Something to share

Something to Share - Which wolf have you been feeding ?

2013-12-02T12:45:00.000+05:30

An old man was telling story to his grandchildren,"There is always a battle between two wolf inside all of us. One is Evil (i.e. anger, envy, sorrow, greed, lies and guilt) and other one is Good (i.e. joy, peace, love, kindness and humility)"

The boy curiously asked, "Which wolf wins?"

The old man quitely replied, "The one...... you feed."

So, which wolf you are feeding?

Source: WebTrafficROI

BUILDING BRIDGES....!!!

2013-11-28T11:42:00.000+05:30

Once upon a time two brothers who lived on adjoining farms fell into conflict. It was the first serious rift in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed without a hitch.

Then the long collaboration fell apart. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.

One morning there was a knock on John's door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I'm looking for a few days work," he said.

"Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there. Could I help you?"

"Yes," said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That's my neighbor, in fact, it's my younger brother. Last week there was a meadow between us and he took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I'll go him one better. See that pile of lumber curing by the barn? I want you to build me a fence - an 8-foot fence - so I won't need to see his place anymore. Cool him down, anyhow."

The carpenter said, "I think I understand the situation. Show me the nails and the post-hole digger and I'll be able to do a job that pleases you."

The older brother had to go to town for supplies, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day.

The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, nailing.

About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer's eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped.

There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge... a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! A fine piece of work handrails and all - and the neighbor, his younger brother, was coming across, his hand outstretched.

"You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I've said and done."

The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each other's hand. They turned to see the carpenter hoist his toolbox on his shoulder. "No, wait! Stay a few days. I've a lot of other projects for you," said the older brother.

"I'd love to stay on," the carpenter said, "but, I have many more bridges to build."

Something to share: Sony launches Xperia P, Sola and U in India

2012-05-27T17:07:00.000+05:30

Sony Mobile India has officially launched the Xperia U, Xperia Sola and Xperia P devices in the country, and finally provided the retail prices - Rs. 17,399, Rs. 19,999, and Rs. 25,449, respectively.

Speaking at the launch, Sony Mobile India MD, P. Balaji, said: “The Xperia smartphones have been designed around user experiences of listen, watch, play and create and share to improve their personal, professional and social life. The Sola smart phone boasts of 'floating touch' for accessing web services by holding any finger on the screen to open the links."

As a promotional offer, Sony has tied up with Tata Docomo, to provide up to 3GB free data plans, apart from 30 games. For more details about the three new Xperia devices, in terms of specifications and features, refer to our previous coverage (Xperia Sola, Xperia P and Xperia U).

At the Kolkata launch event, Sony Mobile also announced it would stop shipping feature phones from September onwards, globally depending on its smartphone presence. The company currently has around eight feature phones in the Indian market. Speaking to ET, P. Balaji said:

"The smartphone segment is growing by a compound annual growth rate of nearly 70 per cent. We as a company want to focus only on this segment. By the end of September this year, we plan to phase out all our feature phone models."

"Our research tells us people are willing to pay more for a smartphone to enjoy genuine mobile internet experience. We expect the trend to get stronger as 3G data services become more affordable and gain traction."

The move certainly is an interesting one, with Apple and RIM the only two major global manufacturers to not have feature phones on the market (Apple's was 3rd place overall in 2011). Some, like HTC, have very few. Of course, with budget Android devices from major manufacturers available for less than Rs. 10,000, smartphones now encompass a large extent of the mobile market, and are slowly eating up feature phone share.

Xperia Sola, P and U (left to right)

AMD chips top 8.4 GHz, a new speed record...!!!

2011-12-15T03:58:00.000+05:30

AMD said Tuesday that the company's FX processors had been overclocked to an astounding 8.429 GHz. AMD said in a blog post that the eight FX processors had been overclocked at speeds up to 8.429 GHz, beating the prior record of 8.309 GHz, using a third-party team of overclocking enthusiasts. More importantly to the average consumer user, however, AMD found that the company's FX chips could reach over 5 GHz using normal air cooling or water-cooling rigs that cost less than $100.

"Based on our overclocking tests, the AMD FX CPU is a clock eating monster, temporarily able to withstand extreme conditions to achieve amazing speed," Simon Solotko, a senior manager with AMD, wrote. "Even with more conservative methods, the AMD FX processors, with multiplier unlocked throughout the range, appear to scale with cold. We also achieved clock frequencies well above 5GHz using only air or sub-$100 water cooling solutions."

Guinness is expected to certify the record, an AMD spokesman said Tuesday. AMD's announcement opens the Intel Developer Forum here in San Francisco, a developer conference hosted by AMD's arch-rival and much larger competitor, Intel.

What is overclocking? Historically, overclocking was a practice begun in the early days of the 486 and Pentium where a microprocessor was pushed past its rated speeds. Microprocessors are generally "binned," where each chip is tested to determine the fastest speed at which it can operate before it starts generating electrical faults and/or incorrect results due to the heat it itself produces. Within a PC, notebook computer or phone, these chips are generally either air-cooled using a series of "fins" that distribute the chip's warmth to the outside air via a fan. A sealed network of tubes, filled with water, can also be connected to a copper-based "heat sink," which thermally conducts heat away from the CPU.

