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noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 03:14:00 +0000

Ecommerce Shopping Cart Platform is a software that helps the customer to shop from the website, the customer can select the product and add everything to the virtual cart.

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Shopping cart software is usually made with different types of programming languages. Such as PHP, ASP, JAVA, etc. and with markup languages like JavaScript, HTML, etc.

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21 Most Visited Free Fonts Site

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:27:00 +0000

As a designer, I’m always out there looking for more cool free fonts to expand my killer font collections. The influences of fonts are simply amazing, different font can totally change the attitude of a piece of design. Choosing the right font is very important but it not easy.

We need more choices, so here are 21 most important free fonts sites I’ve come to know. If you have more recommendations, feel free to share.

1001FreeFonts
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Archive: Over 6000
1001fonts
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Archive:Over 2600
- Font Preview: Yes
- Latest Fonts, Top Rated, Most Popular
FontFreak
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Archive:Over 5000
- Latest Fonts
Acid Fonts
- Platform: PC, Mac (Need to convert)
Font Reactor
- Platform: PC
- Font Preview: Yes
- Latest Fonts, Most Downloaded, Top Rated
FontFace
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Font Preview:Yes
- Top Fonts
SketchPad
- Platform: PC, Mac
Abstract Fonts
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Archive:Over 11,000
- Font Preview:Yes
- Latest Fonts
FreeFontsNow
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Most Popular
Font Shack
- Platform: PC, Mac
FontFiles
- Platform: PC, Mac
Fontica
- Platform: PC
- Font Preview:Yes
- Top Fonts
Font Garden
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Latest Fonts
Urban Fonts
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Archive:Over 8000
- Font Preview: Yes
- Latest Fonts, Top Fonts
DaFont
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Font Preview:Yes
- Latest Fonts, Top Fonts
Search Free Fonts
- Platform: PC
Font Paradise
- Platform: PC
- Archive:Over 2800
- Font Preview:Yes
SimpleTheBest
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Font Preview:Yes
Chank
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Latest Fonts
Font File
- Platform: PC
- Latest Fonts
Font Flood
- Platform: PC, Mac
- Font Preview: Yes

iPhone 4S battery drain fixing Apple iOS 5.0.2 release delayed?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:27:00 +0000

ew reports suggest Apple has delayed the release of iOS 5.0.2 with the touted iPhone 4S battery drain fix reportedly still carrying bugs

The much maligned battery issues still plaguing the recently released Apple iPhone 4S look set to continue with new reports suggesting Apple's second update to its latest mobile operating system, iOS 5.0.2 has been delayed.

Whilst Apple had failed to officially confirm it was to release the latest iOS 5patch this week, it was widely expected the software fix would land in another attempt to quell the widely reported battery drain issues affecting the company's latest portable blower.

iOS 5.0.2 Delays

With more testing reportedly required the expected iOS 5.0.2 release has been pushed back with the battery fixing software overhaul claimed to have been in line to also address issues with Documents in iCloud and a selection of other, lesser concerns.

iOS 5.0.1 Release

Pushed out earlier this month, Apple’s first attempt to rectify the damaging battery issues associated with its latest operating system and handsets failed to correctly identify the issue with rapid loss of battery continuing to affect many users.

Have you been affected by the recent iPhone 4S battery drain saga, has it put you off splashing out on an Apple iDevice in the future? Let us know via the comments box below.

Via: TechRadar

Facebook opens up 'four degrees of separation' theory

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:30:00 +0000

till very much a theory open to hotly contested debate the idea that you're just four-clicks away from the world could soon be proved thanks to Facebook

Facebook has carried out a mass study which suggests that on their site everyone is now an average from just four clicks away from the rest of the Facebook population, cutting down the widely held 'Six degrees of separation' theory to just four.

"When we limit our analysis to a single country, be it the US, Sweden, Italy, or any other, we find that the world gets even smaller, and most pairs of people are only separated by 3 degrees (4 hops)."

In a study carried out with the help of the Università degli Studi di Milano the social website was able to show that in fact since its inception Facebook has drastically made the world a smaller place.

Bringing forth the theories of 'Glocalisation' which implies the power that online social networks have in making the world feel more local, the study is a startling reminder of just how many people use Facebook.

"In our studies, performed earlier this year, we examined all 721 million active Facebook users (more than 10% of the global population), with 69 billion friendships among them. To date, these are the largest social network studies ever released."

Is this news a good thing or a bad thing, is the world becoming a smaller place? Let us know what you think via the comments box below...

Source: Facebook

Call of Duty Elite tops one million subscribers in opening week

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:29:00 +0000

espite continued issues and server outages Activision's subscription-based COD service Call of Duty Elite has topped one million subscribers

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 developer Activision has revealed that the game's newly launch additional subscription based service, Call of Duty Elite, has topped the one million Elite subscribers milestone in its opening week.

Despite being hit by continued issues and service outages, sign ups for the COD extension have hit staggering heights with more than one million users splashing the cash on the premium subscription in the six days following launch.

Whilst an Elite subscription comes packaged with the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition, eager gamers can drop £34.99 for a year's access via the PSN and Xbox Live outlets. More than four million users have signed up to the service's free tier.

"The audience response to Call of Duty Elite's premium service has been beyond our expectations, and we want to thank Call of Duty players around the world for their unprecedented enthusiasm," said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.

"The number of gamers who have registered for Call of Duty Elite further illustrates how this service is poised to redefine social gaming and set a new bar for interactive entertainment."

Call of Duty Elite Issues

Plagued with server outages in the days following launch Activision blamed the continued problems on unexpectedly high demand before being forced to extend subscribers' access to the system with a 30 day free extension.

Have you already signed up to the COD enhancing Call of Duty Elite service? Let us know what you think of it via the comments box below.

Via: CVG

Tech Today: Samsung mocks iPhone fanboys in Galaxy SII ad

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:24:00 +0000

n today's round-up Samsung has launched a catty commercial poking fun at iPhone fanatics, while Microsoft says it is working on a new Kinect device specific to Windows. Here's the tech news that broke after you logged off

Samsung pokes fun at Apple fanboys in new Galazy SII app
The war between Apple and Samsung just got personal with the Korean giant taking aim at Apple's loyal army of fanboys in its latest commercial for the Galaxy SII smartphone. The ad, which is set to screen in the States on Thanksgiving Thursday, pokes fun at those waiting hours in line for the new iPhone 4S. Our favourite line of the commercial comes when an Apple fan sneers "I could never get a Samsung, I'm creative."
Link: Mashable

Microsoft to release Windows-specific Kinect peripheral
As The Big M gears up for the launch of a commercial SDK for its Kinect for Windows program, the company has revealed that changes are afoot to the peripheral itself, to make it more suitable for use in a desktop environment. The company says it has "optimized certain hardware components and made firmware adjustments which better enable PC-centric scenarios." Among the changes is a near mode, which allows the sensor to measure close-up objects with greater accuracy.
Link: Kinect blog

In-app subscriptions now available to App Store game developers
Games makes have now been permitted to give customers the option to subscribe to aspects of their Apple App Store gaming offerings. Big Fish Gaming is now offering an all you can eat monthly subscription to its back catalogue of games for $6.99 a month. The developer says Apple was initially cool on the idea: “It took longer than usual to be approved,” Bg Fish founder Paul Thelen said. “They needed to be convinced there’s a reason to charge customers every month.”
Link: Bloomberg

BlackBerry PlayBook native email almost ready?
It's becoming largely irrelevant as the weeks pass and RIM's tablet falters further, but it appears the Canadians are finally ready to bring the long-promised native email application to the BlackBerry PlayBook. The OS upgrade, which will also include a Calendar will launch in February. BlackBerry Cool has some shots of how the app will look.
Link: BlackBerry Cool

Nokia Windows Phone sales expectations scaled back
Analysts have claimed that Nokia will only sell half a million Lumia 800 Windows Phone devices by the end of 2011. Research firm Pacific Crest had initially expected the Finns to shift 2m devices before the year was out, but have since scaled back its guess. Meanwhile another firm has compared the Lumia 800 buzz to the N8 buzz using Google trends and concluded that the new device is also likely to be a flop.
Link: TechRadar

Tech Today: Samsung's Google TV deal, Spotify's new direction

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:09:00 +0000

ate-breaking news on Monday saw Google launch an impressive iOS Search app upgrade, while Spotify is set to unveil a 'new direction'. Also, Samsung is set to be the latest manufacturer to embrace Google TV.

Google iPad search app gets major overhaul

As Google seeks to narrow the gap on the iPad with the Android-powered range of tablets, this particular move could be seen as slightly counter productive. The Search giant has released a new app for iPad which allows the left hand side of the screen to be used as the search results portion of the page, while the right hand side displays the website itself. Pretty cool for iPad users, but why no Android love?
Link: AllThingsD

Spotify set to unveil 'new direction'
Music streaming pioneer Spotify is set to to unveil some big news next week with CEO Daniel Ek promising a new direction for the company. Spotify has a media event in New York next week. The company added: "In New York on 30 November, we are holding our first press conference to unveil the latest major development from Spotify – and a new direction for the company."
Link: TechRadar

Facebook adds 'sponsored stories' to side ticker
It's finally happening: Adverts are about to infiltrate your Facebook feeds with the company revealing that sponsored stories will imminently be appearing in the live ticker on the right hand side of your homepage. Rather than display actual advertisements, sponsored stories will simply show which brands your friends Like using the social network.
Link: TechCrunch

Samsung next to saddle up with Google TV
According to a report from Reuters, Samsung is about to partner up with Google to provide access to the search giant's UK-bound connected TV platform. The report claims the companies are in "late-stage talks" with a view to launching products in early 2012. Reuters reckons that Samsung's GTV offering will differ from the Sony and Logitech iterations already out there. Google TV is also set to arrive in the UK in early 2012
Link: Reuters

Vodafone partners with Sony for PS Vita 3G connectivity
The 3G prowess of the forthcoming Sony PlayStation Vita will be handled by Vodafone. Pocket-Lint reports that a Vodafone SIM card will ship with all PS Vita models in Europe, with Sony admitting that the network will be the "preferred partner". An official press statement said: "Partnering with Vodafone will enable PS Vita users in the selected countries to always be connected with their PlayStation life, friends and games, wherever they are."
Link: Pocket-Lint

Nokia Lumia 800 review: Battery and Connectivity

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:07:00 +0000

Battery life

The Nokia Lumia 800 we were provided for this review lasted a day before showing the critical battery warning. It lasted marginally longer when we updated the software, which was supposed to fix the issue completely, but in practice it's still a lot worse than other phones on the market.

We were using the Mix Radio a fair bit, and on occasion enjoyed a movie session - but even then, the battery drain was too high, with around four hours of video obliterating the power pack to critical levels.

When we compare the specifications the competition is interesting with the Nokia Lumia 800 achieving 780 minutes GSM talk time and 265hrs GSM standby in comparison to 410 minutes and 460hrs from the HTC Titan.

