Latest Technology News..!!!

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 images and specifications leak online

2013-01-27T19:31:00.001+05:30

Images have leaked on the Internet that showcase the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (also known as the Note 8.0) along with its specifications. The device is expected to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress that takes place in February in Barcelona. The model number of the Note 8 is thought to be Samsung GT-N5100.

From the leaked images it is clear that the Note 8 looks a lot like the Samsung Galaxy Note II. It has a white border surrounding the screen, a front facing camera on the top, a physical home button and the capacitive menu and back button.

The rest of the look of the device is on the same lines as the currently available Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.

As the name suggests, the Galaxy Note 8 tablet is expected to have an 8-inch Super Clear LCD display with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels. The Note 8 will also supposed to have a 5MP rear camera, a 1.3MP front facing camera for video calls, and 2GB of RAM. In terms of storage, it will have 16 or 32GB built-in, with microSD card support for expansion. A 4600mAh battery expected to power it.

The Galaxy Note 8 is expected to feature a variety of connectivity options such as Bluetooth version 4.0, USB 2.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and A-GPS. The dimensions of the tablet are supposedly quite svelte, at 211.3×136.3×7.95mm, and it weighs 330 grams. The Note 8 will run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean straight out-of-the-box.

Source: Mobile&Apps

Google Slides gets offline editing support

2013-01-27T19:25:00.002+05:30

Google has rolled out an update to its Slides service, making more features of the service accessible to users offline. Slides, similar to PowerPoint, is one of the important services offered by the search engine giant to users via Drive. Slides could be used earlier offline, but several features had to be used with an Internet connection.

With the update, Google Slides users can now create presentations, edit presentations and give presentation as well as leave comments. “You can now create, edit, comment and (perhaps most importantly) present without an internet connection—just like you can with Docs. Any new presentations or changes you make will be automatically updated when you get back online.

So you can continue polishing slides on your next flight, and head to your upcoming presentation without worrying about whether there's going to be Wi-Fi,” says Google in a blog post.

Users who have already offline editing for Docs enabled, they do not need to change anything to work with Slides offline. If still disabled, users can turn it on for Slides by instructions posted here. Google points out that users will need Chrome or ChromeOS to work offline.

The fresh update is likely to provide a huge boost to the service which otherwise had seen very limited usages due to need for Internet. The offline editing is likely make the usage of the service more convenient. It's notable Google Docs already has a range offline editing features. Google will be soon rolling out offline editing support to its spreadsheet app.

Belkin acquires Cisco's Home Business,retains all things Linksys

2013-01-27T19:21:00.002+05:30

Belkin has announced that it will be absorbing the entirety of Cisco’s home business division, including the brand Linksys, all of its technologies, products and even the employees. Belkin hopes that the acquisition will seriously bolster its business and give it at least 30% of market share in the home business segment in the US.

While acquisitions and mergers often lead to layoffs and corners being cut, Belkin has gone out of their way to assert otherwise. Belkin has issued a statement saying that not only will the brand name Linksys be retained in operation, but so will all the employees working under it.

For the consumer, Belkin has promised to not only honour all valid warranties on Linksys products, but also offer all technical support for the Linksys portfolio of products, current and those sold in the near future.

"Linksys pioneered wireless connectivity capability around the globe, and has a strong brand renowned for its premium market position, the strength of its installed base and its proven dependability. Linksys users benefit from peace of mind in their home networking environment. At Belkin we have developed great insight into consumer needs, and the experiences, solutions and products we bring to the market, including our WeMo home automation platform, will help us to grow Linksys' market presence," said Chet Pipkin, CEO of Belkin.

While the details of the merger are pretty clear with respect to how they would affect the end-consumer, what we don’t know is how much this is going to cost Belkin financially. This merger could be considered something similar to the Lenovo-IBM transaction.

Source: Engadget

Alarm clock that delivers electric shocks

2013-01-18T21:58:00.000+05:30

Many of us, especially those living the 9 to 5 lifestyle, find it really difficult to get up early in the morning. Despite setting multiple alarm alerts, people stay in the bed by pressing that snooze button, and then that “10 more minutes” become an hour or even longer. Subsequently, we are late for our offices or colleges.

