Apple iPad 3 launch next week

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Apple will hold a product event on March 7 in San Francisco, where it's said to be releasing the third generation of its best-selling iPad tablet computer. The new device will sport a high-definition display, run a faster processor and work with speedier wireless networks. Apple is counting on the new model to beat back competition from newer devices running Google's Android software. Apple has been working to make the iPad compatible with a wireless standard called long-term evolution (LTE). Smartphone makers, including Samsung, Motorola and Nokia have already introduced smartphones that work on the faster networks. Apple is bringing LTE to the iPad before the iPhone because the tablet has a bigger battery and can better support the power requirements of the newer technology. The new Retina display is capable of greater resolution than the current iPad.

MIT researchers develop 3D microchips

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Researchers at MIT have come up with a new approach to Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) design that enables engineers to design 3D configurations, using existing fabrication processes. Researchers built a MEMS device that enables 3D sensing on a single chip. The silicon device, not much larger than Abraham Lincoln’s ear on a U.S. penny, contains microscopic elements about the width of a red blood cell that can be engineered to reach heights of hundreds of microns above the chip’s surface. One of the main driving factors in the current MEMS industry is to try to make fully three-dimensional devices on a single chip, which would not only enable real 3D sensing and actuation, but also yield significant cost benefits.

Read More: [MIT]

IBM edges closer to Quantum Computing

Scientists at IBM say they have made a quantum computing breakthrough that demonstrates that a full-scale quantum computer is not only possible but is within reasonable reach. Scientists are in the brink of developing scalable technology that could far outstrip what even the strongest supercomputers can do today. A traditional bit has only two states--zero and one. But for its quantum computing efforts, IBM has decided to pursue what it's calling superconducting qubits, in large part because that physical system is compatible with microfabrication components for silicon technology. Qubits could allow a quantum computer to perform millions of computations at a time and a single 250-qubit state would have more information bits than there are particles in the universe. Because qubits can be in both the zero state and the one state at the same time, it opens up a wide variety of possibilities, he explained, and will likely be a key for doing highly sensitive and very fast encryption and decryption work. IBM has broken records for the error rate in elementary computations while maintaining the integrity of quantum mechanical properties in qubits.

Read more: [cnet]

Nokia’s Smartphone with 41MP camera

Yes, that’s rite. Nokia’s PureView 808 Smart Phone has 41 Megapixel camera which is built upon the company’s pixel oversampling technology. The PureView 808 will take over from the Nokia N8 smartphone and will be running the Symbian operating system. In an event held at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Nokia has confirmed that it does plan to bring the new technology to a new range of phones which will indeed run the Windows Phone OS. The new technology which will be featured in the PureView smartphone will not only give users the ability to capture images at 41 megapixels, but allows them to zoom, reframe and crop the images, post shooting, which allows access to previously unseen levels of detail. With full 1080P video playback, lossless zoom and higher quality rich recording, it would seem that the Pureview is definitely here to make a statement and will appeal to photography and media fans who appreciate something that is a little bit different. The smartphone should be available sometime in May of this year with pricing structure yet to be announced.

World's fastest phone by Huawei

Huawei at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) has announced Ascend D Quad, claimed to be 'world's fastest' smartphone running on a quad chip. Huawei now challenges the iPhone with the Ascend D Quad. Running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, Ascend D Quad features a 4.5-inch 720P high definition touchscreen display with 330 PPI (pixels per inch). It is powered by Huawei's K3V2 quad-core 1.2GHz/1.5GHz processor, Ascend D Quad has 16 core GPS that offers 2X performance. The phone has 8 megapixel BSI (backside illumination) rear-facing camera with 1080p full HD video-capture and 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera for video calling. As for memory, the phone will come with 1GB RAM and 8GB internal memory. Ascend D Quad comes with a 1800mAh battery. The phone also features Huawei's proprietary power management system which the company claims provides up to 30 per cent energy saving. For audio, there is Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound and Audience earSmart voice technology. For connectivity, the phone packs 3G HSPA+ 21Mbps/5.76Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0. This model is already being used in China and will be made available in all other places soon.

Samsung Galaxy Beam

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Samsung has announced an updated version of Galaxy Beam smartphone at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) show in Barcelona, Spain which started today. The Android powered device comes with a built-in projector. Galaxy Beam packs a 15 lumens projector which can project video, images or PowerPoint presentations up to 50-inches wide. It has a 4-inch WVGA TFT LCD display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, Galaxy Beam will run on Android 2.3. The phone can be upgraded to Android 4.0 ( Ice Cream Sandwich). Powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor, the projector phone packs a 5 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 1.3 megapixel front camera for video calls and has 786MB RAM along with 8GB of internal memory as well as a microSD slot. Galaxy Beam will offer support for 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0+ HS and 3.5 mm headphone jack.

