CES 2015: Sony announces SmartWatch 3 stainless steel variant

Although Japanese tech firm Sony hasn't introduced any 'new' smart wearables at the ongoing CES 2015 event being held in Las Vegas, the company took stage to announce upgraded variants of its SmartWatch 3 and SmartBand devices. Both the SmartWatch 3 and the SmartBand wearables were first announced at the CES 2014 event.

The company announced an all new stainless steel version of the SmartWatch 3 at the CES 2015. However, for the new variant carries the same set of specifications inside as the original. Granted the new version is all steel and dust and water-proof (IP68), some upgrade on the inside would surely have helped to generate a greater buzz.

The new SmartWatch 3 features the same 1.6-inch TFT LCD transflective display with a 320 x 320 pixel resolution. It is powered by a quad-core processor coupled with 512MB of RAM. It comes with 4GB of internal memory and decks in a 420 mAh battery rated to give up to 2 days of normal usage.
Meanwhile, the company also announced a limited edition ROXY model of its SmartBand SWR10 wearable device. Just like the SmartWatch 3, changes here are also restricted to design and nothing more.

In addition, Sony has developed a website to work in tandem to its existing Lifelog app and help keep track of users' daily activities via the said devices.

Source : businesstoday

Read More »

Google unveils its first built-from-scratch self-driving car

Google has unveiled the first fully working road-legal prototype of its self-driving car. The original plan was to create a car that was completely driverless, but California introduced some new rules this year that stipulated that test cars must also have manual controls (steering, pedals) so that a human driver can take over if needed. If all goes to plan, Google hopes to partner with a real car maker to bring a self-driving vehicle to market in the next five years. Whether the commercialized driverless car will look like the overly cutesy Google prototype remains to be seen.

For the last few years, Google’s self-driving efforts have been focused on retrofitting existing cars (primarily the Toyota Prius and Lexus 450h) with the necessary hardware and software to autonomously drive a few towns and highways in California and Nevada. Now, after hundreds of thousands of accident-free miles, Google is confident enough in its self-driving tech that it’s taking the next steps towards commercialization. In May it unveiled a semi-functioning prototype (and a very cute promotional video, which is embedded below), and today it is unveiling a completed, fully functioning prototype that is road-legal.

At first glance, this new prototype looks almost identical to the model shown off in May, but if you look closely there are quite a few significant changes. Perhaps most notably, the new prototype actually has working headlights (previously they were drawn on), and the hump on the roof of the car (which houses the LIDAR hardware) is a lot more svelte. Some people will be upset to see that the smile has been removed, too, replaced by a couple of indicators. (The front of the prototype still looks a bit like a face, but it looks a bit more… strained or serious, perhaps.)

The biggest changes, though, aren’t visible from the outside: To comply with new legislation in California, this new prototype has a full set of manual controls — a steering wheel, pedals, etc. Basically, to prevent the roads being flooded with (potentially) dangerous self-driving cars, test vehicles must allow for “immediate physical control” — i.e. there has to be a driver in there that can slam on the brakes if the car’s software misbehaves. Google had previously hoped that its prototype self-driving car would have just a single button — a big stop/go button in between the two passenger seats — but for now, its self-driving cars will need to have the usual manual controls as well.

Google says it’s going to spend the next few weeks and months zipping around its test track, and then if all goes to plan we should see the cute little car on the streets of California “in the new year.” Eventually, Google hopes to produce around 200 of the prototype cars — which might seem like a lot, but for something as risky and bleeding-edge as autonomous driving, trust me when I say that there’s no such thing as too much testing.

Long-term, Google is hoping to find industrial partners (i.e. car manufacturers) that can bring its self-driving tech to the mass market within five years. It’s funny — a few years ago, it seemed like Google was light years ahead of the competition, but now, with companies like Tesla, Mercedes, and Audi all getting very close to fully autonomous driving, it feels like Google might be slipping to the back of the pack.

Source : Extreme Tech

Read More »

Google Chromecast Review: Simple Streaming, Now in India

A couple of weeks ago, at the start of the Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF), Google finally launched the Chromecast wireless streaming accessory in India at Rs. 2,999. When it first launched last year, the Chromecast was seen as a geeky curiosity, though as long term owners of the HDMI dongle, we can testify it's seen more and more use off late. At the same time, we've seen alternatives such as Teewe, which was really easy to set up and worked well too, and Esycast, whose UI could definitely stand some improvement, but which is still a good alternative, launch in India. So how does the Chromecast measure up and who should be buying it?