But now a student from Patna, Sankalp Sinha, currently studying in Sharda University of Greater Noida, has found a solution for this – an alarm clock that delivers an electric shock when users press the button.

The device called singNshock,comes with built-in music player and speakers that are coupled with a MMC slot. The device allows you to wake up with the song of your choice. Music playback can be controlled through the device's touchscreen interface. The singNshock alarm clock can store up to 32GB of music.

On pressing the button to turn the alarm off, the device releases an electrical pulse. The pulse is however just a few millivolts. According to Sankalp Sinha, the pulse is enough to wake up the person without causing any harm.

The singNshock is currently a concept device. Developer Sinha has plans for a range of six colours, LED lighting for more ambiance in the bedroom. Take a look at the concept singNShock images below:

Source: sankalpsinha.com/work/singnshock.html

Chinese Internet users spent 19 mln years on social media in 2012

2013-01-18T21:49:00.000+05:30

A study was conducted in China called ‘We Are Social’s Guide to Social, Digital and Mobile in China (2nd Edition, Jan 2013)’.One of the interesting facts pointed out in the study was that Chinese people logged into social media spent 167 billion hours across a variety of networks in 2012.The average estimate time per day was 46 minutes.

With China’s population, it is a no brainer that they will be at the top of any list that involves mass activity. Phenomenal statistics include - China gained more than 50 million Internet users in 2012; the total number of Internet users has increased to 564 million; China has more than 1.1 billion wireless subscribers; there are 420 million people in China who log on to the Internet from their phone.

TheNextWeb spoke to Simon Kemp, the research firm’s managing director. He said, “Mobile! No secret there,” he said, adding that he thinks it’s becoming more and more personal. “It’s all converging on a ubiquitous data layer to people’s everyday lives. 25 million new users every month at the moment is massive growth, and brands are starting to get in on the action too. It’ll be tricky for [the brands] though, as they’ll need to have an even better think about how they can add value to the more intimate ‘instant messaging + microblog post’ environment,”

Source: TheNextWeb

Serious security flaw spotted in Java

2013-01-11T23:29:00.000+05:30

Security experts and researchers have discovered a new loophole in the popular Java software that could allow attackers to infect your computer with malware.

The US-CERT group has released an alert saying that Java 7 Update 10 and the previous versions of the software come with the zero day vulnerability that allows attackers to remotely run arbitrary code. The attack can be induced if someone visits a website set up with the malicious code.

An independent malware researcher, Kafeine, spotted the exploit "in the wild" that is being extensively used in attacks -- on his blog on Thursday. The researcher also shared samples of the exploit with security companies. "This could be mayhem," he said. "I think it's better to make some noise about it." Read the full blog post here.

Researchers at Alien Vault Labs were able to reproduce the exploit in a fully patched new installation of Java. “The Java file is highly obfuscated but based on the quick analysis we did the exploit is probably bypassing certain security checks tricking the permissions of certain Java classes as we saw in CVE-2012-4681,” note the researchers.

The exploit has already been added to the popular Blackhole exploit toolkit used by cybercriminals, as well as to Cool Exploit Kit, a more exclusive spin-off of Blackhole, Botezatu said

Bogdan Botezatu, a senior e-threat analyst at antivirus vendor Bitdefender, also confirmed the exploit. "We reproduced the exploitation mechanism on Java 1.7 Update 9 and Update 10. Other versions may be vulnerable as well, we're currently analyzing whether other older updates are vulnerable,” Botezatu is quoted by ComputerWorld as saying.

"The curator of Blackhole, a miscreant who uses the nickname 'Paunch,' announced yesterday on several Underweb forums that the Java zero-day was a 'New Year’s Gift,' to customers who use his exploit kit,"writes Krebs on Security's Brian Krebs. "Paunch bragged that his was the first to include the powerful offensive weapon, but shortly afterwards the same announcement was made by the maker and seller of Nuclear Pack."

Nokia launches Lumia 920 and 820 in India

2013-01-11T23:25:00.000+05:30

Nokia has announced the availability of its first Windows Phone 8 powered devices in India. The Lumia 920 and the Lumia 820 will be available from tomorrow in select cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Calcutta. They will be made available in the rest of the country in the due course of time.

