Halloween is here and little children will surely be marching up and down your block dressed as ghouls and vampire movie characters in just a matter of hours.The holidays always show the unique strategies that companies come up with for their promotions. Scarily enough, no one ever complains that Halloween has become commercialised to the point where its meaning has become obscured. In fact, if there ever was a holiday that is just howling to become more sales-oriented, it's Halloween.Halloween ...

We're all spending more and more of our online lives on social networks. For many, these services have become the hub of their online activities, and mobile devices are a major tool for accessing these social networks and the campaigns we've recently seen provide examples of how major brands are using social media to market their products.Whether you own a hair salon or a restaurant, or work at a local retailer or manufacturer, you can apply these ideas to ...

Following the recent release of the iPhone 4S, UK newspaper The Guardian has run a series of articles investigating severe battery drain issues discovered in the latest iteration of the smash-hit smartphone.In the first of the articles, published a mere week after the global launch of the smartphone, the Guardian questioned why it was that the iPhone 4S had dropped 100 hours of standby time compared to its predecessors -- the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS.Apple, a company famed ...

Flexible screens have been knocking around trade shows and gadget events for ages now. It took Samsung, one of the world’s most successful electronic developers to make it a palatable reality.Last week, Samsung said that it is aiming to have tablets and mobile phones with flexible displays by 2012. Following on the monumental success of the Galaxy S II, which has sold well over ten million phones in half a year, Samsung is now well on its way to manufacturing ...

As the uprising in Syria, one of the last and most brutal of the Arab Spring movement, continues unabated, a US firm specialising in internet censorship equipment has confirmed that web censorship tools sold to Iraq have now been traced to the Syrian regime.Any sale of such equipment to the oppressive Syrian regime is barred by US law.According to the firm, Blue Coat Systems, systems used to filter the internet which it sold to the Iraqi Department of Communications ...

The first game I can remember playing was Pong on a console of some description, whose name escapes me, that my favourite Aunt bought in Saudi Arabia, of all places. It was a fun distraction, but I wouldn’t say it was the tipping point that led me into a life of pixels and midi audio.The hook that got me gaming regularly was the Atari_2600 that my parents bought me and my brother — oddly enough again bought in Saudi Arabia ...

Bidorbuy, a large online auction site, based in South Africa, is set to give people a unique bidding opportunity. Six winning bidders will have the opportunity to take on renowned Russian chess grandmaster Gary Kasparov in a simultaneous game of chess.Kasparov will play an exhibition match against 30 or so participants. Six of those will be reserved for bidders on the site.According to bidorbuy the auctions will be a "one-a-day" affair. One ticket will be available every day ...

Controversial Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn has announced plans to mass produce industrial robots as part of its efforts to cope with labour shortages and rising wages.The project, which is initially forecast to cost the Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Tw$6.7-billion (US$223-million), was unveiled Saturday when Terry Gou, chairman of the conglomerate, broke ground for the construction of a research and development unit in Taichung, central Taiwan.“The investment marks the beginning of Hon Hai’s bid to build an empire of robots,” ...

For Filipinos who are unable to make the trip to their loved-ones resting places on All-Saints' Day, online prayers can now be offered thanks to an initiative from the local Catholic bishops.At undasonline.com, Filipinos far from their friends and families burial sites can now offer their condolences online come 1 November. All Saints' Day is a national holiday which celebrates the various saints in the Catholic culture.The site is being officially maintained by the media office of the Catholics Bishops' ...

Globally popular video-sharing platform YouTube is set to partner with a number of high-profile celebrities to add around 100 channels of original programming.The site’s venture into original content includes deals with A-list partners such as actor Ashton Kutcher and pop legend Madonna."Even more talented creators and original entertainment will soon join YouTube's existing channel lineup," YouTube global head of content partnerships Robert Kyncl said in a blog post."Including channels created by well-known personalities and content producers from the ...