Miss Techs

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:43:00 +0000

Samsung’s newest 10.1-inch tablet, the Galaxy Note 10.1, is thin, light and powerful, but it’s also among a rather rarefied - but growing - group of stylus tablets. Like its little sibling, the 5.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Note, the new tablet features a Wacom digitizing tablet interface and stylus. Unlike the smaller notepad, the 10.1 stylus does not slip inside the slate. It’s also kind of fun to use.

The 1.29 lb. tablet is comfortable to hold (it’s 8.9mm thick) and responsive. Using the stylus is not exactly like using one with an Apple iPad. The big difference is that the Notepad 10.1’s screen is pressure-sensitive, so your line weight can vary - if you’re drawing. It’s also notable that Samsung has already updated its pen technology to recognize even more degrees of pressure than you could on the original Notepad.

Inside the Android 4.0 device is a dual-core 1.4GHz mobile CPU, a 3-megapixel camera on the back and a 2 megapixel camera on the front. The device, though, is also packed with a bunch of pen-ready software, including the just-announced Adobe PhotoShop Touch, and a bunch of S-Pen Samsung apps.

Other notable features include a micro-SD card slot, full HD video support and the ability to work with other Wacom digitizing pens.

Samsung execs said the tablet will ship globally with HSPA+ (no LTE for now) and Wi-Fi - as well as a Wi-Fi-only version - some time in Q2. Pricing has not yet been set.

Nokia 808 PureView offers 41-Megapixel Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:33:00 +0000

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia has announced the 808 Pureview, a flagship Symbian device with a 41-megapixel camera.

Yeah, you heard it right, 41 megapixels - Nokia has made this happen by combining Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia-developed pixel over-sampling technology. Although, high megapixel count does not equal quality photos, only time will say how PureView tech works in real life.

Of course, the PureView technology will be coming to upcoming Nokia phones as well, so get used to phones having crazy megapixel numbers in the near future.

The device will retail for 450 euros, hitting the market in May.

Samsung to debut Smartphone-turned-Projector, Galaxy Beam

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:18:00 +0000

Mobile World Congress will be host to the announcement of the Galaxy Beam, Samsung’s second iteration of the first Android phone that packs a projector.

“Galaxy Beam provides mobile freedom, enabling a unique shared experience around digital content for everyone - anywhere and instantly,” said JK Shin, President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics.

The first Beam was released back in July 2010 to the Asian and European. As the first Android phone to sport a Droid 2.1 OS, packed with a pico-projector, the Beam finally made it to North America about a year and a half ago.

The new Galaxy Beam is a slightly upgraded version of its predecessor, with changes to its OS, screen size and exterior design. Its OS has been upgraded to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), and its screen size has been expanded from 3.7-inches to a full 4 inches, though the resolution remains at 480×800 pixels. Despite the brick-like design of Samsung’s first iteration, the latest Beam sports a sleek, albeit thick, exterior at 12.5 mm - 2.4 mm thinner than the original Beam.

The device is fitted with a 15-Lumen LED-powered, nHD projector. Unfortunately, Samsung has surprisingly skimped out on the camera: the device comes with a 5MP rear-facing lens, a strange downgrade from the 8MP camera on the first Beam. Overall, the Galaxy Beam is fairly middle-of-the-road in today’s mobile phone market. From what we can discern, the incentive to purchase this phone lies solely in its projection capability for the purpose of entertaining guests ,or using it as a backup projector for meetings.

With the first Beam’s retail price at nearly $600, we’re expecting a similar price point for the Galaxy Beam. But for that price, you may as well invest in a hand-held projector, and save yourself $400. As far as straight phone specs go, the Beam’s 1.0GHz dual-core processor is greatly overshadowed by the debut of LG’s Optimus 4X HD, a powerhouse revealed at Mobile World Congress 2012, which boasts the first ever quad-core processor in a smartphone.

The Samsung Galaxy Beam’s price is has yet to be announced, and should begin selling first in the UK in April.

HTC launches HTC One X Smartphones

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:11:00 +0000

HTC has launched a new flagship Android smartphone, the HTC One X, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The majority of mobile giants had their announcements before the actual start of the MWC – including Samsung, LG and Sony. HTC had the last, and perhaps the most glamorous event of the day, held in a huge rounded dome at the top of the Cúpula las Arenas next to Fira de Barcelona, where the main conference is held.

The HTC One X (the first in a new line of devices called simply HTC One), unveiled by the company CEO Peter Chou, is a 4.7-inch, quad core Tegra 3-powered beast in a polycarbonate white shell.

The device also brings a vastly improved camera experience, called Image Sense. The camera takes photos quickly - in 0.7 seconds. It has 8 megapixels and uses an f/2.0 lens, which captures more light than any other HTC smartphone camera. It also takes great photos in unfavorable light conditions, thanks to the device’s HDR algorithm.

An on-screen comparison with the photos taken with an HTC One X and an iPhone 4S portrays HTC’s device seems to be the winner.