The Lumia 920 has an MRP of Rs. 38,999. It is designed with a polycarbonate shell, and come with PureView technology, however, without the massive sensor of the original 41MP Nokia 808 PureView(despite the 920 being 10.7mm thick). It instead houses an 8.7MP camera with an LED 'pulse burst flash', which is capable of 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps. It features floating lens technology, which supposedly rivals the optical image stabilization (OIS) of DLSRs, and enables the sensor to capture more than 5-10 times the light of regular smartphone cameras.

The Lumia 920 has a 4.5-inch curved glass IPS LCD display, which with Nokia’s PureMotion HD+ technology, delivers a “better than HD resolution” of 1,280x768 pixels (WXGA). The touchscreen will also be navigable with gloves on. The Lumia 920 supports wireless charging with Qi interoperability standards.

Other specifications of the Lumia 920 include 1.3MP front facing camera with 720p HD video recording, a weight of 185 grams, and a 2,000 mAh battery rated to deliver up to 17 hours of talktime, and 400 hours of standby time. It will surprisingly not come with a microSD card slot.

The 9.9mm-thick Nokia Lumia 820 has an MRP of Rs. 27,559 and is almost identical on the specs sheet, except for a smaller 4.3-inch 800x480 pixel AMOLED display, and the lack of a PureView camera - 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual-LED flash instead (also capable of 1080p HD video recording), coupled with front-facing VGA camera.

The Lumia 820 also supports wireless charging, when coupled with a removable shell case, which will ship with the device. It also has a smaller 1,650 mAh battery that’s rated to deliver up to 14 hours of talktime, and 330 hours of standby time. Unlike the Lumia 920, it supports a microSD card slot, up to 32GB.

Nokia also announced an exclusive tie up with JBL for a dock. The dock supports conductive charging for the smartphone along with the ability to play music stored on the phone with the tab of a button. The smartphone doesn’t have to be docked to play the music.

Samsung reveals Galaxy S II Plus with Jelly Bean and dual-core processor

2013-01-11T23:19:00.000+05:30

Samsung has announced the Galaxy S II Plus. The smartphone runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean straight out of the box. The Galaxy S II plus will be available in two variants – one with NFC and one without. No details of the pricing or availability of the device are available yet.

In terms of other specifications, the Galaxy S II Plus shows off a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus WVGA display with 800x400 pixel resolution. A 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM power the device. It boasts of 8GB built-in storage expandable up to 64GB via a microSD card. Under the hood, a 1,650mAh battery powers it. The rear of the camera houses an 8MP camera and the front has a 2MP camera for video chatting.

Samsung has seen quite a bit of success with its Galaxy lineup of smartphones. We have recently seen the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S III and the device is 2012’s best Android smartphone money can buy

DataWind and UN launch app development contest for women's empowerment

2013-01-11T23:15:00.000+05:30

DataWind and the United Nations Office for Partnerships in coordination with the other international bodies have announced a ‘Global Apps to Empower’ competition.

Under the competition, the app developers have to create apps that encourage women's empowerment in various sectors including jobs and entrepreneurship, education and conflict resolution. Winning apps will be receive cash prizes and the opportunity to have their apps listed in DataWind’s Ubislate educational tablet, the commercial version of the Aakash tablet.

The competition will be held from now through April 30, 2013 while the winners will be announced in July 2013.

Visit www.AppsToEmpower.org for more and detailed information on contest rules, a complete list of judges, deadline and submission guideline

“Our goal is to feature apps on our tablets for young women in developing countries who seek to become leaders in their communities; to be mentored by some of the best leaders currently in business and government; to learn how to start businesses; find meaningful work; and gain a practical skill that can improve not only her life but the lives of those in her community,” says DataWind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli.

Toshiba launches 'touch and type' Satellite U845t ultrabook at CES 2013

2013-01-08T22:09:00.000+05:30

Toshiba has unveiled an update to the Satellite U845 conveniently called the U845t.The device boasts of Windows 8 as the OS and is priced at $799 (approximately Rs. 44,300).

Specifications
The Satellite U845t boasts of a 14-inch touchscreen display with a 1366x768 resolution, choice of third-gen Intel Core i3 or i5 CPU, 500GB hard drive with 32GB SSD and up to 6GB of RAM.
The specifications of the device are the same as the non-touchscreen model and the price of the U845t is $50 more than the base model of the non-touch screen variant.