The overall standby times may be down to the Nokia Lumia 800's 1450mAh battery compared with the HTC Titan's 1600mAh offering.

Charging of the Nokia Lumia 800 is achieved via its single micro-USB connector enabling charging via mains adaptor or PC USB, keeping things simple. A nice touch is the offset hinge rocker mechanism on the micro-USB cover making opening the cover a lot easier than previous devices.

Press on the raised area next to the headphone socket and the other end of the cover pops out. No more trying to hook your fingers under a tiny ridge.

To aid battery management there is an option in the phone settings to turn on battery saver automatically when the battery level drops below a preset figure, switching certain services off like automatic email retrieval and background applications.

Connectivity

As usual the Nokia Lumia 800 comes packaged with a USB to micro-USB cable for charging and physical connection for synchronisation and data transfer.

In addition to its hard connectivity the Nokia Lumia 800 supports Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, and WiFi 802.11b/g/n with the usual WEP, WPA, WPA2 (Enterprise & Personal) methods available.

The first time the Nokia Lumia 800 is connected to a PC the standard automatic driver setup occurs followed by a request to install Microsoft Zune software which is Microsoft's response to iTunes providing access enabling synchronisation of music and video between PC and phone.

We're still very disappointed in the lack of drag and drop options for the Zune interface on the PC – we want to just chuck songs and movies on our device through a standard Windows Explorer interface without having to spend ages synchronising them over, but Microsoft is having none of it.

Obviously, you can drag and drop the files within the Zune application to the little phone icon in the corner, but unless you fancy faffing around with third party applications, this is the only way you can manage it - in the same way as iTunes.

So if you want to plop a video on the device or simply bung over a few tracks from an obscure folder, you'll need to select the relevant items in the Zune player and wait ages (especially in the case of video) to get them across. Even though the system says it accepts MP4, our files were clearly in the wrong codec and couldn't be played without copious conversion.

However, the same files were instantly playable on the Galaxy S2 - why Nokia (well, in fairness, Microsoft) has to be so convoluted, we don't know.

One thing we do like is the ability to wirelessly sync: if your phone and PC are on and plugged in (and connected to the same network) any items you've flagged for syncing will automatically jump across while you sleep – if you don't turn off your computer at night, that is.

Maps

When it comes to maps and satellite navigation, Nokia have been leading the pack for a while now. Disappointingly, the Nokia Lumia 800 device supplied for this review has limited functionality in this area based on the software version installed, although we have been informed this will not be the case for the public release.

However, even with the update we were unable to access the Maps service, so we'll be checking into that and bringing you our findings in the very near future.

On our Nokia Lumia 800 the standard Bing Maps app came pre-installed alongside a limited-functionality Nokia Drive navigation app.

The discriminator between Nokia's Windows Phone products and other manufacturer's offerings is that only Nokia product will have Drive with its free turn-by-turn voice navigation with downloadable, on-device maps. The Nokia Maps apps on the other hand is to be released via the Marketplace to all WP7 devices.

Using the Drive app highlighted a number of limitations when compared with the latest version of Nokia Maps on Symbian Anna and Belle devices. The first of which is that it is not possible to set your home location.

Add to this that destination setting can only be achieved by text entry search, which however good it is, and it is very good, is still a major limitation compared to online favourites, selecting from a point on the map and selecting a location from your contacts.

Accepting these limitations, the speed and accuracy of location is excellent, finding our location within a couple of seconds on every occasion. Once in navigation mode we also noticed the lack of voice files including the 'with streets' option, developed on Symbian, which use text-to-speech to include road names in the navigation guidance.

In addition to the Nokia Drive and future Nokia Maps app there is a standard WP7 Maps app. Opening this app displays your current location using downloaded maps, rather than on device data.

The bottom soft button bar provides access to Local Scout, Navigation (without voice), My location and a search facility. Although the interface is very crisp the app does not stand up to the Nokia Maps offering when released and will likely become pretty redundant on Nokia Windows Phones.

Apps

Although the re-installed apps list is somewhat limited, the quality of apps available via the Marketplace is impressive. When compared with other app stores, quantity is not everything as this often brings a drop off in quality.

That said, we'll run through the pre-installed apps in alphabetical order as displayed in the on device apps list.

First in the list is the Alarm app. Operation is simple, tapping on a plus symbol in the soft button bar at the base of the screen to add alarm providing time, repeat, sound and name entry fields and finally tapping on the floppy disk symbol in the soft button bar to save.

Tapping on the repeats entry field provides a Monday to Sunday multi select list with the only thing missing being a start and end date, but this is something that can be achieved in the calendar app instead.

Once an alarm is set the alarm slider toggle is displayed next to it to enable/disable it and a long press opens an edit screen where it can be deleted.

App Highlights is another Nokia WP7 only app which appears to be Nokia's suggestions from the Marketplace. In some ways this app doesn't need to exist alongside the standard Marketplace app although the shake based 'surprise me' functionality is fun.

Calculator is simple and easy to use with large buttons and an even larger display with standard operators and a single memory.

Calendar opens by default in day view, lateral scrollable agenda and to-do views. All entries are colour coded based on which cloud service they are saved on.

The cloud services available are based on those that you set-up in the e-mail and accounts settings discussed earlier. Views have the same icons in the soft button bar, namely (from left to right): the date, new event/task and day/month toggle.

Creating a new entry appears no different to other phone calendars with Subject, Location, When How long, Reminder, Occurs, Status, Attendees, Notes and a private toggle.

Hopefully the release of Nokia Maps will introduce a link between location and the maps app as seen on Symbian Anna devices – plus we're hoping to see multiple Gmail calendars available too, as having a single option is poor at the moment.

Games is the link between WP7 and Xbox Live. Once the Windows Live account associated with your Xbox Live account has been added to your phone the app opens on the Collection screen installed games at the top and suggestion for trial and purchase below.

A quick swipe to the left displays your Xbox Live account credentials and avatar, with further swipes transitioning to friends and messages, game and turn requests, spotlight and back to your collection.

As mentioned at Nokia World some console and WP7 games are integrated to the degree that you can transfer your game between your console and phone by taking a snap of a Microsoft tag detailing your game progress, such as Kinectimals.

Help + How-to is another app which feels like it should be in settings rather than taking space on the apps list as it is on device help rather than a functional app.

Office provides access to mobile versions of OneNote, Word, Excel and PowerPoint capable of working with documents either on device or on Microsoft cloud-based services like SkyDrive, SharePoint and Office 365.

Although these apps have reduced functionality compared to the full PC variants they can do more than enough for mobile users. Things like formulae in Excel are supported with help and guidance during entry.

One thing we found interesting is that when you tap the plus symbol to create a new document the options are limited to Word and Excel, however you can open the pre-loaded OneNote and PowerPoint documents and save them as new documents.

The last app on the list is We Care, which is less of an app and more of a privacy statement from Nokia. Unless this is going to be used for more in the long run, it should be moved to an about screen in Settings or removed completely. Luckily a long press does give the option to uninstall.

If you decide you need more than comes pre-installed which will probably be the case a quick trip to the Marketplace app provides a one-stop shop for third party apps.

On opening the app you are presented with a list of the main categories, namely: applications, games and music which can be added to by your mobile provider.

As we were using an Orange SIM card we had an additional 'Orange Selects' entry at the top of the list showing what Orange think we may need to better our experience.

From here you can either tap on a category or swipe left to lateral scroll through the three default category screens or you can search from any of these screens to find what you want.

Nokia Lumia 800 review: Verdict

The Nokia Lumia 800 is a very attractive device with a nice weight and when the on contract price is free, it's even better. We've now overhauled our review with a score thanks to our updated software, and we're happy to announce a few marked improvements.

We liked

The size, shape and weight of the Nokia Lumia 800 provides a quality feel, and is a unique shape compared to many other phones on the market.

The GUI feels intuitive with a very impressive speed of response, providing a continuity of feel between applications.

The pre-installed Internet Explorer 9 is a super zippy browser, although not the fastest around - although we are impressed with how much of an improvement Microsoft and Nokia working together have made.

The use and merging of multiple cloud sources for contacts, calendar and social apps is well executed, and is actually one of the easiest to use when it comes to linking contacts together.

The Games are with its integration with Xbox Live is a excellent with the ability to transfer game progress between console and phone.

We disliked

No profiles and this automated profile transitioning as provided on Symbian^3 and newer devices - although this is a problem many smartphones have nowadays.

The phone speaker is disappointing based on previous Nokia devices with a quite tinny sound quality, certainly not among the best on the market, especially in loud conditions.

Battery performance is poor compared with other recent Nokia devices - none of the Finnish bullet-proof battery life we used to be able to rely on.

Video recording is not up to recent Nokia standards with no zoom whilst recording and poor light and focus response worsening further in low light environments.

Mix Radio's lack of download options still really galls, and the touchscreen issue, though intermitten, rankles when it disturbs what you're trying to do.

Verdict

Although we had our doubts during initial familiarisation with the Nokia WP7 environment the transition from the Symbian environment is much less painful than expected. In less than 48hrs we went from wanting to return to our old phones to not wanting to let go of this one.

Whereas the start screen tiles initially felt a little unwieldy and wasteful of the display real estate the reasoning behind the GUI styling soon became apparent such that we realised it is all about simplicity and intuitiveness.

Start screen icons are large to minimise the chances of incorrect icon selection. The phone dial pad screen only has what it really needs to make a call. The alphabetical apps list is the easiest way to find apps as we all know our A-Z.

We did note a number of issues with the review device, and while many were rectified with a software update, some remained. The biggest stumbling block of these being the poor video capture and lack of zoom during recording.

The result of our time with the Nokia Lumia 800 has left us wanting more. The big question you have to ask is: do you buy the Nokia Lumia 800 with WP Mango installed or do you wait and see what devices Nokia release on the next and Nokia influenced WP8 devices next year?

However - we can't look at the phone as just a list of specs. It's the best Windows Phone device out there, but there is room for improvement. We said the same thing with the last crop of WP devices, and while we're happy to wait a little longer, we hope that we start seeing some Microsoft-fulled superphones in the near future.

Nokia Lumia 800 review: Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:07:00 +0000

One of the big changes for Nokia is that the new Nokia Windows Phones lack a front facing camera which places them on the back foot to start with when compared with the HTC Titan and HTC Radar and other non-WP7 devices.

This move came as a surprise as Nokia devices have long had front facing cameras with the similarly packaged Nokia N9 having one in the bottom corner.

This is exacerbated by the recent acquisition of Skype by Microsoft providing an even stronger link to video calling.

The Nokia response with respect to the lack of the front facing camera is that the production turnaround time for the initial Nokia WP7 devices meant that they needed to have their functionality focused on their intended user-base, and those using video chat make a very small portion of the market. As the range expands these kinds of features are sure to return at some point.

The rear camera on the Nokia Lumia 800 sports the same specification as that on the HTC Titan with a 8MPix f/2.2 camera lens and Dual-LED flash, capable of up to 720p HD video recording.

