Microsoft Unveils Windows 8 with Mobile in Mind

Oct. 26, 2012 (Bloomberg) – Microsoft Corp. introduced the biggest overhaul of its flagship Windows software in two decades, reflecting the rising stakes in its competition with Apple Inc. and Google Inc. for the loyalty of customers who are shunning personal computers and flocking to mobile devices.

“This is the biggest product we’ve ever done,” Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television, comparing it with the arrival of the PC in 1981 and the introduction of Windows 95.

Microsoft packed the new Windows with touch-screen capabilities, designed to vault the company into the tablet market dominated by Apple’s iPad. To avoid being left behind as computing increasingly shifts to mobile devices like tablets and smartphones, the company radically altered Windows’ familiar design and scrapped a strategy that had it relying entirely on partners to produce Windows computers.

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“In creating Windows 8, we shunned the incremental,” Windows President Steven Sinofsky said at an event to mark the product’s release today at New York’s Pier 57. Windows 8 and the company’s first-ever computer, the Surface tablet, go on sale tomorrow.

More than 1,000 computers have been certified for Windows 8, Sinofsky said. That will include the first Windows machines capable of running on chips with technology from ARM Holdings Plc, instead of Intel Corp. Besides Microsoft’s own Surface, the list of ARM-powered machines includes computers from Dell Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Lenovo Group Ltd. and Asustek Computer Inc. These run a version called Windows RT.

Still, Surface and the other Windows RT machines will be constrained in competition with Apple because they don’t work with some of the most widely used downloadable applications. The RT-based machines can only run apps from Microsoft’s new Windows store, which won’t feature applications for Facebook Inc.’s social-networking service or Apple’s iTunes music store.

The Windows store does have some popular apps, including those from media-streaming companies Hulu LLC and Netflix Inc. Still, Microsoft won’t say how many apps are available for the operating system, and the lack of a broad range of games, tools and other downloadable software will detract from the Surface in a head-to-head comparison against the iPad and its more than 275,000 apps.

“Part of me had hoped that we’d see more killer apps,” said Wes Miller, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland, Washington. “Consumers who buy into the platform on Friday — unless we start seeing an abundance of apps — are buying into a promissory note that the apps will arrive.”

Machines with Windows 8 that run chips from Intel can run older Windows programs.

Downloadable applications have become central to the way customers use tablet computers, and one of Apple’s selling points is its leadership in apps. The company introduced a smaller, lower-cost version of the iPad earlier this week, part of CEO Tim Cook’s effort to keep budget-conscious shoppers from turning to inexpensive tablets sold by competitors such as Amazon.com Inc. The iPad mini is available for early orders tomorrow, the same day Surface hits stores.

The PC market will contract by 1.2 percent to 348.7 million units this year, according to IHS ISuppli. That would be the first annual decline since 2001. Microsoft is relying on the new operating system to revive interest in the PC and carve out a position for Windows in the tablet market, which is picking up consumers defecting from PCs.

Microsoft has had a lot of interest in writing applications for the operating system and has had to add staff and computers to process and approve the submissions, Antoine Leblond, the vice president in charge of the Windows app store, said in an interview.

Because apps written for the program can be sold not just to tablet users but to hundreds of millions of customers who will get Windows 8 on PCs, Microsoft has a chance to win over more developers, Leblond said.

“Microsoft feels pretty strongly that the platform they have built is compelling to both users and developers,” Directions on Microsoft’s Miller said. “Time will tell if both are true.”

Miller’s own examination of the Windows app store indicates there were 7,873 apps worldwide earlier this week, with hundreds being added daily.

Still, Facebook, for example, only writes apps for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating system, and the company opted not to do Windows, a person familiar with the matter said in May. Microsoft could have written a Facebook app on its own using Facebook’s open standards, which is what the Windows Phone group did when similarly faced with a possible dearth of apps in 2010. Leblond also notes that Windows RT customers can go to Facebook’s website through their browser and get a similar experience to the app.

Instead, the Windows group focused their budget on workshops to train developers and resources to help them write apps, Leblond said. More than 400,000 people have attended developer camps run by the company, he said.

Besides Hulu and Netflix, the new Windows will also have apps such as the Skype Internet-calling service and Evernote Corp.’s note-taking tool. A version of Rovio Entertainment Oy’s Angry Birds game will be available Nov. 8.

At the end of trading Thursday, Microsoft shares slipped less than 1 percent to $27.88 at the close in New York. The stock has gained 7.4 percent this year.