The first, and most obvious question is what a Chromecast is, and what you'll use it for. The Chromecast is a small gadget, a little bigger than your thumb, and it connects to your TV using the HDMI port. On the back, there's a Micro-USB port which is used to power the Chromecast, and the charging cable and an optional HDMI extender cable (for hard to reach ports) are also included in the box.

Its design and build quality is well ahead of the competition - despite the low price, it feels like a premium gadget, and this continues even when you're using it, thanks to a well-made, sleek and easy to use interface which is better than any of the Indian efforts we've used.

The Chromecast connects to your home Wi-Fi network through a simple pairing process - the steps are neatly explained when you first connect it to the television and are very simple to follow. Once you've done that, you can "cast" videos from other devices on the same Wi-Fi network to the Chromecast - this works in a couple of different ways.

For one, there are videos being streamed off the Internet - so for example, if you go to YouTube on a connected phone or PC, and press the cast button - the video is downloaded to the Chromecast directly, instead of being downloaded to your device and then streamed to the Chromecast locally.

This is also used for apps like Eros Now, and like Popcorn Time, so while we might lack some of the "channels" you have in the US such as Netflix and Hulu, there is a pretty big selection of content available now. However, not all video sites are supported and for these you can use the mirroring option via Chrome (see below).

Then, there's screen mirroring. This only works on phones that have Android 4.4.2 or later. If your phone meets that requirement, then the process of mirroring is pretty simple - just launch the Chromecast app and tap the "Cast Screen" button and it'll mirror your screen on the TV.

This allows you to duplicate anything from your phone to your TV screen - whether you're browsing Facebook or want to show your friends your games. Actually playing the games on the big screen isn't a great idea incidentally, unless you're playing a turn based board game style game, where quick reactions don't matter. That's because there's a small amount of lag - a consistent half second or so delay - between your mobile screen and the TV screen.

This is also how you can send content from your PC to your TV - install the Chromecast extension in your desktop Chrome browser, and you get a "Cast" button on top of the page. If you're on a site like YouTube and you click the cast button, it will simply play the video from your Chromecast. Otherwise, it mirrors the webpage you're on to your Chromecast.

Playing the video has a couple of benefits - for one thing, it usually looks better. On a webpage, there are often elements on a page that are needed for navigation, which don't look good when you're watching a video on your TV screen.

The other difference is that casting a tab requires more power from your computer, affecting its performance and also in the case of laptops - battery usage.

In this way, the Chromecast becomes a pretty good way to send content from your devices to your TV, without having to keep a computer (even a small HTPC) hooked up to the television all the time. The Chromecast is a lot smaller than any computer, and if your TV comes with USB ports, you can even power the dongle directly from the TV, so there's nothing sticking out from it at all.

You can also use the Chromecast to watch videos you've saved on your HDD - and it's made really simple with Plex. You'll need to set up a Plex server on the device that holds all your content, and then you can use the Plex app on iOS or Android to play the videos on your Chromecast. The mobile then acts like a remote - you can control playback, change the video or even use the phone for other apps once the video is playing. VLC is also supposed to get Chromecast support for Android and iOS soon, and MX Player is also apparently working on this.

Finally, Google has also rolled out some Chromecast games, where each player can use his or her phone as a controller. These family-friendly multiplayer games include titles like Wheel of Fortune, Hasbro's Monopoly Dash, Scrabble Blitz, Connect Four Quads and Simon Swipe. You can see all the Chromecast apps here.

If you've got a smart TV; or if you keep a video game console hooked up to your television; or use a HTPC or a smart box like the Amkette Evo TV or Apple TV, then you probably won't have much use for a Chromecast. It doesn't really allow you to do anything you can't accomplish with any of those devices.

But if you've ever wanted an easy way to get content from your phone or laptop to your TV, then the Chromecast is a great, and cheap option. In our case, it gets used first and foremost as a YouTube jukebox. Queuing up videos is simple, and when friends come over, creating a playlist on the fly is easy. We use the PlayStation 3 connected to the home theatre setup for larger groups, while the Chromecast gets used with the TV in smaller groups.

