HDFC Bank Joins with Movida for Mobile Payment Services in India

Movida’s President and head of the Monitise and Visa joint venture in India, Naushad Contractor states:

“This is a service designed for Indians. As we rollout the service to other banks more Indians will be able to benefit from mobile payments. Wave goodbye to waiting in long queues or visiting post offices or payment machines to pay bills as you will now be able to do that right from your mobile phone. This service is going to drastically reduce the time and energy Indians waste every day waiting to pay bills.”

The latest service uses menu-based USSD mobile technology that makes it one of the easiest services to work with and also the most widely available. After linking their HDFC Bank Visa or non-Visa payment card with their mobile phone number, cardholders can access the service via USSD over Movida’s secure connection. There after it’s just a case of picking the payment service and making the payment. The easy menu can finish a transaction within just few steps.

And not just only the service simple, it’s secure and backed by 2 of the world’s most trusted brands in electronic and mobile payments. The system encompasses various safety measures to take care of account integrity, including a unique PIN number set up on the phone to gain access to the account information. Only the user’s bank-registered phone can be connected to the service.

Head-Retail Liabilities, Marketing & Direct Banking Channels, HDFC Bank, Rahul Bhagat says:

“HDFC Bank has always been at the forefront of technology to ensure that our customers have greater choice and convenience at their disposal. The partnership with Movida is a crucial step whereby we will enable our customers to carry out multiple mobile commerce transactions from the most basic handsets. This service reaffirms HDFC Bank’s commitment to bring the latest service and convenience to our customers. All our customers throughout the country can now pay their bills and top up talk time with a few clicks of their mobile phones. This will save them considerable time and help them focus on more important things in life.”

As India continues to upgrade its Internet and telecoms infrastructure to rural areas, the new mobile service finally allows a lot of Indians, currently excluded from experiencing the advantages of mobile and online payment services can be a part of the digital age via their basic prepaid cell phone. The service is initially available to a select group of valued customers prior to being rolled out throughout the country later this year.

The Optimus Vu is going to be displayed at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) next week and will be offered in Korea in March, LG representatives say. Neither Global availability nor pricing are disclosed.

The tablet-smartphone device runs using a 1.5GHz Dual-Core processor and includes 32GB of internal memory and 1GB of DDR2 memory. The product has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera.

The phone measures 5.5 inches (139.6 mm) long and 3.5 (90.4 mm) inches wide. Although its sports a 5-inch, 1024 by 768 pixel display, it measures only 08.5 mm thick, slim among existing LTE phones.

LG boasts the device’s bright 4:3 aspect ratio and IPS display, which is certainly intended to help you to view documents, books, Websites and multimedia content.

The Optimus Vu will ship first with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but LG plans to update it soon to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

This Samsung Galaxy Note competitor has approximately the same size as Galaxy Note, which measures 5.78 by 3.27 by 0.38 inches.

LetsBuy is promising the customers who pre-order the Samsung Galaxy Y Duos will receive the device in the second week of March, while Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos orders will delivered by the last week of February.

The Samsung Galaxy Y Duos sports a 3.14 inch full touch display, powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and operates on an 832 MHz processor. This device Packed in an 11.98 mm polished metallic casing. It features ChatON, Samsung’s cross-platform communication service that connects all mobile users as a single community, and Social Hub, that helps email, social networking integration and instant messaging.

The Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos offers a full QWERTY keyboard with a 2.6 inch display and provides enhanced productivity with the inclusion of Polaris and Find My Mobile professional tools. Polaris offers easy viewing and editing of a wide variety of Office documents, making it possible to work together with Word, Excel, PowerPoint including PDF files while on-the-move, Samsung says.

A serivice called, The Find My Mobile Service lets users remotely lock the device at anytime, along with trace the phone or remotely wipe its contents in case there is loss or theft, it includes.

With these expansions, the MTS extended its reach to 59 cities in Kerala, 21 cities in Andhra Pradesh and 22 towns in Gujarat.

MTS India provides high-speed mobile broadband through MBlaze dongles, available in 43 branded retail outlets, 4000 mass retail outlets and 150 organized retail outlets across the nation. The dongles can also use for live television and video on demand services.

The company has been expanding the wireless data network rapidly and presently reaches over 92% of data potential across the country.

As per to Indian telecoms regulator TRAI, till the December last year, the broadband penetration in India stands at 1% as against the mobile tele-density of 74.15% and 13.30 million broadband connections as of December 2011.

The National Broadband Plan, envisaging 160 million broadband connections including 60 million wireless broadband connections by the year 2014, is a growth opportunity for the company.

Source

Microsoft’s Sam Moreau explains the reason behind the minimalist look in the blog post:

With Windows 8, we approached the logo redesign with a few key goals on mind.