HTC is bundling a bunch of extras with the device: 25 GB of free Dropbox-powered storage, Beats Audio sound (HTC acquired Beats Audio in August 2011) and a feature called Media Link, which takes your photos and videos from the smartphone to the TV (through a special gadget that connects to any TV) with a three-finger swipe on the smartphone’s screen.

The company also launched two other HTC One devices with slightly lower specs – the HTC One S and the HTC One V.

All three devices should be hitting the market in the next two months, likely in April.

Orange to bring smartphone with "Intel Inside"

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:57:00 +0000

The "Intel Inside" logo on hundreds of millions of personal computers is finally making its way onto a smartphone.

France Telecom's mobile unit Orange will launch a smartphone in France and the United Kingdom this summer designed by Intel and using its newest processor.

While the handset will be branded by Orange, its back cover will also boast the Intel swirl that consumers have come to expect to see on PCs over the past two decades.

That's a major milestone for Intel, whose chips are the brains in 80 percent of the world's laptops and desktop computers but power virtually no smartphones or tablets to date.

With PC sales flagging in the United States and Europe, nearly all smartphones and tablets, including Apple Inc's iPhones and iPads, use energy-efficient processors based on technology licensed to chip designers by Britain's ARM Holdings and made by Intel rivals like Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm Inc.

The new smartphone will run Google's Android platform and be among others that Orange sells under its own brand.

Aimed at Orange's entry level, pay-as-you-go clients, the phone is a copy of a reference handset Intel created to showcase its newest mobile chip to potential customers, with features like high-definition video and an 8-megapixel camera.

Orange has hired Taiwanese hardware company Gigabyte to manufacture the phones and is adding its own flavor by installing additional proprietary software.

According to Wall Street, Intel is being left behind in the mobile market, the Santa Clara, California chipmaker has been pouring resources into improving its offerings for smartphones and tablets. Previous attempts fell flat but Intel says its newest mobile processor, codenamed Medfield, stands up to rivals' chips in power efficiency and performance.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month, Intel impressed technophiles with demonstrations of its reference smartphone and said Motorola Mobility and Lenovo have picked Medfield for upcoming handsets.

Intel launched its "Intel Inside" brand campaign in 1991, and its success at making customers loyal to a particular component in PCs, known as ingredient branding, defied many expectations at the time and has since become a case study.

Nokia unveils cheaper Windows smartphone Lumia 610

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:51:00 +0000

Nokia has unveiled a new, cheaper smartphone using Microsoft's Windows Phone software, in an attempt to reverse its declining market share.

Nokia last year dumped its own smartphone software in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone to step up its fight against rivals such as Apple's iPhone, but the move has so far had limited impact due to the high prices of phones using it.

Nokia said its new Lumia 610 model would carry a price tag of $250, excluding subsidies and taxes, when it goes on sale next quarter.

"The 610 takes Nokia's Lumia portfolio to an encouraging new price point in its pursuit of cheaper Android rivals," said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight.

Nokia also announced a global version of its high-end Lumia 900 phone at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.

It also unveiled a new top-of-the range cameraphone 808, which comes with a 41 megapixel camera sensor, and three more basic models.

Wall Street and industry analysts say that though the latest Windows phones could be worthy competitors to Apple's iPhone and top-of-the-range Android handsets, the devices lack unique qualities to make their sales take off.

Tegra 3-powered LG Optimus 4X HD coming soon

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:04:00 +0000

While 2011 was the year of mobile phones with big screens and dual-core processors, 2012 is expected to be all about the quad-core processor and despite devices using such a chip failing to appear during CES 2012, they’ll be making a big splash at Mobile World Congress.

The rumors have been spreading for months, beginning with last year’s announcement of the Tegra 3 and Qualcomm’s APG8064, then continuing with talk of various tablets and phones such as the HTC Edge/Endeavor, the Samsung Galaxy S III and the LG X3.

Being first out of the gate with a quad-core device is important for the marketeers, who just love the opportunity to liberally sprinkle press releases with the phrase “world’s first,” and once again it’s LG who gets that honor.

Seeing as the Korean company gave us the “world’s first” dual-core smartphone, the Optimus 2X, it seems fitting that this year we’ve got the Optimus 4X HD - the first official quad-core smartphone.

Tegra 3:
It’s not just any quad-core chip either, but Nvidia’s impressive Tegra 3, as seen in another “world’s first,” the Asus Eee Pad Transformer 2 tablet. Rated at 1.5Ghz, the 4X HD’s chip is slightly more powerful too, plus the phone has 1GB of RAM to keep things running smoothly.

Ever since the Tegra 3′s announcement, Nvidia has tried to explain its clever architecture, where the four cores are supported by a fifth core which will take care of the more mundane tasks, and therefore putting less strain on the battery.

It has now come up with a more “unique and descriptive” name to help customers understand why their new quad-core phone really has five cores. Nvidia’s calling the system 4-PLUS-1.

