Office for iPad review: three beautiful apps, each with strong competition

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After loads of leaks -- and some serious denial from Microsoft -- the company has finally released a version of Office for iPad. It's not surprising, in a way, given that Microsoft already has Office Mobile for iPhone. And yet, this new trio of apps (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) isn't at all what we expected. In fact, it's a lot better. You see, rather than simply blow up the current iPhone app to iPad-sized proportions, the company started from scratch, and built a software suite that takes advantage of the iPad's extra screen real estate. This means a lovely design that looks less like a mobile app, and more like a full version of Office. It also means more features -- everything from custom text colors to a "whiteboard" that you can use to write off-the-cuff comments during presentations. But as ever, you'll need an Office 365 subscription to edit or create documents with it, and meanwhile, there are plenty of free alternatives. That said, could it still be worth it?

Getting started

Though the product is called Office for iPad, it's actually a trio of individual apps (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) listed separately in the App Store. As with Office Mobile for iPhone, each of these core programs is free to download, and you can use them in read-only mode without a paid subscription. If you wanna edit or create documents, though -- and let's face it: You definitely will -- an Office 365 subscription is required. In particular, we're told it will even work with Microsoft's upcoming 365 Personal plan, which will cost $7 a month when it launches later this spring. And if you happen to be a student using Office 365 for University ($80 for four years), the monthly cost of ownership drops to just $1.67.

All told, this subscription model isn't a problem if you already have an Office sub; in fact, your iPad download won't even count toward the usual five-PC/Mac limit. Unfortunately, too, this is also one of the only mobile office suites that works with Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint, so if that's where you store your documents, you're best off sticking with Office. That said, Apple offers its iWork suite for free, so long as you purchased your device on or after September 1st, 2013. And, it works with popular services like Google Drive, which Office doesn't, so depending on what ecosystem you use, Office might immediately seem like a weak proposition.

General UI

All told, Office for iPad looks exactly as you'd expect. Which is to say, it features the same Ribbon UI as desktop Office apps, along with a few icons borrowed from Microsoft's OneDrive service. Regardless of which Office app you're using, a few things are universal: When you enter the app, you'll see your Microsoft profile pic in the upper-left corner, with icons just below for creating a new document, opening a file or viewing only the recent ones. By default, you'll open files from your OneDrive account, though you can search just through your iPad's local storage as well. You can also add a storage location, but again, your only other options are another OneDrive account (personal or business) and a SharePoint site. No integration with other cloud storage services, sadly.

Once you open a document, whether it be a spreadsheet or a PowerPoint presentation, you'll see a small file-shaped icon in the upper-left corner, where you can turn off AutoSave (not recommended), create a duplicate, restore a previous version or inspect the file properties (mainly useful if you want to see how much space it takes up). Nearby are self-explanatory undo and redo buttons. Meanwhile, over on the right, there's a people-inspired icon for sharing. From here, you can email a file as a link or an attachment, or simply copy the link to your clipboard. Basically, any sharing options you already enjoy in Office Online you can use here too. Finally, in Word and Excel there's a magnifying glass in the upper-right corner that's for, well, you get the idea. What we're trying to say is: The UI is simple. And that's a good thing.

Oh and by the way, because the UI is so straightforward, with so many settings hidden inside the Ribbon menu, the whole thing scales well in both landscape and portrait mode. Even with a vertical orientation, that upper layer of menus and icons never looks busy. In fact, we rather enjoyed using Word in portrait mode, as the keyboard took up less vertical space. If you do find yourself switching, though, you'll find the accelerometer and A7 chip inside the new iPads do a good job keeping up.

Word

Ah, this looks familiar. If you've been using Word, even just the online version, you should instantly feel at home here. Up top, as we said, is the Ribbon menu, where you'll see options for Home, Insert, Layout, Review and View. Below that are all the super-common formatting options, including fonts, letter size, bold, italics, underlining, strikethrough, subscript, superscript, text effects, text color, background color, text alignment, line spacing, bullets, numbered lists and indentation.

Phew.

Let's just back up for a minute and say that this is already more than you can do with the iPhone version. Even in cases where the iPhone app does offer a given feature, it's usually less complete than what you see here. Whereas the iPhone variant only gives you a handful of text color options, for instance, the iPad app has a custom color gradient allowing you to pick from along a wide spectrum. Not too shabby.

Might we add, too, that in addition to being a more full-featured offering, it's just an all-around easier user experience. With the extra screen real estate, you can actually see how big the font is; you don't have to press up and down arrows and hope for the best. Comments appear along the right-hand side, just where you'd expect them, and it's easy to tweak those simply by tapping the comments box.

Office for iPad screenshots (Word)

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Adding and adjusting photos is easy as well. Just go to Insert, then "Pictures" and grab a photo from your Camera Roll (that's the only option right now, unfortunately). Once the photo is in, you can tap it to reveal anchor points in the corners and along the sides, which make it easy to resize the shot and drag it around. What's nice, too, is that the text automatically wraps around the image -- and it all happens smoothly thanks to that fast A7 chip. Really, our only complaint there is that you can't source photos from other locations, not even OneDrive.

At this point, we think we've covered pretty much everything casual users will need to do. If you're not a casual user, though -- and many Engadget readers aren't -- we'll tell you a bit more about what Word for iPad has to offer. For starters, you can insert tables, shapes, text boxes, footnotes and hyperlinks in addition to plain photos. You can also play with the header and footer, margins, page numbers and page size/orientation.

As for revision tools, you can turn spell check on or off, pull up an onscreen ruler, keep track of your word count, and use "Track Changes" for group editing. What's more, there are individual icons allowing you to skip forward or backward through comments, and then either delete or respond to them. And if you're what we'd call a control freak, you can use the "block authors" feature to make sure your co-editors aren't able to touch certain sections of the text. Speaking of the sort, real-time co-editing works the same way here as it does in the Windows versions of Word and PowerPoint. Which is to say, you'll see a note saying that someone else is the document, as well as a flag marking the specific portion of text they're working on.

Excel

It's a similar story with spreadsheets: Excel for iPad is far more robust than the iPhone version which, if you recall, doesn't even let you add columns in the middle of spreadsheets. Here you can indeed add columns, as well as tables, pictures, shapes, text boxes and all manner of charts. Oh, the charts. Last time there were six choices; now you have loads of options, which take the form of column, line, pie, bar, area and scatter charts (each category has multiple variations to choose from). And, as with photos in Word, it's easy not just to add them, but also to change their format on the fly; the A7 chip once again proves it's fast enough to keep up. If you like, you can even include Sparklines, those micro-charts that take up just a single cell. Unfortunately, though, you can't add any fancy pivot tables here. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

As you'd expect, the app also comes with a long list of various formulas you can use to crunch all your data. Sure, the iPhone version has this too, but the selection here is especially impressive. In addition to the all-important AutoSum button, you get financial, logical text, date/time and math/trigonometry formulas, with a special section for ones you've used recently. Just like you'd expect to with Excel, you can hit the "fx" button next to the search bar, at which point you can start typing the name of the formula you want, or find it on a long list. Really, though, the formulas section is organized such that you probably won't have to type out the word "AVERAGE" anyway.

Office for iPad screenshots (Excel)

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Speaking of number-crunching, Microsoft elected to tweak the classic iOS keyboard so that in Excel, at least, there's both the traditional "ABC" option as well as a custom "123" layout. Hit that one and you'll see a large, finger-friendly dialpad, along with arrow keys and commonly used symbols, like the dollar sign. As for editing tools, you have a similar comments system as in the Word app, along with the ability to freeze panes and either show or hide the formula bar, sheet tabs, headings and grid lines.

PowerPoint

We're not sure what it is about PowerPoint, but every time Microsoft releases an app for iOS, it's the presentations piece that feels the most complete. Maybe that's because creating a presentation from scratch on a mobile device seems unlikely, or maybe it's because there really aren't that many different kinds of edits you could make, besides shuffling slides, adding text and inserting transitions (bada bing, bada boom). Whatever it is, we're pretty satisfied with the shape of the PowerPoint app here, even in its 1.0 state. Once you load up the app, you'll see a list of slides along the left-hand side, which you can reorder by pressing and dragging the thumbnails. Most of the screen, of course, is taken up by whatever slide you happen to be working on, which you can magnify using a good ol' pinch-to-zoom gesture.

Office for iPad screenshots (PowerPoint)

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As you can imagine, you can add text to slides, as well as insert tables, shapes and pictures (here, too, you're limited to photos from your iPad's Camera Roll). And can we talk about the transitions? (Please, let's talk about the transitions.) For those of you who like having fun with fade-ins -- and who doesn't, really? -- you've got plenty of options here. Thirty-eight, to be exact. If you like, too, you can apply the transition to all slides with the tap of a button.