Connectivity
In terms of connectivity, the Toshiba Satellite U845t has an HDMI and Ethernet port, SD card slot, one USB 3.0 port and two USB 2.0 ports. The device is quite light weighing a mere 1.8kgs and is quite slim too, measuring a mere 0.8-inches in thickness.

With Windows 8 optimised for the touch screen as well as the traditional mouse and keyboard, we have seen the launch of a lot of laptops that boast of a touch screen as well as hybrid devices that double up as a laptop as well as a touchscreen tablet.

Sony launches waterproof and wire-free Walkman MP3 players at CES 2013

2013-01-08T22:01:00.000+05:30

Sony pulled the curtains off its new line of Walkman MP3 Players called the NWZ-W273 W Series Walkman Sports.

This is the newer version of Sony’s eye-catching Walkman series of MP3 players which don’t require a separate device for playing music as the complete player only has a set of headphones connected by a neck band for convenience of use and portability.

The new Sony sports Walkman is made by keeping sports and adventure in mind as the major selling-point of the W Series Sports Walkman,
as it’s completely waterproof up to the depth of 6.6 feet (2 metres) which makes it ideal to use while swimming, jogging or cycling in the rain.

It also comes with a quick charge functionality thus enabling you to listen music for a long time even if you have charged the MP3 player for just a few minutes (for eg. if you charge its completely drained battery for 3 minutes, you can listen to music on it for 60 minutes). And on a full charge it gives about 8 hours of music playback.

Price and Availibility

It supports a max storage size of 4GB and will be available from March 2013 at a retail price of about $99.99, in colours like Black, Pink, White and Blue.

Kingston reveals 1TB HyperX Predator flash drive at CES 2013

2013-01-08T21:52:00.002+05:30

The annual Consumer Electronics Show or CES always has a few gadgets up its sleeve that are truly mind blowing.

At CES 2013, the Kingston HyperX Predator flash drive is one such gadget.It is no ordinary flash drive, this tech wonder from Kingston as it comes with a whopping 1TB of data storage capacity.

The wow factor doesn’t just stop at its mind-boggling storage capacity. What makes us sit up and take notice of the Kingston HyperX Predator 1TB (DTHXP30/1T) flash drive is its claim of near-SSD data transfer speeds. As the Kingston 1TB flash drive supports USB 3.0, it’s claiming to deliver data transfer speeds of up to 240MB/s and 160 MB/s for read and write tasks, respectively.

Apart from its storage and speed capacities, the Kingston HyperX Predator flash drive is housed in a stylish metal casing of zinc alloy,Kingston claims this makes the drive highly shock-resistant. It also has a small key ring at one end.

Price and availability

The Kingston HyperX Predator 1TB (DTHXP30/1T) flash drive’s price hasn’t been revealed at the on-going CES 2013,as it is slated to arrive later in Q1 of 2013.

Samsung to launch phones running new Tizen mobile OS

2013-01-04T21:24:00.000+05:30

Samsung has announced their intention of launching multiple handsets in 2013 powered by the new Tizen mobile OS.

In a statement issued to Bloomberg, the Korea based phone maker said, “We plan to release new, competitive Tizen devices within this year and will keep expanding the line-up depending on market conditions.”

Tizen is a Linux-based open-source operating system that can be used to power mobile phones and other devices such as smart TVs and in-vehicle entertainment systems.

The Tizen standard is jointly governed by Intel and Samsung and was established in 2011 after Intel joined the project in September of that year.

Analysts close to Bloomberg have pointed out that Samsung's move may be a result of Google's increasing interest in mobile hardware highlighted by its acquisition of Motorola Mobility which made it important for the Korean company to reduce its dependence on the Android mobile OS. Intel has also made it clear that they are focussing heavily on the mobile and tablet segments and have already launched the Xolo X900 mobile phone, in collaboration with Lava.

Android has helped Samsung become the largest phone maker in the world and helped push its handsets such as the Galaxy S II, the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note, to the peak of the popularity charts.

Tizen will have to face immense competition from not only Android and iOS but also Windows Phone and Blackberry OS, both of which are expected to introduce wholesale changes in the upcoming iterations of their mobile operating systems.