Optimus 4X HD:
While the Tegra 3 chip may be stealing the headlines, the rest of the Optimus 4X’s features are similarly high-end. As you may have guessed from the use of HD in its name, the phone’s 4.7-inch LCD screen has a resolution of 1280 x 720, so the sharpness should still be there despite its size.

Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is the operating system of choice, to which LG has added its own user interface over the top. Other features include 16GB of internal memory, DLNA connectivity and a hefty 2150mAh battery, and yet LG has squeezed all this into a chassis which measures 8.9mm.

On the rear of the phone is an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, while around the front is a 1.3-megapixel video call lens, however as yet there’s no mention of either an NFC chip or a 4G LTE variant.

Launch date:
More information on the Optimus 4X HD will be provided during Mobile World Congress next week, and LG says the phone will be released in Europe between March and June, but it has yet to confirm an international or North American launch.

Microsoft lodges complaint against Motorola Mobility

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:38:00 +0000

Microsoft has lodged a formal complaint with the European Union's competition regulator against Motorola Mobility and its soon-to-be owner Google, saying Motorola's aggressive enforcement of patent rights against rivals breaks competition rules.

The complaint follows a similar step by Apple against Motorola last week.

Motorola is in the process of being taken over by Google for $12.5 billion, the biggest acquisition in the Californian company's history. Microsoft fears that Google will continue Motorola's tight hold on key patents.

Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have been hit by legal cases in Europe and the United States, with Motorola claiming that the companies' products are using key patents it owns without permission.

Apple and Microsoft, meanwhile, argue that Motorola is overcharging for the use of these patents, which cover technologies necessary to connect wirelessly to the Internet or stream video online.

"We have taken this step because Motorola is attempting to block sales of Windows PCs, our Xbox game console and other products," said Dave Heiner, Microsoft's deputy general counsel.

"Motorola is on a path to use standard essential patents to kill video on the Web, and Google as its new owner doesn't seem to be willing to change course," Heiner added.

The complaints are the latest development in increasingly acrimonious disputes between global technology giants over patents on standardized technologies.

Industrywide standards play an important role not only in the technology sector. They allow products from different companies to function seamlessly together - different mobile phones or tablet computers connecting to the Internet and each other via 3-G or Wi-Fi networks, for example. Under EU competition rules, holders of patents necessary for industry standards are required to let other companies use them for a fair price.

But regulators and companies complain that holders of standard-essential patents have tried to gain an edge in the market by suing rivals over the use of their patented technologies.

When the European Commission, the EU's competition watchdog, cleared Google's takeover of Motorola earlier this month, it indicated concern over Motorola's aggressive patent enforcement. The Justice Department in its clearance of the merger made similar comments.

Separately, the Commission has already launched a formal investigation into Samsung's similar approach to patent protection and has warned that other probes may follow.

Apple to launch iPad3 by March 7

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:38:00 +0000

Apple unveils digital textbooks app for iPad

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:51:00 +0000

Apple is taking aim at the textbook market. The California-based gadget-maker unveiled a free iBooks 2 application for the iPad that brings interactive textbooks to the popular tablet computer.

"Education is deep in Apple's DNA," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of marketing. "With iBooks 2 for iPad, students have a more dynamic, engaging and truly interactive way to read and learn."

He said the iPad is "rapidly being adopted by schools across the US and around the world" and 1.5 million iPads are already being used in educational institutions.

At a press conference in New York, Schiller and other Apple executives showed off the interactive animations, diagrams, photos and videos available in the iBooks textbooks.

Apple said the electronic textbooks feature "fast, fluid navigation, easy highlighting and note-taking, searching and definitions, plus lesson reviews and study cards."

"The iBooks 2 app will let students learn about the solar system or the physics of a skyscraper with amazing new interactive textbooks that come to life with just a tap or swipe of the finger," it said.

Apple announced partnerships with publishers Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill and Pearson to produce digital high school textbooks.

Most of the high school textbooks in Apple's iBookstore will cost $14.99 or less, Apple said, far cheaper than the current prices for print textbooks.

Apple also unveiled a free tool called iBooks Author which allows Macintosh computer users to create their own iBooks textbooks and publish them to the iBookstore.

Amazon and others have been seeking to tap into the market for digital textbooks but Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said iBooks 2 and iBooks Author will "democratize the publication and distribution of content."

"We'll see an avalanche of new companies and new content for the education market - and many of the best innovations will come from these smaller companies, not the biggest publishers," she said.

According to Forrester, electronic textbooks currently account for only 2.8 percent of the $8 billion US textbook market.

Apple also announced a new iTunes U application for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch that helps teachers create courses and offers free educational content for students from dozens of universities, including Cambridge, Duke, Harvard, Oxford and Stanford.

"Never before have educators been able to offer their full courses in such an innovative way," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services.

"The all-new iTunes U app enables students anywhere to tap into entire courses from the world's most prestigious universities," Cue added.