Adamu Fun Bala CSA; MD/CEO Lynxx Systems & Communication Technology LTD; 08035158065

[How To] Root And Flash Recovery On Galaxy Tab 2 10.1

[How to] Root Your Samsung Galaxy Tab

Being so glad owning that Samsung’s 10.1-inch “Galaxy Tab 2″ tablet PC powered with TI OMAP 4430 chipset, Dual-core 1.0GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 1GB of RAM and PowerVR SGX540 GPU? Well, do not be so happy before you can liberate that high-end device (read: rooting). So far you may can’t find a one-click root tool to put your Gtab 2 10.1″ rooted.

But luckily there is a nice easy method shared by XDA senior member “Weltwon” who has been so successful achieving root on his Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 GT-P5113 model.

The method is involving Windows-based PC with ODIN v1.85 to flash custom cooked recovery and CWM Root files. That’s all and the whole process is pretty well standard for a Samsung device. Just in case if you want to repeat his action, simply read following steps.

P.S: Make sure you make a full Backup of your GTab 2 before proceeding. We hold no responsibilities of what may and may not happen.

Pre-requisite

• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• Windows Computer
• Make sure you have Samsung Kies is installed but also make sure it is not running now.
• Make sure your tablet is not connected to PC yet.

Full Steps How To Root

This method works on Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 :
– Model GT-P5113 (Tested)
– Model GT-P5100 (Tested)
– Model GT-P5110 (May work)

Step 1.
Download all necessary files first:
– Download ODIN version 1.85 (Odin3-v1.85_3.zip)
– Download needed recovery.tar.md5
– Download needed cwm-root-gtab2.zip
(GT-P5110 European model use this cwm-root-gtab2a.zip file)

Step 2.
Now copy the cwm-root-gtab2.zip (or cwm-root-gtab2a.zip) file to the ROOT of your external sdcard which is located at “/mnt/extSdCard” not in “/mnt/sdcard”.

Step 3.
Now reboot your GTab 2 into Download Mode. To do that simply turn it off and during restart push and hold down the Power + Volume UP/RIGHT buttons at the same time.

p.s: Volume Up / Right button is the side away from from the power button (not the side. closest to the POWER button).

Step 4.
On your tablet’s screen you’ll then see a blurb with yellow triangle. When it appears go ahead push Volume down button to continue into download mode.

p.s:
– Make sure you have Samsung Kies is installed but
– also make sure it is not running now.
– Make sure your tablet is not connected to PC yet.

Step 5.
Now extract the content of “Odin3-v1.85_3.zip” and you’ll have “Odin3 v1.85.exe” file. Simply double-click it to run Odin.

Step 6.
Now connect your Galaxy Tab 2 10.1″ to PC using proper USB cable.

Step 7.
Once connected >> click the PDA button on ODIN >> select the recovery.tar.md5 file >> then click the START button.

Wait for ODIN to do its job. Your GTab 2 will also reboot indicating the task’s done by ODIN.

Step 8.
Once done. Disconnect your GTab 2 from PC.

Step 9.
Now put your GTab 2 in Recovery Mode. To do that, simply turn your tablet off and restart it in recovery mode by pushing and holding the “Power” and “Volume Down” buttons at the same time. (Volume Down button is the side closest to the POWER button).

You’ll then see Samsung Tab 2 10.1 logo appears which this time you can release the power button but continue holding the volume button for a few more seconds until you see the blue CWM v5.5.0.4 text appears.

Step 10.
You should now in Recovery Mode which in this mode you can use your tablet’s Volume Up or Down to navigate through its menu and use Power button to select.

Step 11.
Now select “install zip from sdcard” >> choose the cwm-root-gtab2.zip file stored in the root of your sdcard.

Step 12.
That’s it and wait until CWM flash that rooted image file. Once done, select “Reboot system now”.

Step 13.
Once rebooted your GTab 2 should now be rooted but you better boot into CWM again and make a full Nandroid backup.

Once again, that’s it. Congratulation for your rooted Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. It means your tablet is now liberated and you can feel free to install root-only apps or even flashing custom ICS ROM on it (if any).

In case if anything got wrong, make sure you pay a visit at this XDA thread here for more further queries.

Re-blogged by: Adamu Fun Bala CSA; MD/CEO Lynxx Systems & Communication Technology LTD; 08035158065

5 Problems with Social Networking in the Workplace

We live in a world where technology has changed the way people communicate, the way they are informed and how they do business. Traditional social networks have expanded from a few dozen acquaintances to hundreds of friends, friends of friends, connections and followers. We live in a world where people would rather communicate by sending a text message from their mobile phone, post comments on their favorite online network or send a short Tweet to inform all their friends that they have just got out of bed or they are out to dinner.