It's a step forward when compared with Nokia's Symbian phones, as there's a touch-based method of focussing and capture feature like that offered on the iPhone enabling better control on the subject focus on photographs.

The Camera app comes with the standard settings to control Scenes (default: Auto), White Balance (default: Auto), Exposure Value (default: 0), ISO(default: Auto), Effects (default: Normal), Contrast (default: Normal),Saturation (default: Normal), Focus Mode (default: (Macro) and Resolution(default: 8MP 4:3) as well as a new Metering Mode (default: Centre Weighted) which controls how the camera manages exposure based on the light conditions across the photograph.

A nice touch on the Nokia Lumia 800 Camera app is that you are able to transition directly between the Camera and the Captured Shots and Videos by tapping the soft arrow icon or swiping towards the WP7 hard button bar, returning to the Camera by swiping away from the hard button bar again. This kind of seamless integration shows this is a next generation phone.

Once in the image viewer, there are options to share on Facebook, use as wallpaper, delete, add to favourites or auto-fix. Having played with auto-fix, it does a good job, with the only pity being that it does not remove red-eye, so you'll need a third party app for this.

Also when you select to share to Facebook, auto face recognition kicks in if you tap the tag icon on the upload screen, enable the naming of the image and tagging of anyone in it prior to uploading.

DAYTIME: This was taken with default settings

TAP FOCUS & CAPTURE - CLOSE: This was taken with tap to focus and capture with a near field subject.

TAP FOCUS & CAPTURE - DISTANT: This was taken with tap to focus and capture with a distant subject.

MAXIMUM ZOOM: Maximum zoom provides good resolution and colours.

RED-EYES: Night Mode with flash provides a good colours, but there is no red-eye flash.

FIREWORKS: Night Mode with no flash provide a good colour and contrast of fireworks display.

Nokia Lumia 800 review: Video

When it comes to Video capture on the Nokia Lumia 800 we were quite disappointed, since it's not possible to change zoom while recording, which seems mad.

To make things worse, continued press zooming is achieved by step changes between six levels, which feels very clunky.

Video quality in daylight provides good colour depth and sound, but the speed of response to changes in brightness and focal range is very poor. Although the image quality improves as expected when switching from VGA to 720p, the speed of response remains poor.

In low light, the Nokia Lumia 800 struggles to focus even more. The dual LED flash can be turned on permanently while videoing, enabling focus and colour settings to achieve closer to daylight quality.

Music

Music playback on the Nokia Lumia 800 is to Nokia's usual standard through headphones, but the speaker playback is disappointingly tinny when compared to that of previous Nokia models like the Nokia N8.

A nice touch is that music playback creates an overlay bar that slides down over all apps when the volume keys are pressed to provide play/pause fast-forward and rewind functionality when tapped, no matter where you are in the phone.

When it comes to selecting what to listen to the Nokia Lumia 800 provides Nokia Music and the Music and Video default group.

Nokia Music opens to show the number of tracks saved on the phone. A quick tap then opens an A-Z list via either Artist, Album, Song, Genre or Playlist.

Tapping on your selection from the list opens functions differently depending on the filter being used. The Genre, Artist and Album tabs start instant playback is the right hand play symbol or album art is tapped, but open a lower level selection screen if the text is tapped which is a nice touch, missing from the Symbian music player.

A swipe to the left from the main Nokia Music screen provides access to the Mix Radio which is a streaming service transmitted through the data connection so WiFi is strongly recommended as most mobile data contracts aren't unlimited.

The good news is that the playlists are refreshed each week and there's a choice of genres to pick from and when the full production version releases you will be able to download to your device to listen to offline.

However, we were promised that we could cache these lists when out of signal range, but despite the updated software, we found no such functionality on offer.

And overall, we're mixed in our feelings over Mix Radio. Sure, we like having genre-based playlists to pop on in the background, but for some people they'll have to sit through hours of songs they don't like over a month of listening.

Also, we found that when the screen mis-read our scrolls for taps, it would open up another playlist. It's easy to duck back out of it, but then you'll find you can't skip tracks any more as your allocation has been 'used up'.

Another swipe displays the Mp3 Store providing the ability to purchase music and a final swipe transitions to a local gigs list which is nice if you fancy seeing an artist live.

Moving on to Music and Videos, this app grouping is the standard Windows Phone option, lumping in Music, Videos, Podcasts, Radio and items from the Marketplace. From this screen you can swipe left, transitioning to playback history, New media, applications (which lists Nokia Music) and back to the initial screen.

Tapping on Music opens a similar interface to that presented in the Nokia Music app other than that the Zune Smart DJ feature is available which finds similar artists and creates a playlist of similar music. It's easy to use and songs open quickly, with the aforementioned quality of audio impressing.

Tapping on Podcasts opens a swipeable screen displaying a list of either audio or video podcasts which performs the same as the album and artists lists for music with a tap on the left hand image starting playback and tapping the name opening a list of all podcasts on that feed.

Tapping on Radio opens a standard FM radio which requires headphones to work as the radio antenna and thus does not playback though the phone speaker. The simple radio is FM only and supports station favourites.

Finally, tapping on Marketplace opens the Marketplace which provides access to purchase additional music for your personal collection from the Microsoft store.

Pictures

The Nokia Lumia 800 uses a Pictures (gallery) app which show images from the Camera roll (showing captured images and video) and Albums (displaying images from the Camera Roll and personal SkyDrive and Facebook pictures).

It also provides a view sorted by date and a view showing your favourite images. Finally two left hand swipes transitions to a What's New screen showing recent image posts from all social accounts set-up on the phone.

Video

Video playback on the Nokia Lumia 800 is accessed through the same group as Music, displaying a list of all videos with the ability to swipe to lists in television shows, music videos, films and personal videos (captured on the device).

The media select interface works in the same way as the music interface as they are parts of the same app.

Playback is limited to landscape phone orientation and is an enjoyable experience due to the high quality screen providing excellent contrast ratios and the simplistic interface with a transparent controls overlay sliding off the bottom of the screen after a few second delay.

There's also a fit to screen option which maintains the aspect ratio, but expands the image to fit the screen whist cropping where necessary.

The only limitation on playback is the quality of the speaker mentioned above if you can' be bothered monkeying about with headphones.

Nokia Lumia 800 review: Contacts and Calling

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:06:00 +0000

Contacts

Initial set-up of the Nokia Lumia 800 generates a cloud based "People" (contacts) list based on Windows Live, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google and others accounts you set-up with information from the different services merged to create a single combined list.

This relies mainly on the same contact names used across the services with any remaining duplicates easily merged by opening a Person (contact) from the list and tapping on the link button and selecting another Person (contact) to merge with them.

It's all about making things more personal and we love the easy way suggestions of people to link can be added by a single tap.

In addition to this, People (contacts) can be transferred from your old Bluetooth-enabled phone in seconds via the pre-installed Contacts Transfer app to be merged with the cloud based information previously downloaded.

The only downside to this system is that we have not been able to find a way to hide some contacts and show others from the same service.You can set all contacts to display, link up all your buddies, then shut down the rest of the people from Facebook or Twitter you don't want to see, but this can lead to erratic contact info in our tests.

A nice way of achieving this would be to group/categorise contacts in the different services and display or hide contacts via the groups/categories they are in.

A frustration that can occur when merging People is that if a specific field is slightly different between services it is duplicated for each service.

Once everything is set up the People list can be swiped vertically, searched via the soft search icon (magnifying glass in a circle) or quick navigated by tapping on one of the start letter indicators which brings up a quick A-Z with any unpopulated start letters greyed out.

A left swipe transitions to the What's New screen showing recent posts from your People on the services that you have set-up (such as Twitter and Facebook) where a single tap enters a reply to post/conversation screen.

A second left swipe transitions to a tile list of your recently interacted with People records and a third and final swipe returns to the original People list.

Calling

Calling is an area where things seem a little awkward as you have to tap on the "Phone" tile which opens a phone history screen which equates to a call log. At the base of this screen, the soft bar contains, from left to right: voicemail access, dial screen access, People access and search functionality for the phone history screen.

Once in the dial screen, all is kept excessively simple as although the dial pad shows letters there is no way to make use of them in terms of smart dialling to bring up contacts. In this area we had come to like the live search/matching window above the dial pad on Symbian devices.

Call quality on the Nokia Lumia 800 is excellent, partially due to its polycarbonate chassis meaning that there are no large pieces of metal for radio signals to bounce off. This is also the reason for the high speed and accuracy of GPS fix discussed later in the Maps section.

We used an Orange SIM for the test, and found that signal was maintained well, with the 3G signal switching quickly between Orange and T-Mobile on the Nokia Lumia 800.

Nokia Lumia 800 review: Internet

When it comes to the internet, the Nokia Lumia 800 is one of the fastest mobile internet experiences we have encountered, with lightning response loading pages in less than a second and the weight of the TechRadarwebsite in less than 3 seconds when connected to a WiFi hotspot only capable of c.1.5Mbps (on its best run).

It's not faster than the Safari browser or the option on the Samsung Galaxy S2, but it's easily good enough to be a decent experience for web browsing on the go.

We tested all three devices side by side over a 3G and Wi-Fi connection, and out of three tests, only once did the Lumia 800 manage to load a site faster than both devices, which was the mobile version of the BBC site.

For heavier web browsing, we'd still recommend something from the iOS or Android stables (with a comparable processor, that is. Dual core technology seems to be a big boon here).

That problem we mentioned earlier with the touchscreen being erratic is most problematic here - you're trying to scroll through text and it will start to zoom in and out, even though no taps are registered. Nokia needs to sort this, and FAST.

Although there is an Internet Explorer icon most people start the internet session with a search which is where the bottom right search button (magnifying glass) and the Local Scout app come into their own.

One tap on the Search button and up pops the Bing search app, but when you look closer this is so much more than the standard Bing website. At the bottom of the screen in the soft bar, are three or four icons, depending on if you have permitted the search app to use your location information, which are, from left to right:

Local Scout: Tap the buildings icon and the separate Location Scout app will start, displaying local places of interested based on food, entertainment and shops, and generally comes up with good and relevant results, even in the UK.

Music Recognition: Tap the musical note icon and the phone listens for music in the background, identifies and provides a link to an album containing it on the Marketplace. Again, the implementation is excellent and probably will have the likes of Shazam worried.

QR Code and Microsoft Tag scanner: Tap the eye icon and the camera turns on and if you position a QR code or Microsoft Tag in the centre reticule it reads it and responds.

Audio Search: Tap the microphone icon and the microphone turns on and anything you say will be entered in the search field and the results of a web search will be displayed as if you had typed it in and pressed enter. It's nothing compared to Apple's Siri – but it's still OK if you want to eschew tapping words into the phone.

All this said the one big limitation is that Adobe flash player does not support the Nokia Lumia 800, providing the message "Sorry Adobe Flash Player is not available from Adobe for your device's operating system or browser."

We have been informed by Nokia that this is a result of Adobe playing catch up with the newly release Internet Explorer 9 web browser and that support is soon to be provided – although we'll wait to see if that's really the case, as we know Microsoft isn't so hot on letting Flash be used for its mobile browser.