Sources: Bloomberg, Wikipedia

Samsung announces new mirrorless camera

2013-01-04T21:18:00.000+05:30

Samsung has officially announced its next NX-series of mirrorless camera - the NX300 which is a 3D-capable successor of the NX210.

Alongwith this mirrorless camera, Samsung has also announced a 3D lens which is supposedly the world’s first one-lens 3D system.

The NX300 will not sport an Android 4.1 operating system like the Galaxy Camera.

The NX300 houses a 20.3 megapixel APS-C sensor, an ISO range of 100 to 25,600, 8.6 FPS continuous shooting mode, hybrid autofocus for faster focussing, 1080p @ 60fps support for video files, dual-band Wi-Fi and a fast 3D capable DRIMe IV image processor.

The NX300 has also got an upgrade on the screen size over its predecessors. It now sports a 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen having a resolution of 800x480 pixel using 768k dots. It can tilt to 90 degrees.

The NX300 comes in white and black colours with the body sporting a retro faux-leather finish. The black one looks particularly gorgeous and sports quite a heft on the side of the palm rest.

Samsung has also announced a 3D-capable 45mm f/1.8 lens to be sold separately which will work with older NX cameras (sans the 3D capability). Using this 3D lens with the NX300, you can shoot 3D stills as well as 1080p 3D movies. While shooting in the 3D mode, two LCD filters move in front of the sensor and flicker on and off for 30 seconds create the 3D image.

The NX300 has a price point of USD 749 (approx Rs. 41,000) whereas the 45mm 3D capable lens will be sold for USD 599 (approx. Rs. 33,000). Both are expected to go on sale in March this year.

Source : Samsung

Datawind becomes 3rd largest tablet seller in India

2013-01-04T21:08:00.001+05:30

According to the latest data from technology market researcher CyberMedia Research, Datawind, the company that won the tender from the Indian government and is the manufacturer of the Aakash tablet,has become the third largest tablet seller in India.

During the time period of July to September, Datawind faced some criticism for missing the deadline for its Rs. 2,263 Aakash tablet to the government.

During that period, Datawind has a 12 percent market share in India.This market share is excluding the Aakash tablets provided to the Indian government.

The research form has said that the total number of tablets in India in 2012 was close to 3 million. During the three months leading to September 2012, over one million tablets were sold in India. Samsung is the leader in this segment in India with a share of 24% followed by Micromax, which has a market share in India of 15%.

A whopping 135 vendors have launched their tablets till Q3 2012 flooding the budget tablet market with a slew of homogenous products.

According to Faisal Kawoosa, lead analyst, CyberMedia Research Telecoms Practice, "A majority of the tablets currently on offer have built-in WiFi connectivity with 3G access enabled through a USB dongle. However, going forward, increased penetration of 3G networks, declining ASVs of 3G-enabled media tablets and launch of BWA (4G / WiMax / LTE) services in the country is likely to see a rise in 3G-only tablet devices with larger screen sizes. This trend is expected to give a fillip to new types of data services and content being demanded and consumed by subscribers, which in turn will drive a further increase in adoption of Media Tablets in India "

Source: ThinkDigit

Go Tech launches FunTab New tablet for Rs. 3,999

2012-12-29T20:10:00.002+05:30

Go Tech has launched a new budget tablet called, FunTab All New. Priced at Rs. 3,999, the FunTab All New runs on Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich and is powered by a 1GHz processor.

Other specifications of the FunTab All New include 7-inch capacitive touchscreen, 4GB built in storage, 512MB of RAM, expandable storage up to 32GB and 0.3 MP front camera.

The device comes with a 3,600 mAh battery, which is rated to deliver 8 hours of standby time.

For connectivity, the tablet supports USB, HDMI, 3.5 mm audio jack, Wi-Fi and 3G (via USB dongle).

“We are pleased with our association with our online partners and to enhance our relationship we are exclusively launching this product online and currently it is available on snapdeal.com,” said Gaurav Khanna, managing director, Go Tech Digital.

“Tablet PCs have and will revolutionize the way people access content / information on the move, increase productivity, access smart learning modules to promote better education, easy and clear collation of data in everyday tasks in banking, health care etc and we want to provide this to customers at best reasonable price,” Khanna added.