Finally, what would a presentations app be without a slideshow mode? Here, as ever, you can play all the slides from the start, as well as your current position. (You can hide certain slides too, if it's convenient.) You can also press and hold your finger to bring up a laser pointer, which will come in handy if you choose to push the presentation to a bigger screen using either AirPlay or some sort of dongle. Wrapping up, there's a so-called whiteboard mode -- a black screen you can use to scribble comments and diagrams. A neat trick for when you want to go on a tangent mid-presentation and don't have any slides that match up with whatever it is you're saying.

The competition

We've mentioned the iWork suite a few times already in this review. It's not that it's the only option; it's just the most relevant one. Much like Office, Apple's suite includes three separate apps: Pages for word docs; Numbers for spreadsheets; and Keynote for presentations. For lots of folks, they'll all be free; you just have to have activated your iOS device on or after September 1st, 2013. For everyone else, they cost $10 a pop -- not bad considering even the cheapest Office 365 subscription will cost $7 for a single month (less if you get Microsoft's $70-a-year plan). Either way, it's clear that buying the app outright is more cost-effective than paying a subscription fee month after month.

So what, then? This means iWork is automatically the better choice? Not so fast. For many people, iWork will indeed be a smarter choice, both because it's free for newer iDevice owners, and because it works with a wider range of cloud services, including Google Drive. That said, one service it doesn't work with is Microsoft's OneDrive and Office 365, so if you're already locked into those services, then Office for iPad is a no-brainer.

Otherwise, there are other iPad-friendly office suites out there, including Documents to Go ($10 and up), Quickoffice (free), Polaris ($13) and Kingsoft (free), just to name some of the more popular titles. Given that iWork is probably robust enough for most people, we wouldn't suggest paying for an office suite at this point. That leaves a few free options, which we haven't spent enough time with to either pan or heartily recommend. That being said, iWork is a safe option for iPad users who can get it for free, and who use a cloud service other than OneDrive.

Wrap-up

With few concrete details before today -- other than the fact that this was coming -- it was easy to imagine Office for iPad would be little more than a blown-up version of the existing iPhone app. That it is most certainly not. Microsoft took its time developing this software (years, perhaps), and the result is a suite that makes excellent use of the iPad's extra screen real estate. The design here is beautiful, straightforward. What's more, it masks a delightful selection of customization options, many of which you wouldn't know were there at first glance.

For people (and businesses) who use OneDrive to store documents, this isn't just your best choice -- it might be your only choice. Fortunately, it's a fine choice indeed, and you're lucky that the user experience is so similar to the web and desktop Office apps you're already using. It's also a no-brainer for people who already have a 365 subscription; you're already paying to run Office on five computers, so the iPad app is really just a nice freebie. But let's be clear: Office for iPad is not for iPad users looking for a productivity suite; it's for Office customers who happen to own an iPad. Until Microsoft's apps are free for all, Apple will continue to have the home-court advantage on iOS devices, if only because its apps don't cost anything. With so many free alternatives (all of which can open Office files), we're not sure why someone would pay for Office if they weren't already locked in with Microsoft.

Conclusion

Super 75 Kidz Closet consignment sale set for next weekend -

Price Compare 75 Kidz Closet consignment sale set for next weekend

Bannertown Fire Dept. Ladies Auxiliary still taking consignments

The Bannertown Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary will host the third Super 75 Kidz Closet Consignment Sale, with a spring/summer theme, on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. This year, there is a new location for the sale - Fountain of Life Family Worship Center, in the former House of Bounce location.

This year the group is allowing juniors sizes and clothing for teenagers, in addition to kids' sizes.

Those who consign items set their own prices, and receive 70 percent of the sale price. Some consigners choose to mark their items down half-price for the sale on Saturday.

A portion of the proceeds - 30 percent from each item - go to the Bannertown Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary group. Andrea Freeman, organizer of the sale and member of the ladies auxiliary, said the group assists firefighters responding to emergency scenes by providing food and drinks. The group also assists families who lose everything in a fire and provide a free Community Day in May at the Bannertown Fire Department.

"This keeps growing and it has been a wonderful fundraiser for us. We get to meet a lot of new people and share what we do, because we aren't just for Bannertown - our firefighters respond to multiple areas and run calls for Franklin, Four Way, Pilot Knob, Ararat, Westfield, etc. It's important we all work together to keep them safe and that's our job with the ladies auxiliary. We make sure they are well-nourished so they can do their jobs," Freeman shared.

The ladies auxiliary conducted a survey at last year's sale and discovered people wanted clothing for teenagers and kids, and Freeman said they are excited to add that to this year's sale.

Other items that may be consigned, in addition to kids' and teenagers' clothing, are shoes, accessories, toys, baby gear, strollers, high chairs, pack and plays, bathtubs, furniture, baby bedding, cribs, books, maternity clothing, diaper bags, handbags, outdoor items, bicycles, power wheels, sports gear, bathing suits, pool toys, items for new parents, and more. Freeman added that this is a great chance to sale old Easter outfits and buy new Easter clothing at discount prices.

Reach Jessica Johnson at 719-1933 and on Twitter @MountAiryJess.

Microsoft Now Sees Close of Nokia Deal in April

Microsoft said late Sunday that its $7.2 billion Promotional Codes to acquire Nokia's phone business is expected to close next month, rather than by the end of the first quarter as originally anticipated.

The deal will put Microsoft deeper into the hardware business, bringing in house what has been the largest maker of Windows Phone-based smartphones. Nokia also has a lower-end feature phone unit that includes its Asha phone line as well as the recently introduced Android-based Nokia X family.

"We are nearing the final stages of our global regulatory approval process," Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said in a blog post. "To date we have received approvals from regulatory authorities in 15 markets on five continents. Currently we are awaiting approval confirmation in the final markets."

Microsoft said last month that it still expected the deal to close in the first quarter of 2014, even despite a tax dispute Nokia has been having in India.

With the sale of the handset unit, Nokia will have three main remaining businesses - a division that sells network infrastructure, its Here location and mapping unit and an intellectual property licensing division.

The sale was announced last September. The European Union and U.S. Department of Justice approved the purchase in December. Nokia said some regulators in Asia have yet to approve the deal.

Micromax partners with Aircel and MediaTek, aims to offer best mobile experience

On the back of growing sales of its affordable and entry-level smartphones, Indian handset maker Micromax expects to hit $1 billion (over Rs 6,100 crore) in revenues this fiscal, ending March 31.

The New Delhi-headquartered company's revenues were Rs 3,168 crore for the financial year 2012-13. Micromax, which is the second largest smartphone player in India, held about 16 per cent market share in Q4 2013. Some of the top selling models were the entry level smartphones like A35 Bolt and A67, IDC data showed.

The Canvas range of devices has also done well in terms of volume contribution owing to the marketing campaigns launched around them. "We have seen huge growth in business, especially in the smartphone category (mid and entry-level). We expect to close this fiscal will a billion in revenues," Micromax co-founder Vikas Jain told PTI.

The firm will continue to launch innovative and affordable products for the market across platforms, he added. "We will introduce a product based on Android Kitkat with in the next 60 days," Jain said.

Asked if the company would introduce a device with Windows Phone OS, he said the company is in discussions with Microsoft on bringing out "products relevant to the Indian market".

Micromax today announced a strategic partnership with chipset maker MediaTek and telecom services provider Aircel. "This is aimed at offering the Deal Of The Day out-of-the-box experiences for the Indian users and the partnership will see a unique amalgamation of the expertise of the three companies," Jain said.

While, Aircel will offer one stop solutions to address the increasing data demands, MediaTek along-with Micromax's expertise in product design and performance will redefine the user experience creating a win-win ecosystem for the Indian users, he added.

Under this alliance, Aircel will team up with Micromax to introduce a range of offers for the consumers which will be almost equivalent to cost of the device.

Powered by MediaTek chipsets, the devices promise to deliver a seamless and a powerful user experience, while the bundled Aircel offers will drive data growth in the country. The offers initially will be available across 4 Micromax devices - MMX 377G, Funbook Mini 410i, A090 and X070 - to be available next month.

The co-developed smart devices by the three pioneers will deliver seamless experience for consumers, driving enhanced performance and data experience for customers across the country.

Tags: Micromax, Micromax revenue, Micromax sales, Micromax Smartphones

Utah house almost entirely obscured by tumbleweeds following windstorm

One Southern Utah resident's house was left completely blocked up by the dead plants, which stacked themselves as high as the roof and rendered the doors, windows and garage unusable.

A picture of the building's façade was posted by the owner on reddit breaking bad.com/r/WTF/comments/20s037/what_happens_in_southern_utah_after_a_wind_storm/">Reddit, where users got distracted with how much it looks like Hank's house from Breaking Bad (the 'I am the one who gently rolls' jokes came thick and fast).