Overclocking a chip can void its warranty, however, meaning that it's generally a risky practice even for enthusiasts. An overclocked chip that fails can essentially be destroyed, as can the motherboard or chipset components.

Extreme overclocking uses liquid helium and nitrogen to cool the chips; liquid nitrogen can push the chip's temperature down to less than negative 180 degrees centigrade. The risk here is a "cold bug," which can also prevent the chip from working. Fortunately for AMD, the team of overclockers found no such bug.

AMD's FX chips represent its enthusiast line of high-end chips, which are "unlocked," allowing users to set its operating voltage and clock speed multiplier in order to overclock the chips.

Nvidia releases the five-core Tegra 3 chipset....!!!

2011-12-15T03:52:00.001+05:30

Nvidia has launched the much-awaited quad-core Tegra 3 chipset, codenamed Kal-El, destined to arrive in the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime later this month. According to the graphics giant, the Tegra 3 chipset is based on 40nm fabrication technology, and is expected to deliver five times the overall performance of the Tegra 2, and roughly three times the graphical performance, all while using about 40 percent of the Tegra 2’s power. While the Tegra 3 is meant primarily for the Android operating system, it also supports Windows 8 and Chrome OS.

The Tegra 3 will officially be the first ARM-based quad-core chipset to begin shipping, though others chip-makers, like Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and ST-Ericsson are also expected to unveil quad-core ARM offerings by 2012. While called a quad-core, the Tegra 3 actually contains five general processing ARM Cortex A9 cores, with the lower-clocked 500MHz fifth ‘companion’ core taking care of most non-intensive tasks for the system, to save power. The other four processor cores can run at a maximum core clock of 1.4GHz (up from 1GHz of the Tegra 2), though if all the cores are active at once, that figure drops to 1.3GHz.

The resource allocation is apparently “OS transparent”, meaning the operating system will not have to be modified to support Nvidia’s Variable Symmetric Multiprocessing (vSMP) technology, which chooses which cores to activate. In low power mode, only the companion core will be running.

Check out a schematic of the die below (sized roughly at 80mm²), with the various components highlighted.

The Tegra 3 GeForce GPU features 8 pixel shader units, four vertex shader units, and 12 GPU cores, each with a larger cache than what the Tegra 2 had. For now, Nvidia has not confirmed the clock speed of the GPU cores, or how much higher it is than the Tegra 2’s 300MHz offering. The biggest graphical improvements with the Tegra 3 chipset include the ability to realistically render water simulations, smoke, blurs, damage, and lighting.

The new Tegra 3 also supports stereoscopic 3D, and, features expanded controller support for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii controllers. According to Nvidia, the Tegra 3 also features an improved video decoder and encoder, which can accelerate 1080p H.264 content to up to 40Mbps, and encode 1080p video at 30fps. Also new, is the Image Signal Processor (ISP), which is supposedly twice as fast as the one on the Tegra 2.

Still featuring a 32-bit memory interface, the Tegra 3 supports higher-frequency memory however, up to LPDDR2-1066MHz and DDR3-L-1500MHz. The SATA II controller is now on die. Looking at the recently released roadmap, the Kal-El's successor, Kal-El+ is expected to be released by mid-2012, before Wayne or Tegra 4 hits shelves in 2013. For now, while Nvidia hasn't drastically improved per-core performance compared to the Tegra 3, subsequent iterations are expected to start doing so, starting with Wayne. In the meanwhile, the Tegra 3 will still pack a punch, according to AnandTech's Mr. Shimpi, "Tegra 3 attempts to increase performance by exploiting thread level parallelism in Android."

Apple TVs to come in three sizes....!!!

2011-12-15T03:46:00.001+05:30

There’ve been quite a few rumours of Apple working on developing a Apple-branded TV set, not just the relatively popular Apple TV set-top box it’s been selling in the recent past. Now, a report by Australian technology blog Smarthouse, says that it has confirmation of this, via sources at a major Japanese television manufacturer.

The report goes on to say that Apple will be releasing three sizes of televisions when it launches in late 2012, with 32-inch and 55-inch versions described. As for the third size, something smaller seems likely, probably a 24-inch offering.

According to the sources quoted, Apple TVs will feature Siri integration, taking the fight to other smart, connected TVs out there, by such companies as Samsung and LG. Relevantly, Microsoft recently announced voice-based search for the Xbox 360 platform, powered by Bing and Kinect, as well as entertainment options, all of which will make Xbox TV a potential competitor as well, though more as set-top box.

As for branding, so far, industry speculation is rife with names, with iTV seeming like the most popular choice. This may of course cause trademark problems, as other iTVs exist across the world already.

Nokia Lumia 800 Review.....!!!

2011-12-15T03:35:00.000+05:30

It was a long wait for the first Nokia smartphone with Windows Phone OS. And we believe that wait has been a long but successful one. The Lumia 800 seems to be a well designed package - with looks far superior than any other WP phone out there, an excellent display, good battery life and a UI that is thrashing Android’s ageing UI hands down. Critically, it again boils down to the pricing bit, and we hope Nokia gets it right.

Pros:

Unique yet brilliant design
Classy yet solid build quality
Excellent UI on WP 7.5 - Live Tiles particularly
Very good display - particularly for multimedia consumption
Contact handling much improved with Mango update
Battery life doesn't disappoint

Cons:

Call clarity isn't as good as we had hoped for
Accessing the micro SIM slot is an unnecessarily long process
Disappointing camera

It is finally here. We have been waiting since the February announcement for a Windows Phone from Nokia. And we must admit, we were quite apprehensive about how good the smartphone would be. Safe to say, those apprehensions seemed to evaporate rather quickly. To be precise, after a couple of hours of playing with the Lumia 800!