The debate over Flash video on mobile devices is still raging, and now Adobe has announced its scrapping the system in favour for HTML 5, we're excited at the prospect of it being over. However, the fact remains that the Lumia 800 still can't render internet content properly - we've marked down the iPhone for this consistently, as the Galaxy S2 shows mobile Flash video can look fantastic without impacting system resources.

Nokia Lumia 800 review | Interface

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:06:00 +0000

The major difference between Nokia Lumia series and other Nokia phones is the fact that it uses the Microsoft Windows Phone operating system. The system itself is nothing new, of course, releasing its latest incarnation (WP 7.5) on the HTC Titan and HTC Radar earlier this year.

A major point for and against WP7 for some is that it looks completely different to iPhone, Android, Symbian and Meego as the concept of application grids is nowhere to be seen.

Instead of the more standard homescreen, or "Start Screen" in the case of Windows phone 7.5, the Nokia Lumia 800 uses "Live Tiles", fitting a 2x4 grid (although Calendar and Pictures tiles are full screen width) of tiles on the screen, vertically scrolling to display as many tiles as you wish to add.

Adding tiles to the Start screen is as easy as left swiping to the apps list, long pressing an app and selecting "pin to start", with removing a tile requiring a long press on the tile on the Start page and then tapping the drawing pin with a line through it.

Moving tiles around is just as easy, requiring a long press and then dragging them to the desired location.

At first we were unsure about the large tile based layout, finding it a little cumbersome and poor screen real estate usage, but within a couple of days our opinion changed. The major advantage is speed of use. You don't need to be looking as closely at your phone to use it as the chances of miss pressing are greatly reduced.

Going forward, there will also be more advantages to the system as the Live Tiles as applications are able to show dedicated information instead of an icon - for instance, the BA app will turn into a QR code when you're about to board a flight which can be used in place of a boarding pass.

The other section of the home screen is the apps list, which is quite standard, and somewhat antiquated in some ways as it is just an alphabetical list of your apps, or app groups in the case of Office and Games.

In its defence this form of app list layout is, again, easy to navigate, knowing exactly where an app will sit in the list as done in the Windows PC start menu. This is further aided by the soft search button on the left hand side of the list providing a live filter of the list based on text entry.

This all means that folders are long gone, but after a while you realise that in this format, you don't need them – although as you fill the phone with apps, we would like the ability to sort them into little groups. Being able to search by letter isn't enough - we want customisation in the same way users are able to group together contacts and pin them to the start menu.

A backward step in WP7 is that the top status bar is not interactive like we have become accustomed to with other operating systems.

To toggle Bluetooth, WiFi and Flight Mode on/off you have to go through Settings, which was a major frustration until we found an app on the Marketplace called Connectivity Shortcuts which brought this functionality to the Start screen as Tiles.

Another frustration is that the status bar often only displays the time meaning you have no knowledge of connectivity or remaining power until you swipe down from the top of the screen to see these elements.

Microsoft thinks this cleans the screen up, but given knowing your signal is a pre-requisite for a lot of applications, we'd at least like the option to keep it there constantly - plus too many applications don't support the swipe-down method.

On a more positive slant, the repeated use of familiar icons throughout the user interface for specific functions, means that you know what a button does at a glance without having to read it. In this way the GUI feels intuitive rather than learnt.

Another feature Symbian users have become accustomed to over the years is the use of profiles to quickly switch between different scenarios in their daily life like, General, Silent, Meeting, Outdoor, Pager and Offline. Sadly, these are all gone except for Offline, which is now Flight Mode, and the ability to put the phone into vibrate only mode.

Although profiles have been around for many years their usefulness has increased more recently with the invention of location and time based auto profile switching apps and this is what will be really missed.

Another thing we became accustomed to was repeatedly hitting the back button to be able to close Internet Explorer and other apps as there is no Close/Exit button. The current WP7 coding means that apps close via the back button, but only from a specific screen which has to be navigated back to before the app can be closed/exited.

Even long pressing the back button to open the task manager does not provide an option to close open apps, but only permits switching between apps. This said, however we did not note any speed reduction with six apps showing in the Task Manager.

This is assisted by the fact that only a very select set of the apps on WP7 devices can run in the background and the rest are suspended (disabled) when not on top – we were very impressed with the speed of the Lumia 800 throughout testing.

One major problem we did note: sliding your finger across the touchscreen would sometimes be inexplicably registered as a tap, opening an app or zooming into the text. We thought this would be fixed with the software update, but to no avail.

If you want to learn more about the new Microsoft mobile operating system, FF

Nokia Lumia 800 review: Messaging

The Nokia Lumia supports the standard SMS, MMS and e-mail with a few differences.

During initial phone set-up you are asked to set up e-mail + accounts settings which enables the user to add Windows Live (Hotmail, Xbox LIVE, Messenger, Calendar and others), Outlook (Exchange and Office 360), Nokia Mail (provided by Yahoo!), Yahoo! Mail, Google (Mail and Calendar), Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other email accounts (POP and IMAP) as well as providing advanced setup to manually use your accounts.

One interesting thing we found was your LinkedIn account is added automatically if it is linked to your Windows Live account. Another thing to note is that during initial phone setup you are asked for a Windows Live and Nokia account. The Windows Live account you use at this point cannot be removed from the phone.

Once all of your accounts are set-up there are a number of ways to get social. The first is the Messaging app which merges SMS, MMS, Windows Messenger and Facebook chat although they are not grouped so you have to laterally swipe to switch between SMS/MMS and Facebook.

We were also surprised that Nokia Chat contacts are not imported alongside Facebook contacts as they could be associated with the Windows Live and Nokia accounts already added.

Text entry is clean and easy with its keys large enough for the average fingers to work around without many incorrect presses and an auto complete suggestions bar between the keyboard and the entry field.

Words are automatically selected depending on which information you're adding, which is a nice touch, and you can tap on a word to be given the option to add it to the dictionary or long press to bring up a cursor to select elements of text.

However, this long press takes ages when you're trying to just tap an element of the text to interact with – it's miles slower than the competition.

The keyboard is excellent on the Nokia Lumia 800 though, with speedy typing speeds easy to attain – although it's not as intuitive as the Apple or Android options out there, where we noted around two or three more mistakes per message and less accurate guessing of what our fudge-fingered keyboard mashings were trying to convey.

Finally, we were surprised to see that although Microsoft Communicator has been rolled out to all Nokia Symbian Anna devices it doesn't appear in the new Nokia Lumia 800.

Nokia Lumia 800 review | Overview, Design and Feel

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 03:48:00 +0000

UPDATED: We've now updated the software on our review device to match that available at release for consumers, so take a look at our updated findings, complete with star rating.

The Nokia Lumia 800 is the first Windows Phone handset to spring from the Microsoft / Nokia tie-up announced in February, and we've got our hands on an early sample to check it out.

The Nokia Lumia 800 shares its exterior styling with the previously substantially less hyped Nokia N9, a Meego-based smartphone, although the screen size is reduced from 3.9" (854x480 pixels) to 3.7" (800x480 pixels) to conform to the Windows Phone spec list.

The CPU, however, increases from the 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 to the 1.4GHz MSM8255 Snapdragon/Scorpion which certainly helps add snap to the Windows Phone Mango OS

The Nokia Lumia 800, although being the more expensive of the two Nokia Windows Phone offerings (the other being the budget Nokia Lumia 710) shares the Nokia N9's 16-bit AMOLED ClearBlack display whereas the Nokia Lumia 710 sports a 24-bit ClearBlack TFT.

This being said, even though the colour depth is theoretically deeper than in the Nokia Lumia 710, AMOLED screens are seen as better than the older TFT technology due to the more vivid colours and better contrast ratios.

Moving away from Nokia comparisons, the Lumia 800 also has to compete with the likes of the HTC Titan and HTC Radar Windows Mango phones. When we compare screen size we find the Nokia Lumia 800 feeling a little small with the HTC Radar and HTC Titan entering the fray with 3.8" and 4.7" screens respectively although all competitors are limited to the same 800x480 pixel resolution.

Obviously the iPhone has managed to be a success with a smaller screen at 3.5-inches, but the trend towards bigger displays is increasing all the time, and we have to say we're fans of those over four inches thanks to the improved internet and media experience.

This means that the pixel density on the Lumia 800 is a little sharper, but in our side by side comparisons we noted very little difference between the three, and even the Lumia 800 displaying text with a little less clarity.

When it comes to internal storage the Nokia Lumia 800 and HTC Titan are equal with 16GB of fixed internal storage, with the Nokia Lumia 710 and HTC Radar weighing in with 8GB a piece.

Based on the two manufacturer's product specs it soon becomes apparent that the Nokia Lumia 800 is intended to compete against the HTC Titan and the Nokia Lumia 710 with the HTC Radar.

When compared dimensionally with the HTC Titan (131.5mm x 70.7mm x 9.9mm and 160g) we note that the Nokia Lumia 800 (116.5mm x 61.2mm x 12.1mm and 142g) cuts a very slim profile, with a lighter yet reassuring weight.

The physical appearance of the Nokia Lumia 800 is a dream to observe and handle, with its smooth curves fitting snugly to the hand both with and without the protective case provided in the purchase packaging.

First impressions of the phone are mixed. If you're used to handling the current crop of super slim handsets doing the rounds in today's phone shops, you can't help but feel the Lumia 800 is a little on the chunky side, even compared to the iPhone 4S thanks to it being around 10% thicker.

However, that's not to say it isn't an attractive device, with its large 3.7-inch OLED screen pushed to the sides of the chassis and a cool curved polycarbonate shell gives the phone a very premium feel indeed.

Nokia has worked very hard on the unibody design here, making the battery inaccessible and using top-mounted flaps to cover the charging port and SIM slot - intriguingly, we're seeing a microSIM here, which seems to be the fashion for the next wave of smartphones.

It's a slightly odd system, and one that some will find a little bit difficult to get used to - but it does lend a certain sleekness to the design.

One area we can see getting consumers annoyed is on the back panel - as you can see the demo sample we tried was already scratched up, and the same thing has already begun happening on our review model.

The Nokia Lumia 800 is quite reasonably priced, costing nothing on as little as a £26 Orange or Vodafone contract with Carphone Warehouse compared with HTC Titan starting at £31 pm with Vodafone and £36 pm with Orange.

iPhone 4S suffers from Airplay problem

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 03:35:00 +0000

owers & Wilkins have confirmed that they believe there is a bug with the iPhone 4S and Airplay which prevents the new iPhone playing nice over wifi...

The iPhone 4S has a bug which means it won't communicate over Airplay properly, with the smartphone initially being able to connect and then quickly failing, or not being able to connect at all in some cases. The iPhone 4s problem is the latest in a series of bugs that saw an update for iOS5 pushed out last week.

Bowers & Wilkins, who make the famed Zeppelin Air iPod dock, have confirmed that iPhone 4S users have been having problems connecting their devices to the iPod docks via Airplay, going on to say that they believe it is a problem which is affecting all iPod dock manufacturers that use Airplay.