Apps like VLC, Popcorn Time, and others will also find more use in India, where services like HBO Go and Netflix aren't easily accessed. Screen mirroring of Android devices can be a lot more useful than it sounds too - imagine if you want to show people a Word document stored on your phone, for example.

All things considered, it's hard to describe the Chromecast as a must-have gadget. But it's cheap enough that you can buy it just to play around with something new, and its value emerges over time, as you find it fitting into your routine.

Teewe is a full Rs. 1,000 cheaper, while the Esycast is available for approximately Rs. 2,600. The Chromecast is definitely more expensive, but your favourite third-party app is more likely to add support for Chromecast than any of the others, and the build quality is significantly better. At the end of the day, you have to decide if that's something you're comfortable paying extra for.

Source : NDTV

Read More »

Chinese pen drives' prices may rise in India

Government may impose anti-dumping duty of up to $3.12 a piece on Chinese USB Flash Drives (pen drives) to protect domestic players from below-cost shipments from China.

In its final findings, the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) has said the product has been exported from that country into the Indian market at prices less than their normal values.

The application for the investigation was filed by Storage Media Products Manufacturers & Marketers Welfare Association on behalf of the domestic producers represented by Moser Baer India Ltd.

"...the Authority is of the view that imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty is required to offset dumping and injury. Therefore, the Authority considers it necessary to recommend imposition of definitive anti-dumping duties on the imports...," a commerce ministry notification said.

The recommended anti-dumping duty are $3.06 per piece and $3.12 per piece.

Anti-dumping duty is recommended by the commerce ministry, while the finance ministry imposes it.

The DGAD has also concluded that due to dumping of the product, the domestic industry has suffered material injury.

USB flash drives are also known in the market parlance by various other names such as pen drive, keychain drives, key drives, USB sticks, flash sticks, jump sticks, USB keys or memory keys.

It is a data storage device which uses flash memory and USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface to interact with computers or other multimedia devices for data exchange. They are typically small, lightweight, hot-swappable and rewritable.

Unlike safeguard duties, which are levied in a uniform way, anti-dumping duties vary from product to product and from country to country.

Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to check if domestic industry has been hurt because of a surge in below-cost imports. As a counter-measure, they impose duties under the multilateral WTO regime.

Source : Times of India

Read More »

Kodak set to launch Smartphones, Tablets

Photography pioneer Kodak is all set to enter the smartphone and tablet industry next month. In an official statement, the company said that it will showcase its first product - a smartphone - at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, scheduled for the first week of January.

The first-ever Kodak smartphone will be powered by Android operating system and have "best-in-class image management software and features along with great design and UI."

Surprisingly, the statement does not talk of the imaging hardware - apart from "bespoke image capture features" - that the company will use in the smartphone, as Kodak is best known for its range of camera optics.

Kodak also said that the smartphone will be "aimed at but not exclusively for - consumers who want a high-end experience but aren't always as comfortable using increasingly complicated mobile devices." The smartphone will also have sharing as well as remote management software, which lets family and friends to provide help and support if needed.

The company is partnering with UK-based Bullitt Group to manufacture its products. Bullitt Mobile CEO Oliver Schulte said, "Kodak is one of the world's most recognizable brands. We've taken that heritage and used it to inspire a range of beautifully designed devices that will let users take great pictures and edit, share, store and print them in an instant."

Apart from this, the company also plans to launch a 4G handset, a tablet and an internet-connected camera in the second half of 2015.

Source : Times of India

Read More »

Xiaomi Redmi 1s to go on sale today at 2PM

Xiaomi Redmi 1s will be up for grabs today on Flipkart. Those who have registered for the flash sale can buy the device at 2PM. The registrations for the sale closed yesterday.

The Redmi 1s and the 4G version of the Redmi Note will soon resume sales in India, as the Delhi High Court has lifted the ban on Xiaomi devices under certain terms.

Hugo Barra announced in a Facebook post that the Redmi 1s is coming back next week and the next sale will be held on Tuesday, December 23 on Flipkart. The 4G version of the Redmi Note is also expected soon, though he did not reveal when it would start selling in India. “We are happy to announce that the Delhi High Court today issued a ruling in our favor, allowing us to resume sales in India subject to certain terms,” the post said.

