how Galaxy Note 4’s voice recorder has been enhanced, I was thinking, ‘what can you actually do with the voice recorder to enhance it?’ So naturally I had to try it out.

OK, so here is the thing. The Voice Recorder app of the Galaxy Note 4 comes with 4 types of mode: Normal, Interview, Meeting and Voice memo. You can either swipe through the modes on the screen or click the icon on the bottom right. Following is a description of each mode:

•Interview mode (2-directional recording): The microphone is sensitive to sounds from 2 directions, and both the top and bottom of the device pick up an equal amount of sound

•Meeting mode: This detects the direction from which sound is coming from (up to 8 sources of sound). After recording, tap the speaker icons to exclude or include certain sound sources when listening to your recordings.

•A selective playback capability enables users to select and listen to voices from specific direction after recording in Interview or Meeting mode.

• Voice Memo: This mode (speech-to-text) records your voice and simultaneously converts it to on-screen text. (maximum recording time is 5 minutes)

Galaxy Note 4 actually houses multiple microphones and an improved speakerphone. Not only do they help to cancel noise better, they adjust volumes automatically for better voice quality, especially when you are in a loud environment.

Another cool thing is the voice memo mode, which converts speech to text.

Pretty cool, right?

So that is it for the second segment of the unofficial review of the Galaxy Note 4. As I said before, we have plenty more to come with the Galaxy Note 4. We at Samsung Tomorrow are actually planning on bringing you more in-depth articles as well, so stay tuned!

Kantar: Android grows as iOS and Windows Phone decline in Q3

According to the latest Kantar WorldPanel report on mobile operating system market share, Android continues to take the lead marking a slight growth. Its main rivals, iOS and Windows Phone, declined slightly in their respective market share numbers.

In both Europe (EU5) and the US, Android leads its competitors with a market share of 73.9% and 61.8%, respectively. In Europe, Apple takes 15.4% of the market, while Microsoft with Windows Phone manages 9.2%. Interestingly, iOS marks a decline in the US of 3.3 percent points to 32.6% compared to Q2. Windows Phone's presence is also shrinking and is now 4.3% from 4.6%

As far as manufacturers go, LG and Motorola have been doing great in the US and Kantar sees them in a better position to fight with Samsung and Apple than ever. LG is counting on the G3, while Motorola is betting on the Moto X.

In China, Samsung is also feeling pressure from uprising manufacturers such as Xiaomi. It now boasts 30.3% market share whereas Samsung's market share fell to 18.4%. Interestingly, 16% of all smartphones sold in China were with a screen size of 5.5" or larger.

HTC ends Q3 on a $19 million profit, hopes for the best in Q4

Just like its unaudited report suggested earlier this month, HTC continues its winning streak in Q3. HTC's financial report for the Q3 2014 states the company made a profit of $19 million (NT$0.6 billion). Revenue for the period is $1.38 billion (NT$41.9 billion), which is down from $2.17 billion from the previous quarter.

The company is content with how the HTC One (M8) held its ground for the period and continued to sell well despite growing competition. The mid-range Desire line-up is also profitable for HTC, but it didn't specify exact shipment figures for any device.

In the last quarter, the HTC One (M8) was the main culprit for the company's $92 million profit turnout. HTC is looking up for a similar to Q3 last quarter of the year with a revenue of $1.38 billion – $1.55 billion.

Samsung announces Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 duo of smartphones

Samsung took the wraps off the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3 duo of smartphones. The Android duet is targeting young buyers with entry-level and mid-range specs, variety of colors, and decidedly premium all-metal unibody.

Samsung Galaxy A5 packs 1.2GHz quad-core CPU and 2GB of RAM.There’s 16GB of built-in memory, which can be further expanded via microSD card slot.

The device's display is a 5" HD Super AMOLED unit (likely with 720p resolution). A 13MP main camera, 5MP front-facing unit, and full connectivity suite that includes LTE round up the highlights in its spec sheet. Samsung Galaxy A5 boots TouchWiz-ed Android 4.4 KitKat.