The growth of social networking platforms has been phenomenal. Millions of people around the world with access to the Internet are members of one or more social networks. They have a permanent online presence where they create profiles, share photos, share their thoughts with friends and spend hours catching up with what their hundreds of friends are doing with their lives.

Give most people access to the Internet and they will spend the next hour checking their email, their Facebook profile, their MySpace Web page, updating their Twitter account and their LinkedIn account. And it doesn’t happen only once a day. The time spent using social networking applications is one reason why many businesses are reluctant to allow employees to use sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn during office hours. Add the time spent on nonworkrelated browsing, and employers have a point. At the same time, however, businesses are starting to appreciate that social networking has its advantages, and there are many companies that have adopted social networking as another vehicle to gain a better presence online and a wider audience.

The Benefits

Expanding Market Research

Social networking sites give businesses a fantastic opportunity to widen their circle of contacts. Using Facebook, for example, a small business can target an audience of thousands without much effort or advertising. With a good company profile and little in terms of costs, a new market opens up, as do the opportunities to do business.

Personal Touch

Social networks allow organizations to reach out to select groups or individuals and to target them personally. Businesses can encourage their customers to become connections or friends, offering special discounts that would be exclusive to online contacts. This personal touch is not only appreciated but may give the business access to that customer’s own network of contacts.

Improve Your Reputation

Building strong social networks can help a business to improve its reputation with as little advertising as possible. Social networks can boost your image as thought leaders in the field and customers/contacts start to acknowledge your business as reliable and an excellent source of information/products that suit their requirements.

Low-Cost Marketing

Once social networks have become established and people become familiar with the brand, businesses can use the sites or applications to implement marketing campaigns, announce special offers, make important announcements and direct interested people to the specific Web sites. It is mostly free advertising, and the only cost to the business is the time and effort required to maintain the network and the official Web site.

The Concerns

Social networking sites are applications and, as such, are generally not a problem for organizations. It is the people who use them that are a cause for concern. Social networkers, if one can call them so, are the root of five problems for an organization that allows social networking at work.

Productivity

One reason why organizations on social networking in the workplace is the fact that employees spend a great deal of time updating their profiles and sites throughout the day. If every employee in a 50-strong workforce spent 30 minutes on a social networking site every day, that would work out to a loss of 6,500 hours of productivity in one year! Although this may be a generalization, organizations look very carefully at productivity issues, and 25 hours of non-productive work per day does not go over well with management. When you factor in the average wage per hour you get a better (and decisive) picture.

There is also an effect on company morale. Employees do not appreciate colleagues spending hours on social networking sites (and others) while they are functioning to cover the workload. The impact is more pronounced if no action is taken against the abusers.

Resources

Although updates from sites like Facebook or LinkedIn may not take up huge amounts of bandwidth, the availability of (bandwidth-hungry) video links posted on these sites creates problems for IT administrators. There is a cost to Internet browsing, especially when high levels of bandwidth are required.

Viruses and Malware

This threat is often overlooked by organizations. Hackers are attracted to social networking sites because they see the potential to commit fraud and launch spam and malware attacks. There are more than 50,000 applications available for Facebook (according to the company) and while FaceBook may make every effort to provide protection against malware, these third-party applications may not all be safe. Some have the potential to be used to infect computers with malicious code, which in turn can be used to collect data from that user’s site. Messaging on social networking sites is also a concern, and the Koobface worm is just one example of how messages are used to spread malicious code and worms.

Social Engineering

Social engineering is becoming a fine art and more and more people are falling victim to online scams that seem genuine. This can result in data or identity theft. Users may be convinced to give personal details such as Social Security numbers, employment details and so on. By collecting such information, data theft becomes a serious risk. On the other hand, people have a habit of posting details in their social networking profiles. While they would never disclose certain information when meeting someone for the first time, they see nothing wrong with posting it online for all to see on their profile, personal blog or other social networking site account. This data can often be mined by cybercriminals.

Employers must be on the lookout for information that their employees may post, as this may have an impact on the company. People often post messages without thinking through what they’ve have written. A seemingly innocuous message such as “I’m working this weekend because we’ve found a problem in our front-end product” may be a spur-of-the-moment comment but could raise concern among customers who may use that system, especially if the company handles confidential or financial detail.