"They are the worst, there are a million tumbleweeds here," the original poster explained. "They are actual balls of stickers. They suck to try and pick up or clean up, you get all cut up. The best way to dispose of them is burn them."

Tumbleweeds have been terrorising houses across the south west of the USA this week following strong winds, with one man yesterday being held hostage in his home by them.

Wilford Ransom was forced to call a police emergency hotline asking to be rescued after he became trapped, eventually being dug out of his property by a neighbour.

"Those Westerns don't do 'em justice," he told the WSJ, of the mild public image associated with the wiry menace, adding: "I don't want to experience anything like that again. It was a little scary."

Deal: Refurbished 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD Tablet for $129

As Best Offer offers one-day price-cut on its popular 9-inch Kindle Fire tablet, here are the pros and cons

As its Gold Box daily deal, Amazon is selling the refurbished 9-inch Kindle Fire HD tablet at $129 for the model with 16 gigabytes of storage. New, this tablet sells for $269. Refurbished, it normally sells for $199. This particular model also comes with Amazon's "special offers," which are basically ads that show on the tablet's lock screen and can be removed for an additional $15. And though it comes with a USB charging cable, you'll have to supply your own wall plug or resort to charging it from the USB port on your computer.

Though this is a refurbished model, Amazon says it's "certified to work and look like new" and carries the same one-year warranty as new models. That's similar to a tactic used by Apple: While many refurbished tech products carry truncated warranties - often 90 days - Apple goes with the same one-year warranty on its refurbished products that it applies to new products in order to make people feel better about buying refurbished gear.

While saving $140 over new models is a good deal, it might be a sign that Amazon is attempting to clear out inventory in order to make way for new Kindle Fire tablets to be rolled for the holidays, if not sooner. It's been more than a year since this particular model came out.

In his review of the 7-inch model, my colleague Harry McCracken found the tablet to be a bit rough around the edges at first, though many of his quibbles eventually got addressed via software updates. He concluded that if you consume a lot of Amazon content (music, TV shows, movies, e-books), then these tablets aren't a bad choice. My other colleague, Jared Newman, lamented the tablet's lack of apps. It's got a limited selection of the same or similar apps you'd find for Android tablets, curated by Amazon to keep the selections manageable. That keeps an overwhelming amount of sub-par apps out of Amazon's app store, but it means that you don't get the same broad array of apps you'd find with a standard Android tablet or an iPad.

Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ Tablet (Certified Refurbished) [Amazon]

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Home Video: Awards overlooked best 2013 soundtrack

An impressive array of performers — from Pharrell Williams and Karen O to U2 and Adele Dazeem, aka Idina Menzel — rendered this month's Academy Awards telecast something other than a musical wasteland for a change, at least until one realized that the film with the best music of 2013 wasn't represented at all.

New movies

"Inside Llewyn Davis." Despite rapturous reviews from critics, among the kindest of the year, the Coen brothers' latest effort — a character study about a struggling folk singer in the Greenwich Village of the early 1960s — failed to break through during the recent awards season. That was an oversight. The film, starring Oscar Isaac in the title role, may be bleak and melancholy, but it's a remarkably affecting story about what it means to be an artist. The soundtrack alone — featuring Jack White, Marcus Mumford, Joan Baez, Patti Smith, the Avett Brothers and many more — is a worthwhile investment of time and money. Rated R for language including some sexual references, 105 min.

"out of the furnace soundtrack of the Furnace." Gritty, violent tales about desperate men taking the law into their own hands are as old as cinema itself. "Out of the Furnace" may not be anything new, but it features some of the best work Christian Bale, Casey Affleck and Woody Harrelson have ever put on screen. Bale is particularly impressive as his brother's keeper, a steelworker in Braddock, Pa. — the end of the line in today's world — who has little to live for, except perhaps justice. The movie doesn't have a happy ending, but its surprising conclusion is honest. This is the kind of motion picture that lingers — and maybe not in a good way. Rated R for strong violence, language and drug content. 116 min.

"The Book Thief." An "uplifting," "moving" film about the Holocaust — that's become a redundancy if ever there was one. This effort tells a story somewhat tangential to the main event, focused on a young girl, adopted by a German couple, who gets through World War II by reading and reading to others. As the father, Geoffrey Rush is predictably charming. There may be nothing really wrong with this movie; it just feels like it belongs on PBS, not that there's anything wrong with that either. In fact, the picture was helmed by "Downton Abbey" director Brian Percival, and it shows. Rated PG-13 for some violence and intense depiction of thematic material. 131 min.

"The Broken Circle Breakdown." If the folk tunes of "Inside Llewyn Davis" aren't your cup of tea, how about some bluegrass by way of Belgium? This Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Feature soars when its characters are on stage, but take heed — the tragic familial drama at the heart of this story is a wrenching thing that will inevitably be too much (or too maudlin) for some viewers. "With its exquisite depictions of suffering, it's not always easy to watch. But, as in life, sometimes there's beauty to be found in the pain," The Washington Post's Stephanie Merry wrote. Not rated. 111 min. In English and Flemish with English subtitles.

Old movies

"Samson and Delilah." With Easter and Passover weeks away, the parade of religion-themed titles to home video has begun. This Cecil B. DeMille title from 1949, which finally arrived on DVD a year ago, is now being issued on Blu-ray. DeMille's predilection for filling the frame with all manner of color and activity is well served by this high-definition format, and stars Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr are remarkably glamorous for Biblical figures. The entertaining story of Samson and Delilah is amended here and there for modern audiences. Samson uses more than just the jawbone of an ass to kill 1,000 men, and his eyes are merely burned, not removed from their sockets. 133 min.

Top 10

Here are this week's most popular DVD rentals as compiled by the Internet Movie Database —"Captain Phillips," "Nebraska," "Ender's Game," "Escape Plan," "Riddick," "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa," "Last Vegas," "Thor: The Dark World," "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2" and "Runner Runner."

Here's how Google Drive's slashed prices compare to rivals

Google on Thursday made waves in the world of cloud storage by slashing the prices for its Drive service.

The tech giant said it will now offer users 100 gigabytes of space for $1.99 per month, 1 terabyte for $9.99 per month and 10 TB for $99.99 per month. Previously, Google Drive charged $4.99 per month for 100 GB and $49.99 per month for the 1-TB plan.

"How big is a terabyte anyway? Well, that's enough storage for you to take a selfie twice a day for the next 200 years and still have room left over for... shall we say... less important things," Google said in a blog post announcing the change.

VIDEO: Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 a powerful tablet but isn't a laptop substitute

Besides the new prices, Google said it will continue to offer users 15 GB of free storage in Drive.

So how do Google's new prices compare to other top players in the cloud storage market? Here's how the prices for Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox and Box break down:

OneDrive: Microsoft offers users 7 GB of free storage. For $25 per year (about $2.08 per month) users get an additional 50 GB, for $50 per year (about $4.17 per month) users get an additional 100 GB, and for $100 per year (about $8.33 per month) users can get an additional 200 GB of cloud storage.

DropBox: With Dropbox, all users get 2 GB of free storage. Users can upgrade to 100 GB by getting the Pro plan, which costs $9.99 per month. For $15 per month per user, users can get an unlimited amount of cloud storage with Dropbox's Business plan -- however, the plan requires that there be at least five users. That means a minimum of $75 per month must be paid for Dropbox's Business option.

Box: Users who go with Box can get 10 GB of free storage. For $5 per month, they can get 100 GB of space. Box's Business plan offers users 1,000 GB of storage for $15 per month per user, but there must be a minimum of three users on the plan, bringing the minimum Promo Code to $45.

ALSO: End of an era: Google no longer underlining hyperlinks in search United Airlines to offer free movies on Apple iOS devices, laptops China Internet giant Tencent building audacious new headquarters

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ModernGraham Annual Valuation Of Best Buy Company

Benjamin Graham taught that Intelligent Investors must do a thorough fundamental analysis of investment opportunities to determine their intrinsic value and inherent risk. This is best done by utilizing a systematic approach to analysis that will provide investors with a sense of how a specific company compares to another company. By using the ModernGraham method one can review a company's historical accomplishments and determine an intrinsic value that can be compared across industries. What follows is a specific look at how Online Deals Company Inc. fares in the ModernGraham valuation model.