1. We wanted the new logo to be both modern and classic by echoing the International Typographic Style (or Swiss design) that has been a great influence on our Metro style design philosophy. Using bold flat colors and clean lines and shapes, the new logo has the characteristics of way-finding design systems seen in airports and subways.

2. It was important that the new logo carries our Metro principle of being “Authentically Digital”. By that, we mean it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.). It has motion – aligning with the fast and fluid style you’ll find throughout Windows 8.

3. Our final goal was for the new logo to be humble, yet confident. Welcoming you in with a slight tilt in perspective and when you change your color, the logo changes to reflect you. It is a “Personal” Computer after all.

 

I liked the new logo, it’s simple, low-key iconographic representation of the concept of Windows, and it expresses the same aesthetic as the Metro user interface which is Windows 8′s most notable new feature revealed so far.
But I have found some extremely different reactions from the web:

• BetaNews thinks Windows 8 logo is a disaster like Titanic
• VentureBeat thinks it looks like it was created in Microsoft–ouch!–Paint.
• UnderConsideration says it’s “a real loser”
  

I think these are just over reactions, If Windows 8 will be a success, the logo won’t have much to do with it. If it’s a flop, the logo won’t be the one to blame. Isn’t it somewhat certain that the Windows 8 logo, having hit the news with this announcement, will never matter much?

As compared with earlier Windows Logos

What’s your take? Do you like the new Windows 8 logo? Share your views in comments.

The feature is differs from those of Google+ and Twitter in a major way that users won’t see any kind of badge or other graphic indicating that the account is verified. However Verified accounts will get the priority in Facebook’s suggestions of users to subscribe to.

Facebook will initiate the process for verification with a notification on profiles that have a large number of subscribers and there won’t be any method of applying at the user end. The user have to provide images of government-issued IDs, which the Facebook will permanently delete after verification. Those users can also submit their alternative names, which Facebook should approve before go public.

The user can submit either their passport, driver’s licence or work/military ID to verify the account. If don’t have any of these they can submit 2 alternate IDs from School/Work ID, Library card, credit card, birth certificate and social security card. The ID or IDs must clearly show the name, image, and birthrate. It must be in color too. Users can blacked out or covered sensitive information like credit card number, driver’s licence number etc.

Facebook Verified Accounts - This was a long overdue move by Facebook, but it’s puzzling that  the lack of any sort of badge or message to let users know that profiles are authentic. What’s the real use of this feature if users can’t find the profile is authentic or not?

Screen shots courtesy: Techcrunch

However as a matter of fact there are not much CDMA cell phones available in the market. If you are looking for some good CDMA mobile phone, you are at right place. Below is a list of best 5 CDMA phones in India which is available in the market:

1. iPhone 4S

If you are willing to pay a hefty price for the CDMA technology, you can go for iPhone 4S. iPhone 4S is the best CDMA phone and is equipped with some excellent features such as Siri Voice assistant, A5 Chip and 8MP camera. You need to shell out Rs.44, 500 to get the 16 GB version of iPhone 4S. It is available in India through Airtel and Aircel networks. The Aircel and Airtel networks have brought some even more interesting tariff plans to get most of this best CDMA mobile phone.

2. BlackBerry Curve 9350

Blackberry has always been considered as one of the most advanced gadget makers in the market. Blackberry Curve with CDMA technology is one of its most excellent mobile phones brought up in the market.

If you are a blackberry lover and do not want to move on to any other brand, Blackberry Curve 9350 is the best choice for you. This CDMA phone comes with some preeminent features like 800 MHz processor, 2.44-inch screen, 5 MP camera, Wi-Fi and an expandable memory up to 32 GB. It runs on Blackberry 7 OS and is tagged at Rs.20, 850.

3. Motorola Milestone XT800

This is the first mobile in India which brings both CDMA and GSM technologies and that too with Android operating system. If you are looking for an android CDMA mobile phone, you can opt this one. Motorola XT 800 runs on Android 2.1 and boasts some excellent features like- 550MHz processor, Wi-Fi, front camera, 5 MP rear camera and an expandable memory of 32 GB. One of its exciting feature is the ability to record the video with HD quality of 720 p. Motorola XT 800 is available in market at the price tag of Rs.17,000.

4. Samsung Galaxy i899

Samsung Galaxy i899 is the first CDMA mobile phone with the android technology. You can use all the recommended Google services with this excellent CDMA mobile phone. Samsung Galaxy i899 is outfitted with some stupendous features which include excellent speed, 3.2MP camera, 230 MB on board memory which is expandable to 32 GB. It runs of the Android 1.5 Operating System. It can be considered as one of the best CDMA mobile phones in the market and is available at the price tag of Rs. 13,500.