Web in 2011: 2.1 billion users and 555 million websites

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:45:00 +0000

In 2011 there were 2.1 billion internet users around the globe surfing an estimated 555 million websites - 300 million of which were created in 2011.

Asia’s massive internet population grew from 825.1 million internet users in June 2010 to 922.2 million in March 2011. Internet populations in Europe (476.2 million users), North America (271.1 million users), Latin America/Caribbean (215.9 million internet users), Africa (118.6 million internet users) and the Middle East (68.6 million users) saw comparatively modest growth.

Each internet user had on average just under 1.5 email accounts, amounting to a total of 3.146 billion accounts worldwide.

Out of all the email clients around, Microsoft Outlook was the most popular. Web-based mail client Hotmail picked up the award for the largest email service in the world with a total of 360 million users.

The average corporate user sent and received 112 emails a day. Despite having strong spam filters set in their email client, 19 percent of the emails delivered to their inbox were classified as unwanted spam.

Overall the rate of email spam appears to be decreasing. In 2011, 71 percent of the worldwide email traffic was spam, down from 89.1 percent in 2010. Only 0.39 percent of all email received in 2011 was malicious.

Few additional facts about the internet in 2011:
1) China had the highest number of internet users in 2011: 485 million.
2) 45% of the web’s population was under the age of 25 in 2011.
3) The most expensive domain name sold in 2011 was social.com. It sold for $2.6 million. The domain name DomainName.com tied with Dudu.com in second place, selling for a cool $1 million.
4) 200 million people signed up to Facebook, putting the total number of users at over 800 million.
5) There were more IM (instant messenger) accounts than social networking accounts (2.6 billion vs 2.4 billion).
6) The Apple iPhone 4 was the most popular camera on photo sharing website Flickr.

Web monitoring company Pingdom scoured the web and crunched its own numbers to come up with this unique snapshot of the web in 2011. The entire list of internet milestones can be found on the company’s Royal Pingdom blog.

Sony to release 11 new smartphones for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Nitish) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:36:00 +0000

Information has come to light suggesting that electronics giant Sony will be releasing around 11 smartphones this year, all running Android.

The leaked information, obtained by GSM Arena, lists the names of 11 phones, together with the expected launch dates for each, and their prices in Indian rupees. Yes, GSM Arena reports the information as being “allegedly leaked through Sony’s sales report in India.”

Of course, even if all of the data is genuine, it doesn’t mean that things won’t change between now and the launch dates - indeed, even the launch dates themselves could be shifted. GSM Arena says the names of the phones, such as Nypon, Pepper and Tapioca, are merely code names and so will likely be changed by the time the devices hit the market.

Prices for the phones vary from 192 euros ($245) to 562 euros ($722), with the earliest release date being listed as April for three phones. There’s no information about the phones’ specifications, though Cnet reports that the Nypon (April release; 370 euros/$475) will come with a 4-inch display incorporating the company’s WhiteMagic technology, which boosts screen brightness without draining the battery. Meanwhile the Pepper (April release; 308 euros/$395) may come with a 3.7-inch Reality Display.

It’s not clear whether the phones will get a US launch, though a more aggressive move into the US market was hinted at in an interview last month with executive vice president of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Kristian Tear when he said that in 2012 the company would “refocus and invest more in brand-building and select markets.” This more ambitious talk came soon after Sony announced it was buying Ericsson’s 50 percent stake of the Sony Ericsson mobile phone business for almost $1.5 billion.

With the Mobile World Congress taking place in Barcelona next month, some official announcements are expected regarding Sony’s new smartphones.

Motorola Xoom gets Ice Cream Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (Nitish) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:17:00 +0000

Motorola has started rolling out Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich to Motorola Xoom owners, but only those who have the Wi-Fi version of the device.

This will bring a redesigned app launcher, a better web browser, resizable widgets and many other goodies to the tablet.

As for the 3G version of the tablet, Motorola said it will get the update as well, but did not give an exact date.

The update will be rolling out in "phases over the course of a few weeks," so don't be perturbed if your Xoom still hasn't been updated.

Motorola is also slated to update its Droid Razr with Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012.

Samsung to merge bada mobile OS with Intel-backed Tizen

noreply@blogger.com (Nitish) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:03:00 +0000

Samsung Electronics Co said it planned to merge its 'bada' mobile software with a platform backed by chipmaker Intel Corp in its latest push to diversify away from Google's Android.

Samsung, which emerged as the world's biggest smartphone manufacturer on the back of booming Android models in the third quarter, joined forces with Intel last year to strengthen its mobile software push.

In September two Linux software groups, one backed by Samsung, and another by Intel, agreed to jointly develop Tizen, a new operating system for cellphones and other devices, by merging their LiMo and Meego platforms in a bid to gain wider industry and consumer support.

"We have an effort that will merge bada and Tizen," a Samsung spokesman confirmed senior vice president Kang Tae-jin as telling Forbes magazine.

The open-source Tizen platform supports multiple devices including smartphones, tablets, Internet-enabled TVs, netbooks and in-vehicle infotainment systems.