As far as B&W are aware it's a bug within the iPhone 4S and so is a problem that cannot be rectified by any of the audio companies, instead users will have to wait for an update from Apple.

B&W have confirmed that Apple have been notified about the problem and are currently 'investigating to try and offer a resolution', that said it is important to note that this is not as yet an official fault with the iPhone 4S simply that B&W have made Apple aware of what they believe to be a problem

In addition, Apple's own support forums are awash with similar complaints, some of which hint that the issue may be to do with iOS5, rather than just the iPhone 4S. However, Apple were not available for comment at the time of writing.

Do you have an iPhone 4S, are you having problems using Airplay? Let us know via the comments box below...

Amazon Kindle Fire review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:35:00 +0000

he Amazon Kindle Fire, as mentioned in this review, promises a new dawn with an affordable-for-all Android tablet that just might end Apple's reign

The Amazon Kindle Fire tablet view, is powerful, sexy and, unlike Apple products, refreshingly cheap. This lethal combination means the tablet will be a notable challenger to Apple’s iPad 2.

It arrives after Motorola, HTC, with its HTC Flyer tablet, Samsung and Sony, with their Sony Tablet S tablet, fell short, and after HP and RIM failed miserably with their own operating systems. But the folly of those giants was their belief that they could beat Apple on a massively uneven playing field.

They charged the same price, and often more, for arguably inferior products with inferior tablet ecosystems. But while all this was unfolding, Amazon spent 2011 plotting its masterplan. A way to even the odds once and for all.

The $200 (£125) Kindle Fire tablet promises the biggest tech shake up since the first iPad launch, but beyond the hype of that miraculously inviting price-point can it really hang with the big dogs? Or is it just a two-hundred-buck chump? Let's find out

Amazon Kindle Fire: Design and Build

Upon lifting the Amazon Kindle Fire from the box our first thought was “PlayBook”. The 7-inch device is strikingly similar to RIM’s flailing offering, right down to the soft casting on the rear and edges.

The device feels exceptionally solid, but certainly comfortable enough to hold in one hand. In that respect, it remains true to its e-reader roots.

At 0.45-inches it’s slightly thicker than the BlackBerry tab and, at 431-grams, slightly heavier, but again not too cumbersome. This is an exceptionally well-built device that could probably handle a decent beating.

There’s only one button on the jet-black gadget - the screen/power switch - and everything else is controlled via the touchscreen. The headphone jack, which feels like it's at the wrong end, and the MicroUSB charging port sit next to the switch at the foot of the Fire.

It’s very minimalist. Too minimalist in some respects. There are no cameras, front or rear, and while we can all live without another pathetic tablet camera, video chat would have been nice. Indeed, the Kindle Fire does have its limitations. There’s no GPS sensor on-board either.

Amazon Kindle Fire: Display

As we mentioned, the Fire opts for a 7-inch screen and it’s safe to say the jury is still out on the optimum screen size for a tablet.

However, we did miss the larger screen format when watching videos and playing games and sometimes when using apps. This was especially apparent when using the on-screen keyboard as it reduced screen real estate to an absolute minimum.

In saying that when we first switched on the device we were very surprised at the quality of the 1024x600, 169ppi IPS display.

Colours are brilliant, crisp and defined. It was the first indication that the Kindle Fire actually meant business, but let's not get carried away, it's not Galaxy Tab quality.

The Gorilla Glass touchscreen, although prone to fingerprints, is also surprisingly impressive. The typing experience supersedes most Android phones, and we found ourselves making few mistakes. It’s an area of the device which once again defies the price-point.

Amazon Kindle Fire: Software and UI

The Amazon Kindle Fire runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but you wouldn’t really know it. Save the back-end stuff, Amazon’s custom skin hides most traces of Google’s familiar OS and tellingly there’s no Android Market (more on that later).

The user interface certainly differs from the norm and it’s a refreshing change. The homescreen takes the form of a bookshelf a la the Kindle readers, with the top shelf featuring your most recently viewed content and those beneath housing your favourite apps.

Naturally these can be customised, swiping between them is a breeze and it looks great in portrait and landscape.

Tabs above the shelves take you straight to your Newsstand, Books, Music, Video, Docs, Apps and Web. It’s very intuitively designed and even smartphone and tablet novices will pick-up the nuances of this device in a heartbeat.

We really enjoyed navigating our way around the Kindle, largely thanks to the handy on-screen home button that takes you back to your favourites and all that recently used content, almost as if it combines a homescreen with a multi-tasking menu.

Amazon Kindle Fire: Performance

However, it isn’t all smooth sailing. The Kindle Fire does suffer a little in the engine room with the 512MB of RAM and a 1GHz dual-core processor meaning proceedings are often, by today’s standards, somewhat sluggish.

The accelerometer was slow and transitions between screens likewise. We often found video playback to be pixilated, there were also regular app crashes to contend with and the advertised battery life of 8-hours sounds ambitious to say the very least.

It was at times like this when we felt encouraged to return to the price point. This was never going to be a perfect device, but the warning signs are there.

Amazon Kindle Fire: Browser

One of the main talking points to arise from the official Kindle Fire unveiling was Amazon’s new Silk web browser.

The company boasts about faster loading times as its cloud servers does a lot of the heavy lifting in the background, storing the cache to regularly viewed content, meaning faster access to your favourite sites.

For a fledgling browser, we’re very impressed with Silk. Pages do indeed load and render very quickly and the tabbed browsing works well. It’s certainly a match for Safari and Firefox mobile.

Double-tapping on the screen instantly zooms and re-renders pages and the pinch-to-zoom functionality is spot-on. At no point did we feel bummed-out about the smaller screen in this department

Amazon Kindle Fire: Apps

No Android tablet can match up to the App Store ecosystem, not by a long shot, but when you take the Android Market out of the mix, as Amazon have done to push its own Appstore, then the catalogue diminishes drastically.

The company does have a host of top partners on board, meaning essentials like Angry Birds, Words With Friends, Fruit Ninja, IMDb, Netflix and Pandora are around, but the Facebook app, for example, is just a shortcut to the mobile site and Twitter is among the many big names currently MIA.

The lack of Google’s native app shop also means no YouTube, Gmail, Google+, Maps, Navigation, Translate and the rest. These are the bread-and-butter Android apps and they’re sorely missed here. Again, for better or worse, this really doesn’t feel like an Android device.

Amazon Kindle Fire: Multimedia

Amazon has only allowed 8GB of storage (no SD card slot either) into the Kindle Fire meaning you aren’t going to be able to pack the device with your own music, photos and videos. The company wants you to rely on its Amazon Cloud Drive storage locker to keep your files on tap.

There’s also free movie and TV show streaming to Amazon Prime members (there’s a free one month trial with the device), while, like iTunes, movies can be rented also.

The Amazon MP3 store offers DRM free music and a neat interface, but it’s no iTunes. Also, be sure you have a decent set of headphones handy because the built-in speakers are truly dreadful.

When it comes to books though. Kindle is the king and this device doesn’t let down those long-time Amazon loyalists who have been itching for a colour touchscreen device.

The interface is familiar, just a lot prettier. It’ll be interesting to see whether it can convert those currently keen on e-ink.

Prime members also get access to the Kindle Lending Library, completely free of charge, which allows you to borrow and read one book a month.

Amazon Kindle Fire: Price

While the Kindle Fire has serious limitations, at $199 it remains astonishingly good value for money; one of the best tech bargains of the modern era. The price alone gives users the first true dilemma of the tablet era. Forget the expensive Moto Xooms and HTC Flyers of the world, This is the true alternative to the iPad.

In a head-to-head battle the Apple still wipes the floor with Amazon’s tablet, but this isn’t a head-to-head battle anymore. Tablet fanciers have a legitimate choice. It’s not Apple vs Android; it’s premium and near perfect vs dirt cheap and pretty darn good.

Amazon Kindle Fire: Verdict

When reviewing the Amazon Kindle Fire we found ourselves constantly revisiting the price point and, with that firmly in mind, were probably willing to cut it more slack than we might have had it cost the same as the Motorola Xoom, orSamsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

There's no Android Market, but it's only £125. There's no GPS, but it's only £125. The same can be said for the less-than-stellar innards and paltry storage.

The limitations we've mentioned are plentiful, but Amazon has just about struck the right balance to the point where the device still receives a solid overall thumbs-up.

The Kindle Fire is no miracle worker, but the compromises the company has made in order to keep the price low are a good trade-off. Afterall, despite what's missing, it's still a very well-crafted and enjoyable device to use, packed with functionality and brimming with easily accessible multimedia content.

Things like the display, touchscreen and user interface have no right being as good as they are at this price.

It's not close to being an iPad killer, but by knocking down boundaries and attracting those who've been edging towards their first tablet but have so far struggled to justify the cost while appealing to those Kindle reader graduates, it will become the first tablet to sell on anything like the same scale. To that end, it's the iPad's first true rival.

Fujifilm X10 camera review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:54:00 +0000

ujifilm's X10 compact camera is a more affordable, more compact version of Fuji’s Leica copying X100 offers similarly gorgeous styling

Want a camera that makes heads turn and your own heart beat faster? Fuji follows up its well-received Fujifim X100, essentially a cheaper but no less gorgeously designed version of the £1400 Leica X1, with a new more consumer orientated compact in the 12 megapixel X10. Although less pricey than its literally bigger brother, it’s not obvious any corners have been cut. The X10 feels rock solid gripped in the palm and again there’s blast-from-the-past retro styling that makes it resemble a classic 35mm film camera. In others words it’s the X100 Junior.

Though the size is near identical to compact system cameras on which the lens can be changed, the bright f/2.0 maximum aperture lens on the X10 cannot. Instead of the fixed focal length of the X100, however, here Fuji is broadening the remit with a still modest 4x optical zoom, equivalent to 28-112mm on a 35mm film camera, so wider than the X100’s exact 35mm equivalent lens. Here the lens is stabilized to counterbalance hand wobble and lessen blurring.

But the X10 is not really about how big the zoom is, or isn’t, but rather how large the sensor. A bigger sensor equals better light gathering, equals better quality images.

The X10’s sensor at 2/3-inch is twice the size of the chip at the heart of its premium compacts, such as the F600 EXR, though smaller than the DSLR-sized sensor in the X100. So once again we’re being offered a camera with greater potential than your average compact, if falling slightly short of the kind of spec offered by an actual digital SLR.

Fujifilm X10: Controls (ease of use)

Although offering slightly different proportions to the X100, the X10’s control layout is largely the same. Again ‘inspiration’ has been taken from photo junkie’s favourite brand Leica with a rangefinder-like array of top plate dials. While there’s no dedicated dial for adjusting shutter speed as found on the X100 however, there is instead a separate five pence piece sized shooting mode dial crammed with 11 options that will be more familiar to snapshot camera users.

