Samsung’s apps aren’t appreciated by application samsung galaxy s

Samsung’s Galaxy branded devices might run Android, but it’s no secret that the company has worked hard to differentiate its software experience from the competition by adding its own custom touches. Beyond just providing a unique ‘look and feel’ through TouchWiz, Samsung has went so far as to create its own ecosystem of apps that often rival services offered by Google and by popular 3rd party app developers.
Although some of Samsung’s apps are well-appreciated by Galaxy fans, others feel that Samsung’s continued push towards bundled apps adds up to nothing more than a bloated smartphone experience — especially since many of these included apps can’t be deleted without root access.

it’s no secret that the company has worked hard to differentiate its software experience from the competition by adding its own custom touches

The big question is whether or not the average user actually utilizes the bundled apps that Samsung includes. With this in mind, research firm Strategy Analytics recently conducted a study that tracked more than 250 U.S.-based users of the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4 to get a better feel for what apps Samsung owners use the most. Although 250 users isn’t a large number, it’s enough for the research firm to form a rough picture.

The results? Strategy Analytics noted that some of the most popular apps among these users included Facebook, Instragram, Youtube and Twitter. Facebook commanded roughly 664 minutes of monthly use, 151 minutes for Instagram, 146.7 minutes for Youtube and 47.4 minutes for Twitter. To likely no one’s surprise, Google Play and Google Search were also high up on the list.
As for Samsung’s apps? ChatOn only commanded six seconds of use per month on average, and apps like Hub, Link, S Memo and S Voice didn’t fare much better. Other apps like S Health weren’t even specifically mentioned, though were apparently included in the broader “Samsung apps” category found within the chart above.
If Strategy Anayltics study is correct, it makes it rather clear that, despite Samsung’s best attempts, Samsung’s ecosystem takes a backseat position to Google’s own apps and to popular 3rd party apps and services found on Google Play.
What’s your own take? Based on your own experience, do you find Samsung’s included apps to be welcome additions that further enhance your Android experience? Vote in the poll and tell us what you think in the comments below.

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Who Gets Into Accelerators? Persistent Men With SaaS Apps, Says Study

What kind of startups get into Accelerators? Well, according to new research, it’s startups with around 2-3 founders, most male, often SaaS platforms and ones who are persistent, applying for at least two programs. And on average, less than 4% of applicants ever make it in.

Those are the findings of new research from F6S, a web portal which allows startups to apply for multiple accelerator programs, as well as offering other services, such as aggregating deals and advertising jobs.

F6S found that, on average, 3.98% of applicants to the 1,564 Accelerator programs that ran their application process through F6S between February 2013 to February 2014, were accepted into Accelerator programs. The results are based on 62,262 applications from over 150,000 founders in 95 countries.

Of course, these are F6S’s figures and don’t take into account applications to accelerators that were not run through it’s platform. However, these are high figures, and acceptance rates gleaned in different ways are rarely available in the same way.

The stats show that it’s not necessarily easier to get into an accelerator program in one country versus another, as the regional acceptance rates were competitive overall and varied broadly, ranging from:

-3.78% in the United States
-3.67% in Europe
-5.09% in South America
-5.12% in Asia
-5.38% in Australia/New Zealand.

That said, the overall acceptance rates for Accelerators ranged from a low of 0.41% (roughly 1 in 244) to a high of 55% (roughly 1 in 2). It’s not known which accelerator(s) had such a high acceptance rate.

The difficulty of getting into the top programs may gradually be eased by the fact that there is now a wide proliferation of vertical accelerators in areas such as healthcare, transportation etc. Anecdotally, verticals may be easier than broad-brush ones that have big public profiles.

In terms of make-up, F6S found that the Startups that apply and successfully enter Accelerators, on average, appear to have 2-3 founders and are overwhelmingly male. The figures were almost exactly the same for unsuccessful applicants. The exact figures were: 2.3 founders (vs. 1.9 founders for rejected startups) and founders that are 86.8% Male and 13.2% Female (vs. 85.2% Male and 14.8% Female for rejected startups).