It would have to attract wide support from developers and manufacturers to compete with the dozen or so other mobile operating systems available in a smartphone market dominated by Google's Linux-based Android and Apple's in-house software.

Google's Android accounted for 53 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter and Samsung's bada platform just 2.2 percent.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak praises Android phones

noreply@blogger.com (Nitish) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:57:00 +0000

Being a co-founder of Apple, you’d of course expect Steve Wozniak to have an iPhone. Indeed, the man who incidentally hasn’t worked for the company for some 25 years is famed for waiting in line for hours at the launch of every new Apple smartphone.

With his connections to the Cupertino company clear to all, it may come as a surprise to some that in a recent interview, he appeared to be singing the praises of Android phones. That’s right, phones running Android, the smartphone OS that another Apple co-founder, the late Steve Jobs no less, once vowed to “destroy” because he considered it to be a “stolen product.”

Wozniak, on the other hand, appears to be a little more diplomatic about the iOS rival. In the interview with TDB’s Dan Lyons, Wozniak said, “My primary phone is the iPhone. I love the beauty of it. But I wish it did all the things my Android does, I really do.”

Wozniak says that voice commands work better, as does Android’s built-in navigation system.

Voice commands? That’ll be Siri then, Apple’s recently-acquired voice-activated virtual assistant. Interestingly, Wozniak says he’s been using Siri long before Apple before bought it and that since then, it doesn’t perform as well.

He said: “I used to ask Siri, ‘What are the five biggest lakes in California?’ and it would come back with the answer. Now it just misses. It gives me real estate listings. I used to ask, ‘What are the prime numbers greater than 87?’ and it would answer. Now instead of getting prime numbers, I get listings for prime rib, or prime real estate.”

Wozniak says that that while Android phones aren’t as simple to operate as Apple’s iPhone, “if you’re willing to do the work to understand it a little bit, well I hate to say it, but there’s more available in some ways.”

While Wozniak also complained about poor battery life with the iPhone 4S, he didn’t give Apple’s smartphone a total dressing down. “The people I recommend the iPhone 4S for are the ones who are already in the Mac world, because it’s so compatible, and people who are just scared of computers altogether and don’t want to use them”. “The iPhone is the least frightening thing. For that kind of person who is scared of complexity, well, here’s a phone that is simple to use and does what you need it to do.”

Despite his views on both operating systems, one thing seems certain: when it comes to getting hold of prime numbers greater than 87, Wozniak will be sticking with his Android device.

China rises to 513 million web users

noreply@blogger.com (Nitish) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:49:00 +0000

The number of Internet users in China has surged past 500 million as millions of new Web surfers go online using mobile phones and tablet computers.

The popularity of the Internet in China has driven the explosive growth of profitable Web companies and made fortunes for some Chinese entrepreneurs despite government controls on what the public can see online.

The number of mainland Internet users rose to 513 million in December, up 12 percent from a year earlier, the government-sanctioned China Internet Network Information Center said.

Among them, the number who go online using handheld devices rose 17.5 percent over a year earlier to 356 million.

The popularity of wireless Internet was reflected in a scramble by Chinese gadget fans and scalpers to buy Apple Inc.'s latest iPhone 4S, which sold out within hours of its China launch.

Angry customers shouted and threw eggs at Apple's flagship Beijing outlet after the company failed to open the store, citing the size of the crowd. Apple postponed further iPhone 4S sales at its mainland stores for safety reasons but said they will be sold online and through its local carrier, China Unicom Ltd.

The communist government encourages Internet use for business and education but tries to block access to material it deems pornographic or subversive.

Popular online services such as portals Sina.com and Sohu.com, video websites Youku.com and Tudou.com and search engine Baidu report growing traffic and revenues.

Outlets owned by the ruling Communist Party or by the government also have jumped into the market, launching their own search engines and other services.

LG TV crowned Best Gadget at the CES

noreply@blogger.com (Nitish) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:47:00 +0000

A razor-thin television from LG Electronics was crowned best gadget of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and Microsoft was a big winner in its final appearance at the annual trade event.

The 55-inch (140-centimeter) TV set set from the South Korean electronics giant is just 0.16 inches (four millimeters) thick and uses OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, display technology.

OLED TVs do not require backlighting and feature better color contrast than standard flat-screen LEDs and LG and another South Korean titan, Samsung, both wowed the crowds at CES in Las Vegas with 55-inch models.

A panel of experts from technology news site CNET awarded the LG 55EM9800 the title of "Best TV" at CES but also named it "Best of Show" among the thousands of new products on display at the four-day event.

CNET said it gave the nod to the LG TV over the Samsung model in part because it has an actual shipping date - the third quarter of the year.

When the super-set does finally hit the market it won't be for just anyone - the 55-inch LG OLED TV is expected to cost several thousand dollars.

Microsoft, which has announced that this year's CES will be its last, saw products powered by its Windows software scoop up a couple of awards.