Look & Feel

The Lumia 800 does carry a lot of design traits from the N9. All the four edges are curved, and the back is slightly sloped near the top and the bottom - ever so slightly. Below the 3.7-inch display are three touch buttons - return, home (familiar Windows Logo on it) and Bing search. The only three physical buttons on the entire handset are on the right side panel - volume rocker, camera and the power key.

On the top are the 3.5mm jack and a bunch of flaps that cover the micro USB port and the micro SIM card slot. Opening this is a bit of a pain though - not because it is difficult but because of the sheer wastage of time. First, press one flap down, marked by a bulge, enough that the other end lifts up. Once that happens, open it completely. Now turn your attention to the SIM card slot. For this, slide the panel slightly towards the USB port, and then pull it out. Don’t really understand the entire complication. Separate handling of the two ports would have been better - time saving as well as longevity of the loving parts. Flip the phone to the bottom panel and there is the speaker. No other moving parts on the phone, since even the battery is closed away and cannot be accessed.

The Lumia 800 seems to have a lot going for it, design-wise. It feels good to hold, has a nice sophisticated feel and minimalist looks as well.

Features & Performance

We had criticized Nokia quite a bit recently for launching very good yet under-powered phones - the Nokia E6 being a good example. However, that seems sorted now. The Lumia 800 comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 processor clocking at 1.4GHz on a single core. There is 512MB RAM to help move things along as well. The single core processor will surely raise a few eyebrows, particularly if this is priced in the same bracket as some well established dual core Android phones and the iPhone 4. This neatly brings me to my next point - Windows Phone Mango doesn’t need any more grunt than this, or so it seems. We have seen this OS in action on the older gen Samsung Focus smartphone, as well as the newer ones - the Samsung Omnia W and now this. The interface is zippy, transitions are silky smooth and the phone doesn’t slow down at all. Quite creditable considering the host of 3D effects in the menu.

The 3.7-inch display is the AMOLED type with a resolution of 480 x 800. This display type is similar to the one we saw in the Samsung Galaxy SII, albeit a smaller size. The darker colours in an AMOLED display draw lesser power. Apart from the battery life benefit, it results in really dark black levels. The rest of the colour bunch is quite vivid as well. Brightness levels are extremely good as well, and even at low brightness settings, it is comfortable for indoor use. The display isn't very reflective, which helps a lot in viewing the text in sunlight. Windows Phone 7.5’s UI looked absolutely gorgeous on this display. The rich colours and the deep blacks mean that viewing videos or reading text on this display will be a delightful experience.

There is 16GB storage built-in on the Lumia 800, but no memory expansion slot.

Contact handling has been improved extensively with the mango update. Now, you can even transfer all contacts from any phone to the Lumia via Bluetooth. We tried this with a Blackberry phone, and all 750 contacts were transferred to the People list on the Lumia, complete with any tagged images.

Disappointingly, the call quality of the Lumia 800 wasn’t as brilliant as we had hoped for. The clarity was just not there, and it was particularly difficult to hear the other person if you or the other person happen to be in a noisy place. Also, if the signal strength isn't perfect, there will be noise within the call. No problem with the earpiece loudness though.

The disappointment continues on the camera front. First off, there is no front facing camera. That means, video chats are out of the question. Secondly, the 8MP camera is extremely finicky when it comes to lighting. If the lighting is perfect, then the shots that you take will be quite good. However, if you are taking a shot in less than perfect light, or even indoors, then the images will be ruined by the noise. The camera takes time to focus, particularly when taking close-up shots. This snapper can record 720p HD videos, and the quality is quite satisfactory. There is quite a bit of sharpness, but there tends to be a ‘de-noise’ effect on some details when panning.

But what is really going for the Lumia 800 is the operating system on board. Windows Phone 7.5 looks absolutely gorgeous. We had said this earlier, and will say it again, “WP.7.5 is kicking Android hollow as far as UI slickness and an intuitive feel is concerned”. We feel that post the Mango update, only the iOS 5 is better in terms of the slickness, with WP 7.5 in a solid second place. The Live Tiles are an excellent add-on, particularly when you consider that it isn't demanding a high spec hardware package to do all that. The Xbox Live tile, People and Gallery keep getting updated with new elements at regular intervals - usually a few minutes. If you add the weather tile as well, that keeps getting refreshed as well. It is an interesting sight the moment you slide the lock screen upwards!

Nokia have preloaded the Lumia 800 with a couple of their own apps - Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive. The Maps application asks you to download global maps - well you can select which ones you want, and the navigation voice as well. Downloading these helps improve lock-on and navigation speeds. Nokia Drive is the turn-by-turn navigation app that is useful if you rely on your phone to be the GPS device sometimes.

We must say this - the battery life of the Lumia 800 is impressive. Despite constant connectivity to the Internet, a bunch of calls, messages, and lots of web browsing, the battery lasted 2 full days on a single charge. Admittedly, we were in the initial excitement phase and using the phone a bit more than most people normally would!