Ericsson had accused Xiaomi of infringing upon eight of its patents including AMR, EDGE and 3G technologies. Following the accusation, the Delhi High Court passed an injunction against Xiaomi barring it from selling devices in India.

However, in an appeal filed by Xiaomi, it claimed that the company also sold devices running on Qualcomm chipsets. Qualcomm has obtained a license from Ericsson for its patented technology,which indirectly means that Xiaomi phones running on Qualcomm chipsets were not infringing upon Ericsson’s patents.

Following the appeal, the Delhi High Court lifted the ban on Xiaomi devices that run on Qualcomm chipsets. These include the Redmi 1s and the 4G variant of the Redmi Note. The 3G variant that had been selling before the court injunction runs on a Meditek processor, so the company is still legally bound to withhold its sales in India.

Source : Tech.FirstPost

Read More »

Google plans to open own campus in Hyderabad

Internet giant Google plans to open its own "permanent and big" campus in Hyderabad and is set to sign an MoU with Telangana government shortly to take up the venture. 

"We are likely to sign MoU with Google. They are likely to open their campus here in Hyderabad. It will be the third campus they will have after the US and the UK," Telangana IT, electronics and communications secretary Harpreet Singh told PTI here.

Google currently operates from rented premises here but wants to move to a "permanent campus", he said, adding the tech major would sign an MoU with the state government shortly.

He, however, declined to go into further details of the proposed venture, saying a press conference is scheduled to be held shortly on this but added that it would be a "big campus".

Singh also said Cisco, Airtel, Vodafone and a Taiwanese company, among others, have responded to the expression of interest floated by the government on proposed venture to make Hyderabad a Wi-Fi enabled city. "

Many of them are partnering and coming," Singh said, adding the Taiwanese firm, in fact, was behind making Taipei a Wi-Fi enabled city.

But he said the companies that have evinced interest have sought information such as detailed maps of the city, including roads, and some clarifications with regard to certain specific points. "So, we are preparing the replies; we will give it to them".

"It will take time (to make the city Wi-Fi enabled) because business model is the critical issue. Making Wi-Fi is not a big problem ... but how to monetise it ... is the key issue," he explained.

Singh, however, said the contract for this venture is expected to be awarded in the next three-four months after floating the request for proposals and the bidding process.

After that, the successful bidder is expected to take six months to roll out the infrastructure, he said, indicating that the city is likely to be Wi-Fi enabled only towards the end of next year.

On the proposed Rs 30 crore incubator facility for technology start-ups, he said its designs have been completed and the process of tendering is in progress.

The 70,000 square feet facility will have 800 seats, housing an expected 500 start-ups in different stages of growth, he said.

"We are planning to formally inaugurate this building on June two (on the first anniversary of Telangana State's formation)."

As for software exports from Hyderabad, he noted that it was Rs 57,000 crore or roughly ten billion dollars in the year 2013-14. "This year (2014-15), I think it's (going to be) 12% (more). We may do slightly better (better than 12% growth)," Singh added.

Source : Times of India

Read More »

New superior image format BPG that really ought to kill off JPEG

For all of the massive technological advances that we’ve seen over the last few years, there are still a number of dinosaurs from a bygone era that, rather unfortunately, just won’t die. JPEG is one of the most prominent examples: It was created more than 20 years ago, and yet its antiquated, bloated, blocky algorithm still dominates the web. You would think, with the modern web being so image-oriented, that we would replace JPEG with something better — but no, it’s 2014 and JPEGs (and multi-megabyte GIFs!) still reign supreme.

It’s not like people haven’t tried to replace JPEG — but, much like MP3 or ZIP, it’s very hard to unseat an incumbent file format (or, more accurately, a compression technology). The fact is, despite any misgivings we might have about JPEGs or GIFs, almost every computer system in the world can display them — and generally, in the grand scheme of communication, it’s much more important to make sure that your message was seen at all, rather than making sure the message is as small and as optimized as possible. Yes, ExtremeTech could start using a JPEG alternative, and revel in our smaller and faster page loads — but our excitement would be rather short-lived when we discover that, for 99.9% of our readers, the site looks like ass.

