Samsung Is Really Really Really Keen To Convert iPhone Owners To Its Smartphones

Got an iPhone? Got a dollar? That’s all you need if you want to take one of Samsung’s newest smartphones for a thirty day, “no obligation” spin. (That’s assuming that you live in the U.S.)

The Korean phone maker, which continues to see its growth slip as Android smartphones themselves suffer a global decline, is pinpointing customers of arch rival Apple with this very specific offer, as CNET first spotted. The trial even includes a free data plan, to get the most from a Galaxy device, which is not restricted to any single operator.

While Apple continues to go from strength to strength — its Q3 2015 net profit rose nearly 40 percent year-on-year to reach $10.7 billion — Samsung’s vital financial stats keep moving in the wrong direction. Samsung Mobile’s operating profit sunk 37.6 percent year-over-year to 2.76 trillion won, while its operating profit margin in the last quarter was 10.6 percent, a significant decrease from 15.5 percent in Q2 2014.

Samsung last week unveiled the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+, its latest competitors to take on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+, but already critics are unsure whether the devices, and their lofty pricepoints, can put a dent in Apple’s brand and its flagship device, which have helped the U.S. firm gain marketshare in pretty much all major global markets. And, with the next iterations of the iPhone set to launch next month, the competitor is only set to get tougher.

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SoftBank Lands $236M From Alibaba And Foxconn To Bring Its Pepper Robot To The World

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Five budget-friendly open source storage servers

Storage is essential for the enterprise: Data must be stored. Data must be retrieved. Data must be shared. Data must be secured. At the same time, storage must not consume the entirety of your IT budget. Fortunately, you can find effective solutions in the world of open source. Outside of cost effectiveness, one of the biggest benefits of these solutions is the ability to modify them to perfectly fit your needs. You can make minor changes or even roll your own storage solution based on one of these tools. If you want enterprise support and a "solution in a can" that will meet just about any enterprise storage need, you should turn to Red Hat or SUSE. Both Linux-based companies offer some of the most powerful enterprise-ready tools on the market. But if you'd rather get your hands dirty and craft something of your own—something that won't demolish your budget—these five open source tools are a great place to start. 1: ownCloud ownCloud ( Figure ...

Visa confirms Coinbase wasn’t at fault for overcharging users

Yesterday, we wrote that Coinbase customers were being charged multiple times for past transactions. While some speculated that the erroneous withdraws were down to a Coinbase engineering issue, Coinbase issued a statement saying it wasn’t liable for the duplicate charges. The blame, instead, rested with Visa for the way it handled a migration of merchant categories for cryptocurrencies, Coinbase said. While you can read my post yesterday for an in-depth description of what happened, the basic gist is that Visa refunded and recharged (under a different merchant category) a month of old transactions. Many users saw the recharge come through before the refund processed, making it look like they were double charged. Honestly, the issue was likely exacerbated by existing payment rails — it’s normal for refunds to take multiple days to show up on credit and debit statements. But here’s where it gets weird — this morning Visa issued a statement to some publications shifting the blam...

Apple Releases First Battery Case To Eat Third-Party Accessory Makers’ Lunch

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Iron Man Galaxy S6 Edge Arrives With An Arc Reactor Charger

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