Our Take
In terms of the package, the Lumia 800 has the hardware, the performance and a very good OS. It does miss out on a memory card slot and a front facing camera. We just hope Nokia get the pricing right, and don’t overprice it.

Price:28,000 Rs.

Specs:
Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon 1.4GHz processor; 512MB RAM; Windows Phone 7.5; 3.7-inch AMOLED display, 480 x 800 pixels; 16GB storage; 8MP camera with 720p HD videos; micro SIM slot only; 1450 mAh battery

Ratings
Features: 7.5
Performance: 8
Build: 8
Value: 6.5
Overall:7.5

Symbian Belle update for Symbian^3/Anna devices coming in early 2012....!!!

2011-12-15T03:16:00.001+05:30

Nokia is going to start rolling out Symbian Belle update to its Symbian^3/Anna smartphones, including N8 and E6, by early 2012. Though Nokia has not specified any release date, the update is expected to arrive by February next year. Earlier, the update was expected to be available before end of this year but apparently that's unlikely to happen.

According to an All About Symbian report, Nokia has confirmed the availability of Symbian Belle update sometime in early-2012. The report also quotes an official statement from Nokia which is as follows:

"Nokia Belle is the latest Symbian software release with all-new user interface, improved user experience, and dozens of improved and new features. We have already shipped Nokia 603, 700 and 701 with Belle software this year, and have received great feedback on the new user experience.
We will make Nokia Belle available to consumers globally by rolling out the Belle software for the existing Nokia range of smartphones such as N8, E7, X7, C6-01, C7, Oro, E6, and Nokia 500 in early 2012. With that, millions of consumers around the world will get a totally fresh experience on their Symbian smartphone."

Back in September, Nokia had launched three new Symbian Belle smartphones in India with NFC technology, the Nokia 600, Nokia 700, and Nokia 701.

Micromax launches the A75 Superfone Lite, for Rs. 8,999.....!!!

2011-12-15T03:13:00.000+05:30

Micromax has launched a new ‘Superfone’, the Micromax A75 Superfone Lite. This time it is a budget Android offering, priced at Rs. 8,999. Interestingly, the Android 2.3 Gingerbread-based A75 Superfone Lite has dual-SIM functionality, of the GSM-GSM type.

Features of the Micromax A75 Superfone Lite include a 3.75-inch capacitive touchscreen, a 650MHz processor, dual camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS with A-GPS support, a 3.5mm universal jack, expandable storage via microSD card (up to 32GB). More details about the specs have not been revealed, such as screen resolution, battery size, etc., but we'll let you know as soon as they are out.

The Micromax A75 Superfone Lite is preloaded with apps like Google Voice Search, Saavn Music, Times of India online newspaper, and Netqin Antivirus. These might help the A75 Superfone Lite in the highly competitve budget Android phone market, where it could have a tough time.

New Arriaval in India Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S ...!!!

2011-12-15T03:01:00.001+05:30


Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S

Sony Ericsson has reportedly confirmed availability of its Xperia Arc S in India. The latest addition to the Xperia family runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and is powered by 1.4 GHz processor. Sony Ericsson had announced the Xperia Arc in September this year and was expected to launch the device in the fourth quarter. The device is available through online retailers such as letsbuy for Rs. 27,999.

The Xperia Arc S features a 4.2-inch touch display with 854x480 pixels resolution. The Arc S display is powered by Sony Ericsson's Mobile BRAVIA Engine. The Xperia Arc S features an 8MP camera with LED Flash. The Xperia Arc S is capable of shooting 2D and 3D images which can be viewed by connecting to a Sony 3D BRAVIA TV.

The Xperia Arc S comes pre-loaded with Facebook and Twitter applications. It has just 1 GB (320 MB user-available) of internal storage, which can expanded up to 32GB via microSD card. The smartphone is available in five colours including White,Blue, Misty Silver, Gloss Black and Sakura Pink.

'Nokia Tune Remake' $10,000 contest declare by NOKIA

2011-09-07T21:31:00.000+05:30

While audio branding is not something that we hear (pun unintended) about everyday, Nokia’s classic ringtone – or the “Nokia Tune”, at least to my generation, is certainly heraldic, and has become unmistakably associated with the Finnish mobile giant since it was first introduced, back in 1994.

Now as a distinct sign of the changing times – Nokia has decided to rebrand itself, and refresh the “world’s most recognised audio brand asset”, by announcing a contest to compose the new Nokia Tune. The new signature tune will begin shipping with select Nokia devices in 2012.

The Nokia Tune Remake contest, held in association with AudioDraft, will close on October 2nd, so if the $10,000 grand prize excites you, or the chance to be heard a billion times a day all over the world on over 100 million projected devices, you better get cracking. Visit nokiatune.audiodraft.com to register.

A total of ten entries will enter the finals – the five most voted for entries, and five entries picked by judges, who will also pick the winner, and five runner-ups. The runner-ups will get their tunes hosted on the Ovi Store for download, and $1,000 each.

Can masculine and feminine ever be a best friends.......!!!

2011-08-25T02:40:00.000+05:30

Can masculine and feminine ever be a best friends? This is one pertinent question that keeps popping up over and over again. It was first put out perhaps for public scrutiny in When Harry Met Sally. The hugely popular hit was then followed by My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) and Hum Tum in India (a desi remake of When Harry Met Sally) in 2004.