The Lumia 900 touchscreen from Finland's Nokia was named best cellphone and the Envy 14 Spectre laptop from Hewlett-Packard was tapped as the best computer.

The Lumia 900, which runs on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system, is seen as Nokia's bid to break into a US smartphone market dominated by Apple's iPhone and handsets powered by Google's Android software.

The Windows-powered HP Envy 14 Spectre is what is known as an "ultrabook," a slim, lightweight laptop in a category pioneered by Apple's MacBook Air.

The HP Envy 14 Spectre is to go on sale in February for $1,399. Pricing and availability of the Lumia 900 have not yet been released.

BlueStacks for Windows, a program which will ship on some upcoming Windows 8 computers, was named best software application. BlueStacks provides access to the hundreds of thousands of Android applications.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer or his predecessor, Bill Gates, have delivered the opening keynote address at CES for the past 15 years and the US software giant has traditionally had one of the largest booths on the exhibition floor.

But Microsoft announced last month that it is bowing out of the show, which attracted more than 3,100 exhibitors this year, because the January timing does not coincide with its product development calendar.

An Android-powered tablet computer from Taiwan's Asus, the Asus Memo 370T, was named best tablet at a show which featured dozens of new rivals to Apple's iPad.

The Asus Memo 370T, which has a seven-inch (17.8-cm) screen, is powered by the latest version of Android software for tablets and costs $250, half the price of the cheapest iPad.
Other CES winners were the mirrorless Fujifilm X-Pro 1, which was named best camera, and the MakerBot Replicator, which snatched the title of "Best Emerging Tech Product."

The MakerBot Replicator is what is known as a 3D printer and can make objects as large as a loaf of bread by working off a blueprint fed into the machine.

Last year's winner of the "Best in Show" title was the "Xoom" tablet computer from Motorola but it has failed to make any headway against the iPad.

The 2009 CES winner was a smartphone from Palm, the Pre.

Sales of the Pre failed to live up to expectations and the company was bought the next year by HP, which has since stopped making cellphones using Palm's webOS mobile operating system.

Smart TV offering new windows onto Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Nitish) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:22:00 +0000

The world's obsession with tapping into the Internet is being played out on the biggest screen in the house, with software startups, TV makers, and technology titans such as Google and Microsoft adding momentum to the trend.

Even the beloved firm behind iPads and iPhones is expected to weigh in soon with a revamped version of an Apple TV system that it has long called a hobby.

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is brimming with companies large and small betting that "smart TVs" will quickly take over living rooms.

"The television is rapidly becoming the gateway of content from the Internet," said Sony executive deputy president Kazuo Hirai.

Samsung, Sony, and LG are among major industry players that unveiled new smart TVs at the show.

South Korea-based LG announced it is making its own chips to beef-up TVs with online capabilities along with gesture and voice controls.

"Since the start of the smart TV revolution we've found that industry chip sets have held us back from offering high performance," said LG Electronics chief technical officer Scott Ahn.

"Starting this year we will apply our own L line chips to a premier TV line."

LG has joined a small cadre of manufacturers building televisions synched to the Internet with Google TV software.

Google TV was launched in 2010 but has yet to gain momentum in the market.

"We believed we have some great technologies that would make a Google LG a popular choice," Ahn said.

"Our technology coupled with the Google TV platform will form the basis of a strong long-term relationship with Google."

Internet pioneer Yahoo! kicked off the trend at CES three years ago, with "widgets" embedded in Connected TV models to link them to online services the way "apps" link mobile gadgets to games, video or other Internet content.

More than eight million TVs with Yahoo! widgets have been bought and sales are accelerating as the technology improves and more sets come with wireless Internet connections.

Frequency and Shodogg were among startups at CES out to make names for themselves by helping people navigate, sort or share the dizzying amounts of video available once TVs link to the Internet.

Los Angeles-based Frequency released iPad and Internet browser versions of a service that lets people program channels based on their interests.

Frequency applications are free, and the software will be embedded in Samsung televisions this year, according to Harrison.

New York-based Shodogg launched a service that lets people "fetch, toss, and share" online video wirelessly across all kinds of devices, from smart televisions to tablets or smartphones.

The Shodogg application is free, with the company making its money by sharing in revenue from advertising in video routed through the service.

T-Mobile brings Nokia Lumia 710

noreply@blogger.com (Nitish) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:20:00 +0000

Number-four U.S. mobile operator might have been able to offer the iPhone, but it does have a bit of a feather in its cap now: it’s offering the first Nokia Windows Phone device available in the United States, the Nokia Lumia 710. But instead of being a high-end device intended to appeal to the cutting edge of the mobile universe, the Lumia 710 is really intended as a starter smartphone and its $49.99 price emphasizes that appeal.

“We’re excited to team with Nokia in bringing its first Windows Phone to the U.S. with the elegantly designed Nokia Lumia 710,” said T-Mobile USA chief marketing officer Cole Brodman. “Windows Phone offers a compelling mobile OS choice for people who want a smartphone built around them, their family, and friends. We expect it to play a more prominent role in our lineup and marketing efforts in 2012.”