These range from program, shutter priority, aperture priority and manual to Fuji’s EXR picture mode. The latter is a feature of compacts such as the F600 and uniquely allows the sensor to be utilized in three separate ways, with a choice of High Resolution, High Dynamic Range or low noise and high sensitivity settings. Alternatively there’s a default auto EXR setting if you cannot decide which of the three is best suited to a given situation.

If that sounds unnecessary, then further smart auto, 360° panorama, scene modes, movie mode and two custom settings follow as you work your way around the ridged dial. Put simply there’s the choice of those who want to taking full control or those who don’t merely pointing and shooting.
The other dial on the top plate is like the X100 one for adjusting exposure, with the ability to lighten or darken an image incrementally by twisting it to a modest +/- 2EV.

The other feature worth noting up top is an accessory shoe for adding a flashgun, with a small pop-up flash sunk unobtrusively into the top plate, and an array of small-ish backplate controls that bring to mind a mix of those usually found on a digital SLR and those found on a compact. Hence as well as a multi-directional command dial with central ‘menu/OK’ button, display and playback buttons, there is a joint auto exposure lock and auto focus lock button and dedicated white balance and even Raw capture control. Not many compacts offer the latter feature, though we would expect the ability to shoot uncompressed, unprocessed files on a camera circa £500 and built as much with the enthusiast in mind as the consumer.

Fujifilm X10: Screen

One of the Fuji’s most impressive features is the purist pleasing large and bright optical viewfinder that actually prevents the need to rely purely on the LCD screen, that that in itself more than does the job with a 460k dot resolution spread over 2.8-inches.

As a result of having an alternative viewer, there’s the opportunity to fill the back screen with the kind of shooting information digital SLRs (DSLRs) used to provide before the advent of Live View, such as here a 49-zone metering matrix. Or alternatively you can of course utilize the LCD to relay the subject before the lens as any other compact would provide. We don’t get the ability to deploy an electronic viewfinder as well though, as was additionally provided on the X100.

Fujifilm X10: Speed and performance

It’s worth noting that the X10, while marginally more approachable than the X100, is still too chunky to fit in a pocket and it’s not the easiest to initially get to grips with. A slight curveball is thrown from the off in that there’s no obvious on/off button.

Instead the camera is activated with a twist of the lens to the left, with focal range settings from 28mm to 112mm marked on the lens surround. Though the camera is slow to get going on initially powering up, with subsequent twists we were up and running in just over a second.

Busier scenes and low light did find the auto focus struggling to pin point a subject, though a second half press of the shutter release button helped it along. On pressing down fully to take the shot, the camera is prompted to make what can only be described as a spitting noise as the shutter fires. A full resolution Fine, Large JPEG is committed to memory in 2-3 seconds. Incredibly opting to shoot an optimum quality unprocessed Raw file didn’t slow the camera down at all.

For action shooters there’s the ability to capture up to 10 frames per second, or seven if you want to maintain a Large file size.

Fujifilm X10: Battery

A wafer-like NP-50 lithium ion battery slots into the base of what could be loosely described as the X10’s handgrip, although it has a rather flattened profile. The battery takes 150 minutes to fully charge via the supplied mains adapter and provided plug attachment, with around 270 shots captured before the battery gives up the ghost.

Fujifilm X10: Pictures and video

This being a Fuji camera there’s a nod back to the brand’s film heritage with user selectable film simulation modes, providing another ‘USP’ in addition to that EXR sensor. Our preferred look is always the colour boosting Velvia option on drab days, though the standard Provia setting provides the default option and delivers a marginally more naturalistic result.

Thanks in part to the constantly bright aperture offered by the camera, and zooming in on close up subjects, we were able to achieve some lovely DSLR-like blurring of the background while our foreground or middle ground subject remained sharp. Thus we were able to achieve some more ‘professional looking’ results with minimal effort.

For low light shooting without flash, the X10 offers the ability to manually choose settings between ISO100 and a practically see-in-the-dark ISO12800 with a multitude of steps in between. Unsurprisingly at maximum ISO, detail is soft at the edges and there’s a fine dusting of grain, but it’s no worse than cheaper models can muster at the much less challenging ISO1600 setting. However at one setting back, ISO6400, pictures are remarkably clean and although noise is there the setting is very usable. In fairness this is partly because resolution is steadily decreased after ISO3200 to further limit fuzziness.

Though there’s no dedicated video record button here – instead the shooting dial needs to be turned to that setting and the shutter release button pressed as if you were otherwise taking a still – videographers will relish being able to shoot 1920x180 pixels HD video with stereo sound and at a frame rate of 30 fps. What’s more, because operating the zoom is a manual process – you simply twist the lens barrel to zoom in or out – the full extent of the optical range can be utilised. Auto focus is also fairly swift to catch up with any framing adjustments, sharpness being achieved a mere moment later.

Fujifilm X10: Verdict

There will undoubtedly be some wondering why Fuji didn’t go the whole hog and allow the lens to be swapped on the X10 too, especially as this camera’s build quality and feature set will appeal to a similar market. Our spies tell us that such a camera is due to be announced at the CES trade show in January next year. In the meantime, for those who have been loving the look of the £999 X100 but hating the price, the X10’s cost is an almost reasonable £529. This camera might still be a little quirky and a little fussy for mass market uptake, but it is good to see Fuji continuing to aim higher than its usual stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap offerings and it bodes well for the future.

Fujifilm X10 availability: Out now

Fujifilm X10 price: £529

LG Optimus 3D

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:42:00 +0000

The first 3D-enabled mobile phone packs a mighty dual-core processing punch
http://www.lg.co.uk

LG’s effort uses dual-core architecture throughout to produce glasses-free 3D on its massive 4.3-inch display, and is able to capture and process content through the twin 5-Megapixel cameras.

Its 1GHz processor is blazing fast and it’s got four times as many video codecs as any of its current competitors, meaning it has no problems with either displaying 3D onscreen, or recording it. Want to watch your efforts on a bigger screen? There’s HDMI out, meaning it’s ready to hook up to your LG 3DTV.

LG Optimus 3D video

Assassin’s Creed Revelations review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:32:00 +0000

t’s hard not to completely lose yourself in Assassin’s Creed Revelations. There's plenty to explore, loads to climb and arses to be kicked

As we review Assassin's Creed: Revelations, we can't help but feel a little teary eyed about the prospect of this being our hooded friend's final adventure.

It’s been a long, hard road for Ezio Auditore da Firenze but, as mentioned in this Assassin's Creed: Revelations review, the Italian rake gamers met all the way back in Assassin’s Creed II.

Over the last 50 years, he’s had his family torn from him, had his homestead burned to the ground, has suffered countless wounds and hardships and found himself embroiled in a civil war fought in the shadows of society. So how will he fare this year?

Assassin’s Creed Revelations Review: Gameplay

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is, first and foremost, a giant, beautiful sandpit for the player to enjoy at their leisure. They can take out enemy strongholds and build new headquarters on the ruins.

They can recruit assassins to their guild and send them off on secret missions through Europe, Africa and the Middle East. They can bribe thugs or Romany women to distract guards while they help themselves to trinkets or the contents of a passer-by’s pockets.

They can use a Hook Blade to grab hold of roof ledges or rip out the throats of their opponents. They can craft a large array of bombs. They can defend their guilds against armies of attackers in a tower-defence game.

They can buy equipment, collect earnings and renovate buildings. But best of all, they can parkour through the game’s vast open expanse, shimmy up towers, leap from building to building and engage in a lot of swordplay.

The action-packed madness will certainly make for an exciting Assassin's Creed: Revelations film.

Assassin’s Creed Revelations Review: Features

There’s also a plot of sorts, and this is where a whole-hearted recommendation becomes a little hard to justify. This is because the game, which is by no means bad, is the latest section of a plot, which has become so barmy and convoluted by now that newcomers will battle to follow what’s going on.

Playing Assassin’s Creed: Revelations as an entry point to the series is like starting to watch The Wire with the eighth episode of the second season.

The backstory runs thus; a bartender called Desmond has been kidnapped by a secret society calling themselves the Templars.

Apparently he’s the descendent of a line of assassins and the Templars hope to access his ancestor’s memories, in order to track down some artefacts that can change the course of mankind (or something).

To that end, they stick Desmond in the Animus, a machine that allows the user to experience parts of the lifetimes of anyone who shares their DNA.

With the Animus, Desmond relives the memories of first Altair, a Medieval assassin, and then Ezio Auditore, an Italian noble who turned assassin during the Renaissance and…

…are you still following any of this? No? Good, I thought it was just me. All you really need to know is that in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, the lion’s share of your time will be spent as Ezio in Constantinople, during the time of the Ottoman Empire, with occasional visits to the Animus and the Medieval Middle East.

Assassin’s Creed Revelations Review: Verdict

The large portion of the game involving Ezio and Altair is absolutely ace; the sections involving the latter are a bit brief and bit too scripted, but overall they do the job.

The parts set in the future, where Desmond has to navigate the inside of the Animus in some sort of first-person platforming game are badly made, but thankfully they’re kept to a minimum.

The real draw, though, is Ezio, and his engrossing travails through Constantinople. Forget the convoluted story - you don’t need logic when you have bombs and a Hook Blade.

Assassin’s Creed Revelations availability: Out now

Assassin’s Creed Revelations price: £37.89

Watch the Assassin's Creed Revelations trailer (below)

Enjoyed this Assassin's Creed Revelations review

Apple iPhone 4S Problems: Short battery life & other issues

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 06:27:00 +0000

he Apple iPhone 4S is a great phone but it hasn't been without its problems. lkbuzz rounds up the problems users have experienced with Apple's latest handset

The iPhone 4S has been marred with problems and security issues since it launched earlier this month and, although it’s a great phone, as we mention in ourApple iPhone 4S review, flaws in the device and its iOS 5 operating systemare still being found.

Which is why we’ve pulled together a list of the problems you will or would have experienced with the new iPhone, including OS and security flaws, so you know exactly what you’re getting – that is until Apple decides to fix the software glitches, most probably in the form of a software update.

iPhone 4S 'mutes' outgoing calls

Some iPhone 4S users are finding that when making an outgoing call the phone mutes the handset making it impossible to hear what the person on the other end of the line is saying.

While initially considered to be just a minor issue the fault has now come under the spotlight of theApple support forums with thousands now getting involved in the debate to try and ascertain what exactly is causing the problem. Confirmed on all three US carriers and now being picked up in the UK the fault is believed to be some form of driver issue with iOS 5.

At present there has been no official word from Apple and no official fix, however if users are finding that they're also having problems making calls then general advice has been to try turning the speakerphone on and then off again and also plugging in headphones, of course, these aren't fixes merely ways of getting around the problem.

Siri security flaw

Apple’s virtual assistant Siri was supposed change the way we use our mobile phones. Instead of typing and trawling the net to find information for ourselves, Siri aimed to cut all that out by doing the heavy lifting for us. But a few flaws in the make up of the software have caused major concern among the media and customers alike.