BBY data by YCharts Defensive Investor - must pass at least 6 of the following 7 tests: Score = 3/7

Adequate Size of Enterprise - market capitalization of at least $2 billion - PASS

Sufficiently Strong Financial Condition - current ratio greater than 2 - FAIL

Earnings Stability - positive earnings per share for at least 10 straight years - FAIL

Dividend Record - has paid a dividend for at least 10 straight years - PASS

Earnings Growth - earnings per share has increased by at least 1/3 over the last 10 years using 3 year averages at beginning and end of period - FAIL

Moderate PEmg ratio - PEmg is less than 20 - FAIL

Moderate Price to Assets - PB ratio is less than 2.5 or PB x PEmg is less than 50 - PASS

Enterprising Investor - must pass at least 4 of the following 5 tests or be suitable for a defensive investor: Score = 2/5

Sufficiently Strong Financial Condition, Part 1 - current ratio greater than 1.5 - FAIL

Sufficiently Strong Financial Condition, Part 2 - Debt to Net Current Assets ratio less than 1.1 - PASS

Earnings Stability - positive earnings per share for at least 5 years - FAIL

Dividend Record - currently pays a dividend - PASS

Earnings growth - EPSmg greater than 5 years ago - FAIL

Valuation Summary Balance Sheet - 10/31/2013 Earnings Per Share Earnings Per Share - ModernGraham Dividend History

BBY Dividend data by YCharts

Conclusion:

Best Buy Company presents too much risk for either Defensive Investors or Enterprising Investors at this time. For the Defensive Investor, the company fails the requirements by having a low current ratio, insufficient earnings stability or growth over the ten year period, and a high PEmg ratio. For the Enterprising Investor, the company does not have a high enough current ratio, and has insufficient earnings stability or growth over the last 5 years. As a result, value investors seeking to follow the ModernGraham approach based on Benjamin Graham's methods should explore other opportunities, such as through a review of 5 Outstanding Dow Components or 5 Low PEmg Companies for the Enterprising Investor.

As for a valuation, the company's EPSmg (normalized earnings) have dropped considerably over the last five years, from $2.81 in 2010 to $0.38 for 2014, leading the ModernGraham valuation model to return a figure that significantly trails the market's implied estimate of 30.35% earnings growth from the $0.38 EPSmg figure. Until the earnings show continued improvement, the company will continue to appear overvalued.

The next part of the analysis is up to individual investors, and requires discussion of the company's prospects. What do you think? What value would you put on Best Buy Company Inc.? Where do you see the company going in the future? Is there a company you like better?

Disclosure: The author did not hold a position in Best Buy Company Inc. ( BBY) or any of the other companies listed in this article at the time of publication and had no intention of changing that position within the next 72 hours.

Platformer Shoot 'em Up Hybrid 'Glorkian Warrior: The Trials of Glork' Launching Next Week

Back in late January, a trailer caught my eye for a game called Glorkian Warrior: The Trials of Glork, an upcoming iOS project that blended the comic stylings of James Kochalka with the video game chops of Pixeljam Games. Not only was it a mashup of two creative entities, but it was also a mashup of gaming genres, with traditional platforming gameplay mixed in with Galaga-style shoot 'em up action. Based on this trailer, it looks like a match made in heaven.

Well, if you're excited for Glorkain Warrior like I am, you'll be happy to know that the game has managed its way through the Apple approval process and is set to launch next week on March 13th. In addition to the game, James Kochalka has created a Glorkian Warrior graphic novel called 'The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza' which will be available on March 25th. I'm not a big comic person, but I'm actually quite stoked to pick up both the iOS game and the book to get the full Glorkian Warrior effect, and you can currently amazon promo code.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&camp=1789&tag=touch0e3-20&creative=9325&path=http%3A%2F%2Fastore.amazon.com%2Famerelf-20/detail/1626721033">pre-order the graphic novel on Amazon prior to its launch date.

Be on the lookout for Glorkian Warrior: The Trials of Glork next week, and hit up our forums for some discussion.

'Heartbeat of Home': A changed Ireland still dancing

<Coupon Codep>Outside the Dublin airport, there's a savvy sign: "Welcome home," it reads. It's both balm for the weary Irish traveler and a pitch, both comforting and savvy, aimed at visitors who trace at least some of their ancestry back to the Emerald Isle.

Some 20 years ago, "Riverdance" sold a very fine product in a way that was not unlike that sign. Here was a show that took what has been seen very much as a social dance form, the province of the ceilidh and the community center, and added lights, an amplified take on traditional Irish music and bravura practitioners in abundance. The sight of great lines of beautiful young Irish women, bodies ramrod straight and legs flying through the air, was nothing short of breathtaking. Revolutionary, too. For many in the audience (and the world tour of "Riverdance" shrewdly followed the Irish diaspora), the experience was deeply emotional.

Step dancing was never the same again. In ensuing years it became impossible to separate step dancing from "Riverdance."

Years ago, I remember sitting in the Irish Cultural Center watching young dancers. You could see the dreams of "Riverdance" dancing in their eyes. The show completely changed the very form it popularized and celebrated.

Stay away from home too long, of course, and the old sod gets replaced. In many ways, "Heartbeat of Home," the entertaining and mostly successful new show from the now famous (and very rich) Riverdance team of Moya Doherty and John McColgan, is an attempt to update the old brand for a new world order. Where "Riverdance" implied (with some foundation) that Irish dance forms begat so many others, the new "Heartbeat of Home" (Wednesday night was the U.S. premiere at the Oriental Theatre) breaks up those famous "Riverdance" lines and fuses the traditional forms with all that you might see in today's multicultural Ireland: Afro-Cuban dance, Latin dance, hip-hop.

But that's not the most interesting change. In this show, relatively few of the Irish dancers are actually Irish, most hail from Britain, Canada or Australia. They are not all redheads or bedecked with freckles or whatever else are the markers of the Irish physical stereotype, which already was more a showbiz product than a reality 20 years ago.

They are multicultural. They are diverse. The Celtic Tiger now has many stripes. Irish dance now is not necessarily what some still think of as Irish at all.

Of course, "Heartbeat of Home," which is essentially a variety show with live music, a vocalist and the signature company of dancers performing David Bolger and John Carey's choreography, walks a tricky line there.

The core audience is, for sure, those who love Irish culture and who fell for "Riverdance" two decades ago and who perhaps now have kids and grandparents of their own. Especially on a North American tour, the show can't just afford to be some kind of global mush. You can see the influence of "Stomp," "Noise/Funk" and other such groundbreaking variety entertainments, but the Irish dance still is in the foreground. As it should be, to my mind.

Specificity tends to be the friend of art; generality is the enemy. You can see generality in the lousy video backdrops, which strive so mightily to be universal, they end up looking generic. The journey we're forced to take through a stark, computerized, ice-cold version of some desert Southwest is the worst offender; the churning sea looks better, although those crashing waves reappear in Act 2, just as I hoped they'd been banished to Act 1.

This is not "The Little Mermaid."

"Heartbeat of Home" is a mainstream entertainment with an obligation to deliver accessible spectacle for those who like shows like "So You Think You Can Dance?" It's not the Joffrey Ballet. So stipulated. All for it. But the dancers (led by the remarkable Ciara Sexton, capable of springing herself halfway to the rafters, and the enigmatic Bobby Hodges) and the fine clutch of live musicians (all fabulous players and personalities) really are excellent enough for such focus-pulling and imaginatively limited digital detritus not to be necessary at all.

The athleticism and artistry is really something; the exciting finale followed by a concluding musical jam session is the most fun part of the night. The backdrops just deaden things. A tad tentative in spots, the show could do far more to involve its very enthusiastic audience.

In fairness, bombast is mostly avoided: "Heartbeat" is not an overbearing spectacle. It mostly is an honest and impressive showcase for exciting young dancers with myriad physical skills and boundless energy. And there is something admirable about what McColgan and Doherty are trying to do. Actually, I wish they'd had the nerve to go further and really deconstruct their previous massive success, really probe the changes in their native Ireland (where they are very famous and justly lauded) through their art of dance and music. These producers (clearly) have the pick of the best talent in the way that the Cirque du Soleil gets the best acrobats.

They could take more risks in terms of form: "Heartbeat" could use a few narrative surprises, some vulnerability. Granted, fusion is tough: step dancing still requires such specific training. Step dancers can do other things, but others can't do step dancing. They just have to watch, with the rest of us. An experience that, for the record, remains a thrill.

When: Through March 16

Where: Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St.

Tickets: $32-$82 at 800-775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com

Amazon sales fix near - Energy Mad

Energy-efficient light bulb manufacturer Energy Mad says it is still waiting for a resolution of an "out of stock" issue related to a distribution agreement with Amazon.

The Christchurch-based firm announced in late January that it had started selling its energy-saving bulbs through Amazon United States, the world's largest online retailer.

It said that three of its spiral compact fluorescent lamps and one LED (light emitting diode) reflector could be bought online through Amazon under Energy Mad's United States "Ecospiral" brand.

But a search of Amazon's United States online site shows the four Ecospiral light bulbs are carrying the tag: "Temporarily out of stock. Order now, and we'll deliver when available".