The Nokia Lumia 710 sports a 3.7-inch 800 by 480-pixel touchscreen display, a 1.4 GHz Qualcomm SnapDragon processor, a 5 megapixel camera, assisted GPS, 802.11 b/g/n and BLuetooth 2.1+EDR wireless networking, and the phone has 8 GB of onboard flash storage. It runs Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) operating system, and Nokia says it’ll handle up to 7 hours of talk time on a battery charge. The Lumia 710 also operates on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ “4G” network, meaning users can tap into streaming video, mobile TV, and other high-bandwidth mobile applications—and the device comes with a bunch of them front and center, including Netflix and T-Mobile TV, along with Xbox Live and the Windows Phone Office Hub.

T-Mobile is positioning the Lumia 710 as a solid starter phone for users who have yet to make the jump from feature phones to smartphones and those might just be the ideal customers for Windows Phone devices, since they don’t have baggage of iOS or Android apps and content that might keep them locked into other platforms.

The Nokia Lumia 710 is available in white or black starting today at T-Mobile retail stores and selected retailers for $49.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate card, when purchased with a qualifying two-year service agreement.

Polaroid announces SC1630: Android-powered Smart Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Nitish) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:09:00 +0000

We've heard of smartphones and Smart TVs, and now there's another "Smart" gadget to add to the list: Smart Cameras. At the CES Polaroid announced an Android-powered Smart Camera, the SC1630. The 16-megapixel camera has a 3x optical zoom, touchscreen display, wifi connectivity, and comes running the Android operating system.

Much like your smartphone, the SC1630 is capable of downloading apps from the Android Market. So, if you've been enjoying a certain photo-editing app on your phone, you can load it up on your camera as well.

The camera's wifi-connectivity also makes it possible to share the pictures you take on-the-fly, just like you might from your smartphone. For instance, if you snap a shot of a few friends at your local coffee shop, as long as your connected to wifi you can upload the picture directly from your camera to sites like Facebook and Twitter while you're still with your friends.

Samsung is also showing off a few new wifi-connected cameras at CES this year that can connect to Android phones; however, they do not actually run Android.

Polaroid expects to launch the SC1630 sometime this year, no official release date has been announced.

Android-powered Smart Watches to come soon

noreply@blogger.com (Nitish) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:48:00 +0000

The Internet was strapped to wrists at the Consumer Electronics Show on in the form of Android-powered "smart watches" that serve up online content along with telling time.

Japanese consumer electronics titan Sony and venture-backed Italian startup i'm Watch were each sporting spins on timepieces that use the Google software to connect wearers with email, music, websites or other online content.

Sony's SmartWatch was promised by the end of March while i'm Watch was released at CES.
"This is the right period for the watch," said i'm Watch chief executive and co-founder Massimiliano Bertolini.

"Everybody wants to have technology that is also fashion," he continued. "That is the Apple secret; making devices that people fall in love with."

For some time now California-based Apple has been letting iPod Nano owners turn the small, square devices into Internet-connected watches complete with wrist straps.

Company designer Gianluca Negrello said, “I'm Watch ranges in price from $350 for colorful models with silicon wrist bands and aluminum-cased touchscreens to $15,000 for one made of pink gold and adorned with diamonds”.

Wearers are alerted to new Gmail messages or fresh posts at online communities Facebook or Twitter and can access digital photo albums or free Google Web-based services such as Calendar.
Messages can't be sent from touch-screen i'm Watch, which can connect to their own online shop for applications or music. People can make phone calls using i'm Watch, which links wirelessly to smartphones.

Sony said at CES that by the end of March it will release a touch-display SmartWatch capable of connecting to mobile phones wirelessly using Bluetooth capabilities.

Applications will be tailored for SmartWatch, which will be priced at $149.

Google to launch Maps-based game for Google+

noreply@blogger.com (Nitish) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:33:00 +0000

Google’s “your world” theme is carried into the gaming realm with the announcement of an original title powered by WebGL. The title will be coming to Google+ Games exclusively in February 2012.

The game was announced quietly in a demo video yesterday. It is Google Maps-based and was developed by the Maps team for Google’s gaming platform. The demo video features a cube with a map overlay. Players will have to navigate a blue ball through the location, similar to marble tilt games like Marble Madness or the Wii’s Marble Mania. It seems like the player’s marble will need to touch the marked locations on the cube map in order to accumulate points and advance to the next area. Once the marble rolls over the markers, users get a small piece of information about the location.

There’s not much else to go on from the 27 second teaser. It’s a simple offering with a catchy tune, and it seems like a good start to original content. The WebGL technology which powers the game allows for 3D graphics without any need for installing additional software. The YouTube video links to an interactive Google Maps primer.

The Google+ Games platform arrived in August and features many of the games people were used to from Facebook, such as Zynga’s Farmville as well as the popular Angry Birds title.