India’s GenNow got introduced to the question with the Imran Khan-Genelia D’Souza starrer Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa (2009). This year we have Friends With Benefits claiming friendship is a four- letter word. In short, they say a man and a woman can never be friends — as for being best friends, that’s a distant dream.

Yet outside the celluloid world, relationships are far more complicated. The roles being played out in the real world are not bound by a script. Real people fail to understand what movies preach and confuse love with friendship and vice versa. Relationship experts say having a best friend from the opposite sex is one of the main reasons marriages are failing these days.

"When two people from the opposite sex get emotionally close to each other, at least one of them is bound to get attracted to the other and this can cause problems if they are married to different people,” says Dr Kamal Khurana, relationship counsellor, Purple Alley.

MY WIFE’S BEST FRIEND

EDWIN Fernandes ( name changed), a creative director with an advertising agency, is right now going through a divorce and has only himself to blame for it. His story got complicated after his best friend became his wife’s best friend: “ I used to run to my best friend for every problem in my marriage. Consequently, my wife started doing the same. Slowly she got dependant on him emotionally and then she fell in love with him.” With society opening up to having friends from the opposite sex, are we emotionally intelligent enough to handle all these relationships? Not quite, says Dr Rachna Singh, lifestyle expert, Artemis Hospital. “The real problem starts when you are married and have a best friend from the opposite sex. The definition of a best friend overlaps into the definition of a spouse. And then there is a conflict,” says Singh.

A friendship is about companionship, trust and love. And a marriage is about companionship, trust, love and sex. The Sword is the only distinguishing factor. “ In such triangular relationships jealousy creeps causing a conflict,” says Singh.

WHEN TO LET GO

MANISHA Dhar, 28, an account manager with a PR firm, was puzzled when her college buddy and best friend stopped taking her calls or replying to her text messages. All she got after two months of silence was an email invitation for his wedding – that too a day before the wedding.

“A common friend told me his fiancée felt insecure when she found him even talking to someone from the opposite sex. Obviously she wasn’t too comfortable with him discussing his life and sharing all his secrets with me,” says Dhar, who couldn’t make it to the wedding after all. “ I was very happy for him. After all he was one of my best friends. We used to talk over the phone for hours in college discussing everything under the sun. And when I say everything it included sex lives.” Dhar admits if the two hadn’t fallen in love with different people, they might have ended up marrying each other. “ We had a sort of a back- up pact like in My Best Friend’s Wedding .” But unlike Julia Roberts in the film, Dhar isn’t much perturbed though. “I have found a new best friend in my husband. But I hope my friend grows up soon,” she says. Relationship therapists term Dhar’s ‘ letting go’ act to be the wisest thing to do.

Dr Khurana says such situations should be dealt with maturity.

“Equations change after marriage. Your spouse becomes your 24x7 best friend. If you are seeking emotional support from another best friend from the opposite sex outside your marriage you are not being fair to your partner,” he says.

THE BALANCING ART

MARRIAGE counsellor, Anu Goel, who counselled Fernandes says married people can afford to have best friends from the opposite sex but there’s a rider attached. “ The relationship with the spouse should be very strong. The trust level between the partners should be high.

And both the husband and wife should know where to draw the line. Otherwise it’s not too difficult to have an extra marital affair these days. It’s as easy as blinking!” says Goel.

Ujjawal Suri, 28, a Delhi- based software professional, who is single in the city has many close male friends who are married. “ If you’re a good friend you will take care not to ruin your friend’s marriage,” says Suri, admitting that equations change after marriage.

“You can’t call up your friend in the middle of the night any more, for instance,” he says.

The best way out is to befriend the spouse as well. “ I make sure I have a good equation with the husband too. That way I have two people to turn to, and to get a female as well as male point of view,” says Suri.

GENDER DOES MATTER

Interestingly, Dr Khurana feels discussing marital problems with your best friend amounts to emotional cheating.

“You should first sort it out with your partner. The moment you start giving precedence to your best friend over your spouse, you should know there is something wrong. I consider it emotional cheating,” says Khurana.

A closer look at Reliance 3G Tab; specifications and tariff plans detailed....!!!

2011-08-16T21:37:00.001+05:30

Reliance is presently enjoying the limelight with the launch of its 3G tablet. The Reliance 3G tablet has been priced at Rs. 12,999, a move that is likely to kick off a fresh price war in the tablet segment. Hours after the official launch, the telecom company has divulged the spec details and tariff plans for its new tab on its website. The Reliance 3G Tab is an Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) based device, featuring 7-inch sensitive capacitive multi-touch screen, 2MP rear camera and a VGA camera, Live TV app and so on.

he Reliance 3G Tab is quite light as it weighs just 389gms. The company says the device runs on 800 Mhz CPU power and battery life is of 9 hours of talktime and 300 hours of standby time. The device comes with a free 4GB Memory card which is expandable upto 32GB. It also has Wi-Fi Hotspot feature with which the user can connect up to five 5 Wi-Fi devices at a time.

The Reliance 3G Tab comes with some pre-loaded apps namely YouTube, Google Map & Google Search, R World Online, Android Market, Social Networking inclusive of Twitter, Facebook and Gtalk, and Gmail.