Reputation and Legal Liability

At then time of authorship, there have been no major corporate lawsuits involving evidence from social networking sites. However, organizations need to watch for employees who may be commenting publicly about their employer. For example, one young employee wrote on her profile that her job was boring and soon received her marching orders from her boss. What if a disgruntled employee decided to complain about a product or the company’s inefficiencies in his or her profile? There are also serious legal consequences if employees use these sites and click on links to view objectionable, illicit or offensive content. An employer could be held liable for failing to protect employees from viewing such material. The legal costs, fines and damage to the organization’s reputation could be substantial.

To Ban or Not to Ban?

There is no simple solution to any of the above issues. While internal controls and technology can be used to an extent to control employee use of social networking tools, it is impossible to control what they are posting at home.

And this is the dilemma that many businesses face today: They feel the need to change and adopt these new methods of communication but they are greatly concerned that the disadvantages and possible repercussions are too serious to ignore. Every action, every minute spent online (and on social networking sites) may expose an organization to numerous security threats. While the subject of productivity increase is debatable, the security issues are not – they are all too real.

Where does that leave businesses?

They have three options:

1. Ban access to social networking sites (and access to Internet as well).
2. Set limits and restrictions on use.
3. Allow unmonitored access.

Banning access to social networking sites may be an optimal solution for some organizations, and one can see banks and government departments particularly keen on keeping the status quo. However, many smaller organizations may feel that taking a heavy-handed approach could be counterproductive, indicate a lack of trust in employees (probably justified to an extent) and is too restrictive.

On the other hand, you certainly do not want to give unfettered access to social networking sites. The best option may be to allow access to social networking sites while imposing limits (when these can be used, for how long, and by whom). Regardless of which option an organization may choose, they must ensure that the basic safeguards are in place:

1. Up-to-date anti-virus software,
2. A firewall and the ability to monitor the use of the Internet in general, and
3. Ability to monitor social networking sites in particular.

Striking a Balance

What is worrying about social networking sites is that they encourage people to give as much information about themselves as possible. Even the most prudent and well-meaning individuals can give away information they should not – the same applies to what is put online via company-approved social networking platforms.

At the same time, nearly everyone today (even senior managers) has their own online profile on a social networking site and like the idea that they can keep in touch with contacts and friends (and their employees) via that interface.

If a business is going to allow access to social networking sites, there are some basic tips to follow:

1. Restrict access. Give employees a breather and allow them to access social networking sites during their lunch break, before and after office hours. Web filtering software gives administrators the ability to implement time-based access to these and other sites.
2. Educate and train staff. This is very important. Most employees are not aware how their actions online can cause security issues for the organization. Tell them in a language they understand how a simple click on a link they receive or an application they download can result in malware infecting their machine and the network. Additionally, tell them not to click on suspicious links and to pay attention when giving out personal details online. Just because employees are clever enough to have an online profile does not mean they are technically savvy or that they have a high level of security awareness.
3. Set security and usage policies. Have all employees sign any policies related to the use of the Internet at work, access to social networking sites and what they are allowed to say or do during office hours. Monitoring of all Web activity is important, and employees should be aware that their actions are being recorded and that failure to adhere to company policy can result in disciplinary action and/or dismissal.

David Kelleher is communications and research analyst at GFI.

Re-blogged by: Adamu Fun Bala CSA; MD/CEO Lynxx Systems & Communication Technology LTD; 08035158065

Data Management – You ought to care – Part 2

Mission Impossible

If the need to care for data and manage it as an asset is so obvious, then why isn’t it happening? Why isn’t anyone volunteering during the annual shuffle of job descriptions and responsibilities for the year to come?

There are a few possible reasons. First, nobody is asking anyone to take care of it because nobody realizes this should be treated as its own task to add business value. Secondly, nobody voluntarily takes on the task of ensuring data quality and consistency because they believe it’s a “mission impossible” that is bound to fail, and they don’t want to be part of that failure. Or thirdly, it could be that many people within the organization know something must be done, they just don’t know what it is, how it should be done or who should take care of it. These people (the stakeholders) are typically found within business units feeling the daily pains related to their specific unit and have related these pains to the issue of data.Since the pains are fragmented, and since no one “owns” the cross-business unit processes, then the pains rarely get big enough to reach top management’s attention, therefore, no initiatives are launched to fix them, which results in resources being thrown at the pains to mitigate them locally. The stakeholders could also be members of enterprise architecture functions that orchestrate commonalities and create synergies through standardization and professionalization, but they don’t get the attention required to make it happen because they are firing on too many cylinders.