One of the most famous attempts to replace JPEG was attempted by Google, with its WebP format — but four years on, and it’s still nothing more than a niche file format that hasn’t gained much widespread support outside of Google’s products and services. (The recent trend towards replacing animated GIFs with WebP is pleasing to see, however.) More recently, Mozilla started experimenting with mozjpeg, which reduces file sizes slightly (~10%) while still retaining JPEG compatibility (a big plus). And now, from the creator of FFMPEG and QEMU, Fabrice Bellard, we have BPG!

Short for Better Portable Graphics, BPG offers around the same image quality as JPEG, but at half the file size. To perform such witchcraft, BPG simply uses a newer codec — x265, the open-source implementation of HEVC/H.265. In essence, a BPG image is the same thing as taking a single frame out of an x265/H.265 video stream. We’ve talked about H.265 at length in the past, but basically it’s just a much better algorithm than JPEG — or MPEG-2 or H.264. Furthermore, BPG also has H.265’s ability to render 14 bits per color channel (JPEG is just 8), plus BPG also brings an alpha channel (transparency). Lossless compression is available (though I haven’t seen how it compares to PNG).

To see how BPG compares to JPEG and WebP, head on over to the image comparison site. Move your mouse left and right and marvel at how bad JPEG is. The differences will be less pronounced if you go up to “medium” or “large” file sizes, but that’s because the window is very small — plus, with the shift towards mobile computing, it’s highly compressed images that are most important right now. BPG isn’t just for mobile users, though: 14-bit color, which allows for a much higher dynamic range than 8-bit JPEG or WebP, is perfectly suited to newer cameras and displays.

But, of course, at the end of the day, BPG is still just another file format/codec that has a grand total of no native support anywhere. For now, the only way of rendering a BPG file is with a BPG decoder written in JavaScript — about 71 kilobytes of JS, to be exact. Obviously, if you’re trying to cut down the footprint of a mobile website, downloading and executing yet more JavaScript kind of defeats the point. (On desktop PCs, though, the performance hit from using the JavaScript decoder will be minimal.) There is an open-source BPG library that browser makers and other software developers can build into their apps, but obviously mass integration will take months or years.

There is one other interesting aspect of BPG, too: Because it’s based on HEVC/H.265, any device with hardware decode support for H.265 can also decode BPGs in hardware. This is a big deal, because more advanced compression methods tend to require more computation (and thus power) to decode — which is a no-no on mobile devices. Hardware-decoded BPG would be better than JPEG in every which way — now we just have to pray for adoption by software developers.

Source : Extreme Tech

Read More »

Google Launches Hindi Advertisement Service on its Display network

Online search giant Google has launched Hindi ads on its display network to allow advertisers reach out to 500 million Hindi speakers across the world.

The move is part of Google's effort to stimulate the growth of Indic languages and extend support to more languages around the world, Google said in a statement on Monday.

"Starting today, marketers will be able to advertise to India's booming online population in the most widely spoken local language - Hindi," it added.

It is estimated that there are over 500 million Hindi speakers globally.

"Extending the ability to support Hindi ads will enable global advertisers to connect with one of India's fastest growing online audiences," it said.

With the introduction of Hindi ads, AdWords advertisers will now be able to build campaigns reaching Hindi language sites on the Google Display Network using text, image, rich media, and video display ad formats, it added.

"We hope that this launch will give a boost to the growth of Hindi web and will encourage the creation of a whole new wave of online Hindi content that will not only be useful to the burgeoning Hindi Internet audience, but also make it easy for advertisers to market to this very important consumer base," Google Head Partner Business Solutions - India and Southeast Asia Dushyant Khare said.

In November, Google had announced the launch of Indian Language Internet Alliance (ILIA), a group committed to promote the growth of Indic language content online.

Through its efforts, the ILIA aims to enable 300 million Indian language speakers to become highly engaged Internet users by 2017.

Google already offers voice search in Hindi and a website called www.hindiweb.com, a repository to discover Hindi content across websites, apps, videos and blogs for Hindi speaking Internet users.

Source : Zee News India

Read More »

Google Nexus 5 Production Discontinued

A Google spokesperson has revealed that the company has discontinued production of the 2013 Nexus 5.

Speaking to Tech Radar, the company's representative said, "Once they are gone, they're gone, so we'd suggest people get them while they can". The comment from the Google spokesperson indicates the Nexus 5 might soon not be available to buy.