In-site gaming is a good source of business for Facebook, which Google dipped into as well with the launch of Games. Of course, Facebook as well as Plus functioned as middlemen for companies like Zynga and Roku; but this could be an interesting shift in Plus’ favor if Google’s planning on developing more original games.

Motorola and Lenovo to use Intel chips in smartphones

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:21:00 +0000

Motorola Mobility and Lenovo said they will use Intel processors in smartphones and other devices, giving the chipmaker its first entry into a market it has long coveted.

Intel Corp. has struggled to bring down the power consumption of its chips so that they can be used in phones without draining the battery in a matter of hours. Meanwhile, phone-style chips from other manufacturers are starting to encroach on Intel's PC chips, by becoming the chips of choice for tablet computers.

Lenovo Group Ltd. will be first out the gate, with a smartphone called K800 for the Chinese carrier Unicom in the second quarter, according to Liu Jun, a senior vice president at the company. The phone will have a 4.5-inch touch screen, will use Google Android software for smartphones and tablets and will be able to stream video to TV sets equipped with Intel's Wireless Display technology.

Jun spoke as the guest of Intel CEO Paul Otellini, who was making a keynote speech at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. He was joined on stage by Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. CEO Sanjay Jha, who said he will have Intel-powered phones in testing this summer and ready for consumer hands a few months later.

Jha didn't provide any details about the Intel-powered devices, except to say that they would use Android. Motorola Mobility is set to be acquired by Google.

Intel said the phones will be able to run most applications straight from Google's Android Market. Usually, switching to another processor family means applications won't run, but Intel said it has a way around that obstacle.

Otellini demonstrated an Intel-made prototype phone, running Android, that he said could get eight hours of talk time and six hours of movie playback from its battery, comparable to smartphones with standard processors. At the same time, Otellini said, the greater processing capability of Intel's Atom chip means the phones can run more programs at the same time.

Microsoft Corp. dealt Intel a blow last year by announcing that it would release its new operating system, Windows 8, in one version for Intel-style chips and other for phone-style chips that are based on designs from Britain's ARM Holdings PLC. Windows has run exclusively on Intel-type chips since the mid-90s.

AT&T to sell Nokia Lumia 900

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:38:00 +0000

AT&T has said it will sell a Nokia smartphone running Microsoft's Windows Phone software. The device represents Nokia and Microsoft's best chance yet to break Apple and Google's hold on the U.S. smartphone market, the world's most lucrative.

Nokia Corp. CEO Stephen Elop joined Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer in unveiling the phone at a press event in Las Vegas ahead of the International Consumer Electronics Show. The presence of both CEOs was a sign of the importance the companies place on the device.

The phone, the Lumia 900, will use AT&T Inc.'s new "LTE" wireless data network, for faster downloads. It's a slab-like touch-screen phone in the vein Apple Inc.'s iPhone. The companies said it will be available "in coming months." However, they didn't reveal the price.

Finland based company, Nokia, is betting that it can reverse its sinking fortunes by switching to Microsoft's new phone software, and Microsoft is paying it billions to do so.

For Microsoft, the partnership with Nokia is a chance to break into smartphones, which are dominated by Apple and Google Inc., through its Android software. Other phone makers have also put out Windows phones, but sales have been slow.

T-Mobile USA has said it will sell a more modest Lumia model starting Jan. 11. It's the fourth-largest U.S. carrier. AT&T is the second-largest, after Verizon Wireless.

Apple CEO Tim Cook received stock award worth $376 million

noreply@blogger.com (Rajat) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:32:00 +0000

Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook received a one-time stock award worth nearly $400 million, the largest given by a company in a decade.

The company's board granted Cook 1 million restricted stock units (RSUs) to signal its confidence in Cook after Steve Jobs turned over the helm of the iPhone and iPad maker to his long-time lieutenant in August.

The stock award, half of which vests in 2016 and the remaining half in 2021, was worth more than $376 million, based on the closing price of Apple's shares on August 24, 2011.

"As far as a singular award, we haven't seen anything this large in a long time," said Aaron Boyd, head of research at Equilar, an executive compensation data firm.

The only one-time stock award in recent memory that was worth more, said Boyd, was the January 2000 stock option package that Apple gave co-founder Steve Jobs. The 40 million options in that award were valued at more than $600 million at the time, Boyd said.

Jobs, who was ousted from Apple in the mid-1980s, returned to the company in 1997 and went on to transform Apple into the world's most valuable technology company with a string of hit products including the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

Jobs, who died in October after a years-long battle with cancer, owned 5.5 million shares of Apple.

Jobs received $1 a year in salary during the past three years, according to the filing, while Cook received a salary of about $900,000 in 2011.

Apple said Cook's award was a retention and promotion tool, as well as recognition for running the company during Jobs' previous medical leaves of absence.

"The Board views his retention as CEO as critical to the Company's success and smooth leadership transition. The RSU award is intended as a long-term retention incentive," Apple said in its statement.