5. Samsung mPower Txt M369

Samsung mPower Txt M369 is the full QWERTY keypad phone with CDMA technology. Mobile TV and high speed internet are some its preeminent features which bring this phone in the category of best CDMA phones. Samsung M369 comes with 16 GB internal memory with all the standard amenities like instant messaging, email and mobile tracker. 4 hrs talking time is an additional feature of this CDMA phone which is making it popular in the market. Other standard features include 2MP Camera and 2.2 “TFT LCD Screen.

So what you think about these amazing CDMA phones in India? Let us know your views in comments.

There are 14 models available in the Sparkling Satellite L740 and L750 ranges.  As per Toshiba press release, the cheapest model start at Rs. 24,000, and all are ship with 1 year onsite warranty. The laptops will be available in grace silver, maroon brown and precious black colours. Toshiba’s India site prices are slightly higher than the actual prices.

The Sparkling Satellite series laptops are not just good-looking, but also offer outstanding reliability and solid performance, as per Toshiba. The devices are coming with Intel Pentium, Core i3 and Core i5 processors, and feature Toshiba face recognition technology, apart from multi-touch touchpads with gesture control.

The Sparkling Satellite L750 sports a 15.6-inch display with a 1366×768 pixel resolution, Windows® 7 Home Basic 32/64-bit, and a base configuration of a Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor B960 (2.20 GHz, 2MB Cache), Intel HM65 Express Chipset with integrated Intel HD graphics, 2GB of DDR3 1333 MHz RAM (up to 8GB), 500 GB SATA @ 5400 RPM HDD, DVD Writer, 3 x USB2.0 with “sleep-n-charge” support), HDMI-out, RJ45 and RGB ports, headphone & microphone slot, 3-in-1 card reader, 6 Cell Lithium-Ion battery, weight of 2.4 kgs, 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11 (b/g/n), Bluetooth V3.0+HS, 1.3MP webcam, and a numeric keypad.

The Sparkling Satellite L740 is smaller in size and it has much the same specifications and features, except for a 14-inch (1366×768 pixel) display, and a base configuration of a dual-core Intel Pentium B940 Processor (2.00 GHz, 2MB Cache), 640 GB SATA @ 5400 RPM HDD, 2xUSB2.0 and 1xUSB3.0 with (“sleep-n-charge” support). It has no numeric keypad.

Apple typically releases its products annually. Last year, then-CEO Steve Jobs returned from medical leave to lead the launch event of the iPad 2 on March last year, therefore, the reported schedule fits in. Apple had started selling the new tablet on March 11, 2011 via its online store.

iPad 3 coming in March?

The successor of iPad 2 is reported to sport a more powerful processor, an improved graphics processing unit and the much-hyped, 2048×1536 Retina Display. The event is going to be held in San Francisco.

The iPad 3 launching report comes days after a leaked photo of the new iPad hit online. The image, which hinted that the device is already under production, triggered all sorts of speculation regarding the new iPad 3. But the leaked photo showed very slight difference from the iPad 2, which shows the image could be of a rejected prototype or even a fake one.

Metro interface is considered to be the most talked-about feature of Windows 8. The feature is ideal for touchscreen computers and tablets, and designed to use HTML5 and CSS3.

The Metro interface of Windows 8

Listed below are 11 feaures of Windows 8, definitely worth to know.

1. Fast boot-up

Microsoft has guaranteed significantly faster boot times in Windows 8, that could make glazing at logos on startup screens a matter of the past. The preview build of Windows 8 booted in nine seconds at my system. The earlier boot time on the same system running Windows 7 was roughly 75 seconds. It’s possible the fact that fast boot is because of the developer preview’s more compact build, which lacks the many stuff associated with a full OS, but in the case this speeds bring over to the shipment version, it’s a win for everyone.

2. Windows to Go

Everyone is becoming more mobile and it is tempting to try to get clear of our work computer, whether it’s a desktop or laptop, behind. However it is usually challenging to copy what’s on that computer — which includes the apps and settings we work with on a daily basis. The cloud can make it possible to store files or use apps on the net, however, many organizations will be reluctant to store any business data on the Internet. And cloud services will not help if the accounting/payroll application is a local install.

Windows to Go can come to picture in this particular scenario. The idea is that IT can load a user’s local install of Windows 8 onto a thumb drive, apps and all; users can then plug it into any other computer to copy their workplace. This will make ease the life of employees at the growing number of businesses that don’t give dedicated cubicles or workspaces. An person could plug their Windows to Go USB drive into any random PC and begin to work.

3. Reset and Refresh

A number of past releases of Windows have integrated a way to rebuild your computer from the begining and return to the default install, but the steps were a tad bit more complex for the normal users. Reinstalling the OS and bring back the computer to its original state are a lot easier tasks than ever in Windows 8. Now, Microsoft presents quick step-by-step wizards for Reset (return to default install, lose all data and apps) and Refresh (return all settings to the default for faster and more reliable function, but retain the data and apps) functions in Windows 8.