However, Google will continue to sell the Nexus 5 via Google Play and selected retailers in first quarter of 2015. The company in an emailed statement told The Verge, "Nexus 5 will continue to be available for sale on Google Play and through selected retailers in first quarter 2015."

Google has also quietly removed the Red and White colour versions of the Nexus 5 from Google Play, first reported by Tech Radar. Interestingly, the Google Play India also lists the Nexus 5 in just Black colour.

At the time of writing, the Nexus 5 was listed as 'out of inventory' on Google Play India with no word on when the stocks will be replenished. The Google Nexus 5 went on sale in India same time last year and has been available in two storage variants - the 16GB model and the 32GB. The handset was the platform lead device for Android 4.4 KitKat.

Some of the specifications of the Nexus 5 include a 4.95-inch full-HD IPS display; a 2.26GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor; 2GB of RAM; 8.0-megapixel rear camera; 1.3-megapixel front camera, and a 2300mAh battery.

Google started rolling out the Android 5.0 Lollipop  OTA update for older Nexus devices including the Nexus 5.

Whether production is being stopped or not of google the Nexus 5, it's natural for the company to want to steer customers to the latest model of Nexus. Nexus 6 will available soon why people buy Nexus 5.

The Nexus 6 improved features and specification over its previous model, including display, resolution, processor power, storage capacity and among other features. The Nexus 6 screen with a 5.96-inch screen as compare to the Nexus 5's 4.95-inch screen.

Read More »

Photo Sharing Community Instagram now bigger than Twitter, has over 300 million users

Facebook‘s photo-sharing service, Instagram, said it now had more than 300 million users, sharing over 70 million photos and videos each day.

In comparison, the popular micro-blogging service Twitter has 284 million active users, according to its website. Four-year-old Instagram crossed 200 million users in March. This proves that the company has grown a whopping 50 percent in the past few months.

The service, bought by Facebook in April 2012, also said in a blog that users would now see a “verified” badge for celebrities, athletes and brands as Instagram pushes to deactivate spam accounts.

Instagram also said it will permanently delete spam accounts, which may cause a drop in some users’ follower counts.


In addition, Instagram recently launched the Hyperlapse app for capturing time-lapse videos using iOS devices. Hyperlapse videos can be saved on mobile devices and shared on Instagram.

Financial Times pointed out that, shares in Twitter have fallen 41 per cent so far this year as Wall Street concerns over slowing user growth mount. In contrast, Facebook’s stock has risen 42 per cent.

Apart from the fact that Facebook is one of the most popular online social-networking platform, the company also owns WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger which bring in huge monetary profits.

Earlier reports suggest that Twitter was to bring Instagram-like filters to our photos too. The option is exactly like Instagram’s filter selector. The intensity of the filters can be adjusted with a slider that is revealed by a double tap.

Source : tech.firstpost.com

Read More »

Apple to Launch Its First Wearable Device in October

Apple Inc. Reports say that apple is preparing for launching its first wearable device in october. it will produce 3 million to 5 million units in its first initial month.

Specifications are still being finalised, but the devices are likely to sport curved OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays and sensors that collect health data from blood glucose and calorie consumption to sleep activity, the Japanese news service cited industry sources as saying.

" Though the details of services have yet to be released, specs for the new product are being finalised, according to industry sources. It will likely use a curved organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touchscreen and collect health-related data, such as calorie consumption, sleep activity, blood glucose and blood oxygen levels. It will also allow users to read messages sent by smartphones.
Apple appears confident of the new product. According to a parts manufacturer, it plans monthly commercial output of about 3-5 million units, which exceeds the total global sales of watch-like devices last year. This confidence is backed by its partnerships with high-profile hospitals - it has teamed up with the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic, U.S. health institutes based in Minnesota and Ohio, respectively, to develop specific ways of analysing the collected data and applying it to actual health management."

Read More »

Reliance Jio gets DoT’s approval to provide MNP service

Reliance Jio Infocomm has got the DoT’s nod for Location Routing Numbers (LRN) service which will allow the operator to provide easy Mobile Number Portability service to those who wish to switch to its network, Telecom Talk reports.

Reliance Jio holds 4G spectrum in 22 telecom circles pan India and is expected to soon launch its voice calling facilities over 4G LTE and Broadband services on the network. With the allocation of LRN, any GSM or CDMA user on other 2G or 3G networks will be able to port to Reliance Jio’s 4G LTE network, while also retaining their mobile number.