Energy Mad managing director Chris Mardon said today that the "out of stock" situation arose because of comprehensive Amazon processes required to be completed before Amazon placed initial purchase orders of the bulbs.

He said Energy Mad had had just completed these processes with the retailer.

"[We are] now are waiting for confirmation from Amazon as to when the initial purchase orders will be fulfilled, and when our light bulbs will appear in Amazon stock", he said.

He said the key driver for Discount growth would come from securing Electricity Utility funding to lower the cost of Energy Mad's light bulbs sold on Amazon and to encourage customers to go to Amazon's site.

"We are having continued discussions with Electricity Utilities in the United States about them funding Energy Mad's light bulbs sold on Amazon, and the reception is encouraging," Mardon said.

Energy Mad announced in late January that the bulbs would be available for sale online, but the site had experienced technical difficulties, with the bulbs not appearing in Amazon search engines.

This afternoon Energy Mad shares were trading steady at 37 cents having retreated from a late-January high that followed the initial announcement.

Amazon United States receives 105 million unique visitors each month.

- © Fairfax NZ News

'The Voyage', Mojo Bones' Follow-up to 2012's 'The Curse', Launching this Week

<Couponp>If you enjoyed the collection of puzzles in 2012's The Curse [$1.99], then you'll want to get your Excited Hat on as developer Mojo Bones has announced that the follow-up title called The Voyage is hitting the App Store this Thursday. The Voyage is a similar collection of classic brain teasers all tied together with a storyline and a piratey theme. Check out the trailer, narrated by your new adversary Captain Bucklebeard.

Like its predecessor, The Voyage will come equipped with 100 different pages of puzzles to solve that run the gamut of genres like logic, timing-based, perception and more. In the case of The Curse, the added storyline was a really cool way to package up a bunch of classic puzzles that might otherwise feel somewhat boring on their own. I expect The Voyage to be similarly enjoyable. The Voyage will launch at a sale price of 99¢ later this week, so keep an eye out for it.

Bruno Mars Tops iTunes After Most-Watched Super Bowl Halftime Show

Image: Theo Wargo/FilmMagic/Getty Images

After breaking the record for the most-watched Price Compare-bowl-halftime-video/">Super Bowl halftime show ever with 115.3 million viewers, Bruno Mars has roared his way up the iTunes sales charts on Monday.

The 28-year-old's sophomore album, Unorthodox Jukebox, which recently won Best Pop Album at the Grammys, secured the No. 1 spot on iTunes' Top Albums chart and his debut album moved up to No. 3. Two other versions of those albums are Nos. 8 and 17.

Meanwhile, 14 versions of 12 of his songs snagged spots on iTunes Top Songs, with "Locked Out of Heaven" at No. 6, "Just The Way You Are" at No. 7, "Treasure" at No. 13, "Young Girls" at No. 16, and "When I Was Your Man" at No. 19.

Mars' label, Atlantic Records, told Mashable his performance has had a major effect on ticket sales for his " Moonshine Jungle World Tour." Tickets for the North American leg of the tour went on sale Monday and many markets quickly sold out of tickets.

Below, watch Mars' show which, based on viewership, beat out Beyonce's 2013 halftime show (110.8 million). The show trumped Madonna's 2012 show (114.0 million).

Mars, the youngest artist to ever serve as a sole halftime show headliner, opened on the drums for "Billionaire," a Travie McCoy song on which he was featured in 2009, before launching into a hip-swinging performance of "Locked Out of Heaven."

Mars followed those songs up with a rambunctious rendition of "Runaway Baby." He closed the set with "Just The Way You Are," which began with an emotional video of troops addressing their loved ones. Between "Runaway" and "Just The Way You Are," the Red Hot Chili Peppers joined Bruno Mars onstage to rock out on "Give It Away."

The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Greatest Hits album also saw a sales impact because of the veteran rock band's cameo; it's currently at No. 6 on iTunes' Top Albums chart.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Best Nokia Lumia 520 price deals for February 2014

The Nokia Lumia 520 is the most affordable and Deal Of The Day selling Lumia in the range and is perfect for the first-time smartphone user. While it is cheap, it offers plenty of features, as well as a great design and build quality. Check out the best Nokia Lumia 520 price deals for February 2014.

The Nokia Lumia 520 is a stunning looking smartphone that costs less than £100 (inc. VAT) and comes with a 4-inch touchscreen that acts as a fantastic display for web browsing, making notes, or just about anything you need to do on the go. Sure, it's the budget member of the Windows Phone 8 family but that doesn't stop it from being a fully-featured phone capable of handling apps with ease.

Nokia Lumia 520: How to get started

What's more, you get full access to the exact same Nokia apps as you would on a top-of-the-range handset like the Nokia Lumia 925. We're talking about the likes of HERE Maps, Nokia Music, Smart Shoot and Cinemagraph.

You'll find the Nokia Lumia 520 is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor and backed by 512MB of RAM. This is more than enough to deliver a full Windows Phone 8 user experience. What's more with 8GB of storage and microSD slot you'll be able to store all your files, media and music with ease - try and do that with some budget rivals out there.

We've also found the Nokia Lumia 520 to be a great smartphone for playing games, as this hands-on video attests:

Nokia builds all of its handsets to last, of course, while the Lumia 520 doesn't lack anything from an attractive design perspective either. Check out these Nokia Lumia 520 deals, whether you're after a PAYG bargain or a top contract offer - prices correct at time of writing.

Nokia Lumia 520: Best monthly deal on 24 month contract

If you want to get the phone for free with the minimum of monthly outgoings, you'll be wanting a 24 month contract. Right now, you can pick one up for as little as £7.50 (inc. VAT) a month and all the major networks offer a range of deals to entice you in.

Click here for the Nokia Lumia 520 on O2 24 month contractClick here for the Nokia Lumia 520 on 3 24 month contractClick here for the Nokia Lumia 520 on Orange 24 month contractClick here for the Nokia Lumia 520 on T-Mobile 24 month contractClick here for the Nokia Lumia 520 on Vodafone 24 month contract

Nokia Lumia 520: Best monthly deal on 12 month contract

Of course, some people don't want to be tied in to such a lengthy contract. Never fear - the Nokia Lumia 520 is such good value that you can get it on a 12 month contract with no initial fee! Head to Carphone Warehouse, and they'll give you the Nokia Lumia 520 for free on a 12 month Vodafone contract for £35 per month. This will get you 100 minutes, unlimited texts, and 100MB of data.

Click here for the Nokia Lumia 520 on Vodafone 14 month contract

Nokia Lumia 520: Best SIM Free price deal

If you're happy with your contract deal and just want to get your hands on the Nokia Lumia 520, you can opt for the SIM free price deal option and slap your current microSIM card into your new Lumia. Here we check out a couple of great deals to be had right now

Click Amazon for the Nokia Lumia 520 at £99.99 (inc. VAT) SIM free

Click Mobile Fun for the Nokia Lumia 520 at £159.98 (inc. VAT) SIM free

Nokia Lumia 520: Best PAYG deal

When it comes to getting a smartphone on a budget, opting for a PAYG (Pay As You Go) deal is a great way of getting the features you want without having to tie yourself to a contract. With prices starting from as little as £68.99 (inc. VAT) for the Nokia Lumia 520, it's now more affordable than ever.

Click here for the Nokia Lumia 520 on O2 PAYGClick here for the Nokia Lumia 520 on Vodafone PAYGClick here for the Nokia Lumia 520 on 3 PAYGClick here for the Nokia Lumia 520 on Orange PAYGClick here for the Nokia Lumia 520 on T-Mobile PAYG

If you're after another kind of Nokia Lumia 520 deal, click here.

'Scandal': The 12 most OMG moments ... so far

scandal season 2-abc.jpg">"Scandal" is a show that lives and dies by the jaw drop. You know what we mean, those moments that leave you barely able to catch your breath, panting, hungry for more. But not all OMG moments are made equal.

As we try to ignore our Olivia Pope withdrawals (only one month until Season 3 returns, guys!), we've put together the definitive ranking of the 12 most totally insane moments on "Scandal" so far. Pop yourself some popcorn, pour a glass of red wine and get ready. Because here we go.

12. Cyrus is revealed to be behind Amanda Tanner's death

Oh, hey Season 1 twist. Look at you being cute and trying to shock with the reveal that President Grant's ( Tony Goldwyn) chief of staff Cyrus Beene ( Jeff Perry) was the man behind Amanda Tanner's (guest star Liza Weil) death. And, yeah, it was shocking -- for Season 1. But we've got people eating through their wrists now. This just seems like child's play.

11. Huck pulls out Quinn's tooth

The torture scenes between Huck ( Guillermo Diaz) and Quinn ( Katie Lowes) were tough to watch -- in part because of what it meant for that relationship, but also because, yuck. When he just went in and yanked out that tooth? Shivers.