Airtel launches Wi-Fi Hangouts service for prepaid users

2012-12-29T20:06:00.002+05:30

Bharti Airtel has introduced a new Wi-Fi hotspot service, called Wi-Fi hangouts. The service is available for Airtel prepaid customers in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Bangalore regions.

With the new hotspot service, Airtel subscribers can access the company's public hotspots by activating 'Airtel W-Fi Zone' vouchers available on the company website.

“Now you can enjoy a broadband internet experience even outside your home. Whether at your favourite café, restaurant or local hangout, Airtel Wi-Fi guarantees a secure and reliable connectivity on your laptop or handheld device,” says Airtel on its website.

For 30 minutes of unlimited usage on the Wi-Fi, users will be charged Rs. 20. For one hour and two hours of unlimited usage, users are charged Rs. 30 and Rs. 50 respectively. You can find out more information about Airtel's Wi-Fi hangouts service here. You can also call at 18001022244 for more details.

Wi-Fi hotspots are quite popular in metro cities as a lot of people are using such service at restaurants, coffee shops and even in airports. Airtel hasn't yet announced any fair usage policy for this service, which could be another highlight of the Wi-Fi hangouts. Airtel is offering Wi-Fi hangouts installation in various enterprises upon request.

What do you think of Airtel's Wi-Fi hangouts service, Let us know in the comments section below:

NASA and Foursquare launch new Curiosity Rover-themed badges

2012-12-29T19:59:00.000+05:30

NASA has teamed up with Foursquare to introduce Curiosity rover-themed badges. Users can earn these badges by checking into science-related destinations frequently.

Users must like NASA on Foursquare to earn the Curiosity Explorer badge, and check in at a NASA visitor center or other places categorized as a science museum or planetarium.

The launch of the badge comes after the October check-in on Mars by NASA’s Curiosity rover, which was dubbed as the first check-in on another planet. Since landing on the planet in August, the Curiosity rover has been extensively promoted on social media, especially Twitter and Facebook.

Upon earning the badge, users will see a special message on Foursquare:

"Get out your rock-vaporizing laser! You've explored your scientific curiosities just like NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars. Stay curious and keep exploring. You never know what you'll find."

“After landing in Gale Crater in August, Curiosity began a 23-month mission that includes some of Mars' most intriguing science destinations. The mission's main science destination will be on Mount Sharp, a mountain about 3 miles (5 kilometers) tall. First, Curiosity is investigating targets on flatter ground near the mountain, seeking clues in the rocks and soil that would indicate whether Mars ever was capable of supporting microbial life. It also is taking pictures of the trip, beaming them back to Earth for all to share,” says NASA in a blog post.

“NASA has been on Foursquare since 2010 through a strategic partnership with the platform. This partnership, launched with astronaut Doug Wheelock's first-ever check-in from the International Space Station, has allowed users to connect with NASA, and enabled them to explore the universe and rediscover Earth.”

Japanese firm develops 'smart' toilet that can be controlled via app

2012-12-21T17:09:00.000+05:30

The idea of home appliances and utilities being controlled by smartphones is not new, but a Japanese firm called Lixil might have taken things too far, developing an advanced toilet model that can be controlled by a smartphone.

Users can control the toilet by a smartphone app called 'My Satis', which can also track user's bowel movements to assess their health.
The app, available for select Android smartphones, is compatible with three of the company's new range lavaroties.

My Satis app for Android allows toilet users to control the Bluetooth-equipped bathroom fitting with their smartphone. Users can also customise their preferred settings and have play back music via the toilet's speakers. The toilet can also keep track of each use to monitor both water and electricity bills. There's also a function that creates a dairy for users to see how many times they have used the toilet.

Source: Daily Mail

Lenovo launches IdeaPad Yoga series in India

2012-12-21T17:03:00.000+05:30

Lenovo has announced the official launch of the IdeaPad Yoga ultrabook in India. This is a “multi-mode” device, which can be switched into a non-keyboard mode thanks to the swivel design.

This is the same device that was showcased at CES 2012 and won 14 awards. There are two versions of this device – 11-inch and 13-inch, and both have been launched in India.