Technical Specifications

Operating System ( OS )	Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Screen Type & Size	Capacitive multi-touch screen, 7 inch TFT-LCD WVGA screen
Weight	389 gms
Camera	Back: 2 megapixel Front: VGA
Talk time	Upto 9 hours ( 300 hrs stand by time )
Display	800 X 480 pixels
Battery	3400mAH, Li-On
External Memory	Supports MicroSD card upto 32GB (4GB MicroSD Card offered Free)
Audio support Format	AAC, AAC+, AMR/AMR-NB, MP3 MIDI, Ogg PCM/WAV
Video support Format	MP4, H.263,H.264
Image support Format	BMP/PNG/JPEG
CPU	800 MHz
Call Features	Mute in call, Speed Dial, Switch to Bluetooth device, 3 way calling
Other support features	Video recorder, Wi-Fi Hotspot,Bluetooth Voice calling, GPS, FM Radio, Alarm, speaker phone, MobileTV, SMS, MMS

Reliance has also come up with some bundled tariff plans with its 3G Tablet. The plans are meant for both prepaid and postpaid customers.

Prepaid & Postpaid : Super Value Combo Offer ( Annual )

Free Data Usage / month	1 GB	2 GB	5GB
Reliance 3G Tab Price (in Rs)	12,999	12,999	12,999
Regular Rental for 12 months (in Rs)	7,788	8,988	14388
Discounted Advance Rental for 12 months (in Rs)	4,500	5,500	7,000
Combo Price for a year (in Rs)	17,499	18,499	19,999
Customers saves in (Rs)	3,288	3,488	7,388
Customer saves in (%)	42%	39%	51%

Prepaid & Postpaid : Value Offer ( Monthly )

Free Data Usage / month	2GB	5GB
Regular Price / month (in Rs)	749	1,199
Discounted Price / month (in Rs)	598	798
Customer saves in (Rs)	1,812	4,812
Customer saves in (%)	20.00%	33%

Spy kids 4 trailer.......!!!

2011-07-17T16:22:00.000+05:30

Final Destination 5 Trailer.....!!!

2011-07-17T16:04:00.000+05:30

Don2 trailer.....!!!!

2011-07-17T15:35:00.000+05:30

Apple iPhone 5's A6 processor to feature TSMC's 3D IC technology.......!!!

2011-07-17T15:04:00.001+05:30

While we have been hearing about and expecting the first 3D transistors to arrive from Intel, it looks like Apple and its A6 processor might get there first, for the iPhone 5. A report by the Taiwanese EETimes says TSMC is already sampling the 28nm A6 processor for Apple, to determine the yield rates for the new 3D process.

There are reports of the iPhone 5 being delayed due to space and heat issues with the A5 processor (the iPad 2’s CPU) in the smaller form factor. This is considered the biggest reason for accelerating development on the A6 processor, but Apple may also be trying to reduce its reliability on Samsung for the A5 chip. Expected gains from the Apple A6 and the new process is a performance boost of up to 30%, and a reduction in power consumption by nearly 50%, meaning lowered heat output.

Intel’s 3D transistor technology, or Tri-Gate, is expected in 22nm Ivy Bridge processors that are scheduled to arrive by the end of 2011. TSMC’s 3D IC design, the one Apple is reportedly using on the A6 processor, is also said to be less complex, relying on interconnects communicating between die layers, but in a far more effective fashion than previous layering technology seen in the A4 and A5.

TSMC said its commercial 28nm production is scheduled to begin by the end of 2011 as well, so we’ll see who gets there first – Apple or Intel. Samsung's 28nm production should also commence in the same period. In the meanwhile, other rumours speculate that Apple might release an A4-based Apple iPhone 4S in the time it takes TSMC to finish up with the A6, which will be destined for the iPhone 5.

Facebooks astonishing new feature to be Skype video chat?

2011-07-04T19:12:00.000+05:30

It seems the "awesome" feature due out this week from Facebook Seattle will be unveiled at a press conference on July 6. The new feature will apparently be an in-browser video and voice chat feature, built in collaboration with Skype, if reports citing insider sources are to be believed. The invite for the conference can be seen below, and certainly, it seems to have something to do with chat.

There will apparently also be a desktop component for the software, based on the number of recent desktop software hires at the Seattle office, something that will probably integrate Facebook into Skype. For now, whether this will be part of Skype, or an added update, is yet to be confirmed. Features such as News Feed, and Phonebook look to be part of the integration.

This is not the first time that Facebook and Skype have partnered, with talks rumoured since last year. All this is made even more interesting by the fact that Microsoft is in the process of acquiring Skype, and that it also happens to be a major stakeholder in Facebook. Seems like a win-win situation.

Samsung breaking records with Galaxy S II, sells 3 million in 55 days.......!!!

2011-07-04T19:02:00.000+05:30

The Samsung Galaxy S II has been an immensely popular phone with both critics and users ever since its release nearly two months ago, and now, we are seeing some numbers to back up that statement. Samsung has announced it has managed to sell 3 million Galaxy S II phones in the 55 days that have elapsed since launch, going ahead and breaking Samsung's own product sale records. Doing some quick math, that comes down to nearly 50,000 devices being sold each day, the world over.

Talk about no supply problem and product shortages! Samsung also revealed that the most phones sold were in the European territories. All this, without the Galaxy S II being sold in one of the world's biggest markets for smartphones and Apple's primary target for the bestselling iPhone - the United States of America. Truly astounding...