10. Cyrus pimps out James - and it works

For a man who almost had his husband killed, it seems silly to suggest that Cyrus' lowest moment was when he coldly used James ( Dan Bucatinsky) as bait for Daniel Douglas Langston's ( Jack Coleman) wandering eye. But, here we are. The fact that it worked and the devastating outcome it lead to? Well, that's just icing on the OMG cake.

9. Mellie's rape by her father-in-law

As the show slowly began to soften Mellie ( Bellamy Young) in Season 3, this revelation, via flashback, of her rape at the hand of her drunk father-in-law was plenty divisive. And plenty shocking. The possibility that Fitz'a first born may actually be his half-brother? Yikes.

8. Sally Langston kills husband Daniel Douglas

That devastating outcome from Cyrus' pimping we were mentioning earlier? Yeah, that's this. Another dead body on his conscience and a wildly unstable Vice President of the United States with blood-stained hands. The effects of this one are still unclear, as Season 3 went into hiatus just as this occurred.

7. The truth behind Defiance

Olivia ( Kerry Washington), Mellie, Cyrus, Hollis Doyle ( Gregg Henry) and Supreme Court Justice Verna Thornton ( Debra Mooney) rigged Fitz's election? Consider us as shocked as he was.

6. Fitz gets shot in the head

This startling event made clear that not a single person on "Scandal" was safe. It also was the impetus behind Nos. 7 and 5 on this list.

5. Fitz kills Verna

After learning the truth about Defiance, and that she'd been the one to order his assassination attempt, a vengeful Fitz smothers Verna in her hospital room. Just to be clear, in America of "Scandal," both the President and Vice President are murderers. Let that sink in.

4. Mama Pope chews through her own wrists

Sure, there are bigger shocking moments regarding Olivia's presumed-dead mother ( Khandi Alexander), but this one ranks simply because it elevated "Scandal" to the upper echelons of Grand Guignol. I mean, we literally watched as a desperate woman gnawed through her own wrists like a deranged vampire.

3. Mama Pope comes back from the dead

That look on Olivia's face when her mom shows up right outside her apartment is killer. Imagine seeing your mom, when you've thought she was dead for years. Terrifying.

2. Who Mama Pope really is

And then imagine learning that your once-thought-dead mother, who you've just been reunited with, is an international terrorist who tricked your father into shooting down a plane.

1. Dad?

All that said, the biggest, baddest, most OMG moment came at the end Season 2. After months of wondering just who the threatening Rowan ( Joe Morton) really is, Liv spells it all out for us: "Dad?" It was a cliffhanger that left us salivating for three months. It changed the world of the show. It's the No. 1 Most OMG "Scandal" Moment ....so far.

Dropbox gets a major pay day

Dropbox got a huge financial lift last week with reports it had received approximately $250 million in new funds. re/code speculated it could actually end up being as much as $400 million. Whatever it was, it was a big number.

The Wall Street Journal appears to be the first publication to have broken this story (requires log in). re/code reported there could be additional money coming from other sources, possibly a couple of mutual funds, which could drive the overall amount even further.

These reports said the funding was on top of the $250 million the company received in 2011 and the company valuation was set at a hefty $10 billion, up from $8 billion in 2011. It certainly proved the power of cloud companies to attract big money, and could set the stage for an IPO at some point.

Last year Dropbox made several nods to business when it rebranded Dropbox for Teams as dropbox for business. It also beefed up the security controls, but they remain for now rudimentary at best. Later in the year, it enhanced the Dropbox APIs making it possible to program Dropbox functionality outside of the Dropbox service.

Larry Hawes, principle at Dow Brook Consulting, told me at the time that he considered that a significant move shifting Dropbox from a commodity sync and share application to a full-fledged business platform, but Hawes warned at the time that Dropbox still had a long way to go to win over a skeptical IT department, that still perceived it--for the most part--as a nuisance.

"Dropbox has such a bad reputation with IT that it will take a massive effort to change the existing perception that it is not an enterprise-ready service, even if it is. Especially in terms of security and privacy," he told me at the time.

But in spite of Dropbox's entree into the business side of the equation and these nods to business, it remains for now, for the most part, very much a consumer tool with a limited functionality. It does sync and share very well, but that's really all it does. I'm a Dropbox user and I see the power of it all the time, from the ability to get my files on any device, any time, to the way it becomes a drive in your file manager, whether in Windows or Mac.

It's a highly useful tool, and while it might not have a great business reputation, it has millions of users, many of whom are using Dropbox at work with or without permission from IT. That means there is a huge potential business customer base that could be flipped to business users if Dropbox can find a way to enhance its security and administrative controls beyond the basics it started with last year.

One thing Dropbox has done is convince its financial backers that it has tremendous potential to earn big money down the road. To do that though, it has to move beyond the consumer commodity features and try to figure out a way to get the more lucrative business customers. It seems clear Wall Street is betting it can.

For more information:
- see the TechCrunch article

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What's the deal between Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh? Competition, baby

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Maybe now that their intense, dramatic and endlessly entertaining coaching rivalry has reached its biggest stage yet - an NFC Championship Game Sunday, with a berth in the Super Bowl at stake - perhaps it's time to listen to Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh when they say they don't hate each other.

But listening and fully believing are two different things. After all, these two have quite a history.

Carroll, 62, and Harbaugh, 50, have been battling each other for supremacy for seven years, first in the then-Pacific-10 Conference, where Harbaugh's upstart Stanford program helped end Carroll's University of Southern California dynasty, and now in the NFL, where they have battled for NFC West pre-eminence, Carroll as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks and Harbaugh as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

Ever since their famous "What's your Deal News?" confrontation in a postgame midfield handshake after Stanford's statement rout of USC in 2009, everyone has assumed that there is a component of animosity in the rivalry.

This week, both coaches are saying that's not the case.

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"Animosity? No," Harbaugh said. "That's erroneous. Erroneous. It's football. It's competition. It's winning."

As coaches in the same college conference and the same pro division, they've had conversations, right? Do they get along?

Harbaugh chuckled.

VIDEO: NFC Championship Game preview

"We've had football," he said. "Competition. Winning. That's sports. That's what we've had. Great competition."

Carroll was asked Thursday at his team's headquarters in Renton, Wash., what's the deal with his relationship with Harbaugh?

"What's the deal, huh?" Carroll said. "We have not been friends over the years. We don't know each other very well. It's a very, very confined relationship in that regard.

"For whatever reason, you guys have had a field day with thinking that it's something other than it is. I have great respect for what Jim's done. I think he's a tremendous football coach. So that's it. That's where it stops and starts. All the rest of this stuff, you guys have had a blast with it. But there's nothing there, you know?"

It's not the easiest thing to penetrate the relationship. Neither coach is likely to sit for probing, personal questions. Harbaugh's public comments usually are dispensed from a podium, often in short answers, sometimes on the wacky side. The frenetic Carroll might issue more complete sentences and chat away from the podium a little, but it's rare that he will sit still long enough to dissect a subject that doesn't directly relate to winning football games.

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So what's their deal? A Carroll confidante told USA TODAY Sports the defining factor in their relationship is that two competition junkies have been pitted against each other regularly and the full force of their win-win mentalities butting against one another creates sparks.

"I think they're two insanely highly developed competitors," said Yogi Roth, who played college football with Carroll's son at Pittsburgh, coached under Carroll at USC and wrote a book with Carroll. "Ask Pete to describe himself, he'll say, 'I'm a competitor.' That's who he is - back against the wall, all the time. He doesn't need a bully to set the tempo.

VIDEO: Championship Sunday story lines

"The angle to me is, here are two of the most competitive guys in all of football, and we think they hate each other. But competitors love what the other guy brings out of them," says Roth, now an analyst with the Pac-12 Networks. "I think these guys thrive on the stuff that is said about them, because they want the biggest matchup, the biggest game and the biggest moment. It's like in basketball, you want to take the last shot. Both of these guys, in a pickup basketball game, would want to take the last shot."

In the case of Sunday's game, taking - and making - the last shot would mean getting to the Super Bowl. Neither coach has won a Super Bowl, though Harbaugh has been closest.

In the head-to-head matchup, Harbaugh leads. He was 2-1 against Carroll in the Pac-12 and is 4-2 against him in the NFL.

Though their personalities are as different as sandpaper (Harbaugh) and silk (Carroll), they have both taken their teams to the top with a focus on tough defense, smash-mouth running offense and, in the past two years, dynamic dual-threat quarterbacks, the 49ers' Colin Kaepernick and the Seahawks' Russell Wilson.

"I think Pete and Harbaugh have great respect for each other because they've both done it that way," Roth says. "They've both added new elements, whether it's the quarterback run game or maybe developing guys who other people passed on. They just go about it differently. Jim is a more aggressive personality. Pete's more of a laid back guy. Similar approaches, different personalities."