These devices will be powered by the third generation Intel processor range (Ivy Bridge), with the prime focus on being super thin and super light. The IdeaPad Yoga 13 weighs 1.54kg and has a 0.6-inch thick frame.

The Yoga 11 has an 11.6-inch display, and will get the power from a Tegra 3 processor and 2GB of RAM. You will get the 32GB SSD with the entry-level version, but this can be upgraded to 64GB. This will come with Windows 8 RT preloaded.

The Yoga 13, on the other hand, is what Lenovo calls the “world’s first multimode ultrabook with 360 degree flip design”. These will be available with the option of processors going up to Core i7. This has a 13.3-inch IPS HD+ display, and comes with Windows 8 preloaded.

“Lenovo is one of the first players to embody the convertible design and touch interface in a single device- the IdeaPad Yoga, while providing an optimized Windows 8 experience to the end user. The product is targeted at individuals who want to enhance their performance at work and play through one extraordinarily light device that offers flexible multi-modes. Despite having two devices rolled into one, the Yoga is unbelievably thin, offering the user great mobility and convenience,” said Rajesh Thadani, Director, Consumer Business Segment, Lenovo India.

The IdeaPad Yoga 13 ultrabook will be available starting Rs. 84,290, while the IdeaPad Yoga 11 hybrid will be available starting Rs. 61,790.

Source: Shop Lenovo

DRDO working on an Indian OS to ramp up cybersecurity

2012-12-21T16:56:00.002+05:30

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on an indigenous operating system in a bid to secure the country's cyber network.

According to DRDO director-general V K Saraswat, the Indian OS will be ready in couple of years. Saraswat further revealed that about 150 engineers have been working on the OS for the last one and half years.

India mainly depends on imported OSes based on Windows and Linux, which may have security risks, he noted.

"To secure our cyber network, our own OS for computers is highly essential," Saraswat said adding the cyber criminals were on the loose, and cyber and network security have become an area of concern.

“The system will ensure that we are independent of what's happening outside and ensure the safety of our own networks,We are still importing transmitters and receivers. For the country to equip itself well for electronic warfare, hardware manufacturing also should improve," he added.

DRDO chief's remark comes in the wake of growing cyber attacks in the country. It's notable the cyber criminals have especially targeted the Indian government websites. According to the government statistcis more than 14,000 websites were hacked till October this year. Moreover, as many as 294 government sites of various government departments and ministries were attacked by hackers during the period between January-October 2012. Even, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal's site was defaced by the hackers.

Despite taking proactive and reactive measures, the government has apparently failed to secure the country's cyber network. With cyber criminals turning their attention towards users in emerging cities and mobile devices, the government has to ramp up its network and make the India net users more aware about the internet security.

Source: Times of India, Hindu

Sony finally announces Jelly Bean update for Xperia smartphones

2012-12-18T13:08:00.003+05:30

Sony Mobile has announced the schedule of Android Jelly Bean upgrades for its Xperia smartphones. However, there is a big surprise in store – not all 2012 Xperia smartphones are on the list.

The announcement also clearly states that the update will bring Android Jelly Bean 4.1 on board.

The smartphones that will get the update first are - Xperia T, Xperia TX and Xperia V. The Jelly Bean update will roll out globally for these phones during February 2013 and March 2013. In the second phase, the Xperia P, Xperia J and Xperia Go will receive the upgrades. This rollout will start towards the end of March 2013. The third bunch of upgrades will cover the Xperia S, Xperia SL, Xperia Ion and Xperia Acro S, which “will follow in the subsequent weeks”.

Unfortunately, not all Xperia phones will get the Jelly Bean upgrade. We knew beforehand that the 2011 Xperia range isn’t eligible, but the surprise element has been the exclusion of some of the 2012 phones from this list. The phones are – Xperia U, Xperia Tipo, Xperia Miro and Xperia Sola.

We are rather relieved that the upgrade schedule is finally available. We must praise Sony for being fairly communicative in this regard, seen even during the summer-2011 Android 4.0 upgrade. However, we do find the decision to drop certain phones as fairly unacceptable. These phones do meet the minimum requirements for a good Android experience, and surely should have been upgraded.

Source: Sony Mobile

HTC Windows Phone 8S available online

2012-12-18T13:03:00.000+05:30

Windows Phone 8 powered smartphone; the HTC 8S is available for purchase online at Rs. 19,350. Those interested can order the smartphone from Saholic or Flipkart.