Physical measures of the Samsung Galaxy A5 are 139.3 x 69.7 x 6.7mm, while its weight tips the scale at 123 grams. The handset is powered by a 2,300mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy A3 on the other hand packs 1.2GHz quad-core CPU and a gig of RAM. Onboard memory is 8GB, which can be further expanded via microSD card slot.

The display of the Galaxy A3 is a 4.5” qHD Super AMOLED unit. The device’s main camera is an 8MP unit, coupled with 5MP front-facing snapper. Full connectivity suite is also on board, headed by Cat4 LTE. Like its bigger brother, the A3 boots Android 4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz UI.

The measures of Samsung Galaxy A3 are 130.1 x 65.5 x 6.9mm, while its weight comes in at only 110.3 grams. A 1,900mAh battery powers the smartphone.

You can check out Samsung’s official promo video for the Galaxy A family below.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

.The best way to describe my new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is if it were a man, it would be Mr. Right. This smartphone does it for me in ways that no phone ever has. Never before have I had such a geek girl crush on a smartphone. I don’t change my phone every 3 months like some people, but I do make a switch at least once a year. I have always been on Team Android because I think of Android ( or shall I say Google) as more of a lifestyle brand when it comes to my smartphone selection. I am a heavy user of Google products for my business and every day life.

The Galaxy Note 4 is what you would call a phablet ( a cross between a phone and tablet) with the added bonus of a stylus if you are into that sort of thing.  While some think this smartphone is to big with a screen of 5.7 inches, I find it just right for all of the things that I need to do with it such as take notes, watch Netflix on the go,  take photos at events, find documents in my Google Drive, and everything else.Let’s break down the new love of my life shall we. For starters, the phone is excellent, but that should not come as a surprise, Samsung has always made clear sounding phones. As my mother says, “it sounds like you are in the room next to me.” The 16 megapixel camera simply rocks, which takes the selfie game to another level. Samsung declaares that it is the best camera they have put on a smartphone.  I have to agree. While I may not beaprofessional photographer, trust me when I say that I see a difference in the photos I am taking now versus with the Nexus 5 that I traded in.Some other sexy specs for this phablet are: the fast charging battery, intuitive S pen,  32 G internal memory ( oh hell yes you can add more if you want), Android 4.4 ( Kit Kat version).  An extra added bonus is that the phablet came with a premium subscription of Evernote, one of the best applications ever.Picking a new phone can be difficult. While I joked and said the Galaxy Note 4 is like my Mr. Right, we do become partners with the phone that we select. Who doesn’t want a phone that can’t keep up with them?As you do your research, keep the Galaxy Note 4 in mind, you won’t be sorry. If you are a note taker or writer, you will adore the addition of the  intuitive S pen. Keep doing your research and going into the stores to try phones out. Don’t let the sales people talk you into selecting what will work for you. Selecting the right phone is a very personal thing, just have fun with it.

Two tribes coming together in Chicago. @Motorola meets #Lenovo in a town hall. What a day. #hellomoto

WWE 2K15

WWE 2K15 ushers in a new era of WWE video games! The first wrestling game to be featured on Next-Gen platforms, WWE 2K15 will introduce the most authentic WWE gameplay to date, closer than ever to what fans see on WWE TV. With a host of gameplay advancements and to-be-announced features, WWE 2K15 will bring the atmosphere of WWE to your home! For the first time ever, play as the iconic Sting, this year’s pre-order launch exclusive!

Feel every blow, hear every impact. WWE 2K15. Feel It.

HDTV screen resolution: 720p

This item is being licensed or sublicensed to you by Sony Computer Entertainment America and is subject to the Network Terms of Service and User Agreement, this item’s use restrictions and other applicable terms located at www.us.playstation.com/support/useragreements. If you do not wish to accept all these terms, do not download this item. This item may be used with up to 2 activated PlayStation®3 systems associated with this Sony Entertainment Network account. 

© 2005-2014 Take-Two Interactive Software and its subsidiaries. 2K, the 2K logo, and Take-Two Interactive Software are all trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE and its subsidiaries. © 2014 WWE. All Rights Reserved.