How to Enable Hotspot on Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry

We wrote about easy ways to turn your laptop into a Wi-Fi hotspot earlier, and some readers asked us how to turn their smartphones into a hotspot. As it turns out, it's much simpler than turning your laptop into a hotspot and all mobile operating systems come with one-click methods of doing this very easily.

However, some telecom operators may not allow you to create a hotspot. They might restrict it if you are on a plan that allows high data usage or they may not enable this feature unless requested. So if you don't see these options, try getting in touch with your operator.

Here's how to turn your phone or tablet into a Wi-Fi hotspot.

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Windows Phone's Market Share Drops Globally; China Woes Worsen: Report

Microsoft's fortunes with Windows Phone don't seem to be getting any better, and its worldwide market share continues to slide despite an increase in sales volume, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.
As per the data collected since last September by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Android is continuing its dominance of the European market (France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK) with a 73.9 percent share, while Apple stands second with 15.4 percent and Windows Phone at third with 9.2 percent.

Across the top five markets in Europe, Windows Phone has seen an 0.3 percent drop in market share on average between September 2013 and September 2014. The US Windows Phone market also saw the same 0.3 percent drop during this period.

The two biggest market share drops for Microsoft in the period have come from Australia with 3.1 percent, and China with 2.8 percent. In fact, China, the world's largest smartphone market, seems to be the most worrying market for Microsoft, as the Windows Phone market share has now become almost non-existent at 0.4 percent. Out of the data published by research firm, Italy and Japan are the only two markets where Windows Phone share increased marginally, at 1.5 percent and 0.2 percent respectively. Notably, Windows Phone has the second-highest market share in Italy, behind only Android, at 15.2 percent.

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Microsoft begins retreat from Windows Phone with platform-agnostic Microsoft Health

Software giant Microsoft has formally entered the wearables game with the launch of its Microsoft Health platform and accompanying Microsoft Band fitness band. But the real significance behind this move is Microsoft’s decision to make both products platform-agnostic, implying Microsoft has decided to no longer pin its mobile hopes on Windows Phone.

Microsoft Health is a cloud fitness platform that allows users to store all their health data, and presumably advertise their fitness achievements incessantly on social media. The Microsoft Band has all kinds of sensors, including some tech borrowed from the Kinect motion sensor, to keep an eye on your well-being and record it. Combining the two with clever algorithms allows the user to be constantly nagged towards improving their lifestyle and thus, theoretically, their quality of life.

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8 Zip, a powerful file archiver for Windows Phone and Windows 8, is this week's myAppFree deal

8 Zip is a feature rich file archiver that is available for Windows Phone and Windows 8 devices. The app allows you create, open and manage a wide range of archive formats.

The app also supports transparent Live Tiles and theme customizations to give 8 Zip a personal touch. 8 Zip is also this week's myAppFree deal, which can save you a good bit on this Windows Phone and Windows 8 app.

Cutting to the chase, here are the key features of 8 Zip.

Create archive file in a variety of formats that include ZIP, 7z, TAR, GZIP, BZIP2 and XZ
Open archived files in RAR, ZIP, 7z, ZipX, ISO, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ARJ, CAB and other formats
Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
Multi-volume archives extraction support
Extract files from archives
Add and delete files from archives
Open files in archives

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Windows Phone Shrinks In Android-Dominated Europe, As New iPhones Boost iOS’ Share

Spare a thought for Microsoft, a relative newcomer to the mobile making business, after Redmond completed its $7.2BN+ acquisition of former European mobile making powerhouse Nokia earlier this year. If Microsoft was hoping to see quick marketshare wins in Europe once its hands were fully on the levers of production that has not come to pass.

The latest 12-week smartphone sales figures from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, up to this September, indicate that Windows Phone’s already small share of the smartphone market has shrunk in Europe — dropping 0.3 percentage points in aggregate across the top five markets in Europe (the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany).

Breaking those markets out individually, only Italy continues to see marketshare gains for Windows Phone, with a 1.5 percentage point rise on the year ago period in that market — giving Microsoft’s OS a 15.2 per cent share on smartphone sales in the country (where it is second only to Android’s 71.8 per cent).