The HTC Windows Phone 8S, runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset with a dual-core 1GHz processor and Adreno 225 GPU coupled with 512MB of RAM.

The 8S features a 4-inch S-LCD display with an 800x480 pixel resolution (translating to 233ppi), and a Gorilla Glass screen.

HTC Windows Phone 8S weighs in at 113 grams, and features 4GB of built-in storage, with microSD expandability up to 32GB. HTC has given the Windows Phone 8S a 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, and support for 720p HD video recording at 30fps.

As for connectivity options, the HTC Windows Phone 8S offers 3G (HSUPA/HSDPA), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and EDR, microUSB v2.0, GPS with A-GPS support, and a 3.5mm audio jack. A 1,700mAh battery powers the 8S.

Resident Evil 6 coming to the PC on March 2013

2012-12-18T12:52:00.000+05:30

Capcom’s survival horror game, Resident Evil 6 will make its debut on the PC on March 2013. The game has already been available for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 since October 2012.

Capcom has said that the game will be available as a download only in North America, while Europe will receive both digital and physical versions on the same date. The digital download of Resident Evil 6 will be available through Steam and will also come with Steamworks functionality. The game will also launch with all the downloadable content that was made available after the launch of the console version of the game.

Capcom also announced that Resident Evil 6 for the Xbox 360 will be available to download as a Games On Demand title this Christmas.

The system requirements for the game are as follows:

Minimum specs

OS: Windows Vista/XP, Windows 7, Windows 8

Processor: Intel CoreTM2 Duo 2.4 Ghz or better, AMD AthlonTM X2 2.8 Ghz or better

Memory: 2 GB RAM

Hard Disk Space: 16 GB free hard drive space

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS or better

DirectX: 9.0c or greater

Sound: Standard audio device

Recommended specs

OS: Windows Vista/XP, Windows 7, Windows 8

Processor: Intel CoreTM 2 Quad 2.7 Ghz or better, AMD PhenomTM II X4 3 Ghz or better

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Hard Disk Space: 16 GB free hard drive space

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or better

DirectX: 9.0c or greater

Sound: Standard audio device

Source: Eurogamer

GE develops ultra-thin,silent cooler for next-gen laptops and tablets

2012-12-17T14:58:00.002+05:30

General Electric has unveiled what seems to be the thinnest, high-performance cooler for the next-generation of ultra-thin tablets and laptops (pictured left). While this cooler obviously allows for slimmer designs (or more space for other components), it also uses just half the power of a comparable fan, granting a significant boost to battery life. Oh, it’s almost silent, too.

The technology behind GE’s cooler is called DCJ — Dual Piezoelectric Cooling Jets. DCJ basically acts as a miniature pair of bellows: Expanding to suck in cool air, and then contracting to expel hot air. GE originally invented DCJ to help cool commercial jet engines, but two years ago it seems someone had the clever idea of miniaturizing the tech for use in computers — and so here we are.

At 2:15 in the video below you can see the DCJ in action, inside a modern ultrabook laptop. The rest of the video is a bit fluffy, featuring lots of dramatic lighting and excessive use of protective goggles.

As you can see above, GE’s cooler is roughly the size and thickness of a credit card, but the press release states that the complete cooling solution (presumably including a heatsink / pipe) is 4mm. This is apparently 50% thinner than existing fan-based solutions, and obviously rather significant as we move towards tablets and laptops that are sub-8mm.

Perhaps most importantly, though, according to GE VP Chris Giovanniello, “DCJ can be made so quiet that users won’t even know it’s running.” This is partly because the tech is fundamentally different from a fan — there’s no blade whizzing through the air at thousands of RPM, and thus no buzzing or vibrations — but it’s also because DCJ supports very localizedcooling. Instead of a complex heat pipe and fan assembly, GE suggests that you might instead have a bunch of smaller, more efficient DCJs directly attached to components that need cooling.

Moving forward, GE has already licensed DCJ tech to Fujikura, a Japanese thermal management company. GE is also providing OEMs with DCJ kits, so that they can test the technology out in next-generation tablets and laptops. Realistically, we should see DCJ cooling solutions sometime in the next couple of years.