Both have been historically great at what they do.

In a seven-year span at USC, Carroll's teams went 82-9 - 13-0 once, 12-1 three times and 11-2 three times, though some of those victories were later vacated because of NCAA rules violations.

Harbaugh is the first NFL coach to reach a conference championship game in each of his first three seasons as head coach.

They had very different playing careers - Carroll was a college safety at Pacific not good enough for pro football; Harbaugh was a star quarterback at Michigan, a first-round draft pick and had a long pro career. But they have both built reputations as players' coaches.

"He understands us as players and what we need to help make this a better football team," 49ers star linebacker Patrick Willis says. "Since he's got here, it's always been about us, about the team, the team, the team."

Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has played for both coaches. He played college ball under Harbaugh at Stanford.

Sherman has a lot in common with Carroll. They're both energetic, fun-loving, loose.

"He's not soft, but he's easy-going," Sherman says. "He allows guys to be who they are. Coach Pete lets you shoot baskets before meetings and have fun and enjoy the game. He makes the game a lot more fun than it used to be."

Asked if Harbaugh, whose approach was influenced by his no-nonsense college coach, Bo Schembechler, allowed Sherman to be himself at Stanford, Sherman laughs. "A lot less so," he says.

Their stories are curiously intertwined.

Carroll was born in San Francisco, was reared in the Bay Area and returned there in the mid-90s for two years as defensive coordinator for the 49ers under head coach George Seifert.

But years later, it is Harbaugh, a native Midwesterner, who is the Bay Area's most prominent coach.

In 1989, Carroll, then the Minnesota Vikings' secondary coach, was a candidate for the head coach job at Stanford. The job went to Dennis Green.

But years later, it was Harbaugh who performed the miracle at Stanford. He took a team that had gone 1-11 in 2006 and in four years erected a powerhouse that challenged, then surpassed the program that had dominated the Pac-10 and later Pac-12 for nearly a decade - Carroll's USC.

When Harbaugh coached at the University of San Diego before coming to Stanford, he recruited a quarterback from the Los Angeles area named Nate Carroll - Pete's son. Nate went to USC instead and is now an assistant for his dad in Seattle.

Harbaugh and Carroll first clashed in 2007, when Harbaugh, just hired at Stanford, said in the summer that he had heard 2007 would be Carroll's last season at USC. Carroll responded Harbaugh should get his facts straight. Said Harbaugh: "We bow to no man; we bow to no program here at Stanford."

That fall, Harbaugh and Stanford made major news. A 41-point underdog, Stanford went down to Los Angeles and shocked the No. 2 Trojans 24-23. In the aftermath, Carroll expressed only respect toward Harbaugh. "Jimmy had them ready to play," he said. "Give credit to Stanford."

The next year, at Stanford, USC issued payback, a 45-23 pasting in which there was some odd gamesmanship in the closing seconds. Harbaugh sent in a placekicker to kick a meaningless field goal and Carroll then called timeout to ice the kicker. Then Harbaugh changed his mind, sent in his offense and Stanford scored a touchdown on an 18-yard pass.

That set the stage for the one everyone remembers, the famous "What's your deal?" game of 2009. USC, after seven remarkable years, was fading, and Stanford was rising. When they intersected on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, Stanford creamed the Trojans with a power run game 55-21.

With 6:47 left, Stanford running back Toby Gerhart scored on a 6-yard run to make it 48-21 and Harbaugh kept the offense on the field to try for a two-point conversion.

According to the book Rags to Roses: The Rise of Stanford Football, published this year by The Stanford Daily, Gerhart at that point approached Harbaugh and asked what was going on, and Harbaugh replied, "I want to put 50 on those (expletive)."

The two-point try failed, but Harbaugh got his 50 and more when Stanford scored another touchdown.

As the two coaches approached each other at midfield, they had a brief handshake and strained conversation.

Carroll: "What's your deal? You alright?"

Harbaugh: "Yeah, I'm good. "What's your deal?"

Carroll, turning away: "Nice game."

After three more games, Carroll was done at USC, taking the offer to coach the Seahawks.

And after one more season at Stanford - a 12-1 season capped by a 40-12 win over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, Stanford's first Bowl Championship Series victory - Harbaugh was gone to the 49ers.

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Now, Carroll's and Harbaugh's deal is the NFC West.

Carroll's Seahawks won the division in 2010 (though with a 7-9 record) and this season. Harbaugh's 49ers won it in 2011 and 2012.

Carroll has never coached a team to the Super Bowl. Harbaugh took the 49ers there last year and lost to his older brother, John, who coaches the Baltimore Ravens.

With a chance to get back to the Super Bowl, Harbaugh said this week he'd cut off a finger to be able to play in Sunday's game and would contemplate sacrificing an arm or an eye.

"There's nothing better than playing," he says. "Coaching is the second-best thing, though, because you are competing."

When it comes to Harbaugh vs. Carroll, whatever they say, the competition remains compelling.

2014 A2Hosting Promotion & Coupon Codes Are Released at HostingReview360.com

HostingReview360.com has introduced the new A2Hosting promotion in 2014 which comes with 2 coupon codes bringing an up to 51% discount that decreases the price of the companies' shared hosting packages to $3.92/mo.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 14, 2014

The web hosting review site HostingReview360.com has introduced the new A2Hosting promotion in 2014 which comes with 2 exclusive coupon codes bringing an up to 51% discount that decreases the price of the companies' shared hosting packages to $3.92/mo. This is regarded to be one of the most favorable promotions that the company has ever carried out.

A2Hosting has been offering a wide variety of products including shared, managed VPS, Cloud VPS, dedicated server and reseller hosting, among which the shared service is powering most of the customers' websites. There are 2 shared hosting packages named Prime and Prime+SSD, and the only difference between them in feature is that the latter uses SSDs and Railgun Optimizer for free.

The regular price of the 2 packages starts from $5.99/mo and $8.99/mo. As the company offers a 17% discount by default, visitors subscribing to the services directly can get the price down to $4.97/mo and $7.46/mo.

In the current promotion, A2Hosting provides this promotional link which has already had the Deal Now BHSCODE activated automatically. Designed for people who only need a short-term plan to reduce risks, this code brings a 51% discount for both packages and cuts the price of the 1/6/12 month(s)' subscription down to:

Prime: $5.39/mo, $4.90/mo and $3.92/mo.
Prime+SSD: $6.86/mo, $6.37/mo and $5.39/mo.

Another coupon code offered by the company is BHSA2CODE which is suitable and beneficial for webmasters planning to use the services for a long time of at least 2 years. This unique code comes with a 34% discount with which the effective price of the 24-month and 36-month billing of the packages is:

Prime: $4.61/mo and $3.95/mo.
Prime+SSD: $6.59/mo and $5.93/mo.

Both of the packages cover unlimited RAID 10 disk space, monthly data transfer, databases (MySQL and PostgreSQL) and email addresses, support to host unlimited domains on a single account, and include advanced technologies like SSH, SFTP, shared SSL, PHP 5.5, MySQL 5.5, Apache 2.2 and Perl 5.10.

In addition, A2Hosting provides customers with free access to the following features.

1) A2 SiteBuilder, cPanel control panel & Softaculous application installer.
2) CloudFlare CDN, server rewind backups & HackScan.
3) Solid State Drives & Railgun Optimizer (included in Prime+SSD only).
4) $25 Bing/Yahoo search credits, $20 Bidvertiser ads credits, Constant Contact and iContact email marketing trial & SubmitNET SEO suite 30-day trial.
5) 99.9% uptime & 30 days full refund guarantee.

About HostingReview360.com
HostingReview360.com is an independent web hosting review site that releases reviews to reveal the secrets in the industry and to help webmasters focus on their own businesses without worrying about the selection of hosting platform.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/a2hosting-coupon-discount/2014/prweb11487177.htm

Siddhi Yoga Offers €50 Discount Coupon for Yoga Teacher Training in Goa and Dharamshala

Goa, India (PRWEB) January 13, 2014

Siddhi Yoga, a reputable yoga teacher training academy in India, is offering a €50 Best Buy coupon to all customers who register for a yoga training course at its Goa and Dharamshala schools.

The €50 discount voucher is available for anyone who signs up for a course via the company's website at http://www.siddhiyoga.com/.

Obtaining the coupon is fast and easy. Interested people simply need to visit the website and fill in name, email address and country in the online form. The coupon will be then be emailed to them with information on how to redeem the discount for a course at the Goa and Dharamshala schools. The offer is limited to one coupon per person.

"We like to reward people who want to pursue their love for yoga, and hope the discount will give them the encouragement they need to follow their dream," says Madhur Rajpal, spokesperson for Siddhi Yoga Academy.