We won't be surprised if the device manages to break the original Galaxy S phone's (and its family's) total sales records, very soon. Speaking of families, Samsung also recently introduced a low-cost version of the Galaxy S II, called the Galaxy Z, which is surprisingly well-endowed for a cheaper alternative.

Ultimate gaming news roundup: SWTOR, Crysis 2, Duty Calls, Yakuza 4 trailers and more..........!!!

2011-02-05T03:15:00.000+05:30

A lot has happened in the world of gaming since our last roundup, so sit back, click through, and enjoy the ride! Use the below index for handy navigation:

Crysis 2 minimum requirements:

Crytek has released the minimum requirements of its upcoming first person shooter, Crysis 2. They certainly do not give an indication of how demanding the game will be on Very High or Enthusiast settings, but, if you’ve been avoiding an upgrade for a while, you might just want to check these requirements out. A new trailer were also revealed, seen below:

OS: XP / Vista / Windows 7
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz, AMD Athlon 64 X2 2Ghz or better
2 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 9 GB
DVD ROM: 8x
GPU: nVidia 8800GT 512MB RAM, ATI 3850HD 512MB RAM or better
Audio: DirectX 9.0c-compatible
Keyboard, Mouse or the Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Yakuza 4 cutscene:

According to UK game-ratings board BBFC, the infamous open world Japanese mafia game – Yakuza 4 – will have over 384 minutes of cutscene footage, which translates to over 6 hours of content. The game, known for its brutal violence, has received an age rating of 18 by the board, which claims Yakuza 4 contains “strong bloody violence and strong language.” Already released in Japan, the game will arrive in the rest of the world on March 18th.
Check out some cutscene footage of the game in two trailers below:

F.E.A.R. 3 screenshots and co-op trailer

F.E.A.R 3 is being made by Day 1 Studios, who replaced series creators Monolith Productions. F.E.A.R. 3 will certainly try to up the ante on the already horrifying F.E.A.R series. The below screenshots, as well as the recent co-op trailer, certainly don’t do much to detract from their claim. The game was supposed to arrive on March 22nd, but will now only hit shelves sometime in May.

F.E.A.R. 3 Screenshots

Duty Calls made by Epic Games

Epic Games and Cliff Bleszinski have not shied away from using crude phrases and graphic videos to show just how irreverent and self-deprecating their upcoming FPS, Bulletstorm, will be. Now, probably with EA’s explicit permission after the relative failure of Medal of Honor versus Call of Duty: Black Ops, they’ve created a free game that spoofs the COD series, and all military FPS games in general. Called Duty Calls: The Calm Before the Storm, the game is no half-assed demo, and the 758MB download will actually need up to of 8GB of space on your system once installed, and has some pretty mean minimum specifications. Quite amazing the lengths to which competitors go nowadays to defame each other.

Check out the extremely funny game trailer below, and a complete walkthrough video after that (contains spoilers), and download the game from here.

New SWTOR trailer details Flashpoint gameplay

The latest SWTOR trailer from BioWare reveals the gameplay of the Republic Flashpoint missions, set on the planet Taral V. It shows some of the combat awaiting players, as well as the manner of the interactive mission briefings.

Taking a little inspiration from the World of Warcraft and its episodic heroic dungeon segments, the Flashpoints are storylines that have extra-strong enemies to fight, requiring co-op teams to play.

The Flashpoints revealed in the trailer include: The Esseles (Early Game, Republic Only); The Black Talon (Early Game, Empire Only); Taral V (Mid Game, Republic Only); Boarding Party (Mid Game, Empire Only); and Directive 7 (End Game, Both Factions).

While rumours are floating around that the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO might be delayed till September, the latest official announcement by EA CEO show the companies’ expectations of the subscriber base. "We previously described to folks that 500,000 subscribers saw the game as substantially profitable, but it's not the kind of thing that we would write home about. [But] anything north of 1 million subscribers is a very profitable business."

Battlefield 1943 and Bad Company 2: Onslaught now cancelled for PC

DICE, the acclaimed developers of Battlefield 2: Bad Company and numerous other popular first person shooter titles, has revealed some rather disappointing information for FPS who use the PC as their gaming platform. DICE’s previously announced PC release for Battlefield 1943, and the upcoming Bad Company 2: Onslaught (a co-op add-on to Battlefield: Bad Company 2), will now not be released for PC, and have “officially been cancelled.”

This move was apparently made to allow the developers as much time and energy as possible in developing the Battlefield 3, which they hope will be the "the best Battlefield game ever" and "the biggest launch in DICE's history."

Painkiller Redemption released

The stunningly fun Painkiller series has had an illustrious and checkered history, releasing to much hype in 2004. Originally developed by People Can Fly (now of Bulletstorm fame) for DreamCatcher Interactive, the game saw an expansion pack (Battle out of Hell) in the same year, before getting a fan-made DreamCatcher funded sequel (Overdose) in 2007. In 2009, JoWood Entertainment and Homegrown Games released yet another sequel (Resurrection).
Now, JoWood Entertainment has announced a new installment of the franchise, a third-party mod called Redemption that it decided to develop into a full game. Set to release later this month, the game allows you to play as the original hero Daniel Garner of Painkiller and Battle out of Hell editions, or, as Belial from Overdose.