Home users will get both choices available on their computers, but businesses can set security policies with their systems to make sure that, users are able to do a Refresh themselves however Reset function needs an IT personnel. These easy-to-use features can certainly help the users to troubleshoot their personal PCs — an excellent asset for individuals and also IT support staffers.

4. The Ribbon interface

Some time ago, Microsoft surprised the world by entirely overhauling the user interface with its popular Office 2007 software, changing the familiar menu and toolbar system with something it named the Ribbon, which groups features and tools into distinct collections. This controversial switch angered many longtime Office users, though some others observed the new interface more effective to use once they would become used to it.

Now the Ribbon is making its way into Windows 8. You’ll find it in Windows Explorer, where it presents an easy way to check file attributes and sort files. The Ribbon interface pops up in unexpected places, too, such as the new Hyper-V management app. For users who don’t like it, the UI it can be disabled with one click.

5. The Windows Store

Included with Windows 8, the Windows Store will imitate Apple’s Mac App Store, making it easy to find, purchase and install Microsoft-approved apps for the OS. Microsoft plans to launch this feature along with the Windows 8 beta in February.

The comfort and security of a Microsoft app store with free trials and user-based licensing are great for individuals, but businesses should use careful attention and set clear security policies.

6. Support Native ISO image

In earlier editions of Windows, third-party application was necessary to mount ISO images, archive files that include the whole contents of an optical disc and are frequently used to distribute software for bootable discs. In Windows 8, when you double-click an ISO image file on your hard drive, you can open the image in Explorer as a virtual optical drive, get access to its contents and even copy and paste files anywhere else on your hard drive for use with other programs.

This simply means easier access to a common file format; it’s especially important for archiving legacy DVDs and CDs. Another common use: If someone makes an ISO image of their own pics and vids to burn a DVD, you can open that ISO file in Windows 8.

ISO access is more and more helpful considering the slow disappearance of optical drives with the rapid increase in available hard drive space. The individual will no longer require to carry the physical media along with them; They can just have the pictures locally stored. This really is a great advantage for IT staffers in addition to those who use gadgets which do not have optical drives.

7. Wi-Fi Direct

Similar to Android 4. 0, Windows 8 natively supports Wi-Fi Direct. This rising peer-to-peer technology uses a standard 802. 11n Wi-Fi signal for network transmissions over small distances, but there’s no requirement for a router — it enables your Wi-Fi devices communicate directly with one another.

Wi-Fi Direct could usher at a time of interconnected devices in which your tablet sends data to the alarm, or even smartphone communicates with a smart appliance inside your kitchen. Wi-Fi Direct gives handy close-range peer-to-peer sharing, but it’s too early to tell whether the technology will become popular.

8. Side-by-side Apps on Tablets

The Metro interface brings one unique function for upcoming Windows 8 tablets: the power to run two apps on the screen simultaneously. Even the market-leading Apple iPad 2 can’t run side-by-side apps.

Metro allows two applications to be seen at the same time, though Microsoft may need to rethink screen limitations. This might address a disadvantage to iOS. An effective feature for tablet users, but it’s quite possible that competing Android tablets and/or the iPad will also support side-by-side apps by the time Windows 8 is released in Q4.

9. ARM Processor Support

Windows has traditionally function on x86-based processors from Intel and AMD. If you pick a Windows tablet today, it will most likely work with an Intel processor. But Apple’s iPad and the majority Android tablets are powered by ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) processors, that are developed for fast processing and extended battery life on mobile devices.

ARM support is probably the most significant feature in Windows 8. It signifies a completely new market for Microsoft, consisting of ultra-thin tablets with long-lasting batteries. ARM tablets that run Windows will advantage consumers, but businesses that need to run legacy software may need to stay with x86-based devices.

10. Hyper-V

Microsoft’s enterprise virtualization tool, Hyper-V has been offered to IT administrators in recent versions of Windows Server, but Windows 8 brings it on the client OS. It will help end users run other os’s, for example older versions of Windows, within the virtual machine. It is an essential inclusion to Windows 8, but many end users may find Hyper-V too complex and that technical staff might get more value in it.

Built-in virtualization technology in Windows 8 is a big win for firms that have not widely deployed VMware.

11. An Enhanced Task Manager

Perhaps the most enhanced features in Windows 8 is the redesigned Task Manager, which is both easier and a lot more precise than ever before. Rather than a cryptic set of processes and stats, the default screen shows only the names of running applications and lets you to quickly kill any which aren’t responding.

The graphs that display CPU performance also help you to check out disk performance by clicking on a tile. You can also see a past of your wireless networking speed, and monitor send-and-receive rates. An expedient improvement for starters and power users as well.

What you think about these new functions of Windows 8? Will these enough to think about to migrate to a new OS? Share your views in comments.