Read More »

LG Chromebase: World’s first all-in-one computer running on Chrome OS announced

Google’s minimal Chrome OS is seen working on laptops, and now it has finally made it to the desktop PCs. LG has taken the wraps off the Chromebase, the world’s first all-in-one computer to run on Chrome OS. LG will officially launch the PC at CES 2014.

Talking of hardware, the Chromebase flaunts a 21.5-inch full HD IPS (1920×1080 pixels) display and is powered by an Intel Celeron CPU, paired with 2GB of RAM. Other features include 16GB of internal storage, 1.3-megapixel webcam that supports 720p video recording, built-in 5W speakers and connectivity options like HDMI in, USB 2.0 ports, USB 3.0 ports and LAN port.

Read More »

Twitter unveils the top trending tweets in 2013

Twitter is the latest company to remind us that we are nearing the end of 2013 by unveiling the top tweets of the year. Like its trend reports in the past two years, this year too Twitter has divided the top tweets across various categories like #news, #entertainment, #sports, #showcase and #2013.

The most interesting among the aforementioned categories is #2013, which shows the top trending tweets and major events on a month-by-month basis. So for example it shows the tweets for the Australian Open in January, Academy Awards in Feb, Champions Leagues finals in May, Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement in November and so on. The Golden Tweets section under this category has some of the most famous human interest tweets including the one about Paul Walker’s death— “It’s with a heavy heart that we must confirm Paul Walker passed away today in a tragic car accident.”

Read More »

Coprocessors in smartphones could be short-lived, says Qualcomm’s Raj Talluri

 Motion co-processors made a splash after Apple announced the low-power M7 co-processor with the iPhone 5Sthat continuously monitors motion data to enable third party apps to log it without having to wake up the main A7 processor. This brings battery performance benefits. Motorola too did something similar with the Moto X, where it had companion processors that continuously listen for voice commands to wake up the phone from sleep for a touch-free experience. Just when everyone expected co-processors to become the latest buzzword for smartphones, Qualcomm’s Raj Tallluri believes that won’t be the case.

Read More »

Google to serve images in Gmail from its own servers to enable automatic display of photos in Gmail

Google had disabled automatically displaying images inside emails to protect users from phishing and other malicious stuff that could be hidden in photographs. Instead, Gmail used to prompt users whether they wanted to display pictures from a sender and also an option to always show pictures from a particular sender. However, starting today, Gmail will display all photos by default in the desktop version and will bring the feature to its mobile apps in coming months.

Read More »

Twitter introduces controversial blocking policies, but reverts them after user backlash

Earlier today, Twitter introduced a new blocking policy, wherein even after blocking a person he/she will continue to be able to follow your profile and track your tweets. Twitter’s idea behind this new policy was to avoid any kind of retaliation from the blocked person. Though it seems like a noble idea, the company had to face severe backlash from Twitter users and finally it retracted the policy.

According to the new policies, after blocking a person, a user would not be able to see him/her on the follower’s list or get updates about any interactions with the user’s tweets. But the blocked person could still access the user’s timeline and read and interact with the user’s tweets as if nothing had changed.

Read More »

Instagram takes aim at Snapchat with picture and video messaging service

Facebook-owned Instagram on Thursday announced a new addition to its wildly popular mobile app suite that looks to capitalize on the recent boom in mobile messaging apps. Dubbed Instagram Direct, the service allows users to send and receive photos, videos and text messages privately with other Instagram users as well as groups of Instagram users, outside of the main public feed.

Read More »

Yahoo struggles to properly acknowledge, fix ongoing Yahoo Mail service issues

Yahoo on Wednesday finally fully acknowledged on Twitter and on the service’s personal blog that its Yahoo Mail service is experiencing issues which some of its customers had to face for more than two weeks, ZDNet reports. According to the company, an unknown number of users were not able to send and receive emails since November 25. Similar problems for other Yahoo Mail customers started on Monday, although the company only briefly mentioned these issues via Twitter a day later. “We know some of our users are unable to use Yahoo Mail,” the Yahoo Mail team wrote on December 10. “We’re on it and trying to restore access in a few hours. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Read More »