Facebook Insights Delays

Was checking my page ( Ravi’s Blog and Ravi’s Photography) this morning on facebook. Not sure if you guys have experienced the same, there was delay in insight data for the past few weeks. This is what facebook had to say

“During the past few weeks you may have noticed delays to your insights data. We're sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused and want you to know that we're working to resolve these issues and make sure they don't happen in the future.”

Not sure how many of you guys had seen this.

HP to launch Windows 8 tablet

Expect HP to release a tablet computer based on Microsoft Corp’s new version Windows 8 software. Hewlett-Packard Co Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman said the initial tablet will be based on Intel Corp's technology. Microsoft hasn't given an official release date for Windows 8. The tablet will be running chips based on ARM Holdings Plc technology. Launch date of this tablet is not announced yet and is expected to me sometime end of this year.

Amazon introduces Junglee in India‏

Yes. Amazon has introduces Junglee.com in India‏ today. I got an email from Amazon this morning [image]. Junglee.com being an online shopping service by Amazon provides the customers to notice and discover products from online and offline retailers in India and from Amazon.com. Online marketing has become a huge hit in recent times here in India. Junglee manages huge selection and many buying options from hundreds of sellers, and further influences Amazon’s proven technologies and millions of customer reviews to help customers go ahead with smart purchase decisions. Junglee would provide tough completion to the exiting online stores like Flipkart.com, Letsbuy.com etc. Lets hope that the price too comes down b’coz of this .

Open docx Files on Firefox

If you have got a file with .docx extension which is to be opened and there is no Office 2007 or 2010 installed in your machine or you may not have approval at your work place to install the new updated version of Microsoft Office then there’s a Firefox extension from Microsoft that should help. It’s available for Windows as well as Linux machines. The extension is called OpenXML viewer, this plug-in lets you read .docx files inside the Firefox browser just like any other HTML web page while almost retaining all the text formatting and layout. All you need to do is install the Firefox browser add-in. Other alternatives for reading .docx files without Microsoft Office 2007 include Internet Explorer, Gmail and Word viewer.

Download Link: OpenXML Document Viewer

Samsung unveils Galaxy Ace 2 and mini 2

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WB7K66TECD8Q Samsung Electronics has refreshed its popular Galaxy series lineup with the addition of two mid-range Android phones,Galaxy Ace 2 and Galaxy mini 2. The duo are successors to the company's earlier-launched Galaxy Ace and Galaxy mini smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2: Android 2.3, 800MHz dual core processor, 3.8 inch PLS TFT display with 800x480p resolution, 5MP rear camera, VGA front camera, 4GB Internal memory, 768MB RAM and 1500mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy Mini 2: Android 2.3, 800MHz processor, 3.27 inch display with 480x320p resolution, 3MP camera, 4GB internal memory, 512MB RAM and 1300mAh battery.

Google Smart Glasses

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Google will launch augmented –reality (AR) glasses by the end of this year.  We have been hearing about these glasses for quite-some time now. These smart glasses will be Android powered and come with a small display that will be used to stream information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time. Glasses will come with 3G/4G connection to get the data from any place along with a number of sensors to help with refining of the data. They will also come with a low-res camera to capture the surrounding in real-time and help in over-laying info, similar to what we do with AR apps on our smartphones. They will also have a unique navigation system. According to several Google employees familiar with the project who asked not to be named, the glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of the year. These people said they are expected “to cost around the price of current smartphones,” or $250 to $600.

The Google X team has been actively discussing the privacy implications of the glasses and the company wants to ensure that people know if they are being recorded by someone wearing a pair of glasses with a built-in camera. The cameras will reportedly have built-in sensors and will adjust the information based on user movement. The glasses will send data to the cloud and then use things like Google Latitude to share location, Google Goggles to search images and figure out what is being looked at, and Google Maps to show other things nearby.

Panasonic Android Smartphone

Panasonic in a company event has revealed ‘Eluga’, its first Android smartphone for European market. Panasonic Eluga will feature a 4.3 inch qHD OLED display, 8MP rear camera, 1GHZ TI OMAP dual core processor, Android 2.3.5, NFC, and 7.8mm thick profile. It is also water-proof, dust-proof and will weigh just 103 grams. Company has promised the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the smartphone in the summer. It will be manufactured at a company facility in Malaysia. Price not known as of now. Looks like this is something that Apple has to worry about..
Update: This smart phone is expected to be released on 29th of March 2012 or early April.

Single Atom Transistor

A team of scientists have created the world's first functioning single-atom transistor, which could prove a critical building block toward the development of super-fast smart phones and computers. They have created a working transistor consisting of a single atom placed precisely in a silicon crystal and this atomic accuracy may yield the elementary building block for a future quantum computer. A single phosphorus atom is just 0.1 nanometres across, which would significantly reduce the size of processors made using this technique, although it may be many years before single-atom processors actually are manufactured. However, the single-atom transistor does have one serious limitation - it must be kept very cold, at least as cold as liquid nitrogen, or minus 196 Celsius.