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Windows Phone 8.1 is now on 47% of handsets; Lumia 630 leading the way

It’s that time of the month again when we take a look at the AdDuplex report and check-in on the Windows Phone ecosystem. AdDuplex is an ad exchange platform present on thousands of applications in the Windows Phone Store so it can give us a nice snapshot of how Microsoft’s platform is doing.

There aren’t any big surprises this month but we do see a continuation of the trends that have dictated the recent past the Windows Phone OS and its devices.

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Cortana gives voice to Fitbit’s Windows Phone app, her first in-app integration

While most people don't really care what you've eaten for lunch, Microsoft's Cortana wants to hear all about it.

Fitbit has become the first third-party Windows Phone app to integrate Microsoft's virtual assistant within the app itself, letting users dictate what they've eaten by voice. Users can activate voice commands by tapping the microphone button at the bottom of the app, then hitting “Start Listening.”

The app then taps into a large database of meals, from things you can eat at home to dishes at chain restaurants. You can also create custom meals for easy addition later. All your eating habits appear on a chart, measuring calorie intake against calories burned. An update coming in December will let users log their activities and enable exercise mode as well. Fitbit has also brought over the "Challenges" feature from its other apps, letting users egg each other on with various fitness goals.

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This Week's Best Android, iPhone, iPad, and Windows Phone Apps

They say that there is an app for everything, but is there an app that means we don't have to exercise? I think not, which is a shame because exercise sucks. They say that technology is designed to make our lives easier, but we still need to pay for a gym membership and pretend to feel guilty when we don't go. Until that time, we have many other apps to look at. Enjoy!

Iphone aaps

Olocode: Something that hasn't really caught up with the digital/smartphone age is sharing business information in person. Olocode is a digital business card: just hand over your Olocode ID and another person can enter you into their contacts. Best of all any changes to your Olocode info will be reflected for everyone you've shared with, unlike the pulped-tree variety. Plus it can scan and store physical cards.

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Our Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week

This week we saw an insane amount of new apps. Facebook Creative Labs revealed mobile-friendly message boards for iOS. Google wants completely reimagine your inbox. Even Skype had a doodle-centric tweak for Windows Phone. But there's much, much more to explore in the world of our three favorite operating systems, so let's take a look, shall we?

Android

Here Maps is the well-known Nokia mapping application exclusive to Windows Phone. However, the app has slowly been colonizing other parts of the mobile world, even coming to Samsung Galaxy phones in the summer. This week, the Here team has released a free beta download for Android through their website. With accurate mapping tech and friendly user interface, Here Maps could very well replace Google Maps as your go-to GPS buddy. [Free]

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Fitbit for Windows Phone 8.1 Adds Background Sync, Cortana Integration

For the past few weeks I've been using a beta version of the Fitbit app for Windows Phone 8.1 which significantly improves the experience of using a Fitbit fitness band with your favorite smart phone platform. The new version of the app, which is now available, adds Cortana integration and, more important, background sync so you don't need to manually sync the band data.

"As we do across all mobile platforms, we're continuing to design features that empower people with information and motivate them to set and reach goals with fun and engaging experiences on our mobile apps," Fitbit CEO James Park said in a prepared statement. "However, with the custom Cortana integration, we worked closely with Microsoft to design around its unique and innovative intelligent personal assistant technology to create an awesome experience for Fitbit users syncing to the Windows Phone platform, making it even easier for them to track and take control of their health and fitness results."

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Windows Phone depends on app quality

      According to Microsoft, their Windows Phone Store now features more than 300,000 apps and games as of late last week. Two months ago, that number stood at 255,000 apps. A month later, 270,000. The interesting aspect of this milestone, as Softpedia also notes, is not so much the number of apps, but the rate in which they were added:

This milestone is much more important given the fact that it was achieved during summer, when usually developers should be away on holiday. It’s also important to note that Windows Phone Store gained more than 30,000 apps in just three weeks, which means that by the end of the year, there’s a high chance it will reach 4-500,000 apps.

For mobile app developers, there may be no time like the present to establish a presence in Windows Phone Store. Though a distant third in terms of OS marketshare (at 3.4% compared to Android’s 52.1% and iOS’ 41.3%), it’s obvious that the ecosystem still has room to grow.

But while the quantity of apps makes headlines, it’s the quality of apps that will ultimately determine the operating system’s success and longevity. If the data is accurate, it appears as though this point has not been lost on Windows Phone developers.

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