Siri has been the subject of several reports concerning a worrying security flaw. At the press of the Home button, a person is able to send texts, emails, make calls and request calendar information without having to unlock the homescreen using a passcode.

That, of course, could prove very costly indeed if someone gets their mitts on your handset.

But the setting isn't a permanent one - users have the option of switching it off by disabling the option to enable Siri at passcode lock - however, Alan Goode, managing director of mobile security firm Goode Intelligence, argues that because this setting was set at default without users' acknowledgement, many iPhone 4S owners would have been unaware of the potential risks they were exposing themselves to.

He said: “We feel that this option should have been the default option that Apple should have configured on all devices and then let the user decide whether they want to take the risk of someone accessing text, call and appointment services without entering the correct passcode.”

Siri 'cannot connect to network'

When the iPhone 4S first launched last month, users took to Twitter and forums to vent their frustration at Apple’s virtual assistant application, Siri, claiming that it didn’t work. When asking a question, users were greeted with an error message informing them that the app “cannot connect to the network."

Several outlets have reported that the issue can be fixed by first turning Siri off in the settings menu, then going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. lk buzz did this and found that although it reduces the frequency of the problem, it doesn’t solve the problem completely.

It is believed that Apple will fix Siri-related problems in a new software update – hence why it was released in beta – but not much information is available from Apple on this front.

Mute button relocation

This isn’t a problem per say, but users may have been given the impression that the iPhone 4S body is 100% identical to that of the iPhone 4. It’s not. The mute button has moved slightly lower, and although most iPhone 4 cases can fit onto the device, covers that have holes cut out specifically for the mute button won’t fit – they’ll simply cover it up.

So be warned – don’t buy expensive cases unless you’re certain they'll fit or are specific to the iPhone 4S.

Short battery life

The Apple iPhones have never been known for their long battery life and it would seem the iPhone 4S is no different. In fact, the Apple news-dedicated website iLounge reports that the battery life gets considerably drained when using 3G data and audio/video playback/recording on the 4S.

Fortunately, you can read Apple’s iPhone battery power saving tips to see how you can save some much-need handset energy.

Yellowgate

When they launched last year, the Apple iPhone 4and Apple iPad 2 both aroused suspicion among Apple devotees when some of their screens sported a faint yellow discolouring. Apple put this down to the adhesive used to glue the device together not curing properly and the problems seemed to have disappeared after just a few weeks, which could be the case with the iPhone 4S.

Several users on Apple forums have complained about the exact same problem occurring on their iPhone 4S handsets, but whereas the discolouring in previous Apple devices saw yellow spots dotted around the screen, this time round it’s encompassing the whole touchpad, leading to complaints from Apple fans worldwide.

If you’ve got the same problem and it hasn’t gotten any better throughtout the weeks, you’re best bet is to contact Apple customer services: 0800 048 0408. Lines are open Monday-Friday 08:00-21:00, and Saturday-Sunday 09:00-20:00.

iOS 5 Error 3200

Apple fans were hit with an iOS 5 error 3200 message on October 13 as they attempted to download the tech giant's latest mobile operating system. It was believed the company’s servers were swamped by demand, causing thousands of users to face continued error messages.

The Error 3200 message greeted ‘hundreds of thousands’ of users across the globe as they attempted to update their existing Apple iPhones, iPads and iPods to iOS 5, ahead of the Apple iPhone 4S release date which took place on October 14th.

According to Apple’s support pages a 3200 error is caused by “a network-connectivity or traffic issue.” The Cupertino-based company advised: “If you see this error, wait an hour or more and try again.”

What other problems have you experienced with the iPhone 4S? Let us know in our comments box below and we'll investigate...

Find out more about the iPhone 4S in our iPhone 4S video below

Blogger Tip. How to install LinkWithin.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:39:00 +0000

I have received a few requests to explain how to install LinkWithin,
which consists of 3-5 boxes at the bottom of a blog post that look like this --

If you would like LinkWithin to appear at the bottom of each of your blog posts here is what you should do.

1. Visit LinkWithin
2. Fill out your information in this box, and click "get widget" once you have entered your info and selected the width {# of LinkWithin boxes that will appear at the bottom of each post}.

3. Make sure you are signed into your Blogger or WordPress account, and click the "install widget" link. Then, select the blog that you would like LinkWithin to appear on. At this stage of the process, you will see instructions with photographs that will explain the process.

4. You're done! It's that simple!

HTML Colour Codes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:05:00 +0000

Color Values

HTML colors are defined using a hexadecimal notation (HEX) for the combination of Red, Green, and Blue color values (RGB).

The lowest value that can be given to one of the light sources is 0 (in HEX: 00). The highest value is 255 (in HEX: FF).

HEX values are specified as 3 pairs of two-digit numbers, starting with a # sign.

Color Values

Color	Color HEX	Color RGB
	#000000	rgb(0,0,0)
	#FF0000	rgb(255,0,0)
	#00FF00	rgb(0,255,0)
	#0000FF	rgb(0,0,255)
	#FFFF00	rgb(255,255,0)
	#00FFFF	rgb(0,255,255)
	#FF00FF	rgb(255,0,255)
	#C0C0C0	rgb(192,192,192)
	#FFFFFF	rgb(255,255,255)

Try it yourself »

16 Million Different Colors

The combination of Red, Green, and Blue values from 0 to 255, gives more than 16 million different colors (256 x 256 x 256).

If you look at the color table below, you will see the result of varying the red light from 0 to 255, while keeping the green and blue light at zero.

To see the full list of color mixes when RED varies from 0 to 255, click on one of the HEX or RGB values below.

Red Light	Color HEX	Color RGB
	#000000	rgb(0,0,0)
	#080000	rgb(8,0,0)
	#100000	rgb(16,0,0)
	#180000	rgb(24,0,0)
	#200000	rgb(32,0,0)
	#280000	rgb(40,0,0)
	#300000	rgb(48,0,0)
	#380000	rgb(56,0,0)
	#400000	rgb(64,0,0)
	#480000	rgb(72,0,0)
	#500000	rgb(80,0,0)
	#580000	rgb(88,0,0)
	#600000	rgb(96,0,0)
	#680000	rgb(104,0,0)
	#700000	rgb(112,0,0)
	#780000	rgb(120,0,0)
	#800000	rgb(128,0,0)
	#880000	rgb(136,0,0)
	#900000	rgb(144,0,0)
	#980000	rgb(152,0,0)
	#A00000	rgb(160,0,0)
	#A80000	rgb(168,0,0)
	#B00000	rgb(176,0,0)
	#B80000	rgb(184,0,0)
	#C00000	rgb(192,0,0)
	#C80000	rgb(200,0,0)
	#D00000	rgb(208,0,0)
	#D80000	rgb(216,0,0)
	#E00000	rgb(224,0,0)
	#E80000	rgb(232,0,0)
	#F00000	rgb(240,0,0)
	#F80000	rgb(248,0,0)
	#FF0000	rgb(255,0,0)

Shades of Gray

Gray colors are created by using an equal amount of power to all of the light sources.

To make it easier for you to select the correct shade, we have created a table of gray shades for you:

Gray Shades	Color HEX	Color RGB
	#000000	rgb(0,0,0)
	#080808	rgb(8,8,8)
	#101010	rgb(16,16,16)
	#181818	rgb(24,24,24)
	#202020	rgb(32,32,32)
	#282828	rgb(40,40,40)
	#303030	rgb(48,48,48)
	#383838	rgb(56,56,56)
	#404040	rgb(64,64,64)
	#484848	rgb(72,72,72)
	#505050	rgb(80,80,80)
	#585858	rgb(88,88,88)
	#606060	rgb(96,96,96)
	#686868	rgb(104,104,104)
	#707070	rgb(112,112,112)
	#787878	rgb(120,120,120)
	#808080	rgb(128,128,128)
	#888888	rgb(136,136,136)
	#909090	rgb(144,144,144)
	#989898	rgb(152,152,152)
	#A0A0A0	rgb(160,160,160)
	#A8A8A8	rgb(168,168,168)
	#B0B0B0	rgb(176,176,176)
	#B8B8B8	rgb(184,184,184)
	#C0C0C0	rgb(192,192,192)
	#C8C8C8	rgb(200,200,200)
	#D0D0D0	rgb(208,208,208)
	#D8D8D8	rgb(216,216,216)
	#E0E0E0	rgb(224,224,224)
	#E8E8E8	rgb(232,232,232)
	#F0F0F0	rgb(240,240,240)
	#F8F8F8	rgb(248,248,248)
	#FFFFFF	rgb(255,255,255)

Web Safe Colors?

Some years ago, when computers supported max 256 different colors, a list of 216 "Web Safe Colors" was suggested as a Web standard, reserving 40 fixed system colors.

The 216 cross-browser color palette was created to ensure that all computers would display the colors correctly when running a 256 color palette.

This is not important today, since most computers can display millions of different colors. Anyway, here is the list:

000000	000033	000066	000099	0000CC	0000FF
003300	003333	003366	003399	0033CC	0033FF
006600	006633	006666	006699	0066CC	0066FF
009900	009933	009966	009999	0099CC	0099FF
00CC00	00CC33	00CC66	00CC99	00CCCC	00CCFF
00FF00	00FF33	00FF66	00FF99	00FFCC	00FFFF
330000	330033	330066	330099	3300CC	3300FF
333300	333333	333366	333399	3333CC	3333FF
336600	336633	336666	336699	3366CC	3366FF
339900	339933	339966	339999	3399CC	3399FF
33CC00	33CC33	33CC66	33CC99	33CCCC	33CCFF
33FF00	33FF33	33FF66	33FF99	33FFCC	33FFFF
660000	660033	660066	660099	6600CC	6600FF
663300	663333	663366	663399	6633CC	6633FF
666600	666633	666666	666699	6666CC	6666FF
669900	669933	669966	669999	6699CC	6699FF
66CC00	66CC33	66CC66	66CC99	66CCCC	66CCFF
66FF00	66FF33	66FF66	66FF99	66FFCC	66FFFF
990000	990033	990066	990099	9900CC	9900FF
993300	993333	993366	993399	9933CC	9933FF
996600	996633	996666	996699	9966CC	9966FF
999900	999933	999966	999999	9999CC	9999FF
99CC00	99CC33	99CC66	99CC99	99CCCC	99CCFF
99FF00	99FF33	99FF66	99FF99	99FFCC	99FFFF
CC0000	CC0033	CC0066	CC0099	CC00CC	CC00FF
CC3300	CC3333	CC3366	CC3399	CC33CC	CC33FF
CC6600	CC6633	CC6666	CC6699	CC66CC	CC66FF
CC9900	CC9933	CC9966	CC9999	CC99CC	CC99FF
CCCC00	CCCC33	CCCC66	CCCC99	CCCCCC	CCCCFF
CCFF00	CCFF33	CCFF66	CCFF99	CCFFCC	CCFFFF
FF0000	FF0033	FF0066	FF0099	FF00CC	FF00FF
FF3300	FF3333	FF3366	FF3399	FF33CC	FF33FF
FF6600	FF6633	FF6666	FF6699	FF66CC	FF66FF
FF9900	FF9933	FF9966	FF9999	FF99CC	FF99FF
FFCC00	FFCC33	FFCC66	FFCC99	FFCCCC	FFCCFF
FFFF00	FFFF33	FFFF66	FFFF99	FFFFCC	FFFFFF