Ban of iPad in China

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A Chinese court has ruled that the sales of Apple’s iPads in the country violate the trademark rights of a local manufacturer Proview Technology.  Apple's legal row over its iPad trademark in China now creates a window of opportunity for rivals such as Lenovo and Samsung. Apple, the world's most valuable technology company, is fighting lawsuits brought by Chinese electronics maker Proview Technology (Shenzhen). The Chinese company claims it has the rights for the name “iPad” in the country. “Internet Personal Access Device” –  that’s the name for the China produced computers with a touch panel technology.
A lawyer for Proview said the Intermediate People’s Court in Huizhou, China, instructed local distributors to stop selling the tablet computers in the country. Proview is seeking compensation for its losses comparable with the sales in China. The Chinese media estimate those at around 10bln yaun, or approximately $1.58bln. Lot of fireworks to happen in the next few days/weeks. Leave a comment on what do you think would happen next ?

Android at Mobile World Congress

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It would be one of the most awesome displays of power at Mobile World Congress 2012 by Google’s own Android setup. It appears that Google's Android will be rolling out the details piece by piece, complete with a countdown meter. Will we see the same massive set of preferred developers, free collectable pins, Android powered Smart Phones and Android version flavored smoothies like last year ? Lets just wait for just 6 more days. 

Check out more at : 

Android at Mobile World Congress 2012

Android 5 Jelly Bean

Google is preparing to launch the next major build of its mobile platform "Jelly Bean" (Android 5) as early as next quarter. Google’s next-generation Android OS will feature a new dual-boot function according to DigiTimes. Jelly Bean will reportedly be optimized for tablets and it will integrate Google's Chrome system functions to push dual-operating system designs. Google is supposedly planning to encourage vendors to build dual-boot devices, which would be able to run both Android 5.0 and Windows 8. Company also wants to focus on Netbook and Notebook markets with Android 5.0. Will you wait for this Android update ? I would suggest to go with the present version of Andoid and better hardware configuration so that it can be upgraded later. Let me know what you guys think by leaving a comment and don't forget to share this post.

Apple tests Smaller 8 inch Tablet

Apple Inc. is working with component suppliers in Asia to test a new tablet computer with a smaller screen, people familiar with the situation said, as it looks to broaden its product pipeline to maintain its dominant tablet market share. The existing iPad2 is 9.7 inch which is way too expensive when compared to Android Tablets. A smaller tablet would help Apple broaden its product offerings, and therefore compete better with rivals such as Samsung Electronics and Amazon to maintain its dominant market share. The news of Apple testing a smaller tablet comes as the company is reportedly preparing to unveil a new iPad in early March which is expected to have a similar screen size of around 9.7 inches with the current generation of iPad 2. Let me know what you guys think, Will you be buying smaller iPad or happy with the Android Tablets made by Samsung, LG etc. Leave a comment below.

Samsung Ace Smart Phone

I recently bought this budget phone which I felt was worth buying. This phone may not be the latest smart phones as of now and Ace might be out of market soon as Ace plus will be out next week as per Samsung store here in India. If you are looking for a mid price budget android phone then this is the best smart phone for this price.
You may not find too much of a difference between Ace and Ace plus other than the price. I made a bit of research by comparing Ace with other smart phones LG Smart Phones, Samsung Wildfire etc. but found Ace to be better. I would suggest you to buy online instead of local stores where the prices are judged by looking at buyers.

Block Facebook Apps

Sick of invites from friends requesting you to install Facebook applications that are of no interest to you? Would you like to permanently block all those annoying Facebook apps that post messages to your wall without asking? 

Well, if you are like me then here is how you can permanently opt-out of the Facebook apps platform. Login to your Facebook account, select Privacy Settings under Account and then click “Edit your settings” under the Applications and Websites section. Here you’ll see an option to turn off all the platform applications with a single click. This will make your profile inaccessible to all other apps and you therefore won’t get any invites or wall posts in future.

USB Wall Plate

Here is a gadget which will let you charge your gadgets right from the wall. The RCA USB Wall Plate turns any standard outlet into a USB charging station, allowing users to charge smartphones and tablets without an A/C adapter. The plate snaps into any existing three-prong outlet, so there’s no electrical wiring required. RCA USB Wall Charger is quick, easy and has simple "plug-it-in" approach. It’s available in the US for about 15 to 20$.

Android Booster App

I have been using Android Phone for almost 2 years now. Android Booster is one of the best Android Optimization app in MarketPlace. Android’s maximum potential is taken care by Android Booster by increasing speed, saving battery power & monitoring data usage all for FREE. It will improve your Androids performance in seconds with it’s easy to use interface by helping you reclaim memory, save battery power, kill tasks & give you an easy way to uninstall unwanted apps.
Some of its best features include Memory Booster, Task Killer, App Manager, Traffic Monitor, Battery Power Monitor, File Manager and Widget.
For more news about free apps & mobile productivity updates, check out NetQin's website.