I have met many organizations claiming they care about their IT, thus their data. Some of them have even defined dedicated roles for caring about the data, e.g., data stewards or custodians who are typically owners of data within a system. However, that doesn’t do the job. It’s a start, and it’s a part of the solution, but only a small part of it. Data in itself is not only an IT issue. Storing, transporting, analyzing and reporting the data are IT issues, but understanding and interpreting the data is a business issue done by the business functions. This is one of the primary challenges when trying to place the ownership. Data is not owned, but partly managed by IT, and business doesn’t want to own anything that “smells” like IT. This is typically the reason ownership is not anchored, and hence, falls between two chairs.

So what does it mean to care about data? I call the process of doing so “Data Governance”. This is all about placing ownership, responsibility and accountability of data representing critical business entities that really mean something to the business, i.e., we are not talking about all data across the enterprise, but merely certain named entities typically used across business units, across borders in an international organization or across critical business processes. These so-called entities could be members, products, customers, vendors, employees or other relevant business-critical objects and are also seen as master data entities. The purpose of the limitation is to improve prioritization of the work at hand to create business results, since the task of trying to govern all data in the enterprise is simply not feasible, and will most likely not be beneficial either.

The work involved in defining and implementing data governance in an organization is not trivial, and it requires time and money to be successful. Also, it requires organization-wide acceptance to adopt and implement the changes into existing or new business processes. Based on my experience helping organizations benefit from data governance, the work involved activities such as:

• Creating the strategic link: Ask yourself why you need to do anything and what the expected value is. Identify the link between doing something and your corporate strategic objectives as defined within the company’s strategy.
• Deciding on scope and ambition level: Decide what is in scope to be governed. Is it local data and enterprise data? What role is data warehouse data playing? Which systems are involved?
• Identifying entities to be governed: Which data entities are in scope, i.e. customer, product, vendor, employee, etc.
• Modeling the entities: If you can’t model it, you can’t manage it. A prerequisite for defining the appropriate governance model is to design entities including the basic business definition, core minimum attributes, hierarchies, the life cycle and relevant classification.
• Identifying stakeholders: Who should be actively involved and why? Which roles are they likely to take, and how does it match the current organization in terms of their current positions and related power?
• Defining the data governance organizational model: Draw the governance model including all identified levels, roles and stakeholders from an enterprise level down to the local business units.
• Identifying and implementing changes in business processes: Document the new governance processes and how they either supplement or replace existing business processes.
• Communication, communication and communication: Constantly communicate the purpose and value of governance in order to change the culture toward adopting the new data governance organization and processes as a natural part of their every day duties and ways of working.

It is my sincere belief that data governance is the single most valuable activity in any master data management (MDM) initiative. Even without deploying any supporting MDM technology, data governance will add business value if deployed correctly within an organization.

Therefore I recommend that you care about your data as an asset to your organization if you want the benefits of having it. There is no need to start from scratch with a blank sheet of paper, since there is plenty of experience out there, as well as people and companies who have invested in documenting the best practices for organizations globally and across industries.

Adamu Fun Bala CSA; MD/CEO Lynxx Systems & Communication Technology LTD; 08035158065

Data Management – You ought to care – Part 1

If the need to care for data and manage it as an asset is so obvious, then why isn’t it happening?

Caring is crucial in order to manage relationships as well as assets – we care about the things that matter to us. You know this from your private life. If you didn’t care about your most valuable assets, such as your kids, spouse, friends, car, boat or whatever they may be, it’s not hard to imagine what could happen: your kids would go totally out of control, your spouse and friends would leave you, your car would break down and your boat would sink. The same goes for any company/organisation – private or public – across any industry: we need to manage the things we care about, or to put it differently, we manage our assets.

So what are the important assets in your company? Most likely they are members, employees, products, buildings, capital, infrastructure, etc. These are all fairly tangible assets in the sense that we can hire and retire employees, we can buy and sell products, and we may invest in various markets and products and so on. We see dedicated ownership of all of these assets through various senior executives in finance, HR, IT, manufacturing and other business units. But who owns the data? If you, as many others do, consider data to be the product of your processes, data should be one of your most important assets, if not the most important. Additionally, data is one of our longest sustaining assets, since it was there yesterday and it will be there tomorrow. You don’t dispose of data that represents value to your business. People in the organization say they care about the data, but do they really? If caring means to focus, to be responsible and accountable, to define the one version of the data that meets the enterprise’s needs, then odds are nobody in your organization cares enough about data.