Sorted by Color Name

Same list sorted by hex values

Color Name	HEX	Shades	Mix
AliceBlue	#F0F8FF	Shades	Mix
AntiqueWhite	#FAEBD7	Shades	Mix
Aqua	#00FFFF	Shades	Mix
Aquamarine	#7FFFD4	Shades	Mix
Azure	#F0FFFF	Shades	Mix
Beige	#F5F5DC	Shades	Mix
Bisque	#FFE4C4	Shades	Mix
Black	#000000	Shades	Mix
BlanchedAlmond	#FFEBCD	Shades	Mix
Blue	#0000FF	Shades	Mix
BlueViolet	#8A2BE2	Shades	Mix
Brown	#A52A2A	Shades	Mix
BurlyWood	#DEB887	Shades	Mix
CadetBlue	#5F9EA0	Shades	Mix
Chartreuse	#7FFF00	Shades	Mix
Chocolate	#D2691E	Shades	Mix
Coral	#FF7F50	Shades	Mix
CornflowerBlue	#6495ED	Shades	Mix
Cornsilk	#FFF8DC	Shades	Mix
Crimson	#DC143C	Shades	Mix
Cyan	#00FFFF	Shades	Mix
DarkBlue	#00008B	Shades	Mix
DarkCyan	#008B8B	Shades	Mix
DarkGoldenRod	#B8860B	Shades	Mix
DarkGray	#A9A9A9	Shades	Mix
DarkGrey	#A9A9A9	Shades	Mix
DarkGreen	#006400	Shades	Mix
DarkKhaki	#BDB76B	Shades	Mix
DarkMagenta	#8B008B	Shades	Mix
DarkOliveGreen	#556B2F	Shades	Mix
Darkorange	#FF8C00	Shades	Mix
DarkOrchid	#9932CC	Shades	Mix
DarkRed	#8B0000	Shades	Mix
DarkSalmon	#E9967A	Shades	Mix
DarkSeaGreen	#8FBC8F	Shades	Mix
DarkSlateBlue	#483D8B	Shades	Mix
DarkSlateGray	#2F4F4F	Shades	Mix
DarkSlateGrey	#2F4F4F	Shades	Mix
DarkTurquoise	#00CED1	Shades	Mix
DarkViolet	#9400D3	Shades	Mix
DeepPink	#FF1493	Shades	Mix
DeepSkyBlue	#00BFFF	Shades	Mix
DimGray	#696969	Shades	Mix
DimGrey	#696969	Shades	Mix
DodgerBlue	#1E90FF	Shades	Mix
FireBrick	#B22222	Shades	Mix
FloralWhite	#FFFAF0	Shades	Mix
ForestGreen	#228B22	Shades	Mix
Fuchsia	#FF00FF	Shades	Mix
Gainsboro	#DCDCDC	Shades	Mix
GhostWhite	#F8F8FF	Shades	Mix
Gold	#FFD700	Shades	Mix
GoldenRod	#DAA520	Shades	Mix
Gray	#808080	Shades	Mix
Grey	#808080	Shades	Mix
Green	#008000	Shades	Mix
GreenYellow	#ADFF2F	Shades	Mix
HoneyDew	#F0FFF0	Shades	Mix
HotPink	#FF69B4	Shades	Mix
IndianRed	#CD5C5C	Shades	Mix
Indigo	#4B0082	Shades	Mix
Ivory	#FFFFF0	Shades	Mix
Khaki	#F0E68C	Shades	Mix
Lavender	#E6E6FA	Shades	Mix
LavenderBlush	#FFF0F5	Shades	Mix
LawnGreen	#7CFC00	Shades	Mix
LemonChiffon	#FFFACD	Shades	Mix
LightBlue	#ADD8E6	Shades	Mix
LightCoral	#F08080	Shades	Mix
LightCyan	#E0FFFF	Shades	Mix
LightGoldenRodYellow	#FAFAD2	Shades	Mix
LightGray	#D3D3D3	Shades	Mix
LightGrey	#D3D3D3	Shades	Mix
LightGreen	#90EE90	Shades	Mix
LightPink	#FFB6C1	Shades	Mix
LightSalmon	#FFA07A	Shades	Mix
LightSeaGreen	#20B2AA	Shades	Mix
LightSkyBlue	#87CEFA	Shades	Mix
LightSlateGray	#778899	Shades	Mix
LightSlateGrey	#778899	Shades	Mix
LightSteelBlue	#B0C4DE	Shades	Mix
LightYellow	#FFFFE0	Shades	Mix
Lime	#00FF00	Shades	Mix
LimeGreen	#32CD32	Shades	Mix
Linen	#FAF0E6	Shades	Mix
Magenta	#FF00FF	Shades	Mix
Maroon	#800000	Shades	Mix
MediumAquaMarine	#66CDAA	Shades	Mix
MediumBlue	#0000CD	Shades	Mix
MediumOrchid	#BA55D3	Shades	Mix
MediumPurple	#9370D8	Shades	Mix
MediumSeaGreen	#3CB371	Shades	Mix
MediumSlateBlue	#7B68EE	Shades	Mix
MediumSpringGreen	#00FA9A	Shades	Mix
MediumTurquoise	#48D1CC	Shades	Mix
MediumVioletRed	#C71585	Shades	Mix
MidnightBlue	#191970	Shades	Mix
MintCream	#F5FFFA	Shades	Mix
MistyRose	#FFE4E1	Shades	Mix
Moccasin	#FFE4B5	Shades	Mix
NavajoWhite	#FFDEAD	Shades	Mix
Navy	#000080	Shades	Mix
OldLace	#FDF5E6	Shades	Mix
Olive	#808000	Shades	Mix
OliveDrab	#6B8E23	Shades	Mix
Orange	#FFA500	Shades	Mix
OrangeRed	#FF4500	Shades	Mix
Orchid	#DA70D6	Shades	Mix
PaleGoldenRod	#EEE8AA	Shades	Mix
PaleGreen	#98FB98	Shades	Mix
PaleTurquoise	#AFEEEE	Shades	Mix
PaleVioletRed	#D87093	Shades	Mix
PapayaWhip	#FFEFD5	Shades	Mix
PeachPuff	#FFDAB9	Shades	Mix
Peru	#CD853F	Shades	Mix
Pink	#FFC0CB	Shades	Mix
Plum	#DDA0DD	Shades	Mix
PowderBlue	#B0E0E6	Shades	Mix
Purple	#800080	Shades	Mix
Red	#FF0000	Shades	Mix
RosyBrown	#BC8F8F	Shades	Mix
RoyalBlue	#4169E1	Shades	Mix
SaddleBrown	#8B4513	Shades	Mix
Salmon	#FA8072	Shades	Mix
SandyBrown	#F4A460	Shades	Mix
SeaGreen	#2E8B57	Shades	Mix
SeaShell	#FFF5EE	Shades	Mix
Sienna	#A0522D	Shades	Mix
Silver	#C0C0C0	Shades	Mix
SkyBlue	#87CEEB	Shades	Mix
SlateBlue	#6A5ACD	Shades	Mix
SlateGray	#708090	Shades	Mix
SlateGrey	#708090	Shades	Mix
Snow	#FFFAFA	Shades	Mix
SpringGreen	#00FF7F	Shades	Mix
SteelBlue	#4682B4	Shades	Mix
Tan	#D2B48C	Shades	Mix
Teal	#008080	Shades	Mix
Thistle	#D8BFD8	Shades	Mix
Tomato	#FF6347	Shades	Mix
Turquoise	#40E0D0	Shades	Mix
Violet	#EE82EE	Shades	Mix
Wheat	#F5DEB3	Shades	Mix
White	#FFFFFF	Shades	Mix
WhiteSmoke	#F5F5F5	Shades	Mix
Yellow	#FFFF00	Shades	Mix
YellowGreen	#9ACD32	Shades	Mix

Blogger Gadget | Animate New Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:54:00 +0000

01. Layout >> Page Element >> Add a gadget >> "html/java script"

02. Copy This Code Your java script gadget Body

<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<style type="text/css" media="screen">

</style>

<script language='JavaScript'>

imgr = new Array();

imgr[0] = "http://i43.tinypic.com/orpg0m.jpg";

imgr[1] = "http://i43.tinypic.com/orpg0m.jpg";

imgr[2] = "http://i43.tinypic.com/orpg0m.jpg";

imgr[3] = "http://i43.tinypic.com/orpg0m.jpg";

imgr[4] = "http://i43.tinypic.com/orpg0m.jpg";
showRandomImg = true;

boxwidth = 255;

cellspacing = 6;

borderColor = "#232c35";

bgTD = "#000000";

thumbwidth = 70;

thumbheight = 70;

fntsize = 12;

acolor = "#666";

aBold = true;

icon = " ";

text = "comments";

showPostDate = true;

summaryPost = 40;

summaryFontsize = 10;

summaryColor = "#666";

icon2 = " ";

numposts = 10;

home_page = "http://lkbuzz.blogspot.com/";

limitspy=4
intervalspy=4000

</script>

<div id="spylist">
<script src='http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/708209/scriptabufarhan/recentspy/recentpostthumbspy-min.js' type='text/javascript'></script>
</div>
<p><a href="http://lkbuzz.blogspot.com/2011/11/blogger-gadget-animate-new-posts.html"/><span style="font-size: 80%">Grab this</span></a></p>

Spacial Note ,

Red Colour URL Replace Add Your Blog URL.

* This Type add Wordpress

SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab™ 7.0 Plus Available at T-Mobile Nov. 16

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:23:00 +0000

T-Mobile’s newest ultra-mobile 4G tablet delivers a rich entertainment experience anywhere on America’s Largest 4G Network

Offering a premium, ultra-mobile entertainment experience, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus from T-Mobile comes with a variety of pre-installed premium content, including the Samsung Media Hub so customers can rent or purchase movies and purchase TV programs and share that content on up to five compatible devices on the same account. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus also comes pre-loaded with WildTangent®, so customers can play premium games for free, as well as rent or purchase games.

The Android™ 3.2 (Honeycomb) Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is equipped with a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 16 GB of internal memory and a micro SD card slot that supports up to an additional 32 GB of expandable memory for easy storage of documents, movies, books and more. In addition, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus makes it quick and easy to browse rich Web content with support for Adobe® Flash® Player and read books and magazines though services like Zinio®, which offers more than 5,000 full color magazines to browse, and Blio® eReader, which shows eBooks in full color on the brilliant 7-inch screen.

Equipped with a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera with flash for photo, and Mobile HD video capture and playback in 720p** as well as a 2-megapixel front-facing camera which can be used to connect with friends and family via Video Chat, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus makes it possible to connect and share life’s most important moments while on the go.