Dark Souls intro trailer and screenshots
Dark Souls, scheduled for a holiday 2011 release on Xbox 360 and PS3, is a game that’s been developed by From Software and will be published by Namco Bandai.
Likened to Demon’s Souls, the game certainly looks morbid, and you can check out the trailer and screenshots below:

Dark Souls screenshots

Battlefield 1943 and Bad Company 2: Onslaught now cancelled for PC

DICE, the acclaimed developers of Battlefield 2: Bad Company and numerous other popular first person shooter titles, has revealed some rather disappointing information for FPS who use the PC as their gaming platform. DICE’s previously announced PC release for Battlefield 1943, and the upcoming Bad Company 2: Onslaught (a co-op add-on to Battlefield: Bad Company 2), will now not be released for PC, and have “officially been cancelled.”
This move was apparently made to allow the developers as much time and energy as possible in developing the Battlefield 3, which they hope will be the "the best Battlefield game ever" and "the biggest launch in DICE's history."
Painkiller Redemption released

The stunningly fun Painkiller series has had an illustrious and checkered history, releasing to much hype in 2004. Originally developed by People Can Fly (now of Bulletstorm fame) for DreamCatcher Interactive, the game saw an expansion pack (Battle out of Hell) in the same year, before getting a fan-made DreamCatcher funded sequel (Overdose) in 2007. In 2009, JoWood Entertainment and Homegrown Games released yet another sequel (Resurrection).

Now, JoWood Entertainment has announced a new installment of the franchise, a third-party mod called Redemption that it decided to develop into a full game. Set to release later this month, the game allows you to play as the original hero Daniel Garner of Painkiller and Battle out of Hell editions, or, as Belial from Overdose.
Dark Souls intro trailer and screenshots
Dark Souls, scheduled for a holiday 2011 release on Xbox 360 and PS3, is a game that’s been developed by From Software and will be published by Namco Bandai.
Likened to Demon’s Souls, the game certainly looks morbid, and you can check out the trailer and screenshots below:

Dark Souls screenshots

Complete Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds intro video, character guide and move list

Set to release on February 15th, 2011, Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds will hit shelves ten years after its predecessor released, and as you can imagine, there are plenty of folks almost dying of anticipation. MTV’s Multiplayer Blog has decided to accumulate the wealth of knowledge that has been revealed about the game, creating complete character guides and moves lists available online even before the game has released. Check it out here

New Batman: Arkham City new screens revealed
Batman: Arkham City is certainly a much looked forward to game that’s scheduled to sometime in Q3 2011. Created by Rocksteady Studios, the developers of the critically-acclaimed Arkham Asylum, the game will sport a variety of new villains, including Two-Face. Check out the new screenshots of the game below, along with Two-Face artwork.

Swimming-simulation game for Kinect

The Kinect has been making its mark as a versatile full-body and gesture control interface as well as a 3D camera, and publishers and developers are now rushing to capitalize on the trend, with numerous new games being announced for the platform. Now, Blitz and 505 Games have decided to develop a swimming simulation game for the Kinect and the Xbox 360, branded with Olympic champ Michael Phelps.
Called Michael Phelps: Push the Limit, the game will apparently release sometime this June, and using the Kinect and BlitzTech middleware will "capture the player’s exact movements to put them in control of an up-and-coming swimmer." The game will also teach strokes and techniques to the player.
Homefront delayed by a week, to arrive on March 15th

At the recent THQ investor call, CEO Brian Farrell revealed that the release of its much awaited FPS – Homefront – has now been delayed by a week to March 15th. While no official reason was given for the change in dates, other major March 8th releases like Dragon Age 2 might just be the deciding factor here.

2011-02-05T02:29:00.000+05:30

Funny Scary Videos............!!!

2011-02-04T03:06:00.002+05:30

Funny Videos.......!!!

2011-02-04T02:46:00.000+05:30

Vacuum-Packed: Waterproof Case for Tablets......!!!

2011-02-04T02:29:00.000+05:30

Take your iPad to the beach, the lake, the bathroom or the kitchen and keep it safe with this waterproof iPad case from DryCase. The clear plastic bag seals in your tablet and keeps the water out, and you can keep using it while it is safely sequestered within.

Attentive readers will remember my home-made effort at a kitchen-proof iPad case, fashioned from nothing but a zip-lock bag and a healthy disdain for peril. It worked, but I wouldn’t trust it underwater.

The DryCase, on the other hand, provides a stronger seal. You slide in the iPad (or other tablet, or Kindle) and close the top. You then suck out the air inside using a small (included) bulb-type hand-pump, or just your mouth. The vacuum seals the bag, so nothing gets in or out. Except light (you can use the tablet’s camera), touch and sound – the case has a sealed pass-through headphone jack with a plug inside, and it’s a three-way so you can use it with the iDevice remote and mic.

The DryCase will cost you $60. Steep, but cheaper than a new iPad, and with one big advantage over any other iPad case – unless Apple makes the iPad 2 with a 15-inch screen, the DryCase will fit perfectly, whatever case-shape changes Apple makes.

Available now.

Faith vs. Doubt

2011-02-04T00:27:00.000+05:30

Doubt sees the obstacles.
Faith sees the way.
Doubt sees the darkest night.
Faith sees the day.
Doubt dreads to take a step.
Faith soars on high.
Doubt questions "Who believes"?
Faith answers "I".