The study’s results may well raise a few questions. Either low numbers of women founders are applying for accelerators, or the gate-keepers for accelerators are somewhat closed-minded — or a combination of both.

The top 10 industry areas for startups that are successful in getting into Accelerators are:

- Web Applications/SaaS 36%
- Mobile 15.3%
- Media 12.4%
- Marketing 12.3%
- E-Commerce 9.2%
- Data and Analytics 8.9%
- Advertising 8.8%
- Social Networking 7.6%
- Entertainment 7.5%
- Education 6.7%

Many successful applicants failed multiple times before they got a place in an Accelerator. The startups that were accepted had tried an average of 3.34 programs on F6S, while unsuccessful applicants took a shot at only 1.8 programs. In other words, try at a couple more and you might get in. Persistence wins.

We asked F6S if they thought the 3.98% average acceptance rate they’d come up with was below or above industry averages, or about right?

Sean Kane, F6S Co-Founder (with Jon Bradford, who happens to also lead TechStars London) thinks: “The range of acceptance levels from a low of 0.41% up to double digit rates is interesting me as well as an indicator of the diversity in the sector and the entrance of new Accelerators that are still building towards a competitive program.”

Kane added: “These results not only provide the first global view of who gets into an Accelerator, but also support key lessons we’ve learned as an ecosystem — like success is a group effort and the only way to win is to fail along the way.”

F6S claims that that about 90% of Accelerators globally, including two-thirds of the top fifteen programs, use the platform to take applications, manage community and select successful applicants. Among the top 15 they name are TechStars, AlphaLab, Capital Innovators and The Brandery.

F6S says over 250,000 founders and 47,000 startups globally used its site to access free deals from service providers, funding listings and recruiting tools.

How to Study Abroad Without Breaking the Bank

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Studying abroad can be a life-altering and massively enriching experience. Getting out of one's comfort zone and into a learning environment that includes cultural exchange, new surroundings, and gaining a broader world view can be a wonderful experience for students of any age. That experience can also cost a lot of money, and careful planning is crucial to avoid running short or making some bad financial moves after the journey has started, or worse, having to come home because of unexpected financial issues. Here are some tips for keeping costs down and planning well.

This post originally appeared on MyBankTracker.

Going Preplanned or Solo?

There are many ways for students to study abroad, whether in high school or college. Check with the school to learn about exchange programs, group trips, international summer school, and other programs. While it's entirely possible to plan a trip separately from the school and transfer the credits earned, the student's main school may not accept all of the credits, and it may be cheaper to arrange the trip through the school.

Schools may have reduced tuition agreements for their study abroad options, but it's important to know if the student can book their own transportation and other details which might cost less through other means or be discounted with credit card reward points or other programs.

Compare Places and Plan

It may not come as a surprise that the cost of traveling abroad can vary widely by country, but just like in the U.S., the cost of staying in another country can vary greatly by region. The kind of experiences each place will provide will also vary wildly from place to place. If the would-be student traveler doesn't have a location picked out, making a checklist which prioritizes the goals behind the trip can be very useful.

How important is it that English is widely spoken? Access to public transportation? Entertainment? Historical locations? Putting the priorities into place on paper can be very helpful before sitting down to do some serious Googling to see what is out there. And be sure to check with school advisors about programs available, and what affiliated schools in the systems may also have offerings.

Is helping the poor or sharing education with others part of the goal? If this falls high on the priority list, some very low-cost options exist, such as the Peace Corps, and other programs may be available for students to travel abroad and teach English, help with building or planning communities, or other activities. If school credits aren't a big part of the trip goals, volunteering with a charitable organization or church mission program can provide the desired experience without the associated costs. Of course, balancing safety over price tag should be a priority.

If a student who wants to study abroad already has their heart set on a particular place, but the price tag seems out of reach, the same kind of checklist might help in identifying an alternative location.

What Are the Housing Options?

There are many ways for a student to stay in a foreign country. Dormitories, hostels, and host family homes are typical options, but camping may be viable in some locations, or rooms may be available through churches, other school facilities, or by volunteering with a charitable organization with a housing network.

What Will It Take to Get There?