The discount follows from the recent price structure changes in January 2014, which sees people receiving bigger discounts the earlier they book.

Siddhi Yoga also recently added new courses and destinations to its offering. In 2013, the yoga academy launched its Yoga Teacher Training in Dharmshala, a quaint Himalayan town in India.

"Extending our courses to Dharmshala was a natural evolution for Siddhi Yoga Academy. The town is the spiritual home of yoga, and is also home to his Holiness, the Dalai Lama. It was only natural that we would want our students to experience this," he said.

The teacher training program at Siddhi Yoga Academy includes many different types of yoga such as the famous yoga styles of hatha, iyengar, bikram, vinyasana and ashtang. It also offers other blends of yoga merged with aerobics and other fitness regimes. For yoga lovers who are starting on the path to become a yoga instructor, the yoga teacher training courses in Dharmshala provide RYT 200 and RYT 300 certification in any style they choose.

But in India, where there are countless yoga academies to choose from, what truly sets Siddhi Yoga apart is the teachers. Siddhi Yoga Academy boasts the best teachers in the yoga field, with all teachers certified with ERYT200 and ERYT500.

"Our teachers are not only exponents of yoga who have honed the practice for decades under the guidance of the great yoga gurus of India; they also know the yogic art of teaching," said Rajpal.

At the end of the day, students of Siddhi Yoga are finding that teaching yoga classes is an excellent way to make extra income doing what they love - whether they teach classes as a full-time career or as a supplement to another full-time job.

"Becoming a yoga teacher means you can design a career that works for your lifestyle."

For more information about Siddhi Yoga and yoga teacher training in Dharamsala, visit http://www.siddhiyoga.com/.

About Siddhi Yoga
Siddhi Yoga is the culmination of great knowledge, noble purpose, and likeminded people. It brings to fore the lost art of creating balance in one's life. Using yoga, meditation, kriyas, relaxation and healing, the practice at Siddhi Yoga brings about transformational changes in its students - making them feel invigorated, free spirited, and healthy; apart from giving them yoga teacher training.

Top 10 Android app updates this week: Copy, Pandora, Snapchat

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Welcome back to our weekly Top 10 Android App Updates column, where we take a look at the most upgraded apps for the week. I've found that one of the best ways to discover useful apps is to look at what people are actually updating, not focus on which apps have the most installs. As in the past, we're going to filter out minor updates for the super popular apps that have over 10 million installs, but I'm going to make an exception for apps that had significant updates. I hope you enjoy this weekly feature and discover some apps that you might find useful.

PushBullet - Version 13

What's new in this version:

• Dismiss your phone's notifications or disable mirroring right from Chrome! (Android 4.3+)
• Notification mirroring (desktop notifications) duplicate filtering improved.
• View your sent pushes in the app! (from the drawer)
• Devices and contacts you can push to load a lot faster.
• Fixed a bunch of little issues. :)

Copy - Version 2.5.02

What's new in this version:

• Major UI Redesign.
• Major PhotoCopy updates.
• Enhancements and fixes for file transfers.
• Bug fixes & optimizations.

Falcon Pro - Version 2.1.1

What's new in this version:

• New: Account switcher in tweet composer.
• Improved: Faster transition animations.
• Removed: Interactions due to API change.
• Fix: Conversations after API change.

Pandora - Version 5.1

What's new in this version:

• Set and forget - customize how often your alarm repeats throughout the week.
• Need a few extra minutes of shut eye? Hit snooze to catch more ZZZ's.
• Use with the sleep timer to listen to music you love morning and night.
• Other small improvements and bug fixes.

ES File Explorer - Version 3.0.9.1

What's new in this version:

• Support auto device discovery(Bonjour) in LAN.
• Support GIF on cloud.

Overlays - Version 1.8.1

What's new in this version:

• Added French translation.
• Fixed selecting gallery image as profile icon bug.
• If Home button is enabled as start service - it will also function from main app settings screen.
• Crashes and bug fixes.

Evernote - Version 5.7

What's new in this version:

• Improves on-boarding.
• Bug fixes and improvements.

Snapchat - Version 4.1.05

What's new in this version:

• Improves Find Friends functionality.
• Allows Snapchatters to opt-out of linking their phone number with their username. This option is available in Settings > Mobile #.

Budget Helper - Version 2.01

What's new in this version:

• Complete redesign.
• Fix for crash when entering amounts containing a comma.

Contacts+ - Version 3.21.5

What's new in this version:

• More customization: you can now choose between Round/Square pictures in the main contacts view.
• Toggle between dialer search/textual search.
• Quick action buttons to call, text and email: long press (press and hold) on a contact picture will pop quick action buttons to quickly call, text or email your contact.
• New menus & a new setup wizard.

I was first introduced to Android with the Samsung Fascinate and I've been hooked ever since. I love the customization that Android offers the user to personalize their phone. I enjoy writing and have been blessed with the opportunity to share this passion for Android with others.

Creating A Sense Of Urgency: Why Marketing Must Behave Like Sales

What's the quickest way to prioritize a global marketing team and align an organization to create a culture of success? Quite simply, look at your sales team.

Sales departments operate under a near constant sense of urgency, which gives them an extraordinary degree of focus and the need to make decisions quickly. Salespeople are always striving to meet predetermined monthly, quarterly and yearly sales targets. For many people in sales, this process is intensified by the reality that their compensation is tied to meeting and exceeding those targets. As a result, members of a sales department (almost to a fault) have an intense focus Deal Now which next immediate priority, decision and step will better enable them to meet their goals. They also measure their results, review/adjust their strategies, and stay focused on their goals.

Let's compare that reality to the one often experienced by those in marketing, for example. Most marketing departments have a long list of priorities and complex strategies from what can be a dizzying host of different internal and external clients. They must balance between being the convenient internal go-to for projects that span the gamut from the inconsequential to the most intensely public. Marketers also have to balance core business impact functions such as driving product adoption, pipeline and brand relevance, often resulting in being very loaded down with more projects than they can conceivably handle.

The result for both the marketing department itself and, really, all the internal tributaries that flow into it these types of projects is the kind of confusion that can make it difficult to maintain focus on objectives that matter the most: those that will ultimately drive sales. And with the velocity of today's business, it's all too easy for this to become standard operating procedure, as marketing maintains a dead sprint on a treadmill of work that will not demonstrably benefit the business.

If marketing is empowered to view its mission through a "sales-focused" lens, it will be able to focus its efforts on the marketing campaigns that meet two primary objectives: increasing velocity and adoption of new products introduced into the market and adding qualified opportunities to sales pipelines. Everything that marketing does, including driving brand relevance and awareness, should ultimately contribute to these two areas. In marketing, sales is my No. 1 customer. I have worked to have our teams talk less about brand impressions and numbers of people at events (all important and relevant) and more about qualified pipeline opportunities. This simple change better aligns us with sales and gives sales confidence that we "get it."

Marketers also need to develop measurable goals that can be monitored regularly to allow for course corrections along the way. Sales leaders are constantly looking at trends and patterns in weekly forecasts pipeline, wins, losses, what products are getting traction, and so on, and using the information to adjust strategies along the way to make sure of a successful outcome. In marketing we now produce a dashboard that has daily, weekly, monthly and semiannual data refreshes for key metrics so we can monitor results and adjust if/as needed. If marketing can speak the same language as sales, that's half the battle. And, of course, marketing sometimes might need to step out of its comfort zone and make decisions quickly to align with the fast-paced action happening in sales.

It is critical for members of sales and marketing to realize that their objectives are essentially the same. That realization not only is hugely transformative for the people in those departments, it also can have a major impact on the entire business. Amazing things happen when marketing and sales are in tune with each other. Very quickly, an internal alignment forms across an entire company that champions creating real benefits for partners and customers. Time-consuming distractions fall away, and often the wins start accumulating. Partners in particular cherish this synergy and alignment as extended sales forces.

And where to start doesn't have to be complicated. For example, sales teams know that customer loyalty is primarily won through experience with a company and/or brand, and therefore the entire organization must be focused on consistent delivery of the brand promise. Marketing teams must take ownership of this need for consistency and work to provide coordinated strategies across marketing teams connecting directly with sales teams and functions. This coordinated effort will drive improved brand perception, which is the driver for customer acquisition/retention and partner loyalty. This integration should encompass an understanding of creative online and offline marketing strategies that balance sales enablement and brand awareness. The challenge for marketers is to align all of a company's marketing resources to relevantly connect brands with consumers. Sales teams have been doing this for years, providing deep relationships and points of contact for customers.

Is an internally aligned, highly focused marketing organization that inspires different departments, divisions and teams to work together to deliver real, measurable results for clients and customers possible? Yes, with work, of course. If you want marketing to ultimately deliver sales, think like sales.