Adamu Fun Bala CSA; MD/CEO Lynxx Systems & Communication Technology LTD; 08035158065

Rooting Your Android Device – It is not mandatory

It is not mandatory

Rooting isn’t mandatory – you only need to root your device if you want to do things that require root access.

Warnings

Before you root your Android phone or tablet, there are a few things you should be aware of:

Warranty – Some manufacturers assert that rooting voids your device’s warranty. However, rooting will not actually damage your hardware. You can “unroot” your device and manufacturers won’t be able to tell if it’s been rooted.

Security – Google Wallet, in particular, has a vulnerability on rooted devices that could allow other apps to access your PIN and other wallet information.  Google Wallet displays a warning message if you run it on a rooted device. If you’re one of the few people using Google Wallet for NFC payments, you may want to reconsider rooting your device.

Bricking – Rooting a device is a very safe process. However, there’s always some danger of “bricking” a device when you go outside the normal parameters and hack around with it — particularly if you’re trying to root a device or operating system version not supported by a tool. “Bricking” refers to breaking the device, making it about as useful as a brick. When you root, jailbreak, or install a custom ROM, or otherwise hack around, you do so at your own risk. It’s a good idea to do a little bit of research first and see if other people report success rooting your device.

Setup

The actual rooting process itself should only take a single click. However, you’ll need to do a few quick things first:

Download and install the Java JDK and Android SDK on your computer before continuing. Java must be installed before the Android SDK.

Enable USB debugging on your Android. On the device, go into the Settings screen, tapApplications, tap Development, and enable the USB debugging check box.

Connect your Android to your computer using its included USB cable. Don’t mount the device’s SD card on your computer – just plug it in.

You’ll also need the USB drivers for your phone or tablet installed. SuperOneClick itself should be able to automatically install the appropriate drivers – however, if this fails, you’ll need to download and install the appropriate drivers from the device manufacturer’s website.

Android 4.1, Jelly Bean: The world’s most popular platform gets even better

Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, is the fastest and smoothest version of Android yet. Jelly Bean improves on the simplicity and beauty of Android 4.0, and introduces a new Google search experience on Android.

Fast & smooth

We put Android under a microscope, making everything feel fast, fluid, and smooth. With buttery graphics and silky transitions, moving between home screens and switching between apps is effortless, like turning pages in a book.

More reactive and uniform touch responses mean you can almost feel the pixels beneath as your finger moves across the screen. Jelly Bean makes your Android device even more responsive by boosting your device’s CPU instantly when you touch the screen, and turns it down when you don’t need it to improve battery life.

Simple, beautiful and beyond smart

Expandable, actionable notifications.

Android has always put you in control when it comes to staying notified and connected. Now you can take action directly from the notifications shade. Late for a meeting? Email everyone to let them know. Missed a call? Call them back in an instant. And because they’re expandable, you can get an even deeper look into the things that matter most, like multiple emails or photos on Google+.

Widgets work like magic.

With Jelly Bean it’s now even easier to personalize your home screen. As you place widgets on the screen, everything else automatically moves to make room. When they’re too big, widgets resize on their own. Interacting with your favorite apps and customizing your home screen has never been easier.

Seamlessly take and share photos.

Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, made snapping photos super fast; Jelly Bean brings that same speed to the next step: viewing. Just swipe over from camera to filmstrip view to instantly view the photos you just took, and quickly swipe away the ones you don’t like. Now sharing — and bragging — are a breeze.

A smarter keyboard.

Android’s dictionaries are now more accurate, more relevant. The language model in Jelly Bean adapts over time, and the keyboard even guesses what the next word will be before you’ve started typing it. With improved text-to-speech capabilities, voice typing on Android is even better; it works even when you don’t have a data connection, so you can type with your voice everywhere you go.

Accessibility.

With Jelly Bean, blind users can use ‘Gesture Mode’ to reliably navigate the UI using touch and swipe gestures in combination with speech output. Jelly Bean also adds support for accessibility plugins to enable external Braille input and output devices via USB and Bluetooth.

Android Beam.

With Android Beam on Jelly Bean you can now easily share your photos and videos with just a simple tap, in addition to sharing contacts, web pages, YouTube videos, directions, and apps. Just touch two NFC-enabled Android devices back-to-back, then tap to beam whatever’s on the screen to your friend. Instantly pair your Android phone or tablet to Bluetooth® devices like headsets or speakers that support the Simple Secure Pairing standard by just tapping them together – no more syncing or searching required.