Housing is typically the biggest expense when traveling abroad if a volunteer host family isn't available, but transportation to the host country is often a close second when it comes to cost. Flights can cost several hundred for nearby deals on common routes, or several thousand for flights to remote locations. It is important to budget for major travel expenses.

Food Prices

Don't make the mistake of expecting a food budget to be similar to what it costs to eat everyday meals in the U.S. Food prices can be significantly higher in many places, whether European cities like London or Paris, or remote locations with short growing seasons like Gothenburg, or densely populated cities like Tokyo.

Once the location is selected, do some research to find out what typical meals cost, add those costs up over the period of study, and ideally, plan on spending 10 to percent more than that to be safe. Hopefully with a little research you won't have to break the bank to study abroad.

How to Study Abroad Without Breaking the Bank | MyBankTracker

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Shirley Pulawski is a writer in Philadelphia, published in the Huffington Post, Business Insider, the Motley Fool, Investopedia, and print news.

MyBankTracker.com is an independent resource that helps consumers make smarter banking and money decisions.In addition to editorial content, MyBankTracker provides free rate and bank information to consumers on more than 7,000 banks and 30,000 financial products, including credit cards, savings, checking, mortgage and general banking fees.

Images remixed from chrupka (Shutterstock), and Robbi (Shutterstock).

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Andy.

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Study Finds Download Volume May Impact App Store Search Results

New research released today from mobile app marketer Fiksu examines the impact that download volume has on search results in the iTunes App Store.

Today, the App Store has over a million applications available, which means, more than ever, app discovery is being fueled by search as opposed to lists and top charts. Developers now need to know not only how to increase their App Store ranking, but also their search result position, so that their apps are returned first when users type in a query referencing a particular keyword or phrase.

Search results are generally understood to be calculated by three key metrics: the company name, an app’s title, and the 100-character meta-keywords provided within iTunes Connect by the app’s publisher. But Fiksu says it found that download volume, as measured by Category rankings, appears to also have a strong impact on search results ranking.

App Store search today still leaves a lot of room for improvement. The results sometimes fail to showcase the better-known, more recently buzzed about apps in the top results (as when Facebook Paper first launched), while other times results for nearly identical phrases are mind-bogglingly different.

Fiksu wanted to figure how if “popularity” as determined by download volume was having any impact on search results, so it began testing App Store search following the removal of the viral hit Flappy Bird from iTunes. Every day after Flappy Bird’s disappearance, Fiksu ran a search for the phrase “flappy bird” and then matched the results to the app’s then-current overall chart rankings. These chart rankings are based on recent download volume, among other things.

When averaged out, the data indicated, not all that surprisingly, that search result rank and overall rank were closely related. That is, the No. 1 search result would also have the highest overall rank (usually No. 1 overall), and the others were ordered by descending overall rank. In other words, Apple gives apps a bump in search when their recent download volume increases, it seems.

However, there’s still some sort of secret sauce that hasn’t been quite figured out because, while the above data is based on averages, there were occasionally instances where a No. 5 search result would be the No. 1 or No. 2 app in the store, or when a No. 1 overall rank wasn’t the top search result.

Fiksu looked to see if an app’s average rating was having an impact, but those results were inconclusive. (The apps all had similar ratings, though – 3.50-4.50 – so that could have been an issue).

In addition, the company noticed that search ranks were more volatile than the charts, with 22 apps showing up in the top 10 search results over the course of the two weeks. In order to make sure that the volatility wasn’t just a “Flappy Bird” thing, so to speak, the company also ran searches for the term “game” and found a similar pattern.

While these initial experiments seem to indicate there’s at least a correlation between download volume and search ranking, they can’t definitively prove that the algorithm works this way, especially as it’s still unclear how much weight other factors carry, like the app’s name, keywords, or metrics like historical downloads or average ratings.*

What can be said for sure, however, is that an app’s search position will matter more as the store grows in size, and as queries become increasingly sophisticated thanks to recent App Store improvements, like the newly added related search suggestions, for example, and other changes yet to come.

* Update: Ian Sefferman, CEO at MobileDevHQ, says he has found a high correlation between the percentage of the reviews which include a keyword and search rankings, as well as a high correlation between average rating and search rankings: